Octopus Overlords

For years Google Earth has taunted me. When looking at it from above it will tell me every road's name except the one I actually want to know until i move the map around a lot or zoom in or out.

As for the home. The BR helper said I could contact HUD if the loan place itself wont help. They have modifications that lower it to 31% of monthly income. Not sure how they'd do that if the loan place itself wont do it. And they have another thing that refinances based on a decline in the home and value since getting a mortgage.

I've now worked as adjunct for eight years at one of my university jobs, which is longer than any other position I've held. (Of course I'm just half-time, so maybe it doesn't fully count?)

Prior to this, my longest full-time position was seven years at a girls' high school. Lots of friends there, and I still use them as recommenders when I occasionally cast applications into the void. They tell me I'm still amusing.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:16 pm Losing your work BFF sucks. Dude that I've been going to lunch with 3-4 times a week for the past 10 years just took another job.

I'm not an overly social guy, but he and I just hit it off really well when he started on our team ages ago, and we've have become good friends. He's been my sanity sounding board for this place for a long time, and I'm gonna miss that.

Man, same here. Lost my US-based work BFF about a month ago. I still have a UK-based BFF, but the UK logs off of work at 10:30am my time. Losing my main US-based person to chat with has made the afternoons a lot harder to make it through.

Just received a Gold Award on Reddit. I guess I can scratch that off my bucket list? I didn't even know it was a thing. 'tis a weird place. Maybe we need awards and flair here?

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:06 pm Just received a Gold Award on Reddit. I guess I can scratch that off my bucket list? I didn't even know it was a thing. 'tis a weird place. Maybe we need awards and flair here?

A list of OO Achievements might be fun...

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:06 pm Just received a Gold Award on Reddit. I guess I can scratch that off my bucket list? I didn't even know it was a thing. 'tis a weird place. Maybe we need awards and flair here?

That's more than just a shiny icon! That means someone spent two actual real money dollars on you because they liked your post so much, and now you have one month free access to some kind of oddball extra reddit features.

wonderpug wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:19 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:06 pm Just received a Gold Award on Reddit. I guess I can scratch that off my bucket list? I didn't even know it was a thing. 'tis a weird place. Maybe we need awards and flair here?

That's more than just a shiny icon! That means someone spent two actual real money dollars on you because they liked your post so much, and now you have one month free access to some kind of oddball extra reddit features.

They changed it. Gold used to get you a month of bonus features. Now it gets you a week. The cost didn't go down, but now you have to translate the funds through a coin purchase.

A month now requires Platinum, which runs 1800 coins, costing $5.99.

wonderpug wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:19 pm That's more than just a shiny icon! That means someone spent two actual real money dollars on you because they liked your post so much, and now you have one month free access to some kind of oddball extra reddit features.

Resume updated!

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:42 pm They changed it. Gold used to get you a month of bonus features. Now it gets you a week. The cost didn't go down, but now you have to translate the funds through a coin purchase. A month now requires Platinum, which runs 1800 coins, costing $5.99.

Resume updated.

Hey, let’s take this simple thing and turn it incomprehensible!

wonderpug wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:19 pm access to some kind of oddball extra reddit features.

Reddit Premium
Experience Reddit ads-free
Help support the Reddit community
700 Coins monthly
Access to the exclusive r/lounge

Uh-oh. I just ran out of hot water four minutes into a shower. I'm the only one at home, and nobody has used hot water today.

If it is the hot water heater, it could be a problem. On the positive side, we rent, so it isn't our expense. On the negative, it looks like the water heater had the bathroom built around it. The opening between the enclosure an the wall behind the bathtub is about 15 inches wide, while the water heater is about 19. That means to replace it they'd likely have to take out a wall, and possibly the sink. Our landlady is elderly and not in the best of health. I'm worried that the expense of that could just result in her declaring it unfixable and closing down the apartment (it's a three unit building. Her niece lives downstairs. I'm the only renter, and have been for a decade.)

If you want to relocate to NJ, my house will be hitting the market soon. Cheap.

On a serious note, now old could it be? My point is that I doubt it was put in thinking it would last forever. I'm guessing there's an access panel or some other way to get to it. Not easy, necessarily, but I've seen some wacky things. For example, there's a 1' square access panel in my hall closet to get to bathroom plumbing. Houses are weird places.

Nope. This is my bathroom. The top wall is solid with the kitchen behind it. The right wall is solid plaster with outside behind it. The wall to the left of the water heater is solid with the sink behind it. The wall between the tub and the toilet is solid and full of plumbing. The gap between the edge of the tub wall and the enclosure for the water heater is 15", maybe 16" if you remove the molding.

