Old Fashion Engineering

I have been flipping through catalogue of flange to find a suitable blanks for our calorifier. There are so many different components in a mechanical system, each with many international standards. This is what differentiate mechanical with all the other disciplines, mechanical engineers make real thing in 3 dimensions and if it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit.

Homemade Kedgeree

I was looking for ways to eat up the smoked mackerel.  I decided to try to make kedgeree.  It turned out okay.  I find curry powder has a very non-descriptive flavour.  Maybe I shall make my own curry powder mix.

"Optional" Service Charge

When "Optional" is not optional.  It is very annoying.

Poor Dentistry

The longer I live in the UK, the more poor dentistry I observe.  Why would the dentist here pull out all the premolars when putting the braces on, when refuse to remove the breached wisdom teeth?  All the hard work of straightening the teeth with the braces is destroyed by the wisdom teeth pushing forward.  And apparently it is acceptable for the wisdom teeth to be sideway, whereas it does not serve a purpose as a molar but extra crevices for bacteria.  Absolutely nonsense.

Christmas Shopping

Ever since the British imported the Black Friday idea, this has become a big Christmas shopping push.  My inbox is full of marketing emails.  Most of them are headline catching, and a few of them actually got my attention.  I got a push by my credit card company with bonus, now I am spurred on.  Afterall, this is what Christmas is all about, consumerism.

Real Road Incident

As a cyclist, I have had my mishaps.  When I started driving, I can see a different prospective.


When I was driving to work, a cyclist wiped out at the roundabout when me and another car already entered the roundabout before he cleared off.  We both slammed the brakes and waited.


Scary.

Ring of Fire

Earthquake everywhere.  Does this mean it is a beginning of more earthquakes along of the ring of fire or does this mean all shifts released and wait for next substantial movements?  Meanwhile, let steers clear of the ring of fire.

Marketing Trap

It is the shopping season, and it is possible find the market's bottom, ie the discount comes at a various shape and sizes and it is not possible to get the best bargain all the time.  I feel defeated!

Captain Fantastic

I was told this was a black comedy, even IMDB seems to think it is a "comedy".  It is not particularly amusing, it is not particularly black, it is definitely typical Hollywood, ie white privilege.  There was no boat, and not fantastic.  I am mis-sold thorough and thorough.






It may have some relevance in the real life, ie they live in an isolated echo chamber, their ideology was extremist and mis-guided.


In hindsight, with its Pacific Northwest forrest, with pale looking characters, crazy lifestyles, it is just like Twilight.

Early Manchester Christmas Market

We went to Manchester for the Christmas Market.  We had buffet for lunch, so I was very full to fit any sausages.  The weather was dry, and it was a bonus.  As it is only November, it was not too busy.

Whilst everyone was chit chatting, I strolled thorough every bit of the Christmas market, including the Affleck pop-up.  There were some student musicians busking with flutes and cellos!  They now also filled out the courtyard outside John Rylands.

I was tempted by a few European things, but since I wouldn't be consuming them anytime soon, I successfully resisted from buying.  I ended up walking a lot, I hope I have walked off some of my buffet intake!

Harrogate Christmas Market

We went to Harrogate Christmas Market.  It is only November, but their market only opens for one weekend.  Unlike other towns and cities, their market is on a patch of green.  It turned out to be very muddy!  It is a fairly small market, but there are more local traders with interesting offerings, such as candle powered steam boats.  They also have main stream offerings like reindeer.

There were coaches full of people coming in and out of the market!

We were going to have a lunch at a pub, but it was very busy, and we ended up in the Truffles Cafe.  Their service was friendly and food was very nice.  I had a vanilla slice.  Sarah is convinced the vanilla is made off-site.

We had a walk around the park then settled at the Palm Court Cafe.  It was also packed.  I had no room for cake, so I opted for a hot chocolate.  Sarah has a Chocolate Orange, and Tony had a Mocha Blonde.  They were quite good.  I am looking forward to their cakes.

"On Track"

When someone give you a vague answer of being "on track", we really need to ask which track are they following, and if the track is leading to disaster.

Slim DVD Player

The old DVD player has been temperamental.  We finally got a new one.  The new DVD players are so much smaller than older DVD players!

Belvita Breakfast Crunchy Chocolate

Evil.

Adventure Gone Wrong

The tourists are getting into real danger.  There are reason why there was warning signs and life waiver.  Some might say, Natural Selection.

