Odaban Continued, And Other Things
So a couple of applications later and my hands aren't completely dry yet, but they do seem to be dryer overall. I'm not really seeing the ridiculously sopping, dripping wet hand problems that I have every now and then (actually, probably more frequently than that, but it's usually short of daily). Then again, I haven't really put them through a serious test, like being out in the sun and, I dunno, folding origami or doing something else with my hands that requires some dryness. I guess I'll keep applying until things seem to be "controlled," and then start experimenting with application frequencies after that point. All the same, I'm kind of hopeful, because my hands haven't swelled yet and so far it hasn't actually stung to apply it at all. It feels like spraying alcohol on your hands, so oddly cool with maybe a little tingliness where your skin gets beat up (like fingertips, at least after climbing), but that's about the extent of it.
I'm a little amused by the "under no circumstances should this be applied during the day" portion of the instructions. Like the Odaban spray bottle is some kind of little vampire that can't bear to be in the sunlight? It's something I'm supposed to spray on as the last thing before bed and then make sure to wash my hands in the morning, although I suspect by then I've smeared whatever hasn't sunk into the skin all over everything because I sleep like a thrashing, beached whale. With grabby handses.
In other news, I'm trying out some tart cherry juice Kerry gave me that supposedly helps with sleep. It seems to be helping me stay asleep better so far (it's been almost a week), which after looking it up briefly to the tune of reading maybe half an article about the claims of tart cherry juice (gotta be the tart ones, not the normal ones), seems to jive with the findings they've made. I was hoping it might help me fall asleep faster, too, but I'm sure there are other things I can try to make that work. Really, it's a shame that regular cherries don't do this, because I've been eating those on a daily basis now that they're in season (or at least on sale). I may have a go at trying to make homemade maraschino cherries, even. I want to eat all the cherries, though. There are never enough cherries.
One of my coworkers' father passed away a couple of weeks ago, and his father's brother had passed a couple of weeks before that, so he seems a little down :/ I really never know what to say to people when these things happen, and it seems like a pretty horrifying prospect from my perspective. It wasn't really an expected death, because he didn't have any particular thing going on with him, but apparently had some long-term health issues that made it "not surprising." Mostly I've been offering candy from my candy bucket and making sure to go on walks with him, since he's my usual walking buddy (particularly since the other two are gone now, one having retired and one having been laid off). It seems like he thinks it hasn't fully sunk in yet, so I'm hoping it's not going to get worse for him :(
The march of ants on my garden and my apartment continues apace, and there's not a whole lot I've been able to do to stop it :( The ants are everywhere, but sparsely, like they're still scouting for whatever it is they're looking for. But I really mean that they're everywhere, and it's getting a bit distressing. I'm worried they'll find something they like that isn't somehow secured and just converge on it in a writhing mass of ants. I'm also worried that the plants they're swarming outside are being aphid-farmed. Perhaps I should buy lady bugs? I think I saw some aphids on my blueberry bush's blueberries, too, which is making me worry more.
My watch band broke, and this is the first watch I've had in a very long time where the band is actually integrated into the case, as in you can't just replace the band. It's frustrating, because I hate throwing away something that works, so I have kinda patched it by sewing on some strips of an old bike tire tube. I have no idea if it will hold, but I've been looking at my wrist constantly over the last two days and coming to realize that in the absence of other technology to tell me this while I'm at work and away from my desk, I really rely upon my watch for both the time and date (and day of the week, sadly). It would appear that I'm pretty easily time-lost, which perhaps should not be surprising given my abysmal time management skills. Here's to hoping the patch will at least last as long as the watch battery does. (Now my wrist smells like rubber, sigh.)
My printer has also appeared to finally give up the ghost. It seems to give up and tell me to take it to a printer shop every once in a while, but generally comes back after a couple of days. This time it doesn't seem to be coming back, so I'm trying to clean out the print head, but reports of how long to let the thing dry before putting it back in vary greatly (anywhere from an hour to like 12). I guess I wasn't supposed to let water get on the electrical contacts, but... eh, I honestly don't think that's going to make or break the thing. Water is not THAT bad, and I'm going to have to scrub 'em with rubbing alcohol later anyhow, right? This printer isn't quite that old, I don't think, and it shouldn't need to be replaced so frequently. If it's really dead, it's going to be time to look for something with some longevity. The previous printer was an HP and this one's a Canon Pixma iP4700. If anyone knows of a really long-lasting printer that isn't enormous or costs a boatload of cash, I'm all ears--beginning to wonder if laser might be the way to go, even. Although color laser would probably be super expensive...
