Category: Personal

Posted on
Aug 9, 2021

Roomba + Weather + Fountain Pens & Inks

About 3 months ago I filled in a website usability test at my local energy company’s website. I never win anything so I had forgotten all about it until when in early June I got an e-mail that I had won their main prize: a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner!

I’ve now been the proud owner of a Roomba for almost 2 months and it’s such a life saver 😀 I’ve always loathed vacuuming, and never did it weekly like you’re supposed to at least. But especially since I got sick and became a spoonie with daily exhaustion and pain, vacuuming became a really hard task for me because it takes so much of my energy, and makes my chronic migraine worse (there’s something about the arm motions and the back/head posture of vacuuming that aggravates my chronic head pain) and so it went down to bottom of things I need to do when I realized I can’t do everything as often as I used to do them I was healthy. But now with the Roomba I can get my floors vacuumed every week, or even more often if needed :mrgreen: I’d always been doubtful about Roombas but after just a few weeks I can’t imagine my life without one now 😀 The Roomba is maybe the best gift I’ve ever gotten, it’s that good!

Now I can’t say I never win anything either 😉 

Also in other happy news – looks like the heatwave is really over! It’s been two weeks now of 18-24 degrees (Celcius) and lately it’s rained quite a bit, and it promises more of the same for the next 10 days at least. I’m happy :mrgreen:  Weird how 24 degrees has felt relatively cool now, it used to be way too hot for me. I guess this summer calibrated my hot-o-meter somewhat.

Finally was able to buy the TWSBI Eco Smoke Rose Gold. I’ve been salivating after it since it was released earlier this year. It was really difficult to decide what nib to get. I like M(edium) nibs the best so far, but I also got one Eco in B(road) and I’ve been liking that more and more this year. So I decided to go with a B nib for the Smoke Rose Gold. Can’t wait to get it! Also bought some inks at the same time, mostly notably to me the Sailor Shikiori Yamadori. I got a sample of it, and fell in love with it immediately. It flows and writes perfectly, and I love the teal & burgundy sheen combo :mrgreen:  Teal is one of my favorite colors. Also got some J. Herbin cartridges in that order to use in my two Jinhao x750 pens.

Also got a blue Kaigelu 316A fountain pen on the way from esybuy on Etsy, heard a lot of good things about it and it looks so pretty in pictures. It’s shipped from China and the estimated delivery is in September-November. It’s already shipped so we’ll see how long it’ll take! The two PenBBS orders I done during COVID-19 took 4 weeks both, but TheWashiTapeShop.com order took only 2 weeks and all those shipped from China too. I’ve bought from esybuy once before but I can’t remember how long it took to get it – propably around 4 weeks because that’s what my orders usually take from China or USA to get to Finland, and I don’t remember there being anything unusual about that time.

One pen I’ll get at some point is the new TWSBI Swipe because sometimes I need a cartridge pen for ease of use when out and about and I love how TWSBIs write the most. I’m just not sure about the two colors available at the moment – the Smoke looks so much like Go and I don’t like the looks of the Gos, and the Prussian Blue isn’t among my favorite colors. I hope TWSBI will come out with other colors for Swipe, preferably soon!

The first fountain pen I ever bought was the EU version of Pilot Metropolitan (it and TWSBI Ecos are recced for beginners usually,) with an F(ine) nib, but turned out I hate the feel of that pen in my hand and that I like a wider nib. It wrote really well but I just didn’t like to use it. Luckily it didn’t go to waste though – I gave it to my Mom who’s now been using for about six months! I also gave her one of the little Tomoe River paper notebooks I made along with some blotting paper. She’s still on her first cartridge (Diamine Syrah) though because she mostly uses it to list the books she’s read this year. She says she used a similar pen but a dip one when she was a kid in school in the 1950s but never one with cartridges/converters. I’m trying to get her to use it for other things as well such as shopping lists etc. where it doesn’t matter if the paper isn’t that great.

Posted on
Jul 28, 2021

More Computer Woes (But Not Mine!)

