Month: June 2024 (Page 3 of 3)

–Took a Tramadol last night around 5:30. Got to sleep (maybe) around 3 AM, and it wasn’t deep. That drug is self-limiting.

–Went for a brief ride on the InnerLight around the ‘hood.

–Talked to Kenny a bit about the filter. After some more internet searching, I am 99% convinced that the problem is vertical cracks in the filter housing, and has nothing to do with o-rings, tightness of top, etc. Bummer.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 3 PM.

–Did some reconciling of shaving brushes. Discovered that I no longer have the Simpsons Colonel XXL Centenary–the one with the chip in the base that I polished out. I strongly suspect it was pocketed by someone looking at the Tunnel Hill house when we had it up for sale. Mark Solich made a point of asking me to leave my shaving stuff out because it was so neatly arranged and looked so cool. I have no memory of using it at Discovery–though to be fair, I have no memory of missing it either. CRAP!

–Went back to Kenny’s to try and stop fountain filter leaks. Made them worse.

–Went to UPS to pick up some tire pump stuff. Can’t seem to get locking pumpheads to work, but straight on/off head still works.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Picked up bike pump parts at UPS. Put new internals in the two pumps. Strong and smooth.

–A very large tree branch blew down into the parking area across from our front door. Scary, but no damage to anything.

–Dr. Cecille Taylor, who diagnosed and treated the glaucoma in my right eye, is retiring. Now where do I go for cataract surgery?

–Went to Dr. Cripe at 9:30 and got a temporary crown on tooth 4. No pain, but there’s still a small area of gum that seems hyper-sensitive (painful) to touch.

–Watered plants.

–Moved dresser/night stand in my bedroom to make room for a work table.

–Ordered a Canon R5 and several lens adapters (including one for the Pancolar). I’m done with this Leica crap.

–Went in for the last PT session. Nice folks, but there wasn’t much they could do for me.

–Picked up yet another Silca pump at UPS. Not great, but not bad. It does have the base that shows (rather than hides) the brass parts under the gauge, so I swapped it out with one of the other pumps. May start restoring these. The hardest part would be to find shipping boxes if I sell them on eBay.

–Very warm today, and very windy.

–Second Silca Pista bike pump came in. Very nice. The plastic part on top that centers the pump rod actually threads in, as opposed to the first one which just presses in and is held by a couple of screws. I did swap gauges, as I like the one with the second pointer that you can set at your desired PSI.

–Took Grace shopping at Target, and picked up a dozen sesame bagels at New York Bagel Cafe.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Brought out the Leica SL2. Looks like it will be the mainstay. Really nice viewfinder with three levels of magnification. Got it set up so thumbwheel does shutter speed, top wheel does focus magnification. It’s heavy, but has no other real drawbacks compared to CL (low res) or M11 (Visoflex 2). [edit] Winner! Took a night shot with the SL2/Summicron 50; really gorgeous and ultra sharp. AND it worked like I wanted it to: shutter speed would only go down to about 1/4 second, so I upped the ISO from 800 to 3200. Bingo! Also surprisingly little noise with those settings. Hard to believe I gave up on that camera 3-4 times. It does take some figuring out, but they all do, and we’re talking a couple of hours, not a week.

–The Rabbit AI device came in. What a joke. Will toss.

–Went to Bel Air for apples, milk, cream cheese, peanut butter cookies.

–Rolex Sea-Dweller stopped. While starting it, I noticed there was no o-ring gasket on the caseback. Also s ome corrosion (independent). Found a gasket amongst my stash (which includes several parts for a Day-Date) and installed it. Scary stuff. Did it never have a gasket? I lose stuff, but that’s hard to imagine.

–Finally dealt with paperwork. Desk is clean.

–Reconciled cameras again. Keeping the M11, M-E, Hodinkee Q2, C-Lux. In a showdown between Hodinkee and Reporter, it LOOKED like the Hodinkee had a (slightly) brighter, clearer, more saturated viewfinder. Now sure how that’s possible.

–Put the bigger Silca pump together with a new leather gasket. It works! I used 5-weight Knife Pivot Lube for the gssket; it can’t be vastly different from the synthetic oil that’s coming from Silca. I’ve also bought two more Silca pumps, small and large like I have now. Should be able to put together a wining pair out of all these parts. [edit] It seemed MUCH easier to start the leather gasket in either tube than it did with the older gaskets, which I was always tearing up as I tried to insert them. Because this gasket is new? Or because I now finally have the proper fore and aft metal gaskets surrounding the leather one. Who knows…

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for squash, cherries, mandarins, tomatoes.

–Brought out the M11 again. Visoflex 2 isn’t ideal, but the camera just seems a little more serious than the CL.