Saiko's Blog
Be sure to check back every so often for new posts!
post27 | Some Updates | October 20, 2024
A running theme seems to be how every time I start using old tech again I very quickly run into problems and just give up. Firstly, the Sony DSC-M1 turns out to have a bad CCD sensor, which isnt worth fixing. It's a cool camera that I would've loved to use, but I think it's better if I just sold it with the battery and the charger I bought for it. The battery doesnt really seem to work either, though. I've also been using the Canon Elura 85 since I got back, but I keep having issues with tape playback, as is common with miniDV, so I honestly might abandon that too. Speaking of selling stuff, I've been thinking of selling the handycam CCD-TRV58 that I've been using since last July. As much as I love using tape for videos, I think I really should just stick to my Handycam HDR-CX405, or even get a camcorder like the DCR-SX85 or something if I really want that older vibe. One of my close friends really liked the videos I took with the Canon, which is a bit of why I was a little hesitant to stop using it. Sigh. I don't know what I'm doing sometimes.
post26 | Return of the King | October 12, 2024
Hello! I'm typing this from the Miami Brightline station, and an gonna be boarding the train to Orlando in about 20 minutes. I've been so eager to get back, as I miss all my friends and also want to get back to my dorm. I can't wait to see all of them again. I have a few things I'm going to be doing too. Firstly, I need to reapply thermal paste on my laptop, as it runs pretty hot (and the thermal paste is likely from the factory). Secondly, I'm going to be manually cleaning the video heads of my Canon Elura 85, which I decided I wanted to bring back with me to Orlando. Hopefully I can get some cool videos out of it and fix the issues I've always had with it (which sometimes seem to fix themselves). That reminds me, when I go back home again for winter break, I'm gonna re-record all my mom's old miniDV tapes, as I recorded almost all of them in analogue as I didn't realize the camcorder I was using had a DV port (it was hidden under a plastic cover). Another thing I'm gonna start using is a Sony DSC-M1 which my grandmother gave me a long while ago, but I never did anything with it as it had no battery or charger. The battery is going to be arriving on Wednesday, and the charger has yet to ship. It's a prety unique camera, and has lead some people to call it rare. It takes decent photos for being from 2004, and even has a similar interface to the Sony Mavica (Which my friend was using to take photos during Mare Fair). I think it's so funny how just a simple trip back home for a hurricane lead to lots of negative emotions and also a rekindling of wanting to use old tech (I blame the thrift store I went to where I bought loads of DVDs and CDs and also being surrounded by my collection again).
post25 | Hurricane Milton | October 7, 2024
As I'm typing Hurricane Milton has strengthened to a Category 4 Hurricane with sustained winds of 150 MPH. I currently live in Orlando, and the storm is on track to make a direct impact into Tampa and follow through into Orlando. I've already made plans to evacuate, and in just a few hours I'm leaving with friends on the Brightline to go back home in Miami. I'm currently a bit antsy because I'm waiting on the new keyboard of my laptop to arrive, and I really hope it'll arrive within the next two hours, because I want to be able to use my new laptop again and not have to deal with my backup (which I'm currently typing on) for another few days. We're already under a state of emergency (so is the whole peninsula) and Orange County is currently under Hurricane Watch. Hopefully everything in my dorm will be okay when I come back on Thursday or Friday. I think it's so funny because it's only been a little over a week since the last hurricane, and even that one barely missed us. I'll try to write another post in a few days or whenever I get back to Orlando.
