New Lawn Mower

A little over nine years ago I reported on the purchase of a new lawn mower. Well, I'm back again.

Nine years ago, as Sears was heading into a steep decline, I bought a new mower. I moved up and bought a red one to replace my "bottom of the line" grey one. Well, about a month ago, I was mowing the lawn and my mower started sounding weak and slowly just stopped.  I pulled the cord and it roared back to life for about 6 seconds. Hmm! I tried again. It roared to life for about 6 seconds. I tried a couple more times and quickly realized that this was no way to mow a lawn.

So I looked online for a lawn mower repairman. I found a guy down in Chatham County who did the kind of repair job I was looking for. So I sent him an email and he replied and asked me to bring it to his house and leave it with a note saying who it belonged to. So I did that. I took the lawn mower down to his house in a housing development in near Cole Park Plaza and left it near his garage. There were about six lawnmowers that looked a lot like mine ready to be picked up along the driveway. I never saw the guy. It turns out to be almost as hour round trip down there from my house.

That evening I got an email that said he might be able to fix it that evening and sure enough, before I went to bed, he sent another email saying it was fixed and ready for pickup. I went and got it the next morning. It was sitting out front along with some six or so similar looking lawnmowers. I picked it up and left payment in an envelop which I put in a little box on the porch post. Never saw  the guy. Another hour round trip and a bit of a twinge in my back from dead-lifting that thing to put it in the car.

I cranked it up that night and mowed the lawn. It ran like a top. Maybe it will last another 9 years. Nope! The next time I mowed the lawn, I got the front yard finished and was doing the back when the mower stopped again. Just like before. Cranked back up and ran well for a few seconds and then died again. Not excited about another 2 round trips to Chatham County.

The next day I went to work and discussed my dilemma with coworkers. The boss said I should quit mowing the lawn and hire someone to do it for me. Not a bad idea. Then another guy suggested that I buy an electric lawn mower. Being a recent Tesla owner, I was intrigued. 

So I did a little research and found a model that sort of fit my idea of a no frills, small yard lawnmower. I bought a Greenworks Pro 60V 19" Brushless Lawn Mower. I ordered it through Home Depot and got it delivered by FedEx to my driveway. It came with some assembly issues, but I figured them out and fixed them and then mowed the lawn. So far, so good. going 21" to 19 " is worse than it seems since you have the same overlap. But the lawn mower is a bit lighter and quieter, so maybe that makes up for it.

The picture above shows the old Sears 21" with a Briggs and Stratton motor on the right and the new Greenworks mower on the left. Now I just have to get rid of the old mower. Maybe I'll drain the fluids and take it to the dump. I see lawn mowers in the metal bin all the time. They're all probably still filled with gas.

Putting it to "The Man"

I'm going to tell you a little story in two graphs. The graphs are of the GameStop (GME) stock price. One is for the last 6 months and the other is for today.

Just like most of you, I now read Reddit. Back in January, there was a lot of buzz about the subReddit where they talk about stocks. Apparently, some guy, on the subReddit called r/wallstreetbets, had been talking up the company GameStop (symbol GME). GameStop is a company, with stores in the mall, where they sell all kinds of video gaming stuff. 

As you might guess, a company with stores in the mall is already in trouble. That they sell something that you can usually download or order online, is even more problematic. You might say that GameStop is to video gaming as BlockBuster is to home movie watching. So the stock wasn't doing much and a bunch of hedge funds had bet that in the future it would do even less. In other words, they had shorted the stock.

So this guy, who appears to live in his parents basement playing video games all day, started talking up the stock. He claimed that he loved GamesStop, the store, and that we should punish those nasty hedge funds for betting against it. So if we bid up the stock, those nasty hedge funds will get caught in a short squeeze and lose their shorts. And, for once, the little guy can put it to "The Man". Of course, it's also true that this dude had accumulated a lot of GME at very low prices and that he would do well as we heaped it on the nasty hedge fund guys.

