What made me happy today?

I don't know if this makes me happy or not.

Yesterday, I noticed a thing I'm working on had dropped from 24,000 words to 8,000. It was a mouse/keyboard misfire. I remember having a bunch of text mistakenly highlighted, the phone rang, it was an old friend, we reminisced over good times, my MS suffered considerable evaporation while I was distracted.

I use a Mac. File->Revert To->Browse All Versions is really nice. I went back a couple of auto-saves, scrolled through the document preview and found what I knew was my latest intended change. Nice. 100% recovery. That definitely makes me happy.

The problem is what I first thought when seeing more than half my work gone. Incinerated.

Imagine a meteor storm of cute little ducklings flashing into overcooked pâté in the upper atmosphere with a disquieting gust of burnt feather fumes.

And yet, it didn't occur to me to resort to industry standard profanity. My only thought was, "Well, at least it's only my document. I still have my outline. Recovery is just a matter of a little typing."

Seriously?? I detest outlining, and that was the extent of my reaction?
 
Louanne Learning said:
My turn.

I graduated with a degree in Politics and Economics in 1982. I spent the 1980s working for a bank, working my way up to Investment Officer. But it got boring, so at the age of 30, I quit my job and went back to university to take Biology and Chemistry credits, and then to teacher's college. Best decision I ever made. Really found my niche.
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Guess it's time for me to take the stand. :-\

When I was young, I wanted to be a published author. But I graduated with a degree in Business and IT in the mid-90s, because my parents pushed me into it. I spent about 15 years working in contracts (sometimes IT, but mostly admin and bookkeeping) and doing a network engineering diploma, to hone my IT skills. But I couldn't make an breakthrough in IT, so focused on the bookkeeping side instead. (Everyone needs good bookkeepers). ;)

Finally landed a permanent job in accounting, but it went pear-shaped because the company's CEO moved on and the new CEO (and his 2IC) turned out to be parasitic, exploitative A-holes. Spent the next 7 years struggling between unemployment and contracts, including short-lived ones. Finally landed a contract where I was renewed year-after-year, and after 3 years, they offered me permanency. Been there for 6 years now (going on 7), and feeling very happy and valued. :)

And hey, I can still write books in my 'copious' spare time. ;-P

TrevorD said:
This could go in either the happy or unhappy bin, depending on how it turns out. Making a ten-pound standing rib roast for the family - the first time i've ever done it. UUgh nervous.
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Good luck, TrevorD! You can do it. (y)
 
My husband just made a fire in the woodstove and the green chili is ready.

One of my many minor life goals was to never learn to cook meat so no one would ever expect me to produce things like ten-pound standing rib roasts.

TrevorD, I salute your resolve and courage. 🏆
 
Academia... Dunno if this is a happy, not happy, or what, but since we're on the subject.

I'm oversimplifying and glossing over a lot of stuff because a) I tend to overexplain, and b) it protects both my privacy and the privacy of my institution. So not everything I'm about to say is strictly accurate, but it is correct.

I'm an adjunct. Just finished my eighteenth year at my school. And there's a big gap between the adjuncts and the "proper" "professors."

Some of them kinda despise us. We don't have letters after our last name. We don't publish, or even know how to. We're "just teachers."

Well, yeah. Mail from the school comes to "Professor [Aschendale], but I discourage my students from using that title. I'm "Mr. [Aschendale]," and I'm a working teacher.

The professors make a lot more money than we do for a similar or lesser workload, but they've gotta publish, so I dunno.

The professors who don't get tenure have to move on after five years for reasons too complicated and fraught to go into here.

Crunch all you want, we'll make more. Professors are these temporary, fleeting images in the background.

I've got no special qualifications, just twenty-five years as a working teacher. I've been teaching English longer than some of the new professors have been speaking it, and they're native speakers. Nothing special. No letters after my name.

So professor, would you like to take your doctorate and spend it on teaching "one space after every period and comma, no spaces before," subject/verb agreement, and the five-paragraph essay, or would you like to read up on the theory of comparative advantage and leave us mere adjuncts to our thing of getting the freshmen ready to join your class in two years? Oh, wait, your tenure application fell through? Guess they won't be joining your class after all.

