(Old) Trip Planning in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Ya’ll have some amazing sounding trips planned. We’re goin’ to Boulder in March to visit colleges. I’m looking forward to it, but not the 12-hour drive. Oh, well - at least it’s not India, and we can get out & walk around.

Speaking of trips, our day trip to Uranus, MO was successful. We stopped, had lunch, then went for a hike in a park nearby, had fudge for dessert and drove back. It was an odyssey that took all day, but the kids seemed to have fun. Overlygirl was wiped out since I let her have friends sleep over the night before.

We watched a bit of the game as well - I’ve never been into football, though I’m into the snacks. My husband spent most of the end of the game asking me questions about football. He’s from India, but you’d think that after having lived here for nearly 30 years he’d have absorbed something. Then again, I’ve lived here most of my life and have yet to absorb anything other than what a touchdown is.

Bleh, back to work. I was told last week that I’m leading a workstream, which sounds important but isn’t. I was told while someone else was having the kickoff meeting and promptly handed the whole thing over to me midsentence, while I was in the process of figuring out why I was on the call to begin with. I think I faked it well enough, but now I need to actually figure out what I’m doing. I haven’t had enough coffee for this.

22

It’s a coffee morning because I got too little sleep. Almost time to pick up Ms. Dog and take her for walk #1.

For a second there, I thought you paid for a suite with speed.

BooFae, I hope Italian beef sandwiches are on your Must Eat list! Yuuummm.

Same. I also woke at 3 a.m., just in case.

I watched it on youtube. Definitely agree.

I like his music OK, though I prefer nelly (and not for the name). I spent my days with teen-agers, so I forget that other people my age naturally aren’t familiar with Slim Shady or One Direction. And any youngster reading this would be rolling her eyes because those acts are OLD. One Direction broke up eight years ago. Since retiring, I’m no longer hep to the platters, daddy-o.

23

My baseball buddy and I recently hashed out our annual trip. This year will include Chicago, St. Louis, and points in between. That’ll be in late June.
Mrs W and I are talking about going somewhere in the fall, but no idea where yet.

FCM, hope you feel better soonest. It’s always something, innit?

Pilot, sounds like you’re enjoying your cruise. That pajama party would probably have me feeling like the dirty old man sitting alone in the corner. Good on you for jumping into the festivities.

I actually did watch the Superb Owl yesterday, and was actually interested in the game. Started following the 49ers when we moved to SF in 2013, and I like them. Great game but I didn’t like the outcome. Our defense couldn’t finish the job in the end. Mahomes and Kelce are the new Brady and Gronkowski, and I hate those guys.
Usher’s music doesn’t do anything for me, but I enjoyed the production. The commercials were mostly meh.

No baby news yet. I was hoping she’d be born yesterday, as it was Dad’s birthday (the baby’s great-grandfather). Sadly, he never got to meet any of his great-grands. That’s the way of things, I guess.

24

“Shop like a billionaire - assuming billionaires buy cheap crap from China.”

I kinda sorta dozed a bit, but tonight, I’m sleeping with Mel. I have a mammogram at 7:30 tomorrow and I already set my alarm for 6:30. Then at 9, we have a guy from LeafGuard coming to give us an estimate. On Wednesday at 9, it’s a guy from LeafFilter. Are there any other options for keeping our gutters clear? Or companies to avoid?

Our gutter cleaning guy went out of business and before we look for a replacement, we’re considering options. Homeownership - rah.

25

My trip plans are more local than others, Dallas in April, Boise in July and Seattle in October.

I heard the game come on at one point during the day, but then the Diablo download finished and I handed my tower over to hubs. He promptly shut the TV off and started doing gamer stuff that didn’t include cursing at his avatar.

VBC’s nose drops are becoming an issue. She doesn’t like them and the struggle is getting much worse. I can hear a big difference in her breathing with the drops so discontinuing them is not going to happen. Hubs has never been able to hold onto a struggling cat, he used to be too worried about hurting them and now his hands are too weak. Usually I hold and he medicates, but now his hands shake so badly that he misses as often as he hits.

I’ve messaged a couple of professional pet sitters in the area, hopefully I’ll be able to find someone to come over once a day and give me a hand.

26

And it’s afternoon (barely) here in a very rainy N. Ali-bama. The repair work is done and I have parted with some cash (via check–still remember how to write one of those) and then done my shopping and sammich part of the day. Another hour or so and I’ll head to the gym for my swimming and weight-in…depending just how many calories last night’s Chip-fest cost me, I may finally get below 230lbs. My goal is to get to 220lbs and try to stabilize there. Eating apples now instead of bananas for the fiber and because they last longer but they do cost more.

