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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 19 (2024)

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jumbach said:
Tropicana in Las Vegas going "ka-boom" next week. The wife and I were among the last to set foot in it on its last day of operation back in April. Oddly, they were still giving out players' cards.

I really should frame my players card and cashout voucher and hang it in my office wall.
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I totally would.
 
Gedunker said:
You may wanna check the weather forecast ...
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It was rainy most of the drive down and for the first hour we were there but cleared up for the rest of the day after that until we were walking back to the car around 7:00 p.m. and then it started raining pretty good for the first 40 minutes of the drive home.



A couple notes from our trip to The Point:
  • I thought the threat of rain would keep a lot of people away but no such luck. There were still pretty good lines for a lot of the rides, but we still got to ride most everything we wanted to.
  • Our oldest (she's 14) loves roller coasters and will ride just about anything. Our youngest (she's 8) grumped the whole way down to Cedar Point because she "hates roller coasters and there's nothing else for [her] there." Shortly after we got there she went on a spinning ride ("Because it's not a coaster!") with her sister and had a blast. She did a few more small rides like that and then she saw the Woodstock Express kids coaster in Camp Snoopy and asked us to take her on it. After that she was hooked and wanted to go on the Gemini. She huffed and screamed the whole way down the first big hill but then immediately wanted to ride again. She ended up doing the Gemini (2x), the Mine Cars, and Iron Dragon (2x), and Wild Mouse. She wanted to ride the enormous Steel Vengeance but the line was an hour long by the time we got back there so we all agreed to skip it.
  • We ended up buying season passes that are good through next fall and after finding that the drive down was less than 2.5 hours my kids are already asking if we can go back before they shut down for this year.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Our youngest (she's 8) grumped the whole way down to Cedar Point because she "hates roller coasters and there's nothing else for [her] there.
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The Bumper Cars are my favorite at any amusement park. I would stay at them the entire time if I could.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
It was rainy most of the drive down and for the first hour we were there but cleared up for the rest of the day after that until we were walking back to the car around 7:00 p.m. and then it started raining pretty good for the first 40 minutes of the drive home.



A couple notes from our trip to The Point:
  • I thought the threat of rain would keep a lot of people away but no such luck. There were still pretty good lines for a lot of the rides, but we still got to ride most everything we wanted to.
  • Our oldest (she's 14) loves roller coasters and will ride just about anything. Our youngest (she's 8) grumped the whole way down to Cedar Point because she "hates roller coasters and there's nothing else for [her] there." Shortly after we got there she went on a spinning ride ("Because it's not a coaster!") with her sister and had a blast. She did a few more small rides like that and then she saw the Woodstock Express kids coaster in Camp Snoopy and asked us to take her on it. After that she was hooked and wanted to go on the Gemini. She huffed and screamed the whole way down the first big hill but then immediately wanted to ride again. She ended up doing the Gemini (2x), the Mine Cars, and Iron Dragon (2x), and Wild Mouse. She wanted to ride the enormous Steel Vengeance but the line was an hour long by the time we got back there so we all agreed to skip it.
  • We ended up buying season passes that are good through next fall and after finding that the drive down was less than 2.5 hours my kids are already asking if we can go back before they shut down for this year.
Click to expand...
Sadly, the Wild Mouse was the only one that messed me up. We rode it twice. The second time I was on the end and we realized that an unbalanced car spins you around a whole lot more that one that is full and balanced.
 
Verizon's system collapsed this morning right in the middle of a video that was listening to on my phone. Hundreds of customers have reported it, but it is still down!
 
Raven said:
Verizon's system collapsed this morning right in the middle of a video that was listening to on my phone. Hundreds of customers have reported it, but it is still down!
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Can you hear me now?

NO! Your network is down!






My biggest worry is my wife uses her phone for GPS and there are some parts of Memphis that I really don't want her driving in.
 
In other news,
Maister said:
I totally would.
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I got put in Facebook Jail for making this same comment on that platform. I really don't see how this is a "terrorist threat," but, so be it.

