Turns out it’s seafood night at the buffet - lobster tail, clams, mussels, calamari stew, shrimp salad, yum yum yum! I did have some veggie matter, too. Carrot cake counts as a veggie, right? 
Our passports have stamps! First time ever when we’ve cruised!
That’s all for today. We’ll probably go to the show tonight. Maybe. Maybe not. We shall see.
Wow, I had a meeting with my new(ish) boss today that turned into two hours and a very delayed lunch. It was a good meeting about our donor database (which I am so excited to start using for grants), but she brought up that she’s having trouble motivating my coworker (who manages the database) about the new database changes. Kinda awkward because my coworker is my friend, but I also understand my boss’ frustration. She was just trying to get inside my coworker’s head through me, I guess, since we’ve worked together for 8+ years. I gave some suggestions like the three of us meeting together to talk about the changes so my coworker feels like she has a stake in the process.
I think for me - now committing to learning two new databases in the near future - I recognize that things are going to be difficult in the short term but in the long run everything’s going to run so much more efficiently. Whereas my coworker’s attitude is more like, “Why are you giving me more to do?”
I don’t really know how to change that. I guess I should let it be my boss’ problem. I think my boss was just happy to have me as a kindred spirit/employee who is pumped about databases and eager to make these very needed changes.
My mother was not so loving, and even when she meant well, she often downplayed my accomplishments because she wanted me to fit in (I didn’t, anyway.) I got a lot of lectures about seeming like a know-it-all, because she was embarrassed any time she thought someone might possibly think we were snobs. I once told her that kids were making fun of me for raising my hand in class, and her response was, “Then stop raising your hand in class.”
My husband says, “She taught you to mask your intelligence. To try to be someone you were not.”
Well as I said, it didn’t do me any favors, I was a freaking weird kid, I couldn’t mask myself, and I was getting made fun of either way.
It’s hard for me break out of that mentality with my own kid. My husband wants to shout our son’s accomplishments far and wide, I worry about how people will perceive us, and him.
So with all that percolating, your post made me think about the kind of messaging I might be sending to my son. So much so, that when the bus driver dropped off my son, he excitedly told me that my son counted to four (this happens a lot, I don’t know if it’s that people expect disabled kids to be learning impaired, or what, but they are often surprised he knows age-appropriate things.) I said, “Do you know how smart this kid is?” And I told him.
And I think my son noticed, because he seemed very happy. And for a little while, I felt pretty good about it. I’m a work in progress.
(He was not nearly as excited about the magnet cubes as I had hoped. He lost interest once he realized he couldn’t stick a whole cube to the side of the dishwasher. But I personally can’t stop playing with them, and will probably keep them. They are a great fidgety thing.)
I have a bunch of years volunteering at different things. Somehow I always ended up in charge, or at least very much on the critical path for all the Important Stuff. Eventually each of them turns into an unrewarding job. Or at least a job where the rewards are insufficient for labor expended, plus the opportunity cost of all the other things undone while you let the organization set their priorities ahead of your own.
Said another way, there is a time to get in and a time to get back out. I think your subconscious knows the answer and your conscious is beginning to catch on.
There is no dishonor in moving on. There’s dishonor in never having done anything for anyone. That’s not you and that’s not your history. Go forth into a better place with your head held high, proud of what good you have done.
As to me, it’s well after dark, I’m sitting next to a jacuzzi and alternating stewing there and typing here.
The afternoon stayed densely gray with thick cloud, which was actually handy for my solar-damaged skin. Went jet-skiing in the bay for awhile; I was concerned the lack of sun would make it a bit too cool what with the spray and all, but modern jet-skis keep you pretty dry unless you dump the thing. Which I avoided despite a few pretty good attempts. So plenty warm & comfy.
Then some beach, some random yaks and drinks, some sport-shopping (not buying), and as the clouds cleared out in late afternoon, a lovely goat curry dinner beachside while yakking with an interesting lady from Nigeria who now lives in … Miami. Eventually we went our separate ways and now the jacuzzi is helping with the wind-down from a day.
There’s a bottle of Bordeaux in the room and I’ll wander back there in a bit to have some.
