Small Talk: Chili's

[Kalliste]

Lol about not being professional enough for the plumber :D I've never had a workman comment on anything.. even when I've had to move a pile of junk just so they can write up the invoice.

 

I'm sure they probably do when they're back at the office or at home but who really cares. You pay them for a service and they do the job. I had a really nice cooling repairman the other week to service my AC and make sure it's all working ok. 

 

I was in stripey pajama pants and a tshirt.. when he wanted to show me something outisde I put on a pair of ballet flats.. all very attractive :P but he treated me politely all the same and showed me some things about how my AC system works.. plus he popped some of my lights back in place. We have downlights that sometimes move out of place and apparently it was a pet peeve of his so he placed some of them right :P

 

I don't know if I've ever cared that much about other peoples opinions of me. Sometimes I do want people to see me a certain way or listen to the things I say and I'll get annoyed when they don't but at the end of the day, they're not the people I come home to, who I wouldn't go out after work with and who I don't much think about unless i'm around them.. so why waste energy on people that don't really matter.

 

Anyway, assuming ages matters on the subject (the older you are the more experience with people I guess) I am 31 :)

[Pixel]

I'm not sure age is necessarily relevant. I brought it up because it took me 47 years to stop caring and be myself. I'm sure many people grew up faster than me.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Pixel

[possibilities]

I'm 49, fwiw.

 

I think people have often thought I didn't care but it's more that if you truly don't fit in, no matter how hard you try, people think you aren't trying. I suppose at some level I was okay with it, but I also had a huge load of anxiety about the implications, since "being different" was never my goal, just sort of how it worked out. I was never at all rebellious, just weird.

[Pixel]

I think people have often thought I didn't care but it's more that if you truly don't fit in, no matter how hard you try, people think you aren't trying. I suppose at some level I was okay with it, but I also had a huge load of anxiety about the implications, since "being different" was never my goal, just sort of how it worked out. I was never at all rebellious, just weird.

 

I've always fit in very well. Almost too well, I'd say. I've been a chameleon all my life. I can be comfortable and fit in in any sort of situation, whether it's doing shots with bikers or champagne with rich people at a charity event.  I suppose it's a good skill to have, but like I said, it's exhausting to keep adapting to fit my environment. I'm pretty happy with my current choice to not do that anymore, but I can't honestly say it's going to stick. We shall see!

[sacrebleu]

 

Now, does anyone have a recommendation for a good eye serum?

Here is the big secret about eye serums.

 

It really is a huge racket. Buy Olay regenerist serum (for the face) and use it all over (face, eye area, neck). It works just as well as the fancy stuff at about a third of the price. (BTW I turned the big 4-0 this year, but I'm one of the people who got a little crazy about moisturizing early. I have waaay too much information about this stuff in my brain) 

 

I have embraced not keeping up with youth culture. Although sometimes the 20-somethings I work with surprise me. My local NPR station plays old radio dramas every Sunday. Listening to them is one of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday evening. (Gunsmoke, Johnny Dollar-  love that stuff)

I dont' talk about it much because thought it made me sound about 80 years old, but it turns out I work with several people - at least a decade younger than I am, who love them as well.

 

Maybe its kind of like swing music or bow-ties, sometimes things just come back around again to being cool. (or so tragically unhip it's ironic, and therefore cool, or maybe I just work with dorks)

Edited January 2, 2015 by sacrebleu

[Kalliste]

I seem to get along with people relatively easily. At school the 'popular' kids didn't much like me but I think it's because they didn't like that I didn't like them :P 

 

And after that people do seem drawn to me, like I understand them and am a 'nice' person. as a team leader I need to be able to adapt to different personalities and help them along so basically it's my job.

 

Once I get home though, I'm my usual introvert self who'd be ok to never see anyone again :P

I seem to get along with people relatively easily. At school the 'popular' kids didn't much like me but I think it's because they didn't like that I didn't like them :P 

 

And after that people do seem drawn to me, like I understand them and am a 'nice' person. as a team leader I need to be able to adapt to different personalities and help them along so basically it's my job.

 

Once I get home though, I'm my usual introvert self who'd be ok to never see anyone again :P

[Pixel]

Kalliste, you sound similar to me!

