(no subject)
compu-tech paragraph 1 of 2: i got the webcams working, got the printer working, swapped the hard drive in & copied over the rest of my world. still can't get the ide dvdrom working, but it's reading cds, which is even weirder. in the interest of troubleshooting but partly just for the upgrade, i picked up a new sata dvdrom & installed that... but something was still fucked. testing4l finally realized through the magic of lspci -v that my sata card (since the second of my two on-board sata slots is busted) needs its own module. it was built, installed, modprobe'd, then the sata dvdrom was tested on reading & burning, & i am assured it is working fine. the ide remains as an interesting puzzle for some time when phil is bored, as do a couple of other minor system issues, but now the box is completely liveable. yay, finally.
compu-tech paragraph 2 of 2: the new netbook arrived. it's still kind of a question mark as to whether it's working right, but it may just be that the thing takes a longer time to finish booting x than i'm accustomed to. it also may be related to how hot it runs - when i gave it a cooler surface, it seemed to work better. that smacks of poor craftmanship to me, but whatever, it's still warrantied. it at least is picking up wireless properly & can get into my home box remotely, so it'll be fine for the trip. & the keymap is working this time. 9_9
photo-tech paragraph 1 of 1: i broke my camera this week - the hardware issues continue, eh? i almost never drop electronics, but i accidentally bumped it off the top of my dvd case while reshooting some pics. it landed askew against the zoom lens, which now won't retract. no popping it back into place, either; it's destroyed. the best part is that it happened while i was reshooting some pics, as i noted - reshoots because i'd accidentally rm'd the ones i'd just taken & edited & had all ready to upload to photobucket. so, in short, a typo broke my camera. sigh. the upside, though, is i found a used one of the same model on ebay for $65 BINOBO; i offered 50 & we agreed on 55. i was able to push the seller into shipping priority mail, & it arrived just a couple days later. everything's in great working condition (phew).
what the shit? paragraph 1 of 2: joe & i went skydiving again! i didn't expect it to be as good, but i actually enjoyed it more than the first time. we did "level 2" tandem jumps this time, so we got to do forward motions, wear altimeters, & pull our own ripcords. level 3 teaches 360s, which i already got to do on both of my jumps because i rock at sweettalking my instructors. :D
what the shit? paragraph 2 of 2: with hawaii quickly approaching, i realized that i don't have an oceanworthy swimsuit. i have a simple black one-piece which i bought a decade ago & can still be worn in hot tubs & such, but the elastic is shot in the straps & chest (go figure), so diving or even any minor current against it would likely result in surprise x-rated not-fun-for-lish. joe went shopping with me on sunday for this purpose, but it's not exactly easy to find a suit that fits me in the first place, much less to locate it in OCTOBER IN SEATTLE... yeah, that didn't work. i was about to hit ross in desperation when i realized i own a beautiful bikini, gifted to me a couple years back, which stayed unworn because it never fit me too well. so i called a tailor nearby, she said she can work with swimsuits, & for a quarter the price of a new suit, she's adjusting this one to fit me perfectly. it'll be done in time for the trip, too. woot.
on to: a thrifty tale of a frugal DIY job. - http://community.livejournal.com/stretched/5205992.html:
moonstones! (not to be confused with the moodstone posts.)
atrophie bought a gorgeous pair of chatoyant rainbow moonstone plugs from relic, & they inspired me. i don't wear white plugs very often, so i couldn't really see investing $150+ for a leo pair, but i COULD see throwing twenty bucks at DIY supplies...
after some searching around, i found some inexpensive but adularescent rainbow moonstone cabs on ebay. i actually only found one 20mm round cab ($4, & they didn't have another), but then a set of three teardrop cabs ($9) which were 20mm at their widest. so i figured i could dremel the point off one of those... & if i'm really good, could use the ground off point for a 4ga match.
before pics:
well, i AM really good (:D), but the tip didn't leave enough material for the 4ga. i used the fattest teardrop for the 20mm match, & i cut up the second most flashy piece for a 4ga. the 4ga looked awful though - it was pretty big since i didn't want to cut into the schiller; also, moonstone's got huge crystals, so it can crumble pretty easily. i ended up buying a finished 8mm cab instead, which looks great. (i actually had to buy a set of three, & picked the best one - the other two are available & still pretty nice if anyone wants them.)
so these are attached to a taped-up 18mm pair of the cheap wildcat icon plugs i bought in their clearance sale; with my moss agate, i now have two pairs of "stone" that i can still wear safely when it's very cold out.
in-ears:
so they're not perfect - you can see one of the 20mm cabs is bigger than the other - but they were also a tenth of the cost, & are wonderfully flashy. :D the larger cab isn't really noticeable in-ear, anyhow.
by the way, polishing stone is nothing like polishing wood or metal. without leather pads & a lot of time, or a tumbler & a lot of time, it's pretty much impossible to get a real, glossy, high polish on it. so i did what you'd expect me to do: i found a DIY shortcut. i worked the stone into shape with my dremel tools, polished it a bit through normal means, then faked the high gloss with a few coats of clear nailpolish. :D worked swell.
