Somewhere between Gaaaaah and Things That Make You Happy ...

[J. Wilhelm]

J.Wilhelm, would you like some of my homemade chicken and vegetable soup? Might have a problem getting it to you, though! I made the equivalent of close to four pints on Sunday, and it is all gone now as I finished the last couple of ounces off for brunch this morning. Visitors can empty a soup pot faster than lightening!

Ha, ha, thanks for the offer. I'm sure the soup is delicious, but if distance is a problem - we all can write down the recipe 

[Banfili]

It's a sort of "Please, may I have some more" kind of soup, and there isn't a recipe, per se, just what I have that goes in the pot with the chicken. Tonight I am making double that - it will do me for a week! One of the main things is to get the stock right!

[J. Wilhelm]

After a brutally hot July, we got a downpour today. Good news I an temperatures will fall way below our maximum of 40 C

On the other hand, the rain is so strong right now outside my place of employment, that it looks like a tropical storm, including lighting. Through sheer serendipity I brought my new rain/snow winter boots. BUT since I had no idea it would rain, I have no umbrella and it will be raining for the next two hours.  My boss will not let me stay here much longer after I close the shop...

The closest thing to me is a Starbucks Coffee.  I guess Ill spend the next two hours there 

[Banfili]

J. Wilhelm, just don't drink the coffee!

[J. Wilhelm]

J. Wilhelm, just don't drink the coffee!

I never do. It's too expensive anyway!

[Cora Courcelle]

We had a really good time at Steampunk Wales, but it would have been so much better if my poor husband hadn't been running a temperature by Sunday afternoon so we didn't to the evening entertainment but decided to head for home a day early; (it's always better to be ill at home).
Colds and infections always hit him hard because of the immunosuppressant medication he has to take, but at least he is feeling a bit better now.

[James Harrison]

I'm going tenting for a few days.  Whilst practicing tenting in the kitchen, I managed to get in an altercation.... with the tent.  But it is all right, I have sorted it out now. 

[Drew P]

How small is your tent, or how big is your kitchen?!

[James Harrison]

It's a pop-up. Unfortunately, it doesn't pull-down.

[Drew P]

So, the kind you throw up in the air while running to get the hell out of it's way.

[rovingjack]

I just spent money.

I'd been saving up toward certain goals and projects for a while. Well apparently between saving and being so sick for so long that I couldn't eat anything other than lentils and rice, then lentils and potatoes and now lentils and beef for more than half a year, and not being well enough to go anywhere or do anything... well I had that moment of wondering if I'd forgotten to pay some bill or other because where did all this money come from.

So then I hear that I could lose medical health coverage through my benefits because clearly I have money.

So the solution is to spend the money on the projects I've been saving up for... I have to spend money on things I'm interested in and it freaks me out.

I just dropped more than a months rent on amazon and I'm having anxiety fits about it. and the thing that bothers me even more is I got such goo deals on it all I still have half a months rent too much. I don't think I can spend it.

Maybe I can see about car fixes, holiday gifts, and maybe a gift card at the grocery store. Basically pay costs ahead of time.

Man being so poor for so long and avoiding spending anything gets so ingrained that the idea of succeeding so well at saving and then having to spend the majority of it... it's confusing and panic inducing.

[Drew P]

Well, if you want to look poor quit putting your $$ in the bank, hide it. So that the next time you need it you don't have to worry and panic and beg.

[rovingjack]

Well, if you want to look poor quit putting your $$ in the bank, hide it. So that the next time you need it you don't have to worry and panic and beg.

I should clarify I guess. I don't have to worry about looking poor, because no matter what I still am poor. This is the eqivalent of eating ramen noodles for 7 months and not paying for gas, or other incidental costs of living a life and just storing the money away for some things, and then forgetting you did it. Then once you decide to spend it on things you happen to find 30 items on your wish list that will forward your goals on some fronts and 12 of them are more than 20% off.

But I'd still not be able to afford a replacement for my car if is has a real problem that it can't run. I'm pretty sure I couldn't even afford to fix a sizable dent in the cars fender if it were to happen.

Frankly I might be one of few people in this area that would consider it a lot of money. But unfortunately some of the other few are the paper pushers that thinks the price of a meal out with family means you're flush with enough cash that you can afford all medical costs out of pocket.

I swear it's like they think that is your socks and underwear are not second hand then you really must not need any assistance. But some of us get so used to living that way that the idea of spending $5 on anything other than medications, food, or rent feels like we are being naughty.

But the absolute worst part is the sense that I know I may need that financial cushion in the next year, but I can't keep it because it means I don't get coverage of my medical bills. So the idea of saving up enough to replace my car is a near impossibility. Choose one, either you have financial assets that could prevent a car breakdown or the need to move house from devestating you but you can't see a doctor for chronic health conditions that disable you and had you starving to death for a few months and having panic attacks for the following 6 month... or get 80% of those medical costs covered and wind up out of luck if something deprives you of car or house.

so yeah I spent some money on some things that I wanted and can allow me to be more creative with projects... but it's less than some people I know can blow on a friday night with friends, and it could have helped me feel more secure instead if the system would just allow it.

