The Cantina Staring Back At You From The Abyss

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for leaks!

Hooray for boosters!

Friday morning, and there are some flooding issues around the area; they're expected to go down by afternoon. May have to alter the route in to work slightly, depending on whether one end of our too-small-for-traffic-maps-to-care-about road is submerged. Already planning to leave a bit early because it's a double garbage day, and wrestling extra garbage bags into the car for the trip down the lane may take some doing.

Still deciding whether to DNF that one audiobook or not. May give it a slight bit longer to interest me. Then again, I have a light MG title in the queue that I'm fairly certain is not entirely populated with unlikable people doing unlikable things for reasons they constantly refuse to tell me because they're being all Clever and Schemey by hiding everything from the reader, but gosh, wow, won't I be just shocked when the author finally gets around to opening the curtain and flipping on the spotlight (if I'm still hanging around by then)...

 

[MaeZe]

... Got interrupted by an Issue with the microwave. It would run a couple seconds, then stop. Circuit looked fine... was it dying again? It wasn't that old... so I decided to check the outlet it was plugged into, which - because this house was evidently wired by a crazed mongoose who had no business holding a screwdriver, let alone wiring a house - is actually downstairs.
Whoa, momma...
We're lucky there were no flames. And the microwave itself appears to be okay. But the outlet sacrificed mightily.
So, since we don't have any extra-heavy-duty extension cords on hand, we're essentially without a microwave until we can pick one up. And find a new place to plug it into, because the place we plugged it into looked a little toasty, too...
(And as for what that says about the wiring in this house... I know. Believe me, I know. Until I win the lottery and can afford to deal with it, or just buy a new house with better wiring, it's not something I can do anything about...)
And I think I'll crawl bedward now. Work tomorrow...

A quick, much less expensive temporary fix is to have someone install GFCIs (ground fault circuit interrupters) in all the outlets. It's just a matter of switching the plugs out right there at the outlet. If you are adventurous and know how to turn the circuit breakers off which it sounds like you do, you can install them yourself.

Unscrew the outlet cover. Take the old plug out, wire the new one in the same way the old one was wired. You need to get a new outlet cover if it doesn't come with the GFCI.

The way it works is like a fuse. It blows but you just push the button right there to reset it.

You might be annoyed if you have to keep resetting it, but it will definitely reduce fire risk in a house with old wiring. And if it keeps blowing, you probably are putting a heavy electric user in an outlet not wired for that much juice. And sometimes all it is is you can't run two appliances at the same time on the same circuit.

If that's the case you need to find out which outlets are fed from which circuits. It's not necessarily two things plugged into the same receptacle, the circuit might include more than one. In my house, for example, the cooktop hood fan is on the same circuit as is most of the kitchen. So if you have the microwave on at the same time as the range hood, you can hear the fan power decrease.

Anyway, GFCIs are extra insurance the power will shut off when sometimes the old fuses don't blow and wires and plugs heat up.

I only needed them in some of the outlets, places one might use an appliance that draws a lot of power. For everything else I rely on the existing fuses in the fuse box.

How Does a GFCI Outlet Work?

In my bathroom there is a plug that has a "Test" and a "Reset" button. When I push the "Test" button, it cuts off the current to the outlet. What is this? How is it different from the fuse in the fuse box?

home.howstuffworks.com

Turns out there is a easier one I didn't know existed, no wiring needed, just plug it in to the existing outlet.

Electrical - Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI) | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

www.osha.gov

Portable Type:

Portable Type GFCIs come in several styles, all designed for easy transport. Some are designed to plug into existing non-GFCI outlets, or connect with a cord and plug arrangement. The portable type also incorporates a no-voltage release device that will disconnect power to the outlets if any supply conductor is open. Units approved for outdoor use will be in enclosures suitable for the environment. If exposed to rain, they must be listed as waterproof.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Thanks for the tip about the GFCIs! Will have to look into that. (I think I have one of those outlets in my workshed, actually... where you press the little button on it to reset it. Not sure if I can talk people into doing the wired outlets, but maybe the plug in ones, especially on major appliances...)

Friday afternoon, and there are still streets shut down with flooding, but fortunately none on my way to work. And it looks like another major route into the region is down, too. This happened several years ago for long enough that store shelves and even gas supplies started looking thin. (That's when I switched from topping my car's gas tank at quarter-full to topping at half-full, Just In Case it happened again, and have never regretted it.)

