G+ Migration Blog

It turns out ice bags on your head are helpful with a fever.

Update: definitely not allergy. Please just be a tiny cold, please just be a tiny cold. Entire right half of head, all the way around, is trying to make every single sinus or sinus related opening painful.  I can only drink so much tea before my stomach rebells.

I think we may have graduated from allergies to a cold or a sinus something. We are not amused.

Dinner: Djaj mqalli, otherwise known as chicken with preserved lemons and olives, one of the classic Moroccan tagines. Sadly, I do not own a tagine, so this is the stove top version, which is a minor quibble. I used chicken thighs as a compromise for flavor and ease of prep. I still have not been able to figure out exactly what kind of olives are used in Morocco, and therefore, the best equivalent. So these are the only green olives I could find that seemed valid. I suspect they may be a little too mild, but oh, well. It made a lot of difference using good turmeric and saffron (i.e., not old and really saffron which was probably from Iran even though it said it was Kashmiri). The sauce really thickens up and is yummy. Would do again.

I can haz little lettuces (green romaine, red romaine, red leaf, and buttercrunch).

Why, if you so strongly believe in carrying a gun, do you have a problem with people knowing it or commenting on it? Of all the terrible pulled straight from a movie ideas, making a gun look like a cell phone is right up there on the what could go wrong? list. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-29/company-creates-gun-that-looks-like-a-cellphone http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-29/company-creates-gun-that-looks-like-a-cellphone

How many of you interpret "spend some time with people", unadorned with other comment, as "travel to another country some hours away"? Particularly as the last umpteen times time has been spent with them it has been right here in town.

How free is a free press? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/30/associated-press-cooperation-nazis-revealed-germany-harriet-scharnberg http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/30/associated-press-cooperation-nazis-revealed-germany-harriet-scharnberg

Unfortunate. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35920838 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35920838

Hey, Will Frank, how about House Gross - To Question WHYY.

Sunny but cold. I'll take it.

While this is lovely, g+ and I definitely do not share the same esthetic when it comes to choice of photos to fuss with, or specific effects to apply.

This being the appropriate time of year, some photos of the many different kinds of cherry trees in Vancouver. They are taken throughout the month of April, because different varieties bloom at different times. The sun is also an intermittent presence, so some of these are very gray day, but the flowers are beautiful. The pics are taken in my neighborhood, Fairview, some right on my street; at VanDusen Botanical Garden, and at Queen Elizabeth Park. I was never able to get good pictures along False Creek, which is a shame, because cherry trees, water, city, mountains - but I needed a proper camera, I guess. I also didn't make it out by the University while the trees were in bloom, but it's a pain to get to without a car. Vancouver is absolutely covered with cherry trees of so many different kinds. You can see what happens when the rain and wind knock the petals off, which causes some people to be less than thrilled with the coating of slippery, decaying petals. They're reall...

RuPaul - there's some definite attitude with some of the ladies, but I ... s p o i l e r s m a y b e ... loved the 80's theme. Way too much neon on the final runway, though.

So, Dyngus Day. I do not remember it being such a big deal, but I guess it has become one. Since Buffalo apparently has the largest one in the country at present, that may be why I noticed. I mean, the pussy willow and water business was something that I was familiar with because of general central European spring mating customs, but it was more of a random curiosity thing. Anyway, there's been a concerted effort to preserve or dig up a lot of Buffalo's history and culture and there used to be a Polish community second only to Chicago (and Poland) here. Like, the Pope slept here when he was a Cardinal visiting with a group of Polish bishops and stuff. http://www.buffalonews.com/life-arts/religion/st-casimirs-catholic-church-will-open-to-the-public-a-room-where-the-future-pope-john-paul-ii-once-slept-a-room-with-a-view-to-the-past-ties-to-a-saint-20140427 . Yeah, you can visit one of the old Polish churches they saved from being torn down and see where Pope John Paul II slept. ...

Listening to polka, drinking loganberry. Most Buffalo thing, ever. Happy Dyngus Day.

Topic: You cannot be sad listening to polka music. Discuss.

