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I swear, being Lawful can be a righteous PITA.

Yesterday I fed our corporate image library and illustration style guide into Codex and created an image generation skill. It's absolutely fabulous. I put in things like, "A dark-skinned, black-haired woman on a bicycle riding through an open door, representing achieving freedom from adversity," and I get an image that looks absolutely spot-on like all our other corporate stuff.

It is a "perfect" use for AI in my job...
...except...

...I used an internal library of images and an internal style guide to train the AI. Legally can I show the results to an external audience?

And even more importantly, the design team in charge of corporate illustrations is incredibly possessive of their work; they have literally mandated that no image nor illustration go out without their approval. Will they approve any AI images, knowing that said images are putting members of their own team out of jobs?

And I seem to be the only person who asks such questions. Everyone else just says, "Woo hoo! Corporate AI!" and uses it to generate anything and everything. (And yes, we're one of those corporations that's already gotten the notification, "Um, guys? Can you tone it down on the AI use? This is costing us a TON!")

Y'know, actually considering the repercussions of what you're doing and how it impacts others is kind of part and parcel of working in a group...

extends hand

JOIN ME, AND WE WILL RULE ON THE SIDE OF CHAOS AS FATHER AND SON!!!!

Vanykrye wrote:

gran rey de los mono wrote:

WEST FREAKIN' VIRGINA! ... But to miss by that much? Three states? That's a level of ineptitude I've not seen in a while.

Back around '08-'11, I was on a specialized help desk that assisted field technicians who would go to insurance agent offices to replace equipment for a specific insurance company based in Bloomington, IL.

Tech: Hey, this is (name). I'm in Manhattan.

Background information...this company identifies their agents with a numerical code. First two digits are the state, everything behind that is tied to a specific agent in that state. Some states, like CA, TX, NY get broken into multiple regions.

Me: So you're in New York?

Tech: Yeah.

Me: Ok, so what's the state-agent code there?

Tech: (gives code)

Me: (had memorized every state code and still remember a few of them) So you're in Kansas.

Tech: Yeah.

That tracks. Scint and I used to live just down the road from Manhattan KS. "The Little Apple."

Ah...

I got any early start prepping, so dinner tonight will be "marry me" chicken & sauce, mashed potatoes, fresh baked rolls, and glazed carrots. Dessert will be peach cobbler.

Leftovers will be in the back porch fridge if you swing by, Freehold. Please do not laugh at the big housecat's lion cut as he is still very sensitive about it.

I will not laugh, I promise.

When I came in to work tonight, there were 6 or 7 cars lined up out front, with a couple of dozen people milling about. This was weird. Then I come inside, and see a guy yelling at 2nd shift. So, I step behind the desk and see if there's anything I can do to help. The guy is saying that he had called a little while earlier (half hour or so), and spoke to "someone" here who said that he could get a bunch of rooms for a low price. (The extended family was on an impromptu trip, apparently). 2nd shift was saying that he hadn't spoken to anyone about something like that, and that the phone hadn't rung for several hours. Before the guy can call my coworker a liar again, I ask him if he called from his cell phone. Confused, he said yes. So I asked him to check his call log, and make sure that he had, in fact, called this hotel. Angrily, he whips out his phone, fumbles around for a bit to find his call log, and then announces the number he had called. It wasn't ours. In fact, it wasn't even the same area code. My coworker googled the number, and it came up as a hotel (not even the same brand or family as ours) in WEST FREAKIN' VIRGINA! So, anyways, they left since we not only wouldn't come close to the rate they claimed to have been quoted, but we didn't have the rooms available anyways.

Now, I've had plenty of people come here instead of where they had their reservation. Whether it was next door, or down the block, sure I guess I can see that. And I've had some who were supposed to be 40ish miles away, which is harder to understand, but apparently happens. But to miss by that much? Three states? That's a level of ineptitude I've not seen in a while.

Im thinking there's a database for hotel phone numbers that jumbles locations and names.

Some animals earn their keep in odd ways.

A fly got into the studio and was driving GothBard bonkers. After 20-30 minutes of waiting for it to leave, a few treats lured Mephisto out and he was placed in the studio.

I have watched boi hit 6' vertically while in a harness. I've watched him run straight up steel piping. In a harness. And Boi loves flies more than anything in the world. There is no play. There is only death.

