Thursday! What A Concept!
March 3, 2022 8:48 AM Subscribe
No, you got distracted by the everythingness of everything from keeping to the nascent Monday-ish pattern for new Free Thread posts. I told you not to play so much Elden Ring. You really look like a silly goose now. Anyway, here's a place to talk about anything but the stuff we've been unable to escape the last several days, come on in and chatter.
Well, somebody has a PS5
posted by Going To Maine at 8:54 AM on March 3, 2022
posted by Going To Maine at 8:54 AM on March 3, 2022
It was my birthday a few days ago, I hope you have a great day jacquilynne!
posted by real-fern at 8:55 AM on March 3, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by real-fern at 8:55 AM on March 3, 2022 [12 favorites]
Someone somewhere on this site (maybe in AskMe) recommended the artist Aldous Harding and I am now obssessed and had no idea they were a 4AD artist so thank you to whoever that was!! (I know I can go back and look.)
posted by archimago at 9:00 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by archimago at 9:00 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
Just had my stomach unclench for the first time in a month because Biden took action to protect trans kids in TX like mine. I hope it's enough but seems pretty strong!
posted by emjaybee at 9:10 AM on March 3, 2022 [48 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 9:10 AM on March 3, 2022 [48 favorites]
I feel a slight jealousy about Elden Ring. I don't think it's the kind of game I'd go in for, but I wish I could play more games. Because of RSI, I can't play an action game where you have to grind -- I tried Cuphead because I loved the music and the aesthetic, but nothing doing; my tendons are too old for bullet hell. Also, I have to be able to interrupt any game at any moment for various demands. What I've been playing is SMB3 on Switch with constant use of suspend points. If I beat it, then maybe I'll actually have achieved something I tried for as a kid.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:14 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 9:14 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Happy birthday to jacquilynne and happy belated birthday to real-fern! May they both have great days.
posted by charismatic megafauna at 9:14 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by charismatic megafauna at 9:14 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
While talking to an employer an hour ago, both parties firmly believed today is Wednesday.
Happy birthday Jacqueline!
posted by clavdivs at 9:18 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
Happy birthday Jacqueline!
posted by clavdivs at 9:18 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
The cable internet connection in my house suddenly become incredibly intermittent two weeks ago. Uploads just stop (or have minute-long latency). Speeds tests vary from perfectly normal to zero depending on the minute you use it. It makes working on remote machines impossible.
Three cable company techs all seem to think it's a bad cable in the wall somewhere between our unit and the distribution box in the hall fifty feet away. Maybe someone drove a nail through it and there's a frequency involved that is also exactly matched to some new intermittent RF source? (Why it worked perfectly for over a year is unclear.) Now the question is whether to switch back to the shitty DSL-to-fibre service or to cut holes in the wall. I know a lot about microwave transmission. I don't know anything about cutting holes in walls. I should probably just hire someone. But, finding a contractor who isn't shocking incompetent here has never worked yet.
This weekend is going to involve cutting holes in walls big enough to stick cameras into and bringing a spectrum analyzer and some cable and crimp tools from work. And, probably, regrets. The temptation to just move and let the next person deal with it is growing stronger every time an early morning zoom meeting craps out.
If you ever build a new building, put wide conduit everywhere. Everywhere. You'll regret not spending $100 on conduit when you have to replace a large portion of a wall later 'cause you tacked cables to the studs and someone screwed in a new shelving unit.
posted by eotvos at 9:27 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
Three cable company techs all seem to think it's a bad cable in the wall somewhere between our unit and the distribution box in the hall fifty feet away. Maybe someone drove a nail through it and there's a frequency involved that is also exactly matched to some new intermittent RF source? (Why it worked perfectly for over a year is unclear.) Now the question is whether to switch back to the shitty DSL-to-fibre service or to cut holes in the wall. I know a lot about microwave transmission. I don't know anything about cutting holes in walls. I should probably just hire someone. But, finding a contractor who isn't shocking incompetent here has never worked yet.
This weekend is going to involve cutting holes in walls big enough to stick cameras into and bringing a spectrum analyzer and some cable and crimp tools from work. And, probably, regrets. The temptation to just move and let the next person deal with it is growing stronger every time an early morning zoom meeting craps out.
If you ever build a new building, put wide conduit everywhere. Everywhere. You'll regret not spending $100 on conduit when you have to replace a large portion of a wall later 'cause you tacked cables to the studs and someone screwed in a new shelving unit.
posted by eotvos at 9:27 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
About Elden Ring...
I am a reformed WoW/MMORPG player and have been dorking around with very satisfying casual games for a while. But after many rounds of Stardew Valley, satisfying hours with House Flipper, hours of Among Us, teeth gnashing at Fall Guys, and the weepiest run-through of Spiritfarer you can imagine, an open world game sounds so magical right now, even if I die a lot. I never played the Souls games. Could Elden Ring be for me?
posted by kimberussell at 9:30 AM on March 3, 2022
I am a reformed WoW/MMORPG player and have been dorking around with very satisfying casual games for a while. But after many rounds of Stardew Valley, satisfying hours with House Flipper, hours of Among Us, teeth gnashing at Fall Guys, and the weepiest run-through of Spiritfarer you can imagine, an open world game sounds so magical right now, even if I die a lot. I never played the Souls games. Could Elden Ring be for me?
posted by kimberussell at 9:30 AM on March 3, 2022
hello. reading with interest.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:33 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:33 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
If the next season of Russian Doll is delayed by sanctions I am going to be livid.
After a two-year absence, there's a new Primitive Technology video up. I didn't realize how much I needed to watch someone silently pound stakes into the ground again.
posted by phooky at 9:41 AM on March 3, 2022 [8 favorites]
After a two-year absence, there's a new Primitive Technology video up. I didn't realize how much I needed to watch someone silently pound stakes into the ground again.
posted by phooky at 9:41 AM on March 3, 2022 [8 favorites]
If you've played WoW you'll be fine with Elden Ring. Just take it slow. Choose a warrior-class character to start, something with a big shield and decent sword. Other classes are for people who want more punishment.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:43 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:43 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Biden took action to protect trans kids in TX
HHS OCR, 11:51 AM · Mar 3, 2022:
HHS OCR, 11:51 AM · Mar 3, 2022:
HHS understands that many families and health care providers are facing fear and concerns about attempts to portray gender affirming care as abuse. 1/3posted by flabdablet at 9:44 AM on March 3, 2022 [11 favorites]
To help these families and providers navigate those concerns, HHS is providing additional information on federal civil rights protections and federal health privacy laws that apply to gender affirming care: https://hhs.gov/sites/default/files/hhs-ocr-notice-and-guidance-gender-affirming-care.pdf 2/3As a law enforcement agency, OCR is investigating and, where appropriate, enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act1 cases involving discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in accordance with all applicable law. This means that if people believe they have been discriminated against in a health program or activity that receives financial assistance from HHS, they can file a complaint.OCR will continue working to ensure that transgender and gender nonconforming youth are able to access health care free from the burden of discrimination. 3/3
Elden Ring is doing a really nice job of being an open-world game, for me as someone who has mixed success with From Software titles despite loving them in concept. It's a dangerous, deadly open world, but honestly if you aren't overly worried about starting and winning fights there's a ton of exploration to do and doing it on horse(?)back is surprisingly forgiving since you can run away from most things.
I think it's one of those games that's hard to beat but not too hard to just play, if that makes sense. I've really been enjoying escaping into it, and it's tougher to advance the plot via big fights than something like Skyrim but it's a joy to faff about in.
posted by cortex at 9:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I think it's one of those games that's hard to beat but not too hard to just play, if that makes sense. I've really been enjoying escaping into it, and it's tougher to advance the plot via big fights than something like Skyrim but it's a joy to faff about in.
posted by cortex at 9:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Having kattullus to talk to and meet up with, just a short bus ride away, is a reason to be grateful to metafilter for, given our crazy next door neighbour broke into the other neighbour's house...
posted by infini at 9:50 AM on March 3, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by infini at 9:50 AM on March 3, 2022 [11 favorites]
emjaybee, my thoughts are with you and your kiddo!
I’ve started playing Horizon Zero Dawn over the past couple weeks, and I love it so much!
posted by freshwater at 9:56 AM on March 3, 2022
I’ve started playing Horizon Zero Dawn over the past couple weeks, and I love it so much!
posted by freshwater at 9:56 AM on March 3, 2022
My boiler crapped out on Tuesday morning and we've had no heat since. I called the repair company that the previous homeowner had used and had left a tag on the unit, and they were able to send someone out immediately, who replaced a thermocouple but still wasn't able to get the pilot to stay lit. He suggested that the next part to replace, the gas valve, was likely to be over $1000 to replace, could take over a week to arrive, and given that the boiler is 20 years old it would probably be more economical to replace the whole thing. They sent a sales rep who almost convinced me to spend over $10k to get the boiler replaced the next day, but I really don't have that kind of money right now. Fortunately we got a second opinion from a reputable independent contractor who was able to source a replacement part and expects to be able to receive and install it tonight or tomorrow, for $750, and he's pretty sure that will get it working for another year or more. It stinks to have no heat other than space heaters but in the grand scheme of things I'm fortunate that this is my worst problem right now.
posted by biogeo at 10:06 AM on March 3, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 10:06 AM on March 3, 2022 [8 favorites]
I recently had my 10 year work anniversary and have a call with the CEO to talk past/present/future this afternoon. Don't want to leave but hoping to have a positive conversation about things going forward. Trying to suppress my Midwestern "oh, it's fine" impulse.
posted by Twicketface at 10:09 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Twicketface at 10:09 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
yesterday's Ash Wednesday had a significance it might've lacked in previous years, for me
I'm a cultural Christian, I don't get much from a lot of the ritual stuff, but I am a member of a church in the same way some people join service clubs.. The United Church in my community is one of the ways to show who you are and what you believe in, and is probably the most visible/vocal proponent of any organization in the community, for LGBQT2S+ (we're pretty rural). Anyhow, if this helps you today, here are the words when you make a little ash cross on your forehead or hand: You are a beloved child of God, loved beyond imagination
powerful words, you certainly don't need to believe in gods/God to get something from that. just believe in love
posted by elkevelvet at 10:16 AM on March 3, 2022 [13 favorites]
I'm a cultural Christian, I don't get much from a lot of the ritual stuff, but I am a member of a church in the same way some people join service clubs.. The United Church in my community is one of the ways to show who you are and what you believe in, and is probably the most visible/vocal proponent of any organization in the community, for LGBQT2S+ (we're pretty rural). Anyhow, if this helps you today, here are the words when you make a little ash cross on your forehead or hand: You are a beloved child of God, loved beyond imagination
powerful words, you certainly don't need to believe in gods/God to get something from that. just believe in love
posted by elkevelvet at 10:16 AM on March 3, 2022 [13 favorites]
I played through half of Demon's Souls before definitively deciding that the type of game was just *not for me*. So I won't play Soulsborne games but I will watch a high-level Let's Play. I have no interest in playing Elden Ring, but I will watch some gameplay videos eventually.
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 10:19 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 10:19 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
advance the plot...Skyrim
I have only ever completed the main quest of one Bethesda game (Fallout 3, of all things) and have never bothered to do so again. The open world gameplay loop of explore/combat/loot (with the addition of base building in Fallout 4) kept me entertained for hundreds of hours.
Is there a similar loop in Souls games? I've tried to play 1 & 2 but experienced what I guess was the gaming equivalent of culture shock, I didn't really know where to go or what to do with myself or what to make of my surroundings.
posted by rustybullrake at 10:24 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I have only ever completed the main quest of one Bethesda game (Fallout 3, of all things) and have never bothered to do so again. The open world gameplay loop of explore/combat/loot (with the addition of base building in Fallout 4) kept me entertained for hundreds of hours.
Is there a similar loop in Souls games? I've tried to play 1 & 2 but experienced what I guess was the gaming equivalent of culture shock, I didn't really know where to go or what to do with myself or what to make of my surroundings.
posted by rustybullrake at 10:24 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
It must be Thursday. Never could get the hang of Thursdays...
posted by skippyhacker at 10:27 AM on March 3, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by skippyhacker at 10:27 AM on March 3, 2022 [12 favorites]
Eh, the Witcher 3 is better. I tried Dark Souls but what a harrowing world. I like my NPCs and I like my NPCs to do things.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 10:29 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 10:29 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
big week here - was able to get the last of my parents furniture out of storage and moved into our house after 2 years, starting a new job on Monday with a well known Doughnut chain, and my wife went for a second opinion about her immuno-disorder and confirmed that the last doctor (new since moving south) was WRONG and she's actually doing great - needing no escalation of treatment.
waiting for a sinkhole to open up
posted by djseafood at 10:30 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
waiting for a sinkhole to open up
posted by djseafood at 10:30 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
I played Phoenix last night. I was terrible at it. I blame the lack of cigarette burns in plexiglass and Queen playing on a jukebox.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:33 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:33 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Is there a similar loop in Souls games?
My only deep experience with a prior title was Dark Souls 1, which I have made my way pretty far into. What strikes me about Elden Ring is that it's open exploration feels like a big design departure from that (and to my impression most games in the genre). Like DS1 is great at what it is but what it is is a nearly linear series of challenges a lot of the time; there's exploration but it feels very constrained and a lot of it is gate-kept by, uh, large angry gatekeeper bosses. Elden Ring has let me fuck around a great deal more and explore a huge amount of the world just by saying "nope, see you later, we're going THATAWAY" when running into a big nasty boss type.
I wouldn't compare it directly to more traditional open world RPGs, because it's still a From game and it has its peculiar deadliness and a lack of straightforward town conversations and fetch quests, but it has made me think a lot of both Breath of the Wild and particularly Shadow of the Colossus in its sense of being ripe for self-directed exploration and of being a small fleck in a big world.
posted by cortex at 10:34 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
My only deep experience with a prior title was Dark Souls 1, which I have made my way pretty far into. What strikes me about Elden Ring is that it's open exploration feels like a big design departure from that (and to my impression most games in the genre). Like DS1 is great at what it is but what it is is a nearly linear series of challenges a lot of the time; there's exploration but it feels very constrained and a lot of it is gate-kept by, uh, large angry gatekeeper bosses. Elden Ring has let me fuck around a great deal more and explore a huge amount of the world just by saying "nope, see you later, we're going THATAWAY" when running into a big nasty boss type.
I wouldn't compare it directly to more traditional open world RPGs, because it's still a From game and it has its peculiar deadliness and a lack of straightforward town conversations and fetch quests, but it has made me think a lot of both Breath of the Wild and particularly Shadow of the Colossus in its sense of being ripe for self-directed exploration and of being a small fleck in a big world.
posted by cortex at 10:34 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
My Askmetafilter writing research question about household objects that can be used for weapons got such excellent answers that I will now have a whole new problem:
This book is a sequel to "Ray and the Cat Thing, a cozy fantasy. "
So can I get away with calling the sequel "Ray and the Stone Cold Axe Woman, a not-quite-so-cozy fantasy"?
posted by Zumbador at 10:39 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
This book is a sequel to "Ray and the Cat Thing, a cozy fantasy. "
So can I get away with calling the sequel "Ray and the Stone Cold Axe Woman, a not-quite-so-cozy fantasy"?
posted by Zumbador at 10:39 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm having a fight with my local mail carrier--whom I have never met--which is perplexing me beyond measure. They keep insisting my mailbox doesn't exist and refuse to deliver mail, despite the box being in the same (proper) place it has been for more than a decade and, as far as I can tell, being an approved receptacle and properly configured. Ugh, I don't need more shit going sideways, thank you very much.
posted by maxwelton at 10:41 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 10:41 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
I have been playing Elden Ring. While I have 'finished' all the Dark Souls games, in the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit I cheated a little by 'save scumming', as the kids say, in order to 'respect my time', as the grumpy old gamers with jobs say. I played offline as my Internet was a bit ropey, and, about half-way through the first DS, I wrote a little batch file that could copy back up my save at that point, and another that would restore it, so I didn't need to start all the way back at the previous bonfire if I died, avoiding a lot of the repetition if it got too annoying. (After ending up in some horrid, unwinnable positions I revised it to restore and also file it elsewhere, just in case). You had to fully quit and restore, which took a while, so it had sufficient overhead to make it more of a last resort. I still had to fight every enemy, and down every boss (it didn't help at all with the bosses), but still - totally cheating.
I think it says something about the improved gameplay in Elden Ring that I haven't felt tempted to do anything of the sort.
posted by Sparx at 10:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think it says something about the improved gameplay in Elden Ring that I haven't felt tempted to do anything of the sort.
posted by Sparx at 10:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Happy birthday jacquilynne and happy belated birthday real-fern!
I have somehow never commented in a free thread before, hi everybody!
posted by ellieBOA at 10:47 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
I have somehow never commented in a free thread before, hi everybody!
posted by ellieBOA at 10:47 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
omgomgomg after tomorrow, I have TWO FULL WEEKS off from work. Other than a long weekend visiting friends, I have basically NO PLANS. I haven't had two weeks off since I finished undergrad (the second time) almost 9 years ago! AND I HAVE NO PLANS. I cannot freaking wait to read ALL THE BOOKS and SNUGGLE WITH DOGS and NAP IN THE SUN.
posted by obfuscation at 10:49 AM on March 3, 2022 [23 favorites]
posted by obfuscation at 10:49 AM on March 3, 2022 [23 favorites]
Could Elden Ring be for me?
Just be ok with not winning. It's not about winning, more just running around an amazingly detailed map with moments of sheer terror thrown in. Mostly just staying alive. And then when a miracle happens and you beat a real boss you'll be over the moon.
But before that happens you are going to die a whole lot.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:52 AM on March 3, 2022
Just be ok with not winning. It's not about winning, more just running around an amazingly detailed map with moments of sheer terror thrown in. Mostly just staying alive. And then when a miracle happens and you beat a real boss you'll be over the moon.
