Just me and my kitties. All of us looking forward to sleeping late. I had Christmas invitations, but don’t feel like traveling; nor like sharing close quarters with people I don’t know. (Maybe catching Omicron is inevitable, but I’m fighting the good fight, dammit.)
Monday I am going to see a light festival with a friend. Outdoors… in what is forecast to be the coldest day in Seattle since 2011. I told my friend we’re both going to look like toddlers dressed up to play in the snow: so many layers our arms stick out to the sides.
9.
HumboldtBlue
Huh, we’re still 30 minutes away from the start of the best clan day of the year.
I think that today, December 24, is when the holiday is officially observed with a day off.
It’s been raining steadily most of the day here in Southern California, and I am still recovering from dental work, so it’s been a quiet pre-holiday. I ordered some soup and a tofu dish from my favorite Chinese place, grateful to not have to leave my apartment.
Our tree is finally coming together and I hope to finish putting on the ornaments tomorrow. Did most of my favorites first today — the Holly King, Mother Goose, Scrooge McDuck, the pink ball from Mt. St. Helens, the last surviving Sixties made-in-Taiwan balls I bought my first Christmas away from home, the Pegasus, Grandfather Frost, King Tut. Grocery visit in the morning as we only decided yesterday to, you know, actually cook Christmas dinner for the two of us since the kids have other plans and we’re seeing them in the morning for quiche and presents anyhow. Raining kind of hard intermittently tonight which always gives me a cozy feeling indoors.
It’s evening of Christmas Eve here in the land down under. It’s about 77F where I am but a scorching 110F in Perth on the west coast. Thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow. Just family tomorrow and we’re all fully vaxed with relatively few Covid cases here in Qld. Happy holidays to all and best wishes for a better year next year.
@mrmoshpotato: There were Christmas ornaments made from the ash from Mt St Helens. The ash has a high content of silica, so it’s almost glass but very fine. We have one, but it’s not pink. It’s sort of a dark silver-gray metallic with some iridescence in places, and it weighs a lot. I left it in its special packing this year because the tree was already full when I located it.
The recipe exchange a couple of days ago? I made the molasses cookies today and they are WOW! An excellent recipe, I highly recommend it.
I had some difficulty with the easy fudge: the marshmallows refused to melt. So I fished them out, tried melting them by themselves in a double boiler, no luck. But funny thing, the fudge is ok. It didn’t break, it’s not terribly grainy, and it’s fudge. I’m cutting it into squares and lightly dusting it with powdered sugar so it doesn’t stick to itself, building a little pyramid of fudge on a small dessert pedestal. If I try it again I’ll be sure to use the marshmallow fluff. I’m sure I did something wrong, but I’m not sure what. I had a series of other difficulties with other cookies before I started the fudge and decided that today was my incompetent day, but later on I managed to get the dratted sugar cookie dough to behave and baked the entire batch.
For some reason, this feels like the last time we will be hosting Christmas Eve and I’m feeling like maybe that’s ok. I just have this feeling of letting go of things, so maybe I have planned more dishes than I should have, or maybe I’m just feeling old.
24.
opiejeanne
@Jay: We accidentally drove all the way up to the red zone after the mountain blew up and the lumber companies were trying to move as much dead and dying timber off of the mountain as fast as possible. We were looking for the information center, missed it, and saw the utter devastation along the Tootle River where the mudflow climbed the banks at the curves and coated the trees as high as 20 feet above their roots, essentially killing them.
25.
mrmoshpotato
@opiejeanne: I see. Thought it had something to do with the mountain discarding its side in the 80’s.
@mrmoshpotato: When it discarded it’s side, volcanic ash came out of the new summit.
27.
NotMax
Mundane meanderings.
So very belatedly made the monthly trek to town for groceries. Originally planned it for several days earlier but the weather kept spitting rain, on and off.
Anyhow, Costsco was more than normally active but not close to what you might call crowded. While there, spotted a large sign on a display advertising a brand of rum as “Gluten-Free.”
