I love our mail-in ballots. Nothing(so far, knock wood) has gone awry with ours.

Connie talking about lunch inspires me--should I have mac&cheese for lunch? I've been craving it.

My front room (where the sun hits from sunrise till mid-afternoon) is blessedly cool. H called a tall and brawny neighbor to come and install the portable AC unit he had delivered yesterday, and lo, it is done. Tall neighbor also got the high, very heavy glass out of the storm door so when it's not hot enough for AC there can be a breeze, and ditto opening the catches on the sliders on the back porch, which I couldn't reach. Now we catch the nearly constant cooler breeze from the woods. There's a good chance I'll survive till October. I may not leave the house, but I'll survive.

Tall neighbor also took all the styrofoam and cardboard packing with him to recycling and trash, and my next door neighbor saw me gathering recycling this morning, "I'm going anyway, can I take yours?"

It's Be Nice to Me day!

Yes! Everyday should be Be Nice to Beverly Day!

If I weren't in Florida I might have a different feeling about ballots, but I will never forget that my county ballot gave the presidency to George Bush. What a different world we would live in if we hadn't taken that turn toward insanity.

If the Reagan attempt had succeeded.

Course, that wasn't due to ballots.

Apparently my phone number is tied into the county emergency alert system. I was sitting there reading fic when this ominous alarm started blowing up about evacuations down by the fire. Good to know I'll know about things, but for a second I wondered if the fic police were after me.

Buffy was a faceless tiny blonde girl who was riding on a futuristic Hogwarts train

For some reason, I parsed this at first as her riding ON TOP OF the train. Hey, if it's a dream.....

Timelies all!

Well, we made it to the resort. Mr. S didn't nap at all today, as usual, and has been a total cranky pants. I'm a bit cranky myself, Let's see how well we get through this. (The resort is lovely, but not the right place for us,)

I am all up in my feelings. I am seeing posts of parents I know doing college visits with their kids these last 2 weeks before schools here start.

msbelle, are you worried about mac not being interested in looking at colleges, or feeling bad that you're not taking him on those visits, or something else?

If it makes you feel any better, I was just having a discussion with a bunch of HS teachers today about how the relentless push for college for every kid isn't actually a good thing for every kid. Plenty of them would do better to take a year or two "off" before college, or more, and take the time to figure out what they want out of life *before* spending a bucketload of money on more school. I don't know if this is true of mac, of course -- just throwing it out there.

I wish he was interested in a path after high school: college, technical school, apprenticeship at a career.

So what do these kids do in those one to two years "off"? Because living at home is a no go and he won't make enough money working fast food to afford an apartment.

He will end up registered at the nearby Community College by default because that is what the no-plan having friends are doing. It's not because they have any interest in that school, or because it has a program that their parents know is good. It is closest, it is cheapest, and the path of least resistance.

Msbelle, you know what fits your son. But have the fleeting feels.

So I've apparently become the mentor/confessor to... our newest scientist. This.is.not.how.this.was.supposed.to.work. I'm doing a kinda crappy job training my own minion, but bangup job with this one. Uncertain in claiming their authority/not feeling like they know enough/ worried about the politics? look, I have social & political capital to burn, I know these people & culture, I'll forge the path if you make the case to me & I agree. You feel at sea? That's OK! No one expected you to know 25 yrs in a damned 8 weeks. Plus, they got a responsibility for a project no one else wanted to touch because such a nebulous nightmare, I only can describe the intent, not machinations. And they are doing great! More progress in 2 months than we've made in a year.

But I'm totally their venting-buddy-emotional-support-reference-desk. It's weird (and the wrong person! Where is my minion? Where is their scientist mentor?)

I've got to train & bond more with my minion.

We kinda suck at training/mentoring, except it is good to know I don't totally suck, just misdirected. Oy.