For me, two things are true. Sometime in late January (1), I started paying attention and, being a fan of the underdog, I'm all for putting it to "The Man". So on February 1, 2021 (2), I bought 2 shares of GME at $316 each. I caught it as the price was falling and it never looked back. By mid February (3), I was beginning to feel that maybe I had been had and that somebody had conned me out of $600. I even wondered if this guy in the basement was actually "The Man" or if I was "The Man" that they were putting it to.

I told my son about this and he thought it was funny, and foolish, but appreciated that I was pulling for the underdog.

So cut to yesterday (4) and I see the occasional mention on Reddit and I notice that the price is creeping up again. Well, I've had my fun. So I put in a limit sell order to sell my 2 shares of GME for $320.

Today, as the stock creeped up to $348.50, my trade executed (5) just before the stock plunged back to something like reality. So for my little adventure and for taking a stab at putting it to "The Man", I am now $8 richer.

Disclaimer: This blog does not in any way constitute investment advice.

Update: An 8:1 split occurred on July 22nd, 2022.

Best Purchase Ever

My wife hangs on to things for a long time. Recently however, she decided that she could toss out some old canceled checks. Doing so turned out to be a walk down memory lane. Eventually she came across the  check seen above. It's written to a brokerage firm somewhere in New Jersey. So, in 1989, I bought 100 shares of Apple stock (AAPL). The stock was $35/share with a $35 commission. I'm not sure why my wife wrote the check. After holding the stock for 12 years, it was worth about half what I paid for it. That's about when the iPod showed up. Things got better.

I was wondering about the security of having a bank name along with an account number posted on the internet. Probably not a problem. New Jersey National Bank was established in 1804 and hung around for a long time till Reagan came in and messed with the banking system (remember the Savings & Loan debacle?). New Jersey National Bank was acquired by Corestates sometime just before the check was written. Seven years later, Corestates was acquired by First Union National Bank which became Wachovia which (remember those credit default swaps?) was acquired by Wells Fargo in a fire sale.

New Toy

A few years ago, as my car, a 2000 Honda Odyssey, was getting older, my wife wanted me to get some nice used car that looked kind of classy. Sort of like my neighbor, who always has a slightly used Mercedes.  

"Hmm!" I said, "I want a Tesla". "No Way. You don't need a Tesla", she said. "OK, then I'll just drive that Odyssey forever". Well, fast forward a couple of years. I kept driving the Odyssey, the range on the Tesla got better, my wife saw a decked out Tesla, that she thought looked pretty nice, maybe better than a slightly used Mercedes, my little investment in Tesla stock has appreciated nicely, my Honda Odyssey hit 200,000 miles and it was my 67th birthday.

So on the night of my birthday, I ordered a Tesla. And here it is, in the parking lot at Duke parked next to another Tesla. Mine's the blue one.

I think it looks pretty nice.

Sign Stealer

There are a lot of signs around the neighborhood telling people to make sure they're registered to vote and how to get a mail-in ballot. They are put up by a number of local volunteers. At least one of them is associated with an organization called vote411 (https://www.vote411.org/).

Last Friday, on the way to work, I came upon a car stopped at a 4-way stop on the corner of Elliot and Audubon. Eventually, I realized there was no one in the car. Across the street there was an older gentleman, wearing American flag shorts, walking down the sidewalk. As I drove past and looked in the rear view mirror, I saw that he was taking up the signs and putting them in his car. That didn't seem like something he should be doing.

So I pulled in a driveway and turned around and went back to see what was going on. As I approached the man getting into his car, I took a picture.

I turned in past his car and took another picture so I could get his license plate number.

I drove a little further on and turned around to follow and see what he was up to. When I got back onto Elliot Rd., I could see that he had stopped at the next intersection and was preparing to harvest a couple more signs. I stopped behind him and got out my new iPhone 11Pro and started up the video. He decided that he would let all the cars piling up behind me go ahead before he grabbed more signs. He came around the front of his car and motioned the cars to go ahead. The two cars behind me went around both of us as I kept the camera rolling. At that point, he came toward me and I slowly drove off with the camera focused on him.

The movie doesn't give you a good look at the perpetrator, so I pulled a frame so that you can see him better. He looks like somebody's angry grandfather. 

