Looking ahead in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Afternoon, mumpers! it’s currently 19c/66f with no predicted change, and cloudy. Weather app says “The sun will fucking come out tomorrow. Maybe. But a lot of fucking good that does you today.”

I am totally with you on that one. My plan is to do all my shopping online as much as possible so that I don’t have to venture near any retail establishments (except the supermarket) when we get to silly season.

flyboy that must have been very worrying for the locals, glad you weren’t caught up in it.

hippie I can’t help thinking that there must be more to the rift than just the lack of wedding invitation. I do think you’re wise to keep out of it and not take sides, that usually makes things worse all round.

It’s not a holiday weekend here so I have been irking today. And it has been productive, but also irksome. I have just about all of my stuff ready for tomorrow’s scrutiny meeting, just one problem child to deal with and I have no idea what’s going on with that one. I have to wait for our Wellbeing team to let me know if there are any developments.

Nut and Taters - thank you for your advice last week about the weed membrane stuff. We are digging out bramble roots at the far end of the garden and intend to pave that section, partly so we can put a shed on it. We need to get it cleared and levelled but at the same time we’re working on what to do with the rest of our small space so the membrane is the easiest option for a temporary fix until we can get the rest of the plan under way :slight_smile:

I am all ready to log out of work now, then I can have some sofa time before I head to the gym for tonight’s spin class. Then I have leftovers from the freezer for dinner that will need warming up, and I have to cook some pasta to go with it. I’d better get on now, I need to sloth for a while!

22

The map in the link shows a condominium development. I can’t picture motorcycle gangs hanging out there. I’m sure there would have been mayhem if it had happened at The Beach (‘Five Star Dive Bar’) and Beach Cat Brewing Company (next door to, and cooperating with, The Beach). They’re about the same distance north of Bay Breeze, as Jacobs Landing is to the south.

But speaking of being caught up in shootings. I was called to jury duty at the same time the O.J. Simpson trial was happening. That was in a different courthouse, though. Anyway, I’m in this very large, glassed-in room where jurors waited to be called. I heard, 'Pop! ’ I thought to myself, ‘That sounds like a handgun.’ ‘Pop-pop!’ I thought, ‘That is a handgun! A .38 or 9mm.’ Everyone in the room dove for cover. One very large woman actually managed to get under one of the heavy benches.) With my knees, I could only kneel a bit behind a bench. After several seconds, I decided it was silly (and also uncomfortable) because nobody was going to run in and shoot up the jury room. So I stood up. It turned out that there was a divorce proceeding, and there was a dispute over a car. The husband shot the wife in the courtroom, in front of their 8-year-old daughter. Must’ve been a helluva car. I don’t think he got to keep it.

The other interesting thing that happened was a homeless guy sitting outside, against the building and talking to himself. ‘Heh, heh, heh. Chop dey head off! Heh, heh! Didn’t see it comin’! Chop dey head off!’ (Similar dialog for a couple of minutes.)

23

I’m looking for a job, software dev.

Nothing gives me more confidence than a form email with filler text when describing my potential role:

FFS.

24

Good morning everyone. Hope it’s going well, even for those that don’t get a holiday today.

Yesterday was busy, and my BIL is well on the way to earning himself another nice dinner. It took 4 hours for us to hang 17 blinds and the first couple really took some time to figure out. The trim around the windows is quite shallow, which the bracket was not designed for, but they’re all up now! I need to work on removing the extra slats on a couple of the shorter windows - that will probably be a different weekend’s project.

Sis and BIL are supposed to come back over today to change out the light fixtures in the kitchen and dining room. Sister was on an absolute roll on FB Marketplace the last several weeks and found a light fixture that normally retails for over $1k for just $45, and then two abacus lamps for $30 each - identical ones are currently on eBay for $700 each! I told her I’m going to have to worry about someone breaking in just to steal the lights out of the place!

After that will be the usual Sunday chores that got pushed off to today.

Hippie sorry to hear about the family drama. It can be disconcerting, even if you aren’t directly involved.

Coppertone glad to hear it’s working and you’re feeling better.

Metal Mouse I also would have been quite peeved about that. Sounds like the wait staff might need a bit more training…

JtC can you get the dessert recipe? If so, maybe share here if it looks like it’ll live up to promise.

