infryq

This week was good. M's birthday was on Tuesday, and we did a Zoom call to celebrate. Henri didn’t hit them too hard so they still had power and everything. Handled a minor management crisis at work by freaking out a bit and calling for help from R&R, and it was the best thing I could’ve done (also, positive reinforcement, self, for asking for help). I’m experimenting with having folks write their own goals for fall, which has fallen predictably flat for the first go-round so I might schedule 1:1s with everybody to do it with a captive audience instead. I’m starting to write more code myself; this week I put in PRs for a major revision to the indicators GitHub actions and some tweaks to the indicator status pages in the frontend, and also poked hard at MariaDB ColumnStore on the sandbox machine. P had a telemedicine appointment, and they’re going to try him on some different meds. I’m bringing beans and squash out of the garden pretty regularly. One of the juvenile groundhogs has figured out how to climb the fence, but seems to primarily enjoy squash leaves, and there are always too many of those anyhow so I hardly mind. P has started experimenting with the emmer wheat semolina from Anson Mills, and it is mind-boggling; whole wheat flavor but the most delicate texture, and it rolls out thin thin thin. The heavier-duty pasta machine he ordered from China has arrived, so the next batch will be on that.

Yesterday we went to open studio and I threw one bad pot and one good bowl.
I learned how to use a chuck and trimmed the wacky vase from last week. I
really need my own trim tools. We stopped at the dollar store and picked up
a cheap tape measure, and also a steel spring toy, both for making tools
out of. P also picked up some glow sticks for the emergency bag and some
headphones. Once home, the handles I had ordered were in the mailbox, and I
spent most of the afternoon on a toolmaking learning curve. The steel
measuring tape has to be held just right for the tin snips to work on it
instead of just bending in between the blades. It’s easy to accidentally
work-harden the edge, and then it doesn’t bend smoothly. I got it to work
with some practice, but it doesn’t leave a smooth edge. I chickened out of
using the dremel because sparks are scary. Maybe I’ll bring everything down
to the basement and try that again.

I did a turn through the garden while lunch was cooking and picked a couple
of squash that had got away from me. We’ll be eating squash for a while. A
few beans, though it looks like the calimas are about done and the fortex
aren’t quite in the swing yet. Onions.

I’m reading a new book called Fangirl and it is excellent.

Yesterday I watered the garden before it got hot, cut out skirt pieces for
the outer fabric, pockets, and waistband lining, and sewed interfacing for
the waistband. We went to the farmers market and got some interesting
zucchini, a pointy cabbage, sour cherries, blueberries, garlic, tomato,
parsley, cucumber, and lettuce. I washed the towels, learned some more
about Ledger, and switched off between hiding in the AC and trying to stay
hydrated enough to sweat. Someone on the women+ fb group for my undergrad
requested feedback on a resignation letter she’s writing, and oof the way
she was being treated makes me mad. Proudly negligent uncertainty about
pay, housing, and work responsibilities (like “surprise! You’re running
this meeting you just arrived at”), and she was trying to play it soft like
these things were problems but she’s really leaving because of her health?
No. :flexes, hulks out: