Embankment

Got a follow-up phone call from the security department of my credit union on Thursday. Because I had a check stolen, they considered my account number no longer secure. In order to prevent someone from printing up fake check with my routing/account number, they'd need to give me a new number. Meanwhile, they put a freeze on the account, with exceptions for a couple of checks I confirmed were outstanding.

So I spent a chunk of Friday afternoon at the River Road branch, where assistant branch manager Jaaden walked me through the process. Fortunately, I'd not used that account at all on my trip to Wisconsin, so most everything had posted. Only a couple of checks and a direct transfer had yet to clear.

They no longer offer my checking account type, but I qualified for the new version, so that was fine. My debit card hadn't been compromised, so they could just link it to the new account. They left enough in the old one to cover outstanding checks, left a flag on the transfer to make sure it went to the new number, printed me up some temporary checks, and helped me order new ones. And took the unused book with the old number, to shred.

Turns out all of my regular payments--cell phone, Amazon, etc.--are through my debit card, and PayPal and Square are linked to my savings account. I only had to go online to change one bill payment, my monthly auto insurance. So surprisingly painless, all-in-all, and I can't recommend Oregon Community Credit Union highly enough.

Holey

Spent a lot of time in the studio this last week punching holes in things.

I'm critically low on large colanders, for instance, and finally getting around to that order of eight coffee pour-overs. Which are needed for Christmas, so it's not like I'm late. Just busy. Here's pix.


Figured out a nice shortcut for the little coil on the bottom, what keeps it from sliding off the cup? When I did my prototypes, I rolled them by hand. This time, I decided to make an extruder die, then discovered that the screw holes in a spare door hinge were the perfect diameter to squirt little clay coils through.

Still don't think I'll make this a regular item. They're not quite as complicated as teapots, but they're not far off.

While I were out

Noticed an uptick in subscriptions/followers both here and at Instagram while I was away in Wisconsin. Was wondering what was going on, when I noticed that one of the Instas had an Ursula Vernon icon, then a couple of new followers here had familiar handles.

Oops! Podcast dropped!

Yeah, I'm on Productivity Alchemy again, for a third (and probably final) update. I last recorded during the height of the Panegyric, so things have changed substantially since then. I was concerned that I hadn't said anything at all interesting, but on relistening in the studio, it's not terrible.

And the badge code is SquirrelTailBrush.

Unexpected

Got an unexpected present from my mother while we were visiting Wisconsin last weekend: this granny-square crocheted afghan.

We'd talked about the colors on one of our calls, and I'd assured her that yellow, orange and white were a fine combination. But I didn't expect to own the results.

Seeing it in person, though, is even better. It's candy corn patterned!