Well, I believe this is legal now, so I'm just going to say it.

Merry Christmas!

Legal here in PST too. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Things have been super busy, but in a mostly good way, for me lately, and here's one example: My girlfriend, who really needs an appropriate blog pseud, is currently in the hospital for a (planned, non-crisis) surgery. The surgery itself took place early this morning and I was there with her most of the day as she recovered, mostly by sleeping.

It's Chanukah as well as Christmas right now, so ordinarily we would be lighting candles, but of course you can't have candles in the hospital, so when I went home for a couple hours this afternoon I found the magnetic menorah I used to use when I was in college and couldn't light candles in the dorms. What I couldn't find, though, was any sort of portable base for the magnets to stick onto, and there wasn't anything suitable in her hospital room either, so on my way back to the hospital I was intending to buy something like this at a store somewhere. I left around 6 pm.

Unfortunately, it turns out that 6 pm is right when all the major stores in town close on Christmas Eve. The only place that was still open was the Asian grocery store in the poorest part of town, presumably because the owners and/or a significant part of their clientele is non-Christian. So I went over there and it was of course a madhouse with people buying last-minute Christmas stuff. I looked for a magnetic bulletin board or something similar, but of course as a fairly basic grocery store they didn't have that sort of thing. So I went looking for anything else made of iron that the magnets would stick to.

It took a while, but I did eventually find the only item in an Asian grocery store made of iron: a wok. I bought it and headed to the hospital.

I wasn't sure if I would get any hassle walking into a hospital at 7 pm on Christmas Eve carrying a wok, but the reception desk was closed and there weren't many people around at all, so I didn't. I made it up to the room, where we put it on a shelf, put on the proper number of magnetic candles and said the prayers. And that's the story of my Christmas Eve magnetic menorah wok.

After considerable practice over the last two hours I am now an absolute ninja at peeling boiled quails eggs. Also, merry Christmas.

"And that's the story of my Christmas Eve magnetic menorah wok."

Spent possibly too long trying to work out the pun here.

Teo is so woke he's wok.

3:. That's a very sweet story, two It's almost like another Chanukah miracle. It reminds me of the scene in Christmas Story when the family goes to eat at the Chinese restaurant after the savage dogs eat their turkey. They both illustrate how America's cultural diversity makes us stronger.

Hope your girlfriend is recovering well!

7:. Sorry! Never try to edit a message on your phone! And if you do, make sure to preview.

That was supposed to say teo, not two.

Io Sol Invicte!, everybody.

Sitting around waiting to go to a friend's to eat goose. They came here last night for a curry, so I really have no appetite left, but I dare say I'll manage.

Best wishes to T's good lady.

I would also find it hard to eat a goose that I shared a curry with the night before.

So, are television commercials for medication for mild to moderate opioid addiction new or am I not watching enough TV?

Watch more TV. Those ads cost a bundle.

3 really is sweet.

And we watched the movie in 7 last night, and that particular scene is SO problematic, and thank you for reminding me that I need to have a conversation about it with the kids.

Also about the lamp-based objectification of women.

Merry Christmas everybody.

[I feel slightly cruddy today, and I can't tell if it's a mild cold, fatigue from working too much over the last couple of months, or just having slept poorly last night. Thankfully none of those seem serious.]

Merry Christmas reprobates!

I'm feeling off also. I blame Lisinopril and eating too much.

I need a medication for mild to moderate gluttony.

Hopefully going out to find and photograph pretty triplexes in my neighborhood, found on the tax roll. Long story.

Could you share it?

They made an electric neti pot. I feel like people who watch TV everyday live in a different and seriously fucked world.

My girlfriend, who really needs an appropriate blog pseud

Teofila.

20: Groundwork for an ordinance to legalize up to triplexes on all residential lots in the city (except fire hazard zones). Photos of pretty triplexes that already exist, and would be illegal to build today, will be part of the messaging. I figured out how to identify the existing two-to-four-unit structures from the assessor's tax roll; my zip code has 292 duplexes, 120 triplexes, and 228 fourplexes, although a good chunk of them are a code whose description is "lesser quality than [regular code for the structure] or unknown legal", so possibly illegally built.

Some of my best friends live in triplexes.

Some of my best friends live in triplexes.

That would have been better if I'd done it three times.

You could have done so instead of making that observation.

Oh, and that compares to 4,389 common or garden single-family homes in the same zip code, 1,996 condo units, and 480 rental apartment buildings of 5+ units.

