Educator. Engineer. Experimenter.
After a long, COVID-induced wait, we finally took our trip to Japan! It was a real pleasure shepherding my family across Tokyo and Kyoto. I myself would have preferred to visit the Tohoku region this time, but it’s essential to visit Tokyo and Kyoto at least once (this being their first time to Japan). My…
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…
We visited the Palm Beach Zoo on the way back from our stay at the Waldorf Astoria in Boca Raton. It’s a beautiful little zoo/conservatory located in a public park near West Palm Beach. There was no wait when we showed up (mid-morning). It has 4 main walkable areas, some larger than others. They have…
Shared a cabin with my buddy Shane at Silver Springs State Park, “gateway to Ocala National Forest.” Their cabins are sometimes hard to come by, and he found a last minute opening. It was one of the last good weather weekends of the year (for us in Florida). We didn’t do the typical glass-bottom boat…
Today we toured Penang Nursery with its owner, Mr. Lo, an acquaintance through the Orlando Chinese Association. They are located in Apopka, FL, specializing in indoor plants and wholesaling to all major stores including Home Depot, Lowes, Aldi, etc. They are also open to the public.
Tonight we dined at the historic Half-Way House Restaurant, located in North Chesterfield, VA, halfway between Richmond and Petersburg. Though easily overlooked today, it was once a mainstay for anyone traveling south of Richmond by carriage, and was an official change and rest stop for Petersburg Coach. The restaurant was built in 1760 on a…
While in San Diego for an SPIE conference (presenting this paper), I took some time to see various sites. See my posts on the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and the USS Midway Museum. The Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego offers vibrant streets and plenty of restaurants, bars, clubs, and shops. Balboa Park is…
Today, we visited the Maritime Museum of San Diego, located right on the water in San Diego Bay. It is comprised of 10 or so ships wet-docked and lashed together for you to explore. They have some beautiful ships here with lots of history, including: the still active barque The Star of India, a replica…
The USS Midway aircraft carrier was opened to the public in 2004 as a wet-docked military museum in the San Diego Bay. It was the longest serving aircraft carrier of the 20th century (1945-1992) with a complement of 4000+ men and women. Today, hundreds of volunteers (many of them retired military) keep it in good…
Last week I finally sailed on a tall ship, something I’ve been yearning to do for 10 years now. My god it was fantastic!! So authentic, romantic, and exciting all at the same time, nothing compares to it. Except perhaps sailing on an even bigger, older tall ship (something I intend to do). The creaking…