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"Ahh. You'd be wanting the 'Dexter Special' then, sir."In the car this evening, Tweeny Valeros was singing, "Can you help me hide a body? / c'mon, we can't delay" to the tune of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?"
I said, "That's just like my friend Ms. Sydney. She's the kind of friend who'd help you hide a body. (pause) Also my friend who is the other Ms. Lisa at school, the gardening teacher. ** (pause) And Uncle Ersatz Russian, of course."
Tweeny Valeros: "Well OBVIOUSLY Uncle Ersatz Russian! Wait, he's never helped you hide a body before, has he?!"
The *moment* you started this story I thought of him.
Did the gang ever tell you his greatest sci-fi roleplaying moment? At the general store:
"And what can I get you, sir?"
"Some latex gloves, and a filter mask, and a portable bathtub, and... do you have any acid?"
"Certainly, sir, how much do you need?"
"About enough to dissolve a body..."
That'd be the Pinkman special. For the Dexter Special you need loads of plastic and a boat.
EDIT: For either, you should be clothed.
To be fair, I haven't watched Dexter, nor does the name Pinkman ring a bell. He was simply the first fictional serial killer to come to mind."Ahh. You'd be wanting the 'Dexter Special' then, sir."In the car this evening, Tweeny Valeros was singing, "Can you help me hide a body? / c'mon, we can't delay" to the tune of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?"
I said, "That's just like my friend Ms. Sydney. She's the kind of friend who'd help you hide a body. (pause) Also my friend who is the other Ms. Lisa at school, the gardening teacher. ** (pause) And Uncle Ersatz Russian, of course."
Tweeny Valeros: "Well OBVIOUSLY Uncle Ersatz Russian! Wait, he's never helped you hide a body before, has he?!"
The *moment* you started this story I thought of him.
Did the gang ever tell you his greatest sci-fi roleplaying moment? At the general store:
"And what can I get you, sir?"
"Some latex gloves, and a filter mask, and a portable bathtub, and... do you have any acid?"
"Certainly, sir, how much do you need?"
"About enough to dissolve a body..."
That'd be the Pinkman special. For the Dexter Special you need loads of plastic and a boat.
EDIT: For either, you should be clothed.
It's a Breaking Bad reference.
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Breaking Bad is extremely well done and one of the greatest shows from an artistic perspective.
That said, it can be hard to watch.
Personally, I prefer Better Call Saul (which is actually WAAAAY better artistically even).
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How bad is my attitude towards my corporate "career path"?
When I started, there were 5 levels for my position. Non-interns were hired at 3, then promoted to 4, then 5. I was promoted in 2013, then 2015. Since then my only options have been "become a manager" or "change your job". There's no raise associated with either; I've had multiple colleagues over the years move to a more prestigious position such as "product manager" or "director", then promptly resign within a year because their workload skyrocketed but their compensation didn't.
So, there's absolutely no reason for me to move to a different position because it won't affect my salary. There's no possibility of moving upwards in my current position. And they wonder why I'm bitter about career development discussions.
Hmm... I wonder...
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That was my first contract with the military. Become a sergeant? You mean one of the guys that walks back into the office after final formation instead of heading to my room? For $200 more a month? No thanks!
How about, for an extra $200 a month, I won't spit in the LT's coffee anymore.
I was just scrolling through Crunchyroll, and got a kick out of how the live action shows were labeled "Incredibly Realistic Animation".
The one that kills me is the absolute flood of isekai with long, descriptive titles. "How I went to an alternate dimension, got myself a harem of cat girls, and went on to rule seven kingdoms."
It's tiresome just scrolling through the list.
I just never had any interest in Breaking Bad. Plenty of people have told me that it's great, but I don't want to watch it. I've seen some clips on youtube that were recommended as "this will make you want to watch", and I still have never felt any desire to watch it. I've also seen a couple of clips of Better Call Saul, but also haven't been drawn to it.Breaking Bad is extremely well done and one of the greatest shows from an artistic perspective.
