I think the time has come to get more careful about budgeting, in that I should have one and track it. I'm not worried about running out of money, but I need to demonstrate to myself that in fact I do have sufficient cash flow to afford small things like spending $30 on something that might not work out or yes, in fact I can probably afford big things like taking a trip this winter. Not that long ago I would have just spent money on both of those without thinking about it too hard.

It's just challenging to wrap the head around these facts on vibes only when I am also dropping five-figure cheques or pushing thousands through the credit card to pay for things like appliances. My brain errs on the side of caution.

As I've observed before, I usually just use "spend less than you make" as a budget, and while it has the advantage of being brief, at this point I may actually have to consider how many dollars I will need to keep on hand at various times as I continually rebalance my accounts, not least of all aided by Canadian banks who have seem to have given up on giving good deals on savings to existing long-tenured customers in favour of short-term rewards for new joiners.

Speaking of, it might be time to finally close the ~~ING Direct~~Tangerine savings account I've used as my primary short-to-medium term holding since, uh, 2004? Tangerine (now a subsidiary of Scotia) has long-abandoned ING's simple business plan of "here's the best interest rate on savings in the market, just don't expect any frills". After resisting for some time, I did finally open a savings account with my primary chequing bank CIBC (a chequing customer since, um, at least 2002), but their rates are also unimpressive.

At least I still get a good deal on my mortgage, I guess. For the few things one occasionally needs a full-service retail bank with branches and everything, CIBC is as good as any of the others, so I don't see myself parting ways with them completely any time soon. But maybe it's time to open yet-another savings account to earn an extra $60/month. That would at least pay for some experimental purchases.

jazzfish

Among the better things in life: a cat sleeping next to the laptop while I'm eating dinner.

Sadly he really dislikes the sound of me typing next to him, to the point that he woke up and got bitey. So now I am on the couch with the laptop and he's having a bath on the table.

jjhunter

1.) Yesterday we hosted an playreading brunch with a fun group of friends - may it be the first of many more! This time we did Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia".

I used to host regular playreading potluck dinner parties years and years ago when I lived in a co-op, and losing access to rooms of a size where 8+ people might cheerfully cram themselves on various chairs and couches and floor nooks with cushions was one of the griefs I carried with me from that co-op's breakup. I'm glad to be restarting now.

2.) Today I had the the mindblowing joy of seeing 'Noli Timere' ('be not afraid') at ArtsEmerson.

Calling it an aerial dance doesn't quite do it justice; you can see the local trailer here or read a great WBUR feature about it here. ("In a time defined by uncertainty and distance, this piece isn’t just about resisting the gravity that weighs on us, it’s about choosing to catch each other when we fall, to carry each other through the invisible webs that bind us.")

3.) We have had an entire week+ of snow on the ground, and a foot of it is still here!

This delights me for many reasons, not least that this means another year of the invading fire ants being killed before they can establish themselves. Every winter we get at least ten days in a row of freezing weather is a winter I heave a big sign of relief.

krja

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: blah
Current Location: van nuys, ca
Current Music: get up right now alarm

kaberett

Reading. Successfully completed the rereads of The Human Division and The End of All Things, and moved on to The Shattering Peace, John Scalzi. ( Read more... )

I did appreciate the way that the time elapsed in series-internal chronology and between publications matched nicely; that all felt very Correct on a hindbrain level.

And some unpublished poetry I'm not able to share but really want to, because it's very good.

Writing. The put-some-words-in take-some-words-out dance continues.

Watching. Bits of Iron Man and His Awesome Friends, and also Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, because the Child is having a special interests and his special interests include Howard Stark playing dad rock and also not being a terrible father.

Playing. We finished ridiculous puzzle #1! We spent a bunch of the afternoon working out how all the disparate rooms we'd managed to build fit together. It was bullshit, and extremely satisfying.

The Inkulinati run with the Exploders set-up continues astonishingly easy except, weirdly, against Hildegard.

Cooking. Extremely pleased with the results of the experiment of boiling swede + parsnip + carrot up with a tea strainer containing rosemary, slightly crushed black pepper, and a crushed clove of garlic (and indeed cooking it all the way to Basically All The Liquid's Gone in order to keep the flavours in). Will attempt to remember the fundamental principle of bouquet garni for next time I need to do this, if there is a next time.

