Coffee Break: Penny Keeper
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Driving-ish loafers for work: yea or nay? I have the Rothy's ones and I at one point had the M.Gemi ones (gorgeous shoe but my weird feet didn't like it).
If you're looking for something on the more affordable side, though, these Massimo Matteo shoes are really highly rated at Zappos (you can also find them at Amazon). They come in a ton of colors in sizes 5-11 — and all for $59. Nice.
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{related: how to find shoes for your weird feet}
Sales of note for 3/26/25:
- Nordstrom – 15% off beauty (ends 3/30) + Nordy Club members earn 3X the points!
- Ann Taylor – Extra 50% off sale + additional 20% off + 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Friends & Family Event: 50% off purchase + extra 20% off
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles + extra 50% off all sale
- J.Crew – 30% off tops, tees, dresses, accessories, sale styles + warm-weather styles
- J.Crew Factory – Shorts under $30 + extra 60% off clearance + up to 60% off everything
- M.M.LaFleur – 25% off travel favorites + use code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – $64.50 spring cardigans + BOGO 50% off everything else
I’ve been wearing LifeStride Travelers for a couple months and I love them, but I was on the hunt for more interesting colors and not aware of this brand – thanks, Kat!
Vicky, thank you for recommending Where the Forest Meets the Stars on a recent book thread I made. I just read it and I LOVED it.
I don’t think that was me, I’m not familiar with that title! Could it have been Sloan Sabbith, the resident queen of book recs?
My bad, it was Allie. You commented right below her on the same thread and my brain mixed it up. So thank you Allie and sorry to hijack your post Vicky!
Feel free to ignore if this no longer interests you but someone on this morning’s thread said they are awaiting a nasal vaccine which may be better at prevention than what we currently have. Have you heard any news on that? I felt like last I heard about those they were about three plus years away. But then I’ve also heard that India has approved some type of nasal vaccine. Not that our FDA will approve their nasal vaccine, but I wonder if we really are three years away if another country already has some form of a preventative vaccine.
As others have completely moved on with life, I’m one of the ones still avoiding everything and now finally it’s starting to take a toll. I want to get together with people, want to travel, go to conferences, and just not be scared. But I’m having a very hard time getting there. For what it’s worth, my primary care dr recently also said that this version of the virus is not what they were seeing two years ago – but that doesn’t mean that there are NO bad effects even long term.
Please just talk to a doctor about anxiety. The newest booster is a great vaccine. Unless your doctor has advised you that you will remain high risk after the new booster, live your life. There is no pending nasal vaccine.
Stop accusing people of having anxiety. You aren’t their doctor.
Continuing to be this concerned about Covid to the extent of not going out and doing things and being fearful is not normal at this stage in the pandemic.
+1
For the vast majority of people, “never getting Covid” just isn’t a viable option anymore. The death rate is also lower than the flu now. No one wants to get it and no one can guarantee it will be harmless, but the cost/benefit of caution, in light of the current variant and society’s current operation, is very different from two years or even a year ago
-(someone who diligently masked all four legs of a flight even in Aug 2020 and then was the last of her friends to get Covid last month, from an outdoor gathering presumably).
That doesn’t make it your business to give a diagnosis.
This. Reasonable fear of an actual threat is not pathological anxiety.
The key word is reasonable. . .
Have you gotten the updated vaccine that is specifically targeting the currently circulating variants? Tbh fear of getting sick at all is unreasonable – even a cold can make you miserable. The goal is to reduce covid to a workable illness – asymptomatic in most cases and mild in the vast majority of others – like a cold. We have about the best we can do at this point, an effective vaccine that is targeted and will get updated every year as needed.
Unfortunately so far, our vaccines are not yet producing outcomes comparable to a cold in people with breakthrough infections. That would be amazing, and we’re working on it, and of course we are hoping the updated booster will drastically reduce breakthrough infections (but we don’t know yet).
The vaccines are amazing at preventing hospitalizations and death. They’re reducing all harm, which is great.
But they don’t always prevent being bedridden for a weak or more, even in low risk people. Other factors seem to make a bigger difference (there were early studies on genetic susceptibility; there have been more recent studies on other risk factors like just how much exposure there was).
