Xephyrus Journal

Xephyrus Journal tag:www.xephyrus.com,2009-12-06:/pod//2 2012-01-23T02:14:52Z Movable Type 4.33-en The Brick Hut: Tiles tag:www.xephyrus.com,2012:/pod//2.115 2012-01-23T01:51:01Z 2012-01-23T02:14:52Z

Topher
Seeing the patterns we worked out so many months ago with our designer finally come to life is so cool. Sure, it seems neato bandito scrawled out on a piece of paper like this:

But that's just nothing like seeing this:

And in the kitchen:

Here's our beautiful master bedroom bay window:

And they laid the driveway, too:

Now it's getting hard to wait for the move-in date!
]]> A Little One: 3D Ultrasound at 28 Weeks tag:www.xephyrus.com,2012:/pod//2.114 2012-01-07T19:44:57Z 2012-01-07T21:05:57Z

Topher ClearView Ultrasound in Austin. We were wondering if our Little One is going to have my Italian nose or Serene's cute little Chinese nose.

As we were sitting in the waiting room filling out the paperwork and awaiting our turn, there was this strangely hypnotic music playing that seemed to be hand-bell renditions of various Green Day songs. (It sounded like synthesized hand-bells, not real ones.)

We snooped around a bit and found that it was an album by Rockabye Baby. And they had several other selections there too, Coldplay, Bon Jovi, Nine Inch Nails, etc. I'm really not sure what to think about all that...

Apparently since Serene is so tiny, the baby doesn't have much room to move around, or so saith the nurse. I have a hard time grasping that. It seems to me that the baby will make whatever room he needs. At any rate, Little Lo was snugged in his breech position all nice and cozy.

In this first clip we started in 2D and watched the baby smack his lips, then switched over to 3D to see him with his hands in his face. I sleep like that sometimes too.

In the second clip, we again started in 2D and switched to 3D. I sped up the 3D section a bit so it wouldn't be 1 frame per second for 5 minutes of a sleeping baby. For this one I was singing Istanbul is Constantinople by They Might Be Giants to try to get him to move around. He wiggled and kicked, but didn't move his head very much. Sometimes comfort supersedes any dancing urges.

]]> The Brick Hut: The Outter Shell tag:www.xephyrus.com,2012:/pod//2.113 2012-01-06T21:40:09Z 2012-01-07T21:14:15Z

Topher

I took another shot of the left side to better show the graduated stonework over the foundation. To recap: There's a rule in the Circle C HOA that there can't be more than some number of inches of concrete foundation exposed, so we get some extra brick work down over part of the foundation, making the whole house look taller.

And here's what the back of the house looks like with all that brick and masonry slapped on it:

They've also put in all the cabinets in the bathrooms and kitchen, and added most of the inside doors, along with the door and window trims and baseboards. It's starting to look a bit like a house in there.
]]> The Brick Hut: Bricks a' Laying tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.112 2011-12-24T21:48:02Z 2011-12-24T21:51:32Z

Topher
We stopped by a few times during the week this week to get the masonry and brick work stages in action, since those are so visible and fun. Here's them working on the masonry along the bottom.

Here's the masonry done, and them working on the bricks.

I haven't shown any shots from the left side of the house yet. They were working on the bricks on that side when we were there, so I took one. Looking at the picture, it looks like a much larger house than it is. They had to build up the foundation quite a bit on that side because the ground sloped downward.

The back is built up as well. The back porch is around 3 feet from the ground at the back. It seems there's a rule in the Circle C HOA that there can't be more than some number of inches of concrete foundation exposed, so we get some extra brick work down over part of the foundation, making the whole house look taller. Of course, there's a stack of bricks in the way of all that in this picture, so it's hard to tell.

And here's a quick shot of our living room all walled in. Just because.

]]> A Stroll at the Lake tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.111 2011-12-18T21:21:28Z 2011-12-22T21:50:48Z

Topher
This weekend we took a nice end-of-autumn walk around Ladybird Lake (formerly Town Lake) and then wandered into the downtown for a yummy lunch of BBQ brisket.

I snapped a few pictures around the Zilker Park corner. Serene is 25 weeks pregnant here with our little boy.

When we were paddleboarding during the summer, we saw heaps of turtles. Apparently there are also heaps of ducks.

And, of course, somebody artistically placed a bit of holiday cheer on one of the trailside bushes.

]]> Troubleshooting Waffles: Why Are My Waffles Not Crispy? tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.101 2011-12-17T17:21:21Z 2011-12-22T22:36:49Z

Topher Do your waffles suffer from SOG?
Do they flop around like a ~~limp~~ wet noodle?

