When I’d just gone from business world to teaching full time at a college, and was reeling from how narrow and vindictive everyone was, a prof at a Big Ten school counseled me with “You know why academic politics is so cutthroat? … Because the stakes are so low.”
ETA: I kept getting told (by the Dept. Chairman) that I’d be making more if I weren’t a white male…
But it was worth hanging in there for twenty years. I retired last week, with a small but adequate pension.
“Honey, you know men. We are utterly and completely clueless about this sort of thing. It’s that defective Y chromosome. But you have really, really good taste and I have never seen you pick out something that wasn’t absolutely lovely.”
If that last sentence is untrue and she’s come up with some whoppers, design-wise, then “Honey, you have great taste. Honestly, the only time I’ve ever seen you choose something bad was such-and-such time - when you asked me, and I suggested x - and you got that, and it was not nearly as nice as you’d hoped. It’s probably safest to ignore anything I say on the topic”.
All of the above assume you would like to a) remain married, and b) sleep on the furniture. If these are not a concern, then “I don’t give a rat’s ass” is always a go-to response.
Good news: old man kitty’s urine is still fine.
Bad news 1: I have to take him in for yet another blood test to check on his thyroid levels, and this is getting seriously expensive. I hope they aren’t going to be every 30 days forever, because I cannot afford that.
Bad news 2: He’s developed a tendency to produce large amounts of dark brown ear wax, and I now get to try to ear drop him twice a day and clean it out every 4 days or so. He does NOT like to be restrained, which is what it takes to ear drop him, and given I have to leave at 6 in the morning 3 days a week to get to work on time, it’s a real PITA to have to add another item to the list o’ things to do. (No, it’s not ear mites. I asked. Irritation/possible developed allergy/maybe he had them as a kitten and for some reason this means he gets brown wax as a senior kitty I have no idea but it’s icky.)
All part of the commitment to being a pet owner, but sometimes it’s wearing. It would help if he didn’t spend about ⅓ of his waking time screaming at me for no discernible reason and pooping in the carrier when I have to take him back and forth to the vet. Cleaning him up was no fun.
How hard is he to pill, Morgyn? We spent $$$ getting our hyperthyroid kitty irradiated so we didn’t have to keep him on thyroid medicine. It saved us probably 18 months of having to pill him every day. One of the weird effects was that we had to scoop his litter for the next week and save it in the garage for a few months until the radiation had dissipated to levels that wouldn’t trigger the radiation detectors in the garbage truck. (Who knew that garbage trucks even came with radiation detectors, right?)
Dear Apple:
I don’t give a rat’s ass that “Safari is using an encrypted connection”. You don’t need to remind me on a daily basis, when I go to type in a new URL. OK, congratulations on your effing encrypted connection. I’m glad the Russians won’t be hacking my Straight Dope posts or visits to the NOAA weather forecast.
Just shaddup and stop congratulating yourselves already.
Pilling him isn’t a real issue. I put all his pill-form medications in Greenies Pill Pockets and he scarfs 'em right down.
The vet says that the radiation treatment is pretty much contraindicated for Shiva because he’s 15 years old and has a severe heart murmur, and the whole hospitalization/irradiation treatment would both be incredibly stressful for him and isn’t going to improve his life quality or life span over what giving him pills will, and the pills are far, far cheaper (and less stressful for him, which is more important).
Also, I had no idea garbage trucks came with radiation detectors. I’m not entirely surprised, though. As it happens, the only place “nearby” that I know of that does the radiation treatments for cats is over 100 miles away and they require boarding of the cat so that the cat isn’t radioactive all over the house. I don’t remember any mention of the litter issue when I was looking at this for another cat of mine (since died), but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t mentioned, just that my memory is shit.
Around here, the radiation detector is at the regional incinerator, and yes, it gets shut down to remove the radioactive cat poo.
Somehow, that is not a job I would want–remover of glowing cat poo.
Morgyn I am glad your old guy is still able to yell at you. Thyroid issues are really tricky for humans, even worse for cats because they are so small. Errr, cats have small bodies so are harder to properly medicate than humans, not that their issues are small.
Throws confetti and glitter around the forum! CONGRATULATIONS, digs!!! I hope you are loving your new work-free lifestyle! If you get bored, my BB has mentioned that a co-pilot for the Rescue Mobile would be helpful. Let us know when you get bored, and I’ll but cams in the cockpit to share with the world!
