Thing-A-Day 2011
Background
Thing-A-Day is a yearly event where participants create something each day in the month of February. 2011 was my first year to participate and I prepared a large list of potential projects. Each day I would choose an item from my list or just make something up on the spot.
The Things
Each link goes to the Thing-A-Day.com blog, where I have photos, videos, and descriptions of the projects.
- Remote Shutter Cable
- Joule Thief
- Freeform Flash Foto
- USB Upgrade to My Yaesu Radio Interface
- Super Mario 3 Mini Game Display
- Radio Antenna
- Business Card Wiggler
- Slides for a Future Presentation
- Arduino Pomodoro Timer
- Moleskin-Style Pocket for a Notebook
- Bath Fizzy
- Magnetic Loop Antenna
- Design for a Camera
- Cutting Bit Feed Rate for Roland Modela Desktop Mill
- DIY Humidifier Wick
- Tool Roll
- Pinhole Camera
- Plans for a Video Game
- Photo: The Kitchen Through a Random Lens
- Audio Filter Repair
- Another Antenna
- Pen Plotting on the Modela
- Three Macro Photos
- Cabinet Repair
- Arduino Noisemaker
- A Near End Fed Antenna
Conclusions
As you can see from the list, I didn't finish all 28 days in February. By the end of the month, I had completely run out of ideas that I could complete in a day.
An important lesson I learned was that while technically I had 24 hours to finish each project, in reality I could usually only schedule about 30 minutes! My perfectionist tendencies meant that a few things had to be "declared finished" long before I'd have liked simply because there aren't 28 hours in a day.
If you've not tried to reach this level of productivity in your hobby, I suggest you give it a shot. It is like hiking a long path. At first you attack the month with energy. Then that first rush is gone but you remember it so you can push through. Then you reach this endless plateau where you feel constantly creatively exhausted. Finally, the end is in sight and you just try to scramble through to meet the end.
Grave descriptions aside, it was fun and I learned a lot about how I work and different ways of making things. I even got some neat stuff done. I'll definitely participate next year.