rantings & ravings (november 2021)

these are opinions, the only ones that matter (to me, mine), on both various stuffs and various things.

things i bought online #53

sunday, november 28th

i want more printed cheese slopes.  but alas, my previous source, joann, is now out of stock of lego looney tunes collectable minifigures.  however, i was able to find two other sources but couldn't decide from which to order from.  sure, there are plenty of other places from which to purchase but i staunchly refuse to pay a premium on the collectable minifigures, willing to pay only what they originally sold for or less, never more.  around this time, a friend was trying to source a playmobil set, the stay puft marshmallow man.  thing is, i had seen both things at the barnes & noble in bellevue.  so, off to bellevue i went, sadly to find that they were sold out (boo)... though, not online (yay).

thing	from where	sku	how many	how much (each)
lego minifigures looney tunes 71030	barnes & noble	1139420754	5	$4.99 usd
playmobil stay puft marshmallow man	barnes & noble	1126583780	1	$19.95 usd

i paid $49.50 usd.  as a member, shipping is free.  tax was $4.60 usd.  theeennn... i got it with rakuten, 1% off the subtotal and 3% off the total using my rakuten credit card.  so, i've $1.94 usd coming back to me.  3.92% cash back! yeah!

things i bought online #52

friday, november 26th (black friday)

still outstanding for my new pixel phone is a case.  the obama phone, at least the current one, a blackberry priv, never had an otterbox case as i don't believe they made one for it.  though, i bought an otterbox case for the obama phone before that, a blackberry classic.  and i bought an otterbox case for the obama phone before that, a blackberry q10.  i also bought an otterbox case for first fondleslab i ever owned, a samsung galaxy tab 2 (7.0).

i find otterbox cases worth the cost.  i once managed to forget the q10 on the roof of a car i was driving.  sometime during the six miles between point a and point b, topping 40 mph, the phone slid off the roof.  (i later retraced my path and found it in a gutter.)  case was a little nicked up and the sd card was unseated.  nothing more.

that said, $39.95 usd seems like an expensive case.  before taxes, that's 10% the cost of the phone.  but... black friday! 25% off, bam! $29.96 usd feels like a steal!

thing	from where	sku	how many	how much (each)
pixel 5a (5g) commuter series case	otterbox	77-82203	1	$29.96 usd

oh, and thanks to rakuten, 12% off the subtotal, and then, 3% off the total using my rakuten credit card.  and then... $3 usd off using a promotional code.  and... then... free shipping.  so, with $2.77 usd in taxes i paid $29.73 usd, and should get back $4.14 usd from rakuten.  so, this should ultimately cost me $25.59 usd, about 64% the list price.  what!?

things i bought online #51

thursday, november 25th (thanksgiving)

just needed some home goods and phone stuffs from the 'zon.  some replacement bristles for my palm scrubber and a spare 65,000k reflector for the kitchen.  i'm not roxanne but like them, according to sting, i don't need to put on the red light.  maybe that's why seasonal affective disorder isn't a thing for me? i figure i'll need a usb-c otg cable to help facilitate data transfer from the obama phone to the new pixel phone.  (which is going to need a catchy nickname.)  i've yet to break the glass on a phone with a glass screen to the point that i wonder if any of my touchscreen phones have had glass.  anyway, not intrigued by tempered glass screen protectors and have had little issue with the film kind.  (save for the type i use on the obama phone as it has a curved screen, so, need "softer" ones that get all nicked up.)

thing	from where	sku	how many	how much (each)
ge lighting 78950 energy smart cfl 15-watt (65-watt replacement) 650-lumen r30 floodlight bulb with medium base, 1-pack	amazon	b003xii0bw	1	$12.99 usd
usb c to usb adapter [2 pack], jsaux usb type c male to usb 3.0 female otg cable thunderbolt3 to usb adapter compatible with macbook pro/air 2019 2018 2017, samsung galaxy s20 s20+ ultra note 10 s9 s8	amazon	b07bs8srwh	1	$8.99 usd
oxo good grips soap dispensing palm brush refills - 2pack	amazon	b002hmbvkw	1	$5.99 usd
(6 pack) supershieldz designed for google pixel 5a 5g screen protector, high definition clear shield (pet)	amazon	b093jdjjv6	1	$5.99 usd

got that prime all day so only had to pay $3.47 usd in tax for a total of $37.43 usd.  yup yup.

thanksgiving

thursday, november 25th (thanksgiving)

things i bought online #50

monday, november 22nd

nobama phone.

my obama phone, a blackberry priv (stv100-2), is being replaced... finally.  i've had this thing for nearly five years.  it predates my moving to seattle (but not my moving to washington... i couch surfed in lynnwood for a spell).  the battery holds a charge for most of the day most days... most of the day as in most of the day that i'm awake... and don't, well, use it.  the screen has random vertical lines of 100% green or 100% red and blue ("purple", or the impossible magenta, if you prefer).  it's running android 6.0.1 with security patch level 2017-10-05.  i'm dependent upon verizon providing necessary software updates that i can't get from google play and they could, but don't, give a fuck.  also... the headphone jack sometimes has issues with detecting a four-conductor 1/8" plug.

i was going to get an iphone, an iphone se specifically.  mostly for the low price point, (starting) at $399 usd, (relative to not buying a cheaper android phone that wouldn't solve the os upgrade and security patch problem).  but i was hesitant as i was unsure how much i could and could not migrate and/or replace in terms of apps, re-establishing soft tokens, the need to use itunes to transfer files to/from the phone, the use of a proprietary charge/data interface (flashbacks to previous samsung and nokia devices), and... the lack of a headphone jack.  however, apple provides the os upgrades and security patches, not the cellular service carrier.

