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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Grateful and Relieved

Open Thread: Grateful and Relieved

by WaterGirl|  April 21, 20218:38 pm| 103 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I am so grateful today for the verdict that came in yesterday.  Just so relieved.

I listened this afternoon to parts of a hearing in the Senate – from a day or two ago – because I wanted to hear what Stacey Abrams had to say.  What a bunch of Republican douches, all trying to play the gotcha game with Stacey, and it seemed like Tom Cotton in particular wanted to tear her down related to the 2022 governor’s election in Georgia.

Grateful also for Stacey Abrams and the for the quality of our senators.   Very impressed as usual with Rev. Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

I’m also grateful for the steady voices on the blog who speak their truth.  You know who you are!

Anyone else feeling grateful?   About anything?

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Previous Post: « Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The Human Constant
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Reader Interactions

103Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    April 21, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    I’ll pop this in from last thread.

    FREE EVENT at 10 pm Eastern tonight; 7 pm PDT:  President Barack Obama in conversation with Director Ava DuVernay.

    For the LA Times Book Club.  You know you want to see this!  Free, but you must register.

    This free virtual community book club event will be live streaming on the Los Angeles Times Facebook page, YouTube and Twitter. You will receive the platform links via email on the day of the event.

  2. 2.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 21, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    My spouse had stomach issues after the first Moderna that didn’t quite resolve. He scheduled a battery of tests even as the symptoms eased. All is fine! Grateful.

  3. 3.

    MagdaInBlack

    April 21, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    I’ve been watching a few clips of that hearing. She was magnificent ❤️

    Eta: I’m getting my first shot tomorrow at 10:30. I snagged an appointment at a Walgreens less than a mile from work. 2nd dose May 20 ? Grateful

  4. 4.

    frosty

    April 21, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    Grateful that I could get vaccinations #1 and #2 in two different states I don’t live in while on the road. Also for vaccinefinder.org which found appointments for us and for my son back home.

    Other stuff, too.

  5. 5.

    guachi

    April 21, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    I’m grateful that the US Military got me fully vaccinated two months ago. First shot was one minute after Biden became President and the second was four weeks later.

    It’s definitely a relief.

  6. 6.

    zhena gogolia

    April 21, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    Grateful for Joe and Kamala.

    Grateful for my Pfizer and my husband’s J&J.

    Grateful for my husband.

    Grateful for the verdict yesterday.

    Grateful that Cycle Savages, a Bruce Dern masterpiece, is on Prime so I can reconnect with a memory of teenage drive-in movie hilarity. I think Bruce improvised his entire role.

    ETA: Didn’t mean to trivialize the verdict by putting it in this position. I have been following the trial with fear and trembling.

  7. 7.

    oldster

    April 21, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    So, so grateful that Biden won. Every day of his presidency has been a ten-fold improvement over how it would have been otherwise. A hundred-fold improvement. Thank you, all of you who worked to make that happen.

    So grateful that Sens Warnock and Ossoff won. Again: thank you to those who raised money, beat the drums, pounded the pavements.

    Grateful for the vaccines.

  8. 8.

    Elizabelle

    April 21, 2021 at 8:47 pm

    Very grateful for the triple-guilty verdict yesterday; an outcome that could never be taken for granted.  And find myself a bit sad today.  It’s done; court procedure turned out as well as could have been expected, and George Floyd can still never come back; can never see his young daughter.   Ah well.  A lot of work ahead of us.

    We had some wonderful high winds to listen to this afternoon.  Always enjoy that.

  9. 9.

    frosty

    April 21, 2021 at 8:47 pm

    Grateful that I could get vaccinations #1 and #2 in two different states I don’t live in while on the road. Also for vaccinefinder.org which found appointments for us and for my son back home.

    ETA: I don’t mean to hijack this for more vaccine stories. I’m grateful for other stuff, too. Carry on.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    April 21, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    Grateful to vaccines that made it safe for me to see my parents and other family for the first time in over a year. We did a Thanksgiving dinner; I spent three or four hours Sunday making this cake. Seriously good, but definitely a special-occasion endeavor.