Exploring. A bit of time in the City of London, during which I discovered that at least some of the lions on the Bank of England are sticking their tongues out.

Observing. Great tits at my mother's! Roe deer (I think) and a hare at The New Site. A Very Dramatic Moon.

Growing. Sciarid nematodes arrived and applied. Both orchids Definitely Thinking About Flowering. Jalapeño plants both conclusively dead but jalapeños themselves all harvested (whether I get around to smoking them is a different question).

delphi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

senmut

AO3 Link | Closing Up Shop: Seacouver (1335 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Highlander Movieverse, Highlander The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rachel Ellenstein [Highlander Movieverse], Joe Dawson [Highlander the Series]
Additional Tags: First Meetings, Post-The Gathering (Highlander)
Summary:

And then a few years passed...

Closing Up Shop: Seacouver

While Connor and Duncan were being themselves, Rachel was a little out of sorts. Tessa was a nice lady, one so recently brought into knowing what they were. However, Tessa was an artist, and driven currently by a piece that Rachel could already see would be lovely. The boy Richie was a little rash and Rachel didn't fully feel a connection to him yet, but she would work on that, after Connor explained why Duncan and Tessa were watching over him.

No, she just needed to be mindful of her own wishes and need to stretch her legs currently. Dinner could be for socializing. Right now, she had sights to see, stores to discover, and a need to be away from the casual masculinity contests the pair of cousins indulged themselves in during these infrequent reunions.

That in mind, Rachel turned her steps to a brisk walk in the same district the couple lived and worked in, ducking into shops as they caught her idea, pausing to sample the food about midmorning, and slowly circling back around.

A bookstore caught her eye, and she slipped within to browse, hopeful of something to keep her entertained until Connor decided they had played the game of risk long enough in this reunion.

She glanced over to the only other person present —

— and was thrown back to a lovely day spent with a kind young man.

She had not survived for so long as Connor's daughter and self-appointed protector from the world at large to give away her suspicion of the man's convenient location so near to Duncan when he had appeared in her life so close to the changing tides in Connor's own life. For half a moment, she almost wished Brenda had not decided Connor was too overwhelming, that it had been his wife on this trip instead of herself.

But she had never been a coward, and understood perfectly well why Connor and Brenda were separated now. She could — would — handle this meeting now upon her.

"Stepped away from your photography in favor of book collections, Mister Dawson?" she asked in a charming voice, letting her smile reflect the surprise of seeing a man of her past so far from where they had met.

"Miss Ellenstein, what a surprise." He stood, using the cane to do so, and Rachel added more details to the picture she was building. He was noticeably older, as she herself was, the reliance on the cane a bit more pronounced, but his smile was still making his face light up with disarming sincerity.

Who was Joe Dawson, that he was mortal and yet so close to the lives of those like her Connor?

"Also, the books are less finicky about lighting and framing," he added as he walked over to her. "Looking for anything of particular interest?"

"Browsing, actually, passing the time. It's an eclectic neighborhood, it seems."

"You could say that," Joe agreed. "If anything catches your eye, I am always up to negotiate with an astute antiquities dealer such as yourself."

That he was firmly the center of her attention was not something she betrayed, only smiling and moving on to browse.

"Perhaps we could find the dessert we had no room for in New York?" she offered as he was moving back to the table he'd been working from.

"I can think of nothing better for this evening."

Connor would tell her she was playing with fire, when there was something so far amiss. Rachel preferred to see it as gathering intelligence on potential flashpoints.

Rachel passed the first part of the meal with Joe in conversation about what she had seen, and he offered ideas of new places to visit while she was in town. As she played the tourist, she considered just how to go about learning why he was here, so close to Connor's cousin after she'd met him in the aftermath of Connor's endgame against the Kurgan.

As the dessert course was delivered, Rachel glanced over and caught Joe studying her. He gave the smile and bashful look for being caught, and she found herself responding to that on a level she deemed dangerous.

Not necessarily in a physical danger sense, but to Connor's safety, and that of Duncan and his chosen family, she decided firmly.

"I had the impression you were more easterly in your setting, when we first met," Rachel said, giving him the faintest smile.