We went to the show. They had a guest soprano join the ship’s cast. I swear, I thought she was there for comic relief. Think of any singer who made fun of opera divas, and you’ll get the idea. She was awful!
And now, 6000 miles from home, we helped SIL install a jewelry rack for Daughter. How cool is technology?
Time for some pre-sleep TV.
And good afternoon/evening all (it’s 6pm, as I type this, so bordering on both). Swimming has been completed (did my mile) and it’s still above 60F here, so all-in-all a good day. Had a mid-day meal of ham-n-cheese so the Big Bowl of Sallit will be a bit later tonight. May have to start eating more, according to the sites I’ve googled, the usual caloric intake for someone my age and size should be around 2400-2500 calories/day and I have been below that except for 2 days in the last two weeks, and that’s before the 400-700 calories a day I burn from the gym. I want to continue to lose weight, but I worry that I may be hurting myself watching the calories to closely. Maybe a trip to Whataburger tomorrow…
Dadgum, 30 messages since this morning…Ok, wading in…
Pilot. cool pictures. Haven’t been in the Caribbean in quite awhile, maybe look into it this summer.
Spicy, had to grin when it turned out you liked Lil’ Spice’s gift more than he did…but give it time, something may occur to him that will employ the gift…maybe not for what it was designed for, but still something he can do with it…
And help if you can with boss and co-worker, but be careful you don’t end up between them…like Scylla and Charybdis.
We call LA “Lower Alabama” around here.
Wheelie, glad you enjoyed the show. Lost Wages is another place I haven’t been too in many years, might have to put it on the list…
Feel better soon, nellie.
FCM, Shackleton’s adventure was covered on my Antarctic trip too, but we didn’t get to see the movie you did. And if you want Pizza, I expect you can find it on-board. ETA: I see you were a successful forager…
Oopsie, might be time for a change; I’ve worked with youth soccer for many years, but always have a 2-3 month break between seasons and don’t take on too many volunteer jobs beyond coaching and refereeing. You know you better than anyone.
And I’ll occasionally post outside the MMP, but usually no more than once or twice in a thread and I try to avoid long-lasting arguments that some Dopers seem to thrive on.
Coppertone, happy shopping. Had to go cold-turkey on buying Potato Chips a few years ago, now they have those boxes with 15-20 little bags of Lays to tempt me (“but it’s only 160 calories per bag!”). Usually I wait for Super Bowl Sunday and then buy a big Family-Size bag and eat it all during the game for my one ‘I don’t give a s*** about healthy eating’ moment.
IL, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a full, total eclipse, so the 3-4 hour drive will be worth it for me. That you are getting to see your kids is the big thing, as it should be.
OK, need to get the greens out and add tomatoes, croutons and Ranch dressing for dinner. First I’ll head out and check to see it any mail came (and if any of it is useful). Have a good night all.
May God have mercy on my soul
But having catfish with red beans and rice for dinner, and a Caipirinha for cocktails.
Honoring the late Gordie’s uh…special friend?
The checkerboard on the Gate Gourmet truck still gets me.
MetalMouse - there is a pizza stand by one of the pools. But lobster won out over pizza. Yum!
Read all, love y’all, don’t have the brain capacity to reply. I’m going through some crap.
Hope you are all doing as well as you can.
I’ve been through 2 total eclipses that I remember. One in grad school where everyone went out with welding shields to watch, the other we all just watched the cool shapes of the shadows from trees. I think I’m on the edge of the next one. Won’t be nearly a fun as a cookout in July up here come, what is it April? Never done an eclipse when it was chilly.
ETA. doggio Really, Malort? That stuff is nasty.
Second ETA. I temporarily forgot you were from the Malort region of the country. But still…
This. So much this. Malört is not for the faint of heart or tongue.
Howdy Y’all! It has been a day of high sloth as predicted. I did put in the effort to walk all the way down to the road and back to get the mail. Nappage was needed after that arduous task! The need for gin and olives was strong so we had martinis whilst sittin’ on the back porch on a nice mild mid 60s Winter’s day. Majik intartoobz pizza and sallit were consumed.
BooFae sorry you have the sickies. Feel better soonest.
Spicey I sorta do the 1-2-3 thing, except I say UP! UP! UP! then get up. Yay for givin’ son his magnet cubes. I imagine he is one happy fella right now.