    Also amused as hell at my mom’s travails in trying to source a whole fresh turkey ‘out of season’ as it were. She found one, eventually, by talking to the butcher at the local Wegmans.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    April 21, 2021 at 8:50 pm

    Grateful every day for President Joe Biden and VP Harris and Nancy Smash Pelosi, and a return to sanity.

    Grateful for a beautiful spring.  For being at the beginning (or even further) of the end of rampant COVID in the United States. Albeit, not worldwide.  Grateful for the slow reawakening that is upon us.

    We have wonderful redbuds and azaleas and tulips.  Short-lived and so lovely to see when they are out.

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    @dmsilev: As soon as I saw “Thanksgiving” I was going to ask about your chocolate cake, and then there it was right after the semicolon!

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    April 21, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    @dmsilev:   The cake-making sounds restorative.  Yum.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    We had snow and a freeze yesterday and last night, and we have another freeze tonight.

    I was thrilled when I looked out the windows this morning and found that all my tulips and even my peonies (that are coming up) looked fine.  It was warm-adjacent today, but getting down to 30 tonight, which is warmer than last night.  Hoping everything still looks good again tomorrow.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    April 21, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    @WaterGirl: Icing was a bit too sweet for my tastes, but otherwise a really tasty and very impressive-looking cake. And yes, being there and making it was therapeutic.

    Other bit of baking was teaching my niece and nephew (age 9) how to bake bagels. That was fun.

  16. 16.

    Subsole

    April 21, 2021 at 8:56 pm

    Grateful for my first shot, grateful for the Chauvin verdict, grateful the semester is almost done.

    Been a good week so far.

  17. 17.

    debbie

    April 21, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    I embedded a tweet in the last thread about Stacy being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. That ought to warm your heart.

  18. 18.

    James E Powell

    April 21, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    I am so grateful today for the verdict that came in yesterday.  Just so relieved.

    Same here. Same all over.

  19. 19.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    April 21, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    My folks got shot #2 today. My universe turns 6 tomorrow.  Super grateful.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    @dmsilev: Yeah, I am not a mousse person.  Ganache, that’s a completely different story!

    Glad you got to bake with the kids.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    April 21, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    @MagdaInBlack:

    You are four hours ahead of me! I’m also getting mine at a nearby Walgreen’s. Second dose May 13.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    As I sit here, Miss Willow stopped by to say hello, and then Mr. Bear. Tucker is sleeping in his new big, round, dog bed, and Henry is sleeping on the couch next to Mr. Bear.

    I am so grateful for all of them; I don’t know how I would have made it through this year without them.

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    April 21, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    @WaterGirl:   Hard working pets.

  24. 24.

    RSA

    April 21, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    I’m grateful to have gotten my second shot over the weekend, with side effects limited to fatigue. Now to catch up on a haircut, doctor and dentist visits, and seeing my family again.

  25. 25.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 21, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    I am grateful that as of Monday, everybody living in this house has had Pfizer #1 and #2. My daughter and SIL have already gotten #1 through the VA, #2 is next week.

  26. 26.

    Yet Another Haldane

    April 21, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    Grateful and relieved by the Chauvin verdict, yesyesyes.

    I live a ten-minute walk from Hennepin County Government Center.  Yesterday, after the verdict, three Guard Humvees and an LMTV personnel carrier were parked on the street outside.  Later in the evening, a column of alternating State Patrol cruisers and National Guard Humvees drove by toward downtown.  They were ready to crack down fast and hard, but did not get the chance.

    As Keith Ellison and others have said, the verdict was necessary, but not justice.  Yesterday we (judge, jury, and all of us) failed to make a terrible mistake.  Good!  We avoided an error that we’ve made so very many times before, and for that I’m grateful.

    After the verdict, guy with a bullhorn outside Government Center led the crowd chanting, “It’s not over yet.”  I’m grateful for him.

    I’m grateful for the ladies walking through the crowd offering cookies.  I cried then, with gratitude, and I’m crying now.  Cookies!

  27. 27.

    raven

    April 21, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    I’m grateful that after 14 months of physical therapy for my mysterious motor issues I have a preliminary diagnoses (based on a second lumbar MRI) that I have a “tethered spinal cord). I see a neurosurgeon in a couple of weeks to see what can be done. I’m pretty sure I won’t have surgery while Bohdi is still with us because I have to be able to carry him but at least there is some hope.

