The EPIC WIN Thread 3: SON OF EPIC

Happy (I try to stay positive even when it seems overwhelming)
Excellent (at Mario Kart - its how I won my husband over I'm sure)
Artistic (at least I certainly try with my photos)
Thankful (for my family)
Hopeful (that my health will improve)
Excited (to edit today's pictures)
Resilient (arthritis sucks and I'm trying to do the best with what I've got)

No way was I going to try that with Squidleybits :D
 

Dave

Staff member
Dave doesn't do poems.
Are these rally poems, though?
Very likely they are not.
I don't think so, at least.
Dave doesn't do poems.
 
Guess who's going to have a Foreign exchange student from Denmark with them next school year? This guy. btw, for no reason what so ever, anyone want to let me know about the mannerisms of people from Denmark?
From my (limited) experience of working with the intended parents from our surrogacy, Danes are some of the friendliest folks. Intelligent, well-spoken, crafty, and ridiculously good-looking. The father looked like a redheaded Charlie Hunnam, which my wife had NO problems with. His wife was more like... Scarlett Johansson's older, less popular but still cute sister.
 
Went to Universal Studios for the first time over the weekend! :heart:

I went with a few friends for one's birthday - we went for Wizarding World. But it was all great! We had so much fun wandering around and the food. THE FOOD. I want to go back for that alone. I felt really lucky in that everything worked in our favor. The lines were great all day, we managed to see everything we wanted, had no trouble at the airport and I got to spend time with one of my cosplay friends who I don't get to see often (she let Nate and I crash at her place for the few days we were there). Anyway, it was just happy times and I'm glad I got to go and have a break from life here. =^^=
 
Way way back in 2003, when I was a condo-owner back in the so-called "civilized" part of this state, I took out a line of credit so I could purchase a new car.

Because of various things over the years, I tapped into that Home Equity line a bit too much, and still had a balance when we sold the condo. Fortunately, my credit union converted it to a personal loan (thank God for knowing the bank president by name), and I carried it up here to the great north woods.


I just made the last payment on it today. :)
 
Went on a 44km (!!!) bike ride today. I'm exhausted, but I loved every minute of it. I actually listened to an audiobook for the whole ride.

The book I listened to for the almost 3-hour ride? Ernest Cline's READY PLAYER ONE, read by Wil Wheaton. Great companion for a long ride!

Tonight, I'll probably dream of going on a long bike ride with Wil Wheaton. Come to think of it, he'd probably make great biking company.

As for the book itself, I'm greatly enjoying it. It's basically written specifically for 80s kids like me.
 
Went on a 44km (!!!) bike ride today. I'm exhausted, but I loved every minute of it. I actually listened to an audiobook for the whole ride.

The book I listened to for the almost 3-hour ride? Ernest Cline's READY PLAYER ONE, read by Wil Wheaton. Great companion for a long ride!

Tonight, I'll probably dream of going on a long bike ride with Wil Wheaton. Come to think of it, he'd probably make great biking company.

As for the book itself, I'm greatly enjoying it. It's basically written specifically for 80s kids like me.
Wow, I'm really impressed. I get winded on a 44km car ride!

Also, I do most of my book reading by audiobook these days, mostly while driving or working nights, and I really want to get into Ready Player One, but as much as I love Wil Wheaton, I cannot stand his narration. I don't know why, I like listening to the guy, I love the podcasts he does, but I can't stand having him narrate a story in my ear. It makes no sense.
 
Wow, I'm really impressed. I get winded on a 44km car ride!

Also, I do most of my book reading by audiobook these days, mostly while driving or working nights, and I really want to get into Ready Player One, but as much as I love Wil Wheaton, I cannot stand his narration. I don't know why, I like listening to the guy, I love the podcasts he does, but I can't stand having him narrate a story in my ear. It makes no sense.
Honestly, though this is my first time "reading" this book, I think his narration perfectly suits the tone. The main character is a huge video game and 80s trivia nerd, to the point of getting into really silly arguments over said trivia. All the characters talk like huge nerds getting into childish arguments in chat rooms. Or, you know, here. :p And thanks to Wheaton's sarcastic tone, his narration works really well with that.
 
