Useless Conversation

[rattran]

In no particular order:

North Carolina is not Texas. I've done TRF, but not in years. Not a good show.

...

Lantyssa: If you do make it to TRF, stop by the Sky Chairs booth and say hi to Bobby Knight the proprietor for me (ryan). If you like good coffee, he roasts his own and always has a pot on in the back.

I fail at reading comprehension.  I think I even knew you said North Carolina and it just went in one eye and out the other.

I know the Sky Chair booth.  I've stopped in several times over the years.  Middle ailse, towards the jousting arena and one or two away from where the massage place used to be.

Besides the heat, what's bad about the Texas show?  I'm always curious about the dealer's perspectives having worked anime conventions and with several friends still in that biz.

Umm, Texans? 
Mostly it's again, insane owner/management. Also no staying on site except Fri/Sat night, so you have to rent a spot in town or in the just off-site scary semi-private campgrounds. Lots and lots and lots of buy/sell and import booths, and for added insanity this year, they're going to be open on Black Friday. And, management is insane.

I haven't been to TRF in a long time, but I've been told our booth is back by Sky Chairs. Fellowship Foundry. Dunno who got stuck running it this year.

[Lantyssa]

They've been doing Black Friday for a few years now.  I think it's pretty crazy myself, but for some gods awful reason my friends like going then.  I've been laid up the past two RenFests though, so I don't remember much through the drug induced stupors.

I will give them that they have been investing in upgrading the property.  For a long time the grounds were really neglected.  Still, crazy management sucks.  Hated cons where they were like that.

I'll keep an eye out for both booths though.  (Bugger.  They closed one of the alleys, and those booths used to be on it.  Going to have to do some searching.)

Edit: Found them.  North side of the grounds now, next to the delicious but pain-inducing funnel cake place.  Name dropping won't get me a boot to the backside, right?

[Prospero]

You work for Fellowship Foundry?  If so, that is awesome. I have a number of pieces from them.

[rattran]

Name dropping at Sky Chairs will get you a cup of coffee, possibly a hug, and likely computer questions :) I'm Bobby's computer guy, he hooks me up with good coffee. Depending on who's at the Foundry booth, it may get you a blank stare, or the same treatment. There's a few dozen other people I know there, too many to list.

Prospero: Yeah, for nearly ever it seems. It's good stuff, and gets better each year.

<edit> I'd suggest not stopping by the Fellowship Foundry booth at TRF, it's being run by the same girl as last year 'Crazy Tracy' Who apparently got the nickname by deciding to haul her bedding out into the lane in front of the shop last year and go to sleep. In the middle of a show day. And this is about par for the course for her behavior.

[Ingmar]

Surprise all-hands meeting tomorrow at 12:30, just before our earnings call, and then we have a department meeting with our boss to 'answer any questions we might have'. Oh, and he doesn't know the topic yet.

Smells to me like we got bought. They wouldn't telegraph layoffs like that.

[Lantyssa]

<edit> I'd suggest not stopping by the Fellowship Foundry booth at TRF, it's being run by the same girl as last year 'Crazy Tracy' Who apparently got the nickname by deciding to haul her bedding out into the lane in front of the shop last year and go to sleep. In the middle of a show day. And this is about par for the course for her behavior.

I'll still stop in to see the stuff you make.  I'll do the curt "just browsing" and sic my friends on her if I get the crazy vibe.

[Selby]

They wouldn't telegraph layoffs like that.

That's what I thought before the 2nd round of layoffs my company did last year.

[Ingmar]

Getting bought would more or less be just as bad from where I sit. Very rarely do people keep the IT department from their new acquisition.

[Salamok]

Getting bought would more or less be just as bad from where I sit. Very rarely do people keep the IT department from their new acquisition.

Yeah but it puts you in a fine position to blackmail them for a short term solution.  In my limited experience they always keep the IT department for at least a few months and add best 1 or 2 guys to their team permanently.  I suppose it all depends on how turnkey your IT department is though.  When in IT I've always been heavily involved in the business process as well, to the point where it was kind of tough to get rid of me.

[Murgos]

Lease is up on my corporate laptop, I get to order a new one 

Dell Precision M6400 I think.  Lets see how much I can trick it out before my manager stops approving it.

[Ironwood]

Let me know.  I'm the manager here and I need a new laptop.

[Oban]

Oh, here we go.

1/2 oz Bacardi 151 rum
1/2 oz green creme de menthe

[Yegolev]

Atlanta would be great if there was not so much traffic on the highways to and from the airport, if GPS nav systems were mandatory in all cars to help people find their way down the many "peach" streets/boulevards/roads/avenues/highways/lanes, if there were no speed traps on the toll road to Alpharetta and if tornadoes avoided the entire metropolitan area.

