Useless Conversation

[Samwise]

Glad you found a place relatively quickly, Iain!

Some friends are opening a brewery in town, running an IGG campaign for some starter capital. Nice IGG launch party this evening, and I backed them at the '2 beers a month for life' level :)

I mean, I'm already a few free beers and sammiches in already, heh. Got talking to one of the brewers about the bourbon barrels they use, and he said if you leave it in too long, it will just hammer you with bourbon flavor and heavy vanilla. I think he meant it as a negative, but now it's on the wishlist for an 'experiment', a bourbon beer run, yay!

Second best hefeweizen I've had, though their pale was more of an india pale (I don't like hops sledgehammers).

Scottish brewers Innis and Gunn actually do something like this for one of their pale ales: http://shop.innisandgunn.com/products/bourbon-pale-ale 

http://craftshack.com/products/anderson-valley-bourbon-barrel-stout

[Mandella]

Did you guys know that you can buy margaritas in a can?   

That's big in Japan, so I hear.

[WayAbvPar]

Laid off today. Working through June 3rd (and then severance after that), which will leave me 5 weeks short of 16 years of service. Sigh. I have been half-expecting it for a year or two, but it still sucks. Looking forward to finding something new, but I doubt I will find something that lets me work remotely 100% of the time.

[Viin]

Lame-o. But, 16 years is a long time, might do you some good someplace else!

[HaemishM]

That sucks, Way. Good luck on finding something as good or better.

[Morat20]

In the ongoing slow-motion catastrophe that is my brother's life, he's currently dealing with scar tissue (from where the tumor was) that's almost as effective in "making breathing hard" (which is an important thing you do and in no way optional) and his wife....well, no one's sure what happened except that she was sober as a judge (cop's checked). Fell asleep is the most likely explanation, but the end result was a totalled car (thankfully no other vehicle was involved), and her transported unconscious at 2:00AM to the ER.

She's back home now, but she looks like she went a few rounds Ali. Jacked up face, jacked up knee, only slightly jacked up neck, and of course no memories of the last 12 hours or so. Supposedly neurologically cleared and the knee is just a sprain (it's got a huge horrible looking knot on the back, but they X-rayed it and said it'd be fine), but jesus.

Of course they're poor, have shit insurance (Texas wasn't a Medicaid expansion state, so....that's kind of just an extra fuck you), and did I mention poor?

They didn't need a few thousand in more medical bills.

I'm just glad she's okay, but kind of worried. Her just falling asleep a mile from work is...weird.

[Engels]

That sucks Way :/ Good luck with the job hunt.

[Morat20]

Laid off today. Working through June 3rd (and then severance after that), which will leave me 5 weeks short of 16 years of service. Sigh. I have been half-expecting it for a year or two, but it still sucks. Looking forward to finding something new, but I doubt I will find something that lets me work remotely 100% of the time.

That really sucks. :( Good luck with the hunt

[Yegolev]

Layoffs suck.  Change is scary but can be good.  I guess we will see you in the Job Thread.

[Abagadro]

Bummer Way, hope you find something good.

[Nebu]

Sorry to hear it Way.  Best of luck in the new search.

[WayAbvPar]

Layoffs suck.  Change is scary but can be good.  I guess we will see you in the Job Thread.

Agreed. Now that the initial shock and panic has mostly worn off, I am actually relieved- the Sword of Damocles has fallen and I can quit fucking worrying about it. Taking the day off to go play some poker (hopefully not for the last time!) to relax and rebuild my bankroll if possible. The bad beat stories I could tell just from the past 6 weeks...

Thanks to all the well wishers- I truly do appreciate it. I haven't met most people here in person, but you are like my extended family (and I talk to most of you more often than most of my family  ). 

[Yegolev]

I had a very good time during my 3.5 months of unemployment.  The main drawback was that it did not pay well.  By all means, start your job search now, but also take the opportunity to eat cereal and sit in front of the TV all day.

