redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
Redbird ([personal profile] redbird) wrote2025-11-12 06:25 pm

a few things make a post

After putting it off for a while, I read through the manuscript of a non-quite-autobiographical book about my mother's life, and sent the editor some comments. This was difficult because it's largely about her experiences as a child survivor of the Holocaust. It's based on a series of interviews with my mother, which the editor was doing and compiling when my mother died unexpectedly. So that went back this afternoon.

The delivery pharmacy somehow got the wrong dosage of one of my prescriptions. This is annoying partly because I noticed the problem, told them, and we both contacted my doctor. (The prescription is 1/day, and they filled it as half a pill every day.) I thought we'd agreed that they would hold off until one of us heard back from her, and I took delivery yesterday because I thought they were bringing the other thing I'd ordered. So now I have to contact Carmen again, and figure out what to do here.

After several days of looking at Medicare open enrollment stuff, I sent an email this afternoon to the state-funded office that provides free advice on the subject, asking for an appointment. The questions are, roughly, do I want Medicare Advantage next year, or do I want basic Medicare, a separate (Part D) drug plan, and a Medigap policy. My existing Medicare Advantage plan isn't being offered next year, so I have options, but also have to decide something.

We have, however, heard back from the handyman/moving guy, and arranged for him to take the air conditioners out of our windows, and also bring more things from the storage unit. He took just long enough to get back to us that Adrian was trying to find someone else to do the job, but I'm glad we don't have to.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-11-12 05:29 pm

Read "An Old Diversion"

My poem "An Old Diversion" is up on [community profile] computerworld[personal profile] beavertech has been commissioning poems to be posted in The Freaks Club family of communities.
littlefics: Three miniature books standing on an open normal-sized book. (Default)
littlefics ([personal profile] littlefics) wrote in [community profile] seasonsofdrabbles2025-11-12 06:21 pm
Entry tags:

All Pinch Hits In, Collection Opening Nov. 15

With all pinch hits now in, we can confirm that the collection will open this Saturday, November 15, 1:00pm Eastern Standard time (Countdown)! A huge thank you to our pinch hitters <3

Expect several waves of work approvals today and in the coming days. Don't worry if your fic has not been approved yet: If we have a question about a fic you posted, we will contact you via the email associated with your AO3 account.
chazzbanner: (pre-raph hands)
chazzbanner ([personal profile] chazzbanner) wrote2025-11-12 05:26 pm

a small neighborhood victory

I'm writing this in here so I won't forget, though I doubt I'll ever visit them. Other than Aachen (which I've visited), two other Carolingian sites are

Lorsch Abbey
Germany

and

Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair
Switzerland

On an unrelated note, the tendonitis flare-up subsided within a day or two.

I forgot to mention that the other day I saw the parking lot across from my local Turtle Bread is free again! I may not have written about the 'saga.' There has long been a parking lot, one row only, across from Turtle. It probably has room for 25 cars. Over a year ago the city decided to make it into a two-hour only, QR code only lot.

For the year-plus since the change I've seen no more than three cars in the lot. Talk about a silent rebellion! And.. the city gave in. :-)

So yesterday I parked in that lot, as I had coffee with j-wat. Our talk ranged from the usual (East Anglia) to the unexpected (the history of Methodism). (The topic of the Zoom class I'm taking.) Zero gossip about former colleagues. :-) Detective novel suggestions.

-
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-11-12 05:22 pm

Cyberspace Theory

In praise of the small things in life: DDG Bangs!

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-respecting search engine launched in 2008 that has been slowly expanding into something else truly. (I mean, come on, Identity Theft Restoration?). Well, nevertheless, I still use DuckDuckGo because it's easy, their search results aren't polluted with all sorts of nonsense, they did introduce an AI summarize feature but I don't use it and it's easy to opt out thankfully. But all of that pales in comparison to the best DDG feature, Bangs!

Bangs are… well it's kinda hard to describe them, it's basically a shortcut from your search engine to wherever else, so if you have DuckDuckGo set as your search engine, you can basically search using other search engines quite easily
!
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
kaberett ([personal profile] kaberett) wrote2025-11-12 10:08 pm
case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2025-11-12 06:04 pm

[ SECRET POST #6886 ]


⌈ Secret Post #6886 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 12 secrets from Secret Submission Post #983.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
tassosss: Ye Zun Energy (Ye Zun Energy)
tassosss ([personal profile] tassosss) wrote2025-11-12 05:23 pm
Entry tags:

And back we go....

I want to take a second and say goodbye to this break from the grind. I am very lucky to be able to say that given we have the savings to weather missing three paychecks. This is the longest break I've had from working being a student full time since I was 17. I think 3 weeks in 2012 was the last time. (I was a contractor in 2019 and so worked that shutdown).

I think what this has really hit home is how much I would love to have a sabbatical every few years from work. I'm not sad to be going back, but it's so frenetic, and everything is a crisis, and the day in and day out is so wearing. I know I'll get used to it again, but it would also be nice not to be looking down the road at 27 more years of this. This is where midlife crises come from. I mean, fantasizing about not working full time has been a full time hobby of mine for about 15 years, so my definition of midlife is generous, but the point stands.

