The Fort Mudge Memorial Dump

Friday I went back to the post office, again, and they almost didn't find my mail. Whoever filled out the card indicated it was a letter, but it was actually a "large envelope", so they didn't find it because they were looking in the wrong place. Anyway, the contents were what I thought they were, and the upshot is I cashed out my $500 401K that I can't do anything else with, and will get about $340 by the time it gets done with fees and taxes. Whee.

Then I treated myself to a bagel with butter and jam for breakfast (strawberry jam, thank you), went home and filled out the paperwork to cash out the 401K, ironed the Less Is More embroidery and went out again to mail the paperwork and get the embroidery framed. The woman who owned the Washington Square Fast Frame franchise has retired and the new guy admitted he knows next to nothing about framing embroidery. So now I need a new framer, because when I get the cat-in-tree piece done, I'm not letting him have it.

After that I trotted off to Coolidge Corner to go grocery shopping for odds and ends, and book shopping (I did finally buy the book about the Gulag, even though it's depressing) and stopped for ice cream while I was down there. Sometimes I just want ice cream. Then I went home and made mushroom cheeseburger bake, as follows:

Cook one cup of raw rice in the rice cooker. While that's going, fry a pound or so of hamburger with smoked salt, pepper, garlic and sage, and remove the meat from the pan. Fry two boxes of sliced mushrooms in the drippings with more garlic and more sage. Put meat, mushrooms and rice in a baking dish and let it all cool off while grating a ridiculous amount of sharp cheddar cheese. Add cheese to cooled-off other stuff, combine thoroughly, top with panko and bake at 350 for half an hour. Hit the spot when warm, and sticks to the ribs quite well when cold.

On Saturday I did the laundry and wandered off through Coolidge Corner again to do the real grocery shopping. I must have done things other than grocery shopping and laundry, but I don't remember offhand what they were.

Yesterday I finally figured out why I hate vacuuming so much; it's because the bags that are supposed to fit my vacuum cleaner have a 1.5" diameter hole, and the inlet they're supposed to fit on has a 2" diameter. Every time I vacuum, I have to argue with the bags. I hate that. So I went off to Target in a towering rage and bought a bagless vacuum cleaner. Then, of course, I had to walk from Target to Kenmore and from Washington Street to home with a box 2/3 as tall as I am, with one heavy end. My arms didn't like that very much, and they still don't like it today, but they can suck up (ha ha, since they were carrying a vacuum cleaner) and deal.

I assembled the new vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the rugs, and observed that the new one is quieter and more maneuverable than the old one, and fluffs up the rugs instead of beating them flat. And it also sucks up cat hair and other stuff. So it was worth the sore arms.

Along with most of the rest of Boston, I watched at least some of the Super Bowl. I shut it off when the score got to 21-0, because I wasn't having any fun. I spent the rest of the evening merfing around online and keeping an eye on the score. Good thing I recorded it, because it turned into a game halfway through the third quarter. I'm really happy for all the veterans (Long, Van Noy, Hogan, Bennett, etc.) who came to the Patriots this year from one or more bad teams and suddenly found themselves winning the Super Bowl. (OK, maybe Buffalo isn't that bad, but Rex Ryan can take a long walk off a short pier.) And I really wanted the Patriots to win because I wanted something to be happy about that didn't involve ingesting any calories.

The phone spam people have come around to my number again. I've gotten six spam calls since Friday. If I ran the universe, all spam calls would go to an answering service consisting of 30 seconds of air horn. Not that that would make them stop, but it would make me feel better.

Today's excitement consists of writing a business plan for a two-year MMSc in Dental Education program. Because we're not doing enough things around here right now with the DMD curriculum change and the accreditation self-study, of course. (Don't mind me, I'm grumpy, because I probably know more about curriculum development and dental education research than the prospective students do. But I don't have $100K lying around so I can take the two years to get the piece of paper that says so.)

Speaking of expensive pieces of paper, I suppose I ought to finish filling out all the legal documents and then pay the $1000 to get them witnessed and printed and filed and all that. Might as well get all the depressing stuff over with while it's still dark out before I leave work (which is depressing too). And speaking of depressing, I'm sick of remembering that I don't have a W2 yet so I can't get my taxes done and get on with the business of ignoring tax preparation ads until April.

At least today it might still be warmish out when I leave work. If I ran the universe, urban snow would stick around for precisely long enough to give everybody one day off to build snowmen on school playgrounds with. And then it would be 65 and sunny for a week. I think I miss the sun more than I hate the snow, actually. It seems to me like it hasn't been sunny very much lately.