Sacrebleu, thanks for the tip. I can't use Olay because it burns my sensitive skin, but I won't worry about eye specific stuff.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Pixel

[Pixel]

Thanks! I'll try the Neutrogena.

Good luck with the hair color. I was blonde for about 15 years. Went dark about 17 years ago and I'll never go back. My skin is too pale for me to be blonde.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Pixel

[Pixel]

I like that do!

[King of Birds]

I think we need a return to the "80s style Melanie Griffith in Working Girl" look. Without shoulder pads.

 

Edit- I mean, come on. LOOK at that. Actually, the shorter "more business like" look she changed to in the movie is more probable.

 

Edited January 2, 2015 by King of Birds

[Too Late Kev]

The hair is very cute, stewedsquash. Is it going to be very difficult to style each day? I go for the "no styling whatsoever" haircut. Like this but less Jenny-McCarthy-ish. It's probable that she styles hers, but for me, it's just wash, brush, and brush when it dries if I get around to it.

[Kalliste]

The hair is very cute, stewedsquash. Is it going to be very difficult to style each day? I go for the "no styling whatsoever" haircut. Like this but less Jenny-McCarthy-ish. It's probable that she styles hers, but for me, it's just wash, brush, and brush when it dries if I get around to it.

Me too! I got my haircut yesterday as well, no where near as short as SS :P 

 

I get up, shower and wash it (if it's hair wash day), towel dry and comb it... I'll brush it if it isn't hair wash day and that's about it :D

[Pixel]

Short hair doesn't work on me. I'm jealous of people who can pull it off because I think it's really cute and hot on people with the right face shape for it. Mine, alas, is not.

[King of Birds]

Hair wash day?

[Kalliste]

I wash my hair 3 times a week. So some days are hair wash days and some aren't :P

 

I used to do it only twice a week but in summer, sweaty hair/scalp is potentially the itchiest, most annoying thing ever.

[Kalliste]

I have irrational displeasure with people who do not have to wash their hair DAILY! Not Fair!

I used to, when I worked fastfood I washed it twice a day sometimes.

 

Then I realised all the washing was why it was so oily, vicious cycle and all that.. so I started washing it less and it stayed clean longer, huzzuh!

[Pixel]

I wish I could wash my hair every other day, even. I have to wash it every morning before work. If I do it the night before, by about 2pm I'm a greaseball.  I also have super fine hair, so any gunk at all is extremely obvious.  A tiny bit of oil looks like I dunked my head in a fryer.

 

Has anyone tried Madison Reed at-home hair color? I'm thinking of checking it out because it's so expensive to get mine done at the salon, and the older I get the more often I have to attack the grays.

[EllieH]

Mine depends on how I am planning to style it -- if I want to straighten it, I'll wash it the night before, and then can go 2-3 days without washing.  If I scrunch it up with curling products, I end up washing it every day so those don't build up on it.

[King of Birds]

Jeez. The latest poll "New Years Song" got like, NO votes. Are you all being passive-aggressive at me, at the same time? Or maybe I do need to do a better poll. Hm.

 

I'm tempted to do "How many times do you wash your hair in a week" but that's just TMI.

 

Oh! I got one.

 

Tomorrow is January 4th, pretty much "the end" of the Christmas season. Will your decorations still be up by January 5th?

[Kalliste]

hmm, need another option 

"No, because I never put any up"

[Glory]

I took my decorations down on New Year's Day. My house is naked now.

 

I've watched one and half seasons of arrow in three days. I'm going to try to finish season 2 today. It's my last day of vacation. Figure I might as well finish it out with a bang. And by bang, I mean "be lazy as fuck." 

[frenchtoast]

Mine are still up because we were sort of busy this weekend and I didn't want to be rushing around on Sunday. Hopefully I'll get some stuff put away during the week (and today) and finish up next weekend. 

[MichelleAK]

I took most of my decorations down on New Year's Day, but didn't take the tree down until yesterday.  Everything's now back to normal, although I did do a bit of rearranging of the furniture.  Since I got rid of the giant entertainment center, I've been messing around with how I want things set up in the living room.  When I get around to getting a new TV, I'll probably put it on the wall, with a smaller storage/component piece underneath.  Right now, my current TV is on my coffee table (which is actually a small TV stand), and I eventually want to get that back in use as my coffee table.  

