I'm sure she wouldn't mind periodically shouldering this one.
Rant VII: Now With 25% Less Drama
- Thread starter North_Ranger
- Start date
- Status
GasBandit
Staff member
From what we've come to understand of such things, having spent enough time together, Lydia is probably "shouldering the burden" the same week as her mistress.
Dave
Staff member
Let's see. This week. How can I describe it properly? Let me try.
A HUGE part of my job right now is doing these things called 3C communications. What they do is send out automated emails or pdfs to students, faculty or whomever, based on whatever criteria has been set up. For example, one of the biggest is the Grades report where if a grade has been changed or updated in the system it fires off a notification to the student via email that this happened and gives them instructions on how to see it. Okay, so I've been making and sending these since June of last year and every day going in and running a query to see how many of each 3C went out. This way, thought I, we could get ahead of things if something went bump in the night.
Friday night they did a system upgrade and we found out something horrible. The system had NEVER sent out any of the communications. Not the ones I set up, not the initial ones the consultant we hired to teach us these things. None of them. But I was getting numbers, right? Well, it was flagging the student's accounts that they were to receive these communications, but not sending them out. Friday night system gets updated and it says, "Hey! Look at all these emails that should go out! I think I'll send them!" 16,000+ emails went out, most of them wildly and almost comically out of date and no longer valid. My Monday was filled with nothing but phone calls from students and trying to figure out just what the fuck was going on with the system I had control over was doing.
So I get off work (late) and go home, heat myself up some ravioli from a can. Take 1 bite and the phone rings. It's my sister. Off to the hospital I go.
Today the nephrologist (kidney doctor) says he wants to talk to the family. My dad has been put on a really nasty drug called tigecycline, which is used to combat drug resistant infections. On top of that, his kidneys are shutting down completely. IF he lives through the infection and IF they can get his kidneys to fire up....he'll make it into hospice care.
I'm supposed to move this weekend. To do so I have to change over the utilities from this house to the new one. But it's hard to coordinate utilities and a sick dad at the same time.
I've been at such a high level of stress for so long I'm surprised that I don't have an ulcer. Right now the only thing keeping me sane is you guys. This crazy ass place is keeping me sane. Whoda thunk it?
A HUGE part of my job right now is doing these things called 3C communications. What they do is send out automated emails or pdfs to students, faculty or whomever, based on whatever criteria has been set up. For example, one of the biggest is the Grades report where if a grade has been changed or updated in the system it fires off a notification to the student via email that this happened and gives them instructions on how to see it. Okay, so I've been making and sending these since June of last year and every day going in and running a query to see how many of each 3C went out. This way, thought I, we could get ahead of things if something went bump in the night.
Friday night they did a system upgrade and we found out something horrible. The system had NEVER sent out any of the communications. Not the ones I set up, not the initial ones the consultant we hired to teach us these things. None of them. But I was getting numbers, right? Well, it was flagging the student's accounts that they were to receive these communications, but not sending them out. Friday night system gets updated and it says, "Hey! Look at all these emails that should go out! I think I'll send them!" 16,000+ emails went out, most of them wildly and almost comically out of date and no longer valid. My Monday was filled with nothing but phone calls from students and trying to figure out just what the fuck was going on with the system I had control over was doing.
So I get off work (late) and go home, heat myself up some ravioli from a can. Take 1 bite and the phone rings. It's my sister. Off to the hospital I go.
Today the nephrologist (kidney doctor) says he wants to talk to the family. My dad has been put on a really nasty drug called tigecycline, which is used to combat drug resistant infections. On top of that, his kidneys are shutting down completely. IF he lives through the infection and IF they can get his kidneys to fire up....he'll make it into hospice care.
I'm supposed to move this weekend. To do so I have to change over the utilities from this house to the new one. But it's hard to coordinate utilities and a sick dad at the same time.
I've been at such a high level of stress for so long I'm surprised that I don't have an ulcer. Right now the only thing keeping me sane is you guys. This crazy ass place is keeping me sane. Whoda thunk it?
Things have to get better. What can we do for you, Dave? We could do a forum version of a gladiator arena; just lots of bickering and arguing and calling each other name's. Quality entertainment!
I have had the stoamch flu since Thursday. On Saturday night I passed out cold. Woke up in an ambulance.
Apparently I was dangerously dehydrated AND exhausted. I slept all day yesterday and all last night.
On the plus side, besides aching muscles from all the wretching I've done, I feel pretty good today.
My husband on the other hand....
Apparently I was dangerously dehydrated AND exhausted. I slept all day yesterday and all last night.
On the plus side, besides aching muscles from all the wretching I've done, I feel pretty good today.