But before that happens you are going to die a whole lot.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:52 AM on March 3, 2022
In all these discussions of Elden Ring difficulty, one thing frequently left out is the thing that makes it like pushing the 'easy' button: online cooperation. I love all the soulsbourne titles but I use - and provide - coop ALL THE TIME. Whenever I can. I think it's the best. I don't sit well with the mindset that you aren't 'really' playing the game unless you do everything offline / solo, I think the coop is PART of the game. It's so much more pleasant, and oftentimes wildly entertaining and hilarious as well.
That said, they usually have a few tough bosses that you can't summon cooperators for. Haven't come up against one in ER yet, but I'm sure it's waiting for me. Then I'll just grit my teeth and go through the learning loop...
posted by dragstroke at 10:52 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
That said, they usually have a few tough bosses that you can't summon cooperators for. Haven't come up against one in ER yet, but I'm sure it's waiting for me. Then I'll just grit my teeth and go through the learning loop...
posted by dragstroke at 10:52 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
[also, full disclosure, I beat Sekiro, so ... maybe I am that kind of masochist.]
posted by dragstroke at 10:54 AM on March 3, 2022
posted by dragstroke at 10:54 AM on March 3, 2022
I have 4 kids, and all of them are less than delicate. All of the doors in the downstairs look godawful so we attempted to clean them, but when the house was remodeled in 1985 they used a finish on the doors and trim that's soluble in water/simple green. so now I'm re finishing all the doors and trim. Here is a progress shot of one of the doors. I feel stupid putting this much work into shitty, 1980's hollow core doors, but it's vastly cheaper and faster than replacing them or making new ones that will be abused. when the kids are all in high school I'll probably replace the whole downstairs.
posted by Dr. Twist at 11:00 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Dr. Twist at 11:00 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
I feel left out that my friends are playing some serial killer game online together and I'm not. I am Not A Gamer by any means, I'm not good at computer gaming and can't stay interested/focused in a long computer game, and I especially do not want to play a serial killer game (I can't even look at the game's webpage). But I feel left out that I don't game along with everyone else, and I've lost friends to gaming before because I wouldn't play. Sigh.
They keep insisting my mailbox doesn't exist and refuse to deliver mail
Yeah, I hear in my job that that happens. Hell if I know why.
On the good news side, it sounds like I may be a slam dunk to get into another show :)
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:03 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
They keep insisting my mailbox doesn't exist and refuse to deliver mail
Yeah, I hear in my job that that happens. Hell if I know why.
On the good news side, it sounds like I may be a slam dunk to get into another show :)
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:03 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
This Thursday I am wondering how many daily habits do people have? Like on average?
I just wrote down my list of daily habits I ought to be doing - a very basic list, I swear, I have listed things like "make bed" and "work out" and "take ADHD meds" - and the fucking list is 38 items long. Is that normal? How can that be normal. No to-do list should be 38 items long.
posted by MiraK at 11:13 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
I just wrote down my list of daily habits I ought to be doing - a very basic list, I swear, I have listed things like "make bed" and "work out" and "take ADHD meds" - and the fucking list is 38 items long. Is that normal? How can that be normal. No to-do list should be 38 items long.
posted by MiraK at 11:13 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
Do people actually make their beds?
posted by biogeo at 11:29 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by biogeo at 11:29 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Do people actually make their beds?
I do, but 90% of it is setting a good example for my teenage son.
posted by Twicketface at 11:32 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
I do, but 90% of it is setting a good example for my teenage son.
posted by Twicketface at 11:32 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
The cable internet connection in my house suddenly become incredibly intermittent two weeks ago. Uploads just stop (or have minute-long latency). Speeds tests vary from perfectly normal to zero depending on the minute you use it. It makes working on remote machines impossible.
Three cable company techs all seem to think it's a bad cable in the wall somewhere between our unit and the distribution box in the hall fifty feet away.At the risk of breaking the thread rules, I thought my suddenly crappy internet was probably related to ... stuff Russia is doing right now. Though perhaps I should be wishing it were so crappy I couldn't keep doomscrolling.
If you ever build a new building, put wide conduit everywhere. Everywhere.Recently I was excited to see that the apartment I'm renting had been wired with ethernet cabling back to a patch panel, and then I was looking at it kind of stumped wondering how to trace which patch port corresponded to each wall outlet. And as I'm there thinking "why didn't anyone put labels on the wall outlets?", I realized that actually in the meantime, someone had cut all the cables from said wall sockets anyway, so there were now stubs coming out of the patch panel, a bundle of unmarked cut ends coming into the cabinet from wall sockets, and one of those had been wired into a connector that was just hanging mid-air inside the cabinet.
Flashback to the realtor mumbling something about how this one wall socket in the living room was the "internet one", a comment that made zero sense at the time.
So let me append to your plea: if you ever come to a building where there are, through the great mercy of your forebears, some actually useful wires to different rooms in the house, don't spitefully cut all of them in a way that will require anyone who wants to ever use them again to go test every outlet and re-patch the whole thing.
posted by pulposus at 11:35 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
No to-do list should be 38 items long.
I suspect the size of a to-do list is very dependent on the person writing it - what their personal needs are, how likely they are to be painstaking and specific about what they write down, how busy their life is, etc.
I generally only write out-of-the-ordinary tasks on my list - "make stock", "sell $thing on Ebay", "car oil change", that sort of stuff. The couple dozen things I do daily as a matter of course are generally enough of a habit that I don't need to remind myself to do them via a list; but that isn't necessarily true for everyone. Also, some people seem to get a lot of satisfaction by ticking off a large number of tasks each day, whereas I view large lists with dismay and tend to be so daunted by their sheer size that I put off doing any of its tasks.
In conclusion, to-do lists are a land of contrasts.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:42 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I suspect the size of a to-do list is very dependent on the person writing it - what their personal needs are, how likely they are to be painstaking and specific about what they write down, how busy their life is, etc.
I generally only write out-of-the-ordinary tasks on my list - "make stock", "sell $thing on Ebay", "car oil change", that sort of stuff. The couple dozen things I do daily as a matter of course are generally enough of a habit that I don't need to remind myself to do them via a list; but that isn't necessarily true for everyone. Also, some people seem to get a lot of satisfaction by ticking off a large number of tasks each day, whereas I view large lists with dismay and tend to be so daunted by their sheer size that I put off doing any of its tasks.
In conclusion, to-do lists are a land of contrasts.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:42 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do [make the bed], but 90% of it is setting a good example for my teenage son.
My own teenage experience, and observations of my teenage son's behavior, would thoroughly refute that that does any good whatsoever. :)
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:42 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
My own teenage experience, and observations of my teenage son's behavior, would thoroughly refute that that does any good whatsoever. :)
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:42 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
I make the bed! So satisfying to see it all lit up in the afternoon, tidy and cosy and waiting for bedtime.
We put our bed in the library, so it has a nice backdrop of all the books. I even get satisfaction from the act of making it, most mornings, as a tiny favor for my spouse who will see it when they come in to shower after getting the kid out of bed.
We even have extra pillows.
Tomorrow I am lecturing in a friend's art history class, about very late 19th century photography. It was my previous area of expertise, before I somehow fell into 20th century US post-abstract expressionist paintings and works on paper. Turns out I still have a LOT to say about the shift from tourists using studio photographs and the network of studios they supported, to the newfangled amateur cameras that were basically point-and-shoot. From wet collodion on enormous glass plates that needed basically immediate processing, to revolving cartridges of small prepared glass plates that you sent off for developing when you came home from your trip.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:45 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
We put our bed in the library, so it has a nice backdrop of all the books. I even get satisfaction from the act of making it, most mornings, as a tiny favor for my spouse who will see it when they come in to shower after getting the kid out of bed.
We even have extra pillows.
Tomorrow I am lecturing in a friend's art history class, about very late 19th century photography. It was my previous area of expertise, before I somehow fell into 20th century US post-abstract expressionist paintings and works on paper. Turns out I still have a LOT to say about the shift from tourists using studio photographs and the network of studios they supported, to the newfangled amateur cameras that were basically point-and-shoot. From wet collodion on enormous glass plates that needed basically immediate processing, to revolving cartridges of small prepared glass plates that you sent off for developing when you came home from your trip.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:45 AM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
I don't make my bed because I read a long time ago that you should let your bed air out during the day.
posted by FencingGal at 11:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by FencingGal at 11:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
I make the bed so my dog will have something to rumple when she goes for her nap
over lockdown and just working from home, it has been fascinating to see the change in the dog and cat.. they listen more, because we talk to them more, and I think their language/sound recognition has definitely expanded
posted by elkevelvet at 11:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
over lockdown and just working from home, it has been fascinating to see the change in the dog and cat.. they listen more, because we talk to them more, and I think their language/sound recognition has definitely expanded
posted by elkevelvet at 11:46 AM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
I may pull the sheets up loosely, but I hate a made bed and "hospital corners" stiffness, so eff that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:58 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:58 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I did not realize I needed to talk about making/not making the bed today
I was firmly in the non-bed maker camp most of my life, now I'm crossing the 11 year threshold with my partner who makes the bed daily it grew on me (consideration) but I loathe a tight tuck, and when we both got COVID last year (Delta) we ended up in separate beds and now we sleep in separate beds! just realizing how this period has changed our lives
I still make the bed (see above, dog reasons) but I can't stand tucked in tightness.. and I never thought I'd sleep in a separate bed but we both seem to enjoy our private sleeps, so here we are
posted by elkevelvet at 12:06 PM on March 3, 2022
I was firmly in the non-bed maker camp most of my life, now I'm crossing the 11 year threshold with my partner who makes the bed daily it grew on me (consideration) but I loathe a tight tuck, and when we both got COVID last year (Delta) we ended up in separate beds and now we sleep in separate beds! just realizing how this period has changed our lives
I still make the bed (see above, dog reasons) but I can't stand tucked in tightness.. and I never thought I'd sleep in a separate bed but we both seem to enjoy our private sleeps, so here we are
posted by elkevelvet at 12:06 PM on March 3, 2022
I don't make my bed because I read a long time ago that you should let your bed air out during the day.
I don't make my bed because I am lazy and I don't care but I also read a long time ago that you should let your bed air out during the day so I no longer feel a deep sense of personal shame about it.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:09 PM on March 3, 2022 [10 favorites]
I don't make my bed because I am lazy and I don't care but I also read a long time ago that you should let your bed air out during the day so I no longer feel a deep sense of personal shame about it.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:09 PM on March 3, 2022 [10 favorites]
So! Today I finally submitted a novel to an agent. This is a huge step for me because I’ve beem writing in a vacuum for almost two decades. I’m so distracted I lost my place in the order of operations in the shower.
posted by BlunderingArtist at 12:12 PM on March 3, 2022 [29 favorites]
posted by BlunderingArtist at 12:12 PM on March 3, 2022 [29 favorites]
If you ever build a new building, put wide conduit everywhere. Everywhere. You'll regret not spending $100 on conduit when you have to replace a large portion of a wall later 'cause you tacked cables to the studs and someone screwed in a new shelving unit.
I did this once with mounts for a curtain rod. Except it wasn't into wire. It was into a water pipe (different kind of network) that was inexplicably just immediately behind drywall in violation of building code. Fortunately the pipe was not in use at the time. It was a month later though! Big flood!
Building codes and best practices matter! Also don't do handywork on buildings you have no knowledge of because it could be anything behind that drywall!
posted by srboisvert at 12:13 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I did this once with mounts for a curtain rod. Except it wasn't into wire. It was into a water pipe (different kind of network) that was inexplicably just immediately behind drywall in violation of building code. Fortunately the pipe was not in use at the time. It was a month later though! Big flood!
Building codes and best practices matter! Also don't do handywork on buildings you have no knowledge of because it could be anything behind that drywall!
posted by srboisvert at 12:13 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
over lockdown and just working from home, it has been fascinating to see the change in the dog and cat.. they listen more, because we talk to them more, and I think their language/sound recognition has definitely expanded
My cat has expanded! I am sure she thinks our training in on-demand-treat-delivery is going swimmingly.
posted by srboisvert at 12:15 PM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
My cat has expanded! I am sure she thinks our training in on-demand-treat-delivery is going swimmingly.
posted by srboisvert at 12:15 PM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm running out of places to hide treats for my dog (during a cold snap, we had a stretch where it was too cold even for her to muster any enthusiasm for a walk.. the hunt for treats is a poor substitute, but at least it gave her something to do/think about)
the cat used to ignore me, but I'm pretty sure he has figured out the odds of getting scritches and/or treats if he approaches when my monkey mouth is making sounds, any sounds. and I've trained the dog and cat to love my singing! if by love, they know it's usually a song about them (insert any song or hymn or whatever, and basically replace most or all lyrics with their names, try this and you too will be very popular with your pets), and when ape sings good things may coincide
posted by elkevelvet at 12:22 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
the cat used to ignore me, but I'm pretty sure he has figured out the odds of getting scritches and/or treats if he approaches when my monkey mouth is making sounds, any sounds. and I've trained the dog and cat to love my singing! if by love, they know it's usually a song about them (insert any song or hymn or whatever, and basically replace most or all lyrics with their names, try this and you too will be very popular with your pets), and when ape sings good things may coincide
posted by elkevelvet at 12:22 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
No to-do list should be 38 items long.
Says who. Who appointed you the to-do list authority? :P
I have a kaiju sized list, but I've divided it up into separate pages. I make a to-do list for each place where I can do something. A place could be a website, a state of mind, or even a physical place. Now I have a lot of lists but none of them have 38 items. Though if one did, I'm sure I'd divide up the location and divide the list.
If I lose a list it's no worse than relying on my memory, but if I've got the right list for its location it's very satisfying.
posted by otherchaz at 12:24 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Says who. Who appointed you the to-do list authority? :P
I have a kaiju sized list, but I've divided it up into separate pages. I make a to-do list for each place where I can do something. A place could be a website, a state of mind, or even a physical place. Now I have a lot of lists but none of them have 38 items. Though if one did, I'm sure I'd divide up the location and divide the list.
If I lose a list it's no worse than relying on my memory, but if I've got the right list for its location it's very satisfying.
posted by otherchaz at 12:24 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't make my bed because I don't have time/energy to, but I wish I did for different dog related reasons. Said dog actually likes to make her all-day nest in a pre-rumpled pile of blankie. But then come bedtime she also tends to lay down smack across the wad of coverings LIKE ITS HER JOB, and she's a large dog so it mean that there's essentially no blanket left that's not underneath her and so there's a lot of shuffling and tugging to get myself under the covers.
posted by drlith at 12:31 PM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by drlith at 12:31 PM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
> So! Today I finally submitted a novel to an agent.
> posted by BlunderingArtist
What!! WOWWW congratulations!
posted by MiraK at 12:45 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
> posted by BlunderingArtist
What!! WOWWW congratulations!
posted by MiraK at 12:45 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
drlith, she is such a good dog! But, you do know you could get a nice dog bed, cover it in blankets, put it next to your bed, and avoid all the "making the bed" nonsense....
posted by Windopaene at 12:45 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 12:45 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm having a fight with my local mail carrier--whom I have never met--which is perplexing me beyond measure.
This needs to be a short story that you write.
posted by archimago at 12:46 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
This needs to be a short story that you write.
posted by archimago at 12:46 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I am working on a story and it is in the hot mess stage where I am I desperate need of encouragement
posted by The otter lady at 12:49 PM on March 3, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 12:49 PM on March 3, 2022 [13 favorites]
No to-do list should be 38 items long.
I totally get that feeling. And it's like, yes and no, no and yes? A to-do list is a tool, and like any tool it's only useful if it serves your purpose. If a long detailed list helps, it's not too long, basically.
I often have a hard time with actual lists, for reasons I don't even totally understand about myself; maybe just that a list concretizes how much there is to do, vs. just managing (when I manage to) to knock out individual tasks in isolation so I don't become overwhelmed. But then managing that sans-list can be it's own stressor, so maybe a list is a good idea? But the list is giving me agita, so...etc. It definitely depends on the day and the moment and the need.
But also what's on The Mental List really telescopes for me sometimes insofar as a simple "do x" expands in my mind to a whole string of subtasks each of which weighs a bricksworth and the total is so heavy. I wrote about it re: feeding cats, last year; trying to navigate that bumpy brainspace is hard sometimes. So I dunno! If the tool is working, use the tool.
posted by cortex at 12:55 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I totally get that feeling. And it's like, yes and no, no and yes? A to-do list is a tool, and like any tool it's only useful if it serves your purpose. If a long detailed list helps, it's not too long, basically.
I often have a hard time with actual lists, for reasons I don't even totally understand about myself; maybe just that a list concretizes how much there is to do, vs. just managing (when I manage to) to knock out individual tasks in isolation so I don't become overwhelmed. But then managing that sans-list can be it's own stressor, so maybe a list is a good idea? But the list is giving me agita, so...etc. It definitely depends on the day and the moment and the need.
But also what's on The Mental List really telescopes for me sometimes insofar as a simple "do x" expands in my mind to a whole string of subtasks each of which weighs a bricksworth and the total is so heavy. I wrote about it re: feeding cats, last year; trying to navigate that bumpy brainspace is hard sometimes. So I dunno! If the tool is working, use the tool.
posted by cortex at 12:55 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I do [make the bed], but 90% of it is setting a good example for my teenage son.
My own teenage experience, and observations of my teenage son's behavior, would thoroughly refute that that does any good whatsoever. :)
This theory can equally be applied to all teenagers, regardless of gender identity.
I make the bed fully as soon as I get up every morning, complete with hospital corners (and sometimes a cat-shaped lump in the middle). It's so nice to slip into a nice smooth bed after a long day.
posted by dg at 12:57 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
My own teenage experience, and observations of my teenage son's behavior, would thoroughly refute that that does any good whatsoever. :)
This theory can equally be applied to all teenagers, regardless of gender identity.
I make the bed fully as soon as I get up every morning, complete with hospital corners (and sometimes a cat-shaped lump in the middle). It's so nice to slip into a nice smooth bed after a long day.
posted by dg at 12:57 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
What I've been playing is SMB3 on Switch with constant use of suspend points. If I beat it, then maybe I'll actually have achieved something I tried for as a kid.