Do your waffles lack that wonderful crisp outer shell?

I love it when my waffles have a nice golden outer crispiness along with a moist and airy middle. That is, to me, the differentiator between a true waffle and a pancake that was cooked in a waffle iron.

I had been told that the secret to a nice crisp waffle was whipping up egg whites to be nice and stiff and folding them into the batter. It's a lie, truly. The whipped egg whites do contribute to the fluffiness, but even that contribution is minor.

You want the secret? I can't keep secrets very well, so I'll just tell you. The secret to that crispy outer shell is corn starch.

For each 1 cup of flour material (regardless of the type of flour you use), add in 2 tablespoons of that corn starch. Resist the urge to double it under the seemingly logical assumption that if 2 is good, 4 must be better. If you use too much, that outer crust will be more like a thick french bread crust with all it's gum rending wonder.

Now, go forth and make yummy crispy waffles.

This article is part of the Troubleshooting Waffles series.

]]> The Brick Hut: Wiring and Piping tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.110 2011-12-11T22:39:14Z 2011-12-13T22:50:38Z

Topher
The big changes to the house since the last update have been internal. They got all the wiring and piping all wired and piped. They even wired up all the doors and windows with sensors. My home automation fantasies are feasting on that.

The white on the roof of the right-hand shot is ice.

They'll be doing the brick and masonry work on the outside soon. You can see the bricks in the foreground of the angled (left) shot above. So the next update should be exciting. (grin)
]]> The Brick Hut: Roofs and Walls tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.109 2011-11-20T20:08:55Z 2011-11-20T20:17:41Z

Topher

I love how the front is coming out. That high vaulted entryway really makes the house look grand.

]]> The Brick Hut: I've Been Framed tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.108 2011-11-13T18:31:03Z 2011-11-13T18:38:12Z

Topher

And look at this gorgeous woman. You can hardly tell she's almost 5 months pregnant.

]]> A Little One: The Big 20 Week Ultrasound tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.107 2011-11-10T00:49:14Z 2011-11-10T04:27:28Z

Topher
The big news: It's a boy. It's rather definite. There's none of this, "We think it's probably a boy." Sometimes they're not all that sure, but it seems the evidence was rather convincing in this case.

	A beautiful profile of the baby's face.
	Another of the baby's face. This one looks a bit halloweenish, but it shows a good healthy face there.
	On this one they were checking the bloodflow through the umbilical chord. It was pretty cool to see it in action. By the way, those colors you see are just representative.
	Here's a shot of the baby's hand waving "Hi" to us. Heh. He's such a ham. You can see the bone structure of the arm and hand pretty clearly.
	This is the spine.
	The boy parts. In this one you can see the leg bones too.
	The boy parts again. Here he has his legs up.
	I have no idea what this is. It looks like a cross-section of the baby.

Finally, here's a little video of the heartbeat. It's just a heartbeat, but you can actually see all four chambers of the heart beating.

One thing that was pretty impressive to me was how fast the nurses and doctors could identify what they were looking at. They'd jump the thing around, flashing past something and say, "Oh there were the kidneys." I guess that happens when you stare at these things all day long.

]]> The Brick Hut: Foundation tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.106 2011-11-06T17:28:57Z 2011-11-09T17:49:50Z

Topher

It's pretty exciting (and amazing) to see everything coming together; the house and the whole neighborhood. I know that tons of planning and hard work has gone into getting this together, but when a house springs up in the new neighborhood, it just feels like somebody planted a little house seed and started watering it.

]]> sam: Project Web Site Launched tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.105 2011-10-31T02:07:30Z 2011-10-31T02:14:00Z

Topher project web site for the Sam State Machine Engine project launched and added to the Xephyrus Labs index.

Now I'm working on getting the version 2.0 functionality in place. You know, in my spare time. (That's a joke.)

The 2.0 feature list is fun. I've been playing with using Annotations to register the state worker methods (so you will no longer have to do a manual "register()" call), and cycle callbacks, and other fun things. The feature list is on the main site, too. (winkyface)
]]> Troubleshooting Waffles: Why Do My Waffles Always Stick? tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.99 2011-10-23T17:20:00Z 2011-10-30T21:47:59Z

Topher Troubleshooting Waffles series.

When I was a teen-ager, I was part of a youth group. One thing the group sometimes did was take over some facility for a night, like an ice rink or a fitness club or an elementary school. The organizers would negotiate some fee from the facility managers, and we'd descend on the place at 10 or midnight or so and we'd Do Stuff all night. Like, at an ice rink, we'd skate, then play broom hockey, then do dodgeball, and so on.

