Taking a Selfie Tom McCall Waterfront Park • Portland, Oregon March 21, 2026 Nikon Z8 • Minolta MD Tele Rokkor-X 135mm f/2.8 f/5.6 @ 135mm • 1/250s • ISO 200

My news sources indicated that the cherry trees on the waterfront were in bloom, so I made plans to visit and get some pictures. I had volunteer work commitment for my church that took my entire afternoon Friday, extending into this morning. Everything this morning ran late.

My plan was to use my vintage Minolta MD Tele Rokkor-X 135mm f/2.8 lens on my newest camera, the Nikon Z8. I had forgotten exactly what I did in 2023, when I ran this experiment on my Nikon Z6. I had to do some research. In the process, I configured the Z8 to use focus peaking with yellow highlights, like the Z6 does. I also configured the Z8 to recognize the Minolta lens. EXPEED 7 allows the camera to learn a name for the old, non-CPU lens, the focal length, and the maximum aperture. That information gets passed to the image EXIF data. Much nicer than the null fields that get supplied by the Z6.

( A Portland Excursion, Below This Cut )

CBC provides some notes on the disabled fan experience. I don't recall anyone ever mentioning the carpet thing before.

Carbon Copy Cloner 7 Task Window

Just before I went to bed last night I decided I needed to (finally) figure out how I was going to keep a local backup of my Lightroom photos and catalog. I put the task on the list for Tuesday (today).

( Backup Geekery, Below This Cut )

Meier & Frank Garment Bags

I’ve been working in the garage, trying to identify old stuff to get rid of (to make space for other stuff). There was a box of garment bags, and I figured I didn’t need those bags anymore. And then I realized I might have a use for a couple of bags – so I opened the box. Old garment bags, indeed.

It was with a wave of nostalgia that I unfolded two Meier & Frank garment bags. These bags were provided for free when I bought some dresses at the department store. I think I still have the dresses, as well.

Meier & Frank was erased as a brand – and converted to Macy’s – in 2006. I can’t believe Meier & Frank vanished 20 years ago. Has it really been that long? I grew up with the department store and have a lot of fond memories. (Like... the air doors at the Lloyd Center... and the escalators at the flagship store downtown... plus the restaurants... and the Christmas displays.) I walk through Macy’s all the time – but I still miss Meier & Frank – a lot.

This is what it means to be an old Oregonian. (Yesterday, I was telling my friend Debbie about growing up with Miller Paint in Portland. I could go on and on... U.S National Bank of Oregon... Alpenrose Dairy... J. K. Gill... Hung Far Low...)

Can I really let go of these garment bags?

Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris

[Goodreads | Storygraph]

4 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )

1/350 scale model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (refit) TOMY International Nikon Z6 • NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 S f/11 @ 105mm • 1/45s • ISO 1600

Back in 2011, I passed on the QMx USS Enterprise refit Artisan 1/350 scale Replica. Of course I did – it was $5,000!

Then in August 2024, TOMY International launched its crowdfunding campaign for their own 1/350 scale replica of the NCC-1701 USS Enterprise refit. In a moment of FOMO, I placed a preorder – which became real when the campaign was fully funded. 329% funded, actually. 19 months later, the 34" long starship replica was delivered to my door – today.

( A Few Pictures – and a Dilemma )

I’ve been using black mesh zip pouches of various sizes to organize my gear – tech gear, photography gear – and for traveling, makeup/beauty products, vitamin/supplement containers. These pouches are very handy. I had been buying them from Amazon, but it appears that Daiso has them, too. Anyway, I have quite the assortment.

The thing about using them for my photography gear is that the contents all look sort of similar, so one might have to spend a moment or two figuring out what exactly is in the pouch.

At this year’s Portland Winter Light Festival, there was one night (Day 5 Tuesday) where I was shooting a Nikon D810 and a Nikon Z8. I don’t think I’ve ever used both a DSLR and a mirrorless camera on the same night. While those cameras can use the same battery, they use very different memory cards. So I had two very similar black mesh pouches – differing only by memory card type. It’s a little hard to figure out which bag was which in the dark.

I wanted an easier way to identify the contents of the black pouches, and at Etsy, I found Custom Zipper Pulls by ThoughtfulColors. I built up a list of tags that I wanted and placed an order on March 4. The tags arrived today, and I affixed them to my photography zipper pouches. They are excellent!

Tagged black mesh zip bags for photography gear Zipper Pulls by ThoughtfulColors@Etsy.com

The black zipper pulls are one-sided and are for general organization in my studio or my luggage. The purple zipper pulls are two-sided (same text on both sides) and are for pouches I have in my photography field kit. The purple makes the labels stand out more for faster identification. Anyway, I’m very pleased with these tags – high quality materials, excellent workmanship – and high legibility.

I confess to having a number of fast food apps – mainly for the purpose of getting discounts (replacing the old chore of coupon clipping). Sure, the companies track my redemption habits, but I don’t really care. If they keep wanting to offer me discounts, I’m frugal enough to keep taking them.

