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No, it's Cricket, singular, boring, but definately singular.
Ah yes, the game.
The perfect mirror of British enthusiasm. Or as GoogleAI reports.
I was, however, referring to the awkward sound of silence
There is, however, another sound of slience.
And for the pedantic or curiously observant, here's the answer to your unvoiced question.
No, it's more the thwack of leather on willow, or is that willow on leather, or as both leather and willow are moving at the same time is it both? Unless of course the batter is playing defensively in which case the bat may be still so it's leather on willow. Of course you have to remember to oil up the willow before you start, with linseed oil I believe is the preferred product.
First of all, I’ve just noticed what they did to the DAZ product library. This makes no sense. But that isn’t the main reason for this post.
As an employee of one of the more prominent evil empires in the world, I felt a need to share some of my experience with that situation.
I was one of those people who largely worked from home. There was an implication that people who work from home don’t even bother to turn their computers on. Well, some of these newfangled 21st century computers have a way of notifying the Empire when a person has come online or gone offline.
I don’t know if it’s because of something they inject in you or because he was a nice person, but I had a sense of loyalty to my handler. If I had to be online at 7:00 then I would wake up at 6:55. I might have been dirty with messy hair, and might have only been wearing panties hanging off one of my ankles, but I was always online at the exact time I was supposed to be. The only way I would be offline is if their stupid VPN didn’t work.
We have cases in which people want to receive something, but there are some documents they are required to provide to verify they are supposed to receive it. Others are cases in which somebody received something and the empire wasn’t so sure they were supposed to get it. Sometimes they want us to get it back.
The hardest part is when we have to interact with the people affected by the cases. You are expected to answer a phone call from a human being who got bad news.
Apparently our unit’s phone number is the favorite number to transfer people to. We get people transferred to us who have nothing to do with us. But they still expect us to help them. If we offer to transfer them back to the main line, with the people who are supposed to figure out who they actually need to talk to, they will tell us those are the people who transferred them to us. Or they will say they called that number and the automated system kept them on hold for two hours, then hung up on them. Some people even said our number was on a website and of all the numbers they called, I was the only person who answered. All of these things are probably true. But that doesn’t mean I can help them. But we’re idiots because we’re not helping them.
I don’t like transferring people to the same number that just transferred them to me… or just hung up on them automatically… But that is the phone number of the people who are supposed to help them. Some of the callers insist I should be able to help them because I work at the same place. Yes, because if you need your engine rebuilt then the person who puts the tires on should be able to rebuild your engine. I get it. They both work at the auto shop. Or if you’re in a department store looking for a washing machine then the girl in the gardening section should be able to tell you all about washing machines because she works at the same store. I get it. Sir, I cannot help you with your problem. Even if I had any idea what your problem was, there is a strict policy against employees of the Empire working outside of their assigned duties. And at the Empire, there is a thin line between workplace policy and federal law.
People swear they sent the documents we need from them. Our only option is to look in their file and see if it is there. If it’s not there, I tell them it’s not there. Then they tell me they definitely sent it so it should be there. Maybe they think I’m lying to them. Maybe they think an idiot lost their file. Maybe they ignored the part of the letter that says send the documents to this department, and they sent them to where they’re used to sending documents. How do you think the Empire might react if I were to act as if those documents were there, and just give this person access to everything they want because they swear they sent those documents? Sir, the documents are not here. I cannot help you. It’s not because I don’t feel like helping you or because I’m an idiot. It’s because the documents are not there. The chance, of you being an innocent person whose documents were lost, is equivalent to the chance of you being a scam artist who swears you have those documents because you want access to somebody’s file.
Sometimes the documents are there. Maybe not what we asked for. Maybe something so criminal it will trigger an investigation. Or maybe actually the documents we need to help them. If they sent in the right documents, I might be able to help them immediately. I can’t tell them that. Workplace policy. They have no idea their problem is going to be solved when I get off the phone. But for everybody else, the problem won’t be solved. Either way, they’re told they will have to wait. So they ask how long it will take. Well, maybe six months. Maybe a year. Maybe longer. Now they are getting personal. They think all of us should be fired. Well they did fire a lot of people. Maybe that’s why you were on hold two hours and the system timed out and hung up on you. Maybe that’s why it’s going to take a year to process the documents you sent in. I hope you’re happy because your wish came true. But we can’t tell them any of that. We can only tell them how long it might take to get a response.
