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Done Since 2024-06-30
A pretty (surprisingly) good week. Considering everything that could have gone wrong... Okay, pretty good if you ignore US politics. But I've spent the entire week in The Netherlands, so I don't have to worry about it until I get back, except at night when I can't get to sleep.
Lots of walking. Which I haven't been logging for some reason; I may have to go back and correct that manually in the file (but not this post). But I've been getting in a decent amount every day except Friday. (My goal on $G Fit is 3,000 steps/day. I don't always reach it, and hardly ever hit $G's goal of 150 "heart points", which represent minutes of "vigorous" walking, but don't take hills and stairs into account. Seattle is full of hills like the one just east of our house, and Dutch houses are nororious for their steep stairs.)
Let's see... Sunday and half of Monday were about travel -- we arrived at 8:15, took the train to Leiden, and checked in at the Golden Tulip (within sight of the station) somewhere around 10:30. After dropping our bags there, we went with j to his new apartment. It's gorgeous vaulted ceiling, wood (pine?) floors, and up a flight of steep stairs.
Tuesday we checked out and dragged our bags up those stairs, then went out with j to buy housewares. Then we took an Uber to our hotel in Den Haag. Which was expensive, but we didn't want to have to get our bags on and off trains. It would have worked fine except that the hotel is on a street that's closed to auto traffic. Oops. After that we took public transit everywhere -- dead easy once we got used to it. The OV-chipkaart works sufficiently like the Seattle area's ORCA card to be familiar.
Wednesday we vegetated.
Thursday we went to Leiden and got j a nice used e-bike. Heavy, but that's what the motor is for. Good place.
We went out again for groceries, because j's Albert Heijn is better than the one across from the hotel. Still has some weird gaps. I have not been able to find either distilled water or chewable calcium carbonate antacid. Not at the local drugstore, either -- they carried distilled water but it's been out of stock all week, near as I can tell. WTF?
Friday we went back to Leiden to help j bring home a second-hand table. The shop is marvelous -- I'm assuming we'll be back from time to time. N and j carried the thing home -- a half-dozen or so blocks -- while I wrangled doors and so on. Naturally it picked that time to rain. Getting it up j's stairs was arduous (for N and j -- I stayed out of the way).
My bladder is behaving itself so far. My back and hips a little less so, but I'm managing.
Link of the week: David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive (2014) - YouTube (AKA "David Attenborough's "Night at the Museum".)
Not a link to the thing itself, but Everything, Everywhere, All at Once was a really fun movie -- I watched in the plane on the way over. Hard to describe -- just see it if you have a chance.
Notes & links:
0630Su
& awake 3:30
* up 07:05; S=8:06;
* abiraterone 07:11; rest of am drugs ; pm drugs
* H2O: NO COFFEE! 07:55, 08:35, on the plane: a glass of white wine, 2 6oz glasses of
water and 1 of orange juice. 01:31 6oz or so in Leiden;
@ USA Advises Updated Covid Vaccine for Everyone Over 6 Months of Age
@ The Tory media has gone into meltdown - New Statesman
* DON'T FORGET SHOULDER BAG! PACK Moldex N95s and Sonovia masks in backpack
* leaving 9:30
* Delta 142 conf# H9DPCR DEPART 1:30PM SEA - Non Stop 9H 45M - ARRIVE 8:15AM AMS
-> N left her phone in the car -- she'l borrowing mine. May be affecting my ability to
connect to wifi. I'll get by. I can write, read what's here, and watch movies.
: Somehow the hard drive door/lever on Sable has gotten broken. Worry about it later.
: Travel notes:
: The backpack required re-arrangement to fit under the seat -- very glad I didn't
take the Travelpro. It would not have fit.
: The shoulder bag may have been more trouble than it was worth; kept getting in the
way. OTOH it'll be useful on the ground. Maybe next time put it in luggage.
: The MEI backpack, OTGH, was brilliant. A shade too big to fit front to back in an
overhead bin. Light enough to be manageable. Not sure about after we land, though.
: Having trouble with WiFi in flight. Weird. Connected, but firefox doesn't think
so. No portal.
+ watched Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Fun. Dune queued up.
% bathroom a second time. oddly cheerful. Not rushed. Lingering good mood from the
movie, maybe. I may want to re-think what I watch next. Not in a hurry.
