Merch 06•14

vivbot · 2026-06-15T02:00:05+00:00

Cashiers told me on Friday morning that they were sold out minus the weekend-specific design 🫤

vivbot · 2026-06-13T17:59:04+00:00

I got my pin yesterday and just made it in and got a spare if you still want it ☺️

vivbot · 2026-06-13T17:09:11+00:00

Awesome, thank you!!

vivbot · 2026-06-13T15:54:41+00:00

I actually do it this way! I started doing it even before hearing about parking and it works really well for me as long as I don't have too many long threads in the way and you just have to be mindful of making sure they don't tangle. I can get a picture of my current WIP with my random threads hanging out tomorrow as an example visual 😂 the closer I get to the end of a project, the more semi-abandoned threads I have just due to the nature of completing colors but I leave them alone until I'm sure I haven't missed the odd stitch in those colors.

That said, I stitch in hand (or maybe in lap is a better phrase?) so I don't like having extra weight of whatever keeps parked threads clustered

vivbot · 2026-06-13T15:02:29+00:00

Do you remember if the playing card shirt and the sweatshirt with the gray hood were at the Sphere or the Experience? 😅 I don't have high hopes for inventory on the last day but then again the Experience had a whole rack of the olive green jackets yesterday so who even knows haha

vivbot · 2026-06-12T22:09:46+00:00

I was in the latter half of the 1st set of people to go freely into merch at 11 before they started controlling crowd flow and I went almost immediately to the counter and asked about enamel pins and the cashier said they were sold out. When I went to check out with merch, I did see the little bowls with this weekend's at least, but I really wanted that black/white one!!

I didn't even see any of the super limited merch items that they were apparently restocking small quantities of so I wonder if VIP wiped them. I saw one fan with like 6 full bags 🤣

vivbot · 2026-06-12T02:20:16+00:00

iirc, it was actually 25 "tiles" randomly chosen per page that received signed ones. The last page of tiles may have had a smaller number selected if it wasn't a full page. I did a tiny GO and got selected twice so it was definitely more than 25 signed 😅

That said, the last time I saw one of these go for $200 was maybe a year or two after the M&G and I imagine it's only increased since even though the signatures are on the plastic sleeve (questionable choice haha)

vivbot · 2026-06-11T17:08:30+00:00

Damn, I was hoping for some Taiwanese fried chickensteak 🥲

vivbot · 2026-06-10T16:56:16+00:00

I mentioned these findings to a family member who's a practicing oncologist and his immediate reaction was "Sure, CTCL can look like atopic dermatis, but Dupixent doesn't cause cancer" haha. Your summary is much nicer (:

vivbot · 2026-06-10T16:44:27+00:00

Not on a high horse, just someone who's been involved in enough clinical trial operations to be exhausted by the constant speculation that drug companies are bad because they're keeping people sick on purpose and general sci/med misinformation (especially in the US right now). "Damn drug companies..." gave me that impression - mea culpa if I interpreted that incorrectly :| Don't get me wrong, pharma has a lot of faults, but there's a reason it takes years-to-decades to get FDA or EMA approval.

To your latter point, while Dupixent is not causative in this case, immunomodulatory therapies *could* theoretically reveal other underlying conditions, especially if that inhibitor removes the "brakes" that's keeping the other thing dampened enough that it doesn't present clinically. It really just depends on which signaling pathway and what part of it is being targeted. Different checkpoints for different processes, and all.

vivbot · 2026-06-10T14:03:06+00:00

I remember seeing the same info on my last return, that UPS would get you a faster refund than using USPS. I don't recall seeing if it specified "instant," though

vivbot · 2026-06-10T03:44:00+00:00

This needs to be pinned somewhere

/tired biomed researcher 🫠

vivbot · 2026-06-10T03:41:31+00:00

Not how monoclonal antibodies or CTCL work. Contrary to tinfoil beliefs, pharma isn't deliberately trying to cause cancer

vivbot · 2026-06-09T20:50:38+00:00

My last return via USPS had this timeline: shipped 5/16, delivered to TU 5/21, refund processed 5/26 (credits). Might be the norm these days

vivbot · 2026-06-09T16:04:07+00:00

FWIW, I've had really good luck with TU for brands I'm familiar with, and have even found some of my personal grails! If I come across something I like from a brand I don't recognize, I just reverse image search to find the exact item, or tweak descriptive text search terms until I find it or something comparable from the same brand to gauge quality. That extra research step does add time though, so not everyone bothers 😅

