For creatures that don't care about humans' existence, they sure do like to be with us...
Oh they care... they're hoping for the "die" option and are hanging around you . Waiting.. They just don't want to miss their chance :)
TOZ, is Cyz still needing more people for her project?
Fantasy Monster: Father Quill-Legs
A spidery machine drawing a continent-scale sign...
I am getting some Fullmetal Alchemist vibes from this.
I swear, I should learn never to work on the house.
Yesterday I had a bit of frustration because another of the Celica's bulb sockets has rusted out (sad that they didn't plan for these things to last 30 years), and all modern available sockets have 4 tabs (and yes, I'm linking because of course I want to know whether a FaWtLer can find a 3-tab version), whereas the Celica's tail light is designed with 3. so there's a lot of tab-cutting involved in getting them to fit and it's a pain in the rear.
So today I thought I'd finally replace the bad outlets in the back of the kitchen (as usual, someone put 15-amp outlets in a 20-amp circuit). On the counter side, I dutifully started installing a 20-amp GFCI like I'm supposed to 'cause code, and... it wouldn't fit into the box! What the heck?
On closer examination, whoever'd installed the box had done so by putting bolts directly into the sides of the box, making it less an electrical box and more a "swords through the lady in the box" magic trick. There's no way to pull the bolts without ripping open the wall and replacing the entire box.
So I'm putting in a normal 20-amp outlet, code be damned, because some idiot couldn't understand a simple idea like, "Gee, an electrical box shouldn't have stuff sticking into it so you can't put your electronics in it..."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I swear, I should learn never to work on the house.
Yesterday I had a bit of frustration because another of the Celica's bulb sockets has rusted out (sad that they didn't plan for these things to last 30 years), and all modern available sockets have 4 tabs (and yes, I'm linking because of course I want to know whether a FaWtLer can find a 3-tab version), whereas the Celica's tail light is designed with 3. so there's a lot of tab-cutting involved in getting them to fit and it's a pain in the rear.
So today I thought I'd finally replace the bad outlets in the back of the kitchen (as usual, someone put 15-amp outlets in a 20-amp circuit). On the counter side, I dutifully started installing a 20-amp GFCI like I'm supposed to 'cause code, and... it wouldn't fit into the box! What the heck?
On closer examination, whoever'd installed the box had done so by putting bolts directly into the sides of the box, making it less an electrical box and more a "swords through the lady in the box" magic trick. There's no way to pull the bolts without ripping open the wall and replacing the entire box.
So I'm putting in a normal 20-amp outlet, code be damned, because some idiot couldn't understand a simple idea like, "Gee, an electrical box shouldn't have stuff sticking into it so you can't put your electronics in it..."
Sounds like the greatest marvels of socrealist architectural vision and construction thought (i.e. communist Poland in late fourties and fifties).
Anyone is a fan of Witcher franchies/Witcher 1 in particular?
Mayhaps GothBard will find it interesting?
Anyone is a fan of Witcher franchies/Witcher 1 in particular?
Mayhaps GothBard will find it interesting?
Not that I know of, but I'll point her to it, just in case.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What's wrong with his skin?!
Gee, Nobody, why do you drive a 1996 Celica?
Mechanic: Your right tail light is out and it's not the bulb and they don't make wiring harnesses for a Celica any more, so you're going to have to fix it yourself.
NobodysHome:
Mechanic: Your battery failed its load test. Do you want us to replace it?
NobodysHome: No, thank you!
I *did* replace the 12V battery in the Prius once. It involved buying a half-sized battery (for twice the price of a regular battery) and removing the rear seats and an air vent just to get at it...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
After a month and a half of being on appetite suppressant medication (because menopause sucks) I am down eleven pounds... from 222 to 211. My target is 170, so I'm a fifth of the way there.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Wait, you are supposed to pay for replacement of car battery instead of doing it yourself?
.
.
Wait, you are supposed to pay for replacement of car battery instead of doing it yourself?
Its slightly easier than pumping gas on one of the newer model cars.
On my 2019 Tacoma and the 2023 F-250 work truck changing the battery is about the same as it ever was.
I don't trust myself with my lack of knowledge on vehicular tech so I leave it to an expert.
Thankfully, no longer a problem for the foreseeable future.
Not just newer cars. I had to take the front wheels off of my early 80s El Camino just to change the spark plugs. I couldn’t afford a mechanic back then, so I had to do my own mechanic work.
That’s right, I had an El Camino.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's been months, and the kittens are more "teens" than kittens, but every morning watching the little parade of Impus Major emerging from WhimseyShire in his leopard print robe and walking towards the bathroom, followed by a little parade of kittens, tails upraised, trotting happily after him, never fails to delight me.
And obligatory Grumpy Old Man complaint of the morning: Non-receipts.
Ever since I moved out of my parents' house in 1991, I've carefully tracked expenses, including categorizing them so I know where I can cut and where I can't. This requires itemized receipts for all purchases. GothBard is fundamentally terrible at remembering to get receipts for her purchases, and it's been an eternal source of (mild) friction between us.
Along comes Square. GothBard pays with her phone, the app shoots me a receipt, and everything's golden, right?
Um, no. Their "receipts" are simply, "You spent $29.12 at Rando Shop today. Thank you." No breakdown of what was bought, taxes, tips, nothing. And y'know, since this app goes through credit cards, I already see that total on my credit card's site. It is fundamentally useless if you're not paying with cash, and if you are paying with cash it doesn't work because the cash isn't linked to an email address.
So, useless and frustrating, and now GothBard gets to say, "But I did get you a receipt! See?"
*SIGH*
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I never got that good at tracking expenses. We mostly have a set amount we set aside for bills in an account and periodically check our math to make sure it’s still covering things.
I think that's how non-OCD people do it. The most effective budget I've ever heard is, "I withdraw $xxx in cash at the start of every month, and when it's gone, it's gone." Not exactly rocket science, but extremely effective.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I never got that good at tracking expenses. We mostly have a set amount we set aside for bills in an account and periodically check our math to make sure it’s still covering things.I think that's how non-OCD people do it. The most effective budget I've ever heard is, "I withdraw $xxx in cash at the start of every month, and when it's gone, it's gone." Not exactly rocket science, but extremely effective.
I saw that Limey favorited this one and I was thinking "Ach, aye! Every month we get a hunred U.S. dolla out o' the bank, and no one will teek it, so we can't spend any monnay, and so we starve, and we chew on tree bark and drink rain water. But we're happy, and our budget is always in the black..."
The first car I drove was a 1970 4-cylinder Volvo station wagon that could seat 7. Which was convenient when you started going uphill and 6 of you had to get out and push.
And I'm not 100% sure, but I may never have actually owned a car. Let's go through the cycle, because it's fun and it really says a lot about my attitude towards cars.
Car #1: My parents' 1970 Volvo station wagon, 1983-1991. Have I posted the NobodysHome's story time about barely passing my driver's test in this car because even in 1983 some DMV employees didn't understand how stick shifts worked?
Car #2: My parents' 1983 Toyota Corolla, 1983-1991. Amusingly enough, all of us considered this a "sports car" and we drove it like absolute maniacs. Fortunately, its top speed was somewhere in the 80s so we didn't actually do too much stupid. (True fact: We got the Volvo going faster than the Corolla ever did by shifting into neutral down from the mountains and letting gravity do its thing. Got to 105.)
Car #3: GothBard's 1985 Chevy Nova, 1991-1996. A gift from GothBard's grandparents to her when she moved out of her parents' house. Concrete proof that the U.S. imitators of the Japanese compacts were incompetent morons. This thing seemed to *always* have something wrong and needed a full engine rebuild in 1995 at only 10 years old and under 100,000 miles. It was a piece of crap.
Car #4: Our 1996 Toyota Celica, 1996-present. It was our first-ever new car, it's the best car we've ever owned, but thanks to chauvinistic car salesmen treating GothBard like a non-entity, it's fully registered under her name just to piss with them.
Car #5: A 1985 Nissan Sentra (see a pattern here?) with a bad transmission 1997-1999. GothBard's dad loaned this to us so I could commute to work. And I learned I can bench press a Nissan Sentra's transmission (my brother and I changed it out in my driveway. It was fun.)
Car #6: A 2003 Toyota Echo, 2003-2006. We leased this car for 5 years because the Prius wasn't ready for prime time yet and there was no way we were going to put 2 car seats in the back of the Celica. Consumer Reports failed it because it was "grossly underpowered". I fail it because it was a POS car that sullied the Toyota name. SOOOO many pieces falling off, and at the end of the lease when they asked whether we wanted it, we said, "Hell no!"
Car #7: Our 2006 Toyota Prius, 2006-present. Similar to the Echo, this thing just wasn't built with longevity in mind. So many clips are gone, so many panels are loose, that if anyone were to look at the Prius and the Celica side-by-side and compare engines and interiors they'd guess that the Prius was older. But it still get us where we're going, and it's a lot cheaper to maintain than to buy a new car, plus dirt cheap insurance, so there you go. I *may* be the owner of this one.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
lol This opens up the debate: Is an El Camino a car. (I say yes.) But if not then I’ve never owned a car either.
