Cav's Place

The last thing I ordered was delivered yesterday, but I need dad to set it up and that’s not done yet, and may not be done tomorrow either, so I’ll get back to it later. Need to write this quickly anyway, but instead of getting right to it I just spent about an hour under the blanket, warming up and trying to rest a bit, though I didn’t sleep despite being sleepy. But now that I took the last of the laundry out and put it to dry and put my sweater on, I really should get to it, see how far I get before this evening’s match and how I’ll manage to finish it after that starts.

It was weird Wednesday morning, when I dreamed I had inhaled something and was trying to get it out and woke up actually doing that, struggling to cough and spit out or at least dislodge something I felt in my chest. But I wasn’t quite awake, so my mind was somewhere between the weird dream and what was actually happening, making it hard to be sure what was real, and that got even stranger when I fell asleep again and woke up again later, the memories of the dream and that moment likely having mixed even more in between. But something did happen then, because I kept feeling something in my chest that day and kept finding myself trying to cough it out. The feeling seemed to have largely gone away by Thursday though… Even if it seems that writing about it made me cough again just now, and feel like I have something there again, albeit faintly.

Thursday I went out to buy some things, taking the plastic bottles and aluminum cans which had gathered to the recycling machine again. Couldn’t make it accept the four cans, but that happened before with those, so I wasn’t surprised, though it was stranger that it also kept refusing one of the bottles, which was of a type that it does tend to complain about but which I had so far managed to get it to accept after a few tries. It accepted the other 27 bottles just fine though, and without stopping to say that it was full, so I didn’t have to open it and push things around again. Might have done so at the end, to save the next person the trouble, since after it printed my ticket it did say it required emptying, but there was an old man who kept standing around the area and I didn’t feel like doing so with him looking at me.
Since there was something of a line, after paying I didn’t have much time before the next free bus that’d have taken me part of the way to Kaufland was to leave, but I really needed to go to the toilet, so I rushed to do what I had to do and unfortunately that also resulted in my bags tipping over when I set them down to wash my hands, a couple of things ending up on the bathroom floor. It did look clean though, and what fell has plastic packaging, but I still tried to avoid putting those things back with other food and wiped them with my wet hands after getting back, before putting them away.
Either way, just barely managed to catch that bus, more or less running from the toilet and finding it already there, with people getting in, when I stepped outside. But I had used the bathroom closest to the exit that’s closest to the stop, so that was no problem. Something that was, on the other hand, was that I had forgotten the bag I usually use for bread. Did have another I could use for that, plus the large one I had carried the large bottles in and one of those used to seal things you bring into stores, which obviously doesn’t have handles but may be used for a few things, but considering everything I ended up getting, that wasn’t quite enough.
After stuffing my purchases from Auchan in a locker at Kaufland, I checked prices there, then went to the nearby Carrefour, picked up a couple of things from there and returned to Kaufland for the rest. Since I intended to go to Kaufland the next day as well, some oranges being on a good sale just between February 16 and 18, I might have left the rest for then as well, but in the change received until then I still hadn’t gotten the two 1 RON bills I still needed in order to have the exact amount to pay for the order, which I knew was very likely to be delivered the next day, so I got everything except the oranges from there as well, then did my best to put everything in the three bags I had.
The first attempt resulted in a very heavy large bag, which I realized I won’t be able to carry in one hand all the way, so once I got outside I moved some things around, then eventually put the large yogurt in a pocket, since that bag without handles was even harder to hold with it inside. That still meant stopping very often, to switch hands and hold on better, when that bag was slipping out of one hand and the other was getting too tired of holding the large one, but I also kept improving my “strategy”, first ending up sort of hanging the large bag at my elbow, then somewhere on my forearm while holding on to my jacket with that hand, and eventually I also ended up carrying that bag without handles as you’d carry a box, with the third one sort of hanging from my fingers. It meant I managed to carry everything, close to 13.5 kg, some 9.5 of which in the large bag alone, but it took me some 45 minutes, which is about twice as much as it normally does to get from there to here.

As for yesterday, at first I meant to go to a farmers’ market to look for some more of those cheap but tasty apples and then back to Kaufland for the oranges, but dad said he was going to that market for fish and to have a look at a nearby store, so asked him to look for those apples too and I just went to Kaufland. Passed through Carrefour on the way too though, and as I was on my way out I saw an employee bring a lot of products to the place where they put the heavily discounted ones that expire soon, people quickly gathering to take their pick, so I stuck around as well and ended up grabbing four small “Greek yogurts” for very little. Then I put the bag, with them in it, in the same locker I had used the previous day when I got to Kaufland and got the oranges from there, and some more cornmeal, since it was cheap and dad said he was likely to use all we still had that day.
A first problem was when I tried to get the yogurt back out of the locker, as I was entering the code and it wasn’t opening. At first I wondered whether I had typed it wrong and kept trying others, assuming I had hit a key next to one I intended to hit, but eventually walked to a guard and told him I couldn’t get it open… And he couldn’t either, since he came over and did something, probably entering some master code, then told me to wait. I’m actually not sure anymore whether he first came back and tried again after that or just waited for someone to get back to the customer service area, since nobody was there at first, but once an employee did get back there, he asked for some object he used to force the door open and allow me to get my stuff. He never asked me what I had in there or anything else in order to prove that I was actually the one who had put those items in that locker, but I guess it’s possible he was just inclined to believe me once he saw that the lock really was malfunctioning, and he did say there was a problem with the lock when I asked, and I did also tell him the code I had set when he came to force the door and there may be a way for him to see what code had been set, if it had been saved correctly and the problem was something else. But those are excuses, because the behavior is worrying either way.
That was a small thing compared to what happened next though. I only had one bag with me, so I put everything in it, but the total weight was about 4.6 kg, so I didn’t think it was going to be a problem… And I was wrong, because it tore just as I was crossing the road. Unlike last summer, when one handle of a bag tore off as I was crossing the street in front of the building here but I was able to hold on, now both handles tore away at once, the bag fell on the road and two of the yogurts fell out of it. That was just after the green light started flashing, so I barely had a few seconds before the one for cars was going to turn green, and if simply grabbing those two yogurts wouldn’t have taken long, as I did so the other two fell out as well and I didn’t have enough hands to pick all of them and the bag up, eventually somehow managing to sort of “sweep” those two back in the bag and drag it to the sidewalk, without standing back up.
That definitely took way longer than the time I had before the light for cars turned green, and I did notice one car waiting for me out of the corner of my eye, but that one was turning and I actually didn’t notice many others passing even after I was back on the sidewalk, so I think I may have been lucky and the light had only turned green for those making that turn and not for those going straight, or more exactly coming straight at me in that scenario. But I can’t be sure, as I don’t really know how that intersection works and really wasn’t paying attention to the road once I managed to get off it. Not that I had been really paying attention while I was still on it either, knowing I had to focus on picking up my stuff and getting out of there in as few seconds as possible.
After all of that, when dad got back as well I saw he hadn’t bought any apples, and when I asked he said he forgot to even look. He offered to get some from this shop nearby, but I wanted that kind of apples and from there, or at least some from a farmers’ market, since it’s possible to buy them like that instead of imported ones, maybe also at twice the price, from a store. But maybe he’ll go some other time, and if not I have some fruit, the oranges, and I’d rather not buy anything next week, since I may just get away with it otherwise.

