Are we all just getting old? Why are we so quiet? Or is it the ol' easter/passover combo again?
Yes.
Are we all just getting old? Why are we so quiet? Or is it the ol' easter/passover combo again?
Maybe you're getting old but I feel as young as ever. I have however been cleaning up the yard after an extremely long and heavy winter so I've been quite busy the last couple of days.
Also this is the time of year where we have to do most of our adult stuff so there's that.
Are we all just getting old? Why are we so quiet?
I'm just trying to balance out all of the stupid s#$$ I used to write back in the day.
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Are we all just getting old? Why are we so quiet?I'm just trying to balance out all of the stupid s$&# I used to write back in the day.
Nonsense. This is a place for stupid s*@&.
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Fantasy Monster: Unhatched One.
An undead draconic egg!
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What we need is a gigantic undead rabbit to go with it.
Fantasy Monster: Unhatched One.
An undead draconic egg!
Cooooooooool
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What we need is a gigantic undead rabbit to go with it.
Yesterday we all went and saw the Dungeons & Dragons movie.
The writing is mediocre at best. The action is silly. The CGI looks like they sent their special effects team to Best Buy with instructions to buy the cheapest CGI software available, along with the cheapest computer that could barely run it.
It's a cheese fest, through and through.
And because it never takes itself seriously, and it's a spectacularly predictable block of well-aged cheese, it's quite enjoyable.
Great moviemaking it ain't.
But if you want to leave your brain at the door and be thoroughly entertained for a bit over two hours, it's a fun movie.
Enjoy!
EDIT: Or, as Shiro put it, "That was 100% a movie made by Hasbro."
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Mm.
Thank you for your thoughts.
I will still not give hasbro/wizards a dime of my money after the nonsense they pulled.
Holy s#~+.
A certain individual is in a horror manga as the worst type of villain.
Wow.
Holy s$@+.
A certain individual is in a horror manga as the worst type of villain.
Wow.
No even a link for the curious? Ah, well, I'm sure it has something to do with politics.
In non-politics news, this year has been horrible for our energy bill, with bills nearly 2x normal. Rain on a mostly-uninsulated house will do that, AND the clouds kill your solar production.
However, the high was 70°F yesterday and it's not supposed to drop below 60°F for the rest of the 10-day forecast, meaning I'm likely to turn off the living room heat.
Checking my records, that's a month earlier than usual. Go figure. Ah, well, we'll see whether it cools down again.
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We bought a dartboard today, and we all have a great deal of practice to put in before we are proficient at the game of darts, though Shanna was noticeably better at it than either ALL (DE) or I.
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First day back and I'm already finished with a job, next up, a paver mosaic (not pebbles, unfortunately) of two cranes that are definitely about to f#&~.
No pressure.
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The plan: spend a day in the excavator digging a drainage trench around a water tower
Actual: spend a day hand-digging random holes trying to find buried electrical lines because the site plan wasn't even close to accurate
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In other news, I am surprisingly excited about today's storm. Last week we exactly tied 1952's record for highest snowpack ever measured in the Sierras. So the snow had a week to settle and melt, meaning we probably lost a foot or two, and today and tomorrow's storm is likely the last storm of the season, so whether or not we beat 1952 is up in the air.
Go, snow!
...
Wait.How are you cheering on snow? This makes no sense. That's MY job!
1) Huge (record?) drought.
2) Record snow in mountains.3) Snow melts into water.
4) Water flows down mountains.
5) Water helps alleviate drought.
California hasn't been getting the mountain snows like they used to years ago, and that's a huge issue for their water cycle. And of course, the humans' response to this development has been less than logical.
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Go, snow!How are you cheering on snow? This makes no sense. That's MY job!1) Huge (record?) drought.
2) Record snow in mountains.
3) Snow melts into water.
4) Water flows down mountains.
5) Water helps alleviate drought.California hasn't been getting the mountain snows like they used to years ago, and that's a huge issue for their water cycle. And of course, the humans' response to this development has been less than logical.
That's putting it mildly. In the two decades since our last heavy rain season, we've built nearly *zero* new water storage infrastructure, in spite of our population ballooning from 31 million in 1994 to 39 million in 2022. (You'd think 25% more people would at least result in 25% more water storage. But nooooooooo....)
So every prediction I've seen is that once the summer weather hits the mountains we're going to have massive flooding throughout the state because we don't have the infrastructure to deal with, much less store, all that water.
So I predict massive floods in May, then wildfires in August and September because the water's all gone.
We are a stupid state.
Storm. Rain. Thankfully I do not need to get groceries, yet, despite considering going to shop earlier.
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I'm reading about the massive U.S. intelligence leak caused by someone trying to win an argument on Discord and I'm envisioning CY asking, "Diswhat?"
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Went to see the D&D film with my Tuesday gaming group. It was a laugh, and sometimes that's all you need.
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The plan: spend a day in the excavator digging a drainage trench around a water tower
Actual: spend a day hand-digging random holes trying to find buried electrical lines because the site plan wasn't even close to accurate
Breaking news: at least one of the buried electrical lines doesn't actually go anywhere, it just stops in the middle of a field.
Breaking news: at least one of the buried electrical lines doesn't actually go anywhere, it just stops in the middle of a field.The plan: spend a day in the excavator digging a drainage trench around a water tower
Actual: spend a day hand-digging random holes trying to find buried electrical lines because the site plan wasn't even close to accurate
We had to install a retaining wall behind this place which used to house an electrician with a thing for outdoor lighting so while digging out for this wall we found 6 electric lines that didn't go anywhere and then there was one active one and we had to figure out which one didn't suddenly end in the yard so guess who got to dig trenches all day tracking down electrical lines (in fairness, former coworker spent the day repeatedly getting the MT 85 stuck in the mud, so it could have been worse) that was the year it rained so much i ended up with an army of mud men (snow men made of clumps of mud) in the trailer and the boss asked former coworker if i was doing okay.
Breaking news: at least one of the buried electrical lines doesn't actually go anywhere, it just stops in the middle of a field.The plan: spend a day in the excavator digging a drainage trench around a water tower
Actual: spend a day hand-digging random holes trying to find buried electrical lines because the site plan wasn't even close to accurate
Miracles of modern (or not so modern) construction work!
Breaking news: at least one of the buried electrical lines doesn't actually go anywhere, it just stops in the middle of a field.The plan: spend a day in the excavator digging a drainage trench around a water tower
Actual: spend a day hand-digging random holes trying to find buried electrical lines because the site plan wasn't even close to accurate
That's a charging point for ELECTRO-MOLES.
then there was one active one and we had to figure out which one didn't suddenly end in the yard so guess who got to dig trenches all day tracking down electrical lines
In the park we had a much less labor intensive method.
"Here wolf, pick one of these up"
BZZZZZZTTTTTT
"Found it"
--
This came in handy one time myself and a small female coworker bot reached for the same malfunctioning electric cord at the same time. I thankfully won initiative, because I got an electric shock that shook my arms heated up so badly it melted the bottom tine. That probably would have been fatal or at least damaging in humans.
One thing I like about summer in Wisconsin (spring was last weekend) is when the morning starts out above 60 degrees (62 currently) of course we'll probably end up with temps in the mid 80s but that's okay with me.
One thing I like about summer in Wisconsin (spring was last weekend) is when the morning starts out above 60 degrees (62 currently) of course we'll probably end up with temps in the mid 80s but that's okay with me.
But the lakes haven't stratified yet, so you'll freeze your nadgers off if you go in the water.
In normal years, this is when I'd be saying, "TWENTY-FIVE DAYS LEFT IN THE SCHOOL YEAR!"
And this is still true for most of my students and my teaching partner.
But, lucky me, I had the lowest seniority in my grade level when we started the new year-round program, so I have a total of 57 school days left until my three-week summer vacation. (Not-so-teensy Valeros and Hermione still have the standard long summer break; they're not enrolled in the year-round program because I think it's b******t.) And when I come back from my vacation, I'll still have to teach three more weeks of summer/year-round school until we begin setting up for the new academic year.
But they pay me a little more for this. Not, you know, outrageously, but a little more.
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Yesterday afternoon was an adventure, and it's hilarious when people blame "dumb kids" instead of "amusing coincidence" for something like this.
The Impii drove out in the Prius to DVC for class. As usual, Impus Major forgot to turn off the lights. Just like all modern cars, the Prius has protection against this: When the ignition is off, if you open a door the lights turn off. (I know that for safety reasons manufacturers ensure that there's some way to have the headlights on with the ignition off, and this was Toyota's design for the Prius.) So the kids left the car in the parking lot, the lights were off, and everything was fine.
