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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

Just so you know - What we call "Danish" in Denmark is called wienerbrod which translates literally to "Vienna bread".

I've had kringle from Racine and it is insanely sweet. You wouldn't find anything quite like that in Denmark, in my experience.
 
Palisades Fire

Palisades Fire | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov www.fire.ca.gov

1736375360239.png

Personnel - will require rehab involving food, medical, rest
Helicopters, Engines, Dozers, Water Tenders - will require maintenance & fuel

If you gone through NIMS training you should appreciate how complex unified incident command is.
 
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DVD said:
This is killing my wife. She used to live in the Palisades. Went to Pali High. It's all gone now.
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That's terrible. She no doubt knows some of the affected families.

I tried to call my friend in La Crescenta. It's been so long since I talked to him, I don't even have his cell phone number. I called his home number but for all I know he's already evacuated.
 
I drift between making every email have a rule for it and be organized, to just letting everything sit in my inbox so I be reminded of it.
 
Hink said:
I drift between making every email have a rule for it and be organized, to just letting everything sit in my inbox so I be reminded of it.
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My Inbox has been my file drawer for a decade or more. The problem is that there aren't hard and fast rules for my emails, but overlapping Venn diagrams. What project? What phase? What customer? Etc.
 
dandy_warhol said:
It is not OK to leave your 8 month old unattended in your hotel room while you go down to the hotel restaurant even if you take your baby monitor with you. 😳😳😥😲😲😵‍💫🫨
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Yeah that's not a good idea

Years ago, we wanted to go into this neighborhood restaurant that was just a couple blocks away and set a baby monitor down on our table just to see if anyone would say anything - we never did it but our neighborhood had 5,000 SF or less lots and there was a group of 5 families that used to hang out in our backyard at night and everyone had their baby monitor on them (it was our first baby so...) - one time all of our monitors went off at once with a baby crying and we couldn't tell which one of us it was, and we all went in our houses and none of the cries were our babies so it must have been some other kid in the neighborhood lol - ah the 90's...
 
Whose Yur Planner said:
That was not a bad song, however tongue in cheek.
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For several years, this was the song played during the seventh inning stretch at our local AAA ballpark (a 3-minute walk from where I now sit!) They've reverted to the standard "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" as of the post-pandemic reopening.

JIm
 
jumbach said:
For several years, this was the song played during the seventh inning stretch at our local AAA ballpark (a 3-minute walk from where I now sit!) They've reverted to the standard "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" as of the post-pandemic reopening.

JIm
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Our MiLB team stills plays it, but I can't recall when right now.
 
Planit said:
Our MiLB team stills plays it, but I can't recall when right now.
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One of these days, I will take a couple hours off and sneak over there for one of their 11:35 weekday games. They have a handful during the season. Leave work at 11, back by 3.

It's going to be a busy little venue this year--since the AAA team in Sacramento is sharing its park with a major league team for the next few years, some of the Sacramento "home" games will be played here in Reno, two hours away on the other side of a mountain. But I think in general, when the Sacramento A's are at home, the River Cats will be away, and vice versa, but there were a few conflicts so one of the teams has to play somewhere else.

I wonder what the logistics would be of having the A's home game at, say, 1 p.m., and the River Cats home game at, say, 7? It's theoretical because that isn't happening.

Jim
 
They are replacing all of the water meters in our fair community with ones that use the magic of internet or whatever to send the readings directly to the water department so they don't have to drive around anymore...

We scheduled our replacement for today and the guys show up and first it's a pain in the a55 to reach our meter because it's behind some ductwork in the garage. Then they cannot shut the water off at the meter because the valve is bent. No big deal they say because they should be able to shut an outside valve off the connects the mainline into the house. Nope... that valve is bent too! Now it's sort of a big deal but one of the guys says the ground isn't too frozen so he tries to dig to the valve at the street to shut off the water at the mainline itself. That valve isn't bent but just turns and turns and turns and turns.. One last attempt is made since there is a valve across the street that shuts off a very small segment of the actual water main for our neighborhood. They figure they can shut it off for the 15 minutes they need to swap the meters out and they open up the box and find the valve is just broken with the handle laying there. They call a different crew from the city to tell them about the repairs that all need to be done and we'll reschedule our meter install. I ask them when the city might fix all those particular valves and they have no idea.... it could be tomorrow or it could be 6 months from now. At least they'll send a letter beforehand to let us know the water will be off for xxx hours.

Good thing I don't have to pay for any of this! (I mean other than our already high water rates)
 
This morning my alarm went off at 5:10 (I ride the train) and I fell back asleep. I dreamed that there was a coffin covered in dirt. It was in a room in my old house. I knew that everyone believed it was empty. I found myself prying the lid of the coffin open. Hair was stuck to the inside and pulled up a skull. There were two decomposing bodies inside, holding each other in an embrace. I woke up. It was 5:13.

