Category: Experiences
Things I’ve done, how it went, and how it made me feel.
-
Playing with a Power Meter
I bought a outlet power meter from Amazon — the kind where you plug-through the device to reach to the actual outlet — and the device measures energy usage. This particular one has the basics: power (kWh), current (A), AC voltage (V, presumably rms), and a couple oddities like power factor and energy cost that…
-
Comitting Life to Memory
As we grow older, time moves faster because we have fewer novel experiences per unit of time. Also, each day we experience is increasingly less significant to us if we think of each day as equally impactful. It seems inevitable that time moves faster and faster for the rest of our days. Why? The reality…
-
The Sad State of Consumer IPv6
IPv6 on home routers is in a sorry, sorry state. I got the itch to learn IPv6 networking and started with testing several high-end home routers to see which units might best meet my educational and experimental needs. I figured that once I identified a solid fit, my new (potentially used, but new-to-me) device would…
-
Caribbean Cruise: Winter 2023
Hello world! It’s been some time because the whole family’s been out of the country on a luxury cruise. I’m not dead. We left on November 28th on the Norwegian Pearl and returned on December 9th. Overall, it was a very positive experience even though we had a few extra guests that we didn’t plan…
-
From SBC to Mini PC
Hardware matters, but software matters so much more. Easy as Pi For years software support, documentation, and the surrounding community of hobbyists made the Raspberry Pi outstandingly popular to the point of techno-culture phenomenon. The Raspberry Pi 5 was released earlier this year, but supply issues continue such that a casual purchase today won’t be…
-
Are Snails Bugs?
What follows is a complete list of all animals I have observed from my window: It appears that animals fall into three distinct categories: feathered, hairy, and neither. The snail poses the biggest challenge because it has no legs. It was also the only animal without feathers that lays eggs in my list for almost…
-
Pixel Watch 2
I set some money on fire and went for a Pixel 8 Pro promotion. For a bonus $150 trade-in value on my last generation Pixel 7 Pro, it worked out that I was spending $450 to get an incremental upgrade to the next phone plus a Pixel Watch 2, normally $350. The upgrade also provided…
-
Fall 2023
Yesterday was the first big temperature drop to the area, enough where I felt the first shivers of the approaching chilly season. We don’t experience a proper fall here. Mainly, we have a hot and wet vs a cold and dry season. This is one of the less desirable traits of the area. When I’m…
-
3D Printer Mistakes: Things I Wish I Knew 6 Months Ago
I love 3D printing! However, the love doesn’t come from the result. It comes from the journey, the tinkering, the wrenching and experimenting to find out what works. This article is about what doesn’t work. These were my (sometimes expensive) lessons learned, memorialized here for my better self-education, my bad memory, and just maybe for…
-
Website Stability Woes
This site has been offline for almost a day, and I hadn’t noticed! Luckily, I came here to draft a post about my recent experience with a PHP bug, and I noticed that the page was loading to a white screen. Experience teaches me that the web server Caddy likes to return empty responses when…