–Did some shopping at Bel Air. Haven’t seen Imelda in a fair while.
–Tried to take some photos of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction with the Leica Q2. Crappy. Movement on some, out of focus on many; camera seems to focus beyond infinity.
Month: December 2020 (Page 2 of 4)
–Horrible electrical smell this morning. Seems the motor for the family room furnace baffle burned out. Other two zones still working. Bell Brothers will be out Tuesday to check it out. Meanwhile, radiators in the living room.
–Went to Taylor’s Market for New York steaks, blue cheese crumbles, Acme bread for Christmas.
–Bought two Contax N Digital cameras: one that works but has a scruffy bottom and zero accessories, and one that doesn’t work but has a manual and some plugs (probably not the plug I would need to lock up the mirror, though).
–Bought a Blackland Blackbird razor, machine finish.
–Masamoto KS carbon came in (two weeks late). Had a really hard time chiseling off the grotesque plastic handle, then discovered it had a hollow spot on the blade. Tossed it.
–Compared the Rolex diamond dial I just returned to others on eBay. In hindsight, it’s laughably fake. There’s a beautiful black diamond dial available, but it only fits five-digit Presidents (18038 etc.). Don’t know if I want to buy it and keep it in the chest for a watch someday or not. Kinda like the 5512 “tritinova” dial I have: it could be a long time and a lot of money before I find an appropriate vehicle for that.
–Accidentallt found Thom Brogan at Badger and Blade last night. He responded “yessir” to a PM asking if that was THE Thom Brogan, but went silent when I asked if he wanted to resume our correspondence. (1) He may think I was responsible for the downfall of Fred’s Cutlery Forum. (2) I have the vaguest recollection of a nasty exchange on a blog of his post-Fred. It’s been over a month since I’ve heard from Lee Elliott too, after he went on and on about how he was going to dedicate some time each day for corresponding. Nobody likes me.
–Went Christmas shopping for Grace at Oto’s, Sakura (near Osaka-Ya) and Staples. Done, I hope.
–Roasted caf and decaf beans.
–Spruced up outside a bit.
–Took a shower. Had a nice shave with the Blackland Tradere razor and Personna “red” blade.
–BIG shopping at Food Maxx.
–Got on the phone with Xfinity. Our one-year deal is up, with the rate going from $120 to $193. After a while, settled on same service at $145 ($105 plus a lot of fees, taxes, etc.). Could be worse…
–Got bagels at Noah’s.
–Got Rolex Day-Date back from Ivanov’s for $10. She said nothing was done, everything was fine. Not true. (1) That screw was seriously wedged in. (2) That wedged screw had a dome top; the new screw is flat, as it should be. (3) There are a couple of noticeable gouges around the screw hole that weren’t there when I took it in. Anyway, I put the watch back together with the original black dial and hands, and it runs great.
–Marie for dinner.
–Trying to prep for Christmas: took all art upstairs, put up the manger scene, moved the upstairs fireplace grate to the downstairs fireplace and added an extension to the damper handle. Still hard to close.
–Left hearing aid battery quit around 8 PM.
–Bad day.
–Bought Belgian coticule at The Shave Nook. Five messages from the seller came in unnoticed by me (and they don’t send email notifications). Finally saw the messages and paid for the stone.
–Communicated with eBay dealer who sold me the fake(?) Rolex diamond dial. Turns out I’m too late (61 days) to do a standard eBay return, so he’s going to send me a FedEx label.