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Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
I'm just happy to see you again.
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I'm just happy to see you again.Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
TOO happy...
Freehold...erm...your timing...
New Spiderman trailer looks promising...
...oh god.
Golly gee gosh!
Hello, everyone.
Well, after wishing everyone a good weekend, mine turned out to be s&~!. Saturday, I got my second Covid shot. The side effects hit me rather harshly. Sunday, I had a fever( up to 103.6 ) and vomiting. Monday, I just had the fever, gradually receding to normal. So, I spent all weekend in a sickbed. Not how I wanted to spend my weekend.
Hello, and welcome back, and yep. Sounds about like what happened to Impus Minor when he got his second shot.
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** spoiler omitted **Been a while.
Trying to avoid politics, but I'm kind of at the point of just giving up. So I'm starting to look into immigration options.
At present, still looking into documentation required (like figuring out how to transfer my licensure), but it's almost certainly going to be Canada.
** spoiler omitted **
GothBard really wants to retire to Scotland so we can spend our retirement touring Europe, but:
(1) Scottish winters
(2) Brexit
(3) Exit taxesAfter visiting Woran, the Netherlands is a strong contender as well, but the whole, "Global Warming is turning it into the Central Valley of Europe" is an issue.
Sorry, Drejk; I know you want us to retire to Poland, but that's too far east of Paris and London for us...
Hey. Hey!
We had record breaking rainfalls and only a little flooding! And that was mostly because all the water from germany and belgium has to pass trough us and they have s*%% water management.(I have no idea what central valley is so Im making assumptions here)
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After visiting Woran, the Netherlands is a strong contender as well, but the whole, "Global Warming is turning it into the Central Valley of Europe" is an issue.Hey. Hey!
We had record breaking rainfalls and only a little flooding! And that was mostly because all the water from germany and belgium has to pass trough us and they have s$$% water management.(I have no idea what central valley is so Im making assumptions here)
The California Central Valley is famous for many things (agriculture, conservativism, appalling air quality), but if you ask a Californian, "What's the Central Valley like?", the first and foremost answer you'll get is, "Hot."
Daytime highs start going over 90°F (32°C) in May, and stay there through September. Most days are over 96°F (35°C) and by late June the night brings little relief, with the temperature remaining over 80°F (26.7°C) well past 11 pm.
When we visited you we managed to squeak in between two massive heat waves with temperatures like that, and you've reported a couple this summer.
We're from the San Francisco Bay Area. We're accustomed to highs in the 60s all summer long. Highs in the 90s are something we work very, very hard to avoid.
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Glad you're on the mend, John, and grats on the second vaxx shot!
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Why you gotta try to beat us in everything? It's embarrassing!
We were okay with not winning that one.
Honestly, the housing market here in the suburbs is even more insane. We figure our house has appreciated by about $100k since we bought it in November 2018. People keep calling me to buy it even though it’s not for sale.
John keeps saying we should find out what they’re offering. I have to remind him that, as attractive as it sounds to sell right now, we wouldn’t want to sell this place without buying another place and dealing with all the insanity that goes along with that. Given how high these suburban housing prices are right now, we’d most likely be plowing all that equity into the inflated price of the next house, which means it would be a wash.
Why you gotta try to beat us in everything? It's embarrassing!
We were okay with not winning that one.
Honestly, the housing market here in the suburbs is even more insane. We figure our house has appreciated by about $100k since we bought it in November 2018. People keep calling me to buy it even though it’s not for sale.
John keeps saying we should find out what they’re offering. I have to remind him that, as attractive as it sounds to sell right now, we wouldn’t want to sell this place without buying another place and dealing with all the insanity that goes along with that. Given how high these suburban housing prices are right now, we’d most likely be plowing all that equity into the inflated price of the next house, which means it would be a wash.
Yeah; John Oliver did a nice segment on the housing market being taken over by investors who drive up prices beyond the range of "normal" families, but I was trying to explain the math to someone the other day and it goes something like this:
(1) We could rent this house for $36,000/year.
(2) Between the mortgage, property taxes, and upkeep, this house costs around $60,000/year.
(3) In the time we've owned the house, its value has appreciated by $42,000/year.
In short, if I'm an investor with liquid assets in the hundreds of thousands, I can make a fortune on this house; even a base rental is $18,000 a year profit, and that's assuming I have to take out a mortgage instead of paying cash, and doesn't include the sweet tax deductions for said mortgage, property taxes, repair of rental property, and whatnot. (A huge chunk of that $60,000 is tax-deductible.)
If I'm an ordinary citizen who's simply looking for a place to live, it would be MUCH cheaper to rent.
