Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

IMO, it sounds like she's being overly cautious, but then again it depends what you're putting in these boxes (how much they mean to you) and what your risk tolerance is.

Tolerance? ME? Surely you jest Sorry, too easy joke to skip. Basically if I'm willing to pay to ship it to Miami and pay to store it, then for one reason or another we'd like it survive.

So then you'd have to ask yourself how long stuff is going to be in there and how humid stuff gets.

We won't use any storage that isn't climate controlled, so assuming reliability / no catastrophic long term system failure that issue is moot(ish). There are things that we know are (very) long term storage, primarily furniture* but also some boxed items surely. It gets trickier because there's stuff that I can't be certain whether it ends up used within 6-12 months OR stores infinitely until I actually know where I'm living long term, what spaces to fill, what works/doesn't work in the space. Sure, that's an unknowable at this point ... but it still doesn't make the process any easier.

If it's important enough and will be stored long enough there may actually be a case to buy strong stackable plastic containers (although those could melt in the heat if not climate controlled).

OOH, that raises a specific question for you/the board. Re: those stackable totes. I'm familiar with both the (typically) gray Rubbermaid ones as well as the usually clear Sterilite ones. I've seen the latter become brittle and literally break/shatter .. but I haven't a clue whether that's commonplace, climate influenced, or just shitty luck on my part. Those ARE considerably cheaper ... anybody have long term storage experience with those cheaper ones? Are they more okay than I'm currently feeling, or are they just a bad idea beyond short term?

Again, it's hard to know what to do without seeing how much you have and what it is, so this is generalized advice that may or may not be useful.

How much? Too fucking much, that's how much lol. Will summed it up pretty neatly "we live in an antiques store in a Rooms-To-Go world". There's certainly a wide range of things and monetary values, but you don't have to walk far in here to find something 100+ years old. There's several boxes of books alone that are 125 years old and beyond (I'm guessing the combined total of books to keep between her stuff & my stuff, plus some Will stuff, will be 40-60 boxes of books alone)

One last thing I thought of is you could use double-walled boxes just for the bottom row and stack 2-3 on top of that. Less chance of collapse.

Hmm .. not bad, hadn't thought about that. Good shit.

We've never really had that much fragile/important stuff to store, so it's not really come up for us.

For better or worse, that's kind of the opposite to here. Quite a bit of what I've called "furniture nobody should sit on", OMG don't touch that fragile glass, china, etc.

I've disposed of the vast majority of that -- it's simply not compatible with MY individual lifestyle -- I didn't need 50+ decorative plates that hang on the walls, etc but some treasures do remain and will be sticking around in perpetuity.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Tolerance? ME? Surely you jest

OOH, that raises a specific question for you/the board. Re: those stackable totes. I'm familiar with both the (typically) gray Rubbermaid ones as well as the usually clear Sterilite ones. I've seen the latter become brittle and literally break/shatter .. but I haven't a clue whether that's commonplace, climate influenced, or just shitty luck on my part. Those ARE considerably cheaper ... anybody have long term storage experience with those cheaper ones? Are they more okay than I'm currently feeling, or are they just a bad idea beyond short term?

We have (or had) both. The big grey rubbermaid ones I bought and they store stuff in the unfinished (and until a couple of years ago uninsulated) part of our attic and are still just fine. My wife bought some of the cheaper, thinner, more brittle clear Sterilite ones and they shatter on a regular basis.

IMO, you get what you pay for. If you've made a decision to buy a more permanent solution than a cardboard box for a particular item / group of items, pay a little more for quality, IMO.


Good luck with all of it, Jon!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

My wife bought some of the cheaper, thinner, more brittle clear Sterilite ones and they shatter on a regular basis.
...
Good luck with all of it, Jon!

That's my fear with them, but I didn't want to totally discount it based entirely on only my experience. That someone else has had them behave the same reassures me about shying away from them.

And thanks for the good tidings. Things here are definitely pivoting into another phase, one that feels a lot closer to "okay, you really ARE gonna make it out of here" ... which is great, but it's also a heavy dose of "oh shit this is getting REAL" and I'm doing that in a pretty isolated environment -- the last remaining cat is NOT a great two-way conversationalist -- and I have to get out of my own head on some of this shit however I can.

Hence, the board gets the big brain dump and questions.

