open thread – February 13, 2026

Feb. 13th, 2026 04:00 pm
[syndicated profile] askamanager_feed

Posted by Ask a Manager

It’s the Friday open thread!

The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers.

* If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer.

The post open thread – February 13, 2026 appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Target Interuptus

Feb. 13th, 2026 10:27 am
susandennis: (Default)
[personal profile] susandennis
I was all dressed and ready to Target when I checked to see if UPS had my little map yet.

It DID! And the little brown truck was very nearly at the front door. So I hustled my butt downstairs to the front desk. If I don't get there when he does, then my package goes in with everyone else's and is delivered sometime this afternoon.

Mr. UPS was there looking for someone to sign when I got there. I breathlessly signed and grabbed my prize.

Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus

It's really beautiful and the perfect size. And really beautiful. I copied from my phone to save some steps and it was all set up and ready to go 30 minutes from the time I bought the box through the door. I like that.

I'm not that familiar with Lenovo-ese. The only Lenovo thing I have is a very old tablet that speaks beginner android. So I have some learning to do. But, so far, I'm thrilled. I'm now upgrading the operating system. Looks like that's going to take a while. I might pop out to Target if I can't play with it while it upgrades.
elisi: (Protest)
[personal profile] elisi
But here are two petitions:

Tell Keir Starmer: Cancel All Contracts with Palantir

Stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline

Also, have the funniest ever explanation for Darcy's proposal. (Link goes to Instagram. With thanks to Promethia.)

(no subject)

Feb. 13th, 2026 12:44 pm
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
I've woken up just before 4:30 am (and once well before that time) for the last several days, so I decided I might as well set my alarm for 4:30 am and get to bed slightly earlier. I feel like I'm just getting a jump on changing to daylight saving in a few weeks. (Far too soon in my opinion.)

The girls are home from school today, so because it's also a holiday on Monday they're having a four-day weekend. This morning Violet came up with a scheme for cleaning my room in exchange for screen time - various levels of cleaning from "normal" to "extra special" so "personalised", with payment ranging from 1 minute to 15 minutes of screen time. Then she gave me a free demonstration of her basic services, basically just vacuuming the carpet and sweeping the rest of the floor. I'm not sure how much extra she could do for the extra special level of cleaning.

The weather has finally turned to slightly above freezing temperatures - it should be in the 30s and even into the 40s this coming week. (About 1 to 6C.)

Muscle Memory

Feb. 13th, 2026 08:52 am
susandennis: (Default)
[personal profile] susandennis
I started dieting to lose weight when I was about 16. I quit when I was 50. I gave up smoking and, as a reward, promised myself I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it, amen. I gained about 100 pounds and have kept it since. I've been operating on that same premise until 3 weeks ago so 27 years.

My deal with myself (and my doctor) with Wegovy is that I would continue my premise. Eat what I want when I want. And, for the most part I have done just that. I have added in more protein to stave off any unpleasant digestive side effects. And I've added prunes.

My plan is to eat, live, shoot up this way from now until the end. So no denying myself. I will eat what I want when I want it. If I want fried chicken, I eat fried chicken. If I want cake, I eat cake.

Mostly, I do not feel like eating more than is necessary which is great. And I have had no appetite for fried chicken or cake. But, yesterday, I didn't eat enough and wanted to snack all night. I did not and when I got into bed I realized I was breaking my promise to myself. If I want to eat something, I should eat it. I am not on a diet like the old days. I am on a diet like the new days.

My new Tech is down the road at the UPS station "being readied for delivery". Not that I'm stalking. OK, I'm stalking. Usually UPS gives me a little map with a brown truck and tells me how many stops away I am. I am a sucker for this little map.

I had a lovely swim this morning.

My feet are getting bad again. I should go back to that podiatrist and might if they don't get better. I need some thicker socks, I think. I should get off my ass and go to Target. I might. (Walmart would probably be better but Target is way closer.)

