Went w/1 of my kids to volunteer at a local non-profit that supports refugee families who are brand new to the US. Spent 4 hr this morning delivering furniture & household items to families who have all only been in the United States for 3 months…3 from Rwanda, 1 family from Afghanistan.
We are totally going to do this again. It was an amazing experience. There’s a lot of negative stuff going on in the world right now, but doses of stuff like we experienced today totally make up for it.
Next time, I’m going to bring my other kid with us. And my sister wants to do it, too. All of the families have been through struggles that the rest of us could only imagine. They all said that they’re relieved and thrilled to be here in the US. They all want to work, they want their kids to get a good education, and they want to build a better life for themselves. People like them is what makes this country amazing.
UPDATE: My sweet middle kid called my son and explained in great detail about these scammers and convinced him to block the woman! Then my son called to tell me he’d done it. Whew.
Oh, good Lord, a “woman in Texas” messaged my son ”by mistake” and is now video chatting with him. 100%, it’s a scammer. I warned him and he said he’s not giving her any personal information. I’m so thankful we’re his guardians and he has access to only a few hundred dollars in his checking account. I told him she’ll be asking him for money at some point. Makes my blood boil that scum bags prey on vulnerable people. Not sure what I can do at this point since I can’t visit him while I’m ill.
Hope the FAA, the airline, etc.’s search for the fallen plug door (to complete the investigation) is more successful than the search for DB Cooper. Maybe Boeing needs to stick an AirTag in every such plug door… jokes aside, this whole situation is so sad and scary.
how is it that AI can make a deepfake that fools parents but isn’t smart enough to filter my email inbox with junk? (and now some nasty nasty dating site has my email … NSFW!)
At one point it occurred to me that I might die, and wanted to call you both and say what amazing people you are and how much I love you…but that would probably freak you out so I hope I am always beaming love at you and that you feel it.
Ugh. Just reading on Yahoo that a new Columbia University study came out, finding “hundreds of thousands” of bits of plastic per liter of bottled water.
Husband learned today that an old family friend passed away suddenly overnight. He mentioned she had planned for a private funeral. I said perhaps we should consider planning ahead so son won’t have to make all arrangements.
He agreed it would be a good idea so I said we could make an appointment with our Rabbi to learn what the options are. He said he does not want to be buried anywhere around here but rather where people will be able to visit. WHAT? Where? Oh, Chicago (where we used to live and my parents are buried, but only brother and wife live there now and they hope to relocate someday) or Connecticut (where he grew up and his parents and other relatives are all in the same Orthodox cemetery). I don’t know who he thinks will visit those places on our behalf, let alone the logistics to arrange funerals there.
We live in San Diego. Son is in Seattle and wants to eventually end up in California. I am not spending eternity next to his mother, although apparently that’s what he wants to do. Personally, I think I’ll plan to go up to Hollywood and join all the Jewish stars. What did Johnny Carson used to joke about - Forest Lawn?
Yesterday, dh and I went to lunch at our regular place. I noticed some flowers at a table where one of the regulars sits, but I didn’t see him. I sat with my back to that table. When I went to get a drink refill, I still didn’t see him. I went over to the table and then noticed cards and smaller vases of flowers and a rose taped to his chair and then realized he had died. I burst into tears. Then I went over to tell dh, and he burst into tears.
George, whose name I didn’t know before yesterday, was 79 years old. He looked like a cross between Einstein and my FIL. He was at that table literally every time I was at that cafe, reading or working on a computer. I was caught off-guard by how much this affected us. We had just seen the movie The Iron Claw so were kind of full of emotion already, but this did us in. RIP, George.
Yesterday afternoon I realized it was my 35 year work anniversary. I retired from full-time teaching in summer '22, but continue as an adjunct with a few online classes. It has been a good gig most of the time, but horrible some of the time. After hearing expectations for adjuncts during 24-25 academic year, I think it will be time to hang it up next spring. No longer willing to do what it takes to reinvent the wheel to please administrators. Time flies!
SIL:
Come pick up your mom’s stuff from our house. It’s been 4 months of us storing it here for free for you at our place. Including the precious dresser, which was so worn out that the glue holding the joints together no longer exists. So when we went to move it, it did this:
You actually told your brother a couple of weeks ago that you don’t even remember now what stuff is still at our house. And guess what? He couldn’t remember either! I remember because I have to look at your crap every day.
The dresser should basically be firewood at this point. But you said that you actually still want it. Hurry the heck up and come get it before I put it out for bulk trash pick up. You have the memory of a gold fish. Maybe you should lay off the MJ edibles for awhile.
Honey, I understand that you still miss work but I do not need - or want - a quarterly powerpoint presentation on our finances. Your deck for it is almost as thick as the instructions for Lego’s 4,080 piece WDW castle.
