Pen-Elayne on the Web

Empty Vehicle

2026-05-16T22:37:05.572-04:00

While Robin's been pretty felled this last couple days by the illness that snagged me earlier in the week, I felt well enough today to venture down then up our two flights of stairs twice carrying things we've accumulated in the car's trunk, glove box, and center console over much of the last 22 years. I was a bit winded after each trip, but recovered in fairly short order. I really think this stupid head cold thingie is behind me now, and hope that Robin follows suit tomorrow as he wasn't up to food shopping today (hence my decision re the car). We stayed in, tried to ignore screechy children and Hot Tub Hector (different houses, because of how our house is situated we have about a dozen backyards facing us on all four sides) by watching the FA Cup, golf, the Preakness, and the Yankees v Mets. Hey, New York won! Actually, I kept switching between the Subway Series and the Banana Ball game, but enjoyed both; I'm one of that rare breed who roots for both my home baseball teams. Even managed to do some cooking, as we'd run out of fridge dinners so I boiled some buccatini for dinner because I'm fancy that way.

Coming Out the Other Side

2026-05-15T21:56:00.000-04:00

Not a bathroom reference, fortunately. My head was still a bit foggy this morning, but I didn't use any Nyquil last night and was able to breathe okay for the most part today. I'm never so happy health-wise as when I can quit the nasal spray and nose drops, having been somewhat addicted to them earlier in my life (and I maintain to this day that addiction led to my atrial fibrillation episode but I can't prove it medically). With any luck I can actually get some errands done this weekend, although now it appears Robin's picked up the illness so I think that's put paid to car shopping since we're trying Paramus NJ as our next stop. At least I made good headway at work and got everyone's expense reports and timesheets in by the mid-month deadline. Can't wait until my head clears totally!

Lentil Lady Down and Out

2026-05-14T19:27:00.000-04:00

First off, no regrets. I'm glad I went into the office today to help out with the US Hunger Project, filling bags of food for hungry New Yorkers, especially when I was informed that only about 25% of those who'd signed up actually showed. I was assigned in an assembly line to fill the bags with lentils. Still, after 45 minutes with a hairnet and gloves and a mask (so that nobody else catches this lurgy) and repetitive scoop-and-fill motion, I had to excuse myself. I was going to head home right away but it was easier to sit still at my workstation, get some work done, then leave at lunchtime to spend the rest of the day working from home. I timed things well, there was a smoke condition in the East River tunnel and things were just beginning to escalate at Penn Station, so I made it to the subway platform before the major craziness (thank goodness subways weren't affected at any rate). My head has been gradually clearing just enough for me to think straight and get my work done, but I still feel sluggish. Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Still Ugh-y

2026-05-13T18:04:00.000-04:00

I realized I have to go back into Manhattan tomorrow as (1) I promised to help with another Community Impact Day (Week) activity and (2) I left my backpack in my temporary locker which expires tomorrow. Ah well, I'm grateful that this illness is literally all in my head, and other parts don't seem to be affected (could be so much worse, like a persistent cough or body aches), so I can maneuver around okay, I just can't really concentrate because, you know, that takes a clear head. Fortunately I have a lot of goodwill built up among the folks I support, so they're very understanding, and I'm taking an hour or two here and there as PTO to rest up. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Impacted

2026-05-12T21:02:00.002-04:00

Well, I did schlep into Manhattan this morning and did a few Community Impact Day activities with my work colleagues, which is usually fun except I kept needing to sneeze and couldn't breathe very well, so I gave up around 3:15 and came home after pretty much working a full day anyway. Definitely staying put tomorrow, hoping to finally lick this illness. Ugh.

Felled

2026-05-11T20:57:00.007-04:00

I don't know whether it was the car dealership on Saturday (likely) or the food shopping afterwards where I went maskless, but I picked up some kind of bug and have come down with a nasty spring cold that's knocked me for a loop. Thank goodness I'm working from home, albeit much less efficiently than usual. I have to go in tomorrow to participate in our annual Community Impact Day, hope I can make it through without backsliding. I'm such an awful patient, I feel sorrier for Robin than for myself.

A Cold Coming On

2026-05-10T20:50:00.003-04:00

I think we picked up something yesterday, either at the dealership or the supermarket, and I was really not doing well today, so I just puttered around the house organizing things. All tote and shopping bags are now out of the car, and throughout the week we plan on emptying most of the rest of it in preparation for trading it in. Meanwhile I ordered arm rests for our recliners, which have become a bit threadbare and I think are contributing to my IT band issues the way I sit in the chair. Oh, and new Apple Watch bands, did I mention that? Got me at least a dozen that aren't metal so no more catching them on things. The construction noise downstairs wasn't as bad as we'd feared, but the dozen houses facing us all seemed to be celebrating Mother's Day very loudly. My first Mother's Day without Mom just feels kind of numb.

