Grits, congrats and good luck!

As Decrepit was describing his exciting mousecapades, I recall thinking 'he needs a mouser'. And here we are!

Oddly enough (since I'm no cat expert), the desciptor 'tortoiseshell tabby' for mom came to mind even before I read Rider's post confirming it.

Hopefully those kitties end up in good homes.


I am currently working on a presentation for one of my places of employment. The PowerPoint itself isn't related to my job, but my job every so often has what are called "Lunch & Learns" where you can talk about whatever subject you want (within a few parameters). This is my second one that I am doing.

The topic I've chosen is how the U.S. Constitution came about along with notable parts of it and some amendments (although mostly focused on its origins). I'm avidly into U.S. history--which I'm sure is a shocker based on my current avatar--and history in general is incredibly important and interesting. I chose this topic in particular because it is one of my favorite topics and it is one that gets really oversimplified when it is being taught or discussed. Thus, I want to pour into the intricacies of the story (which is way more interesting than the simplified version).

If anybody wants to see what it looks like, I'll be sure to post it when it is a final product.

Okay, now I've thought my cat was a Calico all this time; but now I realize that was probably wrong! So ... can you tell me what color she is?


http://imgur.com/icJwRGW

I'd love to see it!

First check of the day revealed a fifth mouse caught in the trap that snared the preceding four. It's been re-baited and reset and awaits its next victim. I gave the other traps a close examination. All three had been stripped of bait! They apparently aren't as sensitive as they need to be. Or mice are smarter than they ought to be. In either case those traps too are re-baited and back in position. (I might buy a couple of replacements during next week's grocery/errand run.)

ADDENDUM: I was wrong. That first mouse did indeed tear a small hole in my bread loaf, and nibbled on the crust of one slice. Noticed it while grabbing two slices for a Wowbutter sammich this lunch. I was still three or four slices away from the nibbled slice, but threw the entire loaf away anyway. I have an untouched loaf bought this past Monday to get me through the week.

No further mice caught so far.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 28 2017, 11:42 PM

Project 1: Mice
No new snared mice overnight, or since. I will not lull myself into a false sense of security.

Project 2: exercise-walk
Due to predicted rain and/or storms I had written today off as a non walk day. However, checking my online weather site of choice first thing this morning showed an improved forecast, with only a few hours of possibly "bad" weather beginning midday. Walked circa 0600. Heart reading afterwards: Blood Pressure 100/62, Pulse 80.

Project 3: PC audio
Those two 3.5mm to stereo male RCA plug cables I ordered off Amazon arrived yesterday. They look flimsier than their Amazon images suggest, but I decided to give 'em a shot anyway, more as a formality so I could definitively write off the Yamaha power-amp as defective than anything else. Didn't even bother to place the amp in its old position. Temporarily cleared off a convenient shelf and plopped it down there. Shut down and unplugged the computer and NEC receive. Removed cabling from the NEC. Removed banana plugs from speaker wire ends that would hook into the Yamaha...a time consuming pain in the posterior. Connected speaker wires to Yamaha...a time consuming pain in the posterior in that my recently purchased speaker wire upgrade is super thick and difficult to secure in the Yamaha's smallish speaker terminals. Attached new audio cables to both Yamaha and PC. Plugged in PC and amp power cords. Switched on PC. Switched on Yamaha.

At this point I expected either no change in the amp's performance or not enough improvement to make a difference. No biggie. It would be over and done with. I could re-install the NEC and continue acclimating myself to the loss of discrete four-channel sound. Gotta admit I wasn't looking forward to reattaching those banana plugs for the umpteenth time, but such is life.

Brought up Win10's audio controls window and switched back to "speakers". Clicked the speaker configuration button. Tested front-left speaker: clear sound, better than after I'd royally mucked things up last week, but not a ruled out possibility. Tested front-right speaker: clear sound as expected, this channel never had issues on the Yamaha. Tested rear-right speaker: clear sound, again as anticipated. Tested rear left speaker, the cause of all my PC audio woe: clear sound, what the...????? Ran the channel tests again, same result. Again, same result. Launched SB Pro Studio audio control panel and ran its speaker/channel tests: clear sound.

Switched off PC and amp. Unplugged both. Physically removed the NEC receiver, which my poor back did not thank me for. Moved the Yamaha to its long-time former position. Ensured all audio connections were in place. Switched on PC. Switched on Yamaha. Launched Win10 audio control window. Tested speakers. Rear-left channel distorted and hums. #@$%$@!

