–Sherry dropped off a couple of Valentine’s cookies.

–Kenny dropped off a baked potato.

–I brought Sherry some chocolate-covered fruit, and later gave some to Kenny along with some of the lemon curd Grace made with lemons Kenny gave us.

–Homedics toothbrush wouldn’t charge, so I got the battery out and took it to Batteries Plus. Seems it is two 1/2 AA batteries joined in series, and they didn’t have a replacement. Found a n open box toothbrush, same model, on eBay and the seller graciously tested it and found it charged instantly, so I bought it. The “joined” battery no longer exists, so I’m going to try getting a couple of halves and soldering them in series. Risky, because the length and width of the original battery are very specific (no slop), But I haven’t soldered in a while, so here’s my chance.

–Wanted to watch a Harry Potter movie, and found that the SyFy channel now requires a subscription. USA and E! also do, and Cartoon Network did a while back. I will be dropping Comcast as soon as I can find a suitable replacement–the greed of those guys is mind-boggling. prices steadily rise, channels steadily disappear.

–Went to Safeway on Folsom for Noxzema cleansing pads, milk, cabbage. ALL cosmetics, pain relief, vitamins, lotions, shampoo, etc. were behind locked glass doors.

–Stopped at UPS for Homedics toothbrush. Charging now. Not 100% sure the battery is good after what might be many years.

–Tried to set up my digital key fobs in the BMW. Turns out they are not digital. Must have been a previous BMW where the locks would go crazy when I went into the garage with a key in my pocket. Hopefully I at least got the car to recognize me so I won’t have to enter a PIN every time I get in.

–Put gas in the Beemer, then took it to Roseville BMW for the required oil change. Sat there from1:15 to 3:45. Don’t know what the issue was.

–Stopped at UPS to pick up an Indy Thicc tungsten-copper Chelsea. This was relatively cheap, as seller showed dings. Seller didn’t show all the dings, though, and some were more like holes. Spent some time on the buffer with (mostly) Bergeon satin wheels, and made it pretty much perfect. It was a tad off balance, which I fixed with tungsten putty. Yay!

–Gray, windy day. No real rain during the day, maybe .25″ last night. As usual, the TV weather guys over-predicted.

–Went to Bel Air for Eliquis prescription, cookies, milk, bananas, pizza stuff.

–Stopped at UPS for Clean EDC XL Slim Pillar in SS.

–Downloaded and started reading the most recent Reacher book, Exit Strategy.

–Mind-boggling: saw a reddit post saying an Oz Roosevelt XL was available at the site. Went there AND BOUGHT IT. One of like three knives (out of dozens) that I’ve gotten direct from the maker.

–Pizza for dinner, home-made.

–Kind of a gray day; started to drizzle around 4 PM.

–Went to see Dr. Deepa Nandyal, UC Davis Cardiology in Roseville. She prescribed Eliquis, a blood thinner with few side effects to help prevent stroke after AFib. There will also be an echo cardiogram and (maybe) a stress test.

–Stopped at Bel Air for milk and cream.

–Tried to buy Hermes Copernic wallet in blue from Macau site. No dice–they don’t seem to ship to U.S. Finally got to a U.S. site that would ship, but they had it in brown. Crap!

–Tried for appointments today. Got one tomorrow in Roseville for Cardiology. Gave up after holding forever trying to get a Urology appointment anywhere. It’s possible that various UCD urologists are consolidating this very day downtown.

–Feeling crappy on and off. Better after a shower.

–THE CAMELLIA BLOOMED!!

–Did some polishing. Tried to be rigorous, but–as usual–ended up polishing scratches left from previous low grits. Will continue.

–Watched Seattle win the Super Bowl.

–Vicolo pizza for dinner.

–Feeling okay. Helped Kenny fix his wheelchair after he broke a bolt on it. I happened to have the exact same bolt in my box o’ nuts and bolts.

–Picked up some Dialux rouge at UPS. Set up my polishing station with eight wheels and eight grades of rouge. Will try it out soon on a $450 Indy Thicc Chelsea with dings that sells for $700-$800 without dings. Hoping…

–Stopped at Bel Air for Milk, cream cheese, bananas, chips and cheese sauce for the Super Bowl tomorrow.

–Feeling better. Went to New York Bagels for 4 sesame, 8 plain bagels. Caucasian clerk wasn’t there, nor old bald guy nor young attractive woman. Wish I knew what was going on, and could start doing phone orders again.

–Fixed a spray bottle spout for Grace.

–Finally finished cataloging fidgets. Need to start selling some now.

–Grace and I went to see Dr. Swensson this morning. I thought Grace would have a big visit, but all she talked about was potassium–and opiates of course. My blood pressure follow-up was fine, now that I’m at 100mm Losartan.

–Stopped at Friends with Benedicts in Folsom for brunch. Pretty good.

–Got another baked potato from Kenny; re-programmed his old garage door remote which seemed to have lost its programming when I did the new one. Both working now.

–Still eating Raisin Bran for dinner.

–Feeling better today, for the first time. Took a decent crap this morning. Watched a guy replace the two batteries in Kenny’s mobility scooter. Turns out the guy (40ish?) is an avid racquetball player–I thought the sport was dead.

–Oatmeal with bananas for lunch, Raisin Bran for dinner.

–Blood pressure is finally down to the 120s/60s. Could be the first 100mg Losartan I took today (as opposed to two 50s); could be because I wore a short-sleeve shirt: no fabric in the way. Anyhow, one less thing to worry about.

–Still feeling pretty blah. Also, started recording blood pressure today and it does not look good. Wish I could get past this.

–Went to UPS for Kenny’s garage remote and to sign up for another year. Stopped at Bel Air to deposit the Great Infusions Maximatic check.

–Did some spinner polishing, to no great avail.

