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

ursus said:
I have been convinced by Gen Z members of staff to participate in the miniature golf tournament today in the middle of the day. I'm so uncomfortable. HR here is really really into these little activity things, and the Gen Zs always wanna do them. I feel stupid.
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I'd feel the same as you. Especially that I don't play mini or life size golf.

Try to have fun. You can impart some wisdom to the Gen Z's. Something about how much aluminum foil to wrap on the TV antenna to get the best signal.
 
michaelskis said:
I am not a happy person at the moment. It looks like someone has had access to the lunch money account for my oldest and has emptied it little by little since school started. My oldest in absolute that he has not used it all year and has not purchased anything.
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Using a secret discord server, your 14 year old secretly contacted the Greater Buffalo Niagara Parental Money Exchange (GBNPME), a non-profit organization dedicated to redistributing parental wealth to low-income children in South America so they can buy Mountian Dew. Its tax dedecutible, dont worry.
 
ursus said:
I have been convinced by Gen Z members of staff to participate in the miniature golf tournament today in the middle of the day. I'm so uncomfortable. HR here is really really into these little activity things, and the Gen Zs always wanna do them. I feel stupid.
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The last one of those I dragged myself to was a happy hour at a bar with a couple of bocci ball courts in its basement - the junior staff thought it would be hilarious to name the teams playing bocci "Gen Z" and "Old People". I was so irritated that I refused to put down my beer for my throws, and I still beat those snot-nosed kids like a rented mule. :cool:
 
ursus said:
I have been convinced by Gen Z members of staff to participate in the miniature golf tournament today in the middle of the day. I'm so uncomfortable. HR here is really really into these little activity things, and the Gen Zs always wanna do them. I feel stupid.
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Do it.

And bore them to death with 'elder' wisdom about wearing a big yellow onion on your belt because the war and make up the most ludicrous 'advice' as possible and watch them squirm.

Or make every other sentence a dad joke and/or full of Gen X slang. Make them suffer for this indignity

Bubba said:
The last one of those I dragged myself to was a happy hour at a bar with a couple of bocci ball courts in its basement - the junior staff thought it would be hilarious to name the teams playing bocci "Gen Z" and "Old People". I was so irritated that I refused to put down my beer for my throws, and I still beat those snot-nosed kids like a rented mule. :cool:
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skating old man GIF
 
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JNA said:
Around here we had 2 minature golf courses that have been converted -
both into vacant lots
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The only(?) mini-golf course left in my hometown is also the longest contiunusouly operated mini golf course in the State of Michigan.

It is such a piece of the native diaspora's nostlagia that every summer the customers keep coming. And it's adjacent to the nicest City Lake Huron beach.

I love Lee's Miniature Golf.
 
Update:

Spoke with the school this morning and they know who it is and while they didn't say this, it sounds like there have been past issues. They asked if we want to press charges and after speaking with my wife, we will be. The amount is high enough that it will be class A misdemeanor larceny and identity theft.
 
mendelman said:
The only(?) mini-golf course left in my hometown is also the longest continuously operated mini golf course in the State of Michigan.

It is such a piece of the native diaspora's nostalgia that every summer the customers keep coming. And it's adjacent to the nicest City Lake Huron beach.

I love Lee's Miniature Golf.
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Actually there two more a bit outside of the City, but still in the 'community'

Dinosaur Gardens and Arzo Park

Lee's is still the best and best location.
 
michaelskis said:
Update:

Spoke with the school this morning and they know who it is and while they didn't say this, it sounds like there have been past issues. They asked if we want to press charges and after speaking with my wife, we will be. The amount is high enough that it will be class A misdemeanor larceny and identity theft.
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Kinda floored that paid lunch is still a thing in schools.. but yanno, California is a failed state /s
 
Getting annoyed at my departments use of the term natural grade. There is no natural grade. It is all finished grade. Trying to call the ground around your house natural is like a celebrity saying they haven't had work done.
 
DVD said:
Getting annoyed at my departments use of the term natural grade. There is no natural grade. It is all finished grade. Trying to call the ground around your house natural is like a celebrity saying they haven't had work done.
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Natural grade is non-existent in our newest subdivisions. Mass grading and massive retaining walls tames the toughest slopes. It's all finished grade. Of course, nothing is flat here without tons of engineering, so it all looks out of place.
 
Everything is flat here except for the mountains, but everything is developed here so even the mountains are hard to call natural grade.
 
DVD said:
Getting annoyed at my departments use of the term natural grade. There is no natural grade. It is all finished grade. Trying to call the ground around your house natural is like a celebrity saying they haven't had work done.
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I also hate that term. If there ever was a natural grade I sure as hell don't have any idea what it was anymore! Unless NASA is going to make these determinations for us SHUT UP with the natural grade talk. Your house is too tall, get over it! :)
 
The highest and arguably best use is near the I-17/I-10 interchange. I can smell skunk of some kind.
 