well, i was going to get an iphone se.  that was until there was the google pixel 5a.  at $449 usd, it's about the same cost, sans the worries save for migrating data and re-establishing soft tokens.  since the phone is from google, they'll provide the os upgrades and security patches.

again, hesitant, i wait.  $449 usd is a lot of money (to not spend on lego).  procrastination paid off as when i went to finally buy a google pixel 5a, it was randomly $50 usd off, making it just over 11% off.  (google employees only get 10% off.)  maybe it was a thanksgiving/black friday promotion?

thing	from where	sku	how many	how much (each)
pixel 5a with 5g (128gb, mostly black, unlocked)	google	n/a	1	$399.00 usd

tax was $40.89 usd, but shipping was free, so, in total i spent $439.89 usd.  yasss!

i built a park for my lego city

saturday, november 20th (children's day)

click an image to enlarge .  left: implied roads (before); right: brick built roads (after).

in late 2020 when the new road plate system was introduced, i got to work designing a brick built roadway for my city.  after a few redesigns and multiple shipments of plates, plates, more plates, and even more plates, and a few 60304 (road plates) sets, in early 2021, profit! prior to this, i had just been spacing the various baseplates to approximate roads from the voids between the baseplates.

i had two 32x32 stud lots that were unoccupied at design time that were reserved for future creator expert modular buildings.  for a short time, i rolled my own police station (it was awful, super utilitarian) and had a (de)construction site which occupied these two lots.  as my luck had it, the one shipment that tied together all the other pieces went missing but was ultimately found and delivered (in early february, two months after i placed the order).  by this time, i already had the new police station modular (10278) to replace the police station that i made.  i had also improved the (de)construction site, only to eventually replace it several months later with the daily bugle (76178).

click an image to enlarge .  left: downtown corridor; center: future site of park; right: future site of park (alternate view).

across the street from all of this is the assembly square modular.  but it's on both 16x32 stud and 32x32 stud baseplates.  i wrapped an eight-stud wide road around assembly square which leaves a 16x32 stud void across that road from assembly square and across the road from the police station.  i had no real idea of what to put in this void to even things out.  i considered things like a park or a parking area with maybe a random payphone.

i recently acquired a few handfuls of large spruce trees (and already had a few handfuls of small spruce trees, i think from a lego store pick a brick wall).  i had also recently made my near replica of 30356 (hot dog stand) from spare parts.  but it wasn't until i had recently acquired a handful of short black chains that the idea for a park came together.

click an image to enlarge .

the roadway in my city is meant to be modular and i can easily add more roadway.  multiple redesigns, sometimes after parts had already been ordered, resulted in some spare parts (or i was just given extra due to the volume of parts).  however, adding a new lot isn't so easy.  i had to remove that entire section of roadway, for that entire table, save for the road that wraps behind the firehouse headquarters (which exemplifies how the roadway is modular) to add the new 16x32 stud lot.  it had been suggested that i add some character to my roads, so, that strip of road has a pothole which also allows me to make use of my army of construction workers.

click an image to enlarge .

my attempt at a lego golf cart

tuesday, november 16th

click an image to enlarge .

i was browsing the catalog of cobi sets and saw 24554 (melex 212 golf set) .  i felt i could improve upon what i saw.  my one complaint being that the figurines don't really sit properly within the cart.  not sure i like the roof i made but i was working with what parts i readily had available (which is why it's primarily light stone gray and not primarily white).  i went with a roof since without, it just makes me think of that yellow cart in austin powers: international man of mystery.  not sure what i created looks all that much like a melex, if so, maybe a cross between a 212 and a 252? (maybe?)

monkey mayhem!

wednesday, november 10th (hump day; united states marine corps birthday; world keratoconus day)

i wasn't expecting to happen across these polybags with the new monkeys, never mind at the downtown seattle target.

so, that need i found for the new monkeys....

click an image to enlarge .

and that's it.  right there, that.  i might could add this monkey to the crew of the black seas barracuda.  (yes, with the kalashnikov.)

got 'em!

wednesday, november 3rd (hump day)

i received my package from joann today and decided to take it with me to the office.

click an image to enlarge .  left: 1:10 odds to find some cheese; right: mmm... the cheese not found at home (channeling my inner omar little).

cheese was found!

i've only tried feeling for a specific minifigure once before this.  well, technically twice.

occasionally i'd buy some cmf packs, and in this case, the dc ones.  i realized that i had at least one of every minifigure but one, bumblebee.  usually, i'll aim for two of any one cmf, one for display and one for play, extras get thrown into a bag for trade or spare parts.  unless they're "unique", then i'll do as usual but "keep" the extras.  since i'm me, i'll just buy in multiples of five.  when i was looking for bumblebee, i'd grab some from a local lego store, a local bartell, or a local target, bring them home, and then i'd feel.  i found one, but nothing in what all i had bought since that point.  i employed the fam back in colorado to find them (only if they were $4.99 usd or less) as i exhausted the (reasonably priced) local supply.  my mom found and sent me some and i found one within those.

my lego city could always use more black people, let alone black women, especially black women of the superhero variety.  bumblebee is currently a unicorn.

election day

tuesday, november 2nd (election day)

click to view uncropped image .

this is a two-sided ballot.  this photo shows the extent to which it was completed before submitting.  let this speak for how many fucks i give about politics in seattle, king county, and washington state.  this is where i'd delve deep into a diatribe on how my voice isn't represented in the people making the laws and how money has ruined the process, but alas, nary a fuck to give.

i will be voting this way in the upcoming [insert "edgy" adjectives here] presidential midterm election.  i'll vote for measures.  i won't vote for people.  so, all you pacs reading this (shhh, it's possible), keep my contact information off your mailings.  i just shred your shit anyway.