total for the above pair
retail price: $150+
lish knockoff price: $19
savings of: $131+ :D
& recent photo posts of my hair:
1. http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up/5974975.html
2. http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up/5988047.html
3. http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up/6006766.html
enjoy.
compu-tech paragraph 2 of 2: the new netbook arrived. it's still kind of a question mark as to whether it's working right, but it may just be that the thing takes a longer time to finish booting x than i'm accustomed to. it also may be related to how hot it runs - when i gave it a cooler surface, it seemed to work better. that smacks of poor craftmanship to me, but whatever, it's still warrantied. it at least is picking up wireless properly & can get into my home box remotely, so it'll be fine for the trip. & the keymap is working this time. 9_9
photo-tech paragraph 1 of 1: i broke my camera this week - the hardware issues continue, eh? i almost never drop electronics, but i accidentally bumped it off the top of my dvd case while reshooting some pics. it landed askew against the zoom lens, which now won't retract. no popping it back into place, either; it's destroyed. the best part is that it happened while i was reshooting some pics, as i noted - reshoots because i'd accidentally rm'd the ones i'd just taken & edited & had all ready to upload to photobucket. so, in short, a typo broke my camera. sigh. the upside, though, is i found a used one of the same model on ebay for $65 BINOBO; i offered 50 & we agreed on 55. i was able to push the seller into shipping priority mail, & it arrived just a couple days later. everything's in great working condition (phew).
what the shit? paragraph 1 of 2: joe & i went skydiving again! i didn't expect it to be as good, but i actually enjoyed it more than the first time. we did "level 2" tandem jumps this time, so we got to do forward motions, wear altimeters, & pull our own ripcords. level 3 teaches 360s, which i already got to do on both of my jumps because i rock at sweettalking my instructors. :D
what the shit? paragraph 2 of 2: with hawaii quickly approaching, i realized that i don't have an oceanworthy swimsuit. i have a simple black one-piece which i bought a decade ago & can still be worn in hot tubs & such, but the elastic is shot in the straps & chest (go figure), so diving or even any minor current against it would likely result in surprise x-rated not-fun-for-lish. joe went shopping with me on sunday for this purpose, but it's not exactly easy to find a suit that fits me in the first place, much less to locate it in OCTOBER IN SEATTLE... yeah, that didn't work. i was about to hit ross in desperation when i realized i own a beautiful bikini, gifted to me a couple years back, which stayed unworn because it never fit me too well. so i called a tailor nearby, she said she can work with swimsuits, & for a quarter the price of a new suit, she's adjusting this one to fit me perfectly. it'll be done in time for the trip, too. woot.
on to: a thrifty tale of a frugal DIY job. - http://community.livejournal.com/stretched/5205992.html:
moonstones! (not to be confused with the moodstone posts.)
atrophie bought a gorgeous pair of chatoyant rainbow moonstone plugs from relic, & they inspired me. i don't wear white plugs very often, so i couldn't really see investing $150+ for a leo pair, but i COULD see throwing twenty bucks at DIY supplies...
after some searching around, i found some inexpensive but adularescent rainbow moonstone cabs on ebay. i actually only found one 20mm round cab ($4, & they didn't have another), but then a set of three teardrop cabs ($9) which were 20mm at their widest. so i figured i could dremel the point off one of those... & if i'm really good, could use the ground off point for a 4ga match.
before pics:
well, i AM really good (:D), but the tip didn't leave enough material for the 4ga. i used the fattest teardrop for the 20mm match, & i cut up the second most flashy piece for a 4ga. the 4ga looked awful though - it was pretty big since i didn't want to cut into the schiller; also, moonstone's got huge crystals, so it can crumble pretty easily. i ended up buying a finished 8mm cab instead, which looks great. (i actually had to buy a set of three, & picked the best one - the other two are available & still pretty nice if anyone wants them.)
so these are attached to a taped-up 18mm pair of the cheap wildcat icon plugs i bought in their clearance sale; with my moss agate, i now have two pairs of "stone" that i can still wear safely when it's very cold out.
in-ears:
so they're not perfect - you can see one of the 20mm cabs is bigger than the other - but they were also a tenth of the cost, & are wonderfully flashy. :D the larger cab isn't really noticeable in-ear, anyhow.
by the way, polishing stone is nothing like polishing wood or metal. without leather pads & a lot of time, or a tumbler & a lot of time, it's pretty much impossible to get a real, glossy, high polish on it. so i did what you'd expect me to do: i found a DIY shortcut. i worked the stone into shape with my dremel tools, polished it a bit through normal means, then faked the high gloss with a few coats of clear nailpolish. :D worked swell.
total for the above pair
retail price: $150+
lish knockoff price: $19
savings of: $131+ :D
& recent photo posts of my hair:
1. http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up/5974975.html
2. http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up/5988047.html
3. http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up/6006766.html
enjoy.