–Went to Noah’s for bagels and blueberry muffins.
–Took a swim: 80 laps crawl, 20 laps kick; a new record.
Author: wsf (Page 16 of 29)
–Rode the canal. Started on ARP, but it was too crowded (Fathers Day).
–Took a quick swim @ 85. A tiny bit cool (sun was behind trees more than usual as it was later than usual). Cleaned off some algae on steps. Gotta put a little chlorine in every day I think.
–Barbecued turkey burgers, corn, squash.
–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for jam, squash, donut peaches, etc.
–Found a nice (not cheap) Mustang at Carmax. Minus: no price negotiation. Plus: Everything is done online, they deliver the car (for a fee) and you have 7 days/4,189 miles to return the car for any reason–minus the delivery fee.
–Too cool to swim, for the second consecutive day.
–Repaired Megaduck.
–Leica M lens came in. Put it on SL2, which recognized it (it came 6-bit coded). Took a few pics. Seems fine. Doesn’t really “snap” into focus, but it’s okay. Very small and light compared to (what I hear) native SL2 lenses.
–Made pizza for dinner, with basil topping (I took out the sad basil plant). Good stuff.
–Went to Folsom Lake Hyundai to ask about an Elantra N at MSRP. Nope–they’re still adding $5,000 dealer markup.
–Warriors won the NBA.
–Gas line going in outside; not much happening inside. Took a swim.
–Got gas. $68 cash price at Coloma Arco. Wow.
–Took a swim.
–“Helped” Grace update her Mac to Mojave.
–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 5 PM.
–Got strawberries at a stand on Greenback that Grace found. Got other stuff at the Carmichael Park farmers market.
–Watched “The Lost City of Z.” Too long, and not what I expected–more a story of an obsessed self-aggrandizing maniac than a jungle adventure film.
–Didn’t do much of anything. Did swim 80 laps.
–Rode the ARP with Tom Elken. Absurdly hot.
–Got a haircut from Grace, took a quick swim, took a shower, barbecued some pork chops/corn.
–Got fruit and such at Smart & Final; lunch at McDonald’s.
–Tried to make a pizza using Pillsbury dough in a tube. Bad news: I folded it so it would fit the pan, thus the insides never got crisp.
–Paid State Farm bill for Honda, $367.19.
–Sapphire crystal came in for Rolex GMT Master. Got it installed, but had to use the old plastic gasket/tension ring: crystal would move easily with the new one.
–Went to GT Auto lounge to see the BMW. It’s a 2006 M3 convertible with 18k miles. Nice car, but it has the notorious manual/automatic transmission, a soft top, and costs FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!
–Went to Peet’s for caf and decaf. Had lunch (chicken sandwich) at McDonald’s.
–Found a gorgeous 2004 BMW 545i V8 at Hemmings for $25k. After enthusing, I found a very similar car, with ample Carfax service records, on eBay for $10k. Then searched the forums and learned that old BMWs (and this model inparticular) are really high-maintenance cars. Crap.
–Took a swim, 1/2 mile. Nice.
–Went early to Noah’s (8ish) and succeeded in getting 13 sesame bagels.
–6th Avenue Photo demanded pics of driver’s license before they would okay the purchase of a Leica SL2. I sent them. No word on shipping. The world is really going to hell.
–Gray, drizzly day; cleared up around 6.
–Played around with cameras. Ended up tossing most, along with many watches.
–Took Grace for big shopping at Bel Air. Used points to save $11. Yay!
–Took a shower.
–Another too-cool no-swim day.
–1992(ish) Rolex GMT Master came in. A little sterile (sapphire crystal), but nice. Had to add a link to fit it (now 13 links). Yow!
–Rolex date disk came in, now that I likely won’t want to use it. 1680 crystal also came in–it really looks good.
–Went to the Orangevale farmers market. Got squash from Thao Ranch and white peaches. Went to Nai’s (they weren’t at the farmers market) and got some strawberries.
–No swim: 83 degrees.
–Went to University Art and bought a frame for my second Robert Barker painting.
–Went to Heritage on Sunrise to get the Treasury Direct form sealed. They sent me to Bel Air, where Lily finally put a serious-looking seal on it. Bought some cream; forgot to buy milk.
–Rode with Tom Elken around Folsom creeks (Humbug, etc.).
