Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[Ohwell]

Dilly Dilly!

[peacheslatour]

15 hours ago, Ohwell said:

Dilly Dilly!

Hah!

[friendperidot]

My sister fixed my Red Copper Flipwich! I tried and tried to get it back together, got frustrated and just quit. Today, I walked in the kitchen and it was reassembled! I'm so thrilled. I'm getting Thomas' English Muffins tomorrow! Because Thomas' promises. (to tie it to commercials)

Actually this was the best Christmas present she could have given me. I'm at the age where I don't need much, and I buy for myself what I do need, but I couldn't get that silly thing back together.

[QuinnInND]

Just want to say Happy New Year now, in case I freeze to death before next week. 37 below zero this morning with wind chills of -48.  We warmed up to a toasty 20 below. It's 32 below now. Anyone have any ice tongs? 

[chessiegal]

23 minutes ago, QuinnInND said:

Just want to say Happy New Year now, in case I freeze to death before next week. 37 below zero this morning with wind chills of -48.  We warmed up to a toasty 20 below. It's 32 below now. Anyone have any ice tongs? 

Thank you for making me grateful for having sub freezing temps (27-30 F) for the next week or 2. Sending warming thoughts your way. We have friends who moved to Wisconsin to be near their grands, and I I don't know how they survive their winters.

[AuntiePam]

My 47-year-old son moved here (to Iowa) last summer from Seattle -- he's experienced some wintry days before, on visits, but nothing like what we're having now. 

We talked about the old days, before central heating and indoor plumbing.  He asked me why the early settlers stuck around after the first winter -- why they didn't move south or west. 

I think part of the answer is that Midwest and Plains winters are like childbirth.  Once spring and summer come around, we forget about the icy cold days, just like labor pains are quickly forgotten. 

[Brattinella]

When it is so cold for so long like this (not above 20F for days, down to single digits at night) it scares me to death.  Having survived that terrible ice storm where we were trapped in the house for seven days with no heat and no power, I will never forget it.

[AuntiePam]

13 hours ago, Brattinella said:

When it is so cold for so long like this (not above 20F for days, down to single digits at night) it scares me to death.  Having survived that terrible ice storm where we were trapped in the house for seven days with no heat and no power, I will never forget it.

It IS scary.  Weather can kill us.  Extreme heat and cold both.  Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes -- those are bad enough but long periods of extreme heat and cold can be just as dangerous.  It's not always possible to stay warm or cool -- we're dependent on mechanical systems. 

[QuinnInND]

14 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Thank you for making me grateful for having sub freezing temps (27-30 F) for the next week or 2. Sending warming thoughts your way. We have friends who moved to Wisconsin to be near their grands, and I I don't know how they survive their winters.

We're here because of the Air Force. Last winter we had the subzero temps and 5 feet of snow too. Not so much snow this year.  Although I'd rather have the cold winters than the hot summers of the south. We did get up to 99* last summer here. A land of extremes. 

[mojoween]

Our newspaper had a list of weather facts for today (i.e. the wind chill forecast for much of today will be minus 10 and the high temperature will be around five) and at the end it said “zero - the number of devastating hurricanes that struck Centeal New York in 2017.  Also, the number of widespread wildfires, volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, famines and plagues.”

Obviously that was mostly tongue in cheek, but that right there is why I will never ever leave Syracuse.

Now when I went outside today to change the flag on the mailbox to a Duke flag from a Giants flag it did feel like my face was going to freeze and when I took down my nine foot tall inflatable Mickey Mouse I had to dig out the extension cord because it froze to the ground, but I didn’t even put on a jacket.  Gloves, yes.  I’m not CRAZY.

And yes, we had more tornadoes this year than normal but our tornadoes are absolutely benign.  Last year two people died in a tornado and that was the most in decades.  For some reason, this area just is not susceptible to horror show weather.  Yeah it’s cold and up north they already have almost ten feet of snow, but it’s all manageable.

