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   Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:40 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

   - Tiny Monster Handheld (totally not a pokedex or a digivice): Use a Raspberry Pi 0W or an ESP8266 wifi development board. Hook it up to a 90s Nokia brick phone screen. Write some basic code to govern behavior, draw some sprites, make a simple Training game, make a wifi battle game, maybe do some Augmented Reality stuff. Basically P O X for the modern age.

   Then: (Considered/Suspended)

   Now: I never built this, but I actually did prototype it out. Used an ESP8266. Got it working with the old Nokia brick phone screen. Coded up a basic battle system. It was cute, but Pokemon Go already existed, so there was no need for it, and I was solving the problem at the wrong level.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:29 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

     in reply to

     Anyway, I wanted to take this moment to say:

     Don't let folks discourage you from continuing to work on something because you haven't finished it, or from starting something new because you didn't finish an old thing.

     Keep track of the things that you've worked on or are working on, revisit them sometimes. Often, you'll find that things you were not able to finish at 25 you're more than capable of finishing at 30 (or insert ages here as appropriate.)

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:31 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

     in reply to

     Before I dig in to thee 2023 list, I want to take a moment to reflect on this list so far.

     A lot of these things are things that I've done on and off for 10 years or so.

     Some of them are younger than that, but a lot of the things I was working on in 2017 are things that I'm still working on, and many of the things that I stopped doing sometime after making that list are things that I'm still planning to do, or that I still think about doing.

     When contrasted against all the other things that I (and my team) have accomplished in the time since, and all the other things that we've back burner'd or abandoned, it really does start to look like we've got a pretty good win ratio.

     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 repeated this.
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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:32 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

     in reply to

     That's the end of my list from 2017.

     The list from 2023 has even more, though.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:33 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

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     - Robots: I have been on a robot kick recently. I want to build robots. Maybe ESP8266 or Arduino based.
     Then: (Considered)
     Later then: I built a bunch of robots! None of them were special or impressive, but it was fun.
     Now: I'm considering a roboSumo league, but I don't think having kids around the makerspace is a good idea, and I haven't been able to talk adults in to doing robo sumo.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:34 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

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     - Maker Space: I used to run a kind of Maker Space out of the Record Store. I'd love to open up a real Maker Space in the Tyson's Corner area in the Washington DC metro. Who's interested in helping

     then: (considered)
     now: https://ellijaymakerspace.org

     7,000 sqft of maker goodness, mostly focused on media production, in the north GA mountains.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:34 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

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     - Freelancing: I used to freelance as a web designer and developer. I was pretty good at it, and I made a fair amount of extra money doing it. Extra money is nice. I'm toying with doing this again.

     - then: I never did
     - now: I have more or less committed to building a thing for myself that I will then try to sell to other people.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:35 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

     in reply to

     - Cassettes By Mail: For two years, I did a monthly Mixtape service. It was $8 per month, I had ~10 subscribers (one month I shipped 3 tapes, one month I shipped 30. Most months, I shipped around 10.)

     I would curate a collection of local/independent music, usually a collection of 45 minutes from 2 artists (one on each side) and put together custom packaging for it all. I dubbed the tapes on pro-grade equipment, with nice labels, and high quality double sided J-Cards.

     It cost me about $2.50/tape. I took $1.50 for myself. The remaining $3.00 was split between the two artists (at $1.50/tape each.) We were never going to change the music industry, but it was cool. (This was in 2013-2014) I've considering bringing this back with the option for CDs or digital delivery, because I like helping musicians make money.

     then: dormant
     now: Active, Cassette, CD and digital download. Production costs have gone up a bit, and we pay our artists a little more.

     Learn more at https://cassettesfor.me

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:37 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

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     - T-Shirts: I design and sell t-shirts through my website.

     I use movie posters, art, and comic books that are in the public domain. Occasionally, I use my own illustrations or photographs as well. I'm pretty active with this, still, but I haven't given the website the love it deserves, and it's starting to show it's age in a bad way.

     - Then: (Active)
     - Now: you can find most of our current shirts at https://ellijaymakerspace.org

     We make a lot of shirts, and have fun with it. They're made by hand, and I don't have to depend on a flaky third party.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:38 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

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     - Regular Book Publishing: Many great books are in the public domain. Some of the great books in the public domain are virtually unknown today, aside from the fact that they are in the public domain. I'd love to commission new illustrations, and print new editions of some of the best forgotten Scifi/Fantasy/Adventure novels.

     Then: (considered)
     Now: We have printed and bound dozens of books in the years since, and I've also had some professionally printed and bound to great effect.

     I spend more time making zines than books, but we're always printing something.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:38 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

     in reply to

     - DVDs and BluRays: For a while, I made DVDs of public domain films or TV shows, two movies per disc. Occasionally, I'd include some special features, like vintage commercials or audio to classic radio programs. This was fun! and it was a way for me to practice various design skills. I would love to do more of this, but I never really found an audience for it, so I only really consider this stuff around Christmas, as gifts for family.

     Then: (suspended/retired/active but mostly as gifts for family?)

     Now: I have full on disc printing and duplicating facilities and I can do hundreds at a pass.

     I got it for doing CDs, but we've done some DVDs too.

     I want to do more of this, bu I don't know what the market is, or for whom I would make them.

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     Andrew (Television Executive) (ajroach42@retro.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Sep-2023 21:38:39 JST Andrew (Television Executive)

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     - Comic Book Publishing: There are a lot of Great! Vintage! Space! Comics! in the public domain. There are at least four series called "Space Patrol", as well as Tom Corbett Space Cadet, Planet Comics, Spacehawk, and dozens of others. Some of them are beautiful. I'd love to do a series of Nice, well made, high quality re-prints of some of the best comics of that era.

     Then: (Considered/Active)

     Now: We do a regular reprint of Space Hawk, we have two issues of Space Patrol and an issue of Microface in print.

     We'll do more later, but it's still happening.