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Friday Hug - Part 3

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by jck 10 views

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455 replies

by av .

I couldn't live without the change of seasons, but its a real PITA when the weather can't make up its mind. The secret of dealing with it is to always dress in layers.

AV :^0

by av .

Its been such a long, miserable winter up here, I'm looking forward to being able to come home and go outside after work in the daylight.

I live in an old-fashioned town. They still have one of those circa 1900 sirens sitting on top of the firehouse. Damn, those things are loud. Its awfully annoying at 3am.

AV

by nicknielsen

A satellite picture of my home town, with the siren on the fire house and my bedroom identified.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n152/nnielsen/homeshot.png

You get an idea of the scale from the cars. You could hear the siren two miles away; my room was less than 100 yards, probably closer to 50.

What you can't see in the image is that the siren is on a tower and that tower and my bedroom window are not only at the same relative height, they are line of sight. And that house did not (and still does not) have air conditioning, so I slept with my window open whenever the overnight temps were above 70°F. When that thing went off, sleep was out of the question.

But hey, I didn't mind. I got to see the fire trucks go out!

by av .

Oh man! That must have been so bad if you had the windows open. I'm a mile or so away from mine and it just wakes you out of a deep sleep.

I always think, WHY can't they just use pagers, cell phones or something else. I understand the sirens on the firetrucks, but gone are the days where you need that to summon the firemen.

It must've been cool as a kid to see the fire trucks though. Every little boy's dream.

AV

by hal 9000

You awoke clutching the paint on the ceiling wondering WTH had just happened. Right?

Col

by shellbot

Tommorrow be Paddy's Day people... t'will be a day of excessive alcohol consumption and general debauchery...

Can't wait ]:)

((((((((((green hugs))))))))))

by dmambo

It was St. Pats Day 9 years ago that I was reunited with a long-lost love - Guinness! My oldest daughter was in the elementary school band and I dropped her at the start of the parade route. I then walked a mile to stand in a good viewing location near the sponsoring bar. Since it was a while before the parade would start, I dashed in for a morning beer. As it was St. Pat's, I thought "well, I haven't had Guiness for many years, maybe I'll give one a try!"

We've been happy together ever since. I've often dreamed that we'd vacation together in Ireland.

by nicknielsen

That window was also high enough to see a good way down the street to the east. There were a couple of times I could see the fire too!

The siren also went off at noon every day except Sunday. We just suspended any kind of verbal transactions while it was going.

by av .

It was just so wonderful. Sweet cream butter on top. I love St. Patty's day.

AV :^0

by purpleskys

to those who celebrate...I don't have any green shirts, but i've got a cute shamrock pin that was given to me a couple years ago that I will wear in honor of my Irish friends :) (((hugs)))

by jck

Lucky it wasn't Mardi Gras! ]:) :^0

I have shamrock beads I usually wear on St. Patty's Day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

DRINK MORE GUINNESS!!! :^0

by shellbot

I wasn't in the mood for alcohol yesterday..of all days ! :)

So completely stone cold sober..weird....

Weird day today..in a good way though..
got asked for a job interview somewhere interesting..so have to decide if I will go to it or not..hmmm...

(((((((contemplating hugs))))))))

by purpleskys

had a dry day myself yesterday...but then again, i'm not Irish ;) ...I wish you luck in making your decision...need a sounding board, I'm around :) (((supportive hugs)))

by shellbot

i not irish either :)

Ta Purple...need to put some thought into it..just waiting to hear back on a few details so i can be more informed...

by shellbot

to the Friday hugs :)

DBA position..with a very interesting looking company.

((((((welcome hugs)))))))

by nexs

Throw it at someone else! Mum always said you have to get shoes with a little give in it!
I'm joking! did you make a decision on it yet?

And thank you for the welcome, but alas, the week has revolved and we're back at the beginning again...

by hal 9000

Anyone it's safe right?

Best not let anything like Astro Boy through as Safe though. :^0

Col

by nicknielsen

Preferably before amputation and definitely before fatality.

If a team can build Astro Boy to meet the game objectives, there's nothing in the rules to prevent it.

by nicknielsen

Paged at 0945 for a semi-critical outage in Columbia and was able to defer it until Monday. Paged again 45 minutes later for a critical outage...in Myrtle Beach. HAD to go on this one.

An hour down the road, get paged again for [u]another[/u] semi-critical outage in Columbia. Did the call at the Beach (25 minutes on site), then took the other two calls on the way home (23 minutes total on two sites). So, put in a full 8 hours and was driving for over seven of them. A day trip to Myrtle Beach makes for a damn long day.

Can't complain too loud, though. It's the first time I've been called out on a weekend since last year.

Beer and scotch are good things.

etu

by michael jay

But if the weather there was like here, it was a good drive.