[ABay]

It will be below freezing all week and leaving extra time to pull on all the outer clothes and scrape off the windshield every morning are pains in the ass. But I'd rather have this than 90 degree heat and high humidity. If only that was a choice instead of getting stuck with both.

[Jamoche]

On 12/30/2017 at 8:37 PM, AuntiePam said:

]We talked about the old days, before central heating and indoor plumbing.  He asked me why the early settlers stuck around after the first winter -- why they didn't move south or west. 

There's a family story that we have ancestors who tried moving to Texas in the 18-somethings, hit the first heat wave, and turned around and went back to Alabama.

[Tunia]

20 hours ago, ABay said:

It will be below freezing all week and leaving extra time to pull on all the outer clothes and scrape off the windshield every morning are pains in the ass. But I'd rather have this than 90 degree heat and high humidity. If only that was a choice instead of getting stuck with both.

Agree 100%.  You can always put on another sweater, but there's just so much you can take off and be street legal!

Besides, I subscribe to what I call "The Green Pepper Theory". When you want a green pepper to stay fresh, you put it into the fridge, not the heat.  Same with your skin!

Edited January 1, 2018 by Tunia

[friendperidot]

Quote

  11 HOURS AGO, PREVAILING WIND SAID:

When my nephews were little, they did this...all the way from Miami to Disney World. My brother told them to knock it off. They didn't. Once they checked into the hotel, the boys were still at it, i.e., "he's looking at me!" so my brother packed everything up and checked 'em out of the hotel and they drove back home in complete silence. The kids *never* acted up in the car again.  Alex will be 40 this year and he STILL mentions it every now and then.

I did the same thing. It wasn't Disney, it was just the county fair but they faught the whole way there. I pulled into the parking lot, told them if they kept fighting we were leaving. They stopped for as long as it took to get out of the car then they started again. I opened the trunk, put everything back inside and we came home.  Any time one of them would act up in the car, the other would remind them "don't forget what happened at the fair". Thankfully, my daughter is raising her kids the same way. I don't deal with brats. 

I was foster parent to my 2 younger nieces, we went to Kc (having trouble with cap c, dog knocked over cereal dish) went with friends to Worlds of Fun, the girls were told they could ride one of the coasters after while, but not this minute. I had warned my 2 that misbehavior would mean removal from the park. We noticed that my friend's girls and one of mine were missing, finally found them almost boarding the coaster. We waited at the end of the ride and left the park. We'd only been there a short time, all 6 of us missed out because they thought they were going to ride that coaster when they wanted to. My nieces remember it still. I'll have to ask the other 2 on FB if they remember.

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎11‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 8:32 AM, mojoween said:

On a semi-related note, I do hate how Kohl’s and Old Navy do their super cash.  Like, I'm in your store NOW.  Please don’t give me 20 bucks to come back some OTHER time.  90% of the time I don’t even use it.

I lost a bunch of "cash bucks" from Old navy, I think, b/c I set them aside, intending to use them when they became valid but forgot about them until they had expired. >:-(

 

On the vague commercial topic, I keep hearing this annoying ad on the radio for some sort of gaming app featuring a woman calling who I assume is a coworker who's continuously playing games on this app. What bugs me about this commercial is the little busybody freaking her shit out every time she calls and jumping to ridiculous conclusions: "OMG! She lost her family jewels!" OMG! She's dating some strange man!" "OMG! She's in Las Vegas, GAMBLING!".

[Moose135]

On 12/31/2017 at 2:17 PM, QuinnInND said:

We're here because of the Air Force.

You're not at Minot, are you?  I was never stationed there, but did spend one December night there after diverting multiple times due to weather elsewhere.  The snowstorms we were trying to avoid had passed through - it was clear and right about zero degrees when we arrived.  Back in the SAC days, the line always went "Why not Minot? Freezin's the reason!"

