The blog of Luther M. Siler, teacher, author and local curmudgeon
This month’s edition featuring Roald and Strrrt, and entirely too many Goddamned books. I swear, I read.
Also, I figured out after taking the picture that I have a setting called “Rich Contrast” enabled on my phone somehow, which is why the last two images have looked so very saturated. It’s fixed now, but I was too lazy to retake the picture.
Forgive me, for I have sinned; I spent money on Black Friday, the fruits of which arrived today in the form of that pretty-ass new 27″ monitor on the right there. The one it replaced was, in general, a capable device (and will continue in service, but on my wife’s desk) but was so old that I literally don’t remember when I bought it; it may well date to the computer before Apple switched to the current iMac setup, where the computer and the monitor are one piece. It’s possible that it dates back to my Chicago years, although I think it might be too thin for that.
Thing is, I have a new desk coming– it’s backordered, but it’s coming– and that desk is a bit wider and deeper than my current one, and has a spot underneath it where I can put the PS5. So I decided that meant it was okay to become the ultimate in geekery: a three-monitor person. And Amazon had these fuckers on sale steep on Black Friday; I saved about $220 on the two I ordered, one of which is just going to sit in the box until the new desk arrives in a couple of months and, when I install it, might go in oriented vertically. Why? Why the fuck not?
Also, it’s curved, and I don’t know if you’ve ever used a curved monitor before? I hadn’t, and while I can’t quite explain why I like it as much as I do, it’s kind of amazing, and between the curve, a more efficient stand, and the smaller bezels compared to the old monitor, it actually really doesn’t take up much more room on my desk– so even the one drawback I’d managed to come up with regarding spending the money & upgrading really didn’t pan out.
Next trick: figure out why the colors on that picture look so supersaturated. Which I think is the phone and not the (main) monitor.
Spent the day twitchy and jittery and generally not in the mood for anything. Tell me some good news.
What you’re looking at here is the engine block of the Lego model for the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. I’ve had it for a little while and wanted to get it built this weekend, so I’ve been been coming back to it intermittently for the last couple of days and right now I’m about halfway through the build. I’ve been really impressed with it so far, and it continues to amaze me how much entirely unnecessary complexity Lego builds into their modern models. First of all, they modeled the engine block. I don’t actually know if the hood for this thing is going to be removable or openable or what once it’s finished (if there’s a hinge assembly for it, I haven’t built it yet) but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they modeled the engine block carefully enough that you can actually identify individual parts of the engine and then covered it with a hood assembly that wasn’t meant to be removed. The grille in the front? Each of those little silver rectangles is an individual piece. That yellow X-shaped piece in the back with the yellow circle around it is attached to the steering wheel, which is actually set up in such a way that turning the steering wheel turns the front wheels of the car. There’s a whole steering column and what appears to be a gearshift next to it. There are stickers in places on the car that you will never see. The engine has belts, for Christ’s sake– you can see a bit of one of them, the red band next to what is clearly meant to represent the battery.
Do I want to find out what model of Cadillac the Ecto-1 was supposed to be and see where the battery actually is? Yeah, I kind of do.
I’ve been kind of in a funk lately regarding writing and the internet and a few other things, so this has been a nice change for me to focus on for a few days. The problem is these sets are expensive and they’re starting to kind of build up around the house and I don’t really need one more fucking thing to figure out how to display. But fuck it, that’s a problem for later, for right now I’m going to continue enjoy building the car.
EDIT: The hood does open. Entertainingly, the hood is one of the few actual flaws with the build, as it doesn’t quite close as tightly as I like and wants to be no more than about 98% closed. That doesn’t sound like it should be an issue but it means a few things don’t line up. I just need to make sure to display the car with the passenger side facing out, I guess. 🙂
EDIT EDIT: The hoses from the battery were in the way. I shoved them deeper into the engine and it’s fine now.
… what did we buy today?
New sectional, sitting on the new carpet:
Former dining room now has comfy chairs in it, although it’s not quite ready for prime time yet:
You can see the shape of what we’re getting at here, I think, although there’s still work to do and not everything is in its final place. The chandelier is getting replaced with more appropriate lighting, the table in the corner is going away, we need to a rug and some side tables into the room, and many of the books will end up being moved to the as-yet-unordered new shelving going in the living room.
And what will eventually be the dining room:
This room needs a lot of work before it looks like a dining room, obviously, and a number of the things in here are going to end up in the former dining room, but again, you can get the idea we’re going for, more or less. This room needs the most work but I think we’re going to be really happy with it once we’ve moved beyond the “table in the middle of what is obviously not a dining room” stage.
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. Prrrobably no post tomorrow,(*) although who knows, and there will definitely be no videos up at YouTube, because I’d have to have them recorded by now and it’s already 9:00. So see you on Black Friday.
(*)I’m sure I’m lying. Every time I say anything close to “I probably won’t post tomorrow,” I end up posting anyway.
…yeah, okay, my posts have kinda been taking the whole week off, but I started a new job this week, gimme a break. Well, last week. Also my eyes are dilated from the eye doctor and my vision is not exactly optimal so I’m just kinda hoping everything is spelled right and trusting my typing fingers.
Also, I almost spent $250 on the Lego typewriter earlier today, and if anyone wants to buy me the Lego typewriter that would be cool.
New furniture coming tomorrow, so at the very least you ought to get pictures of it.
So when they test you for sleep apnea, or rather, before they test you for sleep apnea, they make you take this test that ranks you on something called a Sleepiness Scale, which doesn’t sound like it should be a thing but it is. There’s lots of questions about falling asleep in inappropriate contexts and places and stuff like that.
I think the number of days I have taken naps have outnumbered the days I didn’t in the last couple of weeks, and I came home and died in my recliner for a couple of hours after work today. Wednesday we’re getting a whole ass new sofa delivered and I am going to climb into it and sleep my entire five-day Thanksgiving break away.
This is all to say that I have nothing for you this evening, except that my recliner is really comfortable.
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