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Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:56 pm
by linguoboy
alynnidalar wrote:The bakery where I got them had a bunch of interesting flavors--the surprising favorite (to me) was apple with a cinnamon/powdered sugar coating.
We had those, too, but I decided to go with the plum instead since I know those don't sell as well.

Two years ago, a German friend was visiting and he really went to try them so we went to place near me called the Swedish(!) Bakery. They had one of the largest ranges of flavours I've seen and some of them were...not 100% successful. The cherry cheese was kind of a study in how Americans ruin everyone else's pastries.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 3:08 pm
by alynnidalar
...now there's a weird one. The bakery I got them is, ironically, an Italian bakery, so they offer a ricotta filling. I've been told it's actually quite good, but I'm still skeptical (plus it cost more).

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 3:32 pm
by linguoboy
alynnidalar wrote:...now there's a weird one. The bakery I got them is, ironically, an Italian bakery, so they offer a ricotta filling. I've been told it's actually quite good, but I'm still skeptical (plus it cost more).
Yeah, "cannoli filling" was a big thing this year. Don't be mixing up my ethnic treats like that!

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 6:48 pm
by Travis B.
Why is Pączki Day not a thing up here in Wisconsin?

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:46 am
by alynnidalar
Too many Finns and Swedes, not enough Poles?

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:22 am
by linguoboy
Travis B. wrote:Why is Pączki Day not a thing up here in Wisconsin?
It totally is in Milwaukee. Move out of the sticks!

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:31 am
by Travis B.
alynnidalar wrote:Too many Finns and Swedes, not enough Poles?
There are plenty of Poles here in the Milwaukee area - they just are not as visible as the Poles in Chicago, and there aren't more Poles coming to Milwaukee at the present like there are with Chicago.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:34 am
by Travis B.
linguoboy wrote:
Travis B. wrote:Why is Pączki Day not a thing up here in Wisconsin?
It totally is in Milwaukee. Move out of the sticks!
I live far enough from Milwaukee proper these days that one could argue that I no longer live in Milwaukee, in the broad sense thereof (like how I'd say my sister lives in Chicago, when in fact she lives way in the western suburbs thereof). But I never remembered it being Pączki Day back when I lived half a block from Milwaukee proper either.

It turns out, though, that one of the local grocery stores was selling pączkis for Pączki Day, actually.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:06 pm
by Vijay
H Mart recently opened a location here in Austin. There's been a lot of seemingly undeserved hype over it (a lot of things in Austin are overrated IMO, especially SXSW. I swear most Austinites have zero taste). My mom went and said they had a food court with a Korean stall that served grilled mackerel. This was all true, but I tried it, and it wasn't that great (I'm getting to the happy part, I promise!).

So today, my dad took me to Hana Yoree, and I had their grilled mackerel instead because that's where I normally prefer to eat it anyway. It was everything I'd hoped for. I feel it's better than H Mart's, and it's also cheaper, plus they even give you a bit more rice and side dishes and free soup! (I don't think their soup is that great tbh, but hey, it's free!). This time, when I got my mackerel, people around me started asking which item I got from the menu.

My dad was afraid maybe H Mart would edge Hana Yoree out of business. Not while I'm around it won't!

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:00 am
by Ryusenshi
I've been accepted to the Master's program I applied to! :-D

Finally, FINALLY I will be able to leave behind this awful, awful job.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 8:00 pm
by Vijay
Ryusenshi wrote:I've been accepted to the Master's program I applied to! :-D

Finally, FINALLY I will be able to leave behind this awful, awful job.
That's almost exactly the opposite of how I feel about my own job vs. Master's program. :P

Congratulations! :)

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 7:10 am
by Salmoneus
So far as we know, one of my parents doesn't have any horrible cancer (see note from last month in the venting thread). This is good.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:45 pm
by linguoboy
Salmoneus wrote:So far as we know, one of my parents doesn't have any horrible cancer (see note from last month in the venting thread). This is good.
That is excellent news. I'm very relieved on your behalf.

