Walt's Corner

A professional cornhole player and quadruple amputee is arrested for murder. Unlike “Florida Man,”  here is a headline you don’t get to see everyday. Admit it, you had to read that headline twice, didn’t you?

At the age of 10 he contracted some bacterial infection resulting in amputation of all limbs to makeing sure to remove the infection. He later became very good at cornhole to the point of championship titles. 

According to the news story he was invovled in a disagreement with friends he was driving around. Shot one of them, then asked the others to help him slide the body out of his car. They refused and fled the scene in what I’m sure was some shit they were still trying to process. 

Out of all the questions running through your mind, first and foremost is probably, “How can he fire a weapon?” I present to you, Exhibit A: His YouTube Video.

Mid-world. Stephen King fans will recognize this place immediately.

King’s website announced the release of Other Worlds Than These, part 3 of the Talisman trilogy.

Late 1980s is when I read The Talisman and mid 2000s for Black House (you can google that shit yourself). It wouldn’t be until the 2nd novel that we realized the Territories is just another name for Mid-World, the main location for King’s magnum opus, though I suppose we should have known. Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Peter Straub has an equal part in this story. He passed a few years ago.

Pretty stoked about this. Release date is set for October 6. TAKE MY MONEY!

Had my annual check-up at the VA yesterday. Like most years, I was asked if I wanted the shingles vaccine. Sure. Why not. Side effects? Injection site discomfort. Some body aches. Lethargic today. All of which beats the heck out of actually catching the shingles virus I suppose.

And this is just the first in a series of two. Next one is scheduled for May. I think. 

The golden unicorn. Or in my case, the Indigo unicorn. MacBook Neo. Apple computers/laptops have always been sold at a premium. Since my hardest processor hitting applications or utilities that I use can be easily handled on an iPad, I haven’t been able to justify buying an Apple computer/laptop for a while I’ve been computerless for over 10 years now. And happy about it. I haven’t missed hardly a thing from my laptop days. The one thing I have missed? BBEdit. Shit how I’ve missed that lowly text editor. From the days of version 5, circa 1999. And it was always available on the CD that accompanied MacAddict magazine. Bare Bones Software have never seen fit to make it available for iOS. So that made me gravitate towards iA Writer. In fact, I’m using iA Writer to write this very article.

My iPad Air coupled with the Magic Keyboard *is* my laptop. Everything I want to do can be done on this setup. Writing. Reading. Communication in its various forms. Web browsing. Domain admin. Music/video entertainment. Occasional video editing. Not very processor-intensive stuff. And it does it with pizazz! Fast! If I could put up with the small screen of my iPhone Air, my phone could handle all of the above.

I’ve often wondered why someone hasn’t yet developed the shell of a laptop – you know – the case, keyboard, screen, trackpad, and ports and all I do is open a door or something and place my iPhone in there. Bam! Laptop. Basically, this is what Apple has done, only they included the guts of an iPhone 16 Pro Max into it. Perfect. Certainly enough to handle what I do with ease and grace.

Which is why I pre-ordered the Indigo Blue MacBook Neo. It’s less expensive than my current iPad/Magic Keyboard setup.

Fast forward to now. A week after my MacBook Neo arrived. I’ve had a few days to put it through some tests. It has surpassed all expectations. I’ve downloaded BBEdit. MarsEdit. And iA Writer. Currently using iA Writer for Mac to finish this article. Seamless transfer as I would have expected. I hope to use MarsEdit to post this article directly to my blog, Walt’s Corner. We’ll see how that works. I’ll close out of here and open this text file on my iPhone.

Now I’m editing it on my iPhone. I’ll quit from here and open it up on my iPad.

Now on my iPad. Smooth transition. I’ll switch back over to my MacBook…

And finally back on the MacBook. Sweet. The only bummer is that you have to purchase the Mac version separately from the iOS version unless you want to purchase iA Writer as a subscription – which I don’t. 

Thinking about buying one? I read today that all orders accepted now aren’t expected to be fullfilled until the end of April. Apple can’t keep up with the demand. 

