Useless Conversation

[Yegolev]

After 17 hours of work, datacenter loses power.  Trying to complete my work with partial network (using Euro VPN, surprisingly responsive) and missing SAN makes Yego something something.

[Lantyssa]

So... hospital food is disgusting.  I can't decide if it's incentive to make you leave sooner or a ploy to keep you sick longer.  HTF do you manage to make even Jello taste disgusting?

[Merusk]

HTF do you manage to make even Jello taste disgusting?

You add canned Peas and Carrots.. and use 1/2 a cup of the veggie juice instead of water.  Just like grandma used to make.  No wonder I liked tapioca as a kid.

So why are you in the hospital?

[Lantyssa]

I'm not, now.  Spent the last week there for an abdominal abscess.

I had no internet access.  Only TV.

[Minvaren]

I had no internet access.  Only TV.

I thought you were in for an abscess, not a lobotomy...   

[Engels]

I'm not, now.  Spent the last week there for an abdominal abscess.

I had no internet access.  Only TV.

Glad you're out of there Lant. Sounds gawdawful.

[Soln]

welcome back, recuperate well.

[Yegolev]

I find you out, before you grow old.

[WayAbvPar]

Jello needs no assistance to make it taste terrible. Actually not the taste so much as the texture. Bleah.

[Segoris]

Adjusting to a new keyboard is annoying. Switched from a MS Media keyboard (large spaced out keys) to a Logitech G15 I picked up brand new for cheap (which has much closer keys)....weird. Though having a space bar that doesn't get stuck all the time is pretty nice. Time to set up some profiles!

[Rasix]

AC gave me a scare today.  This thing dying would be a worst case scenario on multiple fronts.

[Merusk]

Apparently there's a virus targeting the AC of our green-names.  Beware!

[bhodi]

I got a new one a few years ago, it can't fail yet!

[Paelos]

I had my AC fixed in May, after 5 days in a row of being on the fritz. I basically had to survive with fans and wearing a damp T-shirt all the time, which does actually work pretty well in a pinch. Still, not fun.

[Yegolev]

I noticed I won a lottery in LotRO seven days ago but I have not been able to log in to claim my blueberry muffin or whatever it is.

[Soln]

how did you know if you haven't logged in?  they tell you on that mylotro thing? 

[Yegolev]

Yes, in the left panel, under the "Enter to Win" button and under the "Current Entries" box is the "Winning Entries" box which is unhelpfully sorted with the oldest winnings at the top.

[NowhereMan]

Something's up, my body is pretty much itching like crazy and anywhere I scratch properly ends up with a rash that fades after a few hours. No idea what's caused it but it's going to make (hopefully just) the next day or two really annoying.

[RhyssaFireheart]

So having the in-laws visit has been interesting.  Especially talking to the FiL about the VFW post he belongs to and how membership is dropping nationwide and getting into reasons for why it's dropping and why VFWs in general will most likely end up fading away before American Legions will.  It was a rather interesting conversation, actually.

[Cyrrex]

Yes, in the left panel, under the "Enter to Win" button and under the "Current Entries" box is the "Winning Entries" box which is unhelpfully sorted with the oldest winnings at the top.

Note to self:  remember to cancel LOTRO sub when you get home.

[Sky]

I got in my newest toy yesterday, a Fiskars Super Splitting Axe. $12 shipped from amazon, which is amazing, even with the $25 gift card I used. It sells for over $50 locally. And I like the gift card is from my amazon rewards visa, they must hate me. I push everything through that account, not sure what they make in fees but I make over a hundred bucks a year from it.

Anyway, despite some light rain after work, I went out to the woodpile and split for a while, comparing my old maul and the SSA. The Fiskars is pure 

I get a chuckle out of the fact that I'm probably the "greenest" person in my workplace despite a lot of people who prattle on about that shit. I just like nice cheap heat in the winter, a crackling fire, and some nice days out in the yard working.

[Murgos]

So having the in-laws visit has been interesting.  Especially talking to the FiL about the VFW post he belongs to and how membership is dropping nationwide and getting into reasons for why it's dropping and why VFWs in general will most likely end up fading away before American Legions will.  It was a rather interesting conversation, actually.

I was a member of the VFW for a little while.  I pretty much never went so I cancelled my membership.  I think the root of the problem is the lack of locally derived units.

In WWII a group of people drafted from an area would pretty much stay together through training and then out to their duty station and then when they got back after the war they had developed bonds and wanted to hang out together.

The modern military doesn't work that way other than a few reserve units that were called up to active duty.

[Johny Cee]

So having the in-laws visit has been interesting.  Especially talking to the FiL about the VFW post he belongs to and how membership is dropping nationwide and getting into reasons for why it's dropping and why VFWs in general will most likely end up fading away before American Legions will.  It was a rather interesting conversation, actually.

I was a member of the VFW for a little while.  I pretty much never went so I cancelled my membership.  I think the root of the problem is the lack of locally derived units.

