Design Journal 8: Yes and No in the Maker Lab

A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble ~Mahatma Gandhi

 

Opening the orange boxes from SparkFun and reading carefully (with my glasses on!) I notice that there are different numbers on the Sound Recorder and the Lilypad. The Sound Recorder runs on 5V and the Lilypad which uses 3.3V. The difference between 5V and 3.3V matters. The Transformer part will connect the two components.

I appreciate the MKOs in the Maker Lab for telling me about this distinction. They delivered the gentle “no” on not purchasing a Transformer very casually and matter-of-factly. We move quickly from “need to” to “how to do it.” We have several parallel conversations on the merits of different shipping options and shipping carriers. I really don’t have time to wait on shipping. One person is going to a bigger city and could source the Transformer, one says to “bite the bullet” and pay the $24.00 shipping charges. We digress to discuss the Transformers movie franchise but eventually I click “Enter” and order the tiny part with the hefty shipping:

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