indigo_rose99

cuteness

2018-06-07T17:34:45Z

This week has included supervised visits to my office.

To both T and my delight, the furry ones appear to be willing to be lap kitties. They do not pee on the leather couches (so far). They spend a lot of time sleeping. And Hela seems to believe that my lap is The Place when I'm in my office working. For my future lap space, Loki has decided that at my feet is a good enough place to nap.

Loki is a social creature. Any time he is not being entertained by Hela or us, he will wander the living room making this (currently) adorable meeping sound. "Where are you? I can't find you! I'm so terribly lonely!" He would never make a good sole cat in a household.

( And pictures, as requested. )

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kittens

2018-06-04T19:22:04Z

Friday T came home with kittens. Which pretty much shot any attempt at productivity for the weekend. But T totally bonded with them. Me... less so. They don't always run when I come in the room. Which is progress.

We have been keeping them in the utility room, with supervised visits to the livingroom/kitchen/dining room. All other doors have been shut. They slept in the utility room last night, and I woke them when I went upstairs for my workout. This morning I bit the bullet and opened up not just the living room but my office. They have been... kittens. Chewing on cords. But sleeping a lot more than I was afraid. And mostly following me around. So it could have been a lot worse. I practiced yelling at them when the chewing was on something that was either dangerous to them or expensive.

They are somewhat cute. However, I dislike the invasion of my space. The way my husband has become a space cadet who cannot finish tasks (because.... kittens!). I am surprised at how large they are. I seem to remember our last kittens being... smaller and much cuter in the beginning. These came through an animal shelter, who I suspect have rules on how young they adopt out. Our last pair came through my mother-in-law.

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inversion

2018-05-22T15:39:52Z

For several years now I've been looking at inversion as a stretching and healthy thing. My friend S talks about her inversion table as something she cannot live without. Up until now I had two things stopping me:

Space to put it. There was really no practical place in our old house to store the table.
My acid reflux problems. Inversion makes these worse.

The new house solved the space problem. Clearly such a table would go in the gym area. And the acid reflux... My reading on the subject basically says to only use the table when my stomach is COMPLETELY empty. So, first thing in the morning and not again the same day. The inversion literature says "do it multiple times a day!" and that is not going to be possible for me. And I'm ok with that part. It will mean that any positive impact will take longer to happen and not be as pervasive.

Do I know that inversion is going to help my back feel better, improve my posture, allow fluids to move around more freely, cut down on potential swelling in my feet/hands and allow my joints to relax... No. The literature on inversion often reads like one of those creepy TV infomercials at 3am. But... What is the negative risk here? Making my acid reflux worse is the only one I could think of and I'll keep a close eye on it. But otherwise....? I might lower my overall stress because I'm doing something like meditating for a few minutes every day. That is...um... not a bad thing. Plus all the potential long term good stuff.

So T has gotten me an inversion table for our anniversary. I'm thrilled. It even has a vibrating pad for my lower back. I'm at the early stages of using it. The literature says start out for only about a minute and at low percent inversion. So I'm doing 15% (the lowest setting) for a minute or until something feels different. My lower back is not sore for the first time in a few months. Which could be psychosomatic... but I'll still take it!

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Mother's Day

2018-05-21T01:34:50Z

Mother's Day felt like a sour experience. People this year kept wishing me happy Mother's Day all weekend and for several days after. I kept up my internal monologue ("They don't know me." and "They mean well.") and managed to (mostly) say Thank You without any extras. It seems like a day designed to remind me that I have no mother or grandmother or even mother-in-law in my life. I'm trying not to hate it, but it would be easier without the constant reminders. I think it was because I spent most of the time around the day surrounded by strangers.

My flight home was no help. I sat on a row with a mother and her adult son. She gave me new insight into what happens when well off kids with helicopter parents grow up. Sheesh. If he is adult enough to drink alcohol, you should not be lending him your credit card. But trying not to watch them together was... She was so much the mother. Doing mother-like things. It felt alien and yet so familiar.

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spam calls

2018-05-09T01:29:13Z

It was late November of last year. I kept getting so many spam calls I thought I must be going insane. So... I started collecting data on how many of my incoming calls are spam.

So that week was unusual. But then the number of calls went back to the typical about 4 a week.

So, being me with my fondness for data, I kept collecting the data. And sometime after the new year... I felt again like the number of spam calls was increasing. Was I crazy? Here, you look.

