The Vent and Rant Thread

[CRussel]

Get a better one. The best are quite as efficient as the old high flow ones.

[cc_in_oh]

When I needed a new toilet a while back I looked at a dual-flush model, Kohler IIRC. When I contacted a plumbing service about installing, they said they have the least problems with the Am. Std. Champion 4. Got the oval model for $230 at Home Depot and so far it's great - it's the 1.25 ga model that's supposed to be able to flush a bucket of golf balls, but I only have about half a bucket so far so I won't be able to try that for a while...

[Rumpelteazer]

Today I was told that that in three weeks, on the 13th, we're having a family day. That isn't good news for me. It's already a stressful time for me, being a super introvert and having to be social during the holidays. Some time in summer my mother told me they wanted to do this, but I hadn't heard anything more about it, so it slipped my mind.

It's unclear in my uncle's children (THE uncle) are coming. They wanted to a while ago, but now they're very vague about it. I hope they aren't coming; last time I was very annoyed by their behaviour. Ordering more expensive things because they didn't have to pay for it (fully) and mostly interacting with one another and not with the rest of the family.

To top it off they've decided to go somewhere where my cousin's kids can play, so we're meeting at some indoor play center. Pretty much my idea of hell; noisy, a lot of children, lots of other people. In other words it'll be a high social anxiety situation for me.

One positive thing: the day after I'm going on my annual reading retreat. I will be bringing my Kindle with me, hopefully I can sneak off for a little while to charge my batteries.

[Fbone]

I wish I could replace the toilets but I live in an apartment.

[Blossom]

So I was at the ER all day Friday with dehydration and high blood pressure from a mysterious illness. Once again if you don't have insurance they won't do much other meds and blood work. The doctors were okay they ran several blood panels and a EKG because it was in the chest area. All my test results were fine. I asked for a bag of fluids when I got there I know I was dehydrated. So he order it but I had the worst nurse. She only came running in hours later when the doctor came in to ask a few more questions about my symptoms when the first set of tests came back normal. She comes running in with the bag of fluids say. Oh I was just about to give her this, I can come back later. She never did. I called hubby and told him to come sit with me.

Once he got there I told him about her, he went and tracked her down. She came in and made a joke, a joke about neglect. She then connected the bag to my IV and left. We noticed 20 minutes later the bag was still full. It would be another 15 minutes she comes in and realized it's not working. So she goes gets a pressure bag to fix it and tells hubby to pump the bag if it stops and leaves 30 minutes later it's still pretty full. She says well I guess that's all your going to get. My husband makes it clear that we have time and that I need these fluids. She pumps the bag like crazy and then instead of trying to fix the IV in my arm she grabs the tube the IV is connected to and pulls on it so tight and wraps around my fingers and leave. Fluid pours into my IV like a faucet. I got a nearly full bag of fluids in me in about ten minutes. I started shaking and my teeth started chattering and I got very light headed. She then came in and remove the IV and we left. The ER was not overcrowded like last time but I got there at 12:30 and should been out at 4:30 but was there till 6:30 due to her negligence. When they send the survey I'm going to make sure they know this. I better not be charged for the extra time.

I'm better. Eating again and drinking. I've solved the mystery myself a day later. I can't say if it's a slipped disc for sure but it's my back. I was feeling like I was running a high fever but temp was normal. It caused me to be too sick to eat or drink. The doctor blew it off as hormones. Perimenopause was what he thought it was because I skipped December. It's not from that. It's inflammation. A simple x-ray would have solve this. How I figure it out was I was moving and felt the pain start in my upper right back. It felt like bad case of GERD When I pressed the area it felt better. So I iced that spot several times on Saturday and afterward when I layed down I felt in my mid to lower back what I can only describe as radiating pain so I got up and iced that spot and felt better so I went to sleep. I noticed my blood pressure, particularly the diastolic was normal the next day. The top number a bit lower too. I felt good. I could eat no fever feeling. So as long as I keep icing my back I'm pretty much back to normal. The pain radiating in my right arm and up my spine is probably a irritated nerve from the disc in my lower back. If I don't keep the inflammation under control it goes to the entire ribcage and my stomach, and other organs as well making me very ill. I told the doc several times it feels like I'm melting inside. My BP was skyrocketing, my heart racing all because of this and they could not figure it out.

Hospitals are not what they use to be.


