(Old) I resolve to start the new MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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New Year’s Eve here.

SenGirl finished her snowboarding instructor training yesterday. As she’s not that experienced, more intermediate than advanced, we assumed it would be a challenge and help her get ready for next year. There were three other “students” in her class. Two of the three are already working as snowboarding and skiing instructors and the third is “only” a ski instructor. All three are 8 to 10 years older than her and have years of experience. Apparently, the places they work just want the certification. SenGirl is only on her third year of snowboarding, and she never took formal lessons.

There are two parts, the teaching part and the riding skill part. As expected, she didn’t pass the riding part.

BUT!! She passed the teaching part! And she has two years to practice and take the riding skills test again. They charge for it, but only 1/3 of the cost of the course.

Oh, and the course, instructions and testing are all in English, her third language, after Chinese and Japanese.

We are taking a short trip up Otaru with my sister-in-law. Three days.

Tonight we will welcome in the new year at the local shrine. It will be cold but fun.

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Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave. I need to buy cat food after work, or spot will be stabby-er than normal.

Looks good!

Impressive, especially since there are people here who can’t speak their first language.

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 30 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 53 and sunny. As I mentioned in my previous post, to day will be a day of prep for the NYD feast tomorrow. We shall be bears of domesticity. Have no fear, however. We will manage to squeeze in some RDOS inactivities. When OYKW gets the cheesecake in the oven, I’ll start with the other foods. Collard greens will get cooked as they are best cooked the day before and allowed to mellow overnight, IMO. In addition the beastloaves and mac ‘n cheese will get made, but not cooked, and the blackeye peas will get soaked. I like to put the peas in the slow cooker along with some ham for about three hours. That part will be done tomorrow. Sup will be the Lily inspired waffles and bacon. Lookin’ forward to that.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into domesticity! Rah.

Happy Wednesday and New Year’s Eve Y’all! Happy New Year to everyone in places where it already is the new year!

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She did need some help on understanding the textbook, but she did well. They gave a lot of the questions in advance and she wrote our answers and memorized them.

When I complimented her on passing the test, she said she worked hard because she had paid for the (expensive) course with her own money from her part time job so she wasn’t going to waste it.

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@JaneDoe42

Your needle work is exquisite

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It is. It still comes out monthly, and still does the annoying thing of separating the stories…continued on page 98.

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Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 2c/35f with a predicted high of 3c/36f and partly cloudy. Weather app says “Go ahead, fucking step outside. Prepare for the cold to punch you in the fucking ding ding.”

I am sure you’ll have no problem finding the perfect companions. I’m glad to see that you aren’t immediately discounting black cats, they’re so often overlooked at the shelters. We had Blossom (black) and Cherry (tuxedo) when they were around 2yrs old, originally as emergency fosters, but we couldn’t part with them so they have become permanent residents :slight_smile:

Sorry to hear Murphy’s on overtime at your place, I hope he quits soon!

Perhaps she thought it would cheer you up a bit? I’m sorry that you’re feeling blue too, I hope it goes away.

And beautiful it is, too!

Congratulations to SenGirl! You must be very proud of her :slight_smile: What a lovely end to the year for her.

Nothing much exciting going on around here today. I got up a bit later than usual, fed the cats and cleaned litter trays, then had a couple of cups of tea and some breakfast. Went to the gym to do some weights, and then burned almost 670 cals on the pushme-pullyou. The gym shuts at 2pm today so I needed to make sure I got there in good time. I’m back home, ‘im indoors has just left for his gym (they’re open until 4pm) so I have a bit of peace and quiet.

I’m going to get cleaned up, feed the cats again, have some lunch and then have a slothful afternoon with a book. Chilli for dinner tonight and probably a film or two. We’ll pause it at midnight for the bells, and resume again afterwards. No doubt there will be fireworks all night and the cats will not be pleased.

We used to have a lot of people living in our area from various parts of Europe (sadly brexit sent a lot of them home again), thus there were fireworks almost hourly and we joked that we could tell who was living here because the fireworks went off when it would be midnight in their home countries. I almost miss those days.

