Well, it's June; what's bugging you?

[digs]

@StarvingButStrong

It’s like they believe, totally believe, that the world and everything in it is completely rational and logical, and that THEY are rational and logical, and therefore no matter what the current problem, er, challenge is, no matter if they don’t know how to solve it right then, there IS a BEST solution and if they just gather enough info and apply their brains rationally and logically they WILL find it.

This is me. And I’m not even an engineer (artist, in fact).

I always say “The Dope is cheap therapy.” Thanks to this thread, I now understand why my wife and friends roll their eyes when I get in Analysis Paralysis Mode. And that there* is another way of looking at the world, where you don’t have to make a spreadsheet before buying something.

*or preferably, a graph. Color coded. you should have seen the shaded line graph I updated for YEARS before we bought our first Mac.
Cost vs benchmarks vs graphics for different processor speeds (and manufacturers! Almost bought a PowerCurve mac clone).

Hey, it worked… and it was gorgeous.

So, a word to you Normal People: keep in mind that this counts as a hobby for your engineer pal. Even as they’re obsessing, they’re having fun.

[Sario]

Today’s forecast is Potential Tropical Cyclone Number Three.

Oh did I forget to mention that it’s been raining 4-6 days a week for the past 3 weeks and the ground is saturated and the waterways are all running already?

STOP FUCKING RAINING!!!

[Nava]

@digs

So, a word to you Normal People: keep in mind that this counts as a hobby for your engineer pal. Even as they’re obsessing, they’re having fun.

I’m perfectly happy with that, so long as they understand that

1. if I’m in charge, I’m In Charge, and
2. I get paid to do that stuff. My time off is, by definition, when I’m not doing it. If you want me to do it, here’s my current rates.

[Catamount]

@digs

This is me. And I’m not even an engineer (artist, in fact).

I always say “The Dope is cheap therapy.” Thanks to this thread, I now understand why my wife and friends roll their eyes when I get in Analysis Paralysis Mode. And that there* is another way of looking at the world, where you don’t have to make a spreadsheet before buying something.

*or preferably, a graph. Color coded. you should have seen the shaded line graph I updated for YEARS before we bought our first Mac.
Cost vs benchmarks vs graphics for different processor speeds (and manufacturers! Almost bought a PowerCurve mac clone).

Hey, it worked… and it was gorgeous.

So, a word to you Normal People: keep in mind that this counts as a hobby for your engineer pal. Even as they’re obsessing, they’re having fun.

I am so much not an engineer. But I do have a deep and abiding love of lists and intensive research, so I can understand this behavior. But only for a couple of weeks and then it’s Decision Time.

[Dung_Beetle]

@Nava

I’ve been known to crush pencils and water bottles, but I suspect neither is recommended. If there are graven images, maybe you can imagine the saints naked, or glare at them. Or, better than naked, what kind of underwear might they have on. Those Immaculates with the white robe and blue shawl standing on the horns of the moon, maybe she’d be wearing a lacy number with glittery stars. And Saint Francis of Assisi would wear Spiderman boxers, because c’mon, who doesn’t like Spiderman boxers, but Augustine would have on something very serious and with no images (he wasn’t into the whole graven images thing). For Augustine, it’s tightie blacks all the way.

Unfortunately, Southern Baptists don’t have anything interesting like that.

After thinking on this a bit more, it’s really Mom I’m mad at. Well, don’t get me wrong…I really hate church. But the thing that’s really burning my biscuits is that although everyone knows it’s my Undoable Thing, I keep getting pressured to go. “Oh, it’s only an hour. I don’t ask that much of you. Think of someone besides yourself.” Yes, Mom, I know it’s no big deal TO YOU. To me, it’s made of nope. I don’t ask you to do things you fucking hate.

[Catamount]

Anxiety can fuck the fuck off.

[Buttercup_Smith]

Rio Where are you generally. Good luck with the wx.

[Spiderman]

@kayaker

I use WTForecast for comedic value. Two recent rainy days gave me:

Sounds about the same. On Authentic Weather, I’ve never seen a forecast w/o an “F” in it…& I don’t mean Fahrenheit!

[Mom-of-Andrew]

@Nava

If there are graven images, maybe you can imagine the saints naked, or glare at them. [snipped]

@Dung_Beetle

Unfortunately, Southern Baptists don’t have anything interesting like that.

