Pen-Elayne on the Web

Drenched

2026-08-20T21:35:47.968-04:00

The day started out a bit difficult for me. My back's been bothering me all week, and I had to schlep an Amazon return in to Whole Foods this morning as I wouldn't get the chance at lunch. Turns out the pain I was feeling was more the weight of my laptop than the returned item. I continue to be in great shape at work, just waiting on both partners and client EAs to get back to me on scheduling things, and I'm taking so much self-study that I'm actually starting to remember a lot of the AI terminology, which scares me. Lunch was terrific, my colleague signed off on my and Robin's kurta outfits for the wedding reception, and the Indian food we had was nice but the restaurant not so much (very cramped and unprofessional, much more a takeout place). I'd packed my rain jacket for the afternoon deluge, left work a bit early before it started (only wind on 9th Ave and a little rain on 8th), and by the time I got to my neighborhood it was coming down in sheets. And it still is. Just a bit drenched to the bone! But warm and dry now, watching the Yankees win again, and getting ready for shuteye...

Stop and Go

2026-08-19T20:23:00.000-04:00

My life has once again become things I need to do before vacationing, the first being to take the car in for its annual inspection by month's end. Alas, the NYS DMV has suffered a major outage for the past few days, and while I believe things are now restored I'm going to have to wait until Friday to take the car around the corner (literally, I can practically see that auto shop from our home) and leave it there for the inspection whilst I go back to working from home. Saturday is the usual shopping and meds, and Sunday we head out to Lawn Guylan to see our friends Phyllis and Richie. But before that I'm having lunch with a former colleague tomorrow, where I will pick her South Asian brain to make sure my outfit for the upcoming Indian wedding celebration is acceptable. The dress I wanted finally arrived today, looks lovely, and fits wonderfully, so I'm hoping it's okay. Now I just have to finalize plans with my Philadelphia colleague so I can figure out which Amtrak to take and how to get around downtown Philly by bus. Fortunately that's all still a couple weeks away. Unfortunately the end of that trip is only two days before we leave for England. I'm getting a bit nervous about it all.

There and Back Again

2026-08-18T21:36:22.358-04:00

The back is still twingy, and I'm sure the backpack this morning didn't help, but the naproxen kicked in and by noon I was busy enough at the office that I didn't really notice. This evening we watched the best episode of Beat Bobby Flay I've ever seen because, even though it was scripted up the wazoo with them all pretending it wasn't, they made it extremely official that Flay and Brooke Williamson are A Thing, and it was totes adorbs all the way, lots of huggy kissy and such. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. And it made my back feel better too.

Temporarelief

2026-08-17T21:21:00.000-04:00

Not permanent by any means, I'm still doing naproxen in the morning for the next few days, but I could actually move around without pain today, which made job stuff a lot easier. And because it was a work-from-home day I could also relax a bit. Goodness only knows how I'll fare tomorrow when I have to go into the city. Meantime I have to call my former doctor's office to see if I can get a telehealth visit with my new primary doc prior to my annual physical in late October, as I'll need someone in-network to sign off on my prescriptions. Lots of hoops to jump through, it being the US, but another reason I would not have taken the early retirement package this year. Very content to get a steady paycheck for another two years!

Debilitating

2026-08-16T19:42:46.840-04:00

The back was bad enough this morning that I opted for naproxyn, which feels like it never quite kicked in. Fortunately there's no pain when I lie down, but I don't want to spend the entire day in bed, and I really can't if I'm running to the bathroom every couple of hour and sweating the rest of the time. At least I got all my work tops steamed, and there's nothing else really pressing that I need to do. Let's hope it eases by tomorrow!

Back, To the Future

2026-08-15T21:01:00.000-04:00

SuperCuts did their usual terrific job and I am shorn for the foreseeable. On the other hand, my back has gone all wonky. Fortunately I have a back brace, a heating pad, and plenty of ibuprofen, but it's still a nuisance and a half. I was able to move around enough by mid-morning to pass along some old sneakers to a neighbor, then get the haircut and Robin's meds and go grocery shopping, but after that I was shot for the rest of the day. I've never been a good patient, and back pain is one of the worst for me. I just hope it eases by Monday, as the auto place called and said their inspector isn't in tomorrow so I'll have to take a couple hours off work (if I can even walk) to take the car in.

Connectivity

2026-08-14T21:56:00.000-04:00

Well, I thought my work-related tech issues were behind me, but this morning a firmwide glitch stopped all external emails from arriving, so I had to go onto my email at the client site and stay there for awhile until things got fixed. Not good for a firm where customer connection is key. Thank goodness so many people were still on PTO. My brain is half-there too. Tomorrow I get my hair cut, Sunday I take the car for inspection, just ticking off the things to do before the big September travel (first to Philly for the wedding reception then to Merrie Olde), and expecting fate to throw a spanner in those works as it sometimes does.

