What are you doing?..continued

73 F is 23 C. That's warm?

I feel really lucky to be from the sun-soaked lands of Greece all of a sudden, lol.

 

Yep, 23 C is fairly warm. My winter isn't quite as cold as Homer's (I think the coldest we get is about -3 C or about 26 F), but that's cold enough.

With the wind-chill factor coming in from the bays (and ultimately the Antarctic), that becomes -5 C or about 23 F. BRRR.

Glad to hear you're somewhere warm, Homer.

 

I saw a picture and went down a rabbit hole

So, I was reading an article published by the Library of Congress when I got distracted by the illustration they featured

Spoiler: Illustration

so I looked up the artist (Louis Rhead) and found some of his illustrations

Spoiler: more illustration

And thought how A LOT of the women have the very strong jaw and masculine features of Dante Rossetti's paintings. So then I thought, maybe they used the same muse. I spent some time looking up Rossetti's muses and the woman, Jane Morris, fit the mold to a T.
But Rhead didnt use her as a muse because a lot of his work was done in the 1890s, after he'd emigrated to the US. Its possible that he took inspiration from Rossetti and William Morris (Jane's husband who was also a painter and contemporary of Rossetti), but non eof that was listed in the bios that i read.

idk... it was interested and i had to pursue the mystery

Spoiler: Dante Rossetti

 

Most of the Pre-Raphaelites (including Rossetti) drew and painted her. She was the It Girl of her generation.

 

yep, I even looked into whether or not Rhead was part of their "brotherhood" (he's not recognized at being a Pre-Raphaelite. Actually, between an article i found on an art gallery website, and wikipedia, it never really spoke about his style or influences, just that he had a talent for art, but made it a career later in life)

 

Having learned about the Pre-Raphaelites over the years is one reason why I find Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience oh so hilarious.

Even if you don't know anything about art, just think of the competing poets as rivals in any other creative pursuit (competing rock 'n roll artists, perhaps). It's a searing indictment of the transience of fame.

Did I say ROCK 'N ROLL?! YEAH!!! LIVE FAST, DYE YO GUN!!!

 

Watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs, baby! The best two months of sports competition has begun. Tonight's game is a classic matchup - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins. Great first period, looking forward to more !

 

I'm supposed to be working, but there's nothing going on and half of my department of two is off today, so I can't really do much anyway. Maybe the main team will need my help at some point today, but I doubt it.

I'm kind of having a bad hair day, too, figuratively speaking, as my buzzcut doesn't actually allow for much actual variety in that regard, so I'm listening to calming music on Youtube at the risk of incurring the wrath of the IT nerds for excessive data use.

I'm also editing my writing project.

 

I just sent a fax... in 2024!

Let me explain. I had to make a payment to the municipality (local government) of Chania here in Crete. The problem is, I am an idiot, and I sent it to the municipality of Saint Vasileios on the Rethymnon region, which is on the other side of the island! It was an instant bank transfer, too, so no way to undo it.

Anyway. It's the weekend, they were closed, and they have no emails. This is Greece, after all, and we're still a bit behind on this stuff. But they did have a fax number! I called it with my phone and sure enough, a beeping little machine answered me instantly. The problem was, I didn't have a fax machine, so I looked up the various e-faxing services online and discovered that ones which support Greek numbers are stupidly expensive.

Then, I remembered something. I do have a fax machine. Well, not the kind you are thinking, but one inside my older ThinkPad T410 laptop. That thing has a phone line port and a dial-up modem, which can also do fax! And I also knew that Windows has native support for fax. I was all over the idea because for one, I love old technology to death, and two, it was the perfect excuse.

So, I spent sometime setting it up with Windows XP. It took some tinkering with the modem's settings to get it to make outgoing calls but it all worked. I wrote them a page explaining what happened and sent it out about an hour ago, so they should see it tomorrow.

Great adventure, honestly, and a trip down memory lane with Windows XP. My only regret is that I didn't ask them to fax me back. The ThinkPad was capable of picking up the phone and receiving fax, but I couldn't get it work. Of course, I did make it work right after I sent them the fax with contact instructions. Oh well.

 

Great problem-solving skills!

 

Older Technology FTW! Nicely done, ps102.

 

You know I love my Nintendos. For a few years now, I occasionally go to eBay and buy broken DS consoles for around £10. Then I fix them up and make them as good as they can be, either with repairs or spare parts. It's crazy for how little I can buy them now, even if broken. Back in the day, they cost about £150, which is £230 in today's money.

Anyway. This winter I bought two DSi's on eBay, both with really badly damaged shells. No amount of polishing would fix that so I signed up to ZedLabz's alert list to get replacement shells. It took me until about May to score them! But back then, I was busy with university, so I had no time.

This week I finally finished things up. It was a lot of work (a DS is made up of so many different delicate parts) but I'm super happy with the way they turned out. They look brand new.

Spoiler: Black DSi

Spoiler: White DSi

My best friend and his wife heard that I do this kind of thing and they asked me to get them some DS Lites. I happily obliged and got two of them from eBay, so I have two more to fix. My friend plans to pay me back when I finish them but I might just gift them instead. I think that'd be pretty cool!

 

This is cool as hell! Wish I had these skills. It's like a passion project and a nice side hustle if you want it to be. ps102, the DS rescuer.

 

I could sell them for profit but I'm not doing that. I instead collect them! And I want to have as many as possible. Why? Well, why not? It's a lot of fun to fix them as is. And there is something incredibly rewarding about seeing a working DS after a sleepless night of work.

Plus, hear me out. They are cheap now. A working one in good condition goes for about 60-80 on eBay. But in twenty years time, they might go for much more than that. I don't plan on selling them though even then. I'll be the King of the Nintendo DS, and I'll have an army of them.

 

That's very cool, indeed. Kudos, ps102!

 

At least you've got a good excuse to be awake. I'm sitting up with a podcast on email marketing going on my phone and my novel open on my laptop, telling myself I want to finish revising this one scene before I shut the light off for the night. But where am I and what am I doing? I'm over here, shooting the cyber bull.

 

I'm here to delay writing today's 1000 words, but I've learned something: $400 tequila exists and it tastes good. Would I be a complete Philistine if I used it to make a frozen Margarita, which is about the only way I can drink the stuff?

When I was in grad school, I frequented an excellent and inexpensive Mexican restaurant that served wine Margaritas. I loved those things, but have never come across them anywhere else. I've asked and servers just look at me like I'm tripping.

 

I can handle tequila if it's a margarita or a tequila sunrise. Otherwise forget it.

 

Why not call a tow-truck?

 

Yeah, tequila is pretty much the only liquor I cannot stand. It's just nasty. Even a sniff of it will make me gag. I don't know how anyone likes it! Then again, I am sure there are plenty of people who would gag from sambuca, whereas I think it's the nectar of the gods.

 

I am high for the first time in my life (outside a hospital). I think it's luminescent.