Reading Is Educational: thanks, Naomi!
Oct. 26th, 2025 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elisem In 2015, Naomi Kritzer wrote a story called "So Much Cooking." I really love it, even though it's a hard read these days. It's about a pandemic, and about making do, and about taking care of each other. One of the recurring plot points is that the narrator, a food blogger, doesn't have some significant ingredients for any recipe they try, so they improvise and this teaches the readers of their food blog useful tricks to get by when supplies are uncertain, partial, patchy. It was the account of making cookies without eggs or oil that made me think of possibilities. And the Sven-Saw cleaning actually went better than I expected.
It happened because there does not seem to be either mineral oil or mineral spirits or WD-40 or any other semi-plausible things around the house. This does not usually matter for me on a daily basis, but the Sven-Saw needed to be cleaned, and it was going to be a bigger than usual job for ADHD reasons. As is true of so many things around here.
It would be one thing if it were just the abundance of resin that the smallish tree stump I needed to saw was dispensing with every stroke. That might not have been too bad, but it got more difficult because as I was assessing what to do about this, I got distracted and had to attend to something, and then realized that meds were overdue, which meant fixing something quick to eat so the meds didn't bounce, and the Sven-Saw sat in the kitchen, patiently waiting.
I don't know if it was patiently waiting or what. It might be patient.
I try not to anthropromorphize everything, because some things don't like it.
Anyhow, it may or may not be patient. What it definitely was was resin-laden. And the distraction took long enough that the resin was doing its best to dry on the saw blade, and this is not the way a person is supposed to take care of their tools. Which set me looking for the right thing to use, and not finding either right things or wrong-but-maybe-worth-a-try things... until I realized that this was possibly solvable by the peanut butter trick.
The peanut butter trick is a thing someone taught me to remove glued-on or stuck-on labels from glass containers. When soap and water doesn't work because the adhesive in question doesn't care about soap or water, you take a very small spoonful of peanut butter, and you generously coat the label you're trying to remove with it. Go out beyond the edges some, because having it soak in at the edges is a win. Put it down and ignore it for at least fifteen minutes. Then come back and look at whether the peanut butter has at all soaked into the label. It probably has. And the now-altered label may well have changed its mind about soap and water. Try some soapy water and a scrubby or a rag or whatever you've got. Chances are, the label and its adhesive will now come right off.
I did have peanut butter, and I knew the peanut butter trick would probably work, but there wasn't all that much peanut butter, and what there was, I had plans for. So I tried an alternative.
Friends, I am here to report that it is quite possible to clean semi-dried tree resin off a Sven-Saw with mayonnaise in place of peanut butter. I did do some additional work on some recalcitrant bits with some dry baking soda, but honestly, some of those marks might have already been on there before I started. I'm pretty sure the Sven-Saw blade is shinier than it was.
But we probably should either lay in some of the usual remedies, or figure out where they have got to if we already have some, as is sometimes the case in this here palace of ADHD.
Anyhow, reading is educational, or a least good for jogging the memory, the saw is clean enough to put away until tomorrow, when I'll take up work on that stump again, and I am a relieved saw caretaker, because whew.
Have you used any interesting substitutes in household problem-solving lately?
It happened because there does not seem to be either mineral oil or mineral spirits or WD-40 or any other semi-plausible things around the house. This does not usually matter for me on a daily basis, but the Sven-Saw needed to be cleaned, and it was going to be a bigger than usual job for ADHD reasons. As is true of so many things around here.
It would be one thing if it were just the abundance of resin that the smallish tree stump I needed to saw was dispensing with every stroke. That might not have been too bad, but it got more difficult because as I was assessing what to do about this, I got distracted and had to attend to something, and then realized that meds were overdue, which meant fixing something quick to eat so the meds didn't bounce, and the Sven-Saw sat in the kitchen, patiently waiting.
I don't know if it was patiently waiting or what. It might be patient.
I try not to anthropromorphize everything, because some things don't like it.
Anyhow, it may or may not be patient. What it definitely was was resin-laden. And the distraction took long enough that the resin was doing its best to dry on the saw blade, and this is not the way a person is supposed to take care of their tools. Which set me looking for the right thing to use, and not finding either right things or wrong-but-maybe-worth-a-try things... until I realized that this was possibly solvable by the peanut butter trick.