I provide my birthday to these apps as they give me special offers for my birthday. I thought I should itemize what I got this year for future reference.

( 2026 Birthday Offers, Under the Cut )

Update to my previous entry: I heard from my friend in Baghdad, and she and her family are okay. She is, however, worried about her friends in Iran. Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes.

On a totally different subject, here is a Bookshop.org code for 20% off your first purchase (only ships to US):

https://refer.bookshop.org/egkfmyy2rdr6

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

[Goodreads | Storygraph]

3.25 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )

Once or twice a week I take a Randomness Break and click on Kagi Small Web for a while. Like I need more rabbit holes to fall into.

Anyway, today Small Web led me to Pawel Grzybek’s blog post: My Defaults 2026 – which was really interesting (to me).

I know that my own defaults are currently messed up, and the plan is to rethink things – but it’s a low-priority task. However, I can at least start with a list for assessment purposes.

Know in advance that I’m really weird, and defaults aren’t the same for all devices. You’ll need a key. Belldandy = Mac Studio M4 Max. Fern = M3 MacBook Air. Holo = M4 iPad Pro. Meiko = iPhone 13 mini.

Mail Client: Microsoft Outlook (Belldandy), Apple Mail (Fern, Holo, Meiko)
Notes: Apple Notes. Also, Google Docs
To-Do: Google Docs
Calendar: BusyCal (Belldandy), Fantastical (Meiko), Apple Calendar: (Fern, Holo)
Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive. Also: Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive
RSS: none
Contacts: Apple Contacts
Chat: Apple Messages
Browser: Google Chrome (yeah, I know)(Belldandy, Fern); Apple Safari (Holo, Meiko)(alt: Belldandy, Fern)
Bookmarks: Google Chrome (Belldandy, Fern); Apple Safari (Holo, Meiko)
Read It Later: Google Docs
Word Processing: Write 2 (Belldandy, Fern); Apple Pages (Holo, Meiko)(alt: Belldandy, Fern); Microsoft Word (alt: Belldandy, Fern)
Text Editor: BBEdit
Page Layout: Affinity (Publisher, now Studio) (Belldandy)
Code/HTML Editor: Panic Nova (Belldandy)
Technical Graphics: OmniGraffle (Belldandy)
Spreadsheets: Microsoft Excel (Belldandy, Fern)(alt: Holo, Meiko). Also: Apple Numbers (all devices)
Presentations: Microsoft Powerpoint (Belldandy, Fern)
Photo Editing/Library: Adobe Lightroom (Belldandy, Fern). Also: Apple Photos (all devices)
Image Editing: Adobe Photoshop (Belldandy). Also: Affinity (Photo, now Studio) (Belldandy)
Video Editing: Apple Final Cut Pro X (Belldandy)
PDF Editing: PDFPenPro (now absorbed by Nitro) (Belldandy)
PDF Reading: Adobe Acrobat Reader (Belldandy, Fern); Apple Preview (Holo, Meiko)(alt: Belldandy, Fern)
Document Scanning: VueScan (Belldandy); Apple Notes (Meiko)
Calculator: PCalc
Shopping Lists: Clear (Meiko)
Meal Planning: none
Budgeting and Personal Finance: Microsoft Excel (Belldandy)
News: Apple News. Also: Google News
Music Streaming: none (but have access to YouTube Music)
Music Listening: Apple Music
Password Management: 1Password
Podcasts: none

The Gen Con heist case is officially over! I can stop having to check on it!

Phase III of the home remodel has been on hold during January and February – partly because I was underwater – but also we had some track head lighting on backorder.

Yesterday morning the electricians were here. They 1) installed the new, dimmable track lighting in the family room, 2) replaced a partially broken overhead light in Katie’s room with a new fixture and dimmer switch, 3) repaired a GFI outlet in the kitchen which had been permanently interrupted, and 4) added one more track head lamp in the NE corner of my home office. The work took four hours – from 7:00 am to 11:00 am.

New Light Fixture in Katie’s Room iPhone 13 mini photo

The new track lighting necessitated running power under the floor to a new light switch. Holes had to be cut into drywall so that wiring could be run. The drywall will get repaired in the near future.

The new lighting – everywhere – looks great. Previously, there was no overhead lighting in the family room, so the new media library and storage cabinets were dim. Now it’s much easier to see and find things.

New Track Lighting in the Family Room iPhone 13 mini photo

One remaining task is installing a new carpet runner in the entryway. The carpet is here but not installed as my interior designer was sick and didn’t want to enter the house. Once the drywall is patched and the carpet runner installed, Phase III of construction will be complete. (I still have months of item sorting / reorganization / giveaway to conduct. The remodel project will be complete when I can get Shizu back into the garage.)

(Copied from my Substack)

Disclaimer: I’m not claiming my story is important. It’s just the story I have to tell.

One of my best friends lives in Baghdad, which is among the many, many places now bombed in this regional war started by my government. As I write this, she and her family are probably all right. As far as I know, there have been no strikes near where they live and work. They’ve survived worse. They survived being bombed by my country during the war over obviously fake WMD’s. But as the days go by and I don’t hear from her, I can’t help reflecting that they might soon die because my country is run by lunatics and cowards.

