Holy crap! Delete and block BOTH their numbers. If the shit hits the fan, the "friend" has your #.

Fuck that... no wait don't do that. :3_eyes:

Move.

It gets better....

I got a reply from E by text yesterday. turns out there was a mix up! OMG! REALLY??

says 'the hospital' called and told him they gave him the wrong E's results. He's glad I'm ok, but wanted to make sure I didn't say anything to the friend of hers I had contacted about it.

to which I replied, "why do you think I'm stupid?"

so he sends a long text saying that he wasn't lying, and what had happened was that he went to Presbyterian hospital for his test, and then called to get his results, but the girl gave him the wrong...first name E's results. ....because they must keep their records by first name, and that would be an easy mistake to make..... and because they would give someone positive HIV test results over the phone.... and he apparently forgot that he had told me that he had gone in to his doctor to get the results when we spoke on the phone.

STUPID FUCKING JUVENILE ASSHOLE

so, i told him to stop calling me. seriously.

A 1 year bimonthly gift subscription to the Gay and Lesbian Review Magazine is only $22. I happened upon his work address. It might be more convenient for him to receive this fine publication there, so he'll have something to take into the John. seems like money well spent.... and you can pay by money order through the mail!

how nice

I like the way you think.

Well, don't forget NAMBLA

That sort of bullshit lying sounds sociopathic. Stay teh #$%& away.

I had the order form for their fine publication printed, foot... but thought... no kid stuff.. i wouldn't support them even in vengeance.

however.....someone got signed up to receive info on timeshares yesterday. this shall be an ongoing campaign. whenever someone asks me for an email address, or phone number.... where I would normally demure... guess what....

I do like the way you think, Jim.

Dude just called and apologized for that stunt, and the previous calls. Apparently he caught H with her NEW new beau.

so NOW he's sorry.

I'll tell you one thing... if this new guy calls me, I'm just going to jump out a window.

ugg drama! sorry you got some :(

Lurkers? Can't help with that since, I am guilty....if for no other reason than being busy with my schedule.

I WAS going to post how waiting for maintenance people is stressful. Jim, your problems put things back in perspective. ugg

Momma is bumming my stone.

Her brain is like a rapidly deteriorating Swiss cheese. I feel so bad for her as she's in great physical shape but her memory is just that: a memory. She's a human goldfish.

Sorry Bri. That sucks. :(

Sorry Bri. I'm terrified of my future "parent care" responsibilities. Is she going to end up living with you?

More likely that I'll sort-of move in with them. Like a live-in nurse type deal. That's not too far away, either. Probably by the fall I'll be there to supervise most things. Yikes.

sorry, Bri.

Jeez Bri, I can see the same thing happening with my old man and I think he would make me crazy. Be careful and know when to cry,"No mas!"

I'm sorry too, hon. :comfort:

Sorry ... are there any community/home care supports your mother's pcp can arrange? Any respite for you? You can't do it all. Don't forget to take care of yourself too.

What orthodoc said. Check with your local aging and older adult services to see if they have any respite caregiver program so that you can get some time to yourself.

What was seriously bumming your stone but now you are totally stoked?
 

What was seriously bumming your stone but now you are totally stoked?

After half a dozen malfunctions (misfires, failure to eject, failure to cycle) at last month's silhouette match (I came in 6th) I decided I better replace the springs, firing pin, and extractors in my rifle.

I found a great company that makes better quality springs and I was installing the hammer spring when all of a sudden... sproing! tink! the spring and the hammer strut bridge went flying at the speed of sound into the dark and dusty recesses of my shop.

The shop was about as dirty and disorganized as it's ever been. Three inches of sawdust and wood shavings, buckets and buckets of screws, nails, small parts. Hundreds of offcuts and wood scraps, tools and so on.

The fuckers were gone. It was only a $6.00 spring, but $7.00 shipping and another week wait, plus I am half Scottish. God only knows who carries the Strut bridge.

Color my stone well and truly bummed. My groove properly scorched.