One particular time we took over an elementary school. And one of the activities the oh-so-wise organizers planned for us was a cream pie fight. We were divided into 3 teams, and each were given pie tins and cans of whipping cream. We made our pies and attacked our neighboring teams. There were probably some rules, and there was some guy as a referee, but really, nobody won and everybody and everything in that classroom ended up covered in whipped cream.

One of the most frustrating things for me when I started learning to make waffles was when they'd stick to the waffle iron. When a waffle sticks to a waffle iron it is a Disaster. Capital D. It's a disaster on the proportions of a childs first birthday cake or that poor classroom after our pie fight. Except not fun. If it only sticks to the top or the bottom, that's bad. It's impossible to get it out without destroying it and making a mess.

But when it sticks to both at the same time and the waffle splits, it's just horrible. You get bits and pieces out, and chunks of waffle everywhere. Everything keeps cooking because the iron is hot, so it get extra crispy. And worst of all, you can't make any more waffles until you get that one cleaned up.

I've had waffle stickage in a few different situations, and here's what I've found:

If a waffle iron is not hot enough, it will stick. Your waffle iron should have some kind of a ready light on it. Never ever ever pour batter onto your waffle iron if that light isn't on. It doesn't matter how hungry you are or how whiny your kids are. It will make things worse, not better.

Using a "cross-over" waffle iron will cause stickage. In my case it was a panini maker / waffle iron. A device that is not made for the sole purpose of making waffles will not make good waffles. That's because it's made for something else, and just happens to include waffle plates. This is a gimmick the manufacturer employs to lure poor, innocent, naive, unsuspecting, would-be waffle chefs into buying their crap just so they can increase sales. And it's disturbing how often it works, too. I can tell you this because I did it myself. A waffle iron needs to be made specifically for the purpose of making waffles.

Even non-stick Teflon waffle irons need oil. You may have missed it in your waffle iron owners manual, but you should brush a bit of oil on your waffle iron every so often, even if it's one of those new-fangled space-age non-stick Teflon jobbers. It still needs a bit of oil.

I use a silicon brush to put a tad of a high-heat canola oil on between each waffle. You can get away with skipping the oil for a waffle or two. If I do that I lose track and end up going too long and getting a bit of a stick on one, so I just do it each time. There's a sweet spot in there that's just right for you.

Undercooked waffles will stick. I love undercooked chocolate chip cookies. And some chefs purposefully undercook chocolate cake just so you'll get that yummy gooey middle. But waffles that are undercooked will not come out of the waffle iron intact. Make sure you don't even check your waffle until it's been in the iron for at least 2 minutes.

Some people use the steam from the iron as a gauge. When the steam goes away, it's cooked. However I've found that to be an inconsistent measurement. I've also found that the "ready" light on the waffle iron is inconsistent, but it seems to be inconsistent in a predictable way. If it's the first waffle, it's dead on. If the previous waffle was perfect, the next one will need an extra 30-60 seconds after the light goes on. And so on, like that.

I hope these tips allow you to miss some of the pain I've gone through learning the art of waffling. Ah, such fond memories.

]]> The Brick Hut: Breaking Ground tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.98 2011-10-15T20:42:18Z 2011-10-16T16:02:01Z

Topher
They gave us these sexy little hardhats so we can visit the site while it's being built.

]]> A Little One tag:www.xephyrus.com,2011:/pod//2.97 2011-10-03T02:14:18Z 2011-10-04T02:45:54Z

Topher
But I have to tell you guys, this is a very difficult thing for us. It's been a long road for us since we lost our first baby in the first trimester. We've been anxious little worriers while pretending nonchalance the whole time. The doctors say, "Don't worry about it." Our friends say, "Don't worry about it." But what can we do? We worry.

Even when the home pregnancy test showed up positive, we still worried that something would happen, or that the test was wrong. Even after we got our first ultrasound and saw the little blip of a baby up there, we still worried. We've had two check-ups since then, and each time we still hold our breaths and brace our hearts when the doctor pushes the little audio sonogram machine up to Serene's belly to find the baby's heartbeat.

It's not that we expect something to go wrong, or even that we think it's likely. In our heads we know it's not likely, and the doctors all assure us the baby has a nice strong heartbeat. It's that the last time we were so excited and carefree, and we were hit so squarely off-guard with the loss. It hurt.

Now we're 14 weeks along, and we're still wary about telling people. But we're making an effort to get over that.

So, here we are. A little one.

This is the only pic we have of the little one so far. The due date is March 26 or 28 depending on how you interpret the doctor's little squiggles. I think they put 26th in the computer.

And we are daring to be cautiously optimistic.

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