So houses and rents remain ridiculously out of reach for most people. Not a good situation.
Hello, and welcome back, and yep. Sounds about like what happened to Impus Minor when he got his second shot.Hello, everyone.
Well, after wishing everyone a good weekend, mine turned out to be s&~!. Saturday, I got my second Covid shot. The side effects hit me rather harshly. Sunday, I had a fever( up to 103.6 ) and vomiting. Monday, I just had the fever, gradually receding to normal. So, I spent all weekend in a sickbed. Not how I wanted to spend my weekend.
I didn't have vomiting but I did feel like s@%$ for a few days and mostly slept.
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(I have no idea what central valley is so Im making assumptions here)
I imagined a big rift cutting into North Western Europe as the melting glaciers flood the lowlands.
Hello, everyone.
Well, after wishing everyone a good weekend, mine turned out to be s@$*. Saturday, I got my second Covid shot. The side effects hit me rather harshly. Sunday, I had a fever( up to 103.6 ) and vomiting. Monday, I just had the fever, gradually receding to normal. So, I spent all weekend in a sickbed. Not how I wanted to spend my weekend.
Sorry you've had a poor time with the 2nd jab, John - I was a bit knackered, achey and foggy for some time after mine, but it clearly could have been worse. Glad things are clearing up a bit!
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I really don't remember Sunday at all.
It's the day before Saturday and after Monday.
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Went back to work today (Tuesday) after five days off.
Discovered my counterpart on the other side of the store quit on Sunday when she went in on her day off shopping and they tried to force her to work.
AFTER suspending her last week because she had to drop her mask to be able to breathe effectively.
Her 'back-up' (who really didn't want the position) got shoved into the role with about as much prep as a fourth-string quarterback in the NFL gets.
The liquor manager on our side managed to completely f@+$ the scan type items yesterday, necessitating the new counterpart to spend most of her day undoing that.
Today went in and started working on the scan type items for our side. Half hour in, got call from liquor manager. "Just order the out-of-stock list stuff that the system didn't order and look at a few of the bad sections and order them."
Warehouse delivery from previous order showed up an hour after I finished doing the rudimentary order I'd been instructed to do. We *might* have had stuff on that delivery, we might not have.
Who's not really concerned or caring about that at this point?
Have 5K tags to hang tomorrow, plus the typical walking the stores to ensure signs are accurate.
The Corporate Assumption is that an employee can hang 200/hr.
I'm scheduled for eight (8) hours with no backup, no weapons worth a damn. I also don't have any effs to lose. If Manager on our side dares to suggest I 'step up my game' I'll be heading home sick.
Tired of the crap.
Got a new laptop the other day, been learning it's idiosyncrasies. One that I hated was that after shutting it down, opening the lid caused it to automatically turn on. Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but whatever sensor it uses to detect the lid opening is apparently quite sensitive. So in the morning before I left work, I would shut it down, close the lid, put it in my bag, and go home. Then that night when I got back to work and wanted to use it, I would notice that the battery had drained a lot because it was just sitting in my bag on all day. Tried fiddling with power settings in Windows, but those did nothing. Turns out, I had to go into the friggin' BIOS to turn that off, and I just don't think that you should make people go into the BIOS unless it is really necessary.
In this case it probably was - if it was hidden in BIOS functions, it's likely that Windows couldn't do anything about because it was seeing it as the same "turn on and go through boot sequence" as pressing power switch.
It's really silly though it didn't waited until the lid angle was large enough to warrant turning on.
Hmpf. It seems that NoScript completely messes up Humble Bundle webpage, even when I set everything on that page to trusted.
I managed top disable restrictions for that particular tab. I wonder if NoScript will remember it?
Close Chrome. Open Chrome.
Nope. It seems that it didn't. Will I have to manually disable restrictions every time I will be visiting Humble Bundle?
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(1) Our vaccination rate is 78% and there's little opposition to mask mandates, so our schools have been open for a week now and we have yet to have a single COVID case. (Knock on wood.)
(2) San Francisco implemented a, "You must show proof of vaccination to dine indoors" policy and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, with far more people eager to show off their cards than eager to throw a fit. Even out-of-staters expressed approval. But then, it is out-of-staters willing to visit San Francisco, so there's quite a bit of self-selection there.
So I'm reading articles about the agony of yet another remote school year, mask battles, vaccination battles, and so forth, and Impus Major had to drop most of his classes again as a direct result, but Impus Minor is back in school, is extremely happy, and I'm really hoping he'll manage to stay there.
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After visiting Woran, the Netherlands is a strong contender as well, but the whole, "Global Warming is turning it into the Central Valley of Europe" is an issue.Hey. Hey!