The peanut butter trick is a thing someone taught me to remove glued-on or stuck-on labels from glass containers. When soap and water doesn't work because the adhesive in question doesn't care about soap or water, you take a very small spoonful of peanut butter, and you generously coat the label you're trying to remove with it. Go out beyond the edges some, because having it soak in at the edges is a win. Put it down and ignore it for at least fifteen minutes. Then come back and look at whether the peanut butter has at all soaked into the label. It probably has. And the now-altered label may well have changed its mind about soap and water. Try some soapy water and a scrubby or a rag or whatever you've got. Chances are, the label and its adhesive will now come right off.
I did have peanut butter, and I knew the peanut butter trick would probably work, but there wasn't all that much peanut butter, and what there was, I had plans for. So I tried an alternative.
Friends, I am here to report that it is quite possible to clean semi-dried tree resin off a Sven-Saw with mayonnaise in place of peanut butter. I did do some additional work on some recalcitrant bits with some dry baking soda, but honestly, some of those marks might have already been on there before I started. I'm pretty sure the Sven-Saw blade is shinier than it was.
But we probably should either lay in some of the usual remedies, or figure out where they have got to if we already have some, as is sometimes the case in this here palace of ADHD.
Anyhow, reading is educational, or a least good for jogging the memory, the saw is clean enough to put away until tomorrow, when I'll take up work on that stump again, and I am a relieved saw caretaker, because whew.
Have you used any interesting substitutes in household problem-solving lately?
Yard Work as Technique for Easing Agoraphobia
Oct. 26th, 2025 05:41 pmelisem The Sven-Saw is my friend. Even so, getting the muscle memory back to work is going to take a little while. And this particular stump is going to take a little while and then a longer while. After all, I haven't used it for about... whoah, thirty-some years? Eeep. But it's fall yard work season, and needs must.
As someone who has recently gone through the first intake session with a professional counselor for agoraphobia and for grief (which are the two things my GP requested I be seen for), I am now at least technically under care for these things, but anyone who's been through it knows that intake sessions are not quite getting-work-done sessions. They're more like is-this-therapeutic-pairing-going-to-work? sessions. (Signs point to yes. This is a relief.) I look forward to finding out what we can do about various things. In the run-up to this, I have been doing what I can to combat agoraphobia (or more like confuse and distract it) and hopefully lessen it with the strategic use of yard work. During the spring and summer, my goal was "get out and spend seven minutes at least in the yard improving something." It did help some. Also our yard looks better, which probably relieves some of the neighbors.
The Sven-Saw, a marvelous tool made here in Minnesota, enters the picture because there are some saplings that need to be cut off and the little stumps painted with stump-killer before winter. All of them are pretty much broomstick size or smaller, but there is one that's four to six inches wide depending on how you measure it. It's this stump that needs the Sven-Saw, because the stump killer wants a fresh cut to work on.
The biggish stump is inconveniently placed, and I have trouble getting at it. Part of that is pre-existing mobility and agility difficulties. The stump cannot be picked up and put on a convenient cutting frame; it has to be cut off horizontally a few inches above the ground. This is because of where it is: at the corner of the garage where the parking pad meets the alley. Our garage door is perpendicular to the alley. There is a small strip of land along the alley side of the garage which some long-ago person enhanced with a concrete-walled raised bed. It's not very tall, but it's tall enough to get in the way at the corner when I'm trying to get at this stump. It (the stump) is tucked in to a little notch of bare soil at the corner of the garage, where the alley-side raised bed strip ends before the length of the garage does. It (the raised bed strip with little concrete walls) stops early because some sensible person thought ahead, and designed it so that it is nearly impossible to run over the little concrete corner of the raised bed when trying to park. (I suppose someone might manage it, but they'd probably sideswipe the whole alley wall of the garage and then be too far in to successfully maike the turn into the parking pad.) Anyway, there's a little postage stamp of bare earth at the alley corner of the garage that runs a foot or so along the alley side of the garage before the concrete wall of the raised bed kicks in. And that's where the stump is.
Because of the concrete, I can really only get at the stump from one angle. While I can go at the cut from either side, it's all in the same cut, with a total variance possible of maybe fifteen degrees. Maaaaybe. This is due to the slight slope and where the pavement of the parking pad is. It's a tricky spot. Add in my mobility and agility difficulties, plus the dizziness and balance issues that have recently been added to my character sheet, and the necessity of bending over and trying to saw horizontally, and it turns into a two day job with a lot of breaks for resting while my gyroscopes reset.