2 minutes later GothBard returned Mephisto to the house, mission accomplished.

And he earned his keep for another day.

Furry me need not "earn" his keep, he is an experience all on his own!

Freehold DM wrote:

gran rey de los mono wrote:

"I peeled and chopped a ton of garlic yesterday, and my fingers still smell strongly of garlic. This has reminded me that I am, in fact, made of meat, and thus am susceptible to being seasoned."

youre delicious.

I prefer "scrum-diddly-umptious".

Stupid sexy gran.

I promise to hold one less room party due to this hilarious reference.

"I peeled and chopped a ton of garlic yesterday, and my fingers still smell strongly of garlic. This has reminded me that I am, in fact, made of meat, and thus am susceptible to being seasoned."

youre delicious.

I started putting my dangaioh model kit together. I haven't put a kit together in literally 20 years.

20 years.

Holy s#@%.

But yeah. Started today.

It's kind of amusing/embarrassing to learn that you've been damned with faint praise.

For the last 10 or so years in MMORPGs I've played tank. The job is pretty simple: Make sure every creature is angry at you, keep them in a group so your damage-dealers (DPSes) can cast area-of-effect spells, and monitor your health and use damage reduction to help the healer as needed.

Healers talk about what a great tank I am. I thought that was because I did all the little extras: Keep boss monsters pointed in a uniform direction so all the flanking-based DPSes can get in their flanking bonuses. Cast group protects just before boss AoEs to reduce the impact on healers. If there's a new person in an instance, go slow so they have time to look around.

Nope. I've started in as a healer (my previous job) on an alternate character and I'm doing dungeons with random groups. And I have yet to find a tank who manages anything beyond, "Make sure every creature is angry at you."

Slow down? NEVER!
Use damage mitigation? Why bother? That's the healer's job.
Let new people explore? Nope.

Dungeon after dungeon it's, "Pull everything I possibly can and it's the healer's job to keep me standing, and go in a direct start-to-finish line without any exploration at all."

Not a fan.

And gee, "You're better than most tanks I encounter," suddenly isn't much of a compliment...

This is why I hate mmos.

NobodysHome wrote:

Shiro will never forget when he was driving to Mount Fremont for some astronomy and a woman flagged him down to warn him of "a mutant dog, or maybe a bear, hiding in the bushes over there."

It was a deer. And she literally did not know what it was. She kept trying to get HIM to call Animal Control to come deal with it. Because... um.. she couldn't use a phone herself?

What horrors might she have realized? Might it be possible that -

Ahem. Rumours of CIA collaboration with teratogenic experiments by secret elven ecoterrorist freedom fighter cells are wildly misplaced. Beyond discouraging fanciful, irresponsible speculation, Elfhame has released no official statement at this time. ;)

... I may have fond memories of some dorky Shadowrun adventures.

Wiz, chummer

It *is* fun working with the kids on the local nocturnal wildlife. Something dug a massive hole in our yard trying to burrow under the cat tree. Impus Major immediately thought, "Gopher," because that's what you learn from media: Only gophers can possibly dig holes.

But:
(1) Gophers are surprisingly small,
(2) their holes are sized for them, and
(3) they don't burn effort making massive, wide, shallow holes.

It took a remarkably long time to get them to, "What nocturnal creature is local to this area, is not afraid of the smell of cats, and digs large holes looking for worms and other insects to eat?"
(The answer is "skunk".)

Interesting. Very interesting.

NobodysHome wrote:

The other "fun" Middle Americanism is that in spite of being the canning and jarring capital of the world for several centuries, they now fail to distinguish between jelly, jam, preserves, and marmalade, so always check what you got before you spread it on your toast or muffins.

It's supposed to be:

Jelly: You thoroughly strain the fruit before cooking through something fairly robust such as a cheesecloth, resulting in a translucent gel. I laugh when I see "seedless raspberry jelly" on the store shelves, because if it's jelly, it should by definition be seedless.

Jam: You run the fruit through something a bit less restrictive, such as a sieve. So it's less translucent and has more body than jelly, but you still don't get any big chunks of fruit. "Seedless raspberry jam" is a real thing, and GothBard loves it.

Preserves: You leave the fruit in bite-sized pieces, resulting in chunks in the final product. I personally love preserves.

