Catching up to speed

[aadler]

So, since the last time we tuned in:

Susan has been hit with … not exactly Facebook jail, but lately she hasn’t been able to post anything there (and no explanation given). My initial thought was that someone at Facebook (or someone complaining to Facebook) had decided that her political beliefs were ‘problematic’. Reading up on it, that seems less likely, in that she hasn’t been blocked from Facebook, she just can’t post there. (I haven’t checked yet to see if she’s still allowed to comment on other people’s posts. That might narrow down the possibilities of what’s causing that.)

Me, I deal with Facebook by posting there maybe four, maybe five times a year. I pay some attention to what people I know are sending up, but mainly I just ignore it.

***

Last week my younger brother sent me a text: Call me as soon as you can. Bad news. I didn’t get the text till after midnight — and, frankly, I wasn’t looking to embrace bad news that late — so I didn’t call till the next day. At which point I didn’t get an answer. Took a shot at calling our youngest brother, but he’d got the same text and likewise been unable to reach our middle sibling. On my last try, I got through …

An elderly relative in another state had died. Frankly, I didn’t even know who my brother was talking about, I never kept up with that side of the family. I’d been thinking in terms of a cancer diagnosis, something with his wife or his daughter or one of his grandkids. This was a welcome relief (if not exactly good news), and he’s aware now that he needs to provide a bit more preliminary information in such messages. Yes, I called the last brother to let him know as soon as I had the low-down.

***

The home repairs continue, but for some reason they seem to have slowed down (as in, it’s been weeks since we’ve seen appreciable progress on the last couple of jobs). I want to talk about it with our handyman, but he never seems to be here unless I’m occupied with work, and I want to approach the matter tactfully so he doesn’t get annoyed and leave all these jobs unfinished. He’s done good work up to now, but the time scale is becoming increasingly troublesome. We still hope to get the house finished and on the market before too far into the autumn months, and that window is dwindling fast.

***

For the last several years, Susan and I have been on a fortunate pay schedule: each of us got paid every two weeks, but those weeks overlapped, so that every week there was something coming in for one of us or the other. Her most recent pay change has moved us away from that felicitous arrangement: now the state (she’s working for the nearest university) has decided to pay twice a month, probably the 1st and 15th of each month. Minor adjustment, but still an adjustment, and I did kind of like things the way they were. Too bad the decision wasn’t up to me.

***

During part of the house remodeling, things got moved while rooms were being worked on. I just located our bathroom scales the other day … and discovered that I had put on an extra five pounds in the interim (this after I found I was already five pounds over my previous maximum). Personal caloric-intake-and-exercise discipline to begin tomorrow in response.

***

I can’t believe tomorrow is September.

Comments

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

the way Facebook has been going, I almost think it's an honor if they ban you.

[aadler]

As I said, I don’t even know if it constitutes a ban, I don’t understand their rules (or care enough to spend the effort to find out). I do know she’s nearly as conservative as I am, and much more outspoken about it. If that kind of thing can attract the ire of our Social Media Overlords, she’s certainly done enough to qualify for their censure.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Conservative! *gasp* Shut her down, shut her down, she's a Nazi and she hates puppies and kittens!

Me, I'm a coward. I don't discuss my political leanings for two reasons: First, because trying to change somebody's mind online is like coating yourself in bacon and trying to reason with a hungry bear. (I like that, I might write that down.) I just don't like arguing people, especially with people who are so intolerant and hateful that the most minor disagreement is given as proof that you're not only the enemy, but that you're evil and criminal. Might just as well criticize Nancy Pelosi in her own Congressional district.

Second, I'm trying to get some kind of traction with my writing career. Lots of conservatives consume entertainment made by liberals; but I don't know a single liberal who would continue to support entertainment produced by an outspoken conservative. So, although often I have to bite my lip, I don't talk politics to avoid losing a third of my potential readers.

Ironically, I still consider myself an independent centrist. But a centrist in Indiana is a far right conservative on the coasts.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

Facebook's interface is the most useless thing ever. It's probably something to do with one of the recent updates. I swear I can't find anything half the time and you probably post more often than I do.

I had something of the opposite relative call happen to me. My aunt called to tell me my cousin lost her son and then tried to tell me who he was. I'd seen him all of two months before, but she assumed I'd need reminding. Then again, with my memory maybe it wasn't a bad assumption.

All too often contractors get a line on a bigger, more profitable job midway through the one they're doing and pretty much abandon that one in favor of the bigger job. At least that's what has happened to us. Twice.

[aadler]

As far as the contracting work goes, our guy is spending more time on the current part (though Susan still wants him to finish the final touches on several other parts that got put off while the present big project was drawing all his attention). Our problem is that what remains — reflooring those parts of the house that haven’t already been done — is time-intensive and costly, and we’ve gone through the special funds already set aside, so we’ll have to come up with more for that purpose. Do-able, but not fun and somewhat annoying.