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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

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IF I got the MMR vaccine as a kid, it would ahve been the first generation of the shot and I understand from my pharmacist that version hasn't aged very well with regard to its efficacy over time, so I got a booster this week. A lot of people from hereabouts vacation in the Carolinas over Xmas/NYE/Spring Break, and there's apparently something of an outbreak in SC, and I don't need a case of the measles to start the new year.

Thanks, RFK, Jr. Idiot.
 
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ursus said:
Exactly the same. Behind the podium or at the little desk like I'm testifying at a senate hearing is the most comfortable place from which to speak and interact. After so many years of that environment it just feels right. You are in a space somewhere between instruction and conversation - I need the interaction of the group, but weirdly I need to feel a little in charge of it as well. That's when things flow the best for me.


I probably have some things I should talk to a professional about, but I'm not comfortable with the one on one. :)
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I'm the exact opposite. Sitting at a table, no worries. Behind a podium and I may freeze.
 
I have thoughts & here they are.

1766005453647.png


The young lad & I are on the same wavelength.
 
Holiday pot luck at work today.... I really cringe at eating food from other people's homes (most people) and nothing looked good.

There is also a young, very fresh/green project manager at work who will come in a chat and not take any hints about leaving. I have been in zoom meetings, plugged in with headphones on and told him I am in a meeting, and he doesnt clue in. Sort of like an oceanliner that needs to stop in the water, but takes 6 miles to slow down, he will finally leave. I have professionally just said, "Hey, have a great day, time to get to work" and it works well. It has gotten to the point where other staff come around to rescue eachother if seen talking to him. I went to the finance director's office and faked an urgent request to get him away from her...
 
zman said:
Holiday pot luck at work today.... I really cringe at eating food from other people's homes (most people) and nothing looked good.
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Well, if you ever come to our house, we will definitely cook for you. We both love to cook. We don't allow birds in the kitchen, unless it's a bird we are going to eat (chicken, turkey, etc.)
 
Gedunker said:
IF I got the MMR vaccine as a kid, it would ahve been the first generation of the shot and I understand from my pharmacist that version hasn't aged very well with regard to its efficacy over time, so I got a booster this week. A lot of people from hereabouts vacation in the Carolinas over Xmas/NYE/Spring Break, and there's apparently something of an outbreak in SC, and I don't need a case of the measles to start the new year.

Thanks, RFK, Jr. Idiot.
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Next time your doc orders labs ask for your titers to be checked. My titers for MMR are stupid high because I’ve had like 6 vaccinations. They kept changing the recommended dosing as I was growing up so I ended up with 3 as a little kid, 1 as a teenager, and then because I attended college as an adult I had to do a two shot series again 😆 If I get measles, mumps, or rubella I’m gonna sue everyone.

The countdown is on for Christmas. I’m taking off the 26th through the 1st. My youngest is going to Winter Camp between the 27th and 31st and the oldest and I will go straight to the airport after dropping her off for a girls trip to Nashville. Weds and Fri are my work from home days so I only have to be in office 3 more days this year.
 
I would like to thank @Planit, Mrs. Planit, and The Girl (who looked like she was maybe 1YO) for the tour of their newly remodeled, top-to-bottom, kitchen in their SoHo fifth floor walk-up. It was massive and it was to die-for beautiful. Must have cost a pretty penny.





Waking dreams are usually my most fun dreams, and I have no idea where they'll take me ... :D
 
Gedunker said:
Waking dreams are usually my most fun dreams, and I have no idea where they'll take me ... :D
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I (probably fortunately) don't remember my dreams upon waking up, beyond an occasional general sense of "well, that was f*cking weird."
 
My AM travel to work is usually 45 minutes and PM is usually closer to an hour with distance from the office at 34 miles. This goes from a mile of local street > a few miles of highway > several miles of interstate > 8 miles of highway > office. There are a total of 21 stoplights and I did not stop until I was at the 18th and 21st light. My map initially said I'd be at work at 6:53 and with making many of the lights, that time ended up being at 6:46. The fastest I have ever traveled to work - 35 minutes.
 