Marmalade: As far as I know, this is pretty much citrus preserves where you include the peel. Google agrees with me: "Marmalade is a specialized preserve traditionally made exclusively from citrus fruits. It contains thinly sliced pieces of citrus peel suspended in a clear, jelly-like base."

So very different substances for very different tastes, but in much of America if you go to a diner and ask, "Is this jelly or jam?" they'll look at you as if you've lost your mind.

I believe it was Alton Brown, on an episode of his show Good Eats, who said:

"Jellies are clear. Jams are not. Preserves have chunks. Conserves have nuts. And Marmalade always contains peel."

I can't speak to how true it is, especially as I have never heard of "conserves", but it seems pretty accurate.

loads shotgun

Drejk wrote:

Qunnessaa wrote:

On a memorable occasion of misplaced optimism, on that note, my mum and I once stopped at a greasy-spoon joint on an excursion downtown, and she was momentarily thrilled that they had malt vinegar on the table just waiting for everyone ... until she put some on her fries, only to discover that, for the all-day breakfast crowd, it was maple syrup inexplicably put into what civilized society would expect to be a vinegar bottle. :)

What was the verdict on that spontaneous culinary experiment?

I’ve seen worse, but I wouldn’t recommend it. :)

One fry/chip with a tiny spot of syrup on it was weird but not terrible, but finishing the serving after having used as liberal a hand as one would if it had actually been vinegar wasn’t happening.

Then again, I gather some people put marshmallows on sweet potato casseroles, so what do I know?

NobodysHome wrote:

The other "fun" Middle Americanism is that in spite of being the canning and jarring capital of the world for several centuries, they now fail to distinguish between jelly, jam, preserves, and marmalade, so always check what you got before you spread it on your toast or muffins.

On the jarred fruit front: huh. In my part of the world, the jelly vs. jam distinction still holds. I think I’ve seen “preserves” used as a catch-all, though, so one would need to check the label or peer through the glass to see quite what one’s getting.

More recently, I’ve seen the alarmingly vague “spread” showing up on the shelves of our local stores, which I’ve never dared to examine, but I suppose that might be to distinguish stuff that doesn’t qualify as anything else due to sugar content or (*shudders*) specific gelling agent. Sounds a bit better than "Legally Distinct Not-jam," I guess.

On casserole? What?

It just goes on cut up sweet potatoes...

Ivan Rûski wrote:

gran rey de los mono wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

...

EDIT: Yes, Limey, if you come to the U.S. and go to pretty much any fish & chips place, you'll get tartar sauce (mayo with minced sweet pickles) for the fish and ketchup for the chips. It's rare to find a place that even knows what malt vinegar is. My favorite-ever response? "Malt vinegar? But you didn't order a salad!"

Long John Silvers used to have malt vinegar. Don't know if they still do, as I haven't been to one since before the pandemic (and the one in town closed some years ago).

I went to one a couple of years ago, but I'll never go back to it. It was filthy. But they did in fact have malt vinegar. It was on the counter by the registers. The bottle looked dirty, and had a best by date that had passed 2 years prior. I stuck with the ketchup that came in packets that day.

I didn't go often, I don't much care for fish. But I did like their chicken and it was one of the few places I could get fried clam strips, which I love. Also, the hushpuppies were great. Usually, I would just hit up the drive-thru, but there was one that I would go to occasionally in college that was always spotlessly clean. It was possibly the cleanest fast food place I've ever been in. They also had decent clam chowder, at least back then.

Now the closest one is about 35 miles away in Danville, and I ain't going to Danville for anything. I'm also not driving an hour round-trip for freakin' LJS.

Haven't seen one in a while. But they always had malt vinegar. But no malt liquor. Which is probably why I haven't seen one in a while.

I swear, having a spouse to do all your travel research, planning, and reservations is a godsend.

GothBard's managing our whole Hawaii trip this year. Neither of us has ever flown First Class and it's on our bucket list, so she kept checking all the flights. +$5,000? Nope. +$2,000? Nope. She finally noticed that on our flight home First Class is "only" +$1,000 over economy. Not bad for a bucket list item.

