I have this phone mount and it is AWESOME. It's incredibly adjustable, and the sticky suction cup will never ever fall off.

Human relations questions. Someone who has kind of been a sparring partner wrote me offline thanking me for always responding courteously and apologizes for having resorted to a "slash and burn style". Quite honestly, I don't remember him having said anything out of line. I remember him being critical of my ideas in but not any personal attacks. I guess just accept the apology graciously, rather than saying I don't remember him going over the line?

TB, I think a "no worries, what you said didn't hurt/offend me, but I thank you for saying so" is a good approach to that situation. It always feels to me like the decent thing to acknowledge their gesture even if they didn't actually cross your line, wherever that line is.

Hot damn! I just discovered car mounts with NFC. I was about to pull the trigger on your suggestion, Jessica, but if my phone can tell it's mounted in my car...oh, the possibilities...

Thanks, folks. And then I got a really quick response from someone I'd chatted with in April about a job possibility in Portland. He's still interested, wants to know if I'd relocate.

I still can't decide. I like so much about my life here: my family, my friends, the weather, the food. But the housing situation is SO AWFUL. The street business in front of the house is unending, I'm certain my sinus problems are related to my proximity to the highway, and I found a rifle shell casing in my yard last week. But house prices are so fucking ridiculous, I would need a 30% increase in salary to be able to move to a significantly better neighborhood. Which would probably mean working so many hours I wouldn't have time to appreciate my nice house. Or I should consider a condo, except I have a dog. Except I have a GSD because I live in a crap neighborhood. Round and round we go...

Argh.

I should go run errands: it's more productive than surfing Redfin and whining about the fabulous place I could get in Portland for no more than $325K...

Portland is awesome.

You should move to Portland.

Portland isn't so far that you couldn't visit family quite often.

I just replied to an email from a production company asking me if I knew of any goth/macabre families interested in being involved in a "lighthearted reality-based TV series". I tried to be as friendly and professional as possible while saying that most goths are wary of appearing on any "reality-based" TV, because of those shows being scripted/edited for Maximum Drama!, and because the shows often encourage a point and laugh at the freaks mentality. Let's see if the production company answers!

You guys, realizing that I could get a take-out burger without fries has made my life SO MUCH BETTER.

Aaaaand the refrigerator is broken. Not catastrophically, but still.