mdlbear | Done Since 2025-03-02 (Reply)

Pretty good week, actually. No disasters on this side of the pond, I had a urology consultation at the International Health Clinic and signed up with a GP practice, and a lot of boxes got moved. N's old friend J', and N's son j, were over last week and put up the big circular painting on the wall by my desk; J' also moved most of the art work into the closet under the stairs, moving the fabric that had been stashed there up to the sewing room. N and I put together a bookcase, and I recognized the large moving box sitting in N's bedroom as the one that I'd packed in the Lair in Seattle. (I didn't realize what it was until I recognized some of the things that started appearing out of it.)

I was especially glad to find, in what I've been calling "the mystery box", the bamboo "Squatty Potty" toilet stool, my old plywood lap desk, my sport coat, my white terrycloth bathrobe (the one N left on Whidbey; not the old one that Colleen's mom gave me, which I abandoned because it was falling apart), quite a lot of clothing (some of it Colleen's -- we took the same size), and the little bag of random pens from my desk (including Colleen's purple fountain pen and a couple of antique pens she'd inherited). A few things are still missing; they may still be in storage.

Nevertheless, I don't know what "okay" feels like anymore, if I ever did, and I'm still scared as heck for my kids and grieving for my native country, so I'm just setting today's mood to "not bad". Now that I think about it, the fact that Colleen's birthday is a week from today may also have something to do with it.

The week's earworm, which I never did make into an s4s post (maybe next week, but I'm adding the tag just in case because Songs for Sunday is also a thing) was Jackson Browne's “Before the Deluge”, which I first heard sung by Joan Baez on her album "Honest Lullabye".

Notes & links:
0302Su * sift litter boxen
* up 05:10ish; W=91.7;
* drugs: first am 06:40; rest am 06:41; 2*coffee; pm 21:09
out of B12 starting today
$ bump up Bunq - €500 from USB via debit card. BECU failed.
@ Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 Lunar Landing - YouTube (via C') 09:36 landed
@ The shame of it - Robert Reich More optimistic than me
% looking at the black planters; thinking the LECA balls would be perfect for orchids
! feeling something. lost, maybe? I don't know where home is anymore.
cf. Where the Heart Is, Windward, and Someplace In the Net. Maybe The River?
@ Everything sucks and everything is terrible*...*except Burritos and cats
@ Why I Won't Write on Substack - Joan Westenberg
" it doesn't end well for anyone when a single company consolidates a monopoly power
over a media industry. History has lessons here. "
@ How I’m Building a Trump-Proof Tech Stack Without Big Tech
* 14:30ish (N's old friend)J'
-> Between J', j, and some suggestions from me, we got the big circular painting up.
-> J' also moved a lot of the boxes of art into the under-stairs closet, after taking
the fabric and filling that had been there up to the sewing room.
-> huge improvement in the LR. One can sit on the couch and converse with people in
the chairs.
* guitar: Ship of Stone, October Country. Very rusty, and I'm having trouble with the
way Flame is failing to stay put on my knee.
* finished Cosmos. Discouraging, really. The last episode is unbearably optimistic

0303Mo * change litter boxen (N")
& awake 5:30
* up 7:30; ; Dutch
* drugs: first am 07:58; rest am 08:03; coffee; pm
@ 97th Academy Awards
@ Duo the owl mascot revived. Duolingo declares, "legends never die."
% 14:13 sleepy -- the fact that I only had one cup of coffee may explain that
* order B12+iron, aspirin - pharmamarket.eu 1-2 bus. days
* call RJF client access support 877.752.2237 - not sending code to my phone
Problem's on their end. sending code works for resetting pw but not for logging in
@ How Digital Marketing Broke Society
* re-load C, KCl, niacin, aspirin,
* load drugs - x restart abiraterone; Fe tomorrow
-> wait on abiraterone until after possible bloodwork Thursday
* guitar: bad guys

0304Tu * sift litter boxen
& awake 5ish?
* up 7:35 (alarm); ; Dutch
There was daylight when I got out of bed! Must be getting close to spring!
* drugs: first am 09:18; rest am 09:19; 2*coffee; pm
* $255 to N for bookcases (from BECU via PayPal) (after verifying USD, not EUR)
: there isn't a good place for Ticia to sit by my desk. Too high to jump.
* guitar: October Country, River
~ try logging in AGAIN on RJF to retrieve tax docs. -> FAIL
: Bookcases arrived. Very heavy. after assembly it'll be a 2-person job to install
* 19:00 - 20:30 (10am-11:30 PST) Healing Center Passages support group - 1st, 3rd Tu
* order power strips to go behind bookcases -> tomorrow evening, from coolblue

