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Some days on the job go great. Other days go like s&@&. And once in a blue moon, when you're doing the dig-out for a retaining wall, you find half a rabbit in the skid loader bucket.
I think this state needs to change its motto to "Iowa: Only Two Days Away From Wherever You're Going"
But why don't americans travel? Most of you don't have passports....
Hello, everyone.
Hello there, John!
From the town of New Glarus' laws regarding public nuisances and the various nuisances one has to watch for.
Dangerous trees. All trees which are a menace to public safety or are the cause of substantial annoyance to the general public.
Some days on the job go great. Other days go like s&$$. And once in a blue moon, when you're doing the dig-out for a retaining wall, you find half a rabbit in the skid loader bucket.
Man, you have stupid rabbits!
Have been quite ill over the past few days. Fever out of nowhere. Verified it was not covid. Spiked at 102.something, is now 99.9 and still going. Going to try to see doctor today.
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It's day 60 of GothBard's unemployment, and we're in the hardest part of it: She conducted her third-round interviews at two places a week ago, and she has yet to hear back from them. This tells us two things:
(1) They're interviewing other candidates at the moment, and
(2) She's not out of the running yet.
So while it's all well and good for Shiro to say, "Not hearing anything is good news! It means they haven't rejected you yet!", what it means is that GothBard doesn't want to start any new interviews yet (she feels it would be rude to interview a couple of times and they say, "Sorry! Already hired!" even though it's what a lot of people do), so she's sitting there, twiddling her thumbs, waiting for the final word from these two companies.
And it doesn't help at all that this is the week I started cracking down on expenditures with the expectation that we're going to be a single-income family for the long haul...
All I know is it's 43 degrees outside with 15-20 mph winds on top of a hill and I'm blasting my legs with cold water and paver silt cutting all these curves. So it could be worse.
Have been quite ill over the past few days. Fever out of nowhere. Verified it was not covid. Spiked at 102.something, is now 99.9 and still going. Going to try to see doctor today.
FLUIDS
All I know is it's 43 degrees outside with 15-20 mph winds on top of a hill and I'm blasting my legs with cold water and paver silt cutting all these curves. So it could be worse.
I'm in California. Today in Albany it's sunny with a light breeze and a high of 71°F. 25 miles east at DVC it'll be 89°F. And at the Aftershock festival, 75 miles from us, it'll be 95°F.
California is a "drive for an hour to pick your weather" kind of place.
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In forestry school we had a tree measuring exercise, in the snow. In the adirondaks. I was tooling around in a T shirt. My partner had on A t shirt, longjohns, sweatshirt, and carhart jacket. He freezes so much he can't move and I have to run around doing most of the measuring.
Come lunch I throw my bag down on the ground, sit on it, and start sipping Tomato soup. He's standing there shivering, looks down "I. hate. youuuuu"
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It's kind of funny being old enough to observe the societal changes that have occurred as a result of the internet:
Credit Cards:
1990s: Your credit card number was a closely-guarded secret, and even stores that asked for it for a valid reason (for example, our video store took credit card impressions as security deposits) were suspect.
Internet Phase 1: Isn't this great? We can put our credit card numbers in all our online stores so we never have to think about it again!
Internet Phase 2: You gave your credit card number to an online store?!?!? What are you, a moron? There's no way they'll manage to keep it secure!
Internet Phase 3: Yeah, I let all the online places store my credit card info. Fraud is so rampant that if anyone tries to rip me off it takes under 5 minutes to call my credit card company, get the charges nullified, and get the card cancelled.
Telephones:
1970s: The phone is ringing! Someone answer it! Fast!
1990s: The phone is ringing. Let the answering machine get it. It may be a salesperson.
