Dave
Staff member
Dave
Staff member
Okay, more serious rant.
Remember my dying uncle? Well, last night at 2:20 am he went. He died in his sleep exactly like my dad did. The biggest difference is that he had more of a lucid period than my dad. And that's why this is in minor rant instead of the regular rant thread. Over the last few weeks, I got to spend a lot of time with him, laughing and talking about old times and the family. All the while we both knew his days were numbered. His passing doesn't make me sad in the least. On the contrary, I'm happy that he went painlessly, and that we got to say our goodbyes and I love you's. Because really, that's all that mattered in the end. This is one of those times I wish I were religious - if anyone deserves eternal paradise, it's Uncle Harley.
I'll leave you with a story about the guy.
In 2006 I still owned my house. In the back yard there was a wild rhubarb plant that started growing. I love rhubarb, but I hadn't had fresh rhubarb since I was a kid. So I let the plant grow and grow, mowing around it, meticulously clearing weeds nearby. It got huge! That May I graduated with my master's degree and had a party. All the relatives came. My uncles are all carpenters and farmers - salt of the earth doesn't begin to describe them. They were all outside drinking coffee and talking crap to each other when my uncle Harley pointed to the rhubarb plant and said, "The hell is that?" I was overjoyed! They saw my crowning achievement in growing something! "My rhubarb plant!"
He started laughing and nudged his other brothers who joined in.
"Rhubarb? That's not rhubarb! That's a weed!"
To this day I don't know what it was, but the next day once everyone left, I cut down and mowed over my fake rhubarb. None of my uncles have let me forget it.
Remember my dying uncle? Well, last night at 2:20 am he went. He died in his sleep exactly like my dad did. The biggest difference is that he had more of a lucid period than my dad. And that's why this is in minor rant instead of the regular rant thread. Over the last few weeks, I got to spend a lot of time with him, laughing and talking about old times and the family. All the while we both knew his days were numbered. His passing doesn't make me sad in the least. On the contrary, I'm happy that he went painlessly, and that we got to say our goodbyes and I love you's. Because really, that's all that mattered in the end. This is one of those times I wish I were religious - if anyone deserves eternal paradise, it's Uncle Harley.
I'll leave you with a story about the guy.
In 2006 I still owned my house. In the back yard there was a wild rhubarb plant that started growing. I love rhubarb, but I hadn't had fresh rhubarb since I was a kid. So I let the plant grow and grow, mowing around it, meticulously clearing weeds nearby. It got huge! That May I graduated with my master's degree and had a party. All the relatives came. My uncles are all carpenters and farmers - salt of the earth doesn't begin to describe them. They were all outside drinking coffee and talking crap to each other when my uncle Harley pointed to the rhubarb plant and said, "The hell is that?" I was overjoyed! They saw my crowning achievement in growing something! "My rhubarb plant!"
He started laughing and nudged his other brothers who joined in.
"Rhubarb? That's not rhubarb! That's a weed!"
To this day I don't know what it was, but the next day once everyone left, I cut down and mowed over my fake rhubarb. None of my uncles have let me forget it.
I don't know whether to rate this hug or funny. I'm glad you're doing okay.
Sounds more like what we call mile a minute around here. It has the thick, red stalks like rhubarb! Looks nothing like that but does look close to rhubarb!
That's why I guessed the pokeweed. It also has the thick, magenta stalks much like rhubarb. Here's a better picture than Wikipedia's:
--Patrick
Dave
Staff member
Nope. It was the leaves that made me think rhubarb. It actually could have been arctium lappa, which when a young plant looks like rhubarb and it is commonly mistaken for it. Of course, once it grows taller the difference is obvious, but until then...
How can you people be in upper 300 level classes and still not know how to write in-text citations the right way!?!
Off work today and half of tomorrow due to a technical issue that the Department of Justice doesn't want anyone to know about. Sorry, guys, but everyone in the USA and most of the world already knows our government employs a legion of incompetents who can't be fired.
Just remember to read 'em all before you do anything. Don't want to do a bunch of work and then find one of the later ones says, "Nevermind."
--Patrick
Dave
Staff member
I read them backward for this very reason.
I saved so many of my friends' essays from being citation disasters. I realise it's just formatting, and, to a point, as long as the information is there, that's the important thing, but, come on. It's not hard to learn. And if you really really really suck so bad: citeknight.com will do it for you.
I once forgot to do in-text citations. Me and my partner had to go to the professors office to show her where every piece of information that we got came from in our sources.
Then it turned out that doing that was just so we could suffer before she told us that the real reason she cared was because my partner copied and pasted paragraphs from websites.
The moral is: do your in-text citations so you won't have to waste an hour of your time on something nobody cares about.
Then it turned out that doing that was just so we could suffer before she told us that the real reason she cared was because my partner copied and pasted paragraphs from websites.
