Month: November 2020

Evolving traditions

When you learned about Thanksgiving in school, you probably learned all about the pilgrims and Native Americans who gathered. But did you learn that Abraham Lincoln established the date for Thanksgiving in 1863? No? Me neither. But we can be fairly sure that neither the pilgrims or Lincoln purchased jellied cranberries at the grocery store; that’s a newer tradition.

This year in particular is giving us the opportunity to evolve our traditions, as many of us remain isolated from our extended families, waiting for this raging pandemic to fade. We turn to modern technology, beyond the simple phone calls to distant relatives, to video calls where we can see our family. (Err… or would have, if my mother had forwarded the Zoom information before the call. Sorry I missed it!)

It got me thinking about some of the things I grew up with that I’ve changed. Dad used to make mushroom omelets for Sunday morning brunch; I make them, but not always on Sunday. And I typically make them with one egg, whereas he made them with two, with varied ingredients as the filling. Though mostly just mushrooms and cheese.

A recent breakfast – breakfast sausages, fried egg, and spinach & onion stuffed mushrooms

On the subject of mushrooms, one of the recipes Mom would make occasionally (really occasionally… she didn’t cook often, thank heavens) was spinach & onion stuffed mushrooms. Back in the day, this meant buying frozen spinach (ewwww), a package of onion dip seasoning, sour cream, and obviously, mushrooms. Adapting this for what I typically stock in my pantry means that I use fresh spinach and a lovely tub of French onion dip, and a variety of mushroom types.

We are constantly adapting to our surroundings, changing our habits based on availability and desire. Humanity is resilient, largely due to our ability to evolve for different situations and continue learning throughout our lives. Hopefully this year, you’ve learned enough about technology to give virtual hugs to the family you’re missing at the holidays, with the hope that next year’s holidays can be celebrated in person.

Ups & downs to adulting

I was at the grocery store the other day, forlornly noticing that my preferred brand of peanut butter was absent from the shelf. The space was there, but not a single jar of crunchy (my preference) or creamy peanut butter in that brand were available. I sighed and reached for my purse… picking a different brand requires glasses, which is definitely a downside to adulting. Not just because I now read ingredients where I didn’t used to, but because I can barely read most of the label other than the brand name and the creamy/crunchy part. After some grumbling – mostly wondering why there’s anything other than peanuts and a minute amount of salt, and definitely not buying the one with sugar added – I settled on a new jar. (Don’t worry, nobody was staring at me… I tend to do my grocery shopping at the crack of dawn, when the store is mostly empty.)

It led me to consider other ups and downs I’ve encountered recently. I had an emergency dentist visit last month which resulted in a root canal, and anybody who’s experienced that sort of dental pain can tell you it’s definitely a down. But it had an up side… I had just enough in my Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to cover it, which means it wasn’t hitting a credit card bill and I managed to clear my FSA for the year.

For any readers outside the US, an health-related FSA account is money set aside before income tax calculations, and can only be used on health expenses. If unspent after the year plus grace period (in this case, 3 months into next year), you lose the money. In addition to actual medical appointments, it can be spent on some related items, with weird exceptions like covering dentist visits but not toothbrushes. It can lead to weird shopping on FSAStore.com and related sites at the end of the grace period, as you decide just how many first aid kits you really need.

Zuko, perched on the top level of the cat tree. Across the room, two toy mice near the garage door.

Our kitten is definitely an up… but like every cat, Zuko has his personality quirks. His is so excited about toys, particularly mice, and this one type of mouse gets… special… treatment. Watching him drop a toy mouse in the water is funny, until you realize how absorbent it is and see the trail of water he leaves as he drags it around. It’s downright hilarious to see him pause as he runs in from the garage to his bowl; if there’s a mouse between them, he will pick it up and carry it to the bowl. Yes, he sets it in the bowl. *sigh* Dropping one of his mice into my martini… that was definitely a down.

Ups and downs are a part of life… try to laugh when you can, even if there’s a toy mouse in your martini.

