Cassiopeia

The envelope was standard, like something you’d expect from papyrus. But it was unusually heavy. The envelop bulged a bit, hinting that the contents contained more than a suspected late Christmas card. Four stamps. The sender name was unrecognizable, possibly an alias, as it was addressed correctly to me. Confusion.

I didn’t bother to walk back to my condo to check what’s inside. I immediately tore open the envelope and pulled out a greeting card, finding a 3 inch x 6 inch circuit board inside. The board was printed on, component-ready, but smack in the center were my initials. Even in my frenzy, it took me all but a split second to find. It came with a note, too, part of which read: “It is a small token of thanks, but I put your initials on the circuit board… “. 

I’m not sure why, or how, or what … but this is by far one of the most creative gestures of love and thoughtfulness I have ever came across. It’s wacky, it’s geeky, it’s genius… And it’s made me realize – now more than ever – that the world is really one giant canvas for me to paint on.    

So here I go again, walking into a world of men. Here goes nothing.

Don’t lie– you’d kill for great macro images on your iPhone.  But fret not, as there exists a fairly simple hack.

Because the point of focus is beyond the image, we will need a positive lens to pull the point of focus towards us. Typically, any double- or plano- convex lens will do. These are very easy to find as they exist in throwaway cameras.  In it, you will find a series of simple tiny lenses which you can put in front of your phone’s camera for optimal focus.

Here’s the best part though… I keep a few lenses in the coin section of my wallet so that I can have instant access to good macro images wherever I go.  That makes me “cool” right?  No? Well, wait until you see my before and after images:

So there you have it. I’m cool.