[hquinn@HenryNeeds ~]$ cat /var/www/blog/post.md
Like a lot of folks, I've been learning new things about myself now that I'm working from home full time. One of those things is that all of my ADHD like symptoms are actually ADHD!
As I'm learning more about it and trying to find ways to get my brain to work with me, rather than against me, I've found that having set schedules is super helpful. Working in an office with commutes to separate work and home, having standing meetings, and transition times in the form of walks across campus all help break up the day into manageable chunks... rather than having every part of work happen in the few square meters around my office desk.
Don't get me wrong, I love the office space I've set up for myself. I have a nice standing desk. The company I'm with got me monitor arms and some extra screens. There's a nice mechanical keyboard and wireless mouse.
The issue is that having every aspect of work at that desk means I'm not having those office related transition times. Going to a meeting doesn't require a walk. I don't have my lunch break whenever my coworkers all have time to walk to the deli next door. All of those little events that break up the day are hard for me to keep track of when I'm alone in my home office and it messes with my ability to focus when I spend all day in one room.
So I'm starting to get back into electronics projects by building a physical clock to play different chimes throughout the day to remind me to take those transition times. Kind of like a custom version of the clocks in grade school that signalled the beginning and end of classes.
In high school I took a few classes that taught me about electronic components, robotics, and a little bit of coding. I've actually written a little about how big an impact those teachers had on my life.
After a whole college career of not soldering anything, I actually bought an Arduino project kit from Elegoo to try and get back into it. After building a few simple circuits on the included breadboard, the kit went into the closet for a bit.
A bit turned into several years, until about a month ago when I pulled it back out. I needed a new pandemic project and thought it would be fun to start trying to make some things!
Combination of Arduino, RFID module, 7-segment display, and a speaker.
Pictures of the hardware, share some of the code.
Made with in New Haven || © 2023, Henry Quinn