Rant: Today would've been my boy's 33rd birthday. I'd give anything to go out in the backyard and play catch with him one more time.
RANT: Just spent the last week in Vancouver in a shitty hotel. It's the only hotel near the office, so there's no choice for something better. An external hard drive, Plex on my laptop, and a long HDMI cable for the hotel TV helped to keep me sane. RAVE: Company Christmas party was a lot of fun, and I closed a $2 million deal based on the work that my team has done over the last 3 months. "Nobody else could have done that... we're glad you're here... oh... in case you were wondering, you've successfully passed your probationary period". I was told that there'd be a rather substantial XMas bonus coming my way as a result.
RANT:Obvious advice should have been obvious: when making your own sriracha, don't put the unused parts of the super-mega-hot peppers down the garburator. I'm now texting this from my phone from my shop, as the kitchen is airing out from the recent hazmat incident.
RANT: Frozen pipes. A year ago my mom got a bunch of reno work done to her basement... got a really nice bathroom and laundry room all finished off... in-floor heating, awesome lighting and cabinets... looks really great. Cue this morning when she goes to do laundry, and there's a "low flow" warning on the washing machine, and it won't start. She tried the laundry tub faucets, and the water won't flow. Great. Went in and ripped out a bunch of drywall in her new laundry room, exposing the outside wall. Turns out the "contractor" she hired ran uncovered PEX line for hot and cold water right along the foundation wall, right up against the concrete. Then put insulation over it. Then drywalled over that. So... any and all heat was being kept inside, well away from the water lines. On top of that, the insulation is spotty at best... tons of holes where you can reach out and touch bare concrete... as in multiple 6x8" clear spaces of bare, cold, outside concrete. And there's no vapour barrier or waterproof membrane anywhere. What a fucking gong show. Needless to say I ripped out a ton of drywall this morning to at least get some interior warm air to the water pipes (which are now warmed up and flowing again), and it looks like I have some work to do in the spring when shit thaws out a bit. Nothing like paying someone thousands of dollars to do it wrong, and then having to come back and redo it the right way afterwards. To all you people who are selling your services as a general reno or handy man, who doesn't really know what they're doing... go fuck yourselves. Preferably with a chain saw. Hell, a 30 second Google search brought up the building codes and some really good explanations of what has to happen in this kind of scenario... and it's not at all what got done.
Rave: The gf and I managed to snag super cheap plane tickets for our trip to Poland next year. $350-ish per person for non stop flights was an amazing find. I'm now super paranoid about any snags that may pop up, but for now I'm ecstatic. It's shaping up to be a great trip and we're going to be saving loads of money from the get go. Rant: Christmas was........not the best this year. My gf's sister in law is, well, a complete fucking bitch. And that's me being as diplomatic as possible. This woman was a complete monster before and has only gotten worse since getting pregnant. My gf wound up getting a cold over the weekend and when she informed the SIL, the SIL promptly went off the deep end. First by making increasingly rude and bitchy comments. Then, straight up throwing a temper tantrum when we tried to do a family picture and stating that either my gf (who was in the throes of a nasty cold mind you) had to leave or she would. To the point where my gf started crying. On Christmas. It says something when the shy, introverted, non confrontational person present (me) had to be talked down and had my gf beg me not to say anything. The fact that her family basically sat there and did nothing still makes my blood boil. Fortunately, the time spent at my family's place (in my gf's words) saved the holiday. Apparently, the had a talk with her folks about the whole deal she had seemed constructive after she pointed out the likelihood that we are not likely to keep quiet when stuff like this happens in the future or continue to do her family's holiday stuff if it means enduring abuse from a shitstain isn't terribly high. I wasn't entirely happy to hear the response of her father which more or less amounted to "What? You expect me to speak up whenever she does something shitty?", though. Yes 6'4" ex air force man. It would be nice if you could channel that hard ass persona you love to throw around and actually stepped up to be a halfway decent authority figure. The major upshot of my gf getting a more solid financial footing over the past couple of years is that she is far less reliant on her folks and now has a greater ability to step out on her own and not have to worry about the consequences. Good times.
Rave: Got a sous vide for Christmas and did my first steaks tonight. They were delicious and I’m pumped about the sous vide. Gonna be some good food in my house this year.
Fucking RAVE: after a long while of searching, finally got into contact with the widow of the dude who helped save my life. Because my brain tumor was so critical, and (for the medical nerds on here) my pituitary glands were around my shoulders I was herniating so bad, I essentially had the choice between two surgeons. Two people who were available immediately who could keep me from dying. I went with my gut. The one I didn't go with, still consulted with me and my doctors off the clock, on his own time. He slept in my room at times when there was no one else there. Got me through a lot of rough emotional stuff. A few months later he ate a gun. 9 mm. I still refuse to shoot that round. Turns out he had a brain tumor as well, that he was not aware of at the time. I went to his funeral. I barely remember it. I was on so many IVs and medicine just to keep me alive for the immediate future, giving my condolences was the last of my worries. Cue now. 10 years later. By chance, I found someone who knows the family. I'm about to meet with his widow. I'm literally the last patient he helped save. No pressure.
Rant: gave myself ptsd going car shopping at a dealership. Holy pushy, Batman. Also we have to get $2500 back from the dealership and they are stringing us along hardcore. Yay lack of consumer protections in Alabama....
rant: Got a call at midnight from our neighbor. The kid who was supposed to be watching our house and my dogs has been having raging parties. so that's cool.
Rant: the husband and I have been having problems. Rantier: I went out to eat with a friend this evening and missed a couple calls and a text from my dad. The next time he called I answered. Rantiest: my fucking husband was ever so kind to tell my dad about said problems. I’m so pissed right now I can’t even see straight. We hadn’t talked to anyone about this stuff yet. I can’t even count how many boundaries that crossed. I definitely didn’t need to hear about how I’m ruining my life from him tonight. Happy fucking New Year.
Rave: Crisis averted for us, we did get our money refunded to our CC on Friday after the debacle at the dealership. Taking it up with the CC company for a chargeback was my last resort but luckily it did not get that far. Rave: My family members (in this case, my siblings) really are awesome. I have the benefit of being the youngest out of set of really great people who are intelligent, well thought and spoken, and will help if I ask. They reminded me that I need to ask. They are all doing well for themselves and have been through all the financial planning and hurdles that we are trying to prepare for ourselves. And they are discreet. We have specific goals that they can advise us on and I am so excited and thankful. Just having someone to bounce questions off of, or people to help you search for something, is a great asset. I am not religious at all and don't really do the church or God thing generally, but damned if I don't feel blessed. The future is bright.
Rant- So off the heels of my old coworker dying at 30 this last week, a girl I was friends with in college killed herself this past week. Hard to think we'll be moving on without them.
Rant: A guy that I shared captain duties with when I worked on casino boats died two days ago. His wife found him face down on their bed when she got home from work. He was 56. No word on the cause of death yet, but by all accounts he was a healthy guy. I was just talking to him a week ago at the grocery store. I guess I'm just stunned.
Rave: Great wage. Rant: Great wage. This place makes me head hurt on a constant base. But it is the only job like this around here that pays anywhere close to this amount. So I am stuck here, fuck I hate this job.
Whiny weather rant: Ugh you guys. Today was a balmy 10 degrees and sunny and for the first time in over a week I felt like I could be outside for more than 5 minutes. But now it’s back down to -1 with a substantial wind chill and everything is terrible. Remind me again why I live in this god forsaken tundra?