I’m in Portland, OR.
Funny you should say that - when I gave the presentation my boss remarked, “Wow, you just laid down the law. It’s like you ran out of f*cks to give.” Keep in mind that when I’m at work I’m known for being one of the nicest people ever. It takes a LOT to get me to appear angry in any way shape or form. Today was that day. Me giving presentations while exhausted and kept afloat only by coffee and irritation is apparently what works for me. 
I’m going to have to add that to my workplace best practices.
Oof, I hadn’t thought of mono. Of course, my head went the worst place possible: meningitis (even though she’s had her meningitis B vaccine). Mono is definitely more plausible and, given all the crap going around, if she doesn’t feel better tomorrow I might ask her pediatrician they do that!
I hope you had fun with the grands!
We have heat! Without replacing a large appliance which is even better! The HVAC guy disconnected the heat pump from the power for a minute and then got it going again. He thinks there is a bad circuit board but we all agreed that we didn’t want him doing more than he had to today and that he should come back tomorrow when it isn’t raining to finish the work.
The heat pump is outside and not under shelter. Electrocuting workmen before they finish the job is not recommended.
With the exception of the hobbies, you just described me perfectly. I can do technically perfect needlework, but I need someone else to pick out the colors for me.
I know puzzle people and they all have folding puzzle boards so they can clear their table when needed. A few of those boards are commercially made, most are homemade using cardboard and duct tape that seem to work equally as well.
I also have a lego question. I saw a tub of what I thought were lego pieces at a thrift store and bought them for not much money for my BFF’s lego loving grandson. BFF said they were great and that her grandson wouldn’t notice that they were counterfeit.
So my question is how expensive is the lego bug anyhow? How much profit is there to be made by counterfeiting them? Are there a lot of counterfeits out there or was my find unusual?
I have a giant puzzle board which slides under my bed. It has drawers and everything. Right now I’m working on this one. I make it extra hard on myself by not looking at the image while I’m trying to complete it. Sometimes I work in silence and sometimes I listen to podcasts. I make it a whole thing, with tea and candles.
I’ve been reading Catherine Price’s Substack, How To Feel Alive with Catherine Price. She writes a lot about wellness, and is the one behind the Break Up With Your Phone course I have been doing (and loving.) She keeps talking about the importance of playfulness, which is being lighthearted about your life and having more fun, I guess.
The thing is I’m so serious all the time. I’m not saying I have no sense of humor but I take my life so seriously. I don’t even know what it would be like to be more playful. (See? I’m even taking playfulness seriously!)
At any rate, I do need some unplugged time, so I think it’s off to the puzzles and podcasts.
Thank you. Portland is one of those “the odds are good but the goods are odd” places. Lotta quirky stuff everywhere. You just need to get to the place that quirky feels comfy, not off-putting.
One of my favorite cousins lived there from about age 18-30. Always a treat, albeit a quirky treat, to go there for work or to visit her.
You go!!! Nicely done. Coffee and adrenaline are what fights wars. It works in the office too.
Yaay! Looking forward to a fresh grands report.
Reboot the computer and it lives for another few weeks! 
BTDT.
Seriously, congrats on a major success, and before you had icicles hanging off your ceiling fans. I actually saw that during the Great Dallas Freeze a couple years ago.
Howdy Y’all! We procured provisions, et fried chikin N.O.L.s and slothed. Thus is the news from swampland.
MOOOOOOM that’s quite the tale of travel woes. Glad the grandkidlets liked their loot. The Tobester is lookin’ especially dashin’ in grandpa’s hat.
JtC yay for havin’ heat again!
Taters when I read about irkdays like that, I am just soooooo glad I am now retired and don’t have to do that, cause, BTDT more times than I could ever count.
I get sucked into ads that are listed as a 1BR studio, but, alas, they aren’t a studio apartment, but a studio suitable for songwriters, artists, etc.
My last apartment was about a mile from a dog food plant. When the wind blew from the east, the whole town smelled like Alpo.
I hope that your headache goes away soonest swampy.
Welcome home wet one!
Irked, came home, walked Nelson, et and did some more on the second two page layout of my cousin’s naval career. The first two are some of the more formal pages, portraits, commendations and class. The first page of this layout are pics of him working, the second of Wog Day. The last two pages will be of life since retirement (he’s active in a couple of vetrans organizations). It’s coming together nicely, if I do say so myself.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Evening all. Swimming has been swum and trash is out at the curb, so my major missions for the day are complete. Also ordered some eclipse glasses on Amazon so I guess I will commute somewhere near totality. Need to have some sustenance here in a bit, but not really too hungry. Got an e-mail off to Mr. Handyman for a couple repairs from the plumbing work and have a call tomorrow to set up a day for it. Also may have figured out how to download my November vacation pictures so that I can finally post some on the Book of Faces. But that is a chore for tomorrow. 55F right now and getting to 41F tonight, but still a February with no snow and little freezing, so that isn’t all bad.
