Month: August 2025

–Big day. Kenny brought me another melon. I went to the Sunrise farmers market for pears and tangerines, and bought some tangerines for Ken the mailman. Then to Bel Air for barbecue and dairy stuff. Then to UPS, where I saw Ken and gave him his tangerines.

–Put the Jimson Weed cutting, which has been sitting in water for months with a few roots, into a pot with soil. We can watch it die now. Watered all plants.

–Barbecued pork chops, corn, Claire’s potato salad. Yummy!

–Waited all morning for the “standard” Pyra spinner drop. Didn’t happen. Queried one of the principals. He said “Will do a drop around 7 CST.” I started refreshing the screen every second at 6:55, and at 7:04 I WON ONE!!

–Chicken pot pie for dinner. Grace is still not real keen on cooking or shopping.

–Re-potted several succulents. Seems to have gone okay. Really worried about doing the multi-stemmed one.

–Went to UPS for (a) Magnus Shell (swapped in some dimple plates for the original skeleton plates and made it smoother), (b) my second Aura Sand slider (these are fabulous), (c) pills fro Amazon, (d) my second 3D-printed add-on for the Timemore grinder;  I can’t figure out how to mount it..

–My blood pressure seems to remain high: 140’s over 80’s. Crap.

–Had breakfast at the Holiday Inn, got gas at the nearby Chevron, drove home. Roughly 3 hours and 5 minutes with no delays.

–Took Grace to dinner at Carmelita’s nearby. Not bad, but not great.

–Drove the BMW to the coast. Had an egg salad on wheat at the bluff in La Selva Beach, checked in at the Holiday Inn in Watsonville, went to the Pot Stop and bought a bunch of pots, drove to Capitola only to find that Phoebe’s had closed early (3:30 instead of 5:00, sorry for the inconvenience), went to McDonald’s for an early dinner, went back to the hotel and zonked out.

–Went to UPS for some Modusworks slider parts, a Pyra slider I traded for (fabulous), and a KAP zirc spinner.

–Dr. Firoz’ office called and made an appointment for me to see him in person next week (at 6:30 PM). Don’t know what’s going on (lab work was great, Losartan prescription was doubled from 25mg to 50mg); don’t look forward to it.

–Got some mats down from the attic to wrap pots in at the Pot Stop tomorrow.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Made compote with 3 pounds of farmers market tomatoes. Came out good, though very soupy and not as much as I vaguely recall–two meals at best.

–Got pretty much caught up cataloging spinners and sliders, as well as magnets.

–Watched The Amateur with Rami Malek. Decent movie, every cliche in the book, and would have been vastly better with someone other than Malek.

–Took Grace to Sunrise farmers market. Got lots of stuff: tomatoes, squash, pears, sourdough bread, etc.

–Went to UPS for magnets, Arc and Iron slider (weird: teflon plates really seem to negate strong magnets), Rancho Cordova t-shirt, Sony clock radio (crap; tossed), Sony hearing aids.

–Stopped at Bel Air for milk, green beans, eye drops.

–Messaged Dr. Firoz regarding high blood pressure readings. He said to double my Losartan dose (25mg –> 50mg), though he didn’t talk about changing the prescription. It was just renewed, so I have > 1.5 months left at 50mg/day.

–Paid State Farm homeowner’s policy $1,411.50.

–Got bagels at New York Bagel Cafe.

–Sent off Drake spinner buttons to Belle Nguyen that I’m trading for her Pyra.

–Lotsa squirrel activity late in the day. It’s a scorcher out there.

–Hot hot hot. Satan’s Butthole is the season.

–Finally yelled at Grace about sitting around doing puzzles all day, told her I was going to Smart & Final for peanuts and muffins. She came with, did regular shopping, made a very nice dinner. Beats me…

–Started watching The Accountant 2; will finish tomorrow. Not bad.

–Crocodile socks and Gold River t-shirt came in for Grace’s birthday.

–Got Kenny his Eneloops for his phones.

–Walked to the Fair Oaks bridge. Too hot, no turtle.

–Downloaded and watched Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Okay, but way too long.

–Grace is worrying me: just sits in her chair all day doing puzzles. No shopping, no cooking…

–Rode in Folsom with Tom Elken; saw yet another remnant of the Lincoln Highway. Yakima bike rack seemed to be acting up again, and on checking it, it kind of fell apart. Sooooo, I studied it hard (there’s nothing on the web) and put it back together again. It will work MUCH better now and will cause no more problems. I just hadn’t given it serious enough scrutiny in the past; now I know exactly how to use it.

–Picked up magnet tool at UPS; seems to work okay. Also got Kenny’s Eneloops, but his garage door was closed all day after I got home so I’ll install them tomorrow.

–Had Stouffer’s stuffed peppers for dinner; Grace had Marie’s Salisbury steak.

–Went to Bel Air for coffee, cookies, cheese.

–Stopped at UPS for garbage bags and UQH slider. Slider is very nice. N52s in the corners, but–because it’s light, maybe–N35s in the middle. Easy to work.

–Loaded up the e-bike for a ride tomorrow with Tom Elken.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Didn’t do much. Played with Modusworks Rapts for a while, ended up putting them back as they started. Ruined my right index finger working with magnets.

–Vicolo pizza for dinner.

–Went to UPS to pick up big coticule (very nice) and Magnus Crinkle in ti and zirc. Spent a while with various magnets (the Crinkle came with a hodge-podge of them) and ended up just putting in 8 6×3 N42s (same with the copper Crinkle). Zirc Crinkle works better than copper one, perhaps because of zirc plates (rather than SS), perhaps because it’s a little lighter–but neither is a keeper I fear.

