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

My city manager is retiring at the end of this month, and she is going out, leaving supportive vibes and positive bread crumbs for all of us department heads - it's amazing, but I will miss her! I have been in denial for the last few months and now it's hitting me
Maybe before I retire, I'll have a manager that I'll miss when they leave. The current one has the potential to be missed.
 
Why don't people ever believe "NOT A THROUGH ROAD" and "NO OUTLET" signs? Do drivers think the city just had a bunch of extra signs made and placed them randomly?

Jim
On the other hand, someone with access to public works' sign repository has the opportunity to do something very funny. Call it "guerilla traffic calming".
 
Why don't people ever believe "NOT A THROUGH ROAD" and "NO OUTLET" signs? Do drivers think the city just had a bunch of extra signs made and placed them randomly?

Jim
You are assuming that they are actually paying enough attention to notice the signs.
 
Barricades are merely a suggestion in this town. Sometimes they even have to get out of their car and move them to drive past.
 
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Barricades are merely a suggestion in this town. Sometimes they even have to get out of their car and move them to drive past.

Oh I hear you. We have a neighborhood that came out in force a few weeks ago because their street was going to connect into a development with a super high end apartment complex. The street was designed and approved before their neighborhood was designed, so they don't really have a leg to stand on and we explained that the barriers would remain for the next few weeks until we can get "No Construction" signs installed. Unfortunately, some churlish landscape contractor pulling trailer with a bobcat decided the the signs and barricades didn't apply to him. The recorded the contractor moving the barricades to get into the project. Fortunately, the developer is awesome and explained to the landscape contractor that his bobcat would be shoved someplace if he did it again.


Anyone headed to CNU33 in Providence?

I was, but we have too much going on so I decided to skip it. Hope to go in future years.
 
Son came out of surgery and the doctor said went 90% like he hoped. His clavicle did not line up like he wanted so the tie down to the scapula had to be be made closer to the end of the bone which is then more prone to breaking off. Needs to wear a sling except for bathing until first week of July.
 
Today is trash day for my part of my town.

And...for a household of (effectively) 5 full size adults...we only had one very full bag of garbage this week.

Well Done Good Job GIF by Lopez on TV Land


;)
 
Why don't people ever believe "NOT A THROUGH ROAD" and "NO OUTLET" signs? Do drivers think the city just had a bunch of extra signs made and placed them randomly?

Jim
One city I worked for with a high retirement population demanded that we replace all the dead end signs with no outlet. The signs do have different meanings.

I move barricades on parade day if the parade hasn't started.
I show up to parades dressed as a clown and tell the cops I'm there for the briss, wedding, or bat mitzvah.

Today is trash day for my part of my town.

And...for a household of (effectively) 5 full size adults...we only had one very full bag of garbage this week.

View attachment 64727
Trash guy must be hauling ass because it's trash day here too.
 
Today is trash day for my part of my town.

And...for a household of (effectively) 5 full size adults...we only had one very full bag of garbage this week.

Well Done Good Job GIF by Lopez on TV Land


;)
With what goes into the recycling can (full every two weeks) we will have two 18 gallon trash bags per week for four adults, one dog, one cat, and one betta. The betta does not contribute much trash, however.

Is it all recycled? Doubtful. Many anecdotal reports say very little is actually recycled.
 
On this Memorial Day, if I may be so bold, please understand that we are remembering those service members who gave that last full measure of devotion to our nation - the ultimate sacrifice - like Captain Waskow written by the great war correspondent, Ernie Pyle.

Veterans Day in November is for thanking all the men and women that sacrifice for our freedom and safety.

Carry on.
American Flag Usa GIF by U.S. National Archives
 
Eidolon Youve Got A Deal GIF by Amazon Prime Video


With what goes into the recycling can (full every two weeks) we will have two 18 gallon trash bags per week for four adults, one dog, one cat, and one betta. The betta does not contribute much trash, however.

Is it all recycled? Doubtful. Many anecdotal reports say very little is actually recycled.
We usually have our recycling can about half full every week...

Bill Murray Dalai Llama GIF


Don't you hate when a good meme is ruined by poor grammar?
Austin Powers Nerd GIF
 
Anyone else see this?


Sign code fun!
 
I am "graduating" from therapy next week . . . it's been a long road for the last several years but I feel much better about myself now.

Mostly, I've learned how to say no to things that infringe on my own mental health time, and to prioritize taking care of the one person I have been neglecting: myself.

Jim
 
That's what it looked like on the street outside my window yesterday. It was the last day of school and they had an awards ceremony. Two dads who'd had run-ins previously got into a fight and one stabbed the other. You know.... in front of the kids.