[Siliconous Skumins]

So, I've been having issues when purchasing anything online using my bank debit card - no matter which online shop or method of transaction and card authentication, all have been "declined" for no reason. After the first issue, I checked my bank to make sure that everything was OK, as I knew I had WAY more money in the account than I was trying to spend. In the end I moved a significant portion of those funds into another account 'just in case'. Bank cannot find any issues.

So another payment to a web store fails, tried several times, each failed in the same manner. Phoned up the customer helpline, and as this is a major worldwide distributor for electronic parts and equipment, they were able to help get me sorted by transferring my order to  a collection from the local trade counter rather than home delivery (fair enough, I'm just over a Mile from the trade counter so no biggie). They did try twice to process the order themselves, each time with me double checking the order info and payment details, but it kept failing.

Yesterday I tried to order a washing machine for one of my properties, it was a major retailer both online and highstreet shop, and yet again the card was verified but the transaction was declined by the bank. Ended up trying three more times, but it was no go. Ended up going into the store and paying on the exact same debit card as keeps getting rejected. payment was flawless (although the guy who served me was a complete di$%head and so unpleasant, that I made a formal complaint before I left the store).

Went to see my bank (again) today to find out what was happening, no issues they said, but agreed they could see an incomplete order in my account history. They rang the bank's head office to see if there was any reason for the card to be declined - "nothing, no problems" was their answer. I was not exactly happy with that explanation...
After another call to 'Head Office', which took some time, they fed me a BS line about there being an issue that the "personal details didn't match" and that an "incorrect postcode" (actually it was the postcode for the delivery address) was used for the billing address - NO F$%&ING WAY I MADE THAT MISTAKE FOUR TIMES IN A ROW! BULLSHIT!! 

However after I got back home, I tried an online order for some electronics parts (from a company that previously had payment issues) and guess what....all worked just fine, no problem.  Plenty of problems for the last three weeks though, and now miraculously fixed on the same day as I complained at my local bank branch..... A link? NOOOOooooo. Couldn't possibly be.... 

I think they cocked up something with my account or something they have been doing has caused an issue with my account, and they have quietly swept it under the rug... The reason I say this, is that as I was making the complaint / reporting a problem, I overheard another customer mentioned something similar happening to them with the card being declined recently (she was opening up another account for traveling to other countries, and didn't want this to happen again while on the cruise ship).


So yeah....my card is working again. Probably...

[rovingjack]

faced with a situation that is making me cast off all the things I've gathered throughout my life. I suppose in some way it's the only way it would ever get started on this process of cutting anchors to a person I no longer am but the thing about anchors is that without them you can be a bit adrift.

In some ways I hope I can keep it up until I am only surrounded by the things that are part of who I am and where I'm going in my life. but at the same time it just kinda stinks to go through the things I once connected with and wanted to always be able to hold on to that connection and to then throw it away.

I really don't have the choice in the matter, but I also know it's in a way a good thing I don't have much choice in the matter, as I would put this off and keep paying increasing costs to hold onto things that don't need to be held onto and which I can never really have back.

It's kind of like that oversized cake after the party, where you try and have as many people as you can take as much home as you can because as much as you enjoy the cake there is absolutely no way you should be left with 3/4s of a cake to yourself for the week. you end up eating more than you should, feeling guilty about what you ate, and still trowing away a good amount, and feeling guilty about that too.

time to just get clean of some of these ties. but it still aches to do it.

[Siliconous Skumins]

Just took a dead washing machine to the local tip / recycling point, and while I was dumping the craped out washing machine on the floor of the drop off point, I spotted a large plastic box with a PS2 and a PS3 games consoles sat on top!...

Sure enough everything was there, controllers, PSUs and ALL THE GAMES STILL IN THE CASES!! Everything was in great condition too!  Why would anyone throw that out, it was all still usable, and I would have been happy to take it and use!

Sadly the public is not allowed to take items away once they have been dumped - legally they become the property of the local council, and they DO prosecute anyone who takes stuff.  AAAAARRRRRRRGGHHH!!!!! Mainly it is in case the council get sued by someone who gets injured from something they have taken without consent - and I'm sure it has probably happened (And this is why we can't have nice things...).

I was being watched by FIVE different CCTV cameras, and the guy in the warehouse saw me looking and reminded me "not to take anything as they WILL call the police!". That is when I spotted the PS2 still had it's two memory cards in the slots, and I needed some for my own PS2..... CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!



OK, so what happens next is technically a crime, but hey...

I say out loud to the guy in the warehouse "Yeah, I know! I just can't believe that somebody threw out perfectly good kit like this..." I then pick up the PS2 console, "...I mean look at it, it's in good shape with all the games and controllers, such a waste!" and I then place the PS2 back in the box, and begin walking back to my car. Meanwhile I had performed a slight-of-hand trick and removed the memory cards and hid them in my palm of my hand. 

