Done Since 2020-08-30

[mdlbear]

A week. Mostly spent caring for Colleen, doing household chores, Getting A Few Things Done, making sure everything on Sable is ready to be replaced with fresh installs, and researching how to set up a computer to boot multiple OSs using EFI and the GPT partition table format. Documentation for this is thinner on the ground than one would like. (I started actually doing it today.)

Things that Got Done included ordering two new Thinkpad keyboards (the Bluetooth one will ship in "more than five weeks", which is why I ordered the other one), calling a handyman to (finally) make a concrete pad for the end of the ramp to replace the gravel nightmare that's there now, and writing a few posts. Actually, five posts, which is a little more than usual. Between the writing and various computer tasks I was actually able to get into flow a few times, which is good and keeps me from looking at the news.

... and Mom's not doing all that well. I mean, she's doing really well for someone who's 99 years old and on hospice care, but that's not really saying very much.

Notes & links:

0830Su  * litter boxen changed
  & awake 00:20;
    / C vomiting -- gave her an anti-nausea suppository; not clear that it helped
      -> continued at least until 2:15.  I'll try going back to bed at 2:30 -> 2:50
    % itching
  * up 6:30ish; S=5.06; exercises, shower
  : a verse + chorus of Bells of Norwich contains 16 beats.  Good for counting reps.
  % Apparently I've been skipping exercises -- my legs feel a little shaky
  @ Question: How does git detect renames? – Chelsea Troy good analysis
  * noon Golden Bough on FB  Facebook 'Golden Bough Music.com'
  # there are some lines missing.  lost due to a hasty reset while testing.  Oops.
  * put out query on NextDoor about pathway project
  % 8:30ish meloxicam
  : more debugging in entry.make.
  / minor cleanup - plumbing leak
  * changed bed.  changed litter
  % back hurts -> heat

0831Mo
  * up 7:20ish; S=5:56;
  * 10:30 C HH Orlanda
  $ HSX comp copy of CC+S to Orlanda.  Should give one to (PT)Colleen, too.
  @ Folk On Foot Festival 3: TOGETHER AGAIN - YouTube
  @ Scientists Think They've Figured Out a Main Culprit of Inflammatory Bowel Disease 
    a specific population of T cells.  But just research so far; no treatments.
  * Walk: to Skybird, so not a bad start to the week I guess
  % 5:30 having a lot of trouble focusing
  * set up transfer directory; one now has to upload by rsync, though the
    shared git repo is in the usual place.  So that's one to.do mostly done
  : call from Al a little after 7pm; Mom's not doing well.  Lots of cognitive problems.
    Hopefully mostly low blood sugar -- she's been forgetting to eat -- but maybe not.  I
    have to assume that I'll never see her again, except maybe by zoom.
  / major cleanup 8:45
  % back pain. -> 11:30 Meloxicam, heat.

0901Tu
  * Up 7:15; S=7:24;
  / 8:30 Call from Orlanda; urinalysis inconclusive; concerned about leakage
  : 9:28 call from Al; will set up zoom call tomorrow am.  Mom's doing somewhat better
  * updated cards on $A, GoDaddy, and ORCA
  * 3n/1   CPAP:  replace tubing, mask                           0 mod 3 (03,06,09,12)
  * */1    CPAP:  change nosepiece (with mask)                   */1
  * */1,15 CPAP:  change paper filter, wash tub                  */{1,15}
  @ A Supercomputer's Covid-19 Analysis Yields a New Way to Understand the Virus
    via Texx; Think I've seen this before.  Bradykinin.  Yes - see notes for 0803
  * Singing: Ripple.  I think capo 2 may be too high.
  @ Lenovo ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard with TrackPoint - US English: KU1255
    ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II (US English) | Part Number: #Lenovo US $86 new
    Only from Lenovo, "ships in more than 5 weeks"
    the ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II is bluetooth plus wireless USB (with dongle)
    The KU1255 is what I have; it's getting unreliable.  ~$60 used
    L is using one of my SK-8855's (old page up/down arrangement); the other is broken.
  % 11:15 meloxicam, heat

0902We
  * up 6:15ish; S=6:06;
  * Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint Keyboard II Order number: 4296130896 Placed: 09/02/2020 
  * 1ish HH PT (Colleen)
  ? 11:30 (12:30?) zoom call with Al, Mom (? 12:50...2pm... Don't think it will happen)
  * call about driveway work -> some responses on NextDoor -> Wayne Varn 209-770-2229
    Island Man Maintenance
  * order Vitamin C, fridge filter, cat food
  : call from CPI Heating and Plumbing to schedule annual safety inspection
  * tried installing new (BT-capable) wireless card in Raven.  BT came up, but WiFi
    didn't.  So put back the old one.  No WiFi there either.  WTF?
    -> when you change cards, you apparently have to re-enable WiFi in the BIOS :P
    ... so the new card is probably perfectly good.  I'll try later, because the antenna
        connectors are frustratingly fiddly.
    -> nope.  Didn't work.  Simply wasn't recognized.  Growf.  Driver?  try W$?
  @ Everything You Need to Vote - Vote.org Vote.org - Wikipedia seems legit

