What's everybody doing today?

[INresponse]

Home Depot called me again today. It was actually the store manager. Longest conversation he ever had with me. He actually started by asking me how my house build was coming along, I said I was making good progress and having fun just working on the house. He babbled something about (covid related BS) 3D or something and then said something about a date in March. I asked if what he was saying was the mask mandate was leaving and I would be able to return to work. Nope, the mask may never go away for Home Depot employees, but since I am on a Leave Of Absence that will expire in March and I either need to return to work wearing a mask or it will be a voluntary separation from the company. He asked if he should update my employee file to show my resignation. My reply...."Let's just wait the month or so and see if the idiots in charge of Home Depot grow a brain and end the stupid mask mandate between now and then."
I expect another call in a few weeks, that is when I will let them know I have been buying everything I need for the house from Lowes or Ace Hardware.

 

[Peanut]

Talked to a buddy this weekend who services medical equipment for a major manufacturer. He got new hires recently that were so bad I was astonished.

Example, one gets a service call for a catscan. Instead of calling the customer he called tech support to see what they thought the problem might be and what parts he should order…

Next he starts calling other engineers in his area to see if any one is free to assist him… still hasn’t called the customer… couple hours got by...

Lastly, after having to go and do a real service call, he called all his coworkers and his boss complaining how he was abandoned to do this by himself. He was betrayed! He expected better from everyone if he was going to work there.

There are no words to describe that guy other than delusional.

My friend said they have gotten 3 whiners who can’t do anything correctly by themselves. He can’t fire them. And this is the best the company could find to work on equipment that scans humans? Before surgery, for diagnosis? not to mention worth millions! (if you break something it will come up in the conversation, don’t ask me how I know )

My friend is ready to retire, doesn’t even want to be associated with that standard. I wouldn’t either. I couldn’t work with people like that, have to leave or visit the man at the county jail. I fired two guys once… after 3 days I was so po’d I wanted to… as an old friend once said “wanna sew their heads together just so I could backhand them both at the same time!”

 

[Amish Heart]

That's terrible, Peanut. We had a few fruitcakes working for us over the years in early childhood that didn't last long. I learned very quickly that I didn't need any employee that bad to put up with stuff. Even if it meant coming in myself for an extra shift.
Looking at the rest of my week, I better get the grocery shopping done today in the bigger town. And get the furniture moved out of the guest room so I can get it ready to paint the floor and a dresser that's in there. Company is coming in 5 days, and when they leave, more is coming in the following week.

 

[LadyLocust]

We recently had a long time local restaurant close down, auction was yesterday. They retired early - couldn't find help. Another local sub shop has been only open at the drive through - so short staffed they can't man the lobby and drive through. It really is horrible how few are willing (or have the mental capacity) to work.

 

[Pearl]

We recently had a long time local restaurant close down, auction was yesterday. They retired early - couldn't find help. Another local sub shop has been only open at the drive through - so short staffed they can't man the lobby and drive through. It really is horrible how few are willing (or have the mental capacity) to work.

Yet the ones unwilling to work complain because the restaurants/stores are not open! It's sad!

 

[phideaux]

Another sunny warm day 65 today, before the crash and storms tomorrow.

Be heading out to Eye doctor appointment at 11 am, in Marion IL. 1 1/2 hour each way.
Wife has a gift card for Cracker Barrel....guess where we'll have lunch.

I'm hoping there ain't no craft store around.

Be a long day.

Week is almost half over...thank God.

One more trip to doctor this week after today. This carp happens every 4 or 6 months.

Y'all stay safe and happy.

Jim

 

[Curmudgeon]

Working on setting up comms a little better in my area. We may need it in the not to distant future.

 

[snappy1]

Already walked and will walk dogs next.
Not much on my list today.
Might make and can tapioca for DH.
Need to check PH in a few areas for gardens
Prayer meeting tonight.

 

[phideaux]

Guess where we're having lunch. Well, breakfast.

Country boy breakfast ...too much.

Another appointment in the books.
Eat , then wife will drive home, because my eyes are dilated. BTW , I have 20/20 in both eyes with my glasses. Some cataracts, going to monitor that a year.

Jim

 

[LadyLocust]

Guess where we're having lunch. Well, breakfast.
View attachment 80516
Country boy breakfast ...too much.

Another appointment in the books.
Eat , then wife will drive home, because my eyes are dilated. BTW , I have 20/20 in both eyes with my glasses. Some cataracts, going to monitor that a year.

Jim

Be very nice if she's driving - she might take a detour by way of craft store.

 

[Pearl]

Guess where we're having lunch. Well, breakfast.
View attachment 80516
Country boy breakfast ...too much.

