So, How's It Going?

[Control 799]

22 hours ago, Control said:

Dogs are expensive,

mine keeps vomiting. It’s a regular occurrence. Over his life we’ve moved to special gastronomic food and gotten a prescription for antacids. Still, it keeps recurring, so today I went and got blood work done. $350. Hopefully I get some answers.

poor little guy.

Well, they've ruled out the more serious underlying causes, like pancreatitis, but he does have an elevated white blood cell count, so if that doesn't change we may have to put him on a hypoallergenic diet and see if it helps. From there, we're talking more major diagnostics, which I'm sure will be pricey.

[J.T. 9,084]

Aw, I hope your dog will be okay, man.

[J.T. 9,084]

23 hours ago, Robert C said:

Got a note from my son's daycare saying they've implemented twice daily IED sweeps on the playground.  On one hand, I'm glad they're doing it.  On the other, fuck all this.

Latest bombs got sent from near my house.  That, along with the fairly obscure location of the tripwire bomb, means there's a decent chance this asshole lives near me.

Well, it appears the cocksucker blew himself up trying to evade the cops, so I hope things calm down in Tejas, brah.

[Robert C 1,891]

Glad they finally caught the fucker.  Wish they'd got him alive, to maybe help find out what else is out there.  Wouldn't be surprising if there were 1-2 more somewhere.

Things got a bit unsettling last night with the bomb that turned out to not be a bomb.  Way too close to my house, and I ended up getting caught up in the response.  I sorta had a feeling what was up when every emergency vehicle in Austin tore ass past me while i was stuck in traffic.  I dunno what the hell an artillery simulator is, or why somebody would drop one off at Goodwill, especially one on the same road as the Kinko's where the package bomb was dropped off.

[Chaos 473]

Took car to the mechanic. AC needs a full replacement, at a fine penny of $1700, plus I need some brake work done, and my tire sensors are out. If I fixed my bumper, I'd probably be looking at a solid $3,000. Guessing it's time to start car shopping.

[OSJ 4,722]

Well, car problems are the shits. Our Jeep has been pretty much a gutless wonder for the last few months. Perfectly okay for runs to the store, doctor appts. and so on, a trip to Albuquerque, not so much. So we have my brother-in-law the shade tree mechanic look at it, nothing major, needs some bearings that just snap in and out, new battery, and we should be good. Then he drops the bomb that he wants $300 for working on the car for less than two days. Keep in mind that we've been buying them cigarettes, dog and cat food, occasionally groceries, etc. for the last several months ever since he got shit-canned from his job of some twenty years for drinking his fucking lunch every day and being an insufferable jerk all afternoon. I was going to give him a $100 as a thank you, but my fucking blood is boiling right now.

[Control 799]

End of term is the worst. My days have become an endless stream of meetings with plagiarists, stressed out students, and keeners trying to wheedle an A into an A+.

[Control 799]

Flight from Pittsburgh to Toronto has been canceled. They (eventually) rescheduled to Tuesday, which is hot garbage. Their online re-booking tool doesnt work and I've been on hold for 100 minutes. Have to check out of my hotel soon.

This sucks.

[OSJ 4,722]

11 hours ago, Control said:

Flight from Pittsburgh to Toronto has been canceled. They (eventually) rescheduled to Tuesday, which is hot garbage. Their online re-booking tool doesnt work and I've been on hold for 100 minutes. Have to check out of my hotel soon.

This sucks.

Look on the bright side, you are (eventually) going to be leaving Pittsburgh; granted, earlier would be better, but the main thing is that you are getting out of Pittsburgh.

[Control 799]

I’m actually really enjoying Pittsburgh, John. Enough that I’m planning to see if any of the universities are hiring.

[J.T. 9,084]

14 minutes ago, Control said:

I’m actually really enjoying Pittsburgh, John. Enough that I’m planning to see if any of the universities are hiring.

There's not much going on at Carnegie - Mellon University, but bookmark the link anyway.

