The General Chat thread

Drop by and talk about anything you want. This is where all cheese-related discussions should go
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Valkyrie-Lemons » 15 Sep 2014, 09:29

I've just enrolled for two more years of hell...I mean university.

Maybe after this I should do a PhD and become Dr Lemons. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby viscomica » 17 Sep 2014, 06:20

Good luck Scotland! Whatever it is you decide..
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby plummeting_sloth » 17 Sep 2014, 11:39

Although if you could actually vote to join Iceland in a person Union, I would make a KILLING at the bookies, so ya know... just an idea
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Bebop Man » 19 Sep 2014, 12:58

Denzel Washington is NOT impressed with me, let me tell you.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Deedles » 29 Sep 2014, 04:13

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Wasn't sure where else to post this, but I like the message.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Omega Lairon » 29 Sep 2014, 14:01

Well, that was fun... my company imploded, due to several consecutive months of laughably crappy sales. Everybody got the boot, obviously me included.

So, the good news - my contract officially terminates at the end of November, and seeing as how they already approved my annual leave for DB8 several months ago, they still have to honor that commitment. The charity fund remains untouched (might even get a boost from the redundancy payout)... though I might not be able to turbo charge it with personal savings like I did last year. And as for next year... well, we'll have to see about that when it rolls around.

I'm not super concerned though, they did manage to hook me up with a forklift license a while ago, so that's always a useful and much needed qualification. If not, I could always scout the local universities for courses of interest.

...or if anyone up in the US or Canada needs a minimum wage drone for a few years (say, long enough to apply for citizenship?), I'm more than happy to relocate.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby empath » 29 Sep 2014, 15:06

Omega Lairon wrote:...or if anyone up in the US or Canada needs a minimum wage drone for a few years (say, long enough to apply for citizenship?), I'm more than happy to relocate.


*cough-cough-COUGH-cough*

:roll:


ANYWAYS.

Sorry to hear about the company's misfortune, and glad to hear you'll survive it relatively well.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby AdmiralMemo » 29 Sep 2014, 17:14

We could use more Tech Support staff in our San Francisco office, if you're serious.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Omega Lairon » 29 Sep 2014, 17:44

AdmiralMemo wrote:We could use more Tech Support staff in our San Francisco office, if you're serious.


Well, maybe the part about "backdooring" my way to citizenship wasn't entirely serious, but I'm otherwise totally sincere. I don't have any major ties to Australia (family, property, etc.), and I'm absolutely down for a change of scenery.

Incidentally, I interpret "tech support" as "guy who answers phones and gets yelled at by idiot customers who don't know how a power button works"...and I'm entirely okay with that. Doesn't bother me at all.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Rikadyn » 29 Sep 2014, 20:50

So a month in Japan, and I don't think I can call the united states a first world nation anymore. Went to the hospital in pain and pissing blood to find out I had a kidney stone. Hadn't enrolled in the national health insurance yet (was scheduled to that friday, this happened on tuesday). Anyway ER+CT+2 Xray in the US would of been easy 10k+ cost me 33500 yen (306 USD) out of pocket uninsured.

Follow up visit was today, stone not visible, and when going to pay for the visit, this time with NHI, they refunded me 24500 of the 33500 from the previous visit and paid me in cash, not sending a check. todays visit cost 1300 yen.

To top of the day, also had to go to a dentist because I broke a took, the xray (which was a CT scan) inspection, removing the old filling, putting in a new temp filling and being fitted for a crown, was 4000ish yen(~36 USD) which would of been min 300 stateside.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby empath » 29 Sep 2014, 22:24

Ah, so the stone passed from the kidney into the bladder, or did they scan that too and it's passed completely?

(I've been prone to stones, and in about a half dozen visits to the ER, I've always had the worst consequence of them being having to pee into a strainer for days to make sure said stone passed out of the bladder and didn't impact there. Getting woken up in the middle of the night sucks, and pain that feels like a giant pair of fingers pinching you through your side is excruciating, but it passes (especially when they give me something for the pain), but the time consuming hassle for days after, waiting to see gravel...that persists and it's usually the last symptom I experience...