Last I checked we were still processing data on cardiovascular events, organ damage, neuropathy, etc. following breakthrough infections. The vaccines help, but we’re nowhere near the impact of a cold, even in the healthy and vaccinated.
We can definitely do better than this!
Yes!
I’m all for vaccination but we need to recognise the limits of efficacy.
Long term damage from Covid are an issue.
This is so insane as a response to a poster afraid to leave her house.
Minimizing a fear is not effective. Matching it to facts and then helping a person make a plan to handle those facts is more effective.
Exactly this. The vaccines are great but not good enough yet.
Yeah this is what I was trying to get at before. There is always the chance of getting an illness, and the vaccines have helped make this much more manageable. So many people have anxiety around COVID that they didn’t have over bad colds, the flu, strep, mono, etc even those all of those can be serious.
Actually I have always tried to avoid the flu, strep, and mono too.
There is a lot of evidence that Covid damages the body in ways that flu and colds don’t. There are numerous studies linking Covid to brain, heart, kidney, pancreas and immune system (T cell) damage. Personally, I’m not worried about the acute illness or even classic ‘long Covid.’ I’m worried about lingering effects that aren’t immediately apparent but might cause serious health complications down the road.
That said, I’m not giving up on life and staying home forever because there are obviously serious risks to that too. For me the compromise is to wear a mask in public indoor spaces and abstain from things that I don’t really care about so I can use my “risk capital” on things I do care about.
Here’s an example of long-term damage. I had COVID in early July. Since then, I have had recurrent, disabling migraines. I already got them once in a while, but I don’t know that I have gone 48 hours without a headache since I tested negative. The doctor changed the migraine medication so that I can take one, be headache free in about 15 minutes, and not have the hangover effect of the old one, but I only get 12 pills every 30 days.
One of my lab results that indicates inflammation is high-ish. They know that is a known effect of COVID infection. It may never come back down. I can probably expect to continue to have these headaches as long it is elevated.
I’m sorry KS IT Chick. That sounds really tough.
No, haven’t heard anything about the efficacy of a nasal vaccine.
Look, it kind of seems like you’re moving the goalposts. There is a safe, effective vaccine already. I can appreciate that you’ve been locked down but if it’s affecting your mental health, I would gently encourage you to work through your anxiety about being out there again. (I know people hate to hear the “covid anxiety” term, but for a certain subset, it most definitely is true.)
How do you know this is definitely true? I don’t go around randomly diagnosing people with mental illness because they don’t take a pandemic seriously enough, but perhaps I’ll consider it.
It is acceptable to gently suggest that some talk to their DOCTOR about anxiety. No one diagnosed her but she CLEARLY has anxiety. And a doctor can help her if it rises to the level of a clinical issue.
Yeah, I think this is an anxiety issue. And fwiw I am more cautious than most, wear a mask pretty much everywhere because I see zero downside to wearing a mask, and don’t do things like indoor dining that I don’t feel add a lot of value to my life because I’d rather take the risk of Covid on fun stuff (travel, theater, friends etc) that adds value to my life. But when you’re still abstaining from the things you care most about because of Covid and you’re an objectively low risk person, I think you’re probably in a situation where you could benefit from treatment for anxiety. I don’t think this virus is “just a flu” even in the post-vaccine era, but I also think staying locked down forever and not doing the things that bring you joy is not any way to live either. You have to make tradeoffs and at this point for most healthy people the risks of continued isolation are greater than the risks of the virus. Being depressed and lonely all the time has serious consequences for your physical health too.
You don’t know they are a low risk person, or their loved ones.
It’s infinitely more stressful trying to avoid those who are way too casual about others’ health than it is missing a few concerts.
True, but I assume if OP had risk factors she would have mentioned them since it’s obviously relevant. If you have unique health concerns you should talk to your doctor so your doctor can counsel you on your personal risk.
And if you don’t value concerts, by all means don’t go to concerts. I’m not saying everyone has to do All The Things, but I do think that continuing to abstain from the in-person activities you value most, particularly contact with loved ones, has serious consequences for mental health. And mental health affects physical health to a surprisingly large degree. So it’s definitely not as simple as “you’ll be healthier by staying home and avoiding Covid.”
