Heating's been bust for a couple of days at work. When we suggested getting some space heaters in, the big boss was resistant at first, saying that our unwillingness to work in the cold reflected poorly on our combat readiness in case of war with Russia. I assume he was joking, but can't be 100% sure.Are there windows in your place of work that your boss is careful to avoid?
He's working from home most of the time.
I did offer to organise rifle drills in the car park at lunch (do I know how? No, I don't!!!), but he hasn't taken me up on that offer
Looking at what is on offer, I'm surprised, to be honest.
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** spoiler omitted **.... . . stable of writers were uniformly awful, all coming from the, "Hey, this fad is popular right now! We need to put it into the show!" school of thought that was so execrably predominant . . . because originality was dead. . . . .there are libraries' worth of truth in that statement.I wish I could make everyone who swears by this sit down and watch a few days worth of truly original stinkers. Fads are annoying, but rarely appear with no reason whatsoever- although they certainly may lack appeal to all but a niche audience. Not all that's original or novel is good solely due to being original or novel.
I dunno, maybe I've been watching too many failed shows of the xx's/starting lineup of fall XXXX retrospectives.
Firefly v. Outlaw Star
......simply, Firefly wins because it doesn't have Aisha Clan-Clan in it. It's like they tried to give a migraine a personality.
She's shiny and chrome!
I did offer to organise rifle drills in the car park at lunch (do I know how? No, I don't!!!), but he hasn't taken me up on that offer
Just put bayonet on, and I am pretty sure you could handle it better than most of us.
For an actual shooting, I think that Dave would be preferable.
I only fired two rifles, shotgun, and two handguns that one time.
For an actual shooting, I think that Dave would be preferable.
Yeah...no. I've got a fair amount of hunting experience, but I've got zero military training. Unless there's a war on deer and squirrels, I'd be pretty useless.
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Tame deer in my neighborhood. I put out my arms like a zombie and walk toward them growling: “Meat, meat.” They only bolt when I’m a couple meters away.
I could kill one of the silly things with a spear if I had one.
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Tame deer in my neighborhood. I put out my arms like a zombie and walk toward them growling: “Meat, meat.” They only bolt when I’m a couple meters away.
I could kill one of the silly things with a spear if I had one.
(a while ago now...)
Midnight. Knock knock knock.
Open door.
There's a deer standing there
She moves away
There's another deer behind her. Its gotten stuck in the snowbank trying to get to the bird feeder. Grab shovel. Dig her out, watch the kicking feet. Other deer stands there supervising.
I get that they know we're friendly humans after multiple generations of standing on our lawn unmolested... but HOW many pizza deliveries did they witness to know that hitting the door summons a human? Cause there was no way the deer accidentally kicked the door.
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Tame deer in my neighborhood. I put out my arms like a zombie and walk toward them growling: “Meat, meat.” They only bolt when I’m a couple meters away.
I could kill one of the silly things with a spear if I had one.
(a while ago now...)
Midnight. Knock knock knock.
Open door.
There's a deer standing there
She moves away
There's another deer behind her. Its gotten stuck in the snowbank trying to get to the bird feeder. Grab shovel. Dig her out, watch the kicking feet. Other deer stands there supervising.
I get that they know we're friendly humans after multiple generations of standing on our lawn unmolested... but HOW many pizza deliveries did they witness to know that hitting the door summons a human? Cause there was no way the deer accidentally kicked the door.
That's amazing.
I can also tell I've taken too long of a break from mowing the lawn when the woodchuck thinks I'm done and comes out to eat the grass. Zero (*#($*s given till i go for the lawn mower.
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For an actual shooting, I think that Dave would be preferable.Yeah...no. I've got a fair amount of hunting experience, but I've got zero military training. Unless there's a war on deer and squirrels, I'd be pretty useless.
Can you clean the weapons afterwards? You still will be better gun trainer than me.
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Well, that's a fun way to start my weekend. I took my Subaru to my mechanic for an oil change and an inspection to renew my registration, and he said my front breaks are paper-thin. Also my front axle is leaking grease and needs to be repaired.
