Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween!

 May your trick or treating be safe & fun!

Future Friday Predictions & Planning 10-28-2022

 Future Friday Predictions & Planning 10-28-2022

Winter is coming and I am in no way prepared for it. I think the best thing I can do this year is keep my snow blower on my front porch so I don't get bogged down with having to try and dig it out of my garage.

Automatic Spray Bottle - Product Review

 Product Review - Automatic Spray Bottle Electric Watering Can Adjustable Water Sprayer Mist to Straight -White

The item name is literally what is listed on Amazon. It was the cheapest version with the best recent reviews that I saw. When I ordered it the price was listed as $23.99 which I was willing to spend for this.

I got this because I can not constantly use squeeze bottles with out my hands and wrists cramping up. I had seen a few clips of people in China using an automatic spray bottle and haven't actually thought about searching for one until recently. And this is what I found.

 

This model is rechargeable and that causes a pretty large price jump. There were other ones that I couldn't really tell if they were powered let alone rechargeable. I found a lot of spray bottles that listed as constant spray but they are manual and not powered.

They come in both pink and white. I got the white one.

The spray nozzle is adjustable.

It comes with a USB C charging cord that is a bit over a foot long and is a good length for charging with your computer or power strip with USB port or from a wall socket if you have a wall plug/adapter to use with it. I have a few extra wall plugs so I was set.

I admit, it's ugly to look at but it is comfortable and well balanced for me.

So far it has been working really well for me. I have not let it use up all the battery life in one go because some other reviews seemed to have done that and then they were unable to get the battery to charge again. I have heard of batteries doing that which is why a lot of companies will advised not to let a charge fully go out.

If this keeps working this well I am going to get a few more to swap out the bottles that other cleaning solutions come in and put them in their own auto spray bottle.

Second Tuesday Update 6-14-2022

 Second Tuesday Update 6-14-2022

 My parents visited and I have most of a room free of boxes. Weeds were whacked. A nice rany start to summer is here.

started trying to do 2 streams a day and seems good so far? one short one at lunch and then a longer one after i get out of work.

an... thats about it.

 

Mechanical Keyboard musings

With mechanical keyboards I haven’t seen too many affordable options for cool looking frames. Please note that by affordable I mean dirt cheap. Unlike with membrane keyboards that are over all cheaper and have been around long enough that they can crank out so cool looks. 

Which makes me wonder about using the gram for a mechanical keyboard.

Searches don’t actually give me much info. Most all of the posts I have seen are either talking about converting keyboards or they are copies of other posts. Lots of content piracy in that search.

The only reason I am searching for an answer is because I want to make a purple mechanical keyboard that isn’t going to break the bank. Also the color for the frame doesn’t seem to be a thing and i really don’t want to paint anything.

I already dropped the cash for the key caps. They are super pretty and aesthetic.

I am considering getting new switches but the Holy Pandas and the Holy Panda X’s are super super $$$. Even on the knockoff sites the Holy Pandas are still $$$.

Considering the majority of my collection of two mechanical keyboards are both gaterons… and any keyboard i would experiment with would also have gaterons…. I might just go with them for the time being.

I really want a purple case for the very purple key caps. I think I might just buy the membrane keyboard with the case or gram color that i want and then hunt around for a mechanical keyboard that will fit inside it. Which means I’ll be taking it apart to have the case with me while i shop so i look like a dork. Or someone that is super dedicated to the art. Whichever.

It is a very nice purple…

If this ends up working i will be super happy. The keyboard whose frame i like is about $20-ish so I would prefer to know if it would work first…. But… at the same time I don’t want to wait. I think that unless I find good evidence that it will work, or if i figure out how to do the measurements, then I will just end up waiting a few more months until I can get into a shop to ask someone directly. Some day.

Future Friday Predictions & Planning 5-27-2022

 Future Friday Predictions & Planning -posted one 5-29-2022 and back dated

Whoops! 3 day weekend chaos and i did not even think about this

Second Tuesday Update 5-10-2022

 Second Tuesday Update 5-10-2022

The weather here has been absolute crap. The nice weather seems to happen when I am out traveling.