post24 | Gaming Computers | October 5, 2024
I had a thought about this rant the other day, and it was mainly how dumb Gaming PCs and Laptops are designed. There's that whole "aesthetic" thats attached to them with flashy RGB, over-the-top angles and typically black cases. I get they theyre supposed to look "cool" but I think it's complete BS honestly. Like sure, I guess as long as you're not compromosing on airflow or performance you can bedazzle your PC as much as you want, but I just think its needless flair. I'm usually one to use more utilitarian systems, as my laptop is as basic in looks as you can get while still remaining nice to look at. When I built my gaming PC back in July, I wasn't prioritizing any of the RGB stuff. While my motherboard and CPU Cooler do have some RGB on them, there was nothing I can do to get rid of it. Either way, I have both of those components set to solid white to fit the theme of my desktop as it's all white, which is pretty in itself. My case has a lot of room for airflow too, while not having that obnoxious glass window on the side. Yeah it's nice to look inside the PC but a window is just too much. My case allows me to see inside my PC while not looking atrocious. Gaming laptops are the most obnixous because I tend to see them way more, as people take them into the library and such to do work and whatnot. They just have to scream that they're gaming laptops.
post23 | Mare Fair | September 30, 2024
Well, this past weekend I attended Mare Fair. I went for all three days, and overall I had a really really great time. I got to hang out with some Discord friends, buy some cool merch, and have fun. One of my friends hosted a small party in his hotel room on the second day, in which he invited people through 4chan to celebreate NEET mares. A lot of people showed up, including Jargon Scott, who is the creator of Twiggy. By far one of the best experiences at the con was the closing ceremony, where My Little Romance performed some songs for us and I was genuinely having a blast. I made sure to vlog the entire con, and I'll eventually get around to editing it together. It was my first pony convention, and I'm really excited to go to more! I plan on going to Mare Fair next year and maybe also HarmonyCon in 2026. I'll have to save up quite a bit of money, though, so who knows if I'll be able to go to any con outside of Florida at all. There were a few things that didn't sit right with be about the con, but I'm not super into the 4chan culture side of it, I was just excited for mares. Anyway, this was the best con I've been to so far, and the Post-Con Depression hit me pretty quickly haha.
post22 | Hurricane Helene | September 26, 2024
Hurricane Helene is currently just off the coast of Florida, and I've been chilling. I slept over at my friends dorm last night, and am gonna be hanging out with them most of today. It's not expected to get worse until later, but I'm looking forward to it. I even got woken up at 6 AM by my weather radio telling me I was under a tornado watch. I've been recording the experience so far, its pretty fun. Anyway, we're off to breakfast soon.
post21 | Future Plans | September 20, 2024
Recently I was planning what I'd do after my 2012 MacBook Pro breaks. I promised a friend of mine that I'd get an HP Elitebook, and after some reasearch I guarantee that I'm gonna get one once this laptop completely fails. Specifically, I saw the Elitebook 845 G7 and fell in love with it. It's ultra repairable, looks very nice, and isnt too expensive. It was a 4th generation Ryzen 5 too, which is probably a little overkill but it should be fine. I actually just looked up the processor inside of it, and was completely shocked to see its only from 2020. I expected a laptop of this price range ($150-250) to be way older. Very impressive. Now the question is how long this MacBook will last. Also, even if it does break beyond repair, I'm gonna keep it in some way because it has sentimental value to me, and I want to also keep all the stickers that I've put on the back.
post20 | Life's Good | September 3, 2024
I'm happy to report I've been in a really good mood lately! Not sure if I'm still riding the high that was Megaplex, but I've also been feeling good a little before then too. I havent been too down, and I've been happy and productive. Been hanging out with friends old and new, college is great so far! I don't really have much to say, I just wanted to post something on the blog, lol.
