Small Talk: Ughngnggh! Ugghhnnn!

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

That said, is there ever a time when pressing the green button is bad?   

I guess if everybody was sleeping and I woke them up. 😁

This is the first time in 12 years here that the lights were on when I came in. Even the few times I worked weekends, there was somebody already here, if only the maintenance crews. 

[nachomama]

I love grape or cherry tomatoes, to me it was just the skin to pulp ratio that I don't like for the sauce. If your grandma used to skin a big tomato to make the sunday sauce then those tiny baby ones don't seem practical. I love them in salads.

I was thinking NYC lights are prolly harder to find. I've never worked in a huge conglomerate, and I assumed the lights/heat etc were housed in a central location that yeah not everybody is gonna know. I only know where the lights in my office are, if no one was in the press room I have no idea how to turn their lights and heat on.

[Mr. Sparkle]

1 hour ago, nachomama said:

I was thinking NYC lights are prolly harder to find. I've never worked in a huge conglomerate, and I assumed the lights/heat etc were housed in a central location that yeah not everybody is gonna know. I only know where the lights in my office are, if no one was in the press room I have no idea how to turn their lights and heat on.

Lol, our light switches are generally the same. I work in a giant building that used to be a chewing gum factory. If a plane hit it, only the plane would be damaged. I have no access to any of the HVAC controls. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Men at Work? 

Eddie Grant? 

[nachomama]

I must say "electric avenue" still slaps. There are a few things that when I hear them I think they could be a hit today. Tainted Love was and still is one of my favorite songs. I liked the "OH yeah" song by Yello and only recently learned they were two old guys. And I must say the universe owes an apology to Milli Vanilli. There are plenty of people who cannot sing (yes the probably auto tune them) who got famous lip synching and just had the right look. Christopher Cross wasn't much to look at and at the advent of the music video anyone less attractive wasn't going to make it big.

[OoohMaggie]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

I was thinking of 80s bands for some reason, and trying to come up with a list of bands that I thought would have had much more success than they did have.  So far I have come up with two:

A flock of seagulls, although any predicted success may have been overly optimistic 😞

[Mr. Sparkle]

43 minutes ago, nachomama said:

I must say "electric avenue" still slaps

Hard agree. 

43 minutes ago, nachomama said:

Tainted Love was and still is one of my favorite songs.

F--- yeah! 

[Nashville]

Don’t forget Echo and the Bunnymen!

19 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

That said, is there ever a time when pressing the green button is bad?  

The last office building I worked in was built to order, so we got to spec out all our requirements for our server room - power, UPS, dedicated AC, raised flooring, water leak detection, fire control, etc. - the works.  
One of the specifications, of course, was a Big Red Button - which, for those who aren’t familiar with such things, is an emergency switch which instantly kills all power in the room.  Handy for those situations when a catastrophic shutdown is called for.

And they installed us a Big Red Button, of course - right next to the server room door.

They just didn’t wire it into anything.  

First time we tried it out in our acceptance testing, we found out it was simply that; a big red button, mounted on the wall.  Pressing it generated a satisfyingly loud clacking noise, but did absolutely nothing whatsoever.  We reported it on the acceptance test report as a material weakness, and they said they’d correct it.

Which they did - about ten years later.  

At which point we discovered something curious, and more than a little disruptive; in that ten year interim, many of the staff cleared for server room access had gotten into the habit of occasionally hitting the Big Red Button on their way in/out of the server room.  Fist-slamming the BRB appeared to be a kind of harmless form of stress catharsis- until it was finally and actually hooked up, that is, at which point it presented a clear and present danger to continuity of operations.  Took several months of training sessions to get people re-educated out of it, we had to put a plastic flip-box over the BRB, and two people eventually had to be terminated - the habit had apparently simply gotten too ingrained for them to let it go.

But there was no denying it; most BRBs go years (lifetimes, even) without anybody ever having the need or opportunity to use them - so having a BRB which could be pressed with impunity was an underground hit.

And it was kinda fun.  ;>

[Nashville]

.................