Not everyone wants to disclose their risk factors to the people here who are way to quick to dismiss physical problems or reasonable concerns as “needing therapy and medication”.
i have no idea about the other vaccine and i know that others who read this are going to tell you to just stop being anxious and go get therapy, but i would say i am sort of at an in between place, weighing risks/benefits, still mask wearing in some places. one of my colleagues just had covid and felt sick/rundown for a month after, our work place doesn’t have sick time (they gave us some during the height of covid, but took it away and you have to use PTO), and I just don’t have time to be sick for 2+ weeks with covid or anything else for that matter.
You do have sick time it’s called PTO. Don’t conflate yourself with people who actually gave no access to paid time off at all.
You’d rather spend two weeks sick than two weeks on vacation?! I’d rather wear a mask and have lovely vacation myself.
India, Russia, China, and Iran have all approved different nasal delivery vaccines last I checked. I’m not sure whether they’re all inoculating vaccines or not.
Israel has an OTC nasal product designed to reduce transmission (Enovid). It’s not a vaccine, just some kind of antiviral if I understand correctly.
I thought that globally, the latest variants of the virus were hospitalizing and killing people like it’s 2020 in immune naive populations? In countries that have seen a lot of cases and received a lot of vaccination, it’s immune protection that’s resulting in better acute outcomes.
Long term outcomes are still being studied.
Not sure why everyone is piling on OP here. I don’t think she’s stopping other people from going out with friends or going to conferences or restaurants but she isn’t doing it. I feel like people are quick to scream covid anxiety. IDK for me the anxiety is about the long term and all the unknowns with covid. It raises risks for nearly everything from blood sugar issues to cardiac issues to everything else. Will ten years from now will you look back and say yeah I’m really glad I spent all those nights going out to dinner or I’m glad I went to that high school reunion? I know this is life overall but for me I can’t stop thinking of problems way down the road.
Practically everyone I know has had Covid (I’m actually one of the few exceptions). And I don’t know anyone who is disabled or having health effects. I’m sure some are, but I’m not hearing about it. But the vast, vast majority of people are not having long term effects that are attributable to Covid. What level of protection would you consider acceptable in order to live your life, OP?
That’s the thing though. If you’re not hearing about it does it mean it isn’t happening? Because that would be great. But how much do friends or coworkers really talk about their blood sugar or their cardiologist appointment or how they just don’t feel right in casual gatherings? I mean look how Americans act when anyone suggests they’re high risk. Why would anyone want to admit it if something were going on?
Conversely, one of husband’s staff was in intensive care for more than three weeks and although she’s out now, she won’t be able to work until next year. She also can’t look after her 2 year old on her own.
My aunt and uncle both had it and months later are noticeably more frail and tired.
I know someone who is disabled and can’t work due to severe long Covid. They think it’s a microclotting issue but don’t have a good treatment. She takes blood thinners, but they don’t completely solve the issue and she has to go off them one week every month during menstruation. That was OG Covid pre-vax.
My boss is recovered now but he had it in January 2022 (after being triple vaxxed) and he was hospitalized and it took him months to get back to normal. He’s in his 40s with no major risk factors.
Yes, I am already glad that I have dinner with old friends and new, have seen excellent plays and concerts, connected with my coworkers at the office and at happy hours, gotten into amazing shape with indoor classes, etc. I say this as someone who was borderline at risk, sees specialists for an ongoing health issue, and had a tough case of COVID when it finally hit me this summer.
The only people I know with “real” long COVID, as in they have horrible outcomes that continue to harm their ability to live normally, were completely unvaccinated and very unhealthy before.
I haven’t had COVID (through dumb luck, I’ve been out and about since I got my vaccine), but like the other Anon virtually everyone else I know has had it, and no one has had lasting side effects. Of course, we don’t know what the 10 or 20 year impact could be, but the same could be said about many other things (the long term effects of heavy cell phone use? long term impacts of drinking Diet Coke regularly? Exercising in a city and breathing in smog? Besides, who knows what global warming will do to our health in the next 10-20 years).
It may be shortsighted, but as someone in my 20s who already lost years to make good career progress (as an essential worker, I’ve been in survival mode career wise); have fun with my friends before we settle down, have kids, and move to the burbs (and thus can’t do an impromptu Tuesday happy hour!), lost the ability to attend grad school in person, and of course, date, yeah as of now, I’d rather spend these nights going out to dinner, going to my high school reunion (first one is next year!), and live my life.