post19 | Megaplex 2024! | August 31, 2024
I just had one of the best days of my life! Today I attended Megaplex 2024, and it was genuinely the best place I've ever been to. It was my first ever con and it makes me want to go to more! I only went for one day, though, as I had already done and seen everything today. The awesome part is I met a bunch of furry content creators that I watch often, and I got photos with all of them! There was also the Cadance fursuiter that often shows up to different conventions, but I only ever saw him during the fursuit parade and I didnt see him at all afterward. Well, there's always Mare Fair! It genuinely so amazing meeting all these creators that I had been watching for a while. In fact, the only reason I knew they were there was because while I was walking around I recognized the fursuit of Samson, and looked on their youtube channel to verify it was them. After that, I decided to go onto my subscriptions and check who else was coming, and Frizk and Mixi were there too! Marie Anarchy was too, but I knew that from yesterday. Anyway, it was so awesome to meet all of them in person and say hi. I even got a hug from Mixi, shes so sweet :3
post18 | Return of the MacBook | August 30, 2024
The other day I was talking to Julie about my tech anxiety, worrying that I had wasted money on my current systems when I could be using older tech. I eventually came to my senses and she reassured me that my PC is good for gaming and editing and stuff, and that my laptop doesnt really have much of a use. We both had the idea that I should sell it at some point. From this I had the idea of installing Linux Mint on my 2012 MacBook Pro in order to try it out, and so far I'm liking it quite a lot and dont have many problems (so far). I have my framework on standby for now, and I'll keep it around until I decide I wanna keep using the MacBook again. Given my use case, the MacBook on Linux is more fit for my needs as it has enough power to do schoolwork and can play minecraft just fine (despite being 12 years old). The framework is powerful, yes, but it really doesn't utilize it's power as much as I initially wanted to. The issue here is that I bought the framework back in March in order for it to be my main computer in college, however since then I decided to build a new PC and bring it with me, which is finally what ended up happening. So because of this change of plan I seemingly have no use for the framework anymore. I'll probably keep it around for a few months before deciding if I wanna keep it or not. Again, from my experience the MacBook is capable of doing what I need to do on the go, including editing videos. The only real difference between the two is that the Framework can render videos much faster (obviously, as its a 3rd gen i5 compared to a 7000 series Ryzen 5). I'll be sure to update the blog if anything significant happens here.
post17 | College | August 22, 2024
Sorry I've been gone for a while, I've been kinda busy and not busy. I moved into my dorm last week, and I've pretty much finished my first week of college. Things are going well, I've met new friends and hung out with ones from high school. I wanna try and be a little more productive now that I'm kinda on my own, so hopefully I can get onto that soon. Anyway, alls well right now, and I'll try to find something to write about again soon.
post16 | I may be an idiot | August 14, 2024
So, I may be an idiot. I've been having a lot of anxiety about transporting my PC setup to college, and it got me thinking about if getting it was even a good idea. In total, along with my laptop, I spent over $2000 on both systems. Now that I've had my PC for a month, and my laptop for 5 months, I'm wondering if I just should've gotten a Framework 16 instead, and saved myself the hassle. The FW16 has a larger screen, and is just as upgradable as a PC. However as I've been told theres not a lot of backpacks that can fit its unusual size. I was told this by someone I met that is going to my same college, and they own a FW16 which I'm gonna check out when I see them. If im genuinely convinced to get one, I'll sell my PC and my laptop and buy a Framework 16. I used the Framework website just now to customize my configuration, and the price of my configuration is about the same price of both my PC and my Framework 13 combined. I dunno, I'll give it a long while to think. It honestly makes more sense to just deal with the hassle of transporting a PC setup every time I move to and from college (which may only be about 4 times in total depending on when I decide to just rent an apartment and live in that city for a while). Plus, using a PC in my dorm just makes more sense than just a full laptop setup. And anyway, in the long run it'll probably be more worth it to just have the PC for after I permanently move out of Florida. This PC will likely last me over 6 years, which is just about as long as I had my previous PC, so maybe I should just put my anxieties to rest and just own it.
post15 | Tapes | August 12, 2024
Wanted to talk about my opinions and experiences with tape video for a bit. So I've recently settled on using my Hi8 camcorder for taping events and stuff over miniDV. I've laid out all the pros and cons for both that apply to me specifically, and Hi8 is my choice. I havent actually taped anything with Hi8 yet, as I've only owned video8 tapes, which are much older and not as good as Hi8. Although miniDV does produce a sharper image, the process to digitize a tape the way I want it to look just isnt as worth it. Plus, the only real difference is do I want my video to look like its from 2007 or 1999? It's whatever really. lol. I still have blank miniDV tapes if I ever decide to switch back. Anyway, I have a set of Hi8 tapes on the way, I just hope they'll arrive soon because they have no tracking number and can come anytime between today and friday, and I really hope they arrive before I leave on Thursday.
