• Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, the built environment, planning adjacent topics, and anything else that comes to mind. No ads, no spam, and it's free. It's easy to join!

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

Status
Not open for further replies.
As a youngster, August wore two faces for me: the early part included my birthday, which of course is a good thing to a kid. But the end saw the approach of school (the day after Labor Day), and that was a bad thing. While I didn't ever really hate school, I did dislike surrendering my autonomy to some stranger authority figures. The more August passed, the worse the feeling of impending doom.

As an oldster, August wears only one mask now, and it is not favorable. I don't need to be reminded of my own aging, so birthdays aren't necessarily a good thing anymore. (Being above ground to note their coming and going is better than the alternative.) It is the heat and humidity I can no longer abide. It won't abate this month and is sometimes the absolute worst month for it. (The heat index here yesterday was 108', for crying out loud, and it's only August 1!) With climate change, the nights won't even begin to cool until mid-September so that there are 31 dreadful days before one can even begin to hope for fall. Misery, I tell you.

How folks in the south (sorry @Whose Yur Planner and others) tolerate such a clime is beyond me.
You kinda get used to it, but the first years are rough. Summer used to be get outside and do things. Now, it's stay inside and try to hold out until October. The weight loss did help out with that somewhat. However my Nordic ancestors give me rude reminders that the genes they gave me are definitely for a far colder and less sunny environment.
 
Last edited:
1000021799.jpg
 
FTR I was always the one on the right. Usually followed by a comment like 'Eh, sharpshooter. Good enough'

I had a roommate who shot perfect on the rifle range one year and got asked to try out for the competitive shooting team on Okinawa. He lasted about two weeks.

He was consistently shooting between 295 - 300 with the rifle and then they moved on to the pistol. They were still using .45 for competition and could only use one hand and had to keep the other hand in their pocket, just like the guy in the photo on the right. He had never shot a .45 at all before the try outs and said he was totally unprepared for that style of shooting with a pistol with that much kick. We he moved back into our barracks room a lot sooner than I was expecting he said something to the effect of, "I would have been more accurate if they had just let me throw the pistol at the target!" :rofl:

FWIW, he said that was pretty common and they really thin the herd of the people trying out when they start working with the pistols.
 
I had a roommate who shot perfect on the rifle range one year and got asked to try out for the competitive shooting team on Okinawa. He lasted about two weeks.

He was consistently shooting between 295 - 300 with the rifle and then they moved on to the pistol. They were still using .45 for competition and could only use one hand and had to keep the other hand in their pocket, just like the guy in the photo on the right. He had never shot a .45 at all before the try outs and said he was totally unprepared for that style of shooting with a pistol with that much kick. We he moved back into our barracks room a lot sooner than I was expecting he said something to the effect of, "I would have been more accurate if they had just let me throw the pistol at the target!" :rofl:

FWIW, he said that was pretty common and they really thin the herd of the people trying out when they start working with the pistols.
I could never hit the broad side of a barn with a pistol. Rifle? Expert when I was trying. Pistol? I missed the target entirely on occasion. :broken:
 
I am amazed, given how long the internet is, that there are still so many websites that are so unstable due to the ads jumping around - I get the need for ads but I can't even get to the content - I just tried to respond to a doodle and it took me a bit to find the actual calendar - get with it, doodle
 
What do you call this?

Let’s say you have a brother-in-law and his wife died of cancer last year in late summer. You happen to be relatively close to your brother’s in-laws so that when thanksgiving rolled around last year, you all are at their place because everyone is coming together and all are mourning and still in a state of shock. At the thanksgiving dinner table, the parents of your brother’s deceased wife start talking about their upcoming 50th anniversary celebration. They are talking like they have much enjoyment about thinking about the fact that they will have been married for fifty years and that all their friends will be joining them during the big hoo-ha. You look over to your brother and his mouth is agape, almost in tears. He barely got twenty years of marriage to their daughter. What is the word for this?

Calling those in-law parents “inconsiderate” seems mild. Describing them as “insensitive” seems to do irreparable harm to their son’s future legacy as he must find a way to carry on without his wife, their daughter, something that seemed incomprehensible when he took her hand in marriage. It just seems like an injustice that will never be forgotten.
 
Bad timing? I understand you're excited about 50 years of marriage and you should be, but maybe don't celebrate yourself when there is something bigger to deal with or find a better segway that doesn't make you the spotlight over the bigger issue.
 
Our company requires us to charge our time to the particular contract or overhead account that we're doing work for. A project was started with several sub-projects; they gave out one charge number for the whole thing. Now they're asking for us to break that out to the different sub-projects.

Sorry, sweetie, that ship has sailed. If you wanted it broken down by the different sub-projects you needed to provide different charge numbers, because I'm not going to start guessing now.
 
Please share with your friends
Not to early to be out there take photos

American Trails sponsors the annual contest for photographs of designated National Recreation Trails across the country. Our annual contest provides awards in several categories and shows off entries (and previous winners) on the NRT website.
Deadline is December 15 of each year.

 
Last edited:
Our company requires us to charge our time to the particular contract or overhead account that we're doing work for. A project was started with several sub-projects; they gave out one charge number for the whole thing. Now they're asking for us to break that out to the different sub-projects.

Sorry, sweetie, that ship has sailed. If you wanted it broken down by the different sub-projects you needed to provide different charge numbers, because I'm not going to start guessing now.

