@conandlibrarian Almost all my small kitchen appliances were purchased second-hand so at least when they’re sitting around doing nothing, I’m not going “damn, I could’ve bought a dozen catshirts instead”.
i once told a patient to “get the fuck out of my ambulance!”
(drunk guy. tried to light up a cigarette in my rig while i wasn’t looking. we did end up transporting him after i politely told him he was a “fucking idiot” and “you try that shit again and i’ll throw you out WHILE we’re moving.”)
then there was the time i told a guy, “sorry, our medical director doesn’t allow me to give morphine to stupid people.”
(guy that shot himself in the shoulder while “cleaning my gun”. don’t worry… bullet went straight through. wound was even nicely cauterized so there was no blood.)
I’m assuming you don’t have a video?
I’m sightly bored (which rarely happens) and in need of some entertainment.
(Although if you did, I’m assuming you’d deny it.)
@Stallion Same here. My son is 7 and he’s excited about local sports teams, talks about famous basketball players, and asks me to play some sort of sport nearly every day. I die a little inside when I think of the day that he realizes he’s I’m actually trying and he’s actually better than me.
@JerseyFrank i took the approach of never patronizing my kids and letting them win - it sounds like you don’t have this morale dilemma to deal with at least.
it’s a good feeling when your kids realize, along with you, they are better than you and start helping you in return for your tireless parental efforts, so get that glove on and go take a baseball in the forehead for your kid
@JerseyFrank
If it were me…i’d just tell him that i am objectively horrible, just so he’s prepared, and other parents are a lot better, and not to get embarrassed or hold it against me.
Then, with conscience clear, no fears of exposure, go out and have a great time. You might even start to like it.
If you’re really that bad, instant comedy! If you’re better than you thought, or get better over time, great! Either way, all good.
My mother-in-law wants to babysit our daughter for a small amount of money (a couple household bills), but I’d rather pay somebody regular rate because I feel like she’d be safer.
@Thumperchick@lichme, does this imply parents and baby sitting is also tricky, since one person’s parents are another person’s in-laws?
we never had that luxury of being close enough for grandparents babysitting, i’d slowly and carefully consider the cost/benefits of that relationship, or opportunity lost
@mfladd@hallmike I used to kind of like Cuban (not at the man-crush level), until he volunteered to be HRC’s VP. And that, on multiple levels, was bad enough.
@mfladd@hallmike Don’t get me wrong. If he meant it as a joke, I’d be laughing. I don’t think he did. He takes both himself and those guys that seriously.
One friend told me “i think they’re so helpless at birth and later on so cute and creative and fresh, to draw you in, and get you so attached, addicted, devoted, so that when they are teenagers and are despicable or obnoxious or exhausting or dislikeable for years at a time, you still have to keep trying. You already put in all those years, and you hear tales that some of them might become human someday.”
I bought a pricey holding fixture for working on differentials more than 10 years ago; its still sitting on a shelf and the target diff is in a bucket under a workbench.
I pulled the Challenger into the garage in 1995, the last time it moved under its own power. Its still sitting there, somewhat more disassembled, but with no major work done on it (save buying parts) in close to 20 years. It was/is my first car. It deserves better. I have excuses, some valid, others not.
I have more fabric in my house that Joann’s has in it store… I haven’t made much in the last year… I DID finish a quilt though – one UFO done… (un-finished object)
@mikibell Heh, I have plastic totes, cardboard boxes and plastic bags full of yarn, going back 25 years; I have completed (let’s see… counting… hmm) maybe five crochet projects in that time. Three of them are caps based on the same pattern (two of which I wear pretty much every day–it’s a super-cute design). Oh wait, some of that yarn is almost 30 years old from when I was going to tablet weave all the time. Didn’t happen. Still kept on buying weaving tablets, and books about tablet weaving (not that there are so many, but, you know, how many does one person need? 4? then I’m good).
Still, I envy you your fabric. Although I don’t sew. Though I have two sewing machines. Anyway, what kind of quilt?
@mikibell If I knew you were into crafts I would have sent you a few of the storage tubs of yarn the wife has piled up in what used to be my man cave. It’s not too late; I still owe you a package with the letter I forgot to include in your Fuku.
@mikibell Did ya see the special deal over on the silhouette website? A mint and a curio for $199, a savings of around $180.
I’m running out of room in my storage area, my darling husband volunteered me to make birthday cards for his great niece and nephew. Not for us to send, mind you, but for us to give to his mom so she could send them. “Because you like doing this so much…”
So, Joann’s (God love them) had a half price sale on their website with three dollar shipping and I bought 14 stacks of cardstock. Because I might need one or two of them for the cards. That I’m making for his mother. Because I like doing this stuff so much.
@mossygreen mostly baby quilts… I have made a few of them. I made 2 full size quilts with pirate themes for a friend to give as a gift. Then I made a 19’x12’ (not a typo) to cover stained glass windows during my children’s play to help control the lighting.
I have an embroidery sewing machine ( or 2) and I have embroidered lots of things,mostly for my scouts. My mom drafted me for lots of stuff for her classroom before she retired. I also made boatloads of costumes for my childens’ school play. Life has been crazy lately, so my stash of fabric sits ignored
@Mehrocco_Mole oh…no worries, no more yarn! I failed at knitting. I have a few ufos with crocheting. I started a blanket for my son when he was born … More than 11 years ago. It is 1/2 way done maybe by the time he gets married I will have it finished.
@lisaviolet oh yes… I saw the sale, but I splurged on a mint when it was on a deal @ amazon. I should have read up on it more though. I wanted it for our touch a truck, but it uses ink that I am not sure will wear well on kids hands and the resupplies are expensive!
I hit a joanns sale with 50% off on bulk rolls of silhouette vinyl…huge rolls… With 3 dollar shipping all I have used it for so far is lettering for signs. I just cut out about 3 rolls worth of letters continuously…it was sweet!
Hmmmm You just might NEED some of that paper for the cards Hopefully, I will get to play with my hobbies again soon. Our project @ work is stabilizing…
I got it at dickblick.com. They have some pretty nice deals, spend x amount of money, get x percentage discount, plus free shipping on stuff over x amount. I check there every once in a while. I’ve also found the negative paper at Walmart online.
@lisaviolet hmmmmm interested in making stamps for a touch a truck?? There is a moratorium on toy buying until hubby is back on his feet…that stamp maker looks awesome. Dick Blicks is a dangerous place. I will have to arm wrestle the hubby for coupons!
@mikibell Yeah, it is dangerous! I’ve got so many of those gel packs for the stamps!
Hubby went to a local plastic place and bought some acrylic remnants for the stamp backing (he cuts them to size in his shop) and I use Beacon’s 3 in 1 to attach them, then use an empty wooden thread spool for the handle.
The gel is messy and stinky, but the stamps turn out nicely and in short time.
Hmmmm the ideas… we have a marble shop down the street that is always selling pieces/parts… and a cabinet store… I have a router/band saw/ etc at my disposal. Maybe I will put the stamper on my Christmas list.
@mikibell That is amazing. I admit, at first I thought, “why not garbage bags to cover the windows? Or shower curtains?” Seeing it, yeah; much nicer, more permanent and respectful. It should last through generations of plays.
@mossygreen it was cool… all the white squares have the kids’ names embroidered on them and the color squares were of their own creation… made it a bit difficult when they glued seashells to the margin, but we made it work We made smaller quilts for the other windows… it is a nice tradition.
Not unlike the OP, I’m afraid my kids will either grow up being super into sports like their mother was and end up completely unrelatable to me, or super big nerds like I was and make me cringe and yell “shut up Junior, you’re not Sonic the Hedgehog and quit ordering dumbass crap from Thinkgeek. Go make an IRL friend for goodness sake.”
Last Friday, I thought I had to fart and sharted in my pants. It was only a little bit, but it happened. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not ashamed either
Quite often after everyone else has gone to bed my border collie friend and I will sit on the back porch and polish off an entire quart of haagen-dazs together.
I don’t wear catshirts every day, even once I get home and change.
Some shirts I’ll also wear a lot more than others; I’ve worn this over 20 times since I bought it just over 5 months ago. http://shirt.woot.com/offers/toasty-6
Forgive me Irk, for I have sinned… I’ve visited Woot looking for Crap over 100 Times this week. Even since they announced that Crap would be home… My F5 key wants me to die.
Now if you want something Juicy… I’ve always wanted to pay D&D but never found someone to teach me…
@sohmageek *play?
I love D&D but there’s no way I’d have time to play anymore (even if I could find a decent local campaign). Playing Baldur’s Gate on the 'puter is a pretty reasonable facsimile of gameplay, though a sucky social experience compared to the real thing
@sohmageek you should join us in #deals.woot chat… On Monday, someone posted a BOC link there and I got one, even though I wasn’t even logged into woot at the time. Today, I posted two links for crap there and at least one person got one (about five minutes after I posted it).
(I know… but once an addict, always an addict and even after about 80 of them, I’ve never had one that wasn’t worth at least what I spent to get it and two have been worth well over $150.)
I volunteer at two tech schools and help run their auto tech programs, helping to train kids for careers as auto mechanics. To enter this profession and do well they will need to go on and get a $50,000 2 year degree for an entry level job paying around $16/hr.
However I feel vaguely guilty because if I was their age I would not enter this field myself. It is high stress, requires continuous ongoing training to keep your skills current, investing many thousands of dollars in tools, yet you can earn more driving a truck or a forklift in a warehouse. My wife is a nurse and earns more than twice what I do with a similar level of education.
@Steve7654 Ive been in the collision repair industry for 17 years and was taught from scratch and thrown to the wolves. I am now an ASE master and ICAR Platinum individual. It got me nothing but a pat on the back and a certification (OK, I learned stuff too). I pity the poor kids that try the automobile repair industry. It is eaten up by the insurance companies lack of wanting or knowing how things need to be fixed and the increasingly difficult procedures involved to make a quality repair. They expect the technicians to know everything and have all the right tools but dont want to pay sh!t. Funny how they charge by the time it takes (which the insurance companies set), not the difficulty or procedures that must be taken.
@mfladd I’m sorry man. Pays the bills though right? How many years left till retirement? Or maybe switch fields? I know… We’ve talked. Btw. Email me damnit!
@mfladd@sohmageek I pushed cameras around a studio at the age of 14 and directed newscasts while in high school. I was a Naval Aircrewman on Navy minesweeping helicopters (HM-12, HM-14, HM-16, HM-15 [Plank Owner]; RH53D & MH53E). I sold cars, cash registers, and Broadcast equipment. I went back into television production (stupid, stupid…). I worked a year in a convenience store and part time in a gas station. I recently retired from the financial game.
I am now so bored I’m considering getting a job just for something to do. Retirement isn’t all RVing and golf. And living is more than breathing. Do not be afraid to switch fields and try something new.
A lot of people I interact with daily make me want to just go to their house in the middle of the night and either bite their left ear off, or stick a pen in their eye.
On that note, I have a theory for why one doesn’t see many Buffalos with wings.
Just like how over time giraffes adapted to their environments to be able to reach leaves, the Buffalo realized that in order to survive, it can’t have wings.
Now, considering that the Buffalo wouldn’t be able to stay up long in the air anyways, the wings were pretty much useless.
I say “were”, because this adaptation process a long time ago.
As was discovered last night, I’m not good with telling time, so X >2 weeks, where X represents how long this process has been taking place.
I’ll explain where the Buffalo wings which people eat come from a different time based on what I wrote.
@FroodyFrog at first I thought you were talking about the burning sensation when you eat buffalo wings and wipe your eyes. Or worse then go to the bathroom without washing your hands thoroughly enough first. Damn that burns.
Due to a conflict of interests, all I can say is that Buffalo wings nowadays are either artificial wings made in a lab, or that they’re from Buffalos which either failed to adapt to environment, or are old.
@FroodyFrog Some dogs channel cats. Or are made into assholes by bad owners. Its not a natural result of their character and instincts like it is with cats.
There are good cats too; they channel dogs. Or they are the subject of fortuitous and patient owners, or perhaps they are mutants.