Picture from Pixabay

So we ended up emergency going out and buying a new laptop for my Mom and her SO. She called me yesterday evening that their laptop was throwing up an errors, and eventually it wouldn’t boot at all. She managed to take a photo of the error one time, and googling lead me to the conclusion that – considering the laptop was going on 14 years old – its hard drive was dying. We’d already been talking about buying a new one for a couple of years because it was so slow and probably wouldn’t even be ab, and Mom said she didn’t like to use it because of that anymore, and that she’d like to be able to watch Yle Areena video web service (it’s all jerky and stopping entirely after a bit on the old laptop) on the computer because they don’t have a smart tv yet (she wants one of those too now). But her SO wasn’t keen on a new laptop because they use it so little. But hard drive dying  solved the problem, and now they have a shiny new Acer Aspire 5 that has Windows 10 on it and is Windows 11 ready and can run Yle Areena without any problems. Their old laptop had Linux Mint on it, and Mom wants it on the new one too (Windows gets on her nerves while Linux is smooth sailing once its all setup), but it took all the time and energy we had today just to make the Windows ready for them so we happily left Linux Mint for the next time.

It was a good thing I’d already talked to them about needing a new laptop sooner rather than later, so Mom had been looking at them somewhat already and they were both mentally prepared for the idea already. I do all the installing and help a lot with the choosing when it comes to phones, televisions and computers for my Mom so I spent this afternoon installing Windows and getting it how we like it. I have to say that I love how fast the initial install is now – just only about 20-30 minutes and I can start setting all the custom programs up. What I don’t love is the need for the Microsoft account but I guess I can live with it, although my Mom hated it – luckily I remembered she has Skype so we were able to use that. The new laptop is an Acer Aspire 5 and 15”, their old one was 17,3” so it’ll take some getting used to having a smaller one. 

Now we only need to get my Mom a new phone – she dropped her Doro smartphone a few months ago and it’s never been right after that. Keeps turning off, or heating up. At first we thought we’d pick up Doro 8080 at the same time as the laptop, but then she decided that it’s too much mentally to get both a new laptop and a phone the same day, and also that she’d like to get it from the regular department store instead of a specialty store like the laptop. So we didn’t get one today, but I expect it’ll happen during August. She really into Doro, and want the fingerprint reader like I have in my Huawei, so Doro 8080 looks like it’ll be the next.

The heat wave is over for now 😀 and it rained a lot today 🙂 It’s so humid though my head didn’t like it, and it was made worse with the sudden need to go computer shopping and then getting it all in working order made my heart hurt worse because of the stress. Not sure if it’s gonna be a migraine attack, could go either way.

Posted on
Jul 23, 2021

The Friday Five for 23 July 2021


Picture from Pixabay. Because pretty.

Replies to this week’s questions at The Friday Five @ Dreamwidth.

1. What toys were popular when you were a kid?

Um, barbies? I’ve no idea! I don’t recall noticing toys that were popular, and wanting them… I myself had this doll that I called Mollamaija that was hugely important to me, but I never saw anyone else have it. Barbies are the only toys I can remember seeing every family having. Even I had one! Although I almost never played with it.

Now thinking about it, I don’t remember what toys I played with, other than the two pistols my Dad made for me from wood because I loved playing Indians and cowboys, or cops and robbers, or other adventures where a gun was needed. What I do remember is that I, my best friend (a girl) and all the boys read comics… other girls didn’t read comics except for Aku Ankka (Donald Duck) which didn’t count as comics reading as far as I’m concerned. Comics are/were things like Tarzan, The X-Men, John Carter, Star Wars etc. etc. I also don’t remember wanting some particular toy in any particularly intense way. Hmm, I think I’ll have to ask Mom if she can remember if there were any toys I was really into.

2. What musicians were popular when you were a teenager?

Dingo, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, REM, Wham!, Paula Abdul, Laura Branigan (Self Cotrol only), New Kids On The Block, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Phil Collins, Bruce Springesteen, Whitesnake, Alice Cooper… there’s lot s and lots of others but these jumped first to my mind. Feels like I couldn’t turn the radio/tv on without one of them being played. Dingo was a Finnish band that was HUGE starting mid-80s

3. What unique personality traits do you think you have in common with others born around the same time as you?

A lot of us, around me at least, have experienced (and still are) unemployment a lot, and most of the people in my age bracket around me have had only poor paying part time or temp jobs. Just overall financial insecurity; a lot of us never made it to the level our parents are (even if they are only low/medium income) because steady jobs went away with the early 90s economic depression, made worse by emerging automatization and computerizing and right-wing politics. So we’ve had to find the meaning to our lives somewhere other than work, and value ourselves for other things than having a job, or what we can provide to an employer.

