Useless Conversation

[01101010]

Had to order tires for my GTI this morning. They were cheaper than I feared but still a lot more than I paid for tires the last time I had to buy tires. High performance low-profile tires are spendy!

I have another year left on my RSX's tires. Not looking forward to that.

[Sky]

Yes, you are assholes.

Try being handicapped for a few months, it might open your eyes.

Most theaters have a policy that if you take the seat(s) next to a handicapped spot, you may be asked to move if a handicapped person requires them. There is a theater full of seats, but they can only use the handicapped seats. Thus, those seats are technically for their party (or just one caregiver/friend, depending on theater policy). You can go sit anywhere else, unlike them.

The theater doesn't want to deny those seats to people if nobody requires them, so you are allowed to sit there until a handicapped person needs them.

Also, what Ironwood said (as usual). But I do so wish karma was a real thing.

Anyway. Yeah, had to replace the FJ's big ol' tires. I follow the philosophy 'never cheap out on anything that comes between you and the planet'. Tires, shoes, beds, chairs, etc. Always worth spending a bit more. But damn, that weren't cheap.

[Engels]

Dude, being in a wheelchair does not impede your ability to plan an outing to the movies. I think that it was a good call to leave to go another day, cuz although saying 'no' would have been 100% justified, you would then have to sit there with these fools shooting daggers at you the whole while. Ya made the right call, and no, yer not an asshole or a pushover.

[rattran]

Just because you're handicapped, it's no excuse to be a douche. Asking for 3 seats was a douche move.
I spent $900 on tires for the FJ last year, not much fun, but these things have to be done. I did cheap out by keeping the old spare. I'll replace it with the next set in 18 months.

[schild]

Yes, you are assholes.

Try being handicapped for a few months, it might open your eyes.

How about no?

[Trippy]

Had to order tires for my GTI this morning. They were cheaper than I feared but still a lot more than I paid for tires the last time I had to buy tires. High performance low-profile tires are spendy!

Yeah my BMW had some very nice Bridgestone tires (quiet, lots of grip) which were ~$200 each and didn't last very long (~20K miles if I remember correctly).

[Chimpy]

The Dunlops that came on my GTI are kinda loud/rough. The ones I ordered are BFGoodrich and are actually about 25% less expensive than the Dunlops would be but are higher speed rated and have much better reviews as far as handling and road noise/comfort. I got 28k on the Dunlops which is pretty much where they start to wear out from what I have read (traction control has been kicking in when it is raining and I turn corners from a stop lately which it never had done before) so it was time.

[01101010]

Luckily, I drive about 8k miles a year so any tires will last me... Still, replacing them stings when it does come around.

[Chimpy]

Luckily, I drive about 8k miles a year so any tires will last me... Still, replacing them stings when it does come around.

I'm in a similar boat. I have averaged about 7500 a year since I bought the car. So even if I only get 30k miles out of these they will last me for four+ years.

[Selby]

So even if I only get 30k miles out of these they will last me for four+ years.

Which is good because most rubber on tires won't last much longer than 5 years or so, 7 years on good brands.  After that they'll start to fail internally and break down even if they look good.

[Paelos]

Apparently Missouri is underwater.

[Fraeg]

I have no clue what the other two did, I just left. 

Went back today and caught a 10 am showing that was maybe 1/2 full.  Didn't sit in a handicap access row.   That said I realized there were several other wheelchair access spots closer to the front.


/shrug

[Morat20]

It's always a really nice thing to have three seperate people (from three entirely independent departments) hear the name of your surgeon and say "Oh, she's good" and extoll her skills. Without being asked.

The specific nurse assigned to my wife, the anesthesiologist (who turned out to be the chief of for the hospital), and the anesthesiologist's nurse all commented.

Also, robots do surgery now. Which is pretty cool. Seriously, 4 tiny incisions, done in 90 minutes. She's home currently passed out on the couch. It took longer for her to recovery from anesthesia than it did to dose her, do a hysterectomy, and wheel her to recovery. (Also, no signs of cancer. Full pathology will take two weeks, but they had it checked over really closely. If there'd been any signs, they'd have started pulling lymph nodes and staging her right there).

It's still not nano-machines, but laproscopy is just getting more and more impressive. Of course, by the time my kid hits 40 I'm sure it'll be a quaint procedure with way too many risks and hilariously obsolete.

This, btw, culminates my stressful 2015. "My wife's gotta have major surgery, and also the information packet had "FIGHT CANCER AND WIN" on the top". So that's been kinda fun. (The surgery was to prevent cancer, but there was always the chance that her 'that's really likely to become cancer, you know, soonish' might have already gotten a jump on that 'soon' part).

[MahrinSkel]

What happened to the good old days, when you got a console for Christmas and it just worked? You plugged in all the various bits, and you popped in the game, and you played.

I've spent literally 4 hours waiting for ginourmous patches. First a gigabyte for the XBone itself. Then 5.4gb for the Gears of War Ultimate Edition that came in the fucking box. Now another gigabyte for the Rare Replay Collection games that were also in the box. Why do games that came out 10 years ago need multi-GB patches? Did they not do any QA on the ports?