Pilot, was at Cozumel in November and did the Tulum/Swim tour; rained most of the time we were at Tulum and it took more time to get us into the park than we had to tour it, but the ruins are quite interesting and the swimming was very nice. Sounds like a great time, will have to look into those last-minute things. Oh, glad you didn’t need a second facial…
Cookie, I went through about 5-6 airports in China a few years ago, the folks there just lined up and got on-board, not much fuss or bother; Europeans are much more like Americans in boarding (i.e., not all that good at it). IMHO of course. And lots of trips do not have issues, if you travel with the company they try to accommodate you.
Spicy, glad the day went well. As for the pedaling, I tend to do 30 minutes on one bike, then break, then 30 minutes on another one, break, and then finish up with 10-15 minutes before sauna and shower.
FCM, I am an over-packer too, hope Samsonite comes through.
talkie, glad overlygirl is doing better, but concur another day of being bored is advisable.
JtC, glad the repair was fairly easy, and I bet the repair guy has good vibes with you, I suspect more than a few customers insist that he fix stuff out in the storms.
Well, guess I will round up some food for the end of the day, then internettin’ and readin’ until bedtime. Take care all.
The good thing about this is that when the “nice” person gets angry, people take notice.
But the problem is, you can’t go to that well very often, otherwise you just go from being the nice one to the angry one.
I’m still slightly under the weather, but feeling much better. Just a light cough every now and then, minimal achiness, and the snot spigot is almost fully shut off. A couple more good night’s sleeps and I expect I’ll be 100%.
But Mrs W reported this morning that she has a sore throat. D’oh!
So I dreamed I was having to fight a herd of intelligent but hyper aggressive reindeer to escape their domain. Then I was walking with some drifter through my old neighborhood in Durhan, N.C., and picking up dog poop with hamburger buns [Sigmund Fraud] Zo, you zink you are having a shit sanvich for ze next 3 veeks?[/Sigmund Fraud]. Having a martini to deal with it.
Spot: < yeets wireless mouse off desk >
Me: < put mouse back on desk >
Spot: < right paw twitches > < left paw twitches > < looks me in eye > < re yeets mouse >
If you can do a piece of technical writing, and not end up on a Facebook group somewhere, that’s still impressive.
That’s why I buy cheap stuff. Tossing stuff feels liberating when I move.
ouch. Mine is less than $1500, even with fees. And I live in an expensive market in in N.C.
Yay!
Hope so.
Home again, and listening to Monkey sing me the Song of his People while clawing the damn curtains again.
Someone at work brought in homemade chicken chili their aunt had made, so dinner is sorted. (I assume. I haven’t actually tried it yet. But there’s at least two kinds of beans, I saw that.)
I have a fresh rat tank set up - it’s smaller than the one they’re in now, but oh well. Can’t have them chewing out again, so no more spacious roomy accommodations in plastic tubs for them!
I wanna move them soon, as the oldest bebehs are gonna open their eyes soon, and they’re a PITA to catch once they’re running around.
At some point, I really need to wash some dishes, now that the plumbers did their groovy thang. But UGH! I just donwanna!
The Jacksonville Florida Sheriff’s Dep’t HQ and the jail is adjacent to a Maxwell House coffee roasting / packing plant. Back when I was in IT they were one of my customers. It smells real nice first thing in the morning for about 10 minutes. After that, not so much. Maxwell House: Nasty to the last drop. 24/7/365. The nice folks from the Geneva Convention would have words with JSO if they had jurisdiction over city/county lock-ups. Which they don’t.
Yaay! Booh! I hated it when I traded colds / whatever with my wife.
I missed that part earlier if you mentioned it. Yaay!
Did they offer any thoughts on where the problem was? Out in the yard with the trees or inside the building with rotting plumbing or ??? Not your problem directly, but might give some insight into when & how you’ll next be inconvenienced.
As to me:
Had nice Greek lamb chops & a couple glasses of Pinot Noir. Should not have ordered the baklava cheesecake, but did successfully avoid eating at least some of it with my espresso. Pancreas now screaming.
Now at a nearby cigar bar enjoying a fine Dominican smoke and y’all’s virtual company. Gonna have a few more puffs then meander home to bed.
Tomorrow has a meeting at the dentist’s to pick up new bite guards and the afternoon is a meeting w my attorney to understand the exact next steps to make the (amicable so far) divorce occur. Oughta get some UV somewhere along the way and the car washed, and maybe whack some little balls into little holes in the grass. My moving logistics are 99% done. Now to just live it awhile.
Happy Toosday!
The ground was covered in frost this morning, but it’s warming up and the sun is shining.
I’ve been trying to get back into the routine of going to the park every morning. It is good for the pups, and for me. It’s usually only Petey dad and us, although B/H mom has been trying to go. I’m just as happy when she doesn’t, it’s quieter that way.
I’m slowly getting shit done around here, although both of us have been a bit lazy and it shows.
It doesn’t seem to matter how much I cross off the list, because for each thing crossed off, three more show up.
I was on the phone for over an hour with the census person yesterday. I wish I had known in advance what questions were going to be asked. I could have been prepared instead of having to look stuff up while I was on the phone. Next year I’ll know and can be prepared.
