That's a lot of being on hold, Dana.

That is a long time being on hold.

So i, or my family, could use some ~ma. My aunt Jane's partner had a heart attack on Sunday. This is the aunt who was my grandmother's main caregiver and who lost her only son. Jack was at her house when it happened and they got to the hospital and he had one artery 100% blocked but they put a stent in it and it's unblocked.

And then on mom's side of the family. My cousin Jay, who had the stroke...there is stuff with his ex wife and his son and trying to get living arrangements for various people. It's too complicated to go into detail. But some resolution to where mom doesn't have to go back to Florida...that is what I'm hoping for.

General~ma for your family, askye. That is a lot.

So, we were supposedly on the cusp of being operational again and sent out updates to customers yesterday telling them to get ready to work with us on sorting out all the messes that have accumulated and then this morning something didn't work as expected and we can't actually do anything still. Which doesn't exactly surprise me but I am frustrated with whoever keeps making the decision that the most optimistic timeline for recovery is what we should be telling everyone.

Sending ~ma all around for families and employers!

Timelies all!

Mr. S had his first COVID-19 shot today, and so far has no side effects.

Oh, that must be a relief, Sheryl. I'm so glad to hear it.

Yay for protected kiddos!

Lovely to come on here and catch up with nice people not being horrible on the internet. Thanks, everyone!

Texas is still Texas-ing. Austin isn't hosting the annual Veteran's Day Parade due to Covid concerns and Governor Abbott is screaming about how Austin hates veterans. He's also mad that we shot down a city proposition that would mandate a certain number of police officers per capita. I voted down all state propositions just on principle.

I was in Boston for work last week and I just really miss it there. Though this particular trip was not great, because I forgot one of my brain medications and went into a hardcore withdrawal of anxiety on the third day of a 6 day trip.

A beer writing conference I went to a few times in the heyday of my beer writing career is happening in Austin this weekend, so I'm going. I'm dreading it but also am a little intrigued to see what's going on in that world.

Tom, I fired a psychiatrist who I didn't feel listened to me and insisted on weighing me at every session and he lost his goddamn mind about it. He left voicemails, sent a letter, called my therapist to explain the reasoning behind his decisions... all of which did not, oddly enough, inspire me to go running back to him.

Steph, I am incensed on your family's behalf. That is totally and disgustingly negligent. WTAF?!?!

I fired a psychiatrist who I didn't feel listened to me and insisted on weighing me at every session

SWEET FUCKING CHRIST, what?!?!?!?!? I hope by "fired" you mean "fired the whole man out of a goddamn cannon into a pool of hungry sharks."

(I also had a breathtakingly bad psychiatrist who I had to see in order to get my antidepressants prescribed, and she badgered me until I told her my weight and height and she calculated my BMI for me right there [even though I DIDN'T ASK] [and even though YES I KNOW I'M FAT] and then spent the rest of my 50 minutes telling me I should try Pilates and she would be happy to prescribe weight-loss drugs for me [again, even though I DIDN'T ASK]. We didn't discuss my mental health once. So I asked my primary care doctor [Awesome Doctor] if he could prescribe my antidepressants, told him what fuckery the psychiatrist pulled on me, and he said "Oh hell no, you're not going back to her. I'll prescribe your antidepressants." Bless Awesome Doctor forever.)