Discussion Thread 👩‍💻 Tuesday 15 July 2025

Season 1, ep 03 of 'please put the weed burner thing down'.

A sausage roll with little chillies and sriracha

Now do a creme brulee 🍮
How did this turn out? I feel like I'd burn the fuck outta the chillies before the sausage roll would even be warm because I wouldn't be able to help myself.
- It actually worked well lol. Idea was to do the sausage roll in the oven normally, then give it a once over with the torch.
  This thing has honestly been more useful on food than weeds heh.
I look forward to your daily cooking post!

I just received my final electricity bill for the old house. Due to a combination of set monthly payments and the govt. contributions I am well ahead on my payments so will be getting nearly $300 returned to me. 😀

Edit: I've also just realised I got the govt. relief payment twice. It's paid per household not per person, and I had power on at both properties with an overlap of about a month. The timing was just right for me to get the payment for both. I thought I'd lost money by being lazy/distracted and not cancelling the power at the old place earlier, turns out it was a good thing!

Goodnight all, from the treat servant and his goblin ❤️

goodnight , sweet dreams

I'm reading The Luminaries at the moment and it's the sort of mystery story I like.

It reminds me of Raymond Chandler because you're also trying to figure out what the mystery is. It's not a simple case of 'someone died, who did it?' It's a much more complex case of 'what the fuck is happening?'

Also, it's set in New Zealand during a 19th century good rush so that's somewhere different for a story.

Interesting. Will give that a go.

Audiobook review. Chocky by John Wyndham. An alien makes esp contact with a 12 yr old boy so that it can teach him about the world, the universe and to help humanity.

I'm listening to a lot of 60s science fiction, it seems a bit more creative, less character based, more tech based, than a lot of newer fiction

this book was subtle, I will have to think about it some more

I do like how the message is overwhelmingly positive, humans can do positive things to improve their lives and improve the world. Humans are also co-operative, working together to figure things out.

I remember that book!
Anything by Phillip K Dick. I've read his bibliography. Very talented and eccentric writer.
That takes me back. Read it many many years ago as a teenager. I think you're right about sf being more tech based then. Still can't beat Asimov's robot trilogy for a close (if dated) look at human/tech interactions and the moral dimensions thereof.
Edit: also Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage - which can horrify but does a rip snorting good job of examining the morality of a closed society. Re-read this recently and it stands the test of time.
- These are rereads for me too.
  Rite of Passage is now on my list 😊

I'm not sure I agree with all those glowing reviews of Superman... 2/5 - recommend seeing on cheap tickets night

After reading this thread today, I realised that I haven't had fish and chips or pizza in ages. I already said next weekend was souva though.

Low-key excited for my trial meeting tomorrow for a CPAP machine. Renting one for a month with the option to trial different masks and with help to track how it's going. I just want to wake up feeling like I've slept 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

I've heard they work so I hope they give you the refreshing sleep you're after
Good luck with it, would be so good if it helped you out!
Exciting! We need details of your experiments please.
- Sure thing!

NSFW potatoes.

My potatoes are weird. I had to peel several bags of these fuckers for work

That's only a sample. Other potatoes are a bit shocked

Are anyone elses vegetables doin' this?

Zoomies 😲

Go Melbcat 💨🐈

Animuls quiz

5/10 better than I thought I'd get.

2/10
I'm with Peeler we're done for.
3/10
2/10.. I am going to be killed by a wild animal I know little about lol. Ay at least it'll be a surprise!
8/10
4
Also 5/10, with some good guesses

:)

Ordered 3, got 4.

Fave spot too was free.

I'm downloading the uber eats app right now and getting fish and chips plus potato cakes.
Great marketing lol
The extra one is for me. Thanks
- You'll have to get in line I'm afraid.
beautiful, the potat cakes look absolutely beautiful

I may have put too many mushrooms into the pot….ooops

Pizzas on sale today... pants have been feeling tight recently... but pizza... after the day that was... pizza. At least it is economical enough to last for 3 meals. Then I might watch something. Red Rooms has been on my list after it was mentioned in the DT

E: gotta love Quebecois French and how they randomly drop in English words with a totally North American accent.

pizza here too
NZ is like the land of cheese, so much cheese, I think I need to go back on my meal shake diet

Long story but I have a band audition next weekend.

A silver lining to what was an absolutely fuck wit of a day.

Holiday was great, but it's good to get back to this doggo.