–Olamic Wayfarer came back from the spa. Not drop-shut, but very nice.
–Set pool pump at 2900, aux2 at 2500. Still got air bubbles all day–though the air temp never got over 80.
–Watched “Free Guy.” Fabulous movie. A little thick at the beginning for us non-gaming oldsters, but it sorted itself out fairly quickly.
–Fixed a leak in one of the solar tubes. Couldn’t use the gouging tool to cut a furrow (too weak and/or no practice), so I just cut the line and put a stopper in each end.
–Pool sweep was going crazy (as usual lately), so I got in the pool with pliers and opened up the bypass valve on the line going to the sweeper. Now there’s tons of water coming out of the bypass, and the pool sweep moves very slowly. FINALLY!
–Went for another test drive at GT Auto Lounge. Shimmy was better, but still present. Reading up on Mustang alignment/balance, it seems to be a thorny issue. And Grace is being so silent about all this I just decided to give it up. Guess I’ll wait for a dealer to offer a rice rocket without markup.
–Had to add water to the pool twice; super windy today. Also dropped the RPMs down on main and aux2 pumps.
–Fixed some sprinklers out front that Grace had noticed were on the fritz.
–Went to get some ice cream at Bel Air; noticed (as I was taking it to the checkout counter) that I didn’t have my wallet. Crap.
–Downloaded and watch Copshop. Violent, but good.
–Returned the (too thin) chair mats to Staples.
–Went to GT Lounge. Aidan not in. Old geezer was, so I sat in the GT500, worked the clutch (a little stiff), shifted gears (a little ambiguous), listened to the engine (seems smooth and quiet).
–Went to the Orangevale farmers market. They’ve moved it from parking lot to grass. Not much there (no tomatoes or salsa); I got a squash and some Nai strawberries.
–Barbecued pork chops (with jalapeno/mint marinade), corn, squash. Pretty darn good.
–Went to Staples to get some thicker chair mats. Turns out the two I got are identical to the two I bought a while ago. What an idiot.
–Shirogorov F95R T (blue anodizing) came in. Beauty. Despite Loctite, the new tool took it apart easily. Cleaned it up and reassembled. Very smooth action. Starting to think there might be something to the notion of these “breaking in.” Or else the newer ones are crap…
–Took a swim.
–Went to GT Auto Lounge to look at (what I thought was) a Shelby 350; turned out it was a a 500, with supercharger. Too much car for me. An anomaly: eBay has 0 2007 350s, but many 500s, most with very low mileage. I had thought the Lounge’s 500 was amazing with 10k miles at 15 years old, but there were several eBay 500s with less then 2k miles. So, people bought them, decided they couldn’t handle them, then put them in their garage for 15 years? I don’t get it.
–Took a swim.
–Got bagels at Noah’s.
–Got a Tuscan pizza at Papa Murphy’s. Edible, but salty and not great.
–Played with the two recent Shitogorov knives–the ones with captive pivots that both seemed to come loose after a couple dozen flips. Could not see the slightest reason for that behavior. All I can guess is that I didn’t fully tighten them before using, and/or they were on a high spot on the pivot which suddenly snapped into place–making them loose. Far-fetched with two different knives. I’ll play with one a while and see if it replicates. Tried to swap blades so I could get the fancy knife better-centered and keep it. One worked, the other didn’t (wouldn’t lock), and besides, they were different steels. Duh.
–Recent Mustangs are looking interesting, but I can’t decide: I’ve pretty much ruled out convertibles (too vulnerable; didn’t use one when I had it), which leaves manual trans as something “special”–and I just don’t know if I can handle constant (and forever) shifting–in traffic, trying to parallel park, etc.
–Went to GT Auto Lounge to look at a 1965 Mustang. Car is a no-go: in addition to questionable 100% originality, I noticed while sitting in it that it felt sort of old and dated, not something I could rely on to take to Monterey for a weekend. They also had 60’s Corvette, Camaro and Chevelle. All three were show cars, not drivers, and the latter two were huge; I had forgotten. And, as Leo Kottke put it, my horizons seem to have gotten shorter. Salesman Aidan drove around a new arrival, a Mustang Shelby GT350 from 2007. Sitting in it, it seemed like the most “fitting” of all the cars I’ve been in. Styling is kind of “Fast & Furious,” but it has possibilities.
