@LadyCrimsonHopefully I wouldn't only be eating rice and beans, hopefully I would be able to kill an animal, a deer, a bear, a coyote, there's no shortage of them where I live. With that in mind, I should go on some hunting trips, it's been decades since I've been on a hunt. Owning a gun and being proficient with it is a good start, but there's more to being a skilled hunter. Also, I need to make sure I have a lot of salt, which, as it turns out, I currently do. I ordered a bunch of Himalayan salt to use in my grinder and I mistakenly ordered finely ground rather than chunks, so I have like 20 lbs of finely ground salt. I have to account for the possibility that refrigeration is not available and be prepared to preserve meat the old fashioned way, by salting the bejesus out of it.

Making a GUI for my grocery expenses application.  I really suck at UI development.

26 minutes ago, Malcador said:

I really suck at UI development.

You and 80% of game developers.

Forms is better than doing this crap via Win32 anyway

 

 

 

My mom and stepdad are on a bush holiday in an ancient forest in SA, this is baobab tree that is anything from 2500-3000 years old!!! Imagine living that long and everything you would have seen 

 

 

 

The wind is making our flimsy/old patio cover thingie sound like a tornado is ripping the roof off, again. Priority #1 this summer is getting someone to build a new one. 😛  Wonder if the power will go out, heh.

On 3/12/2023 at 7:40 AM, Gfted1 said:

In case you havent notice, recently insulin was capped at $35 / dose (or is it bottle?). Finally.

It's been a while, I don't remember what it cost with our super-uber Kaiser plan. I don't think it was all that much per bottle, by that I mean $20-25 maybe (Humulin, I didn't use the newer injection pens). But I've seen news vids on monthly insulin cost like $300-600, for I assume no-insurance cost, or less inclusive insurance plans. Glad they capped it. I think those faster delivery epi-pen like methods cost more, but a "bottle" of the twice a day syringe injection fluid would be maybe about a month's worth, more or less. Some ppl use a lot more per injection.  >.>

Anyway as long as I stick to 50-100 carbs/day with a few cheatish days per month etc + moderate exercise, numbers are fine and I only need the bottles as emergency stash, replacing only when expires.

Well I'm trying to semi-self isolate because one of the guys I was in the office with on Monday popped positive for Covid. Added fun, since dad had a round of chemotherapy this week.

So far I'm still negative for Covid, so hopefully that continues. Although I might push it to spend most of next week working from home and not bothering to go into the office at all. 😄

On other matters, an important question....  Am I putting together too many stabby tools for my Mandolorian? And will I actually get a clear stretch of good enough weather to finish it off before Star Wars Celebration?

@Guard Dog

Welcome back GD, where have you been? I was worried about you and I asked several times if anyone knew where you were. How is Gail?

Anyway its good you alive and kicking 🥂

 

Its going to be a GLORIOUS day in Chicago today! Sunny blue skies and temps in the high 40's! w00t. Thinking about going shopping for a new couch.

Another glorious weekend of cleaning.  At least the front end for my grocery DB is coming together, should use WPF instead of Forms though, maybe that'll be the next project

I think I am finally largely tired of my meal-soup that I've been eating all winter long. Time to figure out some new meal that I can constantly job-lot and be motivated to eat for the next 4-6 months...and then get bored of. I'm still pretty sick of raw salads...won't be that.

Edited March 20, 20232 yr by LadyCrimson

Winter is tenaciously holding on here. We are at least 3 weeks behind where normal temps should be. At one point we were 20x colder than the norm! Today milder and I watching snow lazily float downward before taking the hound for a run ...

On 3/19/2023 at 6:33 AM, Gfted1 said:

Its going to be a GLORIOUS day in Chicago today! Sunny blue skies and temps in the high 40's! w00t. Thinking about going shopping for a new couch.

Well? 

14 minutes ago, Fionavar said:

Well?

My wife, rightfully, shot down the idea. We have a laundry list of things that take priority over a new couch; new skylights, finish paining the house, maybe some new bamboo flooring, and the washing machine start button is a little janky.  

1 hour ago, Gfted1 said:

My wife, rightfully, shot down the idea. We have a laundry list of things that take priority over a new couch; new skylights, finish paining the house, maybe some new bamboo flooring, and the washing machine start button is a little janky.  

Fair enough ... did you see one you wanted, nonetheless or was looking even cancelled?

We have done a lot of online shopping and there was one I really liked. But no decisions can be made until butt is in seat.