For the record, I am not in the habit of blowing up buildings or killing people.

Jim
 
michaelskis said:
Can you hear me now?

NO! Your network is down!






My biggest worry is my wife uses her phone for GPS and there are some parts of Memphis that I really don't want her driving in.
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But how are people going to reach you about your car warranty?
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
Sadly, the Wild Mouse was the only one that messed me up. We rode it twice. The second time I was on the end and we realized that an unbalanced car spins you around a whole lot more that one that is full and balanced.
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Yeah, she rode the Wild Mouse with her older sister. I think I rode it with the older sister about 10 years ago and probably could have done so again this past weekend, but big sister volunteered to wait in line with her without me so I jumped at the opportunity to sit on a bench.

Raven said:
Verizon's system collapsed this morning right in the middle of a video that was listening to on my phone. Hundreds of customers have reported it, but it is still down!
Click to expand...

My wife went up to go pick up our daughter's homecoming dress from the tailor and the tailor gave her some of my stuff too but my wife had like $20 of cash (quite a bit short to cover the bill) and then she called me to try to Venmo the tailor but the tailor realized her phone wasn't working because of the Verizon outage and didn't want to take the Venmo just in case it got lost in the ether so she just gave my wife the rest of the stuff and said I can bring her some cash "whenever". I gotta take a break now and walk up there before she sends some old world Albanian hit squad after me!
 
Have you ?

1727719239313.png
 
A connecting principle
Linked to the invisible
Almost imperceptible
Something inexpressible
Science insusceptible
Logic so inflexible
Causally connectable
Nothing is invincible
 
I never heard of a noseeum until a couple of weeks ago now they all must die.
 
michaelskis said:
Can you hear me now?

NO! Your network is down!






My biggest worry is my wife uses her phone for GPS and there are some parts of Memphis that I really don't want her driving in.
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If there is ever a GPS issue, those of us that actually know how to navigate using maps will have the advantage. I think it's a skill everyone should learn, even if it's not used often, like writing checks or doing math by hand. Always good as a backup.

Jim
 
It's a nice surprise when I come in to work and realize the RFP review meeting I thought was supposed to be this morning is actually tomorrow. Unfortunately, that meeting is still on the agenda for tomorrow though.

In the past couple of years, since I've become much more involved in contract review, RFPs, and the purchasing process in general, I've decided that's the thing I like least about this job.
 
Doing better than the bold Black dates
Tied with bold Blue date
Way behind bold Red dates

1K2K3K4K5K6K7K89K9K10K11K12K
#19 - 202402-1403-2805-2307-1909-30
#18 - 202302-1204-2506-2609-2611-0812-286,585
#17 - 202201-1902-1603-3105-1106-1607-2609-1411-0812-1612-3110,297
#16 - 202102-1103-3105-1907-1609-0710-1811-1912-1012-2212-2812-2912-3112,744
#15 - 202001-2703-1005-1207-2309-1611-1112-2812-3112-319,375
#14 - 201902-1204-0505-2407-1508-3010-1712-0512-2412-319,484
#13 - 201803-1605-3108-1011-0512-315,115
#12 - 201702-2805-2308-2411-2812-295,096
#11 - 201602-0903-2305-1207-0108-1810-1212-0712-318,072
#10 - 201502-0604-0606-1508-1410-0111-2912-3012-3112-319,570
# 9 -- 201401-3103-1205-2108-0910-2112-1112-3012-3112-319,291
# 8 -- 201301-1802-1203-2204-2205-1706-2007-3009-1611-1312-1912-3112-3112,050
# 7 -- 201202-2305-1207-1009-1211-0612-0612-2812-3112-319,327
# 6 -- 201102-2504-1205-2606-3008-1010-0512-0512-318,041
# 5 -- 201003-0405-0907-2609-2211-245,563
# 4 -- 200902-1904-2407-1310-0712-315,004
# 3 -- 200804-0407-0709-2312-224,085
# 2 -- 200703-1005-1907-2410-114,862
# 1 --2004-2007
Original		13,142
 
I would like all organizations at my kids school to use a single app. Band, TeamSnap, Remind, etc. are all too much. Just have the app be called School and have it send me all the stuff I need.
 
