Month: January 2021

–Got some clementines, oranges, radishes, broccoli and Brussels sprouts at the Folsom farmers market. Had an orange with lunch: quite good for $1/pound.

–Pool pump and sweeper seemed to run for (what I hoped was) the programmed amount of time.

–Took a shower. The Phoenix Ascension copper razor worked great with a Derby Extra blade, though I did get a non-self-healing nick, perhaps due to over-confidence.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 9 AM.

–Took some photos with the Casio Exilim ZR700 after bumping up sharpness, saturation and contrast +1 each. Really phenomenal. The zoom is so long it can overfill the frame with the hummingbird feeder. And both a long zoom and a medium zoom allowed text to be read on the feeder; I don’t think any of the other small cameras can do that.

–Lots of rain. Got a second hose at Home Depot for draining the pool, if necessary.

–Left hearing aid went out at 10:30 PM.

–Cleaned up outside. Several large limbs came down in the wind.

–Casio Exilim came in. I ordered gold, seller said it was a mistake and was silver, whereas the camera is actually white. Looks okay, though. Metering (in low light, anyway) is miles ahead of the little Leica. More (brighter) comparisons tomorrow.

–Went shopping with Grace at Bel Air.

–Back is better (this evening; bad all day).

–Nenox paring came in. Small flaw on blade, very faded red handle. Crap.

–Back still hurts a lot.

–Did pretty much nothing today.

–Went to the light rail farmers market for radishes, cabbage, onions, clementines.

–Planted the mandarin clementine. Wrecked back immediately, then decided to replant it farther from the fence. Hope it grows.

–Brass Blackland razor came in. Looks nice, probably too aggressive.

–Casio Exilim came in. Works okay, but a couple of small chips on the LCD screen, and getting RAW requires Best Shot, which has its issues. E.G., it will ask you to pop up the flash if it thinks it needs it, regardless of whether you have forced flash off. So, I ordered a NEW Exilim, also 16 megapixels, but ultra slim like the one I had, and without some of the bells and whistles of the more advanced ones, like 9 shots with one shutter release for auto bracketing, ISO, etc. Also, got out the tiny Leica point-and-shoot, and noticed a weird color cast. The little Leica and the Casio were both warm and yellowish, while the Leica C is cool  and bluish. I recall the previous Exilim I bought some months ago also had color issues, so I’m really curious how the new one will look. Took a reference photo with the Sony AR7, and was again blown away by the quality. Might play with the color modes in the Leica C (standard, natural, vivid, B&W) to find one that works best. Also dropped the exposure on that camera 1/3 EV, as it seemed to be over-exposing a little compared to the Casio.

–Roasted caf and caf beans (bought Monkey Espresso from Sweet Maria’s by mistake, thinking it was decaf like the nearby Donkey Espresso). It sure tastes better than decaf, and should be okay if I drink it early enough in the day.

–Went to Green Acres in Folsom and got a mandarin clementine.

–Ascension copper razor came in. Very nice.

–Pulled the door off the Jenn Air oven so we could pull it out and replace the microwave with the new Panasonic. Messed up the hinges (again). Spent a long time figuring them out, but by then they were toast. Really poor design and cheap construction.

–Took a shower. Tried the Wolfman razor again, and again it seemed rough and harsh. Put the blade in the Paradigm 17-4 and got a nice shave. Now I have several Wolfmen to sell.

–Grace fell in the swimming pool.

–Made turkey burgers for dinner.

–Got 13 sesame bagels at Noah’s.

–Went for a quick, windy bike ride. AQI is 1 today.

–Went to Bel Air for meat, eggs, peanut butter, dessert, etc.

–Polished razor caps. Re-learning from 7-8 years ago (with knife sharpening) that one of the hardest aspects of polishing at this level is seeing. There was cloudiness on the Paradigm 17-4 that I worked on for a long time. Not sure I got rid of it–just got tired of trying to find the exact light/angle/distance at which I could see it.

–Ordered Sweet Maria’s caf and decaf beans.

–Jurgen Hempel Torpedo razor handle came in. Looks nice, but like the UFO handle, doesn’t really complement any of my razors. Hmm…

–Re: lion’s head engraving on Wolfman razor. Seller hasn’t responded to questions; just sent an email to Wolfman himself, but not really expecting an answer. Internet search finds ONE other engraving on a Wolfman: a “backwards” Army flag (i.e., a U.S. flag as it would look on a pole being carried by someone marching into battle). So, I’m pretty sure the lion is a custom request, and the guy I bought it from was not the first owner, and has no clue what it means.

