80s-lite, full-on 90s, and then some more 80s-lite.
The Random Crap Thread 2: It Hits the Fan.
- Thread starter North_Ranger
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GasBandit
Staff member
GasBandit
Staff member
So they're redoing the floors as part of the renovations where I work. I don't know much about "doing floors" but it looks to me like they've just slathered all the old tile in the hallways with a thin, uniform layer of cement-like grout, and I guess they're just going to throw down more linoleum on top of that or something.
Whatever.
The part that really strikes me as odd, as... well, there's a hallway with a step down in it, you see, because our building was once a building half its size and had an addition built on that doubled its footprint. The hallway crosses from the old side to the new side, and there's a step because the two sides have floors at different elevations. Not exactly ADA compliant. So as part of this "redoing the floors" thing, they are putting in a ramp there. But they're doing it on the cheap, it looks like - I can see the ramp's surface (under that thin layer of cement/grout stuff) is plywood. Because you know, the best way to build a ramp in the busiest hallway of the office is out of plywood, and then just pave over it.
I give this thing... 2, maybe 3 years tops before somebody's foot goes through it and we've got a workman's comp claim on our hands, or even better, a lawsuit if a visitor/client is the unlucky schmuck to finally break the ramp.
Whatever.
The part that really strikes me as odd, as... well, there's a hallway with a step down in it, you see, because our building was once a building half its size and had an addition built on that doubled its footprint. The hallway crosses from the old side to the new side, and there's a step because the two sides have floors at different elevations. Not exactly ADA compliant. So as part of this "redoing the floors" thing, they are putting in a ramp there. But they're doing it on the cheap, it looks like - I can see the ramp's surface (under that thin layer of cement/grout stuff) is plywood. Because you know, the best way to build a ramp in the busiest hallway of the office is out of plywood, and then just pave over it.
I give this thing... 2, maybe 3 years tops before somebody's foot goes through it and we've got a workman's comp claim on our hands, or even better, a lawsuit if a visitor/client is the unlucky schmuck to finally break the ramp.
So I just got back from a five-day mini-honeymoon in Bangkok. Which was very nice.
And it turns out that we'd accidentally shut off our fridge right before leaving, so we came back to find a fridge full of food in varying states of decay. Which was not nice.
And we had to dump all the food in the fridge and scrub it from top to bottom. Which was exceedingly not nice.
And now there's still the smell of rotting meat in it. Which is totally not nice.
Any tips on how to get the smell of rotting meat out of the fridge?
And it turns out that we'd accidentally shut off our fridge right before leaving, so we came back to find a fridge full of food in varying states of decay. Which was not nice.
And we had to dump all the food in the fridge and scrub it from top to bottom. Which was exceedingly not nice.
And now there's still the smell of rotting meat in it. Which is totally not nice.
Any tips on how to get the smell of rotting meat out of the fridge?
GasBandit
Staff member
Take all the drawers and shelves out. Wipe them, and all surfaces inside the fridge, down with a watered down bleach solution. Then wipe everything again with water by itself. Then wipe everything again with a baking soda + water solution. Then wipe everything again dry and put it all back together.
Having had nearly the same thing occur with my fridge once, I say go with @GasBandit's solution. Also, it may take more than one cycle. And don't forget to clean the freezer, if the two are attached, otherwise ice made in said freezer tends to take on a similar smell to the one in the fridge. It's not pleasant.
GasBandit
Staff member
Nintendo Power? Or EGM?
I actually still have most of my Nintendo Powers... I threw out a bunch that were just simply falling apart, but I've kept the rest. It's kind of hard to part with the stuff that taught you how to read.
EGM, those ones from the mid-90s that were 400 page monstrosities.
Depends on the thickness of the plywood: http://diyguides.dremel.com/plywood-strengths-20394.html
Most subfloors of houses that don't have a concrete foundation (or second floors of houses) are made of 3/4" plywood. Contractors put tile mud right on the plywood and then place the tiles on them. Go watch This Old House, stat.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, but I get the feeling our GM built this ramp himself, and he's not exactly Bob Vila. Maybe it's my imagination but every time I walk on it I am pretty sure I feel it flex ever so slightly.
Well then, now is your chance to have an "accident."
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh don't get me wrong, when I was a toddler I was totally down with Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm. Encyclopedia Brown, though, was the first series I remember specifically asking for more of. Started reading them around 5 or so, kindergarten.
Ah. For me that was Berenstein Bears (the longer books, not the picture books). Also loved Goosebumps, but I was in late elementary early middle school for that.
I read a lot of books growing up - the libraries in my schools were my friends. The FIRST one that I can remember clearly as picking out for myself was as a 3rd year (2nd grader) in England. I picked the Black Cauldron.
Brofist for fellow early library friend.
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Sad news for Gummy Bears fans... Hans Riegel, the founder of Haribo, has died, aged 90. I suggested to my wife that we go buy two bags, eat one, and pour the other on the ground (you know, for our homie), but she said she wouldn't want to see what happened when the cats got hold of an entire bag of gummy bears.
I also had a LOOOONG term Nintendo Power sub, from the NES era through the death of the SNES. They're long gone now though, my mom does not keep old crap that isn't important to her around so they were disappeared when I was a teenager.
Didn't matter too much anyway, kid in grade 7 (I think I've put this story on this forum before) stole the vast majority of really good NPs from me anyway (mainly the silver coloured Mega Man X issue with the Starfox card model inside).
On the subject of kids books, who else was confused with Arthur's redesign as a kid? How he transformed from aardvark to brown egg-plant bear thing. Who gives a shit if the Buster spin-off had lesbians in it, what the hell happened to Arthur's head?
I had that one. I wonder if I still do. I know I had a box of them sitting at my parents. I have a feeling I tossed them when they didn't my them around any more.
Thanks to his Encyclopedia Brown and Tw0-Minute Mysteries, Donald J. Sobol was the second English teacher in the room for many of my classes.
The Three Investigators had a way cooler hideout. And car.
For me, it was Danny Dunn. Can you imagine what it would be like to have access to two top scientists and their lab all the time to try experiments of your own? Can you?
Add a bit of Era laundry detergent (or any enzyme-based booster product) in your cleaning mix. The enzymes will break down the lipids and help remove the odor. In a pinch you can scrub it down with meat tenderizer but if you don't rinse it well enough that can cause other problems (like eating the seals out of your fridge, depending on what they're made of).
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
This is just the year's periodic reminder that halforums does have its own wiki, and that chances are I've written a malicious untruth about you on it to encourage you to edit your own page there.