It's Personal...

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat Nov 12, 2011 12:02 am

If Steve Martin movies have taught me anything, even if the age guessers at the fair lose every time then they still make money.

I've gotten that a lot about the age thing. A few years back, I had a 16 year old Hispanic girl who was trying constantly to get me to take her to the Hispanic club in town for dancing.

Don't get me wrong, I would have been ecstatic if I was 16 years old if a girl this cute was asking me out. However, at the time was 27, and all I could think of was "Big white guy taking an underaged girl to a hispanic club. I would get stabbed in ways I can't even comprehend".

EDIT: And one of the nice things my most recent girlfriend always said that I had really nice legs and a sexy ass. I don't see it, but I'm not an aficionado of male ass...

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 3:39 pm

I'm going to file this under here because I don't think it fits anywhere else.

Sometimes using a spell checker is not a good thing. But you probably knew that. Basically there was an email going around work about the success of a project here is the email title.

RE: Nda_dse_oid_migration.01.00.05 - Production -Succ

Someone's spell checker thought better and the email became

RE: Nda_dse_oid_migration.01.00.05 - Production -Suck

There's a vast difference between Succ(ess) and Suck, don't you think?

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 3:55 pm

RobbyPants wrote:
Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I broke 265 today. 15 pounds away from my year-end goal, let's see if I can do this.
15 pounds in 7-8 weeks is aggressive, but doable, I think.

Man, I was happy with my weight loss progress; went from 200 to 160 in about two months (bit less?), eating ~1300 cal per day and exercising 1.5hrs a day, six days a week. I've recently regained 10 pounds (over two months), likely because I just as recently got a job that's fairly sedentary and stopped exercising.

My main goal is go back to 160 and get rid of my pudgy midsection, which was flabby before the weight came back.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 2:03 am

Well, I am ungainfully employed. ~10 hours a week delivering pamphlets, for $20-40 a week. As my sister's hours have been cut due to the business having fewer customers lately, I give half to her, leaving me with enough to pay for the bus ticket to get the next batch and cover a couple of snacks.

Still, it could get better. I was talking to my case manager, and he feels it is worth making an appointment for a capacity assessment with the government. Currently I am listed as capable for 30+ hours a week, and my last job stands testament to that not being the case. He wants to get it reduced to 10-15, and to have me put on a disability support pension, which would mean:

A) I get a little more money, enough to pay rent and bills and also afford to eat!
B) They would be allowed to provide wage subsidy for basically any job, meaning I could get something similar to what I'm doing now, but not a complete scam, getting ~100/week.

Yeah, in order to get work, I'll need to be declared more or less unable to work.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 2:21 am

Maxus wrote:In other news, I figured out why people underestimate my age. I'm 24 (dear god, gonna be 25 soon), but I've had people think I'm in highschool. As young as 16. Including one girl trying to hit on me on the bus and she led off with "Why ain't you in school" (and my mental answer was, "Why aren't you, missy?") and gave a wide-eyed disbelieving headshake when I told her because I'm 24 and on my way to work.

I don't look younger when I'm looking right at you, but evidently at an angle or from the side...

When I wore a beard (like, back in high school), people put my age at around 30. Now that I'm in my 30's and clean-shaven, people put me around 24. Go figure.

I guess it's gotten a little better...even 5 years ago, I might have gotten pegged at 16-17 without the beard.

Count Arioch the 28th · Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:07 am

virgil wrote:
RobbyPants wrote:
Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I broke 265 today. 15 pounds away from my year-end goal, let's see if I can do this.
15 pounds in 7-8 weeks is aggressive, but doable, I think.
Man, I was happy with my weight loss progress; went from 200 to 160 in about two months (bit less?), eating ~1300 cal per day and exercising 1.5hrs a day, six days a week. I've recently regained 10 pounds (over two months), likely because I just as recently got a job that's fairly sedentary and stopped exercising.

My main goal is go back to 160 and get rid of my pudgy midsection, which was flabby before the weight came back.

I'm eating less food (about 900 calories/day), but also working out less (I don't normally have 1.5 hours a day to work out, but I do hit 30 minutes six days a week).

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:05 pm

So, I've been shopping for auto insurance for my wife. When I got a quote form Amica, I had to laugh. The price of the quote was $4800~ for a 12 month period.

