Green Eyed Monster
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Posts posted by Green Eyed Monster
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1 minute ago, Cyradis said:
The bearded dragon has decided that rampaging for bugs is awesome. Fly, bee, or wasp out the window? FRANTIC pawing at the window wanting to get it. Yesterday got to hunt bumblebees and ants outside... and I think that's all that's in lizard brain right now. "want bees"
Lizard should not have bees as a regular part of diet. Occasional, whatever. But in his mind, they must be the best thing ever.
Samantha our Desert Tortoise is currently obsessed with the deck outside our dining room. She can go out there and sun for half an hour and turn into "hot rod rock" when she comes back in, cruising at high speed all over the house. When the energy runs out she finds a spot to collapse, legs splayed, and she barely moves for the next 24 hours.
GEM
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He Did It!
Sir Richard Branson has been to the edge of space as the last test flight before commissioning for regular tourist trips of the Unity Spaceship.
Wife and I had the privilege of seeing the first test flight out of Mojave of Spaceship One and were there when it was announced that Branson was partnering with Scaled Composites [Dick Rutan's Company] to begin the venture which has reached its penultimate goal today.
GEM
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Sorry to hear about everyone having medical related difficulties.
Personally, I spent another night in Migraine Land with way too much time trying to call Ralph on the porcelain telephone.
Still have the queasy stomach and light sensitivity but the axe-in-the-forehead headache is starting to ease off.
GEM
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Had to run errands this morning.
Leaving the neighborhood I spotted what I thought were two turkey vultures dining on a rabbit.
When we got home I looked it up and it's about 99% positive for turkey vulture.
We have 3 wild horses in the local area on a regular basis, stallion and two mares, that we passed by on the way out, plus other small groups scattered all over the valley.
Errands successfully run, MAMA had her hair done, and the lady who runs the shop she went to is from the same town in California [Antioch]. That makes two people from Antioch that we know of who also live in our area of Nevada.
Temps are supposed to remain in the triple digit range for the foreseeable future. Guy is supposed to check out our AC unit this afternoon. Brand new system and it's giving every indication of being low on charge as the unit is icing up.
Everybody stay safe and enjoy the weekend.
GEM
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1 hour ago, kristof65 said:
That is company policy. Well, English and French, since the company is Canadian, and has customers in Quebec.
Interesting observation about the 'ritual' aspect. I need to bring that up to engineering, since it likely applies to more than our non-english speaking customers.I've observed the "invocation of the ritual" among those without a solid grounding in technical subjects for several decades.
The technical device does its "magic" only when "the ritual" is correctly performed. Deviate from the learned ritual by even an iota and it all breaks down. Small changes in the system require the "learning" of a new "spell", just changing the "old spell" to fit the new circumstances is outside of the realm of their comprehension.
It's the basic dichotomy between the technically conversant and the non-technical mentalities. While a person with technical competencies in one are can usually pick up concepts and procedures in other technical subjects relatively quickly, for the non-technical mind, especially the ones for whom technologies are indistinguishable from magic, it's like the difference between fire magic and earth magic. Different subject so it requires learning from the ground up.
It's one of {Arthur C.] Clarke's Laws in real world application.
GEM
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25 minutes ago, kristof65 said:
Same here. Today feels like Tuesday to me.
I've been dealing with a fun one the last couple of weeks.
Almost two years ago, the distributor upgraded the software at a site that was originally built back in 1999, but had had a few upgrades since then. In this particular upgrade, a change was made to the way certain reports balances are calculated, to make running them more intuitive and useful. To get the full benefit of this change, a few new settings have to be properly set.
About three months ago, the site brings to our attention that they're having problems with these reports, and I realize the settings never got properly set. I fix everything, and think that's the end of it.
NOPE.
About two weeks ago, the distributor starts passing on messages to me from the site - according to them, the balances are still never right, and they're worse since I made the setting changes. According to all my data, the balances are just fine.