–Pool controller said water was 84 around 4 PM, so I took a swim. Not bad, especially at the shallow end.
–Really windy, pool is a mess.
–USPS again put a package of. mine in someone else’s box. This is really getting annoying. [Edit] Neighbor delivered the missing mail package (Massdrop Laconico in purple, like I had some years ago and messed up). Neighbor is in Huntington Village, which turns out to be not condos as I had thought but huge homes on huge lots. His house number is the same as ours, which explains a lot, especially if the mail carrier can’t read. Grrr…..
–Smallest cactus is blooming again, after skipping a year (it never bloomed in La Selva Beach). Mighty impressive.
–Mowed the lawn, trimmed trees/bushes a little.
–Frozen food for dinner.
–Heard from Kirill Yuzh that the guy he sold my Menta 14060 to claims it’s been relumed. Uh….no.
–Spent over an hour on hold with Treasury Direct. Learned that AFTER my account is unblocked (if it is), it will be 8-10 weeks before I can use it to buy bonds. Crap.
–Getting really frustrated looking at cars. Nobody has inventory, everyone adds a market adjustment, vintage cars are over-priced (except Maserati, which I really can’t risk), etc. Crap.
–Went to El Dorado Hills to ride with Tom.
–Had lunch at Five Guys, got coffee at Peet’s, got gas ($62) at the local Arco.
–Looking and looking and looking for a fun car. Availability is slim; prices (new or used) are obscene.
–Heard from Dr. Duncan this morning. He prescribed amlodipine besylate (Norvasc) 5 mg, a calcium-channel blocker, to supplement the Lisinopril. Hope this works.
–Barbecued some turkeyburgers, corn, romas from Raley’s. Yum!
–Pool solar still seems to be working. Pool temp: 10:30 AM = 71, 12:30 PM = 73.
–In the middle of changing all my passwords, I noticed that I haven’t requested my Sutter healthcare reimbursement yet (done in March like clockwork for the past 3-4 years). I’ll get on it, though it’s confusing as all get-out. Can’t believe it isn’t on the google calendar.
–Refund came in from Cody Hendrix for the Olamic Swish I returned–on April 28.
–New mail carrier put my Charcoal Goods Stinger razor in the wrong mailbox. These temps are really bad.
–Started looking into Maserati Quattroportes. Discovered that those made before 2008 or so have the worst transmissions ever made. Great.
–Went up on the roof to sweep tree debris. (1) It was harrowing. (2) I discovered a solar line that had come loose. Called Aztec to get a solar startup (and fix the line): earliest is June 10. I’ll fix the line and start it myself. Grrr…
–Made pizza for dinner. San Marzano crushed tomatoes (actually like a thick sauce) cooked on the stone. Delicious, but awfully crispy.
–Rolex 5512 came back from Kirill Yuzh. It’s the one that was spruced up by True Patina in January of 2022. Looks nice, runs great.
–Talked to Curtis Finton for a bit regarding the misapplied deposit. He’s going to continue trying to get hold of the IRS. Lesson learned: don’t make speculations to Grace. Even better: don’t talk to Grace at all, especially about finances.
–Around and around again with taxes. At least Curtis called and offered to come here or have me go to his office to sort through things. I still don’t know what happened, but IRS site shows all balances $0, so I think I’ll leave it at that until they send me another dunning notice. [Edit: I found the 2020 estimated payments sheet I copy from the IRS site and send to Curtis in the 2021 folder. It shows two estimated payments in Sep 2020: the standard $1,520 and $8,910. The latter payment is missing from the current IRS estimated payment history. So: it actually was a misapplied payment that they credited to me, then made me pay back. Problem: the bogus refund this led to was credited toward 2021 estimated payments. When the IRS gets around to balancing the books, they’ll see there was no refund in 2020 and hit me for….something. Maybe around $3k–plus interest, penalties, fees, etc. We’ll see what Curtis says.]
–Two 1803s came back from Phil Ridley. One had a large dust speck on the dial. I opened it up and blew it off. Had a little trouble getting the stem back in (argghhh) but all is good now.
–Rode with Tom Elken to canal trail, stopped at GT Auto Lounge on the way back. 2001 Mustang Bullitt I’ve been eyeing there sold yesterday. Figures…
–Lee Elliott hit me up for another $525. No words…
–Got sesame bagels at Noah’s, early.
