Bear Down Wildcats

If I wrote down all the things that have gone down in the past 2 years with this family, you all would think I was bullshitting.

Olsondogg wrote:Had an elderly family member pass in an assisted living facility that we helped for the past year after her stroke. We were the only family that was close to her for the better part of the past decade. Found out from other family members, who didn't lift a finger to help us when she was alive, that they are the beneficiaries and for us to step aside as they are in control all of the estate (which isn't much at all tbh).

They did this all via text/email to my wife, even though they had the chance to talk face to face. Unreal.

I will never understand human beings as long as I live. Even family.

See my sig.

This whole “thank everyone who was ever in the military for their service” thing is bullshit.

There’s a guy in our neighborhood who terrorizes all of us around the 4th of July with his ridiculous and unasked for fireworks which he starts mid-way through June even though the law is that you can’t set them off until June 29th and only after sunset (he lights off bombs in the middle of the day).

Someone confronted him on our neighborhood Facebook page because their husband is a combat veteran and it triggers his PTSD.

He countered that he too is a combat veteran, and everyone comes out of the woodwork to thank him for his service. So I decided to do a little snooping....

Turns out that he enlisted in the Air Force after getting in trouble with the law after high school and the closest he got to combat was loading and unloading C-130s in Guam. Meanwhile, he’s using his service to make it seem like he was under fire and that anyone who doesn’t like his fireworks is some kind of unpatriotic asshole who doesn’t appreciate the way he celebrates the freedom he fought so hard to protect.

I’m not thanking this douche for his service. Fuck him. There are people in my neighborhood who were under fire and saw their buddies hurt and even killed and he hides behind some fucking Air Force medal for service during wartime so he can continue to torture them so his dick may get hard when the really big bangers go off? Nah...

If you were under fire while protecting this nation I’d like to thank you for your service. In fact, I’d like to buy you a drink. If you’re some rear echelon motherfucker who uses his time in the military to justify being an asshole, go fuck yourself.

There was nothing worse than the uppity asshole ex air Force guy who demanded you bow down to him all the time because of his service....when his service was spending 20 years as a security guard at air Force bases in North Dakota and Tucson standing in a shack picking his nose. You're not different than a mall cop and just because you wore a military uniform doing it doesn't mean you're automatically superior to every other human.

Chicat wrote:This whole “thank everyone who was ever in the military for their service” thing is bullshit.

There’s a guy in our neighborhood who terrorizes all of us around the 4th of July with his ridiculous and unasked for fireworks which he starts mid-way through June even though the law is that you can’t set them off until June 29th and only after sunset (he lights off bombs in the middle of the day).

Someone confronted him on our neighborhood Facebook page because their husband is a combat veteran and it triggers his PTSD.

He countered that he too is a combat veteran, and everyone comes out of the woodwork to thank him for his service. So I decided to do a little snooping....

Turns out that he enlisted in the Air Force after getting in trouble with the law after high school and the closest he got to combat was loading and unloading C-130s in Guam. Meanwhile, he’s using his service to make it seem like he was under fire and that anyone who doesn’t like his fireworks is some kind of unpatriotic asshole who doesn’t appreciate the way he celebrates the freedom he fought so hard to protect.

I’m not thanking this douche for his service. Fuck him. There are people in my neighborhood who were under fire and saw their buddies hurt and even killed and he hides behind some fucking Air Force medal for service during wartime so he can continue to torture them so his dick may get hard when the really big bangers go off? Nah...

If you were under fire while protecting this nation I’d like to thank you for your service. In fact, I’d like to buy you a drink. If you’re some rear echelon motherfucker who uses his time in the military to justify being an asshole, go fuck yourself.

Oh man. This described so much of my interactions with people in Tucson over the last decade. I could rant for hours.

This sums up Apache Jct. rep Kelly Townsend to a T too, actually.

