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

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Salmissra said:
Anyone else getting more spam calls today than usual? I've had 5 already today. My automated response usually convinces them to hang up, but a couple political calls got through earlier in the election cycle.
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Funny how the IT outage doesn't seem to affect Robocall computers.

Or, the IT outage affected the servers that determine a particular call is spam and blocks it from you.
 
michaelskis said:
We have several of our systems down, including our timesheet program and our build and code enforcement program.
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Jerry Seinfeld Popcorn GIF by Sheets & Giggles
 
Who wants to co-host a podcast with me? It's going to be called A Cornucopium of Platitudes. Our first guest will be the Green Shirt Guy and we will discuss Time Heals All Wounds and see how creative we can be when we analyze it to make jokes about Matt Gaetz's new look. Serious.

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What a headline -
The Scenic Utah Hike That Attracts The Masses Even With Such A Disturbing, Deadly Reputation
 
Red dates show we are behind in our postings
bold dates show we are on pace in our posting
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# 1 --2004-2007
Original		13,142
 
When I was a kid, we could still get mail delivered to us by using our last name and "Rural Route 8" (I think 8 was the number, but maybe it was 28?)... no street number and no city or village name.
 
I did end up making a solitary Prime Day purchase last week for an inexpensive cold brew coffee brewer. I was skeptical of how well it would work but it arrived the other day and I made my first batch ready for Saturday morning and I'm sold! I love it.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
...and all $700 worth of shoes have now been returned as nothing met the exacting standards of a soon-to-be-14 year old.
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I am not laughing at your pain...I am remembering it from the other side. One day, this same girl will be sitting at your table on a Sunday night. She will be describing for you how she had a coupon, so she got her tires rotated - you don't need to worry about it. You'll express some concern about how many hours she is working, and she will casually say "Gotta keep the lights on, Dad." Then she'll tell you how she has to wrangle her roommates to get their share of the utilities. Stupid babies, amiright? And when you walk her out and she is heading to her own place, you will be so proud of her - but you will wish in some small way she still wanted all those shoes.

Gawd how I envy you, and how I look forward to what else is coming my way, too! :)
 
ursus said:
I am not laughing at your pain...I am remembering it from the other side. One day, this same girl will be sitting at your table on a Sunday night. She will be describing for you how she had a coupon, so she got her tires rotated - you don't need to worry about it. You'll express some concern about how many hours she is working, and she will casually say "Gotta keep the lights on, Dad." Then she'll tell you how she has to wrangle her roommates to get their share of the utilities. Stupid babies, amiright? And when you walk her out and she is heading to her own place, you will be so proud of her - but you will wish in some small way she still wanted all those shoes.

Gawd how I envy you, and how I look forward to what else is coming my way, too! :)
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Just like the during the baptism of some random kid at church who I do not know, I'm crying again.
 
My youngest and a few of her friends are at a pet-themed day camp this week at a local middle school. These four kids would play together for an hour+ on the playground nearly every day after school the last two years. When my wife went to pick up our daughter and one of the other kids yesterday at noon they asked if they could all go out to the playground for a bit and she had to inform them that the middle school didn't have a playground. Apparently these kids were p!ssed and are now adamant that they cannot go there when they're in 6th grade in a few years. :rofl:
 
Wannaplan? said:
Who wants to co-host a podcast with me? It's going to be called A Cornucopium of Platitudes. Our first guest will be the Green Shirt Guy and we will discuss Time Heals All Wounds and see how creative we can be when we analyze it to make jokes about Matt Gaetz's new look. Serious.

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Biden has been made-up several times, too, before going in front of the public. Goes with both sides as they look to tone down and soften an individual's appearance. Gaetz does look ridiculous, though. Should we bash Biden for his 2019 facelift? Only reason for a facelift is to look younger to the voters so this was a concern ahead of the election process.
 
At our company, there are four employee classifications:
  1. Full time on-site
  2. Greater than 50% on-site (with remainder work from home)
  3. Greater than 50 work from home (with remainder on-site)
  4. Full time telecommuter
Prior to the pandemic, most people were Category 1. We came into work every day. With the pandemic, they reclassified everyone. Most people were classified as Cat 2, but during the pandemic operated as Cat 4. As the pandemic lifted, people went back to the office. Those classified as Cat 2 come in two days a week (we work 4 10s), but a lot of people rarely come in and were reclassified as Cat 3.

Well the party's over. A memo went out stating that anyone whose home address is within 75 miles of one of the main facilities that support our team, is expected to be in the office at least 50% of the time.

I was Cat 2, but when my wife had consecutive knee replacements I spent a lot of time working from home and they changed me to Cat 3. When she got better I went back to Cat 2. I'm sure a lot of the Cat 3/4 people will be aggravated by having to come into the office, if only on a half time basis. It will be interesting.

Fox Tv Popcorn GIF by The Four
 
^^ We're going to 4 days in the office starting Sept 1.

We haven't hashed out who will be WFH what day, but I have a feeling there won't be much choice. Fridays will not be an option.
Several have been complaining under their breath about it. Will be interesting if they start saying it out load.
 
Doohickie said:
It will be interesting.
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I won't lie: I personally feel this is a good thing. I will like being able to have face-to-face contact with my coworkers again. Some of my most productive days since the pandemic have been when everyone was in the office.
 