My husband on the other hand....
Dave
Staff member
Woke up this morning to a grip of texts from my sister. The doctor told her today "If you have something to say to him, I'd do it now."
3-6 days max is what they are saying. His BUN levels are 116 and climbing (normal is about 10 or 11) and he's no longer eating. On the bright side I found where we packed most of my clothes so I'm wearing clean underwear again for the first time in days.
3-6 days max is what they are saying. His BUN levels are 116 and climbing (normal is about 10 or 11) and he's no longer eating. On the bright side I found where we packed most of my clothes so I'm wearing clean underwear again for the first time in days.
Dave, I don't even know what to say anymore after all the shit you've been through these past months, but I wish you the best regardless of what actually is happening. Now get over to that hospital.
Good thoughts, Dave. I know how rough this situation is.
Yeah, it's hard to say anything that truly shows my sympathy for what you and your family are going through so lets just leave it at, "I'm so glad you have clean underwear."
Dave. :s
Personal: Now Jet has it and I feel terrible. Jet is a quiet kid, despite the stories I post about him. He's a "tough it out" sort. So when I woke up this morning and found him asleep, covered in what must have been a few separate vomits, I wish I could say I was surprised. He never made a peep the entire night...and he slept in that.
I feel horrible.
Personal: Now Jet has it and I feel terrible. Jet is a quiet kid, despite the stories I post about him. He's a "tough it out" sort. So when I woke up this morning and found him asleep, covered in what must have been a few separate vomits, I wish I could say I was surprised. He never made a peep the entire night...and he slept in that.
I feel horrible.
I know how you feel! It's like, "You could have woken me up! I would have done something if I had known!"Dave. :s
Personal: Now Jet has it and I feel terrible. Jet is a quiet kid, despite the stories I post about him. He's a "tough it out" sort. So when I woke up this morning and found him asleep, covered in what must have been a few separate vomits, I wish I could say I was surprised. He never made a peep the entire night...and he slept in that.
I feel horrible.
to dave: I am sorry you must be put though this, may the grace of the goddess of luck go with you.
to LS: Your son is a trooper, more so than most of us adults. I hope he feels better soon, and understand how you feel. I think he will be one hell of a dude when he is older if he is this tough as a kid.
to LS: Your son is a trooper, more so than most of us adults. I hope he feels better soon, and understand how you feel. I think he will be one hell of a dude when he is older if he is this tough as a kid.
Dave
Staff member
The new place has a washer/dryer hookup in the basement. But it's set up all weird. For instance, there isn't a drain for the washer so they opened up the main line and just rigged it into that. This wouldn't normally be an issue as it all goes to the same place, but tonight I took a shower and all the water went into the washing machine. I turned the washing machine on to drain it and - you guess it! - it went into the tub, then back into the washer.
And since it's the main line guess where the toilet drains? Stupid fucking people. Now we have to get someone out to look at this. Just the extra super fun times I needed.
And since it's the main line guess where the toilet drains? Stupid fucking people. Now we have to get someone out to look at this. Just the extra super fun times I needed.
I used to work in the home warranty industry, and we ran into this all the time. Some people just do terrible, terrible jobs with plumbing. A proper plumber can get it all fixed, but it probably won't be cheap.
Landlords and responsibility are rarely two words that go together in real life applications.
I meant to come back and ask this as well. If you are renting, and I think you said you were, then this should not be your concern. It is a structural failure with the property itself and is therefore no longer your responsibility.
Sounds like a house one of my friends bought. He found out while he was still in the buying process (I've no idea why he went through with the purchase and didn't at least demand a reduction in the cost) that there had been two un-permitted additions put on the house. The first addition is technically sitting on a foundation, if you count the fact that they tied into the foundation under the original section of the house by like, a foot. The second addition they didn't even bother, and that section of the house is just being held up by a hydraulic jack sitting on a brick. Consequently, he has giant mushrooms growing up through a crack near a door at the far end of the second addition, where the entire house has cracked and settled. People do really stupid shit with houses from time to time. Sometimes it makes me shudder thinking of buying a house someone else has lived in, because I have no idea what's waiting for me and not all inspectors can be trusted worth a damn.
Hell, the house my parents are living in now, they discovered after they bought it (and had it inspected by an independent inspector who was either a retired referee or one of the three stooges), that the master bathroom shower was sitting on bare plywood instead of cement board like it was supposed to, so the floorboards were rotting out. When my dad started pulling away some of the ceiling from the room beneath it so he could check the damage, he saw that the floor joists were 8 inches further apart than they were supposed to be, so he had to add more joists to the floor, but because of various structural oddities he had to take a sledge hammer and drive the joists horizontally through the floor/ceiling of the second story of the house for about 8 feet to ensure that they'd tie in to both of the load bearing walls that were holding up that portion of the second floor.