  28. 28.

    CaseyL

    April 21, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    I am grateful every day for President Biden, VP Harris, and a Democratic Congress.

    I’m also, like nearly everyone else, grateful for and relieved by Chauvin’s multiple convictions.

    I’m grateful for my job, working for a terrific organization, with terrific people, and the chance to WFH for lo these many months (and still ongoing!).

    I’m grateful for my kitties, who have been my primary (and often sole) social outlet, also for lo these many months.  I’m not sure how much they enjoyed hearing reviews and analyses of the books I’ve read and movies I’ve streamed, but I certainly enjoyed giving those little talks.

    Very grateful for Spring! … and the chance to go see turtles sunning themselves at a local park.

  29. 29.

    namekarB

    April 21, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    Grateful for a crate full of crepes full of grapes.

  30. 30.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 21, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    @WaterGirl: Some years back, dear wife and I went to a fairly fancy Boston restaurant through some promotion she got. We were seated at a “chef’s counter” – but there was only a partial view of the kitchen through a sort of porthole. I remember the waitress describing one dessert as something-or-other “with chocolate ganache.” Minutes later I watched through that quasi-window as somebody was plating that very dessert and reached for the universally-recognizable plastic Hershey’s syrup bottle.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    @CaseyL:

    I’m not sure how much they enjoyed hearing reviews and analyses of the books I’ve read and movies I’ve streamed, but I certainly enjoyed giving those little talks.

    That made me laugh.  And you have a job!  That you like!  Yay.

  32. 32.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    April 21, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    As already said by others, grateful (and in my case, surprised) by the verdicts. Surprised that all three counts were adjudicated – wasn’t aware that was an option. I didn’t – couldn’t – watch the trial. I only saw Mr. Floyd’s death on video once; I found it more than sufficient.

    Mostly, I’m grateful that the word has been given that this is a beginning, not an end. There are more dead brothers and sisters whose murderers need to be held to account. January 6 seditionists and insurrectionists who need to face justice. Aiders and abetters in the Congress who need to be expelled and prosecuted.

    In short, more work to do. Make it so.

  33. 33.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 21, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    I still want to know what happened with Cotton in Iraq: specifically, how a guy who screams “Asshole LT” made it back from there not in a body bag.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 9:24 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s just wrong.  So very wrong.

    Have I ever told you guys the story of going to a Steak ‘n Shake late at night on a vacation trip with an 8-year-old?

    While we were waiting to be seated, the waitress opened a mini-fridge, took out a bowl of big, fat, wormy looking spaghetti noodles, put some on a plate, squirted those babies with some red sauce from one of those squirt red ketchup bottles (the mustard bottles are yellow) and popped that baby into the microwave.  Ugh.

    In keeping with the “gratitude” theme of the thread, let me just say that I was so grateful that I now knew to NEVER order spaghetti at a place like that.

  35. 35.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 21, 2021 at 9:24 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: What’s going on in Russia with Navalny? Any thoughts? Also did your DIL finally get her GC?

  36. 36.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 21, 2021 at 9:24 pm

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Much more work.  Accountability must be universal, and every cop needs to be held to high professional standards.  If they can’t handle that, go to a more appropriate job, like asking people if they want fries with that.

  37. 37.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 21, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    I am glad that Biden is the President, and am waiting for the day when India junks the Saffron menace.

  38. 38.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    April 21, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    I did photography for the grand opening of a thrift boutique in Athens on Saturday.  Proceeds from the sales at the boutique go to an organization that helps survivors of sex trafficking and substance abuse.  It’s always a relief to shoot an event, get home, load the images into Lightroom and find that they don’t suck — but it’s particularly gratifying when it’s a charity shoot for a good cause and you’re confident the organizer will be happy with what you give them.

    So it’s been a good couple of days. I’m grateful to be able to contribute in some small way to their grand opening, and I’m grateful to be shooting again after putting down my camera for the past year.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 9:27 pm

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): That’s great!  Paid gig?  Or still volunteering your way towards your big break?  Which is a time-honored way of getting started.

