This Happened

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Fri Feb 25, 2022 11:42 am

I prefer that he wins!! Every time. It's a testimony to his consistency.

Love that I posted onward blithely unaware, and would have kept doing so. My girl Brittany needed defending.

poorpete · Post by **poorpete** » Sat Feb 26, 2022 8:41 am

Questlove agrees

: Screenshot_20220226-093952.png (64.72 KiB) Viewed 5906 times

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sat Feb 26, 2022 6:40 pm

Absolutely. We're all just out here doing the wordle, wondering what would be happening if we had to pack up all our s*** into one rolling suitcase and take off with the quarter tank of gas we had two days ago and what the hell would happen to the pets?

Post by **Mike** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 3:12 pm

We had to have our dog Pippin euthanized today. Yesterday she was completely fine. Today she can't get up. She had a giant tumor on her spleen that apparently started bleeding internally. After X-rays and blood work, the prognosis was bleak, and we decided it was best to let her go.

Sucks.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:30 pm

I’m really sorry. That’s fucking rough.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 5:10 am

That sucks. Sorry you had to go through that. You know it's an inevitable part of pet ownership, but that doesn't make it any less painful.

We spent thirteen hours in the car yesterday driving back to Indiana, all to spend about 4-5 hours with family throwing a birthday party for my dad's upcoming 80th birthday. Well worth it.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:49 am

I'm so sorry about your dog! Poor baby, nobody could know what was wrong.

Post by **Mike** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:29 pm

Phoebe wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:49 am I'm so sorry about your dog! Poor baby, nobody could know what was wrong.

She declined so fast that we're actually thankful the timing happened the way it did. We almost left for the day, and we assumed she was just sleeping, But then we got held up. Had we left on time, we would have come home to a dead dog and had no idea why. It was worth the emergency vet cost, x-rays and everything, just to know what happened, and understand that we couldn't have done anything.

Mando · Post by **Mando** » Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:22 pm

sorry for all that you and your family went through.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:59 pm

Mike wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:29 pm It was worth the emergency vet cost, x-rays and everything, just to know what happened, and understand that we couldn't have done anything.

This makes sense, absolutely. You have to know it was a natural necessity. You made her happy as long as you possibly could.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Thu Mar 17, 2022 6:12 pm

I was at the large grocery store with many large items. I sensed the slight air of impatience from the gentleman behind me, who had on various prior occasions been noticed nearby in this large store. Perhaps he was annoyed because he was trying to get in line first and he did not have quite so many items in his cart, while I had a very enormous number? I decided that in kindness I would do him the service of performing my characteristic activities: in the blink of an eye, I had re-assembled all of the heavy items and cans from the bottom of my cart onto the front of the conveyor belt to be followed in orderly fashion by lighter weight tofu and berries and lobster (ok, what is money for?). The cashiering man processed all of my things quickly and reassembled them in the cart - mayhaps not as quickly as I had done, but at least quickly enough to be of service to the gentleman behind me. I was priding myself on all of this when suddenly I heard the man say, "all the UPCs are up for you." What?! He was addressing the cashier, who needed only to swiftly whisk his scanner up and down the man's cart in about 2 seconds and process all of the grocery items at once, because the guy had arranged all of the items systematically with the UPC codes pointed up in neat rows. It was a thing of beauty and miracles and soft morning dew. Indeed, man was already paying for his groceries while mine were still in the last moments of reassembly in the cart! I took a careful look at this man and realized: He's kind of a non-descript yet unique looking dude ... roughly my age? I ... I exist, again, but as a man! Worse yet, I'm even a little bit better than usual, as a man? Well! Surely that can't be true? Ah yes, I realized that this man doesn't have to spend mental energy on questions like whether we should buy the bra that successfully corrals or the bra that can be worn in semi-comfort without damaging the musculature and even bones! Of course he has used that extra time to work out an even better way to bring his groceries through, and he's only buying a small number that can fit flat in the cart. But then as I went out to my car I observe that out of all the hundreds of places available, this man had parked next to my vehicle, in one of those delightfully optimal places where you're far enough away that people aren't crowding you in and yet you are near a cart return. I just want to point out he was driving a white Toyota Tacoma in case he turns out to be a serial killer. Guys with OCD always seem like serial killers to me, at least at first! I can't imagine that's what they think of me, so I wonder what the parallel equivalent is. I can't imagine it's anything good.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:37 am

The remodel is officially finished! The walk-through was this morning, they removed the key-box on the front door, and took away their sign that was in the yard. They also had a photographer come and take some pictures, so they can show that to other people looking for ideas when they remodel. Yeah!

