Not So Random Musings

   The battery in my Galaxy S8 started expanding causing my phone to split open at the seams. I didn't notice right away because the smartphone case made things look normal. I took it out of the case because I was having problems with the volume controls. I'd try to adjust the volume and the Bixby app would open. It's currently at the Smartphone Repair Center awaiting a new battery. The fingerprint sensor was unresponsive when I turned the phone in. I hope that this is temporary and it will be functional once the phone is fixed.

  This pic was taken with my Galaxy Tab a6 using the 15X macro lens. The mini is a Mega City 1 juve ganger I painted at the Gen Con Paint and Take a few years back.

  My Galaxy Tab a6 suffered from a similar problem a while back. The battery expanded and separated the screen from the tablet housing. It's back in working condition. I've configured this tablet mainly for email, music playing and web browsing. It only has 8Gb of internal memory so I can't put a lot of apps on it. A 64Gb SD card has been installed and the tablet is set to store music, photos and videos there. I also plan on using the tablet as a digital camera. I have an Aukey Ora 2-in-1 lens set I can use with it. It has a 120 degree 0.45X wide angle lens and a 15X macro lens. I originally bought the lens set to use with my Galaxy S8 but the case the phone is in prevents me from mounting the lens on the phone properly. The Tab a6 isn't in a case so the lenses can be used with it.

  I'm getting hit with unexpected bills lately. Aurora just sent a statement about me owing over $1,000. I have no idea what the bill is for since I haven't had any hospital visits since my hip surgery last February. Insurance might cover some of this. My smartphone battery crapping out is also unfortunate. I'm getting tired of these inopportune setbacks.

  My life is too damn boring. It's been nothing but home, work, home, work. Every once in a while I eat out with my parents. I'm going to have to look deeper into Netflix and HBO Max and see what they have to offer. I still need to catch up on Lucifer. I watched the first 2 seasons of Harley Quinn on HBO Max and there are many more DC animated movies there. I'd like to see the first season of Salem but it's on Prime video. Money's been tight and I haven't been getting a lot of hours at work. My availability is wide open. I can be scheduled at pretty much any time although I prefer early shifts. There have been some changes in personnel recently so I'm hoping this will lead to more hours.

Catching Up on Things

  Event sign up for Gen Con went poorly. I tried to sign in about 2 minutes before sign up went live and failed to get on right away. I didn't get on until 5 minutes past 11. While that's not much time, it put me far enough back in line for every event on my wish list to fill up. I did find get signed up for some other events though.
  Some more of my Kickstarter rewards have arrived. The Tower of Holding, Dice Coins, Bonus  Tracking Dice, Randice and Cthulhu Coin set are here. All the others, except the Mobius strip, have received their funds but aren't ready to ship yet. The Mobius Strip is still in the funding phase.
  I purchased a refurbished Dell Latitude e6320 laptop on eBay a short while back. This blog entry is being typed out on said laptop. The laptop came with a power cable and battery. I've added a Logitech M305 wireless mouse, Targus notebook chill mat and privacy screen, a Wenger laptop bag and a 2 USB 3.0 port ExpressCard to the laptop. I have a CooSkin TPU keyboard protector guard and locking notebook security cable coming in the mail eventually. I've been following their progress through the mail system by their tracking number. And I've received 2 laptop batteries and a Logitech C270 webcam from Amazon today. The battery that came with the laptop works but I don't think it holds power as well as it should.
  I decided to get a laptop instead of an Android tablet because a laptop is more versatile than a tablet. All my character sheets and .PDF gaming books have been moved onto the laptop and I plan to put the E-Tools D&D character creation software on it as well. The laptop has an SD card slot and I want to get an SD card installed in it and move the character sheets and gaming books there to save on hard drive space. I'm going to take the laptop with me to Gen Con so I can post video updates both here and on YouTube. Some of the content will be recorded on my Galaxy S8 and transferred to the laptop.
  My a1c is at 7.9 so it's improved somewhat but my creatinine levels have been running on the high side (1.45mg/dL). A referral has been put in for me to see a nephrologist regarding my kidneys. Back on Dec. 31st, 2014, my elevated creatinine level sent me to the hospital. I'm going to have to contact my nephrologist and orthopedic surgeon regarding my kidneys and hip surgery.

End of Summer Musings

  Gen Con 2018 is now a pleasant memory. I enjoyed some great roleplaying sessions and made a TARDIS dice tower and Dalek canvas bag. I would have posted some pics of Gen Con here for you to view but my new Galaxy s8 went schizo two days after I got home. Prior to Gen Con, the keyboard on the phone had kind of a dead zone in its center. Certain letters, like, the t, would be very unresponsive. It would take multiple attempts to get it to respond. I thought it had something to do with the screen protector I had installed. It was an inconvenience, but I could work around it. On Tuesday, things got much worse. I tried to open my Nagbot diabetes app other apps would open. Suddenly, my phones dialing numbers on my contacts list, trying to play music and opening YouTube. When I tried to enter text on the keyboard, 5 keys other than the one I pressed, would activate. It was a mess.

  Several things combined to cause the loss of my pics. First, I couldn't get my phone connected to the hotel's wifi. Second, the Flickr app on my phone wasn't set up to upload my pics automatically. Third, I didn't back up my phone to the computer using Smart Switch. And fourth, I failed to decrypt my SD card before letting the rep at AT&T do a factory reset on it. I thought that since the SD card was still in the device that encrypted it, things would be fine. Turns out I was wrong about that. A memory card expert at Samsung informed me that when the phone was reset, the passcode that could decrypt my SD card was erased and there was no way to retrieve it. Since my phone was still under warranty, they sent me a new phone. I had to mail the defective phone back to them within 10 days in order to avoid being charged for it. The box my new phone came in could also be used to return my old phone post paid which made returning it convenient. They sent word that the phone has been received.

  I'm still waiting for my mahogany Hex Chest and aged mithril dice set to arrive. I haven't received any emails from Elderwood Academy updating the status of my order. The only other order I'm waiting for are the two minis I ordered from Minuteman Miniatures. They make miniatures that have your face by scanning your head to create a 3D computer image. This image can then be attached to a body of your choice and the whole thing is then created using a 3D printer. I ordered a wizard and Dark Ages Viking version of myself. If they add more body types, like Victorian Age or Doctor Who, to their roster, I might order more minis from them. Their website states that they keep the scans so I can order new minis if I want.