Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Lathum]

did the lamp have a plug?

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Lathum

did the lamp have a plug?

The plug for the lamp and clock were way behind the bed and clearly not designed for guests to reach. And the lamp wasn’t one of those with plugs in the base.

[Edward64]

Motel 6?

[Ksyrup]

I've been to some older hotels with that issue. Maybe not no outlets, but out of reach behind beds, dressers, etc., or down by the foot of the bed where you have to leave your phone on the ground or on the bed and hope you don't knock it over or step on it during the night.

[Ksyrup]

Someone posted about new appliances and whether there had been any real advances in the past decade or more... I think it was in this thread.

Anyway, we had our 15 year old dishwasher and microwave replaced in December/January. I've found one major upgrade with the microwave that blows away the 15 year old counterpart - the Popcorn button. Generally, I've found those presets to be useless and end up figuring out exactly how much time I need for each specific item through trial and error and then sticking with it. Popcorn especially.

Well, I decided to try the Popcorn button on our new microwave the other night, and I was impressed. When I hit the button, it went into some sort of "sensor" mode, so I walked away. When I heard it popping full blast, I walked back into the kitchen and saw it was in countdown mode. Just as the popcorn was slowing down, the countdown ended and it was ready. It was popped nearly perfectly - that place between almost entirely popped but not every kernel popped resulting in some burned/dried out popcorn.

Compared to what our old microwave could do, that's a major technology improvement.

[Poli]

The worst I've had over the past few years have been a series of Holiday Inn Expresses in Texas. The look nice on the outside but the room is like I was taken back to the 80s.

I'm in the Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley right now, an old saloon/hotel from the 1800s. With the remodeling they've done, I've got three outlets closer to me than anything I had at the HIE in Ennis, TX.

[Edward64]

Finally broke down and decided to do something about my yard.

My Bermuda grass has been infested with weeds for the past 4 years or so, and the front looks pitiful. The pre-emergent stuff from HD and Lowes just do-not-work. The weed sprays work on most weeds (and I use RoundUp on the rest) but those darn weeds keep on coming back in a month or two.

So spoke with neighbor who was happy with his Turf Master contract. I had used Tru-Green before and was not happy with them. So now spending about $450 this year for their weed & fertilizer service. Another $140 for aeration. And getting quotes to get my tree branches cut back so I can get more sun for the Bermuda.

[Ksyrup]

Outside of the Ukraine stuff of course, this may be one of the most startlingly sad pictures I've seen in a while. I can't imagine going to see Genesis in concert and enjoying it with Phil Collins looking like this. It reminds me of watching Dick Clark on New Years Eve after his stroke. You feel terrible for the guy, but his current state is more of a downer than anything.

Phil Collins remains seated during Berlin concert months after revealing he can no longer play the drums https://t.co/Y8SYANFyi7 pic.twitter.com/nwEiBVRFTa

— Yahoo Entertainment (@YahooEnt) March 9, 2022

[Lathum]

Jesus. Does he have cancer or something?

[Kodos]

Hurts to see age taking a toll on Phil, but kudos to him for continuing to perform.

[Ksyrup]

Some sort of degenerative spine condition, I believe. He can no longer play drums. I haven't heard him sing but I hope he can at least do justice to his past if he's choosing to perform like that.

[Kodos]

I just read a couple of articles. Nerve damage from a couple of back surgeries, plus "drop foot" which makes it hard to walk. Plus he has suffered some bad falls due to the condition. I guess his son plays the drums now for Genesis on their final tour.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I'm curious about something: are you typically a late in the day delivery? One thing that seems to be happening a lot lately based on what I've read is that packages get loaded but not delivered because the volume is so high that drivers literally don't finish their routes. And apparently there's nothing about late delivery that gives a package a higher priority, so the cycle just repeats.

Another thing I've read happening is trucks being loaded, only to have no driver show up.

Also, seems that ground deliveries (handled by contractors for "last mile") are in considerably worse shape than their next-day/2-day stuff (handled by actual FedEx employees).

FTR, I'm not defending them (or any delivery company), I just see so much of this sort of thing (here and elsewhere) that I try to make any sense out of it at all.

We are usually on the late part of the Fed Ex route. It's not terribly uncommon for us to get packages from them at 9:30 at night. The package did finally end up getting delivered early Tuesday.

[Lathum]

I wonder what percentage of people eat at least one meal a day in their vehicle...

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I wonder what percentage of people eat at least one meal a day in their vehicle...

I am one.

