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Finding time
Sep. 6th, 2022 09:18 amIt has been a number of months since I've posted under anything but my Japanese manga filter, so I have a lot to update.
I took a week off work in May to declutter the house and work in the yard. I got a lot accomplished, mainly in the garage, where I cleared out a pile of old broken appliances and took them to the recycling center. I also reorganized storage, which let me clear out some space in my kitchen cabinets and make things I use often more readily accessible.
In the process of the decluttering, I had hoped to start on the project of digitizing my boxes of VHS tapes from the 1990s. That's when I discovered that one of my two VHS players was dead. Dead dead. Wouldn't even power on. I also discovered that my video capture card freezes recording when it encounters static--not a good trait when digitizing from VHS. I ordered a new one that supposedly had the best reviews, but it was SO user friendly that it didn't offer any customization options at all, it was just "push button to record, then push button to save." I tried it to record a 3-hour video of my performance in a high school musical, but when the recording was done, it encountered an error when I tried to save. Since the "push button to save" didn't work, and there were zero other options, I just had to close out of the software and lose the entire file. I tried an alternative video capture method, but it dropped a lot of video frames and altered the sound to keep it synchronized, which made all the voices sound funny. Watchable, but not enjoyable.
I returned the capture device and ordered a different one, but by the time it arrived, my week off was over. I still haven't had time to go back to that project. I did throw out a box of VHS tapes that I decided I didn't really need anymore, which allowed me to move around some stuff in the closet, but there's a lot more to be done.
My garden has had good points and bad points. I lost an entire pear tree to fire blight, which made me really sad because the pears were delicious last year. I've ordered two more to replace it, trying to get varieties that claim resistance to fire blight. Critters (squirrels and/or raccoons) ate all of my sweet corn, all of my persimmons (which wouldn't even have been ripe until November!), nearly all of my apples, and most of my squash. Fortunately, I have a bumper crop of crabapples and figs, so there's still some left for me after the critters stuff themselves. (I get the feeling animals come to my yard from miles around to chow down.) Oddly, nothing has been eating my tomatoes this year (well, aside from the spider mites, but they just drink the sap), so I've managed to put up lots. I also had a good crop of zucchini, cauliflower, and peppers.
The fireworks weren't so bad in June this year, but July was AWFUL. I didn't get a full night of sleep starting from the Friday before the 4th until 3 full weeks after the holiday. I finally discovered that my border collie isn't accidentally knocking breakable things off my desks, bathroom vanities, and kitchen counters. He's doing it deliberately. I think he's trying to generate noises loud enough to drown out the scary fireworks. I can't just close the doors to the rooms with breakable stuff, because then he scratches up the doors and door frames and even chews on the handles when he gets desperate.
I was so fed up with the destruction (nothing like cleaning up bits of glass from a shattered lamp at 1am because some joker in the neighborhood wanted to hear an illegal big boom after midnight), I splurged on a special crate for high-anxiety dogs. It was freakishly expensive, but hopefully it will keep him safely contained on nights with excessively loud noises. At the very least, it will keep him from stepping on bits of broken glass or shards of ceramic cookware.
I took two weeks off in August to visit friends and family in Michigan and attend Gen Con, the board gaming convention. That was a good break. I have about 4 days' worth of use-or-lose leave that I need to spend yet, which I will probably end up taking in November. We're dealing with a bunch of staffing issues and budgeting issues and various other changes, such as the fact that our contracted kennel went out of business and we had to move all our dogs to a new one. As happens every year, all my coworkers who volunteer for overtime are reaching their cap and can't do it anymore, which means they have to draft people (like me) who don't actually want to work the extra hours. That state of affairs lasts until the end of the fiscal year, September 30. On the bright side, I just got my bump up from Step 7 to Step 8, so those overtime hours are worth a few dollars more.
I'm continuing to pour what money I can spare into paying off my mortgage, since the return on that is far better than my other savings or investment options this year. I just have to keep back enough to make the property tax payment, which keeps increasing every year.
A couple weekends ago I went to the Palo Alto summer art festival, which was quite grand. I didn't buy much (just a pair of non-pierced earrings), but I saw a lot of inspirational work. One artist had gorgeous pieces that were essentially layers of Japanese washi paper with some simple origami and a splash of ink. The prices for the items on display ranged from $150 to $350 each. I was tempted to buy one, but then I thought about it and decided I could do something similar myself and have it completely customized to my taste. Thus, I have started collecting materials to try my hand at making my own paper from scratch. It turns out that a lot of the things I already have growing in my yard are good materials for making paper. (This isn't technically a new interest; I recall buying a washi-making kit when I was in Japan 20+ years ago, though I don't think I actually used it.) I'll just have to find the time to squeeze this in among all my other hobbies.
