Status Report for March, 2024
Apr. 1st, 2025 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tuftearsMarch was kind of a distracted month. So many crazy things happening in the real world.
I have been continuing the Starforged campaign with several of my friends! They're being much better about meeting up on Caturday evenings for the games than they were for FF14. I guess it helps that it's not an exacting test of reflexes and learned responses to various contrived dungeon fights.
Much of March was taken up by working on the Cursed Project. I got the first novelette pretty much done, then after reviewing the state of the world and how comfortable/safe I felt about trying to release any of this, I decided to drop it and get back to working on Alien Tastes, which is now in its 6th draft. I don't think working on it was a mistake per se, it helped me vent a little about Current Events (tm), and it's always good to get experience outlining and writing new things.
I did some digging into toaster oven repair, and even went into the process of trying to disassemble my Balmuda toaster, which wasn't closing properly. I couldn't really get at the mechanism I wanted to, but I did successfully reassemble it, and I also discovered that there was a fair amount of crud built up on the inside which might have been responsible for the door not closing properly. After scratching that out, it closed better than it has been, so that means I can keep on with it for a while longer, hopefully until some company out there makes a better steam toaster oven.
"What's so special about a steam toaster, Tufty?" you might ask. It's basically the best way to rehydrate bread from the freezer. Not as great as fresh bread that's been toasted, but it's noticeably moister on the inside. And almost no toaster ovens in the US support it.
But the Balmuda is $350 or so for a replacement... Which kind of stinks especially since it's not that great at other toaster oven tasks. The leading candidate for replacing it would be the Anova Precision Oven 2 at this moment, which is... $1200, and uses AI, probably of the ocean-boiling sort. And it doesn't support toasting bread as a 'first class' function so I'd have to work out appropriate programs. You can see why I'm not eager to jump into an inferior replacement.
There was a contretemps when half of my GFCI outlets in the kitchen went out. Turns out that you need to press the reset button very hard to get it to reset. My older brother came over and fixed the problem in like 30 seconds. x.x
I did some thinking on possible projects after putting the Cursed Project away, but for now... It's gonna be Alien Tastes v6, I think.
I should try and schedule a physical checkup soon!
Still have to finish up with Timecrossed Engineer. I want to reread it at least, and finalized the cover.
My older bro has purchased a house and is in the process of moving, so soon we will be in the process of moving my aunts into his current house so they can empty out my local aunt's house.
I have been continuing the Starforged campaign with several of my friends! They're being much better about meeting up on Caturday evenings for the games than they were for FF14. I guess it helps that it's not an exacting test of reflexes and learned responses to various contrived dungeon fights.
Much of March was taken up by working on the Cursed Project. I got the first novelette pretty much done, then after reviewing the state of the world and how comfortable/safe I felt about trying to release any of this, I decided to drop it and get back to working on Alien Tastes, which is now in its 6th draft. I don't think working on it was a mistake per se, it helped me vent a little about Current Events (tm), and it's always good to get experience outlining and writing new things.
I did some digging into toaster oven repair, and even went into the process of trying to disassemble my Balmuda toaster, which wasn't closing properly. I couldn't really get at the mechanism I wanted to, but I did successfully reassemble it, and I also discovered that there was a fair amount of crud built up on the inside which might have been responsible for the door not closing properly. After scratching that out, it closed better than it has been, so that means I can keep on with it for a while longer, hopefully until some company out there makes a better steam toaster oven.
"What's so special about a steam toaster, Tufty?" you might ask. It's basically the best way to rehydrate bread from the freezer. Not as great as fresh bread that's been toasted, but it's noticeably moister on the inside. And almost no toaster ovens in the US support it.
But the Balmuda is $350 or so for a replacement... Which kind of stinks especially since it's not that great at other toaster oven tasks. The leading candidate for replacing it would be the Anova Precision Oven 2 at this moment, which is... $1200, and uses AI, probably of the ocean-boiling sort. And it doesn't support toasting bread as a 'first class' function so I'd have to work out appropriate programs. You can see why I'm not eager to jump into an inferior replacement.
There was a contretemps when half of my GFCI outlets in the kitchen went out. Turns out that you need to press the reset button very hard to get it to reset. My older brother came over and fixed the problem in like 30 seconds. x.x
I did some thinking on possible projects after putting the Cursed Project away, but for now... It's gonna be Alien Tastes v6, I think.
I should try and schedule a physical checkup soon!
Still have to finish up with Timecrossed Engineer. I want to reread it at least, and finalized the cover.
My older bro has purchased a house and is in the process of moving, so soon we will be in the process of moving my aunts into his current house so they can empty out my local aunt's house.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-02 04:26 pm (UTC)That is a pricey toaster oven! Goodness. At that point, it might be better to get a bread machine and make fresh bread every time one wants it. :D
I was just talking to a friend yesterday about the woes of reheating frozen bagels (he bakes them in the oven and says it works better than a toaster, but I'm sure not as well as a steam toaster), so I relate to the problem.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-02 07:17 pm (UTC)I've never tried bagels in this toaster, but I imagine that steaming them might work for rehydrating them to be nice and soft, same as for toast.