When I was on a road trip with the kids a few years ago we stopped at a thrift store. My daughter got a stuffie. My son got a weird electronic not-actually-a-Rubik's-cube thing. Ms. Fed saw a shirt she liked. As for me, I got a copy of "Perfection". My nemesis.
The kids hated it. As I did so many years ago. A frantic struggle until a sudden JOLT of failure. But 30 more years of psychomotor development had prepared me for this, and I vanquished it.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:59 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
When I was on a road trip with the kids a few years ago we stopped at a thrift store. My daughter got a stuffie. My son got a weird electronic not-actually-a-Rubik's-cube thing. Ms. Fed saw a shirt she liked. As for me, I got a copy of "Perfection". My nemesis.
The kids hated it. As I did so many years ago. A frantic struggle until a sudden JOLT of failure. But 30 more years of psychomotor development had prepared me for this, and I vanquished it.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:59 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
In all these discussions of Elden Ring difficulty, one thing frequently left out is the thing that makes it like pushing the 'easy' button: online cooperation.
Yes! I'm usually someone who plays games more for the story than the challenge, and will happily drop the difficulty to "easy" on any game that gives me the chance. So by that measure, the Souls games should absolutely not appeal to me. But they are absolutely some of my favorite games of all time, for two reasons. One: the vague, mysterious, bits-and-pieces way it unveils the history and story of the world, through snippets of unconnected dialog and item descriptions... It makes the world feel ancient and truly lived in in a way that journal entries or found recordings in most games don't. It's 100% my jam.
But even more so, as someone who loves the concept of MMOs but always plays them solo (until you hit the inevitable wall where you *have* to group up), I *love* the way From handles multiplayer. The cryptic (and often stupid/hilarious/both) messages left by other players, the ghosts of other players fading in and out of the world... and the coop. The ability to just temporarily summon a complete stranger into your game, who will happily help you defeat a boss or tough area, then gleefully emote a dance or bow as they fade back into their world - then to turn around and pay it forward by offering up your own sign to be summoned into someone else's world and help them for a few minutes - it fills me with such joy. I was bummed when they left it completely out of Sekiro, so I was very happy to see it back in Elden Ring. It is my favorite game mechanic and I'm honestly shocked no other major game studios have tried to implement something similar (that I know of).
posted by Roommate at 1:01 PM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yes! I'm usually someone who plays games more for the story than the challenge, and will happily drop the difficulty to "easy" on any game that gives me the chance. So by that measure, the Souls games should absolutely not appeal to me. But they are absolutely some of my favorite games of all time, for two reasons. One: the vague, mysterious, bits-and-pieces way it unveils the history and story of the world, through snippets of unconnected dialog and item descriptions... It makes the world feel ancient and truly lived in in a way that journal entries or found recordings in most games don't. It's 100% my jam.
But even more so, as someone who loves the concept of MMOs but always plays them solo (until you hit the inevitable wall where you *have* to group up), I *love* the way From handles multiplayer. The cryptic (and often stupid/hilarious/both) messages left by other players, the ghosts of other players fading in and out of the world... and the coop. The ability to just temporarily summon a complete stranger into your game, who will happily help you defeat a boss or tough area, then gleefully emote a dance or bow as they fade back into their world - then to turn around and pay it forward by offering up your own sign to be summoned into someone else's world and help them for a few minutes - it fills me with such joy. I was bummed when they left it completely out of Sekiro, so I was very happy to see it back in Elden Ring. It is my favorite game mechanic and I'm honestly shocked no other major game studios have tried to implement something similar (that I know of).
posted by Roommate at 1:01 PM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
I am working on a story and it is in the hot mess stage where I am I desperate need of encouragement
posted by The otter lady
The Otter Lady, you've totally got this!
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 1:19 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by The otter lady
The Otter Lady, you've totally got this!
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 1:19 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
Go go
Go otter go, go
Go otter go, go
Go otter go, go
ot-ter la-dy
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:28 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Go otter go, go
Go otter go, go
Go otter go, go
ot-ter la-dy
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:28 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Dr. Twist, that is a sweet-looking door!
posted by cheapskatebay at 1:31 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cheapskatebay at 1:31 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
If any otter lady can get this done
The otter lady is the One
You can do it!
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:32 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
The otter lady is the One
You can do it!
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:32 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I make the bed because I am used to living in small spaces where I need the flat surface during the day. That's not so much the case now, but I still use it for folding laundry. But on any day, I just don't feel like I really got up unless I at least pulled up the duvet.
posted by Countess Elena at 1:32 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by Countess Elena at 1:32 PM on March 3, 2022
I get up, turn around, make the bed. I used to have asthma, this is a dusty town. I have cats. I have a closed bed autocracy of one. The blue always flies Ukraine's colors, at least on the front page. !♡♡♡♡ Love and peace to everyone.
posted by Oyéah at 1:48 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 1:48 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Dear The otter lady, [insert image of otter on back playing with stones, photoshop The Story in place of the stones]
Sincerely,
your fans in MeFi
posted by elkevelvet at 1:49 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
Sincerely,
your fans in MeFi
posted by elkevelvet at 1:49 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
I make the bed, even if it is a bit haphazard. My desire to make the bed stems from living with a tortie that would barf in the folds in the sheets of an unmade bed and it was always unpleasant--especially when drunk--to find cat barf in the bed. So I started making the bed. It made the puke easier to find.
She's been gone for about seven years now but that is her legacy. A fear of finding cat barf in the bed. (None of the current batch of cats have ever done this.)
posted by Kitteh at 1:50 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
She's been gone for about seven years now but that is her legacy. A fear of finding cat barf in the bed. (None of the current batch of cats have ever done this.)
posted by Kitteh at 1:50 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
I am an Elden Ring widow at the moment, but Elden Ring is prettier than the most of the other Dark Souls games the boyfriend has played (I like the glowy trees), so I rate it "fine."
I get up earlier than my bedmate (see: late hours playing Elden Ring,etc), so I do not make the bed except when I change the sheets. New sheets night is always great though, so maybe I should make the bed more often.
posted by the primroses were over at 2:00 PM on March 3, 2022
I get up earlier than my bedmate (see: late hours playing Elden Ring,etc), so I do not make the bed except when I change the sheets. New sheets night is always great though, so maybe I should make the bed more often.
posted by the primroses were over at 2:00 PM on March 3, 2022
RE: Elden Ring and Dark Souls, and etc...
Having cut my chops on WoW, I just hate the look of the Unreal Engine. My sons are all doing ER, and did a lot of the DS games. I just hate the way it looks. I could play on my son's computer, while he is at scholl, but just, can't...
Of course I stopped playing wow when they changed my awesome Troll mage's animation to be terrible.
posted by Windopaene at 2:08 PM on March 3, 2022
Having cut my chops on WoW, I just hate the look of the Unreal Engine. My sons are all doing ER, and did a lot of the DS games. I just hate the way it looks. I could play on my son's computer, while he is at scholl, but just, can't...
Of course I stopped playing wow when they changed my awesome Troll mage's animation to be terrible.
posted by Windopaene at 2:08 PM on March 3, 2022
I make the bed because it's a very fun game to play with my toddler. I throw her up and she lands on the big pile of blankets. I pull the sheet over her and say "oh! There's a lump in my bed! Smooth smooth smooth. It's not working!" Then I fling back the covers "oh it's you! You're not a lump!" Repeat with the blanket. Then we might pretend to be asleep. Or I might try out a new pillow (that's very wriggly!)
posted by freethefeet at 2:11 PM on March 3, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by freethefeet at 2:11 PM on March 3, 2022 [14 favorites]
I had this problem several times, maxwelton, when I rented a PO Box - in the Post Office! Tell your Postmaster, s/he might be interested.
Also, didn't used to make the bed, but I do now (although without tucking anything in). Something about getting old?
posted by Rash at 2:19 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also, didn't used to make the bed, but I do now (although without tucking anything in). Something about getting old?
posted by Rash at 2:19 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
eotvos and others are posting some really interesting homeowner diy stuff, just reminds me of helping a buddy strip down a home on Vancouver Island and fix it right up.. previous owners were dog breeders and they seemed to have let the dogs live in most of the main floor, with dog doors built into an entire side of the home? It was bizarre.. on the flip side, at least they lived with their dogs and I'm hoping that means the breeding conditions were not awful?
It was a nice home, my buddy told me the owner was an architect and they designed the home. The dog urine had saturated the floor right into the joists, we had to address that. I still marvel at some of the lumber used at the time, you could never buy anything like it today.
posted by elkevelvet at 2:52 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
It was a nice home, my buddy told me the owner was an architect and they designed the home. The dog urine had saturated the floor right into the joists, we had to address that. I still marvel at some of the lumber used at the time, you could never buy anything like it today.
posted by elkevelvet at 2:52 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I make the bed. I also don't leave dirty laundry strewn about, and I wash dishes and put them away in cabinets. I fold clean laundry and put it away in drawers and closets. I clean my kitchen counters when they need it. I brush my teeth and put the toothbrush away in its holder. I vacuum the floors when they get dusty. I wipe up spills from tables. I take showers regularly. And I clean the shower stall once in a while. I sometimes cook, and clean up after doing that, too.
So of course I make the bed. Perhaps not immediately upon waking up, but I make the bed. A tidy living space helps put me at ease.
I cannot wait to play Elden Ring.
posted by SoberHighland at 2:56 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
So of course I make the bed. Perhaps not immediately upon waking up, but I make the bed. A tidy living space helps put me at ease.
I cannot wait to play Elden Ring.
posted by SoberHighland at 2:56 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I make the bed. I also don't leave dirty laundry strewn about, and I wash dishes and put them away in cabinets. I fold clean laundry and put it away in drawers and closets. I clean my kitchen counters when they need it. I brush my teeth and put the toothbrush away in its holder. I vacuum the floors when they get dusty. I wipe up spills from tables. I take showers regularly. And I clean the shower stall once in a while. I sometimes cook, and clean up after doing that, too.
I do all that stuff, too!
Except make the bed. That only happens on laundry day.
posted by Roommate at 3:18 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do all that stuff, too!
Except make the bed. That only happens on laundry day.
posted by Roommate at 3:18 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
My kittens went up on the local cat board finally, but competition is fierce - there are dozens of kittens and gorgeous cats there. I bought collars for all the cats and they came with very tiny bells so the house is forever tinkling now. It seems to have surprisingly cut down on fighting as the big cats are forewarned of the kittens approaching and retreat to their new cat tree to stare them down.
When it's my turn to make my bed, I simply do not do it. I spent my 20s being a good little housekeeper and now my bed making is outsourced. The only issue is that my housekeeper prefers to make beds her way and I have given up meekly asking for my way, so I just re-arrange it every night.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 3:18 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
When it's my turn to make my bed, I simply do not do it. I spent my 20s being a good little housekeeper and now my bed making is outsourced. The only issue is that my housekeeper prefers to make beds her way and I have given up meekly asking for my way, so I just re-arrange it every night.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 3:18 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
My name is cow/and when it's day
or when the sun/is on its way
and all kids/have gone to skool
I mek the bed/I think is kul
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:28 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
or when the sun/is on its way
and all kids/have gone to skool
I mek the bed/I think is kul
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:28 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
i don't make my bed and yet i still have to lie in it
my dad neglected to mention that
posted by pyramid termite at 3:30 PM on March 3, 2022 [9 favorites]
my dad neglected to mention that
posted by pyramid termite at 3:30 PM on March 3, 2022 [9 favorites]
Happy birthday Jacqueline! It's my birthday too! I celebrated by mowing the backyard. I mostly use a wheelchair so I can only mow a few feet before I have to sit and rest. Mowed until I couldn't stand up any more. My blood sugar crashed so I used it as an excuse to eat more delicious chocolate pudding. Then my friend brought over a Thundercloud sub and we ate out on the porch. It's a beautiful day and lots of finches and bluejays doing their birdy thing in the yard. I did make my bed so Baby Goat the kitty can enjoy lying on it. Sounds like a good idea, I'm gonna go have a nap.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:43 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:43 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
SoberHighland, as someone who struggles with all of those things, you have my sincere admiration and a little bit of jealousy.
Also, I have heat again!
posted by biogeo at 3:46 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
Also, I have heat again!
posted by biogeo at 3:46 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
Back on Feb 10th I had brain surgery. For a brain tumor. This was...unexpected. Also I work in neurology so it was particularly ironic, and those of you who work in medicine may know the phrase 'round out be rounded on'? They called a consult with my own team. (Insert appropriate reaction gif)
Therefore, I have given up on making the bed, especially since I've had to sleep at a weird elevated angle, which required several variations of pillow arrangement until I settled on what I call 'the Stonehenge'. What I am doing is changing out the pillowcases daily, which feels like a hotel level luxury.
posted by cobaltnine at 3:47 PM on March 3, 2022 [16 favorites]
Therefore, I have given up on making the bed, especially since I've had to sleep at a weird elevated angle, which required several variations of pillow arrangement until I settled on what I call 'the Stonehenge'. What I am doing is changing out the pillowcases daily, which feels like a hotel level luxury.
posted by cobaltnine at 3:47 PM on March 3, 2022 [16 favorites]
I make the bed fully as soon as I get up every morning, complete with hospital corners (and sometimes a cat-shaped lump in the middle). It's so nice to slip into a nice smooth bed after a long day.
I make my bed after breakfast because I need it to be ready for my 10am nap.
posted by srboisvert at 4:36 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
I make my bed after breakfast because I need it to be ready for my 10am nap.
posted by srboisvert at 4:36 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
I make the bed (aka straighten things out) before going to bed. It's SoCal apartment so I'll go to bed and it'll be cold and I'm under blankets. Then I wake up after the sun has come up and it's gotten hot and I'm all sweaty and toss blankets off. Then don't make the bed to give things a chance to air out. The best times of the year are when it's cold enough at night and during the day to be all snuggled up and warm, or when it's warm enough at night and during the day to just sleep under a sheet. I sorta miss climate controlled sleeping spaces.
posted by zengargoyle at 4:41 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by zengargoyle at 4:41 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I make the bed sort of, usually, mostly so the cat hair ends up on the blanket and not the sheets.
A while back I dreamed I wrote a response to "This Be the Verse"--genuinely one of my favorite poems--so when I woke up I started one. It's okay. The last stanza is still very much in "draft mode," except for the last two iambs, but it's nice to have a little project to work on.
posted by johnofjack at 4:51 PM on March 3, 2022
A while back I dreamed I wrote a response to "This Be the Verse"--genuinely one of my favorite poems--so when I woke up I started one. It's okay. The last stanza is still very much in "draft mode," except for the last two iambs, but it's nice to have a little project to work on.
posted by johnofjack at 4:51 PM on March 3, 2022
I recently got in the habit of making my bed every morning, and try to do it first thing. Because if I neglect to do it right away, usually one of the cats finds their way to a cozy spot and I wouldn't dare disturb them (they seem perfectly happy to be cozy on top after it's made) cat tax/for example
I will not be playing Elden Ring due to RSI, but I'm okay with that. Watched some folks from Waypoint stream it and it looked fine. I did love Bloodborne, DS3, and Sekiro, just making peace playing the games I can play
posted by okonomichiyaki at 6:15 PM on March 3, 2022
I will not be playing Elden Ring due to RSI, but I'm okay with that. Watched some folks from Waypoint stream it and it looked fine. I did love Bloodborne, DS3, and Sekiro, just making peace playing the games I can play
posted by okonomichiyaki at 6:15 PM on March 3, 2022
Every morning I straighten out my bed enough that it's comfortable to lie on and read. And every three or four days I change the sheets, and every time I do I put the pillows in the dryer for a few minutes, because fluffy pillows make me happy.
But that's not what I came here to talk about.
For a few months now I've been feeding a colony of feral cats. A couple of kittens showed up, then a couple more, and there was this whole drama for a while that involved me figuring out what to do about them, getting help from the local humane society, getting them trapped and neutered, it was a whole thing. I met some truly wonderful people. Now the cats have got little shelters for the cold nights and a regular feeding schedule, and they've settled into a comfortable routine.
Except sometimes. Usually I bring out the food once in the morning and once at night, at the same time every day, and there's one cat who likes to try to get within a couple of feet of me and then freak out, and a couple more who watch from the sidelines, and the rest of them lurk nearby, waiting for me to go back inside so they can eat in peace.
But sometimes, I go out there and there's nobody. No cats at all. I put out the food, and no cats appear. I watch from the window, and nothing. When I bring the food in it's untouched. Sometimes, that happens at the next feeding too. And sometimes a third.
And then they all show up again, hungry as hell, and act like nothing happened.
I worried the first couple of times that it happened, of course, but now I'm just fascinated. Where do they go? Why would a group of three cats and two kittens just pack up and leave for a bit? Are they on vacation? Do feral cats have the equivalent of Disneyland out there somewhere? Do they have errands to run? Scores to settle? Do they just have one of those days where they don't even want to get out of bed to eat?
It's been fascinating watching their lives play out outside my window. They're remarkably social creatures in the wild, they have a really tight non-traditional family unit. And their play fights in my tree are epic. The idea that they have these secret lives, these cat errands that call them away from safety and food and shelter to do who knows what, it intrigues me. I'd love to find out where they go. I'm thinking about hiring a cat detective. Until then, anyone have any theories?
posted by MrVisible at 6:17 PM on March 3, 2022 [14 favorites]
But that's not what I came here to talk about.
For a few months now I've been feeding a colony of feral cats. A couple of kittens showed up, then a couple more, and there was this whole drama for a while that involved me figuring out what to do about them, getting help from the local humane society, getting them trapped and neutered, it was a whole thing. I met some truly wonderful people. Now the cats have got little shelters for the cold nights and a regular feeding schedule, and they've settled into a comfortable routine.
Except sometimes. Usually I bring out the food once in the morning and once at night, at the same time every day, and there's one cat who likes to try to get within a couple of feet of me and then freak out, and a couple more who watch from the sidelines, and the rest of them lurk nearby, waiting for me to go back inside so they can eat in peace.
