I'm fucking off for the holidays starting in forty minutes. I may go to Costco and get a hot dog. How are you?
I submitted grades yesterday, and the kids are in school through tomorrow, so I'd say I'm living my best life today.
I've got interviews Thursday for an internal transfer which would be even more salary and moving away from the direction I was experimenting with last year that turned out to give me very little energy. Panel interview with people I work with, who may have only just learned this week that I'm applying, and who I would become the manager of if I succeed. The hiring manager wants me badly, but she's been wrestling with HR to get them to process a change in job description/title/salary, so I hope I don't have to go through the application process again when they do.
I think I just caught a cold. But I know I just ate a roast chicken. So all in all a day well spent.
My aunt and I had lunch and a stroll at the (crowded) ferry building the weekend before last; she had taken the ferry there; unfortunately, she caught COVID. I didn't somehow.
I did not do any Christmas shopping yet, so I'm hoping Costco has what I need. I don't want to drive to three mall. It's like ten miles away.
I can also get a roast chicken at Costco for five dollars. My cold is almost gone.
Roast chickens for everybody on your list.
The local health care giant has just restarted masking in the hospitals. So I guess I should be careful.
They ship fine. You just have to be sure your hardtack is good and weevily.
My kid got into college. His first choice, early decision. So now he gets to slack off for the rest of year, and we get to spend the next four years draining our savings.
Congratulations. My kid is still waiting to hear from his first choice, but he's gotten in at two places that are great.
I'm enjoying the nest lately. I like having older kids a lot.
There are only a few things that blindsided me about the added PITA of having four kids. One was the toll it takes on people to put you up for the night - I mostly don't feel comfortable having the whole crew crash with people when we're travelling unless they clear a bar of having space and generally being relaxed about their space.
But a new one is "December commitments". It's just dumb how many extra things are tacked on for the holiday season, mostly in terms of dance and band performances. We had 10 performances to attend. 9 down, 1 to go. I'm very over schlepping everyone to some venue and scrambling for dinner and being out late on a weeknight.
Congratulations!
On the far side from empty nesting, our little guy has finally in the last few weeks started enthusiastically eating solid food; we had a lot of trouble weaning him. Unfortunately this has realized as eating his beans one at a time, picking each one out in the most time-inefficient way possible, but, enh, we'll take it. He's also excited about walking, doing almost half a mile yesterday while shouting happily.
I remember the new walking phase. It was fun except for the fact that he'd walk down hill and then want to be carried up the hill.
I love new walkers so much. I especially love it when they stick their hands up overhead for balance.
There's a brief moment when they first pop up to standing, but before their legs start sprouting, when older babies look like Dorf on Golf to me. It's so cute.
10: mine refuses to reinstate masks under almost any circumstances though others in the area have.
No college-bound seniors or toddlers to take care of here, just my own dumb self. The last couple of nights I've woken up at 2 a.m., absolutely starving. The first time it happened I ignored it and fell back asleep after a few hours, but last night I finally got up and fixed myself an actual meal (a bowl of dumplings, and then some leftover zucchini bread), at 3:30. Maybe it's jet lag? (I recently returned from a trip to Asia.) I haven't been all that hungry during the day, so maybe I didn't eat enough at dinner? I know that for babies that's a reason they can't sleep through the night, but is that a thing for, like, middle-aged adults?
...when older babies look like Dorf on Golf to me.
That's a very good way to put it that I've never heard before.
If I don't eat enough at dinner, I can't fall asleep. But I've never woken from hunger.
I have to say I'm not sure the $1.50 hot dog was a bargain.
17: Word. We are on performance #6 of 7. All I do is drive overtired children to recitals.
I got a promotion* recently, and I appreciate it, but I still want to find a new line of work. Because the parts of the job that aren't most of the job are good (benefits/compensation/flexibility/getting along with coworkers), I'm taking a gradualist approach. I finished a term in a CS program (starting from scratch, mostly) with an idea that I'd like to work in a research-oriented field, possibly applying for a Phd in a year or two.
I'd probably finish my program qualified to work on the software developer side of software development, but I'm already in a kind of software development and would want to be picky about organizational environment and product before committing to that path. The point of studying CS for me is to have more tech-related options than software development.
*Of a sorts. It's one of those things where you're already doing the work at the next step in the job classifications.
26.3: Similar for me - the duties overlap a good deal and I've been doing stuff dotted-line for my upcoming hiring manager more and more, almost half in the position already. It's annoying they can't just order HR to process the change, since we aren't technically civil service and the hiring manager has a C starting her title, but we're still bureaucratic to a fault; officially the conservatism-of-process relates to potential lawsuits from runner-ups who find insufficient process, which I don't know the realism of.
27: Hope it goes well! In my private but bureaucratic org, it seems that if you're already in a continuing position the application process doesn't require new job postings or interviews, just written assessments and internal review, while if you switch from term contracts to continuing, there's quite a bit more process.
I think we wouldn't have needed interviews if there had been no other applicants passing initial HR checks, but one did come in.
I've buckled down for the holidays at work; I'll be doing more of the work directly instead of coaching, since the people I normally help are off on vacation.