Each point in this chart is the number of spam calls I got that week. Last year it was 4 calls a week. This year, in the phase I call "two" it is almost 8 calls per week. Yes, this is really statistically different. And it feels different in the real world of how many times I do not answer the ringing phone. Further it kinda looks like the number of calls in "two" is going.... up. The most recent point is this week, and it is only Tuesday! I have four more days of this week to get spam calls!

Todays Special Call was officially from someone claiming that the IRS is filing a lawsuit against me and an arrest warrant has been issued. It is a lie, of course, the IRS does not call anyone. I reported that one to the FCC.

Update: Evidently I'm not alone.
Update 2: Friday of the same week, I am now up to TWENTY SIX (26!!!) spam calls this week. Look back at the chart and it is OFF THE CHART!!! I really hope this is a outlier and not the continuation of a trend that it appears.

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Top Fears

2018-04-09T22:23:54Z

I'm watching a lot of training these days. I was watching a presentation that mentioned that in 2014 the Chapman Survey on American Fears included "Public Speaking" in the top 5 American Fears. But by 2016, it is no longer in the top 5. In fact, according to the Chapman blog, as of the 2017 survey public speaking is down in number 52!

But check out what are the top 10 in the 2017 survey:

1. Corrupt Government Officials

2. American Healthcare Act/Trumpcare

3. Pollution of Oceans, Rivers and Lakes

4. Pollution of Drinking Water

5. Not having enough money for the future

6. High Medical Bills

7. The US will be involved in another World War

8. Global Warming & Climate Change

9. North Korea using weapons

10. Air Pollution

I found this both surprising, yet...not surprising.

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I have a post-it note that looks just like this

2018-04-06T23:34:01Z

https://xkcd.com/1976/

Don't know whether the apple part comes from, though.

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Shoes (part 4)

2018-04-02T17:56:19Z

Two weeks ago I did a donation run and gave up my beloved Keen sandals. They were neutral, they handled water, they.... hurt too much to wear for over a year.

So I have had several gaps in my shoe wardrobe.

Something neutral but dressy. No heavy walking or extended standing. Something I could possibly wear to a church or funeral or job interview. Something that could possibly be worn with formal wear would be great (but is probably too much to ask). Something that does not look so clunky as my teaching shoes.
Sandals. Preferably water proof. Goes with shorts or skirt. Something really comfortable. Cute would be a nice bonus.

I went shopping with friends recently and found several solutions. Both are at least reasonably comfortable and significantly more attractive than the clunky things I have been wearing.

Abeo PRO System Encina. I was dubious, as it appeared far too slim and nice looking for my feet to accept. But the sales guy put in a custom foot bed to do something magical to my metatarsalgia. Wearing this doesn't hurt, as much as I keep expecting it to. He claimed that the foot bed somehow spreads out the bones in my foot in just the right place to prevent pain. Yay! I wore them for a full week of work (not teaching) and only came up with a light blister on a heel from energetic walking between buildings.
Jambu Cherry Blossom in black. No knowledgeable sales person this time, they just looked cute. And I figured that the toe section would cut across the most painful part of the ball of my foot and they would be off my feet in 3 seconds flat. But no. SO COMFORTABLE! Plus they are super cute and go well with slacks or a skirt. They are my new favorite shoes for going through life (not gardening or running). I haven't put them through the serious walking test yet, but for light walking they have been wonderful. They make me happy every time I put them on. I no longer feel like a shoe freak wearing old woman clogs.

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there is really no good way to describe my uncle in just a few words

2018-03-26T16:43:53Z

Because I like you so much, I'm going to share with you the unique experience that was my uncle. Here it is.

You remember that my uncle was a jokester, right? Evidently this was one of his favorite things. He would pull out this bottle of teeth and lay them out, noting which ones where his, his brother's or my mother's. He must have done this to me, because my aunt brought me the bottle at the funeral. She swore that he did this to her the first time they met. It amazes me that she still married him...

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my uncle

2018-03-22T17:56:38Z

My uncle has always been in the background of my life.

Some of my earliest memories of my uncle and aunt have a bit of disapproval radiating from her (I think she thought kids were too noisy and unrestrained), but really cool gifts. They always lived far away, and their visits had the taste of the exotic.

As I grew older and saw them at family reunions, my uncle grew to be the one filled with unexpected surprises. He brought a potato cannon one year and the family spent quite a bit of time attempting to hit different targets and discussing the relative merits of size-matching when choosing potatoes. By the potato cannon year it didn't even surprise me, that was just the kind of thing my uncle did.

