MakerWorks
Younger brother

How does
that work?

I like real things: cars, cameras, computers, electronics, and true stories. I usually start with “how does that work?” and then end up somewhere else.

RABBIT HOLE 01

What is actually inside this thing?

Some people read the quick-start guide. I will read the rest of the manual too: car features, computer parts, door systems, camera settings, electronics. If a system is real and has moving pieces, physical or logical, it is probably interesting.

There was an old phone.I wanted to see what was inside, so I took it apart. Then I put it back together. It still worked. Important detail.
CarsHow systems fit together, what features actually do, and why one design differs from another.
ComputersHardware, early machines, components, and the history behind things we now take for granted.
CamerasSettings, lenses, light, mechanics, and what changes when you look more carefully.
Add when it happens naturally: a photo of something I took apart, three handwritten labels, or “the part I did not expect.”
RABBIT HOLE 02

Can we make it do something?

Arduino and ESP32 are good because an idea can become something that blinks, buzzes, moves, or shows up on a screen.

One build used a joystick and OLED screen for a small game. Another used a buzzer. Sometimes I start from code I find online. Sometimes AI helps. Then something doesn’t work. Obviously.

That is usually when it gets interesting.

A friend and I make Arduino projects together most weeks, and I usually lead the build. There is no project log and no required reflection sheet. The thing we made is the record; photos can quietly keep the rest.

Next additions: one 15-second demo, one funny bug, and one modification that made the project feel like my own.
RABBIT HOLE 03

Stories that lead somewhere else.

Reading works best for me when somebody real is trying to solve something real and I want to know what happened next. That can mean a hacker being traced through early networks, Woz building computers, the story of Samsung, espionage, survival, or a good mystery.

The Cuckoo’s Egg

Computers, networks, investigation, and a trail to follow.

iWoz

A person, machines, and the fun of figuring out how to build them.

Samsung Rising

Technology through people, products, competition, and company history.

I Will Always Write Back

I read it, reread it, and reread it again. Somewhere around four or five times, I stopped counting.

Long-running things on my shelf include Make, Car and Driver, and Popular Mechanics. Waveform often follows me through headphones.

This section can grow sideways: a book → a question → something I looked up → the next book. No scores or reading levels needed.
RABBIT HOLE 04

Some things are better with other people.

For more than a year, I have done one-on-one English reading teaching about every two weeks. I prepare my own topics, and I like that there is a real person on the other side of the lesson.

Teaching stayed because it has a point.There is freedom to choose what I teach, somebody depending on me, and a reason to prepare besides checking a box.

Sports have been their own experiment. I played basketball for years, but the instant pressure of team games never quite clicked. Swimming did. I like the rhythm: roughly an hour a day on weekdays, seeing my own progress, and no hurry to turn it into anything more.

Not everything has to become an achievement to be worth continuing.

Add later only if I want: a favorite teaching topic, a swim milestone I cared about, or a photo from an ordinary afternoon.

Currently on the table

A board with wiresProbably something Arduino-related. Possibly blinking for no good reason.
A cameraSomething worth looking at twice.
A manualYes, the whole manual.

This list is allowed to change.