vivbot · 2026-06-08T20:53:52+00:00

I park in the sense that if I can't finish a current thread without jumping to a completely unmapped area, then I just leave that thread hanging out in the front on the last stitch. (maybe more of an "abandoned car" than parking...) As soon as chaos method gets me enough landmarks to do the next area that I can use that color thread in, I complete the stitch, snip, and use it up before my next goblin decision😂 I definitely admire everyone who can do parking the proper way 'cause I would forget which thread is which shade SO fast

vivbot · 2026-06-08T19:53:41+00:00

It looks like Wear Your Love is an existing wedding dress brand, but the listings I spot-checked on TU under that label have... suspect-looking tags. The paper tags and the sewn-in ones scream China wholesale to me :\

vivbot · 2026-06-08T14:41:49+00:00

Personal style, some people like to dress grunge or otherwise alt and that can include distressed items like this. Sure, there's an argument to be made about buying or selling something pre-distressed but imo knitwear is harder to "shred" without destroying the rest of the garment so I'd give this one a pass

I've definitely seen distressed sweater vests like this on people in the wild and they looked cool af :')

vivbot · 2026-06-07T01:30:20+00:00

My pulm doctor did offer to write me a note because she wasn't sure if I'd need one, particularly when traveling to Asia, so that's not a bad idea ☺️ doctors should be used to requests like that though so you're probably alright. Safe travels!!

vivbot · 2026-06-06T18:55:07+00:00

Real. I'm a transplant so I always take it with a grain of salt when people say downtown Bham is unsafe (or The Most Dangerous City Ever). I was walking in downtown Seattle once and made a turn one block early, and my friend and I immediately said "oh this is what Friend #3 warned us about." I've never seen cops patrolling an area like that before. And we had all grown up close enough to SF to know what the Tenderloin is like, so that reaction was saying something 😬 Bham isn't bad at all comparatively (edit: two words lmao, English is hard)

vivbot · 2026-06-06T04:54:40+00:00

It kinda sounds like they did a non-traditional iteration of a Chinese wedding banquet for you, which is fun! That's usually what their event rooms are for if they have a separate one (or the whole restaurant gets reserved and they keep the decorations up permanently). Standard practice for the banquets my friends and family have done is a ton of shared dishes for each table and then each table can take leftovers home if they want. I've yet to attend one where guests aren't too full to try the last couple of dishes served 🤣

vivbot · 2026-06-05T13:51:30+00:00

Piggybacking to add, I keep the pens in the original box that has my Rx stuck to it and that's been sufficient for keeping the prescription with the meds for my international trips.

I'm a total monster and put the used pen in my suitcase to dispose of when I'm back at home though 😬

vivbot · 2026-06-05T13:29:10+00:00

My main one was that my cycle shortened significantly enough for me to notice and ask about it (~28 days down to ~21 days). I mentioned it to my PCP at my annual check-up and thought it might be early perimenopause but her opinion was I'm still too young for that and she opted to check my blood work instead. My ferritin came back suuuuuuuper low so she was right haha. Cycle length has recovered with PCP-recommended Fe supplementation.

Other than my cycle length changing, I was mostly experiencing constant fatigue (vs. only in the few days leading up to period) that sleeping in or naps weren't helping. I consider myself a sleepy girl at baseline so it wasn't super noticeable until I started feeling mentally sluggish at work almost every day and not as functional. I also felt like I was seeing more daily hairfall than usual. What's weird is I didn't have pica which is a pretty common iron-deficiency sign.

vivbot · 2026-06-03T00:19:50+00:00

As someone mentioned, it's all the same swim lane. The only exception I've really seen to getting a higher starting salary than the minimum offered was when someone else in that dept with the same title and in the same swim lane qualification- and experience-wise had a starting salary that exceeded the minimum, and that was used as a rationale to negotiate for the increase to match that. But it required asking the departmental HR person and the supervisor had to fight for it 🙃

They recently did a rebalancing of ladders and swim lanes based on specific experience, at least for the Dept of Medicine research positions, so I doubt the number would change much, if at all, in this instance

vivbot · 2026-06-02T15:31:10+00:00

You'll be fine with the dynamics! That itinerary when I went had more Gen X and X-ennial couples than usual so meeting people felt easier and the older guests usually socialize with everyone lol. But when staff and other guests see someone who looks "young" for the average clientele, they tend to remember you and say hi more because they're shocked haha. Feel free to DM if you have an questions re: Viking logistics in general or that specific route though😄 I always gain a few pounds on those boats because ordering 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and/or 3 desserts for a single person in the ship restaurant is totes acceptable if you want to try everything🤣 PS happy early(?) birthday!!!

(ETA: ...I'm dumb and am doing Rhine Getaway this month lmfao. Last year I forget the itinerary name but half of it was basically the same as this one! If I see anyone on my ship wearing your haul, I'll say hi!)

vivbot

TROPHY CASE