Randoms - 5/16

[wawa]

Hey look, a new randoms.  

John Fetterman (PA Lt Gov, Senate Candidate) and Chris Van Hollen (MD Senator) both had minor strokes in the past few days. 
So that's weird.  And I did not at all have a flash of conspiracy theory moment wondering what comic book villian has figured out how to take out out Dem politicians by exploding their brains.  no sir.  didn't think that at all. (I did.  I totally did)

I also spent several minutes explaining my theories about current covid patterns to a co-worker before cutting myself off and being like, "or that's a lot of confirmation bias and I'm not a epidemiologist so, yeah, anyway...how bout that weather"

I definitely get how people who feel like the world is a scary place latch onto conspiracies.  I'm nervous about shit going down.  And look, there I go.  Trying to make patterns out of chaos so things feel more predictable.

And to really stick with that randoms theme...

Anybody have any tips on making a lot of pancakes at once?  No oven.

[Deleted]

I’m so sick of seeing political adds. We are in a very red area, and the Rs are basically fighting over who can be the absolute worst, most disgusting human being on the planet. In a month we move to a blue area of a new state, and I’m so excited!

[pierogigirl]

wawa
DH is the pancake maker in our house. He uses an electric griddle. You can get them at Target for $30-ish . I think he makes 8-10 pancakes at once.

[tacokick]

wawa we have a griddle that goes over two burners. We can make maybe 6-8 pancakes at once?

Then we stick them in a tortilla warmer to keep hot.

[Vespasia]

May 16, 2022 14:36:29 GMT -5 wawa said:

And I did not at all have a flash of conspiracy theory moment wondering what comic book villain has figured out how to take out out Dem politicians by exploding their brains.  no sir.  didn't think that at all. (I did.  I totally did)

Alien ants. There was a whole show about it!
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrainDead

It's sad that many things on that show seemed plausible just a year or so later...

[rubytue]

We lost power again today for about 90 minutes, middle of the day, not related to the storms today. I’m sooooo confused. We have underground lines here. And we are losing power about 3 hours a month. 😫 And it wasn’t until today that I thought maybe I should get a battery backup for the router and/or my office. Maybe just the router/modem thing be I can use the laptop as a laptop without external monitors with just internet. But, the $200 battery backups seem to be for minutes, not an hour or so.

Anyway… I called into a meeting from my phone (I was actually in the middle of talking when it all died). And after that, I got dressed, packed up, and started to head to the office. I called my boss on the way bc everyone was telling me to storms were terrible, and I said I was calling her to absolve me. Which she did. So I turned around, picked up lunch on the way home, and the the power came back on while I was putting my work PJs back on.

WTF BGE?! Stop this shit!

[bears]

May 16, 2022 18:18:22 GMT -5 rubytue said:

We lost power again today for about 90 minutes, middle of the day, not related to the storms today. I’m sooooo confused. We have underground lines here. And we are losing power about 3 hours a month. 😫 And it wasn’t until today that I thought maybe I should get a battery backup for the router and/or my office. Maybe just the router/modem thing be I can use the laptop as a laptop without external monitors with just internet. But, the $200 battery backups seem to be for minutes, not an hour or so.

Anyway… I called into a meeting from my phone (I was actually in the middle of talking when it all died). And after that, I got dressed, packed up, and started to head to the office. I called my boss on the way bc everyone was telling me to storms were terrible, and I said I was calling her to absolve me. Which she did. So I turned around, picked up lunch on the way home, and the the power came back on while I was putting my work PJs back on.

WTF BGE?! Stop this shit!

In our old home, we lost power pretty frequently due to construction sites nearby. 

[pixy0stix]

I got banned from Facebook for 3 days for everything, 6 days to post in groups, and a month for some other features. All because I expressed frustration with my dh in a private group (said I'd like to punch him in the nuts), and shared a meme that they said depicted suicide in February (which I absolutely did not).

I really don't understand. I wish there was a viable alternative to Facebook.

[mrsukyankee]

pixy0stix, we had a similar thing happen to someone in one of our FB groups who expressed anger at her workplace. The bots are definitely picking up words versus idioms that are normal and not about true violence. It's getting ridiculous.

[ssmjlm]

I feel like I am screaming into the wind at work. I haven't heard back on the 2 jobs I made the list for and there's not much at the moment.

[eponinepontmercy]

I'm going to visit my grandmother tomorrow for the first time in almost a year. I saw my brother over the weekend and he said he was going and asked me to go. Later that afternoon, my mom made a point to say that I really should go see her because I'll regret not getting to see her if something happens.

She's 94 and has been in assisted living for a few years (about 2.5 hours away from me). Her mind is starting to go a little bit - she doesn't always recognize my uncles, and doesn't always know where she is. She asks about my grandfather who died a few years ago. I've been afraid to call, in case she wouldn't know who I was. (But, she doesn't usually answer her phone anyway.)

I know this will probably be one of the last times I'll see her. I feel terrible that I've been too scared to see her because she's always been my favorite and we had been so close.