I am feeling kind of subdued today as a result. Can't shake the image.
 
I sometimes hate my coworkers. On a call they asked if we needed a copy of an election form for a CFD district so not normal election stuff. The person signed saying they owned land. I said it stays in the clerks office who does the election. I don't want any election material even if it's not protected by election laws and the clerk is very protective of anything election related. It's her job. The attorney who needs to certify the CFD formation is like, nope, don't need it. I just need the election results. So the coworker say, lets get a copy of that. Knowing the clerk is a PITA to work with on anything. Thanks, I think I'll just forget I heard that request.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
They are replacing all of the water meters in our fair community with ones that use the magic of internet or whatever to send the readings directly to the water department so they don't have to drive around anymore...

We scheduled our replacement for today and the guys show up and first it's a pain in the a55 to reach our meter because it's behind some ductwork in the garage. Then they cannot shut the water off at the meter because the valve is bent. No big deal they say because they should be able to shut an outside valve off the connects the mainline into the house. Nope... that valve is bent too! Now it's sort of a big deal but one of the guys says the ground isn't too frozen so he tries to dig to the valve at the street to shut off the water at the mainline itself. That valve isn't bent but just turns and turns and turns and turns.. One last attempt is made since there is a valve across the street that shuts off a very small segment of the actual water main for our neighborhood. They figure they can shut it off for the 15 minutes they need to swap the meters out and they open up the box and find the valve is just broken with the handle laying there. They call a different crew from the city to tell them about the repairs that all need to be done and we'll reschedule our meter install. I ask them when the city might fix all those particular valves and they have no idea.... it could be tomorrow or it could be 6 months from now. At least they'll send a letter beforehand to let us know the water will be off for xxx hours.

Good thing I don't have to pay for any of this! (I mean other than our already high water rates)
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We got those kinds of meters a few years ago. It detected a leak in my system which was good. It was in my sprinkler system... somewhere. So my sprinkler guy ended up just putting a valve on the main feed that shuts off the whole system when it's not being used (before it was nine different valves, one for each zone).
 
Doohickie said:
We got those kinds of meters a few years ago. It detected a leak in my system which was good. It was in my sprinkler system... somewhere. So my sprinkler guy ended up just putting a valve on the main feed that shuts off the whole system when it's not being used (before it was nine different valves, one for each zone).
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Our meters report usage via radio frequency every 6 hours. The metering software flags accounts with continuous usage or usage outside of normal and we contact the customer about a possible leak. It's usually a toilet or occasionally an outside spigot left on.
 
estromberg said:
Our meters report usage via radio frequency every 6 hours. The metering software flags accounts with continuous usage or usage outside of normal and we contact the customer about a possible leak. It's usually a toilet or occasionally an outside spigot left on.
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Nah, usually that just means they are growing pot. :p
 
Vikings/Rams game possibly being moved to Phoenix . . .

I am surprised they don't move it to San Diego, Las Vegas or Minneapolis. Maybe all those venues are already in use.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
They are replacing all of the water meters in our fair community with ones that use the magic of internet or whatever to send the readings directly to the water department so they don't have to drive around anymore...

We scheduled our replacement for today and the guys show up and first it's a pain in the a55 to reach our meter because it's behind some ductwork in the garage. Then they cannot shut the water off at the meter because the valve is bent. No big deal they say because they should be able to shut an outside valve off the connects the mainline into the house. Nope... that valve is bent too! Now it's sort of a big deal but one of the guys says the ground isn't too frozen so he tries to dig to the valve at the street to shut off the water at the mainline itself. That valve isn't bent but just turns and turns and turns and turns.. One last attempt is made since there is a valve across the street that shuts off a very small segment of the actual water main for our neighborhood. They figure they can shut it off for the 15 minutes they need to swap the meters out and they open up the box and find the valve is just broken with the handle laying there. They call a different crew from the city to tell them about the repairs that all need to be done and we'll reschedule our meter install. I ask them when the city might fix all those particular valves and they have no idea.... it could be tomorrow or it could be 6 months from now. At least they'll send a letter beforehand to let us know the water will be off for xxx hours.

Good thing I don't have to pay for any of this! (I mean other than our already high water rates)
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We are also doing meter replacements throughout the Town. I am not sure if they are fully automated, but a massive upgrade from what was there before. The old ones had to be readers by hand, and the new ones have an antenna in the top place for the readers. Ours are located in meter pits between the curb and sidewalk. The crews here were so efficient, that my kid were home and didn't notice any kind of disruption to service.