Add that to the tires I already knew I have to replace. I have an appointment at noon at the tire shop for that. Because I'm a regular and he knows me, he gave me a pass on the inspection. At least not having to pay for tennis or piano lessons for Val this month while he's in California means I have a little wiggle room.
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Well, that's a fun way to start my weekend. I took my Subaru to my mechanic for an oil change and an inspection to renew my registration, and he said my front breaks are paper-thin. Also my front axle is leaking grease and needs to be repaired.
Add that to the tires I already knew I have to replace. I have an appointment at noon at the tire shop for that. Because I'm a regular and he knows me, he gave me a pass on the inspection. At least not having to pay for tennis or piano lessons for Val this month while he's in California means I have a little wiggle room.
While unexpected car costs suck, I love my mechanic's sense of humor about it.
They now video everything and send you clips of what they're seeing so you can decide for yourself whether or not to have the work done. Most recently my mechanic sent me a video of one of my front CV boots that looked like something out of a horror movie: Filaments of unknown substances, leaking ooze, puddles of goop. His quote, "Your CV boot may not be operating at full capacity."
Yes, we had it replaced.
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It's hard being an introvert who likes live shows: I enjoy the performers, but I don't want to be a performer. I don't want to jump up and down. I don't want to dance. I don't want to yell. I want to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere.
It's hard enough at concerts. But tonight we're going to a live show with Edgar Allen Poe readings and exotic cocktails and the invitation just got updated to, "Wear your best cocktail outfit and be prepared to participate."
I don't want to participate; I want to be entertained.
It's a very odd thing about me, but I suspect it's a strong aspect of being a social introvert: I like to be where a bunch of people are having fun, but I don't want to join in.
Speaking of staggering incompetence among software developers (aren't we always?), my accountant is trying to go fully digital, so he's contracted with a secure file server company so you can upload, eSign, and download your tax documents.
Yellow Flag: Their software only accepts one email address per account. You're using email as a primary key in your database, aren't you, morons? I recognize it because Global Megacorporation did the same dumb-a$$ thing about 12 years ago and then learned to their horror that *gasp* people's email addresses can change!!! The number of man-hours dedicated to creating a tool that could update someone's email address and all the references was truly staggering. Email seems like a great primary key: It's unique and it doesn't matter if your database gets stolen because email addresses on their own aren't particularly useful. But once you realize that they can change, it becomes *almost* as dumb as using a phone number as a primary key.
Red Flag: For joint accounts, you can only use the email address that appears first alphabetically. This is lazy, incompetent coding, and I'd return the software and demand my money back the moment I saw it.
Sigh. Getting biscuits and gravy at the diner down the block from the tire place.
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There is a strange ball of fire in the sky, bringing light warmth and cheer.
I should probably go see it a little.
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"No Rain" by Blind Lemon comes on the jukebox in the diner.
My train of thought:
1. Man, diners are supposed to play Oldies. This song was popular when I was in college!
2. A sophomore in college. Thirty years ago.
3. That's like hearing a Buddy Holly song in 1987.
4. [expletive redacted]
My "train Google to believe something I'm not" seems to be paying off. I got my first spam asking me how I enjoyed my call with "Jeremy" a cat dad outdoorsman from Kansas who's looking for a woman to share his love of cats and the outdoors.
Not bad, but he was still in his mid-50s. Gotta convince Google I'm significantly younger. That'll probably be harder, but the push is working...
I did offer to organise rifle drills in the car park at lunch (do I know how? No, I don't!!!), but he hasn't taken me up on that offerJust put bayonet on, and I am pretty sure you could handle it better than most of us.
For an actual shooting, I think that Dave would be preferable.
I only fired two rifles, shotgun, and two handguns that one time.
I could do bayonet (or pike), which would be great if it was still the 1700s.
I could do bayonet (or pike), which would be great if it was still the 1700s.
Just preparing for world war four. Some people are always fighting the last war but you'll be fighting the next one!