Hink said:
I would like all organizations at my kids school...
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The fundraising stuff is all over the map. I swear it is intentional and that there is some sort of grift going on. Okay, I truly hope that isn't the case, but a couple of years ago, was hawking caramel popcorn treats for $18, and by comparison for today, you get the same portion size if you buy two Crunch-n-Munches at Walmart for a grand total of $8.44, see this link:

 
Getting one of those on the west side of town. I live in the west side, just not that far south.
 
Wannaplan? said:
The fundraising stuff is all over the map. I swear it is intentional and that there is some sort of grift going on. Okay, I truly hope that isn't the case, but a couple of years ago, was hawking caramel popcorn treats for $18, and by comparison for today, you get the same portion size if you buy two Crunch-n-Munches at Walmart for a grand total of $8.44, see this link:

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In theory it is good for the kids to have the experience of trying to sell stuff, however, the reality is that the parents do the selling. That's good for me as it is easier for me to tell the lady from finance that I am not buying any of the overpriced fundraiser crap than it is for me to tell some 8 year old that I am not interested. I still tell them no but I kind of feel bad for telling the 8 year old no.
 
Big Owl said:
In theory it is good for the kids to have the experience of trying to sell stuff, however, the reality is that the parents do the selling. That's good for me as it is easier for me to tell the lady from finance that I am not buying any of the overpriced fundraiser crap than it is for me to tell some 8 year old that I am not interested. I still tell them no but I kind of feel bad for telling the 8 year old no.
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Luckily we haven't had to do much school/sports fundraising but we do sling Girl Scout Cookies each year. If my kids want to sell at my office we work together and put together an actual sales pitch. We've done short, scripted video commercials a couple of times and also included tons of pictures of the girls and the rest of their troop doing Girl Scout activities and then when the cookies arrive, I always make my kids come in to the office and pull around a wagon to deliver all the cookies. My coworkers always seem to enjoy that.
 
I was taking a nap yesterday after dinner and I heard a loud BANG! outside. Loud enough that my oldest screamed and thought maybe the neighbor drove into a tree or something. We looked outside and saw nothing and thought nothing more of it.

A couple minutes later we had a fireman knocking on our door to tell us not to touch the fence in the backyard because a powerline was laying on it (the loud bang was a fuse blowing somewhere or the line arcing for a moment) and that the power company would be out shortly to put it back up.

Power company shows up but they decided they couldn't do anything until the tree trimmers show up.

10:45 p.m. the trimming crew arrives and the linemen disconnect power on our circuit so the trimmers can work. The trimmers set up in our neighbor's driveway and get to work with their chainsaws right next to all of our bedroom windows until 3:00 a.m. Needless to say, I'm a little tired this morning. :tired:
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I was taking a nap yesterday after dinner and I heard a loud BANG! outside. Loud enough that my oldest screamed and thought maybe the neighbor drove into a tree or something. We looked outside and saw nothing and thought nothing more of it.

A couple minutes later we had a fireman knocking on our door to tell us not to touch the fence in the backyard because a powerline was laying on it (the loud bang was a fuse blowing somewhere or the line arcing for a moment) and that the power company would be out shortly to put it back up.

Power company shows up but they decided they couldn't do anything until the tree trimmers show up.

10:45 p.m. the trimming crew arrives and the linemen disconnect power on our circuit so the trimmers can work. The trimmers set up in our neighbor's driveway and get to work with their chainsaws right next to all of our bedroom windows until 3:00 a.m. Needless to say, I'm a little tired this morning. :tired:
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Oh wow. It's scary as well as disruptive.

