Random thing you loathe right now.

I'm really tired of air travel in general. I got caught in a bunch of weather-related delays flying back home from Christmas with my family (ending up getting home over 24 hours later than I'd planned -- at least the airline paid for the hotel room), and then a week after that, had to fly out again for a conference.

Miraculously, my flights today were all on time, but I've still spent way more time on planes and in airports in the last few weeks than is good for me.

Really loud and repetitive bass lines from music that appears to have no source.

Two+ hours today and I cannot figure out where it's coming from - but it's the same song on repeat. It's driving me crazy.

did you check the ear buds your wearing?

Mimble wrote:

Really loud and repetitive bass lines from music that appears to have no source.

Two+ hours today and I cannot figure out where it's coming from - but it's the same song on repeat. It's driving me crazy.

It'd the goddamned rave-fairies, again. I think it's time to release the hounds! The baroque opera hounds.

Having been quacked out of chiropractic care.

Cayne wrote:

did you check the ear buds your wearing?

I wish it was just me annoying myself!

Amoebic wrote:

It'd the goddamned rave-fairies, again. I think it's time to release the hounds! The baroque opera hounds.

Those rave-fairies are going to get a kick in the pants. Irritating little buggers.

- My housemates have been taking more drugs, making more noise, and doing both at stupider times of day lately (let's bring a bunch of people home from the pub at 5am to keep partying and have some more coke! Why not?)
- Me asking them to do this elsewhere had them doing so for just over a week
- This has led me to to look for a new place
- This is a massive headache in Canberra
- Stupid Canberra housing shortage
- Today we got a letter from our property manager saying if we get one more complaint we'll be issued a notice to vacate
- I have zero faith in them having the sense to tone it down
- I now have time pressure to find a new place
- I have no idea how much time pressure this is, since it's entirely based on the behaviour patterns of people who take fair amount of drugs

Sorry about that. Needed to vent.

On the bright side, far and away the worst offender of the lot is in south america for another week or two, so I probably have that long...

Sonicator wrote:

- My housemates have been taking more drugs.....

On the bright side, far and away the worst offender of the lot is in south america for another week or two, so I probably have that long...

Don't know about that bright side matey, maybe he's moving up to industrial scale commerce...

For the first time in over seven years, I'm no longer in a band or a music project. I also got kicked out of the new band my old band plans on starting before the band even began. I understand the direction the guys are taking, and totally am ok with the decision they made. All of us are at different points in our lives and I don't have near as much free time to dedicate to the project being newly married, having a house to fix up, and talking about babies. I just am bummed out about not getting to play on stage with my buddies on a semi-regular basis.

Dragonfly wrote:

Having been quacked out of chiropractic care.

It got too weird for you to keep going?

Dragonfly wrote:

I could write a whole rant about this... the office, while being run by very nice, clearly well-meaning folks, became quack-tastic, insisting chiropractic care could cure a number of non-back afflictions... including infertility, and they were even circulating documents that suggested the link between autism and vaccinations (and encouraging parents to re-think many vaccinations).

I know the type, and it's put me off the practice entirely.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It got too weird for you to keep going?

Oh yes. I was going to the same group/office for almost 10 years, and when the business changed over, the new owner/primary chiropractor began getting more and more new-agey. I'm open to the ideas of various natural health concepts, but I'm also somewhat skeptical and do research on new quackery. When she started trying to sell me on Amway-style holistic health products in the office, I started to wonder.

But this last six months, she, and the other chiropractor I saw, both went off the deep end. The final straws: first being told that my biopsy for carcinoma would be negative - it wouldn't be cancer (which is certainly was!)... and subsequently being advised during my surgical recovery that sunscreen is a scam, that sunlight protects against skin cancer, and that she doesn't recommend sunblock nor use it on her children when they're outdoors.

I could write a whole rant about this... the office, while being run by very nice, clearly well-meaning folks, became quack-tastic, insisting chiropractic care could cure a number of non-spinal afflictions... including infertility. They were even circulating documents that suggested the link between autism and vaccinations (and encouraging parents to re-think many vaccinations).

Yep. So done. Now looking for a replacement...

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I know the type, and it's put me off the practice entirely.

Me as well. I'm now searching for a medical massage therapist to help me with my back and neck pain.

davet010 wrote:
Sonicator wrote:

- My housemates have been taking more drugs.....

On the bright side, far and away the worst offender of the lot is in south america for another week or two, so I probably have that long...

Don't know about that bright side matey, maybe he's moving up to industrial scale commerce...

At this point, it wouldn't shock me.

Man, I just got my NCEA level 1 results (My first High school exams affecting university applications, for those living out in the civilised world).

I was 4 credits off an excellence endorsement (Which is roughly one paper's worth of credits)

The thing is, I was whole-heartedly expecting Merit (The second-best overall mark), but I didn't think I would come this close, and now I feel like I should've tried a little harder :P.

Still, I can live with it.