And we're back to miasma with bonus high winds. Blustery day it is. Also, 70  yesterday, possibly 20's by tonight. I present to you the slippery slope of temperature.

Yup, my mother's nuts. News at 11. (Yes, that's politically incorrect and scientifically imprecise. I stand by the accuracy of its content, if not the terms in which it was expressed. Also, nuts have health and nutritional value. Unlike my mother.)

Ugh, god, my mother is telling me how she's rationalizing and justifying the crap with my dad. And none of it is disabusing me of my original impression from talking to my dad. So  and now she imagines that he always and only asks me about using his stupid ipad. and she's still pissed about the fact that he set up his own password and his own apple id. She wanted him to use hers. and she thinks the password and info written on the paper in the ipad box is obviously wrong (it's not). And the more I listen, the more it sounds like she basically wants the ipad to be hers so she can use it. And she has this whole narrative about how she needs to be able to take the ipad when she travels because it's so much smaller and lighter than her laptop and it's better to have your own device to check your email and look up directions and etc. Firstly, I'm not sure how much traveling this is that she needs to be able to check directions and things, secondly I even said oh, I d...

I have chocolate eggs and a Minions movie. Is not a bad way to go.

I just read this sentence in a published research article and it jumped out at me. "Obesity is an abnormal accumulation of body fat over an individual's body." We as a society have determined that we will use the word obesity for things, depending on how you want to parse data, that negatively affect morbidity, mortality, quality of life, cost of healthcare, utilization of healthcare, etc. I'm not going to get into that particular minefield. Let's just accept that the word obesity is a stand in for bad things based on a little left or right shifting of an imaginary gaussian curve. Specifically, obesity is a generalized reference to body fat, not including brain or breast tissue. Here's my quibble: if accumulating body fat is something that bodies do, how is it abnormal? See, accumulating fat is, in fact, an evolutionary thing that continues to keep people alive today. Just not in the narrowly considered group of people who have the luxury of not starving to de...

There's a ball of flaming gas. I don't understand.

They grind exceeding small. http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/24/europe/karadzic-war-crimes-verdict/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial&iref=obinsite http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/24/europe/karadzic-war-crimes-verdict/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial&iref=obinsite

trigger warning - nothing graphic but discusses a sexual assault trial, rape, and abuse. Title of article is: Jian Ghomeshi trial rattles sexual assault survivors This quote is deeply saddening. "... fewer than 10% of sexual assaults in Canada are ever reported to authorities ..."  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35884343

Omg, so cute:  http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/25/471871366/chicago-cubs-cuddle-actual-cubs-at-training-camp http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/25/471871366/chicago-cubs-cuddle-actual-cubs-at-training-camp

Snow. I do not recall there being an open comment period for this before a decision was made.

I am pretty sure I do not remember the weather being this specifically miasmatic the last few springs. Grey or overcast at times, sure, but this is a particularly heavy, flat, dull sameness of gray everywhere. Ugh.

Accidental find. This is pre this season's RuPaul. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRXtd1-eiTo&index=10&list=PL135316A7297AAE42 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRXtd1-eiTo&index=10&list=PL135316A7297AAE42

Shows from the 90's are too recent for people to be dying off. http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/24/garry-shandling-dead/

Niece received Easter goodie box and left cute thank you message.

Horrible gray miasma, now with freezing rain. Woo.

Sad news - Joe Garagiola died.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/23/facebook-censorship-topless-aboriginal-women http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/23/facebook-censorship-topless-aboriginal-women

Hm. Hillary Clinton gave an actually Presidential sounding speech today on Brussels and terrorism. Presumably, no one will suggest she should have smiled more.

Sigh. I may have to find a new yoga class. Things that do not work for me include almost an entire class based on things done on your knees, not warming up while standing up, and poses held for interminably long times. Staying locked in a pose may be called restorative, but that is not the effect is has on my body. Rolling around on knees and or floor does not work as a warm up for me, either. It crunches joints and muscles and makes them sad. My knees do not like being abused for any amount of time, nevermind 30-60 minutes. Also, this class has become intermittently very popular, so you can have a day with 4 people or a day with 20. Lately, it has erred on the side of 15-20. It used to average 8-12 with the occasional 15. If people weren't such space hogs, this would be much less of a problem. However, there are definitely entitled folks. This particular instructor isn't used to having very large classes, and she is very reluctant to tell people how or where to arrange their m...

