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Quarantine Tuesday Reading Kaffeeklatsch: 11/10/2020
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Yes, and in 2000, the difference was 534 votes. None of the races were that close this time.Theresa, my husband was reading an article from the BBC which included a video of some Trump supporters from my old home, Bradford County, PA. Some of them were actually pretty reasonable, saying they would get used to the result and people should try to get along. That is prime Trump country, especially since one of the very few boosts to the economy in the last 30 years is fracking.
Robin P wrote: "Yes, and in 2000, the difference was 534 votes. None of the races were that close this time.Theresa, my husband was reading an article from the BBC which included a video of some Trump supporters..."
Just over the NY/PA border from my family farm.... the fracking in PA made some people a lot of money and has created a long series of problems too. How interesting. I may just look for it.
Hi all, I have received several requests to tone down the political talk on our book group. I know I have made other comments on this as well. I know we have many like minded people who weigh in publicly, but we have others who do not share your political views who do not weigh in.
This is a book group, and our primary purpose is to read and discuss books. And while the admins certainly encourage you to share about your lives, it needs to be more politically neutral given our large, diverse membership!
Please keep the more pointed political discussions for other social media platforms or private groups.
Thanks!
To refocus our Kaffeeklatsch on our personal lives more I'm frustrated after visit to electrophysiologist about pacemaker. The doctor was very abrupt and said my fiance isn't sick enough yet, 3 percentage points away, from needing a pacemaker. Doctor could have just told us that on the phone and saved us a trip. Doctor suggested different medicine, which he couldn't prescribe. Then fiance's cardiologist instead of prescribing new medicine tries to prescribe him one that is listed on his chart as something he's allergic to because last time he was on it his blood pressure got so low he kept nearly fainting. His regular cardiologist has been good but really did she bother to look at his chart at all before prescribing medicine.
Rachel, is it possible that a different electrophysiologist might view your fiance's medical condition differently? Does his cardiologist think he needs a pacemaker? Sometimes a second opinion is quite helpful.I understand your frustration and disappointment. In my experience, patients and their families have to speak up and advocate for themselves.
Rachel, so frustrating! Medicine has become so difficult to navigate, you have to be so on top of your own care. Hope your finace gets this figured out so he can get the care he needs.
@ Rachel- I say it is time to look for another opinion and doctor. Believe me, I know how awful that road can be, but taking it can ease your mind and perhaps produce a different result. I am so sorry this is all happening for you two. The others are right, that you have to be your own advocate.My own personal medical problems have found me fighting, again with my insurance company. My pain doctor was involved in a nasty mass exit from his practice ad hospital affiliation. (very long story-but you people in Michigan may have read about the shake up at Beaumont Hospitals-). He moved to a new practice/new hospital and I followed him. Well, I am trying to anyway. Insurance is puttering around with sending a referral and I cannot get an appointment without it. They are inquiring, why I am moving to a new doctor, why he is listed in 2 different practices...and on and on. Makes me believe the insurance is in cahoots with the old hospital (who are making it difficult to transfer medical records). So much extra anxiety, that no one deserves especially chronic pain patients. My daughter was trying to make me laugh yesterday and she said "Sometimes Mom, I think they have your picture up on the wall and decide every few months that it is time to aggravate the crazy lady again"
Wishing you all a wonderful week!
I think my complaint of the day has to do with how people speak to one another. And the loss of basic relationality. How we speak to service people, or the way people treat each other on social media, or zoom. Turning off camera's in class, workshops, or meetings. Like everyone's frustration is fair game for everyone else. I hope that when we get back to life, we can re-learn and re-teach relationality and care. People think other people don't have feelings - are there to be punching bags. I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. Just the way "haters" work, and the kind things that are said and not said to one another. I am always one who looks for the miracles, who celebrates the kind and the spiritual, leadership and acts of random kindness, or plain out miracle. But sometimes the evil stuff gets me down. My friend left me a voicemail message yesterday telling me about the unbelievable entitlement of someone in her class, who had the nerve to soapbox and complain in ways we wouldn't before zoom distanced us. She was such a support to me around my six hour class, that went extremely well, and then had a similar hater thing going on in the end, with our entitled youth. Like you don't have feelings if you are trying to hold a space for others. I am just sad about that this morning. They way people behave to one another. I felt that again, reading Joanne's note, and Rachel's about the way Medicine deals with people. Like we are losing our compassion. Most of the time I feel we are winning the war, but this is a huge war. People are desperate for their mattering. I see it in the psychotherapy relationships. Everyone wants to be seen and cared for - and is saddened by the lack of it in the world. My response? At least amongst friends and family? Is to see the love and light, and count the miracles and positive interactions, and good things that make you smile. Make those matter more. Be a part of the solution. Be your highest self - live how you most want to. Anyway, I just wanted to say that this group is really a bright light...