All the other bits needing cutting and then painting with stump-killer will be much easier, barring one or two that are doing creative things around some pipes outside the house.Take the hard one first, get it out of the way. That's the plan. And it's a good plan.
It's just going to take a little longer than I thought.
Have you done yard work lately? If so, how has it gone? Any stump issues or adventures?
As someone who has recently gone through the first intake session with a professional counselor for agoraphobia and for grief (which are the two things my GP requested I be seen for), I am now at least technically under care for these things, but anyone who's been through it knows that intake sessions are not quite getting-work-done sessions. They're more like is-this-therapeutic-pairing-going-to-work? sessions. (Signs point to yes. This is a relief.) I look forward to finding out what we can do about various things. In the run-up to this, I have been doing what I can to combat agoraphobia (or more like confuse and distract it) and hopefully lessen it with the strategic use of yard work. During the spring and summer, my goal was "get out and spend seven minutes at least in the yard improving something." It did help some. Also our yard looks better, which probably relieves some of the neighbors.
The Sven-Saw, a marvelous tool made here in Minnesota, enters the picture because there are some saplings that need to be cut off and the little stumps painted with stump-killer before winter. All of them are pretty much broomstick size or smaller, but there is one that's four to six inches wide depending on how you measure it. It's this stump that needs the Sven-Saw, because the stump killer wants a fresh cut to work on.
The biggish stump is inconveniently placed, and I have trouble getting at it. Part of that is pre-existing mobility and agility difficulties. The stump cannot be picked up and put on a convenient cutting frame; it has to be cut off horizontally a few inches above the ground. This is because of where it is: at the corner of the garage where the parking pad meets the alley. Our garage door is perpendicular to the alley. There is a small strip of land along the alley side of the garage which some long-ago person enhanced with a concrete-walled raised bed. It's not very tall, but it's tall enough to get in the way at the corner when I'm trying to get at this stump. It (the stump) is tucked in to a little notch of bare soil at the corner of the garage, where the alley-side raised bed strip ends before the length of the garage does. It (the raised bed strip with little concrete walls) stops early because some sensible person thought ahead, and designed it so that it is nearly impossible to run over the little concrete corner of the raised bed when trying to park. (I suppose someone might manage it, but they'd probably sideswipe the whole alley wall of the garage and then be too far in to successfully maike the turn into the parking pad.) Anyway, there's a little postage stamp of bare earth at the alley corner of the garage that runs a foot or so along the alley side of the garage before the concrete wall of the raised bed kicks in. And that's where the stump is.
Because of the concrete, I can really only get at the stump from one angle. While I can go at the cut from either side, it's all in the same cut, with a total variance possible of maybe fifteen degrees. Maaaaybe. This is due to the slight slope and where the pavement of the parking pad is. It's a tricky spot. Add in my mobility and agility difficulties, plus the dizziness and balance issues that have recently been added to my character sheet, and the necessity of bending over and trying to saw horizontally, and it turns into a two day job with a lot of breaks for resting while my gyroscopes reset.
All the other bits needing cutting and then painting with stump-killer will be much easier, barring one or two that are doing creative things around some pipes outside the house.Take the hard one first, get it out of the way. That's the plan. And it's a good plan.
It's just going to take a little longer than I thought.
Have you done yard work lately? If so, how has it gone? Any stump issues or adventures?
Books: "Legends And Lattes" by Travis Baldree
Oct. 25th, 2025 06:19 pmailbhe"Legends And Lattes" by Travis Baldree
I really enjoyed this - it was recommended to me by Eldest Offspring and it reminded me of Joanne Harris' "Chocolat" a bit; found community building, bit of magic, lots of lovely descriptions of food. It was an actual paper book, so my eyes and wrists got tired, but it was good and amazingly I was able to read something entirely new by a new-to-me author.
I really enjoyed this - it was recommended to me by Eldest Offspring and it reminded me of Joanne Harris' "Chocolat" a bit; found community building, bit of magic, lots of lovely descriptions of food. It was an actual paper book, so my eyes and wrists got tired, but it was good and amazingly I was able to read something entirely new by a new-to-me author.
Database maintenance
Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 am![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceGood morning, afternoon, and evening!
We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)
I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.
Ta for now!
What is a person?
Oct. 25th, 2025 01:32 pmemperorThe second chapter of our book group book (Rowan Williams' Being Human) is "What is a person?"
