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

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Teh Clube Watch List

Whose Yur Planner 13,972
Doohickie 9,973
Bubba 7,983
 
I have gotten more grey hairs as a director over the last year...my sanity is pushed to the brink every other day thanks to social media.. and to think.. I wanted this so bad a year ago..
Get off social media. I killed my Facebook in 2016 and my twitter last week. Seriously life will be better without it! (The planning related insanity I cannot help with- I think it just comes with the job but if you find a way out let me know!)
 
^^^
That is only because applicants submitted complete and through applications; with no ping-ponging emails or phone calls.
 
The joys of 'used' houses. The house that we moved into was built in 1997 and overall it is a great house. However the bathroom sinks were draining super slow. We tried all the normal chemical options without success. So last night I pulled the trap off one of the sinks and ran a snake down it... but it didn't seem like it was going quite right. I pulled the trap on the other sink only to find the end of the snake. When they plumbed it, they used a t connecter instead of the modified Y. I was finally able to get it to move using a plunger and bocking the other sink's drain with a rag.

I finish all that up and my oldest informs me that the other bathroom's tub filler has a slow drip that he can't stop. So it looks like I will be rebuilding or replacing a tub filler this weekend.
 
The joys of 'used' houses. The house that we moved into was built in 1997 and overall it is a great house. However the bathroom sinks were draining super slow. We tried all the normal chemical options without success. So last night I pulled the trap off one of the sinks and ran a snake down it... but it didn't seem like it was going quite right. I pulled the trap on the other sink only to find the end of the snake. When they plumbed it, they used a t connecter instead of the modified Y. I was finally able to get it to move using a plunger and bocking the other sink's drain with a rag.

I finish all that up and my oldest informs me that the other bathroom's tub filler has a slow drip that he can't stop. So it looks like I will be rebuilding or replacing a tub filler this weekend.
yay...homeownership.

I rent right now, but still had to dislodge a hair/soap scum clog from the tub drain this past weekend.
 
It's council day and I just sent out a revision to the powerpoint, because we get things done so far ahead of time around here.
 
The joys of 'used' houses. The house that we moved into was built in 1997 and overall it is a great house. However the bathroom sinks were draining super slow. We tried all the normal chemical options without success. So last night I pulled the trap off one of the sinks and ran a snake down it... but it didn't seem like it was going quite right. I pulled the trap on the other sink only to find the end of the snake. When they plumbed it, they used a t connecter instead of the modified Y. I was finally able to get it to move using a plunger and bocking the other sink's drain with a rag.

I finish all that up and my oldest informs me that the other bathroom's tub filler has a slow drip that he can't stop. So it looks like I will be rebuilding or replacing a tub filler this weekend.

yeah I find most mid-90's houses (which includes mine) to have lots of decisions-in-the-field shortcuts that we (I mean my husband, who am I kidding) have been fixing for the last 20 years of having this house - so welcome lol
 
When I first started here (and some of the last dinosaurs still roamed about) we would hand the packets out at the meeting. You'd hear them RRRRiiiiiiiiippppppppppp! open right before Roll Call!

Now, we mail/email the packets Thursday afternoon ahead of the Tuesday evening meeting.
 
yeah I find most mid-90's houses (which includes mine) to have lots of decisions-in-the-field shortcuts that we (I mean my husband, who am I kidding) have been fixing for the last 20 years of having this house - so welcome lol

At some point in the next couple of years, my wife wants to renovate the bathroom and replace the vanity top & sinks to a normal height instead of the lowered height. When we do that, I am going to open up the wall and put the proper unions in instead of the setup that they have now. I might even install a cleanout there too.
 
When I first started here (and some of the last dinosaurs still roamed about) we would hand the packets out at the meeting. You'd hear them RRRRiiiiiiiiippppppppppp! open right before Roll Call!