Joy.

And the two people who have been out all week... I wonder if they're coming back at all, because the latest internal job posting listed two openings on our shift.

Double joy.

Anyway, got the oven pre-heating for the smoked turkey. Going to have to do all the heating of stuff on the stovetop, which will be Interesting and require some juggling, but can be done.

--

And later the same Friday. Probably should've tried to do some transcription tonight, but washing up after turkey night always takes longer, plus I just didn't wanna tonight. Tomorrow, though... need to push myself tomorrow night.

Smoked turkey and sides were heated and consumed. The great thing about smoked turkey is it's already cooked and just needs to be heated up well. Plus it's smoked turkey.

And sibling's job continues to be weird. She went in today for some computer training, but the computers went down after an hour. Then she was told that, due to staffing Issues, the main store wouldn't actually be open for two of her shifts this coming week (it'd be all drive-thru, 'cause this is the pharmacy that never sleeps), so she'd be doing stuff like facing the shelves and pricing. The sibling loves facing shelves and reading planograms and such, plus not having to deal with customers while she learns the store, so this is heaven to her. (And the manager actually thought she'd walk when she was told this, even though she just got the job on a frellin' miracle and isn't about to walk if she can at all help it because she knows she needs this, the experience and kick-start to her resume if nothing else.) It's just bizarre to watch all this unfold.

As for the microwave saga, we're thinking it's the extension cord that was the problem. (Yes, I know - microwave on extension cord, not the best idea, but necessary when a house is wired like ours. It was a heavy-duty extension cord, but it was older and we probably should've replaced it a while ago, like you're supposed to replace extension cords and surge protectors every so often.) So we need to locate another heavy duty extension cord, hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I'm a bit flat today. Which means it was a good thing to schedule my vaccination right before the weekend. Feel like somebody punched me in the arm. A bit of chills right before I went to bed.

I predict naps and maybe computer games for today.

 

[RunForPresentense]

Hope the GFCI outlet research is goin well! I am well acquainted with the one in my bathroom because of the ancient hair dryer I use has frequent quibbles with the old apartment’s power preferences.

That’s great news about Sibling. I think I’d also find facing shelves enjoyable and meditative. Also a fun way to get enmeshed in marketing. All this is assuming ’facing’ means being a drill sergeant to all the products on shelves and telling them to front face and salute customers.

Hope you feel better Friendly Frog! Less chills more gamey thrills for you.

*shuffles awkwardly from foot to foot* I don’t know if it’s against social mores in this thread, but I wanted to mention I posted for the first time in forever!! Do you guys do that here? If so, do you provide a link for anyone interested in reading? If this is totally uncalled for here, please feel free to throw some advice at me

 

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for chills!

Hooray for posting in the first time forever! (If you mean posting elsewhere on the forum, SYW or wherever, go ahead and provide a link. If you mean posting on a blog or elsewhere... go ahead and share that, too.)

Saturday, late morning, and slowly getting the wheels turning on the day. First up is the room tidying, including getting back to dusting, which I've been neglecting because lazy. After that, I hope to finally get around to trying out that defroster repair kit now that it's not freezing or raining and I'm not supposed to be driving anyone anywhere. Got some audiobooks on Overdrive to try out while I'm doing this; always have to have more than one on hand, in case of a DNF...

--

And closing in on noon. What part of "my door is closed and my headphones are on" translates to family as "please start babbling to me through the closed door then get angry that I don't hear you or respond"? Gah... At least I got the room stuff done. Now I think I'll take a lunch break, then see if I can do the car stuff without people babbling at me about stuff I already know. (Yes, Mom, we need the heavy duty extension cord... no, Mom, I don't have one on me... no, Mom, I didn't want to drive all over today, especially since the store that sells the ones we want is not open on weekends... no, Mom, telling me what I already know is not actually accomplishing anything but aggravating us both...)

 

[Friendly Frog]

Thanks, RunforPresentense, I'm feeling a bit better. Still some muscle soreness but the brain fog is clearing. I reckon it'll be over soon. I take it you mean you posted in SYW? By all means, share a link.

