So, here is my Christmas list, because I know that I am hard to shop for. This is mostly just for my family's use, but if you are a random person out there and want to get me something, go for it! The names all link to the best place to buy the item for the price given, but if you can find it for less somewhere else, go ahead.

This list is sorted by priority, or desire. But I like it all, so surprise me!

Also, the projects aren't going so well. The bot is very hard to do, not really worth it, and the lights aren't very interesting.

So far, with about half of my parts in hand I have created the digital out circuit based on the Arduino and written the code for the guitar hero bot. The song files look like:

# this is a comment
# below is the time increment the following lines are listed in 
I 300
01 G_Y_O_
05 _R_B__
01 GR___S
01 _RY_O_
01 G_Y_O_
I 1000
# the increments can be specified anywhere (song speeds up or slows down)
05 _R_B__
01 G___O_
01 GRY___

The notes are held until the next note comes along. It's ugly, but lifting them isn't necessary in the game.
The code is in Python 2.5 and will be released in a package at the end of the project.

This winter break I have a couple of projects planned that could use some documentation on the internet.

The first of these is creating a 'bot for Guitar Hero III. There have been bots for GH2, but none so far for GH3. I aim to be the first. I won't submit my scores online to start for fear of anger from the real players, but I think I will put the videos on youTube.

The other project is animating my Christmas lights, just for fun. Hopefully this one will work out, as I have already purchased the rather pricey ingredients. If it doesn't, then I still get to learn about home power automation for a big project later.

For both of these projects I will use the Arduino microcontroller board. It should be good!