Done Since 2018-02-25

[mdlbear]

This week was dominated by Colleen's hospital stay (treating a combination of cellulitis and a UTI), and worries about money (as usual). I will have to look for a job; I currently have negative cash flow. I could probably get control of it except that we have about $60K worth of construction to pay for, plus my taxes. Grump.

Still working on my review of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey; along the way I have also read The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, which combines with it in interesting ways. I linked this paired review in last week's notes.

We hired a couple of people (a couple, actually) to put our metal shed together. Money well spent, but the shed itself is a piece of crap. Holes don't line up, and the doors don't slide properly. Many of my recent purchasing decisions have been bad ones. This does not lead to self-confidence. N. keeps trying to tell me I'm more competent than I think I am, but I have evidence to the contrary.

My resolve to work on personal projects has mostly gone by the wayside except for reading and guitar practice; it's hard to think about things I want to do when I have taxes, unsorted mail, six boxes of unsorted CDs, and all my lumber and most of my tools stuffed into a storage pod.

Notes & links:

0225Su
  * Up 4:50ish; W=203.4; shower
  * working on review of Wilson's "Odyssey"
  @ The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus): Margaret Atwood 
  * lunch out with C, followed by a trip to the craft store on Bayview.
  * SL:  (drunken chicken) chicken breasts, scallions, white wine, portabello mushrooms;
    (lots of) ground beef, pastrami/corned beef, mushrooms, 1 jar pasta sauce, eggs,
    x nutmeg, limes, yellow onions, garlic. palmieres, half dozen cadbury cream eggs.
  @ Why Creative People Sometimes Make No Sense – Matthew Schuler f(G)
  : N introduced me to a group called the Moonrakers.  Must look up.
  @ The Bells of Norwich - YouTube
    moonrakers beneath the snow - YouTube

0226Mo
  * up 5:30ish; W=203.4;
  @ Moonrakers - YouTube - YouTube
  @ ‘Black Panther’: Choose Your Weapons | by Namwali Serpell | The New York Review of
    Books
  @ The Odyssey - Homer, Robert Fagles
  @ Metacircular Evaluator (eval and apply in scheme)
  * N has a dentist appointment.  leaving ~7:30 in Molly.  I'm teaching.
  * pay BECU (car loan)
  * download AMEX year-end summary
  * 10am - people arriving to put shed together.
  ~ 3pm C in hospital MAC clinic - left, past the piano; oncology also on sign
    MAC = Medical Ambulatory Care -- for catheter change
    -> going in early so that she can get her apparently-infected leg looked at.  She is
       prepared to spend the night if necessary.
    -> can't go to her MAC appointment because waiting for infection lab results. :P
    -> on IV antibiotics
  @ Alcohol and coffee can help you live past 90, study says (LI feed)
    " The research found that subjects who drank two glasses of beer or wine every day
      decreased their chances of a premature death by 18%, and those who drank two cups of
      coffee a day decreased their chances by 10%. "
  # looking into defining modes in emacs.
  * defined flktex-mode and to-do-mode.  Minimal at present.
  * guitar: mostly Lock-Keeper.
  % N told me that j says, and she agrees, that I'm not very confident about my ability to
    teach, but that once I get into it to the point where I'm thinking about the subject
    rather than teaching it, I'm very good.
  : 7pm looks like C will get discharged tonight.  They installed the catheter, too.
  @ todogroup/guides: TODO Group Guides
  @ facebook/react: A declarative, efficient, and flexible JavaScript library for
    building user interfaces. 