One thing Southern Baptists do have are kids. And a long tradition of respecting service over ceremony. Can you turn the “think of someone besides yourself” thing on its head and volunteer in the nursery? “But Mom, I’m giving Aunt Susan [or Miss Carol] the chance to enjoy the service for once! Won’t Grandma be proud of me?”

If you like children, bonus. But if you cannot stand kids, look up some of the slightly off color Bible stories to teach the little darlings. Song of Solomon is a good place for these.

In any case, recognizing that your anger is not irrational but is because you are being asked to subject yourself to what you consider torture may help you come up with strategies to deal with it. Because whether or not you go, you are going to be angry about the request.

Sending internet hugs.

[Lightray]

@Nava

2. I get paid to do that stuff. My time off is, by definition, when I’m not doing it. If you want me to do it, here’s my current rates.

Preach it! I have let friends and family know that I’m not diagnosing their car engine problems, sorting out their plumbing issues, or fixing their nonfunctional computer. I’ll take a look at it, with no guarantees, but I get paid ~$60 an hour, and their problems will be ON OVERTIME.

“I’ll buy pizza!” gets only the withering scorn such a suggestion is due. I wouldn’t expect my photographer friend to photograph a wedding for free as a favor, or my IT friends to network my house for free as a favor. And I sure as hell don’t show weird lumps or whatever to any nurses or doctors I’m friends with, expecting a free consult.

@Mom-of-Andrew

If you like children, bonus. But if you cannot stand kids, look up some of the slightly off color Bible stories to teach the little darlings. Song of Solomon is a good place for these.

Ezekiel 23:30 is where it’s at. Send the little tykes back to church to ask just how much they mean if someone’s emission is like that of a horse.

[Kelevra]

I’m getting my drone pilot license from the FAA. I had to call the testing facility to find out why I couldn’t submit the online form. Turns out the online form can only be completed using Internet Explorer. Which crashed 6 times before I was successful.:rolleyes:

[Nava]

@Dung_Beetle

“Oh, it’s only an hour. I don’t ask that much of you. Think of someone besides yourself.”

Ah, emotional blackmail :smack:. I swear some women beget just so they can spend the rest of their lives exercising that particular streak of nasty. Suuuuuch a Christian thing to do, too!

One thing that helped me and the Bros in our fight with our own family dragon was forcing Mom to follow the same rules she expected from us, but we had help from her best friend who threatened with cutting her out “unless you start treating your children as if you thought they’re human”. Would the first be possible for you two?

[Wednesday_Evening]

@StarvingButStrong

Hubby has spent DOZENS of hours investigating lawnmowers. Gas ones, electric ones. Rideons vs. self-propelled vs. pushems. Side vs. rear discharge. Types of grass catcher mounts. Different types of wheel attachments, fercrissakes.

And then he made a chart, comparing the desirability of various features vs. how much you’d have to pay for a model with that feature. The economic sense of getting a ‘better’ motor considering how long we’d need it vs. the possible ‘resale worth’ when it was time to get rid of it.

Much cogitation followed. Finally he announced his decision: we’d get another gas powered mower of the same size and type as the old one. Gee, why didn’t I think of that?

So we ran out and bought one.

Hah. No, now it was time to investigate the particular models. This involved more hours, reading all the ratings and feedback people had left on the models he was considering. (A lot of which did, truthfully, sound like POS with parts made from plastic that should never be made from plastic.)

I have to thank you for this post. I am an engineer and your husband’s approach seems entirely reasonable to me. My husband is also an engineer, so you can imagine what decisions in our house typically look like. But your post is a good reminder for me that most people don’t analyze things the way I do, and when my non-engineer friends look at me funny, there’s probably a good reason for it…

My rant is that my work computer unexpectedly required me to set a new password, and then would not tell me what the requirements were, only that the passwords I kept trying were unacceptable. After 10 minutes I finally got it to accept a new password, but it is 16 characters and a pain to type out.

[Spice_Weasel]

@Lightray

“I’ll buy pizza!” gets only the withering scorn such a suggestion is due. I wouldn’t expect my photographer friend to photograph a wedding for free as a favor, or my IT friends to network my house for free as a favor. And I sure as hell don’t show weird lumps or whatever to any nurses or doctors I’m friends with, expecting a free consult.

