Visiting my mom's house has become challenging in an olfactory sense. My brother is using a lot of the house for his entrepreneurial hemp-growing and processing projects, and their old dog has become incontinent. So we're having a hard time staying inside much. On the plus side, I guess we still have our senses of smell?
Mr. 9 is glued to his various electronic entertainment devices, which is mildly antisocial but probably completely par for the course.
It is very cold and snowy in the Northwest.
I have the week off and, on one hand, it's kind of nice being snowed in because it makes things simple. I don't have to do much and can just be tired and a little absent minded.
On the other hand, I don't like worrying about whether the pipes might freeze (they haven't) and it does make going outside unappealing.
I ended up taking my nephew to MoMA which he loved. I haven't been (t)here myself for at least 25 years (the galleries that is, I've caught many films here)
Paging LB. Does anybody know If there is any kind of resource for case law for small claims court? Massachusetts Law says that a tenant at will needs to give one rental period's notice (so if rent is paid monthly 30-31 days). Our landlord has terms saying you have to give 60 days notice and is saying they won't return our last month's rent. At one point I saw guidance from the Attorney General saying that this is not enforceable. I'm going to send a demand letter 30 days after I move, but if they won't send the money, I plan on suing in small claims court. You can get treble damages.
I really don't know if there's a record you can search for small claims cases. My skills are rusted away, and I am wondering what free resources I could use to research this.
My mom visited, just left. We got along fine most days, so nice to see her and my son. But. She means well, but her perspective on the world is so - fearful isn't exactly the word, but that's the emotional neighborhood - anyway that dial is up to 11 which makes some substantive conversations tough to have.
After one such unhappy detour (somewhat paranoid nonsequitur with my son leading to sharp words from everyone) , she asks the next day why we don't talk more with her. I should be over it (both from a broad perspective of being too old for engaging that way, and narrowly the disagreement was objectively nbd). but am exhausted, I hate arguing.
5: Sorry, LW. That sounds rough.
4: I think SCC is supposed to be very rough-and-ready, not relying much on precedent like regular courts? Maybe just showing the judge that AG opinion would go a long way.
7: unfortunately, I can't find that website anymore. I did find a website for the law librarians for the trial courts, so I will reach out to them.
Thanks. Nothing deeply wrong, basically I took the rubric as an invitation to gripe. She genuinely means well, basically wants to have heart-to-heart talks but has poor perception and listening abilities. Unrelatedly, I change my mind on anything about three times per decade. Some tripe soup with a beer and ace of base was helpful.
10: Are there any video game exceptions to the original NMM?
11.last: I take it you saw the sign.
So we did the White Elephant Christmas gift exchange thing at work, and I ended up with a bottle of peppermint vodka. What does one do with peppermint vodka?
I mean, drinking it seems out of the question, but does it work in an internal combustion engine or anything like that?
I remember a girl spilling some in my dad's car and I got in trouble because it really does smell.
Actuality, it was peppermint schnapps. Same difference.
So just go on Nextdoor and say you have free peppermint vodka to that would be prefect for any teenager who wants to come get it.
5: I am sort of detoxing from several close family member overexposures. (And I assume they from me.) In particular my most NYTimeswashed family member (my wife's whole family are also hopeless cases ). I actually had one pretty constructive conversation on the subject with her but in general she exhibits a relentless Dunning-Krugeresque* view of her own level of informedness. And decries my "obviously slanted" sources (which I dunno, maybe fair enough).
Mostly it just brings me to a state of despair.
Fortunately had a day of driving with just my wife and son so we could be as petty as we wanted. We are all about the reason for the fucking season.
*Referring of course to the Platonic ideal of the concept and not the flawed shadow on the cave wall sullied by data.
And then through a series of missteps too humiliating to recount here I managed to book a non-refundable room for a week from today. So if anyone is traveling through north fucking Georgia next week there is a potential room waiting for you in Cordelia...
Meetup opportunity!
