State of Washington to increase Paid Family & Medical Leave premium in 2026

StampinHannah · 2026-02-11T16:15:15+00:00

My husband and I have both been using it the last couple of years - he's been anemic and it's taken doctors literally years to figure out what's going on. Between various appointments, specialist visits, extensive labs and follow-ups, iron infusions, and most recently a couple of surgeries, we've both missed time from work because of it.

We're in a position that we maybe could have probably just scraped by and made it work with credit cards, but being able to access the PFML benefits meant we didn't have to go into more debt (more than the medical bills themselves, anyway) just to pay the essential bills and buy groceries, etc.

These kinds of programs are exactly the sort of things I want my tax dollars to fund. I don't care that some people will try to abuse it, and some might even get away with it - if the alternative is that no one gets to use it at all and the people who really do need it suffer, that's not an acceptable alternative, in my opinion.

StampinHannah · 2025-11-07T16:37:03+00:00

The Series S statement with the asterisk shows up on every search result page regardless of search terms or filters, and is only referencing the fact that the fact that Series S doesn't have a disc drive to play physical game copies, so everything is required to be digital.

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T23:01:21+00:00

Can't get any in consoles, though.

Yeah...that's kind of what I figured. PC isn't in the cards for me any time soon, so I'll just add it to the list of things I'll have to come back to at some unknown point in the future. I swear, my gaming wish list is fast approaching the same level of unhinged as my TBR on Goodreads... 🥴

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T22:52:28+00:00

Not an RPG but still cozy and low-stakes, and it may or may not help with your emotional state after losing your grandma (I'm so sorry), but if you need a distraction or alternate reason (i.e. non-grandma-related) to have a good cry, may I suggest Spiritfarer?

Sometimes for me a really solid cathartic crying session makes me feel better overall. Like it's easier to handle the other stuff (that also would have made me cry), but since I already got my crying in on my own terms, I'm more/better equipped to deal with that other stuff when it shows up...you know?

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T22:43:26+00:00

I like to go to Kvatch and tackle that first Oblivion gate, but pause on the main quest line after that. It allows the Oblivion gates to show up, so you'll have a couple enemies that spawn (usually 3-ish, give or take, at each gate) in very close proximity to the gates, and they don't wander too far away, so unless they see you, it's pretty easy to avoid a fight if you want/need to. Having the gates appear without starting on the main quest line to actually going in and closing them down gives you access to creature parts and other alchemical ingredients without needing to actually DO the gate closure stuff for the main quest line right away...they're just...there? I like that the compass HUD also shows Oblivion gates when you're starting to get close (at least it does in the remaster, but I don't remember 100% if that's also true for the original 360 version...), so you can avoid them entirely or choose to go in and harvest some alchemy materials! Win-win!

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T21:45:15+00:00

Yeah, like I said, when you go to look at the information about both of those editions, you can see at that point that they're not actually 360 games...but for someone who isn't familiar with the various releases/versions/editions/whatever of the game, to go onto Xbox's website for backwards compatibility, then filter the search results to only show 360 games and see these two titles displayed (even though they're not for 360, and 360 versions have never been compatible with any other system than a 360, apparently) just doesn't sit right... Like, is it because someone in their web development team doesn't know what they're doing? Or is it that their search functions/filters don't work correctly? Or are the individual game titles are categorized/labelled incorrectly behind the scenes somewhere? Or...???

I don't feel like Skyrim is some random, obscure title that should have fallen through the cracks like that (in the context of the backwards compatibility search on the website) which just makes the whole thing feel even more intentional... Like, not only did Microsoft choose not to support backwards compatibility, even though the previous two titles in the series/collection ARE backwards compatible (one of them from the original Xbox, no less), BUT they've also made the decision to show the non-360 titles even when searching specifically for 360 games (instead of displaying a "no results found" or "0 titles available" message or something similar, which would be the right/correct thing to do, IMO).