While on the road I saw, waiting at an intersection, a panel truck with an entire mural featuring the company’s info on its side. The company name (not making this up, cross my heart): “Very Rich Dead People’s Things For Sale.”
Oh, also received three “Dude, I like your shirt” shout outs from passersby.
@opiejeanne: An old friend of mine was the last guy to see old Harry Truman, the curmudgeon who lived on the mountain, alive. He was up there with him the day before and would have stayed overnight but he had to call in his story to his newspaper and Harry didn’t have a phone.
@opiejeanne:Similar feelings. I was thinking that as a grandmother I should be hosting some sort of cookie baking for the seven year old granddaughter, but I just don’t have the energy.
Then step-daughter announced that she and the kids don’t want to go anywhere for Christmas because they will be home baking cookies. Yay! Next generation takes over.
31.
sab
@NotMax: I love that panel truck. Proves that Hawaii is not Ohio. We couldn’t build such a business here. Lack of product.
@opiejeanne: I have a vial of the ash somewhere; in college at the time, and my chem-lab partner was from Washington. Finest grains I’ve ever seen.
34.
Betty Cracker
@NotMax: Now you’re obligated to describe the shirt to us.
35.
Betty Cracker
I was catching up on the local news this morning and learned about this family in a nearby town that is having a totally normal one:
A witness and family member to Skaggs told investigators Skaggs showed up to their house next door asking for black powder.
When his relative handed him the powder, Skaggs poured it into a plastic, egg-shaped container, inside which he installed two feet of wiring before wrapping the device in electrical tape.
Skaggs then said he was going to blow up a vehicle and house, according to his arrest report, but his family member talked him out of acting out his plans.
So apparently people show up at neighboring houses asking for black powder, as if borrowing a cup of sugar? Good to know.
36.
sab
@Betty Cracker: Disturbing to know that people keep black powder around to be borrowed. If they do it in Florida then I am sure they do it in Ohio.
OT and by the way.: when you pronounce Florida does it have two or three syllables? I think (in English) two, but I left a long time ago.
Our new fridge is dead. As renters, I’m trying to be hands off, but Corporate America has other ideas.
The appliance shop the landlord usually deals with showed up and was fantastic. They were going to get us a loaner by Christmas Eve. Then, they would let the fixed fridge run in the shop before swapping it out. A lovely plan. That Frigidaire, for reasons of its own, decided to blow up on me.
NO loaner. They won’t even send someone to LOOK at it until the 28th. I’m in corporate hands now, and they were utterly clear that they are only going to LOOK at it on the 28th. Then it’s up to them if they are going to fix it, and if they can dodge the warranty I’m sure they will.
Landlord’s a decent guy and I’m furious with the American Way of Business, as usual, but I suspect few hate Corporate Customer Service quite as much as I do. Always.
38.
sab
@WereBear: You cannot beat me on hating Corporate business.
@CaseyL: Yeah, sub-freezing in the greater Seattle area (I’m up north near the Canada border). But just another normal day for those from, say, MN or something. Next week’s “won’t break freezing all week” is normal for some. Cold is when it’s -40 out…
43.
sab
@WereBear: Jeez. Holidays with no fridge. Been there done that but wouldn’t wish it even on my ex. I will tuck that manufacturer’s name in my memory forever. New fridge that does not work.
We bought a new KitchenAid fridge right after we moved into this house; the appliances in here were in kind of sad shape. Ordered it in October 2020 I think, and it arrived in April 2021 (!!—that was the “supply chain issues” at work). Has been fine since then.
The old range oven crapped out just before our main kitchen remodel started up: it caught on fire! Fortunately it was a tiny fire that went out on its own as soon as we turned it off. I forget what brand the range was, but it too was clearly on its last legs by then. The new one isn’t in yet but we’re putting in a gas cooktop (and electric oven, not a combined stove like we had before).
(For now, though, it’s microwave and toaster oven.)
@sab: Thanks. The thing that makes it the Grinchiest is how the previous plan was great and humane and a Zappadan miracle, yay!