[wildrice]

May 16, 2022 18:18:22 GMT -5 rubytue said:

We lost power again today for about 90 minutes, middle of the day, not related to the storms today. I’m sooooo confused. We have underground lines here. And we are losing power about 3 hours a month. 😫 And it wasn’t until today that I thought maybe I should get a battery backup for the router and/or my office. Maybe just the router/modem thing be I can use the laptop as a laptop without external monitors with just internet. But, the $200 battery backups seem to be for minutes, not an hour or so.

Anyway… I called into a meeting from my phone (I was actually in the middle of talking when it all died). And after that, I got dressed, packed up, and started to head to the office. I called my boss on the way bc everyone was telling me to storms were terrible, and I said I was calling her to absolve me. Which she did. So I turned around, picked up lunch on the way home, and the the power came back on while I was putting my work PJs back on.

WTF BGE?! Stop this shit!

That is weird. I know I don't live in your neighborhood, but I can't recall losing power even once since we moved here. Unless you count the time BGE was literally digging a hole in our front yard to upgrade something, which we obviously had an explanation for (though they did give us no warning that time, which was annoying since I too was in the middle of presenting in a meeting at that moment!). But we haven't had any unexplained outages or even issues during storms. Have you complained to BGE about it? 

ETA for those who aren't us: we live in the same town

[wildrice]

May 17, 2022 8:46:24 GMT -5 eponinepontmercy said:

I'm going to visit my grandmother tomorrow for the first time in almost a year. I saw my brother over the weekend and he said he was going and asked me to go. Later that afternoon, my mom made a point to say that I really should go see her because I'll regret not getting to see her if something happens.

She's 94 and has been in assisted living for a few years (about 2.5 hours away from me). Her mind is starting to go a little bit - she doesn't always recognize my uncles, and doesn't always know where she is. She asks about my grandfather who died a few years ago. I've been afraid to call, in case she wouldn't know who I was. (But, she doesn't usually answer her phone anyway.)

I know this will probably be one of the last times I'll see her. I feel terrible that I've been too scared to see her because she's always been my favorite and we had been so close.

Hugs. I can understand how you feel - I hate to admit I've been avoiding calling my grandmother as much in the last year for the same reason. I feel terrible about it but I am not sure she's even noticed since her memory is getting worse and worse. She does know who I am, but she sometimes mixes up who she is talking to and starts asking me questions like I'm my mom or sister, and can't always remember names of spouses. I do call at least every couple of months, but it really should be more. I hope your visit goes well - I am sure you'll be glad to see her. 

[macmars45]

eponinepontmercy (hugs)

My grandma is 94, lives in assisted living and has dementia. We live in the same city. She has no idea who I am these days. If it's a good day she calls me my oldest sister's name. A bad day I'm girl/you/her/she. It's hard.

[SwimDeep]

Have you ever experienced emotional pain so deeply that it manifests as physical pain?

I was dwelling on something last night as I was trying to go to sleep. It was heavy but not new. I felt the urge to cry and as I was blinking and breathing deeply I felt a sudden surge of sharp pain. Started in my gut and radiated through my fingers and toes. Lasted no more than a minute and didn't linger.

It really fucking hurt... just breathtaking, raw pain.

I'd like that not to happen again 😵

[Deleted]

[mention]swimdeep [/mention] not quite like you described, but I’ve definitely had emotional pain manifest as headaches, low grade muscle-aches (kind of flu-like), and digestive pain. There is such a weird link between the psychological and the physiological, and scientists don’t completely understand it all. But it’s real.

[mrsukyankee]

The limbic system is in charge of two systems - parasympathetic and sympathetic. When you are feeling anxious, teh parasympathetic system can gear up, which means your heart rate increases, digestion stops, etc. It's getting you ready for that flight flight or freeze response. It can lead to stomach aches, muscle tension, headaches, dizziness, etc. Including the pain you felt SwimDeep. I always suggest to my clients to do either mindfulness or relaxation exercises to help get back to equalibrium.

[rubytue]

SwimDeep, I get pains kinda like you describe when I see painful stuff in TV and movies. I use to be able to watch all the medical dramas, and even the old TLC operation. But now, I get emotional empathy pains, and just like that, pain that starts in the stomach and radiates. Usually just a second or two, but somewhat similar.

wildrice, right?! It’s so weird. And, to be honest, I’m feeling a bit something about how I moved here and we can’t even keep power. There was some road work out at LPP, which is what I thought it was. But they finished up and have moved on. 🤷‍♀️

[wawa]

May 17, 2022 18:00:54 GMT -5 rubytue said:

SwimDeep , I get pains kinda like you describe when I see painful stuff in TV and movies. I use to be able to watch all the medical dramas, and even the old TLC operation. But now, I get emotional empathy pains, and just like that, pain that starts in the stomach and radiates. Usually just a second or two, but somewhat similar.

wildrice , right?! It’s so weird. And, to be honest, I’m feeling a bit something about how I moved here and we can’t even keep power. There was some road work out at LPP, which is what I thought it was. But they finished up and have moved on. 🤷‍♀️

I'd reach out to BGE.  Something has got to be funky in their system, and you'd be surprised how much they don't know about their own systems. They dont' talk to each other. We've got overhead lines still (since we're just over the town line) and we don't lose power that often. 

