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The kids are halfway through their camp adventure. We have heard absolutely nothing in three days, which is good, because they only call you if your kid is sick or in trouble, WW is at a thing, I've been in my pajamas since 7, eating fries loaded with chorizo and queso and watching Breaking Bad.
To be fair, I've also cleaned a garbage bag full of crap out of Hermione's room, pulled the linens off both their beds, and am on the second load of laundry.
Which is as close as I get to doing nothing.
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...oh.
Oh my.
Well spock. I'm on my way up to the Oklahoma border which is a good hour and a half drive because Teensy Valeros just got himself kicked out of summer camp. If I'm lucky I'll be home and in bed somewhere between 2:00 and 2:30 and I have to be back at work at 8:00. This is going to be fun.
oooooh f$$*.
Please keep us posted.
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Well, today's the day when our tin-plated dictator is likely to "lay down the law" and mandate that we go to the office 2 days a week no matter what.
My main job right now is recording and editing audio and creating animated videos.
Home Office: Two 25" monitors, stereo speakers, and a podcast-quality mic, in a quiet neighborhood with little to no outside noise and the ability to ask everyone in the house to be quiet whenever I'm recording.
Work Cubicle: One 14" monitor (you're supposed to use your laptop monitor as a second screen if you need it), laptop speakers, laptop mic, in a cubicle that renders audio editing impossible without headphones (that they don't provide).
So... my SVP is mandating that I lose roughly 30% productivity so that he can... what? Have human beings in a building?
What a stupid, stupid waste...
Sometimes, it's not about money. Sometimes, it's not about efficiency. Sometimes, it's just about control.
I'm still staring at the equipment list in utter disbelief. If, at any point in my IT career, I supplied someone with a single 14" monitor I'd have a complete and utter rebellion on my hands.Well, today's the day when our tin-plated dictator is likely to "lay down the law" and mandate that we go to the office 2 days a week no matter what.
My main job right now is recording and editing audio and creating animated videos.
Home Office: Two 25" monitors, stereo speakers, and a podcast-quality mic, in a quiet neighborhood with little to no outside noise and the ability to ask everyone in the house to be quiet whenever I'm recording.
Work Cubicle: One 14" monitor (you're supposed to use your laptop monitor as a second screen if you need it), laptop speakers, laptop mic, in a cubicle that renders audio editing impossible without headphones (that they don't provide).
So... my SVP is mandating that I lose roughly 30% productivity so that he can... what? Have human beings in a building?
What a stupid, stupid waste...
When did you start working in IT?
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How bad is Shiro's cupboard?
He just sent us a picture. The blurb on the package? "Formed by the primal sea more than 250 million years ago, this 100% uncontaminated..."
The expiration date on the package? 9/20/2019.
Shiro's comment? "Just my luck. This stuff lasts for 250 million years, then you put it in my cupboard and it expires..."
When did you start working in IT?I'm still staring at the equipment list in utter disbelief. If, at any point in my IT career, I supplied someone with a single 14" monitor I'd have a complete and utter rebellion on my hands.Well, today's the day when our tin-plated dictator is likely to "lay down the law" and mandate that we go to the office 2 days a week no matter what.
My main job right now is recording and editing audio and creating animated videos.
Home Office: Two 25" monitors, stereo speakers, and a podcast-quality mic, in a quiet neighborhood with little to no outside noise and the ability to ask everyone in the house to be quiet whenever I'm recording.
Work Cubicle: One 14" monitor (you're supposed to use your laptop monitor as a second screen if you need it), laptop speakers, laptop mic, in a cubicle that renders audio editing impossible without headphones (that they don't provide).
So... my SVP is mandating that I lose roughly 30% productivity so that he can... what? Have human beings in a building?
What a stupid, stupid waste...
1998
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After I got home from the grocery store tonight, WW said I shouldn't have to cook and took Val and me to the Korean place down the street for bibimbap and wings.
Then I took the two of them across the street to the place that makes macaron ice cream sandwiches.
