Useless Conversation

[Rasix]

Wish my brother had taken that advice.  Less than half a day after getting the flu, he's in Colorado skiing. 

[Yegolev]

Why does any company bother being open the week between Christmas and New Years?

I'm intensely aware of your background on this issue.  I, for one, enjoy being paid during the holidays so my take is a bit different.

I'm working, though, being "customer facing" as I am.

I also don't appreciate services such as pediatric dentists closing at a time when I don't have to take my kid out of school.  Close your shit during times when normal people are working.

[ghost]

I also don't appreciate services such as pediatric dentists closing at a time when I don't have to take my kid out of school.  Close your shit during times when normal people are working.

My wife, who is a pediatric dentist, used to be open on Saturdays and a lot of holidays.  Unfortunately, people always seem to find better things to do (i.e. make appointments, then not show up) so we just stopped being open during those times.  This is a common experience for dentists, and that is why a lot of them choose to close during holidays. 

[Paelos]

Looks like I have the flu as well. Joy. This will end up costing me my New Years trip to Florida unless the fever breaks by morning.

Thank you for not flying.

Your welcome. If I do go I was planning on driving anyway now.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Why does any company bother being open the week between Christmas and New Years?

I'm intensely aware of your background on this issue.  I, for one, enjoy being paid during the holidays so my take is a bit different.

I'm working, though, being "customer facing" as I am.

I also don't appreciate services such as pediatric dentists closing at a time when I don't have to take my kid out of school.  Close your shit during times when normal people are working.

I never had a choice on whether I wanted to be off or not.  Granted, I didn't mind, but being told you had to use at 3-4 vacation days for this week did rather suck. The only blessing at the time was that we could still roll over vacation from year to year, not that I got to use what I did have.  Bcause being the sole person in the 'PMO" meant having someone to back me up for vacations was pretty impossible to find.

And I'm not  complaining too hard that I have to work, since I'm an hourly contract worker now so no work = no pay, hence why I'm sitting here reading fanfiction online.

As for office hours - I've noticed peole complain about needing to take time off work/school to visit the doctor, yet don't like using evening or Saturday office hours because that takes away from "their" time instead.  It makes no sense. 

[Yegolev]

As for office hours - I've noticed peole complain about needing to take time off work/school to visit the doctor, yet don't like using evening or Saturday office hours because that takes away from "their" time instead.  It makes no sense. 

The people who do this are part of the problem.  No, I don't want to spend Saturday morning taking my son to the <whatever> but I'd rather do that than take him out of school for it.  You can't get an appointment at a pediatric dentist after 3pm without it being at least a month out.  For God's sake, put your kids a bit higher in the queue.  I might have to add "selfish parents" to the Airing of Grievances list.

Well, I work too much anyway.

[ghost]

Honestly-  why is it such a big deal to take your child out of school every 6 months or so for an appointment? 

[Selby]

Honestly-  why is it such a big deal to take your child out of school every 6 months or so for an appointment? 

Because you had to have some serious notes and information ahead of time just to get the kid out of fucking class.  When I was in high school they wouldn't let you go early for a doctor's appointment unless the doctor's office called ahead of time (which mine always forgot to do).  Otherwise "sit back in the damn chair kid" or risk an "unexcused absence!" which goes on your PERMANENT RECORD and could impede graduation!  Schools are fucking stupid in this regard, or at least mine was.

[ghost]

Yeah, schools can suck when it comes to letting kids out of school.  They have to let kids go with a doctor's excuse, however.  Most jobs can be bigger dicks about getting doctor's escuses, yet adults usually just get their excuse and do whatever is necessary to document their absence appropriately.  My feeling is that many parents put a different level of priority on school than they do for just about anything else, to the point of sending their kids to school while fairly sick with the flu or what have you.  Maybe it is the perfect attendance awards. 