See what happens when I am a) in the habit of getting to work early, so I can beat traffic and get a walk in, and b) get a full hour lunch?

That weight I lost while out of work may stay off.

Fernley City Hall, by the way, may hold the record for “most randomly-placed government building.” It’s in a low-slung, low-density residential area (but PF zoned), not downtown where it belongs. There is, however, a small park across the street* and a library next door. No matter: the work we do inside is what counts.

* a collector street, even. Not an arterial or thoroughfare.
 

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ursus said:
I also hate that term. If there ever was a natural grade I sure as hell don't have any idea what it was anymore! Unless NASA is going to make these determinations for us SHUT UP with the natural grade talk. Your house is too tall, get over it! :)
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We kept the natural grade in our neighborhood, even around the creek. :cool:
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Doohickie said:
We kept the natural grade in our neighborhood, even around the creek. :cool:
View attachment 65390 View attachment 65391
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That is awesome. But the lots and roads have had to be graded some, don't they? Where I have this issue is with neighbors claiming we should somehow measure the height of structures from the natural grade, and by the time there are structures to evaluate I can't say what the natural grade is or was. If we had it codified to measure heights from natural grade I suppose we could say from original survey data what the natural grade was, but in development that wouldn't be realistic to use as a beginning metric for heights - the variations would be too great lot to lot to allow any reasonable height for any structure. I might be thinking about it wrong.
 
Doohickie said:
Two days a week, my office is 30 steps from my bed.
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Decades ago, I was looking for an apartment near my then-job. I actually looked at one that was in a complex right next door to my office building. They had one unit available.

Problem is, the windows. I could see right into my office, and folks in my office could see right into mine. Imagine if I have a day off and want to get a little too comfortable. Ended up not taking that unit.

I don't like to draw shades during the day because I like light.
 
jumbach said:
Decades ago, I was looking for an apartment near my then-job. I actually looked at one that was in a complex right next door to my office building. They had one unit available.

Problem is, the windows. I could see right into my office, and folks in my office could see right into mine. Imagine if I have a day off and want to get a little too comfortable. Ended up not taking that unit.

I don't like to draw shades during the day because I like light.
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Shiba Inu Waiting GIF by KeepUpWithJazAndYumi
 
michaelskis said:
Update:

Spoke with the school this morning and they know who it is and while they didn't say this, it sounds like there have been past issues. They asked if we want to press charges and after speaking with my wife, we will be. The amount is high enough that it will be class A misdemeanor larceny and identity theft.
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Update #2

Spoke with an officer regarding the situation and all I can say is how frustrated I am with the legal system in my county but how impressed I am with the education system in my town. It sounds like the dad of the boy has already brought the money that was taken out of the account and the school is moving forward with serious punishment. When discussing the process if we wanted to file changes, it became very evident that it was going to be a profound waste of time and effort and would potentially have the opposite effect. In our county, it would go to Juvenile court which is in the City and that judge has a long history of dismissing chases like this if the parents have corrected the issue. Both my son and I would need to take time off of work and school to be in attendance at the court hearing only to hear a judge tell the kid to not do it again. I quickly got the impression that it would not be worth the hassle.

So, it is over and done with. I found out who the kid was and it is not someone my kid knows. I was also informed that the lunch room attendant who essentially said my kid was lying about not using his account this year is also being disciplined as well.

So it is over, we have been paid back, and all is well.
 
I was on a walk through my 'hood around 10:00 AM and got passed by a few groups of high school kids out on run for gym class or whatever. I honestly believe that if they had let us run through the neighborhoods when I was in high school 30 years ago only about half of us would have bothered coming back to school.
 
Doohickie said:
Two days a week, my office is 30 steps from my bed.
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kms said:
Gotcha beat. Two days a week, my bed is 9 steps from the chair in my home office.
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Our house is long and our bed is at the extreme other end from my den. I've got a 98 step commute three or four days a week, thankfully there's no elevation change! On days I go into the office it's about 10 miles. If I hit the lights just right, it only takes me about 15 minutes, sometimes even less.

Next year or in 2027 our office is moving to a new building in an actual downtown. It's marginally closer to my house (it's about 8 miles instead of 10) but the really nice thing is that it's basically a straight shot north of my house and there is a nice path almost the entire way so I can run or ride my bike to the office. I've tried doing that at my current office but there is a long section along that road that Dire Straits sang about where I'd be risking my life each day. No thanks.
 
ursus said:
I have been convinced by Gen Z members of staff to participate in the miniature golf tournament today in the middle of the day. I'm so uncomfortable. HR here is really really into these little activity things, and the Gen Zs always wanna do them. I feel stupid.
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Feet shoulder width apart, eyes over the ball. Swing arms and putter as one; do not wrist putt. You're welcome.
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The Terminator said:
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The high school marching band is having a "tailgate" this evening for the band members and families and they asked for a few cornhole sets to borrow so I went and dropped off my Detroit Tiger themed set yesterday but now I wish I had one like this!

