Groupthink

  Just wanted to throw up an afternoon/evening OT.  Is anyone else dealing with temperatures that shouldn't be allowed in March? It should not be 90 degrees already! I hate this.  How has your day been? 

Happy Wednesday! How is everyone feeling today? I hope y'all are being kind to yourselves during these crazy times and making time for some self-care. I for one need to get better about taking time for self-care and actually practice what I preach! Anyway, I just wanted to throw up a quick OT for today. You know the drill. Talk about whatever you'd like!

  Just making sure we have an open thread going for today. What's happening in your world? Good, exciting things? Mundane and boring? Full in prep mode for Easter - if so, please share and specifically share any recipes you have in mind. I have no firm Easter plans aside from enjoying 4 days off. And baking Osterzopf . Although mine needs raisins inside and almond flakes on top.

It's been a minute since we've done a rec thread--so what's rockin' your world lately and what should folks be avoiding? I posted about a month ago that I'd come back and let folks know how the veggie HelloFresh thing was going so, here's my review: the food is pretty good and it's been so good to have a break from meal planning. Homey's actually really interested in it and has been helping in the kitchen which is good (I think, though, that he also realized I needed some help--he's a sweetie). I don't know how much longer we'll actually use it for a couple of reasons: it is a lot of plastic packets, which I don't love. Also, the reason the food is so good is their recipes are FULL of fat, cream, and soooo much salt. Not every recipe, of course, but it's just way more than normal in a week for me. So, it's fine for a break but, esp. with summer and yummy produce season coming up here, not something I'll be doing long term. I...

 Good morning!  Here's an OT to talk about your day and weekend.  We've got some new faces around here-- Welcome!   We are working on a post that'll give you a rundown of the ins and outs of GT2 so stay tuned! In the mean time, here's some information from Disqus that can help you get familiar with how stuff works if you're having trouble: https://help.disqus.com/en/articles/1717075-commenting-101 What's new (or old) with you today?  I'll leave my Sunday musings in the comments.

 Bonjour, GT ! Ça va?   I woke up early, meditated, read, did the dishes, and now I'm back in bed with my coffee and some chocolate macarons, because I know how to live, dammit! :D It's cold and rainy here so there's not much of a chance for outside time today. So, I'm leaning into being a cuddle bum.  How about y'all? What's on your vagenda this weekend?

  The Fur Faces are here to welcome you into Spring! https://backtalkvillage.blogspot.com/2021/03/fur-face-friday_26.html

  Hey ya'll, Happy Friday!  How has this week been for you? Our state has been lowering the ages like woah for vaccines so everyone is freaking out happy (besides the OTHER ones). I can't look at social media right now bc they seem to be flooding all the comments on ANY good article regarding the vaccines. And I still can't understand their logic as to what exactly they are afraid of. I mean - pretty sure they aren't in perfect health like any of us are, soooooo... and I'm fairly certain most have had their other vaccines we had to get ages ago for things like tetanus, measles, polio, rabies etc. Just ... FUCK HYPOCRISY. Anyhoo! What is the new link to Fur Face Friday? I seem to have lost it and had it once. Any reason why it's on another platform? Was just curious. Miss seeing all the fur babies. Thank ya! Tell how me how you're doing? Any weekend plans? 

 Happy Th., GT! What are you up to today? I have a class, office hours, and one meeting. I need to get a good jump on grading and it's time to start sending out "fuck around and find out" emails to students who can't pass my classes. Le sigh. I talked to a student yesterday and he was like, I know you make videos explaining the concepts but can you just explain [every single concept we've been practicing for three+ weeks] in a sentence or two (subtext: so I don't actually have to watch the videos I should have watched forever ago)? Uh, no. If I could explain several concepts in a single sentence and have that be meaningful for you, I WOULDN'T MAKE THE FUCKING VIDEOS. Like, do students think it's super fun for us to make more work for ourselves? Gall dang. It's hilarious, too, because this person is like, Gee, I really hate that I have Fs. Uh, yeah, me, too. But I can't force you to engage with the materials and do your work, sooooooo??? All of ...

 It is midway through my staycation and I’m here for ideas of things that I can do to entertain myself!! That don’t cost much money, and are indoors because we’re having torrential rain and storms for three days (8-10 inches of rain and lots of thunder and lightning), and..... here’s the kicker.......isn’t something I’m already sick of doing since I’ve been trapped in my house for a year lol.  GT I am presenting you with an impossible task but it’s worth a shot, since I’m a very structure based person and the lack of routine/seeing humans at work is not helpful for my mental state right now. I guess I’ll.... quilt??? Anyone ever covered a dresser in fabric? What are you guys up to today? tell me about your life and any interesting stuff happening! 