My cheapest quote was from Geico for 521$. So, the Amica quote was approximately 4.5 times more.

The best part was the representative at Amica had a very chipper voice when she asked me if I would like to get it by Check/Card...

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 1:43 am

???

You can get Car Insurance for $521 for 12 months?

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:23 am

It costs $521 for 12 months?
That's nearly double mine...

Count Arioch the 28th · Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:09 am

I pay about $700 a year. I'm a man aged 31 with a completely clean driving record. I am not sure how one pays about half of $521 a year.

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:47 am

Not living in the US might do it...

Count Arioch the 28th · Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:53 am

That will do it. I always dreamed about leaving the US. Regrettably, I lack the talent to do so.

Daiba · Post by **Daiba** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:10 am

My Massachusetts car insurance costs $350/year, but that only covers liability; comp is another $300/year. So it's entirely possible to have dirt cheap car insurance stateside, as long as your vehicle is worth so little that you don't care about insuring damage.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:20 pm

My insurance is actually right around $500/year, including comp (though not collision). The vehicle is 17 years old. New Hampshire has cheaper rates than most of the country. It's Progressive.

It actually went down when I added my wife to the policy.

Collision isn't worth it because they pay out the blue book value, which is pretty tiny for a 1994 Honda Accord despite it being a great car. Their sales agent actually told me about this policy and recommended against adding collision -- +1 for Progressive honesty right there.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:40 pm

I'm working on revamping my Progressive insurance policy. I pay just under $400, but I noticed the other day that my cost actually goes down if I change my comprehensive deductible to $0.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:59 pm

Really, the reason our policy is so high is because of my wife's record. Last year, she got into two at-fault accidents where both of our cars got totaled.

It also doesn't help that since I am disabled, she doesn't get the family discount.

Since our car is only 4 years old, comp and collision is needed. NJ also has weird tort laws which increases insurance rates. Because of the neighborhood we live in, we also have high liability. Although we are dirt poor, the average car price in the neighborhood is about 55k.

I can't wait to move out when our lives become more stable.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:12 pm

And you got $521/year for all of that from Geico?

Count Arioch the 28th · Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:27 pm

On Monday, me and my potential new roomate check out an apartment and start negotiating payment. Let's hope he doesn't screw this up, because I'm up Shit's Creek if he doesn't come through with his end...

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 2:44 pm

Surgo wrote:And you got $521/year for all of that from Geico?

That's supposed to be 521$/6 months.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:11 pm

Fallout from the curry powder in the bed incident of a few days ago: My sheets and the towels used to clean up the mess have been dyed a lovely yellow by the turmeric.

I knew that turmeric could be used as a dye, but I had no idea just how effective a dye it was!

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:34 pm

My wife banned me from using (admittedly excessive) turmeric because the cookware would take on that nice yellow sheen. I expect you're now in possession of a new sheet set

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:42 pm

South Indian food is all about the turmeric. I accidentally spilled a spice bottle of turmeric onto a corian countertop a few years ago. I didn't realize I had done this. A day later, I find the countertop was stained to the grain.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:23 pm

Yeah. My sheets are tenaciously yellow. My favorite towels - formerly blue - are now chartreuse.

Sometimes I'm taken aback by how effective non-modern methods of doing things can be.

Speaking of turmeric... I've also learned that thanks to the canned soup industry that wants its soup broth to be a more golden color, adding a very small amount of turmeric can make homemade chicken soup taste more like chicken soup (without the can!).

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:09 am

Maj wrote:Speaking of turmeric... I've also learned that thanks to the canned soup industry that wants its soup broth to be a more golden color, adding a very small amount of turmeric can make homemade chicken soup taste more like chicken soup (without the can!).

Tumeric is also generally known as the poor man's saffron. It's a nice way to make "yellow rice." (This may be a Cuban thing, however.)

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:32 pm

I was going to have to work tomorrow, but yesterday the other vacuum guy (one's out, and I'm subbing for him) called in. Leaving me to vacuum all eight floors of the building single-handedly.

When I only had two left, my boss found me and said "You know this means you don't have to come in Friday, right?"

Apparently he can't remember the last time someone did that. And Friday will be an extremely slow day with a lot of people on vacation, and a few extra people will be there.

So, I worked myself into a headache and it took some extra sweat, but I got a four day weekend.

Life's good.