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

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TOFB said:
May I offer this: THINK BEFORE YOU POST! Ask yourself this, why post on another forum when you can post here? Might help with the overall post count after a lackluster year of randomness.
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1704232627319.png
 
This is when we all have to start circling back (after the new year) that we've all been saying all December long...
 
AIB above discussion of moving around

My point of view for sticking around / it out -

pension equation includes years of service beyond the minimum 10 yrs for being vested.
generous vacation time earned for longevity
10 yrs = 4 weeks + 4 personal days
15 yrs = 5 weeks + 4 personal days
20 yrs = 6 weeks + 4 personal days

on retirement they will pay me out the max sick bank days + vacation time
 
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My fair city is off the center line of the totality, no need to travel & fight traffic.
 
Doohickie said:
Total eclipse will be right over my house for a coupla minutes. No need to decamp to anywhere. I might take the day off work though.
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Looks like its not hitting Northern Illinois, would have to go east or south to see it.
 
We live not far from the Path of Totality. Sadly, it appears I have a zoning board meeting on April 8th :(
 
Doohickie said:
Shit. I have to go to work in the morning. I better get to bed.
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Woke up to fraud warnings on my phone... Microsoft pinged me about 10 times and my bank thought it might be fraudulent. Turns out it's my Microsoft Office renewal. But while I was at it, I noticed there was also a charge from Audible on my account. Seems they've been pinging my account for $16 every month since July. I've never once listened to an audio book and my wife hasn't either, so while the Microsoft was valid, the Audible was fraudulent. Based on that they said they had to issue a new card to me so any accounts that are set up paid by the old card will need to be updated. Some fun.

All that time on the phone with my bank and Audible should have made me late to work. I was later than I would have been, but I still made it work about 24 minutes early. Light traffic due to the holiday still. (Schools are still on holiday until next week.)
 
My office is in a bullpen (low walled cubicles, as this building was formerly a call center) that holds about 500 people. Since Covid many people work from home, and the company never filled this space as anticipated, so on a typical day there are 10-20 people in here. I sit near the edge of the room. There's a guy in the middle who spends much of the day on the phone, and his phone voice is REAL LOUD.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm regretting not bringing my earbuds to work today.

(Later this year the lease on this building will expire and we consolidate into a nearby building; they're configuring that building for us now. The new building has 6 foot tall cube walls so the cross talk noise should be a lot less.)
 
Speaking of buildings and office layouts.... they have been slowly remodeling our office building since 2019 and plans got adjusted during COVID to give us more shared and communal spaces since we generally have just a small percentage of the folks in the office on any given day. We're on the first floor of our five floor building and they've been slowly working their way down from the upper floors.

A few months ago, the county purchased a large office building formerly owned by GM in the downtown of the city that is ostensibly our county seat (most of the county office buildings migrated from the core of the downtown out to a very suburban-like campus 50-some years ago) and is now in the process of remodeling that building to move a few hundred county employees back into the downtown and leasing some space in the building to some other agencies the county works frequently with. The powers that be in the county administration haven't made any announcements on which departments will be moving into the downtown, but I have a feeling that our Planning and Economic Development department will be one of them so I anticipate moving into new digs at some point this year or in early 2025. I imagine some of the other departments to move into the building will be things like Veterans Services and Public Health and some other services that would likely drive some foot traffic.

I'm sort of ambivalent - while the downtown at one time had quite a few walkable lunch options (even just a decade ago), it's been pretty much empty for the past 7 or 8 years but our current setting is sort of in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing within walking distance and no potential for anything on the horizon. On the plus side, the move to the downtown, would cut a few minutes off of my commute but most ideally would give me the option to ride my bicycle to the office in nice weather.

It will be interesting to see how quickly an influx of well-paid office workers into a dense, walkable area can actually make a difference in this community so I guess it will be nice to be a part of that?
 
Anyone ever seen Path of Totality live? Do they have a good stage show?
 
Today was my kids' first day back to school for the year. The middle school is having random theme days each day this week. Today is "Jersey Day". I couldn't get my daughter to agree to dress up as Snookie.
 
