Useless Conversation

[ghost]

Some PMs are pretty darn clueless and don't bother learning or knowing anything about what they are managing.  We have a few around here but there are some who are awesome at what they do.  The former are the PMs who probably think that project management is the same no matter what the deliverable is, while the latter tend to be specialists in what they deliver on.

So the company I work at currently is splitting... eh, fuck it... I'm working at Abbott atm and if you haven't heard, the company is splitting at the end of the year.  There was a big employee all-hands meeting today to talk about how the organizational structure is going to look, or at least that's what I heard it was about.  Since I'm a contractor, I don't get to be privy to those kinds of meetings.  But my dept/group is going to be part of the new company AbbVie, which is fine with me.  But oddly enough, I'm finding myself really resentful to be finding out the information second-hand and having to wait to be told what's going on.  I hear employees discussing aspects of what's new around me, but I've been told nothing directly yet.  I'm apparently important enough to the company to need around, but not enough to know what's going on, at least not with any sense of immediacy.  Either way, being a contractor still sucks.  I'm part of the company and part of the team, until something like this slaps home that I'm really not.  Trying to figure out if I should be feeling this way or not. 

I've been refraining from posting on purpose because I can be a cunt at times, but :

I'd get the CV ready.  Your posts lately have set off my spidey sense.

That's not cunt-like at all.  It's just good advice. 

[Engels]

Girl walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a Double Entendre. So he gave it to her.

Wait, are you spoiling the joke on purpose or is this a different translation ?

Small correction, the joke goes: A woman walks into a bar and says to the bartender,"Entendre, make it a double". So he gives it to her.

I botched it early on, then didn't quite do the joke verbatim.

[Ironwood]

I think it works better in the queen's English.

I just think 'So he gave her one' is better.

Fair nuff tho

[Arthur_Parker]

Trying to find a mobile phone for my 5 year old, her Granny goes into diabetic hypo occasionally and I want her to be able to ring home more easily.  There was a Glowphone but not sure company is still going, internet search results are full of people preaching about how annoying phones are for children, not half as annoying as you people bitching about them are.

[Reg]

Sounds to me like Granny needs one of those "I've fallen and can't get up" buttons to call for help.  Or is the hypoglycemia so bad that she actually loses consciousness?

[Arthur_Parker]

She sorta goes hazy suddenly a bit like being drunk then would lose consciousness shortly after.  

She's got her pride and still looks after her mum (the great grandmother), she just says she'll be fine.  I've thought of web cams all sorts, but at the minute my Mrs rings her twice a day and I make a mad dash in the car across every so often when she hasn't hung the phone up properly and we can't contact her. She won't even keep her own mobile turned on or charged.  

It's getting more frequent now and had a bad incident tonight with my daughter there, long term she's said she will move in with us, but that's going to involve us getting a bigger house or extending here.  That's not going to be easy to sort either.

I want a small phone that a kid can operate with a couple of emergency phone buttons on it to keep there, as the Granny can't remember our number when it happens and my daughter panics trying to ring us on the normal phone.  So maybe there is a panic thing I can get that does similar, I'll have a look.

[Viin]

Like this?
http://www.greatcall.com/lp-5star-responder/emergency-cell-phone-for-kids.aspx

[RhyssaFireheart]

Haven't played golf in at least 15 years.  Barely managed 7 holes with the husband when we went to play 9 holes this afternoon.  Advil is my friend, oh yes, it is.

Ugh.

[Trippy]

She sorta goes hazy suddenly a bit like being drunk then would lose consciousness shortly after.  

She's got her pride and still looks after her mum (the great grandmother), she just says she'll be fine.  I've thought of web cams all sorts, but at the minute my Mrs rings her twice a day and I make a mad dash in the car across every so often when she hasn't hung the phone up properly and we can't contact her. She won't even keep her own mobile turned on or charged.  

It's getting more frequent now and had a bad incident tonight with my daughter there, long term she's said she will move in with us, but that's going to involve us getting a bigger house or extending here.  That's not going to be easy to sort either.

I want a small phone that a kid can operate with a couple of emergency phone buttons on it to keep there, as the Granny can't remember our number when it happens and my daughter panics trying to ring us on the normal phone.  So maybe there is a panic thing I can get that does similar, I'll have a look.

You probably want something like a Firefly glowPhone.

[Soln]

heh I just scored a Valve hat.   Valve swag mmmmm. 

[Sky]

I've had it, called the B-Dry guys for an estimate. At this point, I'm favoring an interior system because one of the walls runs under the garage and I don't really want to break open an intact 83-yr old slab to put on an exterior treatment.

I'm shivering at the thought of how broke I'll be after this one, finally was starting to see the financial light of day this year. But the last big rain dumped enough water in the basement to soak the rug my drums sit on, and even without that I have to lug about 4 gallons out every decent rainfall we get. The sewer pipe leaves at about chest level, so no floor drain, no basement sink, etc...all the water in the wet vac needs to be carted upstairs, through the house and dumped in the backyard. All while swearing under my breath. My fiancee normally doesn't get to witness this fun stuff, so after the drum-rug thing, she has been urging me to get a quote...

[Chimpy]

No sump?