NaNoWriMo: Betrayal

I’ve realized over the years that National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is difficult for me, not just because of the time constraints (writing 50,000 words in a 30-day month in addition to everything else going on in life), but because I prefer to write short stories. I decided to try a different approach this year: instead of trying to write a novel, I’m trying to write a short story for each day of the month. The length varies, some of them are clearly micro fiction. I’m currently behind, but not to the point where I can’t catch up. Here’s one of the stories I’ve written this month.

Betrayal

I remember the first time she took me to the doctor.  She held me in her arms and lied to me.  “This won’t hurt much, love.”  Then the doctor jabbed me.  I realize it’s unusual to remember that sort of detail from my infancy, but I was always a precocious child.  And I understand the importance of those vaccines. 

And yet, she lied.  Time and time again, some inconsequential, and others traumatizing to a young child. 

Rest assured, I will never lie to you.  What you are about to do, what I myself have done, will give you unfettered access to our networks.  You will never again be disconnected from our information matrix, and you will have full access to data as appropriate for your security clearance.  We are the first of a new kind of humanity, integrating with our machines to achieve greatness.  We will spread, like computer viruses of old, only converting willing subjects.  The others, the failed demagogues and the outdated sheep that follow them, will fall before us. 

But I will not lie to you.  It will hurt.

How long does it take to count the votes?

Polls closed Tuesday night on the contentious 2020 U.S. presidential election. Many states have been called for one candidate or the other already, despite ongoing counts; this is typically the case where one candidate has enough of a lead that the uncounted ballots won’t affect the outcome. Here are some simple examples of looking at those numbers, assuming there are 100 registered voters. For simplicity, we’ll pretend there are only 2 candidates.

  1. 87% of the counting is complete; Candidate A has 60 votes to Candidate B’s 37. With only 13 ballots left to count, Candidate B can’t catch up to Candidate A. The result is called for Candidate A.
  2. 76% of the counting is complete; Candidate A has 40 votes to Candidate B’s 36. The 24 remaining ballots could go either way, so the result is shown as leaning towards Candidate A, but is not called.
  3. 99% of the counting is complete; Candidate A and B both have 49 votes. (Since you can choose not to vote on a particular race, I’m assuming that 1 person skipped it, mainly because I’m ignoring the 3rd party candidates for simplicity.) The 1 ballot remaining could go either way, so the result is not called.

On top of that, we add the complexity of increased mail-in voting during the pandemic. Many states already allowed absentee ballots, and have processes for handling them, though presumably not to the level we’re seeing in this election. The confusing part is how much those rules vary by state: some states only count the mailed ballot if it’s received by Election Day, while others want it to be postmarked by Election Day and received within a certain timeframe. That timeframe is also set at the state level, with no consistency – some are 3 days, some 14. An important thing to note is that most of these deadlines were set before the pandemic, and have affected counting in previous elections as well.

Voting in person is relatively easy, either on a computer (in Illinois, these print to a small paper that you verify before submitting) or on paper, which is then dropped in a box and later tabulated. Voting by mail is even easier, sitting in the comfort of your own home, yet adds complexity to the processing. The ballot envelope is linked to your voting record, so when it’s received, the signature must be verified, the envelope opened (carefully, so as not to damage the ballot), and in some states, there’s an additional secrecy envelope inside. Clearly, this is a more time-consuming process.

Adding to that is the fact that many states don’t allow counting the mail-in ballots to start until Election Day, even if they’re received well before that. I can only imagine the staffing nightmares every election cycle, having to train people in something they’ll only do once or twice a year, if that.

Each state has set a deadline for certifying their results; this must fall before the Electoral College voting, which is scheduled for December 14th this year. From a quick glance through Ballotpedia and other informational websites, these trend towards the first week of December.

So how long does it take to count the votes? Legally, it could be up to a month in some states, though they’ll leave time for recounts and such before the state’s certification date. Realistically, it takes as long as it needs to make sure that every legally cast vote is counted. Counting every vote accurately is far more important than counting them quickly.