I’m very annoyed with the trash/recycling company. They have yet to pick up the recycling. I sent them an email and all they did was repeat the instructions at me. What day it goes out, yeah, I fucking know that already and yes, I am putting it out on the right day. And yes, it is out there by 6am. Yes, the lid is closed and nothing is hanging out. Yes, it is right in front of the house, next to the mailbox, with the address on it, in the same goddamn place I put the trash can which the trash people seem to have no problem finding.
They gave me credit for 2 of the 3 days they didn’t get it.
If they fuck up next week, I’m switching companies.
They are very lucky I am ignoring their insulting email and not telling them what I think of them now.
I had two issues with irk.
One finally got solved.
I had a customer who was stealing from the company. I’m not sure how they were getting away with it, they were getting new customer discounts even though they are not new. It puts me in a bad place because if I don’t turn them in, I can be fired for letting them get away with it. However, I don’t have the authority to shut them down. Finally, the company caught up with them and I don’t have to deal with it anymore.
At least this customer was smart enough not to brag about how they were doing it. I had a customer in the past who was stealing from the company and was oh so proud of herself for how she was doing it. She’s lucky she didn’t get jail time. Not for stealing from the company, but the fraud that was involved with it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Happy Wednesday!
Obviously, I didn’t finish yesterday, and I am falling asleep now.
I am behind by 70 posts, there is no catching up tonight.
Very cute! I stitch upside down and sideways, but that isn’t to challenge myself, it’s because I don’t want to rub threads or skin over completed work.
That’s what we thought too, LOL!!! Of course we want it fixed properly, but now we can wait until it is safer for the HVAC worker. I’ve been thinking I should put an awning over the unit, it gets direct sun for about an hour a day which isn’t helpful in the summer, now I’m sure.
I remember seeing pics of the Great Dallas Freeze, I felt so sorry for all of those folks with super expensive damage to their homes.
I’m always shocked when I hear people saying things like this. People are much more willing to go the extra step for someone who treats them nicely. Being nice is much easier than getting angry and yelling, plus it gets better results, I really do not understand why more people, Mumpers excluded, do not get this.
Well dang. For a while I thought maybe she got lucky. I hope she recovers as easily as you.
It is always good to know that you have a cat and not a furry space alien.
??? You’ve lived in your apartment for almost as long as I’ve been married, and we’ve moved four times in those years.
I’m glad you made it this far and happy that things seem to be moving along. Also happy that a work problem got resolved!
Another member of the WAD club. Weird ass dreams.
If the wind is right, Jacksonville gets a good whiff of the paper mill(s) in Brunswick, GA - I’d take the smell of coffee over that, and I don’t like coffee!!
The first 7 years of our marriage, we had 5 different addresses - one being our boat at the time. We made one pretty bad decision that led to 2 more moves. And as of the end of this coming July, we’ll be in this house for 20 years - the longest ether of us has had a single address.
Supper came from the Chaptico Deli - fried chickie, jo-jo potatoes, baked beans, cole slaw, and mac-n-cheese. I’ll feed the leftovers to the kids tomorrow since I’ll be picking them up and putting them to bed.
FCD wants to get up at 4 and hit the road. So I’ll be up at 4, but I may crash after they go. Or not - we’ll see. My big plan for tomorrow is restocking the fridge, but first, I’ll clean the shelves, since they’re just about empty. I need fresh produce and milk and bread and wet dog food and probably other stuff my brain can’t conjure up at the moment. Then I need to be at Roxy’s bus stop by 4, after which I’ll be getting Tobias.
I also need to look for the last of my tax documents on line so I can get started filing. I need interest statements from both credit unions, tho I doubt all 4 accounts combined didn’t earn over $10 last year. And I need my pension statement. We got the ones from Social Security and my annuity and our mortgage company. I’m pretty sure that’s all, tho we won’t be itemizing. We don’t have enough deductions, so the standard works for us.
But it’s now after 10 and I need my beauty sleep especially since the alarm will go off in less than 6 hours. Nighty-night!
Made me snort laugh out loud (startling the Siamese who jostled my coffee mug down my shirt this morning~ha!! turnabout is fair play)
Please don’t ever stop telling us these.
That sounds exhausting. I’m seriously getting the vapors just thinking about it, did you ever get fully unpacked and moved in before moving again?
Hubs was getting naggy about my pension statement which I had thought I had set up to be emailed so I didn’t have to fuck around with remembering my password. When I reluctantly went to their site, I was super happy to learn that my password hadn’t changed. I also learned that they reset the email option every year for reasons that aren’t as clear as they could be.
The big news tonight is that Tai Chi will probably be cancelled tomorrow. Currently TC friend only has two students on Thursday and NF lives up the mountain so might get enough weather tonight that she doesn’t want to risk driving in the morning. That is perfectly understandable, folks out here do not know how to drive when the magic water is falling from the sky so freak out if snow happens.
I will be taking VBC to the vet in the morning while Hubs waits for the HVAC guy to maybe come back, weather permitting, so I might not be home in time to change for class.
This will be twice in two weeks and I’m starting to feel it in a not so good way.
I’ve moved once in the last 24 years, but I was moving every 2 years or so before that.
Spot should be giving you these stories for at least another 15 year. 
