First world problems! Share them here!

[ciao_yall]

Mamselle, did your friend use crossword software to make the puzzle? Two years ago around this time I made a goal for myself of constructing one over holiday break to submit to the NYT since I do those crosswords every day.  I watched videos, read interviews with constructors, etc.  I even came up with a theme and theme solutions for a test puzzle I wanted to make for my husband.  Whew... it is hard work.  Being good at solving crosswords is definitely not the same as being good at constructing them.  I even used software, and the only puzzle that ever resulted was pretty awful.  My husband kindly solved it (with some confusion along the way).  The few clues that were at all clever were only something that the two of us would understand.  Even having a grid created, even having some or all entries provided, writing clues can be very tough and as daunting as starting to write a paper from scratch.  I hope there are some aspects that you can praise, but I fully understand how these efforts can go awry.  Maybe I'll give it another try this break.

It's probably all that you say, and the fact that this friend (whom I respect very highly in a couple of other fields, as a skilled performer in one, and as a teacher in both) has always had a sweet empty spot, sort of like an internal fontanelle (to use a word in the "challenging" New Yorker crossword that took me 3 days and 12 proper-name lookups to complete) somewhere where their broader understanding of some things should be.

In a couple cases, this individual couldn't, for example, follow the logic that several of us were applying in pointing out the folly of a particular path, went ahead, and really suffered for it--which we all felt badly about, but had, indeed, foreseen and forewarned them about it, to no avail.

They have the best will in the world, and even if seemingly benighted at some points, don't deserve to be hurt. So, wording this response is indeed going to be...puzzling.

I did think about the software, might ask about that. It could also be an entree into the wider (or narrower) discussion....might be able to focus on that instead of the combination of (sorry, but...) really tired clues and really inexplicable ones (using an area of knowledge that the individual professes not to agree with or see value in, so that's even more puzzling...

Oh, well. We're all a puzzle.

Someone, somewhere, is trying to figure out 56 down about me, I'm sure...

M.

This week's New Yorker has a story about a woman who interweaves crossword puzzle construction, anorexia and feminisim. Really interesting! Skimmed it last night - apparently she interned for a while for Will Shortz. I'll read it more closely when I'm more awake.

[mamselle]

Ah, OK, I'll probably read that next week.

See, I'm not "allowed"* to read the current issue until I've done the puzzle first...and I always do that on Friday nights (assuming the magazine has arrived, sometimes our postal system has substitutes who don't deliver it until Saturday)...

Why? What?

;--}

M.

*(i.e., by me, no one else is imposing this...)

[ciao_yall]

Ah, OK, I'll probably read that next week.

See, I'm not "allowed"* to read the current issue until I've done the puzzle first...and I always do that on Friday nights (assuming the magazine has arrived, sometimes our postal system has substitutes who don't deliver it until Saturday)...

Why? What?

;--}

M.

*(i.e., by me, no one else is imposing this...)

Me too, except this issue has puzzles interspersed. No back page puzzle or caption contest.

I usually start with the puzzle and caption contest, then read all the cartoons, then start reading the articles.

Sometimes the fiction gets into weird places so I don't finish the story.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I can't get through to my pharmacy, so I may have to go up there in person.

[OneMoreYear]

Hubby's car is in the shop getting new breaks, so he took my car to work, as he does not have this week off, so I'm left carless. It was rainy and cold, so I did not feel like walking anywhere. Thus, I was forced to stay inside and work on my Spring syllabi while petting a cat.

My elderly mother's caregivers put on the Hallmark Holiday movie channel.  All day while I visit.

At my parents' house, the Hallmark Holiday movies also run most of the day (which does have the benefit of reducing the amount of Fox News). This year, we did also watch Dune.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Pet website says they are trying to contact my vet for an RX approval (should have been in the system) so I can order cat food. If I had known this earlier today, then I would have called the vet about it, but now I have to wait until Wednesday since the vet is closed tomorrow.

[Harlow2]

Just updated iPad to new OS, especially important in view of evil software. But the new version collected and categorized the apps so I couldn't see them in the order I need, and requiring  2 steps rather than 1 to open stuff.  Things placed on what Apple thought were suitable pages were not.  Why not return them to their original positions?  Spent 15 minutes moving and removing everything while they all wiggled and kept returning to the little boxes Apple put them in. 

[Wahoo Redux]

I hate Blackboard.

It is like driving an old station wagon with a bad transmission. 

[mythbuster]

My MIL had to get a new clothes dryer after hers died. She spent almost 2 weeks without one before the new one was delivered. She is now bemoaning the fact that her washer and dryer no longer match. Oh the horror!

[Thursday's_Child]

I had to use a laptop over the holidays.  It was so much more difficult to use than a desktop:  the keyboard was smaller; the mouse-alternative was clunky and felt awkward; and, the screen was tiny!  Even WORSE - it only had one screen!!!!

I don't know how I survived.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I noticed a leak in the ceiling (well, a damp spot) around a light fixture. Went into the attic to investigate and there may be a small hole in the roof. I think this may be the product of the week's worth of rain and the high winds a few days ago.

[Anselm]

Hubby's car is in the shop getting new breaks, so he took my car to work, as he does not have this week off, so I'm left carless. It was rainy and cold, so I did not feel like walking anywhere. Thus, I was forced to stay inside and work on my Spring syllabi while petting a cat.

My elderly mother's caregivers put on the Hallmark Holiday movie channel.  All day while I visit.

At my parents' house, the Hallmark Holiday movies also run most of the day (which does have the benefit of reducing the amount of Fox News). This year, we did also watch Dune.

https://wronghands1.com/2019/11/29/hallmark-christmas-movie-plot-generator/

[mamselle]

Hubby's car is in the shop getting new breaks, so he took my car to work, as he does not have this week off, so I'm left carless. It was rainy and cold, so I did not feel like walking anywhere. Thus, I was forced to stay inside and work on my Spring syllabi while petting a cat.

When I had VW bugs,, long ago, I used to hafta go to a repair shop (the only local one that serviced Euro-scaled cars) that I was sure added new breaks to every system they fixed.

A quote for a 20.00 job always meant a phone call two days later, saying they'd noticed two other things that needed fixing, so it was going to run 60.00 instead.

That was in 1984. I haven't owned a car since.

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

My yard waste pickup was skipped... again. I think the company has missed over a month's worth of pickups. Why am I paying for this?

[Parasaurolophus]

Looks like I didn't make the first round of interviews for the one job I applied to. I thought I had a very good shot, too.


Oh well. Maybe something better will be advertised next year. Back to the mildly unpleasant grindstone I go.