And General Electric, (our CEOs are proud of being psychopaths!) was, for no reasons I can figure, the one to destroy it.
Corporate metrics, if I were to guess.
48.
Betty Cracker
@sab: Most grizzled natives of the upper half of the peninsula (including myself) pronounce it in two flat syllables, i.e., “Flarda.” South Floridians, tourists and transplants tend to use all three and emphasize the first: “FLOOR-i-da.”
49.
Betty Cracker
@WereBear: Good lord, I’d be beside myself! I hope the 30-minute technique pays off. Are you at least located in an area where outdoor air can serve as emergency refrigeration?
We had a fairly new range go haywire one Thanksgiving morning when a dozen people were expected for a holiday feast. (Samsung: electronics, okay; appliances, nope!) A friend talked the mister through an emergency fix — it was something to do with the touchpad thingie.
Anyhoo, I sympathize on the poor timing. Fuck soulless corporations! MBAs have ruined us.
@Betty Cracker: Thanks, and yes. I really loathe this new corporate model — to put the cherry on top, when they called me to schedule messing up my holiday season, they didn’t leave a message. Just hung up. If I hadn’t been alerted to a corporate center kind of area code and called them back, I might still be waiting to hear.
Just breathtaking incompetence, and we’re supposed to give them money.
52.
MagdaInBlack
@WereBear: Correction: Breathtaking indifference. I share your contempt for corporate psychopaths.
here, yeah, you can bid and win on a job installing 100 toilets on a condo project and have 3 years worth of work, pay check guaranteed,
But if you don’t want to do that,
well, was reading a CBC story about a serial conman, 1 week, paint and trim in 3 bedrooms, hardwood floors refinished, new kitchen ceiling, ( drywall and insulation) cabinets refinished, inside and out, in one week.
Impossible, ( no matter what Property Brothers show on TV).
They wen’t with the guy who said he could, and got ripped off.
Did any of the people I walked through fixes on the phone, give me the job to rebuild their deck, put in a new bathroom, etc, nope, they called me when their tile job and subfloor heating was tripping breakers and starting fires.
Looking at the world time zone map and America’s day begins in Samoa (currently 12 AM Christmas day) and it ends in Baker Island (currently 11 PM Thursday the 23rd).
Not crazy about Santa working with the military, but you can track his sleigh on NORAD’s site He’s currently over north east russia, right now.
We had a fridge delivered the other day and one of the guys was wearing a US Navy hat. I asked him what he did in the Navy and he said he was a “medic”. I said “ah, a corpsmen, worked with marines”? He smiled and said “yea, three tours, on of Afghanistan and two Iraq”. They guy was really nice and seemed really bright. I wanted to ask him if he was using his bill but I didn’t. It was funny, they installed the fridge and an hour later we opened it and they left a DeWalt impact driver in it. I thought about it and figured they were sub-contractors and the equipment was probably theirs so I drove out to Lowes the next morning and took it to the dock in the back. He wasn’t there but the guy obviously knew him and said “yea, they have to supply their own tools, thanks for bringing it”. Proly more than you were interested in.
Meanwhile, the appliances are in, electrical done (except the receptacle for the stove has to be moved to allow it to be flush with the wall) sheetrock and paint done and they were going to finish the floors “this week”. If they do it will have to be today and I don’t know if floor guys will be working Christmas eve day. We got the deposit check from the new tenant and he said they are going to come from LA around the 15th to furnish the house so all is well.
59.
sab
@Betty Cracker: Lol. I was a transplant, age 6 to 12, but we were of the “Flar-da” pronunciation, since north half (Daytona) of state.
60.
raven
@Jay: Our remodel started September 1 and we are thrilled with the work and how long it took.
61.
Sab
@WereBear: GE has this weird corporate model where every division is on its own. No benefit in supporting the overall corporation’s quality reputation. So their tvs were not cable ready although they also owned a cable company. Basically they competed with each other by cutting costs by diminishing services.