BD, I'd recommend a note on your door saying you have your headphones on, but if my teenage years were an indication, that will only be an invitation to either just yell louder from behind the door, or barging in repeatedly to resume pointless discussions.

- Froggy, waiting for my last game to download, wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea and life is not all that bad at the moment.

 

[MaeZe]

Yay, Sat. Dog barks, needs to go out. I get up, eat breakfast, feed the dog, go back to bed and back to sleep. Wake up, time for lunch.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for downloads!

Hooray for Saturday sleeping!

Saturday afternoon, and back from the attempt at rear defroster repair. Could not get the two-part adhesive stuff to adhese for the life of me, so I may try a different kit (could have been old). Also may need to pre-bend the wire to help hold the contact point properly... in any event, don't think it took at all, so I will have to try again. Meanwhile, I have a battery operated fan that does an okay job clearing the back window. Not a permanent solution, but if I can't get the thing fixed myself it might help me limp along until I can get the thing into a shop (which I'd rather wait on until the next oil change/maintenance appointment, kill two birds with one bill). It's not like it's an emergency or vital operational failure...

Mergh...

Pretty sure I'll be driving out to a hardware store tomorrow for that extra heavy duty extension cord and ground fault plug-in, which are supposed to be available at a place not too far away (if sites can be trusted; if not, there's a Grainger that's open weekdays we can get to that's supposed to have them).

And I'll be driving Dad to his INR early Monday, and Mom to her PT on Tuesday. Then work Wednesday through Friday. Which means I'll be driving somewhere every day until next Saturday.

Yippy skippy, says the person who doesn't like driving... (Yeah, I know it needs doing, and now the sibling has a legitimate reason to not do it with her being employed at all. Still feel a bit grumbly about it.)

--

And later the same Saturday. Leftover turkey consumed, dishes washed, laundry put away, car chains cleaned and dried and put away (I might take them out again to oil them if I can figure out what oil to use; the instructions said to wash them with hot water and dry them before storage, so I did that much), and now I'm seeing if I can land a transcription gig on the one night I can stay up late enough to do it, but there's literally nothing posted. Will give it half an hour, then do something else.

Also started a new audiobook today. (Actually, started two, but the first was a terribly done audiobook; the guy didn't just read the written words, he said things like "(THE AUTHOR) writes 'blahblah'", and "The opening pages read,'blahblah'"... totally killed my interest in a whole book being read to me like that.) Will see if I stick with it, but so far not bad. Would've done better if relatives weren't yammering at me during it, though... mergh...

--

Sunday, late morning, and we will be going out to the hardware store eventually. Mom's really dragging today (she wants to ride along and pick up unspecified "things"), and right now she's on the phone with a relative, so it could be a while. Fine by me; we had a frost last night, and I'm sort of hoping it'll thaw off the car before we go because scraping is tedious.

Meanwhile, just posted a book review, so I need to start another one. Would continue my audiobook, but listening and waiting to be told when we're going somewhere are not mutually compatible activities.

Let's see... been on a fantasy streak for a bit, probably should change it up to another genre...

 

[E.F.B.]

Also started a new audiobook today. (Actually, started two, but the first was a terribly done audiobook; the guy didn't just read the written words, he said things like "(THE AUTHOR) writes 'blahblah'", and "The opening pages read,'blahblah'"... totally killed my interest in a whole book being read to me like that.)

Oof. I've listened to a few audiobooks where the narrator didn't read very well, but that's a whole new level.


I just saw that we lost another member of crit group. Too bad because I truly loved the story they were sharing, but I understand that life happens. They seemed serious about publishing, so hopefully the story will be out in the world one day and I can be among the first to snag a copy. This also leaves me with only one member whose work I can read because, as I mentioned in my last post, the other two write horror and I just can't emotionally with that genre. This is really going to mess with my completionism/perfectionist tendencies to not be able to read everybody's stuff...

ION the probiotics have worked wonders for mom. No more diarrhea at all. I guess when the doc gets back to us with the results of the sample tests she'll have to say things have improved and discuss what to do from there.

Welp, I've signed up to beta read for a friend, so better get on to that before I get behind. I hope I haven't overestimated how fast I can read on a screen, but if it comes down to it I might see if I can find a screen reader that will help me stay focused and get through it faster.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for dwindling crit groups!

Hooray for working probiotics!

