–Met Art Kraatz at Jasper’s for lunch. I gave him a restored Cremina, he gave me $1,900 cash.
–Went to Bel Air to deposit cash and get fruit and dessert.
Category: Uncategorized (Page 14 of 29)
–Walked to UPS for three packages.
–Discovered hairline scratch on zircuti Shamwari–not on the show side where I’d expect to see scratches caused by blade hitting frame before I’ve sufficiently tightened the pivot. A lot of hard rubbing with Mother’s mag failed to blend it. Will try Flitz and rubbing compound next.
–Not much going on. Played with ceiling fans and the remote for a bit, to no avail.
–Big day. Bought yet another Shamwari on reddit (Spiro on washers) and an SPK Lamia on Blade Forums (also on washers). Realized I’ve been writing my address as 310-278 for a day or three. Corrected it where I could to 310-287. Pretty scary.
–Discovered last night after flipping the new Shamwari many times that the unfixed pivot rotates, thus loosening the blade and allowing it to move closer to the show-side scale. I’m convinced this is the cause of show-side blade scratches seen on a couple of Shamwaris: blade drops shut and rubs against the scale/liner. The fact that Shirogorov JUST started using fixed pivots, and Bull hasn’t yet, is another tribute to knifemakers’ laziness–along with stonewashed/tumbled everything. Really disappointing. Anyway, I loctited the pivots on the new Sham and the Sham clone. Hopefully I didn’t glue the blades to the pivots.
–Shamwari clone came in. Nice knife, with action as good as original.
–Paid property tax supplemental assessment (based on new sale) of $2,922.
–Played with Wicked Edge some more, trying to be careful. Still messed up another blade, and blade even slipped in clamp–not the best design IMO. Tossed it. Looking at WorkSharp. Seems small, simple, infinitely adjustable, with good aftermarket accessories.
–Grace walked to Rite-Aid to look at cards!!!
–Took Grace to Five Guys, where they forgot the mushrooms and onions on her burger, then to Safeway. Bought some decaf at Peet’s.
–Took a shower and shave.
–Yet another windy, drizzly day.
–Made pizza for dinner. Not my best.
–Another drizzly day.
–Played a lot with EMP EDCs. Almost have them set up. Sort of.
–Drizzly, dismal day, though lots of squirrels showed up.
–Just missed a ShamWEri today. God some knives sell fast.
–J-stones for the Wicked Edge came in, so I tried sharpening a liner-lock Nymble. What a disaster. The right stone kept hitting the blade holder, fasteners loosened, I couldn’t find a good angle, etc. I finally took the blade off and polished it up on the Kalamazoo belt grinder, then tried again optimize the WE setup. One lesson learned: clamp the blade so the edge is as high as possible. I did have have one sort of success on the machine, so I’ll give it another shot.
–Marie for dinner: Grace lost an hour.
–Went to Burger King for lunch. All different staff. So much for “familiar folks and surroundings.”
–Bought (technically bid on for March 6) a $50,000 six-month T bill at Treasury Direct.
–Second Shamwari came in. Off-center blade with scratches. Fixed the scratches (maybe) with Sandflex, but broke a standoff screw trying to put the knife back together. Will likely toss.
–Made pizza for dinner. Yum!
–Rolex red Sub came back from LAWW. Nice!
–Played with phones all day. Finally got rid of the voicemail icon on the green Samsung–the only phone which (so far) picks up both hearing aids regularly. Works nicely in the Mustang too.
–Went to the post office to (a) hand them the mailing box for my second “stolen item” claim, and (b) mail the Shamwari to Miami.
–Won a Recon1 lottery for a $2k Shirogorov/Martin collaboration.
–Took the Mustang to Target for sundries, Jersey Mike’s for lunch, Trader Joe’s for bagels.
–Crotch rot keeps coming back. Very annoying.
–Used the Wicked Edge to sharpen a (crappy) liner-lock Nymble that just came in. Did a nice-looking job, but it still didn’t seem real anxious to cut paper. At least it seems I’m using the sharpener correctly.
