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I hate printers and copiers. I'm generally not fond of the companies that sell and/or lease these devices to other companies. I utterly detest technicians that lie to their customers and tell them that I'm the idiot who's doing everything wrong.
For some reason they get very silent when I send them proof of their incompetence, include the customer on the email, and explain it so that the customer understands my point.
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When the bar is "which one at this price point is the least crappy"...
Toshiba at school. Great while they work, but when they break down, it's "order parts and wait for a week"
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During the previous session of Legend Of Five Rings, the party was mostly focusing on exorcising the meddling spirit from their mistress maid. They succeeded, and learned there is some deeper and older factor (a curse, a force?) that messes up with the inheritance of the castle - in a few hundred years of records no castellan was born to the spouse of previous castellan.
Because one of the characters suggested to their lords that the maid need to be checked by Kitsu medics, I decided to tie it to another idea for an adventure and the party was sent as an escort of transport of grain to nearby city (Toshi Ranbo, over a century prior to it becoming a capital, so now it's just a city that passes between Lions and Cranes) and at the same time deliver the girl for a check up at Kitsu Medic dojo there...
After a few days they arrived to the city, and discovered that allegedly, there is a specter of executed ronin haunting the city at night, and the people blame Kitsu Medic dojo. (Which has a few centuries old imperial privilege that permits them to conduct dissections on cadavers of executed criminals though they learned that later).
They also spent their first night on the town in their life (they are young, they never had been to a city proper, and Kitsu not being favored by Daikoku, the Fortune of the Prosperity, quickly burned through his meager savings of 4 koku to provide the party with entertainment.
Next day, they visited the dojo, witnessed the headmistress arguing with local Emerald Magistrate (who is Crane, which definitely causes some tension with the Lion city governor), then presented the maid for check up and talked with the headmistress about medicine, dissections, and asked her to see the corpse of the executed ronin.
All of them could tell that the criminal is dead and Kitsu concluded that he is not coming back. Now they suspect some kind of big deception from Emerald Magistrate to rile up the city dwellers and cause riots that would make the city vulnerable to Crane attack...
It's far more complicated.
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I'm so done with our Ricoh copier at work. Constant problems.
has "You're young, you know how to fix the computer/printer, right?" flashbacks
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Toshiba at school. Great while they work, but when they break down, it's "order parts and wait for a week"
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The collection saga continues:
(1) After my last post, I went ahead and looked up how to pay online. I think I tiraded about how it didn't look up my account but let me pay anyway.
(2) As I think I posted, the payment didn't register so I called and they gave me an email address to send proof-of-payment to. Did that.
(3) Because I didn't trust them and the payment still didn't register, a week later I sent in the proof-of-payment along with the bill.
(4) That didn't register and now they're sending me to a collection agency. Should be all kinds of fun when they find out I'm perfectly willing to countersue, go to court, prove all my attempts to pay, and ask the court to make them pay me for all the time I've wasted dealing with them, plus court fees and court time.
This is soooooo stupid...
EDIT: And in case you're wondering, the total is $58.53, less than lunch for two around here. But I'm willing to go to the mat on this one on behalf of all the other people who might get double-billed by the idiocy and who can't afford to be referred to a collection agency.
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So, I spent almost eleven hours in the hospital yesterday with Teensy Valeros because the dips**t tried to make a blowgun out of a corsage pin and some hard plastic tubing and accidentally swallowed the pin.
They eventually got it out with an endoscopy (full anesthesia). There was no serious damage, as he swallowed it ball end first. They let me keep the pin, and I'm saving it for his boutonniere when he eventually marries.
I honestly can't believe that this child made it to twelve and a half and this was our first ER visit. (Two urgent care visits in early childhood for second-degree burns to his fingers and for a nasty cut through his eyebrow, but that's it.)
So... yeah. Parenting is fun.
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OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
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OK. Shots fired.
I riled myself up so much posting about the medical bill that I drove to downtown Berkeley on a Saturday and sent a gosh-darned certified letter to them contesting the charge and providing proof of payment.
Plus my ending line: "Please resolve this and notify me of its resolution. If you bring in a collection agency, I'll bring in a lawyer, and this will get truly stupid."
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Sonic got a great deal of money for his birthday recently and wanted to spend it all on 'Toy Story' collectibles, but his cruel and heartless mother made him put some of it into savings, so apparently, he wrote her a note saying:
'You will regret moving my birthday money into an ISA'
-1000 points for not saying this out loud while wearing a smoking jacket and monocle and stroking a fluffy white cat.
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Good news and bad news: Morrigan broke containment and was outside for a solid 25 minutes before we noticed.
Once we did, Impus Minor headed out the front door to help me find her and found her screaming in the neighbors' front yard. So she's not as adventurous as Mephisto.
Probably should give the lad back some points if he doesn’t own a monocle, smoking jacket, and fluffy white cat.
Sonic got a great deal of money for his birthday recently and wanted to spend it all on 'Toy Story' collectibles, but his cruel and heartless mother made him put some of it into savings, so apparently, he wrote her a note saying:
'You will regret moving my birthday money into an ISA'
-1000 points for not saying this out loud while wearing a smoking jacket and monocle and stroking a fluffy white cat.
My mother's favorite "Thank you" card moment was when I wrote, "Dear so-and-so, thank you for the socks and candy. They were delicious."
But only the truly evil give plain socks to a child for Christmas.
I swear.
Ordering from a local Thai place, they have their own web site, and they have it set up for delivery. But you try to do delivery and 100% of the tip goes to the driver. So if I pick it up, the restaurant gets more money and stays in business. If I get it delivered, I pay the same amount and the restaurant gets nothing.
One more reason to do pickup.
(And I am in firm, fundamental agreement with the guy who said something along the lines of, "Yes, tipping is a classist abomination that needs to be abolished. But until it is, if you don't leave a tip you're an a*****e.")
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Probably should give the lad back some points if he doesn’t own a monocle, smoking jacket, and fluffy white cat.
No.
He just needs to try harder. Maybe spend some of that money to get the proper accoutrements. Truly commit to it.
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OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.
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I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
Yeah man. Thats dangerous. So many things can go wrong with a blowgun.
I used to have a couple of those as well.
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I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
WW and I have one good friend who is theoretically allowed to teach Val about the blowgun next time we see him.
He's Cherokee, blowguns are one of their traditional weapons, they use hand-carved darts too damned big to fit down your throat, and they start teaching kids early. He's a retired university librarian and martial arts nerd. Good guy.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
Yeah man. Thats dangerous. So many things can go wrong with a blowgun.
BIG BUCKETS OF NOPE WITH EXTRA NOPE SAUCE, as I say in my classroom.
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I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
Yeah man. Thats dangerous. So many things can go wrong with a blowgun.
I thought about composite bow.
I know I've complained about it on this very forum many times before, but the staggering self-entitlement of some people as they go about their daily lives is still enough to take my breath away sometimes.
It's Farmer's Market day, so our street is busier than usual; maybe 20-30 cars per minute are going by. We also have lots of foot traffic. So I was doing my monthly car maintenance (believe it or not there's a reason the Celica's lasted just under 30 years now). A dad and his 3-4-year-old daughter walked by on the other side of the street. A few houses down, he simply picked her up while continuing his conversation with her and walked between two cars and straight into traffic. The two oncoming cars had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting him. As far as I could tell, he didn't even notice; he simply continued across the street in front of the cars, talking to his daughter as if nothing in the world had happened.
When you teach your kids that they can walk between cars into traffic without a care in the world...
...yeah. Just don't even want to finish that thought.
That’s not self-entitlement. That’s an astonishing lack of self preservation. There are people in the world who will run you down. Possibly get away with it too. “I didn’t see them, they just stepped right out in front of me before I could stop.”
Even if the driver was texting and hits you and so gets into trouble; you still got smeared by a car. That’s not gonna be good.
Grar. Another idea that I haven't immediately written down is gone...
I found it?! I found it!
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Don't ask what's in the ship's stew...
Those are the ones who asked what's in the stew before...
That’s not self-entitlement. That’s an astonishing lack of self preservation. There are people in the world who will run you down. Possibly get away with it too. “I didn’t see them, they just stepped right out in front of me before I could stop.”
Even if the driver was texting and hits you and so gets into trouble; you still got smeared by a car. That’s not gonna be good.
