Well, I spent 40 hours at work
Feb. 24th, 2026 09:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyFor everybody at home, leaving without a replacement is not simply a fireable offense but an actual, factual crime. Also, I'm not sure how I would've gotten to the bus. I mean, it's right outside the door, and buses were running all night, but man, it was brutal out there. We needed a little shoveling, and neither I nor manager wanted to shovel, so we had to wait for the neighbors to get their sidewalks and then sorta patch us into theirs. (The transportation issue is also why I'm not blaming any coworkers who didn't come in. It was impossible. I genuinely don't think that this was a fixable issue, Staten Island got a lot of snow.)
In retrospect, what probably ought to have been done would have had to have been done in advance:
1. Manager should've taken as much discretionary money as possible, agreed to let staff order Chinese or whatever for two, three meals - something that reheats nicely - and offered to pay all our carfare home in advance, and then used that to straight up bribe at least one extra staff member to stay over the storm. With three of us, we could've had one on each floor and also could've more easily arranged sleeping shifts so somebody was awake at all times.
2. She also should've called up the families of those residents who frequently go home for an overnight and asked if they'd take their relatives from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. That's suboptimal for a lot of reasons - there's a reason they all live in a residence instead of with their families! - but it would've lightened the burden on us significantly if we'd had even just our two or three easiest residents away visiting their sisters and brothers.
But we all survived! My replacement actually showed up at midnight last night! But she declined to wake me on the grounds that I wasn't going home at midnight, and she was quite right. And then another staff member showed up this morning, and 90 or 100 minutes later my bus finally showed up. (And yes, I do insist on getting paid for that last hour and a half as well. I wasn't just sitting around, I was doing laundry, and supervising on the basement so that everybody else could handle the upper floors, and walking the guys out to their van so nobody slipped on ice.)
I'm home now, I showered, and I have the rest of the week off, off, off. Yay me!
If this happens again, I'm bringing a change of clothing.
221 Mt Auburn St
Feb. 23rd, 2026 07:12 pmmagid( backstory )
Demo photos by week available at:
https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/capitalbuildingprojects/projectsinitiatives/221mtauburnstreet
Blizzard!
Feb. 23rd, 2026 06:48 pmmagidThe wind today was impressive, snow whipping around so strongly that walls were coated in white, not just roofs. It’s slowed now to just snow, having already dropped what I think is over a foot of snow (the drifts make it difficult to be certain; a recently posted news article lists amounts ranging from under half a foot out on the Cape, to almost three feet in Dartmouth). It looks beautiful from the comfort of home; I’m very glad not to be out, though.
My porch is filled with snow; I haven’t been able to open the doors to the porch since MLK weekend.
eta, 7:50p: The city isn’t lifting the snow parking ban until 5p tomorrow, and my functional boss has said that tomorrow’s work sessions will be online tomorrow, just like today, so I can work from home again tomorrow if I wan/if Outside looks less navigable than I’d like.
talmudic dilemma on the way to talmud study
Feb. 23rd, 2026 04:15 pmcellioToday while driving to meet someone for talmud study, I came to some road construction. The road was reduced to one lane, with flaggers [1] at each end. As is usual, cars accumulate at the "waiting" side until there's a backlog and then they switch directions. Today the traffic seemed to be moving very slowly (even for construction zones).
When I got to the middle of the stretch I saw why: there was a large opening in the middle of the road. Even in my Honda Fit, I went slightly onto the sidewalk to get through. It would have been much worse for larger vehicles.
Naturally, I found myself wondering about the halacha. The torah (Mishpatim, Exodus 21) tells us that if one opens a pit in the public thoroughfare and an animal falls in, the one who dug the pit is liable for the damage. The talmud (Bava Kamma 49b and nearby) has some discussion of this, including the case where the pit is covered which is deemed to be safe. But I saw nothing about pits that have active watchers like the construction workers. And while it might be there somewhere, I didn't see discussion about people falling in, and that might be different because people have more agency than oxen.