Beautiful first day of Spring, 70 and sunny.

by nicknielsen

The other drivers not so...

Got caught behind a sprinter: one of those that piddles along until he notices you might pass him, then speeds up and pulls away, but slows down until you catch up and he notices you might pass him...

Other than that, traffic wasn't too bad for a weekend. Of course, it's early in the year, too.

by michael jay

Raining most of the day on and off, bout 60, but Spring is a commin, cant wait for warmer weather.

by nexs

How the withdrawal subsides!
Let's make it 2 for today, then.

((((hug))))

by jck

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( HOLY MOSES HUGS )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I feel kinda good today. I should go home and feel great. :^0

by tig2

Nice that the hug is still in operation after all this time. SO finished radiation on Tuesday.

We look forward to seeing everyone in Kentucky in June.

by purpleskys

unfortunately, we won't be able to make it this year to finally meet everyone. We are a little disappointed, but we're hoping to make it next year.

Oh, and (((happy Friday hugs))) for you both :)

by jck

If all goes right for me, I will be able to attend. Might end up relocating in May though. So, who knows.

If I'm there...well...most likely, you will notice me. I'm kinda short.

Just ask GG :^0

by santeewelding

Best part of vacation; back in the arms of those who matter.

I won't hug. You're too big. I would be staring into your belly button.

Sanitized hugs to everyone, instead.

by nexs

Where'd you head off to?

I'm looking to take some leave this year... might head back to NZ (I live in australia, so not too far away!)

by hal 9000

At the rate NZ is approaching AU in a few years you'll not need a plane ticket to get there it will just be a short drive away. ;)

Col

by jck

I'm still 2 months from a vacation.

Oh well.

(((((((((((( wb )))))))))))

by nicknielsen

I've taken the occasional long weekend, but this was the first time I've shut it all down since then.

by jck

2006...4 years.

Unless you count 10 days in a hospital bed as vacation.

Or, 3 days in another state attending an in-law's funeral as a "vacation".

That's about it. I didn't even get extended time off at Christmas to spend with my parents.

Oh well.

by av .

I'll settle for a couple of days off to myself. I'm getting crispy. Between holidays, families and work there isn't any time left for me. :(

AV

by av .

I'd love to meet everyone in person. It would be fun. That would defiintely get me out of my funk.

AV

edit the usual

by tig2

He has done all the chemo (onset) and all the radiation. Now we really aren't worried for a few months.

We are going to do the things he has always wanted to do. We are going to Alaska. We will head south and see the Bay Bridge and Ames Research Facility- where my father's original Space Shuttle drawings may be accepted to the NASA museum.

We will cruise the Pacific after we have seen giant Sequoias. Then we will do Hollywood. And stuff... And see my family.

We are going back to the concept that enjoying life beats the heck out of talking about it.

And after all that, we'll go to KY.

Soni- you know I want a hug, right??? And SO does too!

by hal 9000

Is no the Crap never stops it just gets worse.

{{{{{{{{{{ [b]Multiple HUGS[/b] }}}}}}}}}}

Col

by oh smeg

They did some tests and got the entire population to run to one side of the country and repeatedly jump up and down and nothing happened.

They figured out that they need to double the population to get AU to Flip Over and that's going to take another 20 or so years to happen. ;)

Col

by santeewelding

Goes way back with me.

In Boston, there was a park with a pond -- Jamaica Pond. The pond was small enough to walk completely around in an hour or so.

In the pond was an even smaller island.

My parents took we children -- I was four or five -- to the pond to feed the ducks (joyous days!). Whereupon, my mother told me the island was a floating island. Now, this was barely conceivable to my young, already scientifically-functioning mind. I disputed this with her: "How can that be?!"

Among other observations I marshaled to my argument was that dirt don't float!

(I mastered these technicalities by having myself played in mud.)

She lost all credibility with me when, next, and furthermore, she told me, the pond had no bottom.

"It has to have a bottom!" I countered. "Otherwise, how can it be a pond? Where does it come out? Wouldn't that be the bottom?"

I remember being adamant about it.

Well, except for the part about being told not to fall in, because I would never reach the bottom and, I would be lost forever.

For that reason I did not play in the pond as I did in the mud.

Then, this thing about islands tipping over and sinking comes up.

I may have been adamant, but I did learn way back then about standard reservation of scientific doubt.

Like, [i]if[/i] the Seychelles will be when Shellbot gets there.

by nicknielsen

:D

Worked with more than one person in the past who ate themselves sick on Peeps. Can't stand them myself.

by shellbot

where yer going with this "island sinking" thing...
I am going to the Seychelles in about 6 weeks...and now..I'll be pondering the issue while sitting there...