–Still feeling pretty crappy. Went to Smart & Final for some stuff for Kenny, then UPS for some spinner hardware, then Bel Air for coffee beans.

–Accidentally came across a post on Facebook showing how the FY (Fu Ye) bearing tool works. I had tossed it, not able to figure it out. Retrieved it and got it to work. Pretty nifty–only two pieces, no washers, collars, etc.–kind of embarrassing that I couldn’t figure it out.

–Feeling better. Doughnut for breakfast. Tried to sharpen a chisel on the new machine; gave up. Sharpened by hand in a few minutes, got a great edge. Tossed the new machine.

–Watered plants. Most are looking okay.

–Took a shower and shave. Felt good.

–Feeling slightly better. Went to Bel Air with Grace for Raisin Bran (really hit the spot), Aussie Bites (ditto), oranges, bananas, chicken pot pies. Felt a little better while being active, though that faded fairly quickly.

–Kenny has been dropping by daily. He’s in good shape now, driving here and scootering there.

–Feeling crappy still–my abdomen really hurts, though there’s not the slightest sign of infection. A do-nothing day.

–Visited Dr. Swensson, with Grace. She was patient and thorough. I’m still feeling crappy.

–Lied to Dr. Swensson about amoxycillin, which I took once and then stopped, based only on avoiding pills that don’t seem necessary. I had bad vomiting that night, but ascribed it to the acetaminophen/ibuprofen combo I had also taken. Because she was so insistent, I took one before bed, and 20 minutes later threw up everything I had eaten that day. Then a tiny little bell went off in my head regarding a horrible night I had some years ago, and the word “amoxycillin” came to mind. I’m now sure I’m seriously allergic to it, and that’s what caused both vomiting episodes (not the painkiller combo). Hopefully I can avoid it in the future, without exposing myself as being untruthful to Grace and Dr. Swensson.

–Feeling considerably better today. Had another great bacon/egg/cheese sandwich, then a Kenny’s baked potato for dinner. Spent a while at my desk organizing spinners. Getting up and down is no longer a big struggle. Urination okay, defecation not so much–stomach gurgles now and then. I believe that will clear up as my diet returns to normal.

–Still feel crappy, slept a lot. Pissing is now more or less normal (for me); crapping is mostly diarrhea. Grace made me a wonderful bacon/egg/cheese on ciabatta. A little salty (that’s old age I believe), but the first real thing I’ve eaten in days.

–We heard that neighbor Fran died today.

–Despite several efforts, Firefox is still being bad about saving logins, so I’m switching back to Chrome, with Firefox used for WSJ only. I’ll probably take that back in a minute when I see the web with an ad blocker.

–Bagel and coffee this morning, feeling not bad. Took ibuprofen and acetaminophen simultaneously. Could have been bad. After a normal lunch, had a great shower and shave. Then to UPS for multiple packages. Then, boom! My feeling too hot and lowering the thermostat reversed, and I was back to feeling cold. All of a sudden felt nauseous and vomited everything I had  eaten today into a plastic trash can. Turns out it leaked, and spread vomit all over the bedroom. I have no idea what’s happening. Took a couple of acetaminophen, had a little container of applesauce, will go back to bed soon.

–Reinstalled Firefox and now icsb-2006.org is working.

–Spent the day in bed. Still great pain just turning over in bed. Drank a lot, didn’t eat much. Was hassled all day by this male nurse who clearly yearned for an MD; extremely frustrating. They finally released us around 7; we got home around 9. Grace has some really bad eye issues, and drove the Honda over two curbs on the way out–so I drove us home. Got to get her cataract surgery.

–Not a lot compare it with, but it seems like UC Davis is a really good  hospital.

–Finally broke down and went to the UC Davis Health ER on Stockton in Sac. After many transfers and long waits, got a laparoscopic appendectomy. Coming out of anesthesia was not the pleasant experience it usually is. I was seriously sore all day and night, and didn’t eat or drink much. Didn’t sleep much either. Then they told me I have AFIB. Unbelievable. Turns out there are now miracle treatments for AFIB, but still.

–Another day in bed. I drank like a camel, but urinated minimally. I did have a large bowel movement, and have since had two smaller ones. Seems I also have a fever of 100.1. I don’t know what’s going on. I canceled the Urology appointment for Monday, because of the fever. CRAP!

–Had a really bad night; fell down at one point and just lay there for 5 minutes while gathering the will to get up. Was shaking so bad this morning I had to go back to bed–after moving the Honda out of the garage so Grace could drive to her ultrasound. Got up around 3 PM and tried to drink a lot, though it doesn’t really seem to show. Feeling a little better now, but not great. If this really is dehydration, I sure wish I could predict/avoid it.

–Started having severe abdominal pain/bloating/cramps last night. Continued through the night and all day. There has been more than usual farting, which helps to relieve it.

–Took Kenny to a wheelchair place in West Sacramento to get replacement arm pads for his wheelchair. Installed them. He’s so happy now…

–Picked up Grace’s potassium at Bel Air pharmacy, and a couple of spinners at UPS.

–Had Vanguard send my $58k RMD to Ally savings account. I’m rich!

–eBay keeps screwing me: yesterday it said I could put in a “did not receive” for the Dialux bars today. Today it said tomorrow. Grrr….

–IPhone SE3 finally came in. It’s being a pain in the butt to set up, and I don’t know why.

–Went to Bel Air for milk, cream, whipped cream, some stuff for Grace, and some chocolate chunk cookies for Kenny.

–Took a shower and shave. Sink water never really got hot, even after a while. Could be ground temp, I suppose.

–MLK day. Thus no mail.

–Tried to help Grace with prescriptions, both at Amazon and Bel Air. As usual, she immediately went into  mean mode.

–Kenny called this afternoon after his back patio hose broke and (somehow) flooded his living room. We went over and dried things out, fixed the hose.