Gedunker said:
I would like to thank @Planit, Mrs. Planit, and The Girl (who looked like she was maybe 1YO) for the tour of their newly remodeled, top-to-bottom, kitchen in their SoHo fifth floor walk-up. It was massive and it was to die-for beautiful. Must have cost a pretty penny.





Waking dreams are usually my most fun dreams, and I have no idea where they'll take me ... :D
Click to expand...



You must have seen my zoom/teams background.

It was a project that took a little more time than expected, like most home renovations. The work was tedious, and Mrs. P is a perfectionist too. Remember that cabinet next to the Thermodor series refrigerator? That had to be changed out 3 times for various issues. I don't even want to discuss the 'tile episode' of month 7, but The Girl's choice was obliviously the best option.

I know we talked about all that when I was in your head, and yes it cost a pretty penny.
 
Boyer Mallo
SlaveToTheGrind said:
My AM travel to work is usually 45 minutes and PM is usually closer to an hour with distance from the office at 34 miles. This goes from a mile of local street > a few miles of highway > several miles of interstate > 8 miles of highway > office. There are a total of 21 stoplights and I did not stop until I was at the 18th and 21st light. My map initially said I'd be at work at 6:53 and with making many of the lights, that time ended up being at 6:46. The fastest I have ever traveled to work - 35 minutes.
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My AM Travel to work is usually 4 minutes, AM or PM with a distance to the office at about 600 Feet. This goes from my front porch -> 400ish ft of local sidewalk ->a couple feet of steps and two stories up the stairs to my lair.

Fastest I've fastwalked into work has been about 2 mins flat. WNY Winter weather is no object, I have my thermals, parka, ski goggles and warm scarves + crampons for my boots when it gets icy.

Didn't think I'd ever beat the commute I had from my parents' house -> former job at .5 mile drive/30 minute walk. I don't miss commuting into New York City as I did for school and previous jobs.
 
It should be illegal for a cop to follow you, turn for turn, for several miles. (I was not doing anything wrong so I didn't get stopped, but there should be a two-mile max.)

When I made the turn onto the street where City Hall is, he kept going. Whew.
 
The Terminator said:
Boyer Mallo

My AM Travel to work is usually 4 minutes, AM or PM with a distance to the office at about 600 Feet. This goes from my front porch -> 400ish ft of local sidewalk ->a couple feet of steps and two stories up the stairs to my lair.

Fastest I've fastwalked into work has been about 2 mins flat. WNY Winter weather is no object, I have my thermals, parka, ski goggles and warm scarves + crampons for my boots when it gets icy.

Didn't think I'd ever beat the commute I had from my parents' house -> former job at .5 mile drive/30 minute walk. I don't miss commuting into New York City as I did for school and previous jobs.
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I wish I was that close. Would enjoy walking. My closest was 3 miles for less than a year and furthest 50 miles for two years.
 
I met a buddy of mine for lunch today at a deli we like to go to on occasion and I ordered the corned beef hash like I always do. I think they gave me about 2 pounds of corned beef with maybe a quarter cup of hash browns mixed in. Normally I would love all that corned beef but it was a bit much today. My buddy ordered half a corned beef sandwich and half a pastrami sandwich and it was absolutely massive today.

Usually the place is pretty busy at lunch but it was sort of dead today. Maybe the folks in the kitchen just had a ton of food they had to use up...
 
Commutes over the years/jobs:
3.8 miles
3.2 miles
3.3 miles/18.5 miles*
10.2 miles/150 feet/1.1 miles*
57.1 miles
19.7 miles
3.7 miles



*we moved
 
Gotta love the Major Package Service That Drives Brown Trucks That Don’t Turn Left. Won’t say its name, but:

Got a text this morning stating that they tried to deliver two parcels to our house at 4:46 pm, but we weren’t home so we have to come to their station to get them.