He starts by paraphrasing a slightly obscure[0] essay by Vladimir Lossky, who, he says, declares that we lack good vocabulary to distinguish between something that is simply one unique instance of its kind, and the quality (whatever it is) that makes a conscious thing of this kind irreducible to its nature.
The point he's making, I think, is that there is something more to being a person than simply being an example of a kind of thing. He's saying that there is something about us as a whole that isn't captured simply by listing facts that happen to be true about us. He then quotes Lossky at more length:
This is all well and good, and I'm sympathetic to the desire to avoid the "meet this set of criteria to be a person" approach that can come out of debates as to what it means to be a person. And from a Christian point of view, the idea that all people are first of all in relation to God before they are in relation to anyone or anything else; and thus that we must bear that in mind in all our doings with other people is useful (and very traditional).
But it doesn't seem to me to be actually answering the question of "What is a person?" Rather like the idea (I think from Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance) that everyone knows what "quality" is, but most people would struggle to define it; fine for the day-to-day, but not a very satisfactory answer to the question posed. Williams at least half admits this, saying later in the chapter that it's only a theological perspective that makes sense of the idea of personhood "But what I'm really suggesting is that when it comes to personal reality the language of theology is possibly the only way to speak well of our sense of who we are and what our humanity is like — to speak well of ourselves as expecting relationship, as expecting difference, as expecting death [...]" But how to talk about personhood to people who reject any sort of theological worldview?
Williams notes that Science Fiction has from time to time looked at this question of personhood - when encountering an alien or a cyborg, how do you decide to accord the status of person to this other being? He concludes that the answer is that "At the end of the day, we can say this is something we could discover only by taking time and seeing if a relationship could be built." That still seems unsatisfactory to me, not least in the age of generative AI systems[1] that produce plausible-sounding answers to any question and with whom at least some people seem to convince themselves they've had a relationship.
Is there a useful way of answering the question "What is a person?" without relying on a theological worldview or having the sort of argument that concludes that some humans are less people than others?
[0] e.g. the WP article doesn't mention it at all. But then Williams did his thesis on Lossky. The article "The Theological Notion of the Human Person" is online
[1] which are stochastic models of "what would an answer to this question likely sound like", and I am axiomatically going to declare as neither conscious nor persons
He starts by paraphrasing a slightly obscure[0] essay by Vladimir Lossky, who, he says, declares that we lack good vocabulary to distinguish between something that is simply one unique instance of its kind, and the quality (whatever it is) that makes a conscious thing of this kind irreducible to its nature.
The point he's making, I think, is that there is something more to being a person than simply being an example of a kind of thing. He's saying that there is something about us as a whole that isn't captured simply by listing facts that happen to be true about us. He then quotes Lossky at more length:
Under these conditions, it will be impossible for us to form a concept of the human person, and we will have to content ourselves with saying: “person” signifies the irreducibility of man to his nature— “irreducibility” and not “something irreducible” or “something which makes man irreducible to his nature” precisely because it cannot be a question here of “something” distinct from “another nature” but of someone who is distinct from his own nature, of someone who goes beyond his nature while still containing it, who makes it exist as human nature by this overstepping [of it].Williams then goes on to talk about how people are shaped by the web of relationships they are part of and influence "A person, in other words, is the point at which relationships intersect, where a difference may be made and new relations created." He asserts that this (at least to Christians) is a mystery that applies to each and every human individual, and that from this it follows that the same kind of reverence or attention is due to all of them (regardless of any of the features of people that result in their marginalisation).
This is all well and good, and I'm sympathetic to the desire to avoid the "meet this set of criteria to be a person" approach that can come out of debates as to what it means to be a person. And from a Christian point of view, the idea that all people are first of all in relation to God before they are in relation to anyone or anything else; and thus that we must bear that in mind in all our doings with other people is useful (and very traditional).
But it doesn't seem to me to be actually answering the question of "What is a person?" Rather like the idea (I think from Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance) that everyone knows what "quality" is, but most people would struggle to define it; fine for the day-to-day, but not a very satisfactory answer to the question posed. Williams at least half admits this, saying later in the chapter that it's only a theological perspective that makes sense of the idea of personhood "But what I'm really suggesting is that when it comes to personal reality the language of theology is possibly the only way to speak well of our sense of who we are and what our humanity is like — to speak well of ourselves as expecting relationship, as expecting difference, as expecting death [...]" But how to talk about personhood to people who reject any sort of theological worldview?