  40. 40.

    artem1s

    April 21, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    grateful for the April snow this morning and the reminder that spring and relief from COVID and justice are elusive and maybe just a bit out of reach but on their way.

    grateful for my job as much as it is stressing me out right now. I have requested the universe give me relief on that front and am keeping a hopeful heart

    grateful for Stacey and all the others who are in the right place at the right time to speak the truth and make righteous trouble

  41. 41.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 21, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Navalny will likely die. Not enough Russians care enough to do enough about it. They’ve made their deal.

    No GC, not even an interview appointment. Son just spent three weeks in CDMX, so at least they’ve had some time together, but this is heart-rendingly slow.

  42. 42.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    April 21, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: ABSOLUTELY THIS!

    Mama Cisco opined that once it becomes clear that the policing model will exclude extrajudicial killings of black and brown people, mass resignations could follow. Not sure I agree, but I’d be fine with it.

    There’s been a member of my family, on either side, on the job since before I was born. None of them found it necessary to assassinate anyone, so I think others can stand up to that standard.

  43. 43.

    raven

    April 21, 2021 at 9:31 pm

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Project Safe?

  44. 44.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 21, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    Grateful we saw our son and DIL on Saturday.

  45. 45.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    April 21, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    @WaterGirl: It was a volunteer thing that was going to be handled by the photographer who ran the studio where I used to intern until the pandemic shut it down.

    But then he texted me today to offer me a paying job in a couple of weeks.  Will it lead to more?  Who knows.  But I forgot how much I enjoyed this, so it’s nice to be doing it again at all.

  46. 46.

    Skepticat

    April 21, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    Grateful for some (but nowhere near enough) sanity in the political realm and the significantly lowered decibel level.

    Profoundly grateful for the Chauvin verdict and hoping it will be the crack in the dam to actually make a difference—though I don’t really expect that.

    Grateful for a generous neighbor who’s let me and the cats live in a two-room suite so I’m still on my island, although without a home—and we have power after 20 months.

    Grateful that so many friends have been immunized, though I’ll have to wait until I return to the States, and that I’m in a safe bubble so far.

    The rest of the list is very, very long but extremely mundane. And come to think of it, I’m grateful for that too.

  47. 47.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    April 21, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    @raven: Divas Who Win, in the Chase Street Warehouse.

  48. 48.

    LeftCoastYankee

    April 21, 2021 at 9:36 pm

    I feel like lately life has been one good thing, one bad thing, but after a year where it seemed like the ratio was one good thing, 100 bad things, this is OK.

    I’m appreciating the good much more. And the bad which is under my own control, I’m more forgiving of myself, and appreciating the work to come. For the bad in the wider world, I feel like I have more bandwidth and energy to do my part.

  49. 49.

    raven

    April 21, 2021 at 9:39 pm

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Ah, right around the corner! Great work!

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 9:39 pm

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Oh, that’s great!

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    April 21, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    If they can’t be cops, I’d doubt seriously that they could be trusted to have anything to do with food.

  52. 52.

    Rob

    April 21, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    I’m grateful for/about the Chauvin verdict too. Also, we didn’t loose electricity during today’s winds.

  53. 53.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    April 21, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    @raven:  Thanks, but they did the work.  I just photographed them doing it.  ;)

  54. 54.

    CaseyL

    April 21, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): ​
      How delightful, to rediscover a craft and that you still enjoy it – and then to possibly get a paying job doing it!

  55. 55.

    raven

    April 21, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): It takes a village. I see the actual store is over on Hawthorne.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    April 21, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    Closing the computer now and going to watch some TV and snuggle with my guys.

    We haven’t had a music thread in awhile, so whenever you guys get tired of being grateful :-) you can always talk music or anything else.

    Still exceedingly grateful that he didn’t get just one guilty verdict, or some compromise verdict, where he got off on the lowest charge. GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!  What a balm for the soul.  Deep breaths today, tomorrow we get back to the fight.

  57. 57.

    raven

    April 21, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    @WaterGirl: I’m Grateful I’m not Dead!

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    April 21, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    About anything?

    Small stuff.

    Grateful that accomplished the semi-annual descaling of the coffee maker innards today. And for the delicious two hour nap afterwards.

    Not that the one necessitated the other.

  59. 59.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 21, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    @raven: Now you’ve done it.

  60. 60.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 21, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    One week until vaccination #2.

