The Lab Notebook.
This is where I write down what I tried, what worked, and (most of the time) what totally broke. Wires that fell out. Rice in jars. Strawberries that sat there for a week. Real science is mostly failing, then figuring out why.
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Field research #26 May 23, 2026My first day asking strangers if they want to help save food
My mom and I drove around DFW on Saturday asking libraries and farmers markets if they would help. 2 yeses, 2 maybes, 3 nos and 1 'no but try this even better thing.' Here's how it actually went.
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Debugging #25 Apr 22, 2026The LED that wouldn't light up (current debugging saga!)
I hooked up the ESP32, plugged in the power, and tried to make one tiny LED turn on. It didn't. I have been trying to figure out why for two days. Mom, help.
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Field research #21 Mar 30, 2026What I learned at Community Storehouse (4.5 volunteer hours)
I packed 200 food donation bags. I came home convinced that pantries don't need my sensor, but families could really use what it taught me.
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Experiment #24 Mar 19, 20267 hours of strawberries: the humidity surprise
The BME688's humidity reading rose 2.75 percentage points in a sealed container. That's the metabolic water released by microbes, which is an even earlier spoilage signal than gas.
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Hardware #17 Mar 1, 2026V5 is here: multi-sensor, Wi-Fi, and clean power at last
The biggest jump from V4 to V5 wasn't a new sensor. It was a tiny piece of plastic called a 7805 voltage regulator. Boring name. Huge difference.
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Hardware #13 Feb 25, 2026Adding the buzzer (because nobody watches an LED forever)
I figured out that nobody actually stares at the LED waiting for spoiled food. So I added a buzzer. It's loud. My mom does not love it. Sorry, mom.
Read the experiment - Debugging#11 Feb 18, 2026
Trivial Debugging: The Loose Wire Saga
I spent two weeks thinking my MQ4 was broken. It wasn't. The ground wire to my breadboard had pulled half a millimeter loose. Half a millimeter cost me ten experiments.
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Hardware #08 Feb 11, 2026Why my LCD only needs two wires (and how I2C works)
A 16x2 display normally takes 8 data wires. With a tiny I2C adapter on the back, it's down to 2. Same screen, same letters, six pins back.
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Hardware #06 Nov 9, 2025Two breadboards, one big ESP32 (and the gap that bit me)
The ESP32 is too wide to fit on one mini breadboard. So I pushed two together. Easy! Right? Right?? Plot twist: the power rails on the two boards don't talk to each other.
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Experiment #04 Oct 24, 2025How a sensor caught spoiled rice 8 hours before my nose could
I sealed 100g of basmati rice in a jar with the sensor on top. Started at 39.5 kΩ. At 12 hours: 25. At 20 hours, alarm. My nose didn't notice until 20 hours either.
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