Maybe it’s just me - but has anybody else noticed recently that some of the clickbait ads on these pages apparently don’t know the difference between Barbara Mandrell and Loni Anderson?

[nachomama]

Interesting, my clickbait ads do not feature Loni anderson, Barbara Mandrell and not even Morgan Fairchild. hmm...

I don't have a brb but working at a printing place I've only gotten to shout "stop the presses" once or twice.

Edited February 10, 2021 by nachomama

[Mr. Sparkle]

8 minutes ago, nachomama said:

Interesting, my clickbait ads do not feature Loni anderson, Barbara Mandrell and not even Morgan Fairchild. hmm...

Me neither. Of course, I get plenty of ads for stuff I look at online, mostly guitars. But I swear, my wife and I were talking about me getting new shoes. I did not look online for new shoes. Two days later I got ads for the shoes I wear popping up. 😲

[nachomama]

I get cars, shoes, priceline and other odd crap. Our phones are listening (not that I'm a conspiracy theorist) my friend said something about something completely random and then immediately went to google it on her phone and boom ads for that.

I think I've assembled my taxes and didn't take the hit I got last year. I think I'm smart enough on an ordinary year but I won't submit them til next week.

I think we went over which Charlie's Angel was the most "preferred" (I think I recall Nashville being fond of Sabrina who was usually considered the "ugly" one which was so unfair.) I actually didn't think Farrah was all that attractive. but did we ever discuss the Heathers'? Locklear vs Thomas who was your pick? I was a Thomas. My Angel was Kelly and Daisy Duke was who we all pretended to be. Aside from the Bionic Woman, I love me some Jamie Summers. This is really odd and particular to me but I loved her tucking her hair behind her ear.

Edited February 10, 2021 by nachomama

[OoohMaggie]

7 hours ago, nachomama said:

I think we went over which Charlie's Angel was the most "preferred" (I think I recall Nashville being fond of Sabrina who was usually considered the "ugly" one which was so unfair.)

Unfair? 😱, that view was positively criminal, I remember at the time Nashville and I agreeing on that lovely face, Farrah Fawcett?  Pleeeaaassssseeeee 🙄

[OoohMaggie]

7 hours ago, nachomama said:

My Angel was Kelly and Daisy Duke was who we all pretended to be

If Sabrina had worn Daisy Duke’s short shorts, there’s no telling where this could have ended up 😛

[nachomama]

I think it was the haircut. Sabrina's hair did her no favors, every other Angel got to flip their hair when they took down a perp and she was all long bob and no boobs. Kate Jackson was stunning on Scarecrow and Mrs, King. I also had undying love for Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter. And since I mentioned her, boom, I go look and her husband has died.

[madmax]

Sabrina was always my favorite angel.  When my step-sisters and I played Angels as kids, they thought they were sticking me with the lame angel, but I didn't care.  She had looks and brains.

As to the Heathers, I preferred Heather Thomas.

[Nashville]

Looks like a doubleHeather to me....  😁

[nachomama]

I nearly lost my mind when I saw Mrs. Ingalls on the battle of the network stars. MA! Put some clothes on. She was smokin!

I didn't realize until I was an adult that I was a super dork because my mom made me wear a dress to school. My mom said when she was growing up they were only allowed to wear pants (slacks/trousers for the british) 1 day a week and that was probably not for school, that was probably on saturday and doing chores around the house. She reversed it and forced me to wear a dress at least 1 day a week. And because she was an idiot these were often times full length dresses. One was a dress "borrowed" from the neighbor girl who had outgrown it. IT WAS A FRIKKIN COMMUNION DRESS! so I'm wearing that to school and at recess etc. After high school, AFTER,  some of my friends told me how bizarre they thought it was. The top of the dress was satiny and full length sleeves, ruffled at the end. and the skirt was basically a quilt. Some red pattern and it was, real life for true, quilted. Why did my mother love those durned full length dresses? And my mom was obsessed with shawls and ponchos. Swear to Bob I have Poncho PTSD Never have owned one as an adult and I never will.

