So here are a few pictures, I'm pretty sure the wife will give me grief for not getting her approval to publish each and every one of these, but I'm not completely whipped yet...
(Click on any picture for a larger version.)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wedding Pictures
A little while ago I got married. It was way more fun than I thought it would be! (The wedding day, that is.)
So here are a few pictures, I'm pretty sure the wife will give me grief for not getting her approval to publish each and every one of these, but I'm not completely whipped yet...
So here are a few pictures, I'm pretty sure the wife will give me grief for not getting her approval to publish each and every one of these, but I'm not completely whipped yet...
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Cochem Castle and the Autobahn
For my birthday and the 4th of July, Jenna and I rented a car and drove over to West Germany to visit my Aunt & Uncle & Cousins for the weekend. I drove on the Autobahn, they took us to the military base commissary, we celebrated the 4th of July with Americans en mass, and we visited the Cochem Castle in the Rhineland's Moselle River Valley. Keep reading for details!
 |
| Cochem Castle |
Monday, July 11, 2011
German Observations
Here are a few observations I have about Germany:
Things I Like
Things I Like
- Bakeries - There are tons of them and they're uber delicious. They have this cream monstrosity that is oh-so-yummy it makes me want to go into convulsions and die.
- Ivy - It's everywhere and is really pretty. (Not the poison variety!)
- Cobblestones - Quaint and practical (but reportedly difficult to walk on in heels). Because cobblestone streets are just a bunch of little pieces you can put back together, after they tear up a cobblestone street for sewer work it looks like nothing ever happened! Cobblestone streets are also viscous, so they'll move to adapt to changing ground levels.
- Consonants - It seems like speaking Deutsche is hard work - so many consonants! Their mouth is going crazy. Fun to listen to, watch out for spit.
- Universal Functional Windows - They're all the same and swing open wide, or pop open at the top. (No screens though.)
Thursday, July 7, 2011
What was I thinking about just now?: Ode to Nickolas Pickolas
My first wife published a review of my personality on her blog. Enjoy:
Ode to Nickolas Pickolas: "Well, today my Old Man got even older. That's right friends, Nickolas Pickolas has reached the ripe old age of six and twenty. In honor of..."*Jenna is my first, current, and only wife.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Exploring Jena
Because we have no money, we haven't really gone anywhere. At the beginning of the summer we had big plans to visit Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, London, as well as a bunch of German places: Munich, Berlin, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Oberammergau. (Of course if we had lots of money I really want to go to Rome and Istanbul, but I kind of always knew we would get those in on this trip.)
But, since we're poor, we've been seeing a lot of Jena and tagging along with members of the ward to other cities whenever we can. A couple of weeks ago we visited the Freiberg Germany Temple, which was the first temple behind the Iron Curtain. We found mostly American temple workers there but the services were in German - so we had to wear headphones (that used an infrared receiver that you could wear under your clothes! I admit, I was distracted by this...). The temple is very small - smaller even than the "small temples" the church has been building the last 15 years or so.
But, since we're poor, we've been seeing a lot of Jena and tagging along with members of the ward to other cities whenever we can. A couple of weeks ago we visited the Freiberg Germany Temple, which was the first temple behind the Iron Curtain. We found mostly American temple workers there but the services were in German - so we had to wear headphones (that used an infrared receiver that you could wear under your clothes! I admit, I was distracted by this...). The temple is very small - smaller even than the "small temples" the church has been building the last 15 years or so.
 |
| Freiberg Germany LDS Temple |
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Lobdeburg Castle
Here are a bunch of pictures from my latest adventures in Germany.
Since we're so poor and work all day we really don't have the ability to travel outside of our town (at least for now). So lately we've been exploring the sights around Jena. Luckily, as is the case with pretty much everywhere outside of the USA, there's all kinds of history right here in our valley.
For instance, here are a few facts about this small city that you probably have never heard of. Jena has Luther's original tombstone and the world's first planetarium. It was a frequent stomping ground for Geothe and Napoleon marched through. Coolest of all: the Carl Zeiss company was founded here.
There's also a medieval town center and castles or towers on almost every hill surrounding the city.
