Wherein ( Fashion ) Mistakes Are Made

[Gravekeeper]

Here ya go.

Yeaaaah no. That's the exact brand and model line that just achieved 30% bad sectors after only 4 months of use for me. I think I'll pass. >.>

[earl colby pottinger]

Sorry

I'm sorry but when that call came in I actually squealed like a tween-aged school girl who was just handed Justin Bieber tickets.

That is a very disturbing image you placed in my mind. From now on when I meet one of the other techs at work I will think of them squealing like that.

[Jester]

Speaking of bandanas, at a festival this weekend, I came across a booth selling just those items, and felt the need to purchase some of them for future headwear while cycling...and to motivate me to do just that, to justify the money I spent on them.

When I get some time, I will take pictures of the more entertaining ones.

[RootedPhoenix]

Please share those. I'm waiting impatiently to see exactly what more of these things look like.

[star82869]

Okay that.........thing..........it scares me. People actually spent money on it? Need to hide under the covers so they can't get me ...........shudders

[wolfie]

This one I can actually sympathize with a bit. I forgot to fill the oil tank one winter, and lost heat in the middle of a bitter cold snap. Naturally, I was going to have to wait a few days for a delivery because of the high demand.

I did have electric power, so I bought some space heaters. Even with the space heaters running full blast, I could only get the indoor temperature of the house up to 35 degrees F in the room that had the space heater. The rest of the house was bitterly cold.

If this happens to anyone, don't go buy space heaters - buy a few yellow jerrycans instead. On your way home from the store, stop at a gas station (truck stop is better) that sells diesel - even better if it sells off-road diesel (no road taxes). Fill up the jerrycans, then when you get home, empty into the oil tank. Repeat the gas station visits as necessary until you can get an oil delivery.

It used to be that the only difference between diesel and heating oil was the red dye in heating oil to show that it didn't have road taxes paid. Now, there's a lower sulfur content in the diesel. Either way, an oil furnace can safely burn diesel (even though it costs a bit more than heating oil). I'm surprised that the oil company didn't mention this as a stop-gap to keep the heat on until they could get to you.

As someone who has been in a residence in the winter with no heat one night (and this was in Phoenix, Arizona, not Vancouver, Canuckifreezingourassesoffherestan), I can understand their motivation. I froze my ASS off that night, and I was wrapped in layers, sweatshirts, a winter coat, and blankets. None of it helped.

You think Vancouver is bad? If they get 2 days in a row of below-freezing weather, you'd think the ice age had started. Try Toronto, or (worse) Winnipeg (there's a reason for its nickname of "Winterpeg") if you want to hear the brass monkeys singing soprano.

[Pixilated]

*large snip*
Power Down
( The power went out a building one of our client's manages. Somehow this is our fault and not the power companies )

It would seem that it only takes approximately 45 minutes without electricity for the average adult human being to lose their goddamn mind. As evidenced by a power failure at <building> this evening. From the way people are reacting when they call me, you’d swear they were all huddled in their suites hooked up to life support with a 1 hour back up battery. Relax people. Go to bed. It’ll be on in the morning. There’s nothing so important that requires electricity that you can’t do without it for the rest of the night. And if it is that important chances are you bought a smart phone to do it with anyway. In fact you’re probably either using your smart phone as a flash light right now or looking up what to do when the power is out on Google only to have it tell you that you should have bought a flashlight.

*large snip*
annnnd rest

The apartment building in which my late, much-lamented grandfather lived had a power outage on at least one occasion that generated mass hysteria. Most of the elderly tenants were wringing their hands and wailing "The electricity's out! What should we do? WHAT SHOULD WE DOOOOO?!???" (As an aside, most were elderly women, though whether that has any bearing on the level of hysteria, I leave to you to decide.)

Grandpa: "Well, I'm gonna go to bed."

When he then proceeded to do.

He told me about this on my next visit; he seemed both puzzled and mildly amused by all the sturm und drang over a simple power outage.

*snip*

You think Vancouver is bad? If they get 2 days in a row of below-freezing weather, you'd think the ice age had started. Try Toronto, or (worse) Winnipeg (there's a reason for its nickname of "Winterpeg") if you want to hear the brass monkeys singing soprano.

I was on Vancouver Island in connection with a federal government youth program (this was a LONG time ago ). At some point in December we got maybe half an inch of snow on the roads. Watching the white-knuckled drivers crawling along at 20 km/hr (just over 10 mph) was hilarious enough for those of us from Ontario. For our fellow participants from the Prairies, and the colder parts of the East Coast ... well, let's just say it's a shame we didn't have YouTube back then.

[firecat88]

He told me about this on my next visit; he seemed both puzzled and mildly amused by all the sturm und drang over a simple power outage.

As someone with...issues about the dark (read: I am 25 and, unless I'm going to bed, I don't like being in a completely dark room), I can understand freaking out about a power outage if it happens at night. If it happens during the day, though? Meh. Where's my pile of To Read books.

[AccountingDrone]

As someone with...issues about the dark (read: I am 25 and, unless I'm going to bed, I don't like being in a completely dark room), I can understand freaking out about a power outage if it happens at night. If it happens during the day, though? Meh. Where's my pile of To Read books.