...now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm gonna go drink a litre of water just to make sure I'm nicely hydrated. ;)
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Rikadyn » 30 Sep 2014, 03:34

they basically gave me tylenol for the pain, but didn't have pain past the first day anyway. The pills they gave me caused increased bile production to dissolve the stone and dilation of the urinary track to eject it. They x-rayed but couldn't find anything so they didn't want to say I passed it for sure or not.

Red blood cell count in urine went from 14065 to 4 though so...
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby empath » 30 Sep 2014, 05:14

Heh, yeah - first time I had a stone (or rather, have a calcium 'iceberg' break loose of the 'glacier' sitting in my kidneys), I was still living with my folks; I'd gotten home from a late shift at work, and was sitting in the kitchen, munching on a midnight snack, watching George Carlin...and then I just had the urge to pee, so I did...and when I ran out of pee, the urge didn't go away, and became pressure...and got worse, and worse. Eventually I woke my folks, they just bundled me up, and we got into the car as I suffered through waves of pain (as the stone shifted erratically, ripping through those tiny passages in my kidney), I got processed at the ER and then they asked me for a urine sample. Ah, after I'd spent the better part of an hour emptying my bladder? :oops:

ANYWAY, after about twenty minutes of waiting, jogging in place, and running the sink, I finally got something into the sample cup, and it was PURPLE, like beet juice. THAT'S when my brain finally started working and I realized what was going on. :) Later found out my folks weren't that surprised because kidney stones run in my family...gee thanks :roll:

I really think not knowing what was going on made things worse; I'd had a handful more stones 'break loose' and been able to handle myself - call a cab, get to the ER, have the foresight to 'save a little' for the urine sample ;), etc. The first time (when I was curled into a foetal ball), the doctor administered an IV with a shot of morphine...and...wow, that REALLY worked - it was like flipping a switch on a TV that's blaring out white noise, the pain was just GONE. :shock: I remember saying "Okay, I can see why people get addicted to that!" and made a point to ask to not get morphine in the future. Instead they'd give me Demerol, which worked (with the delay of any ingested pill) but wasn't quite as 'drastic'...and has the unfortunate site effect of making me constipated, so I ain't gonna take it unless I REALLY need it. ;)

The process in my case was moderate the pain, then take me over to radiology, lie me on a table and take x-rays of my abdomen to track the location of the stone...wait fifteen minutes, then take a couple more...and repeat until the stone had passed into my bladder. (presumably it was small enough to not be an issue with the urethra - which was true, my first stone was about the size of a piece of confetti, and since then I usually just get what looks like a little bit of sand in the strainer).

The only downside to this is, apart from two instances, all my kidney stones would act up while I'm lying in bed; usually around 2am I'd wake up with the urge to pee...etc.etc.

So now I spend the next couple of hours, lying on a metal table, being asked to raise my arm for a moment, then roll onto my side for another moment, and then rest...so I would get wiped out from a lack of sleep. Ruins the next day, that and the entire body aching from sympathetic clenching while the pain when it was passing through the kidney.

But again, that only lasts a day (which I usually spend sleeping anyways) my hassle (that has me altering my diet and drinking a LOT of water to keep whatever excess 'sediment' flushed through my system and not building up) is the week or so of taking a strainer to the bathroom every time I need to pee. :P

But yeah, sounds like it's already passed - I never felt anything any time I peed out my stones, even though I would have sworn I would in the case of that piece of confetti :lol:.

So the thing to remember is, if you've had one stone, you're likely to have more: check sites like WebMD (or check the actual medical professionals) for advice on prevention; the small changes I've made in my diet have almost completely cut the incidents out completely. I had an ultrasound on my flanks last year as part of an annual checkup, and that confirmed that I've still got deposits sitting on the tops of each kidney, but nothing breaking loose. :)
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Rikadyn » 30 Sep 2014, 06:04

'least your hospital spoke your language, I was sleeping here in Kyoto when it struck. Actually thought it was just need to take a big crap till that didn't work. Called my home university, which they had the insurance company that they give us to just make sure we have it direct me to a hospital.