@mfladd It makes me sad to see so much potential… the cute, the fun, the fuzzy, the playful… and know that in the vast majority of cases it will end up being an asshole. Kittens are wonderful, but they’re like a lottery ticket; not too many of them turn out to be winners. Oh well…
I feel a little guilty every time @mfladd and I are talking about the Patriots here. I just want you to know that I recently realized how sad it must be to be from a place whose collective sports teams go decades between title wins instead of a year or two.
@jbartus I’m a Lions fan. The last time they won the national championship was Superbowl -1. That was a year before Superbowl 1 for those of you keeping score. What teams have NEVER played in a Superbowl? (hint: there are 4)
@jbartus I just hope we can keep a few guys healthy this year and we can rebuild out O line. However the game goes, it’s always a great game when we play the Pats. Can’t wait for FOOTBALL season…
@daveinwarsh the good news is Brady’s gonna get an extra 4 weeks without risk of being injured this year because Goodell’s an asshat so the chance of you guys facing Brady at full steam is greatly increased.
@jbartus
In what should be sports paradise, we have too many loser professional franchises. Even at the so-called “college level.”
Gotten used to it. Still enjoy my family fantasy league. Tho last year ESPN’s servers crapped out repeatedly during the draft, and we had to get the “really fair” admin to do random fixes, and my team sux still.
This isn’t so much a secret, as I can’t afford to share any for the time being for “reasons”, but I really feel bad for the few NY Mets fans who exist.
It’s so much easier for me to deal with people when it comes to certain things if they’re confused. (However, I refuse to work as tech support because like I said, I get tempted to stab eyes/ bite ears, and also because I love messing with tech support in certain ways)
@jbartus
Not gonna burn that cap in Times Sq, sorry. Even tho i dont root for them and am happy enuf when a trad rival trounces them, if i got a (free) Yankees cap, would wear it once in a while in honor of the 60’s teams.
And Bobby Brown, MD, Yankees third baseman, American League President, cardiologist, and former traveling roommate of Yogi Berra, was a great friend and tennis partner of my Dad’s, and always nice to me. I have a Berra story, see below.
And i greatly enjoyed being at the World Series 1978, in person, even on crutches (destroyed knee), watching the awesome Bucky Dent and Reggie Jackson and enjoying watching the New York fans be themselves (they are no worse than Bostonians and many other northeastern US sports fans.)
So am not a Yankees fan, but am happy enuf to had been one while younger than age 10, and to have enjoyed those in person games later as a temp NYker. It’s fine to hate overblown NY stuff and NY attitudes, esp if you are pulling for a rival. But NYC is fucking-awe-fucking-some, and sometimes the teams are cool now and then too.
…
So, Yogi Berra: from Bobby Brown’s wikipedia entry: (note than Dr Brown was in medical school while he played for the Yankees)
“A famous apocryphal story that has made the rounds for years in baseball circles concerns the time when Brown’s road roommate was star Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, who had little formal education. The two were reading in their hotel room one night—Berra a comic book and Brown his copy of Boyd’s Pathology. Berra came to the end of his comic, tossed it aside, and asked Brown, “So, how is yours turning out?””
According to my Dad, this is true, he heard Dr. Brown tell this story, more colorfully. Dad is gone now. Dr Brown is still living, but i last saw him when i was still a schoolkid, i think. An incredible guy.
@f00l I have to disagree. I can’t stand Yankees fans, in my experience there’s a large element, granted it can be blamed on the city of origin perhaps but still, who tend to be a lot less civil than the worst Boston fan I’ve even seen. For example, my mom went to a Sox-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium in her younger years, she actually took off her Sox hat in fear for her life, people were being real nasty and threatening to break beer bottles over people’s heads. I’m not gonna go so far as to say that such a thing never happened at Fenway because I can’t prove it, but I’d bet it happened less. (if there were any realistic way to come up with said statistic)
Funny story about Dr. Brown though, what was his response?
@jbartus
Re Yankees fans: perhaps they are awful sometimes. I never saw it, but i lived in NY and favored the Yankees over the Dodgers. That series held the only games i attended.
I never heard Dr Brown’s response to Berra. By the time my Dad heard that story, Dr Brown had prob told it thousands of times, and likely had a standup’s timing. And Berra…he had that savvy…his “mis-statements” are genius. Perhaps, in spite of the apparent differences between the dropout and the Stanford educated, revered cardiologist, they were quite well matched as roommates.
I shot a chipmunk with an airsoft gun because the little bastard woke me up with non-stop barking. Blamed the cats for killing it. I felt terrible afterwords… But now I can sleep in peace! Forgive me Irk for I have sinned!
@lilsrm123 I’d kill a man or a dog before I kill a chipmunk. My cat disagrees with me, but so far the chipmunks are thankfully giving him a run for his money.
Get him into computers early on. If he is busy coding, or playing video games, you won’t have to play catch with him. Plus programming is one of the best paying and highest demand professions in the world, especially America.
@carl669 Hah! I used to oversee programming contracts. Programmers wrote the code, then part of my job was to beta test the crap put of it in an effort to make it “idiot proof.” Sadly, idiots are much more persistent and creative than either programmers or systems analysts can imagine. Kids are much better off concentrating on computer security. Crackers can be equally persistent and imaginative, but at least their thinking is logical. And computer security specialists will never be without work.
On a related note, there’s this guy who goes by the username RootJunky who is known in the Android hacking/ ROMing community/communities.
Anyways, every month, he releases a video showing creative ways to show how to bypass Android Factory Reset protection. It’s monthly, because every month Google releases monthly security patches (mostly for Nexus, as the other devices only get them as part of regular updates), and they close FRP exploits.
@FroodyFrog And that’s why I still have my old flip phone with no camera, no internet, no GPS, and little memory. If someone steals my phone they will get some free airtime (it’s a prepaid), a couple of emergency numbers, maybe the numbers of my last couple of calls that I haven’t gotten around to erasing, and nothing else. Every time I’m on the verge of getting a smart phone, another story like your pops up. I’m glad I’m retired and can live without a mini-'puter in my pocket. To those still working, being without a smart phone is not really an option, and security will remain just one step ahead of the hackers (if we are lucky.)
@compunaut Depends on the job. Around here, almost anyone whose job takes them away from an office (telephone company, electric company, surveyors, salespeople, etc. have company phones issued to them for work. They have to be able to use GPS navigation, process payments, fill in forms - so smart phones are necessary unless they want to carry a laptop or tablet.
@rockblossom I can certainly see your point. But I believe there are far more jobs where workers bring/use their personal devices when there is little justification to do so.
@compunaut
Little justification? Since when are “wasting time” and “texting friends” and “gaming” and “fucking around” and “checking facebook” and “watching porn” not justifications?
@compunaut
Not optional if retaining your sociopath soul (or what’s left of it) or screwing with The Man, or proving your immaturity is part of your bucket list.
I’m skipping my daughter’s annual gymnastics show so that I can go to a team building event with colleagues after work. We’re going to a baseball game, where I will bring the aforementioned glove and hope that no foul balls come remotely close.
@f00l@JerseyFrank when they respond to someone there is a link at the bottom to ‘View Conversation’. Retweets are just people who saw something they liked on someone else’s twitter and shared it with the people who follow (subscribe to) them. Otherwise tweets are just short form messages, you probably want to develop your abbreviation interpretation skills.
@JerseyFrank On Twitter.com (and presumably the official Twitter client on your platform), tweets should be connected by blue lines, providing some sort of chronology.
Also, Twitter.com (the web client) probably has Interesting mode set instead of Chronological mode, which re-orders your timeline to show you the things Twitter thinks you’ll like the most from the last time you visited. A portion of Twitter’s users thoroughly hate this change because it changes how people view Twitter.
There’s some other things you should know (with the caveat that these will be no longer present in the near future): Using @name just sends the tweet to the person you named, and other people see it in your feed if they follow the other person (or they look at your tweets & replies). If you wanted the tweet to be sent to everyone, put something before the @name - usually a period is used. This way Twitter thinks it’s not a reply and adds it to your feed.
@f00l What you get out of Twitter is all about who you follow and to an extent who those people follow (you’ll see retweets and if you follow some of the people they follow, you’ll see their replies as well). If you follow people who are boring, spiteful, or always posting garbage, that’s what your feed will contain, and you’ll feel it’s a waste of time.
Twitter tries to suggest people it thinks you’ll want to follow based on who you’ve recently followed, and you can also check people you like to see who they follow and add those folks.
Celebrities aren’t always a bad idea, but the bigger deal they are, a lot more chance for crap.
There are also Lists, which let you make a custom timeline separate from your main one that you can share with other people (or keep private). This can be a good way to find people around a topic to follow.
Even though I issues with society as a whole, and people bug me (Please don’t put any frog/fly/both jokes here), there are a few people (outside of my family), whom I genuinely care greatly about.
@joelmw It looks like the first 5 or 6 paragraphs of your reply somehow got deleted, leaving just the tl;dr part. Maybe you should contact support about the glitch.
A few years back I had a coronary event. Three days later the wife was diagnosed with cancer. I still think she purposely timed it to steal any sympathy I was getting.
Also this week I drove 40 miles out of my direct route just to have my first Buc-ees visit.
BTW…worth it as destination, incredible piece of American culture. Sometimes enormous wondrous too-much-of-fast-culture-everything-plus-kitsch is just right.
Europe, eat your heart out. Eiffel, schmeiffel: elegance, schmelegance! The Old World can’t have Buc-ees, they don’t even understand duallys and suburbans.
Description of Buc-ees: no words would suffice. For when Too Much Ain’t Enuf.
The bathrooms live up to the hype. You can sample the BBQ and jerky and 24 fudge flavors, all made by the company. Reasonably large sandwich/taco/burrito menu. The place is almost as big as a Walmart Supercenter. Enormous toy dept. Kids everywhere. Household stuff, including quality Lodge skillets. Clothes. College stuff. Deer feed and feeders. Game cameras. Hunting/fishing gear. (No firearms, head to Walmart if it’s 3am and you need one). Full size outdoor grills and smokers, you brought a pickup, didn’t you?
So, if you are in Texas…Just Go.
(heh, heh, both meanings.)
After all, you’re already within 620 miles of the closest one.
@f00l sadly I have no idea when I’ll be in Texas next… however they are apparently expanding East (Louisiana?) so perhaps I’ll eventually run into them along the I-95 corridor.
@f00l So they are like a TX twisted Walmart? And apparently there is on one 10 just outside of Houston (I am headed there in July and will be at the medical center area, coming in on 10 from the east side of town)… so is it worth a detour after a 400 mile + drive?
@Kidsandliz
Buc-ees is like if Target or Walmart were kinda squeezed into road-stop heaven. Yes completely worth the detour. For some people, Buc-ees is the destination. Just do it, at least once.
All the bbq and jerky and 20+ flavors of fudge is made by the company, and you can sample any of it.
Even if someone hates everything about their school, they might want to remember it. Or feel superior about not buying one. Or have a garage sale someday. Or look at it with pleasure. Or bemoan it’s loss. Not even mentioning the people who didnt hate every single thing at school.
Oh, my class loved the school. Sadly the feeling wasn’t necessarily mutual.
Now, keep in mind that I went to a private single gender school and my class/grade had 18 people in it.
@mfladd what if Froody isn’t a real person? What if we’re all pawns in some movie studio’s testing of character backstory ideas on us to see what works and doesn’t work?
Joke’s on them, we’re all too strange for them to get viable data anyhow.
There’s a lot of stuff about me which I am willing to share on this confession thread, but there’s a lot of stuff which will literally go to the grave with me.
Funny you should say that. I actually once posed the possibility that I am just some script which can learn and interact. Why do you think it took 444 days from the time I became a Meh-mber to actually participating in the forums?
@FroodyFrog
Everyone has horrible or very private secrets, their own and others’ secrets. Which is not to say that mine make me equivalent to Mother Teresa or Hitler.
It’s a universal that we have them, but what they are and what they mean to us is individual. Or so my wee brain believes.
You asked for hobbies, reading to me is more than a pastime.
I actually take a bit of offense at the notion that you think I spend so much time in the binary universe. However, you didn’t know the following, so I’ll forgive you:
I have a closet full of books. (though I’m running out of room in it.)
No, (and I don’t liked forked versions of Android).
