• 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 20 (2025)

Yea... Draft of the FRQ for my comp plan is done! Now to get with purchasing to have them tell me to change 10,000 things.
 
Planit said:
The street paving project was done in 2020, except for the sharrows. After constant reminders from this planner, they were finally installed today.
Click to expand...
Our parking lot is still not ADA compliant - four years after I told them specifically what must be done, including a state-specific requirement. I keep reminding them, they keep blowing it off.:(
 
Since we were having some plumbing work done yesterday, and since Wifey was on some shopping trip with the girls, I had a lot of time at home yesterday. How'd I spend it?

Pulling weeds in the front yard, and playing with my weed wacker in the backyard.

I wish I had spent the day less productively, but it needed to be done.

Jim
 
Our middle son (the one on the Autism spectrum) does not do great in his classes. Normally, is does decent with behavior. However there is one teacher this year that will contact us at least once a month regarding a behavior issue. We have had administration and his case worker indicate that the problem isn't our son and that next year he won't have these issues, which speaks volumes.

Today, the teachers complaint was a bit more extensive than normal. I read through it multiple times, and there was a whole lot implied. I responded asking for additional information, including asking if there is video of the incident because her depiction of the event does not sound like him, even when he is being defiant.

The other oddity is there was a group of people who were included in the message, but our normal points of contact (his caseworker and the assistant principal) where not. I reached out to them and they had no knowledge of the incident.

I am going to dig in a bit more to get additional details, but I have a feeling that a meeting is in the future.
 
We had a plumber over yesterday. He parked his van on the street in front of the mailbox. Which is fine with me, but it annoyed our carrier enough that she left a note IN OUR MAILBOX saying she couldn't deliver our mail because it was blocked.

So she couldn't leave the mail in the box, but she could leave the note?

And where else is the plumber supposed to park? I'm perfectly fine with him parking in our driveway--I'm not going anywhere--but their company doesn't allow it.

Jim

michaelskis said:
Our middle son (the one on the Autism spectrum) does not do great in his classes. Normally, is does decent with behavior. However there is one teacher this year that will contact us at least once a month regarding a behavior issue. We have had administration and his case worker indicate that the problem isn't our son and that next year he won't have these issues, which speaks volumes.

Today, the teachers complaint was a bit more extensive than normal. I read through it multiple times, and there was a whole lot implied. I responded asking for additional information, including asking if there is video of the incident because her depiction of the event does not sound like him, even when he is being defiant.

The other oddity is there was a group of people who were included in the message, but our normal points of contact (his caseworker and the assistant principal) where not. I reached out to them and they had no knowledge of the incident.

I am going to dig in a bit more to get additional details, but I have a feeling that a meeting is in the future.
Click to expand...
Something seems a bit off about all this . . . I'd definitely want more details myself. Doesn't sound like kid did anything out of character, and the fact the SW and AP were not cc:ed is telling.

Jim
 
Doohickie said:
Lost and Found

View attachment 64600

At some point yesterday I realized I didn't have my house keys. Typically I always have my keys on me if I'm outside the house.

Yesterday I started doing the lawn. I did the edging and pulled some weeds. I got the lawnmower out and realized I needed to tune it up; I could barely keep it running last week. So I went to the video I found last week and tuned it up and mowed the lawn.

Then I realized I had to get to Costco before they closed so I made a quick list and set off. I did my shopping there, and made a stop at Albertson's as well. When I got home I realized I only had my car key but not the house keys.

I retraced my steps... the auto parts store where I bought the carb cleaner, Costco, Albertson's. No one had seen my keys. I went back today just to make sure.... no keys.

I really need those keys: The lock for my bicycle is on them. I think I have an extra somewhere but I have no idea where I would even look.

So finally as the sun was going down I went out with a flashlight. I looked where I was working on the lawnmower... nothing. Then I started tracing the steps I took when I trimmed the bushes and pulled the weeds, shining the flashlight in a sweeping motion back and forth... something?