Speaking of next week, really have to read Good Omens then, because I need to return it next Monday and I still haven’t even started it. May be able to extend the loan, but I’d rather not try it if I don’t have to, even if focusing on that is likely to mean I’ll more or less end up dropping Disciples again, since I left that as it was before writing the previous post, not having played again since. But if I won’t be going anywhere except maybe for a short walk, just to say I went out that week as well, maybe not even running since the forecast lists wind, rain and sleet pretty much all week, and likely muck on the ground, maybe I’ll manage to do both. Depends on how much time I’ll spend in the kitchen I guess, and maybe also on whether I’ll manage to get myself to clean around the place some more, since at least the floor in the kitchen and the bathroom need washing, in which case I’d first have to vacuum there and should take care of the hallway as well while I’m at it.

After the previous post covered most of about two and a half weeks, this one will just focus on yesterday, though I will also mention that Sunday I finally managed to get myself to clean my room a little bit again, for I think the first time since Christmas. Also finally seem to have managed to get back to playing Disciples these days, getting back to that sixth “Divine Empire” scenario, the autosave being from November. At first I ended up losing my main hero and finding that autosaves, which are the only things I’ve been using in these scenarios, not making others, somehow save some enemy progress, such as summons and unit levels, done after the end of my turn, so reloading the last autosave got me in an impossible situation and I had to just copy the initial one back and start over, but Sunday I got through that initial tough situation just fine and advanced, and last night I played some more, things seeming to have become manageable.

Since I keep feeling tired and my joints still complain, rather meant to not run this week, or at least to wait until Friday and then see whether I’ll run then or skip the week, depending on the weather. But instead I ended up deciding to run yesterday, though I at least meant to take it easy, just aiming to stay under 49 minutes, maybe trying to stick as close to 15:40 per lap as possible in order to get 47 minutes for the three laps, with 48:30 only as a possible, but still not quite desired, target if it’ll seem particularly easy to recover that much on lap three and the final sector after maintaining that pace for the first two.
Well, that didn’t work, the time being 47:43, with sector times of 4:28, 5:11, 5:51, 4:36, 4:57, 5:46, 4:23, 4:53, 5:44 and 1:54, making for lap times of 15:30, 15:19 and 15:00. So the first two sectors were fine, the third was rather fast but I knew I had pushed a bit, meaning to see what that pace would mean, and then I slowed down well enough on the second lap’s first sector. But then I saw another runner ahead of me who seemed just slightly slower, though he was also running right next to the lake, between it and the path, and heard a clearly faster one coming from behind, so I moved aside a little to let the faster runner go on his way easily and started a little race with the other one, which may well be someone I “raced” with before, maybe back in December, or maybe not only then.
As I got closer to this slightly slower guy, he moved on the path and accelerated a bit, but I went past him at the “chicane” before the bridge and he stayed right behind me all the way to the end. He didn’t try to overtake or even come alongside me, just stayed there, probably using me to slightly reduce the air resistance he had to face, though at least there was little wind. And hearing his steps and breath right at my back all the way made me really push, resulting in those great times after that point, including a third lap that’s the second fastest lap ever, and obviously the fastest third lap, and a time on its second sector that I’ll end up listing as a second shy of the sector record, but which is not impossible to have even been faster, since I don’t recall the exact time and therefore whether it wasn’t in fact a bit under 4:53 and I don’t have the exact time I managed back then either.
As I finished lap three and turned to climb the stairs leading to the park exit, I gave the guy a quick thumbs up, though now I wonder whether, assuming that he noticed it at all, he correctly identified the finger I had lifted, as I sure hope he didn’t end up thinking I flipped him off. Either way, that may have added a second or so to my last sector time, but that wasn’t the reason why I was so slow then, the time actually being the same as back in December, after that other such “race”. I was simply too tired after pushing so hard, so I just got to the end without pushing again.

