Suspended Tasks

The screen is up, hanging and hinged and ready for viewing. I managed to reverse the whole thing when adding the projection surface, which required re-drilling the pins to mount it again. If I were going to build another PVC screen I’d use a different tensioning procedure. But I’m totally satisfied with this phase. The surface is smoothly tensioned and the hinge works well and it’s light and easy to move. Step next is to add ropes and pulleys so it can be stored overhead. And then some thinking about what the next phase looks like — a prototype for the gas springs? Some sort of simulation of the final size and speaker layout? Buying a new projector? Probably step now is to watch some movies and not work on the screen for a while.

I made progress on my cloud systems recently too. The storage cluster is up and running and secured, with the config is locked down. I haven’t re-spun it with production keys yet but I’m considering it done pending some usage testing. Next up is some sort of container host to use it. Probably a repo for containers to start with, and then maybe a voice server so I can turn off the old one. It wouldn’t hurt to have an auth and directory service either. And eventually mail, now that I’ve got all the freeloaders off my server. Lots of little things I can play with in their own little cgroups.

There’s lots of snow here. Even by non-Seattle standards there’s lots of snow — about 13 inches so far. And by Seattle standards there’s “people skiing in the roadway” amounts of snow. Usually it’s not cold here long enough for snow to stick — it’s not cold long enough for anything on the ground to get below freezing. But it’s been cold since the middle of last week and we’ve got lots of sticky wet snow. It makes me miss Dog; Dog would have been fun in the deep snow. The quiet that deep snow brings is nice; it slows the city and sucks in the sounds that are left. But I could do without the part where the local albedo is 0.8 ¹Estimated. I do like the part where snow covers the skylight in the shower – nice and dark – but it’s too bright everywhere else. instead of the usual 0.09.

I bought a ladder this week. I legit need one just to change lightbulbs in this place, but it’s a thing I’ve forever told myself I can’t have. It helps the avoidance that ladders expensive, since cost feels like a good excuse to not do something. There’s also the general way that I deny myself tools. I think mostly it’s just part of the belief system required to let me survive a childhood that involved chores on rotted ladders. Ladders must be too expensive because why else would we have this broken one? It’s better for me to do it than for Pete — they’re heavier and more likely to break this weak ladder. I can probably reach the gutter before I’m so high that a fall would break a bone (but I wish I had gloves so that wouldn’t cut my hand open when I grabbed the gutter). But I’m not 9 anymore and I don’t have to use a broken ladder to do some dangerous chore I am not really capable of. Instead I’ve got a shmancy one that folds up to under 6’ and folds out to 22’ and is brand new and strong enough to safely hold me. There are maybe still be dangerous chores to do with it, but no one is going to hurt me if I decide I am not capable of doing them safely.

I installed new lights and a dimmer in the kitchen too, just in time for the new screen. The kitchen lights have bothered me since I moved in but I kept putting off any changes in anticipation of a fancy, computer-controlled lighting setup in the future. That’s still the plan but I decided there could be an intermediate plan too, so I can have something better while that project cooks. Now the kitchen has 5K lights to match the rest of my life, and they’re capacitive droppers so I can dim them real low with cheap switches. Now. I can have low light in the kitchen, a thing I’ve been promising myself for a decade. I’m still anxious to get actually good lighting and controls in the house, but it’s well worth my time to have something decent in the mean time.

I’ve maybe found a new therapist. I at least got someone with a plausible backstory and current availability to respond and do a consultation with me. They don’t take my insurance, but they did have tolerable (and sometimes even good) responses to many of my complaints about other mental health care I’ve received. They’re on my calendar for a trial session next week.

I watched “Nobody’s Watching” (Netflix). It’s a Brazilian show about an angel-like person who discovers their institutional angel job is meaningless and no one is checking and life is random and meaningless. Or rather they discover that life is beautiful and tragic and that meaning comes from choices not authority. All the angels are redheads, god is a hamster and the subtitles are super lazy and rarely match the English dub. It’s cute and clever and there are only a few episodes so you definitely should if you get a chance.

Tomorrow is D&D. I think Monday is a drug day. A couple of local errands during the week, food and regular therapy, and then some time with Shanda for their birthday this weekend. Enough to keep me busy but hopefully a chill final week of my leave. I’d love to get the spare room cleared out and maybe move some furniture in the basement before I’m done, but I’m not gonna push. I’d rather waste away a little time than get everything on my checklist done.

ZiB

• 

• 

• 

• 

•