Wow, I'm really impressed. I get winded on a 44km car ride!

Also, I do most of my book reading by audiobook these days, mostly while driving or working nights, and I really want to get into Ready Player One, but as much as I love Wil Wheaton, I cannot stand his narration. I don't know why, I like listening to the guy, I love the podcasts he does, but I can't stand having him narrate a story in my ear. It makes no sense.
I agree, and I think it mostly has to do with the cadence he uses when he reads.
 
Made the final payment on our credit card debt. We have been working on this ever since I lost my job and went back to school 8 years ago. I am in awe, and I can't say how glad I am this noose is finally removed from my neck. Back then it built up to $11,000, which is a crazy amount of money when you figure in interest. Last year it was roughly $5,000. Today, we are finally free.
 
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I took a risk and bought a third party used thermal image camera from Amazon. It was listed at over half off and the seller was brand new with no reviews selling only this one high value item, so I figured it would be a scam.

It wasn't a scam. I got a $999 Flir E4 with calibration certificate, looks brand new, including the original cardboard box and all cables and manuals that hadn't been touched. All the serial numbers match between the box, calibration cert, and device itself. Not only that, but the hack I was going to use to turn it into the $4,000 version of the thermal camera may have already been applied. Also we are having our eighth boy in September so the only girl has someone to pick on. I learned that glass acts as a mirror (minus 20C) to long wave infrared, which is something I hadn't understood before. I can see studs through the wall. I can take the temperature of my kids from across the room. Find overloaded circuit breakers. See which mobile devices are charging. Find shorted components on circuit boards.

So I essentially got a $3,999 Flir E8 camera for $460. This will be used characterize and calibrate a custom thermal grill I'm building for a neurosurgeon at the university of Michigan doing some CT scan studies on human pain response. Of course it will continue to serve me in other ways, but it's this project that justifies and pays for it.
 
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Our circuit breaker box and nearby components aren't having any issues:
FLIR0003.jpg



Look carefully and you can see the studs. This is from outside the house, and it's about 10 degrees warmer in the house than outside. The studs transfer heat better than the insulation, so they show up as warmer than the portions inbetween.
FLIR0011.jpg



This is when I found that windows become mirrors at this wavelength. A rare selfie:
FLIR0020.jpg


This is a circuit at work. That orange in the upper left is two resisters, one of which hit over 300C while we were testing - much warmer than the engineer who designed it expected it to be. Changes will be made...
FLIR0029.jpg


I knew the electrical boxes at work aren't balanced, but it's still surprising to see such a difference. The bright orange breaker is a double 20 amp breaker and runs all the lights in the shop area, as well as a few other circuits as lazy people have tapped off of the light circuit.
FLIR0033.jpg


It doesn't have all the menus I'd expect the hacked version to have, though, but the resolution certainly seems better than 80x60. I've been able to easily see hot wires at a distance with it, which shouldn't happen with the lower resolution. I'll look into it later, perhaps, some of the modes only available in the E8 are interesting...
 
This is a circuit at work. That orange in the upper left is two resisters, one of which hit over 300C while we were testing - much warmer than the engineer who designed it expected it to be. Changes will be made...
Who could that be, I wonder?

I don't have a FLIR camera, nor do I really have a use for one at the moment.
I'm still jealous, though.

--Patrick
 
Who could that be, I wonder?

I don't have a FLIR camera, nor do I really have a use for one at the moment.
I'm still jealous, though.

--Patrick
Fortunately not me! Though technically that's not a work project either, it's a rectifier for a tesla coil he and I are building.

If you're lucky you'll hear us playing music on two tesla coils in the near future...
 
Weeeee! It's my anniversary today! >_< Our anniversary is always weird to me because Nate and I have been together so much longer than we've been married. 11 years vs. 5 years. But I'm excited. :heart: No one else knows me as completely as he does and that feels nice, to have someone so fully on my side.
 
Weeeee! It's my anniversary today! >_< Our anniversary is always weird to me because Nate and I have been together so much longer than we've been married. 11 years vs. 5 years. But I'm excited. :heart: No one else knows me as completely as he does and that feels nice, to have someone so fully on my side.
im sure none of that is made easier by the fact that your adorable and a super person on top of it. :3
 
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