Currently rocking a Nexus 7 2013 though (got a great deal on it, as I paid a little over $100 for the 16Gb version, and the seller sent me a 32Gb one).
@FroodyFrog Nintendo, or another handheld?
I love RPGs (esp. Baldur’s Gate; probably a result of my D&D time back in HS), though I spend more time collecting them than playing (Thanks, GOG!)
With regards to my not having a yearbook, and how it makes me bitter;
I’m not bitter per se over the fact that I don’t have one to look at, I wouldn’t look at it anyways.
It’s the fact that this is one thing which can never be fixed.
No matter what happens, I’ll always think about how the only physical high school memorabilia which most people have, or is usually the case, had, I’ll never get to experience the pleasure (or displeasure) of having.
@FroodyFrog
Re: Hobbies Q…this is an internet forum, my habit is not normally to use words like “hobby” in a tightly defined way, and to hope others wont read them that way.
Ergo: Hobby (in this context, by my intention): what you do for pleasure, relaxation, growth, and the like, that is personal to you, not required by outside pressures, whether intensely and personally meaningful or more of a throwaway pleasure or time-passer. You did not read the word that way…i did. No worries here. I hope no resentment.
Re yearbook bitterness: do you have it because you aren’t entirely past certain losses (it’s cool), or because on principle? Or both? Or other?
@FroodyFrog
Re Kindle (the e-reader, not the tablet)
These are damned nice devices, and Amazon puts fuckloads of books on sale, sometimes very decent ones. The newer paperwhite ones are v nice, esp the screens, tho i have a thing for the touch and even older ones w audio capacities. The kindle/nook/e-reader apps (android, ios) are also nice.
I also have too many books. I have started selling/giving away many books and getting e-versions instead, not just from Amazon. My physical collection is 2k plus and needs to come down in size, for space reasons (several times in my life i have given away thousands of books, when moving…(no i didnt read them all, but i want to, they beckon)).
My e-book library is way past 10k and growing. I stock up on interesting cheap/sale books, and buy outright what i really care for or want short-term. The library does not cause probs due to size. I share w someone who keeps a ripped calibre library version, updated monthly more or less.
For physical books, i am paring down to the vintage stuff, the beautiful stuff, and what i love. Perhaps i can get it to fit reasonably in real physical space someday.
Oh, btw, the Kindle Fire i own (gift) is useful. When someone wants to use a tablet (yeah, sometimes i answer the damned door), they get the Fire.
I accidentally broke the lawn mower, but since it was always having problems, no one thought anything of it when it was broken again, and just decided to buy a new one.
Ended up getting one from Woot.
@jbartus I turned it over to clear out some grass from the blade area. Since it was gas-powered, I’m thinking the gas leaked out of the tank, and into somewhere it shouldn’t be, and that was that.
@narfcake Nope- wasn’t the ground. If you’re saying it’s unlikely the gas could leave the tank, then I’m going to have to unblame @medz for my post and your post.
Before I get to today’s confession, a bit of background;
If you average my total amount of posts/comments/replies to how long I’ve been here, that’s less than a handful of comments a day, or 1 comment every 6.7 hours.
Now for today’s confession:
People seem to think I don’t do anything, which is why I constantly have to explain that I’m barely here. It’s not true.
I do something so stressful, which is why I constantly feel the urge to be mean to pens as seen here. But since most meh-mbers with whom I interact with aren’t nearly near that level (though some of you are on an equivalent level), I can relax here.
To be honest, a lot of times I have no idea what I’m writing on the forum.
I just start sliding my finger, or tapping keys (depending on if I’m taking care of work), and let the words come out.
Then, I come back later, see that my comments got stars, and only then do I really read what I posted.
I not-quite-completely wasted Memorial Day weekend.
A fair bit of the time sinkhole happened here.
Also wasted time doing:
Video: bits of various filmed versions of The Mikado.
Rearranging the kitchen, which did not need doing.
Visiting REI.
Buying housewarming stuff for a friend.
Reading “Chain of Title”. (Not really a waste…)
Fantasizing about houses I might bid on.
Reading about the fabulous mortgage industry.
Wait,Wait, Don’t Tell Me.
Stones videos
B-52 videos (the band, not the plane)
C-46 pix (the plane)
Drive thru Starbucks iced coffee, no syrup.
Experimenting with microwave scrambled eggs and veggies (not bad, I’m not too picky.)
Taking a walk.
Texting younger bro about a trip that then got cancelled, the little fuckhead.
Planning, sorta kinda, for trip to niece’s “destination wedding”, omg expensive, she better do this just once.
Enduring updates about a replacement power supply.
Lying on the couch (lots)
And more.
Things that did not get done:
Laundry
Massively overdue financial paperwork.
Organizing electronics and tools just a little fucking bit so I can find stuff.
Finding the lost prescription that does not matter too much.
Budgeting.
Serious exercise.
Serious trip planning, since the other person possibly involved is off windsurfing.
Serious thought about anything.
Filing and labeling.
Making serious decisions, or getting a bit closer to them.
Calling people if we had to accomplish something.
Thinking a bit more how to handle stuff I need to handle better (internal and external)
And more.
And some of the not-done pile really needs doing badly urgently.
Fuck.
Oh, not fuck.
Gosh, Rhett, Tomorrow Is Another Day.
Before I get to talking about a sliver of a sliver of what’s on my mind, I have to ask; are these diary entries of mine going back on the previous day, or are they a post for the day they are on??? I guess I’ll get some people from to figure it out.
Now, Tuesday was a weird day (I guess that answers my questions, though I’ll still probably hire those people I referenced before).
Still not sure who she is (because I don’t spend time on the forum), but it was @jaremelz’s birthday.
Just kidding, she’s a Siren as shown here.
I had an idea for a cake (not HQ related, because that idea was taken numerous times), but unfortunately so was my next idea:
(I detect an English accent.)
And finally, sadly @medz finished his goathood Oh well, I blame @dashcloud. Thankfully though, he won June goathood by 20 votes, so YAY!!!
I just realized, I didn’t post a confession yet (not that anybody would notice anyways, since my posts go largely unread).
Most of the time, when reading peoples posts, I get distracted. My mind wanders far as proven by this post. (for those too lazy to click the link.)
So yeah, that about wraps it up. Tuesday was a weird day, and I don’t always read what people write. (For all I know, I star posts which actually insult me, even though I’m a sweet, innocent removed who feels that removed has a little bit of fun to share with the world, or at least other Meh-mbers.
They must be, if they did that to their son on his birthday. (Then again, I’ve never had a cake on my birthday, or at least not that I can remember. So I don’t know what the feeling is like.)
@jbartus probably going to bring a whole load of crap onto my head, but what about Patriots’ Navy?? (Not a football fan, but it seems you are ) Images range from dark royal to navy, but either works!
To be honest, I’m not really a “birthday frog”, unless you consider the fact that any gifts I get were bought by myself are considered celebrating my birthday.
Are you sure it’s dark enough for you? Here’s what it looks like:
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gorgeous blue and I’ll probably do that theme but it’s pretty bright. Like you said it’s not a true navy, it’s actually a color called Nautical Blue.
@FroodyFrog the fact that you have never in your entire life had a cake on your birthday is something that bothers me, perhaps more than it should. If I ever get my hands on your address and birthdate rest assured a cake will be mailed.
@FroodyFrog You have never had a cake on your birthday? Are you serious? I am very saddened by this if it is true. We can rectify that situation for you.
@jbartus I like that blue, but can the boxes be softer??? That is what I don’t like about dark mode also… They are very stark in contrast. and @mfladd didn’t give me crap about Patriots?? WOW!
That’s kind of like how I feel when I get presents. Sure, I may have them sitting in my closet for a few weeks (depending on what I buy), but even though I sometimes forget stuff quickly, I know exactly what’s in the boxes.
@mikibell that’s easy. Let me know when you have challenges for me. I’ll work up a skin and probably a modification to the heliotrope skin later. Cheers
Is it strange that I already have my entry for tomorrow written up? Keep on mind that with the font I’m using, and the size which the wording is being done, I have 1 1/2 pages…
Now I know that this week I wrote to you to talk about complaints here, here, and here,so today I have decided to write about things I’m grateful for.
Things I’m grateful for:
… Oh man, this is hard, how am I supposed to put down things I’m grateful for in a list?
You know what? Forget the list.
Instead, I will do it in song form, and share the video and/or audio with all of the (delightful, if somewhat whimsical) Mehmbers.
Wait a minute, I don’t sing. NOT RELATED:
You know what?
I give up with trying to express everything for which I am grateful.
However, getting back to the complaints which I referenced near the beginning of this entry, even though those things happened to me, I’m fine. Life moves on, even for a (removed your gender ) like me.
I suppose life could be worse anyways. Besides, I’ve met some people who would possibly be decent IRL, so that’s not so bad.
Oh, and I’m living and breathing, so I have those going for me.
As it turns out, my post from yesterday got adjusted (I completely expected it to be edited).
As it turns out, I may possibly be a script. I gotta look into it.
What was up with the video of Glen yesterday?
Shame I don’t have a cat for today.
I’m only sort of interested to watch Mary Poppins Returns. Naturally I’ll watch it, but not ASAP. Due to my mixed feelings about it, it’ll go to the end of my movie watch list.
Remind me again why I write an entry into you at the beginning of the day as opposed to before midnight?
Anyways, not really happy that my AC was off yesterday considering how it was hot outside. First thing that was done as soon as possible was to turn the AC on.
Even once it was on, I had to set up a new monitor in a place where there was no AC. Not thrilled. Nice monitor though, although I couldn’t find a specific cable, at the worst, I’ll use an old one temporarily. Oh, and the way all the cables were jumbled up resulted in my router falling several times on my foot.
Anyways, tried renting a cat, but apparently she couldn’t be found. Sighs
Oh well, at least this (newish) show I found is full of so much (dumb) humor, that my enjoyment of it can’t easily expressed without a video of my laughing over it. Mehbe I’ll do that.
I work overnights and sleep by myself in bed. Whenever I get in a disagreement with my wife and go to bed angry…
I sleep on my wife’s pillow just so I can drool all over it.
@FroodyFrog The dude’s a serial litigator, and known for this kind of shit. It’ll take a bit, but the courts should be able to handle this appropriately.
@FroodyFrog
Horrible injustice to the seller. There should be financial or legal penalties to the buyer for abusing the courts, and using the courts with intent to defraud.
@FroodyFrog I see you don’t want any friends but I live in NJ and take the train into the city often. If you ever want a friend, I’d be honored to meet a froody frog who may or may not be a script.
Please refer back to the last paragraph in this entry, along with this. (They’re not exactly what I was looking for, but I’m not in the mood right now of unblocking my profile, refreshing the tab of my profile, and then quickly blocking it again just to look for a post.)
When I make a post on Meh, I don’t necessarily read it before I hit send. That’s why, from time to time, you may see italicized edits in my posts. However, that only covers certain things, there’s no way for me to get it so that all my posts will be able to be understood.
After all…
(Still not a fan of how HQ is depicted in this series.)
However, I will try to make it so that my posts will be (somewhat) clearer.
So, before I delve into my day, I would like to share this video of a guy who is being sued for publishing his app on the Play Store:
Along with this video from Jeopardy (skip to 5:45):
I know I said on Sunday that I was thinking of posting a video of myself laughing at a show, but that’s not happening. The camera doesn’t like me (well, it’s either that, or I’m camera shy, which is odd, since pictures help lift my self esteem slightly).
Meanwhile, someone wanted to see a picture of someone, but because I never had a high school yearbook (as stated here), I couldn’t show them a picture.
Now, I haven’t said anything about my day, but I’m already almost 30 minutes late, so I’ll probably save that stuff for Wednesday’s entry. I have to admit though, that even though nobody reads these entries, they make me feel somewhat better about my day, so I guess I will continue doing this daily.
I saw a picture of my late grandmother today. I didn’t recognize her, and I should have. I still can’t link any visual memories of her. She’s been dead for 25 years. I’m 39. I feel callous and inhuman.
Ohhhh, I hope this thread gets good.
@MEHcus
It better. @mfladd’s guilty pleasure thread disappointed me.
