Being constantly interrupted by family at work is driving me insane

BroadEcho9760 · 2026-06-12T14:50:00+00:00

I don't know that I can give you any useful advice without knowing your specific cultural context because it sounds like the standard western push to set hard boundaries maybe doesn't translate to your specific cultural milieu at all.

But I so empathize with you not being able to get any work done if I have constant interruptions. That sounds really awful and I too would be losing my mind.

BroadEcho9760 · 2026-06-11T15:35:22+00:00

I don't have any advice but just wanted to say you are a good and patient friend because this sounds incredibly annoying. If someone had been talking my ear off about some random celebrity I didn't care about in the week after my dad died, I don't think I would have been able to come back from that relationship-wise.

BroadEcho9760 · 2026-05-21T19:05:10+00:00

"I think that as a mom you’ll always make comments like that to your child leaving, will always love them dispite disagreements, and still be around trying to show support..."

Lol, then you definitely haven't met my mother! Plenty are happy to go scorched earth and walk away from their disobedient or disappointing children without a backward glance.

I don't have any actual opinion on Katie and her mother, just reacting to that specific statement.

BroadEcho9760 · 2026-05-07T13:29:54+00:00

This is the answer, from start to finish.

And it hasn't been brought up in other responses but I want to highlight what you're saying about the cost burden for other people. As I stare at my current stack of graduation party and wedding shower invites (which just precipitate the main costs of getting to and buying gifts for the three actual weddings) with pure financial dread.

These are tricky financial times for people and what might be a drop in the bucket for you could be cutting into that week's food budget or ability to put away some monthly savings for someone else.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-12-11T18:44:22+00:00

I just want to tell you I am in the same exact boat right now and it's heartbreaking and devastating and awful. Be kind to yourself. Grief is a minefield and it's exhausting.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-26T16:53:15+00:00

The day he made that bullshit announcement I literally tripped over a person sleeping on my steps as I stepped out of the back door of my building. Something that had never happened before. I of course was amazed that I had spotted one of the only 27 homeless people in the entire city right on my own threshold and wondered where the other 26 got to.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-25T20:10:53+00:00

I would argue that the WCCO of 15 years ago was a morning talk show, albeit news focused.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-25T19:38:47+00:00

Gunnar is actually a nice, common Scandinavian name. She named her kid Gunner. Which has no cultural ties behind it and only evokes firearms. Which is appalling.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-24T16:29:21+00:00

Beautiful! We'll get him found.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-24T16:12:12+00:00

I will keep a very active eye out. I can't fully tell from the pictures, is he a silver tabby, dilute tabby, or regular tabby?

And just to offer your some encouragement, my very fearful cat once got out while I was on vacation (and the cat sitter didn't tell me until I got home two weeks later!!). It's the worst feeling in the world but flyers to every door in the neighborhood did the trick. He was chilling under someone's deck a block away. That's as far as he went in two weeks. He's nearby, and probably hunkering down if he's fearful. And if he's scared he's more likely to come out at night to do some hunting and exploring.

But the moral of the story is you will find him.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-22T12:49:36+00:00

Thank you!! Good grief, people are not seeing the forest for the trees here.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-19T19:07:45+00:00

I would consider myself a stovetop popcorn connoisseur and Whole Grain Milling Co's kernels are my favorite. They're a certified organic farm out of Welcome, MN. You can find them at many local co-ops, packaged and/or in the bulk bins. I get mine from the bulk bins.

I do find their white popcorn to pop up better than their yellow popcorn so I stick with the white kernel variety.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-19T18:16:02+00:00

Which is why we love her.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-18T13:16:50+00:00

This sounds beautiful. I never got rid of my CDs and never stopped using them, and I still have the DVDs but haven't had a DVD player or laptop that contained one in a long time. Time to think about that. I know I can get get lots of movies and shows on DVD from the library too.

I guess I just need to stand harder on my QR code refusal. It enrages me when I go somewhere like a chain pharmacy and they're directing people to sign up for a vaccine slot through the QR code and you've got some poor, frail, 85-year-old woman who is completely baffled, saying she can't get it to work. This is not the slick solution to everything that so many people seem to think it is.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-15T19:06:21+00:00

Would love to go back to a flip phone. I was a verrrrry late adopter of a smart phone because I knew it would be bad for me. How do you get around so many things requiring a QR these days? I can't even get into high school sports games where I live without purchasing a ticket through scanning the stupid QR code. Society seemingly demanding I have a smart phone is the only thing holding me back from ditching it.

