SewBlue / is on Nostr

My life and interests in bullet points.

- mother to a severely dyslexic kid. I do a lot of advocating, as severe dyslexics get shut out of the written internet so you do not see their viewpoints expressed.
- long covid suffer, but able to manage it
- Engineer, except math and science jokes.
- Crafter, mainly sewing. Love any kind craft and art.
- Lover of history and architecture
- old house lover, love my 90 year old house.
- black cat affectionado. So cats.

Last Notes

2024-07-12 03:58:23

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When you get the official letter it should mention your marital status.

2024-07-11 21:33:06

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Fair warning- expect that you will have to prove your are married every so often. The VA will basically assume that your aren't married or got divorced without informing them.
Our first letter said that we were separated (we weren't). And about a year ago, we got a letter taking me off because of the possibility we got divorced. 21 years married.
Not a huge amount of money (maybe $50 a month for us) but best to keep an eye out for that. They will avoid widows benefits if they can.
My husband worked for the VA for a couple years after he got out, basically doing billing stuff. The contempt the VA fostered in its workforce for veterans completely astounded me. They basically assume they are all homeless drug addicts trying to milk the system. He's now working for the Social Security administration, much happier place.
A system that mainly deals with broken people encourages a resentful workforce. The entire structure needs to be overhauled.

2024-07-11 20:59:21

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Military wife here as well.
The system makes zero sense. After my husband got out on the Army in 2007 after 2 Iraq tours, he applied for disability as a matter of course.
For sleep apnea. He'd been diagnosed with sleep apnea woke in service and needed equipment to sleep. Skinny and fit as a fiddle, but would still just stop breathing constantly at night. Almost made him unable to deploy. (Seriously, they sent him to Iraq with a CPAP)
Didn't expect a damn thing from the VA, didn't press our case in any way. But after 2 years of hearing nothing he received 50% disability. Because a medical device is a medical device in the VA's eyes, no different than a cane.
Yet his knee issues, which are clearly from his time in the service, nothing. He'd forgotten to go in to have them checked before he left the service, so the assumption is that he's lying about the service connection.

2024-07-03 13:00:32

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I've been watching my kid grown up without as much of that gender rigidity. Perplexing as an adult relative outsider sometimes, but amazing to watch.
Middle school in San Francisco is a different world. Especially at a school for neurodiversity.

2024-06-20 02:05:40

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I work in infastructure, as an engineer.
The idea of plastic eating microbes frankly scares me. Great for microplastics in the environment an everything that means, but horrible for burried plastic infastructure.
Almost all gas pipe, mile for mile, installed since 1970 is plastic. Buried cables, both communications and power, coated in plastic. Extensive use from an engineering perspective of how inert plastic and how it doesn't decay. Far, far superior to steel for anything buried.
We are living on borrowed time once life figures out how to eat plastic. Houses will go boom from gas leaks and the internet and power will start to fall.
It will be a game changer, for sure.

2024-06-10 06:51:53

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I heard about this years ago. Made me much less anxious when I can't fall back asleep.
Have taught myself to recognize the state (mostly) so I just let myself go with it.
If I truly can't sleep I play a mind's eye confidence game. I think of something I know how to do very well but it's slightly boring, and then over think the details like crazy. I sew, and for many years I thought of making masks for my family to put myself to sleep. I'd picture every stage in overwhelming detail - how bored I am waiting for the iron to heat up, the weight of it my hand, a stubborn wrinkle, the cord is the way. Never have finished a mask in my mind before falling asleep. A task my brain is so wired to do it does not take thought.
Kills the anxiety doom loop. By focusing on a familiar, mundane task you are slightly bored by your brain will stop fighting sleep.

2024-05-19 22:57:20

My garden right now. Heaps of flowers. Hard to believe this was a wasteland of lawn a year ago.
The California poppies were volunteers. I love how many bumble bees they attract.
#bloomscrolling #NoLawn
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/112/469/689/468/244/597/original/fb17ff9ca85f08fa.jpg

2024-05-13 20:26:39

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Mechanical engineer here.
I find rather ironic on a certain level that we have never moved past the use of steam to generate power. Even nuclear fusion, the forever the tech of the future, conceptually uses a steam turbine.
Fancier and fancier ways to heat water is all we have done is almost 150 years year.
We essentially plateaued in 1884. Nuclear, natural gas, oil, coal all turn steam engines. Only except is a natural gas turbine, but they don't scale well to this kind of power output. Still a turbine, but at least skipping a steam intermediary. 😉
Beyond that, ugh - I can't imagine how nerve-wracking this phase of construction is. Those things are delicate. Must have been a long slow process.