OOC, Jen, what does "failing at Invisalign" entail?

I sent a link to the memorial to Matilda's school counselor, who's been such an advocate for her during the last year.

She wrote back...

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Hello David,

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this, and my sincere apologies for my own delayed response .

I watched this a few weeks ago, and shared in passing with Matilda how proud I indeed was for her poise, strength and grace in taking the mic at this beautiful memorial.

I returned to this today (forever the sentimental counselor), as we get ready to send off the graduating class. Through everything Matilda has gone through in high school, she has been an inspirational model of poise, strength and grace - among many other admirable qualities. In my experience, this has never felt more rare and precious among young people.

I imagine you are blooming with pride as we approach graduation day, as I am for Matilda. She is a very special "bulldog", who will be missed - but first celebrated and cheered for. Trust I will be right there on the field with her tomorrow for anything she needs!

Wishing you all the very best, Katie

Todd, get one of those dusting wands for the two-story exposed rafters, with the extending wand. You can stay at your desk and wave it around at full stretch and maybe it will be long enough to trigger the lights. Worth a shot.

In my office's previous configuration, I had this problem because I worked later in the day than most of the others. We still had semi-cubicles then, and the sensor happened to be on the other side of a room divider/cube wall that ran about 30 feet. One of the engineers usually started even later than me and sat on that side, so if the lights went out I could yell to him & he'd wave his arms to turn them back on. But if Joel was away from his desk, I had to get up and walk around the 30ish foot wall (I was nearly centered, of course), then walk a good 10-15 feet down the other side before the sensors saw me. If you're wondering whether throwing a few stress balls in the general vicinity of the sensors is enough to turn the lights back on, my experience is no. (Huh, finally one - ONLY one - way in which the current open design desks are superior).

Oh I was thinking more “you’re taking a two week vacation” not “it’s been months”.

Wasn't Jared Leto or some other skeevy celeb on some sort of extended pretentious solitary retreat at the start of COVID? (Which, thinking on it, might have inspired the cult subplot on Nora from Queens.)

Todd, get one of those dusting wands for the two-story exposed rafters, with the extending wand. You can stay at your desk and wave it around at full stretch and maybe it will be long enough to trigger the lights. Worth a shot.

Set up an oscillating fan with streamers. Or a mini air dancer!

getting solar panels and putting in a heat pump.

We got solar panels a few years back and have been pleasantly surprised beyond our wildest expectations at how immensely they've reduced our electric bill--which helps me feel almost zero guilt at how much we run the AC we installed the same year, because all that delightful cool air is courtesy of our locally foraged artisanal electrons gathered on our own roof!

Also, apparently the biggest predictor for whether people install solar panels is whether someone else nearby already has them. As the first adopters on a block where there are now several, we feel like trendsetters for the first time ever in our nerdy introverted lives.

I think I probably don’t have enough roof facing the right direction to make it worth it—I’m mostly facing north with a pretty steep pitch.

Trivia tonight was good! We messed up the picture round (“cartoon movie characters that the internet had decided are gay” naming the moving) but still came in tied for 2nd among 32 teams! But there were two teams tied for 1st so we didn’t get anything. Still, our best showing yet!

My mother started doing the research for solar panels and heat pumps, but then she started having a lot of medical stuff, so that's on hold for the moment. (Nothing life-threatening, but her vision has deteriorated rapidly.) Glad I didn't give away my window units, but maybe next year!

Oh meara, do you ever go see the Reign? A band friend of mine is playing the cymbals with their pep band now!

Made it home yesterday. I have 4 meetings and a doctor's appointment between now and 2PM.

Happy birthday to you!