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

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WSU MUP Student said:
We got an email from the school district looking for host families for some exchange students. They're looking to place some kids from Poland, Japan, Brazil, Thailand, and Kenya and they had a nice little write-up about each one. I did chuckle at the one from Brazil as it read, "...has so many interests such as his love of playing soccer, and watching soccer! He also has a dog and taught him some tricks like how to play soccer!"

Luis seems very well rounded.
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Oh yeah: When I worked at the hotel/casino. we had a group of exchange students from Poland come one summer to work. My shadow was a fun little 17-year-old from Poland. At one point, she couldn't get the stapler to work, so she said, "This stapler is no work!"

I told her this is America, and that's not how we talk. We say, "This stapler is a piece of shit!" But she couldn't say "shit," so she said "sheet." The whole rest of the summer, it was "piece of sheet! piece of sheet!"
 
WSU MUP Student said:
What's worse? Your coworker who likes to schedule early morning meetings or mine who likes to schedule them for Fridays at 3:00 p.m. :ttm:
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Friday at 3. Hands down. That crap should be illegal.

On another note, adding another category to my list of people who should have their ass whipped: people who fill up their car at the convenience store and then go inside and leave their car unattended. I'm talking at busy places where you're constantly circling for an open pump. I can't stand people who are completely oblivious to others around them.
 
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DVD said:
I have a morning person coworker that I'm beginning to resent with all the 8:30 meetings. She used to schedule them at 8 but I told her I'm just getting into the office then.
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My "official" hours are 0700-1730, but I am usually in the office by 0630. I figure I make up the time throughout the day with a couple extra minutes here and there.

Jim
 
JNA said:
How about -
Air Conditioning Appreciation Day – July 3
National Independent Beer Run Day - July 3

Mechanical Pencil Day - July 5
National Graham Cracker Day - July 5 - thus making/eating s’mores
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International Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19. This is the ONE day my entire calendar revolves around, and has since 2000.

For some reason, when I worked at the hotel, I always seemed to have that day off despite my never having requested it.

Jim
 
Who is RJing today ?
& who taking friday off making it a 4 day weekend?
 
jumbach said:
My "official" hours are 0700-1730, but I am usually in the office by 0630. I figure I make up the time throughout the day with a couple extra minutes here and there.

Jim
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Wait, what? Are you on four 10s? If not, that seems like a very long week -- especially if you're coming in a half hour early to somehow make up time...
 
I'm totally the 8am meeting person -- not because I am a morning person but because I need to accommodate everyone's busy schedule and I'd rather do it at 8am than 330pm. Plus many people here get in as early as 6am so I have to really be conscious of everyone's calendars. (It took me a few eyerolls in meetings before I realized that people were arriving to work that early and thus didn't want to even stay for a 3pm meeting.)
 
I plan on making some candied pickled jalapenos tonight. Some people call them "Cowboy Candy". Personally, I picture Marlboro Reds as cowboy candy, more-so than candied jalapenos.
 
Big Owl said:
I plan on making some candied pickled jalapenos tonight. Some people call them "Cowboy Candy". Personally, I picture Marlboro Reds as cowboy candy, more-so than candied jalapenos.
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I had never heard of "cowboy candy" until Christmas when my wife's cousin gave us a couple jars that she made from peppers she grew in her garden. They were delicious. I like to put them on some Ritz crackers with cream cheese and prosciutto.

The jars she gave us were really tiny and I was sad when we had quickly used them all up. We took the jars back to her with the hopes the she'd have more but unfortunately she didn't. A few weeks after that I was wandering around Trader Joe's looking for crap I didn't need and found that they had a version so I gave it a try. Theirs is pretty good, but just not quite as flavorful as the ones with the fresh peppers from the cousin. I'm too lazy to make my own from scratch but I was at the farmers market a few weeks back and somebody was selling some really good looking jalapenos so I bought some, sliced a few up, and added them to the existing brine in my nearly empty jar from TJs and stuck it back in the fridge. A few days later I gave them a try and they were great. Obviously not nearly as pickled as the store bought ones or the ones done properly by the cousin, but they were still declicious.

I had never thought to use the leftover pickling brine from stuff to pickle other vegetables. I'll have to try that with more.

FWIW, in the past I've used the leftover liquid from the candied peppers to brine chicken to use in fajitas and that worked really good.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
What's worse? Your coworker who likes to schedule early morning meetings or mine who likes to schedule them for Fridays at 3:00 p.m. :ttm:
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Only if yours is setting up meetings that could be an email like to ask if you handled that one little item mentioned last week and they already know the answer is no, I haven't done that yet. You are a side project, not my main job.
Gedunker said:
There's only one answer: YES!
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True.
jumbach said:
My "official" hours are 0700-1730, but I am usually in the office by 0630. I figure I make up the time throughout the day with a couple extra minutes here and there.

Jim
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Official hours are 7:30 to 5:30, but don't go bugging me until about 9 and I'm usually out by 3-4 on Fridays anyway. Especially is it's a work at home day.
 
RandomPlanner said:
Wait, what? Are you on four 10s? If not, that seems like a very long week -- especially if you're coming in a half hour early to somehow make up time...
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Yes, 4/10's, with Tuesdays off. Except in holiday weeks like this one; then it reverts to 4/8's with the holiday off but with work on Tuesday. (In which case I usually officially work 7-ish to 330-ish.)

Our work week is Friday through Thursday, for reasons that are lost to history, so that means last Friday the 28th was an 8-hour day, as was Monday through today. Tomorrow is the holiday, and Friday begins my normal 4-10's, so I'll be in at 7 until 5:30. (But, as acting Planning Manager that day, with a very skeleton crew, I'm cutting everyone at 4 if not sooner. Shh.)


Jim
 
DVD said:
Only if yours is setting up meetings that could be an email like to ask if you handled that one little item mentioned last week and they already know the answer is no, I haven't done that yet. You are a side project, not my main job.

True.

Official hours are 7:30 to 5:30, but don't go bugging me until about 9 and I'm usually out by 3-4 on Fridays anyway. Especially is it's a work at home day.
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On days when I have Planning Commission up the hill, I sneak out about 30 minutes early as unofficial release time. Boss doesn't care.
 
Bonne fête nationale à tous de la part de vos voisins canadiens!

Independence Day Text GIF
 
DVD said:
I have a morning person coworker that I'm beginning to resent with all the 8:30 meetings. She used to schedule them at 8 but I told her I'm just getting into the office then.
Click to expand...

I consider myself a morning person but I do need some transition time into my day so yeah 8:30 and preferably 9 AM meetings only!
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I had never heard of "cowboy candy" until Christmas when my wife's cousin gave us a couple jars that she made from peppers she grew in her garden. They were delicious. I like to put them on some Ritz crackers with cream cheese and prosciutto.

The jars she gave us were really tiny and I was sad when we had quickly used them all up. We took the jars back to her with the hopes the she'd have more but unfortunately she didn't. A few weeks after that I was wandering around Trader Joe's looking for crap I didn't need and found that they had a version so I gave it a try. Theirs is pretty good, but just not quite as flavorful as the ones with the fresh peppers from the cousin. I'm too lazy to make my own from scratch but I was at the farmers market a few weeks back and somebody was selling some really good looking jalapenos so I bought some, sliced a few up, and added them to the existing brine in my nearly empty jar from TJs and stuck it back in the fridge. A few days later I gave them a try and they were great. Obviously not nearly as pickled as the store bought ones or the ones done properly by the cousin, but they were still declicious.

I had never thought to use the leftover pickling brine from stuff to pickle other vegetables. I'll have to try that with more.

FWIW, in the past I've used the leftover liquid from the candied peppers to brine chicken to use in fajitas and that worked really good.
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I made a pint but the recipe that I used made enough brine for at least one more pint. I should have halved the recipe. I saved the leftover brine/simple syrup with the intent to use it for a glaze on some smoked ribs.

It's super simple to make. I made it a little more difficult because I removed a majority of the seed from the peppers. The brine was a simple syrup made with sugar & vinegar with some spices. Turmeric seemed to be the most common spice based on the dozen or so recipes that I looked at. I used turmeric, garlic powder, mustard seeds, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkling of some red pepper flakes that I made last fall mainly for color. Some recipes used celery seeds, nutmeg, and cayenne in addition or in place of the spices that I used.
 
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Today is like a second Monday. The only positives are that there is almost no one here and the phone is mercifully quiet. I guess the fact that it is actually also Friday helps.
 