Headache. That is all.

locked Not shitty - the dermatologist gave dad an appointment in two weeks. That is super fast.

* much locked * Wow. Mom really amped up the bullying. She threatened my father with divorce. What the fucking fuck.

Totally not a set up. This guy was waiting for his family by sitting at attention in the driver's seat. It would only have been better if he had put a paw on the wheel.

- Davy Jones' locked entry - Good news/bad news. Dad's blood counts have not gone up, nor have any other markers for lymphoma/CLL. The oncologist is concerned that the secondary skin cancers may have decided to be a problem (hence the lymph nodes), so he recommended that Dad see the dermatologist and get his input. Assuming he can get in to see the dermatologist. If the dermatologist thinks it is possible that this is skin cancer related, then the oncologist will schedule a PET scan. However, the oncologist told my dad to go ahead and get his hip replacement in May, that there is no reason not to do this. Since that is a major source of his (physical) pain right now, that seems pretty important. So it goes.

So I guess NY state has had a ban on MMA fighting which is potentially about to be lifted? Just in time for the primaries to reach NY. Trump rally at The Garden?

Rob Ford died. You can't say he didn't live life large.

* much locked, so very * Sick to my stomach (unfortunate mind body connection). Dad is seeing the oncologist this morning. Last night Mom threw a tantrum because Dad wouldn't let her play with his ipad. A surprisingly accurate if imprecise statement.  My brother and SIL bought the grandfathers each ipads when The First Male Grandchild was born so visiting and talking could be done over facetime (they live on the counterweight coast). For various reasons, it's a bit of a thing for my dad to use his. But he eventually figures it out or asks for assistance. My mother seems to think she's the only one who should be allowed to help him and gets mad if he asks me, or if he is obviously frustrated but doesn't want her butting in before he has a chance to decide for himself if he needs or wants help. I am pretty sure she has a thing where somehow not wanting her help means he thinks she's stupid which is just, wow. Also, mom thinks she should be allowed to use his ipad. Whi...

Blerch. Although, I did, finally, more or less finish 3/4 thank you letters. Ugh. Listening to Holst helped.

"Jingles mascot of a bell with a smiley face" This is what g+ just chose to share instead of said bell with smiley face image.

Brain shutting down, need help.

Back at B&N. Woo. Productivity looms.

Dear self, Stop piggling and do work.

I'm only reposting this (thank you person from whom I borrowed) because I think it is pertinent to the recent panic over drug use. It's titled "The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think". Yes, that's a bit click-baity, but I removed the picture because it comes up as Brad Pitt for no reason associated with the article AT ALL. There are science reasons why I think this article is worth reading.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013

I want foil covered chocolate eggs so bad.

My mother has a unique skill/gift. She can make anyone feel like they should immediately and abjectly grovel and apologize for existing. Sometimes she is so good other people will tell the object of her attention they should apologize. It's really impressive. She should have been some kind of lawyer - one of the nasty ones. Or maybe a business executive. She's gotten so good, she doesn't even need to say anything. I mean, of course she says something anyway, but her whole demeanor changes. And she really needs to stop with the pre-planning everything everyone is supposed to say and do in her head. She is inevitably angered and disappointed. Shockingly, we cannot read her mind. Even if we could, you don't seriously think you get to control everyone else's thoughts, opinions, and behavior? She's not even messed up in some fun kind of way, like, say, Tennessee Williams' crazy Southern matriarchs. She's just mean. Like, how freaking insecure do you have to ...

Apropos of past and future conversations: http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/german-words#.taQrE7d2P http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/german-words#.taQrE7d2P

I can't with my dad being old. Like it's intermittent, too, so that makes it harder. It's monumentally unfair, of course, and judgmental, but when he turns into That Old Person it really bothers me. Partly because it's genuinely annoying, but partly because I can't deal. I mean, oddly, his subconscious seems to be aware of but not operationally interventional, so I think there's a sub-current of him not liking it, either. Like, being unable to do something you used to be able to do and getting frustrated. But, yeah, still basically my problem.

