It's been a while since I posted last. I have a few things I want to write about, but offline life has been taking precedence.BurnoutQuitting my job at the end of last year after a couple years of escalating stress was not an easy decision, and the subsequent winter of illness was difficult. I need to take some time to break old routines and adjust my mindset.

Notice: This post discusses politics and religion, so it may rustle some jimmies.Here in the US, April 15th is the deadline to file taxes with the federal government. When I was a librarian, this meant dealing with the last-minute filers as they tried to handle online forms without much computer experience, or find paper forms for them to fill out at our tables and desks. There was also some concern about people just clicking the first web search result to scam sites for "tax help."

In an interview on January 30th, 2025, Vice President JD Vance said, "[A]s an American leader, but also just as an American citizen, your compassion belongs first to your fellow citizens. It doesn’t mean you hate people from outside of your own borders. [...] But there’s this old-school [concept] — and I think a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world."

This is a cross post of @jacobtothe/how-and-where-do-you-do-laundry by @jacobtothe.Random thoughts on the intersection of childhood, chores, architecture, and history.

A few weeks ago, I asked, "what is a possibles bag, and should you make one?" Well, I made one, or at least the start of one.This is an older Kodak camera pouch, vinyl leatherette lined with felt. It's "vintage," I suppose, and measures about 6"x4"x1" (15cm/10cm/2.5cm). I suspect it once had a strap of some kind, but at present, there is only a belt clip on the back.

I've been helping with laundry chores ever since I was small. In our first house that I remember from childhood, our "laundry room" was a dark corner of the basement where my mother had a washing machine, a dryer, probably a large utility sink (I don't remember for sure), and some ramshackle counter space and shelves. In hindsight, I suspect it was there because it was immediately beneath the kitchen with easy access to plumbing and an exterior wall for the dryer vent. The water heater and water softener were down in that area, too. My memory is a bit hazy because my help then was minimal. Mainly, I was probably helping match socks and fold things I could manage, like hand towels and washcloths. I also remember summers with clothes hung on the line in the back yard.