[Rant] Minor Rant III: For a Few Hollers More

My daughter likes it, in fact the only ice cream in the house right now. I just like the balance between the vanilla and chocolate that Divide has, two distinct flavors that complement each other.
 

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The AC is broken in my office building. I have a desk thermometer that is currently reading 91F (33C). Of course, the windows don't open. Not that there'd be any relief there anyway.

Oh the thermometer logs, and it got over 100F in here over the weekend.

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We're part of some plan out here that allows power cycling or something, so every once in awhile they can just shut our AC off and we get some kind of big discount on the bill.

The funny thing is with the single-room AC units my brother and I have we're probably not really saving anything by being signed up.
 
When it rains, it pours.

AC is steadily dropping the temp in the house, so I went to plug in an oscillating fan in the kitchen to help distribute the air around. A big fat spark jumped out of the outlet when I went to plug it in.

Queue the mad scramble to shut off the main power line (which, natch, meant the ac goes off), pull the face plate off the wall and make sure I don't have a fire starting.

Once that's done, I proceed to replace the outlet. Because the ones the homebuilder used are shittier than 88 cent outlets from walmart, so I've already replaced a half dozen, and have a dozen more sitting in the garage awaiting use. The homebuilder's outlet had cracked, and when I pulled it out of the wall, it fell into about 6 pieces in my hand. Piece of shit. Because of the condition it was in, all the internal electrical parts kind of moved freely and independently in the receptacle, and trying to plug something in made the hot wire make contact with some metal, causing the spark.

But hey, at least the AC came back on when I turned the power back on.
 
When it rains, it pours.

Ac is steadily dropping the temp in the house, so I went to plug in an oscillating fan in the kitchen to help distribute the air around. A big fat spark jumped out of the outlet when I went to plug it in.

Queue the mad scramble to shut off the main power line (which, natch, meant the ac goes off), pull the face plate off the wall and make sure I don't have a fire starting.

Once that's done, I proceed to replace the outlet. Because the ones the homebuilder used are shittier than 88 cent outlets from walmart, so I've already replaced a half dozen, and have a dozen more sitting in the garage awaiting use. The homebuilder's outlet had cracked, and when I pulled it out of the wall, it fell into about 6 pieces in my hand. Piece of shit. Because of the condition it was in, all the internal electrical parts kind of moved freely and independently in the receptacle, and trying to plug something in made the hot wire make contact with some metal, causing the spark.

But hey, at least the AC came back on when I turned the power back on.
Shouldn't you replace the rest and, if not done already, get an electrician to peek into the house's wiring to make sure it's on the up 'n up?
 
Shouldn't you replace the rest and, if not done already, get an electrician to peek into the house's wiring to make sure it's on the up 'n up?
I removed the entirety of the old outlet back to the bare wire, and replaced the entire thing. The only other thing I could replace there would've been the little housing unit/box, and it's in fine shape.

I saw the house wiring while they were building it. And it was inspected before the walls went up by the county. The wiring's fine, and we haven't done any electrical work to the house since building it, so I'm not concerned. It's just these shitty outlets that they decided to use to finish with. And changing those is pretty easy, really, which is why this was a minor rant.
 
I meant changing every remaining El Cheapo outlet in the house, not stripping the rest of this particular outlet (I assumed you were ripping the entire thing out, because of the shoddy quality you described).
 
It was wicked hot today. Like crunchy bag sweat hot.

So running errands, grab some thumb tacks and head up to the counter to grab and ice cold beverage....

"Sorry our fridge is out of order, we can not sell you a cold beverage."

Fine, what ever. I'll just crunch my way over MickeyD's! Get myself a mother fucking ice cream.

"Sorry sir, due to high demand today, we're forced to clean the ice cream machine at irregular intervals. We can't sell you any ice cream."

Fine, what ever. I have an ice coffee and one of those toys from the Life of Pets.

"We're all out of that toy sir, and the ice machine will back up shortly."

Crunch crunch crunch.
 
I meant changing every remaining El Cheapo outlet in the house, not stripping the rest of this particular outlet (I assumed you were ripping the entire thing out, because of the shoddy quality you described).
Well, I have those dozen outlets for a reason. They'll eventually all get replaced. But we don't use every outlet in the house (and in truth, I have never used this one before, because it's in a weird place. So I don't know when it failed), so I've been replacing them at need--because I can stand being without AC for only so long. :D
 
My new biologic must be really doing a number on my immune system because I was outside for half an hour hanging out with some friends and their kids and absolutely mauled by bugs. Each bite got huge and swollen, some turned into massive welts . Waiting for the Benadryl to work is the longest 20 minutes ever!!!
 
My new biologic must be really doing a number on my immune system because I was outside for half an hour hanging out with some friends and their kids and absolutely mauled by bugs. Each bite got huge and swollen, some turned into massive welts . Waiting for the Benadryl to work is the longest 20 minutes ever!!!
You can't supplement with Sudafed?

--Patrick
 
In addition to the Benadryl.
Benadryl makes you sleepy, Sudafed keeps you awake, both have antihistaminic effects but have opposite side effects.
I guess I'm suggesting if the Benadryl isn't good enough by itself, and you're worried about having to take a stronger dose (and get more drowsy as a result), then you might instead add Sudafed so long as it's not counter indicated.