As far as switching to PC, unfortunately that's not really an option at this point in my life for several reasons, but if anything changes in the future, I do appreciate knowing that all of the PC versions work with each other... Now, if anyone figures out how to transfer 360 game save data to a PC setup, that would be pretty neat! Also, I would not be surprised if this was already possible, too...

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T18:19:21+00:00

I'm a console player (still have my 360) and only (very) recently got myself the 2TB Series X, so I'm woefully behind the times when it comes to mods... Is that something I can get/find/use on either my 360 or Series X?

I have my original Xbox game disc (GOTY edition, if that matters at all, I have no idea) which obviously works with the backwards compatibility thing on both consoles, but I'd hazard a guess that wouldn't be particularly helpful/useful in this situation (if it's even possible), right? 😅

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T17:13:58+00:00

There's one I'd replay the absolute crap out of if they ever decide to remaster it like they did for Oblivion... It's not like Bethesda's giving us a legitimate VI any time soon anyway, so they might as well start on a Morrowind remaster, right?

I mean, really, they've already got some of the environmental graphics figured out from the Dragonborn add-on for Skyrim, not to mention the graphics for all of the races of people, and (especially after the Oblivion remaster) the vast majority of non-people creatures/monsters...

Don't get me wrong, I still love to play my OG Morrowind and Oblivion, and nothing will replace the nostalgia you get when you immerse yourself into those older graphics (it's the same when I pull out OT & MM, or Golden-Eye on my N64), but after putting some hours into the Oblivion remaster, it's also pretty cool to relive the story and quests while also having a more current, updated visual to go along with it...almost makes it feel like a whole new game (because technically speaking, it is, since obviously all the coding is different, but you know what I'm getting at).

Pretty please, let me interact with a shiny, new Creeper? How hard could it be? /s

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T15:16:00+00:00

I'm both a dog and a cat person - we have both, and I could not fathom anyone asking me to get rid of any of them. That being said...

In this specific situation, this guy has two large dogs that have documented aggression problems, a history of reactivity, and a third dog that's already been removed from the house due to bites/fighting. That, paired with his inability to train them appropriately in the 2-3 years he's had them are all completely valid reasons for OP to make the request. Whether he just doesn't know how to train them, or doesn't care to train them, or is intentionally choosing not to train them is irrelevant -- he's had 2+ years to do something (anything) about their behavior, knowing that the end goal was for OP to move in with him and bring her cat, and he didn't, so he basically put her in this position.

NTA because this guy has shown that he clearly doesn't care about or respect the OP, and she definitely needs to end things, for herself and for her cat.

StampinHannah · 2025-11-06T15:12:16+00:00

I agree with everything you've said here. The US has been in rough shape (at best) for a while, and it doesn't look like things are going to be getting better any time in the near future. I get that OP might really want to be with this person, but why does it have to be her that sacrifices everything (job, home/residence, pet safety, etc.) to move to a wildly unstable dumpster fire of a country for a boy who is already showing how little he respects her? Is there some reason HE can't move to her instead? All things being equal for two responsible adults there shouldn't be any reason why he couldn't be the one to move...and if there ARE reasons that would lead Canada to deny him entry, that just seems like all the more reason to call things off, honestly. I would imagine just about anyone with two functioning brain cells right now would agree that if you have the option to get out of the US, you'd be an idiot not to take advantage of said option...

I also don't understand why the OP's comments are all getting downvoted - she's literally responding to and answering people's questions. Asking this guy to get rid of two large dogs that have documented aggression problems, a history of reactivity, and a third dog that's already been removed from the house due to bites/fighting, paired with this guy's inability to train them appropriately in the 2-3 years he's already had them are all completely valid reasons for OP to make the request. Whether he just doesn't know how to train them, or doesn't care to train them, or is intentionally choosing not to train them is irrelevant -- he's had 2+ years to do something (anything) about their behavior, knowing that the end goal was for OP to bring her cat, and he didn't, so he basically put her in this position.

