I spent over 20 hours prepping, sanding, and painting my front steps while the weather is still good before winter, including taking two afternoons off work to get the job done before it's too cold. I just finished the job this afternoon and the paint is still tacky.

There is a long strip of painters tape attached to a paint can very obviously blocking off the stairs when you're facing it.

I have NO Halloween decorations up yet either.

Edit: for everyone saying it's not enough or my tape job is shit, it's like a 45 degree angle across the steps, and it's not a construction zone, it's my house. If you walked up to a piece of tape blocking your path at a residence where you weren't invited, you would probably at least second guess whether you should be proceeding forward. Thankfully, it's mostly dry and there is no need for rework as far as I can tell. That's what makes it mildly infuriating. He COULD have done damage, but it doesn't look like he did.

Edit 2: this is also not a common occurrence. I get MAYBE one knock a month on my door unsolicited. It just unfortunately happened to be the one day I had painted. It wasn't an expected situation. This was a mere just in case measure. Small town Canada.

[OC]

An hour later, I think I've found most of them. Just the boiler left to do and the garden sundial needs rotating 30°

We fuel up our semi about three times a week….
Not long ago, the same fill-up would have cost around $850–$950

And this was at a truck stop charging roughly $6 a gallon. I’ve seen diesel prices elsewhere approaching $7–$9.

Nearly everything anyone buys spends some portion of its journey on a truck….Groceries, clothing, furniture, etc.

When transportation costs increase this dramatically, those costs don’t disappear. Eventually somebody has to absorb them, whether it’s the trucking company, the retailer or the consumer….

And once prices go up, they don’t necessarily come back down when fuel gets cheaper.

Thank god it’s the company’s card but I’ll still pay when I go get groceries, I’m sure.

I was just reading somewhere else that “dentistry is a scam combined with necessary care. It took me back 15 years ago.

My dentist office was small. He had just sold to a new dentist. This was my first time seeing the new dentist who had bought the practice. Sits me up and says “You have 4 cavities. You’ll need to get scheduled and come back.”

I think it’s a bit unusual as I haven’t had any cavities for 10 years, but OK, he’s the doctor, I’m not. I go out to the secretary and she has a one page letter typed up, saying I have 4 cavities, I agree to get them filled, and pay like $800 (in 2010-ish, I don’t remember the exact amount but it was a lot for me at the time). Big push, I am required to sign the letter before I leave. OK, I’ll sign it. I schedule the work for a month later.

I get home and really start thinking about all the red flags going off as it really seemed like a money push from them more than a medical issue. I cancel the appointment.

As luck would have it, I move from that area very shortly after, but I probably did go 1-2 years between cleanings. I sit down in the new dentist chair, on the opposite US coast. I don’t mention the 4 cavities. I get X-rays. New dentist comes in “you’re all good!”. So of course I mention the 4 cavities. The new dentist said something along the lines of “I don’t see them but they could be very small and maybe he had better equipment than me.”

15 years later I’m still at that dentist. I’ve had one cavity.

Clearly the dentist who bought the practice was going to full lots of cavities to pay for the practice he just bought.

I work a tech job in an office, so most of us are sitting at our desks all day, it’s a little chilly and rainy outside, understandably cold, but the people who run cold have such a monopoly on my facility’s HVAC system that they got the facility manager to turn it up to 79 degrees!

It’s sweltering in my office, I’m wearing pants and a collared shirt (dress code for men), I can’t wear less, I can’t take stuff off, the cold employees could bring warmer clothes, or blankets, or space heaters (nobody cares if you’re sitting at your desk in a blanket or have a space heater). Because I can’t remove things, the expectation should be that if you run cold you bring extra to warm you up

Plus, this heat is bad for the equipment, computer equipment should not get too warm, if the ambient temperature is 79 then I’m afraid to see how hot the servers are running (not all of them are in dedicated server rooms)

Edit: for everyone saying “79 is fine for electronics”, it’s fine for a new computer with a high quality cooling system, I am dealing with old servers and computers from the 90’s and 2000’s that my bosses refuse to replace or upgrade because “they work just fine”, we keep them clean and have fans blowing on them, but at 79 degree external temperature they’re hitting 3 digit internal temps

Even though a doctor's note is excused as of this year it will still count against the child. So really it is unexcused.

