Rant VIII: The Reckoning

Someone needs to explain that to my grandmother-in-law. Her place has no A/C. It was November when we stayed with her the first time and I was dying. (Which is why, when you met us, we stayed at a hotel with Li'l Z. ) I don't know how she wears long pants and long sleeved shirts all the time.

Come to think of it, Mr. Z didn't have A/C when he was a kid, either. I guess living in N.Y. made him soft. :p
Then clearly you married the wrong Taiwanese guy! :unibrow:

... I'm sorry was that creepy? I don't want to be creepy.
 
I live in Texas and didn't have A/C until I was 20, and that was in 1989. Then we didn't have A/C from 1994 until 2007 or so. Old houses just aren't A/C friendly to electric bills.
We didn't have A/C either when I was growing up, just ceiling fans. That's probably contributed to why I can (usually) handle heat pretty well.

Actually, the A/C was broken in this house for two years. It didn't really bother us since we were both working full time. But then I was pregnant with Li'l Z most of the summer and threatened to murder someone if we didn't get it working. It's been working ever since. :D
 
We didn't have A/C either when I was growing up, just ceiling fans. That's probably contributed to why I can (usually) handle heat pretty well.
I didn't have A/C until I moved out on my own. Until then we just put an outward-facing fan in an upstairs window and then opened whatever downstairs window was in the room that needed cooling.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I've always had AC. Even in places where you could probably get by without it. :D

Actually, technically, when we lived in El Paso, we didn't have conventional Air Conditioning.... we had evaporative coolers. But most people around there do, I think - it's way more power efficient in that climate, and worked just as well. Just kinda smelled a little... woody.
 
I've always had AC. Even in places where you could probably get by without it. :D

Actually, technically, when we lived in El Paso, we didn't have conventional Air Conditioning.... we had evaporative coolers. But most people around there do, I think - it's way more power efficient in that climate, and worked just as well. Just kinda smelled a little... woody.
Swamp coolers. They do a good job, so long as your ambient humidity is ridiculously low.

--Patrick
 
Swamp coolers - how 90% of the trailers in Arizona's Valley of the Sun stay cool during the summer.

And why so many old people in the Phoenix metro area die of Legionnaire's disease.
 
My aunt lived her entire adult life in New Mexico. She and her husband retired to East Texas. And damn near died when they tried to cool their house with a swamp cooler.
 

fade

Staff member
We didn't have an AC growing up in South Carolina, and that's almost as hot and humid as Texas. Had lots of trees around the house and ceiling fans, both of which helped.

I say almost because Texas hot is hot. It's not just the number on the thermometer either. It's the length of time. All day and night, through about what half the year? It gets in everything and radiates back out, so that by late June, the sun is hot, the air is hot, the ground is hot. I mean, sure it hit the mid 90s in summer in Boston when I was living there, but Boston 95--while hot--was not Texas 95 in July.
 
What I like about Colorado is that even though it hits the 100s in the summer, it's not humid and at night the temperature will drop down to the 50s and 60s, so it's not ceaseless and unending.
 
Actually we are just now hitting the uncomfortable time of year. It normally gets swampy around mid May. But it was really nice up until Monday. Hopefully we will only get a 3 month summer this year.
 
Some damn idiot in Duluth tried calling me five times in a row, probably hoping I'd answer. Since I know no one from the Duluth area, it's pretty much a guaranteed scam caller.

This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't that I have to work tonight.

There are times I wish my Block List from my VoIP provider was longer...
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Some damn idiot in Duluth tried calling me five times in a row, probably hoping I'd answer. Since I know no one from the Duluth area, it's pretty much a guaranteed scam caller.

This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't that I have to work tonight.

There are times I wish my Block List from my VoIP provider was longer...
That reminds me of a dream I had once. I don't remember much about it except it was presented as a musical. And at the end, when the villain was unmasked, he sang -

"As you see, I'm not the truth
I am not really Don Bluth
I've been hiding in Duluth..."


... the next morning I was actually pretty impressed my subconscious mind came up with everything it did in that dream.
 
Some damn idiot in Duluth tried calling me five times in a row, probably hoping I'd answer. Since I know no one from the Duluth area, it's pretty much a guaranteed scam caller.

This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't that I have to work tonight.

There are times I wish my Block List from my VoIP provider was longer...
I wish I had the luxury of ignore unknown callers.
 
I usually am freezing cold all the time, so I wear long sleeves and pants when my husband and kids are in t shirts and shirts and look like they are melting.

I don't know if it's my AS or my meds, but If I do too much I get overheated quickly and it's bad or if it's too hot out side, I go from my blue nails and shivering to purple blotchy face, neck and chest and almost delirious. I have a skin allergy with water and sweat does it as well so when I sweat too much I get hives. I am seriously considering buying an air conditioner in an area where practically no one has them.
 
Ha! This did remind me of something I wanted to rant about!

NSFW or possibly TMI
Summertime makes me horny as hell. It's been that way since either high school or college. Probably all the short-shorts or sundresses or just walking around in as little as possible. And this would be great...except Mr. Z is probably the least frisky in summer. He, like many guys I've been with, are all, "It's hoooottttt and sticky and don't touch me, wah wah wah", so I'm just a big ball of frustration. Also weird, since he comes from Taiwan and it's like, a million times worse there with the heat and the humidity.

Am I the only person like this? Is everyone else in the "Don't touch me, it's too hot" crowd? Because, meh.
I love summer sex. And my libido is definitely way, way higher in the summer. It's never too hot.
 

fade

Staff member
Well. Karma is a bitch I guess.

