mdlbear | Done this month (20151101Su

Eventful week. After a botched delivery attempt on Sunday, the washer and dryer were finally installed Tuesday morning. I then took the bus up to the U District and met N at Cat City. We can haz cat! Morticia is a lovely 8-year-old tortie; she's friendly, cuddly, and has a very loud purr. Pictures here.

'Ticia also likes music! She was understandably upset when I carried her out to the car from the shelter, but quieted right down when the CD (Heather Dale) came on. Later, she was actually dancing with g. Fun! And she likes sleeping with me and Colleen. Actually, all the cats have done that at one time or another, but 'Ticia seems especially fond of it.

It's been a long time since I listed my mood as "happy", but I did that on Friday in my Thankful Friday post. Cats, it seems, are a very effective antidepressant.

Links in the notes, of course.

1101Su
* Up 5:18; W=196.6
* 8-12 delivery window for washer -> received call at 10:30. 1 hour. (Not half an
hour, which is the usual. Just setting out from the warehouse, perhaps?)
-> and they don't want to wait while I take the stairlift apart, so they'll come back
in a couple of hours. NOT HAPPY.
Rather than simply coming back, the driver called his boss and gave him what turned
out to be an inaccurate summary, so I assume that he was just lying to me to get
rid of me.
-> maybe today. Maybe Tuesday. They apparently have no flexibility at all in their
scheduling, so the probability that they can come Tuesday is, in my opinion, 0. I
assume $BOSS was also lying to get rid of me.
$BOSS called from 425-244-8715. http://communitycallerid.com/425-244-8715 says it's
a cell phone in Marysville.
@ Re: Curio "I didn't have any problems reading it, oddly enough; I just found it a
particularly accurate description, based on my recent (July) experiences.
And even if I'd been triggered, I wouldn't have minded -- the ability to grieve openly
is something I seem to have acquired only recently, and I'm grateful for it.
: Check for some of the repairs on the old washer arrived. It'll help.
: 3:20 $BOSS called to tell me that the washer would not be delivered today. Which I
already figured, because he told me how their scheduling works. It's all done by
"computer", which means they can blame "the computer" for their total lack of
flexibility.
: SMS text messages have been intermittent. To go with our lack of dialtone.
@ why does the existance of www.homedepotsucks.org not surprise me?
* some work on the dresser with N and the kids. Fun! It's a crappy dresser from
Goodwill, but should refurbish well enough for N+G's closet.
@ Albert Lee Appliance White Center
Metropolitan Appliance SODO
% 6:30 QL pain, on both sides of my waist (or where it would be if I had one) is about
3-3.5 resting, 5 if I bend side-to-side. I am not a happy bear. I seem to be
contracting them and maybe the abdominals almost continuously; possibly stress-related.
* Chicken tikka masala for dinner. Maya Kaimal sauce, one of the two brands readily
available in the area; the other is of course Pathak.
: 6:41 power glitch. Fortunately the rice is done, but I'm not sure about the chicken.
It was only momentary, but I'm dubious.

1102Mo
* Up 5am; W=196.4; dishes
Some nice cat-cuddle before getting up.
* 8:45 heard back from Jeremy (home depot) - tomorrow, 7:30 - 11.
~ (from 0901) Delridge store: 206-762-2126. Spoke to expediter. Kathy ext 304
mdlbear | Why I won't buy another appliance from Home Depot
Please contact our Major Appliances Team at 1-800-455-3869 we will be more than happy
to assist you in resolving this matter.
www.kirotv.com
@ Maven vs Gradle: Feature Comparison Chart - Gradle LI(Java)
. loan
@ Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine (no. 2) in action Been there, seen that.
It's spectacular.
* verified that, yes, we have no dialtone at the demarc. Why we have internet is
unknown. We're signed up for autopay, so it isn't that we haven't paid our bill.
: more stuff gone missing.. My ballot, this time. Along with some unknown number of
undeposited checks and unpaid bills.
: For some reason my phone refuses to use a wired headset, in spite of the fact that it
recognizes it when I plug it in.
-> ok, it does work. At least for music. but not for testing ringtones! :P

1103Tu
* up 4:45; W=196.8; dishes; S=10897 (new record)
@ A dirty secret called grief | Life and style | The Guardian f(France)
~ Go to work! It's actually *on the way* -- the E stops at Aurora and Denny.
-> can't do it today, but it's good to know that the Shoreline clinic is easy to get
to from work.
* Ordered music stand light from MF
% stupidly left my work laptop at work. Can pick it up on the way to my appointment if
the washer delivery is on time, but I'm losing several hours of work time. Will do
some writing about git, which I wanted to do anyway.
* started "Transplanting Subtrees"
* 7:30 - 11 delivery window; x WFH
-> DONE! out of the house by 9:30
* got in a decent morning's work
* 3pm Anita Brown - take the bus
* did some writing on the bus and in the waiting room.
* Met N at Cat City. We can haz cat. Lovely 8-year-old tortie named Morticia. Loves
petting and cuddles. Not clear whether she'll bond with me or N; doesn't really
matter since Desti has gotten a lot closer to me, and I'll love them both.
* take-out dinner from Snappy Dragon. $20/person, but that's way less than inflation
from the '60s. Only about 3x; a lot of other things are 10x.
% my back is very unhappy with me, and keeps trying to tie itself in knots. QLs
as usual. Methocarbamol

