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RTDNTOTO šŸ» Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 21 (2026)

SlaveToTheGrind said:
Training benefits you personally and it could lead to better employment.
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Yep. We are ENCOURAGED to read widely on planning and related topics if we have time at work. (Which I don't during the day.) Taking courses, whether or not for CM, is permitted.

SlaveToTheGrind said:
Training benefits you personally and it could lead to better employment.
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Yep. And at my previous position, they said that even if they didn't pay for a conference but you wanted to go on your own nickel and vacation time, that was allowed.

donk said:
Just a snall vial. I am actually diagnosed phobic of blood draws.
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I don't mind them as long as I don't actually see the needle go in.

My one diagnosed phobia is cleithrophobia, which is often mistaken for, but is actually separate from, claustrophobia. Enclosed spaces don't bother me--not having a way out does. (Oddly, lifts don't bother me in the least.) Even if I am a big wide open outdoor space, if I am in a crowd with no easy path to an exit, I don't like it.

That's why I don't do drive throughs that have a curb or some other way that keeps you from getting out once you are in. UNLESS I am the front car and have an easy path out if need be without being blocked.

(Notice how at the conferences I am always seated either on an aisle, or near an exit?)
 

Funny, I don't remember the ABC Wide World of Sports intro from the 70s sounding so....square. Almost like a 1940s newsreel.
"American industrial might rolls another tank off the assembly line every 35 minutes. Hitler and his allies better watch out!...."
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dandy_warhol said:
Soooooooo... I booked us a small cabin on a farm for one night. Apparently I didn't read the German fine print to know that we would all be sleeping in a loft accessed by a ladder. šŸ˜³
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Maister said:

Funny, I don't remember the ABC Wide World of Sports intro from the 70s sounding so....square. Almost like a 1940s newsreel.
"American industrial might rolls another tank off the assembly line every 35 minutes. Hitler and his allies better watch out!...."
View attachment 66363
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That was the intro I remember. Back when ABCWWS was a program, you could watch sporting events every year that we now only see every four years at the Olympics.

Regarding the ski jumper, which is the most iconic scene:

Bogataj competed as a Yugoslav entrant at the ski flying event in Oberstdorf, West Germany on 7 March 1970. A light snow had begun falling at the start of the competition, and by the time Bogataj was ready for his third jump on the Heini Klopfer hill, the snow had become quite heavy. Midway down the inrun for his jump, Bogataj realised that the conditions had made the ramp too fast. He attempted to lower his center of gravity and slow his jump, but instead lost his balance completely and hurtled out of control off the end of the inrun, tumbling and flipping wildly, and crashing through a light retaining fence near a crowd of spectators before coming to a halt. Bogataj suffered a mild concussion and a broken ankle.

A film crew from Wide World of Sports was recording the event in which Bogataj crashed. The show featured an opening narration by host Jim McKay over a montage of sports clips, and coordinating producer Dennis Lewin inserted the footage of the crash to coincide with the words "...and the agony of defeat." Throughout the show's long history, various images were used for the other parts of the narration, including for "the thrill of victory...", which directly preceded the above phrase and was often accompanied by images of the celebrating team at the most recent Super Bowl or World Cup, but after that point, the "agony of defeat" was always illustrated by Bogataj's failed jump. Later on, other clips were added to the "agony of defeat", but Bogataj's crash was always featured and always the first played.

The melodrama of the narrationā€”which became a catchphrase in the USā€”transformed the uncredited ski jumper into an American icon of bad luck and misfortune. Meanwhile, having retired to his quiet, private life in Slovenia, Bogataj was unaware of his celebrity, and so was surprised to be asked to attend the 20th anniversary celebration for Wide World of Sports in 1981. He received the loudest ovation of any athlete introduced at the gala, and attendees such as Muhammad Ali asked him for his autograph.

In the 1990s, while on his way to an interview with Wide World of Sports about the incident, he got into a small automobile collision. His first line to the reporter was "every time I'm on ABC, I crash."
 
Sooooo . . .

Yesterday I had a consult for getting a tattoo.

I need to tell Hubby about it before I actually get the tattoo done - next week.
 
Salmissra said:
Sooooo . . .

Yesterday I had a consult for getting a tattoo.

I need to tell Hubby about it before I actually get the tattoo done - next week.
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what's it going to be - let's guess!

maybe a Chinese symbols saying: Think of the kids or some planning development complaint line
 
dandy_warhol said:
Soooooooo... I booked us a small cabin on a farm for one night. Apparently I didn't read the German fine print to know that we would all be sleeping in a loft accessed by a ladder. šŸ˜³
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From @Maister photo is this like a place where people were hidden during the war kind of place?
 
