Sally's Journal

OMFG.

So a million years ago last December, I decided I was Done with BoA, and signed up for a fresh business bank account with a new bank. This one is with Webster.

Not much happened in the account in December, what with the various challenges of setting it up (about which I have failed to regale you, o my readers), but starting with the new (fiscal) year, I converted over to using it.

So I just got what is effectively my first statement, covering the month of January. The first month in which I actually ran money through it.

Turns out, the way Webster accounts deposits made at ATMs is that it batches all the checks put in at once as one transaction, and it batches all the cash put in at the same time as another transaction.

So, if you you go to an ATM and deposit a check for $100, a check for $91 and $7 cash, it will appear on your statement as a transaction for $191 and a separate transaction for $7.

Oh hello, this makes my checkbook unbalanceable.

I, like a normal human, record transactions in my checkbook in one of two ways. Either all the money going into the machine at once is one transaction (e.g. of $198) or I break each of the checks out separately (e.g. three transactions: $100, $91, and $7). What I do not do is lump just the checks.

At first, as I started trying to use this statement to reconcile my account, I thought it was merely highly unfortunate. I had been using the batch-everything approach (which is how the previous bank did things), so I was having to add transactions mentally on the statement to figure out which things to mark as cleared in my digital checkbook. Having to do mental arithmetic to balance a digital checkbook is asinine - it's error prone and time consuming, and exactly what I am trying to avoid by having a digital checkbook in the first place.

Then I got to the last deposit I had made, on Jan 31st. The bank only registered part of it - the cash part. The checks I deposited? Don't appear at all. So now I have an entry on 1/31 for $459.00, of which $240 has cleared. I have absolutely no way to indicate that on my register – except to edit in two transactions, one for the cash and one for the checks.

I'm very strongly inclined to close this account rather than change how I keep my books to be compatable with this. I am completely aghast.

This is the first I've ever seen of this practice. Generally "first I've ever seen of this practice" in banking makes me think it maybe is illegal. Certainly it's ridiculous.

Anybody else's banks do this? Apparently I'm back in the business bank account market, and I'd like to know what companies to avoid.

Apropos of the previous, is the sheilding in coax good enough that you can wrap a cord of fairy lights around it, without impairing the internet-conveying functioning of coax or otherwise leading to unfortunate outcomes?

*I've already posted my four "unpolished" posts for February! Go me but I feel still feel like writing stuff some here's another one.

*This weekend is kinda hectic. R is away at a con and we have a somewhat unexpected house guest. (She was expect to come visit but earlier in the week, and it wasn't planned that that she would stay with us.) Plus I'm feel a bit under the weather.

*House guest is very excited that I know what Mob grazing is so we chatted about grassland ecology and rangeland management. Grasslands are one of my favorite types of ecosystems and we need to protect them more.

*it's been raining so much over the last week. Very heavy rain too. I've been feeling a bit cooped up.

Okay, I could use some help on this one.

The first question is a terminology question. What is the right term for "cable TV and internet"? Because I don't do cable TV, I have cable internet. Consequently, I find myself referring to the coaxial cable which delivers my bits as the "cable internet cable", or, worse, "the cable cable". Or sometimes just "the coax" which bothers me because it is describing the service by one property its medium (and I'm guessing that there are actually multiple forms of coax.) I mean, I refer to "ethernet cable" when I'm talking about what one typically uses cat5 for, because I'm pouring ethernet down the cat5.

Okay, whatever the answer to that is:

As previously mentioned, the cable cable enters the main room of my new apartment in an unfortunate corner. I would like my networking system – at least my router – to be on my desk, which will be ~ in the opposite corner of the room. Call these cable-corner and desk-corner.

My desk, which will be in desk-corner, is where my cable modem and router currentlylive. I even have made a nifty shelf on my desk for the cable modem.

As I see it, I have three options:

• Put cable modem and router in cable-corner, and just use wifi for my devices. I do not want to do this. I want to be able to plug my laptop into a wired connect when at my desk, to (as tn3270 put it) make the cat videos load faster.

• Put cable modem in cable-corner and router in desk-corner, and cross the room with cat5.

• Put cable modem and router in desk-corner, and cross the room with coax.

Just, right here, before we get to the interesting part of the problem, I'd like to know if there is some reason to prefer crossing the room with either the cat5 or the coax.

But here's what makes this interesting. I have two design constraints that make this much more challenging.

( Let's get our engineer on, shall we? [cut for length] )

Pregnancy news: I'm 19+2, and apparently this week the foetus is the size of a mango. A mango! Mangoes are huge! There are times when I look and feel seriously pregnant - especially after eating, everything seems to get pushed out in front of me all the way up to my ribs, not low like a pot belly but a big high curve. Then in the morning it all looks a bit more deflated.