Per the .gov site. - Ohio law no longer references the distinction between medical and nonmedical excused absences -

And just like every year since my daughter has been in school she is 11 days in and she is sick. It's not horrible yet but still. A few years ago we were told if your kid is sick and especially if they have a fever keep them home. Last year she got wrecked. Took her to urgent care and turns out she had influenza B. was down for like 6 days. Couldn't get the fever to break. This year if that situation happens again she is already over the limit.

They will send you a letter laying out all the things that could happen up to and including suspending the parents drivers license. It's bullshit.

I get they are tying to combat chronic absenteeism but as with everything they are over correcting. There are some kids that miss a total of months of school. No notes. Parents don't call in the morning. Those kids are the issue. Kids that get sick often and/or have frequent appointments but who get doctor's notes and who turn in work from the days they missed and whose parents call in to call them off with a reason are not the problem.

/end rant

They zip tied the water line shut and shoved it behind the fridge, which means it's most likely still active. The fitting is covered in some sorta adhesive and tape, which I can't remove and it needs cut. Before I cut it, I traced it down to make sure it wasn't active and I spray water all over. It ran all the way down to the SHUT OFF VALVE THAT WAS STILL ON and traced the connection back to the HOT WATER HEATER. The cold line was 1ft away. ALL of this is wrong 😕 now I gotta install a different line to the cold and get a new hose and fittings. I just wanted to install my new fridge.

We’re staying in Maine literally like 50 feet from the water.
The windows are open, it’s cool out, and the ocean and night sounds are SO nice.

My boyfriend absolutely has to sleep with the fan on. I tried turning it off “just to see” and literally within 10 seconds it was, “DUDE, what are you doing? Stop.”

So instead of falling asleep to the water, crickets, and all the nice Maine night sounds, I’m listening to WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Anywhoooo, I’m currently waiting for him to start snoring so I can turn it off. And I will turn it off. It’s OUR vacation not just his and we sleep with a fan every night at home without my consent…so.

Edit: Yeeeeesh, this blew up! My first time this has happened lol. Well, the fan did go off…then the phone-youtube-fan came on lol. It was nice while it lasted!

Also it’s definitely not a big deal, y’all. Some of you seem to think it’s a make it or break it, I’m used to the fan, but I also wanted to hear a few minutes of tide sounds and bugs- which I did!

My new neighbors from a different country don't know where the trash is. They do now.

DSL and Cable Internet are not available and Mobile Internet speed is around 1Mbit/s ..

Edit: The Window is tilted horizontal and the Starlink Dish is standing on top of the Window. Yes I needed a Stool to get it up there, the Picture is from my POV.

When does Easter stuff come out, in November?

Home Bargains taking the piss by already hauling out an entire Isle for Xmas.

I’ve seen the same specialist for about 7 years now for a medical issue. He’s great. No concerns with him. However he’s in a highly specialized area and has moved clinics/practices twice for various reasons. No big deal - as long as he’s in my state and within reasonable driving distance I’ll follow him.

He’s moved again and I call the office to schedule an appointment. We agreed on a date and time and then they say “hey by the way we need a prescription”. I’m like what? I just need to see the specialist for ongoing care/re-establish care. She repeats “YOU NEED A PRESCRIPTION” from your primary care doctor.

I don’t understand - do you mean a referral? She goes on “yeah referral/prescription” it doesn’t matter. We call it prescription. I say okay. Got it.

Now this is new to me. Because I work in healthcare myself and I’ve never heard a referral being referred to as a prescription (in this context. Yes you can prescribe meds, medical devices and services eg social services or specialty services as needed but in this context it should be a referral not a prescription). As someone who navigates the healthcare system for my self and family, never once heard it used in that context.

It was just so jarring to me and mildly infuriating

Is this normal?

No “sorry for the delay” or “would you like to schedule an appointment” also am I missing something or this an absurd “starting price” for woolwax on a brand new truck that won’t require any rust removal beforehand?

Edit: This is in the South Shore of Massachusetts

Been like this for the past month and a half. Doesn't seem to be improving. Worst thing is F1 is happening today in the haze. I pray for them.