I hate youā¦ in the nicest way possible. I am so out of touch with who is touring and where anymore. That is a band I would like to see live.
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Not a biologist but I want one.
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Itās quite cool. The device + reagent kit is about a grand. It relies on about 2Gs on lab equipment, and another grand in further reagents that can be used in subsequent reactions. But you can get a few genomes out of it (finding out how many this next two weeks) before you need to replace the kit. Iām doing this for a class, and I should only need to put about $600 into it next time I teach it. For $600, I could teach this every year and show dozens of students how to make a genome by the time I have tenure.
Not quite tricorder-level tech, but very cool.
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Cleaned out enough junk to fill two garbage bins (the kind the city picks up, not indoor bins), even more than I had put on my to-do list for the day.
Isnāt it amazing how much more fulfilling getting rid of stuff is than getting it in the first place?
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Iāve noticed that. We have an enormous miscellaneous pile in the basement ready for the junk haulers. Just have to call them . . . .
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Wouldnāt it be wonderful if others could learn not to buy so much in the first place?
Am I asking for a Friend?
Shouldnāt I go to the Questions thread?
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Iāve filled four big black garbage bags today, and still have far to go. Iām getting rid of yarn that is dusty/ugly/moth-eaten.
I only live in a 60m2/648 sq ft apartment. This is nuts. Iām not allowed to claim this place is small ever again.
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I managed to get our annual Christmas dinner folks (some of whom we see only then) to switch from everyone gives something to everyone, to a Secret Santa kind of thing. I originally suggested a āno adults presentsā rule, but that didnāt fly, so this is a compromise.
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This is one of the reasons I stopped going to knit nights, especially ones held in yarn shops. You donāt have to buy, not normally, but itās impolite not to pick up something, so you get a ball of sock yarn (1 100g ball makes a pair).
And then you realise that even though you donāt go every week, even though you do in fact knit a lot of socks, you have far more sock yarn than you will knit in your lifetime.
And meanwhile thereās all this peer pressure to join the next knit-a-long, which means buying a kit, and someone gives you yarn because they know you knit, and one day nothing fits anymore in your yarn storage. And all you make are scrap blankets and charity hats.
And the thing is, I actually donāt like to spend all my spare time knitting. I like it, but Iām not obsessed with it.
But itās in my face all the time.
I donāt want to get rid of it. Iām just looking forward to being in control of it again.
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Finally unboxed and set up the chess set I brought a year ago.
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Yes but yarn and fabric have this way of just needing to be a part of your space. I had a friend who was really good at making drapes and pillows and such - she even did a little work on the side but she was not fast at it, so she didnāt do very much. She had worked at a fabric store for a while in her earlier days. She said lots of women would buy fabric just to own it. Iām so like that. I love beautiful fabric. I knitted for a while and the yarn started to multiply, too.
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This is so not me. The owner of my old regular yarn shop used to joke I shopped for yarn like other people shopped for groceries. Iād come in with a list and details on the next 2-3 projects, and then she wouldnāt see me again until next quarter when I came in with another list.
When Iām done this purge Iāll still have stash ā significant stash. But it will be stuff I can use to actually make things.
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With but One Week of unemployment left, the spouse appears to have found employment!
Still in the negotiating phase, but it looks like paychecks will be coming in again on a regular basis and my work bonus can go to frivolities and not eeking out lack of a second income.
So on to the libations. Or, honestly, continuing the libations.
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Yeah! Cheers!!!
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More skinny clothes are fitting. Weirdly all the big clothes are fitting too - I seem to have lost all my weight in my legs and ass so the big clothes fit the torso but Iām back into a bunch of pants I couldnāt wear before. Itās s little baffling but having lots of cute clothes to wear is good.
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My last post in this thread was in the summer of last year, when I finally found a new job and was able to quit my underpaid, stressful job and move on to something better.
It very quickly turned out that the new job was even more stressful than the last one and I spent the rest of last year filled with worry, hatred of my coworkers and a permanent sick feeling in my stomach.
It was a small office but by far the most political, backstabby place I have ever worked and I spent half a year being shunned, or victimised, or both at once. Itās a strange feeling to realise that if the ten people you spend every day with were to suddenly die overnight, the only emotion you would feel is reliefā¦
Long story short, I interviewed with a company I really wanted to work for over a year ago but just as things were looking promising, they had a budget cut that meant they no longer had the headcount to be able to offer me a role. They contacted me at the end of last year, said that someone had quit and asked if I was still interested in the position.
I finished my first week there today and I feel fantastic. I canāt remember the last time I finished work on a Friday and didnāt want to murder everyone in a ten mile radius.
The pay is better, they let me set my own hours, Iām not supervised at all because they trust me to do my job well and ask when I need help, and the sick feeling at the bottom of my stomach is finally gone.
On top of all that, in a coincidence that feels a lot like some manifestation of pathetic fallacy, my chilli plants (which really suffered as a result of the weirdly extended monsoon season that corresponded exactly with my miserable job) have finally recovered and are bearing fruit. 
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Iām so glad you have a new job that makes you happy and your chili plants want to give you some hot sauce!!!
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After 3 years of taking business courses, I think itās finally getting through my skull.
I sold a $450 coaching package today, have someone lined up for next month, have a private client lined up who wants 2 hour yoga lessons, and made plans today to roll out a pilot course for a colleague.
I also have people scheduled out for my online videoconferences through June - just reached out to people Iāve made connections with the past three years and BOOM! lined it up like that.
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Maybe not really a victory, but spring break is next week, so I can finally get caught up on grading. Yay!
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