@FroodyFrog
I own a $500 pro grade Kitchen Aid mixer for over 5 years and have used it once because I never, ever cook at home.
@conandlibrarian Almost all my small kitchen appliances were purchased second-hand so at least when they’re sitting around doing nothing, I’m not going “damn, I could’ve bought a dozen catshirts instead”.
@conandlibrarian i can send you a really good cookie recipe to put that sucker to some good use
i once told a patient to “get the fuck out of my ambulance!”
(drunk guy. tried to light up a cigarette in my rig while i wasn’t looking. we did end up transporting him after i politely told him he was a “fucking idiot” and “you try that shit again and i’ll throw you out WHILE we’re moving.”)
then there was the time i told a guy, “sorry, our medical director doesn’t allow me to give morphine to stupid people.”
(guy that shot himself in the shoulder while “cleaning my gun”. don’t worry… bullet went straight through. wound was even nicely cauterized so there was no blood.)
Ahhh… those were the days.
@carl669 That’s awesome.
“YOU WANT TO BE IN AN AMBULANCE? I’LL GIVE YOU A REASON TO BE IN AN AMBULANCE!”
@DaveInSoCal i can’t even begin to count how many people used the ambulance as a giant taxi service to the hospital.
@carl669 you mean the ambulance isn’t a complimentary shuttle?
@jbartus don’t make me come over there.
@carl669 will you drive me to work in your ambulance if you do?
I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
@jaremelz
I’m assuming you don’t have a video?
I’m sightly bored (which rarely happens) and in need of some entertainment.
(Although if you did, I’m assuming you’d deny it.)
@jaremelz
@carl669
@jaremelz Yeah, well I shot the sheriff. But I did not shoot the deputy. (He was actually pretty cool, but the sheriff was a real ass.)
@cinoclav That fucking sheriff, he knows what he did.
@jaremelz
@cinoclav @jaremelz
@cinoclav @jaremelz Just take the money and ruuuuun!
@FroodyFrog I think it’s on the wrong end based on some cops I’ve met…
j/k love you guys, thanks for all the tickets!
@mfladd @cinoclav
I’m reading this thread instead of working on my coding task
@harrison I’m sure you’re just waiting for it to compile, right?
@lichme @harrison
@harrison Get back to work arguing about soup or cereal something!
@narfcake The most recent debate was over what counts as a “salad.”
@harrison
According to @compunaut, ice cream can be a salad
@FroodyFrog @Harrison @narfcake Ice cream with toppings.
@compunaut @narfcake @harrison
Well yeah, although if one thinks about it, that’s a given.
@harrison me too!
WTF JerseyFrank!!!lol I’m messing around, I can’t stand watching or playing sports.
@Stallion Same here. My son is 7 and he’s excited about local sports teams, talks about famous basketball players, and asks me to play some sort of sport nearly every day. I die a little inside when I think of the day that he realizes he’s I’m actually trying and he’s actually better than me.
@JerseyFrank The fact that you are doing this for him, while inwardly hating it, is a sign that you are wonderful father. Suck it up, bitch
@JerseyFrank i took the approach of never patronizing my kids and letting them win - it sounds like you don’t have this morale dilemma to deal with at least.
it’s a good feeling when your kids realize, along with you, they are better than you and start helping you in return for your tireless parental efforts, so get that glove on and go take a baseball in the forehead for your kid
@JerseyFrank
If it were me…i’d just tell him that i am objectively horrible, just so he’s prepared, and other parents are a lot better, and not to get embarrassed or hold it against me.
Then, with conscience clear, no fears of exposure, go out and have a great time. You might even start to like it.
If you’re really that bad, instant comedy! If you’re better than you thought, or get better over time, great! Either way, all good.
My mother-in-law wants to babysit our daughter for a small amount of money (a couple household bills), but I’d rather pay somebody regular rate because I feel like she’d be safer.
@lichme In-laws and babysitting is such a freaking quagmire.
@Thumperchick @lichme, does this imply parents and baby sitting is also tricky, since one person’s parents are another person’s in-laws?
we never had that luxury of being close enough for grandparents babysitting, i’d slowly and carefully consider the cost/benefits of that relationship, or opportunity lost
Sometimes I drag my feet doing stuff on my computer in the morning so husband makes breakfast.
@lisaviolet I knew that was a tactic, my spouse is going to hate you for exposing this, but for now I’ve gotta get started on breakfast, ttyl
@DMlivezey
I have a man-crush on Mark Cuban.
@hallmike who doesn’t?
@mfladd Me, I prefer Channing Tatum and Joe Manganiello
@mfladd @hallmike I used to kind of like Cuban (not at the man-crush level), until he volunteered to be HRC’s VP. And that, on multiple levels, was bad enough.
Then he said he’d veep for the Drumpfster too.
Fuck you, Mark Cuban. You’re not helping.
@mfladd @hallmike Don’t get me wrong. If he meant it as a joke, I’d be laughing. I don’t think he did. He takes both himself and those guys that seriously.
@mfladd @lichme @hallmike
My longstanding mancrush.
@hallmike The ultimate man-crush is Jason Statham. I only wish I could fight like him.
I mean, his hand is a freakin’ gun!
@mfladd I don’t have a man-crush on anyone mentioned here…
@mikibell that’s because you are not a man.
@lichme Channing’s mine.
My boys are teenagers. I think I’m ready for them to be gone at college. Am I evil? #WorstDadEver
@compunaut it’s just the normal noises
@compunaut
Normal reaction.
One friend told me “i think they’re so helpless at birth and later on so cute and creative and fresh, to draw you in, and get you so attached, addicted, devoted, so that when they are teenagers and are despicable or obnoxious or exhausting or dislikeable for years at a time, you still have to keep trying. You already put in all those years, and you hear tales that some of them might become human someday.”
I bought a pricey holding fixture for working on differentials more than 10 years ago; its still sitting on a shelf and the target diff is in a bucket under a workbench.
I pulled the Challenger into the garage in 1995, the last time it moved under its own power. Its still sitting there, somewhat more disassembled, but with no major work done on it (save buying parts) in close to 20 years. It was/is my first car. It deserves better. I have excuses, some valid, others not.
@duodec The Quadracer needs some aluminum welding on the swingarm, and then the rear end needs to be reassembled.
The XR600 needs minor maintenance, and starting up.
The FJ1200 needs a battery, a serious cleaning, and seat repair, and minor maintenance.
For the last 8 years!
I have more fabric in my house that Joann’s has in it store… I haven’t made much in the last year… I DID finish a quilt though – one UFO done… (un-finished object)
@mikibell Heh, I have plastic totes, cardboard boxes and plastic bags full of yarn, going back 25 years; I have completed (let’s see… counting… hmm) maybe five crochet projects in that time. Three of them are caps based on the same pattern (two of which I wear pretty much every day–it’s a super-cute design). Oh wait, some of that yarn is almost 30 years old from when I was going to tablet weave all the time. Didn’t happen. Still kept on buying weaving tablets, and books about tablet weaving (not that there are so many, but, you know, how many does one person need? 4? then I’m good).
Still, I envy you your fabric. Although I don’t sew. Though I have two sewing machines. Anyway, what kind of quilt?
@mossygreen watch out or someone will send you an American Girl Sew and Stuff bear kit!
@mikibell If I knew you were into crafts I would have sent you a few of the storage tubs of yarn the wife has piled up in what used to be my man cave. It’s not too late; I still owe you a package with the letter I forgot to include in your Fuku.
@mikibell Did ya see the special deal over on the silhouette website? A mint and a curio for $199, a savings of around $180.
I’m running out of room in my storage area, my darling husband volunteered me to make birthday cards for his great niece and nephew. Not for us to send, mind you, but for us to give to his mom so she could send them. “Because you like doing this so much…”
So, Joann’s (God love them) had a half price sale on their website with three dollar shipping and I bought 14 stacks of cardstock. Because I might need one or two of them for the cards. That I’m making for his mother. Because I like doing this stuff so much.
@mossygreen mostly baby quilts… I have made a few of them. I made 2 full size quilts with pirate themes for a friend to give as a gift. Then I made a 19’x12’ (not a typo) to cover stained glass windows during my children’s play to help control the lighting.
I have an embroidery sewing machine ( or 2) and I have embroidered lots of things,mostly for my scouts. My mom drafted me for lots of stuff for her classroom before she retired. I also made boatloads of costumes for my childens’ school play. Life has been crazy lately, so my stash of fabric sits ignored
@Mehrocco_Mole oh…no worries, no more yarn! I failed at knitting. I have a few ufos with crocheting. I started a blanket for my son when he was born … More than 11 years ago. It is 1/2 way done
maybe by the time he gets married I will have it finished.
@lisaviolet oh yes… I saw the sale, but I splurged on a mint when it was on a deal @ amazon. I should have read up on it more though. I wanted it for our touch a truck, but it uses ink that I am not sure will wear well on kids hands
and the resupplies are expensive!
I hit a joanns sale with 50% off on bulk rolls of silhouette vinyl…huge rolls… With 3 dollar shipping
all I have used it for so far is lettering for signs. I just cut out about 3 rolls worth of letters continuously…it was sweet!
Hmmmm You just might NEED some of that paper for the cards
Hopefully, I will get to play with my hobbies again soon. Our project @ work is stabilizing…
@mikibell I have another stamp maker that I’ve made quite a few stamps with.
http://journal.lisaviolet.com/lv/day/2015/05/27
I got it at dickblick.com. They have some pretty nice deals, spend x amount of money, get x percentage discount, plus free shipping on stuff over x amount. I check there every once in a while. I’ve also found the negative paper at Walmart online.
Here are some samples.
http://journal.lisaviolet.com/lv/article/paperwork_be_damned
I don’t think I’ll use the Mint for his stuff, but I’d like to have one to play with. I like new toys.
@lisaviolet hmmmmm interested in making stamps for a touch a truck?? There is a moratorium on toy buying until hubby is back on his feet…that stamp maker looks awesome. Dick Blicks is a dangerous place. I will have to arm wrestle the hubby for coupons!
@mikibell Yeah, it is dangerous! I’ve got so many of those gel packs for the stamps!
Hubby went to a local plastic place and bought some acrylic remnants for the stamp backing (he cuts them to size in his shop) and I use Beacon’s 3 in 1 to attach them, then use an empty wooden thread spool for the handle.
The gel is messy and stinky, but the stamps turn out nicely and in short time.
What is touch a truck? Maybe I could help.
@lisaviolet https://meh.com/forum/topics/if-you-are-in-the-northeast-for-a-good-time
We do a fundraiser for our BSA troop and pack … it helps send kids to camp… This year we were able to pay 1/2 of camp for each boy who is going to overnight camp.
Hmmmm the ideas… we have a marble shop down the street that is always selling pieces/parts… and a cabinet store… I have a router/band saw/ etc at my disposal. Maybe I will put the stamper on my Christmas list.
@mikibell What a wonderful charity!
The stamps are fun. Smelly, stinky fun. lol
@lisaviolet @mikibell
Isn’t that the best kind of fun? Just ask any kid.
@mossygreen
Here the last baby quilt I made… it was one of the first I started …
I made these headbands, but it is not as cute as @puppycat wore with the same outfit – not sure where @thumperchick got her headband
@mikibell oh, how beautiful!! I got @PuppyCat’s headband at Target.
@mossygreen Here is the gigantic quilt I made! Each square is ~12"x12"…
@Thumperchick Yours was much nicer… I should have gone big with the flowers
@mikibell That is amazing. I admit, at first I thought, “why not garbage bags to cover the windows? Or shower curtains?” Seeing it, yeah; much nicer, more permanent and respectful. It should last through generations of plays.
@mossygreen it was cool… all the white squares have the kids’ names embroidered on them and the color squares were of their own creation… made it a bit difficult when they glued seashells to the margin, but we made it work
We made smaller quilts for the other windows… it is a nice tradition.
Not unlike the OP, I’m afraid my kids will either grow up being super into sports like their mother was and end up completely unrelatable to me, or super big nerds like I was and make me cringe and yell “shut up Junior, you’re not Sonic the Hedgehog and quit ordering dumbass crap from Thinkgeek. Go make an IRL friend for goodness sake.”
