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captainsblogIt is cold, but we were largely spared the latest OMGSnowmageddon that passed not far to our east. My sister called yesterday and said Binghamton got close to three feet in this go. We had barely enough for the plow to come round. Still, it must've distracted our neighbors- the New York Times interviewee and her crime fighting husband checking passing cars at 3 AM (oops- never posted that story, which was too stupid even for my tolerance;). They were already having a bad week: they put a washing machine out at the curb, which I can guarantee was not the one that came with the house, because Betty would not have spent money on some “Internet of things” piece of junk. Even the scavengers wouldn’t touch it, and nobody told them the regular trash pick up wouldn’t get it, either. I thought about putting Christmas ornaments on it so at least it wouldn’t be sitting out there all alone. It was finally gone as of yesterday morning, so I don’t know if they hauled it off or arranged a pickup.
Meanwhile, I walked into our living room yesterday morning and saw a white Silverado backing up down our street. This turned out to be the neighbor, who apparently backed into his own recycling tote going out the driveway and tumbled the entire contents to the middle of the street. Scavengers weren’t coming for that, either, so he had to get out in the first snow of the season and pick it all up. Cue the Price Is Right trombone.
Boz continued his non-ER recovery from whatever it was he had. He's turned into quite the little glutton, finishing grown-cat portions of wet food several times a day and becoming more mobile and curious. Brother Zini hasn’t been getting much attention the past few days, but he's also been a little better about not beating up on his sick sib. Eleanor gave Boz this Pooh-kie to cuddle with, and his bro popped in and said, “Hel-LOOO! I’m still here for him!”
(Don't worry; we turned the heating pad off when we put the pookie and pee pad on it; and to help keep him warm, Eleanor's knitting him a little sweater:)
The best sign of his recovery after feeding this morning: he actually burped;)
----
Work, in between these assorted pet pictures, has been a mix. I tried settling a small portion of a very annoying case on Wednesday; had it all worked out with the other side, but the judge, who I was no fan of from before this, got all huffy about how we were proposing to work it out and imposed his own ruling on the thing, which despite his best efforts to piss me off wound up getting me more or less the same result I wanted anyway. He also announced he'll be leaving the case because they're reassigning him to another county. So I toasted him last night- Here's to you, Your Honor- may you rot in hell, or Lockport, which are pretty much the same thing!
On the other hand, I did settle another case this week that my client had left for dead, and am still progressing with the new work I picked up last week. For once, it's the client who is slow in getting me the information I need.
That slow progress also made it easier for me to decide to take my home-based laptop in to Office Despot, to see if they can replace its slow-dying keyboard. I bought that one a few years ago when the keyboard went on the Dell I had at the time and it had to be sent out for two weeks for warranty replacement. I've since kept the repaired Dell mostly at work and the Lenovo at home. Home keyboards don't last long around here, due to the combination of pressure from my large fumbly forefingers and he constant accumulations of pet hair. The left-shift and tab keys went on the home one a few months ago; I'd learned to do without. But now Vanna is refusing to turn over the T and the Y, as well as the backspace and some on the numpad.
Not a good sign that it took them three tries to unlock it with the PIN I gave them, even telling them the mnemonic that it's based on. While I waited for them to finally unlock it, I noted they were pushing some new form of facial recognition employee ID cards, which they called INTELLIGENT ENTRY.
I'll wait until the laptop is fixed before I say anything, but I want to wish them lotsa luck with that rollout; you'd expect it to be doomed to failure when it excludes about 71 million Trump voters;) (Not that I should talk. I then went to Wegmans and left my phone in the cart. Even realizing it just past halfway home, the Helping Hands peeps had already pulled the cart out of the corral, hauled it inside, found the phone without even being asked and returned it to the service desk.)
----
We had an in-office holiday lunch today, Take Your Own from the conference room so we stay distanced. I brought cupcakes from a local beloved bakery for my part. When the day dawned cold but sunny, I found myself in need of a longer dog walk than around the block, so we hit the Memory Trail about a mile from home:
There's been construction next to it all year, but this has been just sticking up there since May; now I'm wondering if it's one of those monoliths that's been haunting the planet the past few months:
On the way home, we passed an absolutely hideous McMansion they tore down half an acre of mature trees to put up at the edge of our neighborhood, cornering on a dangerous intersection with a state highway.
I hope they repaint the TARDIS blue and leave it out there; adds a little class to their wretched excess.
As you can seem they're nowhere close to finishing the exterior, and my guess is there’s nothing but walls inside. One thing they do have, next to the front door, is the panel for the alarm system, which I’m sure is armed and ready.