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Starting the day in the mid-20s, creeping up to maybe 40 today with sun. I’m going to take the kids to the nearby middle school so they can try out their dinosaur rocket launcher toy. Near as I can figure, the launcher is an air-filled thing that you stomp on and it forces the “rockets” into the air. We’ll set up in the empty parking lot and I’ll hope that the rockets don’t travel too far.

FCD is heading back to the boat to sand and mask more windows - he re-counted - there are 19, not 15. I’m gonna be busy this weekend.

SIL just texted - the kids want breakfast here. Not sure why - I don’t feed them anything special, but whatevs. I’ll just savor my last few minutes of quiet.

Interesting - Daughter and SIL have 2 black cats - sisters. They’re really pretty, and one in particular wants AAAAALL your attention. I admit I’m partial to gray cats, but not to the exclusion of all others. I just like cats.

We’ll likely have our usual NYE here, with me in bed before 11 and asleep before midnight. FCD tends to stay up later most of the time just because. If there are any booms around here, they’ll be muffled, thanks to our windows and drapes. It’s been decades since we partied, for certain values of party. Guess we’re just essentially anti-social. :stuck_out_tongue:

Still, happy last day of 2025!!!

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(((Flyboy)))

Nice work, JtC!

MusicMan’s place of business has established the stupid rule. It wasn’t the manager that was making it up. He’s handling it much better than I would. If it was up to me, I would be showing up with my proverbial bazooka to discuss why he is getting punished for being sick.

Today continues my snottage. I’ve already had one nap and expect 1 or 2 more. Annie does not like my coughing as it disrupts her slumber as she’s on my lap.

Good news for the day: I’ve made it to 90 lbs lost with 60 more to go!

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…bouts of the 'rona.

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The American Kennel Club has added 3 breeds to their recognized list. The one I can remember is the Teddy Roosevelt Terrier.

Right now, it’s 28 degrees F, rising later to 31, with snow at about 2:00 pm. Sounds delightful! I’ve got an allergy shot scheduled today. Mrs. Nott is going to call to see if I can get jabbed earlier in the day, so we won’t be driving home from Mishawaka in a snowstorm.

This is New Year’s Eve day, so there will be sloshed people out there slogging through the slush.

Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire listed 56 people. All but 3 of them are now dead. Were all of them alive when the song was released?

Doggio, I’m trying to imagine the hazmat drill for a huge cask of hot sauce. “A massive spill of WHAT?!!”

That’s lovely work, JtC! I looked up oort jar, where I found your definition along with stuff about Jan Oort, an astronomer.

Hey! Let’s be careful out there!

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Good morning.

It’s 27°F and a bit foggy. Today’s expected high is 45°F, with partly sunny skies during the afternoon. Clouds return around 5:00 p.m.

Flyboy, I’m sorry you’re so blue. I most definitely understand why—sending you hugs.

VanGo, I hope Murphy quit yesterday afternoon so he won’t be there today.

Beautiful work, JtC!

I spent yesterday working on prime rib soup. It turned out delicious, as always. Screw-top containers arrive today so that I can set some of the stock aside for my son.

I should get out and about today, but I just haven’t felt much like going anywhere. I’m definitely in some slump, and I need to get out of it.

We don’t go out for New Year’s Eve and haven’t done so for years and years. I’m generally not a fan of crowds or noise.

I expect the usual idiots will be letting off fireworks tonight, which means Maisie will be freaked out for hours. I have meds ready. I probably wouldn’t mind so much, but these people let off fireworks for every football and baseball game. If we still had the Sonics here, I’m sure fireworks would be going for them, too. :roll_eyes:

Alright, I guess that’s it for now. The second cup of coffee is almost done, and I need to finish tidying the kitchen. Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and the hope that the upcoming years bring health, happiness, and prosperity.

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49F degrees here just south of San Jose. We went out to a Korean joint yesterday for some much-anticipated hot tofu soup, which is an awesome dish to have when the weather is brisk.

But the restaurant which has served a great version for years and years has fallen off in quality. Korean food should be robustly flavored, and we found the food bland and so-so. We now have to look for a new Korean place, which shouldn’t be hard as Santa Clara is known as Little Korea.

