Dear So and So

[skhill]

And on the topic of funerals... I didn't know the gentleman well, just to say hi and chat a bit at coffee hour at church. But everyone who knew Charlie knew his dog Bitsy (an elderly black lab). He didn't bring her to church on Sundays, but did to his bible study on Tuesdays! Bitsy was included among the survivors in the obituary in the newspaper, and quietly sat in her reserved pew at the funeral this morning. She even came forward at communion, and received a blessing.

There was something else notable at the funeral: a pair of armed, uniformed fish and wildlife officers. Charlie had been a lifelong hunter, and had long worked with the dept of fish and wildlife on a variety of programs, so the officers had the honor of carrying the urn. Guns and a dog in the cathedral, what a day. And there are supposed to be real live camels showing up for Epiphany tomorrow...

[OakLeaf]

Oh, I'm so sorry for your losses.

I received the news that my high school typing teacher died last month, and even though I hadn't had any contact with him since I moved away from that school in 1974, and he married his widow after that, I was moved to send her a card. When my 12-year-old self learned that typing was a required subject I thought it was silly ... how wrong I was. Next to reading, there's NOTHING I learned in school that I've used so much in my life as typing. What an outsized influence that man turned out to have on my life.

[Crankin]

I can relate to the above, Oak. A few months ago, one of the Social Studies teachers from my middle school (the one I went to, not the one I taught at) died. He was not my teacher, but I knew him from student government. He was my former boyfriend's teacher and coach. I often thought this man disliked me and viewed him as typical jock guy. I also thought he was old when I knew him.
Turns out, he had worked for very many important social justice causes for his whole life. And he was the same age as my dad, which means he was in his forties when I knew him. I messaged my former boyfriend, as he lives in another state, and he was quite upset when I gave him the news. I guess my 13-14 year old self saw things in a rather distorted manner.

[skhill]

Dear makers of treadmills and other cardio equipment:

Don't you realize that the calorie counts you insist on showing are incredibly inaccurate? The only way it would have a chance of reflecting reality is if the user keeps her hands firmly placed on the heart rate sensors at all times, which of course is not practical when running. And anyway, why do you think that even an accurate calorie count would be of any use? If you're eating real food (food that doesn't come out of packages with (inaccurate) calorie listings), you're not going to really know how much you're taking in.

If you feel you must make calorie counts available, how about hiding them down some menu and leaving the display space for something useful like pace.

[snapdragen]

Dear hip, HA! You tried to scare me by making be think I was in for more surgery. Joke is on you sucker, you're getting more PT. And I just might go to the acupuncturist too, so there.

(I was sent up to Stanford to see a new ortho doc yesterday, I had an MRI a few weeks ago that showed a labral tear in my right hip. I was sure I was in for more surgery. Turns out he feels the majority of my problem is with a couple of different muscles - off I go for 8 weeks of PT. I'm absolutely thrilled, I did not want more surgery. New doc says 90% of the time, labral tears do not require surgery. Yay me.)

[indysteel]

Dear hip, HA! You tried to scare me by making be think I was in for more surgery. Joke is on you sucker, you're getting more PT. And I just might go to the acupuncturist too, so there.

(I was sent up to Stanford to see a new ortho doc yesterday, I had an MRI a few weeks ago that showed a labral tear in my right hip. I was sure I was in for more surgery. Turns out he feels the majority of my problem is with a couple of different muscles - off I go for 8 weeks of PT. I'm absolutely thrilled, I did not want more surgery. New doc says 90% of the time, labral tears do not require surgery. Yay me.)

Woot! I'm glad you can take a less invasive route. I hope PT sorts you out!

[OakLeaf]

Whew! Hope the PT goes well, Snap!

[SadieKate]

Dear Snap's Hip,

The rest of us know it's best not to mess with Snap. What took you so long?

~ SK

[SadieKate]

Dear Household Laundrymaid,

How could you be such a knucklehead and put my brand new Sporthill pants in the dryer?

[Owlie]

Dear grad programs,
Please, no emails with the subject line "Your application to Program X at School Y" that say "We got your application and everything has arrived." I'm pretty sure my heart stopped when I got the one from my first choice.

[Catrin]

Dear hip, HA! You tried to scare me by making be think I was in for more surgery. Joke is on you sucker, you're getting more PT. And I just might go to the acupuncturist too, so there.

(I was sent up to Stanford to see a new ortho doc yesterday, I had an MRI a few weeks ago that showed a labral tear in my right hip. I was sure I was in for more surgery. Turns out he feels the majority of my problem is with a couple of different muscles - off I go for 8 weeks of PT. I'm absolutely thrilled, I did not want more surgery. New doc says 90% of the time, labral tears do not require surgery. Yay me.)

I just saw this - SO glad that it looks like PT will take care of your hip. Yayyyyyyyyyyyy!

[NbyNW]

Dear company that I asked for an informational interview 3 years ago,

Too little, too late. I've moved on.

Good luck to you.

[Blueberry]

Dear Apple:

I am SO not happy that my new (4 week old) iPad has rather suddenly started draining its battery very quickly and generating massive amounts of heat. I'm not pleased that I wasted 2 hours doing what your techs told me to do over the phone last night (while not doing my homework), that your genius bar now told me didn't have a shot in h3ll of fixing the issue. I am REALLY not pleased that I have to start all over with my device NOT from backups because you think that your operating system has corrupted itself in the 4 weeks I have owned the device. Or maybe it's an app - you're not sure - but they *shouldn't* be able to do that according to you. That's right - I get to set up each and every preference again, get all of my email accounts and calendars set back up, re-look up all of my wireless passwords, website passwords, etc., install each app separately, and hopefully get all of by data back on the iPad from iTunes separately. That *might* fix the problem - but you aren't even sure of that. Are you gonna do my homework for me while I waste all of this time on a device that outta be working? We purchased your products because they're supposed to work and they were supposed to *help* me with my classes.

Signed,

Wish I had stuck with paper and pencil

[tulip]

Is it a new ipad (the retina display one--I don't remember the number of the model) Blueberry? I was told outright that the new ones have battery overheating issues and it was suggested that I get the non-retina display model). Take it to the store and demand a refund or replacement--they will deal with you in person.

[lph]

Dear Body, or is it Mind I should be talking to,

will you please just figure it out and start working normally again? This random, unpredictable veering between lots of energy, and not being able to sleep or relax, and being so wiped-out you fall asleep at dinner parties is getting old. It's not that much to ask. Nights are for sleeping, days are for working, late afternoons are for getting a little exercise.