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:46 am

YAY! Can't wait for the pictures.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:51 am

Nice! What a process, and now you can enjoy!

poorpete · Post by **poorpete** » Fri Mar 25, 2022 5:28 am

Getting a heat pump to replace our oil furnace this week which is long overdue and everything is almost installed.

Yet, didn't get much sleep last night because they cut the oil furnace line yesterday and went home, but the line kept leaking, literally a gallon has dripped in the basement, house reeks of oil, emergency guy who came at midnight only did mitigation but didn't fix the leaking. At least they waved the emergency fee. Downstairs is currently 55 degrees and smelly. Guys are returning around 8am hopefully will fix this. So sleepy, anxious, half worried we'll blow up half worried we are breathing poison, another half worried the smell will linger in our house for days or more, and grumpy grumpy grumpy!

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Fri Mar 25, 2022 6:47 am

Ugh, good luck!

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Fri Mar 25, 2022 8:27 am

We've been studying Andrew Jackson for more than a week. We spent time on Jacksonian democracy, the nullification crisis, and the Trail of Tears.

Last week I literally asked them to define Jacksonian democracy 10 times--2 times each day. We talked more about it this week.

Today I asked the class to explain Jacksonian democracy as a prelude to evaluating it. Not a single student answered. None. I had them write a definition/explanation. Only about 3 in a class of 24 answered.

I didn't realize I was that bad of a teacher.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:54 pm

Ginni Thomas is certainly entitled to her own opinions and beliefs. But the fact that she's a QAnon adherent who has talked about those views with her husband, and texted White House staffers about those views prior to 6 Jan, and her husband has not felt the need to recuse himself from any of the related cases that have come before the Supreme Court, may I just say: fuck you, Clarence Thomas.

Good grief, there are days I want to say screw it and just move to New Zealand or somewhere else.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Sat Mar 26, 2022 4:04 am

Tahlvin wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:54 pm Ginni Thomas is certainly entitled to her own opinions and beliefs. But the fact that she's a QAnon adherent who has talked about those views with her husband, and texted White House staffers about those views prior to 6 Jan, and her husband has not felt the need to recuse himself from any of the related cases that have come before the Supreme Court, may I just say: fuck you, Clarence Thomas.

Good grief, there are days I want to say screw it and just move to New Zealand or somewhere else.

I literally had this exact conversation with my wife yesterday. I struggle with trying to figure out if I should legitimately be concerned that our democracy is broken beyond repair, or if I'm experiencing regular old-man-writing-angry-letters-to-the-editor syndrome.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Sat Mar 26, 2022 4:18 am

You wonder if this is something that's unique to this period of American history, or if it was always this f'd up and it's just the rose colored glasses that make you think there were previous periods where people actually got along and compromised in governing.

bralbovsky · Post by **bralbovsky** » Sat Mar 26, 2022 6:24 pm

Like everything, it's on a spectrum.
Numerous members of the government took tangible steps to use their powers to fortify and enrich the south in direct, knowing preparation for seccession.
Dred Scott

There are several differences that make today seem worse (that might actually be worse)

Years of gerrymandering and other crap has made voting less direct and responsive than it used to be, so there's no fail safe, throw all the bums out option.
Ethics, never their strong suit, is at an all time low, as far as norms are concerned. The average senator's portfolio...average...outperforms the regular market by 300%. Nobody thinks this is a red flag.
The difference between what I can spend, and what GM can spend...on anything, ads, lawyers, hitmen, permission to bulldoze my house...is much more vast than it ever was. They get what they want.
Mass media magnifies and accelerates everything
oh, and Fox, We never had such a powerful megaphone for dishonesty and kleptocracy.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Mon Mar 28, 2022 11:34 am

Tahlvin wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:54 pm Ginni Thomas is certainly entitled to her own opinions and beliefs.

