The Venting Thread

[paultuttle]

One side of the house: City workers mowing the park lawns for the third time in two weeks.

On the other side of the house: Landscapers using a miniature combination backhoe/bulldozer to tear down the retaining wall beside the driveway in preparation for building another.

[mamselle]

One side of the house: City workers mowing the park lawns for the third time in two weeks.

On the other side of the house: Landscapers using a miniature combination backhoe/bulldozer to tear down the retaining wall beside the driveway in preparation for building another.

   <<Paul runs down the road, yelling "aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhHHHHHHH"!>>

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

One side of the house: City workers mowing the park lawns for the third time in two weeks.

On the other side of the house: Landscapers using a miniature combination backhoe/bulldozer to tear down the retaining wall beside the driveway in preparation for building another.

Does the grass grow that quickly, or are they just bored?

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I'm tired, bitchified and grumpy. I'm tired of admins wanting me to do more without any incentives and tired of students not knowing how to calculate their f*cking grades! How the hell do you function if you can't do basic Math? Addition and subtraction, people! That's it. That's how you calculate your grade.

I had a 13 hour day yesterday because, well, just because. Should I be thankful that I have a full-time job with benefits? Yes. BUT, the workload is not proportional to the pay, commute and all the crap that I tolerate. I also found out that some people in the department are being rewarded in a way that seems excessive. I can't go into details, but it really pissed me off.

+1 to the bolded, EPW. Right there with you.

Also, we all got a survey yesterday so we can tell Admin how absolutely wonderful they are, as a way of validating their decision to apply for a Malcolm Baldridge Award to reward their own excellence.  Are you f*&%ing serious? The irony of the tone-deafness would be absolutely hilarious if it weren't so infuriating.

Yep. Mondays are grumpy, bitchified, ass-kicking days. It's not even 1pm and I'm already pissed to the nth degree. Student workers aren't listening or following directions. Students cannot calculate their grades. Really? How did you get here if you cannot do basic Math? Admins, who said they would help me with a project, forgot and said they'd do it later.

[clean]

One side of the house: City workers mowing the park lawns for the third time in two weeks.

On the other side of the house: Landscapers using a miniature combination backhoe/bulldozer to tear down the retaining wall beside the driveway in preparation for building another.

Does the grass grow that quickly, or are they just bored?

My guess is that it rained, or they were otherwise prevented to mow it earlier, so that have to 'make up' the missed mow.

[downer]

Now two places I work at have stopped making available plagiarism detection such as Turnitin for papers. Does it cost as much as a dean? I know which I'd rather have.

[RatGuy]

I've been using a CPAP machine for a few weeks, and now my nightmares have become terrifying. Is this causation or correlation?

[paultuttle]

One side of the house: City workers mowing the park lawns for the third time in two weeks.

On the other side of the house: Landscapers using a miniature combination backhoe/bulldozer to tear down the retaining wall beside the driveway in preparation for building another.

Does the grass grow that quickly, or are they just bored?

My guess is that it rained, or they were otherwise prevented to mow it earlier, so that have to 'make up' the missed mow.

It's rained five days in the past two weeks, so that might be it.

However, since the beginning of the pandemic, the grass in the park has been mowed every 2 weeks, whether it needs it or not, even during the winter. I suspect that's connected to the city's wish to keep their workers employed.

[apl68]

I've been using a CPAP machine for a few weeks, and now my nightmares have become terrifying. Is this causation or correlation?

There seem to be studies that show that a bad case of apnea can make it hard to remember dreams.  And that some CPAP users report more dreams until they get used to their new sleep cycle.  The nightmares may just be something that will fade once you've gotten through the transition.

[clean]

I've been using a CPAP machine for a few weeks, and now my nightmares have become terrifying. Is this causation or correlation?

My CPAP nightmare is that mine was recalled and I have been trying since June to get a replacement!  IF I dont get answers from the medical device company Monday, I am cancelling it from them and going with another company. This company has been completely ineffective since 2/1!!!  They claim that they need things.  The doctor's office faxes the records. Then they need ANOTHER record, or claim that they didnt get the ones that they need.  I have called after the doctor faxes to ask, and they say, "yes, we now have what we need"  ONly to find out 2 weeks later that they did NOT get what they need! 

To quote The Great Pumpkin, "You're Fired"!

[apl68]

I've spent the morning dealing with two entirely separate web sites that aren't working.  Getting the one sorted out is necessary to try to get our new web site launched.  It has been hung up with this business for about two weeks now, with no end in sight.  I've followed the steps I'm supposed to follow on resolving the current snag, and it has stubbornly refused to work.  Currently waiting to hear back from the latest of three tech support people who've e-mailed me in connection with it.

The other is a government web site that I tried using last year as part of a grant application.  The site was such a nightmare of Catch-22 lunacy that I finally gave up after days of struggling with it and forgot all about the grant application.  I've now learned of a federal mandate that we MUST use that site to receive any and all forms of government support, including the state aid to libraries that we're getting now.  I don't understand why a simple DUNS number can't continue to serve.  That site stubbornly refuses to work as well.  Imposing this sort of bureaucratic burden on a small institution over a few thousand dollars' worth of aid is just senseless.

[mamselle]

All good thoughts as you hack your way through the thicket.

Sorry that's such a bear....it's truly not fair.

The only thing could be, did the coronal ejections make a mess of it, possibly?

It doesn't seem like the kind of thing hackers would target, but just trying to think outside the box.

(Any computer-savvy patrons whose fines you could forgive if they'd come in and do a bit of computer consulting for you?)

;--}

M.

[paultuttle]

One side of the house: City workers mowing the park lawns for the third time in two weeks.

On the other side of the house: Landscapers using a miniature combination backhoe/bulldozer to tear down the retaining wall beside the driveway in preparation for building another.

UPDATE: The backhoe (Bobcat?) operator hit a natural gas line earlier this morning. Suddenly there was a VERY loud hissing sound and a very handsome firefighter was banging his hand HARD against my side door (he was straight out of central casting/Models-R-Us). He asked me if I could smell anything; irritable at being pulled away from my work 15 minutes before a Zoom meeting, and taken quite by surprise at his Christopher Reeve -type square-jawed face, I swung toward "crotchety old guy" in my sarcastic response: "I couldn't smell anything until I opened the door." Wisely, he cut the conversation short and closed the damn door so the natural gas wouldn't get inside the house.

After another 30 minutes, the police cars, fire trucks, and gas company truck all left the scene, and the backhoe operator continued--having embarrassed himself enough for today, I hope.

Why yes, it's a Monday. Why do you ask?

[downer]

Someone peed in my classroom.

Twice.

[apl68]

I was outside a few minutes ago and saw somebody riding a four-wheel ATV by the library.  Since sometime during the weekend I've seen four-wheelers and dune buggies running up and down the streets.  People have long turned a blind eye to ATV riders passing through alleys on their way to the edge of town to ride in the woods.  Suddenly it has gotten very brazen.  The guy running past the library especially concerns me, because he was on a main street that is also a busy state highway.  And he didn't appear to be going just a couple of blocks, either.  All this is both illegal and highly dangerous.  I'm starting to worry that somebody is going to get hurt before the authorities crack down on this.