jc blog - tales of a modern-day nomadic hunter-gatherer

Follow jcomeau_ictx on Twitter This is the weblog of Intrepid Wanderer. You never know what you might find here; graphic descriptions of bodily functions, computer programming secrets, proselytizing for the antichrist, miscellaneous ranting and kvetching, valuable information on living off the land... if you don't share my rather weird interests you may want to try slashdot instead.

You can consider my Del.icio.us links an extension to my blog, as are my LifeTango goals and my other to-do items. My to-buy list is also public, but only for sharing any useful ideas that might be there; I'm not requesting charity, neither do I offer it.

You can find me easily in google searches, as jcomeau, jcomeau_ictx, or jcomeauictx. There are lots of other jcomeaus, but AFAIK I'm the only jcomeau_ictx out there so far.

If you want to comment on anything you see here, try the new Facebook comments, reachable by clicking the "[comment]" link at the end of each post. If for some reason that isn't working, go ahead and email me, jc.unternet.net. You know what to do with the first dot. Make the 'subject' line something reasonably intelligent-looking or it goes plunk! into the spambasket unread.

This RSS feed may or may not work. Haven't fiddled with it in forever. RSS Feed


2019-11-27-2309Z

earlier today I exchanged .01BTC for XMR using ShapeShift, and it took over an hour between the Bitcoin disappearing and the Monero appearing in my Coinomi wallet. it had me worried, but it finally came through.

had a break in the rain after about 12 hours steady downpour, and I took advantage of it to reheat my bean mixture and eat some tostadas. now it's pouring down again! [comment]

2019-11-26-2127Z

bean, beef, and cheese filling: 1/2 kilo package of refried beans, about 250g of cheese (I use Arámburo's recortes at MXN70/kilo), about 85g of machaca (shredded dried beef) and about 50ml of water. add black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. heat over low flame, stirring, until cheese melts, about 5 to 10 minutes.

spread on tostadas, or make into tacos or tamales. tasty, rich, and filling. I ate 6 of the tostadas and am ready for a siesta. [comment]

2019-11-24-1929Z

adding a little sauerkraut and brine to salsa will seed it with beneficial bacteria, and help keep out kahm yeast and molds, which will otherwise ruin it in 2 or 3 days unrefrigerated. [comment]

2019-11-24-1822Z

bought half a kilo of beans at Café Batalla today, since my Guatemalan coffee is almost gone. they've got a sign up now. it's a mild disappointment; I kind of liked the idea that up to now it was limited to those with enough curiosity to go inside and ask.

had wild salad with brine pickle and grapeseed oil dressing for the 3rd day in a row. if I can get used to eating salads, I'll never be without food, at least in this area. I could live on amaranth alone. [comment]

2019-11-22-1331Z

in one recurring theme in my dreams, I'm tech guy, veejay, and part-time stripper at a club catering primarily to aging couples. in it, the video disks have different versions, one being a hack I put into the boot sector that optimizes playback and copying somehow. in the dream from which I just awoke, I called this version "Windows zero". [comment]

2019-11-18-1747Z

finally solved the refrigerator door problem. both doors need to be closed, and then both lights go out. if even one switch is conducting, both lights are on.

it could have been solved a lot quicker, but I never in a million years would have guessed such a stupid engineering flaw would exist in such a long-standing icon of kitchen appliances as Whirlpool. [comment]

2019-11-18-0336Z

gut is slowly acclimating. didn't have an explosive BM today.

the swelling in my gum got really bad, and a day or two ago, broke as I pushed lightly on it, sending a spray of pus and blood onto the bathroom mirror. but it's still there, and may be there a long time if I don't do anything about it.

I've got 200 pesos to last me the next 2 days, until my next "paycheck". easily doable if I don't go crazy. [comment]

2019-11-15-0657Z

used to be that HSBC was the place to get cash here in La Paz. they had the lowest, or one of the lowest, ATM fees (although that doesn't matter all that much because Schwab refunds them) and they didn't mess with the exchange rate your bank gives (and Schwab always has a good rate).

but they got greedy, and started charging over 60 pesos for the fee, and then when I got here this fall they started inserting their own exchange rate into the transaction, overriding what your bank gives. so I only did one transaction with them. today I went to Banamex and only paid 30-something pesos for a fee, plus got the usual great exchange rate from Schwab. nice going, HSBC. [comment]

2019-11-11-0245Z

long time since I've posted any updates here rather than on social media.

I'm at about my first week of training my gut to digest beans. it can take several weeks, or so I understand. and it may well be impossible. if I can just stop having horrible farts and explosive bowel movements every fucking day, I'll be somewhat happy. I've learned to soak the beans overnight and rinse them, and add plenty of water, even too much, because adding cold water to cooking beans supposedly makes them impossible to soften, but neither of those tricks solve the problem. maybe they ameliorated it.

that swollen gum next to the tooth that was hurting weeks ago has not gone away. can't yet decide if I should do something about it or just leave it alone and see if it eventually fixes itself.

looking at the past bar exams is making me think twice about my career change. having to learn a statist mindset in order to pass the exam is a scary proposition. I cautioned Larkin Rose about that a few days ago, and here I am going to do the same thing myself? am I that strong? I don't know. [comment]

2019-11-02-1848Z

"blogged" most of my trip south on Facebook instead of here, so go there if you want to check it out.

just attempted a jog on the malecón and a sandal strap broke partway through the run. thankfully I have spares, not sure how good those are.

I've decided I'm not going to worry about toxins on city-gathered wild foods such as amaranth and sea almond fruits. just going to rinse them and hope for the best. [comment]

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