Taters yay for your own space! Hopefully you can get it fixed up the way you want.

Flyboy glad you weren’t any closer to the excitement…

wolfpup that sounds like some huge changes coming your way! That’s got to be super stressful.

25

76F at 1030. Overcast.

The AC quit again sometime during the night. Suddenly started up again about an hour ago, so someone must have come in on their time off to get it running.

Laundry day, as I have no clean unmentionables left. I’ll wait until this afternoon, when the geezers are all in their crypts.

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In the '90s? Or last night?

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The only downside to not working today is that it feels like Sunday…I was surprised to see a new MMP, and have to keep reminding myself that it’s actually Monday. :slight_smile:

I considered both going to the grocery store and catching up on some work this morning, but by the time I got out of the shower I’d rejected both notions. Even though it’s a beautiful day – sunny and only 71°F at 10:36am – I just got a delivery from Safeway (via Instacart), and I decided that I really want one more full day off: so, I’ll beg out of tomorrow’s 9am-12pm Great Big Formal Technical Review final prep meeting in order to do day-job stuff. I don’t think they actually need me at this point, and I could definitely use the time because I’ll be at Navy Yard – at the Great Big Formal Technical Review event itself – the rest of the week (with no laptop, and only intermittent email [via work phone] access). I think my boss will agree to let me skip the final prep. :crossed_fingers:

In Lego news, I built most of the Crocodile Locomotive yesterday and am looking forward to finishing it this afternoon. This morning I saw an announcement for a new set that I’m excited about: a bookstore book nook!! I love the book nooks, and have all four of the existing ones: two Harry Potter, a Sherlock Holmes, and the Balrog (from Lord of the Rings). And, of course, I love bookstores. It will be released on 10/01, but sadly is not available for pre-order. :pleading_face: I put a reminder on my calendar. I’m not sure whether I’m more excited about this or Wallace & Gromit, which will also be released on 10/01 and was another no-brainer (but that one can be – and already has been – pre-ordered).

Yesterday I also got a fair amount of reading done: I finished book #2 in David Baldacci’s “6:20 Man” series (The Edge), and started book #3 (To Die For). Book #4 releases in November, and another title I’m looking forward to releases in October (#21 in Louise Penny’s “Chief Inspector Gamache” series, Miss Wolcott’s Ghost): fall will be great for spending quality time on the main floor sofa (my “reading couch”)! Anyway, I’m also hoping to do more reading today.

My only other plans for the day involve doing laundry. I had “change the furnace filter” on the list for this weekend, and was able to check that off yesterday! It was my second time changing it since I moved in: the previous tenants left a few 15" x 25" x 1" filters downstairs, but they seem a little small. 16" x 25" x 1" is way more common, and I can’t imagine them not getting/using those if they fit, so later on I’ll bring a ruler or tape measurer down there and confirm the size of the filter opening.

Heh. :grin:

My commute involves I-495, but I rarely take the express lanes to get home from work; they’re hardly ever worth the toll. That said, just last week I realized that I’ll want to start deliberately avoiding them after Thanksgiving: using them literally takes me to the mall (Tysons Corner Center), and that traffic will get bad. I’ve seen some ridiculous backups during previous holiday seasons. I do tend to use the express lanes in the mornings, but that should stay OK because I leave for work before the mall opens. :crossed_fingers:

Ugh.

“Minor”? You have some super-reasonable relatives! On either side of my clan, not being invited to a family wedding could definitely result in WWIII. :slight_smile:

:people_hugging:

Wow…yeah, way to blow one of your first chances to make a positive impression on a candidate. :roll_eyes:

(Written as a hiring manager who drafts job openings and reviews them after they’re posted.)

28

Blaine PD just posted on Farcebook about the shooting. To recap: The first FB post I read said that the shooting was ‘near Bay Breeze.’ The second one, to which I provided a link, had a map that showed the shooting farther south. Now, Blaine PD’s image (sorry if you can’t see it, it’s on FB) clearly shows Bay Breeze, a motorcycle, crime scene tape, and, further down, a State Patrol vehicle and more crime scene tape. So it does look like it happened by Bay Breeze.

29

Hey, friends. We have thunder, which isn’t usual here. T cat has been leaping on the bathroom counter all night and is sulking under the bed after having received an effective pssst! from me. S cat and I are still abed because my lovely wife had a friend drop by and I’m not going downstairs to be social without showering.