In WWII a group of people drafted from an area would pretty much stay together through training and then out to their duty station and then when they got back after the war they had developed bonds and wanted to hang out together.

The modern military doesn't work that way other than a few reserve units that were called up to active duty.

Membership organizations, as a whole, have been seriously declining in the last few generations.  It used to be that people would join/become involved with a couple for life, where as people now shop around much more.  The old fraternal orgs are all getting hit, and even things like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have seen serious declines.

[Musashi]

I got in my newest toy yesterday, a Fiskars Super Splitting Axe. $12 shipped from amazon, which is amazing, even with the $25 gift card I used. It sells for over $50 locally. And I like the gift card is from my amazon rewards visa, they must hate me. I push everything through that account, not sure what they make in fees but I make over a hundred bucks a year from it.

Anyway, despite some light rain after work, I went out to the woodpile and split for a while, comparing my old maul and the SSA. The Fiskars is pure 

I get a chuckle out of the fact that I'm probably the "greenest" person in my workplace despite a lot of people who prattle on about that shit. I just like nice cheap heat in the winter, a crackling fire, and some nice days out in the yard working.

Burning firewood isn't exactly the greenest of activities, man.  I'm pretty sure your fireplace is a bigger gross polluter than a 69 Cadillac.  But grats on the axe.

[Murgos]

Modern wood burning stoves (I think that's what Sky uses) are extremely efficient. They are cheap to operate, burn their fuel almost completely and create very little smoke and ash.

The EPA wants you to use a modern wood burning stove.  They will give you tax credits and show you how it will save you money to use it over natural gas, oil and especially electricity.

Plus it gives people a reason to plant trees.

[Sky]

Oh no, mine's an old 1977 clunker. It's advanced for that time, does have a secondary ignition path and whatnot, though not a catalytic converter. I wish I could afford to get a new stove, even with the tax credits it's not cheap.

And I meant green as in "my fuel comes from down the road and is replenishable forever" more than 'zomg the earth is dying and I must save it'. I'm in the Carlin school of thought on that issue. It burns pretty clean, good in good out. Once I get ahead in wood (put away wood for next year this year) so it's fully seasoned, there's almost no smoke. Smoke is a cold smoldering fire and/or green wood.

I was surprised that I saved so much in electricity, I expected the gas savings, but was shocked at how low my kWh were. Also nice knowing I'm good in a power outtage, a lot of woodburners will also buy a water tank system to heat cistern water. I'm not ready for that step yet, but I'm looking into it, and solar panels, since I have really good sunlight all day long on my roof.

[Yegolev]

I got in my newest toy yesterday, a Fiskars Super Splitting Axe.

Hummm, noted.

In other news, I am entertaining the idea of quitting my job and playing games all day while writing BiiFs and F13 articles all night.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I'll have to reply to the VFW thing later when I'm out of this EXCEEDINGLY BORING MS Project class.  It's bad enough that I know most of what we're going over today but this instructor is boring as hell.  She's got no "verve" or anything while teaching which doesn't help make the subject matter remotely interesting.

[Samwise]

Membership organizations, as a whole, have been seriously declining in the last few generations.  It used to be that people would join/become involved with a couple for life, where as people now shop around much more.  The old fraternal orgs are all getting hit, and even things like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have seen serious declines.

I've been entertaining the idea of joining E Clampus Vitus.

[Merusk]

I got in my newest toy yesterday, a Fiskars Super Splitting Axe.

I've found over the last 7 years that Fiskars makes fantastic tools, not just awesome scissors. I never knew! Love my pruning shears and garden fork, so grats on the axe.

[Ingmar]

Membership organizations, as a whole, have been seriously declining in the last few generations.  It used to be that people would join/become involved with a couple for life, where as people now shop around much more.  The old fraternal orgs are all getting hit, and even things like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have seen serious declines.

I've been entertaining the idea of joining E Clampus Vitus.

You're going to need a bigger beard.

[RhyssaFireheart]

So VFW thing - I never considered the aspect of "home town" group dynamics before, but that makes a lot of sense. 

According to the FiL, one of the reasons membership is declining is that all the WWII vets are dying off now and there aren't any younger guys joining.  My point that I made was if you are going to limit your pool of candidates (only allowing a small portion of the overall pool to be eligible, unlike what the American Legion does), then it's no surprise that you'll have falling membership numbers.  Plus it sounds as if they really don't offer the younger guys coming back from Iraq/Afghanistan anything other than sitting in the local hall drinking.  Well, golf outings which the FiL organizes.

It was a pretty interesting conversation we had about it though.

[Sky]

Need a VFW Xbox CoD tournament or something. Get hip to the whippersnaps, daddy-o.

[FatuousTwat]

Most of the old fraternities have left my town. There used to be an Elks lodge, a Masonic temple, and an Oddfellows home. The only thing left is the Moose lodge, and that only seems to be around cause they sell booze for slightly less than the other bars around here.

[Minvaren]

And a happy SysAdmin day to all of you other SysAdmins out there.