I feel like crap now, but still marveling over Alaska. Have to wait on family for better pics, but am glad I stayed the photographing hand and just was there. There were a lot of times it felt a familiar foreign, like Australia, and I'm pretty sure it's because of similar mindsets. While next time (and there will be) I'd go without a guide, having one really helped, with both it being a family group and just it being a perspective from a local who has lived & embraced the life. (If you ever want to do a tour, Madonna at Alaskan Tours. It was also really helpful that in her off season, she runs activities at a VA senior home. I'll probably think about talking about that later. But we had a good winesoaked conversation one night, complete with a retired rock-roadie Keith Richards lookalike bartender and that's a whole other story.)

Yeah, mountains and moose and bears and glaciers and salmon, oh my.

...and I didn't bring back any salmon. Birch syrup and caramels, yes. Wish I'd bought local art, but while I saw a lot that was incredible, nothing that truly grabbed me personally. Brought home memories and pictures and a cold.

You deserve to not constantly worry that your wife is going to be angry with you.

Having to live with constant worry that your partner will be angry with you is an abusive goddamn relationship. Believing that it's your fault that your partner is constantly angry with you is goddamn gaslighting. Which is abusive.

Having to live with partner who doesn't do a fair share of the household labor (unless that partner is ill) is absolute bullshit. Everyone works. Everyone has other things that require their attention and energy, whether it's starting a business, raising kids, a beloved and time-consuming hobby, writing a book, hosting a podcast, etc. EVERYONE. It doesn't excuse foisting the vast majority of the household labor off on your spouse and then abusing him when he doesn't do it all.

Nobody should have to live like you are, Gud. Nobody. It's soul-crushing.

And no kids should have to watch one parent abusing the other. I can tell you from long experience that that is a situation that's horribly damaging. I'm 46 and just beginning to untangle the damage through fucking difficult, painful therapy. And I wish your kids didn't have to go through the same thing.

Facebook etiquette question: a family friend (friend's parent/parents' friend) just puts birthday messages on her own wall. Do I tell her that's not the best way?

As long as she's tagging them I don't see the issue.

Facebook etiquette question: a family friend (friend's parent/parents' friend) just puts birthday messages on her own wall. Do I tell her that's not the best way?

As long as she's tagging them I don't see the issue.

I had* a FB friend with a kerbillion FB friends, and she always just posts one big Happy Birthday post virtually every morning, tagging all of the people whose birthday it is on that day. That seemed way more effective than having to go to a kerbillion people's walls and post separate birthday wishes.

*(It's had, past tense, because she's a diehard Trump supporter who bought and proudly wore a tight, low-cut "Hey Trump, Grab THIS Pussy!" t-shirt and posted the picture taken at a Trump rally here. I am not making that up. Unfriended so damn fast I think I created a black hole.)

This one doesn't tag anything.

(It's had, past tense, because she's a diehard Trump supporter who bought and proudly wore a tight, low-cut "Hey Trump, Grab THIS Pussy!" t-shirt and posted the picture taken at a Trump rally here. I am not making that up. Unfriended so damn fast I think I created a black hole.)

Holy shit.

Holy Shit is right! Drop the crazy immediately!

My step-dad does the happy birthday without tagging thing. I'll have to mention it to him at some convenient moment.

I'm currently logged-into but ignoring an all-hands meeting, and I just looked at the current slide, which talks about "machine learning".

That sounds kind of ominous and Terminator-y, right?

The machines can't rise up if they can't learn.

Not if you are in the biz. It's more like 'can we predict when users will clean their ovens and give them coupons?' than 'I think therefore I should kill all humans'.

'I think therefore I should kill all humans'.

That's sometimes the logic that goes through my head when I get up in the morning.