Uniquely U

June 9, 2017 Friday My beloved Nexus 5X cannot start up, always stuck on the white Google logo.  Blame the kid first. "What have you installed this time?" Google it secondly. "OMG, poor phone has been bricked! Sorry, Kiddo!"  It has been an issue since 2016. Looks like it is a hardware issue from LG, the manufacturer of 5X. Some also blamed the latest update from Google, which triggered the hardware failure.  Some revived their 5X by doing a factory reset. OK, we should give it a try! Hold Power button + Vol Down: Notice the last line on the screen: DEVICE STATE - locked. That's the death sentence. Select Recovery, then hold Power button + Vol Up should bring up the recovery menu. I couldn't get to that menu! According to one user, put it in the fridge will help, and it surely did. First try out of the fridge brings me the recovery menu. Kid and I cannot help cheering when we finally see the menu. Cleared cache, reboot, nev...

It is so much fun making braids with dough and seeing them turned out golden! INGREDIENTS: 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 2 tsp sugar 1/2 cup warm water (110 degree) 1 1/2 cup warm milk  1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup sugar 1 Tbsp salt 3 eggs 7 cups all-purpose flour 1 egg some sesame seeds DIRECTIONS: In a large mixing bowl, add yeast, sugar and warm water, let it stand for 5 minutes; Add milk, butter cubes, sugar, salt, lightly beaten eggs, and flour, mix into a soft ball; Knead for 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic; Grease the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubled, about 1 hour; Divide the dough in half, then into thirds. Roll each piece into a long rope, about 18 inches. Braid 3 ropes tightly, pinch and hide both ends under. Make 2 loaves. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise until doubled, about 45 minutes; Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds; Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Enjoy it warm, pull easi...

One day I noticed there is a small patch on the maple tree. Couple of days later, it grew bigger. I took a closer look ... ... a patch of wiggling caterpillars! Goosebumps were all over my skin, and I fled away. Then I started wondering, what is the purpose of a caterpillar? After watching this guy's video,  Life Cycle of the Tent Caterpillar , I concluded that caterpillars don't have a purpose. They are bad for plants, and they should be eliminated from my tree! Called the city for help, was told it will take 15 days for someone to come to determine whether this is on city's property. If it is on private land, they will leave it to me. Oh, well. I will remove them myself as long as I don't need to touch them! Here is the solution:  Spray cooking oil on them .  Caterpillars breath through their skin, so oil kills them almost instantly. Half of them felt down, the other half I used a paint stick to scrape them off the trunk. All went to the compost bin! P....