1104We
* up 5:33; W=196.8; dishes, laundry
% QLs still a bit dicey.
@ Man Asks An Old Lady Why She’s Alone On A Cruise Ship. Her Response Shocks Him
"It's cheaper than a nursing home."
Retirement Living on Cruise Ships : snopes.com True
" As to whether living out one's golden years aboard a cruise ship is a viable
alternative to spending them in a retirement home, a geriatrician at Northwestern
University says such a plan is a feasible and cost-effective alternative to
assisted-living facilities. Dr. Lee Lindquist, an instructor at Northwestern's
Feinberg School of Medicine, compared the costs (over a 20-year life expectancy) of
moving to an assisted-living facility, a nursing home and a cruise ship, including
the expense of treating acute illnesses, Medicare reimbursement and other
factors. She determined that the net cost of cruise-ship living was only about
$2,000 more than the alternatives ($230,000 versus $228,000) and offered a higher
quality of service. "

1105Th Guy Fawkes Day
* up 6:05; W=196.8; laundry
* 9:15-11:15 CenturyLink tech scheduled to come out
Problem was at the pole. The wiring isn't really underground, it just goes through a
pipe from ground level. We could have had the demarc installed outside next to the
power line, and next time we probably will.
@ http://www.centurylink.com/help/contact/?ent=c - call/email after tech leaves,
especially if service isn't satisfactory.
* afternoon: acorn -> morning
$ 304.69 on RE debit.
: Anonymous targeting Amazon in their Million Mask March - just as well I'm home
* before 2 - pick up Morticia at Cat City
-> I can haz cat! Got lost going, but made it finally. Then stuck in traffic on the
way home. She was restless, but calmed down when the music (Heather Dale)
started. So definitely our kind of cat.
* Spent the rest of the afternoon (through 6:30) in the bedroom with Ticia; she's very
affectionate -- lies down and wants to be petted, rubs against legs -- I am very much
owned now. N and g also spent time there, and brief visits from G and E.
@ What's new in TeX, part 2 [LWN.net]
tex4ht tutorial · michal-h21/helpers4ht Wiki
The tbook System for XML Authoring
: The happy light I ordered for my desk at work arrived.
* Morticia was *dancing* with g, while I played guitar and sang. She seems to have made
herself at home very quickly. Fluffy Cthulhu makes a good backrest.

1106Fr
* awake 4:30ish -- Ticia was snuggling under the covers. Somebody must have loved her
very much, and she must have been terribly lonely. Colleen said that she'd been
crying. She follows me around, even more than Curio did. She came with a reindeer
dog toy that she's very attached to; maybe she grew up with dogs? So sweet!
* up 5ish; W=197.6; dishes
: Foolishly left my phone in the bedroom. Since the only safe way to get in is through
the bathroom (because cats), it's going to be stuck there annoying Colleen until G is
finished.
* finished Transplanting Subtrees With git - S. Savitzky
(I really need to link Why and How To Keep Your Master Happy too)
* Happy time with Ticia when I got home. Kitty cuddles. Makes it hard to type, though.
Posted a Thankful Friday
with mood set to "happy" -- that's the first in a long, long time.

1107Sa
* up 5:30ish; W=197; Shower
@ Tau Day | No, really, pi is wrong: The Tau Manifesto by Michael Hartl
@ Old-School Coder | Ben Deschamps
* make Morticia's vet appointment, for Saturday if possible. -> Tuesday.
They like to schedule well animal appointments a week in advance.
* Doing stuff in the bedroom. Hanging plants, hacking, laundry, shelving...
At one point I was typing and Ticia curled up asleep with her head on my leg. Totally
adorable. I let her explore in the closet while I was there.
* Beef kielbasa for dinner. Simple.
* down to the garage to find some of the missing Elfa pieces.
% bit of a blood sugar crash. Grump.
* 15min: more laundry, and a lot of just plain kitty snuggle. Not much accomplished,
but it felt good.
* work on Config/emacs and corresponding .emacs

1108Su
* up 8:30; W=196.8; shower, laundry, dishes,
* 10:30ish let Ticia out. May have been better to let the other cats come into the
bedroom one at a time, but it seems to be working. Cricket is up to making friendly
noises, according to N. Morticia seems to be basically exploring wherever she wants
to and staying out of the others' way.
@ Morticia - Google Photos
* added to.do setup target to Tools/make, because steve/Config needed one
* 1ish home depot and an art supply place with N
* put Ticia in the bedroom while we were out, and kept her there for the night.
* out with N to Home Depot for paint; then N and Colleen to Joann's in Southcenter.
Followed by dinner at Stirling's, and desert at Coldstone
* moved the shoe bags to the opposite wall