I wonder how Jewish law would handle the case where a driver, despite best efforts, took damage while driving around this pit, particularly if traffic behind precludes backing out of the situation. Would the Jewish court rule that the diggers of the pit were insufficiently cautious and are liable for the damage? Perhaps they would argue that the workers could have closed the road entirely for that block to avert the problem. Or would they rule that there was an active warning and the driver is responsible, even though there was no cover? Would it be different if the workers had taken a lunch break and put up a "caution" sign? Does it matter that it was a public-works project (like the wells discussed in the talmud) rather than something for private gain?
As a practical matter, of course, the driver submits an insurance claim and nobody sues the government for damages. But I'm curious about the rabbinic answer, not the modern practical answer. I mentioned it to the rabbi I was studying with at the end of our session but we didn't dig into it. Maybe I'll ask on the Judaism community on Codidact.
[1] Not actually flags, but people holding the signs that say "stop" on one side and "slow" on the other to regulate flow through the zone. Is there a name for that role?
Snow shows no sign of stopping
Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:45 amconulyI mean, the buses are running, but nobody else is coming in, and it’s not a job you can just shut down for the day.
I guessed people would call out, and I was right
Feb. 22nd, 2026 06:27 pmconulyWell, I’m getting paid every hour I’m here, at least.
GetFit
Feb. 22nd, 2026 05:03 pmmagidThis fall, there was an announcement that it would be happening again this year, as part of a different department’s programming, and as an 8- rather than 12-week program.
It’s still motivation to get moving during a time of year it’s easy to cocoon, so I signed up. In the old program, there were weekly goals of however many minutes. In the current one, there’s also a weekly goal, but when I looked at it, I was overwhelmed: the 8th week had over 8000 ‘wellable’ points, with a maximum of 1500/day (for scale: 1 mile walked = 100 points). What?! I started freaking out just a bit, trying to figure out how in the last week I’d manage that many points. Then I was chatting with the leader of the tunnel walk I went on Thursday, and she said that she thought it was cumulative, not weekly, goals. Which made a lot more sense, when I thought about it.
So I’m trying to work in more exercise, but not go so overboard that I injure myself or something.
Done Since 2026-02-15
Feb. 22nd, 2026 05:16 pmmdlbearIt's been a rather stressful week, and most of the time I've been very down on myself, mostly for procrastination. But I got through it. I think I'm supposed to count that as a win, even though it doesn't feel like it.
I did figure something out, though. I often (usually?) procrastinate things that may require a decision, because when I finally get around to them the decision often (usually?) turns out to be wrong. (The decision is sometimes to skip something with a time limit, and then regretting not going for it while I had the chance. Same thing.)
Now that Discord has started age-gating NSFW channels and servers, many people (including me) are looking for alternatives. Especially since it was revealed that their age verification vendor Persona left frontend exposed, researchers say. In particular, people are looking for open source alternatives, since those are less likely to be enshittified in the future. We have some time, because most fannish discord communities have few, if any, NSFW channels, and because moving a community is always an extremely lossy process (as those of us who left LJ for DW remember well) and not to be undertaken lightly.
It's concievable that matterbridge could help hold things togather. Not counting on it. I hate this timeline.
You should also replace links that use archive.today, which includes archive.ph et.al., which I have lots of links to. That's going to take a long time. See also Wikipedia blacklists Archive.today, starts removing 695,000 archive links.
Links: You can find Babylon 5 on YouTube HERE. OpenFactBook - Country Data & Statistics is the replacement for the CIA's recently-shut-down World Factbook.
(no subject)
Feb. 18th, 2026 10:32 amconulyAlso, gotta love the one dude, BostonSportsBro69, who posts in both /r/relationship_advice and /r/hockey going around in /r/hockey saying "Uh, no, it's just normal sportsbro rival stuff, you're all reading way too much into this"
( Links )
[The evening darkens over] by Robert Bridges
Feb. 20th, 2026 03:50 pmconulyAfter a day so bright
The windcapt waves discover
That wild will be the night.
There’s sound of distant thunder.
The latest sea-birds hover
Along the cliff’s sheer height;
As in the memory wander
Last flutterings of delight,
White wings lost on the white.
There’s not a ship in sight;
And as the sun goes under
Thick clouds conspire to cover
The moon that should rise yonder.
Thou art alone, fond lover.