So I started to slowly and methodically clean the shop. First I recognized the sound of the bridge hitting the shop vac. (Perfect pitch--the shop vac has a different tone than the tablesaw base) and almost immediately found the strut bridge.

I didn't hear the spring hit anything which meant that it either landed in the garbage can or into one of the half dozen mounds of sawdust and shavings, or else into the general shavings milieu.

a few hours of sweeping, sifting, and magnet dragging turned up nothing.

Still serioulsy bummed, I had to go to bed.

Next moring I was at it again and after a few hours I picked it up in the shavings with my magnetic sweep.

So now I am totally stoked since I found and installed the spring AND I have a 75% clean shop!

I would love a clean shop. It's funny, I don't see my mess that much, but my boy is using my shop now too, and seeing his mess drives me crazy. I know my mess is just as bad, or worse, even, but for some reason his sets me off.

And he keeps leaving a tangled rope in the middle of the floor. WTF? The rope was a present, because who doesn't love 100 feet of rope? But I don't like having to step over it.

totally feeling your pain.

I have the same trouble with mess from the kids. If the kids leave stuff laying around, I get annoyed and make them pick up, but if I leave stuff laying around, I justify it by telling myself that I'm the one that'll pick it up anyway, so i can do it at my leisure, where as, the kids probably have no intention of cleaning up their shit, so I need to make them do it now. It's true too. At times I've tested this theory by letting their stuff lay around for weeks and they never worry about picking up after themselves till I tell them to do it.

It just proves that as a parent, you make responsible messes. Kids just make mess. ;)

I think enough time has passed for me to begin this campaign in earnest.

this inspired an idea or two:

Attachment 41685

Let's not forget to see how David Thorne has dealt with similar things in the past:http://www.27bslash6.com/f4s.html

Took my three month old daughter to the doctor today to see if we could figure out what has been causing her discomfort for the past few weeks.

Likely diagnosis? Lactose intolerance.

Because I'm breast feeding, this means I now get to omit all dairy from my diet.
No cheese. No butter. No ice cream. No cake, pie, or pudding.
NO CHOCOLATE.
No chocolate, guys!

::weep::

Man, that sucks, Chocolat. Sorry to hear about your daughter's condition and your food restrictions. Btw, dark chocolate has no milk. Dark chocolate has plenty flavors nowadays. ;)

For example...Attachment 41729
Or this loot we got last week...the truffles are gone, btw...Attachment 41730

That firecracker chocolate is amazing. (But no, I will not call it a party in your mouth!)

Is the location of the party secret? Am I invited?

It's allllll about you, foot, isn't it?

Where's the sympathy for choco and her radical, forced-upon-her lactose-freeness?


Oh, no...we just want to know where the party is!

see how you are?

now you're on report.

Pahty ovah heah! Pahty ovah heah!! :p:

Unfortunately my parties at the moment are confined to wearing a sparkly hat and waving a noisemaker all by myself, since I have essentially zero white blood cells - hiding out until my immune system resurrects itself ...

End of thread hijack - Chocolatl, if you don't mind soy, Silk Nog is delicious. No soy taste. Throw in a little nutmeg and yummm ...

The sympathy is duly appreciated. As I can no longer eat any of the good foods in life, the party is most definitely not here.

No sorrows about milk directly, as I think it's disgusting and have never in my memory had a glass of the stuff or poured it on my cereal or what have you. But boy do I love cheese and ice cream.

I'm pretty sure chocolate makes baby Beans irritated in its own right, regardless of milk content, so that means for now dark chocolate is out, too. I'm going to try dark choc. again in a few weeks, once we've figured out if the dairy was to blame, but I'm in no rush as I'm not really a big fan of cleaning poop out of my kid's hair. (The day after Halloween. Good times.)

Chocolatl maybe Beans is irritated by your user name too. :(

IF there is a spaghetti monster in heaven you will not be reduced to eating carob.

Ortho: I'm so sorry to hear. :sniff: at least you can party here. :)

Chocolat: it is a real bummer not being able to eat cheese and ice cream.