–Marie for dinner, again.

–Really foggy this morning. Watched a lot of football.

–Took Grace to Smart & Final.

–Paid a visit to Kenny.

–Marie for dinner (finally found some at a reasonable price at S & F).

–Put the two new panels on the light switches. They look nice.

–Went to Bel Air for Kenny’s usual list and a couple things for us.

–Filled the bird feeder in front; watered the plants in back.

–Made a pizza for dinner.

–Big day.

–At Grace’s request, removed a couple of broken light switch panels and took them to Lowe’s for replacement. The Lowe’s panels don’t have screw holes, so Grace may dump them and force a matching set. Also got a tub spout diverter while I was there.

–Stopped at UPS for (a) Laconico Albatross (big, beautiful edge) and (b) spinner bearing tool (very strange, never seen one like it).

–Took Grace to the UC Davis lab in Citrus Heights for a blood draw. Quick and easy.

–Wandered through the nearby Raley’s. I’d forgotten how relatively sparse the selection is at our Bel Air.

–Watered plants and resumed auto watering.

–Paid a quick visit to Kenny.

–Estimated tax payments went through, from Heritage Savings, leaving a balance of $1,560. Too close. A $510 transfer from PayPal to Heritage has shown up on PayPal as complete, but not yet on Heritage. It was done on the 14th, today is the 15th, but Heritage is only showing transactions through the 13th. Got to get out of that bank.

–Randy Pearce came by to repair the front patio sprinkler valve leak. Turns out the leak wasn’t underground. Initial quote was $125, but it ended up at $182. Not 100% sure why. Work seems well done, but we’ve now spent > $600 on this one valve. Starting to get annoying.

–Went over to Kenny’s to wish him a happy 82nd birthday.

–Dropped off a stool sample at UPS for Grace. Picked up a Magnus Ultem slider with POM plates; not impressed yet. Also got a Monoskate Scylla Valley in Damasteel (I think I won a SUS for $700). It’s small, light, and buttons are too thin, though it is beautiful. And 10 pounds of lemon drops.

–Went to Bel Air for a Vicolo goat cheese pizza (delicious, especially with the added steak and green pepper) and a raspberry cheesecake Danish.

–Another bright sunny day, with temp edging toward 70. Wish my heel would let me walk…

–Called New York Bagels to order bagels, and for the 4th time in a couple of months got the robo-announcement. Went there to buy bagels from display, got 9 sesame and 3 plain. Asked the clerk about the phone. He tried calling and was surprised to hear the robot. He doesn’t know what’s going on. I’m guessing the old friendly guy (whom I haven’t seen in months) is gone and they’re not doing phone orders any more. Crap.

–The new Peet’s I got yesterday at their store (Major Dickason’s) seems chaff-free. I don’t understand.

–After years of searching, I finally found a photo editor that allows purchase and appears to be as good as Lightroom: Apple Photomator. Here’s hoping…

–Got a pound of Major Dickason’s at Peet’s.

–Went to UPS for Simpson Chubby 3 Moonjava brush (not so great) and Weleda lotion for the butt. Seems to have good consistency, but smells really strong–like evergreens sort of. We’ll see.

–Stopped at Bel Air for us and the increasingly-demanding Kenny. Watered his back-patio plants, under his highly watchful eye.

–Took a shower and shave. For some reason the shave was terrible; not sure why.

–Watched the 49ers win their wild card game.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Heard from eBay on my missing iPhone appeal. I’ve been instructed to file reports with the police and with the postal inspector. This is really obnoxious. It’s the second time an eBay seller has clobbered me by filing fast. I left scathing feedback, but it didn’t show, and now it’s all up to me to get a recovery. Seller says “I filed a claim; PO didn’t respond.” Case closed. Unbelievable.

–Did some polishing; not all that great. Need some coarser rouge (at least).

–Drove to Hooverville Orchards in Placerville. Found they are closed from Christmas through January, and then closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Don’t know what the deal is.

–Stopped at UPS for (a) FTO Asylum X spinner (very nice); (b) FlowMax 100mg (double dose, like Losartan); (c) string buff. Tried the buff on the razor: holding my breath, but it SEEMS to have left a line-free finish.

–Watered plants.

–Sun today, plus lots and lots of big wind.

–Didn’t do much of anything.

–I was going to open a case on eBay regarding the stolen(?) iPhone, but the asshole seller opened one first. I had put in a “Did not receive item” complaint, so I’m sure he countered with “Here’s PO proof of delivery.” This, after he opined in messages that the phone had been stolen en route. eBay sided with the seller. I tried to leave negative feedback, and it seemed to go through, but hasn’t shown up on the seller’s page. I wrote a scathing reply to eBay’s “Case Closed” decision, not expecting much because it went to “ebay@ebay.com.” Some time later I was looking through my options on this and found one that said “Appeal this decision.” So I did, in 1,000 carefully-crafted characters. I’m not sure if this was standard procedure on eBay’s part, or, as happened a while ago, they might have given me special treatment due to case details, longevity, etc. Anxiously awaiting the FINAL final decision.

–Another sunny day in California.

–Went over to Kenny’s to install the smoke alarm I got for him. All good. He’s still being a stinker about things: The smoke alarm cost around $46.50, or $49.88 after tax. He gave me $50 cash and implied I owed him $4 or so in additional goods.

–Spent some time polishing. Interestingly, (1) the white rouge still seems superior to blue and green for this stainless, and (2) the middle Airway buff (in hard, soft, softer) seems to leave the fewest scratches of any of my buffs–including the one I use with its own rouge for watch crystals. I’m still a novice, though, and it could have to do with ultra-cleanliness of buff, among other things. AND: the razor looks super nice until you put it under a specific kind of light.

–Picked up the vintage Stanley box cutter at UPS. Cool tool, and very sharp.