Post-Internet: With Caller ID, nobody answers their phone any more unless they recognize the caller, and nobody leaves a message any more "because if you really cared you'd pick up". I think it's a hilarious blockage. Impus Major has a friend exactly like that. He blocks Caller Id on his phone, then gets mad that his calls always go to voice mail. So he refuses to ever leave a message. Thus, we never speak on the phone
Just a weird observation because since it's near an election day we're getting 6-10 calls a day that we ignore because we figure they're political, and we have yet to receive a single message. And GothBard just linked her and Impus Major's Aftershock wristbands to one of our credit cards because meh, if it gets stolen we don't actually lose anything because it's so easy to cancel charges these days.
VERY different from my childhood.
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Have been quite ill over the past few days. Fever out of nowhere. Verified it was not covid. Spiked at 102.something, is now 99.9 and still going. Going to try to see doctor today.FLUIDS
Living off of pedialyte.
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In forestry school we had a tree measuring exercise, in the snow. In the adirondaks. I was tooling around in a T shirt. My partner had on A t shirt, longjohns, sweatshirt, and carhart jacket. He freezes so much he can't move and I have to run around doing most of the measuring.
Come lunch I throw my bag down on the ground, sit on it, and start sipping Tomato soup. He's standing there shivering, looks down "I. hate. youuuuu"
After getting back into landscaping after Toys R Us the first winter I went to a sporting goods and asked them what they would recommend for climbing Mount Everest. And then after repeatedly assuring them that I wasn't going to be climbing Mount Everest I got some pretty good recommendations. Long story short, I don't get cold in the winter.
Even today after blasting myself with cold water and paver silt I never actually got my skin wet besides my hands and never got cold besides my face.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's kind of funny being old enough to observe the societal changes that have occurred as a result of the internet:
Credit Cards:
1990s: Your credit card number was a closely-guarded secret, and even stores that asked for it for a valid reason (for example, our video store took credit card impressions as security deposits) were suspect.
Internet Phase 1: Isn't this great? We can put our credit card numbers in all our online stores so we never have to think about it again!
Internet Phase 2: You gave your credit card number to an online store?!?!? What are you, a moron? There's no way they'll manage to keep it secure!
Internet Phase 3: Yeah, I let all the online places store my credit card info. Fraud is so rampant that if anyone tries to rip me off it takes under 5 minutes to call my credit card company, get the charges nullified, and get the card cancelled.Telephones:
1970s: The phone is ringing! Someone answer it! Fast!
1990s: The phone is ringing. Let the answering machine get it. It may be a salesperson.
Post-Internet: With Caller ID, nobody answers their phone any more unless they recognize the caller, and nobody leaves a message any more "because if you really cared you'd pick up". I think it's a hilarious blockage. Impus Major has a friend exactly like that. He blocks Caller Id on his phone, then gets mad that his calls always go to voice mail. So he refuses to ever leave a message. Thus, we never speak on the phoneJust a weird observation because since it's near an election day we're getting 6-10 calls a day that we ignore because we figure they're political, and we have yet to receive a single message. And GothBard just linked her and Impus Major's Aftershock wristbands to one of our credit cards because meh, if it gets stolen we don't actually lose anything because it's so easy to cancel charges these days.
VERY different from my childhood.
All I know is any time I spend money at Walmart I get a call from my bank's fraud department making sure that was me.
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They want to find out if you spent it with Walter or Martin. Walter is honest as the day is long; Martin, oh dear me.
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Just ate my first solid food in days.
Just ate my first solid food in days.
Was it Spam musubi? Tell me it was Spam musubi!
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A gentle word for those trying to be supportive of their unemployed friends: Calling every two weeks to ask, "Do you have a job yet?" is not a kindness.
I swear, I can think of few ways to stress out GothBard more than to have multiple friends calling up every Friday and asking, "So, have you found a job yet?"
I have no idea what they're thinking.
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A gentle word for those trying to be supportive of their unemployed friends: Calling every two weeks to ask, "Do you have a job yet?" is not a kindness.
I swear, I can think of few ways to stress out GothBard more than to have multiple friends calling up every Friday and asking, "So, have you found a job yet?"
I have no idea what they're thinking.