WetOne enjoy your visit to the Pubic Sto’.
Rocker the local turtle says early Spring. Thus it is only six weeks until Spring as opposed to another six weeks of Winter.
MetalMouse might the itchy/scratchy have to do with the detergent you’re usin’? I had to switch laundry detergent a few years back cause all of a sudden all my clothes made me itchy/scratchy. That did the trick.
Nellie hope you’re feelin’ better soonest, as well.
Oopsie it’s the only way to Netflix and chill. I am grateful for odor neutralizers. I understand about the volunteer stuff. You’ve always enjoyed your music, so you should do what makes you happy.
IME/IMO/YMMV: While you’re exercising vigorously as you are, then … As long as you have the energy to exercise your accustomed program you are not under-provisioning necessary calories. If you were couch potato-ing instead, then under-eating will trigger the starvation reaction. Not so if you’re active.
If you find yourself faint or shaking after exercise, or starting to develop a habit of donwannas about exercise, that would be a sign of inadequate calories.
Separately, insofar as possible, replace crap calories (whataburger) with solid real-food calories. I get that a “treat” is a wonderful thing for the psyche. So is the treat of being less heavy with useless fat and more strong with lean muscle mass.
IMO you are kickin’ the exercise program out of the park. While I am utterly failing in that department. Conversely you diet consists of many “cheats” that overwhelm a lot of your good days while I’m able to be more orthodox lots of the time and have the results to prove it.
Between the two of us we could create one paragon of lean healthy virtue and one typical Lipo-American. 
Feel better soonest nellie!
I hope that things improve for you VanGo.
The apartment is cleaneded up, laundry done and groceries bought. Nelson had a good time at the dog park and y’all gave me a hankerin’ for pizza for supper. I had a couple of pizza crusts in the freezer, so’s I sauced one up, put some onion, mushrooms, bell peppers, chorizo and taco cheese on it and had a Mexican pizza and salad for supper. Now, I’s sleepy.
If he just had a joint replacement, he REALLY needs to get up and moving. If he doesn’t his new joint will never work well. Not to mention that at our age, we really are in a “use it or lose it” place. If we don’t move, we won’t be able to move.
nellie, I’m sorry that doggie has gone to the Bridge, but I’m sure she had a great life. Dang about skinflints that shut down programs like that because they aren’t getting instant tangible results.
That is very interesting, thanks for sharing it with us!
Yeah, the paperwork and doctor “interview” are enough bother to be memorial, but I didn’t get a physical card when I got mine, I only got a PDF emailed to me.
I’m so sorry. I’d kick you out of the club if I could. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I mad think “I don’t care if he lives or dies” and then I realize how much I would miss him and start to feel guilty for thinking that way.
That says sooooo much.
Do you have someone checking the retention schedule for the files before doing anything else? The files probably need to be weeded which would save a lot of time and work hours in the long run, despite the delays that starting now would cause.
Dang it! I sure hope you start feeling better soon.
Thanks for the compliment, but it wasn’t that cool. I’m a pothead and had to go into government work because I couldn’t pass a pee test. Back then, you had to take a pee test for most food service and retail work, so I started working in the library tech services department.
I got paid to sort and handle books all day, plus I could unpack the new books and put my name on the ones I wanted. It was one of my favorite jobs.
When we moved to AZ, I did a few temp federal jobs and then got a job at the VA hospital library and then got tired of working a public facing job, so went into records management for the county.
The main difference between an archivist and a librarian is that librarians want things to be in ABC order. Archivists don’t care about the order as long as the thing can be found, hence my love of being a cataloging librarian 
He used to be able to move things around in the fridge a little, but now he just sees what is in front. I actually make it a point to move things to the front daily so he will see and eat them.
If that fails, he will eat cheese, salami and nuts or go to the junction and get something. He can still drive but he has slowed down to just over the speed limit, which is a good thing.
TC friends responsibility will be to be sure he hasn’t fallen off the mobility ramp again and to move things around in the fridge and freezer.
SISTER!!! If I bought someone the perfect gift, it was torture waiting until the opening. I still am, if Hubs buys the cats a special treat for Christmas or their Gotcha Day, I always want to give the cats their treats right away. Cats and young children don’t care when they get their gift as long as it is right now!
