–Rubberset brush came in. More pitting than I had hoped. Working on it.
–Pundits say Biden won’t run in ’24 (too old) and Kamala Harris has terrible approval ratings. Trump vs. Buttigieg here we go…
Month: November 2021 (Page 2 of 3)
–Picked up HoneyBaked ham–along with several other folks.
–Played with watches/bezels a bit. Decided I’ll be selling the 5512 as is. Before long I’ll need to choose between 1680 with original dial and bezel, color-matched hands, crisped-up case and complete full set; 5513 with replacement gilt dial/matching hands/tritium service bezel, great case and almost-full set; and Sea-Dweller with stellar dial/bezel, probable color-matched hands and recut case (plus trippy “Original Helium Escape Valve” caseback).
–Ordered a white iPhone SE. Did some battery testing and, at first glance, it appears the Samsung battery goes down faster than the SE battery–correcting for SIM presence. Could be other factors involved, could be my imagination. I’m just so torn over Samsung (great build, good earpiece volume) vs. iPhone (smaller form factor, hearing aid-friendly).
–Started fluorouracil treatment.
–Feeling better, somewhat.
–Finally got the ceramic insert off the Squale bezel. The grip solvent really did loosen it up so it spun freely in the bezel, but I had to break it to get it out. Bonus: with the insert gone I could view the spring that retains the bezel, and even remove it intact, so the bezel itself could then be removed. Problem 1: There was a tiny piece of rubber inside the case after soaking in solvent, which looked suspiciously like part of a stem gasket that had melted. Problem 2: Neither of the 2 (TWO) replacement inserts I had bought came close to fitting in the bezel. The inserts were about 38mm, while the bezel was closer to 37.5mm. And the ceramic inserts don’t bend for fitting.
–Still feel like crap.
–Took a shower and shaved with the LA Shaving Soap Company BBS-1 razor. Harshest shave ever. Crap.
–Got bagels at Noah’s.
–Bottomless portafilter for the Maximatic came. I had a super-hard time putting (and adjusting) a spring in the groove that would keep the basket from falling out. Now it’s really hard to get the basket out. Shouldn’t matter, as I rarely need to take it out anyway. Had a fear the portafilter wasn’t going to go in with the basket in place, but finally sort of got the hang of it. All good now.
–Squale black 30 Atmos Ceramica came in. Movement is spot on, dial is glossy and gorgeous. Hour hand is really small, which was my complaint with the Mondia Batman. Watch case was so severely dinged up I put a groove in it trying to polish stuff out. Another one bites the dust. I put the movement/dial into my Squale Pepsi (version 1), and it looks nice. I have the ruined case soaking in grip solvent to test for removability of the insert. The black insert is nice, so I’d like to be able to get it out intact, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible. I suspect these things are snapped in, in addition to being glued.
–Did a load of laundry.
–Went through my watch bracelets. I’d forgotten what I had. (a) Omegas that look about as good as 1450s, albeit with straight end pieces; (b) a really nice Gay Freres Kon Tiki; (c) a 2001 Rolex from a Daytona, really scratched up–I need to send that out for polish, as it ‘s beyond my skills; (d) an Omega 1035 near-NOS–came with a couple of straight endlinks, and I only have one proper 630 endlink. I bought one on eBay, couldn’t find another, tossed it (or lost it), bought a second one on eBay from the same guy, haven’t seen another since in many months of looking.
–Sold my 165mm Shig kitaeji santoku at KKF in 5 minutes.
–Finally getting the Samsung S10e dialed in (heh heh). Beautifully-finished hardware, and I’m zeroing in on a nice setup.
–Epiphany: I used to think Rolex bezel pearls had thin (older) or thick (newer) metal surrounds. After looking at hundreds, and a bezel I bought thinking it was older, and my after-market bezel pearls, I now realize older ones have NO metal surround. It looks sort of like a surround because it’s clear plastic that sits above the bezel surface and shows the silvery metal beneath. Eureka!
–J-knife came in. Cherry branch handle is absurdly large–my fault I guess, for having exaggerated my hand size. Knife is okay, but not thrilling.
–Took a quick bike ride to the Folsom light rail parking lot. Found the mother of all long-acorn trees. Loaded up.
–Played with phones.
–Niello called. For the second time, I couldn’t answer on the Samsung. It answers Grace’s calls fine, but not “outside” calls. Can’t find a reasonable app that will call me so I can experiment with this. Called Niello back to find out about the Mini Cooper. “It’s being built this month, and we’ll have more info next month.” Great.
–Played with phones. Turns out: to use earphones on the Samsung, you have to plug them in while the call is connected, not before. It does work if you turn your hearing aids off (mechanically) before making a call, but that’s a little drastic. Doesn’t even work if you plug in earphones, start a call, then hit “speaker.” Call will come out of the speaker until you unplug/replug the earphones. Grrr….. I may look for a quick way to disable/enable HAs in software.
–Google Pixel 4a came in. It feels bigger than the Samsung, the back feels (and is) plastic, and it seems to me to come with a lot of factory apps installed. I didn’t even bother setting it up all the way to see if it (for example) would work over earphones without the gyrations mentioned above. Bummer. I fear the Samsung 10e is the last phone (a) of reasonable size (b) that’s all glass and metal (c) that doesn’t have five large camera lenses on the back (d) and that works with hearing aids.