After I got back, dad started an argument, or I guess a tense discussion, that continued in the evening, after we both got back, since he had to leave rather quickly in the afternoon and I left again before he returned, ending, I wonder for how long, when my mother called and interrupted us. It’s pointless to give the details here, but it had to do with protests and politics, apparently triggered by some things which had been revealed, and it really seemed to come out of nowhere. It was frustrating, disappointing and even a bit annoying, since he just kept talking over me and we often ended up repeating the same little bits, talking rather at instead of with each other, all of it showing not just how contrasting and utterly incompatible our views are, which is no news, but also a complete lack of understanding of my position, in a number of ways, and of any interest in understanding it, which is the worst part.
A troubling part was how he kept using the plural “you”, saying that since I participate in protests I’m one of those that support this or that, I’m part of those groups, and seeming to also hold me responsible for their actions and any resulting outcomes, just ignoring any of my attempts to say I don’t really associate with those that sort of try to organize these protests, don’t share their views in plenty of ways and in general just keep doing what I usually try to do, which is to find things that can unite us, some common goals, and when possible set aside what sets us apart, such as many of them more or less openly, more or less strongly, supporting those he sees as the worst dangers and evils, while I see those, as well as perhaps plenty of them, as circumstantial allies, enemies of my enemies, necessary at the moment, and when it comes to protests I know how masses of people work to some extent, what can and what can’t work, and act, and accept others’ actions, accordingly. That’s way worse than the simple fact that those we see as the worse evils and biggest threats are on opposite sides.
There were plenty of other things, but I said it’s pointless to give the details here. After a certain point, he just kept repeating that if the others are stupid, which is of course pretty much always the rule with crowds but he was also referring to other groups I guess, you don’t associate with them, you just sit at home, relax, maybe persuade one or two others to also move away, and wait for your time to come, when people will wise up and be ready to do what’s right, or more exactly what he sees as right. Which is, of course, a great way to never do anything, and to ensure that the right time will never come, but there was no getting through to him.
Like I said, the whole thing was quite an unpleasant surprise and particularly disappointing and frustrating, and at this point I expect the matter to pop up again, maybe more and more often. Also wonder whether this means I’ll have problems with him when I’ll attend another protest, not to mention if I’ll end up in some sort of trouble because of that, or because of some other form of activism. Of particular concern is how at one point he was saying that people who go there and have those views must not have families, because otherwise their families would take them aside and hold them back one way or another, then even saying that there will soon come a time when neighbors will learn who supports these things and knock on the doors of protesters, activists or simply people who vote for those supporting these things and hold them accountable. That seemed particularly threatening, obviously the part about families in particular.

Something good happened in between the parts of that discussion though, since after dad left in the afternoon I got called to give my address in order to have a prize delivered, after winning another one just before going to bed Wednesday night, or more exactly Thursday morning. Happened to notice that there was a contest for something dad buys anyway and that it was again a matter of prizes given to the first person entering after certain lucky times, and with five “picnic sets” per day, it was statistically probable that one such time would be at night, when few people would enter, so I used my usual strategy for such contests and it worked on the very first try. Was somewhat worried that I may end up winning one of the big prizes, vouchers to use at a travel agency, which I’d have no use for, but that worked out nicely and I guess there should be something useful in the kitchen in that set, plus that it all seems to come in a backpack. Do hope the person who called got my address right though, as she didn’t even repeat it back to me, and it’s strange to want to get this information by phone instead of asking for it to be clearly written in an e-mail anyway.

As I already mentioned, I also went out again in between the parts of that discussion, taking some of what I still had set aside in order to make a small stock of pasta, as there was a very good sale in Kaufland, including for the kind I prefer and which I can’t seem to find elsewhere, and it ended today. And I wanted to get some more black radishes too, those also being on sale until today and something that, being paid by weight, allowed me to spend exactly the amount I could afford in order to have exactly enough left for one last order I can make from what I had set aside.
Well, Kaufland being Kaufland, I got tricked again. Got the five bags of pasta and exactly the right quantity of black radishes to be left with exactly the amount I still needed, gave the cashier the coins I had as well so she’ll give me my change in a way that will leave me needing to use the least amount of coins to pay for that planned order, but saw her leave the coins there, then push them back to me after she handed me the bills. Then I saw her look at the amount displayed as the change needed, seeming to calculate something, at which point I noticed that the amount seemed wrong, but couldn’t figure out just what the problem was immediately, only noticing after she gave me some more coins and the receipt and moved on to the next customer that she had scanned the black radishes twice.
Did point that out to her, but she said she gave me the amount, 0.70 RON, back, and she had indeed given me that much that last time, but something was obviously wrong… Yet despite standing there for a few minutes and trying to figure out how I had been tricked, my brain simply refused to work and the fact that I was getting even more panicked and embarrassed because of it only made it worse. I knew I had been given less money than I should have been, I knew I didn’t have enough left to pay for the order, but simply couldn’t figure out how, what exactly happened, couldn’t add together what I had been given or deduct what I should have paid from what I did pay, just found myself incapable of those simple calculations until I got myself out of there, away from people, in particular from the one I had just interacted with in that manner, referring to the fact that I had pointed out her mistake.
What happened was rather simple: I had given her a 50 RON bill and 0.70 RON in coins for something costing 11.65, so she should have given me back 39.05. Should have given her 50.65 and I could have done so, but that’d have required taking a step away to pick up a 0.01 RON coin from the floor to add to the other four I still had and I only spotted that one and thought of it just as she was scanning my items, at which point I was rushing to put them in my bag as well so I won’t hold things up and decided against it. Either way, since she scanned my black radishes, costing 0.70 RON, twice, she had ended up with a total of 12.35. And she had also left my coins there, taking only the bill, so the display listed 37.65 RON as change. Yet instead of giving me the 0.65 as well, she gave me the 37 RON and then gave me back the 0.70 I had given her, then added 0.70 more to make up for what she had scanned twice. So, in short, she gave me my own 0.70 RON back instead of the 0.65 she should have given me on top of them, and that left me that much short for that planned order.

