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

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Planit said:
Is the receptionist scrolling on her phone? That's what happened to me at my last visit.

I was standing at the desk for a bit when she just happen to look up. She went back to her phone, clicked something (I assume to close the app) and then asked "name and date of birth please" - not even a fake apology.
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Yes, and after waiting for 90 minutes I went up to ask her, and she discovered that she forgot to push a button to put us on the list. She did move us to the top of the list, but I got suspicious when 2 people who got there after us were brought back. She didn't apologize or anything, just went back to her phone.

The nurse that did the vitals was horrible. It was very apparent that we were a nuisance to her and her attitude was unimaginable. At one point she bluntly said, I don't think there is anything we can do, you need to go to this other place in the other city for x-rays. When I asked about going to the location that we have here in our city, she snapped, "We don't have one here!" Although I know for a fact that we do. I realized there was nothing that I could say or do that was going to change the situation, so I just let her do her thing. When the Dr. came in, he said that it does not look broken and even if it was, the only thing they could do was a mask. He looked at it really good, and by then it had stopped bleeding. He have him some meds for the pain and a school note, and we were done.
 
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NDOT decided to randomly paint a crosswalk at an intersection and block off the road the same day Fernley Public Works was going to look at the sewer. It’s a standoff.

NDOT owns the street, but the city owns everything above and below it. A simple phone call to coordinate would have been nice.
 
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Would you wear this t-shirt ?
1765564576713.png
 
Watching the clock here... one hour to go.

Thinking pizza tonight... need more whiskey too. Likely stop at the store for a premade bake your own cheese pizza and add stuff to it (to get my vegetables).
 
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I took my car in for its first oil change. The dealership sent me a link to a video where they walked through the car. It only has 3000 miles on it, so anything other than "Everything looks great" would have been rather alarming.

I was low on gas so I stopped at Costco to fill up and while I was there decided to do the grocery shopping. Made up a quick list and pretty much nailed it.

Then I took my dog to the vet because she has a lump on her leg. The vet took a needle biopsy and had bad news, said it's likely an aggressive cancer. They sent the samples to a lab for confirmation. He said if they can get the entire tumor removed from her leg and don't miss any, she may have a full recovery, but it sounded like a pretty big IF to me.

1765603021571.png
 
zman said:
Watching the clock here... one hour to go.

Thinking pizza tonight... need more whiskey too. Likely stop at the store for a premade bake your own cheese pizza and add stuff to it (to get my vegetables).
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I made chicken Alfredo quesadillas Friday evening and I added the rest of a bag of spinach to get it out of the vegetable drawer and to make it look healthier.
 
I would say it's oddly quiet so far today, but perhaps that's not so odd given the time of year and season.
 
Is your office going to open the fridays after Christmas & New Years ?
Is so, do you expect alot work will be done ?
 
JNA said:
Is your office going to open the fridays after Christmas & New Years ?
Is so, do you expect alot work will be done ?
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We get three days at Christmas so we're off for holiday the 24th - 26th but since it's so slow anyway we are also closing City Hall the 22nd and 23rd.
We are open 29-31 and the 2nd but most people are taking off the 2nd. We have an extremely large and important bid due that day so I'll be here for that.
 
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The office is closing December 24 - 26, leaving Dec. 22 and 23 as work days. I happen to be taking both of those days off.
 
luckless pedestrian said:
I wish we would close on the 26th - I have to come in because I was nice to let everyone take it off ugh
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It's hard to be a nice boss. Bet you're good at it though. :) What will you do with the dead City Hall and nobody bugging you? Breakfast Club it a bit? I have my suspicions......
 
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bubblegum bubblegum in the dish
how many pieces do you wish?

Engine engine number nine
going down Chicago line
if the train goes off the track
do you want your money back?

Mickey Mouse
built a house
how many bricks did he use?
 
Maister said:
bubblegum bubblegum in the dish
how many pieces do you wish?

Engine engine number nine
going down Chicago line
if the train goes off the track
do you want your money back?

Mickey Mouse
built a house
how many bricks did he use?
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My mother and your mother
were out hanging clothes
My mother smacked your mother
right smack in the nose.
What color was the blood?
 
JNA said:
Is your office going to open the fridays after Christmas & New Years ?
Is so, do you expect alot work will be done ?
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26th: open, but I’m taking a vacation day.
2nd: open, and I’ll be working. Or, at least sitting at my desk.
 
luckless pedestrian said:
I wish we would close on the 26th - I have to come in because I was nice to let everyone take it off ugh
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Same with me. We have the 24th off, mainly due to the high Latino staff levels and most historically taking the 24th off.