The Panzera Classivo 43 with stainless steel band, model C4301BM2A has an MSRP of $1350 USD. The sum of the parts do not justify that price at all, but then who buys watches at MSRP? You know these companies jack them prices up so that they can claim a once in a lifetime sale that will offer you 30-60% off. ACT NOW! This deal expires in 7 days. True. But the next deal begins on the 8^th.

TLDR: This is one gorgeous watch. Very unique. Very shiny. Huge! This thing is larger than life. But somehow it works. Maybe it’s the unusually wide band, but when worn it doesn’t seem as big as it looks. Buy this on sale and it’s almost worth its money in parts, but then value is in the eye of the beholder.  And the case – extravagant! This watch gets cased as if it were a Grand Seiko or Ball. If you like their unique style as I do, you’ll gladly pay a little bit more than you would have for a watch carrying a budget Miyota 8215 under the hood.

Panzera has been on my radar since last October. I was looking for a watch that had a face kind of like the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150m, but didn’t carry the $7,000.00 price tag. Minimalist in design, deep blue dial, and sported the horizontal lines. That’s what I was looking for when I discovered the Panzera Classivo 43. Every day since I discovered it, this watch has been interrupting my facebook feed. Gently reminding me that it exists, and OH LOOK! It’s on sale for a limited time! And of course it has been on sale since October. Must be a quarterly long sale. I’m not much into square-ish watches, but there are a couple that stand out, this being one of them. I finally bit.

Company wise? Some of their watches are hand built in small batches and they tell you this. Buying this watch in February? You ain’t getting it until April. Bought mine in January, received it mid-February. Panzera kept me informed during the build of my watch and again once shipped. I received it within 7 days from Australia. Very fast shipping.

Movement.

Here is my only bone to pick, and it ain’t much. The watch incorporates a budget-friendly Miyota 8215 movement. I can buy an 8215 on Amazon right now for $31. For a watch retailing at over $1000, Panzera can afford to put at least a Seiko NH35 in there. Right now I can buy a NH35 for $74. These are MY prices. For a single customer buying one movement. When you buy these movements from wholesalers in bulk like Panzera does, you can expect to pay around $20 for the 8215 and $40 for the NH35. Both are quality workhorses, tried and true. Miyota is made by Citizen and NH35 is simply Seiko’s 4R35 movement branded for non-Seiko watches. The biggest difference between the two is in the automatic winding feature. The Miyota’s automatic drive is unidirectional while the Seiko’s mechanism will wind the watch in both directions. If they both keep your watch wound, what’s the difference other than preference, right? My particular model loses about 3 seconds in a 24 hour period which is outstanding for these types of automatic watches rated at -20/+40 seconds per day.

Crystal

Panzera utilizes a sapphire crystal with the usual non-reflective coating, so you’re not going to easily scratch the crystal. This material is what normally pushes a watch into the “over $350” territory easily. No need to baby it.

Case

Panzera uses 316L surgical grade stainless steel for the case with a screw down crown. This material will last forever. Their compass logo is prominently displayed on the over-sized crown. The screw down crown adds to the waterproofing, which is minimal at 5ATM. Washing your hands or the dishes should prove to be no problem for this watch. Just don’t go swimming in it. It’s no dive watch. This thing is a monster in size – 43mm. But it doesn’t seem too big when worn. This is probably due to the oversized crown and band that accompanies it. Keeps it all in perspective.

Face

The face is what drew me to this model to begin with. I love the details. The intricate pattern of vertical squiggly lines which impart an optical illusion of horizontal lines. The face is big enough to accommodate the brand name, the model name, the word “automatic,” as well as a date viewing window that encompasses three days – all without crowding it. The deep blue is just gorgeous. Lumination is generously applied and very bright.

Band

I’m torn about the band. It looks great. Uses a butterfly clasp to secure it shut. But the pins holding the band to the case are screws that appear to be on both sides, answering my question as to why Panzera included two jeweler screwdrivers with the watch. The screwdrivers are not for sizing the band itself. That is accomplished by collared pins. The collar is in the center link, and it does not matter which side you push the pins out from.