0305We * sift litter boxen
& awake 2:45; give up 3:45ish, get some cat cuddle; out of bed 04ish; down 05:12
* up 7:00 (exact, no alarm); ;
* drugs: first am x; rest am ??; coffee; pm ?7:35
@ A Cautionary Tale and the First Call to Action of Its Kind: The Meaning Behind
Jackson Browne's “Before the Deluge” - American Songwriter s4s?
jackson browne & joan baez
@ Why those reports of DOGE using AI have experts worried about ‘massive risk’|CNN
@ Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary • The Register
" True data sovereignty ensures data is only ever subject to the jurisdiction in which
it is stored and processed. Data residency, however, concerns where the data is
stored geographically. With data residency, the data can be subject to the laws of a
third country depending on where the cloud provider is headquartered. "
" Given the unpredictable nature of the country's administration, can a US company be
trusted at all? "
@ however, Firefox 136 finally brings the features fans wanted • The Register
@ Mozilla responds after terms of usage, privacy policy change • The Register
jwz: Mozilla's CEO doubles down on them being an advertising company now
@ Waterfox: A Firefox fork that could teach Mozilla a lesson • The Register
@ Where to Go After WordPress: Taggart Tech
~ try logging in AGAIN on RJF to retrieve tax docs. FAIL.
-> called. Should be fixed later today or tomorrow. What they said Monday.
* 15min: take out garbage (containers were full Monday)
% it's a lovely warm day, but two trips to the end of the block were about as much
walking as I could do in one go. Not good.
@ 13 Years – Multimedium Rare re: the club no-one wants to join
* guitar: mil-dawn intro, ship of stone, talking blues, river, riverheart,
* set alarms for tomorrow's appointment
: almost positive I'd saved a pdf of my medical records but the most recent version I
can find is from 2022, and that appears to be from Whidbey. WTF?
-> Downloads/HealthSummary_(date-range).zip
~ print continuing care doc and med list from UW
-> printed med list. Emailed myself the 139-page PDF
x 22:00 put out PMD bin for pickup tomorrow. Tag bins with tape. -> not full, so no.

0306Th * sift litter boxen
& awake 2:45ish
* up 6:30ish; ;
* drugs: first am 07:09; rest am 07:11; 2*coffee; pm 17:55
* ~8:30 summon uber because they're often late getting here
* 9:40 IHCH Urology consult Jan van Nassaustraat 125, 2596 BS The Hague. ~30m drive
ask at desk about GP availability Look for Uber ~8:50
*- doxazosin (cardura), for BPH
*- abiraterone (zytiga)?
~- blood tests for * PSA, x testosterone (forgot to ask for)
<- PSA history when they call with results.
* phone VGZ during business hours to say I'm qualified. 0900-8490 closed at 1pm
The agent I spoke with only had an earlier letter forwarded from SVB in Jan.; they
will ask the insurance department to look for the most recent one, sent 25Feb
* applied for GP at https://praktijkberestein.nl/, where G and N applied earlier today.
G was sent there by VGZ; Not clear it will work without a policy number. -> it did!
Beresteinlaan 395, 2542 JK Den Haag -- 2.1km from home. Their logo is a bear!
@ A 40-day Target boycott starts today. It couldn’t come at a worse time for the
company | CNN Business
* bamboo toilet stool turned up in N's bedroom. It came out of the large moving box
that's been there since the shipment arrived -- obviously the one I packed in the
Lair. There were also one of Colleen's dresses, my sportcoat, and a lot of
coathangers. N said we'll move it into my room tomorrow
* 18:00 Eurofilk on Thursday 6 March at 18:00 Central European Time!
singing: Cap and Bells -- really need to set up a playlist
% 21:30 25-30ml gin.

0307Fr * sift litter boxen
& awake 4:3-ish
* up 6:30ish; ; ... laundry, Dutch
* drugs: first am 7:07, abiraterone; rest am 08:40; pm 8ish
@ STAND UP FOR SCIENCE – March 7, 2025. Washington DC and Nationwide. Because Science
is for everyone.
@ Tesla charging stations intentionally set on fire, investigators say (siderea)
The comments are entertaining. retaliatory sabotage (counter-sabotage is different),
@ Four Dimensional Reverb - YT
* work on bookshelves with N. -> 11:15 unpacked #1 -> 1400ish DONE with #1.
-> Decided that we will do no more than one/day.
@ The Fediverse Isn’t the Future. It’s the Present We’ve Been Denied.
* rehearsal w\ N. Breathing, scales; singing Boom Gone to Bust, Toolmakers, Nemesis
I used Snuggles, and N used Rebel. Talked a little about the guitars -- probably want
Flame on the first album (Renewal?), Snuggles on Amethyst Rose.
& 2min: experiment with fonts. inconsolata medium 13.

0308Sa * sift litter boxen International Women's Day
@ International Women's Day - Wikipedia
& awake 2ish??
* up 6:10ish; S=6:11; ... Dutch
* drugs: first am 6:15ish; rest am 07:16; 2*coffee; pm 20:ish
* 15min: moved enough boxes to make myself a impromptu stand-up workbench, with the
-> excessively long plastic art bin on top, getting it out of the walkway
-> bring in (in multiple trips) the components of another bookcase
-> attach dowels and pins. Final assembly will have to be done on the floor :(
* 15min: re-group stuff under the monitor shelf.
@ Airbnb Faces Boycott Calls - Newsweek
Airbnb hosts are quitting the site over Joe Gebbia joining DOGE
& 2min: change password at USBank on seeing a weird transaction.
@ SpaceX Has Finally Figured Out Why Starship Exploded, And The Reason Is Utterly
Embarrassing | by Will Lockett | Predict | Mar, 2025 | Medium
* gather HSX info for HannaHelps
% 20:16 very cold. Definitely not thermal. I suppose it could be hormones.
% 21:33 I really just want to curl up on the couch under a blanket. Go to bed early?
-> didn't really work.