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 hours ago, nachomama said:

I nearly lost my mind when I saw Mrs. Ingalls on the battle of the network stars. MA! Put some clothes on. She was smokin!

I'm a big LHotP fan, but I never really thought of Ma "in that way." But there's one episode where she has a fever and her hair is down, and I was like "heeeey." 

3 hours ago, Nashville said:

Looks like a doubleHeather to me....  😁

Thomas was hotter, but Locklear had more staying power. 

[OoohMaggie]

12 hours ago, Superclam said:

Thomas was hotter, but Locklear had more staying power. 

Oh! For the chance of finding out 😏
 

Edited February 12, 2021 by OoohMaggie

[OoohMaggie]

16 hours ago, Nashville said:

Looks like a doubleHeather to me....  😁

Stick Fawcett in there and you’ve got the BeeGee sisters

[OoohMaggie]

 

 

And not a single restaurant open in which to celebrate 😪

Edited February 12, 2021 by OoohMaggie

[Mr. Sparkle]

Really? I just got (mediocre) Chinese food. Chinese restaurants just about never close around here. When they were closed for about a month last April, I knew something was very wrong. 

 

[OoohMaggie]

19 hours ago, Superclam said:

 

Really? I

 

Yup,  the take-aways are open, but no sit down restaurants , pubs, cafes. They’ve been open, closed, open, closed, I’m amazed there aren’t more for sale signs going up. The hospitality industry is begging the Gov to be allowed to open by Easter weekend, that’s if we’re allowed out of our houses by then, utter madness! 🤕

Edited February 13, 2021 by OoohMaggie

[Mr. Sparkle]

20 minutes ago, OoohMaggie said:

Yup,  the take-always are open, but no sit down restaurants , pubs, cafes. They’ve been open, closed, open, closed, I’m amazed there aren’t more for sale signs going up. The hospitality industry is begging the Gov to be allowed to open by Easter weekend, that’s if we’re allowed out of our houses by then, utter madness! 🤕

Oh yeah, same here. They just opened yesterday to indoor dining, in time for Valentine's Day. 

[nachomama]

I’m drinking heavily this evening. And y’all made me buy sardines so my breath gonna be stellar! 

[nachomama]

For Valentine’s Day I learned the first person I ever kissed has died. Holy shut am I that old? I think it was Covid he was Navajo and my friends cousin so I’m waiting for her to ket me know what happened. 

[AngelaHunter]

25 minutes ago, nachomama said:

For Valentine’s Day I learned the first person I ever kissed has died. Holy shut am I that old? I think it was Covid he was Navajo and my friends cousin so I’m waiting for her to ket me know what happened. 

Oh, that's too bad. 😟

I am struggling to remember the first guy I ever kissed, but I'm sure I'd be sorry to hear he died, if I ever do remember.

[nachomama]

He had the diabetes (pronounced like wilford Brimley) and wasn’t taking care of himself. He had to have some toes amputated and then got an infection. The infection started causing seizures. He was in the ambulance on the way to hospital and died. My friend always wanted me to marry him then we’d be related. But he was incapable of not accidentally impregnating women who were not his wives. He is the baby daddy to many and I’m prolly the only chick the didn’t horizontal mambo with him. 

[nachomama]

Hot diggity dog, I paid to upgrade my tax filing, I usually do the free thing, and it got me more money! It both saves and costs because your filing is free but the taking the fee out of your refund and redirecting direct deposit ends up costing you. So cost me $130 to file my taxes but my state refund went from $42 to $200! That means the extra federal is actually extra. Wheeee!

[Nashville]

On 2/15/2021 at 11:07 AM, icemiser69 said:

I have said many times back in my grade school years I was bullied, words were hurtful, but those words didn't stop me from going where I wanted to go and doing what I wanted to do.  Physical bullying and the fears of getting my ass kicked are what kept me from going where I wanted to go and doing what I wanted to do.  My parents raised me to avoid and ignore bullies.   In other words existing on the bullies terms, and not living life on mine.   They didn't want me to fight.  First of all, I have always had shit vision and needed to wear glasses all the time.   Fighting with glasses on won't end well.  Plus I didn't know and don't know how to defend myself.  My parents also thought it takes two to fight.  They were wrong.

