Sat Jun 06 2026

Sleep 0300 to 1100 (8 hours)

• DDO: Dave W and I did Legendary Slavers p1 at R3. We have a pretty good rhythm where I send Teal (level 30 raptor) at the bad guys to get aggravation. Then I heal him twice (need to anticipate and start casting before he's taking damage because he'll die fast). That gives Dave W enough time to get in there and start hitting bad guys with his dagger that turns people into gold for a few seconds (it's like Constitution DC 100 so hard to resist for bad guys). Then I can start attacking and hopefully don't get aggro.

Sun Jun 07 2026

Sleep 0330 to 1100 (7-1/2 hours)

• No Nemo stream today. I went on Discord and hung out with three of the STFC leaders in my alliance. They talk a lot about random stuff and I mostly listened. Was nice.
• Watched Monaco Grand Prix. Lots of stuff happening but I guess not really racing. I read in a book that Monaco is a track where it's hard to pass and yeah that seemed true. Not sure there was any passing but several crashes, lots of penalties, and one race stop kept things eventful.

Mon Jun 08 2026

Sleep 0415 to 1215 (8 hours)

• Visited Lima. Started MBP Intel net boot. Taking too long so left it there and will come back tomorrow.
• Trader Joe's for stuff to make nachos cause I have a hankering.
• Chips, 2 oz ($0.50) + Refried Beans 1/2 can ($0.60) + Sliced Black Olives 1/2 can ($0.90) + Shredded Sharp Cheddar 1 oz ($0.33) + Pico de Gallo Salsa, Spicy, 1/4 ($0.75) = $3.08 for a single serving of nachos, enough for a small lunch. Tasted pretty good.

Tue Jun 09 2026

Sleep 0600 to 1200, 30m nap (6-1/2 hours)

• Nemo streamed from Japan so I got to sleep late.
• Visited Lima. MBP stuck trying to download recovery image. Bringing it back home and will try net install again.
• Actually I can try recovering from Time Machine image. I think I still have it backed up but I was thinking the old install was the problem so restoring wouldn't fix it.
• Restore From Time Machine Backup doesn't find any macOS installs in my backups. Maybe it's because the Restore app is from macOS 10.15 (that's the OS it wants to install when I do Reinstall macOS) and doesn't recognize Time Machine backups with macOS 12 and 26.
• "Time Machine Backup not found - File extension is .backupbundle instead of .sparsebundle" identifies that changing the file extension would allow restore app to see the backups but restore would still fail partway.
• "How to reinstall macOS" mentions restarting with Option-Command-R or Shift-Option-Command-R to get a different version of the macOS installer.

Wed Jun 10 2026

Sleep 0415 to 1215 (8 hours)

• MBP Intel: Shift-Option-Command-R (boot Internet Recovery with macOS version that came with your Mac) stalled booting overnight. Option-Command-R (boot with latest supported Internet Recovery) started up and allowed me to try to install macOS 26 (Tahoe) which failed to install -- started to install and then a few minutes later MBP shut down. I give up and it's time to recycle that machine.

Thu Jun 11 2026

Sleep 0530 to 1330 (8 hours)

• GURPS Ring of Fire BackerKit, also has GURPS 4E Revised. Both for $120 hardcover and PDF.

Fri Jun 12 2026

Sleep 0800 to 1415 (6-1/4 hours)

• I seem to be hitting a limitation with Wiki.js + Safari. As my X1 map diagram gets more and more detailed it got to the point that Safari won't load Wiki.js edit page. Works great on Chrome but I try to avoid using Chrome.
• Dave S was around so we played Gloomhaven

We Will Always Be Here: Pride Month 2026 Humble Bundle is 11 software things for $12. They add a "12th" item which is a 90% off coupon. Seems like an interesting selection of causal and visual novel games.

The August Before (Catoptric Games, $12, 2025, Windows) First person casual puzzle game. "The August Before is a meditative narrative 3D puzzle about cleaning up, sorting out and packing up your life before moving on. Clean up and don’t forget your old belongings on your way to the new life!"

Bad End Theater (NomnomNami, $10, 2021, Mac/Windows/Linux) "welcome to BAD END THEATER! select your protagonist and explore a variety of terrible fates! the decisions you make in one story will affect the others. you can toggle these behaviors to open up new paths! unfortunately, every path leads to a bad ending... can you find a way to save this unlucky cast? playtime: 1-3 hours to see all endings (it's a puzzle game, so this varies widely)"

CraftCraft: Fantasy Merchant Simulator (Paceholder Gameworks, $10 on sale 27% off, Windows/Mac) "CraftCraft is a narrative-heavy RPG sim with hands on forging and jewelry making! Create a pretty tiara for a mermaid or a sword made of dragon blood! Be a Moth or a Cat and express your creativity in your cozy crafting studio and change the lives of locals in the mysterious port town of Windspell."