Sheesh. I'm watching some doco about film score composing and some guy says that one current composer superstar 'revolutionized' film score by using strings 'like a guitar' playing rhythm. WHAT? Have you never heard of stacatto, or pizzacato? No one has used it before? Phillip Glass says hello. So does just about every composer ever by the way.

Then they claim that Trent Reznor is the first 'popular musician' to score a film. WTF are they talking about? Have you never heard of Ry Cooder or Eric Clapton or Randy Newman ffs? Or litterally dozens of of other people?

This has got to be the worst researched 'arts' doco in the history of the planet.

Chicat wrote:This whole “thank everyone who was ever in the military for their service” thing is bullshit.

There’s a guy in our neighborhood who terrorizes all of us around the 4th of July with his ridiculous and unasked for fireworks which he starts mid-way through June even though the law is that you can’t set them off until June 29th and only after sunset (he lights off bombs in the middle of the day).

Someone confronted him on our neighborhood Facebook page because their husband is a combat veteran and it triggers his PTSD.

He countered that he too is a combat veteran, and everyone comes out of the woodwork to thank him for his service. So I decided to do a little snooping....

Turns out that he enlisted in the Air Force after getting in trouble with the law after high school and the closest he got to combat was loading and unloading C-130s in Guam. Meanwhile, he’s using his service to make it seem like he was under fire and that anyone who doesn’t like his fireworks is some kind of unpatriotic asshole who doesn’t appreciate the way he celebrates the freedom he fought so hard to protect.

I’m not thanking this douche for his service. Fuck him. There are people in my neighborhood who were under fire and saw their buddies hurt and even killed and he hides behind some fucking Air Force medal for service during wartime so he can continue to torture them so his dick may get hard when the really big bangers go off? Nah...

If you were under fire while protecting this nation I’d like to thank you for your service. In fact, I’d like to buy you a drink. If you’re some rear echelon motherfucker who uses his time in the military to justify being an asshole, go fuck yourself.

This is sooo refreshing to see and I couldn't agree more.

Another thing about some of these guys: they joined the service not out of patriotism, but because it was a good deal and they didn't have any other opportunities. Every one of them, once they get their 20, retires with some kind of disability-even if they never had a shot fired at them. Meanwhile, we got kids coming home who were in combat, and are screwed up or shot up, and don't get enough resources.

A perfect example is a guy I know who retired after 20 years of no combat, and gets disability because he supposedly injured his big toe. He got federal preference for a job, and plays basketball for two hours at lunch every day. He's just one example of many I could give.

Yup. I've seen countless guys who generally are complete assholes but served in theAir Force from like 1977-1997. Retired with a full pension and bursting TSP account because they had no bills for 20 years of checking ID at the base gate in Idaho or Italy or something. But retire with a 50% disability (about $1,600 a month I think) because they stubbed their toe in the Grenada in '83 (even though they never left the US). Then in 1997 they got first pick of some other federally subsidized job where they check ID at the base gate. Then they retire a second time in 2012 at 53 years old with civil service, va, and military pensions for about $7,000 a month net.

I have a neighbor just like the guy scum describes. Mercedes SUV, suped up classic Chevy that he shows at all the shows, three international trips a year. Nice enough guy, but idiot loud mouth.

By and large I hate the boomers for selling my generation and generations to come down the economic river. Fuck them.

Someone in my wife's nursing cohort got a VA pension (I think about 50%) and was discharged from the Air Force as a vehicle mechanic because while he was in they determined he had Type I diabetes. So he pulls about 2000 net a month for having diabetes and happened to be in the Air Force at the time. Oh and he's a huge racist, sexist, Trump-loving asshole.

Living in the house during a remodel is a pain in the god damn ass.

What kind of assholes dont wave up a golfer who has been waiting on them a while for every shot for 3 holes. Especially when there isnt a group for 3 holes in front of them.

PHXCATS wrote:What kind of assholes dont wave up a golfer who has been waiting on them a while for every shot for 3 holes. Especially when there isnt a group for 3 holes in front of them.

