Month: February 2019

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Costume Party Idea

I don’t generally like costume parties. The last one I went to, about 42 years ago, was a Halloween costume party. I went as a nearly penniless grad student. *pa-dump-bump*

But, if I were to go to costume parties nowadays, in this age of SJWs berating folks for racism (and all other kinds of pseudo-“isms”and -“phobias”), methinks I might dress up as my favorite characters from books read as a young lad or from even earlier childhood: Little Black Sambo (eschewing the blackface makeup, just cos I don’t wear makeup well, at all, at all ?), Mowgli (now there’s a sight: Mowgli as some Olde Pharte in his seventh decade. Pass the mind bleach, please. *heh*), Uncle Tom (again, no makeup — it’s not you; it’s me 😉 ), etc.

Why? I dunno. Just to provoke some lame brained (or brain-dirtied) idiot into mockable behaviors. Because.

Now you know why I no longer get invited to parties. Works for me. Too many people give me a rash.

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Tasty “Keto”

Sorta soda bread recipe with ~5 net carbs per slice. Tasty, nice texture. Good as muffins, too. Add a tablespoon of psyllium husk powder for a wee tad more bulk, and can mess around subbing in a tablespoon or so of chia seeds (well soaked in the warm water) for one of the eggs. *shrugs* The soaked chia seeds become a bit “gummy” and help hold the bread together. Can use less and not cut down on the egg, as well.

Also, make sure all ingredients, except the warm water (~115°F) at 85°-90°F before combining. It just works better that way. Also, 4½ teaspoons baking powder? *meh* 1½ teaspoons and one tablespoon. Faster and easier, IMO. 3 measuring steps as opposed to five. (One tablespoon = 3 teaspoons.)

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Sometimes, I’m a Bit Slow. . .

All this time. *sigh* I just had the bright idea of saving some of my Open Document files that I want access to–just for the info I’ve stored–w/o having to open them in an office app in a different format (for quick reference). . . as html files. Bookmark the location on a NAS and I can make the info VERY quickly accessible.

Works on my LAN only, though, because I do NOT make local docs available over a WAN, no matter what security I can use. All my browsers, in all devices, are synced (yeh, cross-browser, cross OS), though, so it is very LAN-handy. Perhaps this sort of use is idiosyncratic, but it works for me, and it’s just an extra couple of keystrokes saving the doc in another format, then bookmarking it once. To access, open bookmarks, type in search term, bang!

Maybe it’s just me, as I implied above, but *shrugs* it does suit me.

Of course, I could save the odt (and other Open Document format) files as pdfs or plain text files (even Epub or other) for viewing in a web browser, but html works.

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Moderate Tightwaddery

So, my design for lil kitchen project (transforming a moveable island with a 19”x 36”–with a dropleaf extension adding to that–top to a 44” x 50” top, with 1/2 as a dropleaf with folding legs) needed a buncha nominal 1” x 2” (3/4” x 1-1/2”) bits framing the top, and some nominal 2” x 2” bits for legs.

Buying that stuff precut is more than I wanted to do, so I sacrificed a 1/16” kerf 2 ways and ended up making “good enough” approximations by ripping a couple of nominal 2” x 4”.

LOADS cheaper. When I consider the fact that I’m using a piece of “scrap” furniture grade plywood for the rst of the top, the top isn’t costing me a heck of a lot to make/install. Oh, I did buy a couple of really nice Rockler locking hinges for the fold-down legs, and shelled out for a good piano hinge to run the full length of the drop leaf, as well as some nice plugs matching the finish wood on the plywood (‘cos I’m just gonna screw the top down to the frame, and I want the screws inset and covered), but out of pocket for the top ~$25, instead of buying something pre-made for well over $100 (saw something as nice as what I intend this to come out as for ~$340. Urm, no.).

2-piece top now cut to size. Assembly is next, and there I will get to use the nice DeWalt power miter saw Estimable Son-in-Law gave me for Xmas. Some gluing, clamping, screwing, and then staining and finishing, and that lil project will be off my list. (Oh, there are a few lil additions to make: a couple of boxes on wheels to add to each end of the island; one for a kitchen trash can and another for table linens; new drawer glides for the island’s drawer, as well as a strengthening of the drawer itself–little things)

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Tightwaddery2

Ab out a year ago, I found a belt exactly like the one pictured here ($16) for a buck at a local “fell off the back of the truck store (closeouts, returns, salvage, etc.). I liked the fact that it was extremely adjustable, and since I needed a belt at the time (intentional weight loss, pants falling down, broken buckle on old black belt I had used for years–had LOTS of additional holes punched in the leather, anyway), I purchased it.

After a few months, the part indicated with the arrow broke. Unlike the rest of the belt buckle, it was just cheap pot metal. #gagamaggot

Today, I finally decided to either fix the thing or toss it. So, I used a twist tie to emulate the functionality of the part that broke–a part which worked together with a spring-operated tongue on the buckle to grip notches in the belt.

It works, but that’s about all I can say for it. Still, “it works” is enough for me to once again wear the thing with a pair of pants I bought “too small” which now fall down if I do not wear either a belt of suspenders (or both *heh*)

So, Tightwaddery2, ;cos cheap buy of an item I needed and cheap fix of same item, broken.

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One Can Only Hope. . .

I have searched and searched (OK, occasionally and lackadaisically *heh*) for the source of the comment, “Let hope be not dismayed,” and found references that almost but do not match the lil five word sentence. It popped into my head and out of my mouth one day when someone said, “I hope you have a nice day,” but from whence I know not. Nevertheless, when hope is all one has, “let hope be not dismayed” is a worthy hope to pile on top of that hope, eh?

(Ps 69:6; Rom 8:24-25)

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He Never Learns

Ya know, every time Olde Guye tomcat walks right UNDER my foot, then squawks ‘cos he made me step on him, I think, “Seventeen years old and he hasn’t learned yet? Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.”

Oh, well, he’s good at other things, like keeping my left leg warm. (His fav “lap” position isn’t actually in my lap, but snugged as closely as he can get to my left leg. Oh, sometimes he crawls into my lap, very, very sneakily, but his default location is purring on my left leg *shrugs* He’s a cat. He doesn’t have to “conform to standards.” *heh*)

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Cheap Fixes

I finally got tired of using a THIRD broken keyboard on this lil lappy. Fortunately, the problem with this one was only that the cheap lil plastic retainer clips on the lower left hand side/corner were. . . ineffective (cos they broke within a week of installation) which meant the stupid thing flared up on that corner, making typing a “left hand mush” experience.

Fix? Contact cement. That’s all. Seriously. Done. (yeh, I checked what I was gluing before I did to make sure it would not interfere with any electronic or mechanical function)

It’s probably a better fix than buying yet another replacement keyboard, given the number of keyboards I’ve had fail on this thing.

Toshiba used to make better devices.