 

On crappier news, I've got another cold!  And this one has migrated into including my right eye, so I've been waking up in the morning with it sealed shut from "eye boogers" (sorry, can't think of another word for it).  It's been a week now, and no signs of easing up.  I never had this many colds before, or colds that have lasted as long as these have.  It's like eating healthier and losing weight has made me more susceptible to getting sick.  I had back to back, week-plus long colds last spring, and now two week-plus colds since the end of October.

[MichelleAK]

Is it a cold or an eye infection? One time at work over the course of about 2 hours my eyes got full of puss and I couldn't see anything. I walked down the block to the eye doctor and he gave me some antibiotic drops to put in them. In just a few minutes it was unbelievable relief.

 

 

I'm pretty sure it's from the cold. The eye thing just started a couple of days ago.  Of course, it could also be a separate infection brought on by the cold, but I think it's all part of the same thing.  I'm giving it one more day, and then I'm going to hit up a "doc in a box" to make sure it's nothing more serious.  It's not affecting my eyesight, and it's not painful or itchy; it's just an annoyance at this point, but I don't want it to get worse.

[EllieH]

 

I need an I took the tree down last weekend but I still have my wreaths on the windows option before I can vote.

 

Similar here, I took down all the indoor decorations on New Year's Day (except I've found a few knick-knacks I missed, so I need to put those up at some point), but my outdoor lights are still up, waiting until a warmer (50 degree+) day to take those down.

[frenchtoast]

Y'all inspired me and I started taking down decorations. The only thing left to put away is the big tree and two mini trees the kids decorate. Oh, and the Christmas card holder. Otherwise, It's beginning to look empty.

[smrou]

No decorations put up.  No decorations to take down.  I did notice lots of trees on top of cars at the dump yesterday, though.  The yard waste area gets to look pretty weird the first couple weeks of January because really the only thing anyone's disposing of is Christmas trees (and wreaths, I suppose).  So they get dropped off, then the front end loader piles them all up, and for whatever reason I find the sight of an enormous pile of Christmas trees really funny.

[Pixel]

We only put up the tree this year, and I had it down by three days after Christmas.  It's 12 feet tall, and by the time I'm done decorating it I don't feel like doing anything else to decorate. I struck a deal with the kids that next year we'll use all the decorations except the tree. I think that will be more festive, actually.  

 

I've spent the last week cleaning out our basement with Mr. Pixel. My mom needs to move in with us, so she's paying to get our basement finished.  I cannot even believe how much crap we have that we really don't want to get rid of. I'm not a hoarder, I swear, but there's a lot of stuff that we use a couple of times a year that we just don't want to dump. We threw away a lot of stuff, and are donating stuff and having a garage sale, but when all is said and done we still have too much crap.  Of course, our house (not including basement) is only 1600 square feet, so it's not like we have tons of room for storage anyway. In other house, it probably wouldn't seem like that much crap.

[Too Late Kev]

I don't think we even could clean out our basement enough for a person to live there. We had a house project a few years back, and Mr. Kev was hard put to clear enough space for the worker to get to where they needed to be for water & electrical work. :/ It's full!! I hope it all works out well for you Pixel, but certainly if you're having changes made to the house, it probably should!

 

I selected the "Don't I have until the 1st day of spring?" option, because it's the closest to reality. I'll get to it when I get to it, or really, I'll ask Mr. Kev to get to it when I get to that. And then I'll ask a few more times and eventually it will happen. We have a (fake) skinny tree that's only about 6 feet tall, so it's not really bothering any of us to much. It'll definitely be down before the 1st day of spring, because we have a late-winter birthday here and it would be embarrassing to have the family over and still have the tree out. See? I have standards! They're just extremely low.

Edited January 5, 2015 by Too Late Kev

[LiberryLady]

Took down my tree New Year's Day; took down my outside lights the next day. Anyone else have the tradition of taking down the tree while the Rose Parade is on? That's what I do.