–Riding with Tom tomorrow, to the GT Auto Lounge in Rancho Cordova on Mercantile Drive, which is the street I use to take a shortcut to the canal trail. Looking at a $30,000 2001 Mustang Bullitt. Yeah, yeah, I know.
–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.
–Made pork chops and corn on the indoor grill. Pretty good.
–Set up a spreadsheet for taxes. Zero doubt about what happened. I need to pay the IRS $900+. Problem: Since a purported refund in 2020 vanished, so did the estimated payments from the refund. So we’re going to have to file an amended return for 2021 (and pay $3k taxes), and likely file an amended return for 2020. What a frigging disaster. Curtis of course is taking days to respond to anything.
–Put roller bearings in the LVKS Shiro; made it even harder to close (as expected)> Might try putting them in an F95 that closes too fast, to see if I can turn it into a “hydraulic” action. Rollers are a pain in the ass to work with, too.
–Tried and filed to open the 1976 Rolex 1680; it probably hasn’t been opened since it was sold.
–Played around with taxes.
–Midgards Messer Little Viking came in. Really superb knife in every way, except it doesn’t have a flipper knob (it was built for Europe, where two-handed opening is required). I’ve seen guys “wrist” it open on youtube, but the detent is too stiff for me to do that on this one.
–Took a ~16-mile ride to Folsom and back. Saw a ton of rowing sculls at (what I learned was) Nimbus Flat, preparing for a competition.
–Got a notice from the IRS that we owe them $9,100 because they “misapplied payments.” I can’t imagine this will stand, but it’s driving my blood pressure up.
–Bought some more Shiro roller bearings (different source; guy has Russian name so may be a source of other Shiro goodies).
–Found a couple of local vintage car dealers (one in Rancho Cordova). Minimal inventory though. Found the one in Fairfield that I drove by a lot (now also in Benicia and Pleasanton); better inventory, lots of GTOs for some reason.
–Starting to (try to) make some knife deals at KKF and Facebook. We’ll see.
–Continued trying to move money out of BofA into Chase. Turns out BofA charges for ALL transfers, even the slow ones. Further turns out Chase will let you send up to $5,000 to anybody (not limited to just yourself from one account to another) for free. BofA really bites.
–Took the Specialized on a 12+ mile ride to Hagan Park. Nice.
–Bought some Shiro roller bearings. Not that they’ll be better, just different.
–Continued setting up sale of Mini to Vroom.
–Looked at lots of cars on Hemmings. Can’t find anything that fits all my criteria. Some combination of (a) too similar to Honda, (2) no AC, (3) no good for long(ish) highway jaunts (unreliable, no overdrive, noisy), (4) money pit, (5) too nice (flawless newer or restored car that I would be afraid to drive/park anywhere), etc. Unbelievably frustrating.
–Took Grace shopping at Target.
–Made pizza for dinner. Disaster. Wouldn’t come off the paddle onto the stone in the oven, so we had to kind of splooge it off with spatulas onto a flat baking pan. Edges came out okay, but interior crust was really soggy.
–Blood pressure still outrageous.
–Went for a 10-mile bike ride. Feeling my age (and lack of riding).
–Learned that the latest Apple iPhone update should make Smart 3D more reliable (and it seems so), while Android on the other hand is “working hard to address these issues…”
–Bought a second blood pressure gauge at Rite-Aid. Same super-high results.
–Tried to meld a 1980 Rolex clasp onto a later bracelet. Nope. The Bergeon riveting plate was a joke, and I ruined 3-4 drill bits trying to get holes to fit 1mm pins, since no one makes .9mm pins.
–Took 13 pistols to The Gun Range for consignment. Went very smoothly.
–Tried to get Treasury Direct auth paper signed at BofA on Folsom. Nope. Took it to Heritage on Sunrise. Got it signed, but no seal (he said it wasn’t necessary). We’ll see.
–Went to Costco to get HA appointment (they were out to lunch). Got danish and peanut butter pretzels. Got an appointment later on the phone.
–Heard from Lee Elliott again regarding paying back my loans. The new payback date is June 30 (pushed back from April 30). This has been going on for a year or so and is beyond ludicrous. I sometimes think he’s writing a story and I’m the plot.
–Had “breakfast” at Holiday Inn Express. Left at 9:05, uneventful trip, arrived at 12:10.