[CrimsonFox]

Kid Rock did a trump impression by whining then storming offstage.

https://consequence.net/2025/02/kid-...XNZWPrx7wUz6fQ

[Ghost Econ]

So I'm still doing a temp job for the next week or 2 that involves working from a queue. Got an email today that they're having issues updating their queue system and nothing new will be added until at least tomorrow.

They then said we can review training or opt to take the day off and not get paid. Who the fuck would opt for option 2? I just put the training on a loop and am going to get shit done around the house.

[albionmoonlight]

My guess is that they are obligated to pay you, so they threw out the non-pay option on the "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take" theory.

[Lathum]

So my kids were supposed to have a half day tomorrow. We are supposed to get some snow overnight, so what the district did was make tomorrow a delayed opening instead with school ending at normal time. Who the F made that call?

[dubb93]

While it is VERY far from true, it did hit me in the feels overhearing one of my boys tell his brother while they were helping me with the furnace that, "Dad can fix anything." Reminded me of when I was a kid and my grandpa, who ACTUALLY COULD fix anything.

[flere-imsaho]

Both of my grandpas could fix anything, it was unreal. And my grandpa on my Dad's side also had a full-size barn filled with tools, building material, etc....

[Ghost Econ]

So evidently we've had mice sneaking in our kitchen. I noticed it the other day with what looked like mouse droppings. Laid out some glue traps under the oven where I saw the droppings. There was a mouse that got caught the other day that my wife disposed of that had already died. Just now the dog heard something and i had a feeling after a quiet couple of nights. Sure enough, there was both a small dead mouse and a normal sized mouse stuck on a trap under the stove. So reach under the stove and slide the trap out with a live mouse and then put it out of its misery. Seeing it's little mouse eyes was way too sad.

[Ghost Econ]

Came home from running errands and let the dog out of his crate. He immediately sits down next to me and burps in my face. I think he just held it in the whole time.

[Atocep]

My god health insurance is a nightmare of confusion and unnecessary bullshit.

My son turned 23 in January. He's had Tricare under my ex wife since he was around 5 years old. Tricare allows children to stay on the plan, as long as they're a full time college student, until they're 23. So as soon as he turned 23 he was dropped from her plan. She didn't tell us. The only way we happened to find out is the trainer for his college baseball team recommended he get an MRI to check the healing on a shoulder injury. We looked into it and found out he had actually been dropped by tricare ok the 20th of December, which was the last day of his previous semester.

This left us scrambling to figure out insurance for him. Medicaid in Nebraska is God awful. If we put him on a plan in Washington he'd have to fly back here to get anything done so that's not realistic. So my wife and I started looking into plans for him on our employer's insurance. Now my wife is retired army so I have insurance through her and neither of us use our employer health plans. She works for Washington state and I'm a federal employees. The state uses Regeants, which isn't contracted with the hospital in Hastings Nebraska. I have a variety of options through FEBH. To get him insured under a life changing event (loss of coverage) I had to elect into a plan that I don't need with him added as a plus 1 for $550 a month so that he has decent health insurance. The deadline is this Thursday and the person that processes enrollment for the Defense Health Agency was wonderful enough to email me back and confirmed our submission for enrollment was going to be accepted.

Tricare has a young adult plan that offers coverage from 23 until 26, but runs $700 a month. So continuing Tricare coverage wasn't happening.

We had been sweating this for the past 2 weeks knowing that if we didn't get some sort of confirmation by the 20th that he may not have insurance until next year after open season in December.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Atocep

My god health insurance is a nightmare of confusion and unnecessary bullshit.

My son turned 23 in January. He's had Tricare under my ex wife since he was around 5 years old. Tricare allows children to stay on the plan, as long as they're a full time college student, until they're 23. So as soon as he turned 23 he was dropped from her plan. She didn't tell us. The only way we happened to find out is the trainer for his college baseball team recommended he get an MRI to check the healing on a shoulder injury. We looked into it and found out he had actually been dropped by tricare ok the 20th of December, which was the last day of his previous semester.

