I just about finished my neon cat. It needs a few more layers of paint in a few places, but I am really happy with the way it looks. I stuck to the paint by numbers because it was fun and lovely -- well, stuck to it except for the eyes. I think the eyes look pretty good. Or at least no worse than they would've without me messing around. I'm trying to work on some kind of OC/ARTPOST, which will likely become an Etsy/biz?niz?owner?? post in disguise. Temporary tattoos are strangely popular items on Etsy, or at least in my Etsy shop. I like to make temporary tattoos of tattoos I've considered getting in life. I haven't listed this one yet, but the art 'gram reacted way more than I expected, so now I think I might have to. It's rather fun, at least, innit? It blurred a little when I put it on. That's user error though...well, mostly. (I suspect the best maximum size for temporary tattoos is not large.) I drew the dude, but not anything else. Busy day at work today. That's okay. We are re-integrating a business unit that used to be part of ours several years ago, was split out and now is back again. They are having a bumpy ride realizing that "just because it used to be a certain way, does not mean that way is right, good, or how we'd like to do it in this LOB." I expect many more bumps along this road over, probably, the next 6 months. I think we all know that beer makes men(and women, and people) dehydrated. Am I alone in experiencing this, or does corona take it one step further -- and make men (and women, and people) EXTRAORDINARILY THIRSTY? Wait, don't judge me. I'm not hopelessly parched myself. This is a comment on the grade and hopelessness of men trying to hit on me.
The Neon cat is amazing. I’m allergic to cats and I’d still hang that on my wall. Well done!
Hello Hubski/Pubski I'm adding some 3 subheadings here. Those of you checking in, try these subheadings. I'd love to hear how you're doing. 1. RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW The universe has been telling me to get my ass down here, I mean my fingers and keyboard. There was some discussion last night on the chat (_refugee_, ButterflyEffect, am_Unition, elizabeth about hubski's tenth hubskiversary of existence coming up on December 5, 2020. Even if the borders are open (Canada/USA), I'm not sure anyone will want to travel. (I originally invited all Michigan (or anyone who wants to travel) hubskiers to my house in Canada.) -- but perhaps we should wait a year. Besides, there's something palindromic about 11. 2. TONIGHT Tonight I'm giving my first online lecture to Startup School. The class is called "How Not to Kill Your Co-Founder" (Subtitle: Strategies for Successful Teamwork). This is normally a totally interactive participatory session. People show up with their team members and do activities like create reliability agreements and norms for conflict. They leave feeling closer and more trusting of team members. But tonight, the organizers are not using any interactive technology - I show my slides and talk into the void. (My slides fill the screen) so I can't see if anyone is there, if they are awake, anything. 3. GOING FORWARD Meanwhile, the university is talking about doing 90% of the classes on line and I'm FINALLY thinking VERY SERIOUSLY about retiring. It seems like a good time because I'm not super enthusiastic about teaching on line, even if it is on Zoom and can be reasonably interactive. I can think about retiring because I'm older than you, probably a lot older than you, and because I have other things to do, and also it's been a good run BUT MOSTLY because my program has expanded and my course as I've been teaching it -- intensely and intimately -- is going to be modularized, they say because the way it is is not scalable. And I'm not scalable -- in fact, I'm shrinking. But after tonight, I will take a deep breath and move on into the summer of Covid. and I'll try to CONTRIBUTE more as I move into a new phase. as for thenewgreen Higgs-Boson Forever!!
Count me in for meeting updates. Between finally earning enough to have actual savings and Poland being in the US Visa Waiver Program, I just might be able to do it. Dunno about Canadian visa, but it's to be taken one step at a time. EDIT: Sorry, I clearly misunderstood you people talking publicly with public invitation. My bad, have a nice meeting.
Actually, it was a public invitation. They were talking on line about the ten-year hubskiversary for EVERYONE, but Covid is making it very unlikely. I am avoiding humans and will continue to do so for some time. There continues to be second waves all over as soon as restrictions are let down. So yes, you were invited.... but the 10 hubskiversary might take a few more years to happen.
Very happy to hear from you, lil. 2021 will work for me. :) I enjoy your class titles. That does sound like a challenge -- both your lecture a few days ago, and the 90% classes going online. i realize that we are using zoom and so on to try to go virtual with education as much as possible because there is no safe or good alternative. i do think people recognize how non-ideal it is. at least there is that. i am glad you are wel!
I am going to the UP of MI tomorrow for our annual retreat. Everyone has agreed to quarantine for 10 days prior so we can have a covid-free family cottage. Here's hoping that everyone has been good about it. My custom 1/10 RC buggy progresses. I'll make a post about it. I also promised to post about Hubski's ills, and what might be done. I don't want to post that and skip town. We already have a funny history of site drama coinciding with my absence. It's something that I want to give proper time and attention, so I'll post on my return. Be well, Hubski.
