Done Since 2024-11-24

Pretty good week, I think, though it had a cpuple of rough spots mostly around mornings, and some cold evenings. Yesterday was American Thanksgiving Observed here at Schildhaven -- j had school Thursday and Friday. Not a school holiday despite the fact that Thanksgiving is celebrated in Leiden.

Extreme reluctance to get out of bed is somewhat new, I think; it's hard to say whether it indicates depression, 3am bladder wake-ups, heavy blankets, or something about cats. And whether that "something" is being slept on (see above) or having to sift the litter box can only be speculated about. I wouldn't know -- I don't really wake up until my second cup of coffee.

My main accomplishment for the week may have been tidying up the living room, which included taking out five or six bags of packing foam, consolidating the flattened cardboard boxes, and re-organizing my (physical)desktop. (N mentoned the improved state of the first floor, but that didn't really register until the next day.) And on Monday I called both USBank and BECU over different technical-support issues. Total distinct, but both due to my location. That's only one in an ongoing series of annoyances; I surprised myself by remaining calm and coherent over the entire two hours on the phone.

N and I discussed the next two recording projects: "Amethyst Rose" and another album which doesn't have a firm title at the moment. Their relative timing is similarly uncertain, as are the positions of a few tracks. But I've started practicing more. (Still missed two days in the past week though. Working on it.)

Hot off the net: google’s latest fuckery: if you write online, read this – Solarbird{y|z|yz} (via solarbird) -> Google app for iOS now adds THEIR links to YOUR posts from YOUR website unless you opt-out. Could someone with an iPhone please see whether this is happening to 1) this post, 2) steve.savitzky.net or 3) GoingSideways.blog? (This info will also be linked in next week's "Done Since" post.)

Also, MS Word is Using You to Train AI. How to turn off AI-scraping from your Word docs.

( Notes & links, as usual )

"Rabbit rabbit rabbit!"

Welcome to December, 2024!

Strictly speaking, according to the official rabbit rabbit rabbit rules (if there are any) I should have posted this first today. Sorry about that.

Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

NOTE: This was, obviously, supposed to have been posted last Thursday. Due to some weird error on my part, it got overwritten with garbage instead. So here it is, thanks to the magic of git revert.

As has become customary for me on Thanksgiving Day (or thereabouts -- I'm actually starting this Wednesday evening), I'll try to cover a greater expanse of time than my usual top-of-the-head, in-the-moment gratitude post.

• This morning's music, "The Great Remember", VERY Extended Version- Steve Martin Clawhammer Banjo Tune, played by Phoebe Sanders and particularly appropriate for the occasion. Also grateful for Phoebe and other youtube musicians too numerous to mention.
• BECU technical support, for helping me track down (more or less) what's blocking their site. There's a VPN in my future. I'm also grateful for Proton VPN's Black Friday sale.
• My Sherpa fake fleece blankets and fluffy bathrobe, because we have not yet completely figured out our new house's complicated electronic thermostat.
• Eyelid wipes and hypochlorous acid spray. NO thanks to demodex mites and blepharitis.
• Our household's members -- four humans, me, N, G, and m; and four cats, Ticia, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Cricket -- having made it safely over to The Netherlands. (I will also be very grateful for the large amount of our Stuff that we couldn't stuff into suitcases for the flight -- when it gets here. Right now it's on a boat. NO thanks for the shipping schedule, which just got pushed out to arrive here around Groundhog Day. :P)
• Apropos that, thanks to Delta, Airbus, Starwood pet transporters, and the Dutch public transit system, for getting us here.
• Finally getting off my arse. I may very well come out with an album next year.
• The way Linux makes it trivial to set up a Raspberry Pi as a print server and git host. (I owe you a write-up about how that's working these days.)
• Having been foresighted enough to mirror my fileserver onto a laptop drive and pack it in my carry-on bag. So the fact that its main drive is still on a boat doesn't matter.
• Good housekeepers. We miss E', our housekeeper in Seattle. (The woman we interviewed this morning looks like a good prospect. And the cats like her.)
• Roasted nuts and dried fruit. Getting my fiber the tasty way.
• My health holding up so far (knock wood -- or plastic).
• Support groups that meet in the morning, Seattle time, via Zoom.
• Grocery stores that let you order online and deliver, some of them with about the same speed as fast food.
• (Added 2024-12-01) Huge thanks as well to Git, gitk, and the awesome git revert. This is your thanksgiving bear reminding you to always use version control.

You should also go visit last year's Thanksgiving Day post, which is included here by reference because all of it still applies. I'm also kind of grateful that I didn't attempt to make a connection in that post between my family of choice and the axiom of choice. Anyway it's trivially true for finite sets. But Oh! what a lovely rabbit hole!