But of course she started doing research on United's domestic first class. And it's as appalling as you might expect. Get to about 7 minutes in and you see the guy's neighbor's mass making him pull his shoulder in, and then the meal is so bad if I got it at a fast food place I likely wouldn't eat it. Middle seats exist. The "lie down" seats are the equivalent of putting the passenger seat down in the Celica to try to take a nap (not easy). If you offered me that upgrade for $100 I'd probably say, "Nah, I'm OK in Economy, thanks."

But $1,000 extra?

For shame, United! You *do* know that YouTube exists, right?

EDIT: On the other hand, this is Virgin Atlantic's +$10,000 First class. That's going to be my pie-in-the-sky dream. But even more me that's out of my range... for now...

At that price, the flight should include accouterments that were I to detail, mods would immediately delete every post I ever made.

NobodysHome wrote:

And I think every single one of us could name a street that is wide, has great visibility, has side traffic control so there's no significant cross traffic, and that has an inexplicably low speed limit that lets the city generate money by citing "speeders" on said road.

I call this street "the entirety of rural Arizona", where 35-45 mph limits in the absolute middle of Central Nowhere reign supreme.

A friend of mine there tried to defend it by citing wildlife. The dude is originally from Ohio and has apparently forgotten about the existence of deer.

I think I told you guys about the place in VA where the speed limit getting off the highway goes from 65 to 30 to 15 and then back up to 25. This is all within legible sight of other speed limit signs.

The other "fun" Middle Americanism is that in spite of being the canning and jarring capital of the world for several centuries, they now fail to distinguish between jelly, jam, preserves, and marmalade, so always check what you got before you spread it on your toast or muffins.

It's supposed to be:

Jelly: You thoroughly strain the fruit before cooking through something fairly robust such as a cheesecloth, resulting in a translucent gel. I laugh when I see "seedless raspberry jelly" on the store shelves, because if it's jelly, it should by definition be seedless.

Jam: You run the fruit through something a bit less restrictive, such as a sieve. So it's less translucent and has more body than jelly, but you still don't get any big chunks of fruit. "Seedless raspberry jam" is a real thing, and GothBard loves it.

Preserves: You leave the fruit in bite-sized pieces, resulting in chunks in the final product. I personally love preserves.

Marmalade: As far as I know, this is pretty much citrus preserves where you include the peel. Google agrees with me: "Marmalade is a specialized preserve traditionally made exclusively from citrus fruits. It contains thinly sliced pieces of citrus peel suspended in a clear, jelly-like base."

So very different substances for very different tastes, but in much of America if you go to a diner and ask, "Is this jelly or jam?" they'll look at you as if you've lost your mind.

These are important to me, so yes...glad you did this write up.

...Um ...Freehold? Whose skin are you wearing?

Hello Clarice....

Skin is the Square One of clothing.

I hate math with every bone in my body. I will never stop hating it. But my god, I f$&~ing LOVED this show. It made math intetesting,and showed ways it could be used beyond barking answers on command like a harp seal.

Gonna miss him.

I swear. "Uh, oh. Nefret is sick. I have to give her some medicine."

Mephisto: "Ooooh! I hear the pill cutter! What treat do I get today?"

Hey little me, dont get involved in drugs.

Had a bit of an epiphany about me and AI this morning. GothBard commented that overall, Gen X is taking to AI much better than most generations. So why am I the exception?

(1) I grew up with Depression-Era Silent Generation parents (and a grandparent) whose entire attitude to requests for help was (offensive but literally what they said), "What are you, a cripple? Do it yourself!"

(2) Similarly, I learned early on in life (at least by the time I was working at the video store, and probably earlier), "If you want it done right, do it yourself!"

So AI offends me by trying to do routine, mundane tasks for me. "Can I help you schedule your day?" "No! I'm perfectly capable of doing that on my own." "Can I summarize your emails for you?" "Do you think I'm illiterate or something?" Its entire Clippy-like approach to me grates on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard (anyone else old enough to remember that?).

Then once AI does something, you have to check its work because it does things horrifically wrong. It'll schedule you for nonexistent meetings. It'll emphasize nonsense in an email or meeting summary (just try to digress and talk about pets for a couple of minutes and then check the AI summary of the meeting). It will get things fundamentally technically wrong (every single time I've had it create a storyboard, it's been missing at least one critical step so that the process didn't work as-written).

