It's Personal...

The Adventurer's Almanac · Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:48 pm

Jesus man, that's fucking awful.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Sat Jun 20, 2020 3:26 am

Damn. I'm sorry to hear that.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:31 pm

Humblebrag I guess:

So for July, I have been attempting a monthly mileage challenge on Strava, with the goal of cycling at least 750 miles.

So far I have been on pace to hit that number.

The humbling part is how many people have logged more miles than me. I mean I figured pro-cyclists, wanna-be pros, people on bikepacking tours/vacations, and messengers all regularly top that. And sure there's also the occasional hardcore recreational roadie, masochist commuter or gravel enthusiast. And sure there will be a few more folks on covid-layoff logging some extra bike miles, so not like I was under any illusion of being anywhere near the top while still working 40 hours (not remote) a week.

But I didn't figure that there would be literally tens of thousands of folks averaging way over my 25+ miles per day.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jul 19, 2020 2:34 am

25+ miles per day does not sound like recreational cycling to me.
And at those numbers probably more cycling to and from work.

Aharon · Post by **Aharon** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:44 am

Aharon wrote:
Aharon wrote:I'm pretty happy right now After my breakup four years ago, I didn't have any partners. Recently, two poly pairs have invited me (separately) in their dynamics as secondary, which is a lot of fun. Not the same as being in a monogamous relationship or the primary in a poly relationship, but still really, really good!
Soo... In one of those pairs, I got feelings not only for the girl, but also the guy (I didn't realize/know I was bisexual before). He isn't interested in pursuing anything sexual, but his roommate is. The roommate is cute, adorably good-natured and basically what I look for in partners. However, he would be my first male partner and I'm a bit afraid of going for it

By the way, an update: I recently married the cute, adorably good-natured roommate

Red_Rob · Post by **Red_Rob** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:51 am

Congrats Aharon! Nice to get some good vibes in 2020 for a change.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:30 am

No kidding. Congratulations!

violence in the media · Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:56 am

Congratulations!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:01 pm

Congratulations!

Hicks · Post by **Hicks** » Fri Sep 04, 2020 4:11 am

Congratulations Aharon!

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Leress · Post by **Leress** » Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:45 am

Way to go, Aharon!

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Sep 04, 2020 12:33 pm

More congratulations, this time from me.

The Adventurer's Almanac · Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:03 pm

Holy shit. I was bored and looking through my old D&D stuff for some campaigns I wrote up in college, and uh... imagine my fucking surprise when I discovered that I apparently downloaded a 437 page document of The fucking Tomes about 8 years ago.
I can't imagine how my tabletop life would have gone had I ever gotten the chance to use it.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Thu Oct 01, 2020 9:22 pm

In the ongoing saga of how 2020 is an absolute shit year including for everyone collectively and for everyone individually and personally, my crappy experience today was having my wallet stolen out of my gym locker.

I got a text from a credit card company asking me to approve a $1500 purchase at Best Buy. I didn't. I was thinking that my card was compromised online, so I left the floor and found the lock from my locker had been cut off.

I reported it to the front desk, then I was going to go home when I realized they had my keys, too. My wife had to swing by with the keys and I've spent the last 2 hours letting all the credit card companies know.

There's a $1500 purchase on my DEBIT card which is a pain the ass, but I don't have any authorized payments that are going to bounce as a result, and I'm not overdrawn.

They also have my Driver's License.

I may have to deal with all kinds of fallout from future identity theft, too.

One of the places they spent $612 was a Target and I could see the address. They have video which they'll make available to the police. I don't know which Best Buy they went to (yet) but I'll try to see if they have video, too.

I did file a police report, but it make be 3-4 days before they get back to me.

The Adventurer's Almanac · Thu Oct 01, 2020 11:17 pm

Fucking hell. I don't know where you live or how effective and swift the legal system is there, but I hope you get your shit back relatively soon. That's some pretty deliberate theft too - cutting off a lock? Sounds like either they knew who to fuck with or you just got really unlucky.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 2:49 am

The gym I'm with is part of a chain, and they tried to hit another location. They cut off at least 5 locks at that location - might have hit the busier 'just off work crowd'. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but somehow my stuff was recovered at the other location - I got everything back.