I've discovered a nest of baby robins above my parking space in the garage--you can see and hear the baby birds every so often, particularly when a parent comes by with the potential of food in its gullet (also how I know they're robins). Mr. Robin was giving me a particularly stern look and clearly trying to tell the kids to shut up when I noticed them first, but the little robins were having none of that and kept sticking their enormous heads and mouths out and making piteous little chirps to try and get Papa Robin to feed them. I've seen Mrs. Robin sitting on the nest at night, as well, casting nervous glances my way as I attempt to keep Sleipnir away from ground zero. They've been kind enough to set up shop on the pipes near the inner corner of my parking space, so as long as I don't pull in all the way and kind of park off to the side, I think there should be minimal splash damage to my car. I'm a little terrified of when the little robins decide to start learning to fly, and whether they will be doing so during a time when I am either pulling the car in or out, because it's going to be tough to see if anything is in the way before I drive off or pull in, and I really don't want to be a cause of death for any of the wee ones. I counted three of them while Papa Robin was doing the "nothing to see here" routine (to little avail, but kudos to the guy for trying). Part of me wants to try strapping a bird feeder or something to the cement column nearest me (probably on the side that faces the throughfare so it's not encouraging bombing of parked cars), but I guess I wonder if that's really good for the birds? Also not entirely sure my complex would appreciate it, and not certain I can truly pull it off, but maybe it might be possible to do something nice for them.
A coworker also left me a Daenerys Targaryen Funko Pop figurine on my desk this morning, which was a really nice way to start an otherwise kind of painful day (because right now, work is very un-fun). She goes well with my little Toothless, but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with them--I have no shelf space at home, which is where I'd like to have them, but I do have shelf space at work. A group of us (mostly the Halloween costuming group from last year, plus occasionally Vegan Crush) have been leaving gifts for each other of late because it's been pretty stressful for all of us. It's mostly little things, like when I found out that Debra and Jessica were only just then discovering Pocky (!), so of course I had to go find a less common flavor of Pocky to introduce to them (matcha), and tossed in some Koala's March. (I guess I'm kind of the candy fairy in the office, now that I think about it...) I wonder if I can find some Men's Pocky or Almond Crush... That might be a good next step in J-snack initiation. (The matcha Kit-Kats John brought in were pretty wild, I must say.)
I'm a little amused by the "under no circumstances should this be applied during the day" portion of the instructions. Like the Odaban spray bottle is some kind of little vampire that can't bear to be in the sunlight? It's something I'm supposed to spray on as the last thing before bed and then make sure to wash my hands in the morning, although I suspect by then I've smeared whatever hasn't sunk into the skin all over everything because I sleep like a thrashing, beached whale. With grabby handses.
In other news, I'm trying out some tart cherry juice Kerry gave me that supposedly helps with sleep. It seems to be helping me stay asleep better so far (it's been almost a week), which after looking it up briefly to the tune of reading maybe half an article about the claims of tart cherry juice (gotta be the tart ones, not the normal ones), seems to jive with the findings they've made. I was hoping it might help me fall asleep faster, too, but I'm sure there are other things I can try to make that work. Really, it's a shame that regular cherries don't do this, because I've been eating those on a daily basis now that they're in season (or at least on sale). I may have a go at trying to make homemade maraschino cherries, even. I want to eat all the cherries, though. There are never enough cherries.
One of my coworkers' father passed away a couple of weeks ago, and his father's brother had passed a couple of weeks before that, so he seems a little down :/ I really never know what to say to people when these things happen, and it seems like a pretty horrifying prospect from my perspective. It wasn't really an expected death, because he didn't have any particular thing going on with him, but apparently had some long-term health issues that made it "not surprising." Mostly I've been offering candy from my candy bucket and making sure to go on walks with him, since he's my usual walking buddy (particularly since the other two are gone now, one having retired and one having been laid off). It seems like he thinks it hasn't fully sunk in yet, so I'm hoping it's not going to get worse for him :(
The march of ants on my garden and my apartment continues apace, and there's not a whole lot I've been able to do to stop it :( The ants are everywhere, but sparsely, like they're still scouting for whatever it is they're looking for. But I really mean that they're everywhere, and it's getting a bit distressing. I'm worried they'll find something they like that isn't somehow secured and just converge on it in a writhing mass of ants. I'm also worried that the plants they're swarming outside are being aphid-farmed. Perhaps I should buy lady bugs? I think I saw some aphids on my blueberry bush's blueberries, too, which is making me worry more.