–FlexSand pads (fine) came in. Didn’t seem to do much to a Konosuke carbon blade. Will have to get some medium pads.
–Decided to keep the Shamwari for now. Seller posted my defect photo in the Gareth Bull forum, got some positive and negative views. The knife is just too good to get rid of now; maybe after I land another one.
–Hinderer came in Really nice.
–EMP EDC Nymble W came in. Walked to UPS to pick it up. Then to Bel Air for milk and dessert.
–[edit] Just discovered that the big gap in the pivot pocket of the Shamwari is NOT normal: got a pic from a youtube video to compare it to. Gareth Bull really messed this up. I have serious doubts that (a) the guy who sold me the knife will take it back, and (b) even if Bull agrees to fix (replace) it, it will take months. CRAP!
–Shamwari 3.5″ blurple came in. Perfecto. Gonna take some practice front-flipping.
–Wicked Edge guide bar stop collars came (fast from McMaster-Carr). They work just fine. Just waiting for a couple high-grit stones now.
–Made corn meal crust pizzas for dinner.
–Went to post office to hand in (first) empty knife box. Got some paperwork that seems to have officially initiated the claim.
–Went to UPS and rented a mailbox for a year (they had two left). My mind is at ease now: no more knife thefts.
–A pair of doves showed up today to enjoy spilled bird food. I think (hope) they’re permanent. Finally.
–Took a shower and shave.
–Played with the Wicked Edge all day, waiting for the mail. Saw (put?) some big scratches on blades, so may need to look into stops for the stone holders to prevent further mishaps.
–All mail came (at 4), plus something for Mrs. Cudd. Sure will be happy when Ken comes back.
–Went to Five Guys for lunch, Peet’s for decaf.
–Gave up (again) on the Samsung: I can’t get the hearing aids to work on a phone call. Back to the iPhone.
–Spyderco Para 2/REK blade came in. Very nice, but not really fidgety.
–Got a call from Recon1 re the Shiro Touch I sent in. They’ll order a pivot and send knife/pivot back for me to install (like I thought might happen two months ago). It will take a few weeks though. Fortunately I have another.
–Finally got the Galaxy S10 set up as I had before, after struggling to answer the call fromRecon1. Good to go, In car and out.
–Took Grace shopping at Trader Joe’s with Rick and Hatsumi’s gift card.
–Third Nymble came in, a day late. Someone at the PO had cut open the box, removed the knife and all accessories, then taped the box shut with the empty knife box inside. Second time in a week that the PO has stolen a knife. The one-day delay with this knife, plus the fact that it came in at 4 o’clock instead of 9:30 AM, strongly suggests there’s a temp carrier behind this. And there’s not one fucking thing I can do about it, except demand all future shipments be FedEx or UPS.
–Hung the kitchen patio door curtains I got yesterday. Fine job, but they’re not quite wide enough.
–Took a quick ride on the ARP with the InnerLight. Fun, but tiring.
–Took the Mustang to Mr. Pickle’s in Folsom for a BLT (good, but $12.29); Green Acres for a Bird of Paradise and pot; Home Depot for kitchen sliding door curtains; and Black Sails to pick up coffee.
–Android Auto worked well. It never speaks a street name, though.
–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.
–Took a shower and shave.
–Spent hours playing with/swapping parts on a couple of EMP EDC Nymbles. Ended up leaving things as they were: blade 1 in frame 2 was a laughably poor fit. One more Nymble coming.
–Frozen for dinner.
–Slow day today. Trying to get Android Auto working in the Mustang, one way or another.
–Shirogorov/Sinkevich dark Bio came in. Nice. Not shiny like the light Bio, however.
–Played with Oz Roosevelts all day. Discovered the stop pin on the first one I bought was longer than all the other stop and scale pins because of the aftermarket scale that came on it. I can’t put the original scale back on (correctly) until I get an otiginal (shorter) pin. Crap.