Sent from my Nexus 7

[Hitch]

So, this is just...."things that make you go, 'hmmmmmm'" comment, not a true rant.

Each year, I send out our auto-acknowledgement, that says we're closed, yadda. Right?

Having a sense of humor, I always have Otto sign it. Otto Bott, right? As it SAYS it's an auto-acknowledgement email?

Why is it that people WRITE BACK to Otto? I mean...huhn? Am I the only person that thinks that Otto Bott is an obvious autobot acknowledgement? We really do get emails, TO Otto, each December and January. Otto likes the email, but truly, he's in no shape to reply. Other than as an auto-acknowledgement, that is.

This year, after his name, I typed (As in, "Auto-bot," get it?)

I bet people will STILL email Otto. (sigh).

Hitch

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

So, this is just...."things that make you go, 'hmmmmmm'" comment, not a true rant.

<...>

This year, after his name, I typed (As in, "Auto-bot," get it?)

I bet people will STILL email Otto. (sigh).

You need to upgrade Otto to something that can write back to them.

Years ago, there was an early and amusing program (called Eliza, IIRC) that attempted to mimic what a psychiatrist did, selecting keywords in what users typed in and responding to them. Someone else did a program that was en extremely good imitation of a paranoid, and I heard that the shrink program and the paranoid program were set up to "talk" to each other, with bemusing results.

One of the milestones in computer science is the Turing Test, named after the late Alan Turing. It posits that if you can create a program that a human being cannot cannot tell in interacting with it that it is a program, you have something that might be true AI.

The comment about the paranoid program was "We have created a program that is a true artificial intelligence - and it's crazy."

I foresee all sorts of possibilities for Otto, since the technology has only improved...
______
Dennis

Originally Posted by Hitch

Having a sense of humor, I always have Otto sign it. Otto Bott, right? As it SAYS it's an auto-acknowledgement email?

Why is it that people WRITE BACK to Otto? I mean...huhn? Am I the only person that thinks that Otto Bott is an obvious autobot acknowledgement? We really do get emails, TO Otto,
I bet people will STILL email Otto. (sigh).

Hitch

My names is "Stuart" and it's part of my email address. So whenever people reply to emails I send, or email me, their client will show either my name "Stuart" or my email address, which starts with stuart. I STILL get emails, from regular correspondents, starting with "Stewart". So no, your Otto doesn't surprise me at all

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

You need to upgrade Otto to something that can write back to them.

Years ago, there was an early and amusing program (called Eliza, IIRC) that attempted to mimic what a psychiatrist did, selecting keywords in what users typed in and responding to them. Someone else did a program that was en extremely good imitation of a paranoid, and I heard that the shrink program and the paranoid program were set up to "talk" to each other, with bemusing results.

One of the milestones in computer science is the Turing Test, named after the late Alan Turing. It posits that if you can create a program that a human being cannot cannot tell in interacting with it that it is a program, you have something that might be true AI.

The comment about the paranoid program was "We have created a program that is a true artificial intelligence - and it's crazy."

I foresee all sorts of possibilities for Otto, since the technology has only improved...
______
Dennis

I'm aware of the Turing Test; I can't decide if I want to live long enough to see it, or not. We go the other route, as it happens; we send out canned responses, but there's a person at the helm. But, yes, we have canned text, because we answer the same questions, over and over and over (which are also ALL answered on our FAQ, which nobody reads, fwiw.) Sometimes when we send out an email full of information, someone will come back and accuse us of using an auto-responder. (sigh). You can't win....

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

My names is "Stuart" and it's part of my email address. So whenever people reply to emails I send, or email me, their client will show either my name "Stuart" or my email address, which starts with stuart. I STILL get emails, from regular correspondents, starting with "Stewart". So no, your Otto doesn't surprise me at all

LOL. Hell, I have clients that are publishing on "Kimble," so...not remotely surprised.

Hitch

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Having a sense of humor, I always have Otto sign it. Otto Bott, right? As it SAYS it's an auto-acknowledgement email?

Maybe like me, on reading your post, the people who read your email assume you made a typo in making a humorous reference to Tom Sharpe's A Blott on the Landscape. I can't recall if Blott's given name is ever revealed, but if he had one it could well have been Otto.

BR

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Hitch

So, this is just...."things that make you go, 'hmmmmmm'" comment, not a true rant.

Each year, I send out our auto-acknowledgement, that says we're closed, yadda. Right?

