Small Talk: Ughngnggh! Ugghhnnn!

[nachomama]

We had a very funky bus stop, it was shaped like an old timey LHotP school house, painted red and white. We liked to play in it. I got in a fight with Brandon Uhde, he knocked over my very sad pathetic snowman so I had to whoop him. Then one day on a snow day, we either came home early because of snow or were sent home from the bus stop because the bus wasn't going to come. This little neighbor girl goes running off towards home and all of a sudden she just disappeared. She sank in the snow into a ditch that we all forgot was there because it was all filled with snow and level with everything else. She wasn't hurt it was very soft landing but shooop she just got swallowed up by the snow.

[madmax]

We live on a road with no sidewalks, speed limit 35, however, cars coming down the hill are always doing way more than 35 by the time they get to the flat part, where our house is.  The school district wanted my sons to walk two blocks to a "shared" bus stop when they were kids, which was ridiculous in a number of ways: 1) the aforementioned road; 2) the bus stop was away from all of the houses; 3) the bus stop was at the bottom of the hill, where it would be very easy for someone flying down the hill to smash into the back of the bus.  I called and said I refused to let my kids walk on a dark road with no sidewalks and plenty of speeders.  They could just as easily pick them up in front of my house as the bus went that way anyway.  Apparently, I started a trend because the "shared" bus stop was abandoned and all the kids were picked up/dropped off in front of their houses.  There were a couple of years where the poor bus driver would just coast from house to house.

[Mr. Sparkle]

48 minutes ago, nachomama said:

This little neighbor girl goes running off towards home and all of a sudden she just disappeared.

Was she ever seen again? 

[Nashville]

The neighborhood/subdivision in which I grew up was originally constructed back in the 1940s-50s as officers’ family quarters for military staff working a SAC airbase on the edge of town.  Originally it was a very cloistered community (no surprise there), and one side effect of that was there were four schools - grades K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12 respectively - all a mile or less away from my house; there was literally one block sitting between our house and the high school.  So buses weren’t an issue; I hoofed it everywhere.

[nachomama]

We had a 45 minute to an hour bus ride so we had many bus adventures. One time a purple truck in front of us blew a tire and flipped over into a ditch. Dude had a tricked out old, old pickup and poof it went rolling through a field and apparently he'd just gotten paid, cash money just went flying. He was not hurt and the bus driver stopped and all the kids bounced out and went chasing the money. He may or may not have gotten most of it back. Only the big kids mind you. We gave him a ride to our little community. there was literally nothing for 20 miles either way so he woulda been walking, no cell phones no pay phones. I'm assuming way out in the sticks the bus driver knew who he was, or of him, it was probably somebody's son that lived out there with us.

[madmax]

So I'm off work today and I decided to tackle a heavy duty cleaning of my kitchen.  Got everything done but the light fixture and the floor, so I thought I'd get the fixture down, clean out the bugs and gunk, then do the floor.  I forgot that the new light fixture is all one piece so when I took it down, it was still connected to the wires.  And I am not coordinated enough to get it back up in place (It's pretty heavy).  So I have a chair on my table and a garbage can on top of it to hold it up until Mr. Max gets home.  And no lights in the kitchen because it's an LED light that turns on as soon as you go into the kitchen and LED lights get REALLY hot.  My dad burned down his house when an LED lamp fell onto his chair and he didn't realize it.

That's what I get for trying to clean.

[nachomama]

I did that with a bathroom light fixture, pulled it down to change bulbs and something rusted so I can't unscrew just the shade part and like you I can't shove it back up so it's literally been dangling for years. It's more of a balance, stand on a stool and get the 5 inch screw thingy to line up which I cannot do without getting vertigo. That's why I choose not to clean things :D

[madmax]

24 minutes ago, nachomama said:

That's why I choose not to clean things :D

I like your attitude.

[nachomama]

We've had 2 solid days of rain, I shouldn't complain, I know what Ida did all up the coast but great googly moogly we are soggy and I'm so tired of this rain.