They lost a big defense contract in the eighties because the general making the decision had been listening all week to his wife bitching about her crappy new toaster. US military was not going with that company.
But they are still in business, so apparently the approach works.
62.
There go two miscreants
@Betty Cracker: Your black powder story got my day started with a laugh! Thanks!
63.
Gvg
@sab: Funny, I am a 2nd generation native and we always pronounced it with 3 syllables. I grew up in Orlando during the Disney boom, but family comes from Gainesville. Students come from all over the state, but I think we may be influenced by how the various Gator cheer songs go.
64.
evodevo
@Betty Cracker: depends on the neighborhood…as black powder re-enactors, we have a small supply lol
@WereBear: Was it making noises in the freezer compartment before it tanked? If so, it was the evaporator fan usually located in the freezer compartment…you can fix it if you are at all handy…plenty of online videos to help. If it just died with no symptoms, well…
@opiejeanne: Molasses cookies often get better after a day. It’s some sort of baking magic.
68.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@MagdaInBlack:
It’s tough, Santa has to elude Russia’s surface to air missile sites, yet he undoubtedly wants to stop by and visit some of russia’s eurasian beauties.
I ignored the molasses cookie recipe in that thread because it said “soft” and I like mine crunchy. But I didn’t recall that when I went back to find the thread because of your comment.
Because of your recommendation, I clicked on the soft recipe and there was a link from the same baker for a crunchy version!
@Jay: The ol’ Christmas Eve fridge reboot! Classic!
74.
Geminid
@raven: That’s a very quick turnaround for such an extensive renovation. Your contractor had a good plan. Having knowledgeable clients probably helped too.
I am disappointed not to see an update from WereBear. I assume that means that the 30-minute wait and then plug-in method was not successful. I had high hopes for you, WereBear!
At least in NY your weather is probably cold enough to serve as refrigeration if you have access to an outdoor area. I had to do that for a couple of days when my fridge went out at the beginning of the pandemic.
The frozen stuff stayed frozen and I insulted the “refrigerator” items with a blanket so that stuff stayed cold but didn’t freeze. Good luck
@Geminid: It’s funny, we started thinking just the floor needed replacing, then it became joists, sills, wall coming down, insulation. . . pretty much un-planned!
80.
2liberal
@WaterGirl: and I insulted the “refrigerator” items
John Revolta
Frost!
otmar
Good morning.
I’m at my MiL’s house in Southern Austria again this year. There is even snow on the ground, as the typical Xmas warm spell is a bit late.
Have a merry Christmas!
Ruckus
OK someone has to do it.
Bah fucking humbug!
Enough of that, a Merry Christmas to all.
May we all see a better year ahead, even though, all things considered, this one has been a hell of a lot better than the last one.
WaterGirl
Merry Christmas to you, too, otmar!
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: Ozark may sue you for copyright infringement.
Ivan X
Just watched Bad Santa with my in-laws. It’s cool that I have in-laws that can enjoy it.
sab
@John Revolta: Well done.
CaseyL
Just me and my kitties. All of us looking forward to sleeping late. I had Christmas invitations, but don’t feel like traveling; nor like sharing close quarters with people I don’t know. (Maybe catching Omicron is inevitable, but I’m fighting the good fight, dammit.)
Monday I am going to see a light festival with a friend. Outdoors… in what is forecast to be the coldest day in Seattle since 2011. I told my friend we’re both going to look like toddlers dressed up to play in the snow: so many layers our arms stick out to the sides.
HumboldtBlue
Huh, we’re still 30 minutes away from the start of the best clan day of the year.
Christmas Eve.
Jay
@CaseyL:
remember to pee first.
mrmoshpotato
@John Revolta: Not here! 40 degrees!
mrmoshpotato
@Ivan X: Hahaha, oh man…
Brachiator
I think that today, December 24, is when the holiday is officially observed with a day off.
It’s been raining steadily most of the day here in Southern California, and I am still recovering from dental work, so it’s been a quiet pre-holiday. I ordered some soup and a tofu dish from my favorite Chinese place, grateful to not have to leave my apartment.