My dining room is probably illegal.

The county thinks it's a screened-in porch.

My side appears to have lost the War on Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody!

A carp jumped onto the lap of a driver in the Czech Republic, causing her to swerve the vehicle and sustain serious injury. The Christmas carp is a Czech tradition.

Having a fish cause a car crash is a great tradition.

Merry Christmas, all.

I woke up unexpectedly early and watched the sunrise from the nearby cemetery. Later in the morning, I brunched with my in-laws and several mimosas. Then we all took a long walk along the river. After that, I took my stepdaughter on a long bike ride. Then I visited a CVS after looking up what stores are open on Christmas. Then I made chocolate chip cookies. Now I'm about to pick up Chinese food.

Yesterday I biked to work and saw a client and cleaned and made rugelach to give to my singing teacher, who unusually came to my house to give me a lesson and gave me weird praise that while meant sincerely struck me as a bit of a low bar to clear: I was doing very well because I wasn't sleepwalking through my life in a haze of substances. He tried to only take five rugelach because he was on a diet but when he tasted them he started asking for more and I was proud, especially given that I didn't think the speculoos I made for my ballet teacher turned out all that special. Today I saw Little Women, which I loved passionately, ate Chinese food, parted from my friends, went to a yoga class that made me appreciate my regular yoga teacher all the more, who is going to get panettone for New Year's, went home, called my mom, and am now doing work and procrastinating by commenting on Unfogged.

Is a triplex 3 stories side-by-side houses or a building with 3 apartments - what we would call a triple decker here?

We call a side-by-side duplex a 'half-double.' I have no idea why.

I mean, it's half of a double housing unit. I get that. But there are many less stupid ways to say that.

Thanks, everyone! She's home from the hospital today and recovering well. I got in a minor car crash on the way to pick her up (it snowed a bunch yesterday so the roads are a little dicey in spots), but there were no injuries and the damage was very minor so it's fine except that I need to buy a new bumper.

Teofila.

I feel like the lk's really own the space of "couple with confusingly similar pseuds" around here.

They did forget to send the wok with her when she was discharged. I had to fill her prescriptions anyway, at the only Walgreens in town that's open Christmas Day, so I picked up the wok at the hospital while I was out.

36: I think anything with three units in the same building can be called a triplex regardless of configuration.

36, 42: as it may help minivet's cause - a triplex is when three separate housing units are contained within one legal (dirt, or real estate*) parcel. it does not matter if they are stacked on top of each other or side by side (or a combo), what matters is whether three separate housing units are allowed on one legal (dirt/real estate) parcel.

*as distinct from airspace or other kind of condominium units. you could have three housing units on one parcel of real estate, each of which could be held in separate ownership - as each one a condominium unit. or you could have three separate housing units on one parcel of real estate, each of which may be separately leased but none of which can be sold or financed separately. what i believe minivet is focused on is the number of separate, self-contained housing units allowed per separate legal dirt or real estate parcel.

although minivet and his collaborators should be aware of the distinction between condos and rental units, as it might become useful in negotiating the politics of the matter. how that would work out in oakland (and i'm not even sure which neighborhood), i can make no prediction - it is usually complicated.

43.1: I don't think of three small houses on one regular-sized lot as a triplex, but that would also be a possibility opened up. (Bungalow courts!)

43.3: Oh, I'm quite aware. We mostly just want to facilitate these conversions for fully owner-occupied single-family units - similar to how SB50 exempts existing rental housing. And it's not intended to be a source of new condos or lots subdividing; if language assuring that needs to be added, that would be fine.

I had a pretty lovely Christmas; no fights (touch wood) with my sister or anyone else; vast collaborative cooking in two separate houses ended up working; goose much appreciated by all, except the vegan cousin abandoned by his immediate family who got roast cauliflower and specially made versions of stollen and mince pie.

Presents thoughtful and appreciated. My mother still alive, and drank a small glass of port with vast enjoyment. Realised last night that someone had thrown/tidied away one of my presents with the wrapping paper while I was wheeling mother back to her Home, but that's easily salvaged when it grows light.

In Lisbon. My mother just flew back home; she'd been with us for all of December, which was especially great for me since she took care of the Infanta a lot. The Infanta met her two cousins -- she's the youngest, but they're all within 6 months or so, which should be a lot of fun as they grow. It was pretty adorable watching them all in matching Christmas Elf outfits on a rug together playing. Ours is definitely the most screamy (and the cutest).