–Went to the Folsom farmers market for mandarins and radishes. Saw some giant cauliflowers.

–Got a pole for the Wall Whale at Callen Pool. Works fine.

–Took a shower. Paradigm razor worked as advertised. Very smooth, one tiny weeper that healed itself before the shave was done (Wilkinson blade on its second use).

–Finally got the refund from eBay for the dud Contax N Digital

–1969 Gillette Black Beauty came in. Cleaned it up with some effort, popped the end cap and put some mineral oil in–that was the only way to stop a persistent squeak. Nice now.

–Paradigm razor came in from Australia (no maker’s marks), as did Blackland SB base plate (irrelevant, as I just ordered a titanium version). Did some polishing to the cap. That 17-4 stainless is indeed hard. Made good progress though starting with the soft felt wheel.

–Canon 1D X II came in. Already looking to replace it with a Sony. It weighs a ton, has a zillion buttons, two zillion submenus, and incredibly cumbersome focus magnification (LED screen only). Yuk.

–Neither USPS nor FedEx delivered today as they had promised.

–Borealis Estoril bezel finally came in from Portugal. Fortunately, bezel and insert were separate, so no risk of breaking insert when installing. Looks good.

–Accessories came in for the non-working Contax N Digital. Unbelievably complete set: manuals in German and English, two European plugs, AC adapter, CD, etc. After checking some stuff in the manual, I got EVERYTHING to work: jpg/raw, sensor cleaning, etc. It writes a file to the memory card (jpeg or raw), but the image is black. Really hoping I can find another N Digital with a good sensor and build one good camera. P.S. The camera failed quickly and totally with new Duracell Optimum batteries, then worked perfectly with freshly-charged NiMH 2700 mAh batteries–just like Eunjong Song said it would. Oh well…

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 9 AM.

–Took a shower. Both open-comb razors (Blackbird and Wolfman) seemed harsh on second pass. Don’t know what’s happening.

–Made turkeyburgers, baked beans, and Brussels sprouts for dinner. Good stuff.

–Picked up mandarins, radishes, almonds at the Folsom farmers market.

Tried polishing the Wolfman razor stand with the “Foredom.” No luck.

–Cosmetic jars came in. Transferred Martin de Candre rose shaving soap to one. Cool!

–Cleaned up outside a bit. Reloaded the garden bird feeder.

–1969 Gillette Black Beauty (gold) came in. Nice after a little polish/cleaning.

–Wall Street Journal editorial said Trump should resign. Peggy Noonan said “Get rid of him. Now.”

–Went to Bel Air for milk, cream, cheese. Not all that fond of the (previous favorite) Castello blue–way too salty. Need to get back to Taylor’s for some St. Agur.

–Rubberset brush came in. Despite the attractive eBay photos, it is deeply blemished–corrosion spots I’m guessing, like all the others. It is a number 4 (my first), so I spent a long time polishing the brush collar so I could mount it on a cleaner handle.

–Trump supporters mobbed the Capitol. Wish I were in New Zealand.

–Wolfman Darwin handle came in. Nice.

–Microwave oven failed after I cooked a Marie. Grace had to use the real oven. Maybe now we get new appliances.

–Got sesame bagels at Noah’s.

–Had sausage and leftover potato salad for dinner; made brownies for dessert.

–Went to Harbor Freight for buffer wheels. Nope. Went to Lowe’s across the street. After much looking and almost giving up, found some 4″ and 6″ wheels. Prepped them on the buffer, with garage door open and fan on. The yellow ones (harder) seemed to work well in terms of minimizing swirl on the Tradere stainless razor.

–Went to Folsom farmers market for mandarins, radishes, almonds, Brussels sprouts, limes.

–After a ton of searching to see if Lightroom 6.14 would handle Canon 1DX II files (including a Lightroom 6.5 blind alley), I remembered that I could download sample RAW files for this camera model. I did, and Lightroom worked. Nearly 50 people are watching an eBay auction for a new 1DX II, currently at $2,000. Will $3,777 take it? Hard to say.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 8:30 AM.

–Took a shower. Tried the new Wolfman razor with a Wilkinson sword blade. Felt a little choppy, got a couple of nicks. Beard was not as long as usual, though, so who knows. Certainly not a slam dunk for razor or blade.