That said, it can be hard to watch.
Personally, I prefer Better Call Saul (which is actually WAAAAY better artistically even).
I felt the same for a long time. Got tired of hearing people say "you need to watch it" so I did and was glad for it. There's a reason why so many consider it one of the greatest shows in the history of television. I too prefer Better Call Saul, but it is best watched after Breaking Bad. And I'd put the first few seasons of Dexter right up with them as some of the best TV ever.
I'll echo that I never had any interest in Breaking Bad whatsoever, no matter the hype. Impus Major started watching it in the living room while I was working. I tried to give it no mind. And it just kind of grabbed me. It's pretty much a show about horrible people making horrible decisions, but somehow it's mesmerizing.
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That was my first contract with the military. Become a sergeant? You mean one of the guys that walks back into the office after final formation instead of heading to my room? For $200 more a month? No thanks!
Oh, I like to describe it as, "Oh, you'd like to take all the risks of a career move? We're perfectly happy to let you try, since there's no risk to us."
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Kids' friends: Your kittens are such a pain! If we leave anything at all lying around in your house they find it, play with it, and lose it.
NobodysHome:
I feel like Freehold would like to have this information.
I am a HUGE fan of jidaigeki/Japanese period drama from when I was a small child, watching subtitled Asian dramas on public access TV. It is to my slight embarrassment that only recently in life have I discovered what it was I grew up with- Yoshimune Chronicle- Abarenbo Shogun/The Unfettered Shogun and Zenigata Heiji. I am also a fan of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, and bought the criteria collection for myself this year for Christmas.
As shown here, the reveal of the main characters identity is always a major part of the show, especially for Abarenbo Shogun.
As for the onsen scene, well. I am Freehold. I will always hold this up as a vital part of any show. But ironically I didnt grow up with it, as onsen scenes at were not a part of the period dramas I grew up with. I WOULD, however, associated them primarily with Ranma, which was the 2nd or 3rd "modern" anime I saw back in 1994.
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I feel like Freehold would like to have this information.I am a HUGE fan of jidaigeki/Japanese period drama from when I was a small child, watching subtitled Asian dramas on public access TV. It is to my slight embarrassment that only recently in life have I discovered what it was I grew up with- Yoshimune Chronicle- Abarenbo Shogun/The Unfettered Shogun and Zenigata Heiji. I am also a fan of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, and bought the criteria collection for myself this year for Christmas.
As shown here, the reveal of the main characters identity is always a major part of the show, especially for Abarenbo Shogun.
As for the onsen scene, well. I am Freehold. I will always hold this up as a vital part of any show. But ironically I didnt grow up with it, as onsen scenes at were not a part of the period dramas I grew up with. I WOULD, however, associated them primarily with Ranma, which was the 2nd or 3rd "modern" anime I saw back in 1994.
I loved "Hideyoshi" back in the 90s when it was on Fuji TV in the Bay area, and I seriously geeked out when I realized that the old man whose death had created the power vacuum in the new "Shogun" was, in fact, Saru.
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How bad is my attitude towards my corporate "career path"?
When I started, there were 5 levels for my position. Non-interns were hired at 3, then promoted to 4, then 5. I was promoted in 2013, then 2015. Since then my only options have been "become a manager" or "change your job". There's no raise associated with either; I've had multiple colleagues over the years move to a more prestigious position such as "product manager" or "director", then promptly resign within a year because their workload skyrocketed but their compensation didn't.
So, there's absolutely no reason for me to move to a different position because it won't affect my salary. There's no possibility of moving upwards in my current position. And they wonder why I'm bitter about career development discussions.
Hmm... I wonder...
Woodland Friends (ltd.) informed us all yesterday that some of us may be given the opportunity to become Advanced, or Senior, Woodland Friends. This looks like it will mean more work, maybe the chance to sneer at your juniors, and perhaps a different-coloured acorn hat, but your allocation of nuts will remain unchanged.
