The Venting Thread

[apl68]

Our fantastically expensive and energy-intensive automatic HVAC control system is supposed to fine-tune each area of the building to stay within tolerances.  It has never in the 16 years I've been here worked very well.  We're cold in the winter, and cold (due to excessive cooling) in the summer.  This winter it has been worse than ever.  I've been trying to tweak the settings to improve things, and have found that the system won't let me do anything.  What's the point of having an expensive control system if you can't control anything?  We've got a technician looking into it now to try to figure out what's going on.

I could just about shoot the architect who sold the library this system, were he not already dead.

[clean]

In Florida this week.  I yelled at a 'tween' today.  I am visiting my parents this week and went to Walmart for some food. I was glad to see people wearing masks in the parking lot, and I was glad to see the sign saying that masks were required.  HOwever, they are NOT required!  I saw at least a dozen without masks.  As i was checking out, a  maskless family came behind me.  The 10/12 year old could not wait to see what was on the shelf beside me in the check out line and tried to squeeze by my basket to look.  I said,"Back up!  You dont have to wear a mask, but you dont get to stand by me!"  Then his mamma spoke up with "We are behind you"  and added "PEOPLE".  I replied "Yea, PEOPLE!" 

Then I went to a Publix, thinking that the situation would be better.  It Wasnt!  Even at Publix!!  Their lunch counter section had no less than 6 maskless folks waiting to order sandwiches. 

I left thinking a few things:
1.  I wont leave the house for the rest of my visit.
2.  Sometimes you just want to Root for the Covid Virus!!  (and to quote Ebenezer-which I saw last night-) "and decrease the surplus population"

Idiots.  And if it ends up that I am part of the surplus population, then so be it!  At least I will 'be in a better place'! 


While Fauci is cancelling his Christmas with his family, We have scaled back markedly.  My new bride and I are here in Florida with my parents now.  My brother and his wife and daughter will be here Sunday through Wednesday morning.  The other usual visitors are staying away this year. 

Frankly, as my bride's family seem to go out more often than My parents, I thought that it would be safer here in Florida, and as we are probably all staying home until we plan to leave in 10 days.  Perhaps I am wrong as I thought that Publix and Walmart were holding firm on the mask restrictions, but clearly they are not!   

"PEOPLE!!"

[apl68]

Unlike others on this thread, I haven't been having a problem with packages getting lost or badly delayed.  However, when I left for work this morning I found an inconspicuous little package tucked under a corner of my garage.  It was for the neighbors across the street.  How long has it been there?  I don't think it was there yesterday morning.  But it is possible that it has been sitting there overlooked for a couple of days.  Anyway, I'm getting it to the proper address now.  At least it's still in time for Christmas, if that's what it was about.

[ab_grp]

Unlike others on this thread, I haven't been having a problem with packages getting lost or badly delayed.  However, when I left for work this morning I found an inconspicuous little package tucked under a corner of my garage.  It was for the neighbors across the street.  How long has it been there?  I don't think it was there yesterday morning.  But it is possible that it has been sitting there overlooked for a couple of days.  Anyway, I'm getting it to the proper address now.  At least it's still in time for Christmas, if that's what it was about.

We had something like that happen last week! It was so strange.  Husband went down to the local mart briefly on Saturday morning to pick some stuff up that we had ordered.  When he was driving back up the drive, he saw two packages way down at the end of our driveway, tucked away in some rocks (to keep them from blowing away, I guess, because they were the padded envelope type of packages).  He went back down to take a look at them, and they were for someone we didn't know in our neighborhood.  He contacted them through our neighborhood watch email list and took care of it, but we don't know when the packages  arrived or why they were left down there.  I guess neighbor had been going nuts trying to figure out what had happened to them.  We always get deliveries right to our door, which is good, because we can't see down to the end of our driveway without intentionally going down there.  Plus, the packages were right by where our house number is, so they were clearly not for us.  I guess that delivery person was lazy.  Or, maybe they got delivered to another neighbor, and that neighbor did not take too much time to figure out where they should go.  Our trash gets picked up on Thursday, and they weren't there then, but it was pretty rainy and windy in between then and Saturday, so I'm glad they eventually got where they needed to go.  If he hadn't done the rare store trip, I guess they might have been there for almost another week or made their way elsewhere.  But, at least I guess we got to meet (somewhat) a neighbor and exchange contact info.

[Langue_doc]

Local post office, I know that it's not your fault, but today is the 23rd, two days before Christmas, and the only stamps you have are ones that say "Drug Free USA" in giant letters. Nothing like this slogan to convey Christmas cheer and New Year's wishes, especially this year. http://www.stampnewsnow.com/images/USPS-Stamps/US-Stamps-2020/20-Drug-Free-Stamp-B.jpg

WTF, post office??!! I had to affix these monstrosities on my Christmas cards. I have much nicer ones at home but didn't have a choice as the cards were already late. At the very least, I thought you'd have some decent, neutral ones, in case you had run out of the holiday-themed ones.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

The damn kitchen faucet decided to 'break' today. It could be as simple as a bad washer/O-ring, but we're not sure yet. Just a giant pain in the ass along with everything else.

