Kaelynn's new hairstyle

Its the school holiday and what better than to let loose the two girls on their favourite cousins. When I arrived, they tied Kaelynn's hair with rubber bands. Its kinda cute but well, now she looked tomboyish. But sometimes, in a different angle, Kaelynn looked very grown up.

Reminds me of those olden days, where the servants
or students tied their hair with double ponytails.

Ha ha ha ha. She looks so funny!

Happy Birthday, Kristine!

So, Kristine is officially three years old and we decided to celebrate her birthday along with her cousins. She was singing the Birthday Song the whole day after we told that today was her birthday. And she was in a jolly mood too. So, we got her a nice Blackforest Cake and some pizza to go with the party. Everything went well, until....



This is the cake before the incident. We set up the cake with
the candles. And as soon as Kristine saw the candles burning
she got scared. And refused to cut the cake so Mommy had
to do it for her.

In the meantime, Kristine was hiding behind her Winnie.
No coaxing could get her to come out. But as soon as the
candles are out and everyone starts to eat the cake, she
came out and starts to eat all the cherries.

And before you know it, Kristine was in her jovial self again.
Eating cake and pizza like nobody's business

And then, after all the excitement, Kristine was zonked out.
Later, as we came home, she opened all her presents and
she did share some of hers with Kaelynn. Well, as I said,
she was in a very very good mood today.

Happy Birthday, my dearest Kristine!

My Playmate tricorder

OK, I have to admit that my first Playmates Tricorder built with Gerry Mros's circuit is gone now. It won't even come back to me (even if it did, it would not be in a very good state). This will teach me a lesson not to be too forward in helping friends even with good intentions. They will always take it for granted, and lose them as well.

Damn. That Tricorder took me years to search for it and also I had to save up to buy the circuit boards. And now its gone because someone does not appreciate things in their care. Luckily, I have taken back most of my props for display there.

I am so pissed about it. And its missing for months with no news. So, its time to let go.

And then, one day, I found the other Tricorder, which was my very first prototype. Looking back at it, brought me a lot of sadness. Not because of its condition but on how I approached it. For you see, I want it to be the "best" Tricorder and in my fanatical quest, I overlooked many things, mainly the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) method and also to challenge myself with new technology.....

So, now I am starting to try with this Tricorder again. And hopefully, after so many lessons, I will get my Tricorder working again. But it will be at least tow years away unless someone pays me lots to stay at home and do stuff like these. Ha ha ha ha

In front, it looks OK, but once you open the covers...

You can start to see when I went wrong. For example, using a two-part
epoxy for the LEDs which now has turned brown. The strong magnet has
pried itself loose and is rusting somewhere.

This is the part which is the most embarassing. Because of the
"natural" battery holder, I refused to think about other source
of batteries and went on to try reduce the voltage to fit the 2AA
batteries and not the other way round. And if I used those SMT
LEDs and a thinner PCB, it would have solved my problems

This is one thing I hate about clear resins, plastic and epoxies
because over here, as time goes by, they will turn brown or
worse. even the gray plastic is turning brown too