Something like this happened in my mom's neighborhood. A woman went out to see if she could tell why her lights were flashing. A splice on the overhead line failed and the live line was on the ground. She was electrocuted. The responders' stories about it were pretty gruesome.
 
Planit said:
Business 105:
If you park in front of your downtown business, you are blocking you own customer parking. Therefore you have no parking available for people who might want to spend money in your store.
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Glad to know we aren't the only one's to have business owners do this.
 
Big Owl said:
In theory it is good for the kids to have the experience of trying to sell stuff, however, the reality is that the parents do the selling. That's good for me as it is easier for me to tell the lady from finance that I am not buying any of the overpriced fundraiser crap than it is for me to tell some 8 year old that I am not interested. I still tell them no but I kind of feel bad for telling the 8 year old no.
Click to expand...
Except girl scout cookies. I can't say no to those. They are somewhat reasonably priced. Yeah, I can get a bag of cookies for less, but I like theirs. Also, it's not popcorn that I can buy for a fraction of the price.
 
DVD said:
Except girl scout cookies. I can't say no to those. They are somewhat reasonably priced. Yeah, I can get a bag of cookies for less, but I like theirs. Also, it's not popcorn that I can buy for a fraction of the price.
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The Boy Scout popcorn is probably one of the worst value fundraisers I have ever seen.

I have noticed that in recent years they have begun expanding what they sell. It's still overpriced but I'd much rather pay $10 for a bag of "gourmet" caramel and chocolate popcorn than the $20 for a $5 box of microwave popcorn or whatever it is they were charging last I got hit up.

My wife's cousin's son was into scouts up through Eagle Scouts and once the remaining kids in his troop were in about 4th grade or so, they had so many complaints about the cost/value of the popcorn that they stopped bothering with it and began working with a local butcher shop and selling packages of sausages and hot dogs, summer sausage, frozen pre-made pulled pork, hams, etc. It still wasn't cheap but it was a lot better of a product than the popcorn. They did that for 3 or 4 years and we always stocked up.
 
We went under contract to sell our NC house a few weeks ago. This morning we went under contract to buy a house here in our new community. It looks like we will be able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in our new house!

This (and unpacking) are the last big remaining things left to truly get settled in to our new town.
 
DVD said:
Except girl scout cookies. I can't say no to those. They are somewhat reasonably priced. Yeah, I can get a bag of cookies for less, but I like theirs. Also, it's not popcorn that I can buy for a fraction of the price.
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Girl scout cookies are an exception. That organization is teaching those kids skills to run a criminal empire or be car salespeople. They'll shake you down like nobody's business.
 
Big Owl said:
Girl scout cookies are an exception. That organization is teaching those kids skills to run a criminal empire or be car salespeople. They'll shake you down like nobody's business.
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True - they will get you either at
work, where their mom brings in the order sheet; or
grocery store entrance
 
My kid has a dealer, so we just go to their place and pick up what we need when the product is in.
 
JNA said:
True - they will get you either at
work, where their mom brings in the order sheet; or
grocery store entrance
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and they typically have product on hand so you don't have to wait. It's hard to say no to thin mints when I can pay for them and be eating them seconds later. If I have to wait for them, I can say no because I don't know if I'll be in the mood for thin mints at a later date. Which that's a lie because I can always down a box of thin mints, but I can convince myself it isn't at the time.
 
JNA said:
Gedunker & kjel might react to this -
part of my driver's ed was a round trip on Route 22 to Newark Airport.
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Good lord! If there was ever a road to hell, it’s Route 22 😆
 
JNA said:
My TSA experience -
Once Had to explain what diabetic test lancets, pen needles (for injectining insulin) & insulin pen (not a dangerous liquid) were & were not a risk.
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I wear a CGM and an insulin pump. I’m all kinds of fun for TSA.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: JNA
JNA said:
True - they will get you either at
work, where their mom brings in the order sheet; or
grocery store entrance
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I tell the little boy next door who plays football that he needs to practice his stiff-arm technique on the Girl Scouts at Sam's Club when they come at him.
 
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