–Made pizza for dinner.
–EMP EDC Nymble knife package came in; it had been opened (crushed or cut, hard to say) and the knife was missing. Messaged seller on Blade Forums. He quickly put in a claim, expects resolution soon. He seems to be unaware (ignoring? naive? scamming?) that the knife, according to the PO, had the standard Priority Mail insurance of “up to $100” (knife cost me $365). He said he told the PO the price in his claim, but that doesn’t mean (to me) that they’ll reimburse him $365. We’ll see.
–Third Oz Roosevelt came in. Nice smooth titanium scales, perfect centering. I believe this is the one I’ll keep. Was thinking of putting one of the other blades on it, but it turns out the blades have the serial number, and the COA card for the other knife (in addition to having the serial on it) says “speed holes.” There went that idea.
–Took a couple of very nice pictures of an abutilon bloom. The Q2 is a great camera. I’m the limiting factor.
–Rowena the mail carrier came to deliver a package and chat. Nice.
–Had a nasty email exchange with Lee Elliott last night. He claimed again that a $400k CD was maturing–March 31 this time. I asked for proof and he went bananas. What a disgusting little shit.
–Had to call Ally and resubmit all wire info, for security purposes. Looks like Kirill won’t ship until he has proof of wire. That sucks.
–Went to Target for Zone Perfect, shampoo, milk and cream.
–Went to Costco for sparkling water, dessert, pretzels, gas. Their new gas station costs exactly the same as the nearby Arco–but it and the store were nearly empty.
–Dr. Stegman is retiring in March; no room for Grace. We may both be looking for local MDs.
–Hung the quilt over my bed, and a couple of parking aids in the garage.
–Southard Tolk came in. Nice knife, and you can actually see the grind (it’s not stonewashed).
–Took a shower and shave.
–Walked to Bel Air for fruit and sesame bagels.
–Made banana bread for dessert.
–Played with Leica Q2. Got it mostly figured out. Great lens.
–Made pizza for dinner. Good stuff.
–Took the Mustang to the post office and picked up mailbox keys. Seems that’s standard procedure, though they didn’t mention it on my first visit.
–Stopped at Bel Air for (plain, sliced) bagels and chocolate chip cookies.
–Leica Q2 (my second) came in. Blew the SL2 with Lumix 24mm lens out of the water. It has its issues: no grip, the dreaded Leica focus knob, etc., but it’s fairly compact, has auto magnification, and takes great photos.
–Walked to Bel Air for fruit and Easy-Off.
–Still Queasy.
–Oleinikov “Solar System” came in. Perfection, as expected. Oz Roosevelt came in. Played with a LOT. Ended up going back to the original scale, as the custom one seemed to exacerbate the off-center issue. Works okay, but has an amazing in-hand feel. I just want to hold it all the time.
–Went to dinner at Jersey Mike’s, per Sterling’s recommendation. Good sandwiches I must say.
–Finally connected BofA to Heritage and paid off credit card.
–Still queasy.
–Still queasy.
–Returned the “andyfrankart” SFK to eBay seller. He claimed to be shocked, but (a) his isting did not show pics of the face that had “EDC” on it; (b) he apparently never questioned WHY it had EDC engraved on it when he (allegedly) traded a couple of knives for it.
–Took a shower and shave.
–Still queasy.
–Made bread. Good, but small.
–Still feeling queasy all the time, briefly relieved by eating.
–Stopped at Bel Air for cookies, cheese and bananas.
–Home all day, waiting for UPS.
–Feeling woozy all day, scarily assuaged by eating. Just read that 33% of those > 65 have Type 2 diabetes. Great.
–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.
–Verified that my California Middle Class Tax Relief card is down to $0 balance. I thought it started with $600 or $800; hard to believe it went to zero so fast.
–Epoxied the 19″ x 15″ piece of glass to the outside of the kitchen sliding door. Seemed to go well.
