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torquillLots of things.
What's been going on with my life lately?
I made a list of current, ongoing projects I've taken on -- and counted seventeen. Ten of those must be completed on or before September 15 (and half of those are for the Burn). No wonder I feel like I'm spending all my time context-switching!
Between that and my still-current imperative to take leisure time to recover from school, I feel like I'm making very little progress on anything. I am getting stuff done, but it feels very slow. I'm going to try to get up earlier in the day to make a dent in that list more often. (It's been hard, because when I feel like I haven't gotten enough done, I stay up later, and get up later, and... yeah.)
I've made the appointment to go see my dentist, since my other tooth has started to inform me that it really is cracked, and I can't delay getting it crowned any longer. *sigh* I knew this was coming, but it's unpleasant. My mom has agreed to carry the $1K cost this time.
I've noticed that I'm clumsier than usual lately. I misjudge distances, forces, and angles; I'm more prone to drop things, or knock them over with the back of a hand or arm; knowing that I might drop something doesn't always help me not drop it. I usually associate this with being preoccupied or conflicted, or having some issue brewing in the back of my head. I suspect I need to take the time to step back and meditate -- the period of reflection I knew was coming. Unfortunately, with as many things as I have on the burner right now, I'll have to schedule that in, which is sort of counter-productive. It'll still help, but I want to get a grip on my progress first.
I'm slowly but steadily combing my references for the review article I'm writing, now that I have bibliographic software to help organize them... I recommend cb2bib and Bibus for free programs, btw, as the first let me easily import reference information from saved PDFs, and the latter lets me sort them and interfaces with OpenOffice or Word to insert citations. I'd love to have something that lets me leave electronic post-its to mark passages in a PDF (akin to what I could do with paper) and keep track of how many/what "color" of post-its I have on any given document... but for now I'm just pulling passages into a word doc and adding a cite at the end of each one. I'll read through them when I'm writing.
I got a betta, for the first time in years. Despite the aquarium guy dropping him on the floor during transfer to the transport container (I should have taken over, I'm obviously more experienced at transferring bettas), he's a strong, healthy fish. I had a little trouble finding one of the colors I wanted, but he's a gorgeous Proton, deep red with blue roots to his scales and pale-blue tips on his trailing front fins. All the Neutrons I saw had too much green -- I like a cobalt-blue fish -- and I wasn't up for a tricolor Electron at the moment, though there was a nice one. Electrons are probably the easiest ones to find, oddly enough. I did determine that All About Fish is really a saltwater-fish store, and for freshwater, the best source is (surprisingly) PetSmart. The one we have here has very clean tanks and healthy-looking fish, and a large selection of nice bettas. It's probably where I'll go first the next time I want one -- that may be soon, as I used to keep two fish at a time. I have to get back into the rhythm of keeping them, though.
The cat situation is slowly stabilizing. Fuzzball has learned that I won't tolerate her picking on Charlotte, and if she gets too annoyed at Charlotte's presence, she puts herself in the closet (so I don't have to). C has relaxed enough to start getting up on the bed again, at least while I'm here and awake. Fuzzy isn't actually threatened, she just wants to be a single cat, and I suspect after a while she'll get resigned to the fact that she still isn't by herself. At least Charlotte is the most non-aggressive roommate she could wish for. My hope is that this will gradually cease to be an issue, as Fuzzy gets used to Charlotte and stops feeling like she can push her out.
The garden is doing well, for the most part. I have some green tomatoes coming along, the sweet potatoes have recovered from their crisping and are looking quite lush, and the okra are producing about three pods a day (total). The cukes and beans I planted in trays a couple of weeks ago are growing like gangbusters; I hope to have cucumbers next month. The summer squash will need to be hand-pollinated later this week, so we should have some of those soon. And for some reason, my pepper is looking great, but it's still tiny; it ought to have shot upward by now, and it doesn't seem to be lacking for water or nitrogen (I buried a fish frame in its pot, so it has plenty of food). It's a little shaded by milkweed, but not severely. I guess I just have to be patient. The milkweed is looking better than it has in years, with a very low population of yellow aphids. I've also started collecting seeds from the wild lettuce which I painstakingly weeded around. It takes forever to go to seed, and it needs several individuals to cross-pollinate, so I've been coping with these tall spiky plants for months. If I can get enough good seed, I'll be able to plant a bed of it where I want to, harvest the first new leaves for spring salad greens (yum!), and let it go to seed again out of the way. Regular lettuce doesn't hold much appeal to me during the short season it has here, but Latuca serrata has an appealing zip to it like arugula and the status boost of being a native plant. :)
The craft projects have been on hold for several days while I (try to) make headway on the article, but I'm pretty close to completing the solar oven. I need to: finish cutting the insulation to size for the bottom; seal the insulation in with the rubberized stuff you find on tool handles, so that the glass lid will make a good seal when it rests there (I'll outgas it before real use); get glass-friendly hinges for the lid; get the mirrored acetate film, coat the plexiglas reflector pieces, make hinges for the side reflectors, cut notches in the prop, and attach the whole array to the main box; aluminum-foil the inside; and cover the outside with the black duct tape I bought. Oh, and figure out some sort of handles. :) It should take two days of steady work, I think, without a need to custom-machine parts other than the very simple hinges for the side reflectors. The wind turbine does need custom-made parts, but I'll consult with my dad on that tomorrow.
I've also gotten a bicycle repair stand, so I can start cranking on bikes in earnest. Anyone else want me to do a thorough lube/adjustment on your bicycle, in return for a donation toward tool expenses? :)
Time for bed. Lots to do tomorrow.