Except:

  • My wife was home at that time, and
  • The driveway video shows a brown truck coming to the end of our driveway, then sitting there for two minutes and driving off, but
  • The front path video shows nobody coming to the door.


So they drove the truck all the way to the end of our driveway, but didn’t go the last fifty feet.
 
Lunch with my son today (electrician apprentice working nearby) and we hit the local pizza joint. Single door, and probably 65 degrees inside. They really need the second door option/vestibule to create that buffer between outside and inside. I imagine their heating bill is sky high. Perhaps those pesky zoning ordinances prevent such addition.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Lunch with my son today (electrician apprentice working nearby) and we hit the local pizza joint. Single door, and probably 65 degrees inside. They really need the second door option/vestibule to create that buffer between outside and inside. I imagine their heating bill is sky high. Perhaps those pesky zoning ordinances prevent such addition.
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I took my oldest to her dentist appointment today and the dentist is in a little medical/professional plaza where every building has its own door to the outside. The dentist office is set up so there is no buffer, like your pizza joint. As I sat there I could feel a gust of cold outside air sweeping right into the waiting area each time somebody opened the door from the outside. :cold:
 
WTH... I just got an e-mail regarding our personal Microsoft 365 subscription and that the cost will increase by 42%.

Time to look for an alternative that works on Mac
 
michaelskis said:
WTH... I just got an e-mail regarding our personal Microsoft 365 subscription and that the cost will increase by 42%.

Time to look for an alternative that works on Mac
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AI development is expensive, Bro. :) The only good thing computers ever brought me.......was all of you. sniff

God bless us, everyone! (disclaimer, I am neither Tiny nor Tim).
 
ursus said:
AI development is expensive, Bro. :) The only good thing computers ever brought me.......was all of you. sniff

God bless us, everyone! (disclaimer, I am neither Tiny nor Tim).
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There are lots of open source alternatives . . . OpenOffice and AbiWord come to mind.
 
The joy of holiday travel - flight delayed, & had to rebook my connecting flight.
Have a 3 hr lay over in DFW - plenty of time for a good walk & dinner
Rebooking resulted in getting middle seat, is that a good or bad thing ?
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
I wish I was that close. Would enjoy walking. My closest was 3 miles for less than a year and furthest 50 miles for two years.
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I live 2 miles from work and there is a greenway for nearly half of that. But I never walk because my role requires me to have multiple meetings outside of City Hall all over the region and I get a vehicle stipend to use my personal vehicle. The other factor is I go to the gym everyday before work. That is 4.6 miles away from my house and 2.6 miles from work.
 
It is the week of parties. Police Department was Tuesday evening. Today is all employee Christmas luncheon. Yours truly has an epic Yukon Cornelius costume so I'll be winning the costume contest for sure. Haha. Then tonight is the Fire Department party which is a formal event. (I think they just want a reason to wear their Class A uniforms). Then tomorrow night I'm hosting the entire leadership team at my house. Shrimp and grits, steamed oysters and lots of other goodies.
 
michaelskis said:
WTH... I just got an e-mail regarding our personal Microsoft 365 subscription and that the cost will increase by 42%.

Time to look for an alternative that works on Mac
Click to expand...
I use google docs for most of my personal stuff. I paid for Microsoft 365 for a while but my daughters were using google docs for school stuff on their Chromebooks when they were in school so it was going largely unused. My personal stuff is limited to occasional letters, resume maintenance, and various spreadsheets for tracking information. Nothing fancy.

I might go back to it if co-pilot offers features that I need and can't get with my ChatGPT subscription. Right now that's not the case.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I took my oldest to her dentist appointment today and the dentist is in a little medical/professional plaza where every building has its own door to the outside. The dentist office is set up so there is no buffer, like your pizza joint. As I sat there I could feel a gust of cold outside air sweeping right into the waiting area each time somebody opened the door from the outside. :cold:
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I was talking to the owner of the Kwick Stop in the village where my office one day- going over all of the efficiency improvements he made to his coolers and I made a comment about the inefficiency of the no-vestibule door to the store with about a 1/2' gap all around it and he looked me dead in the eye and said:

"If I'm doing things right, that door is swingin' all day long."