But sometimes, I go out there and there's nobody. No cats at all. I put out the food, and no cats appear. I watch from the window, and nothing. When I bring the food in it's untouched. Sometimes, that happens at the next feeding too. And sometimes a third.
And then they all show up again, hungry as hell, and act like nothing happened.
I worried the first couple of times that it happened, of course, but now I'm just fascinated. Where do they go? Why would a group of three cats and two kittens just pack up and leave for a bit? Are they on vacation? Do feral cats have the equivalent of Disneyland out there somewhere? Do they have errands to run? Scores to settle? Do they just have one of those days where they don't even want to get out of bed to eat?
It's been fascinating watching their lives play out outside my window. They're remarkably social creatures in the wild, they have a really tight non-traditional family unit. And their play fights in my tree are epic. The idea that they have these secret lives, these cat errands that call them away from safety and food and shelter to do who knows what, it intrigues me. I'd love to find out where they go. I'm thinking about hiring a cat detective. Until then, anyone have any theories?
posted by MrVisible at 6:17 PM on March 3, 2022 [14 favorites]
Bed making only happens at our place when one or the other of us decides the covers have moved too far to one side and we aren't getting enough of them at night, or when the sheets are changed.
Been nice to watch the sky lighten on my commute home over the last few weeks. I get an amazing view of the Olympic mountains when it's clear, made even more stunning when there are a few clouds to pick up the colors of the sunset.
posted by calamari kid at 6:26 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Been nice to watch the sky lighten on my commute home over the last few weeks. I get an amazing view of the Olympic mountains when it's clear, made even more stunning when there are a few clouds to pick up the colors of the sunset.
posted by calamari kid at 6:26 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Cats in a large group are very different from a small group of pet cats. Cats may be solitary hunters but their kittens depend on multiple adults getting involved so they have proper colonies.
If you could safely and without scaring them radio tag them or even the cat cameras, you would get an idea of just how much territory they're covering and who goes where.
I went searching for a book on cat group behavior I love, but can't find it - Call of the Cats though looks like your adventure, MrVisible, with a feral cat colony!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:43 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
If you could safely and without scaring them radio tag them or even the cat cameras, you would get an idea of just how much territory they're covering and who goes where.
I went searching for a book on cat group behavior I love, but can't find it - Call of the Cats though looks like your adventure, MrVisible, with a feral cat colony!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:43 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm so amazed by their familial relations. Somewhere out there is a mama cat who birthed not just the original litter of four kittens about six months ago, but another litter of two about three months ago, and just abandoned all of them. I think I see her around every few weeks, I've never come close to trapping her. The family I'm taking care of now are James and The Phantom, two of the original litter (Tupo and Stretch have vanished. My theory is that they've been adopted by loving families and are currently contentedly purring on someone's lap. This is a very fragile theory so I'd appreciate it if it remained unchallenged.) and the two new kittens, Captain Midnight and Luna. The Phantom went from being a kitten to being a mom pretty much overnight, and has been taking care of these two devotedly, with the help of her brother James. A few weeks ago, a new kitty (named New Kitty until something better comes along) appeared, spayed and with her ear tipped, with the same black and white coloration as most of the rest of the litter, but they all didn't seem to know each other, and it was a tense few days. Now they're all getting along nicely; two generations of sibling kittens all growing quickly and a random cat of unknown origin.
I'll definitely read that book, dorothyisunderwood, thank you. It'll be interesting to see what life lessons other people have taken from this kind of experience. I've been in contact with a couple of other people who tend to colonies, and everyone seems to develop this awe and admiration for how cats behave when they're not being pets. I was so worried about them when this all began, but they're remarkably self-sufficient. And just as weird and playful as house cats. It's been a lot to deal with during the whole pandemic, but I think it's also kept me sane, to whatever degree that applies.
posted by MrVisible at 7:08 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
I'll definitely read that book, dorothyisunderwood, thank you. It'll be interesting to see what life lessons other people have taken from this kind of experience. I've been in contact with a couple of other people who tend to colonies, and everyone seems to develop this awe and admiration for how cats behave when they're not being pets. I was so worried about them when this all began, but they're remarkably self-sufficient. And just as weird and playful as house cats. It's been a lot to deal with during the whole pandemic, but I think it's also kept me sane, to whatever degree that applies.
posted by MrVisible at 7:08 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
Turns out my mail carrier of long-standing retired, and never told me my box was a couple of inches too low. A temp, in their zeal for regulations, noticed immediately and marked my box as "abandoned" in the system, which means I now have to start from scratch. Today I went down to raise the box and the post snapped off as the base...it's only 12 years old, which should be nothing for a pressure-treated 4x4, but...anyway, I had one "in stock" and with much grumbling got a hole dug and a new post into the ground, cleared the encroaching nature away, and filled out my application for service. We'll see if the raised box allows me to get mail again. In the meantime, a big order I was hoping to get was returned to sender so now I have to pay shipping on that again. In the big state of the world, this is small stuff, but what a pain and it has shaken my faith in the post.
posted by maxwelton at 7:25 PM on March 3, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 7:25 PM on March 3, 2022 [10 favorites]
Wow, maxwelton, what a drag! I hope you prevail.
Back when work was a commute away, I made my bed before leaving the house to keep the muddy paw prints and/or rodent carcasses from being -inside it-. But now the cat is a WFH sloth who naps on my desk all day, and my bed airs out with all the blankets stripped back as much as possible without being on the floor. I sometimes make it back up at lunch or after work or most often when I go into turn on the heated mattress pad when I start puttering bedward. But it has to be room temperature before the covers got back into place, or I feel like it gets gamey real fast.
posted by janell at 7:38 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Back when work was a commute away, I made my bed before leaving the house to keep the muddy paw prints and/or rodent carcasses from being -inside it-. But now the cat is a WFH sloth who naps on my desk all day, and my bed airs out with all the blankets stripped back as much as possible without being on the floor. I sometimes make it back up at lunch or after work or most often when I go into turn on the heated mattress pad when I start puttering bedward. But it has to be room temperature before the covers got back into place, or I feel like it gets gamey real fast.
posted by janell at 7:38 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Just over six weeks ago, I had arthroscopic surgery for a torn right rotator cuff and a shredded (the surgeon’s description) bicep. I’ve been living 24/7 in an arm brace since the surgery. I will finally start eight weeks of PT next week, but will still be in the brace until the doc says I can get out.
I’m somewhat ambidextrous, but my right hand does most of the work, and it’s been an eye-opening experience trying to migrate as much as I can over to my left arm. So many things I took for granted are now either completely unavailable to me. I’m the cook, and that has proven to be very difficult to adapt to my left hand. Wielding a chef’s knife in the wrong hand is...an adventure.
I’ve worked-out making our bed one-handed, so there’s that little victory.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:02 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I’m somewhat ambidextrous, but my right hand does most of the work, and it’s been an eye-opening experience trying to migrate as much as I can over to my left arm. So many things I took for granted are now either completely unavailable to me. I’m the cook, and that has proven to be very difficult to adapt to my left hand. Wielding a chef’s knife in the wrong hand is...an adventure.
I’ve worked-out making our bed one-handed, so there’s that little victory.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:02 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
So, I commented in a previous thread about how I'm thinking I've outgrown my job...
I've actually applied to two (2) jobs that are here in my little town, neither of them things I've done before, but both of them jobs that have been posted a while. I've tried to lay my case as being eager to find work here in town (instead of the 20-mile-one-way commute I've been doing for nearly 2 decades), and want it to be long-term, not just passing through. I'd like to get a job to retire in, basically.
So, I've put two seeds out into the universe. Let's see where that goes from here.
posted by hippybear at 8:04 PM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
I've actually applied to two (2) jobs that are here in my little town, neither of them things I've done before, but both of them jobs that have been posted a while. I've tried to lay my case as being eager to find work here in town (instead of the 20-mile-one-way commute I've been doing for nearly 2 decades), and want it to be long-term, not just passing through. I'd like to get a job to retire in, basically.
So, I've put two seeds out into the universe. Let's see where that goes from here.
posted by hippybear at 8:04 PM on March 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
I woke up in the night with a beatles song playing in my head. Except I can't make out the name of the girl. "xxxxx's a pretty nice girl"
I'm resisting the urge to Google it, to see if it will surface all by itself. But it's an annoying earworm so I'm attempting to replace it with some Earnest Ranglin.
Yesterday my earworm was "Do, a deer" for some bizarre reason.
posted by Zumbador at 8:07 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm resisting the urge to Google it, to see if it will surface all by itself. But it's an annoying earworm so I'm attempting to replace it with some Earnest Ranglin.
Yesterday my earworm was "Do, a deer" for some bizarre reason.
posted by Zumbador at 8:07 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
and with much grumbling got a hole dug
1) people can dig holes this time of year! he said in astonished Albertan
2) buddy, not sure if this cheers you up, but you need a break. take care
posted by elkevelvet at 8:10 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
1) people can dig holes this time of year! he said in astonished Albertan
2) buddy, not sure if this cheers you up, but you need a break. take care
posted by elkevelvet at 8:10 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to say (bum bum bum)
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she changes from day to day
I'd like to tell her that I love her a lot, but I've gotta get a belly full of wine
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, and someday I'm gonna make her mine
Oh yeah
Someday I'm gonna make her mine
posted by MrVisible at 8:19 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she changes from day to day
I'd like to tell her that I love her a lot, but I've gotta get a belly full of wine
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, and someday I'm gonna make her mine
Oh yeah
Someday I'm gonna make her mine
posted by MrVisible at 8:19 PM on March 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
Maxwelton, I was reading your post and going "jeez sounds just like where I live, zealous postmen, rotting posts and all" and then saw it was you lol
posted by The otter lady at 8:35 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by The otter lady at 8:35 PM on March 3, 2022
The cat detective...paused. Writing prompt, y'all.
Mmmnyah, bed making: I sorta fluff the bed covers, but I have taken heartily to MeFi suggestions to throw pillas in the dryer weekly. Seems to help with the itchy eyes.
In other news...I am cautiously hopefully maybe going to look at a house for sale? I'm ignoring all logistics of moving-- if I can move my MIL to the South, I can move my ass across this city--and just going to get my feet wet on this. Please wish me some luck.
posted by winesong at 8:39 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Mmmnyah, bed making: I sorta fluff the bed covers, but I have taken heartily to MeFi suggestions to throw pillas in the dryer weekly. Seems to help with the itchy eyes.
In other news...I am cautiously hopefully maybe going to look at a house for sale? I'm ignoring all logistics of moving-- if I can move my MIL to the South, I can move my ass across this city--and just going to get my feet wet on this. Please wish me some luck.
posted by winesong at 8:39 PM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Best of luck winesong. We made our first home purchase last fall and it was a heck of a ride. Don't let the process intimidate you. We went looking with an agent just to get a feel for what was available in our price range and to give her an idea of what we wanted, then ended up buying the first place we looked at. Three days from "let's go look around a bit" to making an offer, it was terrifying. We couldn't be happier with where we ended up.
posted by calamari kid at 8:53 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by calamari kid at 8:53 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Aaah!
"her majesty"
Of course, how could I have forgotten that?!?
Damn I'd just got my Ernest Ranglin groove nicely settled in and now I'm back to the Beatles going *bum bum bum bum*.
posted by Zumbador at 8:56 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
"her majesty"
Of course, how could I have forgotten that?!?
Damn I'd just got my Ernest Ranglin groove nicely settled in and now I'm back to the Beatles going *bum bum bum bum*.
posted by Zumbador at 8:56 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
The cat detective...paused.
And having paused, moves on.
posted by Zumbador at 8:58 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
And having paused, moves on.
posted by Zumbador at 8:58 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Aaah!
"her majesty"
Of course, how could I have forgotten that?!?
There's a scene in Get Back where Paul is fucking around and shows off an early version of that.
That documentary is amazing.
posted by hippybear at 9:00 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
"her majesty"
Of course, how could I have forgotten that?!?
There's a scene in Get Back where Paul is fucking around and shows off an early version of that.
That documentary is amazing.
posted by hippybear at 9:00 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Hippybear, I watched that episode of Get Back last week, which probably explains the earworm.
I love that documentary. Still have to watch episode 3. Maybe this weekend.
posted by Zumbador at 9:02 PM on March 3, 2022
I love that documentary. Still have to watch episode 3. Maybe this weekend.
posted by Zumbador at 9:02 PM on March 3, 2022
I've been cancelling and resubbing to various streaming services, and when I go back to D+ for a month to binge a bunch of stuff, I plan on rewatching that.
Turn up the volume for the second half of Ep 3. :)
posted by hippybear at 9:05 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Turn up the volume for the second half of Ep 3. :)
posted by hippybear at 9:05 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Otter lady, I always got on well with the previous carrier...I just wish she had told me the box was too low a decade ago! The funny thing is we installed the box just after the huge kerfluffle out here at that time which had everyone on the island raising their boxes because the mail carriers were finally issued real mail vans with higher seating positions instead of having to use their own cars.
And elkevelvet, thanks for the vid, it has me pondering my next course of action.
posted by maxwelton at 9:09 PM on March 3, 2022
And elkevelvet, thanks for the vid, it has me pondering my next course of action.
posted by maxwelton at 9:09 PM on March 3, 2022
And just now, putting a jar away in the fridge, I see this mystery bag, and note, "Oh fuck yeah, the tamales!"
posted by Oyéah at 9:17 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 9:17 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I worked on this some more and added a guitar track:
Go go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
ot-ter la-dy
twanglangleangle-jangledey-blang
bwannnggg!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:55 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
Go go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
Go otter go, go
twanglangle
ot-ter la-dy
twanglangleangle-jangledey-blang
bwannnggg!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:55 PM on March 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
The idea of scat-singing being brought into rock-and-roll is both fascinating and, as demonstrated above, a bit frightening.
posted by hippybear at 10:02 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by hippybear at 10:02 PM on March 3, 2022
The doorstop-size housekeeping bible Home Comforts has very little to offer me, a renter with a full-time job. But: it touts the benefits of airing out one's bed and as such has given me all the ammo I could need to avoid making my bed. But honestly, as a large bed occupied by one smol human and zero animals, it is nearly as much work to unmake it for airing as it would be to make it every day.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:05 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:05 PM on March 3, 2022
One thing about Elden Ring is that it feels like From are trying to hammer home to gamers (possibly primarily Western gamers: I don't know enough about other gaming culture to do more than guess at that, but there's a lot about Elden Ring that appears deliberately internationally oriented in ways previous Souls games don't) that the lack of a difficulty setting on the game menu does not mean that you should play the game in the hardest way possible, but, to the contrary, that you have to set your own difficulty through the decisions you make. Levelling up, depending on others and finding easy paths are not cheating or "cheesing" but an integral part of the game. In particular, players are repeatedly and regularly nudged or signposted towards using summons (both of other players and NPCs) to make life easier.
posted by howfar at 11:39 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by howfar at 11:39 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Happy birthday a humble nudibranch!
I make my bed every day, it is a flat surface in a small apartment.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:04 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I make my bed every day, it is a flat surface in a small apartment.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:04 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
i have stayed up past my bedtime beating the Gelmir Hero's Grave dungeon in Elden Ring and I would like a cookie please
posted by cortex at 12:24 AM on March 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by cortex at 12:24 AM on March 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
At the very least I can thank you: your Elden Ring play times in my Steam feed are making me feel better about my own sleep scheduling decisions.
posted by howfar at 12:30 AM on March 4, 2022
posted by howfar at 12:30 AM on March 4, 2022
Haha it’s morning in Paris, go to bed!
posted by ellieBOA at 12:33 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:33 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Zumbador: a track to reset your Ernest Ranglin groove..
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:18 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:18 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
today i went with a friend to tofukuji in kyoto to see the muromachi era toilets. 600 years old! we spent a lot of time chatting with the guide about how the toilets were set up and how grateful we are for modern conveniences.
we also got to climb up into the sanmon gate, which is huge, and also really old, and can only be accessed by terrifyingly steep stairs.
no goshuin this time, as my friend forgot her book and i didn't want to make her wait around while i got one. tofukuji isn't going anywhere, we can go back again.
we've officially set a reopening date for work, though i don't expect anything to change because japan still isn't accepting tourists. i don't know how much longer we can go with things as they are - we're getting a pandemic stipend from the government so we've all been able to stay home while still getting paid, but i have no idea how long that will continue. i was brought on to replace my friend while she was on maternity leave, but she's back now, and without any tourists coming in i'm feeling very redundant. i've been lowkey looking for something new, in a non-tourist industry, and i have an application in for an editing job that i probably won't get. i'm not sure "i read a lot, have a very strong internal grammar, and a lot of opinions" is quite the level of experience they're looking for, but it doesn't hurt to try!
posted by emmling at 2:31 AM on March 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
we also got to climb up into the sanmon gate, which is huge, and also really old, and can only be accessed by terrifyingly steep stairs.
no goshuin this time, as my friend forgot her book and i didn't want to make her wait around while i got one. tofukuji isn't going anywhere, we can go back again.
we've officially set a reopening date for work, though i don't expect anything to change because japan still isn't accepting tourists. i don't know how much longer we can go with things as they are - we're getting a pandemic stipend from the government so we've all been able to stay home while still getting paid, but i have no idea how long that will continue. i was brought on to replace my friend while she was on maternity leave, but she's back now, and without any tourists coming in i'm feeling very redundant. i've been lowkey looking for something new, in a non-tourist industry, and i have an application in for an editing job that i probably won't get. i'm not sure "i read a lot, have a very strong internal grammar, and a lot of opinions" is quite the level of experience they're looking for, but it doesn't hurt to try!
posted by emmling at 2:31 AM on March 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
I just found out a paper I cowrote got accepted at a WoS journal, which is nice on the ole resume and I get a bonus from my university, so yay.
posted by signal at 5:59 AM on March 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by signal at 5:59 AM on March 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
I just wrote down my list of daily habits I ought to be doing - a very basic list, I swear, I have listed things like "make bed" and "work out" and "take ADHD meds" - and the fucking list is 38 items long. Is that normal? How can that be normal. No to-do list should be 38 items long.
