“I’m sorry if someone was offended I used a racist term.”
Jesus fuck dude, just own up to it and realize you did wrong. Stop this weasely “I was joking and if you were offended I’m sorry.” I find it incredibly unbelievable that someone your age does not know “the Japs” is racist.
When my doctor first recommended that I started wearing compression socks I had been warned by a friend that they would be tight and hard to put on. However, I had no problem with them. Well, one minor problem; I had bought some with copper threads on the feet, and they were a bit slick on my wooden floors. So I started wearing hospital socks with treads over them. Problem solved!
What is this sex of which you speak?
One more rant. Due to my current mobility issues I have had to give up custody of my elderly cat, Rascal. While I’m still capable of feeding and medicating him, there is no way I can maintain his litter box. If I try bending over to scoop up the used litter I run a serious risk of ending up face-first in the litter box. Fortunately a friend was able to take him, and I get daily updated on how he’s doing; he spends a lot of time cuddling with her, to the annoyance of her own cat.
But I still occasionally reach to see if he’s tucked up against my back when I wake up in the middle of the night.
That’s so sad! Is the litter box the only issue? If so, you might consider one of the robotic self-cleaning litter boxes on the market, though I don’t know anything about them except that they exist, and also they’re not cheap. Alternatively, could you not fashion an extra-long scoop using something like an old broom handle so you don’t have to bend over much? Or, put the litter box on some type of raised platform.
Look, pal, I felt that I owed some posters a few words of explanation and an apology. I trust that the matter is now behind us. At this point your sanctimonious blathering serves no useful purpose whatsoever, and FTR, I don’t give a flying fuck what you believe or don’t believe. About anything. And a Merry Christmas to you, too.
I have considered several alternatives, but the primary issue is that the litter boxes are currently a solid mass of packed litter which are pretty much impossible for me to clean out. I have already reached out to my local NextDoor for suggestions in dealing with this and have already had someone volunteer to come over to take the litter boxes and contents to the dump.
I need to bitch about Earthlink. I’ve had an Earthlink email for a long time. It started when I had their internet, and it seemed easier to keep the email when I changed internet. It was cheap then, but the price has been going up. I’ve been thinking about changing, but it’s a lot of work.
Finally they have made me angry enough that I need to make a change. Last week, suddenly my inboxes (I have two) were at 300%. I increased the size of my main email (for an extra $3 a month, on top of a fairly hefty fee that I’m already paying). That doesn’t apply to my second email, which is still too full. I called them, and the only solutions they want to offer are either paying another $3 a month for the second email, or deleting a whole bunch of emails. I’m not happy with either of those ideas, because the problem is obviously on their end. The support person was surprisingly unwilling to transfer me to a supervisor, but finally he agreed to escalate me to the next level. I don’t know why that was so hard! I can’t just cancel this account because I’ve used it for a lot of important business-y things that are turning into problems now. I’m cranky and I think the only thing that will help me now is eating a lot of chocolate.
I’m not quite sure what to say about this, but if you dump the old litter box(es) and start fresh with one of the suggested methods, you could probably manage. Maybe even with one of those robotic litter boxes. I just seems a shame for you to give up your beloved Rascal just because of a relatively simple physical issue.
Chocolate sounds like a great idea! For me, the solution is usually rum, but it’s the same concept! 
FWIW, you might consider a gradual migration to Gmail. I’ve found it very reliable except for Google’s insane obsession with super-security. I have several free accounts, and a friend of mine uses the paid business version and is happy with that, too.
I’m not cancelling my trip. I took care of the immigration issue, it was mainly a problem with our sponsored employee panicking and a lack of communication on the part of the HR individuals working his case, so I’m in the clear. I explained to my VP what was going on and what they could expect, and as far as I can tell the issue is resolved.
I did discover we haven’t updated the employee’s I-9 as the visa we have on record expired. He does have a current visa, but nobody ever updated his I-9 as required by law. I recommended a full audit of all foreign workers to ensure we’re in compliance, and I’m hoping that doesn’t fall in my lap. Other than me, the only other people who have performed that audit will be leaving within the next two weeks.
I do complain about my job on occasion, mostly here, but overall I consider myself rather fortunate. I like what I do, my boss, my coworkers, the pay is decent, and my work hours are typically only 40 per week.
This may have already been bitched about before, but what makes politicians think that the Christmas season is the time that people will want to donate to their campaigns? It’s certainly the last thing on my mind, even in off-season times, and yet I’m getting swamped with text messages from every political hack in the country. Typing in “stop” only moves your name to a different number, so the messages never stop. These requests for money have the exact opposite effect for me.
I was supposed to go grocery (and liquor) shopping today but I left it too late, and on this almost shortest day of the year, I’d likely be left driving home in the dark, which I hate doing, especially in an unfamiliar car that I haven’t yet driven at night.
And tomorrow it’s supposed to snow, plus I’m expecting Amazon deliveries (yes, plural, for reasons known only to themselves they broke it up into two separate shipments, both arriving tomorrow) and I want to be home when they arrive.
