davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2024

[davidd]

That’s the box you thought you took to the dump? Yay!



Yeah, but you won’t… 

Yes... yay!

You're right, I won't. 

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5 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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One of the figures from the box I thought I'd lost but had only misplaced.

Body: TBLeague S26A
Head: YMToys YMT058A
Costume: Pullip Dilettante

[Alliecat]

How nice that you can now have fun photographing your "lost" figures!
She looks very serious.
Probably mad at you for losing her & her friends

[davidd]

Probably mad at you for losing her & her friends 

I was mad at me for losing her and her friends! I knew this figure was in the tub along with two others, but there was a fourth one in there that I'm really glad I found as it would have been challenging to replace. I thought it was safely stashed away in a different location. I really need to do some serious organizing. And yeah, maybe make a list or something.

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6 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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The King of Home Improvement

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I am remodeling this 1/6-scale action figure diorama for the third or fourth time. The King is helping out by providing a sense of scale.

[Alliecat]

Nice figure. He looks very realistic, especially with the touched-up elbow joints – or is he on a seamless body?
So you could do a musical home reno show to supplement Smarts & Crafts!

[davidd]

7 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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"Hey! Ya need any help here?"

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In typical "guy fashion," another Action Figure guy shows up to help with the project. It's always more interesting to help somebody else with their project rather than getting around to working on one's own projects.

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I'll be "Away-ish From Keyboard" for a few days.  Relatives coming to visit.

[Alliecat]

I wish someone would help me with MY projects.
Nice shot.
Have fun with the folks.

[davidd]

I wish someone would help me with MY projects.

You need a Smart Doll or two!  

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8 August - A Doll A Day 2024:
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Mythic Real Estate Pull

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Behold the Mythic Amazingness of St. Joseph!

Or, specifically, a miniature plastic statue of St. Joseph.

There is a legend, of relatively recent origin as far as legends go, suggesting that a small statue of St. Joseph can be helpful in selling a home or property.

Many sources suggest burying the statue in the yard of the property that is for sale. Others say that placing the statue in a place of prominence and offering a prayer or request is sufficient.

My eksperience, to keep things succinct: it works.

1. Incident One: when I decided to leave Hawaii nine years ago, three separate real estate agents looked over the house I would be selling and estimated a selling price within a particular range, a range that was far too low to make selling the house worthwhile. Although the house had some peculiarities, as well as some condition issues, my online research suggested a listing price significantly higher than what the "professional agents" were saying. Ultimately, I "self-listed" the house through a help-you-sell type agency (Congress Real Estate). I had heard the St. Joseph legend somewhere, so it occurred to me that Ol' Joe might be helpful in moving a property that had some quirks. I purchased the small statue online and buried it in the sand in front of the house shortly after the listing went public. The sale wasn't immediate -- it took about three months to get a solid offer -- but ultimately the house closed for $210,000 more than the professional agents suggested as a starting price. (I ex-cavated St. Joseph from his cozy resting place in the warm Hawaii sand and brought him with me to the barren arid wasteland in which I dwell today.)

2. A relative has been trying to sell his vacation home for about nine months. Despite lowering the asking price several times, he had no offers and no significant interest. Last month we were talking about his house, and I said, "this might sound silly to you, and I can't guarantee results, but..." and ex-plained about the St. Joseph statue. While we were on the phone, he said, "here it is, I see it on Amazon, eight bucks! Okay, it's on the way!" The statue arrived the next day through Amazon Prime. He set it up where he was living, intending to take it to the vacation home later, and read through the prayer included on the handy instruction sheet a couple of times. Three days later he had a cash offer and his house was under contract.

3. Three days was pretty impressive! But it gets better! A while back I received an unsolicited offer in the mail to purchase my vacation bungalow in Florida. The Florida house needs some ex-pensive work (the air conditioning system conked out last fall - $8k to fix it), so I'd been considering selling it. The unsolicited offer was from an investment company who claimed to buy houses "as is," but after making a very generous offer, upon a final inspection "the investors" decided to back out of the deal. That was a disappointment, but it started me thinking more seriously about maybe selling the Florida house. I conducted some internet research, and made the mistake of filling out an online form which resulted in my being deluged with calls from potential listing agents. Some of the agents were extremely pushy and some were mellow. I returned one of the calls, and after some back and forth I got a market estimate from an agent willing to take on the property. The agent seemed straightforward and offered a lot of caveats: sales in that neighborhood had been brisk but had slowed; prices were softening slightly; time on market was up; and the a/c problem was a BIG issue in Florida, as was the age of the roof and an unsightly berm in the back yard related to a previous septic tank installation. We agreed on a listing price with the understanding that the house might not sell or might not sell for a long time because of the issues.

During the ten days or so of getting ready -- filling out paperwork, having a neighbor do a quick cleaning, waiting for photos, etcetera -- I started "chatting" with St. Joseph from Hawaii, who had been sitting on a bookshelf, every day; not saying a prayer, but casual-kine conversation: how ya doin' today, you think this is a good idea selling the Florida place, good job on that friend's house, thanks for helping him with that.

