busybee fluffy rambles

House stuff

My house now has a new roof and gutters, and today a thing that was missed on the original work order for the gutters is getting done. The roofers also missed the awning over my external basement door, and hopefully that’ll get taken care of soon (although it’s a pretty low priority).

The solar panels are set to be reinstalled next week, which’ll be nice.

Because of the solar panel stuff the roof ended up costing around $3000 more to do, in addition to the $3000 that the solar company is charging for the removal/replacement, so yeah, I really wish I’d gotten the roof taken care of before this. It’s… unfortunate that things worked out this way. I could play the blame game all day but that’s not really worthwhile. Anyway things could have been a lot worse.

Vacuum robots

I got fed up with my Roomba so it is now banished to the basement. Now for the main floor I have a Roborock Q5+ Pro which I got on sale for $500, and oh wow is it so much better than the Roomba.

The software is way more reliable, it shows me in real time where the robot is (and during its first few cleaning passes I also got to watch it build the map in real time too!), its error messaging is much less frustrating, and it tends towards fail-safe operation, like if it gets slightly tangled on a cord it stops and asks for help, rather than yanking my laptop off the table or whatever.

It also has a mopping mode although I haven’t tried that yet, since that apparently needs to be set up manually (so it doesn’t try to mop carpets). So I’m not sure I’ll be using that functionality very much.

Oh, and it’s also way quieter and faster than the Roomba.

There are some minuses compared to the Roomba, though, like its LIDAR cluster makes its total height just enough that it can’t go under my coffee table, and it’s also physically a little wider so it doesn’t get into tight spaces or corners as easily. Also there are fewer vendors selling service parts for it and I’m not quite clear on how much the official service parts cost. It also doesn’t like doing my bathroom when the bath rug is in place, due to the fail-fast nature, although it’s not like the Roomba handled it well either.

Oh, and another fun little feature is its app has a direct remote-control thing, which I’d really wished the Roomba had sometimes (like if it managed to shut my bathroom door and wedge itself behind it, which happened a few times when I first got it).

Weirdly, even though it’s quieter than the Roomba, my cats seem to be scared about this new one all over again. I guess they don’t recognize that it’s the same sort of thing as the old thing.

Anyway, at some point I’ll get the Roomba to clean up the always-dirty floor in my basement although right now it seems to be sulking and unable to actually recharge reliably or connect to its terrible app, which is of course part of why I decided to replace it.

Choir

Our Saturday show (which was totally sold out) was amazing! It was also recorded and I can share the recording after today’s show, which is going to be streamed for those who can’t make it:

Also today’s show is only at about half capacity. Plenty of time to get tickets! Please do so. This show is important to me and I want as many people as possible to share in it.

Other music

I did some music for some game jam games but have otherwise not done a whole lot for Novembeat, and I’m fine with that. Both games (Snack Stacker and Pawmune) are a lot of fun and I think these games are going to be further developed! I’ll hopefully be making more music and sound for them.

At some point I also need to, like, work on these two backburnered albums that I keep on saying I’m going to work on.

Oh, and the revised basement layout has been just as amazing as I’d hoped for. My recording setup is so much more comfortable now.

I’m tempted to sell my Komplete Kontrol S88 mk1 (because it’s been end-of-lifed and was never that great of a keyboard to begin with, honestly) and find some other graded hammer action 88-key keyboard that works better for my needs. Most 88-key hammer-action keyboards use the same crappy Fatar keybed that I hate so much on the S88, and the main reason I got the S88 was to get aftertouch and pitch/modwheel controls… but I also now have an Osmose which I could be using for that instead. It seems silly to have a keyboard that I hate 99% of the time just so that I have slightly easier access to a function that I use 1% of the time.

So I’m considering going back to Casio, as I was always very happy with their Privia/PX keyboards. The Casio PX-S1100 is especially compelling, particularly because it also functions as a standalone stage piano and I could use that when gigging, in the unlikely event that it’s ever a thing in my life again. (It’s also nice to have a standalone digital piano for practicing on, of course, much more convenient than having to deal with all the fiddly bits in getting a software piano running.)

Finances

I had a meeting with my financial advisor the other day. He says that if I get disability, then that plus the passive investment income I get mean that I’ll be financially solvent indefinitely. Even without disability I’m in pretty good shape, too. It feels good to hear that, like, hey, maybe I really can just do what I want and not have to worry about getting An Job.

The thing is I do want to be working to some extent, just like, only on a part-time basis and for things that seem fun and interesting. Which doesn’t describe any of the jobs that I’m finding during my frequent job search activities. When I do get on disability I’m not going to be allowed to make over $1500/month on so-called “earned income” although passive income (e.g. royalties on digital album sales, etc.) are fine. I’ll need to find out where the line is drawn for hobby income (selling 3D prints and ceramics and comic collections and so on), though. Not that I’m expecting to ever make $1000/month on that stuff.

Art

On that note, CoCA is having a small pop-up sale on Thursday, December 7, from 5 PM — 9 PM at the CoCA gallery and I’ll be selling my urchin bowls as well as some other stuff. Please consider dropping by.

Health

Mentally I’m doing okay. I’m still having some anxiety and panic attacks (especially when driving) but I’m getting better at talking myself through them.

My new glasses arrived and the prism adjustment just made things worse. I ended up ordering some non-prism ones from Zenni so I can at least adjust to the new correction factors separately, and then have a followup appointment with my optometrist to try to get better prism adjustments. (Also Zenni let me return the prism-adjusted ones I’d previously bought from them, too.)

Physically I’ve been having a lot more joint pain lately, especially in my knees, and I’m using my cane a lot more. I need to get back into a regular exercise regimen. I’ve only used my new treadmill a few times, and the under-desk elliptical has mostly just been a comfy footrest and fidget thing rather than something I actively pedal on. Both are things I need to do better about.

Coffee

I made some cardamom syrup which has been an amazing addition to my lattés. I’m also finding that my preferred roast level is somewhere between City+ and Full City, which happens to be what I accidentally lucked into on my first few roasts. I’ll keep on doing my data collection for now but I’m pretty sure I’ve got things dialed in to where I want them.

Also now I’m using a small desk fan to cool my beans instead of taking them outside. It gives me much better control over the final roast and is a lot less hassle to deal with, since I can just put my collection colander on top of the fan and let it go for a little while. It also makes my kitchen smell even more amazing.