I can think of a single excuse for that kind behavior: when the question is immediately followed by "because there is an opening at xxx (and I can get a recommendation bonus if you get hired)".
I went with Assassin's Creed: Syndicate and it's season pass (weirdly, buying those two costed 2 złoty less than buying Gold Edition that was described as "containing Standard Game and Season Pass").
I don't think that I can afford Valhalla now.
Wait, Euro exchange rate is bellow dollar?!
I think it might be the first time in the history (that I can recall).
I play too many sneaky-killy games.
Fuuuuuu....!
Far Cry 6 is finally available on Humble Bundle! (I think I checked a month or so ago and it wasn't there yet).
And there is a 60% off sale...
And because of buying AC: Syndicate, I am a but a few dollars euro short of the reduced price.
Crap. I don't think a new sale will be soon enough.
Well, I could not afford the Far Cry 6 Gold Edition (which includes the past FC villains DLC I want to play because, well, FC villains Vaas and Pagan Min) even if I hadn't bought Syndicate.
Ah, well, another day of irrelevant disappointments of a budget gamer.
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In forestry school we had a tree measuring exercise, in the snow. In the adirondaks. I was tooling around in a T shirt. My partner had on A t shirt, longjohns, sweatshirt, and carhart jacket. He freezes so much he can't move and I have to run around doing most of the measuring.
Come lunch I throw my bag down on the ground, sit on it, and start sipping Tomato soup. He's standing there shivering, looks down "I. hate. youuuuu"
After getting back into landscaping after Toys R Us the first winter I went to a sporting goods and asked them what they would recommend for climbing Mount Everest. And then after repeatedly assuring them that I wasn't going to be climbing Mount Everest I got some pretty good recommendations. Long story short, I don't get cold in the winter.
Even today after blasting myself with cold water and paver silt I never actually got my skin wet besides my hands and never got cold besides my face.
Working outdoor jobs in New York State (not to mention spending over a decade before that in the Scouts), there's no getting away from cold and wet. No matter how much rain gear or insulated winter clothing you wear, you will be cold and wet. So you just end up getting used to it.
My tolerance for working in the rain has so far freaked the hell out of my coworkers in Iowa. When I told them that it routinely rains at least two or three days a week in Syracuse, half of them thought I was joking.
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The other four days it snows
(I went to ESF there)
The other four days it snows
(I went to ESF there)
I went to ESF and Syracuse University. In other words...
The frat house where I lived had more than a little resemblance to that place
(physically and spiritually. As they were on double probation for an incident with a sword)
BEFORE I got there...
In forestry school we had a tree measuring exercise, in the snow. In the adirondaks. I was tooling around in a T shirt. My partner had on A t shirt, longjohns, sweatshirt, and carhart jacket. He freezes so much he can't move and I have to run around doing most of the measuring.
Come lunch I throw my bag down on the ground, sit on it, and start sipping Tomato soup. He's standing there shivering, looks down "I. hate. youuuuu"
After getting back into landscaping after Toys R Us the first winter I went to a sporting goods and asked them what they would recommend for climbing Mount Everest. And then after repeatedly assuring them that I wasn't going to be climbing Mount Everest I got some pretty good recommendations. Long story short, I don't get cold in the winter.
Even today after blasting myself with cold water and paver silt I never actually got my skin wet besides my hands and never got cold besides my face.
Working outdoor jobs in New York State (not to mention spending over a decade before that in the Scouts), there's no getting away from cold and wet. No matter how much rain gear or insulated winter clothing you wear, you will be cold and wet. So you just end up getting used to it.
My tolerance for working in the rain has so far freaked the hell out of my coworkers in Iowa. When I told them that it routinely rains at least two or three days a week in Syracuse, half of them thought I was joking.
Yeah in Seattle if you can't work in the rain you might as well do something else. I learned a lot about my tolerance for getting wet and muddy out there.
