[Loki]

Sorry to hear that, QT.



Finding a suitable playgroup for my son is still messing with my groove. All the ones that would work well are full and the ones that have space aren't what we're really looking for (they're more art focused and structured so there isn't a lot of free play).
The main reason we're looking for a playgroup is that we want Ripley to learn to interact with kids his own age. He is really good with adults but I want him to learn how to engage and interact with younger kids. He especially needs to learn how to play nicely and how to share etc.
He does enough different types of play and craft at home that I'm not really looking for those elements. I guess the main issue is that we don't know many people with kids, let alone Ripley's age, who we can organise playdates with. He has a cousin who is a few months older who visits every fortnight or so but I want to arrange something more frequent - like a regular playdate at x o'clock for an hour every X-day.

Originally it wouldn't have been so hard to organise something as my mum was going to accompany us and drive us so public transport wasn't a concern. Plus, she took him to see his cousin every Wednesday or Thursday so he was interacting with another kid more frequently. It's just so much harder now that she isn't here to help out.

Also, it's my mum's birthday on Monday and I'm not exactly looking forward to it.

This post has been edited by Loki: 29 May 2015 - 12:49 PM

[HiddenOne]

I understand your frustration, Loki - we worried about the same thing, but our daughter socialized much better than we imagined, without any preschool.

My little girl has been out of kindergarten for 1 week and is already resorting to vandalism and outright rebellion. She is not adapting to the change in her routine well at all. I think regular playdates would help her, and I think we are going to have to put her in day care at least part time while my wife is going to nursing school.

[Maark Abbott]

One of our cats let out the most unearthly 'yarrrooowwwwwwwgh' sound last night, then promptly vomited and shat herself. And I couldn't tell which pool was which.

She's OK now, from what I've seen. Probably stressed at having been alone with her brother for a few days.

[worry]

That sucks but awesome you did it anyway. I'm chopping up a tree with a Sawzall and it's kind of relaxing despite some annoyances and the slow pace.

Anyway, there's some tragic news in the US: VP Joe Biden's son Beau passed away of brain cancer. Nothing to say about it that everybody here doesn't already know. It's just really sad and saddening.

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 31 May 2015 - 01:38 AM, said:

As a lot of you know that I'm in constant pain it's even worse now. A huge oak tree fell and hit another oak down on my neighbors show lot and I helped him cut, stack, and burn over the last 3 days. I can barely walk without yelping today. I did a good deed though so it's worth it.

Thats a bad situation. I don't have your chronic pain but I know what it feels like to be unable to move without suffering excruciating pain.


Whats messing with my groove: way too many things and way too complex to post here, but suffice to say I am going crazy

[JPK]

My soon to be sister-in-law found her boyfriend dead in bed tonight. He was only 28, and one of the nicest guys I've had the pleasure of knowing. I feel so bad for her though, she's someone who has a hard time getting attached to other people romantically and he was the first guy she'd brought around her family in about ten years.

[Maark Abbott]

Aunt's funeral has a date, however, the potential complex family situation that I'm mediating for my sister's wedding on the 6th is going to crop up again not four days afterward. Needless to say, I'll be having words with my cousins to make sure with them that everyone behaves as I can't rightly be dealing with the stress just now (although in fairness, it'll be worse for them considering).

[QuickTidal]

Being questioned by customer contatcs at work when I tell them something is wrong with the files I was sent.

Me: I Can't download the files from the link you supplied.
Them: Can't you use *insert lowres version they sent me here*?
Me: No. It's lowres.
Them: But...*insert some reason why I should use the lowres one*

Me: The fonts are missing, please send them.
Them: We DID send them.
Me: Please see screenshot of the fonts you sent and a screenshot of the file asking for the fonts you didn't send.
Them: But we sent all the ones. We don't have any more here to send.
Me: Perhaps (now perhaps...I know full well this is what occurred) the file is using system fonts you've not collected. This happens often (Read: All the time).
Them: Oh...

Me: The Images you sent are low res. Are you sure these are the highest resolution ones?
Them: This is what the studio sent. These are the high res images. Please use these
Me: Okay, just needed to give you the heads up that they are fairly low res looking.
Them: They will print okay, we've been assured that they will be high res at print time.
Me: That's not how this works. This is how they will look.
Them: Just use these images. This is what was sent.
Me: Ok.
*a day later, after I've done all the work on my end*
Them: We are sending new image files.