Slapped top of Yamaha. No difference. Slap it again. Hum vanished. Tested speakers. Clear sound from all four channels. Repeated test several times. Same result. but also

All has been well since then, knock on wood. I've at last been able to fine-tune PC audio settings. Some things still don't sound as good as they with the i7-930 PC, but again we're comparing an expensive add-on sound card to the i7-7700k's motherboard sound chip. Can't expect miracles. Discrete four-channel directional sound has returned to Cyrodiil, though not (yet?) as solidly as that heard on the "old" PC. More tinkering will hopefully narrow the quality gap, assuming the rear-left channel continues to behave, which is far from a given.

Mr. Feng (the mouse), and his army of rodent assassins:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUXKfpZz35E

No further mice snared, a good sign?

Had an unexpected, unwelcome Oblivion project this morning. For the second time, Oblivion.ini lost its formatting. At this stage I've made to many tweaks to it to simply let the game create a fresh, virgin ini. Spent hours putting line breaks back in. Pain in the rump, that. No clearly identifiable cause, but I suspect either Wrye Bash v307, some screwiness with Win10, or a combination of the two. As to Wrye Bash, the problem was discovered not long after enabling an Oblivion.ini tweak via WB's ini tab, rather than directly edit Oblivion.ini as I usually do. To be on the safe side, once all was well again I made a fresh backup of the ini, then set it to "read only".

Gotta remember to mow near sundown tonight. Should have mowed two or three days ago, but this is the first day in some time we've not been under an excessive heat warning.

Am auditioning a weather mod for Oblivion. Mixed feelings about it. I like some things it does, a few very much. However, dawn and early morning don't much please me, and I lose the super dark nights I love so much. (If the new mod's night were just a bit darker it'd be easier to accept the compromise.

ADDENDUM:
Forgot to mention that I ordered a 2" thick mattress topper off Amazon this morning. I spend too much money on this sort of thing, in the vain hope of making my bed comfortable enough to lie in without undue pain. You'd think I'd know better by now. But night after night of back, shoulder and neck pains eventually wears down one's common sense. Even though I know better, I can't resist buying a product that against all odds might make resting in bed enjoyable again.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 30 2017, 12:00 AM

My projects for the day consisted of waiting out power outages. The first occurred circa 0830. A robot call from Entergy said the entire town was affected, and to expect power to be restocked at around 1230. Come lunch time I didn't feel up to a Wowbutter sammich in the semi dark, so drove to town for a sit-down restaurant meal. Got home about 1215. Power had been restored. A message from Entergy on my answering machine said it was restored at 1055, ironically only a few minutes after I left the house.

Second power outage occurred 1608. Read in bed to the light of a tiny battery-powered "lantern", as I had done for during part of this morning's outage. Power restored not long ago.

Got in my exercise-walk just after 0600. Very lovely early daylight sky. Pleasantly mild temp for this time of year. Even during my unplanned lunch run it was comfortably mild.

The memory foam mattress topper arrived late yesterday. It requires 48hr expansion period before use. I'll be able to test it tomorrow evening. I expect nothing good from it. No biggie. It was relatively dirt cheap (for a memory foam topper).

My son just bought one of those too. He didn't wait the full time for it to expand, it was lucky if it even got a few hours. So far he is not as impressed as the ad said he would be.

I'm about 80% or so done with that presentation that I am doing next week. I have a bit of a habit of taking down many more notes than I need to, and it's probably what I am doing now. But I also still have a couple slides that actually need information on them still. Probably won't have it finished until tomorrow.

Just finished the upsnazziness of the door to the back of the tractor garage. I took it down, stripped it of its hinges and knob (although it isn't really a knob) and painted the parts. Door got a lighter brown and the metal pieces turned black. It all looks really classy now

Pics! Pics!

Pics!!! Pics !!!!!!!!!! (please?)

Just in from lawn mow. Didn't need to for another two or three days, but weather forecast shows chance of rain and storms ever day for at least nine days beginning midday tomorrow. Heart reading almost immediately afterward: Blood Pressure 90/60, Pulse 84.

Bah. I knew you guys would ask


But mkey then. I'll take a pic tomorrow and then post a before/after

I remember when you first put that door in!

Me too

I was amazed it fit so perfectly when I hadn't even tried to make it fit!


Before
After
Close-up

Beautiful work, mirocu!

I continue to be surprised that you are not a self-employed craftsman!

Gorgeous paint job! How did you get those grooves so perfect? Awesome job!