Williams notes that Science Fiction has from time to time looked at this question of personhood - when encountering an alien or a cyborg, how do you decide to accord the status of person to this other being? He concludes that the answer is that "At the end of the day, we can say this is something we could discover only by taking time and seeing if a relationship could be built." That still seems unsatisfactory to me, not least in the age of generative AI systems[1] that produce plausible-sounding answers to any question and with whom at least some people seem to convince themselves they've had a relationship.
Is there a useful way of answering the question "What is a person?" without relying on a theological worldview or having the sort of argument that concludes that some humans are less people than others?
[0] e.g. the WP article doesn't mention it at all. But then Williams did his thesis on Lossky. The article "The Theological Notion of the Human Person" is online
[1] which are stochastic models of "what would an answer to this question likely sound like", and I am axiomatically going to declare as neither conscious nor persons
swallow poison, swallow sugar
Oct. 24th, 2025 09:42 pmthe_siobhanThe Good:
I went to a wedding last weekend. It was tiny, less than 10 people at City Hall and it was genuinely the only time in my life I've ever teared up at a wedding. The couple are just so amazing together. They could barely let go of each others' hands long enough to put on their rings.
The Bad:
I dropped my Kobo somewhere on the subway. So far the lost-and-found hasn't turned it up yet. That is so annoying and I only have myself to blame.
(I seem to have lost a lot of stuff lately in inexplicable ways. An adapter cable I took with me to Montreal that NEVER LEFT MY KNAPSACK apparently no longer exists. I dropped the tennis ball I roll under my foot today and there is no POSSIBLE way it ended up anywhere except on the floor - but it's not on the floor. How? Is there a portal in this room leading to another dimension? And if yes, is it big enough for me to climb into it?)
The Ugly:
So house stuff, hoo boy. I texted the contractor every single day since my last post. Crickets. Messenger indicates that texts have been read, but no response. I reached out to the city and they tell me I have to hire my own engineer to create a new report. This may involve tearing up the floor to get at the foundations. I say fuck. A lot.
I have hired a guy who has experience sorting out difficult permits because apparently this kind of shit is common enough that you can make a living fixing it for people. So far I am tentatively hopeful - he's been working in this part of town long enough that he knows all the inspectors and can talk to them directly about what needs to happen - this project has been going on for so long that the original inspector assigned to the permit has retired, but dude has his cell number. Fingers crossed he can figure this out. He ALSO called the contractor and didn't get a response - so at this point I'm pretty sure no inspections were done at all and the engineer is just hoping that if he doesn't admit it they won't get in trouble. I have already reached out to the provincial licensing board.
So that nonsense sucked up a lot of the time I had planned to use for finishing up in the house, but I think I still managed to get a lot done. Four big bags of unwanted clothes got walked to a drop-in centre today. A bunch of little fiddly things got repaired, more boxes of stuff have been unearthed and I think I may have actually finally managed to unpack everything that was stored in the house and shed. Two boxes of unwanted stuff was offered to neighbours and taken away. I found more of ex-housemate's LARP gear, they want it so that has been packed up in a box with their name on it. Most everything I pulled out this week was covered in inches of dust so I have been working an assembly line through the shower room to clean everything before it gets put away or boxed up for donation. I have filled the recycling bin twice and the stack of re-usable cardboard on the front porch continues to grow.
***
A friend recommended their physiotherapist, who just happens to be around the corner from me, so I made an appointment to have her look at my foot. She gave me some exercises. She also did some massage that had me going, OK WOW I did not know that specific spot was made out of pain and weeping, but apparently it is. I was sore in whole new places that night, but today I walked to the drop-in centre without my cane because I had too much to carry, and I did not regret that choice when I got home - so maybe that's a good sign? Anyway, going back tomorrow.
***
Tomorrow I go back to work. I want to put one last coat of paint on the doors so I'll try and squeeze that in. Sunday I'm taking my dad for his boosters. Then it's three more weeks of picking at things and hopefully good news about the permits. I have another week off booked in November and if all goes well I'll get to use it for emptying the storage locker. Then that's a $250/month expense that goes away.
Fingers crossed
I went to a wedding last weekend. It was tiny, less than 10 people at City Hall and it was genuinely the only time in my life I've ever teared up at a wedding. The couple are just so amazing together. They could barely let go of each others' hands long enough to put on their rings.
