It took four months to nail down, but I finished the first chapter of my third book a week or so back and am getting the line edits in the mail today. Psyched but tired.

I’ve been baking old, warped 78s in the oven while I work.

In case you’re wondering how to flatten warped 78s, the answer is (a) clean them first, so dust and grime doesn’t get embedded in them; (b) place them on a flat surface, such as a cookie sheet or pizza stone + parchment paper; and (c) bake them at 170 to 180 for five to ten minutes, then shut off the oven.

I’m on #3 of 4 today. All are cheap 78s from the 1920s and 1930s containing Japanese folk music. So far, so good.

Wood Goblin wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 11:47 am I’ve been baking old, warped 78s in the oven while I work.

In case you’re wondering how to flatten warped 78s, the answer is (a) clean them first, so dust and grime doesn’t get embedded in them; (b) place them on a flat surface, such as a cookie sheet or pizza stone + parchment paper; and (c) bake them at 170 to 180 for five to ten minutes, then shut off the oven.

I’m on #3 of 4 today. All are cheap 78s from the 1920s and 1930s containing Japanese folk music. So far, so good.

Stupid, potentially obvious question that could probably be answered if I tried to Google it, but would rather ask someone from PRF:

Does/should this work the same for newer records?

I have a badly warped copy of Meet the Beatles, and, uh, an unplayable copy of the Doobie Brothers' album The Captain and Me that I'd like to unwarp for... let's just say nostalgia.

Not sure, to be honest. It supposedly also doesn’t work on all shellac either; laminated 78s can be damaged.

I’d definitely look it up before trying it!

Yup ^^^, you can flatten normal LPs. Have never done it, but there are different methods.


My little detail: It's warmer here now than it is just about anywhere else in the country, and yet I felt the need to click the heat on for a moment. Much colder than this, for too long, and I might have to rethink my general misgivings toward summer. Part of what I might dislike about summer here, and in the age of climate change, is that it just drags on so long. Like ninety minutes worth of good TV padded out for three seasons. "Wrap it UP!"

jfv wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 1:19 pm

Wood Goblin wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 11:47 am I’ve been baking old, warped 78s in the oven while I work.

In case you’re wondering how to flatten warped 78s, the answer is (a) clean them first, so dust and grime doesn’t get embedded in them; (b) place them on a flat surface, such as a cookie sheet or pizza stone + parchment paper; and (c) bake them at 170 to 180 for five to ten minutes, then shut off the oven.

I’m on #3 of 4 today. All are cheap 78s from the 1920s and 1930s containing Japanese folk music. So far, so good.

Stupid, potentially obvious question that could probably be answered if I tried to Google it, but would rather ask someone from PRF:

Does/should this work the same for newer records?

I have a badly warped copy of Meet the Beatles, and, uh, an unplayable copy of the Doobie Brothers' album The Captain and Me that I'd like to unwarp for... let's just say nostalgia.

In my experience, yes, but you can't just put it on a flat surface--you put the vinyl record between two pieces of clean, flat glass. I can't remember the temp. You can probably find a tutorial online.

I needed a place to document this, so here seems good.

A few days before Christmas I nearly died...from massive food poisoning. Not to get in the gross details, but one min I thought I was having indigestion, and the next I am sitting on toilet and every ounce of liquid in my body needed to get out of my body NOW to dispel this toxin I ate. A lot of it was sweat? Like, right before I passed out and my wife called the paramedics, I looked like I had just played basketball for 4 straight quarters and 2 min before, no sweat at all, felt very strange. So I got to take a ride in an ambulance (never did that before), I was going in and out consciousness so I dont remember much of it.

I get to the hospital and I am mostly aware of whats going on, and the nurse needs to take my vitals. They can't get a temp off of me. They thought it was a faulty thermometer. They went through what seemed like 5 or 6 of them and still no readable temp. I remember another nurse asking, "did they find this body outside, or in water?" No temp meaning like 92-93 range. So they start treating me like I have hypothermia and wrap in what I can only describe as an inside out air mattress where I am on the inside and all the warm air is surrounding my body. I start to respond to that and I am now mostly conscious. I tell them I think it was food poisoning. They dont believe that as my blood test is saying some of the readings are too extreme to be just food poisoning, they think my gall bladder might be failing.

By this time they got me on an IV as I was incredibly super dehydrated, and I start to respond to that, and I start to get to more survivable numbers, not great but I am trending towards the right way. They decide to keep at the hospital, I get the works, PET, CT, EKG (when you lose that much liquid so quick your ticker takes a blast I guess), and blood drawn every 4 hours or so. I end up staying in the hospital for 3 days slowly getting better. They finally said that yes, it was food poisoning.
After 3 days of being a human pin cushion and only "eating" from an IV bag they discharge me on Dec 23rd. When I got home, you can imagine I am basically as weak as a kitten, but all I wanted was a shower to wash the hospital off me. I get in the shower and...no hot water? My wife runs downstairs and our hot water heater has failed and is blasting water on an unfinished wall and there is about quarter inch of water on the ground. My saintly wife does not know how to shut off the water, so I have to slowly make my way downstairs and get the valves shut off. Then we (we, meaning my wife), had to deal with getting that all taken care of, but somehow we were able to get a new water heater put in on Christmas Eve.

A couple weeks later my health insurance sent me a letter saying they are denying my claim, saying I shouldn't have been hospitalized because of "tummy trouble", so now I get to deal with that, and it WILL be ok and worked out, but its just more hoops to jump through.

Anyways tomorrow I turn 45 and I am glad to be alive. Don't eat old cheese.

Geez, Owen, that sounds harrowing. Glad to hear you’re feeling better, and I hope you’re able to collect from the insurance company!

What the actual fuck, that saga is nuts (not the part about getting fucked on billing; that part is 100% believable). Glad you're ok.

Owen wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:11 pm Anyways tomorrow I turn 45

damn straight.

and I am glad to be alive.

Damn Straight!

Don't eat old cheese.

The other day I crumbles up, I says, I crumbles up some sweaty Supremo Queso Fresco in my scrambled eggs and shouldn't have done that. Glad you are OK!