And I keep thinking I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.

My own senators and representative already oppose the was on Iran, even heavily pro-Israeli Ron Wyden. I’ve already written to thank them. But they are outnumbered by the cowards in Congress. I could sign petitions. I could write or call other legislators. I could stand in the street with a sign, but what can I do that would have real impact? Where do my strengths lie for taking action?

I don’t have a good answer for what to do about this war. But broadly, thinking of my life on Earth, my mind turns toward my writing, and as that’s a focus of this Substack, I’ll share a thought about it. In my science fiction, I write messy situations, and I write with sympathy toward virtually all my characters. I sometimes feel this puts me at odds with the prevailing values of my own progressive comrades in current social science fiction circles. The Zeitgeist there seems to favor sharp divisions between right and wrong: the oppressed are in the right; the oppressors are in the wrong. This must be clearly driven home in the name of real-world justice.

I think I respectfully disagree. Not with the premise about oppression being bad, but with the narrative prescription of moral simplicity. I’m not saying straightforward moralizing stories shouldn’t exist. Many value them and get validation of their own struggles from them. Those stories have their place. But I occupy a different place. I try to write (almost) everyone with sympathy: oppressed, oppressor, dictator, soldier, abused, abuser, the broadminded, the dogmatic.

What does this have to do with the war in the Middle East? This war has been enabled by simplistic morality narratives: Iran has a harmful regime (true); therefore, it’s fine for “the good guys” (us/US) to drop missiles on them because they are “bad guys.” The same rationale supports ICE, excuses January 6th but deports people for a school protest, excuses kidnapping the president of Venezuela while defending “Our President” tooth and nail. It’s American exceptionalism on steroids: “We are Good, and they are Bad, so anything we do to ‘get’ them is Good.”

This kind of mindset, even if it’s not even close to this level of stupid, makes it easy to label groups as deserving punishment because they do bad things. Iran’s government is oppressive; it does fund attacks that kill civilians. This eclipses the schoolgirls, the families going about their business, the people doing the hard work for decades of trying to resist a reactionary theocracy. It makes a bomb seem like an easy answer.

My friend, whom I dearly love, could die in this war. She’s an English teacher just trying to live her life.

What can I do? I’ll go on trying to figure that out, imperfectly, often ineffectually, and sometimes irresponsibly, as I learn how to be a citizen under fascism. But one thing I will surely keep on doing is writing characters with sympathy. With the exception of a few very minor walk-ons, it will be every character, every time: the murderers, the rapists, the wealthy, the colonizers, the trampled, the sacrificed, the raped, the ignored, the destitute, the elite, the insightful, and the lacking in insight. I’ll do it because this world needs more sympathy, and that’s something I can do.

Meiko VIII My iPhone 13 mini

Meiko, my 4 1/2 year old iPhone 13 mini, is starting to have problems.

I charge my phone at bedside every night, but in the last few months, charging has been unreliable. Initially it seemed like maybe the Lightning connector wasn’t being plugged in all the way. Then I thought that the charging cable was failing, as it had been weakened where the cable bent a little before the Lightning plug. Moving the phone or flexing the cable would either make charging resume – or stop charging without announcement. Pretty irritating.

A few days ago I bought a new AC adapter – which would charge the iPhone faster – and a new Lightning cord. Hopefully, the new setup would fix the intermittent charging issues. It didn’t.

The new Lightning cable is stiffer and sturdier – which is actually a little bit of a problem in the small space where the iPhone gets charged every night. Adjustments were made. But the iPhone still intermittently stopped charging anytime the phone was moved or set down.

The iPhone was in a very, very thin protective case (by Totallee) – and I finally took that case off so that I could get the most sure and secure connection at the Lightning plug. Things are a little better – but still iffy. Right now, I’m just very careful when charging the iPhone. I guess maybe the Lightning port is weakened and wobbly.

My plan had been to replace my iPhone 13 mini with an iPhone 20 Pro when it’s released in Fall 2027. It’s not clear my iPhone will last that long – but I’m still going to try. I’d hate to have to settle for an iPhone 18 Pro – or even an iPhone 17 Pro if things fail soon. I’ve never had an iPhone fail on me prior to replacement. I suppose there’s a first time for everything.

I don’t like wireless charging, but I could resort to that if the Lightning port fails completely. The new AC adapter heats up the phone a lot more – perhaps as much as wireless charging heats up the phone. The battery will degrade faster – but the phone will retire in 18 months (or sooner) anyway, so it probably doesn’t matter.

From now until end-of-life, Meiko will be naked. The Lightning plug is most secure when there’s no case. It’s weird holding an unsheathed iPhone. The smooth phone feels nice and looks clean – but eventually it will get dinged up.

Ratio posted on Twitter during some food wank.

3x peanut butter
3x soy sauce
1x toasted sesame seed oil
1x rice vinegar
1x chili oil (or crisp)
1x minced garlic
hot water as needed

The Payback by Kashana Cauley

[Goodreads | Storygraph]

3 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )