What you've done today - There will be no dawn for Men

[BruceVC]

43 minutes ago, majestic said:

I just had one of the weirdest talks ever. I'm working from home today beause nobody else is in the office so why bother, suddenly someone knocks on the door. I often get to take deliveries for neighbors when working from home, so I think nothing of it and open the door without checking, which turned out of be a funny mistake.

Nope, no delivery guy, just a Greenpeace activist. Since I'm working from home today, I'm just wearing a white, plain cotton t-shirt which right now has copious amounts of food stains on it, and comfortable but severely oversized running pants. I still haven't gone to the barber shop and hairdresser, which means my hair and my beard is a major mess right now. Between that and having had a rough week at work with barely any sleep, I literally look like a bum living on the streets.

He stares at me and goes: "I came to tell you about the bees that need help and how we're fighting for them, but... you can't really support us financially right now, can you?"

And I'm like, slightly perplexed by a random Greenpeace stranger showing up at my doorstep: "Yeah, it's been tough, you know, with the lockdowns, man."

"Short hours?"

At this point I transitioned from shock to a state of being annoyed by door to door soliciting.

"Yeah, at first, during the initial lockdown, then I got fired. I worked at a shipping company but the continued lack of air travel almost killed our business, but if you want, you can leave a card, and I'll call you guys up once I find my footing again, yes?"

"That's rough man, I'm sorry. Take care."

Guy left without giving me his card. There's a lesson in never judging a book by its covers in here, I'm sure. Not that I would agree to donate* to people who solicit donations like that (and certainly never to Greenpeace Austria, that bunch of twerps). It's bad enough when they approach me at a mall or at a railway station or any other sites where they prepare their annoying ambushes, but going from door to door, that's a new low. The only other people who come by regularily are Jehova's witnesses.

As much as I hate talking to random strangers, I've had Greenpeace people approach me so often that I'm kind of used to it by now.

*Don't have anything against donating to charities or voluntary aid groups. I'm a Red Cross supporting member and donate to our local volunteer firefighters, and I regularily buy an overpiced newspaper that homeless people are allowed to sell on the streets to get by and provide something for them to do that's not drinking (the seller gets to keep half of what he earns). Or I used to, before being stuck at home for a year.

You did the right thing IMO

He wasnt meaning to be patronizing but thats how I would have taken it and acted in the same way and not given him money 

[ShadySands]

14 hours ago, Raithe said:

Driver's Ed over here has never been something related to school.

Of course, we have to wait till 17 to get a provisional license, but all lessons, and the tests themselves are paid for privately.

I want to say you could get your learner's permit at 15 or 15 and a half and your license at 16 but I think they moved it to 18 at some point and introduced a separate 16 to 18 license. That's back in AZ though, no idea what the rules are in CO.

[Gromnir]

we original had a south dakota license which were provisional and only for farm work. were able to get it at 13 at the time but we got it 14. folks in the cook county, illinois dmv didn't understand what they were looking at when we showed 'em our provisional license, so we were just kinda handed a provisional illinois license after which we did need take illinois drivers license tests (written and practical) to get full license. never took driving classes at school or otherwise.

HA! Good Fun!

[LadyCrimson]

3 hours ago, ShadySands said:

I want to say you could get your learner's permit at 15 or 15 and a half and your license at 16 but I think they moved it to 18 at some point and introduced a separate 16 to 18 license. That's back in AZ though, no idea what the rules are in CO.

That's what I remember from California.  Learners at 15.5, license at 16, I don't recall any drivers courses/hours being a *requirement*, although I do recall there being a brief driver's ed in highschool - a single afternoon of lecture, including one of those "Red Asphalt" short films, and cramming 3 kids in a car each taking a brief turn behind the wheel - I have no idea if that somehow fulfilled a "DMV required", but I never had to do anything outside of that to get a license besides age.   Edit: you could get private extra driving lessons if your parents wanted to pay for it, ofc, but most people didn't.

I think CA also moved it up to 17.5 and 18 at some point, with more requirements on top maybe? But that's all I know about that.

Edited July 23, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[Keyrock]

I am getting very close to starting what I call Operation £^<× Everybody. More appropriately it should be called Operation £^<× Everybody Except Family and Friends, but that's quite a mouthful.