–Successfully set up the required minimum distribution (RMD) at Vanguard, for Jan. 20.
–Marie for dinner.
–Went to University Art to get glass for the doggy door opening.
–NOS Braun shaver came in: beauty.
–Played with knives. Just cannot get Aquatic scales to work on other (nice action) Shiro F3s.
–Fed some squirrels.
–Made blueberry muffins for dessert.
–Had really bad diarrhea last night; felt woozy all day. Wish I knew what was going on.
–Two Braun Flex shavers came in. One was a tosser, but the blue-green one (a fabulous color I’ve never seen before) is near-perfect. It charged right up and gave me a great shave.
–Went to Bel Air for bagels and cream cheese.
–Second Shirogorov Aquatic came in. Swapped everything eight times, then discovered a bad sharpening grind on the new blade. These knives were REALLY rushed out, or something: loose screws, poor sharpening, etc. Ended up keeping the newer one as it came.
–Put away the Christmas stuff.
–Walked to Mimosa House for brunch, then Bel Air for groceries.
–Re-programmed external garage keypad to work; reset front gate lock to work with house key. More to come.
–Many old shavers came in. Not much remains. Got one working, with new cutter and foil. Amazing battery life for something that old (especially considering that most of them don’t even take a charge), but the shave is kind of crude. Norelco rules, at the moment.
–Made pizza for dinner. Another thick crust, though I overcooked it a little.
–Ally finally answered my query from a few days ago. Said that the $20k should have shown up by now. They’re looking into it and will get back to me. I think my case is rock solid, but it’s still scary.
–Put the vintage axe head on my new handle. Started with a pocketknife; ended with the belt grinder. Much dust. Took the cars out and blew everything away.
–Sent the Braun 5567 back to Florida for re-repair.
–Took a shower and shave.
–Played with knives a lot.
–Heritage shows that Ally “cashed” the $20,000 check I sent in with my application; Ally shows I still have $0 balance in checking and savings accounts. I submitted a help request.
–Koukin knife came in. Too small, not attractive. Ruined the pivot getting it out with a triangle bit from the iFixit tool set. $2,200 down the tubes.
–Finally attached the trickle charger leads to the Mustang battery correctly (strongly) and got it fully charged. Played some more with Android Auto/Ottocast on the Galaxy phone, but gave up: it often took 15-20 seconds for the system just to partially echo one of my commands. Hopeless. Siri rules…
–Went shopping with Grace at Bel Air.
–Soup for dinner.
–Grace left the fridge blocked open all night; it was 75 degrees this morning. Tossed the milk and cream; will see what else.
–Made pizza for dinner: best one yet.
–Vintage Braun shaver came in. Excellent condition for parts-swapping. Tried to reassemble it with that !@#$% spring, failed completely (and broke a tab off the case which ended any further exploration). Might get a junker and try to see the spring before disassembly, but I’m not sure that’s possible: I think I broke a tab on this one while pulling it apart, and the only video I’ve found shows reassembly only. Crap.
–Stopped at Green Acres for stakes and a nice pole-mounted tree saw/lopper.
–Second Shirogorov Touch came in. Not perfect action, but well-centered and no marks.
–Got more refunds from State Farm. Has something to do (I think) with homeowner’s policy mixup and multi-line discounts, but it’s getting sort of comical.
–Dank day, then rainy.
–Went to renew Trusted Traveller card, but they talked me out of it (really aimed at international travel). So I applied for a TSA Pre-Check card. Guess we need to get for Grace as well.
–Put several Russian flippers on the leather belt and really made them sharper.
–Happy New Year!
–Sunshine today. Didn’t do much: cut up some boxes, tidied up the bathroom, downloaded and watched “City of Ember.” Not bad.
–Played with the Shirogorov Aquatic a lot. Left it totally original, slightly better centered.
–Made pizza for dinner–super good.
–Had breakfast at Gold Miner Cafe in Folsom with Tom Elken and Steve Chaump, former BNR folks. Good food, good time.