Something shiny for sure.... yep! My keys. The prodigal keys have returned!
Click to expand...
Is there any worse feeling that not knowing where one's keys are? :-O

Until recently, my wife had forbade me from going for a walk around our neighborhood with keys or wallet, on the fear that I would lose them somewhere (which never happened). But we installed keypad locks a few months ago, so I have no need for keys anyway. And I don't really need a wallet when out in our neighborhood since I'm not going to be buying anything.

She also doesn't let me run around the neighborhood, since I have fallen twice in 10 years*. I am, though, allowed to walk briskly. Also, treadmill running is OK since there is the thingamabob that will shut power off if I fall (I haven't).

*Both times related to a now-fixed brain aneurysm affecting balance.
 
jumbach said:
We had a plumber over yesterday. He parked his van on the street in front of the mailbox. Which is fine with me, but it annoyed our carrier enough that she left a note IN OUR MAILBOX saying she couldn't deliver our mail because it was blocked.

So she couldn't leave the mail in the box, but she could leave the note?

And where else is the plumber supposed to park? I'm perfectly fine with him parking in our driveway--I'm not going anywhere--but their company doesn't allow it.

Jim


Something seems a bit off about all this . . . I'd definitely want more details myself. Doesn't sound like kid did anything out of character, and the fact the SW and AP were not cc:ed is telling.

Jim
Click to expand...
Is your neighborhood that dense that they didn't have a choice? I've noticed that newer developments all place the mailboxes at the street even when the houses are fairly close together, probably closer together than the 100 year old neighborhood I live in. Assume USPS dictates this, though I'm not sure how, it doesn't seem preferable from a residents perspective.
 
Well, we spoke with him about the situation and it was very evident that what transpired was not as the teacher and portrayed it. We spoke with the principal and there is no pending disciplinary action by the school. However, we spoke with him about how he behaves in her class, explaining that even though he might not be thinking he is doing anything wrong, she might not understand that and that he needs to just focus on not drawing attention to himself for the next four weeks and then he will be done for the summer. He seemed to be ok with this.

The principal has already informed us that things will be much different (better) for next year and that he will not have this teacher again.
 
jsk1983 said:
Is your neighborhood that dense that they didn't have a choice? I've noticed that newer developments all place the mailboxes at the street even when the houses are fairly close together, probably closer together than the 100 year old neighborhood I live in. Assume USPS dictates this, though I'm not sure how, it doesn't seem preferable from a residents perspective.
Click to expand...
We have individual mailboxes, not cluster mailboxes (built in the 1980's, and the last neighborhood in Nevada to have the individual boxes.) There really was no other place to park, since the county is doing gas work on our block and the street was full of utility trucks. It was the last open spot on the road. I honestly don't know what the USPS was griping about.

Our mail came yesterday as normal, despite the threats to cut us off.

Jim

jsk1983 said:
Is your neighborhood that dense that they didn't have a choice? I've noticed that newer developments all place the mailboxes at the street even when the houses are fairly close together, probably closer together than the 100 year old neighborhood I live in. Assume USPS dictates this, though I'm not sure how, it doesn't seem preferable from a residents perspective.
Click to expand...
The USPS dictates cluster mailboxes in all new developments, with very rare exceptions.

I'll have to dig up my old column about how the USPS decides it's time to start delivery to a newly-built neighborhood. It has to do with what percentage of houses are now occupied, but there are other factors as well.

Jim
 
We're havin' an all-night revival
Someone call the women and someone steal the Bible
For the sake of my survival
Baptize me in a bottle of Beam, put Johnny on the vinyl
 
jumbach said:
We had a plumber over yesterday. He parked his van on the street in front of the mailbox. Which is fine with me, but it annoyed our carrier enough that she left a note IN OUR MAILBOX saying she couldn't deliver our mail because it was blocked.

So she couldn't leave the mail in the box, but she could leave the note?

And where else is the plumber supposed to park? I'm perfectly fine with him parking in our driveway--I'm not going anywhere--but their company doesn't allow it.

Jim
Click to expand...