The closest old-stone-thing to our house is the Friedensberg WWI memorial. We found it quite by accident - we wandered up the hill and I saw a tiny trail going into a clump of trees at the top. I jokingly said, "I wonder if there's a castle in there?" So we went in (with Jenna gagging and screaming because plants were brushing against her legs and there might be bugs). We found a huge round stone wall! Circling round we found the entrance and it turned out to be a WWI memorial by the name of Friedensberg.
Since we're so poor and work all day we really don't have the ability to travel outside of our town (at least for now). So lately we've been exploring the sights around Jena. Luckily, as is the case with pretty much everywhere outside of the USA, there's all kinds of history right here in our valley.
For instance, here are a few facts about this small city that you probably have never heard of. Jena has Luther's original tombstone and the world's first planetarium. It was a frequent stomping ground for Geothe and Napoleon marched through. Coolest of all: the Carl Zeiss company was founded here.
There's also a medieval town center and castles or towers on almost every hill surrounding the city.
The closest old-stone-thing to our house is the Friedensberg WWI memorial. We found it quite by accident - we wandered up the hill and I saw a tiny trail going into a clump of trees at the top. I jokingly said, "I wonder if there's a castle in there?" So we went in (with Jenna gagging and screaming because plants were brushing against her legs and there might be bugs). We found a huge round stone wall! Circling round we found the entrance and it turned out to be a WWI memorial by the name of Friedensberg.
 |
| The gate to Friedensberg memorial |
 |
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Adventures
I got hitched! The wedding was in California at the Newport Beach LDS Temple and the reception was in Fountain Valley. It was epic - we had a New Orleans Jazz Band, awesome food, and much fun was had by all.
The next day Jenna (my wife) and I left for Miami to catch a big-ass boat across the ocean! The Norwegian Epic is the world's 3rd largest cruise ship.
 |
| Norwegian Epic docked in Miami |
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
How to Thoroughly Vaporize a Multimeter
Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. I've been busy getting engaged (almost married!) and trying to get through school. Here's my latest adventure:
A 1950s vacuum tube tesla coil based around a Hartley radio frequency oscillator. My uncle gave it to me over thanksgiving. He got his hands on it from the scientific instrument shop of the Los Angeles County School District. Apparently, they gave it to him because he asked nicely and it didn't work (it's ancient).
The last week or so I've been trying to get it working, with limited success. So far I've got the smaller transformer working - providing 6.3 VAC to the base of the vacuum tube so that it lights up nicely.
This evening I was testing the large transformer, which is supposed to convert 120 VAC to +/- 600 VAC (I think). It supposedly puts out -600 volts on one lead and +600 on the other, for a total of 1200 volts. My multimeter says it can handle 600 V, so I decided to try each lead individually.
I disconnected the leads from the large red capacitor shown in front of the large transformer (you can see the leads detached in the picture) and tested each individually with reference to ground. The first (attached to the right side of the cap) came out at about 40 VAC. The second came out as 340 VAC.
Puzzled and assuming I had found the problem, I decided to test both transformer leads at once. I hooked up each lead from the transformer to a cable from my multimeter and turned the thing on. There was a flash of light and a loud buzzing sound as the insides of my multimeter vaporized under what definitely was not 380 VAC. I quickly hit the switch on my power strip and opened up my multimeter to examine the damage. Here's what I found:
So, I'm down one multimeter. This was after last week vaporizing my oscilloscope probe by touching it to the large red capacitor while charged.
Tesla coil: 2 Nick: 0
 |
| 1950s Vacuum Tube Tesla Coil (vacuum tube not pictured) |
The last week or so I've been trying to get it working, with limited success. So far I've got the smaller transformer working - providing 6.3 VAC to the base of the vacuum tube so that it lights up nicely.
This evening I was testing the large transformer, which is supposed to convert 120 VAC to +/- 600 VAC (I think). It supposedly puts out -600 volts on one lead and +600 on the other, for a total of 1200 volts. My multimeter says it can handle 600 V, so I decided to try each lead individually.
I disconnected the leads from the large red capacitor shown in front of the large transformer (you can see the leads detached in the picture) and tested each individually with reference to ground. The first (attached to the right side of the cap) came out at about 40 VAC. The second came out as 340 VAC.
