Today is my first day back at work. I'm still not up to dealing with our clients in a constructive manner. I'm finding it nearly impossible to deal with their petty and stupid behavior in a diplomatic manner. I'm not great at that to begin with (surprising, I know), but right now I'm handling it by not verbally talking to them.
Mom's estate is going to be in probate for several months. My aunt is grieving by trying to go through the house and "laying claim" to random knickknacks that she had given to Mom. My uncle keeps telling her to back off, but it's just how she's trying to get through it herself.
I went through Mom's email on Monday. For every one email that was important enough to keep on the first pass I deleted 35.
Hopefully Illinois(?) probate is better than California's. Our average time is 9 months, and fees are a percentage of the overall estate (the web claims only 2% after the first $200,000, but I've heard MUCH higher numbers).
So as soon as you have over $100,000 in assets and a kid, you set up a trust to stay out of probate because it's cheaper. Which is pretty sad.
EDIT: Yeah, the California tax man'll tax the clothes off your back!
Hopefully Illinois(?) probate is better than California's. Our average time is 9 months, and fees are a percentage of the overall estate (the web claims only 2% after the first $200,000, but I've heard MUCH higher numbers).
So as soon as you have over $100,000 in assets and a kid, you set up a trust to stay out of probate because it's cheaper. Which is pretty sad.
EDIT: Yeah, the California tax man'll tax the clothes off your back!
Yes, Illinois. Only about an hour and a half west from gran, actually.
If the estate is worth over $100k and there is no will, then it automatically has to go into probate. From what the lawyer told me, I should come out ok on taxes. I don't know what the average length of probate is here, but I was told to expect this one to take about 6 months as an open and shut case.
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Should be warm today!
29 degrees they say!!
Try not to get too excited though, it's a one day blip. Tomorrow it's back to single digits.
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We are FINALLY getting some snow this weekend!!!
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We're at -29 C right now. That's -20 F. Sometimes, winter sucks.
We're at -29 C right now. That's -20 F. Sometimes, winter sucks.
That sounds heavenly...
Marvel Movie Timeline #10: Captain America: Winter Soldier:
I've admitted before that I'm not a Captain America fan, so I was a bit worried to be watching something most people consider one of the best entries in the series with a jaded eye.
Sure enough, the thing that caught me most was the standard problem with Captain America: His power level swings wildly based on making the fights more interesting. Fighting a normal human at the start of the movie? He's barely better than him. Fighting a superhuman at the end of the movie? He's barely better than him. A drop of 200' is extremely damaging mid-movie, but towards the end of the movie he jumps down that distance with no problem. More than anything else, the whole, "I'm barely as powerful as I need to be to perform this stunt," was incredibly jarring, because the variability was SO huge. I know some people eat it up. I hate it.
Other than that, it was a decent plot with decent action scenes, but a whole lot of, "Wait a minute! Why didn't this person/organization do xxx?"
There was a heck of a lot of suspension of disbelief as again sometimes everything worked one way, then at another point it worked another. My father put it well: "Choose one law of physics to break, make it consistent, and you'll have a good movie."
This movie has the consistency of warm pudding.
All in all a solid action film that you really need to shut your brain off to enjoy. Thinking too much about any of the plot points led to trouble.
I liked it OK, but I wouldn't watch it again unless I had something else to do while everyone else was watching.
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Marvel Movie Timeline #10: Captain America: Winter Soldier:
I've admitted before that I'm not a Captain America fan, so I was a bit worried to be watching something most people consider one of the best entries in the series with a jaded eye.
Sure enough, the thing that caught me most was the standard problem with Captain America: His power level swings wildly based on making the fights more interesting. Fighting a normal human at the start of the movie? He's barely better than him. Fighting a superhuman at the end of the movie? He's barely better than him. A drop of 200' is extremely damaging mid-movie, but towards the end of the movie he jumps down that distance with no problem. More than anything else, the whole, "I'm barely as powerful as I need to be to perform this stunt," was incredibly jarring, because the variability was SO huge. I know some people eat it up. I hate it.
This is a known trope that you either love or hate. Iirc it is supposed to establish power levels(which is something personally I hate) in a work, and it is problematic because it creates issues with power fluctuations (usually a sine wave with the characters increasing by a standard deviation during the work but not always) during the work. It also creates superman paradox level questions that again really divide audiences- should Captain America laugh off all punches from anyone without superhuman strength? Is it impossible for a character like Batroc(who is far more skilled than some people make him out to be) to train themselves up to a level where Captain America might be challenged a bit? Is it possible for a character like Captain America to have a bad day/be unlucky? These aren't open ended questions really and result in problems for both the person writing the character and the audience observing the character.
