whatcha doing?

[DerGolgo]

I don't know if you're specifically limiting your search to local(ish) sources, but is this the one?
https://www.bigmarvel.com/tesla-invader ... w-box-mod/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes, it is that one. Basically a variable-voltage mod with just one blinking eye to tell you when you're being stupid. Unlike other VV mods, it has high current protection, short-circuit protection, over-heating protection for its innards and over-puffing protection for its user. It handles 45 Amps and if you find the sweet-spot at 0.18 Ohms, it will actually deliver 240W, at a mere 36.7 Amps.
Blink once for yes, twice for no and 15 times for low-battery. Also 5-click on and off switch, which is the first thing you miss when you get an old-fashioned VV mod.
Unlike other, top-range mods, this one does NOT rattle when you shake it, everything fits as it should, the battery door stays in place, no paint will chip off of the voltage dial after a just a few days. 6.6V max, no step-up. But quite enough.

The original problem I had was that the thread of the 510 connector came out when I tried to unscrew my atty. That chrome-plated "rim" of the 510 you see in the pics is a sleeve, a thread inside and another outside. Unfortunately, both are right-handed threads, so when for some reason my atty was a bit tight in there, the outer thread would unscrew.
Now, that I've destroyed the damn thing, I know how what and why all things in there connect with each other.
If the threaded sleeve comes out for you, do not despair. Around the opening in the casing that it fits in, there is a recessed rim, which a rim at the top of that threaded sleeve fits into.
THERE, and nowhere else, apply a tiny amount of Gorilla Glue, in that recessed rim around the opening. Insert, screw down and make fast with a clamp that threaded sleeve and go eat a banana.
Afterwards, it should sit tight and be good.

[media]https://youtu.be/yAJrsd0jW6U?t=16s[/media]

EDIT: $42.99 domestic is a STEAL, that's what Chinese retailers charge.

[DerGolgo]

Working with my hands is a good distraction from the headaches.
I can only write so many 1k word treatises on mutually-assured-destruction or what have you on the Facebooks.
So it is my intention to do what I had been putting off for a while, building a bottom-feeder mod to end all bottom-feeder mods.
I wanted one with more than 100W, which was just not on offer anywhere.
Was, because, the moment I start collecting components and pestering GG for advice on soldering, Kangertech drop a 150W bottom feeder mod onto the market.
But that has only a 7ml bottle, which is insufficient.
So I'm building my own, and a big mod for big batteries to handle my big atomizers without overheating.

So, today, I went to a store a few hundred feet from my door, the name translates as "Electronic Wonderland". Electrical appliances and computers bought and sold, repairs of any electrical kind, electrical parts and components, fishing tackle and used two-wheel vehicle, with or without combustion engine.
The electronic guru running the place and myself stared at the NON-standards-compliant wiring diagram for what I plan on building and found that the 10k potentiometer would allow a short, if dialed to wide open. We went as far as wondering what the internal resistance of the 555 timer might be.
For neither of us, me with my shitty eyesight and him with probably pretty good eyesight spotted the 1kOhm resistor indicated to go under the 555 IC.
You mess up and learn. I did pick up a can of compressed air and some bits to repair a different mod, so the expedition wasn't wasted.

[guitargeek]

Man, that sounds like my kind of place! And within easy stumbling distance! I'd be in there every day...

Did you pick up your soldering materials?

[DerGolgo]

Within easy stumbling distance, indeed. And about 2,000 sq.ft. worth of shop in about 1,000 sq.ft. of retail space. Locked cabinets full coil-springs, highi-spec o-rings, weird rack-mount devices I won't even try to identify ... and rummage-trays full of heat-sinks, potentiometers, toggle switches ...
I have the impression that, whenever an electronics outfit or DIY-store in the area goes bust, that place is where its remains go to be undead and things.

Ordered all of that soldering stuff and what other crap I need online. I stumble into that place now and then, most times I'll buy something, like I did yesterday (can of compressed air and some loose, small things I carried home in a paper bag, with the individual prices written out and added up in pencil ... old school).
But the sheer amount of crap I needed for my demented vaping project, I needed the onlines to do my selecting and comparing and whatnot (still forgot some resistors I'll got to that place for).
Also, that guy, I think he's a bit analogue. No 555 timers in stock.
Did a decent job of repairing my record player. From the 70s, inherited from my grandpa. Stereo, strobe disc for 60 AND for 50 Hz and little knobs to adjust speed precisely, with 33 1/3 rpm, and 45 rpm and, get this, 78 rpm! With an adjustable-balance arm, diamond pickup.
I thought fixing this little treasure, which'd let me listen to my grampa's 1st edition Caruso records, would cost hundreds. "Power" light was all that still worked on it. Switching out the melted drive belt and the needle when I dug it out of the basement, and replacing the original, shattered hinges with some from the hardware store was as far as I had trusted my talents.
He couldn't get the parts to fix the on/off switches, but the rest works like a charm now - for the 25 Euros he quoted me on the phone after examining it. Old-school businessman. Not super-customer-friendly. But when he makes an offer, he sticks by it.