We had record breaking rainfalls and only a little flooding! And that was mostly because all the water from germany and belgium has to pass trough us and they have s$$% water management.(I have no idea what central valley is so Im making assumptions here)
The California Central Valley is famous for many things (agriculture, conservativism, appalling air quality), but if you ask a Californian, "What's the Central Valley like?", the first and foremost answer you'll get is, "Hot."
Daytime highs start going over 90°F (32°C) in May, and stay there through September. Most days are over 96°F (35°C) and by late June the night brings little relief, with the temperature remaining over 80°F (26.7°C) well past 11 pm.
When we visited you we managed to squeak in between two massive heat waves with temperatures like that, and you've reported a couple this summer.
We're from the San Francisco Bay Area. We're accustomed to highs in the 60s all summer long. Highs in the 90s are something we work very, very hard to avoid.
Due to the record breaking rainfalls we've been having a very pleasant summer (in my opinion). Temps have been averaging around 68 to 80 depending on cloud cover.
I'll spoiler this, just because it might upset people, but:
** spoiler omitted **EDIT: Of course, FaWtL. Of course.
steven conforti of the gaming community has posted that he was COVID positive. I have only met him a few times, but he is a decent sort. It appears he is on the recovery path, so not a loss for us yet, but it is closer than it was.
On a closer personal note, my gym is about 200(?) people. We all know each other by face if not buddy-buddy. One of our first responders/health care workers in that community is positive. We do not know which one, but that is VERY close.
Before this is over, I expect I will have at least one in my circle of friends that is lost to the virus.
This post has aged moderately well so far. Nephew and several in circle of friends (including several more at gym) have been declared positive, but recovered. Several more of people I would call distant friends (keep in touch, but probably have not seen each other in multiple years, even before the covid). One older acquaintance (more a friend of my parents than mine) passed away at 95 of covid. Wife of fraternity brother is a long haul case it seems, but most of rest declare mostly full recovery.
Why you gotta try to beat us in everything? It's embarrassing!
We were okay with not winning that one.
Honestly, the housing market here in the suburbs is even more insane. We figure our house has appreciated by about $100k since we bought it in November 2018. People keep calling me to buy it even though it’s not for sale.
John keeps saying we should find out what they’re offering. I have to remind him that, as attractive as it sounds to sell right now, we wouldn’t want to sell this place without buying another place and dealing with all the insanity that goes along with that. Given how high these suburban housing prices are right now, we’d most likely be plowing all that equity into the inflated price of the next house, which means it would be a wash.
And some time ago an acquaintance of mine shared a post of a lovely house for less than $400k. Not far from you in the middle of NY state.
I have been always told that 150 miles is close according to Americans...
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So Shanna has been discharged from the hospital, is able to stand and move around with support, mostly the new walker her mother ordered for her. Out-patient physical therapy is tomorrow and they have scheduled an EMG for the 3rd to see if she'll be a chronic patient coming in for regular treatments or only at risk of future flare ups. Either way, no more vaccines for her and plenty of concerns about regular illnesses, as any viral infections could trigger a relapse. The upside is that since she feels pins and needles instead of numbness, the nerve damage has not completely killed those nerve endings, so she still has functions.
With the generosity of everyone that could donate (including one very generous patron, thank you again) we have enough funds to cover the out of pocket expenses and deductible whenever they come due. I appreciate everyones help and support and want you all to know we are still working hard.
I have been always told that 150 miles is close according to Americans...
West coast Americans, yes. East coast ones would faint.
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North east Americans might faint. South of DC, 150 is an easy drive most days. Maybe not around atlanta or miami.
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And in the midwest, 150 is added to car's odometer every other day or every third day at best.
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And in the midwest, 150 is added to car's odometer every other day or every third day at best.
It would take me a couple of weeks to put that on our car, which I try not to drive out of town too much.
Pretty much just to work and home.
When I lived in KY, I put 75 miles on daily to go to/from high school. So 150 every other day give or take (weekends might skew that a bit).
Now, in NC, I will drive to charlotte to see a friend (about 160 on way) or to the beach (depending on which beach 120-200) for a day trip. Not every day, and this is in the before times. Now, if I put 50 miles on my vehicle in a week, it is unusual.
Around here we measure all such things in time, rather than distance. While it might be only 51 miles from my house to Santa Clara, on any weekday morning it's a 3-hour drive. The trip from Tracy to San Francisco is a longer distance (63 miles) but considered a shorter commute (2.5 hours).
Because traffic adds at least an hour to every trip, long drives are unusual unless vacation is involved. People think nothing of driving to Tahoe for the weekend (216 miles each way), and a lot of people around here think a 3-day weekend is plenty to drive to L.A. (420 miles) or even Las Vegas (565 miles).