Week 19 pregnancy symptoms:
- Itchy skin
- Achy muscles, particularly my shoulders, back and intercostals (my ribs start to kill me after I've been sitting still too long)
- Morning sickness (STILL!!)

No swollen feet yet, so I guess that's something. No kicks yet either! I am VERY SAD about this. They are the size of a MANGO how can I not feel them. My bump is big, and at my last scan they said the placenta was behind the baby so I should be able to feel something, but everyone tells me I'll know it when I feel it, and I haven't felt anything yet. I know feeling something for the first time around 18-20 weeks is normal for a first pregnancy, so there's still time, but in the middle of the night when I wake up and everything is still and dark and quiet and I think, surely I should be feeling SOMETHING, it's a bit tricky not to feel anxious. Maybe the foetus is only awake during the day when I'm distracted? Maybe it's died? Maybe I'm not pregnant? Maybe I've just been eating too much pasta?

I have a 20 week foetal anomaly scan booked in on the 27th, so I'll get to watch it wiggling around then and hopefully that should put my fears to rest. Meanwhile the NHS website tells me that 16-24 weeks is normal, so it seems there's over a month before I should start worrying.

I had my obstetrician appointment to talk about endocrine stuff. He said he's not at all worried about my thyroid levels because the supplements are obviously working, but he's referred me for a couple of glucose tests because the PCOS puts me at risk of gestational diabetes. I haven't booked the first one yet, although it was meant to be at 18 weeks, because my schedule just felt too full and I'm a bit sick of losing the whole morning to hospital appointments. Plus it's a fasting test, which means I won't be able to eat to suppress my morning nausea, which means I'll be sick and ... ugh. I'm not looking forward to it.

The good news is that he wrote me a prescription for an antiemetic to help with the morning sickness. I didn't realise I needed to go to the hospital pharmacy to get it, so I guess I'll pick it up next time I go in.

I have heaps of energy, and I also get tired easily. I keep volunteering for things. I've been working really hard on building one of my online income streams, which was super fun for a while, and then it got really boring (omg I hate doing promo), and then it got stressful that I wasn't seeing immediate results. Oh well. I'm enjoying the energy while it lasts.

"I swallowed the Brexit lies. Now I regret telling curry house workers to vote leave"

(tags:UK europe fraud restaurant )

Solar Mini-Grids Give Nigeria a Power Boost

(tags:nigeria solarpower )

Should You Listen To Music While Doing Intellectual Work? It Depends On The Music, The Task, And Your Personality

(tags:personality music concentration boredom psychology )

How does the original What Women Want hold up two decades later?

(tags:movies women history )

How Brexit revealed four new political factions

(tags:politics europe uk visualisation )

Solar plant the size of San Francisco powers Morocco's sunlit ambitions

(tags:solarpower Morocco )

Porsche asks UK buyers to commit to 10% no-deal Brexit surcharge

(tags:UK europe trade cars doom )

School science textbooks make children more racially prejudiced

(tags:racism children genetics Education )

Domestication syndrome is *fascinating* (and may apply to humans)

(tags:behaviour genetics animals humans civilization )

This is an incredible display of fitness

(tags:fitness video impressive )

Synesthete paints what the music looks like

(tags:music art synaesthesia )

Mental health problems can be diagnosed using children's teeth

(tags:teeth children psychology )

Derry Girls Series 2 Trailer. Yaaaaaay!

(tags:tv NorthernIreland funny trailer )

Politics for children works remarkably similarly to politics for adults

(tags:politics children school uk )

--

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/86278.html

1. Do you make up a dinner plan for the coming week?

No. Now, with two people in the house, we cook often enough it might be worth planning in advance, but just playing it by ear is working well enough. I used to do less proper cooking, when I didn't think about it at all, I only ever really bought things that kept, and treated each meal separately.

2. Do you make up a shopping list and stick to it when shopping?

There's not really a thing about sticking to it. I've been fortunate not to have to worry deeply about sticking for a budget, but I've also never really excitement to buy unusual things, so I don't usually have a big desire to buy other things (I mean, unless there's like books :)), I just want to get it done, so I don't need to make an effort to stick to a list.

I used to just usually buy the same staples. At some point I started keeping a list on my smartphone which was very convenient. Now we finally found a grocery list app we could both share which had been very convenient.

3. What is one thing that you always buy, but never put down on a list?

Nothing exciting, but things we need to refresh most often, like milk or bread, I usually have an idea if we have enough and just buy it, the list is more for things to buy "in the next few days".