Another appointment in the books.
Eat , then wife will drive home, because my eyes are dilated. BTW , I have 20/20 in both eyes with my glasses. Some cataracts, going to monitor that a year.

Jim

Sounds like your eyes were bigger than your belly at Cracker Barrel! Anyone besides me remember that old saying?

 

[Tirediron]

today I wondered about the violent act of sabatoge inflicted on innocent construction equipment by the thought police, And if the clowns that cut the wires know how expensive it is to replace the wiring harness and a bunch of fuel lines that they filled with spray foam. oh yeah and pay for the down time, Just random questions, cause I was just following orders is not a very good defence.

 

[TeeJ]

Home Depot called me again today. It was actually the store manager. Longest conversation he ever had with me. He actually started by asking me how my house build was coming along, I said I was making good progress and having fun just working on the house. He babbled something about (covid related BS) 3D or something and then said something about a date in March. I asked if what he was saying was the mask mandate was leaving and I would be able to return to work. Nope, the mask may never go away for Home Depot employees, but since I am on a Leave Of Absence that will expire in March and I either need to return to work wearing a mask or it will be a voluntary separation from the company. He asked if he should update my employee file to show my resignation. My reply...."Let's just wait the month or so and see if the idiots in charge of Home Depot grow a brain and end the stupid mask mandate between now and then."
I expect another call in a few weeks, that is when I will let them know I have been buying everything I need for the house from Lowes or Ace Hardware.

So sorry to hear they are putting you in this position! I hope you can work something out or find something way better

 

[INresponse]

So sorry to hear they are putting you in this position! I hope you can work something out or find something way better

Thank you. I haven't been looking for anything else, aside from applying at the small True Value Hardware in the town north of me. It is pathetic that corporate Home Depot demands all their employees where a paper or cloth mask at all times, most other corporate stores around here allow employees to wear the clear face shields. I asked a couple times since last July, they demand a paper or cloth mask and it has to be over the nose and under the chin.
I just refuse to spend any more money at Home Depot. I try to go to ACE or True Value for the simple stuff and go to Lowes for the big stuff.

 

[Peanut]

Exhausted today, got nothing done but feed the calf and dogs. Even slept a little this afternoon. I over did it monday but had to cover all the fecue seed yesterday instead of resting. Paying for it now.

 

[Neb]

Another day of contortionist wiring adventures was not fun but the outlet boxes for the washer and dryer are ready for the GFCI outlets. Brother was in the zone plumbing in the bathrooms.

I like the faucets he found that looks like a pitcher pump and goes with the farm house theme we are going for to fit with the horse farm back of the house. The closet doors for the bed rooms will be barn door themed. We hope to reuse the millwork that was the ceiling for the doors.

Our work was curtailed because my brother runs the bingo for the VFD on Wednesdays and I had to play the tutor game. Who-da-thought that all of that time in college was required to be able to balance chemical equations and simplify algebraic expressions.

Olivia caught on to the math but balancing chemical reactions almost left her in tears. I need to find some real world experiments to illustrate and motivate her. Don't be surprised if I start cracking water into hydrogen and oxygen in the kitchen soon.

Nuff for now.

Behave

Ben

 

[Spikedriver]

I got the position I put in for at work. I'm going from running a machine like this...

To running one like this...

And I'll be home every night. It'll be a learning curve, but I'm pretty stoked about it.

 

[phideaux]

I got the position I put in for at work. I'm going from running a machine like this...
View attachment 80536
To running one like this...
View attachment 80537

And I'll be home every night. It'll be a learning curve, but I'm pretty stoked about it.

Glad you got it @Spikedriver.
Good luck on that new adventure.

Jim

 

[Peanut]

@Spikedriver congrats! You're an old farm boy, can drive anything!

I need to find some real world experiments to illustrate and motivate her. Don't be surprised if I start cracking water into hydrogen and oxygen in the kitchen soon.
Nuff for now.
Behave
Ben

If you're going to crack water... feed the hydrogen/oxygen into an engine air intake... Can't get any more real world than that! Plus it's a lot of fun!

 

[Bacpacker]

Good luck with the hiring, I know it's hard all over! We've been trying to start a 2nd shift @ work and getting people that will just show up is hard enough. Last month we had 2 new hires that just never showed up for day #2 and one that left during their orientation smoke break and never came back!

We had a guy today show up late to interview, park in 2 well marked reserved parking places, had fudged his resume a fair amount, and bombed the stuff we quizzed him on (all job specific), and put components on the wrong side of a little pc boars to do a solder test. Layout and soldering was pathetic as well. But he did meet the company mandated diversity qualifications. We've had 2 decent candidates out of 4 so far. 1 really good, the other very sharp but very inexperienced. 4 more to go.

 

[Bacpacker]

I got the position I put in for at work. I'm going from running a machine like this...
View attachment 80536
To running one like this...
View attachment 80537

And I'll be home every night. It'll be a learning curve, but I'm pretty stoked about it.

Congrats Spike

 

[Heartbroken]

I flunked algebra three times but got straight As in chemistry...go figure. I guess it's because you're working with real things in chemistry, and how they affect each other. In algebra it's just mindlessly mixing up letters and numbers with no clue where to start making sense of it. I like the country theme in the house, by the way.
Spike that looks like an awesome piece of machinery.
Actually showered and dressed and left the house today. Met a friend who also just lost her husband and cried on each other's shoulders for a while. Back home now in my hibernation mode, listening to the rain and wind lashing against the house and waiting to see how severe the icing might be when the temp drops.

 

[LadyLocust]

Made a run to the powder coater today. That's usually my time to listen to classical music rather than the junk that plays in the shop loudly and nonstop. I got maybe 15 min. down the road and it was a playoff game for one of the local schools so they had a special broadcast of the game. I turned the radio back on as I was coming back - we evidently lost. So now I have some classical going as I meander through the posts.

 

[INresponse]

Finally finished the tape and mud of the drywall in the living room/kitchen area. Supposedly my GF will help me do the tape and mud in the bedroom tomorrow. If so that should be a one day job.

Aside from one more coat of polyurethane over everything the sign is done.
The stained wood is very weathered and the grain is really showing in some areas. because I cut the wrong stencil the first time I ended up sanding down everything that is painted beige as that was the only way to get the green chalk paint off of the beige chalk paint. I liked the rough texture to begin with but it looks better with the center portion smooth.

 

[LadyLocust]

Finally finished the tape and mud of the drywall in the living room/kitchen area. Supposedly my GF will help me do the tape and mud in the bedroom tomorrow. If so that should be a one day job.

Aside from one more coat of polyurethane over everything the sign is done.
The stained wood is very weathered and the grain is really showing in some areas. because I cut the wrong stencil the first time I ended up sanding down everything that is painted beige as that was the only way to get the green chalk paint off of the beige chalk paint. I liked the rough texture to begin with but it looks better with the center portion smooth.
View attachment 80542

That looks nice!

 

[goshengirl]

Congrats @Spikedriver !!!

 

[INresponse]

@LadyLocust Thank you.

 

[backlash]

I like the faucets he found that looks like a pitcher pump

We have the exact bathroom faucet. Our water is so hard it looks terrible now because of all the mineral deposits. Works great however.

 

[Haertig]

Started working on the wife's computer today. Hard drive is trying to die - S.M.A.R.T. errors predicting "imminent failure". It is well backed up, so we won't lose anything even if the disk goes up in smoke. I was going to head over to Best Buy to pick up an SSD to replace the hard drive, but a bad snowstorm was predicted for mid afternoon and I really didn't want to go out. So I looked at Amazon. Order the SSD at lunch, it was delivered to my door by dinner, in the middle of the snowstorm. I can't really complain about that shipping speed!

Plan is to do a bare metal restore from an image backup tomorrow. To verify that this works. Many people backup, but never test if they can successfully restore. After I restore the image and verify that it all worked I plan to destroy that and reinstall the OS from scratch. And then do a file restore (not an image restore). I'm a Linux user, but my wife uses Windows. Windows benefits from a complete re-installation of the OS every now and then. Windows can also be very finicky about image restores, especially when you are changing partitioning as I am, which is why I want to verify that I can successfully complete the restore. Then you have to deal with that stupid "secure boot" that Windows loves so much, and the fact that Windows only lets you change a small amount of hardware before it thinks you're trying to steal it and install it on a different computer. I hate to say it, but when you lose a hard disk, it really sucks if you were running Windows. What an awful operating system if you run into hardware problems requiring replacement. Even when armed with a solid backup, you better really know what you are doing. But things are a breeze if you were running Linux. OK, rant over. But now that I am forced to live the Windows nightmare for a while, I had to put in a plug for Linux.

 

[viking]

I got the position I put in for at work. I'm going from running a machine like this...
View attachment 80536
To running one like this...
View attachment 80537

And I'll be home every night. It'll be a learning curve, but I'm pretty stoked about it.

Across the county road in front of our property are railroad tracks where I've seen just about every kind of rail repair equipment that has ever been used, the top machine looks like the one that came by that compacted the gravel between ties, track grinders were interesting to watch. What I missed were the flat cars bringing in the really long tracks that were welded together for long unbroken tracks which certainly quieted down the trains traveling by, no more joint clanking unless some of the train wheels have flat spots on them. By the way, good for you on the job upgrade.