This left us scrambling to figure out insurance for him. Medicaid in Nebraska is God awful. If we put him on a plan in Washington he'd have to fly back here to get anything done so that's not realistic. So my wife and I started looking into plans for him on our employer's insurance. Now my wife is retired army so I have insurance through her and neither of us use our employer health plans. She works for Washington state and I'm a federal employees. The state uses Regeants, which isn't contracted with the hospital in Hastings Nebraska. I have a variety of options through FEBH. To get him insured under a life changing event (loss of coverage) I had to elect into a plan that I don't need with him added as a plus 1 for $550 a month so that he has decent health insurance. The deadline is this Thursday and the person that processes enrollment for the Defense Health Agency was wonderful enough to email me back and confirmed our submission for enrollment was going to be accepted.

Tricare has a young adult plan that offers coverage from 23 until 26, but runs $700 a month. So continuing Tricare coverage wasn't happening.

We had been sweating this for the past 2 weeks knowing that if we didn't get some sort of confirmation by the 20th that he may not have insurance until next year after open season in December.

A large percentage of the people that don't want the government involved in healthcare have Tricare, Medicare, and/or Medcaid. Working in healthcare and direct patient care is really eye opening when you start talking coverages and such with patients. Why anyone except the healthcare companies themselves would want this system we have is beyond me.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by dubb93

A large percentage of the people that don't want the government involved in healthcare have Tricare, Medicare, and/or Medcaid. Working in healthcare and direct patient care is really eye opening when you start talking coverages and such with patients. Why anyone except the healthcare companies themselves would want this system we have is beyond me.

I've been on Tricare most of my life now. The ease of using it is an amazing benefit. It's the type of health insurance everyone should have access to. If I'm seen at the hospital I happen to work at i don't pay anything. Prescriptions are around $3 and I get 3 urgent care visits per year anywhere with a $25 copay.

I'm not happy putting my son on a private plan but getting the one enrollment person listed for DHA to respond within 15 minutes to confirm the supporting documentation I submitted was going to be accepted was a relief.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I've been on Tricare most of my life now. The ease of using it is an amazing benefit. It's the type of health insurance everyone should have access to.

That is my entire point. The government run healthcare plans blow the private plans out of the water in almost every single way and the people who are on them tend to forget who administers their plans. I hear them all the time when healthcare comes up in the news say that the government shouldn't get involved in healthcare and then I check the person's face sheet and damn near everytime it's one of those three plans.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by dubb93

That is my entire point. The government run healthcare plans blow the private plans out of the water in almost every single way and the people who are on them tend to forget who administers their plans. I hear them all the time when healthcare comes up in the news say that the government shouldn't get involved in healthcare and then I check the person's face sheet and damn near everytime it's one of those three plans.

Cue the picture of the protestor with the sign "Get the government's hands off my Medicare"

[flere-imsaho]

Medicare/Medicaid/Tricare aren't required to turn a profit, so there's no impetus to put bureaucratic nightmares in place to ostensibly control costs but really to deny coverage (which is the most direct way to control costs / ensure profits).

It's really that simple.

[Passacaglia]

Just realized this site I used a while back might be something folks here would enjoy ..

Smarter Playlists

It's a web site that you link your Spotify account to and you can generate playlists with it

I use Apple Music now, and there's an app called Miximum that does the same thing. I like it more because the Spotify one doesn't add songs you've burned from CD to its playlists (it needs the API info, or whatever they call it).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Odd question, that I don't know the answer to, maybe somebody here will know.

Okay, I order from UberEats. That order is transmitted to the restaurant.
I guess I've always thought those systems were somehow linked but after yet another bungled order this morning I wonder:

are the orders being entered manually at the restaurant? Like they're taking the ubereats order off a fax machine (or similar) and then keying everything in themselves?

In all the orders I've done, I've never had one where the order was entered with every item incorrect. (my ubereats receipt has no changes, substitutions, nothing ... but the receipt on my bag, as well as my food, all had the cheese removed)

The labor pool here needs a massive dose of chlorine dumped in it

[Ghost Econ]

My daughter texted that she'd be out after practice in 5-10 minutes so I put on In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida to time her. Currently a little over halfway done.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

My daughter texted that she'd be out after practice in 5-10 minutes so I put on In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida to time her. Currently a little over halfway done.

Similar thing for me. Radio started playing Stairway to Heaven with google maps saying I had 9 minutes left to get home, and I thought I guess I'm set for the rest of the ride.