There is a balance between being concerned about the future and not fully living life now. And I say this as someone who WILL take extra precautions during peak covid times. IDK, I already feel like I lost two years of doing normal family activities with my kids, who are quickly growing up. So, yeah, I am going to the concerts, the reunions, and the family dinners.
Oh heck yeah I’ll be happy I went our room dinner all the time, reunions, concerts, parties, all the social things. Because I enjoy living. I cannot imagine looking back and missing out on my life because of a misplaced risk assessment.
I will gently second the advice that’s already shared and focus on treating your anxiety. From a statistical standpoint, remaining strictly locked down in our current state is irrational. There is no end date in sight for COVID. Life inherently has risks. Every time you get into a car you accept risk. Every time you ride a bike you accept risk. And anxiety and loneliness also have significant risks to not just mental health but physical health as well – loneliness can take YEARS off your life.
I’ve heard from friends (who work in the medical field!) that it is highly likely that other diseases also have risk of “long” symptoms – think pneumonia or mono – but it has never been tracked at such a scale as what we’ve seen with COVID. I completely understand where the anxiety comes from, but at some point you need to put your mental health first versus eliminating every possible health risk in your life (which is impossible).
It’s bad for people’s mental health to be gaslighting them about taking Covid seriously.
They never said they were lonely, stop it.
She said “I’m one of the ones still avoiding everything and now finally it’s starting to take a toll.” I think that’s what people are reacting to. If she said, “I’m content to stay home forever” I think the responses would have been very different.
It’s possible that we’ll learn other viruses contribute to truly awful long term risks (e.g., dementia), but in a way that’s way beyond our ability to test for.
But within the abilities of our current tests, we’re seeing things right now from COVID that we don’t see in people who have had a lot of non-COVID viruses.
Yup.
There’s actually already some studies that suggests herpes may be linked to Alzheimer’s.
We never took pneumonia or mono or flu or their sequelae seriously enough either.
To me, masking and doing things is different from unmasking and doing things. I’m still masking indoors or in crowded spaces outdoors, but that doesn’t mean I’m just staying home either.
Eric Topol is advocating hard for an inoculating nasal vaccine, and Dr. Akiko Iwasaki’s lab is actually working on this (naming her because she’s a good source of information on their work). Funding is an obstacle because USA is the way it is, but they’re working on it.
Me too.
I mean…you can get bad side effects from the regular flu. Or you could get hit by a car tomorrow. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m just saying that risk is a part of life that we have to accept. If you can’t deal, then it’s time for therapy and medication.
Yes, I’m a risk manager and trust me, EVERYTHING we do is risky. You just have to accept that knowledge, and then decide where to allocate your risk budget.
Seriously?! You aren’t their medical professional and OP doesn’t seem medically distressed so it’s not appropriate to say “therapy and medication”. Stop saying that to people who care about their health.
Did you read the OP? They are asking for help and want to get over their fear. People are trying to help.
Yeah – so OP should go talk to their medical professional, not an online board.
Anxiety is when people care beyond a reasonable amount anon. I know you’re upset to hear it but please appreciate that commenters are just giving feedback on what society considers reasonable caution in light of the facts at this point.
Stop telling people they have anxiety or that they are upset. Are you a man or just practicing mansplaining?
People aren’t describing what is reasonable in light of the facts though. Society doesn’t actually seem to be knowledgeable about the facts?
I hear people comparing the risks to the risks of mono, flu, head colds, or treated strep, as if those are good comparisons. I hear people talking as though they can assess the risks from looking around at people they know and assessing how sick they are as opposed to consulting published research.
The kind of tests that researchers are running to assess damage done by COVID aren’t the kind of tests primary care doctors are ordering at our annual check ups. Would a patient or their doctor necessarily know about brain shrinkage or nerve damage or damage to organs or the vascular system or new immune dysfunction? We’re a long way off from knowing how to screen or monitor for new issues post COVID.
