It wasn't my idea nor a project of my design. But I was roped into working on it in a very unexpected way. I simply walked into a room at the right time.

It was 3pm or maybe a little before when I found Melissa in the KBR room.
I hadn't seen her in a while.. and little did I know at that moment that I was going to be seeing her for the next 7 hours.

It began simple enough with the innocent asking of a favor. 30 min prior Melissa had received a package that contained the parts to make a Hula hoop with internal blinking lights. (She loves glowy things.)

So, I agreed. There wasn't any delay in starting the project because no sooner had I said yes we were off and walking towards my wealth of solder and tools.

Before the whole endeavor began I lent her some tools and a nail to fix her
fire poi. If nothing else AT least that worked.

I gasped when I saw the price tag for the parts in the box.

gasp!

I got to work. Bending soldering and working with her to wire the string of LEDs. I was worried about the lack of resistors... and against my better judgment we didn't put any in. What is a resistor you ask? Why, it's a little electronic component that prevents you from blowing things out. Believe, me I've done it quite a bit with LEDs which is why I was hesitant to leave them out. ... but we had to. *sigh

We were stripping wire (in sections) a very non standard way for the amateur electronic wiring fellow and so we drove out to purchase some more X-Acto knives.

Knifing it up. Try not to cut the copper wire... it required a whole lot more wire fixing. ... ugh....

I tested each LED through every step of the process.

Then clipped and soldered them to the wires.

The reward was a string of blinky and glowy lights. And yet there was still a very long way to go.

There were many *cough* set backs through out the entire process. Wires were cut in half and had to be reconnected. That then made the sections we cut the insulation off uneven which meant we had to fold in more wire. eh... it was quite a production just to get to the point where we could have as much trouble as humanly possible pushing a bunch of electrical tape and wire through a tube.

Hmmp. Let's see. Pick the highest friction coefficient you can and use it to cover this flimsy weak material. It didn't help that the instructions weren't complete. If the instructions had some magical way to get these LED's through the tube I would have loved to read it. I think what I did read was something along the lines of, "Part H: Insert the whole electrical assembly into the tube carefully." *1

What they should have said was... "Try futilely to push the LED and wire assembly into the tube. You'll find you can not do this without getting the wiring stuck and then having to pull it out and push it back in several more times. You will then grow frustrated and shake the whole tube violently until by the grace of god the wire slips down to the end of the tube. You will then find it stuck in the middle. Now is a good time to cut a coat hanger and try to force the wire down the tube. Too bad this won't work for when you push the wire in you can't pull the coat hanger out without first pulling all the wire back out. Next, you'll grab a hacksaw and slice into the hoop halfway in order to somehow manage to push the wire in half the hoop then the other half. Thus, completing the step but leaving your hoop useless and un-satisfying."

That worked. Still, we managed to solder on the battery and the switch and turn no the lights.

Well, it lit up. ... But it couldn't be used to hula with because of that slice in the tube and the fact lights kept going out due to some short circuit somewhere.

That poor girl. She's not happy about paying 57 dollars and spending 5 hours to put together a hoop that sort of kind of works.

Although, when the lights were turned out it was quite dazzling.

And someday when it works without shorting she'll be really happy.

Till then I have a hoop sitting in my bedroom mocking me.

It seems my place is collecting things at an astonishing rate. Last night it was a robot and its associated parts. And now I have an LED Hula hoop that waits for final adjustments. ... Adjustments that I have no idea how I'll apply with the state the thing is in. But let me say this, the instructions for this Do-It-Yourself project are very very misleading.

It's pretty clear though that without me, that thing would still be a bunch of disjunct parts in a cardboard box. A 50 dollar paper weight And if it never works.. it will be a fabulous night light wall ornament.