When I got to work, I called the police station and reported what I had seen and that the man was driving a white Mitsubishi SUV with license plate # BMZ-6679. A bit later, an officer called to verify the information. After calling the police, I went on the Nextdoor website and posted this about the event:

Man seen removing "vote by mail" instruction signs. This morning on the way to work on Elliot Rd., I saw a elderly white gentleman, wearing American flag shorts, removing the little yard signs with instructions for voting by mail. I got pictures of him, his car and his license plate. He didn't seem very happy with me filming him so I didn't stop to chat. I did call the police and let them know.

The next day, my neighbor, who is a member of that vote411 group, walked up to talk to me about my Nextdoor post. She told me there were a few more sightings of the guy and that he had threatened to run over one member of her group. She told me she would keep me informed and put me on the email making the rounds in her group about this guy.

Well, later that day I received an email from one member of the group saying that the police had tracked him down and recovered about 16 signs. Here's what she said:

The Chapel Hill Police have recovered 16 signs from the back of the SUV that XXXX identified. Officer Wheeler brought them to my house just now. I suspect this was just today’s haul.

The culprit lives in Chapel Hill, was inebriated when the police talked with him, and apparently not that concerned that what he was doing is illegal. The officers talked with him about the illegality of stealing the signs, threatening someone with harm, and driving drunk.

We can press charges for theft and XXXXX could press charges for threat to harm with a deadly weapon (a car). Both would be misdemeanors. He would have to appear in court, probably in late September or October. He could do this some more in the meantime, because he will get only a summons to appear in court.

Here’s Officer Wheeler with the recovered signs explaining this to me. He said we could think about whether we want to press charges. I’m leaning toward pressing charges.

I wrote them back and told them I'd be happy to provide any more information if they needed it and was willing to testify in court if need be. And that's the last that I've heard of it.

Sand Castles of 2020

So far in 2020 I've built a sand castle a couple of times. Kinda lame for a guy who likes to build sand castles and who has a house at the beach. Here's the most recent from August 22.

Here's the one built on August 8:

And here's the first one I built on June 21:

Generally I start building in the shade of the umbrella and move west with the edge of the shade. Usually there's a fat part where the most ambitious tower has collapsed and been piled into some amorphous blob. Hopefully, I'll get another one to add to these before the summer is over.

A Different Birthday Gift

On Sunday mornings, after the service ends, and the benediction is declared and the choir sings a final Amen, the organist plays a little improvisation on the music of the service. Usually the congregation is up and talking and making their way to the door and it's basically, "Walking Out Music". A few weeks ago I mentioned to the organist that it was my birthday. I sing in the choir and so I know the organist well. Pay attention after the service is over he said. And at the end of the service, this is what he played. About half of the choir caught on to what was happening and, I learned later, a few of the congregation also noticed. It was a different but appreciated birthday present.

Our organist has done this kind of thing before. Every Sunday morning, he does a nice improvisational transition from the music of the offertory to the Doxology. Last year, on the occasion of Leonard Bernstein's birthday, we heard this.

Stolen Bust

A few years ago, I wrote about the foolish stunt that someone in Washington pulled merely for a photo. They wanted a photo of Air Force One flying past the Statue of Liberty and so they fueled her up and flew Air Force One low over NYC while their cameras were a whirling. Turns out, duh, everybody freaked out with a big ass 747 flying low over NYC. So I wrote a blog entry about it. I showed how easy they could have just faked the picture with a little photo editing by showing Air Force One flying past me at the Wright Brothers monument. I really was at the monument for the photo. I just added the plane.

Well, today I read in the WRAL website that the bust of one of the Wright brothers, Orville I think, had been stolen. They're not sure why but apparently, it's not the first time. Anyhow, without checking to see if the guy in the picture was actually the one stolen, I updated my photo to reflect the new circumstances.

Before:

After:

There, fixed that for ya.

Last Sand Castles of the Year

It was unseasonably warm early in October this year, so I was able to get to the beach and work in a couple more days of castle building. I'm not into things that look so much like medieval castles as I am into things that are tall and skinny and defy the notion of a pile of sand. My castles tend to fall a lot while being built. Here are the last offerings of the year, I fear. Unless it stays really warm.

