On an entirely separate note--I thought I was being proactive by going in to the patient portal to try to schedule a visit with my doctor in late June or early July. But when I did that...the first appointments it offered me were in OCTOBER. Seriously?? I guess now I have to call and find out if she's like, on leave or something, or just booked six months out (?!?!). If she's on leave you'd think they'd have like, a message or something?

A blast from the past?

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality time to revive the, um, DUCK story?

New dog news is great!

Oof, hard same. And I've somehow reached the age/seniority in my role that people ask me for career advice and like...my career goals are to work just hard enough that I'll eventually be able to stop. I have no ambitions beyond "get paid, don't burn out."

Same. Big mood. Also, when people ask me for career advice, my responses tend to be things like "Be prepared to be frustrated. Train your PMs early, but remember that threatening them with violence is a career-limiting move."

New dog! Yay!

I think working from home makes me feel like I want to keep working, because commuting and other people live, in person, all day are what I find most exhausting about work, historically. That is, as I think Steph said above, the structure is helpful. We/I really need to make this the year of getting my/our shit together WRT what we're doing going forward to prep for retirement, though. It needs to be aggressive.

I'm still on vacation, but I did a bunch of stuff to prep the non-profit I work super part time for for an upcoming, online giving event, so I feel mighty productive! Emails drafted and scheduled, social media posts drafted scheduled, instructions for what to share on her personal page given. I guess it's good I'm done bingeing House?

So fun hanging out with your Shir! Safe flight to Seattle, and a continued good time to you!

The colonoscopy was performed without difficulty. The patient tolerated the procedure well. The quality of the bowel preparation was evaluated using the BBPS (Boston Bowel Preparation Scale) with scores of: Right Colon = 3, Transverse Colon = 3 and Left Colon = 3 (entire mucosa seen well with no residual staining, small fragments of stool or opaque liquid). The total BBPS score equals 9.

A 5 mm polyp was found in the transverse colon. The polyp was sessile. The polyp was removed with a cold snare.

Repeat colonoscopy in 7–10 years for surveillance based on pathology results.

Good result, Tom.

Bunches of adulting points to Tom!

The polyp was removed with a cold snare.

It's nice how they just yank the polyp for you right then and there.

Gold star for gastrointestinal health!

my career goals are to work just hard enough that I'll eventually be able to stop.

OMG hard same. Our People department (or someone, they are who it comes from but I don't know that it originates with them) has made it a goal that we have concrete discussions about career paths in our more formal 1:1s and I hate it so much. It's a little lucky that I am officially in a new role as of last year so my "path" just being "learn how to do/get better at my job" makes sense for a while more. I think I might be old enough that if we have a round of layoffs (which I hope we do not, we are hiring at the moment but that is no guarantee) I might get offered an early retirement package but I'm not sure when that kicks in. I have been here long enough that I should get a decent severance package (knowing what they have offered in the past) if it comes up, which is a comfort.

{{{lisah}}}

{{Gud}} I wish the breakdown didn't make you feel ashamed and embarrassed. I wish you didn't have it at all because I know they are no fun but I also know that they don't mean you are worth any less or doing anything wrong. And I am amazed at how much you get done.

Yay new dog!

Happy birthday Karl!