Same here, to a degree.  The summer between 3rd and 4th grade, two things happened: we moved from a relatively large city (Nashville) to a small quasi-rural town, and I got my first pair of thicker’n shit glasses complete with the Birth Control Special clunky thick black plastic frames guaranteed to immediately quash ANY chance of getting friendly with anything remotely feminine.  Initial ostracism was a given from the word go, and those BCS glasses begged for an educational beat-down from any bully in the immediate vicinity.  Along the way I developed a rather unique sense of humor I could occasionally use to defuse some of the confrontations before they started, but some fights were coming regardless.  Even with those, though, I learned a little something from every fight - but for the most part, pacifism was my ruling guide.

And so it went for the next 4 years until junior high (8th grade), when a dim bulb (left back twice) on the football team decided fucking with me would become his special project.  He was a 6’1” 200 lb. offensive lineman, one of the biggest people in the school, teachers included - who probably figured a 5’-nothing 100 lb. geek like me was easy pickings, and that was true - for a while.

Until one day in shop class, that is, when he came at me with a broomstick handle while I was sharpening lathe chisels.  Last coherent thought I remember was, “Put the chisels DOWN.”  He took the first swing with the broomstick, and missed; ten minutes later he’s laid out on the shop floor bleeding all over the place, while two friends of mine are pulling me off the top of him.

Hardly anybody fucked with me after that, until one more very similar* situation in 10th grade - and after that incident, nobody fucked with me.

But, yeah... you know who loves pacifists?  Bullies love pacifists; they don’t fight back.  And for a school-ager, claiming a moral high ground rarely works out well - especially when it’s been your face in the dirt.

———————

* When I was a high school sophomore - in shop class, no less - and that commonality never actually stood out to me until right now.  😄 

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Nashville
Reformatting

[nachomama]

I watched the Young Riders some back in the day. I think it was a spin off from Young Guns movies where the one guy had the posse of mail carriers that Emilio Estevez was once part of, they killed the head guy and that's what set him out on his Young Guns ways. I could be wrong cuz I'm older than dirt and don't remember nothin.

I didn't experience too much bullying. There was a time when this chick came to our school and had some issues. It was like she was entering a new prison and had to take out whoever she perceived as the biggest threat in order to establish a rep and no one would challenge her. Except she chose my friend Marcy. Now Marcy may appear intimidating, she's very tall and built like a man, very square shouldered and she was on the basketball team and had these ginormous hands and she could palm a basketball which is not something many women can do. But the moment Marcy opens her mouth you realize she is no threat whatsoever. She is the girliest girl that ever girled and yet she's in this big square frame. Honestly, there is not a soul in the universe who's ever met her that didn't love her and I say that because it irritates the shit out of me. she makes life long friends out of people on the bus! She rode a bus from New Mexico to Georgia to stay with me for the summer and had life long pen pals. So anywhos she chose Marcy and she chose Marcy at the absolute wrong time, her dad had just been discovered as having a second family in Arizona. And if pushed, Marcy could absolutely put some muscle behind her and she was like a grizzly bear, once she got her hands on you...shreds were left. They went to Arizona to have a come to Jesus meeting with the other woman and the other woman said something about Marcys mom and hoooboy she did not like the results of that. Marcy essentially just bear hugged her but like was just short of popping internal organs. The bully girl ended up picking a fight with some other girl and a history teacher tried to break it up and they both ended up whooping his ass but it resulted in her going away so we were ok with that.

History teacher man, wow, he was odd. I was in his first period history class when he was writing notes on the board, he literally never turned around. I don't know what he was like for his later classes because the notes were already there but damn I had a friend James, 6'4" probably 235 and he walked across the tops of the desks, alllllll em and teacher never saw or turned around. Every single day....every.single.day at the end of class they stole a door stop from his door and at the end of the year they returned a pile of them. He was on football coaching staff and when they go on away games they always gotta count heads at pit stops to make sure no kid gets left behind.......Coach man got left behind! Dude was freakin weird.