I was just reading some warnings that people who develop diabetes after COVID may assume that it’s type 2 diabetes caused by insulin resistance (since that’s so common in general) and not realize if it’s really from damage to the pancreas (which may need to be treated differently). Dental issues from capillary and nerve damage may be mistakenly chalked up to skipped cleanings. Even psychiatric symptoms may be attributed to stress when there’s a risk that it’s actually post-viral. It’s going to take medicine some time to sort this all out.
Society is wrong.
Gently, I think you should re-examine your risk tolerance. As your doctor said, this isn’t the virus that we had 2 years ago and now we also have vaccines so most people really are okay to resume a normal or somewhat normal life. My aunt with limited lung capacity who is going through chemo is even able to go out to eat and socialize (is retired, so no work concerns).
I’m currently missing a work event because I’m sick (not sure with what; negative COVID rapid tests, waiting on a PCR result but fever/sore throat). My own doctor told me today that even if I have COVID, she’s not at all concerned as I”m young, vaccinated, healthy, fit and had great vitals. Obviously, not everyone is lucky to have the baseline health I have but I thought it was notable that even my doctor said she’s not at all worried about COVID for many of her patients now (her exact words were and if it’s covid? so what, you’ll be fine).
I’m a triathlete so would hate to have long COVID (I think anyone wants to avoid it!) but I’m also not going to live my life in isolation to avoid it. We’re squarely in the “living with it” phase of COVID; it’s not going to be eradicated but we’re in a place (vaccines, new strains are less severe) where most people can safely do most activities. Of course, anything comes with some risk but that’s life (pre-COVID we all lived with the risk of other illness, the knowledge that almost any choice we make may cause cancer, the risk of car accidents or lightening strikes or what have you). Of course, we all have different COVID risk tolerances (I resumed almost everything after being vaccinated, but if I have something important coming up I will lock down before it), and that’s not the answer for everyone but most people can do most activities relatively safely.
Also? Purely anecdotal, but I’m an essential worker who has been in person the entire time, interacting with coworkers and the public, and have not yet caught COVID. I was pretty careful pre-vaccines, but the second I got the vaccine I resumed indoor dining, going to the gym/workout classes, going to bars and parties, etc. I always wear a mask when its required, but only rarely wear one when it’s not. I have several friends and a few relatives who live similarly to me who also have not yet caught it.
There’s some candidates entering clinical trials- I’m betting they’re ~ 1 yr out, unless you want to sign up for a clinical trial- take a look at the clinicaltrials (dot) gov website.
FYI the current vaccines which get shot into muscles are pretty great at inducing IgG and T cell responses, and are great at keeping you from getting really sick or dying, but don’t really prevent you from getting sick too much. The nasal vaccines are designed to induce mucosal immunity, i.e. to make antibodies in snot to keep you from getting sick in the first place.
Does the hive have recommendations for lawyers specializing in international succession questions in Sillicon Valley? My friend (US/Australian citizen) passed away unexpectedly in South East Asia. His family in Australia are working on his US succession that includes some bank accounts/investments/storage in the US. It appears they need some representation in the US to access these things. Thanks in advance!
You’re looking for a trusts and estates lawyer fyi. We don’t call them succession lawyers. If that helps the search
Hi – I recommend Evelyn Baltodano Sheehan at Kobre & Kim for this. She is in Miami, FL, but deals with international asset matters and is very experienced. She is not a T&E lawyer but can help navigate.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
+1 that we call the specialty trusts and estates.
Big law firms like Pillsbury that have trusts & estates departments should be able to handle this, but they’re likely unduly expensive for an estate that’s not super duper large.
Can the Australian consulate recommend anyone? Or can they tell you about an expat club/association that might know someone? That said, I imagine a solid California trusts and estates lawyer in the Bay Area (which has tons of expats) should be able to work with local counsel in Australia and get what you need done.
What shoes are you buying yourself for fall?
I really want a pair of loafers with a lug tread.
I have a pair that I’ve basically been wearing daily from Naturalizer.
I’ve been eyeing those exact ones! Are they comfy?
SO comfy!
trying to figure this out! considering either gold loafers or houndstooth sneakers (birdies). I work in higher ed so the dress code is quite flexible, but I’m trying to figure out what’s a step up from chunky dad sneakers and still on trend…
I bought a new pair of taupe booties that will go with literally every casual outfit. But that was more of a replacement item than a new style … still waiting to see what speaks to me!