Doohickie said:
Compared to... ? What is your current work situation?
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For the vast majority of the folks in departments that never deal with the public (which is just about everybody in our department), we have the option to work remotely 3 days a week as long as there is 1 day each week when everybody in your work-group is in the office.

Prior to the pandemic, we were in the office 100% of the time. We had been trying to get the option to work remotely for years, especially in positions where there's no need to be physically in the office every day but the administration was resistant. Once the pandemic hit and we went to 100% remote for the first few months and the administration realized we never missed a beat and the public didn't notice a difference in the delivery of our service, they decided to continue to allow a hybrid schedule.

FWIW, we've had a lot of problems with retention and hiring for a while now in certain positions around the county. We've done a few in-depth salary surveys over the past decade and we continuously find that our starting wages are low and just about every internal survey of worker sentiment shows a lot of dissatisfaction with internal promotions and opportunity for growth after a few years of employment. HR has made a point to acknowledge that they know our wages are no longer as competitive as they used to be but at least our benefits are good and the flexible scheduling policies are one of the few tools that we have to keep us happy.

In the end, our county commissioners voted to put the hybrid scheduling option into our work rules so, thankfully, it would take at least a bit more than a dictate from management to get rid of that option..
 
How to start manual transmission car with dead battery:

1. Turn ignition key to on position
2. push clutch to the floor and put into 1st gear (2nd gear works too)
3. tell the big galoot behind your car to start pushing
4. once car starts rolling along quickly take foot off and pop the clutch
5. car will lurch when clutch is popped but will usually start the engine using the kinetic energy from pushing
 
Salmissra said:
^^ We're going to 4 days in the office starting Sept 1.

We haven't hashed out who will be WFH what day, but I have a feeling there won't be much choice. Fridays will not be an option.
Several have been complaining under their breath about it. Will be interesting if they start saying it out load.
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We did that coming out of COVID. We put together a rotation to minimize the number of staff not in the office on any given day. There was consideration given to positions as well, so all the Code Enforcement or Permitting staff would not be WFH on the same day. The only exception was everyone was in the office on Monday because staff meetings work better when people are present.
 
Maister said:
How to start manual transmission car with dead battery:

1. Turn ignition key to on position
2. push clutch to the floor and put into 1st gear (2nd gear works too)
3. tell the big galoot behind your car to start pushing
4. once car starts rolling along quickly take foot off and pop the clutch
5. car will lurch when clutch is popped but will usually start the engine using the kinetic energy from pushing
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Used to do that even without a dead battery.
 
National Park Service LEGO Vignettes ·
We don’t know who needs to hear this, but if somehow your coworker’s head gets turned into a donut, don’t try and eat it.
Yes, it’s a donut.
Yes, it is probably delicious.
Nonetheless, that’s not a nice way to treat your coworkers. That said, neither is getting your head turned into an obviously delicious donut. #FindYourDonut

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Maister said:
How to start manual transmission car with dead battery:

1. Turn ignition key to on position
2. push clutch to the floor and put into 1st gear (2nd gear works too)
3. tell the big galoot behind your car to start pushing
4. once car starts rolling along quickly take foot off and pop the clutch
5. car will lurch when clutch is popped but will usually start the engine using the kinetic energy from pushing
Click to expand...
Yet another thing that the younger generations will not get to experience. Just the other day, I told my daughter that back when cars had metal bumpers, you could jump off a vehicle by touching bumpers and using a wire clothes hanger between the positive battery post. The good ole days. Of course, her response was "how did you guys not die?"
 
Contractors hit the natural gas main first thing this morning. Guess my plans for today have changed.
 
Maister said:
How to start manual transmission car with dead battery:

1. Turn ignition key to on position
2. push clutch to the floor and put into 1st gear (2nd gear works too)
3. tell the big galoot behind your car to start pushing
4. once car starts rolling along quickly take foot off and pop the clutch
5. car will lurch when clutch is popped but will usually start the engine using the kinetic energy from pushing
Click to expand...

SlaveToTheGrind said:
Used to do that even without a dead battery.
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I always knew that method for problems with the starter. I never knew it worked if the battery was dead.
 
I don't like people who try to trick me, that includes our IT folks who like to send out fake phishing emails for us to "find". :mad:

FWIW, I've never fallen for one.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I don't like people who try to trick me, that includes our IT folks who like to send out fake phishing emails for us to "find". :mad:

FWIW, I've never fallen for one.
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They did the same thing when I was at work, they would send a back an email congratulating you on keeping the system/network safe.
 
Maister said:
How to start manual transmission car with dead battery:

1. Turn ignition key to on position
2. push clutch to the floor and put into 1st gear (2nd gear works too)
3. tell the big galoot behind your car to start pushing
4. once car starts rolling along quickly take foot off and pop the clutch
5. car will lurch when clutch is popped but will usually start the engine using the kinetic energy from pushing
Click to expand...
Really annoyed that my last stick-shift car ('96 Chevy Beretta) had some kind of lockout that prevented this from working.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I don't like people who try to trick me, that includes our IT folks who like to send out fake phishing emails for us to "find". :mad:

FWIW, I've never fallen for one.
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I get those all the time. My favorite is when the spam filter catches the fake spam email that is supposed to trick me.

Though apparently I "clicked on a link" in one of them recently and had to take a five-minute anti-phishing webinar.
 
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