Repairing the hand:

• Insulated all top-side strain gauge areas with primer and paint.
• Put down a layer of glue and let it partially dry
• Attached strain gauges to sticky surfaces and let dry a bit more.
• Added a second coat of glue on top of the strain gauges.
• Will add one more layer of glue tomorrow when current glue is completely dry.

Computer controlled amplifier:

• Found a cheaper and most likely better way to convert usb to i2c:  http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R286-USB-I2C.html
• Drivers and example software can be found here: http://www.robot-electronics.co.uk/htm/usb_i2c_tech.htm
• Found out that qucs and spice are really designed to test integrated circuits you want to make.  This is why I was having trouble finding models of various ICs.  However I am pretty sure in qucs you can package modules and link them together, so it may still be possible to model macro circuits.  I will look more deeply into this tomorrow.
• Learned that an i2c bus  does not need any switches to route its message.  All message routing is dependent on the i2c slave devices hardware address set on the IC.
• I think the device above produces a strong enough signal to control multiple devices without having external power introduced to the bus.  Adding this to my questions for Clift.
• The variable amplifier has two power inputs and two grounds.  One pair is for the i2c controller the other is for the amplifier.
• The usb device outputs 5v at 70ma.  This maybe enough for the i2c controller but probably not enough for the amplifier.
• USB devices only output 100ma so anything you want to power via usb can only add up to this much. I am pretty sure the reason why a regulated power supply like the one we have can power many things at a constant voltage is because it varies the current by the resistance of the connected devices.