Good morning! Today is National Puppy Day. That's what I'm focusing on for the moment until we figure our shit out in America. Puppies. Have some more! Oxytocin helps. For members of team cat, here's one for you. :) I hope something makes you as happy as this kitten discovering extra feet are a thing. Timeline cleanser: The shock and awe on the face of this kitten upon realizing he has more than one paw to lick is just what I needed today... pic.twitter.com/P0dvx2Dbeg — Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) March 22, 2021 Here's one of Ruby. She was so sweet--all belly & ears with her little legs.  I hope baby animals help a little. I woke up excited because today is our first vaccine appointment. It's hard to feel any joy, but I'm grateful. I'm also mildly freaking out over our eventual return to normalcy. My therapist assures me this is true for a lot of people so, if you're feeling similarly, give yourself some grace & time. We'll rebuild our peo...

 Good morning.  I know that most of us are seeing some signs of spring and gearing up for a new season.  This weekend I realized that between the winter and the pandemic isolation, it's not just my house that needs some spring cleaning.  Warmer weather has always brought a little more personal maintenance along with it in the form of things like leg shaving and more presentable feet.  This year's lack of social events has brought my beauty routines to sub minimal levels.  It's certainly liberating in some ways but oof. Among other things,  I have 3 inch roots and my face needs an exfoliation something wicked.  I'll be needing some serious pedicure attention too.  I'm looking forward to devoting some attention to me. I miss those rituals sometimes.  What's doing in your world today?  

 Happy Sun., GT, and Happy World Poetry Day! In honor of World Poetry Day, I thought it'd be nice for folks to share their favorite poems and/or poets. Or, if you have a favorite book of poetry you'd like to recommend, that'd be great, too! I have to be honest, I used to read tons of poetry but I really haven't since college. One of my goals this year is to read more.  One poet I studied, and loved, in college is concrete poet Mary Ellen Solt (a fellow Iowan!). Above are a couple of her works, "Zinnia" and "Forsythia." So, please, share your favorites from the world of poetry and, as always, let us know: 1) What book did you most recently finish? 2) What book are you currently reading? 3) What's next on your "to be read" list? 4) Are you looking for any book recommendations? Do you have any recs for the rest of the readers here?

  I've raised the possibility of this before; inviting selected commenters from Jezebel to join us here; people who make positive and supportive comments, who might be cast adrift if Kinja/Jezebel/SNS shuts down. People that many of us here have interacted with many times. This week, Maria Sherman, who posted the Pissing Contest on Jez was laid off, so Pissing Contest is no more, and last week SNS had less than 200 comments. This week it's just over 200 comments, and they used to get in excess of 1,000 comments. It's possible that G/O Media may pull the plug on all or part of their little online empire, with little notice. Do we, as a community want to add new members, and are the mods, and our gracious hostess, Violet B. prepared for new members?  If we would like to invite new members, we could select a random, slightly older comment ( not on the current SNS post!), to avoid attracting trolls here, and say something like;  "If at some point you are looking for a new ...

Good morning and happy Sat., GT! It's officially the first day of spring here! How is it where you are? Springlike, or no? Happily, we're supposed to have pretty good weather, so I am actually going to get outside and do some yardwork, while I've got the chance. Homey got some sliced brioche and promised to make French toast. I might do some work-work but I also have a very serious plan to finish my book this afternoon. ;) Tomorrow, I have a date for a walk with one of my besties. I might see if my other bestie is up for an outdoor visit (with cocoa!) today. How about you?

  Good morning lovelies. How was your week? Did anyone's area open up to 40+ this coming Monday for vaccines? It looks like our age will be lowered we saw on the news yesterday and some of my friends are over the moon freaking out. That one gets a fuck yeah.  Let us dive right in to the biggest fuck it of this post - FUCK hate crimes and the atrocities they cause (including the officer who tried to somehow...justify it saying he 'was having a bad day'.) I just - can't.  So earlier in the week, a co-worker asked (we are all remote on our end still) if I could take our boss's place for a video shoot about our 1-year work-from-home anniversary. Our company is massive (over 20,000+) and the funny thing about it being super corporate is that they LOVE and I mean LOVE to do events/videos for any occasion which was surprisingly really amazing. For Black History Month, they hired this amazing soul singing group in Canada who performed with another band in Chicago virtually...