My watch band broke, and this is the first watch I've had in a very long time where the band is actually integrated into the case, as in you can't just replace the band. It's frustrating, because I hate throwing away something that works, so I have kinda patched it by sewing on some strips of an old bike tire tube. I have no idea if it will hold, but I've been looking at my wrist constantly over the last two days and coming to realize that in the absence of other technology to tell me this while I'm at work and away from my desk, I really rely upon my watch for both the time and date (and day of the week, sadly). It would appear that I'm pretty easily time-lost, which perhaps should not be surprising given my abysmal time management skills. Here's to hoping the patch will at least last as long as the watch battery does. (Now my wrist smells like rubber, sigh.)
My printer has also appeared to finally give up the ghost. It seems to give up and tell me to take it to a printer shop every once in a while, but generally comes back after a couple of days. This time it doesn't seem to be coming back, so I'm trying to clean out the print head, but reports of how long to let the thing dry before putting it back in vary greatly (anywhere from an hour to like 12). I guess I wasn't supposed to let water get on the electrical contacts, but... eh, I honestly don't think that's going to make or break the thing. Water is not THAT bad, and I'm going to have to scrub 'em with rubbing alcohol later anyhow, right? This printer isn't quite that old, I don't think, and it shouldn't need to be replaced so frequently. If it's really dead, it's going to be time to look for something with some longevity. The previous printer was an HP and this one's a Canon Pixma iP4700. If anyone knows of a really long-lasting printer that isn't enormous or costs a boatload of cash, I'm all ears--beginning to wonder if laser might be the way to go, even. Although color laser would probably be super expensive...
I've discovered a nest of baby robins above my parking space in the garage--you can see and hear the baby birds every so often, particularly when a parent comes by with the potential of food in its gullet (also how I know they're robins). Mr. Robin was giving me a particularly stern look and clearly trying to tell the kids to shut up when I noticed them first, but the little robins were having none of that and kept sticking their enormous heads and mouths out and making piteous little chirps to try and get Papa Robin to feed them. I've seen Mrs. Robin sitting on the nest at night, as well, casting nervous glances my way as I attempt to keep Sleipnir away from ground zero. They've been kind enough to set up shop on the pipes near the inner corner of my parking space, so as long as I don't pull in all the way and kind of park off to the side, I think there should be minimal splash damage to my car. I'm a little terrified of when the little robins decide to start learning to fly, and whether they will be doing so during a time when I am either pulling the car in or out, because it's going to be tough to see if anything is in the way before I drive off or pull in, and I really don't want to be a cause of death for any of the wee ones. I counted three of them while Papa Robin was doing the "nothing to see here" routine (to little avail, but kudos to the guy for trying). Part of me wants to try strapping a bird feeder or something to the cement column nearest me (probably on the side that faces the throughfare so it's not encouraging bombing of parked cars), but I guess I wonder if that's really good for the birds? Also not entirely sure my complex would appreciate it, and not certain I can truly pull it off, but maybe it might be possible to do something nice for them.
A coworker also left me a Daenerys Targaryen Funko Pop figurine on my desk this morning, which was a really nice way to start an otherwise kind of painful day (because right now, work is very un-fun). She goes well with my little Toothless, but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with them--I have no shelf space at home, which is where I'd like to have them, but I do have shelf space at work. A group of us (mostly the Halloween costuming group from last year, plus occasionally Vegan Crush) have been leaving gifts for each other of late because it's been pretty stressful for all of us. It's mostly little things, like when I found out that Debra and Jessica were only just then discovering Pocky (!), so of course I had to go find a less common flavor of Pocky to introduce to them (matcha), and tossed in some Koala's March. (I guess I'm kind of the candy fairy in the office, now that I think about it...) I wonder if I can find some Men's Pocky or Almond Crush... That might be a good next step in J-snack initiation. (The matcha Kit-Kats John brought in were pretty wild, I must say.)