Our carrier has done the exact same thing, plus wrote "BOX BLOCKED" on the envelope when it was actually delivered.
 
jsk1983 said:
Is your neighborhood that dense that they didn't have a choice? I've noticed that newer developments all place the mailboxes at the street even when the houses are fairly close together, probably closer together than the 100 year old neighborhood I live in. Assume USPS dictates this, though I'm not sure how, it doesn't seem preferable from a residents perspective.
Click to expand...
My mail box is on my front porch. Of the 20 houses on my block we are one of 4 houses with porch mail boxes, the rest have boxes at the curb. When properties change hands or there are safety issues they require curb boxes. I would imagine that at some point we will have to move our mail box to the curb at some point, but we are on the side of the street that allows on-street parking so I would be concerned about getting my mail if that happens because me and my neighbors park on street.
 
The boss is planning a weekend campout for anyone who wants to go, at a date sometime this summer.

It's one thing to do stuff with your coworkers for a couple hours after work--it's another entirely to spend an entire weekend with the unkempt, farting, potty-minded other side of them you don't see.

Jim
 
jumbach said:
The boss is planning a weekend campout for anyone who wants to go, at a date sometime this summer.

It's one thing to do stuff with your coworkers for a couple hours after work--it's another entirely to spend an entire weekend with the unkempt, farting, potty-minded other side of them you don't see.

Jim
Click to expand...

wow - I asked HR if I could host my department to a holiday party at my house and they said they didn't recommend it - can't imagine a weekend
 
jumbach said:
The boss is planning a weekend campout for anyone who wants to go, at a date sometime this summer.

It's one thing to do stuff with your coworkers for a couple hours after work--it's another entirely to spend an entire weekend with the unkempt, farting, potty-minded other side of them you don't see.

Jim
Click to expand...
Yeah, that would be a hard pass for me. I don't mind some minimal socializing with colleagues but that's a lot. Yes, sometimes you do meet someone at work that you remain great friends with no matter where you go or how much time passes. In fact, my best friend is someone I met at my first professional job 30 years ago, but that's rare. I get tired of the notion that your co-workers are like family. No, no they're not.
 
MD Planner said:
Yeah, that would be a hard pass for me. I don't mind some minimal socializing with colleagues but that's a lot. Yes, sometimes you do meet someone at work that you remain great friends with no matter where you go or how much time passes. In fact, my best friend is someone I met at my first professional job 30 years ago, but that's rare. I get tired of the notion that your co-workers are like family. No, no they're not.
Click to expand...
Dittos. Especially in the public sector.
 
jumbach said:
The boss is planning a weekend campout for anyone who wants to go, at a date sometime this summer.

It's one thing to do stuff with your coworkers for a couple hours after work--it's another entirely to spend an entire weekend with the unkempt, farting, potty-minded other side of them you don't see.

Jim
Click to expand...

Last job we did an out of town retreat with directors and elected officials. Everyone had their own Tiny House so it wasn't nearly as bad. The days were structured with presentations and meetings and in the evening, the staff met up for beverages and the board did their thing. This was before the bad people had majority on the board...
 
jumbach said:
The boss is planning a weekend campout for anyone who wants to go, at a date sometime this summer.

It's one thing to do stuff with your coworkers for a couple hours after work--it's another entirely to spend an entire weekend with the unkempt, farting, potty-minded other side of them you don't see.

Jim
Click to expand...
Sounds like the making of a Parks and Recreation episode, or maybe it was.
 
1746133231368.png
 
michaelskis said:
Last job we did an out of town retreat with directors and elected officials. Everyone had their own Tiny House so it wasn't nearly as bad. The days were structured with presentations and meetings and in the evening, the staff met up for beverages and the board did their thing. This was before the bad people had majority on the board...
Click to expand...
Well, if they do it up at Lake Davis, as is being discussed, Wifey and I can retreat to our secret cabin we have up there. (We've had it for 25 years.)
 
michaelskis said:
Last job we did an out of town retreat with directors and elected officials. Everyone had their own Tiny House so it wasn't nearly as bad. The days were structured with presentations and meetings and in the evening, the staff met up for beverages and the board did their thing. This was before the bad people had majority on the board...
Click to expand...
No No No GIF


@MD Planner
 
MD Planner said:
Yeah, that would be a hard pass for me. I don't mind some minimal socializing with colleagues but that's a lot. Yes, sometimes you do meet someone at work that you remain great friends with no matter where you go or how much time passes. In fact, my best friend is someone I met at my first professional job 30 years ago, but that's rare. I get tired of the notion that your co-workers are like family. No, no they're not.
Click to expand...
Agree. I like (most*) of my coworkers, but have little desire to spend time with them after work.