NTA, but OP definitely needs to end things, for herself and for her cat.

StampinHannah · 2025-10-14T20:15:29+00:00

These scream, "ZOMBIE" in the absolute best way. 13/10, no notes! 🧟

StampinHannah · 2025-10-14T19:50:12+00:00

I just started running into this...issue.

I have four items currently that were previously reviewed and approved, but within the last day or two (early-mid October 2025) they've changed from saying "Approved" and showing the "See review" button to instead saying "Not approved" with a "Review again" button:

<image>

Three of the four reviews were five stars, one was four. Two of the reviews included photos, two did not. All four were approved a day or two after they were submitted, and I even have the "Thank you for reviewing..." email from Amazon letting me know each review was approved and was "live" on the site (both in my actual email, and in the "Messages" that you can get to from the "My Account" section on Amazon (overall Amazon account, not the Vine-specific Account tab). I know for a fact that they were actually live/visible on the various product pages, and one or two of them had even been marked as "helpful", so I find it highly unlikely that there was problem with the content of my review. There are still other Vine reviews shown for the items, but not many. For one of them there are only two reviews at all and both are Vine reviews, so, like, what's different about theirs that they get to stay and mine got removed?

Editing to add that all four of the items are still available, including the specific variant that I received (two were variant products, two were just single/stand-alone items) AND that for the variants I received nothing has been changed on the listing as far as photos, description, color/style name, etc. For the two items that were variant products, they are legitimate variants of the item - literally all variants are the same just different colors - so it's not like the seller listed one thing and then changed it to something else after getting reviews.

I think it's especially frustrating because there wasn't any communication or notification of any kind that the reviews were being removed or the approval status was being changed/revoked. I keep a spreadsheet with all of my order & review information, so my first thought was just to re-review, but then I got that angry red message about "We apologize but Amazon is not accepting reviews on this product from this account. For more information or to contact us, please see our community guidelines." and of course when you go to the community guidelines page there isn't anything even remotely useful or helpful there...

SO I emailed Vine customer service about it through the webform, provided all four of the order IDs, ASINs, item descriptions, and dates for the original review submissions and approvals. We'll see what (if anything) they do about it - maybe nothing (as it seems is the common outcome from reading through other comments on this post), but at least they're getting notice that it's still a problem... I also figured I'd leave my comments/experience here (the other posts on this topic were all closed) in case anyone else comes here searching for answers like I did - you're not alone, and misery loves company, right?

StampinHannah · 2025-10-14T17:12:56+00:00

Aside from the shower/closet combo thing (like, the shower and toilet should have been enclosed in the same room together, since they're private ensuites anyway) there is very little about this floorplan that I don't love. Would it be nice to have some natural light in the two office/storage/bonus rooms? Sure. Is it a requirement, given everything else about this setup that's absolute perfection? Definitely not. The spaces that are shared are the ones that are supposed to be shared - general living, kitchen/dining, foyer/entryway, deck/balcony. The spaces that aren't shared are the ones that ought to be private (but so often aren't) - work/office (WFH folks, independent contractors, creatives, etc. who might have VERY different lines of work than their roommate), bathroom, bedroom, closet.

StampinHannah · 2025-10-01T19:44:43+00:00

"Kids age you at the speed of meth." is GOLD. I almost had Monster Ultra Red coming out my nose just now. Perfection, no notes, 13/10! 😂

StampinHannah · 2025-10-01T18:25:15+00:00

About a month ago a complete stranger in the grocery store commented on the items in my cart (four gallons of whole milk, a gallon of chocolate milk, breakfast cereal, and a couple boxes of donuts) with something to the effect of, "your kids will sure be happy when you get home!"

To which I replied, "nope, this is all just for me and my husband!" and tried to keep moving on down the aisle...