% I think I forgot to bring a supply of Tums. Have to buy some when we land.
0701Mo
& awake - during the flight
* up ?
* abiraterone 10:30; rest of am drugs 13:01; pm drugs 18:39
* H2O: (small cups) 10:30, 13:01 18:39
* Golden Tulip for 1 night
& nap, late morning/early afternoon CEST. Not sure it helped all that much
@ Ethical Web Principles
: j's apartment is gorgeous. Huge. No closets, and typical Dutch stairs.
0702Tu
& awake 2am; S=4:00; try to get back to sleep; awake 3am; S=4:50; go read. down 04:01
* up 07:09; S=7:50;
% woke feeling damp - night sweat probably
% absolutely classic bicameral sleep - 4h, 1h, 4h. Although in terms of actual sleep
more like 3, 2, 1 when you factor an hour spent trying to get back t sleep at 3am
% R eyelid itching; outside corner
* abiraterone 07:09; rest of am drugs 08:12; pm drugs 6ish?
* H2O: 2am, 7:09, ??:c, 08:11, ??, 16:01, 20:45,
: travel note: should have brought a pair of computer glasses.
: bringing the yukata was a good idea. So was remembering which end I'd packed it at
: should get a vpn. the web is better here in EU, but some sites need a US locale
: note that j is in unit B; get correct address from N when _she_ gets it.
* housewares shopping with N and j, to HEMA. Not a long walk, but carrying 2 bags each
on the way, I ended up with dry mouth.
* walks: distance unknown,
@ Serviced Apartments for Life in All Modes (UK & Europe) | Cove
= Cove Centrum / Passage | The Hague / Grote Marktstraat 46, The Hague. 2511 BJ
-> getting to Cove should have been easy -- door-to-door Uber. But the driver left us
in the middle of Chinatown, pointed, and said it's about 100m that-a-way. But it
was one street over (no cars permitted). N gave up in confusion and called the
front desk. A couple of staff members went and found us. Google maps apparently
wasn't much help.
-> we re-packed a few items, including my backpack, in N's suitcase (which was less
full after having left half its contents at j's) and backpack
-> Cove is not quite an Escher hotel, but it's folded. Getting to our room from the
front desk, which is on the third floor, requires going through a card-locked door,
then to the end of a long hallway through multiple fire doors, taking the elevator
down a floor, and going to the end of the 2nd floor hallway.
-> The trundle bed came folded and unmade; what I originally thought was a sheet was
actually a duvet cover.
: the PIN for Uber Eats is the last 4 digits of one's phone number
0703We
& awake 02:23; S=3:20; ...reading... down 03:29;
& awake 05:24; S=5:06; may not have actually slept; ... down 06:22
* up 09:28; S=7:30
* abiraterone 05:44; rest of am drugs 09:27; pm drugs 8ish?
* H2O: 09:46, 09:47:c, 16:38, 21:21
@ Home - WorldPride 2026
x install duvet in cover * track down mouse (possibly N's backpack)
* went to the (very) local Albert Heijn accross the street. Got much of what was on our
list, but not all. We'll hit the drug store (basically next door) tomorrow on our way
to j's apartment. His local AH seems to have more of what we need.
-> (Turkish)dried apricots, medjool dates, kleenex, paper towels, coffee pods, skim
milk for N, fresh berries. decided against ground coffee because poor selection
and couldn't identify a grind suitable for French press.
-> overheated and very tired.
* query -- how do we handle the large amount of garbage we generate?? Especially cat
litter. Those on-the-street bins will be a problem. daily scooping? flushable?
-> N says we plan to get self-scooping litter boxen.
* set up amazon.nl in h.home; add j's new address to the $A address book
: N's phone is stuck in Memphis. FedEx. So much for having it by 6pm today
update: now in Paris, so at least on the right continent.
* Tell BECU that I'm in NL - turned out I could do it online
0704Th US Independence Day; Supernova SN-1064
& awake 2:56; S=4:00; had about half a glass of water. down 4:30
% cold, damp and my hips hurt. The mattress is too thin. Feeling stiff and unsteady.
% my R nostril feels inflamed
% 03:31 now I'm starting to feel overheated.