On Friday afternoon the real estate agent from Florida called and said the listing was live. After I got off the phone, I said to St. Joe, "Okay, Joe, if this is the right thing to do, then let's see if we can make this happen. How many showings can we have over the weekend? At that point I also turned the statue slightly to face to the southeast, toward Florida.

An hour later the agent called back. "I can't believe it, I already have a showing scheduled." By Friday night there were six or eight showings scheduled for Saturday.

By 2pm Saturday afternoon there were two cash offers with no contingencies and no inspections. The real estate agent was floored. "I cannot impress upon you enough how rare a 'no inspections' offer is," he said. Both offers were a little low, but not unduly so. And some "wiggle room" had been built in to the price. Counter-offer, counter-proposal, and by 4pm the house was under contract. I'm not making a profit, but once the dust settles I'll pocket exactly what I paid three years ago, without having to invest thirty- to forty-thousand dollars to upgrade the roof, the septic, the electrical panel, and replacing the a/c system.

So... the Legend of St. Joseph; am I a believer?

Yes.

The St. Joseph pictured here, with two sales under his belt (a +$200k over estimate sale and a less-than-24-hour cash sale), is this one:
https://www.amazon.com/St-Joseph-Home-Se...000WMH1CQ/

The St. Joseph who helped the relative with his moribund listing is this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Religious-Gifts-J...007XG6B2K/

Further reading:

Snopes Fact Check:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/property-rites/

HomeLight Real Estate:
https://www.homelight.com/blog/st-joseph...ell-house/

SimpleMost Lifestyle Blog:
https://www.simplemost.com/the-story-beh...our-house/

I Sold My House website:
https://www.isoldmyhouse.com/saint-joseph-statue/

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P.S.: yes, the rainbow in the background is real. The "barren arid wasteland" has a few redeeming charms.

[Alliecat]

OMG.
I have never heard of this.
I NEED ONE.

[davidd]

OMG.
I have never heard of this.
I NEED ONE.

Now you've heard of it. And yes, you need one!

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9 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Real Estate Listing - Sale Pending

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Triv: "I guess we won't be going back to Florida this winter!"

Janie: "Now maybe we'll have the money to address some necessary maintenance projects around this place!"

Triv: "Fixing stuff -- that's pretty much all you think about, isn't it?"

Janie: "Well... fixing stuff is kinda fun, you gotta admit; especially when we're not scraping and scrounging up nickels and dimes from under the sofa cushions to pay for supplies. And that Florida place was gonna need a lot of nickels and dimes!"

Triv: "But it doesn't snow there."

Janie: "Yeahhhh... yeah, there's that."

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10 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Creative Outlet

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Janie and Triv troubleshoot, isolate, and replace a faulty electrical outlet.

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11 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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A Fine Line

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Triv and Janie repair a delicate broken sensor wire on an electronic outdoor thermometer.

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Yuck!  The image quality of these pics is abysmal! I was using my FujiFilm S1 Bridge Camera, which I have not used in a long time. I know that for the indoor pix I inadvertently had the aperture set too small (f/11), resulting in camera shake blur. The outdoor pic was under bright sunny conditions, so the eggsposure should have been good and the image should have been crisp and sharp.

I need to take my three cameras - Panasonic point-n-shoot, FujiFilm S1, and Canon EOS 80D - and run them through a side-by-side test to see what's going on. Are the poor quality images I've been getting lately entirely the result of operator error? Or are the older cameras (the Panasonic and the Fuji) starting to show their age?

I did some online reading a few days ago about sensor decay. Do image sensors break down over time. The general consensus among camera snobs is "probably not usually, but maybe." However, other electronic components in the imaging system can deteriorate over time.

Anyway, I don't know if the problem is that my cameras are getting old, or that I'm getting old.

Oh, I also have a Canon PowerShot D20 point-n-shoot I should include in the image quality test... if I ever get around to doing an image quality test.

I wonder if the problem could be with the SD cards?

[Alliecat]

Faulty electrical outlets now? Sheesh, your maintenance issues just never end!! I complain about worn-out crap in this house but even this place doesn't have that much to be fixed.

I have no idea if sensors wear out. Everything else electronic does, so why not. "Camera snobs" also say -- at least from what I found -- that you should never never try to clean them yourself either. I do mine all the time How many megapixels are they? If the problem was the card, shouldn't you just have corrupted images...? You should get one of those little gorilla-pod mini tripod thingies.

The photos make the house look good. Although the density in the aerial ones makes me shudder. I wonder what percentage more houses fit into the area by angling them like that. Someone calculated, I'm sure. I guess the problems you've mentioned go under "opportunities for customization".
Well, congrats on the sale; hope it goes through OK, and you won't have to worry about more repairs there at least. But will you be looking for somewhere else to escape the winter?