–Spent more time today trying to organize/reconcile my sliders and spinners. Almost there.

–Sunny day; rain might be gone for good.

–Paid a visit to Kenny.

–Went to Home depot for polyurethane (for tamper handles), watering can, smoke alarm to replace Kenny’s expired one.

–Took a shower and shave. Used the Charcoal Goods “Bee” brass razor. It seemed super mild, but gave a pretty close shave. Apparently it’s worth a lot o’ money on the forums.

–2 EDC tungsten Nest came in. Another small tungsten spinner I like. Buttons are really small and a little low, and I only have one other button set–from the “Sell” shelf–that fit.

–Ran some errands for Kenny. He’s really getting to be a pain. “Two avocados, one ripe and one not,” etc. He was really pissed that I forgot to have the pharmacist activate his Spiriva inhaler. I told him I could do it (after talking to the pharmacist at Bel Air), but he resisted nastily for a long time before giving in. I activated it in 5 minutes after watching a youtube video. I (of all people) understand the things have to be just so, but we’ve been running around like crazy for him for the past few days, and he doesn’t really seem to appreciate it.

–Finally picked up the 3/4″ buffing wheel adapters at UPS, and they work great. Problem is my heel hurts so much after all the running around I did today that I can’t stand at the buffer for more than a few minutes.

–Major rain (off and on) last night and today.

–Not much happening; mostly reconciling sliders and spinners.

–Sold off the ~$12k in bitcoin that I bought recently. Just not worth waiting months or years to make a profit.

–Went over to Kenny’s to meet his sister Nancy, who visited and brought lunch from In ‘N Out. She’s a super beautiful, smart and charming person.

–Went to UPS to pick up Drake’s buttons. Very nice. Stopped at Bel Air for lettuce (Kenny), cream, cream cheese, pizza dough.

–Made pizza for dinner. Not bad.

–Paid a visit to Kenny. The Direct TV tech was there with his new remote, showing him how to set things up. I took the old remote, cleaned it up, removed some corrosion from the batteries. I’m sure I can use it now to change his channels…

–Went to New York Bagels, who still aren’t answering the phone. I didn’t see any of the regulars there, so maybe they’re on vacation. Got 7 sesame and 5 plain bagels, and much banana bread for us, Kenny and his sister.

–Went to UPS for (a) Magnus slider with his new plate, the machining on which resembles that seen on Pyra and Modusworks sliders; (b) the Gupfix iPhone battery, after waiting a month; (c) the Martell gyuto from KKF BST. Knife is pretty cool, with a great handle. I cleaned it up with my signature technique of rubbing with a 3M sanding sponge covered with sharpening stone mud.

–Grayish day; rained once.

–Didn’t do much. Tried to clean up the Christmas stuff a little and hang the Mexican sun ceramic. Paid a visit to Kenny, who seems in good spirits.

–Set up the tripod that holds a phone for hands-free photos or videos. Shot a video of a spinner to upload on Facebook. Tripod worked great.

–Gray day, a little bit of drizzle.

–Took Kenny to the Davis ER on X Street last night. Heard it might be 11 hours, so we came home. I went to bed; Grace stayed up. Kenny called early this morning, telling Grace he got in in an hour, had lots of imaging, and spent the night in a bed. He got ambulance transport home. All is good, no breaks. Back to normal, though he may be looking for a part-time caregiver.

–CoCo from Hermes Replica finally gave in and allowed a refund. What a terrible experience.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Almost time to pop the champagne…

–Tried for bagels, but New York Bagels had a message saying “We can’t answer now…” Don’t know what’s happening.

–Kenny’s getting tiresome. Bought him some groceries at Bel Air. He’s decided he needs the CT ASAP, so we’re taking him downtown tonight to UC Davis Imaging. I dread what will happen if he has surgery. He (a) has lots of family in Davis, but seems fairly estranged from them, and (b) can afford a visiting nurse, but would probably rather use his neighbors. I may get a gold coin out of all this, but I don’t know if it’s worth it.

–Took Kenny to the nearby UC Davis Clinic. Seems like a good place: Very quick service, caring/knowledgeable people, etc. They took a second set of x-rays. He learned later later that the Carbon Health x-rays showed nothing. He trusts the Davis group more, though.

–Went to Target to pick up Tylenol and a Lidocain pad prescription for Kenny. Stopped at UPS for lots of stuff. Stopped at Bel Air for milk for me and Kenny, mushrooms and tomatoes for a pizza. Turns out the Chinese knockoff of the Clean EDC Pillar spinner (a) is identical, (b) is better finished, and (c) spins more smoothly–at 1/3 the price. Grrr…

–Made a steak pan pizza for dinner. Delicious, though again the crust was unexpectedly soggy, given a 550 degree oven.

— Downloaded Whatsapp to deal with the Hermes replica folks (at their insistence). Had a supremely bad interaction with CoCo where he tried hard to get me to buy something from their catalog, given that the two wallets I ordered were out of stock. Don’t know if I’ll ever get a refund; my fault I guess for thinking I could get a $2,000 wallet for $150.

–Got a call from Kenny this morning asking for help after he fell on his hip in the garden. We went over and did a few things–stopped a beeping smoke detector, made a bed on the first floor, etc. He called 30 minutes later saying he’d like a ride to an urgent care facility. I drove him to a Davis center that had an x-ray machine but no technician. Thence to a nearby Carbon Health center which had both. After a goodly wait (hour?), he got in. Physical exam seemed to indicate no problems. They did the x-ray and will call him with results. All seems good at the moment. [edit] He called us back to bring his wheelchair down from the 2nd floor. Also replaced his smoke detector after putting new battery in. Still beeped every 30 seconds. It’s 22 years old; will buy him a new one.

–Fairly sunny day.

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for mandarins and apples. It was kind of a ghost town wrt vendors and customers.