[mojoween]

My grocery store has Christmas candy 50% off.  Most of it is peppermint bark, like get the hint Ghirardelli, no one wants it, but the Lindt chocolate sleigh and the Whitman’s sampler in the adorable festive tin were absolutely screaming my name so who was I to argue?  I’ve been very good at limiting myself to one piece a day.

When I was at the store I also picked up my birth control that I use to stop hot flashes and it was 17 bucks and I was like “damn I thought that part didn’t go through the new tax bill?” but I paid it and then the light bulb went on and I remembered I got a new prescription card.  She ran it through and wahoo the birth control is free again!

Now because I had already completed the transaction I had to go to the service desk for a refund and without even asking the girl gave me cash.  I really wanted it back on my HSA card because my funds are getting low on it and I have a bunch of medical bills I’ve been paying off monthly.  

$600 from the lab for a CBC, on top of the $180 for the doctor’s appointment.  Ridiculous.  I mean, I have insurance.  Those are the discounted prices

[bilgistic]

I can't form a response that isn't "political", but I understand completely.

One of my meds is $74 under insurance but $15 on Rite Aid's generics program. I got a threatening letter from the insurance that said they noticed I hadn't filled that (maintenance) prescription in a while, so they'd report it to my doctor. I'd filled it, but not under insurance. The doctor hasn't called me with concern. Oh well.

Edited January 3, 2018 by bilgistic

[Silver Raven]

5 hours ago, mojoween said:

My grocery store has Christmas candy 50% off.  Most of it is peppermint bark, like get the hint Ghirardelli, no one wants it, but the Lindt chocolate sleigh and the Whitman’s sampler in the adorable festive tin were absolutely screaming my name so who was I to argue?  I’ve been very good at limiting myself to one piece a day.

OK, I have a rant.  Why was there absolutely zero hard Christmas candy in the stores this past Christmas? You know, the ribbon candy, and the hard candy with the fillings, that came in a cardboard cylinder that used to be metal back in the day?  It was unavailable at supermarkets, at drug stores, it was just not there, anywhere.  I almost broke down and went online to look for it.

[mojoween]

That’s funny because I saw both hard candy and ribbon candy on the sale shelf today.  I noticed it because I don’t know what ribbon candy is.  It was at Tops in Baldwinsville New York, for the record.

[janie jones]

15 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

OK, I have a rant.  Why was there absolutely zero hard Christmas candy in the stores this past Christmas? You know, the ribbon candy, and the hard candy with the fillings, that came in a cardboard cylinder that used to be metal back in the day?  It was unavailable at supermarkets, at drug stores, it was just not there, anywhere.  I almost broke down and went online to look for it.

I can't even think of any hard Christmas candy besides candy canes (and the ribbon candy, now that you mention it), so I'm thinking that there might not be a big market for hard Christmas candy?  No one I know is buying it, anyway.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Silver Raven]

47 minutes ago, mojoween said:

That’s funny because I saw both hard candy and ribbon candy on the sale shelf today.  I noticed it because I don’t know what ribbon candy is.  It was at Tops in Baldwinsville New York, for the record.

sob

[Brattinella]

I found lots of candy here, maybe they have what you are looking for!  https://www.bulkcandystore.com/

[smittykins]

9 hours ago, mojoween said:

That’s funny because I saw both hard candy and ribbon candy on the sale shelf today.  I noticed it because I don’t know what ribbon candy is.  It was at Tops in Baldwinsville New York, for the record.

Our Tops(Seneca Falls/Waterloo)has it too.

[mojoween]

25 minutes ago, smittykins said:

Our Tops(Seneca Falls/Waterloo)has it too.

I need apples from Sauder’s so as long as the Nor’Easter stays away I should be out in your neck of the woods this weekend!  Also Coach keeps sending me emails that everything is 70% off and I don’t need any more bags but I am also weak.

[QuinnInND]

On 1/2/2018 at 11:45 AM, Moose135 said:

You're not at Minot, are you?  I was never stationed there, but did spend one December night there after diverting multiple times due to weather elsewhere.  The snowstorms we were trying to avoid had passed through - it was clear and right about zero degrees when we arrived.  Back in the SAC days, the line always went "Why not Minot? Freezin's the reason!"