So I may not make it out until Monday, thus facing both a liquor crisis and, while not exactly a food crisis, a dwindling supply of “interesting” stuff. This is the situation in which I typically end up making something like spaghetti and meatballs or just popping a frozen pizza in the oven, while raiding my emergency supply of rum miniatures! 
If you can’t read the displays, you probably ought to get your cataracts fixed. And maybe get appropriate reading glasses. That’s not going to get better.
Hell yes, lotta designers are seemingly in their 20s and not designing for the geezer set. But we geezers have an obligation to the people in other cars not to be struggling to see through fuzzy cataracts and unable to read info on our screens.
Christmas is when I have the least available to give after depleting my funds on gifts.
That’s a perfectly valid point. And yes, I do have to have my left-eye cataract fixed and will have to do it at some point. I am a reassuring number of years away but approaching the point that I will have to have mandatory vision and cognitive testing to retain a driver’s license. A friend of mine, who is roughly my age, got into a major accident and totalled his almost-new car. After the accident he had to take a mandatory driver test because of his age. Fortunately for him, he passed it. Also fortunately for him, he’s rich beyond the dreams of avarice, so he just went out and bought a new car.
But your second point is really worth stressing. I think I have a legitimate complaint because that particular temperature display really is tiny, as are several other minor information displays that weren’t deemed important enough to take up too much space. They’re also LCDs, not LEDs, and are only illuminated when the car detects darkness. I can certainly clearly see all the really important instrumentation, but not this miniature low-contrast crap..
Yeah, no kidding. The difference of before and after is startling. Everything goes from fuzzy to super sharp and colors pop. And the surgery is quick, simple and painless nowadays.
I realize I’m a little slow on the upswing, but @Atamasama that is a solid thread title.
Unfortunately, the ruling family Christmas party is tomorrow, and I don’t have so much as a sniffle. Looks like I’m going, and ending my 24-year streak of missing it. Sigh.
I just put together the grocery list for the week. It took about 90 minutes. I’m cooking a lot. My husband is going to have to make two grocery trips. I’m making chili and cornbread on Monday for writers group and then I’m making brined Cornish hens for my grandparents on Christmas Eve. And we’re making gingerbread cookies too.
It has occurred to me that I don’t actually have time to do everything on my list this week, but I persist, due to stupidity or madness.
I did a good thing though. I took a hot bath and released all expectations in the coming two weeks. That way no matter how things go, I’m not upset. I think it’s the expectations that most get people in trouble this time of year.
They say happiness in anything is the excess of results over expectations. Said another szy, unrealistic expectations are the key to perpetual disappointment and therefore perpetual unhappiness.
That’s what they’re for! This is their moment.
I guess that it’s time for a Rant Before Christmas… when all through the house
Not a person was speaking ( for no one dared grouse)
I had finished my chores, taken off my ball cap
My jacket was sticky ( and I was spitting out sap )
The tree was up straight, screwed into it’s base.
The ornaments were out, the star still in it’s case
The dining room had a dozen tins of cookies, 12 different types!
All warm in their tins ( ingredient prices are another set of gripes ).
I had everyone’s order for a nice take-out feast
And with bungee cords on the cans to thwart evil raccoon beasts.
I climbed up to my PC for some mindless release.
Not Hallmark/ piano; just explosions/ punches ( and World Peace )
I logged into my NETFLIX when what was the matter?
“All these movies Suck!” ( that was the matter )
There was one suggested; I watched the trailer
The hero’s accent was Belgian (5 foot 6, hips swinging like a sailor!? )
His wife was dead but he was a “Good Dad”
(His daughters could have skipped double-dutch on a trope that bad)
He was saving an FBI agent who knew who was selling guns.
Through rental car gun fights they killed Cuba Gooding (the huns)
( And if I may mention in an observational glace
Since when do FBI agents wear waist 34 Yogurt Pants?)
But then, through the clatter the true monster arose
A man so filthy and evil he does not deserve prose.
A low-talent actor, a man with no class
whose nose extends father than Rudy up Trumpy’s orange ass.
It was that short loud loser “Chachi”; the horrible Scotty Baio.
My first reaction? < “Oh, Hells No…!” >
I shut off the NETFLIX like the chord had a schism.
I cried out, “Jesus Fucking Christ! I’ve supported Terrorism…!”
I opened the NETFLIX, but their evil was well played.
It had counted that I’d watched it. The actors had been payed.
I tried to down vote that fucker to its Hellish Abode
I down voted that movie; my fingers clacked like morse code.
Alas, all I can do is warn people reading
People cooking their food or eating (or breeding).
1 ) Don’t watch ‘A Fine Line’. it’s a really bad flick.
2 ) Don’t support Scott Baio. That Man Is A Prick.
You don’t have to sift flour! Stir it, in its original container, with a fork before you spoon it out into a measuring cup and level it off (or you can weigh it, but that may take a little experimenting to see what a cup of your usual brand, in your usual humidity, weighs on average - for me it’s 4.5 ounces).
Then, whisk it with your other dry ingredients.
Takes almost no time, and works just as well.