0227Tu
  & Awake 4am; back down 5 and got a little sleep
  * up 6:30; ;
  @ siderea | [pols, curr ev, psych, Patreon] What We Ask of Victims comment that
    says what I (also) believe WRT gun control.
  @ Flutter - Beautiful native apps in record time [LJ] ~ to React
  @ Material Design Android's design principles
  @ Download Android Studio and SDK Tools | Android Studio
  @ Chrome OS may soon be able to run Linux applications in a container [LJ]
  * shopping run for C+N's prescriptions, red velvet cake.  Found crullers, too.
  * conversation with Steve Lewis of Cambia [ 971-248-0211 ]
    infrastructure for consumer-facing apps in a healthcare company.  Locked down, no
    Linux (mac or pc for devs)
  : We have a shed.  Things don't line up, and the doors stick.  Should have gone for
    Arrow even though it was smaller.  Growf.
  : T' replaced the turntable bearing on the other CD tower, and moved the two of them.
    She also cleared away the boxes and did a lot of organizing.  We actually have
    something like a living room now.
  : can't find my checkbook.  Baffling.  Looked in backpack, purse, etc., along with the
    tray table and card table, and places where it might have fallen off one of those.
    Could turn up at Nancy's, I suppose, but I thought I looked in it for stamps earlier
    this week.  Last week?  I suppose a cat could have dragged it off.  Or N's room.
    -> Actually, it was under the travel router that I'd moved to a (wire) shelf above my
       desk.  Thought I'd looked there, but the top of the shelf is slightly above eye
       level.  I spotted it from underneath, because wire shelf.  Whew! (*headdesk*)
  * Drunken Chicken (g's birthday dinner request).  Red velvet (roll) cake.

0328We
  & awake 3am; stayed in bed and got back to sleep
  * up 6:30; W=203.4;
  @ I, Cringely We win, you lose: How shareholder value screwed the middle class
    Disconnect between productivity and worker compensation traced back to a 1970 paper
  @ The Best Possible Day - The New York Times (thnidu) hospice
    From Being Mortal | Atul Gawande -- guess I need a copy of that.
  : Math with j and N: Moebius strips and Klein bottles.  N joined in because she wanted
    to see j's reaction when he discovered what happens.
  & we're going to have to cancel singing lessons tonight - N has to take the kids to the
    ferry (to M's for Purim), then go to a meeting at school; C is up at the ER getting
    her infected leg looked at again (taken by V).
  % 3ish right now I'm feeling strung out, fragile, and like I just want to curl up in a
    corner.  That might actually not be a bad idea.
    -> of course, not having had anthing in the way of lunch may have contributed to that
  : 3:47 C has been admitted; she'll be there ~3 days.  Room 2203; phone 360-678-5151
    needs pills, humira, phone.  Visiting hours run through 8 or 9
  * re-arranging CDs.  There's about 30% more room for filk/folk/pop.  We'll see.
  * visiting C in the hospital.  Arrived 6ish; will leave ~8pm.

0301
  * up 6am; W=202.6; shower
  @ Dream of the Rarebit Fiend - Wikipedia (via a dive starting at St. David's Day)
    Comic Strip Library - Digital Collection of Classic Comic Strips
    Dream of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay - Internet Archive
    Deeply surreal; by the creator of Little Nemo.
  @ Amplified cactus - Wikipedia
    CHILD OF TREE - John Cage John Cage - Child of Tree
    Two almost completely different performances, because John Cage. also, Branches
  : The Sceptre monitor is lovely EXCEPT that there's a high-pitched whine in the
    headphone output.  Unsure whether I should go back to the HDMI-to-VGA adapter, which
    has its own headphone output, or just plug the phones into the laptop.  I'm doing that
    for now; it means I can easily switch to the speakers if I want to.
  * Guitar:  mostly trying (and failing) to play scales.  Can't seem to manage to make
    ascending and descending match up.  It's also harder if you don't use open strings.
  * Called C for a status update, at N's suggestion.  Potassium up, pain down from 3 to 1
  @ siderea | [pshrinkery/med, healthcare, Patreon] Looking Further from the Bridge
  * got up to hospital ~2pm.
  * Went out to the gift store to get flowers; they only had three arrangements, and two
    were ugly.  The three tulips, however, were perfectly lovely.  They started to open
    while I was there.
  & Met V on the way back; she was coming to visit.  Helped her uninstall some unwanted
    security app from her phone.  V didn't stay long, but will come again tomorrow.
  * Picked up the kids at the ferry
  * finished The Penelopiad
  * Thursday: Pasta Bolognese.  (one serving, for N, using the last of the left-over
    sauce.  I had pesto with added cheese.)
  & Started reading Le Ton Beau de Marot; it was mentioned by N in the car
    earlier in the week.  Since it's about translation, it seems particularly timely.