4. Do you think stereotypes about your generation are accurate?

I don’t know what the Gen X stereotypes are and can’t be bothered to google….

5. What do you admire about other generations?

I don’t admire any generation as a whole, only individuals such as my Grandma who went through the (Finnish) Winter War and Continuation War against Soviet Union around the same time as WW2 started. Or state leaders such as Churchill or Roosewelt without whom WW2 might have gone quite differently. Or individual people who give their time everyday helping others and you never hear about it in the news. I think mostly people do what they have to and what they can, with what they have.

Posted on
Jul 9, 2021

The Friday Five for 9 July 2021

Image from Pixabay. Because it’s pretty.

Answers to today’s questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/103077.html

1. What was your favorite past time in high school?

Well I only went to high school for three months before I dropped off (it was like peruskoulu/primary school (ages 7-15) which I loathed), and most of those months I was absent. But at that age my fave thing was talking about Star Trek and other scifi with my best friend. Favorite thing I did when I was alone though was reading, and it still is.

2. What is your all time favorite board game/card game?

I’m not interested in these and haven’t played in 30+ years. When I was a kid I remember we played as a family occasionally and it was fun enough, but I’ve no idea about the names of the games.

3. What is the last movie you saw at the theatre and what did you think of it?

I’m not sure… I think maybe The Queen? IMDB says it came out in 2007 here in Finland. I went to see it with my Mom – we’re both huge Helen Mirren fans! I liked it because Helen Mirren and she’s always awesome.

4. What is something (no matter what kind of mood you’re in) that makes you happy the moment you do it, see it, or hear it?

Do – painting, and bookbinding, or when I’m writing and get into the zone. See – our Beagle when she was alive, all worries fell off me the moment I saw her, she was always so happy to see me. It was just a total mutual love fest 😀 I still get happy whenever I see a Beagle when I’m out and about. Hear – certain music: my favorite tracks from The Piano and The Last Of The Mohicans soundtracks, pitter patter of rain outside.

5. Do you believe that crop circles are made by human or alien?

I want to believe they’re alien, but I don’t think I can bring myself to fully believe that.

Posted on
Jul 2, 2021

Random Thoughts

Picture from Pixabay. Because I miss winter and wolves are beautiful.

  • Heatwave: please bugger off. I promise you I won’t mind! 😯 
  • I tend to think black ink is boring, but my Lamy AL-Star Turmaline, with an M nib, and Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi are a lovely combination! I my favorite black so far out of all the ones I’ve tried. Lovely to write with and looks great. :mrgreen:  I love all but one of Iroshizuku inks I’ve tried so far: Kosumosu, Momiji, Yama-budo, Murasaki-shikibu, Kon-peki and Take-sumi. Tsuki-yo I didn’t like the color but it wrote just as well as the others. I’ve got the 15ml bottles of Yama-budo, Momiji and Kon-peki, and I’m salivating to get also Kosumosu and Murasaki-shikibu. I also got samples of Ku-jaku and Syo-ro, but haven’t tried them yet. All the Iroshizuku inks I’ve tried behave beautifully, so well that I want to try all of them – even colors I’m usually not crazy about. I’d love to get the bigger bottles, but they’re expensive as far as I’m concerned and anyway, too big for me – they’d propably last me a life time just them. So I’m very happy that penstore.fi sells the little bottles :mrgreen: 
  • Chocolate mud cake (the Finnish/Swedish version which is sticky and runny in the middle), fresh whipped cream and fresh strawberries… delish 😀 
  • A few weeks ago I had eight library books home I hadn’t read. I feel like I haven’t been reading that much lately, but now I somehow have only two books I haven’t started yet, and only four all in all, two of which are actually new that I just got them this week. Have I been stealth reading or what because I really don’t feel like I’ve read four books in the last couple of weeks but I checked the summaries and rembered all of them, so clearly I have?!