Minor victory thread

You know it's a good day when you wake up and immediately know how to start the next chapter of the book you started writing yesterday.
We might hear @Dave's panicked heavy breathing around the world when he reads this, but...

SPALT!

This has been the adventures of Dilbert Dashiell Augustus Pinkerton: mutant armadillo private detective (he dug for the truth).
 
God, I missed this feeling.
I want you to know I envy that feeling. I have stories in my head that I know will never be realized simply because I know I will never have enough free time to commit them to media, and at the same time I know they will never get loud enough in my head that I will be forced to commit them to media.

--Patrick
 
Got all of my Halloween decorations taken down this weekend - before it started raining again - so that everything can dry out in my garage after rain earlier last week. As things dry out, I get to put them in their storage containers.
 
Got all of my Halloween decorations taken down this weekend - before it started raining again - so that everything can dry out in my garage after rain earlier last week. As things dry out, I get to put them in their storage containers.
My neighbors were teasing me because I did this same thing Friday morning. My reasoning was that we haven't had rain almost all October, and it was supposed to rain later Friday morning, so if I did it then, I didn't have to wait a week for things to dry in the garage to put them away. I almost never get this lucky, so I took the chance, even if it mean a hard stop on spooky season.
 
My neighbors were teasing me because I did this same thing Friday morning. My reasoning was that we haven't had rain almost all October, and it was supposed to rain later Friday morning, so if I did it then, I didn't have to wait a week for things to dry in the garage to put them away. I almost never get this lucky, so I took the chance, even if it mean a hard stop on spooky season.
I waited until Saturday as I had to work on Friday... but at least everything is in - getting down there on things that have to dry - down to 1 of the 7 inflatables that still needs to dry out (the sandbags are the only thing still wet).
 

GasBandit

Staff member
That would drive me absolutely insane. But it’s not my house, to each their own, etc.
To be fair, my halloween decorations consist of 3 artificial jack-o-lanterns (one ceramic two metal) and a spooky sign on my gate, and much of it isn't visible from the street.
 
To be fair, my halloween decorations consist of 3 artificial jack-o-lanterns (one ceramic two metal) and a spooky sign on my gate, and much of it isn't visible from the street.
Some of the people near me just spray-painted propane tanks orange and then cut out the shapes. If past history is any indicator, I don't know as they plan to ever take them down.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Plus if I turn the fake Jack-o-lanterns around, they're just regular pumpkins. That's "Thanksgiving-y," right? Except the one with spider legs, I guess.
 
Plus if I turn the fake Jack-o-lanterns around, they're just regular pumpkins. That's "Thanksgiving-y," right? Except the one with spider legs, I guess.
Mr. Z tried to convince me to leave the pumpkin decorations out by doing the same thing. While valid, he was over-ruled.
 
so, the friend that loaned me her 3d printer all that time ago decided she was hyped at all my 3d printer posts and she got into it. Fine and fun, and I've been helping her along.

So, she decides she wants to sell prints. Fine and good. She's not selling the same stuff as me.

Now she's directly targeting places I already sell to, and in the chats where I do custom work, she's jumping up trying to take those jobs before I can reply. Less fine.

So, she grabs this job I know she won't know how to do without asking me--taking a jpg of some guy's logo and transforming it into a print. 2 days later, she asks me for help, and I decline. A week later, I ask her how it's going and she said she still hadn't figured it out.

So I pinged the guy, worked up a mock-up, and got paid. All in under an hour.
 
Yesterday was a decent day, until about 3:30 when we went to leave the family Thanksgiving gathering. Our car battery didn’t have enough umph to crank the car. Lots of handy practical people around that had jumper cables, able to get it started and drive home. Got home, checked the power on the battery after sitting for a few minutes, it was down to 11.88 volts. Wasn’t enough to crank the car. Put the battery on a charger for about 3 minutes, got the charge up to 12.71 volts and could start the car. Checked the alternator leads while car was running, it was putting out the correct voltage. So I got the battery out of the car, took it to the only parts store open, that I just happened to have gotten the battery at. It was 4:45pm. The list price for the battery was $214, and a refund of $22 for the core charge, so I was expecting to spend $200 on the battery. The guys we helpful and since I bought the battery there they were able to pull up the original transaction from almost 3 years back, and the battery was still under warranty! I was expecting a pro-rate of the cost at best after hearing it was still under warranty, but it was a cost free replacement. So I ended up getting a replacement battery on a holiday for no cost instead of spending money that I just barely had. The store literally locked the door for the night after I walked out, but I at least wasn’t a grumpy guy as the last customer.
 
I just biked home, from Halifax to Dartmouth. The MacDonald Bridge was packed bumper to bumper.

I wonder if anyone who saw me zoom past is considering getting a bike now.
 
I just biked home, from Halifax to Dartmouth. The MacDonald Bridge was packed bumper to bumper.

I wonder if anyone who saw me zoom past is considering getting a bike now.
Awesome.

My best moment came after the last Space Shuttle launch. Traffic was bumper to bumper for miles. I used a crosswalk to cross traffic and then headed south. It was probably 2.5 miles (4 km) before the cars started out-pacing me.
 
My wipers froze to my windshield so hard that when I triggered them to clear the snow while I was driving, the entire passenger-side wiper blade assembly got ripped right off its arm.
...but there was enough snow still stuck around the top edge of my windshield that the wiper blade embedded one end in that and stuck there, even with the breeze, so I pulled into a parking lot a couple miles farther along and just remounted it.

--Patrick
 
After a sometimes frustrating semester it is nice to know that most of my students like me. One of them thanked me for a wonderful class and gave me a hug. Others also thanked me and asked to be in my Modern US History class if I ever teach it.

It can be easy to focus on the students who cheat or who grub for better grades. The ones who made bets on sports out loud in the middle of class especially got on my nerves. The fact is most of my students are all right. They are why I’m motivated to be the best there is at what I do.

It’s nice to be reminded of that sometimes.
 
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GasBandit

Staff member
Another facility I did all the AV Control programming for was in the news. This time, the TAMU Forest Service EOC



 
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