Fun fact! We were going to name Milo, Dexter, but a week before the birth i happened to tell one of my brothers and he said "Oh, like the TV show!"
One Google search later and we were looking for a new name.
I've still never seen it but I've seen enough clips and memes i don't need to.
My only thought is that I let my kids use my credit cards all the time. And people get so accustomed to using both that they conflate the two.
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My only thought is that I let my kids use my credit cards all the time. And people get so accustomed to using both that they conflate the two.I mean, we aren't supposed to let people use a credit card that doesn't have their name on it either.
Fair enough; I know front desk work is different from restaurant/service work. We *always* send the kids off to pick up restaurant food or pay for their own entertainment with our cards. We've *never* sent the kids to check in or rent a car or anything else where we know ID will be required.
EDIT: I think the worst part of the whole, "Kids using the cards" thing is that I used to do the old school, "Write Check ID in your signature panel to ensure the safety of your card" thing.
But honestly, how many years has it been since anyone even glanced at the signature panel on a card?
Me: "Hi, how can I help you?"
Guy: "Checking in. Name is [redacted]."
Me: "Great. I need to see your ID."
Guy: *hands me his ID*
Me: *checks ID* "I'm sorry, you have to be 21 to rent a room."
Guy: "What if I use someone else's ID? Someone who is 21?"
Me: *blinks* "No. That wouldn't be your ID."
Guy: "Well they let me do that all the time at other hotels."
Me: "We don't do that here."
Guy: *huffs, texts, texts, texts some more, huffs some more, texts even more*
Me: "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Guy: *keeps texting and huffing, eventually* "Can I cancel the reservation?"
Me: "Sure, I can do that."
Guy: "Great." *leaves*Who the hell is letting people check in using other people's ID? And why would this guy think it would be ok to use someone else's ID? I swear...
I think I already shared my adventures from when I was 20. Or someone was 20. I forget now.
My only thought is that I let my kids use my credit cards all the time. And people get so accustomed to using both that they conflate the two.I mean, we aren't supposed to let people use a credit card that doesn't have their name on it either.
If that was the case, I wouldn't have been able to work when I was working conventions regularly. It was the company card. I did have exactly one misadventure because of that, thinking back.
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Is there any person more annoying than the self-appointed "evangelist"?
Global Megacorporation is doing a huge thing on "career development". And it turns out that what that means is, "Developing your skills to better serve Global Megacorporation, while at the same time volunteering for extra work, all for no additional pay."
So in Global Megacorporation's terms, I'm fantastic at career growth: Since 2022, I've completely changed what I do, the tools I use, and even the division of the company I work with. I've gone to extensive training on our new AI tooling, learned AI prompting, and taught myself Python to be able to script AI training. For benefits to the company, I've been fantastic.
Yet I'm receiving the exact same pay as I was in 2022.
And I've got the exact same job title as I had in 2022.
With no chance for advancement.
And they wonder why I'm bitter.
So what do "evangelists" have to do with this?
I'm trapped in a call with two evangelists who are talking about how great this model is, and how incredible it is that they can have an AI simulation of a conversation with their manager. As you'd expect, the AI gave completely vanilla answers. And they can't stop talking about how much they loved it.
EDIT: OMG. They're even worse. They're of the "AI can do everything for me cult." "Oh, I just love that answer the conversation I can use the Zoom AI notetaker to track what was said.
Have you USED that notetaker? It's epically awful. We pitted it against my notetaking in a John Henry-style competition, and it wasn't even a competition; the Zoom AI notes were terrible.
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Well, another interview done. Now I have to wait up to three weeks for that background check to find out if I get a second interview.
In more fun news, my sister brought up last night at dinner wanting to get my parents to try D&D or Pathfinder. It should be interesting, but I doubt it will turn into more than a night or two. My mom has limited interest in fantasy, my dad doesn't really like complex games, and my sister's boyfriend was sorta meh towards it the one time he played.