Me: The image is missing from the files you sent, please send image.
Them: It's missing?
Me: Yes, see screenshot of link query in program.
Them: But the file attached shows it.
Me: That's the lowres PDF. It's usually sent just as an example of what it's supposed to look like, but is not meant to be printed.
Them: We don't have the image. This is what we have.
Me: Someone would have had to make the lowres PDF which does have the image...therefore the agency has it to send me.
Them: Can't you use the PDF?
Me: No, it's lowres.
Them: *sends me image finally*

Now, I'm more diplomatic in my email responses, but this is the gist of it.

I see these conversations, pointless back and forths, day in day out. It never stops, and I see it from everyone I deal with at some point. I don't understand it at all. These are all kneejerk emails. They are "Well I can't POSSIBLY be wrong, so the person looking at the files MUST be wrong, therefore I'm going to endlessly question it of them." wastes of time.

Easy answers:

Scenario 1: They don't want to ask whomever created the files to send me the proper link to get them, so they look for the easy/stupid way out. If I tell you I can't get the files, I can't get the files. Your next email should contain the link to the files...not question why I stated I can't get them, or if there is another way. The link was created on purpose to send me the files. There is no other way.

Scenario 2: Fonts. If I tell you the fonts aren't supplied. It's because the damned fonts aren't supplied! I didn't make a mistake. The fonts aren't actually there. If I've then sent you a sceenshot to "prove" the fonts aren't there, you should feel suitably bad that you've made me PROVE something to you that you don't believe...because why? Whomever sending your files is an infallible genius? No, Occam's razor suggests that maybe they *gasp* didn't send the fonts. I'm not making this up. I can't make them magically appear. Moreover, how does questioning it, or disbelieving me get your job done ANY quicker? Send. The. Damned. Fonts.

Scenario 3: If I say the images sent are lowres. It means I've opened them up in Photoshop and double checked their look (for blown up pixelation) and their actual DPI. They are lowres. You have two options to reply to this email. You can either ask your designer/studio if they sent the highest res files, and then send me the result...or you tell me to go ahead because you KNOW that these are the highest res available and you know it won't look great when printed. Of these two options it's almost always #1 and they simply don't want to go ask the studio about it...so instead they pointlessly question me about it and try to find a way past without it. It's completely stupid.

Scenario 4: If I say an image is missing, it means an image is missing. Similar to fonts, I can't do ANYTHING with your file unless you send me the missing image. If I'm missing that image, it won't print. There is literally nothing else that I can/should say here to them. Go and find the missing image. I don't care where it comes from, or how you find it. The file was designed with it. Send me it. Arguing with me about the useability of a lowres file, or telling me that it WAS supplied are not pathways to get your job done. An email chain like the above is a total waste of both of our times.

If I could sit every person down in a room and teach them one thing about computer programs with regards to design, it would be that the features called either "Collect for Output" or "Package" solve 95% of the above issues. They grab everything the file was specifically designed with and put them in a folder AND preflight it. No missing images, no missing fonts (or different fonts as it would grab even from the system folder). This is something that is taught in the 45min free tutorial that comes with any of these programs.

[QuickTidal]

And local police in a nearby town just shot and killed an innocent black bear who wandered into town (and has been wandering for a few days already) because they didn't want to wait for the MRN (Game Warden) to get there to tranq it. It was up a tree (likely frightened), and when it came down the police decided that meant it was a threat to the populous (who they could have just told to stay inside, but nevermind eh?) so they fatally shot it Apparently the cops in southern Ontario don't carry tranq guns in the cars for use in such situations...seems like a good idea no? I'm baffled that this is not a standard piece of equipment that could reside in said cars.

Anyways, messing with my Monday.

[Puck]

QuickTidal, on 01 June 2015 - 01:48 PM, said:

If I could sit every person down in a room and teach them one thing about computer programs with regards to design, it would be that the features called either "Collect for Output" or "Package" solve 95% of the above issues. They grab everything the file was specifically designed with and put them in a folder AND preflight it. No missing images, no missing fonts (or different fonts as it would grab even from the system folder). This is something that is taught in the 45min free tutorial that comes with any of these programs.

