Done Since 2020-10-18

[mdlbear]

It is basically impossible for me to listen to music with words, and do much of anything that requires writing. And I now belong to too many Discord servers to keep track of those, either. (Same reason I stopped logging in to Twitter.) I'm told that people who multitask can do these things. I am not one of those people, and in fact never have been. I've cut back somewhat on newspaper websites, and that helps too.

For some reason my zoom client has stopped showing me the gallery view. Which is totally unfair because Judi. (If anyone knows what happened to the desktop zoom client for Linux, let me know. It was working 100% reliably before I upgraded to 20.04.) I've had other problems with the computers -- crashing on suspend and flaky bluetooth -- since the last upgrade (to Ubuntu and Mint 2020.04); these are probably due to the 5.4 kernel. I may have to drop back to 18.04 for everyday use until it's fixed.

The plumber (actually a rooter and drain guy -- he's not a licensed plumber so he doesn't work inside the house) arrived on Sunday with his excavator. Which was much bigger than I expected. I kept expecting to see Mike Mulligan. After uncovering the problem, which was more of a broken pipe than a leak, he came back Monday with the necessary parts and we now have water, and a yard hydrant that should last for longer than I expect to be living in this house. Can't say as much for the PVC pipe; that will eventually have to be replaced, but hopefully not on my watch.

A little more singing than usual, mostly driven by wanting to get my fingers back in shape for Thursday, but it mostly worked. Now to get that momentum back going forward. (It might work...)

Notes & links:

1018Su
  & awake 2:15
    / vomiting.  C thinks it may be due to the red spaghetti sauce.  And the diarrhea
      apparently started when we had caprese.  -> avoid tomatoes?  seems wise.
      -> or it could be a blocked catheter.  Much less than usual in the bag this morning 
  & awake 5:30;
    / vomiting
  * Up 8am; S=6:48;
  * setting up dishes for soaking.  I'll turn on the water around 11, maybe?
  * brought in a 12V5A power brick (for the as-yet-unnamed machine) and a power strip (for
    the shelves under the TV) from the garage.
  * water off ~12:30; not enough dishes to make running the dishwasher worthwhile.
  & found the missing block of 12 cube magnets, stuck onto the back of my desk chair's
    support post.  :P  They went missing on 0803.
    I really need to replace the casters.  The rims are disintegrating. -> ordered
  @ Schadenfreude Pie recipe
  : (plumber)Andy is here with his full-sized Takeuchi excavator.  A lot more machine than
    I was expecting.  Yikes!  He'll be back with parts tomorrow.  cf Mike Mulligan et.al.
  @ The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time | TIME excellent list; I would have
    preferred a single-page format, but...  I've read about 20 of them, all from the first
    half of the (chronological) list.
  : My order for coffee and cat food is still listed as expected today by 9pm, but it's
    8:15 now, there's no tracking info and it doesn't appear to have even shipped.
    Ordered more coffee, which supposedly will arrive Tuesday.
  / 1200ml in bag

1019Mo
  & Awake 3am;
  & chat with $A customer service.  20% credit for my trouble.  apparently one sets the
    shipping preference at checkout.  But I'm used to having it split automatically
    -> back to bed ~4:30 and never got back to sleep
  * up 6am; S=5:11; 
  * pay Surety
  * vote
  * singing:  The River, Stuff that Dreams are Made Of, Where the Heart Is
  % my left thumb is hurting.  Quite possibly a mouse effect, but it's affecting my
    ability to play D and F chords.
  : water pressure is unusably low at this point.  had it on long enough to fill the sink,
    but got alarmed at how rapidly the hole was filling up
  : Andy arrived and uncovered the broken joint.  Basically the vertical pipe was being
    supported by a 6" stub of PVC pipe, and an insufficiently-tightened pipe clamp.
    -> off to get another fitting.  (Of course, it's in Oak Harbor)
    -> $1635, which is right where I expected it to be (I'd guessed btw. 1k and 2k)
  : 7.5 quake off southern Alaska.  Colleen of course found only partial info and filled
    in the gaps by guesswork.  I've learned to look stuff up.
  : 8:15 septic tank alarm going off (who knows how long) My guess is that it was the
    combination of laundry, dishes, and draining the tub.
  * new skatewheel-type casters on the Aeron chair.  Huge difference.  a bit higher, too.
  : as of 10:20 the wayward order is shown arriving Wednesday
  / 800ml in bag

1020Tu
  & awake 1:30ish;
    / major cleanup    % heat for back pain
  : sherman is having trouble waking up after suspend; similar to blackbird?  Growf.
  * up 8am; S=8:28, W=196.6;
  @ mightycraft.com/brands/green-ant-gin (The Gin Queen: Green Ant Gin)
  @ Tom Lehrer Songs – Songs and Lyrics by Tom Lehrer
  @ Wear a Mask (Be Our Guest Parody) - YouTube (susandennis)
  * pick up S's drugs at RiteAid; dropped ballot in collection box
  / (HH nurse) Diane - skin looks good; continue desitin, will drop back to once/week
  % 4:45ish rather fuzzy after gin.  Beats fretting
  @ The People Who Prioritize a Friendship Over Romance - The Atlantic (via N)
  @ Is Firefox better than Chrome? It comes down to privacy. - The Washington Post 
  % meloxicam 6ish
  * Singing:  Windward, Bells of Norwich, Ship of Stone
  / 1400ml in bag