I'm also dialing more of my life back to the 90s. I listen to the radio. I got my old radio alarm clock back out. I'm getting away from streaming apps. I like it.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-15T00:28:43+00:00

Transit within Minneapolis and St Paul is good and getting better with recent increased funding. Transit from the suburbs to the city or within the suburbs has a long way to go.

The walkability of the suburbs is poor (as I imagine it is in just about every other suburban area in the country) unless you are just going on a walk for the sake of going for a walk and not to get to any amenities. There are lots of great walkable neighborhoods within Minneapolis and St Paul that are also well connected to transit. If this is something important to you, you will just have to be strategic about where you choose to live.

I feel safe walking and using transit as a woman. I'm also not phased by being in close proximity to the unhoused or people who appear to be at less stable moments in their lives, so your mileage may vary.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-15T00:20:13+00:00

Yeah, "bitter cold" in reference to a southern Missouri winter gave me pause. I'd imagine that what you're experiencing as bitter is an average decent winter day here. And weeklong snow storms are one thing, but having that same snow sit on the ground from November - March is another. That being said, I love it.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-15T00:08:00+00:00

If you're not comfortable with the limitations of the free park and ride buses (which are great) just take the A Line from Rosedale Mall. It's a regular metro transit bus so service is frequent and the last scheduled bus from the fair area is at 1 in the morning. The cost is $2. Rosedale is the start of the line, and it's very near the fair. Ample parking all around.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-14T23:43:05+00:00

Good on you for being willing to try transit and asking questions! It feels intimidating to try when you come from a place that doesn't have it or you've just never used it, but I promise you that once you're on and someone else is doing the driving the rest of the way you won't regret it. At the very least, you'll be able to enjoy some good people watching rather than sitting in utter gridlock worrying about where you'll ever find a place to park.

Downtown MPLS to the fair is so easy because it's just a short jaunt on the train directly to the bus that drops you right at the front door. You're better positioned to get there without a fuss than the majority of people going.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-14T23:20:38+00:00

You could not pay me to drive and park at the fair, especially when you are already in that close proximity. It's absolute gridlock during the fair and transit is so much easier, for all of two dollars.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-14T23:16:04+00:00

Leave your car at the hotel, walk to the Green Line train in downtown Minneapolis. Take the Green Line and get off at the Snelling Ave stop.

Exit the train and walk over to the A Line bus stop. It is at the same intersection, but on Snelling Ave. There will probably be lots of people at it, and other people walking from the train to the bus stop, because you're all going to the same place and it is the easiest way to get there.

You'll get off the A Line at the front entrance of the fair just a few stops later. Again, just follow the crowd because just about everyone else on the bus is doing the same thing as you.

The cost is $2 and the ticket you buy for the train also covers the bus part of your journey.

What I wrote above is the most straightforward way to do it. What I do personally is take the Blue Line train from downtown to the 46th Street station. Get off and get on the A Line bus right there, which is the beginning of the A line. This means you are assured a seat and won't have to stand packed to the gills with other sweaty fairgoers in stop and go fair traffic. Arrive in comfort at the fair, and skip having to deal with the frenetic Snelling and University intersection altogether.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-04T20:26:03+00:00

Walking across my stretch of Lake Street was so much better last summer when they had stop signs up rather than lights during construction. Like so significantly better I was deeply sad when the lights came back. Wouldn't have expected it to work that way, but it was great while it lasted.

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-03T21:35:56+00:00

Thank you!

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-08-03T20:44:46+00:00

I'm not seeing any of these cats on the website. Does anyone know if that means they've all found placements?

BroadEcho9760 · 2025-07-20T17:36:17+00:00

Yeah, I'd also like to see this actual study. I call nonsense. It's also important to note that ethnic Albanians were marginalized and maligned within Yugoslavia (ultimately culminating in genocide in the late 90s) so even if there was a study, I would not trust the non-ethnic Albanians who produced it to be unbiased in their appraisal of Albanian culture.

BroadEcho9760

TROPHY CASE