>  I am returning to electronics after a 15-year hiatus
>  (kids, career, that kind of thing),

I'm in a similar situation than you. But now I enjoy electronics much more
than
what I did 20 years ago ! Moreover, I have some more money to spend and a
much more
deep insight of what is important and what it is not so I think that I can
take a
much better profit of my (scarce) free time. Microprocessors have evolved a
lot : the
projects I did when I was student or just graduated were most of them
8080-based
(yes, 8080s did once exist !). Do you realize how is it possible to program
a power-
frequency regulator for an electrical company in 16 K of hand made assembler
?
And regulate a power network with it ? and control the electrical energy
exchange
with another country (France in this case) ? Good old times ! ;-)

Now Pics make microprocessor-based projects much more easy to develop and I
like
to take profit of them just for fun and for learning something new.

>  Michael V (I guess I'm showing my age, but I don't *feel* old!)

I am 43 years old. I (sincerely) don't feel old. Of course I would prefer to
be
21 but this is something I cannot change, so I forget it !

I hope you will enjoy your comeback as me. Welcome !

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