I keep a candle-inna-jar in each room - bathroom, livingroom and bedroom. If it looks like the power might go out overnight, we light them so we are not stumbling around on the way out to kick on the generator.

Our roomie drives me insane sometimes. I am perfectly happy with minimal task lighting on whatever I am doing. I have the tiny little LED light from IKEA over my desk and frequently it is the only light in the house on other than the 2 watt nightlight in the bathroom and a 6 watt lightbulb in the ceiling fan in the main part of the house. I can walk through a house with about 12 watts total of lighting on and not stumble over anything, she can have every damned light in the house on and trip over my crutches [which I keep in the exact same place in my room all the time. ] How can you live somewhere that nobody moves furniture or anything around in for over 5 years and still trip over the same things every damned day?

[Amanita]

Recently we had a power outage here, at a little after 11 pm. Now, I am nocturnal as hell, unlike the rest of my family. So I was NOT going to go to bed, and I couldn't just sit in the dark. So I went for a walk, armed with one of my lightsabers for illumination. My mom was whining about how dangerous it was, that nobody would be able to see me. Really.
Yes, I'm carrying a BRIGHT PURPLE LIGHTSABER driven by a 10w RGB LED, I'm going to be sooo hard for drivers to see.

It was also the weekend we had that super-moon, so going for a walk in the dark was actually pretty damn cool. I looked down at the shadow the full moon was casting and saw the silhouette of what looked like a cloaked figure (I was wearing a fleece poncho for warmth) with a saber. Oh so very cool!

[blas]

It only takes about 10 seconds of a power outage here to have the local neighborhood pest start running up and down the street alerting everyone that the power is out.

And about another 5 before everyone is in their car and on their way to the store to buy flashlights and candles. At 10:00 at night.

[ADeMartino]

It would seem that it only takes approximately 45 minutes without electricity for the average adult human being to lose their goddamn mind.

Really? It takes 45 minutes? Judging by my neighbors, I'd have thought it was far, far less.

In the fall of (I think it was 2008?) when the windstorms killed the power around here, the building was dark for not quite three days. Fortunately for me, I hadn't been to the store for a while, so there wasn't a whole lot to spoil in the fridge. Aside from not being able to use my computer, it didn't bother me much at all.

My downstairs neighbor, on the other hand, was in full-on, ranting-psychopath mode scarcely ten minutes into the blackout. I could hear his tantrum loud and clear.

I remember hearing stories about people actually confronting the utility workers who were working to repair the power lines. They were trying to intimidate the workers into turning on THEIR power first.

Pro tip for those who would try that: DON'T.

[AccountingDrone]

I remember hearing stories about people actually confronting the utility workers who were working to repair the power lines. They were trying to intimidate the workers into turning on THEIR power first.

Pro tip for those who would try that: DON'T.

Heh, we take the guys that work on lines down near our house a nice hot pot of coffee and fixings or iced tea and fixings, depending on the season. We get the good scuttlebutt then

Really, we live out in the countryside and have our own small generator so it isn't so horrid here when the power goes out. Well, and a wood stove for the winter. I just wish we had the $7K it would cost to install a generac that would automatically test once a week for 15 minutes and automatically turn on and off as power goes off and on in the neighborhood. I am lazy that way

[Pixilated]

As someone with...issues about the dark (read: I am 25 and, unless I'm going to bed, I don't like being in a completely dark room), I can understand freaking out about a power outage if it happens at night. If it happens during the day, though? Meh. Where's my pile of To Read books.

I can understand that. I don't have issues so much as "AAAAUUGH. WHERE'D I PUT THE CANDLES AND FLASHLIGHTS???" if the power goes out at night.

But this power outage occurred in the early evening, during the summer, so there were still a few hours of daylight left.

[Jester]

You think Vancouver is bad? If they get 2 days in a row of below-freezing weather, you'd think the ice age had started. Try Toronto, or (worse) Winnipeg (there's a reason for its nickname of "Winterpeg") if you want to hear the brass monkeys singing soprano.

I have no idea if Vancouver is bad compared to other Canadian cities. I just know it is bad compared to, say, Phoenix.

As for trying those other places? Um, no. Absolutely not. I'm from the desert and I live on a tropical island. The only thing in my life I like to be ice cold is my beer, thank you very much.

Speaking of beer, I'm off to go buy some and drop it off at my friend's boat, as today is the day of the Minimal Regatta, one of the crazy Key West events that make this place so much fun. I could explain it to you, but this video does a much better job of it than I could. Amusingly, while the dock will be packed with people sweltering in the sun, *I* will be on my friend's boat on one of the slips, with one of the best seats around, cold beer without a wait, plenty of shade, some good people that are also friends with my friend, and no sweltering on the docks with the unwashed masses.

Yes, several of my other friends hate me for this. This year that list includes my buddy Popcorn, who has never been to the Regatta, as this is his first time that he will not be working during it....and of course, I invited my niece's friend The Pagan to join me. (I'm allowed to bring myself and one other person.) Sucks to be Popcorn!