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

luckless pedestrian said:
My god, I had a couple of meetings and you folks just exploded (no pun intended) while I was out

Season 6 What GIF by Paramount+
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*Posting was interrupted between March 19 post 1086 & April 7 post 1087
Posting was interrupted between May 30 post 1701 & June 19 post 1702

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My car (2020) is due for renewal this month at $190. Looking at personalized/specialty plates since the state recently adopted the black plate and white letters/numbers and would look good on my white car. Not interested in initial plate fee of $170. Standard issue design (3) personalized plates are $80. Not breaking the bank with specialty. Had a personalized plate two cars previous (PLAYN18) and the additional $25 a year is fine if not standard - fee goes whatever group is on the plate. But when selecting, I found out the state has over 60 specialty plates that be may be requested. Never thought of number that high.
 
I went to turn in an application and resume for a Transportation Planner for a national logistics company's office/terminal here in town. 100% office work, and I check all the boxes of what they are looking for.

The guy's response: "Thank you, but I don't think you'll be able to keep up with us kids in the warehouse. Best of luck to you!" (hands it back to me)

Well, that's just rude. And borderline age discrimination.

Jim
 
Went to the office yesterday to pick up the rest of my stuff. The "POD Phone" (which rings to about ten extensions including my old one) ringing constantly in empty cubicles . . . and ringing, and ringing, and ringing. Eerie.

I thought about grabbing my line and answering, but . . . why?

Jim
 
I'm toying with the idea of temporarily becoming a "posting consultant" for developers. When they have projects ready to appear, the signs need to be posted. I have lots of experience doing that with foreclosures decades ago, and know the process here in Nevada for planning cases. I'm wondering about the feasibility of reviewing each of our area agencies' semi-monthly reports, then contacting the applicant or agent and offering to take care of the sign printing, posting, and certification for them. I'm wondering if developers would pay $200 plus costs for that? Considering many of them treat the posting a big burden, they may happily pay that much to make sure it's done timely and accurately, and free up their staff to do other things.

And, if they are interested, for an additional fee, I can look the case over and give my unofficial thoughts and comments on feasibility before they get too far along. (I'd charge at least $50 an hour for that.)

Not saying I'm going to do this; just a "shower thought" from this morning.

Jim
 
JNA said:
as posted on Twitter
This is the Precipice Trail in Acadia Nat’l Park. There’s a sign at the beginning that says ppl have fallen and died.
View attachment 64855 View attachment 64856

Would you hike / climb this ?
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I did it in 2022 and plan to do it again in October. The views are spectacular and it's a thrill. I never felt truly scared, I just took my time and immersed myself in the experience. I started shortly after sunrise and there were very few people and that made it even better.
 
MD Planner said:
I did it in 2022 and plan to do it again in October. The views are spectacular and it's a thrill. I never felt truly scared, I just took my time and immersed myself in the experience. I started shortly after sunrise and there were very few people and that made it even better.
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About 15 years ago, I was hiking with my kids and we came into the Precipice Trail by accident, I thought I was on a completely different trail as we had started on the loop road in a different spot than where most people start the Precipice Trail, and we get to that sign after scaling a narrow edge trail with a big drop, and my 6 yo son reads it and says "Mom of the Year taking us on the Precipice Trail" lol - we did turn back - I didn't tell them we had done that trail with them in the backpack when they were babies, lol
 
kms said:
I encountered a wrong way driver on my way to work this morning. Thankfully, she wasn't in my lane and I got her attention. She made a 3 point turn on a blind spot and went about her way.

I used the rest of my commute to thank my guardian angel.
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Glad you were both okay!
 
Years ago I got kicked out of a Bar in Kalamazoo Michigan called the "Up and Under". It was 1/2 off Canadian Beer night. When I got up to the bar, I asked "So it is half off any beer brewed in Canada" and the bartender looked at me with a stupid look and said yea... so I asked for a Guinness Extra Stout. He handed it to me and rang me up for full price. I asked why it wasn't half off, he said it was from Ireland. I asked him if he wanted to bet me $100 or my entire night's bar tab, that it was Canadian. He said sure. I handed him the bottle and asked him to read the back of the label out loud.