The fourth word answered your question.

PHXCATS wrote:What kind of assholes dont wave up a golfer who has been waiting on them a while for every shot for 3 holes. Especially when there isnt a group for 3 holes in front of them.

The same people who claimed Arizona Basketball would be better without Rawle Alkins?

Oh wait, you made those people up...

Fuck you trail (and running on said trail)
Fuck you rock
Fuck you asics shoes
Fuck you ATF and CNF ligaments
Fuck you grade two ankle sprain.

Thank god it’s not a grade 3 or needing surgery. I’ll bounce back from this.

Gotta make Rainier my bitch next year. And slopes to ski this winter.

God damn Apple customer support is a pain the ass

My company bought pizza for lunch yesterday. Yep.....Papa John's.

I also hate Mexican food pot luck lunch day in the office

Not enough ventilation.

CalStateTempe wrote:I also hate Mexican food pot luck lunch day in the office

Not enough ventilation.

You don't want your office to smell like Mexican food? Heathen.

Don’t mind the Mexican food, I mind the methane that is produced.

Concert festival portapottys are a step up from our bathrooms on these days

azgreg wrote:My company bought pizza for lunch yesterday. Yep.....Papa John's.

That’s some shit ....... with a side of racism.

Still in a boot. Achilles snapped 4/8, surgery 5/2.

Oh...and I herniated discs (same time)...surgery August 8. I am still not walking with my own legs, my calf muscle looks like boiled chicken on the bad leg, and I am still digging out from work that piled up during my 4.5 week leave. It was as if a fire raged for 23 days and all anyone did was throw a single cup of water at it.

Now, I am at 3 weeks until I leave again. YAY!

And I will probably be in a boot when I walk in for that surgery. On the upside...I guess...I hit my max out of pocket months ago...

Holy shit man! Get well.

The other day I was at my local bakery/coffee shop when I mentioned that I was going to go home and bake that pecan pie that I've promising SWMBO. The owner asked what my recipe was and I said its been so long I'm going to have to look it up, but I remember it calls for golden syrup. He suggested I use half and half maple syrup and honey instead of golden syrup. That sounded really good, but I hadn't seen it before so I looked it up on the web.

The first recipe I found billed itself as: "paleo, gluten free, sugar free".

Now I'm not sure how maple syrup 'qualifies' as paleo but OK who cares? The general population going gluten free when they are not gluten intolerant (like almost everybody) irritates me but that's their business, and the recipe does not have any gluten in it.

HOWEVER: how the hell can you call something 'sugar-free' when it has a cup of maple syrup and 2/3 of a cup of honey? Are these people insane? That description is absurd, extremely misleading, and potentially dangerous.

The sugar in maple syrup is somewhere around 95% sucrose that converts easily to glucose, so it has a very high glycemic index. The sugar in honey is about 45% glucose and 40% fructose. So honey is 'better' for diabetics than Maple syrup because the fructose reduces the overall GI. Processed sugar ('white sugar') is about 50/50 glucose and fructose. Corn syrup, called for in many Pecan Pie recipies, is almost all glucose.

So while maple syrup and honey are both 'better' than corn syrup, they are really not much better than processed sugar, AND NO WAY IN HELL CAN THEY BE CALLED "Sugar Free".

It's ludicrous.

BTW: I made the recipe last night before going to bed. We'll try it for desert tonight. I expect it will be great - but it ain't sugar free by any stretch of the imagination.

azgreg wrote:Holy shit man! Get well.

Every day is a little better. I started walking without crutches/in the boot a couple of weeks back, tweaked my ankle, had to grab the sticks again, and now back to walking with the boot. The disc surgery has me concerned, though neck discs usually react better to the surgery (less weight bearing).

It's been quite the 2018. We have had 3 surgeries, and mine will be 4. And that is just me and my kid (sports injuries, all).