Feeling like a holiday is off to a slow start; I put up lights early (we don't do them every year), and baked some cookies for an exchange, but Christmas still feels far away. Part of it is that local family drifted apart over Covid (just the act of not getting together made the already tenuous habit drop). My brother moved cross-country and is dealing with his wife's serious health challenges, so that's a much worse world.
I keep threatening to actually send Christmas cards; it's been a few years since I last did, but I know lots of people with extra struggle this year.
I'm doing okay overall. My new employee put in her two-weeks notice, which was a bummer but not totally unexpected. She's had huge issues finding childcare since the place she was using suddenly shut down unexpectedly a few weeks ago, and while I've been as accommodating as I possibly can the workarounds we've been using aren't really sustainable. She's done great work and taken a lot of burden off of me, but I understand her decision. Luckily there are no super pressing deadlines or anything so the immediate impact isn't huge. I was going to hire for a couple of new positions soon anyway so this will just be one more hire to make.
At least here, childcare has been hit HARD by ARPA dollars running out. It's depressing.
Yeah, it's a huge problem all around. A different team in our division happens to do childcare licensing and the picture they give is grim.
My union just approved a new CBA and I'm getting a raise! Roast chickens for all!
I've been testing positive for COVID for two solid weeks now, and I'm getting really tired of being isolated in the bedroom. I'm also worried that I won't test negative in time for the family to fly and visit my elderly parents for Christmas.
I got Paxlovid the day I tested positive, but I'm starting to think that it was a mistake. I'm probably not really high risk - I technically qualify by BMI, barely, but so does most of the adult population - and there's some research indicating that rebound is real (maybe 20% of Paxlovid recipients, compared with 2% of non-recipients) and really infectious, not just lingering. So if I hadn't chosen to get Paxlovid I would likely be clear of the virus by now. That study hypothesizes that taking Paxlovid, especially right at the start, can blunt the immune response enough that it doesn't ramp up enough to finish off the virus. I never even had a fever, so that kind of fits.
I'm low-symptom enough that if I didn't try to test my way out of isolation I could have just decided to go out in the world a week ago by the CDC's guidelines and be merrily and unknowingly infecting people.
So anyway I'm sitting in my room blaming my imperfectly-informed medical decisions for ruining family Christmas.
That really sucks and I wouldn't blame yourself. I think there's a bunch of randomness in how long people test positive, with or without Paxlovid.
40 is true, see here https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
I would be fascinated to see how its traffic figures correlated with case rates.
What's damaging us now is the inability to get healthy people discharged from hospital. Hits everything, all the way through the treatment chain, and the social work/social care side are simply not up to the task. If there's a bus crash or something we will have problems.
Still, 19 for Christmas dinner which will be fun (I am not cooking most of it), and then various guests in the New Year.
Are we just going to ignore what's happening on the other thread?
Yes. Development economics is just stultifying.
42 I must have written three or four joke replies but thought better and deleted before hitting post
Did I miss something? I was sleeping.
I think it's still on the side bar.
Time for the traditional annual expression of sympathy to anyone suffering terrible subjection, alone in London, to forced jollity at the hands of the English.
(Director's cut, added material)
AI is making for much more informative spammers.
My college freshman brought home some dormitory ick that infected both me and his sister and holy shit have I been sick the past couple days. Tested negative for Covid (twice), but whatever this is sure does suck.
It might still be covid. Hope you all feel better.
People say that, but when I had covid, the test strip turned red about two seconds after I put the nose-dropping in.
50: if my school is representative, there is a non-COVID ick this year that's been going around. There's also the COVID ick too, but other viruses are still jerks.
38: current guidance doesn't require a final clear test, just isolation for a period of time.. If you're past 10 days and you have no symptoms, you're *probably* okay. Mileage may vary depending on fragility of those around you.
48 -- I had forgotten that, thanks for sharing again; it's very good.
I'm doing OK. I think most of the stressful part of the holidays is over. I have a bunch of unusual chores around the house for the next few days, on Friday we get on a plane to see Cassandane's parents, and I can relax for a week or so. Work has been busy for the past few months but we've got our backlog organized, have chipped away at it a lot over the past few weeks, and hope to finish a major effort soon. When it's done (it might never be literally done, getting from 95 percent done to 100 percent done might take longer than getting from 10 percent to 80 percent took, but there's a major milestone coming up), my current job will probably be more fun and my resume will definitely look impressive when I apply to the next one.
When I put it like that, it sounds like I should be a lot better than "OK". Maybe I should be, but then again, getting to this point has been stressful.
54: Yeah, this is a subject of some dispute, including within my household.
CDC says:
If you have access to antigen tests, you should consider using them. With two sequential negative tests 48 hours apart, you may remove your mask sooner than day 10.
Note: If your antigen test results are positive, you may still be infectious. You should continue wearing a mask and wait at least 48 hours before taking another test. Continue taking antigen tests at least 48 hours apart until you have two sequential negative results. This may mean you need to continue wearing a mask and testing beyond day 10.
There are plenty of other researchers I have read who are much firmer that positive test implies infectiousness, and being infectious is enough rationale to isolate.
