Thinking about...

Guess you can imagine what was on my mind this afternoon.

That, after I read a sign on the cart that said one box of McDonalds fries is equal to 16 rolls... =D

#Expo365

Went to a photo expo this weekend, where the topic was two photo diary projects done in 2010...

Sure hope someday mine is up for show somewhere =D

The Tron Light

I had a problem. I usually work at my PC under low light, to keep the glare from the windows off the screen. And since I have a wireless keyboard which sits on my lap, the shadow from the desk makes it impossible to see the keys. Aside from that they keyboard itself is black, so that doesn't help much.

It makes it annoying to find the PageUp/PageDn keys and tell them apart from Insert and Delete since they're all bunched together. I figured I needed a keyboard light. So I came up with this one. I found some high intensity blue LEDs which seem to tolerate 6V real well, chained them together and put them in a piece of plastic network conduit I had left over. And the Tron lamp was born.

It runs off 4AA batteries, although I've managed to run it just as well off 2 button cells. I like the AA because, according to my calculations, I should get about 15 hours of light before needing to recharge. I doubt I could get that much out of the button cells.

The light is ok. It's not something you'd want to operate someone under, but it's good enough to let you find those lost keys in the dark. I also tried red light, unsuccessfully (LEDs were too dim). White LEDs could be nicer, but they were out of those at the store and you wouldn't get that cool blue glow.

Total cost for the whole thing was about $2. Mainly the LEDs and a couple battery holders. Plastic channel and batteries were free, since I had those around the house.

Squeak Squeak

My bike seat is making this annoying squeaking noise. And it's coming from the seat itself. In fact it's so loud people on the sidewalk notice it as I'm riding past.

Problem is the seat has no moving parts to oil. And I've already taken care of all the pressure joints where things come together, and it still squeaks.

I figure the glue must have come loose somewhere, and when it moves, it makes that squeaking noise. Gonna have to see how much I can take the seat apart in order to get oil into the right place.

So... what's for lunch?

Well, today's post is probably going to sound like something out of a self help book, but what the heck.

So, I came home and opened the refrigerator at 8 PM, to get the ingredients for tomorrow's lunch. And what should I find? Uh... nothing. The chicken I had left out was gone, seems someone had beaten me to it.

I checked the other side of the fridge, and there was chicken there, but it was more like a collection of chicken popsicles. If someone had broken in right at that moment, I could have probably beaten them to death with that frozen chicken.

So in the middle of the dilemma of whether to pack a can of tuna, change out of my pajamas and head out to the supermarket, or stop at the first fast food restaurant I could find on the way to work, I decided, none.

I figured it was better to think outside the box for a second. And so with all the love and care in the world I cut up 3 onions and a bell pepper, ran them through some olive oil and seasonings, and put them on the stove. And 15 minutes later I had myself a heaping bowl of onions and bell pepper. Which in the end turned out to be exactly what I wanted. In fact I had to stop myself from eating it right then and there.

And the chicken can stay in the freezer, for all I care.

I guess the moral of the story is, I like onions. I'm the kind of person who will actually consider eating 3 whole onions for lunch, if they're cooked the way I like them. =)

Lights.... on

And the stoplights are back...

Lights.... off

Yesterday I was coming home and realized that the stoplights at this intersection had turned off. I was kind of expecting them to be fixed this morning, but they weren't.

Riding back in the afternoon, the stoplights still weren't fixed, and everyone was managing to cross in whatever way they could. Personally I decided to walk across, this time.

Palm salad

Came home and found a misplaced jar of heart of palm in the refrigerator. Turned it into a palm salad... problem solved..

Car wash

Went to get my car washed today, finally. Normally I just wash it myself, but today I decided to let the machines do the work.

Beach house

Spent the day designing a beach house. Had a real interesting design going, with a slanted roof designed to capture the afternoon sea breeze and channel it into the living room for natural cooling.

Unfortunately it got tossed because the owner wanted a second floor bedroom. With a deck. Which later got tossed too.

So, in the end, not much of my original self ventilating design is left.

Silent key

Had a run in with an old acquaintance today, maybe not in the way I would have liked though.

Roberto McLean Perez was your version of a modern day DaVinci. He was a lawyer with a PhD, an MBA, an actor... and if it came down to it, he could probably beat the crap out of you any old day, being a 10th dan black belt.

Along the way he made it into ham radio, where our paths crossed a couple times. Then I never saw him again, he got a lead role in a local indie film and from then on, vanished from my scanning ranges.

Until today. It's always sad to see a ham go silent. And to think that every day there's less of us left to fill the airwaves.

