hello, everyone. I realize that it's been a while. But I was in the hospital for fie months.. Worst news first. i believe that everyone knows about my pituitary tumor. So in August, I was sent to the hospital. There, it was determined that the entire gland needed removal.
During the operation, I had a stroke. Then I needed months of therapy.
I was discharged December the eighth. So I was home for the holidays.
I'm glad to see that everyone else is well. DAMN, it's ggood to be home.
Oh my goodness! The tumor is bad, the stroke is bad, but WELCOME HOME!!!!
That's got to feel good!
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So, I'm digitally paranoid: Give me a web site that I can access with Firefox and NoScript or I'm not particularly interested in doing business with you.
Global Megacorporation just gave us a new benefit of free gym membership... except you cannot access any aspect of the program without first installing their app on your phone.
Nope. Not a chance. I cannot fathom one legitimate reason you wouldn't build a web interface (it's FAR easier to build a web site than an app), so whatever that app is, it will never run on my phone.
So much for "free" gym membership.
hello, everyone. I realize that it's been a while. But I was in the hospital for fie months.. Worst news first. i believe that everyone knows about my pituitary tumor. So in August, I was sent to the hospital. There, it was determined that the entire gland needed removal.
During the operation, I had a stroke. Then I needed months of therapy.
I was discharged December the eighth. So I was home for the holidays.
I'm glad to see that everyone else is well. DAMN, it's ggood to be home.
Great to hear from you, John, and so happy you are home and doing better!
hello, everyone. I realize that it's been a while. But I was in the hospital for fie months.. Worst news first. i believe that everyone knows about my pituitary tumor. So in August, I was sent to the hospital. There, it was determined that the entire gland needed removal.
During the operation, I had a stroke. Then I needed months of therapy.
I was discharged December the eighth. So I was home for the holidays.
I'm glad to see that everyone else is well. DAMN, it's ggood to be home.
Crap.
Though, I have to say, that of all the bad places and times to have a stroke, a surgery in hospital might be the one of the bit less bad.
Coincidentally, I was going through some older posts earlier and started to wonder what are you doing since you stopped posting.
Good to see you(r writing) alive.
glad to read you again, John!
i'd been wondering how you were; now i know.
and wow. i hope your continued recovery is thorough, steady, and complete!
hello, everyone. I realize that it's been a while. But I was in the hospital for fie months.. Worst news first. i believe that everyone knows about my pituitary tumor. So in August, I was sent to the hospital. There, it was determined that the entire gland needed removal.
During the operation, I had a stroke. Then I needed months of therapy.
I was discharged December the eighth. So I was home for the holidays.
I'm glad to see that everyone else is well. DAMN, it's ggood to be home.
HOLY SHIT
Yikes. John. Welcome back.
Welcome back, John! Glad you're on the road to recovery.
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I got a new bird feeder from the Parents Association at my school and hung it up outside my bedroom window. So far this morning, I've had a Carolina Chickadee, a pair of Tufted Titmice, a pair of Carolina Wrens (on the ground underneath the tree), and a female Cardinal.
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a female Cardinal.
Francis tries to regain his progressive image after the Ukraine invasion blunders?
...
Sorry, sorry, I'll be in the naughty corner.
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a female Cardinal.Francis tries to regain his progressive image after the Ukraine invasion blunders?
...
Sorry, sorry, I'll be in the naughty corner.
On the contrary. Cookies.
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OK. Holy carp. My winter breaks had nothing like this.
One of the impii's friends built a full Jeopardy session using topics, questions, and answers gathered from the group. Then he built a Jeopardy board. He and Impus Minor set it up on our 75" TV, and they're now live streaming a full-blown Jeopardy game, complete with contestants, a live audience, a full board, buzzers, answers and questions, etc.
It's really quite impressive. Though I'm glad I have noise-canceling headphones for my work.
EDIT: Yeah, yeah, I chaperoned ski trips and spent many, many happy days on the slopes and staying in various winter cabins, from, "How can this thing still be standing?" to "Who had enough money to build this?", but that all cost tons of money. A home-brewed Jeopardy game was essentially free and it's so well-done I'm sure they'll all remember this event for years.
