Small Talk: Chili's

[Pixel]

Oh no! Is this thread dying? Nooooooo! 

I've been out at training for work, and when I'm not working or in class I've been obsessing over watching Trump's truly spectacular tailspin and subsequent crash.  I'm astounded he has any support left at all, and am really scared of what he's leaving in his wake. According to legit polls he doesn't have a chance in hell of winning, but still, he's done so much damage with his campaign of hate that I don't know how we will recover. But...anyway. 

The clown thing is out of hand. Even in the little towns around here we have clown sightings. Urgh. 

[MichelleAK]

The clown thing just baffles me.  I'm guessing it's a combination of real clown sightings (some joking around, some maybe more malevolent), and fake ones.  I'm just waiting for someone "clowning" because they think it's funny, and getting themselves shot.

The whole Trump meltdown thing is just...I don't know what. I knew it would get weird, but this is beyond what I thought would happen. I've been phone banking (to Colorado, mostly) for the Hillary campaign, and most of the people I talk to can't wait to vote for Hillary (it's a Democratic/Democratic leaning call list). I know I'm voting the first day of early voting up here (October 24), so I can have it done before I leave for vacation on the 27th. Which I cannot wait to leave for.

[King of Birds]

Pixel, I'm not sure it's "dying" here -but it's just the regulars - you, MichelleAK, possibilities, sacrebleu, Kalliste. Every once in a while, Babalu.  Just got smaller and a bit boring. I contemplated a poll but came up blank. (It's because I'm busy w work)

[Kalliste]

In the last week I've had 2 blood tests, an ultrasound and a b12 jab... and a laser hair removal session today.

It's been a busy week :P

[possibilities]

I've been super tired so haven't had much to say.

I already filled in my absentee ballot.

I hope you're not sick, Kalliste.

[Kalliste]

Initially I went in because of tiredness and then test results showed low levels or iron and b12. Follow up was high results for liver stuff which I then got the above stuff for.

The results were mostly good but I have more fat than he'd like on my liver. He suggested a sugar FREE diet but we know that'll never happen so I'll just work on reducing it and eating more healthily.

[King of Birds]

Lets talk about VOTING - for a second, and no names.  For me here in Sunny SoCal, I will vote upon:

P / VP, Senator, US Rep and State Assembly (4) and four judges.

Then, there are 17 State Measures, 2 County Measures, 1 school and 4 city measures.

The general election 'voter information guide' is 223 pages. *eta: the last phone book I got was about as thick as this.

I assume @LiberryLady has a similar amount. How many votes are you suppose to click on?

Edited October 14, 2016 by King of Birds

[possibilities]

Heh. I got P/VP, senator, rep in congress, "governor's councillor," "county councillor," state rep (only one candidate running; the Democrats in supposedly uber-democratic Massachusetts couldn't find anyone to run), state senator, 4 ballot questions, and county sheriff (also running unopposed but this time it's the Republicans who didn't run anyone).

Both "councilors" are also running unopposed. I had to do research to figure out what the jobs were, as well as who the candidates were, because no one I know had any idea.

I didn't read the "voter guide" this time, because all the ballot questions and candidates (other than the unopposed councillor candidates) were very familiar to me and extremely easy for me to know how I wanted to vote. Usually it's not so cut and dried, but this year I feel very strongly about all the people and issues running. But I'm certain it's not 200+ pages and it's waaaaay smaller than the phone book.

California has a famously complicated situation because of all the initiatives that get on there. I wonder why you all have so many more than other places, though. Is ballot access easier? I know in MA you have to get a lot of signatures, and there are usually not very many ballot questions -- the 4 we have this year is the most I remember seeing.

Amusingly, the ballot questions here seem to usually have to do with gambling, marijuana, and animals one way or the other (and sometimes both, as when there was one that had to do with greyhound racing). This time one of them is also about charter schools. Occasionally there will be something about taxes.

[Kalliste]

I have an election today. Local. I got to pre poll. I chose my 5 preferences and it was done :D I don't know how I'd deal in your situations.

[King of Birds]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

California has a famously complicated situation because of all the initiatives that get on there. I wonder why you all have so many more than other places, though. Is ballot access easier?