[DerGolgo]

Got some photos on his facebook page.
BUT. Many are a few years old. It's not nearly as ... airy and spacious as it used to be.
https://www.facebook.com/ElektronikWund ... fref=photo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DerGolgo]

I'm sitting at a train station, two towns over from home, I'm drunk and I need something fluid, water'd do.
I had some friends over, including "cat lady", and her superhuman capacities for alcohol absorption.
I found that, despite consumption of "an beer", I still have a skullfuck of a headache. But at least I coukd still walk straight as I escorted cat lady to thr train station.
She, having inhaled her bodyweight in beer and smokes, needed a bit of assistance with anything but the lamentation of her long-distant boyfriend's absence.
When, while entrained, he texted her to ask "Hey, are you drunk?", the only reply she found herself capable to compose was "D mmmmmmh".
Despite what you may think, this means only marginally more in the German than it does in English.
So it also befell me to text him back in her stead, to let him know that, yes, she was "drunk" (really not a sufficiently descriptive adjective to illustrate her actual condition), and that I was escorting her home.

Damn my parenta for raising me a gentleman.

Well, no. But you know what I mean.

[guitargeek]

You'll get 'er sorted.

https://youtu.be/hzT8TyvmiLM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hard work sometimes, being a gentleman.

[Bigshankhank]

Just got home from the 2nd family wedding in six weeks, I am glad the "season" for that kind of shit is over for now. This one was nice, down in St Thomas (USVI), of course I ended up pretty well burned but it'll go tan in a few days. Got to try my hand at stand up paddleboarding, and spent as much time in the water as I could. I had wanted to rent a couple of bikes for my wife and myself, but once I got the handle on driving on the wrong side of the road in a vehicle with the steering wheel on the correct side, no shoulders on mountain roads, and considering the way the locals drive and how mountainous it was, the thought of taking a bike is not a practical consideration. Fuck, driving there during the day was fun and challenging, driving at night was terrifying. People there must go through brakes and clutches like demons.

[DerGolgo]

I have three different insurers who want to pay for treatment for me that I must keep at bay, I have to plan for a FOUR WEEK stay in neuro-rehab starting Wednesday, I had to figure out who would pay for a ride (turns out the clinic would admit me so damn quickly, not enough time to have the train-ticket voucher the social security guys sent me processed by the private railway company, who just aren't so darn fast), pack. And on Sunday, one of my favourite vaping mods crapped out for no apparent reason, and I had to get in touch with the retailer ... in China ...
All on top of dealing with the skull-fucking headaches that still haven't gotten any better.

But that wasn't enough, so over Friday, a cigarette-butt sized, irritating bump grew only centimetres from where I had the first of a series of abscesses in 2009.
So I had to get that cut out this morning, had to go to my neurologist's office to pick up a prescription, go to the pharmacy to pick up gauze and things for changing the dressing, all with a fresh wound in a place that means every time I move my arm, the dressing puckers around a bit, also.

Feck.

FYI:
72 mile, $200 taxi ride has been approved by one of the aforementioned insurers. That makes life a lot easier.
The fresh wound pain distracted from the headache for a few hours, that was nice, but that's gone now.
The retailer in China asked for the serial number, which isn't on the device, only on the box that I threw away because their warranty terms hadn't mentioned that, and they didn't make a big fuss thus far.

[Pintgudge]

Will the neuro-rehab treatment help with the headache?

I hope so.

Goodluck!

[DerGolgo]

Dunno whether it will.
But thanks for the well wishes!