–Moved the plant stand against the spigot wall in back. Looks pretty good, gets good sun now.

–Had a terrible diarrhea/crap attack last night. It may have been the culmination of some issue (like constipation), as I’ve felt better today than recently.

–Pretty clear day.

–Moved the Weber back from the garage to the patio. Tightened the screws and set up the plant stand in back. It’s not the most heavily-built stand, with a single large plant able to bend the shelf wires. Oh well…

–Went to UPS for many things: (a) a Modusworks Retcore core. Installed it, but can’t imagine why I bought it. It does have a metal (not Ultem bearing retainer though. (b) Magnus plates. (c) Flanges for the buffer. (d) 100mg Losartan. (e) An ultem slider from Magnus.

–Christmas!

–A major weather day. Brief but huge torrential rain storms, sometimes mixed with hail, interspersed with blue skies.

–Moved the Weber into the garage in anticipation of cooking steaks there. Decided not to, mostly because of the weather. Cooked them on the stove in the new Erie pan, which is a really nice pan. The Roquefort butter hardly tasted, but the rosemary butter on Kenny’s baked potato was wonderful.

–My stomach is still feeling bloated/gassy, despite a couple doses of high-strength Phazyme. Hope it’s not something serious.

–Watered Kenny’s plant.

–Saw one five-minute burst of rain all day.

–Went to Bel Air for bagels and Gas-X. Got Phazyme (4x the active ingredient of simethicone). Only allowed one capsule every 24 hours, and it doesn’t seem to have done anything.

–Wrapped Grace’s Christmas presents.

–No rain today.

–Took Grace to our doctor appointments at UC Davis Health. I liked Dr. Swensson a lot. Grace (predictably) did not, one reason being the Swensson wouldn’t renew her Tramadol prescription. Duh.

–I had a bacon/egg/cheese breakfast sandwich at Beach Deli while Grace was at Bel Air. Yum!

–Went to UPS to pick up LIC Ultem buttons, Grace’s Rick & Morty t-shirt, and airway buffs. Turns out the grinder has a 3/4″ arbor, while the buffs have 5/8″ holes. There are 1,471 ways to adapt things, and I’m leaning toward the simplest: drill out the holes in the buffs. Could be dangerous. [edit] On second thought, I doubt either drill will accept a 3/4″ bit.

–Finally won a Metro slider. Won 5 actually, in a button-pushing frenzy. Got refunded for 4.

–Took a shower and shave. That bronze Wolfman is a VERY nice razor, for me anyway.

–Lots of clouds, but no rain again today. It’s coming, they say. Okay.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Made a pizza. For some reason, the dough was extremely easy to spread in the skillet, and the skillet is the perfect size. N of 1, but the skillet acts better than the Spider pan, in terms of not sticking and easy cleanup.

–No rain today between 8 and bedtime; I thought they had predicted tons.

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for mandarins and apples.

–Grace and I brought Kenny his Christmas card/jam and chatted a bit.

–Stopped at UPS for (a) Erie skillet (very nice) and Felco 80th anniversary pruners (very nice).

–Went to Bel Air for coffee (Starbucks!), milk and cream.

–The third or fourth hopper extension on the Timemore seems to work: takes a lot of beans, doesn’t seem to popcorn. Wish it were screwed on, rather than using magnets. But it is the only one so far that keeps the original hopper intact.

–Played around with Retcore spinners. COMPLETELY lost one of the tiny screws. By far the most mysterious disappearance I’ve experienced so far. There just aren’t that many places it could go.

–Started to order the annual Walgreen’s photo ornament, but realized it would arrive too late. Picked a couple of photos and printed them. Will glue them together and put a ribbon on.

–Went to Corti Brothers for New York steak and Roquefort. Butcher vacuum-wrapped the steaks so they’d keep better. Then to Walgreen’s for photos. Then across the street to Coffee and Donuts for dessert. Then to UPS for Indy Thicc Skelp (disappointing “Python” buttons), NJT damasteel Vader (fine), and Timemore hopper extension (we’ll see tomorrow).

–Was really tired, so took a little nap.

–Vicolo pizza for dinner.

–Went to UPS to pick up (a) antimacassars, (b) Clean EDC XL brass spinner (nice), (c) Retcore balls, (d) the second lemon squeezer. I’ve been trying for an hour to trace what happened with the missing squeezer and (now) the extra squeezer, and I can’t. It seems that one got mis-delivered to a Gold River home (from the FedEx photo). Beyond that, the details are almost impossible to re-create.

–Sunny day, quiet day.

–Took a shower and shave–with the new Ascender razor. Very nice.

–The sun came out! Unbelievable how it instantaneously warmed things up a lot.

–Went to Target to pick up a Moana Pig for us to give to Susan Nourse. Stopped to have a breakfast sandwich at New York Bagels.

–Boxed up all remaining Christmas presents and dropped them off at UPS. Picked up my packages, and discovered (in a bit) that the iPhone consisted of two padded envelopes taped up and put inside a Tyvek envelope. I wrote the eBay seller, and he said the phone must have been stolen, and he would contact the PO for insurance. Seems unlikely to me, but I can’t argue if I’m made whole.

–Boxed up some presents for Bellevue and Susi/Daniel.

–Went to Barnes & Noble so Grace could look for something for Hatsumi.

–Went to Sprouts so Grace could look for chocolate to send people.

–Dropped boxes off at UPS, picked up iPhone 16.

–Stopped at Bel Air for milk, frozen dinners.

–Ate Marie’s country fried chicken. Not bad.

–Spent a while setting up new iPhone. It has eSIM, so that took some doing, in addition to the new interface (no button on the bottom). Much to learn.

–Parked the Honda outside and blew the leaves out of the garage, also blew the dust off the buffer station.

