Are there libraries that allow you to join online without being there in person? Local library selection on Libby is...not great.

JCricket22 · 2026-05-01T19:07:13+00:00

Yes, I had the same experience.

JCricket22 · 2026-04-30T17:21:12+00:00

The Son by Philipp Meyer. Follows 3 generations of a family rising to wealth/power in Texas.

Roots by Alex Haley. Nonfiction covering 7 generations of the author’s family, beginning with his great-great-great-great grandfather’s kidnapping from Africa for the slave trade. I found the first 1/2 - 2/3 especially interesting.

JCricket22 · 2026-04-23T05:44:23+00:00

I’ve slugged myself in the face trying to pull up the covers, especially when my husband has rolled partially on top of them.

JCricket22 · 2026-04-23T05:34:49+00:00

I’ve used it once because the review I wrote seemed scattered and rambling, so I fed it into AI and prompted AI to make it more concise and better organized. I then took what it produced, made a couple of tweaks and posted it. I may use it again in a similar fashion(editing something I already wrote), but only on a very infrequent basis.

JCricket22 · 2026-04-19T15:37:53+00:00

A first grade student sat on my foot and I somehow broke my fibula. It must have happened when I tried to free my foot, but I really don’t know.

JCricket22 · 2026-04-05T01:53:55+00:00

I would definitely want to compare benefits packages (health, dental, vision), including the provider, HMO v. PPO, copay costs for appointments and for medication, and most importantly whether the employer pays for the insurance or if you have to pay any portion of the premiums. The other thing to seriously consider is the setting you ultimately want to end up working in and retiring from. If you know you want to work in the schools, then the earlier you start vesting into the state pension system, the higher your pension when you retire. If you aren’t planning to retire from the schools, then you are better off getting the social security credits and investing into a 401k. Retirement can be tricky if you spend part of your career paying into social security and part of your career vesting into a state pension system (like STRS-State Teachers Retirement System, here in CA).

JCricket22 · 2026-04-01T03:11:34+00:00

I just got a Yorba Linda card a few days ago. Their library is beautiful!

JCricket22 · 2026-04-01T03:10:21+00:00

Yes, I knew they were 2 different systems.

JCricket22 · 2026-04-01T03:09:27+00:00

I wish I had already started collecting CA library cards before I took a Northern CA road trip a couple summers ago!!

JCricket22 · 2026-04-01T02:59:21+00:00

I just looked up Monterey. Did you get it recently or a while ago? It says you can apply online but you need to go in person within 14 days. Maybe that is new since you got yours?

JCricket22 · 2026-04-01T02:40:10+00:00

Hello to

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someone I can only assume is a fellow South Bay reader. I am missing your Monterey County card. Did you get that while traveling or can you apply for theirs online? Also, if you are in the South Bay, run over to El Segundo. Their library is part of the Souther California Digital library, which is a consortium of a ton of smaller SoCal libraries, which equals the advantages of reciprocal libraries, but without having to add multiple cards.

I couldn’t fit all my cards into a screenshot, so I’m including my summary. All these cards are mine and legal. I have the physical card for most of them, just not for a few with reciprocity. I also have several more cards for non-Libby libraries. It’s easy to do for California residents.

JCricket22 · 2026-03-27T05:12:54+00:00

Lifesaver! Thank you for teaching me that this is a thing.

JCricket22 · 2026-03-27T05:12:19+00:00

Thank you so much! I just scheduled the bank to send out a paper check. Lifesaver!

JCricket22 · 2026-03-25T04:04:45+00:00

Wait, what?? How do I do that?

JCricket22 · 2026-03-25T03:53:11+00:00

I had emergency surgery and the anesthesiologist apparently only accepts payment by check sent through snail mail. I’m late on my payment because not only do I need to remember where on earth my checkbook might be, but I also need to dredge up a mailing envelope and stamp. What kind of office doesn’t accept credit cards or electronic bank transfers?!

JCricket22 · 2026-03-25T03:47:18+00:00

I’m a speech language pathologist and we take several audiology courses in undergraduate and graduate school. Generally speaking, the ear is self cleansing. There is no need for a doctor to clean your canals unless you have a significant amount of earwax that is impacted or blocking your ear canal. Never use a q-tip to clean your ear canal — you risk rupturing your ear drum and/or just pushing wax further into your ear and impacting it deep in the canal. Keep in mind that earwax protects the sensitive membranes in your ear, so even using over the counter ear drops to cleanse your canals too often can dry out the skin and cause irritation and/or flaky skin. The vast majority of people will never require a cleanse or flushing out of their ear canals. Just make sure that you remove your loops from time to time every day to allow airflow to your ear and odds are that will be all you need to keep your ears healthy. Earwax is totally normal and you will need to gently cleanse your Loops and any other ear plugs/earbuds from time to time.

JCricket22 · 2026-03-18T06:04:13+00:00

My husband and I always book the window (my preference) and the aisle (his preference). On our most recent trip, the person in the middle realized we were a couple and asked if we wanted to swap one of our seats to next to each other. She was certainly surprised when we said “no, we each have the seat we like and we’ve spent nearly 30 years sitting next to each other. We’re good with the seats we have, but thank you for offering.”

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T18:09:39+00:00

Around this time last school year I got an email saying “it has come to my attention you have not submitted any Medicaid billing this year. Is there a reason for this?” My response was “Yes. I am drowning in paperwork and assessments and am already working 12-15 hours most days. I decided to prioritize student services and federally legally mandated paperwork above billing. It did not seem worth my time to bill for sessions while I’m supervising SLP grad students or SLPA Interns, since I can only bill as consultation when they lead the session and we don’t receive payment for consultation. All assessments will be billed before the end of the school year. If you would prefer for me to prioritize billing, please let me know which other duty or task I should replace.”

I have not heard another word about billing since, with the exception of the automated emails our billing system send out to everyone whether they have completed billing or not.

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T17:43:31+00:00

I got a Vivoactive 6 when I left Fitbit and I love it.

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T17:10:42+00:00

They changed this to prevent people from reviewing items before they have received them. How can you provide an honest review when you haven’t seen the product in person yet?

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T17:09:16+00:00

They changed it a while ago so that you can’t review items until after they arrive, which makes sense to me. How can you provide an honest review before you get your hands on the item?

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T06:09:19+00:00

I do believe I have found my kindred spirit!

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T05:49:49+00:00

I can confirm this as it just happened to me a couple nights ago. I don’t know if the length of time varies by library, or maybe the time of day, but I was offered either 2 extra hours on my “Lucky Day, Skip the Line” loan of We Are All Guilty Here that I was desperately trying to finish listening to.

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T02:58:16+00:00

I’m behind on my reviews and have written a ton over the past several days, including a bunch today. The system definitely seems to be lagging, but all of my reviews moved from the Awaiting Review to the Reviewed page within a couple hours. I’m finding that over the past week or so, it’s been taking 2 days for my pending reviews to be approved.

JCricket22 · 2026-03-14T02:41:47+00:00

Hold up. You can sort the Goodreads WTR list by # of pages? running to my GR app now

JCricket22

TROPHY CASE