–Took my blood pressure three times: always around 160/90. Shirt sleeve or arguing with Grace? Who knows.
–With only one minor slowdown, it took 2 hours 40 minutes to get to PAMF–at 11:25 for an 11:30 appointment. Visit was good, but I only got 4 of 5 words on the Sloan (?) dementia test.
–Smart 3D lost the left HA battery. I rebooted, but had a terrible time hearing everyone, even at 9 with Speech Clarity. Don’t know what to do.
–Went to BofA to get Treasury Direct auth signed; branch is “temporarily” closed. Dropped off Grace’s packages at PO.
–Took a shower.
–Walked to Bel Air for dessert.
–iPhone lost the left hearing aid yesterday, and the left battery died today. Wondering if rechargeable hearing aids would solve this issue: batteries get weaker every day, while recharging keeps them at a constant level. Hard to test without buying a new set of aids.
–Took Grace shopping at Smart and Final. She found Vernor’s!
–Shirogorov F95 Jungle Wear came in. Spent a LONG time trying to get it open, finally did, without damage. Very nice. Ruben’s Rone came in. Strange-looking knife, but beautifully machined and anodized, with incredible action. Hard to imagine how an identical-looking knife (ADV Butcher), same bearings and such, could be such a poor performer.
–Called Curtis Finton. His assistant assured us our returns have been accepted: federal on 4/4, state on 4/6. More to come on 2020 return. Much later: No one knows why the IRS wants $9k for 2020. Wait for a letter from them.
–Many knives came in: Shirogorov F95 Arctic Blue (3rd one). Perfecto. Anndre de Villiers Butcher: Okay shape and good centering, but weighs 2 pounds and does not fall shut. Sell. Cherbukov Hudson: Nice scales, and I finally broke the Loctite, but it has a tiny flipper knob, and is not “dead on” centered as promised. Sell.
–Papa Murphy’s for dinner (good); Pillsbury Cinnabon orange rolls for dessert (good).
–Still haven’t heard from Curtis Finton. Getting annoying.
–Rained most of the day. That’s supposed to be the end of it. Hope it’s enough to justify swimming.
–Planted the basil and oregano. Fertilized lime and clementine.
–Walked to Bel Air for mayonnaise, cream cheese, dessert (got Pillsbury orange rolls!).
–Made reservations at the Marina Holiday Inn Express. BofA credit card declined online and over the phone; had to switch. An hour later, they sent me the “suspicious activity” message. Assholes.
–Got a haircut from Samantha at SuperCuts in El Dorado Hills (she moved).
–Got the SCUBA tank refilled at Fisheye Scuba in Granite Bay.
–Finally got vstat.com working right (including All-In-One WP Migration). The latter is a mystery, since even after the website worked the plug-in still didn’t, so I deleted it. It then reappeared, already installed, so I ran it. Quite the mystery. Also got bf@vstat email working after some tips from Hostinger’s techs. All good now.
–Took a shower.
–Cleaned up some trees in back.
–Made pizza for dinner.
–New hearing aid batteries around 8:30 AM.
–Migrating vstat.com from Namecheap ($5/month) to Hostinger ($2/month). Kinda scary.
–Left hearing aid went out around 8 PM.
–Bought a Cheburkov knife on eBay.
–Got decaf beans at Peet’s; ordered caf beans from Black Sails; got fruit and sundries from Smart & Final.
–Was going to get a haircut, learned Samantha has gone to El Dorado Hills. Later I guess.
–Took Grace for big shopping at Bel Air.
–Played with knives: big success. Used the heat gun and much cleverness to swap scales between Arctic Storm and Mars Valley. As a bonus, both knives are now well-centered. Even better, I swapped out the small scale screws (which had some damage) with the inside screws that hold the clip in place. Voila! Not even sure which one I want to sell now.
–FWIW, the iPhone has detected my hearing aids quickly and perfectly for a week or so. I dare not try going back to the Android. And, housing has completely cratered in Pacific Grove. 1 bed, 1 bath, under TWO MILLION yields four homes, none of them desirable. Holy crap…
–Got some gun bluing at Sportsman’s Warehouse. Forgot you can’t blue polished screws.
–Had a brief (15-20 minutes) power outage today.
–Got bagels at Noah’s.
–Downloaded and watched “Love and Monsters.” Fantastic movie. The scene with Mav1s and the sky jellies is one of the best 4-5 minutes in filmdom.
