Things you recently bought or got

In boot camp I used to stick twigs in the dirt to make field-expedient sundials to figure out if we were likely to get punished for something or other before chow time.

Spoiler: Recruits getting "bent"

 

I recently upgraded my PC with an extra 8GB RAM (I have 16 now), a new mid-range GFX card and an SSD.

I don't really use it much for gaming. It's got a second-gen i5 in it, and I could upgrade it to a third-gen i7 for not a lot, but I'm not too keen on removing the heatsink and putting a new CPU in. Might have to get someone to do that for me.

The annoying thing is, if I want to use the SSD, I'll have to reinstall Windows. I tried to mirror the OS drive to my SSD, but it doesn't like booting from the copy, for some reason. ::annoyance::

 

Tempting.
Which is it, free or cheap?

 

Also, my teas came (Yay!)

Aaaaaaaand now i need a tea leaf strainer/infuser. So back to Amazon i go...

 

Tried Acronis? 2015 works best I think. Compresses a copy onto a flash drive which you can then boot from and load to a new SSD.

And to be honest, I run an old 4 core i5 and it still great. I'm running The Witcher on the highest settings with no issue. You could easily wait on that component unless streaming gaming was a thing you were into, which I'm guessing isn't.

 

Is Acronis free? I was trying with Macrium Reflect.

Ideally, I'd want to upgrade the CPU to something a bit more modern, but that would mean ripping out the motherboard as well, which is just too much of a hassle. I'm more into emulation than PC gaming, I'm still playing PS2 games.

 

I've done my fare share of emulation too, but the rule for emulators is that the system running the emulator needs to be around ten times more powerful than the emulated system.

Motherboard pulls and CPU replacements aren't hard, just need to be careful of the pins. And get the right gel layer between the heatsinks and the processor. Honestly though, playing with group policy editor, upping the RAM, implementing an SSD over a hard disk, and putting in a semi decent video card to get the most out of the CPU and motherboard is more worthwhile. Overclocking is okay, but I'd rather not unless you have an intercooler.

And Acronis will let you have a 30 day free trial. So you get a month shot at it.

 

I bought the seeds to grow a tea bush once (i forget what type it was). When the seeds arrived, they were duds (a few had mold on them, the others were basically mummified). I wasted $40.

There went that venture!

 

It's all about extracting the tannins. Soaking the floral material will flood the water with tannins. Different tannins with different floral material. Case and point, I have an Amazon fish tank I built with wood I collected that I thought looked nice. I tried to boil the would to clear out bugs and parasites, but it also made the water an nice aromatic brown tea...and when I put the wood in my tank, it has forever been tea colored water. My fish live in tea in that tank, but it's perfectly healthy for them.

So yes, it is absolutely about the correct material blend.

 

I've done a fair number of motherboard replacements, but these days, I'm just too damn lazy.

Plus, I have no idea where my screwdriver set is any more.

 

I've got one of those combination screwdriver/hammer/wrench/pliers multitools that works pretty well for most household applications.

 

I don't like those because of the inherently poor grip. But tools are expensive. I got to expense all my tools, which is why I have full sets, but it's a pain to regularly buy them.

 

I've got so many random tools I had to buy for one and only one task. Need a 2mm arbor press? I don't anymore.

 

A one-year subscription to Duotrope. Time to get serious about this stuff.

 

But it's so cool when your neighbor, the handyman type, needs that particular tool and you can smugly say, "oh I have one of those," and lend it to him. If you're lucky, he'll show you how it really works.

 

You are going about this all wrong. this is what you need.


crid=25RP0W3JD1KRP&dchild=1&keywords=phone+wrist+strap&qid=1599574851&sprefix=Phone+wrist,aps,188&sr=8-3

 

Golly. That would really impress the ladies at the gym.

But note the calorie count is at 666, the mark of the Beast. I think it's an evil ploy.

 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It's the only Tarantino film I haven't seen and I'm very excited to watch it tomorrow night.

 

I got an adapter so the other half can plug her laptop into another screen. At the time she ripped into me about wasting money, time and being a hoarder. So when she asked for it yesterday, I was understandably smug. Only, when I went to retrieve it I couldn't find it for the mass of other electronics junk accumulated over the years. PS I did find it today after much scrabbling.

 

Phone wallet/case thing for my phone. I had quite a job finding one that doesn’t have that annoying little buckle thing that keeps it closed.

 

I recently got a Covid test.

 

The only case I could find for my tablet (older model bought late for budgetary reasons) has a godawful spring clip latch that's utterly unnecessary and tries to rip the charger port flap off every time I close it.

 

Designers have a lot to answer for sometimes.