[clean]

drove to florida for Christmas with my parents.  I think that it was safer here than at home.  My bride visits her parents most days and her parents wont stay home.  My parents Do stay home, so we havent left the house much.

Getting ready to head back home.  my electric seats move, but not far, so it is not something easy like a fuse.  (Probably some paper got stuck in the motor or runner or something).  But the seat wont move up enough for her to drive.  Not that I particularly want her to drive, but now that option seems to be off the table. 

I suppose that I will be spending a chunk of money at the start of the year to get this adjusted if she is going to be able to use the car. 

I am considering paying the electronic subscription fee for a chiltons manual to see if it is something that I can attempt myself. IF it is trash messing up the gears/runners/drive bolt, It may be worth a shot. HOwever, I already know that you need to be able to get the seat to a certain postion to even access the bolts holding it down!  Im not hopeful that I will be fortunate enough to be able to do that!

[fishbrains]

Talking about driving: When did all the a$$hole drivers trade in their BMW's for ginormous pick-up trucks?

Did I miss a memo?

[apl68]

The damn kitchen faucet decided to 'break' today. It could be as simple as a bad washer/O-ring, but we're not sure yet. Just a giant pain in the ass along with everything else.

I just had to replace the bathtub faucet.  There was no access panel in back of the fixture, so they had to cut a hole in the tile wall from in front.  Currently I have a gaping hole in the wall at the front of the bathtub.  I've had to hang a towel over it to keep out the drafts.  I need to have a slab of something appropriate cut to fill in the hole, but with the holidays I haven't had a chance to have that done yet.

[mamselle]

The damn kitchen faucet decided to 'break' today. It could be as simple as a bad washer/O-ring, but we're not sure yet. Just a giant pain in the ass along with everything else.

I just had to replace the bathtub faucet.  There was no access panel in back of the fixture, so they had to cut a hole in the tile wall from in front.  Currently I have a gaping hole in the wall at the front of the bathtub.  I've had to hang a towel over it to keep out the drafts.  I need to have a slab of something appropriate cut to fill in the hole, but with the holidays I haven't had a chance to have that done yet.

Stack of books...

   ;--}

M.

[ciao_yall]

Received an Amazon gift card through my work email account, which was then automatically applied to my work Amazon account! They won't shift it to my personal account which is going to mean some strange conversations with our purchasing people. Or I could just choose to buy boring things that are sort of work-related to not raise too many eyebrows.

[mamselle]

That was mean!!

Find some reaalllyy good stuff that looks work-related and use it for that!

M.

[Vkw10]

Received an Amazon gift card through my work email account, which was then automatically applied to my work Amazon account! They won't shift it to my personal account which is going to mean some strange conversations with our purchasing people. Or I could just choose to buy boring things that are sort of work-related to not raise too many eyebrows.

If you have a university-sponsored Amazon account, you need to contact your purchasing office about how to handle the gift card. University sponsored accounts may be subject to internal audits, balance tracking, statement checking, etc. Any time there's something odd with a university account, it's wise to email and ask about how to handle the oddity so you have documentation that you sought advice.

It's possible that Amazon wouldn't transfer because you were asking for transfer from a business to personal account. The business account manager in purchasing may be able to help.

Some time ago, Internal Audit at my university selected EmployeeA's Amazon account for review, reviewed one month of transactions, spotted a gift card purchase, and expanded their review. A single gift card transaction probably would have rated a simple corrective action memo, but EmployeeA had done several thousand dollars of gift card transactions on university account. The university fired EmployeeA for misusing account and reported the transactions to state revenue office as required under the regulations governing tax exempt state agencies. 

[mamselle]

I retract my suggestion. Apologies.

I didn't realize the tax status might be an issue.

M.

[FishProf]

No, MrsFishProf I am not "On Vacation".  Yes, I am not teaching classes at the moment, but I am still prepping classes, finishing grades, running a department, managing budgets, arranging internships, doing my own research etc. etc.

YOU (MFP) are on vacation b/c the nature of, and you approach to, your job is such that teaching = work and not teaching = vacation.  After 12 years together, I would expect you to get this....

And colleagues, you are not on vacation either, nor is the university closed until Feb 1.  Take that autoreply down or face the wrath of the Dean.  You have been warned.

On the other hand, Students - it is the week between Xmas and NewYearDay. NO, I won't zoom with you to discuss your grade.  If you cannot figure out why you didn't pass the class when you DID.NOT.TAKE.THE.FINAL. then no amount of zooming will help you.  Try back next week.

And KNEES!  I can't seriously entertain renewing my workouts or running when sitting makes you so stiff I can't straighten you or walk for 10 minutes.  Knock it off!