Good luck.

that came out a lot more bitter than I intended but I like the way it reads. things at work are fine and now that my adjunct colleagues and I are quite a bit older than the new professors, we seem to get more respect. and the older professors? they've been working with us long enough to know the score. still separate social circles, but the tension has melted away over the years.

mostly.
 
One of the most brilliant agriculturists I ever met summed up his degrees as "Bull Shit, More Shit, Piled Higher and Deeper." This is the guy who breezed in for what he thought was a last minute informal preliminary meeting with the folks on his masters committee, and arrived back at the office to a phone call telling him he'd passed his orals. His worker bees had to scrape him up off the floor and pour a beer down his throat to revive him.
 
Today is my last day as a smoker. 7 days of Buproprion doseage in preparation, all alcohol and weed products flushed from the house. Ashtrays (for outside), butt cans, and other smoker necessary things disposed of. Primary care doctor, therapist, guitar teacher, and various spirit animals all onboard and monitoring. 8 cigarettes left in my pack with the last one timed out for around halftime of the game tonight.

If nobody hears from me for a few days, I'm gnawing on the drywall.
 
A patron came to my library with his family. I'd helped him at my former location. He needed help again but apparently, they didnt understand what he was asking ("those people were incompetent, so i asked for you" he says).
He asked me why they moved me to this branch. I said i got promoted and he was super happy for me. He and his companion shook my hand.
I was able to help him with what he needed and he said he'd make this branch his new home branch since i was there.
 
It's summer here, and after a long time of it being cold (even in summer), we finally got proper summer days, with temperatures in the 80s (F) or low 30s (C). It's nice to see a bit of sun for once.

So I've doing long walks every morning in the sun and getting exhausted and sweaty. But after gaining some weight over the Christmas parties and such, I can see that I've dumped it all and more. Huzzah. *pumps fist* ;)

Not that I was overweight to start with, but it was bothering me. Now I'm 66 kg (about 145 lbs) and feeling fine. :)
 
Homer Potvin said:
Today is my last day as a smoker. 7 days of Buproprion doseage in preparation, all alcohol and weed products flushed from the house. Ashtrays (for outside), butt cans, and other smoker necessary things disposed of. Primary care doctor, therapist, guitar teacher, and various spirit animals all onboard and monitoring. 8 cigarettes left in my pack with the last one timed out for around halftime of the game tonight.

If nobody hears from me for a few days, I'm gnawing on the drywall.
Click to expand...
You can do it !

The first three days are the hardest. After that, using a quit tracker app can really help with the motivation.
 
Homer Potvin said:
Only 67 hours, 57 minutes, and 34 seconds left!
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The one thing that makes it all worth it is the sense of taste. Food and drink are a revelation when you quit smoking.

Not stinking is also a lovely side effect, but that's more a benefit to others (c:

I used nicotine gum to help with the nicotine cravings. It's so much easier to give that up a little while later because it's revolting, but it certainly helped me.
 
Selluwud said:
I applaud anyone trying quit, it took me 2 years of trying once I finally decided to quite after 23 years of heavy smoking. The doctors say my smoking was probably a large contributor to my heart valve stenosis 33 years later. Good for you, it's certainly worth the effort.
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Oh, I'm definitely screwed in the cardio department. There's never been a case of cancer on either side of my family--literally, never once--but heart disease up the ying yang.

61:08:38... didn't sleep much but feeling okay.
 
How about dreaming? I didn’t realize how dampened my dreams had become. Once I quit, the vivid dreams returned. The oral fixation of having a cigarette dangling from your mouth is one part of the quitting process. I spent more money on chewing gum than cigarettes at first.
 
Selluwud said:
How about dreaming? I didn’t realize how dampened my dreams had become. Once I quit, the vivid dreams returned. The oral fixation of having a cigarette dangling from your mouth is one part of the quitting process. I spent more money on chewing gum than cigarettes at first.
Click to expand...
I'll let you know if I ever fall asleep. Maybe two hours last night?
 
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