In my neck of the woods they love this conservative power couple and are convinced the entire thing with the texts was a setup designed to put pressure on Clarence Thomas to resign while he was dealing with his recovery from illness. Since we all know very well that's not how the rules of this game work, I'm not sure how we would arrive at that conclusion. However, if I were ever in her position, my mouth and texting thumbs would be frozen in silence completely. There are situations where the whole family is called into service and you had better step up and serve.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Mon Mar 28, 2022 11:40 am

Phoebe wrote: ↑Mon Mar 28, 2022 11:34 am
Tahlvin wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:54 pm Ginni Thomas is certainly entitled to her own opinions and beliefs.
In my neck of the woods they love this conservative power couple and are convinced the entire thing with the texts was a setup designed to put pressure on Clarence Thomas to resign while he was dealing with his recovery from illness. Since we all know very well that's not how the rules of this game work, I'm not sure how we would arrive at that conclusion. However, if I were ever in her position, my mouth and texting thumbs would be frozen in silence completely. There are situations where the whole family is called into service and you had better step up and serve.

And a few years we learned that Clarence Thomas had not disclosed his wife's income on his financial disclosure form, and nothing happened. No wonder the rich and powerful think they can get away with anything--because they can.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:17 am

Last night I had a migraine for like 3 hours right before bed and finally succumbed to sleep. Today I wake up and the first thing that happened at the crack of dawn was I discovered we had a nest of possum babies in our backyard. Do you know how I discovered this? Life with dogs. There are a lot of other details. I have been traumatized ever since. The more I did to prevent the horrible things from happening that happened, the more confused the dog grew and the worse things got.

poorpete · Post by **poorpete** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:37 am

Oh no! Were there any survivors?

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:20 am

Yes. I have attempted to secure their persons from further assault but it is not clear how they will fare. They might be abandoned now or otherwise prone to more bad things. Very bad situation. Same family of this type of animal made a nest about ten yards from this same spot last year and one of the much older babies was killed, but these were new babies. It's just awful even though you know, this is the natural world. It's not awful as opposed to how it is. But the encounter is distressing and I forget that my dogs aren't people since I tend to prefer their company to human company. I mean in the sense that they didn't respond the way that some humans would respond if I said hey, stop it! And they wanted to help me out and do what I asked but they were so at cross purposes with their instincts. In fact, that's what made it so disturbing: One of them was deeply confused about whether mayhem or obedience was the order of the moment, which led to a terrible sequence of events.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:23 pm

I hate getting invited to someone else's meeting, and then basically they expect you to run the meeting.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:49 am

One of my students brought a weapon to school. Not sure what it was.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:31 am

Oof. Will be praying for your safety.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:32 am

This is more evidence that Tahlvin is a nice person and something is wrong with me because my first thought was to ask whether the weapon was his mind. And yes I hope that the weapon had nothing to do with you and nothing to do with your classroom or anyone in it. The s*** that teachers have to deal with these days is beyond.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:55 am

Tahlvin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:31 am Oof. Will be praying for your safety.

Thanks. As far as I know, the weapon wasn't used, thank god. The student is someone who's an asshole, but I would not have predicted that he'd bring a weapon.

I've been told that he got beat up earlier in the week, and brought the weapon for protection. Or possibly revenge. Not sure if either of those is true.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:09 am

Apparently the profile of people who commit violence at school is precisely something like this: not the person who is the original and probably more blameworthy aggressor initially, but the person who has been affected by that aggression and doesn't feel like any other solution has been forthcoming.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:37 am

The aftermath of the slapping incident includes a nascent awareness for men of the sentiment expressed by people like Tiffany Haddish that their man should have the same energy in defending them. So apparently one of the lessons "men" have taken from the incident is that they should be prepared to meet these expectations, and luckily the man has informed me he is prepared to kick people's ass on my behalf. Thanks, man. I hope I won't need to take him up on that but apparently this is the proper expression of manliness that the men have absorbed. Apparently many of them were discussing this together. Don't ask me.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Sat Apr 02, 2022 11:25 am

So is my problem that I don’t slap people enough?