Puzzled and assuming I had found the problem, I decided to test both transformer leads at once. I hooked up each lead from the transformer to a cable from my multimeter and turned the thing on. There was a flash of light and a loud buzzing sound as the insides of my multimeter vaporized under what definitely was not 380 VAC. I quickly hit the switch on my power strip and opened up my multimeter to examine the damage. Here's what I found:
 |
| Back side of the board of my vaporized multimeter |
 |
| Front side of the board and underside of the dial of my vaporized multimeter |
Tesla coil: 2 Nick: 0
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
How to Pay LDS Tithing Online
Here's how to pay tithing online for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons or Latter-day Saints [LDS]).
If you're anything like me then you almost never use checks. The only day-to-day uses for these dinosaurs of the financial world are to pay rent and tithing. But more often than not I forget my checkbook when I go to church. After all, I don't carry it with me anywhere else! This habit has resulted in sporadic donations in which I try to figure out how many paychecks have come in since I last paid and then try to catch up.
(For those who may not know, Mormons usually pay 10% of their income to the church in the form of tithing. These funds support the growth of the church, building construction and maintenance, and other managerial things. They don't support a paid clergy (the LDS church has none at the local level) or humanitarian relief - there are separate donation avenues for helping the poor, victims of disaster, etc. Tithing does pay the administration costs of humanitarian aid so that 100% of money "given to the poor" actually goes to help the poor.)
Well I've finally found a solution. I heard a rumor that members can pay their tithing online somehow, so I fired up google and figured it out last night.
Here are directions to set up online tithing payment:
1. Download the necessary form from this website: The Bill Payment Service Electronic Donation Information Form. (The version dated 21 May 2010 doesn't work, download and use the one dated 21 August 2008.) Fill it out on your computer and e-mail it to donations@ldschurch.org. You'll need to know your membership number, which you can get off of your temple recommend or from your ward clerk.
2. After you have e-mailed the form you'll receive a detailed response on how to set up your electronic bill payment through your bank. You'll need to figure out how exactly to configure bill pay for your bank. I use Bank of America and it was relatively easy to set up.
The e-mail you receive will provide information on how to set up separate bill payments for the following:
Lastly, take care to enter the Pay To address and phone number correctly as shown.
A few notes on donating tithes and offerings electronically:
Good luck! Hopefully this will be useful to folks like me who always forget the checkbook before church.
ORIGINAL: 3/15/10
UPDATE: 7/27/10 Updated directions to download the working Bill Payment Service Electronic Donation Information Form. Also mentioned the new ability to receive statements electronically.
UPDATE: 11/9/10 Added example image of a monthly electronic donations statement. Re-published with today's date.
If you're anything like me then you almost never use checks. The only day-to-day uses for these dinosaurs of the financial world are to pay rent and tithing. But more often than not I forget my checkbook when I go to church. After all, I don't carry it with me anywhere else! This habit has resulted in sporadic donations in which I try to figure out how many paychecks have come in since I last paid and then try to catch up.
(For those who may not know, Mormons usually pay 10% of their income to the church in the form of tithing. These funds support the growth of the church, building construction and maintenance, and other managerial things. They don't support a paid clergy (the LDS church has none at the local level) or humanitarian relief - there are separate donation avenues for helping the poor, victims of disaster, etc. Tithing does pay the administration costs of humanitarian aid so that 100% of money "given to the poor" actually goes to help the poor.)
Well I've finally found a solution. I heard a rumor that members can pay their tithing online somehow, so I fired up google and figured it out last night.
Here are directions to set up online tithing payment:
1. Download the necessary form from this website: The Bill Payment Service Electronic Donation Information Form. (The version dated 21 May 2010 doesn't work, download and use the one dated 21 August 2008.) Fill it out on your computer and e-mail it to donations@ldschurch.org. You'll need to know your membership number, which you can get off of your temple recommend or from your ward clerk.
2. After you have e-mailed the form you'll receive a detailed response on how to set up your electronic bill payment through your bank. You'll need to figure out how exactly to configure bill pay for your bank. I use Bank of America and it was relatively easy to set up.
The e-mail you receive will provide information on how to set up separate bill payments for the following:
- Tithing
- Fast offerings
- General missionary fund
- Book of Mormon fund
- Perpetual education fund
- Other
- LDS-Tithing
- LDS-Fast Offering
- LDS-Missionary (General)
- LDS-Book of Mormon
- LDS-PEF
- LDS-Other
Lastly, take care to enter the Pay To address and phone number correctly as shown.