One of my coworkers* took around birthday cards. It used to be one signing per birthday, then all the birthday cards per month. Someone must have told her that card signing isn't billable and that activity went away.

I go to every other holiday party, the department holiday party and pass on the rest, including adoption a highway.
 
When I worked at the state, we did birthdays once a month, for everyone who had a birthday in a given month.

What I found most amazing was that in an office of 45 people, no two of us had the same birthday. Nobody else thought that was unusual.

Jim
 
I thought the kid was well-intentioned and probably a hard worker. I estimated his business might last a year or two and then would crash and burn.
Then he came in to expand the business, much to my surprise. We granted it with conditions, but my skepticism remained.
The business went way past my original estimates. He pushed the boundaries a few times and we had to reel him in a bit.
Then came the rumors he was looking to relocate to The Town Next DoorTM. Then came the flirtations with a very valuable piece of real estate here. A zoning approval followed even though there were doubters (myself no longer among them).
Yesterday came news he closed on that very expen$$$ive real estate. Next is a multi-million investment in building.

I don't doubt this kid anymore and others should start to believe also. Who'dathunkit?
 
Gedunker said:
I thought the kid was well-intentioned and probably a hard worker. I estimated his business might last a year or two and then would crash and burn.
Then he came in to expand the business, much to my surprise. We granted it with conditions, but my skepticism remained.
The business went way past my original estimates. He pushed the boundaries a few times and we had to reel him in a bit.
Then came the rumors he was looking to relocate to The Town Next DoorTM. Then came the flirtations with a very valuable piece of real estate here. A zoning approval followed even though there were doubters (myself no longer among them).
Yesterday came news he closed on that very expen$$$ive real estate. Next is a multi-million investment in building.

I don't doubt this kid anymore and others should start to believe also. Who'dathunkit?
Click to expand...
A far cry from a local business we had that wanted to pay for its CUP in installments. (It was only $4,000--not a huge amount). Obviously, we don't have an option for that, so the owner opted to forgo the CUP and stick with standard permitted operating hours (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

I figured based on that it wouldn't last long, and it was gone less than a year later.

JIm
 
I'd say healthy skepticism with a generous dollop of doubt towards any new enterprise is the way to go. Certainly not optimism, or worse, faith in them. Statistically, the large majority of new businesses are doomed to fail usually within just a few years. The numbers don't lie.
 
jsk1983 said:
Is your neighborhood that dense that they didn't have a choice? I've noticed that newer developments all place the mailboxes at the street even when the houses are fairly close together, probably closer together than the 100 year old neighborhood I live in. Assume USPS dictates this, though I'm not sure how, it doesn't seem preferable from a residents perspective.
Click to expand...
For new developments, USPS requires clustered mailboxes. Mail service is a HOT topic in my town. The town is about 1/2 square mile in size and about 2K population. We have a post office but no home delivery service. Everyone gets a free PO box. I usually go once or twice a week. It can be inconvenient since they are only open 830-430 weekdays and 10-12 on Saturday. I appreciate that mail rarely is missing or delivered in error and packages are always secured.

The old people make the biggest noise about not having home delivery service to their door, but there aren’t enough delivery points to justify a mail carrier route. The town won’t grow any more since it’s hemmed in by the bay, a creek, and permanently preserved Pinelands.
 
jumbach said:
When I worked at the state, we did birthdays once a month, for everyone who had a birthday in a given month.

What I found most amazing was that in an office of 45 people, no two of us had the same birthday. Nobody else thought that was unusual.

Jim
Click to expand...

There's a 6.6% chance that no one out of a group of 45 people shares the same birthday.
 
