secnarf

2/5 - Initially said "bo" (which is how he used to sign his tweets?) but then changed to POTUS after rereading the clue for Monday's, and then had said UN but switched to NATO last minute for Tuesday.

Ginny is the top one, and Luna is the one with some white. I do think it is something a bit unusual - and would love if it can be fixed, as my cats historically don’t have the best track record in that department. She was spayed before I got her and nothing was reported to me about not tolerating, so that is good. My vet did post a video not too long ago of them removing a polyp so I think it is something they could do on the spot, possibly depending on location of the polyp. Of course, that’s if she even has one. They could anaesthetize her and find nothing.

My poor Ginny is unwell yet again. After our Easter adventure, she got better, then slowly started to get worse again, but in a different way - having sneezing fits (including bloody snot flying everywhere) that were getting distressing for her, and having these multiple times a day. She then got ten days of doxycycline - like the clavulin, it caused diarrhea, but unlike the clavulin, the diarrhea didn't resolve when the doxycycline stopped, so we have been dealing with that ever since. But, her sneezing lessened to one-off sneezes maybe once a day. Over the last few days she has worsened back to how she was before, with lots of sneezing and snorting fits and bloody snot, audible breathing, etc. May or may not have been triggered by the stress of having someone come in and paint my bathroom *sigh*. At our last vet visit, the vet raised the possibility of a nasopharyngeal polyp and putting her under general anaesthesia to check, so we may end up doing that. I will call them tomorrow. Poor girl.

3/5, no *.

She's Canadian, so I cut her some slack. I say this as a Canadian who did get FJ correct, at the very last second. And yes, she probably studied American presidents specifically prior to going on Jeopardy. But still - it isn't something she would have learned in school, or through cultural osmosis.

1/5

I was interested to watch this episode, because I do not really listen to current music anymore at all, but in the first half of the 2010s I did still get exposed to popular music pretty regularly. I was curious what they would focus on. So much of the music episode I watched thinking "I just cannot relate". Beyonce's Lemonade album was a world-stopping event comparable to the moon landing? Are you kidding me? What world is this? Occasionally they would play a bit of a song that took me back to a specific time/place in my life, and that was interesting, but there was just so much that I absolutely couldn't relate to at all, and a lot I didn't recall ever hearing. I don't even have Spotify so I couldn't relate to that part either. Mind you, I don't think I would know who Billie Eilish is if she wasn't a semi-frequent answer on Jeopardy. It was interesting to watch, but I felt really detached from it.

Neuralink was all over my newsfeed today, and I hadn't heard of it prior, so that was some coincidental timing! Or just the latest in your-phone-is-always-listening and it is now trying to help me out with Jeopardy answers.

Oh Mattea! If you had only wagered a couple thousand less. They did incredibly well and should be very proud, but it has to hurt to come down to the wager. With the runaway game in the second round though, it does make it tricky. I'm not at all surprised James won, and I do think overall he was the best player (I think the only two games he lost were to Matt and Mattea). Mind you, once I realized that Sam and Amy's pictures were on the bottom of the screen in the intro, and James' was on top, I was pretty sure he would win - and that was only solidified when Andrew was the next to go. Me too! I thought for a second nobody was going to get it, but Matt came through.

Yes, I noticed too how upset Mattea looked, I thought they knew they had lost. Even reading their Twitter comments during the game, I thought that was it. Their excellent performance in yesterday's game gave them enough correct responses to get through, though, and that would have been their first episode taping since his death. I had wondered about how James was going to do in this last game also - he didn't need to answer a single question, but I couldn't see him throwing the game (and I'm sure there would be legal issues if he tried). But it is a bit awkward for him! He has always been extremely gracious towards the other contestants, far from a villain. I said this before, but I am really surprised at how close to airing this was filmed. But I wonder how big the gap was between the first seven games and the back three - even with Mattea's father's death - since Sam (and hopefully Amy?) were still in the audience for the semifinals at least. They had set the rules up front - all of the various tiebreaker tiers were posted online. You can't change the rules part way through.

I think you mean 1818? ;) I didn't realize that she didn't survive to see Victoria's birth - with the last scene in this episode, that is quite sad. Also that does mean she should be dying pretty soon in the Bridgerton universe. I think time will cease to have meaning and she will remain alive for the duration of the series (but I haven't read the books so that is pure spec).

1/5 - wasn't a good week, I should have got a few of the others but they just didn't come to me.

Thank you for explaining that...I also think "Pearlharbor". I did get FJ, easily, because it's the first water-based memorial I could think of, but didn't get the oyster part of the clue.

Mattea uses they/them pronouns. The tournament started airing May 8 - that is pretty tight if they were still taping on May 2. I really hope this didn't happen while Mattea was away - it takes an already difficult time and makes it that much worse. The obituary their family wrote is lovely.

Aww I could have sworn she did. I really do want everyone to win at least one. They're all such good players.