(with perhaps a bottle of peppermint vodka awaiting)
Wait, it's Cornelia. We managed to grab a bite to eat in Cordele, Georgia.
And now I'm feeling a little sheepish about 20. Not enough to change any views or behaviors but enough to be concerned about the impression I am making on internet randos.
Down and Out in Cordele and Cornelia. a spiral of narcissistic despair.
It's close to the Appalachian Trail.
Somewhat close. My youngest son hiked a good chunk of the AT in Georgia during Winter Term at DFH college. He's living in Gatlinburg now having learned nothing and we will stop by to say hello in a few hours assuming no pink lines.
Gatlinburg (and the Sothern Appalachians in general) is a land of many contrasts.
Free Covid testing in Pittsburgh today at the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science.
What's the secret of conedy?
Location, location, location.
My summer camp in North Carolina used to take us to Ghost Town in Gatlinberg for a field trip. It's an amusement park. Or was.
Fucking great. Yesterday I tested negative, and this morning, when I took the confirmation test, positive again. More time indoors. Ume is definitely on the mend, though. Says she's up to 80% capacity.
29: A lot of shit there burned down a few years back and got replaced with new shit.
29: Hmm, I wonder if is this place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Town_Village
Set on the NC side of the Smokies. Now abandoned.
That's the place! It was called Ghost Town in the Sky when I went there. You rode a ski lift up to get there. There was a roller coaster that swung you out into the space beyond the steep face of a mountain.
Looking at some of those photos, I'm having the odd sensation that it is sometimes a background setting in dreams for me.
I wonder why I thought it was in Gatlinburg?! That's not very close to Gatlinburg. I think I must be combining field trips from various years.
I remember going to Gatlinburg, but I don't think I've ever been to Ghost Town. And we would have made mom and dad stop if we saw the sign. We were only in the Smokies once.
Maggie Valley! My sister and I went there with our mom on our post-divorce road trip back in the early '90s. It was my first time on a ski lift-type contraption, which scared the crap out of me.
Did New York state make new license plates or did I just happen to come across two people from New York with similar specialty plates in the same ten minute trip?
Do they explain the new Inspector Barnaby with some kind of multiverse theory.
39: I've yet to come across a custom-made vanity plate that doesn't strike me as cringe-inducingly cheesy. Maybe I need to get out more?
I saw FTH9ERS one time. No idea how it got through. Not cheesy though.
These said "Excelsior" on the bottom.
Last year, Hawaii was embarrassed and mortified over the photos I chose for the holiday letter. I felt terrible.
This year, I've drafted the letter, and while she doesn't exactly get to control it, I thought I could have a more considerate conversation, in advance. I told her which pictures I was using - one where she's cuddling the cat, and one where she and Ace are making faces. She looked crestfallen. "None of me dancing?" she asked.
Now I feel terrible about something new! (It would really be a drastically different letter if I showed off kids accomplishments. Right now it's just a tour of my favorite photos of the year.)
How old is Hawaii now? She might just be getting to the age where she's mortified by everything you do.
39, 43: Apparently it is a thing.
https://dmv.ny.gov/plates/excelsior-plates
Led me to discover that Thurber's illustrated "Excelsior" is available online.
http://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=317
BBC having a normal one after having Dershowitz interview re: Maxwell verdict:
https://twitter.com/bbcnewspr/status/1476506386964131840?s=21
"... did not meet editorial standards."
"We will look in to how this happened."
I assume the person who typed up the statement was wearing a hot dog suit.
I don't think "Brince Bandrew" was really a grocer from Manchester calling in either.
46: 12 1/2, and very much so. She cannot handle having younger siblings in a public space at all.
Sally and her CA boyfriend were here visiting but left before I got up this morning. He got off the plane in CA, felt bad, took a home test, and is Covid positive. I am annoyed - there's a good chance this wrecks the ski trip I had planned for next week.
It might be nice to know your family was part of a vector from one coast to the other.