 I did get to do a little gadening on Mothers Day, so that was nice.

Watched some streaming and that... is pretty much my month. This is a weird time and it's like my sleep schedule is fighting for winter vs summer sleep patterns. Either way it kinda sucks until one wins.

Twitch Streaming

 I have started, or I have been doing Twitch Streams. Mostly Minecraft but sometimes Lost Ark. 

 https://www.twitch.tv/dracota

I plan of streaming while i do art and possibly while sewing.... but that is still a little in the air because my setup is not even remotely steady because it is hella slapped together. It's a selfie stick connected to a tripod. No extra lighting from the camera area and lots of ambient lighting.

One day I might get brave enough to stream while working on a story. I'll probably start a new one just so I don't have to worry about the others I have brewing.

I never remember to post the link anyplace when I go live... Which is hilarious to me because if Twitch had a little button to push that would auto post to verious sites I would be all over that.

But it doesn't. So now I have to figure out something tht I can copy and paste.

Future Friday Predictions & Planning 4-29-2022

 Future Friday Predictions & Planning 4-29-2022

Time for growing things. the warm weather that was perfect for starting seeds happend while i was out of town. As i predicted. so /i have a lot of things to do.

Lupins and echinatia are top on my list. I have a few other seeds to do and I also hav some garlic from last year that is growing that I will need to divide.

I am also going to do a cardinal sin in gardening that everyone does, I will be digging up bulbs out of season to move and split them. I have an absolutely crazy number of this fancy white flower and then tons of crocus. There is also a clump of pink flowing stars-things that I need to split also.

The 1880 hyacinth bulbs i will wait until the fall to split i think. Unless they are smothering each other.

Then the gladiolas i know i need to split because they made a ton of baby bulbs last year. there will be a lot of red and poss a lot of purple in the future.

I'm exhausted just thinking about this.

2am thought

 

2am thought.

I just realized after almost 30 years that an old house we lived in had an electrical problem in one plug.

It was the plug we had the tv plugged into.

The older tv started not turning off. It wasn’t just that the vacuum tubes were holding a charge, which was probably the first sign, but the screen was still lit.

You could hear when it was doing this because it was so loud that people who couldn’t and had never heard an electric current before were able to hear it. (Several of my parents friends were startled to find out their kids weren’t joking about hearing the tv/electric) I had showed my parents that it was still ‘on’ one weekend by having them stay in the room and you could almost hear the hairs on the back of their neck standing up because they got so creeped out by it.

There were always the last ones to go to bed and they used a switch on the next floor or at the door to the next floor so they never really had a fully dark room when turning it off.

This was the late 80’s or early 90’s so no plasma or LED tvs.

So after one weekend of it just having the screen glowing and seemingly never fully turning off? They decided to save & get a new tv.

After a few years it started having the same thing happen. We never noticed that the old tv didn’t have trouble in the play room.

Then we moved to CA and got pets and never noticed that neither tv was having trouble.

We moved again NY and still hadn’t noticed.

I literally figured it out today at 2am.

Second Tuesday Update 4-12-2022

 Second Tuesday Update 4-12-2022

 

First, if you are planning any serious outdoors things or gardening go get a tinnitus shot.  I got my 10 and i am going to nag my little sister until her family gets them.

Second, March was a relatively peaceful month al la my personal life. 

I have plans for April that have been changed a few times already so I will asume that they will change again. 

and this was published on 4-15 and back dated to 4-12

Day light alarm part followup

So last year I made this post http://www.lifeafter28.com/2021/11/day-light-alarm-but-cheaper.html 

Which was about my attempt to make a cheap daylight alarm. 

Good news is it works super well! The wall timer gives a few more options for turning the light on & off.

The bad news is that I wake up before the 'click' of the timer so then a jump every time it actually turns on.

