The Raven's Roost

New Kindle Devices Will No Longer Show Up as External Drives - Amazon has removed the ability of users to sideload non-kindle ebooks onto their readers. Older devices can still be used this way but once my current device becomes unusable, I likely won't get another Kindle. Over half the stuff I have is e-pub.

This is what your 2004 home computer was going to look like in the 1950s which would be funny if it weren't a 2000's era photoshop. I'm just glad I never had to learn FORTRAN. What's the wheel for?

Carb Loading Time! Well, not for me, not yet. Not sure how I'm going to manage 2300+ calories a day of just carbs, but I'll figure it out. Though when I ran a half marathon distance last Sunday, I tried more frequent fueling and it seemed to work. I was going for every half hour, but my gut doesn't hate energy gels, so I could get away with every 20 minutes. For reference, the back of the packet suggests every 45 minutes. Every 20 minutes would allow me to take in about 300 calories of carbs each hour I'm running. Every 15 minutes might even work, I just know I would get very tired of the sticky, super-sweet mouthfuls. Plus that requires a lot of water, so a marathon would demand a potty stop.

Doctor appointment went well yesterday. He mentioned the liver specialist's office got back with him and suggested maybe my "elevated" liver numbers were NASH? Which seems ... not right? Bear in mind these elevated liver enzymes have never gotten into three-digit territory, and they can be well into the thousands. I do wish the specialist had said something to *me* but I also think they aren't correct. Here's why - I also have a "too much blood" problem that he says he typically only sees in obese patients. Restricted breathing and lower oxygen spur the creation of extra red blood cells, so it's often seen in people with sleep apnea and things like that. You know what else can mess with your oxygen levels and cause the creation of new red blood cells? Endurance running.

I really have to be more strict with the "no workout" rule ahead of blood tests in the future.

Anyway, the weather looks like it will be decent for Wine & Dine Weekend. upper 60s/70s for lows, mid 80s during the day, so not that bad. It's supposed to be rainy here, so we may shut the house up and leave the AC on set at around 80 or so.

I'm letting go of a couple of fountain pens and thought I'd let you all here know first in case one of you wants one or both. These are second hand to me, so you'd be the third owner, and while they're in good shape I'm selling them cheaply just to get them to new homes where they'll be used and enjoyed.

I have a TWSBI Eco in smoke and rose gold, with the wrench and a bottle of silicone lube for the piston. The other is a Lamy Safari AL in "maron," which is a lovely chocolate brown with a copper clip and black nib. It's got a converter cartridge so you can use whatever ink you please, but it obviously also takes Lamy cartridges. Both have been good pens, I just don't use them as much as my daily driver green Lamy and Pilot Metro.

I'll get some photos and more info (like nib size) together later, and give both pens an extra cleaning, since they've been sitting around for a while. I'm thinking thirty bucks for each one. I *think* the TWSBI is a medium and the Lamy is a broad nib but I've forgotten. And anyway I have a long run today, so I'm probably going to drive out to Grandin and run on the rail trail again. I think this time I'll skip the Florida Trail detour, since that was fun, but it added like .... probably an hour to my run.

It's 55 here this morning! YAY! Of course, this is "false fall," so in a few days the heat and humidity will be back. BOOOOO.