% ruminating about health insurance. As one does.
% very congested. Also very constipated
* up 07:20; S=6:18; Dutch
* abiraterone 07:25; rest of am drugs 08:28; pm drugs
* H2O: 07:30; 08:25:c; 08:53; ??, 18:01, 19:13,
@ Crab Nebula - 1064-07-04
* to Leiden - bike-shopping, then grocery shopping. N got j a nice used e-bike.
-> and her phone, which made it to j's a day late.
-> The JH near j's is much better-stocked than the one across the street from Cove
* SL ~dry-roasted almonds (turned out to be raw :P), * N's cherry yogurt-adjacent
* good bread (light & dark), * butter, & prunes, pastries, etc.
@ David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive (2014) - YouTube
(AKA "David Attenborough's Night at the Museum.) (via N.)
0704Th-0707Su Baycon -> will be missing it
0705Fr
& awake 5:30ish; S=5:44
* up 6:20; S=6:08;
* abiraterone 05:42; rest of am drugs 6:45; pm drugs 22:22;
% hydrocortisone on the itchy patch on my butt. Helps. A lot.
* H2O: 6:35, 7:30ish:c, 07:46:c, 08:55, 13:32, ??, 22:20
* charge phone
@ Synapse: Americans caught in fintech’s false FDIC promise
@ David Attenborough's Wild City | Episode 1: Hidden Wild Singapore
: Musician's Friend is broken here.
* out to shop - pharmacy. Check with front desk -> turn right, about a block, red sign
: Nice sympathy email from a Carleton classmate. Full of bible references etc., but
the thought behind it is kind. Should respond tomorrow.
* SL (pharmacy) - nail clipper, -chewable- calcium carbonate tablets; ok for supplement
q-tips; ear drops; travel size shampoo and conditioner for N, head+shoulders for me
~ they carry distilled H2O but the shelf was empty -> maybe tomorrow?
% became very hot with jacket and sweatpants. managed. hot flash or exertion?
% back hurts. Possibly because bed?
* 19:40ish shower. There was, of course, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the
shower. But with no washcloth in sight I skipped the shampoo. Smells nice, though --
Zenology Camelia Sinensis - black tea. (The H+S won't be wasted; I need it at home)
% back feels much better after applying hot water.
% my hair is, apparently, no longer capable of supporting an elastic hair-tie. Growf!
* messaged R in case he's not around tomorrow for his birthday
: may have forgotten a toothbrush. Fortunately there was one in the bag from the plane
0706Sa R's 39th b'day
& awake 5:12;S=6:00
* up 8:40; S=8:20; exercises, Dutch
* abiraterone 05:17; rest of am drugs 8:41 ; pm drugs 18:00ish
* H2O: 05:16, 09:45:c, 10:32
@ The Ancient Fabric That No One Knows How to Make Dhaka muslin (minoanmiss)
@ BayCon 2024: Pure Imagination - BayCon
& copy Carleton 1969 25th Reunion Bio Book entry into PJ; update alumni directory entry
@ Project 2025 will rob veterans and active duty troops of billions in benefits
* 10:30-11ish go out with N to help j with table.
back in Den Haag we decided to punt and order burgers from Five Guys.
* load drugs. (will have to reload next week also)
@ The reason you can’t buy a car is the same reason that your health insurer let
hackers dox you | by Cory Doctorow | Jun, 2024 | Medium infrastructure tech debt
"too big to fail" means "too big to care"
* start reply to Andrew Korsak's email; * copy scan/ocr to PJ * add cover letter
no subject
Is it reasonably easy for disabled people (autistic) to immigrate to the Netherlands? We certainly can't go to Canada...
no subject
It's complicated. I understand Dutch doctors are reluctant to prescribe pain meds and probably psych meds; you might need to look into it more deeply than I have. Dutch society in general seems to be very ablist.
On the other hand, the Dutch have a reputation for being very direct, so one is less likely to have to search for subtle implications or hidden meanings. And many stores, including all the grocery stores and drug stores I've been in, have self-checkout, so one can get along with a little less human interaction than in the US.
In the big cities, everyone you're likely to have to interact with speaks English, and a lot of the signage is dual-language; packaging and shelf labels are another matter.
Does that help?
no subject