I keep finding more and more things to add to the giant to do list for my house. I love living in a home, but the multitude of things that one has to do is staggering. It wouldn't be so bad if other things didn't keep on breaking. Tonight I take apart the garage door opener and put new headlights in my car, both chores that I did not have to do until they both broke.

Dragonfly wrote:

...sunscreen is a scam, that sunlight protects against skin cancer, and that she doesn't recommend sunblock nor use it on her children when they're outdoors.

I could write a whole rant about this... the office, while being run by very nice, clearly well-meaning folks, became quack-tastic, insisting chiropractic care could cure a number of non-spinal afflictions... including infertility. They were even circulating documents that suggested the link between autism and vaccinations (and encouraging parents to re-think many vaccinations).

This is nothing short of malpractice. It will be a dark day for chiropractic "doctors" if they're ever held up to the same standards as the rest of the medical community. The best evidence we currently have demonstrates that chiropractic manipulation is beneficial for back pain but that the whole subluxation-as-disease concept is demonstrably false. A healthcare provider selling what they're prescribing is unethical at best. The pushing of non-evidence based treatments irritates me. The skin cancer thing makes me angry. And the vaccine/autism thing absolutely makes me see red.

The chiropractic community really needs to clean house, kick out the lunatics and quacks, and concentrate on evidence-based chiropractic treatments. Until then, you're damned right I'll steer patients away from it.

Dragonfly wrote:

. and subsequently being advised during my surgical recovery that sunscreen is a scam, that sunlight protects against skin cancer, and that she doesn't recommend sunblock nor use it on her children when they're outdoors.

I could write a whole rant about this... the office, while being run by very nice, clearly well-meaning folks, became quack-tastic, insisting chiropractic care could cure a number of non-spinal afflictions... including infertility. They were even circulating documents that suggested the link between autism and vaccinations (and encouraging parents to re-think many vaccinations).

That's screwed up. Let people have their NONSENSE healthcare, but allowing your (totally nutty) medical beliefs to affect the way others treat their kids is just sick. Even if I didn't believe in the flu I wouldn't risk letting children get it.

The chiropractic community really needs to clean house, kick out the lunatics and quacks, and concentrate on evidence-based chiropractic treatments. Until then, you're damned right I'll steer patients away from it.

Completely with you. They've always pushed the subluxation hype heavily. I do believe the science that says yes: chiropractic care can help with back and some neck pain. It worked for me rather well. At the same time, the same science points out that good massage therapy can do the exact same thing.

I read an interesting perspective from a chiropractor tired of watching the quackery abound. He believes that the way chiropractic care should have evolved would be akin to podiatry. Which is also a very specialized field, but scientific and still helpful/needed. Instead, chiro care went new-age. It forked the wrong way. I wish they could get it back on track, but finding a non-quack chiropractor... it has been nigh impossible for me.

I could go on and on with some of the stories from this office. I always ask myself why I didn't leave earlier... and honestly, the chiropractors were usually sincerely nice. And I have trouble rejecting sincerity. The cancer/sunscreen thing hit me at just the right point to say 'screw nice'. After a surgeon spends hours cutting a chunk out of your forehead, hearing absolutely irresponsible medical garbage can be met with a lot less gentility. I'd like to say that I was brave enough to get visibly angry, or to write a letter. I simply disagreed politely, left, and never went back.

I don't want to argue with people who freebase the kool-aid through their bodies into their genuinely warm hearts. It's only come up again because I got a flier from them pushing yet another tonic, this time for weight loss: the Isagenix Cleanse program.

Coldstream wrote:

This is nothing short of malpractice. It will be a dark day for chiropractic "doctors" if they're ever held up to the same standards as the rest of the medical community. The best evidence we currently have demonstrates that chiropractic manipulation is beneficial for back pain but that the whole subluxation-as-disease concept is demonstrably false. A healthcare provider selling what they're prescribing is unethical at best. The pushing of non-evidence based treatments irritates me. The skin cancer thing makes me angry. And the vaccine/autism thing absolutely makes me see red.

The chiropractic community really needs to clean house, kick out the lunatics and quacks, and concentrate on evidence-based chiropractic treatments. Until then, you're damned right I'll steer patients away from it.

All that x 2.

Dragonfly wrote:

The cancer/sunscreen thing hit me at just the right point to say 'screw nice'.

If you ever did need to go back for some reason, at least write "doesn't work?" on your back with sunscreen, get a little bit of sun, and ask them to explain.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
Dragonfly wrote:

The cancer/sunscreen thing hit me at just the right point to say 'screw nice'.

If you ever did need to go back for some reason, at least write "doesn't work?" on your back with sunscreen, get a little bit of sun, and ask them to explain.

/giggles

I hate feeling depressed for no real reason. Right now I'm not stressed, I'm with people I love and care about. But tonight, I just can't shake this funk I'm in.

St.Hillary wrote:

I hate feeling depressed for no real reason. Right now I'm not stressed, I'm with people I love and care about. But tonight, I just can't shake this funk I'm in.

