As with most of the world, I hoped and sought to turn things around as we moved into 2022. The last few years have been...well unlike any that most of us living have ever experienced. I know that many have been much more profoundly impacted by the pandemic in emotional, psychological, and personal ways than …
Tag: 2020 Challenges
How to Fix a Scooter with Legos
In the previous post, I talked about how my scooter was vandalized twice last year. Despite all vital components still working fine, the mechanic wanted 650 euros to replace the plastic front pieces, more than its value even if it hadn't been vandalized. Sad scooter So as part of my 2020 challenges last year, I …
How to hot-wire a scooter with a paper clip
Disclaimer: This lesson is intended as a fun introduction to how an ignition works and not a guide to performing illegal activities. If you steal someone's scooter and get caught, that's your own damn fault. Also, shame on you. Nearly a year ago, during the initial two-month lockdown here in France, my scooter was vandalized. …
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How to Finish a Painting
As we reach one year since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, I've been thinking back on the last year. I don't think 2020 went how anyone thought it would: lockdowns, masks as part of a daily routine, social distancing from friends and family would have seemed almost unthinkable to be part of our new …
How to make an Arduino-powered immersion circulator
After having tinkered with basic circuitry, but with an Arduino still on my hands to use, I started to brainstorm some ideas of possible uses. I could control other lights use it in any number of other projects, but my search finally brought me to the kitchen. In the US, I had a Sansaire immersion …
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120V AC ➡️ 5V DC: Soldering and Electronics 101
At the end of my last challenge where I did 10,000 pushups in 30 days, I mentioned that I wanted to dust off my engineering diplomas and dive back into the world of circuitry. Despite three of my four diplomas saying 'Engineering' on them, most days I don't feel like a real engineer. While my …
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See 10, Do 10,000: A COVID-19 Pushup Challenge
Like for most of the world, April 2020 imposed a special set of restrictions upon my challenges and everyday life. I am extremely grateful that neither myself nor any of my family and friends have been among the 200,000+ who have lost their lives so far. But having found myself stuck inside, I knew that …
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One Month Drawing Challenge
As a quick recap for anyone who hasn't be following, I started out 2020 stating that I would do twelve, one-month challenges. January's challenge was to resurrect this blog and write a post every day. February's challenge was to dust off my Sony a6000 camera and take a photo every day, while working to establish …
Final Details
After the previous improvements to my celebrity drawings, I wasn't sure what to work on for the next week before attempting my second self-portrait. The first day I was a bit burned out, so I made some FBR sketches to keep the streak going: 22 March, 2020 - Some days you just keep the streak …
Paperazzi
My first week and a half of the challenge had been spent focused on the head and its different individual features. But to improve my self portrait, I needed more practice. So I sought to practice on photos of others, and in our society, it isn't hard to find a multitude of photos of high-profile …
Chortles and Harrumphs 