The coldest winter I ever spent
We got this bathroom scale. It measures body fat, water percentage, and bone mass.
I did some research about all the different scales, in the under-$10,000 category, they are all pretty much the same, fairly inaccurate but fairly precise. That’s to say it might measure your body fat percentage incorrectly but if it goes up or down, it will track it well. This one cost $30 and works just fine.
Here’s the manual: Conair Weight Watchers scale
I tabled for The Crucible today. I presented several items that I have grown fond of…
I just got an oscilloscope and the manual mentioned “Locating Sleeve: Using locating sleeve could ensure the stability and reliability of the tip exposed to the test point.” Say what?
Here is what a locating sleeve is for. If you need to carefully touch just one point on a PCB, you can take off the tip of your probe off, that is the tip with the spring loaded hook, and then attach the locating sleeve. Now it will be easier to touch just what you are intending to.
Hypermiling is so 2010. Well, I did it anyway.
When I was commuting to grad school, I’d sometimes get stuck in slow, steady traffic on the highway. And sometimes I’d get… 87 MPG for 12.5 miles!
I’ve been listening to the music of This Will Destroy You for a while now.
It’s the best post-rock, shoegazing, ambient, drone music I know of!
I’ve written a lot over the years about the nail fungus I have. Here’s a summary of what I’ve learned. For a lot more, you can search my blog.
I hope that even if this doesn’t solve your nail problems, it let’s you know what’s going on. That can be a relief in itself.
Over-the-counter topicals at your local pharmacy for about $20 sometimes clear up nail fungus, maybe 30% of the time. The ingredient in those products is usually undecylenic acid. Lamisil (or the generic terbinafine) topical ($30) or oral ($2000) is one drug that has better than average results. Going to a podiatrist and getting drugs, or getting your nail ripped out, or both ($50-$3000) might work. There are a couple types of nail fungus, the main classes being dermatophytes and candida. Drugs for one type usually don’t affect the other so it’s helpful to keep a list of what you’ve tried. Laser treatments seem to be about 25% effective; many report a clearing in the first year and then a return after 2 years or so.
For me, oral Lamisil cured most of my nails with 6 months of treatment in 2006 (13 years ago). My right big toe nail still grows wrong and hurts every few months. To remedy, I shorten the nail (with some pain) with nail clippers and the pain goes away in a few days. I make sure to spray a lot of Lamisil topical on me and the equipment to hopefully keep the possibility of spreading the infection to a minimum. I don’t actually know if there is still an infection under the nail.
There’s lots of home-brew topicals that seem to work moderately well… probably a 30% chance of curing your toes. They might work for you, or not. In my case, all of the following appeared to “help” but none got rid of my infection: undecylenic acid, Selsun Blue shampoo, tea tree oil, vinegar on a cotton ball, vapo-rub (I haven’t tried), grapeseed extract. The Selsun Blue helped a lot because it’s inexpensive enough to rub on my whole foot to knock out athelete’s foot and possibly the nail infection.
Sadly, modern science doesn’t have a guaranteed cure for nail fungus. Anyone who says otherwise is selling you snake oil.
This always gives me a peaceful, easy feeling!
Three happy words, “No new mail!”
A friend I haven’t seen in almost 20 years died last week.
Tim, your light of a smile and perennial cheer echo in my eyes and ears these nearly 20 years since our meeting. I miss you. You are with me, always.
Dear Lazyweb,
I fill out about 10 web-based time-sheets every day, taking notes on each of the clients I see with a clunky mix of clicking, tabbing, and copy-pasting. The website simply wasn’t built for easy data entry. Do you know of a program where I can write my data in a neat format, for instance, a spreadsheet, and then the program does all the ridiculous click-type-click-tab-type-typing for me?
Megan, Abigail, and I will be moving from our apartment in Berkeley to a much larger house in El Cerrito on January 2nd!
We’ve loved living here with the quiet street and long driveway (we’ll miss jumping in Avery’s Puddle when it rains!), the short walk to Monterey Market, and especially King Park. But we’ve been feeling growing pains in our apartment for a while.
Just ask and I’ll tell you our new address!