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Pointed sticks never go out of fashion.
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Look! Amanda Palmer posted art for NH!
This is apparently at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. I don't know if a penny was involved.
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A fairy cat that comes to live with monks in a monastery. Have fun trying to avoid paw-prints all over your holy texts now.
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The human brain is an eternal mystery to me.
While the Bay Area's violent crime rate is enviably low for a region its size, its property crime rate is everything the media would have you believe. For example, last night we had to park in downtown Oakland. Like good little locals we removed the trunk cover, spread everything in the car on the seats to show that it was all worthless, and otherwise spent 2-3 minutes "bip-proofing" our car. In return, we returned to an intact car. But that's what life is around here; if you're going to park in a downtown area, you need to pretend that you're in Yosemite keeping food from the bears, but you're just ensuring the locals don't break into your car looking for something shiny.
So Public Service Announcements like the one I saw this morning utterly baffle me: "If you are going shopping, please do not leave your purse or wallet unattended in your cart. There has been a recent uptick in thefts related to this in the region."
As a local, leaving a purse or wallet unattended in a cart is (weakly) comparable to forgetting your dog or child in the back seat -- it's not something I'd ever imagine doing. But apparently it's common enough we needed a PSA about it.
The other one that's getting to me is that we're getting 2"-3" of rain over a 36-hour period and the state's on emergency alert with "do not travel" signs all over the highways.
In the 1980s we routinely got storms this big, and other than the house races in Marin, things were fine. We had similar rainfall totals in the 1990s.
But as usual, 30 years without heavy consistent rainfall meant that infrastructure money that should have been going to our runoff systems instead went to "more urgent" projects, so we're suffering from a perfectly reasonable rainfall that's going to flood vast regions because we stopped thinking such rains were possible.
"If you are going shopping, please do not leave your purse or wallet (...)"
Shouldn't that be enough of a general advice?!
How does that work anyway? With wallets at least?
Are people entering the car, pull their wallet out of their pocket and throw it somewhere in the car, or what?
How does that work anyway? With wallets at least?
Are people entering the car, pull their wallet out of their pocket and throw it somewhere in the car, or what?
Cart. This is in a grocery store, and it's remarkably common. Many women put their purses in the back of the grocery cart along with their shopping list and their pencil or pen as they put the cart somewhere convenient and then wander off to get everything they need that's in the immediate area. It's far less common, but I've seen men, especially those who still carry big thick wallets, do the same, so sitting there in the middle of the grocery store is an unattended cart with a wallet in the back.
As I said, it's bizarre to me, but they must have learned to do it from someone.
OK...wow. The rain isn't much to speak of, but the wind is enough that it's shaking the house... and we don't tend to get a lot of strong winds here -- anything over 25 mph is exceedingly rare. So yeah, it's a storm.
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We're also experiencing a storm at the moment, powerful enough to either blow us all to California, or you to Yorkshire, it seems.
Duh. I read your tirade about car and my brain didn't updated input to notice the announcement was about carts.
Still, who the heck puts a wallet in a cart?!
I don't even do that with a bag when I have one with me while shopping...
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"If you are going shopping, please do not leave your purse or wallet (...)"Shouldn't that be enough of a general advice?!
when I moved back to NY from PA many many many many years ago, I got something stolen from my bag on my bike and that reminded me I was back in NY.
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This is going to be a rant. It's not political, or anything earth-shattering, but it does have to do with my family, and it's really been bothering me. Mostly, I just need to vent. Again, in the grand scheme of things, not that important, but here it is:
When my grandparents died in the late 1980s, the cabin passed to my uncle (my mother's older brother), and he opened it up to everybody. My parents and I would go up there for a couple weeks every summer growing up, sometimes with my uncle there, sometimes with family friends, sometimes with both, other times with neither. It was a big part of my childhood and teen years. I stopped going when I was in my twenties (mostly for lack of money to make the trip from upstate New York), but I started spending time there again once I got into my thirties. It's a great spot-- quiet, lots of trees, away from neighbors, and there's a lot of nostalgia for me there.