Gedunker said:
I thought the kid was well-intentioned and probably a hard worker. I estimated his business might last a year or two and then would crash and burn.
Then he came in to expand the business, much to my surprise. We granted it with conditions, but my skepticism remained.
The business went way past my original estimates. He pushed the boundaries a few times and we had to reel him in a bit.
Then came the rumors he was looking to relocate to The Town Next DoorTM. Then came the flirtations with a very valuable piece of real estate here. A zoning approval followed even though there were doubters (myself no longer among them).
Yesterday came news he closed on that very expen$$$ive real estate. Next is a multi-million investment in building.

I don't doubt this kid anymore and others should start to believe also. Who'dathunkit?
Click to expand...

I have a few friends/acquaintances that did that. For every success, though, there are a lot of failures (as you know).

One was a baker, built a substantial baking business with a shop, custom order catering, even wedding cakes (did our son's wedding and gave us stupidly good deal because we were one of her oldest customers). She got colon cancer and sold the business to a woman who did similarly well with a book shop/tea room. She combined the businesses and it's doing well. The baker beat cancer and after selling the bakery for several million she and her family are in their 50s and living their best life.

One was a home brewer, who with a friend and a backer opened a craft brewery that's celebrating 10 years of existence (10 years since they leased the building; didn't open until the next year). Of the original three, the backer eventually withdrew (due to health problems; wanted to cash out and by then the other two partners were able to buy him out) and then the other original partner also cashed out. But the brewery is doing well 9 years in.

Then there was the couple sunk all their savings into a food trailer and smoker, maxed out their credit cards to buy food supplies, sold out for several weekends in a row, set up in the parking lot of a bar. They did a kickstarter to buy a bigger smoker and hit their goal in 7 hours, eventually getting three times the money they were hoping for, attracted a business partner in the form of a landlord to get them into a brick-and-mortar location, and then they really took off and currently have three locations plus they bought out a retiring bbq family's store and do catering out of that. They routinely do well in barbecue polls, often winning the local award for best barbecue and doing well statewide and even nationally. They've also been in business about nine years so far.

In our area though, you can make a fortune with good bbq. The pair of friends who swooped in on the parking lot spot when the folks above moved to their store, ended up doing very well also. So well that they built an actual permanent building in the parking lot, then bought out their bar host. The bar, by the way, was started by a father-son team who wanted to have a traditional neighborhood bar in a part of town that was just starting to renew. They bought a dilapidated cinder block building on the edge of that area, in was was still considered a very sketchy spot, made the place inhabitable and even though in the early days there weren't very many "local" people as the new housing in that area hadn't really kicked into gear yet, they made a good run of it. By the time the bbq places came around, they were a popular spot, in a very understated way.

I've also seen my share of businesses starting and never really getting established before they have to close there doors, or businesses that have early success but can't sustain it over the long haul. I'm not sure what distinguishes business concepts that make it versus those that don't.
 
Doohickie said:
There's a 6.6% chance that no one out of a group of 45 people shares the same birthday.
Click to expand...
I figured it was about that . . . which makes a bet that two people DO have the same birthday a safe bet. In this case, though, a losing one.

I don't remember the math exactly, but it's a better than even chance at about person 30, and a virtual certainty by about 60 people.

Jim
 
using the real name it's Queen Sense (sounds like a food product name)
using Cyb name it's Colonel Causeway (sounds like a turnpike name)
 
I was trying to tell a much-younger co-worker about the wonderful movie "The Princess Bride." I gave a 20-second no-spoiler synopsis*, and wanted to find one scene from the movie that would leave a taste for more without giving anything away. It was hard, as the entire movie is genius, but I settled on the Miracle Max "true love/mutton lettuce and tomato" sandwich scene (which, I understand, was a Billy Crystal improv that worked.)

That is the only movie, by the way, that even comes close to being as good as the book. It may even edge out the book in some ways.

Jim

*"A commoner girl is pledged to marry a very vain prince after he kidnaps her, and not the man she really loves, while said prince does everything in his power to dispose of his rival for her affection, while the man's henchmen try to stop the vain prince." Something along those lines.
 
Back
Top