[OoohMaggie]

It’s a couple of years old, but f**k me what a nightmare, so the Pilot? takes the scenic route down! 😱

I wonder if the guy signed a disclaimer 😭

Edited February 18, 2021 by OoohMaggie

[nachomama]

Oi Vey! kinda makes me pee myself and I aint the one bout to plummet to my death.

So today I was threatened to be fired for multi-tasking. We do have a great huge program we're working on but the entire book wasn't done. We were collating the first 4 pages and the rest were to be determined. So I would collate a bit and then glue my doo-dads that I also have to get done. He absolutely lost his mind and told me if I don't collate I could just go home and don't come back. ONCE AGAIN...the book is NOT done. OMFG I hate this man.

And a conversation I had with Marcy...they got 5 inches of snow then another inch overnight. So I said "well over 6 inches and it stops being fun"

 

 

[nachomama]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

Sounds like typical behavior of people who are pissed off and they decide to take it out on the wrong people who have no choice but to sit there and take it.

yep, I have no idea what he is so bitter about in life. He doesn't have himself as a boss. He makes good money. He pays me shit, and I have him as a boss if anyone should be taking out anger on people it's me. He's just an angry person in general. He was a bouncer for 20 years and got to beat people up. If he ever hits me he better kill me, cuz I'll own all his shit. Everybody else here is his family so he doesn't get to talk to other people like that. There is no HR, I can feel free to hit the road at any time and if I bite the bullet and go full time with the other job then I'm out. I just like to make sure the other job is sticking around a while. I do get paid time off, 401k and medical. Even stock options now. It's easy but boring as all hell. But no one threatens me. Plus if $15 minimum wage ever hits these guys will probably not be willing to cough it up.

[nachomama]

They’re listening, I just got click bait for heather Thomas. DUN, dun dun 

[Mr. Sparkle]

40 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

That sad, I have watched every episode of that horrible Manifest, and that thing is starting its third season in April.  Horrible writing and even worse acting and it is still on the air.   

It's funny that you wrote "that sad." I don't blame you. I watched the first season and thought it was meh, maybe a C. When I thought about it for the next season, I knew it would just be the same thing over and over until they end it in some unsatisfying way. So I gave it up and don't miss it for a second. That same TV season, there was a show called The Passage that I liked, but it didn't get renewed. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Yeah, I feel that way about a certain zombie show. 

[Iguessnot]

On 2/18/2021 at 11:07 AM, OoohMaggie said:

It’s a couple of years old, but f**k me what a nightmare, so the Pilot? takes the scenic route down! 😱

I wonder if the guy signed a disclaimer 😭

There are just no words. Glad he made it out alive and with his sense of humor intact. The pilot got one heck of a wedgie.

[OoohMaggie]

8 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

There are just no words. Glad he made it out alive and with his sense of humor intact. The pilot got one heck of a wedgie.

I think the number of zeros on the compensation cheque, coupled with the industrial strength pain meds for his smashed arm, would surely put a smile on anybody’s face 💊

[nachomama]

I watched the first episode of The Manifest and I swear there was another show (coulda been like 1 episode of Twilight zone or Fox and Mulder) that was exactly the same plot so I didn't keep on watching it. I had no idea several shows were still on the air, the one with James Spader? I watched a couple episodes of the mandalorian this weekend.

My sister is in the texas mess, she texted me to get how much her electric bill was going to be and her cable although she said she was just going to let the cable get turned off becasue there was no service anyway. I said the storm is only going to affect you for a week, if you turn it off you're probably under contract and they're going to charge you early termination fees anyway and charge you to turn it back on. PLUS, the electric and cable I'm guessing are both going to have to credit you anyway for no service for a week and no one is going to pay on time so I wouldn't sweat getting it there on time. The entire state will be late. She's moved a boyfriend in, I asked what he pays. She says he pays the water bill and keeps the truck maintained. Oh good as long as the priorities are in order. She says he buys groceries too, I said you have food stamps, the roommate does as well, she said her food stamps got cut to $46 a month. But her power is back on. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