The Bad:
I dropped my Kobo somewhere on the subway. So far the lost-and-found hasn't turned it up yet. That is so annoying and I only have myself to blame.
(I seem to have lost a lot of stuff lately in inexplicable ways. An adapter cable I took with me to Montreal that NEVER LEFT MY KNAPSACK apparently no longer exists. I dropped the tennis ball I roll under my foot today and there is no POSSIBLE way it ended up anywhere except on the floor - but it's not on the floor. How? Is there a portal in this room leading to another dimension? And if yes, is it big enough for me to climb into it?)
The Ugly:
So house stuff, hoo boy. I texted the contractor every single day since my last post. Crickets. Messenger indicates that texts have been read, but no response. I reached out to the city and they tell me I have to hire my own engineer to create a new report. This may involve tearing up the floor to get at the foundations. I say fuck. A lot.
I have hired a guy who has experience sorting out difficult permits because apparently this kind of shit is common enough that you can make a living fixing it for people. So far I am tentatively hopeful - he's been working in this part of town long enough that he knows all the inspectors and can talk to them directly about what needs to happen - this project has been going on for so long that the original inspector assigned to the permit has retired, but dude has his cell number. Fingers crossed he can figure this out. He ALSO called the contractor and didn't get a response - so at this point I'm pretty sure no inspections were done at all and the engineer is just hoping that if he doesn't admit it they won't get in trouble. I have already reached out to the provincial licensing board.
So that nonsense sucked up a lot of the time I had planned to use for finishing up in the house, but I think I still managed to get a lot done. Four big bags of unwanted clothes got walked to a drop-in centre today. A bunch of little fiddly things got repaired, more boxes of stuff have been unearthed and I think I may have actually finally managed to unpack everything that was stored in the house and shed. Two boxes of unwanted stuff was offered to neighbours and taken away. I found more of ex-housemate's LARP gear, they want it so that has been packed up in a box with their name on it. Most everything I pulled out this week was covered in inches of dust so I have been working an assembly line through the shower room to clean everything before it gets put away or boxed up for donation. I have filled the recycling bin twice and the stack of re-usable cardboard on the front porch continues to grow.
***
A friend recommended their physiotherapist, who just happens to be around the corner from me, so I made an appointment to have her look at my foot. She gave me some exercises. She also did some massage that had me going, OK WOW I did not know that specific spot was made out of pain and weeping, but apparently it is. I was sore in whole new places that night, but today I walked to the drop-in centre without my cane because I had too much to carry, and I did not regret that choice when I got home - so maybe that's a good sign? Anyway, going back tomorrow.
***
Tomorrow I go back to work. I want to put one last coat of paint on the doors so I'll try and squeeze that in. Sunday I'm taking my dad for his boosters. Then it's three more weeks of picking at things and hopefully good news about the permits. I have another week off booked in November and if all goes well I'll get to use it for emptying the storage locker. Then that's a $250/month expense that goes away.
Fingers crossed
Attic Archaeology, Kitchen Cupboard version: Quae narravi, nullo modo negabo
Oct. 24th, 2025 07:32 pmelisem (I call housecleaning and sorting through old treasures "attic archaeology.")
Quite a while back, Joel Rosenberg and a number of us had a joke that there should be a Minnesota Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (MSFFWA), and its motto should be "Quae narravi, nullo modo negabo," which he told us means loosely "That's my story and I'm sticking to it." There were cups made, bearing motto and also logo, which was crossed sword and space shuttle over the shape of Minnesota.
(There! Got one photo to work, I hope.)
Quite a while back, Joel Rosenberg and a number of us had a joke that there should be a Minnesota Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (MSFFWA), and its motto should be "Quae narravi, nullo modo negabo," which he told us means loosely "That's my story and I'm sticking to it." There were cups made, bearing motto and also logo, which was crossed sword and space shuttle over the shape of Minnesota.
(There! Got one photo to work, I hope.)