I didn't see an OT pending so I thought I'd go ahead and start one here. How are y'all doing today? Are you as tired as I am? The time change messed with me more than I thought it would and I feel very tired. This week has also felt incredibly long. I usually front load my week so that Thursdays and Fridays are pretty chill, but I had to reschedule a few sessions earlier in the week so that means today I have 5 sessions back to back. Yikes!  I was hoping to fit in a decent lunch break so I could go grab a yummy sandwich but it doesn't look like I'll have time to leave the house. Bummer. At least I have a grocery order coming today so I might add in a nice treat for myself to make up for it.  How are y'all? What's your day looking like?

  Happy St. Patrick's Day! Are you celebrating? I have plans to bake some soda bread & regret my lack of cabbage, beer, or corned beef. Poor planning on my part.  It's a stormy day for much of the South & I'm sending good vibes for everyone to stay safe. It's also a very sad, frustrating day.  38,000 gun deaths a year in US: who needs gun control? 2 cases of voter fraud in 2020: let’s pass 253 new voter suppression laws — Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 17, 2021 Here is a list of links to help. There have been nearly 4,000 attacks reported by AAPI's this year.  Thread of AAPI community organizations to support. #StopAsianHate — Sea Chapman (@sheofsea) March 17, 2021 The suspect (who was apprehended unharmed, btw) is claiming his motive was related to sex addiction & not racism. Misogyny & racism go hand in hand. Rarely does one find one without the other. I can't think of a segway so... what is happening with you today? Let's talk.

 Morning yall! Come on over, sit down, and tell us about your life! Or if you're tired of talking about your life because its an endlessly repetitive set of days and there's not much new, and you feel like Homer in this gif whenever someone asks how you are, give me a recommendation!  What's something new you've bought, tried, made, read, watched, etc lately that you think other people should know about?  I am all ears! I enjoyed the book Lanny , by Max Porter and I recently got some new art from Forest Noir Photography.  I'm usually not a big photography person but I love her sort of bookish/gothic still lives and they are perfect for my bathroom (I got mostly ones from her archival page, less flowers and skulls and more books/nature).   Also, may I strongly recommend coban, or cohesive bandages?  You know after you give blood and the nurse throws a cotton ball on it and then wraps a fun colorful thing around your elbow? That is coban and it is a mir...

 Good morning, GT, and happy Mon.! We got a schnerr day today!!! Although, what we actually got was ice, ice, ice. It's still coming down and looks yucko out there. I still have to grade today but it's nice not to have to even pretend to get cute for a Zoom meeting, lol. Homey's still sleeping but I'm gonna see if I can peer pressure him into making some waffles this morning. :D The college is currently saying they'll reopen at 5 pm and today's his night shift at the reference desk so the poor guy might still have to go in for a few hours. Fingers crossed that they decide to close for the night, too. The movie podcast that I listen to (I Saw What You Did--it's so good, if you are interested) is doing a March Madness bracket for movies, with the theme of "Is it good or was I horny?" 😂 Since both hosts on that show are about my age, we have the same set of heartthrobs from our adolescences. https://twitter.com/ISawPod/status/1370430064425373697 In ...

Good morning! Did you remember the time change or, like me, assume you got seven hours of sleep when you were really robbed? Lol. Lots of coffee was necessary for me today. The extra daylight is great, but this first week is no fun.  I stumbled across this tidbit last night. Haha. Love it. Haters will say you don’t actually have OVRSITE plates on your minivan #NoBS pic.twitter.com/B3b0dcy0gD — Katie Porter (@katieporteroc) March 13, 2021 These tweets are cracking me up, too.  Direct Deposit Stimmy Hits: Me at Bed Bath and Beyond: Bring me Beyond — •_• (@fxrdn_22) March 13, 2021   And one more because, relatable.  Phone call Text pic.twitter.com/z9FLGGuKwx — Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) March 13, 2021 Now, what is happening with you today? Any big plans or a quiet day with maaaybe a nap like me? 

Good morning and happy weekend, GT! How are y'all today? What's up in your world? I'm hearing more and more reports of folks near me, folks I know!, getting vaccinated. I know it'll still be awhile before I get mine but it still makes me hopeful. It's supposed to be sunny and 60 today so I think a walk and maybe my first cold brew of the year are in order. I also have to catch up on the work I put off all damn week for no comprehensible reason. Womp womp. But maybe it'll be nice enough that I can drag my computer outside and grade in the sun. There's also a rain/snow mix in the forecast, which is so unfair, lol. We want spring, dang it! Anyway, how about you?