Alright, tonight I was doing my Wikipedia rounds and reading about IQ tests. I've taken a number of them in my life, from grade school through the not too distant past. Over the years the score has always been the same.

Wikipedia tells me that my score is higher than 94% of the general population and that careers associated with my IQ are Physician, Surgeon, Lawyer, & Ph.d.

I know the tests are bullshit and all, but knowing that I graduated HS in the top 98% of my school (~1500 in my class) and Magna cum Laude from college I am left with wonder at why I feel so at a loss to find a meaningful career that allows me to put my intelligence to work.

I suspect if they had an IQ test that measured figuring out what the fuck to do with my life and or how to actually toot my own horn I'd probably be on the far left of the bell curve.

In summary, if I'm supposed to be so smart then why am I so dumb?

Sometimes the most intelligent people have the hardest time finding their niche. That's a huge frustration, but it's not all that uncommon when someone has a lot of ability.

Sorry you're feeling that frustration, foot. :(

There's IQ and there's aptitude. I know that my tested IQ is in the top 2% of the general population; but, my aptitude varies among vocations. I know this from military service which screens for aptitude as civilian career councilors do. Identify all those things you have an aptitude (talent) for and pursue a vocation from among those. If your talents aren't in demand, pursue any honest work and apply your talent to other activities knowing that your honorable means will support a meaningful life in other areas. The job isn't everything. I've seen a lot of people die; but, I've never heard even one dying person say "I wish I had spent more time at work."

Those four careers aren't necessarily putting your intelligence to work, they're four jobs that allow you to bluff and bully. ;)

There are plenty of areas where you could put your intelligence to work but they generally don't offer money or security, which kind of dulls the satisfaction.

foot-I'm not as smrt as you but I have found trouble with my 'niche', too. i can't find it.

I used to want to write-but University and Time have ---- well, let's just say the momentum passed. Besides, I could write when I was young and didn't know that I couldn't write-if you know what I mean. The self-conscious bit of growing up and being judged. Cherry, Dana and Clod and UT-they can all write each with different talents of writing style. That's just to name of few of the people on this board who can write well.

Intelligence has nothing to do with success or happiness ( I believe Lisa Simpson has a chart that shows as intelligence goes UP, happiness goes DOWN ) or job satisfaction.

I've known oncologists who HATE their jobs and just wish everyone would go away.
My younger son works as an entertainer-he, in fact, works for a circus. HE LOVES IT. He got a scholarship-went thru school hating every minute and then found that he really loves to perform. Not only that, the 'woman' (I would say 'girl') he is dating turned from bartending to stripping. So now he's a magician who is dating a stripper. I'm so proud.

I guess what all this rambling on is my way of trying to reassure you that it is OK to be where you are right now. My BIL has two master's degrees (one in economics) and he didn't pay his taxes a few years back leaving them 11,000 in debt to the IRS. And HE was a scholarship boy to Oberlin.

SMRT means nothing. Happiness is all. Find what makes you happy. It can be ellusive, but you still must try.

PS - All work is noble.

Unless you're working for the Mob and then it's pretty shameful.

As a 5%er, I always thought I'd figure out what to do when I grew up. Well I'm pushing fifty now, I have a great family and crap job. I've had times of great joy and satisfaction but never at work. The process of building my house was very satisfying but I'd never get the same boost doing it for money. So I'm trying to accept that work satisfaction is really some imaginary thing or something for others to achieve. I'll just try to man up and grind it out.

Job / career / vocation / occupation / craft / trade / profession

Role-in-life / calling / goal / mission / dedication / obsession

It seems to me the job/career/etc is just whatever way is chosen
to earn a living, and whatever toys and baubles one wants or needs.
Maybe IQ just plays the role of a "tool" here,
but in the long run the question arises "Is more enough ?"

I believe the role-in-life is where the satisfaction, zeal, enthusiasm,
passion, and most importantly... contentment lie.
Partly, it's a matter of age... earning a living usually comes first in time.
For some, their role in life is in family and/or community,
for others it is in finding worthy missions.