We haven’t visited a new country in several years, so we’re dreaming about that. In real, practical life, though, I’ll be getting fall vaxxes later today.

30

Ms Peach is being a little shit and refusing to come inside from the backyard. I have borrowed the carshare truck to take a pile of brush to the town drop off and need to return it.

31

Howdy all. Back from the errand-running, all but one mission accomplished (dry cleaners was closed for Labor Day) and sammich is resting comfortably in my belly. Will decide shortly if I have the ambition to go to the gym or not for a couple of hours, then the rest of the day will be RDOS. 85F heading to 90F so outdoor activities will be limited.

JtC, traffic was very light today here too, except for Wal-Mart, it was the usual mob scene. And did some looking around, found some cameras for I-565 on the ALGO site, the ones you had were a distance away. And yeah, pretty light traffic today. I think your exercise routine is a good plan and hope it works well for you.

And that makes you invaluable…(and for some, irritating… :wink:)

FCM, very interesting about the boat, care and feeding of. Never owned a boat in my life so have no clue.

Taters, plumb forgot about the use-or-lose leave planning for the final quarter of the year. Never planned it as well as you do/did, but I made sure to get all my days by the end. Hope you can find the cabinet you want.

Flyboy, so a little excitement in the neighborhood, eh? Are motorcycle gangs a thing around there, or just an odd happenstance?(and I see you pretty much answered that to boofae’s inquiry, so nevermind). And wish we had some of that rain, street-bouncing or no. As for the jury tale, :astonished_face:

Wolfie, I’m about 2 years by my calculations in being in the same place you are now; doubt it’ll make me a millionaire, but it’ll help keep old-geezer life pleasant.

boo fae, sloth away!

52, glad the blinds are up and you have a Sister and BIL that are 10’s in my book.

Oopsie, good on ya for taking care of you instead of boring yourself to death at a meeting you don’t really need to be at. And book nooks are cool. And dammit, I have to change my furnace filter too, I was happily forgetting all about it till you had to go and mention it! :smiley: Mine are 20" x 30" x 1" and only take a couple of minutes, but it’s still a hassle.

lily, keep reminding me about my vaccinations, like the furnace filter it’s something I will do, but only when I think about it, and I’m so absent-minded these days…

And it’s high noon here, so guess I’ll head over to the gym for a couple hours so the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese that will be the evening repast won’t induce too much guilt. Take care all.

32

Good (checks time) morning[1]! We were up at six to install Band Flags for Labor Day. We had a new (to us) route that took us all over the country roads. Then we headed over to the Twice Daily and grabbed some doughnuts and coffee.

We lounged for a bit, then I decided to make brownies. I ran to the Publix to get some chocolate, saw that they had Wise Potato Chips on BOGO, and accidentally bought four bags.

The brownies are currently cooling in the pan, so I decided to check the Dope and check in here while they cool.

Yeah - we’re going to have to go through that in a couple of years. I’m lobbying for New England or New York, some place a little more gender diversity friendly than Tennessee.

  1. Hey! It was morning when I started. ↩︎

33

Hermes: Labor Day? That phoney-baloney holiday crammed down our throats by fat-cat union gangsters?

Fry: That’s the one.

Hermes! Hot damn! A day off!

I just got back from grocery shopping, and snagged some organic chicken thighs on sale. We’ll have them done air-fryer style in the oven, plus a big crunchy salad made with romaine, cherry peppers, bleu cheese, and whatever other veg I have in the veg drawer that I need to use up. I got a loaf of Italian bread, too, so we’ll have that.

34

Most riders up here have Harley-Davidsons and Indians, with the younger crowd liking sportbikes. The Beach and Beach Cat often have motorcycles in front of them, and I’ve seen leather vests; but I’ve never gotten a ‘motorcycle gang’ vibe. Maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention. Violent crime is a rarity up here (though I can think of a couple of people who’ve been croaked).

ETA: We were in the catio just now. I thought I heard rolling thunder. It was just someone on the next street bringing in his bin. The Spousal Unit said she’d been fooled by the sounds. She said that she’d hear someone bringing in a bin, then actual thunder, then another bin… She said they sound the same.