How much of a patch am I going to need for FO4?

--Dave

[Morat20]

IIRC, my FO4 updated in less than 20 minutes on the PS4. That was on launch day though.

I got my nephew (six) an Xbox 360 for Christmas (well, my parents and I did) and we went refurbished because, you know, 6. I spent the night I got it putting in a new drive, patching it and testing it so it was playable out of the box.

Only to find out the one game he'd gotten (Minecraft, which was what he REALLY wanted) was busted. My son had gotten him that, and he hadn't had it when I tested it -- I just tested the disc drive on DVDs and some of my old 360 games. They found that out the day after Christmas when the kiddo went to play, but it was thankfully a straightforward exchange.

[Rasix]

My son thinks the only Wii is the old Wii.  He will not be corrected in this. Bad enough that he plays LoL, but now I'm going to be competing for TV time as well.  

He is not aware of the existence of other consoles.  He shall remain unaware. I don't need whining about things neither of us can have.

As for the cripple situation, yikes, I'm not sure how I'd handle that.  I tend to not deal with those situations in a way that works out. Social anxiety disorder? I dunno. I can't handle stupid or crazy well. I never have enough free time to hit the movies, so I'd probably be a bit more put out. 

Tires.  Ohh god.  I have run flats.  Those are fucking expensive.

[Morat20]

My nephew loves the old Wii my parents have. I only got the Xbox because I found a good deal, split the cost with my parents, AND it functioned as a stealth gift to my brother. It's hooked to their living room TV now, streams Netflix, and I have a large catalog of old 360 games I don't play anymore.

My brother loves music, loves to sing, and he'd get endless hours of fun out of the original Rock Band even if with just a mic. So would his kid, who loves to make music with his dad.

And, crazy enough, I happen to have an old copy of Rock Band and a spare microphone I plan to give him tomorrow or the day after.

My nephew is still young enough to be firmly certain of Santa's existence, and while it's been a tough year for me financially, I'm still better off than lots of people. Playing Santa is...really one of the bright spots at the end of the year, you know? As far as the kiddo knows, I got him a neat lego toybox (one of those think geek ones), a cool blanket, and a toy he's been wanting.

All that crap I had to deal with, but my nephew is enjoying the snot out of Minecraft and he'll soon be able to sing with his Dad (something he loves) AND play a videogame with his Dad (which he loves), and I'm out what? Like 90 bucks and a spare wifi adapter? Money well spent for the look on that kid's face.

Made up for some of the crap this year.

[Bunk]

Well that was interesting. 4.9 quake just hit about 50 km from here. Probably about the most distinct one I've felt in 20 years.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Glad to hear your wife's surgery went smoothly, Morat.  Those robots can be awesome and cool.  Did your wife get just her uterus removed or a total abdominal hysterectomy (aka they took it all - uterus, tubes, ovaries and cervix)?

[WayAbvPar]

Well that was interesting. 4.9 quake just hit about 50 km from here. Probably about the most distinct one I've felt in 20 years.

Yeah, that is the lead story on the news in Seattle this morning too. Here's to hoping Cascadia waits another 100 years or so before it touches off the big one. Because that is going to really suck.

[Signe]

Yay to Morat's wife!  Boo to Dave's console patches!  I read this thread to prepare myself for old, old age when I like chatting about everyone's operations and complaining about everything else.  Srsly.  It's good practice.  If only I were Irish!

Really, though, I'm so happy your wife is doing well, Morat.  And remember, earthquake people, duck and cover.  Or roll.  Just run.  w/e

[Morat20]

Glad to hear your wife's surgery went smoothly, Morat.  Those robots can be awesome and cool.  Did your wife get just her uterus removed or a total abdominal hysterectomy (aka they took it all - uterus, tubes, ovaries and cervix)?

Left the ovaries, as planned. (Finding actual cancer would, of course, potentially change such plans). Took everything else. I was iffy about taking the cervix, but the surgeon seemed to think that was a no-brainer (as was taking the tubes) and after some research it seems there's not a lot of difference (maybe some pelvic floor support stuff, but it's maybe a 1% thing changing to a 3% thing at worst, and that's not certain) so the standard recommendation is to take it when you take the uterus right now.

God bless randomized trials, and fuck the internet though. Do you know how much scaremongering stuff you can find? Studies that aren't randomized, forums full of people complaining (massive self-selection), good lord...Wading through horror stories to find actual, hard numbers from randomized trials was a PITA. (And it verified what the surgeon had said).

I think four incisions, each maybe 1/4 an inch? Well, and one other internal incision. 90 minutes of surgery. Pretty impressive.

I was really happy with the hospital. Every person that interacted with my wife introduced themselves, verified her name and birthday, verified what procedure she was having (way to go double, triple, and quadruple checking!). Every one talked her through their part of the surgery, including odd after effects (puffy face from the position they had her in for the surgery, right shoulder pain that was common due to a compressed nerve in the diaphragm from when they pushed in the gas to get a clear view and working space), what she should feel and see afterwards, what was normal and what wasn't....

