Friday, November 5, 2021

7 Quick Takes about Unintelligent Robots, Running in the Rain, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Piano Man

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

1


My daughter's orchestra concert was on Saturday night. It was the first time I've sat in an auditorium with other people watching a live group perform since 2019.

(It was also the first time I've ever seen the conductor give the concertmaster an elbow bump instead of a handshake, so it's not like things are totally back to normal.)

2


I don't think anyone even works at Facebook. The company is entirely staffed by dumb bots.

When I joined Facebook so I could start a page for Unremarkable Files, my account was flagged and disabled three times on the grounds of me "not being a real person." I have no idea why.

It's been pretty normal since then, but this week I was notified of a spam comment I made that violated Facebook guidelines. Are you read to see what it was?



That's right. I dared to say it was "pretty delicious" when in fact it MAY NOT HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN DELICIOUS. 

I don't even remember what "it" was in that particular comment.

But with everything that's going on in the world right now, thank goodness Facebook is keeping us all safe from misinformation like this.

3


Visiting a cranberry bog is on my list of must-do fall things in New England, so with my mom visiting this past week I figured it was a good time to take a tour.

I planned to go to the ATM the night beforehand because they only accepted cash, but I couldn't remember my PIN. So I begged my 15-year-old to loan me some money.

She really enjoyed counting out the bills while I promised, "I don't have the money now, but I'll get it to you, I swear!"

I also asked if she could spot me some tooth fairy money for her brother who lost a tooth that afternoon, but she cut me off.

We drove two hours to get to the farm and it was probably not worth the drive, especially since we had to hurry back right afterward to get to kids' activities instead of staying in the area and making a day out of it. But the kids enjoyed the farmer's dog that came on the tour with us and I learned that actual cranberry farming is not like the Ocean Spray commercials.

4


I'm currently trying to pick a paint for our bedroom. With the existing bedding and decor colors in the room, I think the walls need to be some shade of white, which is probably the hardest to choose.

It's just hard to look at an off-white and be like YES, I LOVE THIS!! so right now, the dresser is covered in a million off-white paint swatches that all look the same to me and I'm more confused than when I started. 

When I hold them up to the wall they all look identical but they look nothing like each other when I compare them. I'm thinking about arranging the swatches on a dartboard and picking one that way, honestly.

5


My 17-year-old is wrapping up her cross-country season and just ran in the rainiest, muddiest meet we've ever been to.

Cross-country is no joke: they've canceled practice like twice in the four years my daughter has been on the team, and it's not because fall weather in New England is always pleasant.


The younger kids, however, much preferred it to any other meet because they got to play in puddles and made a big castle out of mulch with a moat around it while they were waiting. 

6


How was Halloween at your house? 

The last time we went trick-or-treating the youngest was 3 (trick-or-treating was canceled in our town last year,) and 3-year-olds tire out so it put a natural limit on how much candy the kids got. This year, he's 5 with a lot more stamina, and I couldn't believe the haul they brought home.

Superpowers versus sword and shield pre-game show in the driveway.

The 5-year-old was an owl, the 7-year-old was Spiderman, and the 10-year-old was a knight. The 13-year-old was a stop sign, the 15-year old was Sylvie from a show called Loki, and the 17-year-old was a teenager who had to stay home and work on her college essays due the next day. 

The good news is that she finished, and her siblings got so much candy trick-or-treating that they all pitched in to make a pile for her and didn't even miss it.

7


Phillip and I don't care if the kids all become accomplished pianists, but we do want them to all learn how to play well enough that they could jump in and accompany a simple hymn at church if needed, so Phillip teaches them all lessons.

The 5-year-old started learning this week and here's a picture of him at his first lesson:

Really getting his mileage out of that costume.

As you can see, he's taking it very seriously so far.

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1 comment:

Diana Dye said...

Regarding trick or treating, I've made it to the phase of motherhood where I dont have to walk or carry a toddler up every porch and down again. I can just yell "did you say thank you?" from the sidewalk. But I miss choosing Twix for them from every bowl.