It's been a while...
by Denise Sawicki on April 4, 2026
So, it is supposed to snow 9 inches today, and I didn't want to drive in that, so I did my grocery shopping yesterday. Then today (a Saturday) I decided to walk in to work with my cell phone to do some computer setup with 2-factor authentication that I wasn't able to do earlier because I never take my cell phone to work. See, I am this weird relic of the past who still wonders why people would have to get in touch with me at all hours, so I mainly treat my cell phone like it was a home phone. Trust me, nobody does want or need to get in touch with me anyway and even if they did there are other ways.
Anyway, I got to work and the internet there was not working, so the entire journey was pointless. They do have moderately decent lighting in the bathroom at work though and I probably haven't posted a photo of myself in decades at this point, so here you go.
click image to zoom
click image to zoom
Besides that, I guess the world is falling apart and it's depressing and I'm trying to get past it with mindless chatter...
Three Replies to It's been a while...
Denise Sawicki | April 6, 2026
Thanks, Scott! I've got some other type of 2-factor authentication here based off KeePass which I am figuring out how to use. Also, it rarely asks for authentication after the initial setup.
Lori Lancaster | April 23, 2026
[hidden by author request]
Prayer for the Paranoid
Denise Sawicki posts whatever she feels able to post without serious consequences Read more »
Our first Con?
Darrell and I are thinking of going to this: http://www.valleycon.com/. We have never been to such an event before, and it is kind of expensive, but: A. Londo is one of our favorite TV characters ever B. Go »Welcome
Not a lot happens in my life that I feel I can talk about publicly! There's my work, but we all know you can't talk about that. We're involved in a politcal thing that, if life were like an episode of Monk, would surely get us all killed. Go »Office Party
Last weekend we went to an office party at my boss's lake house. We took Philip and he got along famously with my boss's dog, Willow, who is half greyhound and half husky. I like Willow quite a bit. Go »People charging me money for nothing...
I guess the saga of me and numberonemusic.com is not over yet. They went and charged my credit card for another $59.95 Go »Annoying
Darrell tells me that people actually care about *my* approval and they think I am rejecting them when in fact I am trying to keep away from them to protect them from my insanity. You guys are all awesome by the way... Wish I wasn't too insane to interact comfortably with anyone... Go »
Scott Hardie | April 6, 2026
You look good, Denise! 😀 If you'd like me to change your profile photo on Funeratic to one of those, just ask.
I kind of have it similar about treating my cell phone as a home phone, for other reasons. With my brain fog, it's very difficult to get back on a task once my attention has been split. So, since my mother passed away and I'm no longer on call 24/7 for an emergency about her, I have trained myself to ignore incoming texts and calls until I have freed up the mental capacity to deal with them, which is usually an hour or two, but sometimes means overnight. This has hurt my friendships, especially with very online younger people who mistake my difficulties for deliberate soft-ghosting, but it's the only way that I'm able to function. I resent the new social norm that we must always be instantly reachable or we're somehow selfish louts, which feels illogical and unsustainable. But anyway, good for you for leaving the cell phone behind. We'd be better off if a lot more of us did.
I do have to wonder though: If you rarely bring your cell phone to work, how are you going to use 2FA if you do get it set up? Won't it require you to check your phone for the login code? Maybe your phone carrier offers a web portal to access texts. The way I hear it, many services will start requiring passkeys in the next few years, so you might be able to set up your work computer with the passkey and leave the phone at home.
I apologize for this page not working when you first submitted the post. A mere hour before you did, my web host updated to a new PHP version, which introduced script-ending errors in the way that I was processing the images to do the "click to zoom" preview thing, even though the code is written to continue past fatal errors. I got it fixed that afternoon but didn't have time to write a reply until now. As for the code, it's my fault for not updating it sooner; that particular section dates back to 2006 and the rebranding as "goo.tc." I guess it's a good thing that I'm finally rewriting it all; better late than never. 😛