30 thoughts on “December 31, 2022: Dustbin”

  2. I would like to leave funerals behind. I did twenty-seven of them this year, the most I've ever done in a year. I know I won't have a year with none, but fewer would certainly be welcome.

  4. I'd have to say anxiety. At some point in 2022 I realized it was just higher than it had been in quite a while. Ebbs and flows, and an ebb in '23 would be nice.

    Also, my neighbors' cats (including the feral ones they feed). They are awful.

    1. I'm pleased to report that my anxiety seems to be under new management. Retirement may have had something to do with that. I have stopped seeing the therapist. I think she helped but [Selig shrug]. The Lexapro certainly seems to help.

  5. Gnawing pessimism. After several rough years on the job front, I've spent the last year fully employed and enjoying the work, but I'm always expecting the other shoe to drop any time. And, you know, just the general direction of society lately. I never lose hope, but my expectations for progress are greatly diminished compared to ten years ago.

  6. I’d appreciate it if people would stop shooting each other. The 27th of December saw 9 shootings in New Orleans. A 16 year old killed a man in broad daylight on bourbon street 1/2 block from my office. Later that day someone got clipped 1/2 a block from my house. Early the next morning a dude shot someone 1/2 block from my house the other direction. FFS, enough with the violence, people.

    Oh, I’d also like the drug dealers next door to quit dealing drugs. Or at least be a little more sly about it. I can lower my expectations pretty far…..

  7. *My job. I don't technically retire for another 8 weeks, but I've been off for months. I'm still adjusting, but feel as though I'm ready to start looking for other things to fill my time besides (in addition to) exercise and cat-on-lap.
    *Twitter. I still check daily, but only for DMs. Good riddance. Of course, I've replaced it with Masto. Not as doom-scroll-ey. Lots of cat pics and beer pics.
    *the drought. We are in the midst of about 10 (expected) days of rain. I'm hoping that portends a better year out west, because we really, really, really need it.
    *Trump. [redacted]

  8. I'm getting "alerts" on my laptop that my MacAfee subscription is running out soon on my laptop. Also, my Netgear Armor subscription has expired.

    So, any helpful recommendations? Do I even need Netgear Armor for the wifi? Antivirus recommendations? Also, should I bite the bullet and get a password manager (NOT LastPass), like Bitwarden?

    1. The included Defender is good enough.

      I highly recommend a password manager. There's no good way otherwise to handle passwords to the possibly hundreds of accounts we need now. This will allow you to remember a single strong password and use that to have strong passwords everywhere. There are quite a few that are purely local, so you're on your own for syncing it to other devices (like via Dropbox or simple USB drive). But you also don't have to worry about monthly costs. I personally use KeePassXC because it's cross-platform but there are many others out there.

      1. There's no good way otherwise to handle passwords to the possibly hundreds of accounts we need now.

        I beg to differ. Mrs Runner and I have a system that works just fine (and no, it's not a single password)

        I shop ebay for less expensive mcafee subscription updates. Now that you mention it, time to start looking again

          1. So, the Windows Defender is fine and the Netgear thingy is not necessary or particularly desirable. Cool.

            Thoughts on browser-based password managers (Google/Chrome, e.g.)?

            1. I prefer to not use browser-based managers because not everything I use is via the browser. It's not terrible but all of the other niceties from a proper password manager aren't present such as password creation, especially with specific requirements, or notes.

  11. I’d like to leave for-profit healthcare and health insurance companies behind. We are more fortunate than many given a very good health plan through my employer, and yet the “pharmacy benefit management company” that sits between us and prescription drugs needed to manage severe chronic illness has decided that it knows better than the specialists at the University hospital and will have a pharmacist “review” a gastroenterologist-ordered increase in dosage to manage said illness, which is particularly severe, nearly resulted in death, and has caused significant life alterations.

    I find myself straining to remember the (dwindling) good aspects of my relationships with family members who are smart enough to know better than subscribe to hoaxes, propaganda, and slander peddled by know-nothings, seditionists, and traitors. These lapses in judgment result in my limiting contact between my child and several of her relatives; I see no solution to this dilemma.

    I have a wonderful kid. I’d deeply appreciate it if those running the world would do something positive to ensure she doesn’t inherit a planet wracked by environmental catastrophe and preyed upon by the robber barons of terminal capitalism.

  12. Apparently I have left electricity behind. Been out for about 30 minutes now. The rain and howling wind also took down a tree. It seems not to have damaged the house too much (as far as I can tell in the dark, with the wind howling and rain pelting). No broken windows and, I hope, no significant roof or stucco damage.

    On the bright side(?) this was a cypress that had a big-ass broken limb hanging over my neighbors's dilapidated garage. With luck, I won't have to replace her garage roof (she's had a canvas tarp on it for the last three years, which is why my tree guy wouldn't take the limb down, for fear of puncturing her garage).

    1. Seriously. I don't think I can watch this team. It may not be his fault, but I can't see Finch lasting through the season.

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