However, we have discovered an issue. The leaf truck has so much suction that it will pull the lid and antenna right off the pit.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
More Trader Joe's talk: I'm eating some TJ's peanut brittle. It tastes pretty good but is way too thick.
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My pita night was fantastic. Grilled chicken, feta, beautiful grape tomatoes - cut, of course, cabbage, cucumbers, celery and the world's most adorable and tasty miniature croutons with cucumber ranch. All in the gentle embrace of the humble pita, noblest of pockets.
DVD said:
I sometimes hate my coworkers.
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Sometimes I hate your coworkers, too. I thought you might take comfort in that. :)
 
ursus said:
My pita night was fantastic. Grilled chicken, feta, beautiful grape tomatoes - cut, of course, cabbage, cucumbers, celery and the world's most adorable and tasty miniature croutons with cucumber ranch. All in the gentle embrace of the humble pita, noblest of pockets.
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My daughter and I went here for dinner last night. https://www.thepitapeddler.com/

As indicated by WSU, establishments like this are plentiful in Metro Detroit.

While we didn't get "pockets", we definitely got some pita bread and garlic dip.

Long live the pocket! Hail!
 
JNA said:
Palisades Fire

Palisades Fire | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov www.fire.ca.gov

View attachment 64155
Personnel - will require rehab involving food, medical, rest
Helicopters, Engines, Dozers, Water Tenders - will require maintenance & fuel

If you gone through NIMS training you should appreciate how complex unified incident command is.
Click to expand...

Can you imagine the chaos if they were not using ICS/ NIMS? That structure was likely the best thing to come out of 9/11
 
We can't get Aldi or Trader Joe's because we are too far away from their distribution centers and we don't have the demographics so that's how far away from things we are -
 
luckless pedestrian said:
We can't get Aldi or Trader Joe's because we are too far away from their distribution centers and we don't have the demographics so that's how far away from things we are -
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What demographic does Aldi's need? I get Trader Joes being that way, but Aldi? Its built on being cheap.
 
We can't get an Aldi either. Their reasoning is that there is one in the county, so we don't need two. The problem is it's in a crap location that is difficult to get in/out.
 
Hawkeye66 said:
Its weird to me. There is one about 12 miles from me, in a town smaller than yours, that is by no means well off.
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yeah but what is the regional population - our regional population is a little over 100,000 within an hour's drive and the city itself is 33,000
 
The LA Times is keeping its paywall up even for fire stories. That is a bad policy--fire stories should be free as a matter of public safety.

I am monitoring KTLA instead for updates from the local media there--no paywall.

Everyone I know in SoCal is accounted for.

Jim
 
luckless pedestrian said:
yeah but what is the regional population - our regional population is a little over 100,000 within an hour's drive and the city itself is 33,000
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The city I am talking about is a little smaller than you, about 27,000, but yes within an hours drive the population is around 750,000. But, the bulk of those people would not serve that store. There are several Aldi's in those larger towns. You are right that it might be more about distribution.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
They are replacing all of the water meters in our fair community with ones that use the magic of internet or whatever to send the readings directly to the water department so they don't have to drive around anymore...

We scheduled our replacement for today and the guys show up and first it's a pain in the a55 to reach our meter because it's behind some ductwork in the garage. Then they cannot shut the water off at the meter because the valve is bent. No big deal they say because they should be able to shut an outside valve off the connects the mainline into the house. Nope... that valve is bent too! Now it's sort of a big deal but one of the guys says the ground isn't too frozen so he tries to dig to the valve at the street to shut off the water at the mainline itself. That valve isn't bent but just turns and turns and turns and turns.. One last attempt is made since there is a valve across the street that shuts off a very small segment of the actual water main for our neighborhood. They figure they can shut it off for the 15 minutes they need to swap the meters out and they open up the box and find the valve is just broken with the handle laying there. They call a different crew from the city to tell them about the repairs that all need to be done and we'll reschedule our meter install. I ask them when the city might fix all those particular valves and they have no idea.... it could be tomorrow or it could be 6 months from now. At least they'll send a letter beforehand to let us know the water will be off for xxx hours.

Good thing I don't have to pay for any of this! (I mean other than our already high water rates)
Click to expand...

When I do house inspections I NEVER turn any valve to avoid the above.
 
jumbach said:
Vikings/Rams game possibly being moved to Phoenix . . .

I am surprised they don't move it to San Diego, Las Vegas or Minneapolis. Maybe all those venues are already in use.
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Ouch man. As a Cardinals fan, just ouch.

Wife said all her friends in LA have been accounted for.

Work still sucks. I'm looking up a city/county road agreement and was sent the agreement and 1st amendment. My boss tells me he's pretty sure there's at least one more amendment, but no one knows where it is. Of course no one has been monitoring this agreement so it's up to me to get it all straightened out.
 
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