That's where I am! Lol  And they still say that!  

[smittykins]

Continuing the walk-in bath discussion:

I'm 51 and have had mobilty/balance issues my entire life due to spina bifida(I'm lucky to be walking at all).  In 2015, I moved from a building where all of the apartments had shower stalls to one with conventional tubs, and at one point, I fell climbing out when my leg got tangled in the shower curtain, and I had to scooch on my bare, wet posterior to the living room so I could pull myself up on the couch.  I now have a bench that extends about 6 inches outside so I can sit down and swing my legs over,  and I'm on the waiting list for one of the two accessible units in my complex. 

[friendperidot]

ouch Smittykins! I fell in my backyard a few years ago. thought I might have broken my ankle, knew I had broken my wrist, also had a concussion, but by the time I crawled to the house, I knew my leg was badly sprained, but not broken. Of course, I didn't have my phone in my pocket!

Candy, old fashioned, hard to find candy. This is a subject I have become conversant about the past couple of weeks. I got a craving for old fashioned, coconut Bon Bons, since I don't have a car, my choices for looking is limited, no one within walking distance had them. Bought 2 lbs from Old Time Candy, it came yesterday. I will have it a while, I don't need 2 lbs. I would have been happy with half a dozen pieces. They used to come in pink (strawberry), yellow (lemon), chocolate, white (vanilla). This batch doesn't have the white ones. I also got Valomilk, they were a favorite as a kid, they're a local KC area thing. 

But I also decided I wanted Blackberries/Raspberries and Smooth and Melty Minty Nonpareils. Old Time Candy didn't have those, got them on Amazon. The Nonpareils are nearly gone, they were as good as I remembered. But this brand of Blackberries/Raspberries tastes and smells like dish soap. I am very disappointed and will put it in my review.

Which I will now be able to write, my computer ability has been reduced for several days waiting for a new keyboard. Quark, the infamous, knocked a bowl of leftover cereal milk and it fried the keyboard. Today is brought to you by the formerly missing letters, "k,q and x" and the spacebar. It's surprising how many words have those letters, most of my passwords, apparently. I was on FB and used the "/" to separate words. I'm sure my friends are happy with my new keyboard also. 

[Prevailing Wind]

Quote

Today is brought to you by the formerly missing letters, "k,q and x" and the spacebar.

I have all the letters on my keyboard. Y'know how they say "E" is the most frequently used letter in the English language?  If that's so, why has the N completely worn off its key? M is almost gone, too - and I rarely use either one in my userids or passwords, so it's not that. All the other characters are fine - just those two keys are wearing off. It is a puzzlement.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

But I also decided I wanted Blackberries/Raspberries and Smooth and Melty Minty Nonpareils. Old Time Candy didn't have those, got them on Amazon. The Nonpareils are nearly gone, they were as good as I remembered. But this brand of Blackberries/Raspberries tastes and smells like dish soap. I am very disappointed and will put it in my review.

Try the Vermont Country Store. They have all kinds of hard to find candy and treats.

[Silver Raven]

5 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I have all the letters on my keyboard. Y'know how they say "E" is the most frequently used letter in the English language?  If that's so, why has the N completely worn off its key? M is almost gone, too - and I rarely use either one in my userids or passwords, so it's not that. All the other characters are fine - just those two keys are wearing off. It is a puzzlement.

Mine is A, for some reason.

[janie jones]

My guess is that those keys get sort of rubbed rather than just tapped. 

I never realized I never used my left thumb on the space bar until I noticed the worn spot on the right end of it once.  Every computer I've ever owned since then has been like that.

[peacheslatour]

I have a tendency to hit the same key whenever my Chromebook is in "sleep" mode to "wake" it up. I have to make a conscious effort not to do that.

[mojoween]

Huh.  I just pretended to type and realized that I only use my right thumb on the space bar.  Never the left.