Speaking of that order, I’m very uncertain about it, but while I decided not to make it last evening, since the option to pick the product up yourself isn’t available and I wanted to make sure it won’t end up being delivered before I’ll have enough set aside again, I guess I will make it this evening, assuming the product will still be on sale. It still is on sale now, but I want to order it quite late in the evening so they won’t actually take the order today, adding another day before delivery, just in case they’ll be very quick about it, and I don’t know how long the sale will last or whether they consider a day as ending at midnight or at some point during the evening. So there is still some risk that I’ll have to put it off for another time or maybe just give up on the idea… Which probably won’t be a bad thing, for a number of reasons. But if the sale will last long enough, I guess I’ll go through with it and see what happens.

This post should be covering the two and a half weeks or so since the last general personal update, the two since then mainly catching up with stuff that happened before. The last post did also include the things that happened after that date and had to do with the new mouse, so I can at least skip over all of that in this one, and that actually means there’s not quite that much to add here, but it’s still quite a long period to cover and there’s a match I want to watch this evening, so let’s see if I’ll manage to be rather quick about it. At least I don’t want to also make popcorn before the match or look for something else to munch on even while struggling to write this, since I still have plenty of those pumpkin seeds I got out of that large pumpkin bought on January 16. Got some 200 grams, if not a bit more, out of that, and I was actually thinking that buying those separately would have probably cost around 5 RON when I only spent 6.27 RON on the whole thing.

While skipping over the part having to do with the new mouse, I will still start from January 26, when I ran, the time being 47:52, with sector times of 4:20, 5:10, 5:56, 4:26, 5:04, 5:49, 4:28, 5:03, 5:54 and 1:42, making for lap times of 15:26, 15:19 and 15:25. Can’t say that I recall much about that run anymore, but managing to stay even under 48 minutes yet again meant I did better than I expected, as I didn’t actually aim to do that. The one thing I do have to mention, however, is that the exact final sector time was actually 1:41.63, so I wrote it down because it might have been a new sector record. But since I normally only look at the seconds and therefore don’t know the exact times I had the two times I previously listed 1:42, I can’t be certain and this will therefore remain listed as merely a third 1:42, since that’s what it is if only looking at the seconds.
Besides, the last sector record issue was settled the next time I ran, on January 31. The time was 48:12, with sector times of 4:26, 5:15, 5:50, 4:37, 4:59, 5:56, 4:32, 5:05, 5:52 and 1:40, making for lap times of 15:31, 15:32 and 15:29. And yes, the whole point was to make a new final sector record, so I’ll know for sure what it is, and since I wrote it down exactly, I can say it was 1:40.22. I recall some gusts of wind that bothered me on the way, and even if I was trying not to push before the end the second lap’s first sector had me worried, the next sector’s time being evidence of that, but it worked out well in the end. Very well, in fact, as I didn’t even particularly care to stay under 48:30 and yet could have done so even with a particularly slow final sector instead of a new record.
As for this week’s run, that was Tuesday and the time was 47:56, with sector times of 4:17, 5:10, 5:55, 4:27, 5:02, 5:50, 4:26, 5:11, 5:55 and 1:43, making for lap times of 15:22, 15:19 and 15:32. So I managed another great final sector, this time the motivation being to stay under 48 minutes again despite not even really considering the possibility before sector three of lap three. Was feeling tired, keep feeling very tired lately and the joints on my legs are complaining a bit as well, my left hip most noticeably, and my left knee had also started to complain during that particular run, plus that some gusts of wind definitely bothered me, so I again didn’t exactly care to do more than stay under 49 minutes when I started, but as I went along and saw I could do better, I did better.

Back to January 26, after picking up the mouse I went to Cora, since I could use the metro, and just picked up some carrots and garlic. Was also looking for some of the apples that should have been on sale, but it seemed like they no longer had any of those. And yes, since I went there directly, I had the mouse with me and actually went in with it in a bag, not having it sealed as you should do when bringing in things bought elsewhere, but nobody said anything.
Three days later, I went to the other three hypermarkets, first checking prices and then buying things. The one annoying thing was that I fell for one of Kaufland’s usual tricks when one product seemed to be the cheapest there and I just grabbed it, not actually checking the price myself when I first wrote it down and then somehow forgetting to do so even when I took it, despite usually doing that anywhere and knowing that you really should do it in Kaufland most of all, as they often make such “mistakes”, the price on the shelf being lower than it actually is. While also the place where I seem to find differences between the listed and the real price most frequently, at least for certain categories of products, Auchan remains the only hypermarket where mistakes seem to actually be mistakes, as they can go both ways, the real price being lower a fair number of times.
But to finish with the shopping, right after this week’s run, directly from the park, I went to check some prices in Auchan. Couldn’t have bought anything then as I didn’t have any money with me and also had to get back quickly, but didn’t find what I was looking for anyway, so I just spent a few minutes there, rushing to catch the free bus they offer to get back. Then I went back out and went to Kaufland and Carrefour, and to the nearby Mega Image, since they had the cheapest cabbage at the moment, to check everything off the list and not need to go out again this week. And again I didn’t bother to do the “right” thing with my purchases from Kaufland when I went into Carrefour, for carrots, having the large yogurt in my jacket’s inside pocket and the bar of glucose in one of my pants’ back pockets. Did put everything away when I went to Mega Image though, as I couldn’t have stuffed the carrots anywhere and also had to ask to have two cabbages weighed, since you can’t weigh things yourself there and I didn’t know whether I could afford the larger one. It turned out I couldn’t.

