kay_gmd | Reading

The optical drive arrived today on schedule. It only took a few minutes to get it installed, the new computer buttoned up, and then I was able to take it to the basement.

It took a while to work through the Windows 11 install, because it kept wanting drivers that needed to be downloaded and there was no computer here to do it with, the old machine having been disconnected. Eventually, I got bright enough to bring my laptop to the basement for the driver downloads which allowed me to stop going up to the second floor. :)

Anyway, the good news is that I got the Universal Audio software installed and it promptly detected the Apollo interface on the other end of the Thunderbolt cable. I am now in the process of reinstalling all of the other software that makes things run down here.

And then there is the copying of the audio files. I had intended to bring them across from the old machine, but I think the BIOS battery there has given up the ghost, so it is not going to be booting up until I replace that, hook it back up to a monitor and keyboard, and fix those problems. But everything is backed up to the NAS in the office, so I am now entering the second quarter of a projected twelve hours of copying files down.

Whee!

But I should be able to get things up and running again tomorrow -- depending on how much software still needs to be installed. :)

girlswithslingshots_feed

https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-hair-of-the-dog-676

New comic!
Today's News:

Always rub your glasses with your hair, it does the best job of wiping away your tears!

Here's the original post for ya! And the chaser post! Which I especially like because of the clear and obvious scene change in the last panel. :)

https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-hair-of-the-dog-676

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5603

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/30/close-to-home-grist/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56264

Have you ever had one of those places you want to go to, but never get around to checking out, and suddenly a year has passed and you’ve still never been? That’s how it was for me and Grist, a restaurant in downtown Dayton that I had heard about from so many people and had been meaning to get out to for literal months. Well, I finally made it happen, and I’m so glad I did.

Bryant and I were going out to dinner, and I asked him what kind of food he wanted. He picked Italian, which, in my opinion, is the hardest cuisine to get around this area. At least, good Italian, that is. There’s always Fazoli’s, and TripAdvisor has the audacity to label Marion’s Pizza as the number one Italian spot in the area, so pickings are slim for Italian ’round these parts. But I wanted something nicer than Spaghetti Warehouse.

Eventually my searching led me to Grist, which was labeled as Italian, and looked pretty dang amazing from the photos provided. Plus, I’d heard from numerous Daytonians in the past that they liked Grist, and I trust my sources. So, I made us a reservation for that evening, excited to try somewhere new.

Located on Fifth Street, it’s just down the street from the Oregon District, and close to the Dayton Convention Center. There’s a parking garage right across the street from it, and some street parking, too.

Upon walking in, the first thing I noticed was how bright and open it is. The large wall of windows let in so much natural light, and you immediately get to see all the baked goods in their glass display case.

A shot of the display case holding the desserts and baked goods. You can also see wine glasses and stacks of dishes in the background, and in the very back is a huge bookshelf type wall.

I immediately loved the decor and vibe in Grist. It was like sort of rustic but nice at the same time. Like fancy Italian farmhouse vibes? It was really cute.

A huge bookshelf/cabinet set up that takes up an entire wall, and is painted a really pretty sea salt blue. The bookshelf looking portion is filled with jars of pasta, bottles of olive oils and some t-shirts for sale. There's also a really nice stand/shelving thingy on the other wall with wine bottles on it.

And there was even a selection of wine for purchase:

A rack and cooler of wine bottles.

I didn’t get a shot of their other indoor dining area or their little patio, but it does have a super cute patio.

Grist has casual service, so you can either place your order at the counter or order at your table using your phone, and they bring the food out to your table. I chose to use my phone because there was a pretty steady flow of people ordering to-go stuff from the register.

Here’s what they were offering on their dinner menu:

It’s basically a law that you have to try a restaurant’s bread. The bread a restaurant offers is a window into all the rest of their food, and also into their soul. So we split the half loaf of rosemary and parmesan focaccia:

A beautiful loaf of focaccia cut in half long ways, and sliced into shareable slices. A round puck of butter sits beside it. It is served on a wood serving platter.

Bryant and I both loved the focaccia, and there was more than enough for both of us. The outside was just a little bit crispy and the bread inside was soft and chewy. It wasn’t overwhelmingly herbaceous, and was definitely worth the six dollars in my opinion. The only acceptable reason to not try this bread if you visit is if you’re gluten intolerant.