@Moose
That last bit is strange for 2 reasons.
I take hot bubble baths, and enjoy them immensely.
@chacham I wish I’d known that before I sent you stuff. Probably just as well as far as you’re concerned…
@mossygreen There’s no reason we can’t do it again.
I buy all these garbage bags just to throw them away.
@ACraigL I buy all these garbage bags and keep the garbage neatly stored in boxes.
I earned eight Pokemon gym badges in my mid forties.
@sammydog01
Which game? (There’s a reason I’m asking)
@FroodyFrog I think it was Platinum.
Last Friday, I thought I had to fart and sharted in my pants. It was only a little bit, but it happened. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not ashamed either
@capguncowboy
Quite often after everyone else has gone to bed my border collie friend and I will sit on the back porch and polish off an entire quart of haagen-dazs together.
@Steve7654 Border Collie Friend obviates need for shame.
I don’t wear catshirts every day, even once I get home and change.
Some shirts I’ll also wear a lot more than others; I’ve worn this over 20 times since I bought it just over 5 months ago.
http://shirt.woot.com/offers/toasty-6
@narfcake cute shirt.
@narfcake There’s a hoody??? I’m buying it for my perpetually freezing wife!
Aww, only the t-shirt is available.
@blaineg Alas, that was debut day only. Do post in the discussion thread there asking for it; it’ll clue them in the product planning.
Forgive me Irk, for I have sinned… I’ve visited Woot looking for Crap over 100 Times this week. Even since they announced that Crap would be home… My F5 key wants me to die.
Now if you want something Juicy… I’ve always wanted to pay D&D but never found someone to teach me…
@sohmageek *play?
I love D&D but there’s no way I’d have time to play anymore (even if I could find a decent local campaign). Playing Baldur’s Gate on the 'puter is a pretty reasonable facsimile of gameplay, though a sucky social experience compared to the real thing
@sohmageek you should join us in #deals.woot chat… On Monday, someone posted a BOC link there and I got one, even though I wasn’t even logged into woot at the time. Today, I posted two links for crap there and at least one person got one (about five minutes after I posted it).
(I know… but once an addict, always an addict and even after about 80 of them, I’ve never had one that wasn’t worth at least what I spent to get it and two have been worth well over $150.)
@baqui63 my best crap had an awesome AirPlay compatible speaker dock! And a 4 tb usb 3.0 harddrive(new not refurb) I think retail on the box was $450.
I volunteer at two tech schools and help run their auto tech programs, helping to train kids for careers as auto mechanics. To enter this profession and do well they will need to go on and get a $50,000 2 year degree for an entry level job paying around $16/hr.
However I feel vaguely guilty because if I was their age I would not enter this field myself. It is high stress, requires continuous ongoing training to keep your skills current, investing many thousands of dollars in tools, yet you can earn more driving a truck or a forklift in a warehouse. My wife is a nurse and earns more than twice what I do with a similar level of education.
@Steve7654 The fact that you volunteer your time for these kids deserves kudos.
@Steve7654 Can you tell me more about this 2-yr $50k degree? That seems really expensive, but I have nothing to compare it against.
@Steve7654 Ive been in the collision repair industry for 17 years and was taught from scratch and thrown to the wolves. I am now an ASE master and ICAR Platinum individual. It got me nothing but a pat on the back and a certification (OK, I learned stuff too). I pity the poor kids that try the automobile repair industry. It is eaten up by the insurance companies lack of wanting or knowing how things need to be fixed and the increasingly difficult procedures involved to make a quality repair. They expect the technicians to know everything and have all the right tools but dont want to pay sh!t. Funny how they charge by the time it takes (which the insurance companies set), not the difficulty or procedures that must be taken.
I currently fucking hate my job (there I said it).
@mfladd
@mfladd
I know it’s not that easy. Keep your chin up, my friend…
@mfladd I’m sorry man. Pays the bills though right? How many years left till retirement? Or maybe switch fields? I know… We’ve talked. Btw. Email me damnit!
@mfladd @sohmageek I pushed cameras around a studio at the age of 14 and directed newscasts while in high school. I was a Naval Aircrewman on Navy minesweeping helicopters (HM-12, HM-14, HM-16, HM-15 [Plank Owner]; RH53D & MH53E). I sold cars, cash registers, and Broadcast equipment. I went back into television production (stupid, stupid…). I worked a year in a convenience store and part time in a gas station. I recently retired from the financial game.
I am now so bored I’m considering getting a job just for something to do. Retirement isn’t all RVing and golf. And living is more than breathing. Do not be afraid to switch fields and try something new.
A lot of people I interact with daily make me want to just go to their house in the middle of the night and either bite their left ear off, or stick a pen in their eye.
And no, I’m not kidding.
@cinoclav @hallmike - and you wonder why I don’t give up the “exactly” where I live location here.
@mfladd
Generally, I’m fine. And by interacting with certain people here, I’ve been learning patience with people.
(Oh, and you’re safe. I have nothing against you.)
@FroodyFrog “mostly”? I “mostly” didn’t want to stick a pen in your eye - reassuring.
Hey, you edited “mostly”, which scares me more since you know, that I know, you are coming for me.
You know what your next post should be, right?
@mfladd
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m sweet and innocent.
@mfladd
What should it be?
@FroodyFrog nevermind, you were close.
@mfladd
Slightly confused.
@FroodyFrog now you know how I feel.
@mfladd
Like eating a bucket of Buffalo wings?
On that note, I have a theory for why one doesn’t see many Buffalos with wings.
Just like how over time giraffes adapted to their environments to be able to reach leaves, the Buffalo realized that in order to survive, it can’t have wings.
Now, considering that the Buffalo wouldn’t be able to stay up long in the air anyways, the wings were pretty much useless.
I say “were”, because this adaptation process a long time ago.
As was discovered last night, I’m not good with telling time, so X >2 weeks, where X represents how long this process has been taking place.
I’ll explain where the Buffalo wings which people eat come from a different time based on what I wrote.
@FroodyFrog
But I like it for some reason.
@FroodyFrog at first I thought you were talking about the burning sensation when you eat buffalo wings and wipe your eyes. Or worse then go to the bathroom without washing your hands thoroughly enough first. Damn that burns.
@sohmageek
That also burns.
I have a similar sensation when eating hot peppers and i touch my eyes an hour later.
@sohmageek How can you tell a chemist? He washes his hands BEFORE he uses the loo.
@mfladd
Due to a conflict of interests, all I can say is that Buffalo wings nowadays are either artificial wings made in a lab, or that they’re from Buffalos which either failed to adapt to environment, or are old.
@FroodyFrog
@mfladd
So… nothing’s changed in the latest 2 days.
@FroodyFrog Well other than @mfladd picked a young girl to show us how he feels… well at least she has clothing on this time…
@sohmageek hahahaha
NSFW work gif coming in 3-2-1…just kidding.
@FroodyFrog
I could have sworn i saw a buffalo on the Victoria’s Secret runway.
I really don’t like our damn useless cat.
Our dogs really don’t like our damn useless cat.
Damn that cat.
@daveinwarsh
@daveinwarsh cats are assholes.
@duodec @daveinwarsh
And dogs aren’t?
@duodec
@daveinwarsh
http://shirt.woot.com/offers/how-to-be-a-cat-1
@FroodyFrog
http://shirt.woot.com/offers/a-horrible-accident
@FroodyFrog Some dogs channel cats. Or are made into assholes by bad owners. Its not a natural result of their character and instincts like it is with cats.
There are good cats too; they channel dogs. Or they are the subject of fortuitous and patient owners, or perhaps they are mutants.
@mfladd It makes me sad to see so much potential… the cute, the fun, the fuzzy, the playful… and know that in the vast majority of cases it will end up being an asshole. Kittens are wonderful, but they’re like a lottery ticket; not too many of them turn out to be winners. Oh well…
@duodec Did you ever consider you might be you and not them?
I feel a little guilty every time @mfladd and I are talking about the Patriots here. I just want you to know that I recently realized how sad it must be to be from a place whose collective sports teams go decades between title wins instead of a year or two.
@jbartus I’m a Lions fan. The last time they won the national championship was Superbowl -1. That was a year before Superbowl 1 for those of you keeping score. What teams have NEVER played in a Superbowl? (hint: there are 4)
@Mehrocco_Mole I feel for you, I truly do. If you come to Boston I’ll do my best to arrange for you to see a trophy.
@jbartus Go Hawks.
@daveinwarsh we’ll see you in November.
It’ll probably go something like this, but even better: http://espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=400749027
@jbartus I just hope we can keep a few guys healthy this year and we can rebuild out O line. However the game goes, it’s always a great game when we play the Pats. Can’t wait for FOOTBALL season…
@daveinwarsh the good news is Brady’s gonna get an extra 4 weeks without risk of being injured this year because Goodell’s an asshat so the chance of you guys facing Brady at full steam is greatly increased.
@jbartus
In what should be sports paradise, we have too many loser professional franchises. Even at the so-called “college level.”
Gotten used to it. Still enjoy my family fantasy league. Tho last year ESPN’s servers crapped out repeatedly during the draft, and we had to get the “really fair” admin to do random fixes, and my team sux still.
This isn’t so much a secret, as I can’t afford to share any for the time being for “reasons”, but I really feel bad for the few NY Mets fans who exist.
As a billboard once put it:
@FroodyFrog what reasons?
Poor Mets
@jbartus
Here are a couple:
Since there is some doubt to my gender, I don’t wanna make the answer obvious.
I don’t want to scare people off.
@FroodyFrog you could never scare me off!
Also, any doubts I have about your gender are the product of you constantly alluding to doubts about your gender.
@jbartus
Pffft.
Talking like a novice.
@FroodyFrog Wut?
@jbartus @froodyfrog I say female. shemale? fehmale? I am so fucking confused. Froody just tell us.
@mfladd you forgot to tag @FroodyFrog
@mfladd
@jaremelz @mfladd @jbartus
It’s so much easier for me to deal with people when it comes to certain things if they’re confused. (However, I refuse to work as tech support because like I said, I get tempted to stab eyes/ bite ears, and also because I love messing with tech support in certain ways)
@FroodyFrog sadist!
@jbartus
Which part?
@FroodyFrog various
@FroodyFrog
@readnj your transgressions will be forgiven in light of the fact that at least you’re not a Yankees fan.
@jbartus
I was a Yankees fan once, cause older bro sucked me into it. Was a wee one at the time, and Mantle/Maris were active. Absolution?
@f00l that depends… who do you cheer for now?
@jbartus
I cheer for the Rangers.
I will accept your pity.
Also have a soft spot for the Cubs.
@f00l you get a pass I guess… provided if you’re ever in NYC you promise to buy a Yankee’s cap and burn it in Times Square.
@jbartus
Not gonna burn that cap in Times Sq, sorry. Even tho i dont root for them and am happy enuf when a trad rival trounces them, if i got a (free) Yankees cap, would wear it once in a while in honor of the 60’s teams.
And Bobby Brown, MD, Yankees third baseman, American League President, cardiologist, and former traveling roommate of Yogi Berra, was a great friend and tennis partner of my Dad’s, and always nice to me. I have a Berra story, see below.
And i greatly enjoyed being at the World Series 1978, in person, even on crutches (destroyed knee), watching the awesome Bucky Dent and Reggie Jackson and enjoying watching the New York fans be themselves (they are no worse than Bostonians and many other northeastern US sports fans.)
So am not a Yankees fan, but am happy enuf to had been one while younger than age 10, and to have enjoyed those in person games later as a temp NYker. It’s fine to hate overblown NY stuff and NY attitudes, esp if you are pulling for a rival. But NYC is fucking-awe-fucking-some, and sometimes the teams are cool now and then too.
…
So, Yogi Berra: from Bobby Brown’s wikipedia entry: (note than Dr Brown was in medical school while he played for the Yankees)
“A famous apocryphal story that has made the rounds for years in baseball circles concerns the time when Brown’s road roommate was star Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, who had little formal education. The two were reading in their hotel room one night—Berra a comic book and Brown his copy of Boyd’s Pathology. Berra came to the end of his comic, tossed it aside, and asked Brown, “So, how is yours turning out?””