Maybe I should take up board games...

Every morning I wake up, look in the mirror, and say "That doesn't look right."

Hate my fucking job so much right now. Such dysfunction...
Nonprofit management is shit...

-Direct supervisor is MIA most of the time (She's technically not part of the nonprofit but a cog in a larger corporate for profit healthcare org that is sort of our parent company)
-Way understaffed (2 full timers and a part timer is is!)
-I get random, sometimes conflicting edicts from Board Members weekly (who should work through said MIA supervisor)
-For any business expenses (even office supplies) I have to purchase out of pocket and put in for reimbursement that can takes weeks...
-General lack of respect from the Board who expect miracles
-...and of course, the pay is shit (Barely over $50k)
-Sooo hard to state motivated

Cannot wait to move to Perth, Australia. Work visas in progress. Fiance and I looking at job possibilities.

UAdevil wrote:Hate my fucking job so much right now. Such dysfunction...
Nonprofit management is shit...

-Direct supervisor is MIA most of the time (She's technically not part of the nonprofit but a cog in a larger corporate for profit healthcare org that is sort of our parent company)
-Way understaffed (2 full timers and a part timer is is!)
-I get random, sometimes conflicting edicts from Board Members weekly (who should work through said MIA supervisor)
-For any business expenses (even office supplies) I have to purchase out of pocket and put in for reimbursement that can takes weeks...
-General lack of respect from the Board who expect miracles
-...and of course, the pay is shit (Barely over $50k)
-Sooo hard to state motivated

Cannot wait to move to Perth, Australia. Work visas in progress. Fiance and I looking at job possibilities.

But that's just your side job right? Owner of BearDownWildcats is your real job, correct?

Alieberman wrote:

UAdevil wrote:Hate my fucking job so much right now. Such dysfunction...
Nonprofit management is shit...

-Direct supervisor is MIA most of the time (She's technically not part of the nonprofit but a cog in a larger corporate for profit healthcare org that is sort of our parent company)
-Way understaffed (2 full timers and a part timer is is!)
-I get random, sometimes conflicting edicts from Board Members weekly (who should work through said MIA supervisor)
-For any business expenses (even office supplies) I have to purchase out of pocket and put in for reimbursement that can takes weeks...
-General lack of respect from the Board who expect miracles
-...and of course, the pay is shit (Barely over $50k)
-Sooo hard to state motivated

Cannot wait to move to Perth, Australia. Work visas in progress. Fiance and I looking at job possibilities.

But that's just your side job right? Owner of BearDownWildcats is your real job, correct?

Indeed. My volunteer gig!

UAdevil wrote:

Alieberman wrote:

UAdevil wrote:Hate my fucking job so much right now. Such dysfunction...
Nonprofit management is shit...

-Direct supervisor is MIA most of the time (She's technically not part of the nonprofit but a cog in a larger corporate for profit healthcare org that is sort of our parent company)
-Way understaffed (2 full timers and a part timer is is!)
-I get random, sometimes conflicting edicts from Board Members weekly (who should work through said MIA supervisor)
-For any business expenses (even office supplies) I have to purchase out of pocket and put in for reimbursement that can takes weeks...
-General lack of respect from the Board who expect miracles
-...and of course, the pay is shit (Barely over $50k)
-Sooo hard to state motivated

Cannot wait to move to Perth, Australia. Work visas in progress. Fiance and I looking at job possibilities.

But that's just your side job right? Owner of BearDownWildcats is your real job, correct?

Indeed. My volunteer gig!

Talk about non-profit.

What about the money you make off premium?

I had to take my Father's car keys. Will someone just shoot the part of me that's not already dead.

dovecanyoncat wrote:I had to take my Father's car keys. Will someone just shoot the part of me that's not already dead.

I can’t even imagine that conversation. So sorry Dove.

dovecanyoncat wrote:I had to take my Father's car keys. Will someone just shoot the part of me that's not already dead.