I slept, and yet feel absolutely no motivation to get up.

* needs more euphemisms for tightly locked * Went out for dinner at a family restaurant type joint with my dad. He's in such an awful place. Things were so horrible when he got put into and while he was in hospice (not because of hospice, because he was that sick and in that much pain and disability and blech). He just doesn't want to go through all of that again. He feels so badly he was even saying that the problem with mood elevators is that they all make him sleepy. Which is his way of saying he feels really badly, and he would do something if it made him feel better. Which is a lot, because he doesn't like taking drugs. I told him it might still be worth asking his doctor if he had any suggestions for someone for him to talk to, which didn't require any drugs, but the one thing he didn't really have good luck with before was the people who do the counseling for the hospice and cancer patients. So I don't know if they could help him find somebody. Eru, he...

I do have words, but I'm really tired right now. Mostly I agree with what everybody has already said.  The comment thread is all over the place as far as what the commenters clearly know (or lack) for information and experience. Shortest comment is that NPs and PAs and CRNAs and etc. all get extensive training, have licensing requirements, and are fully competent as professionals.  There absolutely is a need for care providers in more underserved areas. One of the reasons is that it is actually very expensive to maintain a medical business, and while that is a dirty word on all sides it is also reality. Medical care is no longer a charity provided by nuns that doesn't need to worry about being a viable business that maintains facilities, employs people, etc. The government and private insurance companies decide how much it costs to run your business; they are not good at listening to people on the ground about realities of costs.  Doctors in underserved areas used to be able to...

* very locked, much tightly * Dad and I are pretty sure the cancer is back, not that it ever left, but swollen lymph nodes. He doesn't want to talk to my mom about it because her way of handling things is to tell everybody what to do and try to control everything, and he just wants to be left alone because he is sad. So am I. He let himself start having hope, then this happens. My life sucks, my dad's life sucks. My mom's life sucks, too, for various reasons. Basically, life just sucks. sad tired

Dear universe, You should be nicer.

I give up. Couldn't sleep, suspect am about to do poorly at being awake.

wakey wakey

Trump must really like Megyn Kelly 'cuz he keeps picking on her.

I hate writing thank you notes. I actually used to be good at this, but my brain hates me now feels it must stand up for its principles, even if that means shutting me down. As Speaker-for-Life I feel I should get more respect, but this does not appear to be operative under current conditions. #everythingispolitics

Aaand now I am in Barnes & Noble drinking extremely hot coffee and eating junk (blondie with mini m&ms). If you can't motivate yourself, try sugar and caffeine! Woo! zzzzzzzz huh? wha ... ?

I am the sludge, goo goo g' joob.

The blergh is lurking. It started last night, but I am hoping to fight it off. Bad blergh, no cookies.

Just for future reference, Tuesday evening through early this evening, I had a really good day. It started with managing to get myself to go to the yoga class that only happens once a month because this particular instructor has a real job. She teaches several classes that one day and I usually go to the easy one, but I thought why not try the harder one? So I went. And none of the regulars showed. So I got a private class. Which turned out to be super helpful because we worked on technique things and then I got to do wacky things like Half Moon pose.  Then the days of hideous weather went away after the thunder, lightning, smog , hailstorm happened. Then I finally got myself to go to the special Monet and impressionists exhibit at the art museum here. And I got to see one of my favorite paintings. And it was a really nice day out. Then I went and had lunch at the Venezuelan restaurant that just opened up. It's greasy spoon street food, but it was very good (and I need to remember ...

Donald Trump is Willy Wonka, and the GOP are jellyfish. As explained by the NOAA Ocean Explorer:  A jellyfish has no ears or eyes or nose and no brain or heart! They do not even have a head. Their body is almost totally made of water and is soft having no bones at all. Jellyfish are invertebrate animals because they do not have a spine or backbone. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/forfun/creatures/02_jellyfish/main.html http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/forfun/creatures/02_jellyfish/main.html

I got all excited. Then I looked at the prices for things like cassoulet. http://buffalo.com/2016/03/17/featured/raclettes-french-restaurant-and-melted-cheese-specialist-opens-next-week/

It's not so simple. http://www.adn.com/article/20160316/patients-pain-and-doctor-who-must-limit-drugs-1 http://www.adn.com/article/20160316/patients-pain-and-doctor-who-must-limit-drugs-1

Definitely not Trumplomacy:  http://www.businessinsider.com/canada-and-denmark-whiskey-war-over-hans-island-2016-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/canada-and-denmark-whiskey-war-over-hans-island-2016-1

It is highly probable that someone may have a birthday.

Oh, great. Hailstorm. What is this, July? Kansas?

Remake recently came out, which is where I first heard this and it's pretty good, but since it's wayback day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdi8QLNqj8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdi8QLNqj8g

Interesting. People jumped down NPRs throat, or they jumped down their own, either way, about something a known commentator said that criticized Trump because it was against journalistic integrity and impartiality. Meanwhile, The New York Times is doing the traditional thing and taking the truth and shading it to their purpose. Iow, integrity and impartiality my gluteal sarcomeres. Oh, but the facts are technically correct.  https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-new-york-times-sandbagged-bernie-sanders-20160315 https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-new-york-times-sandbagged-bernie-sanders-20160315

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that at least 50% of Donald Trump's words are monosyllabic?

This is why I need a job, so I can eat at this place:  http://tamaleboy.com/ http://tamaleboy.com

world's tiniest locked circle post I'm slogging. My brain is making that noise you get when you try to start a car with a dead battery. I have stopped exercising, have re-started some binging, and just generally feel like ooze. I don't have the energy to keep fighting to do stuff, and it doesn't go well if you have to apply for jobs because you need a job but you really couldn't care less about it because it isn't anything you actually want to do. I can't function in this house, but I don't have money so it's not like I can go somewhere else.  I have been struggling with some stuff that I really needed to talk to you guys about, but I can't even manage that. Partly, I'm sure, because it's horrible stuff and I feel like I am a bad person for oh, so many reasons. The weather's been yuck, too. Basically, everything is very negative and it's becoming a cycle where I have to fight to do anything that is necessary or might get me out. I...

For the music nerds. I meant to post about this but didn't quite catch up on time. Nicholas Harnoncourt died a little over a week ago. While he had his controversies, he was hugely influential in why everything we listen to doesn't sound like Wagner (although Stokowski's orchestral version of Bach's "Toccata and fugue in d minor" still rules). Guess it still doesn't hurt to have been born an aristocrat. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12185066/Nikolaus-Harnoncourt-conductor-obituary.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12185066/Nikolaus-Harnoncourt-conductor-obituary.html

Today is -1. Had weird, horrible dreams last night, hardly slept, am under fun pressures of all kinds and am basically just feeling awesome. woo.

This is disgusting and upsetting to me for a lot of reasons. The picture doesn't show, but the headline is Northwestern University students charged with hate crime, vandalism to chapel The chapel is actually a large non-denominational church, and they have a long tradition of social responsibility and inclusion. http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86201212/ http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86193389/?related=true http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86201212

Finally caught up with Legends of Tomorrow and then I find out I have to wait 3 weeks for the next episode? So irritating. Meanwhile, I still think the Mick Rory/Leonard Snart characters are the most interesting and the most like actual characters within this series. Other notes: George Sanders as a drawling theater critic is more menacing than Vandal Savage. The character does nasty, violent things, but like Morales in A Chorus Line I felt nothing when watching him. As for others, the annoying character type I previously complained about is still annoying.

I'll bet you nobody would even listen to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite nowadays. "... seemed to incite violence and racial tensions"? "... seeming encouragement of violence toward protesters"? Why, because he says he's not? His own words: "If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them. Just knock the hell — I promise you, I'll pay the legal fees." How is that just "seeming" to encourage violence? Is the media bending over so far backward now to counter the bloviation about bias that they'll justify anything not to call it out? The second link is the apparently incendiary opinion piece Cokie Roberts and her husband wrote. It's spicy reading, let me tell you, don't let the kids see it. Not. P.S. She has been involved in questionable bias things in the past that would worry me a lot more than saying Donald Trump is a lousy potential President. In fact, discussing someone's qualific...

