Bad Ju-July (monthly mini-rants) [Old]

The BBQ Pit
1

Continuing the discussion from June Bugs (monthly mini-rants):

At my work, one of my customers came to me saying that her laptop won’t turn on. It didn’t die because the battery was dead, it was charged, it just decided to not power on anymore.

Before putting in a warranty request, I decided to try some basic troubleshooting from Dell’s web site. (Our systems are Dells.) They recommend unhooking the battery, holding down the power button for 15-20 seconds to disperse any residual power that might be stored in capacitors, then plug the battery back in, hook the machine to power, and try again.

Simple enough. I take off the bottom shell easily, unplug the battery, flip the machine over, hold down the power button for a bit over 15 seconds (I used the stopwatch feature on my phone just to make sure I was doing it right) and then flipped it back over. I plugged the battery back in and…

It looked like there was a little smoke. WTF? I unplugged the battery. I can’t really tell, it was faint. Let’s plug it back in. Oh, now a tiny fire pops up (the size of a birthday candle) on the motherboard! Unplug the battery again.

All right… Now there is something interesting to put in the warranty request. Definitely will need a new motherboard, because I can see a component literally melted on this one, and computers don’t like that. And to be safe, let’s get another battery too, I don’t trust this one. The laptop is only about a year old.

I told the customer that her laptop was just wanting to celebrate the 4th of July a bit early this year.

2

Never let out the magic smoke. Once it’s out, no more magic is possible.

My contribution…
I’m now sitting amongst a gaggle of 30 to 60yo women frenziedly putting the finishing touches on a ridiculously elaborate birthday party for a 3yo. I keep offering to help and am repeatedly banished to the couch w you all. I did wash and rip stems off about 6# of strawberries. For a dozen 3yos and a few dieting Mommies to eat. Someone doesn’t understand portions.

Let the chaos commence. I’d much rather deal w joyous crying kids than all this fake self-imposed stress.

3

This is what might be called an anticipatory rant. This is a weekend in which Americans and Canadians can join together in celebration; namely, the celebration of our mutual hatred of fireworks to which we will all be subjected shortly. Because, fellow Canadians and Americans, this long weekend celebrates both our national birthdays. Canada Day is July 1 which is today, so Monday was declared a holiday. In the US, I believe similar logic applied to create the same long weekend out of the 4th of July.

And neighbourhood firework noises will just make it all less enjoyable. Listen up, fellow Canadians and Americans – if you haven’t already popped your eardrums so you can’t hear anything – there are massive organized fireworks events all over the place. Get out and enjoy watching exploding objects if that floats your boat. There’s no need to have exploding objects right in your own backyard near my windows. That doesn’t make you a patriot, it makes you a loud obnoxious asshole who apparently enjoys scaring dogs.

4

Arrgghh……….
I have a 38 month old grandnephew. My family is very close and I pick him up at daycare once or twice a week, take him back to my house and watch him until his dad (my nephew) gets off work and picks him up.

This happens on days when my nephew’s wife works late. The kid -I’ll call him Franklin, is usually with me between one and two hours on these days, not counting the 30 minute car ride.

I don’t mind doing this, I enjoy my time with Franklin and I’m pretty easygoing about him exploring in my room and playing with my stuff.

Franklin is smart in a lot of ways, especially regarding creative ways to access places he shouldn’t have access to, but he’s a little behind the curve in a couple of things. One is speech - he understands complex sentences but doesn’t speak much and never in full sentences. He’s also been slow at toilet training, even though the day care has been working with him all year.

So, apparently his day care teacher “laid down the law”, he has to go “cold turkey”, no more pull-up diapers, and she expects all the adults in his life to cooperate.

I have a problem with this, big time.

I’m more than happy to take him to bathroom at regular intervals and “make him go”, although I’m getting a little stabby because I’m not getting clarification on what exactly what “make him go” entails…I snarkily asked my nephew if it was like milking a cow or something.

I’m happy to follow whatever instructions I get, but I’m not happy about my bed, furniture and carpets getting peed on and crapped on when it doesn’t work. My home was not furnished with kids and pets in mind, I have carpet in most areas, not hardwood, and my furniture doesn’t have removable and washable covers.

So after some discussion, they agreed to let me put him in pull-ups while he’s at my house, I gave them every chance to think of another solution but there really is none. I’m fine with taking him to the bathroom every twenty minutes or so and working to keep him from soiling the pull-ups. I’m fine with putting the pull-ups on over his clothes, as long as his parents deal with the laundry, but I refuse to be “punished” (because that’s what it feels like when my stuff gets peed and crapped on) if I can’t make it work.

I know the toilet training is really important, because he may lose his daycare spot if he doesn’t master this over the summer (they won’t promote him to the next level and the level he’s in is probably booked up). But my sense is that he’s going to need to master this skill at home and at school first, before he figures it out at my house.

But I still feel like an asshole for making this an issue, and I don’t like having to lie to his teacher, who definitively would NOT be on board with me using pull-ups.

5

ISTM the teacher works for the family and you. Not vice versa. If push comes to shove, tell her to go pound sand.

6

The 4th is one of the most important Federal holidays of the year. So for whatever confused reason and unlike most of the others, it doesn’t transmute into whichever date is Monday. So this year we have the weekend as a de facto holiday, an officially “normal” day on Monday, and the actual legal holiday with closed government & financial services is on Tue. That’s the official story.