And we came home and I started the two-week process of making homemade limoncello, because it's summer in Texas and there ought to be a consolation prize for that.
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This morning, Val and I went on a guided birding hike at the wetlands east of town. We found out about the existence of fishing spiders, which are about the size of a silver dollar, and perch on top of the layer of duckweed covering ponds, and catch minnows.
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I am old and crumbly.
A mere 10 kilometer walk and may legs are barely working anymore...
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I took Shanna into town today, as she wanted to have some bubble tea - we got bubble tea, then she went a bit bonkers buying crystals, apparently spending all the money she owed her Mum too, which meant she got in bother when she got home.
Then, since folks were promised a barbecue, a barbecue is what we had.
I took Shanna into town today, as she wanted to have some bubble tea - we got bubble tea, then she went a bit bonkers buying crystals, apparently spending all the money she owed her Mum too, which meant she got in bother when she got home.
Then, since folks were promised a barbecue, a barbecue is what we had.
BUBBLE TEA BUBBLE TEA BUBBLE TEA
I achieved a small success today. Well, sort of today. Yesterday, I made a pan of pork in "Chinese sauce" (it said so, and it had peaches instead if pineapple) with noodles. And not only I managed to refrain from eating it all at once, but actually spread it over three servings, so not only I had it yesterday and today, but also will have the last plate tomorrow! Yay me.
Beware public baths!
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Despite not actually being a Dad, regular or step, I still got a Father's Day card and some cake from ALL (DE) and the kids, which was greatly appreciated, and very touching indeed.
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My kids got me spectacularly well this year: As of this morning when they got up to watch The Boys, I was convinced they'd completely forgotten Father's Day. We went, had lunch with Shiro, came back up, and Impus Major went into Impus Minor's room and they started playing Waltz of the Meatball Man at an appalling volume (it's a LONG story). So I yelled at them to turn it town. At which point they came walking out with a portable speaker roaring the song and a banana and a penny wrapped in a sheet of binder paper and about 2' of Scotch tape with a label, "Happy Grandhog Day Drad!"
I am pleased.
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Friday I took Aiymi out for a nice dinner at a steak and seafood place in Champaign.
One conversation I overheard was why there weren't any vegetarian options for the entrees. Because it's a steak and seafood place. Says so right on the marquee outside.
Another conversation I overheard was the table right next to us where the gentleman was asking very specific questions of the waitstaff about the sizes of the individual green beans and taking this into consideration as to whether he should order them or not.
But the food was excellent.
Then we went down the street a couple of blocks to see Pat Matheny. The man is one of the best guitarists on the planet.
Friday I took Aiymi out for a nice dinner at a steak and seafood place in Champaign.
One conversation I overheard was why there weren't any vegetarian options for the entrees. Because it's a steak and seafood place. Says so right on the marquee outside.
As a Californian, I'm surprised all your restaurants don't have vegetarian options. Even Alexander's Steakhouse, home of the $350+ wagu beef tasting menu, has vegetarian options for all its courses. So maybe they were just traveling. I haven't seen a nice place without vegetarian options in a couple of decades.
Another conversation I overheard was the table right next to us where the gentleman was asking very specific questions of the waitstaff about the sizes of the individual green beans and taking this into consideration as to whether he should order them or not.
Nope. This guy's just a pretentious idiot. Innuendo aside, when it comes to green beans, size doesn't matter.
Friday I took Aiymi out for a nice dinner at a steak and seafood place in Champaign.
One conversation I overheard was why there weren't any vegetarian options for the entrees. Because it's a steak and seafood place. Says so right on the marquee outside.
Another conversation I overheard was the table right next to us where the gentleman was asking very specific questions of the waitstaff about the sizes of the individual green beans and taking this into consideration as to whether he should order them or not.
But the food was excellent.
Then we went down the street a couple of blocks to see Pat Matheny. The man is one of the best guitarists on the planet.
Solo, or with a band?
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Solo, or with a band?Friday I took Aiymi out for a nice dinner at a steak and seafood place in Champaign.