[davidd]

Faulty electrical outlets now?  Sheesh, your maintenance issues just never end!!  I complain about worn-out crap in this house but even this place doesn't have that much to be fixed. 

You should get one of those little gorilla-pod mini tripod thingies.

Although the density in the aerial ones makes me shudder.

The outlet failed three or four years ago. I finally got Janie and Triv to take a look at it. It's one of those stupid GFCI outlets with a built-in circuit breaker. I think they are required "by code" in kitchens and bathrooms now, "for safety" in areas with the potential for water splashes. They are definitely not "safe" at all. This is at least the third one I've had to replace in this house since moving in 8-1/2 years ago. The built-in circuit breaker fails. Moving parts, y'know? There's one more I should probably replace - it kicks off when I plug in even a small electric fan or a desk lamp. Needless to say, I... or, I mean, Janie suggested replacing the GFCI outlet with a regular old-fashioned no-moving-parts outlet... and it worked.

 More accurately, I should find my little gorilla-pod mini tripod thingie! 

Relative to the surrounding areas, Ormond-by-the-Sea is comparatively spacious, with decent-sized front and back yards and adequate space between houses to allow a truck or tractor to access the back yard if necessary. There's even room to park a travel trailer or boat. But yeah, the population density is a factor in deciding to sell. Development on the "mainland" (Ormond-by-the-Sea is on a peninsula) is progressing at break-neck speed, with hundreds of high-density multi-storey multi-family units, condos, and apartments being built. The roads are already jam-packed with traffic. There is literally no space to widen the streets or provide more parking.

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12 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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AI Generated Emo-Goth Pullip Doll

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I tried a random conversation with a chatbot called Myspace Maestro that somebody created in the Meta AI Studio (accessible through the Instagram app). The Myspace Maestro virtual entity is designed to have conversations about "emo" music, fashion, and lifestyle topics.

https://aistudio.instagram.com/ai/785549450172112/

It was kinda fun. Maybe more fun than having real life friends.

Now we can have virtual friends with virtual images for all of our niche interests and we won't need to interact with real people anymore!

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AI Generated Emo Kid Updating his MySpace Page
(I couldn't get the AI app to draw an old-school "candy colored" original version iMac.)

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So, the few "real people" with whom I interact on Insta, Flickr, or random forums won't have to deal with my sarcasm, snark, or inane questions and idiotic opinions as much anymore because I'll be hanging out with my virtual friends from now on.

See ya on SpaceHey, m'kay?

#AIstudio #metaAIstudio #tagsaredeadmandidyoumissthememo

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13 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Janie Among the Thistle Forest

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14 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Trivia Catches a Wood Rat in a Live Trap

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(See what "reality" is like? Bet'cha wish I'd stick with AI after this, huh?)

[Alliecat]

...and that, kids, is why human society is doomed.

Now we can have virtual friends with virtual images for all of our niche interests and we won't need to interact with real people anymore!

I kinda want that Pullip doll though 

I bet my GFCI's are probably seized 
Did the wood rat go for a ride?

[davidd]

I kinda want that Pullip doll though 

Did the wood rat go for a ride?

Yeah, that was a pretty cool Not Real Doll!

Yes, the rat "went for a ride"...   ... to a vacant hillside a few miles away behind the local dump, where it was released in to the sagebrush. 

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15 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

Triv and Janie have been helping a neighbor eliminate a rat and mouse infestation.

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Scrub-a-Dub-Guhhh!

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Triv scrubs congealed rat urine off the kitchen floor while muttering, "I'm glad this isn't my house!"

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16 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Mind the Gap!

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Janie seals up a hole beneath the kitchen sink where rats and mice gained access by chewing through the existing insulation around a drain pipe. She filled the opening with aluminum foil and then finished things up with spray foam filler.

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17 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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It's a TRAP!

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After trapping two rats over the past few days and sealing up the openings they've been able to locate, Janie and Triv set  out several freshly baited live traps which they will monitor over the forthcoming days to ensure they have successfully addressed the issue... at least for now.

[Alliecat]

Holy cow, you are one heck of a good neighbour to help with THAT. I don't know ANYone who would come scrub rat pee out of my house.
Then again, not sure I can think of anyone I'd do that for either
YUK!!!!!
I love how perfectly in scale with them everything looks in the last photo.
What did the neighbour think of Triv & Janie helping out?

[davidd]

Holy cow, you are one heck of a good neighbour to help with THAT.  
What did the neighbour think of Triv & Janie helping out?

We help one another out once in a while with loans of equipment or tools and stuff. He used to pay me to clean the vacation rental for him. I try to take care of things that are beyond the scope of the person he has cleaning it now.

This is a neighbor who is very "grown up" (aka "boring") and who thinks he's all serious and businesslike (aka no sense of frivolity), so he doesn't see the dolly hijinks.

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18 August - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Postcard from Summer Camp

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Does anyone younger than age 50 even know what a postcard is... or was?