I just never had any interest in Breaking Bad. Plenty of people have told me that it's great, but I don't want to watch it. I've seen some clips on youtube that were recommended as "this will make you want to watch", and I still have never felt any desire to watch it. I've also seen a couple of clips of Better Call Saul, but also haven't been drawn to it.Breaking Bad is extremely well done and one of the greatest shows from an artistic perspective.
That said, it can be hard to watch.
Personally, I prefer Better Call Saul (which is actually WAAAAY better artistically even).
I don't blame you! Like I said, it can be hard to watch.
So, lesson learned the hard way tonight: even if egg nog still smells and tastes fine a couple days past the best by date, it's better just to toss it out.
So, lesson learned the hard way tonight: even if egg nog still smells and tastes fine a couple days past the best by date, it's better just to toss it out.
Dammit. Im sorry.
So, lesson learned the hard way tonight: even if egg nog still smells and tastes fine a couple days past the best by date, it's better just to toss it out.Dammit. Im sorry.
Could've been worse. At least it wasn't an "I need a hospital" situation, just a "running to the bathroom every 20 minutes for a few hours" situation. I feel fine now.
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What does it tell you about the current state of the world that I'm paying for corporate legal assistance, yet when that company says, "Upload all of your important legal, financial, and medical records to our site for secure storage," my very first reaction is, "F*** that s***; you're just going to use it to power an AI."
When you can't even trust the companies you're paying to manage your legal affairs...
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It really is astonishing how much the universe conspires against you when you're trying to get things done.
GothBard is in the U.K. Impus Minor is spending two weeks in a condo with his girlfriend. So it's just me, Impus Major, and the cats. I got an email this morning saying that one of my projects needed to be delayed by a day, so I thought, "Cool! If I go heads-down now, I'll be able to finish and post this today!"
(1) Gamer friend I've told repeatedly I don't like to be bothered at work IMs me repeatedly telling me what a crappy day she's having.
(2) Impus Minor suddenly needs help finding everything: His Clipper card, Dayquil, anything possible to get me away from the computer.
(3) I literally get maybe one direct Slack message a month. A co-worker Slacks me to ask for all the details about the delayed project, then wants to chat for a while.
It's like, "Can you all just PLEASE cope on your own?"
Grr...
But, needless to day, project is now handed off so everyone's suddenly leaving me alone.
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It really is astonishing how much the universe conspires against you when you're trying to get things done.
GothBard is in the U.K. Impus Minor is spending two weeks in a condo with his girlfriend. So it's just me, Impus Major, and the cats. I got an email this morning saying that one of my projects needed to be delayed by a day, so I thought, "Cool! If I go heads-down now, I'll be able to finish and post this today!"
(1) Gamer friend I've told repeatedly I don't like to be bothered at work IMs me repeatedly telling me what a crappy day she's having.
(2) Impus Minor suddenly needs help finding everything: His Clipper card, Dayquil, anything possible to get me away from the computer.
(3) I literally get maybe one direct Slack message a month. A co-worker Slacks me to ask for all the details about the delayed project, then wants to chat for a while.
It's like, "Can you all just PLEASE cope on your own?"
Grr...
But, needless to day, project is now handed off so everyone's suddenly leaving me alone.
You should track down the person you handed it off to and hound them relentlessly so they can't work on it now.
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Speaking of ens****ification, we broach the topic of toilet paper. I have an imagined history of the whole thing:
Public restrooms: People are scum. Public restrooms are one of the lowest common denominators of this scumminess. I cannot comprehend why people are so driven to vandalize, filthify, and otherwise ruin a facility specifically placed to satisfy one of their basic biological needs, but there you go. A decent roll of toilet paper in a public restroom wouldn't last an hour. So they obtained the cheapest single-ply sandpaper possible to provide something marginally better than going out and foraging for leaves. Now there was TP available at one-tenth the price (or less) of decent TP.