This is better if you picture the babies dressed as Glorfindel except with a reindeer sweater.

Somebody builds research offices at Baum and Morewood and it's in Shadyside. Somebody gets stabbed at the same corner and the news reports in Bloomfield.

I have been facilitating family visits for the girls plus Lee gets the younger two for the 23rd/24th (her choice rather than standard alternating holidays so that I always have to buy all the Santa presents, really) and that was good except Selah's grandma only gave me a street address and neglected to mention she's moved to a city an hour away. I'd already promised to go, though, so that was Christmas afternoon and Selah got to see her mom for the first time in three or four years. My own parents bought my girlfriend presents (tea and plastic chattering teeth and something else I'm not thinking of, plus they just gave me money to buy my own nature center family membership so I can include her name without making them complicit) and she's been staying over through most of the week. That was extra nice last night when it looked like i was going to be taking a child back to the psych ER but instead she and I just shared my bed with the angry child, who then slept until 4:30 pm today. Tomorrow the girls go back to daycare and I work. I am not much of a Christmas person but I've never done it with another adult actively involved either, and that was a whole lot of fun and made everything a billion times easier on me. We assembled Nia's vanity and its stool and Selah's hideous (but beloved) LOL Surprise Winter Disco Chalet dollhouse together and wrapped all the presents, which I haven't done since being a single parent and I think not in the year or two prior either because fuck wrapping presents. It was nice, though, and I'm grateful and happy.

I am not really so busy, but mostly I just put presents in bags. Then you take the bag back after Christmas and put the bags in the basement for next year, so it's cheaper and better for the environment.

If you really wanted your Sol to be Invicte you'd double down on the carbon emissions.

This reminds me that I forgot to get a baby gift for my new nephew. I'm thinking Target gift card because I'm lazy and diapers don't last long.

Babies usually can't reach the gift-card swipey machine, but Target is probably a safe place to leave a baby for a while, and someone's bound to help the baby eventually. So it's basically like you're giving your nephew free babysitting.

49: That LOL Surprise Winter Disco Chalet dollhouse is really something!

L. O. L Surprise! Winter disco Chalet includes 95+ surprises!
Wooden, multi-story, chalet-style house with 6 rooms and 3 stories (2. 85+ ft. Tall x 3+ ft. Wide)
Interactive features including chimney that Snows, real ice skating rink, hot tub, working ski lift, 15ft of Lights to decorate the house and transforming furniture!
Includes L. O. L Surprise! exclusive Family (Doll, Boy and Pet).
Boy characters are anatomically correct
Snow Bus package holds furniture to unbox.

Here's the link for anyone that wants to order one for me.
https://www.amazon.com/L-O-L-Surprise-Chalet-Winter-Disco/dp/B07PPR6P5D

If I order one and the boy characters don't have every internal organ....

The girl dolls of course you don't care about, because patriarchy.

I totally love LOL dolls. I think they're very cute.

Are those the dolls that come in little balls?

yes. With distressing amounts of packaging that you shouldn't overthink.

Ah. Anatomically correct.

59:Twenty different surprises are included with each doll for an exciting unboxing experience

It sounds like the packaging might be a critical part of the "experience".

Atossa loved Christmas. Lots of toys and candy.

I was even grumpier than usual, I'll get to some reasons for this in a minute, so much that Cassandane took me aside for an emotionally charged talk about what was wrong. I've often griped offhandedly about Christmas without doing anything. Maybe I should seriously come up with a plan to make it less stressful somehow, put it into place well in advance of next Christmas, and try to stick to it.

Why I was grumpier than usual: for one thing, the hot water heater died Monday. Cassandane texted me just an hour or two ago to say that installation of the new one was finished. So dealing with that over Christmas was a pain. For another, Cassandane is recovering from surgery (likewise planned and non-crisis, it happened back on the 18th and she's been home since the 19th, but still not 100 percent), so I'm taking care of Atossa more than usual and a 4-year-old is exhausting and we're all cooped up in the house. For a third thing, there was some last-minute confusion about whether I'd have to work on Tuesday.

Of course, all this stuff is an even bigger problem for Cassandane so I'd have to be a real dick to complain about it too much.

Christmas gets harder as kids get older because shopping for them is harder.

It's easy to shop for Atossa. It's a lot harder to shop for Cassandane. It's hard to shop for me, but still easier than I'd like it to be. Like I said, I wish I had planned better. It's hard to shop for my parents and sister and her family. Shopping for Atossa is definitely the easy part.