–Played with knives. Learned that the Shiro Quantum 2’s (One Bear and Three Bears) are identical, down to th washers behind the bearings. It’s a mystery, all right. Meanwhile, marred a little screw on the F95 Zero for no good reason. Crap.
–Played with watches: Started to swap hands on the Rolex Day-Dates. Decided not to. Couldn’t get either stem back in. Off to Ridley. Crap.
–Two Shirogorovs came in: Quantum Gen 2 and F95 Arctic Blue. Learned some things: (1) There’s zero difference between “one bear” and “three bear” knives. I really need to find out why the COA cards differ. (2) Numbers engraved inside the knives bear no relation to serial numbers on the COA and box. They’re more like part/batch numbers. (3) The two Arctic Blues are identical wrt box label and COA, but have different blades/back spacers.
–Watched the Disney movie “Jungle Cruise.” Not bad at all.
–Went to Tom Elken’s wedding. Quite religious (Episcopal). Not a soul there I knew. Came home right after the ceremony.
–Grace agreed to go to the wedding.
–Searched the web and learned that all our lizards (out because of the drought maybe) are Western Fence lizards.
–Grace said she’s not going to the wedding. Said she told me this yesterday at Party City. She didn’t.
–Andre de Villiers Butcher flipper came in. Smaller than I had thought (my fault), severe lock stick, not well centered, lots of light scratches, doesn’t remotely fall shut. A piece o’ crap.
–Paladin shaving brush in “red” came in. Kind of orange-ish actually. Now I have three (two green and a red) that I don’t care for. Crap.
–Tried several times to connect both hearing aids to the Android, with the thought of leaving them on at night so they would stay connected. Failed. Fired up the iPhone and got them connected. What a disaster these things are.
–Took Grace to Party City to buy bubble machine for Tom’s wedding. Talked her out of it.
–Pool pump filter basket was almost completely plugged with plant buds; pressure was near zero. I cleaned it out; great improvement.
–Pen refill came in. Supposed to be 4mm, was 2mm. Tossed. Erasers came in. Shaved one down to fit metal holder, it went too far into handle. Stuffed one into the holder, seems okay. Won’t take a lot of pressure, but it’s okay. Pencil leads came in (had already gotten some at University Art).
–Reg Barber tamper handle came in. Nice. Spent some time removing polyurethane from my cocobolo handle, then polished it. Nice.
–Cleaned up out back a little. Took a look at the dry rot in one of the patio cover beams. Turns out it was in two of the patio cover beams, and more extensive than I want to tackle with epoxy. Will call Cal-Pro.
–Went to the Sunrise farmers market with Grace; got stuff.
–More dog poop on sidewalk in front of house–second time in a week.
–Went to University Art. No luck on pen refill, but got a fine frame for Barker’s “Boatride Sunset.”
–Took a shower.
–Played with pen.
–Mowed the lawn. Finished tearing down old trellis in back.
–Swapped blade locks between Shiro Arctic Storm and Mars Valley. Both work fine now. Going with Mars (at the moment) as it’s better centered. I’m fickle, though.
–Finished repairing Southard Daws on which I broke a tiny screw. Filled the (too large after drilling out the broken piece of screw) hole with steel epoxy, drilled with new cobalt drill bit, tapped. Had to shorten AND reduce head diameter of new screw, but all is good now.
–Parker Doric pen and pencil set came in. Thinking of cleaning out the pen ink tube and refilling with syringe, as this seems to be the only Parker pen that doesn’t take a standard Parker refill.
–Bit driver handle came in, fairly nice. On another AliExpress purchase, they seem to have my Indian Wells address. Crap.
–Went around and around with Ilya from rusblades on paying for a knife and (my real aim) several sets of screws. Turns out BofA won’t send international wires to Russia. Crap.
–Played with knives. MAY have gotten the lock on the Arctic Storm to engage reliably. Much selling to do. Prices seem to be going down on facebook, up on eBay (except for the $650 Ursus I paid $1,150 for).
–Got 11 sesame and 2 plain bagels at Noah’s.
–Lots of stuff came in: 2-56 screws for fixing Southard Daws; Shiro radiator bead; Riaan Manser P6 knife (really beautiful); Simpsons faux ruby Centenary Colonel XXL (gorgeous brush, and I was able to polish out the chip in the base (not perfectly, but darn well)); license plates for Mini Cooper.
