Tesla's Lima Beans.

As usual, things are busy in Detroit. Though technically between semesters, and everyone's self-regulated lab hours have relaxed a bit, there is plenty of robotic work to be done. Additionally I'm in the process of finding a new apartment before my lease expires, and my mother just informed me that my health insurance ceases after tomorrow. But the Barry cure-all of food still seems to apply. Liyi stopped at the grocery on her way to my apartment today and brought some delicious goodies, though tempted by the 包子 (baozi) filled with vegetables (rather than custard) we decided to make use of the produce. It started with a large side of Chinese style lima beans, that we made some mistakes on. Tesla turned up his nose and opted for cat chow instead. Liyi and I salvaged the lima beans with a vegetable stir fry containing zucchini, bamboo shoots, snow peas, tofu, onion, and noodles. We then mixed in a few of the lima beans.

While us Humans rested after eating a big meal, Tesla was full of energy and decided to go for a bike ride. Don't worry, he always wears his helmet.

Two Short Summer Vacations

Warm summer nights. Swimming. Not logging on.

I took two wonderful, albeit short vacations -- to Washington, D.C., to visit Sean (and my friend Mark), and to Los Angeles, to meet up with Nanette, who was working down there -- and now I'm back to the fog and sitting inside all day in front of a computer monitor. But they were great while they lasted.

Here are several photos of each trip. First is Sean in front of Great Falls on the Potomac, just north of D.C., then there are a couple of shots of us "swimming" and wading in the two-foot deep White Oak Canyon Creek in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. And then there's Sean in front of the DNC, a few blocks from the Capitol.

Then there's Nanette and me with from Runyon Canyon, up in the Hollywood Hills, walking distance from where we were staying with her friend David. The last shot is downtown L.A. from this canyon.

There are plenty more photos on Flickr -- DC | LA