Recently, though, my uncle decided to move out of the country. He'd been living in Madison (WI) and spending his summers at the cabin, but now he'll be gone most of the year. My parents, with my uncle's permission, decided to take the opportunity to make some "upgrades" to the place. And, by "upgrades," I mean gutting the place down to the studs, getting rid of all of my grandparents' furniture and keepsakes, and putting on a gigantic addition along with a two-car garage.
Construction just started this week. I wasn't consulted until after the plans were made, and when I angrily explained myself to my parents, they just told me that they knew I'd be angry, and that's why I wasn't included in the decision. I know it's not my house, but it's not technically theirs either, and I use it just as much as they do. I always looked forward to spending time there when it was just a cabin in the woods, but now that it's being turned into some gigantic Baby Boomer pleasure palace, the prospect of spending time there looks less and less appealing.
I don't really know how to put it, but I just feel this huge sense of loss, like the history and my memories of the place are getting torn out by the roots. Bear in mind, my parents are in their sixties, my uncle is in his seventies, and I'm the only descendant of that entire side of the family, so more than likely the place is going to end up in my hands at some point. Maybe it's petty of me to think this way, but from my perspective, it feels like my parents just want to put their own stamp on it, younger generation be damned. "Enjoy what's left of your childhood memories, s~#&head."
I was looking forward to many years of enjoying the place as it was, maybe taking my own family there if I ever manage to start one. Now, it's just another piece of junk for my elderly parents to use and spend money on until they die, whereupon I'll probably just end up selling it and starting over.
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This is going to be a rant. It's not political, or anything earth-shattering, but it does have to do with my family, and it's really been bothering me. Mostly, I just need to vent. Again, in the grand scheme of things, not that important, but here it is:
** spoiler omitted **...
Ugh. So sorry. GothBard's grandparents had a similar place she visited in Strawberry just off Highway 50, but even worse than renovating, her grandparents sold it without a word to any of us. I would have bought it from them if they'd told us!. We just learned one day that it was gone, and now every time we drive through Strawberry we have a touch of sadness at what might have been.
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All the traces of our youths are erased step by step, as if they were never there. You look away and then its gone forever, without trace.
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All the traces of our youths are erased step by step, as if they were never there. You look away and then its gone forever, without trace.
GothBard's theory is that this is why we age.
As expected, the wind knocked our power out. Unexpectedly, it was back within 2 hours. I am all astonishment.
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I think this says more about our family than anyone needs to know.
GothBard was getting ready for her shower late last night when she heard a loud thunk against the bathroom window, then some scuttling and scraping. She put her glasses on and there was a rat, pressed against the window pane and nibbling at one of the lemons in our lemon tree. Of course, she squeed in delight and tried to get the kids to take a look. Impus Minor agreed that he was extremely cute, but Impus Major was in bed so GothBard took a video for him. She took her shower, and the little guy spent the entire time nomming away at the lemon.
In the morning, GothBard warned me that we needed to keep the window closed to avoid letting a rat into the house. I agreed, but not for the reasons she was thinking. She was worried about a rat infestation. I watched the Cranky Calico kill two rats over the summer while outside and on a harness. A rat trapped in her home territory where all the furniture is raised up just enough for her to be able to recover her toys.
I don't want to clean that mess up. And after being so cute, the family would be sad about that encounter.
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It will never not be funny that the race car driver is the one that is always late for work functions like safety meetings.
I've learned we're an incredibly safe company, which I already knew.
This is going to be a rant. It's not political, or anything earth-shattering, but it does have to do with my family, and it's really been bothering me. Mostly, I just need to vent. Again, in the grand scheme of things, not that important, but here it is:
** spoiler omitted **...
damn. that's infuriating.
recommend keeping the land, and then chopping the construction up for parts once "the coast is clear". or get some really good fire insurance . . . .
but i just think that keeping the location is the most important part: "these memories were made here, and now we can make more."
the terms "real estate" and "inheritance" might often be associated with exactly the same things, but the differing connotations are powerful.
So far it's an hour just spent on trailers.
Correction: an hour was spent on hooking up trailers.
We have now moved on to loading a trailer.
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Well, today is GothBard's Big Day: She has 5 interviews over the course of the day to determine her fit and fitness for the managerial position.
In terms of "fit", I doubt they'll get a better candidate. Over the years she's shown an amazing talent for getting groups to work together and communicate. If I were recommending a manager at Global Megacorporation, I wouldn't hesitate for a second in putting her forward.
Unfortunately, the job description lists "5 years' experience as a manager" as a requirement. She's never once even had "manager" in her title, and her longest stint managing people was about 8 months, though the entire reason she has this interview is that the hiring manager is from her former company and saw what she was able to do with her team in just that 8 months.
At least the process should be extremely accelerated from this point forward -- I expect an offer or a rejection by Friday.
Crossing my fingers!
I'm amused that I am greatly relieved that Impus Major took the "totaled" car to school this morning.
After yesterday's wind and rain storm, he wanted the weather-safe car. We hadn't had any inclement weather in 14 hours and none was predicted, but I let him take it anyway. The wind and rain just came back in a very nasty way. Thank goodness he took the car whose approach to high winds is, "Oh, is there wind? I'm too low to notice..."
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Well, today is GothBard's Big Day: She has 5 interviews over the course of the day to determine her fit and fitness for the managerial position.
In terms of "fit", I doubt they'll get a better candidate. Over the years she's shown an amazing talent for getting groups to work together and communicate. If I were recommending a manager at Global Megacorporation, I wouldn't hesitate for a second in putting her forward.
Unfortunately, the job description lists "5 years' experience as a manager" as a requirement. She's never once even had "manager" in her title, and her longest stint managing people was about 8 months, though the entire reason she has this interview is that the hiring manager is from her former company and saw what she was able to do with her team in just that 8 months.
At least the process should be extremely accelerated from this point forward -- I expect an offer or a rejection by Friday.
Crossing my fingers!
GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD GOTH BARD
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Well, pretty much exactly what I was hoping for out of the interview: She did quite well, but everyone kept talking about how "hardcore" the position is, and how "there's always something happening". So now she won't be disappointed if she doesn't get it because she's old enough not to need the high-stress lifestyle, but she set her pay demands high enough that if she does get it at least she'll feel she's earning the stress.
As I said, we'll know on Friday.
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When our newfie brought home an entire baby rabbit in her mouth it was adorable if scary. Since the thing fit entirely in her mouth, my sister thought she was getting a tennis ball or something out of her mouth and then IT MOVED.
Despite the screaming the bunny was set outside in the front lawn without harm.
It was much less adorable when she brought home half of an adult rabbit.
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When our newfie brought home an entire baby rabbit in her mouth it was adorable if scary. Since the thing fit entirely in her mouth, my sister thought she was getting a tennis ball or something out of her mouth and then IT MOVED.
Despite the screaming the bunny was set outside in the front lawn without harm.
It was much less adorable when she brought home half of an adult rabbit.
One of GothBard's most epic tales of cat horror was when she was house-sitting my parents' place while we were off backpacking, and the uber-stupid, uber-lazy tom brought in what she thought was a dead baby opossum. Then it twitched, and she didn't have the heart to kill it herself so she called a friend.
And the tom brought in a second baby opossum... and a third... and a fourth...
...and then they all showed GothBard what "playing possum" meant.
Apparently she and her friend took 90 minutes rounding up the horde of baby opossums running loose in the house, and the tom who brought them in did NOTHING to help. (He panicked the moment they moved and hid for the duration.)
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Sweet baby Jesus.
In the past 24 hours, my mother had to have her dog put down, the starter went out in her truck, and my sister Eve broke her foot. AGAIN.
If y'all could send some good juju in the direction of Maine, that would be appreciated.
I hate being so damned far away from them.
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Good vibes being broadcast across the Atlantic as I type - sorry for their troubles.