By June of 2000 Zeze, Zeze’s ex, Pegasus, and myself were all living on the StarChaser in Baltimore’s “Inner Harbor”, and the horses were boarded about an hour away at “Stonemill Farm” in Street Maryland.
Zeze and Zeze’s ex have the back bedroom, I have the forward berth, and Pegasus resides in the living room / dining room / kitchen area. It’s actually a very spacious arrangement and everyone is pretty comfortable, and the proximity makes working on projects quicker and easier.
In July, after five major revisions, the production version of the DVX code was shipped. Unfortunately, the guy at IDSI had the demo unit in a van and left it running while getting a sandwich. It was equally unfortunate that someone from the NRC was parked next to him also getting a sandwich. The NRC guy came back to his car to discover something has been delivering huge doses of x-ray radiation – and IDSI’s license was revoked.
We got paid, but the product never materialized.
Somewhere along the way Zeze had picked up a “Westward Go-4”, which is a three-wheeled cart used for things like municipal parking meter readers.
This became our main mode of transportation around Baltimore, and was instrumental in getting to places like Popeye’s Chicken and the laundromat.
In September we found out that Harborview Condominiums, located right next to the marina, was looking for a digital security system, so I whipped up a demo and a proposal. In a couple of days I had a proxcard reader, database, and can bus door controller ready to go. Unfortunately we didn’t get the contract though.
On Sept 18th the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute demo code is complete (BIOMAPER) – and RMA has another project for us; this one is creating a modular digital camera system for use at DMVs to digitally print driver’s licenses. The camera has to reside in an adjustable mast to ensure a level image for any height. Pegasus starts designing the circuit board for this and we call it “PegaMast”.
In early October I reverse engineered a cuecat for giggles. And by the end of the month I had the data interface to the TINI-based PegaFloat system Pegasus made running. I also traded my Scarab to Dan in Virginia for a burgundy 1991 Chevy Caprice, which gave us a more economical option from Zeze’s monster truck.
A few days later I had the UDP data server for the Ships Data Repeater (SDR) running. And on Nov 8th 2000 the PegaFloat and Ships Data Repeater (SDR) demo website was running from 64.0.93.82 – the DSL connection we had on the boat.
On November 5th Zeze and I spend a day at the Baltimore Zoo.
On November 26th the prototyping for the PegaMast began, and we started buying tools and parts for the project.
2001
In December I invited a friend of mine from England to come give us a hand with the DMV project, and have a bit of a vacation while he was here. Geoff was an amazing electrical engineer, and helped with some of the motor controls on the mast. He arrives in early January, and while he was state-side I took him to see the horses and the B&O museum there in Baltimore on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of January.
On February 8th we purchased the final parts needed to make the DMV camera, and we assembled the first prototypes on the kitchen table on the yacht. By late February the prototypes were done, the late beta firmware was loaded, and Zeze and I headed up to RMA’s office near Boston in my Caprice to show it off.
A few days later, on March 4th, Zeze and start the drive back to Baltimore. On the way I drive through Framingham, stopping at Fun and Games for old time’s sake. And then I take us down through New London for more strolling down memory lane.
On March 20th the finished PegaMast boards arrived from fabrication…
And April was mostly filled with flying around to install the system at DMVs in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Ohio.
In May we discovered that the DMV project had become the last hurrah for RMA, and we started to get conflicting information from Richard, Mike, and Ronald as to what was going to happen with them (and in turn, us).
In June Richard, who sat on the board of Marianapolis Preparatory School in Connecticut, asked us to help out the school with an internet upgrade to a fractional T1. Zeze and Pegasus headed to Connecticut for a few days to get it all working, and when they got back Pegasus decided to move to England to live with Geoff. Pegasus left the Starchaser to Zeze and Zeze’s ex on his way out…
Steve Bliss, the head-honcho of the school in Connecticut, asked Zeze and I to return and spend the summer upgrading the school’s computers in both the computer lab and the dormitories, and while we were at it, network the various buildings on the school grounds.
Being as Marianapolis was a boarding school and it was the summer, most of the students and faculty were gone. So, Steve offered to put us up in one of the wings of “St. John’s” dormatory, on the condition that we’re okay with looking after a couple of summer students who were still there.
Zeze and I agreed to go while Zeze’s ex would stay on the yacht until they could either get a job and live there or do something with it.
On July 10th I made the last entries into the PFM financial database, made a backup of everything that was on my computer, and then threw everything I thought I would need for the summer into the trunk of the Caprice…