*hugs* I've been there many times my friend. I've had enough good fortune of late that it hasn't happened as often but still does sometimes. In my case I find what helps is just doing something I enjoy (whether gaming or just watching favorite movie if I'm too down to do something "active") and if you can, try to go to bed early. When you're feeling down like that, it's usually fairly easy to fall asleep and I find after a good solid sleep, I wake up feeling better. It doesn't fix the problem but allows it to pass easier. The solution can be different for everyone but if you're able to try that, maybe it will help. Even if we have no reason to be sad, sometimes we just are, particularly if we've had a lot of stress in our lives leading up to now that hasn't been fully purged. Take it easy.

Why is everything in my house breaking! Brand laminate new floors installed a few months ago, and already they have a huge gash in a board. Of course the board is in the middle of the room so it will be impossible to replace. Looks like I'm going to patch it. Nobody's fault since the dog knocked an end table over and the corner hit just right, but I'm getting tired of my house falling apart faster than I can put it together.

St.Hillary wrote:

I hate feeling depressed for no real reason. Right now I'm not stressed, I'm with people I love and care about. But tonight, I just can't shake this funk I'm in.

*Internet Hugs* Been there and done that. It definitely does suck, but apart from internet hugs, all I can offer is the advice to throw yourself into whatever they're doing, and try your damndest to enjoy it. Happiness can be infectious that way, and here's hoping you catch some of it.

My daughter's new English teacher.

Seriously, if you are not going to improve the kids, could please just not destroy them. There is no doubt that my wife and I are going to have to put in some time to get her back on track. But our daughter is a voracious reader, and and has excelled in English her whole life. She got an A in the 1st quarter, and has all A's and B's on her report card and her current progress report. Well, except for English, where she now has a D, and is trending to an F.

I just got home from a meeting with this teacher, where I wanted a list of all my daughter's missing work, so that she could spend her weekend realizing it is better to keep up than spend the weekend doing homework. I could not get straight answers out of this woman. I couldn't get examples of the work she expected, since she characterized it as lazy. Worse, the meeting confirmed that what the woman really is nothing but a bully.

Her original teacher left for a new job at the end of the quarter, and this woman is a displaced teacher that no one else wanted. But on short notice, it's who we got. My daughter goes to a magnet school for gifted kids. This woman seems way out of her element. And it kills me that she having such a devastating effect on these kids.

I think what really got me was how she trashed the previous teacher as being too easy. It's a BS excuse as to why she is failing these kids. And from what I am learning now, it seems my daughter is just one of a dozens of her students that are having major issues. A counselor told me that they were finding some students that have been refusing to do work as a protest to the woman's treatment of certain kids in the class. Another teacher let me know that pretty much everyone has a problem with this teacher.

So I have a meeting with the principal next week. And in the mean time, I have to explain to my daughter that she has to treat this teacher with the same respect as she would her 8th grade geometry teacher, whom she loves. She has to know that my wife and I will be the dog that will bark, and bite if need be, but that she has to put in the work.

FFS, it should not be this hard to teach students that have been doing as well as our daughter has.

Searching for a new house.

I've been looking forward to it so much and i have so much support from friends and family. Including a real estate agent uncle who says if i can find the place on my own he'll handle all the paperwork and save me the commission of the buyers agent. But i have no idea where to start looking or what neighborhoods/zip codes are starting points it feels overwhelming. I just have no idea in where/what i want in a house

Cayne wrote:

Searching for a new house.

I've been looking forward to it so much and i have so much support from friends and family. Including a real estate agent uncle who says if i can find the place on my own he'll handle all the paperwork and save me the commission of the buyers agent. But i have no idea where to start looking or what neighborhoods/zip codes are starting points it feels overwhelming. I just have no idea in where/what i want in a house

Move up here to the SF Bay Area! The house across the street from me is on sale at a crazy good price, the neighborhood is great, and it's walking distance to BART! That house has been empty for more than a year now and somebody's got to buy it and move in. Every time the bank drops the listing price it brings the value of my whole neighborhood down.

Seriously, though, the key to finding a good neighborhood to move into is talking to people. Talk to literally everyone about where they live, how they like it, how the schools are, etc. You get much better feed back from first hand accounts than you will from reading listings. Also, do yourself a favor and write down a few of the must-have features you're looking for. That list will really help thin the herd as you start to shop around.

Had to sit with my team lead for 10 minutes this morning while he chastised me for using a blank line to separate paragraphs in my checkin comments, like an educated English writer does. His sh*tty homebrew tool to track changes splits comments up by carriage returns, and treats two in a row like there's a blank comment, so he thought I'd checked in code without a comment.

His solution: Make sure when I check in code, my comments don't have any blank lines in them, even if it makes them harder to read.

My solution: comment = Regex.Replace(comment, "[\r\n]+", "\r\n");

The sad part was that it took 5 minutes to convince him, and only 15 seconds to write the code. It's not like we had a source control system that gives detailed reports of changes or anything. Oh, wait, we did, but he changed to Microsoft TFS the first day I went on vacation.

Can't wait to get a new job.