I spent a little time today to start a new Arduino sketch in order to clean up the code and slowly organize things. I added a commented out To Do list at the very top. Ironic, since I'm using a digital checklist to manage the creation of another digital checklist. I wish this project was done already so I could start using it... I created the custom check mark character for the 16x2 LCD shield and it looks fantastic. I still haven't gotten the function to toggle the check mark working yet, but I have one to work with. I'm using some code for menus that I found online, but I don't really like it. The example provided works, but not very well. I can scroll left and right between lists, and up and down between 2 items within a list, but that's about it. The list items are hard coded into If statements, which is a nightmare to think about with longer lists. I need an array of lists items that are tied to each list, and can be operated through with a button press. Shouldn't be too difficult to set up. I just have to sit down and lay out the entire workflow and then code it. I'm pretty bad at coding, but good enough to slowly piece things together. If I were a proper programmer, which enough experience, I could probably have this done in a single day. I also got the backlight control working, and discovered that many of these LCD keypad shields have a flaw that can draw tons of current from the Arduino pin and burn the processor out. I found code to test for this, but it's usage was none obvious and the documentation seemed to assume you already know how to use it, which I hate. I'm aware of the problem and will deal with it should it arise. For now, I can at least run a timer in the backlight that turns off the backlight after a set delay. It occurs to me now that I'll need a settings menu to adjust the backlight timeout, among other settings.

Something else that occured to me just now is that I'll have to store persistent data in the EEPROM directly, so changes won't be lost if power is lost. This is fairly easy to do, but I have to remember to do it. My old Arduino water heater co troller has this feature and it was awesome.

After the coding is done, I'll need a battery for the prototype device so I can take it with me and use it out in the real world. I'm thinking of looking for some sort of small USB battery bank that I could strap to the device and just leave plugged into t it at all times. It will be a very bulky and heavy device, but will work.

I have much work to do on this project, but I am making progress. I've had a fair bit of interest in this project over the years, and it's a device is use every day if it is done well. So far progress has been very good lately. I hope to have the core navigation features implemented by end of day tomorrow. I'm exhausted tonight and am off to bed early. It's new board game day and today's new game is The Spill, a game about managing the disaster that is a leaking oil drilling rig in the ocean, as it pollutes the water and poisons marine life. Quite a lovely looking game. I am too tired to even play that tonight. A busy but good day.