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• Post #4185039

  A while ago, I asked about people's experiences with wearing decorated N95 masks to job interviews. Here's a follow-up: Although the job that prompted my inquiry is an in-person job, hiring ended up being done remotely, so no interviewer saw any N95. Since then, decorated N95s have been worn to work. The only comments and questions over the first few days have been positive. Two customers asked where they could obtain identical masks, and were disappointed to learn that the deco...

• Post #4185038

  Most of the time, I love living in Washington DC. It's a city full of great people, great food, lots of Little Free Libraries, etc. The less pleasant aspect of it is sometimes being unable even to cross the street because everything is blocked for a motorcade. Tomorrow, in addition to all the usual politicians, both Netanyahu and Zelenskyy will be here for Lindsey Graham's funeral at the National Cathedral. I wish that I could stay home all day to avoid the motorcades. I also w...

• Post #4185037

  When I was a kid, we cut used postage stamps from the envelopes that we received in the mail, and donated them to charities that would then sell them to stamp collectors. There were drop-off bins in stores for charitable postage stamp donations. I would like to return to donating used postage stamps. I've looked online for how to donate them, but it seems like the only way to donate stamps these days is by mail (with the donor paying for the mailing). Also, a lot of the recipient organi...

• Post #2403013

  One of the great things about Mastodon is that there are experts here who post interesting facts about clams, ants, and bees. I would love to read similar trivia about mammals. Any recommendations about whom to follow? I don't have much interest in plants, but feel like I should give them a chance, too. Who are the plant experts to follow? Please limit recommendations to people who write at a level that can be understood by non-experts, and who always include useful alt text. Thank yo...

• Post #2047473

  @joinin@fedigroups.social @joinin@a.gup.pe #JoinIn Today I enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner of Huel's Chick'n & Mushroom pasta stew. Dessert was the traditional Christmas dessert of a banana with peanut butter. What's that I hear? Someone harumphing that these foods aren't traditional Christmas foods? They're MY Christmas traditions, so I can call them traditional if I want to! ;-) Because they were super quick to prepare, I had plenty of...

• Post #1752094

  A pet peeve: I'm annoyed by novelists who don't want to use their characters' names repeatedly, who therefore refer to them using physical descriptors. For example, instead of saying "Phil handed the book to Anna", they write "Phil handed the book to the brunette". I hate being talked about using words that describe my body (except when a person doesn't know my name), and I hate to see fictional characters talked about that way...

• Post #1571927

  @dantheclamman There's a daily word game (new 4-letter word every day) at https://gamesrow.com/wordemy The word of today (April 11, 2026) is one that you use a lot. If you know any kids (or adults) who like easy word games, today would be a good day to tell them to play Wordemy!

• Post #1563402

  I'm currently job hunting. A small annoyance is that some of the monolingual people in my life are convinced that it should be easy for me to get a good job because I "speak Spanish". No matter how I explain it, they don't understand that I speak only a LITTLE Spanish. Can I say "Have a nice day" in Spanish? Sure! But employers want more than that. I couldn't even say "breakfast cereals are in aisle six" in Spanish, mu...

• Post #1563401

  New business idea: Ice cream truck that drives around in the middle of the night selling ice cream to people who can't sleep because they are too hot. Climate change guarantees that this is a growth industry! (Posted at 1 AM when I'm awake because I'm too hot. I would love to buy ice cream and eat it in the company of neighbors who are also suffering from heatwave-induced insomnia.) #heatwave #ClimateChange #IceCream #insomnia #FoodTruck

• Post #1563399

  Today's prayer: Lord, grant me the wisdom not to say "I told you so" to my superior, who went and did exactly what I had warned him not to do, and now wants me to drop everything to clean up the mess that he made. Grant me also the strength to remain silent when he insists that no one warned him about this. I ask this in the name of Jesus, who told us to love our neighbors but never met this particular neighbor. Amen.

• Post #758235

  My cell phone has service through a carrier that keeps screwing me over in new ways. I can't take it anymore, and want to switch to a better carrier. I am seeking a cheap, fairly reliable, PREPAID service that works in the United States. I don't mind strict data limits and slow speeds, and I don't need my phone to have roaming capability in other countries. I just need a basic, minimal plan. Any suggestions? I couldn't identify any hashtags used to discuss cellph...

• Post #206330

  Talking with two USians, I learned that neither of them knew about the Schengen Area. Not only could they not remember ever hearing the term "Schengen Area", they were also surprised to learn that anything like it existed anywhere in the world. Now, I'm wondering how many other USians are like them. Obviously, Mastodon users aren't typical USians. Still, here's a poll, for USians only. (Non-USians may click the 4th option.) Boosts welcome. What do you...