Rachel N. wrote: "To refocus our Kaffeeklatsch on our personal lives more I'm frustrated after visit to electrophysiologist about pacemaker. The doctor was very abrupt and said my fiance isn't sick enough yet, 3 per..."So frustrating when doctors don't do the minimum. My brother, who has several health issues, was having terrible digestive problems and losing weight for months. He was admitted to the hospital at least twice and they never found anything. Finally a nurse at one of his regular doctor's offices looked up his medication and found this is a common side effect of one of them. He got off that medication, which he didn't really need at that time and his appetite returned. I can't believe no one ever reviewed his medications and all that time, money and aggravation happened. I think this is common with people in nursing homes, too, any issues are attributed to aging when they may be side effects of medication.
Amy wrote: "I think my complaint of the day has to do with how people speak to one another. And the loss of basic relationality. How we speak to service people, or the way people treat each other on social med..."Thank you, Amy, for this reminder. This time of crisis brings out the worst in many of us. Those in your field of mental health may not get the same attention as those in emergency rooms but you are essential to our world!
On a good note.... I've started my job at Amazon!!! I'm sad that it's virtual because I'm sure it would have been so much more fun in person, but it's still exciting. Yesterday was all about setting up the computer and starting to go through all of the trainings.
I really like my co-workers!! I'm not the only girl on the overall team but I am the only girl in my group. Which I've dealt with before. It's not uncommon in tech still. I'm hoping with more and more strong women as role-models we'll get more women in tech and STEM.
You go woman! Hope you get through all the training and onto real work very soon, enjoy!
Charlotte wrote: "On a good note.... I've started my job at Amazon!!! I'm sad that it's virtual because I'm sure it would have been so much more fun in person, but it's still exciting. Yesterday was all about sett..."
How exciting, Charlotte! As for being the only 'girl' - well that has been true for much of my career and I have seen it evolve and change as I myself have become more experienced and grown in my legal career. I started doing commercial financing matters right out of law school and I was often the only female attorney in the room - every other woman was a secretary or paralegal. Now, almost everyone in the room is a woman now, and women are in many ways dominating the legal world of commercial financing at least in NYC.
I know my alma mater, Barnard College which is a women's college, is working hard to bring more women into tech and STEM, including being the first college to require all freshwomen to tak a tech course related to coding, software development etc. Others are now following Barnard's example. STEM has always been important there.
The mere fact that you are there and in the group means that more will be following.
Theresa wrote: "How exciting, Charlotte! As for being the only 'girl' - well that has been true for much of my career and I have seen it evolve and change as I myself have become more experienced and grown in my legal career. ..."That's exciting that your alma mater is doing that! I will say that the larger dept that I'm part of is legal and there are a lot of women GCs.
I know that tech will get there.. I've definitely seen changes since I started out a decade or so ago. I will also say that it is SOOOO much better here than in the South where the Good Ol' Boys network is still a bit prevalent. That's part of my main reason for moving from FL to WA. I felt like I was getting a concussion from the glass ceiling. I was making some progress but when the COO of the company you work for is more impressed with your shoe collection than your work product, it's time to move on. My husband and I were also tired of the heat, humidity and flatness of FL.
I've had more ageism than gender issues lately lol and I don't even feel like I'm that old lol. Thank goodness I look young!! Although I have a grey streak that is becoming more and more stark. Luckily it looks blonde on video conferences :)
A couple of guys want me to get started quickly, one guy wants me to just get used to being an Amazonian and not worry about producing anything for a few months. I learn fast, so I have a feeling I'll be making an impact pretty quickly.
Given Nicole's comment above, would it make sense to include the word Politics in the subject line of this thread - or create a different one? That way we could keep politics in one place, outside of book threads, and people would be forewarned. Or perhaps it's not politics itself that people object too, but some of the words used to describe the politicians (such as "malignant toad").
I took Nicole's message to mean that politics should be left off the PBT site all together. Of course if a book calls for a political discussion than it cannot be avoided. I understand how it is, in this world of unrest, to not want to discuss it, and I can see why the mods would feel this way in not wanting it here
Charlotte wrote: "Theresa wrote: "How exciting, Charlotte! As for being the only 'girl' - well that has been true for much of my career and I have seen it evolve and change as I myself have become more experienced a..."It sounds exciting! I think it's great that you're getting advice about learning about the culture first. I would listen to that, because it suggests that the person has seen others get tripped up by culture issues when presenting or implementing ideas. When you're new, you're going to have a lot of ideas and suggestions for improvement, but these are the things that sometimes get people into trouble because you might inadvertently be poking at sore spots or controversies in the group or culture. Often it's not even the ideas that people object to, it's the manner in which you communicate them. Different orgs have different expectations. I worked in one company that always had meetings before the meetings (which would have been viewed as a complete waste of time at my previous company).
