"Dude, Taylor came round..."
"Giggity, was it, like...?"
"What?! Nah bro, she had the squad, they made smoothies and me and her did puzzles. We are BFF AF."

You Know it would happen that way.

Yesterday's projects were:

1) Car Tags.

2) "Upgrade" my Drivers License.

I'll lump these together since both were accomplished at the same time and place. My original plan was to do this on the 9th, next week's official "errand day." Decided to get it over with. Nothing to the tag part. Only thing my application paperwork lacked was this year's real-estate/property assessment. I'd called that in two days prior so knew I'd be okay barring an unexpected SNAFU, which thankfully didn't materialize. The DL "Enhanced Security" upgrade was more worrisome, as it required a LOT of proofs of citizenship/residency. I went online and researched what was needed in detail, then prepared a "kit" with more proofs than was required "just in case." That too went well. Sort of hated to lose the photo on up-until-then current license, it being, in my opinion, one of the best ever taken of me in a great many years, but what can ya do? (The new picture is okay but not as good.)

The security upgrade, by the way, supposedly allows me to board domestic flights and enter Federal buildings without additional paperwork being Oct 2020. Having renewed my DL just last year the "upgrade" cost me $10. I could have waited until right before then to upgrade, but would have had to pay more. Or I could have said to heck with it and not bothered to upgrade, which isn't mandatory (as of now?).

3) Buy Tad Williams' The Heart of What Was Lost at Barnes & Noble. This was supposed to be a no-brainer, since I have a B & N gift-card to cover the expense. Only, B & N wants appreciably more for it than Amazon. If the book was longer I might not have minded, but it's under 200 pages. In the end I decided to add it to an Amazon order I'm putting together. (I need a new paper shredder) I did buy the 2017 edition of Model Railroader's yearly Great Model Railroads while there.

Leaving B & N I decided I'm make the day's lunch one of my rare restaurant meals. Only, I hadn't brought the bag that holds my TMJ mouth apparatus case so had no place to store it while I ate. (It's pretty much impossible to eat with that thing in my mouth. Even swallowing pills is a chore.) Came home and had a Wowbutter sammich instead.

4) Paid this months city utility bill at "city" hall.This should have been no.1, but me being me I totally forgot about it until in the midst of spreading Wowbutter.

5) Balanced my checking and savings accounts.

Wait, is Wowbutter an actual product I haven't heard of before (or is it Decrepit-speak for peanut butter?)

You forget that I mentioned this product elsewhere a while back. It's a peanut-free PB substitute. I think it tastes so close to PB that when spread on bread or used in recipes you won't notice any different. I like it very much. It's a tad sweet for me, but then almost all processed foods these days taste too sweet to me. I suspect most folk won't have this minor complaint. (I correct it by sprinkling on a bit of sea salt.) Here's a YouTube taste test by a young lady (and her boyfriend) who is allergic to peanuts. Not all YT reviews are positive, but the vast majority of those I've seen are. I think it well worth a try, especially if you or someone in your family are allergic to nuts. I get mine at Walmart. It's reasonably priced there, which I understand isn't the case everywhere.

What is it made of? Soy?

Aye, it's a Roasted Soy product.

Gotcha

This one was watching something about how they make certain "veggie burgers". Pretty interesting stuff.

Project Cavator reparation


Called the mechanic today and he came by and had a look at the coolant leakage. He located it to another point than Dad and I and it's quite easy to fix, but we're still gonna replace the gnawed-on hose. He's gonna check at some prices and come back later and in the meantime I now know what I can do in preparation.

I also got some info as to why the fan has been on the wonk and what type of hydraulic oil I can use when I change it later.


Sweet!

Has mALX been gnawing on your hose? Naughty squirrel!

Huh? Who ... me?

My Project:


Project Spam Free Forums

Today, Khajiit replaced the old buttons on his favorite wool coat that he wears for what passes as cold weather around here.

Here's the type of button that was removed.

Here's the new style button that replaced them.

And here's the end result.

Khajiit thinks it is a big improvement. The old buttons tended to blend in with the coat while the new buttons stand out and add character to the coat. Very pleased.

Nice job, Khajiit! It does indeed look nice with the contrast.

Why thank you! Hopefully we'll get some cooler weather soon so this one can wear it around.

Really like that coat, Khajiit

Why thank'ye 'Rocu! Khajiit has had that coat for many years now and it's been a good one. It's light enough that it doesn't burn this one up in mildish temperatures (40-60 degree Fahrenheit), and it's roomy enough to go over a fairly thick hoodie for colder temps!

That looks nice, good job !!!

Thanks! It'll be cool enough tomorrow to wear it!

Cool that it's cool enough to be cool!