Adventures in Car Buying

2026-05-09T20:45:00.001-04:00

Our car is 22 years old, bought by my dad a few years before he passed. Now that he and Mom are both gone, it was up to me and Robin to visit our local dealer to see about either buying or renting a new one. The sales folks were nice but definitely leant towards the hard-sell side, particularly once they started steering us toward what they wanted to sell rather than what we wanted to buy. All talk of price came right at the end, after the test drive -- on a model I don't want to buy, as they didn't have a base model available and it never came in the entire time we were held hostage by them having my license (why did they need that if I wasn't buying yet?) and keys. Eventually the red flags built up to the point where we excused ourselves, said we had a lot to think about, and hightailed it out of there to do our food shopping and get home before the heavens opened. Now that we know what we're up against in terms of car dealers operate, we need to do a lot more research before heading out to New Jersey to try another dealer that perhaps actually has the model we want and, you know, an actual visitors' lot rather than a place you can't even drive into.

A Seamless Friday

2026-05-08T20:45:00.001-04:00

I sat in on a conversation this morning about how to use the firm's Seamless/GrubHub's business account for engagement teams if I ever need to, the one area in which I was somewhat deficient in this new assignment because I've never had to do it before. Nice to be able to add to my knowledge base! My long-time colleague Traci, whom I've known since our Rothstein Kass days (over a dozen years back), officially retired today, so that put a tinge of sadness on everything. But I'm still grateful to have a job, I'm still two years away from my planned retirement, and I'm still learning new things every day!

Panicking with the Best of Them

2026-05-07T20:47:00.001-04:00

While I often tell people I've achieved Peak Competence in my life (which of course might imply that it's all downhill from here), there are times when I still have the lizard-brain panic reation when something at work hits me the wrong way. Today was one of those times. I do the usual things to calm my vagus nerve, like taking deep breaths and such, but the thing that usually brings me out of it is reminding myself that I've been through ever so much worse in my career and have come out of it just fine. And so it was today, the obstacle was overcome in fairly short order and I reconnected with some old work friends in the process, so really a win-win. And I packed up at the end of the day after helping record a session in which I had zero interest (it was shepherded by a partner I support so I kind of had to record) and was pleasantly surprised to be able to leave at my usual time. Commute was pretty sweet too, I think I made it home in under 90 minutes which is usually unheard of because I have to walk two avenues and take two different kinds of mass transit. No notes, no complaints!

I Got Circadian Rhythm

2026-05-06T22:01:00.017-04:00

My timing seemed to be off today. I've been awake since around 4:30, but can't seem to get up the energy to do very much other than work-from-home. Thank goodness I didn't have to schlep into Manhattan today, my aching legs and feet and IT band and whatever would not have liked that very much. This evening we watched a fascinating documentary about Life On Earth, a late '70s nature program by Sir David Attenborough, who turns 100 years old on Friday. Robin remembers seeing the show on BBC in the '70s, I don't think it ever made it over here. Then we watched a program made a couple years ago about dark matter, which still makes my head hurt, but the main thing was how much our understanding of the cosmos has changed since I was in high school. Say, did you know that Jupiter has way more than 12 moons?

Cinco de Whosiwhatsis

2026-05-05T19:48:00.009-04:00

You'd think with tons of Mexican places around these parts I'd find a taco truck or something to grab lunch, but I didn't feel like traipsing through the Moynihan food hall or Penn Station at lunch since my IT band and therefore left foot has been bothering me, so the disappointing non-Mexican Whole Foods buffet it was. At least the weather was warm enough that I ate outside. Can it be spring at last? I returned home to find the storm door added to the main entrance to the house, but it doesn't close all the way. The actual locking door does so that's all I care about. The worker the landlord hired doesn't seem to be making that much of a racket, so I should be fine in the home office tomorrow.

May the Farce

2026-05-04T20:36:00.016-04:00

It's a lovely spring day, we received new front door locks, work is going swimmingly, and I keep thinking towards post-retirement (after all, it's only two years away now). The lovely young lady who took my last batch of comics messaged me again to see if I have more, and I told her I'd be ready for her after the downstairs construction finishes and she can have all my beloved paperbacks as well, at least the ones from the living room. We really don't need to downsize right away, but if these reading materials are sure to go to a good home I'm ready to rehome them sooner rather than later! Another good day for NY baseball, even though John Sterling has left this mortal plane, but both teams won (and the Mets game was moved up earlier last-minute which I wish I'd known about as my TV listing was wrong and I would have liked to have watched it). I'm more or less ready for Manhattan again tomorrow, might even stop in Penn Station along the way for some sort of Mexican snack to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (today's Star Wars Day celebration consisted of me wearing my R2D2 necklace that my uncle bought me in the late '70s).