[Yegolev]

It's a pretty subjective call on that one.  Hard for me to tell what day might be a good or bad one to have him miss.  Also the homework/classwork still piles up.  My tactic is generally to just do the after-three appointments and hope everything's OK that day.  I still remember when I didn't work normal business hours and honestly life was pretty sweet being able to go to a bank or doctor or whatever with extremely little hassle.  Now I do what everyone else does: sit in my job-place and wait for others who should also be sitting in their job-place to come by.  Not terribly efficient if you ask me.

I'm also in favor of staggered business hours, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who would think that is ridiculous.

[ghost]

Fuck.  Don't get me started on homework.  I find it interesting that our schools keep doing worse and worse, according to the experts, yet these kids have shit tons worth of homework every night.  There's got to be a better way to do it.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Except that many parents no longer think twice about taking their kids out of school for a week or two for vacation (to avoid the "school break rush") yet bitch about the aforementioned time off for an appointment.  The only reason I can think that's an issue is because the parent needs to take time off as well to get the kid to/from the doctor.

If jobs were more flexible then crap like this might not be such an issue.  Yeah, it was awesome when I worked from home and could make appointments whenever I liked, but on the flip side, there were evenings when I had to get something completed and was working until 10pm or so.  *shrug*

[Morat20]

In Texas, you're just supposed to notify the school ahead of time -- if possible -- and bring a doctor's note. It's the note that's key.

They do expect you or your kid to track down assignments given our, or tests given, during the time he was out.

[Yegolev]

Except that many parents no longer think twice about taking their kids out of school for a week or two for vacation (to avoid the "school break rush") yet bitch about the aforementioned time off for an appointment.  The only reason I can think that's an issue is because the parent needs to take time off as well to get the kid to/from the doctor.

Sure, for me it's some of both.  I am griping a lot but let's face it, this sort of thing is just part of being a parent.  Of course, per my "I work too much" comment, I am far less agonized lately over just abandoning people to attempt to turn their lead into gold without me; plus my review was awesome.   We do plan our vacations on school breaks, but three of four days of missed school isn't going to kill anyone.

The homework is killing us, though.  We live 45 minutes from the school, and of course boys want to do things like Scouts and soccer, but everyone plans their shit on Monday.  Fucking Monday homework when scout meetings are also on Monday.  And Monday soccer ... never again!  I found an indoor soccer location that is actually near my home (gasp) but I'm afeared that the schedule will involve a Monday.  I am going to see if I can stir some dissent amongst the parents and try to get our homework for the week assigned on Monday and be due Friday.  My speedbump will be the stay-at-home moms.

Man, I rage about much different things than I did in 2003.

[Yegolev]

What's so fucking hard about getting some motherboard standoffs?  Didn't get any with my case (or I lost them due to Time Lapse) and of course none with the mainboard.  Found four in my stash, decided to order some instead of strip out another computer (I'm running low on scrap computers, actually).  They get here and turns out the case take M3 metric and the male end of the standoffs is 6-32.  Took a couple minutes of trial-and-error to figure out this, so I found what I think are standoffs that are M3 on both sides.

Having placed the order, I expect to find the standoffs that came with my case.

[Sky]

I found the in-school suspension room a great place to get homework done.

Just kidding, I never did homework and the suspension room was right next to the music room (where they keep guitars).

Why the heck did they bus me into school just to sit in a room and play guitar all day? Ah, school.

[Minvaren]

Yay, work Paypal account got hacked overnight, and someone paid 3 of their friends all the same amount of $35.01.  No phishing emails received, no other account info changed, and I don't use that username/password combination anywhere else on the internet that I know of...?  At least the transactions don't appear to have come out of my bank account (yet), which is a plus.

Disputed all of the transactions, made a stronger password, now to wait on the non-bank to fix it all...

[Yegolev]

Yea, but who did it?!

[Minvaren]

No login or IP history available to tell...  Googled the email addresses they sent stuff to (hotmail/aol addresses) and no hits.   