post14 | Collection selling progress | August 10, 2024
So, over the last two weeks I've been selling off my collection, and I've sold quite a few devices. Ive sold 10 devices so far and have made quite a bit of money off it so far. However, on Monday the 12th I will remove all my listings off of eBay (and on my moms account too) as I'll be moving into my college dorm in less than a week from now and I wont be able to sell anymore. Hopefully what I've made is enough for me, and I can continue to sell even more next summer.
post13 | The End? | July 27, 2024
Honestly, I've been thinking too much today. I think it has to do with the fact I forgot to take my antidepressant yesterday, but I've been really down last night. I've been thinking about how my life is going down the shitter. I feel like because of this, and what I said in post12 will lead to the end of saikoshub. I said that my tech collection is pretty much the centerpiece of saikoshub, as it's the most detailed and extensive part of the website. While theres more to the website, I feel like without my technology collection this website will be left with pretty much nothing. Not like this website was already nothing in the first place. Nobody ever checks my website more than once after I introduce it. That's not really what matters to me. What matters is that I have a place where I can ramble about my interest that almost nobody I know shares, as I sink hundreds of dollars into materialistic items that hold very little value to a very small number of people. Anyway, this may be the last post I ever make on this blog. If the website shuts down because of my tech collection being sold off, then I'll leave a note on the homepage of the site letting everyone know the website is likely gone forever.
post12 | The end of my collection? | July 25, 2024
So, I've had a few people tell me I should do this for a while, but I think I'm gonna actually do it. I'm gonna start selling off a bunch of my tech collection. I know my tech collection has been pretty much a centerpiece of this website, and also something I've looked upon with pride and generally regard it to be a part of me. It's something I'm gonna have to let go. Of course, this doesn't mean ALL of my technology is going away. I'm still going to be keeping quite a few of my devices that I regard as part of my collection, including but not limited to:
2012 MacBook Pro
White iPhone 4s
iPhone 2G
iPhone SE
iPhone 7
Thinkpad T60
According to my calculations, I should make a decent profit off of it as about 2/3s of my collection was given to me for free. For the third I did buy? I've spent nearly $900 on everything on that third. Helps me with college I guess. Will write another post after I sell off some of it.
post11 | The Little Hard Drive that Could | July 19, 2024
Last week I wanted to see what would happened if I burned a shitty laptop while it was running. Spoilers! It died when I sprayed it with water because I got scared of the battery. Anyway, I attempted to burn the hard drive and cause as much damage to it as I could, dousing it in alcohol and setting it ablaze, tossing it around, putting it in water. However, it made it! It had trouble plugging into my SATA adapter, but the drive was readable by my PC and I was able to access the files. Physically it doesnt look too bad, but clearly was burned to some degree.
post10 | Arch Gnome | June 16, 2024
Disregard my previous entry, I overcame my sudden breakdown and reinstalled Arch Linux on my laptop, but instead of KDE I'm using GNOME and its a much better experience, plus it's a lot prettier. I decided that I'll just continue using a Windows virtual machine to edit, because I tried out Kdenlive and it was a but of a struggle. Maybe I'll try it more and get used to it, but for now I'm sticking to vegas. Using a VM isnt much of a problem for editing, because I've been able to edit videos with no problem on a 2012 MacBook Pro with a Dual-Core i5. The main issue with that is that it took forever to render videos (30 min to render a 5 min vid) while my laptop now can render in way less time. So yeah, ARCH LINUX FOR LIFE!
post09 | Framework Windows | June 12, 2024
I had a bit of stress recently over computer issues with Linux on my Framework Laptop. It came to the point that I was genuinely considering Windows 11. I eventually came around to just sticking to Windows 10 for a while, not sure how long I'll keep using it after it ends support on October 14, 2025 though. This whole process on just getting it working was very frustrating too, as most programs I tried didn't work. I eventually got it by using an Ubuntu USB. To add insult to injury, the USB I used to backup a bunch of stuff from my Linux install corrupted on its own and now I cant seem to read it on Windows, but I'm gonna try to read it on Mac and if not, I guess I just lost everything from it (Mostly minecraft screenshots and videos I recorded).