Currently, the RM is getting to load up with dawgs this time. They are on their way to the more enlightened state of Maine, where people actually have their dogs fixed. Half of the pups are already spoken for, as well as several large adult black males. Those poor guys are hard to place, so I’m really happy for them.
I am not so happy with our puppy or his feline minder, though. She let him chew cords. She knows better than that, so I thought very bad words while I repaired the damage and covered the cords with citrus oil. SK hates the scent of citrus oil, so hopefully she will remember to keep her puppy away from the cords.
Awwww, thanks! And a job offer (best one in years)! I’m picturing BB and I kareok’ing our way down the highway, with caged animals howling along…
As I mentioned in Maserschmidt’s retirement thread, I finally had time today to sit on the porch for two hours with a book and a beer.
Ahhhh…
Huh. Never knew that.
About 9 years back, I had a gastric emptying study that involved radioactive scrambled eggs and a nap on a table while a machine measured how long the radiation took to move out of my stomach. When I left, they gave me a letter to carry documenting that I’d had such-and-such isotope; I think in theory I could have been detected for a week or so afterward.
Good thing I never tried climbing into a garbage truck that week!
I guess our sewer system doesn’t have any rad detectors built in… or the output was too diluted to trip anything.
Came across this random bit of info in CS:
Of course! When a store runs out of a product that you want, the most reasonable and constructive way to resolve the issue to punch somebody in the face. Remember that the next time someone wonders how come Donald J. Trump is the president of the USA. We tend to overthink things when sometimes the answer is actually very simple.
There is something terribly appropriate about thinking “shit, I forgot to buy toilet paper!”
Good thing it wasn’t in the middle of needing it. Off to the supermarket…
There’s a beautiful dogwood tree in front of our house, and every August it’s the first tree whose leaves start to turn red, a harbinger of autumn. And that means I’m already dreading next winter. Every year, the older I get, I dread winter more and more. Long gone are the childlike wonder of the holiday season and snowfalls. I just hate everything to do with it and spend all winter counting the days until spring. I totally understand how other older folks move to warmer climates. Wish we could afford to.
I guess I shouldn’t rant since I’m fifty cents richer, but jeez don’t they teach kids how to make change anymore before sticking them behind a cash register? I went through a drive-thru last night and my order was $14.77. I handed the cashier a twenty and two pennies. It was such a long time before she popped back out that I told my wife “I totally messed her up with those two pennies.” Sure enough, when she finally stuck her head back out with my change, she handed me a five and three quarters. :smack:
Luckily, I didn’t do something stupider like drive off without my food…
Was talking to this girl who seems to be too much of a do-gooder airhead for her own good; in the “I think what I’m doing is noble and sensible, as long as I don’t think too deeply” sort of way.
Her early 20s nephew, whom she utterly adores, is Slacker McSlackerson, and has been in and out of rehab a few times…so far…until the next time he falls off the wagon. Gets set up with decent ( for his skill level ) jobs that he won’t/can’t keep because the work/sleep/work etc “grind” is such a drag, man.
Anyway, she’s always telling me she’s giving him store gift cards “so he can buy soap, clothes, food and stuff, but not stuff he shouldn’t buy”.
I told her I’m sure he very much appreciates her monetary gifts that allow his present income to be unencumbered from the need to purchase boring sundries, thus freeing it up to god-knows-what use.
She got very annoyed at me. :smack:
If you want to annoy her a little more, mention that gift cards can be sold for cash, although AIUI often at a discount to face value.
One of the religious radicals (rah-rahs) I talked to today insisted that American women got all the equal rights they needed when they got the right to vote in 1937! He insisted that he was right, and I was wrong with my idea of 1920.
I cannot begin to tell you what’s wrong with that statement.
I have noticed that most large convenience stores have thrown in the towel on this matter: the registers are now connected to change dispensers. This means the minion only has to load it, because they can’t make change correctly.
Something I ran across in a comments section: a terrorist who starts selling their services for monetary gain immediately stops being a terrorist and starts being a mercenary.
We got up early this morning, loaded up the RM and my BB, along with 27 canine passengers headed off to Maine. They made it a whole 34 miles before a pick-up on the freeway dropped what appeared to be construction trash in front of the RM, puncturing 2 tires and stranding everyone in the middle of an interchange.
After a very busy 3 hour delay, we said our goodbyes again and off he went. I don’t think I’m going to change out of my “rescue” clothes just yet.