When I was a teen my best friend lived in a trailer. Their water heater was in a place like that. The opening was maybe 3 feet and the water heater was about 4 feet. We did a hide and seek one day and I climbed in there and stood up top the water heater. They looked for 15 min and kept passing me by and never found me. They couldn't see my feet because I was higher than the opening lol. They thought I was outside and cheated. And ya hide and seek as a teen...so bored that day lol.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:07 am If you want to relocate to NJ, my house will be hitting the market soon. Cheap.

On a serious note, now old could it be?

Found the install date. 1996.

You might need to notify Ripley's or the Guinness Book of World Records. 23 years? That's amazing.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:14 pm You might need to notify Ripley's or the Guinness Book of World Records. 23 years? That's amazing.

All of our interior doors lock - with old-fashioned 'skeleton' keys.
All of our window glass has bubbles.
We have wiring in the house with both cloth and lead insulation.
We have nails in the house that that were hand-forged.

Our water heater a modern miracle!

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:44 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:14 pm You might need to notify Ripley's or the Guinness Book of World Records. 23 years? That's amazing.

All of our interior doors lock - with old-fashioned 'skeleton' keys.
All of our window glass has bubbles.
We have wiring in the house with both cloth and lead insulation.
We have nails in the house that that were hand-forged.

Our water heater a modern miracle!

Have you considered placing more logs under the water heater and re-starting the fire?

Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 1:11 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:44 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:14 pm You might need to notify Ripley's or the Guinness Book of World Records. 23 years? That's amazing.

All of our interior doors lock - with old-fashioned 'skeleton' keys.
All of our window glass has bubbles.
We have wiring in the house with both cloth and lead insulation.
We have nails in the house that that were hand-forged.

Our water heater a modern miracle!

Have you considered placing more logs under the water heater and re-starting the fire?

Don't forget to crank the whirligig, either.

I'm just glad the furnace isn't coal.

What's the going rate on whale oil these days?

Saw an unmarked police cruiser (had "Police Interceptor" badge) parked in a one hour zone near the University yesterday...

... with a hanging Handicapped placard.

Hmmm....

The more time goes by the more I wonder what exactly happened on that last day in the hospital before my wifes death. From the things I saw and heard something is amiss. But me being basically penniless I wouldn't even know how to look into getting detailed info on it all. Plus the hospital sure wouldn't provide evidence of negligence. I couldn't afford a malpractice lawyer. I would just like info. Im still in the dark on it all. I know what the death certificate lists and that may well be the end result. But allowing her to lay there 10 hours when something was most likely terribly wrong and me saying something isn't right did something happen and getting told no everything is fine is not sitting well with me now. Its starting to gnaw at me. Id like some truth but doubt I can afford it...and that hurts.

Today's Wikipedia featured article is Ontario's Highway 420.

Nice...

For those not in the know ( I wasn't until a few years ago) 420 is drug culture slang for marijuana. Today is April 20th, or 4/20.

Those of you who didn't need any explanation are free to ignore my post.

Never hear that term. Learn something everyday here.

I always figured it was another police code (like 'a 187' is slang for murder, originating from the California Penal Code 187), but apparently it isn't. Nobody is completely sure where 420 originated.

Also, I'm glad there is no January the 87th.

/edit - although Snopes blames it on the Grateful Dead.

Seriously guys, stop. You're embarrassing me in front of my cool friends.

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2019 5:21 pm Seriously guys, stop. You're embarrassing me in front of my cool friends.

We don't even know who you are. Why are you standing near us?

Got my wife's Yoda back today by random luck.

For years Id tried to talk my wife into getting herself a Yoda stuffed plush. She loved the Star Wars character but didn't want to waste needed money on a plush. Around 2012...maaaaaybe 2014 we had extra money and were walking down an aisle in Walmart and there was a 3 foot tall plush Yoda standing on the shelf with a Chewie and some others. I talked her into buying it as it was on sale. She loved it and watched tv with it beside her for months but it took up too much room and ended up on her day bed in the living room. Sometimes Id bring it to her to watch tv in the day with lol. We are both plush stuffed animal and such fanatics....were

Anyways around 2016 her/our cousin started getting much sicker and frail. He was in his 60s by then. He was also a huge scifi fan and a Star Wars fan. He saw Avatar I think he said 4 or 5 times. Anyways she wanted to cheer him up and maybe get a laugh out of him so we talked it over and decided to give him the Yoda for Christmas 2016. He also loved it and did get a kick out of it. He had it sitting in the chair opposite his recliner in his house where he watched tv.

He passed away Christmas 2017 and I thought that was it for the Yoda. Id never see it again. I hesitated calling about it because that was be insensitive in my opinion so I waited and waited and we never called. We figured one of his God children had got it or something.