Now, we mail/email the packets Thursday afternoon ahead of the Tuesday evening meeting.
At my last job we'd email packets and one commissioner would open their packet at the meeting on their tablet. So instead of RRRRiiiiiiiiippppppppppp! you'd hear:

Youve Got Mail Computer GIF
 
At my last job we'd email packets and one commissioner would open their packet at the meeting on their tablet. So instead of RRRRiiiiiiiiippppppppppp! you'd hear:

Youve Got Mail Computer GIF

That only bothers me if they ask stupid questions -

I had a whole Planning Board like that once, that is opening the packet the night of the meeting, they were all hyper educated and hyper employed, literally getting off the train from Boston and walking up to the meeting and the meeting would open while they were opening their packets and they'd say "Okay LP, what do you want us to do here" - it was lover-ly
 
The landscape beds for our house have that bad plastic edging, way overgrown shrubs, and once had that orange rock mulch that was removed a couple years ago. The result is a muddy mess in abundant shade. I think I am going to plant periwinkle as a ground cover and plant some dwarf azalais and miniature rhododendrons. Maybe a couple of taller junipers as well.
 
The landscape beds for our house have that bad plastic edging, way overgrown shrubs, and once had that orange rock mulch that was removed a couple years ago. The result is a muddy mess in abundant shade. I think I am going to plant periwinkle as a ground cover and plant some dwarf azalais and miniature rhododendrons. Maybe a couple of taller junipers as well.
I recommend Arizona landscaping. Glued down green rocks. Low maintenance, low water, now problem.
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Unlike LP, I work in true planner fashion and slap out charts and crap the director needs right before the council meeting in a few hours. None of this all prepared ahead of time crap. What? Are you trying to lower your blood pressure?
 
That only bothers me if they ask stupid questions -

I had a whole Planning Board like that once, that is opening the packet the night of the meeting, they were all hyper educated and hyper employed, literally getting off the train from Boston and walking up to the meeting and the meeting would open while they were opening their packets and they'd say "Okay LP, what do you want us to do here" - it was lover-ly
Literally this was my last night. In the staff report, it said "Attachment A, Existing Ordinance"
Mayor: "This new ordinance, you a proposing with a date of 11/1/2024, isn't objective at all"
Me: Attachment A, it said printed on 11/1/2024 on the top.. it's the existing ordinance. This is why we are here.
 
Literally this was my last night. In the staff report, it said "Attachment A, Existing Ordinance"
Mayor: "This new ordinance, you a proposing with a date of 11/1/2024, isn't objective at all"
Me: Attachment A, it said printed on 11/1/2024 on the top.. it's the existing ordinance. This is why we are here.
I experienced a full 10 years of exhaustion on your part, just reading that exchange and recognizing the easily expected and eternal misunderstanding of Staff's fucking point. Always. The. Same.

Carry on, Wayward Son.
 
Had a hearing. Got the classic, but if you raise fees, people will stop building here. I have 2 points to that, and I understand it's not easy for developers to get all the money to build, but:
1. If I don't raise fees there will be no infrastructure and you will get endless residents complaining - you remember them, the people the elected you, plus with no infrastructure the cost of building goes up. You can't build without it.
2. California, New York, there are endless cities with incredibly high construction costs that for some reason people keep building there. It's like smoking. You're not going to quit when it hits $1, 2, 5, 10 a pack.

Maybe the market should adjust and lower the value of the land to make it affordable to develop. The market is allowed to go down isn't it.
 
I have to admit that I am proud of myself. The installation of our smart thermostats didn’t go according to plan, but I was able to troubleshoot the problem quickly and able to connect the proper wire onto the control board.
 
How about is this for a development question -

Has anyone had experience with having an above ground pool in their garage through the winter months?
 
How about is this for a development question -

Has anyone had experience with having an above ground pool in their garage through the winter months?
I saw one of these twenty years ago, shown to me by an inspection client that had bought a regular looking low pitch hip roof ranch. It was next door to his nursery business. Detached garage looked just like the house, but you entered the "man door" to ascend a few risers to the pool edge. Really low headroom, however, and have to say it was not a comfortable space.
 
I have to admit that I am proud of myself. The installation of our smart thermostats didn’t go according to plan, but I was able to troubleshoot the problem quickly and able to connect the proper wire onto the control board.

I am not a handy person by any stretch but amazed myself when I removed our old Honeywell thermostat years ago and replaced it with a Nest thermostat all by myself. I was actually just thinking about it again the other night and was questioning how I did that. Crazy!
 