I'm in big trouble when my boss gets here. I was waiting on some paper for a project I do every month. So when paper man got here I wheeled my paper into my office and started cranking out my stuff. I know I looked at what I grabbed because I grabbed 2 things...well I didn't look hard enough. I guess once I saw the first one I knew this was "mine" and well, it wasn't. Holy crap I ran 400 sheets of the wrong paper and the bad part is that obviously I done stole from my boss what he needed. What it means is they did NOT ship us mine which still screws us because I still don't have what I need. And these douche nuggets do this every month, they want 900 of this damn thing and they send it to me on the end of the day Thursday. No matter how many times I've tried to tell them that if they send it thursday it means I can't start on it until Monday because we order the paper when we get the job and they don't deliver friday which means I don't get til monday. (except in this case I didn't even get it monday) and her "stipulations" are thus...5 days turnaround BUSINESS DAYS DON'T COUNT. So she thinks elves work on Saturday and Sunday. Again if you send it to me on thursday...automatically business days kick in, that's 3 days that are useless to me. So then I am working on this maniacally to get it done on time.

2 years ago my sister died in September and we missed by a day. October the very next month is when my boss' father died, we missed by a day. The lady reamed us  and my boss is not the kind of guy to say "well we had 2 deaths back to back to it's a miracle you got it at all". She will not get 5 ("I don't mean business days, I mean 5 days total!") day turnaround on her horseshit job.

anyway I'm in big trouble ooooops

[nachomama]

I was told I need to pay more attention. Now what I did was usable, wasn't wasted paper, per se. Last week my boss printed an entire football program with the wrong opponent. 250 thrown away. Mine didn't get thrown away, could still use it. But I'm the only one not paying attention  eyeroll

[nachomama]

5 sleeps

I do believe a side trip has been planned for Colorado, if you know what I mean.

[nachomama]

I had to get a powerball ticket. $620 million sheesh. I used birthdays. Mom, oldest sister, niece, mine. I wanted to use Marcy's birthday but can't since it's also evil sisters birthday. My sister, friend Marcy and 2 cousins were all born October 9 in consecutive years.

 

[Nashville]

I’m still recovering from this past weekend - spent it hanging out with a few friends:

😎

I’m the guy with the hat.

[nachomama]

Holeeeeeeeeeee moses that's a lotta peeebles

[Nashville]

Yup.  I wasn’t down in THAT pack, fortunately; believe it or not, even at festivals like this there are places were social distancing is NOT an abstract concept.

[OoohMaggie]

On 9/30/2021 at 8:09 PM, Nashville said:

Yup.  I wasn’t down in THAT pack,

Do tell 

[Nashville]

On 10/3/2021 at 5:24 PM, icemiser69 said:

Is it just my imagination or does just about every Steely Dan song sound pretty much the same?

Well… you have the same performers playing the same instruments and the same singers on every song, so yeah - but not any more so than most every other band with a signature sound.  The same could be said of Boston - or Metallica - or SOAD, for that matter.  ;)

 

22 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

Do tell 

Nope!  What happens in Louisville, stays in Louisville - most of it, anyways.  😉

[Mr. Sparkle]

I've never liked them. For me, they were the band that was played between songs I liked on classic rock radio. 

I hate Supertramp much more. 

[madmax]

I have no problem with Steely Dan or Supertramp.  I can take them or leave them.

Now Boston, Rush and the Beatles?  I cringe every time I hear them.

Yeah, I said it.  I hate the Beatles.

[madmax]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

Supertramp has some good tunes.

Funny, I was thinking today that I haven't heard any  Supertramp for a while.  Like I said, I could take them or leave them, but I might need to look up a couple songs.

I've been running my iPod on shuffle and I get some of the weirdest mixes of songs.  Guess that's what happens when all your favorite tunes are the ones you grew up with, in so many different eras.