Sunday afternoon, and we picked up an extension cord. They were out of ground fault things, but we figure we can add that later. For now, we just want our microwave working again... will be running the cord down later today.

Right now I'm backing up stuff I might miss in case of hard drive meltdown onto my little external drive. Really need to do a cull of some clutter files one of these days, but first I need to back stuff up...

 

[RunForPresentense]

Y’all, I spent way too long this evening binging Jane Virgin for probably the 3rd time. I think I did the same sorta thing with a constant lunchtime rewatch of Peter Pan when I was 10-years-old. Anyone else do that—get into the same content to relax over and over? It’s practically meditative at this point.

How goes the betaing, EFB and how was all the driving, Brightdreamer? Did you end up sticking it out with the audiobook? What other genres you considering getting back to for your next listen?

Gosh, I don’t think I could make it through a poorly narrated audiobook anymore. I’ve been so spoiled by the likes of Neil Gaiman and Mary Robinette Kowal and all the awesome performers that read for Escape Artists podcasts. Oh, and the Headspace guy, Andy Puddicombe—anyone else meditate with Headspace? I feel mildly addicted to Andy’s voice if I’m being totally honest…

Feeling 100% yet FriendlyFrog?
Oh! BTW here’s the link to my 200 word sub—the thread is bit old now, I guess? Still getting used to the pace of things

Here’s to another Sunday wind down. Cheers to a new week, everyone.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for rewatching stuff! As for my rewatches... I've been through the first seasons of Expanse at least three times, up through five at least twice, and will be rewatching six as soon as it's ended, then likely loop back for a full run from S1Ep1 (once sufficiently emotionally recovered), because each time I'm struck again by how frellin' awesome and well written the show is, and how the characters grow believably. Also rewatched Lucifer twice (with select eps more than that), and part of me wants to rewatch The Good Place one of these days... Back in the day, I watched Sledge Hammer! umpteen times, the original Police Squad! innumerable times (had it on VHS), and at least two or three times through the full run of The Wild, Wild West.

I haven't had a chance to sit down with the audiobook again, but I'll probably stay with it for at least a while, as it hasn't given me any reason not to yet. (Robert Silverberg's Lord Valentine's Castle, SF with fantasy elements and something of a classic that I haven't gotten to yet.)

As for genres, I usually bounce between fantasy and SF, sometimes venturing into thriller/horror, the occasional romance, a western or classic or two, and once in a while a nonfiction title when I find one that interests me. I also range through age categories. I'm poking at a SF title on my Kindle right now; will probably finish, but haven't committed enough to list it as Currently Reading on my blog. (I generally go by a "10% or it didn't happen" rule; if I can't make it that far, I just let it go to vanish into the murk anonymously. The real criteria for pushing through to the bitter end, though, is whether or not I've listed it on my blog as Currently Reading; only ever backed down once from that level of commitment, because I'd really, really hoped the thing would turn around and it really, really refused to and I finally just could not take it anymore and nuked it/threw it in the giveaway bag.)

And so far, after some serious hassle running the extension cord, the microwave appears to be working again. (I'm sure you were all waiting to hear that.) We'll just order a plug-in ground fault thing at this point, as the hardware stores are rather picked over after our recent snow Issues (and multiple days of no pass traffic to replenish shelves). At least, knock on particle board, it seems the appliance and the socket itself are functional; it was just the past-prime extension cord that gave up the ghost... We really need to take the hint and inspect other cords, as we don't replace them nearly as often as we're supposed to.

And I suppose I ought to wind down the day a bit early. I have to be up at gawdsawful o'clock tomorrow to drive dad to his INR check, which will probably require some herding and prodding (the joys of age and dementia). But the sibling would have to make an awful tight turnaround after a graveyard shift to do it, so I figured I could manage it. Already got his little seat cushion ready to go in the car.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Yeah, I've weathered the vaccine, just in time for Monday. Joy. Still, can't complain, played computergames most of Sunday.

I don't do many TV comfort rewatches because there always seems too much new stuff to watch instead. My TV time is far more limited than my reading time. In that respect I just came off a comfort Terry Pratchett re-read, and oh, that has been a great comfort last year alright. Been thinking of doing a Diana Wynne Jones comfort reread next, but just not yet.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for recovery!