Sand Castle

Recently, I managed to get down to the beach one afternoon and build a sand castle. It was a little windy but all was going well until the beach Nazis drove up on their ATV and told me I had to take down my umbrella. "Sustained winds at or above 17 mph", they said. That kind of pissed me off since I hadn't slathered myself with SPF 90. Anyhow, I took a couple of pictures and asked a young man to stomp on the castles as I left to avoid sunburn. Here they be:

Maybe I'll get a few more in before the season runs out.

Late Night Lightning

I have a camera at the beach to watch all those people come in and party while we're away. I have it set up to send me an email with a picture when there's movement. Last night I got an email around 12:30 pm with the picture below attached. Looks like it was rocking and rolling out in front of the house. I've seen this before (see below).

I've ordered a couple of new cameras from Wyze to help document my life (as if anyone cared). So maybe you'll be seeing more post on the old blog in the future.

MPG to GIF

A couple of years ago we published a paper on the discovery of a TAK1 inhibitor in which we included an x-ray crystal structure. Somebody wanted to use an animated picture of the crystal structure in a website and so I made a few movies and turned one of them into a .gif so I could drop it into a website without any problem. He it is.

This a a ribbon structure with the ligand shown as a space-filling molecule. It spins at about 15 rpm. Maybe too fast! The crystal is 5v5n and the movie was made with MacPyMol.

Blue Shit, Bronze Shit

Over the last few years at work, I've been working with fluorescent dyes. Specifically I've been connecting them to an Hsp90 protein binding ligand to make a compound which, for whatever reason, selectively goes into cancer cells versus normal cells. Anyhow, to make these things, I sometimes have to make the dye which I couple to a ligand-linker construct via a Suzuki coupling. But that's not what this is about. This is about a weird property of these dyes. I've used one dye extensively because it absorbs and emits in a region compatible with widely available instrumentation. Recently, my supply has been running low and so I've been making more. The really cool thing about these dyes is that they start out deeply colored, in this case blue. But when they are purified and concentrated, they form a solid with a very metallic sheen. You can even see yourself in the reflection. Very weird. Of course I have some pictures. Here's the dye:

And here's how it looks when you make a bunch (7 g) of it.
Starts out Deep Blue.

Turns to Bronze.

This is pretty strange considering this molecule only contains carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur.

For the nerds reading this, here's the spectra of a compound after the conjugation. I don't have one of the dye itself, though it should be very close.

Commute

Five mornings a week, I drive to work. Five afternoons a week I drive home again. Here's what it's like.
Morning:

Afternoon:

Except that it's a bit slower.

Sand Castles

We bought a beach house a few years ago. For some reason, it seems that now it's actually harder to get out to the beach. But when I do, I build sand castles. I like to build them tall so they actually collapse numerous times over the course of construction. Here are three of my efforts so far this year,

A good day is when I get to see the ocean destroy them rather than an angry adolescent.

Tides

I have a camera at my beach house, or should I say marsh house, that takes a picture every 8 minutes. Every once in a while I download a couple of weeks worth of pictures and cram them together into a movie so that I can watch the tide go in and out. Let's try and insert one here.

Somewhere in here I raked the yard and so you see the leaves disappear and slowly come back again. So, after posting this video, I can see that Blogger compresses it a bit and makes the video a little lower quality than it already is. Here's a link to a better version: Tides

Lightning

This morning, at about 5:50 AM, the motion detector function in my camera at the beach sent me a picture because it had detected motion. Motion, to a motion detector function in a camera, is a change in what the camera is seeing. When I looked at the picture and then looked at the time it was sent, I figured it should have been dark. Hmm! So I looked on the weather map and saw that an intense storm has just passed through. The light is from lightning. It's an eerie glow. Kind of ghostly.

Friends

Everywhere that I work, I have friends that accompany me. Here are my friends from home.

And here are my friends at work.