On the trip front, my travel arranging friend is looking at a cruise from England in 2025 that goes up to Scotland and Norway, and I’ve expressed my interest in that. Still thinking about this year, however.

Not a fan of Usher or most modern artists, but I respect what they do and from what I hear he did put on a great show.

wet one, that Lexington trip(s) sound great.

FCM, hope you get feeling better and cease the purging.

doggio, all I know about Wilmington is there is a big honkin’ Battleship there which, if you have time, is worth a visit.

talkie, glad your visit to Uranus went well. And for your husband, I advise this little bit of You Tubery for his football knowledge… :grinning: :wink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8j2sAJjGrI

Wheelie, Looks like a good baseball plan. Haven’t been in the new St. Louis stadium, I hear it’s quite nice.

JtC, hope the nose drops work before the last straw (yours or VBC’s) is reached.

Alrighty, need to start getting ready for the 1 mile per hour backstroke (which takes about 90 minutes counting whirlpool time. Take care and stay dry all.

27

I forgot it was Monday - I posted this in the previous MMP, but it’s too good not to re-post in full.

…
…
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I spoke in a previous MMP that I had received the recent scam phone call where someone on the other end says they’re with Border Control or something, where they say they’ve intercepted a suspicious package in your name and yada yada yada … I’ve never got to the end of it so I don’t know exactly what they try to scam out of people.

I’ve gotten it twice before. The first time I just hung up. The second time I engaged the guy in conversation for a minute but he wasn’t biting so I hung up. Today, oh how I wish I had gotten it on video. That was my plan the next time I got the call, but I was just walking in the door when I got it so I didn’t have time to get the laptop camera working.

Transcript as best as I can remember.

“Hello, this agent Somethng-Something from Homeland Security, how are you today?”
“I’m fantastic, how are you?”
“I’m fine. Sir, we’ve intercepted a suspicious package at the border in your name.”
“Oh no.”
“Were you expecting any packages from abroad.”
“Yes. Cocaine.”
“Pardon?”
“Cocaine. A big bale of cocaine. I’ve been waiting for it. Is that what you got?”

click

Followed by me collapsing on the floor in a fit of laughter.

28

Adding my concern to the chorus. Hope this resolves quickly & Tobias doesn’t spend 3 days failing to manage his own intestinal ructions all over your floors.


Yaay!! Sounds fun. And cheap. A double win!


Now that I’ve been here awhile, there is a decent number of almost or recent retirees. Very short on the >70 demographic though. So although I’m older than the average here, there are plenty of women in my plausible dateable age range. If only almost all of them hadn’t brought husbands along. Lotta lookers regardless of age range. And plenty of ordinary = heavyset Americans.


As I said in the other thread: Nice prank!!

In college my roomie and I started a side business selling small but expensive items via mail order. This was long before the internet, and the best / cheapest / most scam-resistant way to collect payment was to ship the stuff via UPS with COD. UPS took the payment risk, or took only cash depending on where the shipment was going. If the recipient didn’t have a form of payment UPS trusted, we got the goods back. Win win for us.

Anyhow, a 6x9 padded mailer that weighed only an ounce-ish more than the mailer alone sold for about $150. In the 1970s when dollars had value. We shipped a dozen or three most weekdays. Every package had the COD label with the price UPS was supposed to collect, so the drivers who picked up the packages knew how valuable they each were.

Of course, since UPS was at our apartment daily to pick up, pretty quickly we got to know all the drivers who worked our route. One day one guy asked us what we were shipping. I leaned out the door, carefully and suspiciously looked both ways to ensure the hallway was empty, then stage-whispered “Heroin - don’t tell anyone, Bob”, emphasizing his name from his shirt so he knew that I knew who he was and he also knew I’d told him so. He turned white, grabbed his basket of packages, and zoomed down the hallway.

Nobody ever asked us again about what we were shipping. And they kept moving the merch just fine. And no, it wasn’t really heroin, nor any other illegal thing of any description. Good times.


Taking a brief midafternoon break from the continuous festivities here.

