Random randomness

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 1:45 pm

It's come in very handy. All manners of departments want specific reports based on data sets, and then tack on, "Oh, can we get address/phone/e-mails?" I got sick of writing one-offs, so now I prepare reports for one output, then move the account data through a stock file to generate the contact details. I'll teach them how to merge the files, but I'm done incorporating stock contact info into custom reports.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 1:58 pm

Amazon cloud storage is not just a metaphor.

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) has filed for a patent to use airships to store products and serve as a base for delivery-drones.

The patent application was filed two years ago but was spotted only on Wednesday by Zoe Leavitt, an analyst at technology data and research firm CB Insights.

According to the patent filing, drones launched from the so-called "airborne fulfillment centers" (AFCs) would use far less power than those launched from the ground.

The AFCs would hover at about 45,000 feet (13,700 meters) and be restocked and resupplied by "shuttles or smaller airships." bit.ly/2ihP1AU

Amazon, which was not immediately available for comment, has laid out plans to start using drones for deliveries next year.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 3:35 pm

gilraen wrote:I'm in the process of cleaning up thousands of Excel rows (well, techically CSV) to get legacy data ready to import to a different ticketing system. I learned more about VLOOKUP in the last 2 weeks than I ever wanted to know.

For kicks I once built a spreadsheet for World of Tanks that let you put together tanks and components to see how effective they were without referring back to online guides and doing the math yourself. After it was outdated by a patch or two, I gave it up - but it was pretty cool for the short time I had it.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:54 am

What's with this crap of all these teens going to the malls and starting fights?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 9:40 am

dbt1949 wrote:What's with this crap of all these teens going to the malls and starting fights?

The Malt Shop is closed.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:46 pm

dbt1949 wrote:What's with this crap of all these teens going to the malls and starting fights?

They're just trying to defend us from The Foot Clan.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:57 am

For the 8th grade boy in all of us: Fudge from Uranus! "We Pack Your Fudge Fresh in Uranus"

"If there is anything that I can do to help you find Uranus or make Uranus Bigger and Better, let me know."

I feel like I need this T shirt:

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:19 pm

I have no idea what Mrs. Skinypupy is going to do tomorrow when I have to go back to work and she has to actually get out of bed before noon and take care of the kids.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:30 pm

Just dropped my eldest off at the airport. She's spending next semester studying in Norway. How the heck did she get so big so soon?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:49 pm

hentzau wrote:Just dropped my eldest off at the airport. She's spending next semester studying in Norway. How the heck did she get so big so soon?

Yup.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:19 pm

Did she eat a lot lately?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:54 am

It finally sunk in just how old my father is while I was back in Ohio for the holidays. He's 82 and it's been hard for me to see that, as he's always been sprite and spry in my mind's eye. Which he is...most of the time. But then there's the moments where I realize that he's really that old. When he gets up, he wheezes a bit. He shuttered his wood shop (a lifelong hobby of his for which he had the Amish build him a wood shop in his backyard). And he doesn't keep as orderly a house as he used to.

I tried to talk to him about a retirement community so he could have someone to help him out, while also being near people he could hang out with (he's a very social person...unlike his oldest son). But he (politely) refused. Telling me that as long as he could take care of himself, he was going stay in his home. I respect that, but now I'm worried all the time about him. I call almost every day now. Saturday he came down with the flu and I almost booked a flight home, but he convinced me he was going to be fine.

One thing I think I'm going to do is hire a cleaning service to come over a couple times a month to give the place the once over. Take some of that burden off his shoulders.

But man, all I seem to think about lately is what's inevitably going to happen. I don't think I'm ready for that.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:29 pm

hepcat wrote:But man, all I seem to think about lately is what's inevitably going to happen. I don't think I'm ready for that.

Man, do I hear you there. The thinking is a compulsion that I just wish would stop. On the bright side, it really makes me appreciate spending time with my parents, even when all of the dark conversation happen.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:33 pm

My father's long time companion died in 2015, so he's been alone since that time. That's what makes this harder for me. I live 7 hours away, my brother only 2. He sees him as often as he can, but it still bothers me that he's alone so much of the time.

