Yes my bunco group sometimes plays LCR instead. We use dollars, and we’re playing for the pot for keeps. But if it needed to be family friendly, you could definitely give coins or stones or little animal figurines to people.

I would do not a single additional thing. You have already inconvenienced yourself tremendously by trying to find the package. Im with the other that whenever I have tried to rectify this kind of thing, the companies do not care. They say keep the extra. If it were some little cottage business, I would try to fix it but big companies like Walmart and Amazon, it is not worth the effort; they do not care. There is a big loss buffer in their budgets and this goes in there.

I’m glad you have taken that first step, Laura.

@lauraw4321 I’m going to send you a PM about a vacancy I just learned of. Long shot, of course. But it’s something.

It was @prairiewindmomma. So, thanks, PWM!

This isn’t something to apologize for. We all blow off steam here sometimes. That’s part of the beauty of online communities. Besides, I always found that it helps me think out loud. It helps me to really see the truth of a situation. When I was thinking about looking for another job - I’ll never forget it - I wrote on here about my dilemma and a poster here told me, “You are absolutely seeing the situation clearly…” I’m sure that poster could never imagine how impactful that one sentence was in giving me the courage to change. The rest of it was probably just dumb luck but the job I landed after that little push has totally changed my life. So I encourage you not to stop asking here. Sometimes people will not really understand the dynamics you’re working with but that’s okay. Hearing many people’s ideas is hardly ever a bad thing.

If we had a “hug” emoji, I would pick that, Scout.

If you did a word or phrase of the year, this is the place for discussion of your 2024 WOTY and any thoughts about next year’s ideas. This is the first year in a string of many years, that I did not feel my WOTY influenced much for me. My phrase-of-the-year did have more influence. My Word was “Peace”; my Phrase was “Try Something New.” To be fair, my thought in using “Peace” was meant in more of the global and national sense. So it may not be particularly fair to judge something with a global focus by the measure of my one little life. FWIW, my own life was peaceful enough. “Try Something New” did influence a lot of things this year. I witnessed the total solar eclipse (first time ever). I hiked previously unhiked sections of the Appalachian Trail. I tried many, many new things in my job this year. I traveled to Ireland for the first time. I tried glassblowing and glass fusion. We had visible Northern Lights in my city and, while I did not see them myself, many of my friends had spectacular photos of purple, green and pink skies never seen where I live. I did the Met-Meets-Paris-Runway challenge, where I turned a dress, a pair of PAC-man pajamas, and an old lace curtain into a gown for under $40 all-in. I ran a half-marathon, first time ever. Before the year is out, I will also go to the National Cathedral to watch a Christmas Choral show. So I would say that was very relevant. I am still mulling over next year’s word and phrase. How about you?

Early Sunday morning is often a good time to buy tix. I use Google flights, put in the departure and arrival airport, but doesn’t put in the dates (unless it must be specific dates). Then, you can look at the date calendar to see when the rates are cheapest.

Have not yet read the other replies but my immediate thought is: can you shift into a different aspect of law? The legal department of public applications is SOOOoooo much more morally comfortable. I work in ethics for government. I feel so great about it because I am taking part in fighting corruption and standing for fairness. I do not work with ANY toxic, egotistical, megalomaniacs; in private practice, I did. (Like, constantly.) In the past, my work did not meaningfully contribute to our financial situation, but now it is primarily me. This has been much better for our family. Dh is 8 years older than me and has worked a very physical trade for 40+ years. He can’t do that anymore. So I feel like it is “fair” and better for us both that I am now the main earner and carry the benefits, after so many years it was all on him. I do not think it is wrong to look at the math in a pragmatic way. I think it is essential to do so. As I like to say, the money ain’t gonna make itself. This is how I show my gratitude for all the years dh had to put in the B,S&T to put bread on the table. But it certainly does help a lot to know I am doing meaningful work and fighting corruption, instead of, as you said, enabling rich people to keep being rich. Im all for career change to get out of a soul-crushing job, but I would find a way to do it without ignoring the math. Best of luck.

I can’t have photographic equipment near my job. But I would want it on for most of my commute, just not the last several minutes.

How would conversations like this go? I ask in part because of the way I grew up. Nothing was ever discussed. There were even deaths that occurred that were never discussed. (In one case, I did not learn the cause of death of an uncle until I was in my twenties and a cousin told me. This was because he was doing a bad thing that caused his death.) I also have a friend with one child; the child’s father is now in prison. He will probably be out by the time the toddler is 7. So for now, the child will be told daddy has to go away for his job. I agree with this approach, but I don’t know how one later fills in the details for the kid. “When you were little, daddy did a bad thing and had to go to jail.” It almost makes me think it would be better to keep that fact concealed until well into adulthood, due to the self-worth possible damage of thinking they will “probably become a criminal too”. But then again, if a cousin/grandparent/family friend spills the beans at some point, it would be far more destructive. I’m trying to build a model in my head about how that works.

*spoilers to follow, if that matters to you; also triggers for DV and alcoholism and mental illness* I really liked the series (although there was one point where I was so heartbroken for the protagonist, I almost had to quit). It left one point open to interpretation and I wonder what is the better thing to do. In the story, the protagonist, Alex, eventually realizes that her mom left her dad because he was also a physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic, just as Alex’s partner was. Her mother never told her this. (Her mother also has BP disorder, presumably/undiagnosed, and has never learned how to be in a healthy relationship. She is no better off at 50+ than she must have been when she took Alex and left. So, eventually, our protagonist does get away with her little daughter. But it is basically open as to whether or not her ex will have a relationship with his daughter in the future. It is open to the point that he says he’s going to get better and then he will visit as often as he can, but, as the viewer, it seems set up to allow one to conclude that may not happen. (Which is the reality.) But it leaves me to wonder: is there a point in time you tell your child the truth about why you had to leave? Or should they just be left to draw their own conclusions? Is it healthy to know your dad was an abusive alcoholic? Or is it better not to know?

Watch the little videos on the product page. It’s very accurate.

I’m going to follow this too, because I want one. I have a specific spec I need though: I need one that can be easily turned off on the fly/at a stop light.