[sterlingice]

Back when I was a field engineer, I was one. Ever since being home or office dwelling, you can change that one to "one lunch of leftovers"

SI

[ISiddiqui]

Thank you Biden!


Due to changes in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, I was able to submit my federal student loans for Law School and got all of those forgiven ($38k worth) because I worked for the federal government for 10+ years. I still have $50k in private loans, but that's a big help!

[NobodyHere]

In the year 2112 will anyone listen to Rush's "2112"?

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am sure I'm not the only one around here who is this way, but if there is a piece of technology that doesn't work properly in the house - primarily, say, the internet, a router, a laptop, TV, anything along those lines - I become entirely obsessed and consumed with fixing it. I can barely focus on anything else until I've figured it out.

Just last night I joined some friends online to do our weekly gaming session. We're still trying to get through "Back 4 Blood" before moving to "Dying Light 2." I launch Discord only to find out that the mic on my headset isn't working. The headset itself is fine, I can hear everything on it, it's just the mic. I spend a good 30 minutes trying to solve it to no avail. Some update seems to have messed with the audio driver. I do have an internal mic on my laptop that worked, so we played our game.

After we wrapped up, I spent another hour and a half trying to figure out the issue. No luck.

I barely get any sleep, wake up, work some, but can't stop tying to problem solve/fix the issue. I am on forums, downloading drivers, uninstalling, installing and still nothing. I finally contemplate a "nuke & pave" option and when I unplug my laptop from all other peripherals to do so, boom, the mic works.

It turns out after some update there is no a conflict between my headset and external speakers. They aren't playing nice. I'm relieved to have figured it out and, while annoying, I can get everything to work when needed with some unplugging and rebooting.

I feel like this obsession with fixing technology is both a blessing and a curse.

[stevew]

If shrinkflation doesn't subside, I suspect next spring we will be lining up to buy Girl Scout Cookie.

[Lathum]

I am bringing my son to a friends house at noon. My wife is taking my daughter mini golfing with some friends also at noon. I could sit in the quiet house just me and the dog and watch the Baylor-UNC game instead I am driving 40 minutes south to help a friend move furniture in to his new house...

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I am bringing my son to a friends house at noon. My wife is taking my daughter mini golfing with some friends also at noon. I could sit in the quiet house just me and the dog and watch the Baylor-UNC game instead I am driving 40 minutes south to help a friend move furniture in to his new house...

You’re too old for this shit.

[Ksyrup]

That's why I don't have any friends.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

You’re too old for this shit.

Way too old....Luckily I made it home for the end of this crazy game and the house is still empty.

[Lathum]

Watched my first F1 race Sunday and really enjoyed it. Like so many others watched F1 on Netflix.

Wifes company sponsors the Williams cars. Just found out she is getting to go to the Miami Grand Prix all VIP. Meet the drivers, watch from a suite, etc...so jealous.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Offer on the good enough condo was accepted.

And today I am officially a homeowner. Hurray!

[Lathum]

So are we just going to ignore after all these years Lewis raped Betty Childs....?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So are we just going to ignore after all these years Lewis raped Betty Childs....?

There's a lot of that in 80s movies that kindof whistles by the graveyard. Some John Hughes stuff is... not good.

SI

[stevew]

Why don’t they sell single serving bags of plain tortilla chips?

[21C]

Originally Posted by sabotai

And today I am officially a homeowner. Hurray!

Congrats, man. I hope that it works out well for you.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So are we just going to ignore after all these years Lewis raped Betty Childs....?

So I was thrown off by this because two posts up was discussion about F1 and I misconstrued Lewis Skolnick with Lewis Hamilton.

Apologies Lewis Hamilton.

Just about everything in the 80s/90s was tone deaf from action to drama.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So are we just going to ignore after all these years Lewis raped Betty Childs....?

What's even more terrible about it is that Lewis most likely didn't break the law at the time because most "rape by fraud" laws didn't exist till the 2000's, and even now is rarely charged because of the vagueness of what constitutes fraud.

So THAT Happened: Lewis Was A Rapist In ‘Revenge Of The Nerds’ | Decider

I seem to remember another of those "college hijinx" movies where one of the guys got a girl to come to his room for sex, then halfway through he swapped out with his friend without the girl knowing it. This was comedy in the 80's. I'm sure some comedian or comedy writer somewhere is complaining about "cancel culture" because they can't write funny bits like this anymore.

