• 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.
1735057410088.png


Santa's Coming!
 
1 of 2 people in the office today. Likely to work from home this afternoon... "likely to" haha

Also, torrential rain today... La Nina season in the desert NW... not used to this.
 
A noticed a few illegally-parked (meter expired) cars while out on my lunchtime walk. I figure if there is any day of the year you can park free, it's Christmas Eve. I doubt they are giving out tickets.

Jim
 
DVD said:
Only 2 hours of work left for me.
Click to expand...
They cut most people at noon, but I offered to stick around until 4 today in exchange for leaving early on NYE. This is a heavy workload week for me anyway, and next week should be lighter. I think it's just me and the security guard downstairs in the entire 17-story building.

Jim
 
Happy Xmas with some winter grilling in the 40F temps.

It ain’t no thang!
 
Many years ago a Xmas eve workday party at City Hall featured a vodka spiked punchbowl and lots of laughter followed by a fifth of tequila down at the p&z office. Those were the days...
 
michaelskis said:
We have a bit of a frustration with mail right now. My dad sent a package in the 16th and it departed Michigan on the 18th. That was the last update.

Wife ordered something from overseas on the 1st. It says it arrived to the US on the 18th and hasn’t been updated since.
Click to expand...
Planned attempts to disrupt the USPS with short staffing so that there is "cause" to privatize it.

Hope all packages were delivered on time.

We got all ours but the timing was certainly wonky.
 
dandy_warhol said:
Planned attempts to disrupt the USPS with short staffing so that there is "cause" to privatize it.

Hope all packages were delivered on time.

We got all ours but the timing was certainly wonky.
Click to expand...

They were not, but it looks like they should be here this afternoon.
 
Great Christmas. We always do our meal early. I feel bad for the neighbors. We had the power go out while everyone else was cooking.
 
Guess how many years of having a daily desk calendar it took me to figure out that you put it on the base BEFORE you unwrap the shrinkwrap?

I'll change over the calendar on Monday . . . finally figured it out last year after having had a desk calendar since the early 00's.
 

Attachments

  • 2025.jpg
    2025.jpg
    80.9 KB · Views: 7
Christmas was very good here. Brother came down the mountain & mom was here too. Good food, puzzles & family stories.
Happy Christmas 🎄 to all.
 
michaelskis said:
They were not, but it looks like they should be here this afternoon.
Click to expand...
My last amazon order was supposed to arrive last Thursday. It made it to our local post office last Friday. Radio silence since that point. I went out and bough a couple replacement items and realized I overbought so I'm trying to cancel the order now.
 
dandy_warhol said:
When you come from a small family post-holiday goodbyes are extra hard.
Click to expand...
I imagine they could be. Until recently my holidays have always been large boisterous gatherings.

My family was large and centered around a multi-generational farm. Typically we'd have up to between 40-60 people in my grandparents house for Christmas. They made a good attempt after my grandparents passed to keep it up, but it slowly started to lessen. Now only 2 of their 5 kids are alive, my cousins are spread out across the country and have their own families, and the family farm sold last year. So we've gone from massive gatherings to just immediate family and seldom all of my siblings.

My parents are in their 80's and still live next to the farm. It's tough to see both them age and the farm start to go native again from lack of upkeep and management. I'm sure within a year or two they'll start to build houses on it.
 
I was scheduled for a training session at my gym, but the Trainer sent me an appointment for a different time than we agreed upon. Now we are trying to figure out a time that works for both of us.
 
Had a weird dream last night . . . I was in City Hall, went to the basement gym to work out, except the gym had been pulled out and replaced with a fully-functional subway station that looked just like the Los Angeles Metrorail. I went out the front door, and there was the Library Tower in LA (or whatever they call it now) right across the street, as if Los Angeles was slowly being moved, piece by piece, to Reno.

Reno doesn't have nearly the density for a subway (or an LRT--we barely have a BRT), but it would be fun to work in a building connected directly to a subway line. That would never happen in real life.

Jim
 
kms said:
I've gone to open houses for fun. Once, I went to a realtors open house. I got a good lunch at that one.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, reminds me of a story: back when we were ready to buy, pre-approval in hand (2013), we went into of the communities we were looking at. As soon as we got into the sales office, without even greeting us, the lady said, "We only have HIGH END homes here!!!"