Because I am using the manual kind, I do not know if the digital version gives an option for a weekend setting.I just turn it off on Friday night and turn it on again Sunday so that it is ready on Monday.Or I just deal with it waking me up on the weekends also.

So it isn't perfect but it is cheaper then the true market made daylight alarm clocks.

Future Friday Predictions & Planning 3-25-2022

 Future Friday Predictions & Planning 3-25-2022

 So! sewing! there are plans do do sewing! Not with my modern machine because... it's not working again.

 My vintage baby is so so wonderful. I made a plague doctor mask and i was surprised at how well it turned out.

I am planning on making some doll cloths. I have the fabric and i am trying to find the patterns from old 1880's garment cutters books but i keep getting distracted by the dresses.

Any future plans will be sewing related, until the weather is nice and then it is all garden all the time. 

The weather is very close to turning nice.

SO! Garden plans are... clearing out last falls over growth with out destroying the new spring growth. This is far harder then it sounds. Mostly because by the time it is warm enough for me to get out there... lots of things have already started growing. It's a yearly pain. In the before-winter-lasted-forever times... i would have been out in the few warm days in Feb to get the weeds ripped out and put down a layer of mulch to look like i knew what i was doing.

So since it takes about 10-15 bags of mulch that will be one of the weekend projects. I wish I could get mulch dumped on my driveway but I don't have a driveway that that can be done with.

The backyard is forever and always an overgrown nightmare.

Since I am not stuck several states away like last summer... I will be able to get something of a start on it. As soon as I find my gloves because there are spiders every place back there. Every leaf can have a spider because yes, there are that many. I have no idea what to do about it because the crickets are thriving and that is what they eat.

I am going to try and do something about the grass again... I have enough newspaper to try the smother method again in the areas that there are no hidden bulbs. The areas were there are hidden bulbs? I am going to try and dig them up. Doing this in the spring while they are blooming is a Very Bad Idea but it is the only time I can see them so I don't really have much of a choice. After they bloom is in the summer when everything has grown over them.

And then, last but not last on the list, is the fact that I have been streaming games on twitch. Nothing big or amazing but lots of rants. I hope to bring this out side when I mess with the garden during my lunches or after work. 

But then again I also plan on going for walks and winning the lotto so... yeah....

Things with small changes and more day light! Warm weather is a wonderful thing and gets me more active. I do plan on posting more but, again we shall see.

Second Tuesday Update 3-8-2022

 Second Tuesday Update 3-8-2022

  . . . . well there wasn't much to talk about.

Future Friday Predictions & Planning 2-25-2022

 Future Friday Predictions & Planning 2-25-2022

  whoops. I forgot to make a post.

Second Tuesday Update 2-8-2022

 Second Tuesday Update 2-8-2022

 Good new is for now, my desktop computer seems to be working. Unfortunately due to the supply chain and crypto miners the parts for a new desktop are far over priced. Hopefully it will be fine for a while or a few years.

I picked up a few new projects. A comic/graphic novel idea that was adamant until i wrote most of it down. I also picked up a few dolls to repaint for the main characters of said art thingy. One did not have adjustable writs so that is going to be a bit of a pain. 

I don't have any of the necessary materials accept the acetone to take the paint off the face. They will need their hair re-rooted and i don't have any of that. I might just get a ton of samples and a tool from someplace to see just how hard it is. I do have a few 'extra' dolls that I can practice with so one small plus.

I am debating trying to make costumes or to drop more cash on pre-made things that more then likely wont fit. I think I might try sewing first. Hopefully i might be able to glue or use iron on sewing stuff to make the cloths? My hopes are not high.

 

*update 2-8-2022 because I forgot to hit post.

Doll customization is a money sink & I actually discovered that there are art supplies that i don't have.

I also got distracted from things with mushroom armor.

Future Friday Predictions & Planning 1-28-2022

Future Friday Predictions & Planning 1-28-2022

 

The biggest plan that I am doing right now is re-decorating my work space. Not just so that I can fit my monitors & laptop together on my desk, but also because I want to move my work setup off of my dinning room table. 