When I went to college on the East Coast, my parents were unable to visit for a variety of logistical reasons. My aunt and uncle came instead. They came like clockwork to every family event, year after year. They took me shopping and out to dinner those times when having Family Show Up was critically important to me.

As I drifted into adult life of job and marriage and work travel, my aunt and uncle were the family we visited the most often (after my own parents). After my parents died, they have been really the heart of my family ties.

My uncle died recently. Not unexpected. He has been going this way for a while. I'm happy for my aunt, because I hope this will provide her a freedom to do the things she wants that she has not had as an adult. But I still miss the chaos that he would bring to every otherwise logical interaction. "You put a WHAT next to your mail box?!" "What was the tennis court for if neither of you plays tennis?" "You want to make bookshelves out of that?! But they aren't level!" He had this crazy way of approaching problems. His solutions were so strange! And the kind of strange that often involved duct tape.

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the first week

2018-03-19T00:17:45Z

I expected it to be too much information too fast. And it was. I could not take notes fast enough. And I took a lot of notes.

The people were nice. I expected that, as people are typically nice to newcomers.

What I did not expect was the empty parking lot at 5:30pm. It is a pretty big company. Every large-company job I've ever had talked a good talk about "we value our employees" and "work life balance is important to us" but at the end of the day it was all BS. The expectation at every large company is that employees would be worked until they dropped of exhaustion. And "salaried" is an excuse to expect 60-70 hour work weeks without paying overtime. Laptop computers, VPNs and wifi on our homes just extended the expectations that all employees would never be able to truly leave work behind.

But... this company is different. They talk the same talk, but they seem to actually do it. I couldn't believe that parking lot at 5:30pm. And there was a clear expectation that "You should NOT be in the building after 6pm." and another one of "You better have a REALLY REALLY good reason for working 60+ hours in a week." ...It was a shock. A good shock!

Switching to a Mac is going to be an uncomfortable. I miss my PC. But otherwise I'm looking forward to the challenge of figuring out how I can make this company better.

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school shootings

2018-03-08T21:29:22Z

It turns out that school shootings have been happening for a much longer time than I had any idea.

People keep talking about "The number of school shootings this year is..." and then they will name a number that just seems insane. So I went looking for a reference and some data. Wikipedia is our friend. Without too much trouble, I even pulled the data into some statistical software and started making graphs to answer my curious questions.

How many deaths and injuries have there been in school shootings? United States only. Each point in the following graph is an incident. There is a red and blue point for each shooting incident -- red x for deaths, blue point for injuries.

Yes, there was one in the 1700s. Cray.

Everyone keeps talking about how the number of shooting incidents is going up. Is it? I mean, it kinda looked like the points in the above graph were becoming more dense as we move toward the present. What if I summarize the data by year? Are recent years getting worse? Each point in the graph below is a year. The top black points are the number of shooting incidents in that year. The bottom graph is the deaths and injuries that year.

When looking at the above graph, when did the number of incidents start taking a turn upward? In a no-statistics-tests way I played with the graph and it looks like it happened sometime in the 1960s.

How does this year (2018) compare to past years? It seems a bit unfair to strictly compare ALL of the data in past years to just this point in 2018, so I made a subset of the data that made the above graph to include only incidents that happened up to this point in the year.

And the same graph, with 2018 highlighted.

To me, it looks like at least one past year had more incidents up to this point. But 2018 has had more deaths, more injuries when compared to previous years up to this day of the year.

More information and better graphs does not make this any less depressing.

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Sad and excited

2018-03-03T02:35:55Z

My first meeting this morning talked about his last day at the job he spent 26 years at. "Sad and excited." That is how he described it. It captured my day perfectly. Only 7 years at this job, and working from home means no one walked me out or searched my box of possessions, but still he captured my day in just a few words.

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Life

2018-02-25T22:26:28Z

We now have a cat litter box (still in box), a bag of cat litter, and a bag of kitten chow. T is cursing Amazon for not delivering the warming kitten bed on time. reedrover , T really liked your heated bed suggestion. I suspect one appearing is in our immediate future.

Our friend W is visiting this weekend. I'm delighted to see her again. I've missed having my fashion adviser locally available for me to have the "How about these?" conversations.

