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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 8, 2016 13:29:26 GMT -5
I'll never complain about the heat. It's the cold that kills me. I start bundling up in October. See, up here, it's usually only really hot and humid for about four weeks total, tops. Sometimes it happens all at once, like mid-July to mid-August, sometimes two different stretches. Inevitably it's stickiest around the time of the county fair during the last week of July. Around late October, we start to burn a fire during the day and through the night, and that holds true, for the most part through the first week or two of April. We don't really get a notable "spring." March (more like a trudge) is usually miserable; April is okay because you compare it to March; the heat generally doesn't go on till Memorial Day; and even then it's not a given that it will be close to decent beach weather till the Fourth. This varies, of course. (Like this past winter was heaven compared to Jan-March of 2015, which was a freaking nightmare.) And this year we had a stretch of beautiful warm weather in the second half of June. September and October are just great, though, so long as we don't get a hurricane. We've been pretty lucky since Bob in '91. (Knock wood.)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2016 14:37:51 GMT -5
I'll never complain about the heat. It's the cold that kills me. I start bundling up in October. I'm opposite of you ... I hate the heat (anything above 85 degrees - I'm miserable) more than anything else in the world ... I crave 40 to 50 degrees weather and I don't mind bundling up at all. I even walk around in shorts in that weather as long I have sweater and coat on and I will be fine. When, I saw Dallas Weather Report on the Weather Channel and it's reads 100 degrees at Midnight - I nearly fainted and that's one thing I just don't understand how people live down in Texas. It's baffles me.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2016 14:39:01 GMT -5
One of my customers had the a/c go out and the heat index was 104 outside. The poor guy stood in front of a fan flapping his shirt while we talked. I didn't stay long ! Isn't 104 like a cold front now in the Midwest? Don't know how you guys do it. Me either ... Prince Hal!
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Post by Gene on Jul 8, 2016 15:28:51 GMT -5
Not a fan of the heat.
Or the cold.
Or outside in general.
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Post by The Captain on Jul 8, 2016 19:41:45 GMT -5
Took my daughters and one of my older daughter's best friends to see "Finding Dory" this afternoon. Had some promo codes for Fandango from buying granola bars (which my wife and daughters eat like there's no tomorrow), so I was able to take the four of us to a matinee for $1.40 (tickets were $4 each and $5.40 in "convenience fees", but I offset that with $20 in promo cash). We picked up some cookies in the food court of the attached mall, then just walked around a little before heading home, where I made burgers on the grill.
Also found out that my copy of New Mutants #98, which had been on consignment at my LCS, finally sold, so I have a nice chunk of change coming my way, which is obviously welcome in my wallet at this time. Looking to pick up the 2nd and 3rd FF Omnibus editions, which can be had for about $110 combined on Amazon, with part of it, and not sure what to do with the rest, although I may hold onto it for a while in case this unemployment thing runs on much longer and I need it to keep picking up my monthly books, but I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.
Finished up the night buying a collection of Magic:The Gathering cards from a guy on Craigslist. He was asking $120 and I offered $100, which he accepted. From the four pictures he posted, I saw at least $200 worth of cards in them (prices confirmed by recently-sold items on eBay), so I will sell the really valuable stuff on eBay to make back my money, then use the other cards to teach my older daughter how to evaluate cards and build decks.
I gotta say today was a good day.
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Jul 8, 2016 22:30:42 GMT -5
So I'm in Jackson, Wyoming now. Trip is almost coming to an end. At another restaurant now. I'm starting to think that it is really easy to tell who has worked in a service industry job before or not. My brother in law, his wife, and my wife always seem to have something to complain about regarding the service or food. Everyone is too slow to deliver their food to them (which is hilarious considering they take forever to order something or do anything really) or they're being made to wait extra long on purpose. Tolerating this is all just another mental chore for me. And I don't think this is just a culture divide thing either. I've noticed this with other people I've been around too. Once you have that first service job, your view radically changes. My kinfolk need to chill the phuck out doe.
Ha, as I'm finished this my wife blurts out "so slow!"
Right as she says it of course the egg roll appetizers arrive...