[ghost]

Yeah, I'm old.  It's highly unlikely I'll be awake past midnight on New Year's Eve. 

[RhyssaFireheart]

We were set to goto a friends place for casual gaming and general social stuff, but I felt like crap all day long because of the weather system moving through, so we ended up staying home and doing zilch.  Husband watched Sopranos DVDs and I alternated between dozing in my chair and reading.  At least we did give each other a kiss at midnight, after figuring out how many NYE total we've had together (21 in case anyone's interested).

[Sky]

We just had our 6th. It's almost funny how obnoxiously bad the major network NYE shows are. We alternated between laughing at those and watching a local PBS broadcast with a pretty hot dance band.

[rattran]

I watched the Marx brothers marathon on TCM. Good fun, slightly spoiled by fireworks outside at midnight freaking one of the cats.

Weird to go from 53 yesterday, to 17 right now. Fucking cold out.

[ghost]

So......who has a hangover?   

[Morat20]

Yay, work Paypal account got hacked overnight, and someone paid 3 of their friends all the same amount of $35.01.  No phishing emails received, no other account info changed, and I don't use that username/password combination anywhere else on the internet that I know of...?  At least the transactions don't appear to have come out of my bank account (yet), which is a plus.

Disputed all of the transactions, made a stronger password, now to wait on the non-bank to fix it all...

Someone, somehow, got into my iTunes account (which I had never bothered linking to a credit card, just used gift cards) and stole all three dollars I had in there. On iPhone apps.

AND posted six reviews, all on the same guy's products. Which he had also bought.

I nofited Apple and they reversed the charges and reenabled my account within hours. Fucking weird, though. I didn't read the reviews -- just deleted them off a control panel somewhere -- so I can't help but wonder if it wasn an elaborate plot to upsell his own stuff, or if the app he bought with my money was so shitty he used my account to yell about it.

[Lianka]

How the HELL does one childproof an office?  With all the blinky lights and things to yank, and boxes and bins to spill, it's a wonder I get anything done around here! 

[Yegolev]

Best way is to remove the child.

[Salamok]

How the HELL does one childproof an office?  With all the blinky lights and things to yank, and boxes and bins to spill, it's a wonder I get anything done around here! 

I just baby-gated my office and put the child on the other side of the fence.

[Rasix]

Best way is to remove the child.

Yah, only way to 100% do it, otherwise they're just too curious. My son for a long time wanted nothing more than to push the power button on my PC or to play with the cables under the desk.  Enough applications of NO, physically preventing the action, and putting up with any resulting fits seemed to work well enough.  Also, remove sharp objects from easy to reach drawers.

He does fine in there now.

edit: Heh, we haven't bought or used a baby gate yet.  Probably somewhat dumb with the stairs we have.

[Oban]

So Sand is Broughden, right?

[Yegolev]

Still shaking the Magic 8-Ball on that one.  Your input is appreciated.

[JWIV]

Best way is to remove the child.

Yah, only way to 100% do it, otherwise they're just too curious. My son for a long time wanted nothing more than to push the power button on my PC or to play with the cables under the desk.  Enough applications of NO, physically preventing the action, and putting up with any resulting fits seemed to work well enough.  Also, remove sharp objects from easy to reach drawers.

He does fine in there now.

edit: Heh, we haven't bought or used a baby gate yet.  Probably somewhat dumb with the stairs we have.

My daughter is the same way.  She LOVES the shiny red glowing power button on Daddy's computer case.  Never mind that Mommy has the exact same case in the same room, she only wants to turn off my PC every time she's in here.

[Paelos]

Still shaking the Magic 8-Ball on that one.  Your input is appreciated.

Let's just ban him on principle. We all know he's fishy.

[Arthur_Parker]

I'm not so sure he is someone we know, I admit I was suspicious at first.

Any of this look familiar?

[Yegolev]

I had forgotten how much Photobucket sucks.