The unofficial reality is that anyone who can finagle Mon off will take it off. Absenteeism at most jobs will be large Sat-Mon. And the amateur demolition squads will be going full blast all day (and night) every day (and night) Sat-Tue and a little beyond.

As I sit here typing at 9:30pm on Sat night I’m actually a bit surprised at how quiet it is outside. Sunset was 8:20 and 9pm is the common start time for professional displays here so now, 9:30, is fully dark and ideal for home-made pretty explosions.

FL is famous for few regulations on the size and capability of amateur fireworks available, few laws about amateur backyard displays, and plenty of scofflaws willing to ignore whatever few rules may exist in their jurisdiction. And yet it’s (almost) quiet. Too quiet.

7

Spoken like a man who’s never had to find a daycare that will accept a three-year-old who isn’t potty trained!

I’d go with the “put the Pull-ups over his regular clothes” solution. That way, he’ll feel the discomfort of wet pants without you feeling the discomfort of cleaning excretions out of upholstery. It has the added benefit of being a little over the top, and he may just decide he’d rather use the potty reliably.

It was quiet here until last night at midnight (really? You start blowing things up at midnight?) Tonight the neighbors have been going full blast since 9, dogs are barking hysterically for miles around, and the cats are in hiding. What a fun weekend we’ll all have!

8

Probably a micro-rant, but my killer sudoku game on my Ipad updated and discarded all my history. I was working back getting all the stupid little monthly trophies (I think I was in May 2022), and now all the ones I had are gone and, good news/bad news, the trophies now only go back to Feb 2023, so I guess I’ll eventually grind through them all.

9

::checking weather app::

It’s going to be 100 degrees here today. God, I hate summer. Where can I live where it’s 55 degrees as a high, all year-round?

10

Do people not buy computer monitors anymore? I have a week or so before my computer shows up; I have one monitor, but it was purchased on clearance during the pandemic, and is…alright. I figured I would pop into Best Buy to see what they had, but I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t attached to a complete system. A surprisingly helpful employee led me to a back corner, where about a dozen small monitors were on display on a shelf that was sort of hidden behind inventory. Not exactly what I was looking for. :confused: Guess I’ll be making another sight-unseen purchase online and hoping for the best.

11

I work 4 10 hour days with Wednesdays off. So I have Tuesday and Wednesday off next week thanks to the holiday. I have a coworker (another IT guy) who asked if I was taking off Monday because he can cover me.

But Monday there is a new employee starting in one of the offices I’m solely responsible for, and I was asked to get her set up with equipment (computer and peripherals for teleworking) and of course I agreed. Even though I have 2 personal holidays to use up, even though I have so many vacation hours logged that I am already over the limit I can carry past my anniversary date in September, even though I usually have to donate vacation hours to other people before they vanish into smoke. Someone asks me for help and I say okay.

I’m Pitting myself for being an asshole.

Maybe I can take a half day or something. I’m sure shit will come up and I’ll be swamped and that won’t be an option.

12

Fewer and fewer. They, like desktops, are kinda going out of style in the age of mobile computing. I solve this problem by going with higher-end full gamut monitors for photo-editing which is a (pricier) niche that will long endure. But inexpensive, decent monitors are not all that well-stocked any more at box stores. You might have to do your shopping online.

13

Let me know when you find this place.

Add me to the list of people who hate assholes who think it’s fun to set off half sticks of dynamite in the name of patriotism. The noise bothers not only animals, but those with PTSD, especially veterans. You know, the ones you thank for their service. The ones who fought for your freedom to set off large booms.

14

I think that “asshole” may be a typo; you probably meant “self-destructive”.

If you were hit by a bus, your employer would survive. As would all your internal customers. You being swamped and it being a date you want off are orthogonal ideas. The work will be there when you get back. Or it’ll have disappeared. When 5pm rolls oround, you leave. it’ll be there tomorrow.

I’ve done IT. I totally understand management’s goal to make you feel responsible for their workload and make you feel solely responsible for 24/7 coverage. Oddly enough, when they quit get 60 hours work for 40 hours pay, they’ll fix their problem. Which won’t hurt you.

15

Not to be a negative Nelly, but the “solution” might be to replace their worker(s) someone who will give 60 hours of work for 40 hours of pay. They might not consider it a problem that needs fixing until they can’t find those people anymore.

16

I was just out trying to get the neighborhood kitties fed before dusk. The little female is a very anxious soul. One pop from the distance and she was off. Then her brother ate her food. At least he will be set for the night. I’ll keep trying to coax her back until it gets too late.

17

I’m union so it’s all good. :slight_smile:

18

You mean like… Now…?

19

I only set off flash paper and flash powder, both of which are a lot of fun and almost silent. The ex Soviets in my neighborhood are so very happy to be in America that they set off all kinds of illegal fireworks. One year, somebody shot off a flaregun twice. Makes me proud it does.

20

The other day, as I got out of the shower I looked at my back. Although it did not hurt at the time, I saw a gigantic lump where one did not used to be. It’s about the size of a small fist. It might be a boil or an insect bite or… a cancer scare.

I’m calling my Dr. tomorrow morning.