Saturday T said to us, "How would you like to spend your day? We can go pick out kittens or go couch shopping, your choice." *my horrified expression* W was more than willing to do either. I wanted a third option. Ugh. My last couch shopping marathon with T was a horribly nightmare that ended with me hating all couch manufacturers. I'm convinced that they only make couches for people over 6'10".

W suggested we hit La-Z-Boy furniture place. Oh, how I've missed you, W. Because it was a genius suggestion. As usual, I walked in and told the person what I wanted. "Something where my feet hit the floor. I am not 5 years old, and I don't want to feel like I am. I want my back to hit the back, and my feet to rest comfortably on the floor. And I'd like it in leather. Reclining optional. I'm flexible on color." And they had two! Two quite acceptable options! I was in shock. I picked the one that felt slightly more comfortable when I closed my eyes. Reclining with a lever (more durable than electric, I think). Yay, couch! We've been talking about this for more than a year and had no shopping luck!

My aunt M called this morning. My uncle D is finally gone. The funeral is next month. She sounded together and frazzled at the same time. I hope this means her life can become something more like what she wants it to be. I always thought her life would be different without him. I'm hoping it will be different in a good way.

No kittens yet.

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Graphs and Flu Season

2018-02-25T21:58:51Z

I'm always on the lookout for cool graphs. I appreciate the opportunity to see graphs communicate and teach. I really like this one. It is about the recent and ongoing flu season in the US. I particularly like what they did to show the passage of time, the changes state to state, and the intensity of the flu in each state.

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Concealed carry

2018-02-22T16:10:16Z

I'm listening to the president's suggestion that teachers get concealed carry licenses and then additional training for dealing with active shooter situations in the school

A few years ago I took a concealed carry class. It was for Texas, not Florida. But it gave me a sense of what is involved. I took a class, a written test, and a shooting test. I believe that everyone in my class passed all of the tests. All three were easy. Yes, even the shooting test was SO EASY. The required targets were pitifully easy to hit. And I'm not that great of a shot! Some of my fellow students didn't know how to load a gun! This training would NOT prepare me to go against an active shooter. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

The only thing that class taught me was that if I decide to use any form of lethal force against someone (gun, baseball bat, knife), I should be prepared to face the legal consequences of my actions. There is no pass for using deadly force just because I have a concealed carry license. Whatever the situation, I would have to decide that avoiding the alternative (not using deadly force and whatever the person decided to do) is worth any price I would have to pay.

The president also suggested that the teachers get additional training on top of the concealed carry licenses. Given my experience in the concealed carry class, I have tried to imagine what that would take. It would be a LOT of training. Many hours. A great deal of money and a huge amount of time. Further, this training would need to be regularly refreshed. These teachers would have to get the equivalent of the very best training in weapons use in large crowds of friendly students. We don't want the teachers accidentally hitting their students!

My independent Texas soul likes the idea of teachers defending their students. But... where would the teachers get the money to pay for this training? And this training would be on top of their regular job... WHEN would they find the time to do it? Most teachers get paid so little that they have to get second jobs in the summer to make ends meet. I want teachers focusing on being the best teachers for their students. This training sounds like the time equivalent of a second job, but without the pay.

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weekend peaceful adventures

2018-02-20T21:23:46Z

New and old job thoughts are whirling through my head. What to finish, what to give up on. How to start as I mean to go on.

Friday was a regular work day. The plan was to celebrate Christmas with E this weekend. E&M turned up on our doorstep as I was packing up the car for craft night. So M let us drop him off at a hotel while I dragged E with me craft night. Which was lovely. She was awesome about it, in spite of it being a bunch of strangers-to-her. And the craft group was awash with new job vibe. I was not the only one with new job news. Yay, new job! Sorry, S. I wish you new job, too.

Saturday I woke up early again (tail end of jet lag) and painted. E called while I was in the shower... they had a flat. Happily, we have the technology to handle this. T packed up his tools, so we went to rescue them. We spent far more time in a Discount Tire Saturday than I really prefer, but it seemed all right. I got to chat with E on the way to and from tire repair.

It turns out that E&M have not caught up on recent Marvel movies. So we watched Captain America The Winter Soldier with the audio track turned on. It was a British speaker, which "bonnet" and "coach" everywhere. It was kinda cute. And like every other time I've watched a familiar movie with the audio track on, I saw (heard) things I had missed before. I wish we had gotten to show them the even more recent Captain America movie.