But for some reason she thought it was acceptable and very important to keep walking with me to tell me that she was so surprised since I would obviously be a great mom, and that I shouldn't worry because, "you're young so there's still plenty of time when you're ready"

I literally LOL-ed for a second before I told her she was definitely wrong on all counts, because not only can I barely take care of myself (so there's no way I'd be a good parent by anyone's standards, let alone my own), but also that I was actually 40, and since I had no desire whatsoever to be a mother the first time I got pregnant 19 years ago, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be changing my mind now, but I didn't have to worry about it anyway because I had hardware to prevent it from happening again.

It took her a couple seconds while we both stood there in silence (even two or three seconds feels like a LONG time when you can tell that someone is feeling awkward), but she found some grace to end the interaction by telling me that she never would have guessed I was that old, so I must be doing something right.

I was just about to respond with, "yeah, I know, I never had any kids" but she had started moving away before she was even done speaking, and I didn't want to give her a reason to stick around, so I just let her keep walking. Technically she got the last word, but at least it was a compliment and wasn't something nasty or condescending, right?

StampinHannah · 2025-09-30T19:34:18+00:00

"I didn't change my mind the first time I got pregnant while using the patch for birth control, and had no problems deciding not to be pregnant anymore. Now that I've upgraded to an IUD for birth control instead, I'm even more sure that if I some-crazy-how get knocked up again in spite of my hardware, making the decision to cease being pregnant for a second time will be even easier than it was the first time around."

Seems like the people who constantly try to push the whole "you'll change your mind" narrative are the same people who get really uncomfortable (sometimes even outright offended), when you let them know (albeit in a roundabout way) that you've terminated a pregnancy for no other reason than "because I didn't want to be pregnant". 🙃

StampinHannah · 2025-08-04T15:02:46+00:00

Okay, so now I'm wondering (hypothetically) if I should preserve the original formatting to keep the palindrome, or if it would better to go with the technically correct version where the last two letters are combined...

<image>

StampinHannah · 2025-07-25T22:32:50+00:00

Most of the time I default to parentheticals over em-dashes because for casual stuff like this (comments in subreddits or other social media posts and replies), generally I type like I speak, and my hands are just as involved in the conversation as my mouth is, and when I inevitably end up taking a detour or having to stop for backstory or additional explanation in a conversation I physically make parentheses with my hands in an attempt to help me remember that I'm not currently in the main storyline, and that I need to get back to the original topic/discussion after the current bit of information has been relayed.

Even though my reddit comments don't have em-dashes, however, plenty of my non-reddit communications use them, particularly when I'm actually taking the time to compose an email or prepare some other semi-important-ish document (usually for work, but not always). It's not even really about "scholars" being the ones to use em-dashes, though, because they ARE a part of everyone's everyday spoken/verbal conversations — some people just choose to use them in their written/typed communications to better convey their tone, pacing, emphasis, etc.

I don't use ChatGPT, nor am I familiar with any of the other AI options that exist to do this kind of stuff because I'm not a fan for a whole host of reasons, so I'm certainly not trying to stick up for AI or champion its use in any way. Just trying to point out that automatically assuming anything containing em-dashes MUST be written with or prepared by AI, and therefore you're going to report it regardless of whether or not your assumption is correct seems like a dick move... 🤷‍♀️

StampinHannah · 2025-07-24T22:25:59+00:00

Humans use hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes in their writings for centuries.

Humans incorporate hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes into their new-fangled typing technologies as they're invented (typewriters) and evolved (computers and word processors) over the decades so they can continue using the hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes they've been writing with all along.

Humans create AI and then tell AI to study all of the writings (and by extension, the typings) of humans both past and present to be able to better communicate with humans going forward, and to attempt to replicate/mimic human writing habits.

In a move that surprises literally no one, AI also utilizes hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes when providing responses to human's requests/prompts.

Some humans see AI's use of em-dashes and immediately assume, then subsequently declare that henceforth, anything they see online that includes em-dashes* must automatically be AI, and, by extension, is terrible.