Now they’re mad and they want to speak to a manager. I get it. You think I don’t want to transfer you to a manager. Truthfully, at this point there is nothing I’d rather do than transfer you to somebody else. The Empire’s official policy (that policy where there is a thin line between workplace policy and federal law) says you absolutely cannot transfer a person to your manager. I asked a manager about that a couple months ago. She tried to kill me. Then she sent me a copy of the policy, which I was already aware of, that says we do not transfer people to the manager. Sir! I cannot transfer you to a manager. It’s not because I’m too lazy to get up and do it. It’s not because I don’t want a manager to see what a stupid employee I am. I just cannot transfer you to a manager. Did you know our office is in Vice City? And the person who worked your case is in Raccoon City. That means the manager of the person who worked your case isn’t even here. My manager has nothing to do with the person who screwed you over. I have nothing to do with the person who screwed you over. You may have gotten screwed over because you sent your documents to the wrong department or to nowhere. Regardless, I cannot transfer you to a manager and it’s not because I don’t want to. I’ve heard stories of people handing the phone to the person next to them so that person can pretend they’re the manager. Because that’s easier than telling somebody you can’t transfer them to a manager.
If you can imagine a person who makes the world’s best muffins… And they’re expected to bake eight of these muffins per day. At the end of the day, if you have eight muffins then you know they did their job. It doesn’t matter if they did it at home or in your office. And when Chef Ramsey eats one of the muffins and says, “exquisite”, then you know it’s a good muffin. It doesn’t matter if they did it in their own oven or your office oven. That’s what it’s like when people work from home. There is no lack of quality or accountability. Forcing them to come into an office does not make them work harder or better. It just makes them spend more money on travel and get less sleep before they answer the phone and listen to you saying the documents were sent in, and you want to speak to a manager, and you should help them even though you don’t work in the department they need, and you should be fired.
Well, there was a few moments without crickets.
non-complaint: A tiny triumph: one thing that was no harder than it had to be.
For once something about Little Dude's services didn't turn out to be a giant pain in the rear, and since I complain enough about the butt pain parts, I figured I should share a good one.
We're required to do a mid-year meeting with the Person Who Replaced The County Person. This is measured by when he was approved to have the services, not when all the administrative stuff went through to actually ACTIVATE the services, so even though we've only just got them up and running... well, here we are.... mid-year. On top of it, there really isn't much to talk about because pretty much everything is handled through the person who writes the service plan for us... but still, requirements are requirements. The meeting must commence.
She asked where would be most convenient for me to meet... house? library? coffee shop? something else?.... and I asked if we couldn't just do it over zoom or the phone because Reasons. She talked to her supervisor, and apparently there's a requirement for them to see me in person. Zoom, even with the camera on, doesn't count for some benighted reason. (Seems extra irresponsible given global fuel issues right now, but I digress.) However, they also determined that it would still satisfy the necessaries if Replacement Lady drove up into my driveway and I waved from the door... she'd seen me, box checked, and we could handle anything else we needed to over email or phone or whatever.
So last week, I watched out the window, she got halfway up the driveway, I opened the window and waved and yelled "thank you" -- she waved and yelled "thank you" back, and she drove off.
Little Dude didn't realize anything had gone down, and our day went on as it had been, no speed bumps.
Easiest meeting to date.
...that's prcekess.
@SilverGirl Weird that she needed to see you, and not the child receiving the services, but glad it worked out for you.
No Grasshoppers. Very few Crickets.
And the Grasshoppers explode away from our feet in a wave as we walk through the long grass in the garden. Last month I began to wonder if I had the start of Tinitus, always hearing high pitched white noise at home. It only slowly dawned on me that it was the grasshoppers in such numbers we could hear them in the house too.
Regards,
Richard
You're likely completely correct. I have a problem, though. I can hold a tune same way as I can a fistful of water - after a few monents, nothing remains. And you should see the pained expressions of those near me when I sing. I can usually get exactly one octave and one flat (plus or minus a whole note) below the note everyone else is trying to sing. As a result I usually try to steer clear of making music.
Regards,
Richard
Bodhrans are drums, so all you need is a semblance of rhythm. No singing required.
I think the "need to see person receiving services" box gets checked with the yearly home visit by the nurse who makes the assessment that gets you qualified. (This will come up for me in December.) This is just the mid-year check-in to address any issues or make minor modifications, as I understand it.
Which means it makes no sense that it's necessary to see anyone physically. I think it's just a weird holdover with extroverts who are obsessed with in-person interaction and/or have decided they're traumatized by 2020 when everything was on zoom, so now we have to "get back to normal" -- never mind if there's reasoning behind it, or that for decades everyone was all "oh wouldn't it be cool if video telephones were real!!" Nope, now that we have them, all people can do is whine about them.