I’m also sure they have surveillance cameras, so I’m not going up to check, but I’d be willing to bet that it’s set for something like 12345. Just like my luggage.
Fitzgerald famously said, “the rich are not like you and me.” My corollary: yes. They’re stupider.
----
We're shutting the office early after foodage. I'm running a few things downtown and then getting ready for a shorter, and hopefully smarter, final week of the holiday season.
Meanwhile, I walked into our living room yesterday morning and saw a white Silverado backing up down our street. This turned out to be the neighbor, who apparently backed into his own recycling tote going out the driveway and tumbled the entire contents to the middle of the street. Scavengers weren’t coming for that, either, so he had to get out in the first snow of the season and pick it all up. Cue the Price Is Right trombone.
Boz continued his non-ER recovery from whatever it was he had. He's turned into quite the little glutton, finishing grown-cat portions of wet food several times a day and becoming more mobile and curious. Brother Zini hasn’t been getting much attention the past few days, but he's also been a little better about not beating up on his sick sib. Eleanor gave Boz this Pooh-kie to cuddle with, and his bro popped in and said, “Hel-LOOO! I’m still here for him!”
(Don't worry; we turned the heating pad off when we put the pookie and pee pad on it; and to help keep him warm, Eleanor's knitting him a little sweater:)
The best sign of his recovery after feeding this morning: he actually burped;)
----
Work, in between these assorted pet pictures, has been a mix. I tried settling a small portion of a very annoying case on Wednesday; had it all worked out with the other side, but the judge, who I was no fan of from before this, got all huffy about how we were proposing to work it out and imposed his own ruling on the thing, which despite his best efforts to piss me off wound up getting me more or less the same result I wanted anyway. He also announced he'll be leaving the case because they're reassigning him to another county. So I toasted him last night- Here's to you, Your Honor- may you rot in hell, or Lockport, which are pretty much the same thing!
On the other hand, I did settle another case this week that my client had left for dead, and am still progressing with the new work I picked up last week. For once, it's the client who is slow in getting me the information I need.
That slow progress also made it easier for me to decide to take my home-based laptop in to Office Despot, to see if they can replace its slow-dying keyboard. I bought that one a few years ago when the keyboard went on the Dell I had at the time and it had to be sent out for two weeks for warranty replacement. I've since kept the repaired Dell mostly at work and the Lenovo at home. Home keyboards don't last long around here, due to the combination of pressure from my large fumbly forefingers and he constant accumulations of pet hair. The left-shift and tab keys went on the home one a few months ago; I'd learned to do without. But now Vanna is refusing to turn over the T and the Y, as well as the backspace and some on the numpad.
Not a good sign that it took them three tries to unlock it with the PIN I gave them, even telling them the mnemonic that it's based on. While I waited for them to finally unlock it, I noted they were pushing some new form of facial recognition employee ID cards, which they called INTELLIGENT ENTRY.
I'll wait until the laptop is fixed before I say anything, but I want to wish them lotsa luck with that rollout; you'd expect it to be doomed to failure when it excludes about 71 million Trump voters;) (Not that I should talk. I then went to Wegmans and left my phone in the cart. Even realizing it just past halfway home, the Helping Hands peeps had already pulled the cart out of the corral, hauled it inside, found the phone without even being asked and returned it to the service desk.)
----
We had an in-office holiday lunch today, Take Your Own from the conference room so we stay distanced. I brought cupcakes from a local beloved bakery for my part. When the day dawned cold but sunny, I found myself in need of a longer dog walk than around the block, so we hit the Memory Trail about a mile from home:
There's been construction next to it all year, but this has been just sticking up there since May; now I'm wondering if it's one of those monoliths that's been haunting the planet the past few months:
On the way home, we passed an absolutely hideous McMansion they tore down half an acre of mature trees to put up at the edge of our neighborhood, cornering on a dangerous intersection with a state highway.
I hope they repaint the TARDIS blue and leave it out there; adds a little class to their wretched excess.
As you can seem they're nowhere close to finishing the exterior, and my guess is there’s nothing but walls inside. One thing they do have, next to the front door, is the panel for the alarm system, which I’m sure is armed and ready.
I’m also sure they have surveillance cameras, so I’m not going up to check, but I’d be willing to bet that it’s set for something like 12345. Just like my luggage.
Fitzgerald famously said, “the rich are not like you and me.” My corollary: yes. They’re stupider.
----
We're shutting the office early after foodage. I'm running a few things downtown and then getting ready for a shorter, and hopefully smarter, final week of the holiday season.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-19 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-20 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-20 08:58 pm (UTC)groan.