Also, schools no longer teaching typing makes me very very sad.  I learned in tenth grade on a typewriter and we had to use correct-type to fix our mistakes (anyone remember that?  It was rectangular and looked like tape but one side had almost wite-out on it and you would put it in the roller, type the letter that you had made a mistake on and then type the correct letter).  I thought I was very fancy when I went to college and my mother bought me a typewriter that had both regular and correction ribbon.

When I started working at a discount department store (Ames, which no longer exists), for our training we learned on registers that had the numbers capped and for the first few days of our training we did number typing exercises.  I swear, when I then went to work at a bank six years later I thought that training was the greatest thing I had ever been taught, because this was banking where you entered every number into that little machine, before computers were used like they are now.  I still have to type numbers a lot for my current job and appreciate that training.

And now, children, please depart from my property.

[peacheslatour]

Me and Martha Washington had to put electrical tape on our keys in typing class. It was frustrating but it worked.

[friendperidot]

If we made mistakes in typing class, it was counted against us. if you took the more advanced business machines class, they had electric (oooh, ahhhh!) typewriters! Seriously, typing is the most used class I ever took in high school. Many years later I taught myself to use a 10 key by touch, working as a bookkeeper, that was helpful. 

And I never use the spacebar with my left thumb either, I think that's a right-handed person thing to do. Lefties, want to weigh in on that?

I'm struggling with my new keyboard, it's longer than my last one, has a right of center section of keys, arrows, delete, insert, etc. so the main keyboard is more to the left than the last one and I keep putting my hands wrong and I cannot type with just one finger on it. I'm sometimes too lazy to pick it up and put it my lap to type. I do search for the "f" and "j" keys, but I end up typing gibberish unless, I use both hands. It also has a 10 key, I insist on it.

[Ohwell]

I'm left-handed but I use the space bar with my right thumb.  As a kid in elementary school, I was ambidextrous, could easily write with either hand.  The teachers wanted you to write with your right hand and would whack the back of your hand with the ruler if you didn't.  Now, I wasn't usually stubborn--kind of meek, in fact--but I thought it was just wrong to make someone write a certain way.  So I decided to become a leftie and have been ever since.   

I still remember the name of my 10th grade typing teacher, Miss Banks.  When I went to college, my best friend made a big deal about the fact that she didn't know how to type--I think she thought that typing was "just" for secretaries.  Well, when the time came to do term papers, she had to pay someone to type hers.  She didn't have the nerve to ask me.  Also, I was too busy typing my own.  So, thank you, Miss Banks. 

[chessiegal]

When I was in high school, all the kids in the college bound track had to take typing. I'd already been teaching myself, so it was easy. I made money in college typing papers for others. Ironically, when I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation, I hired someone to type it. I was too busy writing, and with all the footnotes, endnotes, and citations it was easier. This was before computer word processing.

[bilgistic]

I first learned to type in fifth grade (1985ish) on a manual typewriter. I remember the teacher saying we had to build up our pinkie fingers' strength.

I took typing again in seventh grade. The typewriters were electric then. I remember we had letter-sized paper taped to the top front edge of the typewriters so that it covered our hands when we typed and we couldn't see the keys.

Mom was a legal secretary and later a paralegal, so at different times in my childhood, she brought home a borrowed manual typewriter and electric one.

[ebk57]

My mother made me take typing in summer school when I was 11 (late 60s), because she didn't want me wasting an actual class on it, but I needed to learn because she wasn't going to type any papers for me.  I was peeved, to say the least, but later I was ever-so thankful!  It was so helpful in school, through my retail career, through my banking career and now... well, it doesn't really matter now in my financial/accounting career because everything is so computerized.  I finally let them take my adding machine (god, I loved it!) and replaced it with a mini adding machine/calculator.  It's tough to use the keys on it without looking, but I really don't need it that often anymore. 

But I feel accomplished because I don't have to look at my computer keyboard.  So there! 