[DerGolgo]

Sitting out front of the neuro-rehab clinic in Bonn that will be home for the next four weeks.
Argh.
The Wifi isn't free, and not even cheap. But about close to reasonable, I only have to pay (in advance) for the minutes I actually use it.
I'd report whether it's a decent connection, but since I apparently connected for the first time in early March, and since my access privilege is thus expired, I cannot connect.
Huh?! you ask? So did I. I've never been in this place before, and haven't visited Bonn since I WASN'T ARRESTED HERE IN 2001!
I have tried, multiple times, with different browsers, in different spots, delete cookies and all, but the damn thing just won't let me enter the ID and PIN-number I got on a little card when I bought a full 24 hours of access (why they break it up like that when they count the minutes, not the days, I cannot fathom).
My thesis:
a) they let a contractor run the wifi, and it's the same people who run the wifi in the hospital I was in in March, and they are set up to recognize MAC addresses, to make logging in and buying new hours easy and convenient. And while my access data from that other hospital is indeed no longer valid, they failed to build in an escape command that lets the system revert to "new customer" login when it's confronted with expired access privileges.
b) someone cloned my MAC address when I had only had this notebook for a week or two, and had never taken it outside yet, and had then gone here, logged on, and misbehaved to the point of being barred. Or had logged in and then let his privilege expire, the inconsiderate scoundrel.

I would almost bet an a), but I have not seen any branding indicating the presence of any such contractor, and the lady that had sold me the little card with the access codes (well, fine, she wasn't "little" - sitting down she was as tall as most regular sized women of her generation) did refer me to the "IT guy". Whom I had to contact via the station nurse (to whom I apologized profusely, against her staunch objection that I had nothing to apologize for, even IF she had been supposed to clock out 15 minutes ago and was busy hunting down the keys to the safe which, it turned out, were NOT in the pocket of a colleague who HAD made it out on time).
As was revealed when she tried to call the IT guy, this place seems to have an entire IT department. Which gives me a little hope they just maybe got a little help when setting up the patient-wifi and copied a bunch of tables from the setup used in the other hospital.

Mobile reception varies between sexy LTE 4G and just about acceptable H+, or as low as age, depending on how close to the outside I am. No reception in the cafeteria. But that place closes at 5pm anyway, so it's no loss at this point.

This place DOES kinda remind me of university. In that, to get to my room, I must first go from the ground-floor, which is only half a floor above the basement, which is in turn where the glass doors to the street-level parking lot are to be found, via elevator, to something called B+1. Which, along a corridor, morphs into D2, again only half a floor between D3, where my room is at.
Definitely not set up for the very disabled, that part of the building, but that's cool. The nurse asked me, if I need any pills at night, could I just walk one building over and go up two stories to get them?
I can, I figure.
The bathroom, meanwhile, dunno whether I can. It's TINY, and the little board-thingy for me to put my toothbrush and things on is only about 2"x4". There are NO hooks for bathrobes, and no anti-slip thingy in the shower, so soaked bathing-slippers and bathrobes go out on the balcony, for which they DID find room.

[xtian]

wow my conclusion is your life sucks and you have to pay to read my encouragements . hold on. be patient. they WILL find a solution, we live a wonderful era. I am sure they will help you and you will soon feel better.

[DerGolgo]

You know what's worst about a four week clinic stay where they can't help ya?
Coming home. From four weeks in a clinically clean environment.
To my bachelor's pad.
At least my modafinil dose was upped yesterday, so I'm getting some stuff done. It's 9:40 PM and I'm about to wipe the floors, take a shower, and make me some pork chops for dinner.
I hope I don't mix up no ingredients ...

[DerGolgo]

Aaaand ... just when I'm about to clock out for the night, bout 10:40 PM, just when I'm ready to put the mop and bucket away, I see one spot I missed ... one little spot ... and knock over the damn bucket, obviously. A big, wet, soapy-water mess. Hurrah.
The good news: the floor in my apartment is not quite "level", or "even", or whatchamacallit. So most of it flowed into a convenient pool and it took me only two bath towels and some more mopping to clear it up.
But the shower was good, I hardly minded that I had overdone the pork-chop just a little, so it's not all bad.

[Bigshankhank]

Smoking a brisket on my big green egg, about to toss on some ribs. Practicing my banjo while I watch the temperature stabilize. Nice lazy Sunday...

[Rench]

Fuck. Yeah. Hank is my hero.

-Rench

[Bo_9]

Been in Oklahoma since last week helping my mom deal with the passing of my brother. Dealing with funeral home, memorial service,etc. Back home with mom in tow for the week and then back to OK next weekend to do the upkeep on mom's place. Just now starting to mentally process the whole ordeal.
Kids are antsy because it's raining and they can't blow stuff up.

[Jaeger]

Been in Oklahoma since last week helping my mom deal with the passing of my brother. ... Just now starting to mentally process the whole ordeal.

I've done that. That sucks. Not quite the same -- was my Bro-in-Law -- but... yeah. I'm sorry, dude.

That really, really sucks.

--Jaeger

[guitargeek]

Where in J'Oklahoma?

[Bo_9]

Grove, out by number 10 bridge.
Will probably be back down there quite a bit.

