Educator. Engineer. Experimenter.
During the pandemic, we often enjoyed the natural springs of Central Florida (near Wekiwa State Park). It was refreshing and healthy to get outside. The water was teeming with life, an inspiration during such a depressing time… In these parts, the water temperature is roughly 72°F year round; so pretty chilly at first but you…
We have only one milkweed plant in our yard, but man is it teeming with life sometimes… monarch butterflies and caterpillars, milkweed bugs, aphids, ladybugs, lizards, etc.
Recently, I replaced 11 windows of various sizes in my in-laws old house. The new windows come from Home Depot and are double-layer, gas-filled, Low-E coated, energy efficiency vinyl windows. In addition to the thermal transfer improvements, the sound dampening is impressive. Overall (with Pro discount) all the windows and materials cost me around $1600…
My new office at Stetson University is so serene and beautiful. I am very lucky (and thankful) to have it. It’s located in the historic Elizabeth Hall right next to Lee Chapel. Whenever I need a break, I can simply turn around and look out onto the beautiful palm courtyard. I can often hear lovely…
Recently, our voluntary neighborhood association looked into restoring the bronze signs that commemorate our historic neighborhood, which inevitably were covered with patina. We looked at various options, but ultimately decided to try restoring them ourselves. I had previously cleaned up a 30 year old bronze memorial in the area, so I had some practice. Below…
Behold, my first attempt at restoring a 30 year old bronze memorial (plaque). It took me a few hours, but I was taking pictures after each stage and waiting for it to dry (and heat up) between coatings. Here are some before and after pics: Patina is an exterior surface change to a…
My in-laws bought a cute but ancient (1940s) house a few years ago, and while the porch looked good from a distance, it was rotted and structurally unsturdy. This year one of the deck boards broke, and it was clear that the whole porch needed to be replaced as soon as possible. So we built…
The stores have no yeast, flour, or baking sheets… It seems we’re all cooking more these days. Here are some of the meals we put together. Kung Pao chicken Pineapple sweet ‘n sour chicken Spicy tofu, mushroom, and lotus dry-pot Lemon parsley chicken and potatoes Callos a la Madrileña (my dad made this) Clam chowder…
The Hubble telescope has been in orbit for 30 years now! NASA post. I put together this minimalist wallpaper to honor the Hubble Deep, Ultra, eXtreme, Frontier Fields Projects, which spanned almost the entire 30 years. I centered this wallpaper on my Desktop with a black background. The image is from the UVUDF project in…
Setup a small above ground pool for my son this summer. He’s a little restless in quarantine 😛