Welp, Monday morning, a quarter to too frellin' early, and going to be escorting Dad to his INR check soon. (The reason the appointments are this early is one, the sibling was doing this and she's a morning person, and two, if we get early-early appointments we have a better chance of a good parking spot; even with his handicap pass, that's a tough feat at this hospital, which underbuilt parking terribly.) Might end up crawling back into bed when I get home again.

 

[MaeZe]

I got much too upset last night trying to report the misinformation (I think I should call it bad information) on the Nextdoor forum. I reported post after post of mean anti-vaxxers claiming the news media was in on some big conspiracy to lie about all the vaccine caused deaths, the vaccines were still experimental, COVID was a hoax, one nurse claiming she's seen case after case of people in the hospital with horrible reactions to the vaccine, the VAERS was proof of all the vaccine deaths, and I would know all this if I knew where to look.

And for meanness they made threats to dox me, said they were Googling my name and would find out where I worked. This is a forum that one is required not to be anonymous. These people live in the same or nearby cities. Many of them know my last name because I didn't realize I could have just my first name and last initial showing for much too long.

Reported posts would be deleted (I wasn't the only one reporting the posts) then the anti-vaxxers would post them over again with comments that the censors took the posts down but they would repost them.

It was crazy, a frenzy!

It looks like mods finally closed and deleted the thread but someone might simply start another one to spew their conspiracy theories.

Book two of my duology is changing as this insanity unfolds before our very eyes.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for organized, aggressive ignorance!

And it's later Monday morning. Dad's INR was high, so he has to go back in Thursday morning for a recheck. (She was pretty sure the recent round of antibiotics was likely to blame, but wanted to be sure.) Got home and conked out again for a while.

Sibling decided to try to do grocery shopping after a graveyard shift. Did not go well due to her being exhausted. Hopefully she's asleep now. (Yes, sibling, it takes some adjusting. And maybe someone else has to do some of the shopping you normally do Monday.)

In any event, about time to get the day started for realsies. But quietly...

 

[E.F.B.]

How goes the betaing, EFB.

Re rewatching: Oh, definitely. I rewatch stuff all the time! It's nice to feel the feels all over again. My family even has things we rewatch annually, during certain holidays and seasons (not just Christmas), simply because it's something we enjoy that much.

Re betaing: It goes well. I had a quiet morning and was able to get 10 pages ahead of where I need to be to stay on target to finish by the time my friend needs everyone to be done reading. (I did math and as long as I read a minimum of 10 pages a day, I should be good to go.)

My eyeballs have now done as much reading on a screen as they can handle for the day, so time to get up and move around a bit.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for getting ahead!

Boo for spent eyeballs!

Just past lunch on Monday (that feels like Tuesday, because time is meaningless). Just checked work e-mail; due to backlog and absences, they want to do extra hours this week. I let them know that I might be late Thursday morning (not sure if sibling is going to be up for Dad's INR recheck or not), but would be good for it otherwise. Figures, the one week I need to do something Thursday morning we get extra hours...

This year's already getting on my nerves and it's only 10 days old...

--

And later on Monday. Managed some exercise, at least. And got site stuff caught up this morning. Still can't get a Sisyphus spark to catch, dang it...

And I'm pretty sure I'll be the one driving on Thursday morning, so it's good that I gave work a head's-up already. Will wait until Wednesday morning to confirm, though.

Sibling got some sleep. Hope it's enough. (She actually apologized for her meltdown this morning. Mom and I are shocked; she has never in the history of ever apologized for a meltdown. Fingers and toes crossed and particle board knocked that she can hang onto this job, as it's already working miracles...)

 

[RunForPresentense]

Ok so back to the part where we were talkin about all the rewatching cuz there was so much in there and I’m way behind!

I have to get back to the Expanse—I have watched some of season 1–was watching with a friend and we got derailed and I forgot about it somehow. It’s so up my alley, I’ll definitely loop back to that, thanks for the unintentional reminder heh! Also, I adore Lucifer. Though I can’t for the life of me figure out how it’s rooted in Gaiman’s Sandman world. Lucifer is one of those shows I shut writer brain off and enjoy to the hilt—not saying It’s not good enough or is a guilty pleasure. It’s just a dive in a enjoy show for me.
Oh! And rewatching Christmas/holiday movies!! I have several of those too, though I watched only Elf this year.