–Put all my Shirogorov F3’s back together in original configurations. Trying to center the blade now on the nicest one, the Aquatic.
–Shirogorov F3 Aquatic came in. Nice scales, but not centered and not drop shut. After a LOT of noodling (it’s a major pain to work on), I swapped blades with another F3: perfecto. Don’t know what I’ll do with the other F3. If I can put it back together in working condition, I might just sell it without the box.
–Went to the Town Center to gather acorns for squirrels. All gone (gardeners). Parked outside the gate at DV and found a treasure trove right there. Good thing, as Mr. Squirrel seems to get them quickly, when we’re not looking.
–Took a shower and shave. Right-hand faucet was wonky (multiple streams, low pressure) so I carefully, gently got the aerator out and tossed part of it after thorough analysis. Works fine now.
–Took Grace shopping at Food Maxx.
–Braun razor came in. Good shape except for head frame. Bought one on eBay (sketchy: “Can I see a pic?” / “I have several; will send you the best one.”). Sent it in for battery replacement.
–Walked around Discovery Village; looked at lights and took photos.
–Voice still husky.
–Lotsa rain, but only half as much as the Rain Cricket shows. Must be the wind, I guess.
–Continued cleaning up front patio, trimming things and capping sprinklers.
–Boboli for dinner.
–Merry Christmas! Had orange rolls and opened presents.
–Dinner: turkey breast, mashed potatoes/gravy, cranberry jelly, corn, crescent rolls. Yum!
–Third Arcitec shaver came in (already returned one). KILLER! Clean, almost unmarked, works well.
–STILL have throat issues. Almost worrisome.
–Throat’s still husky.
–Went to Goodwill, where they took the hedge trimmer (among other things) and Walmart for some Christmas shopping. Then Bel Air for canned whipped cream.
–Philips Arcitec came in (second one; first was returned). No mirror-glass front, and only charges when sitting in its half-case (no socket on the razor itself). Nor does the motor seem particularly quiet. Disappointing. More coming.
–Investigated the “silo” on the back patio. Probably a lighting transformer. Tossed it.
–Two weeks after first symptoms of (what I believe is) COVID, and I still have throat-clearing issues. Got a Binax test at Rite Aid, did it twice, totally negative results. Best guess: my case is too mild for this (less sensitive) test to pick up. Paxlovid probably wouldn’t help at this point anyway, as everyone says it must be started within five days of symptom appearance.
–Went to the post office to send off (a) the Arcitec I’m returning and (b) the Shirogorov Touch going back for repair.
–Shirogorov Halloween came in. Small (no surprise) but great scales. Swapped out the slightly marred tiny body screw with another Shiro of the same model.
–Went to post office to pick up Philips Arcitec shaver–postage due, but PO will bill the seller. Sheaver is not mint; will return. Meanwhile, I bought three or so Arcitecs on eBay, one NOS so hopefully it runs quiet.
–Turns out Shirogorov won’t sell me a pivot screw for the Touch. I have to send it to Recon1, who will send it to Russia, blah blah blah. Totally sucks.
–Went to Noah’s for the first time in a while, got 13 sesame bagels for $9. Can’t beat it.
–Made brownies for dessert.
–Epoxy seemed to be working for Grace’s shower escutcheons. I caulked them and attached the handles. Good to go.
–Took a shower and (electric) shave. Felt good.
–Tasted a banana at lunch and much of dinner. Senses are returning.
–Heath from HD Lawn Care made quick work of replacing the Hunter sprinkler valve–$185. The other two valves look okay to me, which is good, since I’m not up for all the cutting and gluing he did. I spent another couple hours cleaning up the drip lines back there: cut some out, capped a couple, etc. I don’t think anything will currently get watered back there if we turn the valve on; easy enough to add drippers back in if needed.
–Finally got Sac County Utilities squared away. Added the 1956 DVL account, set up auto-pay for 1/27/23.
