Month: November 2023 (Page 1 of 3)

–Picked up popcorn from Mark Solich at UPS (the long-awaited mystery package).

–Picked up Zeiss 85 lens at UPS. This one (unlike the first one) is tight as a drum.

–Walked around the neighborhood and took pics with the SL2. Processed them with ACDSee. It took forever and the results were less than pleasing. Downloaded Lightroom (for about the twelfth time) and re-processed the photos. Night and day: LR was quick, easy, and higher quality. I don’t know how they do it with that few controls, but it sure works. It just took some really challenging photos (bright colored lights in the dark) to show off the differences.

–Called Blue Shield and found out that Restasis is covered; the generic cyclosporin requires prior auth. Told Firoz this. He replied that Restasis is “not covered,” and the ophthalmologist will have more insight on what to use. Jerk.

–Replaced hearing batteries around 10 AM (5.5 days).

–Played with cameras. Spent hours looking into Leica ME issues. Thought it was a failed sensor, but eventually noted it was replaced in 2015 with a sensor that (allegedly) would not go bad. Much later, I checked out rangefinder calibration at infinity. Seems to be quite off, if the light I was focusing on was really at infinity. Will try to calibrate tomorrow, when it’s warmer outside. I always want something “new” of course, but the M9s on eBay are pretty sketchy.

–Had lunch at McDonald’s Gold River.

–Took the Cremina cover + Traffic Red powder to Perfect It. They sid (a) it will be $200 because it’s so hard to remove the original powder coat, and (b) they might not be able to do it because are prohibited (by me) from drilling a hole in it so as to hold/electrify it while powder is being applied. Will call tomorrow with diagnosis.

–Stopped at UPS. Meteorite came in. Hefty, rusty. Started flattening the two cut sides. Looks doable. May soak in Evap-O-Rust and coat with wax or something. Oz Roosevelt Silver Surfer came in. Really nice (deep maching as promised). Second Lumitime clock came in. Works fine, but neon bulbs seem dimmer, even when not behind two windows. Not sure what I’ll do with it.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Walked to Bel Air for bagels, cream cheese, cheese, pizza doughball.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Cleaned the fountain; spruced up my plants. Propagating the abutilon turned out to be a dismal failure.

–Went to Gold River McDonald’s for lunch. They reinstalled the drink machine, for reasons unknown. Had a McCrispy Deluxe chicken snadwich. Okay, not great. Good fries though.

–Zeiss 85mm f2.8 lens came in. Unusable at first, then I read up on it and changed the camera from Auto to Manual and used the thumb button to zoom; very nice then.

–Went to Bel Air for milk, cream, chip-smoking foil pan.

–Barbecued a turkey breast with hickory chips. Came out good, though only mildly smokey.

–Had a tele-visit with Dr. Firoz. Went fine. He prescribed Restasis for my eyes and stretching exercises for my back.

–Hearing aid batteries died and were replaced around 6 PM (5+ days).

–Oz Rosie and pen came in. Rosie blade was a mess. I took the nicks out of it with the belt grinder, then swapped blades with another Rosie because the scales on this one are so nice. The pen also has scratches. I’ll likely send it to Ted Rooney. None of this was disclosed by the seller.

–Dr. Firoz’ office called. He’s a little sick and wants to do tomorrow’s appointment by telemedicine. Okay.

–Met Tom and Sandy Elken for brunch at Mimosa House in Folsom. Good time.

–Lumitime clock came in. Cool enough, but not working well. Bought a nicer-looking one on eBay.