Not that I use it as a dinning room, but i need the space and to put it bluntly, it's not the best work area. The lighting is messed up and it's just... bleh. The only reason I was using it was because it was the only room down stairs that I have a window that can open. Long story tl;dr is that the storm windows are screwed into the window frames and removing them is a powder keg of work. 

This update is going to include a new desk, floor mat for the chair, and a few other small but ultimately useful things to give me more space or organize things better.

I have been holding off on it because it's going to set me back $300-$400. This is only painful because I had a family wedding and that took a chunk out of the overall budget.

But.... I just can't keep using the same setup. The production improvement just from upgrading my keyboards is amazing. So there is proof of change at least.

Once I makeup my mind I'll post about the things I get and have amazon links that will hopefully have photos? I'm not even sure if they do that anymore. But yeah. Plans and such.

Why NTF's Are Bad

 Why NTF's Are Bad

 First they are destroying the environment.

Yeah, this is already a dangerous topic because of  bad information that has flooded the internet as well as the argument that but Rich Person is doing it!!

Let's give it a go.

First, Do Not Do NFT's.

Second, Do not Do Crypto Currency.

Third, Do Not Do Data Mining.

Ironically these things showed up in a different order. Crypto Currency -> Data Mining -> NTF's

I do remember when bit coin started and they literally could not give the stuff away. Some sites would give you one free bitcoin when you made an account with them! One whole coin!

Someone mentioned finding a contest were the people that placed 8th would get 25 bit coins. Which would never be seen or heard of happening today.

So for bit coins they need to be 'mined' to be worth more or some such. But because of the huge data usage they people that 'farm' the data managed to cause a shortage of computer parts long before the Pandemic and the Everready. Computer prices are actually just starting to come down a bit.

There is also the bit were crypto miners were being added to sites and apps without anyone's knowledge or permissions and slowing their devices because of it. There was so much crap going on.

Now, with the NTF's it's starting to go in a new direction but it's using so much more energy then can be supported. And for what?

A receipt.

Not an item, a receipt that they paid for a recite. They also tout that they are un-traceable. I'll get back to this little bit. You don't even get the item because you are only buying a receipt.

This has money laundering written all over it.

It's worse then the whole beanie baby thing from the 90's, mostly because of the money laundering.

There is some of the worst art work being purposely made to look that bad, going for $10,000 and that is assuming it's being sold by the original artist and not just stolen from them. They are trying to say that all funds go back to the artist that is selling them. Completely skipping over the rampant art theft that has been happening on the internet for years. 

They are trying to use this same false seance of safety to claim that right clicking + save image is some kind of super hacking. 

But this goes back to their "un-taceable" claim.

Remember the bitcoin Milionair that died with the only password to a wallet with  a whole bunch of peoples money? $190 million gone in a moment. Quite a few crypto sites think he faked his own death.

If one of these 'block chains' gets shut down all of the super secret receipts on it go away with it. Then all you have is a debit and not even your receipt that you paid money for. I have seen people on twitter desperate to get their hacked wallets back and all they get told is too bad.

And don't forget that the IRS is now going to be going after the transactions for NFT's.

Technically they have been watching this with banks and now they have the ability to go full on after them. And since no one was keeping track of who was selling to who, i wonder if the sites will be locking access until they sellers list the appropriate info like Tax ID or SS numbers? Seeing as the IRS will be able to go after them also.

Please do not go into the NFT's.

Second Tuesday Update 1-11-2022

Second Tuesday Update 1-11-2022

Things seem to be... Being? 

I gave the fonts on here a slight update. Just a little bit to freshen it up from the default starting settings.

The second round of holidays happened. Not much beyond that.

My area finally got snow that is sticking around. This is only good for my allergies and a few plants. 

My town uses the county to plow so the roads are not the best. Fortunately working from home is an option for my company.

well... Thats all for now.

Happy New Years 2022

 Happy New Years 2022

Not making any plans. Not for this day/night and sure as hell not for the year 2022.

oi.