What's been going on with my life lately?
I made a list of current, ongoing projects I've taken on -- and counted seventeen. Ten of those must be completed on or before September 15 (and half of those are for the Burn). No wonder I feel like I'm spending all my time context-switching!
Between that and my still-current imperative to take leisure time to recover from school, I feel like I'm making very little progress on anything. I am getting stuff done, but it feels very slow. I'm going to try to get up earlier in the day to make a dent in that list more often. (It's been hard, because when I feel like I haven't gotten enough done, I stay up later, and get up later, and... yeah.)
I've made the appointment to go see my dentist, since my other tooth has started to inform me that it really is cracked, and I can't delay getting it crowned any longer. *sigh* I knew this was coming, but it's unpleasant. My mom has agreed to carry the $1K cost this time.
I've noticed that I'm clumsier than usual lately. I misjudge distances, forces, and angles; I'm more prone to drop things, or knock them over with the back of a hand or arm; knowing that I might drop something doesn't always help me not drop it. I usually associate this with being preoccupied or conflicted, or having some issue brewing in the back of my head. I suspect I need to take the time to step back and meditate -- the period of reflection I knew was coming. Unfortunately, with as many things as I have on the burner right now, I'll have to schedule that in, which is sort of counter-productive. It'll still help, but I want to get a grip on my progress first.
I'm slowly but steadily combing my references for the review article I'm writing, now that I have bibliographic software to help organize them... I recommend cb2bib and Bibus for free programs, btw, as the first let me easily import reference information from saved PDFs, and the latter lets me sort them and interfaces with OpenOffice or Word to insert citations. I'd love to have something that lets me leave electronic post-its to mark passages in a PDF (akin to what I could do with paper) and keep track of how many/what "color" of post-its I have on any given document... but for now I'm just pulling passages into a word doc and adding a cite at the end of each one. I'll read through them when I'm writing.
I got a betta, for the first time in years. Despite the aquarium guy dropping him on the floor during transfer to the transport container (I should have taken over, I'm obviously more experienced at transferring bettas), he's a strong, healthy fish. I had a little trouble finding one of the colors I wanted, but he's a gorgeous Proton, deep red with blue roots to his scales and pale-blue tips on his trailing front fins. All the Neutrons I saw had too much green -- I like a cobalt-blue fish -- and I wasn't up for a tricolor Electron at the moment, though there was a nice one. Electrons are probably the easiest ones to find, oddly enough. I did determine that All About Fish is really a saltwater-fish store, and for freshwater, the best source is (surprisingly) PetSmart. The one we have here has very clean tanks and healthy-looking fish, and a large selection of nice bettas. It's probably where I'll go first the next time I want one -- that may be soon, as I used to keep two fish at a time. I have to get back into the rhythm of keeping them, though.
The cat situation is slowly stabilizing. Fuzzball has learned that I won't tolerate her picking on Charlotte, and if she gets too annoyed at Charlotte's presence, she puts herself in the closet (so I don't have to). C has relaxed enough to start getting up on the bed again, at least while I'm here and awake. Fuzzy isn't actually threatened, she just wants to be a single cat, and I suspect after a while she'll get resigned to the fact that she still isn't by herself. At least Charlotte is the most non-aggressive roommate she could wish for. My hope is that this will gradually cease to be an issue, as Fuzzy gets used to Charlotte and stops feeling like she can push her out.
The garden is doing well, for the most part. I have some green tomatoes coming along, the sweet potatoes have recovered from their crisping and are looking quite lush, and the okra are producing about three pods a day (total). The cukes and beans I planted in trays a couple of weeks ago are growing like gangbusters; I hope to have cucumbers next month. The summer squash will need to be hand-pollinated later this week, so we should have some of those soon. And for some reason, my pepper is looking great, but it's still tiny; it ought to have shot upward by now, and it doesn't seem to be lacking for water or nitrogen (I buried a fish frame in its pot, so it has plenty of food). It's a little shaded by milkweed, but not severely. I guess I just have to be patient. The milkweed is looking better than it has in years, with a very low population of yellow aphids. I've also started collecting seeds from the wild lettuce which I painstakingly weeded around. It takes forever to go to seed, and it needs several individuals to cross-pollinate, so I've been coping with these tall spiky plants for months. If I can get enough good seed, I'll be able to plant a bed of it where I want to, harvest the first new leaves for spring salad greens (yum!), and let it go to seed again out of the way. Regular lettuce doesn't hold much appeal to me during the short season it has here, but Latuca serrata has an appealing zip to it like arugula and the status boost of being a native plant. :)
The craft projects have been on hold for several days while I (try to) make headway on the article, but I'm pretty close to completing the solar oven. I need to: finish cutting the insulation to size for the bottom; seal the insulation in with the rubberized stuff you find on tool handles, so that the glass lid will make a good seal when it rests there (I'll outgas it before real use); get glass-friendly hinges for the lid; get the mirrored acetate film, coat the plexiglas reflector pieces, make hinges for the side reflectors, cut notches in the prop, and attach the whole array to the main box; aluminum-foil the inside; and cover the outside with the black duct tape I bought. Oh, and figure out some sort of handles. :) It should take two days of steady work, I think, without a need to custom-machine parts other than the very simple hinges for the side reflectors. The wind turbine does need custom-made parts, but I'll consult with my dad on that tomorrow.
I've also gotten a bicycle repair stand, so I can start cranking on bikes in earnest. Anyone else want me to do a thorough lube/adjustment on your bicycle, in return for a donation toward tool expenses? :)
Time for bed. Lots to do tomorrow.