[nachomama]

I can't figure out how to post a video (too big). Here's some rando balloon fiesta photos. The day we went the mass assencion didn't take place, they blew them up but they didn't lift off which was a bummer but I have an awesome video of everybody firing up their flames. Not sure why but it felt kinda "game of thrones" to me, like it was torches or something. The blue angels flew overhead also, super cool.  I'm currently deceased, I'm completely broken and tired. I drove home through those tornadoes in Oklahoma, they were chasing me. The radio kept talking about the counties affected and I'm screaming "I don't know counties, I'm not from Oklahoma, gimme a mile marker or a town" eventually i was at mile marker 213 and they said from 213 -253 so I pulled over to wait for god to strike me down. I didn't die. nothing went as planned, didn't get to see niece and nephew, baby never came back from Michigan. I put 4,400 miles on my car. I'm so friggin tired

[nachomama]

The dinosaur sitting on her dad's shoulders is Sora and that child beat on me endlessly. She would take runnning leaps and just sit on my head or wherever she landed. She climbed me and grabbed my boobs. She was forever going up my shirt because "my milk was warm" so I'm very traumatized. Apparently I'm a fun jungle gym. Her dad is a Star Wars nerd so he was geeked about seeing the yoda and darth vader and there was a darth walking around and some storm troopers. There were also some "Covid" heads doing some kind of weird dance. It was a 4 mile walk to the car...uphill so you know I'm dead. I'm so sore. 

[OoohMaggie]

It’s nearly that time of year again, what’s it been…… 2 years without annoying brats knocking on your door demanding with menace 🧨

Due to the long wait I’ll have to check the use by date on the laxative chocolates, wouldn’t want the little darlings getting an upset tummy now 👹

[Mr. Sparkle]

I love Halloween and even the trick or treating! We'll be sure to not stop at your house @OoohMaggie. And since you live on the other side of the Atlantic, it shouldn't be a problem. 🤪

[OoohMaggie]

20 hours ago, Superclam said:

And since you live on the other side of the Atlantic, it shouldn't be a problem. 🤪

Oh that’s a shame…….. there’s always a warm reception at my front door, especially if they’ve  managed to navigate the flaming Tar Pits 🔥 🎃

[madmax]

I was always bummed that I never got kids for Halloween because I love to see the little ones in their costumes.

I go to my son's and help him hand out candy now.

[nachomama]

I've always heard the British people don't do halloween like we do halloween. Although less Halloweeny lately and not just because of pandemic. People trunk or treat more now or go to the Mall. Even though I live in a neighborhood where kids could go door to door we really don't get the traffic. My home town used to do "black cat jamboree" at the elementary school and they've quit doing it in the last 5 years. It was lame but still something to do. Every classroom had it's own theme, from cake walks to spooky stuff. One class showed 5 minute frankenstein or dracula movies from the 30's and 40's. Bingo in the cafeteria. You bought tickets and each thing was 1 or 2 tickets. You trick or treated between classes and had all kinds of prizes for each thing.

[Mr. Sparkle]

20 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

Oh that’s a shame…….. there’s always a warm reception at my front door, especially if they’ve  managed to navigate the flaming Tar Pits 🔥 🎃

See? You ARE in the spirit! 

[OoohMaggie]

9 hours ago, nachomama said:

 

I've always heard the British people don't do halloween like we do halloween

 

When I was a kid there was no trick or treating and not much in the way of Halloween at all. As with most things it did make it’s way over here some years ago although even pre Covid it didn’t seem as popular.

Our main event at this time of year has always been Guy Fawkes night, better known as bonfire night on November 5th. The country goes mad making bonfires 🔥 and setting off large quantities of high explosives 💥 who needs chocolate! 🤪

[nachomama]

I've heard of Guy Fawkes, even watched the movie with Kit Harrington where they explained the whole deal.

I guess because my mom grew up in Iowa and it was cold by Halloween my mother was obsessed with wigs or hats for costumes. I think to keep our heads warm but ultimately it meant we always had itchy, sweaty heads.

[Nashville]

“Remember, remember 

the fifth of November….”