After defending my decision to leave one of my rescue cats outdoors, he was struck by a car this morning and killed. I don't know why he did it, but he decided to cross the nearby 4 lane busy street. Something that in 3 years he has never done. Maybe it has something to do with the dog we recently adopted. In any case, I was crying like a baby. I had to take a shovel out into that roadway during rush hour. Sometimes people are okay, though. The traffic stopped when they saw what I was doing and let me recover his body.
 
Well. Karma is a bitch I guess.

After defending my decision to leave one of my rescue cats outdoors, he was struck by a car this morning and killed. I don't know why he did it, but he decided to cross the nearby 4 lane busy street. Something that in 3 years he has never done. Maybe it has something to do with the dog we recently adopted. In any case, I was crying like a baby. I had to take a shovel out into that roadway during rush hour. Sometimes people are okay, though. The traffic stopped when they saw what I was doing and let me recover his body.
These things happen.
Sorry this time they decided to happen to you and your cat.

--Patrick
 
So my wife went to the eye doctor not that long ago (a week maybe) to look at getting her lazy eye surgically corrected. Her eyesight has been getting progressively worse over the years (with yearly eye exams) well we went to someone that specializes in this area and they did a scan of the inside of her eye. Looks like on top of needing special glasses (the kind with prisms) to help her see until/if we do the surgery but it's a strong possibility that she might have glaucoma as well. We won't know more until the next followup appointment. The first one was in the 300 dollar range (with glasses included) the next visit is going to be in the upper 300 dollar range just for the testing... Yay for credit cards?

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
Looks like I might be out of a job soon. For context, I'm working at a bike shop/cafe. Technically, the bike shop part, but I'll help the cafe when I can. The owner brought me on more for the customer service side and would slowly show me the mechanic side. He even introduced me to a volunteer group that fixes used bikes and donates them to new refugees.

When I came in this morning to open, a message was on the counter for the boss regarding a Kijiji ad for a bike mechanic. I texted the boss about A few other things and told him about the note, and their contact info.

I also asked if he's looking to hire someone to replace, he didn't answer.

We've butted heads a few times since he hired me back in April. I've screwed up a few times, forgetting to do things he asked me to do, and forgetting things at closing like turning off the lights, bringing the repair rack or even a bike back in, and even left the door unlocked once.

I don't blame him, honestly, with those screw ups. I feel like I'm frustrating him more than someone else might.

Though this is another employer or supervisor who said the phrase, "It's like you don't want to be here." I keep hearing variations of that before I lose a job. And...I don't know what to say to that. Maybe I don't. Maybe it's because I never feel like these jobs will pan out in the long term or it'll be enough that I could finally move out of my parent's place. But I keep feeling like I don't BELONG at any of these places. Like I have no right or reason to work there because all I do is unconsciously screw up.
 
Yes, mistakes are our way of learning things.
It is less painful to learn from the mistakes of other people, but sometimes the only way to really learn something important is to experience that pain yourself. The real trick is to not let go of the lesson once learned, lest you make the same mistakes again. I've been fired for the simplest of mistakes (mixing up what I had in my left v. right hand), because that simple mistake influenced several hundred other things. I'm sure @HCGLNS can relate.

--Patrick
 
Tax time at a CA firm. I made so many mistakes that I didn't even realize were possible. Some of the partners were nice and helped us learn and some were screamers.[DOUBLEPOST=1497898786,1497898547][/DOUBLEPOST]
Looks like I might be out of a job soon. For context, I'm working at a bike shop/cafe. Technically, the bike shop part, but I'll help the cafe when I can. The owner brought me on more for the customer service side and would slowly show me the mechanic side. He even introduced me to a volunteer group that fixes used bikes and donates them to new refugees.

When I came in this morning to open, a message was on the counter for the boss regarding a Kijiji ad for a bike mechanic. I texted the boss about A few other things and told him about the note, and their contact info.

I also asked if he's looking to hire someone to replace, he didn't answer.

We've butted heads a few times since he hired me back in April. I've screwed up a few times, forgetting to do things he asked me to do, and forgetting things at closing like turning off the lights, bringing the repair rack or even a bike back in, and even left the door unlocked once.

I don't blame him, honestly, with those screw ups. I feel like I'm frustrating him more than someone else might.

Though this is another employer or supervisor who said the phrase, "It's like you don't want to be here." I keep hearing variations of that before I lose a job. And...I don't know what to say to that. Maybe I don't. Maybe it's because I never feel like these jobs will pan out in the long term or it'll be enough that I could finally move out of my parent's place. But I keep feeling like I don't BELONG at any of these places. Like I have no right or reason to work there because all I do is unconsciously screw up.
It would be pretty dirty of him to do that on the sly. I also don't feel it's fair to hold something against an employee unless it was brought to their attention right away.
 
It's also a mistake to overlook or overestimate your capacity and abilities. When I make a mistake I alter what I'm doing in order to prevent it in the future, and I do that in a way that acknowledges I have a poor memory for some things, or may not be able to do the thing as other might due to whatever limitations I have (and they are legion). So I would have a checklist, or add a calendar reminder/alert, or put things in my way so I run into them until I take care of them, set a timer, etc. This isn't uncommon although you don't see people tying strings on their fingers to remind them anymore. We all forget, we all make mistakes.

I see my kids making mistakes and I ask them what they'll do in the future to prevent it from happening, and most commonly the response is, "I'll do it right" which results in me following up with, "That's not enough. What will you do to make sure you do it right?" Most often it results in no real change, I can continue that line of questioning ad infinitum (similar to a toddler asking "Why?") and either they don't desire to do the hard things required to make the change, or they don't see a path that would provide the structure necessary for the change. I could come up with a solution, but unless it comes from within the solution is just another bit of overhead or chore they now have to remember, and unless they desire to improve it's not going to help.

Learning isn't enough - growth and change is necessary.
 
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