You know things are wrong when it's pi day and you don't even care.

This Trump nonsense with trying to make the protests in Chicago sound like a full-scale riot and then manipulating the media (again!) as he and his allies spin complete lies that the Bernie Sanders campaign is behind all of this is beyond out of control. I have yet to see a major news report that says, loudly and categorically, that they have investigated, and there is absolutely no truth to the idea that the Sanders' campaign is actively engaging in tactics to disrupt Trump rallies. Why would this matter? Because soft-pedaling this nonsense like it's a joke and will just go away isn't going to cut it anymore. It facilitates Trump's lies and it hints that if you can't deny it, there must be some truth to it. In addition,  Further, we'd be all over a foreign leader who pulled. Lastly, I have seen multiple news reports that act as if saying or showing Bernie Sanders denying it is sufficient. Speaking of which, it would well behoove the Clinton campaign to get out ...

This wan, pale, grayish light thing is not "sunlight" weather people. It's a miasma from a YA sci/fantasy presaging evil.

There is something now about protesters being pepper-sprayed by police in Kansas City? No corroboration of reports, yet. What is happening?

Flipping channels - bad idea. CNN is broadcasting Trump's rally from Kansas City. It is genuinely, deeply disturbing. The bit before discussing Chicago was bad enough. I thought it was Kafkaesque to hear a former Reagan staffer pull the guns don't kill people people kill people bit about the protesters in Chicago, like somehow Trump isn't absolutely responsible for the environment he creates, like the Republican party hasn't let their teenagers get out of control even though they saw them burning kittens when they were children. But that was nothing. Trump is calling the protesters "Bernie's", saying that all the protesters at any of his events are there because the Bernie Sanders' campaign is deliberately organizing the protests. There was a protester with a What Would Jesus Do sign and while he's saying "Get 'em out!" and pointing, he's also calling them "a Bernie person". Later on, he talks about how he's going to...

Oh, dear. Nobody told President Obama how to pronounce "Mississauga" before the state dinner.

Today we are irritable.

So, not exactly, but a lot of this is what I thought when somebody linked to the "misstep" and the apology. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/11/hillary-clinton-suddenly-has-a-big-gay-problem.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/11/hillary-clinton-suddenly-has-a-big-gay-problem.html

Escaped house by going to see "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot". Most importantly, I thought it was a good movie. It is not a typical Tina Fey movie. This is not a comedy. It is a war movie with humor. Which was fine with me, because that's what I was expecting. It is not a documentary, although the reporter who wrote the book upon which it is based seems to have said that she feels it got the gist of the experience correct. I think it does a better job than I'd expect, frankly, to touch on a lot of not for the dinner table subjects, as well as a woman out there doing a job in an environment that is hostile to women. There's some criticism of not casting non-europeans in a couple major Afghan characters. I have to wonder, though, since this is a fictionalized account based on a book that is about real people, whether that also might not have been criticized as people playing caricatures. You'd have to see it for me to say more about why I suspect there'd have been c...

I find it very, very challenging not to have problematic cognitive dissonance when I see an ad for The Passion: The Musical. It's not Mel Brooks, it's not Monty Python. It's not even Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's completely serious and it's Fox. I can't even.

Je suis ennuyé. I wonder if I can motivate myself to go do something where I can be bored elsewhere. I really don't want to be in the house while my mother's thing is going on because there isn't much of the house in which to be. Since I'm unlikely to suddenly discover enough money to hop a flight somewhere, I suppose that means maybe a movie. On a Friday night. Ugh. People.

Weird thoughts to end the day. We really just don't get how hard it is for people who are limited by money and/or circumstance to eat well and healthily. And we judge them harshly, and threaten them because they obviously aren't trying, etc. And threaten to make it even harder for them to access healthcare because it's obviously just so easy and they're obviously just so lazy. I am, in so many ways, just so damn fortunate and it bothers me a lot that there are so many people so ready to judge and criticize and throw people away. Sometimes, the cruelty of our society just really pisses me off.