One of the things I could do to maybe help with the lack of sunshine is stop reading depressing books. I got through Time's Arrow by Martin Amis, but only because it was short. I'm giving up on Until I Find You, which is by John Irving (I always want to say John Updike, but I'm always wrong) and which I also got from the FB book exchange. I kind of liked the first hundred pages or so, but after that, suspending disbelief got to be too much work and it's an 800-page book. I guess I should stick my head in Brookline Booksmith and invest in Babylon's Ashes, which I've been simultaneously looking forward to and putting off buying because I don't want a largish hardcover falling on my face when I fall asleep reading it. The Instant Gratification Monster is getting loud, though, so I think I'm not actually going to wait for the paperback.

Heavy stuff this week, because I met with an estate planning lawyer on Tuesday and now I'm $2000 poorer and have a lot of complicated forms to fill out. But at the end of the forms I'll have a will, living will, medical proxy, power of attorney, and all that stuff Responsible Adults are supposed to have. I'm going to need a drink when I get to the end of the forms, and probably need to go snuggle a Hairy Beast or so if the weather is conducive to it. Responsible Adulthood isn't any fun at all, sometimes. Hopefully this is going to be one of those "set it and forget it" sorts of things.

Also, cherries aren't on sale any more, and I refuse to pay $5 per pound, so no more cherries for a while.

BUT, the Patriots/Bengals tickets came in the mail on Tuesday, and I wasn't expecting them until September, so now they're living in my desk drawer until October 16. And the fan part of the unhappy ceiling fan is still perfectly fine, which is good because it's necessary now that the weather has decided it's summer again (which is also good).

And I get an hour and a half of massage tonight, and I need at least that much. Last time I completely forgot the appointment, but that was before Iceland and I had so much stuff in my brain that some of it wouldn't fit. Like the massage appointment. My brain is doing much better since it's been on vacation; at least when I forget things, I'm either forgetting trivial things or deliberately ignoring semi-important things like doing laundry.

Just because Mozart is over, doesn't mean he's gone. The Regina Coeli keeps coming back unless I'm thinking hard about something else. But Mozart is over, and so is Schubert, and I can stop hauling my carcass to Cambridge unless I want to, until September or so. The concert went reasonably well, at least. We did away with processing on and off stage, which was nice because it meant we were sitting on stage before the house lights went off, so I could see how much audience we actually had. It was a decent house, but not packed. But we made an hour and a quarter of tuneful noises and got applauded for it, and I took myself out for ice cream afterwards (along with half of the rest of Harvard Square, apparently).

That was Saturday, after the usual grocery shopping and some unusual grocery shopping besides. I didn't really NEED Bloody Mary base and a celery root, but I'm in an experimental frame of mind. I will not be combining those things; they're for two different experiments. At least one of which will involve actual cooking, because on a day like this, hot food is important. I ordered soup for the curriculum committee meeting and everyone thought it was great.

Yesterday I managed not to go outdoors at all, on account of it being grey and gloomy and threatening to rain. Besides which, I had already done all the running around. So I stayed indoors all day and redid the same line of embroidery three times because I couldn't figure out whether or not it was going to be right when I got to the end of it. Even if it's wrong now, I'm not doing it again. I'll work around it. So there. I also spent more of yesterday than really necessary being a feline thruway; Lily had a case of the fidgets and kept wanting to come down my front from the back of the futon. I wish she would figure out how not to do that. I could figure it out for her, but it would probably involve cat foot in my eye, rather than the usual cat butt in my face. I think I'd rather keep the claws out of my eye, thanks.

I have a mess of financial homework and information gathering to get around to before next week. I finally found an independent financial advisor, and (shockingly) was told I have enough in the savings account. I'd rather have it there, where it earns interest, than anywhere it doesn't. But that's why I went in search of financial advice.

Ugh. That's all. It's still cold out, and my touchscreen gloves are still no good under 35 degrees or so, and I got blindsided yesterday by the Oral Health Session having moved to the first year class and being in February, instead of the second year class in October. HMS did tell me that, but they told me that last September as an aside to the October session and I promptly forgot about it because the October session was using all the neurons not occupied by the October faculty retreat six days after it. So here it is, late January, and I've got to do the Oral Health Session dance all over again already. Ugh.

Also, the director of admissions is retiring next week, her assistant left at the end of last week, the registrar is retiring at the end of next month, and the longest-serving Senior Tutor is leaving sometime before next fall. If the registrar's assistant is also leaving, there goes most of the institutional memory in the office. Just what we need right before an accreditation site visit (in 2017, but you'd think it was next week). Ugh.