post08 | High School Quotes | June 6, 2024
Since I've graduated from High School I've been just sitting around for now. I was looking through my notes when I remembered I had a quotebook that I had built up throughout High School. Well not exactly, I had only been building it up since the beginning of 11th Grade. People at my school have said really crazy things, and I just had to write them down. Here they are:
She looks like a monkey! She looks black in black and white photos -some kid October, 5 2022
This kid can do ap physics but he can't multiply fractions? - Gabriel R October 13, 2022
I would become transgender for her (referring to Jess King, a lesbian) - Ryan C October 31, 2022
I really like kissing dudes too, clap me up - kid sitting near me during assembly November 10, 2022
Kid 1: January 2 I'm getting a buzz cut bro
Kid 2: Yeah do it -two passing kids November 29, 2022
I was balls deep and she said "stop teasing me" - kid nearby to me leaving lunch December 8, 2022
There's a first time for everything, I guess - kid talking about getting his penis stick in his zipper, C building bathroom January 19, 2023
Is it safer to eat a cigarette, or to smoke it? - nearby kid February 10, 2023
Did you know slavery is illegal in the United States? - senior walking out of L12 after 4th period February 21 2023
Jesus: I'm in a gay ass mood
JB: How can I egg it on? - March 23, 2023
If I get a 5, I'm blowing a load on F. [Physics Teacher] - kid near homeroom May 12, 2023
I've got a sexy head! - passerby September 13, 2023
There's a video of him spreading his asscheeks - passerby October 17, 2023
I'm sexy like lady gaga - passerby October 24, 2023
When you're 19 you're allowed to get with a 16 year old - kid in english class December 7, 2023 (literally what)
I can, on command, get hard - kid nearby at lunch December 7, 2023
Kid 1: We're going to Stockholm!
Kid 2: But you don't speak Spanish-2 kids passing January 11, 2024
I would be a great Adolf Hitler -Ryan D February 26, 2024
Does the 3 have to be lowercase? -Javier C February 27, 2024
He's a submissive little boy, he'll just sit down and take it -kid at lunch February 29, 2024
F. [Physics Teacher], I wanna give him a buttery smooth handjob -Dominic C March 11, 2024
I'm happily married with a gay man! -passerby March 20, 2024
Kid 1: Yo, do you do anal?
Kid 2: That's a no. -passerbys April 15, 2024
I gotta take a magnum opus shit - Chad/Will Apr 17, 2024
Shut yo black ass up -passerby May 14, 2024
As you can see, some people at my school were pretty unhinged. LOL.
post07 | Busyness | June 4, 2024
So, things have been really busy around here these last 2 weeks. We've had a lot of stuff going on in terms of fixing up the house, and soon we're having the house painted so I had to help with moving furniture around.
Lots of people have come over to the house recently too, mainly a mix of workers coming to check out what work needs to be done, as well as people coming to pick up stuff we're selling/giving away. We have a lot of junk so we've been getting rid of a lot of things. So do I, too, as I've been selling a lot of stuff on ebay recently and making some decent money.
post06 | All the Phones have been sorted | May 28, 2024
So, since I got the tech box over a month ago, I've had to go through all the phones in it, fix them, and then figure out what do with them. As of today, that process has officially finished.
Out of the 19 iPhones I received, I got 7 of them fully working.
I have 4 that are going to be sold as a single broken tech lot.
4 more that are in storage for use as parts.
And 4 more that I destroyed for a video.
When it comes to the 17 Android phones, I got 5 of them fully working.
8 that are to be sold as a single broken tech lot.
and 3 I destroyed for a video. (Plus another I destroyed independently.)