Tehanu
Our tree is finally coming together and I hope to finish putting on the ornaments tomorrow. Did most of my favorites first today — the Holly King, Mother Goose, Scrooge McDuck, the pink ball from Mt. St. Helens, the last surviving Sixties made-in-Taiwan balls I bought my first Christmas away from home, the Pegasus, Grandfather Frost, King Tut. Grocery visit in the morning as we only decided yesterday to, you know, actually cook Christmas dinner for the two of us since the kids have other plans and we’re seeing them in the morning for quiche and presents anyhow. Raining kind of hard intermittently tonight which always gives me a cozy feeling indoors.
JWR
@sab:
Indeed. ;)
mrmoshpotato
@Tehanu:
?
Pete Downunder
It’s evening of Christmas Eve here in the land down under. It’s about 77F where I am but a scorching 110F in Perth on the west coast. Thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow. Just family tomorrow and we’re all fully vaxed with relatively few Covid cases here in Qld. Happy holidays to all and best wishes for a better year next year.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: He didn’t say ‘blech’, Ruckus has no worries.
HumboldtBlue
@Pete Downunder:
Merry Christmas, please keep Ozzyman in a cool place.
How about a song?
opiejeanne
@mrmoshpotato: There were Christmas ornaments made from the ash from Mt St Helens. The ash has a high content of silica, so it’s almost glass but very fine. We have one, but it’s not pink. It’s sort of a dark silver-gray metallic with some iridescence in places, and it weighs a lot. I left it in its special packing this year because the tree was already full when I located it.
frosty
@John Revolta: you rang?
Jay
@opiejeanne:
cool
opiejeanne
The recipe exchange a couple of days ago? I made the molasses cookies today and they are WOW! An excellent recipe, I highly recommend it.
I had some difficulty with the easy fudge: the marshmallows refused to melt. So I fished them out, tried melting them by themselves in a double boiler, no luck. But funny thing, the fudge is ok. It didn’t break, it’s not terribly grainy, and it’s fudge. I’m cutting it into squares and lightly dusting it with powdered sugar so it doesn’t stick to itself, building a little pyramid of fudge on a small dessert pedestal. If I try it again I’ll be sure to use the marshmallow fluff. I’m sure I did something wrong, but I’m not sure what. I had a series of other difficulties with other cookies before I started the fudge and decided that today was my incompetent day, but later on I managed to get the dratted sugar cookie dough to behave and baked the entire batch.
For some reason, this feels like the last time we will be hosting Christmas Eve and I’m feeling like maybe that’s ok. I just have this feeling of letting go of things, so maybe I have planned more dishes than I should have, or maybe I’m just feeling old.
opiejeanne
@Jay: We accidentally drove all the way up to the red zone after the mountain blew up and the lumber companies were trying to move as much dead and dying timber off of the mountain as fast as possible. We were looking for the information center, missed it, and saw the utter devastation along the Tootle River where the mudflow climbed the banks at the curves and coated the trees as high as 20 feet above their roots, essentially killing them.
mrmoshpotato
@opiejeanne: I see. Thought it had something to do with the mountain discarding its side in the 80’s.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: When it discarded it’s side, volcanic ash came out of the new summit.
NotMax
Mundane meanderings.
So very belatedly made the monthly trek to town for groceries. Originally planned it for several days earlier but the weather kept spitting rain, on and off.
Anyhow, Costsco was more than normally active but not close to what you might call crowded. While there, spotted a large sign on a display advertising a brand of rum as “Gluten-Free.”
While on the road I saw, waiting at an intersection, a panel truck with an entire mural featuring the company’s info on its side. The company name (not making this up, cross my heart): “Very Rich Dead People’s Things For Sale.”
Oh, also received three “Dude, I like your shirt” shout outs from passersby.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I know.
John Revolta
@opiejeanne: An old friend of mine was the last guy to see old Harry Truman, the curmudgeon who lived on the mountain, alive. He was up there with him the day before and would have stayed overnight but he had to call in his story to his newspaper and Harry didn’t have a phone.