That summer he decided to tear out this retaining wall that had been made of old railroad ties because it was doing a horrible job of actually retaining that portion of the fill dirt by the house. We dug out a bunch of the fill dirt to take pressure off the wall, pulled the railroad ties and rebar out, and dug down a little further so we could put in the gravel filler and tamp everything down before we started stacking the keystone blocks in, and discovered when we got up next to the garage that the garage wasn't tied into a foundation at all - the building of the garage was just sitting on top of the concrete slab. I have never heard my father swear so angrily as he did when I showed him. To make matters worse, a couple years later they started having really bad mouse problems in the kitchen. They couldn't figure out where the mice were coming in, so my dad started investigating some of the walls, but hadn't really figured it out yet when the front wall of the house fell off. It literally pulled away from the rest of the house and fell off, windows and all. Come to find out the entirety of the house had been sitting on top of the foundation, but hadn't been tied to the foundation in any way, and as the hill behind the house crept ever downward, it had pushed the house 6 inches forward and the front wall was no longer sitting on the foundation.
It's taken them eight years and they've finally finished repairing everything that the contractor who built the house back in the late 70s fucked up, but when they tried to get insurance and/or their warranty people to help cover it they were turned down because "the house was built before building codes had been established for that county."
But still, having all of the plumbing tied into itself like that sounds like the landlord or one of his buddies probably did it himself/themselves because that's fucked up.
Hell, the house my parents are living in now, they discovered after they bought it (and had it inspected by an independent inspector who was either a retired referee or one of the three stooges), that the master bathroom shower was sitting on bare plywood instead of cement board like it was supposed to, so the floorboards were rotting out. When my dad started pulling away some of the ceiling from the room beneath it so he could check the damage, he saw that the floor joists were 8 inches further apart than they were supposed to be, so he had to add more joists to the floor, but because of various structural oddities he had to take a sledge hammer and drive the joists horizontally through the floor/ceiling of the second story of the house for about 8 feet to ensure that they'd tie in to both of the load bearing walls that were holding up that portion of the second floor.
That summer he decided to tear out this retaining wall that had been made of old railroad ties because it was doing a horrible job of actually retaining that portion of the fill dirt by the house. We dug out a bunch of the fill dirt to take pressure off the wall, pulled the railroad ties and rebar out, and dug down a little further so we could put in the gravel filler and tamp everything down before we started stacking the keystone blocks in, and discovered when we got up next to the garage that the garage wasn't tied into a foundation at all - the building of the garage was just sitting on top of the concrete slab. I have never heard my father swear so angrily as he did when I showed him. To make matters worse, a couple years later they started having really bad mouse problems in the kitchen. They couldn't figure out where the mice were coming in, so my dad started investigating some of the walls, but hadn't really figured it out yet when the front wall of the house fell off. It literally pulled away from the rest of the house and fell off, windows and all. Come to find out the entirety of the house had been sitting on top of the foundation, but hadn't been tied to the foundation in any way, and as the hill behind the house crept ever downward, it had pushed the house 6 inches forward and the front wall was no longer sitting on the foundation.
It's taken them eight years and they've finally finished repairing everything that the contractor who built the house back in the late 70s fucked up, but when they tried to get insurance and/or their warranty people to help cover it they were turned down because "the house was built before building codes had been established for that county."
But still, having all of the plumbing tied into itself like that sounds like the landlord or one of his buddies probably did it himself/themselves because that's fucked up.
Just give the plumber the contact information of your land lord when he asks for his payment.
When such laws are in place, they are usually enacted at the city/township/county level. Usually only apply to safety issues, but code violations would likely count, and this setup sounds like it's a safety issue.
Dave
Staff member
We called the landlord and let him know what was going on. He in turn called plumber #1 who after showing up figured that the main sewer line was clogged. Of course, this was beyond him, so he had to call plumber #2, who did not have time to work on it today. He'll be out tomorrow to fix it. Sometime tomorrow that is. Which means that I can't go to the hospital to see my dad until he shows as Zach has to work and one of us has to run him. Of course, until then we can't use any water. No toilets, no showers, no brushing of teeth. Any water used will be going right into the washing machine. God this sucks.
But I don't have to pay for it.
But I don't have to pay for it.
Could you detatch the watching machine from the whole thing, put a very large bucket under the spout, and use water sparingly? Just a suggestion until tomorrow. I'd avoid the toilets, of course. At least you could brush your teeth and use wash cloths to freshen up a little.
- Status