–Turns out Grace’s faucet installation by Ross Broadley was kind of rushed. He had the escutcheons on backwards (mine too) and hadn’t tightened one of the fixtures sufficiently, so it rotated. I fixed it all up. Sure hope those valve seats (which he didn’t replace on the shower) weren’t needed.
–Took Grace for big shopping ($200) at Bel Air.
–Went to re-pot a new sage/rosemary/thyme plant from Bel Air and noticed that the sprinkler valve was dripping, around once/second. Spent a while trying to figure it out–got one of the caps off-but gave up. Too old/unfamiliar/painted over. Called a guy I got from nextdoor.com and he’ll be over tomorrow to replace the valve for $185. Expensive, but super-quick, and I should be able to learn all I need to know for the other two valves.
–Yesterday may have been peak COVID–much coughing. Almost none today.
–Ross Broadley came to finish plumbing.
–Saw a dead finch on the front patio. I don’t think he hit the window; just died.
–Went to Bel Air for apples, oranges, dinner, dessert, cream (no cream, half-and-half).
–COVID might be migrating a bit to my chest. Great.
–Spent four hours at Pacific Skincare getting my basal cell carcinoma removed by Dr. An Yen. This small blemish now has a 2″ scar. What’s up with that?
–Another lunch at Burger King. Good people, good stuff.
–About 80% wrt the cold.
–Had a nightmare trip to the DMV to update address on my Real ID. After a new photo and $31, it’ll be here in two weeks.
–Feeling better. Cleaned up the back patio considerably.
–Marie for dinner.
–Still sick, still miserable. Lotsa rain today.
–Looks like I have a cold, not (or in addition to) dehydration.
–Bezel dies came from Esslinger. Turns out I already had two identical sets. So what was all the hoo-ha with pill bottles? I may find out the next time I try to press in a retaining ring.
–Felt utterly horrible all night and all day–presumably from dehydration. Just STANDING is apparently enough to cause lots of fluid loss.
–Turns out the Red Sub runs terribly. Kirill will send a label for me to ship it to LAWW for a service.
–Did laundry.
–Red Sub 1680 came in–beauty.
–Took a shower and shave.
–Took Grace shopping at a couple of toy stores in Roseville. Lunch at Panera.
–Frozen for dinner.
–Played with knives; restored the Shiro Touch after softening the epoxy in the oven. Gotta get another one of these.
–Played with knives. Destroyed the Shirogorov Touch. I had epoxied the female pivot to prevent rotation. The blade moved much more reluctantly, though I couldn’t see any leaked epoxy. Trying to remove the pivot, I marred it badly–it’s not coming off. (Reminder to self: one or two TINY dabs of epoxy will work.) I also noticed a ding on one of the scales. Took it apart for spares.
–Felt woozy and dizzy this afternoon; spent a while in bed. Don’t know if it was dehydration or not.
–Got coffee at Peet’s, lunch at Five Guys.
–Did paperwork, played with knives.
–Got some decent rain today.
–Grace talked with neighbors and retrieved our (new-looking) garbage toter. Yay!
–Sutter pension is still being deposited to Chase–after two attempts to get it to go to Heritage. I’ll try calling the benefits manager, but I’m not optimistic.
–Put up bar and circular towel racks in the bathroom.
–Talked to new neighbor Erica about garbage toters. They have 3 behind their fence. She didn’t know where the 1962 had come from, and when I explained about addresses she rolled it over there (they had already pretty much filled it). Still missing ours.
–Moved stuff around the living room a tiny bit, then Grace got in a snit.
–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.
–Learned that Papa Murphy’s Pizza in the Town Center closed today. Things are getting ugly.
–Set up stereo, without too much hassle. Grace noticed that the stand was loose in places, so I pounded it back into shape.
–Took a shower and shave. New razor from Charcoal Goods was doing really nicely, and then BOOM a huge cut on my upper lip, for no discernible reason. I do not understand it.