4. Is there anything that you always think you are out of and come home with it to discover you already have a year’s supply on hand?

I can't think of anything specific, but things like flour, vanilla, jam that we only use every so often, I always forget if we have already.

5. Do you get your groceries delivered?

That would probably be more convenient but I keep not getting round to it. I used to not because I was out almost every evening and didn't know when I'd be in to get deliveries. I work right buy large tesco so I usually shop one small batch at a time at lunchtime.

It is 'roses are red' season... someyears ago I saw one that was 'violets are *violet* but we didn't used to have that word' but I can't find it again... anyone know where I might find it?

I finally decided what I'm doing with rugs, at least in the main room, and ordered them, and also rug pags. I'm ordering from Overstock.com, which feels like something of a gamble, but a good gamble. I'm not sure I made the right choice, but I feel good that I made a choice, and can now move onto the next things on my list.

It abruptly dawned on me in the middle of checking out – at the point where it proposed to ship the rugs to my old address, not yet knowing about my new address – that, omg, my credit card company was going to see all these largish purchases on my card being shipped to an address that, as far as they know, isn't mine.

So I called my credit card company at five to midnight to explain that I was moving and to please not screw up my rug order, and, while I have you here, here's my new mailing address.

I went by my new place today and got the keys.

I brought a roll of toilet paper, because priorities, but there was one already there.

I hung out and did more measuring. The doors have a 3/4th inch clearance so a rug should be fine. There's no jambs for the closet doors, so there's no obvious way to sneak coax in front of them.

The broken blind was replaced. The heat is still wonky; according to the thermostat it was 74degF in there, despite the thermostat being set to 65. Will nudge the super on it. This may not actually be a thermostat malfunction (though the radiator in the bathroon is Doing It's Part For Global Warming(tm)) as much as it's a function of being on about the third floor (depending on whether or not you count the basement, which is where the laundry room is) and heat rising.

I've filed my change of address with USPS.

Some of you have specifically mentioned being interested in seeing other people's responses to this week's thefridayfive, and I'm sitting around nervously watching the mass spec run without the concentration to do anything more useful, so here you go.

Content note: this week's theme is grocery shopping and meal planning. My answers therefore involve mention of sensory issues with food, dietary restrictions, and disordered eating.

( Read more... )

Of course, what these questions don't touch on is HAVE I MENTIONED I HAVE AN ALLOTMENT. :D I make choices about what to grow (and where) for convenience; for example, I don't like buying cut herbs because (i) I feel vaguely guilty and (ii) they're never the right quantities, but I do like fresh herbs, so in pots on the verandah I've got mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, chives, and bay. I'm on the verge of buying seeds for two kinds of basil; an honourable mention to the ancestral wild garlic, that springeth green. I also had tomatoes on the patio (... I still haven't decided what to call it; "decking" seems awfully USois, somehow, and isn't quite in my active vocabulary) this summer, which was convenient and enjoyable enough that I'm likely to do it again. (I might also try cucumbers on the patio, depending on how the weather goes and whether I actually buy a greenhouse.)

At the allotment I'm prioritising things it's ridiculously expensive to buy (poppy seed! caraway seed! hopefully, if I get my act together, asparagus! bay leaves! soft fruit! hopefully some saffron, thanks to ewt!), things that come in entirely the wrong amounts always and are awkward to store (spinach!), things I always wince over the cost of and can rarely be persuaded to indulge myself on (fennel! purple sprouting broccoli! pak choi! shallots! interesting salad leaves! hopefully passionfruit!), things that are Brightly Coloured (this season I'm going to be experimenting with Painted Mountain sweetcorn, rainbow quinoa and purple chillis, among others), things it's otherwise tricksy to find (root parsley! :D), and things that are Just Better when they're really ludicrously fresh (hiiiii peas). I'd already been trying to eat seasonally; I'm looking forward to spending more time paying attention to plants, and trying to remind myself that I'm not going to be starting everything off hideously too late even if I am only getting back from Belfast at the end of February.

This is of course my first year with the allotment so I don't... entirely have a sense of how my shopping patterns will actually be affected, but I Am Excited To Find Out: I've already been enjoying working with the rhubarb and beetroot neighbours have desperately fobbed off on me, and with the things I've managed to get going already. So, you know, if compatible with your diet, should you visit me over the summer there's a very high chance that you'll be fed Things What I Grew (That Aren't The Sourdough), and should I visit you you might get brought A Tribute...

1. Do you make up a dinner plan for the coming week?

Yes, although I'm only responsible for 2-3 dinners. I plan them, my lunches, and my breakfasts and snacks.