It’s like all the archeological evidence for cats liking to step in stuff
Oct. 24th, 2025 09:29 pmjudiffSo like becos of ill and like being exhausted-but-not-sleepy and how being on steroids makes are eyes want to do screen-ness less we are like listening to lots of audiobooks. We like set one to play for a chunk of time (it’s like nice if they have longish chapters* so we can set it to finish at the end of one and not having to just pick an arbitrary time) and if we drowse part way though we can like re-listen and if we are still awake we can play another chunk
We are like not quite half-way through one about the great library of Ashurbanipal - The Library of Ancient Wisdom by Selina Wisnom
Like becos the clay tablets got accidentally preserved by being “baked” in a fire the “library” includes a bunch of tablets that prolly weren’t meant to be kept along with ones Ashurbanipal’s librarians were like deliberately curating. And that includes some that are like obviously students learning to write in cuneiform. I really liked hearing that there’s one with a bite mark - they can tell from like dental analysis that the student must of been 12 or 13 years old which is not like typical toddler biting-all-the-things age. So I’m wondering if they were like maybe dyslexic and getting really frustrated and bit in anger or if they were autistic and just really needed to stim?
*sometimes the setting it to turn off after playing more than one chapter thing works and sometimes it doesn’t. Don’t know why and like don’t have spoons for trying to find a fix right now…
We are like not quite half-way through one about the great library of Ashurbanipal - The Library of Ancient Wisdom by Selina Wisnom
Like becos the clay tablets got accidentally preserved by being “baked” in a fire the “library” includes a bunch of tablets that prolly weren’t meant to be kept along with ones Ashurbanipal’s librarians were like deliberately curating. And that includes some that are like obviously students learning to write in cuneiform. I really liked hearing that there’s one with a bite mark - they can tell from like dental analysis that the student must of been 12 or 13 years old which is not like typical toddler biting-all-the-things age. So I’m wondering if they were like maybe dyslexic and getting really frustrated and bit in anger or if they were autistic and just really needed to stim?
*sometimes the setting it to turn off after playing more than one chapter thing works and sometimes it doesn’t. Don’t know why and like don’t have spoons for trying to find a fix right now…
physical exam
Oct. 23rd, 2025 07:18 pmredbirdI went to my doctor today, for an annual physical and so she could write the next Ritalin prescription.
So: I had a fasting blood test last month, and the glucose number was high enough that she is ordering a re-test and an A1C test, which means another morning trip to Somerville on an empty stomach. My "bad" cholesterol is high, but not high enough for her to be prescribing statins right now. My "good" cholesterol is also high, but apparently that's less protective in older patients, and I'm approaching that age.
I also asked her to look at my calves, because I frequently have swelling by the end of the day, especially in the left calf. She said it sounded like a vascular issue, then measured the circumference of both my calves. The left calf is noticeably bigger, which supports the idea that there's some kind of vascular issue.
What I'm supposed to do for that is try to reduce my sodium intake, and try wearing compression socks for at least a little while each day. Reducing sodium intake means I'll be looking at ingredient labels for quantities--right now, I'm mostly checking to make sure that various things don't contain any of the various things that we know that one of the three of us needs to avoid.
Carmen also did a breast exam (no longer part of the standard physical exam, but she asked if I still wanted one, and I said yes), and looked at my back for any suspicious moles or freckles. Also, before the appointment they asked if I was OK having them check height and weight, and I said yes, then asked the assistant how tall I now am. Five feet two inches, confirming what I think is what the neurologist's office said, which is an inch or so less than when I was 30.
( grumbling about paperwork and MyChart )
So: I had a fasting blood test last month, and the glucose number was high enough that she is ordering a re-test and an A1C test, which means another morning trip to Somerville on an empty stomach. My "bad" cholesterol is high, but not high enough for her to be prescribing statins right now. My "good" cholesterol is also high, but apparently that's less protective in older patients, and I'm approaching that age.
I also asked her to look at my calves, because I frequently have swelling by the end of the day, especially in the left calf. She said it sounded like a vascular issue, then measured the circumference of both my calves. The left calf is noticeably bigger, which supports the idea that there's some kind of vascular issue.
What I'm supposed to do for that is try to reduce my sodium intake, and try wearing compression socks for at least a little while each day. Reducing sodium intake means I'll be looking at ingredient labels for quantities--right now, I'm mostly checking to make sure that various things don't contain any of the various things that we know that one of the three of us needs to avoid.
Carmen also did a breast exam (no longer part of the standard physical exam, but she asked if I still wanted one, and I said yes), and looked at my back for any suspicious moles or freckles. Also, before the appointment they asked if I was OK having them check height and weight, and I said yes, then asked the assistant how tall I now am. Five feet two inches, confirming what I think is what the neurologist's office said, which is an inch or so less than when I was 30.
