Done last week (20131215 Su - 22 Sa)

[mdlbear]

Lots of puttering around the house -- the holiday season is always good for encouraging that kind of thing. Especially since we're *still* missing a couple of boxes of Christmas lights and ornaments. Gaak!

Some good links; this time I'm going to talk about a couple of them.

I bought a poem from The Wordsmith's Forge - 2013 Holiday Poetry Sale. Today is the last day, so act fast if you want to buy a poem at half price. The poem in question is "The Last Rose of Winter", a rather unconventional love poem. Somehow I knew it would be something I wanted to read.

The other interesting link was to an article with the somewhat less than informative title The boy whose brain could unlock autism It's actually about the "intense world" theory: that autism is a defense mechanism against sensory and social overload, caused by too much empathy rather too little. Oh. Right, then.

Indeed, research on typical children and adults finds that too much distress can dampen ordinary empathy as well. When someone else’s pain becomes too unbearable to witness, even typical people withdraw and try to soothe themselves first rather than helping—exactly like autistic people. It’s just that autistic people become distressed more easily, and so their reactions appear atypical.

Many of the other symptoms are due to withdrawal during the time when children are usually learning things like reading body language and other social cues. So, yeah -- my self-diagnosis of mild Asperger's may have been correct after all.

More links, as usual, in the notes.

1215 Su
  * up 7;30; W=205.2; d, n; shower
  @ The British Library Puts 1,000,000 Images into the Public Domain, Making Them Free to
    Reuse & Remix | Open Culture 
  @ The Seven-Day Week and the Meanings of the Names of the Days (via somebody on FB,
    referring to Cat Faber's post yesterday about keeping Thor in Thursday)
  * made a dozen hard-boiled eggs.  Also bacon for breakfast for me and Chaos.  I'll make
    some for Colleen when she comes downstairs.
  % Somehow I seem to have deleted the information on my hotel reservations for Conflikt
    and Norwescon.  :P  I could probably retrieve them using git bisect and grep; that
    might be a fun exercise.
  * Aired out the master bedroom
  @ The boy whose brain could unlock autism — Matter — Medium The "intense world"
    theory:  hypersensitivity, sensory and social overload.  Oh.  Right, then.
    "Indeed, research on typical children and adults finds that too much distress can
     dampen ordinary empathy as well. When someone else’s pain becomes too unbearable to
     witness, even typical people withdraw and try to soothe themselves first rather than
     helping—exactly like autistic people. It’s just that autistic people become
     distressed more easily, and so their reactions appear atypical."
  * Went spelunking in the garage.  Found wrapping paper and a box of *old* ornaments, but
    not the missing boxes.  Runing out of places they might be, which is annoying.
  * Cleared several boxes, including a wardrobe, and put several more up on shelves.  The
    white shelves are now largely my computer and music stuff.  Progress.  Also fun.
  * Found the bread machine
  * bought Conflikt brunch tickets; membership for Chaos.  There's a guest membership that
    I'll use for Emmy.
  & turned on my Nexus 7 for the first time in quite a while; it installed 37 app updates
    plus an OS update.  Evidently I haven't been using it enough.  Then of course after it
    updated the OS it has to update the apps all over again.  More of them.

1216 Mo
  * up 6:30; W=206.6; d, n
  & stayed very late at work fighting with some very weird, undocumented data.

1217 Tu
  * up 6:45; W=205.0; d, n
  & took kids to bus stop.  Deliberately went without my glasses, because I can.
  * don't go to work today
  * noon - Colleen dentist appointment
  * Stopped at LFP Town Center on the way home.  Yu Shan is closed on Tuesdays :(
  % got home 4pm; not even particularly worn out.
  : The TV that I ordered from Office Depot arrived.  Westinghouse, 38"(!), very cheap
    ($245).  It was in their ad this weekend.
  @ 21 Comics That Capture The Frustrations Of Depression f(Larissa March)
  @  The Militant Baker: LUSTWORTHY: A STATEMENT FOR THE VISIBLE WOMAN (FROM J+L) 
  @ The Militant Baker: THINGS NO ONE WILL TELL FAT GIRLS...SO I WILL + great links
  @ How to Have Sex While Fat: A Short Guide to Sexy Fun for Fatties and People Who F#&@
    Them | xoJane 

1218 We
  * up 6:30; W=205; d, n
  * put Colleen's toothbrush charger in downstairs bathroom
  & figured out how to re-arrange the bathrooms when we remodel upstairs:  swap the toilet
    and washer!  Widen the door to the master closet to make it wheelchair accessible, and
    put a curtain across the alcove.  Might be a little cramped if we want to put a sink
    in, but it's probably feasible.
  @ Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire - Charlie's Diary 
  @ Is Alzheimer's Type 3 Diabetes? - NYTimes.com Gleep! f(Ben Deschamps)
  * ended up working until after 8pm, still chasing the same old bug of the week.

1219 Th
  * up 6:30; W=205; d, n
  % Colleen and I seem to have fallen into a nice routine where we both wake up at 6:15
    with the first alarm, and cuddle until 6:30 when the second alarm goes off.  Like.
  @ Taking BeagleBone Black for a walk [LWN.net]
  : Neither of my debit cards has been used at Target.
  % wore my computer glasses as an experiment.  Great for the screens at work, but
    unusable for the phone and marginal for the laptop.  Good to know.
  : YD made fried rice for dinner.  Texture was gummy, but the taste is ok.
  * Guitar:  noodling, plus a lesson for G.  Noodling seems like a good way of reminding
    her that a lesson is available.

1220 Fr
  * up 7:30; ; d, n
  : Snow!!  The kids aren't going to school -- with a 2-hour late start and an
    already-scheduled 1-hour early close for the holidays, it didn't seem worthwhile.
    Especially since the busses are on a different schedule and routing.
  & Decided to take my cane this morning for balance on slippery sidewalks.  Good plan.
  * pretty well wrapped up at work, though not completely.
  @ The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Software - Datamation 
  @ @saladinahmed: Probably the best Venn diagram in the history of the universe 
    (originally from Threadless)
  * 15min:  reorganized the sewing corner to put the sewing-machine cabinet against the
    wall, so it can stay open while allowing wheelchair access.  Go me!

1221 Sa
  * up 8:00; W=205.4; d, n
  : YD came in all bubbly after having been on a sort-of date much of the night
  & turned up a pair of yoga socks, which I wore this morning.  Interesting.  Not as warm
    as my usual ones, but good grip.  Having something between my toes is weird.
  : YD made apple pancakes.  Yum.
  @ Physicists Discover Geometry Underlying Particle Physics | Simons Foundation 
  % Glenn and I decided we need back-to-back computer desks in the Great Room.  The
    current desk is 4'x2'; Hmm.  I'm thinking 4x4.

Comments

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

You've got some bad markup, and apparently it's screwed up the entry, I'm afraid.

[mdlbear]

Fixed. Thanks.

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Now you know I actually try to read these. :)

[mdlbear]

:) And thanks for that, too!

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Christmas stuff is... trouble. We didn't do anything Christmassy at home last year, because we flew out east for visiting family last year... and then when we were home two years ago, we didn't do a tree because our kid was a few months old.

So... we keep stumbling over boxes that contain holiday stuff, ornaments we were given in the past and haven't ever moved... it's wierd.

I'll let you know if we turn up one of your boxes. :)