I took a week off work in May to declutter the house and work in the yard. I got a lot accomplished, mainly in the garage, where I cleared out a pile of old broken appliances and took them to the recycling center. I also reorganized storage, which let me clear out some space in my kitchen cabinets and make things I use often more readily accessible.
In the process of the decluttering, I had hoped to start on the project of digitizing my boxes of VHS tapes from the 1990s. That's when I discovered that one of my two VHS players was dead. Dead dead. Wouldn't even power on. I also discovered that my video capture card freezes recording when it encounters static--not a good trait when digitizing from VHS. I ordered a new one that supposedly had the best reviews, but it was SO user friendly that it didn't offer any customization options at all, it was just "push button to record, then push button to save." I tried it to record a 3-hour video of my performance in a high school musical, but when the recording was done, it encountered an error when I tried to save. Since the "push button to save" didn't work, and there were zero other options, I just had to close out of the software and lose the entire file. I tried an alternative video capture method, but it dropped a lot of video frames and altered the sound to keep it synchronized, which made all the voices sound funny. Watchable, but not enjoyable.
I returned the capture device and ordered a different one, but by the time it arrived, my week off was over. I still haven't had time to go back to that project. I did throw out a box of VHS tapes that I decided I didn't really need anymore, which allowed me to move around some stuff in the closet, but there's a lot more to be done.
My garden has had good points and bad points. I lost an entire pear tree to fire blight, which made me really sad because the pears were delicious last year. I've ordered two more to replace it, trying to get varieties that claim resistance to fire blight. Critters (squirrels and/or raccoons) ate all of my sweet corn, all of my persimmons (which wouldn't even have been ripe until November!), nearly all of my apples, and most of my squash. Fortunately, I have a bumper crop of crabapples and figs, so there's still some left for me after the critters stuff themselves. (I get the feeling animals come to my yard from miles around to chow down.) Oddly, nothing has been eating my tomatoes this year (well, aside from the spider mites, but they just drink the sap), so I've managed to put up lots. I also had a good crop of zucchini, cauliflower, and peppers.
The fireworks weren't so bad in June this year, but July was AWFUL. I didn't get a full night of sleep starting from the Friday before the 4th until 3 full weeks after the holiday. I finally discovered that my border collie isn't accidentally knocking breakable things off my desks, bathroom vanities, and kitchen counters. He's doing it deliberately. I think he's trying to generate noises loud enough to drown out the scary fireworks. I can't just close the doors to the rooms with breakable stuff, because then he scratches up the doors and door frames and even chews on the handles when he gets desperate.
I was so fed up with the destruction (nothing like cleaning up bits of glass from a shattered lamp at 1am because some joker in the neighborhood wanted to hear an illegal big boom after midnight), I splurged on a special crate for high-anxiety dogs. It was freakishly expensive, but hopefully it will keep him safely contained on nights with excessively loud noises. At the very least, it will keep him from stepping on bits of broken glass or shards of ceramic cookware.
I took two weeks off in August to visit friends and family in Michigan and attend Gen Con, the board gaming convention. That was a good break. I have about 4 days' worth of use-or-lose leave that I need to spend yet, which I will probably end up taking in November. We're dealing with a bunch of staffing issues and budgeting issues and various other changes, such as the fact that our contracted kennel went out of business and we had to move all our dogs to a new one. As happens every year, all my coworkers who volunteer for overtime are reaching their cap and can't do it anymore, which means they have to draft people (like me) who don't actually want to work the extra hours. That state of affairs lasts until the end of the fiscal year, September 30. On the bright side, I just got my bump up from Step 7 to Step 8, so those overtime hours are worth a few dollars more.
I'm continuing to pour what money I can spare into paying off my mortgage, since the return on that is far better than my other savings or investment options this year. I just have to keep back enough to make the property tax payment, which keeps increasing every year.
A couple weekends ago I went to the Palo Alto summer art festival, which was quite grand. I didn't buy much (just a pair of non-pierced earrings), but I saw a lot of inspirational work. One artist had gorgeous pieces that were essentially layers of Japanese washi paper with some simple origami and a splash of ink. The prices for the items on display ranged from $150 to $350 each. I was tempted to buy one, but then I thought about it and decided I could do something similar myself and have it completely customized to my taste. Thus, I have started collecting materials to try my hand at making my own paper from scratch. It turns out that a lot of the things I already have growing in my yard are good materials for making paper. (This isn't technically a new interest; I recall buying a washi-making kit when I was in Japan 20+ years ago, though I don't think I actually used it.) I'll just have to find the time to squeeze this in among all my other hobbies.