Dude, I am so sorry to hear this dove. You’re doing the right thing I’m sure, but it still sucks horribly.

why right now.

it's fucking 2 am and all i want to do is sleep.

can i just fucking sleep.

please.

UAdevil wrote:Hate my fucking job so much right now. Such dysfunction...
Nonprofit management is shit...

-Direct supervisor is MIA most of the time (She's technically not part of the nonprofit but a cog in a larger corporate for profit healthcare org that is sort of our parent company)
-Way understaffed (2 full timers and a part timer is is!)
-I get random, sometimes conflicting edicts from Board Members weekly (who should work through said MIA supervisor)
-For any business expenses (even office supplies) I have to purchase out of pocket and put in for reimbursement that can takes weeks...
-General lack of respect from the Board who expect miracles
-...and of course, the pay is shit (Barely over $50k)
-Sooo hard to state motivated

Cannot wait to move to Perth, Australia. Work visas in progress. Fiance and I looking at job possibilities.

Why Perth?
What kind of job?
Have you got a search agency on the lookout over here?
I'm in Melbourne, and retired in no position to actually recommend to anyone, but I can ask around and/or make some recommendations about where to look.

The gov has recently cut down on the number of visa's allowed for bringing in overseas folks to fill 'high demand' positions where Oz has a perceived lack of qualified personnel. So a prospective employer really needs to want you and then jump through big hoops in order to import you.

UAdevil wrote:Hate my fucking job so much right now. Such dysfunction...
Nonprofit management is shit...

-Direct supervisor is MIA most of the time (She's technically not part of the nonprofit but a cog in a larger corporate for profit healthcare org that is sort of our parent company)
-Way understaffed (2 full timers and a part timer is is!)
-I get random, sometimes conflicting edicts from Board Members weekly (who should work through said MIA supervisor)
-For any business expenses (even office supplies) I have to purchase out of pocket and put in for reimbursement that can takes weeks...
-General lack of respect from the Board who expect miracles
-...and of course, the pay is shit (Barely over $50k)
-Sooo hard to state motivated

Cannot wait to move to Perth, Australia. Work visas in progress. Fiance and I looking at job possibilities.

Let me know if you have any questions about Perth or visas for Australia. I was a long time Perth resident and still Australian permanent resident.

Dudes fixing our busted fence just hit the water main. Yay!

At least it wasn’t the gas line.

sink hole in the backyard yet?

Not yet!

CalStateTempe wrote:Dudes fixing our busted fence just hit the water main. Yay!

At least it wasn’t the gas line.

You must be using my contractor. Installed a bunch of stuff non-compliant with code, sinks and bathtub leaked and were only found when we brought in a different contractor to do a separate project and installed plumbing and outlets in the wrong place, among a number of other fuck ups.

I am so disgusted by the saying "I found my person". It's beyond fucking annoying and its just not true. There is no one person for everyone. It's a dangerous fucking idea and it has never been true.

cpt wrote:I am so disgusted by the saying "I found my person". It's beyond fucking annoying and its just not true. There is no one person for everyone. It's a dangerous fucking idea and it has never been true.

Agree. The one that annoys me is, "Life is Good". It's on bumper stickers, t-shirts, everywhere. Good for whom? That's my question. Plenty of folks out there for whom life isn't so fucking good. If it's good for you, great. STFU and enjoy it quietly.

cpt wrote:I am so disgusted by the saying "I found my person". It's beyond fucking annoying and its just not true. There is no one person for everyone. It's a dangerous fucking idea and it has never been true.

Agreed 100%. And I say this as a very happily married person (only 2.5 years but still).

I would always get irate listening to Taylor Swift’s “you belong to me” for this very reason.

cpt wrote:I am so disgusted by the saying "I found my person". It's beyond fucking annoying and its just not true. There is no one person for everyone. It's a dangerous fucking idea and it has never been true.