Dew Point

Whilst I was clicking around on the Dew Point Calculator, I realised why some AHUs cannot use a cooling coil for dehumidification, when the dew point for the condition is below the cooling coil temperature.  Learn something new everyday.

Lichfield Delights

We took the opportunity to visit Lichfield 'City' while we were near Birmingham.  The nice weather was a bonus.

Lichfield Cathedral is one of the most important English Christian church.  It is very ornate, very well kept.  In their Chapter House, they were also showing Staffordshire Hoard.

Then we stopped at Erasmus Darwin house.  Erasmus was a very interesting character.

By the time we stopped for lunch, it was already 2pm!  We stopped at a fancy Thai restaurant called Ma Ma Thai.  The food came with carved vegetable as decoration!  The lunch deal was good and the food was tasty.  We were surprised that there were two Thai restaurant side by side.

We called into Tesco for a quite shopping before we were rushed away from the 3-hours parking limit.  Nice little town.

Birmingham Delights

We first went to Minmin for a light lunch.  Then we caught up with AVEN at the Malt House. The Malt House had some problem with their beer pump, and my cider was horrible until they went to another line to get me a new one.

Then we went to see the Staffordshire Hoard at the Birmingham Museum.  Birmingham Museum is very similar to Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, which is my favourite art gallery.  I wish I had more time in the Birmingham Museum.

Before dusk, we rushed to the 'new' Birmingham Library to check out the roof top garden.



If you ask any Chinese person, they will tell you the building is covered by 'coins'.

The garden was nice, and the library was quite impressive.

We went back to the Malt House.  They managed to mass up my drink order again.  I wanted Fentimans  Ginger Beer, they were out, so they offered me Crabbe (alcoholic) Ginger Beer instead.  Sarah had to give it away.

We left the group and went to look for dinner back in Chinatown.  Sarah wanted vegetable, so I suggested to have hot pot at Han Dynasty.  The price was okay, the selection was okay, the meat selection was a bit small.  I had to speak Mandarin, otherwise, everything was okay.

It was a fulfilling day out.

Overworked Short Crust

I have been reminded recently that over worked short crust pastry and short bread are very disgusting.

Twisted Stories

I recently hear a story I once told. So many facts were incorrect. Another reason not to believe is anyone's stories.

Snowy November

I woke up to the first snow of the year.  The weekend is meant to warm up, but it was a struggle to get to work in bad road condition.

Valves and Cam Chain

We learnt about valve clearance adjustments and cam chain in the class.  This makes me appreciate more what the mechanics do.  Since I am never going to do this to Little Rome myself, there really isn't much need for me to take the intermediate class.  I should look less surprise by the price when I am next handed a bill.

Basic Science of Cooking

A lot of people think cooking is a mystery. It is just basic physics of heat transfer. Using any medium of heat, resulting in the food being heated to a desired temperature, eg pasteurization, caramelization. You can have the best seasoning, but if the food is overcooked, you would lose the flavour from the food. As s simple modelling of heat transfer, if two substances are of similar consistency and similar size, then they will be "cooked" in the same amount of time. Using this train of thought, if you can cook one meat, you can cook all other meats. And deep frying, confit and water bathing are good cooking method of choice as the heat contact all areas at a controlled temperature.

Headlight for Kendrew

Kendrew's left bulb is gone again.  I thought it was loose, as it turned out, it was actually burnt out. 

I have changed the bulb, and lets hope I have done it correctly and keep the second bulb as spares.

Leeds Tour on Bus

We took the Go for a Fiver into Leeds, and we took 5 journeys out of the ticket, what a bargain.

Roundhay Bonfire Inferno

Sarah and I went to the Roundhay Bonfire.  It was as impressive as always.  I should have brought my monopod and take better fireworks picture.  Maybe next year.

Tyre Protector

My old wheels from the old bike is completely rusted and I took the opportunity to salvage the tyre protector and reassign them elsewhere.  Let's hope I find a good home for them.

Autumn Blues

Last year, I managed to skip the Autumn blues as I was in a turbulent times.  This year, as the weather turns, it is coming.  I first thought the solution could be warmth, but I think alcohol would be more suitable.  Let's hope this won't last long.

Broadband Changes

I just started shopping around for broadband and the changes as recommended by OFCOM are coming in, the prices are going up and down.  I will let it settle down and look again in a couple weeks.

Windows 10 Video

I cannot play any videos on my Windows 10 computer.  There are no free software for videos!  Useless!