  Hey ya'll, we're finally close to the weekend! (Minus those who's weekend starts today oh yeahhhh). How are you going doing today? Update on mah Dad! He came home day after hospital, and was so nauseas and pale poor thing and super uncomfortable with all of the gas they pumped into him for surgery. Over the last few days, he keeps improving and is now comfortably walking around the house slowly to move around. He's in great spirits so far and all is going smoothly. I am so grateful to each of you for your wishes, tips, and your stories of shared experiences.  My Fuck It - Well the obvious - anti-vaxxers on every single Facebook news article and people blaming Biden for literally everything, especially things like gas prices. He JUST came into office. A lady I know has been blaming him for her gas prices going up (very VERY little) and using that to continue to drag him. Mkay, Karen because spending an extra literal few dollars a month is causing your life to be horrib...

 Happy Thursday! Is it me or is this week flying by?  Now that I'm seeing more sunshine, I'm also seeing more chores.  That bright light is really spotlighting my salt sprayed windows and the dust bunnies hiding in the corners.  I'll be making a punch list today for all the big jobs that are seemingly overdue.  There's a bit of mental spring cleaning that I should probably do too but one thing at a time...  Anyone else feeling the push now that things are warming up a bit?  What's new in your world today? 

Good morning! It may not be official for a few more days, but Spring is definitely in the air. I can tell because I woke up sneezing. ;) Allergies are worth it, especially this year. It's actually chilly & cloudy here today, but I hope someone is out there frolicking on my behalf, lol. Icymi, Major Biden nipped someone this week & everyone lost their minds. He's young & it didn't even break skin. Someone asked if was going to be euthanized as a result. After 4 years with a sexual predator holding office, this enthusiasm is most unwelcome.  Speaking of enthusiasm, here's someone who gets it.  Anger is good sometimes https://t.co/A9DZ9IdH1O — Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 10, 2021 Thank you. See? You CAN fight back. More of this, please.  Moving on, what's on the vagenda today? I'm making some stuffed mushrooms for Pal's birthday feast tomorrow & picking up groceries. Your turn. What's happening?

 Good morning, GT, and happy Tuesday! How are y'all? What's up with you today? We're getting a mid-60s and sunny day today (!) so I'm excited to wrap up work and get some outside time. There's a chance for snow again this weekend, so I def. want to enjoy it while I can. I finally pulled the trigger on a meal kit delivery service and we're supposed to get our first box today. Fingers crossed that everything's in there and yummy! I'm stupidly nervous which is definitely making me realize that I might be a bit too OCD about our food. :D (We're getting the veggie version of HelloFresh; anyone here do that?) Anywho, I hope you're all well! If you need a mood booster today, may I suggest pulling up the Aretha Franklin station on Pandora or Spotify or whatever? That channel and the Tina Turner station have the best music!

 It might be Monday, but at least you're not a princess!!  is my mood this morning after Meghan and Harry had what might be called the second biggest spilling of tea attack against England in this country's history.   Our weather was gorgeous this weekend - absolutely perfect.  mid 60s in the day, the 50s at night.  I had a peaceful weekend playing some DND on Friday, quilting a lot (need new audio book recs if you have a really good one! no murder/thriller please), and finally getting some work done in my garden.  I've had a mental block for a few months now where I felt like I was really fucking my garden up and every time I looked at it I was like wow, I'm trash which of course made me not want to go out there, and then our big freeze happened and things looked even worse and more depressing but I did it! and it looks so much better now and maybe I'm not trash?  But its nice to have that activity back and please send prayers for my lime tree, s...

Happy Sunday! The big interview is tonight. Are you watching? I was raised on a steady diet of Oprah interviews & have my popcorn ready. It's sort of nostalgic &, of course, I'm also here for Meghan & Harry having a platform to speak out on the racism & hate Meghan, especially, has dealt with.  I expect lots of this face, a lot about Meghan & Harry's charitable endeavors, & that it won't be as personal as people expect. So, probably less salacious than it's been imagined, but how often do you get see an American Princess interviewed by Oprah?! In the meantime, I'm finishing The Mormon Murders on Netflix which is pretty interesting. How are you this Sunday eve? Any plans?

Hey, loveys, you ready to talk books? We're starting to see the early signs of spring (snow melting, sunshine, more sweet little birdies) and I'm salivating at the idea of breaking out a great book and my hammock. I know, I know, it's too early to be this optimistic but it's on the horizon! Anywhoozles, I'm excited to hear what you all are reading and wanting to read! So, please tell us: 1) What book did you most recently finish? 2) What book are you currently reading? 3) What's next on your "to be read" list? 4) Are you looking for any book recommendations? Do you have any recs for the rest of the readers here?  