Sunday we got to feed E brunch before they escaped.

I'm trying not to think about the Incipient Kitten Invasion.

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Life and decisions and kittens

2018-02-19T19:33:28Z

I have told everyone. I told the new company I'm taking the new job. I told my current boss that I am quitting. Within 15 minutes of doing so, I felt so much less stressed. I guess having all my balls rolling in the same direction is less stressful than having them crash against each other in my head.

So yeah. I'm changing jobs. I have a plane ticket for middle of next month to go to a week of orientation. More likely 2 days of orientation then several days of following people around and asking lots of questions. I volunteered for the last part. It seems like a good and fast way to both meet people, learn a ton of stuff about processes, and convince others I'm human and can be asked questions in return.

In the meantime, I'm winding down on this job. Trying to finish up my biggest current project. Making lists for the person who will take over my job. In spite of my many efforts to the contrary, lots of things are only in my head. Must write it all down! My poor replacement... He has a lot of reading ahead of him.

So T's idea was "If you are making a hugely stressful life change, we might as well get kittens now and get it all over with. ...Right?" Yesterday he bought kitten chow and was looking at litter in the grocery store. This morning I discovered that the huge box that was delivered yesterday was actually a cat litter box. I'm trying to remember that kittens are generally adorable and purr, but the idea of sharing my space with two other beings is... ick. I hate the idea. Only true love for T could convince me that this is inevitable (not a "Good Idea," just inevitable). We've been without a cat now for a little over a year. But the last one was outdoors. I still miss him, but there is a big difference between 2 indoor kittens into EVERYTHING and an outdoor cat who thought my lap was a wonderful place to hang out for 45 minutes. T just hopes I can avoid killing them until they become fat lazy cats.

So as my old job winds down and before the new job kicks into overdrive, I will likely have some time to so some hobby stuff. Not sure how I can fit in more paintings, but perhaps some of my other hobbies...

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change, still happening

2018-02-15T13:57:58Z

Ack! Ack. Ack. Ack.

I talked to my current boss. He offered me a wad of money to stay. I said yes, I want to stay. Knowing that I had yet to talk to T about it.

T wants me to take the new job. He suggested I call a friend. I called ovrclokd. She was awesome, as usual. She offered some very practical advice. I polished up my job-vs-job list and then slept on it.

This morning I woke up with the realization that if I don't take the new job, I will spend the rest of my life wondering about the opportunity not taken. I know how the path at my current job goes -- I've been in this job 7 years. But the unknown that scares me about this new job? I have no idea if I'll like or hate it. And I shouldn't say "no" to new just because it is new and strange. Hating the unknown and change and risk doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. Plus if I take the safe and known path... I will respect myself just a little less. If I take the new job and hate it? Well, I tried. I took a risk, and risks sometimes turn out badly. Taking the new job is the decision I can best live with.

Curse words. I don't WANNA do this. ...Starting it now.

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change

2018-02-14T12:43:47Z

I hate change. Hate it, hate it, hate it!

Big life changes are particularly scary. Yesterday just before going out on my Valentine's date with T, I got both the job offer and the money number. It is.... respectable. And more than I'm making now. Enough more to make a difference in the mortgage payment that is ballooning in March because the mortgage company CAN demand I pay that much. T thinks I should just flat take the new job. I'm going to meet with my current boss this morning and talk about the future of my current company and job. And of course, if he can at least attempt to match the new job offer. I told the HR guy for the new job that I would at the latest give him an answer on Thursday.

Ack, but this is terrifying. I hate the thought of leaving my current company. So many things undone! I would totally want to take 2 weeks to just finish out the things I'm working on. Which leads directly to the thought of what if my current boss cannot match their offer? Or attempt to? So much change!

More travel. Expected 25% for at least a year or longer. Domestic only to middle-of-nowhere. And still persistent travel to the same boring location after that, but perhaps a little less often.

I haven't worked for a large corporation in... um... 16 years? I'm out of practice in adjusting to the weird things large corporations demand of their employees. Ok, yes, I now view them as weird. Small companies are surprisingly flexible about things.

Ugh. Just working through my freaking out.

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Things I do not miss about frequent travel...

