Tag: updates

Mid Summer Update 2026

I find it difficult to write which is why I don’t post often besides the monthly BAJOAT updates on this website. Sometimes I’ll have an idea for a post but by the time I get to write about it that idea isn’t as compelling or I forgot to document parts of a project so anything I write won’t do it justice so I don’t. My perfectionism is really procrastination in the end and has been my life long battle. It’s something I’m aware of and working on – hence this post apropos the bits and pieces of things that have been going on with me this summer that I’m forcing myself to write about.

Shoe Retirement

I’ve been wearing a pair of Brooks Glycerin 15 running shoes when I walk or run to do errands for the last 2 years. I got them for free from my mom who had in turn received them from an elderly person who was getting a new pair of shoes. That elderly man died about 6 months later by which time I had not yet even tried them on. So I always referred to them as my “Dead Man’s Shoes”. They were in used but good condition still and I had never had a pair of Brooks shoes before. They quickly became my favorite pair. They were extremely comfortable and kept cool especially on hot summer days which is important as my feet sweat a lot. They originally retailed at $150 ($175 after tax thereabouts) which explains my lack of experience in regards to Brooks. Overall they were a great pair of shoes that have survived multiple washes and hundreds of miles so if I ever find a similar pair for under $40 (or in the garbage ideally) I will definitely go for that brand again. Sadly they died about a week ago when I finally wore holes (cracks) in both shoes from use.

RIP Brooks Glycerin 15 20XX to mid 2026
Yes I did remove, wash and keep the laces.
Simultaneous cracks in the soles spelled the end for them.

New “Tablet”

My routine every night before I fall asleep is to watch videos on Youtube (or some similar streaming APP). When the tablet starts slipping out of my grip I know it’s time for bed. Since January of 2021 I’ve been using a Lenovo Smart Tab M10 that I paid $150.80 ($173.38) for that purpose.

I got my use out of it and we said our goodbyes on Ebay.

It fit my needs until about 8 months ago when it really began to show its age. It came with 2GB of ram which is just not enough to run even current mundane applications under Android 9 without substantial lag. It only had 32GB of storage which meant I couldn’t install many programs natively without triggering storage full warnings and had to force developer mode so I could transfer them to an external SD card (but even then problems persisted). The last straw was that the battery started showing inaccurate readings in regards to charging/capacity and would sometimes drop suddenly from 30-50% remaining to 3% then immediately shutdown thereafter. It’s a telltale sign that the battery is going bad so I knew I would have to find a replacement tablet soon.

I had been shopping around for a few months for a new tablet but there were just no deals that I could find. With the RAM and storage price surges due to A.I. driven demand even lowered spec consumer grade units (without what I consider significant performance upgrades over what I currently had) were outrageously priced.

What finally happened was that I impulsively purchased a Google Pixel 6 pro that was listed on Ebay as untested for $70 after shipping. It was a terrible idea in retrospect since so many things can go wrong with used cellphones besides hardware issues but I had convinced myself I could fix whatever problems the phone had. Plus I was just sick of shopping and it was clear tablets were nowhere to be had anyway.

The impulse purchase

New Kid On The Block

As it turns out the problem with the Google Pixel 6 pro I received was that it had a broken screen and digitizer. Luckily it wasn’t account locked too so I ordered a replacement screen from Amazon to get it functional again. I am now confident that it will the last cell phone screen that I will ever replace because it was a nightmare. The flatflex ribbon cable on the replacement screen was about 1CM shorter that the OEM one so it was almost impossible to install it properly to the motherboard without ripping the cable off the replacement screen. In addition to that you had to secure the cable to the motherboard with 2 micro screws and I managed to drop one on the ground while doing the installation. It took 15 minutes to find that damn screw and in the process I almost had a mental breakdown. When the screen was actually installed I had to secure it to the phone body with some black glue that would create a waterproof membrane while sticking it down. The glue oozed absolutely everywhere and whatever membrane that was supposed to form when it dried sadly did not occur. Luckily the case hides the botched job so you can’t notice it.

Cons & Pros of my new Google Pixel 6 Pro

Cons

  1. The replacement screen I installed did work however it had a greenish tint instead of the proper deep black that was supposed to be displayed on a dark screen. I was thoroughly pissed off but the Amazon seller ended up refunding me the money I paid for the replacement screen because of the error.
  2. I messed up the screen installation so the phone itself isn’t pretty but the case hides it.
  3. It took a few hours to get used to going from a 10″ screen to 6″7 plus the green tint was bothersome at first but now I hardly notice.

