Daddy did something incredible and isolated a problem with the inverter for the broken LCD monitor, which enabled the broken component to be replaced by an unlicensed professional working out of an unventilated solder trap of a storefront.
Here is a snapshot of daddy’s progress before Max came over to assault with a cup of yogurt:
Category: Photos
Adam in the The Herald Monterey County
His project at the Monterey Bay Aquarium hooks up disabled kids with a diving experience – how cool!
Full article here: Disabled children explore underwater wonders at Monterey aquarium
Damn, I still can’t believe my little brother and sister are working at the aquarium – it was such a big part of our lives from when we were little…
Rain no come
We did everything in our powers to make the rain come today: Washed both cars, watered the garden and lawn, and even washed the old motorbike. It never came, though. Usually just washing one car this time of year is enough to make it rain on the spot. We stop trying to keep the cars clean during this 2 or 3 month period, because it’s impossible to keep it that way for more than a day, usually.
Oh well, Max had fun all day and is sleeping now.
Pink Magic Window
My dad sent my sister’s favorite old toy in a care package. I wanted to look it up on the net but I couldn’t think of what it might be called or even how to describe it. Luckily, the product name was molded into the clear plastic case in very small raised lettering, “MAGIC WINDOW.” Behold our glow-in-the-dark model Wham-o Magic Window:
Of course I had to take some shots in the dark:
And then I had a moment of inspiration, but had only one window to take long exposures without waking baby or mommy:
I am taking very special care of this new/old toy. I don’t know where or when my sister got it, but it was probably made in 1974 or 1975.
FYI, it’s currently worth about $80 to $100 on eBay.
Home Alone with Max
The nanny took the day off today and mommy had a meeting from the afternoon, so MAx and daddy stayed home and played all day. The highlight if the day was letting Max eat yogurt by himself on the front porch and then hosing it off afterward.
It’s been rainy recently but in between storms the sky can be quite dramatic. Here’s a couple shots from not too long ago:
Sunday Backup Organization
Max and mommy went to his grandparent’s house so daddy took the time to organize five years of DVD (originally all DVD-R but more recently DVD+R for Improved! Error! Correction!; everything important is on genuine “That’s” brand Taiyo Yuden 16x media, everything else is on TDK or SONY 8x or 16x [end historical optical media note]) backups.
I must say, we are in a fairly sucklical state of backup media at this point in history. Optical media like CDs and DVDs (and presumably BluRay Disks as well) apparently degrades in a matter of a few years in extreme cases, and keeping things on a form of media (HDs) that constantly spins at thousands of rpm and can die at any moment can hardly be considered a safe archival system.
WANT INVINCIBLE 100TB NAS TO FALL FROM SKY ONTO MY HOME NETWORK LOLZR!!!
Spark Plug Art
After having the baby, I ran out of money to complete my list of thing to do with the Kujira Crown. Since I reverted to stock tires I alleviated bottoming out problems and can hence wait on any suspension upgrades. She needs to be stripped and repainted, though, before the rust gets too bad. I don’t think of it as overly humid here (compared to Japan or even Bangkok), but paint started flaking off as I used the Kuj every day and rust started appearing in those places as well as under the paint in some spots.
Additional victims to the humidity were my plugs. Behold:
I can’t even believe the car was still running – I noticed sputtering on the low end and suspected the plugs since they were the only consumables I hadn’t changed – but there was no indication that they had degraded this much. This car is a witch. And now she runs so smoothly…
Pond Scum Soup
It doesn’t sound or look appetizing, but it was actually pretty good.
On Sunday we went to an outdoor market in a park downtown where many fresh produce vendors gather. It’s an excellent place to find strange new (to me anyway) fruits and veggies, and sometimes even plants for our garden. This day proved to be no exception and we found a lady selling what looked like Japanese aojiru powder (green juice powder made from barley and other healthy crap) from a bucket. Upon closer inspection the granules were too large to be aojiru and were also quite damp. The old lady didn’t really explain what it was that well to Nam, so we had our nanny go ask. Nanny already knew what it was and said she could prepare a soup with it, so I of course bought some, about a pound, for 15 Baht (45 cents).
It turned out to be some kind of vegetation that grows on the surface of a pond, or as I like to call it, pond scum.
The soup she made was quite good; it smelled pleasant and tasted hearty with a hint of lemongrass, and the texture of the scum was like miniature flying fish roe, or soft grains of sand. Nanny said it would have been better if she’d had pork belly to add to it, but really, what food couldn’t benefit from some pork belly?
Max is almost walking by himself
Although in this photo, he’s just omnomnomnom.
Mommy and I sit on the floor a few feet apart and make him walk alone back and fourth, and he does that just fine… But he’s not quite comfortable walking instead of crawling yet. Friends tell me that any spare time I’ve enjoyed while the baby’s awake will no longer exist after he learns to walk.