I've always wanted to take someone's door off; I hear that it's always 100% the fault of the person with the open door. The only thing that's stopped me is that the only times I've seen doors unattended was when I actually had some place to be. And while it would be fun and hilarious, you still have to stop, exchange insurance information, and the like, so you have to have the time as well as the inclination...
I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
Don't they have a mesh at the mouth end to avoid that very problem?
I've always wanted to take someone's door off; I hear that it's always 100% the fault of the person with the open door. The only thing that's stopped me is that the only times I've seen doors unattended was when I actually had some place to be. And while it would be fun and hilarious, you still have to stop, exchange insurance information, and the like, so you have to have the time as well as the inclination...That’s not self-entitlement. That’s an astonishing lack of self preservation. There are people in the world who will run you down. Possibly get away with it too. “I didn’t see them, they just stepped right out in front of me before I could stop.”
Even if the driver was texting and hits you and so gets into trouble; you still got smeared by a car. That’s not gonna be good.
And that’s one of the things to watch out for when biking. (Any kind.) The car door popping open right in front of you. I definitely try to remember to check my mirror before opening the car door. Because usually when I open the car door, it’s quickly followed by me stepping out. I would not want to be standing inside the door when a car hit it. That could get real ugly.
Edit: I wonder if I used “it’s” correctly. :)
One of my two cracked helmets was getting doored by someone. Bike went into the driver's seat, I went over the door headfirst onto the concrete.
Had a helmet on. I was fine.
We have a new king:
Mephisto: 10.08 pounds
Lenore: 9.90 pounds
The terrifying thing is that he looks half her size; she is all fluff and blubber and he is sheer unstoppable muscle mass.
And in his second, "I'm not quite as dumb as I seem," moment, whenever he sees Nefret he trots over and settles down 3-4' from her. Because he knows she gets the bestest food, and I'm not cruel enough to feed her right in front of him, so she is the source of All Good Foods.
I swear, a friend of mine lives in the Boston suburbs. She just tried to do Door Dash for lunch. The guy texted her a picture of the food on her porch, then picked it up, ran off with it, and labeled the order as "cancelled". So he gets to eat her lunch. And now if she wants lunch she has to wait another hour for someone else to deliver it.
Food delivery has become perhaps the worst service industry out there.
I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
WW and I have one good friend who is theoretically allowed to teach Val about the blowgun next time we see him.
He's Cherokee, blowguns are one of their traditional weapons, they use hand-carved darts too damned big to fit down your throat, and they start teaching kids early. He's a retired university librarian and martial arts nerd. Good guy.
But does he have the morals of an alley cat?
Is this yet another man whom I must learn under?
I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
Yeah man. Thats dangerous. So many things can go wrong with a blowgun.
BIG BUCKETS OF NOPE WITH EXTRA NOPE SAUCE, as I say in my classroom.
So, a number 4 combo, got it.
I'll be sure to engrave a picture of Valeros onto the handle.
I thought about composite bow.I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
Yeah man. Thats dangerous. So many things can go wrong with a blowgun.
perhaps Drejk is in the right here.
Ill order him a horse to go along with his new purchase.
Ooh, and a fuzzy hat.
And that’s one of the things to watch out for when biking. (Any kind.) The car door popping open right in front of you.I've always wanted to take someone's door off; I hear that it's always 100% the fault of the person with the open door. The only thing that's stopped me is that the only times I've seen doors unattended was when I actually had some place to be. And while it would be fun and hilarious, you still have to stop, exchange insurance information, and the like, so you have to have the time as well as the inclination...That’s not self-entitlement. That’s an astonishing lack of self preservation. There are people in the world who will run you down. Possibly get away with it too. “I didn’t see them, they just stepped right out in front of me before I could stop.”
Even if the driver was texting and hits you and so gets into trouble; you still got smeared by a car. That’s not gonna be good.
My bruises from getting doored were pretty gnarly. Purple and yellow all up one side.
And it's funny; I forget whether I mentioned it, but when we did our Vegas trip we almost exclusively used cabs. The only times we used Ubers was when we were away from the strip and trying to get back. And yet even with only around 8 Uber trips for our entire vacation, the kids got stuck in one with a racist driver going off on how all Asians were good-for-nothings who should be deported or killed... with an Asian passenger in his car.
