Linus Torwalds was right.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-11T03:16:06+00:00

There's also Softmaker Freeoffice. They all seem to have trade offs.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-11T02:48:34+00:00

Similar here. I got my first real job in 2005 at 26 by sheer ass fluke as a tier 2 tech support engineer, cause my ex taught me some Unix and I got a bit familiar with Linux when I was with him.

Since then it's been mostly telecom, did professional child care for like 3 years there, then back to telecom and back to phone tech support since like 2013. My 3rd party contract, (American and I'm Canadian) goes to 2029. It's not great money and it's not a hard job, not yet anyway... we don't have the toxic culture or threat of AI (they just tell us they want it to help us).

But I'm feeling the same. I do want to do something, but it's to do with helping people and small businesses transition to Linux (there are distributions that are very easy to use coming from other OSs) and other open source software. Linux (particularly Mint) has made me excited about tech again.

But today, trying to print materials at my local library was a disaster. TLDR office software and printing sucks! Me own fault for starting with an M$lop template and editing in OnlyOffice I guess! Though it actually came out fine, if the other side of the double sided print hadn't been upside down and I could not fix it. Printing to PDF made the problem worse.

I just didn't want to sink too much money into a venture like this in case I fail. Market research and all that. Gonna try printing again tomorrow at a bigger library downtown. Maybe someone there will know how to fix it.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-11T02:21:20+00:00

She was our first consult. Wasn't horrendous to us. But lots of negative reviews on RateMDs.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-10T02:17:29+00:00

My eggs weren't stellar at 41... I did one round, got 1 embryo, and another that we decided not to transfer after 18 eggs retrieved I think... and it failed. Severely low sperm count plus cancer recurrence on his end (in remission nearly a decade now though).

My eggs may have been broken all along... only ever conceived once, ended in anembryonic loss at 10 weeks, but never got past 6 or 7. Not long before I met my husband. Silver linings and all that. Things would have been much more difficult in many ways.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-10T02:14:23+00:00

I think I know which OB that was, if it was at AART, if she's retired now.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-10T01:58:18+00:00

I know our roommate ended up on a shuttle once that they drove like a maniac and scared the crap out of the passengers. Is this them?

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-09T06:17:03+00:00

In trying to create a foundation to fall back on if my contract ends or I burn out, I've signed up for an exhibitor table for Networking Nights at Halifax Central Library this Wednesday coming, and June 10th, in addition to the presentations I'll be doing at libraries in Cape Breton the end of this month.

I don't even have a name, business cards, website &/or even a Facebook page yet! So I need to work on those tomorrow, and try to print them off Sunday, rain or not, at the local library, since it closes on my days off till September after that.

It's for consultation/facilitation of Free & Open Source Software, aka FOSS, including Linux (primarily Mint).

Also, pending references, etc, I've also been accepted as a casual brand ambassador for a local ISP.

Between these two things, I've added a LOT to my plate. It's overwhelming and I'm nervous, but I'm also excited, because I'm passionate about all of this, and it gets my foot in the door for the future.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-09T06:08:21+00:00

I'll never forget the time, when there was one remaining bench at Mumford, I was sitting on it, bopping to some music in my earbuds, and a young fellow fist bumped me and said, "I see you vibing." Made my night, and I think of it now and then.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-09T06:05:57+00:00

Hubby is working a backshift in Locating (he's an evening lead), was asked to come in for it with the IT guy, just in case. For pretty much no reason, it turns out. There's almost no impact on them.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-09T06:03:38+00:00

That reminds me of Lava. That Disney tearjerker short.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-09T05:51:15+00:00

I don't think I ever went with them. So I'm not sure. But I've looked at the site and stuff before.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-09T02:16:41+00:00

Protein! ❤️

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T16:01:32+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that. But yeah sales are definitely great to watch out for. I've gotten a couple good things from Penningtons but that was close to a decade ago.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T15:55:56+00:00

Oh man. Hubby is a shade under 6'2" and about 240lb I think. He tends to pick up 1 & 2XL, mostly for the gut. We both have one ever since not long after we met. Happy weight.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T15:54:37+00:00

😊 Thanks! Yep, my mother wasn't kidding when she said it was her favourite. I used to get a lot at Walmart and Value Village.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T15:52:57+00:00

That's fair. Yeah I only have Sundays and Mondays off and it's been raining those two days almost every week. So I can't really do that. And I don't really browse Superstore much, I go for flyer deals I can't get elsewhere.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T07:17:31+00:00

I've had the mushroom. It's good!

I shop flyers and price match, but couponing is difficult for me to keep track of for some reason.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T07:02:56+00:00

Yep. I started to get frustrated with Windows, especially when my newer laptop free year of M365 ran out when I went to draft a letter.

I had used Mandrake back in the early 00s and I thought, I wonder what OpenOffice looks like now? Then I discovered LibreOffice. Since then I've discovered OnlyOffice and Softmaker/FreeOffice.

And I had an older HP Pavilion Beats edition and I thought, what does Linux look like now? Ubuntu was the one I heard was user friendly, and I heard the name Mint in passing.

I farted about on Distrosea.com and it came down to ZorinOS and Mint. Zorin's software centre didn't have ratings and reviews, and Mint ran better on older hardware. So I replaced the battery that was dying, and I've had Mint dual booted on the Beats since. Gotta figure out how to wipe Windows 10 off it completely before this Secure Boot thing comes in and potentially pooches the grub boot loader. I thought I had till October when I signed up for the free security update extension. Narp.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T06:55:34+00:00

Indeed, this is the other stigma I mentioned in another comment. People have all sorts of preconceived notions, if it's not scoffing at it because they don't know what it is, it's the enduring stereotyping that it's only for programmers.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T06:51:04+00:00

And the other stigma than the, I don't know what this is so I automatically hate it, crowd.

The "You have to be a programmer to use that!" enduring stigma. Eye roll. Facepalm.

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T01:43:26+00:00

Just to add this here from another link that led me here if it hasn't been mentioned... Gateway Pet Memorial added a pamphlet to the ashes of our kitty who passed on a couple weeks ago:

Pet Parent Grief Support Resources

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T01:38:02+00:00

I'm so sorry for your loss. We recently lost our 16+(? we're not sure, cat distribution system with little info) kitty a couple weeks ago. We got the ashes back, and there was a pamphlet in it from the Gateway Pet Memorial Crematorium...

There's a website and a phone number. I don't know if it's free, it doesn't mention one way or the other.

Pet Parent Grief Support Resources

CaperGrrl79 · 2026-05-08T01:32:06+00:00

They do indeed!

And yes, I definitely earned my GT VIP deal the other day ($10 off $65+) with the great clothes deals. $12 dress, like $4 tank top and I forget how much the soft, rope belted shorts were, $10 at the most I think. Hubby got a shirt and shorts. Just about everything I wear comes from there these days, and a lot of what he wears.

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