[HerRealName]

I'm not sure how this happened, but I do the family grocery shopping. I usually chit chat with the same Walmart greeter whenever I go there. He's an older guy and we usually talk about the Cowboys or Mavs.

He told me yesterday he's about to turn 94. I was completely shocked, I would have guessed his age as upper 70s. I wanted to ask him to breakfast sometime and just listen to his stories but I thought that would be weird and I didn't. This man lived through segregation in the South. Hell, he was in Dallas during the JFK assassination. Now, I'm thinking I shouldn't have choked like a 13 year old that wanted to ask his crush to the school dance.

[dubb93]

Any car guys here? Does anyone know what an oil pressure sensor does? We have a car that is acting up but it just isn’t worth very much money and the estimate we got to fix it has a bunch of things that add up to damn near the value of the car. I’m just trying to tick boxes off here of things I don’t actually need to fix. A Google search says that it’s just a simple sensor that lets you know when oil pressure is low (basically a light on the dashboard), but the same search also says it’s a critical component and if it’s malfunctioning it can cause the car to run rough, decrease fuel efficiency, and cause the engine to stall. Anyone familiar with what the heck it is?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Any car guys here? Does anyone know what an oil pressure sensor does? We have a car that is acting up but it just isn’t worth very much money and the estimate we got to fix it has a bunch of things that add up to damn near the value of the car. I’m just trying to tick boxes off here of things I don’t actually need to fix. A Google search says that it’s just a simple sensor that lets you know when oil pressure is low (basically a light on the dashboard), but the same search also says it’s a critical component and if it’s malfunctioning it can cause the car to run rough, decrease fuel efficiency, and cause the engine to stall. Anyone familiar with what the heck it is?

I believe it varies by model and manufacturer. Most vehicles it's not a big deal as long as you don't have leaks or any other issues the sensor could miss. I had a dodge, though, that had the sensor go bad though and it caused some annoying issues with the fuel pump, starting, etc.

[Lathum]

I am very skeptical that I actually have to listen to the entire menu because it has recently changed

[Ghost Econ]

I bet the people who park next to you at an empty parking lot are the same people who stand next to you in an empty wall of urinals.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I am very skeptical that I actually have to listen to the entire menu because it has recently changed

Well, "recently" in geologic terms, maybe.

[Passacaglia]

My son wished me a happy pokemon day within ten seconds of me getting out of bed, but forgot when it was my birthday four days ago.

[sovereignstar v2]

Boss takes a nice long weekend trip to Vegas -- nice

The only two co-workers with the same access as you take Friday off -- Shit

[Ksyrup]

Well, there's a first time for everything - I was out running in a neighborhood and someone let their dog out and it attacked and bit me on my bicep. So I only ran 10.5 of 15 planned miles and I'm at urgent care. The homeowner was apologetic but as we waited 10-15 minutes for my wife to come get me, he proceeds to tell me that animal control knows him and the dog well, he had just talked to them 30 minutes earlier, the dog had previously attacked someone in their yard not too long ago, thst he saw it happened and it was on video so he wasn't going to deny it, etc.

I just let him keep talking. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'm an attorney, ha!

Meanwhile, 3 separate times his 10ish year old daughter comes running out screaming and crying that he's going to get the dog taken away and put down and it's all his fault.

And, I'm now behind in my training. Yeah, I've had better days...

[Edward64]

Bit your bicep, so that sucker jumped up to bite you? That seems pretty darn aggressive. What breed was it?

I'd make a report to animal control just so they have a record of this (second or more attacks).

[Ksyrup]

He said it was an Australian Shepherd. And yes I fended off the first lunge and then it went MJ to reach my arm, which was up near my head at the time. Even the owner said he couldn't believe how high off the ground it got.

[Ksyrup]

Also, I guess by law a report has to be filed with animal control when someone comes in for treatment for a dog bite because I had to fill out info.

[Edward64]

It was "herding" you. They're supposedly pretty smart dogs.

[flere-imsaho]

Another owner with a high-energy dog that needs to be worked who isn't doing those things, I'd guess.

[Ksyrup]

That's what he said. It's a herding animal. However, if I was a sheep I'd have been mutton.

[Lathum]

Sad. 100% on the owner. Dog needs to be rehomed at the very least.

