I love my family...but sometimes I don't *like* some them very much.  Or rather, I don't care for their behavior.

I'm sorry that none of your children have given you grandchildren, Mom, since it makes you sad.  But you are talking to the wrong person.  I can't tell you what you did wrong that caused it, and you should take it up with the married children because their reasons for no kids are not my business.

Also, if you don't like The Biochemist's tattoos or hope that she doesn't get any more, either say so to her or be quiet because saying so to me is pointless.  I like the tattoos.  And I'd never tell anyone what to put or not put on their body.  Not my business, once again.

I'm not a talky person.  I'm happy to call and check in, but I don't really enjoy talking on the phone.  If I'm quiet, it's because that's my default.  I'm not mad or sad; repeatedly asking me what's wrong is guaranteed to make me mad.  Further to that point, I don't tell you things because I know that you have ABSOLUTELY NO FILTER and will share everything I tell you with everyone you know without regard for whether it's appropriate for wide dissemination or whether I might have wanted to share it myself rather than you sharing it as if it was your personal news.

I'm happy that you are happy with your body now.  Really.  But I don't want to talk about weight loss now any more than I did before.

I don't understand what you are doing with Step-dad.  I mean, I love him and he's the father figure I have, for better or worse.  But you said some really cruel things about him to me, and about your relief at being single. I am struggling to reconcile the things you said with what you are doing now and the amount of time you are spending together and whether you are sending mixed messages.

The holiday weekend arrived earlier than I expected.  I sort of meant to plan a roadtrip, but I waited to long, so I'll be hanging around.  In theory, Friday is my day off, but I'll be going in to the office for a couple of hours in the morning, then heading to lunch and then maybe a museum stroll. Saturday is errand day (library, Good Will equivalent, consignment shop, etc.).  BBQ on Sunday and baseball on Monday.  Must remember to get NYY tickets for the game Step-dad chose.

There's a new craft shop in my old neighborhood.  I stopped in on impulse when I saw it, and wound up signing up for a class.  It was kind of cool, and I liked the little project we did, so I'll probably try some other stuff.  But I can't watch hockey and concentrate on crafts at the same time; my ability to multi-task does not extend that far.

Step-dad had his procedure, or attempted.  (They ended up doing something less because of proximity of the spinal chord to the vein.  He'll need regular monitoring by his GP.)  He didn't want to stop at my place or park here or have company.  But I kept checking on him by phone, and in the end picked him up and brought him back to my house to stay overnight.  I think he felt like he was humoring me, but he was out like a light, and really was not capable to driving himself home.  After feeding him coffee, eggs, and toast, he was fine and ready to head home.

Not sure what's going on lately, if it's an allergic reaction or what. Or what it could be a reaction to.  But I have been SO itchy.  Even after taking benadryl.

We interrupt this blather to interject -- what a gigantic fucking dive by Andrew Shaw.  Getzlaf's stick never hit his face or head.

Last thought:  OMG, one of my neighbors pretty clearly does not understand how bylaws and a condo association board work.  He wants every own to have input on every single decision and every single expenditure.  And he's an unpleasant jerk who makes ad hominem attacks whenever people disagree with him.  He hasn't volunteered for a committee or to be on the board, but he constantly complains about those who have volunteered.  In fact, he couldn't be bothered to attend, in person or by phone, our last several meetings.  I think he feels like he's being an advocate for residents, but the residents I've spoken to feel pretty alienated by his tone and style, which are condescending, critical, and whiny.

~  I, like many others, did not expect charges to be laid so quickly, so Friday's news was startling, as were the charges themselves.  I thought that manslaughter would likely be the worst charge, but murder was included for at least one officer.  Indictment isn't conviction, though, so I'll be curious to see how it all plays out in court or in pleas.

~  The early media treatment of Marilyn Mosby has been critical of her age and experience. One piece in the Post pointed out that before being elected she had worked as counsel at an insurance company, implicitly questioning whether she was qualified to be a prosecutor.  It completely failed to mention that she had only done that job for a couple of years, and before that had been an ASA in Baltimore City for several years. I have to wonder if it would be that way if she were a man or white.  I think not.

~  The six were released on bond of $350,000...which, when you consider that a kid who vandalized police cars and turned himself in was being held on $500,000, does not say inspiring things about the bail/bond system.

~  I walked down Charles Street yesterday.  It was bizarre to see which businesses were looted and which left untouched.  It was totally random.  A black-owned salon was looted, but the white-owned home store nextdoor was not.  An Indian restaurant's windows were broken out, but the pizza place and Irish pub in the same block were untouched.  The French cafe was open, and if you didn't know they'd been looted, it would not be immediately apparent - glass replaced, new iPad-register-credit card machine in place.  A lot of the looted businesses had signs reading "open for business" even if their glass hadn't been replaced yet.  But business was extremely slow, especially given the beautiful weather.

~  There is going to be a fundraiser for the businesses in the neighborhood on 5/5; I can't go and want to donate.  Donations are being handled through GoFundMe, which I have serious qualms about.  I'd much rather make a donation through some other medium.  I've got a call in to the organizer to see if I can write them a check directly rather than use GFM. Even if I can't, I'll still donate and make an offsetting donation to Planned Parenthood.

~  It was at least 70F yesterday, which normally would have people out in droves in the harbor.  Nope.  The largest population was law enforcement.  There were groups all over the harbor and in harbor east (guarding Whole Foods and Starbucks, or maybe just on break and grabbing lunch).  Walking down the Fallsway, there was a small group of protestors by Central Booking, and a gathering of police at the south end of the building.  I could hear the protest going on a City Hall when the wind was right.