    Thanks again to everyone who voted Biden/Harris.  The alternative is too horrifying to think about.

  61. 61.

    LeftCoastYankee

    April 21, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): ​
     

    Here in Portland, our “local” newspaper (owned by out of state conservatives), ran an article on police officers who are leaving the PPB, and a survey of the exit interviews.

    There was a good deal of “protestors bad, city council bad”, but later in the article they explicitly refer to a young Latino officer who said most of the force had no idea what the neighborhoods they served were experiencing, and that community policing wasn’t happening.

    It then indicated the vast majority of those leaving (and actually commenting on why in their exit interviews) were white men.

    Which made the exit reason of “it’s not fun anymore” referenced in the article seem more disturbing.

    Oregonian article

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 21, 2021 at 9:53 pm

    Grateful I got the second Moderna yesterday, no side-effects today except a sore arm and jet-lag like fatigue

    @raven: NO! I’m not glad to be alive. I’m glad I’m not dead. There’s a difference!

    /Paul Dooley, Breaking Away, which should be a gif for those of us of a certain disposition

  63. 63.

    Ruckus

    April 21, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    I am grateful that I have picked a retirement date. In June.

    I’ve had jobs for 60 yrs. And yes I started with a paper route and working for my father in a machine shop but still 60 yrs is enough.

    I’m grateful that I was able to get vaccinated a couple months ago with the VA.

  64. 64.

    J R in WV

    April 21, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    We too are grateful to be vaccinated, and that most of our friends are also vaccinated. We actually went to a birthday party last Saturday for a dear friend, ‘W’ who is now 74. He has done wonderful work on both our home here in WV and the winter camp in AZ, a master carpenter and log home builder, currently building a small log building by his home to teach a young friend how it is done. Grateful for W…

    Glad to have President Joe Biden, who appears to be giving FDR a run for best president in the past 90 years, since 1932…

    Will stop now. Glad to have a list of things to be glad for, won’t bore with the whole list…

  65. 65.

    J R in WV

    April 21, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Retirement is wonderful. Regular income, no problem. No crazed boss, no problem. I’ll stop there. Enjoy the lead up to June!!

  66. 66.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 21, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    @Ruckus: Fair point.  Waste processing it is!

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    April 21, 2021 at 10:03 pm

    Obama/DuVernay event has just begun.

  68. 68.

    Suzanne

    April 21, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    Grateful that COVID cases are finally declining again here. Grateful that Mr. Suzanne’s asthma inhaler seems to be working. UNBELIEVABLY grateful that Spawn the Elder is here, finally, and is doing as well mental-health-wise as I have any right to expect. Grateful to be starting a new gig on May 10. So, so, so grateful that the right outcome was reached in the trial.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    April 21, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    Yowza! That’s great.

    Almost 50 years ago went to attend an amateur performance of a play in which a lot of acquaintances were involved. Was dragooned into running the light board (long, boring backstory). On opening night. Without ever having seen a rehearsal, nor any other production of that musical.

    Somehow it went off with but the one small hiccup of delayed timing of the first blackout. Afterward the father of the director, who was a Name (as opposed to a Big Name) in theatrical production circles pulled me aside, shoved his business card into my hand and said, “If you ever want a tech job on Broadway, kid, look me up.”

  70. 70.

    Other MJS

    April 21, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    Grateful for my second House Moderna tomorrow. Then the two-week countdown to an actual haircut and other stuff.

  71. 71.

    HumboldtBlue

    April 21, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    With all the thankfulness and gratefulness and stuff I figured I’d at least get some turkey, gravy, some potatoes maybe, a good dinner roll. Some greens?

    At least I brought dessert, a smiling donkey.

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    April 21, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I’m picturing boots and overalls, shovels and a crap ton of cows. A crap ton is the amount of cow manure that each one of them would have to shovel every damn day.

    I offered the XO who was the last person to sign me out of the navy, an alternate to his prediction that I would reenlist in the navy. I informed him that I had a friend whose family owned 5 dairies and that’s a fair amount of cow shit every day, but I would rather shovel cow shit every day for the rest of my life than come back and work for people like him. Notice that he’d already signed my discharge and I held it in my hand at the time……

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    April 21, 2021 at 10:12 pm

    @HumboldtBlue

    Insist you take the green bean casserole home with you.