Why are we all focused on making the bed when this list also includes "work out" every day?! Do people do that? How?
(Please, tell me how. I keep telling myself to exercise more and I can't bring myself to do it more that like once a month. I know that people say that regular exercise gives you more energy, but after a half-hour on the elliptical, I feel like I don't want to do anything else for the rest of the day. Is it just me?)
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:34 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Why are we all focused on making the bed when this list also includes "work out" every day?! Do people do that? How?
(Please, tell me how. I keep telling myself to exercise more and I can't bring myself to do it more that like once a month. I know that people say that regular exercise gives you more energy, but after a half-hour on the elliptical, I feel like I don't want to do anything else for the rest of the day. Is it just me?)
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:34 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
if it was just you, entire industries wouldn't be fleecing millions of us daily
looking forward to responses to your question, I sure don't have this figured out.. I always have things I'd rather be doing, the closest I came to "exercise" was watching videos while doing 40 min on the elliptical, that lasted a week or so. I'd rather be spending time with people, or being lazy, or I have things to do.
the best I have: when you do have chores that require a measure of physicality, do it with gusto. Find activities you can do with others (I know, like a bad pandemic joke in there).. some pals and I got into disc golf over the pandemic just so we could visit more often, I'd do stupid things like run to retrieve my disc (instead of stroll).. I shovel snow quite intensely, try to lift and throw each scoop, it's a total cardio work-out. Same with mowing the lawn: find reasons to make it harder I guess? Because if I don't, my exercise regimen is pretty weak.
posted by elkevelvet at 7:49 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
looking forward to responses to your question, I sure don't have this figured out.. I always have things I'd rather be doing, the closest I came to "exercise" was watching videos while doing 40 min on the elliptical, that lasted a week or so. I'd rather be spending time with people, or being lazy, or I have things to do.
the best I have: when you do have chores that require a measure of physicality, do it with gusto. Find activities you can do with others (I know, like a bad pandemic joke in there).. some pals and I got into disc golf over the pandemic just so we could visit more often, I'd do stupid things like run to retrieve my disc (instead of stroll).. I shovel snow quite intensely, try to lift and throw each scoop, it's a total cardio work-out. Same with mowing the lawn: find reasons to make it harder I guess? Because if I don't, my exercise regimen is pretty weak.
posted by elkevelvet at 7:49 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
I am still waiting for the vibe shift....
posted by srboisvert at 7:53 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by srboisvert at 7:53 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I was doing pretty good on workouts right up until Omicron hit and I was banished back to wfh, and the consequent absence of bike commute combined with extreme demoralization for any other exercise.
And now I’m paying the price. I’ve had a pinched nerve and muscle spasms in my back for almost 2 weeks now, which are entirely down to horrible posture and no exercise for several months. I took my eye off the hall and I’m paying the price. Hopefully the threat of all this happening again will be extra motivation to get back on the workouts and stick with it… you know, as soon as any kind of exercise becomes even remotely plausible again!
posted by notoriety public at 8:07 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
And now I’m paying the price. I’ve had a pinched nerve and muscle spasms in my back for almost 2 weeks now, which are entirely down to horrible posture and no exercise for several months. I took my eye off the hall and I’m paying the price. Hopefully the threat of all this happening again will be extra motivation to get back on the workouts and stick with it… you know, as soon as any kind of exercise becomes even remotely plausible again!
posted by notoriety public at 8:07 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Thank you guys so much! It really does help!
posted by The otter lady at 8:21 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 8:21 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Ok so, get up, go to the bathroom, get back in bed, and do this workout.
With your heels near your buttocks but making stable triangle, do 200 pelvic lifts on the exhale, with a kegle thrown in.
Do 50 light abdominal curls on the exhale, the rectus abdominus has a limited range of motion, these aren't huge.
Leaving your knees up, straighten out your neck and upper spine, open your arms out sideways, and on the exhale, bring your fingertips from both hands together, over your chest, do a full smile when your fingertips meet, do this fifty times inhale as your arms go back out side to side, exhale and smile as the fingertips meet. You are doing these as fast as possible while keeping comfortable with your breath.
This next one...make sure your neck is straight, coming off the thoracic vertebrae. Put your arms over your head, bring your loosely held fists lightly against your cheekbones. Turn your head against your fists on the exhale, a count of one is a push to each side, on the exhale. To do this exercise right you are not punching your self in the head. You are turning your head into resistance which exercises all your neck muscles for holding your head up straight, both front and back all the way past the shoulder blades in back. Get the feel for this. Do 100 to start.
Leaving one knee up, do thirty leglifts with breath on exertion, then do them on the opposite side.
Turn over, do 40 cat cows, exhale when the head is down inhale lifting the head.
On your hands and knees old lady style do twenty pushups, at your comfort level,
Do twenty more pushups on your fists, (Punching pushups.)
Do twenty more pushups with your arms spread wide on flat palms.
Do twenty more pushups with your arms out front extenting your elbows as the pushup.
Do twenty more pushups with the arms overhead, working the upper back and arms.
Lie on your back, feel wonderful for a couple of minutes, rejoice, get up, and then make the bed, either before or after your shower, make the cats wait their turn. This whole routine is performed as fast as you can breathe, and generally takes the time an electric hot water heater, or coffee maker, makes the hot water. We're talking maybe six minutes, in bed. When you get up, you are loaded with oxygen, your primary fueling stop. The exercise, turning your head against your fists, bought me a half inch in height back.
posted by Oyéah at 8:50 AM on March 4, 2022 [7 favorites]
With your heels near your buttocks but making stable triangle, do 200 pelvic lifts on the exhale, with a kegle thrown in.
Do 50 light abdominal curls on the exhale, the rectus abdominus has a limited range of motion, these aren't huge.
Leaving your knees up, straighten out your neck and upper spine, open your arms out sideways, and on the exhale, bring your fingertips from both hands together, over your chest, do a full smile when your fingertips meet, do this fifty times inhale as your arms go back out side to side, exhale and smile as the fingertips meet. You are doing these as fast as possible while keeping comfortable with your breath.
This next one...make sure your neck is straight, coming off the thoracic vertebrae. Put your arms over your head, bring your loosely held fists lightly against your cheekbones. Turn your head against your fists on the exhale, a count of one is a push to each side, on the exhale. To do this exercise right you are not punching your self in the head. You are turning your head into resistance which exercises all your neck muscles for holding your head up straight, both front and back all the way past the shoulder blades in back. Get the feel for this. Do 100 to start.
Leaving one knee up, do thirty leglifts with breath on exertion, then do them on the opposite side.
Turn over, do 40 cat cows, exhale when the head is down inhale lifting the head.
On your hands and knees old lady style do twenty pushups, at your comfort level,
Do twenty more pushups on your fists, (Punching pushups.)
Do twenty more pushups with your arms spread wide on flat palms.
Do twenty more pushups with your arms out front extenting your elbows as the pushup.
Do twenty more pushups with the arms overhead, working the upper back and arms.
Lie on your back, feel wonderful for a couple of minutes, rejoice, get up, and then make the bed, either before or after your shower, make the cats wait their turn. This whole routine is performed as fast as you can breathe, and generally takes the time an electric hot water heater, or coffee maker, makes the hot water. We're talking maybe six minutes, in bed. When you get up, you are loaded with oxygen, your primary fueling stop. The exercise, turning your head against your fists, bought me a half inch in height back.
posted by Oyéah at 8:50 AM on March 4, 2022 [7 favorites]
The idea of scat-singing being brought into rock-and-roll is both fascinating and, as demonstrated above, a bit frightening.
It does compel one to ask exactly who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong...
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:19 AM on March 4, 2022
It does compel one to ask exactly who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong...
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:19 AM on March 4, 2022
At the very least I can thank you: your Elden Ring play times in my Steam feed are making me feel better about my own sleep scheduling decisions.
In my limited defense, I tend to leave games running for long gaps between opportunistic play sessions, so while I have played a lot of the game in the last week I haven't played the (checks Steam) 104 hours it has clocked currently. Good chunks of that involve my samurai crone just hunkered down on her old bones for a couple hours at a stretch here or there in an area she already cleared out while I'm off doing house stuff or working on another project.
posted by cortex at 9:30 AM on March 4, 2022
In my limited defense, I tend to leave games running for long gaps between opportunistic play sessions, so while I have played a lot of the game in the last week I haven't played the (checks Steam) 104 hours it has clocked currently. Good chunks of that involve my samurai crone just hunkered down on her old bones for a couple hours at a stretch here or there in an area she already cleared out while I'm off doing house stuff or working on another project.
posted by cortex at 9:30 AM on March 4, 2022
I make my bed in the morning. It basically involves pulling up the comforter and putting the pillows in place. I hate flat sheets and my comforter is warm enough that I don't need any blankets. A warm cat helps.
Wednesday I made a pretty tasty pot of potato/leek soup. That will be dinner again tonight.
I decided to start studying Spanish again. I'm using DuoLingo, listening to easy podcasts and have a workbook. The workbook is... not great. It starts with mas/fem nouns and then later in the same unit gives you a paragraph to read and answer questions about. It was slow going. I'm ready to start on unit 2 but I think I need a different workbook.
posted by kathrynm at 9:39 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Wednesday I made a pretty tasty pot of potato/leek soup. That will be dinner again tonight.
I decided to start studying Spanish again. I'm using DuoLingo, listening to easy podcasts and have a workbook. The workbook is... not great. It starts with mas/fem nouns and then later in the same unit gives you a paragraph to read and answer questions about. It was slow going. I'm ready to start on unit 2 but I think I need a different workbook.
posted by kathrynm at 9:39 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
My CEO chat went quite well - lots of good feedback, a few things to continue to work on, a nice raise (for the first time in several years) and shiny new title to boot.
I'm celebrating by sweeping out my garage and having a root beer.
posted by Twicketface at 10:42 AM on March 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm celebrating by sweeping out my garage and having a root beer.
posted by Twicketface at 10:42 AM on March 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
In my limited defense, I tend to leave games running for long gaps between opportunistic play sessions, so while I have played a lot of the game in the last week I haven't played the (checks Steam) 104 hours it has clocked currently.
I must admit to rather suspecting this to be the case, but leaving that out because I'm a monster. I do it too (it's responsible for about half of my 1259 hours on Rimworld) but I'm too cheap to do it with anything that speeds up the fans on my GPU.
posted by howfar at 10:51 AM on March 4, 2022
I must admit to rather suspecting this to be the case, but leaving that out because I'm a monster. I do it too (it's responsible for about half of my 1259 hours on Rimworld) but I'm too cheap to do it with anything that speeds up the fans on my GPU.
posted by howfar at 10:51 AM on March 4, 2022
Oyéah - Thank you so much for this! I can't promise anything (100 pushups a day?!), but I have copied your recommendations to a Word document and I will try.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:53 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:53 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
>I know that people say that regular exercise gives you more energy, but after a half-hour on the elliptical, I feel like I don't want to do anything else for the rest of the day. I
Ben Trismagistus, check your spoons, you might be going too hard for the energy you need in the day. You might also have post-Covid/post-viral fatigue and/or low iron levels (which I'm not able to assess here, check with someone insured to give advice), things that are going to make it hard to do big workouts.
Are your efforts 40 minutes of max or a mix of high and low intensity? Do you track heart rate or exertion zones, and if not are you getting fully out of breath/muscles burning and cramps? That level of effort is probably too much for returning to exercise, how about doing stints of 3 minutes at a level you're breathing hard but can still hold conversion with 2 minutes recovery between them?
Allow days between sessions to recover, too. Maybe do some calisthenic stretching or yoga to add movement but not high-end exertion on those recovery days.
(Standard warning: I'm not your fitness professional/medic/coach so feed these thoughts through someone who can help you find your level but watching you work out.)
posted by k3ninho at 11:54 AM on March 4, 2022
Ben Trismagistus, check your spoons, you might be going too hard for the energy you need in the day. You might also have post-Covid/post-viral fatigue and/or low iron levels (which I'm not able to assess here, check with someone insured to give advice), things that are going to make it hard to do big workouts.
Are your efforts 40 minutes of max or a mix of high and low intensity? Do you track heart rate or exertion zones, and if not are you getting fully out of breath/muscles burning and cramps? That level of effort is probably too much for returning to exercise, how about doing stints of 3 minutes at a level you're breathing hard but can still hold conversion with 2 minutes recovery between them?
Allow days between sessions to recover, too. Maybe do some calisthenic stretching or yoga to add movement but not high-end exertion on those recovery days.
(Standard warning: I'm not your fitness professional/medic/coach so feed these thoughts through someone who can help you find your level but watching you work out.)
posted by k3ninho at 11:54 AM on March 4, 2022
About From Software and Elden Ring, I'm allergic to fantasy (mostly dragons and characters trudging across the countryside, at its worst they* become mouthpieces for the author's political views) so I want to check that George RRRR Martin's involvement didn't invoke that kind of nonsense.
*: characters and dragons, I guess. What is it with authors wanting to horde gold and consume virgins?
posted by k3ninho at 12:00 PM on March 4, 2022
*: characters and dragons, I guess. What is it with authors wanting to horde gold and consume virgins?
posted by k3ninho at 12:00 PM on March 4, 2022
I would not be like "oh, GRR Martin wrote this" about Elden Ring if it were not specifically advertised, if that makes sense? I mean the Souls games are always terse and cryptic and weird and this one feels likewise; there's not a sudden injection of heavy-handed medieval politics narrative compared to what I've played of the other games, it's still all arcane and parsimonious with actual words and mostly a ton of environmental storytelling, and I've been enjoying saying "wait, WHAT?" on a regular basis while exploring and/or dying.
posted by cortex at 12:03 PM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex at 12:03 PM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ben Trismagistus, check your spoons, you might be going too hard for the energy you need in the day. You might also have post-Covid/post-viral fatigue and/or low iron levels (which I'm not able to assess here, check with someone insured to give advice), things that are going to make it hard to do big workouts.
Nah, just generally out of shape and middle aged (46) with little history of regular exercise, and a stressful job and a family to support.
Are your efforts 40 minutes of max or a mix of high and low intensity? Do you track heart rate or exertion zones, and if not are you getting fully out of breath/muscles burning and cramps? That level of effort is probably too much for returning to exercise, how about doing stints of 3 minutes at a level you're breathing hard but can still hold conversion with 2 minutes recovery between them?
I've generally kept it to low to mid intensity, monitoring my heart rate but not pushing myself to exhaustion or collapse. When I say I don't feel like doing anything else, I mean that I'm not really getting a noticeable energy boost for my day, and I haven't yet found the motivation to do it often enough to see if that makes a difference. The motivation is likely the bigger problem -- I get the sense that if I were able to do 3+ times a week, I might feel differently, but getting there is tough. I've never been one of those people who experiences an exercise high or derives any pleasure out of it. But I'm at the age that I feel like I'd better figure it out so I don't fall apart in my 50s. Thanks!
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 12:05 PM on March 4, 2022
Nah, just generally out of shape and middle aged (46) with little history of regular exercise, and a stressful job and a family to support.
Are your efforts 40 minutes of max or a mix of high and low intensity? Do you track heart rate or exertion zones, and if not are you getting fully out of breath/muscles burning and cramps? That level of effort is probably too much for returning to exercise, how about doing stints of 3 minutes at a level you're breathing hard but can still hold conversion with 2 minutes recovery between them?
I've generally kept it to low to mid intensity, monitoring my heart rate but not pushing myself to exhaustion or collapse. When I say I don't feel like doing anything else, I mean that I'm not really getting a noticeable energy boost for my day, and I haven't yet found the motivation to do it often enough to see if that makes a difference. The motivation is likely the bigger problem -- I get the sense that if I were able to do 3+ times a week, I might feel differently, but getting there is tough. I've never been one of those people who experiences an exercise high or derives any pleasure out of it. But I'm at the age that I feel like I'd better figure it out so I don't fall apart in my 50s. Thanks!
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 12:05 PM on March 4, 2022
(Please, tell me how. I keep telling myself to exercise more and I can't bring myself to do it more that like once a month. I know that people say that regular exercise gives you more energy, but after a half-hour on the elliptical, I feel like I don't want to do anything else for the rest of the day. Is it just me?)
The thing is when you have gotten through the hump of how miserable exercise is, and made it a daily-ish* habit, you actually start to feel pretty goddamn terrible when you skip it, so you don't skip it. It's not unlike a caffeine addiction.
looking forward to responses to your question, I sure don't have this figured out.. I always have things I'd rather be doing, the closest I came to "exercise" was watching videos while doing 40 min on the elliptical, that lasted a week or so. I'd rather be spending time with people, or being lazy, or I have things to do.
I mean...the key is to kind of not have anything in your life you'd prefer to do. So often when you read about people who have a serious exercise or sport practice, you find they picked it up at a time of crisis or grief in their lives. That's how it went for me, too -- I began exercising in my 20s as a way to feel connected to my gym rat father after he died, and began my running practice in my 40s after a terrible breakup (that coincided with the start of, you know, a global pandemic). Both times it really didn't matter how terrible the exercise felt--it wasn't like I could actually, practically, feel any WORSE.
So maybe if you are having a hard time getting yourself to exercise daily, consider that possibly it's just because your life is full and pleasing, and you wouldn't really want to be in a place where a 4 mile run is the best you're gonna feel all day, now would you?
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:26 PM on March 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
The thing is when you have gotten through the hump of how miserable exercise is, and made it a daily-ish* habit, you actually start to feel pretty goddamn terrible when you skip it, so you don't skip it. It's not unlike a caffeine addiction.
looking forward to responses to your question, I sure don't have this figured out.. I always have things I'd rather be doing, the closest I came to "exercise" was watching videos while doing 40 min on the elliptical, that lasted a week or so. I'd rather be spending time with people, or being lazy, or I have things to do.
I mean...the key is to kind of not have anything in your life you'd prefer to do. So often when you read about people who have a serious exercise or sport practice, you find they picked it up at a time of crisis or grief in their lives. That's how it went for me, too -- I began exercising in my 20s as a way to feel connected to my gym rat father after he died, and began my running practice in my 40s after a terrible breakup (that coincided with the start of, you know, a global pandemic). Both times it really didn't matter how terrible the exercise felt--it wasn't like I could actually, practically, feel any WORSE.