One conversation I overheard was why there weren't any vegetarian options for the entrees. Because it's a steak and seafood place. Says so right on the marquee outside.
Another conversation I overheard was the table right next to us where the gentleman was asking very specific questions of the waitstaff about the sizes of the individual green beans and taking this into consideration as to whether he should order them or not.
But the food was excellent.
Then we went down the street a couple of blocks to see Pat Matheny. The man is one of the best guitarists on the planet.
With a keyboardist and drummer, plus an electronically controlled aux percussion machine.
I am half surprised that that restaurant (if it's the one I'm thinking of) doesn't have a veg option, but I'm also half not surprised that a restaurant around wouldn't offer a veg option. Or that they would say "Oh, a veg option? How about one of our side salads and a veg side or two?"
HW, and the concert was at the Virginia.
What they offered her was pasta with some vegetables in it. The vegetarian options are pretty much a couple of the sides and most of the salads.
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Today Impus Minor makes his first road trip as the driver. Last year they did something similar (camping for a couple of nights on the beach), but he was a passenger.
I'm feeling pretty good about the drive, since he's a very cautious, very sensible driver, but I'm worried about when they get there, since they're staying at a house right on the Russian River and with this year's snow melt that's a death trap.
It doesn't help that I've lost 3 friends and an uncle to drowning, including my best friend. It helps that the river will be freezing, making swimming far less likely, and that most of the gang aren't even bringing swimsuits, planning on spending the days indoors goofing off and playing games.
It's good to raise gamer kids...
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Federally funded fondling finished, waiting for flight.
Weekend was good, and the folks I'd been worried about making it past the Major Health Crisis were actually in better shape and condition than I'd expected under the most optimistic of scenarios.
Forgot the sheer joy and pleasure of being in an area with minimal connection to the 'Net and news.
Today Impus Minor makes his first road trip as the driver. Last year they did something similar (camping for a couple of nights on the beach), but he was a passenger.
I'm feeling pretty good about the drive, since he's a very cautious, very sensible driver, but I'm worried about when they get there, since they're staying at a house right on the Russian River and with this year's snow melt that's a death trap.
It doesn't help that I've lost 3 friends and an uncle to drowning, including my best friend. It helps that the river will be freezing, making swimming far less likely, and that most of the gang aren't even bringing swimsuits, planning on spending the days indoors goofing off and playing games.
It's good to raise gamer kids...
Good God. I am so sorry. My father in law lost a few friends to the east river sinkholes and currents, and one of my aunts on my father's side whom I never met drowned. It affected my father deeply.
Good God. I am so sorry. My father in law lost a few friends to the east river sinkholes and currents, and one of my aunts on my father's side whom I never met drowned. It affected my father deeply.Today Impus Minor makes his first road trip as the driver. Last year they did something similar (camping for a couple of nights on the beach), but he was a passenger.
I'm feeling pretty good about the drive, since he's a very cautious, very sensible driver, but I'm worried about when they get there, since they're staying at a house right on the Russian River and with this year's snow melt that's a death trap.
It doesn't help that I've lost 3 friends and an uncle to drowning, including my best friend. It helps that the river will be freezing, making swimming far less likely, and that most of the gang aren't even bringing swimsuits, planning on spending the days indoors goofing off and playing games.
It's good to raise gamer kids...
Yep. It doesn't go away. You never want anyone you love to be anywhere near water without you around. But you can't be everywhere, and you can't ban your kids from everything, so you teach them as you can, and trust them to make wise decisions.
Thunderstorms yesterday and the day before - heavy rain today, too (with sunny intervals), and it was sorely needed.
Car needs about 2500 worth of work. *sigh*
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Car needs about 2500 worth of work. *sigh*
Whenever I see things like that, I immediately look at used car prices, just to reassure myself that the repairs are far, far, FAR of a better deal than buying some old junkheap someone's done who-knows-what with over the years.
I buy cars. I sink money into repairs. In its 26-year lifespan, the Celica has cost us a grand total (including purchase price) of about $50,000. Because I've owned it for its entire existence, and I've taken d**ned good care of it.
And the repairs are STILL quite obviously in my mind far better than I would have done buying new cars.
(It doesn't hurt that its insurance including two young drivers is $270/year. Insurance companies know there will never be another claim for damage against that car.)
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I am half surprised that that restaurant (if it's the one I'm thinking of) doesn't have a veg option, but I'm also half not surprised that a restaurant around wouldn't offer a veg option. Or that they would say "Oh, a veg option? How about one of our side salads and a veg side or two?"HW, and the concert was at the Virginia.
What they offered her was pasta with some vegetables in it. The vegetarian options are pretty much a couple of the sides and most of the salads.
Never eaten there. The prices are way too high for me, regardless of how good the food is. Also, despite never seeing inside it, it always felt kinda pretentious.
Never been to the Virginia, either, but that's because I don't do "art stuff". I was minorly tempted once. There was the Royal Scottish Pipe and Drum Corps (or something like that) playing there, and I briefly considered trying to get tickets. And I mean briefly. As in, less than 5 minutes.
HW is a bit pretentious and a little overpriced. Which is why I showed up in a shorts, a black Tshirt that said "No." a black flannel shirt, and Birkenstocks. I had been there once on a date in 2019, and Aiymi wanted to go somewhere nice.
As for The Virginia, they do more than Scottish Pipes, art shows, and jazz. Weird Al has played there a couple of times, for instance. Saturday night they had a showing of Enter the Dragon. Also, when I was a kid, it was an operational movie theater showing the latest stuff.
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NobodysHome's Pretentiousness Story Time: A Threefer!
So of course we decided to go to Trader Vic's. So up pulls a massive white Suburban full of 7 rowdy punks, and the valet meets our friend, takes one look at him, and says, "I'm sorry, sir, but you need to have a jacket to dine here."
My friend looked at his studded, Kevlar-lined jacket and responded, "I am wearing a jacket."
The look on the valet's face was priceless. He was utterly at a loss as to what to say that wouldn't get him hurt (we wouldn't have hurt him, but he couldn't have known that). Bellow Boy, he of one of the most impressive set of lungs I've ever heard, saved the day.
"THAT'S IT!!!! WE'RE GOING TO F*****G DENNY'S," he screamed at the top of his considerable volume range. Echoed of, "We're going to f*****g Denny's!" reverberated throughout the restaurant. We all took up the chant and cheerfully drove off to Denny's.
This story is particularly amusing because Trader Vic's had to abandon its coat-and-tie policy only a few years later because no one enjoyed eating there any more because it was too pretentious for the food being served (fake Pacific Islands food with plenty of tiki drinks). We went back after they relaxed their dress code and we had a very nice time, though the food wasn't worth the price so we didn't try again until recently, when it's become a favorite of Shiro's so we go there once a month or two.
She told me about it and we had a good laugh, and the next year we went back, but I intentionally grew out my hair and wore a suit. The owner couldn't stop complimenting GothBard on how she'd managed to escape a sticky situation and find a much nicer young man.
The Metropole became our go-to restaurant and we became good friends with the owner (and had a good laugh when he realized that Mohawk Boy and Suit Boy were one and the same) up until the tragic 1989 quake, which wiped out his wine cellars and depressed him so much he decided to take the restaurant out of business. I never saw him again, but he was a great guy. If a bit opinionated on how people "should" look.
(There was another great incident where I was tutoring a rich family's daughter and the parents got to know me and REALLY liked me, so when the mother took photos of her daughter with me at the Equestrian Club and the photo developer said, "But your daughter seems like such a nice girl," mom got to go OFF. She was it was one of the most fun things she's ever done, and thanked me for it, even though I was only peripherally involved.)
- The staff treated us as if a pair of walking, talking, rat turds had shown up as their fine establishment, but because we had reservations they had to let us in. I heard later that this was supposedly one of the "draws" of the place. I'm not into S&M, and I don't like my waitstaff treating me like dirt.