35

Ten o’ clock, and already you all have more than 30 posts! Well done! :smiley:

It’s currently 56Ferrets with a forecast high of 74F. I have my doubts about that high coming to fruition. Very overcast and continued drizzle so far today. But we are in for a warming trend starting tomorrow with a few days of near or exceeding 80s.

I don’t really do the Holiday Flail these days and haven’t for years. I’m not a believer, so the Christian traditions are not personally meaningful except to the extent it may please other family members if I indulge their views. The end of the year is often a busy time for me workwise, so I don’t make travel plans then. Now that the Parentals live so far away, I don’t see them at holidays. I live too rural for anyone to come trick-or-treating, so that’s a non-event, too. No birthdays I celebrate in those months. For me, except for paying work, it’s a pretty quiet time. I’m fine with that. :slight_smile:

I’m glad things improved! Smart to take along your dried sage, though.

It’s surprising what we acclimate ourselves to for the love of pets. My last little guy, Lewis, was obsessed with foot-licking. He was a Very Good Dog so had bed privileges. It started because he was cold unless he was covered up. He wore hoodies, unlike Ollie, who tears them off in record time. Lewis’s night wasn’t complete until he’d done a thorough wash of my feet. I wasn’t a huge fan, but I got used to it.

Hippie, what a sad thing in your wife’s family. You’re wise to not get caught up in the drama of the schism. No good can ever come of that. I hope somehow they can sort it all out.

Glad you’re feeling better, Coppertone. Enjoy the cookout!

Your Labor Day dinner sounds very nice to me, swampy! Enjoy the RDOS slothing and the repast!

JtC, how could Hubs be so absent minded about the dessert? :wink: It does sound like you can get the recipe, at least. Enjoy the stitching, and well done to you for keeping up the TC and regaining your mobility!

taters, I’m with you on seeking out preassembly but also on a limit for how much that should cost. Glad you’re getting your own space, though! Hope the HOA meeting goes well.

Good grief, fly boy – that’s a lot of excitement for jury duty, and a little too close for comfort. My county has a crime-mapping website where the public can peruse what’s going on around them. I check it daily. There is scant information, usually a terse description such as, “Theft,” or “Animal at Large,” or “Suspicious Conditions.” Every now and then, there’s one that’s a real head scratcher or very disturbing, like, “Fraud,” or my all-time favorite: “Strangulation.” What are my neighbors up to??

@wolfpup, good for you for braving the downsizing/house sale trauma. I think about this a lot but have only worked my way up to taking on Stuff Reduction. My hope is to be ready to move when the day arrives without actually having to move yet. Good luck with it all – so stressful!

BooFae, I hope you can get the problem child sorted. If anyone can, it’s you. :slight_smile:

What a scary experience! I relate. I always considered Domestic Court to be the most dangerous of all assignments when working in a courtroom. Crim, they expect problems, so there are lots of bailiffs and custody personnel in the courtroom. But in Domestic Court, it was usually just one bailiff unless we were alerted to someone potentially being a problem. Our bailiffs were regular sheriff’s deputies who were rotated into Court Services as part of their assignments, but still. I could tell stories. < shudder > I rarely had to clerk Domestic Court, but we were all expected to do some of it when the regularly assigned clerks were on vacation.

52, congrats on getting the blinds hung! That’s a big deal and a good job to have out of the way. Your sis is amazing on the light fixture scores, too!

“Change the furnace filter” is on my to-do list as well, Oopsie. Has been for a couple of weeks. I just need to double-check the size before placing the order. It’s kind of a pain, so it’s still not done. Maybe today. :slight_smile: Enjoy your reading!

Lily, poor kittehs! I hope the thunder abates soon. Glad you’re getting vaxxed soon. So am I. I have appointments for both COVID and flu vaxxes starting later this week.

I hope you managed to corral Ms. Peach, VanGo! Dogs that don’t listen… don’t get me started!

Enjoy the brownies, Mollie!

Not really much to share about what’s going on around here today. Ollie is fine despite his encounter with… something… yesterday. He consumed his brekkie with gusto and we had a nice game of Boo, Ollie! Now he’s settled down to snooze.

I’ve got berries and sugar dissolving for jam I plan to make later on. Just a couple of pints will be plenty.

Puzzles are puzzed and berries continue to ripen but aren’t quite ready to pick. There’s plenty else to do around the house, so I’ll try to pick a few chores that need the most attention.