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:23 pm

Lol, no! No slapping! Although I once read a story about someone slapping another person with a fish and I always thought that would be funny. A small fish, not like, a tuna!

poorpete · Post by **poorpete** » Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:26 pm

Note to most men: do not hit stand up comedians while they perform in front of you. You are not famous. You will be arrested. You will serve jail time. You will be banned from comedy clubs. You might be sued.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:30 pm

Phoebe wrote: ↑Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:23 pm Lol, no! No slapping! Although I once read a story about someone slapping another person with a fish and I always thought that would be funny. A small fish, not like, a tuna!

Like Monty Python’s fish slapping dance?

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Sun Apr 03, 2022 10:38 am

poorpete wrote: ↑Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:26 pm Note to most men: do not hit stand up comedians while they perform in front of you. You are not famous. You will be arrested. You will serve jail time. You will be banned from comedy clubs. You might be sued.

Luckily I detect no risk of this in my environs; I have communicated that it will be extremely clear if these services are ever needed. No questions of doubt or preemption will arise! I will ask or will be incapacitated.

Akiva · Post by **Akiva** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:48 pm

In March my school used the morning announcements to laud women on the faculty for their accomplishments.

But they've started doing the same for men on the faculty, even calling it "Men's History Month."

I kinda want to puke.

Mando · Post by **Mando** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:34 pm

poorpete wrote: ↑Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:26 pm Note to most men: do not hit stand up comedians while they perform in front of you. You are not famous. You will be arrested. You will serve jail time. You will be banned from comedy clubs. You might be sued.

Sticks and stones....sticks and stones

FWIW I think in this situation it is better to meet the comment with a comment... heckling a comic in this situation is the proper response. Just my opinion though.

For those that break the barrier of touching it is a different matter...I have 39 posted acres, a tractor with a scoop, and lime.

Phoebe · Post by **Phoebe** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:44 am

Since I have for some reason now defended the Lord of the rings trilogy's inclusiveness, allow me to exercise my feminist impulses here and observe how incredibly often you will be randomly touched, just wandering through life as a woman. It's tough for younger women especially because combo of more often and less likely to anticipate it or preempt. There was some decade of life when men would touch the neck to shoulder space on the tops of shoulders, like "I shall offer you an unrequested massage now, sometimes while suggesting you seem so tense and need to relax!"
If there's a surefire way to do the opposite of relaxing, this is it! I'm worried it could ramp up again as one gets older.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 9:01 am

I'm surrounded by sick people! And they're not even all sick with the same thing! Two of boys are running fevers and coughing like crazy (not Covid). The other two have massive diarrhea and stomach issues. I've been up since three tending to them. Its going to be a long weekend.

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 12:17 pm

That sucks. Hope they all start to feel better soon, and that you don’t catch it from them.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:07 pm

Doing good so far!

Post by **Mike** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:38 pm

Kyle is already infected. He's just saving it all up until he's finished with his "big case" at work. Then he will be symptomatic of everything all at once.

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 5:51 pm

You might not be wrong

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:05 pm

The people I used to work for once said you could tell a dedicated worker because they usually got sick on the weekends rather than during the week, because the mind-body connection would help them not get sick when they were focused on the work they needed to finish.

Post by **Mike** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 7:14 pm

Kyle's like that. It feels like every couple of years that he gets through something huge (usually a big case at work), and then the moment it's done, he gets laid up for a week with whatever's been going around his family.

poorpete · Post by **poorpete** » Sat Apr 09, 2022 7:40 pm

Day one of what was to be our first non-staycation since 2019 and our daughter tested positive. Staycation 12 begins aka Sickcation 1. She's in good spirits. Possibly post symptoms as she had a fever the two days before. The rest of us just waiting to see if we caught it. Will we get to have a small masked vacation next weekend or get to all be sick but together?

Tahlvin · Post by **Tahlvin** » Sun Apr 10, 2022 3:20 am

That sucks. Hope everyone is okay and nobody ends up with long COVID. And that you get to safely enjoy your time together.