So a week ago people who are both our friends and always had Thanksgiving and Christmas there with him and are really close to him and his wife had to help his widow move. She lost their home....which is what Im trying desperately to not do here. Anyways they called and said they had some of his coats for me and I decided that since Donna was gone I really needed that Yoda back in my life so I brought it up. Just asked if they saw it or such. And the funny part was the guy said for some reason he had seen it a week or more ago and felt some urge to get it and hold it . His wife even asked why and he said he had a feeling that he needed to get the Yoda . And it turned out it was because of me and I asked for it.

So I now have my wife's Yoda figure back home. Our's cousin's widow was going to thrift store it. Im so glad and relieved to have it home.

Another win is it and the coats all smell like our cousin and his home. Its a combo of him, a clean house smell, and a light cigg smoke scent. Smoking is what killed him btw. But to me its a memory of me and my wife going to visit or having every Thanksgiving and Christmas there since 2007 or so.

So something good today. And of course it made me sad and cry but also happy and relieved. Seems most all my memories make me sad and a bit better at the same time.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:33 pm The more time goes by the more I wonder what exactly happened on that last day in the hospital before my wifes death. From the things I saw and heard something is amiss. But me being basically penniless I wouldn't even know how to look into getting detailed info on it all. Plus the hospital sure wouldn't provide evidence of negligence. I couldn't afford a malpractice lawyer. I would just like info. Im still in the dark on it all. I know what the death certificate lists and that may well be the end result. But allowing her to lay there 10 hours when something was most likely terribly wrong and me saying something isn't right did something happen and getting told no everything is fine is not sitting well with me now. Its starting to gnaw at me. Id like some truth but doubt I can afford it...and that hurts.

Any good personal injury lawyer would take something like this on contingency. They would only charge you if they won the case (in which case they'd probably take something like 1/3 of the verdict, depending on local laws). They know how to get information from the hospital, and they will spend their own money to get it in evaluating your case. If they think you have a case, you'd proceed with filing the suit, and you'd only pay the attorney anything if you get a judgment or settlement. If they don't think you have a good case, they would let you know and wouldn't proceed with anything. If you have serious concerns, look into getting an attorney. You can get referrals from your local bar association. If anyone wants to charge you any money, tell them no thanks and move on to another attorney. There are ethical attorneys out there who will treat you right, and they won't charge you anything up front.

My doctor took me off metformin about a month ago because I was complaining of have diarrhea all the time. So I've been stopped up a couple of days now and instead of taking a stool softener I took a metformin. Sure enough a few hours later it hit me and I cleaned her out.

Pics or it didn’t happen?

Last week, a client in DC asks if I can do a webinar demo for them at 8:30 ET this morning. They know I'm in Salt Lake (two hours behind them), recognized that 6:30 AM is really early for a Monday morning, but said that it was critical that these folks saw the demo and that was the only time they could do it. So I dragged myself out of bed an hour early this morning and made sure I was in the office by 6:15 AM to be ready to lead the presentation.

Guess who never showed up for the demo and is now not answering their phone?

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:50 am Last week, a client in DC asks if I can do a webinar demo for them at 8:30 ET this morning. They know I'm in Salt Lake (two hours behind them), recognized that 6:30 AM is really early for a Monday morning, but said that it was critical that these folks saw the demo and that was the only time they could do it. So I dragged myself out of bed an hour early this morning and made sure I was in the office by 6:15 AM to be ready to lead the presentation.

Guess who never showed up for the demo and is now not answering their phone?

You need to make sure that the only time you can reschedule for is 4pm... YOUR time. indeed.

Good lord, I hate it when major news outlets give away plot twists for big shows in their headlines. I usually watch Game of Thrones a day or two after it airs, and during that time I can't even open a news site web page without getting blasted with spoilers.

At the doctor today filling out info papers I came across what was very difficult for me. The marital status question. Was like check check yes no..BAM! Ive always been married. She was always with me. But not today and I had to write in WIDOW. That hit me in the gut. Still nagging at my mind. Widow. Such a harsh word in my eyes. Rough for me. It breaks my heart.

I wonder if it would matter if I left it married?

I also had to put my sister down as my emergency contact. Both me and my wife used each other and as an alternate we used her cousin Ralph. But he died Christmas 2017 and now my wife is gone.

As for surgery I will have to get them to understand Im totally alone and if I cant reach or do something with my bandages or wound then it wont get done.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 9:33 pm At the doctor today filling out info papers I came across what was very difficult for me. The marital status question. Was like check check yes no..BAM! Ive always been married. She was always with me. But not today and I had to write in WIDOW. That hit me in the gut. Still nagging at my mind. Widow. Such a harsh word in my eyes. Rough for me. It breaks my heart.

I wonder if it would matter if I left it married?

FWIW, widow typically refers to a woman whose spouse has died and who has not married again. Widower is the male equivalent:

Collins Dictionary wrote:widower

countable noun
A widower is a man whose spouse has died and who has not married again.