Sandy

The first time I encountered Sandy, she thought I was someone else. She gave me this great welcome on the Virgule list, but it was clear she confused me with someone else with the same first name. And -- this is the characteristic thing about Sandy -- once she realized her mistake, she was just as nice and welcoming as she had been before. We didn't correspond all that much, but when we did, she was an excellent long-distance mentor.

She has always been enthusiastic about, well, whatever. She and movies_michelle have always been my exemplars for fannish butterflying. I remember when she described watching a few episodes of TS and starting to read the fanfic: just dating, I think it was, but with a view to a more serious relationship.

Sandy has always been one of the most welcoming and inclusive people I know, in a society that naturally gravitates toward tightish circles. She makes people feel special.

I'm so glad she has friends with her. I wish I could be, but that would be for my comfort, not for hers.

Go easy, Sandy. I'll miss you, a lot.

Beep!

Something in my house is beeping, and I can't figure out what. The sound is coming from the hallway, more or less, but every time I get close to one of the appliances it might be, the sound seems to be coming from elsewhere. The beep is once every minute or so, which is why I've spent the last hour trying to locate it, unsuccessfully.

I've replaced the batteries in the thermostat. There's a motion detector that's part of the security system that uses nonstandard batteries, but that doesn't seem to be the culprit. Ditto for non-functional smoke detector that's not tied into the alarm system (which is why I've allowed it to become non-functional).

I'm not hearing imaginary things, because someone else heard it over the phone. But I think I may be going crazy nevertheless. Binaural hearing just isn't doing the job.

ETA: Found it! It was a stealth smoke detector that had slipped into a box in the hallway. I replaced the battery and blessed silence descended.