User:Jerryboccijr

About Jerry

I'm Jerry Bocci, which legally includes "Jr", but since my dad is unlikely to visit the space, just "Jerry" is fine.

I'm also known (mostly online) as Runs With Lightning (or RWL), which harkens back to my gaming and hacking days of two decades hence. (I've also been called Runs With Scissors, but we won't mention that again...)

I am the Regional Challenge Master, Scientific Challenge, for the Michigan Affiliate's Region 3 of Destination ImaginNation.

Profession(s)

I am currently a "Systems Engineer" (.NET web application developer), contracted to the U.S. DoD / Army (which basically means, I can't discuss my work in a whole lot of detail). I've been in I.T. since 1993, as a contractor, and as a private consultant. My work generally involves web technology, but I have also done client-server and desktop apps, and have created a couple of simple Android apps for my phone.

I am familiar with the LAMP stack (Linux/Apache/MySql/PHP), but I'm mostly a .NET-kinda guy, and have considerably more experience with Microsoft platforms.

I also co-own a business, with my wife, developing consumer networks to help direct "sticky eyeballs" to partnered Fortune 500 companies, using social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and direct contacts. Our education system is powered by Team One, a fabulous organization based in Southern California.

Hobbies

I have been a tinkerer ever since I learned that "broken" didn't always mean "non-playable". I would often disassemble (and sometimes reassemble) toys, tools, computers, small appliances, stereo equipment, and anything else I could carry to my "lab" (i.e., anywhere I could "operate" in solitude for an hour or two). My efforts were redirected by my father, who taught me to use larger tools to create things with wood, and by various teachers, who taught me to "measure twice, cut, then get another piece of stock and try again."

I set aside my tinkering over a decade ago, to focus my attentions (and affections) on my (then) new wife. Now that the thrill of newlyweddedbliss has mellowed, I am rediscovering my passion for all things that go "blink", "beep", "clunk", "thunk", and "squeal".

I am also an avid gamer (see nickname, above), enjoying in-person rather more than online. I'll take on any type of board, drawing, dicing, and card game, on a table, on a computer, on a console, or on a field (under that big blue thing with the yellow disc). RPGs are also a favorite, although it has been many years since I've played any.

Completed projects at the space

• Fixed a broken pair of Steampunk-style goggles (replaced flimsy wires with stronger ones, rerouted wiring to hide it better, fixed broken strap)
• Gave Morgen, my oldest daughter (now 13), the engineering bug; little does she know, but she WILL excel at STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).
• Built several Larson Scanners with Morgen. (Actually, she's made two of them - I've only made one.)
• Created a working Star Trek (Barfleet) Communicator Badge ($10 bluetooth earpiece cut down to bare circuitry, tiny speaker replaced with large flat one from birthday card, attached to back of Barfleet badge blank; still needs to be painted, but it works!)
• Fixed a console-type stereo that my parents were going to trash, replacing broken buttons, rewiring the servo that moves the CD-tray, and cleaning the gunk out of the case.
• Built my 11-year old nephew a transforming-robot-themed desktop computer, using a BBB for the processor (loaded with Debian), in a custom transformable tower case, with a touch-screen interface on the front of the machine. (This will EVENTUALLY become a Remote/Voice Controlled transformable robot chassis, if he doesn't lose interest first.)
• Various Kickstarter rewards/projects
  • StarBot Animatronic Robot Head, now voice activated and joystick controlled (or pre-programmed, as designed)
  • PowerUp 3.0 Powered Paper Airplane (smartphone controlled powered paper airplane)

TODO list

• Play with my BeagleBone Black, probably by porting the logic and hardware from above DEQ/SSRs, tying into our home network for internet and locally cached audio, and rigging everything to the lights and stereo system.
• Teach my daughters how to program their Beagle Bone Blacks.
• Build the several Kickstarter projects I've funded:
  • High Speed Laser Optical Sensor (not sure what to do with it, but it was cheap!)
  • RGB-123 LED Matrix (8x16 matrix of RGB LEDs; drive with a BBB to display preprogrammed patterns, or drive low-res video)
  • ServoShock Remove Servo & I/O Controller (will eventually use with Flutter to extend range of robot control, muah-ha-ha-ha-ha)
  • ATtiny85 ISP!
  • Haptix Touch+ - virtual 3D multi-"touch" keyboard/mouse interface (have the hardware, creator has not provided drivers!)
  • Flutter (1km range wireless Arduino, haven't received it yet)
  • LOGi FPGA Dev Board for Beaglebone (to learn about FPGA)
  • Laser-etch my aluminum and brass shot glasses (as soon as we have a rotary attachment for the lasers)
  • Use the extra PowerUp 3.0 assemblies to power an R/C dirigible (Mylar "football" balloon)
  • Use my Howler Open Source Arcade Controller to build coffee table arcade cabinet (as requested by my wife)

• Spend more time at i3Detroit!

Who to look for at the space

This is me from the 2010-2011 Destination ImagiNation Regional Tournament, Michigan Affiliate, Region 8 (now Region 3).

(For more information about DI, see their home page at idodi.org ("I Do DI"), or the Michigan Creativity Association (MICA) at micreativity.org.

Merit Badges Earned

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