I'm making meatballs having accomplished none of the things I needed to get done today.
Sorry, LB.
Peppermint schnapps is pretty good in hot chocolate, for fairly debased values of "good." Peppermint vodka might work similarly? Very brief internet research suggests that peppermint schnapps is just flavored grain alcohol at 30-40 proof, which suggests that peppermint vodka would be the same stuff with less water added.
Now I have "California Boyfriend" to the tune of "California Dreamin" stuck in my head.
"FTH9ERS"
Can someone explain? It looks like FATHERS but not quite and it's bugging me.
57: That sucks. We had that problem almost a year ago, until we did all the work with the sump.
59: I assume it's some sex thing, but I was afraid to ask.
I think it's "F--- the Niners," i.e. San Francisco 49ers American football team, but maybe not? (I endorse the sentiment.)
Flooding sucks. We've been dealing with a persistent annoying leak for the past few weeks. We had a plumber come this week to replace some pipe which helped, but there's still a smaller leak persisting so we're having the plumber come back this weekend. Luckily we don't have a basement or crawlspace and the flooring in that part of the house is waterproof and overlies a concrete slab, so there's not much risk of serious damage.
Sorry about the flood, jms. I hope you can soak up the water with the unwanted Christmas gifts from the other thread.
You're trying to see how you can set aside papers to dry and it's not until you finish that you start to wonder why you even printed 14,000 pages of Perfect Strangers fanfic.
The usual story. Everyone's been there.
Whee! second clear LFT in a row. I am officially clear now and can go shopping and fishing.
Ume is pretty OK symptomwise, but not yet in the window where she can start testing. My sister, however, went up to Sheffield on a train yesterday and will presumably return, on the third, with a case of her very own. I hope she's OK, despite the drugs she's on.
jms, sorry about the flooding. We spent most of this week in LA, and the rain has been truly impressive. It has rained every time save one AJ has been to CA, so we're thinking of sending him in August to see whether he continues to serve as some form of rain whisperer.
My father and his new wife apparently attended a large family brunch that resulted in a NICU admit and a hospitalization for a cancer patient. I heard Dad forcefully explaining to her there was no point in rapid testing as long as they didn't have symptoms. I sent him a link for rapid tests, told him to order some. He did, but they won't arrive in time for their next planned family gathering. (Jesus, right?) The cancer patient couldn't get an ICU bed because there are only 4 beds open in the Chicago area. I feel sorry for almost no one in this story except the NICU baby.
(NICU? PICU? Baby ICU. She was saying NICU, but who knows.)
Jesus, right?
It's usually called Christmas.
It's a week from today for Eastern Christians.
I see that the WaPo date lab had set two Muslims up with each other, who turned out to be connected, sort of, through cousinage and attendance at family wedding.
At the end there was the compulsory "and did you fuck?" question, which is the whole point of these dating stories even if it is never put it quite those terms. Both of them replied that they were keeping their relationship strictly formal, which might well be true, but the point is there is no way, surely, a couple of nice Muslim professionals would announce to their entire family network through the medium of a newspaper, that they were keen on fucking each other but were not planning to marry.
which is the whole point of these dating stories
Is it? I guess I'm old-fashioned, but I don't expect them to fuck; I read those stories to see if one really hated the other.
Can it be that I am insufficiently high minded? Or just that I read the Guardian ones too much?
70: I feel sorry for the healthcare workers. And everyone else who can't get medical care because of COVID admissions.
2021 went out with a bang. Or without one, I suppose, to be accurate. My heretofore-unpseudonymed partner, hereinafter "Mr. Positivity," tested positive Christmas morning. So he spent the holiday, and the 5 days thereafter, secluded at home with the cat and dog while I camped out at my mom's and Rory camped out with her partner (let's call them "Lane").
But Mr. Positive tested negative this morning, so at least 2022 seems to be on a better trajectory.
69: excellent news. "Shopping and Fishing " sounds like a joint production by Mark Ravenhill and J.R. Hartley.