OMG Shoes

2026-08-13T19:51:00.000-04:00

Now that my tech issues at work are temporarily behind me, I can again concentrate on my personal health and such. To that end, I wore my new sneakers to work. I still have problems with the fourth toe on each foot, particularly the left one, but I'm guessing that's just a breaking-in thing. I love these sneakers, they only cost $50 and they have very wide toe boxes so things should settle by the time we're in England. I just hope the trains are running OK by the time we arrive, the tracks near where we'll be just buckled and three train cars overturned (fortunately no deaths) so it'll be awhile in repairs. I don't mind buses though!

Stuff Do-Age!

2026-08-12T17:15:12.466-04:00

Wow, what a difference a good night's sleep makes! Somehow I put away all the laundry yesterday so that helped me get a good start, the Woolite wash was done well before I logged on, I'm trying to get through steaming my clothes but I keep giving up on one particularly stubborn shirt, and best of all a work issue that I've been having for at least a month is finally on its way to being solved. So chalk all that up to a win so far! I kind of wish I had more job stuff to do, but three of my seven partners are out this week and I can't concentrate enough to keep taking self study courses. I should have that problem all the time!

Insomniac

2026-08-11T17:15:00.000-04:00

Let's just blame the air-fryer chicken wings. A few of them smelt a bit "off," and while I don't think I got food poisoning I was certainly up in the night sweating and such. In fact, almost all night. I got maybe an hour of sleep before my 5:15 AM alarm, and the commute into the office was a whole lot of fun, but I made it there in one piece. Unfortunately I started falling asleep at my desk, and when wide awake I couldn't concentrate on work as the fellow in the next workstation was not exactly using his inside voice, so I made an executive decision to stow everything but my laptop and commute home at 2 PM so I could still do work once I was back. So worth it! And I plan on falling asleep tonight as soon as my head hits the pillow or a NY baseball team starts losing...

Silly Site o' the Day

2026-08-10T19:30:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I really miss my college days. I know I've forgotten so very much, and there have been a lot of advances in the areas I studied, like linguistics. I wish this North American English Dialect map (via Laughing Squid) had been around back then!

Ironic

2026-08-09T18:48:29.765-04:00

Today was the first of what will undoubtedly be many giveaways as we start to downsize. My iron and ironing board are gone. Considering they haven't been used since we got the steamer, good riddance to what I'm sure is a fine home. I also finally filed away my financial stuff (i.e., from Mom's estate) in preparation for actually giving it a good perusal once it's no longer too hot to think. Now off to read comics, about the only thing I can manage.

Whose Sari Now?

2026-08-08T19:29:00.000-04:00

We finished our grocery shopping before noon and, alas, the AC was out in our favorite sushi place so that was a short lunch as well. Made it home before the heat really started kicking in, and plan to go nowhere for the remainder of the weekend. So much for getting the ol' car inspected this weekend! Way too hot. But Robin did have to traverse the inside stairs a few times to pick up things in preparation for next month's two big do's, our vacation to England and (before that) my cousin's wedding celebration with his lovely Indian bride. Rob's got his outfit all set, his kurta looks magnificent. Mine has yet to arrive, and I'm very concerned due to the size equivalents, but if I have to I can wear Western dress and profusely apologize. As long as I can wear leggings under whatever outfit I finally choose. If there's one thing on which I've improved as I've gotten older, it's dressing appropriately for an occasion. As we don't go to many occasions, that makes it easier.

Sapped Again

2026-08-07T20:34:00.000-04:00

I'm not as young as I used to be, and when the weather is dicey everything seems to move in slower motion, including me. I got through work today just fine, but had to collapse into a nap right afterwards. This heat wave is supposed to last through the weekend, and unfortunately I'm here for it, but I guess that's okay considering the alternative. I just need to pace myself, things are going to start happening pretty fast towards the end of the month, with the wedding celebration then England pretty much back to back.

The Heat is On, Again

2026-08-06T14:57:00.000-04:00

Not the apartment heat, the outside version. Although it does seep into the apartment because we're not all that well insulated. Fortunately there was nowhere to go today and I was able to take lots of work breaks to do things like shopping for an upcoming wedding reception (the bride is Indian so we have been asked to dress appropriately; who's sari now?) and relaxing. So why don't I feel refreshed yet? Oh yeah, heat seeping in...

Silly Site o' the Day

2026-08-04T21:44:00.000-04:00

I'd rather not talk about my homeward commute on a crowded subway today, which exacerbated my various Old Person aches and pains to an uncomfortable extent, so I'm thinking about Merrie Olde since it's just about a month before our holiday there. I'm hoping to see some of the castles and such listed on this map (via BoingBoing), but we'll see how well I can walk.

I've Had It for the Week

2026-08-04T20:53:00.000-04:00

Two Manhattan days in a row, two pretty miserable subway commutes home, and that's it for me. My left foot is in a lot of pain, very likely referred pain from calf muscles refusing to relax, so I'm limiting motion for at least the next couple of days as I work from home.