It hits all the wrong buttons for me. It tries to do everything for me (hate), and it does it wrong often enough that I have to check it every single time (not a timesaver). Thus, I don't see its purpose.

I like AI. Or the idea behind it. But I do think it is being misused, or if not misused then misappropriated. I am also no fan of everything someone dislikes being automatically seen as AI, or a bad day being proof of AIs perfidity. Also very much hate conspiracy theories with AI at the center.

Hope you feel better soon Amby!

This has been ... A month. But things much better. Will share some cooking triumphs and failures later.

Not you too!

Freehold DM wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

Drejk wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

I literally tell everyone, family and friends included, that I will not answer a call on my cell phone ever, for any reason.

That's ok, I'd send you a message instead.

And that is how the universe should be. Asynchronous communication for non-urgent matters.

I would call you just to say I did. Its on my bucket list.

Good luck with that. LM has my cell number. You can go ahead and fail just like everyone else.

Why was i picturing Christopher Walken at his most villainous in Balls of Fury when I read this?

Drejk wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

I literally tell everyone, family and friends included, that I will not answer a call on my cell phone ever, for any reason.

That's ok, I'd send you a message instead.

And that is how the universe should be. Asynchronous communication for non-urgent matters.

I would call you just to say I did. Its on my bucket list.

I am sorry drejk, I would not handle this with half your grace.

Damn. Im sorry Drejk. I miss seeing you on Steam.

Watching the abjectly jaded palates of Gen Z Californians is something to behold.

When we were the kids' age, we were human vacuum cleaners. Maruchan ramen with an egg in it was the height of home cooking, and Taco Bell's $0.69 tacos were a staple of existence. We had a rotation of all the junk food places. If someone offered us junk food for free, we'd eat it, no matter where it was from.

Fast forward to 2026. While Jollibee's isn't fine dining, it's certainly far superior to the modern KFC dreck (oh, how I miss Kentucky Fried Chicken and their actual amazing fried chicken that is now extinct). The kids said it was, "Pretty good. Would eat there again."

And yet I need to buy 9 dinners total to distribute Final Fantasy codes to all my friends and guildmates. I managed to get 4 buying dinner for the family. As for the other 5 dinners, I can't even give them away.

"Hey, Impus Minor! I'll pay for all your friends' dinners if they eat Jollibee's!"
"No, thanks. We don't feel like chicken tonight."
"Hey, Impus Major! I'll pay for all your friends' lunches if they eat Jollibee's!"
"Well, Gamer1 has a nut allergy and Gamer2 has a capsaicin allergy, so neither of them can safely eat food from there, and no one else wants to get food that they can't eat, so no thanks!"

I mean, Impus Major's excuse is solid. But Impus Minor's? Only one of the gamers has a job; the rest are unemployed and insist on getting food as cheaply as possible, but apparently free food they didn't choose isn't as good as paid-for food they did choose.

Go figure...

Dearest Father, it is Jollibee.

Please mail me my portion of dinner.

Extrovert: "You need to get out of your comfort zone."

Me: "No, YOU need to get out of my comfort zone."

Ill be whatever I wanna do!

Feeling less motivated today than a tortoise after a medicated root canal from the dentist. Dinner is a frozen supreme pizza.

please heal

This is "spoiled California kid" in a nutshell:

Impus Minor: I hate how it's 70°F one day and 84°F the next day! Temperature changes should be more gradual!

(And this after we got to listen to Shiro's Kentucky Spring where it went between 32°F and 85°F on a near-daily basis for a couple of weeks.)

I would go quite mad.

We got an email from a guest who was here Friday night complaining about our "staff's lack of enthusiasm". It wasn't me, I wasn't here Friday night, but basically the guest says that they were in town for their daughter's college graduation, that they were super excited about it, and they'd been looking forward to it for a long time. And then when they mentioned it to the clerk at check-in (again, not me), the clerk didn't "properly share our excitement for our daughter's big day". I'm just thinking, "yeah, no s$$$. You're excited because it's your daughter. The desk clerk doesn't know her, or have any kind of connection to her, so why would they be excited about it?" Maybe the clerk could have done a better job of pretending to care, but does it really matter? Apparently so, because the guest goes on to say that "The staff's lack of enthusiasm really put a damper on our spirits, and turned what should have been one of the greatest days of our daughter's life into just another weekend." These people really put too much stock in other peoples' reactions.