- The clientele was appalling and loud. At the table next to us, drowning out our conversation, was an ambulance-chasing lawyer trying to seduce a woman by saying loudly and frequently how some of his best friends were women, and how much respect he had for women. If HE'D shut up and gone to the bathroom, I would have helped her flee.
- The good was good, but not spectacular. It was as good as The Metropole, but not significantly better. At triple the price and while being treated like crap.
Chez Panisse is my poster child for pretentious restaurants that charge too much, treat you like crap, then serve you good-but-not-great food to top it all off.
However, there ARE two places that absolutely deserve honorable mention. Both the Ritz Carlton San Francisco and the French Laundry have a fundamental understanding of fine dining. The sommelier at the Ritz put it to us very well. We couldn't figure out what one of the utensils was for (a spoon with a notch in it). He explained that it was for scooping sauce out of a bowl with an angled bottom. When we apologized for our ignorance, he was taken aback. "Madame, Monsieur. It does not matter where you're from, how you're dressed, what you know or don't know. OUR job is to give you the most pleasant dining experience possible, to make you feel like a king and a queen for an evening, and if any member of our staff falls short of that please let us know."
It's an amazingly different attitude. "Our job is to make YOU feel comfortable here."
It shows, it works, and it's why they're world-class dining establishments. The Ritz moved away from that attitude, and we stopped going there.
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We use 3/4 inch clear stone with rock chips instead of sand for the top layer. This particular patio has about a foot and a half of base rock and then we screed out an inch of rock chips.The problem I have with the method is if you're cutting everything with water, as we do, then the water undermines the paver so you have to pick it up anyway and reinstall the base that got washed out, so you're not really saving time.What are you using for your base?Pretty similar to what we use, then. I wonder if the undermining issue has to do with water pressure and/or volume-- we only cut in place sometimes (basically any time we have a really long run of pavers that all need to be cut), but we've never had an issue with our chip stone washing out.
Also, you guys use a lot of base rock... Is that a Wisconsin thing?
As a follow up, it turns out what I dislike about cutting in place it turns out is that with smaller pavers it tends to drive them down into the rock chips leading to less accurate cuts. But that's only with smaller pavers not the big giant 3 different sized slabs everyone wants these days.
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We're going to the Cheese Tasting.
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I'm going to sleep.
It's too bad tomorrow isn't Friday, I already have 35 hours this week.
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Woohoo!
WW finally put up the ceiling fan I bought three weeks ago, because Dallas hit the triple-digits this week and we're likely to stay there through October.
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In the meantime, here in the good old Bay Area it's another week of not being able to open the windows because the fog is locked in again and we'll be lucky to get into the 60s during the day...
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Returning to work after 3 days off, it's surprising how much I needed it. I'm feeling more optimistic about the grunt work I do, and I've only got 7 more days of work before a 2-week vacation.
Unfortunately, with our vacation fund depleted by GothBard's layoff and the whole family's predilection for going on short personal trips on the vacation budget's dime (Impus Major's Seattle trips, GothBard and Impus Major's trips to concerts, and Impus Minor's trip to the Russian River), even though I planned for a two-week vacation, it looks like our funding is for a 5-day road trip. And even that trip is in some jeopardy because both GothBard and Shiro are iffy, and I'm not sure I want to serve as chaperone for 4 teenage boys on a road trip to nowhere.
So I'll get to spend a lot more down time at home. Which, honestly, was very very good for me this week.
So far my 4th day working in 90+ degrees with full sun.
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New landscape designer; So, I want you to work closely with Greg to get everything dug out and dialed in!
Me and Greg: of course!
Greg (after the designer leaves): You good?
Me: Yup!
What he doesn't realize is I've worked with Greg for 18 years.
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Woohoo!
WW finally put up the ceiling fan I bought three weeks ago, because Dallas hit the triple-digits this week and we're likely to stay there through October.
Sweet Jesus that is nonsensically hot.
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In the meantime, here in the good old Bay Area it's another week of not being able to open the windows because the fog is locked in again and we'll be lucky to get into the 60s during the day...
haaaaaaaaaaaate. Yooooooooouuuuuu.