That's just such a great photo! Yeah, sometimes our animal companions are a real relief after a lot of human company. Good luck with the new job, lol @ the existing one having no IT policies seemingly...
- I tried to have a nap and Gibson screamed at me till I woke up and patted her...

todays ponderance: using puppy pee pads for spill emergencies in brewery.

This is ponderous man. Really ponderous. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYIbMwswKM&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD
- Preponderous!

So I start a new job on 28 July. Having a break in between doing house related stuff. Official last day from my previous job was 11 July. Still no email, text, phone call regarding handing back all my IT stuff, still have access to everything....

I've had that happen before. I was logged in to my emails in one job and could still get in months later.
I've also had two jobs where they never collected the laptop. Flash whatever OS you want on a usb drive and the thing is as good as yours.

back from beach, cafe and some shopping

beach was nice, got lots of shells, got rained on a little, and saw some adorable birds called Sandlings.

Here is a pic of a Sanderling. They have two legs, not one as shown.

NZ is odd, there are Road Chickens, Road Quails and Road Pheasants, feral farm birds that now live on the sides of the road.

Let this day fucking end

No! the beatings will continue! :(
- Where's my potato cake?!?! Lol
- But do we get a potato cake for it?

Exhibit A. Healthy untreated oxalis:

And B. Exposure to aerogard after 15hrs:

Note how the horizontal banksia gave no fucks even though there was a bit of drift.

Conclusion: I think I'm going to be buying more aerogard. Problem is it's not really the cheapest stuff.

Bleah, back to being cranky pants again today. Feeling bristly when people ask the prerequisite "what did you get up to on the weekend" and I don't have anything exciting to say like a fishing trip or running a marathon or whatever so they tune out anyway. I know it's a nicety but like I wish they round just skip the question, neither of us enjoy it at this point. And I don't actually want to hear about what most of my colleagues have gotten up to because it's not in my wheelhouse anyway and i can only feign interest for so long.

Ordinarily I'd just bury myself in work but we've run out of stuff to do and the only stuff left is some very very tedious document updating which I've already spent a lot of time on and I'm dying of boredom send help. Almost tempted to start chucking sickies...

Hate that too. I'm always answering: nothing too exciting, or something along those lines 😴
I say just starting making up more and more absurd activities.
I assume you never see these people outside of the office anyway.
- Nah I don't. Maybe I might, sarcasm could be a great way to get them off my back without coming across as unengaged - thanks!
My last job, mandatory Monday morning in-office meetings when the first 10 minutes was wasted hearing about everyone's weekends and having to explain what I did for my weekend. It was a horrible way to start each week.
- Things like that make me understand why people shoot up workplaces.
  Not condoning it, but you know.......
- Oh god. As if Monday mornings aren't hard enough
Worked with a dude who would always ask 'Did you have a productive weekend?'
I had soooo many smart arse replies ready but never used them.
In hindsight I should have let it fly.
- Urrrrgh. I think I can handle it when it's on teams via text but in person it's hard to give a non committal answer sometimes because that person is then around and you need to interact with them further and they might bring up their productive weekend yet again.
  I just had a couple of colleagues very performatively go on a quick run before lunch because that's now their Thing and they want to get people into it after having announced their running activities this weekend. Like they're perfectly lovely folks and this place is generally great but I simply do not have the energy to pretend to be interested in any of these today. I had the shortest lunch ever and will be skedaddling as soon as I hit 7.5 hrs before I really do turn into the Grinch.
Oh god I hate those conversations. Have taken to saying ‘oh, just relaxing’ or something like that, just to get it over with. Am also mrs crankypants today… maybe it’s the weather
- I am 10000% ready to blame the weather. I really wish I'd timed everything so I could be on leave right now. I think that might legitimately be contributing to the crankiness... resentment... maybe a sickie is in full order for tomorrow to balance the scales since we have SFA to do anyway.
It's the same with "how are you"? and the expectant answer always being "Good". It's rare that someone is genuinely interested, it's just the social norm. (FWIW, I'm always down to listen until you use me as a trauma dump and ignore me when I need an ear grumble grumble about askholes)
- The crossing lady near my house as a teen.
  Her: Good morning. How are you?
  Me: Good thanks. Yourself?
  Her: Not good. Last night......
  Me: FUCK
  Mum wanted to know why I was going to school so early. "To avoid her".
- It totally is just a transactional thing, I can handle a "how are you" most of the time as it's just an extension of "hi" (although yes, harder to lie through your teeth when you're really not feeling it) but the whole weekend thing is just way too long for my liking especially when I simply can't match the mood of the other person.
  There are some people I will always have time for re: a genuine response to how are you etc, but because of experiences like the ones you have also had, I am very selective. I think I've gotten better at working out when someone might be a one-directional dumper - esp when interacting with the public during site visits.
You look them in the eyes and say "self love" then smile and get back to work.