[Ghost Econ]

Yeah, there's a dog here that attacks my guy whenever we walk down their street. The dog was even walking around our yard the other day when I was about to go on a walk. A lady told me she already called animal control on it because it but her cat and an elderly neighbor, but I guess they didn't care.

[bob]

It would be awesome if I could take a single day off of work, go to a single location, and get a dental appointment, vision appointment, physical, and skin care screening all done vs having to schedule that all separately over the course of weeks / months.

[NobodyHere]

My boss invites an Amish customer into the office, yet he forbids me to play "Amish Paradise" during the visit. What should I do?

[bhlloy]

So for somebody who didn't grow up in the US and isn't old enough anyway, somebody fill me in on the Scout adverts that are popping up everywhere.

Genuinely never heard of this car brand before in my life, but I guess it's nostalgic enough that they think there's a place in a massively saturated car market that will make them enough money back that they can advertise during the Super Bowl and every other ad break on ESPN?

[cuervo72]

I thought it looked cool from the commercials, but I didn’t recall the Scout at all. I would have been six or seven when they stopped production in 1980; you would think that they stuck around for a bit after (heck, you see original Cherokees around) but no, no recollection of ever having seen one.

[bhlloy]

Looks exactly like the Rivian to me, which is already failing miserably. That and the current EV saturation vs market share and the hostility in the current administration towards EVs that aren’t Tesla (which we’ve known was going to be a thing for months now) just made me wonder if there was something I was missing.

Not my money but they’ve got to be burning through millions and millions for something that seems to be almost guaranteed to be a massive failure. So I wondered if there was some cultural sweet spot or belovedness for this particular car I wasn’t aware of.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

So for somebody who didn't grow up in the US and isn't old enough anyway, somebody fill me in on the Scout adverts that are popping up everywhere.

Genuinely never heard of this car brand before in my life, but I guess it's nostalgic enough that they think there's a place in a massively saturated car market that will make them enough money back that they can advertise during the Super Bowl and every other ad break on ESPN?

Honestly, I had to Google to refresh my own memory (I was 13 when these stopped production) but with the first picture it was a quick "oh yeah, NOW I remember"

It was basically the forerunner to the modern SUV. I don't recall them being a particularly big deal or anything but I do remember seeing a few around (I was in an awfull small town at the time). I remember them being subjectable to pretty rough conditions, off-roading kinda stuff, and for some reason the few I remember all seemed to have some visible rust (anecdotal obviously).

[dubb93]

Wikipedia says Scout is owned by Volkswagen so I’m sure they have money to burn.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

So for somebody who didn't grow up in the US and isn't old enough anyway, somebody fill me in on the Scout adverts that are popping up everywhere.

Genuinely never heard of this car brand before in my life, but I guess it's nostalgic enough that they think there's a place in a massively saturated car market that will make them enough money back that they can advertise during the Super Bowl and every other ad break on ESPN?

It sounded familiar but, like Jon, I had to google too. Once I saw the I-H logo I was like "yeah, International Harvester". My Dad had a IH pickup back in the day, those were solid work trucks. Totally forgot they had a vehicle that was similar to Blazers, Broncos, and Cherokees. They also made tractors and other farming equipment.

Looks like Volkswagen bought the scout name.

Link to..
What Happened to International Harvester?

https://www.velocityrestorations.com...nal-harvester/

[cuervo72]

The VW part is interesting given the also nostalgia-driven ID.Buzz. Of course that also starts at $60k for the entry model so…yeah maybe mostly for people old enough to remember them who can actually afford them?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

My boss invites an Amish customer into the office, yet he forbids me to play "Amish Paradise" during the visit. What should I do?

Time to find a new job. This made me think of a bit of trivia I heard a couple of days ago. Weird Al's "Eat It" went to number one on the Australian charts. Micheal Jackson's "Beat It" only made it to number three. I love Aussies.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

The VW part is interesting given the also nostalgia-driven ID.Buzz. Of course that also starts at $60k for the entry model so…yeah maybe mostly for people old enough to remember them who can actually afford them?

When I heard those were coming out, I was so excited. I loved the old VW camper type buses. Then I saw the price tag, and there is no way. Just stupid money.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

My boss invites an Amish customer into the office, yet he forbids me to play "Amish Paradise" during the visit. What should I do?

- YouTube