2018-02-12T22:09:02Z

Wondering why the devil some airports (*coughAmsterdam*) have all bathrooms down a huge flight of stairs. Don't people wandering airports usually have carryon bags?!
Becoming convinced I am dehydrated. Becoming convinced other people notice my efforts to hydrate are successful and they are sick of me brushing by them aGAIN to go to the bathroom.
Becoming totally sweaty because I ran across an entire airport (immigration, customs, security line, train through 5 terminals, plus the run down the long hall to my gate) to make my flight home.
Running down my noise cancelling headphones battery.
Planning the murder of the next announcement that deafens me through my headset. WHY must the announcements be so much louder?

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You have to really want it

2018-02-10T16:20:21Z

Bathrooms in pubs and restaurants in Amsterdam require that you first pass a test of agility, then of intelligence.

Most toilets are downstairs. And they are not ordinary stairs, oh no! These are circular stairs with each step so tiny your shoe is only half on solid ground with every careful footfall. I use both hands on every possible hold. I'm clumsy, not stupid.

Then the toilets are clean with plenty of toilet paper. Which pretty much defines a good toilet in my view. The challenge is the sink. I have learned the hard way: never soap my hands before turning on the water. CAN I turn on the water? Motion detector? Push? Pull? Hidden lever under the sink? A pedal on the floor? Gaaaah!

Can I actually make it back up those damn stairs with soapy hands?!

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Saturday

2018-02-10T16:18:38Z

We slept in with no alarm until 10am. Ah, vacation, you are too brief!

We followed the usual morning rituals with a convoluted but ultimately successful attempt to get boarding passes for tomorrow. Then we set off into the city central to make another pass at finding a proper local comic shop.

We stopped in a tiny crepe shop which turned out to be quite popular even at 1:30pm on a Saturday. And no wonder! Our savory crepes were delicious (Duck, goat cheese and honey for me. Haddock and apples for T.). My hot chocolate was a mug of hot milk with a side of chocolate chips and some sort of white syrupy sweetener. The bread was less bread and more deliciously solidified butter cleverly disguised as bread with a tiny bit of cinnamon and sugar. T says they called it a "galette."

Our comic shop search was ultimately successful, to the bewilderment of the owner. "You want in Dutch?" Yes! Then T insisted we take a stroll through the red light district. Those women were beautiful, but rather bored looking.

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Friday

2018-02-10T16:17:13Z

Two days in a row of sleeping to the alarm. Pffft on jet lag!

No hotel buffet at this hotel, which encourages us to explore. Besides, I picked up a yogurt in the grocery store by the train station last night.

Train to Amsterdam Central again, then grocery shopping to prepare for our canal tour. The canal tour was nice. Not too cold, we were protected from the wind. The website encouraged us to bring food and drink. T& I brought sandwiches, water, and jenever. The boat guys provided cups and gluhwein. Those Boat Guys. I recommend them. Small boat, only 6 people on ours, it felt very personal.

Captain Marc recommended Winkel for apple pie. As it had started to snow by the time we walked in, they also served hot rum chocolate and gluhwein. Tasty! I would have called it more apple cake than pie, but it was good and came with a large dollap of sweet cream.

The snow came down more seriously as we escaped Winkel (our seats were taken before I finished standing up). We spent several more hours searching out comic shops to no avail. Yes, there were shops, but they either had no comics, or the comics were all US imports.

We managed to mostly avoid rush hour on the trains by stopping in a restaurant for drinks, chocolate cake (T), pumpkin soup (me). Both were delicious, though T turned up his nose at even tasting my soup.

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Thursday

2018-02-10T16:15:44Z

Woke up to the alarm at 9am. We slept so late!

We got dressed and I introduced To to the hotel buffet. T, like me, thought it was pretty, but the customer service was slack. The short order cook refused to make me fried eggs (said he had no lighter for the stove). The dishes and cups in the to-use stack were indifferently clean. And many parts of the buffet had run out and were not refilled. They were clearly getting ready for the lunch shift and not interested in us breakfast eaters.

We pack up our stuff and took a shuttle to the airport, where we checked into a much nicer hotel. Nice sink, great bed, shorter walk to the train, all good!

We got 3-day train passes and took the train into Amsterdam Central to wander. And there was great meandering! I had crepes and cider (2 chances to rest my feet). We saw a plastic duck shop and a tiny painted cow shop. No, no space in our return luggage!

We talked about going on a canal tour and ended up booking one from the internet while sitting in a pub. Yay for internet access on my phone! We'll go tomorrow.

We headed back to the train and our hotel as the sun set at about 5:30pm. That is the time most of the town shuts down anyway.

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