Operation £^<× Everybody:

Step 1) Buy house in the mountains, the more in the mountains and secluded the better. My motto is "I'd prefer if my closest neighbors were black bears rather than humans."

Step 2) Become as self-sufficient as I can. Solar panels, garden, moonshine still, etc.

Step 3) Get guns.

Step 4) ???

Step 5) £^<× Everybody

I am very close to having the money for a downpayment but the housing market is right now, so I will wait for the right deal to come along; I can wait.

Side note: "£^<× Everybody" can be interpreted another way, which would make for a vastly different operation, but one I am not entirely opposed to. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by Keyrock

[Sarex]

14 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

I am getting very close to starting what I call Operation £^<× Everybody. More appropriately it should be called Operation £^<× Everybody Except Family and Friends, but that's quite a mouthful.

Operation £^<× Everybody:

Step 1) Buy house in the mountains, the more in the mountains and secluded the better. My motto is "I'd prefer if my closest neighbors were black bears rather than humans."

Step 2) Become as self-sufficient as I can. Solar panels, garden, moonshine still, etc.

Step 3) Get guns.

Step 4) ???

Step 5) £^<× Everybody

I am very close to having the money for a downpayment but the housing market is right now, so I will wait for the right deal to come along; I can wait.

Side note: "£^<× Everybody" can be interpreted another way, which would make for a vastly different operation, but one I am not entirely opposed to. 

How is the internet in the mountains?

[majestic]

4 minutes ago, Sarex said:

How is the internet in the mountains?

Rocky...

[Gfted1]

Starlink.  So long as your mountain home is between 45-53 degrees latitude.

[Keyrock]

21 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Starlink.  So long as your mountain home is between 45-53 degrees latitude.

Tennessee is in the 35-36-ish latitude area. The latitudes you mention would put me in Canuck Country. I've shoveled enough snow in my life, I'll pass. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by Keyrock

[Raithe]

Distracting myself with getting back on the crafty times train...  London Comic-Con is back in the real-world come October, so re-working some elements, repairing, and trying a few fresh things out.

Printing, Sanding, Priming...

Putting that base paint layer...

 

Then bringing out some of the details...

 

Actually thinking I might try using the solid waist/ab pieces of the armour to make silicon mold, and try creating some semi-rigid rubber versions just to make it easier to bend/sit down in.

Although I have no idea of what that would involve or added costs. Possibly some time to research.

 

[Gfted1]

Looks awesome! And I cant believe you still receive a paper news.  

[Raithe]

Wrapping up some of those final details (with some minor smears left over...)

Have to admit, since the hood of the Sith robe will be up most of the time, I haven't been quite as serious as smoothing out the print of the rear half of the helmet.

Put in some magnets on the inside to clip both parts together. Planning to fold some black veil mesh across the eye areas, some interior padding, and then a strap for the rear half.

Hopefully it means I'll put the rear half on, and then just be able to pull the front half off whenever I want to drink/eat. Plus the magnets help guide it back to the proper place when re-attaching.

[LadyCrimson]

full 72 hours or so without any insulin. Before meal: 120. Couple hours after eating: 140.  Hope rekindled! 

So far even on insulin I've never had upon-wakening blood sugar under 110. If I can get it to be 80 and 120 after a meal (say 2-3 months from now), far as I'm concerned I'm golden.

The docs/nutritionists at the hospital were telling me to fill/eat "1/4 of your (9") plate with whole grains and/or starchy carbs."  At least for me, that's apparently 1/4 plate too much.

[majestic]

6 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

The docs/nutritionists at the hospital were telling me to fill/eat "1/4 of your (9") plate with whole grains and/or starchy carbs."  At least for me, that's apparently 1/4 plate too much.

I guess the nutritional advice is based on the idea of helping the patient lose weight, which is the fastest way to get insulin resistance down (along with a more active lifestyle).

Whole grain keeps your hunger in check for longer than less complex sources of carbohydrates, and filling your plate 1/4 with it is most likely a severe drop in carbs for most (at least somewhat overweight) type 2 patients. The suggestion to go one quarter whole grain, one quarter lean meat and the rest vegetables really is there to do two things: Lose weight, and reduce the amount of lipids in your blood.

On average, it's sound advice, but suggesting as much to someone without weight problems seems a bit... uninspired, to put it mildly.

