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Has Achieved Nirvana |
  We had a wonderful visit with the Millers yesterday. It was like we were old friends getting together, except we were meeting in person for the first time. We never ran out of things to talk about and were sad to see them leave. Safe travels to Steve and Sharon on their Route 66 odyssey!
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity  |
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| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana  |
I'm doing the same thing I've been doing for the past six weeks: doctoring my laminitic horse. She foundered on March 17. It's been a nightmare. She seems to be making slow improvement, and is mostly back on her feet. Not having a vet I trust within two hours of here is definitely a complication. Finally spring has arrived. It was 80 yesterday. All the snow is finally gone. But spring is super late this year. I am fixing fence and ordering sand and gravel and doing laundry and switched over to the summer sheets and bedclothes. Trying to get more sleep. Lots of sleepless nights these past six weeks. Mr. Pique turns 75 in June and he's asked to take a road trip to all the places he's spent time in his life and to see old friends. Should take about a month. Need to get on buying the new car we've been planning to get. I want a Subaru Forester Touring model with all the bells and whistles. Recent year is good, doesn't have to be brand new. We have a to do list as long as my arm. Just taking it a day at a time.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
I set the banjo aside and rented a cello last December. I haven’t played cello since junior high school, and then it was just a couple years in school orchestra (which was a string quartet). I have a good teacher. We are working through the Essential Strings book 1 and Suzuki book 1. So, nothing really momentous so far. I did transcribe Both Sides Now and I’m noodling on that on the side. I’m hopping to find some nice Baroque solo cello pieces besides the BCS. So far, transcribing Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas for cello isn’t working out too well. Suggestions?
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| Shut up and play your guitar! Minor Deity  |
I'm applying for jobs for the first time since the 1980s. Have a MS Teams interview tomorrow for an IT Infrastructure Engineer position at a company about 10 miles from home. Good pay, benefits, etc. Full-time position on-site so my days of working from home might be drawing to an end. UGH. It's all I have known since 1996. Our business took a huge financial hit due to politics and "budget concerns" and it can no longer support my salary. The sales cycle into county government is long and difficult and I need to find something soon. We have a cushion so we are OK for a while but that will not last forever. Never thought I would be doing this at 61 years of age. I have never worked for a company with a pension or even a 401k. Our company was finally able to start a 401k in 2019 and it is more than I ever had in long-term savings, but it needs another 5-10 years to get me to a point where I can retire. I have a Roth IRA but it is also too small at present. Need at least another 6 years of full employment to reach full retirement age for SS payback. Still have 12 years of mortgage payments too. Life! hey? | |||
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Minor Deity |
My situation is pretty much the opposite of mark’s. At age 71, I continue to desperately try to quit my job. I traveled to Los Angeles last week to meet with my CEO and board of directors and discuss with them how their time is running out to replace me. not sure how fast they will get a new hire done, but they clearly got the message that their time is not unlimited. if anyone would like to be CFO of a bank in California, I can get you an interview. | |||
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
This morning we headed south on I-55 right after breakfast. After an hour or two we decided to pick a random small town and have a look at it. Pontiac, IL fit the bill - fine old courthouse and a nice little downtown. We went in to a little coffee house and killed about an hour with coffee and scones - very nice! Once we got back on the Interstate the map programs started trying to route us on to side roads. We were finally forced to do that and drove 20 miles on little farm roads along with big rigs, tankers, and everything else. When we got back to the interestate we learned why it had been closed: Dust storm causes huge pile up on I-55. The pile up occurred about an hour before we got there. The same hour we spent at the coffee shop. 
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| Shut up and play your guitar! Minor Deity |
Wow! That's a stroke of good luck. We were just reading about it. Several deaths and many injuries. | |||
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Get your kicks. The Delgadillo’s Snow Cap burger place in Seligman was okay when I was there several years ago. It’s a touristy experience. I actually ended up there from an offhand post Ermo made.
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Minor Deity |
Great you got together! You all look sunny and healthy! (And, of course, wtg with her fabulous hairstyle!)
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| Shut up and play your guitar! Minor Deity |
Love this! | |||
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
We also have quite a bit of news. I'll let MA post her own news. In 2024, it looks as if we'll be moving to New York. Oklahoma may be the center of the country, but it's near exactly no one. New York will put us close to Muffin and my mother, and within reach of one of my daughters and MA's sister. It'll also be closer to my office in New York, if I choose to keep working. I don't have Doug's vim and vigor, after all. Toward that end, we're purchasing a house in New York. The listing called it a Dutch colonial, but we have our doubts. Built in 1886, and everyone who has looked at it says it's solid as as a rock. Electrical mostly updated, plumbing all copper and PVC, and a special grace note for those who appreciate construction ... the joists are all 4x8. I can jump up and down on the floors and there's no bounce or give. (A lot of things are original ... the windows, the moldings, etc. ... the floors are either original or were put in in the 1920s.) It's even got a fireplace in the basement. And a toilet in the basement ... in a tiny room with a door and a window on every other wall, and the windows have shutters that open from the OUTSIDE. It feels like something from a Gothic horror story. In less good news, one of my daughters has had a major health scare. The news, so far, is good, but we are far from the finish line. And she's in California, so we will be moving farther away, not nearer. | |||
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Minor Deity |
Other than the news Quirt posted, my news is primarily professional. My 2022 novel, The Physicists' Daughter, won the Oklahoma Book Award last month, and my 2023 academic book, the Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie, was a finalist for an Agatha Award, an Edgar Award nominee, and a shortlisted title for the HRF Keating Award. We attended the Agathas and Edgars last week in DC and NYC, where the book did not win, but we had a blast with my kids, sister, and nephews. The Keating Award is given in mid-May, so we're still waiting to hear on that one, but we won't be going to England for the ceremony.  Left to right: Muffin's Partner, Muffin, Muffin's Brother, My Sister, Me, Quirt, Muffin's Sister, Muffin's Cousin
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
That house sounds fantastic! Pictures?
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
The house was built in 1886? Was Doug born there?
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