Twitter: @joegrand
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/JoeGrand
Web: www.grandideastudio.com
As an electronics hobbyist and aspiring engineer in the late 1990s, I looked forward to seeing the Parallax advertisements on the back cover of Nuts & Volts every month. It was a dream of mine to have them sell one of my yet-to-be-designed products. In 2003, I created the Emic Text-to-Speech Platform and handled the design, manufacturing, and sales. One day, I received a phone call from Jon McPhalen (AKA JonnyMac), longtime author and Parallax contributor, who wanted to put me in touch with Ken Gracey. I played it cool (or so I thought), talked with Ken, and thus began a lifelong relationship with The Graceys and the rest of the Parallax Family.
From there led to multiple other collaborations, like our family of RFID Modules, GPS Receiver, Laser Range Finder, and the JTAGulator, a low-level hardware evaluation tool reminiscent of Parallax’s early offerings. Of course, I’ve also used Parallax products in a bunch of my own projects, including nearly every episode of Prototype This (Discovery Channel), a controller for a crosswalk sign, an automatic toilet flusher, a camera interface for a Nintendo Game Boy Printer, and even a mischievous device that displays a fake Blue Screen of Death.
I have fond memories of visiting Parallax over the years, attending the Propeller Chip Training, Official Propeller Conference, and multiple iterations of the Unofficial Propeller Expo West. Parallax has accomplished so much in their 35 years, not just from a technical perspective, but by forming and fostering a community of passionate users. It’s hard to imagine what the next 35 years will bring, but I’m sure it will be great!
Joe Grand
Grand Idea Studio