Turns out there are two separate issues here. One is that the site is trying to do things the old, difficult, unintuitive way which requires doing multiple steps before running the report, and another step afterwards, instead of the new way, which is to just run the report. The second issue is that the site person running these reports barely speaks english, and I don't speak their language at all. The distributor tech does speak a little bit of their language, so he's been operating as an interpreter, but getting the point across that things were made simpler has been difficult to do.
Never has "No, we made it easier" been so hard to get across.Sounds like this is an opportunity to write/initiate a new policy: All support services are provided in English. It is the responsibility of the site owner/operator to provide for any translation services for non-english literate personnel.
Note that I specified literate, not just a rudimentary ability to communicate in english.
If you are dealing with the sort of situation I suspect, the mind of the barely able to communicate person has "technology" in the same mental box as "magic" so any change in the "ritual" that invokes the report requires the learning of a new "spell".
Good Luck.
GEM
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4 minutes ago, kristof65 said:
Rough day today.
Eldest left for boot camp - lots of tears at the airport.He'll do just fine.
I know this doesn't make the separation anxiety any less difficult but we're all here for you, and cheering for your son.
He's going to have many "interesting" experiences over the next few weeks, sort of like living an RPG Adventure where the dice will hardly ever give you a "good roll". But he will get through it and he will be a better person for it.
GEM
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12 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:
I used to have a recipe for fruit salad that required a fifth of vodka...
Perhaps something similar to this?
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/274209/boozy-fruit-salad/
GEM
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Sorta toasty around here.
Temps were supposed to top out at 102 F.
House is holding at 79 F, with no awnings or trees to provide a shade/sunbreak.
Once we get a few trees planted things should be very comfortable inside, no matter what the temps outside.
Just set up trash service, which means we are completely up and running in the new digs. Now for the mountain of boxes to be unpacked and furniture to be placed in its initial final position.
Next task is preparing an inventory of the stuff that was stolen. The loss of my best airbrush and two Dremel tools hurts but not as much as loosing my Think Geek Con Bag with the Reaper Logo Velcro patch on the side, several sets of Kickstarter dice in an embroidered bag, and the rolls of silver quarters and dimes that were in the bottom of the bag.
GEM
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On 7/4/2021 at 2:55 PM, Cyradis said:
As you have mentioned before, Reaper needs a Communications Manager. I do think they've improved since Bones IV, but there are aspects that are still lacking and all of it would be easier for everyone if they had a dedicated Communications employee.
2020 can go blow chunks.
Brian left shortly after I stumbled into this little sanctuary on the Internet.
From my perspective, his shoes have never been adequately filled.
GEM
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2 hours ago, haldir said:
I almost did that.
On a 550cc Yamaha. Engine started making "noises" that got rapidly louder until the final [and expensive] noise was the sound of a connecting rod breaking and sending pieces through the engine casing. Hot oil immediately was ejected and landed on the exhaust pipes, catching fire and putting me in the position of riding a very broke bike at 70 mph on a busy freeway with a fire burning in the "engine room". By maintaining a cool head I was able to disengage the clutch at the first noise and got the bike into neutral and headed for the side of the road. Fortunately, the fire went out from the wind blast and I was able to coast the rest of the way to the ramp, exit the freeway and make it to the parking lot of a handily nearby Pilot.
Unless you are actually Ghost Rider I don't recommend the experience, and you can add this anecdote to why a full set of leathers should be the standard riding ensemble for anyone who sallies forth on two wheels. This is just one of a number of "interesting" encounters I have had involving fire in a lifetime of adventures.
Hope you are all recovering from the 4th of July festivities. We're planning to have leftover barbecue and I'm starting to shove boxes around in my office, trying to impose order on the chaos of everything landing where it could find an open space during the move in process.
GEM
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We had BBQ.
Wife had pulled pork and I had pulled pork plus St Louis Style Ribs [beef].
We both brought boxes of deliciousness home, for later consumption.
We were both comfortably full when we left the restaurant.
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Surprise of the year! Somebody picked up our dinner check.
