Lee.org

Beautiful things come.

Beautiful things go.

The Bay Lights has been running for 10 years. Wow, that’s kind of a long time though it feels like they started just a moment ago.

They are looking to raise $11 million to replace the old ($2 million, I believe) set of lights to last longer and be more illuminatey.

Here is unsolicited phone service advice. (a friend asked me about phone service recommendations and you gain the benefit)

TL;DR: Mint Mobile good. Use the referral code below to save $15.

I’m very happy with my Google Pixel 5, bought used on Swappa.com last year, they’re now available there for ~$130. I’ve been happy with Cricket Wireless for ~5 years. I switched to Mint Mobile a month ago and I’ve found that service is exactly the same as with Cricket but 40% less expensive. Mint uses T-mobile towers while Cricket uses AT&T towers if that matters in your area. About 10 years ago, AT&T had better service in my area than T-Mobile but service has filled in apparently! There’s no way to know how good service is in your house or office, etc… except to ask a friend with the same provider to use their phone in your space, or to just try switching.

After the first 3 months of service, to continue getting the $15/month rate that Ryan Reynolds keeps touting, you’ve got to sign up for a 12-month plan (see image below). I might switch to the mid-priced 6-month service before I do a year of pre-paid service. I use the 10GB/month plan so it’s a little more expensive.

If you use my phone number or this referral code when signing up, you’ll get $15 free money

Actually, I like Mint Mobile better than Cricket because they allow me to use my phone as an internet hotspot and wifi calling works. And the Ryan Reynolds Youtube commercials give me a laugh too. :-)

I’m also very happy with my phone case from Crave

First, we made this on our sidewalk on Tuesday!

Yesterday at College of Marin, we had a bit of rain interspersed with freezing rain! Some of the rain drops left crusty clear specs of ice on my jacket!

And on my way home, a rainbow!

Last night it rained like crazy. At 11pm, a few lightning bolts were so close and the thunder cracked so crisply, shaking the house suddenly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the lightning bolt hit the house itself!

This morning on my way to work over the Richmond bridge, I spied snow on top of Mount Tamalpais!

We got a new Whirlpool refrigerator last week. The light bulbs in it (model w11125625) suck: they have a color temperature of about 7000k and they flicker like crazy (they flicker fast, not everyone can see it, but OMFG I can!).

What is far far worse is that Whirlpool made a proprietary light socket! The socket requires that the bulb be narrow far longer than a regular bulb.

I felt trapped with Whirlpool’s crappy bulbs! After scratching my head and getting a hint from my local hardware store, I was able to fix it. I bought a E26/E27 base adapter to candelabra base adapter. Then I had to take a Dremel tool to the adapter to get it to fit. Then I put a candelabra-base bulb in it. Problem solved.

The light bulb also goes by these model numbers: W10311527, 2260802, W10194423, WPL-4396822

Can I borrow your digital camera with manual controls?

I’m trying to capture something called the phantom array effect using a still camera. This is how some LED lights flicker, making what looks like a series of dots across your vision. I’m working with scientists and regulators to decrease this growing problem in the lighting world. I’m trying to make a compelling demonstration photo but my smartphone won’t do it! Are you bothered by flicker as well? I’d love to hear from you! More.

Milestone! Abigail broke her arm Thursday on the playground at school. She was playing with friends, tripped over a rock and says that she kept herself from hitting her head with her outstretched hand. Yesterday we went to the doctor and got a splint! “I stayed strong when things got tough!”
It is a small but very real buckle fracture at the end of her radius from a “FOSH” Fall with out-stretched hand. She’s to wear her splint nearly all the time for the next several weeks.

My organization, Autistry Studios is trying to get into creating full-color items. Things like: lasercut jigsaw puzzles, other items on wood, t-Shirts and small fabric items, paper greeting cards and such. We want to be able to prototype small runs (<100 items or so) in-house and then consider outsourcing large runs that are profitable.

What couple technologies are best for us? So far, I’ve been considering (silk)screen printing, dye sublimation printing, UV printing (via our local print shop), and gluing photographs to wood.

The internet is full of guides, I’m getting dizzy trying to absorb them all!

I recently discovered a Very Important Thing about Bluetooth audio. If you are playing short audio clips over bluetooth (like for sound effects for a play!) you should know that the Bluetooth connection times-out after about 10 seconds of silence. When you start to play the next sound clip, you’ll lose the first few seconds or so of audio as the connection is re-established.

To fix the problem where you are always losing the first few seconds of audio on Bluetooth, you should play a very low volume sound in the background at all times! Problem Solved!

Tonight was International Night at Abigail’s school. People were asked to bring pot-luck dishes from their culture. I brought Jessup Pizza! It was eaten up in a flash! (yeah, I think the kids generally appreciated the pizza-ness of it it more than the grownups. But hey, it’s elementary school!) The recipe came from my mom :-)

As I wrote on the description:

Jessup Pizza: When the people of Gubbio Italy emigrated to Jessup Pennsylvania at the beginning of the 20th century, they felt a need to update some of their traditions. Jessup Pizza was born, proudly featuring American cheese! To this day, several pizzerias in Jessup put this on their regular pies.

From Abigail Flom-Sonko, who’s great great grandparents were Mario Ferranti & Reginia Becchetti of Gubbio Italy, and Bernardo Norvestoni & Rose Viania of Piemonte, Italy.

I got to sample several really great, fun dishes before Abigail ran us out because there was “nothing good to eat”. The curried fish balls, Hungarian goulash, dumplings, and kugel were all really delicious and fun! I wish I had gotten the chance to really meet some people before Abigail expired. I chatted with one man for a few seconds with a 3rd grader,  which was nice. Abigail chose to buy the chocolate and sprinkle covered apple; at least it was money spent for a good cause, the 6th grade science trip!

This weekend, family went to the Charles Shulz Museum and Ice Skating Rink in Santa Rosa. It was my first visit :-)

Much of the museum got me thinking about me and my dad and how he’d read and then set aside the comics for me each Sunday. Often, we’d talk about the comics. I’d force myself to read Prince Valiant because he’d often want to talk about it. But I was into the real comics, the funny comics!