But the rather funny thing happened on the way to Carrefour and Kaufland that evening, when as I was walking to the gate to the stadium, as I go around it on the way there when there are no matches or other events taking place, the guard approached me. At first I thought he won’t let me pass for some reason, but instead he ended up asking whether I could buy a beer for him, since he can’t leave his post. And if I refused when that guy asked me to purchase that can he had as I was standing in line in Kaufland back in December, the guard was obviously not a minor at least, so I stared at him for a moment and then found myself saying “if you give me money”. Realized later that I didn’t actually say I will get him the beer, but he handed me a 5 RON bill, pointing to a little shop nearby and telling me the brand and quantity he wanted, and I went there, rushing to try to get it over with before it’ll really hit me that I’ll actually need to ask for something.
That little shop only had the largest bottles of that brand though, plus apparently one last can, neither of which was what I had been asked to get. So I looked around for a moment, then walked back out, wondering whether I should just give up and give the guard his money back or look for another little shop. And I knew there had to be others in that area, so I decided to just keep going on that street, entering the one at the other end of it and finding what I had been asked to get there. Got a bit confused with the cooler door after being pointed to the one those bottles were in, trying to open it on the wrong side and having the person who was there have to point out to me that it opens from the other, but got it in the end. So I guess it can now be said that I bought alcohol for the first time, if obviously not for myself.
Rushed to get back to the guard after that, as it had taken me a few minutes and I knew he had to think I had just walked away with his money, and I did see him pacing as I got back. I guess he’d have also preferred it if I’d have handed him the bottle more discreetly, as he was quick to hide it in his coat once I gave it to him, in plain sight and having just carried it in my hand, but nevertheless he thanked me, after which I also told him I couldn’t find it in that nearby shop and had to go to the end of the street, to which he said “that’s why you were late”. Then I just kept going on my way, being left with 0.30 RON, since the beer had been 4.70 RON. Interestingly enough, 0.30 RON is exactly the amount I had been tricked with by Kaufland the week before.

Since I mentioned above that I had to get back quickly at first that day, that was because dad’s laptop seems to have died the day before and he needed me around when turning on his desktop, otherwise largely unused since he received that laptop, since for a long time now it again no longer remembers the BIOS settings despite having supposedly had the battery replaced after it first started happening, it barely crawls if he just presses the key to make it apply the default settings and he hadn’t cared to learn how to make the correct ones himself. After a few days of asking me to come whenever he turned it on, and not even leaving it on if he wasn’t using it for a while, which included asking me to wake up early one day and also waking me up when I was napping during the evening, he now seems to have learned what to do, but at the time he needed me here to sort it out.
Back to the laptop, Monday he called me over to say it won’t turn on anymore. At first I was wondering what was I supposed to do, since he said it wasn’t doing anything at all and I therefore had nothing to work with, but quickly noticed that while nothing showed up on screen it was in fact doing something, though he kept saying it wasn’t and was too impatient to wait. Since I did wait, I was eventually rewarded with a welcome screen, but in 640×480 and either 256 colors or otherwise looking really messed up. Everything else seemed to work normally once it logged on though, so I rebooted, disabling the automatic reboot on errors, to see whether anything will pop up, and everything seemed normal, including the image. But I wanted to check, so I rebooted again normally… And got the 640×480 image again, though the colors were correct at least.
That finally made me realize that the problem had to be the video card, so I first checked the system rating, which said the hardware had changed, and gave an error, I think specifying that it was a hardware or driver issue, when I tried to run the assessment again. Then I checked and saw a warning for the video card in the list, and when I refreshed it said it had supposedly found new hardware but attempting to install it failed.
What I did after that probably reduced any chances of fixing it even more, not that there were many to begin with, since a quick search told me that even if it does have a dedicated video card, for laptops that doesn’t mean it can just be replaced. Not that I’m sure that what I did actually did make it worse, but at first I turned the video card off, hoping to reset it that way but finding that nothing happened, then rebooted and checked the video settings in BIOS, finding only two options and just switching from one to the other… Which meant switching to the one forcing it to always use what it has, even if it detects an external video device it can use. Already had vertical lines all over the screen at that point, making it very clear that the video card was dying, but after I saved that change, when it rebooted again, the screen remained completely black, nothing showing up anymore.
Now the warranty label on it says it’s from 2007, so it sure lasted quite a while, and he received it for free, for work, but it’s still a problem when I doubt it can be fixed and getting another won’t exactly fit any plan at the moment, so I guess the question is what will have to be sacrificed for it. He did say he’ll take it to the guys who handle these matters at work, to see whether they’ll be able to do anything and, if so, for how much, but it’s still there on the desk even now. As for me, I couldn’t even figure out how to open it, taking out all the screws I could find but not managing to pull the bottom off, so I just took the HDD out and have kept it here ever since, waiting for him to tell me to move whatever he had on it on the desktop, since he said we can do it later when I mentioned it.

So much for this being a quick post, and the match is just about to start, but before ending it I’ll just mention that I keep doing stuff in the kitchen and some of it turns out pretty well, such as some food I made last Friday after asking dad to also get some frozen mushrooms. Still takes me terribly long to do anything, but what’s more of a problem is that, despite being so slow, I also “manage” to hurt myself now and then, such as burning my left hand in two places as I was trying to pick something that had fallen on the stove, somehow catching the little finger from my right hand in the toaster’s tray, resulting in something looking like the bite of a miniature snake, or cracking, or more probably scratching, since that edge can scratch while the impact itself didn’t seem bad enough, my head a bit just as I was starting to gather what I needed last Friday.

