The Mandelbear's Musings

High-order bit, out of sequence. I got a call this morning from (contract agency) $K saying I have the job at $D!!! There's a slight chance I may be able to swing something at $T, but I'm not going to count on it -- the timing is rotten, and I'm not in a position to take even a medium-risk chance over a sure thing.

I may, however, have screwed up my medicare by misunderstanding the way the various special enrollment periods interact. GAAAAK!

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled update. I took Colleen down to RainFurrest Saturday, then came back up to hang out with Naomi and work on music (and laundry) for a couple of hours. Then I picked her up, grabbed some dinner (corned beef, from the crock pot), and we attempted to go to Wayward Coffeehouse. Didn't make it. Colleen's scooter nearly tipped over after it suddenly lost power trying to get out of an underground parking garage the size of a postage stamp, with a too-steep ramp. At that point, after I stopped shaking, we headed back home.

Have I mentioned that I lose control over my voice when I'm stressed? Trying to talk to me makes it worse. Trying to "calm me down" makes it *much* worse. Probably not fixable at my age. I'm not (usually) in a panic, I just don't have the bandwidth to both deal with the situation and try to figure out what to say to people and where they are and what volume to set my voice at to be heard without seeming to shout. I shout.

Sunday I made corned beef hash, hash browns, and fried eggs for brunch, and went out for a walk during which I had the revelation that of course I can't cope -- my coping saw is in storage. I know: lame.

I don't even remember what I made for dinner.

The usual collection of links in the notes.

0929 Sa
  * up 8ish; W=192.0; d, n, t; laundry, dishes
  * start corned beef in crock pot for dinner
  : Received text saying we're $100 over on minute charges for the month.  Guess
    we know who's responsible for _that_!
  @ Announcing Source Code Pro « Typblography open source monospace sans-serif
    CYPHERTITE - Go at Conformal. Go looks like a cool programming language
    (Don Marti - Happy hacking: software development links)
  * 11ish drop Colleen off at Hilton
  * afternoon with N - laundry-folding and music
    Fox, Lock-keeper, Boom Gone to Bust, Here be Cartographers, ...
  x 6pm Wayward - Sereniversary.  
    (19:11:51) mdlbear:  /me waves weakly
    (19:12:31) mdlbear: Physically, we're ok.  Nobody was injured...
    (19:13:12) mdlbear: We came close to tipping over the scooter when it
     suddenly lost power trying to go up a steep ramp out of a below-grade
     parking lot the size of a postage stamp. 
    (19:14:17) mdlbear: I'm afraid I shouted, because I don't have control of my
     voice when 'm trying to deal with a tricky/dangerous situation.   
    (19:15:03) mdlbear: Emmy is all broken up because she wanted to go to the
     concert and because I yelled at her; I offered to drop her off and come
     back, but she said no to that. 
  " (20:38:46) mdlbear: I figured it out!  I'm living in Donwannaland!  That
    explains *everything*!   
  @ NYU Professor: Are Student Loans Immoral? - The Daily Beast 
  " For Washington voters:
    In order to receive a ballot for the coming election, you must be registered
    to vote at your current address. If you have not already done so, the
    easiest way to register to vote or to change your address is to go
    online. You only have until midnight on Monday, October 8.  
      To check your registration status, register to vote, or update your address,
    go to:  wei.sos.wa.gov/agency/osos/en/Pages/myvote.aspx
      For additional information, including the online Voters Guide, go to: 
    sos.wa.gov/elections
    Ballots will be mailed on October 17.
  @ Help Me Make It Through The Night - YouTube
    Joan Baez - Help me make through the night - YouTube
    Help Me Make It Through the Night - Wikipedia
    ... which led me on a merry chase via "the devil" to Robert Johnson, one
    of many musicians who was said to have sold their soul to the devil at a crossroads.

0930 Su
  * up 7:10; W=193.2; d, n, t, hair; dishes, laundry
    clindamycin 7:20, so should take at 15:20->5ish and 23:20
  @ 4 more coffee shops you need to visit in Seattle - I Love Coffee
  * breakfast:  corned beef hash, hash brown potatoes, fried eggs YUM!
  * shoppimg.  $213 in Albertson's.
  @ Secure pre-caching through local superdistribution and key exchange
    Describes the (non-patented) technique of using the MD5 hash of a file as
    its encryption key, and the SHA-1 of the result as its ID.
  * walk: d=2.9, t=1:00; trail and Shoreline Dr. NE to 170th St.
  @ DP: Proofreading Font
    Comparison (elf)
    Ugly, but designed to make OCR errors glaringly obvious.
  * Dinner:  Dover sole, carrot salad, and grits.
  @ Coping saw vs. Coping strategy.
  * Improved wifi network performance:  put the Quest router on channel 1 (from
    auto) with 50% power; moved the inside router to channel 11.  Apparent win.
    -> listened to several music videos, with no glitching.  Finally hit some.
  * moved inside router (sg) to 192.168.0.2 so it can pretend to be nova-w.
  @ Martina McBride - Help Me Make it Through the Night (LIVE) - YouTube
    I still prefer the pace of the Baez cover -- swinging up-tempo
    JOAN BAEZ-Help Me Make It Through The Night - YouTube
    Same pace as Kris Kristofferson.  Not surprising, since they were lovers at the time
    Joan recorded it.
  * 15min:  tossed a formerly-nice backpack that was beginning to smell bad.
  & yak-shaving in the general direction of getting my essays and articles into
    git.  Now converting steve.savitzky.net/Doc.  Not clear yet how this relates
    to users/steve/Doc; I think they're disjoint.
  @ Seattle Browncoats Charities | GeekFest Dec 15-16 Shoreline Conf. Ctr.
  * got to sleep late; didn't sleep well.  Chilled.