What's crazier to me is how a few times, the initiatives were inherently unconstitutional. Like this one. Yet it cost the state and the pro/con people lots of money. The lesson I take from all the initiatives is that its a ton of wasted money in a state that can't afford to waste money.  Plus sending these 223 page documents to every registered voter in the state.

As for ballot access- due to population density I've voted in 4 different places in the 22 years here and each time the polling place is closer to my house. I like to vote "the day of" but that backfired once as a "work emergency" stopped me from voting. **Which is why I'm all for moving voting day to a Saturday or weekend**

My neighbor across the street has a county job, and everyone in her department is told to volunteer at a polling place each year. This June when I voted, so many voters had lines through their name, I asked why and she said they had voted by mail (so the name crossed out means they cannot vote again.) I was stunned by how many were crossed out, just on the page I signed on. I'd say the majority of people in my area do the mail-in to avoid lines.  I think I mentioned before but the Bush-Gore vote, the line to vote was long and contentious. But the last several votes I can get in/out in less than 15 minutes.

[Pixel]

My town is small enough that my polling place is pretty easy to get into and out of.  Despite Illinois always "going blue", we do have a preponderance of Trump voters in town, so I gotta get in there and negate at least one of their votes!  

Usually I will vote democratic for most stuff, but republican for anything that controls financials. This year I feel compelled to go straight democratic because I'm so horrified at the shitshow that's unfolding. Illinois has suffered terribly under our Repub governor. I'm not sure it's entirely his fault, but he hasn't impressed me much. 

[MichelleAK]

I just got the "Official Election Pamphlet" (which is 191 pages long--kind of pushing the limits of a "pamphlet"). I'll be voting for: Pres/VP, US Senate, US House Rep, State Senate (unopposed), State House (unopposed), 2 ballot measures (initiatives, basically), and a bunch of judge retentions (we don't vote for judges; they are appointed, but we vote on their retention every 10 (?) years). 

I already know how I'm going to vote on everything except the second ballot initiative, which I haven't heard much about. I'll read up on it before October 24, when I plan to go in and vote.

I generally vote Democratic. Up here, voting for Republicans for "fiscally responsible" reasons at the state level doesn't make sense, since they spend like drunken sailors. They just spend it on crap we don't need, like bridges and roads to nowhere, or giving huge tax breaks to oil companies, as opposed to helping the towns, schools, and kids. Then, when we get into fiscal trouble (like now), they refuse to vote to do anything about it, for fear of not getting re-elected and losing their position at the trough. 

Edited October 16, 2016 by MichelleAK
Because this Monday is NOT the 24th.

[sacrebleu]

I vote in DC, so it's solidly Dem-- I'm not sure what turnout will be like. I moved in December, but didn't update my info-- so I have to go to my old polling place.

(I've mentioned before that I'm regularly called for jury duty-- I'm worried that re-confirming my DC resident status will prompt another jury summons. The last one was a year ago- but I managed to get myself excused. So, I haven't served since spring of 2013, which is a long time for me.)

[King of Birds]

We had less than a quarter inch of rain over night... STORM WATCH!

[possibilities]

Wow, sacrebleu, in MA you can ask to be excused from jury duty if you've served within the past 2 years.

KoB, that's wild. Were there at least winds to excuse the big effects of the tiny bit of rain? I swear, the grid is falling apart.

[King of Birds]

@MichelleAK - hey, is something missing from your pamphlet?

[MichelleAK]

7 hours ago, King of Birds said:

@MichelleAK - hey, is something missing from your pamphlet?

 

Well, I didn't miss him, but yeah, not a real professional look.  I'm not sure if they think Alaska doesn't matter, or if they are sure they are going to win the state, or if it's just incompetence.  Interestingly, a recent poll shows him just 1 point up here, which is surprising. I still expect the state to go red, but it may be a lot closer than in years past.

[King of Birds]

There have been a few things I've mentioned over the years that I *haven't* tried like-

- Actually going to Chili's
- Flying a jetpack
- Eating an Eggo

But I'll have you know that two of these three MAY happen this week.

[Pixel]

I recently went to a Chili's. It was surprisingly more wonderful than I'd imagined.  