–Worked some more on the Wolfman razor head. Tried Bergeon satin wheels on it to get the tiny dings out, but no luck. Rubbed it for a while on a Fine 3M sanding pad, and that seemed to do the trick. Put it back on the buffer with a satin wheel and it looks pretty darn clean. Lessons: (1) The numerous tiny patterned dings were likely the result of too much pressure/insufficient buff cleaning/etc. while buffing earlier. (2) Wiping off rouge with a used rag adds its own scratches. Will have to figure out a way to remove excess rouge without harming the mirror finish.

–Missed another Metro slider drop. Those $400 sliders will be selling on Facebook soon for $750–$800.

–I thought I had my eBay issues all sorted out, but today I got another email saying they had changed my password because of suspicious activity. So I went through the whole thing again. Really annoying. Wondering if it’s the assholes whose “Magnus” sliders I got taken down at eBay.

–Motor City pizza for dinner.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Won another SUS at Facebook/LIC EDC. Kind of amazing.

–Took a Tramadol yesterday and slept hardly at all. May have been the Coke in conjunction, I don’t know.

–Went to USPS to mail off Rob’s gift to Canada.

–Took Grace to Bel so she could buy some ribbon.

–Ordered a $792 iPhone 16 in Ultramarine from the Roseville Galleria Apple store, to be delivered Monday.

–Picked up expensive buff/rouge at UPS. Tried it on the latest Wolfman razor. Not so great. For allits cost, the buff vibrates like crazy. Ordered some guaranteed-to-be-soft buffs from Renegade.

–Vicolo pizza for dinner.

–Took Grace to Historic Folsom for Christmas shopping.

–Went to UPS for the Ascender razor. Beauty. Also got a $15 check for the lemon squeezer from eBay that was delivered, according to USPS, but which wasn’t in the UPS store.

–Frozen dinner for dinner. Grace doesn’t want a Bel Air pizza.

–Still foggy.

–Watered Kenny’s plant. It’s not looking very good.

–Went to UPS for (a) Retcore copper balls. Turns out one is .3 grams heavier than the other, so there’s no way to balance the spinner. Tossed ’em. (b) Hario kettle. Lots of stickers on it, one of which required acetone to remove. Seems okay now. Will try tomorrow. (c) Magnus resin slider. Beautiful covers, but it has perforated plates and tiny soft balls instead of o-rings. I spent a LONG time trying to find a magnet combo that would work; couldn’t (couldn’t even swap plates with my other resins, as they have solid plates with o-rings, and wouldn’t go together. Will sell.

–On a lark, tried to put the genuine iPhone battery into an iPhone I had discarded–not sure why. Everything went okay, but on bootup I discovered the camera was super wonky–either all black, or horribly distorted. Could not see a problem with cables or anything. Tossed again. Looking into a NEW (not Red) model 16, with a much higher MaH battery (hopefully at 100%). Gettin’ tired of my phones losing 1-2% percent an hour of battery.

–Got a nice haircut from Brittany at Great Clips.

–Took a shower and shave. Tried the new (to me) Wolfman with 1.55mm gap. Got several cuts. I have found my limit.

–Yes, still foggy.

–Went to New York Bagels for a dozen sesame. They had to pull them from the display. There were a couple racks of just-baked plain bagels, one of which was likely my order, without the sesame seeds. Price (with banana bread) was $21, like it always is, except for the last visit, where it was $31. Grrr……

–Biggest police presence I ever saw at Olson and 50 overpass: a dozen cars with lights flashing, a motorcycle, a couple of emergency vehicles. I saw one car with front-end damage, but not enough to need that show of force.

–Picked up LIC SS Mini Mame at UPS. Nice. Also got the iPhone battery from Apple. Installed it without damaging anything, charged it up. Shows 100% battery health. We’ll see how it holds up.

–The (new) original I bought for the Timemore reminds me of how badly-designed that aspect of the grinder is. Can’t put a load of beans in at once, popcorns like crazy–just useless. Guess I’ll go back to the after-market 3D printed hopper.

–Tried to buy a little thing on eBay and they gave me the warning (for the 5th time in the last couple weeks) about “someone has accessed your account” and wouldn’t let me do anything until I contacted them. I called, read back a number they texted me, and all was good. I have to think this was related to me shutting down the “Magnus” listings from saralanning and chrisweb. Fuck ’em.

–Still foggy.

–Reconciled/rationalized/sorted out my spinner buttons. Replaced the numbered post-its with blue painter’s tape, which sticks much better. All accounted for except one silver Pyra. I know I had one with crappy plates, but it’s hard to believe I tossed the whole thing, given that plates can be replaced. It might show up buried in the closet some day.

–Made a pizza for dinner–in the Erie skillet this time instead of a flat pan. 550 degrees for 12 minutes; came out good.

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for mandarins and apples. COLD!

–Took Grace to Smart & Final.

–Tended to plants. Moved Kenny’s dieffenbachia (dumb cane) indoors.

–Went to UPS for Elforyn buttons (nice) and Oddiev bearing tool (nice).

–Mokume Edamame came in. Nice, but not $2,250 nice. Also the LIC EDC tri Mame. Nice.

–Washed my sweatpants and long-sleeved shirts.

–Went to Bel Air for bagels, Sensodyne, a couple frozen dinners.

–Back to dank and dreary.

–LIC Turboglow spinner buttons came. Nice. Also Timemore hopper. I put it on, played with start/stop button a bit. It seems good; we’ll see.

–Got a smog check for the Honda at Beta Smog, just off Coloma. Now the DMV will send registration tags.

–Kenny drove me to the Costco in Folsom. He got his Ferrero-Rocher candy to give out for Christmas; I got Pellegrino and toilet paper.

