Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!
- Thread starter strawman
- Start date
GasBandit
Staff member
I have an interview in 30 mins for a position I am moderately ambivalent about.
But for some reason I am so anxious my chest hurts.
When I think about the job I'm applying for, my thoughts are "ehh, I'm probably better off where I am."
SO WHY DO I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING IN THE SHARK TANK
But for some reason I am so anxious my chest hurts.
When I think about the job I'm applying for, my thoughts are "ehh, I'm probably better off where I am."
SO WHY DO I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING IN THE SHARK TANK
Looks like it's going to be Tyler.
Every house I've looked at in DFW has 10-30 offers on it, many of them all-cash. There's no competing. The last hurrah was one where I had the highest offer, but the house wouldn't appraise at list price. Because I'm getting a VA loan, appraisals are required and it won't appraise at offer price, the choices are the seller lowers sale price, or I pay the difference in cash. And fuck that, I'm not paying cash over the already high closing costs on a VA loan. So the seller went with a lower, all-cash offer that waived appraisals.
On the other hand, I'm making and offer on a Tyler house today that's bigger, costs less, and is in better shape. But...sigh...Tyler.
GasBandit
Staff member
Dang, so much for hanging out, eh? If I did move to Grapevine or Lewisville, it'd be just as much a drive for you to get there as it would be for you to come see me in BCS
I was in Longview this weekend visiting my mom. I am a little disappointed that I did not IM Tin that I would be nearby.
I'm disappointed too.
Though on Saturday I was pretty much in central DFW all day looking at houses.
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Well, I do generally drive out to Denton twice a month to play Irish music. No reason we couldn't meet up one of those evenings.Dang, so much for hanging out, eh? If I did move to Grapevine or Lewisville, it'd be just as much a drive for you to get there as it would be for you to come see me in BCS
GasBandit
Staff member
Turns out I was super overprepared. This was just, like, a pre-interview with the HR people before they scheduled me for the real interview, which I'll now have next week.
oh, I didn't even think that you're only like 2.5 hours away currently @GasBandit
We should totally make some plan to hang out some weekend regardless of if you move or not.
We should totally make some plan to hang out some weekend regardless of if you move or not.
I can say that I’ll be in Tyler at Studio Movie Grill for Dr Strange on May 7.
I know Texas is significantly bigger, but I'm slightly amused thinking, "a 2.5 hour drive would be like, driving from one end of my state all the way to the other". And we're talking north-to-south; east to west is shorter. I think I'm spoiled by proximity to the rest of the state, NYC, Phildelphia, etc., because if I have to drive more than 2 hours, I'd better be going on vacation or it ain't happening.
Had a customer earlier berating me, screaming at me, and calling "Mr Nobody" because I'm no one "important" like a supervisor or manager.
And now I'm about to bike home in the pouring rain.
So that's fun. How's your day been?
And now I'm about to bike home in the pouring rain.
So that's fun. How's your day been?
GasBandit
Staff member
I mean, that's not entirely unreasonable, really. I'm very centrally located - if you drew a triangle between the 3 most major cities of Texas - D/FW, Houston, and San Antonio, where I live is smack in the middle of that triangle, which just so happens to be about 250 miles on a side. From where I am, it's 2 hours to Houston or Austin, and 3 hours to San Antonio or D/FW. So, I can be talked into doing Houston on a day trip, but if I am going to the Metroplex, it generally needs to be an overnight stay, IMO.
Or I guess to put in in NE landmarks... I wouldn't want a day trip to take me further than... uh... Newark to Wilmington? That seems about right.
Also sometimes it can be a 2 hour drive from one side of the DFW Metroplex to the other due to traffic, which is why I am very tepid about the prospect of moving there.
GasBandit
Staff member
That really sucks. I wish customer service people could respond in kind. I would have loved, in your shoes, to have been able to say, "Sir, you don't merit talking to anyone important."
Made it home in 18 minutes. (4.86 KM ride)
Really windy at one point where I had to stand up just to power through peddling, but the rain wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Jacket wasn't even soaked.
I was promised a rain storm, not a breezy drizzle. This was nothing.
