I somehow have several bathrobes. One is heavy terrycloth, lives in my bathroom, and i sometimes wear it after a shower while i wait for my hair to be dry enough to comb. The others i don’t wear. Except that on Christmas morning i go down to the living room in my pajamas and a bathrobe, and have a glad of eggnog and open Christmas stuff. But that’s basically the only time i wear any of the others.
(And on Christmas morning, sometimes i go downstairs in my clothes and make breakfast and clean the litter box, and then go back upstairs to don the celebratory night clothes.
When I was in college, my school opened a new dorm with 15 floors. I choose to live on the 13th floor of that dorm that year. (It was, in fact, numbered as 13). I graduated at the end of that year, so I guess it was good luck!
I get all the recommended vaccines because why not?
The only ones I’ve been slow about getting are shingles (waited until 60 at my doctor’s advice) and I’m wondering about ongoing annual covid vaccines, based on my increasingly troublesome reactions, but haven’t yet discussed this with my doctor. (I’m currently up-to-date.)
I am current on vaccinations, including the dreaded Shingrix.
When two words cross & I can’t figure either out, I give it a little time, and sometimes one pops into my head. If they don’t, I try a few likely letters (since I’m doing it online)…if I still don’t get it, I look it up but intentionally do an online “check” so that the NYT marks it as completed, but with help.
The question reminds me of Rex Parker’s use of the word ‘Natick’ for such crossings:
The “Natick Principle” is a rule that states that when a proper noun in a crossword puzzle is unlikely to be known by more than 25% of solvers, it should be crossed with common words and phrases. This rule came about after a 2008 New York Times crossword puzzle that paired “the town at the eighth mile of the Boston Marathon” with illustrator N.C. Wyeth, which was considered too difficult.
Of course, I would have gotten that one., living in a Boston suburb as I do.
Interesting. I told them (some years ago) that I didn’t know whether I’d ever had chickenpox and didn’t think anybody still living knew either; and was told that a) based on my age I almost certainly had been exposed to it and b) that even if I hadn’t had it I should get the shingles vaccine.
That was the old vaccine, however. Maybe they’ve changed the rules for shingrix; but I’ve had both of them now, and either they didn’t ask me that about shingrix but only (I think) whether I’d had the earlier vaccine, or they did ask me and gave it to me although I would have given them the same “no idea” answer.
Or maybe this isn’t a settled issue and we just talked to two different doctors.
If one happens to be competing in a crossword puzzle contest of some sort, and the agreed-upon rules state that no outside sources may be used, then yes, looking up an answer is cheating.
Otherwise, there’s no such thing as “cheating” on a crossword puzzle. It’s a diversion for fun, and/or a way to exercise your brain. Everyone is free to play as they choose.
Personally, I prefer to complete a crossword on my own if I can, and I’m proud of myself when I do. But I’ve run across some really hard Friday and Saturday puzzles in which I definitely needed help from Mr. Google. Why be frustrated by something that’s supposed to be enjoyable?
I voted that it is cheating, but I would more precisely describe it as “cheating”. You are only cheating yourself.
If I am truly stuck, or Naticked, I don’t hesitate to get the answer. I typically do only the NYT Sunday puzzles and my success rate without “cheating” is probably less than 50%.
Up until my wife finished her PhD almost 2 years ago, she was on campus working on her dissertation or at the community campus teaching, and I work in a call center. Practically hot and cold running plague exposure, though we don’t personally have kids at least. So we always got any appropriate vax as long it was covered.
As I related in another thread, my wife and I found out around 45 per our bloodwork that neither of us had antibodies for chickenpox, so we were vaccinated for that now five years ago. And after consulting with the doctors, even though we HAD said vax, it’s possible the other bloodwork was in error, so we went ahead and got shingrex this year when we hit 50.
Personally, I get mild but non-negligible reactions, and my wife gets more severe ones to most vax options. She’s not sure she’ll get another Covid booster (we had ours at the end of September) if such things are needed. I will keep getting any vax my health insurance will pay for.
Agreed – but among the rules that I choose for myself is ‘no looking things up!’
Except that when I give up I can look at the answer key. Sometimes I say ‘oh duh’ and sometimes I say ‘so that’s what that name is; I’ll probably forget that’ and sometimes I do remember it the next time they use it and I count that as legit. And sometimes I say ‘that’s not what that word means!’
And if I say the last, sometimes I look it up. Sometimes the crossword people are right after all. But not always.
Whether or not it’s cheating depends on the rules you set for yourself. Personally, i would look it up. So it’s not cheating for me. Those are my rules.
It’s like playing solitaire. The rules are whatever you want them to be.
The crossword rule I set for myself is: if I absolutely can’t figure out an answer, I allow myself to look in Wikipedia. Not Google. I’ve found that Google usually gives the answer immediately, whereas I still have to do a little digging in Wikipedia.
Oh, I’ve definitely been exposed. I vaguely remember going to a chickenpox party. I just never got it.
Possibly.
My doctor’s office doesn’t have the Chickenpox vaccine. None of the pharmacies have it. The county health department acted like I had asked them to perform a deviant sex act when I asked them if I could get it. The only place I could find it was my kids’ pediatrician, but I would have to become her patient to receive one, and Cigna put the Kibosh on that idea. Having done the bloodwork, it appears that I had been exposed to the virus (see above chickenpox party), but was never infected. I’m in the immunity grey area, like Typhoid Mary.
Damn, that’s rough. I mean, the pharmacy at the Little Clinic (inside the local Kroger grocery store) carries it here in Colorado Springs.
Then again, we live in an era where vaccines are coming under aggressive attack by the right politically, and various fringe groups of all political stripes.
Sounds like you checked the pharmacies in your area, and you Primary care physician can’t help. Some of my friends (currently lacking health insurance which makes things harder) have had good luck with getting vaccines they needed through Walmart Pharmacies at reasonable prices, might be another option if you haven’t checked already.
looking up the size specs for the now-discontinued Sandisk Sansa it’s 2.2 x 1.4 x 0.6 inches with a weight of .05 lbs. It also had a clip on the back so you could clip it to your shirt or shorts. Like I said above, it’s just so much smaller & lighter than a phone that I prefer it for when I do want music while running.
When I would trail run by myself I bought a now-useless (3G) small little flip phone that I would carry because I did have a scare once on a late fall afternoon day. Many leaves were already on the ground so I didn’t see the root/rock that I stepped on; luckily I didn’t get hurt when I rolled my ankle because I realized there probably wasn’t anyone else coming out on that trail that day to help me out. The flip phone didn’t have service & would only call 911 but if I twisted an ankle on a trail I’d probably want to call them sooner than a friend or neighbor as park rangers / PD have keys to gates & can drive places the public can’t so I wouldn’t need to be carried out nearly as far. I hope to get back into more (& longer) trail running next year so I’ll probably buy an updated 4G/5G version. Of course some of the trails I regularly run are off the grid & phones won’t even work there.
My apartment building has 14 floors (above the basement). Elevator buttons are labelled: G, 1, 2, 3…,10, 11, 12, PH. (“penthouse” rather than 13 or 14.).