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I was personally and directly informed that I am not allowed to provide Valeros a proper blowgun to avoid future dart swallowing.OMG, I'm glad he's OK!
And holy carp.
Quite literally, the staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital knew us by name. "Oh, is it Impus Major or Impus Minor this time? How are you doing?"
Yeah man. Thats dangerous. So many things can go wrong with a blowgun.
BIG BUCKETS OF NOPE WITH EXTRA NOPE SAUCE, as I say in my classroom.
So, a number 4 combo, got it.
I'll be sure to engrave a picture of Valeros onto the handle.
Just don't try to get Door Dash to deliver it...
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Monday Night Fencing is back. Whoopee!
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Monday Night Fencing is back. Whoopee!
remember, you have to duel the head of the opposing school, who insulted your master once in a conversion noone really remembers.
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And it's funny; I forget whether I mentioned it, but when we did our Vegas trip we almost exclusively used cabs. The only times we used Ubers was when we were away from the strip and trying to get back. And yet even with only around 8 Uber trips for our entire vacation, the kids got stuck in one with a racist driver going off on how all Asians were good-for-nothings who should be deported or killed... with an Asian passenger in his car.
This year, during the father's visit I probably rode taxi more times than through my whole life up to that point. Uber was out of question because I am not attaching my card to a phone app. I'd rather call the taxi. On the phone. Me.
You might be surprised.
The amount of stuff he finds in house after house after house is ridiculous. These are new-build, $400k+ homes, that have: broken/improperly installed tubs and showers; broken window frames; peeling/missing stucco; improperly installed tile floors; walls that aren't straight, flat, or square; inadequate, sometimes missing, attic insulation; improperly installed, and sometimes broken, roof trusses; HVAC systems with no filters installed; no rain caps on vents; attic insulation touching the exhaust for gas water heaters, which is a major fire hazard; broken roof tiles; it just keeps going on and on and on. And then the builders try to deny all the claims, saying that it "meets our policies" even though it doesn't meet code. And then threatening to sue him for making videos showing all of the problems.
He's on youTube as cyfyhomeinspections. I suspect he's on TikTok and/or other social media as well.
That is pretty much our EXACT experience with any work done post-1990 by corporate builders and handymen, and post-2010 by local companies.
Today I'm replacing a thermocouple in the studio heater. Saturday I'm re-wiring the thermostat in the other heater. Sunday I'm replacing a circuit breaker.
Because I cannot trust paid professionals to do even these routine jobs correctly any more.
So yeah, just looking at my last few posts:
Literally about the only people I feel are competent around here are the restauranteurs themselves ('cause if their food isn't good they go out of business)
Ens**ttification sucks. (And yes, I expect the replacement thermopile I just bought to go out within 5 years, 'cause you can't buy decent hardware any more either.)
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Our cats just might not be the engines of death I thought they were. A newt wandered into the house to escape the rain.
Lenore, being a ragamuffin, found the newt, brought it to me, then started purring at it and grooming it.
Mephisto, being an idiot, came to see what Lenore was doing. She bopped him on the head for a little while to keep him away from her newt, but got bored and wandered off. He sniffed at the newt, didn't understand it, and sat there bopping it vehemently, as is his wont. After a bit of this the newt, which had been playing dead for Lenore, had had enough and started crawling off. Confused, Mephisto bopped it even more vigorously.
Morrigan finally came in and discovered the stupidity that was occurring. I figured that would be a quick end to the newt. But the moment she started playing with it it played dead again so she got bored and ran off to attack Lenore, who is much more lively.
At this point the newt started trying to leave again. I figured it had done its time so I picked it up and put it back outside on our porch. Hopefully it won't try to come in again.
Because I cannot trust paid professionals to do even these routine jobs correctly any more.
Seriously, we've done around $300,000-$400,000 worth of work on the house since we bought it in 2002, and from the new windows to the new studio to the kitchen floor to the bathroom to the new roof to the fireplace and pergola and wall heater and who-knows-what-else, I was satisfied with the work done by exactly 3 people:
(1) The solar panels have been worry-free.(2) Both guys who installed my tankless water heaters, though the second one charged me over $1500/hour, so won't be using him again.
And for people thinking, "Yeah, but NobodysHome is picky!", I want no obvious screw-ups that impact functionality. That doesn't seem like a ton to ask for.