I got a pair of loafers with embroidered stars on them, and a new pair of lace up boots to replace my falling-apart black Chelsea boots.
I need to know about these embroidered stars please!
They sound amazing!
I got a pair of black leather sneakers/loafers from Dr Scholls of all places and they’ve been work horses already. They have a tread like sneakers but a finish more like other work shoes. You couldn’t wear them in the most formal workplaces but they work for mine.
Oohh! Sounds like something I am looking for. Do you know which style loafers you got?
Madison Slip on Sneaker I think. Mine are black but the tag at the back is brown.
More boots! I have some Blondo booties on the way. I plan to wear them with jeans and black tights all the time.
I was on Team Loafers before the pandemic, so I will keep wearing those.
I’m still coveting a pair of those Thursday Boot Co. short boots someone posted here not long ago.
They may have a seconds sale coming up. My supposedly imperfect Chelsea boots from three years ago’s sale looked perfect to me.
I just bought new taupe-ish suede boots from Sezane. I’m in love with them.
I already bought myself a pair of loafers. They’re structured, but I wouldn’t say chunky. I had originally wanted chunkier ones, but saw these and liked them. They will likely be my only shoe purchase this fall, but I will continue wearing:
– white sneakers (Adidas Grand Court with black stripes; weekends only)
– Blundstones (high top, rustic brown, no heel; will wear mostly on weekends and occasionally to work)
– black Chelsea boots (2in heel stacked heel, black leather boots; these get a ton of wear to both work and on weekends)
– mules (cheap from DSW, black with gold horse bit; mostly work, occasionally weekends)
– Black heeled wooden clogs (from Target last year, will be worn for work and weekends)
– A variety of sandals as long as I can possibly wear them
– Wedge booties (black, stacked heel. Will wear occasionally for work and for going out. These are 6 years old and don’t get a ton of wear in our casual post-COVID world)
Aside from festive heels for a few fall weddings I have, working out, and truly bad weather days requiring rain boots or snow boots, those are pretty much the only shoes I plan on wearing until spring.
I got the Ballina platform loafer in navy from Franco Sarto — I am hoping the lug sole will give me a little height to wear with pants hemmed for heels.
I also got some black blondo booties to wear with tights and skirts in the actual cold and the Gucci princetowns in black. I got nude last year and feel like they make my business casual so much fancier.
I bought some Kelsi dagger boots with woven sides from anthro and was so disappointed in the saggy ankle area….
I bought the taupe Birkenstock Bostons that are seemingly everywhere. Completely useless once snow arrives but can’t wait to wear them all fall.
any ideas for preventing/speeding up cold recovery. now that masks are off at my kids’ school, I seem to be sick all the time (they get sick too, but recover faster than i do). i am trying to get lots of sleep, vitamin c, fluids, etc. but it’s like every other week i don’t feel well.
The things that have made the biggest difference for me are lots of sleep, a daily multivitamin with 100% daily value of Vitamin D and supplementing with melatonin when I’m sick (people take it for sleep problems but it has anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties too). Vitamin D has a lot to do with immune system function, so I’d get that checked and/or supplement if you’re not already. Most people at high latitudes are at least mildly deficient without a supplement.
I would get a check up! It’s not normal for adults to get sick this often. My PCP confirmed that my vitamin D and zinc were both tanked and after putting me on supplements, sent me to an ENT to make sure my sinuses were okay. And because of other signs showing up on my labs, I eventually saw an immunologist as well.
It actually is pretty normal for adults to get sick this often if they have kids getting sick often… I was sick almost literally non-stop my kid’s first fall and winter in daycare (pre-Covid). I asked my doctor about it and she laughed and said, “yeah, you have a toddler in daycare. That’s what happens.”
Usually kids go through the constant sickness thing as babies and toddlers and get sick much less often as elementary schoolers, but Covid and the removal of masks has made everything different and it seems like it’s super common for kids to have non-stop illness for a few months right after their schools life mask mandates. Getting sick constantly does not necessarily indicate an immune problem. It’s much more concerning if every sickness is progressing to a secondary infection or taking you weeks to recover from.
