2022-09-19 from the editor of ~insom
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Now:
coolretroterm is still fun. The urge to buy a DEC VT is
being kept at bay, so far.
We bought a nice radio for the kitchen and I've started
listening to CBC News. Since moving to Canada, I consume
relatively little Canadian content -- we don't have cable or
terrestrial TV, and I only usually hear the radio in the car
or in some shops. I never much liked commercial radio, even
in the UK. Drive-time shows are inane and the adverts feel
extra-intrusive. But, you know, this is my home now. When
the Queen died I was aware how disconnected from local news
I actually am. I've been letting my standards (BBC or GTFO)
get in the way.
I did some machining for the first time in a long time. I
made an adaptor plate for an 80mm three-jaw chuck onto my
little Sherline, and I've been using that to turn down some
tough (for my lathe) cast iron cylinders. This is
super-basic, but I've had to practice those techniques I've
seen on Youtube machinist channels, like setting up a dial
indicator and tapping the high part of my piece until it
runs concentric etc. It's been good. Gotta walk before you
can run. Maybe it's okay to never run? Walking is fun, too.
I'm liking the rapid onset of Autumn. I think when it gets
dark early I feel guilt-free about indulging in comfortable
things around the house -- reading, hanging out with the
dogs, listening to LPs -- but also slow and careful tidying.
Putting MOOP (matter out of place) back where it should be.
It's calming. I longed for the Summer after a harsh Winter.
I don't think I ever really long for the Autumn, but like I
said to someone today: I'm from there. Dublin's whole year
is like Ottawa's Fall.
I finished Dead Mountaineer's Inn. I enjoyed it, but not
sure if I could recommend it either. The ending is sudden
and not to my taste. Oh, well.
We've spent the last several weekends working on renovating
the kitchen. It's hard work and my body is no longer used to
it, but when it works out it's all very rewarding. Scraping
the old, glued on, floor has been the worst. Putting the new
floor down felt amazing. It was less work to put a new floor
down, but at the end of it, the kitchen looks great. At the
end of scraping a lot of glue and heating up vinyl with a
heat gun your house stinks and the kitchen is sticky.
I made "This is not a place of honor" vinyl transfers and
have put them all over my new bike, then hit it with bright
red spray paint. The bike looks a little more punk, a little
less nice, and hopefully a lot less attractive to thieves
(that last part is the goal, but I'll take looking punk as a
side effect).
