Random thing you loathe right now.

Getting tested for covid. It's not a comfortable test, and the days of waiting for results suck.

Apparently, having a connection that is very fast can cause Steam downloads to mess up. If you download faster than Steam can decompress the files, your download will blip in and out. It was really annoying trying to figure out what was happening, but a Comcast tech told me he had the problem until he set an arbitrary download speed below that point.

Good luck, Clockwork.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Getting tested for covid. It's not a comfortable test, and the days of waiting for results suck.

How many days? Where I live, the slow tests take 24 hours and the results of the fast tests come just hours later.

RawkGWJ wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Getting tested for covid. It's not a comfortable test, and the days of waiting for results suck.

How many days? Where I live, the slow tests take 24 hours and the results of the fast tests come just hours later.

2-4 days. I got tested earlier in the fall after a known exposure, and I had results within a couple days. This time, I'm actually symptomatic so the wait is harder.

BoogtehWoog wrote:

Good luck, Clockwork.

Thanks, Boog. Good to see you again.

Sorry to hear that Clocky. Sending all the hope for a negative result or uneventful recovery.

NSMike wrote:

I just remember my 9th grade Journalism class, about how when you write about someone dying in a reporting context, you do not use euphemisms. You say John Doe died on Thursday, not "passed away" or "is no longer with us." Ever since then, I do my best to avoid any euphemisms about death. Somebody died. It's that simple.

On the other hand, if you say "John Doe snuffed it on Thursday" you are a master wordsmith and deserving of a Pulitzer.

"On Thursday last, John Doe Johnned his last Doe."

fenomas wrote:

"On Thursday last, John Doe Johnned his last Doe."

In other news, fenoman sued by the family of the late John Doe for implying he solicited prostitutes. More on this developing story later!

In other news, fenoman sued by the family of the late John Doe for implying he solicited sex from female deer.

FIXED!

Very minor loathe, but I woke up in a funk today. I'm craving again, I still have a minor cold causing my nose to be stuffed up, my wife and kids are on my nerves, and I have no desire to work. But, I have a lot of work things to get done today, my fence is supposed to be repaired today, and I'm basically at the deadline for getting holiday shopping done. It's all minor stuff, but it's just.... "ugh" today.

Two years ago I had a contractor come and clean my yard- he estimated $400 and I paid. Last year I had the same guy come just based on a "can you come again this year" email. But he forgot to invoice me and I didn't proactively ask about it (probably partially my bad). This year I had the same guy come, again didn't talk estimate, and now he wants $700 for each year, or $600 if I pay cash. That's not an unfair price given how long they were here and how many leaves I have but it's a surprise of a few hundred dollars more than I had budgeted. I loathe this kind of negotiation; I don't want him to think I'm trying to get out of paying him, but I'm a little blindsided by it.

How big is your yard, qaraq? And what does the contractor do exactly? Wish I could come there and do it for you half-price, lol.

Fall leaf cleanup. I think I've got about 1/3 acre but a lot of oak trees- there was a hell of a pile for their truck to vacuum up. It took a crew of 4 about four hours, with large blowers and a truck. It used to take me most of several weekends to do it poorly with only hand tools.

Ahh, I see. Yeah, I can see how it would cost that much, then. They may have underestimated the original time. And it seems like Covid-19 is driving up the cost of a lot of things.

Speaking of contractor loathes. I have a contractor that was supposed to show up at 10am for fence repair. I moved all my morning meetings around so that I wouldn't be on conference calls while they were working. Of course, they just now showed up at 1pm to get started, so all my meetings that I moved to this afternoon will be full of noise anyway, despite my efforts.

Contractor prices are through the roof right now on the Gulf Coast. I can't hate guys for making a living, but holy cow does it pay to wait on non-essential services.

I usually have one headache day a week, since forever, but they've become much more frequent lately. Sitting in front of a screen all day instead of having the occasional live meeting doesn't help probably.

I try to get small walks in during the day to ease the load on my eyes from monitors. Dog walking is perfect for that.

dejanzie wrote:

I usually have one headache day a week, since forever, but they've become much more frequent lately. Sitting in front of a screen all day instead of having the occasional live meeting doesn't help probably.