But, first I probably should get dressed.

Mystery and Fantasy

Feb. 13th, 2026 04:30 pm
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

Murder by Memory

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite is $2.99! This is book one in the Dorothy Gentleman series, which I know was highly anticipated. Book two is out in March! Did any of you pick this one up?

A Memory Called Empire meets Miss Marple in this cozy, spaceborne mystery, helmed by a no-nonsense formidable auntie of a detective.

Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.

Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.

Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes…

Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, Murder by Memory is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the series’ next installment.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

A Sorceress Comes to Call

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is $2.99! I know T. Kingfisher is an autobuy author around here. If you’ve read this one, what did you think?

A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Second Death of Locke

The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino is $3.99! This came out last September and was mentioned on Hide Your Wallet. I remember being pretty excited for this one and I’ve heard good things from those who’ve read it.

Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.

Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier. She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier’s to wield. They are bound together by blood and magic, but there is one truth Grey dare not reveal . . . not even to Kier.

When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into a dangerous mission, Grey will need to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice to protect her secret.

For Grey is no ordinary magical well, and if she dies, all magic dies with her.

The Second Death of Locke is a devastatingly romantic epic fantasy about the undying bond between a knight and their mage, perfect for fans of Rachel Gillig and Alix E. Harrow.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Bone Raiders

The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford is $2.99! This released late last year and I remember thinking it sounded pretty fun. Book two in the series is out this May.

The start of an edge-of-your-seat, action‑packed epic fantasy series from the irreverent Jackson Ford, where a wild band known as the Bone Raiders harness the power of gigantic, fire-breathing lizards to defend their homeland.

“Awesome. Masterfully executed. Frequently hilarious.” — Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld

WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE . . . BUT OUR GIANT FIRE-BREATHING LIZARDS DID.

You don’t f*ck with the Rakada. The people living in the grasslands of the Tapestry call them the Bone Raiders, from their charming habit of displaying the bones of those they kill on their armour. But being a raider is tough these days. There’s a new Great Khan in the Tapestry. He plans to use his sizeable military to get rid of the raider clans. And then there are the huge fire-breathing lizards that are straying into the grasslands a little too often these days.

Sayana is a raider scout. She knows that to protect their way of life, she needs do something drastic. Like convincing her clan to ride those huge lizards, instead of horses. Sayana doesn’t know how to do it without being eaten and/or cooked alive, but she’d better figure it out fast – or she and her clan, along with every other raider in the Tapestry, will be wiped out.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

[syndicated profile] bbcnewsworld_feed
Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych will not compete at the Winter Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal to wear a helmet depicting images of athletes killed during Russia's invasion of his home country.
oursin: Illustration from medieval manuscript of the female physician Trotula of Salerno holding up a urine flask (trotula)
[personal profile] oursin

I was reading this (and the various other reports about pro-natalist pontificating and getting women - the right sort, obvs - to BREED): Reform by-election candidate calls for ‘young girls’ to be given ‘biological reality’ check:

Mr Goodwin – who is standing for Reform UK in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election – argued: “We need to explain and educate to young children, the next generation, the severity of this crisis.
“We need to also explain to young girls and women the biological reality of this crisis. Many women in Britain are having children much too late in life, and they would prefer to have children much earlier on.”

And I was thinking, you know who would be spitting tacks and riding in with all her guns blazing on this -

- no other than Dr Marie Stopes, who was so not about woman as mere breeding vessels. And was a) the daughter of an older mother and b) an older mother herself by the time she actually progenated.

Okay, she had views of the day (particularly when it came to daughter-in-laws, sigh), but she was also very much about women's choice, women pursuing careers, women not spending their entire lives in child-bearing, fewer but healthier babies through contraception and spacing, etc etc etc.

In many ways, yes, she was a monster, but a monster I would happily reanimate from the waves off Portland Bill where her ashes were scattered and send after these guys.

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