And comfort reads, that’s a great topic! I always read (or at least start it) Headless Horseman when the leaves start to change. It’s soporific in the beginning in a way I really crave around that time of year. Is the Terry Pratchett stuff anything from Discworld perchance? I only recently read Going Postal and the next few books in that series and I absolutely adore them.

10 pages a day for Betaing? Is this a full length novel? How long is the haul for that project?

OMG MaeZe I’m so sorry that happened! How utterly wild! Hope you’re feelin safer by now from the Idiocracy mob.

What kind of exercise are you into, Brightdreamer? Also, super cool about sibling. Did y’all give them tons of accolades and thanks to reinforce this new feature of their personality?

 

[Brightdreamer]

Oh, yes, do get back to The Expanse. It only gets better and better, and IMHO even improves on the source material now and again. (And if you can manage it, watch the Ty & That Guy aftershows, with Ty "half of James S. A. Corey/screenwriter/producer" Franck and Wes "Amos Burton" Chatham (plus the odd guest), on YouTube and other places podcasts exist. They can go off the rails discussing eps and stuff, but they're so enthused about SF and movies and such it's fun to watch anyway. Clip of Ty talking about his and Daniel Abraham's experience doing a cameo in S1Ep8, and Ty learning the hard way about extra etiquette and pecking order - YouTube link)

And Lucifer (the character) appeared in Gaiman's Sandman comics starting with the first volume, when Morpheus visited Hell after escaping imprisonment (searching for his lost artifacts, IIRC), and got a spinoff graphic novel series. The show was originally meant to follow those more closely, but wound up going in its own direction (with Gaiman's blessing) after test audiences loved the Devil/Detective chemistry. Personally, I loved the TV series, adored the casting, and thought it got a pitch-perfect finale, but then I only got through one volume of Sandman before deciding it was very much Not For Me, so any differences from the graphic novels were lost on me...

Terry Pratchett really was a peerless writer in many ways; he could make you laugh your lungs out and cut you to the bone with the same sentence. Only read a few of his, but I keep meaning to read more. (And if you haven't read Good Omens, co-written with Neil Gaiman, or seen the Prime six-part miniseries - soon to have a sequel, penned by Gaiman based on notes made with Pratchett - then do so.)

As for what exercise I do, it's just simple stretching/moving routines and a foot pedal thingy with variable resistance. Ideally, I alternate them, but I don't want to be stomping around on my floor upstairs when sibling needs to be sleeping for graveyard shift downstairs, so I've sorta slacked off on the movement part and stuck to the foot pedal thing. Trying to keep stretching, if more slowly, to keep the range of motion, though, 'cause it's scary how fast you can lose that if you don't make yourself move... (And my job is a lot of walking and taking things out of boxes three days a week, which counts as exercise.)

And it's Monday evening. Pretty sure I'll be doing the Thursday morning INR run with Dad; sibling is just going to be too wiped coming off graveyard shift to do it herself, and I can stand to be a little late to work. Already told them that might happen, but will confirm yea or nay on Wednesday when I go in. Early, because we're doing long shifts in a futile attempt to catch up with a backlog despite being chronically understaffed.

 

[Gatteau]

Ah, the glorious entanglement of shipping woes, I know thee well. Thankfully we hadn't been kept waiting for anything too crucial up to this point (a box of wine sent from my mom has been in limbo for a good three weeks now, it got to a nearby hub then just kept saying Pending Pending Pending... sure we had nutty weather causing all sorts of delays for quite some time, but that's entirely past now and I've seen other FedEx trucks coming down my street so I know you can make it, grrr... mom contacted the winery of origin and they're sending a new shipment, which is now in Wyoming apparently, taking an entirely different route just to see if that takes, I guess...), but now we have car-related issues that really must be dealt with, and those items to fix it have been near impossible to find and not expected to arrive until at least next week. Not to mention the simple erratic nature of the USPS - they basically refuse to even deliver mail if they can't just reach out of the truck to your mailbox, even if they do have to get out and walk up the driveway to the front door to set a package on the front porch. So when we have any snow more than a few inches (a frequent occurrence at high elevation in the MOUNTAINS), I've learned to just expect that I will get no mail for days, and must then deal with the torment of the Line at the Post Office. Most days I feel it's a miracle if we ever get anything delivered. SO much fun.

