1. I thought this line on Woot! was hilarious: “Microsoft has created a tablet that’s FATED for Woot!”

2. I have installed Ubuntu, Mint and Windows 8 Preview at different times as the operating systems on my home media PC in the last few months (of course, a full-on geek would have multi-booted this setup).

3. Over the weekend, I spent about an hour comparing the guitar-amp tone of some older-than-me Marconi 6v6 military-spec tubes with modern JJ and Chinese-made Groove Tube 6v6s. All of this was done with a guitar amp that is a clone of a design from the late 1950s.

4. I also unsoldered an old element from one of my harmonica microphones and soldered it back into another one.

5. I’m thinking about trying to calibrate my oven thermometer. I know nothing about how to do that. So far, I’ve resisted the urge to act. So far.

Previously: Picking and choosing | Hokum home