My first vehicle was a Yamaha 250 Exciter. A little street bike. Then the El Camino. Then a ‘68 Wagoneer. (SUV not a car.) Followed by a Mitsubishi pick up. A Ford Bronco (Another SUV) Then the Evil Dead Truck (F-250). Then a GMC Sonoma. I traded that out for a GMC Canyon. Impulse buy but a good one. That truck served me well. After that, I got a Mercedes Sprinter van. A 4x4 that was so tall that my mom refused to ride with me. So I traded it in for my current Tacoma.
Ten vehicles over 40 years, come next year.
Of course, all those vehicles had my name on the title, so we may not really be having the same conversation. :)
2003 Ford Taurus. Technically was still under my parents' names on the title when it was given to me, I was just added on.
2016 Chevy Sonic. Co-signed with my mother because my credit wasn't strong enough to get it on my own when the Taurus died. Successfully paid it off in 2025 and received the title with my name on it... and one month later, sold it to one of my gaming friends, because we moved overseas and were NOT going to take the cars.
And I'm not 100% sure, but I may never have actually owned a car. Let's go through the cycle, because it's fun and it really says a lot about my attitude towards cars.
Car #1: My parents' 1970 Volvo station wagon, 1983-1991. Have I posted the NobodysHome's story time about barely passing my driver's test in this car because even in 1983 some DMV employees didn't understand how stick shifts worked?
If you told that one before, I must have forgotten, so do tell.
Car #3: GothBard's 1985 Chevy Nova, 1991-1996. A gift from GothBard's grandparents to her when she moved out of her parents' house. Concrete proof that the U.S. imitators of the Japanese compacts were incompetent morons. This thing seemed to *always* have something wrong and needed a full engine rebuild in 1995 at only 10 years old and under 100,000 miles. It was a piece of crap.
The engine block got too chewy over the years?
If you told that one before, I must have forgotten, so do tell.And I'm not 100% sure, but I may never have actually owned a car. Let's go through the cycle, because it's fun and it really says a lot about my attitude towards cars.
Car #1: My parents' 1970 Volvo station wagon, 1983-1991. Have I posted the NobodysHome's story time about barely passing my driver's test in this car because even in 1983 some DMV employees didn't understand how stick shifts worked?
Way back in the Stone Age, they required you to parallel park for your driver's test. On an uphill slope. In a stick shift. So, I did what you do in a stick shift: I got parallel with the car ahead of me, shifted into first gear, put in the clutch, and let the car roll backwards into the spot. You never have to shift, and rolling backwards in a forward gear at under 5 mph is harmless.
Not according to my driving tester, who took off 10 full points (out of 100) for rolling backwards in a forward gear, driving my score to a 71 (you needed a 70 to pass). I argued with her that my car was a stick shift, but to no avail. It was the pre-internet days, so I couldn't Google an answer, but everyone who knew anything about cars, mechanics included, reacted with, "WTF!?!?! That's how *I* would've parked!" AFAIK, it was the recommended, commonly-taught way to parallel park in a stick shift on a hill.
I got to work and decided to Google it.
To parallel park a manual transmission car on a hill, engage the parking brake, put the transmission into the appropriate gear (first for uphill, reverse for downhill), ...
So 42 years later recommended practice is STILL to roll against your gear. 'Cause it's how you catch the car if things go sideways.
GothBard thought she saw blood in the FlufferNutter's urine and suggested we get some of that color-changing litter. Which is designed for healthy cats.
I'm surprised it didn't start smoking the moment the FlufferNutter used it, but of all the colors of the rainbow it turned, red (for blood) wasn't one of them. But "bluish-black and screaming in terror" wasn't on the list of "normal" colors...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I never got that good at tracking expenses. We mostly have a set amount we set aside for bills in an account and periodically check our math to make sure it’s still covering things.I think that's how non-OCD people do it. The most effective budget I've ever heard is, "I withdraw $xxx in cash at the start of every month, and when it's gone, it's gone." Not exactly rocket science, but extremely effective.I saw that Limey favorited this one and I was thinking "Ach, aye! Every month we get a hunred U.S. dolla out o' the bank, and no one will teek it, so we can't spend any monnay, and so we starve, and we chew on tree bark and drink rain water. But we're happy, and our budget is always in the black..."
Getting out a £50 note would be equally effective. Good luck getting anyone to accept that.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And obligatory Grumpy Old Man complaint of the morning: Non-receipts.
Ever since I moved out of my parents' house in 1991, I've carefully tracked expenses, including categorizing them so I know where I can cut and where I can't. This requires itemized receipts for all purchases. GothBard is fundamentally terrible at remembering to get receipts for her purchases, and it's been an eternal source of (mild) friction between us.
Along comes Square. GothBard pays with her phone, the app shoots me a receipt, and everything's golden, right?