So maybe if you are having a hard time getting yourself to exercise daily, consider that possibly it's just because your life is full and pleasing, and you wouldn't really want to be in a place where a 4 mile run is the best you're gonna feel all day, now would you?
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:26 PM on March 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm not really getting a noticeable energy boost for my day
I feel that, as a 60-year-old with a lifetime full of congenital laziness and desk jobs. I've tried numerous times to get into an exercise habit; like you I found it arduous and disagreeable, and never really felt like it was very beneficial to my everyday state of mind and body - all pain, no gain.
But in Jan. 2021, after a year of sitting at home and eating too much delivery food I decided to take another crack at it. I bought an exercise bike and decided to let the result be whatever it was - no specific goals, no expectations, just raising my heart rate 2-3 times a week to say I'd done it. I found cycling to be nicely low-impact and mostly discomfort-free (though I did need to wear compression braces on my knees to avoid pain), and a side benefit of a stationary bike is that I could go slow when I needed to without worrying about balance. I think that relaxed attitude toward exercising was the key, because I managed to keep up a routine without having to grit my teeth and make myself do it. I didn't push myself excessively, I worked to keep my heart rate in the 100-110 BPM range with occasional slower 1-2 minute recovery periods if I felt like I was straining too hard. By the end of a session I was a little sweaty and my legs were "feeling it" but no actual pain.
I also found that it helped to set the bike up in front of a TV so I could watch/listen to something while I exercised - things like POV drives/bike rides or scenic drone footage along with music/audiobook/podcast soundtrack, or comedy shows, or YouTube documentaries, all sorts of things that lasted at least 30-40 minutes per episode.
Within about 4 months I began to notice that though I didn't drop a lot of weight, there was a subtle but definite improvement in my overall feeling of physical fitness. It wasn't sudden, no momentous energy boosts, but I could tell. I also slept much better! I figured at my age that was enough to hope for, and enough to keep me at it.
After 8 or 9 months I hit a problem spell, where for one reason or another I usually ended up feeling like I just didn't have the physical/emotional energy to devote to an exercise session. For the next few months I maybe exercised once or twice a month tops. I wasn't happy about it but I couldn't seem to bring myself out of my slump. I finally managed to start it up again 3 weeks ago, and was gratified to find that restarting was easier than I feared it would be - it wasn't like I was starting from scratch. Since then I've kept up an every-other-night routine...ask me again next fall how I'm doing!
I don't have any specific advice for you Ben Trismegistus, but I hope something in my story helps you out.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:33 PM on March 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
I feel that, as a 60-year-old with a lifetime full of congenital laziness and desk jobs. I've tried numerous times to get into an exercise habit; like you I found it arduous and disagreeable, and never really felt like it was very beneficial to my everyday state of mind and body - all pain, no gain.
But in Jan. 2021, after a year of sitting at home and eating too much delivery food I decided to take another crack at it. I bought an exercise bike and decided to let the result be whatever it was - no specific goals, no expectations, just raising my heart rate 2-3 times a week to say I'd done it. I found cycling to be nicely low-impact and mostly discomfort-free (though I did need to wear compression braces on my knees to avoid pain), and a side benefit of a stationary bike is that I could go slow when I needed to without worrying about balance. I think that relaxed attitude toward exercising was the key, because I managed to keep up a routine without having to grit my teeth and make myself do it. I didn't push myself excessively, I worked to keep my heart rate in the 100-110 BPM range with occasional slower 1-2 minute recovery periods if I felt like I was straining too hard. By the end of a session I was a little sweaty and my legs were "feeling it" but no actual pain.
I also found that it helped to set the bike up in front of a TV so I could watch/listen to something while I exercised - things like POV drives/bike rides or scenic drone footage along with music/audiobook/podcast soundtrack, or comedy shows, or YouTube documentaries, all sorts of things that lasted at least 30-40 minutes per episode.
Within about 4 months I began to notice that though I didn't drop a lot of weight, there was a subtle but definite improvement in my overall feeling of physical fitness. It wasn't sudden, no momentous energy boosts, but I could tell. I also slept much better! I figured at my age that was enough to hope for, and enough to keep me at it.
After 8 or 9 months I hit a problem spell, where for one reason or another I usually ended up feeling like I just didn't have the physical/emotional energy to devote to an exercise session. For the next few months I maybe exercised once or twice a month tops. I wasn't happy about it but I couldn't seem to bring myself out of my slump. I finally managed to start it up again 3 weeks ago, and was gratified to find that restarting was easier than I feared it would be - it wasn't like I was starting from scratch. Since then I've kept up an every-other-night routine...ask me again next fall how I'm doing!
I don't have any specific advice for you Ben Trismegistus, but I hope something in my story helps you out.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:33 PM on March 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
and made it a daily-ish* habit,
oh huh I guess I accidentally deleted the footnote that went with my asterisk. Basically I think it was just saying that while doing SOMETHING every day is a good goal you really ought to give yourself rest days from hard exercise.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:46 PM on March 4, 2022
oh huh I guess I accidentally deleted the footnote that went with my asterisk. Basically I think it was just saying that while doing SOMETHING every day is a good goal you really ought to give yourself rest days from hard exercise.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:46 PM on March 4, 2022
Thanks Greg_Ace and Blast Hardcheese - It's nice just to know that some people have had similar struggles, and that the only way to do it is to do it.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 2:22 PM on March 4, 2022
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 2:22 PM on March 4, 2022
My cat, Hopper, came to us as an adult with no teeth, so we have no idea how old she is. She's at least 10 years old, and a "senior cat" according to her vet. Just in the past week she has learned that she can crawl under a blanket and stay there, all snuggled up, for hours. We've tried to show her this! We have tucked her under blankets before! We have foofed blankets over her! But she had to learn on her own.
May we all continue to learn such important skills as we become senior cats.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:04 PM on March 4, 2022 [15 favorites]
May we all continue to learn such important skills as we become senior cats.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:04 PM on March 4, 2022 [15 favorites]
scenic drone footage
By the way, can I just say that Ireland and Scotland (especially the coasts) are spectacular!
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:36 PM on March 4, 2022
By the way, can I just say that Ireland and Scotland (especially the coasts) are spectacular!
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:36 PM on March 4, 2022
I know that people say that regular exercise gives you more energy, but after a half-hour on the elliptical, I feel like I don't want to do anything else for the rest of the day. Is it just me?
Don't start with a half hour. Start with 5 minutes a day. Literally, for the first week. Then do maybe 7 minutes, or 10 if you're feeling up to it. Within a while, you'll build up to that half hour and you will find it won't be that arduous.
The reason exercise gets tossed aside by people so much is that they try to go from 0 to 60 with their routine without giving their body and mind a chance to get used to the new activity.
posted by hippybear at 5:39 PM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Don't start with a half hour. Start with 5 minutes a day. Literally, for the first week. Then do maybe 7 minutes, or 10 if you're feeling up to it. Within a while, you'll build up to that half hour and you will find it won't be that arduous.
The reason exercise gets tossed aside by people so much is that they try to go from 0 to 60 with their routine without giving their body and mind a chance to get used to the new activity.
posted by hippybear at 5:39 PM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
The pushups are on the hands and knees, for starters. The exhale on every exertion keeps you energized. I studied.martial arts when I was younger, those varieties of pushups were done girl-style and it was a daily minimum to maintain fighting fitness. This stuff can't be done mindlessly, can't just throw your head around, stay alert inside your motions. When I fall off the exercise wagon, I can always do the first exercises on my back. Then I get to the on my knees stuff. Then I will add in side leg lifts. But, I put weight back on during covid, and the drop in my fitness is noticeable, boo hoo. I will get it back. I am old. But I will get it back. It is five minutes in bed in the morning.
posted by Oyéah at 6:40 PM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 6:40 PM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Agree with both of the above. The other thing I'd note is the importance of accurately valuing your body and what you do with it. I'm a disabled person with neurological and physical impairments, and exercise has always been a challenge for me. But I have, over the last few years, slowly increased my appreciation of my own body, with increasing physical and mental rewards.
Practically, then, I'd suggest trying to maximise the benefit of all the exercise you're already doing by reassessing the physical stuff you do in the day*. The majority of us, even the very sedentary, do a fair amount of stuff that is a least a little physically challenging for us: that's exercise.
The most obvious things to look at are housework and any yardwork or gardening, but you can find stuff in much paid labour and a lot hobbies, too. What are the jobs that make you, and especially leave you, physically uncomfortable? Are there things that raise a bit of a sweat, bring your heart rate up a touch or make you a little achey? Think about how can you modify your approach to them, not to make them easier, but to make them more effective exercise. Get a sense of the muscles you're using and areas you're stretching, and then think about ways to adapt the posture, position or motion to increase the specificity or intensity of that exercise. If possible for you, make sure that you can switch between your dominant and non-dominant hand, to make the routine symmetrical. If you can get even a simple and cheap fitness tracker, use that to monitor and log your activity level during this kind of work, and try to increase it gradually. If feasible, try treating "chores and exercise" as a single category which you schedule into your day at the same time and change into your "gym clothes" for.
I think that this goes hand in hand with what Oyéah is outlining above: it's vital to do exercise (including lots of stretching) that primarily makes your body feel good. All I'd emphasise is that it's your body and its powers you're seeking to enjoy, not an ableist world's bullshit expectations of a "healthy body". So much of what we feel about exercise is dictated by the idea of "health" and its connotations of moral wholeness, as if our value is calculated like a gemstone with marks off for "flaws". Our capacities and limits aren't signs of incompleteness or the chipping away of our real self: they're facets of a life that no-one else will ever live. We have, in any moment, exactly one opportunity to appreciate what we are. My mother sometimes reminds me that we are each only anywhere once†. We're also each only anyone once†. I won't ever be sporty. I won't ever be competent at any game that requires awareness of more than about 3 or 4 things moving around me in space, or even be able to run safely on a hard surface, but I can continue to increase my satisfaction and pride about being the creature that I am.
* While there is very good reason to believe that the power of placebo effects has been wildly overstated, especially around the turn of the century, and that this study in some ways reflects the last gasp of that embarrassing blind alley, I think the fairly well-known 2007 'Exercise and the Placebo Effect' study may point at something more interesting and complicated than the "magic of mindset" conclusion its authors seem to be angling for. We are systemic entities, not computers steering robots, and we change ourselves by changing the structures that define us, by reimagining them and acting on what we devise.
† Well, either once or, if you need even more motivation, an infinite number of identical times. Maybe this is why Nietzsche was so into walking.
posted by howfar at 2:57 AM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Practically, then, I'd suggest trying to maximise the benefit of all the exercise you're already doing by reassessing the physical stuff you do in the day*. The majority of us, even the very sedentary, do a fair amount of stuff that is a least a little physically challenging for us: that's exercise.
The most obvious things to look at are housework and any yardwork or gardening, but you can find stuff in much paid labour and a lot hobbies, too. What are the jobs that make you, and especially leave you, physically uncomfortable? Are there things that raise a bit of a sweat, bring your heart rate up a touch or make you a little achey? Think about how can you modify your approach to them, not to make them easier, but to make them more effective exercise. Get a sense of the muscles you're using and areas you're stretching, and then think about ways to adapt the posture, position or motion to increase the specificity or intensity of that exercise. If possible for you, make sure that you can switch between your dominant and non-dominant hand, to make the routine symmetrical. If you can get even a simple and cheap fitness tracker, use that to monitor and log your activity level during this kind of work, and try to increase it gradually. If feasible, try treating "chores and exercise" as a single category which you schedule into your day at the same time and change into your "gym clothes" for.
I think that this goes hand in hand with what Oyéah is outlining above: it's vital to do exercise (including lots of stretching) that primarily makes your body feel good. All I'd emphasise is that it's your body and its powers you're seeking to enjoy, not an ableist world's bullshit expectations of a "healthy body". So much of what we feel about exercise is dictated by the idea of "health" and its connotations of moral wholeness, as if our value is calculated like a gemstone with marks off for "flaws". Our capacities and limits aren't signs of incompleteness or the chipping away of our real self: they're facets of a life that no-one else will ever live. We have, in any moment, exactly one opportunity to appreciate what we are. My mother sometimes reminds me that we are each only anywhere once†. We're also each only anyone once†. I won't ever be sporty. I won't ever be competent at any game that requires awareness of more than about 3 or 4 things moving around me in space, or even be able to run safely on a hard surface, but I can continue to increase my satisfaction and pride about being the creature that I am.
* While there is very good reason to believe that the power of placebo effects has been wildly overstated, especially around the turn of the century, and that this study in some ways reflects the last gasp of that embarrassing blind alley, I think the fairly well-known 2007 'Exercise and the Placebo Effect' study may point at something more interesting and complicated than the "magic of mindset" conclusion its authors seem to be angling for. We are systemic entities, not computers steering robots, and we change ourselves by changing the structures that define us, by reimagining them and acting on what we devise.
† Well, either once or, if you need even more motivation, an infinite number of identical times. Maybe this is why Nietzsche was so into walking.
posted by howfar at 2:57 AM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
About humor....
Answering an Ask question about a quote about humor haphazardly because it could be anybody....
I went a Googling and stumbled across this:
Steve Martin, Marvin Minsky, Douglas Hofstadter, and Kim Binsted in a 2 and a half hour symposium on the topic of: Jokes and Humor.
Hofstadter (GEB, Metamagical Themas), Minsky (heh), Binsted (JAPE (Joke Analysis and Production Engine)), and well, Steve Martin.
A 2h28m well spent. Worth watching.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:01 AM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Answering an Ask question about a quote about humor haphazardly because it could be anybody....
I went a Googling and stumbled across this:
Steve Martin, Marvin Minsky, Douglas Hofstadter, and Kim Binsted in a 2 and a half hour symposium on the topic of: Jokes and Humor.
Hofstadter (GEB, Metamagical Themas), Minsky (heh), Binsted (JAPE (Joke Analysis and Production Engine)), and well, Steve Martin.
A 2h28m well spent. Worth watching.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:01 AM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
A 2h28m well spent.
What a lineup! Watching now. Thanks!
posted by kingless at 8:15 AM on March 5, 2022
What a lineup! Watching now. Thanks!
posted by kingless at 8:15 AM on March 5, 2022
This weekend is going to involve cutting holes in walls big enough to stick cameras into and bringing a spectrum analyzer and some cable and crimp tools from work.
Got to this late enough that it's already the weekend, but given that your work has a borrowable spectrum analyzer, I hope and trust that you didn't forget to check if it also happens to have a borrowable TDR cable fault distance meter before starting in on those holes.
And now off to unmake the bed so I can get in it (making ours involves removing the doonas and pillows and rolling up the futon).
posted by flabdablet at 9:10 AM on March 5, 2022
Got to this late enough that it's already the weekend, but given that your work has a borrowable spectrum analyzer, I hope and trust that you didn't forget to check if it also happens to have a borrowable TDR cable fault distance meter before starting in on those holes.
And now off to unmake the bed so I can get in it (making ours involves removing the doonas and pillows and rolling up the futon).
posted by flabdablet at 9:10 AM on March 5, 2022
To the mefite whose comment in this thread just turned me onto Aldous Harding I wanted to offer a thank you.
And this top comment from one of her videos:
When Aldous dances like Aldous, she is "enigmatic" and "ethereal", but when I dance like Aldous I'm "perplexing" and "scaring the customers".
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 9:14 AM on March 5, 2022
And this top comment from one of her videos:
When Aldous dances like Aldous, she is "enigmatic" and "ethereal", but when I dance like Aldous I'm "perplexing" and "scaring the customers".
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 9:14 AM on March 5, 2022
Not booted it up yet, but I'm pretty sure Elden Ring does not use Unreal. My understanding is that they're on their own long evolved code base.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 10:54 AM on March 5, 2022
posted by inpHilltr8r at 10:54 AM on March 5, 2022
Thanks zengargoyle, that was great. One among many funny moments was that twice during the Q&A Hofstadter kind of started blathering vaguely about something being a mystery, and Minsky just shut him down with “I don’t think that’s a mystery at all!” Also, Minsky’s favorite TV shows in 1997 were probably shared by many of his students.
posted by mubba at 12:16 PM on March 5, 2022
posted by mubba at 12:16 PM on March 5, 2022
Late to the party -- so many good stories about cats and fitness and jobs.
My job has been too much this week. I'm not supposed to work more than 30 hours a week, but this week there has been several 10-12 hour days. And then back to doom scrolling. I make my bed, because I share my home with four beautiful young people and my bed is in my office and I need it for putting out stacks of papers and books during the day.
I'm also watching the video with the renowned DJ Idris Elba telling the world about my youth, very slowly, because I have to see every five minutes of it twice, it makes me happy-sad.
I unwind by thinking about food and cooking and tasting food. Today I made a cream of broccoli soup, because there was a fine bunch of broccoli for the equivalent of 1 dollar at the market. So I finely chopped a leek, a carrot, some leftover celery, and the stems of the broccoli and sautéed them in olive oil, while I finely diced a big potato and two cm of a chili, which I then added to the pan. When they had sautéed with the other vegs for a while, I seasoned with salt, white pepper, ginger and thyme, then added water. I brought it all to a simmer and put a lid on, and let it simmer very very gently while I doom-scrolled, walked the dog and generally forgot about it for something like an hour or an hour and a half. Then I added the flowery tops of the broccoli and seasoned to taste. Then after a while, one of the kids proclaimed that it smelled divine and made him hungry and then he left to buy some street food. And then after five minutes he returned and said he couldn't find anything he wanted as much as that soup.
Flattered, I added whole cream and blended the whole thing in the pot with my immersion blender. I served it with bacon and croutons on top and a drizzle of balsamico, but to be honest, when I tried it later with sumac as the topping instead, it was even better.
posted by mumimor at 2:03 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
My job has been too much this week. I'm not supposed to work more than 30 hours a week, but this week there has been several 10-12 hour days. And then back to doom scrolling. I make my bed, because I share my home with four beautiful young people and my bed is in my office and I need it for putting out stacks of papers and books during the day.