2. Do you make up a shopping list and stick to it when shopping?

sort of, it's not in one list form - recipies and my 'I always get...' list in my head

3. What is one thing that you always buy, but never put down on a list?

Fresh fruit, I'll get what's available

4. Is there anything that you always think you are out of and come home with it to discover you already have a year’s supply on hand?

I do this when I am *in the house* shopping. At the moment it is lentils, it has been pasta, and toilet roll.

5. Do you get your groceries delivered?

Yes, almost all of my groceries are delivered.

I got a GP appointment on Tuesday morning because I was still feeling nowhere near better and it was day 8 off work. Among other things, he strongly recommended inhaling steam "as often as possible". I had been doing this intermittently but I started doing it every hour or two I was awake. By Wednesday afternoon I started feeling a lot better, and on Thursday I finally got back to work. I may of course have been about to get well anyway, but it's felt like a very dramatic recovery.

He also completely changed my understanding of how I should be treating cold symptoms.

(cut for discussion of cold symptoms)
( Read more... )

It's been a relatively uneventful week. Last weekend smhwpf came over so I could show him how I do the church bookkeeping, which he is very nobly taking off my hands, and on Sunday evening we had our monthly "House Date Night", and played Dominion, of which we very egalitarianly* won one game each. I went to another rehearsal of the university choir, which feels like it's going quite well. In particular, when the director made us get all mixed up and stand with the other parts, I was a lot more able to hold to the tenor line without following the people next to me than I expected to be.

On Thursday I took myself to the cinema to see All Is True, a heavily fictionalised biopic about Shakespeare's later life. It's got fairly variable reviews, and I think that's probably fair - the plot is a bit meandering, and some of the characters are a bit two-dimensional, but there's some stellar acting, and I very much appreciated the bi representation.

Friday Five on grocery shopping
1. Do you make up a dinner plan for the coming week?
( Read more... )

Imagine being one of the last hundred speakers of your language in all the world, and, having been asked by one of your elders to learn the songs of your people, deciding to try to save them by making an album of them so beautiful that all the world would hear it, and come to treasure them.

Via Metafilter: Jeremy Dutcher's album "Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa" [Youtube playlist]. A shockingly beautiful and heartbreakingly heroic work of cultural preservation and propagation. From Metafilter:

Jeremy Dutcher is a First Nations classically trained tenor, musician, and composer whose debut album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, sung entirely in the "severely endangered" language of Wolastoqey, won the 2018 Polaris Prize, which is awarded annually to the best full-length Canadian music album. [...] Dutcher is a Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) member of the Tobique First Nation, and his album is based on traditional Wolastoqiyik songs, often sampling century-old wax cylinder recordings of his ancestors' singing, to devastatingly beautiful effect.

Glorious, glorious. Highly recommended.

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

It can be a new achievement or adventure, or just that you climbed and had fun; it can be that your favourite climbing wall is expanding or that you bought new rock shoes or that you found a cool ice-climbing vid on YouTube. No glee is too small -- or too big. Members are encouraged to cheer each other on and share the squee.

N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.

To enhance this week's glee: David Fitzgerald (and friends) in Blocbuster.

So I'm packing (and washing, but not in that order) my CDs (or rather their jewel cases) and discovered a whole little cache of CDs I had little to recollection of, which aren't ripped to my computer. And then I remembered that my laptop's CD/DVD drive was out of order for a while, and I wound up with a backlog of media that I had either purchased or been gifted that I had no way to play. By the time I got the device straightened out, I had forgotten I had them.

It's like Christmas!

I'm not ripping them all now, but maybe I can take some time on unpacking to get it done.

Tangentially related: I have been saving almost every box from every delivery for about a year, in anticipation of moving. Turns out the box that my nifty new boots were shipped in is almost exactly the size of my remaining CD collection. (Of course, now that they're all packed, I'm now going to find another little cache of CDs somewhere in my apartment. Let me enjoy my illusions for the moment.)

And yet entirely believeable.

I woke to a voicemail from my (old) landlord asking when he can have the keys back to start cleaning the place out.

What part of "THIRTY DAYS NOTICE" does he not understand? I texted him back that I'm here to the 28th, and will be happy to give him the keys then.

Christ.

spot the difference!

preferment: the selection of clergy to hold positions of senior office in the Church (of England) (largely obsolete)
preferment: a preparation of a portion of a bread dough that is made several hours or more in advance of mixing the final dough

my recreational reading, you see, currently includes a nontrivial amount of Austen and a nontrivial amount of The Theory Of Sourdough. APPARENTLY in this modern day and age we don't believe in clarifying punctuation. as a result I am spending a lot of time being very confused about theology.