This was to make sure I got some sound out first 🔊. So far looking good 🤘. Not sure what to add next but I have buttons, a potentiometer, couple of LDRs, amp module, LEDs, switches and other stuff. This was definitely a fun project idea. ☀️ I’ll take a poll for the next addition let’s make it a community project 🎶🎵

i wrote this during the Ice Storm of 2021... seemed appropriate ebow, delays, synth pedals, reverbs. getting unexpected sounds out of the acoustic guitar

It came from out of the blue and happened quickly. A week before Christmas, I got a message through LinkedIn from someone I worked with at ADT (he was let go about a year before me). He told me that his supervisor asked him if he knew any software testers for a new opportunity at the company. He gave them my name and contact information. The next day, I got a call from the company's recruiter to set an appointment for a screening interview. It was scheduled for the next day. On the screening interview call, the recruiter told me that the hiring manager already wanted to interview me, but we still needed to go through the screening interview, which went well. The next day, which was Friday, I got a call from the recruiter to set an appointment to interview with the hiring manager and a few others. That interview was scheduled for Monday. The interview went well. On Tuesday, I received a call from the recruiter with a verbal offer, during which she said that the written offer was forthcoming, but that I probably would not receive it until Monday because of the Christmas holidays. I gave a verbal acceptance contingent on the written offer. To my surprise, on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, I received the written offer, which I immediately accepted. It's with a federal government contractor, so I had to go through an extensive background check. I was told the background check would take 4-6 weeks, so I expected a start date no earlier than the middle of February. Once I filled out the forms, made some corrections, and got fingerprinted by the DHS, I sailed through the background check in a week! I start the job on Monday, 02 February 2026. My work desk is ready, just waiting on the laptop(s) and overcoming my lack of motivation to put up some curtains in my office to keep the sun from peeking through the narrow openings in the blinds. What a relief! More than 150 resumes/applications submitted in over nine months resulted in one screening interview. Then in the span of a week from a recommendation by a colleague, I have a new job. Crazy!

Since I unable to buy any gear for about another month I decided to create my own instrument 🤘 So I have an arduino board I got free just over a year ago and recently found it while cleaning up the storage unit and I have been working on some code using solar panel and photoresistors and some buttons and potentiometer to make a fully automated groovebox. I’ve got some code for rhythm, some drum machine code, some code for visual effects. Can’t wait to see it completed… I just need to find a few more components from the storage and I’ll be ready to build it.

I did a review on the Pro Co Rat 2 and JHS Pedals Pack Rat. Check it out on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/BikX1-FjUGM?si=9G09v4kwJ4G9V6Aa