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/10-opinion/466842-378265-you-dont-fear-the-bullet-you-cant-see-coming-?wallit_nosession=1
sab
@opiejeanne:Similar feelings. I was thinking that as a grandmother I should be hosting some sort of cookie baking for the seven year old granddaughter, but I just don’t have the energy.
Then step-daughter announced that she and the kids don’t want to go anywhere for Christmas because they will be home baking cookies. Yay! Next generation takes over.
sab
@NotMax: I love that panel truck. Proves that Hawaii is not Ohio. We couldn’t build such a business here. Lack of product.
Jay
@opiejeanne:
I was heading home to YVR from SF when the mountain blew up. Spent 2 weeks waiting out the ash fall, river floodings and bridges lost. Sleeping rough.
p.a.
@opiejeanne: I have a vial of the ash somewhere; in college at the time, and my chem-lab partner was from Washington. Finest grains I’ve ever seen.
Betty Cracker
@NotMax: Now you’re obligated to describe the shirt to us.
Betty Cracker
I was catching up on the local news this morning and learned about this family in a nearby town that is having a totally normal one:
So apparently people show up at neighboring houses asking for black powder, as if borrowing a cup of sugar? Good to know.
sab
@Betty Cracker: Disturbing to know that people keep black powder around to be borrowed. If they do it in Florida then I am sure they do it in Ohio.
OT and by the way.: when you pronounce Florida does it have two or three syllables? I think (in English) two, but I left a long time ago.
WereBear
Our new fridge is dead. As renters, I’m trying to be hands off, but Corporate America has other ideas.
The appliance shop the landlord usually deals with showed up and was fantastic. They were going to get us a loaner by Christmas Eve. Then, they would let the fixed fridge run in the shop before swapping it out. A lovely plan. That Frigidaire, for reasons of its own, decided to blow up on me.
NO loaner. They won’t even send someone to LOOK at it until the 28th. I’m in corporate hands now, and they were utterly clear that they are only going to LOOK at it on the 28th. Then it’s up to them if they are going to fix it, and if they can dodge the warranty I’m sure they will.
Landlord’s a decent guy and I’m furious with the American Way of Business, as usual, but I suspect few hate Corporate Customer Service quite as much as I do. Always.
sab
@WereBear: You cannot beat me on hating Corporate business.
Jay
@WereBear:
try turning it off, by unplugging it, or at the breaker, for 30 minutes.
then turning it on again.
Most modern appliances have CPU’s, which get “brain farts”,
30 minutes of no power, then power, reset the CPU to basic programming.
WereBear
@Jay: Wait… THIRTY MINUTES. Ok. didn’t try that. Thanks!
WereBear
@sab: Oh, you admit we share a level :)
Chris T.
@CaseyL: Yeah, sub-freezing in the greater Seattle area (I’m up north near the Canada border). But just another normal day for those from, say, MN or something. Next week’s “won’t break freezing all week” is normal for some. Cold is when it’s -40 out…
sab
@WereBear: Jeez. Holidays with no fridge. Been there done that but wouldn’t wish it even on my ex. I will tuck that manufacturer’s name in my memory forever. New fridge that does not work.
ETA Hope Jay’s reboot works.
Chris T.
@sab:
We bought a new KitchenAid fridge right after we moved into this house; the appliances in here were in kind of sad shape. Ordered it in October 2020 I think, and it arrived in April 2021 (!!—that was the “supply chain issues” at work). Has been fine since then.
The old range oven crapped out just before our main kitchen remodel started up: it caught on fire! Fortunately it was a tiny fire that went out on its own as soon as we turned it off. I forget what brand the range was, but it too was clearly on its last legs by then. The new one isn’t in yet but we’re putting in a gas cooktop (and electric oven, not a combined stove like we had before).
(For now, though, it’s microwave and toaster oven.)