Leaving at noon. Like we do most regular work weeks.
 
My Friday started with a phone message complaining that people were working on a construction site on the 4th.

Not something we prohibit.
 
If you are thinking about renting a home, and you are considering working with Progress Residential, DON’T.
 
Why does it seem like most of the fireworks are getting shot off from low-income neighborhoods?
 
Thunderstorm at 6 am today was as loud as the neighborhood fireworks last night 8-10 pm
 
Interesting commentary -

make a good step, shoot the other foot.
 
TOFB said:
Why does it seem like most of the fireworks are getting shot off from low-income neighborhoods?
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Dunno. Fireworks are expensive, so that seems counterintuitive to me. I'm not saying you are wrong--just that the fact doesn't make sense. You'd think the McMansions would have the fireworks.

Jim
 
Faust_Motel said:
My Friday started with a phone message complaining that people were working on a construction site on the 4th.

Not something we prohibit.
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My county a couple years ago re-painted all the stop bars for the stop signs in our neighborhood on the 4th. That seems like a bad use of double pay to me . . .

Jim
 
On Wednesday night, my wife was in the garage and tripped over a box accidentally, knocking it into some shelving, which then fell over. Luckily, neither the shelving nor its contents fell on her, but it did scatter everything all over the floor to the point it was an unsafe situation. This happened at 9 p.m. She shouted for me (I was in the house), so I came out, saw what happened, and shouted some rude words (at the situation, not at her), made sure she was OK (she was fine--just startled) and started tossing the fallen boxes onto the driveway to give us room to work. Spent the next couple hours tidying up.

At one point the neighbor across the street came over and wanted to know why we were working in the garage so late. I didn't realize we were being as loud as we were, but after I explained the situation, she said, "Oh, OK, well, as long as nobody is hurting anybody then. Accidents happen." I guess our shouting and the loud noises of my tossing boxes onto the driveway startled her. (They were light boxes, only maybe 10-15 pounds each, but apparently the clunk echoed and made it seem heavier.)

After she came over, I told her to give us about 15 minutes to finish the immediate cleanup, then I'd finish up in the morning. She said that would be OK.

We do work in the garage. but never at night . . . this just sort of happened and wasn't planned.

Been here twelve years--first time we've had a neighbor come to us and complain about noise. Not sure how to apologize--maybe a nice bouquet of roses or a bottle of wine? What do you think? (By the way, I've never said a word about her kid idling his loud pickup truck most winter mornings at 4 a.m. I just ignore it, figuring it's his own gas he's burning. I don't want to be "that neighbor.")

Jim
 
My all-time favorite fast food ad, from the early 1990's.

Funny thing is, nowadays, a fast food burger costs about six dollars.

(Haven't been in a Carl's Jr. in a decade or so, but it was one of my spots back in the day . . . I hated when the removed their salad bar in the late 1990's.)


 
I'm back. What'd I miss?

Last summer my mom had WiFi. But it was some free program or something. That ended, so no more WiFi. And at my in-laws the cellular data signal is typically at one bar and very, very, very slow. So I've been largely out of touch for the past week or so.

My wife is still up north (per original plan). I flew back today. I took public transit home from the airport: Train to downtown Fort Worth, then a city bus that I hopped off of briefly to grab lunch, then hopped back on to get the rest of the way. The stop is a 5 minute walk from my house. And on the first Friday of the month, fairs are free with a promotional code.
 
Doohickie said:
I'm back. What'd I miss?

Last summer my mom had WiFi. But it was some free program or something. That ended, so no more WiFi. And at my in-laws the cellular data signal is typically at one bar and very, very, very slow. So I've been largely out of touch for the past week or so.

My wife is still up north (per original plan). I flew back today. I took public transit home from the airport: Train to downtown Fort Worth, then a city bus that I hopped off of briefly to grab lunch, then hopped back on to get the rest of the way. The stop is a 5 minute walk from my house. And on the first Friday of the month, fairs are free with a promotional code.
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I hated when they put a cell tower in a couple years ago near the cabin we have in an undisclosed location*. We liked being unplugged.

* somewhere in Northern California, within a 100-mile radius of Reno, within a forest, near a lake.

But, as wife says, nobody says we have to turn our phones on.
 
My mom has been gone about 4 years. I am the senior female in my family and people now wait on me. I'm ok with that.
 
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