I don't think most of the kids would get it but the parents definitely would.
 
The city that now employs me has two parks. Not much for creativity: they are called “In Town Park” and “Out of Town Park,” though the latter is not really out of town anymore.
 
This Park & That Park




We have several parks, but four of them are:
Northside
Southside
Eastside
Westside


3 of the 4 make sense, but Westside park is about 2/3 mile directly north of Southside park.
 
Planit said:
This Park & That Park




We have several parks, but four of them are:
Northside
Southside
Eastside
Westside


3 of the 4 make sense, but Westside park is about 2/3 mile directly north of Southside park.
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“He used to meet me on the east side, in the city where the sun don’t set. I just wanna live tonight, drive down to the coast . . . 23, we got bills to pay, time to take ourselves a little more seriously . . . “

I love that song.
 
arcplans said:
After all these years when my first director i worked under had "either or recommendations", younger me thought it was a cop out. Today me now realizes it wasn't a cop out, but instead not worth the battle to loose your job over.
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we make formal recommendations, but always leave an out.
 
michaelskis said:
Update #2

Spoke with an officer regarding the situation and all I can say is how frustrated I am with the legal system in my county but how impressed I am with the education system in my town. It sounds like the dad of the boy has already brought the money that was taken out of the account and the school is moving forward with serious punishment. When discussing the process if we wanted to file changes, it became very evident that it was going to be a profound waste of time and effort and would potentially have the opposite effect. In our county, it would go to Juvenile court which is in the City and that judge has a long history of dismissing chases like this if the parents have corrected the issue. Both my son and I would need to take time off of work and school to be in attendance at the court hearing only to hear a judge tell the kid to not do it again. I quickly got the impression that it would not be worth the hassle.

So, it is over and done with. I found out who the kid was and it is not someone my kid knows. I was also informed that the lunch room attendant who essentially said my kid was lying about not using his account this year is also being disciplined as well.

So it is over, we have been paid back, and all is well.
Click to expand...

Our society sucks. Integrity is dead.

WSU MUP Student said:
Our house is long and our bed is at the extreme other end from my den. I've got a 98 step commute three or four days a week, thankfully there's no elevation change! On days I go into the office it's about 10 miles. If I hit the lights just right, it only takes me about 15 minutes, sometimes even less.
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Thirty steps is from one end of our house to the other.

An elevation change is involved. 4 steps.

WSU MUP Student said:
Next year or in 2027 our office is moving to a new building in an actual downtown. It's marginally closer to my house (it's about 8 miles instead of 10) but the really nice thing is that it's basically a straight shot north of my house and there is a nice path almost the entire way so I can run or ride my bike to the office. I've tried doing that at my current office but there is a long section along that road that Dire Straits sang about where I'd be risking my life each day. No thanks.
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8 miles is just about the perfect bicycle commute distance. You'll enjoy it.
 
Word of the day -

verschlimmbessern
to make something worse in an honest but failed attempt to improve it
 
So, at everyone's advice, I went ahead and filed for unemployment for that week between the day I stopped getting paid from the preovious employer and the day I started my new job. I guess that technically makes me one of those "first time unemployment claims" the news mentions.

Anyway, the benefit for that week is on hold until I go to one of DETR's job search workshops. So let me get this right: I have to take time off from my NEW JOB to get advice on how to FIND A JOB I already have, so I can get paid benefits for they very short time I was technically unemployed?

Not gonna happen. I will call them Monday and tell them where to stick their job search seminar. We don't really need the benefit anyway, as we have lots of resources to tide us over until my first paycheck in October. (Wife is also currently out on FMLA for a minor surgery, but will go back sometime in early October. Her employer pays her half-wages for the time since it was an on-the-job injury.)

Jim
 
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ursus said:
I have been convinced by Gen Z members of staff to participate in the miniature golf tournament today in the middle of the day. I'm so uncomfortable. HR here is really really into these little activity things, and the Gen Zs always wanna do them. I feel stupid.
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Afraid of appearing foolish? Doesn't sound like the ursus we know.
 
I cut down a crepe myrtle tree over the weekend. Because of the location between the pool and the house, I had to dismantle it bit by bit. Then I rented a stump grinder yesterday and after 3 hours I gave up. The blades on the grinder sucked. It is just about surface level with the exception of where the new tree is going. I made sure to go deep in that area. On, and it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 104.

Sad thing is I am very active and in the gym almost every day. On weekends I am always doing something around the house or building something. But this project beat me down.
 
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