I was reading Joe McNally's blog the other day. He had a post on this same subject... only Joe got to speak from up front this time, sadly.

I think it's a post everyone with a camera should read. One of those bits of knowledge that you don't come by so often, and that can really make a difference in how you go about your photos. In retrospect, I wish I had gotten that particular bit a few years back, when McLean was still around.

Traffic

Sometimes traffic makes me very happy about riding a bike to work.

Nemesis

This one's got to be my commuting nemesis. About a year back they repaved the street, marked the manhole for elevation... and they never elevated it. They did the same with 2 other manholes that are further up the hill. And it's located precisely at an intersection where there's always a car or two waiting to turn.

So in the afternoon, in the middle of all that, as you're flying down the hill on your bike if you're not careful you'll hit one of these and do a real nice job on your wheel. Hit it fast and hard enough, and you'll probably have to retrue.

I've learned to avoid them, and now I'm making the turn at the top of the hill and my mind's already going "ok, where's the pothole". So they won't be getting me anytime soon.

New paint job

Look at that, they gave Physics a makeover. Given my short attention span, I figure it probably happened around 6 months ago... and I just happened to notice it today xD

Windmills

Going past the university a few weeks back, I noticed they put up these wind turbine thingies. Looks like some kind of a wind generator to me. Not sure if it's generating or not, at least it's swaying back and forth. I'll have to drop in one of these days and see who's behind this idea...

Get 'em before they're gone

Spent the day photographing more old stuff to sell online. The house remodeling job is supposed to start in February (though I have my doubts), which means I'll need to get all the dust-sensitive electronics out of here. Figure the less I have to carry around, the better.

Trolls

And there's another troll that seems to mess up my house every so often as well.

Paperwork

Isn't it surprising how you clean up your desk, and 2 days later the papers have all magically come back? It's like there's a troll that comes by at night and puts new papers in your inbox, and shuffles the rest on the way out.

Christmas decorations

And they're still holding out on taking down the Christmas decorations at the office...

iPod shopping

Went ipod shopping for a friend today. She didn't know enough about ipods to pick one out... I knew even less, but was willing to read up on the subject, so I got the task assigned to me in the end.

Clouds

The clouds made for some interesting pictures today.

New jacket

Got a new jacket today. Unfortunately so did everyone else who works in engneering, all over town. It's going to be interesting the day we all meet up at a project wearing the same jacket =D

Volcano trekking 2

More volcano trekking today... took a good 2 hour long walk around the park, but, the clouds still didn't get off the volcano.

Volcano trekking 1

Did some volcano trekking today. First stop on the trip went great... not a cloud in sight at the crater.

Second stop wasn't so hot. Spent all night waiting, and in the end the clouds didn't clear up. Visiting a volcano here is like that, a hit or miss kind of thing. You can make the 5 hour drive in the middle of the dry season, only to find the clouds aren't going away anytime soon.

End of the C385

Well, that's the end of my Motorola C385. It's been stuck in a drawer for about 5 years now just in case I should need it. I decided to try it out this morning, and found the battery was dead and wouldn't charge anymore.

Unfortunately stores don't carry C385 replacement parts anymore, and it's less expensive to get a new phone than a new battery off the internet.

So I guess it's end of story for my old phone.

Detour

Took a detour off my usual bike route today, to see what was going on at the flag...

I wonder

I wonder if anyone's actually managed to get smacked by one of those things by walking underneath it and thinking it's going to detect them.

Keeps going, and going and going...

Either the gratuitous amounts of caffeine during the holiday break caught up with me, or getting back to the office after 10 days off freaked me out. Because it was 12 AM and I was still going, and going and going...

And that's a wrap

And, with this one, I declare my holidays officially over...

Hill climbing

Took an alternate route home today, had to do quite a bit of hill climbing. The problem wasn't really the hills being steep, but rather them being long. The downhill part was pretty fun, I managed to hit 45 Kph before having to tap the brakes on a blind turn. I figure I could have hit 50, but during rush hour I'd rather skip that trial =)

And this is where 2011 starts

And this is where my year starts off. Downtown, looking for an interesting photograph a little while before sundown. Funny thing, I have yet to find a place that offers a nice panoramic view of the downtown area and doesn't require 50 releases and permits to let you in.

Summer seems to be back, I hope. Not a hint of a drizzle the whole day today. Temps are back around 20C, and I can finally walk around the house without that huge winter coat.. In fact this morning I actually had to get out of bed and open up a window... it was that hot.

Tomorrow's the last day before I have to hit the office again on Monday. Gotta find a way to make the most of it.