When he got to the part about brewed in Canada he kicked me out of the bar.

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michaelskis said:
Years ago I got kicked out of a Bar in Kalamazoo Michigan called the "Up and Under". It was 1/2 off Canadian Beer night. When I got up to the bar, I asked "So it is half off any beer brewed in Canada" and the bartender looked at me with a stupid look and said yea... so I asked for a Guinness Extra Stout. He handed it to me and rang me up for full price. I asked why it wasn't half off, he said it was from Ireland. I asked him if he wanted to bet me $100 or my entire night's bar tab, that it was Canadian. He said sure. I handed him the bottle and asked him to read the back of the label out loud.

When he got to the part about brewed in Canada he kicked me out of the bar.

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Next try insisting they sell you American made craft beer at Domestic prices.
 
^^^did that with a Yeungling many years ago before craft beer got big. They honored the 'domestic beer' price. Then by the next weekend, changed the menus to read:
domestics - $
premium domestics - $$
imported - $$$
 
Hey stop adding "ality" to words - I saw "optionality" on a LinkedIn post - please stop this - rework your sentences or be like me and have no sentence structure whatsoever lol
 
This is my patented Incredibly Simple Method to let household members know if I am busy or not in the home office.

Pretty self explanatory. I usually keep the door closed to block out noise and keep birds out (or in, as is the case now). This way people can know if they interrupt me without interrupting me.

Green: yes, come in.

Yellow: sort of busy in flow work, but come in if you really need to. “I can’t find something” is not a necessity.

Red: don’t come in for anything short of “fire, flood, or blood.” In meeting or call.
 

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MD Planner said:
Please explain why it's a no-win situation and then I may have some suggestions.
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Incumbent in the position but a new contract with a new company. Lots of external candidates who would love my job, as evidenced by the number of interested parties who expressed interest when the new company advertised for our positions. Very few other options for people with my skill set here. Plus "you're lucky to get to live in Germany".

Currently make X. New job offer is 7% more than X. In the US I would be getting paid at least 38% more than X.
 
dandy_warhol said:
Incumbent in the position but a new contract with a new company. Lots of external candidates who would love my job, as evidenced by the number of interested parties who expressed interest when the new company advertised for our positions. Very few other options for people with my skill set here. Plus "you're lucky to get to live in Germany".

Currently make X. New job offer is 7% more than X. In the US I would be getting paid at least 38% more than X.
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Why do you think there is that much difference? Also what is the differences in cost of living?
 
michaelskis said:
Why do you think there is that much difference? Also what is the differences in cost of living?
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Cost of living is high in our area. I think the difference is because of the is an high supply of nurses and a very limited number of jobs. So the company can set the low wages and there are enough desperate nurses who want to work so they take it.
 
dandy_warhol said:
Incumbent in the position but a new contract with a new company. Lots of external candidates who would love my job, as evidenced by the number of interested parties who expressed interest when the new company advertised for our positions. Very few other options for people with my skill set here. Plus "you're lucky to get to live in Germany".

Currently make X. New job offer is 7% more than X. In the US I would be getting paid at least 38% more than X.
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That's helpful. If I were you I'd research the crap out of similar type transitions. If your 38% is accurate I'd say something like "in instances like this, increases generally range from 20-40%. I wouldn't use the exact 38% because it might come across as an expectation. But you can use that range as context to frame the 7% as low.

You should also emphasize your institutional knowledge as a steadying influence during the change. You can assure that disruption will be minimal in regard to operations. Your tone is everything. You can't look threatening or entitled. You can say how you want to keep contributing and think that it's fair that your compensation is reflective of your value and long-term commitment. You can mention how long it takes to train someone and how that might be disruptive to productivity and most importantly, patient care. Another thing you can do to show that you're a "team player" is to offer a tiered increase; say 15% now and another 10-15% in 6 months based on certain benchmarks that you all come up with together. If it gets to that point, get it in writing!

Those are my quick thoughts. Good luck!
 
MD Planner said:
That's helpful. If I were you I'd research the crap out of similar type transitions. If your 38% is accurate I'd say something like "in instances like this, increases generally range from 20-40%. I wouldn't use the exact 38% because it might come across as an expectation. But you can use that range as context to frame the 7% as low.