Um, no. Their "receipts" are simply, "You spent $29.12 at Rando Shop today. Thank you." No breakdown of what was bought, taxes, tips, nothing. And y'know, since this app goes through credit cards, I already see that total on my credit card's site. It is fundamentally useless if you're not paying with cash, and if you are paying with cash it doesn't work because the cash isn't linked to an email address.
So, useless and frustrating, and now GothBard gets to say, "But I did get you a receipt! See?"
*SIGH*
My new approach to receipts:
S%*!, I can't read.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
GothBard thought she saw blood in the FlufferNutter's urine and suggested we get some of that color-changing litter. Which is designed for healthy cats.
I'm surprised it didn't start smoking the moment the FlufferNutter used it, but of all the colors of the rainbow it turned, red (for blood) wasn't one of them. But "bluish-black and screaming in terror" wasn't on the list of "normal" colors...
I googled "What does it mean if my cat's urine causing the special color-changing litter to turn bluish-black and scream in terror". Apparently that means that you, or someone in your family, has been possessed by the spirit of a deranged apricot.
Hope this helps!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I love tiny cats because they remain cute forever.
I hate tiny cats because WTF, tiny cat!?!?!
Yesterday Morning:
08:00: I let the kittens out
08:10: I check on the kittens. Morrigan is up on the studio roof, sniffing around in the gutters. I get a stepstool, grab her lead, and pull her back to ground level.
08:30: GothBard hears Morrigan meeping. She goes out of the studio to find Morrigan up on the pergola. Once again, with a stepstool and some coaxing, she managed to get Morrigan back to ground level. She took her inside for safekeeping.
09:00: GothBard starts a Zoom meeting. The other attendees start laughing. GothBard turns around. Morrigan is there in the background, climbing vertically up a curtain in an attempt to reach the ceiling.
Tiny cats must go high. It's in their makeup.
So I posted that and then this was THIS morning:
(08:25:40 AM): Holy carp. Well, that outing was short and, "Bad, but not catastrophically bad."
(8:26:12 AM): Morrigan went onto the pergola again. Mephisto followed her. Something startled Lenore and she came tearing inside. Mephisto wanted to see what it was and fell off the roof, making him panic.
(8:26:41 AM): So Mephisto into the catio to calm down, Lenore inside, got out chairs and a stepstool to get Morrigan down and she didn't want to come...
(8:26:54 AM): ...and I just decided, "I'm done. Cats are in. I have work to do."
(8:27:11 AM): Lenore and Morrigan have been placed in the studio. Mephisto is inside with treats.
Household chemistry at work: GothBard solved our "blue-black" litter mystery: Because she doesn't clean the studio litterbox often, she lines the bottom with a deodorant powder before pouring in the litter. A baking soda-based deodorant. And somehow the litter detected the FlufferNutter's urine as dangerously alkaline. Hmm...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Coming soon to a holistic pet store near Nobody's Home: kitty litter that tells you which of your mog's humours are out of whack, and possibly tells your fortune too.
Even the most basic courtesy is dead.
I got an email from a potential customer of the breeder who sold us Lenore asking about our adoption experience. I spend 20-30 minutes sending back a carefully-thought-out, detailed response. She ghosted me.
How long does it take to click the "Thank you" automated response and be done, just to acknowledge you received a person's response?
Maybe they haven't read it yet?
Possible. But they sent the email on Sunday and I responded first thing Monday morning, so it's been a while.
"Checking email" is not even considered a daily task at some organizations. I have someone that will only converse via email on Tuesdays.
"Checking email" is not even considered a daily task at some organizations. I have someone that will only converse via email on Tuesdays.
Yes, but she had my cell phone number so she could have tried calling, texting, or emailing, and email was her first choice. I'm going to go ahead and make the rash assumption that if your tendency is to go with email first, then it's also going to be to check it at least once a day...
Coming soon to a holistic pet store near Nobody's Home: kitty litter that tells you which of your mog's humours are out of whack, and possibly tells your fortune too.
On that subject, I did once see an advert offering to balance your pet's chakras in the town where I work (I certainly couldn't afford to live there)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In more entertaining news, the moment Microsoft Recall was announced Impus Minor and I concluded that we'd never own another Windows machine. So when Impus Minor got a voucher for a school laptop, he rather hilariously got it home, booted it to Windows ONCE, said, "Oh my god I can't believe how much crap they stuff onto a new machine these days!", wiped the drive, and installed Linux.
This week's assignment in his computer science class? A 4-page convoluted, poorly-written maze on, "How to get a Linux command shell installed on Windows."
The desired end result was a Linux command line. Impus Minor finished the assignment in under 20 seconds.