–Picked up the Magnus Bel Air slider at UPS; pretty nice, all there, good shape. Also the Hidehisa pruners. Huge, heavy, slippery. Tossed ’em. Looking at some nice Felco pruners. Also a Wolfman WR2 razor with a big (1.55mm) gap. Looked like high polish (except for the head), but claimed to be basic. I worked on the head a bit. Helped a little (maybe), then ordered a loose wheel and blue compound at eBay.

–Motor City pizza for dinner.

–After a whole lot of confusion and dead ends, I found an online traffic school that was cheap and legit. Took the course; hopefully that ends this episode. Gotta stay clean for 18 months now.

–Magnus Egg Slicer came in. Pretty, but needs some work.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Sun is finally starting to peek out from the fog.

–Paid State Farm $746.87 for BMW.

–Bought $5,000 Bitcoin at Coinbase, following a $7,000 purchase a week ago.

–Went to UPS for Goldie tungsten (nice, but I really don’t see the huge appeal of tungsten) and Tea-Time buttons (really nice). Got a Vicolo pizza for dinner at Bel Air.

–Still dank and dreary.

–Went to UPS for Drake’s spinner buttons (nice); then Bel Air for cream cheese, lunch cheese, dessert.

–Lost one drop (Metro spinner), won a second (Ziii red Corian spinner). The Ziii may have been just a pre-order, as they still seemed to have them several minutes after drop time–though I thought their Facebook post said 7 only (and the photo on the site shows 7). Who knows…

–Yet another dismal day. Apparently there’s a stubborn fog cloud that’s been hanging over the Central Valley for a while.

–Went to the farmers market for mandarins and apples.

–Another dank day.

–Re-covered the Weber and watered plants in back. Discovered (via Grace) that the already-once-replaced sprinkler head in front is leaking again, below ground level. This is getting very annoying.

–Picked up the Kickstarter bit driver at UPS. It’s okay, a lot of sharp edges, but the big issue is the spinning top is held in place by six set screws. I had to take it apart of course. Putting it back together so that it’s balanced when spinning is a seemingly impossible task. I’m not even sure it was well-balanced when new. I might wait a bit to see if the maker puts out a video showing how to balance it; I might not.

–Also picked up a couple sets of Modusworks Retcore buttons–one SS and one aluminum. Better-looking than the brass ones they came with, and I can put those on other spinners as they are very nicely shaped and dished.

–Was going to revive the Leica Q2 Paul Smith–it’s so pretty. My first shot was major blurry. Looking things up, I re-re-re-discovered it has no image stabilization. In fact, few Leicas do. Unbelievably frustrating.

–Thanksgiving. Kind of a dark and dreary day. Cold too. Barbecued a turkey breast and finally got some smoke flavor. Took about 65 minutes at 350-400.

–Got a traffic ticket for the first time in decades. Went up on a “sidewalk” near Olson to catch a green light. Kind of Mickey Mouse, but legit I suppose. Hoping traffic school will make it disappear.

–Picked up gift-makings for the alley at Walmart (photos and bags) and the Post Office (stamps). Ordered cards from Amazon. Stopped at Bel Air for coffee.

–Indy Thicc Baby Yeti in mokume came in. Fabulous spinner in looks and action. Also snagged a hyper-rare Magnus spinner on eBay.

–After much effort, got the new iPhone working in the Beemer. The trick was to turn off the new one, turn on the old one, delete the old one, then sync up the new one. Siri is back!

–Went to Hooverville for jam for neighbors for Christmas, a little for us, and a couple small key lime pies.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Second iPhone SE3 came in. Less scratched than first, 94% battery health rather than 93%. Spent a while setting it up. Still have stuff to do–there are way too many options. In a quandary about swapping in the new genuine Apple battery. Improvement might be minimal, and there’s risk.

–Made a pizza with the usual plus Jan’s pepeprs and a farmers market tomato. Best one yet.

–Another do-nothing day.

–Bought a couple of Hermes wallets (heh heh) from Dubai.

–Cleaned up the back patio plants a bit.

–Found and bought a genuine Apple battery for the iPhone SE3. The new OS wouldn’t stop nagging about the non-Apple battery.

–Sunny day. Got mandarins and apples at the Sunrise farmers market.

–Not much else.

–Stomach issues again this morning–diarrhea, a little nausea.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Played with magnets some more. Got the Magnus Crinkle almost good.

–Dank day, though not a ton of rain.

–Won a Baby Yeti spinner in mokume this morning. Same maker where I won a timascus Yeti back in January when I was new to this hobby.

–Played with magnets a bit. Very frustrating, as I lack a great way of keeping 8-10 bins of them separated while I sort them out.

–Swept up outside a little, anticipating more rain.

–Went to Bel Air for milk and stuff Grace needs.

–Picked up a canarywood Reg Barber tamper handle. Seriously plain and uninteresting. Tossed it. Finally got my Modusworks buttons back from Jeremy Piper. Picked up my second Magnus Crinkle slider. Found out it would accept 6×4 magnets, so I put those in on the ends. Works pretty decent now, and the new one, though identical to the old one, has a nicer finish.

–The new after-market iPhone battery appears to be pretty robust, showing 94% at 6 PM after doing a few things on the phone today. I ordered a second identical iPhone on eBay, so I can put the battery in that with (hopefully) less internal damage.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Played with sliders. Tried hard to reconcile everything. Almost succeeded.

–Walked to UPS to pick up the Magnus Superdimple. Impressive design, not the best sliding action, but better after I re-did the magnets.

–Noticed the iPhone battery, which early on had seemed to drain really slowly, was draining fairly fast. Decided to swap in the after-market 19,800 mah (right) battery. Had some issues; a screw holder broke so I didn’t replace a small metal plate; but eventually I got it back together successfully. Apple didn’t like the fake battery (of course). It’s charging now. Fingers crossed it doesn’t go down 25% in a day.