[possibilities]

I think it's hilarious that the product placement got us to name our group after them, and think/say the name of the restaurant for YEARS, but not to actually try eating there. Similarly, I have a fondness for Subway because of their Chuck sponsorship-- but I have never eaten there either. And I thought Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was very funny in how they talked about Amazon.com this week, but I'm already buying a lot of stuff there, and I don't think the product placement changed my habits. It's hard to feel sorry for advertisers, but I guess they do have a tough job.

[MichelleAK]

We have just one Chili's here, and I've been a couple of times. It's not my first choice, mainly because it's clear across town from where I live.  There are closer local restaurants I can hit up that are easier to get to. 

Just three more days of work, and I'll be off on vacation until election day!  Really looking forward to having the time off, and being somewhere warm. We are now in winter mode here, with our first snow of the year hitting last Thursday night.

[Babalu]

On 10/12/2016 at 10:52 PM, King of Birds said:

Pixel, I'm not sure it's "dying" here -but it's just the regulars - you, MichelleAK, possibilities, sacrebleu, Kalliste. Every once in a while, Babalu.  Just got smaller and a bit boring. I contemplated a poll but came up blank. (It's because I'm busy w work)

Hey! I responded to this a day or two ago, but my post didn't show up, which, based on the Bugs thread is a thing around here until a glitch is corrected. Recaplet:

I've been MIA because of moving from HI to FL a few weeks ago. But I have a couple of killer Death Chicken images saved in case Chili's goes dormant again. 

Then some boring stuff about voting: I printed the voter registration application in HI and mailed it practically the second I got here. The presidential and senatorial races are easy (hint: my favorite color is blue), but I feel woefully uninformed about most of the initiatives. I'll probably vote next week, but need to cram first. 

[Glory]

I still read, but I've had precious little time to post lately. Work is awesome, but busy. I'm on travel right now and enjoying a little bit of relaxation in a hotel room all to myself. 

In Glory news, we adopted a puppy. He's a year old, a Frenchie, and Lexi loves him so much. Potty training was rough, but he's smart. He starts puppy class Thursday.

[Pixel]

I'm jealous, Glory.  I want a puppy, but the husband is so happy there's no dog crap in the backyard he won't let me have one.

I've been hanging out over in the politics threads because I'm obsessed. Now that I feel fairly confident that Trump will not win I'm getting slightly less obsessed, but I won't be able to relax until it's all really over.  Although, I fear the Tangerine Nightmare won't go away quickly.  I recall Sarah Palin was pretty visible for a couple of years after she made McCain lose the election.  Anyway, my election obsession has been eating up a lot of my free time, as I scour the media for Trump's latest buffoonery and check fivethirtyeight.com for the latest poll updates.  I don't recall any other election ever holding my interest like this, and I can say for sure I never watched a single debate prior to this. This time? I watched every minute of all 3!

My mother just found out my daughter is gay. She asked me if my daughter was noticing boys yet, and I said, "Yeah, she's noticed they're not as cute as girls".  She's still trying to wrap her head around that.  She asked how it happened and I said she was probably born that way, to which my mom could only shake her head.  Old people are so silly.

[sacrebleu]

Congrats @Glory adopting a rescue was (for me) a great decision. Sure, he drags me out of bed at 5:30 every morning-- but I've lost 20 pounds just from exercising the mutt.

I recently took him to the vet for his six month follow up blood test-- and he's  healthy and heart worm free! I believe I had mentioned that he had heartworms when I adopted him. He was restricted to 10-15 minutes walks and as a result-- pretty much used me as a chew toy to expend his excess energy. 

I had briefly considered getting him a Halloween costume-- but it turns out-- I'm really not the type who dresses up her dog.  Anyone have any creative costume ideas this year? Barb? a bad hombre? zombie David Bowie (too soon?) 

[Glory]

Who's got two thumbs and had dinner with @LiberryLady last night?!

This girl!!

We, of course, had dinner at a Chili's! It was so fun to get together and meet face to face!! Thanks again for having dinner with me!!

A certain @King of Birds did not join us, but I'm hopeful I'll be in the neighborhood again soon so we can try again. 

[Pixel]

3 hours ago, Glory said:

Who's got two thumbs and had dinner with @LiberryLady last night?!

This girl!!