Only reason I can figure is because wife and were wearing matching shirts, USA Flag with an eagle superimposed.
I'm liking our new area more and more every passing day.
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Can you believe Joey Chestnut? The already World Champion Hot Dog Eater once again won the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and broke his own record by downing 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.
GEM
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A Happy Fourth of July to you all!
Whether or not you celebrate it locally as a recognized holiday, it is a date that is noteworthy, if not downright earth shaking.
And Now - - - The Quest for Barbecue will commence.
We're going to the Famous Dave's in Reno.
GEM
Hoping you all have unsinged digits when we get back.
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1 hour ago, Glitterwolf said:
Wishing you strength, always a tough time.
Good to hear someone finally takes action.
Hope you'll feel well again soon.
Thanks.
I'm slowly recuperating. Told my wife not to expect me to do much of anything for the next week. My "big project" for yesterday was moving the desk I intend to use for hobbying from the family room where everything got packed and stacked by the movers into my office and positioned under the north facing windows.
Big project for today is going to be to drive to Reno and investigate a well recommended BBQ joint.
It seems that the troubleshooter for Craftsman Homes has fixed the problems with the water heater and the leaking kitchen sink faucet. He replaced the entire faucet assembly and installed a different stack on the water heater. We'll know for sure if the water heater is actually fixed the next "Washoe Zephyr" that blows through.
My complaint with the builder is that they don't seem to understand the concept of quality control procedures and how to eliminate the customer from seeing most of these factory slip ups from being seen when the buyer accepts delivery and does the walk through. Unfortunately, it's a sellers market and they've had it all their way for too many years.
They are actually costing themselves money by having to have a crew of people running all over Northern Nevada just to take care of these problems as the customer discovers them. Talking to the guys who actually do the work, many of these problems are known defects from the factory, problems that if put on a check list and if inspected during the setup work could be dealt with while a crew is already on site.
Maybe I don't see things from the right perspective but my many years in business for myself ingrained in me the necessity for certain procedures to minimize extra work, catch problems early while they are more easily managed, and to try to anticipate fumbles that are inevitable when dealing with equipment subject to abuse by the public.
GEM
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1 hour ago, Mad Jack said:
Been relaxing all day.
Haven't left the house yet and it's 9 PM. Completely out of clean clothes, and no food in the house.
Send help. Or cheeseburgers.
I'd send you a fresh baked pizza but the matter transporter isn't up and running yet.
Broccoli, the built in microwave isn't even working yet.
GEM
Yes we had pizza for dinner - and it was pronounced good.
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4 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:
Been relaxing all day.
Haven't left the house yet and it's 9 PM. Completely out of clean clothes, and no food in the house.
Send help. Or cheeseburgers.
You want fries with that?
GEM
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2 hours ago, Corsair said:
we need this for @Hollymonster!
Dedicated to Mr Benz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jOMcAlO7rQ
Jerry Reed is always worth a listen.
To my delight, the following selection that came up is the absolute distilled best of 60s Country Music, now aged to vintage perfection.
GEM
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Today I am a physical wreck from the abuse I subjected my body to.
On top of that, we've been having trouble with the pilot light on the water heater going out and when I tried to relight it [again] this morning the thing decided to blow back on my face. Very much an unhappy camper about that happening and I was immediately on the phone with Craftsman Homes about this latest problem. Was told the woman who is supposed to handle these situations was out of the office and the Sales Manager would be calling me soonest.
When he called he asked how I was and I told him I was a most unhappy customer and then explained the situation. He said he would have a man here by 1:30 to install a wind cap on the vent stack as that sounded like it was the cause of the problem. Guy is here, he also took a look at the leaking kitchen sink faucet, which has been turned off for over two weeks while "waiting for parts". He says he will be taking the leaking faucet off, going to Home Depot and obtaining a replacement and installing that later today. FINALLY, somebody with some common sense who actually understands what Customer Service actually means.
Going to have to take another round of pain meds just so I can manage a trip to the credit union and the grocery store.