After quite a long stretch last year in tutorial hell doing Udemy courses on React and Node I've started building my own projects, trying to produce things that I can use in a portfolio. I'm working in a hotel/holiday park at the moment as a waiter and the restaurant only have paper menus, so I pitched the idea of doing a digital menu instead. I built a prototype with React as a front-end only web app, it means only I can make changes to it but for the hotel it’s more affordable because they wouldn’t have to pay for a backend server. The way I’ve coded it basically means that the site takes arrays for each menu category (starters, burgers, steaks ect) and generates the web page based off of those, this means it’s really quick and easy to update the menu. If they want, I can turn it into a full stack application and make an interface where they can change the menu themselves. The FOH manager and head chef seemed to like it, we’re too busy in the restaurant to go ahead with it right now but hopefully it'll get green lighted later.

https://172v-restaurant-proto.netlify.app/

I also started working on a stupid little map app of the area where I work to practice using a library called Leaflet. Leaflet basically allows you to setup your own google maps in your web sites and include custom markers and a few other features like that. It looked a bit jankey but it was functional and was the first project where I had enough state variables to make good use of the useReducer hook. I definitely wouldn’t add this one to my portfolio but I did learn lessons from it.

Tonight, I’m going back over the Node.js project I did as part of a Udemy course and I’m trying to make sure I understand and memorize the different refactoring tricks Jonas used in his course as it makes the code a lot easier to read and write. Then I’ll need to build something of my own again. Right now I’m pretty comfortable with React but with Node I can only do basic CRUD operations so the goal is to just focus on Node for a month or two until I get to a decent level with it. Part of me worries that this is a mistake and I should just focus on front-end for now until I can get a job but since due to real-life circumstances I wouldn’t be in a position to accept a job until autumn anyway, my hope is that knowing full stack will mean more job opportunities in the long run and also just make me a more well-rounded programmer.   

Edited March 21, 20232 yr by Serrano

User runs massive process of 4000 tasks, DB struggles through it.  User then says one task failed, but I see it succeeded and tell him as such.

User then says "I have re-run all the tasks".

Good thing it was the end of my shift.

A nightly visitor on the mosquito net... at first I thought it was one of those walking stick insects because it's huge (larger than my hand), but closer inspection revealed it to be a praying mantis. Good thing I'm not a potential snack 😁

 

 

When not admiring the late evening life on my upper floor balcony, I'm busy working on my Alpha Legion for games of Horus Heresy. It took a few failed attempts at getting the colour right. At first they were too green, then too dark, now I get the turquoise I wanted. Using the airbrush to give them first a few different shades of metallic and then a mix of clear blue (and just a little bit!) green....

 

 

After those "base" colours, they get a good, hefty layer of gloss varnish and then it's time for next step. A bit of black oil paint dissolved in a spirit solution. The capillary effect means the black paint (which dries a lot slower than the spirit) gets deposited in all the crevasses and armour edges for some extra definition and "depth". When dry (I wait 24 hours for the oil paint to be properly dry), it's time for the next step, which is the transfers/decals. Not shown here, but once they are dry, it's time for some satin varnish and then paint in all the details. Straps, backpacks, guns, eye lenses etc. The guys behind the legionnaires is my other work in progress, painting my Death Korps Kill Team (still need to paint helmets, boots, shoulder pads and guns as well as the bases for those)

 

 

 

 

@GorthThat's not a praying mantis, that's a Tyranid!

Still haven't popped positive for Covid, so that's to the good.

Was able to take advantage of the weekend's good weather to get a good gunmetal base layer down on the armour, and then gloss clear coat it.

Of course, then Monday unleashed torrential downpours. Partially cleared up today, but it's still dodgy looking for the rest of the week.

My optimism is not being hugely positive that I'll be able to get the colour scheme and assorted knick-knacks in place before Star Wars Celebration.

 

I feel like hubby and I are in end of winter doldrums, slouching around the darkened house like silent zombies. I think the past 2-3 years events have kinda worn us down, not in a bad way, but man do we need some mental battery recharging, before we turn into permanent furniture.

Got up and went for a short walk. It's cold and dreary out but it still felt good. Then choked down two pills that look like something I'd give to a horse and chased it with a glass of grapefruit juice.

2 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Got up and went for a short walk. It's cold and dreary out but it still felt good. Then choked down two pills that look like something I'd give to a horse and chased it with a glass of grapefruit juice.

Uh, did you make sure that the grapefruit was a-okay for whatever medication that was? Grapefruit has potentially fatal interactions for a pretty wide variety of medications. Grapefruit is probably my favorite fruit, but there may come a day when I'm too old and take too many medications to be able to safely eat it anymore...

Edited March 23, 20232 yr by Bartimaeus

What Bartimaeus said, you really ought to double and triple check that your medicine doesn't interact with grapefruit. To my great dismay, most of mine has interactions so I've had to give it up, it's my favourite drink 😭