[Kalliste]

Just in case you guys need to learn how to internet:

[possibilities]

RE clutter, I find that the amount of stuff I have expands to fill up whatever space I'm living in. I don't understand how the apartment I have now seems too small (even though it's by fat the biggest I've had), when the one I lived in just before it was smaller but seemed spacious-- with the same amount of stuff in it.

[Glory]

RE clutter, I find that the amount of stuff I have expands to fill up whatever space I'm living in. I don't understand how the apartment I have now seems too small (even though it's by fat the biggest I've had), when the one I lived in just before it was smaller but seemed spacious-- with the same amount of stuff in it.

This is very true. We went from 600 sq feet to 1800 sq feet and it's like I was in a rush to fill up all the space! But Guts is a very firm believer in "one thing in, one thing out" rule so it's kept me mostly in check. 

 

Our front room still has no furniture though and that bugs the crap out of me, every day. 

[King of Birds]

Just in case you guys need to learn how to internet:

Wow. That video is just painful. But also hilarious. And that music!

 

"one thing in, one thing out" rule

Ahem. Um. Sorry.   TWSS?

Good rules, from Guts and Glory!

 

As for "clutter" you need to watch George Carlin's bit on stuff.

 

Edit:

East-coasters! I just read an article headline that's calling this week SN-OWMG!  (snow-omg!) Keep me updated on how many inches/ feet you're getting.

Edited January 5, 2015 by King of Birds

[Pixel]

Yeah, the too much stuff thing is a dilemma. There's still more that's purgable, but truly, we have a lot of stuff that does get used on either a regular basis, or needs to be kept in case we have guests, etc.  Our basement is being finished with lots of closet space, so I'm hoping we can find a place for everything.

[King of Birds]

I had that wrong! It's SNOW-MG. Had the dash in the wrong place. Ooopsies.

 

Pixel, sorry to hear that your Mom has to move in. Will that affect your time online or gaming? That's worse than finding space for all your hoarding things.

[Too Late Kev]

I haven't heard about SNOW-MG, but it's currently 13 degrees, and I'm not ready for that kind of crap. :(

[King of Birds]

Not one, not two- but THREE new Girl Scout cookies for sale this year. Two of them are GF, Kev!

 

But remember, to hide away a few boxes of Samoas for later in the year. (#3 on this list, written by Setlist)

[Pixel]

Nope, nothing affects my gaming time.  My mom is ok on her own, she's just emotionally not wanting to live alone anymore. She has Parkinson's and is depressed and anxious all the time, so she thinks living with us will help alleviate it. Or transfer it to me, more likely.

[Too Late Kev]

Thanks, King of Winged Things. The GF cookies look decent, so if I get any Girl Scouts this year, I'll ask if they offer those. I know last year (or was it the year before?), there was a GF option but only some of the areas had them, because there were two different suppliers for GS cookies. Hopefully, I can find some. Not that I particularly need any cookies, but you know...gotta support the little neighborhood girls, right? ;)

 

I do have a GF thin-mint-type recipe which is very good, but it's more work than I'm probably going to do.

[King of Birds]

I was just flipping around and saw the end of Jeopardy! And yeah, it's Jeopardy! - exclamation point there at the end. Well, if it's so damn exciting, and you're standing up there with two other contestants and you pull out a win-  WHY aren't these people excited? dancing? Yelling out a "what! what!!" Ya know- BEING HUMAN?  The dude just won 27,600 buckaroos. His 2015 taxes are gonna shoot up, maybe he'll go on a nice vacation or -- maybe hire some hookers, sniff some coke. RIght?

 

Jeez I'd like to see something between what I just saw and the behavior on The Price Is Right. Live life a bit, Jeopardy! contestants.

[MichelleAK]

I was just flipping around and saw the end of Jeopardy! And yeah, it's Jeopardy! - exclamation point there at the end. Well, if it's so damn exciting, and you're standing up there with two other contestants and you pull out a win-  WHY aren't these people excited? dancing? Yelling out a "what! what!!" Ya know- BEING HUMAN?  The dude just won 27,600 buckaroos. His 2015 taxes are gonna shoot up, maybe he'll go on a nice vacation or -- maybe hire some hookers, sniff some coke. RIght?

