some better cheer

 * I finished priming and painting 300-some steel washers for a mark-and-recapture lab that I'm trying to develop. Spray painting isn't fun if you have a particular kind of arthritis starting in your hands. I did it on one of our outbuildings where the fumes wouldn't bother anyone (and I could open a big door so I wouldn't get sick from them) and I put down cardboard on the floor even though my department chair (the main user of that space) said he didn't care if some paint got on the concrete floor. So that's done

 * I also got through a few more samples; I'm almost a quarter done with counting these now. I can do more Thursday and maybe a couple Friday.

I did find out my local pharmacy does give RSV shots and the guy I asked said to just come in and they could do it, so I think after my mammogram Friday I will (I didn't want to do it today; I have meetings all day tomorrow and if I wind up with chills or exhaustion or a feel ill that would be bad and I also vaguely remember being counseled NOT to get a vaccine immediately before something like a mammogram because if you have any inflammation that could read as a false positive. Or I could be wrong, but Friday will be fine for the vaccine, and if I feel fatigued or ill I can just stay home Saturday (it's going to be hot anyway, so I won't want to go out)

* I ALSO found out - went and checked my classrooms. One of them does have a whiteboard. Not a large one, but I could use it. The other room has a chalkboard that's only partly covered up by the (mounted too high for my liking) smartboard. So if things aren't back, I can move my stats class into that room (it's an 8 am class and I'm the only one teaching at that time) and I can use the chalkboard. I went out to walmart today and bought a new case of sidewalk chalk. Unfortunately it's some off brand rather than my preferred Crayola but it was all they had (and, sigh: I used to get my sidewalk chalk at JoAnn's. I suppose Michael's might have Crayola brand, but I'm not driving into Texas at the moment because there's some gruesome road construction between here and there; it's supposed to be done next month so I'm just avoiding going that direction for now)

*BUT ALSO: midafternoon an e-mail from my chair; he finally got more information on the departmental computers. About 60% of them are apparently infested, and only one faculty machine was deemed clean.

 Guess whose?

Yeah, YA GIRL HERE has the only uninfected machine of all the faculty. I suspect it's because I do the full shut down/turn off rather than having it go "sleep mode" or just leaving it on overnight. Someone told me "oh that's unnecessary" or "you're being a little compulsive" but I don't feel so foolish now. 

I still haven't tried turning it on, I decided to leave it turned off another day just in case there's a "whoops, nope" that comes in. And anyway, I could do my sample sorting without the computer, I just listened to Pandora on my phone (which uses wifi and since they cleaned that up and turned it back on, and my phone's an Apple anyway, and Apple products were unaffected, I figured I was safe)

Tomorrow is mass-meetings and I'll be interested to hear what, if anything, is said, about the situation. It's been a mess and a lot of the faculty are livid at how we've been largely kept in the dark (e.g., we had to find out details about it *from the local news* because we were not told anything)

*Still picking away at the blanket and telling myself I *must* finish something before starting another sweater but I do think the next one is going to be waffle cardigan pattern made of that yarn I was talking about

Which is actually Araucania brand, I had forgotten its name. It still exists but it's less common than it once was, and  it looks like they mainly do sockweight now. 

But look at this bulky weight, isn't it pretty? I think I can get the right gauge for the jacket, and anyway, it's pretty boxy so it's not like it has to form fit

 I'm going to alternate skeins to break up the potential for pooling, and also because often these South American yarns aren't as ... true to dyelot as plainer yarns are.

* I've been using Aldi more and more. I joked on Bluesky "they're like the poor man's Trader Joe's" and someone pointed out they're owned by the same company, but they have some of those odd snack items that bring me a little joy. (I really like the white cheddar corn puffs from their organics line). I also got mochi candies there (matcha flavored) last time, and then this treat:

 It's a rose cone! It's a chocolate sugar cone (lined with chocolate) with vanilla icecream with strawberry syrup in it, and on the top there is strawberry ice cream that's been applied in a rose shape. They taste good, and there's just something nice about something a little fancy like this - the kind of little treat I said I needed from time to time in order to keep going. Anyway, I'm glad we have Aldi now.