A few notes on donating tithes and offerings electronically:
- Any donations you send will go to church headquarters and will not be seen by your ward clerks or bishop - for good or for bad.
- You can't donate to your ward missionary fund online, only to the general missionary fund.
- The donations office can't accommodate special requests towards ward fast offerings or ward missionary funds.
- You will receive monthly statements to verify that your payments have been successful as well as yearly tax receipts. You can receive these statements via snail mail or e-mail. If you choose to receive them via e-mail, this is what they look like:
ORIGINAL: 3/15/10
UPDATE: 7/27/10 Updated directions to download the working Bill Payment Service Electronic Donation Information Form. Also mentioned the new ability to receive statements electronically.
UPDATE: 11/9/10 Added example image of a monthly electronic donations statement. Re-published with today's date.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
To Woo
From the Wikipedia article on courtship:
...Acts such as meeting on the Internet or virtual dating, chatting on-line via instant messaging or e-mail, sending text messages, conversing over the telephone, writing each other letters, and sending each other flowers, songs, and gifts constitute wooing.LOL.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
T-Rex vs. Mars Rover
Comment sections are usually full of idiots. Case in point:
Human space flight ftw!
But seriously, "...it has been proven that robots are infinitely better at [space exploration]." Huh? What planet are you from? (Maybe one where T-Rex and Mars rovers can peacefully coexist?)
Right now robots are the method of choice for exploring the solar system because they don't want to come home when all is said and done. And nobody has a fit when one or two burn up in the atmosphere. But to do serious exploration, robots just won't cut it forever.
Imagine trying to design a robot to
Do you think that's a bizarre scenario? Consider for a moment that Mars has both the highest mountain (Olympus Mons) and the biggest canyon (Valles Marineris) in the solar system. Mars used to have vast oceans, huge rivers, and gargantuan lava flows. It still has dust storms, polar ice caps, and massive amounts of water ice just below the surface. The possibility of fossilized microorganisms is very real - not to mention the chance of native life just below the frigid surface.
If we're ever going to do space exploration any justice we'll need to get our feet dirty. Humans are infinitely better at space exploration than robots!
jjeherrera Jul 30, 2010 6:17 PMWanna know what I say?
I've always found it hard to understand why there is so much insistence in manned space exploration, when it has been proven that robots are infinitely better at it.
 |
| Top speed of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the mightiest dinosaur: 25 mph Top speed of the Spirit Mars rover: 2 inches/second |
But seriously, "...it has been proven that robots are infinitely better at [space exploration]." Huh? What planet are you from? (Maybe one where T-Rex and Mars rovers can peacefully coexist?)
Right now robots are the method of choice for exploring the solar system because they don't want to come home when all is said and done. And nobody has a fit when one or two burn up in the atmosphere. But to do serious exploration, robots just won't cut it forever.
Imagine trying to design a robot to
- Land in the Rocky Mountains (and survive!)
- Move about successfully (good luck)
- And then discover dinosaurs.
Do you think that's a bizarre scenario? Consider for a moment that Mars has both the highest mountain (Olympus Mons) and the biggest canyon (Valles Marineris) in the solar system. Mars used to have vast oceans, huge rivers, and gargantuan lava flows. It still has dust storms, polar ice caps, and massive amounts of water ice just below the surface. The possibility of fossilized microorganisms is very real - not to mention the chance of native life just below the frigid surface.
If we're ever going to do space exploration any justice we'll need to get our feet dirty. Humans are infinitely better at space exploration than robots!
Thanks for the drawing Brook!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Value of Creative Science
When you hear the word creative you don't necessarily think of science. But science is an extremely creative process and has occupied some of the most creative thinkers in human history. Many of the problems in the world can be solved by science, such as rising energy costs, global warming, starvation, and disease.
Admittedly, the following video was made for corporate propaganda purposes, but it does a beautiful job of illustrating why science is an alluring, creative field with the mission to change the world.
I am a scientist because I love the thrill of creatively solving a difficult problem. The prospect that in some small way my work might change the world for the better turns a fun career into a great one.
And of course, nothing says science like Asians in lab coats. :D
Did you notice the boiling cryogen at the beginning of the movie? Cool.
Admittedly, the following video was made for corporate propaganda purposes, but it does a beautiful job of illustrating why science is an alluring, creative field with the mission to change the world.
I am a scientist because I love the thrill of creatively solving a difficult problem. The prospect that in some small way my work might change the world for the better turns a fun career into a great one.
And of course, nothing says science like Asians in lab coats. :D
Did you notice the boiling cryogen at the beginning of the movie? Cool.
Monday, July 26, 2010
More Blog Changes
Blogger has implemented a new native visitor statistics program (no, not a program that tracks native visitors, a native program that tracks visitors!). It's fairly new, but it told me that currently my most popular post is How to Pay LDS Tithing Online. Yay! So I've gone an updated a few things that have changed about the program since I wrote about it in March.
Blogger also has a great new preview button to use when writing posts. This feature works much better than the previous one (which was mostly useless) and I'm happy. I can also use more-normal keyboard shortcuts for formatting on while blogging on my mac such as command-I to italicize something instead of control-I (which is pesky on a mac). Yay for progress!
Blogger also has a great new preview button to use when writing posts. This feature works much better than the previous one (which was mostly useless) and I'm happy. I can also use more-normal keyboard shortcuts for formatting on while blogging on my mac such as command-I to italicize something instead of control-I (which is pesky on a mac). Yay for progress!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
My Senior Thesis is DONE
After hundreds of hours of machining, wiring, troubleshooting, programming, fiddling, head scratching, fixing, typing, agonizing, and banging my head against the optical table...It's done! And aaaaalllliiiiiiivvve!
My senior thesis. (<--- see that period? My thesis is as done as that period! Uhmph!) ..... I just noticed a typo.
Controlled Attenuation of Laser-generated High-order Harmonics for Extreme Ultraviolet Polarimetry
Abstract:
We constructed an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) polarimeter which utilizes laser- induced high harmonics as the light source. This device is capable of making absolute reflectance measurements as low as 0.2% over a wavelength range of 8-89 nm. The polarimetry positioning system allows incident reflectance angles of 0–40◦. In order to increase the dynamic range of our EUV detector we introduced a low-pressure gas downstream from the harmonic generation region to predictably attenuate EUV flux during incident measurements. We also used the gas cell to measure the photoabsorption cross sections of hydro- gen and oxygen compared to that of water vapor, revealing the influence of chemical bonds on EUV absorption.
If you still wanna read it, then click here (.pdf) . It has pretty pictures, I promise!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
BYU Library's Old Spice Body Wash Parody
I loved the original version of this commercial I actually went out and bought Old Spice body wash. Now, this parody comes out from my own school! It already has 1.1 million hits on YouTube:
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Book Review: "The Passage," by Justin Cronin
“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment...Aaaaand that was enough for me! What a great book! You can read the whole back cover (don't worry, it doesn't reveal much) here. I listened to it for free on my iPhone from audible.com.
If you sign up with audible.com they give you a one month free membership and two free audio books - this was my first. The entire book took around 40 hours to listen to - I was enthralled the entire time!
Review:
The Passage is a sci-fi thriller taking place around the year 2016. That's about all I'm going to say - I'm happy that I knew so little before I started listening to it! Justin Cronin tells the story so wonderfully and helps you fall in love with the characters and actually care about whether they live or die (some live, some die, some do... other things).
It's a classic tale of good versus evil where the good are REALLY good and the bad are REALLY bad - innocent little girls against mindless monsters, you know the drill. He uses themes throughout the book to build a sense of fear, especially darkness. I actually found myself yelling (in my mind), "Don't go in the building! It's dark in there!"
The book was complete with love and adventure and lots of guns and explosions! I recommend it to anyone with some time on their hands this summer.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Blog Facelift
You may have noticed that I've changed the template for this blog. I had a pretty great template before, but because it was from an external website and was written substantially in javascript, I had very little control over it. Several components were broken and I didn't have the ability to fix them.
The reason I originally went to that system was because the Blogger templates I had been using didn't allow enough customization even though everything worked seamlessly. Well Blogger has released a new custom template system which gives me the level of customization I want while making sure everything functions correctly.
Of course, it could just be artistic boredom and these are excuses.
The reason I originally went to that system was because the Blogger templates I had been using didn't allow enough customization even though everything worked seamlessly. Well Blogger has released a new custom template system which gives me the level of customization I want while making sure everything functions correctly.
Of course, it could just be artistic boredom and these are excuses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)