Point taken.
 
zman said:
Holiday pot luck at work today.... I really cringe at eating food from other people's homes (most people) and nothing looked good.

There is also a young, very fresh/green project manager at work who will come in a chat and not take any hints about leaving. I have been in zoom meetings, plugged in with headphones on and told him I am in a meeting, and he doesnt clue in. Sort of like an oceanliner that needs to stop in the water, but takes 6 miles to slow down, he will finally leave. I have professionally just said, "Hey, have a great day, time to get to work" and it works well. It has gotten to the point where other staff come around to rescue eachother if seen talking to him. I went to the finance director's office and faked an urgent request to get him away from her...
Click to expand...
We had someone like that. We would start calling the person or stop by and remind them of that meeting they have. We gave them 10 minutes to talk before we started the Emergency Relief Help Line.
Planit said:
I thought we had a strong border that doesn't allow illegal aliens int the country?
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Actually why many in Arizona don't want a border wall. Jaguars are sacred animals and all that.
Planit said:
Commutes over the years/jobs:
3.8 miles
3.2 miles
3.3 miles/18.5 miles*
10.2 miles/150 feet/1.1 miles*
57.1 miles
19.7 miles
3.7 miles



*we moved
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Current commute, 18.5 miles. Pretty normal around here.
 
MD Planner said:
It is the week of parties. Police Department was Tuesday evening. Today is all employee Christmas luncheon. Yours truly has an epic Yukon Cornelius costume so I'll be winning the costume contest for sure. Haha. Then tonight is the Fire Department party which is a formal event. (I think they just want a reason to wear their Class A uniforms). Then tomorrow night I'm hosting the entire leadership team at my house. Shrimp and grits, steamed oysters and lots of other goodies.
Click to expand...


No measles outbreak near you is there?
 
Planit said:
Commutes over the years/jobs:
3.8 miles
3.2 miles
3.3 miles/18.5 miles*
10.2 miles/150 feet/1.1 miles*
57.1 miles
19.7 miles
3.7 miles



*we moved
Click to expand...
12 miles - intern
6 miles - first FT
3 miles/16 miles - second FT
50 miles - third FT
81 miles/18 miles - fourth FT stayed with in-laws during week
30 miles - fifth FT
40 miles/34 miles - sixth FT (2x week) changed office locations
 
michaelskis said:
WTH... I just got an e-mail regarding our personal Microsoft 365 subscription and that the cost will increase by 42%.

Time to look for an alternative that works on Mac
Click to expand...

Big Owl said:
I use google docs for most of my personal stuff. I paid for Microsoft 365 for a while but my daughters were using google docs for school stuff on their Chromebooks when they were in school so it was going largely unused. My personal stuff is limited to occasional letters, resume maintenance, and various spreadsheets for tracking information. Nothing fancy.

I might go back to it if co-pilot offers features that I need and can't get with my ChatGPT subscription. Right now that's not the case.
Click to expand...

We use the free Google stuff on our home computer and it works great - much better than what I remember from when I used their apps years when they were first introduced. Bonus points for the fact that our kids both have Chromebooks issued from the school district and they are very limited as to what software and apps they can use so if our daughter wants to use our more capable personal laptop she can easily and quickly move the Google files over to her Chromebook.

I have access to Microsoft365 on our home computer through my employer but I've only ever bothered with it one time.
 
My father died on this day in 2016. This is the first year I've actually made it to my desk on the anniversary.

I think it's because my circumstances have changed a lot, my mom is remarried and has sold our childhood house, and it's been several years.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I don't think I've ever been taller than a refrigerator. :disappointed"
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And I was 15 when that photo was taken. I still had about 1.5 years of growing yet to get to my final 6'-1".

Itll Be Ok Joe Biden GIF by The Democrats


Also that is a mammy on the wall in the background of the picture. :astonished:

To be clear...this was my parents' house...I just lived there.

meme_collar tug.jpg


;)
 
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