Had a great breakfast and yak with a 40-something paralegal from Rhode Island. Then had another pre-planned singles meet-n-greet whereat we both saw some folks again from yesterday plus a ~dozen newbies who are now integrated into our Whatsapp club. Next stop for me was some sport-shopping, then back to the room to change for the pool. Spent an hour+ sunbathing, then another hour+ pooling & hot-tubbing. Busy, not packed. Sometimes just me and a crowd of strangers, sometimes with one of my instant friends. The ship design does a nice job of managing the wind, so you don’t need to be indoors or under cover to avoid being blasted.

I’m now dry and warm enough to hit [Send], get re-dressed, and head back out for some music. Then swanky dinner at 6 with a different instant friend then whatever sort of party is on tap for tonight.

29

Good morning! I just looked at my daily cat calendar and realized I’m still on Friday. It’s the calendar company’s fault for putting a hairless cat’s picture on the weekend page. I get that they’re friendly and their people love them, but I’m shallow and I want to look at pretty cats.

I actually got a little caught up in the game last night. It’s fun not to really care who wins! I just rooted for the offense in every play. I’m sorry about the 49ers, Wheelz, but did you see how happy it made Tay Tay? :wink: I’m with you on Tom Brady, but Mahomes doesn’t have that Ubermensch aura about him, so I’m less likely to resent his success.

I’m in the group that doesn’t recognize celebrities nowadays. Back in the 90’s when I was staying home with kids, I subscribed to various magazines - Rolling Stone, People, Vanity Fair, among others - that kept me up to date on the outside world, but now I just can’t keep up. Or, really, care. I recognize Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and some of the movie stars, but I didn’t know who half the people in the Super Bowl ads or the halftime show were.
FCM, I hope it’s just a passing illness snerk and you feel better soon. I’m fighting the urge to tell you to go easy on adding foods too quickly - I may be a mom, but you’re the Mooom!

Congratulations on getting a handyman to come out and fix something, MetalMouse. I have a balcony that needs repair (maybe replacing now), and I’ve scheduled it three years running with three different contractors who didn’t show up. Okay, the one in 2020 gets a pass, but the other two don’t. This year, I can’t even get anyone to call me back to come give an estimate!

pullin, I have an extremely lightly used camper trailer for sale! Unfortunately, it sounds like it wouldn’t make you or your wife happy - but that’s a compromise, right?

All the trips sound really great! We’ve always thought we’d do an overseas trip after we were retired, but Mr. L’s physical condition precludes some of the activities we once considered. Now we need to research some trips geared towards disability access. We’re heading to Ann Arbor in April, but it would be nice to get a bit farther afield before it gets even harder.

It’s apparently taken me all morning to write just this much, so I’m off to find some lunch before it’s dinnertime!

30

Ms. Dog is here. . We played fetch and hide and seek. She stays in the bathroom with the door closed while I hide a toy. Then she comes out and looks all over until she finds it. I think I tired her out. When she’s rested up, we’ll go for a longer walk. Her person gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I’d dogsit for nothing, but the flowers are pretty.

FCM, I hope you’re recuperating from the long, difficult night. It sounds dreadful. I bet you sleep like a log tonight!

pilot, the pajama party sounds like fun. I take it nobody claimed their pj’s were on but invisible.

31

Different day here. I’m helping the high school build the sets for their musical for the next 3-ish weeks. I was solo in their shop all day. My buddy, who runs the place must be really feeling his back going bad, cuz the shop was a disaster, I spent 4 hours just getting it into a state where it is usable. And the damn grounds people who are in charge of getting rid of the left over scrap haven’t been there since the last show I did in October. There’s a huuuuge pile o crap that needs to go away.

I feel bad for my buddy Steve, he used to keep an immaculate shop, but he’s going through so much back pain that he can’t anymore. Not that I keep my shop spic n’ span, but when I’m in someone else’s, damn right that place is spotless when I leave for the day.

doggio Say hi to Wilmington for me. I lived there for a couple years back in the late 90s. Worked on “Muppets From Space”, made killer overtime. I’d probably still be there if not for a writer strike.

nellie I love hearing tales of Ms Dog!

32

I can’t even hope to catch up at this point, but happy Monday!

  1. Digital Sabbath went well. Barely noticed. I survived two Weasel family events this weekend, right in a row, first the bridal shower and then the birthday party. My son did swimmingly. He hung back at first but before long he was mingling with the grownups, who adore him. It was great right until I pulled our nurse cousin aside and said, “Hey, he has a couple bumps on his face, is this anything to be worried about?” Which brings us to…

  2. My son has hand foot and mouth disease, timing is not great as I have deadlines this week. He also has a bacterial infection that has to be treated. He is not bothered in the least by any of it, he is his usual happy and cuddly self, and we haven’t contracted it ourselves (knock on wood) it’s just a blow to our work schedules since he can’t go to back school until ??? I asked my boss for an extension on the internal deadlines she gave me, and I suspect she will be amenable. I have two external deadlines Friday, though, that I gotta meet.