[Paelos]

I had a very good time during my 3.5 months of unemployment.  The main drawback was that it did not pay well. 

I thought Yogi Berra was dead.

[WayAbvPar]

So, I thought I would install the new X1 cable box Comcast/Xfinity insisted I needed and shipped to me before I headed out to play poker. Installation took 10 minutes, since I am not a mental deficient and I have full use of my limbs. Of course, it doesn't work- nothing but a blank screen on my HDMI input. Check through some troubleshooting guides, and I have covered all the bases (activation, connections, restarting, etc). I finally decide to call, knowing full well that this is going to end in tears.

I finally navigate through the phone tree to get what passes for a human being. I give him the serial number of the box, and he discovers that lo and behold it is NOT an X1 box. Not sure why the HDMI port on it doesn't work, but whatever. He plans to send me a new X1 box. Then he does more troubleshooting and wants to send a tech out. I ask them to send a tech with the CORRECT FUCKING BOX, and they tell me that if he does that, it counts as an installation and that I will be charged. I say a few unprintable things and refuse this, obviously.

Then the genius starts going through my bill, since I have been charged for having two HD boxes (I have had the box for a couple of weeks but have been too busy (lazy) to install it). He reads through all the equipment, and I correct him- I do not have 4 boxes, I have 3, plus a Cable Card for my TiVo. Oh, X1 doesn't work with the cable card, and the entire service has to be X1 or not. SO WHY THE FUCK DID YOU IDIOTS INSIST I INSTALL AN X1 BOX, EVEN THOUGH YOU SENT ME THE WRONG ONE? Which is pretty close to what I asked this cretin. Long story short- they are sending me a new HD box that is NOT an X1, but that is an update to what I have, and the extra charges are removed from my account, and I have hypertension and the beginnings of an ulcer.

I know for sure that whatever they send me will be incorrect- I am expecting an HD box without a DVR (my current is a DVR), just to top off the shit experience with a rotting cherry. How these motherfuckers are allowed to monopolize cable service with this level of incompetence and sheer hostility to their customers is a perfect example of how fucked this country is. If you have enough money, and buy enough politicians, you can happily buttfuck the American public in perpetuity.

[Ard]

Thanks for reminding me that Comcast is about to fuck me on my bill since my initial deal is about to lapse.

[Samwise]

Laid off today. Working through June 3rd (and then severance after that), which will leave me 5 weeks short of 16 years of service. Sigh. I have been half-expecting it for a year or two, but it still sucks. Looking forward to finding something new, but I doubt I will find something that lets me work remotely 100% of the time.

Dang yo.  Hopefully with 16 years they gave you some decent severance.

It's going to be 17 years for me in about a month, and I was 17 when I started at this job.   

[HaemishM]

I am hopefully less than a month away from being able to tell Comcast to go fuck themselves thanks to our regional cell carrier (CSpire) installing fiber to the home. They are the literal embodient of cancerous anal fissures. They one time made my wife so goddamn mad on the phone that she had an epileptic seizure. There has never been an interaction with a Comcast worker or contractor that hasn't made me want to bury the Comcast rep in my backyard.

[Yegolev]

I've gathered from this and other sources that I need to eat my AT+T shit pies and like them, rather than try Xfinity.

An AT+T dude just left my house.  I don't have time to list all of the things I've had happen in the last four weeks.  I do believe that I am super-close to dropping the "TV" part, which is the most expensive, and just Roku/PS4/SmartTV everything.

[Merusk]

Your wife won't let you.  I know this because I've tried the same and it's nothing but complaints from the wife. Never mind half the shit she watches is L&O: SVU reruns and On-Demand from HBO. I'm just not allowed to disconnect the cable.

We already pay for HBO, Hulu, Netflix and PS4, not to mention Amazon Prime. There's literally NO reason to have cable, because the only thing she'd miss out on is My Little Pony, which gets DVRd anyway.

$180 a month because of some bullshit nostalgia for having TV. Ugh.

