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I tried to blog earlier today, because I’ve been having interesting conversations with people about all sorts of things. Bad beliefs like, “I must extract every bit of value of a thing that I own before I am allowed to get rid of it”, so you can’t give it away, you have to sell it and get the best price you can and obviously your time and energy doing this is worth nothing in the calculation. Obviously, obviously, obviously wrong. And yet. I’ve been experimenting with telling the story of Ruth, from the Bible, and the concept of gleaning, as a way of prying people free of this particularly toxic idea.
I’m also shopping around my idea about Rich People TM who have a rep for going around and telling people earnestly What to Do in areas they have no expertise and they don’t own the thing and so forth. There is a broad assumption that the Rich People TM believe they are smart or whatever because they are rich. My idea is, no, actually, in capitalism, Rich People are constantly _asked_ and _required_ to make decisions about which they have no expertise and they can’t delegate because the act of delegation _itself_ is a decision (so they can, but _still_ a decision they are not trained for). (ETA: In case it isn’t clear, this is because in capitalism, the owner is the one structurally to make the decision about whatever is owned. If you are thinking, but I own things like shares in a company and I don’t get to decide. Well, spend more time on ProxyVote, I guess, or, don’t buy non-voting shares or whatever. The problem is clearer when ownership resides in a singular person, tho, so legit criticism.) Because delay in deciding is often much worse than any decision on offer, there is a bunch of pressure to just produce a decision whenever there is a whiff of a suggestion that a decision should be made. It is Pavlovian. Ring bell. Drool. They don’t think they are smart (I mean, I’m sure some do think they are smart, but I bet a bunch are terrified someone is going to notice that they are not); they just Decide at the drop of a hat. It takes a minute to explain it, and it seems to universally generate a, “Hunh” reaction. It’s quite powerful as an explanation, honestly.
I’m also exploring what’s generating some weird reluctance to commit (opposite of deciding!) in a bunch of construction adjacent stuff. The architect keeps over lighting things and then dimming them down to manageable, which generates massive need for 0-10V lighting options, and which I really want to minimize for a variety of reasons, most of which can be summarized as Don’t Want Lutron. I think that’s because it’s always kinda hard to know how a given plan will work in practice, and it’s tougher to add more light than it is to dim things down, so he’s been trained to overshoot. Also, some people _really_ like a lot of light. R. is doing his own version of weird, tho — I wanted to put some full spectrum bulbs above his exercise bike and I expected him to be excited but instead he was reluctant to commit to the idea that he needs sun in the winter, and simulated is better than nothing. This is odd! I mean, he has full spectrum lights he already uses (table stuff that he sits next to). And he really wants light for reading sheet music, and currently uses the living room cans which I just cannot be in the room when they are on. We put a bunch of other overhead lighting in that I _can_ tolerate, but he says they aren’t quite enough for reading sheet music. I’m like, okay but then let’s get you some task lighting. We’ve got a piano light coming for his birthday. He also needs good light when he’s doing a sewing project (repairs and things of that nature, for the most part). Currently, daytime only with light through the slider, but occasionally uses the cans in the eatin part of the kitchen. Again, I can’t be around when the cans are in use. It was kinda hard to pin down what he needs for sewing (look, it’s pretty obvious: a big-ish table and good light), and because he doesn’t want to nail down where and make sure there is support in that location, he keeps trying to make sure there is sewing levels of light anywhere there might be a big surface that could be used for the table requirement. It’s kind of funny, when it’s not infuriating.
We’ll see how the piano light goes, and then come up with something for the sewing problem.
I had a nice long phone call with J.
I had a walk with M.
T. picked up his grandma at the airport. I cooked some dinner after we got back from therapy — R. and his mom ate the spinach. It had wilted, so I cooked it with some olive oil and the good balsamic vinegar, and heated up a bunch of wings, and made some sweet potato air fried, and some tots for A. I had caramelized onion and green garlic on a burger. Yum. There was a wing leftover so I ate that, too. I finished off the salad from yesterday’s lunch, and I gave MIL a small bowl of granola for dessert. Quick, easy dinner. She went to bed early after, which I was expecting, and was really happy that she did.
