My son is officially a United States Marine. Very proud of him!
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Congratuations.
That is an impressive achievement and you must indeed be extremely proud of him.
I am very proud, however the thing that I am most proud of is that he did lots of introspection to realize that he's one of those types that needs serious structure (hence his martial arts and high school band) instead of going a-la bohemienne. It's not an easy feat at 18yo.
Enjoy your herniated disc.
I have had mine for some 40 years now and it still comes back to harass me.
Initial treatment (after rest and pain killers) was exercise to get the muscles on my spine to build up and support the disc. Specifically, I was doing 3-position target shooting, and the lifting of the 10 kg smallbore rifle and bending built up my back so the pain went away (mostly). Probably not what your physio would recommend, but it worked for me.
Now if it gives me grief (i.e. due to gardening) I take a paracetamol and an ibuprofen tablet in combination. One of each works better than two of either.
BTW, learning to sit properly also helps immensely.
2 of each and a double shot of Brandy works better.Enjoy your herniated disc.
I have had mine for some 40 years now and it still comes back to harass me.
Initial treatment (after rest and pain killers) was exercise to get the muscles on my spine to build up and support the disc. Specifically, I was doing 3-position target shooting, and the lifting of the 10 kg smallbore rifle and bending built up my back so the pain went away (mostly). Probably not what your physio would recommend, but it worked for me.
Now if it gives me grief (i.e. due to gardening) I take a paracetamol and an ibuprofen tablet in combination. One of each works better than two of either.
BTW, learning to sit properly also helps immensely.
I have scoliosis in my neck and see my chiropractor about once a month. Keeps me mobile. Most sessions she asks have you been doing your stretches? To which I honestly say not as often as I should!
Congratulation to your son. During my military career, I worked with them from Vietnam and other locations; as a State Department security officer working at U. S. Embassies at various locations, my team would give the Marines guards enhanced training. They were very enthusiastic and easy to train.
To be serious, on a bad day 2 of each, and a wheat pack heated in the microwave.
On a really bad day, 20 minutes later I go to the microwave to find a now cold wheat pack that I totally forgot about ...
It's a quiet, late summer, early autumn afternoon.
The wife is asleep. The cat is asleep. The birds outside are all having an afternoon nap before re-commencing early evening hostilities.
Oh, and the Tasmanian Tiger was found, then it was unfound, again...
The wife is asleep. The cat is asleep. The birds outside are all having an afternoon nap before re-commencing early evening hostilities.
Oh, and the Tasmanian Tiger was found, then it was unfound, again...
And here is a question for the ages --
Why people (spouses in particular, in this case) put chilli in, on and around food.
Food that once had an inherent, natural flavour, now tastes of chilli. Lamb chop, chicken wings, side of beef, noodles, whatever, all now tastes the same -- of chilli.
There is one exception -- sweet chilli sauce, with sour cream, on fried potato wedges.
Why people (spouses in particular, in this case) put chilli in, on and around food.
Food that once had an inherent, natural flavour, now tastes of chilli. Lamb chop, chicken wings, side of beef, noodles, whatever, all now tastes the same -- of chilli.
There is one exception -- sweet chilli sauce, with sour cream, on fried potato wedges.
I’d not complain. Try eating plain white rice, half a chicken breast and steamed vegetables 75% of the time and you’d be happy for some flavour!
Screen Time is on my mind.
I wonder why Apple - a multi billion dollar company - couldn't make sure that Screen Time has time brackets instead of simply Start Time and End Time, once a day. How about a lunch time allowance? How about allowing me to set up as many brackets as I want? Come on Apple!
I wonder why Apple - a multi billion dollar company - couldn't make sure that Screen Time has time brackets instead of simply Start Time and End Time, once a day. How about a lunch time allowance? How about allowing me to set up as many brackets as I want? Come on Apple!
What state is involved? Are the leases month to month or for a fixed term at the complex?
I've never quite grasped the concept of "Screen Time," as it seems to me that someone should be able to discipline themselves when it comes to how often or how long they're on the computer for a given time frame..... I am not a parent so am not familiar with how all of that works when it comes to setting up screen time for a child, a situation in which it does make sense to me that limits should be set.
I’m at a cross road atm. Anyone wanna throw out their pov/perspective feel free.
