Regarding the largest part of it -- "You have a leg to stand on there," I said. "Two legs. And my legs. That's four. And Yellface's. That's six. Eight. And when you have eight legs? ( creepy AND crawly )!"
Regarding the largest part of it -- "You have a leg to stand on there," I said. "Two legs. And my legs. That's four. And Yellface's. That's six. Eight. And when you have eight legs? ( creepy AND crawly )!"
Welcome to October, 2025!
It's the start of Fourth Quarter, so try to finish up Third Quarter's paperwork without too much agony.
Welcome to (Northern Hemisphere) Autumn. This last week appears to have gone quickly and left very little in the way of a lasting impression. Perhaps that's for the best. (Hopefully guitar practice, at least, will stick around, and the bits of paperwork will have wound up where they're supposed to go.)
N and I have now been beshotted. Pfizer. Flu and pneumonia are week after next. Hopefully the effects of those will stick around as well. We've also scheduled studio time over the next couple of weeks. (He says after suddenly remembering to make sure we didn't get double-booked. Apparently not. Whew!)
I have not been logging my thrice-daily servings of what Colleen used to call "pill salad" as carefully as I ought to. But there's nothing still in my pill sorters today, so apparently I've been taking them. This week, anyway -- I remember there have been a couple of weeks when I missed one. I also haven't been very careful with logging my sleep. Not really all that surprising; I tend to walk over to my computer and promptly fall down a rabbit hole rather than making whatever log entry I intended to make.
Hopefully you won't need to know How to Set Up and Use a Burner Phone, but these are perilous times.
Today I am thankful for...
- Draft2Digital, which N is using to self-publish her new book.
- Getting the HyperSpace Express website up to date, a few days before it's going to be needed. Amazing how quickly stuff can go stale.
- Our house in The Hague, which we have now owned for a year and a day.
- Old friends emailing to catch up.
It's very small - mid-week, two days only, 8 programming items the first day and 6 the second. Mostly one-hour events with 15 minute breaks between. Programming is over for the day by 4:30; there is no late-afternoon/evening schedule. Daytime student event.
I'll post later about the convention itself. General LA-related thoughts:
1) It mostly feels like home (SF Bay Area) except there is only one garbage can in each room - not three (trash, recycling, compost).
2) I am the only person I can see wearing mask.
3) Temperature's nice. I brought only a light denim jacket and it's been fine, a little warm at mid-day but okay even then, and it keeps the sun off my arms.
4) My prep would've been different if I'd known the room had a microwave and fridge. (I could've called to check; was not up for it.) Today on the way back to the hotel, I stopped into a Chinese supermarket and picked up some kind of beef-veggie rice bowl & frozen steamed buns with sesame filling, both of which can be heated up in the microwave.
5) Lots of Chinese stores nearby, with signs in both Chinese and English. I read zero Chinese but I can recognize the word "no" (の) in Japanese, and I didn't see it. It's common enough that I'd expect it of there are a lot of signs, so I am assuming the language I'm seeing is Chinese.
6) I may stop in to the Chinese supermarket on the way out tomorrow and grab short-grain rice. It's hard to find short-grain rice in American supermarkets. I will have to see how packing goes and if I can leave space for a 2-lb or 5-lb bag of rice.
Officially the first day of Fall, the temperature was still hot, in the 89+ °F range. Tomorrow is forecast to be 94 °F. Ugh. Then maybe rain on Wednesday. I hope we get a good amount of rain this year. The water table needs it.
In other news, I'm still mired in all the paperwork associated with Datawolf's death. The amount of cussing I'm doing at the sheer mass on self-satisfied, smug bureaucracy is astounding. All of them just throw more forms and leg work back at me, like it's my fault that she's dead. WTF, assholes, WTF? Why are you punishing me for having to close out my wife's life? Do you think I like it?
( Off topic for FFA )
I did make the planned gallon of orange jello, but since it was a little late for me to actually eat it, I put mandarin orange slices in it. Since that's often part of Belovedest's lunch. Today I packed it into smaller boxes to help with that effort and to decrease the crowding in the fridge.
I got a slight nap after everything was about finished. The split prep schedule meant that I started the second half around 12:30 am. Appointment check in time 6 am.
The distance in the facility wasn't super bad, although we brought my chair just in case. (Speaking of the chair, I have decked it out with retroreflective tape and electroluminescent wire. It looks much safer. The cup holder went on Friday.)
( The procedure wasn't bad. )
I got dressed again. I had picked a cute nightgown for the outing, black with flowers and butterflies. Instead of a coat (it's getting chilly at night) I wore my dramatic black velvet robe, the one with lace trim and bell sleeves. I received a compliment. And as soon as I proved I could stand up without excessive wobbling, we were off.
Belovedest gathered breakfast for me on our way home, and I took a much needed nap (interrupted a few times to confirm that I could be made conscious and accept hydration).
And that was that.
We did our usual Friday shopping on Saturday. I was still sore. Today my legs are thankfully feeling normal.
A very busy week. Perhaps not quite as productive as we'd hoped. But anyway, we put down a lot of scratch tracks, and put in a total of eight hours of studio time. Some of which is definitely going to have to be re-done. Not clear how much we can salvage, but we learned a lot.
Meanwhile I re-strung Plink, in part so that I could replace the battery. I broke a wire in the process of trying (unsuccessfully) to get the new 9V battery into the clip. Thereby accelerating my long-term goal of mounting the battery outside. An ill wind, and all that. I still need to buy a new battery holder, and see if I can locate my soldering iron.
As if I didn't have enough rabbit holes to fall into, I've discovered a static (web)site generator called Hakyll. Written in Haskell. See Tuesday. I am (so far) not looking in that direction.
And as if we didn't have enough problems to throw money at, we decided to call in a plumber after the kitchen sink leaked all over the floor one time too many. He confirmed my speculation that the mess (not a rat's nest -- that's wires; maybe a can of worms) under the sink was caused by a previous owner who thought they knew what they were doing. It looks much saner now, and everything empties faster after reaming out 12m of drain. The temperature control on the first-floor shower is still broken; since all the works are inside the wall it may stay that way, unless their "old guy who knows everything" can identify the brand and point the way to a fix that doesn't involve tearing into the wall from the other side.
The best links are on Saturday this week -- these include guinea pig rental services in Switzerland and an an amazing Bohemian Rhapsody Flashmob. Although last Sunday's Busy Beaver article may be worth a look if your taste runs to Turing machines and insanely large numbers.