Breakfast shall be a repeat of yesterday. Dinner will be leftover steak, half a spud and an ear of corn.

Enjoy your days, all!

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Someone juat tried to change my browser. Fortunately, I don’t have a touch screen.

37

I might be able to live without bananas. Not sure about no bleu cheese, though. I do consider both to be worth worrying about. Because it’s a slippery slope.

Back to the topic. No Labor Day here, not even in May, because I’m in a Catholic canton. Next big vacation block is the fall break, which is from Saturday, September 26th, until Sunday, October 11th. Luzern celebrates their saint day on October 2, so the fall break always includes October 2nd. Not sure what they will do next year when it’s on a Saturday.

September 1st is when the Christmas cookies go on display at the grocery store. Now I have to keep an eye out for fresh cranberries - they are only in stock for a few weeks, and not at my normal store, and I don’t want to miss out. I’ll also be buying pumpkins for making fresh pumpkin pie and maybe some other baked pumpkin goods.

Due to your recommendation (from quite some time ago), I read all of the Chief Inspector Gamache series, and have enjoyed them. So I just pre-ordered Miss Wolcott’s Ghost. And I have a library hold on 6:20 Man - hope I like it too.

Bought a Snickerdoodle Twix at the foreign candy store. Should have just made Snickerdoodle cookies - must more satisfying. I’m sure I have a recipe somewhere. Looking forward to cooler temperatures which are more conducive to baking.

38

Evenin’

Went into irk today, due to my regular fortnightly meeting [1]. You may recall that some time ago, I mentioned that 3 people in the office had been put in a redundancy pool- two highly competent ones and one incompetent one who spent her time picking fights with everyone else but who was married to her boss.

Well, it was, as suspected, a plan to get rid of the incompetent one, which is good, but… apparently they dropped the news on her and gave her an hour to get all her stuff and leave the building.

They did it just before lunchtime, and the canteen is attached to the reception, so she had to carry all her stuff past the dining room with everyone else having lunch and watching.

I didn’t like her any more than anyone else, but jeez… That’s how you kick someone out for gross misconduct. Other people made redundant have had a bare minimum of a week to finish up and maybe have a goodbye party. She’d been there at least 10 years, I think 20.

For the fence from the last MMP- it would be a straight replacement for the fence put up when the houses were originally built, the original metal posts are still there and it’s only about 3 meters in a straight line- a surveyor would be (expensive) overkill for this one!

JtC, ever seen a bananana with seeds? The seeds are huge, there’s only a tiny scrap of banananana around them, there’s nothin’ to eat there. The lack of seeds is kinda inherent in getting an edible crop for that one.

It’s also not the case that there’s only one gene line for 'naners; the Cavendish, which are all identical, does account for almost all the internationally traded fruit, but there’s gazillions of other varieties. The reason we don’t grow different ones much is because the Cavendish has a nice thick protective skin for transport, ripens really predictably in storage if picked unripe and is a good heavy cropper, and that’s a rare combo. On the downside, it is susceptible to a fungus[2], which has recently appeared, spreads like crazy, kills plants and stays in the soil to kill any replacements planted. There are a bunch of other candidates we could use to replace the Cavendish which are resistant to this if it does get too bad, but pretty much all the other tasty 'naners don’t have seed either, they all need vegetative propagation, so it would take ages to bulk 'em up to anything like the scale we’d need.

Incidentally, the UK equivalent of the plant patent is a bit more fair IMO- breeders rights. It doesn’t prohibit propagating for your own use and you can use the plants in research and breeding programmes without needing their permission, which really limits the level of control, while still allowing breeding programmes to be financially viable.

  1. only one more meeting left now, panicpanicpanic ↩︎

  2. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical race 4 ↩︎

39

I saw some more pictures of the investigation into last night’s shooting. Definitely Bay Breeze. There were yellow evidence tents, highest number I saw was 10, in front of th entrance. We took a drive down the beach, and we could see where one of the glass balcony panels was missing.

40

In addition to coming back from the fenced in yard, Ms Peach found another escape hatch, since patched. But she did lead me on a chase for 2 hours. Totally messed up my plans for the day. Mowage shall not be achieved. I’m tired, she’s tired, and she’s lost off leash privileges for a while.