I am not a handy person by any stretch but amazed myself when I removed our old Honeywell thermostat years ago and replaced it with a Nest thermostat all by myself. I was actually just thinking about it again the other night and was questioning how I did that. Crazy!
If you're just patient most folks can do a lot of things for themselves. Particularly with YouTube having so many videos to lean on for information. I'm just stubborn and hate to pay people to do things that I can do myself. I'm no craftsman but I'm able to do most of my own work unless it's really intricate or will take an inordinate amount of time. Then I believe there is such a thing as a false economy and I'll pay someone to get it done much quicker than I could. I'm certain I could have screened in my new porch but lord knows how long that would have taken me and how much material I would have wasted with mistakes. So that was an easy decision to spend the 5K. It does look awesome though!

Screened porch.jpg
 
If you're just patient most folks can do a lot of things for themselves. Particularly with YouTube having so many videos to lean on for information. I'm just stubborn and hate to pay people to do things that I can do myself. I'm no craftsman but I'm able to do most of my own work unless it's really intricate or will take an inordinate amount of time. Then I believe there is such a thing as a false economy and I'll pay someone to get it done much quicker than I could. I'm certain I could have screened in my new porch but lord knows how long that would have taken me and how much material I would have wasted with mistakes. So that was an easy decision to spend the 5K. It does look awesome though!

View attachment 63664
Nice looking space.
 
If you're just patient most folks can do a lot of things for themselves. Particularly with YouTube having so many videos to lean on for information. I'm just stubborn and hate to pay people to do things that I can do myself. I'm no craftsman but I'm able to do most of my own work unless it's really intricate or will take an inordinate amount of time. Then I believe there is such a thing as a false economy and I'll pay someone to get it done much quicker than I could. I'm certain I could have screened in my new porch but lord knows how long that would have taken me and how much material I would have wasted with mistakes. So that was an easy decision to spend the 5K. It does look awesome though!

View attachment 63664
Do you fish the pond?
 
I have to admit that I am proud of myself. The installation of our smart thermostats didn’t go according to plan, but I was able to troubleshoot the problem quickly and able to connect the proper wire onto the control board.
I have one installed since i moved into the house we bought. Love that thing. Also love to pre-heat my car after a cold night as a referee and herding parents through a soccer tournament knowing my seats and steering wheel are quite toasty.
 
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I have one installed since i moved into the house we bought. Love that thing. Also love to pre-heat my car after a cold night referring and herding parents through a soccer tournament knowing my seats and steering wheel are quite toasty.

Heated seats are one of those features that I always thought were really stupid and frivolous... right up until I bought a car with them!

When I bought my current Jeep in 2022 it had every option available except heated seats because of a microchip shortage/supply chain issues at the time. I figured it would be no big deal and I'd never notice it but man was I wrong! FWIW, from what I've read, all the components are there to add them in relatively easily retroactively but I drive so infrequently and such short distances nowadays that I've sort of forgotten all about it. Besides, the cab of a Jeep Wrangler or Gladiator heat up pretty quickly so it's not much of an issue on those rare occasions I'm in the car longer than about 10 minutes.
 
I have one installed since i moved into the house we bought. Love that thing. Also love to pre-heat my car after a cold night referring and herding parents through a soccer tournament knowing my seats and steering wheel are quite toasty.
Love my heated seats and steering wheel. Colder months I just go the my office window, push the door lock button in the fob, and remote start. Head out a few minutes later and warm seat and defrost. Don't know why the steering wheel heater does not come on with remote, perhaps a setting, but those features sure are nice.
 
Love my heated seats and steering wheel. Colder months I just go the my office window, push the door lock button in the fob, and remote start. Head out a few minutes later and warm seat and defrost. Don't know why the steering wheel heater does not come on with remote, perhaps a setting, but those features sure are nice.
If I had to pick between the two, I'd take heated steering wheel over heated seats.
 
Someone sent out a calendar invite for a meeting, which also included a Teams option. I decided to do it virtual since we're short staffed right now, but it turns out it was actually just an in-person meeting.
 
I love my Libby app but I currently have 9 loans and 16 items on hold. I should be reading rather than typing!
 
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