The Now: May 12, 2021

On Monday, I was doing our usual weekly vacuum when the stick on our upright started feeling oddly loose. Then it just plain snapped off. The damage was irreparable. Even our kiddo, who loves to poke anything with switches and knobs, seemed to assess that we needed a new vacuum. So, the husband read a ton of reviews (Amazon is really less than helpful in that area) and we finally decided on the newer version of our old vacuum. The new machine promises less of a "hair wrap." We shall see.

Here's what else has my attention at the moment.

WORK

• This week, I am attending the virtual LOEX conference. The schedule is full of great looking sessions. I'm glad they are being recorded so that I can watch the ones I can't attend live. Also, I am keeping my WFH office area set to a frigid 65 degrees to replicate that conference room experience. (Just kidding - sorta - there's a cold snap in DC and I refuse to turn the heat on.)
• My colleagues and I will be presenting at the same conference tomorrow. We finished our slides and conference proceedings.
• After comparing summer projects lists with my colleagues, I am now prioritizing and creating Trello project cards to keep me on track.
• I took some time to put together and format the reference list for customer service initiative literature review. I, like all the students I teach, simply loathe citation formatting. This should be easier!

PERSONAL

• My parents were in town for a long weekend and we simply enjoyed their visit. Our kiddo was a ball of happy energy and couldn't stop playing with her "ga ma ma" and "pa pa." The husband and I even got to enjoy a real date night. It was both weirdly normal and just weird. 
• I feel for a Twitter ad. I kept seeing promoted Tweets for Evony that showed puzzle solving. I like puzzles so I gave in and downloaded the game. Turns out it's also a kingdom building, war-raiding game. I'm in it for the puzzles, but you actually have to do the other stuff to unlock them.  Right now, I'm enjoying it all, but I don't know how much time I will actually devote to the app.
• On cicada watch. 

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