Humble Bundle's got a bunch of Adrian Tchaikovksy's books on offer here, if you are interested. I haven't read any of these ones, so I got them all (for $18) but I have liked sci-fi stuff I've read by him (even if he is way too into bugs for me).

I am attempting to clear out my fridge and freezer in order to lay in baking supplies for all the Christmas baking, so today I used up 2/3 of a bag of blueberries and made this blueberry muffin cake. It's very good, and very easy. I still have about a pound and a half of cranberries in there that need to get used up, so I'll probably be trying some orange cranberry rolls or make those scones again, or possibly both. *g*

Today I packed up my gifts for my co-workers (jars of candied pecans, as there were no nut allergies when I polled them) and also a bag of "prizes" for whatever games are happening at this party on Tuesday (a couple of candles, a cute notebook, a little book of pasta recipes, some holiday soaps) and a couple of extra gifts in case someone bails on the secret gift exchange (another candle, a travel mug), so we'll see how it goes.

It actually did snow last night and this morning, and if it does that again on Tuesday, I'm staying home, but for now the weather looks clear.

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Fascinating read here: Whose League Is It Anyway? on Defector. The comments are mostly worth reading too - I especially liked this one: "One of the reasons that collective bargaining exists is that it channels labor into a well-controlled process of negotiating and grieving within a framework that still respects the legitimacy of capital and is willing to enforce its prerogatives with violence."

I also added both books discussed in the post to my to read list: Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut by Ken Belson, and Lords of the Realm (about baseball) by John Helyar.

Also, I don't know who Maggie Nelson is (I am old), but I thought this was a really good piece of criticism of her new book: Maggie Nelson Sputters And Stalls In ‘The Slicks’, which is apparently a (hamhanded and faily) attempt to parallel Taylor Swift with Sylvia Plath. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I enjoy many of TSwift's songs and I'm not a huge fan of Plath's work, but come the fuck on!

Anyway, I continue to find my subscription to Defector worth it, even if I don't read it as often as I'd like.

In other news, I was up early this morning, because the super said he was going to stop by to install my new apartment doorbell (when they put in this app-based front door system, it for some reason caused the bells at the apartment doors to stop working), but he hasn't shown up yet, and I'd be very surprised if he does at all. Oh well, I will try again when I'm off next week. Maybe 3rd time is the charm!

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My brain, as the meme says, was soup yesterday - I was so wiped out by Tuesday's everything. I logged off and took a nap and even so I slept hard last night. So I think I made the right choice not to go back into the city for the farewell to the CEO event tonight. I already have to go into the office on Tuesday for our holiday party, which part of me would like to avoid as it is now a big huge thing that I, thankfully, did not have to manage. It sounds like the party committee is as crazy as ever, and Assistant J keeps asking me things and I'm like, you're going to have to talk to $SomeoneElse about that. Like, it's nice that he wants to inform me, but also I would like him to take some initiative and fix things or at least suggest solutions. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I did coordinate the Sesa, so hopefully that goes off without a hitch - only 20 people this time, but some of them haven't done it before, so that should be good.

I also kept thinking today was Friday and then being sad because it's not. I mentioned it to my boss who was like, "it can be Friday! take tomorrow off!" but I still have too much stuff to finish because as of next Friday I am off until January 5th.

Maybe someday I'll have something interesting to say here again, but for now, I don't. I am not very happy about what is happening with the Mets this hot stove season, but ugh. At least the Knicks are kinda good?

I did watch the Supergirl teaser trailer, and I'm excited to see what they do with it, but also it makes me feel like they aren't going to ever give us Kon, now. Or they'll use his animated!YJ personality instead of his much more fun comics personality. Sigh.

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This weekend seemed especially short. I woke up this morning with a headache and spent a couple of hours just lying down with my eyes covered, waiting for the Excedrin to kick in. Then I planned to make cranberry orange scones but my heavy cream was frozen, so that was delayed until it was liquid enough to pour. The funny part is that the recipe wants it to be almost frozen when you use it, but not quite as frozen as mine was.

Anyway, after waiting a bit, I made the scones and they turned out well (pic - that is also my new grey "spatter" pattern quarter sheet pan, lined with parchment).

I didn't make the glaze because I'd planned to sprinkle the scones with cranberry orange sugar, but then I forgot to do that. *hands* They still taste good!

I also made that garlic and bread soup again, but I got distracted and burned my croutons. *sadhair* Soup is still delicious, though. I wish I'd remembered to buy some arugula so I could have soup and salad, but alas, I didn't think of it when I was putting my grocery order together.

Speaking of grocery orders, when did Costco stop selling the 3 lb brick of Philadelphia cream cheese? I need it for the frosting for the red velvet cupcakes for Christmas, but I guess I will have to spend a little more and get what I need from Stop and Shop instead. *hands*

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I was so glad to log off last night and put a period on this work week. This morning, I had to be up for the cleaning service at 9 am, and they told me the company is closing, but the team who has been cleaning my place for the last 7 years is going out on their own and wants to keep me as a client, so I will get in touch with them in the new year to set up the new arrangement. I hope it all goes smoothly!

I also made another 2 lbs of candied pecans, so I have six jars filled and have to wash the other jars so they can also be filled.

Then I took a nap that felt way longer than it was, and so even though it's only like 8:20 I keep thinking it's 11:30 pm or something. Time is so weird.

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I keep meaning to post and then being too tired to string two thoughts together. Work remains stupidly busy, but I just need to get through Tuesday and it'll all be downhill from there. *crosses fingers* Even if so far only 6 board members have agreed to come in person to the suddenly in-person board meeting. I'm hoping a bad showing will discourage the folks who keep insisting we do stuff in person, but I guess we'll see what happens.

Outgoing CEO keeps trying to orchestrate the first half of 2026 and my boss and I are both like, wtf? but incoming CEO seems to be okay with going, nah, we're not doing that. I haven't been in those meetings, but the stuff coming out of it makes me feel like she's trying to prop up other internal candidate who wasn't chosen to be CEO, which would be 100% on brand for both of them.

In better news, my raise was in my check today, and allegedly the catch-up payment (it's retro to July 1) will be coming in the next pay period, just in time to start paying off Baby Miss L's Christmas gifts. I got a most delightful video of her singing "Let It Go" last night. <333 She's so cute!

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