Personal posts

The life and times of Toby

Candle incident

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Yesterday evening, I lit a candle while watching an episode of Columbo. It’s one of those fat kinds that develops a wall of wax around the outside. Previously, a hole had formed in the wall and some wax had dripped out. I had fixed the hole, but there were still some hunks of this wax left. So I put one in the candle wall yesterday, leaned up against it, hoping it would slowly melt away.

This morning, I woke up and thought to myself that I didn’t remember putting out the candle.

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This year, my larger redbud tree has only a few blooms on it and seemingly has gone straight to leaf. Last year, it fully bloomed and looked great. This year, it went to leaf right away while almost all the redbuds I’ve seen have bloomed nicely. It does seem to be growing faster this year than last: Must be focusing its energy on growth. So, hopefully next year it’ll be in full bloom again.

My tiny front sapling is still too small for blooms and has also gone straight to leaf. I’m glad it’s still doing fine.

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Doing my federal (US) taxes this year, I was finding myself unable to create an account on the Free Fillable Forms site. I kept getting kicked back to the start after filling out and submitting my information. This Reddit thread led me to figure out that it was related to my T-Mobile Home Internet. I turned that off and turned on my phone hotspot and used that to get in. My phone is also T-Mobile, but apparently different enough to not have that issue. Later, I was able to get back in with my Home Internet, so it seems to be just related to something on that initial registration process.

Low oil

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Last Monday, my car’s (Subaru Impreza) low oil light came on while I was driving down the highway. I didn’t know what the light was and nothing sounded wrong so I kept driving. When I got to my parents’, I looked up the symbol and then learned it was probably not a good idea for me to have kept going. Luckily, no harm seems to have been done.

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In January, I made another of my cinnamon roll cheesecake’s. I was in a rush and did not let it set in the fridge at all. And it really came out as a gooey circle of glop. The center sunk in and it was hard to serve. Really wouldn’t have been presentable if it weren’t just to my close family. I’ve learned how important that setting is for cheesecake.

However, it was still quite tasty. It was huge for four people, but it did eventually get eaten over a week-long period.

This one had three changes from normal. One, I mixed in most of the cinnamon crumble to the main batter in the mixer. I think this just turned out better and I will probably do it again. Two, I used duck eggs instead of chicken eggs. That was all Whole Foods had in a six pack at the time. They were expensive too, more expensive than the dozen chicken eggs, but I didn’t want to waste any. Three, I didn’t put the frosting on top because I was in such a rush that I didn’t have time to make it.

RIP Indy

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RIP Indy the dog. He was a mostly good dog. He was my former roommate and friend’s. He was wily at times and would sometimes make crazy vocalizations when he saw other dogs, so loud that he scared dogs and people. He loved to play with other dogs when he was young and was very energetic, but became angry with other dogs and lost energy as he got older. He bit me once in the hand, from which I still bear scars. I hadn’t seen him in several years unfortunately. He fell and couldn’t get back up on his hind legs. He no longer had feeling in them and had to be put down. We’ll miss you, Indy.