Good things, lest I get mired in a rant: at least it looks like we're not in for a foot of snow this weekend. I don't want a foot of snow, so that's fine with me. And I have two more weeks before I get my Sundays back from voice lessons, which was definitely the right decision. And I have wing sauce that isn't a biohazard, and another head of cauliflower, and therefore I have dinner for two days. (And I have some excellent frozen poultry jello, so I can also make soup if I want to.) And Trader Joe's has baconesque popcorn again.

Maybe not the right decision: I have ordered myself a Thorgi. I probably shouldn't be spending money on frivolities like that, given how much I'm about to spend on sneakers and chorus dues after spending a lot on a Kindle and phone protective gear and adless apps in the last couple of weeks. But I also ordered my coworker, who had a corgi until last week and has a birthday this week, a Waldo corgi, because when I showed her that, she cracked up all over the place.

If tomorrow wasn't Friday anyway, I would have been sorely tempted to declare it Friday and have another long weekend. Someday I'm going to get somebody to listen to me when I say I'd be perfectly happy to work four long days and have consistent three-day weekends.

Today I learned two new and completely unrelated things: elephants are afraid of bees (http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/12/beehive-fences/), and 8 ounces of dried bay leaves by weight is a gallon of bay leaves by volume (https://www.penzeys.com/shop/spices/). Next time you want to impress somebody, try one of those on them. (I can't say I blame the elephants; if I got a bee sting two feet up the inside of my nose, I wouldn't like bees either.)

I also learned that I was at least slightly smarter than usual the last time I went to Penzey's in person, and bought two bags of celery flakes. So I'm not out of celery flakes. I'm closer to out of bay leaves and parsley, but I don't have to go all the way to Arlington Heights for those.

At work I learned that the Great Office 365 Email Migration was only slightly less of a pain in the ass than I thought it was going to be. I had to remind my boss to do what she was supposed to, and then show her how to give me access to her calendar in Outlook so I could go figure out how to get access to it in Mac Calendar. It all came out in the wash, so she's off to Chicago for the rest of the week and I can make appointments for her for next week if I have to.

I'm getting a little tired of looking at my wrist several times a day and being reminded that I forgot that my watch is in Cambridge having its crystal replaced. I suppose I could go buy a cheap replacement watch, but I don't want one. I want MY watch.

Shoulder does not like being forced not to move, either. One of the MRI scans had to be done twice because I couldn't stop the involuntary muscle twitches. Fortunately it was one of the shorter scans; the shortest one was three minutes and the longest one was ten minutes. By then it was mind over matter, mostly, and I had rearranged my arm very slightly. The lower frequency noise bothered me (in the emotions, not in the shoulder) more than the higher frequency noises. Results supposed to be in to the radiologist and the orthopedist by 10:00 tomorrow night, but I don't know what that means in terms of when somebody will tell me what they are. I have a vestigial PT appointment on Monday, and I'd like to know by then whether I should cancel it or reschedule it or actually go to it.

Had I known that the bus I was trying not to get run over by at 9:45 last night was a Coolidge Corner M2, I would have tried to get on it. But I didn't find that out until it was passing me, so I walked home instead. And due to messing around in Kenmore Square, I managed to see the three FSU football team buses twice (once on the way to, and once leaving from, the Fenway movie theater). Apparently that game is tonight, but I don't follow college football because I don't want to encourage the NCAA if I can avoid it.

Shameful confession time: I do not want to take the Hairy Beasts to the vet in November. It's a lot of money for me (especially given that the pet insurance renews in October) and a lot of emotional stress for everybody, and I don't want to deal with 25-odd pounds of cats in carriers with only one mostly functional shoulder. And having somebody else help won't help, because the cats aren't used to that either. I think I really might have to start looking into vets who make house calls. That won't be cheap either, but at least this week the idea of doing the usual Zipcar and cat carriers dance is giving me a major case of the fantods. Responsible adulthood sucks sometimes.

Good stuff: Hooray for Friday! And hooray, also, for breathing space, and (as much as I gripe) modern medicine, and mushroom-and-Swiss cheeseburgers (dinner last night) and miscellaneous other little things that make my life pleasant, convenient or possible.