Impus Minor gets out of class 3.5 hours earlier than Impus Major, so he likes to grab lunch, wander around campus a bit, and then take a nap in the car. As I mentioned, it's been warm the last few days. So he got in the car, rolled down the windows, turned it on for a couple of minutes to run the air conditioner, then turned it off again... without ever opening a door.
Two hours later he tried to start the car again and it was dead. I'm surprised that leaving the headlights on for only two hours killed the battery, but since the Prius' car battery is primarily for trivial purposes, it's probably pretty tiny.
And of course there's this prevailing myth that jump-starting a Prius can damage its electrical system, so nobody's willing to do it. So I had to quit work, drive out to DVC in the Celica, and give the kids a jump.
Because nobody else wants to risk jumping a Prius. And, California, so I doubt many people carry jumper cables anyway.
Anyway, interesting afternoon...
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One thing I like about summer in Wisconsin (spring was last weekend) is when the morning starts out above 60 degrees (62 currently) of course we'll probably end up with temps in the mid 80s but that's okay with me.But the lakes haven't stratified yet, so you'll freeze your nadgers off if you go in the water.
But this is the only time of year our lakes aren't filled with Illinois people!
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Ah, U.S. health care!
Impus Major went to the ER a couple of weeks ago for sudden internal pain. We drove in, got a couple of ultrasounds, learned that nothing looked out of order, and got sent home again with a couple of Tylenol.
So 3.5 hours in the emergency room and two ultrasounds.
The bill just came in: $10,158.42.
Wow. Over $2900/hour to sit there doing nothing for most of the time, with a couple of quick trips for scans.
So yeah, the insurance "discount" will drop it to around $3120, which I know because we already got the bill for $312 and we're 90% covered for in-network visits, but every time I see the raw totals for my kids' hospital bills I am incredulous.
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But this is the only time of year our lakes aren't filled with Illinois people!One thing I like about summer in Wisconsin (spring was last weekend) is when the morning starts out above 60 degrees (62 currently) of course we'll probably end up with temps in the mid 80s but that's okay with me.But the lakes haven't stratified yet, so you'll freeze your nadgers off if you go in the water.
We've never left. We're always in your head.
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And of course there's this prevailing myth that jump-starting a Prius can damage its electrical system, so nobody's willing to do it. So I had to quit work, drive out to DVC in the Celica, and give the kids a jump.
Because nobody else wants to risk jumping a Prius. And, California, so I doubt many people carry jumper cables anyway.Anyway, interesting afternoon...
Outside of rural areas, not many people carry jumper cables around these parts either.
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Wooooow...
On the one hand, you can't expect someone unfamiliar with the Bay Area to distinguish between the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose airports. On the other hand, "I've scheduled my flight to leave out of San Francisco at 4:45 pm," should really raise red flags with anyone who's ever heard of traffic.
Little brother and his significant other are visiting for the weekend, and significant other scheduled flights to arrive in Oakland at midnight on Friday (mildly inconvenient because I usually don't stay up that late, but at least no traffic and an easy airport), then depart San Francisco at 4:45.
And seriously, in perfect traffic it's a 45-minute drive each way, but by 2:00 pm in the afternoon on a weekday it's up to 2.5 to 3 hours.
I love that they're visiting. But driving for over 3 hours for a single-person drop-off? Not on my list of favorite things.
Ah, U.S. health care!
Impus Major went to the ER a couple of weeks ago for sudden internal pain. We drove in, got a couple of ultrasounds, learned that nothing looked out of order, and got sent home again with a couple of Tylenol.
So 3.5 hours in the emergency room and two ultrasounds.
The bill just came in: $10,158.42.
Wow. Over $2900/hour to sit there doing nothing for most of the time, with a couple of quick trips for scans.
Good grief.
Outside of rural areas, not many people carry jumper cables around these parts either.
And of course there's this prevailing myth that jump-starting a Prius can damage its electrical system, so nobody's willing to do it. So I had to quit work, drive out to DVC in the Celica, and give the kids a jump.
Because nobody else wants to risk jumping a Prius. And, California, so I doubt many people carry jumper cables anyway.Anyway, interesting afternoon...
I always carry them.
I'd like to say it's the Midwesterner in me (just in case someone needs help), but honestly, it's because my old Honda hybrid had electrical problems any time you tried to use the radio with the key in but ignition off, so I was always needing a jump. And now I still carry them out of habit.