/rant

[Samwise]

I haven't had cable TV for 13 years now.  Haven't missed it, and the ease of getting stuff online has only increased.

[Paelos]

I watch sports. Until they figure out how to move that online without blackouts, I'm stuck with cable.

[Strazos]

I watch sports. Until they figure out how to move that online without blackouts, I'm stuck with cable.

Online service + VPN?

[Yegolev]

I watch sports. Until they figure out how to move that online without blackouts, I'm stuck with cable.

This is the main problem.  I don't know where to get RedZone other than Ye Olde Cable.

[WayAbvPar]

Sports are literally the only reason I am still connected.  I will probably drop all my movie channels and keep my HBO Go subscription if that is possible.

[HaemishM]

Sports are literally the only reason I am still connected. 

This. Live sports are the only reason I haven't cut the cord years ago. The NFL/MLB online packages just aren't competitive with the offerings on cable yet.

[Yegolev]

Apparently there is a HBO subscription which is disconnected from your cable provider.  I haven't looked at it, but my wife tells me that it doesn't have the latest hotness, predictably.  Still, it's another nail in the coffin of the cable monopolies.

[Rasix]

Eh, you can get HBOnow and it has everything (I think?). It has all of the shows when the air, the movies, and the backlog of series. It's just like HBOgo. 

Might not be available on all streaming device or your smarttv, however.  It's not on my samsung, but I can get it on most everything else in the house.

[Yegolev]

OK, then, that takes care of Game of Thrones.  I can already watch Walking Dead on amc.com so ...

After AT+T was at my house for over 4 hours "fixing" things, all was well until sometime between 10:30 & 5:30 when my broadband link again went offline.  More angry phone calls, but at least I have new numbers linked deeper into the insane asylum that is the AT+T employee/contractor base.

[RhyssaFireheart]

You guys make me so glad I've never had issues with my internet connection since we got it installed 15 years ago.  EVen the recent upgrade to Uverse internet (which is still some flavor of POTS, I'm convinced) is working great and the guy did a fantastic job with the install.  No issues at all.  *knocks on wood*

And Comcast can go fuck themselves.  They'll have to pry our DirecTV dish from our cold dead hands before we'd give it up. 

[01101010]

OK, then, that takes care of Game of Thrones.  I can already watch Walking Dead on amc.com so ...

After AT+T was at my house for over 4 hours "fixing" things, all was well until sometime between 10:30 & 5:30 when my broadband link again went offline.  More angry phone calls, but at least I have new numbers linked deeper into the insane asylum that is the AT+T employee/contractor base.

Be careful how far you go down that phone rabbit hole... you never know what might be waiting.

[Signe]

I'm so sorry about your job, WAP.  I hope you find something you love.  If you do, we can all celebrate with 6 packs of margaritas. 

[rattran]

Northern Illinois outside Chicago Uverse has been rebranded to dsl to avoid some of the last restrictions from buying Ameritech back forever ago. By the end of last year, my 'uverse' was down to dial-up speeds and At&t was saying it was fine due to "up to 6mbps" language. Comcast is far faster for my old roommate now at about the same price for bare internet. So it might be worth checking if your service goes to shit in the next few years as at&t abandons the pots line there.

[Yegolev]

The best part of the DirecTV/Uverse thing is how the tech is not really compatible, which is causing plenty of my problems.  Mostly in regard to the originally-DirecTV LAN since apparently DirecTV requires power on the LAN to drive the dish while Uverse loses its mind if there is any other signal on the LAN.  Seems to be the ISP version of a cat and a dog living together.

Until yesterday, all my shit came over a pair of thin copper wires.  Today, all my shit comes over two bonded pairs of thin copper wire.  So, real Uverse is definitely not POTS.  In fact, we had to replace everything between the DSLAM (are they still called that?) and my NID when we converted.

[Paelos]

I'm so sorry about your job, WAP.  I hope you find something you love.  If you do, we can all celebrate with 6 packs of margaritas. 

Did somebody give you canned margaritas? These people aren't your friends.