Amazon is considered a tough place to work, so I would pay attention to advice, and who seems to be trusted (or not). Also try to pay attention to subtle feedback. Working remotely, it's harder to see the non-verbal reactions from people, but watch facial expressions. You're more likely to get informal feedback and useful tips from people who see you as similar to themselves in crucial ways. Men are less likely to pull women aside to share tips on sensitive subjects.
I'm reading John Bolton's book and I plan to appropriately review it. I think we all know how to be thoughtful about Nicole's comment, and to be good to one another. Which is the point anyway, I hope. Moving forward together with unity.
Joanne is on the right track, let’s leave all political discussions off PBT unless they are related to a specific book (like Amy’s review of Bolton’s book, for example). And in those cases, the thread title will be a big tip off!There are many other places to discuss politics and say whatever you would like about any of the candidates or processes. Private groups and messages, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Given our large, diverse membership, let’s keep the polarizing political discussions off of PBT.
What I was hoping would happen while being at Amazon, happened yesterday! I got to see a presentation on Goodreads, and was able to sign up to be a beta tester!!! Yay!!! I don't know what I can and can't say but I know that there are some people that are already beta testing changes to the book page.
I also joined two communities within Amazon about Goodreads and plan to find more around books.
In all the excitement, I forgot to say that my in-laws are here!! I was a bit nervous but nothing that I can do about it now. They flew across the country from FL to WA. My MiL is a NICU nurse so she is familiar with safety precautions and they flew first class on Alaskan Air with face masks she made and face shields that she got from work. We've kept my mom a bit more quarantined and everyone wears masks when we see her. We set up a garage for social distancing so that we can all visit and have dinner with her one night.
Fabulous Charlotte-PBT now has an "in" to the complaint department-😂Enjoy your time with your in-laws. It sounds as though you have everything safely under control. I am sure it will be a lovely visit
A couple of nights ago I couldn't sleep, got out of bed, turned on the TV and caught From Here to Eternity. I have seen it before, but its a good movie, and I enjoyed it again (It won 8 Oscars including Best Picture). Then I thought, well, I should read the book! since I just saw the movie. The book is over 800 pages! Not this month, but it is on the TBR. Anybody else doing this backwards, starting with the movie and then reading the book. Amy, I think you did this with Unorthodox.
Charlotte wrote: "What I was hoping would happen while being at Amazon, happened yesterday! I got to see a presentation on Goodreads, and was able to sign up to be a beta tester!!! Yay!!! I don't know what I can a..."
Wow, we now have a "mole" on the inside! (Reminds me of Ready Player One where the hero takes a tech support job in order to figure out/hack into the company). Just kidding, the main thing is that you are yourself a GR user so that you know what makes sense for users, what upgrades we have been asking for and what "improvements" we don't want.
Congrats Charlotte! It sounds like you are really enjoying your new job at Amazon. RE Political talk. It is my very strong belief that this nation will never heal unless people start actually talking and listening to each other. But I agree that this isn't the place for that. But like Amy, I plan to read more political themed books to help myself understand better - and will try to review them also.
COVID hit close to home for me today. I got the news that my aunt and uncle (in their early 80's) in Iowa both have/had COVID. Apparently they have had it for weeks, but my brother and I are just finding out. I'm told that thankfully my aunt is mostly over it, but my uncle went to the hospital today "for some tests" and has been admitted "for a few days". He has also been on a form of monthly chemo for almost a decade fighting lymphoma, so I'm pretty worried about him.
@Doughgirl-Good thoughts coming to you and your family-
Doughgirl5562 wrote: "COVID hit close to home for me today. ..."Hope they'll both be ok, Lynne.
Prayers for your uncle Lynn. Unfortunately were going to be hearing more about this. Scary times. Again, I think we can talk about the politics in a way that speaks to unity and not divide, and that is in line with what Nicole meant about not harping on the topic, not making it a topic focus, and not disenfranchising or marginalizing others.
Shelley - I actually read the book Unorthdox first. I'm not sure I ever saw a movie or series before reading the book, and if i accidentally did, I probably am not the type to go back. For instance, Queen's Gambit. Do I wait to read the book first. or do I just jump into Netflix. Thoughts my friends?
Oh we know it isn't over, we still have McConnell controlling the Senate for now, and the time until January 20th is going to be awful. But hope is in the air. Renewed faith in democracy and our systems will follow.
For those wondering about all the court filings Malignant Orange Toad is pursuing, and how this differs from 2000 and Florida and Bush vs. Gore where SCOTUS basically intervened and decided Bush won, there are distinct differences. Bush led in Electoral College votes, and FL was undergoing a recount because too close to call and the ballots were hard to read. If the recount showed more Gore votes, Bush would lose the ECV lead. Remember hanging chads and pregnant chads? It is all very different this time around. IMHO.