Pros

  1. It was inexpensive. The Google Pixel 6 Pro ended up costing me $83 ($70 for the phone and $13 for the case).
  2. Although OS updates/upgrades will end in October 2026 it’s been upgraded to Android 17 which is significantly newer than the Android 9 I had been using on my Lenovo Tablet.
  3. Performance is noticeably better than the Lenovo M10. It has snappy performance and 12GB of Ram which is more than all but the highest end tablets currently on the market. It runs everything I’ve thrown at it without any lag or stutter. It also has 128GB of storage which means I won’t have the bottleneck issues with the OS anymore.
  4. The battery it came with was used but it had a large original capacity (5003 mAh) and I can still get a full day with light use or 8+ hours of streaming on it.
  5. The camera is fantastic (although irrelevant as it’s just a media streaming device currently). This means however that it can serve as a backup for my Google Pixel 6a if something ever happens to it.

Overall I’m happy with the outcome but the lesson to be learned here is that I got lucky and things could have gone wrong any number of ways.

Miscellaneous

Here is where I’m going to do the piddling updates that don’t require longer explanations.

  • It’s been a little over a year that I’ve been using my Google Pixel 6a and it’s a fantastic phone. I should have gotten a smart phone long ago because it’s proved to be an invaluable tool but my stubbornness not to have a phone got the best of me again.
  • The MAXWISDOM Model RS320 electric shaver purchased for $16 in October is still working fine. I cleaned the rotary heads this week because they had begun to clog up and it shaves like new again. It’s been 10 months so the cost per month is down to $1.60
  • I’m still using the Lenovo R500 and it’s had no issues besides being bulky. Linux Mint runs great on it and I’ve not run into any performance issues with the things I’ve done on it. I was hoping to upgrade at some point but things are a mess right now in the used computer market.

Anyway that’s it. Until next time.

This and That September 2025

September has been busy. Work has started back in earnest so the days pass fast. A few things have happened to me this month that I thought were worth mentioning for the blog.

My electric razor broke at the beginning of the month. I had written about buying it at a thrift store back in December 2024 (HERE). It was a Remington Titanium R450 and I had been using it a little under a year. I had hoped that the blades would dull so I could test whether it was possible to hone them to get more life out of the shave head but alas it was not to be. One of the posts that held a gear to one of the 3 rotary mechanisms broke.

The broken post

The way the razor was designed the black lever moves the gear so it drives the clipper when you press the button on the back of the razor. The problem is that over time the movement wears the post and it eventually breaks. Mostly due to plastic on plastic wear but also partly because the plastic had become brittle with age. I tried gluing it back but because of how thin the plastic had become any force whatsoever just snapped the post again at the break.

My ill fated attempt to glue the broken post back in place

It would be an easy fix if Remington sold replacement pieces for their products but these rotary shavers were not meant to be serviced. It’s one more example of planned obsolescence. Part of me wanted to keep the now broken razor for pieces so that I could fix the same or a similar model if I eventually came across another broken one. Realistically however this is a dangerous attitude to adopt as you can quickly become a hoarder without realizing it. Most things have value to someone somewhere sometime but you have to be able to make decisions given the constraints (space) you live with. Sometimes garbage is just garbage.

Post operation giving up

So I just ended up cutting out the batteries to recycle and binned the razor. At least I understand the fault, why it happened and how it did. Failure can be useful if you can learn from it. I have a backup rotary razor that I purchased from a thrift store in March 2025 (HERE) that I could be using but have gone with another alternative for the time being which I will discuss in a future entry.

Since I started reading again this summer I’ve been trying to keep doing it but I only managed to read 1 novel in September. It was Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.

The only book I read in September

I enjoy reading Stephen King but was disappointed by Mr. Mercedes. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t his usual supernatural horror fare and was a more realistic “detective” type story. It wasn’t bad by any means but I don’t usually read detective type books. If I ever find the sequels I’ll read them as well just because it’s Stephen King.

I also managed to completely break my first trash picker this month hauling some chandeliers out of a dumpster.

I had already broken the claw part of the picker and had repaired it but the weight of the light fixtures bent the aluminum body and snapped the jaw again. It’s my fault for using the tool in a way that it wasn’t meant to be but I am still utterly disappointed by the quality of all the trash pickers you can buy online. I realize the only way I’ll ever get something of quality to use is by making one myself. Until then I’ll muddle by using what’s available to purchase.

I realize that I haven’t documented much of what I find or fix in the trash. I don’t because it can sometimes take time to get to a final conclusion and I didn’t feel like any money I made in this fashion would be appropriate to be included in my Becoming A Jack Of All Trades posts. Maybe I should though? It’s something I’ll have to consider.