The past six weeks have flown by, and I don’t feel I have accomplished very much. I need to improve, stat!
Note: I started writing this entry at the end of Week 6, in early June. I then lost the text and several more weeks passed, so I wrote a (brief) new version, Scorecard: year 2, weeks 1–10. The below text wasn’t supposed to be final, but I’m just posting it as is.
I’ve done a horrible job promptly completing my weekly reviews in conjunction with my second “12 Week Year“, but I have not given up. This is going to be a cursory attempt at covering the last 10 weeks, not only because 10 weeks is a long time to remember all the details for, but also because I seem to have lost (Update: now found) what of this entry I had started writing a few weeks ago. Sometimes doing thing over results in better work, but I find that isn’t the case when I don’t want to be doing the work in the first place. Ideally I want to spend more time reviewing, but I’m a bit behind as it is.
Scores through Week 10 of Year 2
A few weeks ago, when configuring my server to host my mom’s new business website, I finally looked into Let’s Encrypt and decided to go with it. The service provides an automated way to install and update SSL certificates for HTTPS website hosting. Previously I had been using the free-ish certificates from StartCom.
I had trouble getting out of bed this morning, as I planned to go for an 18 mile run, but wanted to wait till I pooped. I had some Greek yogurt and honey, and then a granola bar, and after a couple of hours, I still couldn’t go.
I …
To improve the readability of the body text in my posts, I use Markdown as much as possible. When uploading and inserting images using Movable Type’s editor, the result is a jumble of image tags all on one line containing extra information I don’t need. I finally took 10 minutes to fix this, making it output Markdown instead.
A few weeks ago, Tyler told me to look out for some contact lenses that would be delivered here, for he desperately needed them for his last month living in Europe. I was glad to be able to help, but it didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped.
The United Kingdom wanted a piece of this action and put a "Customs Fee to Pay" sticker on the package.
A month ago I wrote a sort of history of my years of friendship with someone suffering with manic bipolar disorder. I concluded “Mania de Mayo” with a comment on my tiredness and a hopefully sarcastic comment about the type of friend I am. Not much good has happened since then regarding my friend, it seems to me, and his new friends along with some old are now organizing for a possible impending psychotic episode.
I never cared to have display ads on my website, as it doesn’t cost very much in server power and mostly serves as my own personal archive. Also, I only get a few thousand page views a month. That’s more than I would guess an inconsistent blog with no target audience would get, but certainly not enough to make much money on ads. I’m going to try it out, though, mostly just to see how many pennies it yields.
I installed Google AdSense ads on my blog." class="mt-image-none" height="1389
As explained in the first entry, I bought a microscope mostly so I could look for tardigrades, aka water bears, and hopefully make lovely videos of them. Within hours of getting my scope set up, I managed to find some!
Isolated tardigrade: My first attempt at finding tardigrades and putting them on a slide, using an OMAX M837ZL microscope. This is using a 40X objective and a 14MP camera at the smallest video setting, 1024x822, for faster frame rate.
The microscope I bought arrived, and I spent a day getting familiar with it and the lenses. I was generally pleased, but ended up buying a bunch of new objectives and condensers to see if I could get better images. This post is regarding the initial purchase except the images at the end featuring the darkfield condenser.
First test of the OMAX M837ZL microscope, looking at some local moss associated cells.
It took me a while to locate the manual for my new microscope. I was not surprised to have trouble since the lone Amazon review warned of no manual being provided and a broken link, but it was more difficult than I thought it would be to find the manual online.
My OMAX M837ZL microscope came with a broken CD, but luckily I was still able to get the files off.
As an early birthday present to myself, I bought a microscope despite many other priorities. I’ve spent a few days using it over the past two weeks, and while I have mixed feelings, I don’t regret the purchase.
While waiting for the microscope to be delivered, I searched for moss in the park that overlooks my house from above.
I enjoyed reading a recent Bloomberg article, “How Intel Makes a Chip“. The comparison of processors versus airliners was eye opening, and I loved some of the jargon used within Intel.
I’ve been getting acquainted with my new microscope and its digital camera software. I initially decided to buy a microscope based mostly on the USB camera resolution finally exceeding a few megapixels without costing thousands of dollars. After these tests, it looks like I may end up not using the USB camera much after all, due to difficulty getting the colors right. Thankfully I decided to try a Nikon SLR adapter, as photos through that look much better!
Stage micrometer viewed through a Meiji plan 40X NA0.65 (spring) 160/0.17 objective lit through an OMAX dry brightfield Abbe NA1.25 condenser captured by a Nikon D800 with AmScope 2X SLR camera adapter
I am me! I’m also a scientist minded software engineer who loves reading, running, listening to music, and recording photos and videos and data of all sorts. After earning a biochemistry degree, I lived in San Francisco and Tokyo, and now I find it difficult to stay put. Read more about me and my online life.
SF: 87% complete; Oakland: 27%
San Francisco Bay Area running progress
Charlie says: “What a wonderful region!”
30 November 2022
In-N-Out Burger (Fast Food Restaurant)
333 Jefferson St , San Francisco , CA
Charlie says: “It was super hot and we got a taste for salty fries, but by the time we walked there it dropped 35° and was cold. Still tasted good!”
28 September 2020 at 20:32
Taqueria Zorro (Mexican Restaurant)
308 Columbus Ave , San Francisco , CA
Charlie says: “Restaurants are hoppin’ around here, feels weird.”
26 September 2020 at 19:42
碼頭老火鍋 (Hotpot Restaurant)
仁愛路四段409-1號 , Da’an District , T’ai-pei Shih
Charlie says: “Delicious spicy hot pot with Harry. I am so full!!”
25 March 2020 at 08:40
桶好呷滷味 (Asian Restaurant)
, Taipei
Charlie says: “We pick a representative set of ingredients and they build out the rest into a braised soup like thing over noodles.”
23 March 2020 at 06:46
Addiction Aquatic Development (上引水產) (Fish Market)
民族東路410巷2弄18號 , Taipei
Charlie says: “Standing sushi bar at a fish market.”
21 March 2020 at 07:03
ACME Breakfast CLUB (Breakfast Spot)
3F., No. 10, Ln. 27, Chengdu Rd., , Taipei
Charlie says: “Brunch w/ Shawn! Was tempted to get the avocado toast kind of as a joke since I never get it in SF, but resisted, sourdough was good. :-)”
20 March 2020 at 22:27
三甲和風創意料理 (Japanese Restaurant)
Charlie says: “Late dinner with Shawn, at a lovely place!”
20 March 2020 at 09:28
中央藝文公園 Central Culture Park (Park)
北平東路與紹興北街口 , Taipei
Charlie says: “Social distance.”
20 March 2020 at 03:42
虎頭山環保公園 (Scenic Lookout)
Charlie says: “Exploring the hillside in Taoyuan City.”
14 March 2020 at 23:49
Abura-Ya (Japanese Restaurant)
362 17th St , Oakland , CA
Charlie says: “Dinner with Beam before Sarah McLachlan!”
24 February 2020 at 18:55