According to my Dad, this is true, he heard Dr. Brown tell this story, more colorfully. Dad is gone now. Dr Brown is still living, but i last saw him when i was still a schoolkid, i think. An incredible guy.
@f00l I have to disagree. I can’t stand Yankees fans, in my experience there’s a large element, granted it can be blamed on the city of origin perhaps but still, who tend to be a lot less civil than the worst Boston fan I’ve even seen. For example, my mom went to a Sox-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium in her younger years, she actually took off her Sox hat in fear for her life, people were being real nasty and threatening to break beer bottles over people’s heads. I’m not gonna go so far as to say that such a thing never happened at Fenway because I can’t prove it, but I’d bet it happened less. (if there were any realistic way to come up with said statistic)
Funny story about Dr. Brown though, what was his response?
@jbartus
Re Yankees fans: perhaps they are awful sometimes. I never saw it, but i lived in NY and favored the Yankees over the Dodgers. That series held the only games i attended.
I never heard Dr Brown’s response to Berra. By the time my Dad heard that story, Dr Brown had prob told it thousands of times, and likely had a standup’s timing. And Berra…he had that savvy…his “mis-statements” are genius. Perhaps, in spite of the apparent differences between the dropout and the Stanford educated, revered cardiologist, they were quite well matched as roommates.
I shot a chipmunk with an airsoft gun because the little bastard woke me up with non-stop barking. Blamed the cats for killing it. I felt terrible afterwords… But now I can sleep in peace! Forgive me Irk for I have sinned!
@lilsrm123 Revenge is a dish best served cold.
You are in my sights, bitch
@mfladd
This is why I really like chipmunks. Make them made, and they’ll get revenge.
@FroodyFrog Some morning there will be chipmunks in masses all barking at once. I would have to surrender…
@lilsrm123
Well yeah. You won’t have a choice.
@mfladd
The internet has a lot of cool pictures of chipmunks with weapons. Hee Hee
@FroodyFrog you never saw the squirrel wars thread?
https://meh.com/forum/topics/squirrel-wars
@mfladd
Of course I have.
Got into trouble numerous times whenever I read it.
I’m talking about chipmunks though.
@lilsrm123 I’d kill a man or a dog before I kill a chipmunk. My cat disagrees with me, but so far the chipmunks are thankfully giving him a run for his money.
Get him into computers early on. If he is busy coding, or playing video games, you won’t have to play catch with him. Plus programming is one of the best paying and highest demand professions in the world, especially America.
@DVDBZN shh, stop telling people that, they’ll all raise their kids to be programmers and we’ll be out of work!
@jbartus Exactly.
@DVDBZN raise your kids to be testers. someone’s gotta keep these damn programmers in check.
@carl669 Hah! I used to oversee programming contracts. Programmers wrote the code, then part of my job was to beta test the crap put of it in an effort to make it “idiot proof.” Sadly, idiots are much more persistent and creative than either programmers or systems analysts can imagine. Kids are much better off concentrating on computer security. Crackers can be equally persistent and imaginative, but at least their thinking is logical. And computer security specialists will never be without work.
@rockblossom @carl669
On a related note, there’s this guy who goes by the username RootJunky who is known in the Android hacking/ ROMing community/communities.
Anyways, every month, he releases a video showing creative ways to show how to bypass Android Factory Reset protection. It’s monthly, because every month Google releases monthly security patches (mostly for Nexus, as the other devices only get them as part of regular updates), and they close FRP exploits.
@FroodyFrog And that’s why I still have my old flip phone with no camera, no internet, no GPS, and little memory. If someone steals my phone they will get some free airtime (it’s a prepaid), a couple of emergency numbers, maybe the numbers of my last couple of calls that I haven’t gotten around to erasing, and nothing else. Every time I’m on the verge of getting a smart phone, another story like your pops up. I’m glad I’m retired and can live without a mini-'puter in my pocket. To those still working, being without a smart phone is not really an option, and security will remain just one step ahead of the hackers (if we are lucky.)
@rockblossom Don’t have to be retired to live without a smart phone. It’s really not that hard
@compunaut Depends on the job. Around here, almost anyone whose job takes them away from an office (telephone company, electric company, surveyors, salespeople, etc. have company phones issued to them for work. They have to be able to use GPS navigation, process payments, fill in forms - so smart phones are necessary unless they want to carry a laptop or tablet.
@rockblossom I can certainly see your point. But I believe there are far more jobs where workers bring/use their personal devices when there is little justification to do so.
@rockblossom
"They make things that are idiot-proof, but then they make dumber idiots." Nothing is ever idiot proof.
@compunaut
Little justification? Since when are “wasting time” and “texting friends” and “gaming” and “fucking around” and “checking facebook” and “watching porn” not justifications?
@f00l All fine w/ me but @rockblossom claimed that most jobs require smart phones. I was simply asserting that they were mostly optional
@compunaut
Not optional if retaining your sociopath soul (or what’s left of it) or screwing with The Man, or proving your immaturity is part of your bucket list.
I’ve served on and been indicted by a federal grand jury.
(Not the same one)
@Pavlov
That would have been one hell of a neat trick.
@jbartus That could be a lot easier than you might imagine.
@jbartus That would have been one hell of a week!
I’m skipping my daughter’s annual gymnastics show so that I can go to a team building event with colleagues after work. We’re going to a baseball game, where I will bring the aforementioned glove and hope that no foul balls come remotely close.
@JerseyFrank Is it major league? Make sure to link a video of you diving out of the way of a foul ball so we can laugh.
After years of trying, I still don’t understand how to make sense of anything on twitter.
@JerseyFrank If it’s actually something you want to know, I can help you
@dashcloud I dont think I do. The issue is that i cant always seem to make chronological sense of a disjointed conversation. There’s no threading.
@JerseyFrank
@dashcloud
I also want to know how to “read twitter” (as opposed to reading about twitter) and have it be worth my time.
Ok, admit George Takei is always worth my time.
@f00l @JerseyFrank when they respond to someone there is a link at the bottom to ‘View Conversation’. Retweets are just people who saw something they liked on someone else’s twitter and shared it with the people who follow (subscribe to) them. Otherwise tweets are just short form messages, you probably want to develop your abbreviation interpretation skills.
@JerseyFrank On Twitter.com (and presumably the official Twitter client on your platform), tweets should be connected by blue lines, providing some sort of chronology.
Also, Twitter.com (the web client) probably has Interesting mode set instead of Chronological mode, which re-orders your timeline to show you the things Twitter thinks you’ll like the most from the last time you visited. A portion of Twitter’s users thoroughly hate this change because it changes how people view Twitter.
There’s some other things you should know (with the caveat that these will be no longer present in the near future): Using @name just sends the tweet to the person you named, and other people see it in your feed if they follow the other person (or they look at your tweets & replies). If you wanted the tweet to be sent to everyone, put something before the @name - usually a period is used. This way Twitter thinks it’s not a reply and adds it to your feed.
@f00l What you get out of Twitter is all about who you follow and to an extent who those people follow (you’ll see retweets and if you follow some of the people they follow, you’ll see their replies as well). If you follow people who are boring, spiteful, or always posting garbage, that’s what your feed will contain, and you’ll feel it’s a waste of time.
Twitter tries to suggest people it thinks you’ll want to follow based on who you’ve recently followed, and you can also check people you like to see who they follow and add those folks.
Celebrities aren’t always a bad idea, but the bigger deal they are, a lot more chance for crap.
There are also Lists, which let you make a custom timeline separate from your main one that you can share with other people (or keep private). This can be a good way to find people around a topic to follow.
Even though I issues with society as a whole, and people bug me (Please don’t put any frog/fly/both jokes here), there are a few people (outside of my family), whom I genuinely care greatly about.
@FroodyFrog
@mfladd
@FroodyFrog
@f00l
RAINBOW DASH!!!
Sometimes I wish other people weren’t so goddamned longwinded. Seriously. Shut the fuck up already.
@joelmw It looks like the first 5 or 6 paragraphs of your reply somehow got deleted, leaving just the tl;dr part. Maybe you should contact support about the glitch.
@rockblossom
@joelmw
Longwinded…Guilty!
@joelmw is it bad that I really really really want to star your post a second time?
@jbartus Of course not.
A few years back I had a coronary event. Three days later the wife was diagnosed with cancer. I still think she purposely timed it to steal any sympathy I was getting.
@Mehrocco_Mole
Did you steal the sympathy back?
I fuck up a lot. Like all the time. People know, and mostly still put up with me.
@f00l I’ll put up with you so long as you keep starring virtually every post I make.
@f00l To fuck up is human. Admitting it is super-human
@fjp999
@jbartus
Super-Fuckup-Alleged-Human here, then.
@f00l that’s the ticket, keep up the good work!
@jbartus i’m crushed, i thought @f00l only liked my posts, oh wait - over 33K stars given, how foolish
@DMlivezey
Incredibly f00lish.
I star posts i like, which means lots of posts.
Sometimes i dont like posts. Sometimes they get starred anyway.
I didn’t star the Ennui thread because, ya know, lacked the energy.
https://meh.com/forum/topics/ennui
@f00l at first i didn’t see the “up” in your post
@mehybe
Well, perhaps that other thing too. Ya never know, and i ain’t tellin’.
Also this week I drove 40 miles out of my direct route just to have my first Buc-ees visit.
BTW…worth it as destination, incredible piece of American culture. Sometimes enormous wondrous too-much-of-fast-culture-everything-plus-kitsch is just right.
Europe, eat your heart out. Eiffel, schmeiffel: elegance, schmelegance! The Old World can’t have Buc-ees, they don’t even understand duallys and suburbans.
Description of Buc-ees: no words would suffice. For when Too Much Ain’t Enuf.
@f00l what is Buc-ees?
@jbartus The most awesome fucking convenience store God ever made, in Texas. Road-trip diversion heaven.
https://www.buc-ees.com
They’ve got a bit of a cult following, like QT has in several parts of the country, or Sheetz on the right coast.
*Right coast - sorry. @tHumperChick - FTFM?
Buc-ees has really great restrooms . . .
@Pavlov do you suppose I could buy ice there?
@f00l Okay. I suppose you saw the stories about the bathrooms and just had to go there.
@rockblossom
wink
@jbartus
Re: Buc-ees…
The bathrooms live up to the hype. You can sample the BBQ and jerky and 24 fudge flavors, all made by the company. Reasonably large sandwich/taco/burrito menu. The place is almost as big as a Walmart Supercenter. Enormous toy dept. Kids everywhere. Household stuff, including quality Lodge skillets. Clothes. College stuff. Deer feed and feeders. Game cameras. Hunting/fishing gear. (No firearms, head to Walmart if it’s 3am and you need one). Full size outdoor grills and smokers, you brought a pickup, didn’t you?
So, if you are in Texas…Just Go.
(heh, heh, both meanings.)
After all, you’re already within 620 miles of the closest one.
@f00l sadly I have no idea when I’ll be in Texas next… however they are apparently expanding East (Louisiana?) so perhaps I’ll eventually run into them along the I-95 corridor.
@f00l I can only take so much kitsch, especially TX kitsch
But I’m sure the family will appreciate the restrooms - they’re potty snobs
@compunaut
Unless you happen to live next door to one, Buc-ees is an occasional traveling pleasure.
The kitsch is part of the fun. Like a roadside carnival. Goddness sakes, don’t buy it! Just enjoy the ambiance.
@f00l So they are like a TX twisted Walmart? And apparently there is on one 10 just outside of Houston (I am headed there in July and will be at the medical center area, coming in on 10 from the east side of town)… so is it worth a detour after a 400 mile + drive?
@Kidsandliz
Buc-ees is like if Target or Walmart were kinda squeezed into road-stop heaven. Yes completely worth the detour. For some people, Buc-ees is the destination. Just do it, at least once.
All the bbq and jerky and 20+ flavors of fudge is made by the company, and you can sample any of it.
There was a night in 1986 when I didn’t Wang Chung.
@parodymandotcom you monster! the directive clearly stated “Everybody Wang Chung tonight”
@carl669
So Fuck Wang Chung
How much Chang would Connie Chung Wang if Connie Chung could Wang Chung?