A Tempting Offer

2026-08-03T21:15:00.000-04:00

Today was yet another call offering voluntary termination to a portion of my company's workforce. Since I qualify for the maximum I was sore tempted, but we're only given three weeks to decide and my personal finances are not nearly as organized as I want them to be. Besides, I'm still kind of addicted to 26 pay stubs per year, which would be cut down by almost half (only lasting for 8 months) if I were to retire at the end of this September. So I'm on the fence but leaning towards getting off exactly where I stand right now. Having nobody to consult besides Robin, I have to go with my (and his) gut, and my stomach started churning a bit too much at the thought of extremely imminent retirement. For now I'm going to wait and see if they board the merry-go-round again this time next year, at which point my head -- and stomach -- will undoubtedly be in a different place.

Much-Needed Quiet

2026-08-02T20:55:50.288-04:00

As I type this the only music in the vicinity is coming from next door, which is only audible from the home office and should abate soon. I understand that some cultures are loud, I grew up in a noisy Jewish household, but loud and selfish, completely indifferent to and inconsiderate of those who live around you... well, that must be a 21st century artifact. Regardless, today was a good recovery day, provided I leave this room in the next five minutes or so before the unwanted music gets to me.

Wedding Out the Window

2026-08-01T22:42:00.000-04:00

White Rabbits! And I thought this was going to be an especially lucky day, what with my usual weekend chores all done before 8 AM and the grocery shopping (and gas station) before noon and the lovely emotional nostalgia kick I got from the 1986 NY Mets reunion ceremony... but that all came to a crashing halt around six hours ago when extremely loud music started emanating from the Hot Tub House outside our Yonkers-facing windows (home office and bedroom). Apparently it wasn't a run-of-the-mill party, but a complete wedding party, all in white and enjoying music that must have been too loud for them, and was certainly too loud for a suburban-city enclave surrounded by neighbors. I'm usually not that passive aggressive any more but I called the cops as the speakers blasted it out well above the 60db allowed before 10 PM (and the 50db allowed after 10 PM). No idea if the gendarmes ever arrived, but I've spent much of the last six hours in a very shaky state, wearing earplugs as well as the new noise-cancelling headphones Robin purchased for our flights to and from England. Unfortunately we couldn't get the earphones to work with the bedroom TV, but they worked well enough with my iPhone that I was able to listen to (and thoroughly enjoy despite the circumstances) the new Paul McCartney album. But the wedding noise put paid to my plans to, you know, get a nap in which I couldn't do earlier in the afternoon because screechy children, or even take a much-needed shower which will now have to wait another day. The music is finally winding down now, although loud voices still prevail, so the earphones are off (tried in vain to doze with them on) and the earplugs are in until the madness abates entirely. I reckon I'll be a wreck tomorrow, when I do hope to get in at least one nap and definitely a shower, and am very grateful it's a Sunday as I'll need the extra day to recover.

Wrapping Up the Month

2026-07-31T20:15:14.854-04:00

Weird day, I had dreams of my mother back when she was mobile (pre-COVID) but I knew she was gone so I kept wondering if I should ask her how she could be there when she was dead. Not the first time this has happened, but it was impetus enough to keep me up in the wee smalls as well as ta post-logoff visit to my uncle in his current assisted-living facility a short bus ride away. And my cousin showed up while we were there, so that was a nice bonus! While we were out I mailed some checks at the post office and we had some copies made of our mailbox key (alas, we'll have to return as, while they fit the lock, we couldn't turn them to open the mailbox). The heat took a lot out of me, and I've been hydrating like mad since we got home. I'm just happy July is over with.

Silly Site o' the Day

2026-07-30T20:10:00.000-04:00

My feet are still hurting, nobody really needed me in the office, so since I've done my two mandated days today and tomorrow I get to keep working from home, which usually means I'm more productive than usual anyway. Of course, I do miss watching the water towers:

Via Laughing Squid.

Homeward Bound

2026-07-29T21:18:00.000-04:00

After three straight days on my feet, especially with yesterday's commute (MTA's BusTime lied to me about my commuter bus not being in operation in the morning so I wound up doing the local bus/subway/ walking thing both ways and that really did a number on the tootsies), I decided to take it easy and work from home the rest of this week, having met my 2-day-in-office mandatory quota. And I really needed it, I'm still very tired from all the flitting about. Fortunately I had a chance to relax a bit, although not really all that much since my workload continues to be surprisingly heavy for this time of year. It does look like things will calm down next month, but I don't want to speak too soon.

Silly Site o' the Day

2026-07-28T20:05:00.000-04:00

If you're gonna do a LEGO ad, here's the right way to do it:

Unfortunately the LEGO don't actually move or do anything, so the ad is a tad deceptive.

Can't Trust That Day

2026-07-27T20:00:00.000-04:00

Still somewhat exhausted from yesterday's sojourn, I nonetheless schlepped into the city with my backpack to help greet a bunch of peer reviewers and make sure all was in readiness for this very busy week of both peer reviewing and PCAOB inspections. I'll be so thrilled when the week is over! July has been a heck of a month, and I need a vacation more than ever, but at this point I'll settle for a quiet August. I tried to keep my movements to a minimum, and it was really nice doing the homeward commute unburdened as all my stuff was left at the office in a temporary locker. Still, methinks I'm getting too old for this, Riggs.