If your doctor and right and this is just normal, maybe we need to rethink some norms? If kids are getting sick this often, spreading it to adults, and not thereby achieving any immunity that would protect them as adults? I wouldn’t want to just live this way as an adult or a child! I’d rather keep masking.
If she didn’t even run basic labs though, I would just take that as the brush off.
Being sick for months on end seems horrible!
Yeah, I probably would have worn a mask had I known about them. It was pre-Covid so it wasn’t on my radar.
I don’t think my doctor was brushing me off. There are studies that support what she said. How frequently you get sick is mostly about how frequently you’re exposed to viruses, and if you have young kids in their first year of school (or their first post-Covid year of school) you get exposed to a ton of viruses. How quickly and completely you fight off the illness is where your immune system comes into play.
It’s definitely not a fun thing, but it’s pretty temporary. Usually by the second year in daycare or school kids get sick much less often, and parents don’t seem to get sick as often when they’re on their second+ kid, probably because they have recent immunity to a lot of stuff.
Um yes, if you have kids coughing in your face it’s absolutely normal to get sick.
I got a check up and blood work. All is normal.
My ENT believes in zinc lozenges for shortening the duration of colds (they have to be taken right away to make a difference, according to the research that exists).
Otherwise it sounds like you’re doing the right stuff to me from what I’ve been told.
They could still wear masks. My kids are.
In my experience, masks won’t do much if no one else is masked. And they have to have the mask off at lunch anyway.
Second/thirding the recs for a better vitamin routine (regardless of levels tested— I learned through trial and error that my b12 levels for example must be much higher than the low end of “normal” for me to feel okay). I do zinc, a b100 complex, d, c, and usually turmeric as my bare minimum. I also recommend oil of oregano and lots of teas — ginger, elderberry, echinacea, etc. also make sure Your gut health is on point which can help, along with general stress levels.
Hi friend. No advice, but I feel you.
I’ve noticed that on days when I have lunch meetings, I am incredibly unproductive the rest of the afternoon. It throws my routine off, and it turns out that I am a much better employee when I have an hour to myself in the middle of the day. Even if I try to take a little bit of time after a lunch meeting, enough other people are working and sending me messages that I can’t fully relax. Help? Do I accept that I’m not going to be able to concentrate well and try to save up rote tasks for these afternoons? These meetings happen at least once a week, and no, I cannot skip them, nor do I have any control over the timing.
Can you look like you’re working and do something like a guided meditation or read on your computer for a little while to reset?
Mid afternoon is always a sleepy time for me. I grab some decaf coffee, chat with coworkers around the office, and then do my most simple tasks until I’m out of my slump.
Book yourself another ‘meeting’ after the lunch meeting and spent it outside going for a walk or at a cafe.
exactly
Any recommendations on food near center city Philly? Will be there for a conference and then staying the weekend.
That’s a really broad question — what are your cuisine preferences? Budget? Dietary restrictions? Indoor or outdoor? Large group or small?
– Reading Terminal Market. So much here is good, but I particularly love Bassett’s ice cream and Termini’s cannolis. DiNic’s roast pork is a good option, but pretty much anything here will be good. This is across the street from the Convention Center, if that’s where your conference is.
– Harp & Crown. Go either for happy hour or for dinner and get the chef’s table. My favorite restaurant in the city.
– There are so many good options on 13th Street: I love Sampan (Asian fusion) and Barbuzzo (Mediterranean, get the budino for dessert), El Vez (Mexican) is also very popular.
– Rosy’s Taco Bar (Mexican)
– Bar Bombom (vegan Mexican)
– If traveling with a group, Marathon or Continental have a little bit of everything so should be people pleasers. The food at both is good!
– Goldie (Israeli, people rave about the tahini milkshakes which I like but don’t love, but their falafel sandwich is great)
– I think the best Center City cheesesteak is Cleavers.
– K’far for pastries (get a pastry at K’far, get a coffee from La Colombe and then go eat it in Rittenhouse Square)
Outside of Center City (for the weekend)
– Suraya or Wm Mulherin’s Son’s (Fishtown). While you’re there, grab a beer at one of the many local breweries (I love Evil Genius)
– Avoid Pat’s or Geno’s but do check out Passyunk Square (the neighborhood just south of Pat’s/Geno’s), there are a ton of cute restaurants here.