@hallmike
@mfladd is that Bill Gates?
@parodymandotcom
There was a night in Honk Kong
When i did not even Wang Chung!
I must truly confess
I was in such a mess,
If caught, i would have surely been hung!
@jbartus yep.
Even though a considerable amount of time has passed since I graduated High School, I’m still bitter that we weren’t allowed to have a yearbook.
@FroodyFrog
WTF was wrong w your school?
Even if someone hates everything about their school, they might want to remember it. Or feel superior about not buying one. Or have a garage sale someday. Or look at it with pleasure. Or bemoan it’s loss. Not even mentioning the people who didnt hate every single thing at school.
TPTB at your school were asshats.
@f00l
Oh, my class loved the school. Sadly the feeling wasn’t necessarily mutual.
Now, keep in mind that I went to a private single gender school and my class/grade had 18 people in it.
@FroodyFrog 18 people… even more reason not having a yearbook is absurd.
@FroodyFrog Froody, your story gets better and better for inquiring minds. But sorry you didn’t have a yearbook - not that I cared a lick about mine.
@mfladd what if Froody isn’t a real person? What if we’re all pawns in some movie studio’s testing of character backstory ideas on us to see what works and doesn’t work?
Joke’s on them, we’re all too strange for them to get viable data anyhow.
@mfladd
There’s a lot of stuff about me which I am willing to share on this confession thread, but there’s a lot of stuff which will literally go to the grave with me.
@jbartus
Funny you should say that. I actually once posed the possibility that I am just some script which can learn and interact. Why do you think it took 444 days from the time I became a Meh-mber to actually participating in the forums?
@FroodyFrog
Everyone has horrible or very private secrets, their own and others’ secrets. Which is not to say that mine make me equivalent to Mother Teresa or Hitler.
It’s a universal that we have them, but what they are and what they mean to us is individual. Or so my wee brain believes.
@FroodyFrog reasons.
@f00l
Well put.
@jbartus
Scully/Mulder are on it!
@mfladd
Which inquiring minds btw? (And if there are any particular questions about me, I’d be more than willing to think about answering them.)
@FroodyFrog
@FroodyFrog
Ok, Q: Hobbies? Or some of them? (Besides Meh.)
@f00l
When not on Meh or dealing with work, I can generally be found doing one of the following:
@FroodyFrog Favorite video games? PC, Consoles, Mobile game preferences?
@FroodyFrog got Steam?
@compunaut
No time for Home consoles, though I play a nice amount of handheld console games.
I’m a fan of RTS, RPG, and Sim games (on handheld consoles and my laptop.)
I have also had a fascination with some JRPGs.
Currently I don’t really have any exciting games on my N5, though I do have a GBA emulator on it, so…
@jbartus
No, though I have someone who for the last year has been trying to persuade me to get it.
@FroodyFrog
Reading/lit not on that list?
Ack! Generational thing i guess. Younger folks spend so much time in the human-generated binary universe…
Is this a “get off my lawn” moment for me? Hope not entirely so.
@f00l
You asked for hobbies, reading to me is more than a pastime.
I actually take a bit of offense at the notion that you think I spend so much time in the binary universe. However, you didn’t know the following, so I’ll forgive you:
I have a closet full of books. (though I’m running out of room in it.)
@FroodyFrog get Steam!
Got a Kindle?
@jbartus
No, (and I don’t liked forked versions of Android).
Currently rocking a Nexus 7 2013 though (got a great deal on it, as I paid a little over $100 for the 16Gb version, and the seller sent me a 32Gb one).
@FroodyFrog Nintendo, or another handheld?
I love RPGs (esp. Baldur’s Gate; probably a result of my D&D time back in HS), though I spend more time collecting them than playing (Thanks, GOG!)
@mfladd @f00l @jbartus
With regards to my not having a yearbook, and how it makes me bitter;
I’m not bitter per se over the fact that I don’t have one to look at, I wouldn’t look at it anyways.
It’s the fact that this is one thing which can never be fixed.
No matter what happens, I’ll always think about how the only physical high school memorabilia which most people have, or is usually the case, had, I’ll never get to experience the pleasure (or displeasure) of having.
@FroodyFrog I said a Kindle, not that abominable Kindle Fire.
Those 2013 Nexus 7s are great, I own two.
@compunaut
I own Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition from the Play Store (got it on sale). Never had a chance to play it yet though. Probably later this Summer.
@FroodyFrog
Re: Hobbies Q…this is an internet forum, my habit is not normally to use words like “hobby” in a tightly defined way, and to hope others wont read them that way.
Ergo: Hobby (in this context, by my intention): what you do for pleasure, relaxation, growth, and the like, that is personal to you, not required by outside pressures, whether intensely and personally meaningful or more of a throwaway pleasure or time-passer. You did not read the word that way…i did. No worries here. I hope no resentment.
Re yearbook bitterness: do you have it because you aren’t entirely past certain losses (it’s cool), or because on principle? Or both? Or other?
@f00l
On principle.
@FroodyFrog
Re Kindle (the e-reader, not the tablet)
These are damned nice devices, and Amazon puts fuckloads of books on sale, sometimes very decent ones. The newer paperwhite ones are v nice, esp the screens, tho i have a thing for the touch and even older ones w audio capacities. The kindle/nook/e-reader apps (android, ios) are also nice.
I also have too many books. I have started selling/giving away many books and getting e-versions instead, not just from Amazon. My physical collection is 2k plus and needs to come down in size, for space reasons (several times in my life i have given away thousands of books, when moving…(no i didnt read them all, but i want to, they beckon)).
My e-book library is way past 10k and growing. I stock up on interesting cheap/sale books, and buy outright what i really care for or want short-term. The library does not cause probs due to size. I share w someone who keeps a ripped calibre library version, updated monthly more or less.
For physical books, i am paring down to the vintage stuff, the beautiful stuff, and what i love. Perhaps i can get it to fit reasonably in real physical space someday.
Oh, btw, the Kindle Fire i own (gift) is useful. When someone wants to use a tablet (yeah, sometimes i answer the damned door), they get the Fire.
@f00l
I’m not good with e-readers.
As I once said, several book series lost my interest because I read them digitally and didn’t have the psychical books.
@compunaut
I own numerous handhelds.
While games licensed by Nintendo have their charm, they can’t reach the same level of entertainment and free mobility offered by, say, Sony.
@FroodyFrog I want to unstar a post that I haven’t starred to remove a star from it because of you
Nintendo’s handhelds are the best handhelds in the whole world, you keep your mobile PS2s
@jbartus
Never owned a PS2
I’m not talking about the console’s, I’m talking about the games.
Nintendo has certain limits when it comes to games on their consoles, Sony doesn’t.
@FroodyFrog meh, I’ll take Nintendo handheld every time. Now… for proper consoles on the other hand… Wii and WiiU don’t hold a candle.
I accidentally broke the lawn mower, but since it was always having problems, no one thought anything of it when it was broken again, and just decided to buy a new one.
Ended up getting one from Woot.
@dashcloud what did you do to it?
@jbartus I turned it over to clear out some grass from the blade area. Since it was gas-powered, I’m thinking the gas leaked out of the tank, and into somewhere it shouldn’t be, and that was that.
@dashcloud Would that somewhere be the ground? There’s usually not too much above a gravity fed gas tank to be afftected by turning it over.
@narfcake Nope- wasn’t the ground. If you’re saying it’s unlikely the gas could leave the tank, then I’m going to have to unblame @medz for my post and your post.
@dashcloud Actually, there’s a likely chance, as the tanks aren’t fully sealed.
@narfcake maybe he flooded the carburetor?
I’m pleading the fifth.
I delete more of my comments than I post. The ratio is probably 2:1 for stuff I re-read and think “nope.”
@Thumperchick
Post some of the worst stuff here for our pleasure?
@f00l That would defeat the point of not posting it…
@Thumperchick
Not for us!
C’mon.
Before I get to today’s confession, a bit of background;
If you average my total amount of posts/comments/replies to how long I’ve been here, that’s less than a handful of comments a day, or 1 comment every 6.7 hours.
Now for today’s confession:
People seem to think I don’t do anything, which is why I constantly have to explain that I’m barely here. It’s not true.
I do something so stressful, which is why I constantly feel the urge to be mean to pens as seen here. But since most meh-mbers with whom I interact with aren’t nearly near that level (though some of you are on an equivalent level), I can relax here.
So yes, I come here because it soothes me.
@FroodyFrog
soothes
Monday, May 30, 2016
Dear Diary;
To be honest, a lot of times I have no idea what I’m writing on the forum.
I just start sliding my finger, or tapping keys (depending on if I’m taking care of work), and let the words come out.
Then, I come back later, see that my comments got stars, and only then do I really read what I posted.
My apartment is always such a mess that I never have anyone over. Not like hoarding or anything. There’s just too much stuff in too small a space.
@justan79 I am right there with you.
@justan79 @conandlibrarian
Ain’t we all?
/giphy ditto
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Dear Diary;
On Monday, certain facts came to light, which made me start realizing this even more:
However, that’s not what I’m here to discuss. While in conversations with several people who were getting on my nerves, I started feeling like this:
It then occurred to me, that I could just turn those situations into the following:
My only issue with that, is that I’ll then be on the defensive. Oh well, at least it would stop them from talking.
@FroodyFrog
Now that’s a funny gif enabled post.
I bypassed all the interlocks on my riding mower 4 years ago and I’m still not dead yet
I not-quite-completely wasted Memorial Day weekend.
A fair bit of the time sinkhole happened here.
Also wasted time doing:
Video: bits of various filmed versions of The Mikado.
Rearranging the kitchen, which did not need doing.
Visiting REI.
Buying housewarming stuff for a friend.
Reading “Chain of Title”. (Not really a waste…)
Fantasizing about houses I might bid on.
Reading about the fabulous mortgage industry.
Wait,Wait, Don’t Tell Me.
Stones videos
B-52 videos (the band, not the plane)
C-46 pix (the plane)
Drive thru Starbucks iced coffee, no syrup.
Experimenting with microwave scrambled eggs and veggies (not bad, I’m not too picky.)
Taking a walk.
Texting younger bro about a trip that then got cancelled, the little fuckhead.
Planning, sorta kinda, for trip to niece’s “destination wedding”, omg expensive, she better do this just once.
Enduring updates about a replacement power supply.
Lying on the couch (lots)
And more.
Things that did not get done:
Laundry
Massively overdue financial paperwork.
Organizing electronics and tools just a little fucking bit so I can find stuff.
Finding the lost prescription that does not matter too much.
Budgeting.
Serious exercise.
Serious trip planning, since the other person possibly involved is off windsurfing.
Serious thought about anything.
Filing and labeling.
Making serious decisions, or getting a bit closer to them.
Calling people if we had to accomplish something.
Thinking a bit more how to handle stuff I need to handle better (internal and external)
And more.
And some of the not-done pile really needs doing badly urgently.
Fuck.
Oh, not fuck.
Gosh, Rhett, Tomorrow Is Another Day.
@f00l tl;dr:
@carl669
I put a lot of effort into avoiding responsibility. Others might profit from the detailed technical breakdown.
Oh, scratch that. You’re right. Well, Fuck.
@f00l i also blew off all weekend chores. I just floated in my pool. And read a book. Not at the same time though… the book was on my phone.
@f00l do you make to do lists and then ignore them too?
love wait wait and the b-52’s and stones
@DMlivezey
Isnt that the point of list-making?
Wednesday, June 1st, 2016
Dear Diary;
Before I get to talking about a sliver of a sliver of what’s on my mind, I have to ask; are these diary entries of mine going back on the previous day, or are they a post for the day they are on??? I guess I’ll get some people from to figure it out.
Now, Tuesday was a weird day (I guess that answers my questions, though I’ll still probably hire those people I referenced before).
Still not sure who she is (because I don’t spend time on the forum), but it was @jaremelz’s birthday.
Just kidding, she’s a Siren as shown here.
I had an idea for a cake (not HQ related, because that idea was taken numerous times), but unfortunately so was my next idea:
(I detect an English accent.)
Then there was the whole thing with the woman in NYC who had her dog in a remote control BMW.
