About
#####

:title: About
:slug: about
:author: Chris Ramsay
:summary: The obligatory about me page
:status: published
:show_source: True

This site is a collection of attempted writings about my interests, some of
which intersect with my day job and others are just pure learning pursuits.

Blog
~~~~

I am maintaining a rather sparse blog `right here`_ which has my non-project
related items and general ramblings.

Projects
~~~~~~~~

Most of my are projects currently `electronics`_ based, with the
`Open Source`_ `Arduino prototyping platform`_ at the heart of them.
If you like, take a look at `the projects I play with`_ in my, somewhat limited,
spare time.

.. image:: https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5580/15064370727_71e27af8ec_c.jpg
   :width: 800
   :height: 450
   :scale: 100
   :alt: Arduino Pro Mini 5v

*An Arduino Pro Mini 5v - currently the beast I base many a project on.*

Cloud detection
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have always taken an interest in clouds, whether observing, photographing or
just reading about them. This project looks at measuring the amount of cloud
cover over a hypothetical astronomical observation site. Please go here for my
`series on cloud detection`_.

Soil Temperature
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This series has been prompted by some previous work to send general weather data
from a personal weather station to the UK's `Met Office`_. It follows a project
to measure soil temperature at different depths in the ground.
`Click here for further information`_ on this work.

Weather Report
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Both the above projects' data output are summarised on a separate
`Github Pages`_ hosted site called `Weather Report`_.

Software
~~~~~~~~

I still work in software, and enjoy writing `the occasional piece about it`_.

About Me
~~~~~~~~

First and foremost and inhabitant of a quiet corner but a stone's throw from the
largely undiscovered Lincolnshire Wolds,
`an area of outstanding natural beauty`_.

After years spent as a software dev, I'm now fully recovered, and have turned my
hand to being a certified test/QA engineer.

When there is free time from the family, the `Open University`_ and work, I like
to indulge in running, getting my fingers burnt with electronics, taking part in
amateur astronomy or observing the weather.

.. image:: https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5588/15247818061_6b820489b5_c.jpg
   :width: 800
   :height: 450
   :scale: 100
   :alt: Goat Fell

*I also love getting high, so to speak. Walking on Goat Fell in Arran, if you
wondered.*

.. links
.. _`electronics`: {tag}/electronics
.. _`Open Source`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source
.. _`Arduino prototyping platform`: http://arduino.cc/
.. _`right here`: {category}blog
.. _`race reports and other bits`: {category}running
.. _`the occasional piece about it`: {category}software
.. _`something to say about it`: {category}testing-qa
.. _`the projects I play with`: {category}projects
.. _`series on cloud detection`: {tag}cloud-detection
.. _`Met Office`: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/
.. _`Click here for further information`: {tag}soil-temperature
.. _`Github Pages`: https://pages.github.com
.. _`Weather Report`: https://weather-report.chrisramsay.co.uk/
.. _`Open University`: http://www.open.ac.uk
.. _`an area of outstanding natural beauty`: http://www.lincswolds.org.uk/