Daily Discussion Thread:🌹Wed 14 Feb 2024

Not a single thought occuring

But so pretty. Who needs brains?
Gibson... Will you be my Valentine? 🌹
- She says yes. Looks like I'm out of luck this year lol
He’s an honorary orange
- Looks golden, like a mountain lion.

It's been a crazy 24 hours so I thought I'd share a cute little story with you all.

A few weeks ago I popped into Aldi for a few things and because I pay cash I have to use the wo/manned register. So I'm behind this dear elderly couple, maybe in their late eighties/ early nineties. She has a walker, he as nimble as an elderly gentleman could be at that age.

They go to pay and she's obviously the keeper of the funds so she opens the purse and is handing the young cashier the mullah, one penny at a time. That's ok. I'm patient with the old cheeses. We all get old. Oh no. Somethings gone wrong. Not enough cash. The poor banker is confused. The cashier offers a solution. You can pay some with cash, some on the bank card. Great many discussions were had between the 3 of them. A decision was made. The banker now produces the card and hands it to her husband. The gentleman did not know how to use the eftpos so the cashier helps him. He then carefully punches in the numbers one per minute. Approved. More discussions were made about how they could've got the budget so wrong before they slowly move on with an apology.

No worries mate. We get it. Shits fucked.

So what are the chances that I get stuck behind this couple AGAIN a week later. Probably a million to one but hey just call me lucky. This time the budget was better. The banker opens the purse and hands over the cash one penny at a time while the gentleman is packing the groceries. All done but she hasn't moved from the cashier. A discussion was had. activate the patience button CEO. She takes a tiny step. More discussions. Do not push the old lady with your trolley like they do if you breakdown in the Burnley tunnel. At this point I look at the cashier and she swivels her chair so she could have a little giggle. I look at my groceries thinking I'm hungry. I could start eating them. A few more ballerina steps and the couple have now stopped at the corner where the groceries get thrown at you. More discussions. It appears they can not walk and talk. breathe. At this point the cashier has said "have a good day" at least 3 times. He is now aware they are holding up the line so apologises and encourages her to keep walking. They stop at the end where the trolley goes to pack. The cashier can not start yet. I dare not look at her. I am hungry. They eventually move on.

I waited the whole time with a smile on my face but I'll still refer to it as Helldi.

Sounds like you managed to contain yourself very gracefully! I have an adjacent story this week. I was getting takeaway coffee and a woman in front of me had a toddler, who she lifted up and put to sit on the counter. Ordered and paid and then just stood there playing with toddler not moving. Cafe person looked to me to take my order, woman did not take the hint. I said excuse me, and she smiled and took half a step to the side, still taking up most of the counter space and toddler left sitting on counter. Cafe person took my order and I swear I saw an eye roll when she turned away. Like GTFO of the way lady, and take your kids bum off the counter where people are getting served drinks.
- Omg. What an entitled mole.
- OMG....a few weeks ago took my son to EB games. He grabbed what he wanted and waited to pay. Family in front of us, mum+dad with pre-teen kids. They finish their purchase and just stand there chatting. The dad is looking at his phone, the mum is asking the kids what they want to eat. 10 seconds in, I just say (loudly) 'Excuse me' and place myself between the parents. They finally took the hint and moved away.
I felt every bit of that story.
You have way more patience that I do in such situations. Granted, Aldi is not the place to go when you're in a hurry, but the elderly that need to chit chat with the cashiers drive me up the wall.
I love the German way of things. Go in. Pay. Leave.
No need to socialise Beryl.
- It was excruciating. Up there with when the oldies discuss what they will choose to eat for the week while standing in front of the meat, man handling all the packages. Ffffucking move. Please.
There's a pair of older euro women that I've seen be difficult every time they're at savemore. They run the same scams every time. The fourth time I called them out for queue jumping and arguing for the multiple discount on single items every time they come. They shouted at me to stay out of their business. I laughed at them. Haven't seen them since. Stuff customer service bullies.
- Ooooh the queue jumping!!! Had to call out some people for that shit too. Lady waiting in line with a basket, her mate saddles up next to hear with a full trolley like it's nothing. I can tolerate a couple of items (regularly let people in front of my at Aldi when I got a full trolley and they have a few things), but a trolley? No chance sister.
you did well to not drop a polite "Excuse me, I'm so sorry, but there a lot of us waiting". I feel for them, I do, but reach out and join a social club if you need a chat!
- Haha. I was trying really hard not to rear-end her with my trolley. I did casually look behind me and saw all these heads left and right. I wanted to yell back "it's not me".
Frustratingly cute. Hehe.
- Exactly

