Hopefully, it’s not a ripoff of some kind; if it is, I’ve got eBay policy on my side, and if it isn’t, I’ve got a great deal, and 20 seasons of Law & Order (the best one) to watch, commercial-free. I hesitated last time, and they sold out. Almost missed this one, too; there were 4 left last night, and only 1 this morning. That one now belongs to me! 

If I’d had to buy on Amazon, I’d be considerably poorer. Yikes! 

​I didn’t do anything really useful except for repotting my Strelitzia and Anthurium but it was so warm I found excuses to be outside. The frogs in the pond were out, enjoying the warmth, and I found Mini-Cletus. 

​Okay, so it’s only mid-January, but I didn’t want to wait and end up paying more, or not being able to get the seeds I wanted, so I bought some. Actually a lot, if you count the 5000 Scarlet Pumpernickel seeds for the MLBs. 

Wishing every one of the 200 million-ish European starlings in the US would simultaneously shit on Eugene Schieffelin’s grave. Stupid fucker. 

I couldn’t justify $100 for a Gear or whatever, and I didn’t want to completely cheap out on a $14 Cardboard, but this one was reasonably priced, got very good reviews, and (unfortunately) was out of stock, which I take as a good sign, long enough after Christmas for angry buyers to have left reviews. Now, if January 8th will just hurry up, I’ll be on safari in Africa, and diving the kelp forest in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. BBC and National Geographic have some good 360° content, and I think The Smithsonian does, too. I’m quite excited; I hope I won’t have dizziness problems as some people do!

Okay, so I’ve had the ballasts for ages, and should have done it long ago (preferably before the majority of the plants died), but I put it off because I wasn’t sure of what I was doing, and then put if off again when I discovered that the new ballast and the old one had a different number of wires. Anyway, I finally buckled down and did it yesterday, so the one lone (and very tough) cory that remains in the tank has light…lots of light.

When the first fixture went out, I thought I’d just got a bad one, so I bought another. That one lasted three months, and had no warranty whatsoever. I was going to buy an LED fixture, but even the least expensive (that seemed reliable) were $150 or more, so I decided to try to figure out what had gone wrong with the T5 fixtures. I had two, so I took one apart, and figured it was unlikely that the bulbs were simply burned out so quickly and without having flickered. That left one of: a) power, b) switch; or, c) ballast. Knowing the fixtures were cheap Chinese crap, I guessed the most likely culprit was the ballast. I hopped online and found a couple of reasonably priced ballasts that were UL-listed and from a reputable manufacturer. I’d never switched out a ballast before, but figured if others could do it, then so could I. I’d pulled out the old ballasts to look for markings that I might use to identify them and buy replacements, but once I saw them, I immediately decided not to buy the same ones. They didn’t even have a brand, and were literally held together with tape. I also took them apart to see whether I could find out why they had failed. The photo is a bit blurry, but I think the bulging capacitor is evident even with a bad photo. The other one was the same. For about five seconds, I considered just unsoldering and replacing the capacitor, but since I prefer my home to be un-burnt down, I went for entirely new ballasts.

New ballast beside the old. There appeared to be enough space along the length the fixture to accommodate the longer ballast, so I thought at first it would be fairly simple. Remove old ballast, marking wires, shorten wires where necessary, install new ballast. Alas, that was not to be; the old ballast had seven connections on the end, and the new one only six. Apparently, I was going to have to sort out some wiring. The wiring diagram for the new ballasts is printed right on the case, though, which was helpful.

After a bit of paying attention and following wires, I determined that one wire for each set of bulbs appeared to serve no purpose. I’d daresay it had on the old ballast, but the new ones’ wiring diagram didn’t seem to need it, so I’d guess it was required because the old ballasts were half-assed in some way. I carefully checked the wiring to make sure, and made sure that there was ground, and checked to see whether it would affect the LED moonlights (they’re direct-wired, which is why they’re always on) but everything matched up nicely except for the odd wire, so I just removed it.

One new ballast in place, ready for a fingers-crossed test! Red and yellow wires controlled the bulbs furthest from me, so I put in bulbs that I thought were most likely good, and gave it a shot.

It worked (HALLELUJAH!), so I was ready to remove old ballast #2.

New ballasts installed, wires shortened (and a splice in one where it was unavoidable). Fingers crossed again!