[Sky]

They will most likely channel, dimpled membrane and sump (since that's what I want, plus anything they recommend on top of that). And one reason I cringe at the cost is I'm all about a really good sump pump + backup. And the guy will laugh because it's a 2-6 gallon leak, but I did have one year where it came in multiple places. I'd rather bite the expense now and be able to have peace of mind with musical gear down there, even if it means channeling out the far end of the basement that only leaked once a few years ago when the rain torrented over the eaves troughs.

Also, finding a place to pump TO is going to be hell.

[Merusk]

The only reason he'd laugh at you is because he's an idiot. Since he does it for a living I wouldn't expect that.  Any leak is a bad leak. It all goes to a basin anyway so he won't care how big the leak is.  YOU might care if your sump is going on and off all the time because then it's a bigger problem than you realized.

Besides, it'll let you put a sink down there, so win-win.

[Sky]

Plan is to put the sink in with a separate pump up into the sewer line. We'll see what he thinks about it. I guess with the low volume I'm dealing with, it might be permissible to pump into the sewer line, but I guess that's a codes thing. Maybe I could even pull a string and get an exemption for that. If the sump has to pump into the yard (or Odin forbid a dry well  ), then the sink gets a separate pump is what I'm getting at.

[JWIV]

Yesterday was  fun, and today promises more of the same - we had the Blue Angels flying over the house pretty much all day, and apparently they've got another day of practice today scheduled before the air show Sailabration events this weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq4bCQCbysU

[Selby]

I'm hauling my girlfriend's broken car from San Francisco to San Diego.  This promises to be an adventure in dealing with other idiots on the road while my truck pulls a trailer at 55MPH, somehow offending everyone else around me.

[Merusk]

55mph?  Of course they're giving you dirty looks, you haul shit at +70MPH, noob!

At least that's my take-away from driving the stretch of I-75 I live on.   

[Ingmar]

You'll probably anger people less if you take 101 than if you take 5, since the speed limit is generally lower on 101. It will take longer though. Driving at 55 on 5 is probably pretty unsafe honestly, since everyone goes 80+.

[Sky]

My new year resolution for 2011 was to drive the speed limit and obey all traffic law properly (full stop at signs, etc). I'm still holding to it.

[WayAbvPar]

How much are the AARP dues, anyway?

[Bunk]

 

If I were to try going the speed limit of 100 kph on the freeway I take in to work at 5:30 in the morning, I would get run over. Going 125, you get people flying past you in the other lane.

Honestly, outside of some school zones, I can't think of a single road I drive on in this city where the posted speed limit is what I would consider "appropriately fast enough".

Before you get the idea that I'm a crazy maniac - I'm really not. Haven't driven that way (speed wise) in 20 years. Going the actual speed limit around here though - will just get a whole line of road raging people backed up behind you.

*I like Way's response better

[Minvaren]

Speed limits are generally set artificially low in order to increase ticket revenue, fwiw.

When I was young, I sped everywhere.  Then I got over that, and drove the speed limit everywhere.  These days, I just go with the flow of traffic in Houston, unless...

- It's the last week of the month on a toll road
- I'm driving through Jersey Village
- I'm driving through Bellaire

And for those, I'm generally going 2-5mph under just to make others more visible targets.

[Rasix]

It's so much fun uninviting people from your son's birthday party. Bleh.  Go to love it when everyone accepts your invitations and the place can only accommodate an extra 5 people. 

[ghost]

Just change the venue if that many people want to come.

[Nebu]

I say that you invite them all and send home the kids that bring crappy gifts.   

[Paelos]

I say that you invite them all and send home the kids that bring crappy gifts.   

ANTS IN THE PANTS!?!?!

[Xanthippe]

It's so much fun uninviting people from your son's birthday party. Bleh.  Go to love it when everyone accepts your invitations and the place can only accommodate an extra 5 people. 

Public parks are great for birthday parties.

[Rasix]

Maybe if he was born in November.  June is misery in Tucson.

Everything worked out.  Party was fun. 

[Chimpy]

It is not our fault you chose to live on the surface of the sun :-p

[Selby]

55mph?  Of course they're giving you dirty looks, you haul shit at +70MPH, noob!

Speed limit for trucks with trailers is 55MPH in California and CHP takes it very seriously (and loves to write an expensive ticket, they were doing it when I drove by several of them).  I drove 60MPH the entire way and only had to pass one or two other cars going oddly slow.  The semis were flying by at 70MPH and the cars were doing 75+.  Only had problems on Grapevine as the truck didn't want to go up too quickly.  And got 16MPG.  I love my diesel.

[Merusk]

Yeah same deal with trailers here, but nobody obeys it.

Nothing quite as frightening as being passed by a F350 super cab hauling a loaded 4-horse trailer at 80+mph and he doesn't know how to stay in his own goddamn lane.    Fucking hicks.

[schild]

Rodney King killed himself with the drugs, that is all.

[Paelos]

Huh, I had no idea he was actually going to marry one of the jurors that helped get him $3.8M in the civil trial. 

[Morat20]

We had a two second power blip.

My PC now thinks it has a 3.5 floppy drive and that it's 2004. While fixable, that sounds like a "hey, you know that battery on your motherboard that doesn't seem to have a purpose? Guess what?" sort of thing.