stoutfellow

Today, ye olde procrastinator got around to some recycling. I had several empty peanut butter jars, and I put them through the usual routine: a soak in soapy water, a couple of rinses with hot water, some action with a Dobie to get the more recalcitrant bits, and one last rinse. This time, it occurred to me to check the lids: they are a different plastic, but are they recyclable? I looked for the triangular symbol, and found it - on two of the four lids. Apparently some are, and some aren't. It strikes me as odd; they were four jars of the same size and same product (40 oz Jif Extra Crunchy), all purchased at the same store, although, admittedly, over a period of two or three months. I don't know whether the ones with recyclable lids were bought earlier than, later than, or mixed among those without.

Is a puzzlement. I guess in future I'll have to check the lids individually.

Note to self: doing the Washington Post online crossword at 3:30 AM rarely results in a good score.

Every so often, I make a donation to Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The form allows the donor to make the donation In Memory Of :name:.

I tell you, I *resent* the fact that there are too many names I could put in there.

:blinks back tears:

1. When you board an MCT bus, you either pay cash or display one or another piece of paper or plastic - transfer, monthly pass, senior pass, whatever. The driver has to make note of which of these each passenger uses. On Wednesday, boarding the #19 that's the last leg of the trip home, as I raised my monthly pass the driver cackled (that's the only word for it): "Ha-haa! Beat you to it! I already punched it in!" (This was accompanied by a quick finger-pointing gesture.)

2. Today, I was heading for the #22, for the ride to the station, where I'd switch to the #16 and home. As I drew near, I reached into my pocket for my pass. (When I'm headed for the bus stop from home or work, I take the pass out of my wallet and put it in a front pocket.) It wasn't there. I checked my wallet, my other pockets... I started to pull the cash fare out of my wallet. By this time, I was at the bus door, and the driver gestured to me to put it away. He'd seen my search and was willing to let me ride for free. This was a no-go; I'd still have to pay at the station, and I've still got nearly four weeks left on the pass. Instead, I retraced my steps, and finally found the pass in my office, sitting on the desk. There was still a chance of making my connection, taking the #4, which leaves later than the #22 but takes a more direct route. Unfortunately, it was running late, so I missed the #16 at the station. While I was sitting at the #16 bench, the #22 driver came by and called out: "Did you find it?" I told him where it had been, and he said "Good" and went on his way.

These guys know me (and, of course, their other regular passengers).

I suffer from chronic, year-round hay fever. I am subject, with little warning, to extended and explosive sneezing fits. I do feel them coming a second or so ahead of time, and have become adept at, e.g., putting down and letting go of my coffee.

Some situations, though, cannot be so easily dealt with. This morning, a fit struck while I was brushing my teeth.

I leave the consequences to your imagination.

There are times when the prospect of a mild summer cold is not a problem, even a pleasure - times when enforced leisure can be welcomed.

This is not one of those times - not when I'm teaching a compressed course in differential equations.

I'm sitting here sipping a mug of chamomile tea and hoping for the best. One way or another, I've got to go to work tomorrow, and the next day, and the next...

:grmph:

This morning, I started going through my bills. One of them involved my health and dental insurance.

Since I'm not teaching this summer, I have to make my insurance payments directly. I often wind up paying late, procrastinator that I am. This bill, however, was - as far as I knew - the first bill of the summer. I opened it; apparently I missed a previous bill, and they were demanding that I pay up, in full, by June 20 or they would do nasty things.

There was an item about how to make the payment online. I went to the named page, clicked on "Make Payment", and was offered the choice of a one-time payment, without creating an account, or creating an account and paying there. I chose the former. There were two drop-down menus, for Payment Type and Payment Method. I clicked on the first and selected the appropriate line. I clicked on the second: it displayed... the same options as the first. I shrugged and clicked. A text field opened, asking for identifying information, which I supplied, and then clicked on "Add Item". I was then informed that I must put a numerical value in the second drop-down... which did not allow me to enter *anything*.

:sigh:

I went the other way, creating an account and logging in. I was finally taken to a "Your Account" page.

This page has lots of links to FAQs and the like. What it does not have is a "Make Payment" button. There is a search box; I entered "make payment" and clicked. Three FAQs, seven documents, no place to make a payment.

Screw it. I'll pay by check, it'll be late, they'll do unpleasant but ultimately meaningless things, and I'll pay the next bill as soon as it comes in.

[I'm not going to talk about the time I overpaid them. That one unfolded into absolute idiocy, and more unpleasantness.]

I have been fortunate enough to have visited Notre Dame de Paris twice - in 1980, on a solo trip, and in 1989, with my sister E.

I hope I live long enough to go there again. It seems there's a chance.

Eagles say, "We don't want your useless trash!"

Well, classes resume tomorrow, and I only did a few of the things I intended to do. I did get over to the Chef's Shoppe, and bought a new filter cone and a vegetable chopper. (They were out of the onion chopper I'd bought before, so I went with a more versatile instrument.) I also got Finances v6 up and running. So far, it seems to be a major improvement on the previous iteration. I'm still making tweaks, and I haven't really put it through all its paces yet, but a lot of things are going more smoothly.

Classes tomorrow. In History of Math, we're right on the cusp of calculus, with the work of John Wallis and Isaac Barrow. (Barrow was Newton's mentor, and actually discovered the relation between tangents and areas that we now call the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.) In Abstract Algebra, we're just getting into Field Theory, and we'll get to the connection to straightedge-and-compass constructions pretty soon. In Linear Algebra, we've finally gotten to abstract vector spaces. (This course still stays pretty concrete - our primary clientele here consists of engineers and physics majors.)

It's been a good break, but I need to get back in harness.