Hotel chains: See "people are scum" above. If a hotel provided decent toilet paper, every room would lose 1-2 rolls a day. Honestly, I'd prefer to pay an extra $5/night to get decent toilet paper, but even in hotels charging upwards of $400 a night I've found the single-ply stuff of nightmares. It's corporate greed, through and through, but people learned to accept it, and individually-owned hotels followed suit. I've stayed at a few places with decent toilet paper, but they are by far and away the exception.
Private renters: And this gets me to today's tale. Places like AirBnB and Vrbo let people rent out their spare space. Younger Brother's S.O. has littered their property with RVs and rents out each individual one. Impus Minor is currently staying in a condo that's usually rented out as an AirBnB. So, these are individual places managed by individuals. And yet the TP ens****ification continues. The son of the AirBnB owner came by to provide Impus Minor with TP for his stay. Someone, finding extra TP in our dining room, thought it was ours and put it in our bathroom. Both kids and all of our guests immediately started complaining about the crappy TP we'd bought. Impus Minor took some of our own stock for his stay at the condo.
I really feel that if you rent a place and they provide you with inadequate TP, you should be able to lock the person who made the purchasing decision in the stocks and pelt them in the head with said crappy TP. (Younger Brother's S.O. always gets 5 star reviews, and she says she suspects a lot of it is because she provides decent TP. Costs her under $5 to RV per day, gets her rave reviews.)
{/tirade]
Gee... why are we planning on retiring to the E.U. again?
*** Last week ***
Receptionist : Oh, you don't need an appointment for an EKG. You can just drop in whenever.
Nurse Practitioner : OK. I've put in the labwork orders for you.
*** Today ***
Nurse: No, we won't do pre-op EKGs without an appointment. We can see you in 2 weeks.
Lab: No, there are no lab orders for you.
I am well aware that nationalized health care has its issues, but the whole, "We're going to tell you you can do something when you actually can't," seems uniquely American. From what I've heard, nationalized health care will just out-and-out say, "No, you can't do that." Which I would prefer to driving around for 90 minutes for no reason.
I just had to laugh at how inept Google's AI can be. We are driving over to my aunt's to pick her up for dinner after she gets home from work, and my mom said she wonders if there's any new Mexican places we haven't tried. So I googled it, and the AI suggested result that pops up at the top said "For new Mexican restaurants in LA...". We were driving through Arlington, TX. Google showed we were in Arlington, TX. Yet the AI was still trying to give suggestions for LA.
L.A. has some great Mexican places.
Just sayin'.
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Speaking of ens****ification, we broach the topic of toilet paper. I have an imagined history of the whole thing:
Public restrooms: People are scum. Public restrooms are one of the lowest common denominators of this scumminess. I cannot comprehend why people are so driven to vandalize, filthify, and otherwise ruin a facility specifically placed to satisfy one of their basic biological needs, but there you go. A decent roll of toilet paper in a public restroom wouldn't last an hour. So they obtained the cheapest single-ply sandpaper possible to provide something marginally better than going out and foraging for leaves. Now there was TP available at one-tenth the price (or less) of decent TP.
Hotel chains: See "people are scum" above. If a hotel provided decent toilet paper, every room would lose 1-2 rolls a day. Honestly, I'd prefer to pay an extra $5/night to get decent toilet paper, but even in hotels charging upwards of $400 a night I've found the single-ply stuff of nightmares. It's corporate greed, through and through, but people learned to accept it, and individually-owned hotels followed suit. I've stayed at a few places with decent toilet paper, but they are by far and away the exception.
Private renters: And this gets me to today's tale. Places like AirBnB and Vrbo let people rent out their spare space. Younger Brother's S.O. has littered their property with RVs and rents out each individual one. Impus Minor is currently staying in a condo that's usually rented out as an AirBnB. So, these are individual places managed by individuals. And yet the TP ens****ification continues. The son of the AirBnB owner came by to provide Impus Minor with TP for his stay. Someone, finding extra TP in our dining room, thought it was ours and put it in our bathroom. Both kids and all of our guests immediately started complaining about the crappy TP we'd bought. Impus Minor took some of our own stock for his stay at the condo.
