Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone! It's been a great day so far -- we had our first appointment this morning with the midwife practice we'll be using, and we really liked the midwife we met with. And we got to hear the baby's heartbeat! She said it sounded great. And tonight we're having a few friends over for pie, so really, how much better can the day get??

Ha! Clever little escaped prisoner baby.

Happy Birthday, Kate!!

Happy birthday, Kate!

I made a coconut layer cake for my sister's birthday, and it was a solid success, so yay me.

ION, I'm back in the office, bah. Still, I had a nice gossip with one of my favorite coworkers from the Juneau office, who told me a great joke: "My wife and I argue about who is more ADHD. The arguments never last long."

and it was a solid success, so yay me.

But, really, don't you need more data to bolster those results? I'd be happy to help out with that.

Someone, and I can't remember who it was, told me a joke a couple months ago that I adore: Grasshopper walks into a bar. Bartender says, "Hey! We have a drink named after you!" Grasshopper says, "You have a drink named Earle?"

Happy birthday, Kate!

Hivemind, I need a nice way of telling an enthusiastic volunteer to back the f*ck off. I don't want her making calls as if she represents us, and I need to tell her that we've been doing this for months and her suggestions of how we should be doing things are unwelcome (because taking the time to explain to her why her way is not the right way takes time out of my day that I need for other things).

I think what I might do is have a sit-down with her and tell her: "this is the plan we laid out in terms of services and marketing for the next 3-6 months. It is clear to many of us that you may not agree with our direction. Can we attempt this plan for the next few months? We can have another conversation in 6 months revisiting this issue if you feel things are still not working."

That would work if she was a volunteer in my library, but she's volunteering in the dog search.

she's volunteering in the dog search.

Oh, wow. I would pretty much tell her that Sass is *your* dog, and while you're grateful for her help, if she doesn't want to help you in the way that you have indicated that you need, then you don't need her help.

That might not be what you want to do, though; I don't know the details of how much help you have in the search. But someone who's coming in and trying to change things because she thinks her way is better is NOT someone who's going to actually be helpful to you, IMO, and you might just be better off telling her "Thanks, but we don't need your help."

oh! I see. goodness.