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An application for Vehicle Registration XXXXXXX is in progress as of March 26, 2024.
Your registration has not yet been mailed. No further action is required.[\QUOTE]
WOOOOOOOOOO!!!! The Celica is BACK, baby!CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA CELICA
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My favorite part is that I'm still upgrading the interior -- I'm replacing all the speakers and the stereo, fixing all the loose clips, etc. To replace rear speakers you need to pull out the back seat, so yesterday Impus Minor went out to take it and he asked, "Dad, is this driveable?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"There's no back seat!"
"So don't take more than one passenger!"
"Um, OK."
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My favorite part is that I'm still upgrading the interior -- I'm replacing all the speakers and the stereo, fixing all the loose clips, etc. To replace rear speakers you need to pull out the back seat, so yesterday Impus Minor went out to take it and he asked, "Dad, is this driveable?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"There's no back seat!"
"So don't take more than one passenger!"
"Um, OK."
i don't see how thats not room for more passengers.
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i don't see how thats not room for more passengers.My favorite part is that I'm still upgrading the interior -- I'm replacing all the speakers and the stereo, fixing all the loose clips, etc. To replace rear speakers you need to pull out the back seat, so yesterday Impus Minor went out to take it and he asked, "Dad, is this driveable?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"There's no back seat!"
"So don't take more than one passenger!"
"Um, OK."
OMG, this morning we were all howling over a mental image: One of the kids' friends who carpools with them is an absolute stoic: His existence is sitting there, still and silent, looking disapproving.
So I told the kids to imagine him rattling around in the back of the Celica like a loose bottle of wine, scowling disapprovingly the entire time.
They (and GothBard) completely lost it.
In other news, being a busybody state, California is one of the few states I know of where the highway patrol can and will pull you over if they see anyone in your car not wearing a seatbelt.
I'd be more uppity about it, but we're a major agricultural state and we lose dozens (if not hundreds) of agricultural workers a year to driving in the wee hours of the morning in an overloaded van with nobody wearing seatbelts, so in this case the state kind of has a point.
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Kansas (also known as "Wait, you have stuff that isn't agricultural?") does, too. There's a big push to reduce traffic-related deaths; "Click it or ticket" has been a campaign for years. Student council here has been doing a big SAFE (Seatbelts Are For Everyone) initiative as well, so I imagine other schools have similar.
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In other news, I get to navigate the fun-filled world of overnight school trips. Four of my forensics kiddos qualified for state championships this season.
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In other news, I get to navigate the fun-filled world of overnight school trips. Four of my forensics kiddos qualified for state championships this season.
That sounds suspicious.
The work season is only 4 weeks in and I've already worked longer than Pako twice.
Which I did all of last year. And no one else has been able to accomplish.
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In other news, I get to navigate the fun-filled world of overnight school trips. Four of my forensics kiddos qualified for state championships this season.
Everyone try to commit one staged murder and solve the other 3?
My favorite part is that I'm still upgrading the interior -- I'm replacing all the speakers and the stereo, fixing all the loose clips, etc. To replace rear speakers you need to pull out the back seat, so yesterday Impus Minor went out to take it and he asked, "Dad, is this driveable?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"There's no back seat!"
"So don't take more than one passenger!"
"Um, OK."
This reminds me of my high school friend’s first car. A VW Karmann Gia. He had short legged, folding lawn chairs as the front seats. They moved around a bit.
I remember travelling around rural Devon in the back of a 70s Citroen 2CV. No seatbelts, of course - qu'est que c'est? - and the seat itself was a vinyl-covered plank over the mostly suspension free back wheels. Now I know how it feels to be a pinball.
In other news, Mrs. Longears and I went to see Thundercat last night. A pretty extraordinary performance (just keyboards, bass, and drums, too) but the number of ratty mullet and moustache combos sported by some of The Youths in the audience was rather concerning.
You haven't lived until you have to ride in the hatchback of a Ford Pinto or AMC Gremlin.
Just saying.
Stuffed in the back of a prius
car rocks dangerously to the side
"Oh my god did we hit something?"
"...Nope sorry.. just moving my leg...
Ugh. I hoped that the mission I have started on Watch Dogs 2 will be the last one, but apparently there are four more...
NobodysHome, if you hear about an young Afro-American male rampaging across the Bay area, don't worry. I'll try to finish before the end of the month.
I am pushing through but this game is really tedious in some aspects...
Huh. Vaulting/climbing stopped working. How I am supposed to go anywhere without vaulting/climbing?
I am pushing through but this game is really tedious in some aspects...Ugh. I hoped that the mission I have started on Watch Dogs 2 will be the last one, but apparently there are four more...
NobodysHome, if you hear about an young Afro-American male rampaging across the Bay area, don't worry. I'll try to finish before the end of the month.
Resquiat en pace.
Yay! Starting the final mission!
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And finished. The final mission was actually fun. Nothing exceptional, but still fun.
Uh? I haven't played Odyssey since May 2022?! Weird, I thought I peeked for a moment or two last year...
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Whatever wrong happens in the Bay Area, it's not my fault anymore!