I mean, you're obviously more important than that customer, or else they wouldn't be calling you up in the first place.
--Patrick
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That's just a few minutes from my house. If you wanna hang out either before or after, let me know!
I used to drive 45 minutes to go to Irish music in Gettysburg PA. People would be shocked. I told them "Here, 45 minutes means crossing 2 state lines. Where I'm from, 45 minutes wouldn't even get you out of the city"
Just to add to Gas and Tin. We measure in how long you have to drive, not in miles. It’s about 2.5 hours to Gas’s area (with a stop at Buc’ees) and about 1.5 hours to where Tin is. Houston is 2 hours, much less to shopping areas, from here to MD Anderson hospital. Dallas is a solid three hours to avoid visiting family. Last summer we drove 14 hours to go to a wedding near Big Bend National Park, and never got closer than an hour to any border in the state.
45 minutes doesn’t even get me out of the county.
Well, counties are generally bigger than cities
But not always. Houston is home to 9 counties.Harris county in Houston, Kemah to Tomball is about an hour. The longest travel I could find across Harris is Kemah to Fields Store at about an hour and a quarter. But that's in current, 10pm CST traffic. Leave during morning rush hour (or evening rush hour, or basically any time in between) it's gonna take you about double that to get across the county. If you're lucky. I've spent 4 hours on the road just getting through Houston from Greenspoint to Pasadena (Houston travel, N to SE) before because of some traffic SNAFU.
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I live in Langford, about a 20-25 minute drive on a bad day from Victoria and it's VERY common for people to refuse the drive one way or another because it's "long" and I laugh every time someone says it.
I lived there just over 30 years. Once I moved away, I swore I'd never move back. And every time I go back to visit friends or family (or even just to hit the outskirts for the Texas Renaissance Festival), I reaffirm to myself my desire to never live there again.
So, as I've often whined about, my department of translation editors is chronically short staffed. This week we interviewed a guy who's just on the edge of having what it takes to do this job. Like, he'll catch 9 out of 10 translation errors, and his English is not at a native level but almost there, so he only makes grammatical errors like once every four or five sentences...
I want to hire him just because we've been shorthanded for so long. My supervisor, however, pointed out that if we hire him and he keeps making mistakes, then he'll actually be creating more work for the other editors because we'd have to recheck his work or deal with angry customer feedback from his cases. She has a point, so we probably won't be able to hire him. But I wanted him. I really really did.
Kind of a pity, though, he's pretty handsome.
I want to hire him just because we've been shorthanded for so long. My supervisor, however, pointed out that if we hire him and he keeps making mistakes, then he'll actually be creating more work for the other editors because we'd have to recheck his work or deal with angry customer feedback from his cases. She has a point, so we probably won't be able to hire him. But I wanted him. I really really did.
Kind of a pity, though, he's pretty handsome.
We’re driving down to that little dip in the northern border tomorrow.
GasBandit
Staff member
I've driven there more often than I like. SHSU has a satellite campus there, and a College of Osteopathic Medicine. I did the programming on the AV systems for both (well, COM is still underway).
GasBandit
Staff member
Houston inner highway loops overlaying NYC
Germany fits inside Texas if you tilt it a little
Ah, it is basically LA. *nods knowingly*
I drive about 800km (500 miles) a week. Luckily it is all for work. I spent 91 hours driving for work last month. This is just between customer locations. The most I've driven in a day is 270km (167 miles). I'm so happy I don't have to pay for gas.
If electric vehicles had better range I'd be all in (if I could afford one). I like to visit my family but there is nothing between here and there short of towns called Hope and Merritt.
If electric vehicles had better range I'd be all in (if I could afford one). I like to visit my family but there is nothing between here and there short of towns called Hope and Merritt.
Maricopa County
land area-9,200.14 mi²
population 2022-4,734,447
Greater Houston metroplex
Land area- 10,062 mi²
Population 2022-6,603,000
DFW metroplex
Land area- 9286 mi²
Population 2022-6,488,000
It's worth noting that there are 24 cities and towns in Maricopa. Sorry I couldn't find a nice graphic.
Edit the greater Los Angeles metropex has everyone beat at 33K square miles, and 18.7 million residents.
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