Lens repairs

I purchased a Nikon NIKKOR 28mm f/2.8 Ai-S from a camera shop in Osaka’s DenDen town sometime in 2008 or so. I think it was only about a hundred dollars. I really like this lens. I love how close it focuses. I use it often for taking pictures of flowers and the like. I prefer the wide close up to the telephoto close up because I see more context and more color from nearby flowers.

I recently finally tracked down a close up filter. The PK-11a at 8mm. I have been also looking for the K-1 ring at 5.8mm but that one is MUCH rarer. Not having tracked one down in Japan means I probably will never find one. This allows me to get even closer with a wide angle.

I put the close up filter on my 28mm and tried some test shots. They were blown out. I thought the aperture arm was broken on the close up filter. It wasn’t. My 28mm was developing a sticky aperture. And the lens is now shockingly expensive to replace.

So I take it to a local place and get it cleaned for $80. It looks like a solid job. And I am happy to know that I have a place. It seems a bit expensive but so is replacing it. I am dreading my other lenses going like that… I have a lot of Ai-S glass.

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Boy names

Andrew
miles
case
nicholas
jake
porter
Cian
atlas
kael

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Green Flash Barleywine Style Ale

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.06.05

Green Flash Barleywine Style Ale

Bitter. Not shockingly so. But a friend had a but and complained about it for 20 minutes while trying to spit the taste out of his mouth.

Nicely malty and smooth. But not especially outstanding.

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Spiteful G.F.Y. Stout

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.05.16

Spiteful G.F.Y. Stout

I held off drinking this a few times because the ABV at 8% was lower than I wanted. I just drank a Brooklyn Sorachi Ace so 8% is just right now.

The body is thinner than I want in a big stout. The smell is chocolate and coffee. Richly so. It has a nice roasty bitterness to it. But I am not blown away. It is not as good as FIS. Good. Not great. I was not necessarily expecting more. But I was hoping for more.

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One crisis averted

Nikita went for a second blood glucose test. This one came back OK. While we are going to implement a change to our diets… there isn’t a specific need for it. I still plan on getting her more exercise. And she can eat that ice cream we have in the freezer.

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High Glucose Levels

Pregnant women get a screening for blood glucose levels. Nikita’s results came back high. This means there will be a big shift in diet and exercise for the both of us. It is necessary but I am not excited.

She will need another more comprehensive glucose test. She is going to HATE that. And she is already hating the change in diet she needs. Am I am sure the increased exercise will be hated too. But maybe this will result in some spring hiking!

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Left Coast Ale Epeteios

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.05.07

Left Coast Ale Epeteios

It isn’t actively bad nor offensive. It tastes like a stout. A bit of roastyness and bitterness. The body is a bit thin. The alcohol is very well hidden. There just isn’t enough taste. I think Founders Porter is better. And for something with this high a price point, it is very disappointing. Perhaps this is the reason I’ve never seen anything else from this brewery.

At no point was this a bad experience. It just wasn’t good enough for someone with any kind of limits on time. Eventually dying for example.

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Chinese names

My mom has been putting together lists of potential names for my son.

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Smuttynose Gravitation

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.05.03

Smuttynose Gravitation

Something is off about this. I don’t know if it is supposed to taste this way. It isn’t so off that it might not have been intended to taste this way. It just doesn’t taste like a delicious quad. It is a bit metallic and fishy. It has the expected sweetness and and yeast-forwardness. But there is something off putting about the fishiness and metal.

As I was pouring, I thought I grabbed the wrong beer. I thought it was a barleywine. The color was not what I expected in a quad.

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Counsyl Genetic Test

Nikita decided to do the noninvasive genetic test to test for various defects. The doctor recommends it for patients of advanced age. Nikita is just past the threshold. I’m not against it but I’m not sure I would have decided to do it either.

We didn’t want to have to pay full out of pocket price for the test. Though we couldn’t get a straight answer about insurance coverage from either our insurance company or the doctor’s office or Counsyl. Nikita and I both called and talked to all the right people at all the involved parties but due to workflow and various reason we ended up in a situation where we didn’t know if the test would be covered nor the percentage. We got various estimates of common results but there was never an answer about what would happen in our situation even though we made our best effort to find out what we should expect financially.

The whole process was very frustrating. We wound up understanding that we might be on the hook for the full price of the test. With that understand, we decided to do the test. I was most upset with how much Nikita and I argued over this. We have different ways of approaching these types of problems.

I wound up understanding more about the medical insurance process faster than I might have wanted.

Our results are great. No problems. We also found out the gender a bit before the ultrasound.

And I just looked at the insurance website. No issues with payment.

But still it was more of an ordeal than I would have preferred. And I’m not even sure who to blame. If anywhere deserves the blame, it is probably the insurance company. I understand they have a workflow in place so I don’t blame the people I spoke with for explaining to me how it works. The problem is that it didn’t work great in this case.

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