[wawa]

I'm having one of those days where everythign just feels like I'm holding it together with my fingernails but nothing specific is wrong. 
Which usually means I'm PMSing, but I just finished my period, so it's not that. 
There's just...too much.
And then I left my wallet in my car in the park and ride lot (I HOPE.  BECAUSE OTHERWISE WHERE THE HELL IS IT??) so now I can't buy lunch and I get to spend all day hoping I left it somewhere out of sight and/or nobody does a walk-by smash and grab and also hoping it's actually in the car and not...on the ground between my car and my bus stop?  Or on the floor of the bus?  (I realized it was missing while on the bus, so pretty sure it's not there.  I looked.)

*sigh* 
I'm tired and I just want a day to do nothing but that won't help because then I'll just feel like I wasted a day i could have gotten some of this random shit off my plate.

[wildrice]

May 17, 2022 18:00:54 GMT -5 rubytue said:

SwimDeep , I get pains kinda like you describe when I see painful stuff in TV and movies. I use to be able to watch all the medical dramas, and even the old TLC operation. But now, I get emotional empathy pains, and just like that, pain that starts in the stomach and radiates. Usually just a second or two, but somewhat similar.

wildrice , right?! It’s so weird. And, to be honest, I’m feeling a bit something about how I moved here and we can’t even keep power. There was some road work out at LPP, which is what I thought it was. But they finished up and have moved on. 🤷‍♀️

Yeah, that shouldn't be the case. I'd complain to BGE, and if that doesn't get anywhere I would think the city would want to know. They are super picky about so many things the community that I imagine something like keeping a basic utility running would also be something they would also want to ensure happens. 

[rubytue]

wildrice, wawa, ok, I am in the phone with BGE right now. Each outage was a different reason, but the person I’m talking to does agree is seems like a high frequency and so they are going to have someone look into if there is something else affecting things.

My theory is the underground lines have reached the end of their lifespan. And so, although each one was a different underground line, it’s all aging type things. Cue rant about infrastructure.

[wawa]

May 18, 2022 9:10:00 GMT -5 rubytue said:

wildrice , wawa , ok, I am in the phone with BGE right now. Each outage was a different reason, but the person I’m talking to does agree is seems like a high frequency and so they are going to have someone look into if there is something else affecting things.

My theory is the underground lines have reached the end of their lifespan. And so, although each one was a different underground line, it’s all aging type things. Cue rant about infrastructure.

[glw]

SwimDeep , yes, I've had that happen. I'm sorry you experienced it.
From what I understand, your body is essentially going, "We are in pain! But nothing is injured...it must be coming from inside," and then boom, physical pain.
I read a super interesting book called How Emotions are Made that explains this. 

[StrawberryBlondie]

There's a taco truck about 3 blocks from the ice rink I usually practice at during the week.

I tried it tonight because I was in the area for other reasons around dinner time and OMG.

This could get expensive.

[Deleted]

[mention]wawa [/mention] I hope you found your wallet. I’m not sure I’d you have Apple Pay or Samsung Pay on your phone, but those have saved me in a pinch when I forgot my wallet.

[Michelle]

I have a super random question:

What kind of advisor would you go to in order to discuss financial planning to retire in another country? There is all kinds of stuff to google, but i feel like the old person version i imagined of my grandparents when i was in my 20s looking for this information and not being sure if it is a scam site or a legitimate advisor. Is there an industry name for the legitimate people who can help you with this as an individual who isn't terribly wealthy?

[eponinepontmercy]

Seeing my grandmother was awful. I was prepared for her not to know who I was. I was NOT prepared for her not being able to speak. She was able to say "How's it going" and "Is it warm out" but that was all I understood. I think she knew who I was, but it didn't really matter. I'm terrible in situations like that and my brother sat on his phone the whole time so I didn't even know what to say to her. I just sat and held her hand. I talked a little bit, but she was asleep off and on, plus her hearing has been going downhill for years and she refused to get a hearing aid.


Then it took me nearly three hours to drive home instead of two. I had ice cream and nachos for dinner.


DH and I are having our regular argument about spending too much money on food and not saving enough. There's more to the argument this time which I don't feel like getting into, but I'm just angry. The problem is that I'm angry about things in the past so venting doesn't serve any purpose except to say "I told you so!" and make him feel bad.

This was a bad week for the pharmacy to be delayed in filling my anti-anxiety prescription.

[idahome]

eponinepontmercy: That sounds like an awful lot to deal with at one time. I’m sorry.

Mine: I’ve been on high dose antibiotics since last Thursday (4 days via IV while hospitalized) and now I’m on day 4 of 14 with oral meds. I am having trouble seeing - like my prescription that worked just fine last week isn’t working now (I can’t wear my glasses and see anything on my computer and distance with/without glasses is challenging). I don’t see this listed as a side effect of the antibiotics but what else could it be?!?

[mouse]

Right now the last post on the Monkeypox thread is by dontlook and I don’t want to comment on it because really, that just seems like good advice.
Lalalalalalaaaaaaaa.