Went online this afternoon and found out 2016 interest earned on the one CD not included on my bank tax statement. (Makes no sense to me why bank tax statements don't include all interest, since it's all reportable, but what do I know?) Also Printed out the tax form for my two rinky-dink mutual funds. So far as I know, I now have everything needed to do this year's tax return. <crosses fingers> Will likely do so this weekend. I had one fairly substantial medical bill during 2016 (for TMJ treatment, which isn't well covered by medicare or my secondary provider), which makes me wonder if this might be the first year I itemize rather than use the standard deduction. I suspect not, but I might be very close to the turn-over point. We shall see. (Come to think on it, I've no idea if medical bills count, not having to worry about it before.)

Another upcoming project: update my secondary computer's OS. I had not expected to need to. Why? I originally planned to assemble a new PC late last year. It would have become my primary computer. My current primary computer would morph into a secondary computer. Intended to do so just after our Nov 2016 elections, assuming the party predicted to win did so. As we know, that didn't happen. I put all major expenditures on hold at least until we get a good feeling how our new masters might attack social safety nets, which I rely on. So the computer is on hold for now. At the same time, my secondary computer runs Win Vista. Microsoft ceases Vista support/updating in a few months. Ergo that PC needs a new OS. I could go either an Ubuntu distribution or Win10. A this time I'm thinking Win10 because the PC is used mainly by my brother during his visits, and he's a total PC novice who needs something simple and familiar. But we shall see.

Perhaps partition into Windows/Ubuntu/Shared and dual-boot either? That lets you use the machine for games without worrying what they'll run under.

Update on tax preparation. Much to my surprise, I went ahead and did my taxes (via TurboTax) this evening. Didn't e-file (Federal) and snail-mail (State) 'em in yet. Want to think on it a few more days and in case I realize I forgot something. I'm getting bigger returns from both Fed and Sate this year, my guess is because of having Medicare premiums deducted from my Social Security payments, which wasn't the case the year before. Also, despite what is for me a substantial amount of money spent on medical bills, the standard deduction is still best for me. (As I suspected.)

Since the secondary computer is these days used almost solely by my brother, I'll likely forego Ubuntu and settle for Win10, much as I might wish otherwise. Sad thing it, he plays only one game that isn't browser based. But he plays that game to death every time he visits, and it's Windows based.

So...you know what he wants for his Birthday, right?

Been fiddling around with editing pictures in my phone lately. Nothing major, just changing the damn things in subtle ways and using a third party configuration to add some new 'shnizzle in my snorkel-snozzle'. This little pic-fiddling ties in to another project aka me deciding to write again. I won't bore you guys about the latter; TL;DR is that I looked at some dusty old incomplete stories and decided to restart from zero-zero all over again.

Anyway, about those pics. Here're a completed few of 'em if you guys are curious;

http://m.imgur.com/UiociMP

http://imgur.com/phywp5J.jpg

http://imgur.com/Qi9b5qn

http://imgur.com/V8fFUBU

Man, Khajiit loves the look of "The Sorcerer"! Frickin' badass!

Finished my tax returns this evening. Was a major pain in the rump. TurboTax works like a charm (so far as I can tell) up to the very end, the Filing Your Return section. It offers free e-filing of Federal return, but e-filing the State return costs circa $20 dollars. I therefore e-file Fed and snail-mail State. Only, for a couple of years now TurboTax offers no option for State other than e-file. (Or if it does I didn't find it.) Had to use its View Forms function and print out what I needed (or think I needed). Doing it this way I wasn't able to tell TurboTax to have my refund deposited directly into my bank account. (I of course entered the needed info manually on the printed out form.) What should have taken no more than 10-15 minutes ended up taking an hour and a half. I remember complaining to Intuit about this last year (when it was first introduced...I think) but it obviously did no good. Oh well, the job got done, and I certainly could not have figured out my taxes without assistance.

Yep, Khajiit uses one of those online sites too and it takes way longer than it seems like it should. Especially for him to not get any money back.

I have been using H&R Block's tax software for years now. It usually costs about $35 for the federal, and they always charge another $20 for the state. The federal E-File is usually free. But then they add in more for the state E-File.

I did my father's taxes already. E-Filing the Federal side went fine. But I could not do it with the state. Apparently my state does not allow that for a deceased family member. So I had to print that out and snail mail it. I had to buy an entire book of stamps just for that. Since I never mail anything anymore. But at least printing out either form is simple with H&R Block.

My state has its own "fill in the forms online" system, that costs nothing. So I use Turbo Tax to do the federal, and then take the numbers to the state site.

Nevada has no state income tax. We let gamblers pay our taxes for us.

One thing on the plus side is that you can claim the amount of money you spent on preparing your taxes for the previous year. So I always claim the cost of buying my tax software and e-filing.

