8:20AM. Pop_OS! version 19.10 is no longer supported, so I’m attempting to upgrade to 20.04. I could probably use a fresh reformat and reinstall at this point, but I’m going to be lazy and see if I can get away with an upgrade instead.
I’m simultaneously installing gimp 2.10.20 because I’m tired of leaning so far forward and squinting at the tiny icons that don’t correctly scale. I think it’s a bug in the version I have, 2.10.8, where the preferences window gives me an option for making the UI icons larger, but the slider fails to have any effect on icon size.
It’s a race! Will gimp update before the Pop!_OS updater starts making changes to the system?
I should probably reformat and reinstall, rather than an upgrade. With all the work I do with Bitcoin and suspicious Zoom and this or that prototype software, it’s only a matter of time until this system gets a virus that starts stealing my money.
That and my fans are always spooling up for no reason. It’s probably just because software is incredibly complex and there are a billion things going on under the hood, but the point is that it’s been awhile and I think system performance will increase if I bite the bullet and do a clean install.
I would stop the OS Upgrade if that were an option. It’s already in progress and I don’t think there’s anything I can do to stop it. I’ll just let it do it’s thing I guess. I’d probably be asking for trouble if I interrupt it.
Ok here’s the plan. I let this OS Upgrade run it’s course. If it fails for any reason, it’s time for a reformat and refresh.
I’m looking forward to Starlink. There’s apparently another Falcon 9 launch tomorrow morning which carries another batch of satellites.
The OS upgrade and the Gimp installation seems to be taking forever. I desire that sweet sweet Starlink 40Mbps download speed!!!
I haven’t tested my internet speed lately. I bet it’s around 5Mbps down, 4Mbps up. I’ll test it after I finish downloading stuff.
8:30AM. My ebay-last-call script has been working flawlessly the past few days! FeelsGoodMan.
To the mailbox I go!
It’s windy today. I’m glad my boonie hat has a chin strap because I was a little worried that my hat would fly off in the wind. It didn’t though. I have a big head and my hat is pretty snug.
Today I want to take it easy. I’ve been working hard, I’ve been staring at my computer all day for many days. I want to get some rest today, and not strain my eyes. My eyes have been dry and I catch myself rubbing them a lot. I’m trying not to rub.
I’m having ice cream for breakfast. I’m a rebel!
I decided to skip the Nerds United hike this morning. I looked at the map and the necessary transit time, and the time of the hike. To get there via bicycle, I would have had to leave at 8AM sharp, which means I wouldn’t have time to handle eBay shipments this morning.
It would be a 2 hour bike ride, around 18 miles one way. Then I’d do the hike, and ride another 2 hours, 18 miles back home.
I’m just not up to that bike ride at this moment! I would need to plan to have meals, and I would need to set aside the entire day for the adventure. I’m not about that right now. Like I said, I’ve been working hard, both at the computer, and doing yoga. I need a rest!
I’m thinking of going to the grocery store again soon. I got my food stamps back, so I would like to eat well. I want to pick up some more ingredients for buddha bowls. Avocado, chickpeas, and lettuce would be some good choices.
Yesterday I picked up a bag of red onion and a can of black beans. I also found these little 8 oz canned salsa which were actually less expensive per ounce than any other salsa in the aisle. Might be a life hack to get a bunch of those little cans and just pop open a can for every meal that calls for salsa. It’s a good serving size for an individual meal, and it’s pretty tasty! Fresh salsa every time, and it’s cheap! Life hack, indeed.
I’m downloading gimp 2.10.20 as a flatpak. I think this might be the first time that I’ve downloaded a flatpak. Today I Learned that flatpaks update via the system software manager just like a package installed via apt. That’s really cool! AppImage devs take note, there’s a better way to keep software updated!
I’ve always appreciated the integrated updates that come with installing .deb files, and I’ve missed that when I use an AppImage. I don’t know what the difference is with flatpaks that makes them more desirable, but I’m stoked to have an up-to-date GIMP that hopefully displays better on my HiDPI display.
HiDPI regrets! I’ll probably regret getting that upgrade on my laptop for as long as this thing is in operation!
Ugh, I wanna eat and go back to sleep. I am not even going to try to catch the Seattle Betsuin livestream this morning. It’s prerecorded anyway, so it’s not like I’m going to miss anything by simply watching it later.
FOMO is real. I was looking at Silhouette Cameo 3’s on eBay the other day. I added a couple of the listings to my watchlist, and forgot about them until I got a notification that one of the listings was ending soon.
I kept an eye on the auction and decided not to bid, because the price was already up to around $280 shipped. A new Cameo 4 goes for $299 with free shipping!
I found a used Cameo 3 on a Buy It Now listing for $175 with $4 shipping. With a price like that, it’s incredible that it hadn’t got snatched up already! I think I know why it hadn’t sold already– the pictures were terrible! At first glance, I didn’t even think this was a Cameo 3 die cutter. From the thumbnail picture, I thought it was an accessory or something.
Upon closer inspection, and viewing the second picture, I learned that it was actually a Cameo 3 cutting machine!
That other auction had just ended, and I feared that some of the losers of that auction would begin searching for another available Cameo 3. I had to act fast, and snatch this BIN listing before they did!
So that’s what I did.
I’ve been trying to come up with sticker ideas for this thing. As soon as it’s here I want to get it set up and making me money, straight away!
Here’s my first idea
This is LAT Miku (best miku model) which I captured from a VOCALOID MV. I would link it, but I already lost the name and where I downloaded the video. Anyway, Miku was already silhouetted in the background of the MV, so I downloaded the highest res possible and snapped a frame that looked good using mpv. I then brought the frame into Gimp
There’s a shadow behind Miku’s sillhouette, which was the first thing I removed using the path tool in Gimp. I then cropped the image and I was left with a plain and simple, cute Miku silhouette
next I imported the silhouette into Inkscape and ran the Trace Bitmap tool. It took a few tries to get something that looked acceptable. My main complaint was how rounded Miku’s feet became.
I spent several minutes tweaking the Optimize and Smooth corners parameters to the tool before I realized that what I was doing was silly. I intend to make this sticker very small. 2 inches high, maximum. Rounded, poorly defined feet at that size is going to be completely unnoticeable!
My intent is to give these stickers away as freebies for orders. I’ll sell them as well. The whole point of getting this die cutter is to sell!
In the future, when I get my rewards system set up, stickers will be another thing I can add to the prize pool. With any luck, they’ll catch on, and I’ll have created another source in income.
I’m going to take a break and eat my breakfast ice cream!
8:43 PM. I’m taking today off of work and it feels amazing to do so. I also rode down to Albertsons and got some fruit and some ice cream for the weekend.
I spent this afternoon/evening organizing my workspace. I’m giving everything a place, so it will be really obvious what is clutter
