Month: July 2025

Mid Summer 2025 Update

Summer is about half over as far as I’m concerned. Every year from the end of June to the end of August I’m on a semi vacation with my family. This summer has been good compared to previous ones except for the weather that has been rainy and hot. I cannot tolerate the heat. I get cramps, headaches, and a litany of other ailments when the temperature hovers around 30C (or nearer to 40C with the humidex taken into account). It’s happened to me since I was a kid and my mom similarly has the same condition. The worst of these ailments however is something I call “scrambled egg brain” which is like a fog that falls over my mind making it difficult to do anything besides sitting, sweating and drinking lots of water in the A/C. The other part that sucks is that I cannot sleep at night because of the heat. I’m up at least 10 times and what sleep I do get is fractured. This combination of scrambled egg brain and lack of sleep leaves me like a zombie. The phrases “Do not operate heavy machinery” or “Do not make serious financial decisions” become especially important during this period of time.

It may seem dire but because of these issues I do get a lot of reading done during this time which is something I enjoy immensely and frankly don’t do enough of during the rest of the year. So far I’ve read 6 books this summer all by Dan Abnett. They are: The Founding – A Gaunt’s Ghosts omnibus (which collects the novels First and Only, Ghostmaker and Necropolis) and Eisenhorn – The Omnibus (which collects the novels Xenos, Malleus and Heretic.).

They are all science fiction novels set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This is my first experience with the Warhammer 40K universe as far as books are concerned and they were entertaining and easy reads. The only downside is that the follow up books are out of print in physical editions so it may take me some time to obtain copies that are reasonably priced to continue the story lines. But, that’s actually fine because I’m kind of sick of the whole grim wartorn 40K universe after all that reading anyway. It’s an ugly place that is better enjoyed in small doses.

Besides that I did get to visit an out of the way thrift store that I only go to about once a year. I was helping my neighbor take junk to the Eco-Center (a recycling center run by the city) and we stopped on the way back. I enjoy this particular thrift store but the prices of everything had gone up (Quelle Surprise!). They did not have much I needed but as I was at the cash to checkout I happened to notice a cardboard box on the shelf behind the register that said “Arduno” $15. I’m quite sure the cashier had no idea what it was when I asked to see it and as I opened the plain brown otherwise unmarked cardboard box I immediately added it to my purchase. So what did I get for $15?

Inside the box was an Arduino Starter Kit that was used but had all the components (and additional pieces) after I checked it more thoroughly when I got home. What sold me on the purchase however was when I skimmed it at the thrift store on the top of the inside box nestled inside an anti-static envelope was a Raspberry Pi Zero W with a 32 GB SD card.

Look what was hiding inside the Arduino Box
The solder joints on the pin headers are a mess that I will have to reflow.

I have always been interested in tinkering around with an Arduino but I couldn’t afford the $110-90 price tag that it was sold for. The Raspberry Pi Zero W usually runs between $15-25 for the board itself but If you add shipping and the rest of the components that it needs to function the cost goes up to the $50 range. Yet another price tag that I was just not willing to pay. I don’t really have any use for a Raspberry Pi Zero W (as it’s just an underpowered computer) but the novelty is there and it might be fun to tinker around with. Even if I ended up selling the Raspberry Pi Zero W on Ebay I would get my $15 back pretty easily which makes the whole purchase essentially free. You can’t beat that price (or flawed logic).

I’ve also been renting Mario & Luigi Brothership from my library which I’ve been playing for a few weeks now on my Nintendo Switch. I enjoy the Mario & Luigi RPG’s but this is one of the weaker entries unfortunately. It’s still enjoyable but nowhere as good as say Superstar Saga or Bowser’s Inside Story. I’m only about 1/2 way through though so maybe my opinion will change by the time I finish it sometime during what’s left of the summer.

That’s all for now

CatsGamesWhatever.

Learning Electronics has changed to Becoming A Jack Of All Trades.

I’m still planning on learning about electronics and electronics repair but things have changed for me in the last few months. I found myself doing general handyman or repair work more than anything electronic related. Which is weird because I do not consider myself to be particularly handy or skilled in this regard. As fate would have it though I’ve been thrown into situations that required these type of skills and I’ve found that I enjoy doing this type of work. So instead of being too narrow in my project I’m going to be expanding it to include other areas. To reflect the change in scope I’m now calling my project Becoming A Jack Of All Trades.

June was busy. Summer was upon us and with it came the revelers. More drinking means more cans. Over the course of June I raised $20.30 picking up cans & bottles. In addition I found $0.55 laying on the ground.

The Tools

The reason for the uptick in can & bottle money (in addition to the nice weather) was that I purchased a grabber from Aliexpress for $8.89.

I’m not thrilled with the grabber tool to be honest. It does not work well and is cheaply made but it has made it possible to pick up more stuff. It’s already paid for itself so I can’t complain too much. I plan on modifying it by improving the claw part with a more firm grasp (maybe if I find some rubber or silicon in the garbage). I thought about just using a broom handle with attached nail but I have to weigh the opinion of the people who see me collecting as well. If what I’m carrying looks like a weapon you don’t want to give them a reason to phone the police or hassle me in some other way. There’s no mistaking what a grabber tool is for so usually I am unbothered. When people see you rooting around in a recycle bin or dumpster their first instinct is to pretend you just don’t exist which is fine by me.

The second thing I bought in June was a Stanley Toolbox on clearance at Walmart for $8.05. It was the only one in a liquidation section without any packaging and was dirty. One of the workers at the self checkout had to manually enter the information into the cash register so I could buy it. I didn’t own a tool box but one of my cats started chewing on the shoe box I was using so my hand was forced in the matter. Now Grizzly just “juices” the box to put his scent on it.

The third thing I bought in June was a hammer. To show you how handy I am I actually do not own any tools (besides what I previously posted about) so when I started fixing things I had to borrow a neighbors. A hammer is a necessity when you’re doing general work I quickly found out. When I was placing an order at a thrift store near me I also happened upon a nice hammer for $5 so I bought it.

As it turns out it’s an Estwing hammer which are supposed to be well made. It’s in good shape besides some surface rust. As soon as I happen across some steel wool I’ll take it off.

Financial Summery for June 2025

Revenue

  1. Amount carried over from previous month: $1.11
  2. Cans/Bottles: $20.30
  3. Found Money $0.55

Total: $21.96

Expenses

  1. Grabber Tool: $8.89
  2. Stanley Toolbox $8.05
  3. Estwing Hammer $5.00

Total: $21.94

Summary

June was a good month. I raised more money than usual and I feel that I’ve found the “right” groove to be in as far as the project is concerned. I was feeling uncomfortable at how tightly I was locked in to just learning electronics. Now I have freedom to diversify and I feel better.