I have determined that I am officially Too Old to subject my body to the sort of abuse it had to endure the last half or June.
On a slightly happier note, AC here is working a treat, the heavier insulation in the walls and roof mean it isn't running more than 20 minutes an hour with outside temps in the high 90s, and electricity is much more affordable through Nevada Energy than the mercenary blood suckers at SoCal Edison.
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4 hours ago, Corsair said:
OR - - - The Duct Tape is all gone?
Why is the Duct Tape All Gone?????
GEM
3 hours ago, Inarah said:Anyone know off hand how long it takes poison ivy to start showing after you touch it? Asking... for a friend....
5 to 21 days for a quick brush, as soon as 12 to 24 hours for prolonged contact.
Your, friend, might want to give Angostura Bitters a try as an analgesic. It works well fro insect bites and might have a similar effect for poison ivy.
Your mileage may vary, consult your physician.
GEM
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5 hours ago, Marvin said:
In much less sad news, the f(ns)lgs I frequent is moving to a new, larger location! They'll be on the side of town closer to me, which will be awesome if we ever start playing in-person again; but this does put them farther from the college, so I don't know if that will be a downside or not. Kinda get the feeling nobody was walking to the store as it was, but I dunno. This is a better retail location for sure; it's right on the strip in front of Wal*Mart with all sorts of other shopping outlets and across the street from the Mal.
Which means there is probably bus service from the campus. Hopefully it runs at times that will be beneficial for gaming.
Sorry to read about your furry companion. My condolences.
GEM
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I'm back home now.
All of our worldly possessions [except the one storage unit full of mostly my tools] {I have a lot of tools, having been the recipient of 3 generations of tool using peoples accumulated "stuff", plus an entire sea chest of a ships carpenters working tools [early 1900s when a lot of stuff still required the services of a skilled carpenter] from one of my wife's relatives}.
Beyond exhausted as I had to do all the sorting out from the break in, where they broke stuff and jumbled things together just because they could, packing it all up and then giving the entire place a thorough "field day" of cleaning and polishing.
Going to take me a few days to get things unloaded as I'm starting to feel the full effects of too many days in a row of depending on Red Bull and Tramadol to power through a younger mans job. Getting old, frankly, sucks. But I guess it beats the alternative.
Don't actually know how many pages of hi-jinks and contretemps I have to get caught up on, but it will be fun.
GEM
You ~did~ all play nice, right? Right??
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Off in a few minutes for what will hopefully be the last load from Victorville, except for the storage unit which is going to have to wait till we get things squared away here in Stagecoach.
Y'all play nice, please?
GEM
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Spectrum has given us a "courtesy call" to let us know their cable burial crew will be out tomorrow.
I hope that our monthly propane delivery happens next week instead of while the Spectrum crew is here, as they have to cross the cable route to get to our propane tank and they only schedule regular deliveries once a month for our area.
Such are the joys of setting up an entirely new residence in "the country".
GEM
Who managed to get all the petrified wood unloaded without my legs folding up.
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Never try to argue with a Dinosaur.
Our tortoise Samantha decided she wanted to get into the corner right next to where "Dusty" the oversized hockey puck in charge of sweeping the carpets and floors was unceremoniously bulldozed out of the way and its charging pad turned sideways so it couldn't get properly docked on its parking spot.
I ended up moving the docking station about a foot to the right of its normal position and Dusty then managed to get properly docked.
15 minutes later Samantha decided she wanted to go someplace else.
I've got one more trip to Cali. to have the house completely emptied out. 3 Wardrobe Boxes and my petrified wood collection, the outside part, where the pieces are each between 5 and 25 pounds each. still have to come off the trailer
GEM
1 minute ago, Green Eyed Monster said:I'm so tired I can't even edit a typo correctly.
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Randomness XVIII: Ex-Vee-Triple-Eye
in Off-Topic Rampancy
Posted
We're here, and with our worldwide participants [and some insomniacs] we're open 24 hours a day.
GEM