I have made the glorious discovery that Microcenter now carries a full line of arduinos, kits, robots, model rockets, solar panels, LCDs and electronic components. They even have a windmill kit that actually produces power.

So, several things come to mind:

- I can mate the windmill to a netduino and create some sort of anemometer that sends me updates on wind speed (or at the very least, something that sends me updates on average RPM)

- Arduino + Rocket = Altitude meter, accelerometer

- Wifi beacon? Something that’s basically a walled garden that anyone can connect to and leave a note, like a bulletin board or something.

- Motion sensor?

I dunno. I’ve been reading about all of the fantastic, amazing things that people have been doing with arduinos, and I’m being left out! My major problem is… well… I don’t know what I’d want to make with a microcontroller that I don’t do already. All of my photography needs are handled by the either the onboard computer, the computer data link cable or the plug-in timer/cable release. I haven’t done any rocketry since high school (nor do I really have any place to do it). It’s the same problem with learning javascript: I can do all of the exercises, but without any need or practical application, I forget it just as easily as I learn it.

So, what should I make?