Jay
@sab:
in some regards, I was a moron, had customers call me, fridges, stoves, freezers, dishwashers, furnaces,……
tell them by phone what to try, no charge, 90% of the time it worked,
The Appliance guys, charged $375 to show up and for the 1st hour, $50 for every 15 minutes after that.
WereBear
@Jay: That’s because we no longer have “business” in America. We have legalized theft.
WereBear
@sab: Thanks. The thing that makes it the Grinchiest is how the previous plan was great and humane and a Zappadan miracle, yay!
And General Electric, (our CEOs are proud of being psychopaths!) was, for no reasons I can figure, the one to destroy it.
Corporate metrics, if I were to guess.
Betty Cracker
@sab: Most grizzled natives of the upper half of the peninsula (including myself) pronounce it in two flat syllables, i.e., “Flarda.” South Floridians, tourists and transplants tend to use all three and emphasize the first: “FLOOR-i-da.”
Betty Cracker
@WereBear: Good lord, I’d be beside myself! I hope the 30-minute technique pays off. Are you at least located in an area where outdoor air can serve as emergency refrigeration?
We had a fairly new range go haywire one Thanksgiving morning when a dozen people were expected for a holiday feast. (Samsung: electronics, okay; appliances, nope!) A friend talked the mister through an emergency fix — it was something to do with the touchpad thingie.
Anyhoo, I sympathize on the poor timing. Fuck soulless corporations! MBAs have ruined us.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
It was the one emblazoned 0 DAYS WITHOUT SARCASM.
;)
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: Thanks, and yes. I really loathe this new corporate model — to put the cherry on top, when they called me to schedule messing up my holiday season, they didn’t leave a message. Just hung up. If I hadn’t been alerted to a corporate center kind of area code and called them back, I might still be waiting to hear.
Just breathtaking incompetence, and we’re supposed to give them money.
MagdaInBlack
@WereBear: Correction: Breathtaking indifference. I share your contempt for corporate psychopaths.
Jay
@WereBear:
as a former Contractor, it’s tough.
here, yeah, you can bid and win on a job installing 100 toilets on a condo project and have 3 years worth of work, pay check guaranteed,
But if you don’t want to do that,
well, was reading a CBC story about a serial conman, 1 week, paint and trim in 3 bedrooms, hardwood floors refinished, new kitchen ceiling, ( drywall and insulation) cabinets refinished, inside and out, in one week.
Impossible, ( no matter what Property Brothers show on TV).
They wen’t with the guy who said he could, and got ripped off.
Did any of the people I walked through fixes on the phone, give me the job to rebuild their deck, put in a new bathroom, etc, nope, they called me when their tile job and subfloor heating was tripping breakers and starting fires.
Jay
@Jay:
p.s. I’m not bitter, ( yes, I am)
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Looking at the world time zone map and America’s day begins in Samoa (currently 12 AM Christmas day) and it ends in Baker Island (currently 11 PM Thursday the 23rd).
Not crazy about Santa working with the military, but you can track his sleigh on NORAD’s site He’s currently over north east russia, right now.
raven
@Jay: I guess I’ll repost this:
We had a fridge delivered the other day and one of the guys was wearing a US Navy hat. I asked him what he did in the Navy and he said he was a “medic”. I said “ah, a corpsmen, worked with marines”? He smiled and said “yea, three tours, on of Afghanistan and two Iraq”. They guy was really nice and seemed really bright. I wanted to ask him if he was using his bill but I didn’t. It was funny, they installed the fridge and an hour later we opened it and they left a DeWalt impact driver in it. I thought about it and figured they were sub-contractors and the equipment was probably theirs so I drove out to Lowes the next morning and took it to the dock in the back. He wasn’t there but the guy obviously knew him and said “yea, they have to supply their own tools, thanks for bringing it”. Proly more than you were interested in.