–Got steak, corn and potato salad at Bel Air; barbecued them. Yummy.

–Watered back patio plants.

–Helped Kenny rotate the back wheels on his mobility scooter. Exhausting–I’ve really gone downhill lately in terms of stamina.

–Picked up magnets at UPS.

–Went to Bel Air for dessert, milk, tangerines, Vicolo pizzas.

–Walked to UPS to pick up a Modusworks spinner and some magnets. Tried to take some nicks off the spinner and ruined it. Crap. Note to self: I can’t fix chamfers.

–Went for a 12-mile bike ride. Beautiful day.

–Picked stuff up at UPS: (a) outdoor pet feeder, (b) Gauss meter, (c) KAP Bar Cell spinner (sweet), (d) Magnus Skelly Verkk spinner (kind of stiff, will take some work).

–Watched Whitstable Pearl, S03E03. Pretty depressing.

–Thought my hair growth had really slowed down. Turns out my last haircut was 5 weeks ago, not 13. Still…

–Went to Pacific Skin for a six-month checkup. She froze 3-4, said all else was good.

–Made pizza for dinner: Huge crust, tons of mozzarella, mushrooms and meatballs. Pretty good. Watched Whitstable Pearl S03E02; not bad.

–Took Grace to Bel Air for various stuff.

–Stopped at UPS to pick up (a) Kuko Frag slider, ho-hum, and (b) Aura Sands slider–the best one I own by a long shot. With all the hype on Magnus and Modusworks, these Chinese guys just utterly nailed it.

–Tires on the Honda seem fine. Wish I knew why one was 5 pounds low a few days ago.

–Hot day; fed squirrels.

–Finally (mostly) finished cataloging fidgets.

–Made focaccia bread.

–Watered plants, then spent much of the day trying to clean up my bedroom and make sense of all my sliders.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Picked up anodized Magnus Duck, Edamame resin spinner, NJT mokume buttons at UPS.

–Barbecued pork chops, corn for dinner. Yum!

–Hot today; summer is finally upon us.

–Watched another Whitstable Pearl episode. The on/off Mike/Pearl romance is really annoying and driving me crazy. From the look of things, this thread will remain a part of the series until the end.

–Picked up the OG crystal ti LIC EDC Edamame spinner at UPS. Nice. Stopped at Bel Air for milk, ice cream, apples.

–The Mega Mini Mame I bought from Kendall Ellis was APPARENTLY destroyed in transit by UPS; he has refunded me. There is no way the UPS claim of “contents not recoverable; discarded” could be true. Super, super frustrating.

–Replaced the 6×2 N45 magnets in a Magnus Duck with N42s from Amazon. It did seem to improve the handling.

–Took Grace to Mai’s Berry Farm and The Farmer’s Wife for produce. Got lots.

–Picked up the blue Osprey pack at UPS.

–Made pizza/bread dough, cut it in half, made a cheddar/cotija/tomato/pepperoni pizza. Pretty good, though salty due to the cheese I think.

–Watched Whitstable Pearl, S02E02. Dead Takeoff on Rear Window.

–No bike ride today. Tom is getting checked at UC Davis Med Center for atrial fibrillation.

–Got bagels at New York Bagel Cafe.

–Picked up slider magnets and a Pyra at UPS. Magnets came with a nifty thin metallic magnetic plate, which works much better than a slider tin for changing button magnets. Pyra has some scratches; will send it off for re-blasting.

–Went to Bel Air for bagels and oatmeal cookies.

–Went to UPS a couple times. Got (a) 2EDC Side Pocket bearings (fabulous), (b) Tevas, (c) a whole bunch of Magnus sliders–one from eBay, others direct. None is a real knockout, but might improve with weaker magnets.

–Bought a crystal titanium OG spinner on the Facebook forum. COA, but no box. Asked Jamie Acker if he’d make me another box: he said no, he’s stopped “reissuing.” Crap. I do have a spare box, however.

–Put the rack on the car and mounted the bike. Then learned that Tom has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, so no ride.

–Day two with Timemore grinder: much better.

–Rode 14.5 miles on ARP, canal, Gold Country. Completely wiped me out. Thought I was drinking enough (on ride, at lunch at Beach Hut Deli, with dinner, but urine is still dark. I suppose I should get waterlogged before the next ride.

–Went to Bel Air for tangerines, cream cheese, dessert, coffee, etc. Used one of two new self-checkout stands–kind of surprising, given that other stores are closing them down. The Rite Aid is closing at the Town Center. Scary: that place has lost several restaurants and now a big drugstore since the pandemic. If Bel Air closes, I’m outta here…

–Walked to UPS to pick up Swoop slider. The copper finish was rough on the outside and full of green scale on the inside. Cleaned it up a Bergeon satin wheel and a soak in a hot citric acid solution.

–Watered some plants.

–Used the Timemore grinder for the first time. Coffee was okay, not great. Grinder is quiet, but it Does need (as many have said) a hopper extension. Will get one.

–Went to UPS to pick up Timemore grinder (promising: it’s eerily silent), neodymium magnets (put 8 in the Magnus blue golf ball and they seem to work fine), Osprey teal backpack (super small, may get some use out of it).

–Won TWO Magnus fidgets in the 5 PM drop. Not sure why. They are less popular models, but I still thought people were just jumping on those.