After hearing the woes of my wife having to deal with billable hours when she was in public accounting and folks in our IT department who have to deal with billable hours and then code everything to the individual departments here they are working with, I am so thankful I do not have to deal with any of that.
 
I could never hit the broad side of a barn with a pistol. Rifle? Expert when I was trying. Pistol? I missed the target entirely on occasion. :broken:
With a 1911 .45, if having fixed sites, it not hard to miss. Great defense within 20 feet, which is really the purpose of a handgun. 230 grains of lead at 850 FPS proved will enough in our military history. I have a mil-spec 1911 with fixed sites and would rather have adjustable but wanted the style of what was historically used. Problem with fixed, and I assume this is what you had, is that it becomes a guessing game to adjust for not having sites lined up at the point of aim.
 
The halfway point of my commute takes me through the main drag of a little town called Magna. Terrible name. Cute town. The town ends and gives way to hay fields as I take a left to connect to I-80 (eventually). Does anything smell sweeter than alfalfa on a hot morning late in the year when it's rained the night before? Maybe, babies feet; it's hard to say. I love that moment of my drive, each morning.
 
  • Love
Reactions: kms
The halfway point of my commute takes me through the main drag of a little town called Magna. Terrible name. Cute town. The town ends and gives way to hay fields as I take a left to connect to I-80 (eventually). Does anything smell sweeter than alfalfa on a hot morning late in the year when it's rained the night before? Maybe, babies feet; it's hard to say. I love that moment of my drive, each morning.
Sorry I read Magna, but mind thought of this:

 
The halfway point of my commute takes me through the main drag of a little town called Magna. Terrible name. Cute town. The town ends and gives way to hay fields as I take a left to connect to I-80 (eventually). Does anything smell sweeter than alfalfa on a hot morning late in the year when it's rained the night before? Maybe, babies feet; it's hard to say. I love that moment of my drive, each morning.
I see you fields of sweet alfalfa and raise you the giant fields of roses they grow near me. Yes Phoenix does have farming. No, it really shouldn't.

Also, a field of these things all soaked by the rain must be amazing.
1722957350304.png
 

A character in Marvel's Star Wars comics:

 
A character in Marvel's Star Wars comics:

Not to be confused with:

1722970593282.png
 
I watched a few episodes of the Price is Right from the early 80's. Bob was something... on one episode they called this lady down and she had trouble getting out of the seat and down to the front. Once the lady was on contestant row, Bob asked her about her struggle to get out of the seat and she said something about her husband and being in the rear of the studio. Bob said to her "that rear was not the problem, it was yours, wasn't it?" She sheepishly responded with "middle age spread, Bob." The show went on, but early 80's Bob was brutal. This was before the "have your pets spayed or neutered days."
 
I was walking past the CVS in our downtown the other day and saw displays of Halloween candy through the windows.

Too soon!
 
  • Sad
Reactions: JNA
Small time crooks

At a big grocery today, as I was reviewing my ticket in a big come and go foyer that held a large free standing display of sale items, a man pushed a cart right in front of me and loaded about a dozen six-packs of some kind of bottled ice tea, said something to nobody, and pushed it out the door. A lady just entering saw him with me, and she told me she was shocked.
I was surprised, but when she asked me if I saw the act, I shrugged and that was a thirsty man.
She said she was going to rat on him and strode through the doors to alert someone in charge.
How many here have witnessed similar situations?
 
Small time crooks

At a big grocery today, as I was reviewing my ticket in a big come and go foyer that held a large free standing display of sale items, a man pushed a cart right in front of me and loaded about a dozen six-packs of some kind of bottled ice tea, said something to nobody, and pushed it out the door. A lady just entering saw him with me, and she told me she was shocked.
I was surprised, but when she asked me if I saw the act, I shrugged and that was a thirsty man.
She said she was going to rat on him and strode through the doors to alert someone in charge.
How many here have witnessed similar situations?

While working a summer job at Walmart I saw an old lady grab a geranium off an outdoor display and hop into her car with her elderly husband as the getaway driver.
 
While working a summer job at Walmart I saw an old lady grab a geranium off an outdoor display and hop into her car with her elderly husband as the getaway driver.
Is it possible she already paid for it at the register and had a receipt in her purse, like they do with bags of salt and other bulky items they keep out front?
 
Is it possible she already paid for it at the register and had a receipt in her purse, like they do with bags of salt and other bulky items they keep out front?
Nope. I worked in the garden area and they didn't buy anything there. I saw her grab it, look around, and do the elderly equivalent of jump into the car.
 
So I usually nap on the sofa but yesterday I laid down on my bed after getting home from work. I woke up a 9:00 and thought I was late for work, but it was dark out. I was really confused, then I realized I still had my clothes on and remembered I only took a nap. So I went back to sleep and woke up when my alarm went off this morning. I guess I needed the sleep.
 
So I usually nap on the sofa but yesterday I laid down on my bed after getting home from work. I woke up a 9:00 and thought I was late for work, but it was dark out. I was really confused, then I realized I still had my clothes on and remembered I only took a nap. So I went back to sleep and woke up when my alarm went off this morning. I guess I needed the sleep.
Yesterday I had a coffee meeting at 5:30 before work. Usually I leave for work at 6:30. Yesterday I woke up at 6:55 :(
 
Another awesome Broken Peach cover. This time of the Disney classic "Pink Elephants on Parade":

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top