We, of course, had dinner at a Chili's! It was so fun to get together and meet face to face!! Thanks again for having dinner with me!!

A certain @King of Birds did not join us, but I'm hopeful I'll be in the neighborhood again soon so we can try again. 

That's awesome! 

[King of Birds]

3 hours ago, Glory said:

A certain @King of Birds did not join us, but I'm hopeful I'll be in the neighborhood again soon so we can try again. 

Glad you're home with your puppies. Sorry I couldn't make it.  If/ when you plan to come back again, would it be work-only or would you be more of a tourist?

[Glory]

It's mostly for work, but I'll try to give you more notice. I would like to go to Disneyland. 

[Kalliste]

On 10/26/2016 at 11:53 AM, Pixel said:

My mother just found out my daughter is gay. She asked me if my daughter was noticing boys yet, and I said, "Yeah, she's noticed they're not as cute as girls".  She's still trying to wrap her head around that.  She asked how it happened and I said she was probably born that way, to which my mom could only shake her head.  Old people are so silly.

What would you Mum have thought a valid reason to 'how it happened' would have been? It's such a strange thing to ask, like you could have stopped it from happening somehow. Old people are indeed a bit silly.

I'm waiting out the days until I'm on leave from work and then I'm going to New Zealand for a week or so! It's my first ever trip overseas so I'm a bit nervous but NZ is such a pretty country that I'm sure it'll be great. Plus the Auckland Zoo has Capybara! So that is exciting!

[Pixel]

14 hours ago, Kalliste said:

What would you Mum have thought a valid reason to 'how it happened' would have been? It's such a strange thing to ask, like you could have stopped it from happening somehow. Old people are indeed a bit silly.

I'm waiting out the days until I'm on leave from work and then I'm going to New Zealand for a week or so! It's my first ever trip overseas so I'm a bit nervous but NZ is such a pretty country that I'm sure it'll be great. Plus the Auckland Zoo has Capybara! So that is exciting!

I have no idea what she's thinking would have happened to make my daughter gay. It was pretty disappointing actually, to see her reject the idea.  She's had gay friends.  She never expressed any resistance to that. 

I'm about to sound really stupid right now, but I've never traveled to either Australia or New Zealand, so in my mind the landscape in both places is the same. I think it's probably because to my ear, the accents sound so similar, so I just marry the two places in my mind.  Anyway, that sounds like a fantastic trip!

Glory, someday we need to meet up.  We're only like an hour away from each other!

[Kalliste]

The landscape are actually quite different @pixel New Zealand is quite mountainous (in my knowledge... I've never been there after all :P) and green. It also has much more snow than Australia... and earthquakes. I'd say New Zealand is lush green where Australia is more brown and grey green/blue.

I sometimes see footage of places in California and wonder if it is Australia, the landscape sometimes seems similar.

[King of Birds]

On 10/29/2016 at 10:37 AM, Pixel said:

Glory, someday we need to meet up.  We're only like an hour away from each other!

Apparently she'll meet up with you at a Chili's, if there's one nearby  ;-)

 

Edited October 30, 2016 by King of Birds
a laugh for halloween

[Babalu]

[Kalliste]

hee, cute!

[King of Birds]

Is that your own MS Paint death chicken, @Babalu?

[Babalu]

No, I found it via Google Images. I can't draw even that well.

[Pixel]

21 hours ago, Babalu said:

Fantastic!

[King of Birds]

So this should become A THING.  Whenever we hit a 'death chicken' someone can find an appropriate jpg / gif/ or draw something up. I recall back in the day, that @Setlist was quite an accomplished MS Painter.

[Babalu]

Okay, there's no point in posting a funny graphic if all it leads to is another dead chicken. So I posit an amendment to @King of Birds's suggestion and recommend that whoever posts the jpg/gif/whatever also tries to jump-start the conversation. 

So - is your occupation what you always wanted to do? If not, how did you end up there and what would be your dream job?

I went to a liberal arts college and majored in Asian Studies with a focus on Indian history (spent a couple of terms studying in India, for which I'll be forever grateful). Interesting but none too marketable. So I got the first job I could find (in Minneapolis), which was in economic assistance in county government. I started as clerical, thinking I'd be there only six months. Thirty years and several promotions later (welfare reform coordinator, planning analyst), I retired. Then I did the same thing in HI for eight years and retired again.