Wow. I've been lamenting this for months to my wife, not my fucking person, my wife.

Stop eavesdropping my living room.

Tell my wife that, cpt. If it weren't for our kids and my side jobs, we'd have no social life at all.

My "person"? Has somebody been watching Bolt with their kids too many times?

I have many friends with whom I bond over shared common interests: posters here, distant relatives, fellow teachers, casual (non-Russian) Facebook acquaintances I will never meet.

None of us are looking for others to be that "person." That is creepily stalkerific. It is enough of a blessing to connect, to smile, to laugh, with a fresh intelligence in a given moment.

To want any more than that is to seek to possess someone--not just immoral but a sin against love, undoubtedly.

8 years ago next week my sister started work as an in-Home caregiver. She worked that job excellently well, winning city and regional acclaim and honors. 5 years ago her husband decided he wanted to fuck around, so, she did all this for her work with her own world falling apart. She braved everyday and battles and eventually she was given a promotion opportunity, which she grabbed a hold of, won, and hit the ground running, again, gaining regional acclaim, while battling through depression over her loss and her exes gain (a baby with his mistress, so now her children have a sibling not hers).

One year ago, she was aces. Then came a few people retiring and her caseload became untenable, and she was stockpiled with 8/10 of the most difficult care cases. About six months ago, she had a care giver completely screw up and in the flurry of activity, a few small things were missed, and slowly over the last 6 months they have emerged and now a job where she gets 3 strikes is now a job where one strike has accounted for all three Xs. She’s been told she will not be retained and to find new employment soon, because if she isn’t gone by Thanksgiving, she will be fired and company policy is all recommendations for fired employees are basically non-recommendations.

It’s complete and utter bullshit.

She didn’t even make the mistake. The scheduled shift didn’t show up for work. She covered the shift until backup got there, left a list, walked her through what to do, left, only to have the backup with an unfamiliar academy miss one aspect of the new case.

No actual harm occurred. But it doesn’t matter.

So, now, mother of 2 with 8 years of her 32 years invested in this career has been kicked to the curb.

Your career doesn’t give a shit about you.

JMarkJohns wrote:8 years ago next week my sister started work as an in-Home caregiver. She worked that job excellently well, winning city and regional acclaim and honors. 5 years ago her husband decided he wanted to fuck around, so, she did all this for her work with her own world falling apart. She braved everyday and battles and eventually she was given a promotion opportunity, which she grabbed a hold of, won, and hit the ground running, again, gaining regional acclaim, while battling through depression over her loss and her exes gain (a baby with his mistress, so now her children have a sibling not hers).

One year ago, she was aces. Then came a few people retiring and her caseload became untenable, and she was stockpiled with 8/10 of the most difficult care cases. About six months ago, she had a care giver completely screw up and in the flurry of activity, a few small things were missed, and slowly over the last 6 months they have emerged and now a job where she gets 3 strikes is now a job where one strike has accounted for all three Xs. She’s been told she will not be retained and to find new employment soon, because if she isn’t gone by Thanksgiving, she will be fired and company policy is all recommendations for fired employees are basically non-recommendations.

It’s complete and utter bullshit.

She didn’t even make the mistake. The scheduled shift didn’t show up for work. She covered the shift until backup got there, left a list, walked her through what to do, left, only to have the backup with an unfamiliar academy miss one aspect of the new case.

No actual harm occurred. But it doesn’t matter.

So, now, mother of 2 with 8 years of her 32 years invested in this career has been kicked to the curb.

Your career doesn’t give a shit about you.

Damn. This is what boomers don't get. You don't owe anything to your company. You don't mean shit to them 99% of the time. Take care of yourself, your family and your sanity first. Work to live, don't live to work. Work smarter not harder. You aren't required to give every ounce of energy and time and 40 years to some company anymore. Late stage capitalism has ensured that you're just a throwaway drone. I hope she gets back on her feet soon.