T w e n t y S i d e d

I *finally* was able to start building the new computer. In fact, I’m writing this up very late in the day on Sunday on the new machine. I started putting components on the motherboard Friday. The interesting part is nothing went wrong. The new computer even started up first try. So far there is one thing just absolutely not working, and I have no idea why. But it’s the original mechanical SATA drive so I’m not all that bothered. Its primary function was replaced by the 1TB NVMe I recently found. The single most time consuming part of the build was wire management. I had to redo a few things, and the case instructions for one particular part are not accurate or helpful. I didn’t capture video, but I did take several pictures, so I will upload them as I guide.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “New Computer 2026”

Paige Francis He/him

Somehow I didn’t notice when I created the splash image above I named it “toiletsplash,” which isn’t great. I guess it depends on where your brain is at the moment. Right now, “toiletsplash” is something I *really* don’t want to be thinking about. I have eaten two things in the last 24 hours: leftover Church’s Chicken strips with Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise in a tortilla, and the McDonald’s Hot Honey Sausage Egg & Cheese Biscuit. I’ve had the chicken strip wraps for a few meals because someone gave us the leftovers of a catered dinner. They were heated to piping hot every time. Sure that doesn’t fix *everything*, but as I said; they had not been a problem. So…I’m pretty sure the instigator is the Hot Honey Biscuit. I drove my Dad to church this morning and decided to try the new McDonald’s breakfast sandwich before I went back to take him home. (By the way, I’m writing a new intro and updating this post Sunday right before sending it in for upload, simply because I thought the toilet joke would be a bit humorous. That was before I continued to spend the next few hours running to the bathroom every 15-30 minutes and nearly screaming in pain.) Ate, dropped him off, said “have a nice day, love you” to my parents, and decided to change a setting in my car’s safety features when my stomach said “a race will be starting shortly. Better take your position.” That was a few hours ago. I write in between cramps.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Something’s Coming, Something’s Here”

Paige Francis He/him

So the latest Ice Storm hit my area last Friday. Well, Friday before last by the time you read this. I used quotes in the title not to diminish the effect of the storm, but only to point out that for *my* area anyway, this wasn’t as bad as the previous bad ice storm in 2021. There were two main differences, unfortunately neither of which was the preparedness of the state of Texas. In fact many areas *did* lose power for days as expected. Where I live it wasn’t overly severe. We have our own water well, and I placed three heat lamps in the well house pointing at the above-ground portion of the plumbing. This kept our water going even down to 30 degrees below freezing. But the important thing out of our hands was the power supply. We are in a rural area, so most power is carried above ground on power lines. In 2021 we had heavy precipitation before the freezing weather hit, *and* during the early hours of the freeze, so the lines were heavy with ice. THEN we also had heavy wind, which subsequently *broke* all those really heavy lines. This time the precipitation was light and we never had heavy wind during the storm. Here, anyway. So we never lost power. Unfortunately, we *did* still have many breakages that caused several days of problems. Which is why I didn’t publish anything last week. Massive stress levels, and all that.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Ice “Storm””

Paige Francis He/him