We also shared the house-made meatballs:

A small black bowl with five sizeable meatballs, all covered in red sauce and parmesan cheese grated on top.

I can’t say I’m like, a huge meatball fan. I don’t really eat them that often and they’re not something I crave regularly or think about all that much. However, these meatballs were really yummy! I was impressed that there were five of them, and they were quite sizeable. I think the portion size is honestly pretty good. They definitely tasted like they were made fresh in-house, and had just the right amount of sauce on them. I would be more than happy to have a meatball marinara sub made with these meatballs.

And our final appetizer was the mushroom pate:

Three slices of toasted bread served alongside a small white bowl filled with the mushroom pate, which is topped with pickled shallot and sesame seeds.

First off, I love how toasty the ciabatta was, it’s like the perfect shade for toast. The mushroom pate was packed to the brim with mushroomy, umami flavor. Total flavor bomb, and a little goes a long way. The pickled shallots added a wild contrast, and there was a lot of interesting textures. It was seriously delish.

To accompany the starters, I decided to try their sweet wine flight, which came with three wines for fourteen dollars:

A slim wooden flight board with three small glasses of wine. One red and two white.

I can’t remember what the red one was, but the two whites are a Riesling and a sparkling Moscato. I did not care for the red at all, in my opinion it wasn’t even remotely sweet, but I generally prefer white anyway so maybe it just wasn’t my cup of tea (or wine, I suppose). Normally I like Rieslings but this one was kind of a miss for me, too. The Moscato was the bomb dot com though. I loved the bubbles and the sweetness level was perfect. It was so smooth and delish, I ended up polishing that one off but didn’t really drink the other two.

Choosing an entree was pretty dang tough, but Bryant ended up picking the Cacio e Pepe Orecchiette:

A large white bowl/plate type of dish with a large portion of risotto, drizzled with some sort of cream sauce and with chunks of baked parmesan and pepper on top.

I absolutely loved the presentation of this dish, and I’m a huge risotto fan, but I honestly didn’t care for this dish. It just really didn’t taste like much to me, but then again I only had one bite and Bryant said he really liked it, so maybe it was a me issue. I’m glad he enjoyed it!

I opted for the Sweet Corn Agnolotti:

A black bowl containing about thirteen pieces of Agnolotti. Fresh parmesan is shaved on top.

I actually wasn’t sure what type of pasta agnolotti was, but it’s basically just a stuffed pasta, kind of like a ravioli. These little dudes were stuffed with a delicious, creamy filling that I totally burned the frick frack out of my tongue on. They had a great corn flavor, you could definitely tell it was sweet corn. I noticed on the menu it also said it had black truffle in it but I actually didn’t notice any truffle flavor at all, so that’s kind of odd. I really enjoyed my entree, and I think next time I’d like to try the squid ink pasta since I still have yet to try squid ink.

Of course, we had to save room for dessert, and you can’t eat an Italian dinner without ending it with tiramisu:

A small white plate with a big ol cube of tiramisu on it. It is a heck of a solid block of creamy white goodness and cocoa powder.

Funny enough, Bryant’s favorite dessert is tiramisu, so he definitely wasn’t gonna pass this up. He was kind enough to let me try a bite, and I feel confident saying it’s a pretty good tiramisu! It was creamy and rich, and honestly didn’t have any sort of alcohol-y boozy type flavor. No complaints, solid tiramisu.

I went with the apricot and passionfruit tart with pepita crust:

A long and narrow slice of a tart, the filling of which is bright orange and topped with dollops of toasted meringue (at least I think that's what it is?).

Oh my DAYS! This bloody thing was loaded with flavor. Holy cannoli this thing literally punched my tastebuds into next week! The passionfruit flavor is absolutely bonkers on this sucker. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious. It was sweet and tart and the crust was awesome and the meringue on top was fantastic and wow. Seriously wow. It took me three separate tries to eat this after I took it home, because I would take one bite and be like, okay that’s plenty for now. But don’t misunderstand me, it is very good!

Before leaving, I simply had to get one of their incredible looking cookies to take home, and I picked the white chocolate pineapple one:

A big cookie with flaky sea salt on top, being held up by me in front of a light purple wall.

