Random thing you loathe right now.

Stele wrote:

Spectrum.

Internet out for almost 6 hours already because it's raining?

:mad:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/VmLegYI.jpg)

I literally have trouble considering moving somewhere that does not have fiber to the house... I rely on the Internet for work, and after 40 years of connectivity, the idea of going back to an unreliable technology is kind of horrifying, although I get completely that this is a serious privilege. (It's easier for me to think of it as living a bit in the future, because honestly everyone should have fiber capacity and reliability...)

Robear wrote:

I literally have trouble considering moving somewhere that does not have fiber to the house... I rely on the Internet for work, and after 40 years of connectivity, the idea of going back to an unreliable technology is kind of horrifying, although I get completely that this is a serious privilege. (It's easier for me to think of it as living a bit in the future, because honestly everyone should have fiber capacity and reliability...)

I totally get this. We had google fiber service in the triangle, and had to give it up for Spectrum when we moved to the coast.

I will say though, fiber service is just as vulnerable to the line-seeking backhoes as any other service. Not everywhere is served by self-healing rings. Hell, there's only a single fiber line serving as the upstream link for the OBX. The first year we moved here, it was cut no less than 3 times by various construction enterprises, and somehow taken out by an industrial mower once!

Yep. But we live in a planned city, so the days of digging in my neighborhood are vastly few and far between.

Well, that sucked. Hurricane Sally blew through and hit us directly. We didn't have electricity until yesterday evening, and internet returned about twenty minutes ago. Through judicious use of keeping the refrigerator closed and subsequently the kindness of a neighbour giving us a bit of ice, we were able to save most of our food. Happily, the weather wasn't brutally hot following the storm, so the lack of AC was bearable. We have some damage to the roof, completely destroyed fences, had one large tree fall and the others will need to be removed since their roots are now unstable. Minor flooding of the garage, but nothing into the house, thank goodness. Nearby, there are boats lying on their sides where they blew ashore. There's still considerable damage, with 40,000+ without power, a shortage of gasoline, and a boil-water advisory due to likely contamination of the water supply. Some 7,000 line-workers showed up and have been working day and night to get power restored. They're local heroes at the moment.

On the bright side, with a complete lack of fences I finally got to meet my neighbours!

Damage sucks, and surviving without electricity and power sucks, but you didn't mention anyone getting hurt, so i'm glad for that for you.

thrawn82 wrote:

Damage sucks, and surviving without electricity and power sucks, but you didn't mention anyone getting hurt, so i'm glad for that for you.

Yeah, no fatalities from the hurricane in the region, as far as I'm aware. That's definitely the most important part.

Hooray for getting the flu shot and shingles vaccine!

...on the same shoulder
Me has brain cells.
This really hurts and the shingles vaccine is knocking me on my ass *sobs*

fangblackbone wrote:

Hooray for getting the flu shot and shingles vaccine!

...on the same shoulder
Me has brain cells.
This really hurts and the shingles vaccine is knocking me on my ass *sobs*

I got my flu shot a few weeks ago. I literally didn’t feel the needle. My shoulder was sore the next day. Next two days afterward my neck was sore on that same side.

All in all, with the discomfort. Will do I again next year.

I was warned the shingles vacc could make me sick. I am not sick necessarily but I do feel worn out. I'm sleeping a lot but functional. I'd say I'm 75-80% of normal with loss of appetite.
Shoulder is still sore and painful to the touch

fangblackbone wrote:

I was warned the shingles vacc could make me sick. I am not sick necessarily but I do feel worn out.

Right. The vaccine doesn’t infect you, but it triggers your immune response which can cause you to feel icky.

Hmmm, I may have to look into the shingles vaccine, as I had shingles a few months ago and it kicked my ass.

Do it. I just turned 50 so my PCP recommended I get it.
A neighbor told me they had shingles and as soon as they said it was nerve pain, I noped it and got the vaccine asap.

After talking to a few local docs (friends and my internist), I'm gonna hold off. Neither of the vaccines have really high effectiveness, and the potential side effects are not good. Maybe in the next generation of vaccines...

I am too young to get the shingles vaccine but I have had shingles. I had a light case and I say get the shot.

I’m visiting my doc soon for meds refill. I think I’ve had the shingles vaccine but it was a long time ago. I’ll be sure to ask about this. I’ve never had shingles but I’ve witnessed friends go through agony with it.

When I had shingles the doctor told me, basically it's a minor annoyance if you start antibiotics early and the longer you wait the more painful it will be.