I'm also watching the video with the renowned DJ Idris Elba telling the world about my youth, very slowly, because I have to see every five minutes of it twice, it makes me happy-sad.
I unwind by thinking about food and cooking and tasting food. Today I made a cream of broccoli soup, because there was a fine bunch of broccoli for the equivalent of 1 dollar at the market. So I finely chopped a leek, a carrot, some leftover celery, and the stems of the broccoli and sautéed them in olive oil, while I finely diced a big potato and two cm of a chili, which I then added to the pan. When they had sautéed with the other vegs for a while, I seasoned with salt, white pepper, ginger and thyme, then added water. I brought it all to a simmer and put a lid on, and let it simmer very very gently while I doom-scrolled, walked the dog and generally forgot about it for something like an hour or an hour and a half. Then I added the flowery tops of the broccoli and seasoned to taste. Then after a while, one of the kids proclaimed that it smelled divine and made him hungry and then he left to buy some street food. And then after five minutes he returned and said he couldn't find anything he wanted as much as that soup.
Flattered, I added whole cream and blended the whole thing in the pot with my immersion blender. I served it with bacon and croutons on top and a drizzle of balsamico, but to be honest, when I tried it later with sumac as the topping instead, it was even better.
posted by mumimor at 2:03 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Speaking of food... Last weekend I made chicken cacciatore for the first time.
I'd never made it before because of memories of my mom's uninviting version when I was a kid. She was an indifferent cook and an unadventurous eater; she memorized a dozen or so recipes and just recycled them endlessly. Her version of cacciatore was overcooked chicken breasts, a bunch of unseasoned plain tomato sauce, and soggy rings of onion cooked in the sauce instead of properly sautéed. No bell pepper even, because my sister couldn't stand to be in the same room with one let alone eat it; and I never encountered a mushroom until after I moved out and met someone who could actually cook. So yeah, I had no compulsion to replicate that experience.
But something recently (probably a YouTube cooking video) made me rethink the idea. So I used this recipe but used homemade chicken stock and tripled the garlic/oregano/thyme amounts, and I also added a generous heaping tablespoon of tomato paste when making the mirepoix to bump up the tomato-based umami. I also let the sauce cook down and thicken for a bit before adding the thighs back in. The whole thing took a good 2 hours at least, with allowing the real time it takes to sauté onion/pepper/celery plus added simmering time. But wow!! Totally worth it - intensely flavorful and savory and the chicken was tender and juicy. And it was even better warmed up the next day.
So now, flushed with the thrill of a successful new entree added to my dinner rotation, I turn to my fellow Mefites for new inspiration. Please, suggest me a new involved-but-worth-the-extra-work recipe! Mexican and Italian cuisines are my favorite, but I like others as well.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:44 PM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'd never made it before because of memories of my mom's uninviting version when I was a kid. She was an indifferent cook and an unadventurous eater; she memorized a dozen or so recipes and just recycled them endlessly. Her version of cacciatore was overcooked chicken breasts, a bunch of unseasoned plain tomato sauce, and soggy rings of onion cooked in the sauce instead of properly sautéed. No bell pepper even, because my sister couldn't stand to be in the same room with one let alone eat it; and I never encountered a mushroom until after I moved out and met someone who could actually cook. So yeah, I had no compulsion to replicate that experience.
But something recently (probably a YouTube cooking video) made me rethink the idea. So I used this recipe but used homemade chicken stock and tripled the garlic/oregano/thyme amounts, and I also added a generous heaping tablespoon of tomato paste when making the mirepoix to bump up the tomato-based umami. I also let the sauce cook down and thicken for a bit before adding the thighs back in. The whole thing took a good 2 hours at least, with allowing the real time it takes to sauté onion/pepper/celery plus added simmering time. But wow!! Totally worth it - intensely flavorful and savory and the chicken was tender and juicy. And it was even better warmed up the next day.
So now, flushed with the thrill of a successful new entree added to my dinner rotation, I turn to my fellow Mefites for new inspiration. Please, suggest me a new involved-but-worth-the-extra-work recipe! Mexican and Italian cuisines are my favorite, but I like others as well.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:44 PM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
This chicken with mole verde is one of the tastiest things I make. Don't let the fact that the chicken is boiled bother you, it's very good. Plus the stock you have left over from cooking the chicken can be used for Mexican rice, or for tortilla soup or a southwestern chicken chowder type thing.
posted by mollweide at 3:26 PM on March 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 3:26 PM on March 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
For a Sunday dinner Osso Buco (Italian Braised Veal Shanks) is a delicious meal, not too difficult.
posted by mumimor at 3:27 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 3:27 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
This thread has encouraged me to do something I thought I'd never do and that is re-watch Get Back. I will really only be looking at George Martin's beautiful posh face.
It's becoming increasingly hard to get my mind off the thing and other personal things (it's 4am) but I'm also going to take the opportunity to finally read those Insta poets I'm not meant to like.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 8:20 PM on March 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's becoming increasingly hard to get my mind off the thing and other personal things (it's 4am) but I'm also going to take the opportunity to finally read those Insta poets I'm not meant to like.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 8:20 PM on March 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
I watched the first half of episode 3 of Get Back last night and I also admired George Martin's beautiful poshness, ihaveyourfoot.
posted by Zumbador at 9:18 PM on March 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Zumbador at 9:18 PM on March 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm late to this but: (Please, tell me how. I keep telling myself to exercise more and I can't bring myself to do it more that like once a month. I know that people say that regular exercise gives you more energy, but after a half-hour on the elliptical, I feel like I don't want to do anything else for the rest of the day. Is it just me?)
The equipment doesn't have to matter. Just walk in a way that feels good to you. For whatever reason, I found Nine inch Nails Ghosts 1-4 compelling while on my walks when I was fairly sedentary. Walks turned in to more but it wasn't intentional. Just walking can do so much
posted by treepour at 3:01 AM on March 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
The equipment doesn't have to matter. Just walk in a way that feels good to you. For whatever reason, I found Nine inch Nails Ghosts 1-4 compelling while on my walks when I was fairly sedentary. Walks turned in to more but it wasn't intentional. Just walking can do so much
posted by treepour at 3:01 AM on March 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Please, suggest me a new involved-but-worth-the-extra-work recipe! Mexican and Italian cuisines are my favorite
Let me see if I can remember what I did for last Thursday's lasagne.
Bought Wednesday morning:
1kg kangaroo mince (beef will do if not too fatty, but veal is better and I think kangaroo is better still)
Three smallish brown onions
Two very small and strangely shaped green capsicums (I would normally use a single big one)
Four small cup mushrooms
250g tomato paste
810g crushed tomatoes
1kg traditional ricotta
500g greek style yoghurt
Shredded tasty cheese
Shredded parmesan cheese
Two boxes lasagne sheets
Dried oregano
Already on hand:
Whole black pepper
Whole coriander seed
Whole cumin seed
Whole star anise
Whole cloves
One weird carrot
Salt
Minced garlic
Massel chicken style stock powder
Olive oil
Pearl River Bridge light soy sauce
About a cup of spoiled 1972 Chateau Tahbilk marsanne*
Two dried bay leaves
Whole milk
Half a box of lasagne sheets left over from last time
Picked from back yard:
One fresh lemon myrtle leaf
Two sprigs fresh rosemary
A handful of fresh thyme
Started prep 10pm Wednesday night, after everybody else had gone to bed so I had a quiet and reliably cat-free kitchen all to myself.
First thing was to encourage the kangaroo mince out of the corners of its bag into one big mass in the middle, then lay the bag on a dinner plate so it wouldn't want to leak everywhere when cut open, then cut it open, then blast the top side with salt. Can't tell you how much exactly. All I do is open the top of the salt drum to the small hole, aim it at the mince and squeeze until it looks like I've dusted every part of it at least once. Certainly nowhere near a crust. Same routine I'd use for a steak, if that's any help.
Next I put maybe a heaped teaspoon of whole black pepper, a bit less whole coriander seed, a pinch of whole cumin seed, two lobes from a star anise, and four whole cloves into the stone mortar, and spent ten minutes grinding those down to a very fine powder with the pestle. Dusted half a teaspoon of the result over the kangaroo mince as evenly as I could.
Vegetable chop next. Cut the onions up very fine, working slowly and methodically to get the pieces looking nice and small and even. Shoved that pile down to the end of the chopping board, then did the same to the capsicums and the carrot, then quartered the mushrooms and cut the quarters into very thin slices, maybe 1mm.
Put my deep and shallow cast iron pans onto the stove, with the deep one set for a low simmer and the shallow one a fair bit hotter (our stove is electric, and the burners take quite some time to come up to temperature). Added a good splash of olive oil to both, being more generous with the shallow pan. Emptied the can of crushed tomatoes into the deep pan, along with the half can of water with which I rinsed the can out before putting it in the recycling box. Added the lemon myrtle and bay leaves to the tomatoes.
Once the olive oil in the shallow pan looked like it was nice and hot, I used tongs and my favourite wooden spatula to achieve a careful transfer of the entire slab of mince into that pan, seasoned side down, complete with all the bloody juices from the bag. As soon as it was all properly contained and sizzling, I blasted the newly topmost side with its own dusting of salt and another half teaspoon of the spice mix. Being really too big a portion for the pan and very wet, the mince cooks in a way that looks distressingly closer to boiling than browning but left to its own devices it does brown nicely underneath; just takes time.
With the mince browning and the tomato heating, I rinsed out the bloody bag and dumped it in the trash, then gave the hot stove a bit of a wipe down to get rid of a little spatter. Much easier to keep on top of that while the cooking's going on so it never gets time to harden up and stick tight.
After the mince's juices had reduced enough that it was looking more fryish than boilish, I started using the tongs to have quick peeks underneath to check how the browning was going. When it got to the stage of starting to ooze juices from the topmost side and the underneath looked nicely browned, I used the spatula and tongs to turn it over; as usual it broke into a few biggish pieces for this. While it browned on the underside, I picked off a few of the browned pieces from the top and tasted them. Yum! Spices have worked OK. And after it had nicely browned underneath as well, I slid the pan off the heat and used the end of the spatula to break up the big cohesive pieces into a crumbly pile and dumped the results, plus as much browning as I could scrape off the bottom of the pan, in with the tomatoes which by then had reached a nice slow simmer.
I put the emptied shallow pan back on its burner, poured in all the wine, turned the burner up to maximum, and used the wooden spatula to scrape all the remaining browning off the bottom of the pan, aided by seething wine. Kept boiling off the wine until it had reduced to maybe a quarter of its original volume, then added it all to the deep pan and gave that a bit of a stir just in case it had begun to think about sticking. It didn't seem to have done.
More olive oil for the shallow pan, then in went the mushroom and carrot piles from the vegie chopping board. Stir-fried those until the mushrooms started to smell like breakfast and the carrot had started to soften, then added the onions and capsicum, two generous dessertspoons of the minced garlic, and the rest of the spice mix from the mortar. Washed and racked the chopping board. Kept stirring the vegies around until the onions had gone golden and smelled and tasted good, then scraped them all into the deep pan, turned its burner down to minimum, and clapped the shallow pan on top in lid mode.
As the pan gently simmered away I tore leaves off the rosemary and thyme stems until I'd made a pile I thought was big enough, then added those and a good shake of the dried oregano to the pan and stirred them through. Tasted: thought it could use a splash of soy sauce so I added one. Then it was time for half a jar (i.e. 250g) of tomato paste along with more water to stop the tomato paste thickening things up too much. A good stir, another tasting, then in went a heaped teaspoon of chicken stock powder. More stirring, more tasting, then creamed things up with a goodly glug of whole milk, maybe half a cup? Stirred that through until the colour was even, a final tasting and satisfaction. By this stage the pan was within about a centimetre of full and had gone off the simmer, so I put the lid back on.
With the meat sauce done it was time to make the white sauce. I have pretty much given up on making bechamel for lasagne. The results never taste like I want, and it takes forever to make a good one free of lumps so I don't bother. Instead I just put a kilo of traditional ricotta (the rather firm one that comes in its own little sieve), including all the whey that comes in the packaging, into a big mixing bowl with half a kilo of greek yoghurt and smoosh them together with a big fork until they're smooth and even. Done and done.
Rinsed out the bag and the plastic sieve from the ricotta, kept the sieve and discarded the bag. Retrieved the chopping board from the dishrack, gave the zucchini a rinse, then sat and sliced it ever so carefully into discs no more than a millimetre thick each. By the time that was done the meat sauce was back to making small and contented blup and blop noises, so I lifted the lid and gave it a stir to discourage any sticking. Again, I couldn't feel any.
Assembly time! First comes lining the bottom of the massive oven dish I'm going to bake this thing in with the finely sliced zucchini. I always do this in two layers so that I can't see any of the bottom of the dish showing through. Next comes a layer of lasagne sheets, then meat sauce, then more sheets, then ricotta yoghurt mix, then more sheets, meat sauce, more sheets, ricotta, more sheets, meat sauce and now the oven dish is very nearly full and I still have quite a lot of sauce and ricotta left. So out comes the small backup oven dish, and it gets filled the same way except that now I only have enough sheets left to make four layers instead of five and I run out of ricotta after only one layer, so it's a bit shallower and meatier. And I make sure to retrieve all the bay and lemon myrtle leaves from the meat sauce as I dole it out, because slurping the sauce off those during assembly is much more fun than encountering them in a finished lasagne.
Then both dishes get covered in shredded tasty cheese, enough that I can't see through it to the meat sauce layer underneath. Finally, I sprinkle shredded parmesan over the top of the shredded tasty to fill in the gaps between the rather larger tasty shreds. Cling wrap over the top of both the dishes and into the fridge they go.
After eating up as much of the scrapings from the pots and bowls and spatula as I could get at, I washed everything up, racked the chopping board, heat-dried and oiled the cast iron and hung it back up, wiped down the stove and finally called Job Done at 3am.
Come Thursday night, all I had to do was pull two oven dishes out of the fridge and stick them in the oven at 160°C (fan forced) until the cheese toppings went brown and bubbly and the kitchen smelled like heaven.
We ate a lot of lasagne that night, along with a garden salad made mostly from ingredients picked from an actual garden. I made a dressing for the salad by pouring the brine from the packet of feta cheese I'd cut up for it into a little screw-top jar, then bringing the liquid level up to about 3cm with red wine vinegar, up to maybe 4cm with olive oil, then to 5cm with a bit of the herb-infused oil that sun-dried tomatoes come packed in, then another half cm of very oily tahini (the tahini jar was a bit old and had separated somewhat, so I just stirred the oil on top around until it had picked up enough of what was underneath to assume the consistency of heavy cream) and a little splash of soy sauce. Screw top on, shake like mad and into the salad bowl it goes. It was good.
I have never taken a lasagne prep and cook at as leisurely a pace as this before because I'd never thought to assemble one a day ahead and leave it resting in the fridge before baking, but I am now absolutely convinced that this is the only way I'll ever be making them from now on. The process is so much more enjoyable when done with zero time pressure or distraction, and the end result was exactly what I was aiming for.
These days I'm eating only one day in four. I wouldn't have eaten Thursday night except that the whole point of the lasagne was that we had a friend over for dinner for the first time in forever, so I swapped it with Friday which means I'm now in a four day water fast instead of the usual three. The rest of the household has eaten up all the leftovers from the main dish, but the backup dish is socked away in the freezer and I am so looking forward to Tuesday.
*My father's consuming passion for several years in the 1970s was buying wine in bulk from several of the Rutherglen wineries, bottling it at home, and laying it down under the house. He ended up needing to excavate quite a lot of soil from under the front room to make it all fit. By the time he stopped, what used to be a crawl space was a cellar we could just about stand up in. The house was double brick, and the temperature underneath was always cool and stable.
After my parents died, before we sold the house we retrieved several hundred bottles of wine from underneath it. I made a deal with a friend who has a shipping container buried in the side of a hill that he uses as a combined cellar space and fire bunker, swapping the use of his storage space for as much of the hoard as he felt moved to try drinking. In fact he's used up scarcely any of it. Neither I nor ms flabdablet are huge wine drinkers, but every now and then I'll visit and retrieve another box of six and we'll get into them and find out what's survived.
Much of the hoard has taken damage from the various times at which Dad's cellar got flooded (drainage was reactive, not proactive, consisting of a garden hose run out through a vent, across the front garden, then far enough down the street to put the drain end lower than the intake end) and many of the corks have failed and many bottles have leaked. So much of what's left is in the category of noble wrecks, like Marianne Faithfull's singing voice: worthy of deep and abiding respect, but scarred by hard living and tinged with a certain degree of sadness for lost glory.
But every now and then, something emerges that is just flat-out wonderful. Several of the bottles of his blend of 75% 1976 Tahbilk shiraz and 25% Campbell's cabernet have been nothing short of divine.
Some of the '72 and '76 marsannes have also survived astonishingly well, in the face of somewhat dodgy corking and flood damage and mould and mud. I would not have believed that a white wine would be in any way drinkable 50 years down the line, but when we find a good bottle it's really good.
But Dad bottled his marsannes in tall, elegant green glass bottles with slightly tapered necks, many of which have since sucked their corks partway down inside themselves and leaked away most of their contents. What remains inside those ranges from weird to very very weird, but pouring them down the sink just feels sacrilegious.
One of the last six I brought home was affected that way. It was missing all but a cupful, and that cupful had the cork floating in it; the only thing even approximating a seal was the heat-shrink capping that Dad put over all his corks. I peeled off the capping and took a sniff, and although it had an unmistakable acetic tang it did still smell to some extent like wine. Adopting an attitude of flagrant disregard for food safety, I decided to cook with it, and as things turned out I'm really glad I did.
But I expect you could probably substitute just about any kind of cooking wine and still get something good out of this. Seething is not kind to subtle flavours.
posted by flabdablet at 6:22 AM on March 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Let me see if I can remember what I did for last Thursday's lasagne.
