I have a friend in the federal govt and they posted that they’re hearing emails are not effective, it’s calls more than anything.

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Yeah, I heard that too but I have the phone fear. I’ll work my way up. Or maybe I’ll start faxing, I heard that was good to do if the phone lines are overloaded

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I got fundraising emails from both of them about Musk.

FFS!!! Read the g-d nation dems, give it a half second before fundraising.

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Good grief, yeah, maybe DO something before you ask people for money??

Trivia team tonight was so big we had to split in two—there were 11 of us! But we snagged a table and it was all good. And my team came in second! Pretty awesome. The visual round was naming various doctors. We got them all except the Simpsons one and Doofenschmirtz—one was Dr Horrible! The song round was Disney but apparently everyone else did just as bad as we did.

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I couldn't have gotten Doofenschmirtz, like ever. I'm just not hip to the kids these days.

Only achiness this morning, so that should conclude my reportage of tooth matters -- thanks for your patience. It was all "my toothache loves carrots!" for a while.

Alas, this means that I can turn my attention back to matters national and dire. It was a kind of vacation while it lasted.

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I was distracted from the shit show of our government (and it's parasites) for a few hours by an emergency trip to the vet this morning.

Poor Gilda! I hope the medication goes down easy and is effective.

thanks for your patience. It was all "my toothache loves carrots!" for a while.

Toothaches do tend to block out all other life events. May both Musk and Trump be so distracted by toothaches that they don't notice the polar bears sneaking up on them.

It's my brother's 70th birthday today. He has both chemo and radiation on his schedule this morning. He has his 3 big sisters here so he is pleased. We told him that since he can't eat or drink anything to celebrate we would just get all his favorite things and eat them in front of him. He laughed heartily at the suggestion. He is in good humor and said he has a list of things he is going to consume after surgery. The plan is to do some surgery after the radiation is done so that he can eat again. I'm going with him to his appointments this morning. He is now smoking one cigarette a day, taking one puff and putting it out a number of times. The surgeon was very demanding on that subject. He is trying. He has smoked since he was about 10 stealing dad's cigarettes, so it is a challenge.

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I highly recommend 5 Calls for making it easy to call your reps, mostly because of the scripts they provide.

[link]

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Personally I'd prefer polar bears whose habitat is being destroyed by the extra heat from his data centers, but I'm not that picky about who does the dragging so long as it gets done.

I suggest a compromise and have Mounties riding polar bears do it.

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It's rainy heavily in SF this morning, so I guess I'm not shaking off my trip with a morning run.

Nor am I taking care of a variety of other tasks because my phone is still borked.

So I guess I have to fix my phone, which is more than onerous considering I spent ten days before the trip talking to AT&T to set up my travel plans for myself and Matilda, and one full day during the trip correcting Matilda's phone to functionality which required a trip to the Asakusa neighborhood (which turned out to be fun in its own right).

Anyway, I'm tired of talking to phone people, or in this instance chatting with them online. But one thing I've become very aware of is how completely dependent all the security systems are upon sending security codes via text to your phone (which currently doesn't work), or email (which was an issue with all accounts JZ started with her now defunct work email).

But needs must. My coffee machine was balky this morning but I persevered and finally got it to produce the necessary dark magic. I can't be expected to wade into another techno-bureaucratic slog without caffeine.

Welcome home! Nothing works, including the Federal Government!

I guess the lesson here, both macro and micro, is to focus on the things that I can control, like vacuuming, folding laundry, doing the dishes and chatting online with AT&T.

And the most important mantra I've learned in dealing with bureaucracies after JZ's death: Nothing gets fixed on the first try, but if you keep pecking at it, you can usually sort it out in three.

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Just downloaded the 5 calls app. Easy peasey.

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