I hear you, I hear you. That would solve quite a few problems. Teaching my boss at my part-time job how to do just that has probably brought me the ire of the graphics department, though. They had been - as usual - taking a whole lot of time with packaging the files she needed to send on to wherever. Like, weeks kind of lots of time. When she complained about it to the general air, I showed her how to package files in InDesign and how it only takes a few clicks and the program does everything else. She passed on the instruction, after which they started sending me EXTRA large files whenever I request images, and also stuff I did not actually ask for. Which would be amusing if not for the fact that me downloading stuff upwards of 1GB slows down the whole freaking office network, and half of the stuff I delete immediately afterwards anyway. Thus, the tale comes back on topic, as this regularly messes with my groove.

I've been working there for a couple of years now and it has convinced me that human laziness and stupidity has no bounds.

This post has been edited by Puckstein: 01 June 2015 - 06:08 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

This is sad...
http://youtu.be/cET-p9LhzHo

[Andorion]

Got a new phone and its taking ages to break in.

Should I have the FB app on my phone? Concerned about privacy

[Loki]

Andorion, on 02 June 2015 - 03:39 AM, said:

Got a new phone and its taking ages to break in.

Should I have the FB app on my phone? Concerned about privacy

Personally, I recommend against it. I don't use the app as its permissions are ridiculous. If I need to use FB I open it in Chrome.

[melonhead]

just got the power bill. its too cold to not have the gas heater on, but the heater drives the bill up a ridiculous amount

[Andorion]

My grandmother passed away today. It was extremely sudden. She wasn't even seriously ill

[QuickTidal]

Andorion, on 02 June 2015 - 01:56 PM, said:

My grandmother passed away today. It was extremely sudden. She wasn't even seriously ill

Oh damn, I'm really sorry to hear that. Condolences Andorion.

[Maark Abbott]

Andorion, on 02 June 2015 - 01:56 PM, said:

My grandmother passed away today. It was extremely sudden. She wasn't even seriously ill

Sorry to hear that fella. My aunt's funeral is a week tomorrow. Still don't know what happened there, either. Hopefully you'll get some answers.

[Andorion]

Thanks guys. I think I may have been the last one to see her alive. Last morning she complained of chest pain. We thought it was her acidity problem and it seemed to subside after the medication. Then later she asked for water, I poured her a glass. She lay down again, I dressed and went out out for work. It was barely 5 minutes until my mother called and asked me to come back.

The doctor says it was a massive heart attack.

What is tough for me is mentally adapting to life without her. She has always been here, she was my best friend when I was small. Last night I was thinking of all the things that won't happen or need to happen as she isn't here any more

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 03 June 2015 - 01:12 AM, said:

Yep that stuff going through your mind is tough shit to deal with and it can consume you for hrs at a time and you don't even notice how much time pasted. Think of the good things when you can. The Empire is with you. Is she your 1st major lose? My Grandfather was mine at 23 yrs old and it damn near crippled me at the time.

I lost my grandfather when I was 3. I barely remember that, and obviously it did not affect me as I didn't understand what was going on at all, execept my parents were crying a lot.

I have lost elderly relateives before. We are a joint family, living together in a big house. The year when I was 21 was bad. My great-autn and great-uncle passed away within days of each other, my father was out of state and very far away becasue of his job, and my mother and I had to deal with a lot of stuff without much help.

But this is the first time I have consciously lost someone I cared for deeply. And it just hits you at odd times. She needed her chair positioned in the sitting room in a specific way because of her arthiritis and every morning and evening we would set it like that. I just did it now, and then I remembered

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 04 June 2015 - 03:34 AM, said:

How's it going buddy?

People are coming. here its customary for relativs and friends to visit and bring items of food like fruits and sweets as gifts. Thier visits are distracting and yet everytime they come the same things are recycle dover and over again. Couldn't take more than two visits yesterday, had to leave the room.

Its the small things that are the hardest, like when I am cutting a mango or looking at the latest box of sweets and remembering how she loved those things. There's a specific type of sweet which would automatically have been reserved for her.

And I can't even say or express much at home as my father has taken it very badly He needs our support and for us to be strong. what I say here or to my close friends, is basically it

From this evening though I am going to be going out and resuming some bits of work. Sitting here brooding isn't going to help anybody and it will be better if I am busy I think.