You should also emphasize your institutional knowledge as a steadying influence during the change. You can assure that disruption will be minimal in regard to operations. Your tone is everything. You can't look threatening or entitled. You can say how you want to keep contributing and think that it's fair that your compensation is reflective of your value and long-term commitment. You can mention how long it takes to train someone and how that might be disruptive to productivity and most importantly, patient care. Another thing you can do to show that you're a "team player" is to offer a tiered increase; say 15% now and another 10-15% in 6 months based on certain benchmarks that you all come up with together. If it gets to that point, get it in writing!

Those are my quick thoughts. Good luck!
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This is helpful! Thank you!
 
dandy_warhol said:
Cost of living is high in our area. I think the difference is because of the is an high supply of nurses and a very limited number of jobs. So the company can set the low wages and there are enough desperate nurses who want to work so they take it.
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My wife has been dealing with something similar. The community that we live in has a much higher cost of living than the big city, and where we moved from had a much higher cost of living than where we are at now. She ended up taking a significant pay cut for effectively the same position when we relocated.

She is about to take another with her new job at a different hospital, but it is a step down for her. The issues with the place that she is at now have caused her to completely burnout and she needs time away from the OR for a while.
 
I like our Church, but sometimes they make things way too difficult. For the Wednesday night groups, each one of my 3 kids would need to be at a different home study across town, with me being at my bible study at the Church. All starting at the same time. That is not going to work.
 
Doohickie said:
Nah. Back in Texas. Short visit this year.

Once I'm retired (2-3 years maybe?) I will likely be able to spend more time up north.
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I cant wait lol

I would love to take you to a show at Area 54 in the University District (earplugs provided), so I can tell all my carpunk friends "This is my pal Doohickie, he drove a manual '72 Dart in the mid-late 80s" and they will be like "yo that's freaking lit!, want a genny?".
 
My coworker is a hard worker and very diligent. That being said, I don't care for her but I'm her PM on her field work.

While she is a good worker, she is a bad speller and a terrible writer. I spend so much time proofreading and editing her reports. It's time for her to improve her writing skills. I'm thinking of inviting her to lunch and having a gentle talk with her. The thing is, she won't go because she's too attached to the office bully to accept an invitation from me.

Have any of you had to give a coworker a talk about basic skills?
 
kms said:
My coworker is a hard worker and very diligent. That being said, I don't care for her but I'm her PM on her field work.

While she is a good worker, she is a bad speller and a terrible writer. I spend so much time proofreading and editing her reports. It's time for her to improve her writing skills. I'm thinking of inviting her to lunch and having a gentle talk with her. The thing is, she won't go because she's too attached to the office bully to accept an invitation from me.

Have any of you had to give a coworker a talk about basic skills?
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I was on the receiving end of a similar conversation early in my career. The biggest thing that stood out is they didn't just state my deficiencies, they provided suggestions, resources, and trainings to help me resolve them. While it was hard to hear, it was very evident that they wanted me to succeed and were willing to invest in me.

Since then I have had to have similar conversations with a couple staff and I always take the same approach as was taken with me.
 
kms said:
My coworker is a hard worker and very diligent. That being said, I don't care for her but I'm her PM on her field work.

While she is a good worker, she is a bad speller and a terrible writer. I spend so much time proofreading and editing her reports. It's time for her to improve her writing skills. I'm thinking of inviting her to lunch and having a gentle talk with her. The thing is, she won't go because she's too attached to the office bully to accept an invitation from me.

Have any of you had to give a coworker a talk about basic skills?
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I think I might have to or one of the other site supervisors. We have a junior planner that is very technical in his responses which is normally a good thing, but it's getting to the point that he won't approve plans because of a meaningless typo, his list of corrections is triple that of any other planner, and his response to questions is just repeating the bureaucratic garbage he said the first time. It's gotten to the point that multiple customers are now complaining. I think it will be the, we are a customer service department and we have to hold everyone's hands because they are idiots speech. Can't bruise his fragile ego by saying knock it off and be more human.
 
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