Salmissra said:
Sooooo . . .

Yesterday I had a consult for getting a tattoo.

I need to tell Hubby about it before I actually get the tattoo done - next week.
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Mrs. STTG got her first tattoo a few years ago. Our niece, her sister's daughter, has a shop in Salem, OR. Has four butterflies on her ankle. Three for our boys and one for the boy we lost at 18 weeks. Never thought she would get a tattoo. Two of the boys have also had Lyvie tattoo them.
 
zman said:
Side note, at the same house, I had 2 Marines show up to ask about the kid across the street who was in the Marine Corps and going for an embassy guard position. That was cool (and the kid got it).
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I just filled out what in all likelihood is the final SF-86 of my career.
 
michaelskis said:
We have a strict policy that we cannot use our miles number when we book work related travel. They don't want to give the perception that we are benefiting personally from tax payer funded work trips.
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I work for a major government contractor. If our lawyers have decided we can do it, I don't think it's a problem for a municipality. Our government customers themselves log their air miles on their personal frequent flyer numbers.

I think the logic goes: Airlines prohibit use of frequent flyer miles for corporate/government use. Therefore, there is no financial harm against companies or government entities for people tracking air travel on their personal frequent flyer accounts.

My boss is a million mile member, most of which were flown for company business. I think based on that he gets use of the airline executive lounge for life. He's got the same deal with a hotel chain.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
I was able to charge my hotel, air, and registration to my own card which also gives me Skymiles. This was not always the case. A check will be cut next week. I did have a city-issued Amex card at a time when I was a young planner - CDBG travel expenditures.
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Yeah now that's the one thing we can't do. They want all travel expenses charged to a company credit card. If you don't use your company card you have to explain it (like one time I let my card at a restaurant and didn't notice until the next meal).
 
Salmissra said:
Sooooo . . .

Yesterday I had a consult for getting a tattoo.

I need to tell Hubby about it before I actually get the tattoo done - next week.
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I'm a blank canvas. I'm not totally against the idea getting one ever, but there's just nothing I feel I need to burn into my skin.
 
Just an observation and not a complaint -

not a lot of emails coming in today
 
Planit said:
Just an observation and not a complaint -

not a lot of emails coming in today
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Thats because it is friday the 13th or a friday before a 3 day weekend or they know you are going to RJ & ignore them until next week ?
 
Doohickie said:
Yeah now that's the one thing we can't do. They want all travel expenses charged to a company credit card. If you don't use your company card you have to explain it (like one time I let my card at a restaurant and didn't notice until the next meal).
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Our office administrator prefers that we use a government credit card (if we have one issued to us) for our expenses but our Purchasing folks don't really care. I think our administrator likes us to use our government card because it saves her a couple steps since we then upload/input our receipts into the system and everything goes directly to Purchasing. If we use a personal card, the expense report goes to her and the boss first and they both need to sign off on it before Purchasing gets it.

Planit said:
Just an observation and not a complaint -

not a lot of emails coming in today
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It's been quiet with emails and actual work today for me too. I took a break a little bit ago to drop something off at UPS and get a couple items at Trader Joe's and I was surprised how busy the little shopping center was at 10:00 AM.

Maybe a lot of folks have Monday off and decided to take today off too to make it a 4 day weekend.

It's quiet enough for me today I was considering taking a bit longer at lunch and going to the club to use the sauna but I was there this morning and went to get into the sauna after lifting and it was out of order... so was the steam room. It's a sad day when I don't get my schvitz!
 
Yes, I am wearing my Canucks beanie today.

Even though itā€™s not match day. It is considered bad luck to wear it during the season on a day other than match day or the first day of the season/playoffs, based on my previous ruling in 2022 and the concept of stare decisis, I have decided that since the season is paused for the Olympics, the ā€œcanā€™t wear it during the seasonā€ rule doesnā€™t apply until the Olympics are over.


Canucks suck this year anyway so itā€™s not going to hurt them.
 
Big snowstorm due in Sunday, lasting until Wednesday. I am planning on being at work Tuesday, but will also make sure the house is provisioned just in case.
 
