Lisa Sieverts

Very excited about NK Jemisin receiving a MacArthur grant. Wondering what this amazing world builder will create.

MacArthur Foundation Announces 21 ‘Genius’ Grant Winners - The New York Times

Ms. Jemisin, 48, said she typically writes under contract, meaning that her books are held to an agreed-upon timeline. But with the financial freedom that the grant offers, she said that she now has the option to forgo those strictures and write on her own schedule.

“I will write my books first and sell them as I feel like selling them,” she said. “It presents me with a lot of freedom.”

Finished reading: Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin 📚And Nabokov as translator redeems himself in my eyes with his excellent notes. Now I need to find a version in verse in English.

My very sane brother is suffering 6 months post-COVID

Nearly One-Third of Covid-19 Patients in Study Had Altered Mental State - The New York Times nytimes.com

Finished reading: Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike 📚

Currently reading: Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin 📚

Started and stopped reading: Hyperion by Dan Simmons 📚 When the 6 main characters were introduced and 5 were men and the only woman was immediately subjected to the male gaze, I said “life is too short to read this garbage” and quit.

Finished reading: The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd 📚 I didn’t love it. The main character is so self-absorbed that she barely seems human.

Inktober day 2 wisp. So far it’s mostly about workflow

Inktober

Super annoyed to have had to do this

If you’re missing Workout GPS routes or Health data after updating to iOS 14 and watchOS 7 – Apple Support

which involves a FULL RESET of Phone and Watch including hours of re-downloading apps.

Problems were no GPS tracking, high battery use

Currently reading: Gertrude and Claudius: A Novel by John Updike 📚

Finished reading: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri 📚 Excellent book. More sad than uplifting, but definitely worth the read. Crossings of cultures, crossings of politics, crossings of children. The ways in which history does and does not matter.

Can you imagine getting a thank you card from Twitter or FB? Thank YOU @macgenie

A bright Fall, after all, despite the New England drought

Currently reading: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri 📚

Finished reading: The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food by Adam Gopnik 📚

Internet is down, must be time for lunch. On the positive side, CCI is putting in fiber on my street RIGHT NOW! Can’t wait to have awesome internet.

Hey, in all of my research around Mailmate and the 5 months it took me to figure out how to make my own key bindings work (problem was an unmatched parenthesis, ain’t it always), I never found this page until I was today years old and it’s so useful that I’m sharing it here. MailMate All Key Binding Selectors

Remember my web scraping project? I’ve read 8 chapters of Python Crash Course and have written a script that successfully loads BeautifulSoup and requests. Remembering how to use vi. But I still have a long way to go.

Currently Reading: The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food by Adam Gopnik 📚

I’m looking forward to Apple Fitness+. It sounds like it will be perfect for me. All I want is one yoga and one pilates class to add to my functional training and running regimen. I am hoping that the audio and video will be much improved from the somewhat sad classes I take today over Zoom, with grainy video and fuzzy sound.

So yeah, I’m planning to sign up for the Premier level of Apple One. It’s no more than I’m already paying them and I’ll be happy to have all the services.

Currently reading: The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd 📚

Finished reading: Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov 📚 Quit reading is more like it. Awful, awful book. It sure has not aged well. Trigger warning: Nothing like lots of child rape to make one have to stop reading.

Finished reading: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield 📚 Five stars, I loved this book. A little bit magical, with a lot of history of mid-19th century England. There are some disturbing scenes of abuse which are awful and which remind us of what was considered acceptable at the time. The overall story is marvelous.

I’m scheduled to be the Table Topics master at my Toastmasters club this evening. The theme for the meeting is “Recipes for Success.” Here are the questions that I am considering asking. Participants have 1-2 minutes to respond. I’d love to hear ideas for other questions I could ask.

• Sometimes families have specific recipes that are special or symbolic or sentimental. Please tell us about a recipe or dish or meal that is meaningful in your family.
• Describe a meal or dish that you’ve never cooked or eaten, but that you would like to cook and/or eat someday, and why you’re choosing it.
• What is your favorite “go to” ingredient that you like to add when cooking? When did you learn about it? Why do you use it?
• Tell us about a time when you were surprised about an ingredient in something you cooked or you ate. Why were you surprised and what did that ingredient do to the dish?
• Do you like to cook or hate to cook? Tell us about what led you to feel that way.