[Raithe]

There we go, some internal padding (foam and windowseal ), veil mesh across the eyeholes.

In fact, when wearing the basic black balaclava and neck seal under it, with the padding installed the rear half pretty much sticks to my head anyway so I probably won't bother giving it a forehead strap.

 

Edited July 25, 2021 by Raithe

[Keyrock]

I want to learn a new instrument and, given my line of work, this seemed the ideal choice:

[Azdeus]

Binging Arch Enemy while working, trying not to headbang but it's hard

[Malcador]

I listen to the Max Payne theme on loop at work.  Hard to not kill myself, but they try.

[Raithe]

MCM London Comic-Con is back from the purely virtual come October, and the tickets just went on public sale.

Apparently within 10 minutes or so all "entire weekend tickets" were sold out, leaving people stuck having to buy the Friday / Saturday / Sunday tickets separately, which means it's about an added £15 ($25) cost. A fair amount of whining about that going on.

Ah well. Picked up my batch and booked the hotel.  Have to keep some positivity and optimism going to balance things out. Although yes, I did do the safety net of the added charge from the hotel for the flexible cancellation option and paying then, as opposed to pay now and no cancellation without losing the entire fee.

[BruceVC]

8 minutes ago, Raithe said:

MCM London Comic-Con is back from the purely virtual come October, and the tickets just went on public sale.

Apparently within 10 minutes or so all "entire weekend tickets" were sold out, leaving people stuck having to buy the Friday / Saturday / Sunday tickets separately, which means it's about an added £15 ($25) cost. A fair amount of whining about that going on.

Ah well. Picked up my batch and booked the hotel.  Have to keep some positivity and optimism going to balance things out. Although yes, I did do the safety net of the added charge from the hotel for the flexible cancellation option and paying then, as opposed to pay now and no cancellation without losing the entire fee.

Nothing better than a  real Comic-Con....I cant imagine an event like this being even remotely fun virtually  

Its good news though how popular Comic-Con is based on the "entire weekend tickets " sales figures 

[Gfted1]

29 minutes ago, Raithe said:

...which means it's about an added £15 ($25) cost.

Total or per daily ticket?

Be sure to post pics fully in your costume!

[Raithe]

Just now, Gfted1 said:

Total or per daily ticket?

Be sure to post pics fully in your costume!

Total.

A weekend pass is £85.  Having to pick up each day on its own brings it up to £99 in total.  To be fair, they have apparently muchly reduced the number of tickets they are selling and making it more limited access then previous years - keeping up a certain element of social distancing and all to be allowed rather than the usual thronging hordes packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

Delta variants might spike, things might get cancelled, dad's health issues might have kicked into something much more serious by then, and a new job (if it gets found) might have issues with holiday booked for then.. But eh. I might as well snag the tickets and book it all and then see what the universe brings to disrupt it, rather than not do it and find everything would have been groovy for me to attend.

[Bartimaeus]

I don't know about anyone else, but yesterday's weather was bordering on apocalyptic yesterday here. Skies went green: insane lightning storm that lasted from like 8 PM to maybe 2 AM with literally 70mph winds that were knocking down or outright breaking trees in half left and right, plenty of hail, some flooding, and the power was out most of the night. Saw a neighbor nearly get squashed by a big chunk of their oak tree snapping off and missing them (as in their actual person, because they decided being outside during the worst of all of this was a good idea) by literal inches. Stay indoors during insane weather if you can, folks.

[Keyrock]

I'm going to AEW Dynamite at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte tomorrow. First live wrestling show, or any live event, for that matter, since the pandemic. I'm super excited. 

Edited July 28, 2021 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Has anyone here tried one of those home blood test strip-based triglyceride meters? They're a lot more costly than the glucose meters (and the test strips long-term pricey). Don't really care about super accuracy vs. true lab work - my worry is consistency of readings - eg, if you used them several times immediately in a row and the numbers are crazy different each time, that'd be of no use for checking for a rise or fall pattern.

Health blog: my glucose remains fine and getting a bit lower already.  So yeah, for now at least, insulin seems not needed as long as I stay mega low net carb. My hunger/appetite remains low, to the point the evening meal is sometimes like forcing myself to eat.    I might try OMAD (one meal a day) before long....