I really feel that if you rent a place and they provide you...
When the nursing home nuns I used to work for wanted to expand their chain, we had to go to a hearing at SF City Hall. This was in the Willie Brown era, when the dome had *just* been covered in the shiny gold leaf. But the toilet paper in the restrooms? The roughest, industrial-grade single ply. If it were sandpaper, it would be 60-grit. I figured there was probably a metaphor there somewhere.
Later that same year, I started taking dance lessons from Mayor Brown's ex-wife Blanche, and boy, did SHE have some tea to spill when I happened to mention it.
L.A. has some great Mexican places.
Just sayin'.
1400 miles is a bit far of a drive for dinner.
1400 miles is a bit far of a drive for dinner.L.A. has some great Mexican places.
Just sayin'.
I once drove all the way from central Arizona to Bend, Oregon; just to have some beers and a burger. Did some sightseeing along the way. Golden Gate Bridge and Crater Lake for instance.
I once drove all the way from central Arizona to Bend, Oregon; just to have some beers and a burger. Did some sightseeing along the way. Golden Gate Bridge and Crater Lake for instance.1400 miles is a bit far of a drive for dinner.L.A. has some great Mexican places.
Just sayin'.
Crater Lake's a running joke with our family. We were staying in Ashland, drove HOURS to get to Crater lake, and the fog was some of the thickest I've ever been in. Visibility was literally about 10'. So we saw nothing. So occasionally we get some gray paper, frame it, and send it to each other as "memories of Crater Lake".
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Speaking of ens****ification, we broach the topic of toilet paper. I have an imagined history of the whole thing:
Public restrooms: People are scum. Public restrooms are one of the lowest common denominators of this scumminess. I cannot comprehend why people are so driven to vandalize, filthify, and otherwise ruin a facility specifically placed to satisfy one of their basic biological needs, but there you go. A decent roll of toilet paper in a public restroom wouldn't last an hour. So they obtained the cheapest single-ply sandpaper possible to provide something marginally better than going out and foraging for leaves. Now there was TP available at one-tenth the price (or less) of decent TP.
Hotel chains: See "people are scum" above. If a hotel provided decent toilet paper, every room would lose 1-2 rolls a day. Honestly, I'd prefer to pay an extra $5/night to get decent toilet paper, but even in hotels charging upwards of $400 a night I've found the single-ply stuff of nightmares. It's corporate greed, through and through, but people learned to accept it, and individually-owned hotels followed suit. I've stayed at a few places with decent toilet paper, but they are by far and away the exception.
Private renters: And this gets me to today's tale. Places like AirBnB and Vrbo let people rent out their spare space. Younger Brother's S.O. has littered their property with RVs and rents out each individual one. Impus Minor is currently staying in a condo that's usually rented out as an AirBnB. So, these are individual places managed by individuals. And yet the TP ens****ification continues. The son of the AirBnB owner came by to provide Impus Minor with TP for his stay. Someone, finding extra TP in our dining room, thought it was ours and put it in our bathroom. Both kids and all of our guests immediately started complaining about the crappy TP we'd bought. Impus Minor took some of our own stock for his stay at the condo.
I really feel that if you rent a place and they provide you...
Allow me to chase those hooligans off of the lawn for you, father!
Crater Lake's a running joke with our family. We were staying in Ashland, drove HOURS to get to Crater lake, and the fog was some of the thickest I've ever been in. Visibility was literally about 10'. So we saw nothing. So occasionally we get some gray paper, frame it, and send it to each other as "memories of Crater Lake".I once drove all the way from central Arizona to Bend, Oregon; just to have some beers and a burger. Did some sightseeing along the way. Golden Gate Bridge and Crater Lake for instance.1400 miles is a bit far of a drive for dinner.L.A. has some great Mexican places.
Just sayin'.
I gotta see this.