"Better opportunities out this way for me." He took a bite, chased it with the wine, and then shifted his body language a little. Rachel wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it put her more on guard. "What about you? No more restoration and purchasing of antiquities?"

"Here and there, but more by appointment with travel benefits." Rachel tried her own tiramisu, decided she could name three places that served better, and sipped her coffee to wash it down. "Retirement allows me more opportunities in many ways, to keep an eye on my interests."

"Most people choose to turn their attention to new things when they let go of their old lives," Joe mused. "I suppose there's exceptions to anything that could be normal about humans, though."

"I find it is a good life, to keep an eye on those people or events that stand out," she answered. "After all, even those of us that prefer to live life a day at a time might be caught up in extraordinary events."

Had that been a shading of his eyes, something in memory haunting him now? Did he have a person like Connor that had saved him, and that was how he was connected? It couldn't be Duncan; she'd mentioned stopping in the book shop and making this date in his hearing without a single spike of interest.

And Duncan, for all he was a veteran of his years, still had difficulty masking himself.

"To observe something is to change it, or be changed by it," Joe pointed out. "Getting caught up in the ways and lives of the unusual ones can be a difficult thing."

"I am certain that is so, but I learned as a child that just standing by doesn't keep you any safer, or those you care about," she said softly. "Which may be why I took to the antiquities so easily. Every object holds some story, if you can just trace the history of it. People can be much the same."

"Very true," Joe said, giving the faint smile and change of body posture to move the conversation away from this.

Who was the one for Joe? And was Joe scouting others to mark targets, or warn of danger? Rachel rather hoped it was the latter, as she asked his opinion of a local museum, letting the double-layered words drop for now.

"Have a good night?" Connor asked as he took her jacket from her.

"Waiting up for me?" Rachel retorted, before leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"Maybe."

"Yes."

He smiled, his eyes crinkling up as that little catching laugh came out, before he offered for her to precede him into the sitting room. She settled in a chair, listening, but it seemed Duncan and Tessa must be out from the quiet. She still wasn't certain if Richie actually lived here or was just in and out.

"I think he knows someone like you, but I also don't think he's a danger," Rachel said, meeting Connor's eyes.

"Then… I'll warn Duncan that he's been seen near us before, and hopefully my little cousin can be a sensible man about the risks he takes."

"Hmm, he's as much a MacLeod as you," she pointed out, getting a warm laugh in response.

"Hey, I can dream!" Connor rebutted. "We are still flying out tomorrow."

Rachel nodded. "For the best." She would also hope this did not cause Duncan new grief in the long run, but her duty was to Connor… even if Connor saw it the other way around.

jonw

I was chatting with someone today and mentioned that one of my home lab tools is a “BeeperBerry”. I’m not sure how many people know what that is, but essentially it’s a little Linux SOC with a Blackberry keyboard.

It was originally developed for Beeper which is a unified messaging system, but that is not very interesting to me so I use it as a pocket computer.

It doesn’t have cellular so I plan to get a USB dongle for that one day, but it has wifi so that’s good enough these days. Even my iPhone can make a hot spot for it if I’m not within wifi range.

The case was 3D printed for me by a friend. It’s not perfect but it’s hella better than wandering around with a bare SOC and battery dangling off it.

Current Mood: geeky

dewline

🐰🐰🐰

Current Mood: busy

althea_valara

Crafting mojo, what's that? I sure wouldn't know, because mine went out the window mid-month.

I started off decently, getting 31 rows done on a sleeve. Problem is, I had hoped to not only finish that sleeve this month, but do its pair as well. That didn't happen. At least I made SOME progress, but there's some tinking/fixing in my future, because I see a miscrossed cable, grrr.

[Image Description: A knitted sleeve for a cardigan, in progress. It features deep ribbing at the cuff, with a cable running up the center of the sleeve. The cable is teal in color and the rest of the sleeve is gray.]

There's a community on Ravelry doing a CRAFTO bingo board this year, and you know I love a crafting challenge, so I am attempting to take part. One of the squares is "A Favorite Designer", so I made my TENTH Lacy Crochet Kerchief by Kristen TenDyke:

[Image Description: A crocheted triangular kerchief. The edges are in green, and the center is lace in white.]

