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Vivi's first flight to Asia!

9/29/2017

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This plan is fairly insane. First, we tested Vivi on a 6-hour flight to the East Coast, to see my parents. Then, with a great deal of preparation, we flew mom and Vivi direct to Hong Kong from Boston, a 15-hour flight! Since Vivi is under 2-years old, she can fly under mom's ticket. So we sprung for Cathay Pacific first class.

Oh, the flight leaves at 1:40am from Boston, and the I-93 entry ramp is closed every Thursday night. The big dig cost $12B, and the system is only 10-years old, but corruption and shoddy construction ensure Boston will be paying the price, every year, forever.  JOY! :)

​Once airborne, Princess Vivi found the amenities to be... acceptable .
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Here's a little toy bathroom furniture set we packed. Bubble Time!! :)
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Nappy Time went perfectly. The flight attendants fawned and hovered over Vivi.
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Mercifully, Vivi only had a day or two of jet lag. Here she is, during her recovery nap in Hong Kong.
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Best. Toy. Ever. (2017 edition)

9/10/2017

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I'm in the woods of PA, stopping by Lowes, buying ShoeGoo to repair a rare, 15-yr-old trail-running shoe.

Behold! I was mesmerized by The Most Amazing Thing.

​Must. Buy.

This thing is huge. I quickly buy a 100ft extension cord and some headlamps too.

Feverishly, I set it up that night.
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It's even more fun in the daytime. It's incredibly perfect at dusk.

You can use it as the best soccer goal ever. I also use the lit ghosts, and googly eyes, for soccer target practice! Eventually, I pegged the ghosts so many times, one of the incandescent bulbs blew out. So I ordered some LED replacements from Amazon! :D 

​I should be able to wail on it with impunity then. Dad's need fun too, you know?

I call him, "The Count", after Sesame Street, or "Count Spookula". I also repeat "googly-googly-googly   eyes!" to get Vivi revved up. She LOVES it! 

Vivi asks for "googly eyes please", or "The Count, please", when she wants to play with it. It took us 5 days to get Vivi to high-five the ghosts and touch the eyes.
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The original incandescent lights in Count Spookula cast a warm, very-yellow glow. I researched them, and they are 7 watt bulbs. Actually, since I was rewiring and replacing about 5-dozen bulbs in my parents place (with LED's), then upgrading The Count was relatively easy. Again, mainly I want the LED's because they are solid-state, so they won't blow out when I peg them with a soccer ball.

Here are the old bulbs:
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I chose to put 1.5W LED's as replacements, with a nice bright-white color. These are 15W equivalent, or, twice as bright!

Behold the majesty! The gleaming, white, Count Spookula v2!

At the end of this video, you can hear me kicking a soccer ball into the ghosts. :)
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    Author

    I'm an applied-math-research Ph.D. and serial startup founder. I am a recognized computer security expert, fortunate to join the ranks of many, great CTO's. I've founded and seed-funded multiple, successful, VC-backed companies. I'm still at it!

    My wonderful wife and I moved from New England to near the Portland Oregon area. We LOVE the Pacific Northwest, and we've been here a few years now. We have an adorable baby girl, Vivi.

    People here are nice and smile a lot. Vegetables are insanely delicious. Driving is not like Mad Max.

    This blog is very Vivi-centric. Our family just can't resist. :) Also, there are some stupid hacking and geek tricks.


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