And finally, sadly @medz finished his goathood
Oh well, I blame @dashcloud. Thankfully though, he won June goathood by 20 votes, so YAY!!!
I just realized, I didn’t post a confession yet (not that anybody would notice anyways, since my posts go largely unread).
Most of the time, when reading peoples posts, I get distracted. My mind wanders far as proven by this post.
(for those too lazy to click the link.)
So yeah, that about wraps it up. Tuesday was a weird day, and I don’t always read what people write. (For all I know, I star posts which actually insult me, even though I’m a sweet, innocent removed who feels that removed has a little bit of fun to share with the world, or at least other Meh-mbers.
@FroodyFrog I like that family in the birthday vid. They look like fun.
@jaremelz
Fun is overrated.
They must be, if they did that to their son on his birthday. (Then again, I’ve never had a cake on my birthday, or at least not that I can remember. So I don’t know what the feeling is like.)
@FroodyFrog Fun is not overrated. Fun where I can find it is what keeps me from losing it these days.
@jaremelz
I guess it’s how a person defines “fun”, or rather what they consider “fun”.
I suppose my outlook on it is the result of people trying to get me to enjoy their idea(s) of fun.
Also, you better not lose it. You’re mediocre just the way you are. (And yes, I intended for that to be a compliment. However, I’m not good at those.)
@FroodyFrog Fun is what you do for yourself that makes your heart lighter. The things that make you giggle.
And sometimes the way @mfladd squirms when I put the screws to him.
@FroodyFrog I want to send you a cake on your next birthday now
@jbartus I sent the frog french toast last birthday! Had a candle and everything.
@mikibell well I wanna send a cake so… so. Did you find a navy sample yet?
@jbartus probably going to bring a whole load of crap onto my head, but what about Patriots’ Navy?? (Not a football fan, but it seems you are
) Images range from dark royal to navy, but either works!
@jbartus @mikibell
To be honest, I’m not really a “birthday frog”, unless you consider the fact that any gifts I get were bought by myself are considered celebrating my birthday.
@mikibell that’s the best blue!
Are you sure it’s dark enough for you? Here’s what it looks like:
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gorgeous blue and I’ll probably do that theme but it’s pretty bright. Like you said it’s not a true navy, it’s actually a color called Nautical Blue.
@FroodyFrog the fact that you have never in your entire life had a cake on your birthday is something that bothers me, perhaps more than it should. If I ever get my hands on your address and birthdate rest assured a cake will be mailed.
@FroodyFrog You have never had a cake on your birthday? Are you serious? I am very saddened by this if it is true. We can rectify that situation for you.
@mfladd do you have @FroodyFrog’s address? I’ll throw in for a cake if you wanna send one
@jbartus I don’t, but I would be in on that too.
@jbartus
As I said on Sunday:
@FroodyFrog
@jbartus I could change my userid to hide that I am supplying this, but I am just toooo lazy…
https://meh.com/forum/topics/thank-you-google-calendar
@jbartus I like that blue, but can the boxes be softer??? That is what I don’t like about dark mode also… They are very stark in contrast. and @mfladd didn’t give me crap about Patriots?? WOW!
@FroodyFrog I make my own b-day cake, since I am the baker in the family … means I always get the cake I want
@mikibell
Must be nice. (Minus the effort part.)
@mikibell oh you just want less starkly different-colored post editing boxes?
@mfladd is a Patriots fan, why would he give you crap? (besides his tendency to dispense crap on a whim to anyone?)
@FroodyFrog eh…never get surprised…and sometimes, I would like the mess to be in someone else’s kitchen!
@jbartus yes… I think so…otherwise, the blue is lovely. Exactly, on the @mfladd topic!
@mikibell
That’s kind of like how I feel when I get presents. Sure, I may have them sitting in my closet for a few weeks (depending on what I buy), but even though I sometimes forget stuff quickly, I know exactly what’s in the boxes.
Hence why I like The Mehrican Exchange
(Thanks again @studerc)
@mikibell that’s easy. Let me know when you have challenges for me. I’ll work up a skin and probably a modification to the heliotrope skin later. Cheers
Emergency Confession
Wednesday, June 1st, 2016
Dear Diary;
Is it strange that I already have my entry for tomorrow written up? Keep on mind that with the font I’m using, and the size which the wording is being done, I have 1 1/2 pages…
@FroodyFrog yes.
@jbartus
Oh well, it will make up for the recurring theme since the 28th hopefully.
I bought and read a whole book (a thing I rarely make time for) because Tom Hardy was in the movie.
@katylava
Which book?
@katylava
@FroodyFrog the one Lawless was based on… can’t remember the title. About prohibition era bootleggers.
@katylava
So you can’t remember the name of a book you recently read?
Any btw, The Wettest County in the World
@FroodyFrog well i wasn’t reading the title over and over again
@katylava what were you doing over and over again?
Thursday, June 2nd, 2016
Dear Diary;
Now I know that this week I wrote to you to talk about complaints here, here, and here,so today I have decided to write about things I’m grateful for.
Things I’m grateful for:
…
Oh man, this is hard, how am I supposed to put down things I’m grateful for in a list?
You know what? Forget the list.
Instead, I will do it in song form, and share the video and/or audio with all of the (delightful, if somewhat whimsical) Mehmbers.
Wait a minute, I don’t sing.
NOT RELATED:
You know what?
I give up with trying to express everything for which I am grateful.
However, getting back to the complaints which I referenced near the beginning of this entry, even though those things happened to me, I’m fine. Life moves on, even for a (removed your gender
) like me.
I suppose life could be worse anyways. Besides, I’ve met some people who would possibly be decent IRL, so that’s not so bad.
Oh, and I’m living and breathing, so I have those going for me.
@FroodyFrog Glad you’re living & breathing, and I don’t say that about everybody (you know who you are, hair-trigger psycho who requires TC edits)
@compunaut now I want to edit in random pronouns to all of FF’s posts.
@Thumperchick @compunaut
Random, pseudorandom, or deliberately chosen pronouns?
Also, feel free not to edit my posts, that position is already taken by someone who does a sort of decent job.
@compunaut @Thumperchick
Actually, now @mfladd is casting doubt that I’m a living and breathing carbon based life form.
Not sure how to prove otherwise.
@FroodyFrog
/giphy shrug
@FroodyFrog @Thumperchick Oh, there’s another option for that now:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@FroodyFrog As one of my older co-workers says a lot “Any day I wake up and my elbows don’t hit wood is a good day.”
Friday, June 3rd, 2016
Dear Diary;
(Removed all of it)
@FroodyFrog I am not sure what else to say
@mfladd
(Since I won’t be around to make an entry until tomorrow evening, I’m posting this early edition.)
Saturday, June 4th, 2016
Dear Diary;
Just to wrap up the week, I’ll make this short and sweet.
Shame I couldn’t participate in the Steel Cage Match
As it turns out, my post from yesterday got adjusted (I completely expected it to be edited).
As it turns out, I may possibly be a script. I gotta look into it.
What was up with the video of Glen yesterday?
Shame I don’t have a cat for today.
I’m only sort of interested to watch Mary Poppins Returns. Naturally I’ll watch it, but not ASAP. Due to my mixed feelings about it, it’ll go to the end of my movie watch list.
@FroodyFrog
We are all scripts.
You are an interesting script.
That is all.
@f00l
I’ve heard that most of my life.
Sunday, June 5th, 2016
Dear Diary;
Remind me again why I write an entry into you at the beginning of the day as opposed to before midnight?
Anyways, not really happy that my AC was off yesterday considering how it was hot outside. First thing that was done as soon as possible was to turn the AC on.
Even once it was on, I had to set up a new monitor in a place where there was no AC. Not thrilled. Nice monitor though, although I couldn’t find a specific cable, at the worst, I’ll use an old one temporarily. Oh, and the way all the cables were jumbled up resulted in my router falling several times on my foot.
Anyways, tried renting a cat, but apparently she couldn’t be found.
Sighs
Oh well, at least this (newish) show I found is full of so much (dumb) humor, that my enjoyment of it can’t easily expressed without a video of my laughing over it. Mehbe I’ll do that.
I work overnights and sleep by myself in bed. Whenever I get in a disagreement with my wife and go to bed angry…
I sleep on my wife’s pillow just so I can drool all over it.
/giphy drools on pillow
I pretty much hated the 4 years that I was assistant coach of my son’s football team (4th-7th grade).
Now that he’s grown and gone, I’m glad I did it. Oil up that glove @JerseyFrank !
Confession of the day… I LOVE speaker docks a bit too much… My wife is trying to get me to stop… and at the same time loves to see how many I can get.
Monday, June 6th, 2016
Dear Diary;
I had a great piece written up for today, but after reading this I can’t post what I wrote, due to my disbelief, sadness, and shock.
@FroodyFrog The dude’s a serial litigator, and known for this kind of shit. It’ll take a bit, but the courts should be able to handle this appropriately.
@FroodyFrog
Horrible injustice to the seller. There should be financial or legal penalties to the buyer for abusing the courts, and using the courts with intent to defraud.
@FroodyFrog How long will you be confessing? I’m riveted by your Diary.
I myself have buried secrets so deeply that I can’t drudge them up to reveal them here.
/giphy skeletons in closet
@looseneck
Oh, this is a humor confession diary. My real one is on a micro sd card, which, when the time comes, I’ll possibly eat. And no, I’m not joking.
@FroodyFrog I see you don’t want any friends but I live in NJ and take the train into the city often. If you ever want a friend, I’d be honored to meet a froody frog who may or may not be a script.
@looseneck
People actually read what I type? Cool.
@looseneck Avoidance is @FroodyFrog’s middle name and that’s a shame. If I lived in your general area, I would love to be best bud’s with you.
@Barney Thank you Barney! I would sing the ‘I love you’ song but planes would fall out of the sky at the sound of my voice.
@FroodyFrog Yes we read what you write. It doesn’t make sense a lot of times, but it’s very interesting
@looseneck
Please refer back to the last paragraph in this entry, along with this. (They’re not exactly what I was looking for, but I’m not in the mood right now of unblocking my profile, refreshing the tab of my profile, and then quickly blocking it again just to look for a post.)
When I make a post on Meh, I don’t necessarily read it before I hit send. That’s why, from time to time, you may see italicized edits in my posts. However, that only covers certain things, there’s no way for me to get it so that all my posts will be able to be understood.
After all…
(Still not a fan of how HQ is depicted in this series.)
However, I will try to make it so that my posts will be (somewhat) clearer.
Tuesday, June 7th, 2016
Dear Diary;
Yes, I know I’m slightly late in posting to you, (I had to take care of my private diary (the one which is on a special micro sd, and in order to properly dispose of it in the future, because of what’s on it, I will eat), and that took a while.)
So, before I delve into my day, I would like to share this video of a guy who is being sued for publishing his app on the Play Store:
Along with this video from Jeopardy (skip to 5:45):
I know I said on Sunday that I was thinking of posting a video of myself laughing at a show, but that’s not happening. The camera doesn’t like me (well, it’s either that, or I’m camera shy, which is odd, since pictures help lift my self esteem slightly).
Meanwhile, someone wanted to see a picture of someone, but because I never had a high school yearbook (as stated here), I couldn’t show them a picture.
Now, I haven’t said anything about my day, but I’m already almost 30 minutes late, so I’ll probably save that stuff for Wednesday’s entry. I have to admit though, that even though nobody reads these entries, they make me feel somewhat better about my day, so I guess I will continue doing this daily.
I found something to confess.
You know the phrase ‘die of embarrassment?’ My definition is: the people who saw my shame should be the ones to die.
I hate getting my hair cut because I don’t like people waving sharp metal objects around my head.
I bought 3 Monster High dolls yesterday. Two were new. They are all for me.
@mossygreen
Those are cute to look at.
@f00l Yeah. They also have great small plastic shoes.
I’m propped up in bed fucking around on Meh.
I saw a picture of my late grandmother today. I didn’t recognize her, and I should have. I still can’t link any visual memories of her. She’s been dead for 25 years. I’m 39. I feel callous and inhuman.
@JerseyFrank i bet if she would have offered to play catch with you, things would have turned out totally different
Dear meh,
90% of my posts are not worth it.
Sorry.