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Post by Gene on Jul 8, 2016 22:44:08 GMT -5
So I'm in Jackson, Wyoming now. Trip is almost coming to an end. At another restaurant now. I'm starting to think that it is really easy to tell who has worked in a service industry job before or not. My brother in law, his wife, and my wife always seem to have something to complain about regarding the service or food. Everyone is too slow to deliver their food to them (which is hilarious considering they take forever to order something or do anything really) or they're being made to wait extra long on purpose. Tolerating this is all just another mental chore for me. And I don't think this is just a culture divide thing either. I've noticed this with other people I've been around too. Once you have that first service job, your view radically changes. My kinfolk need to chill the phuck out doe. Ha, as I'm finished this my wife blurts out "so slow!" Right as she says it of course the egg roll appetizers arrive... I feel your pain. You just described my last girlfriend and her family to a "T." It was embarrassing to go anywhere with them.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 9, 2016 5:30:07 GMT -5
I have a sister in law that always sends her drink back. I've seen her do it 3 times in 3 different restaurants. When it comes to food and drink, I always take it as it comes ( unless it's uncooked). It became annoying pretty quickly.
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Post by The Captain on Jul 9, 2016 6:27:25 GMT -5
Both my wife and I have served time in the food service industry, so we tend to be a little more tolerant because we've both been on the receiving end of ridiculous customer behavior.
That said, I have no problem addressing a problem with the food, drink or service level with the establishment, but I do it quietly so as not to embarrass the staff or make a scene. My wife won't say anything unless there is something aggregiously wrong, like undercooked food or a foreign object in her meal. One time, she would not tell the server that they brought her the wrong meal, even though what they brought wasn't anything remotely close to what she ordered, whereas I had no issue last Saturday night letting our server at Buffalo Wild Wings know that I had ordered traditional wings instead of the boneless ones (they're nuggets, folks, no matter what you call them) that she brought. They made it right (and left the nuggets there, since they couldn't do anything else with them but throw them out, so bonus for me), but we handled it with no muss or fuss.
Hang in there, PapaShogun. The end of your journey is getting closer by the day.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jul 9, 2016 10:15:39 GMT -5
Today is my son's birthday party, though his birthday is the 6th. He's 10. I got him a New 3DS XL, Pokemon Y, Pokemon Emerald and Mario Maker. I'm going to pick up his Pokemon cake soon. Yeah I'm sure y'all see the theme here. :-)
My oldest, going to be 13 is Aug 17 so I'm saving for that now too. Phew raising kids ain't cheap. But damn, from past birthdays and stuff, their the smile and their excitement are worth every penny.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 9, 2016 13:28:48 GMT -5
Today is my son's birthday party, though his birthday is the 6th. He's 10. I got him a New 3DS XL, Pokemon Y, Pokemon Emerald and Mario Maker. I'm going to pick up his Pokemon cake soon. Yeah I'm sure y'all see the theme here. :-) My oldest, going to be 13 is Aug 17 so I'm saving for that now too. Phew raising kids ain't cheap. But damn, from past birthdays and stuff, their the smile and their excitement are worth every penny. You're about to hit the point it becomes significantly less easy and a lot more expensive. My youngest turned 15. Very hard to buy for. Though he got a pistol for his birthday.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jul 9, 2016 13:50:52 GMT -5
Today is my son's birthday party, though his birthday is the 6th. He's 10. I got him a New 3DS XL, Pokemon Y, Pokemon Emerald and Mario Maker. I'm going to pick up his Pokemon cake soon. Yeah I'm sure y'all see the theme here. :-) My oldest, going to be 13 is Aug 17 so I'm saving for that now too. Phew raising kids ain't cheap. But damn, from past birthdays and stuff, their the smile and their excitement are worth every penny. You're about to hit the point it becomes significantly less easy and a lot more expensive. My youngest turned 15. Very hard to buy for. Though he got a pistol for his birthday. Yeah my 13 year old wants an HDTV and Turtle Beach online headset, which I come to find out, ain't cheap. This is stuff he's asked for, so with him I can pick up exactly what he wants. I fear though guns aren't too far off in the future though. Nothing against them but I didn't grow up with them and I don't know jack about them. Fortunately my father in law does and my wife grew up around them. He lives about 2 hours away so I'd probably alright if he kept them if my son wants one of his own. I've already told him his grandpa is going to be the one to tech him how to use them safely but still have fun.
