In a waiting room listening to a guy (I'd ballpark him as in his 70s) telling the receptionist about the fun night out he had with his grandkid who took him to a drag show.

My mother tells of the time I was maybe 2 years old, and my dad spontaneously decided to shave his beard. I went screaming to her that there was a stranger in the house, and we did not stop freaking out until she got out their wedding album in which dad was also bare-chinned.

Oscar red carpet watching and Pedro Pascal needs to put the beard back on NOW.

Did I just order a "minimalistic yet beautiful bird feeder" because the catalog picture makes it look like a scrotum? Of course not. I ordered 3 of them.

Can we give everyone on this panel a body part whose presence causes them constant overwhelming distress and causes people to interact with them in a way antithetical to their self-perception, then codify into law that they must "appreciate" this body part and the interaction they get because of it?

Has it not occurred to any of these men to go to their local Florsheim retailer and get an identical pair that fits properly?

Once again validated that my dayjob niche is "Person who smacks a problem like a piñata until a solution falls out." Luckily, dayjob values this niche and understands that I _will_ click that button.

The cat who is usually most aloof rubbed my ankles repeatedly while I was washing dishes, then when I picked her up she snuggled down and started purring.

I don't know what it is about the first nice springlike days that awakens in me a primal need to dig up my yard. So far I have cleared random shrubbery (mostly honeysuckle and grapevine, I think) from my future asparagus bed and am attacking the grass at random.

I lost my last baby tooth at the age of 31.

Your dose of napping tabby.

The back of my head was on the news (that's me with my hair up in a bun behind the newsperson). Had to turn out to support local bookstore/third space. To answer the big questions: I was reading Special Deliverance by Clifford Simak, and yes I wore my SPF 50. dayton247now.com/news/local/c...

Swapping out the winter air in the house. Another great thing about Old House Living: excellent cross-ventilation.

One was a printer, the other one was a custodian and a bus driver.

Does anyone remember a short story from a while back, where the stars are starting to blink out at the end of the universe, but one character insists on planting a garden anyway?

The first crocuses are blooming in my yard. Things may be in a handbasket, but I get to see all the flowers I planted last fall. And that's not nothing.

My home office desk (where I sit 40 hours a week) is right next to the air register. Lately, I have been hearing what I can only describe as "slurping noises" coming from the vent. Obviously, I have checked the basement for monsters.

My Queen of Night tulips are coming up. They're the closest I've found to the tulips my mom had when I was growing up. One clump, such dark purple that they were nearly black, and they smelled like the taste of watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

Idea nebulously puttering in my head this morning: this zeal to turn everything AI is born of people who have never once reveled in the *process* of anything, and are making that everyone's problem. How do we explain that the end result isn't always the point?

Just met a delightful gent who used to live in my house. He assures me that the house has always had this personality.

I have finally acquired a Dayton Metro library card!

One of my small joys is scrolling through Red Carpet galleries even though I know next to nothing about fashion. The dresses are pretty. And sometimes utterly ridiculous.

The plant catalogs this time of year are really trying my goal of "Don't mail order plants in 2026."

Forget flying cars. I'm watching a guy turn my partner's chronic pain on and off over bluetooth.

Just watched GOOD BOY and I have to say, there is not a hell-y enough hell for Todd.

I mean, my sister and I both survived to adulthood, but looking back, there were some times that make me wonder. youtu.be/MesjS-_4VQI?...

Against my will, I am taking the required How To Use AI At Work training for the dayjob, and my main takeaway so far is that most of the business use cases could be eliminated if messages/meetings/documents got to the 🤬 point to begin with.

The dayjob is really starting to push us using AI (copilot), so I am compiling a list of all the counter-arguments and reasons that I am definitely not going to be doing that. The big one is, of course, that the entire technology is built on theft.

Good thing the work meetings were yesterday. The guys are here to put the gutter back on my house and oh howdy is it loud in my office.

I have committed the terrible transgression of moving Buddy Cat out of my desk chair so I can go to work. He is now standing over* my keyboard looking at me like "So, you're just going to sit there in my 4th favorite nap spot all day?" *previously "on" keyboard. He almost posted in the group chat.

Still one I come back to reguarly.

Currently 14 hours into a bout of gastroeneritis. Still not the worst Valentine's Day.

I know it's a long shot, anyone here do medical billing to Medicare? I'm back on my bullshit of resolving denials. please repost.

The power is out in half the house. Neighbor confirms same. Fortunately, after running an extension cord to the modem, my home office setup is functional. Heat is not. Stove yes, fridge no. Electric company says someone will be out in the next 8 hours or so.

If I'm in that group, be prepared for a lengthy discussion of axial precession.

Doing the monthly dive into [esoteric part of the dayjob that involves finding out where processes went sideways]. In the Why section of the report, sorely tempted to put "Seshat, Ancient Egyptian goddess of accounting, has forsaken us."

Work email today promoting using our wellness benefits, subject line "Self-Love Comes First This Valentine's Day." As a late-gen-x-er, my immediate reaction is 😳😶😳🫢😳 I'm not sure exactly when the meaning of that phrase shifted, but my internal linguistic database has NOT updated that entry.

Not my best work, but it's done.

I talked to FOUR strangers on the actual phone today (3 about car insurance, one rescheduling a medical appointment). That is enough interaction with strangers for the month. I will be retreating to the Introvert Cave until the winter aconites bloom.

"Fraud better, man. Whatever happened to having pride in your work?"

Who else has Family Lore that does not survive contact with generational math? Example: grandma swears we are descended from a Civil War general. Even if true, "we went from leading an army to telling fortunes in a Texas traveling carnival in 3 generations" is not the flex grandma might think it is.

Bad times to be a Huguenot in France or lower-class in Sweden. Other motivations are fuzzier because prior generations have grafted a lot of questionable lore onto the family tree.

That is a relief. The gutter replacement is not going to be as terribly expensive as I feared it would be. Now, for the snow to melt so they can get the work done and I can stop having the Gutter of Damocles dangling over the wire that brings the internet into my house.

My headcanon is that Tom Petty's "American Girl" and The Guess Who's "American Woman" are both actually about the same person. It also seems like they really nailed the trajectory of U.S. foreign relations.

Welp, turns out that the crashing noise was the icicles falling off the roof...and taking the gutter with it.

The scene out my kitchen window.

Generalize your skeets. What is your most typical, most average skeet? My cats are being adorable while I made a thing and weird shit happens around me. Cheese is good. Look at this interesting thing I found.

I filled the bird feeders this morning. Yard is now full of extremely spherical cardinals, starlings, woodpecker, sparrows, maybe juncos. Maximum borb.

The snow has started.

Day in the life of a live-in editor: Writer-in-residence reads you a page of their WIP. You respond, "Beautiful. Also basically the end of [title redacted]."