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i have just completed the first post-mole-hunting-spree "trench run" of the year. analysis: less Death Star, more Verdun 1916.
NOTE: yes, it's terrible humor. there's no comparison.
BACKGROUND: the dog i fostered from Aug - Dec of last year needed outdoor activity on a regular basis, so i let him play in the yard as long as he liked. he didn't hit his stride, so to speak, until October. the result? about 40% of a 1-acre lot has been terraformed into an aerial-view map of the mole and armadillo holes/tunnels created during the residence of my late grandfather, who left the gates open, always.
i can only hope that Jed, *my* dog, who served as understudy to the aforementioned mole-hunter during that devastating two weeks, has "forgotten" those old lessons.
i'll probably be two inches shorter by the end of mowing season.
And finished. The final mission was actually fun. Nothing exceptional, but still fun.
But did you play the SPECIAL mission?
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And finished. The final mission was actually fun. Nothing exceptional, but still fun.But did you play the SPECIAL mission?
That depends on what was special about it?
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Fantasy NPC: Honorable Belzaine, The Pale Squire.
Not-a-vampire.
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OK. I have to admit, I never thought of that angle before. GothBard was talking about taking the Celica to Fourth Street, which has its share of property crime and "bipping" (shattering a window to quickly grab anything visible in a car). As she put it, she felt totally safe parking the Celica. "Aw, man! This car is so messed up! Someone got to it first and they even stole the seats!"
Yep. In its current state we could probably park it safely almost anywhere around here...
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Remember when (if you're old enough) you saw an unhelmeted dude riding his unmuffled motorcycle down your street and you thought, "What a rebel! I bet he's tough as nails!"
These days I see these guys and I think, "What a pathetic a*****!"
This morning such a guy rode by at about 7:50 in the morning (yes, Easter morning) and the reverberations from his bike set off at least two car alarms in two blocks.
Jerk.
Remember when (if you're old enough) you saw an unhelmeted dude riding his unmuffled motorcycle down your street and you thought, "What a rebel! I bet he's tough as nails!"
These days I see these guys and I think, "What a pathetic a*****!"
This morning such a guy rode by at about 7:50 in the morning (yes, Easter morning) and the reverberations from his bike set off at least two car alarms in two blocks.
Jerk.
When you grow up in the Midwest you're pretty much born desensitized to loud motorcycles and you never pay them any mind.
Fantasy NPC: Honorable Belzaine, The Pale Squire.
Not-a-vampire.
I really really really like this!!!
That depends on what was special about it?And finished. The final mission was actually fun. Nothing exceptional, but still fun.But did you play the SPECIAL mission?
My Suzuki has lawful good pipes. It’s nice and quiet.
Harleys with stock exhaust have chaotic good pipes. They sound like freedom.
Bikes with over loud exhaust are chaotic neutral. My coworker had a Suzuki cruiser style bike with obnoxious loud exhaust. I was like: “Dude, what’s wrong with you?”
A fairly long list of things, but we won’t get into that.
The really annoying ones are the little scrambler bikes that young lads ride around on.
The special one, BrotherThat depends on what was special about it?And finished. The final mission was actually fun. Nothing exceptional, but still fun.But did you play the SPECIAL mission?
That's from Watch Dogs 1, which I have finished long ago.
I don't really remember that one, but I think I got the Destroyer for completing all 10 Criminal Convoys.
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I really really really like this!!!Fantasy NPC: Honorable Belzaine, The Pale Squire.
Not-a-vampire.
My first idea was making some kind of weird vampire, but then it evolved into a construct that looks like a vampire, and then a backstory of being vampire's body double grew from that.
The special one, BrotherThat depends on what was special about it?And finished. The final mission was actually fun. Nothing exceptional, but still fun.But did you play the SPECIAL mission?That's from Watch Dogs 1, which I have finished long ago.
I don't really remember that one, but I think I got the Destroyer for completing all 10 Criminal Convoys.
Ah I thought it was watch dogs 2. Never mind.
Still it blew my mind that these games take place in the same universe.
I'm looking at the AT&T breach, and the thing that screams at me more than anything else in the entire article is the fact that a telecommunications company was storing people's Social Security numbers.
My EVP would've fired their entire team of devs before that software ever saw the light of production.
=====
I’m so behind on my video gaming. Still playing Skyrim. I have it on Xbox 360, but the game kept freezing up, once I got to 30th level or so. I ended up quitting in frustration. Got Diablo III and played that instead.
Then I got a PS4 and have completed the major quests, but there’s still a lot of mopping up to do.
The utility that I work for had people’s SSN on the work order to start service, when I started here. That’s been discontinued for years though. It was a paper work order that was faxed over.
We still use the fax for orders. They are talking about tablets, but cell service is spotty so it will probably be worse.
Returning to Odyssey after finishing Syndicate feels weird... Where's my grappling hook?!
The utility that I work for had people’s SSN on the work order to start service, when I started here. That’s been discontinued for years though. It was a paper work order that was faxed over.
We still use the fax for orders. They are talking about tablets, but cell service is spotty so it will probably be worse.