This cookie was dense, chewy, perfectly sweet with pieces of pineapple throughout, and the flaky sea salt on top really was the cherry on top, or I guess it was the flaky sea salt on top (I know, it’s not a funny joke). Definitely pick up a cookie on your way out, you won’t regret it!

Grist is open Tuesday-Saturday for lunch and dinner, with a break in between the two. You can make reservations for dinner but not for lunch, and you can order online for lunch but not for dinner. While I was there I learned that Grist also hosts cooking classes on Sundays, so that’s neat! I’d love to check one out sometime.

All in all, Grist was a great experience. Though we didn’t have waiters and whatnot, the service we got from the people at the counter and from the chefs that brought our plates out was extremely friendly, and also the food came out really quickly. We both really loved the food and the vibes, and I also like the prices. I definitely want to come back and try pretty much everything I didn’t get to this first time around.

Have you tried Grist before? Which dish looks the best to you? Do you have any recommendations for nice Italian places in Dayton? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day! And be sure to follow Grist on Instagram.

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/30/close-to-home-grist/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56264

alierak posting in

dw_maintenance

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

girlgenius_main_feed

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20250630

The Girl Genius comic for Monday, June 30, 2025 has been posted.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20250630

billroper

For a variety of reasons, I was later getting down to the studio to start recording than I'd hoped. I fired up the Apollo unit, woke up the computer, and discovered that they were not talking to each other. Again.

I unplugged and replugged the Thunderbolt cable with no improvement. I rebooted the computer. Same story.

I can't get work done with the machine behaving this way. It was now time to go to my backup plan and build a new computer. Today.

I went to the Micro Center website and threw together a configuration based on the research that I did last weekend. It has twice as much storage and RAM as the current machine, because it didn't cost that much more. I wanted the same case that I had for the old machine, but Micro Center doesn't carry Antec cases and the soonest that I could get one of the Silent series cases here from either Amazon or Newegg was about two weeks which was not any help for the time frame that I'm looking at, so I grabbed a Fractal Design case and am hoping that it is reasonably quiet, given the minimum number of moving parts. If not, I can always cannibalize an old case and move things around, but that was not going to be today's project.

The one thing that I couldn't get was a CD-R drive, but I *can* get one of those from Amazon to show up here tomorrow. I placed the order and tore out for Micro Center so I could get the parts and get back home tonight.

It took about two hours (and a modicum of swearing and dropped screws), but the machine is now assembled, save for the optical drive which can easily be popped in tomorrow.

And then we'll fire it up and see how it works. Which will be tomorrow evening's project.

I am going to buy the old machine from Dodeka for whatever it is worth and use that to help defray the cost of the new box. Gretchen is going to need a new desktop to replace the one that is ten plus years old (the previous studio computer) and which will absolutely, positively never run Windows 11. This machine is wretched overkill for what she'll do with it, but that's ok. :)

Just for those observing, the total cost of this build will be well less than half of the cost of some of the fancy pre-built recording computers that I could buy. And it has a fancy gaming motherboard, because that got me the right combination of ports on the back.

The best thing about it is that I can have it tomorrow.

I hope...

girlswithslingshots_feed

https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-hair-of-the-dog-675

New comic!
Today's News:

Be sure to check underneath your nails for glass first! ????

Here's the original post! I love the blue that Laeluu picked to contrast the "SHATTER" in the chaser strip.

https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-hair-of-the-dog-675

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/29/things-i-was-not-expecting-outside-my-hotel-window-last-night-fireworks-edition/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56257

July 4 is most of a week away, so I was not anticipating that outside my hotel window last night would be a full-fledged professional fireworks display. But it turns out the hotel I was at, was next door to a Masonic Temple compound, and I guess they had some premature patriotic fervor. Inasmuch as I got a free fireworks show I didn’t even need to leave my hotel room for (and it ended early enough that I didn’t lose any sleep over it), I suppose I can’t complain.

Back at home now. Not anticipating a fireworks display tonight. We’ll see if that prediction holds.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/29/things-i-was-not-expecting-outside-my-hotel-window-last-night-fireworks-edition/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56257

billroper

Once I finally got the studio computer to behave again, I went back to working over tracks for "Crosstime Bus" and laying down more guitar tracks and replacement scratch vocals that wouldn't be contaminated with the original scratch guitar. The first song wasn't much of a challenge.