I will travel down to the office on the 26th... but may duck out early and allow front counter customers (if any) to call my work cell with questions.
 
JNA said:
Is your office going to open the fridays after Christmas & New Years ?
Is so, do you expect alot work will be done ?
Click to expand...

Our office is technically open on those Fridays but I am pretty sure every single person has scheduled the day after Christmas off and most of us have scheduled the day after New Year's off. We don't have a counter that the public can come to and we take very few calls directly from the public (one of the big perks of being at a county here in Michigan instead of at a city) so it doesn't really make a big difference this time of year.

I will be one of the brave few working on the day after New Year's. I am already off for the year right now and I always like to go back to work right after the New Year (even though a lot of folks will schedule themselves off until the first full week of January) because I know it will be really quiet so I always use those days to clean the detritus out of my office that has accumulated over the year and to take care of any requests/issues that did come in while I was on winter vacation that didn't get handled by somebody else. Fridays are usually a WFH day for me but I will probably go into the office that day, at least for a couple hours.
 
JNA said:
Is your office going to open the fridays after Christmas & New Years ?
Is so, do you expect alot work will be done ?
Click to expand...

We are closed the 25th and 26th, closing a smidge early on the 24th.

Closing early on the 31st, closed the 1st, and then back to work on the 2nd.

I will be here the 2nd, as I am the newest team member and don't have the time built up.
 
Quote from Merchant of Venice that is fitting for planners

“I am not bound to please thee with my answers.”
 
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Doohickie said:
Sabres fans are really excited. Not so much about the game, more about the front office (Adams is GM Kevyn Adams).

View attachment 65876
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Well it came to pass today. Sabres GM Kevyn Adams was relieved of his duties and replaced by Senior Hockey Advisor Jarmo Kekäläinen. It will be interesting to see if he shakes up the roster or the coaching staff.
 
Jess: When did this happen?
Harry Burns: Friday. Helen comes home and she said, "I don't know if I want to be married anymore." Like it's the institution, you know, like it's nothing personal, just something she's been thinking about... in a casual way. I'm calm, I say, "Why don't we take some time to think about it, you know, don't rush into anything."
Jess: Yeah, right.
Harry Burns: Next day she said she's thought about it, and she wants a trial separation. She just wants to try it, she says, but we can still date. Like this is supposed to cushion the blow. I mean I got married so I can stop dating. So I don't see where we can still date is any big incentive since the last thing you want to do is date your wife, who's supposed to love you, which is what I'm saying to you, that's when it occurs to me that maybe... she doesn't. So I say to her, "Don't you love me anymore?" You know what she says? "I don't know if I've ever loved you."
Jess: Oooh, that's harsh!
[They do "the wave"]
Jess: You don't bounce back from that right away.
Harry Burns: Thanks Jess.
Jess: No, I'm a writer, I know dialogue and that's particularly harsh.
Harry Burns: Then she tells me that somebody in her office is going to South America and she can sub-let his apartment. I can't believe this, and the doorbell rings, 'I can sub-let his apartment', the words are still hanging in the air, you know, like in a balloon attached to a mouth.
Jess: Like in the cartoon.
Harry Burns: Right. So I go to the door, and there were moving men there. Now I start to get suspicious. I say, "Helen when did you call these movers?", and she doesn't say anything. So I asked the movers, "When did this woman book you for this gig?" And they're just standing there. Three huge guys, one of them was wearing a T-shirt that says, "Don't fuck with Mr. Zero." So I said, "Helen, when did you make this arrangement?" She says, "A week ago." I said, "You've known for a week and you didn't tell me?" And she says, "I didn't want to ruin your birthday."
[They do the wave again]
Jess: You're saying Mr. Zero knew you were getting a divorce a week before you did?
Harry Burns: Mr. Zero knew.

(True story: I was scheduled to move Billy Crystal from NY to LA c. 1984, but the gig got postponed. No, I never wore a shirt that read "Don't fuck with Mr. Zero". :D
 
Salmissra said:
Decorated my office last week:

View attachment 65899
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Nice space!

Mine is covered in photos of Jaguars, Old Buick's & Volvos & my grandparents. I also have floor-to-ceiling shelves with planning docs going back to my city's founding in 1892, its really neat. The building was dedicated in 1924 and the build quality is impeccable, with original doors and interior window fixtures that work just fine. Walls are thick like interrogation rooms.

Currently undergoing asbestos abatement & HVAC upgrades (first since the 1990s), so I am working out of a repurposed Econ. Dev conference room for the next week, woof.
 
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I have a cube with a view of the court building across the street. There are no decorations because I'm lazy.
 
Nine years ago today—December 16, 2016—I was in a minor rear-ender. I was waiting to turn right at a light to do some lunchtime shopping when I got thwacked from behind. Bit of a dent in the car, but no injuries.

The guy that hit me had a plate from the Mexican state of Chihuahua, and said he didn’t have his insurance policy with him. I gave him my card and said he could bring it by my office. He said he’d bring it by that afternoon or the following Monday (December 16 was a Friday), and I said that was fine. I asked for his number, but he did not have a cell phone, or e-mail, or any contact info whatsoever since he was off the grid.

Well, the following Monday, the 19th, my father died, and I kind of forgot all about this for weeks. My coworkers said he never came by at all during my absence the next few weeks. I had no way to follow up, and I figured he must have gotten busy, too, given the holiday season and all. By March, I started to wonder when he would come by so I could get the repair process started.

We moved out of that building in 2021—five years later—but I left a note for him stating our new info. I left that job in 2022 and moved to a new agency, but left info about how to reach me. But when I got laid off from THAT position earlier this year, I never bothered leaving info.

At this point, since it’s been nine years, I figure the chance of getting his insurance info is about zero. I have no idea what Mexican law is about statute of limitations is, anyway, and, in any event, the damage is purely cosmetic.

For the sake of closure, I will assume he came by the original office (where I was in 2016) sometime between 2022 and 2025, couldn’t get a hold of me, and figured that was a reasonable effort, which it was. As of today at 12:17 p.m., PST, I will consider this matter officially closed, just for my own sake. That building where I worked at that time is now the HQ of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and is not open to the public like it was when I worked in it.
 
jumbach said:
Nine years ago today—December 16, 2016—I was in a minor rear-ender. I was waiting to turn right at a light to do some lunchtime shopping when I got thwacked from behind. Bit of a dent in the car, but no injuries.

The guy that hit me had a plate from the Mexican state of Chihuahua, and said he didn’t have his insurance policy with him. I gave him my card and said he could bring it by my office. He said he’d bring it by that afternoon or the following Monday (December 16 was a Friday), and I said that was fine. I asked for his number, but he did not have a cell phone, or e-mail, or any contact info whatsoever since he was off the grid.
As of today at 12:17 p.m., PST, I will consider this matter officially closed, just for my own sake. That building where I worked at that time is now the HQ of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and is not open to the public like it was when I worked in it.
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Bruh, trust me. It was officially closed 1 minute after you two parted ways.
 
MD Planner said:
Bruh, trust me. It was officially closed 1 minute after you two parted ways.
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Well, I always wondered if there was a language barrier, but I've had native Spanish speakers tell me that, while I am not fluent, my Spanish is perfectly servicable, and they have no problem understanding it. Not that it matters now.
 
Coming off the anxiety thread - I have no anxiety about presenting in front of a large group of people and I don't mind speaking into a camera on zoom or for tv - what I still struggle with at times is speaking in an around the table workshop setting - sometimes it's fine, other times I lose my train of thought and stumble a little -

Our council discussed all agenda items for the following week's council meeting, and department check-ins, sitting around a table with that staff person there, and as I say, sometimes it's a struggle - I just wanna stand behind a podium and talk
 
Maister said:
The office is closing December 24 - 26, leaving Dec. 22 and 23 as work days. I happen to be taking both of those days off.
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My office is the same and seriously contemplating taking 22-23 off. I work 4/10 and normally have Monday off but now with closing on the 26, all work Monday. Nothing will happen that week so might as well take off, I have plenty of PTO.
 
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I am in a Zoom meeting where someone presenting is using sing-songy up-talk, and it's so distracting - and I like the presenter, and she does great work, but omg, stop
 
luckless pedestrian said:
Coming off the anxiety thread - I have no anxiety about presenting in front of a large group of people and I don't mind speaking into a camera on zoom or for tv - what I still struggle with at times is speaking in an around the table workshop setting - sometimes it's fine, other times I lose my train of thought and stumble a little -

Our council discussed all agenda items for the following week's council meeting, and department check-ins, sitting around a table with that staff person there, and as I say, sometimes it's a struggle - I just wanna stand behind a podium and talk
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Exactly the same. Behind the podium or at the little desk like I'm testifying at a senate hearing is the most comfortable place from which to speak and interact. After so many years of that environment it just feels right. You are in a space somewhere between instruction and conversation - I need the interaction of the group, but weirdly I need to feel a little in charge of it as well. That's when things flow the best for me.


I probably have some things I should talk to a professional about, but I'm not comfortable with the one on one. :)
 
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