mdlbear | Done last week (20150705Su

L o n g week. Nevertheless, it feels as though a whole lot of things didn't get done. A lot of things did, though.

Monday after work we went up to Mukilteo for Kat's 30th birthday dinner at the local Mongolian Grill. Um... does that mean my daughter is 30 years old? Eeeep! Also the drain pump on the upstairs washer died. Again.

Tuesday I had an appointment with the therapist at UW Shoreline Clinic. Possibly helpful. Now reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. Also took Colleen to a dentist appointment in the afternoon.

I didn't get around to calling the repair place about the washer until Wednesday.

Thursday G came home from the hospital. I worked from home. We'd been planning a celebratory dinner, but everybody was just too wiped out, so we ordered pizza.

Friday the repair guy came out and made the obvious diagnosis, but didn't have a new pump on the truck. :P I went out to Trader Joe's and bought a pile of steaks for the delayed celebratory dinner.

Yesterday I was mostly a vegetable. Except for two loads of laundry (and four drier loads) -- thank goodness for the downstairs laundry room -- making dinner, a load of dishes, a not-entirely-successful PT session with G, ...

OK, I guess I've been doing things. I haven't been all that productive at work, though, which is a potential problem. I think I'm suffering from the fact that $WORK, like most workplaces these days, is explicitly set up only for extroverts. Not only is it open seating, without even cubicles, but you can't get anything done at all without interacting with other teams, and asking for help frequently. No wonder I seem to be burned out. I just hope I can make it to the end of the year, when my next batch of stock vests.

Oh, did I mention the back pain? Back pain. Left QL muscle.

Links in the notes, as usual.

0705Su
* up 7:45; ; laundry, dishes, ... shower (with Colleen), laundry
% pain level 4ish; took a methacarbomol, which seems to have help
Back pain from sitting too long in the Rainbow Room, plus a cleanup at 3:40.
& borrowed G's clip-on fan for my desk. Helps. A little.
@ When I first saw robotic arms, back in the late '60s, I was struck by how
graceful they were. They move like the old people in Larry Niven's Known Space
stories, with amazing precision and economy of motion.
On the other side of human from the uncanny valley is unearthly beauty.
@ Plattie The Platypus — craftbits.com (ysabetwordsmith | Make a Stuffed Platypus)
@ Bag of Holding - Con-Survival Edition | ThinkGeek tempting.
* Went out to Metro for dinner fixings.
% somehow, whatever writing or other projects I plan for the weekend don't get done.
& Googled for therapists and support groups. No groups that look particularly useful,
and too many therapists to even begin looking. The sites I looked at had too high a
noise-to-signal ratio. Of course, if I had a better handle on my problems it might be
easier to find solutions.
* Dinner: burgers, corn on the cob; raspberries. All on sale at Metro.

0706Mo Kat's 30th birthday
* up 6:20; W=208.0; laundry
& washer drain filter clogged. Paper clip.
-> damned drain pump out again.
@ Short Skirt, Large Sweater - A post about romantic relationships (firecat | Monday linkspam)
* 8pm dinner at Mongolian Grill (602, Mukilteo Speedway, Mukilteo, WA).
We left at 6 and got there before 7, so (after stopping at Rite Aid to buy a card) we
called and rescheduled.
@ Dangerous Jam - A User's Guide to PTSD, Part I: What I Did In The War
Not my problem, but I expect some of my readers will find it helpful.
(via ysabetwordsmith )

0707Tu
* up 6:30; W=208.6;
* write one-pager for my 11:30 meeting
-> which I cleverly left at home, but had synced to my work laptop.
~ 10:00 wake Colleen -> already up when I went to check at 9:30
* 11:30 Anita Brown
I find it amusing that the doctor Colleen and I share, and two of our specialists, are
all named Anita.
@ Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
* brunch at Flo-Anna; I had skipped breakfast, so I was ready.
* 3:00 Colleen dentist

0708We
* up 6:15; W=209.8
@ Advice on self-publishing, Part 6: Review of sites that format and sell your ebooks –
angelahighland.com
* call JimmyZ for washer repair -> Friday 5-7
@ Susan Cain: The power of introverts | TED.com (via Anita Brown)
! oddly and uncharacteristically cheerful most of the day. Not complaining.

0709Th
* up 6:37; W=209.8; laundry
* humira
* WFH because G came home from the hospital, and there was a lot to do.
@ The Ghosts of Spying Past : Anything Peaceful : Foundation for Economic Education
(New article: "The Ghosts of Spying Past" [The Mad Filkentist])
* Consulted with G about Centurylink -- he agrees that the best course is adding a
100Mb line.

0710Fr
* up 6:40; W=210.4; laundry
* 5-7pm washer service
repair guy made the obvious diagnosis and has us on the schedule for a new drain pump
* TJ's for steak for dinner. Also got baking potatoes which we didn't use, and
mushrooms for sauteeing.

0711Sa
* Up 6:30ish; W=209.6; shower, dishes, laundry (2 loads, plus 4 drier loads)
@ The Economics of Tidying Up - The Atlantic f(Mary Anne Mohanraj) sunk cost
@ Wikipedia dive from Turtles all the way down, via ysabetwordsmith |
Poem: "Turtles All the Way Down"
@ Sweet Cakes by Melissa Didn’t Just Deny a Lesbian Couple Service, They Also Doxxed
Them and Their Kids f(G)
The Truth about the Sweet Cakes Bakery Gag Order
* Sourdough French toast for brunch.
& With G, co-designed a manual wheelchair that could be used one-handed. Hmm.
-> One Arm Drive Manual Wheelchairs
: 1-3 delivery window for G's rented power chair
@ FACT SHEET: Administration Announces New Initiative to Increase Solar Access for All
Americans | whitehouse.gov Not much help for us, but good. -> I take that back:
" Washington State Housing Finance Commission is announcing the EnergySpark Home
Loan, a new home-loan program from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.
EnergySpark gives homebuyers an incentive to buy a home that is constructed to
high efficiency standards that are at least 15 percent above code, or to make
efficiency improvements to an existing home that cut its energy use by at least 10
percent. The program offers a quarter-percent off the interest rate, and also
allows buyers of older homes to finance the cost of modest improvements, for
example, installing renewable energy, adding insulation, replacing windows or
upgrading to an efficient furnace, right into the cost of the mortgage at the time
of purchase. When added to the Commission’s downpayment assistance, EnergySpark
gives low- and moderate-income homebuyers not only savings on their home purchase,
but savings on utilities over the long term. "
* PT with G; I need training.