Broken

Friday before I left work, I set up my test machine with a bunch of torture tests, and this morning it was totally dead. Which meant it was given to Engineering to look at, and they never gave it back. So I spent the day on other things, such as a new release for our oldest model. And I also went to the westercon web site where I was disappointed that the programming page was blank (I wanted to see which Match Games I was in, and when some of my favorite filkers were performing). Then on the sidebar on the left, there was a news note saying the programming schedule was up, and it had a link. The link did not go to the programming page, it went to an actual program grid. And I found the two late night match games my name was on, and the daytime one my name was not on. And then I checked the boxes next to the things I wanted to go to, and exported that to a URL and to a Qcode, which both reside in my Evernote. They have done an excellent job with the grid, but it really needs to be on the programming tab page.

One disappointment is the Masquerade is playing at the same time as 4th of July fireworks. I understand the time constraints, but foo. And feh. Because Sandy Eggo has some of the best, especially at the beach. As a photographer I am Torn™.

It's been a long time since Spider Robinson backed out as GoH for health and I'm surer other personal reasons. It has been a horrible year for him. But I'm wee bit disappointed that they didn't fill the role with one of the many SoCal writers. But short notice, I get it.

Lunch was at the Lawrence Togo's, where I was all set to get a #9 as the Monday $5 special, but they changed the list so Monday is meatballs, and pastrami is no longer on the list. It also has a new, higher price. So I order a #9, and a soft drink. And the guy points to a sign which was not in view of the waiting line, announcing Monday #9 is the manager's special, $6 plus a soft drink. Okay, then.

Went online to Home Depot to see about ordering new shades for the livingroom windows. I had bought a pair at Lowe's but they are only scrims, I suspect with the lights on at night the neighbors cans see right through them. The ones which had been there when I bought the place are dull beige, and half an inch too short, they keep falling out of the mounts.

Home depot has this build-your-own interactive page which is excellent, but by the time I built one, it was $216. And I need two. They are definitely not worth that price to me. 

On my way home I stopped at Lowe's, not for shades but for catmint plants, a smaller umbrella base (my beach umbrella post is way too thin for the porch umbrella stand I have) and something like a post on which to mount the spirit house.

They don't have catmints, but I found four mitered stakes and some wood glue which should do the trick. And a plastic umbrella base which can be filled with water as a weight.

Home, parked the stakes in the carport, will do those tomorrow, took the umbrella base to the porch, filled it with water, put the umbrella in, and the base is still too big, even though it is half the diameter of the porch one. Maybe I need to wrap the pole in gaffer tape. Tomorrow.

Dinner was KFC, the last of the cole slaw and there's now only one piece of chicken left. And for dessert I nibbled on the caramel walnuts. Yummy, but needs salt.

Delivered by USPS was a bottle of 1000mg coated Vitamin C tablets. Got tired of the standard ones getting stuck in my throat. Acidic and tastes bad.

Also delivered was the new valuation for the house. It's about 70% of what I paid. That's too damned high.

Gave Spook a "treat" from Petco which is supposed to calm her down enough to let me pick her up and cut her nails. It says give two, but she refused the second one. Too chewy, I think. It did make her a little quieter after an hour, but not enough. 

Back of my mind put all my eBay sales on pause, I want to sell a lens. It's a fine lens, but not in a focal length range which is useful to me. And I have two external NAS units (add your own pair of SATA drives) and two Seagate NAS/USB external drives, 2GB and 3GB.

My Arris/Motorola surfboard combination cable modem/wi-fi router is being unreliable. I'm considering going back to separate modem/router.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Install the spirit house in the garden on the stakes with wood glue.

Not Feeling Well At All

Was feeling a little woozy at work, had to get up and walk it off a couple of times, but that made me feel faint. Which happens a lot when I get up and walk after sitting for too long. Usually just freezing for 30 seconds is enough for it to pass, but it stayed with me all the way to the loo and the break room, though not severe enough to be a danger.

Have I mentioned how much I hate the phrase "at risk"? And its evil cousin "In harm's way"??

Nothing to do at work all morning, my machine was brought back to life by Engineering, but it was still burping regularly, so they get to keep it. I wanted to ask when I'll get it back, but it was their day for a celebratory off-site.

Lunchtime I went to Fry's to see if they had the Arris/Motorola Surfboard cable modems, and if they did, to also buy an ASUS 2400 router. I didn't see any cable modems at first, had to ask. The trend now is to combine them with the routers. I have the top of the line Arris/Moto combined unit, but it has been refusing to authenticate my phone & tablet at 5GHz, connects at 2.xxGHz using the exact same authentication. The saleswoman said they stopped carrying Moto products because they couldn't locate the sales rep after Arris bought them.

But she also showed me that the ASUS 3200, a step up from the 2400, was on special for less than the 2400. I didn't want to buy the router till I had a line on the modem, so I thanked her and went to Coco's for lunch.

Elaine, who is the waitress for BASFA meetings, and is friendly and efficient and looks really good for her age, seated me, but then 5 minutes later some guy I had never seen before shows up to take my order. Elaine is busy training a new cashier. and is maybe the manager now.

Service was glacial, and when I was done eating, the waiter was nowhere to be seen. I waited about 10 minutes before giving up on pie. Elaine got my bill for me, the trainee did a good job of making change.

Back to work, got email that there were two fixed bugs for me to verify, which I did quickly. They were bugs I filed half a year ago, but couldn't check on because they took away my machine and assigned me to a different model.

It was above 90° on the way home, and all the way I was having trouble breathing, there was tightness in my chest, and I remembered those are warning signs of a heart attack, but there wasn't any pain. The Prius has a hurricane aircon system, lots of cold air, but it doesn't pull much humidity out.

As soon as I got home and inside to my house's aircon, I felt a little bit better. Tried to take a nap, but ended up just lying in bed reading. Till 9.

OCD set in, I went outside and started hammering stakes into the front "yard" hoping to mount the spirit house, but my nosy next door neighbor came over to "help", the stakes were not going in very far, and an across the street neighbor rudely shouted to stop the banging. It's after 9, she said. Quiet time is after 10 I replied.

Gathered up the stakes and hammer, put them in the shed, took the spirit house back inside to the kitchen table.

All of this I was not really connecting with reality.

Took a blood sugar reading, it was toward the low end of the normal range. Heated up a small frozen dinner. 

Delivered while I was napping, a wireless tablet/cell phone charging stand.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Pack for Westercon.