A Modicum of Banging

2026-05-03T21:31:00.000-04:00

Honestly though, the downstairs renovation has just begun. But we have a new front door, albeit one without windows so the hallway is really dark until we turn on the flickering light. Even so, it's nice to have a door that closes and locks properly. Most of the banging seems to be coming from the kitchen, as warned by our already-much-missed downstairs neighbor before she moved out, so we'll see how much work I can get done from home tomorrow. It doesn't seem to affect the home office much (yet) but it's pretty hard to get an afternoon nap in unless it's during the worker's lunch hour. (Only one worker at the moment, that's sure to change!) At least we can amuse ourselves with sports, if Liverpool didn't keep losing. At least both NY baseball teams won for a change.

Windows Open, Door Closed

2026-05-02T21:26:00.003-04:00

The landlord with his assistant and some workers came in around 8 this morning to work on the front entrance door and the downstairs apartment, and that went on pretty much all day. On the one hand, it drowned out the screechy childers, and it is nice to have a door that finally closes and locks properly. On the other hand, it made it very difficult to relax or nap. We got out for a couple hours of shopping and sushi, and timed it well as the lead worker had taken a break (and his vehicle) so we had a clear path right to our usual parking spot, but I'm glad we didn't do our car shopping as bringing back a new vehicle just doesn't seem like the right thing to do with all this activity. Nonetheless, I'm almost 100% ready for the dealership now, with title and maintenance log in hand and all the papers finally filed correctly. And the horse I rooted for won the Kentucky Derby, so I suppose that's something as well.

May Day!

2026-05-01T21:47:00.009-04:00

White Rabbits! Now that our downstairs neighbor has moved out, the landlord has started preparing for renovations. We'll be getting a new front door at the foot of the indoor steps that actually closes for a change, and I suspect they'll be gutting the place pretty thoroughly. The noise today was minimal but still disruptive. I dread the noise this coming weekend, maybe it'll be an earbud kinda weekend after all. Meantime the laundry was done and has been put away in near-record time, I had a nice chat with the family financial advisor about my inheritance, I got through my work assignments in pretty decent shape to move forward next week, and I'm determined to finally organize my car maintenance files this weekend so I have my couch back!

Charcuter-Me

2026-04-30T21:11:00.023-04:00

Extra long day today, as after work (which was relatively quiet and I got a lot of reading and self-study done) one of our diversity groups had a charcuterie-assembly event, which honestly was more like a DIY buffet thing. So I grabbed one of the only chairs until the presentation was finished and we all gathered around the charcuterie table, and that's when the foot pain started. I can walk okay, I did it at lunch when I finally found out about a nearby Panda Express (when you're jonesing for Chinese food you'll take the fast food approach over nothing at all), but I can't stand for periods of time without it causing pretty intense neuropathy pain. So while the salami and cheese and nuts (I keep forgetting how much I love shelled pistachios) and dried apricots were nice and tasty, I had to leave a bit early due to my pain and was able to hobble back to Penn Station (where they were having some sort of basketball playoff rally at MSG) to catch the homeward bound subway. Because I was a bit past rush hour I got a seat right away, but then a woman at lease twice as large as me (and I'm still large) squeezed herself right next to me, and the seat on the other side of her as well, and the neuropathy was triggered again. And again, when I'd changed seats and someone exited the subway car by bumping my right knee. I'm quite the mess now, and happy I get to work from home until next Tuesday!

Everything Everywhere All At Once

2026-04-29T21:20:00.001-04:00

A few days ago I had a feeling of impending wossname, and had no idea what the imminent dread could be. Today I had to face three stressful situations involving the usual phone calls to AI robots before I could get human beings, and that was just my morning. The afternoon was wall-to-wall work meetings, during which my family broker called, so I've put that call off until Friday. There's only so much financial and medical stuff I can do in one day. There are also only so many meetings. I had no problem filling my day, my body didn't experience too many aches and pains so that's a plus, and I'm in good shape to concentrate only on work tomorrow, getting in my month-end requirements.

Silly Site o' the Day

2026-04-28T20:28:00.009-04:00

Pretty good day at work, just busy enough to not overwhelm me, nothing wrong with the commute, so let's celebrate with another silly site. Do you know what was going on the day you were born? Let Birthday Headlines help you with that! Via BoingBoing.

Silly Site o' the Day

2026-04-27T21:02:00.001-04:00

Too much stuff on my body hurts, so here's a silly site disguised as an ad disguised as a well-deserved dig at the orange sh*tgibbon:

Get me some o' those m*therf*cking chips...

