April 1st.
I wish I could joke today, but I am far from jovial.
Add another negative to my Florida trip. It appears that even though I was wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt I contacted poison ivy/oak while doing yard work. I had one spot around my ankle last week, and as of yesterday it has spread to my arms.
I am also still battling my piriformis problems, and can’t shake the last of the cold/flu/covid.
All of the above, along with depression caused me to skip yesterday’s Easter Silver Comet ride.
Hopefully things will start to get better late this afternoon if I find out that I don’t have to report for jury duty selection tomorrow.
Wordle: four, my starter was CRASH
Connections: perfect, Purple > Yellow > Green > Blue
did you have to call in for jury selection today & told no need?
or – the week doesn’t start until Tuesday?
I call tonight. My selection date is 4/2.
Wordle in 4. Sorry you’re still in a funk.
A busy weekend. Friday, replaced half the brake shoes on my car! The rear shoes did not want to cooperate, so I put the old shoes back and moved on. I returned them to NAPA Saturday and found they were the correct shoes, so my abilities as a shade tree are in question
Saturday was a birthday party for Nicole’s husband Doug. 150 invitees, bartender and Varsity food truck! A good time on a beautiful day.
Sunday was Easter with Debbie’s family. One grand niece we had not met yet is now over a year old! I took my bike so I could ride home and besides fighting a westerly headwind, riding on a full stomach was more than I wanted. Debbie was behind me, so I bailed at the 15 mile point- before having to put up with a busy state highway.
Just off a call with a nurse practitioner for my back problems. referred me to an ortho to have a look see. Probably nothing they want to do anything for, but better to know than not.
At least check, weather is looking OK for eclipse viewing.
-FP
had a few arthritis discussions this weekend – that’s the majority of my back issues (& now I’m noticing my hands more). I just take the OTC meds – and if I’m feeling it really necessary – a Meloxicam – that really helps, but its a prescription, so I don’t waste those.
I am completely not worried about the weather for the eclipse. In 2017 it was totally overcast until right as the eclipse was beginning, and then the clouds suddenly parted. This article explains why:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/03/30/why-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-witness-april-8s-total-solar-eclipse/?sh=1a1b3e466f2c
T-7 days! Oh boy, oh boy!
busy enough weekend –
Friday (Good Friday) dinner with the in-laws – they are good Catholics – so we figured we out to acknowledge the holiday weekend. š
Saturday – 19 mile bike ride on the Noonday Creek trail in Kennesaw – too many road crossings, but it was something different to do. We can take that trail all the way to Marietta Square for more miles -& I think a little further north from where we started. But – with the road crossings, it won’t be one we do often. Allan fixed a little kids bike (I’ll guess he was 4) & the mom was so thrilled they didn’t have to end their ride.
Went to Pine Lake ending at Red Hare – they are just closing that taproom, but still brewing there. (too hard to get help)
Sunday was the Easter ride – got 30 miles in with the fast girls – the E bike for the win. I would never have been able to do that pace on my regular bike.
Got home & decided I’d had enough pollen for the weekend – I am so tired of itchy eyes.
What else –
We booked a campsite at Indian Springs for Saturday 4/13 – but it had to be 2 nights – so we have Sunday 4/14 too. Probably won’t stay that night, but this way we don’t have to be out by noon. We are thinking we might do a Wheelhoppper campout down there in October, with the ride at Dauset. With campsites always booked up, figure we need to plan this way out.
Anyone that wants to join us – or just come visit – feel free to let me know. Site looks big enough for a tent – or – I think there was other sites available to book.
Back from Loweās, which unfortunately didnāt have one the items I went there to buy.
Having some respiratory issues linked to last weekās illness (looking more like covid), so I skipped visiting Target and Kroger.
Forgot to mention some of my return trip drama from Friday. Twice I had to pull onto the shoulder of I-75 in order to strap my bike to the bike rack! On the second time I discovered the loop on the rubber strap had split, so with enough wind the strap came apart and was useless. It was a bit terrifying to get out and back into the car with vehicles speeding by at 70+ mph.
well that’s no fun. Glad the bike & you survived.
Thanks. It was weird to look into the rear view mirror and see the bike in a different position from which it started.
Ugh, that’s never good! I’m glad you caught it in time.
Took my recycling to the curb and upon walking back toward the house saw how much of those dangling oak tree things are covering my roof. Almost tempted to go up to the roof with my leaf blower, but will probably wait another handful of days for the tree to drop as much of that as possible.
Good timing. I just returned from pulling my recycling can back from the curb because the truck just collected it.
Iām playing the actual role of professor for a day at Kennesaw State. I trusted my intuition yesterday and bailed on the Silver Comet ride and was rewarded in an unimaginable way. Iāll explain later, Iām on now.
are you actually at KSU ? or virtual?
I’m guest teaching 3 classes in person at KSU today. Apple Maps said it was only going to take 28 minutes to get there, which I didn’t think much about, other than it felt light. Just after I got on the downtown connector I realized “It’s spring break week!” 8:15 AM traffic was an absolute breeze. What fortutious timing. Just about every stoplight in town and on campus was either already green or turned green after a tiny delay. This must be what being in a presidential motorcade feels like.