New uniforms are being handed around at work and I haven’t been allocated one since I’m leaving, but there’s still no actual end date for me yet so I’m feeling a little bit pissy about it, which is stupid of me. I think the fact that it wasn’t addressed, I was just taken off the list, makes me wonder what else I’m being left out of.

off to beach, this is my last visit 😭

Enjoy it!!

Parents flew interstate for a couple of days, and so I am looking after our dog. He barked at 1am, then 3am, and then kept going in and out of the room and jumping on me whilst I was half asleep. He has a wonderful bed, but is always moving around like a cat. This morning, I found pee in seven different places. I feel like it has to do with separation anxiety, but he isn't neutered, and pees anywhere he can lift his leg up.

He pees inside when no one can see him. I am beyond frustrated. We didn't get him neutered in the beginning because he had a hernia on his belly, and the vet said don't bother. So I guess I shall be going to the vet at some point. We have a baby gate, so I'm going to confine him from the area of the house where he pees the most.

Oh dear.
What you need to do is this: early morning say to him "c'mon outside pee pee". Let him outside and keep saying "outside pee pee". Stay with him and don't let him back in until he has a piss. When he does, give him a pat, say good boy, let him back inside. Do this every couple of hours so he associates outside with pee pee even if he has a doggy door. If you see him near the door, let him out "outside pee pee outside pee pee" etc
You can throw in a couple of "you dirty little bastard". It doesn't hurt him and it might make you feel better.
My dog is the most stubborn unruly dog known to man but he does not piss inside.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
- Thanks for this, CEO! I'm going to take him outside even more so the association is stronger.
  He has a doggy door. We also take him outside before we go to bed and when we wake up. I take him outside every couple of hours during the day too when I'm home. He pees pretty much straight away. The issue is at night when he wakes up and no one is watching him. Or when he's home alone.
Invest in some puppy pee pads. They're pretty inexpensive (Kmart or big W). Clean up is much easier.
I hope the dog settles. Getting woken up by animals is so frustrating.
- Thanks for the suggestion. I might look into belly bands as well :)
Is it too late to train the dog?
It sounds to me like the person in charge of the dog just didn't want to train the dog because they didn't want to use discipline because discipline isn't nice
- It shouldn't be too late? He is five though. He only started this behaviour when he was four maybe but it's only gotten worse, especially since his dog friend who comes to visit has gotten sick. He will sniff anywhere his friend has been and goes through phases of obsessively sniffing him.
  We let him outside and he has a doggy door, which he knows to use. He will go outside on his own to pee when we are home and awake, but when he is left alone or when it's night (perhaps because of the cold), he will mark inside.

Real bad dream last night. Put me in a super shit mood. Half the team is away sick.

Urgh.

Actively disliking my in office days.

The building and amenities are nice but that's about it.

Most of the people can go kick rocks.

Melbcat is obsessed with getting up on the chair even if it hurts her to jump down. (She avoids any padding or ramps to jump full force.)

Does she remember that doing that hurts her and chooses to do it anyway? Do I just let her do it?

Negative several Hundred dollar water bill. Woo. Pity that won't continue (settlement pay in advance etc)

Watched Squid Game 2 last night and won't be bothering with 3, especially since I've seen some spoilers and just... no thanks.

This was followed by a night of very weird dreams, the only one I can remember involved me getting married to a vampire.

It's called 'the witching hour' because witches are up at this hour. What they don't tell you is that the witches aren't up brewing potions or cleansing their crystals with the light of a gibbous moon; they're up because their cats have the 3am post-poop zoomies and are causing havoc in the pantry.

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Beep Beep 🚚
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Two please
E: and some uncooked, unsquashed ones to throw at the person using the jackhammer over the back fence
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Smoke and a pancake please.
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Potat cake served with a sauce of mince & onion & herbs on the top. Catfish has the right idea, just a different substrate.
EDIT: is there any leftover Balrog available - I could really go a crown roast of Balrog with lemony garlicky rice in the middle and some roasted tomatoes on top.
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One cake of potato, please!
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I'd like a stack of potato cakes, topped with a fried mix of onion, bacon and mushroom, sprinkled with cheese and with a dollop of sour cream please.
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one lightly salted potato cake please chef
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I think I'll take... a potato cake please
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