    Please!

    ;)

  74. 74.

    gwangung

    April 21, 2021 at 10:14 pm

    @NotMax: 50 years ago, that kind of performance would be something; manually doing the cues takes some skill.

    Nowadays, all you have to do is punch a button on cue (which is why low grade operations like mind combine the board op with the stage manager….)

  75. 75.

    Mike in NC

    April 21, 2021 at 10:18 pm

    Grateful that it has been a couple of months since I last spotted some asshole wearing a red MAGA cap.

  76. 76.

    Jay

    April 21, 2021 at 10:20 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    "Putin is a killer" chant in St Petersburg. Estimates show tens of thousands coming out in Moscow which is key. So far around 1,500 have been arrested https://t.co/LApT7dY4RG— Olga Lautman (@OlgaNYC1211) April 21, 2021

  77. 77.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    April 21, 2021 at 10:22 pm

    @LeftCoastYankee: Wow. Thank you for sharing that. I’ll have to let Mama Cisco know.

    As for the resignations, I’ll hand the response off to my boy Kosh.

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    April 21, 2021 at 10:23 pm

    @gwangung

    all you have to do is punch a button on cue

    ♫ Meet George Jetson ♫

    :)

  79. 79.

    pat

    April 21, 2021 at 10:24 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    No GC, not even an interview appointment. Son just spent three weeks in CDMX, so at least they’ve had some time together, but this is heart-rendingly slow.

    Huh? Are we supposed to know what that means?  CDMX? GC?

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    April 21, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    @pat: CDMX = Mexico City

    GC = Green Card

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    April 21, 2021 at 10:26 pm

    @Mike in NC: Not a single hat since 1/6. No vehicle flags, no house flags, a couple of bumper stickers, and one mask.

  82. 82.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 21, 2021 at 10:27 pm

    Related to Stacey Abrams, remember when I asked how Rose Twitter types would react to being confronted with voter suppression and how that’s a difference between the parties? Well, Zaid Jilani on Twitter basically did whataboutism and accuses Abrams of hypocrisy, so I guess I found the answer:

    Stacey Abrams has called Georgia’s new voting law a “redux of Jim Crow.” But a few years ago, she sponsored and voted for a measure to cut early voting days in half — justifying it as a cost saving measure. Was that Jim Crow, too?

    Even if this were true, this is not the same as the bullshit GA bill that allows unlimited numbers of challenges against voters, which will absolutely be used against black voters, or allowing the state to take over local BOEs and void election results they don’t like

  83. 83.

    Redshift

    April 21, 2021 at 10:27 pm

    I’m grateful that I’ve gotten my first shot, and eagerly awaiting my second.

    And I’m grateful not to have to wake up every day prepared to fight my government. But Joe and Kamala are so much better than just that, and I’m grateful for that too.

  84. 84.

    Zelma

    April 21, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    I am grateful I got to see my son after nine months.  Thank you scientists.

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    April 21, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    @Suzanne: Lots of good news.

    I thought of you when I read this.

    I’m glad things are looking up!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 21, 2021 at 10:29 pm

    @Jay:

    Whoa

  87. 87.

    pat

    April 21, 2021 at 10:30 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Thank  you.

  88. 88.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 21, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    I’m grateful for myself and family to be fully vaccinated. I’m also grateful and relieved that Chauvin was held accountable by a court of law

  89. 89.

    Mo Salad

    April 21, 2021 at 10:37 pm

    I am grateful that the European Super League fell apart yesterday afternoon around the same time as the verdict.

    It would have been pretty ironic to have to give up on soccer the same day as my personalized “ANF13LD” license plate arrived in the mail.

  90. 90.

    Mai Naem mobile

    April 21, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    I am grateful and pleasantly surprised by the verdict. I still haven’t watched the whole tape of the murder because I honestly can’t handle watching stuff like that anymore.  I am grateful that Joe Biden was elected along with a Dem House and a Dem(barely) Senate. I  listened to Melody Barnes(Obama WH aide) do a long piece on LBJ’s Great Society on PRX. I know Biden doesn’t have the advantages that LBJ did but he certainly seems to know the ropes to make some big stuff happen.

