toroidalcore

We got a foot of snow last night. It's thick, wet, spring snow. They warned us of power outages, and I figured there was a chance, but then this morning it was out. I don't know when. When I got up, the server that's on the UPS had shut off, so it must have been for an hour or two.

And as of almost 8 PM, it's still out. Internet works, which I verified earlier by powering up my router, cable modem, and switch, but now I'm just tethered from one laptop to my phone. Luckily natural gas still works, but the furnace needs electricity to turn on. So it's getting colder, but at least I can cook. I'm operating off battery power now, which is charged by solar, which didn't produce a lot today. If necessary I can hook my car up to charge, which I may do in a little bit.

I stuck some bags of ice and a plate of snow in the refrigerator, so hopefully not everything will go bad. I'm running a lamp in the living room, so there is some light. If nothing else, it's a change, a little break from routine. Usually power outages are fixed pretty quick where I am, so there may have been a few breaks. In the mean time, George and I will be trying to stay warm.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

It's Easter, and I'm keeping it lowkey. I'm visiting my parents, and we're about to have dinner. It's been a good weekend. So Happy Easter to those who celebrate, and otherwise have a good day.

The weather is actually pretty nice here. It's still cold, but it's been gradually warming up. This is actually a good time to be doing stuff outside, since it's not too hot. I will have to take a look at the garden soon.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

I bought a bag of red #potatoes when I was shopping on Friday evening. They are red potatoes, on the smaller side. I cut them up, tossed them with olive oil and salt, and broiled them for about 20 minutes. I also added a little Sriracha for heat.

This turned out to be pretty good, and I just wanted to post it here.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

I like coffee. I just enjoy it, when it's brewed right. It's warm, smooth (hopefully), and is a nice comfort on a cool rainy day. Even on warm sunny ones too.

The caffeine kick is nice, although I try not to rely on it. I've actually been trying to cut back a little. Coffee isn't a substitute for sleep, but if used right it can help your alertness. I've had my best days having a little coffee after a good night's sleep.

It's about the ritual, too, odd as that may sound. The ritual of grinding the beans, measuring out the water, and brewing it in the Chemex. Something about that early (or later) in the morning is comforting.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

I drove about 3 hours and 20 minutes back to my house from my parents' house today, and brought George along. I have a plastic pet carrier that I think was made for a dog, which is slightly larger than what I normally see for cat carriers. (I do have a canvas cat carrier which is smaller, and which I use to take him to the vet.) I put a towel in this for some padding, and then I set it on the back seat and loop the seat belt through the handle and buckle it. Finally, I drape a blanket over the top, to muffle some of the noise.

George does alright in the car, especially considering that he was a stray for the first four years of his life (as far as I know). He isn't a fan of being stuffed into the carrier, and makes his displeasure known with some mild struggling. But for the most part he settles down for the trip, aside from occasionally meowing.

On one hand, I kind of hate to put him through this – while he's an easy-going cat, I know he would prefer not to travel. That said, he enjoys visiting my parents. I do what I can to minimize stress, and I think it's good for him to see other people and other cats (he gets along with them except for one, but luckily there aren't usually any conflicts, and if we suspect there might be we will separate them if leaving the house). I also want him to be used to traveling, in case I need to take him somewhere for some other reason. Usually, he's home unless visiting my parents or going to the vet.

I someday hope to get a dog, which will add another dimension to these trips. I'm going on a small sample size recounting peoples' anecdotes as well as my own experiences traveling with our dogs growing up, but they seem to do a bit better in the car.

Obviously, it depends a lot on the individual animal, and you need to assess the situation. But I think that introducing the cat (or dog) to the car ride when he or she is still young is a big part of it. My brother often took one of his cats to visit our parents when she was a kitten, and she was pretty decent while traveling.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

I remember April Fools day shenanigans on the internet years ago, when it seemed like all the major sites did something. Not as much these days. XKCD has one up. Fark did as well. Reddit has r/place up too. I haven't looked for many others.

Maybe it's kind of overdone. I think it's fun to have something off the beaten path once in a while, just something harmless and a little bit amusing. Key word here being harmless, of course.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

So I got done doing some cleaning, and am just waiting on some water to boil. I'm going to try pouring it down a slow drain to hopefully clear up some grime. George, my cat, is getting into pre-bedtime spazz mode, and should probably be run around a little. I should also make my lunch for tomorrow.

All is well, got some useful things done for a weekday evening. Still put off other things I'd like to do, but I'll have time later I suppose.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

I am posting this tethered to my phone right now, to test 4G internet in my area. It's relatively fast, but I'm trying to use it a little more to get a feel for normal every-day browsing.

I do self-host on hardware I own, but I have relocated my server for this to a friend's house. So that isn't a concern. 4G for me is behind CGNAT, so hosting could be tough, but there are workarounds.

5G would be another option, but apparently that hasn't been rolled out in my area yet.

Mostly, I'm tired of paying for cable. I need a break from that. Despite being a computer nerd, I actually think I can get by without a wired cable for a while. We shall see.

Normally I'm a proponent of using a wire if available. But they jack up the price, and I'm just not sure of the value. Hey, maybe someday I'll be able to get fiber around here.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

Why self-host? I just like the control. I like the idea that I can have control over the software and the hardware, as long as the hardware is sitting on a shelf in my basement. It doesn't have to be, you could just have a general purpose VM. Being able to put your own spin on it is nice, too. Maybe you want to do email or photo hosting a certain way.

I also just find it kind of enjoyable. I don't mind messing around with the technical aspects. This may not be true for everyone. There is definitely more work.

The important thing is that people do self-host. Not necessarily that everyone does. But it should be possible.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town

Most of the #lights I put up for the holidays, or that I leave up all year round, are #LEDs. At one point I had more incandescent lights. Both types had problems with moisture. The first LED ones were built like the normal incandescent lights, as in you could remove the bulbs. The newer ones are sealed, and you can't replace an LED if it goes out. These seem to hold up a little better – with the non -sealed ones, the bulb leads could corrode away. The sealed ones, however, still had issues with moisture, even if they were more resilient.

I generally prefer the newer LED lights, but I still use incandescent here and there. If I'm not going to have them on a lot, the energy savings isn't an issue. And while modern LED lights look pretty nice, the incandescents have a different look. However, while corrosion afflicts both types, the incandescents, at least the ones I've been using, seem to have a lot of issues with bulbs going out.

The incandescent lights, the miniature ones that are run in series, have a small shunt filament that shorts them out if the bulb goes out so the whole string goes out. Sometimes, this fails, and all go out anyway, requiring more troubleshooting. I have a string of green lights I was going to put up for St. Patrick's Day, but found at least six or seven bulbs out – luckily they didn't take the whole string out. I usually handle this by cannibalizing an old string, basically taking one which is older and did go dead, and using it for replacement bulbs rather than trying to fix it. I did, and now it's up on my mantle and looks nice.

I've wondered what actually causes these bulbs to go out. Previously, this string had been up outside for one season. Really, just the month of March 2021. They're just inside now. I suspect it has something to do with a surge when they're turned on, but I'm not sure. This is a minor thing, but I'm curious about it nonetheless.

Find me at @toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town