Maybe I should streak it...
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And then there's just being a whale (or a porpoise, as the case may be).
Underpaid Underling: How can I help you?
NobodysHome: I accidentally bought the same cosmetic gear twice, and I was hoping to get store credit so I could pick something different.
UU: I'm afraid it's against policy to give store credit. The best I can do is to transfer it to a different character. Is that OK?
NH: Well, if that's all you can do, that's fine. It was my mistake, after all.
UU: Thank you for your patience! Our gamemasters will review the case and let you know once they're done.
So, I let it go for a few days. Those with power checked my account. And yeah. It's kind of embarrassing...
GM: Oh, Mr. NobodysHome! I see that you originally asked for store credit, but UU told you that wasn't possible. Of course it's possible! . Send us a quick note as to what you'd like and we'll get it to you right away!
Yes, I appreciate the fine service. But knowing that it's because I've spent hundreds of dollars with them over the years makes it a little less "nice" and a little more "mercenary".
Still, I got my exchange, and there's that to be thankful for.
1 of somewhere between 4 and 10 14-hour workdays down. I'm beginning to suspect this was a mistake on my part...
1 of somewhere between 4 and 10 14-hour workdays down. I'm beginning to suspect this was a mistake on my part...
Caffeine is your friend.
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Apparently the company in charge of the home and garden show we had an exhibit at last year was so impressed with our exhibit that this year they offered to let us setup for free if we set up our exhibit at both their home and garden shows. This weekend is the first one (both at Monona Terrance).
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Am feeling a bit better, if only a bit. You may wish to lock your doors tonight.
Am feeling a bit better, if only a bit. You may wish to lock your doors tonight.
Ugh. Don't get me started.
We had 8 kids over yesterday, so in the living room and dining room there were 11 people. And yet every single person dutifully locked the front door when coming in or going out, so there was constant knocking, interruptions, and stupidity.
I pointed out that no one in their right mind was going to try to sneak in to a crowded living room to rob the house, so please stop locking the d**ned door! Force of habit won out, and they continued to keep locking the door all afternoon.
They also kept leaving the toilet seat up, but that's a tirade for another time. My TL;DR tirade is, "If you leave the toilet seat up and flush, you fill the bathroom with a vile unsanitary mist. If you leave it up and don't flush, you fill the bathroom with a vile smell. Can you please just close the d**ned lid?"
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In other news, I'm beginning to understand why Tom Baker is considered *the* quintessential Doctor of the "early" period. He has the same clownish self-deprecation that made Patrick Troughton so endearing, including a big goofy grin when he says something either stupid or insightful. Unlike Patrick Troughton, he openly discusses his ideas before they're fully realized (one of my constant irritations with both Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee was the whole, "I won't say anything about what's going on until I'm 100% sure what it is, which will always be in the final episode of the series.").
So, he's more likable than Pertwee. He's comical like Troughton. And the writing has gone up about seven notches from the worst of the early 1970s Pertwee writing.
A more likeable character. More willingness to have the Doctor discuss ideas before they've come to fruition, so that sometimes he's wrong. MUCH better writing. It all combined to make a much better Doctor. I can see popularity soaring this season.
And I'm sure by the end of 7 seasons of him I'll be sick to death of him...
And there's another cultural/East Coast vs. West Coast thing: "Pennsylvania couple left shocked after dog eats $4,000 in cash".
(1) Here in California, pretty much everyone I know is trying to move away from cash completely.
(2) Even before that, in my lifetime I don't think I've ever had more than $1,400 in cash at once.
I hear that New Yorkers still say, "Cash is King", and many East Coast venues still offer cash discounts. But around here? Carrying $20 is more than enough for almost all situations. We have small groups of Pacific Islanders and southeast Asians who have a fundamental mistrust in banks and still use cash almost exclusively, but they're definitely a wee minority.
EDIT: And FTR, the kids all use bank debit cards and Venmo. These days almost every bank has some form of "free youth checking" account where they can keep their $17 balance and still use a debit card and have all the advantages of online banking. So for example last night they all went out to dinner, Impus Major paid half, Impus Minor paid half, then all the other kids paid them back using Venmo. Not a penny of cash changed hands.