Yellowfoot mushrooms. They seem to be getting a lot more variety of mushrooms around here. Which is good for us hobbitses. These are not a chanterelle, but sort of look like and taste like them. They are more related to those black trumpet mushrooms I posted previously. Would eat again.

THIS IS SO COOL. How#1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uog48viZUbM How #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Guq7vZb_E The Tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q#t=151 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q#t=151

That is all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kBn72NCohk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kBn72NCohk

So, I was heading for doing things that overcome inertia until this immovable object problem arose and I spent the morning doing other stuff and now I hate everything because it will take much, much longer and be a pain in the words that start with p.

(super-locked) Things that do not help inertia: Mother having insane and nasty anxiety fit because, omg, ladies group thing tomorrow night at 7pm and Is That Food You Were Going To Cook For Dinner Tonight In The Fridge?!?! Skipping the insane dialogue that included things like I don't want to have to think about planning things! and Don't make me have to do this right now!   Like, basically, no matter how much I tried to just let her tell me what she wanted, she basically didn't know. So when I asked questions about would specific things be helpful, that didn't accomplish anything, either. Also, I refused to be passive aggressively pushed into doing cleaning for her. Had she been cogent enough to simply ask, I probably would have said no problem. But gaming me into it? Give me a break. (Oh, well, you can cook dinner, but you'll have to clean the kitchen. Which doesn't mean what it sounds like it means.) Essentially, and my dad had complained about this before, ...

Inertia. It's a thing.

I didn't watch the debate last night, so y'all can tell me what I need to know, but this is what I found when looked online and it is terrible and funny and awful and I laughed at its horribleness. Please send snacks. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2016/03/10/the-washington-postunivision-democratic-debate-abridged/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2016/03/10/the-washington-postunivision-democratic-debate-abridged

Someone else's post gave me an idea. A wonderful, awful idea. For a satirical Trump campaign ad. Who's got the funding to produce "Springtime for Trump"? America was having trouble What a sad, sad story Needed a new leader to restore Its former glory Where, oh, where was he? Where could that man be? We looked around and then we found The man for you and me Aaaand now it's... Springtime for Trump and America The US is happy and gay! We're gonna build a greater wall It's gonna be ten stories tall! Springtime for Trump and America The Heartland's a smart land once more! Springtime for Trump and America Watch out, world We're going on tour!

Music nerds! Go play with the Google doodle! Frustrating that it cuts off without finishing the phrase of The Swan, but since you can play with it, you can finish it yourself. Plus, you can change the key and other stuff. I played some Debussy and some Massenet. Hee!

Stahp with the stupid legislation, already. There is no war on Christians , people. Do you see lions? Know anybody who's been stoned to death lately? Do you see actual people nailed to actual crosses lining the roads? Do you!? You are terrified, reactionary people who want to impose your interpretation of your religion on other people who don't agree with you. That is not "freedom of religion". It's a lot of things, but that it ain't. Know what else? People are being persecuted and killed because of their religion, which continues to happen all over the world. All sorts of religions killing all sorts of other religions (tribes, ethnicities, etc.). And this is what you're worried about, this is what you find threatening. Your whining because someone you don't know and will probably never meet wants to marry their boyfriend or girlfriend and is the same gender, your complaining because people acknowledge other seasonal celebrations than christmas, your ...

So, um, it's actually hard to find time and space to get my crap together. I want/need to work through a couple things, but don't want to just babble pointlessly. For one, my job/career situation is fucked, which is not crudity, it's fact. The other is that my family situation is likewise. I hate my mother, and that is going to take some processing (this group would not, but in case a demon is leering over your shoulder, anyone who says you don't really hate her know that I will reach through this screen and I swear to god you will wish you hadn't been born). I can't even just talk to/stay at my sister's, because it's apparently just too much to have to deal with talking to me about when things get difficult here because it's hard for her. Right, poor baby, it's so hard she doesn't even want to come here anymore. Try being involved in and dealing with the reality every day. Oh, right, you don't want to be here, because it's hard. Whic...