Death of a Wish (Syndicate Atomic, 2024, $15, Windows/Mac/Linux) "THE NEO-SANCTUM SHALL FALL. Claim retribution against the theocratic Faiths as you master vicious hack-and-slash combat in this action-RPG where style is salvation."

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie (Don't Nod, 2023, $25 retail, Windows) Visual novel with choices. "The fate of humanity is at stake. Use your gift of clairvoyance to see into the future and stop an apocalypse that threatens the balance between your world and the deities'."

Pesterquest (Fellow Traveller, 2019, $2, Windows/Linux, OWN) "Embark on a quest of epic importance in Pesterquest, a grimsical episodic visual novel adventure set in the darkly funny Homestuck / Hiveswap universe, created by American author and artist Andrew Hussie."

Tavern Talk (Gentle Troll Entertainment, $10 on sale 45% off, Windows/Mac) "A cozy visual novel about running a tavern in a D&D-inspired fantasy! Gather rumors, serve magical drinks, and meet adventurers on a life-changing quest."

Thirsty Suitors (Annapurna Interactive, 2023, $30 retail, Windows) "Thirsty Suitors is a surreal story-driven game which throws turn-based RPG battles, skating and over-the-top cooking mechanics together in a spicy fusion! This isn't a dating sim - it's a breakup simulator. Battle your exes. Disappoint your parents. Find yourself."

Vampire Therapist (Little Bat Games, 2024, $15, Windows/Mac/Linux) Visual novel with choices. "Guide vampires through centuries of emotional baggage, decades of delusions and the odd bout of self-loathing with real cognitive behavioral therapy concepts and become a Vampire Therapist! Even vampires need a shoulder to cry on when a neck to bite just won’t do."

We Know the Devil (Pillow Fight, 2016, $7, Windows/Mac) "WE KNOW THE DEVIL is a visual novel about teens reluctantly fighting the devil at summer camp. Follow meangirl Neptune, tomboy Jupiter, and shy shy Venus as they get to know each other--but one always gets left out."

Apple WWDC 2026 Keynote pretty much was about two topics: Child Safety features, especially the new Child Accounts, and Apple Intelligence as both architecture for developers to use and worked examples put into many Apple apps that will ship with xOS 27. To a certain extent I guess these are the sort of AI features people were expecting to see when Apple Intelligence was announced last year.

My notes:

macOS 27 Golden Gate

Liquid Glass
- rendering refinements when background is complex
- setting slider to adjust opacity
- sidebar has color for active app so easier to tell
- icons have more layers
- focus on UI performance

iOS 27 suports down to iPhone 11 (including my iPhone SE 3rd gen)

Search: rebuilt foundation for Spotlight, Photos, Mail
- more comprehensive indexing (with rankings in Mail)

Photos: share albums with Android friends and they can contribute too

Child Safety
============

- 1. every child is unique and parents know what's best for their family
- 2. based on expert health research
- kids 14-18: age-based protections guided by adult supervision
- kids under 13: access should be limited

American Academy of Pediatrics - Family Media Plan

Child Accounts
- existing accounts can be converted to Child Account
- Setup Assistant to help parents
- Ask to Buy - existing way for parents to approve App Store downloads
- Ask to Browse Website - new feature
- Ask to Approve - for people who kid can interact with
- Communication Safety - detects nudity and gore
- Screen Time statistics. Parents can immediately pause use of an app
- Time Allowances - time for Entertainment, Games, Social Media categories
- Schedule apps based on time of day, schedule Time Allowances

Developer Tools and APIs
- Sensitive Content Analysis
- PermissionKit
- Declared Age Range API

Apple Intelligence
==================

Architecture
- Apple Foundation Models: run on device or on server with Apple Private Compute
- v2 of on-device model for latest Apple Silicon
++ iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, iPad M4 with 12 GB memory, Mac M3 with 12 GB memory
- Personal context understanding
- App actions: AI execute actions on an app
- On-screen awareness
++ tailor responses to app you're using
++ ask about something shown on-screen
- Image understanding
- Privacy First: on-device processing + Private Cloud Compute