With me, I didn't know what it was and I put off going to the doctor as long as possible, so I wound up spending several days at home playing KOTOR shirtless because fabric touching the rash was very painful. But when my wife got it some years later, we recognized the signs, she went early and it was over before it started.

Warning signs were: small rash with tingly nerve sensations. Not necessarily painful, but you touch and think "okay something is going on with my nerves there".

Disclaimer: apparently it can show up anywhere, and if it breaks out near your face then it's very dangerous even when caught early.

Bonus trivia: shingles is apparently in the Herpes family of viruses. When I got it, a guy at work who thought we were rivals for a promotion mailed the CEO with "concerns about a colleague who has tested positive for herpes". Good times.

fenomas wrote:

Bonus trivia: shingles is apparently in the Herpes family of viruses. When I got it, a guy at work who thought we were rivals for a promotion mailed the CEO with "concerns about a colleague who has tested positive for herpes". Good times.

Shingles is caused by the Varicella Zoster virus - this is the exact same virus that causes Chicken Pox.

After you’ve had Chicken pox the virus lies dormant in the nerve ganglions for most of adolescence and early adulthood, before (occasionally) reactivating and cause shingles in older adults.

Chicken Pox is for life.

How much traveling is sitting around and doing nothing. Had to travel for family emergency (which is way bigger then a loath). Add in trying to be safe and I just want to be home.

fenomas wrote:

Bonus trivia: shingles is apparently in the Herpes family of viruses. When I got it, a guy at work who thought we were rivals for a promotion mailed the CEO with "concerns about a colleague who has tested positive for herpes". Good times.

I sincerely hope he seriously damaged his prospects for advancement when the CEO found out he was a: wrong, and B: referring to shingles.

fenomas wrote:

When I had shingles the doctor told me, basically it's a minor annoyance if you start antibiotics early and the longer you wait the more painful it will be.

Pretty sure that should be antivirals, not antibiotics, right?

fenomas wrote:

Bonus trivia: shingles is apparently in the Herpes family of viruses. When I got it, a guy at work who thought we were rivals for a promotion mailed the CEO with "concerns about a colleague who has tested positive for herpes". Good times.

Hope you emailed the CEO with concerns about a co-worker who was clearly scheming to make out with you, otherwise why would he be worried about herpes?

Tanglebones wrote:
fenomas wrote:

When I had shingles the doctor told me, basically it's a minor annoyance if you start antibiotics early and the longer you wait the more painful it will be.

Pretty sure that should be antivirals, not antibiotics, right?

That would be correct. Valacylovir, for preference.

Sorbicol wrote:

Shingles is caused by the Varicella Zoster virus - this is the exact same virus that causes Chicken Pox.

After you’ve had Chicken pox the virus lies dormant in the nerve ganglions for most of adolescence and early adulthood, before (occasionally) reactivating and cause shingles in older adults.

Er, not sure how the terminology goes but "herpes zoster" is what I meant - I guess it properly refers to the disease rather than the virus that causes the disease? Anyhoo the virus is apparently in the same family as actual herpes (herpes simplex).

But yeah, assuming you've had chickenpox it just chills out in you waiting to reactivate. I seem to recall reading that roughly half of people who reach old age will get it sooner or later, so it's worth knowing the signs.

Tanglebones wrote:

Pretty sure that should be antivirals, not antibiotics, right?

Errrrr I'm way out of my element. It might have been Flintstones vitamins? It worked pretty fast though, in my and the wife's cases.

thrawn82 wrote:
fenomas wrote:

Bonus trivia: shingles is apparently in the Herpes family of viruses. When I got it, a guy at work who thought we were rivals for a promotion mailed the CEO with "concerns about a colleague who has tested positive for herpes". Good times.

I sincerely hope he seriously damaged his prospects for advancement when the CEO found out he was a: wrong, and B: referring to shingles.

It was a weird situation. But the short version is everyone already knew what he was like, but worked around it because he didn't hurt anyone and got a surprising amount of work done. The CEO just wrote "wtf?" and forwarded it to our department head, who was my best friend, and we all had a hearty chuckle.

Sounds like you missed out on a great makeout session though

Wrong thread. Doh!

Postal Service delays. Seriously, you would think that the Trump supporters who are ok with him dismantling the USPS so he can more readily disenfranchise voters would halt their support when they realize it means that their Amazon order is going to be delayed.

Wet wedgies.

I picked up my tablet to add something to my to do list. I played a game instead of adding to my list. A few hours later I remembered I wanted to add something to my list. I picked up my tablet again and played a game again instead of adding to the list.

I just remember again I wanted to add something to my list so instead of doing that I'm posting here about my attempts to add to me to do list.