Link
So, the silly phone game I play has "teams"
Feb. 17th, 2026 08:48 pmconulyBut you can talk to each other, great, except that there's this one person who is very active and posts every single day about how they've changed the game so she can't win, she sucks, she is always stuck, she doesn't like it anymore, she's gonna quit - this all prompts a flood of "Oh, don't go, please stay" responses, and I can't help but wonder if that's the sole reason she posts like this.
One day I'm going to tell her that if she really feels that way she ought to quit, or at least shut up about it, because her posts bring my enjoyment of the game way down. Don't know what sort of response I'll get from everybody else who isn't her, but I can't be the only one who's itching to say it.
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Today in food play
Feb. 20th, 2026 03:42 pmmagid- soup: turkey stock (made around Thanksgiving, frozen since then) with onions, carrots*, parsley, and matza balls
- turkey breast (also frozen since Thanksgiving) topped with smoky tomato* jam, baked over onion, sweet potato*, and slices of Georgia peaches (frozen since the summer)
- mashed potatoes* with spinach*, pureed basil*, pureed garlic scapes*, and scallions
- sort-of red flannel hash, with onions, pieces of what I guessed is corned beef in the mix of deli ends picked up from the Butcherie, thinly sliced cabbage*, potatoes*, and beets*
- the rest of the peach slices baked with a bit of matza meal, Earth Balance, and a a little hot* honey*
* locally sourced
I watched Heated Rivalry
Feb. 16th, 2026 11:04 amconulyI believe, strongly, that if you have two viewpoint characters, or two love interests, or two viewpoint characters who are also love interests, then they need to have balanced problems - and, ideally, the interaction of those two characters should affect those problems in some way - by making them realize that they have problems, by making them realize that those problems aren't so bad, by solving or exacerbating those problems - who knows? But they need to start off with the same level of problems, and then by the end of the plot those problems need to have been changed in some way.
And pretty much that never happens in these books. Just look at the two that make up the TV show. We have two couples.
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This opinion on problems was brought to you by: The Overnight Shift! I have so much time on my hands, guys!
Critic by Leonard Bacon
Feb. 15th, 2026 10:48 amconulyI do not have to prove it. I admit it.
Here is the nail, and I am here to hit it.
A blow that glances somewhat now and then.
With pure intention I take up the pen
That writes the truth, if any ever writ it.
Venom is vulgar. I decline to spit it.
Still if I must—Well, nine times out of ten
I do. I am tired. That book must be a bore.
Jones wrote it. He was rude to me at lunch,
And nobody quite likes him in our bunch.
Smith said he liked my novel. In my bones
I feel that I like Smith. But more and more
My conscience tells me to eviscerate Jones.
Link
Thankful Thursday
Feb. 19th, 2026 04:25 pmmdlbearToday I am thankful for...
- Getting Scarlett-the-Carlet back (hopefully today, assuming I didn't misunderstand the phone call from the dealer). NO thanks for (folding scooter)Lizzy getting a flat tire.
- Naproxen. NO thanks for my lower back.
- The microscopic fungi that make bread, booze, and blue cheese. Also the mostly macroscopic ones that produce edible mushrooms and other delights.
- Naomi's book finally getting a review. It's a start.
Food court
Feb. 18th, 2026 07:51 pmmagid* It’s an odd term; I feel like it should refer to something like a cross between Judge Judy and Veggie Tales.
Winter share, 9 of 11
Feb. 18th, 2026 04:39 pmmagid- 2 smallish bags of spinach
- 4 dried hot peppers (looks like two different varieties, but the email is not helpful here)
- almost 3 lb beets (3 large beets)
- almost 7 lb carrots
- 3 heads of what the email said was Savoy cabbage, but looks a lot more like Taiwanese flat cabbage (one tiny, one small, one medium, about 5 lb)
- a jar of giardiniera (swapped for more potatoes because lack of kosher certification)
- almost 10 lb potatoes (both my original ones and the swapped ones)
First thoughts: all the roasted roots. Do the pickle thing already, darn it! Baked roots under a protein (fish/poultry). Various cabbage and carrot slaws. Carrot soup. Carrot halwa. Carrots baked with lemon tahini dressing. Any further carrot suggestions?
Well, this certainly is a way to phrase it
Feb. 14th, 2026 06:18 pmconulyA dispute that left millions dead, sure. Not how I'd describe WWI, but okay.
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