Incremental Giveaways

2026-04-26T20:58:00.020-04:00

Today we stopped by the local farmers market for the first time in awhile, as I'd promised my neighbor the cat-supply lady a feeding bowl and automatic water bowl, since we're not in the market for adopting another cat until well after I'm retired. Naturally I had to grab some of my usual stuff, earrings and veg and so forth, and we then visited my uncle in his assisted living place down the block (someday they'll pave that awful road so it takes us 2 minutes to drive there instead of 10) and left some plates from my mom's house that my cousin wanted. We're trying to downsize things from the car so that, if we wind up buying/leasing a new one next weekend, we don't have to empty out that much more. The rest of the day was spent watching both NY baseball teams lose so, you know, par for the course.

Stock, Car

2026-04-25T18:50:00.001-04:00

I did have more neuropathy pain in the hands last night and this morning, particularly in the thumbs and unfortunately in my right hallux (big toe) as I was driving back from the grocery store (yay, new car battery working fine!) so that made using the brake and accelerator tons of fun, but I haven't had to take any ibuprofen so it's manageable with heat (doing the dishes warmed them up nicely, as did wearing wrist braces for an hour or so). We didn't have a huge shopping list but there was a "10 for $10" sale on two staples that we use all the time so we are stocked up now. Before we left I finally tackled my car insurance files, getting rid of all the outdated supplemental info (we have a fairly nice shredder now so all those pages got shredded) and putting all the renewals in date order. Which is a lot for 22 years times twice yearly! Now all that remains is the maintenance log, basically all the times I've taken it in for an oil change or other work. And I received my replacement title in the mail today, confirming that I don't think I've ever seen my car's title in my life. My guess is that Dad must have kept it and after he passed it never made it to me. Now I'm ready to go car shopping, possibly as early as next weekend if my body behaves itself!

Finger on the Problem

2026-04-24T19:34:00.010-04:00

After two straight in-office days it was such a blessing to work from home and give my hands a few days to heal! Lots of nerve pain, although I'm hoping it's more neuropathy being triggered than any lasting damage. Couldn't really do too much more than type, and ibuprofen is the order of the day, or at least the evening. Manual dexterity is just a bit tricky today. But my work got done, I put in my 8+ hours, and I can now relax...

Of the AM Commute from Hell, and Espresso Martinis

2026-04-23T20:25:00.003-04:00

Brand-new bus this morning! I hopped on at 6:30 after a 10-minute wait in the somewhat-cold-and-dank, and all was fine until one of the last pickups when a wheelchair passenger wanted to board. All well and good, I think her timing might have been better if she'd waited until after rush hour, but I know nothing of her life and plans so who am I to say. Unfortunately, the wheelchair lift mechanism on the (I say again) brand-new bus didn't work, and got stuck in the exterior position. Which meant I had to wait almost half an hour before the next bus on that route came by (the bus in between takes a faster route... had I only known). All the other passengers got off and took an east side bus that promised to make the first Manhattan dropoff, but that's no good for me as I needed to get to 9th Avenue. And the later you get the more traffic builds up, so by the time I hit the transfer point for the local it was well after 8 AM. Alas, it was another 20-minute wait for the local, so I finally got into work around 9:15. Nothing like a 3+ hour commute! Then at lunch I tried to "piggyback" through the turnstiles and they closed in on my hands, which stung like hell and will probably result in a lot of nerve pain in the next couple of days. Fortunately there was a cross-promotion going between Grey Goose vodka and the new Devil Wears Prada movie, where they gave away tiny espresso martinis (martini-tinies!) and popcorn, which I later discovered (when eating the popcorn back at my workstation) was made with edible glitter. Glitter now festoons my keyboard and pants. The kids who came into the office for Take Your Kids to Work Day seemed to get a kick out of that; so great to meet the childers of two of my partners! Homeward commute much easier, and I'm just hoping the pain isn't too bad tomorrow...

Down to Earth Day

2026-04-22T21:33:00.006-04:00

Today was the first of two consecutive in-office days, which are getting more and more difficult as I age, particularly when the morning starts out dank and cold and I'm slightly underdressed (otherwise I'd be too overdressed for the homeward commute) and I have to wait for both express and local buses for over 10 minutes each. Fortunately there was a free coffee truck (advertising that the firm is launching a new division, basically doing what my bosses at my old job did) outside our HQ, so I was able to warm up at last and get into the swing of Administrative Professionals Day. I had a lovely Admin Day, no monetary pressies but lots of flowers, and we had a little celebration where we all got together and had fruit and gelato (I'm sure my system will pay for the latter tomorrow). It was so nice seeing my fellow exec assistants all in one place for a change! And I got to leave all my stuff (except for the flowers) at the office as I'll be returning tomorrow; how could I not, for Bring Your Kids to Work Day? Lots of foot pain when I got home, hoping the shower eases my muscles in time to do it all again tomorrow.