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In other news, I'm beginning to understand why Tom Baker is considered *the* quintessential Doctor of the "early" period. He has the same clownish self-deprecation that made Patrick Troughton so endearing, including a big goofy grin when he says something either stupid or insightful. Unlike Patrick Troughton, he openly discusses his ideas before they're fully realized (one of my constant irritations with both Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee was the whole, "I won't say anything about what's going on until I'm 100% sure what it is, which will always be in the final episode of the series.").
So, he's more likable than Pertwee. He's comical like Troughton. And the writing has gone up about seven notches from the worst of the early 1970s Pertwee writing.
A more likeable character. More willingness to have the Doctor discuss ideas before they've come to fruition, so that sometimes he's wrong. MUCH better writing. It all combined to make a much better Doctor. I can see popularity soaring this season.
And I'm sure by the end of 7 seasons of him I'll be sick to death of him...
YES. There are REASONS I adore Tom Baker. It's not about the costume.
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(Although to be honest, I find aspects of ALL the Doctors endearing, except for Colin Baker, who was a mistake.)
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And there's another cultural/East Coast vs. West Coast thing: "Pennsylvania couple left shocked after dog eats $4,000 in cash".
(1) Here in California, pretty much everyone I know is trying to move away from cash completely.
(2) Even before that, in my lifetime I don't think I've ever had more than $1,400 in cash at once.I hear that New Yorkers still say, "Cash is King", and many East Coast venues still offer cash discounts. But around here? Carrying $20 is more than enough for almost all situations. We have small groups of Pacific Islanders and southeast Asians who have a fundamental mistrust in banks and still use cash almost exclusively, but they're definitely a wee minority.
EDIT: And FTR, the kids all use bank debit cards and Venmo. These days almost every bank has some form of "free youth checking" account where they can keep their $17 balance and still use a debit card and have all the advantages of online banking. So for example last night they all went out to dinner, Impus Major paid half, Impus Minor paid half, then all the other kids paid them back using Venmo. Not a penny of cash changed hands.
I still prefer to use cash when I can, though keeping your life savings under the mattress or whathaveyou seems a bit too old-school.
I still prefer to use cash when I can, though keeping your life savings under the mattress or whathaveyou seems a bit too old-school.And there's another cultural/East Coast vs. West Coast thing: "Pennsylvania couple left shocked after dog eats $4,000 in cash".
(1) Here in California, pretty much everyone I know is trying to move away from cash completely.
(2) Even before that, in my lifetime I don't think I've ever had more than $1,400 in cash at once.I hear that New Yorkers still say, "Cash is King", and many East Coast venues still offer cash discounts. But around here? Carrying $20 is more than enough for almost all situations. We have small groups of Pacific Islanders and southeast Asians who have a fundamental mistrust in banks and still use cash almost exclusively, but they're definitely a wee minority.
EDIT: And FTR, the kids all use bank debit cards and Venmo. These days almost every bank has some form of "free youth checking" account where they can keep their $17 balance and still use a debit card and have all the advantages of online banking. So for example last night they all went out to dinner, Impus Major paid half, Impus Minor paid half, then all the other kids paid them back using Venmo. Not a penny of cash changed hands.
Honestly, it's my obsessive-compulsive nature. Using a card means I always know exactly how much I spent and where. Back when we primarily used cash we were always missing $50-$150 a month, and it drove me crazy.
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OK. Paladin pride.
GothBard and I were doing our lunchtime walk when we heard a crash behind us. We looked back, and a blue pickup had hit a parked car. The guy pulled away, ripped off the parked car's bumper, and drove off up the street. We thought we got its license plate number.
We decided to walk back down and try to contact the car's owner. She came out to meet us. We gave her all the information we could, but our eyes really aren't great. The damage was severe -- the pickup had ripped off her entire front bumper; so $3000-$4000 in damage. She thought she was going to be out of luck.
I just got a call from the Berkeley police. We nailed the bugger.
Hit-and-run drivers are a bane. I don't care what their excuse was, I'm happy I got them.
