luminousone Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 Well, my boss must have looked back to see that announcements were not made. She also apologized for not having been in better conversation about the colleague that will be working closely with me. She acknowledged that she should have told me. I know things have been crazy, and they had several positions to fill, and I am one of the last employees to remain working at home this year - so I’ve missed out on those hallway conversations. Anyhow, I do appreciate her apology. She does not easily admit when she is wrong. 1 Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 Grading day is next week, but I spent the last few weekends doing my report cards. Just finished the last one. What a crazy year it has been! Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 School is out. I’m tired. I got my contract for next year with an unexpected raise (beyond the typical). Feeling appreciated! 2 Link to comment
Seraphim Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 15 minutes ago, luminousone said: School is out. I’m tired. I got my contract for next year with an unexpected raise (beyond the typical). Feeling appreciated! Thank goodness!! I bet you are glad for the raise! I am done in 8 working days. Phew!!! 1 Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 5 minutes ago, Seraphim said: Thank goodness!! I bet you are glad for the raise! I am done in 8 working days. Phew!!! I hope you get time to recuperate before moving! Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 20, 2021 Author Share Posted June 20, 2021 My son finished his degree a week ago, so I sent him a grad “song” called “Everyone is Free to Wear Sunscreen” haha! Link to comment
Jibralta Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Wow, I remember this from way back in the early days of the internet! The version I got was text, though. And it was (apparently incorrectly!) attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. Imagine that--getting a misquote/wrong information from the internet 😂😂 1 Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 Time to catch you up. School is out. It took me a full week to decompress. In fact, my temp was up slightly so I had to spend a few days in bed. I scheduled a paracentesis for this week in case that was the problem. My mom was hanging in there, and family visited her daily. Last Monday my brother emailed a “permission to cremate” form, even though she seemed fine. My brother and his wife were scheduled to go out of town this week, so I think he was just getting things in order. Well, she did die in her sleep last Thursday. The best possible scenario. That evening, my sister and sister in law visited her and sang to her. Just a few hours later, she was gone. I'm thankful it was peaceful and that she had been surrounded by family at the end. we’ve been reminiscing this weekend with stories and pictures. Memorial won’t be for a while, due to logistics. Link to comment
Seraphim Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 I am so very sorry for the loss of your mom. ❤️ 1 Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 Funny story about my work - I got a plaintive text from the office asking if I had copies of my report cards. Turns out they got a new fire proof filing cabinet and office staff put them in there until they would have time to mail them out. And now they can’t figure out how to open it!! Lol lol! Fortunately I did have copies on my desk at home, so I drove them over and ran them through the copier. I told the office staff about the physicist Richard Feynman, who had worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos to develop the nuclear bomb (which he deeply regretted later, and became a pacifist). Anyhow, he was curious about everything. Including how locks work. And at first, none of the classified materials were locked up. So he put up a fuss about it, and they installed locks on the filing cabinets. The only problem with that was there was an open back, so he could still reach in and grab files from the back. And, to make his point, he would do that - and leave a note saying he borrowed the file. Eventually they realized they had to get secure locking file cabinets. And then he decided to test the integrity of the locks. He was able to gain access a lot - simply because people didn’t bother to change the default combinations half the time. All of his antics were documented in a book about him. Interesting guy. Brilliant. I’m sure he was a pain in the a$$ to work with though - especially in the 1940s when fellow physicists were very straight laced (and maybe they are now, too)… By the way, he was the one who figured out how and why the Challenger blew up (1980s?). Nobody wanted to listen to him but he kept pushing for answers and he figured it out. Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 By the way it is dangerously hot in Oregon right now. All up and down the Willamette Valley the temp is around 110. I’ve never experienced heat like that here! Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 3 minutes ago, Seraphim said: I am so very sorry for the loss of your mom. ❤️ Thank you so much, Sera. My siblings and I feel my dad was there to welcome her. I am so thankful she went in her sleep! She was 100 years old! A smoker for 30 years, can you imagine? She was spunky and a character and we (my 5 siblings) are sharing stories of her. Some stories I’ve never heard! 2 Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 I made cold gazpacho for dinner- fitting for this hot weather! Link to comment
Seraphim Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 2 hours ago, luminousone said: Thank you so much, Sera. My siblings and I feel my dad was there to welcome her. I am so thankful she went in her sleep! She was 100 years old! A smoker for 30 years, can you imagine? She was spunky and a character and we (my 5 siblings) are sharing stories of her. Some stories I’ve never heard! It is so beautiful your parents had long and fruitful lives. I am positive your dad was there to welcome her and take her home. Relatives, especially close ones are often sent . ❤️ 2 Link to comment
Jibralta Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 I'm sorry to hear about your mom. What a long life! So nice that you guys have been sharing your many fond memories of her. Link to comment