I won't say I love zoom meetings, because I hate meetings in general... but I far prefer them for both convenience and safety over having to be somewhere in person.
Yup! I know several magnificant bodhranists who never sing a note.
I can either play or sing but not both at the same time. Maybe someday, but I'm definitely not there yet.
I am immune to any form of rhythm or tune.
Regards,
Richard
Non-complaint: Cooling rain: Yay, it's raining. Not a downpour, just nice gentle rain, no wind, just overcast and drizzling. Porch temperature is 74F. Yesterday was cool enough and dry enough that I didn't need to use the A/C. Just fans and open windows. Did OK.
Today should be OK too unless the humidity spikes upward.
Complaint: Still another 9 days until monthly "payday" and I'm already way over budget.
But only because I thought that I had had a little extra and tried to restock my savings account on last payday. Never works. The budget is, what the budget is. Can't get blood from a stone. Sad truth of life, numbers don't lie, so sometimes the savings account suffers, that's what it's there for. So, I'm gonna have to dig into it, again, to get by.
Which is, in the end, tolerable, because I still need to get to the medical lab for a blood test. Probably Thursday would be a good day. Test lab is near a bank office, and a TimHortons, so yay, I can have breakfast and stock up on a couple of donuts & muffins. Should be a relatively inexpensive day. Bus to the lab, blood test, then toddle across the street to the bank to do some banking, then toddle across the street to TimHortons for breakfast & takeout, and there's also a Dollar Store in that same area that could be useful or at least a fun browse. And finally, get an Uber home. Should be all done by 10:00AM, before the heat comes out to play.
Complaint: The wildfire smoke is downright abysmal this week. AQI hitting triple digits, putting us on par with Krasnoyarsk and Jakarta most days.
Non-complaint: I filled my western-facing window with rigid insulation. Temps are a good 5-10 degrees cooler in that room now. Not bad for twenty bucks and a sliced-up thumb (be careful with knives, kids!)
That's a mighty good idea, the insulation one. Here in the UK we've been suffering from relatively high temps even though compared to others it isn't extreme at all. As the country isn't set up for it, we're feeling it rather. Putting material with a reflective layer and insulation in the window holes can't fail to help (I hope!). Thanks.
Regards,
Richard
Do be careful about reflective material in windows. I don't know how they're put together where you are, but I've heard reports of people doing that with them over here and the glass winds up cracking. Something about the reflected heat winds up heating up the gas between the two layers of glass and it expands too much. Not first hand knowledge, but maybe look into it to make sure you won't just be giving yourself an expensive repair bill.
I'd thought of insulating the two windows in my living room that look onto the other apartment's hot, enclosed porch. (Stupid design! Caused by splitting the single family house into two apartments.) Although, I never did, because another potential problem is moisture between the glass and the insulation promoting growth of mold. Here's what GoogleAI mode says when I ask it "Report on possible issues with covering the inside of a window with reflective foam or fiber insulation."
Insulation is a good idea, but the best way to do that with windows, is replacing the entire window with reflective double or triple pane windows. There is a dry gas between the panes. However, $$$$
Or another possibility is a permeable insulation capable of breathing to avoid the moisture problem.
I split a box (a wine box, I think) down diagonally opposite corners, the flipped one half over and stuck the flaps together. That makes a blocker about the right size for the bay window in this room. and it does some good. In principle, if I ever get around to it, it could be painted and have an opening cut in it to let a little light in. Insulamore effective, but at base this is free.
Has anyone actually done any renders with this burger?
Re: Window Insulation: Actually, there is an old technique to keep the windows insulated from both heat and cold. Draperies. Heavy, thick, floor to ceiling draperies that hug the wall at the sides, and with a white lining facing outward to reflect the light and thick fabric to provide the insulation. Our old farmhouse had them. My mother made ours.
Fantastic woman.
There was a rhyme & reason to a lot of old-time methods for dealing with temperature control. Things like screen doors and screens in windows for air circulation, tall ceilings providing a space for the trapped heat to go.
That old house still even has a handpump for emergency water from the well outside the back door. And in winter a cover was lowered over the stairway to the upstairs, to avoid attempting to heat the whole house with only a single pot-bellied stove in the living room. Mind you, going to bed in the cold upstairs was a chore, but for that we had bed warmers, hot water bottles and pets.