So there! The tech lot is finally done and dealt with! I just have to sell off those 12 broken phones, and then we'll be 100% golden.
post05 | Slate Black iPhone 5 is now valuable | May 21, 2024
If you've stalked my mobile devices collection page, you'd know that I bought a Slate Black iPhone 5 from my local thrift store a few months ago.
Well, it was iCloud locked, right? It is no more. Today I swapped the logic board of this Slate Black 5 and the White iPhone 5 I got from the tech box (I don't think I've made an entry for it yet). I did this because the White 5 has a nonworking power button, and I also felt that iOS 7 would look nicer on the Slate Black 5.
So, because of this, the Slate Black 5 is now worth way more! It is sort of obvious the board was swapped, because it has a white boot screen instead of a black one, but that's no big deal.
post04 | iPhone 4s Chronicles | May 13, 2024
So as the Tech Box goes, theres a few iPhones that I set aside for repairs. As of today, I've gotten through 2 of 4 pairs. The most recent one I've done is a Logic Board swap between two iPhone 4s's. I recorded a video on it, and it's going out tomorrow. Basically, in the Tech Box there were only two White iPhone 4s's. One of them was in pristine physical condition and the other had a shattered back and broken LCD. The latter is actually in the stack of repairs to be done, but it's only for the power button.
Anyway, the pristine white 4s was iCloud Locked. I wanted a white 4s in my collection, but I wanted it to be fully functional. So, I found a perfectly working Black 4s and swapped the logic boards between the two. I did this on Saturday, and I don't know what I'm gonna do with it still. The repair was successful, and the white 4s was now fully working and running iOS 8.1.1.
This isnt the end, however. Yesterday, I wanted to jailbreak the phone and downgrade it to iOS 6.1.3. I went through a lot of struggle in jailbreaking it, because 3utools wouldnt work at all. I had to use Sideloadly! and sideload Phoenix onto the 4s. Then after that, Cydia was haivng trouble working, so I couldn't kDFU working. The issue was that it wouldn't refresh the sources, and the solution was to remove one of the default sources that would endlessly refresh. After that, everything refreshed and I was able to install kDFU and use 3utools to flash 6.1.3 onto the 4s. Boom! Now we have a white 4s on 6.1.3, along with a twin Black one. And that's where we are now. I'm gonna probably add it to the website either today or tomorrow.
post03 | Cameras | May 10, 2024
It's something I've been pondering for a few weeks now. Throughout 2023 I used a video8/Hi8 camcorder to record stuff I did in my life and with my family. Recently I had been thinking about bringing that back, but weighing my options I don't think it's worth it. I did use my Sony Handycam HDR-CX405 in 2022 for my trip to London and Savannah, but I usually use that camera for making YouTube videos, so I never really planned to use it for everyday things. I probably will start using it, beginning with my last day of High School on May 17 and my Graduation on May 25. I could talk about the pros and cons another time. I do kind of want to make a video about that, but I only partially started writing the script.
post02 | iPhone | May 10, 2024
Been looking at my iPhone collection over the last few days. I always had the plan that I'd have my old iPhone 7 and SE as backup phones, mostly for passwords and iCloud verification. I don't actually know if I want to use one as a burner phone of sorts. I know I want to get a Nokia dumbphone in the future and use that as my main phone, with my Pixel 6a being secondary. But this likely wont happen until close to when the Pixel loses security support in 2027. I just want to keep my Pixel for as long as I can. With the iPhones, I'm not sure if im really gonna be using them for anything else.
Besides this, I don't really know what else to blog about. Oh yeah. (See post03)
post01 | Hello! | May 3, 2024
Hello! this is the first ever post on my from-scratch blog. If you aren't aware, my twitter was unfairly suspended about a month ago. I don't want to appeal again or make a new account, so this is my response to Twitter. Can suspend me now, huh?!
Haha. Anyway, I'll be updating this blog every couple of days and mostly talk about my technology. Theres no RSS feed implementation or anything, so if you want to stay updated be sure to check this page every so often. :3