Siri AI
- More conversational during multiple queries
- Dedicated Siri app to go back to conversations and continue them
- Brand new voice experience, sounds more natural, adjust pace and expressivity
- macOS: Siri AI context menu action

Siri App
- view conversations
- continue conversation as you switch devices
- iCloud sync, private

Siri mode in camera - point camera at something and ask Siri

Visual Intelligence - info/actions based on photo shown or on Mac based on selection

Safari - uses Apple Intelligence to organize tabs by topic
- Notify Me: Safari can monitor a page and wait for specific change
- Describe an Extension: Safari can create extensions just for you
- Automatically Fix Passwords: Safari will update weak/compromised PWs on web sites

Other Apps
- Home app summarizes multiple notifications
- Home app create descriptions from various cameras
- Shortcuts: describe a shortcut and it will assemble it for you
- Image Playground - more capabilities and Image Playground API for devs

Photos App
- Clean Up Tool upgrade
- Extend Tool to expand image (extends background so main subject is not cramped)
- Spatial Reframing
++ rotate subject and background adjusts as if you had moved camera
++ generative AI to fill in "extra" image

Apple Intelligence in English, more languages will be added quickly
iCloud+ subscription for Private Computing features

Siri AI Beta later this year. Initially not available in EU or China.

Core AI framework to use 3rd party AI models.

Sat May 30 2026

Sleep 0345 to 1100, 30 nap (7-3/4 hours)

• D&D session 35: Christopher Jr did most of the driving today as the PCs explored an ancient museum of dead gods.
• Dinner at PF Chang's. I finally used that $50 gift card that one of the QA guys gave me maybe 10 or 15 years ago.
• DDO: We were researching Sentient Jewels and Filigrees. Ended up doing one quest, Horde of the Illithid Controller. Kind of neat in that you sneak around a bunch otherwise fighting the storm giants is quite rough.

Sun May 31 2026

Sleep 0530 to 1230 (7 hours)

• Noticed that my American Express High Yield Savings Account is currently 3.20% APY (effective interest for a year since it compounds monthly). It's actually lower than my Apple Savings APY of 3.49% In general I guess doesn't matter much and I do like to keep Apple Savings accruing only from Apple Card cash back and interest rate to see how high it eventually gets.

Mon Jun 01 2026

Sleep 0330 to 1145 (8-1/4 hours)

• ORCL is up to $248 (was briefly at $250) so I'm selling 200 shares and that's this year's income. I guess I put in my order after trading hours (ends 4 PM ET) so we'll see how it goes tomorrow morning. (Sold at $245 per for $49k)

Tue Jun 02 2026

Sleep 0500 to 1130 (6-1/2 hours)

• Answering a political survey. Which makes me wonder: at what point did the Republican Party turn from "we're the white hat good guys" to "we're anti-heroes -- laws don't matter as long as the end is good" to "we're villains masquerading as anti-heroes".

Wed Jun 03 2026

Sleep 0030 to 1015 (9-3/4 hours)

• C3+S Dinner. Delivery from Totoro Ramen. I tried to net boot my MBP Intel but it was taking too long. I guess I'll drop by Monday or Tuesday since they're on vacation and I can visit Lima.

Thu Jun 04 2026

Sleep 0100 to 0930 (8-1/2 hours)

• Picked up my new glasses. Long distance very nice. Short range is nice. Progressive hard to get used to. Always feels like the short range portion is way down the lenses. I got this for driving so we'll see on a long trip.
• Fletcher's for a super burrito (with carnitas) and super nachos (with shrimp). $44 with tip. But it is 4 meals worth so not too bad overall.

Fri Jun 05 2026

Sleep 0530 to 1230 (7 hours)

• DDO: We finished Illithid Invasion. I guess only the first quest is really tough. The second quest has an annoying end fight where you have to keep dodging energy balls coming from the walls.

We had a car towed last week. It was parked in rental, someone wanted to use that space, turns out that space was not being rented. I put a notice, then the notice was gone a couple of days later, then put another notice, and it's been a couple of weeks since first notice. Checked with our management company that they hadn't called about it.

First off the garage entrance is 6'6" and the tow truck is a little too high for that. He tried but we could see it would hit the entrance ceiling. That means moving the car to the entrance then winching it up since from the garage it slopes up into the street -- although it turned out backing the tow truck then extending the lifter was just enough.

But the car is 4WD and the parking brakes were on so you can't just push it. So they had to put rollers underneath the wheels (see photo). The back rollers are also used on the road. With the rollers on one guy can slowly push and maneuver the car to the garage entrance.