Is Sam the only one who hasn't won a game? I want him to win at least one.

2/5* - I got A Thousand Splendid Suns easily, and Australia after a bit of thought. The tattoo clue's wording confused me too much for me to get anywhere with it.

Every time I finish the episode, Netflix reverts back to S01.E01: At The River's Edge and I am reminded how different this show is from the one I started watching. The decline in viewership isn't surprising - people tuned it to watch a completely different show.

I wouldn’t trust dried spackle to hold these bars up, they’re not that light. I think they have also been discontinued by the company, I got them on clearance. I genuinely like their look, but this is ridiculous. Unfortunately it also means I cannot return or exchange. An update: I went for the bottom bar first this time, as I have less holes there and thus more room for error. It goes swimmingly- I measure the holes exactly 18 inches apart, everything fits, it’s wonderful. So I go to do the top, checking several times that the holes are exactly 18 inches apart. Mind you, I am now working with the second bar that I hadn’t previously opened, but it’s allegedly identical. Screw in the plates, and the bar doesn’t fit!! When I checked, it’s because the bar itself is slightly longer than 18 inches. The other bar was exact, but I guess it was too much to ask for this one to be exact also!! This company (Jacuzzi) clearly doesn’t seem to set much store in exact measurements.

Me too!!! if Benedict Arnold was in Hamilton I probably would have got it.

I know they changed their name but in my head (and playlist) they are still the Dixie Chicks. I wonder if that would have been accepted. I thought if Lafayette for FJ, but knew he was buried in France. Didn’t think of Benedict Arnold but was obvious in retrospect.

I have been slowly partially re-doing my bathroom. I have a new towel bars and hooks to match my new vanity. I was off work today so decided to hang them. First, remove two old towel bars. Then, mark where I want the new towel bars with the paper hole-marking guide that came with it. Screw in all 8 drywall anchors. Then screw in the mounting plates for the first bar. Turns out I had them backwards. So, unscrew them to flip the plate - but one screw gets caught in the anchor, and the only way to remove it is to pull the anchor, so I can no longer use that height of wall (since I want the bar centred). Ok, so I go and use the paper guide again to make the holes a little bit higher up on the wall. Screw in the four anchors and the two mounting plates (the right way this time). Go to put the bar on….it doesn’t fit. I’m a few mm off in my measurements of the width. Now I’m super annoyed because the bar is going to have to be too high (the holes are too big to move them over 2 mm) but I can’t figure out how I messed it up. They match the guide perfectly. So, I try to mount the bottom bar - same thing. A few mm too close together. I hold the guide up to the wall and it’s perfect. I hold the guide up to the back of the towel bar and THEY DON’T MATCH. The guide they gave is too small! So, I’m left with 20 holes in the wall, five blisters on my hands and a sore wrist from all the screwing/unscrewing, and no towel bars. Mostly I am annoyed that I will have to have the one towel bar way too high - even after I fill in the holes I don’t know that I would trust them to hold the weight of the towel bar to use that same height again.

Definitely been on my mind - it was something they were considering for my last cat also - but apparently the common disease-causing fungi are not so common in my neck of the woods. It does seem more like a viral with repeated secondary bacterial infections but I will definitely ask about it if/when we reach the next steps of further testing. I have pet insurance for my girls. I wished I had had it for my last cat - not that I couldn't afford her care, because I could, but because of the impact on decision making. If insurance was covering the bill, I would have had more extensive testing done sooner rather than a step-wise approach starting with the most common things. Turns out she had lung cancer, which they kept telling me was very unlikely because primary lung cancer is quite rare in cats. I would have probably pushed for a CT sooner if cost wasn't a factor - I could pay $3600 if necessary, but was it *really* necessary? I ended up consenting to a lung biopsy that carried a risk of pneumothorax and a very expensive hospitalization - I knew if I was in this situation, it would easily end up costing >$10000 which was getting a bit beyond the realm of what I can afford without taking out a line of credit. It was really this that made me end up getting insurance. I can put away a bit of money each month (which was my strategy with my last cat), but am I putting away the ~$90/month x 10 years that a major emergency would cost? In our trips to the veterinary college, I saw a number of animals in intensive care and that also drove home how much an emergency could cost.

Is there a subset of this contest for the Masters Tournament? Or will they be rolled into the regular contest? Excluded from the contest entirely?

I will likely end up talking to my vet about this sooner rather than later - there was a bit more blood spewing from her nose during her sneezes today. The next step is an antibiotic in case this is devolving back into a secondary bacterial infection, but if that doesn't work we will have to look at the next steps. Luna does this! First I noticed she has a weird obsession with licking it, but she actually will rip off pieces and try to eat it. No more plastic bags lining any open garbage cans. No more leaving a plastic container of tomatoes out on the kitchen counter. Ginny licks the sticky tape pieces I put on the couch to deter Luna from scratching it, but otherwise leaves plastic alone.