The cops were flying by my window doing probably 80 in the residential neighborhood, and went airborne crossing the storm gutter across the intersection in front of my house.

The guy who got stabbed lived, the one who stabbed was quickly apprehended.

Shemar Moore Swat GIF by CBS
 
Maybe before I retire, I'll have a manager that I'll miss when they leave. The current one has the potential to be missed.

We just had a re-org and now I'm working for a guy younger than my son. He's actually pretty good. He was a peer prior to getting hired to the management spot and we commiserated about some of the things our common boss (well, now his boss and my boss's boss) did that annoyed us. The boss's boss isn't a bad guy but tends to micromanage a bit. In fairness to him, he knows he does it and if he's called out on it, he acknowledges it. Also in fairness to him, when he tells us how to do our jobs he's generally right. It's more question of the style, not the substance, of what he does.
 
Who is going to RJ at lunch today ?
Can't. I have to get out the mass email that tells everyone to pay for their permit now or get hit by super high impact fees.

We just had a re-org and now I'm working for a guy younger than my son. He's actually pretty good. He was a peer prior to getting hired to the management spot and we commiserated about some of the things our common boss (well, now his boss and my boss's boss) did that annoyed us. The boss's boss isn't a bad guy but tends to micromanage a bit. In fairness to him, he knows he does it and if he's called out on it, he acknowledges it. Also in fairness to him, when he tells us how to do our jobs he's generally right. It's more question of the style, not the substance, of what he does.
My boss is like that. Mostly he can't let go of his old job, now my job, so I have to send everything through him and he always changes things a bit. Nothing big, just tweaking it to his language. Then of course when I fix it, he has another change. This is why things take too long.

This might change as I heard the department is now reorganizing the principal planners, me and I think three others. I might be doing more site planning work since that's the group that needs the most help. No big deal, just hoping I don't end up with two bosses.
 
"It's also important that guests can reference the pillow's materials to avoid sleeping on anything they're allergic or sensitive to."

Awkward Kenan Thompson GIF by Saturday Night Live
It's also important that you can figure out the brand and such so you can replace it, like for like. I am still in search of the pillow that I had 4 pillows ago. My wife says that it likely came from Marshall's or Ross's and it was a discontinued model but I still have hope.
 
Why haven't you RJed yet on a friday before a 3 day weekend ?
Why do you think it's haven't been posting? I've been to the greenhouse and lunch. In a short while, I'll be watching my granddaughter, then I'm meeting friends for dinner. Is that enough rj-ing for you?
 
Barricades are merely a suggestion in this town. Sometimes they even have to get out of their car and move them to drive past.

Within 20 minutes of the contractors leaving today, a large Lexus SUV driver moved a barricade, drove in and parked in the construction zone.

I'm betting when we come back Tuesday morning, all the barricades will be moved out of someone's way.
 
You see "instant karma" videos sometimes where a driver does something shitty and a cop sees it and immediately pulls him over, right?

I witnessed one of those situations tonight. We were getting on the tollway to come home from my son's place. We were on the access road, and I noticed a service truck with its light bar activated and a lighted sign saying "disabled vehicle." The car in front of him was moving but had its emergency flashers on and was on the exit/entrance ramp that I was about to get on myself. Once I took that all in I started braking to let the car and the service truck get ahead of me.

Behind me was a red pickup, gaining on me rapidly even before I slowed down, lowered down with mag wheels and stuff and when I hit my brakes he hit the gas and started to accelerate around me to the right. The service truck was already halfway shifted into his lane and he had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Once the service truck was out of my lane I accelerated onto the entrance ramp.... but not that quickly because red pickup guy was stuck behind me and I trolled him a bit.

Finally we both merged onto the tollway and he blasted off into the left lane. The speed limit on the tollway is 70, normal cruising speed is 75, and he pulled away from everyone instantly.

I stopped thinking about him; he was no longer my problem. But after about two miles we saw the red truck pulled over by a cop. Delicious.

My wife speculated that the service truck has a police radio and called in the reckless driving on service road with the truck's description. Maybe even has a dashcam. If so, Red Pickup Guy is getting more than just a speeding ticket and may be cooling his heels in a holding cell right now.
 
Past couple of months have been wet for us:
Month30-yr avg2025
February4.78"5.67"
March5.60"3.42"
April5.81"12.85"
May5.26"10.75"

While we know the importance of rain, it can stop just to let things dry out a bit. This coming weekend will be warm and sunny.
 
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