And then I was off into "It's All Right". I have been practicing this song. It shouldn't be a problem.

Except I can hear that the second chord that I'm playing in the song is *clearly* not the same chord that is on the scratch tracks. It's labeled on the lyric sheet as "Bm7/A". Right...

Ok, I can hear the high A on the first string clearly. What are the other notes that are in this thing?

Eventually, I realize that this is a D7sus moved up to the third fret. The guitar chord analyzer tells me that it is (among other things) "Bm7/A". Uh huh.

It's amazing how much easier it is to play the guitar when you know what you are playing.

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/28/view-from-a-hotel-window-6-28-25-medina-oh/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56252

Very different from the last View From a Hotel Window I posted, seeing that one was from Venice, Italy. This one is greener, though. And has a parking lot! Very few of those in Venice, I have to say.

Why am I here? Because of the Big Ohio Book Con, where Tochi Onyebuchi and I are in conversation tomorrow at 12:30, followed by us both signing books. If you are in the vicinity of Medina, OH tomorrow, come down and see us (the book festival is also happening today! Right now! As I write this!). If you’re not in the vicinity of Medina, Ohio today or tomorrow, well, try to have a good time anyway.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/28/view-from-a-hotel-window-6-28-25-medina-oh/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56252

billroper

I am not thrilled by troubleshooting. I am even less thrilled when the trouble shoots back.

You may recall the incident a few weeks ago where I installed a BIOS upgrade on my studio computer and killed my Thunderbolt port which is highly necessary to being able to do recording. Eventually, I managed to roll back the BIOS "upgrade", get the studio functioning again, and have been down here merrily recording tracks.

Today, I came downstairs, woke up the computer, and it stubbornly refused to see the Thunderbolt interface. Great.

Step one was to try all of the non-invasive stuff. I unplugged the cable and plugged it back in. I turned it over, which should make no difference, but occasionally does. I got down on the floor and checked to be sure that the cable was still plugged into the interface. (I do not so much hate getting down on the floor as I do getting *up* from the floor. In any case, the cable was plugged in correctly.)

Of course, at this point, I *still* didn't know whether the failure was on the computer end or the interface end. But my laptop has a Thunderbolt port, so I got K to (grudgingly) bring it downstairs so that I could plug the cable from the interface in there. And the laptop saw the interface, so the problem had to be the computer.

At this point, I powered down the computer, opened up the case, pulled out the Thunderbolt card, reseated the cable on the motherboard header, and put the Thunderbolt card back in. I fired up the computer and it now saw the interface.

And there was much rejoicing. And some muttering.

Everything is now reassembled and still working. I am hoping that it stays that way.

I have priced a backup plan, which involves pulling the motherboard, CPU, and RAM out of the studio computer and installing it in a case upstairs with a motherboard that is too old to run Windows 11; then installing a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM combination that includes built-in Thunderbolt ports. That's going to cost a lot of money before I am done even if I don't replace any other parts in the process. And it will take a lot of time.

I am hoping not to need the backup plan. We'll keep an eye on this.

billroper

We've been running the Fortify app against our source code and the section that I'm responsible for has been pretty clean for the most part. But there was one set of routines (that I did not write) that was being stubbornly difficult in being changed to avoid an unreleased resource leak. I tried one approach (a poor one, as it turned out) that just broke everything in the area, so I backed it out and went after it again.

This time, I refactored the code to avoid the particular construct that causes Fortify to lose its mind as it scans our code. Once I did that, the code still worked, which was good.

And it passed the Fortify scan that just finished.

Yay, me.

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/27/new-books-and-arcs-6-27-25/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56245

I was traveling much of June, and as a result we have an extra-large collection of new books and ARCs to consider here at the end of the month. What in this double stack of reading goodness would you like to take on in this final weekend of the first half of the year? Share in the comments!

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/27/new-books-and-arcs-6-27-25/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56245

girlgenius_main_feed

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20250627

The Girl Genius comic for Friday, June 27, 2025 has been posted.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20250627

billroper

I have a great many things to do and too little time to get them done. I know that some of the things that I want to get done are going to get triaged until a later date.