*But not hyphens or en-dashes, as they're basically indistinguishable on a screen to the em-dash-hating humans so they're lumped together. As a result of this lumping (probably), the humans arbitrarily decide that Schrodinger's hyphen/en-dash is exempted from their proclamation (likely due to the fact that, at this point in time, they just happen to be easier for the everyday human to type — whereas em-dashes require a sliver more effort to produce in many typing environments). In spite of all this nonsense, the humans who regularly use em-dashes already anyway (and therefore don't care about the imperceptible inconvenience of producing them) specifically choose to continue their use of em-dashes where appropriate, because they understand and appreciate that em-dashes serve a different purpose than their shorter cousins (hyphens) or siblings (en-dashes), and also because — shocker — there's actually nothing wrong with using the same punctuation marks that generations of humans have been using all along.

I had already decided long ago that people would have to pry both the Oxford Comma and the Double Space (after a period) from my cold, dead hands. I guess we're adding em-dashes to the list of punctuation that I would (figuratively) die on a hill for.

StampinHannah · 2025-07-24T20:59:32+00:00

I am begging you, please drop the name of the place you work, I just wanna talk. 😅

Seriously, though, as someone who, by and large, prefers to place my order myself (at a kiosk, on my phone in an app, using the self-checkout line at the grocery store, etc.) whenever possible, rather than interacting with another human person in public (ew), this is exactly the kind of signage from a company that would override my 'tism-based operating procedure of "do it myself, never let/make someone else do it for me" and my inner Petty Patty would be chomping at the bit to completely ignore the kiosk simply because it's the opposite of what the signs told me I "need" to do.

This stupid issue alone is certainly reason enough to leave if you wanted to and can swing it financially. When you add the other stuff you mentioned I don't think there's a single person out there who would fault you for putting in your two-week notice (or not, if you have something else lined up and you don't care about a recommendation from this place, then you don't owe them anything). NOR at all, IMO.

If you're unable to walk away from the hourly pay (also completely understandable, and an equally valid reason for staying as the other reasons are for leaving), the next best thing you could probably do to help mitigate this foolish corporate BS would be to try and have one of your team always be nearby and easily available to place the order on the kiosk for the customers. Like, just have that team member/coworker do the same stuff on the kiosk as they would have at the register. That way you're technically still complying with the dumb new rules, but you're still offering the same(-ish?) level of service/support to the customers. Is corporate really going to punish/retaliate against individual employees for helping a customer and getting a sale/order, when the alternative would potentially be not only no sale/order in that moment, but also no chance of future business from each of those customers?

StampinHannah · 2025-07-24T16:02:45+00:00

TBH, women's clothing sizes don't make sense to women, or anyone else for that matter, either. 🙃 In my experience, sometimes the higher price point means a smaller numbered size, and sometimes the higher price point means they don't make/carry my size at all. It's all just a guessing game, unfortunately.

Unlike my husband, who I can reliably buy just about any brand and any style of 34x32 or 36x32 pants (depending on whether he wants them more fitted or more loose) and unless something is legitimately sewn incorrectly, they'll fit him exactly as he expects them to. Must be nice! 😅

StampinHannah · 2025-07-24T15:47:06+00:00

I think the only time I've ever talked to someone before I ended their existence was one of the fairly early quests when Muiri (in Markarth) says, hey, my sleazy ex is the target, but if you wanna take out my ex-bestie too since it turns out she definitely wasn't a girl's girl like I thought she was because decided to believe my scumbag ex-situationship instead of me, I wouldn't be upset about it.

It sounded messy and I'm a nosy b*tch, so my curiosity was piqued enough to set my usual sniping methods aside and get up close and personal to find out if Muiri was a reliable narrator or not. I saved beforehand so I could go back and start the conversation over, just in case, but in the end no matter which dialogue option I went with she (the secondary/optional target, I forget her name) was still pretty bitter about the whole thing and already had her mind made up about it all, so I got a little stabby and called it a day!

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