The Venting Thread

[mamselle]

The email software that I've been grousing about turns out to have an incorrect file type that makes quite a difference and explains why I was having so much trouble.

The file extension ".png" is NOT the same as a ".pdf", just FYI...!!

Grrrr......hours lost trying to make it work....

M.

[apl68]

Now in the midst of what promises to be a prolonged game of phone tag.  I called a couple of days ago.  Yesterday afternoon, when I was out of the office, I missed a reply.  This morning I called back, only to hear a message saying that my quarry will be out of his office until Wednesday. 

[mamselle]

The knight chasing the snail....

M.

[OneMoreYear]

Thank you all for commiserating me about my A/C problem.    As a follow-up, we might now have sort-of functional A/C.  We scored a referral for much quicker service from Awesome Neighborguy who has resources for everything, and we crunched the numbers on how bad the financial hit it will be (really bad).  The evaluation indicated many many problems in this old house. But, we had a work crew here and there is mildly cool air now blowing, so maybe it will be below 80 by tonight. So, kind-of a vinhale.
Hope everyone else is staying cool (if it's summer in your neck of the woods) or warm (if you are wintering) or whatever temperature you prefer.

[mamselle]

Glad it's better, at any rate...

Make sure you cancel the other guys so you don't get charged a default no-show charge!!

M.

[Economizer]

Called USAA [ins.& banking] yesterday to get account standings. I entered the usual information to access their automated system but my entries were not getting picked to the system. Without my attempting,, a weak voiced customer rep. came on the line and wanted to quiz me with security questions. I answered one and then the fellow wanted to ask me personal information about my children, At that point I told him that I would speak with him no more..A few minutes later I called them and the call was processed as usual.

During the troubling call, I heard uniformly spaced beeps. I woried that I was on an overseas link as well or that I was being recorded by someone other than USAA.. Many veterans and active duty personnel rely on that firm so the incident piqued my concern. So by posting this I hope to raise the awareness should others find themselves  with similar curious experiences.

[the_geneticist]

Damn you to all the companies that offered free trials during Spring "due to the pandemic" who are now cutting off support.  The pandemic isn't over.  I knew it was just a marketing ploy, but you could have at least let us know the expiration date for the free trial.
Grumble.

[science.expat]

My house was broken into the other day. Thanks to an alert neighbour the guy was caught and I didn't lose much. It could have been much much worse!

It's still a shock and I've spent the weekend improving security. The last part is building new gates which will take a bit longer.

So all ok, but today I went back twice to make sure that doors were locked. I think it will take a while to get past this even though he broke in by lifting a sliding glass door out of its frame.

[mamselle]

It's hard to feel safe again after something like that.

I'm sorry.

M.

[ab_grp]

It's hard to feel safe again after something like that.

I'm sorry.

M.

+1.  It's such a feeling of violation, I imagine.  I'm glad the guy was caught, at least, and that no one was harmed.  Take care, science.expat.

[Vkw10]

So all ok, but today I went back twice to make sure that doors were locked. I think it will take a while to get past this even though he broke in by lifting a sliding glass door out of its frame.

Sorry you're dealing with break in. You might look at motion-sensitive lighting as a deterrent, too.

[science.expat]

Thanks, all.

This happened in broad daylight - the guy went into my backyard and lifted a sliding glass door out of its frame. That's now secured so it can't happen again but need to make access to the back more difficult. As the cops said: 'if they want to get in they will; you need to make it difficult enough that they go somewhere else'.

A bit Machiavellian but accurate...

[ab_grp]

Wow, that's pretty gutsy of the burglar, science.expat.  Unfortunately, I guess if there are areas of the house that are not readily seen by neighbors or from the street those might be tempting.  I'm not sure if it would help avert the lifting of the door from its frame, but when I had a sliding door we bought a piece of wood that we laid in the track to prevent the door from being opened if the lock were jimmied.  Of course, a burglar could always just try to break the glass, but I do agree that if you can make it less easy, maybe the burglar will go try somewhere else.  And if all the neighbors take such steps, maybe burglars avoid your neighborhood [I deleted a rant about this very much not happening in my mom's neighborhood].  Maybe another thing along the lines of what Vkw10 suggested would be to put in either a real camera system or something that looks very obviously like one?

[ciao_yall]

Prepping a class, decided to just use the same book the previous prof used.

18 week semester.

10 chapters in the book.

WHO DOES THAT?????

[mamselle]

Prepping a class, decided to just use the same book the previous prof used.

18 week semester.

10 chapters in the book.

WHO DOES THAT?????

Umm....

Wk 1: Intro first week w/ quiz on syllabus
Weeks 2-4, chpts 1-3
Wk 5: Quiz #1 w/prep, revw, and grade in-class
Weeks 6-8, chpts 4-6
Wk 9: Midterm #1 w/prep, revw, and exam in-class
Weeks 10-12, chpts 7-9
Wk 13: Quiz #2 w/prep, revw, and grade in-class
Weeks 14-16, chpts 10-12
Wk 17: Review for comprehensive final w/one in-class pop quiz to keep 'em on their toes
Wk 18: Final w/prep, revw, (and exam in-class if allowed, or extra group review time if not)

Or, fewer quizzes, more scaffolded assignments over the term that take up those weeks if it's more writing-intensive

I've had 8-chapter books that couldn't be covered in a 13-week semester because the material was very dense. i could have glossed it, but it was foundational so I didn't feel right about that. Turned out I broke where everyone else did; the assumption was that it was to cover two semesters after all.

So--chapters don't equal weeks all the time....do they?

M.