On the plus side, the man has an incredibly huge network of friends back in New Philadelphia. He went to two different Christmas parties while I was visiting, and he had one friend checking on him daily while he's been sick.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:43 pm

I'm seeing this with my dad as well. He's had a couple of "fairly minor" procedures done recently, and has had some real struggles bouncing back from them. But he is hell bent on driving his big ass mobile home down to Florida in a few weeks. I hate to ask him to stay in IL this winter, it's one of those cases where I'm concerned that if we start restricting him he's going to go downhill even faster. I mostly feel sorry for my mom...she would be just as happy to stay in IL and just hunker down, but my dad loves the idea of being in FL in the winter.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:09 pm

My mom is talking seriously about selling the house she's lived in for 45+ years. Fair enough; it's a lot of house for a single woman in her mid-70s. But it's also where I was raised and what I'll always think of as "home." When I think about her moving out -- likely to a retirement community -- I can't help but think about what that implies about the inevitable future.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:16 pm

Do we need a "How's your dad" thread?

Mine had a triple bypass and got a pacemaker about a decade ago. He turned 70 last month and I have no idea how he is doing. I know he is alive because he emailed me about christmas presents a couple weeks back. I last saw him 17 years ago.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:25 pm

My parents house that I grew up in was demolished a few years back. I don't miss it.

I wouldn't begin to make an effort to stop my parents from doing what they want to do. They've earned it and they ought to get as much enjoyment out of anything they can and that includes putting in the work. They know they're mortal. My dad still climbs in a tree stand to sit locked in a single position for hours on end and I have no idea how he'd lug a deer along. He knows full well every time he goes hunting, his body might give out and that will be that but lord help him, he's doing what he loves even if it means I might be without a daddy "per-maturely"

Driving may eventually become my only concern, where the safety of others may come in question. So far that's not been a problem, so have at it, with whatever it is that you enjoy in life! I envy the position.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:31 pm

coopasonic wrote:Do we need a "How's your dad" thread?

We're all getting old together. We had a wave of baby threads, then a wave of kids threads. Now we're hitting the 'kids all grown up' and 'elderly parents' threads. Soon we'll be pushing for a Sweaters and Slippers subforum.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:43 pm

Bathrobes and slippers

Edit: Or maybe just 'Robes and Slippers'

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:44 pm

Prescription meds and Surgeries!

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:49 pm

Denture adhesive and hemorrhoid cream.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:50 pm

Ooh, that reminds me. I have some photos from my colonoscopy. Should those go here or in the picture thread?

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:50 pm

Skinypupy wrote:I have no idea what Mrs. Skinypupy is going to do tomorrow when I have to go back to work and she has to actually get out of bed before noon and take care of the kids.

Word!

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:52 pm

hepcat wrote:Ooh, that reminds me. I have some photos from my colonoscopy. Should those go here or in the picture thread?

How come I didn't get pictures?!? (of mine, not yours) I only gots about another two years before I have to do it again. Since they made me do the first one, I'm on the five year plan. What a pain in the ass.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:52 pm

My parents are moving out of their house and into something smaller at the end of the month. I'd be upset about it, but the first time I ever saw the house was when I came home for Thanksgiving my sophomore year of college, so I don't have an emotional attachment to it. (Heck, I didn't really have much of an attachment to the house we lived in prior to that, despite living there from first grade on.)

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:57 pm

LordMortis wrote:
hepcat wrote:Ooh, that reminds me. I have some photos from my colonoscopy. Should those go here or in the picture thread?
How come I didn't get pictures?!? (of mine, not yours) I only gots about another two years before I have to do it again. Since they made me do the first one, I'm on the five year plan. What a pain in the ass.

I got pictures. I assume your exam had something for them to take pictures of, cause if you were more-or-less clean, they may not have had any to share?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:59 pm

My childhood home was sold in 1989 when we vacated Las Vegas for Texas. My adolescent home is a rental home in West Texas. It remains to be seen if it will remain so, or be sold. My parent's home in Texoma was sold to relocate to Fla. panhandle.

Since retiring and relocating this past summer, Dad has managed to pass out in the bathroom in the middle of the night and dent the wall. He's fine, though. No need to seek medical attention about it.

Oh, and last week, he managed to put a wood chisel into the base of his thumb. But then, he's always been a bleeder. Worked with his hands all his life. It's not a real project until he sheds blood. The four stitches make it a bit of an overachievement in this case, but what are you going to do?

Dad turned 68 this past fall.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:01 pm

Due to family history both my sister and me were supposed to have them at age 30. im 47 she is 62 and neither have done it. Ya we're gonna die.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:01 pm

My friend who was visiting that week and was my ride home after the procedure was subjected to stealth viewings of those pictures. Every time he sat down for dinner, one of those photos would be next to his plate. Morning shower? Photo taped to shower curtain. I even put copies in his luggage right before he left.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:02 pm

Unagi wrote:I got pictures. I assume your exam had something for them to take pictures of, cause if you were more-or-less clean, they may not have had any to share?