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Jul 10, 2016 1:58:58 GMT -5
Both my wife and I have served time in the food service industry, so we tend to be a little more tolerant because we've both been on the receiving end of ridiculous customer behavior. That said, I have no problem addressing a problem with the food, drink or service level with the establishment, but I do it quietly so as not to embarrass the staff or make a scene. My wife won't say anything unless there is something aggregiously wrong, like undercooked food or a foreign object in her meal. One time, she would not tell the server that they brought her the wrong meal, even though what they brought wasn't anything remotely close to what she ordered, whereas I had no issue last Saturday night letting our server at Buffalo Wild Wings know that I had ordered traditional wings instead of the boneless ones (they're nuggets, folks, no matter what you call them) that she brought. They made it right (and left the nuggets there, since they couldn't do anything else with them but throw them out, so bonus for me), but we handled it with no muss or fuss. Hang in there, PapaShogun. The end of your journey is getting closer by the day. Yes it's almost over, in a sense. The 14th is the day I leave the USA. But the biggest hurdle is coming. I'll still have to travel as a group to Macau with everyone. I don't think it will truly be over until a day or two after I've landed in Macau and gotten settled. My new place is set up there, but I probably won't move there for I'm guessing a week or two at best. Will be staying with my wife and her mom in their house before we move into our new one. At least we won't be traveling. And I've stayed there many times before on prior visits. So at after we at at the Thai place last night we were walking back to the car. Something interesting/strange happened. I saw a couple walking by me. And for a split moment I saw the physical embodiment of the green grass. The other side, and in this particular few seconds it looked quite greener. I'm a selfish goon I'll say that right now. The couple was a man and woman. The guy was about 40, white guy, 6'1"-6'2", athletic build, with a Will Riker beard, and full head of hair. Was suited and booted from top down. The woman he was with a slender goddess of a sight. Asian, maybe 5'7", black hair, early thirties I'm guessing. The woman looked like a swimsuit model. She was in a nice red/pink dress (hard to remember the color) that had a specific cut in the front that very nicely accentuated her chest, and a low cut in the back where you could see a centerfold flowery tattoo of some sort. Great hips, great legs, great everything. She was wearing fancy heels, earrings, and was dolled up quite nicely. These two were on a date, and as corny as it sounded seemed like "beautiful people". Of course I'm sure on a Sunday morning they look completely different after waking up and putting on sweat pants (do beautiful people do such a thing?) Then I snapped back to reality as they started to turn the corner. This all happened in several seconds. In that, maybe a nano second of maladaptive daydreaming. What if I was that guy? What does he do? Is he hitting that every night? Does he drive a dope car? He must be rich. I didn't really say much as I walked back to the car. I just started to mentally prepare myself for taking a shower and preparing to go to bed once I got back to the hotel. But I did remember that quote from Harvey Dent in the The Dark Knight: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villian". The next day, which was today we went to the same restaurant for dinner after exploring Teton National Park close to Jackson Hole. I gave my brother in law a little teasing as to why we're eating at the same place a second day in a row, particularly another Asian place when we're in the USA and once we go back to Macau everyone can have all the Asian food they want. I let it go with a smile after the "rationalization" response I received regarding the parents just wanting to not stray too far from their comfort zone. Of course we also place our order to the server as if we were giving instructions on how to construct an atomic bomb. Nothing is ever simple as I previously have whined about. Meh, at least my order was straight forward. No magical king and queen stroll after the meal this time. By the way the insects in this state are starting to annoy me as well (I have a phobia of flying buzzing insects as stupid as it is). But not as much as this trip.
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Post by Gene on Jul 10, 2016 20:51:08 GMT -5
I just got home from seeing John Carpenter and his band perform the themes from his films and some new material. It was amazing.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jul 11, 2016 10:49:09 GMT -5
So I'm in Jackson, Wyoming now. Trip is almost coming to an end. At another restaurant now. I'm starting to think that it is really easy to tell who has worked in a service industry job before or not. My brother in law, his wife, and my wife always seem to have something to complain about regarding the service or food. Everyone is too slow to deliver their food to them (which is hilarious considering they take forever to order something or do anything really) or they're being made to wait extra long on purpose. Tolerating this is all just another mental chore for me. And I don't think this is just a culture divide thing either. I've noticed this with other people I've been around too. Once you have that first service job, your view radically changes. My kinfolk need to chill the phuck out doe. Ha, as I'm finished this my wife blurts out "so slow!" Right as she says it of course the egg roll appetizers arrive... I know what you mean about working in a service job. The same thing holds true working retail. I don't know how many times I've thought/said that everyone should have to work at least one job in retail just so they can appreciate what the people doing those jobs have to go through. I've worked selling computers several different times, and it's made me really appreciate what good service is like. Of course it also makes me aware of what bad service is like too, and I'm not above standing up to whoever I'm dealing with to get what's right. But as I've told my daughter, you always need to start off dealing with people nicely, because many of them will respond in kind. If they don't, you can ramp up your behavior accordingly as needed. But you can't start off acting like a jerk, because there's no where to go from there.
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