Congrats, American friends, on the relief bill passing Congress!  Last night I tried out the Dino 101 rec I got here last week, and it was so much fun! I drew the featured dinosaur, drank some porter and possibly learned something (?) 10/10 would do it again. How's it going?! My plan tonight is watching Supernova and making some aloo gobi. What are you up to?

Happy Saturday, GT! What's on your vagenda this weekend? We are getting some warm weather this weekend (mid 40s today and mid 50s tomorrow) so it's possible that I have 3 walks planned with 3 friends. :) One this morning, one this afternoon, and one tomorrow morning. I'M GOING TO SEE MY FRIENDS IRL AGAIN!!! So stoked. How about you?

Please indulge me while I freak the fuck out.  Yesterday, Mrs. B and I had two showings set up: the first to see a house we were sure was going to be popular because the kitchen was redone and professionally photographed. The second at a house that I loved but she was meh about. The second one she was doing mostly to humor me, and because we needed to get our feet wet in the pandemic home buying experience. These were, after all, the only two houses we had ever looked at. The first house was just as lovely as advertised: beautiful kitchen, nice rooms, huge back yard fireplace, an apple tree! And it was in the perfect neighborhood on top of everything. We knew it was going to be stiff competition, because I am not exaggerating when I say the Zillow likes on this house were about 5x what the average house was at. What we didn't know was that when the selling agent allowed "multiple showings in the same time slot", she meant she didn't give a fuck if it was a super sprea...

  Our weekly post is up at Backtalk, so head on over to check it out, and let us see your own fur faces! https://backtalkvillage.blogspot.com/2021/03/fur-face-friday.html

  Good morning ya'll! How are you beautiful people doing this fine Friday morning? Can we please start this day by saying FUCK YEAH it's Friday? Because hot damn I'm ready for work to be over already and it hasn't even begun!  HoneyHeart, I was reading your post yesterday and didn't get a chance to respond but YES to sometimes being in ridiculous time-sucking meetings which are honestly things certain people don't need to join at all. It's funny because at my last place of work, they were obsessed with meetings. Which was so counterproductive bc they would overload us with work, and then we'd have to attend these dumbass meetings where they would just go in circles about forming ideas (we being the designers who did not need to be on them - we just need the direction of said ideas) so we would be like why the hell are we in these things? We can be working on what they want us to get done but can't bc we are sitting here listening to them go in circle...

 Happy Th., GT! What's up with y'all today? Sadly, I have 4 hours of meetings this afternoon :(. Is this a thing for everyone else who's WFH? Does your workplace think that Zoom meetings will answer everything? We had something last week that was like, do we agree we need to do this? And everyone was like, We should probably have an hour-long Zoom meeting about it before our next hour-long Zoom meeting! Except for me and one other woman who said, This could easily be a survey. Thank goodness, people agreed but what the heck is it with the damn meetings?! Anywhoozles, other than that, I'm going to be grading (yippee!) and cramming in some yoga. Yesterday was so nice, Homey and I got our first couple's walk in of the season, which was nice. I'm loving these sunny days, though I've heard tell of another snowstorm heading our way next week. Shudder! ;) How about y'all? How the heck are ya?

I was catching up on television news this morning instead of doing stuff (over rated) & was reminded Daria is returning to MTV. Everything old is new again! Related, the first cast of The Real World is reuniting in the orginal loft. I can recite the opener from memory--it's in my brain for life just like Hail Marys & the preamble to the Constitution, haha. Punky Brewster is rebooting along with Fraiser, too.  This happened yesterday & congratulations to Dolly for receiving the vaccine she helped fund! I don't care for cold-shoulder tops, but they are a great choice for vaccine day & a smart way to duck the rumor she has full sleeves tattooed on her arms, lol.  Omg. I 💕 Dolly She's getting her Vaccine shot and dedicated a song to it. 🎶🎶🎶 Vaccine, Vaccine, Vaccine,........ pic.twitter.com/R4ggHN2Ald — Dr.WearAFn'Mask ° (@PissOffTrumpkin) March 2, 2021 Speaking of vaccines, I have an ethics question. My state is sending the same amount of doses to ...

 Morning and happy Tuesday friends! it's a nice grey and 55 here today and I'm enjoying the last few days of chilly (for us) weather. I think in the last week we've literally moved through all four seasons in a row - freezing snap winter, sunny spring, 85 degree summer, and now back to fall lol.   It's also the first week of March, which means for many of us, this is when quarantine started.  How are y'all feeling on the one year anniversary?  If you could give any advice to yourself one year ago, what would you tell them?  How are you holding up? https://twitter.com/goIdenspacegirl/status/1366083733493862403?