[Nashville]

In other news, I was totally shocked to find I still had some semblance of a voice when I woke up this morning; I thought I left it all at the Titans/Bills game at Nissan Stadium last night.  Bet the Tuesday morning flights back to Buffalo were so quiet you could hear a mouse piss on cotton.  😆   #TitanUP!!!

[Mr. Sparkle]

7 hours ago, Nashville said:

In other news, I was totally shocked to find I still had some semblance of a voice when I woke up this morning; I thought I left it all at the Titans/Bills game at Nissan Stadium last night.  Bet the Tuesday morning flights back to Buffalo were so quiet you could hear a mouse piss on cotton.  😆   #TitanUP!!!

I work with a dude from Buffalo. He was not happy. 

That said, the best thing about NYC football is that the Jets had a bye week. 

[nachomama]

I have no dogs in that fight but I did keep hearing about Buffalo and can't say I'm sad.

[madmax]

Today is my anniversary - 32 years and my dad didn't think it would last 2 - and we have a favorite, rather expensive restaurant that we go to for our anniversary and our birthdays.  Usually no problem getting in during the week (it's hell on weekends), so we took a drive there after work.  

No water.  They weren't opening until 6:00. ☹️

So we ate somewhere else but it didn't feel the same.  Both of us were really looking forward to it.  I'm guessing we'll end up going next week some time.  I hope.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Happy anniversary! 

[Nashville]

17 hours ago, madmax said:

Today is my anniversary - 32 years and my dad didn't think it would last 2

A few months after we were married, the wife and I found out all our good friends had been running a pool on how long we would stay together.  The “picks” primarily ranged from 24 hours to 2 months, with the majority centering around the 2-3 week range.

How did we find out?  Her sister / my sister-in-law told us after she won the pool; she was the only person to pick “longer than two months”, and cleaned up something like $250.

That was 35 years ago this past December, and we’re still together - and while we haven’t kept in touch that much over the years, at last word I’m pretty certain everybody who’d lost money in that pool betting against us is on at least their third marriage/relationship since.  😂

[madmax]

13 hours ago, Superclam said:

Happy anniversary! 

Thank you!

2 hours ago, Nashville said:

A few months after we were married, the wife and I found out all our good friends had been running a pool on how long we would stay together.  The “picks” primarily ranged from 24 hours to 2 months, with the majority centering around the 2-3 week range.

How did we find out?  Her sister / my sister-in-law told us after she won the pool; she was the only person to pick “longer than two months”, and cleaned up something like $250.

That was 35 years ago this past December, and we’re still together - and while we haven’t kept in touch that much over the years, at last word I’m pretty certain everybody who’d lost money in that pool betting against us is on at least their third marriage/relationship since.  😂

Good on 35 years!!

My dad didn't actually SAY we wouldn't last 2 years.  He thought I was too young to get married (21).  He gave us money for the down payment on our house that we bought five months before we got married.  He had me sign a document that I would pay him back if we divorced before 2 years AND he said he'd throw us a big wedding.

Never got the big wedding from him.  We did have a medium sized one, thrown together in five months, that my in-laws paid mostly for, my dad just paying for the food since he gave us house money.

My SIL and I didn't think her brother's marriage would last more than 5 years.  It lasted 6.

[Nashville]

#TitanUP BAYBEE!!!  I expected (or hoped, anyway) we would beat the Chiefs today - but man, I didn’t expect it to be SUCH a shellacking!  😁

Chiefs 3, Titans 27!!! 😎

[nachomama]

On 10/22/2021 at 6:32 PM, Nashville said:

That was 35 years ago this past December, and we’re still together - and while we haven’t kept in touch that much over the years, at last word I’m pretty certain everybody who’d lost money in that pool betting against us is on at least their third marriage/relationship since.  😂

I thought you were making a joke about your wife and you not keeping in touch. haha

Just now, nachomama said:

 

Happy anniversary everybody! Huzzah

[Mr. Sparkle]

17 minutes ago, nachomama said:

I thought you were making a joke about your wife and you not keeping in touch. haha

The secret to a happy marriage! 