And on the rewatching topic: Yes, absolutely. It's a major part of my winding down for bed phase. I'll usually watch something engaging and new earlier in the night (Shadow and Bone on Netflix lately, or X-Files because I'm finally getting around to that), then I'll go back to something older that just makes me smile (Parks and Rec is a big favorite, and I'm pissed they took it off Hulu recently).

Winter Showed Up in a big way around Christmas here, dropping probably 5 or 6 feet of snow at the house in the space of about 5 days so, naturally, town turned into a complete shitshow between vacationers, new un- and under-prepared home owners, and just the general lack of city provided snow removal. Luckily, we had very few obligations, and none that took us farther than a few blocks from home, so we survived. Now the snow is just lingering and getting dirtier day by day with no fresh storms on the horizon for a couple weeks at least. "Dry-uary" is not uncommon here, so we're just waiting for it to kick off again in February. We've managed to go snowboarding a few times, but it just isn't the same having to go to the big corporate resort (our usual local mountain took A LOT of damage in the fire last summer and there's no way they'll open at all this season - hoping and praying things are better by next winter). I honestly don't know how people do it on a daily basis - paying for travel and lodging just to get here, the $150-$200 day pass, waiting in lines that go around corners and out of sight, taking three lifts just to get to the top of the mountain, then dealing with all the people darting every which way on the crowded runs once you finally get to a place you CAN actually ride. It's entirely possible (in fact, probable and surely true) that we've been quite spoiled having a resort for years where we know 1 in 4 people and can be hopping off the lift at the top of the mountain within 20-30 minutes of leaving the house on a good day, but all this is incredibly frustrating and overall less fun. Trying to give it a chance to get better, to find the good spots, but if I have any other option, I can't see wanting to do this for another season.

So those are my first-world, mountain town local problems of the moment. This is the last day of the husband's work week, so hopefully we'll get to just enjoy his days off coming up.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for shipping woes and cruddy expensive resorts!

I was a big X-Phile back in the day; even flew cross-country to meet people I only knew from internet fandom twice because of that show, and still sort of talk to a couple of them. And I enjoyed Shadow & Bone. (Did not care as much for the book, but am trying Six of Crows and so far it's off to a better start; the thief characters were my favorite part of the show, anyway, so it figures.)

Just swingin' through before shutting down for the evening. Mom has PT tomorrow (fortunately not as gawdsawful early as Dad's INR this morning), so I should probably get to bed a little earlier than I might otherwise. Can read for a while, at least.

 

[E.F.B.]

10 pages a day for Betaing? Is this a full length novel? How long is the haul for that project?

Yep, full length. 292 pages total, double spaced. All betas started on the 7th and have been asked if we can finish by February 7, which I feel confident I can do (because math). The author is an indie pubbed friend whose stories I already enjoy (I've alpha read for her twice, betaed once, and own every book she's published up till now) so I'm more than happy to commit the time to help, especially after she went through a several-year long period where life and job circumstances were draining her so much she couldn't write at all. Now she's back and I'm here to support her.


So, I managed to tweak a rib muscle a couple nights ago. Just a matter of picking up and moving a heavy-ish object from not the best angle. Funny how these things don't always hurt immediately, but over the next couple days it's like "Oh hai, yes, you strained me and now I'm really sore." Hiccups with a sore rib muscle are not recommended.

And I just realized I still had my Christmas avatar, so new avatar ahoy!
"Eärendil was a mariner
that tarried in Arvernien;
he built a boat of timber felled
in Nimbrethil to journey in;
her sails he wove of silver fair,
of silver were her lanterns made,
her prow was fashioned like a swan,
and light upon her banners laid."
- JRR Tolkien

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for new avatars!

Monday morning, rainy, and there's threats of more flooding when we just got over the last bout. Oh joy, oh rapture...

And the ouchie elbow that was finally feeling better yesterday is not happy with me this morning for unknown reasons. I think it's angry about overtime this week when it's still tweaked. May have to pick up a brace for it today.

Anyway, have to head out in a little under an hour for Mom's PT appointment. Got reading material and reading lamp loaded. (Even if I park outside, it looks a bit dim because clouds and rain.)