Well, hmmph. Ended up not buying there just because of that. The houses were way too big for us anyway, despite the fact we had more than enough in down payment and credit and approvals to be able to afford it and then some. Besides, that commute would have sucked.

Got a smaller house in another neighborhood that fit our needs just fine. (In fact, we should have our "30 year" mortgage paid off by the end of 2025, only 12 years later! Go us!)

Jim
 
michaelskis said:
I have tried, but with Outlook for work, there is no need.

It might hit 70 here before the end of the year.
Click to expand...
For me, it's the belts and suspenders approach. I use Outlook, but I like having a general overview of my day written down. I also have a monthly planner to track longer-range projects.

Jim
 
We have two or three joint banking accounts but we don't both do online access to both.

The one Ms fringe keeps notified her of an "unusual" item. It was a credit in amount of $1034.78 or thereabout.

Payer was "Ga Department", no more name than that.

In reply to her query they said they have no more info, and don't even know why they flagged it!

I never heard of any govt department to issue a credit in fraction of a dollar.

It is very queer. More discussion with them tomorrow.
 
I got a transaction notice about a credit on my AmExp on my work email. My AmExp card is not linked to anything work related.

It looked pretty realistic.
 
I just cant do butter anymore at my age, unless my goal is methane production.

Olive Oil only for me from now on. It made a big difference when I used Olive Oil instead of butter to Sautee the onions for potato soup. I made some popcorn last night with real butter. Lesson Learned.

The body is less forgiving as we age.
 
Anyone else at work today??

I'm struggling to concentrate. I'd rather be reading one of the good books I got for Christmas . . .
 
fringe said:
We have two or three joint banking accounts but we don't both do online access to both.

The one Ms fringe keeps notified her of an "unusual" item. It was a credit in amount of $1034.78 or thereabout.

Payer was "Ga Department", no more name than that.

In reply to her query they said they have no more info, and don't even know why they flagged it!

I never heard of any govt department to issue a credit in fraction of a dollar.

It is very queer. More discussion with them tomorrow.
Click to expand...
The way we handle our moola is that all of income goes into our joint checking account, from which all the household bills are paid. But every payday, we each pull out a certain amount in cash that we can spend on whatever we want to, with no input/overriding from the other person. If she wants to go crazy on doll clothes, she can do so. I usually go wild with books. We also have a set amount that we use for joint "unnecessary" activities like movies, shows, etc. that we just add to every payday and draw from as needed. (Want to go see a movie? Sure, let's grab from the "joint fun" fund. This is also how we pay for our vacations and long weekend getaways.)

It sounds complicated, but we've been doing this for 20 years so it apparently works.

Jim
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: kms
Salmissra said:
Anyone else at work today??

I'm struggling to concentrate. I'd rather be reading one of the good books I got for Christmas . . .
Click to expand...
Thinly staffed, and I have plenty to do. I volunteered to stay and work all 32 hours this week in exchange for flex time next week.

(So why am I on Cyburbia right now? LOL)
 
Last edited:
Salmissra said:
Anyone else at work today??

I'm struggling to concentrate. I'd rather be reading one of the good books I got for Christmas . . .
Click to expand...

Yes. Working on a presentation for January, budget, meeting with a newly elected official, reviewing staff reports, and researching grocery stores to attract to the community.
 
Salmissra said:
Anyone else at work today??

I'm struggling to concentrate. I'd rather be reading one of the good books I got for Christmas . . .
Click to expand...
I'm here, but off Monday and Tuesday next week.

So after today, I don't work until next year. o_O
 
Off but drove by downtown project. Glad to see that covered some things up since it’s going to rain all weekend.
 
At home I have adjusted the tension on the garage door, hung up my new rain gauge & brought the trash cans up from the curb.

American Football & Proper Football on TV this afternoon. Going to see Wicked this evening.

Tough day off 😎
 
Ran a few errands today and was surprised at the lack of crowds. I thought places would be buzzing with people doing returns and exchanges.
 
I don't know what the heck content I watched but the FB algorithm keeps showing me videos of how to make balloon arches.
 
They are already un-decking the halls of City Hall. :-(

I thought the custom was to leave everything up through New Year's. At our house, Christmas stuff goes up at noon on either the last Saturday in November OR the first Saturday in December (whichever is more convenient), and comes down at noon on "the first Sunday after the first Saturday in January," which, this year, is January 5.

Jim
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top