benbraddock5

Hey, folks. I hope everyone is managing okay in the heat.

I retired from the DOE last July. I was a HS guidance counselor, and my AP asked if I would be open to F-status work next year. I have a few questions that I hope you can answer:

• What is the pay rate for guidance counselors? (I saw conflicting information online.)
• Does doing this in any way affect pension? Benefits?
• Are there limitations to what an F-status counselor can do? (e.g. IEP mandated counseling? IPRs? Transcripts? Scheduling?)
• How does the DOE pay for things outside of my scheduled work hours? (Like IEP meetings.) Is this per session?
• Is there any policy about doing remote work as F-status?

Thanks for an

I live in NYS and there's a robin's nest about three feet from our window, deep in a rhododenron bush. There are four little babies (still with that fur look around their necks) and mama isn't tending to them at the moment. She came by, stayed for a minute or two, and then left.

The four little ones are moving around the nest with their heads tilted up and back and their little beaks wide open. It's very hot here (almost 100 degrees) and I'm worried about these guys.

Is there anything at all I can or should do? Would it help to spray a mist from my hose over the rhododendron? I'm worried about these babes!

Hey, folks. Does anyone here know whether there's any style of yoga that's safe to do with an inguinal hernia? I usual do Vinyasa and core/pilates.

Just discovered the hernia yesterday and I'm not sure if I should hold off on yoga or if it's safe. Thanks.

Hi. I have a contractor coming to do a job that should probably not take longer than a day.

Should I be tipping the workers in his crew? Is that expected? If so, how much would be appropriate?

Thanks.

Hey, crew. I'm not clear on what the distinction is between "upmarket" and "literary" fiction? Are they both essentially terms to mean especially nicely written? Or not shallow, trope-y genre fiction?

And while we're on the subject of cryptic (to me, anyway) descriptors, what exactly do they mean by "book club fiction"?

I live in New York State. We've had a few hummingbirds come by and I wanted to put up a feeder to attract more of them, but my wife says it will lure them in and make them vulnerable to hawks looking for food.

Is this true? I love looking at the hummingbirds, but I wouldn't want to cause them any harm.

Hi. I DLd some .stl files that I wanted to get printed. They're pieces that assemble into a little scene.

Three of the files have two objects in them and the printing service says they can't be printed. I figure I need to separate each piece into its own file.

I've used Meshmixer, but when I tried to DL on my computer, my MacBook wouldn't let me open the .stl file on Meshmixer, and I got a message saying Apple couldn't verify the safety of the app and so too bad for me. (I'm paraphrasing a little.) Same thing with Blender. (Which I actually have not used.)

Any ideas about how I can get past this problem would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Hi. I have a Galaxy 6 and recently got an iPhone. (I know, I know.) But they should connect and maybe not optimize some features. I got the recommended app called "Merge" and followed all instructions. My phone says the watch is connected, but the watch keeps telling me connect them on the iPhone. Which just doesn't seem to be happening. I'm not getting anything on the watch from the phone, so it doesn't seem to recognize that it should be (?) connected.

Before this, I would start with a full charge in the morning and then when I took it off in the evening to charge, it was typically still someone around 60%. Maybe as low as 45% if I had been doing a lot of stuff on it. But now, at 8:00, I

Hi. I have a Galaxy 6 and recently got an iPhone. (I know, I know.) But they should connect and maybe not optimize some features. I got the recommended app called "Merge" and followed all instructions. My phone says the watch is connected, but the watch keeps telling me connect them on the iPhone. Which just doesn't seem to be happening. I'm not getting anything on the watch from the phone, so it doesn't seem to recognize that it should be (?) connected.

Before this, I would start with a full charge in the morning and then when I took it off in the evening to charge, it was typically still someone around 60%. Maybe as low as 45% if I had been doing a lot of stuff on it. But now, at 8:00, I

Hi. I have a Galaxy 6 and recently got an iPhone. (I know, I know.) But they should connect and maybe not optimize some features. I got the recommended app called "Merge" and followed all instructions. My phone says the watch is connected, but the watch keeps telling me connect them on the iPhone. Which just doesn't seem to be happening. I'm not getting anything on the watch from the phone, so it doesn't seem to recognize that it should be (?) connected.

Before this, I would start with a full charge in the morning and then when I took it off in the evening to charge, it was typically still someone around 60%. Maybe as low as 45% if I had been doing a lot of stuff on it. But now, at 8:00, I

Hey, folks. I'm about 10 months in and making some progress. To set the stage: I'm a 62-year-old male, 40+ year history of lifting weights, bodyweight workouts, some martial arts and boxing. I've had one serious injury: a broken neck at C5-C6 with a surgical stabilzation and fusion 20 years ago that's pretty much entirely healed with almost full range of motion in my neck. I have a few heriated disks (back pain is what brought me to yoga) that are not symptomatic at the moment. I'm terribly inflexible with very tight hamstrings. SO....

Whenever I'm on my back and doing things in which I lift my legs (other than drawing my knees into my chest) and they're extended, I get a tons of cracking i

Wondering if this is typical. When I'm working out and go to the HR monitor screen, it often takes a good 30 seconds or more to move to the current reading. In other words, my last reading might have been, say, 85. Working out, I know my HR is higher, but when I put on the HR screen, it says 85, then blinks at 85 for a while before then quickly moving up to 110.

It seems like it's not continuously monitoring, even though it's set to do so. Is this normal? Is it a flaw with the watch? Thanks.

Our two toilets have rings right at the water level. Slightly dark, they look like we're unclean. I have tried countless products that claim to eliminate these rings -- I mean lots and lots -- and not one of them made even a little difference.

The only thing I did that helped at all was very careful work with a dremel and a pretty smooth (low grit) sanding bit. (The ones that look a little like stone.) This required very close work (none too pleasant) being careful to sand off the mineral deposit without doing damage to the porcelein/ceramic surface. It's pretty imperfect but looks way better than before. Unfortunately, the deposit ring does build up again.

I've had plumbers look at it and

I noted a post yesterday that said something like "I attached the nudge to my previous emai (because I'm passive aggressive that way)"

I've done that quite a few times -- putting a follow up email on the same string as my previous one(s) as a reminder of what the earlier email was and when it was sent -- both for agents and editors, or with peole at work. I never considered it passive-aggressive, but thinking about it now, I wonder if maybe it is.

Thoughts on this?

And do you think the recipient of such emails typically find it irritating or obnoxious?

All of a sudden, all my MS Edge tabs are displaying weirdly. There are all kind of marks and accents and extra letters in all words. I ran two scans, restarted Edge, and restarted my macbook.