Oh no, that’s great. If you get an unpaid half hour, you get to take a half an hour instead of bolting your food in three minutes and getting right back to work.
There are a whole bunch of things to see in your neck of the woods. I will make sure to see P&T in the next year, they are both very talented people who work together so well.
Check online, many out of date tests aren’t really out of date.
I hope you feel better soon.
That is so wonderful. Keep that memory close to your heart.
Many years ago, a friend left my home and got killed in a traffic accident less than a mile away. I was so sad that our last words hadn’t been as kind as they could have been, we were arguing about something so minor and petty that I can’t remember what it was anymore. I have always felt badly that our last words couldn’t have been nicer, so now I always make sure that the last words any of my loved ones hears from me as we part are kind and loving words.
(men might not want to read the blurred part)
Did you know that people who are doing research on penile disfunctions just love road-kill armadillos? They jump when startled which puts their heads at bumper height so they are killed right away but usually not damaged much down below. Half of them are males so they have a great source of fresh penises every morning.
Oh yum! I wouldn’t have had room left for cake!
Of course he did and yes he will remember. He won’t remember the words, but he will remember that you think he’s smart.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To prove to the armadillo it can be done!
She’s gone, I better learn how to face it, she’s gone …
I watched Esmerelda ride off into the sunset on the back of a Carvana truck today, and despite my preamble, I feel really great. I love starting new things. Being a straight up city mouse means I’ve put down an anchor - not roots, but an anchor - so I can see what kind of go I can make of it here. In the next few months I hope to score a new apartment and a new job and, now that I’ve got more money in the bank, I can do it without excess financial worry. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I don’t like dealing with money. I don’t live my life chasing it and I don’t fret over it. I do what I have to do to live the way I live. I wouldn’t throw away a winning lottery ticket but it’s just never my primary motivating factor.
I gush this all out for posterity. My mother is in a state. She sent me a text saying she was sad for me because she knows I loved that car. I tried to explain that I wasn’t sad at all and that I’m looking forward to this next year with great positivity, but I don’t think she believed me. I’ll just have to show her I suppose.
Well, much like a rabid chupacabra or a signed copy of the Necronomicon, you have to acquire it, even if you know it will bite you after.
Stop worrying your mother! But yes, you will just need to show her, probably like you always have. Good luck with the apartment and job search, I hope it goes well.
So, VBC is a smart kitty. She knows that when I call her from the laundry room and yell Towels, that means that I will be getting warm towels out of the dryer and she meets me in the bedroom so she can get them while they are hot.
I just realized that she also knows that they get squeezy crack after GG gets a manicure. GG just ran over hub’s bare foot and blood happened. After the wound and clean up was completed, GG got a mani-pedi. VBC saw what was going on and waited at her bowl for her share of the good stuff.
Last night we got almost two inches of rain, it was wonderful. We got more rain today but I haven’t checked the rain gauge because it is a glass tube that I have to walk across the muddy yard to read. Not being in the mood for muddy boots today, my gauge remains unchecked but folks have posted their gauge results on Nextdoor. It sounds like we got another half an inch today which is lovely. It would be great if we got more rain tonight, but I’m seeing stars so I think that was probably all of the magical sky water for the week.
I mailed some chewy dinner rolls to Mom on Monday and they arrived today. The crusts were still hard and the insides were still soft so hurray for that. I forgot who my audience was, Mom took them with her to share at lunch and most of her tablemates couldn’t eat them. I’ll make a batch of Russian tea cakes on Sunday and send them off Monday so hopefully I will be win back their affections when they arrive.
I’m going to bed and hope to post more tomorrow but wanted to share this link with shoe and other rat lovers. They’re adorable!
That’s the thing: it DID get instant, tangible results. The kids in the program quit skipping school, were happier and better-behaved. They loved the dogs, and they were able to see that their work made a difference. For many of them, it was their first experience with altruism.
Admins often don’t have a rational reason for what they do. That’s how they get to be administrators.
More tomorrow when I hopefully won’t feel like crud.
Up, caffeinared, and sheveled. Off to heave. It’s my Firday!