Toad frogs and snails: 'Tis the season...

Once it starts raining, they show up in force.

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Macro Polo sunglasses: Get them before they're gone.

Perhaps I could interest you in some Macro Polo sunglasses?

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My German heritage: Sauerkraut for the trifecta.

In your shopping trips to Marshalls and TJ Maxx, keep an eye out for Hainich products from Germany. The pickles are great. The beets are very good. But where to score some of their sauerkraut? That is the question...

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Outside

With occasional rain, it is once again possible to leave the shelter for brief excursions after the sun goes down.

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Mating season for snails.

Now that the first rains have fallen, it appears that this is mating season for snails. Tread carefully on the footpaths, my friends. You don't want to hear that sound: CRUNCH!!!

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Moving at a snail's pace...

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Equipment tragedy: Gerber Dime mini multi-tool pliers functionality lost.

There has been a very unfortunate event in the Conner household. My Gerber Dime mini multi-tool that I carry with me everywhere I go had a failure. I went to open the pliers, and a piece of metal snapped off. Pliers functionality is lost.

Time to send this photo to Gerber in order to give them a chance to make it right. In the meantime, I'll soldier on without the pliers. That still leaves me the package opener, scissors, and tweezers that I use quite often.

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A couple of snail sightings on a couple of night-time missions outside the shelter.

There were a couple of evenings where it was possible to be outside briefly. The first significant rain of the season may have activated the snails. I saw one of the biggest ones I've seen yet. Very impressive, albeit maybe not so much so from the photos below...

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No equipment retired before its time...

Never throw away a piece of equipment before its time, I always say. About a year ago, I lost the "1" and "2" keys in the upper left corner of the keyboard. No problem for the missing "1" and "2" because the Qosmio has an additional numeric keypad on the right side of the keyboard. But I can guarantee you that you will need the "@" symbol all the time for typing email addresses. And the "!" exclamation mark that I overuse in triplicate all the time was a frequent issue as well.

Good soldier that I try to be, I worked around the missing keys for as long as I could stand it. Cleaning under the broken keys changed nothing. So I took it to my computer guy at Terminal 21 mall. He confirmed that the only way to fix it was to replace the keyboard. China's supply chain came through for me, at a cost of US$30 for a replacement keyboard (backlit).

My computer guy swapped the keyboard for a charge of US$3.00. For a total of US$33.00, the Toshiba Qosmio is back to normal operation. And for whatever crazy reason or non-reason, that makes me very happy indeed.

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NTR (nothing to report): HOT!!!

In this period of time, the hottest season of the year, I have absolutely nothing to report. It is indeed hot. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar or a masochist.

For my vintage gear buddies: NATIONAL solid state TV.

It would have been nice to have a look inside this old NATIONAL solid state TV. Spotted in a hotel lobby the night we spent in a hotel because of a busted water main in the housing estate.

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