Later edit: Rushing to finish this post, I initially forgot to mention that on February 5 I returned Ivanhoe to the Library. Since dad could give me the metro card that day and not the next, I did something I usually really try to avoid, shaving right before going out instead of the previous evening, but just wanted to get it over with, even if it was only due on February 12… And, since I was there, picked up Good Omens, managing to find one of the two copies that the site said should be available at that branch fallen, if not actually hidden, behind the row of books on one of the shelves. Not that I’m certain that I actually want to read it, and I’m yet to start, but thought I’d give it a shot, since it was available there in English.

Though I had learned some days ago that it appeared to have already been sorted out, I only got the e-mail saying so today, so I waited until now to finally write this post about the rest of the mess with the new mouse. Wrote about ordering and receiving it, the lack of a warranty certificate and the problems with the software back on January 9, but then things changed, I made some decisions after ending up a complete mess because of thinking and worrying about this, worried some more after making the first step, but the plan seems to have worked out… So far.

Considering those problems that made me pretty much unable to keep the software running and take advantage of the advanced features that offers and the fact that I had been told the monitoring and some level of constant CPU usage are issues that can’t, or more exactly won’t, be fixed, I’d have had serious reason to return the mouse if I’d have purchased it at full price or something close to it. Purchasing it for about a third less, however, would have been enough to make me think long and hard about that, and would have likely resulted in me keeping that one, especially since I hadn’t returned anything before. But the problem with the store, as in the fact that they don’t seem to provide warranty certificates, claiming to offer the services based on the receipt or invoice despite the fact that the terms on the site state clearly that the warranty certificate needs to be shown for this to happen, got added to the one with the product itself… And then I saw another store list it at the same discounted price, and I knew that store does offer warranty certificates and also lists warranty information in the customer’s account on the site, so after lashing out at myself for rushing to order it from the first store when the discount at this other one appeared before the one at that one expired, so there would have been little reason not to wait, I came up with a plan.
The plan was, quite obviously, to return the one I had purchased, get my money back and then purchase another from that other store. But that was quite a risk, having no idea how this worked and not knowing how long it’ll take to get the refund or whether I’ll actually get the full amount back, as a quick search told me that those stores tend to deduct small amounts, claiming it as the cost of packaging the product again or something along those lines, and I definitely didn’t have enough set aside to just buy a new one before getting those money back first, nor could I really afford to get back anything less than the full amount. But the only way to see whether it’ll work was to try it, and quickly, since any day lost made it less likely to get the money before the discount expired at the other store.
Not that there wasn’t another reason to do it quickly as well. Two of them, in fact, but the second was just a matter of me wanting to be absolutely certain I’ll be able to return it, since this store claims to accept returns up to 31 days after purchase, but 14 days is the minimum time required by law and I therefore wanted to do it no more than 14 days after the day listed on the invoice, which was January 2, even though I had received it on January 4. The first reason, on the other hand, might have resulted in me being unable to return it and ask for the money back if my fears would have proven correct, since I believe on January 13 I had the impression that it either double clicked on its own or didn’t register a click. Obviously, seeing as double clicking was the issue that made me need a new mouse in the first place and that I saw people say that due to a manufacturing problem the first ones of this model can quickly develop that issue as well, I immediately panicked, but it’s possible that I just imagined it, as I tried probably around 1000 test clicks after that and the only time when it appeared to have double clicked again was when the tediousness of the task had made me completely lose focus, considering it likely that I had actually double clicked myself by mistake. And other quick tests I put it through didn’t reveal any obvious problems either.

On to what I actually did, on January 15 I first checked one last time to see whether I had any reply to that e-mail about the lack of a warranty certificate, which I had sent them back when it was delivered. Since I still had none, I made sure I had the invoice and receipt, reset the mouse to factory settings, also tried to reset the firmware, though I’m not sure that worked properly and it was another reason I kept worrying later, then wiped it a little and put it back carefully in its box, also making sure to have everything else there as well, exactly as it was when I got it, and that the box was sealed on all but one side, even still having those sticky circles on that side as well and tucking them inside. I was taking no chances, trying not to give them any reason to deduct anything from the refund.
That done, I also grabbed the plastic bottles which had again gathered and went to Auchan, since I needed some bread anyway and this chain has a store there, on the other side of the parking lot, and you can return on-line orders to any of their stores. Once there, I first used the recycling machine to get rid of the bottles, then returned the mouse, first wandering around the store for a few moments, trying to work up the courage, then going to a desk that was quite out of the way and being told that I needed to go to the one for picking up on-line orders, which is right next to the entrance.
The return process did take quite some time and the employee had a bad cold, obviously struggling with it, but he didn’t try to persuade me to keep the mouse or try to find problems, simply taking it away for a few moments, saying he needed to check it, then coming back and taking care of the paperwork, which he apparently had to do by hand. He also seemed to check something on the computer, then call someone but get no answer, and eventually he asked whether I agreed to log into my account on their site from one of the computers customers can use, in order to request the return on-line. That meant entering my password there, but I agreed, and then changed it as soon as I got back, even if we’re just talking of a store where I had just made an account for that order. It did bother me that he quickly closed, or actually I believe minimized, the browser the moment I had sent the request, without logging me out, but I didn’t follow him even though he told me to, even after telling him that he should have logged me out, and first opened the browser again myself to actually log out.
Did ask whether I’ll get all the money back, pointing out that I had purchased it on sale and leaving unsaid the fact that they may be able to put it back on sale as a “resealed” product for even more than they’ll pay me back for it after the sale for the mouse itself will end, and he said I will, but while at first, when I asked how that will happen, he said I’ll be contacted and asked to come to a store and get paid, since I paid cash, he then asked whether I had an account where they’ll be able to simply send the money, saying it’s fine if it’s not mine, and the whole part about logging on came after I said I do have one, as I had asked for dad’s the night before, just in case I’ll need it. And he was really careful with the account number, writing it down and asking me to read it again to check even if I had given him the piece of paper where I had written it, then reading it back to me so I’ll be able to check more easily after I entered it on their site.
So he did seem to do his best, even more so considering how he was feeling, but the process itself was time-consuming and he didn’t get the help he probably expected, judging by that call he tried to make and the fact that he seemed to have tried to do things on his computer first and for some reason was not able to. And when, at the end, he asked me to go to the cashier and have her stamp the document he gave me, she stared at me in confusion and seemed very uncertain that it was the right thing to do as she did as I asked, then when I asked whether that was all she just said that if I’d been told I needed a stamp, she just stamped it. So I went back and had the guy confirm that it was all done, mentioning that the cashier didn’t seem to have any clue, before finally leaving, and going back to Auchan to get that bread.