– If you’re checking out the Art Museum, Boathouse Row, or Kelly Drive, then get lunch or a drink in Fairmount.
dinics. and flying monkey cupcakes or all white cookies!
For people who work with crypto . . . Can you explain what “crypto investing” is? I get that there are currency traders and that businesses what deal with multiple currencies need to hedge exposure to changing exchange rates. I just don’t get what is special about crypto investing (or how you really invest in currency without trying to predict changing exchange rates (and then dealing with IRS rules re nonfunctional currencies).
Ditto “crypto deals”.
A friend from college has gotten into this area. I have to say I think it’s a bunch of Woo coupled with a bunch of wishful thinking and that there have been some notable f*ckups (the guy who died holding the encryption keys to $$$ of other people’s money). I just can’t make a quick mental case for why I’d want any cryptocurrency in my portfolio (my home currency is the US$; if I lived elsewhere, I might go long on not-my-local currency, but maybe into $ held in a US bank vs something possibly in the regulatory netherworld).
You’ve spent exactly the right amount of time thinking about crypto currencies. Don’t go any farther. It’s the tulips of 2022.
Lol, I agree.
+1. At this point it’s pure gambling. And if you can’t get comfortable with an explanation of what it is, definitely do not invest any money you care about.
It was always pure gambling. Some people got lucky early on because sometimes that’s how gambling works. (needless to say, I agree)
OP here. I would never invest (“invest”) in this (not sure how an asset without a coupon is an investment unless you’re betting it appreciates, which I just don’t see; if anything, I’m not surprised when “stablecoin” turns out not to be so stable). I’m just trying to be polite to someone and curious without being smart / encouraging. I forget the term (pegging? afraid to google it) for when you set the value of the Dogecoin to something else (staking?) and IDK what that does to existing Dogecoins vs new Dogecoins and how the IRS gets a piece of that (always a given) or who files 1099s or how there is a market to cash out. I’d buy one Dogecoin (or a Dogecoin tee) because the dog is cute but nothing more. IDK how much one Dogecoin goes for these days.
I bet they’d say: if you have one Dogecoin you need to hedge that with a Stablecoin. Or a Bitcoin.
I’ve seen a vending machine that takes Bitcoin (like how? you don’t have them on you. I bet my credit card would charge me a currency conversion fee if I tried to pay in Bitcoin but it seems to know that my currency is dollars, which is just so quaint).
Girl just bang him
Wait I don’t get the tulips reference, can you explain?
Google it.
I have a necklace with a Spanish two real coin in it. I think Spain uses the Euro now? But the silver at least has value. And I’m wearing it, so it’s not like it’s on the blockchain and someone has to . . . do some thingie to confirm my ownership of it.
How, I wonder, do you inherit bitcoins? Like do you waive around a will and scream into the void that I’ve got the documents from the court appointing me administrator and give the heirs the $? It’s not like something entered in book entry at a broker under a CUSIP vs old-timey stock certificates.
Ideally you put your passwords to your wallet somewhere where your heirs could find them. If not… well planet money has an episode on a guy who threw out a hard drive with 100M of bitcoin and paid to dredge up a trash dump.
There was a great New Yorker story about that guy. When it was thrown away, it wasn’t worth nearly that much and what stood out to me from the story was that he was obsessed with his loss and couldn’t get over it, while his wife was able to accept it and move on. And I think he blamed her, even though obviously he should have been more careful. I believe they ended up divorcing because of all of it.
We have two XL twin beds that we use when guests come over – roughly 6-8 times per year, family or close friends stay for a long weekend. The mattresses are 8” memory foam (could vacuum into a smaller box but a pain) and the metal frames fold flat. We are moving into a smaller condo with a large garage and have decided to store the mattresses and frames in the garage other than the 24 nights or so we actually **need** to have them up. I’m weirdly nervous about this (I’ve never seen a mouse but also don’t want to), but my bf said we just need to buy mattress bags and it will be fine. Anyone else do this? Tips?
Can you keep the frames in the garage but store the mattresses under your bed or somewhere else instead? The garage seems not ideal, but if you don’t have any other option, worst case scenario is just that you have to replace them or get a different guest bed, so it’s not the end of the world.
buy the vacuum bags and roll them up they will fit in a closet or both under a bed