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We ended up owing on our taxes this year and they are rebuilding our street this year so don't be surprised if I end up putting on my hard hat and commandeering a road crew and improving it's efficiency.
The reason I have jumper cables says far too much about me: When I moved out of my parents' house, in spite of not having a car, I joined AAA. When AAA offered me a credit card, I took it, earning free AAA swag. The first swag I got was an emergency kit that included jumper cables.
And that crap-*** AAA emergency kit that I got back in 1991 or 1992 is still in excellent condition, sitting in only the second car it's ever been in.
And I use those jumper cables about once every two years, so they've really been a godsend.
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We ended up owing on our taxes this year and they are rebuilding our street this year so don't be surprised if I end up putting on my hard hat and commandeering a road crew and improving it's efficiency.
I wish you'd been in Albany. They said that they were going to "repair" our sidewalks.
This involved two guys with a classic high school AVC cart (one of those plastic push carts with a waist-high shelf and an ankle-level shelf) with two ShopVacs duct taped to the cart and hooked together in series, plus a concrete grinder.
So they just drove the length of the block with a generator and their AVC cart, and anywhere there was a raised crack in the sidewalk they ground the sidewalk down until the crack was level.
That's it.
It was truly a pathetic spectacle.
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Breaking news: at least one of the buried electrical lines doesn't actually go anywhere, it just stops in the middle of a field.The plan: spend a day in the excavator digging a drainage trench around a water tower
Actual: spend a day hand-digging random holes trying to find buried electrical lines because the site plan wasn't even close to accurate
We were supposed to finish the drainage trench around the water tower today. An hour or two in, we hit spicy dirt (see fig. 1, though of a milder variety). Surprise surprise, not on the site plan or locates. So we switch to the other end of the trench and start digging back toward the middle. 15 minutes later, we hit a huge bundle of phone lines that no one told us was there.
And so the rest of the day turned into a cross between Bill Murray's Groundhog Day and the finest in Cardassian literature (condensed and edited for brevity):
10:00 AM: Site supervisor shows up. I walk him through what we found. His response? "Huh. That's weird. Let me call our in-house locate guy."
10:15 AM: In-house locate guy shows up and pokes around, eventually finding that our spicy conduit travels in a weird zig-zag pattern around the site, crossing our trench in four places. He can't find out where it starts or ends. Walks over to the ripped-up phone lines. "Huh. That's weird. Let me call the engineer."
10:45 AM: Engineer shows up to look at the phone lines. "What is that?" I tell him that it's a bundle of phone lines. "Huh. That's weird. Let me call your boss and ask him what I should do."
11:00 AM: Engineer gets off the phone with my boss. "Your boss told me I should call an electrician." OK...
1:00 PM: Electrician shows up and spends an hour having me walk him through the entire site. Finally, I ask him what he thinks. His response? "Huh. That's weird. I suppose we could go down in the vault to see if any of these wires go down there, but we can't do that because we don't have a permit. I guess we'll see you tomorrow?"
2:30 PM: Site supervisor comes back, and I tell him what the engineer and electrician said. "Huh. That's weird. I would have thought they'd have come up with something. Let me call your boss and ask him what I should do."
3:00 PM: My boss calls my foreman to tell him that people have been calling him all day asking him questions that they should know the answers to. He tells us that he called Dig Safe earlier in the day, and they should be at the site any minute now.
4:15 PM: As we're packing up to leave, Dig Safe Guy shows up. "What are you guys working on?" he says, standing next to the 4' deep 300' long trench. I walk him through everything. For some reason, it feels like I've done this before. Dig Safe Guy points at the bundle of phone lines. "What is that?" (I'm screaming internally.) "Huh. That's weird. Maybe you should call the site supervisor."
I'm half expecting to wake up tomorrow morning and find out it's still Wednesday.
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And the worst part of it? I knew something like this was going to happen as soon as we saw the site, even before we broke ground. But no one ever listens to Zathras...
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And the worst part of it? I knew something like this was going to happen as soon as we saw the site, even before we broke ground. But no one ever listens to Zathras...
That's ok, by now Zathras should be used to that.
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And the worst part of it? I knew something like this was going to happen as soon as we saw the site, even before we broke ground. But no one ever listens to Zathras...That's ok, by now Zathras should be used to that.
Zathras does not know. Zathras good at doings, not understandings.
But this is the only time of year our lakes aren't filled with Illinois people!
... you really need to hire some life guards