  91. 91.

    cain

    April 21, 2021 at 10:52 pm

    I got my shot today!! yay!!! :-)

  92. 92.

    VOR

    April 21, 2021 at 10:57 pm

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): I saw a couple TFG flags while driving through farm country a week ago. But the jerk down the block took down his TFG flag and only has a Blue Lives Matter flag.

  93. 93.

    Ken

    April 21, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    @NotMax: Somehow it went off with but the one small hiccup of delayed timing of the first blackout.

    A community theater group I’m involved with had a small glitch during a tech rehearsal. The scene ended with a kiss, and the director had told the cast members to hold the kiss until lights out, but told the lighting board the cue for lights out was when they broke the kiss. We never could get him to confess if it was deliberate.

    I’m grateful all my family has both their shots, except I’ve only had one. I’m also grateful that the theater group may be able to start up again in the fall.

  94. 94.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    April 21, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    @VOR: There are (and were) none in my neighborhood. Only flags are the Stars and Stripes. It’s pretty calming not to see that stuff where you live.

  95. 95.

    dww44

    April 21, 2021 at 11:14 pm

    @Ruckus: Yep.  60 years is long enough.  I believe I’m older than you by a few years, but, even so, I’ve been officially retired for 19 years.  Do a lot of non-profit work with a couple of arts groups. So what exciting plans do you have?

  96. 96.

    Timurid

    April 21, 2021 at 11:19 pm

    Tomorrow will be Shot 2 + 14 for me.

    After this last year it doesn’t even seem real…

  97. 97.

    Jean

    April 21, 2021 at 11:24 pm

    I am grateful that my family is vaccinated, but am waiting for my granddaughter to get her first dose, now that VA is open for her age-group.  I am grateful that I made it through the year without getting COVID, and that no one in my family became ill.  That I had a barn to go to all year where I could be outside and enjoy my horse SAVED my sanity.   My two little rescue dogs, Milo and Marcie, also did their part to keep us all walking and smiling through the bad days.

    I am immensely grateful for Biden and Harris and all the Dems in cabinet positions and Psaki!  Lately, I do not obsess about checking the news as if something horrible is about to happen.  I’m calming down.  Surprised and happy about the verdict–guilty guilty guilty.  I thought he might only get the lesser of the charges.  Still don’t understand how one can be guilty of all three, but glad it happened.

  98. 98.

    smike

    April 21, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    @cain:

    Congrats to you!

  99. 99.

    Skippy-san

    April 22, 2021 at 12:08 am

    Cotton and Cruz are disgusting slime.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    April 22, 2021 at 2:13 am

    @dww44:

    Relax. Possibly travel a bit, once this Covid thing gets better. Like to take the train to Vancover, Canada, then the trans Canadian to Montreal and then down to DC to see The Wall, the Smithsonian, etc, would like to do this with Biden/Harris in office.

    I’ve worked basically standing up physical jobs for my entire life, the closest I’ve come to an office job was my job in professional sports, and I was on the road, at events 30 or more weeks a yr, so not a lot of desk time. I feel like a little relaxation, fucking off, doing doodly squat is in order. Maybe I’ll get over that at some point……. who knows.

    I have a real good buddy (48 yrs worth) who is 3 yrs older than me who has been retired for 10-11 yrs. The large international corp he worked for let go most anyone past 30 yrs or approaching when the recession got going full bore. He had 29 yrs 10 months. They gave him pension as if he had done 30, and a retirement bonus. He was pissed off for about a year that he got retired. He got over it. Bastard.

  101. 101.

    Denali

    April 22, 2021 at 8:23 am

    I am grateful that I am getting my seoncd shot today. I am grateful that TFG is gone, and that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have turned out to be so good at their jobs.  I am grateful that Spring is coming,  and that I’ll be able to be out and about. I am grateful for this blog.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    April 22, 2021 at 9:50 am

    @raven: We are, too!

  103. 103.

    thebewilderness

    April 22, 2021 at 12:13 pm

    I am grateful to the lovely people who created and maintain vaccine finders. Thanks to them I got my second jab and my birthday cake two days ago.

    I am relieved that one of the many killer cops that terrorize our streets was finally held to account.

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