I Poke Badgers with a Spoon

Note: I haven't had more than a short nap in over 36 hours. So this is going to be a really short and possibly incoherent post.

The main thing this week was my (short) trip to the US -- first solo transatlantic flight. Far easier than I'd been afraid it would be. The bank errands didn;t get run, but I got to the Wednesday grief group gathering in Third Place Commans, got my driver's license renewed (and had a nice long chat with MG from the Tuesday group, while she drove me down to the DOL in Tukwilla), and had lunch with my kids on my (79th) birthday. The sushi place was closed, but we went next door and had ramen and pork buns.

I took Lilac, and got everything done that needed to be done, but it was a struggle. Some scattered commentary below. There are links below but you'll have to dig them out yourself -- I'm going to bed. With my cats.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Today is my 79th birthday. I am thankful for...

• Making it this far, alive and I suppose about as well as can be expected, for someone who doesn't really take good care of themself.
• An uneventful flight to the US, without any of the problems at the border that I was worried about. NO thanks for apparently-current-limited back-of-seat power sockets.
• Having remembered to bring extra-absorbent paper underwear. NO thanks for forgetting toenail clippers and a multitool, among other things.
• Uber, Lyft, and Crown Limo.
• A ride to my DOL (Department of Licensing) appointment, with good conversation.

NO thanks for mid-March snow -- isn't it almost spring now?

Hello, welcome to Women's History Month, which started last Sunday, and International Women's Day, which is today. See also, EFF: Admiring Our Heroes for International Women’s Day: Five Women In Tech That EFF Admires

Not a great week, but on the whole not too bad. Next week will either be pretty good, or a disaster, depending. See below.

There was also the little matter of my monthly pension deposit not arriving, because the address confirmation mail they sent was busy chasing me across two continents. Blarg, but sorted out now. Good thing I'm on a new blood pressure prescription. Which has not been delivered, but fortunately I have enough to get me through the week.

I have spent the entire week worrying about my impending trip to Seattle on Tuesday (coming back a week from yesterday). In addition to worrying about the possibility of getting sick in a country without good health insurance, and other problems it might be best not to mention in public right now, there's the fact that my nice new Travelpro suitcase is 5cm too wide to fit Delta's carry-on requirements. So I'll have to check it. Fortunately my meds all fit in my (old) CPAP case, under the (new) CPAP.

I'll be taking the new Framework 12 laptop. First time traveling with it, so we'll see. There's a lot of state on my Thinkpad, including way too many open tabs in Firefox. Things may be a trifle inconvenient for a while.

We're getting a new scooter tomorrow; Lizzy goes into the shop on Wednesday, and apparently Scarlett is still being worked on.

Linkies: Guide to U.S. Expat Taxes in the Netherlands | H&R Block; HoS qul (The Fire is Strong) | Klingon Warpgrass (Lyric Video) - YouTube, Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis': Milestone in science fiction film,

( Notes & links, as usual )

Today I am thankful for...

• Being in what the medical people I've spoken to lately say is reasonably good health for my age. My blood pressure has responded well to my latest prescription (10mg/day of lisinopril). But walking more than .75km hurts, and I am NOT thankful for that.
• Ginger, garlic, chocolate, and coffee. And other tasty things too numerous to mention.
• Free faxing with Dropbox.
• My mail finally catching up with me. (Too late to prevent problems, but hopefully not too late to prevent disaster.)
• My support groups.