I don't know whether it's a West Coast thing, a California thing, a "tech-savvy" Bay Area thing, or a "my parents were paranoid before being paranoid was cool" thing, but if a utility company asked us for our SSNs to verify service, we'd've said, "No. Use something else."
I heard my parents do it at least twice, and I know I did it at least once, and it's surprising how much the companies are taken aback when you're unwilling to give them a number they have no business knowing.
The utility that I work for had people’s SSN on the work order to start service, when I started here. That’s been discontinued for years though. It was a paper work order that was faxed over.
We still use the fax for orders. They are talking about tablets, but cell service is spotty so it will probably be worse.I don't know whether it's a West Coast thing, a California thing, a "tech-savvy" Bay Area thing, or a "my parents were paranoid before being paranoid was cool" thing, but if a utility company asked us for our SSNs to verify service, we'd've said, "No. Use something else."
I heard my parents do it at least twice, and I know I did it at least once, and it's surprising how much the companies are taken aback when you're unwilling to give them a number they have no business knowing.
Well, they have my number too. Because I work there and pay taxes. I’m a customer as well . So, hopefully our IT department is at least marginally competent.
A welcome California rarity: My next step in refurbishing the Celica's interior is to (yet again) replace its motorized antenna. (Much like tire sensors, the thing breaks every 3-4 years.) However, since it involves a hole in the body of the car, I need a period of time where it's going to be warm and dry for a week.
It's April 1 and we still don't have such a week in the forecast: We have rain coming in on Thursday and Friday, if Wunderground is to be believed.
The utility that I work for had people’s SSN on the work order to start service, when I started here. That’s been discontinued for years though. It was a paper work order that was faxed over.
We still use the fax for orders. They are talking about tablets, but cell service is spotty so it will probably be worse.I don't know whether it's a West Coast thing, a California thing, a "tech-savvy" Bay Area thing, or a "my parents were paranoid before being paranoid was cool" thing, but if a utility company asked us for our SSNs to verify service, we'd've said, "No. Use something else."
I heard my parents do it at least twice, and I know I did it at least once, and it's surprising how much the companies are taken aback when you're unwilling to give them a number they have no business knowing.
Well, they have my number too. Because I work there and pay taxes. I’m a customer as well . So, hopefully our IT department is at least marginally competent.
As your employer, they have to adhere to strict data privacy laws and there are severe penalties for losing your data. As a customer, it used to be that they were allowed to post any information you voluntarily gave them; look at the old white pages where your full name, address, and phone number were posted, published, and distributed to everyone in your area, and you had to opt out. So they could legally have included your SSN in that public document since you provided it willingly.
Fortunately, laws have changed since then, but it's still a question of information you voluntarily provided as a customer, so as far as I know, AT&T will face no criminal nor civil penalties for this breach. Whereas if they'd lost their employee database, the feds'd be all over them and there'd be a massive class action suit from all the affected employees.
EDIT: OK, I should be working, but the research on this is fun. It wasn't until the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 made it illegal to "knowingly transfer, possess, or use without lawful authority," another person's means of identification "with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, or in connection with, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable state or local law."
But that means that even as of 1998, you had to post the SSN with criminal intent in order to be guilty of a crime. This is from a 2005 Congressional hearing where they were discussing strengthening the law and making it harder for companies to use SSNs as a de facto unique identifier for customers, but nothing seems to have come of it.
In fact, the most recent article I see says, "You can sue an individual for stealing your identity, or for the unauthorized use of your Social Security number (SSN). But before you can take them to court, they need to be caught and convicted of the crime."
In short, if you hand a company your SSN as a customer, there are no penalties to them if they accidentally lose it.
Another total change of topic: Do you prefer to get to the airport early so you don't have to stress, or are you an, "In an ideal world they'll call my row just as I arrive at the gate" person?
I was surprised because GothBard's on her first business trip for her new company today and she has me getting her to the airport remarkably early, but she says she finds it far less stressful to read a book or play mobile games at the gate than to worry about making it on time. Which is exactly like me, but I think everybody knew that about me already.
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....why would you want to risk being late?
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Bring a book.
Usually the cheap travel times are so off your odds are running from gate to gate or sleeping over in the station/terminal. Or missing your buss. Spending 4 hours in a station isn't the best idea but it beats spending 16 hours worrying you'll be stuck there for life.
I ran into in the NYC port authority central that either recognized me from a con or just could tell I was on my way to origins and was giving me a better route...
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I get everywhere early.
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Add me to the crowd patiently arriving early, book in hand. :)
I have a shameful backlog of books to read, always, so if I’m going anywhere for any meaningful length of time, I’ll probably have at least one in my bag to keep me entertained and out of trouble.
Also, one of my teachers is a living cautionary tale: my friends and I would see him fairly often racing frantically across campus to get wherever on time, and he’s managed to miss at least two flights in his life, that we know of, and for some of us it’s been hard to quash a censorious mental twitch of, You didn’t learn your lesson last time?
I can only imagine it must be nice to live comfortably enough that making alternate arrangements very quickly and presumably at obnoxious expense doesn't induce an aneurysm.