[guitargeek]

Grove

Oh hell, that's not Oklahoma, that's Occupied Missouri.

I'd say let's hang out, but that's a six hour round trip.

[Bo_9]

Yeah, they are trying to make it a resort town.
Not really working out for them.
I'll make it out your direction sometime.

[jae]

I don't know if you're specifically limiting your search to local(ish) sources, but is this the one?
https://www.bigmarvel.com/tesla-invader ... w-box-mod/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...
EDIT: $42.99 domestic is a STEAL, that's what Chinese retailers charge.

So, after debating back and forth, I placed an order for the Tesla Invader III this morning in blue, along with a pair of new 3000 mAh 40A batteries. About 2 hours later I got a voice mail from a guy at Big Marvel (on his personal cell number) asking me to call him back because they were out of blue. Upon returning his call (no, there was nothing shady like asking me to confirm a card number, or even the order number) he got me set up with one he had in stock, the TI3 in stainless, that he could get out to me today. So far I'm pretty impressed with their customer service. Seems like most websites I've purchased through will either cancel your order outright or just leave you hanging with it on "backorder" until they can get one in.

In short, I'll definitely be shopping with Big Marvel again.

[DerGolgo]

Had to go see yet another lawyer today. Yipee.
I've had my old lawyer, whom I fired, my other lawyer, about the shit with the arm, my new lawyers who are supposed to handle shit that the first lawyer didn't wanna.
This one, today, about how the lawyer I fired might try and sue me.

Thing is, I think the trick is old lawyers. Grizzled old guys who hate their computers and tell you "Do this, email him that, and he can go fuck himself."
Who'll harumph about young lawyers, who all only see the $-signs attached to any client.

Goose, before ya protest.
I heard you cackle about how a foolish lawyer had left a gaping hole in their argument, a hole that you could then beat them around the head with. You're of the grizzled, battle-scarred variety who don't take shit from noobs.

[DerGolgo]

And so, I decide, I should go pick up some groceries.
Need some milk, some sugar-free fizzy stuff, a new thingy you hang in the toilet bowl so a pleasant fragrance is released when you flush.
Didn't know what fizzy-drink, specifically. They introduced "Cherry Pepsi Max" (Max is the branding for their Ace-K variant over here) around Christmas, for a limited time only. And since about a week ago, the time had met it's limit, and nothing else appeals quite that much.

So I lock my apartment door, prepare to climb down the stairs.
And you can see where this is going.
No, I don't know how.
Yes, in retrospect, it's all super-slo-mo memories and I really shouldn't have cluttered down a flight of eight steps.
I reacted to keep my pelvis out of it, grabbing the handrail with my right, trying to to let my left take the brunt of the fall.
Yes, obviously, this is only my left-hemisphere interpreter talking. But I'm quite sure my right hemisphere has taken heed of my orthopedist's warning. He figures I'm likely to smash up the little hardware store in my pelvis if I slip on an icy sidewalk. A flight of stairs, everything cheap granite, is a bit more severe. The injuries in my head are in my left hemisphere, my right is the clever one, it's keeping up.

When I landed, there was a sudden, "plink" like stab of pain in the small of my back. For a moment, I feared one of the four bolts holding my sternum together broke. But I managed to get up and move around, so it probably was "just" a usually immobilized disc moving in a new and exciting direction.

My left leg, which took a 310 lbs (yes, I regained a ton of weight since my US trip) from one side and granite stairs from the other, it hurt like heck. But apart from that, I could move normally. Went to the grocery store and, in what I must interpret either as the universe apologizing for giving me shit, or karma, I found a six-pack of 1,500cc bottles of fizzy drink that had broken its limits.
Made it home. My left knee is swollen, but the bruise itself doesn't look as mean as the one on my right knee, which barely hurts at all. Huh.
The cold-pack is doing it's work now.

[Pintgudge]

I'm sorry you crashed on the stairs.

I couldn't help wishing that maybe it could be like when the t.v. gets fuzzy, you just up and whack it and then it starts working just fine.

I can wish!

Hope you will be O. K.!

[DerGolgo]

Thanks, man!
It does mean a lot when people say it and mean it!

My left leg looks like I've got a double-jointed knee. But if there's one thing I'm stocked up on, and that I'm ordered by my doctor to gobble in wee fist-fulls, or by the shot-glass, it's pain-meds.

[guitargeek]

It's a real challenge, keeping the weight off! When I had to go back on prednisone a few years ago, BOOM instant fifty pounds.

[Rench]

At drs office. 2nd gastritis flare up in less than 2 weeks. Fucking cut the thing out if necessary. Seriously cramping my riding plans...

-Rench