 

Jeez I'd like to see something between what I just saw and the behavior on The Price Is Right. Live life a bit, Jeopardy! contestants.

 

It's been awhile since I've watched either, but I think the Jeopardy contestants are always a bit more subdued.  Maybe because it's considered the "intellectual" game show, so they don't want to be vulgar, or something.

 

I'm finally getting over my cold. Maybe I'll actually get to the theater and see the final Hobbit movie this weekend.

[Too Late Kev]

Jeopardy! contestants are pretty classy. I'm a big Jeopardy! fan; I have a season pass on my tivo. It's nice to watch it later and FF through the pharmaceutical commercials. Sometimes I'll watch it "live," though; it's good to watch with the kids around because they absorb information. Also, it's nice to see what the kids can answer. They're definitely better at Geography, and often some of the history (especially ancient history, which I don't recall learning about at all).

[Glory]

Guys. If you're looking for a new show to watch, check out Arrow. It's on Netflix and it is AMAZING. Seriously. 

.

.

.

.

.

.

Seriously.

 

[MichelleAK]

stewedsquash, I can answer some of those questions.

 

First, Netflix and Hulu (and Hulu Plus), can be accessed via computer. You sign up with them, and pay a monthly fee (basic Hulu is free, but the offerings are limited).  Netflix streaming is about $12-13 a month (they also have a DVD program, but that's a separate charge).  You can watch either of these on your computer. They stream the shows similar to watching any video on the web.  Amazon also has their own streaming service, and if you already have an Amazon Prime account, I believe you can access a lot of content without an additional charge. You can watch all of these on your computer/laptop.

 

If you want to watch them on your TV, there are various options.  First, if you have a new, higher end TV, the apps are built in. You just need to connect your TV to the router for your cable modem.  If you TV doesn't have the apps, you need to add a "dongle," or separate box. The most popular are Roku, Chrome, and AppleTV. These are connected to both your router and your TV, and have their own remote. Through them, you can get video from a number of sources, including Netflix, Hulu, and other channels.  Note that you do need to set up accounts for most of these, and there is a monthly charge for most of them.

 

I would recommend checking out both Netflix and Hulu/Hulu Plus online, so you can get an idea of what they have available.  Hulu Plus has more current offerings, including current-season episodes of many shows.  Netflix has a deeper list of movies. Both Netflix and Hulu Plus have free trial periods (make sure to cancel at the end if you don't want to continue using them!).

 

One thing to note is to make sure your internet package is both fast enough for HD streaming, and has a large enough monthly download allowance.  If you go over your monthly "allowance" for internet usage, the overage charges can be high.  HD streaming takes a lot of bandwidth, and if you have a limited monthly amount you are allowed to download, you can go through that pretty quickly.

Edited January 10, 2015 by MichelleAK

[Too Late Kev]

You can also watch Netflix and such on your TV through some Blu-Ray players and game consoles like wii, playstation, etc. That's how I mostly access Netflix.

 

On another subject, and this is mostly addressed to King of Birds and anyone else in earthquake territory...

 

I recently started following @LAQuakeBot on twitter. I don't know why, but I did. So an hour or so ago, near Castaic, CA, there were 2 earthquakes 9 minutes apart, one a 1.3 and the next a 2.5. So do you think, "Whoops, getting stronger, I should be worried," or do you think, "Pfft. Can't even feel those little things from where I am, they happen all the time, no big deal"? And by the way, this sort of thing is why I should never move to earthquake territory; I'd be worried about it all the time. Every night I'd go to bed thinking, "Survived another day without the Big One hitting." (TWSS?)

Edited January 10, 2015 by Too Late Kev

[frenchtoast]

We have a "smart" tv and also a Roku. I prefer using the Roku for accessing VUDU (where we store our movies digitally, and some shows. It's those codes on the blu-ray packages. And you can buy and rent movies straight from there as well.) Anyway, back to the Roku--we have DirecTV for our satellite service and none of the channels that we'd want to watch new episodes (such as CBS or History etc) had that as option to stream new episodes. So, if you want Chrome or Roku to watch tv you will need a cable subscription to see new episodes. I would think Hulu Plus, having paid a subscription, will allow to see new episodes. (And when I say new, I don't mean live--I mean the next day or so.)

