Projects
With the UTV trip described below, project development was purposely slow this week.
The Website
I have been mostly considering how the website should look instead of doing another rewrite without a plan. Working on the website is not a top priority at the moment but I have been doing some fixes.
I added four websites to the Friends Websites section on the About page.
MediaCow Touch 2
See MediaCow Touch 2 - Part 16 blog post.
Hardware Design
The eDP touchscreen adapter board was reviewed by someone who I knew from the LattePanda Discord and made some important revisions. I was able to implement the design with no changes outside of schematic cleanup.
Samsung Chromebook XE500C13
The use of system on the latest trip was a success. Performance of modern software has, however, gotten worse making it more difficult to use.
I have received the eDP cable for the Chromebook though I ended up not needing it.
PyRPG/Amoxa
I have not done any work on the game this week due to pressure for other projects. In fact, I have not plugged in the development PC ever since I put the GTX 1630 in the system.
Personal
This was quite a busy week. With Spring Break, I did not go to the college campus at all.
Return to West Virginia
On April 3, me and my father went back to the area of Bramwell, West Virginia and Pocahontas, Virginia for a three-day trip. Quite a lot happened during this trip.
For computer hardware, apart from the phone, I brought the Samsung Chromebook and the Steam Deck. The latter I was hesitant on but it ended up being important. This was done to prevent myself from doing work as using a browser on the Samsung Chromebook would be too slow for me to comfortably do any work, including schoolwork. With the Steam Deck, since I do not have an external monitor, trying to use it as a desktop with the 7" screen would be uncomfortable, which was seen when I was playing Minecraft on it while I was there.
Day 1, April 3, 2025
On the first day, we started the four hour drive to Pocahontas, Virginia.
The house, more of a apartment duplex, was in downtown Pocahontas. The interior showed that the building was very old. We later discovered that the house we are staying in was likely built in 1884.
The house brought back memories of Canastota, New York with familiar smells, sights and sounds. This however, included memories of intense fear that I have experienced in my early childhood, leading to an unsettling atmosphere for the first couple days.
Day 2, April 4, 2025
On Day 2, I woke up early, at 5 AM, after waking up multiple times during the night likely due to the fact that I kept the light on in the room as I was too exhausted to get up and flip the switch.
When I woke up, I noticed I had the Steam Deck with me, I played the game BABBDI through one time to take a picture of me playing it in the room due the place reminding me of its aesthetics.
I played Minecraft Seaopolis to wake up a bit more. When it was about time to go pick up the side-by-side, we packed some lunches and went to pick up the machine. While my dad seemed to very nervous, even offering me to drive his truck instead of the side-by-side back to the house, I drove the side-by-side back to Pocahontas. I noticed that it took almost no effort to steer the vehicle. My driving seemed to have gotten better with the months of driving to the college campus and back; I have only had my driver's license for less than a year now.
We went off to the trailhead that was past Bramwell. We went on the trails that we went on before during the former August 2024 trip. We immediately went with the route heading to the coke oven.
After an hour of driving, we stopped at an open field to take a break. I noticed rain clouds were getting closer and within minutes later, I started to feel raindrops. The light rain immediately turned into a downpour, having us get back to the side-by-side which did not offer that much shelter as there are no windows or a windshield. We had no other choice but to drive back through the water-covered trails. We came up with a plan to get back on the shortest path possible. My father, driving us back, unaware of the fact I did not have my goggles on yet, sped up and we went through the muddy water at high speed, sending muddy water into my unprotected eyes while I cheered in joy. It wasn't that long until I was effectively blinded, needing napkins to get the mud out of my eyes as I could not open them. After that, I put my goggles back on and we continued back.
Being soaked head-to-toe and covered with mud, with the intense smell of petrichor; geosmin in the air, memories of summer camp came back to me almost like flashbacks. Summer camp had such an impact on me as I, since a fourteen year old, was basically thrown into the wilderness without any stimulants, including caffeine, apart from the short-acting ADHD medication that I could ask for once a day and no computers apart from the MP3 player that was soon discovered by others. Being thrown into a completely new environment with no contact to the outside world (no computers), no stimulants and nothing to take my mind off the situation (once again, no computers), had a massive impact over my mental health though it was a crucial experience that helped develop maturity later on.
The rain put a premature end to driving for the day giving us only two hours of driving.
Day 3, April 5, 2025
This day, we started early with the idea that we would be out for more than eight hours. We did achieve just that.
On this day, we went with the idea of going as far as we can. Starting with the trail system that we drove on before then going from one trail system to another, going over 50 miles through West Virginia. After getting through two trail systems, we entered an area that had deep puddles of water and a creek. The trails did not seem that well-marked, where we got ourselves lost until my dad started talking to a few others where we stopped. The alternative was to go back, through the suspiciously deep puddles and creek, which wasn't that fun and was risky. Instead, we followed the others through the trail system which included driving through the creek to where we finally reached an area where there were marked trails that lead us back to a road.
During all this, I took many photos and videos. Below is a small amount of the photos I took on this day.
Day 4, April 6, 2025
On this day, we started preparations for going back home. We packed up and loaded the truck. Me and my father drove the side-by-side about 15 miles each way to go to an ATV wash. It seemed that we were the only ones who actually drove their side-by-side there instead of loading it onto a trailer.
After the long process of washing the vehicle, my father drove back to Pocahontas, to a gas station that was across the street from where we got the side-by-side from. After getting prepared, I drove the side-by-side back. After that, we begun our trip back home.