I have spent several months since signing up with hubski being a lame stalker. Mostly because I forgot my password. Finally reset it so I can participate. :) I had big plans this weekend to get things done around the house, specifically finish all of the trim/moldings in the upstairs hallway and home office. First window in the home office required a bunch of fancy cuts and zapped my energy. Then the heat kicked in and I struggled to stay motivated; then got sidetracked sanding a bunch of old fencing boards that we are going to turn into a floating deck (low priority project). Sunday was a second chance at getting things done, but the heat was again oppressive. Instead I cleaned the garage. On the plus side, roofers finished replacing the fascia and rake boards last week and started on the roof this morning. Then they will be putting the gutters on. So glad we were able to work out the financials so that we could pay someone else to do the work. I am so tired of hammering screws.
t minus 1 week until my boyfriend moves in - it'll be the first time i've seen him since mid march and i'm dying of anticipation i've been exercising and intermittent-fasting and it's going really well so far, i've lost about 5 pounds (give or take daily fluctuations) and i feel good after 3 and a half years of wearing retainers they finally wore out and broke so i gotta get them replaced (next wednesday) happy domesticity in my new home - it already feels more like one than i've felt in a long time :)
Duda got reelected. Shit times will remain a steady course. Work on last week's project keeps going onward, though had to slow down after I got peer review feedback on a paper from last April. It's funny how the author's deadline for augmenting their work is much, much stricter than the reviewer's. That said, it's nothing but mild grumbling from me since it literally replaces hobby physics with work-related physics. Counting it as a win, even though I'd rather get a week's rest more before chasing terms. Health-wise, I feel a bit better with every passing day. On their own, changes are imperceptible but seen from a long-term perspective astound me.
The election of Duda for five more years sounds horrible and dangerous. Very interesting how Duda had the support of older people. Duda's anti-gay campaign and fear-mongering appealed to them. Horrible.Mr. Trzaskowski (Duda's opponent) won Warsaw with 68 percent of the vote. He also won voters aged 40 to 59 by 10 points, those 30 to 39 by 11 points, and those 18 to 29 by nearly 30 points. Mr. Duda handily beat the Warsaw mayor with voters over 50 by nearly 20 points and those over 60 by 25 points. Mr. Duda supporters were also mostly in eastern and southern regions of the country, where the economy is still lagging.
Older Poles are much more religious, conservative and, it has to be said, backwards. Learning from what happened with Trump, I'm not surprised in the slightest that a fearmongering populist won on the backs of people who'd rather fuck up everything for everyone than allign themselves with some citydwelling 'elite'.Very interesting how Duda had the support of older people.
It is contested, though I tuned out after news' signal to noise ratio became too much. And, really, does my trust matter? If it wasn't fair, there's no way the inquiry would show anything since then it clearly wasn't an impartial system to begin with. It it was, it's a moot point. Sorry for not being much help. Should you wish to, I could read up in a few days on it and answer yours (and anyone else's) questions more thoroughly.
In 2 days, I'm heading towards Chamonix (France) to hike through the Alps for 12 days to reach Zermatt (Switzerland) :)
Quick communication. Lit up my first fire puppy hammer (yes, they are called like that :D) last week: https://streamable.com/564js6 Since then I also managed to burn a considerable amount of hair on the right side of my face. No injuries though. It's so much fun!
Whaaat a birthday weekend I had! Best one ever. My super generous friend lent me access to his cabin on a private Ukrainian community road, in a beautiful pine tree forest. We installed a big tarp, so we can all hang out outside and keep a social distance. We were about 14 people, but it truly felt like less because it really was the absolute minimum core group. I got to show my friends the Ukrainian camp across the road, where I met my boyfriend 8 years ago. It was funny to see their reaction and how excited they were to have that glimpse into our past! The rainy first half of the day Saturday meant most other people stayed back in the city and we had the beach to ourselves to go swimming. The beach is about 15 min walk from the cabin. And we've been talking about getting there through the river for months now with my friend. So we finally did it last Saturday in a little inflatable boat. My friend's been on many rafting expeditions in his life, and having this little crash course was super cool. He was showing me how to read the water, avoid rocks and navigate potential rapids. The moment imprinted in my brain is us floating down, under the rain in rain coats, the boat is upside-down because it worked better that way - and waving at some local neighbours across the river sipping beer on their patio. A truly comical moment, i'm sure we looked ridiculous but I was having a blast. We also saw about 7 ducks bathing, from a 2m distance. It was like stock footage from National geographic - I had never seen animals like that up close in their natural habitat doing their thing. And they didn't even get spooked by us. I had practiced a little rope dart (a spinning toy - basically a weight attached to a rope) in the past year, but had stopped since I broke the one I had in the Netherlands this fall. Never got around making a new one. But the friend I had initially started practicing with, went all in during Covid - and had progressed to fire spinning with it. She brought all the gear and fuel, my other friend has done plenty fire and had all the safety training. We went to the sand pit to watch them spin - and unexpectedly she places the rope dart in my hands and starts safety-briefing me. Everything was set up, and all i had to do was to spin that fire ball! I had so much fun, but I did regret not having more moves. Time to make/buy a new one and practice some moves so that next time it's even better! Definitely a highlight of my birthday to have done fire, without all the usual learning and prep involved. Just handed to me on a silver platter, it was epic :) 
Some weeks I almost forget about the burnout. This is not one of those weeks. Nevertheless, the inevitable passage of time drags me forward, oblivious that I'm lying face-down in the dirt. Right now I am in grad school because I am in grad school. At some point I will finish or drop out. After that? At one point I had some ideas. Now, half those ideas aren't feasible and the other half I'm not sure I or my family want.