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Photo a day fail?

I can't really say I'm doing the photo a day thing anymore. I wanted to, but the truth is it's just not conducive to how I do photography. I like my photos to tell stories, and it got to where it just felt like I was doing it because I had to. I could dump a bunch of pictures and phone it in, but that's not what I want. I don't want to "give up," but I don't want to treat it like I have to fill a quota either.

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Photo a day 125/365 Curidas

An interesting new fountain pen I got. My first Platinum pen, the Curidas is an interesting take on the retractable fountain pen. A little more complicated than the Pilot Capless pens, but it feels good to write with, and the "clicker" feels solid, much like it's Pilot counterpart. It is a plastic pen as well, so it's significantly lighter than the Capless. That's good or bad depending on if you like a heavier pen or not. (I find I'm happy with either, though I prefer a heavier pen).

Writing performance is great, It's a little on the dryer than my other pens, but this actually allows it to write on paper that the others can't because they bleed through. Still lays down a nice line though, so it's a win, win.

I love these capless pens, they make using a fountain pen as convenient as using a ballpoint most of the time, and I don't mind taking a moment to fill the ink if I know I'm going to be doing a lot of writing that day.

If you've ever thought about getting one of these, I'd say go for it. But, if you're willing to spend a bit more money, I'd say the Pilot Capless is a better pen. This however is great in that "bang it around every day pen" category because they can be had for a lot less than a Capless or Vanishing Point so you can treat them more like a Lamy Safari. Great workhorse pen. :)

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Photo a day 124/365 glasses

Finally got a new pair of glasses after 2 odd years. It’s so amazing to actually be able to see again.

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Photo a day 123/365 storm

Yeah, video not a photo again, but I wanted to share this with a friend and Mastodon didn't like how large it was, so photo of the day it is. :) I recorded this a while back, storm rolling in with a LOT of lightning activity. I wish I could have gotten better video of it, it was pretty fun to watch.

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Photo a day 122/365 unwanted guest

Living in Florida, or really just about anywhere in the south I'd imagine, these little shits being in your house from time to time is just a given. I won't miss them at all when I go.

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Photo a day 121/365 off color

So I ordered a pack of cartridges in green, as you can see. One of the cartridges however didn't get the memo and instead I got a really cool purple color.

I kinda' want to know what this color is, because it goes really well with my pen. :) So I call it a happy accident.

Also, I'm genuinely curious how often ink goof ups happen in general. I've had it happen to me twice in the last 6 months where I bought ink that was supposed to be one color and either some or all of it was a totally different one. Not always for the same reason as this, last time it was a bottle of Diamine that was supposed to be "Ancient Copper", which is a kind of orange with a hint of reddish color to it, but the bottle I got was just straight up bright red. And now this.

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49 times around the sun

Photo a day 120/365

I already posted a photo of this, but it was my little gift to me for orbit number 49. It’s hard to believe how fast the time flies.

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Photo a day 119/365 Halls of Torment

Opened the third level today, cleared the level first run. Maybe not something extraordinary to some players, but it was a surprise to me. :)

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Photo a day 118/365 inky fingers

Most of the time my fountain pens are very well behaved. I very seldom have to tear them apart, other than to occasionally clean them. But almost inevitably, some of them need a little bit of a helping hand. I had to reseat the nib and feed on my Gravitas Skittle to get its ink flow working right.

No matter what you do, it’s almost impossible to not end up with inky fingers at one point or another.

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Photo a day 117/365 knife

Something cool that I picked up from Opinel in France. It looks bigger than it is, the blade is just under 4”. it's very lite weight, but from what I've heard they're also very well built. And the round handle is comfortable compared to some of the pocket knives I've got.

I love the carbon steel blade, though this is probably the best it'll ever look as they tend to discolor with use.

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Photo a day 116/365 skull

Neat little sticker that came with my pen. Wonder what I should put it on? :)

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Phofo a day 115/365 paisley rainbow.

Writes like a dream, and the iridescent paint changes colors from a deep green to a pinkish purple with a few in between as you see it from different angles. The aptly named Gravitas Skittle Paisley.

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Photo a day 114/365 lemon lime pie

Just what it says, made a cheat lemon lime pie and it turned out really good.

And yes the slices are way too big. LOL!

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Photo a day 113/365 coins

I've had three since the last time I was in Canada, and I've held on to them all this time because a little part of me is still up there. I did a lot of growing up in that place, and it's always been special to me. Especially southern Ontario.

Hopefully some day I'll get to take these coins home.

