My mom had all sorts of books on mental health and disability. I remember one on abnormal childhood development (it had neat examples of pictures kids might draw) and multiple with now-outdated but then-clinical terms in their titles. These were textbooks from her attempt at an MS in social work in the 1980s. Didn’t keep the neighborhood kids from teasing me that they were my mom’s way of coping with having me.

How do you feel about one large pancake melded with two smaller pancakes, to make some sort of cartoonish mouse head shape?

At about that age, I enjoyed putting together dominos runs and knocking them down. I also liked wooden building blocks. Nowadays they have building made out of dense foam which probably hurt less when your baby brother knocks your tower onto your head.

I had a marble run at about 6. It was awesome.

I remember asking my dad to cocoon me in blankets as a kid. It was wicked comfy.

Nowadays I’m in a hammock. It’s way more comfy on my hips than a mattress and it gives me that happy cuddled feeling.

Exactly. Cards can’t be slower than an Internet connection.

Seconding that there is nothing in the dots. It’s just yellow and green dots.

Have you considered PT? I’ve been for my back and knees and it’s been great. They give you homework to help you strengthen the right muscles to make the pain to away. They also walk you through how to do those exercises and take feedback to make sure you don’t hurt yourself.

The trick is to not use numbers. Use a tchotchke placed in a prominent place on your desk. My password changes frequently. The previous tchotchke was a goat pin, then a cactus figurine, then a binder clip. I just need to picture my desk and I know what the thing is.

And my desk is so cluttered it’s not clear what the special object is. (You know what they say: cluttered desk, cluttered mind. Empty desk…)

His name’s “Elvis” and he answered to “Aye-ellll-vis”. Now he doesn’t answer to anything because he’s gone deaf, but he’s still a great pup. He’s a senior terrier mix, about 10 pounds. He’s a bit of a velcro dog and I am the One True Human, so it sucks for him that I work outside the home. He’s stuck with Work From Home Partner, who just doesn’t fill the same void in Elvis’s heart. So, Elvis sleeps all day and then watches the front very attentively when he decides I should come home.

He still has bursts of energy. Last weekend he met a chihuahua his age. Elvis was like “omg, you’re slightly smaller than me and seem even more chill. Let me dance around and thwack you in the face so you’ll play with me”. The other pup was game and it was adorable to watch two seniors playing.

He goes on long hikes with me. He gets tired after about a block and will turn around and try and get me to go back to the car. I generally just carry him at this point. He’s lucky he’s tiny. He’ll lean forward to ask to be set down, then he’ll either sniff something or amble so very slowly along the path. He is the worst hiker.

This question reminds me of a dog I ended up with. He knew his name, but only in the same accent as his previous owner. So I’d be at the dog park in New England calling for my dog in the most exaggerated southern accent I could muster.

I was taught it was about states rights, too. In Kentucky, they were less forceful about calling it the "war of northern aggression.

Did you get taught that some slaves liked being slaves because it meant all their needs were met and they didn’t have to worry about anything?

Huh. I don’t think national pride that was a factor in my disappointment. I was more sad because 9 is a better number than 8, and Pluto is just a cute little guy.

Can also denote a difference in government styles: towns have a town council, cities have a mayor. Cities can be smaller than towns.

This depends on your region, naturally.

I learned about an expensive headset brand today. Their website was fun, their product is exactly what I want, and they have a 5-year warranty. The headsets come with spare ear pads. Never heard about them before today. I somehow trust they’re worth the price.

(Still ended up just buying new foam pads for my current $30 headset, but I was tempted.)

Mine is my first name in neat Gregg Shorthand, then squiggle squiggle.

It’s the date in the username. So dorky.

A bunny?

Joke’s on them, I have a 15-year mortgage on my condo. (Lower interest rate than a 30-year mortgage, USA, ymmv)

We gave away computer parts on Craigslist a few months ago. It was a no-stress transaction and the receiver was a sweet old-school computer person building a basic machine for his kids to play Minecraft. Would do again.