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Am feeling a bit better, if only a bit. You may wish to lock your doors tonight.Ugh. Don't get me started.
We had 8 kids over yesterday, so in the living room and dining room there were 11 people. And yet every single person dutifully locked the front door when coming in or going out, so there was constant knocking, interruptions, and stupidity.
I pointed out that no one in their right mind was going to try to sneak in to a crowded living room to rob the house, so please stop locking the d**ned door! Force of habit won out, and they continued to keep locking the door all afternoon.
They also kept leaving the toilet seat up, but that's a tirade for another time. My TL;DR tirade is, "If you leave the toilet seat up and flush, you fill the bathroom with a vile unsanitary mist. If you leave it up and don't flush, you fill the bathroom with a vile smell. Can you please just close the d**ned lid?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Honestly, it's my obsessive-compulsive nature. Using a card means I always know exactly how much I spent and where. Back when we primarily used cash we were always missing $50-$150 a month, and it drove me crazy.I still prefer to use cash when I can, though keeping your life savings under the mattress or whathaveyou seems a bit too old-school.
That's the thing - one of the reasons I do like cash is that I find it easier to budget - if I take out £50, that's what I have to spend (having loose change is also convenient, and that's something you don't get with card payments)
So... how much time is my curiosity worth?
The Berkeley police department called to get my information for the hit and run report. After taking my name and date of birth, the officer clearly brought up a full file on me, because he had my middle name, my address, and so forth. I commented, "Wow! So you can bring up all my information that easily?"
The officer replied: "Yes, but it's a good thing. Your record is amazingly clean."
I admitted, "Yeah, but I've gotten a couple of tickets in Berkeley."
He responded, "The only one in our system is a ticket from 2015."
Except...
...I haven't even been pulled over since 2013. I haven't gotten a ticket since 2006, and that was in Emeryville, not in Berkeley. And during my years as a chaperone for the school district, all my background checks showed no prior traffic incidents in the last 10 years.
So I'm desperately curious to know what I have on my record for 2015 -- as far as I know I didn't have any interactions with the police that year. But am I curious enough to fill out all the inevitable forms and pay the nominal fee to see my police record? Probably not...
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"Slave supervisor number #87551 scheduled for termination in disintegration booth in 3... 2... 1..."
"When this that happened? How?! WHY?!!..."
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So... how much time is my curiosity worth?
The Berkeley police department called to get my information for the hit and run report. After taking my name and date of birth, the officer clearly brought up a full file on me, because he had my middle name, my address, and so forth. I commented, "Wow! So you can bring up all my information that easily?"
The officer replied: "Yes, but it's a good thing. Your record is amazingly clean."
I admitted, "Yeah, but I've gotten a couple of tickets in Berkeley."
He responded, "The only one in our system is a ticket from 2015."Except...
...I haven't even been pulled over since 2013. I haven't gotten a ticket since 2006, and that was in Emeryville, not in Berkeley. And during my years as a chaperone for the school district, all my background checks showed no prior traffic incidents in the last 10 years.So I'm desperately curious to know what I have on my record for 2015 -- as far as I know I didn't have any interactions with the police that year. But am I curious enough to fill out all the inevitable forms and pay the nominal fee to see my police record? Probably not...
You absolutely should, even if it's just a dumbass speeding ticket.
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I called the police department and it was exactly the wall of bureaucracy you'd expect from a police department in a 100,000-person city. The front desk doesn't have access to records. The records department won't look at anything without a written, signed, paper release request and a $10 fee, and even then your request has to specify exactly what it is that you're looking for. So, "I'd like to know what I supposedly did in 2015" isn't a valid request.
I'm just going to wait and hope the cop calls me back about the collision and I'll try to squirrel my nefarious deeds out of him...
...right now I'm making ribs, potato salad, corn on the cob, and grilled asparagus for Impus Minor's gaming group...
- - - - - - - - - - -
there's a franchise out there that i value much more highly than Doctor Who. it's a franchise that several FaWtLies also treasure. but it's a franchise i don't explicitly discuss in this venue any longer -- and those reasons are a matter of record, no matter how little it matters. but today i feel compelled to point out an obvious parallel between last week's commentary and recent news about The Thing I Don't Talk About Anymore.
a flagship IP has been cratered over the past 11 years, in terms of narrative quality and market value -- and at least one of those metrics is undeniable. and to catapult us into the new year, we hear it announced that a theoretical movie will be helmed by an activist director whose background is more rooted in Middle Eastern socio-political spheres and documentaries. in and of itself, this is nominally interesting trivia -- but it's trivia for which you, the viewer or fan, must dig a bit, because the . . . . . . "sales pitch" of this announcement is about gender identity, melanin ratio, and perhaps a little about nation of origin. (and, even more disbelief-inducing is the claim of "first" on one of those metrics, which makes me wonder if this announced director or anyone in the news media knows who even hired her . . . .)
i'm sure many of you have heard rumblings about this new information. i'm sure you've heard all "the regular channels" complaining about it. i'm sure that some of you think it's all an overreaction, or some form of hate, or simply not worth remarking upon.
again, the theme of "man bad! because man!" is overtly and thoroughly infused into the very mindset of the person set to guide the Next Big Project for your struggling franchise, and this announcement is made after the close of the worst year for your parent company in decades.
this proclamation is not one that makes me want to spend my money on that IP, at all.
and here's my closing comment, corollary to last week's summation:
We didn't get here without you, ladies.
- - - - - - - - - - -
JUST.
I actually have no idea what franchise you are talking about...
I actually have no idea what franchise you are talking about...
Star Wars is the answer!
Edit: Or probably Marvel.
I actually have no idea what franchise you are talking about...
Same.
Also, not yet having seen any of the new Who past the Thirteenth Doctor's death, I'm not qualified to offer an opinion on the Tennant/Gatwa episodes.
I don't know shit about Doctor Who but I do know I'm going to be hella busy this week with an inch of snow today and taking down the garden show exhibit Monday and then snow every other day starting Tuesday for the foreseeable future.
Also, the doctor with the curly hair and scarf was the best doctor.
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I actually have no idea what franchise you are talking about...Star Wars is the answer!
Edit: Or probably Marvel.
I've become disenchanted with both franchises, Star Trek as well, actually, not for reasons of content but because there's just too damned much of it. Give me one series at a time so I can enjoy it properly. Three series or six films in one year and I stop caring and give up.
Although I do love Strange New Worlds, and Andor was brilliant.
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Sigh. Pre-Christmas D&D game got postponed until tomorrow because DM's daughter had Covid, tomorrow's game is now canceled because DM is in hospital with kidney stones.
Only a truly terrible person would complain about the inconvenience of this, so I won't.
Instead I will just say that I miss hanging out with these truly excellent people and hope that the whole family feels better quickly.
...aaand tomorrow's game has been canceled because DM is down with the flu. Trying again for the 14th, which will make it a month and a half between sessions. We're playing more of WW's Classic-D&D-adventures-modded-for-Fate-System game at home with the kids in the meantime. We're about to go under Illefarn in search of Hermione's PC, who's apparently been kidnapped by an orc sorcerer.
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I've become disenchanted with both franchises, Star Trek as well, actually, not for reasons of content but because there's just too damned much of it. Give me one series at a time so I can enjoy it properly.
Hell, I remember people saying that Deep Space Nine and Voyager both airing every week was too much.
Also, I'm going to go ahead and make the claim that Deep Space Nine was the last great Star Trek show. Though Voyager wasn't terrible, it's definitely when the TV franchise started to go downhill. Don't get me started on the film franchise...
I'll talk about Marvel anytime. there just hasn't been much to talk about, for my part.