0302Fr
  * up 5:45ish; ;
  @ tpettersen / git-aliases — Bitbucket (from a talk at git merge 2017)
  : between j's swimming lesson this morning and N's interview this afternoon, timing for
    a visit to C is going to be a little tight.
  : C getting Ciprofloxacin and
    Clindamycin
  : N brought cinnamon buns after her interview; I'm not particularly hungry at the
    moment.
  : finally figured out that Ticia putting her front claws on my leg means that she wants
    her kibble/treats and C isn't here.
  & 15min:  some CD shelving (several short sessions)
  % house feels lonely.

0303Sa
  * Up 6ish; W=202.6;
  @ my.chevrolet.com-screenshot-20180303.png (1110×955) Finally took a screenshot and
    circled the offending entries in red.  Posted it to Chevrolet's FB page.  Maybe I'll
    get some action.
    Your owner's website is broken. It's been... - Stephen Savitzky
  * UT - made a little headway on the mail heaps.  (Calling them "stacks" would suggest a
    degree of order that they do not have.)
  : 11:30 Going to pick up Colleen!
  & stopped at Greenbank Farm and picked up a marionberry pie.  They have two EV chargers
  % definitely should have had lunch before leaving home.  acid attack on the way home;
    fortunately passed 
  * 2:30ish home.  Had to wait for the nurse to get back from lunch.
  * made myself a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.  Seems to have been inadequate.
    % I feel wrung out.  This may not be entirely due to nutrition.
  % 4:30 almost certainly a lot of anxiety/depression.  Can't really tell which.
  * UT sorting mail - several rounds
  * shelving CDs - several rounds
  * Saturday:  stroganoff (N's request) 

= menu:  0225Su-0303Sa
  * Monday: hamburgers
  * Tuesday: drunken chicken (g's birthday; red velvet cake)
  ~ Wednesday: sandwiches
  * Thursday: Pasta Bolognese.  (one serving, for N, using the last of the left-over
    sauce.  I had pesto with added cheese.)
  * Friday: leftovers
  * Saturday:  stroganoff (N's request)

Comments

[pocketnaomi]

You're highly competent at some things and less so at others, which is true for most of us. Where I tend to poke you about under-confidence is where I see you showing competence in a field you don't normally associate with it, like teaching or empathy. I'm perfectly willing to concede that purchasing isn't your strong suit. It's OK. We'll manage.

[mdlbear]

Neither are budgeting and paperwork. :P

[madfilkentist]

I hope all is going well with Colleen.

[mdlbear]

She appears to be recovering, though not yet completely. She has another week or so of antibiotics to take.

[jcfiala]

I hope Colleen improves - never fun having to deal with a hospital. :(

[mdlbear]

thanks!

[thnidu]

Thank you for posting that link to siderea's post. I'd comment on it, but she's banned me and I don't even know why. It may have been something I said that she took as offensive, though I didn't intend it that way.

[mdlbear]

That seems kind of weird, but you never know.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks for the Moonrakers, and for taking good care of Colleen.

Being Mortal is a wonderful book, although it would have been even more wonderful if Gawande had ever heard of the social model of disability. (I.E., some wheel-reinventing) But it raises excellent questions re: end-of-life decisions, and Gawande is impressively open about his own experience with his parents--particularly for a doctor.

[mdlbear]

Thanks for the recommendation -- I'll have to track down a copy.