Hello all,

Just a few quick notes prior to the meetup.

First, I'd like to alert you to the AVR programming and interfacing class that the Hive is holding on Sat Dec 12th.
http://www.hive76.org/avr-micro-controller-class-dec-12th

Fellow meetup member and robot expert Keith Chester will be teaching it. All proceeds go to the Hive and FUBAR hackerspaces. (Mike Mingroni, I think you should consider this for your project).

Those of you looking for a robotics holiday gift for yourself or others should check out this link (even though Black Friday has passed):
http://robots.net/article/2953.html (especially note Sparkfun's Free Day in January).

I wanted to have a meetup at Penn State Abington's RoboHoops contest, but it looks like they aren't going to hold it this year for some reason. For those of you looking for a project for next year, we can consider entering as a team one of the three contests they (usually) have every year: trinity fire-fighting, mini grand challenge, and robo-hoops. http://www.cede.psu.edu/users/avanzato/robots/contests/index.htm.

If you didn't know, Meetup.com actually charges the organizers about $75 every 6 months (you can run multiple meetups for that price). I will start charging a few bucks per meeting starting next year to defray some of this cost.

Finally, I know some of us find the Hive a little difficult to get to. Don't get me wrong - Hive has been really great both for us and to us. But, unless you're driving, the commute can be a little challenging. I am going to look into some alternate venues and other ideas - like carpooling. Let me know your thoughts on this topic.

Hope to see you at the meetup next week.

Roy