You need to get a job in Pittsburgh so that I have a couch to sleep on when I come to a Steelers game.

[OSJ 4,722]

40 minutes ago, Control said:

I’m actually really enjoying Pittsburgh, John. Enough that I’m planning to see if any of the universities are hiring.

I used to love visiting the Northeast for conventions and the like, but that generally meant a stay of five days which was enough for me. Too damn cold for much of the year. I did enjoy checking out the architecture and masonry work in various PA and NJ sites when I worked for McGraw-Hill and they would fly me in to do a week of training for the customer service call center (a complete waste of time for what they were trying to do, which was to avoid having to pay guys like me in the first place. Sorry folks, you need people with knowledge of the local market that they are serving, someone in NJ that thinks Spokane and Seattle are similar because they are both in WA is just not going to cut it...  But hey, you want to let me work half days and run up the ol' expense account? I'm good with that...)  Like I said, a week or two a year is just plenty, our winters can be annoying in terms of hanging around too long, (snow in April is not a thing that I will ever get used to), but our bad snow days are three to four inches tops. That's tolerable, what you guys put up with in the Northeast is insane.

[S.K.o.S. 1,217]

This was right outside my office early this afternoon. Like I can look out my cubicle window right now and see the emergency vehicles and the street taped off.  Some of my co-workers saw some of the bodies.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/04/23/van-strikes-as-many-as-10-pedestrians-at-yonge-and-finch.html

[West Newbury Bad Boy 10,508]

The overhead video of the arrest is wild. Dude's arm is outstretched, seemingly pointing a gun at a cop. I'm stunned that he's still alive.

Hope all our GTA members and their friends and families are safe. 

Not looking forward to the toxic discussion that inevitably follows events like this. I really don't want this country to become as openly bugfuck crazy as other places. 

[S.K.o.S. 1,217]

If anyone wants to help out, https://www.gofundme.com/TorontoVanAttack was set up to help pay for victims' funeral expenses.

[Zimbra 1,827]

After almost 10 years and 5 different smartphones I finally cracked the screen on one.  It's fairly minor and still totally usable but I'm very annoyed with myself.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988 977]

kidney stone

no one to blame but myself

[Bustronaut 4,218]

Not true! There's a hereditary predisposition to kidney stones.  Blame your ancestors!

[Matt D 10,679]

You can always blame Rippa.

[Brian Fowler 13,545]

23 hours ago, Lamp, broken circa 1988 said:

kidney stone

no one to blame but myself

My incredible sympathy. Worst thing I've ever gone through physically.

[odessasteps 11,454]

Having had dozens of them, they can range from "cant get out of bed" pain to "I didnt know that was comi g until it whizzed out." 

Hopefully, yours is more on the latter end of the scale. 

[Lamp, broken circa 1988 977]

11 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Having had dozens of them, they can range from "cant get out of bed" pain to "I didnt know that was comi g until it whizzed out." 

Hopefully, yours is more on the latter end of the scale. 

i'll give you a clue: i set my alarm to the time that my primary care center opens cuz I'm going to need a referral to a urologist

[OSJ 4,722]

Damn it to hell, Jackpot brought a bird home, it was still alive and like the big, lumbering buffoon he is, he lost it and it went under the bed. Damn it, now I have to move a bunch of shit from under the bed and possibly the bed itself to find the damn thing. Meanwhile, he's forgotten all about it and is outside sunning himself, stupid cat.

[Contentious C 620]

So, what you're saying is you need an unscrupulous cadre of scientists to genetically engineer animals that can serve as cheap security guards for cat doors. I suggest raccoons!

[OSJ 4,722]

Turns out our smallest cat, Sansa found the bird and unfortunately for bird lovers it's as dead as Dillinger, it's also somewhere outside which is just fine by me. I really should be working instead of fooling around on the Internet, but what the hell, a deadline that's a week away is like no deadline at all. ;-)