gdp's Comments

The Toast : An Open Thread, and Sea Room

Fri, 1 Jul 2016 19:23:16 +0000

This week has been really terrible for me-- I'm back on the job market, for one-- but the folks here have offered a lot of great advice and support. Thanks to everyone who had kind words over the years, when my dog died, when I was having trouble with my ADHD meds, and so on. It's been so nice knowing that there are genuine and kind people on the internet.

The Toast : An Open Thread, and Sea Room

Fri, 1 Jul 2016 19:16:00 +0000

Probably awesome, I'm thinking teeny tiny hexagons? Ps. the yarn is from here http://www.texasyarnfarm.com/store/p397/ICE_Magic...

The Toast : A note on The Toast

Fri, 1 Jul 2016 18:38:25 +0000

Just got quoted in the Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/201...

The Toast : An Open Thread, and Sea Room

Fri, 1 Jul 2016 17:14:35 +0000

This one is also the hairpin but it's still my all-time favorite Mallory piece. https://thehairpin.com/a-wizard-has-stolen-your-h...

The Toast : An Open Thread, and Sea Room

Fri, 1 Jul 2016 17:06:52 +0000

<img src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/sandbothe/378191802/20160530_162509_medium.jpg"> Well I don't 100% know how to embed images, but I'm pretty proud of this one. 150 crocheted hexagons, and now all I have to do is stitch them together and weave in the ends... yes, just a little weaving in, not daunting or anything

The Toast : An Open Thread, and Sea Room

Fri, 1 Jul 2016 16:50:39 +0000

I'm not prepared to put my face on the internet, but if I can paint you a mind-picture, right now I have the day off so I'm wearing a jumpsuit with no bra and eating toast with jam. Feels appropriate.

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 17:49:18 +0000

Oh shit I didn't even think of it in those terms, but yeah, I've been pushed into what is essentially project management over the last year or so when that was never in my job description. Turns out I'm terrible at it but I can't find a way to say to management "I need fewer responsibilities." Especially since we're understaffed right now. I have a coworker who's been doing the same fairly narrow, midlevel role for the past 20 years-- he's kind of an old coot and I think people sometimes look down on him for not wanting to move up the ladder, but now I'm starting to realize that he's got the right idea.

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 16:38:18 +0000

Also I'm getting the sense from the letter that this is the kind of place where women are not exactly required but definitely expected to wear heels, and that shit needs to end one way or another

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 16:35:34 +0000

I'm very conflicted on this one. The Catholic school alum in me is profoundly anti-dress code; I think that people who interact with the public should probably expect to wear a clean collared shirt and shoes that you wouldn't mow the lawn in, but beyond that, fuck it. I started my career with an internship that had a formal dress code, and a large chunk of my meager pay went towards blazers and skirts. Not everyone can afford to do that, and it's fundamentally shitty to think that you can judge someone's professionalism, education, or experience by how fancy their shoes are. On the other hand, that's the world we live in whether we like it or not, and part of the purpose of internships is to assimilate young people into this world where we don't wear flip-flops or mention to the boss how much we drank last night, and if you don't at least vaguely grasp that you're there to learn this stuff, what are you doing?

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 16:11:21 +0000

Welp, I fucked up at work. More specifically, I got myself into a position where someone else's fuckups are now my big goddamn problem. This is a new one for me (usually I'm the sole fuckup) and don't know how to feel properly ashamed of my mistakes and angry at the other person at the same time. So I'm just sort of tense and cringing. Luckily I still have my job, but I'm starting to think it would behoove me to get a different one. Please tell me your stories of how you escaped a morass of bullshit and got your career on track! (Also tell me if you know of anyone whose communications department is hiring.)

The Toast : Open Thread!

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 17:57:42 +0000

Maybe John Boehner? His politics are terrible (although they could be worse) but I have a couple of friends in the restaurant biz here in DC who say that he is hands down the best customer, that he loves wait staff and always tries to talk to them and share stories about his own experiences in the restaurant industry. I also like his recently-cultivated image as a bitter, chain-smoking sad sack.

The Toast : Open Thread!

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 14:21:05 +0000

The ones I knew in high school were definitely the girls who loved Disney and knew how to smile broadly and sing at the same time

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 21:09:28 +0000

Thanks both of you. I am putting this list together now. I talked to a colleague who says he can vouch that I am doing as much as I can. We'll see how it goes.