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Photo a day 100-112/365 coffee

You see people all the time talking about how they prepare coffee, usually with hundreds of dollars of equipment. So as a foil to the idea that you have to spend tons of cash to get a good cup of coffee, here's my process to get a good cup of coffee out of my 1950's percolator.

First, measure your beans! You don't need anything fancy to do this, I used a little glass bowl and a $10 Wal-Mart Mainstays scale. It'll read in grams so it's just fine for this. Just put the bowl on the scale before you turn it on so that it 0's out with it and doesn't count the weight of the bowl when you're measuring your beans.

Getting the right amount of coffee is paramount to getting a good cup. My percolator is a 4 cup, so between 40 to 45 grams makes pretty good coffee in it. As a rule about 10-12 grams per cup if you're using a larger / smaller pot.

If you want to grind your own like I do, you'll need a grinder. You CAN spend hundreds on one, but honestly as long as it makes a decent grind any grinder will do. This one was about $45 and has worked well for me for years. A burr grinder is going to give you the best results, and the most uniform grinds. But if you have a blade one that's fine too. In this case, I want a coarse grind for the percolator.

If you have one like mine that has the cup measurements on it, don't trust them. These measurements are very seldom correct, and can be inconsistent as well. It's always better to just measure what you need and grind it all on the spot.

It can be a little messy, but I'll tell ya' a secret, just grab a little hand vac and keep it handy. 2 seconds with that will suck up all the grounds that spill in a jiffy!

This is what a good coarse grind for percolators should look like, grains about the size of say Kosher salt.

Water up to the 4 cup fill line. If you don't have good tap water, you might want to get a filter or bottled water. It can make a big difference in the taste of your coffee.

Drop the basket in, the water level should be below the bottom of the basket so that the water can filter down through it, if it's not, pour a little out.

Ideally, you want to put the coffee in so that it's level all the way around the basket. This isn't perfect, but it's close enough. Make sure to not let any go down the tube when your filling, I like to use a spoon to pour it in, like in the picture below.

If you want your coffee fast, you're better off with a Keurig, this takes a little time. ;)

Pop the top of the basket on...

... then the lid, and we're ready to go.

Depending on the percolator, you may have a dial like this on the front, but most percolators now a days are just on or off deals without any kind of adjustments. In my case, I have to set the dial and then watch for the light to go off. Usually this takes 8 to 10 minutes.

If you've never heard one of these, and wondered what they sound like, now you know. :)

And that's it, coffee. :) The whole process takes about 15 minutes and in my case all the equipment costs about $100. It's not a fancy espresso machine with a pretty caramel colored pull, but if you just want a good cup of coffee it's all you need.

You can get a modern percolator for about $50 from makers like Hamelton Beach, Farberware, etc. Grinder was in my case about $45, If you want to go even less expensive, and less prep, you can swap out the percolator with a regular old drip coffee maker and just change the grind from coarse to medium. (about 3/4 the size of the grounds you see in my photo.)

Oh, and this is the coffee I was using, getting good coffee makes a huge difference in flavor. Most store bought coffee sits around for some time before you get it, that can lead to stale tasting coffee. This is especially likely if you buy preground coffee. This is the part of the whole process that's really worth putting the money out for. On that note, you don't have to buy stuff that's crazy expensive, this is Crazy Fox Coffee's Hoot Owl Blend. Goes for about $30 a pound with shipping.

Anywho, all this isn't to say that the hobby of making craft coffees and going for the expensive gear isn't cool, it definitely is. But if you don't have the cash for a thousand dollar espresso machine and all the assorted trappings to get the most out of it, you can still get a good cup of coffee.

Happy brewing!

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Photo a day 99/365 doppelgänger

What are the odds you find your parked right in front of your twin?

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Photo a day 98/365 new Switch

So about a year ago I got the switch I thought I needed, it had the specs to handle what I was doing and it was from a good brand, Phillips.

And, it was total garbage. Absolute rubbish. I had nothing but problems with it from the moment I got it. Sometimes if I put everything in just the right way it would work but for the most part it was a struggle and it's been a big part of the reason that I haven't really done any streaming lately.

So I went out and splurged a bit. I got a new StarTech switch that is definitely overkill for my rig in some ways. I have nothing close to an 8K monitor. But, it'll handle refresh rates as high as anything I've got, and it's rock, solid, stable. Something my Phillips absolutely was not.

This little black rectangle is going to change the way I use my PC's and consoles, and let me do streaming again without wanting to throw my entire setup out a window after battling with it for the umteenth time. And since I did have to go a bit overboard for it, It'll handle future upgrades, when I'm able to finally make them. :)

it's amazing how much difference the right hardware can make.