Early in the month, I started a fingering weight shawl. I had hoped to do lots on it in January but I'm maybe ten rows in, which giving that it's an asymmetric triangle that starts at a point, is pretty much NOTHING.

Also, for CRAFTO we're allowed two entries a month, so towards the end of the month I searched for something quick to make. I attempted baby booties, a headband, a knit 3D heart, and a knit flat applique heart, and none of them worked for me. I think my hands just don't want to knit right now; things felt awkward and fumbling and I just had no patience for it. Which SUCKS because most of my bigger projects that I want to do this year are knitted projects. I ended up not turning in a second project, which probably means I'm out of the running for a prize, but whatever.

This was my first month taking part in

getyourwordsout, and I had some success, but not much. First: I probably did work that I wouldn't have if I wasn't taking part in the challenge. That's good! But I was supposed to write on ten days, and managed five, and for some of THOSE, I counted creative

snowflake_challenge posts, which felt a bit like cheating.

I have a bunch of

ladiesbingo fics I want to finish, so hopefully I can work on that this month.

I messed around with my Neocities site this month, successfully figuring out an auto dark mode for it! That's not live on the site yet, just on my local copy, but I'm proud at myself for doing that. I also did another chunk of the Shadowbringers recap, but that hasn't been HTMLized for Neocities yet. Soon. Finally, I started documenting FFBE Season 2, but quickly fell into despair when I realized just how much there is to do. But hey, if I can do Season 1, I can do Season 2. Just hoping Season 2 doesn't take over four years like Season 1 did.

StoryGraph was doing a One Page a Day reading challenge in January, and I took part in that. I succeeded! Some days I even read more than a page!

I had started off with Contact but that was a bit too heavy for me, so I bounced off that and turned to a "safe" author for me and read a novella by Courtney Milan, "The Pursuit Of...". This was a good read. I liked both the main characters a lot, and LOVED the cheese storyline. Fun romp, would read again.

Then I started a reread of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. This is also a "safe" book for me. I do enjoy her time travel series as a whole, but this one's a COMEDY rather than the serious nature of the other books, and it's a delight to read. I'm only a few chapters in but it's been fun already.

Given that I had signed up on StoryGraph to read 6 books this year, and I'm on my second one on February 1st? That's good progress! Am pleased. I probably wouldn't have done it had StoryGraph not had its challenge this month.

jjhunter

Fascism is a form of social cannibalism; it will eat us everywhere it takes root, and it cannot help our species long survive.

Fascism cannot fight climate change, because fascism will not admit limits to its control, not even self-evident limits imposed by basic properties of physics.

Fascism cannot save our children, because fascism is too busy eating them first. Fascism cannot save white people from their own fears of slave rebellions and economic overturns, because fascism will eat them too when fascism has finished eating the rest.

Everywhere fascism goes, it steals and gluts itself on the labor of the people it targets. It divides, and it eats, and it masturbates over its hollow assertions of power and purpose and ascendance.

Most human societies have strong taboos against cannibalism. The ones that don’t have equally strong limits on when it is socially appropriate, or they themselves don’t long survive.

Why do we allow cannibals to walk among us and openly pick their targets to maim and hurt and murder for their dinner tables?

___

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

jonw

In the rush of things to do when setting up a new account, I somehow completley forgot to add motorcycles as an interest. Given that I am from the elsewhere lands of Canada where it freezes 6 months out of the year, I guess that is a forgivable sin in January. But I moved to Vancouver Island in May and have repeatedly marvelled at the year-round riding here, so it is still weird that bikes aren't near the top of mind.

I have only been riding since 2020, but I have had four motorcycles so far:

I started out with a 750cc 2007 Honda Shadow ACE (American Classic Edition which was deliberately designed to look bigger than it is to compete with the Harleys of the day). I outgrew that one in a year. I do not have a picture of that one.

Then a 1997 Honda Valkyrie which is an absolutely amazing bike with a 6-cylinder flat engine rather than the very common V-Twin engine seen on most bikes. They went out of production in 2003 except for a single 2014 (ish?) modernization that failed to inspire because they ditched the bad ass hulking look of it. I had to let this one go because bikes that old just need too much maintenance and I had neither the money, skills, nor the garage to maintain it.