The scope upgraded my boarding pass from IBS (suck it up, buttercup) to Crone's (now you need to be treated) and other gross stuff reserved for the meds and surgeries. No polyps, though my old man is now having polyps removed on a regular basis, so I'm high risk two ways.

hepcat wrote:My friend who was visiting that week and was my ride home after the procedure was subjected to stealth viewings of those pictures. Every time he sat down for dinner, one of those photos would be next to his plate. Morning shower? Photo taped to shower curtain. I even put copies in his luggage right before he left.

Did they get the full moon package?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:11 pm

Robin Williams rejected for Harry Potter back in the day.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:31 pm

LordMortis wrote:My parents house that I grew up in was demolished a few years back. I don't miss it.

My childhood home is now a gravel parking lot. When I was in town with my wife about 8 years ago, I went by to show her where I grew up. I was pretty surprised to see it wasn't there anymore. At the time it was just an empty lot with the concrete foundation for the garage and a dirt patch where the house was. I got over it. I think it was around 1400sf 3 bedroom, 1 bath, unfinished basement. Not much to miss really.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:33 pm

It's not the Property Listing description of your childhood home you are supposed to miss.... it's the memories.
dude

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:37 pm

I guess I forgot to delete the memories when the house was leveled.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:42 pm

coopasonic wrote: I think it was around 1400sf 3 bedroom, 1 bath, unfinished basement. Not much to miss really.

750 square feet (housing 7), 1 bath, "a Michigan basement" which is to say crawl space so you could get to the plumbing and house doesn't flood. This is opposed to a slap. It was a dump and "the neighborhood" had long since gone away before my parents sold the home. Every field and forest had already turned subdivisions and charter schools and none of the old "neighbors" lived there anymore either. I suppose if everything else from my childhood was in tact, I'd have some sort of attachment but I don't even like to drive near that area, so I haven't driven by since before it was demolished. Traffic sucks and there's nothing to invite me to the area. Not one single reason to be stalkerish.

MHS · Post by **MHS** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:03 pm

Just one of the many advantages of being a military brat...no need to be nostalgic for the house you grew up in. I'm pretty sure the base housing we lived in through my elementary and middle school years was condemned and razed for different government housing. I do have many fond memories of my time spent there.

Shockingly, every time I ask Neal and/or Kayla if they'd like to come to North Dakota with me (the state is a client, which is the only reason I go back) and see where I grew up, they say no. I'm actually pretty sure we wouldn't be able to get on base for me to show them, anyway.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:22 pm

With the amount we moved around, I don't have a childhood home to reminisce about. The first place I remember we moved into when I was about 4 and left two years later. A year or so after that my mother died, and my father began his routine of repeated moves.

From the time I was six until I was 21, I lived in, let's see... 17 houses and apartments, several long-term family shelters, plus numerous short-term shelters and missions. There were also several times we lived in the car for long periods (the longest about 8 months in Denver in '90.) One of the houses was my grandmother's, and I actually lived there on three separate occasions over that time. It's probably the closest thing to a 'childhood home' I ever had. If I extend it until I was 29 (when I moved into my current home), you'd have to add 8 additional homes and apartments. It took me a while to shake my father's habits. I've been in my current place for 14 years now, which seems absurd to me.

Of course, all of the moving meant that I was never around places or people for long, either. I generally went to multiple schools per year and if you ask me my home town, I'll tell you Clovis, Fresno, Sparks, Reno, Denver, and Terre Haute. I have lots of good childhood memories, but very few of them are clustered around particular people or places.

Many of the old places are still there. I know of at least two that are vacant lots, two that have been replaced with other structures, and there are a few I've never been able to find (I remember them, but don't have an address to look up on Google Earth.) The rest have moved on to other people. The only ones I really miss are the first (the only time I remember where my whole family was all together) and my grandmother's house. Both houses still exist.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:43 pm

My parents now live about 2 blocks from the house I spent most of my childhood in. We drive by it every couple weeks when we go visit. There's actually still a big Optimus Prime sticker on one of the bedroom windows that I put there 30+ years ago.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:45 pm

So a brusque Eastern European woman shaved my chest hair today.

Then she attached the electrodes for the Holter monitor test.

Don't cut the red wire....