The moral is: do your in-text citations so you won't have to waste an hour of your time on something nobody cares about.
figmentPez
Staff member
A friend of my sister's tagged me in a "photo" on Facebook that was really just an advertisement for Herbalife. That kind of stuff is not cool. I did not consent to you using my name to get to my circle of friends to advertize that you're part of a pyramid scheme.
Nothing will destroy your faith in humanity faster than group projects.
GasBandit
Staff member
My office is the tidiest it's been in years. I'm still having to endure the fretful whining of the GM and HR lady about the shelves at my workbench because the owner's in town again tomorrow (the one who went ballistic last friday) and he "hates clutter." Look, people, it's not a storefront, it's a fucking workbench. There's going to be some disarray because I'm working there. Furthermore, this is not the owner's first visit, and he's seen my office. He's seen my office much worse than this. If there's anything you guys should have picked up from my sick absence last week, when everything went to hell when I was out two days, it's that you need to fuck off with your neurotic bullshit and let me do my job, because nobody else here can, and I'm rapidly running out of give-a-shit.
I hate that using a politically correct term can suck the funny out of a joke that is not actually targeted at making fun of the group the term is used to represent.
Case in point: Walking a chihuahua is great because it makes me feel like a giant. Of course that makes me wonder about people who date midgets...
Case in point: Walking a chihuahua is great because it makes me feel like a giant. Of course that makes me wonder about people who date midgets...
The biggest kitteh, Suji, is at the vet for the rest of the week having a urinary tract blockage dealt with. Started when he got spooked after I tested the downstairs smoke detector after being ordered to change the battery. Somehow he got caught in the workings of the upstairs recliner. I got him out right away, but he wasn't right from that moment on.
They collected some urine just before they got the catheter in, and there was a bunch of white... stuff... in with it. The first test tube of urine after the catheter was in place had blood in it. They are going to keep the catheter in for ~48 hours, and also do blood work and x-rays. It could be injuries or stress from the spooking, or the final stress straw after so much of having to deal with a sister kitteh that doesn't like him one bit. We shall see.
They collected some urine just before they got the catheter in, and there was a bunch of white... stuff... in with it. The first test tube of urine after the catheter was in place had blood in it. They are going to keep the catheter in for ~48 hours, and also do blood work and x-rays. It could be injuries or stress from the spooking, or the final stress straw after so much of having to deal with a sister kitteh that doesn't like him one bit. We shall see.
To be fair, that doesn't really have a whole lot of funny to be sucked out.
Fun fact: I once dated a little person! I feel bad for being unable to remember the exact name of her condition, but it amounted to a deficiency in growth hormone. She didn't look like someone with dwarfism, she just looked like a fully grown person that had been scaled down.
The awkwardness didn't come from being much taller than her, but rather the reactions of others, since from a distance, at a glance, she kinda looked like she was 12.
To be honest, I didn't bother crafting it into a workable joke when I realized that changing that word was going to break it.
Got a lot of this, did ya?
It didn't help that her idea of a prank was to yell "HELP! You're not my daddy!"
GasBandit
Staff member
The owner is STILL DOING THIS. Every day I get a half dozen e-mails from him with a half dozen people in the "to" field, with him telling everybody to "reply all" to confirm. Makes me want to bludgeon him to paste with a lead pipe.
GasBandit
Staff member
Even if he could be taught, I have my outlook set to ignore read receipt requests
So previously, my department gave out bonuses for two reasons, passing certification tests, and an end of year bonus somehow calculated from your performance review (of which said certifications were a factor). Starting this year, there will be no more end of year bonus, because they're focusing on the direct incentive bonus from certifications as a number of people are still not passing certification tests every year. However, said test passing bonus is not increasing. So for anyone who was already getting certifications (aka people like me) this ends up being a staight loss.
Suji is home. Immediately ran upstairs after I opened the carrier. Wanted to jump up on the kitchen counter, and was meowing his annoyance that he couldn't make the jump yet. He's got a bandage on one front leg from where they had the IV's in, they sent medication along for both pain and to treat the infection. He'll also have to be on a special diet for a while.
Our thermostat is set at 75. It is currently 81 in the house with the ac on. I guess it's time for this year's ac break down.
I hate this "May the 4th" shit. It was a funny pun like ten years ago when someone put two and two together, but it's gotten so old now. Now, every year, my Facebook feed is flooded with people going "May the 4th be with you! LAWL! Is funny 'cause Staw Waws!" Star Wars is already overplayed enough as it is by both LucasArts and every fanboy (worse, fanboy filmmaker) who references it. It's like Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Great movie, yeah, but not when you hear people quote it ALL THE TIME (see also: Portal and cake).
And now it's apparently OFFICIALLY Star Wars Day? For fucks sake.
And now it's apparently OFFICIALLY Star Wars Day? For fucks sake.