A. actually was caught up on homework, so all she had to do was take a shower.
I keep trying to figure out where the last few hundred feet of LED / tape lighting might be hiding on the plans. I think I’m just going to give up. I’m wavering between going down to the basement to find the alabaster pendant to get a look at how much rehabilitation it should have, and how well it looks next to the one currently installed in our present dining room. I’m still waiting for an updated RCP showing the lighting I proposed. I really want to get in touch with the electrician and bring him up to speed, but I’m trying to be respectful of the process.
I’m also shopping around my idea about Rich People TM who have a rep for going around and telling people earnestly What to Do in areas they have no expertise and they don’t own the thing and so forth. There is a broad assumption that the Rich People TM believe they are smart or whatever because they are rich. My idea is, no, actually, in capitalism, Rich People are constantly _asked_ and _required_ to make decisions about which they have no expertise and they can’t delegate because the act of delegation _itself_ is a decision (so they can, but _still_ a decision they are not trained for). (ETA: In case it isn’t clear, this is because in capitalism, the owner is the one structurally to make the decision about whatever is owned. If you are thinking, but I own things like shares in a company and I don’t get to decide. Well, spend more time on ProxyVote, I guess, or, don’t buy non-voting shares or whatever. The problem is clearer when ownership resides in a singular person, tho, so legit criticism.) Because delay in deciding is often much worse than any decision on offer, there is a bunch of pressure to just produce a decision whenever there is a whiff of a suggestion that a decision should be made. It is Pavlovian. Ring bell. Drool. They don’t think they are smart (I mean, I’m sure some do think they are smart, but I bet a bunch are terrified someone is going to notice that they are not); they just Decide at the drop of a hat. It takes a minute to explain it, and it seems to universally generate a, “Hunh” reaction. It’s quite powerful as an explanation, honestly.
I’m also exploring what’s generating some weird reluctance to commit (opposite of deciding!) in a bunch of construction adjacent stuff. The architect keeps over lighting things and then dimming them down to manageable, which generates massive need for 0-10V lighting options, and which I really want to minimize for a variety of reasons, most of which can be summarized as Don’t Want Lutron. I think that’s because it’s always kinda hard to know how a given plan will work in practice, and it’s tougher to add more light than it is to dim things down, so he’s been trained to overshoot. Also, some people _really_ like a lot of light. R. is doing his own version of weird, tho — I wanted to put some full spectrum bulbs above his exercise bike and I expected him to be excited but instead he was reluctant to commit to the idea that he needs sun in the winter, and simulated is better than nothing. This is odd! I mean, he has full spectrum lights he already uses (table stuff that he sits next to). And he really wants light for reading sheet music, and currently uses the living room cans which I just cannot be in the room when they are on. We put a bunch of other overhead lighting in that I _can_ tolerate, but he says they aren’t quite enough for reading sheet music. I’m like, okay but then let’s get you some task lighting. We’ve got a piano light coming for his birthday. He also needs good light when he’s doing a sewing project (repairs and things of that nature, for the most part). Currently, daytime only with light through the slider, but occasionally uses the cans in the eatin part of the kitchen. Again, I can’t be around when the cans are in use. It was kinda hard to pin down what he needs for sewing (look, it’s pretty obvious: a big-ish table and good light), and because he doesn’t want to nail down where and make sure there is support in that location, he keeps trying to make sure there is sewing levels of light anywhere there might be a big surface that could be used for the table requirement. It’s kind of funny, when it’s not infuriating.
We’ll see how the piano light goes, and then come up with something for the sewing problem.
I had a nice long phone call with J.
I had a walk with M.
T. picked up his grandma at the airport. I cooked some dinner after we got back from therapy — R. and his mom ate the spinach. It had wilted, so I cooked it with some olive oil and the good balsamic vinegar, and heated up a bunch of wings, and made some sweet potato air fried, and some tots for A. I had caramelized onion and green garlic on a burger. Yum. There was a wing leftover so I ate that, too. I finished off the salad from yesterday’s lunch, and I gave MIL a small bowl of granola for dessert. Quick, easy dinner. She went to bed early after, which I was expecting, and was really happy that she did.
A. actually was caught up on homework, so all she had to do was take a shower.
I keep trying to figure out where the last few hundred feet of LED / tape lighting might be hiding on the plans. I think I’m just going to give up. I’m wavering between going down to the basement to find the alabaster pendant to get a look at how much rehabilitation it should have, and how well it looks next to the one currently installed in our present dining room. I’m still waiting for an updated RCP showing the lighting I proposed. I really want to get in touch with the electrician and bring him up to speed, but I’m trying to be respectful of the process.