Let there be…light! I actually didn’t take a photo because four of those bulbs would be so bright that the camera lens would be greatly confused, and I might as well use a screenshot of a white background, but here’s everything put back together. Since I had the first fixture, and one of the LEDs was out in the second one (the one I fixed), and another was a bit dim, I scavenged and got four good LEDs. I put the cover back on, and put it back on the tank. The tank looks sooooooo bad that I did not take a photo, but amazingly, the swords in there are still alive, and there are baby swords that I can use in place of the crypts that died. I’m going to do water changes on that and Cliffie’s tank, which is overgrown with ludwegia, so I’ll put some cuttings in the 55. It’ll be a while before it’s fit to look at, but I’m very glad the light is fixed!

Since Boxing Day is only in the UK and Canada, I guess it must be Wrestling Day here. It was a holiday, since Christmas Day was on Sunday, but I decided to accomplish something because it was so warm, and the ice had melted off the pond. I finally cleaned out the non-hardy floating plants that I’d meant to get back in…oh, late October or early November. P was so sick then, though, that I had a lot more to do. Anyway, I netted them out, and then picked through everything to minimize collateral damage. I found lots of snails (pond and two kinds of rams), scuds, damselfly larvae, and half a dozen bullfrog tadpoles. I do not anticipate a shortage of bullfrogs in 2017.

I startled Cletus when I first started, so I know he’s still around, but I was rather shocked to realize that as I was scooping, I caught something a whole lot larger than a tadpole along with the plant matter…I caught Bertha!

She’s a big girl, and I’m sure she’s responsible for at least some of the tadpoles I found. Thankfully, it was cool enough that she was sluggish, and even then, she wasn’t really easy to catch. I made sure she got safely back in her pond.

I’m sure the pond’s inhabitants weren’t happy I cleared out all that stuff, but I really didn’t have a choice. Frozen, it wouldn’t be really harmful, but once it thawed in spring, it would make a hell of a mess of the water, and the water quality, so it had to go. There’s enough gunk on the bottom that they’ll be able to sleep the rest of the winter in (relative…it’s winter) comfort.

I didn’t take many pictures this year, but Christmas was fun, especially since P wasn’t so sick this year as he was last year.

Crismess tree with PWRESENTS (including giant 92 lb box for P) on Christmas Eve.

92 lb box contained the official Gradge Recliner. I moved some of my stored clothes/shoes out of the way to make room for it.

Meets with his approval.

Also Bulky’s. Emperor of the Gradge with his Minion.

I got lots of gardening stuff, a book on clothing care/how to dress well, treats, a ceiling fan, and a Raspberry Pi. Hard to believe this little thing is a functioning computer.

My Pi in its case.

I got a 128 GB card with it because I’m not 100% sure what it’s going to be. It’s connected to my TV, so probably either media or retro games, or both. Might end up dual-booting, so I wanted lots of space. For now, I just put Raspian on it.

Up and running, connected to Wifi.

Installing RetroPie. I eventually want to play NES Dragon Warrior on it.

I may have forgot to take pwresent-opening pictures, but P got one. This is me, opening my Pi.

P thought that Sling TV would work to get rid of our giant cable bill. It won’t, but the only way to find out would be to try, so I signed up for a month. I had a freebie from Walmart for 2 months, but then I saw the Roku  Stick offer. Since I’d rather have something I can keep, I went with that instead of the two free months. A Roku Stick is $40, and would allow me to watch Amazon on my smart TV, so worth the $25 even if we didn’t keep Sling TV. 

P decided Sling wouldn’t work, but all was not lost because I still had a Roku Stick on the way…I thought. I received the package today, but I didn’t know what it was because it was box too heavy for a USB stick. That’s because it wasn’t one. This is what I got. 

Not the most expensive Roku, but more than good enough. Just for fun, I checked the price difference. 

I’ll have to remember to cancel Sling TV (unless I decide I’ll use it even if he doesn’t), but it was a nice surprise to get thus when the streaming stick would have been fine. 

I knew that the filling Dr. M had put in a bicuspid had fallen out, but considering he did it 10 years ago, and it didn’t hurt, I wasn’t alarmed. P was going to make an appointment with Dr. M, but he was busy and forgot. I wasn’t in any pain, and I forgot. Once it started to twinge off and on, I put a little piece of that temporary filling stuff over it and went about my business. By last Friday afternoon, it was really irritating me; not exactly hurting, but something was obviously going on. By Friday night, it was just plain hurting. Desperate for sleep, I soaked a full-size cotton ball in clove oil and stuffed it in my cheek. I finally did get to sleep.

Saturday morning, I awoke with my stupid tennis elbow hurting, a headache, and my tooth hurt, plus I had a sore throat from the goddamned clove oil. I took a couple of ibuprofen, and the headache went away, but the toothache still hurt, and it felt like my jaw was stiff.