I bought some glasses that block blue light, and while the science behind it doesn't seem completely solid yet, at least anecdotally (and perhaps placebo effect is in place) my eye strain and the instances of resulting headaches have gone way down.

dejanzie wrote:

I usually have one headache day a week, since forever, but they've become much more frequent lately. Sitting in front of a screen all day instead of having the occasional live meeting doesn't help probably.

If you have or about to get into your 40s, and depending on how far your monitor is, reading glasses might be a thing. Tends to creep up on you as your 40th birthday rolls around.

Jonman wrote:
dejanzie wrote:

I usually have one headache day a week, since forever, but they've become much more frequent lately. Sitting in front of a screen all day instead of having the occasional live meeting doesn't help probably.

If you have or about to get into your 40s, and depending on how far your monitor is, reading glasses might be a thing. Tends to creep up on you as your 40th birthday rolls around.

They are called 45s for a reason.

Jonman wrote:
dejanzie wrote:

I usually have one headache day a week, since forever, but they've become much more frequent lately. Sitting in front of a screen all day instead of having the occasional live meeting doesn't help probably.

If you have or about to get into your 40s, and depending on how far your monitor is, reading glasses might be a thing. Tends to creep up on you as your 40th birthday rolls around.

I realized this when I was upgrading my phone. The support person asked me to take the sim card out of my phone and read her the IMEI number at the bottom of the card. My response was "Those are numbers?". It's definitely a subtle thing that takes a while to notice.

Yeah I got that blue light filter on my prescription glasses last year. It's good, I guess? Can't swear to it. But I'm on a screen for 8 hours a day for work and a couple more at night most days, so figured it was worth a try.

Jonman wrote:
dejanzie wrote:

I usually have one headache day a week, since forever, but they've become much more frequent lately. Sitting in front of a screen all day instead of having the occasional live meeting doesn't help probably.

If you have or about to get into your 40s, and depending on how far your monitor is, reading glasses might be a thing. Tends to creep up on you as your 40th birthday rolls around.

This. See an optometrist regularly, people!

ThatGuy42 wrote:
Jonman wrote:
dejanzie wrote:

I usually have one headache day a week, since forever, but they've become much more frequent lately. Sitting in front of a screen all day instead of having the occasional live meeting doesn't help probably.

If you have or about to get into your 40s, and depending on how far your monitor is, reading glasses might be a thing. Tends to creep up on you as your 40th birthday rolls around.

This. See an optometrist regularly, people!

Good point, I'm 39 now. I'll see one as soon as the lockdown light ends mid January (hopefully).

Robear wrote:

I try to get small walks in during the day to ease the load on my eyes from monitors. Dog walking is perfect for that.

Yeah, I learned that since the first lockdown in March. I walk the kids to school each morning if weather permits it, about 2km to start the day. And I walk the dog for 15m during lunch as well. Even if that means catching up on emails in the evening sometimes, it's still better.

I think it's also stress and general ennui with 2020 being 2020, and eating way too much sugar after I quit smoking 3 months ago.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions

dejanzie wrote:

...
I think it's also stress and general ennui with 2020 being 2020, and eating way too much sugar after I quit smoking 3 months ago...

My sugar intake has drastically spiked this year, too, for much the same reasons. Today is not quite the worse craving I've had for a cigarette since I quit, but it's up there. In compensation I have eaten an entire "Family Size Shareable" bag of Caramel M&M's. Good choices, right?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Getting tested for covid. It's not a comfortable test, and the days of waiting for results suck.

Test came back negative. Whatever I have sucks, but at least it's not the 'rona!

Yey Coocky!!!

Feeling old. I was driving my kids today and for the first time in forever I didn't have my phone running through the car (for reference, this is a 1998 Volvo V70 that I had to find a cassette aux adapter to use my phone), and I put on the FM radio.

Anyways, Sabastian likes the random song that happens to be on, so he asks me to favorite it. And then I have to explain that... it's the radio, I can't favorite things. He tells me I should buy a new radio for the car.

After the song finishes, a set of ads come on. "Daddy, just skip the ads!"