There was a heck of a lot of suspension of disbelief as again sometimes everything worked one way, then at another point it worked another. My father put it well: "Choose one law of physics to break, make it consistent, and you'll have a good movie."
This is not impossible, but incredibly difficult when you have a writing team as opposed to an individual author.
This movie has the consistency of warm pudding.
All in all a solid action film that you really need to shut your brain off to enjoy. Thinking too much about any of the plot points led to trouble.
It's an old dilemma- if I have to turn my brain off to have a good time is there a problem with me or a problem with what I am watching? No way to answer that question for everyone. I enjoyed the crap out of the Hitmans Bodyguards Wife because I got to watch Ryan Reynolds get beat up in cartoonish ways, while Salma Hayek got to be hot and Samuel Jackson got to be Samuel Jackson and both Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas got to parody themselves and thoroughly enjoy it. The movie does not take itself seriously. But if I can't turn my brain off and take the movie seriously, is there a problem with the work or a problem with me?
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Fighting a normal human at the start of the movie? He's barely better than him.
That was Batroc the Leaper. Not a normal human, and frequently shown in the comics to be on par with Cap in a fight.
Batroc was also teamed up with two or three others during some fights and definitely proved a challenge during them (in the comics).
If anything, I was honestly surprised that Cap had as easy a time with Batroc as he did in the movie.
Not quite 'disappointment' but it WAS an opening scene so he did have to pull it off or the movie would have been done at the start.
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Of course, you won't know any of that if you don't read the comic books.
Fighting a normal human at the start of the movie? He's barely better than him.That was Batroc the Leaper. Not a normal human, and frequently shown in the comics to be on par with Cap in a fight.
Batroc got the serum?
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Of course, you won't know any of that if you don't read the comic books.
This. If they didn't want the fight to seem frivolous, a single throwaway line such as, "Be careful of him, rumor has it that he's had some enhancements," would've been all it took.
Instead it was just, "He's a well-known, wanted criminal," with no indication he was anything other than an ordinary human.
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*discussing British food*
"Ya'll went all around the world to get spices, and then decided to come home and just eat cabbage and potatoes."
Wrong! We went around the world to get opium to sell to buy more of the cabbage and potatoes we stole in the first place.
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Wrong! We went around the world to get opium to sell to buy more of the cabbage and potatoes we stole in the first place.*discussing British food*
"Ya'll went all around the world to get spices, and then decided to come home and just eat cabbage and potatoes."
Also, tea and sugar. The aggressive opium pushing was done mainly to buy tea.
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Of course, you won't know any of that if you don't read the comic books.This. If they didn't want the fight to seem frivolous, a single throwaway line such as, "Be careful of him, rumor has it that he's had some enhancements," would've been all it took.
Instead it was just, "He's a well-known, wanted criminal," with no indication he was anything other than an ordinary human.
Yes, to be honest, the only comic books I read weren't Marvel so all of this was new to me.
That said, I really liked it and enjoyed the various obvious twists, though I was actually one of the handful of people surprised by the identity of the winter soldier.
So we all know that I'm an idiot. This is an established fact.
Tonight, at around 6:45, I ran up the staircase to Hermione's room to let her know that dinner was ready, turned around and ran back down the carpeted staircase in my socks, slipped, fell, smacked the heck out of my back on the edge of a step and managed to twist a toe on my right foot so that it was jammed in at a funny-looking angle.
After 3 hours I got brave enough that I iced my foot for about 10 minutes and then pulled the toe and straightened out and it went straight with only a little pop pop pop but I don't think it's broken. My back still hurts like heck. We'll wait and see how I feel in the morning, but I'm not going to ask for a substitute unless I can't walk.
So we all know that I'm an idiot. This is an established fact.
Tonight, at around 6:45, I ran up the staircase to Hermione's room to let her know that dinner was ready, turned around and ran back down the carpeted staircase in my socks, slipped, fell, smacked the heck out of my back on the edge of a step and managed to twist a toe on my right foot so that it was jammed in at a funny-looking angle.
After 3 hours I got brave enough that I iced my foot for about 10 minutes and then pulled the toe and straightened out and it went straight with only a little pop pop pop but I don't think it's broken. My back still hurts like heck. We'll wait and see how I feel in the morning, but I'm not going to ask for a substitute unless I can't walk.