[mojoween]

Oh oh oh I forgot one more anecdote...I had left Ames and went to work at another discount store called Caldor’s and the number pad on their registers was upside down!  It was like a phone pad instead of a number pad.  Most frustrating job I’ve had.

[ebk57]

16 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Oh oh oh I forgot one more anecdote...I had left Ames and went to work at another discount store called Caldor’s and the number pad on their registers was upside down!  It was like a phone pad instead of a number pad.  Most frustrating job I’ve had.

Ha!  This happens to me when I try to transcribe a phone number that spells something onto my computer.  It's totally upside down and I hate it.

[Ohwell]

I'd still like to get my hands on an IBM Selectric, just for grins.  I loved that typewriter, my fingers could fly on those keys.  I'd also like a red Swingline stapler!

[Brattinella]

Oh boy I loved Selectrics, with their extra fonts and the ball that twirled!

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

When I was in high school, all the kids in the college bound track had to take typing. I'd already been teaching myself, so it was easy. I made money in college typing papers for others. Ironically, when I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation, I hired someone to type it. I was too busy writing, and with all the footnotes, endnotes, and citations it was easier. This was before computer word processing.

I typed term papers and a few dissertations to supplement my regular job.   I can't remember how I did footnotes on a typewriter.  I think I actually typed them separately and then measured the space needed so I'd know where to stop typing the main part of the thesis and start typing the footnote.  

There had to be a template so as to avoid going outside the margins, and scroll down to number the page yourself.  What a nightmare!  And rolling the carriage up or down to type the number of the footnote -- that was fun. 

Wills were fun too.  I worked in a law office, and cross-outs/white-outs weren't allowed on a will.  If you made a mistake, you tossed that page and started over.

Shall we talk about dictaphones (that used a plastic tube, not a cassette tape), carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and early copiers and faxes that required special paper?  Didn't the paper come in a roll, and had to be cut? 

[Ohwell]

I loved the smell of mimeograph paper.  : )

I still laugh at the scene in Office Space where the guys are out in the woods, beating the crap out of that printer.  I know exactly how they felt.  

[bilgistic]

I student-taught in the spring of 1997, and the school still had a manual mimeograph "machine"! Yes, the scent! I loved it!

It did have modern copiers, but they went down all the time. Copiers and printers will never not suck and always deserve to be beaten to death in a field.

[Jaded]

25 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I still laugh at the scene in Office Space where the guys are out in the woods, beating the crap out of that printer.  I know exactly how they felt.  

I love that movie. That scene is one of my favorites too.

[Prevailing Wind]

Quote

It also has a 10 key, I insist on it.

My first laptop didn't have it; I'd never thought it wouldn't have a numeric keypad. I had to buy a separate USB 10-key numeric keypad. The laptop died, but I stashed the keypad away, in case I ever need it.

I had a keypunch job once where all we did was type 10-digit Eastern Airlines ticket numbers onto those 80-column cards (yeah, I'm THAT old.) 4 tickets per card. We had a part-timer who also did the same thing working for Eastern. I have no idea why they sent out some of the work for an agency to do, but this woman would sit there and type nothing but numbers in the steadiest rhythm I'd ever heard.  Most typing sounds have ebbs & flows, stops and starts, but she was like a damn machine gun.  My Data Processing classes in high school (a vo-tech school in the late 60s) were where I learned the 10-key numeric pad. 

People that could use an adding machine, etc, really fast are why the phone pads are reversed.  There was actually a possibility in the early days of touch-tone of "dialing" your number too quickly, so they reversed the numbers to prevent that. Supposedly, that's why frequent letters on a QWERTY are spaced the way they are. If they were made too convenient to type fast, those old-fashioned keys would jam - something you couldn't do with that lovely Selectric ball.

[mojoween]

At another retail job I had we had to print reports every night and the printer was a dot matrix.

Next to bubble wrap, the next oh-so-satisfying thing was folding the edges and tearing the paper at the perforation.