1021We
  & Awake 4:30; 
    % C woke me up at 4am trying to get out of bed to re-fill her water bottle.
    -> unable to get back to sleep because of worry.
  * up 8am; S=7:01;
  / 1400ml in bag
  * Singing:  Gentle Arms of Eden.  inst: Bad Guys, talking blues, Wildwood Flower (not
    all that well.  Rusty.)  Intend to do some more this afternoon.  We'll see.
  ~ supposedly Charmers is re-opening (at a different location, or maybe something else)
    Charmer's Bistro's website says permanently closed but stay tuned, so...
    -> nothing there, nor on their FB page f(charmersbistro)  Maybe later?
  @ Instant Pot Beef Stew | Kitchn
  % I do not appear to have recorded the name of the company that pumped our septic tank
    last year.  Growf.  I probably have a receipt from them, though.
    -> from phone contact list:  Gabelein Bros Septic Tank Pumping & Drain Cleaning | Whidbey not needed now
       supposedly every two years for our size tank and load, but wanted info just in case
  / 1000ml in bag
  % meloxicam sometime, I think

1022Th
  & awake 4:50ish;
    / major cleanup.  liquid.  So probably not tomatoes, then.  who knows?
    % heat
  : Sherman is showing the same crash-on-suspend failure that Sable did yesterday
  * up 8am; S=7:56 (of which maybe 7 are real sleep, of course);  more heat
  * mulled cider started 11ish.  2 spice packets and a sliced apple
  * cleaned out commode; in garage.
  : septic system alarm finally cleared after two days.
  * N and kids coming up to visit ~1:30-2 !!  on ferry 13:00
    Colleen walked out onto the landing and I tucked a folding camp chair behind her.
    -> Bells of Norwich, October Country, (both workshopped)
       (something else? Lord of the Buffalo?), Lock Keeper, Gentle Arms of Eden
    -> need to practice barre chords
    -> masks with ear loops are simply unusable.  Have to find some with back straps, or
       add the ones I've saved out of used CPAP mask headgear
    : it was comfortably warm most of the afternoon, but got quite cold toward the end
  % 7:30 kind of drifty.  Hard to describe; maybe it's what humans call "relaxed"

1023Fr
  & Awake 1:30; tried to get back to sleep, gave up at 2am  % anxiety: supreme court
  : Intel graphics - LinuxReviews suggests:  -> but it doesn't fix suspend on Sherman
    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="intel_idle.max_cstate=1 i915.enable_dc=0 ahci.mobile_lpm_policy=1"
  * up 7:50ish; S=7:08;
  * post "Keeping Backups"
  * 4pm -- [OVFF]7:00 ‘ish Toastmaster Concert: Tom Smith (Zoom 1)
  * 5pm -- [OVFF]8:00 Workshop:  The makings of a Virtual Performance (Zoom 2)
  * 6:30-- [OVFF]9:30’ishWorkshop: Songs and Community (Zoom 2)
    @ Union Songs
  @ f(Charmers Bistro)
    " Friday, the 23 rd of October we will officially be open at The Eagles Club in
      Freeland. [...]5 We are happy to be a part of The Eagles and continue their
      efforts. Charmers will be renting the kitchen and preparing meals on Friday, Sunday
      and Wednesday. The Eagles welcome everyone, for dining in or takeout. Please call
      360-353-0721 for reservations or information regarding the menu. I will post the
      menu online and at the club. Be safe and see you soon. "
  % 10ish sleepy
  / 900ml in bag

1023-25 NO-VFF
1024Sa
  % awake 1:20ish;  awakened by C ->   / major cleanup
    gave up trying to get back to sleep 2:30; tried again ~4:30
  * up 8am; S=6:48
  * post s4s
  : zoom, which appears to be packaged with the Mint distro, is extremely flaky; it keeps
    showing what appears to be the browser client, which doesn't have gallery view. weird
    I HAD IT WORKING YESTERDAY GODDAMIT
  / 1700ml in bag
  / Colleen was crying this morning and I don't really know what to do.  She's upset
    because we can't travel.  Or go shopping.
    % and I guess I think she's blaming me for it, or expecting me to fix it.  But that's
      probably not me.
  * noon: Pegasus Nominees Concert
  * put OVFF on the big TV.  Arduous trying to figure out what was going on with sound,
    but finally managed.  C seems to be enjoying it.
  : Raven's been upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04, and sleep works okay.  Haven't tried BT.  But
    it's now upgrading from kernel 4.15 to 5.4, so we'll see if that breaks it.
  % ... and there are things I should be doing, but I can't think with music on.
    ... and somewhere behind it I'm very badly stressed
  * Pegasus ballot: Andrew Ross, Rhiannon's Lark, Following in Valentina's Footsteps,
    Goodnight Sarah Jane, Annie's Luck, Child of the Library (IIRC. Apology?)
  : Sable went to sleep when I closed the lid, which is _something_.  So does Raven
    Sherman is still failing, though
  / major cleanup.
  % 7:30 meloxicam
  % 8ish drifty.  I'm on too many discord servers now
  / 750ml in bag

Comments

[spiffyvoxel]

I'm the same when it comes to listening to music while trying to do anything productive — this is why I prefer ambient playlists, streams or podcasts. I can do some multitasking when it makes sense, like in the kitchen when I've started something in the oven, hob or microwave and can focus on preparing something else, or I've got one app processing in the background while I do something else on the computer. But I'm making a conscious effort to reduce the number of things — RSS feeds, Discord, email, Usenet — that I may be tempted to look at.

I'm still using Firefox as my primary browser, but have started setting up Vivaldi as a backup because I worry about the future of Mozilla.

[madfilkentist]

I ran into the same problem during the Zoom concerts. It wouldn't give me gallery view, so I couldn't see Judi. In open filk (non-webinar mode), gallery view worked fine.

I was also using Linux.

[mdlbear]

That's interesting. Means that it's a "feature" of the Linux client, rather than something I was doing wrong. Grump.