The problem was that the guy told me I’ll receive the money within 14 working days, which wasn’t going to allow me to use them to purchase the mouse from that other store, as their sale was listed as ending on January 22. So I asked dad for a “loan” when I got back, telling him I needed the money before he’ll receive them back in his account, assuming everything will go well, and he gave me 80% of the amount, and I could cover the rest from what I still had set aside. And then I waited, wanting to delay as much as possible but checking that other store a few times per day to make sure they won’t run out of stock for this mouse, since the sale was “while stocks last” and they do list when they end up with just a few left.
I was really worried that having the date for the end of the sale listed as January 22 meant that you had to order it before that day, so on January 21 I kept checking, and also checked other products listed as being on sale until January 21 and confirmed that they were still on sale, but then in the evening I saw that the sale for those other products had been extended… And then, since I held firm and didn’t place the order earlier, saw the same thing happen with this mouse the next evening, the sale being extended until January 26, making me relax to some extent.
But I only ended up waiting until that night, and the sale itself didn’t matter anymore, because that evening I also saw an “unsealed” product show up there, with an additional discount. I assume that was one that somebody else had returned, and while they offered pictures the quality was poor and I couldn’t figure out whether it was just dirty or a little damaged on the bottom, but they said it was tested and worked fine and was sold with the same two-year warranty as a new one, so after thinking and worrying some more I decided to give it a try. But I unchecked the box saying I don’t want to be contacted and added a comment with questions about the product and exactly how purchasing such “unsealed” products works at that store and what may happen later, so I was expecting some sort of answer first, yet the system acted as if that box was still checked and I immediately got a message saying I had three working days to pick up the product, starting in the morning.
Somewhat fortunately, January 24 is a free day here, so it didn’t count, meaning that I had at least until January 26, and that allowed me to leave it until the afternoon of January 25 before sending another message, saying I was still waiting for some answers and adding two more questions. And I did indeed get a very quick reply to that message, within minutes, but it didn’t help in the least, merely repeating what the site listed about the condition of the product, pointing me to something I had already read and had found no answers in regarding other terms, and leaving the other questions unanswered. So I replied again, possibly after the end of the working hours that day, with a list of seven “assumptions”, favorable answers to each of my questions, and asked to be corrected if any was wrong.

Well, I wasn’t corrected, as I got no reply, but despite one of my “assumptions” being that the three days will start being counted since receiving a reply, I didn’t take the chance and did go the next evening. Got there close to the end of the working hours, a bit after 7 PM when it says you can pick up orders until 8 PM, because dad went somewhere that day as well and he used the metro card, so I waited for him to get back first, since it was an option and I didn’t need to walk all the way there and back. It would have been an option as well, but we could make it work this way, with him letting me know when he was getting on the metro and me ending up meeting him at the station and taking the card from him, saving the time needed for him to get here and me to get there after that. Would have still gotten there in time even without this, probably around 7:30 PM, but I’d have sure worried about it on the way.
Not that I didn’t have enough to worry about anyway, not being in the least certain that I had made the right choice. And the first thing I did once there was to go to one of the computers that customers may use and check the mouse again on their site, seeing that the discount for a new product was still the same and the date for the end of the sale hadn’t been changed again. So I at least had the option of ordering a new one if I immediately noticed something I didn’t like about the “unsealed” one, while on the other hand the discount hadn’t increased, which was a possibility if they really wanted to sell the entire stock quickly and would have likely made me choose a new one instead of the “unsealed” one anyway.
Taking that time to do that did mean that others who came in after me ended up ahead of me in line, and the person who ended up just in front of me wanted to pay cash for a large order, above the maximum amount for a cash transaction according to one infuriating law. That meant the only cashier still working at that time couldn’t get to the rest of us before figuring out a solution for him, which eventually was to move some products to another order made under someone else’s name, and when she told us to go directly to pay if we have our order number, I suddenly realized I had somehow forgotten to write it down, so I had to wait for her to finish with that guy and then ask how do I find it, ending up having to provide my phone number instead.
Once that was done, I paid and then waited for the mouse to be brought out, which actually took quite some time. Then, after checking the warranty certificate, making sure everything was in order, I took the mouse out of the box, which box was just slightly torn in one spot, and had a good look at it, noticing that it was actually really clean, not like it seemed in those pictures I had seen on the site, and I had to look carefully to spot any signs of use, in the form of some very faint scratches on the bottom. Also clicked the buttons and moved the scroll wheel a bit, finding that it all felt better than the one I had returned, but I couldn’t actually test it, since the one computer they still had there in the area supposedly for testing purchased products didn’t seem to work. It wasn’t actually off, but I only saw the CPU cooler very briefly start now and then and almost immediately stop again each time, and moving the mouse or pressing keys on the keyboard didn’t seem to have any effect, the monitor remaining in standby as well.

