Lyra's disappointing makeover

This was taken on 4th July right smack over lunch hours, with a cranky baby who just wants to nap and an elder brother who was especially mischievous during the shoot.

It did not help that the photographer was curt and did not seem enthusiastic about the job even though the studio supposedly specializes in taking photos of kids and pregnant women.

Some pics here.

Gallop Park

Brought Lucas and Lyra to Gallop Stable at Pasir Ris Park Carpark C. Lyra was asleep when we got there, but Lucas had a look around and we got him to feed the horses first as he was hesistant about riding them. The feed cost $1. The ride was $10, but it was just a round within the park.

They do lessons as well. 10 lessons for $400. Quite reasonable I thought.

After that, we went to Explorer Kid at Downtown East. Lyra seems to enjoy herself in the ball pool.

Some pics here.

Cats CARnival

Went to the Cats CARnival yesterday at the Singapore Expo, but it was not to look at cars or race queens. We were there to cheer Lyra at the Baby Crawling Competition.

We had high hopes for her, but the results were far from expected when it was her turn. She was actually asleep, but had to be woken up to be ready at the starting line.

When it's time to go, she just sat there. Nothing could move her an inch. So, that was the end of the heats. No need to proceed further. We went to Changi Airport T3 for tea instead.

Some pics here.

Humming transformer

Ok, not the movie, but rather the r-core power transformer that I got from Chung at vt4c. I wanted to try a r-core power transformer as I have not tried them in a tube amplifier before. Kinda regretting the decision though...

Chung said that the primary windings are not marked correctly, thus I have wired them out of phase, causing the hum. He suggested that I try to wire the black wires as 0 and 230v and connect the red and orange together to get 230vac on the primary winding.

I tried this out and the hum is lesser, however, the transformer heats up after 10 seconds or so.

I decided to wait for him to measure the transformer when he gets to his warehouse. I've stopped work on the amps for now. In the meantime, I'm expecting to pick up my Nixie Tube clock kit from the post office tomorrow. Yeah... Always wanted to build one of these.

Gonna look around for a nice enclosure to house this baby. ;)

A birthday celebration

Nowadays, between San and I, our birthday celebrations are muted compared to Lucas's. I bet Lyra's would be a bash when we celebrate hers in September. It's the same feeling about Chinese New Year when one grows older...

Anyways, wanted to get a string of black pearls, but just in case, I asked what she would like me to get. The answer came in a sms... chocolate cake and crabs.

Ok. Well within budget... So off I went to look for nice chocolate cakes. Google helped, and I eventually called awfullychocolate to place an order for an 8" all chocolate cake. We had dinner at House of Seafood. The highlight would be the 1.6-1.8kg chili crab. Thereafter was the cake cutting back home.

Actually, I must say that the chocolate cake is over hyped. It was not what I'd imagine. I should try Canale Patisserie Chocolaterie at Paragon next time.