close-up of fastened button switch

creative switching

the first thought to pop in mind was a snap on a piece of clothing. i went ahead and wired the top snap to my jacket. it was very easy to attach the wire end through the snap, since it was a sew-on kind, rather than the prong/socket/stud kind. when it was snapped together , the led would go off.
i was able to snag some conductive thread and looked down at the next fastener in line and wondered if i could turn that into a switch. i used the thread to whip stitch around the top of the buttonhole, then used another piece to sew through the toggle a few times and wrap around the middle. i then stitched away from the pieces because i wanted to see if i could keep the softness
with the conductive thread, essentially using the thread as the hook-up wire. i made a final stitch perpendicular to the ones i had just made, looped the wire under and twisted.
i plugged it in and when i fastened the button, i thought it worked pretty good. i don't even think i needed to use as much thread as i did to stitch around the button hole. perhaps a couple stitches a the top would do.

blink blink blink

i wanted to try the blinking exercise from class, it was very simple, just 4 lines of code.
i at first thought that i could add the switch in somewhere, but my brain was a little too tired to get in processing mode, so i did not attempt much code editing.

1st arduino program

i completed the "setting up breadboard" lab, then moved on to the arduino board.
identifying the resistors was a challenge, i was able to find very helpful references on the web (i will eventually put them up). never knew there was such a sophisticated system behind those colorful stripes...
after setup, i downloaded and installed software only to find that the computer i was working on was too much of a dinosaur to handle it (mac OS X 10.3.9 powerpc driven). i plugged my arduino in, green light went on, no detection in serial port though. i troubleshooted for awhile, but instead convinced my roommate to let me use his macBook bought just last feb.
downloaded and installed software on his comp. and success! there was my board in the serial port, now for the programming

completed the arduino program. yellow led is on, push button, red led is on.