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, nachomama said:

I thought you were making a joke about your wife and you not keeping in touch. haha

That’s a different discussion altogether.  😁

 

2 hours ago, Superclam said:

The secret to a happy marriage! 

“I’ll have you know my wife and I have been happily married for 25 years!”

”But I thought you’d been married for 35 years…?”

”Yeah, well, the last ten years have been, yaknow….”

[nachomama]

I'm officially a geezer. I'm taking fiber, I'm seeking probiotics. I don't have a daily organizer YET for my vitamins and supplements. geez.

Been watching "Sex Education" on netflix. (Not because I need educating mind you, ahem) and I guess I'm my parents. My dad made us shut off "The Breakfast Club" because of the language. I'm not shocked by anything thus far I just don't really believe that many kids have that many problems. I'm just feeling old

[Mr. Sparkle]

I take St John's Wort, Gingko Biloba, thyroid medicine and cholesterol medicine. I think everyone who hits middle-age takes something. 

That said, I eat a ton of broccoli, other vegetables and lots of fruit. I have no fiber issues. 

[nachomama]

I have a high blood pressure pill and Jardiance. I think I have acid reflux or gerd or whatever you call it but I just take an otc daily heartburn thing, I'm not on any prescription for that. I take potassium and probably should take iron.

I try to eat lots of vegebulls. I do love green veg so no problem there. Trying to not eat potatoes.

[nachomama]

Getting my booster today.

Watched Dune last night. I was very averse to the original Dune, so, very apprehensive. I don't think I ever watched the entire thing back in the day, I don't love David Lynch, don't love Kyle McLaughlin. I thought it was super cheesy and maybe it was the CGI of the day...ionno.

My mom had a tendency to watch some weird stuff and I remember her watching Dune and Blue Velvet and being utterly confused. (her and I, separate reasons I'm sure) My sister remembers my mom liking scary stuff, forcing her to watch Hitchcock movies, maybe too young? I remember watching them...but not being forced and maybe the difference between the 2 of us was by the time I watched "Psycho" or "the Birds" they just weren't scary to me? Again, black and white Psycho didn't carry the same effect...? I remember my mom saying "In Cold Blood" original version with Hershel!! was the absolute scariest thing she had ever seen. I think though, that in her day, people breaking into houses and killing entire families was unheard of. Maybe "In Cold Blood" was an early "true crime" phenomenon? Either way, didn't scare me. My sister used to go on and on about how traumatized she was by that stuff. I remember watching "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" and thinking it was hilarious. I might have been just a teensy bit warped in the head.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I'm getting a Covid test tomorrow, then the booster Friday. Anything to get out of work. 

I read the 1st Dune and saw the David Lynch movie years ago. The book is decent, the movie is crap. I want to watch this one, but I have to gear up for 159 minutes of watching. 

[nachomama]

You do have to gear up for the 159 and consider that it's Part 1, so they barely scratched the surface. I can't say I hated it but I went in knowing nothing and comparing to nothing except the silly cgi I remember from my childhood. I will say it's much better than that! :D

[Nashville]

RE Dune:

• Loved the books.
•  Loved David Lynch.
• Loved Kyle McLaughlin.
• Loved Sean Young (before she went crazy, at least).
• HATED that damn movie; 95% of the dialogue was unnaturally stilted and pretentious, and the sophomoric choreography of the battle scenes would’ve made a high school drama club production of Our Town look like high art.

So, yeah - I want to see the new Dune, because virtually anything would be an improvement over Lynch’s unfortunate abortion.

[nachomama]

I think it's an improvement on those major things. Battles, choreography etc. I think the practical location filming (Tunisia??) works better than the weird green screen of old. It now looks like it could be real, sand worms included. I was not disappointed...but I know nothing, dunno what's gonna happen.

Dude is wanting to get a banner made with a Braves tomahawk as a fundraising scale. Like how you see United way things that they color in as they raise the money. He keeps saying "tommy hawk" which just makes me want to laugh so hard. Like how my dad used to say "motorcycle" as "motorsickle" like popsicle.