In short, very professional and everyone seemed to keen to make sure there were no surprises and she was fully informed about everything down to why she'd have redness across her arms and chest (there was a strap holding her down). Hell, they had a setup that texted ME when she entered surgery, when they started it, when it was over, when she moved to recovery -- the waiting room i was in had constant calls to inform patients family as things were moved from stage to stage.

Definitely top on my list of "places to shove Morat if he needs a hospital" in my area, aside from specialty stuff.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Yeah, the position they have to put you in for that surgery (robot or not) is a pain.  Mine started out as a robot one but they had to switch to a regular abdominal entry because my breathing was compromised too much.  Yuck.  Taking the cervix makes sense because honestly, without the uterus you really don't need it and bonus!  No more pap smears/pelvic exams needed, although not sure if they need to check her ovaries for anything (I had it all removed).  It does make the yearly woman checkup a lot easier though.

Sounds like a great hospital all around.  The one I was at didn't do quite so many cross-checks, but they did verify several times who I was and what procedure I was there to have (apparently, saying I was there to get spayed wasn't the right answer the first time).

[MrHat]

That open carry bullshit goes live tomorrow.

So I shaved my beard since I was less "hipster cool" and more "Hezbollah party leader Hassan Nassrallah".

[Merusk]

Have fun, Texas. It'll all be fine, you'll just realize how many people were carrying guns around before.

[01101010]

Hope someone has a 2015 to 2016 comparison of shootings.

[Sky]

Forgot to mention I was surprised to see one of my favorite guitarists (whom I actually got to jam with this year!) at the end of The Force Awakens.

[Ginaz]

So am I an asshole?

Took the afternoon off from work, bought a ticket to the 1:20 pm showing of Star Wars.  Got in line about 12:45, doors opened about 12:50, filed in and got a seat in the back row.  I like to sit in the back, seems easier on my eyes/neck etc.   The back row of this theater is broken up in to clusters of 2, 3 and 4 seats together with slots in between where someone in a wheelchair can sit.  I am sitting in a cluster of 3 on the rightmost seat next to the aisle.  To the left of me are two random strangers. So we sit there for about half an hour plus shooting the shit.  

At about 1:17, roughly 3 minutes before the show (well the trailers) start an older man with 3 family/friends in tow shows up and takes the wheelchair spot on the left side of our seat "cluster". He then asks for all three of us to move so that his 3 friends/family can all sit together next to him.  It is a sold out show.  The only seats left are the crap seats in the front row or in the middle of a sea of people.

I just stare at the guy in disbelief... and just get up and leave, ask the front for a refund and go to work.

My take is: The guy is a fucking douche bag.   IMO what he did is no different than showing up at a Wal Mart parking lot and taking a handicapped parking spot and then expecting people to clear out of the three adjacent non handicapped parking spots so that your 3 non handicapped friends can all park there.  If you want 3 adjacent to each other in the last row.... fucking get to the movie in advance and take the 3 spots.  Don't show up 3 minutes before a sold out show and expect to find three empty spots all together that so happen to be next to a wheelchair slot.

My guess is it was a grandfather in the chair, his wife, their daughter, and their grandson.

So, am I the asshole in thinking this, or was he leveraging his disability to get his way?

My father has to use a wheelchair now because he has ALS.  I've taken him to the movies before in his wheelchair, as well.  Most theaters generally have designated spots for the disabled and their caregivers.  My take is that it was unreasonable for them to expect all of you to move.  The man needed a spot for himself and his caregiver, presumably his wife.  The other people in his party should have sat elsewhere since they arrived so late.  Want to avoid this happening?  Come early.  I go to movies on my own all the time and I refuse to give up my seat for anyone (I don't sit the disabled area), esp. if there are empty seats elsewhere.  Tough shit if you have to sit way down front.  I might move over 1 or 2 seats but if it involves me getting up and having to walk to a different row, yeah, no.  Come early like I did, asshole, or don't expect to get the seats you want.  I haven't had anyone say anything to me about it, probably because my size intimidates random people from talking shit to me.

[Sir T]

I went on a date with a girl on a wheelchair once. It was great. we skipped the whole queue and went with into the theater. Of course we went in before other people so therew would not be the situation you described.

Personally if the theater was full I don't think I would have asked more than one person to more. He does not need 3 caregivers, but I would not have arrived less than 3 minutes to go either...

[IainC]

I got my corporate Xmas/NYE gift today as it was my first day back after holiday.

Pretty sweet.





And here's the office cat checking the package for suspicious string

[Signe]

There's a belt and maybe a wallet.  What are the other things?  It's a cool xmas present.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Looks like a phone case and a journal/notebook, maybe.

Nice looking set, Iain.

[Trippy]

Where's the money hat?

[IainC]

There's a belt, a passport cover, a card wallet and a notebook.

[HaemishM]

Where's the money hat?

He's in the Ukraine, so Russia annexed it.