150 miles for a daily commute is excessive, even for here. But to visit a friend? Meh. Might do it once a month or so.
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Waiting for my train back from fencing, drinking something that calls itself a 'sour IPA'. Not my usual choice, but quite nice and refreshing in the circs.
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Why you gotta try to beat us in everything? It's embarrassing!
We were okay with not winning that one.
Honestly, the housing market here in the suburbs is even more insane. We figure our house has appreciated by about $100k since we bought it in November 2018. People keep calling me to buy it even though it’s not for sale.
John keeps saying we should find out what they’re offering. I have to remind him that, as attractive as it sounds to sell right now, we wouldn’t want to sell this place without buying another place and dealing with all the insanity that goes along with that. Given how high these suburban housing prices are right now, we’d most likely be plowing all that equity into the inflated price of the next house, which means it would be a wash.
And some time ago an acquaintance of mine shared a post of a lovely house for less than $400k. Not far from you in the middle of NY state.
I have been always told that 150 miles is close according to Americans...
If I had a friend there, I would visit occasionally. But moving 150 miles further from my place of work? No.
If that house were near me, the price would be double.
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How brutal is my homebrew crew?
The gnome summoner dropped my ogres in a pit, then enlarged the cad so his 10' ladder was now a 20' ladder, providing a perfect crossing over the top of the pit so the crossbow-slinger could casually walk out and rain death upon them. ("All equipment worn or carried by a creature is similarly enlarged by the spell... Any enlarged item that leaves an enlarged creature's possession instantly returns to its normal size...", so as long as the cad just sat there doing nothing but holding the ladder, it was obviously in his possession.)
It's what I love about them. I give them a CR+3 fight with a slight tactical advantage (the other party had one guard and four asleep next to their weapons) and they turn it into a ludicrous rout through patience and forethought. By doing nothing:
- The oracle had no stealth, so she stayed 100' away and didn't move for fear of waking the sleepers. Round after round, "I delay and stay as quiet as I can while standing absolutely still."
- The flying eidolon with Silence on it did nothing but hover over the awake guard.
- The cad dropped so many status effects on the guard in the Silence field that he was never leaving. At one point he was blinded, entangled, sickened, dazzled, mute, and one other I keep forgetting.
- The summoner and crossbow-slinger stayed in stealth the entire way across the battle map, spending three full rounds just to move across the landscape without alerting the sleepers.
Basically three of my four players said, "Yeah, we trust the cad to keep one bad guy from being able to escape until we get there, and we're not going to do anything that so much as grants any of the sleepers a Perception roll. Good luck with that." It's SO rare to see players willing to sit around doing nothing to gain a massive advantage.
My proudest moment was when they completely blew their coup de graces (two of the three guards survived, including the CR+1 guard), yet were still in such a position that the summoner could drop all of the freshly-awakened guards in a pit without endangering a single PC.
I love low-level play. There's no, "I have a spell for that!" It's all about, "How can I use what I have in a clever way to gain ruthless tactical advantage?"
It was fun. Not for my bad guys, but meh. There are always more.
Just yesterday I drove 130 miles for work purposes. Going to be doing that again tomorrow. Round trip to/from my mom's is 180 miles.
I finished The Suicide Squad today, on account of the surprise rain day.
It was actually really good, not as good as Guardians of the Galaxy (which is barely a super hero movie) but better than most Marvel movies and way better than anything DC has put out to date.
I wanted more King Shark.
150-mile round trip on my commute, 5 days each week.
One gets used to it.
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Why you gotta try to beat us in everything? It's embarrassing!
We were okay with not winning that one.
Honestly, the housing market here in the suburbs is even more insane. We figure our house has appreciated by about $100k since we bought it in November 2018. People keep calling me to buy it even though it’s not for sale.
John keeps saying we should find out what they’re offering. I have to remind him that, as attractive as it sounds to sell right now, we wouldn’t want to sell this place without buying another place and dealing with all the insanity that goes along with that. Given how high these suburban housing prices are right now, we’d most likely be plowing all that equity into the inflated price of the next house, which means it would be a wash.
And some time ago an acquaintance of mine shared a post of a lovely house for less than $400k. Not far from you in the middle of NY state.
I have been always told that 150 miles is close according to Americans...
If I had a friend there, I would visit occasionally. But moving 150 miles further from my place of work? No.
If that house were near me, the price would be double.
Shame. It looks lovely.
Google maps view. The post on facebook also showed interior.
...
Maybe Freehold would be interested with moving there instead?