I recently changed jobs—new one makes more (but tbh not drastically more considering what I really wanted to do). The people in charge didn’t think I had it in me, then changed their minds, then again to say I should take this position first and then work into the position I really want. Let’s call what I have a B job and it’s the A I’m really after and they said they weren’t going to hire for A as they just filled up.
so I am onboarded with another person who is older, more tenured for sure as I had a late start (more later) has family, etc vs me being a party of one.
this person has the same B job and I can already tell wants to go to A. Come to find out today that that person is in same boat as me, but was even told that once training for job B was done most likely they’ll just be placed in job A immediately.
for reference, if job B pays $100k, job A can pay minimum $175k and if job B pays $200k, job A can pay $275k minimum where the max is usually a couple hundred over that ($175/200k figure).
but just as important, job B is a lot of passing the buck vs job A is handling the whole buck (thus the higher pay) and I’m the kind of person who wants to be handling the whole buck.
im torn between riding it out as it is a new job, and also just making it known that I took this reluctantly with the idea that I would be getting more of A responsibility at B pay (which believe it or not I’m cool with bc while pay is a huge motivator, just as huge almost is my engagement with the job itself and what I get out of it growth wise) and because I’m getting a sense of it being more B tasks too—that internally (not in the mindset to let them know) I’m going to start looking at exit paths.
the other driving force for me is time.
people keep telling me to be patient but I do pick up systems pretty quick. It’s not rocket science. None of what we do is difficult at all so for me I’m not feeling challenged.
and personally when I say time, it’s because my vision of time and what time I have left has been amplified by the fact that I had cancer as a kid and another recent cancer scare.
that and a former colleague of mine (granted much older) recently passed away from cancer as well.
I just am not in the mindset of waiting. I know things don’t happen overnight so I’m certainly not trying to rush through things to the point that I miss the entire point of it to begin with.
But I’m also not trying to spend the time I have now (and esp since I did get a late start) to go slower, especially if it’s boring the heck out of me.
oh and they recently hired someone for a job A so the person that onboard with me feels the same wtf
I recently changed jobs—new one makes more (but tbh not drastically more considering what I really wanted to do). The people in charge didn’t think I had it in me, then changed their minds, then again to say I should take this position first and then work into the position I really want. Let’s call what I have a B job and it’s the A I’m really after and they said they weren’t going to hire for A as they just filled up.
so I am onboarded with another person who is older, more tenured for sure as I had a late start (more later) has family, etc vs me being a party of one.
this person has the same B job and I can already tell wants to go to A. Come to find out today that that person is in same boat as me, but was even told that once training for job B was done most likely they’ll just be placed in job A immediately.
for reference, if job B pays $100k, job A can pay minimum $175k and if job B pays $200k, job A can pay $275k minimum where the max is usually a couple hundred over that ($175/200k figure).
but just as important, job B is a lot of passing the buck vs job A is handling the whole buck (thus the higher pay) and I’m the kind of person who wants to be handling the whole buck.
im torn between riding it out as it is a new job, and also just making it known that I took this reluctantly with the idea that I would be getting more of A responsibility at B pay (which believe it or not I’m cool with bc while pay is a huge motivator, just as huge almost is my engagement with the job itself and what I get out of it growth wise) and because I’m getting a sense of it being more B tasks too—that internally (not in the mindset to let them know) I’m going to start looking at exit paths.
the other driving force for me is time.
people keep telling me to be patient but I do pick up systems pretty quick. It’s not rocket science. None of what we do is difficult at all so for me I’m not feeling challenged.
and personally when I say time, it’s because my vision of time and what time I have left has been amplified by the fact that I had cancer as a kid and another recent cancer scare.
that and a former colleague of mine (granted much older) recently passed away from cancer as well.
I just am not in the mindset of waiting. I know things don’t happen overnight so I’m certainly not trying to rush through things to the point that I miss the entire point of it to begin with.
But I’m also not trying to spend the time I have now (and esp since I did get a late start) to go slower, especially if it’s boring the heck out of me.
oh and they recently hired someone for a job A so the person that onboard with me feels the same wtf
I don’t really use it either to be honest. Not sure what it is supposed to do for an adult.
Been having quite a rough week if I'm being completely honest, but receiving a cute plush toy I ordered from Japan is making me happy at least for the short term.
Hang in there -- maybe this coming week will be better for you! Enjoy your new little plush toy!
After a long bout of rainy, cold weather here in southern Virginia, it looks like we’ll have a week or so of dry weather. None too soon, as it’s about planting time in the farming community I live in.
The fields are sodden; there’s water standing in places that the locals don’t remember ever being that wet. Farm equipment is heavy, and will tear up a wet field. The good news is that the water table is fully recharged, and if the dry spell holds, planting will be feasible in another week or so. Right on time.
We’re still picking up the pieces, literally, from the two ice storms that left some of us without power for two weeks. Hard to imagine that 98% of our rural county was without power, with more than 400 power poles broken. To my knowledge, that is a record around here.
