I was excited to try out my next step on Spark Core, but I had to go to Florida. I should mention that it would take a pretty special event to take me from my work, and it certainly was -- it was my best friend's geek wedding. I say geek because it was held at Disney World ... there was a MakerBot at the reception, laser cut souvenirs on the tables, and my friend's bridal dress had an LED lit under skirt with fiber optic flower adornments on the outer skirt. Oh yes, and Mickey and Minnie made a guest appearance at the end in their bridal attire. Did I mention I met a guy that had an embedded RFID tag in his hand, too? I doubt I will ever attend another wedding where I feel so comfortable. 
Anyway, back to Philly and the fun of Spark Core.
I decided to try out some code rather than use the easy method of activating pins using their Tinker app. So, I set up the breadboard and added an LED with a resistor after doing some calculations with my handy Adafruit Circuit Playground App. I was worried I might not have a correct resistor around the house since I often use stitchable RGB LEDs that have built-in resistors. It was good practice, although I can tell that I need a new prescription for my lenses since I now need a magnifying glass to read the color bands on the resistors (#gettingold). Next, I went into the "Build" section on Spark's site. After logging in, I was able to select the example code for blinking an LED.
It was a bit tricky reading the code on my phone because it has the tendency to cut it off. However, after going back and forth on the menu a few times I was able to read it. Similar to Arduino, there is an icon for verification (checkmark) and also an icon for flashing to the controller (bolt). So, it was quite easy to learn. In just a few seconds, the code was loaded and there was a disco on my desk.
Spark Core is really a small slick device. I do think longer code is going to be tricky to enter by phone, so I will have to see if you can load it first through a regular computer and then use the phone to select the new code version for flashing. I'm hoping I'm right about that method. In the meantime, did you notice I didn't use the mustache battery shield? I believe my battery was drained from my last tinkering, so I used the USB cable instead for power. Knowing you probably miss seeing it, I decided that I should leave you with the shield in charging mode. The LEDs are quite adorable. See you next time when I delve into thicker coding.
