Month: May 2024 (Page 1 of 4)

–Walked to Dr. Cripe’s office for part 2 of crown on #3 tooth. Went fine. Will go back on 6/6 for part 1 of crown on #4 tooth. Not getting a root canal. Hope none is needed.

–Successfully “hid” the journal under /public_html/Journal, so going to wsf.ac just brings up a big “403 Forbidden” screen. It was not easy. Going to wsf.ac/Journal brings up the journal, all logged in, hit “New” to start a new entry. Going to wsf.ac/Journal/wp-admin brings up the Admin panel, again all logged in. I guess one would have to know that Journal was a sub-directory on wsf.ac in order to get there. Going to wsf.ac/sahara.jpg (after copying the photo to public_html) brings up the photo. Good.

–Went to see Jasleen Agroia RN in Dr. Firoz’ office. BP was 136/6x; the flunkie taking it said “BP is good.” So did Jasleen. I argued that it was high (and it is, according to the recent AHA/ACC guidelines); no, it’s good she said. She put in a 90-day prescription for 25mg Losartan. I argued that 50 is standard. No, she said, 25 is good. I asked her for a copy of Dr. Bellinger’s telemetry/EKG findings. She looked it up, mentioned the word “stable,” printed out one page from Sac Heart that said absolutely nothing about findings.

–Lunch at Jersey Mike’s.

–Stopped at UPS for Olympus VF-2 viewfinder. Was reminded it doesn’t fit M9, just 240. Put it on the 240. Useless, as recalled (I tossed the previous one).

–Got a bag o’ bagels at Bel Air.

–Paid State Farm bill for BMW, $527ish.

–Went to physical therapy in Folsom. Robert took me into the gym where PT is located and put me on 4-5 machines. Hoping I would sign up for a membership I guess.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Spent some more time on the Silca pumps, to no avail. Finally did the correct google search (blowby) and learned that I’ve over-lubed and thus softened both leather gaskets beyond usability. After some more research, I discovered that Pista and Superpista pumps (anything prior to 2008) take the smaller 28mm (731) gasket–after ordering a 731 and 741. Even further, I discovered that Silca now has specific different washers behind and in front of the leather gasket; I don’t think either of my pumps had this setup. So, I ordered $48 worth of lube, washers, etc. from Silca, and told Heritage (who thought it might be fraud) all was okay. I had also ordered another restored Pista pump on eBay, from the same guy in Southern Cal who sells under 6 different names–I did this before all the gasket stuff, thinking I had to. Pretty soon, WE GOT PUMPS!!

–Rode around Lake Natoma with Tom Elken. Been a long time since I rode there, and I would have made a couple wrong turns without him. The blue Silca pump, though it does work when tested with a finger over the nozzle, didn’t seem to put air in the tires. The black one worked like crazy and filled ’em up toot-sweet.

–Put gas in the Honda.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Watered plants; fertilized camellia.

–Went to Bel Air for cream, pizza, dessert.

–After mastering the Leica M11, went back to the CL. Figured it out pretty quick, took a couple abutilon pics, like it. M11 has the megapixels, and CL has the viewfinder. The CL also seems a little more fun, and is more compact.

–Took a shower and shave.

–FINALLY got the M11 set up (I think the CL is set up too, but it’s hard to say no to 60 megapixels.)
—-Known lens: focus mag. will start automatically; power can be adjusted with thumbwheel.
—-Unknown lens: Press the little top button to start focus mag., adjust power with thumbwheel.
——After exiting focus mag. with little top button (if used), thumbwheel adjusts exposure comp. (via shutter speed) with permanent real-time preview. Whew!!!

–Rode the canal on the Innerlight. Decent weather, still tiring.

–Barbecued pork chops and corn.

–Played with bike pumps a bit. Got them both going good.

–Played with new digital tire gauge. Cannot get consistent readings from it. Old age and lack of practice probably. Will look for a clamp-on gauge.

–Helped Kenny replace his fountain pump filter. Success!

–Went to Bel Air for corn, milk, cream cheese, lunch cheese, dessert, Zone Perfect bars.

–Went to Creekside Endodontics for my root canal on tooth 3. Fairly uncomfortable, fairly quick. Some pain and pressure sensitivity hours later, even after a strong ibuprofen.

–More hilarity tonight comparing M11 and CL. I don’t seem to be able hold any thought in my mind for more than a day. I had dismissed both cameras tonight after testing them with a fully stopped down Biotar–for bokeh, you know. Unbelievable.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Went to Creekside Endodontists (Scott Young) about tooth pain. They took some CT scans, and I got a long explanation of things. As best I could make out: teeth 3, 4 and 5 need root canals. We’ll do 3 tomorrow (mostly because it’s already been started, I believe), then wait until benefits are available to do 4 and 5. $390 consult fee at Creekside, $1,865 for the root canal, $1,300 at Cripe for the crown.

–Leica CL Paul Smith came back from Leica Repair. Looks and feels good. Having second thoughts about it though. Turns out the left wheel ISO control (for exposure) which I really liked only works with an L lens. I won’t be using many L lenses on the CL, given what the Q2s will do. With a manual lens (even one that’s recognized by the CL), the left wheel controls exposure via shutter speed–not my favorite thing. I can control ISO with a menu, but it doesn’t do that instant lightening/darkening of the viewfinder which allows me to pick an ISO that works along with a non-blurring shutter speed. Even focusing with the CL–the one HUGE advantage it has over M’s–isn’t turning out to be all that miraculous. Leica may have gotten it right with the M11 and I just haven’t figured it out yet–like the really high ISO’s were done to allow fast shutter speeds. I just wish that Visoflex worked better.

–Had another physical therapy visit with Robert.

–Leather washer came in for Silca bike pump. I put both of them together and they work fine. Given they’re the same inner dimeter, It sure seems like the NOS one moves a lot more air. It is a few inches taller, but still…