[stevew]

I Think Typing Sentences Like This Is Way More Annoying Than TYPING IN ALL CAPS

[miami_fan]

Here we are on National Cheesesteak Day (yeah I had no idea that it existed either!) and I am finding out that people putting ketchup on their cheesesteaks is a real thing. This news does not make me question humanity as much as some of the things that have happened during the pandemic but it is really really close.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

So I was thrown off by this because two posts up was discussion about F1 and I misconstrued Lewis Skolnick with Lewis Hamilton.

Apologies Lewis Hamilton.

Just about everything in the 80s/90s was tone deaf from action to drama.

You weren't the only one who was a little confused by that.

[thesloppy]

What if I told you Wormser was a master at aerodynamics?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Here we are on National Cheesesteak Day (yeah I had no idea that it existed either!) and I am finding out that people putting ketchup on their cheesesteaks is a real thing. This news does not make me question humanity as much as some of the things that have happened during the pandemic but it is really really close.

I wouldn’t put ketchup on a real cheesesteak but it’s good on a Steakum 🤷‍♂️

[Ksyrup]

I've booked several plane trips far in advance (close to the 11 or so months out that the schedules are open) and twice now, Delta has re-adjusted its schedule and modified my original flights. What I'm finding is that no matter whether the adjustment is minor or major, Delta gives me the option to choose a new flight without charge, and both times, I've gotten upgraded flights (lopping off a connection or just a quicker overall trip) over the original ones I chose. I'll take it.

[Poli]

I booked a flight for my brother with a similar result. They actually put him on a terrible flight...we turned around and moved it to one that was better than the previous for free.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

...and I am finding out that people putting ketchup on their cheesesteaks is a real thing. ...

I would advocate the death penalty for these people, but they're already dead.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I've booked several plane trips far in advance (close to the 11 or so months out that the schedules are open) and twice now, Delta has re-adjusted its schedule and modified my original flights. What I'm finding is that no matter whether the adjustment is minor or major, Delta gives me the option to choose a new flight without charge, and both times, I've gotten upgraded flights (lopping off a connection or just a quicker overall trip) over the original ones I chose. I'll take it.

Originally Posted by Poli

I booked a flight for my brother with a similar result. They actually put him on a terrible flight...we turned around and moved it to one that was better than the previous for free.

Looking to book some flights to and from Indy in August, and we,ve been holding off due to the flights constantly changing. This is making me less reluctant to pull the trigger.

I'm doing it wrong. We're going to Indy the week after Gencon. My son is performing at the Drum Corp International championship.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by stevew

I wouldn’t put ketchup on a real cheesesteak but it’s good on a Steakum 🤷‍♂️

I have never knowingly had Steakum.

[bob]

My daughter has had 3 HP chromebooks fail already this school year, all the same way. It will be working all day at school, then she comes home and it won't turn on. Plugging it in does nothing (LED doesn't turn on).

These are not the shitty $200 ones, more like the $700 ones. Are Chromebooks giant pieces of shit or is she doing something to these?

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by bob

My daughter has had 3 HP chromebooks fail already this school year, all the same way. It will be working all day at school, then she comes home and it won't turn on. Plugging it in does nothing (LED doesn't turn on).

These are not the shitty $200 ones, more like the $700 ones. Are Chromebooks giant pieces of shit or is she doing something to these?

We bought our kids Samsung Chromebooks before the pandemic. They have used them for school since then with no major issues except printing which may be the fault of the printer as much as Chrome OS.

[stevew]

Giant pieces of shit, per my wife

[albionmoonlight]

Hitting a really long home run in MLB is one of the most impressive athletic feats possible. But they make for very underwhelming TV highlights.

[Lathum]

There is a very ugly fight right now on facebook between an FOFCer a lot of us are friends with and his wife and if he sees this I would implore him to stop immediately.

[21C]

Finally making the change to the Brave browser. It seems to have all of the benefits of Chrome that I had been using without the negative parts like user tracking by the Google overlord. We'll see if I end up sticking with it but it looks good so far.

My browser history has been Netscape Navigator (remember that one?) > Firefox > Chrome > Brave.

The only times that I have used Internet Explorer or Edge was to download another browser. I do use Opera occasionally for its VPN capabilities.

[thesloppy]

I think my browser history has been like navigator > firefox > chrome > firefox > chrome > firefox > chrome > firefox > brave > chrome > firefox

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I think my browser history has been like navigator > firefox > chrome > firefox > chrome > firefox > chrome > firefox > brave > chrome > firefox

I just skipped most of those to something like navigator > Firefox. I use Chrome on my phone, though. Never had any luck with the phone version of Firefox.