Kind of neat process.

I haven't received the county voter information guide. Maybe there isn't one for primaries. There's only week left to mail my ballot in so I have to make decisions now.

Ballotpedia does have some info and many candidates fill out their survey.

This year I abstained from voting for uncontested seats.

Governor: Matt Mahan (D)
State Assembly, 21st District: Diane Papan (D)
Superior Court Judge, Office #4: Brian Donnellan
County Superintendent of Schools: Chelsea Bonini
County Board of Supervisors, District 2: None
County Assessor and Clerk Recorder: Jim Irizarry
County Controller: None
County Coroner: None
County Treasure and Tax Collector: None

Sat May 23 2026

Sleep 0330 to 1100 (7-1/2 hours)

• BBEdit 16 released. I have BBEdit 14 so it's a $40 upgrade. $30 for BBEdit 15 and recent-ish BBEdit 16 owners. $60 regular price. I upgraded to 14 back in Jan 2022 so it's been a while but it still works fine for me.

Sun May 24 2026

Sleep 0500 to 1000 (5 hours)

• DDO We started Illithid Invasion arc which we've never done. Pilgrims' Peril is an extreme challenge which tried at R5, R4, R3 and finally R1. That first battle is pretty tough. Stolen Power we did at R2 and that went well. That last fight reminded me of Resident Evil movie trying to avoid the lasers. Was expecting eventually it'd be a wall of green orbs you can't jump over or around.

Mon May 25 2026

Sleep 0745 to 1415 (6-1/2 hours)

• Canadian Grand Prix. Franco Colapinto came in 6th and Oliver Bearman came in 10th (neither scored in the Sprint). So now it's Bearman with 18 points and Colapinto with 15. 33 points would be just after 5th in the Constructors' standings.

Tue May 26 2026

Sleep 0045 to 0945, 30m nap (9-1/2 hours)

• At this point looks like my Intel MBP is non-usable. The internal HD is wiped. I can start from recovery but installing macOS 12 fails. I can't install on an external HD because security won't boot to an external unless you go into the Startup Security Utility but that requires a login from an account on the internal HD and there are no logins there now. I might get it to install on a different network so maybe I'll try my brother's place.

Wed May 27 2026

Sleep 0515 to 1230 (7-1/4 hours)

• I'm still using the very old Banktivity 7 which is an Intel app and macOS will be removing support for Intel apps in a year or two. Banktivity is now a monthly subscription so it's time to look for a different checkbook app.

Thu May 28 2026

Sleep 0015 to 0730 (7-1/4 hours)

• Had a car towed today. Was in a rental parking spot. Put a notice on it and gave them a couple of weeks.
• ORCL hit $202+ today and there for several hours. Tempted to sell this year's allocation now.

Fri May 29 2026

Sleep 0230 to 1100 (8-1/2 hours)

• DDO: CSr went to a movie. DW and I did The Newcomers (R3) and Black and Blue (R2). Both were quite doable.

Bundle of Holding as a two Atomic Robo bundles. Atomic Robo bundle is from 2021 and it has the RPG plus a bunch of trade paperbacks. Atomic Robo New Era is $18 fixed for 8 trade paperbacks:

• v1 Fighting' Scientists of Tesladyne
• v2 Dogs of War
• v5 The Deadly Art of Science
• v7 Flying She-Devils of the Pacific
• v9 Knights of the Golden Circle
• v13 Dawn of a New Era
• v14 The Vengeful Dead
• v15 Agents of C.H.A.N.G.E.

v15 is the latest and, yes, the first bundle has the TPBs not included in this bundle. Not sure why it's out of sequence. Maybe because the web comic is out of sequence.

The bundle also has three Tesladyne Zines:

• The Art and Process of Atomic Robo (49pp) - "Brian Clevinger talks about writing comics the Atomic Robo way"
• 8-Bit Theater (21pp) - "A short RPG by Brian Clevinger where you're the Light Warriors"
• Troubleshooter (64pp) - "A light LUMEN-based tactical game of daring heists and deadly ship combat"

Since I bought the first bundle the second is must to complete the collection.