It all depends on how the person went about it. Naturally, if they said something rude in the face of exhuberance, thats just wrong. But if they were being quietly snide, thats wrong too. I have unwittingly been a part of and intentionally exposed to the graduation industry and lord knows it's exhausting. But its also a source of great tips, overall business, and in some cases, future contacts. Why mess that up?

I swear, we are so jaded.

NobodysHome: Hey, Impus Minor! Do you want to try to eBay the NVidia Shield or should I dump it out front? My guess is that you could probably get $50 or $100 for it.
Impus Minor: Meh. Dump it out front.
NobodysHome: OK. I just checked eBay. The current auction on one is at $102.50.
Impus Minor: Changed my mind! I'll sell it!

So we have learned that Impus Minor's "do work" threshold is somewhere between $50 and $100. No wonder I can't get the kids to wash the cars at $20 each...

Washing a car for 20 bucks? Thats a suckers price, unfortunately.

Dad still has some leftover great northern beans & ham, but I picked up a fresh rotisserie chicken** at the wholesale club today while we were buying his replacement laptop*. So either way, we're set for dinner tonight.

* Be gentle with your laptop lcd panel & hinge. Do not get in the habit of leaving a writing utensil on the keys in case the lid gets closed.

** It's cheaper to buy a cooked 3lb warehouse chicken then to buy a raw whole chicken of the same weight that still needs to be prepped, seasoned, and roasted.

Oh! Oh no. I'm sorry.

Why must life be so hard? Why must I fail at every attempt at masonry?!

one of my top 5 moments. Probably number 5

I don't know why I said it like that. I'm sorry. I know I was half-asleep, but that doesn't excuse it.

what? Thats crazy. You are aware of my (justified)hate for non UC Gundam(except for G), I am aware of your (confusing/wrong) hate for ROOM PARTIES. Its all quite normal at this point, I took no offense

Freehold DM wrote:

gran rey de los mono wrote:

Freehold DM wrote:

I AM GOING TO WATCH THE SECOND GUNDAM HATHAWAY MOVIEEEEEEEEE

Anne Hathaway made 2 Gundam movies? Does she play Relena Peacecraft or Lucrezia Noin? Or maybe Lady Une?

....

schedules epic room party

I know Gundam Wing is awesome, but don't be a s$!%head.

HOISTED BY MY OWN PETARD

Freehold DM wrote:

I AM GOING TO WATCH THE SECOND GUNDAM HATHAWAY MOVIEEEEEEEEE

Anne Hathaway made 2 Gundam movies? Does she play Relena Peacecraft or Lucrezia Noin? Or maybe Lady Une?

....

schedules epic room party

....what the f**$ did I just watch?

I AM GOING TO WATCH THE SECOND GUNDAM HATHAWAY MOVIEEEEEEEEE

NobodysHome wrote:

Ironic coming from a former(?) punk rocker, but the loss of social niceties and the advent of, "Just say whatever comes into your mind without any kind of filter," is not something I approve of.

We're planning a summer trip to Hawaii. Due to time constraints, we're only going to be there 5 or 6 days. We started inviting people.

If you're a long-time Hawaii veteran, the "social nicety" way to respond is, "Oh, I'd love to go, and I've been there many times. Let me know if you'd like any suggestions as to activities or things to pack." It lets the host know that you'd like to be helpful while acknowledging that they're still in control of planning the trip.

Instead we got, "Oh yeah! I'd love to go! And you need to do this on this island, and that on that island (complete with apostrophes to remind us we're spelling everything wrong), and go shopping here, and here, and there. In fact, there's so much to do that you can't possibly do it in a week. I'm going to go a week early so I can do everything I want and then I'll meet you once you arrive."

And now we regret inviting the person.

Way to go, oversharer.

Dear Oversharer,

Great news! You seem SOOO excited about going to Ha'w'aii', that we have decided that we shouldn't interfere with your plans. You take both weeks to do your thing, and we'll see you when we all get home.
Sincerely,
Everyone Else

Whee! Nekkid vacation!

But Dearest Father, I have already packed!

Ironic coming from a former(?) punk rocker, but the loss of social niceties and the advent of, "Just say whatever comes into your mind without any kind of filter," is not something I approve of.

