Pandemic Diary #10, 23 May 2020

Productivity levels (0-3), about a 1
Very sleepy this week, been disorganized the past two weeks. Not sure if due to pulling an all nigher this past week (I slept enough the days after though). Just crashed on the floor for an hour, trying to fight it felt like a stone in a lake trying to swim up against gravity; kinda given up on the sleep doctor but maybe I’ll try again.

Still have some skin rash too, now shifting to more parts of my body. Running out of the hydrocortisone. I wonder if I should try getting an air purifier?

Need to do: dental insurance paperwork, braces, vote (yay absentee ballots all arrived — filed the forms via email too)

I’ve been posting cat pictures to instagram now. Quite questionable, entering the social media of the youngsters.

Visited a bamboo grove last week — super tall bamboo, and shoots everywhere as tall as my hip.. Just randomly in the middle of a normal forest. Quite tasty. Bamboo looks interesting inside. Reminds me of fin gripper from TRI.

ICRA video – mild disaster. Happy with slides, but final microphone take was bad — recorded over zoom, so there’s artifacts, and lots of clothes rustling noise ironically (put mic on myself to get rid of keyboard noise). Can’t find my Zoom h1 camera for narwhaledu days. It’s $100 ! Better get some other solution.

Had fire alarm battery die and make chirpy noises. Cat was so scared she cried! She also seems to have a penchant for eating paper. Seems harmless enough. Her missing hair has recovered! I put a collar on her and she tolerated it okay.

She’s got high-five and sit kinda down, working on a jump. I know I’m not teaching her properly, she gets her paws confused. Maybe parents teaching her differently.

Read no COVID news nor activism lately. Feel quite depressed about mandatory masks op-ed being buried. Having no luck finding a subletter. Maybe that’s okay, sounds like MIT might start re-opening. Need to finish classwork. 🙁

Todo: find fellowship and scholarship and grant opportunities. Finish ISER paper. Update quals committee. (Keep focus on how far I’ve come vs compare to other people).

Got monoprice printer working again. Realized need to stop being so perfectionist about bed leveling, just roughly level and print, the print will tell you if need to adjust bed leveling further.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2245341

https://satoshinm.github.io/blog/180122_3dprint1_3d_printing_with_the_monoprice_select_mini_v2_first_impressions_and_prints_a_saddle_knob_guard_guide_spinner_a_cube_and_clip_squeezer_holder_dish_case_stand_fingers_and_carousel.html

Thinking I need to create another blog. Maybe give up on fixing formatting on old posts. Also thinking ridiculous to have two blogs and a portfolio. Academic life, notes to self, portfolio, and random blog. Do papers and class projects define who I am as a person?

Feeling lousy over old projects I left in a huff. Current lab partner was really nice even though he did 90% of the work.

Learned to spray the fungicide for the black spot mildew.

Cat is:  138.6 – 125.6 = 13 lbs exactly. Slowly moving needle in right direction.

Pandemic Diary #9, 17 May 2020

Too much watching of animal hoarder confessions

Stressed about many things… ICRA videos, homework, apartment, not enough done on covid front

Looking for new “learning chinese drama” to watch with parents

Uprooted some bamboo shoots today- – they’re fuzzy!!

AH finally found the drama about a crossdressing chinese general – it’s actually a web series not a drama, apparently, but one with 60 episodes!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_My_General

https://www.viki.com/tv/35829c-oh-my-general?locale=en

https://mydramalist.com/20114-oh-my-general

 

https://reelrundown.com/tv/top-22-best-historical-chinese-dramas-you-must-watch 7. God of War, Zhao Yun is loosely based on the 14th-century Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/recommendation-forum/33510-dramas-where-female-lead-is-highly-skilled-intelligent-resourceful

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/recommendation-forum/31889-chinese-japanese-dramas-with-strong-female-leads

Pandemic Diary #8, 10 May 2020

Today 138.8 – 126.6 = 12.2 ?!?!
May 10, 12.2 lbs.
May 02, 13.5 lbs .
Apr 27, 13.7 lbs.
(same scale was, april 27, 133.4 – 120.2 ish — didn’t wait for scale to settle) = 13.2ish lbs, but that was probably inaccurate? went to vet on April 21st and it was 13.7 lbs.
I guess she is exercising a lot more!!  But 1.5 lbs in ~3 weeks is very bad. So I’ll have to feed her a bit more… maybe closer to 230 cals. Maybe from all the running!!
===
I see, my scale is wildly inaccurate, so I have to take my weight on the scale soon after
And it times out after 30 secs, and after that only jolting it wlil turn it on (not standing on it)
Okay, that’s more reasonable, 13.4 lbs.
May 10, 13.4 lbs. (13 days)
May 02, 13.5 lbs  (5 days)
Apr 27, 13.7 lbs.
So, actually losing too slowly (0.3 instead of 0.5 lbs).
So, I’ll wean down to (1/16) cup = 25 cals, on top of 150 cals from wet food, = 175 cals, + treats = ~190 cals total. (No more than 10 treats)
Have to watch — the new dry food is 180 cals/can instead of 150 cals.
With the error on my scale — may as well just be no weight change (but probably also no weight gain in that case).
So, drop!