Having done similar not that long ago, I'm not laughing at your obvious pratfall.
On Monday most of my foot missed a step. The very back of my heel didn't. I managed to not injure myself going down the stairs face first.
Good night, John. Stay warm.
Ouch...
So we all know that I'm an idiot. This is an established fact.
Tonight, at around 6:45, I ran up the staircase to Hermione's room to let her know that dinner was ready, turned around and ran back down the carpeted staircase in my socks, slipped, fell, smacked the heck out of my back on the edge of a step and managed to twist a toe on my right foot so that it was jammed in at a funny-looking angle.
After 3 hours I got brave enough that I iced my foot for about 10 minutes and then pulled the toe and straightened out and it went straight with only a little pop pop pop but I don't think it's broken. My back still hurts like heck. We'll wait and see how I feel in the morning, but I'm not going to ask for a substitute unless I can't walk.
Crikey - get weĺl soon! Socks on carpet can be a lethal combination...
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So we all know that I'm an idiot. This is an established fact.
Tonight, at around 6:45, I ran up the staircase to Hermione's room to let her know that dinner was ready, turned around and ran back down the carpeted staircase in my socks, slipped, fell, smacked the heck out of my back on the edge of a step and managed to twist a toe on my right foot so that it was jammed in at a funny-looking angle.
After 3 hours I got brave enough that I iced my foot for about 10 minutes and then pulled the toe and straightened out and it went straight with only a little pop pop pop but I don't think it's broken. My back still hurts like heck. We'll wait and see how I feel in the morning, but I'm not going to ask for a substitute unless I can't walk.
See, there's the raised in Wisconsin!
Ouch!
Although I'm surprised that after setting your toe you didn't help birth a calf and throw together a potluck.
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So we all know that I'm an idiot. This is an established fact.
Tonight, at around 6:45, I ran up the staircase to Hermione's room to let her know that dinner was ready, turned around and ran back down the carpeted staircase in my socks, slipped, fell, smacked the heck out of my back on the edge of a step and managed to twist a toe on my right foot so that it was jammed in at a funny-looking angle.
After 3 hours I got brave enough that I iced my foot for about 10 minutes and then pulled the toe and straightened out and it went straight with only a little pop pop pop but I don't think it's broken. My back still hurts like heck. We'll wait and see how I feel in the morning, but I'm not going to ask for a substitute unless I can't walk.
See, there's the raised in Wisconsin!
Ouch!
Although I'm surprised that after setting your toe you didn't help birth a calf and throw together a potluck.
I baked a loaf of bread later on.
But only because I'd already kneaded it and put it in the warm oven to rise before the accident.
I hurt like anything today, and the toe is a little swollen and stiff, but I have no bruises anywhere, which feels like an insult from the cosmos.
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So we all know that I'm an idiot. This is an established fact.
Tonight, at around 6:45, I ran up the staircase to Hermione's room to let her know that dinner was ready, turned around and ran back down the carpeted staircase in my socks, slipped, fell, smacked the heck out of my back on the edge of a step and managed to twist a toe on my right foot so that it was jammed in at a funny-looking angle.
After 3 hours I got brave enough that I iced my foot for about 10 minutes and then pulled the toe and straightened out and it went straight with only a little pop pop pop but I don't think it's broken. My back still hurts like heck. We'll wait and see how I feel in the morning, but I'm not going to ask for a substitute unless I can't walk.
See, there's the raised in Wisconsin!
Ouch!
Although I'm surprised that after setting your toe you didn't help birth a calf and throw together a potluck.
I baked a loaf of bread later on.
But only because I'd already kneaded it and put it in the warm oven to rise before the accident.
I hurt like anything today, and the toe is a little swollen and stiff, but I have no bruises anywhere, which feels like an insult from the cosmos.
There it is! That's exactly the type of thing a Wisconsin person would do! You make us proud!!
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Appreciating the grit there LM, also, mmm, home baked bread! Having yanked a shoulder and finger back into socket and/or alignment in my day, I also appreciate that it does freaking hurt. Glad you are generally ok though, aches not withstanding.
Hey there John, what ya up to this snowy (here) winter day?
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Hello, everyone.
You're alive?!! Thank God!! I have to admit I was a bit worried when I saw the pictures from the Pittsburgh bridge collapse and saw the bus on part of the collapsed bridge.