Stock Market Deja Vu

A few years ago, as I was sitting at my computer, the stock market crashed. I watched it in real time and then I wrote about it on my blog. Here's what it looked like:

Well, today as I was sitting at my computer, I got a message from Preston telling me that all my money was going down the tubes. I managed to catch it going down and watched as the Dow dropped 1,500 plus points. It bounced back a bit but not as well as in 2010. Here's what it looked like:

Eerily similar.

I wonder if the Trumpster, who takes a lot of unwarranted credit for the stock market boom, will be willing to take the blame for this little setback. Nah, I didn't think so.

Coins

This post will not be exciting. It's here mainly for accounting purposes. Some time ago I documented emptying my coin jar. Wow, that was 10 years ago! I didn't mentioned that soon after, we put them all in little rolls and took them to the bank. Anyhow, I just did it again, almost.

Some years ago, my lovely wife decided that it would be fun and educational for her and the kids to collect quarters from each state. Do you remember how they were gonna go from having one quarter to having 50 quarters with each state honored on one side? And how they would roll out each state one at a time? They would put them each in a little book and learn about the states as each new one was issued. Well the kids never got interested and most of us forgot about the whole quarter-state thing.

About 20 years later, my wife pulls down a box from on top of a cabinet and it contains a boat load of quarters and a bunch of paper tubes to hold them in.  She hands it to me and says "Deal with this". So I finish rolling them all up and, while in the mood, go get my big plastic coke bottle and go through the whole process with it again. To make a long story short, I deposited about $800 total and now I get to start all over again.

Sand Castles

This year's offering.  The tide was going out so I didn't see how it ended.

Scintillating scotoma

A few years ago, I was working in the lab when I noticed that my vision was going wacky. I wrote all about it on my blog which you can read here. Well, today I was reading In the Pipeline and one commenter mentioned fortifications hallucination. So I looked that up and found the wikipedia article, scintillating scotoma, which pretty exactly describes what I was seeing.  The Wiki article even has some pretty good graphics.

Now I have a little better idea of what was going on. I never did get a migraine and this never happened again.

Castles Made of Sand

I recently spent a week at the beach. After a week of distractions, I finally got a day to build a sand castle. Notice the windows in some of the towers. I build hollow castles. Here it is:

After a couple of hours, the tide returned, just like I planned.

And eventually did its work.

And I managed to get sunburned.

Deer Here

On the way home from the grocery store, as I stopped at the light in front of Whole Foods store, I noticed a different looking animal crossing the street. We have zillions of these bastards around the house constantly eating the shrubberies but something was different about this one.  So when the light turned green I crossed the road and turned into the church parking lot where it looked like it went. At first I didn't see it and then I turned to the left and there it was.  I took a picture with the window up first, in case it ran away and then I rolled down the window and took a couple more.  Here it is.

Flowers Blooming

I've always been intrigued by those movies that speed up action by taking a lot of pictures over a long time and cram them together. They're usually something like plants growing. So I made one.

Let's go back a bit. I recently agreed to do an interview for a company and provided feedback on their new website design. For a fee, of course. They paid me $200 for my lunch hour in the form of an Amazon credit. This money was burning my pockets (as my dad used to say), so I spent some of it on a wireless camera that you link via WiFi and can control and view over the web.  I bought this one. I'll put in a picture cause the link will quit working some day. It costs $110.  Of course, as soon as I bought it, it went down to $99.

I can't figure out what to do with it exactly. We originally mounted it in the garage and pointed it at my wife's tomatoes to see if we could figure out what was eating them. Turned out it was birds.

It doesn't have the highest quality picture but there are a lot of nifty things you can do with it after spending days reading the instructions which you actually have to go looking for on the web. One thing you can do is have it take a picture at regular intervals and send them by ftp to some server if you have an account. I happen to have a GoDaddy account that I use for all kinds of crap like this. Then I take all the pictures and cram them into a movie.

Recently my wife got these neat flowers from the guy who does our next-door neighbors yard. They're big white flowers that bloom when it gets dark and collapse the next day around 10 in the morning. After making sure that I had an adequate WiFi signal in the yard, I set up the camera near sundown and pointed it at the flowers. I set it to take a picture every minute and then left it alone. This is my first shot at it. You have to look fast.

The flowers are definitely cooler than my movie making.