–My back is considerably better, maybe 80%.
–Played with knives. After hours of back-and-forth, decided on the blue Quantum 1 and the “crazy micarta” Elmax F95–due to centering and action. Then another nice F95 popped up on eBay. Crap.
–Grace discovered (caused) some sprinkler issues by the bamboo. Will try and fix tomorrow.
–Went to the Folsom farmers market with Grace; got stuff.
–Took a shower.
–Parker Doric refill came in. Looks like every other Parker refill, but way too fat to fit in the pen. I’m guessing nobody makes those skinny refills any more.
–Called Devon’s about the 1803 I dropped off for service SEVEN MONTHS ago. They said it had been there for 10 days and apologized for the mis-communication. I picked it up. (a) It does not look like a Rolex service: scratches on the caseback and under the lugs, and a small ding on the “fat” part of the case at the crown. (b) The service card said date of service was 12/2/21: Devon’s has had that watch for four months! What a friggin’ disaster. Off to eBay I guess.
–Made pizza for dinner. Pretty good.
–Dropped off the red Sub at FedEx.
–Shirogorov Hati came in. Too small. I really have to stop buying knives without knowing how big they are.
–Red Submariner came in. Magnificent watch (perfect on the Timegrapher), but the lume was just like on a Steinhart. I know Rolex came first, but I just couldn’t handle that lume. So I’m returning it.
–After breaking several drill bits, I finally got the broken screw out of the Southard Daws backspacer. I re-threaded it, but it’s not perfect. Might have to get longer screws to make it work right. Could be tough, since two screws go into the same hole from opposite sides–which may be how I broke a screw off, come to think of it. Longer screws might meet in the middle of the backspacer before they fully tightened down.
–Got 10 Rolexes sorted out, ready to send to Kirill Yuzh for consignment. Decided to keep a nice 5513 from 1967, with fabulous meters first dial/hands, fat (though polished) case, original rivet bracelet, long 5 insert. Lug holes are still round and sharp, so it wasn’t heavily polished. Decided to sell the Sea-Dweller: very nice watch, but we’ll stick to Subs. Also selling the Daytona and Bluesy: just too much money to keep tied up in things you can’t live in or drive.
–Got about 13 more Shirogorovs coming in. Time to start selling.
–Shirogorov pivot finally came in from Russia.
–Southard Knives stuff came in: refinished blade for the Daws XL (I installed; broke a small screw in the process) and beautiful new Tolk, nicely centered.
–Shirogorov F95 “Mars Valley” came in, with SRBS. Managed to get it open (not easily) without damaging anything. Pretty nice now.
–Took a shower.
–Green Samsung S10 came in. Doesn’t seem nearly as deep a green as the S10e I broke. It too had trouble with hearing aids until I reinstalled them.
–Made a pizza for dinner, on the stone. Really unexciting.
–Right hearing aid got disconnected from phone. Several attempts to pry out the contacts had no effect–until I unpaired then reinstalled the aids.
–Shiro tool pen came in from Monkey Edge. Nothing hugely special, but nicely done and fills the need for a Shiro bit holder so I can sell the other one.
–Continued cleaning up after painting. Tore down vines and trellises at the back fence.
–Still haven’t heard anything regarding the shave biopsy on Tuesday. Also can’t really tell what the thing on my right cheek is doing. It sort of acts like it’s scabbed over and will go away, but it’s different from most of the crap that afflicts my face.
–Painters came today. Everything’s got plastic on it, so we can’t go anywhere or see out the windows.
–Fixed my left hearing aid so the Samsung could it: there are two small copper prongs that contact the battery when the compartment is closed. I levered them up a bit so they make stronger contact with the battery. Risky, but it seemed to work.
–Went to the dermatologist’s PA. She took a biopsy of a dark spot on my left temple, and told me to watch a new vaguely pimple-like thing on my right cheek. Crap.
–Left hearing aid battery went out around 8 PM.
–Got bagels at Noah’s.
–The duck couple from last year reappeared in the pool. Took off for no apparent reason after I took a few pictures.
–Quiet day. Back may be a little worse.
–Brad Southard finished polishing the blade I sent him AND will sell me a nice Tolk for a total of $600. Time to do some profiteering…