Bought Wednesday morning:
1kg kangaroo mince (beef will do if not too fatty, but veal is better and I think kangaroo is better still)
Three smallish brown onions
Two very small and strangely shaped green capsicums (I would normally use a single big one)
Four small cup mushrooms
250g tomato paste
810g crushed tomatoes
1kg traditional ricotta
500g greek style yoghurt
Shredded tasty cheese
Shredded parmesan cheese
Two boxes lasagne sheets
Dried oregano
Already on hand:
Whole black pepper
Whole coriander seed
Whole cumin seed
Whole star anise
Whole cloves
One weird carrot
Salt
Minced garlic
Massel chicken style stock powder
Olive oil
Pearl River Bridge light soy sauce
About a cup of spoiled 1972 Chateau Tahbilk marsanne*
Two dried bay leaves
Whole milk
Half a box of lasagne sheets left over from last time
Picked from back yard:
One fresh lemon myrtle leaf
Two sprigs fresh rosemary
A handful of fresh thyme
Started prep 10pm Wednesday night, after everybody else had gone to bed so I had a quiet and reliably cat-free kitchen all to myself.
First thing was to encourage the kangaroo mince out of the corners of its bag into one big mass in the middle, then lay the bag on a dinner plate so it wouldn't want to leak everywhere when cut open, then cut it open, then blast the top side with salt. Can't tell you how much exactly. All I do is open the top of the salt drum to the small hole, aim it at the mince and squeeze until it looks like I've dusted every part of it at least once. Certainly nowhere near a crust. Same routine I'd use for a steak, if that's any help.
Next I put maybe a heaped teaspoon of whole black pepper, a bit less whole coriander seed, a pinch of whole cumin seed, two lobes from a star anise, and four whole cloves into the stone mortar, and spent ten minutes grinding those down to a very fine powder with the pestle. Dusted half a teaspoon of the result over the kangaroo mince as evenly as I could.
Vegetable chop next. Cut the onions up very fine, working slowly and methodically to get the pieces looking nice and small and even. Shoved that pile down to the end of the chopping board, then did the same to the capsicums and the carrot, then quartered the mushrooms and cut the quarters into very thin slices, maybe 1mm.
Put my deep and shallow cast iron pans onto the stove, with the deep one set for a low simmer and the shallow one a fair bit hotter (our stove is electric, and the burners take quite some time to come up to temperature). Added a good splash of olive oil to both, being more generous with the shallow pan. Emptied the can of crushed tomatoes into the deep pan, along with the half can of water with which I rinsed the can out before putting it in the recycling box. Added the lemon myrtle and bay leaves to the tomatoes.
Once the olive oil in the shallow pan looked like it was nice and hot, I used tongs and my favourite wooden spatula to achieve a careful transfer of the entire slab of mince into that pan, seasoned side down, complete with all the bloody juices from the bag. As soon as it was all properly contained and sizzling, I blasted the newly topmost side with its own dusting of salt and another half teaspoon of the spice mix. Being really too big a portion for the pan and very wet, the mince cooks in a way that looks distressingly closer to boiling than browning but left to its own devices it does brown nicely underneath; just takes time.
With the mince browning and the tomato heating, I rinsed out the bloody bag and dumped it in the trash, then gave the hot stove a bit of a wipe down to get rid of a little spatter. Much easier to keep on top of that while the cooking's going on so it never gets time to harden up and stick tight.
After the mince's juices had reduced enough that it was looking more fryish than boilish, I started using the tongs to have quick peeks underneath to check how the browning was going. When it got to the stage of starting to ooze juices from the topmost side and the underneath looked nicely browned, I used the spatula and tongs to turn it over; as usual it broke into a few biggish pieces for this. While it browned on the underside, I picked off a few of the browned pieces from the top and tasted them. Yum! Spices have worked OK. And after it had nicely browned underneath as well, I slid the pan off the heat and used the end of the spatula to break up the big cohesive pieces into a crumbly pile and dumped the results, plus as much browning as I could scrape off the bottom of the pan, in with the tomatoes which by then had reached a nice slow simmer.
I put the emptied shallow pan back on its burner, poured in all the wine, turned the burner up to maximum, and used the wooden spatula to scrape all the remaining browning off the bottom of the pan, aided by seething wine. Kept boiling off the wine until it had reduced to maybe a quarter of its original volume, then added it all to the deep pan and gave that a bit of a stir just in case it had begun to think about sticking. It didn't seem to have done.
More olive oil for the shallow pan, then in went the mushroom and carrot piles from the vegie chopping board. Stir-fried those until the mushrooms started to smell like breakfast and the carrot had started to soften, then added the onions and capsicum, two generous dessertspoons of the minced garlic, and the rest of the spice mix from the mortar. Washed and racked the chopping board. Kept stirring the vegies around until the onions had gone golden and smelled and tasted good, then scraped them all into the deep pan, turned its burner down to minimum, and clapped the shallow pan on top in lid mode.
As the pan gently simmered away I tore leaves off the rosemary and thyme stems until I'd made a pile I thought was big enough, then added those and a good shake of the dried oregano to the pan and stirred them through. Tasted: thought it could use a splash of soy sauce so I added one. Then it was time for half a jar (i.e. 250g) of tomato paste along with more water to stop the tomato paste thickening things up too much. A good stir, another tasting, then in went a heaped teaspoon of chicken stock powder. More stirring, more tasting, then creamed things up with a goodly glug of whole milk, maybe half a cup? Stirred that through until the colour was even, a final tasting and satisfaction. By this stage the pan was within about a centimetre of full and had gone off the simmer, so I put the lid back on.
With the meat sauce done it was time to make the white sauce. I have pretty much given up on making bechamel for lasagne. The results never taste like I want, and it takes forever to make a good one free of lumps so I don't bother. Instead I just put a kilo of traditional ricotta (the rather firm one that comes in its own little sieve), including all the whey that comes in the packaging, into a big mixing bowl with half a kilo of greek yoghurt and smoosh them together with a big fork until they're smooth and even. Done and done.
Rinsed out the bag and the plastic sieve from the ricotta, kept the sieve and discarded the bag. Retrieved the chopping board from the dishrack, gave the zucchini a rinse, then sat and sliced it ever so carefully into discs no more than a millimetre thick each. By the time that was done the meat sauce was back to making small and contented blup and blop noises, so I lifted the lid and gave it a stir to discourage any sticking. Again, I couldn't feel any.
Assembly time! First comes lining the bottom of the massive oven dish I'm going to bake this thing in with the finely sliced zucchini. I always do this in two layers so that I can't see any of the bottom of the dish showing through. Next comes a layer of lasagne sheets, then meat sauce, then more sheets, then ricotta yoghurt mix, then more sheets, meat sauce, more sheets, ricotta, more sheets, meat sauce and now the oven dish is very nearly full and I still have quite a lot of sauce and ricotta left. So out comes the small backup oven dish, and it gets filled the same way except that now I only have enough sheets left to make four layers instead of five and I run out of ricotta after only one layer, so it's a bit shallower and meatier. And I make sure to retrieve all the bay and lemon myrtle leaves from the meat sauce as I dole it out, because slurping the sauce off those during assembly is much more fun than encountering them in a finished lasagne.
Then both dishes get covered in shredded tasty cheese, enough that I can't see through it to the meat sauce layer underneath. Finally, I sprinkle shredded parmesan over the top of the shredded tasty to fill in the gaps between the rather larger tasty shreds. Cling wrap over the top of both the dishes and into the fridge they go.
After eating up as much of the scrapings from the pots and bowls and spatula as I could get at, I washed everything up, racked the chopping board, heat-dried and oiled the cast iron and hung it back up, wiped down the stove and finally called Job Done at 3am.
Come Thursday night, all I had to do was pull two oven dishes out of the fridge and stick them in the oven at 160°C (fan forced) until the cheese toppings went brown and bubbly and the kitchen smelled like heaven.
We ate a lot of lasagne that night, along with a garden salad made mostly from ingredients picked from an actual garden. I made a dressing for the salad by pouring the brine from the packet of feta cheese I'd cut up for it into a little screw-top jar, then bringing the liquid level up to about 3cm with red wine vinegar, up to maybe 4cm with olive oil, then to 5cm with a bit of the herb-infused oil that sun-dried tomatoes come packed in, then another half cm of very oily tahini (the tahini jar was a bit old and had separated somewhat, so I just stirred the oil on top around until it had picked up enough of what was underneath to assume the consistency of heavy cream) and a little splash of soy sauce. Screw top on, shake like mad and into the salad bowl it goes. It was good.
I have never taken a lasagne prep and cook at as leisurely a pace as this before because I'd never thought to assemble one a day ahead and leave it resting in the fridge before baking, but I am now absolutely convinced that this is the only way I'll ever be making them from now on. The process is so much more enjoyable when done with zero time pressure or distraction, and the end result was exactly what I was aiming for.
These days I'm eating only one day in four. I wouldn't have eaten Thursday night except that the whole point of the lasagne was that we had a friend over for dinner for the first time in forever, so I swapped it with Friday which means I'm now in a four day water fast instead of the usual three. The rest of the household has eaten up all the leftovers from the main dish, but the backup dish is socked away in the freezer and I am so looking forward to Tuesday.
*My father's consuming passion for several years in the 1970s was buying wine in bulk from several of the Rutherglen wineries, bottling it at home, and laying it down under the house. He ended up needing to excavate quite a lot of soil from under the front room to make it all fit. By the time he stopped, what used to be a crawl space was a cellar we could just about stand up in. The house was double brick, and the temperature underneath was always cool and stable.
After my parents died, before we sold the house we retrieved several hundred bottles of wine from underneath it. I made a deal with a friend who has a shipping container buried in the side of a hill that he uses as a combined cellar space and fire bunker, swapping the use of his storage space for as much of the hoard as he felt moved to try drinking. In fact he's used up scarcely any of it. Neither I nor ms flabdablet are huge wine drinkers, but every now and then I'll visit and retrieve another box of six and we'll get into them and find out what's survived.
Much of the hoard has taken damage from the various times at which Dad's cellar got flooded (drainage was reactive, not proactive, consisting of a garden hose run out through a vent, across the front garden, then far enough down the street to put the drain end lower than the intake end) and many of the corks have failed and many bottles have leaked. So much of what's left is in the category of noble wrecks, like Marianne Faithfull's singing voice: worthy of deep and abiding respect, but scarred by hard living and tinged with a certain degree of sadness for lost glory.
But every now and then, something emerges that is just flat-out wonderful. Several of the bottles of his blend of 75% 1976 Tahbilk shiraz and 25% Campbell's cabernet have been nothing short of divine.
Some of the '72 and '76 marsannes have also survived astonishingly well, in the face of somewhat dodgy corking and flood damage and mould and mud. I would not have believed that a white wine would be in any way drinkable 50 years down the line, but when we find a good bottle it's really good.
But Dad bottled his marsannes in tall, elegant green glass bottles with slightly tapered necks, many of which have since sucked their corks partway down inside themselves and leaked away most of their contents. What remains inside those ranges from weird to very very weird, but pouring them down the sink just feels sacrilegious.
One of the last six I brought home was affected that way. It was missing all but a cupful, and that cupful had the cork floating in it; the only thing even approximating a seal was the heat-shrink capping that Dad put over all his corks. I peeled off the capping and took a sniff, and although it had an unmistakable acetic tang it did still smell to some extent like wine. Adopting an attitude of flagrant disregard for food safety, I decided to cook with it, and as things turned out I'm really glad I did.
But I expect you could probably substitute just about any kind of cooking wine and still get something good out of this. Seething is not kind to subtle flavours.
posted by flabdablet at 6:22 AM on March 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Chicken Marbella, originally from the Silver Palate cookbook. I substitute dried apricots instead of prunes. Does that matter? It feels fancy, isn't really difficult, very, very tasty.
I made roasted miso-glazed carrots yesterday and they were fantastic.
2lb. or more of peeled carrots, cut lengthwise into long quarters so they cook a bit faster. 1 c water, 2 tb white miso, 1 1/2 Tb olive oil, 2 tsp. grated ginger, 1/2 tsp dried ginger, 3 tsp. crushed garlic, salt & pepper to taste, 415F, in a rimmed baking sheet, turned occasionally, and cooked until the carrots are tender but not mushy. If the sauce is still liquid, remove carrots and let it cook down to be saucier; this took @ 5 minutes. Well, 10 minutes, but some of it burned on the the baking pan, not ideal. If there is a bit of singeing on the carrots, it's okay. Recipes on the web suggest adding brown sugar- don't; carrots are really sweet and the umami is a perfect complement. We gobbled these like candy.
It was a dear friend's birthday, and we ate wildly varied food including pickled mustard greens, no-gluten pasta with fried shallots and chili crisp, and non-dairy seafood chowder, and discussed issues of ethics, evolution, are humans jerks, etc. First time in a long time that I've been to a dinner party and I have missed that type of connection So Much.
posted by theora55 at 10:10 AM on March 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
I made roasted miso-glazed carrots yesterday and they were fantastic.
2lb. or more of peeled carrots, cut lengthwise into long quarters so they cook a bit faster. 1 c water, 2 tb white miso, 1 1/2 Tb olive oil, 2 tsp. grated ginger, 1/2 tsp dried ginger, 3 tsp. crushed garlic, salt & pepper to taste, 415F, in a rimmed baking sheet, turned occasionally, and cooked until the carrots are tender but not mushy. If the sauce is still liquid, remove carrots and let it cook down to be saucier; this took @ 5 minutes. Well, 10 minutes, but some of it burned on the the baking pan, not ideal. If there is a bit of singeing on the carrots, it's okay. Recipes on the web suggest adding brown sugar- don't; carrots are really sweet and the umami is a perfect complement. We gobbled these like candy.
It was a dear friend's birthday, and we ate wildly varied food including pickled mustard greens, no-gluten pasta with fried shallots and chili crisp, and non-dairy seafood chowder, and discussed issues of ethics, evolution, are humans jerks, etc. First time in a long time that I've been to a dinner party and I have missed that type of connection So Much.
posted by theora55 at 10:10 AM on March 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
One weird carrot
User name up for grabs!
The lasagna sounds good flabdablet. But as far as kangaroo meat availability in the US, you might as well have recommended sasquatch haunch. Agreed about cooking with bad wine though; I always buy the cheapest bottle I can find for that.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:58 AM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
User name up for grabs!
The lasagna sounds good flabdablet. But as far as kangaroo meat availability in the US, you might as well have recommended sasquatch haunch. Agreed about cooking with bad wine though; I always buy the cheapest bottle I can find for that.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:58 AM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've never cooked with sasquatch haunch. Is it any good?
posted by flabdablet at 9:00 PM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by flabdablet at 9:00 PM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Tastes like yeti.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:17 PM on March 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:17 PM on March 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
Just use that then, it should be fine.
posted by flabdablet at 10:30 PM on March 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 10:30 PM on March 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
Please, suggest me a new involved-but-worth-the-extra-work recipe! Mexican and Italian cuisines are my favorite, but I like others as well.As it happens I made a big batch of carnitas this evening, which I then used as the filling for some tacos in these homemade sourdough tortillas.
I'm not sure what counts as "involved" by your definition. Neither recipe really requires much in the way of tricky technique (actually they're quite easy and reasonably foolproof) but the carnitas take some setup time, then a long slow cook phase, and then some finish work and the sourdough tortillas are at least a bit more involved than using store-bought.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:35 AM on March 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Tacking back closer to the start-of-the-week mark, it's already time for another Free Thread.
posted by cortex at 10:28 AM on March 8, 2022
posted by cortex at 10:28 AM on March 8, 2022
I avoided all spoilers for Elden Ring and all online discussion for the first couple of days; I didn't even know what scores it had gotten on Metacritic until I had lost a whole (blissful, four day) weekend to Elden Ring. Not because I cared that much about how reviews for it averaged out, but because I was so distracted during those four days by Elden Ring that not once did I do my standard internet idle loop, which includes the front page of Metacritic.
Anyway, it's like Dark Souls, the original Zelda, and a billion dollars all had a fun, sexy video game baby together. It's the first game in a long time that's felt "next generation" to me. It's the modern way its overall design and gameplay loop all work together that makes it feel that way to me, as much as the pretty graphics and the big world. I was a big From fan going into Elden Ring, and it's really noticeable how forgiving and flexible the game is compared to Dark Souls titles -- they've vastly reduced the head-against-a-wall feeling by always giving you a different wall to try, among other things. The continued sense of awe and discovery it manages to maintain into its late game is impressive. It has some little frustrations, it only vaguely gestures towards some of its important systems, and long quests are so specific they seem to expect you to have the wiki open, but there's so much sheer generosity to the scale of this world and the systems of the game that I'm pretty sure it's going to be high on my list of favorite games ever, and I'm still a ways from the ending.
posted by Rinku at 6:15 PM on March 8, 2022
Anyway, it's like Dark Souls, the original Zelda, and a billion dollars all had a fun, sexy video game baby together. It's the first game in a long time that's felt "next generation" to me. It's the modern way its overall design and gameplay loop all work together that makes it feel that way to me, as much as the pretty graphics and the big world. I was a big From fan going into Elden Ring, and it's really noticeable how forgiving and flexible the game is compared to Dark Souls titles -- they've vastly reduced the head-against-a-wall feeling by always giving you a different wall to try, among other things. The continued sense of awe and discovery it manages to maintain into its late game is impressive. It has some little frustrations, it only vaguely gestures towards some of its important systems, and long quests are so specific they seem to expect you to have the wiki open, but there's so much sheer generosity to the scale of this world and the systems of the game that I'm pretty sure it's going to be high on my list of favorite games ever, and I'm still a ways from the ending.
posted by Rinku at 6:15 PM on March 8, 2022
No to-do list should be 38 items long.
Well, there you go. Now you have your incentive to do the things.
posted by biffa at 6:49 AM on March 16, 2022
Well, there you go. Now you have your incentive to do the things.
posted by biffa at 6:49 AM on March 16, 2022
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posted by jacquilynne at 8:54 AM on March 3, 2022 [49 favorites]