Yay geek bonding! I'm glad your mom is doing so well, Jen.

Ugh. I am feeling worse and worse about this new project.

It's in a disease I didn't want to work in (cancer), and it's for a study that we took over from another company (uh oh). Plus, the manager is clearly overwhelmed, and being a big douche. She sent me a TON of shit, told me it should take a day (it took at least three and that was with me way more skimming than reading), and didn't give me half the info I actually NEEDED. Meanwhile, other people above me gave me contacts to two other people in my position, so I talked to them and they both confirmed it was a mess, and gave me some of the needed info.

I worked on some of the things they had sent me, and one required I watch a thing and then print a certificate. I forwarded it to the admin, because that was what the email the other girl had sent said to do.

New boss just emailed and was all "I am in charge of your training and if anyone else sends you anything you have to ask before you do it and now you need to send me what she sent you". I'm like "maybe if you were AT ALL responsive, or sent me USEFUL THINGS, I wouldn't be trying to be proactive and searching out other trainings!!" Jesus, lady.

random shit would drop into my lap, and I'd just grab at it, and nothing bad would happen, and I'd never learn my lesson.

NO COMEUPPANCE!

Ugh, meara. I hope it gets better/sorted. That's no good.

Thanks, 't -- me, too!

***

Happy Birthday, Owen!

I forget to do board HBD sometimes if I do FB. See above re: brain on drugs.

What a mess, meara. I hope things improve.

So--how hard is it to do a will without needing to involve a pricey lawyer?

Not familiar with online legal documents, so I won't comment on legalzoom and the like. But simple wills -- along the lines of "everything to my spouse, or to X if my spouse dies first" -- are among the least pricey services a lawyer can provide. We're looking at updating ours (which includes a power of attorney and the like) for less than $1,000 total.

I think I would rather walk Hadrian's Wall from the North Sea to the Irish Sea first.

I've always wanted to do that. It's Rosemary Sutcliff's fault. Also, Kipling's:

Thirty feet high is the Wall, and on the Picts' side, the North, is a ditch, strewn with blades of old swords and spear-heads set in wood, and tyres of wheels joined by chains. The Little People come there to steal iron for their arrow-heads.

But the Wall itself is not more wonderful than the town behind it. Long ago there were great ramparts and ditches on the South side, and no one was allowed to build there. Now the ramparts are partly pulled down and built over, from end to end of the Wall; making a thin town eighty miles long. Think of it! One roaring, rioting, cock-fighting, wolf-baiting, horse-racing town, from Ituna on the West to Segedunum on the cold eastern beach! On one wide heather, woods and ruins where Picts hide, and on the other, a vast town - long like a snake, and wicked like a snake. Yes, a snake basking beside a warm wall!

I do wonder if I missed any opportunities. I don't think I did...I do have some gaping holes in my resume, but I swear I didn't miss any obvious chances.

Karaoke.

One thing I definitely like about getting older is that I'm a lot more confident and secure than I was when I was younger.

Not Giving a Damn is the huge upside of aging that people don't tell you about.

If only I could go back in time and jump a certain guy's bones. So what if he had a girlfriend!

You and me both, Sue.

I don't have a lot of regrets, other than one or two places I still want to travel and a few times I know I acted badly, but one of our previous discussions about regrets here made me realize that one of the things I do still want to do is have a dog, which is one of the primary reasons I bought a house.

Geez, you guys are expensive.