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 18:13:23 +0000

OT, but I need somebody to talk me down right now. I am out of the office right now but for the past two weeks I have been working on a really frustrating project-- it kind of got dumped into my lap while it was already in progress, and no one has really been communicating about what needs to be done or who is in charge of what or anything. I am making progress on what I can, but some parts are on hold until I can get cooperation from other people. This kind of hit a boiling point last week, but after a lot of phone calls I thought I had it mostly sorted out. But today I get a call from my supervisor saying that when I get back to the office we will meet on this issue and there will be a possibility of disciplinary action. I am not sure why that would be the case, and she didn't really answer any questions while I was on the phone. The deadline for this project is still a few weeks away and I cannot imagine how I've done anything actionable here. I would just think it was overblown, but I've had disciplinary action at work before. I am a bad adhd case, very disorganized, and have been reprimanded in the past for being late to meetings and not having my paperwork in order. I worry that no matter what the actual case is, it will look like I am just being disorganized again. I also worry that with multiple incidents in my record there is a real possibility that I could lose my job. I need to call some of the other folks that are involved in this and get a better idea of wtf is going on, but first I need to stop hyperventilating.

The Toast : Cocktail Hour: Open Thread

Fri, 24 Jun 2016 18:51:27 +0000

I have nothing particular for add, but thanks for listening to all my weird bullshit over the past 2 years. Please have this bird hug. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dn6tIJSbJKI/UNOog1lj4CI...

The Toast : Cocktail Hour: Open Thread

Fri, 24 Jun 2016 18:48:04 +0000

Hey if I already have a slack account should I sign up for this group with the same email? I have it for work but hardly use it/ don't really know how it works

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Fri, 24 Jun 2016 15:07:25 +0000

It's a small thing, but having actual conversations with your friends and family about the voting process is really important! Before your state's deadline, ask if they've updated their voter registration. If they haven't, pull out your phone and look up what they need to do. If they say they are going to get an absentee ballot, get online right then and have them fill out the request. In the days before the election, start asking people-- have you looked up your polling place yet? Let's look it up right now. Do you know how you'll get there? Have you thought about how you'll vote in local races? Do you think you'll go vote on your lunch break or after work? A lot of people vaguely plan to vote but don't think about all the steps, and that's how people end up getting turned away or not having time to get to the polls.

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:36:22 +0000

You know if I were president or whatever I would want to make prison reform, along with mental health care access, one of my top issues. Few things make me feel SICK the way I do when I read about the abuse that goes on in our prisons. I have a close family member who was very very close to serving prison time recently-- and the only reason he didn't is because our family was able to afford a good lawyer. His crime was not violent, he's done very well getting sober and meeting the terms of his probation, and he's now an apprentice in a lucrative trade. But that progress and potential is not the reason he didn't go to prison and get abused and disenfranchised; the only reason is that he comes from a middle class family. That's what I wish I could get across to people who think "it's what they deserve, they're criminals." Actually, they are specifically *poor* criminals. And they could be productive members of society if we didn't treat people this way.

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 21:40:44 +0000

Oh I'm not saying that it's a foolproof strategy, or that I'm not troubled by it, just that it seems pretty clear to me that the thought process here was "finally, an opportunity to force a symbolic vote on gun regulation" and not "finally, an opportunity to further enshrine our shady national defense policy." And of course that blacklist already exists and its existence, for better or worse, probably does not weigh particularly heavily in the ideology of your average voter. I don't think you have to be "repugnantly stupid" if your understanding of the no-fly list is basically "well, sometimes the wrong people end up on it, probably because they share a name with someone we definitely and legally know is bad news, right?" All of which is to say that if I were in Congress this is definitely not the hill I would want to die on, but if you really really want to get a vote on the broad issue of gun regulations, I can see how some strategist might think that this is your best bet.

The Toast : Link Roundup!

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 19:42:59 +0000

I mean that's true and it sucks, but I don't think the average persuadable voter is keeping a mental list of who has historically stood where on the issues, or even has a full understanding of what the watch list is, they're just opening the papers and thinking "I guess Paul Ryan wants terrorists to have guns?" And that's probably not the best place to hang the hat of public opinion, morally, but what is? For years democrats have been chasing votes on the basis of purist moral arguments that don't convince skeptical voters even as they themselves take morally compromised policy positions. I would feel differently if I thought the bill had any chance of passing, but from what I can tell this is mostly just about jumping on an opportunity to budge public opinion vis-a-vis gun legislation.