  3. Sunday I bought myself a little cross stitch kit with a little bird sitting on a teacup, and that’s my first project. I’m trying to focus on keeping the back neat, as that has gotten me into trouble in the past. I started small because I’ve bought bigger projects and never finished them. There’s something to be said for not biting off more than you can chew.

  4. Remember the black dress wedding guest debacle? I teamed up with my grandmother today and we drove all over the damned place looking for a gown. After some advice from a Torrid employee, we drove West about 40 minutes to this plus sized bridal boutique, and I said, “I heard you sell formal gowns that are not wedding dresses,” and she said, “You heard wrong.” So as a last stop we went to Macys. I saw the perfect dress but it was a size 14 and I’m an 18-20, but I thought, “I know this is a long shot, but I’ve gotta try this on,” and it fit perfectly and I love it. It’s a black lace midi with a little flare skirt that shimmers with movement, perfect dress, not a single alteration required, under $100, and I just kept trying on dresses that all fit me perfectly and long story short I came home with three dresses, all a steal, all of which will get some use at Weasel family events.

  5. Movie night is back on tonight! No idea what’s on the docket, but I miss my friend who is coming over. He was undeterred by my kid’s plague.

Hey! I’m in the Detroit area. Check out the Detroit Institute of Arts if you get a chance (if you are into art.) It’s a good one. I’ve been there countless times and it always feels like the first time because there is a lot to see.

33

Yaay! That’s excellent news! Macy’s around here has some killer sales. I’ve done well by those too.

The kiddo’s having hoof and mouth, not so much.

My bro is in the throes of the same thing. He just turned 63 and he’s still a damn vigorous worker, but he can see the infirmity train coming down the track for him too. Keeping the shop up, carrying the mongo heavy crap from supplier to truck to shop, and product from shop to truck to delivery, etc., is not getting easier. Nor is manhandling big pieces of stock.

If anyone did, the goons stopped them at the door.

34

I had two chicharrones over the course of a couple of hours. Then I went to a florist to get Mrs. L.A. six chocolate truffles in a nice box. They’re expensive, but she likes them. I’m pretty sure I chose the ones she likes best. I got her a Valentine’s Day card too. Came home and put a frozen hatch chile-and-provolone burger patty in the toaster oven and made a sanger for lunch. I’ve got about half an hour before I log out of irk.

I’m going to steal that, should I receive such a call.

So… How do you record a call on an iPhone? (I assume with the landline I’d just put it on speaker and record it with the iPhone’s camera.)

35

I hope you are feeling better now that you’ve had time to rest and recover somewhat, FCM.

Things have been quiet here, the big excitement is hearing from a pet sitter who is willing go come by and help with the nose drops. She lives in the area so is not charging any sort of trip fee which is great.

Don’t worry about the back. Nobody sees the back and that’s where you can hide your mistakes.

Learn how to do a pin stitch and you will never even need to look at the back.

There is also another knot technique that involves putting a knot in the end of your floss then pierce the fabric from the top, then pull the thread under the fabric and pull your needle up at the start point. Stitch over the thread under the fabric as you are working and when you get to the knot carefully cut it off. The loose end of the thread will be held down by your stitches and you won’t need to bother looking at the back.

The only time I look at the back of my work is if I feel something wrong and I can often unknot the snag with my fingers.

Hurray about finding pretty and well fitting dresses! Finding them for not too much money is even better!

What is the production this time? Are you able to reuse things you built for them before? I’m glad you are making money and hope you are feeling better.

What a clever game! It sounds like both of you enjoy it a bunch!

I wanted to mention that now that your daughter has taught her fuzzbutt a trick, she has to reinforce it every day. I have to start over with GG every time I’ve been gone for a week.

The backstroke is my least favorite swimming method because I can’t see the lane markers. Do you mind sharing why it is your favorite?

36

How nice of them! :slight_smile: What a bonus: doggie play time AND a bit of loveliness!

I miss fresh flowers, but between my current hobbit hole’s cramped layout, my slight proclivity towards clutter, and Monkey, I have no idea where I could safely set a bouquet where I could both enjoy it AND not worry about the worst case scenario “spilled water/glass shards” combo.

