Trinket EDC Contest Entry: Can I Borrow A Feeling?

We got a case of the Mondays just reading about [Sascha]’s work environment. Get this: every morning, first thing, the whole team gets together to check in and share how they’re all feeling. And they can’t even be candid about it—there’s actually an approved list of feeling descriptors, both good and bad. It’s an admittedly big list that includes, interestingly enough, both ‘tortured’ and ’embarrassed’. Yeah. We think something like group t’ai chi on the roof each morning sounds a lot more relaxing. Since [Sascha] is between a rock and a hard place on this one, it was time to let chance take over. He raised his HaD-imprinted Trinket skyward and Can I Borrow a Feeling? was born.

The gist is simple: [Sascha] abstracts his disposition out to either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and pushes the corresponding button. The Trinket accesses an array and returns a randomly selected feeling to the LCD. Since the official list of feelings is about 300 words long, [Sascha] has to push the data into PROGMEM. He used good old Excel to split the list in twain, and her formulas came in very handy for centering the result on the LCD. Once [Sascha] knew how it would all fit together, he designed a cool enclosure in CorelDRAW and turned on the laser cutter. See the Spreadsheet of Acceptable Words for yourself on GitHub, and pick up the code and enclosure file while you’re there.

There’s still time to enter the Trinket Everyday Carry Contest.  The main contest runs until January 2, but we’re having random drawings every week! Don’t forget to write a project log before the next drawing at 9pm EST on Tuesday, December 30th. You and all of the other entrants have a chance to win a Teensy 3.1 from The Hackaday Store!

11 thoughts on “Trinket EDC Contest Entry: Can I Borrow A Feeling?

  1. I’m guessing I’m not the only one curious about the “appoved emotion list”, so here it is:

    irritated, enraged, bitter, aching, victimized, heartbroken, agonized, appalled, humiliated, wronged, alienated, incapable, alone, aggressive, paralyzed, fatigued, useless, inferior, vulnerable, empty, forced, despair, frustrated, resentful, distressed, woeful, pathetic, tragic, in a stew, dominated, tearful, sorrowful, grief, inflamed, anguish, desolate, desperate, unhappy, lonely, grieved, mournful, dismayed, provoked, incensed, infuriated, cross, worked up, boiling, hostile, fuming, indignant, insensitive, dull, nonchalant, neutral, reserved, weary, bored, preoccupied, insulting, cold, disinterested, lifeless, lousy, disappointed, discouraged, ashamed, powerless, diminished, guilty, sore, dissatisfied, miserable, detestable, repugnant, despicable, disgusting, abominable, terrible, in despair, sulky, annoyed, bad, A sense of loss, fearful, terrified, suspicious, anxious, alarmed, panic, nervous, scared, worried, frightened, timid, shaky, restless, threatened, cowardly, quaking, menaced, hateful, wary, uncertain, indecisive, perplexed, embarrassed, shy, stupefied, unpleasant, disillusioned, unbelieving, skeptical, distrustful, misgiving, lost, unsure, uneasy, tense, offensive, crushed, tormented, deprived, tortured, dejected, rejected, injured, offended, afflicted, understanding, reliable, easy, amazed, sympathetic, interested, receptive, accepting, kind, loving, considerate, affectionate, sensitive, tender, devoted, attracted, passionate, admiration, warm, touched, sympathy, close, loved, comforted, drawn toward, great, gay, joyous, lucky, fortunate, delighted, overjoyed, gleeful, thankful, important, festive, ecstatic, glad, cheerful, sunny, merry, elated, jubilant, concerned, affected, fascinated, intrigued, absorbed, inquisitive, nosy, snoopy, engrossed, curious, playful, courageous, energetic, liberated, provocative, frisky, animated, spirited, thrilled, wonderful, eager, keen, earnest, intent, anxious, inspired, determined, excited, enthusiastic, bold, brave, daring, challenged, re-enforced, hopeful, calm, peaceful, at ease, comfortable, pleased, encouraged, clever, surprised, content, quiet, relaxed, serene, free and easy, bright, blessed, reassured, sure, rebellious, unique, dynamic, tenacious, hardy, secure

    I’d think this pretty much explains the motivation for this project…

    1. Er, “dynamic”?
      What kind of emotion is that? Is that supposed to be good?

      I suspect if I’d been made to do that I’d have been taken to HR for an overly negative attitude :-)

      Oh, merry Christmas (bah, humbug)

      1. LOL! It’s an odd list. I’ve been having these morning meetings for 2 years now and it still feels as contrived as it did when it was first introduced into the organisation and some days it’s virtually impossible to take seriously. Hopefully the rest of the team will see the humor in this :)

  2. This reminds me of a therapy session I had in college. The therapist showed me a list similar to this and explained to me that men have a harder time expressing their feelings than women do. I didn’t really think much of it then, but now that I just read each one separately, while trying to think of times in my life that I had felt that emotion (some never), it actually started to affect me emotionally in that way. For instance, reading through the negative words made me sad, but as I moved through to the more positive words I started to feel a lot better. Sure I can see how one would discount what the office is trying to do, but telling your coworkers that your “good” is really just a standard cop out that everyone is guilty of. Good hack, though. (Hmmm..I may need more therapy.)

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