–Read up on Fellow/other electric kettles. Turns out Fellow has a fairly bad reputation in this area. Along with their buggy grinder, I can’t say I’m impressed. Looking into a Hario kettle.

–On the other hand, the nice folks at Timemore are selling me a new complete hopper with lid for $41 shipped, to replace the one I (accidentally) tossed along with some 3D printed ones. Good folks.

–Got bagels at New York Bagels. Got some Peet’s Holiday Blend beans at Peet’s, where there is a new Jersey Mike’s. Will try soon.

–Finally got Siri sorted out on the new iPhone. Scared me a bit with the new voices, no “Um hmm,” etc., but all seems good now.

–Went to UPS for (a) LIC EDC Goldie in titanium. Nice, but like one or two other spinners, seems kind of too smooth and boring. Can’t really explain. (b) Zerofeud timascus buttons. Nice, a little scratched (I knew that), will try and re-anodize when the DC power supply comes in. (c) Magnus Sweep in brass with thicker (.5mm) zirc muffin tin plates. Working on it–might just put the plates in my existing ti Sweep.

–Took a shower and shave. Used the BBS-1 razor that’s been sitting on a shelf for years because it was too harsh. Was eminded of it by someone selling one on a forum for $2,000. Still too harsh.

–Unexpectedly (for me) dark and damp day. Football, mostly.

–Pretty quiet day. Played with cameras a little. Picked up the Jim Dunbar pocket knife at UPS. Killer!

–Brought out (again) the huge Leica 50mm L mount lens. Turns out it kicks ass–auto-focuses better at night than I can manually focus. Razor sharp, zero fringing around the globe lights, and–for reasons I completely do not understand–makes DNGs at temperature 2,750, which is perfect. All my other lenses are around 3,400, forcing me to correct. Might be worth the weight.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Transferred (via online check) $40,000 from Heritage to Ally.

–Home-made pizza for dinner.

–Compared Rikenon to Summicron at f2.0 on a darkish abutilon photo. The Summicron absolutely clobbered the Rikenon off-center. I suspect the same thing will hold true later with a night picture. And we’ve seen how the Rikenon distorts the shape of the globe lights at f1.2. Really wanted to like the Rikenon. Crap. I guess if you want to use large enough glass to get to f1.2, you give up a lot.

–Paid State Farm Honda insurance $377.45.

–Went to Michael’s Crafts for 3/16″ eyelets. They fit great, but I haven’t pounded one in yet. We’ll see.

–Stopped at UPS for new $226 Apple iPhone SE 2022. Working fine, charging now.

–Went to Michael’s Crafts for eyelets for my belt. Got 1/4″. Would require enlarging belt hole. Will go back tomorrow for 3/16″, which could be too small to cover the hole. Grrr…

–Stopped at UPS for: (a) NOS Rikenon 55/1.2. Compared it with my pristine other Rikenon 55/1.2. A little edge for the new one I think. Both have issues at f1.2 (of course) with distorting globe light shapes,  flaring, haze, etc. Still an impressive lens: the DV speed limit sign might be the sharpest pic I have of it. (b) SS Mega Mini Mame spinner (nice, but traded buttons as I did with the brass), Slim Pillar spinner (nice, but I really don’t see the hype around it (specifically, the astronomical prices), brass Mini Mame spinner (very nice, absurdly expensive because of rarity I think). (c) Magnus Chocbar slider (nice design, but serious flyaway issues). Tried to swap end magnets, but realized my strongest 6x2s are about the same as the original 6x2s in the slider. Into the “for sale” pile. Seems I have two boxes of 6×2 strongs; one says N45 and the other N55. Turns out they’re both around 3,200 Gauss, so I combined them. Guess I bought the N55s thinking (hoping) they’d be stronger.

–Took the Beemer to Walgreen’s to pick up the prints for Kenny’s Christmas cards. Had lunch at a nearby McDonald’s. Too much food, way too salty. Back to Jersey Mike’s I guess.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Quite a warm day. Should have gone for a bike ride.

–Updated the date on Kenny’s Christmas card from 2023 so I can get them printed up and he can get them out to friends. He gave us a huge jar of honey and yet another wonderful pre-baked potato.

–Walked to UPS to pick up Atorvastatin and an Indy Thicc Squatch. Nice spinner, perfectly balanced.

–Took a shower and shave, finally using Dr. Bronner’s Eucalyptus Magic Soap. Better.

–Walked to Bel Air for mozzarella, pepperoni, cookies. Made pizza. Darn good!

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for mandarins, apples, pears, jam. Stopped at the Winding Way Arco for $3.95 gas for the BMW.

–Went at Target across the street for Coke, eye drops, Dr. Bronner’s Eucalyptus shampoo.

–Walked to UPS for yet another Modusworks Retcore spinner. Came a little unbalanced. I followed Dung Ho’s advice (Facebook): loosen screws a little on one side; press frame toward the light side; tighten screws. It worked perfectly. So much for Kapton tape and tungsten putty.

–Did some more 50mm lens comparisons. Tricky business: Helios e.g. is shockingly sharp wide open in the middle of the field, but gets really fuzzy as you head out toward the periphery. The Contax 50/1.4 wasn’t quite as good as its reputation would suggest. The Rikenon 55/1.2 was quite outstanding. The Pancolar was the weakest of the group, and the Summicron (like the Contax) seemed a little weaker than I would have hoped.

–Walked to UPS to pick up an MBK front flipper. Nice knife.

–Tried to replace the battery in the iPhone SE 2020. Broke the cable connecting the display. Crap. Spent a long time looking at Red iPhones on eBay; ended up getting an SE 2022. The 13 Mini is smaller with better specs, but it lacks the front button and has an ugly lens set on the back. Besides, the SE was $206 (compared to $600) and the seller was honest about how the battery capacity would have degraded to 83%-86% over the years. I’ll try it, and replace the battery (carefully) if it seems to need it.