--Patrick
 
The Benadryl always works, it just takes 20 minutes or so. Those 20 minutes feel like forever with me clawing at the welts and hives. The itchiness is wild and they all swell up so huge.
 
I feel so bad for my parents right now. They had two dogs, both getting old (Sidney was 15 this year and Mitzi is 13). Sidney had to be put down earlier this month, had gall bladder cancer and wouldn't have made it out of the surgery at his advanced age. Mitzi had to be taken to the emergency vet this past Sunday morning, has to be put down now because she's gone septic and has pancreatitis. Sidney was my mom's dog, Mitzi is my dad's dog, and my dad is out of the country right now, in the Czech Republic for work. He left Monday, doesn't get back until Friday, and we don't know yet if Mitzi will last comfortably until he gets home to say goodbye to his puppy.
 
What the hell, Comcast? Since no one told the lowest level of phone support that there was a maintenance outage, the problem *has* to be with my modem? In spite of all troubleshooting and tests, and in defiance of all logic?

Then two hours later, after I've already gone to bed, the higher level of support calls to tell me that there is in fact an outage, and will be down for at least the next four hours. Yes, thank you, that what I thought and that's all I need to know. Please. STOP TALKING. No, I do not want a phone call when it's back up. I just want it back up. STOP TALKING. Goodbye. No, I will not call you, either. STOP TALKING. *click*

And once again, by the time it's back and I'm coherently enough awake, everything except Sheetz and McDonalds is closed, and that coupon I wanted to use for the new pizza place will go unused again.

Oh, and why offer delivery and then have the mobile version of your site only allow pickup? And no option for the full site on a mobile browser? The pizza place fixed it, but too late for me to actually place an order.
 
What the hell, Comcast? Since no one told the lowest level of phone support that there was a maintenance outage, the problem *has* to be with my modem? In spite of all troubleshooting and tests, and in defiance of all logic?

Then two hours later, after I've already gone to bed, the higher level of support calls to tell me that there is in fact an outage, and will be down for at least the next four hours. Yes, thank you, that what I thought and that's all I need to know. Please. STOP TALKING. No, I do not want a phone call when it's back up. I just want it back up. STOP TALKING. Goodbye. No, I will not call you, either. STOP TALKING. *click*

And once again, by the time it's back and I'm coherently enough awake, everything except Sheetz and McDonalds is closed, and that coupon I wanted to use for the new pizza place will go unused again.

Oh, and why offer delivery and then have the mobile version of your site only allow pickup? And no option for the full site on a mobile browser? The pizza place fixed it, but too late for me to actually place an order.
I find that odd.
Charter did the exact same thing to me last night.
Down at 8:30p, chatted with them at 1a, no there is no reported outage, would you like to schedule a tech, sure see him at Noon.

9:30a, get a phone call, "Oh turns out there was an outage declared at 1:30 (right after I called), but it's back up now, we've canceled your tech appointment for you no need to thank us we value you as a customer."

--Patrick
 
So I got an email today telling me my Skype account's password has been changed. I didn't change it, so that means someone's managed to guess my password and get into my Skype. (Not hard, my password was really insecure).

Getting the account back from Microsoft involves trying to remember a lot of stuff. Like the date I first created the account, five people from my contact list, etc. I've tried twice so far, and I've been denied both times.

I don't even use my Skype account any more. The last time I logged into Skype was, like, a year ago. I just don't like the idea of someone out there pretending to be me.

Also, I oughta go change my passwords for my other stuff.
And the fallout from this continues. My EA account used the same insecure password, and now I find that's been compromised too. The hackers changed the security question, so while I can access the account, I can't change the password or the security question, which means I might lose access to it any time again. And contacting EA support via their Contact Us form results in them insisting that they need to call me on the phone to resolve this issue. Problem is, they only allow phone numbers from the US and Canada.

Grrr....
 
And the fallout from this continues. My EA account used the same insecure password, and now I find that's been compromised too. The hackers changed the security question, so while I can access the account, I can't change the password or the security question, which means I might lose access to it any time again. And contacting EA support via their Contact Us form results in them insisting that they need to call me on the phone to resolve this issue. Problem is, they only allow phone numbers from the US and Canada.

Grrr....
Can't you just buy a cheap burner phone online, have it shipped to where you are, and just use that for what you need until you regain full access?
 
Can't you just buy a cheap burner phone online, have it shipped to where you are, and just use that for what you need until you regain full access?
I'm hoping it won't have to come to that, because apparently if I pick different options in their contact form, it'll let me web chat with a representative. I haven't been able to talk to anyone yet, I'm guessing because the queues are full, but I'll try again later.
 
One rat has been sick since February. She's been on meds most of that time, most not working, until we got to see our usual vet who diagnosed her with pneumonia. All's been well since she got on new meds. One of those meds ran out Wednesday, which we were supposed to use until it ran out.

Thursday: fine.
Friday: fine.
Today: Completely fucking crashed. Struggling to breathe, wheezing, and the other meds do nothing.

I love her, I do. But we've poured hundreds of dollars into trying to make her well again. We can't see the vet until Monday, but even then my wife will have to take off without PTO, plus the visit, and we're getting close to the $1,000 point for this year's medical expenses towards a very old rat. My heart and sense of responsibility is telling me we should do everything we can, even if it hurts us financially, but that's unreasonable. I feel we've crossed a line at this point, and now I'm just trying to convince my conscience that it's okay to say goodbye.
 
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