((((((just back from Amsterdam and holy cow am I hungover hugs)))))))

by jck

(((((((((((((((((((( hope your hangover gets better hugs )))))))))))))))))))

Know of any low stress, high paying IT jobs in Eire? :^0

I'll swim there for one. :^0

Hope you get better :)

by shellbot

Took a day or two to get the alcohol out of my system :)

Jenever..lethal stuff.

Well JCK, if I knew of any I'D be taking them!..there's bugger all IT jobs...very few low stress, and almost 0 high paying.
Prfessionals are leaving the country to get work.... and if things don't pick up in a few months, I'll be one of them :(

by steffi28

That your a beast ;)

(((((((((((((((Because I like beastly hugs hug)))))))))))))))

Hope everything is a bit better at work
((((((( HUG)))))))))

by jck

As for the job thing, I understand.

I'm applying all over the USA (and even looking in Canada) for jobs. The job market in Florida is almost as bad as the housing market.

That's another thing. Banks are continuing to screw over property owners by taking their foreclosure homes here...and pricing them WAY below market. Hence my house that should be worth about $115k-120k but is valued by the market at $90k is overpriced...

...because the banks are selling similar homes they took as foreclosures 2-4 years ago...for $50k.

I couldn't sell my house if I wanted to. The market is flooded with existing, foreclosure homes, and until those are all gone my value will never come back.

So if I get another job away from here...I'm saying...$crew the banks. I'm dumping the house in the way that will least negatively affect my credit, and moving.

So anyways. I know how you feel. I am looking at having to leave here to improve my life.

by jck

(((((((((((((((((((((( TR )))))))))))))))))))))

Yes. I'm bored. :^0

by jck

Of course, then everything picked back up this afternoon. 5 reports, dozens of SQL statements, and tons of apps mods.

I'm tired.

BTW, app'ed for a job in the Charlotte area. :)

by nicknielsen

That's the way it happens. There's a reason the fifth day of the work week is Monday morning.

I'm covering two territories this weekend and next week, so my territory now extends from Myrtle Beach to Swainsboro, GA, 80 miles south of Augusta. I expect a week of Mondays, but I'm hoping for better.

Good luck with the job app. Hope you get it.

by nicknielsen

Got everything washed, but the dryer is dead and the repairman won't be here until Thursday. So, away I go.

by nicknielsen

The car has a new ding. Young lady was backing out of her parking space and put the center of her rear bumper into the corner of mine. Tore hell out of the fiberglass at the end of the bumper itself and dinged in the bumper cover for about a foot. Called the police, filed the report, her mom showed up, drama!

Girl just got her permit last week. Better she learns early, and in a parking lot, to pay attention while driving than too late on the highway.

by cmiller5400

I had my car hit while parked in a parking lot last year where I work. The "young lady" that was just 18 decided that going 300 MPH in a parking lot while texting on her phone must be okay. She pushed my car back 3 feet; my tires actually left rubber on the asphalt. She never admitted to what happened, but I was listening to the conversation that she was having on the phone while she was looking for her insurance papers. I couldn't believe it; well I could :_|

Oh, to top it off, she was going to drive away but some witnesses "held" her until I got there to trade info.

GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

by purpleskys

I did not know OM as well as the rest of you good folk, so here's my hugs to all those who need a few to tuck into your pockets for the next little while ((((hugs))))((((hugs))))((((hugs))))((((hugs))))((((hugs))))((((hugs))))((((hugs))))((((hugs))))

by jck

(((((((((((((((((((((( Nick ))))))))))))))))))))))

me too man. me too.

by jck

I am not a David Beckham pretty sort...and I'm almost 2m tall.

I'm not Quasimoto tho.

((((((((((((((((((((( hugs back :) )))))))))))))))))))))

by nicknielsen

She came inside the laundromat in tears and asked who owned the car. Might not have been able to drive too well, but raised right.

by santeewelding

Came into the study one evening and carefully deposited fragments of red and white plastic lens material on my desk.

Then she told me that "the car did not stop in time" before she rear-ended someone.

Thereupon began our discussions about causality.

by jck

You're too good to me :)

(((((((((((((((((( hugs back ))))))))))))))))))

BTW, I talked to a Sirius rep who was just outside of Halifax the other day :)

by purpleskys

did the rep happen to mention which town they were from?

And i like to share a good hug whenever someone needs it, helps to lift ones day a bit :)

by jck

She just said "outside Halifax". I guess for security reasons.

I told them that two tech people I know live up in Truro, and she knew right where that was. As well, she knew where Moncton, New Brunswick is where my buddy is from who's a bluegrass player.

anywho...ugh...it's only 2:30pm and I want to leave the office already. :(

((((((((((((((((((((((((( hope ur havin a good day ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))