So I scored two genuine 8mb PS2 memory cards, and a clone PS1 memory card that was on top of the console when I picked it up. Sweet! 
Don't know how much life they have left in them, as the flash memory has a finite number of write cycles, but the price was right... 

Pity about the rest though... 

[Mercury Wells]

SS, I think need to make friends with the Gentleman there & to hell with the rules. 

I bet that the PS2/3 plus games & attachments are now long gone. 

[Siliconous Skumins]

I have discovered there is an issue with leaving the Raspberry Pi computer board running 24/7 - namely that after around three or four days, the SD card that stores the OS (and acts as the hard disk for general storage) will become extremely corrupted.   There is no indication of any issues, that is until something fails to load correctly such as a new webpage in the browser, or a program fails to launch, and then everything seems to crap it's self if you attempt to restart.

Luckily the built in recovery tool seems to work well, and was actually able to recover the corrupted section of the SD card, though not without substantial errors remaining in some important files.

As a 'last ditch attempt' to fix the OS (as I really couldn't be bothered to reinstall) I attempted to fix the errors by upgrading the OS and installed programs to the latest versions. I knew mine versions were quite old, so nearly all would be updated with new versions, and the broken file dependencies would self-fix during the install. Worth a shot at least...


Result - it worked!    And as a bonous I now have the latestes version of Chromium browser installed - and thankfully my install of Pepper Flash still works, so I can still watch the Iplayer! And it's all working faster too! 

Oddly I now have GIMP installed, but I don't recall actually installing GIMP....  Well, no bother, I actually use GIMP and would be installing it anyway. Bit weird though... 

[ForestB]

Dragon Con costumes, they are turning out great, but I'm running out of time...

[Madasasteamfish]

Post asylum blues.

On the one hand I had a brilliant time and loved it (especially being able to get an impromptu photo with Frenchy and the Punk as they left the dead dog party). But it's now over for another year 

[Cora Courcelle]

At least you were there (sobbing uncontrollably into her gin)*

*which, as we all know, is not a good idea as it dilutes it too much.

[Banfili]

At least you were there (sobbing uncontrollably into her gin)*

*which, as we all know, is not a good idea as it dilutes it too much.

Also makes it too salty to be drinkable!

[rovingjack]

sold the cursed couch let here in january y a previous housemate that we had no room for. kept listing it and everybody was interested and many made offers to pay and pick it up, only to never show. But finally somebody came and paid yesterday and came back with a truck today... and turned into a back seat driver who wouldn't shut up, pushed one of us out of the way nearly shoved the thing down the stairs with me under it rubbed the leather dye all over the white walls while yelling that I'm doing it wrong and it's too late to do it the right way because I didn't do some physics defying weird trick to do it quickly and easily. You know because all the furniture she's moved in and out of this house 

The only reason it got that problematic was she pushed the thing around and down ontop of me from the upper landing before it could be properly rotated to get over the banister and bypass the bending to get to the door.

Sigh, but the couch is gone never to haunt us anymore, along with the woman we will never have to deal with again, and we got at least some money or the effort.

[James Harrison]

My car's been taken back down the garage. 

This time it is the paintwork on the bootlid and a mysterious clanging sound from the differential that will be addressed. 

On the one hand, more little niggles being worked out of it.  Which is a good thing (catch them early and they don't become car-killers).   

On the other hand, I'm starting to feel that all that ever happens is I get one thing fixed, and then it runs very happily for a few days and then something else breaks. 

[Siliconous Skumins]

 

On the other hand, I'm starting to feel that all that ever happens is I get one thing fixed, and then it runs very happily for a few days and then something else breaks. 

I hate to break this to you, but it sounds like you have a serious case of "Classic Car Ownership"....

Unfortunately CCO is a severely debilitating condition that can cause Tourette's syndrome levels of swearing, extreme mood swings (usually between 'anger' and 'depression', though occasionally 'regret'), and in most cases will eventually lead to extensive shrinkage in the wallet area. In an extremely bad case, you may find that you may experience extended bouts of "Transactional problems" - your usually pert and stiff credit card may become flacid, and you may experience rubberisation of the cheque book. At times you may also find yourself on the side of a road, either steaming hot or extremely cold and wet through to the skin, while contemplating your choices in life. Another risk is an unhealthy 'dizzy' addiction to WD40 in wet weather, and searching roadside bins for ripped up cigarette packets to use as a points-gap gauge.

There is no known cure, however some may find that liberal application of wax-oil treatments on a regular basis can help. Many report that hibernation for around six months of the year, and only venturing out on "nice days" can help regarding issues with excessive water retention and high road salt intake.

I have been a sufferer of this condition for some years now, and I have come to accept the challenges it brings. We all eventually accept that slightly questionable seatbelt mechanism is both "OK, it just needs a 'jiggle'" and our most likely cause of instant death...