 

We do like how Roku interfaces with VUDU and Netflix etc. We have been contemplating cutting our satellite and just purchasing seasons of the shows that we enjoy, but haven't quite been able to pull the trigger on that.

[MichelleAK]

You can also watch Netflix and such on your TV through some Blu-Ray players and game consoles like wii, playstation, etc. That's how I mostly access Netflix.

 

On another subject, and this is mostly addressed to King of Birds and anyone else in earthquake territory...

 

I recently started following @LAQuakeBot on twitter. I don't know why, but I did. So an hour or so ago, near Castaic, CA, there were 2 earthquakes 9 minutes apart, one a 1.3 and the next a 2.5. So do you think, "Whoops, getting stronger, I should be worried," or do you think, "Pfft. Can't even feel those little things from where I am, they happen all the time, no big deal"? And by the way, this sort of thing is why I should never move to earthquake territory; I'd be worried about it all the time. Every night I'd go to bed thinking, "Survived another day without the Big One hitting." (TWSS?)

 

Thanks Too Late Kev, I forgot about using gaming systems (I don't have one) and blu-ray players.

 

As for earthquakes--if you are in an earthquake-prone area, there are always small quakes/tremors.  For example, here is a link to the Alaska Earthquake Center's "recent earthquakes" page:  http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/recent/sub/  

 

As you can see, there have already been about three dozen earthquakes today throughout Alaska.  You really can't predict "the next big one" from the dozens of daily small quakes, some of which are delayed aftershocks from previous quakes, some of which are just regular movement along the fault(s). Many of them you can't even feel, depending on location and depth of the quake. You can't obsess about the next big one (TWSS!).  You just have to try to be prepared (have some water/food/flashlights stocked, know where to turn off your gas/water, etc.).

 

ETA:  I have an AppleTV.  I picked that one to integrate with my other Apple products. I can use it to stream from my iPhone and my laptop (where I have some movies, music videos, etc.) stored.

Edited January 10, 2015 by MichelleAK

[possibilities]

Other than needing to pay for the subscription, watching a video from Netflix or Hulu is like watching one on YouTube or anywhere else on the web, really. You have to go to their website and click the link. Easy! That's for watching on your computer. So that's Netflix.com or Hulu.com . I pay $7.99/month for unlimited streaming from Netflix. I also pay $8.49 to borrow actual DVDs from them, because often movies I want to see are not available to stream and sometimes my internet connection is not fast enough to stream properly, either.

 

You can also go to the website of the network that produces or airs a show you're interested in. They often also have their programs available to stream. CBS, for example, streams their shows directly from cbs.com instead of via Hulu.

[King of Birds]

Many of them you can't even feel, depending on location and depth of the quake. You can't obsess about the next big one (TWSS!).  You just have to try to be prepared (have some water/food/flashlights stocked, know where to turn off your gas/water, etc.).

 

MichelleAK with the truth.

 

So an hour or so ago, near Castaic, CA, there were 2 earthquakes 9 minutes apart, one a 1.3 and the next a 2.5.

 

Before LAQuakeBot (which is instant geographical information via tweets) some media or papers would report about an earthquake in California. California, with 163,695 sq miles. And my mother, in New York, would sometimes call me after I first moved here and say "Are you okay? There was an earthquake" as if I could feel every earthquake in the state. If she had a cellphone, if she participated in social media, if she was on twitter and followed LAQuakeBot?  I can't even imagine the endless queries I'd be getting daily.

 

FYI, unless you're within, say, a mile, you can't feel a 1.0 type quake. Castaic is a good one hour plus drive north of me, with mountains and desert and a lake in between, and if there was a 4.0 up there, I'm not sure we'd feel it unless it triggered a fault line near the house.

 

BTW I have directv, and I think I'm getting EVERY movie channel this weekend for free- HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc. And it's raining. Football games too. I may not leave the couch this weekend.

 

edit: Frack that "classy game show" idea. You win big money, YOU GO WOO-HOO!  And you're allowed to, dammit.

Edited January 10, 2015 by King of Birds