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The frat house where I lived had more than a little resemblance to that place
(physically and spiritually. As they were on double probation for an incident with a sword)
BEFORE I got there...
Obviously. You would get harsher punishment than probation for handling a sword as a druid.
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My players are upset with me. They think I killed a baby on purpose to mess with them.
But:
They found the baby.
The Rogue fashioned a sling to carry the baby.
They found an enemy in a room.
The Rogue used a wand to turn invisible (I ruled that since she was carrying the baby, it also turned invisible. Mainly because I thought she was going to run away to keep it safe.)
The Rogue moved into the room, as did the rest of the party.
The enemy, being an 11th level evil Cleric who was surrounded by enemies, channeled negative energy for 6d6 damage to everyone. Including the baby. But he wouldn't have done that if he knew the baby was there, because he needed it alive.I say they have some responsibility for its death, especially since they could have left it with the Paladin (The Paladin's player caught the COVID, so he wasn't there and we put the Paladin out to guard the horses. He could have easily watched the baby too, instead of hauling it through the rest of the house.)
Yeah, the baby's death is definitely on your players.
Could the evil cleric have made a different choice of action?
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Just ate my first solid food in days.Was it Spam musubi? Tell me it was Spam musubi!
Unfortunately no, Popeyes sandwich. Should not have had it. But the solid food was good. Am having mostly crackers now.
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I just ate grits.
Grits.
A humbling moment.
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Unfortunately no, Popeyes sandwich. Should not have had it...
Funny; that's how everyone I know reacts to Popeye's sandwiches...
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I just ate grits.
Grits.
A humbling moment.
Like, 100 220 or 400 grit ?
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The frat house where I lived had more than a little resemblance to that place
(physically and spiritually. As they were on double probation for an incident with a sword)
BEFORE I got there...
Ironically, I'm pretty sure that house is now the official Syracuse University mental health / counseling center.
Unfortunately no, Popeyes sandwich. Should not have had it...Funny; that's how everyone I know reacts to Popeye's sandwiches...
I will say the sandwich is not a delicious as it was when it first came out. That first week it was like an explosion of flavor in your mouth.
Yes, yes I know what I just said, I am me.
Like, 100 220 or 400 grit ?I just ate grits.
Grits.
A humbling moment.
It wasn't porridge, so...yes?
It wasn't porridge, so...yes?Like, 100 220 or 400 grit ?I just ate grits.
Grits.
A humbling moment.
I've heard a little sandpaper can help take the edge off.
I just ate grits.
Grits.
A humbling moment.
Or 'Slippery Jims', as they are also known.
There's a live Michael Moorcock interview on Twitch RIGHT NOW
Shrimp and grits is one of my favorite foods.
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I am doing most of my current work using Google Translate.
It's getting too good at it, which is not good because it means I will be obsolete soon. There are still places where I have to do actual work, because it still can't handle context or more convoluted meanings, but it's already far more advanced than what was capable of handling barely two years ago.
Ah, well, once Google develops full grasp of Polish language, it will be smart enough to take over the world anyway, so let's just hope my contribution to its inevitable victory will give me a nice place in the new order and not a one-way ticket to biomass reclamation plant.
<.<
>.>
All hail our digital overlords!
...
If Facebook gets there first, I am screwed for all the complaints about it past (lack of) functionality, though.
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Fantasy NPC: Pirate Captain Yarrow
I've just been looking at your fantasy NPCs, and you're very creative. :-)
I find it amusing that GothBard and Impus Major will soon be heading home, leaving a 90°F+ day to arrive at a fogbound 63°F day with a cold, wet breeze. I've had to close the windows, and GothBard will likely have to turn on the heat for herself.
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Some days...
I broke one of the nose pads on my glasses. I can still wear them but they feel off.
Whelp. I reached to a desk drawer for a screwdriver to remove the screw (which stayed in) only to have the front of the drawer crack and break.
I should go back to bed.
Except I really should finish at least one page of work and send it before going to sleep.
Sleep, friend.