So farewell time to work on author stuff and editing. Farewell long hikes in the middle of the day. Farewell not having to cram everything into the weekend and feeling like a bad friend when I have to say no. Farewell kitty playtime and reading a book while doing nothing else. It was nice while it lasted.

sovay: (What the hell ass balls?!)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2025-11-12 04:54 pm

I liked you better when you weren't cool

Does anyone know how to remove the floating Copilot button from a version of Microsoft Word on which I disabled all so-called connected experiences the day I bought the new license more than two years ago and which has nonetheless just sneakily updated itself so that I have an AI-inducing rainbow-colored heartworm constantly keeping pace in the down right corner of the document, blocking out text which I am trying to write? I have looked for suggestions online and most of them seem to require preference options not available in my Mac. But what I need in a Word document is words and nothing else and I cannot deal with a planet-killing visual fault in the middle of them, on top of which the fact that this obscenity can be intruded into my software makes me want to headline the news for the disappearance of the Roko's basilisk boys who put it there. If a program is on my computer, the only person who should be able to tinker with it is me. I am not even eloquent, I am so furious. Any actionable suggestions would be appreciated.

[ETA 2025-11-12 22:23] JESUS CHRIST AFTER AN EVENING ON THE PHONE WITH APPLE SUPPORT WHICH WAS FLABBERGASTED BY THE PROBLEM AND NO SUPPORT WHATSOEVER FROM MICROSOFT I FIXED THE PROBLEM MYSELF WITH A CLEAN INSTALL OF PRE-COPILOT MICROSOFT WORD BECAUSE I NEVER THREW AWAY THE ORIGINAL INSTALL PACKAGE FROM 2023 IT WAS STILL IN MY TRASH I SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO REINSTALL FROM MY LITERAL TRASH WELCOME TO 2025
tinny: Something Else holding up its colorful drawing - "be different" (Default)
tinny ([personal profile] tinny) wrote in [community profile] screen_icons2025-11-12 10:58 pm
trobadora: (terrible)
trobadora ([personal profile] trobadora) wrote2025-11-12 10:00 pm

Writing update

In order of deadlines:
  • Fic in a Box: I'm deep into the rewriting/editing and can't talk about any of it without breaking anonymity. *g* Reveals were supposed to be Saturday night, but we'll know by tomorrow morning whether there'll be a delay. It's looking very likely, and honestly, I'm not complaining.

  • Yuletide: Only a very vague idea so far. Once FIAB is over I'll do thorough canon revision (thankfully it's not one of the fandoms where that would take me fifty million hours), hammer out a proper plot, and then there'll be plenty of time left to actually write. It helps that December will be less busy at work again!

  • Five Figure Fanwork Exchange: Until today I only had a very vague idea of "I want to do something in that era of canon that my recipient mentioned", but today I went on a walk during my lunch break and a concept popped into my head fully-formed. I still need to figure out about half the plot, but that's for after Yuletide. (Unless it just pops into my head like this too! I wouldn't complain. *g*)

  • Other writing: Ahahaha, what other writing? I have no time and so many things to do. RL is so busy right now ... /o\
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-11-12 02:32 pm

Shopping

Here is an interesting discussion about what it costs to buy kitchen equipment. None of this is how I'd go about it, unless someone handed me grant money earmarked for that purpose. (Fair disclosure: I could make a crude but usable knife by busting a rock, and I could cook on a flat rock or with sticks. Kitchen equipment is a beloved convenience for me.)

Read more... )
ribirdnerd: perched bird (Default)
RI Birdnerd ([personal profile] ribirdnerd) wrote in [community profile] birdfeeding2025-11-12 03:45 pm

(no subject)

Wednesday sights -

Quite a few birds today.   I spotted 2 American Crows and a flock of around 12 Wild Turkeys while in the car running errands.

The feeders had a nice mix of Blue Jays, Mourning Dove, House Sparrows, Song Sparrow, Dark eyed Junco, Red bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse and White breasted Nuthatch.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-11-12 02:08 pm

Conservation

Massachusetts is turning retired cranberry bogs into natural wetlands. They’re on track to rewild 1,000 acres

In November 2024, the DER funneled $6 million in grants to the restoration plan. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, more than 500 acres of retired cranberry bogs have already been converted into wetlands — with hopes of restoring 1,000 acres in the next decade.

“These projects will transform degraded former cranberry bogs into thriving wetlands that will provide habitat to important species, flood control in time of storms, and access for all to beautiful natural areas,” Governor Maura Healey said in a statement.



This is a brilliant plan that will provide tremendous benefits for wildlife, as wetlands are among the most biodiverse communities. It will be especially helpful to migrating waterfowl of the Atlantic Flyway.


ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote in [community profile] birdfeeding2025-11-12 01:53 pm

Birdfeeding

Today is sunny and mild, a beautiful fall day.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a fox squirrel.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/12/25 -- I planted 4 clusters of Egyptian walking onions.

EDIT 11/12/25 -- I filled a trolley with dead weeds and dumped it in the firepit.

EDIT 11/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/12/25 -- I filled another trolley with dead weeds and dumped it in the firepit.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.