There's a busker playing Hava Nagila and he's not very good. Is that antisemitism?
58: Does it sound like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSOZPINSsM4
58: What on earth fusion cuisine did I just listen to.
How did you listen to a busker in Shadyside?
If you type in "not so girly" or "but lets say we don't think Christmas needs to reinforce gender roles that much" after "gift idea for 7 year old girl" it does absolutely no good.
I guess "gift idea for 7 year old" works just fine. Nevermind.
Twelve years old, they put me in a suit
Forced me to marry a prostitute
https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-key-west-philosopher-pirate-lyrics
I don't know what that means, but it sure seems like it could be anti-semitic.
Bob Dylan is proof that you need to leave Minnesota and change your name if you want to get anywhere in life.
66: But what if you never were in Minnesota? Should you go there just so you can leave?
This year the 7 year old girls in my life are getting books about dinosaurs. But there sre other options- SGD aged seven got a model SR-71A Blackbird which she, aged 14, still has and talks about fondly.
If you search "avuncular gift", you get Ernest Borgnine's autobiography.
Solstice gift: great appreciation of 17th century typographically accurate and very nice etchings of Styron castles
https://twitter.com/mcmansionhell/status/1737670949422465380?s=21
I was given an SR-71 model kit when I was seven or so and kept the plane around for years. There were little transparent camera panels on the bottom. It was the best. Delightfully girly.
I'd forgotten about it, but I also got an SR-71 kit when I was a kid. It didn't make much of an impression, I suppose because it was girly and I was very fixed on 80s masculinity.
72: if there are lots of them they're polystyrian
Happy Solstice everyone! I did a blog post to celebrate.
We like how you advise people to feel their way around the boulders.
Keep your eyes (and ears) open, for sure.
This has easily been my worst year for general health. 2 heart attacks, almost 2 months of missed work, multiple bouts of excruciating arthritis pain, lots of money spent on unfinished dental care and I'm pretty sure my next eye exam will indicate the necessity of getting bifocals. If it weren't for bad health, I wouldn't have any health at all. At this point, I can't even get too excited about the impending apocalypse, cause I'm not sure I'm going to make it to 2025.
Conversely, my friend who has had so many horrible traumas over the years found a new partner who is completely compatible and treats her with the love and respect she deserves, so it's not all bad news. The rest of my family has been pretty healthy and happy, save for my sister's partner who had a benign brain tumor removed a week ago. But her recovery seems to be going well.
(Just opened up my laptop and was reminded that the last thing I looked at was contact information for Forest Home cemetery in Chicago. I need to get in touch with them soon and figure out how close I can be buried to the Haymarket Memorial and Emma Goldman's grave)
I'm sorry about the heart attacks. Hope you can get that cared for.
Related (distantly) to the other teo posts:
https://acoup.blog/2023/12/22/collections-how-many-people-ancient-demography/
I saw that linked on Twitter but haven't read it yet.
Natilo, what a tough year. Here's hoping 2024 is better for you.
76: Ha, La Cieneguilla was the alternative when we ended up at Petroglyphs (since we were in Albuquerque already). Do want to get back there soon--it is fairly close, we are staying west of the bypass. I had visited the are last year, but with a birding group. So birds the priority, but we had good optics (including a scope) to look at the petroglyphs from down below.
And now I've made a note to try to get there at sunrise on the Equinox. Will report back any observations.
We sort of killed family Christmas (my family's tradition) by taking this opportunity to come to New Mexico starting the week before Xmas. I think most felt it needed to be killed (or at least wounded badly) but could not bring themselves to say it or pull the trigger.
It's being pretty freeing so far. We did have all of the kids in town for the week before we left, but other than some half-assed Hanukkah stuff, no real holiday stuff. We are not celebratory people.
80: benign = not metastatic cancer, but a brain tumor of that type is hardly benign.
Take care of yourself, Natilo - echoing 84.
89: Right, benign does not equal no symptoms, and the surgery has lots of after-effects, of course. She's older than my sister and has some other complicating factors in her health and personal history. So "benign" in that the prognosis sounds decent, but scary and extremely unpleasant all the same.
Also, as some of you know from the other place, my youngest uncle died this year, so that has cast a pall over things.
My FIL had one of those before I met him. When they did the first surgery, they were able to keep vision in both eyes (it was pressing on his ocular nerve).: when it came back 4 years later, his vision in one of his eyes was terrible.
Merry Christmas to all reprobates who celebrate!
80: Belated, but I'm so sorry for such a challenging year. I'm glad you're still around, and hope you'll continue to be so (in improved circumstances) for many years. I'm glad those around you are well, and I hope you have all the support you could hope for.
86.last: Eagerly awaiting report, actually. Don't know why, but I'm dreaming of trips to the Southwest lately. I've never liked it there much before, but somehow it's looming large in my imagination.
95: Went late yesterday. Nice, but almost immediately realized it would be much better in the AM (probably especially in Winter) so the sun is illuminating the petroglyphs rather than bedazzling you as you attempt to pick your way up the boulder field. Also a number of families there escaping the torture of indoor all day with presents.