This appears to be The Weekend of Buying Glass. Yesterday was the art festival in Coolidge Corner, and I came out of it with a couple of glass baubles and a pair of glass earrings. Today I was out wandering around, wandered past TJ Maxx, and decided that if I bought some shot glasses, I could see if a shot of something before bed would at least help me stop being so annoyed with the sore shoulders (yes, both. I am most displeased.). These are the first shot glasses I've ever owned, because what does a beer drinker want with shot glasses?

Speaking of alcohol and other things consumed in cold climates, the art festival yesterday also introduced me to poutine. I saw somebody walking past with some, and decided that the time had come to try it. The verdict is "done it once, don't need to do it again". The gravy actually kept me from eating all of it, because I got tired of the flavor. I suspect that's just as well in the long run. Ain't nothing wrong with cheese curds, though. Good thing I left the Midwest...

Other things at the art festival I drooled over but couldn't justify buying: enameled jewelry by Jungwhon Joo (who seems not to have a web site, but comes up in Google image searches), Lush Metals jewelry, pottery that looked best in sets I couldn't afford (as opposed to single pieces), hand-dyed silk scarves, and fish prints (particularly one of a bluefin tuna tail). I like supporting local artists, but I just can't bring myself to buy something I'll never wear, or can't afford, or wouldn't know what to do with when I got it home.

Time to go roast some more grape tomatoes. Half an hour at 400 worked, but also made a mess in the bottom of the pans. I think I'll go back to an hour at 300.

It's almost a shame to be indoors on a day like this one, but I'm getting paid to be indoors, so I'm indoors. The weather tomorrow looks to be about the same, and that calls for a Devious Plot as long as I fit it around getting my hairs cut at 1:00. I'm still on hiatus from voice lessons for another two weeks, so there's a lot of Devious Plot space this weekend and next weekend. Maybe I'll dash up to the Fenway movie theater after work tonight and see if I can buy a ticket for Age of Ultron for tomorrow or Sunday.

Speaking of voice lessons, I should think a bit about what it is I want to get out of this semester (aside from an actual lesson time, which I don't have yet). Fun, mostly. HRC wasn't all that much fun between March and the concert last weekend, and that was all the singing I was doing. Singing used to be fun...

I don't know what my phone was doing all night last night, but it was down to 35% battery this morning. I expect that in Noank, which doesn't have very good cell service, but usually it doesn't happen here. I hope that doesn't mean I should go phone shopping again already. For some reason, I'm immune to gadget envy when it comes to phones; I'm perfectly happy with the 5s I've got and I don't really want a 6. And I really don't want to buy anything big until after I get the next credit card bill with the resort charges on it.

Speaking of shopping, I think I might order the last Terry Pratchett book from the UK. It's coming out there in September, which means it will probably be coming out here next March or so and I don't want to wait that long for it. Especially since I'm waiting for Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin. At least Rothfuss said "not this year" back in January. I'm reasonably certain that one will be worth the wait. I want to know how the story gets from where it was at the end of the last book to the medias res it came into at the start of the first one, although I'm also reasonably certain it's going to be depressing. If nothing happens in the next Martin book, or if whatever happens happens early and the rest of the book consists of several hundred pages of exposition for something that's supposed to happen in the book after next, I'll probably give up.

I think I might have been wrong about Australia being the last continent I hadn't been to that I had any interest in going to. Macchu Picchu isn't going to come here either. Maybe I'll do that for my 45th birthday.

Despite being Snowpocalypse Eve, today was a fairly productive day. I went to work and submitted Yet Another Article to the Journal of Curriculum and Teaching (I'm sure it will come back needing six or seven corrections before they send it to be reviewed, but that's how that always goes), and went and got my teeth cleaned, and finally accepted the inevitable and made an appointment for next week to have an impression taken for a night guard. But I'm going to hold them to the promise that I won't choke on the thing in my sleep. I'll be most displeased if that happens.

And then I came home and found the phone bill, which is going to be twice as high as usual because I never got last month's, and (finally) my W2. So I did my taxes tonight. Based upon which, I guess now I can stop suffering and write that symphony, or at the very least indulge in noise canceling headphones for the Australia trip. Part of the reason travel wears me out so much is because of the airplane noise. If I can make some of that go away, I might not actually cry when they won't let me check into the hotel for another six hours once I get there.

Tomorrow, as long as the power stays on, calls for a comic book movie marathon. And soup stock (for soup to be determined later), but I can do that even without the power being on since I have a gas stove and a box of matches. The power doesn't usually go out here, but there's always a first time. I think the last time was years ago and it was on account of a squirrel in the transformer box. Not so likely a circumstance this time, I think.