I need to get a wire from the breaker box in my basement, up the the master bedroom(second floor) in a 95 year old house. Not looking forward to this.

As mentioned, my project to assemble a new PC is on hold. If that wasn't the case, and if I was gonna order parts within the next week or so, this is what I'm thinking on. There are a number of compromises, but what can ya do?

I picked that motherboard largely because it houses Creative Labs Soundblaster audio, which should be an improvement over normal on-motherboard sound options. Yet with my hearing now in the dumps it can be argued that improved sound is wasted on me, since I'm unlikely to notice any significant difference. But being a dedicated audiophile for many years old ways die hard. I can't bring myself to settle for less. Thankfully it appears to be a fine MB in most other aspects, on par with like-priced boards. (An aside. My current primary PC housed a Soundblaster X-fi card I'm totally happy with. Sadly, it's an old PCI variant so can't be transferred.)

I'd rather have a Western Digital Caviar Black HD, but opting for two SSDs, one a newfangled NVME "gum-stick" SSD, confines me to the Seagate at roughly half its price. (Both my current HDs are WD, but are imp too old to be worth transferring. For that matter, even my secondary computer sports a now 10yr old WD which keeps on ticking. Fine drives for sure, at least those from that era.)

I decided to revert back to fin-and-fan CPU cooling this time round. The AIO water cooler (Corsair) in my current PC continues to do its job, but I always worry that it'll eventually develop a leak or its liquid evaporate over time. So it's old-style for me this round, and Noctua is about as good as you can get in that regard.

I prefer spacious full-tower cases, but the Corsair seems fine for the price. Worse come to worst I can always transfer my current rig to the Corsair and assemble the new parts in my HUGE Cooler Master.

Yeah, I'm biting the bullet and going with Win10 Pro 64bit. Not ideal for sure.

Again, this is all wishful thinking for now. If and when I actually take the plunge my list might be substantially different.

I got a new Let's Play project in mind. Ys Origin is on PSN and as soon as I get paid I'm going to do an LP of that game in time for Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana comes out in the US.

These are AWESOME !!! But = where are the spikes in Ylenno's hair? Really great job you did, these are amazing!











... Remember to turn the main breaker off before touching anything?









Holy Cow, where is the bowing down emote when you need it? That is Awesome that you can build your own PC !!!! *mALX goes into perpetual bowing down emote state*

Couldn't find any pics of elves with Ylenno's particular hairstyle; what few that came close were Dunmer and ... Yeah. I had to settle with Iorveth from the Witcher series; his style of clothes just screamed medieval gangster to me, particularly that OG bandana with the single feather, so I just went and chose him to be Ylenno's closest and most accurate 'avatar', so to speak.

If only I could draw stuff like these, tbh. Then we'd really see Ylenno for what he looks like 😩

I did forget, I'm sorry! This vid was amazing! I might try this out if they have it in ETN stores! Thanks, Decrepit!









I want to see it if you ever make one! Ylenno is my favorite of all your characters!

My Japanese language project continues. Now I'm revisiting a 45 minute lesson which teaches a set of ten so-called Kanji radicals; building blocks of sorts. I pause every so often to take notes on their meaning and write examples of Kanji characters in which they appear.



My next project will most likely be figuring out why on earth I'm doing this

YES!


My excavator is now fixed! No more coolant leakage!

Is that fixed in the sense of "repaired", or "seized into an immobile lump"? Total lack of coolant will do the latter. And once it's all gone, it doesn't leak any more, so that clue didn't help.

Repaired as in filled with coolant and doesn't leak anywhere. Smart aleck

Time to dig!

Well, it's still a little too snowy and going to the soggy side of things in weeks to come so I think I'll wait a bit. But at least it's ready now!


Gonna fire it up tomorrow again and let it run a bit though. Haven't done that since January and things need to move a bit.

WTLFH is that Avatar? GAAAAAAAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!








WOO HOO !!!! The Little Yellow 'Cavator is BACK !!!

Yeas


There are still the issues of the fan and heat not working properly, but those are minor issues that can wait till a day when I am tired of twiddling my thumbs. The excavator works and that's the main thing. I will keep an eye on the area we fixed and so that the fan belt doesn't start chewing on that hose again. It has some damage but my mechanic was not worried about it a bit. They are thick he says and I choose to put my trust in him


Oh, and Cain has Boo from the Mario games as his avatar now

Can you tie back the hoses just enough that they don't sustain any more damage?

You no likey my Boo?

I was able to change its position a bit, yes. I only need to keep an eye on it so the vibrations doesn't change it back.

I am learning a bit about this machine now, what to look out for etc. I like getting to know it