Moved to Tecoma, near Belgrave last week. Call it bad timing as we've been out of power for over 24 hours.

Luckily we don't eat meat or dairy, so food spoilage is minimal. But I'd like to see what I'm unpacking.

Neighbour left a note saying "welcome to the hills haha!" with his phone number and a recommendation to get ice.

We've just emerged from 27 hours powerless. Not fun.
Definitely the most cursed timing to have moved up that way! Nice neighbour though. Miss that kind of camaraderie

Many of you thought me mad! Some of you even requested transfer to another peanut factory! But as i have my jobbing solar panel on the terrace charging batteries, the camping fans cooling your air and cold bevvys to drink you're glad of my madness now, glad of it!

Are... are you okay? 🤣
- Fantastic, darling. No mains power, but got plenty of alternate sources

Not 10 minutes ago, Mickey (my cat) was meowing at my partner and I, just chatting. I walk towards him as I leave and say "watch him, as soon as we're out of your sight l he'll beat me up", so my partner crept behind me as I entered the living room, where Mickey has trotted to, and the jerk didn't do a thing.

But! As soon as my partner goes back to the other room, Mickey has pounced and started biting my leg like a Christmas ham.

He's so damn dumb, but he knows what words mean and definitely did that on purpose. He plays softly when my partner is watching, and then claws me up like a mofo when we're alone.

I love him so damn much haha

Can you read cursive?

The Australian War Memorial is looking for volunteers to read and transcribe letters and diaries. They have a ton of material that needs to be made more accessible

https://transcribe.awm.gov.au/

As someone who collects antique cookbooks/household management books, and often has to transcribe (sometimes even translate) all sorts of annotations, this is super interesting to hear about.
Totally signing up and having a bash when I have some free time.
- If your paeleography is that good (and you have the language skills) try Annotated Books Online.

Somehow managed to avoid the worst of the storm and power outages. Sometimes I love my little life bubble

We only caught the edge of it in innercity Melbs. We got lucky watched the radar and it basically just kinda waved at us as it passed by. We got lucky.
Ditto. Total non-event here in Thornbury. Ok, some palm trees lost their dead leaves/fronds and are blowing about and some street trees have lost a branch or two, but that's it. Didn't even have to reset the clock in the microwave.
- I heard Northcote/Brunswick lost power so you must've got lucky.
Same here. Fuse box tripped twice but once reset it's been ok here.
Inner city has its perks.
- I was in the city when it started, my train line managed to stay fine and got home okay to just some wet grass.
Yeah us too. My fence died but that's it.
- I initially read that as your fiance died and thought you were being a bit too nonchalant.
- My wife told me we didn't even get strong winds in our hood.

I have power, but most of the area around me doesn't. Mr Woof and I had a very dark walk this morning with no street lighting. On a positive note the weather obvioudly kept people home and the food cupboard was still stuffed with bread from last night's delivery, and I managed to score some hot cross buns as well as a loaf of white bread for lunch. The trip to work was a bit anxiety producing, as well as the whole area being dark the first two sets of traffic lights were out - I'm glad it was still early and not much traffic as a right turn onto a major road was bad enough when there was only limited traffic, I would not want to try it a bit later.

