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eve_prime

Finally! Last day of school

Jun. 22nd, 2017 | 11:58 pm

Thanks to last winter's many snow days, the school year kept getting longer and longer, but today was at last the end. D. and his friends are now done with 11th grade!

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eve_prime

And summer begins

Jun. 21st, 2017 | 11:59 pm

Let's see. This afternoon we had a project meeting at work, during which we heard how gruesomely hot it is in Tucson (but still 5 degrees cooler than Phoenix, in general), and how 110F is so much more uncomfortable than a mere 105F. JG says that at night they use their solar power to cool their swimming pool.

Then I drove across town to the youth orchestras' board meeting. I got there early enough to do a short walk in the near-rural neighborhood, but didn't see any of the sheep.

Later, after J. got home from playing Magic, I watched him play more of Ori and the Blind Forest, which he essentially started yesterday. So pretty, but I wouldn't have the DEX to play it myself.

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eve_prime

Baybeees!

Jun. 20th, 2017 | 11:54 pm

Remember on Saturday, when I found a half-dead birch tree with a woodpecker pecking away inside of it? Today I took J. on a walk so we could see if the woodpecker was still there, and guess what? This time inside the tree we could hear a bunch of woodpecker babies! Every four or five minutes, the parent would come swooping in with a mouth full of grubs and bugs and such, and dart inside to deliver the food. The babies would get twice as loud and so excited! Then the parent would stick their beak out through the hole, and look around, then emerge and dart away again.

The woodpecker had a bright, dark red head and a black-and-grey back and sides. I looked online and found a similar bird called a "red-headed woodpecker," but then I saw that those live only in the South, so I kept going, and now I'm pretty sure this one is a "red-breasted sapsucker." I'm looking forward to returning with my camera!

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eve_prime

Summer plans for work!

Jun. 19th, 2017 | 11:39 pm

Ha ha, umm...
  • Write four papers between now and late August. One's nearly done, and one just has to be a skeleton awaiting the analyses.
  • Resume writing the book I started writing after the election.
  • Set up the rest of the Alzheimer's caregiving materials I have for coding, and keep that project going.
  • Whatever G. wants (hopefully very little), and whatever our new guy wants (hopefully just conversations and networking).
  • And then in late August, get a new proposal going for the October 5 deadline so I can get more funding before it runs out.
  • And hopefully that is IT.

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eve_prime

Father's Day

Jun. 18th, 2017 | 10:42 pm

Happy Father's Day, if you're reading this and you're a dad, or dad-surrogate!

I did a fair amount of sorting today (newspapers, papers, clothing), by way of making progress on my summer cleaning project, and I concluded my mini-vacation by reading this month's book club book, A Man Called Ove. I'll probably resume work tomorrow. J. should be home by 1 p.m. and I expect him to nap in his comfy chair all afternoon.

It's summery now - today was 82!

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eve_prime

More Grand Prix Vegas

Jun. 17th, 2017 | 11:53 pm

J, our friend, and the other local guy each finished in the top 200 today, after the remaining 6 rounds of the tournament, which is great considering there were more than 2600 players overall. J. was frustrated by missed opportunities, though - he ended up paired against one of the most famous and formidable players in round 12, and I think he was a bit rattled.

I, for one, am glad not to be in Las Vegas, especially hearing that at 9 p.m. it was 105 degrees outside. Compare that with the idyllic 82 degrees here in Eugene...

Anyway, tomorrow they're going to play in a tournament to qualify for the fall Pro Tour event, which is just in Albuquerque, and after that they'll go see Cirque de Soleil, and they'll be home on Monday afternoon.

As for me, I watched episode 3 of Wives and Daughters, went to the library and a bookstore, and took a long walk, in the course of which I discovered a really old birch tree with a woodpecker busily pecking away inside.

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eve_prime

A Day Off!!!

Jun. 16th, 2017 | 09:44 pm

Today I did no work! (That is, other than to discover two typos in the official name of the proposal I submitted yesterday, and asking our grants staff to fix it.)

Instead, I relaxed! And I worked on weeding the roses along the pretty new fence our newish neighbor built, and I did some housework, and I bought a bunch of vegetables, since J's not into vegetables and not here to eat with me. And I went on a longish walk in the neighborhood. All good things!

Meanwhile, J. went 7-0 in the first seven rounds of the Magic Grand Prix, then lost to a "ridiculous pool" in round 8 and in round 9 to professional MtG commentator Matej Z, whom he'd met in Malaysia when they were both there for Magic, back in 2008 or so. His 7-2 record is quite good enough for Day Two, though he's probably out of the money since they're only awarding prizes to the top 64, and it's Swiss pairings, and there will be a great many players, including our friend D. whom he travelled with, and also our local player Brent, and a woman named Robin that J. knows from Seattle, and of course Matej and, well, lots. That is, about 480. Or something like that. Not sure if I'm thinking correctly about Pascal's Triangle. Added later: It is 706.

D. and his girlfriend are celebrating their "one-year anniversary" today. :)

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eve_prime

✔✔ !!

Jun. 15th, 2017 | 10:10 pm

✔ NIH proposal submitted, 2 p.m.
✔ oral presentation made on a completely unrelated topic, 4 p.m.

I am now free as a bird (sort of)! At least I'm being self-indulgent... raspberries, baguette with tapenade... I think I'm going to rewatch the Wives and Daughters miniseries, having just finished rereading the book.

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eve_prime

How not to buy a business!

Jun. 14th, 2017 | 11:54 pm

R. is having an “interesting” week - his two main employees, a husband and wife, quit today, leaving him with just a 22-year-old, who at least is a hard worker whom R. respects. The reason they quit is because he turned down their offer to buy the nursery from him for $10,000. It was worth $120,000 back in 2011, and his increase in equity would bring the value up to the $250,000 range today, so, um, nope to $10,000. He’s known for years that they wanted to buy the nursery, so I’d think that a lot more communication would have been in order, but communication isn’t R’s thing in some contexts.

So, now he has to work 7 days a week until his new prospective employee can start in July, and even then it’s going to be a struggle to keep the plants watered during the heat of the summer. His girlfriend’s son was helping out today. I hope that D. will help him occasionally as well, despite his desire to take the whole summer “off.” Meanwhile, instead of seeing his dad on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, D’s just going to eat dinner with him on Saturdays, or some such. At least that’s the plan for this week, so they can celebrate Father’s Day, allowing D. to spend the actual Father’s Day dinner with his girlfriend, who finds herself obligated to go out with her absentee dad, who at least kindly invited both D. and her closest female friend to come along.

J. is now in Las Vegas for the Magic the Gathering Grand Prix, and I have just e-mailed my proposal to our project AA to upload it in the morning. All in all, a momentous day.

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eve_prime

Cable quality

Jun. 13th, 2017 | 11:56 pm

Although we had greatly improved the cable quality by cutting down some maple branches, but it's still not as good as we'd like it to be, and today J. climbed up there after work, in his work clothes, to saw off a hawthorn branch that we think could be a troublemaker. Some people pulled up in their car and watched him for a bit - it really wasn't that interesting, although the branch was at least 10-12' up there. Fingers crossed that this will do the trick!

D's grandma turned 94 today; I hope she liked the flowers I sent.

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