Having a sense of humor, I always have Otto sign it. Otto Bott, right? As it SAYS it's an auto-acknowledgement email?

Why is it that people WRITE BACK to Otto? I mean...huhn? Am I the only person that thinks that Otto Bott is an obvious autobot acknowledgement? We really do get emails, TO Otto, each December and January. Otto likes the email, but truly, he's in no shape to reply. Other than as an auto-acknowledgement, that is.

This year, after his name, I typed (As in, "Auto-bot," get it?)

I bet people will STILL email Otto. (sigh).

Hitch

Most of them are probably just oblivious as you suggest, but you might have a few (like me) who work in a job where you come across a LOT of names. Names that make you think - "Mama was high on the epidural when she came up with this one" - names.

Autumn Gold (pretty)
Peter Brown Dickie (I swear, a real name)
Matthew Matthews and Michael Michaels

They may very well be thinking "Otto Bott? Really?!" But afraid of risking it's a real name and offending someone on your end.

[poohbear_nc]

Made me think of Otto Pilot ....

[PeterT]

I can see it now... Hitch calling "Get me Otto here"....

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[HLS]

I have something similar to a dental implant. A post with a crown cemented in. Well for the first time in 30 years it popped out today. It is my front tooth that everyone can see and I can not afford to see a dentist yet so I went to cvs and purchased dental cement. I hope it holds. When that tooth came out I was in full panic mode.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by Blossom

So I was at the ER all day Friday with dehydration and high blood pressure from a mysterious illness. Once again if you don't have insurance they won't do much other meds and blood work. The doctors were okay they ran several blood panels and a EKG because it was in the chest area. All my test results were fine. I asked for a bag of fluids when I got there I know I was dehydrated. So he order it but I had the worst nurse. She only came running in hours later when the doctor came in to ask a few more questions about my symptoms when the first set of tests came back normal. She comes running in with the bag of fluids say. Oh I was just about to give her this, I can come back later. She never did. I called hubby and told him to come sit with me.

Once he got there I told him about her, he went and tracked her down. She came in and made a joke, a joke about neglect. She then connected the bag to my IV and left. We noticed 20 minutes later the bag was still full. It would be another 15 minutes she comes in and realized it's not working. So she goes gets a pressure bag to fix it and tells hubby to pump the bag if it stops and leaves 30 minutes later it's still pretty full. She says well I guess that's all your going to get. My husband makes it clear that we have time and that I need these fluids. She pumps the bag like crazy and then instead of trying to fix the IV in my arm she grabs the tube the IV is connected to and pulls on it so tight and wraps around my fingers and leave. Fluid pours into my IV like a faucet. I got a nearly full bag of fluids in me in about ten minutes. I started shaking and my teeth started chattering and I got very light headed. She then came in and remove the IV and we left. The ER was not overcrowded like last time but I got there at 12:30 and should been out at 4:30 but was there till 6:30 due to her negligence. When they send the survey I'm going to make sure they know this. I better not be charged for the extra time.

I'm better. Eating again and drinking. I've solved the mystery myself a day later. I can't say if it's a slipped disc for sure but it's my back. I was feeling like I was running a high fever but temp was normal. It caused me to be too sick to eat or drink. The doctor blew it off as hormones. Perimenopause was what he thought it was because I skipped December. It's not from that. It's inflammation. A simple x-ray would have solve this. How I figure it out was I was moving and felt the pain start in my upper right back. It felt like bad case of GERD When I pressed the area it felt better. So I iced that spot several times on Saturday and afterward when I layed down I felt in my mid to lower back what I can only describe as radiating pain so I got up and iced that spot and felt better so I went to sleep. I noticed my blood pressure, particularly the diastolic was normal the next day. The top number a bit lower too. I felt good. I could eat no fever feeling. So as long as I keep icing my back I'm pretty much back to normal. The pain radiating in my right arm and up my spine is probably a irritated nerve from the disc in my lower back. If I don't keep the inflammation under control it goes to the entire ribcage and my stomach, and other organs as well making me very ill. I told the doc several times it feels like I'm melting inside. My BP was skyrocketing, my heart racing all because of this and they could not figure it out.

Hospitals are not what they use to be.


Sent from my Nexus 7

I have insurance but deductible is so high I can not afford to use it or go to the ER if I cant pay a dentist I surely cant pay a $1200 deductible