Archive for May 2021

ISO Kids Music

ISO good music for our 6-year-old. Recently our family has been loving Jim Gill on Spotify. In the recent past we’ve loved Tom Chapin, Laurie Berkner, the A Year With Frog and Toad soundtrack, and the indomitable Raffi.

Phone spam

In the past 2 days, I’ve gotten some 40 spam calls and 10 spam texts about getting medical care. I’m thankful that my phone is filtering most of it out but… yow, is this going to be the new normal?

The Mystery Spot!

I visited The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz last weekend, some 35 years after my first visit! Instead of my parents taking me, I took my wife and daughter. It was both hugely nostalgic and and a lot of fun! Our guide, Chris was awesome!

Review of Outback Trading Men’s 1497 River Guide UPF 50 Waterproof Breathable Outdoor Cotton Oilskin Hat: Bad


The hat smells of… I can think of no better description: hot asphalt. I wrote to the company who responded “Yes, there will be a slight oily smell and feel to the hat. This will fade over time with exposure to sunlight and the elements of nature.” It is horrible, like wearing a tiny bit of a skunk on your head. I’ll stop noticing the smell for a while and then turn my head and think, “What the hell, why do I smell asphalt?!”

Every time I touch the hat, my hands get oily. It’s like the “oil” in “oilskin” was cheap lubricating oil.

Well, after a month… 1 week of full-time wear, 1 week sitting outside in the sun and rain, 2 weeks sitting out, it still smells of asphalt and makes my hands oily.

Don’t buy this hat.

AGM Lead Acid Battery Charging

Just leaving this here for the 35 AH AGM lead-acid battery I use for my CPAP.

Charge State
13.5 full charge (2.25 per cell)
12.5 66%
11.5 33%
10.5 flat (1.75 per cell)

2.0 nominal voltage
2.4 full charge
2.25-2.30 float, don’t overfloat AGM!
1.75 flat
200 discharge cycles total
via Battery University

So Many Phones

I’ve bought my 3rd phone on Swappa.com in 3 weeks. I’m kinda over it. But third time is the charm, right?

My old phone, a Pixel 2 had this one quirk that I didn’t notice for the longest time: the audio on recorded videos is very quiet. EVERYTHING else works and I couldn’t find a fix for the audio problem so… buy a new (to me) phone!

Pixel 4… I realized it didn’t have fingerprint unlock, only face unlock. Face unlock doesn’t work when you’re wearing a mask and… ugh, I would much rather that the phone unlocks when I push the magic button and not when it sees my face.

Pixel 3… the top speaker didn’t work. So I could do everything except take phone calls with it. So, a smartphone that did everything except “phone”.

Pixel 3… third time’s the charm, right?

[Update 5-2-21] [Sad Trombone] The third phone is a fail. Some kind of image stabilization problem when recording videos. Blah!