0903Th
  * up 7am; S=6:55;
  @ Setting up a multi-boot of 5 Linux distributions | by Manu Järvinen | Medium
  @ The rEFInd Boot Manager
  @ Hands-On: Linux UEFI multi-boot, my way | ZDNet
    Linux on your laptop: A closer look at EFI boot options | ZDNet 
  / 11:30 Diane -> training on flushing; catheter change for D to get a look at the end
  * spent almost all non-caregiver time writing "The Curmudgeon Over-Thinks Out Loud"
    about disk partitioning.
  : Mom's health declining; she has a 24-hour health aid now.
  : Desti is at the foot of Colleen's side of the bed; Ticia is at the foot of my side.
    That makes it difficult to pull up the blanket after changing the top sheet.
  @ Almonds Are Out. Dairy Is a Disaster. So What Milk Should We Drink? 
  / Colleen's catheter isn't leaking! (since it was changed around noon)

0904Fr
  & Awake 3:40; S=4.?; (out of bed 4:04)
  * up 8:15; S=6:13;
  * 10am Wayne re: paths.  Don't forget mask
    -> 1-day job; $45/h, ~$100 in materials.  Will call with schedule.
  * noon: zoom call with Mom -> doing better today
    Raven's camera sucks - used the phone; also let me bring it to C and show Mom the cats
  . 1ish pay for and pick up C's prescription for Lomotil
    -> they didn't show up after I'd been there for about half an hour; will try at 3
  / 1:30ish C should take a lorazapam to prepare for PT
  / 2:30ish C HH PT (Colleen)
  * Rite Aid for pickup.  The woman who brought it out was very apologetic.  They must be
    completely slammed.
  : Coming back fromn Rite Aid, I noticed that there were dried leaves on the ground, and
    it smelled distinctly like Fall.  How the heck did _that_ happen?
    -> in other news, it's just short of half a year since we started isolating.
  : (wired) Thinkpad keyboard is here.  Much better.  Feels a little different??
  @ Finally Confirmed! Vitamin D Nearly Abolishes ICU Risk in COVID-19 | Chris
    Masterjohn, PhD huge doses -- don't try this at home -- but impressive.
  @ Best Linux desktops of 2020: choose your Linux desktop environment | TechRadar
  * downloading  * UbuntuStudio 20.04.1
  / C major cleanup; watery
    % back hurting _a lot_
    * 9:45 meloxicam; 9:50 heat

0905Sa
  * up 6am; S=6:54, W=192.8;
  / major cleanup
    -> change bottom sheet; run laundry
  * downloading  * Mint LMDE Cinnamon  * Mint 20 MATE
  @ How to dual boot Ubuntu and Linux Mint | Tutorial | MARKO NTECH
    -> apparently the only good way to do it is make a second EFI boot partition for one
       or the other.  Or use Grub, which can recognize distro whenever it sees one.
  @ Ventoy: A new bootable USB solution.
    Ventoy website
    How To Create Multiboot USB On Linux
  @ Easy2Boot
  * install Ventoy on Lexar pink 8G stick; isos for Mint MATE, Mint lmde, ubuntustudio
  * Make sure Oscar, .ljarchive, .charmrc, and .jbackup are backed up from Sable.
    OSCAR_data and ljarchive go under u/steve in their own repos.
    .config/OSCAR_Team should be in Mathilda/dotconfig
    .charmrc and .jbackup contain api keys, so treat like .ssh and copy from nova or raven
    eventually encrypt them with git-crypt
  * Back up /etc/ssh from sable, because everything should use the same host keys
  * change uids and gids for steve and starport on sable and raven to match the ones on
    nova.  This makes it easier to share disks between systems.
  ~ adjust config files to point to .ljarchive->dw-post-archive in vv/users/steve;
    actually just moved it and left a symlink.  It'll do for now.
  / 10pm major cleanup
  % somewhere between discouragement and despair
  $ $200 to R by WU
  * swapped SSDs in Sable

Comments

[spiffyvoxel]

At some point I'll be installing rEFInd on my iMac, so I can dual-boot as and when necessary. (It's a bit more involved on Mac because you need to temporarily turn off SIP (System Integrity Protection) to do the installation).

I've currently got Linux Mint and Manjaro installed in virtual machines, both using Cinnamon for the desktop. Having tried out live installs with that, Mate, Xfce and KDE Plasma, I've decided that Cinnamon is the one I'm most comfortable with.

[mdlbear]

I looked at rEFInd and expected to use it, but Grub seems to be working okay so far, and I like the extra information it puts into its (text) menu.

Based on what I've read about MATE it seems to be lighter weight and more likely to play well with Xmonad as a window manager, but it may be a while before things settle out.

[amaebi]

Saluting you in your hard and important work.

[wyld_dandelyon]

Sympathy about your Mom.

[mdlbear]

Thanks.