I love languages and I love traveling, so I'd say my ideal jobs would have been becoming fluent enough in French to have been a translator or guiding tours to other countries. But I can't deny that civil service gave me a lot of benefits, including meeting my husband (a huge scandal, but that's another story) and being able to retire early (twice).

[King of Birds]

Let's make this all about @Babalu.  You've retired early twice, very interesting. Thirty years on the first job : wow. Bravo. I approach year 29 being in somewhat the same job but I feel I need to pull the plug. But lets dwell on you- it is pretty incredible you retired early TWICE. Or were you getting the side eye from some superiors? Truth: you just couldn't take another Minnesota winter, right?  Your time in Hawaii- you had some time off, got bored, then found a job with your same skills, or did you move there with intent to find work?

I can't believe you fled to Florida now. Do you get to use your French in the land of alligators?  Have you found Florida to be the punchline it is? I don't know why I get commercials for Sonic (they aren't around this part of SoCal) but one of the ads is this one, which I get a laugh every time it plays:

 

6 hours ago, Babalu said:

including meeting my husband (a huge scandal, but that's another story)

Somebody's gonna have to spill!  A SCANDAL!

[Kalliste]

9 hours ago, Babalu said:

So - is your occupation what you always wanted to do? If not, how did you end up there and what would be your dream job?

I never much had a plan, I figured I'd end up in IT because I was good with computers and it was a time where that wasn't too common. (late 90's) That being said, I didn't study IT after school and instead started a Diploma in Communications and Media. After realising that was really freaking boring I dropped out 3/4 through and went to work!

I always told myself I'd never start in a helpdesk and then... my first full time job was a helpdesk. It's ok, most IT people tell themselves the same thing and most of us end up starting in a helpdesk. Unfortunately, I don't have a huge amount of drive to do something specific so it took a long time to move away from the helpdesk environment, I was working at them for about a decade and given my tendency to not be able to keep my mouth shut and tell me bosses exactly what I think of their stupid ideas I would generally have to start from the bottom and work my way up at each job (fortunately, I wasn't stuck on the phones too long in most places and was a team leader for much of that time).

Nearly 2 years ago I moved into a department in the public service (I'm not sure if I've said what department, probably not, I'm bound by policy not to mention it online) which I thought was going to be the biggest mistake of my life given the amount of red tape you hear about but it worked out. I started as team leader on a helpdesk with management that actually trusted I could do my job well (pretty much a first) and that I would make the right decisions, even when I told them they were wrong they still considered my opinion even if they decided to go against me. Since that first day nearly 2 years ago I've moved position twice into being a System Admin for a system I'd never used 3 months before going into the role (and now am the sole person who knows anything about it. They call me an SME which is terrifying to me as I've only been doing it for 12 months and am no where near an SME) and as it's being decommissioned (thankfully!) I recently moved into doing Testing which I actually quite like. I thought I wouldn't because of the repetitiveness of it all but it's actually quite fun trying to work out what will break something. Less fun having to tell the overworked dev about it though.

Anyway, TL;DR: I've basically fallen into the jobs I've had and don't have a goal or dream job. I somehow doubt I'll ever know what I want to do when I grow up.

And I agree with @King of Birds - tell us about this scandal :D

[Babalu]

Okay, okay. Since I'm a relative newbie around here and you all have a lot of history, here's a quick (or probably not so quick) Babalu-at-a-glance:

