What's up?

[Thumper]

Brite and I tease each other over the seat settings. I have to adjust it back before I can even get in the car when I drive hers. And I mess up the mirrors too!

Mrs. T's current car has memory for 2 driver positions, seat and mirrors. It is very convenient. Except I accidentally hit the button to put it to her position while I was driving. I crushed myself into the roof and steering wheel.

She prefers to drive most of the time. We almost always take her car. I don't mind. I used to drive so much at work that I hated to drive over the weekends, so she happily took over. Works for both of us except if I complain about her driving.

[geonuc]

A number of years ago, I lost hearing in one ear. The other ear works really well and I've learned to live with the condition. The big problem, as you can imagine, is I have difficulty locating sounds. If the sound is more or less continuous, I can turn my head or my whole body and do a decent job of locating. Other times, if I'm with my wife (whose hearing is still binaural but weak), I'll hear something and she'll locate it. That worked most significantly when we walked close to a coiled rattlesnake in Death Valley.

Last night, one of the many smoke/CO detectors started complaining. Not alarming - just doing that one shrill beep per minute thing when there's a fault or a low battery. We have eight detectors within hearing range of the living room. The beeps are piercing, so they travel well (as designed). Thing is, my wife is traveling at the moment, so there I was by myself trying to determine which of those damned things was going off. It took about twenty minutes. Turned out to be the kitchen CO detector.

[pumpkinpi]

A number of years ago, I lost hearing in one ear. The other ear works really well and I've learned to live with the condition. The big problem, as you can imagine, is I have difficulty locating sounds. If the sound is more or less continuous, I can turn my head or my whole body and do a decent job of locating. Other times, if I'm with my wife (whose hearing is still binaural but weak), I'll hear something and she'll locate it. That worked most significantly when we walked close to a coiled rattlesnake in Death Valley.

Last night, one of the many smoke/CO detectors started complaining. Not alarming - just doing that one shrill beep per minute thing when there's a fault or a low battery. We have eight detectors within hearing range of the living room. The beeps are piercing, so they travel well (as designed). Thing is, my wife is traveling at the moment, so there I was by myself trying to determine which of those damned things was going off. It took about twenty minutes. Turned out to be the kitchen CO detector.

Ugh! That's hard even with two working ears.

Is it just me, or do those low battery signals always seem to happen in the middle of the night?

[geonuc]

Yeah, seems it's often the middle of the night. This one was unusual because I was still up.

[SciFiFisher]

I have occasionally just changed every battery in every device to be sure that none of them chirp again for awhile.

[geonuc]

I have occasionally just changed every battery in every device to be sure that none of them chirp again for awhile.

That strategy would have failed this time. The CO detector is AC-powered with no backup battery.

[Thumper]

I chased a beep around a couple of weeks ago, It was the basement smoke detector. I'd stop and listen and hear nothing. Then go back to what I was doing and it would beep.

[Thumper]

This took an hour, Can anyone see Dude?

IMG_2287TT.jpg

[Thumper]

IMG_2298TT.jpg

Dude and Dax official Christmas Photo

[geonuc]

Dude looks unimpressed.

[Thumper]

The first one was at the end of a busy day and he wanted to go beddy bye. He's usually either ON or OFF. He's all play and talkative or he's asleep. Just make a move like you're putting shoes or a coat on and he's barkedy bark and ready for you to throw a toy repeatedly until you need Tommy John surgery.

[SciFiFisher]

I can see Dude.

[Thumper]

Yea!

[Rommie]

So it's kind of weird, but I started off this month with a period of... malaise? Like, dragging my feet a little going to work because I didn't feel like I was going anywhere with the project, that sort of thing.

Then I thought of something, looked at the calendar, and went "aha, bingo." Four months in. You see, I read somewhere that when you're an expat who moves abroad to a new job after the first month or two you hit a period where things aren't going as well and you feel homesick a bit etc, then by six months you've found your new normal. I realized I was feeling a little homesick for Toronto, so yeah, might be my country originally but I'm in the adjustment slump, so just gotta power through it.

Weird how the mind works sometimes though.

[SciFiFisher]

Yes, it is.

[Rommie]

Haha thanks. Feeling better once I recognized it. I think the other trick was VLA proposals were due today and I definitely got more stressed about that than I should have, because it's the first thing I've done in this group that other people (aka the boss) were going to read and give feedback on. So once that got out, I obviously calmed down!

Thing two was I think I wasn't going to breathe really easy until I got my first project done, because technically you can be let go after a year for inadequate performance as a postdoc. (Which I don't think happens much at a place like Harvard due to the people they get, but definitely happened in Amsterdam.) Now I'm almost done with the analysis, and starting to write it up, with the aim of having a paper draft sometime in March. And I know there's just no universe in which a paper in your first six months isn't really good, so eff that worry.

[SciFiFisher]

No matter how good you are that probation period thing can be a bit anxiety-inducing the first time or two you do it.

[geonuc]

So as a way to engage myself in something useful in my retirement, I applied for a US Census job. I'm accepted! Providing I pass a background check.

[SciFiFisher]

So as a way to engage myself in something useful in my retirement, I applied for a US Census job. I'm accepted! Providing I pass a background check.

I thought you were engaged in golf and beer taster?

[geonuc]

So as a way to engage myself in something useful in my retirement, I applied for a US Census job. I'm accepted! Providing I pass a background check.

I thought you were engaged in golf and beer taster?

Goddam local golf course shut down and I'll bet the bars are going to be ordered shut, too. Plus, those two things don't pay.

[code monkey]

Goddam local golf course shut down and I'll bet the bars are going to be ordered shut, too. Plus, those two things don't pay.

what!? you haven't put a putting green in your yard? or found a place for a driving range?

[geonuc]

Goddam local golf course shut down and I'll bet the bars are going to be ordered shut, too. Plus, those two things don't pay.

what!? you haven't put a putting green in your yard? or found a place for a driving range?

The only driving ranges around here are associated with the golf courses. Some courses are still open, so when this snow clears out, I may be able to play.

[Rommie]

So as a way to engage myself in something useful in my retirement, I applied for a US Census job. I'm accepted! Providing I pass a background check.

Cool! Are you gonna go knock on doors when the time comes then?

Funny thing, we already got and returned our census forms online (that was nice). They asked us at the time to say who would be living in the house on April 1. And... we are no longer living in the house as of a few weeks! I guess they don't mean "vacation" or whatever this counts as now.

[pumpkinpi]

So as a way to engage myself in something useful in my retirement, I applied for a US Census job. I'm accepted! Providing I pass a background check.

Cool! Are you gonna go knock on doors when the time comes then?

Funny thing, we already got and returned our census forms online (that was nice). They asked us at the time to say who would be living in the house on April 1. And... we are no longer living in the house as of a few weeks! I guess they don't mean "vacation" or whatever this counts as now.

Our paper copy came in the mail yesterday. I'm excited to fill it out with my kids as part of their "home school" lessons!

[geonuc]

So as a way to engage myself in something useful in my retirement, I applied for a US Census job. I'm accepted! Providing I pass a background check.

Cool! Are you gonna go knock on doors when the time comes then?

Funny thing, we already got and returned our census forms online (that was nice). They asked us at the time to say who would be living in the house on April 1. And... we are no longer living in the house as of a few weeks! I guess they don't mean "vacation" or whatever this counts as now.

Yeah, that's the job - knocking on doors. I'm now considering turning it down. Two reasons: I'm immune-compromised and over 60, and I think there's probably a whole lot of out-of-work restaurant folks around here that would appreciate the job.