They did make a $1500 purchase on my debit card and a $618 purchase on one of my credit cards. I had received some texts about confirming activity (which is how I became aware in the first place), and I should be able to get all of that back with some time and headache with the various banks. I NEVER use my debit card but fortunately that's not going to overdraw the account or force me to miss any payments.

So all in all, not nearly as bad as it could have been.

The Adventurer's Almanac · Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:31 am

What the fuck? That just makes it sound like the guy got caught at the other location and they just got your stuff off of him, because he... did it almost immediately after robbing you.
How hard is it to just play it cool, man? Either way, glad to hear it's been resolved so quickly.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:40 am

Ouch. They can spend $1500 without your PIN?

violence in the media · Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:48 am

Man, that sucks. Glad that it's not going to fuck up your life significantly though.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:52 pm

Thaluikhain: if US debit card regs are anything like UK debit card regs, you can make a purchase online with just the information on the physical card.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:06 pm

Thaluikhain wrote:Ouch. They can spend $1500 without your PIN?

Every Debit card in the US also has a credit card logo (Visa/MasterCard) and can be run as 'signature debit', which doesn't require a PIN.

In Europe, it is standard that you have to use a PIN with a debit or credit card, but Americans have more credit cards on average and banks make money when you use your card. It's in their interest to make it as easy to use your card as possible, so it is rare that they require a PIN. With the new 'chip cards', they can require a PIN on any specific transaction, but since cardholders aren't used to that, that's basically not an issue.

In any case, I asked my bank if there was any way to block 'signature debit' since I don't use my debit card for anything but ATM withdrawls but they said I couldn't. They have given me a $1500 'provisional credit' so my bank balance looks healthy, but I'm afraid to actually spend that money in case something bad happens.

Ultimately, I was really lucky. There were a couple of other charges on credit cards, but I'm going to get those back.

There was one moment of real fear.

I received a call from a police officer indicating that they had my stuff, and instructing me to meet them at the Gym where it was taken. I loaded the kids into my car (the person who stole my wallet had my address and the keys to my house). When I got to the gym the police officer was not waiting, and the gym attendant said that the police hadn't been there. I was concerned that they had tricked me into leaving so they could be robbing my house while I was away.... As I drove back home worrying I had been duped I called 911 and was able to determine that the officer was a real person and he was at the OTHER gym location. Both locations had a Sonic in the parking lot, so I was talking about one location and he was talking about another one.

We still spent $500 on rekeying all our locks.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:18 am

For the last 2 1/2 years I've been living in a remote First Nations community in northern Ontario. We're here because my wife has been teaching the grade 1-4 class.

Last Friday, my wife was released from her contract, essentially for mental health reasons. The job became significantly more stressful both because of covid, and also because her class went from 14 kids and 4 grades to 24 kids and 6 grades.

The good news is they're being fairly generous and letting us stay here until the end of February, and are even paying my wife's salary through that time. Still, I have to try and find a job in southern Ontario and try to get us established on fairly short notice. Also, I'm not really looking forward to driving out of the community on the 140 km gravel road in the middle of January or February.

I'm going to feel a lot better once I have some answers about our future and that part of the drive is behind me.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 12:33 pm

This is more personal than coronavirus, so I'll put it here.

While working today, I had to explain to someone what covid was. Not a covid denier or anything, someone who apparently had not heard there was a pandemic going on and wondered why people had to wear masks on public transport in the Greater Sydney area.

You know how in movies the hero will ask really obvious questions so they can get exposition for the audience? I used to think I'd helpfully answer in that circumstance, but it turns out I'm more one of those "How do you not know this?" types.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:31 pm

The poster, Cynic, is my brother-in-law. He died of covid-19 last week.

Pseudo Stupidity · Post by **Pseudo Stupidity** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:58 pm

I'm sorry to hear that, I hope you and the rest of the family are all doing OK.