• I first retired at 52, which I could do (with a reduced pension) because I'd been there 30 years. Two years before I retired my husband was diagnosed with prostrate cancer, so we decided to move to Hawai'i, where we'd vacationed many times, to fulfill his dream. We bought a house, rented it until we could retire, then moved and lived there for 10 years. I'm a cancer survivor, too (21+ years), so we just decided to go for it. Hubby still has cancer but it has been controlled with treatment.
•  I knew I'd have to work in HI because it's so expensive; did a couple of long-term temp assignments and then took the lazy route and started at the State because that type of work was familiar to me, it was close to home, and the vacation/sick leave benefits were awesome. After 8+ years, was able to retire again with another reduced pension because of age and > 5 years of employment. AND I'm getting Social Security Early Retirement, so I'm triple-dipping, baby! 
• We struggled for a long time about where to move. We finally decided we couldn't really afford to live in HI, at least not in a house/condo we'd be happy in. I resisted Florida for a long time and called it a "garbage state," but the more I thought about it, the more open I became. Proximity to the Gulf and no real winter are big factors, as is the fact that I can visit family and friends for 1/3 the cost and time. So far, I really like it - the people are very nice (but so white! How I miss HI's diversity). The area I live in is more conservative  than I'd like but doesn't seem hateful or uneducated or anything. And if I can help turn it bluer, all the better!
• The Sonic ad is funny, as were the FL jokes during the first few episodes of this season in Brooklyn 99.
• I read French every day but am not so good with speaking, writing, or understanding the spoken language, though I can usually understand people who speak it as a second language since their vocabulary and speed are more in line with mine. I really want to learn Italian. I took a little bit several years ago, and it's so expressive and beautiful that you feel like a totally different, and much more interesting, person. I think I'll be looking for a class once we've settled in.
• Scandal? Who said anything about a scandal? (Maybe some day I'll spill, but not today.)

[Pixel]

Kalliste, don't be too worried about being a SME. A SME is just the closest available person who knows the most about something! :) I use them all the time at work to develop IT stuff for clinicians. I'm always meeting with my SME's to improve things. In my case, my SME's tend to be physicians. 

My path to where I ended up is too convoluted to explain using an iPad keyboard, so I'm just enjoying everyone else's life stories for now.  Short version: Wanted to be a film editor, got a degree in it, never used it, became a nurse and then went into the IT branch of nursing. I love it. It's the best job I've ever had. 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Pixel

[sacrebleu]

Quote

So - is your occupation what you always wanted to do? If not, how did you end up there and what would be your dream job?

My job was, but you can get sick of/burn out on your dream job. I worked in local tv news. It's what I went to school for, it's what I always wanted to do. But after ten years-- most of it in an extremely high pressure market (DC) I began to hate my job. Hated coming up for new ways to make crime and politics sound interesting, hated the pressure of putting together a new show everyday. Hated ping-ponging between horrendous crimes and patter about weather and American Idol.

So I took my knowledge of journalists and what they want, and put it to use in the nonprofit world. Now I work in media relations, pitching my former colleagues about stories they could be doing. 

I've always thought that if the Tennis Channel had existed when I got of college, I would have gone for a job there and might still be working in tv-- but c'est la vie. I don't miss it. Especially after an election season like this one. I'm sure everyone is looking forward to this campaign to be over (vote!) imagine if you spent 8-10 hours a day reviewing tape, writing copy, etc. 

Also, the benefits are much, much better, especially stuff like PTO. You don't get holidays off in tv-- the news is on everyday. I'd have to burn a vacation day to get Christmas Day off. So you have significantly fewer days to take vacations (assuming you want to spend holidays with your family.) 

[King of Birds]

Googled SME to find out what THAT is.  LOL SMH WTF amiright?  We really do need emojis here so I can over-use the <rolling eyeball> one.

Working in the TV biz? I didn't know that about you @sacrebleu. (but I knew the nugget about  @Pixel) I think I've only known you in the non-profit charitable world. Back in the twop days, the poster BBob was a TV news director, if I'm remembering correctly. No wonder we all gravitated to The Office!

Okay well I better get back to my "slow Monday afternoon" reading. These 223 pages of pro/con proposition reading ... yup, I left it til the last minute. What an idiot I am, eh? [Don't answer that] I guess I should have paid attention to the last 3 years of election coverage, huh?

[Pixel]

Sorry! SME=Subject Matter Expert

[Kalliste]

Oops, sorry on the SME part @King of Birds

It's great you were able to adapt your skills to doing something else @sacrebleu and be happier in the long run.

[sacrebleu]

Ummm, I don't want to put you on the spot or anything, but after last night, @Kalliste would it be okay if I moved in with you for next four years?

[King of Birds]

No, don't you be a line-jumper.  I'm going to Oz first. Crashing whilst Kalliste is in N'Zealand.  I'm practicing my accent and all too!  "That's not a knife" - etc etc.