Same situation as me - we had no outage at all, but go a few streets in any direction and it's darkness. A couple of major intersections with no traffic lights this morning.
It's strange because usually when there's a big 'event' we've been among the first to lose power and the last to get it back (often days later), our power seems to be fairly fragile. Have had to make a few spoiled-food insurance claims over the years.
I guess this time we finally got lucky. But I definitely sympathise with those who are without power for a few days, I know what it's like and hope everyone has power back soon.

I've reached the point that I can't do a full 8 hour shift just on phones. The anxiety and stress are killing me.

Been applying for work where phones are just a small part of the day and part time work. Partner starts his job soon so it won't be so bad. But I do feel like a failure and worthless. Irrational, but all my shame comes from not being what I think I should be.

There is nothing wrong with knowing what you want and what you can't handle. If something doesn't work for you try something else.
I completely understand. A job where you spend all day on the phone sounds awful
- Been doing it for over 10 years. I'm so burnt out.

Hahahha guy i host for free on my home server is up my arse about his site being down.

I suspect he dwells under a rock.

Ask him if he wants a refund
Why would you host someone for free? Ad revenue?
- Because he is a nerd and i am a nerd and it is a lower traffic nerd site

hugs, good luck to everyone enduring power losses, take care

Serenaded by the sound of generators

Clearing all surfaces of clutter so there's plenty of room for the dozens of flower and chocolate deliveries I'm expecting today. Can anyone else relate?

Only time I ever had flowers delivered it was my chemistry teacher pulling a not at all funny ‘prank’. Was deeply upset.
- Sounds like teachers get paid too much to me
🌹🍫
- 🥹 For me?

Took all three cats to the Vet yesterday for their shots. They always feel a little sick after their shots, especially Gwyn he gets really unwell from them. So now today I have three moppy and sad cats who all want love.

Bill Cat brought a live mouse inside. He and Ted have a mission now, a sense of purpose and some much needed kitty fun.

Poor mouse. 😔

Power still out at home I assume, am planning on cooking an entire upright freezer worth of food on the bbq when I get home. At least there was no damage to our property, but I would like a shower.

Hubs was moping around when i got up whining he wanted a shower. I reminded him the hot water is instant gas. "But the pezi!"
Oh sweetie, this is why all the power tools are in my name.
Power back on woohoo, freezer mostly still solid, slightly unfrozen pizzas for dinner
got any mates near by who could let you take one? I was tempted to put something up on my suburbs noticeboard tbh.

Anybody else's kitty shedding a lot? Maybe it's the hot weather. She's not a fan of the comb, wish I could find her actual slicker brush

it's normal for cats to shed in early Autumn and early Spring
- Ahh right on cue then. Hairmageddon

My power came back some time over night. The estimate was originally 10pm, but then it shot up to 1pm on the 15th. Thank fuck that was wrong.

Laptop: Charging
Phone: Charging
Power brick: Charging
PS Vita: Charging
I am ready for next time and definitely won't forget to charge devices before the next outage.
- Battery box. Get yourself a big fat car battery box. The smallest of these will have five times the juice of a power brick.
- I miss my old PSP and vita. God I was so fucking into the homebrew scene back then.

It has been a long day and I am really ready for it to be over. Today has been way too busy for my liking, I think an early bedtime might be on the cards tonight.

Power was still flickering and going in and out when I came home.

Spoke with my other neighbour and she was having the same problems as me then all power went out.

It came back up about 20 mins ago and has been stable for both of us since, I think I have power back now!

Yay!

Still no power here plus the 4G has gone to shit, not looking forward to today

They reckons it will be back on tomorrow by 1pm so I guess I am just doing nothing today.

took me 4 hours to get home last night. 4 friggin hours. I know its not metro's fault, but why the F are we not better prepared in our response? I waiting in a 300m line at Caulfield only for people to keep jumping the queues while the metro staff and PSOs are mostly on their friggin phones!

