Aaron Smith @theartguy@is.aaronbsmith.com

It's after 7pm and I'm still on school property. I ate my lunch after 5. I'm tired. I'm sweaty.

I love my job so much.

I want my students to work on more "live" recordings, so we needed a suitable prop.

Mostly cardstock cut with a Cricut, with a string of red USB powered LEDs from 5 Below.

Currently using an old USB power bank to provide electricity, though I might just use an old wall charger instead, depending on classroom placement.

Success!

(Cat for scale, if you can see him.)

On August 13 every approved Donors Choose project is getting a "back to school boost" paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

More information here: https://help.donorschoose.org/hc/en-us/articles/360026484973

(Edit/Redraft for spelling error)

I wasn't joking.

I need to bring a "charged laptop" to a training tomorrow and I'm tempted to have it be my PiTop, even though it's a 3B (no +).

Cloudburst

Me, every year: I shouldn't get there early because I always panic and think I'm at the wrong venue.

Me, this year:

Progress!

... of a sort.

Pre-Shipment is a wonderful word.

I might start calling some students' projects "Pre-Finished."

The squeegee we're using to make silkscreened t-shirts doesn't prop up well, which makes things messy.

A binder clip fixes the problem pretty fast.

It's the little things.

Yesterday my Media Arts majors did a test printing of a t-shirt design. I was a little worried that cardstock would be too thick to use as a stencil, but fortunately fabric is flexible enough for this to not be an issue.

When we're done, each student will have their own unique design on the front and a common design on the back.

TAG students were shown the "Caine's Arcade" video today.

They are very excited to plan their cardboard games.

How convenient that we've spent the last few months with lessons on circuitry and designing 3d structures out of 2d materials.

Now we get to do game design.

Between 2009 and 2019 ... I got a lot older, scruffier, and more worn out.

The best resolutions are the ones you don't feel compelled to put off until an arbitrary date on a calendar.

I'm gonna make stuff.

Got myself a Cricut, as I can't afford a CNC milling machine but this is the next best thing to that.

There is a learning curve and the web based interface has some design flaws, but it's a good starting point, I think.

Progress!

My school is doing a door decoration contest today, so naturally those of us with visual art degrees are taking things to the next level.

Images: 3 pictures of doors, one which asks you to conceptualize an image, one which allows you to imagine whatever you want, and one that's a riff on "The Treachery Of Images" by Magritte.

Progress.

It's been a while since I made something for someone else.

Even longer since I did something like this.

Feels good.