( grumbling about paperwork and MyChart )
went to the doctor with Adrian
Oct. 22nd, 2025 07:09 pmredbirdI accompanied Adrian to her doctor's appointment this afternoon, to provide moral support, take notes, and ask any relevant questions she didn't think of. This was last minute on my end, because she only realized this morning that she wanted company. So, some rearranging of my (vague) plans, but it worked.
It seemed like a good appointment, with a doctor who explained things pretty well. We walked home, which would have been a better idea if the google maps estimate of the distance had been accurate. Instead, we spent a lot of time walking around the parking lots of the hospital complex.
This used enough energy that I decided not to go to the optician tomorrow morning, before seeing my own doctor in the afternoon. I will go to Somerville, eat lunch in Davis Square, see Carmen, and then decide whether to come straight home, or stop for ice cream and/or other shopping.
It seemed like a good appointment, with a doctor who explained things pretty well. We walked home, which would have been a better idea if the google maps estimate of the distance had been accurate. Instead, we spent a lot of time walking around the parking lots of the hospital complex.
This used enough energy that I decided not to go to the optician tomorrow morning, before seeing my own doctor in the afternoon. I will go to Somerville, eat lunch in Davis Square, see Carmen, and then decide whether to come straight home, or stop for ice cream and/or other shopping.
more financial paperwork
Oct. 22nd, 2025 04:06 pmredbirdAfter a bunch of back and forth, it appears that the reason Chase would provide a medallion signature guarantee for my brother, and not me, is that he's an executor of my mother's estate. (Mark and I both have accounts at Chase, which is part of what confused me.)
The banker at Chase suggested talking (again) to either Vanguard or TIAA and see if they will do this. She said she looked online and it said TIAA does provide these, and I've had an account with them for at least 30 years.
Also, Attitude's and my joint account at Chase is dormant, and to wake it up, one of us needs to go to a branch, talk to someone, say we want to take the account out of dormancy, and make at least a $1 deposit or withdrawal. And no, I can't pick up a deposit slip, take it to a teller, and make the trivial transaction, we would need to actually talk to someone. To keep it active, we will need to poke at it at least every 364 days. But doing this once would at least reset the clock of "inactive account, transfer funds to the state for safekeeping."
The banker at Chase suggested talking (again) to either Vanguard or TIAA and see if they will do this. She said she looked online and it said TIAA does provide these, and I've had an account with them for at least 30 years.
Also, Attitude's and my joint account at Chase is dormant, and to wake it up, one of us needs to go to a branch, talk to someone, say we want to take the account out of dormancy, and make at least a $1 deposit or withdrawal. And no, I can't pick up a deposit slip, take it to a teller, and make the trivial transaction, we would need to actually talk to someone. To keep it active, we will need to poke at it at least every 364 days. But doing this once would at least reset the clock of "inactive account, transfer funds to the state for safekeeping."
Four hours in an art gallery
Oct. 22nd, 2025 06:15 pmlovingbothI am in Vilnius, Lithuania at the moment.
The Founding General Meeting for the new pan-European bi+ organisation, Bi+ Equal, finished before lunch today, after two and a half days talking about the journey to get here - the Dutch / French organisations that have done most of the work started about 18 months ago - and sorting out the details. There were other things you could do, but this was a much more 'work' conference than any BiCon.
I'll have more to say about it later, but partly so I can tell people who are still here and not going to the ILGA Europe conference that's happening somewhere else in the city, I want to post about what I did this afternoon.
The main modern art gallery's English name is the Contemporary Art Centre. Their current show is called 'Bells and Cannons: Contemporary Art in the Face of Militarisation'. There's an online review complaining that there's not much to see, and that's true: it's not a large gallery compared to say Tate Modern etc.
But it is extremely good. ( Involves talking about violence etc )
home cooking
Oct. 21st, 2025 09:27 pmredbirdWe had a roast chicken a few days ago, then adrian_turtle used some of the leftovers to make a salad with greens, pieces of chicken, and grapes. cattitude just turned the remaining leftover chicken into matzo ball soup.
There will be homemade chocolate cake later, because Adrian wanted to check whether the springform pan would hold cake batter. We eat well around here.
adrian_turtle used some of the leftovers to make a salad with greens, pieces of chicken, and grapes. cattitude just turned the remaining leftover chicken into matzo ball soup. There will be homemade chocolate cake later, because Adrian wanted to check whether the springform pan would hold cake batter. We eat well around here.