I feel like I am allergic to something in my office as my eyes water a lot when I am at work (not tears of despair either lol)
 
I just read an article in PLANNING magazine which discusses "An easy-to-use card deck to shake up your practice" about engagement.

It mentions the deck - "available as a free download" - and describes them, but never mentions where to go to download them for free/where to get them. Ugh!


Goggle searches and such - here is the link:

civiccommons.us

Transform Your Practice: A community engagement card deck - Reimagining the Civic Commons

These cards and the accompanying case studies will help you nurture trust, expand participation and promote advocacy through...
civiccommons.us civiccommons.us
 
Judging by my board today, I think the secret is out about who my secret crush is.

In other news, I had no idea Dabney Coleman was still on this Earthly plane.
 

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kms said:
Cool! My friends spent $$$$ for a Motel 6 or something on that level.

I planned to go to a friend's place, but she isn't quite in the path of totality.
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La Quinta is the official hotel chain of our household. Budget-friendly, but much better hospitality experience than chains that have numbers in their names. I've stayed in LQ's for probably 200 nights or so total over the last 15 years.

Jim
 
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WSU MUP Student said:
Speaking of buildings and office layouts.... they have been slowly remodeling our office building since 2019 and plans got adjusted during COVID to give us more shared and communal spaces since we generally have just a small percentage of the folks in the office on any given day. We're on the first floor of our five floor building and they've been slowly working their way down from the upper floors.

A few months ago, the county purchased a large office building formerly owned by GM in the downtown of the city that is ostensibly our county seat (most of the county office buildings migrated from the core of the downtown out to a very suburban-like campus 50-some years ago) and is now in the process of remodeling that building to move a few hundred county employees back into the downtown and leasing some space in the building to some other agencies the county works frequently with. The powers that be in the county administration haven't made any announcements on which departments will be moving into the downtown, but I have a feeling that our Planning and Economic Development department will be one of them so I anticipate moving into new digs at some point this year or in early 2025. I imagine some of the other departments to move into the building will be things like Veterans Services and Public Health and some other services that would likely drive some foot traffic.

I'm sort of ambivalent - while the downtown at one time had quite a few walkable lunch options (even just a decade ago), it's been pretty much empty for the past 7 or 8 years but our current setting is sort of in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing within walking distance and no potential for anything on the horizon. On the plus side, the move to the downtown, would cut a few minutes off of my commute but most ideally would give me the option to ride my bicycle to the office in nice weather.

It will be interesting to see how quickly an influx of well-paid office workers into a dense, walkable area can actually make a difference in this community so I guess it will be nice to be a part of that?
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Yes, I agree. I'd love to see downtown office buildings fill up again, and any step in that direction is a good one. I doubt we'll ever be back to 2019 levels, but a vibrant core is always good to see.

Reno moved its City Hall into an old bank building in 2004. 17 stories, tallest office building in the downtown core. (But still diminutive compared to the 40-plus story casinos a few blocks away.) Rather blah architecture--built in the 1960's--but gets the job done.



Jim
 
So I have moved into my new office. Big standing desk, new desktop computer for GIS work, WINDOWS! Just like moving to a new house, it's amazing how much crap you accumulate and how little you realize it until you have to move it.

The new computer (built it myself, yesterday) is an absolute beast, i9 13900k, 64 gb ram, 2 tb nvme storage, geforce 4060Ti driving my 3 monitors. That being said, I am going to get rid of a ton of digital detritus as part of the setup.

There will be a ton of miscellaneous cables sent down the road as well. However, I will keep at least one of every type, because I have learned, as soon as you throw away the last extra one you have, you will need later that week.

So far, I love the standing desk, but I definitely need to figure out some way of moving more, rather than standing in place. Making my back a little sore.
 
I just saw a click bait article that was entitled "This woman saved $48,000 by giving up alcohol". I was impressed when I thought that it was over the course of a year; less impressed when I found out it was over 8 years.
 
I have saved literally tens of millions of dollars this last year by not purchasing any yachts. Millions I say, millions.
Scrooge Mcduck Money GIF
 
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