I feel many people look on education as job training.
I don't.
I look at it a way to gain appreciation of so many different aspects of living.
Sometimes this "appreciation" leads to periods of dissatisfaction,
and the need to sort out a way of change... which can be difficult.

Maybe neither IQ nor vocational tests deal sufficiently
with our basic need for goals and contentment.

My generation was raised by people who traded a great deal of time and energy for job security, a solid pension, and a good wage. They were a very dedicated bunch. We willingly put ourselves on the same track, but now we are asked to show the same dedication without competitive wages, a pension, or job security. It is not strange that we seek fulfillment outside the workplace.

I was supposed to be a rocket scientist. 99th percentile this 99th percentile that. You know what? What they were measuring in me was only partly intelligence...what it really boiled down to was that I'm an excellent test taker. Whether that has anything to do with my base intelligence or not, I do not know. I do know that I'm not a rocket scientist.

So true, lamp.

How ironic, your username suggests an aptitude for riding rockets before we put people in them.

Can you sue a newspaper for Gross Stupidity?

The obit for my friend has a whole other first name. A woman's name. It is one of those sort of preliminary obits without much information. The official obit usually comes from the funeral home. Indeed, there is no obit for anyone after Nov 17th on the funeral home site. My friend's son apparently called the funeral home and they said it was the paper's doing. So could the paper go online and yank the WRONG obit until they have the right one? Apparently not.

I know the arrangements are made (visitation Thursday Funeral Friday) so why the eff can't they fix the crap?

What are the words to describe their inability to act? Insensitivity? "don't give a fuck-ness"? Stupidity never before known to man? I mean COME ON. Show some freaking respect for these people.

I'm way pissed off right now.

Oh yeah, and there is no paper on Tuesday in that godforsaken town. But no one can get off their ass and go online and fix what should be an embarrassing error for them.

As far as anyone who isn't part of the grapevine (which we are finding out is actually very far-reaching, people call friends who call friends etc) some woman no one has ever heard of died and services are pending.

Grrrrrrrr.

Well, the funeral home posted the correct obit finally. Seeing his face really brings it home. I know my friend (his sister) won't really be hit with the reality of it until the funeral. I know I'm still in shock. He was so healthy except for his asthma he'd dealt with his whole life, and his only vice was occasional beer.

Sorry monkey.

Thanks Griff. They have it right in the paper now. It just seemed so...disrespectful.

Glad they got it right. Finally.

How's that saying go?
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence"

I have that printed out and hung up in my office!!!!!!! Leftover from the days of Jabba the Hutt.

But yeah, I knew it was incompetence. Like my ma says "it's their CRAFT...why are they so bad at it?"

So sorry that happened, Monkey. Sounds like the funeral home might've phoned in the preliminary obit for the newspaper to make such a bad mistake. I worked the obit desk at my local paper after high school graduation, and that's what they sometimes did even with full obits back then. Very risky, especially for something so important to friends and family. :(

Rule one of newspapering is to SPELL THE NAMES CORRECTLY.

Infi, maybe the word you are looking for is incompetence. Or fuckwittery.

Feeling bummed by some misery in my right chest that's kept me from sleeping the past couple nights, made it painful to walk or laugh or pretty much just breathe, and nothing showed on preliminary tests today. I made it through the Annapolis trip on pain meds but can't just keep doing those ... the pain lessened this afternoon and I thought I was on the mend. No such luck, it's back tonight.

I really don't want more tests; I just want this to go away. And while I'm wishing on a star, a little energy would be great, too. Falling asleep while talking to patients in clinic tends to be frowned on. :right:

When you talked about all the things you were going to do during chemo I was wondering if it was over ambitious. I don't have any first hand experience, just listening to those that have gone through it. Don't push too hard, your first priority is to get well.

Such wonderful advice.

As I said, I laid on the couch-----for a year. Please take care of yourself ortho. Please. You won't do anyone any good if you aren't kicking cancer's ass first and foremost. The rest can, and WILL, wait.

You guys are right. At the moment, getting dressed feels over-ambitious. Sitting up in bed ditto. Think I'll fall over sideways and take a nap.