[AngelaHunter]

On 2/18/2021 at 11:07 AM, OoohMaggie said:

It’s a couple of years old, but f**k me what a nightmare, so the Pilot? takes the scenic route down! 😱

I wonder if the guy signed a disclaimer 😭

Holy shit! I had to stop watching that. The anxiety this caused was too great. 😱

[nachomama]

Had a weird dream that I went back to my high school, like travelled back in time. And I was obnoxious. From our old middle school you had to walk down to the high school for lunch and I would just jabber. And i invented relatives in New York. We were signing up for classes and while I knew it was my old high school it also wasn't. We were taking an "outdoor sciences" class but it was held indoors in the "media" room which had a snack bar and couches. And a big screen but I subconsciously scrolled it all back in time so that it was the technology of the day. A very pixelated screen to show us movies of hiking, mountain climbing etc and the couches were meant to mimic theaters now with reclining seats and even in my head I'm saying "this is a high school, this is a bad idea to turn out the lights with teenagers and couches". There were two classes taking place at the same time and I was mostly concerned with how was anyone going to pay attention? Very poorly designed.

[Mr. Sparkle]

59 minutes ago, nachomama said:

And i invented relatives in New York.

You can use me as a New York reference! 

[nachomama]

I totally would! It was some goofy story about a cousin named Misty in New York. I have no idea why I was lying, thinking I was cool.

[OoohMaggie]

As with most things over there I’m somewhat behind the times, yet I’m intrigued by the whole ‘Porch Pirate’ phenomenon. Considering the generous weapon laws you guys enjoy, I would have thought this a rather risky way to steal a lucky dip box from somebody’s door. 
I suppose we’re not dealing with the sharpest tools in the shed though 🙄

 

 

[OoohMaggie]

23 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

 

@OoohMaggie

Do you get these kind of ads across the pond?  I can't stop laughing at this.

I think it is hysterical.

 

Sort of, our popular treatment for that particular problem is called Anusol. We do get a large number of ads extolling the virtues of various feminine products though, usually around teatime and generally accompanied by a small vessel containing pretty blue liquid. One particularly enlightening commercial, left the viewer with the knowledge that there are some 60 known causes of intimate feminine itching 🤔.............. well you did ask 😋

[AngelaHunter]

3 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

As with most things over there I’m somewhat behind the times, yet I’m intrigued by the whole ‘Porch Pirate’ phenomenon. Considering the generous weapon laws you guys enjoy, I would have thought this a rather risky way to steal a lucky dip box from somebody’s door. 
I suppose we’re not dealing with the sharpest tools in the shed though 🙄

 

 

This is in Canada where gun laws are very strict. Handguns are allowed only for police, the armed forces or for target shooting (and criminals of course). But the snow did the job in this case. All Canadians know how to get out of a snow bank. Luckily this POS did not.

It annoys me how these "porch pirate" thieves are given this cutesy name and treated as though what they do is just some naughty prank. They are criminals and what they do is not funny or cute.

[heisenberg]

4 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

As with most things over there I’m somewhat behind the times, yet I’m intrigued by the whole ‘Porch Pirate’ phenomenon. Considering the generous weapon laws you guys enjoy, I would have thought this a rather risky way to steal a lucky dip box from somebody’s door. 
I suppose we’re not dealing with the sharpest tools in the shed though 🙄

 

 

You can see he is a thief because he is wearing a mask.😅

[Nashville]

19 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

As with most things over there I’m somewhat behind the times, yet I’m intrigued by the whole ‘Porch Pirate’ phenomenon. Considering the generous weapon laws you guys enjoy, I would have thought this a rather risky way to steal a lucky dip box from somebody’s door. 

It is in my neck of the woods.

 

19 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

I suppose we’re not dealing with the sharpest tools in the shed though 🙄

Yeah, but who’s stupider?  The porch pirate who exposes his vehicle’s license plates to any cameras in the vicinity and then gets the vehicle stuck in front of his would-be victim’s house - or said victim who, after calling the cops, starts trying to advise Dillinger on how to get the car unstuck?