I taught two classes this morning, and I have a third one to teach at 3:30.
I had been planning on riding the Silver Comet yesterday, but when Saturday rolled around I had a strong vibe that I should stay home. The pressing urgency is that I need to turn in the revised table of contents for my 8th book today, so that’s what I planned to work on yesterday.
On Saturday I ended up spending 13 hours writing code, ending at 3:00 AM. I was revising an algorithm to grade spreadsheets for one of the student assignments that I sell. As the day went on, I started making connections in my head that hitherto where impossible for me to make. I’ve been envisioning all along that eventually instead of writing so much code that I could concoct a database-driven approach to create a universal grading algorithm. I then spent another 13 hours yesterday, which also ended at 3:00 AM, building out the structure of said database. I still need to get all of the pieces put together, but instead of maintaining 2,000 lines of code per assignment (I currently sell 12 or so different assignments), I’ll have a list of maybe 200 rows that will document all of the grading parameters. It’s going to save me gobs and gobs of time and frustration.
The other thing that I figured out yesterday was an incredibly simple solution for another issue that I’ve been throwing ever more code at for 7 years, which is taking into account the different ways that a student can correctly write an Excel formula. I used to have a string of if/or statements that would list the permutations. Now I’ll just list the permutations in a database table, and as part of the grading process, if they used an acceptable permutation, I’ll swap it out with the expected version of the formula, which means the student will get credit, and I don’t have to write code for it, I just have to maintain the list of permutations.
So, Barb and Sally, I guess I have to say sorry/not sorry for not riding yesterday. š Count me in for the next ride. I cannot believe the headspace that opened up for me this weekend. These are problems that I’ve been trying to solve for years now. I realized that I could get there before because I had emotional stuff sucking my lifeblood like a vampire. I have driven a stake through the heart of that goddamn vampire, and am apparently now able to use far more of my brain’s capacity.
Alrighty, time for me to get cracking on this table of contents. I already have one publisher annoyed at me for missing deadlines, and I don’t need to make it be two.
Very cool!
that’s a whole lot of info……
So glad you figured it out to make your life easier.
We will let you know where the next ride is.
Probably somewhere Sunday 4/7
how the hell did you get Connections?
What the hell was that?
how did the blank ones work?
I got Green.
Needed google for Wordle – could not come up with that word after 4 tries – so – Wordle in 5.
Blank ones? There were no blank ones for me.
I thought I had an advantage given where I have been often this year. Then Betsy got it in threeā¦
Connections was stupid as hell today. Barb, you should have seen a bunch of emojis. Fuck that shit.
Wordle in 4, Connections was breezy.
I sent Paulie what I had – I had 2 completely blank squares. So weird.
Hey Barb, how was the Emory Brain quiz?
ummmm – I’m better at remembering numbers than words. And – I’m a horrible artist -and even worse from memory.
But – it went fine – I don’t think I did too much different than 2 years ago. But then – I’ll never know.
I have the MRI & the other stuff in May (but – in 2 seperate appts now – no same day)
I think to get them on the same day you have to whine a lot like I do!!!
I’m not sure – she told me they weren’t doing it anymore. I told her I lived far away & wanted them the same day.
the MRI is on a Saturday morning, the other medical stuff is a weekday.
I’m sure the MRI time is expensive. Bet not nearly so on a Saturday.
Hello friends! I had a great weekend. Friday I had off. Kevin doesn’t have to work if he doesn’t want to, so while Finn was at school we went out to lunch like normal adults! We went to Moe’s and Joe’s and sat out on the patio, and it was lovely. Saturday we took Finn to Buddy Baseball, which happens every March and April. It’s a baseball league where physical- and neuro-divergent kids get paired with regular Little League kids. The buddies, as they’re called, help the non-typical kid to hit the ball and run the bases, and they get credit for community volunteering. Finn is physically in top shape and super tall, and he can hit the ball and run the bases fast, he just needs someone to tell him when to bat and when to run. After that we went to the Majestic for breakfast. We lounged and watched sports all afternoon, then went to the General Muir for early dinner. Sunday I did not leave the house, it was magnificent. Watched some sportsing and some movies. This March Madness is pretty crazy!
BTW – for all you sports fans (Jenka…..)
the biggest women’s NCAA game is tonight around 7pm – Iowa vs LSU.
Should be a good game, as its the rematch of last year’s championship game.
Women play basketball? Who knew? š
its funny – the women are getting as much- or really more – press this year than the men.
and you know me, I am not usually an Iowa Hawkeye fan, but in this case, I am.
All I have heard about is the Iowa woman who is breaking the records, and the LSU coach who sounds like a real āKarenā and is threatening to sue a news reporter.
To be fair, I am not at all a basketball fan, so I canāt tell you about menās basketball either.
what time do you call about jury duty?
After 5:30pm