A whole bunch of local communities around us have lifted their winter parking bans early, including the actual city, but has ours? Nope. Newp. No way.com .  Seriously? You think some heinous snow plow requiring weather is gonna happen before April1 this year? So annoying.

Hey, hey, happy birthday!

Hah! I am awesome! My niece has to write a paper for her anthropology class about someone pre-1970 (with a few other criteria). She called to ask me to look through some of my Dad's old anthro books to help her get some ideas. However, while talking, I threw out some random suggestions, which included Michael Rockefeller. Turns out her professor knew these people personally and thinks that would be a great topic. Not only did my Katamari of a brain come up with a topic, it's one on which she will have no trouble finding tons of resource material. Yay! If only my brain were this good at serendipitously helping myself.

It's gotten so warm, I am thinkin' I will have to spray the trees Friday, if there continues to be a window of a couple of days with above freezing temps at night and no rain. You neither want the spray to freeze, nor to wash off. I don't know if more poisonous chemical sprays have these issues, but the stuff that isn't exactly non-poisonous but won't kill you if you touch it/eat it definitely has rules.

I could totally deal with the giblets (organ meats), but no way am I eating intestines.  http://aussietaste.recipes/soup-2/magiritsa-greek-easter-soup/ http://aussietaste.recipes/soup-2/magiritsa-greek-easter-soup

In re: who interrupted whom last night: both, and there was very little actual talking over each other. There was some genuine disagreement and aggressive speechifyin'. From both. What we got here is an actual campaign, where both sides are spinning like a top to make it sound less appealing to vote for their opponent. That's ok, because facts are being raised and discussed amidst the foofaraw. Meanwhile, it is reported that some segment of the internet felt Sanders interrupting Clinton was sexist. If that is indeed a thing that was commented, I would just like to point out that: 1. Hillary Clinton is tough, and she can handle herself, tysvm. 2. Examine that concept. If you are suggesting that because a man interrupted a woman he is sexist, you are sexist. That's right, it is not courtesy to particularly feel that a "gentleman" should defer to a "lady", it is chauvinism. I am acutely aware from personal experience of the idea of being in a meeting or a w...

Don't know what it says, but I am looking forward to the new season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Happy Birthday, Kevin Otte.

I feel like I should share this to increase the general cultural appreciation of ice fishing. Originally shared by Abeilles Fin de la saison de la pêche blanche. Photo :André Fortin

Sanders won the Maine caucus, I guess. That'd be 3/4 this weekend. Meanwhile, Rubio won Puerto Rico (insert crickets here). I mean, give me a break. That's not gonna make the whole GOP apparatus turn around and say, wait, we really did mean you were the one! I'm sure he's gonna run around telling everyone how it shows he can win, though.

Clinton and Sanders are both good about spinning answers that don't actually answer questions and at co-opting each other's questions to get their best optics. They're also good at staying on message, even when it doesn't answer the question they were asked. I think the moderators really did try to do a good job and ask some specific and pertinent questions. Whether that made any difference, I don't know. It's frustrating to me to keep hearing about Bill Clinton's presidency, and Barack Obama's presidency, for example, in the answers and discussions. I think Clinton came off better in the gun debate section, but that's not unexpected. I was surprised, and Anderson Cooper pointed it out, that now Hillary Clinton is also calling for Governor Snyder to go. That was a Sanders thing right up until this debate.  It's fun to turn off the sound and just watch the hand gestures. No, really, you should try it. In general, Clinton gets to specific answers ...

Man, journalism is getting hit hard. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/craig-windham-npr-dies_us_56d66317e4b0871f60ed335f?cps=gravity_5040_-3208454938389200078 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/craig-windham-npr-dies_us_56d66317e4b0871f60ed335f?cps=gravity_5040_-3208454938389200078

Cool. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-discover-possible-new-species-of-deep-sea-octopus-nicknamed-casper-a6914306.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-discover-possible-new-species-of-deep-sea-octopus-nicknamed-casper-a6914306.html