Heh, none of these things are on my personal laundry-list of local problems.  Although they might be if I had to drive from the airport to Alpharetta.  Maybe you can get a small plane to fly you from ATL to some airport in Tennessee and attack it from another side.  Worked for Sherman.

[Sky]

151? 

I do like rum, but no reason to double down on the alcohol content. But I'd grab a new bottle of Laphroaig if I were intent on imbibing spirits.

[Salamok]

Oh, here we go.

1/2 oz Bacardi 151 rum
1/2 oz green creme de menthe

you are missing the twinkie

[Lantyssa]

151? 

I do like rum, but no reason to double down on the alcohol content. But I'd grab a new bottle of Laphroaig if I were intent on imbibing spirits.

But you'd need a full ounce if you went with half the alcohol content.

[Ingmar]

I am still employed!

Turns out the big to-do is about our CEO stepping down due to lung cancer though.   

Mixed feelings in other words, as I'm glad to still have a job, but he's one of the few genuinely nice executives I've met in my career so far so I find myself feeling guilty about that. At least it is supposedly caught early and curable.

[Oban]

151? 

The drink is called a Green Motherfucker, thought it was a suitable response.

[Yegolev]

I am still employed!

Turns out the big to-do is about our CEO stepping down due to lung cancer though.   

[rattran]

Stupidity purged. Don't start it up again.

[Soln]

what did I miss?

[Evildrider]

what did I miss?

I'm starting this shit up again!!  

[Oban]

Stupidity purged. Don't start it up again.

Aw, it was a joke.

[Broughden]

Stupidity purged. Don't start it up again.

Aw, it was a joke.

Agreed. 

[Khaldun]

I've really come to hate uploading online recommendations for former students and colleagues because every institution asking for them feels obligated to just ever so slightly fuck around with the standard format just to show that they're independent. One place will say, "Please rate these attributes from 1-10", and another place "Select these radio buttons to answer yes or no to the following fifteen questions about the candidate". I just want to upload my letter, assholes--but a lot of places will actually chase you down and insist that you complete their stupid customized ratings or rankings as well.

Still, today I came across the worst: an association of secondary schools seeking recommendations for prospective teachers that:

1) Forced me to use an online form.
2) Made me fit my letter into a box in the form, no scroll button, BECAUSE
3) They want you to print the online form exactly AS IS and mail it to them in the snail mail, and if your letter is bigger than the box provided, they won't see all of the letter. Explicit instruction: do not send letter as separate print-out, only in the box provided.

So. Online form in order to print it and mail it, following the limitations of the web format they chose. I really want to know who the clueless fuck is that came up with this procedure. I almost told my former student that I wouldn't do it, but I like the guy a lot and he deserves to have any job that he's interested in getting.

[Merusk]

If you like him, then you should tell him not to apply to such a fucking clownshoes organization and give the same bullet point list you gave us.

Printing out and mailing an online form.  Really?  Fucking a.

[WayAbvPar]

He's one of the Freecreditreport.com guys.

This made me chuckle. And then promptly stuck the song in my head on an endless loop. So I thought I would mention it and bring everyone else into my own personal circle of Hell. You're welcome!

[Merusk]

Happens to me every time I think of those bastards.

F-R-E-E that spells free. Credit report dot com, baby.

[Signe]

Sad.  I'm sick with an upper respiratory infection and a head cold and Righ's mum just became extremely ill and is in hospital.  He's on a plane to Glasgow and I feel awful that I can't be there.  I doubt they'd even let me on the plane with all my coughing and sniffing and dripping when everyone is so terrified of dying from flu.  I so afraid it won't end well, either.  I'll be up all night feeling terrible for him and his family.   They are the most awesome people in the world. 

[Engels]

bah, sorry to hear that. My best wishes for Righ and his family.

[Lantyssa]

I hope you both feel better soon.  Thinking good thoughts for y'all.

[rattran]

Best wishes, being sick and on your own while worried for someone else sucks. I hear petting a cat will make you feel better. Or at least make the cat feel better.

[Sky]

Sorry to hear about that, Signe. You don't want to fly with a congested head, though, I had to do that when my grandfather got diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. Drove to Florida, but had to fly back to work, flight almost killed me, I was doubled over with my head between my knees the whole time, sheer agony. So maybe take comfort in not going through that for a transatlantic flight.

If Righ doesn't hit f13 while he's over there, let him know our thoughts are with you guys.

[Sky]

IT  is difficult to type witn glov es on.

[voodoolily]

Since I got the vaccine, I'm not afraid to send you soup and hugs.