Done Since 2019-02-03

[mdlbear]

So, it's been a (mostly snowbound) week. It started snowing last Sunday morning; by Monday we had five inches and the streets were impassable. Tuesday I drove down the driveway because C had a Wednesday appointment and I needed to get the car charged; Wednesday we had to cancel because I couldn't get up the driveway. Good thing, because if I had Colleen and I would probably have gotten stuck at the bottom of some hill.

I was able to get out Thursday and shop for staples (and L's drugs). I had very sensibly parked on the street again. Apparently it takes two or three days for the crews to plow and sand the streets to the point where a two-wheel drive car can use them. C cancelled her Friday appointment just a few minutes before they would have called her. We have seven or eight inches total right now, with more on the way tonight, Monday, and Tuesday.

I've been less productive than I'd like for FAWM, but not entirely idle. I got my second song out on time, and then got totally stuck trying to come up with either a follower to that one, or something about my father. Total blank. I guess, in retrospect, that getting derailed was not really surprising, but those songs really want to get written. I was rescued yesterday by a collaboration with pocketnaomi, and it did involve a truck, but I'm still behind.

Notes & links:

0203Su
  * up 6:30ish; W=197.6, S=7:20; shower
  @ Strange Aeons, wow, what a gorgeous month to remember autism... (sindri42 via gingicat)
  * 9:30 UU
  * remember to get Molly's key from G.  Give him the cats' vet records to take down
  & take L to ER - sciatica
  : goddamn pharmacy closed at 5; I got there 5:30.
  & park on the street, because snow

0204Mo
  * Up 5:50; W=198.2, S=6:18;
  : 5-6" of snow and still coming down.  Got a bad feeling about this  5.9"
  # parkiing on the street was a good call.  Still not getting out; too many hills.
  ~ 8am go to pharmacy, payless.  S wants to come.
  @ PSA: how to really remove Google from your life - no-bull version | MM Writes
    The DDG article, How to Live Without Google, doesn't say anything about their trackers.
    How to Stop Gboard from Collecting Your Personal Data on Android…
  @ Be Internet Awesome - Resources internet safety for kids.  I'm a little wary of
    it because Google, but there's a good set of links.
  @ ConnectSafely | Promoting Safety, Privacy & Security  ads, of course.  :P
  @ FAWM.ORG | Besties

0205Tu Dad died 20 years ago
  * up 5:30; S=6:58;
  @ posted River: Dad... 20
  x 11:45 C Dr. Corwin Urology Providence(?)
  x 3PM C Dr. Rochier
  @ Shell Style Guide
  : Walk to Goss Lake Rd.  I'm pretty sure the roads will be passable Wednesday.
    They're *almost* passable now -- much of the way is completely clear.  There are
    parts, especially on hills, where it's just compacted snow turned to ice -- the turn
    from Skyline onto Skybird for example.  There were trucks spreading sand, but I didn't
    see any along the route I walked.  The section of Goss Lake going uphill toward
    E. Harbor was white -- compacted snow.  That's the part I'm particularly wary of.  The
    Bayview direction looked better; that makes sense because Bayview is where the truck
    base is.  I'll also ask Tandi when/if she gets here. -> she didn't
  * TAKE GARBAGE UP -> only one can today, fortunately
  * bring Molly down for charging.  40 miles each way, and 89mi worth of charge.  nope.
    took quite a while to get windshields clear; won't be as hard tomorrow.  Allow for it
  * call Mom
    
0206We
  * Up 5am; W=196.6, S=5:55;
  * 9ish clean windshields, etc.
  % couldn't get out of the driveway.  Might have been able to, but without knowing
    whether the hills on the way are passable, I didn't want to risk getting stuck with
    Colleen in the car.
  : L arranged with T' to come out and run her prescriptions.
  % feeling altogether defeated
  ~ 1pm C at UW -- C will have to call for details Dr. Southerland. leave ~10am
    1959 NE Pacific St. Seattle
  @ Learn PostgreSQL The Fun Way: A Curious Moon | Big Machine S(L)
    The Twelve-Factor App
  * make Songs/*/index.html no longer depend on server-side include.  Other parts of the
    site still do, but that is lower priority.
  @ Tiny House Designed To Be Elderly / Disability / Mobility Friendly - YouTube
  % 10:30 freezing.  The house thermostat was turned down to 68, but even so.  I may have
    a cold or something of the sort.
    
