Well, I'm off to a job interview. No idea why they called me in for this one, to be honest, as I have no experience in 8-14 year old education, but it's good interview experience. And I have an excuse to dress up and wear my pretty shoes.

Conference call going on two hours now. They're trying to figure out why staff is not sufficiently engaged. This is the first time in 15 years they've actually asked staff why they're not engaged.

You're not engaged because you have to waste your time in pointless meetings.

I skipping to the end to say Steph, tell them that you and Tim will not clean up. Period.

That's all, they figure out the rest. Consequences? They deal with them. Annoyances? On them.

You do not need to be part of the discussion any more beyond "we will not clean up."

My old AC wasn't covered by the home warranty we had for a year ecause it was 30 (!!) years old. Definitely worth it if ends up helping with that, though I have heard of people running into headaches there too (the warranty only covering the cheapest model, for example, instead of higher efficiency options). Obviously horror stories are just that and I am interested to hear that there has been better success here. I may reevaluate based on your recommendations.

A home warranty is like any other optional warranty or insurance, I think. If you can much more easily afford the payment than the worst case scenario, you should absolutely do it. For many people it will pay itself back and for others it won't, by design, but peace of mind and more security of budget against disaster are valuable commodities for sure. I tend to be of the "take my chances" mindset but that type of gambling is not for everybody.

I am about to go outside and plant some hops rhizomes. Can home brewing be far away for me?

I am looking for a therapist. Just heard someone talking about their general mild depression and anxiety and yeah, that's me. I should have probably not tapered myself off the anti-anxiety meds. It's been months though, like more than 6 months I think and I don't think things are much worse, I just would never really leave the house if I didn't have to. Not because I don't want to do things, but everything seems like so much work and sitting is easier.

Steph, what a PITA!

And msbelle, good luck on the therapist front. I wish I had a good lead on how to find a therapist.

You're not engaged because you have to waste your time in pointless meetings.

The consensus among the group was that meetings are good! and everyone should be invited to ALL the meetings.

tommy, just sent that to my team.

Folks here who know the DC area well: Our annual meeting has been scheduled in DC during the cherry blossom time, and whoever booked our hotel didn't reserve enough rooms. Now they're scrambling to get everyone rooms. They've told us that some of us may have to stay in "nearby" Virginia or Maryland. Our meeting hotel is on K Street. Am I right, that getting to that hotel at 7am from VA or MD could easily take an hour? I don't think they're taking that travel time into account. Or, maybe they just don't care; that's a distinct possibility.