Kaimusailing

One of the items that came in from TEMU is an inexpensive rice cooker. It is actually a kind of slow cooker with two settings, 600 and 200 watts. The higher wattage is to get it boiling and the lower wattage is to slow cook. Supposedly it has a temperature limit control that automatically shuts it down if it detects that the liquid has boiled away or in the case of cooking rice, when the rice has absorbed all the liquid. I put 3 cups of the pork mole soup and some uncooked rice in it, plugged it in, and let it rip.
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My sporadic TV viewing, mostly to watch NFL preseason football, brought up a disclaimer by the local cable company, Spectrum, that Disney has demanded a higher premium than what Spectrum had offered, and now ESPN, a Disney company, is no longer available on local cable. They want big bucks.
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The invite came in to have shrimp and salad at the house. I had the pork mole and rice cooking, so took a helping of that and found the rice was not yet fully cooked. I biked to the wine store, then to Cornelia Marie’s. Cuddily and Buster arrived with ice, beer, and irish whisky. At the end of the day I set off on the bike to the marina. About halfway there there was a loud POP and my rear tire was toast. I kept riding. The aluminum rim was protected by the remnants of the tire.
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The next morning I was up early and ready to go to the MacReady Health Pavilion for pre-op tests. Oops! Have to change out the rear tire and tube. The bike ride to the health lab was not too difficult in spite of the humidity and adverse breeze. They took blood and an EKG test. The grocery was nearby, so I stopped in there for water, ham, and brown rice. I was wind aided on the way back.
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Overnight my phone started to have difficulties. It was not charging fast enough to keep up with ordinary use and it ultimately quit, dead. Normally I can just leave it on charge. I am compelled to use an inductive charger because the USB charge port is disabled due to “detected moisture”. The phone is absolutely dry. It charges more slowly with the inductive charger but it hasn’t been much of an issue. I did buy a second inductive charger when I had this problem a couple months ago. There are conditions that will affect the charge rate, such as high temperature. Perhaps there is something else limiting the charge rate.
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The phone did not go into its charge mode as usual. It began strobing once per second with no indication of charge state no response to the usual buttons to turn it completely off or anything. I began to worry. I had two impeding medical appointments and without a working phone I could only imagine how it would turn out. My long awaited hip replacement could be jeopardized by my wonderful phone. Now I would have to go to the Shanty to go online with the laptop to see if there was any solution to this problem. My next appointment is early Monday, so it is unlikely I could get a phone in my hands quickly enough for that.
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I made my breakfast and settled into gotta-do mode. I noticed the phone was changing its stroboscopic antics and showing a charge percent, 0%. It slowly began charging. Something is definitely amiss. By the end of the day it was only about 30% charged. Maybe it’s time to get that new S23+.
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My experiment with the cheap Chinese rice cooker was not very productive. The lower 200Watt setting was still too high to simmer. I would have to turn it off like I do with my stove top pots to avoid burning and overcooking. I may try to actually cook rice with it. Maybe it can be used for that, but my stove top poaching method with ordinary pots is perfect for cooking rice and beans.
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It was Thursday night and the opening game of the NFL season, Lions vs Chiefs. The Chiefs are the reigning Super Bowl champions and were of course the favorites. I watched the first half of the game before calling it quits. In the morning I was shocked to see that the Lions beat the Chiefs 21-20. I watched game highlights on YouTube. The Lions had an interception run back for a touchdown, a Pick Six. The errant pass was actually thrown perfectly by Patrick Mahomes but the receiver let it bounce off his hands and into the hands of the defender.
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When a team beats another team they not only get a win, they show other teams how to beat that losing team. The Jets will see the Chiefs in week 4.
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As I hemmed and hawed about what to make for supper Cornelia Marie texted about going to the Fisherman’s Grille for drinks and maybe appetizers. I was raring to go and she picked me up at the dock and we drove to her mom’s house on the water. Orange Crush drinks were made, some white and some red wines were poured. Teri, the artist, was present. We all left in Cuddily’s auto.
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I had left my bike at the dock and could have easily biked to the Fisherman’s. The restaurant had an excellent location, adjacent to the North edge of the marina with nice views of marine traffic coming and going.
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The first little inkling of problems was very slow service and an unfortunate referral to the hostess at the other end of the restaurant. Once over there we found no hostess, but other staff saying we were sitting by the outdoor bar near the water and the bar would be our service.
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I recognized our bartender/wait staff as someone I sternly spoke to about a previous meal we had there. It was way over salted. We surmised the breading mix was just too salty, so onion rings and fried fish were almost inedible. We had to mention to the bartender this time, we need menus. And later, we need utensils.
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We had an assortment of drinks and enjoyed the view and the breeze blowing across the water. Cornelia Marie wanted a salad, but the two salads on the menu were not garden salad type of salads. One was shrimp salad and I think the other was a crabmeat salad. None of the appetizers looked appetizing. I saw Chicken Chesapeake on the menu and visualized chicken breast with crab imperial on top. Mmmm. As the orders went around the table CM ordered the Chicken Chesapeake as did I. When the orders came in they were overcooked, fried to a crisp and then some. The Chicken Chesapeake was a dense overcooked knot of meat and not much else to make it palatable. Our culinary experience was awful. I can’t emphasize how bad this restaurant is and we learned they are cutting back their hours now that the summer season is over. Fortunately we did not frequent this establishment much this year. It would be great if it was just mediocre, the setting and convenience of the location keep us maybe going there for drinks, but the dining experiences have been about as bad as can be.
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My phone now would go to a display of hash and would come out of it after pressing the power button over and over. One press would make the display go dark, the next press would bring up the hash. When it did come out of it, it seemed to function just fine. Lay the phone down and it could revert to the hash display. By turning the phone completely off when I wasn’t using it, it would turn on properly and function properly. Time to get a replacement.
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To replace this phone, a Galaxy S20+, T-Mobile will sell me a new old stock phone for about $41 a month for 24 months, so just under a thousand bucks. The latest model, the S23 has been out for about 6 months, that would be $50 a month, or $1200. I paid about $230 for my current phone about 1 ½ years ago, used, eBay, taking a chance. I really need this phone to last another 1 ½ years.
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The SailGP series has ended up in San Tropez and the races are available on YouTube. There was one moment very worth watching, Ben Ainsley and his GBR team putting a penalty on the Aussies and going on to win the final. The image at top is from Sail World. Here is a short video of that encounter: https://youtube.com/shorts/Ul12pWBmrRI?si=lzoYdGlKPV_XvLEP