Can’t fix powerlines down without everything being underground. Power companies don’t want to pay for it. Trees on tracks and roads really limited any possible response tbh.
- And if you put it underground it's gonna flood.

Jesus christ people are starting to eat each other out there.

Usually most people wait until after the valentines dinner but I guess that's a benefit of WfH
- Nooo follow Dan Savage’s advice. Nobody feels acrobatic when full to the eyeballs with bubbles and steak or whatever
- It is the traditional standby when the power goes out after all....
????
- Couple throw downs on the chesty south intersection

Jeez that was extreme traffic today.

Got back from the bellarine in just under 4hrs. Usually it's 1.5.

Did a quick pit stop for some jackas chips.

I still believe the equation is... RR>KFC>HJ>McD. Always a bit of a let down and I never learn.

I can respect your position but when Maccas chips are just right, I think they put HJs to shame.
- HJ has never been the same since they changed their fries imo, but their burgers are definitely better than MDs

Bonne nuit

So a refurbished laptop I bought had 1 year warranty.

Invoking it for a noisy fan (failing fan bearing?). Person on the phone suggested I try cleaning it first.

Only problem is that the blades are on the other side, meaning the whole cooling system needs to be detached to access it for cleaning. Meaning it'll need a new application of thermal paste. Meaning I'll need to buy some as I haven't done this sort of thing in years.

I can refuse right? 😪😴

Yeah if the warranty is worth the paper it's written on, I'd be making it their problem to sort out...
- Thanks:) I've gone ahead and reached out to them, apparently I can drop it off to expedite the process (in Clayton... but they don't open weekends and I work 9-5 lol)
Yes definitely. If you open it up they'll just claim you broke something anyway
- Thanks yeah that's true as well. I reached out to them, they agreed to take a look.
If it's a refurb place and they're cool, they should be able to just swap it with another from the pile.
- Yep they're cool with it thankfully.
  Now to sort out how to get it to Clayton on a work day lol.

Just buy a strainer that goes over the sink hole. It's going to save you money in the long run.
I hope you have a good plumber on tap to clear the drain out occasionally. Drano can only do so much.
My guilty pleasure. I hate wet soggy food

I got power back early this morning but all my devices kept beeping and the lights were going from bright to dim back to bright all in concert.

Is anyone experiencing this as well?

Brownout. Can damage stuff so best to unplug things if it’s still happening.
- If my neighbours aren't experiencing what I am can it still be a brownout or some other problem?
My didn't go out for long, but it came back for a few minutes with low voltage for a while and cut in and out a couple of times, which sounds like what is happening to you. I did have issues with the air conditioners and dishwasher - I think they tried to start up when there was not enough power and got stuck, once I cut the power and turned them back on they were fine.
- My portable air con was going berserk as well when everything came back and woke me up s I believe it's effecting everything at my place, not just the lights.
  I'll try turning off the mains when i get back home and leave it for a bit.
  I only turned it off for a few seconds and then turned it back on this morning before I left for work.
  Maybe I didn't leave it off for long enough the first time I tried it.

No power, mobile network is barely working. Can’t send texts and most calls fail. Fortunately I have solar and generator but the destruction is crazy. Powerlines over roads and people are driving on them. No police to be seen. My husband went out to work (I’m wfh today) and relayed back the destruction - he couldn’t get mobile coverage until back in suburbia 20km from home.
Have got the fallen trees off the fences and patched them up to stop animal ingress/egress.

Guessing our Emerald/Gembrook way? I've heard its real bad.

Melbcat has been a bit fussy and painy still, from her body language it seems acute (like tummy cramps) and then it passes. I've given her some metacam the past few days and she might have to go back to the vet to make sure the uti is gone.

Hearing about the blackouts... luckily my area was spared, it's stressful as shit to hear about and I hope everyone gets their power back on soon. Especially on these stinking hot days/oppressive nights which have screwed my sleep.