Thing about Japan is, they don't give out opioid pain killers. Period. Despite that, the one they gave me had me floating till like 5pm that night, but it was a suppository. In fact half the pain killers they gave me in case I felt pain are suppositories, and I don't see me using them anytime soon.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby empath » 30 Sep 2014, 06:10

Well, suppositories tend to relax certain muscles to aid in the desired effect, so it makes sense that they'd also alleviate pain in...well, specific areas.

Props to Japan's medical authority, too!
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Valkyrie-Lemons » 30 Sep 2014, 07:08

I'm kind of flatted that people come to me for academic advice, but seriously guys, I'm not that smart, and I don't know what led you to the impression that I am smart. You're really better off asking anyone else but me for help.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Merrymaker_Mortalis » 30 Sep 2014, 07:10

I am cutting pipes. I am cutting pipes. Oh so many pipes to cut that I am indeed cutting. Gee, wow, pipe cutting.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby AdmiralMemo » 30 Sep 2014, 09:58

Omega Lairon wrote:
AdmiralMemo wrote:We could use more Tech Support staff in our San Francisco office, if you're serious.
Well, maybe the part about "backdooring" my way to citizenship wasn't entirely serious, but I'm otherwise totally sincere. I don't have any major ties to Australia (family, property, etc.), and I'm absolutely down for a change of scenery.

Incidentally, I interpret "tech support" as "guy who answers phones and gets yelled at by idiot customers who don't know how a power button works"...and I'm entirely okay with that. Doesn't bother me at all.
It's answering emails, not phones, and we work with domains and web hosting, not actual computer problems, but yeah, you've got the gist. Email [email protected] with a resume and cover letter, if you're interested.

Proficiency in multiple languages (particularly French and Spanish) is a big plus, but not required.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby korvys » 30 Sep 2014, 15:45

Oh hey, Gandi, that's cool. I used that for my last domain registration. Pretty happy with them overall.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Omega Lairon » 30 Sep 2014, 16:04

AdmiralMemo wrote:Proficiency in multiple languages (particularly French and Spanish) is a big plus, but not required.


Some days I'm hard pressed getting English right : \

But I guess that's really the least of my concerns if all goes to plan... which is probably quite the long shot anyway to be honest, but what the hell, I like a challenge every now and then. And if nothing else, I can at least say "I tried" instead of adding to the big pile of regrets.

Now then... where did I put that graduation certificate? ...Or report cards? ...Or any proof that I attended a school at any point?
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby empath » 30 Sep 2014, 17:22

Valkyrie-Lemons wrote:I'm kind of flatted that people come to me for academic advice, but seriously guys, I'm not that smart, and I don't know what led you to the impression that I am smart. You're really better off asking anyone else but me for help.


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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Merrymaker_Mortalis » 01 Oct 2014, 10:23

What's the function of a "Friends List"?
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby AdmiralMemo » 01 Oct 2014, 10:46

On this forum, somewhere else, or in general?
Graham wrote:The point is: Nyeh nyeh nyeh. I'm an old man.
LRRcast wrote:Paul: That does not answer that question at all.
James: Who cares about that question? That's a good answer.

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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby Merrymaker_Mortalis » 01 Oct 2014, 10:54

On things like Steam or Battlenet.

Just trying to work out what will cause me more damage. Keeping certain people on my friends list as a constant reminder of how they act like I don't exist, or removing them and somehow in the future regretting removing them.

I've gotten over what they have done. It's just, like every time I open my friends list to find someone I get along with to speak to, I have to scroll past their names each time.
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Re: The General Chat thread

Postby AdmiralMemo » 01 Oct 2014, 12:25

Hrm... Well, do you talk to them or play with them in any frequency? If not, I say remove them. It can't hurt, and if you really do want to later, you can just add them back, I think. I don't see how you'd regret taking them off.

And on Steam, I'm pretty sure you can put them into groups. Therefore, even if you don't want to take them off, put them in a group that's at the end of the list, so you don't have to look at them all the time. Name it "zz-I don't want to look at these people" or something.

I don't know anything about Battlenet, though.
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LRRcast wrote:Paul: That does not answer that question at all.
James: Who cares about that question? That's a good answer.

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