Was too worried about it to actually connect it to my computer that evening, but eventually managed to get myself to do so the next, after first reinstalling the software, as I had uninstalled it and cleaned up any traces of it before. Then, after updating the firmware and seeing that it had no settings somehow left from the previous owner, I imported the profiles I had made before returning the first one, made the few changes I had thought of since then, checked that everything worked as it should, then closed the software and left it closed.
Yes, there are some useful functions that only work while it’s running, but I can’t see mouse usage statistics in the software itself anymore anyway and I can get all the functions I had on the XTD with the exception of automatically switching profiles without the software running just as well, and the wheel on the AIMO makes me confident enough to set profile switching as the alternate wheel tilt function, making the lack of automatic switching only a minor nuisance. What’s more, on top of this not reducing the available number of functions, since I wasn’t using wheel tilting at all on the XTD, I actually have two more, since there is no more point in a button used to open the software, which only works while it’s running in the background, and there’s also no more need to use a button to switch to the profile that couldn’t be activated automatically. Not that I ever needed that one anyway, so I didn’t even make it again on the AIMO.
But I did say above that I checked that everything worked as it should, and by that I didn’t just mean checking that the settings applied properly. Sure, I did that as well, but I also set all buttons as left click, switching a wheel tilt to right click since you’re required to have both of those set somewhere, and then clicked hundreds of times to make sure that there are no double clicks, nor clicks that fail to register. And there were no problems, nor were there any when I scrolled up and down quite a number of times as well, through a file quickly made to make sure that each movement of the scroll wheel registers properly and scrolls the correct number of lines.
In addition, as I already stated above, the wheel does feel better, I can scroll more easily than on the one I returned without anything making me worry that I may accidentally click as I scroll or tilt as I click, as it occasionally happened on the XTD, and I’m not sure whether because the right and left buttons actually are a bit harder to press or just because I had worked out how to hold my fingers to prevent it from happening, but I have only accidentally clicked a few times ever since getting this one, while on the one I returned I just kept doing that, especially right clicking, all the time. Clicking is still just as noisy though… And the one possible, small, issue is that a part of the plastic on the right seems to move a little, which I don’t recall happening on the first one.

As for the refund for the mouse I returned, dad let me know at the start of the month that he found what should be the right amount added to his account. Apparently he just noticed some more money there and just withdrew them and likely spent them, only realizing later that they shouldn’t have been there, so I guess I’ll only get the difference, what he received above what he gave me when I asked, when he’ll get more. Either way, when he checked the balance he saw that they had been sent on January 31, but not only that I was never contacted about it, but, after getting an e-mail stating that the return request was accepted and they’ll supposedly send someone to pick up the product from me a couple of hours after making that request from the computer in the store and obviously leaving the product there, the next e-mail received from them was this Tuesday and it said that they had received the product for testing. And then it was only today that I received another e-mail, stating that the money will be sent to the account.
All’s well that ends well I guess, but I have no idea what’s going on with them. Sure seems that messages take a very long time to go through whatever system they have… Speaking of which, never did get any reply to that one I sent about the lack of a warranty certificate, but I did add another message to that support ticket after returning the first mouse, saying that it’s no longer relevant and that I returned it, also mentioning that odd e-mail received stating that they’ll send someone for a product they already had and specifying that while I had a problem with the software as well, what clearly made me decide to return the product was the fact that they couldn’t even bother to reply to an e-mail in a week and a half. So I guess whoever read that, in case anyone ever did, decided there was no need to reply anymore… Though the same person had supposedly been assigned to respond to the message I had sent to the chain that owns the one I eventually purchased the first AIMO from, in which I had asked whether extended warranty was available for this mouse, and I did eventually get a reply to that, long after sending it and after I already knew the answer, and even had the product.

That’s it for now. This sure ended up being a huge post which took me a long time to write, and it’s close to midnight anyway, so I’m definitely stopping here and leaving the more recent stuff for another time. Have a fair bit to catch up on, actually, but I’ll see whether I’ll manage to post that by the end of this week or I’ll throw something else on here as this week’s second post and leave that for even later. This second option seems more likely, but there are quite a few things to mention, plus the times for three runs that will once again end up gathered in a single post, and it won’t get any easier to write if I’ll wait even longer…

Reading a classic wasn’t likely to turn out well, and it didn’t, but for some reason I found myself remembering taking a long look at the old Romanian edition of Ivanhoe that was among those given away after being set aside for this purpose some time ago by my dad, and grabbing the free Kindle edition as a result. But then I also checked the Library and saw that they had it in English as well, so I borrowed that instead… And then struggled with it for almost two weeks, rather having to force myself to keep reading. But I’ll nevertheless admit there’s some value to be found in it if, without being strict about realism, you have the right amount of interest in the period depicted and, more importantly, make plenty of allowances for that during which it was written.
Now there’s not much left to say about a book first published just shy of two centuries ago, and even less after the expert introduction and notes found in this edition, which also point out historical errors and anachronisms I otherwise wouldn’t have been aware of, but I will mention that needing to keep flipping back and forth due to the notes being at the end instead of at the bottom of the pages definitely didn’t help. Past that, just a quick and incomplete list of issues, in random order: The author tends to skip back and forth in time, which may be confusing. With few exceptions, Rebecca likely being the most notable, characters lack depth, to the point that plenty may be best referred to as caricatures. It’s odd that the book’s titled after a character that’s presented and does less than quite a number of others. There are frequent lengthy and particularly convoluted descriptions and explanations, likely to bore and even confuse. Speech is particularly forced and theatrical. For that matter, I guess the whole thing can be seen more as a play… But, returning to those necessary allowances, maybe that raised far fewer eyebrows back when it was written.

Rating: 3/5