You should of seen the other guy.
wed 12/12
It is the twelfth of December, and I haven’t blogged a word.
It’s because I’ve been writing software.
Software is like a drug. Once I get into it, I get absorbed. Obsessed.
I tinker with the code. I fix mistakes and then make new ones.
It’s on your mind when you wake up, and it bugs you at night, and you always want to fix just one more bug. Add just one more feature….
I haven’t put on shoes in two days. I haven’t started my truck for four days. I started skipping showers. It’s been very fulfilling, because I’ve made a lot of progress.
Well today was a nice day, so I decided to get out of the house. I parked the boom down by the Clump, spread some sawdust, dumped the compost, got groceries, and sprinkled cat turds on the garden.
Plus, I fixed a couple bugs and added a couple features. It was a good day.
tue 12/17.
I’m still not sure what to do with all my bad cider, but I haven’t given up hope.
The other day, Mary cooked chicken with a vinegar sauce for dinner and it was pretty good, and I got to thinking that my cider has just as much acid in it as her vinegar, so maybe I should try cooking something like pork in a cider sauce.
Mary perked right up and agreed that Yes, by golly, I really ought to give it a try. I should definitely do the cooking tomorrow. She was very supportive!
So today, I took a bottle of bad cider, poured it in a pot, and started reducing it. I added a dozen frozen tomatillos and then cooked up onions and peppers, roasted a garlic, and browned the meat. I put it all in a pot in a slow oven, and … did something else for a few hours.
Everything looked good. It smelled good, but – no getting around it – it tasted bad. Awful, even.
It was late. I put the pot back on the stove to simmer. Mary got home, walked into a fragrant house, headed straight for the stove, sampled my stew, and pronounced it vile. Sadly, she was right.
In my day, I have cooked many things with onions, peppers, garlic, and meat, but even on a bad day, my cooking is way better than vile, so I’m blaming it on the cider.
It was, after all, bad to begin with.
wed 12/18
Normally, Colbert is about as much TV as I watch.
But I’ve been watching Dexter lately (on Netflix), and I’m totally absorbed with the story.
I completely identify with this Dexter guy. His thought process. His mannerisms, his outlook, … even his taste in clothes are straight out of my book.
The problem is: he’s a serial killer. And it makes me wonder what that says about me.
fri 12/20
Last night, my robot decided that resistance was futile, and it suddenly started doing exactly what I wanted it to do. Its moves were crisp, smooth, quiet, and fast, and I couldn’t quite believe my eyes. Once in awhile, good things happen.
mon 12/23.
As you know, I’m still not sure what to do with all my bad cider, but all that acid has got to be good for something. Well tomorrow’s Christmas Eve, and we’ve got company coming, and that means the bathroom has got to be clean. So I’m wondering if maybe all that CO2 and all that acid might be good for removing crusty buildup and embedded stains? Maybe even leave a fresh apple-y scent behind?
Before and After
Turns out my cider is, to a toilet, as coke and aluminum foil are to a rusty fender!
But then, how many times am I ever going to clean the toilet again?
So the search continues….
tue 12/24
Christmas Eve.
While the women worked, we men sat on our butts.
Christmas rolls are a tradition which even I am in favor of.
Selfies … Not so much.
tue 12/31
New Year’s Eve.
I had high hopes for recording a C3PR video which would leave you breathless.
A Holy Shit! spectacle that makes you wonder if maybe He’s on to something after all.
Sorry about that. Not gonna happen this month, but it was close!
I’ve been having technical difficulties. C3pr’s wrist and hand worked fine months ago, because they’re powered by steppers, and “steppers are easy.” So I worked on the base, waist, and shoulder, which are powered by servos, and I got them all working like a team. Woo hoo!!
For some reason, though, the wrist and hand went limp.
It beat the fuck out of me. For two weeks, I tried everything, and nothing worked, until yesterday, after yet another failed test, I turned off the servo contactor in disgust, and suddenly the hand was fine!
The proverbial light bulb went on. Many dots were suddenly connected.
I reviewed section 3.6 of the documentation and … bought some parts online.
Next week, by God, it’s going to work.
But then … next week might as well be next year.