That’s gotta feel good. See, you weren’t depriving yourself after all!

What kind of trouble?

There’s a subreddit for cross-stitch where some people seem to fetishize absolutely pristine backs, to the point where you can clearly visualize the front pattern.

… which inevitably leads to backlash (HA!!) including pictures of stitching backs that could most charitably be described as “chaotic evil.”

None of which impacts how the front looks. Yanno, the part that matters?

So I’m genuinely curious about your focus on the (usually non-)visible back.
I’m completely self-taught in this whole “playing with strings” nonsense, so it’s quite likely that I’ve missed something important.

Every great once in a while, the gods smile down upon us.

Not only that satisfaction, but also the knowledge that you have at least three events in your upcoming future where you don’t hafta stress about wardrobe!

(Four or five or six, if you accessorize differently enough so that even the most sharp-eyed gossip won’t notice you - gasp! - reUSED a dress.)

Now I’m picturing big ol’ club bouncers wearing footie onesies (to fit the dress code!) and cannot stop giggling.

We all hope, for your sake, that you chose … wisely.

Or at least not foolishly.

I’ve probably told this story before, but years ago, I worked with a woman who - the day after Valentines Day, when all the women were gossiping and comparing notes, and yes, guys, we do that; you do too, about slightly :face_with_raised_eyebrow: different matters, don’t even lie - told us that her beloved husband bought her A COMPASS FROM A GAS STATION.

He then topped it off with, and I swear this is what she told us he said to her:

“I was gonna get you a card, too, but those things are like, five bucks.”

Nice!

Will she be bringing her own gloves and chain mail?

Ah the joys of being a rogue self-taught maverick. Occasionally I stumble upon, “Whaaa-- lotsa people have already encountered the exact same problem and collectively found multiple well-documented solutions? Get the fuquattatown.”

ETA: in that spirit, I googled “wall mount vases” (to address the lack of cut flowers in my home) and I … oh, wow.

37

JtC They’re doing High School Musical which coincidentally, we had just built when the world went into lockdown. Like the day we put the set in place was the day. Unfortunately, the new director and choreographer aren’t amenable to using the stuff we built for that production, so we gotta build new. Fortunately, I don’t have to attend any rehearsals. Or the show. For a guy who worked in theatre for as long as I did, I still hate musicals. And this one is particularly dumb.

shoe Love the Last Crusade ref. I use that on the regular.

38

Because truth to tell, it is the only one I remember…oh, if I tried I could probably do a passable crawl stroke, but backstroke allows me to wear my glasses and I’m just more comfortable that way.

Oh, and the mile only took 58 minutes…

VanGo, feel for your friend, I had a back spasm that stopped me in my tracks at Kroger for a few seconds, then it went away and I felt/feel fine. Can’t imagine dealing with that like your friend must have to. Take care.

JtC, be interesting to see how VBC reacts to a new person introducing drops in her nose.

Spicy, happy news on the dress. Not so happy for Wee Weasel, hope it clears up soon.

J-Bats, add me to those acclaiming your handling of the phone pest.

Nellie, enjoy the doggie visit.

IL, I use a company called MR. Handyman, have used them several times and not been disappointed yet.

Pilot, your tale of youthful entrepreneurship was fascinating.

OK, just noticed I have a soccer Board meeting tonight in about 40 minutes, so need to find some sustenance first. Take care all.

39

Your ceilings aren’t high enough to stop Monkey from figuring out how to get to them. Of course that is assuming that hobbit houses don’t have 12 ft high ceilings…

The second knot I described is called a “waste” or “away” knot. All (three) of the tutorials I found had the extra step of leaving enough of the under the fabric thread to thread into a needle and then weave through the backs of the threads.

I don’t do that, so didn’t post the links. The final step isn’t needed, the threads are secure and won’t have any more tension on them PLUS that means taking my piece out of the easel and turning it over, and changes the tension on the threads I under-weave which is noticeable when one is looking for such a thing.

I’ve noticed that most folks who use open canvas (like needlepoint canvas) tend to use waste knots the way I do but closed canvas folks seem to like pin stitches better. I don’t know why, I think I will do an informal survey at the next seminar and report back.

40

Let’s see… Sea salt bitter-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate mousse, ‘Rocky Mountain’ (it had walnuts on top, and she likes walnuts), red velvet, crème brûlée, and tiramisu truffles.