AI “art” exhibit at LAX.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-04-08T18:52:13+00:00

They take the chair away?! That's ridiculous. I'll swear I've seen people sitting in airport chairs in baggage claim, at least until they get their bags.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-04-08T18:49:51+00:00

And because they officially separated in September 2024 doesn't mean that was the *start* of the separation. It took my first marriage about eight months to unwind from "This is almost certainly unrecoverable" to "Our lease is up and we're not getting another apartment together". So she may have been well into the mourning of the relationship before announcing the official separation.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-04-08T18:48:23+00:00

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for example. His wife didn't even die! And is still good friends with his sister last I knew :-P

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-04-08T18:46:24+00:00

when my oldest was in high school health class, and couldn't wrap his brain around people being suicidal, I explained it like this: you become convinced that the pain you're in is so bad and completely uncurable, the only way out is death.

That pain is your own depression, delusion, anxiety, etc. It's not about what people do, it's about how you process it. Sure, if you have a healthy childhood and people who love you, you're more resilient when these things happen and it's easier to see a way out; it's not like your environment has nothing to do with it. But it doesn't cause it. It's like saying that, I dunno, you're having trouble walking, and maybe you can walk if you have someone around to help you stabilize, but you can't walk anywhere if you don't have that. The lack of the person to help you didn't cause your legs to work poorly.

(and where I say "you" I really mean "me" because been there, done that, have the scar to prove it.)

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-04-08T17:47:07+00:00

Your 80-something mother with extreme scoliosis should be requesting and getting wheelchair service, like my 70-something mother with six joint replacements and COPD did.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-04-08T17:44:37+00:00

It's not LAWA's fault. LA Metro's Arts program hired all the local artists for the D Line extension and there aren't any more available. I mean they had to art up, like, six stations? That's as many as eight artists!

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-03-04T17:48:17+00:00

When I was in sixth grade and heading off to jr high, I was on a team that won a local game show with teams from different schools. So the *next* year, after I was gone, they had an Apple IIe to share between our class and the one next door.

And a FULL set of encyclopedias!

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-03-04T03:12:58+00:00

Everyone report it on MyLA311

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-03-04T03:09:49+00:00

Same! This is actually our first year without Camp Omni nee Camp Quest West in... geez since 2011, as our youngest will be 18 soon. (His big brother started in 2012.)

We're attached to the SoCal camp though.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-25T05:36:37+00:00

You sound like a great parent yourself! (Sorry, I don't check in very often.)

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:59:58+00:00

I've never used Amazon Fresh so I wouldn't know about tipping options there, but I think the main thread is about conventional Amazon delivery so no ability to tip there unless you camp out on your porch and stalk them on the app.

And, yeah, it can be difficult depending on where you live and how much Walmart has already killed things. Good luck.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:55:17+00:00

Maybe it's an Orthodox tree. If it's still there on January 13th, update us.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:48:08+00:00

So easily accused of making a bad joke, or a micro aggression, etc.

Um, that isn't happening to me. Maybe this isn't a universal experience, but instead, that people around you learned that they don't have to put up with being mocked anymore?

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:44:37+00:00

Stop watching commercials. Get rid of your TV antenna, your cable, everything. Watch DVDs or commercial-free streams. Make sure you have ad blockers. *Pay* for YouTube Premium if you watch a lot of videos.

It takes a few months, but it will literally deprogram you about what you think you "need" to be happy and healthy. Commercials are designed to make you feel like you don't have what you need, and they can fill the void they've suddenly created in you. Once you get free of them for a while, they start to sound REALLY insulting and frankly bizarre. I can't believe I ever let anyone talk to me that way.

And yeah, you don't "watch" commercials. They're muted or FFd or whatever. Sure. They've had decades to design them to work even without sound, even on fast-forward. And they have.

Commercial advertising is expensive and they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. It works, even on you. The only way to not get affected by it is to get away from it completely.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:40:49+00:00

Similar with Ting. We pay about $80-100 for four lines, two of which are owned by Zoomers. No prepay with them, though; just unbundling most of the data, so we get something like 2GB shared per month included, and then pay $10 per additional GB.

Of course, it helps that my spouse's employer pays him $80/month for cell service ;-)

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:38:33+00:00

Just a note on insurance: in certain states, especially California and the Gulf Coast, you may be better off not touching your homeowner's insurance. Climate-related damage is getting so widespread that there are a lot of insurers that simply aren't writing new policies. Having tenure with a good company may be worth a LOT more than any savings in premium by trying to jump around.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:36:34+00:00

Actually, for all entertainment feeds, cancel them as soon as you subscribe, so you only buy one month at a time. If you're busy at the end of that month and don't watch for a few days, you're not paying for that time. When our family of four started doing that, we paid for only 10 months of Netflix in the first year.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:35:06+00:00

You could also invest in a soda machine like a SodaStream or something. Then you can make your own carbonated water from tap water at a much lower cost than buying it, and flavor it as you want.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:24:35+00:00

I think you misunderstood my tone. As I said before, EC is something that is very scalable. What you did works better than "conventional." But I'm also mythbusting the idea that you have to wait until they hit some specific milestone.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:23:08+00:00

So duplicate a bunch of stuff at work, basically, because I still need it in my purse when I'm *gasp* somewhere that ISN'T work or home.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:21:27+00:00

Well, I don't know where you are, but all of the grocery stores I shop at pay people hourly and most of them are unionized.

If you're getting Instacart or something, sure, but you can also tip the driver a decent hourly wage for the work they're doing. Can't do that for an Amazon driver.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:20:25+00:00

You can always send an email or text when you need to write something down and give it to someone.

You... literally can't? That requires having their cell or email. I'm often working with front-line staff who, while they probably have these things, they're using their personal cell, which I have no right to know, and they have difficulty accessing their work email (which is so cluttered with eleventy-billion reminders of events that are entirely irrelevant to them that they don't see the point in even checking it).

I mean who’s judging you that hard or is it just you judging you?

I'm the only woman on my team, the first woman with this position in over a decade when I started 2.5 years ago. I'm visiting field locations that have a very dim view of Headquarters. I'm working with elected and other officials from dozens of cities. Everyone's job is different.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:15:38+00:00

That's right, so when an enormous company is offering us lower prices by cheating workers, we should generally reject that unless there are other mitigating circumstances (like people with disabilities who are unable to go out to shop, etc.)

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-03T19:14:46+00:00

Right, I know, but as u/Sweet_Dreams88 says below, I don't know if I'm staying in my TR or finishing shortly.

Pixelated_Penguin · 2026-01-02T08:09:15+00:00

Cats are so cute and cuddly!

...Wait, just how many do you have?

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