Sunday. Ohhhhhh, Sunday. My elbow felt better, I think, or at least I didn’t notice it between the raging pain in my jaw, and the fucking migraine I had the instant I woke up. My jaw was really starting to swell. I knew better than to eat or drink anything because just the smell of coffee was making me nauseous, and I couldn’t stand the smell of the ice bag I had to keep on my head, but not eating didn’t help because I kept throwing up anyway. As soon as the urgent care place opened, P drove me there. They gave me a shot of Toradol, a shot of Benadryl, and those little dissolve-y pills for nausea (I threw those up, too). Once the Toradol kicked in, I felt better, and slept for about 4.5 hours.

When I awoke Sunday afternoon, my migraine was gone, but my jaw was even more swollen, and it hurt. Heat didn’t help, ice didn’t help; not clove oil, not salt, not brushing my teeth, not mouthwash…nothing helped. P said he’d start calling dentists first thing Monday morning, and hopefully he’d find one who could see me ASAP. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go to work, so I didn’t care when or where the appointment was; I just wanted the pain and pressure to STOP! He did find a dentist, and made an appointment for me to go right in. I threw on clothes, decided I didn’t give a shit how my hair looked, and jumped in the car.

The dentist was very nice; he took X-rays, and said that although I had all of the symptoms of abscess, the X-ray didn’t show it, and since the swelling was so bad, he was concerned and wanted me to see an oral surgeon. He made me an appointment for Tuesday morning in MtV, and in the meantime, he drilled a “pressure release hole” in the tooth to help with the pain, and he gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I went to WM to fill that, and pick up the prescriptions for naproxen, chlorahexidine mouth rinse, Imitrex, and some anti-nausea pills that the NP had called in on Sunday. Drugs in hand, I went home to try to get some sleep, crossing my fingers that they’d be able to help me the next day.

P drove me to the Tuesday appointment; we didn’t know what they were going to do, or what anaesthetic I might get, so he dropped me off and went to work, then picked me up when I was done. The surgeon’s assistant asked me whether I wanted nitrous. It cost an extra $89, so I was going to refuse, but she asked whether I was nervous, or had a tendency to flinch, and since even barely touching my jaw hurt, I said, “I’m probably going to flinch.” She said she wasn’t telling me what to do, but she’d recommend the nitrous because, “He’s not going to like that.” At that point, I guessed that the oral surgeon I’d never even met was going to be a horse’s ass. I was not wrong.

The nitrous kept me calm, and it was a good thing, because even with it, he was abrupt, rough, and spoke little. He gave me a novocaine shot that hurt (no sissy benzocaine gel for me!) and the needle was in my jaw before I even knew what was causing the pain because he gave me no warning. Didn’t tell me what he was going to do, or when, or anything. I’m sure that as far as he was concerned, my name was “21” which was the tooth number he was working on. He unceremoniously sliced my gums because he said the local wouldn’t work if there was a lot of infection, but a little warning might have been nice; all I saw was a flash of silver that I assume was a scalpel, then he told his assistant to suction. Jesus! Once I was numb, he came back, yanked out the tooth I’d decided wasn’t worth trying to save with a root canal and crown (too expensive for a “maybe”), again, with absolutely no warning, then equally as abruptly, sliced my gum again, (painfully) stuffed a little rubber thing in that I later discovered was a surgical drain, and put in a couple of stitches to hold it in place. Horrible experience, and then I found out that I’d have to come back on Thursday at 8:30 to have the drain removed. Wasn’t looking forward to that at all.

My jaw hurt a little after the novocain wore off, but he gave me hydrocodone for pain (didn’t really need it, but took one on Tuesday night, just to make sure I could sleep for work the next morning), and the swelling went down nicely. This morning, I went to have the drain removed, which took literally 15 seconds (snip the stitches, pull out the rubber thing…done!) and he was marginally less unpleasant. He’s still a horse’s ass, but I’m told he’s one of the best oral surgeons in the state, so I guess that’s why his office is full even though he’s so unpleasant. Anyway, I’m almost back to normal; the swelling is barely noticeable, and in a couple of days, I should be good as new. I’ll take all of my antibiotics because I always do, but I don’t think I will need anything for pain because all I have now is mild discomfort and some stiffness that’s probably to be expected after nearly a week of combined pain and trauma!

I made a collage…

I took this with the little endoscope that attaches to my phone. Poor resolution, and it was hard getting it in place and hitting the button on my phone with only one hand, but hopefully the only time I’ll ever have a surgical drain in my jaw, so I wanted a picture of some sort.