DISCLAIMER: this one's safe reading for all audiences. at least i think so. more question than comment. but a lot of words, so spoilered for wall-o'-text.
is it just me, or is it somewhat reasonable to view the comic-book stories as more "resilient" than the Doctor Who stories? as in, the fact that we readers/fans are so accustomed to reboots and retcons that it's much easier to adapt to/recover from unpopular creative periods?
or is it the perception that stories like "The Timeless Children" are just more fundamentally contrary to the historic underpinnings of the character in question? i mean . . . how many origin stories are there for Wolverine?
perhaps i can just pick out the components of the Wolverine stories that make the most sense to me, and be content with that. perhaps i'm less invested in the particulars of the character, or his narrative?
on the other hand, there just seems to be something more . . . solid about the Doctor. both as character and in narrative. as though there's a certain inflexibility built into it, which can be both strength and weakness, to a point.
i was trying to drum up a metaphoric parallel, and i can't quite make up my mind about whether to go with metallurgy (grades of iron) or alcoholic beverages (beer/wine/Scotch). but i'm sure you all see where i'm going with this line of reflection.
both of these media serve the human spirit within the realm of heroic narrative -- they are the same. both of these media focus upon questions of character/integrity/humanity -- they are the same.
and perhaps it's only my grasp of the two that brings out a difference between them that is valuable, important, and possibly even worth preserving -- at least from my point of view. because they are different. even within their similarity. neither one loses any of its power or significance *because* of those differences, but maybe there's something inherent to the fabric of how the stories get told that supplies one with greater resistance to "tough times" . . . .
meh. idunno. but the above is at least a snapshot of both, from Syrus' perspective.
story is powerful. story is human. and we could all do with a bit more of all three.
I actually have no idea what franchise you are talking about...Star Wars is the answer!
Edit: Or probably Marvel.
I've become disenchanted with both franchises, Star Trek as well, actually, not for reasons of content but because there's just too damned much of it. Give me one series at a time so I can enjoy it properly. Three series or six films in one year and I stop caring and give up.
Although I do love Strange New Worlds, and Andor was brilliant.
I was never big on superheroes in the first place.
Not that I did not enjoyed a few MCU movies, and a game or two, but I was never a dedicated fan of superheroes of any kind.
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I've become disenchanted with both franchises, Star Trek as well, actually, not for reasons of content but because there's just too damned much of it. Give me one series at a time so I can enjoy it properly.Hell, I remember people saying that Deep Space Nine and Voyager both airing every week was too much.
Also, I'm going to go ahead and make the claim that Deep Space Nine was the last great Star Trek show. Though Voyager wasn't terrible, it's definitely when the TV franchise started to go downhill. Don't get me started on the film franchise...
I remember people complaining about Voyager being so terrible. A lady friend put it best "I've been waiting my whole f%$#ing life for a woman captain on Star Trek, and then she spends the whole f$@@ing time LOST!!! F%@%. You, no thanks!!".
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I remember people complaining about Voyager being so terrible. A lady friend put it best "I've been waiting my whole f%$&ing life for a woman captain on Star Trek, and then she spends the whole f+~&ing time LOST!!! F+!!. You, no thanks!!".I've become disenchanted with both franchises, Star Trek as well, actually, not for reasons of content but because there's just too damned much of it. Give me one series at a time so I can enjoy it properly.Hell, I remember people saying that Deep Space Nine and Voyager both airing every week was too much.
Also, I'm going to go ahead and make the claim that Deep Space Nine was the last great Star Trek show. Though Voyager wasn't terrible, it's definitely when the TV franchise started to go downhill. Don't get me started on the film franchise...
Yeah, Voyager was where I stopped watching for similar reasons. I hadn't cared for Kate Mulgrew since Throw Momma from the Train and I was irritated that they cast her. Also, Voyager suffered from the same problem Discovery has: "Writers? We don't need to waste money on writers. It's Star Trek! The fans just want to see the cool new things the ship can do!"
We just got some bad news. One of Val's godfathers is dying (stage 4 colon cancer, metastasized to multiple areas, inoperable) and Val and WW are going to be driving back to CA for a while to help take care of him.
They may be out there a while. Luckily WW's job is remote and he can do it from anywhere, and since we're homeschooling Teensy Valeros anyway, that can also be done anywhere.
But we're reeling. Jerry is one of the finest human beings I know. A good, kind, generous, big-hearted man. He used to be a Lutheran pastor until he came out, and then when his bishop kicked him out of the church, then became an AIDS hospice nurse and church organist.
i'm sad to hear about your friend, lm. my sympathies.
wow. just over four years "late", but i finally watched Joker.
absolutely. amazing.