As a long time Nintendo fan since the NES, Switch 2 is the first Nintendo console (except Virtual Boy, I suppose) that I did not go out and purchase day 1. I still have no real interest.

I like physical carts and the idea that a cart is really just a license key to download a game is a no-go for me right from the start. $80 games. So heavily tied to the online account that any ban, accidental or otherwise, effectively bricks the console. No games that interst me (other than Metroid, which I just bought for Switch 1).

Add all that together and I don’t know if/when I will ever get a S2 at this point. Maybe in a few years second hand. We’ll see.

Robot. Always robot.

I have a kegerator that isn’t seeing much use as I don’t really get full kegs of beer anymore these days. We were buying cans of seltzer by the case and I figured I could just make my own. So I got a new 5 gallon keg for around $100 and some connectors and stuff. Got my co2 tank filled. Filled the keg with water and cranked the pressure up. After a day or two I had decently carbonated water. Pour a glass like you would a beer, add a little lemon or lime juice for flavor and boom. Seltzer. Been doing that a few years now. Between the co2 fills and the water from my tap it probably costs me $2-3 per 5 gallon “batch”. Compare that to $10-15 for a case of twenty four 12oz cans.

Great work! When I bought my house I bought some contractor packs of outlets, covers, and light switches. I went around and replaced all of the outlets and switches in the house. Took a few days but while I was doing it I write down which outlet or switch was powered by which circuit so now I have a fairly complete map of the electrical in the house. Totally worth it IMHO

If this article is any indication of the state of phsyical media, then I’d expect the next generation to simply not have it at all

https://gbatemp.net/threads/new-fiscal-report-shows-that-physical-game-sales-only-made-up-3-of-playstations-revenue.675322/

Nintendo is already flirting with this with game carts that are just license keys to download the game.

I started collecting DVD/BR again a year or so ago. Streaming services are no longer worth it for me, and I like the extras that come on discs. Thirft stores are a gold mine of cheap movies anf TV shows.

Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

Kind of like Ocean’s 11 in a fantasy setting with some of the best snarky dialogue I have ever read.

Yeah I bought it on GOG based purely on the hype. Mistake. I played maybe 10h, got throught the introductory areas and started the main game. I just couldn’t. I am not sure why it gets so much praise.

I bought a Zojirushi water boiler. It keeps up to 4L of water at any of 4 set temperatures ready to make tea at any time. I love it. It has a vacuum sealed inner tank so it doesn’t use much electricity to keep the water hot once it is up to temp. When it is getting low I just top it up. I let it go 24/7 and it has been amazing.

https://www.zojirushi.com/category/water_boilers_warmers/

I am reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I am about 2/3 through and so far I am not really getting it. I don’t dislike it and it is well written but I am not entirely sure what about it is making people rate it so high.

I think there is one. All the way at the bottom of the page I see a link for RSS and I was able to add it to my RSS reader. It looks like everything is there unless I am missing something.

John Scalzi, been a fan for a long time.

Kind of an obscure one but among my friend group who reads we are fans of Matthew Norman. It started with We’re All Damaged which we loved. They are beach reads but consistently fun.

Agree. I never cared much for the original FF VII. To be fair I am old enough where I started with the first one on NES, so VII was not my introduction to the series like it was for so many others.

I do really like remake though. I thought they did an excellent job with it.

I switched in the Windows 98/ME era, so quite some time ago. I was tired even then of Windows being an unstable mess. BSODs, headaches with DirectX and different versions, etc. I was/am mostly a console gamer so not being able to play games on my computer was less of an issue for me. So I tried then Red Hat linux which I scored some CD images of and never really looked back.

Played several games this year I liked.

Hollow Knight with the release of Silksong I figured I should probably finally play this. Great game and deserves the praise it gets. Didn’t get anywhere near 100% completion on it but I am OK with that

Strangers of Paradise played on PS5. Once I figured out the battle mechanic I fell into a rythem with this game and really liked it. Ended up getting the platinum for it because I wanted to keep playing.

Iron Meat finally got a chance to play this. Really fun if short contra style shooter game. Ticks all the right boxes.

Lately I have been playing some classic games and getting retro achievements for them. Fun way to experience my old favorites again with new challenges. I recently played Zelda LTTP and got all the RAs for it. Some fun challenges for the game

Honorable mentions: Cyber Shadow, Firewatch, Mario & Luigi: Brothership

Have you considered trying to repair it? Darkened screen sounds like failed LED lighting strips and those can be replaced. Watch a few videos on the subject to get an idea of what you are getting into. I did it on a vizio TV and it took me about an hour all told.

Try grilling it. Take your dough and use a silicone brush to cover one side with olive oil, slap it on the grill for 2-3 minutes, until the bottom is cooked and maybe starting to brown a bit. While that is happening, cover the top with OO. Once the bottom is cooked, flip the dough and add on your ingredients. Cook for maybe 5 minutes on medium to med-high heat. Until the bottom begins to char and the cheese is well melted. Serve!

I got a Kobo about a year ago (Libra Color) it is just great. The kobo store keeps having sales on books I want for $2 so as much as I intended to use the overdrive connectivity, I just keep buying books on it!

Haha I am doing the same thing! First garden, I have tomatoes, zuchini, and beans and every morning I am running outside like it is Christmas. There are like 100 flowers on the zuch but so far nothing and I am like “C’MON!”

Looks like you got one tho!

Thank you for the detailed response. I will keep in mind your first point for next year definitely. it was evident to me that the beans started and grew way faster than anything else I was planting so it sounds like it would make sense to plant them directly in the bed next time. Good tip.

It is the beginning of the season where I am. I only just put them in the ground ~10 days ago. The growing season has just begun. So no beans and they (hopefully) have not reached the end of their life cycle.

As I said in another post this is a newly built bed for this year, so the soil isn’t what I would call “mature” although from a gardening standpoint I am not sure what that means. I did not (foolishly?) combine the fresh raised bed mix soil with my existing, i just put it on top. Succeed or fail, I will leave the roots in the ground at the the season.

I do have plenty of wood ash. I have a wood burning stove and a bucket full of ash that I can easily add. How much do you recommend?

My watering schedule so far has been “whatever nature is doing”. For much of the week and a half or so that they have been in the ground it has been rainy and overcast. Only the last 2 or 3 days has it been sunny.

I appreciate your feedback.