Next was a 2011 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad 1600cc cruiser. That is a really nice bike and is very common on the steets. Its main identifying characteristic is side-opening saddle bags, although the 1500cc has those too. I sold that one because the pre-1700cc Nomads have notoriously rattley engines and while I am not autistic, I do have almost zero tolerance for noises like that so I was never able to actally enjoy the ride. I did a run from Nova Scotia to Ontario one year, though, and it performed well.

Today I have another Nomad, a 1700cc from 2011. That is about 103 cubic inches (for you imperialists) and has a dry weight of over 800 lbs. It is a heavy bike and I have had it the longest of all - about 3 years. I got it with 9,000kms on it and it has 25,000 today. I love this bike, but it is heavy and I am not a spring chicken any more so there may come a time when I have to let it go based on weight alone.

I also have an ebike that is a lot of fun to boot around on, but nowhere near as excting.

OK, now you are caught up on the motorcycles!

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Vancouver Island

sparowe

Mercy That Abounds

Scripture says in Romans 5:20 that “the more we see our sinfulness, the more we see God’s abounding grace.” To abound is to have a surplus, an abundance, an extravagant portion.

Should the fish in the Pacific worry that it will run out of ocean? No, why? Because the ocean abounds with water. Need the lark be anxious about finding room in the sky to fly? No, the sky abounds with space. So should the Christian worry that the cup of mercy will run empty? He may. For he may not be aware of God’s abounding grace. Are you?

Are you aware that the cup God gives you overflows with mercy? Or are you afraid your cup will run dry? Or your mistakes are too great for God’s grace? God is not a miser with his grace. Your cup may be low on cash or clout, but it is overflowing with mercy!

ODB: Focused on God

Jan 31, 2026/in Our Daily Bread/by YMI

January 31, 2026

READ: Isaiah 26:1-5

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3

My coworker made a quick call to discuss an issue. She asked how I was doing, and I admitted that I had a really painful sinus infection, and the medicine wasn’t working. My coworker simply asked, “May I pray for you?” After I agreed, she offered a thirty-second prayer to God for my healing. I admitted, “Sometimes I forget to pray. I was so focused on the pain I didn’t turn to God.”.

My confession made me think about where I place my focus—on my struggles and problems or on God. On this day, my thoughts centered on the pain because of its intensity. But Isaiah 26:3 reminds us that when we keep our minds focused on God, our healer and sustainer, we can find peace: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” While the pain may not go away instantly, or perhaps ever in this life, the prophet reminds us to place our “trust in” the one who is faithful and able to provide what we need (v. 4).

This passage from Isaiah pointed the Israelites to God’s promises during and after their exile. They would sing songs of praise to Him again as they clung to their faith and hope in what He would provide (vv. 1-2). And the prophet’s words also remind us that whatever pain we may endure, we too can find comfort as we focus on trusting in God and calling out to Him.

— Katara Patton

Where are your thoughts focused? How can you turn your concerns into praise and prayers to God?

Dear God, please remind me to keep my mind focused on You, regardless of what situations I face.

Source: Our Daily Bread

Current Mood: thoughtful

jonw

This store…Fascinating Rhythm I think…just goes on and on and on. You could get lost in here for hours.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Nanaimo
Current Music: All!

Profile

Dreamwidth Open Source Development

January 2026

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Lettuce for Crossroads by branchandroot
Resources: P r o l o g u e

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Feb. 6th, 2026 06:22 pm

Dreamwidth Development

Member Posts

Dollars go in, dollars go out

nice mice that suffice for him, or cream

3 Good Things

whee.

vital functions

Six Sentence Sunday

Highlander Sequel Fic

The amazing BeeperBerry that I use totally incorrectly.

Adopting a Ritual

Crafting & Creative Update, January 2026. Plus BOOKS!

Why I Reject Fascism

How could I forget the motorcyces?

UpWords - Max Lucado: [From] 30 January 2026

Mercy That Abounds

Rabbit rabbit rabbit!

Icons — Misc

Snowflake Challenge #15

torment matrix, part 23942

It has been a couple of weeks - Late January 02026

YMI -- ODB: 31 January 2026

ODB: Focused on God

Records and CDs and casettes and videos

Profile

January 2026

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags