Not So Crap Stuff from China: the Xiaomi Mitu Fidget Cube

Another item I picked up from Aliexpress recently (and strangely, it's ONLY available on Aliexpress, not on Temu) is the Xiaomi Mitu Fidget Cube. While they sometimes go as low as $1.00 USD, the usual price is $3 or so, which makes them a little overpriced when you can find a metal version for about $5 on Temu. These are supposed to come in a "blind bag" (i.e. random, could be metallic, ceramic, or just plain plastic in a couple different colorways) Personally, you would probably end up with the most numerous white/gray plastic version, which is why I said it's a bit overpriced if not on sale. 

Anyway, my "cube" arrived UNASSEMBLED. It has no less than 8 small cubes, 8 cross-links, and 16 connecting rods, plus a double-length rod to help alignment in assembly. Fortunately, there are clear graphical instructions. Please study it CAREFULLY. If you assemble it wrong, you won't be able to get it to bend properly, and thus, won't be able to fidget with it. It took me a couple times to assemble it properly, mainly because I missed a few details on the assembly diagram. 

This is someone else's video, but it's basically this, except I got a white and brown with white connectors, not blood orange connectors like the one in the picture.  

At about $1 USD, this would be worth it. Try not to pay $3, okay? 

More Crap from China: A Quick Review of Xiaomi E17 ANC

One of the items I picked up on Aliexpress was a Xiaomi E17 ANC "airpod-like" wireless earbuds. The whole design is obviously a "homage" to Apple's Airpods. I thought I ordered Blue, but I got a black one instead. 

The advertised features are 11db ANC mode, transparency mode (so you CAN hear people near you), and supposedly 20 hours playtime. Clearly, it's counting the battery capacity in the carrying case, not in the buds themselves. There are 2 sets of touchpads along either stem of the earbuds. 

It does come with a small wrist-loop that can be threaded through the opening on the side of the carrying case. There's a cutout in the loop, but no explanation on what it is for. Maybe for hanging onto things? 

To charge it, plug in a USB-C cable into the bottom. When LED over the Mi logo turns solid, the charging is complete. 

To pair it, simply flip open the lid near the device you wanted (recommended distance: 2 inches). The instructions says you should turn on BOTH Wifi and Bluetooth on the device (why?)

As said before, each bud has two control pads on the stem. But all of these work on either pad alone. Swipe up or down controls volume. Single tap is pause/play, double tap is fast forward, and triple tap is reverse. If a call comes in, single tap answers. Once I triggered Google assistant by accident, but there's no documented gesture for that. Touch and hold both touchpads to toggle between ANC and "transparency mode". That's it. That's all the documentation. No explanation on what the button on the charging case back does (seems to control charging of the buds?) 

 After using it a few days, the ANC does work, and yet... it doesn't feel like it doesn't do much. I have an air purifier in my room, and it's like a fan in the background if I turn it up to any setting beyond "whisper quiet". With E17's ANC on, I still hear the fan, just... more muffled. It's similar to wearing an earplug, or wearing over-the-ear headphone with a decent cushion seal. Switching to "transparency mode" just seem to turn ANC off. 

There were no spare silicone ear tips, just one set was installed, and they fit... "okay". I'll try to replace them with foam tips when I find some of my spares. 

It also does not do multi-point. It will pair with only ONE device. And that device had to "forget" about the E17 to allow it to pair with anything else. Maybe they consider that a security feature, heh? 

My MAIN problem with the E17 is its lack of battery life in the buds. I am only getting about 3 hours when one bud or the other starts beeping, indicating low power and needing a recharge from the carrying case. This severely affects my enjoyment of the device and makes me want to bring back out my Lenovo "neckband" or other Bluetooth headsets with far more battery life, even if they don't look as "cool". 

Overall rating: B-

Argh, food poisoning sucks

 Not quite sure how it happened, but I got food poisoning after getting out of the hospital on Tuesday. I suspect it's on Friday, when I was out walking about and picked up some snacks and dimsum, probably the snack, a mix of peanuts, edamame, and dried bait fish. My stomach started spasming couple hours later, threw up 2-3 times, ended up with NO food for 24 hours. Basically subsisted on candy and chocolate. What's worse somehow EVERY ache on my body came back, and since I can't keep any food down, no medicine would go down either. Tried taking Acetaminophen, came right back out an hour later. So it's double or triple the suffering. I count it as lesser blessing I didn't shat in my bed, but it was close. 

On the other hand, the edema (fluid retention) in my calf is mostly gone. There's still some around my feet and ankles, but those would go down with time, I suspect. 

It's now Sunday morning, and the symptoms from the food poisoning have mostly subsided. Got some oatmeal flavored with a bit of maple syrup. I think I'll do with half a cup for now. 

Now some fountain pen talk. 

One of the major criticisms for Chinese fountain pens is that they are very often... "homages" of western pens, or they are of very low quality with horrible tips. Part of it is they are often cheap as dirt compared to Western pens. You can often find full metal Chinese fountain pens for less than $5 on Chinese sites on Aliexpress, Temu, and so on. The cheapest fountain pens outside of China you'll find are disposable fountain pens like Pilot Varsity. Next step up you're looking at Platinum Preppy, at about $6-7, which is, of course, plastic. Basically, you're not going to find anything more "high-class" with metal body until you hit the $20-25 range, such as the Pilot Metropolitan, or Lamy AL-Star (which is very lightweight aluminum and costs $40-60 unless you shop around, and looks exactly like its cheaper cousin, the resin-based Lamy Safari, which is 30-40)

As I said, you can get a very nice full metal WEIGHTY Chinese fountain pen, directly from China, for a pittance. I bought the Hero A11 for under $5 off Temu, and it writes pretty darn well, if you ask me, even compared to the favorites like Lamy. It comes with its own piston filler, not sure if it's a converter or not, I didn't try to disassemble it yet. Just filled it with ink and started writing. 

I got a couple more pens in my next shipment from Temu, so stay tuned. One's a Jinhou "porcelain art" special, then one with what looks like a fude nib, and finally a retractable nib pen, which was apparently all the rage in China. The Jinhou is about $8, and the other are about $2 each. We shall see if they are garbage or not next week. 

Crap I Ordered From China; i.e. Bargain Hunting Stationery and Fountain Pen Stuff

 My Aliexpress order is finally here... Only took them 8 days. 

Anyway, adding another fountain pen and and 2 bottles of ink to my collection, which currently consists of:

* Crappy Lamy Safari CLONE from Temu (with included black cart ink, at least 5 if not 10) (about $1.00)

* Jinhou X850 from Temu, black, about $1.50

* Platinum Preppy in see-through blue from Amazon (about $6?)  currently MIA (whole pen case is missing, just need to find it)

* Hero A11 "Black Forest" (new)

* Lamy Safari in Black with Black trim (genuine from Lamy store) (new)

As for ink, I currently have: 

* Banmi Dragon

* Banmi Dolphin

* Generic black cartridge (for the Safari clone)

* Noodler's Blue (was for the Preppy?)

* Karkos Black

* Karkos Blue

* A couple genuine Lamy T10 carts for the Safari, forgot which color(s). 

Ah, but I have the additional stuff coming in from Temu...

* A Jinhou 950 "Blue and White Porcelain" pen for $7.29

* A generic 0.7mm fountain pen with an "art tip" (fude nib?) for $1.59

* 20 more 3.4mm ink carts for $1.19

* 2 generic 3.4mm converters for $2.39 (converts fountain pens to use bottled ink instead of carts)

* A "retractable tip fountain pen 0.38 mm nib" for $1.59

And one more item from Amazon...

* Platinum Preppy M nib black  (I bought a converter from LONG time ago for the blue one, which is MIA)

Now I just need a converter for my Lamy Safari... :) Which is like $5 on Jetpens. I am also eyeing one of their closeout limited edition Safaris for $30... But that'll have to wait when I *do* have money. 

Don't have much in terms of paper, but I did buy a Rhodia A5 notebook at my local stationery store (Patrick and Co) for funsies. It was like $8. Most of my current fountain pen writing was in a diary I bought off Temu, nice paper, but it has a little bit of bleed through. 

This hobby can add up, but if you do a bit of bargain hunting on Temu and such, you'll get a LOT MORE for your money. I am of course NOT saying that these fountain pens are comparable to Japanese (Platinum, Pilot, Sailor), German (Lamy, etc.), muchless Italian (Visconti) craftsmanship, but they are also 1/10 or 1/100th the cost.  Platinum Preppy can be had for $6, but is plastic-y. You need to go up to something like Metropolitan to look less plastic-y. Lamy Safari is also plastic-y and starts at $30 (discounted) or $37 (official store), and you need Lamy AL or Lamy 2000 to get to metal body which costs significantly more. Visconti pens STARTS at $120 and goes up to THOUSANDS of bucks. 

That Hero A11 full metal black cost me less than $5. I think it was $4.25 or so on Aliexpress. 

I think I've wrote enough. Now I need some breakfast. 

Yes, still alive...

Went to the CPMC campus on Van Ness for my ECRP procedure. 

How did Uber get so expensive? I was going to book Uber, and apparently at 6AM it will cost me $43 to go 1.3 miles (!!!).  I changed to Lyft and it only cost me $20. And yes, I tipped $5. The guy came in a BMW!  Rene, you're a good egg. Could drive a little smoother, but your car's immaculate. 

Anyway, the procedure went without a hitch. Pretty much got dressed in the gown, got EKG, had a little problem getting the IV in, that the nurses decided to let the anesthesiologist do it. But I have always had difficult veins, and lack of water intake before the procedure (if I regurg during the procedure I could drown, no joke, or get water in my lung, which is not good either) means I am a little dehydrated, which added to the difficulty. I think I got like 4 holes poked in me before the nurses gave up. :D

Anyway, got to the procedure room, got the IV put in, then it's time for the procedure. Got transferred from the gurney to the table, was warned that the drugs are going in, got a couple breaths of pure O2, then it's lights out for me. And I woke up in recovery. Then... I got the "bad" news? They apparently did find a 3cm mass, and they were able to biopsy that for the lab. Then they put a stent in, so I should start feeling better. But they need a better look at that mass, so I have a CT scan to be scheduled "soon". 

Got back home with a ride from family friend, pretty much went to bed, and dozed off. 

Spent Wednesday pretty much moping at home. Dad decided to move his shitter to my room in case I needed it. :D  Let's just say my bowels before the procedure was loose enough I may have gone a couple times in my trash can, that I got so tired of it I loaded myself with Loperamide (generic Immodium AD) that I constipated for a full day, didn't go until late Wednesday night / early Thursday morning. And yes, I had gone all the way to my local pharmacy to buy some. 

Finally decided to venture outside on Thursday, but I didn't go to sleep until like 5AM, that I didn't get out until noon. Nothing quite taste right, but forced myself to eat some cheungfun, then got a haircut (I think my last one was in... January?)  

Have a doctor's appt tomorrow, my sleep doctor, not much to report there, then there's an interview next week... Not getting paid MUCH, but my resume is apparently impressive to them, probably because no one else applied. Still, it'd put some money in my bank account, which is getting down to negligible status, and my credit card's over limit. ARGH!

Separate update about other stuff in the next blog post. 

Darn it, Aliexpress, TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!

 Aliexpress.us is basically the international website of China's Alibaba group, sort of their international Amazon that long predates sites like Wish, Shein, and Temu. It has a ton of bargains, long recognized by bargain hunters willing to put up with longer shipping times. If you look at watch enthusiast sites, you'll find frequent mentions of Aliexpress as where you find Chinese "homage" watches (read: clones of well known watches) for nearly the same quality but at bargain prices, under $100 USD, or even under $50. But that's not what I was looking for. 

Just the other day, I saw that "Fashion Over 40" guy was advertising a special collar stay that's reusable, that goes around the whole collar instead just under the tip of the shirt collars. I swear I've seen this before elsewhere, and Google search finally located them on Aliexpress... for $2.00 (or less) instead of 2 for $25 in the US. 