We're planning a summer trip to Hawaii. Due to time constraints, we're only going to be there 5 or 6 days. We started inviting people.

If you're a long-time Hawaii veteran, the "social nicety" way to respond is, "Oh, I'd love to go, and I've been there many times. Let me know if you'd like any suggestions as to activities or things to pack." It lets the host know that you'd like to be helpful while acknowledging that they're still in control of planning the trip.

Instead we got, "Oh yeah! I'd love to go! And you need to do this on this island, and that on that island (complete with apostrophes to remind us we're spelling everything wrong), and go shopping here, and here, and there. In fact, there's so much to do that you can't possibly do it in a week. I'm going to go a week early so I can do everything I want and then I'll meet you once you arrive."

And now we regret inviting the person.

Way to go, oversharer.

...you invited me to Hawaii? When?

That sucks. If only it was like my 90 day review here. Just got a 5k bump in salary, so they apparently like what I’m doing.

there is no emoticon for what i am feeling

And once again I have had the conversation:

Guest: "Why isn't the breakfast ready?"
Me: "Because it's only 6:15. Breakfast doesn't start until 6:30."
Guest: "But it's 6:15."
Me: "Yes. Exactly. Come back in 15 minutes."
Guest: "But the breakfast should be ready now."
Me: "No. It stats at 6:30."
Guest: "When you say 6:30, it should be ready at 6! It should have been ready 15 minutes ago! I'm going to give you a bad review for not having the breakfast ready on time!"

Sigh.

Thats stupid.

Well, I will be officially employed once more starting Monday.

YEAH!

Speaking of modern education, Impus Minor has FOUR finals today, including an in-person that ends at 2:35 pm and an online one that starts at 3:00 pm, so he's almost certainly going to be late for the 3:00 pm.

Back when I was in college they actually mandated finals schedules so you couldn't have more than two in a day.

The entire online learning trend has turned education into a farce because educators no longer think students' time matters.

I never had that. Most amount of finals I had in a day was 3, though.

Speaking of ens**ttification...

...roughly 20 years ago, we bought a new Whirlpool washer/dryer set. The dryer included a moisture sensor that would supposedly turn off the dryer once the clothes were dry to save energy. It never worked. Even on Day 1 of ownership if you set it to "automatic" your clothes would come out damp, hot, and humid, like Freehold likes his... erm... anyway... we always used the dryer on its "timed dry" setting so we never had to rely on the sensor.

The dryer finally caught fire. We reviewed Consumer Reports and got a top-rated LG washer/dryer set. The dryer included a moisture sensor that would supposedly turn off the dryer once the clothes were dry to save energy. It never worked. Even on Day 1 of ownership your towels, jeans, and any other moisture-retaining items would come out damp, hot, and humid. (I was pondering putting in the Freehold reference again, but nah.)

The major change? With the new dryer there's no easy "timed dry" setting. There's a lot of knob-twisting and button-pushing every time you want to start a new load.

So the sensors are no better, but getting to a timed dry is significantly worse.

Bleh.

I am so very, very sorry to hear of the fire. I take it everyone is okay.

Have you been cleaning out your dryer vents? Did you even have one? I ask because I know of the controversy surrounding dryer vents and their use in modern day homes.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL WHO OBSERVE

fujisempai wrote:

There are use cases where reply all is useful, but there should be an "Are you sure you want to reply all with this many recipients?"

As I've mentioned, our IT department explicitly implemented this in Slack. If you try to post to @channel or @here, a pop-up appears that roughly reads,"By using this tag you will be sending an alert to hundreds of users. These tags should only be used for time-critical messages where it's important to receive a fast reply." I still get at least half a dozen such messages a day along the lines of, "Hey, does anyone have a link to the documentation for this?" (we have a doc web site), or, "Has anyone taken any good AI training lately?"

Apparently warning people not to do something is ineffective.

fujisempai wrote:

Then there are use cases that are annoying that management thinks are useful. Like if we forget to turn in our paper timecard (we have to do paper and digital for reasons that don't hold water) everyone that forgot is included in an email telling them to reply all when they've turned in their timecard. There are 3 people in the list that actually need to be informed, but the reply all functions as a walk of shame.

Some managers are just d**ks.

I have worked in places where if you did not hit reply all you were in some kind of violation. And vice versa.