I still haven't fixed the shitty little car battery solar setup I got a few years ago anticipating problems like this... didn't end up troubleshooting the low output plus the wiring pulled out of the crimps when it was moved. Perhaps they weren't done strongly enough despite passing the plier pull test. That needs to be redone, and even if it gets fixed I really don't think it would hold enough juice to run cooling for long. At least I have a few solar phone battery packs and a solar lantern I leave on the windowsill. Cheap but better than nothing.

Doing anything with that actually might not happen anytime soon. I don't even have a multimeter/voltmeter, can't exactly pop down just to get that, and would have to wrap my tired brain around using it.

I did the DIYish sorts of stuff back when I was relatively healthier but right now I'm in a fair amount of pain on a regular basis, have no spare energy, and am basically just scraping to get by. Another hospital admission might be on the cards soon.

I'm not even feeling up to using my cheapie paints that arrived and feel a bit anxious about them. It's fine. They'll still be there whenever the time comes. It's ok that I'm not up to the actual doing at the moment. I can take it easy and stick to just learning about things for as long as I want.

Well worth trying to scoop some spoons up to do the work. We still have no power, but we have the camping fans recharging, power for the nintendo switch and laptops and our little ryobi fridge. When we get rid of the gas we need to get a little sterno / gas bottle single burner for our hob kettle. (We have the bbq, but new place is elevated so something we can stick on the terrace would be more acessible)
- I'll try! I'd have to get a friend to pick up the multimeter and not sure if I have what little crimping strength I used to. I'm not sure if this is a faulty piece of equipment, my work was poor, or I've accidentally damaged the panel (unlikely).
  I really hope you get power back on soon. But it sounds like you were well prepared and will do fine in a zombie apocalypse

Breakfast 🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋

Toasted croissant with cheese, ham & tomato and a cup of coffee please.
- 🔥🥐🧀🍖🍅☕️
🌹
- 🐝
- 🦜
One two-three o'clock, a four o'clock rock, and... we're going to rock around the clock tonight?
- 🤘Rock out with your clock out🤘
- 🕝🕓🪨
coração de frango Thanks
- 🐥🫀
Since I missed out on Pancake Tuesday, pancakes with bacon and maple syrup and a chai latte plz chef?
And 💐 for you 😊
- 🥞🥓🍯☕️🥛
  The bees said thank you

Hey you got security cameras that loop record? Wanna grab the storm before it gets overwritten?

Rewatching Fargo 3.

geebus. multiple times in every episode the characters are presented with moral choices and every single time they choose wrong, they dig their own hole deeper

except for gloria and winnie , they do the right thing

it's interesting to see how the morally weak are no match for the truly evil and that there is no winning against evil, there is only survival

Rather fortunate here, we just had a power flicker at quarter to 3. We didn't cop much rain either. I saw Mornington got some rain from the water on my manager's door in a meeting.

Now I just need to make sure the restaurant for tonight got my booking...

mouse is behind bookcase, both cats are asleep on the sofa as far away from the mouse as possible 😡

Open house has come up for a house the housemate and I are keen on, but it just wee bit early to start actually diving in. Not sure if we should go have a sticky beak or put it from our mind's.

What the fuck is this in my letterbox? A new retirement village perhaps? Can someone who's brave google it for me please?

Falun gong. They're essentially cloning youtube and other sm and shoving their shit all over it instead.
- Oh so they're stealing content. Thank you.
- They are offering a safe non censored alternative to wechat and tiktok

25 minutes to drive from one side of my suburb to the other. 25 frigging minutes. there's no lights out or anything, just he gray army seems to have mobilized for some reason. Is it pension day or something?

Reminder: if you have no power and a battery powered usb thing plugged into a hub with other usb things...unplug it.

Sincerely,

The woman who just found out her vacuum sealer on its dock was running her pi

ooooohhh my pakidge has clear the US customs. It took from 23 Jan - now to get from Nebraska to Illinois. Let's see how long it takes to get here