Jibralta Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 8 hours ago, luminousone said: By the way, he was the one who figured out how and why the Challenger blew up (1980s?). Nobody wanted to listen to him but he kept pushing for answers and he figured it out. Richard Feynman's name seems to surface a lot in popular culture. I first learned of him after I heard a quote that I liked, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." Then I discovered his letter to his late wife, Arlene. Have you ever read it? Heart wrenching. Anyway, I was just reading his Wikipedia page, mainly to find out if that letter is real or not (the letter is real, but it's not mentioned in Wikipedia). I came across the part about where he served on the commission to investigate the Challenger explosion, and the frustrations that he experienced there. They reminded me of the frustrations that I experienced myself over the past few years lol! My favorite is this quote, "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled," because I've been venting about the same thing to my boyfriend over the past 3 years! 1 Link to comment
maritalbliss86 Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 I just looked up his letter to his wife... 😭 very powerful and mysterious how love can go beyond death. Thanks for mentioning that Jibralta, I've never read it before. 1 Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share Posted June 29, 2021 15 hours ago, Jibralta said: I'm sorry to hear about your mom. What a long life! So nice that you guys have been sharing your many fond memories of her. Yes, I have learned a lot this week! But also, I’ve learned that I knew some things that my older brothers did not - because they left home earlier. Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share Posted June 29, 2021 15 hours ago, Jibralta said: Richard Feynman's name seems to surface a lot in popular culture. I first learned of him after I heard a quote that I liked, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." Then I discovered his letter to his late wife, Arlene. Have you ever read it? Heart wrenching. Anyway, I was just reading his Wikipedia page, mainly to find out if that letter is real or not (the letter is real, but it's not mentioned in Wikipedia). I came across the part about where he served on the commission to investigate the Challenger explosion, and the frustrations that he experienced there. They reminded me of the frustrations that I experienced myself over the past few years lol! My favorite is this quote, "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled," because I've been venting about the same thing to my boyfriend over the past 3 years! I need to look that up! She must have been a saint! Because I am sure he was a handful, behavior-wise. There are some home movies one of his students did about him at one point. Maybe a documentary?? Link to comment
luminousone Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share Posted June 29, 2021 Relief from the oppressive heat is coming tonight!!!!!!!!! Link to comment
Jibralta Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 8 hours ago, luminousone said: I need to look that up! She must have been a saint! Because I am sure he was a handful, behavior-wise. I'm thinking she probably was. When I was looking for that letter yesterday, I came across the Sotheby's website, which had a copy of a letter he wrote just before she died. It was kind of like, "Hey, I just realized you're really dying. Sorry for being a dck this whole time. You just take it easy now." Reading the article, it sounded like he wasn't actually with her most of the time that she was ill. But that last letter he wrote her is still pretty good! Link to comment
luminousone Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 On 6/29/2021 at 2:48 AM, Jibralta said: I'm thinking she probably was. When I was looking for that letter yesterday, I came across the Sotheby's website, which had a copy of a letter he wrote just before she died. It was kind of like, "Hey, I just realized you're really dying. Sorry for being a dck this whole time. You just take it easy now." Reading the article, it sounded like he wasn't actually with her most of the time that she was ill. But that last letter he wrote her is still pretty good! Oh ugh. Wow. He was probably with other women. But he really did miss her after she was gone - he grieved for years after her death. Link to comment
luminousone Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 A fairly quiet Independence Day here so far. I didn’t do anything special - I saw friends yesterday and my son is coming over for dinner later this week. It felt good to have a quiet day. I think they banned fireworks this year due to the fire risk. I do hear a bit, here and there, but it has been strangely quiet, compared to most years. My cat is hanging out with me though - he doesn’t like hearing the little bit that is going on. I've been doing an online class this summer for my work, so I do a bit of that each day when I feel like it. I have to make a lot of appointments- for my car, my cat, and myself. All of it got delayed due to COVID and me being sick. I guess I will be busy with such things this summer. Yesterday I did have a nice hike with friends. We saw evidence of beavers (chewed trees). Saw some blue herons and turtles sunning on a log, baby geese and ducks, and a nutria swimming around. No foxes this time though. Link to comment
Seraphim Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 On 6/28/2021 at 6:01 AM, Jibralta said: Richard Feynman's name seems to surface a lot in popular culture. I first learned of him after I heard a quote that I liked, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." Then I discovered his letter to his late wife, Arlene. Have you ever read it? Heart wrenching. Anyway, I was just reading his Wikipedia page, mainly to find out if that letter is real or not (the letter is real, but it's not mentioned in Wikipedia). I came across the part about where he served on the commission to investigate the Challenger explosion, and the frustrations that he experienced there. They reminded me of the frustrations that I experienced myself over the past few years lol! My favorite is this quote, "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled," because I've been venting about the same thing to my boyfriend over the past 3 years! I just read about him and I read his letter. I have to say I understand and recognize the personality. 😉 Link to comment
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