They said no fatalities but an injury is still an injury!
Anyway, glad you weren't affected!
Typical: Google "How long does an MRI of the heart take?" and you get very useful information... from Canada.
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Typical: Google "How long does an MRI of the heart take?" and you get very useful information... from Canada.
Well, where else would you get it from?
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In retrospect, I really should have called in sick today. My back hurts a lot. I managed to not be grumpy and short-tempered with my class, though, which was good. My toe is purple and a bit swollen, still don't know if it's broken or not, but it doesn't really hurt, it's just a little sore.
Glad I have the weekend to rest.
We have to cancel Sunday's game because WW starts his job at the USPS tomorrow as a processing clerk, and they've got him working all weekend from 7-4.
Oh, also, Eve got a job! She starts February 7th, and she's really excited about it. She says that apparently building a focus on nonprofit administration into her MBA was her golden ticket.
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So, as we all know, Eox suffered a cataclysmic event and all the eoxian elite became undead to stave off extinction. Except for a small pocket of living Eoxians (calling themselves Elabrians) in the Halls of the Living, which the bone sages then have them compete for the the chance to escape, except for Starfinder it's straight up reality TV.
There is also a new class called Precog, and they are anchored to particular aspects of time and one of the anchors you can have is Doomed Future.
I say all this to get to the character idea I came up with.
An Elabrian (AP#3) Icon (famous person)Precog whose doomed future is growing old quietly instead of becoming the undead galactic menace they've always assumed they'd be. So they use their powers to try to change the future.
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So, as we all know, Eox suffered a cataclysmic event and all the eoxian elite became undead to stave off extinction. Except for a small pocket of living Eoxians (calling themselves Elabrians) in the Halls of the Living, which the bone sages then have them compete for the the chance to escape, except for Starfinder it's straight up reality TV.
There is also a new class called Precog, and they are anchored to particular aspects of time and one of the anchors you can have is Doomed Future.
I say all this to get to the character idea I came up with.
An Elabrian (AP#3) Icon (famous person)Precog whose doomed future is growing old quietly instead of becoming the undead galactic menace they've always assumed they'd be. So they use their powers to try to change the future.
Ooh, I smell series!
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It's funny the things you learn when trying to create a Spotify playlist. FWIW I'm a Pandora man because its whole, "Here are the bands I like, now let me thumbs-down/thumbs-up songs to train you," is amazingly better than Spotify's.
I can't stand Spotify's generated playlists, so I have to build my own. My first pass was typically naive: "Put in all the songs from all the albums from all the artists I like."
It was a disaster.
I started over, doing one album from one artist every Saturday and Sunday, listening to every song and deciding whether or not to add it to any of my playlists.
And y'know what?
Some artists started off terrible!!!
I was surprised when Aerosmith's debut album scored only one song ("Dream On"), of course. But then the Black Eyed Peas' first album got -0- songs, but at least I recognized some talent. Bob Seger's first album was appallingly meh, and while David Guetta's Nothing But The Beat is one of my all-time favorite albums (yeah, I have eclectic tastes), the rest of his stuff is horrific generic L.A. club music that I can't stomach at all.
Listening to some of the older albums, you wonder, "Who saw the talent there and recognized that they'd get SO much better?"
I love Spotify, usually I just put on my list of liked songs and let it go crazy. Though I have close to 2k songs on there.
I also have created a few playlists. I don't really like trying to teach an algorithm what I like I'd rather just shove it in there.
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I got my Texas Master Naturalist textbook, tee shirt, and ID badge today. Class starts Tuesday night. Sooooo excited!
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I love Spotify, usually I just put on my list of liked songs and let it go crazy. Though I have close to 2k songs on there.
I also have created a few playlists. I don't really like trying to teach an algorithm what I like I'd rather just shove it in there.
I love that every month Pandora sees fit to throw around 50 songs I've never heard before at me, plus it plays all the new releases from my favorite artists.
I'm of the, "Fire-and-forget, and let someone else make me try new stuff" mindset...
...and Pandora's on in the background, and just put on a song I've never heard ("Deja Vu", which honestly isn't bad at all).
I like new stuff... when someone else picks it out.
Oh I find new stuff, for instance Eels just released a new album I've been listening to for the last half hour.
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I like Spotify, in that it's a handy place to find everything together, and generally, if you want something, they will have it. Bandcamp is better for discovering (and buying music from) new artists, though.
Limey, that is the lesson that I never knew I needed.