Has AI customer service from a chat bot or a phone call ever actually helped anyone? I had a situation and tried for days to get it resolved before I gave up and demanded to speak with someone who had a pulse. I thought about it for a while and realized that AI customer service has never solved my issue.
 
michaelskis said:
Has AI customer service from a chat bot or a phone call ever actually helped anyone? I had a situation and tried for days to get it resolved before I gave up and demanded to speak with someone who had a pulse. I thought about it for a while and realized that AI customer service has never solved my issue.
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I find AI customer service useless.
 
michaelskis said:
I was thinking more about the Super Bowl Half Time show, and I am going to maintain frustration that it was in Spanish. Not anger because it was every entertaining, but frustration. Reason I say that is because to help educate and inform a population about history and another culture, it is important to communicate in a way that your target audience would understand it.

The Olympic Opening Ceremony is a great example. There was a ton of artistic expression that showcased the culture and history of Italy, but to really help educate, the commentators had a script explaining all of it. Even the few operas that I have been to had a brief story description in the handbill.

In the case of the Halftime Show, subtitles in English would have gone a super long way to help people understand and appreciate the story he was trying to tell. Everything else could have been the exact same and I know personally, it would have resonated differently with me.

That's just how I see it.
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Itā€™s not the burden of people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds to educate you. Sit in that discomfort and realize that 40% of the country experiences that on the daily.

This YouTube channel has a lot of popular Spanish language songs with lyrics translated on screen, including numerous Bad Bunny songs. https://youtube.com/@learnspanishwithmusicreggaeton?si=ym9gHMaWojnsx1F_ (Learn Spanish with Music & Reggaeton)
 
michaelskis said:
Has AI customer service from a chat bot or a phone call ever actually helped anyone? I had a situation and tried for days to get it resolved before I gave up and demanded to speak with someone who had a pulse. I thought about it for a while and realized that AI customer service has never solved my issue.
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I've had mixed results with customer service AI chatbots. Sadly, the companies where I've gotten really bad or totally unhelpful answers from the AI chatbot were also the ones that had horrible customer service once I actually got to a human.
 
kjel said:
Itā€™s not the burden of people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds to educate you. Sit in that discomfort and realize that 40% of the country experiences that on the daily.

This YouTube channel has a lot of popular Spanish language songs with lyrics translated on screen, including numerous Bad Bunny songs. https://youtube.com/@learnspanishwithmusicreggaeton?si=ym9gHMaWojnsx1F_ (Learn Spanish with Music & Reggaeton)
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It wasn't discomfort as much as frustration. I also think it depends on what was his intent. A teacher does not teach in a language that the students don't understand, so if the intent was to teach about PR and the history, then they failed. But it comes down to intent. Frankly, I had never heard a Bad Bunny song until that and there isn't any doubt that he is talented.

I am curious where your 40% figure comes from being that the US census notes that around 8% to 9% indicated something other than speaking English very well.
 
michaelskis said:
Has AI customer service from a chat bot or a phone call ever actually helped anyone? I had a situation and tried for days to get it resolved before I gave up and demanded to speak with someone who had a pulse. I thought about it for a while and realized that AI customer service has never solved my issue.
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Chatbot: I am the virtual assistant here to help you
Me: Representative.
Chatbot: I can help you with that, but first let's try to...
Me: Representative.
Chatbot: The wait time will shorter if I am able to assist
Me: Representative.
 
Been listening to an attorney on YouTube as I work today. He was talking about the world of process servers.

I remember deplaning at Chicago O'Hare on a business trip a couple years ago. The man in front of me got served as we walked into the airport. He was pretty upset about it. Thinking about the process the server and counter-counsel would have to go through to serve the guy. I asked an attorney friend of mine and was told that if the case is legit enough and service to an individual is difficult, that he could see someone buying a plane ticket, just to give a server a boarding pass to get past TSA, to serve an individual, is not something common, but it has been done.

Just thought that was interesting.
 
zman said:
Been listening to an attorney on YouTube as I work today. He was talking about the world of process servers.

I remember deplaning at Chicago O'Hare on a business trip a couple years ago. The man in front of me got served as we walked into the airport. He was pretty upset about it. Thinking about the process the server and counter-counsel would have to go through to serve the guy. I asked an attorney friend of mine and was told that if the case is legit enough and service to an individual is difficult, that he could see someone buying a plane ticket, just to give a server a boarding pass to get past TSA, to serve an individual, is not something common, but it has been done.

Just thought that was interesting.
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Can you share the link? This feed sounds interesting.

I've been listening to "99% Invisible" today.
 
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