As a writer, I am so on board with this idea. I have close friends who are artists and writers also, and I always pay them for their work. I’ve occasionally received free gifts, like this little guy, but my friend did it on his own time and of his own volition without my knowledge, so I can handle that. I have also resolved not to work for free. Don’t even get me started on how exploited writers are these days. New York Times doesn’t even pay most of its guest contributors anymore. This is at least in part because people think that writing is easy, because there are a ton of people free-lance writing and doing a pretty crappy job at it. I promise, writing well is not easy.

On that subject… exposure.

I recently signed up as a free-lance grant writer on Upworks (I haven’t put much effort into it yet.) I listed myself at $35/hour, which was extremely damned reasonable relative to other grant writers with similar experience. I immediately received a request to write a grant for $20 (total) to help an unemployed guy start up a nonprofit. LOL.

[Dung_Beetle]

Thanks, Mom-of-Andrew; thanks Nava. I’m still angry, but I know I’m going to attend church *this one last time *and also have a heart-to-heart with Mom.

[Dendarii_Dame]

Something’s eating my flowers. Could be a rabbit or squirrel. Grr.

[Calatin]

I’m not really “pitting” this, but it’s just something that sucks.

Someone committed suicide in my apartment’s courtyard this past weekend. I was home, and less than 100 feet from where they did it. (I was inside, and actually didn’t even hear the gunshot. Apparently, nobody did.)

The body was discovered later that evening when a person was walking their dog. Apparently, the guy was laying in a hammock, and shot himself in the head. Not many more details have been released, until family is notified, but our complex has an event tomorrow, and I’m sure it will be the main topic of conversation.

When I talked to a friend / neighbor, he said that he thinks he knows who it was, as last week, he saw a guy sitting in the same hammock, crying inconsolably. He thought the guy was just venting, and now I can tell that my friend wonders if he should’ve said something to the total stranger.

On top of that, my building just came under new management, and I can tell that the new property manager is a really nice woman who is trying to make it feel like a community, versus a bunch of people who happen to live in the same building. This is not going to help her at all. The previous management did not do much for tenant / landlord relations, instituting draconian rules that caused several of my friends and neighbors not to renew their leases. When they heard the news, they had no kind words to speak of about the complex, but since nobody knows the identity of the tenant yet, not much can be said about him, personally.

And then, I posted on Facebook about the incident, and started receiving a slew of texts, IMs, etc., because apparently, a friend of a bunch of my friends had also committed suicide that night, and they were all wondering if it was one in the same, since details were scarce on that as well. As best I’d gathered, it is not, as the friends’ friend allegedly did it in his car.

And, on top of that, I found out a bar acquaintance - we would talk when out, and had each other’s numbers, but never made plans to hang out personally - passed away last week as well.

Add that to a slew of work issues (covering for my boss for two weeks, on top of my job (most of which doesn’t fall under his scope - we’re organized in a weird manner) and juggling 25(!) projects on top of what I normally do [including a long ordeal trying to communicate to an individual that a $50 surcharge is non-negotiable on his multi-million dollar deal], and I’m ready to put June to bed.

[WolfpackJeep]

Jesus fucking Christ Microsoft, fix the Windows 10 start button issue already!!! The Start buttons on all user accounts – and the Notification Center button on all but one account – suddenly quit responding after the last update. I’m currently attempting System Restore now; if that doesn’t work, I’m giving up on Windows for home use.

:mad:

And deepest sympathies to Dung Beetle…my mom grew up Southern Baptist. She caused quite a sensation when she went and married a Catholic (they don’t believe in God and they worship Mary!), and she ended up converting not long after I was born.

[Spiderman]

@Kelevra

I’m getting my drone pilot license from the FAA. I had to call the testing facility to find out why I couldn’t submit the online form. Turns out the online form can only be completed using Internet Explorer. Which crashed 6 times before I was successful.:rolleyes:

Please start an “Ask the” thread on this. I’m considering getting one myself; probably will.

@Nava

One thing that helped me and the Bros in our fight with our own family dragon…

Are you a princess? Did you grow up in a castle?

[kayT]

Of course she did! Where have you been?