0207Th
  * up 5:55; S=6:08;
  : Bus 57 back in service as of 4:30am, so should be okay to go in to town.
  * 10-4 EST FlexJobs virtual job fair
    Looks like exactly one company has jobs I'm qualified for, and that's auth0.  Which
    I've already applied at, but there's a blog-writing job that's possible.  Typical for
    job fairs.
  : Cygnus failed to boot after an upgrade, or rather booted and shutdown. (see below)
  * went grocery shopping and to pick up L's meds.  Getting up the driveway was dicey.
    Backed up and tried again several times.  Seems to work better without anti-slip.
  * SL: Olive oil, peanut oil, canned coconut milk, breakfast sausage, 4 servings each of
    (beef, dark meat chicken, pork ribs), bananas, milk, eggs, flour, multigrain cheerios,
    english muffins, bulk hot and sweet Italian sausage, salsa, yellow mustard, whole
    wheat bread (no milk -- e.g. nature's own); -> all on S's credits and card.
  * came back and started making sure Cygnus was fully backed up (copy /etc to /home,
    rsync users/record to nova, etc.) Only thing I couldn't make sure was backed up was
    the encrypted home directory.  Found a script called boot-repair, which worked.
    Mostly, I think, just re-installed grub.  How to install the Boot-Repair tool in an Ubuntu live disc? - Ask Ubuntu
    Boot-Repair

0208Fr
  * up 6:30; S=6:03;
  : snow started ~8:30.
    : C called to cancel her Dr's appointment; they had been about to call _her_.  So...
    : Paratransit cancelled (S)
    : V also asked if she should cancel -> yes please.
  @ Comprehensive Python Cheatsheet (G)
    Comprehensive Linux Cheatsheet
  : 1:25 Desti got out the back door; was fortunately able to retrieve her from under the
    deck (where there wasn't snow)
  @ xkcd: Invisible Formatting one of the things I
    hate most about word processors.

0209Sa
  * up 4ish; S=4:51;
  : 10am still snowing.  We'll be lucky if the roads are passable Tuesday.
  * 10:30 went up to mail my ballot; quite a few packages in the box.
    measured the snow against my cane -- about 7"
  @ 23 Beautiful Examples of Web Site Archives — SitePoint
  @ (Gimme Some of That) Ol' Atonal Music - YouTube (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ FAWM.ORG | Weird Load
  % 9:30ish - I'm cold.

Comments

[spiffyvoxel]

I've been following along with the FAWM posts when I have a free moment. Good stuff. :)

I saw that xkcd cartoon the other day. This is why I only use Microsoft Word (and Apple's Pages app) when I absolutely have to, and do the majority of my actual writing in plain text, with Markdown formatting if required. Alas, for magazine layout I'm currently stuck with using Adobe InDesign, which suffers most of the invisible formatting issues too. Can't win 'em all.

Amazing

[dialecticdreamer]

Remember, you've written more songs this month than I have in my LIFETIME!

Re: Amazing

[mdlbear]

True, but you've written more fiction in the last couple of weeks than I have in my lifetime. So...

(I will admit to having written a 300-page book on real-time microprocessor systems, but very little of that was fiction.)

Re: Amazing

[dialecticdreamer]

Now I'm wondering which parts were fictionalized? Boss' names? Bug fixes? Laugh!

[alatefeline]

I’m excited that you are making music!

I philosophically disagree with the framing of ‘behind/ahead of schedule’ for self-chosen tasks. As far as I am concerned you are at least three songs to the good of not having written songs this month, and that is much more important than whether or not you are adhering to the FAWM schedule, because FAWM is supposed to be your tool to help you get your music going. If it needs to be taken apart, sanded down, and nailed back together to fit your needs, sobeit.

I’m glad groceries and medications were gettable and mildly worried about y’all being stranded away from medical support. Love to you and C. and the cats and dragons and such, and warmth for housemates too; if they help you folks out then I like them sight unseen.

[mdlbear]

Thanks! Good point; it's sort of a 3/5 full vs. 2/5 empty thing at this stage. I'll be okay if I don't come close to making my 14-song target, but I would be upset if I got totally stuck and spent the rest of the month staring at a blank screen. Thankfully I seem to have at least one good start going. Going totally sideways, but going.

[alatefeline]

Going sideways can be interesting!

[amaebi]

Hey, this all sounds like good work to me! Fantastic!