It’s kidding time again (as in goats having kids, not joking), and once again I’m reminded that there’s nothing cuter than a baby goat, imho. Fortunately not all of the pens were destroyed in the ice storm, and we were able to fix the ones that were. So far we have four sets of twins, all healthy.
This is what they will look like in a few weeks:
The fields are sodden; there’s water standing in places that the locals don’t remember ever being that wet. Farm equipment is heavy, and will tear up a wet field. The good news is that the water table is fully recharged, and if the dry spell holds, planting will be feasible in another week or so. Right on time.
We’re still picking up the pieces, literally, from the two ice storms that left some of us without power for two weeks. Hard to imagine that 98% of our rural county was without power, with more than 400 power poles broken. To my knowledge, that is a record around here.
It’s kidding time again (as in goats having kids, not joking), and once again I’m reminded that there’s nothing cuter than a baby goat, imho. Fortunately not all of the pens were destroyed in the ice storm, and we were able to fix the ones that were. So far we have four sets of twins, all healthy.
This is what they will look like in a few weeks:
Well, first of all I am happy to read that you're cancer free.
I'd say that the company is somewhat shady, but I am hearing only your perspective. Why would they hire someone for job A? Does this person have the experience already, experience that you and the other employee don't have? Does he have the qualifications? If so, the company probably did the right thing, although the fact that they didn't tell you immediately that your path would take some time is not a good look.
Also, let me comment on your "people keep telling me to be patient but I do pick up systems pretty quick." That's not the entire point of getting a higher job. The "technical" part is just a minimal part of the equation, and the higher you go, the smaller that part will become. The higher you go, other variables will become more important: character, trust, responsiveness, ability to organize teams, etc. (it also depends on the job). All that stuff is earned either through lots of experience in a similar job and with good references, or is earned on the job, and it does take time.
Let me give you a somewhat stupid example I've given here before. You can be the best at doing your job, technically speaking. You might be able to do all your tasks on time, you might do the best analysis or whatever. However, if you don't have the skill to notice nuances such as writing memos to management that are too long or with too much jargon (a problem that in my position I see, every single day, by people with Masters and lots of experience), your bosses will not trust that you can understand THEIR issues. Obviously it's not just a memo or two that will define that, but usually it compounds with other issues that might look minor to the SME but are absolutely a big problem for the big bosses. Nuances are key.
Also, lots depend on the nature of the job so it's difficult to give advice. Being in a trucking company will be very different than being a McDonald's Executive Team member which is different than being in Apple's iOS team which is different than being in government.
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The number one skill I look for in hiring is attitude. You can learn most other things (systems, technical, responsibility) but your attitude is generally a character trait that is hard to change. Too many people walk into a company with this qualification or that and think that their colleagues are their equals (or worse beneath them) from day one.
My assistant seems to like the chair I brought in for her.
Not like it stopped her from stealing mine when I get up…
Not like it stopped her from stealing mine when I get up…
What's hers is hers and what's yours is hers. Simple.
Edited to add --
Our grey tortie (see left) has her own queen size bed, which comes complete with two humans to keep her all snugly and warm...
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The Farmers' Market in the old city centre beside a church that is over 700 years old; today was my first visit since before Christmas.
A lovely crisp, cold (but bright and sunny) morning, and I bought fruit (apples, oranges, blood oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and mangoes), honey (from a chap who keeps bees), free range, organic eggs, vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, chilli peppers, garlic, onions, leeks, carrots, celery, tomato, sweet potato, lamb's lettuce, chard), cheese - in the cheesemonger's - (Gorgonzola, Blue d'Auvergne, Comte, St Nectaire, Délice de Bourgogne, and Dent du Chat), cannoli (lemon), in an Italian coffee shop, and French bread in the French bakery.
A lovely crisp, cold (but bright and sunny) morning, and I bought fruit (apples, oranges, blood oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and mangoes), honey (from a chap who keeps bees), free range, organic eggs, vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, chilli peppers, garlic, onions, leeks, carrots, celery, tomato, sweet potato, lamb's lettuce, chard), cheese - in the cheesemonger's - (Gorgonzola, Blue d'Auvergne, Comte, St Nectaire, Délice de Bourgogne, and Dent du Chat), cannoli (lemon), in an Italian coffee shop, and French bread in the French bakery.
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So enjoy. Glad they had all the supplies you needed.
Been busy in the garden. Dug out some tree stumps this morning. The brown wheelie bin is already pretty full, but I might try and squeeze some more in before I go for an afternoon walk.
Mrs AFB isn't feeling great so it will be a solo walk.