This Delta Green Cosmic Horror RPG Collection is $15 for:

Stuff I already own

APU-8106 Need to Know (2016) [OWN]
APU-8107 Agent's Handbook (2016) [OWN]
APU-8113 Handler's Guide (2017) [OWN]
APU-8121 The Labyrinth (2019) [OWN]
APU-8122 Evidence Kit: The Labyrinth (2021) [OWN]
APU-8123 God's Teeth (2023) [OWN]
APU-8124 Evidence Kit: God's Teeth (2024) [OWN]
APU-8129 The Good Life (2024) [OWN]
APU-8145 Impossible Landscapes (2021) [OWN]
APU-8146 Static Protocol (2021) [OWN]
APU-8148 The Conspiracy (2022) [OWN]
APU-8150 Convergence (2022) [OWN]
APU-8152 Dead Letter [OWN]
APU-8169 God's Eye (2024) - compiled into APU-8173 God's Hunt (2025) [OWN]
APU-8170 God's Breath (2024) - compiled into APU-8173 God's Hunt (2025) [OWN]
APU-8171 God's Law (2024) - compiled into APU-8173 God's Hunt (2025) [OWN]
APU-8172 God's Light (2025) - compiled into APU-8173 God's Hunt (2025) [OWN]
APU-8174 Handler's Screen (2016) [OWN]

Digital Assets: Classified (2022) [OWN]
Digital Assets: Public Interest (2022) [OWN]
Digital Assets: Law Enforcement (2022) [OWN]
Digital Assets: Known Vectors (2022) [OWN]
Digital Assets: Murder Board 1 (2023) [OWN]
Digital Assets: Murder Board 2 (2023) [OWN]
Digital Assets: Esoterica 1 (2024) [OWN]

Stuff I don't own

APU-8110 The Star Chamber (2016) [$5]
APU-8112 Music from a Darkened Room (2017) [$5]
APU-8119 A Victim of the Art (2019) [$5]
APU-8139 Hourglass (2020) [$5]
APU-8142 PX Poker Night (2020) [$5]
APU-8142 Jack Frost (2021) [$10]
APU-8165 Presence (2023) [$5]
APU-8167 Meridian (2024) [$5]

Digital Assets: Esoterica 2 (2024) [$15]


Retail stuff for price I don't own is $60 so I guess $15 is worth it. It's redeemed on DriveThruRPG as three gift links.

Sat May 16 2026

Sleep 0430 to 1230 (8 hours)

• DDO Doing Deception in Stormreach/Attack on Stormreach on Legendary since we usually skip these. I kind of wanted to reincarnate but DW wants to keep playing Legendary quests.

Sun May 17 2026

Sleep 0215 to 1115 (9 hours)

• City of San Mateo web site now looks gigantic on my desktop Safari. I think they changed to adaptive UI and it thinks Safari = mobile. And it does look correct in Chrome.

Mon May 18 2026

0345 to 1145 (8 hours)

• Last 3 or 4 nights sleeping on my bed does something to my lower left torso muscles so it's sore and a bit painful when I move. Since I was doing bed sheets laundry today I also flipped the mattress so maybe that will help.

Tue May 19 2026

Sleep 0300 to 1145 (8-3/4 hours)

• Took a few hours and got my servers running on the Mac mini. Eventually had to settle for: everything installed with MacPorts except for Postgresql 15 and PgAdmin4 installed with Homebrew because I couldn't figure out how to get MacPorts version of Postgresql 15 running.

Wed May 20 2026

Sleep 0345 to 1145 (8 hours)

• Sunday I realized my right foot felt like a bout of gout was going to occur so I took an Advil that night. Then Monday no meat but my foot was worse but I took an Advil every 6 hours. Tue morning even worse so two Advil at 0600 and 1200 then one Advil at 1800 and 0000 and still no meat. Today I woke up and my foot is much better. Disaster averted; though I'll try to keep it no meat today.
• C3 dinner. Takeout from Charm Thai Eatery.

Thu May 21 2026

Sleep 0115 to 0315, 0730 to 1330. (8 hours)

• One of those nights when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Ended up missing lunch with the guys.
• Parallels Spring sale. 50% off Standard (subscription only, $50/year) and Pro ($60/year). 35% off Business ($97.50/year). Looking around it seems that if your subscription ends you can't use the software anymore. I'd be willing to do a year every two or three.
• In any case CrossOver works really well for my needs -- playing games.
• Noticed that the current MacWhisper cleans up the ExternalMedia folder on startup. Better than doing it on quitting/finishing -- if the app crashes it won't the chance of cleaning up.

Fri May 22 2026

Sleep 0615 to 1215 (6 hours)

• Warhammer Skulls 2026 Digital Goodie Bag on GOG as a promotion. It's basically some wallpapers and coupon codes on the Cubicle 7 store. Worst GOG "free game" promo I've seen. Although come to think of it I vaguely recall they did something similar before.