MagdaInBlack
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Probably overthinking this, but it concerns me that Santa doesn’t seem to be making any stops.
raven
Meanwhile, the appliances are in, electrical done (except the receptacle for the stove has to be moved to allow it to be flush with the wall) sheetrock and paint done and they were going to finish the floors “this week”. If they do it will have to be today and I don’t know if floor guys will be working Christmas eve day. We got the deposit check from the new tenant and he said they are going to come from LA around the 15th to furnish the house so all is well.
sab
@Betty Cracker: Lol. I was a transplant, age 6 to 12, but we were of the “Flar-da” pronunciation, since north half (Daytona) of state.
raven
@Jay: Our remodel started September 1 and we are thrilled with the work and how long it took.
Sab
@WereBear: GE has this weird corporate model where every division is on its own. No benefit in supporting the overall corporation’s quality reputation. So their tvs were not cable ready although they also owned a cable company. Basically they competed with each other by cutting costs by diminishing services.
They lost a big defense contract in the eighties because the general making the decision had been listening all week to his wife bitching about her crappy new toaster. US military was not going with that company.
But they are still in business, so apparently the approach works.
There go two miscreants
@Betty Cracker: Your black powder story got my day started with a laugh! Thanks!
Gvg
@sab: Funny, I am a 2nd generation native and we always pronounced it with 3 syllables. I grew up in Orlando during the Disney boom, but family comes from Gainesville. Students come from all over the state, but I think we may be influenced by how the various Gator cheer songs go.
evodevo
@Betty Cracker: depends on the neighborhood…as black powder re-enactors, we have a small supply lol
raven
@Gvg: Go Knights!!!
evodevo
@WereBear: Was it making noises in the freezer compartment before it tanked? If so, it was the evaporator fan usually located in the freezer compartment…you can fix it if you are at all handy…plenty of online videos to help. If it just died with no symptoms, well…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@opiejeanne: Molasses cookies often get better after a day. It’s some sort of baking magic.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@MagdaInBlack:
It’s tough, Santa has to elude Russia’s surface to air missile sites, yet he undoubtedly wants to stop by and visit some of russia’s eurasian beauties.
WaterGirl
@Pete Downunder: I have a cousin named Pete who lives in Australia, so I smile whenever I see your nym.
Merry Christmas! and please say hello to my cousin, I’m sure you know him. :-)
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You must not be following the Christmas when we were little threads. :-)
Betty Cracker
@raven: That earns a belated ROLL TIDE, but I do hope the Dawgs beat the crap outta Michigan! :)
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne:
I ignored the molasses cookie recipe in that thread because it said “soft” and I like mine crunchy. But I didn’t recall that when I went back to find the thread because of your comment.
Because of your recommendation, I clicked on the soft recipe and there was a link from the same baker for a crunchy version!
I am going to try those today.
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear:
@Jay: The ol’ Christmas Eve fridge reboot! Classic!
Geminid
@raven: That’s a very quick turnaround for such an extensive renovation. Your contractor had a good plan. Having knowledgeable clients probably helped too.
WaterGirl
@WereBear:
I am disappointed not to see an update from WereBear. I assume that means that the 30-minute wait and then plug-in method was not successful. I had high hopes for you, WereBear!
At least in NY your weather is probably cold enough to serve as refrigeration if you have access to an outdoor area. I had to do that for a couple of days when my fridge went out at the beginning of the pandemic.
The frozen stuff stayed frozen and I insulted the “refrigerator” items with a blanket so that stuff stayed cold but didn’t freeze. Good luck
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
What a terrible thing to say! – and on Christmas Eve!
prostratedragon
@mrmoshpotato: Go Blue!
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon: Go Blue!
raven
@Geminid: It’s funny, we started thinking just the floor needed replacing, then it became joists, sills, wall coming down, insulation. . . pretty much un-planned!
2liberal
I blame autocorrect
WaterGirl
@2liberal: That’s a good one!
If I had caught that from autocorrect I think I would have left that anyway because it’s so funny – and would have called attention to it
For the record, I usually insult only dry goods because there is less possibility of payback.
PST
@Chris T.:
Fahrenheit or centigrade?
sab
Went to see my dad at his nursing hone today. The resident ducks are all fine and the Canada geese are back. Short winter?