This is one of the reasons that I am very happy that we managed to get the garage cleaned out so that I can park my car in there during the current heat wave. Not only does it make getting into and out of the car more pleasant, but it is something that is actually *done*. :)

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5601

MEANWHILE:

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5601

girlswithslingshots_feed

https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-hair-of-the-dog-674

New comic!
Today's News:

Clarice may be docked a few points for thinking inviting Candy was a good idea.

Here's the original post! And the chaser post!

https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-hair-of-the-dog-674

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/26/the-big-idea-kelli-estes/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56240

When strangers meet on the road, can lives change? What if those strangers are something other than just strangers? With Smoke on the Wind, author Kelli Estes has a chance encounter for the ages… in more ways than one.

KELLI ESTES:

When I started writing my novel, Smoke on the Wind, I thought it would be just like my last two: a dual timeline where the present-day protagonist learns about history taking place in the historical storyline and it changes her life in some way. But then, wouldn’t you know it, my historical protagonist ends up seeing my present-day characters walking past her on the road and her journey alters because of it.

Wait. What? I reached for the delete key but then stopped. What if I left that in? What if she – a woman in 1801 Scotland – really does see a woman and her son from 2025? What would that mean to her? What would that mean to the story?

Now, before we go any further, let me explain that I do not write science-fiction or fantasy. I write historical fiction, dual narrative, sometimes referred to as women’s fiction. We in this genre tend to stick to historical facts and realism. Readers will light our inboxes on fire if we alter history or get too, as one reader put it, “woo-woo.” (She was referring to a harbor seal that keeps reappearing to my character in a previous novel. Something tells me she really won’t like what’s happening in Smoke on the Wind!)

But, reservations aside, the idea felt exciting. And, even more, it felt possible. I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen ghosts. I’ve recalled past life memories. I’ve seen movement out of the corner of my eye when no one was there and known I was seeing the lingering energy of someone who’d been there before me.

Even more, this book is set in Scotland, a place that feels mysterious and magical, where generations of people believed that Fairy Folk helped keep their livestock safe and peering through a hole in a stone could show you the future. When I’m in Scotland walking the hills and glens, especially when I know the history of what once occurred on that land, I can feel the spirits of the people who came before me as though they are standing right beside me. In other words, the veil is thin in Scotland and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to find myself touching a standing stone and traveling back in time or turning a corner and bumping into someone who’d lived three hundred years in the past.

Smoke on the Wind is set on Scotland’s most popular long-distance hiking trail, the West Highland Way. It is dual timeline meaning that there is a historical story interwoven with a present-day story and, together, they address themes such as identity, what makes a home, and the bond between mothers and sons. Because both stories occupy the same geographic space, they rub up against each other even though they are separated by over 200 years.

My present-day character, Keaka, learns about the historical character’s life which influences the trajectory of her own life. But, also, my historical character, Sorcha, sees glimpses of Keaka, which in turn, affects her life and the decisions she makes. I stuck to the facts of history – the Highland Clearances and Scotland in 1801 – but I allowed a bit of magic to come through, and I think the story works as a result. After all, we don’t really know if our own decisions are being influenced by whispers from the past, or even from the future.

As I wrote, I intended to stick with vague connections between the two women that could easily be explained away – a glimpse here and there, a whispered voice on the wind, a carving on a stone. But then I reached a scene near the midpoint of the story when, suddenly, the two women are standing face-to-face. I won’t spoil the book, so I’ll leave this vague and simply say that it’s not time-travel, but the women do see each other and communicate. I feel excited every time I think back to that scene because it feels so possible to me. Surely if I just squint hard enough, someone from another time period will appear to me, right?

It’s that sense of possibility that makes me love this story so much. Well, that and all the other things woven through the story that I equally love – the Highland Clearances, moms and sons, long-distance hiking, slow travel, visiting historic sites and feeling the weight still present, personal reinvention, the Scottish Gaelic language. Smoke on the Wind blurs time just enough that all things seem possible. History is relevant to our lives today, but maybe we’re relevant to it, too.

Smoke on the Wind: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powell’s

Author Socials: Web site|Facebook|Instagram

Read an excerpt here.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/06/26/the-big-idea-kelli-estes/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=56240