It’ll probably get noisy here at midnight, but I’ll keep my windows shut tonight and hopefully I’ll sleep through it. I’ve never been a night person, so I’ve very rarely stayed up until midnight on NYE.

Well, I have to bag up and freeze some meats I bought yesterday, and start breakfast prep (Japanese sausages and eggs), and plan lunch (spaghetti with tuna tomato sauce). Rain is forecasted to start any minute now so staying inside and cooking sounds like a good plan.

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jtc, how glorious!
i like the ort jar. i would do “ort ornaments”. if i was giving away the item for christmas i would put the orts in a clear ornament to go with the item. other wise i would put the orts for the year in an ornament for me to hang. i have quite a few "ort ornaments.

thank you for the curling info, northern piper, very interesting.

happy new year, tokyobayer!

half day in the office today. i forgot my keycard this morning. the building people finally found a way to get me into the suite. of course, all the things i had planned to do today, i can’t because i need my keycard to access those areas…luckily there is always something. supply order just arrived, i get to sort that. 2 people in the office today.

they have the pedestrian barriers up for the event tonight. i find those really annoying. I understand they want to have security and having restricted access, i just want to get in and out of where i live easily. le sigh.

i will go to a restaurant for salmon before going home today.

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Morning all. Celebrated the last day of 2025 by sleeping through the first 1/3 of it, getting up a little past 8am. Will shortly go to the bank then shopping at Kroger trying to collect the last 49 points I need to get $1.60/gallon off my fill-up, instead of $1.50 (they do have me well-trained, don’t they?). Then a little gym time (boo fae, I have until 4pm to get my sweating in, will try to do as well as you in the burned calories area). Otherwise it is a tossup if I make it to Midnight or not, we’ll see how I’m doing. 33F going up to 51F and a dry day is forecast.

Sensei, my congrats to Sen-Girl, bet she passes the skills portion next time. Enjoy the visit.

Happy Cooking Day, swampy

VanGo, thanks for the tip. Haven’t subscribed to a magazine in quite a few years, but maybe…

Happy Launching, FCM. I have a T-shirt that says “There is a reason for everything, and that reason is usually Physics”. So the kids start learning that lesson.

Well, Starkweather (mass murderer) died in 1959 and Marilyn Monroe in 1962, so at least a few didn’t make it.

Taters, hooray for the soup working out so well.

rocky, signs of getting older; I walk out to my car at least twice a week and realize I don’t have my keys.

And to everyone a Happy New Years Eve.

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Yes, lovely work, jtc. I admire people who can produce beauty with their hands like that.

Best wishes for the New Year, all. If you’re driving this evening, be careful!

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Afternoon.

I don’t have the patience to do stuff like that JTC, while I enjoy crafts, all of my stuff is free-form; I’ve never been great at following instructions…

I dragged myself out for walkies in the hills for a bit, as I haven’t in a while and it’s sunny. The frost didn’t melt in the shade all day, but it was nice in the sun. It’s supposed to be like that for the rest of the week, so I should get more of the outdoor jobs done. I still need to shred a load of twigs, but maybe tomorrow is not the best day for that…

I got the location of the electrics today- that’s all fine, nothing under the side garden where the work is planned. Unfortunately, the water doesn’t seem to have any sensible option to find the pipes, and I’m pretty certain the water does cross the site, cos there’s a labelled hatch thingy, but I don’t know where the pipes go from there. It’s very unlikely to be exactly where I want the fenceposts to be, it probably crosses somewhere in the middle, which is OK… Probably.

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News flash: MusicMan’s old manager who is training the new manager has declared that no points will be given. Hooray!

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Sanity prevails. Yay!

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I’m guessing that evacuation may have been involved. When I worked in inventory in a restaurant supply outfit, one of the guys dropped a pallet of garlic oil from the fourth space up (~25 feet up), we had to evacuate until the fire department cleared us for occupation again.

Yay sticky!

Waiting for Sis to get back from the grocery store so’s we can take a few things to my apartment.