~  Tumblr is circulating a post in which people criticizing looting are told that it is okay because civil forfeiture is abused.  No.  Just no.  That is like saying that because someone is a victim of child abuse, it is okay for them to abuse children themselves.  No.  Two wrongs do not make a right.  (Do not get me started on civil forfeiture abuse and its legitimate use.  Do not.)

So I went to work on Monday and knew that Freddie Gray's funeral was going to be a big deal at home, but it hadn't occurred to me (naively) that there would be unrest following it.  I was in an all day meeting; when we stopped for breaks, I was busy checking on work things and didn't stop to check headlines.  After 5pm, I checked the front page of the Post as I took care of things and planned my work day for Tuesday, thinking I'd head over to Game 7 (NYI @ WAS).  The news was a shock.  I moved over to a local TV station, which was livestreaming the looting of businesses a couple miles from my home.

After a series of near hysterical texts and phone calls (DON'T GO HOME! STAY IN DC!) from family, along with well-intentioned calls and emails from friends in New York, Boston, Chicago, and various Maryland suburbs, I watched the game. [I love my friends, who uniformly told me that I could stay with them for however long if I didn't fee like home was safe.  Family too.] Wow, that was a beautiful goal by Kuznetsov!  And then I took the last train home.  Instead of getting off at my usual stop and walking home, which I thought might not be safe, I got off at an earlier stop and took a cab home.  The driver, who lives downtown, told me he'd been in my neighborhood earlier and it was quiet.  He dropped me in front of my building and waited until I was inside.

My neighborhood was relatively lucky.  A 7-11 was looted, along with an Italian deli and a French cafe. The 7-11 looked like it had taped the windows and was otherwise okay for business.  The other two were both closed yesterday; I hope they will be able to reopen.

I teleworked on Tuesday and today was my regular telework day.  Yesterday my neighborhood really quiet; I went down to Starbucks at lunchtime, and sandwich shops and Chipotle that normally do very robust business were relatively slow.  Today after work, I walked to the library to pick up books on hold with the plan of stopping by the locally-owned grocery on the way back.  (The grocery was closed; it has been closing at 6pm all week.)  There were three helicopters that I counted circulating above my section of downtown.  And there was a tactical police vehicle, along with two vans of uniformed officers.  For the march that went to City Hall.

I'm going to work tomorrow, even though the office has okayed ad hoc telework through Thursday.  I'm actually more worried about Friday, when the police are supposed to turn over the matter to the city's State Attorney, because I think whatever is done won't be as definitive or punitive as people hope.

I get the point of crowdfunding in the equity/investment sphere. I get Kickstarter projects that are going to end in a particular piece of art/media/whatever that funders may either appreciate or have an altruistic reason to want to exist in the world.

But I'm kind of perplexed by a lot of the "projects" I see retweeted or reblogged on social media. When did crowdfunding become about subsidizing basic living expenses?  I'm sort of perplexed by the idea of asking strangers to contribute money to me just because I want things I can't otherwise afford. I mean, people are basically saying things like, "I want to do this internship but can't afford to, so send me money, random strangers, so I can do what I want."  I've recently seen one where a couple is adopting and needs $40,000 ASAP, which WTAF?  Do reputable adoption agencies not check finances first?  How are they going to afford raising a child long-term?

/is confused

I don't watch a lot of scripted TV any longer.  It's not an aesthetic choice, it's just that I'm not really interested in a lot of what's out there. Unless I can stream it or watch it on demand later.  I caught an episode of Grey's Anatomy last week and thought immediately, "Oh, Derek's leaving the show."  I mean, it was pretty well telegraphed I thought? But apparently not to regular viewers.  Eh.

I keep meaning to watch the episodes of Wolf Hall that have aired.

Since I bitched about USPS last night, I feel like I need to balance that with praise today.

It took several tries (the phone rang and rang), but I got in touch with someone at the main office who was helpful - Roslyn.  She took my tracking number, name, address, and phone number, and looked for the package status.  It wasn't being held at the annex, which is where I would need to pick it up if it wasn't delivered, so she thought it was out for a second chance at delivery.  She also took note that this was a residential address with mailboxes and package drop that are served by USPS daily.  And then she called me back. And then Serena, a supervisor, called me back.  And then Sharita, another supervisor called me to confirm delivery.

So, thank you for the very good follow up, USPS.

Once again my computer did not want to login for telework.  It kept telling me that I didn't have an particular extension for Citrix, which had worked several days earlier.  After an hour on the phone with the help desk at work, I had to uninstall and reinstall the same version of Citrix Receiver...again.

In a fit of frustration, I ordered a Chromebook.  I'm not sure it'll replace my other laptop for most things (like watching DVDs, using Word and Excel, etc.), but it booted right up and after loading the Citrix Receiver app, I was able to log right in to work without a problem.

I find the whole "load all your favorites from your other computer based on Chrome/Google history" to be pretty damn creepy (privacy, who has it? no one using Chrome), but am pretty pleased with the size and speed.

~~~

USPS was supposed to deliver a package today.  Not delivered.  Because apparently "business was closed" at 5:19pm when delivery was attempted.  First, this is a residential address, so WTF?  Second, if it had been a business, yes, many businesses close at or before 5:19pm on Fridays.  Third, regular mail was delivered today; please explain this.  Except USPS's customer service is utterly useless, so you can't actually talk to anyone to figure out why it wasn't delivered.