I was very down on humanity (specifically the young gay male subset of it) yesterday after being stood up yet again in a particularly humiliating way (though more from deep cluelessness than malice aforethought, for whatever difference that makes). But I had a meeting of the German-speaking bears to attend so I forced myself to face the world anyway. Only one other member made it--but he was there despite the fact that it was at a new venue I chose, his husband stayed home because they'd both been out late drinking, and he had an exam the next day. In a world of flakes, there are still some people who honour their commitments and I'm fortunate enough to know a few.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:53 pm
by hwhatting
linguoboy wrote:
Salmoneus wrote:So far as we know, one of my parents doesn't have any horrible cancer (see note from last month in the venting thread). This is good.
That is excellent news. I'm very relieved on your behalf.
Me too.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:16 pm
by Vijay
hwhatting wrote:
linguoboy wrote:
Salmoneus wrote:So far as we know, one of my parents doesn't have any horrible cancer (see note from last month in the venting thread). This is good.
That is excellent news. I'm very relieved on your behalf.
Me too.
Me three.

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:11 pm
by Salmoneus
Thank you.

[To clarify in case the wording was ambiguous: hopefully, neither parent now has cancer. One did have cancer, but has now finished treatment (as much as you ever do) and is theoretically OK (although given difficulties diagnosing and finding the cancer in the first place, there's an element of skepticism there, in terms of the potential for recurrence - but I guess that's usually the way). The other one has an unidentified complaint, and went for the "we'd better check if this is cancer because if it is it'll be horrible" scan literally the day after the first one's last treatment session, which seemed to be inviting a ghastly irony. But, a long time later (it's ridiculous how different the efficiency is depending on how fashionable the cancer type is!) the scans have come back and the diagnosis is now "nope, no idea what's causing that - have to wait and see, I guess!", but at least there's no obvious sign of any cancer, so it's probably not that, so it's probably not something important and will hopefully just go away eventually.]


[To be honest, statistically, cancer was never that probable. It's just that there weren't many possibilities on the list, and if it was cancer it would have been a bad one. And one of those "you don't see any symptoms until it's too late" ones, so there was a fair amount of trepidation, particularly our recent history with cancer. Made worse by the inanity of doctors. Doctors seem to have no ability to deal with conflict or distress, so they just tell you anything that they think will make you happy long enough to leave their office without causing a scene. In watching people with cancer (and indeed other conditions), repeatedly I've seen the same scenario:
Doctor One: oh, there's probably nothing to worry about. But maybe it would be a good idea if I sent these scans to Doctor Two,a specialist, just in case they might be able to see something...
Doctor Two: hello. I see from your notes that Doctor One has discovered that you have X!

Or:
Doctor One: I wouldn't worry - that's a possibility for some patients, but you'll probably be fine, so we probably won't need to do anything about...
Doctor Two: hello. As you know, you've been scheduled for surgery tomorrow. What? Oh no, we do this with all patients with your condition, without exception.

So now any time I hear "the doctor said there was probably nothing to worry about but we should do a scan anyway", I'm not just worrying that the scan might turn up something bad, but also that there's a 50% chance that the first doctor knew all along that there was something bad, even without the scan, and just didn't want to say it out loud in case someone got upset...
]

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 6:35 am
by vampireshark
So, the lab group I'm in here in Luxembourg was charged with hosting this year's German Liquid Crystal Conference. (Why they picked Luxembourg is a mystery to me.) In any event, I also was awarded a slot for an oral presentation on some of the work I've been doing on interfacial tension of liquid crystals, and the presentation went reasonably well. Stayed within the time limit, got some good questions, and generally received good feedback.

I also was awarded, for that talk, the German Liquid Crystal Society's "Young Scientist Award" for the best presentation by a Ph.D. student at the conference. Complete surprise to me, seeing as how I'm not German and I wasn't thinking my talk was the best (plus, well, I was part of the hosting/organizing team!). It also comes with a €500 cash prize, which is also equally nice.

In summary, the conference went along with very few hiccups and issues, and I got a prize. So all good. (Except for this review meeting in two weeks.)

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:45 am
by Vijay
Congratulations (and I guess good luck for the review meeting. I'm honestly not sure what that is)!

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:32 am
by hwhatting
vampireshark wrote:I also was awarded, for that talk, the German Liquid Crystal Society's "Young Scientist Award" for the best presentation by a Ph.D. student at the conference. Complete surprise to me, seeing as how I'm not German and I wasn't thinking my talk was the best (plus, well, I was part of the hosting/organizing team!). It also comes with a €500 cash prize, which is also equally nice.
Congratulations! And I'm happy that the German Liquid Crystal Society is so inclusive. :-)

Re: Happy Things Thread

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:33 am
by Ryusenshi
My birthday present:
Image

5 watts of juicy Marshall tone.