So I tried to order one. Then Aliexpress started doing the Temu dance... Throwing various special deals at me, free shipping if you take X items, etc. etc. Got me distracted with a variety of items, from a tiny display screen for PC internal status to $1 infinity cube fidget toy to name-brand (Lenovo, Xiaomi, etc.) ANC BT earbuds for a few bucks, and much more. There are even a deal where $1.00 gets you a watch plus a couple "leather" bracelets (it won't be a good one, that's for sure). Fountain pens for a few bucks, comes with 10 to 50 extra ink carts... Add to cart they were. 

Then I placed an order, and in order NOT to enter my own card info into their site, I went through Paypal. Unfortunately, I forgot I hadn't made the payment on my CC, so the Paypal was rejected. I had to swap payment method in Paypal (to draw from my bank account) to make it go through. And that order went through... Except for the collar stay, why I got on there to start with, ARGH! 

So I went back to make a new order. 

And Aliexpress refused to take my money. Keeps saying "Account protection, contact customer service". Tried logging out and back in, won't let me check out. Talking to customer service did not help. Tried waiting 48 hours, didn't help. Tried waiting a week, didn't help. Tried making a new account, did not help. As soon as they detected the same address, same error! Chatted with customer service multiple times, didn't help. They assured me the issue is being escalated, then nothing. 

I must be mad, because I refused to give up on buying that collar stay. This time, I'm going to enlist two new tools: my mail.com account, and privacy.com virtual card. 

Weapon 1: Mail.com

Mail.com is where you can get a new email address. If you pay a reasonable price per year, you get a email linked to a domain name that doesn't say gmail, yahoo, or outlook. As for what you do get, why don't you go there and take a look? What's even better deal, mail.com premium allows the creation of up to 10 "alias" email addresses, all of them using the various premium Mail.com domains, and wipe them out when you no longer need them. This will allow me to register a truly new account on Aliexpress. 

Weapon 1.5: Google Voice

If they want a new phone, I have my Google Voice phone number for them. 

Weapon 2: Privacy.com

If you haven't heard of privacy.com, you should check it ASAP. It makes shopping online MUCH safer. This is how it works: by connecting to your bank account, it will provide "virtual credit cards" for you. The free-tier account gives you up to 10 card numbers, all of them with their individual numbers and expiration dates. Generate one for each online merchant if you wish. Pay a monthly fee to generate even MORE card numbers. Cut each off at any time, or set a spending limit to each number, by day, by week, by month, by transaction... Set a ridiculously low amount like $35. You can't lose more than that. Get notified each and every time a charge goes through. Or use the card a SINGLE time, and have it automatically expire after 72 hours so it can't be used again. It's all up to you. And there's even a Chrome extension to help you shop online.

Yep, this card cannot be linked back to me personally, as long as I don't put in my own address into Aliexpress. Fortunately, my neighbor already takes my packages when I am not there. So I'll just put in his address. 

And this time, the order *did* go through. Half dozen items. 

I am trying to SPEND money on your website, Aliexpress. I should not have to outsmart your pathetic "security" measures to do so. 

Turns out, it's NOT self-inflicted AFTER ALL...

Seems my PCP had gone pretty senile... Considering he's well over 80, it's understandable. 

Basically, he missed my jaundiced condition until I pointed it out to him. THEN he sent me to a gastroenterologist. Jaundice basically means I had turned a shade of yellow. And that, is an indication of loss of liver function. My previous self diagnosis of air fryer contamination, lactose intolerance, and my attempt to self-medicate with pre- and probiotics were just... irrelevant. 

What I do have is bile duct obstruction... basically, liver and gall secrets stuff through a tube into the intestines. If that duct is obstructed, I get bad digestion, and possibly worse. 

What's worse, I've done both a CT and MRI, and they can't figure out what's obstructing the duct, so the next step is an ECRP: a stomach scope, basically. Looks like I'll be unconscious for this one. And it's scheduled for less than 7 days. 

This problem had basically caused me to stop producing, and basically put me into a bit of depression. But hopefully, this news will get me moving again. 

So, stay tuned. 

P.S. Here's a bit of funny incident. My gastro doesn't do ECRP, so he had to refer me to someone else, and the first guy I was referred to (yes, he's on the list, literally FIRST doctor listed when you look for gastro)... is in the wrong medical group and does NOT take my insurance! Took another 48 hours for my gastro to sort it out. Nice of him. :)