DISCLAIMER: Clip of confectionery bliss is pleasant and cute. As such readers should be aware that it is completely unrelated to the pictures and text below the fold.
2
This just makes me sick. Theft is bad enough but greed is something we can all comprehend. The vandalism however is just evil. I hope they're caught and put out of circulation for a while before they can do this to anyone else. I hope your life gets turned around soon and good things start coming your way. You deserve much better.
Posted by: SporkLift Driver at Sat Jul 4 09:55:39 2009 (/roHQ)
4
Ken - when the adjuster comes, you'll be tempted to cut the conversation short and to short change your own stuff - well, DON'T. Be meticulous and list EVERYTHING and give an accurate price of what it would cost to replace. I mean EVERYTHING. If they broke three dozen DVDs and it would cost $20-$25 to replace each, then make sure they list it. If a collectible (or not) Roman Album has a ripped cover, include it in the list. The little stuff in a house adds up mighty quick, so regardless of your deductible your insurance should cover a good bit.
Some pond-scum came in and wrecked your stuff, and now the insurance company has a responsibility to cover it - since you make monthly payments to them to ensure that they do just that.
On the other hand, I am really, really, really very sorry that this happened. It really is the total suck.
Posted by: Chuck Turnitsa at Sun Jul 5 09:40:20 2009 (ZxG+K)
5
And when you appraise, go with the high value because after they get your appraisal, they'll mark it down 20-50% for deprecation. At least that's what happened to me.
Sorry that you're going thru this, it blows.
Posted by: Mark at Sun Jul 5 10:08:12 2009 (W8c9M)
6
This is terrible! I am so very sorry! This looks like it might have been person. Maybe I am paranoid.
Posted by: Colleen at Thu Jul 9 22:47:22 2009 (eAUyf)
Fetch me a Porcupine and a Banana STAT!Rand Simberg links to this very good piece on 5 fallacies of happiness. Read the whole thing. It tangentially segues into the content below the fold...which is just diary stuff.
1
I had a similar thing happen to me, I transferred into a college with a mix of AP credits, courses taken at another university, courses taken at a community college, and some military training that counted as course credits. I then worked on a BS in computer science while doing various part time jobs, in my 'junior' and 'senior' years I was doing actual software development at a startup tech firm and learning far more there than in classes (of course).
It all ended when I was faced with a pretty much terminal scheduling conflict, I had two 400 level courses that between them blocked every other course I needed, they were only available at the same time, and that time was right in the middle of the work day. While I was trying to figure out a way to get those courses and not lose my job, my pre-graduation advisor review turned up all sorts of problems with the credits I'd transferred in with, to the point that I went from needing about 18 units to graduating, to more like 70. For me, it was then a no-brainer that I stick with the job.
I'm sure that was the right choice at the time, but now I'm one of those 10% of the people that doesn't have a job, and it's amazing how many of the jobs that are at a similar level to what I've been doing for the last five years want tens years of software development experience AND a BS in computer science, no substitutes accepted, and oh by the way your competitors mostly have masters degrees. It's to the point that while it's pretty much inconcievable that I'll learn much of any use (at least as far as programming, some of the gen ed stuff might be fun), I'm almost going to have to go back to school to get my degree, and of course since I'm in a different state and it's been over nine years, I imagine very little is going to transfer this time.
Posted by: David at Tue Jun 30 02:48:58 2009 (n/RK7)
2
To continue the wall of text, in your place I'd probably suck it up and finish things off. I've certainly had moments where I wished I'd managed to finish off my degree, just to have that item checked off on my personal "things I've done" list. And of course in a job market like we have now (and probably will have for another two years), every competitive advantage you can get helps.
More and more recent studies are coming to the conclusion that a higher ed degree doesn't pay off in terms of time and money, but those studies are now going to be out of date as the market toughens, and of course you've already made most of the investment in both terms so the balance should be swinging in favor of completing it. But I'd certainly look at taking your forced extra time to pick the most useful courses you can, both in terms of what they will teach you personally, and what will look good on an eventual resume.
Posted by: David at Tue Jun 30 02:55:40 2009 (n/RK7)
3
This is terrible news. I can't tell you how sorry I am.
Posted by: Colleen at Tue Jun 30 21:19:24 2009 (+PoXK)
4
I almost recommend going in again and bleeding all over their rug. My college career stretched from 1971 to 1996 and included three different universities but, by enlisting the support of my departmental chairman and having thorough documentation of everything, managed to persuade the deities at central records to accept absolutely everything and permit me to graduate with a EE. It definitely helped that the final chapter occured at a private college--don't think a public university would have been nearly so willing to give ground on transfer credits. Still, if you can get enough big guns on your side, I think it is worth the effort. BTW, the company I work for sold off their Electronic Division six months after I got my degrees--so I've never actually worked as a EE at all. But still, having an engineering degree in an engineering company has opened many doors previously closed. It was worth the trouble. Keep at it!
Posted by: go-daigo at Tue Jun 30 21:51:33 2009 (IQN7J)
5
so there's now room for a weekly game in your schedule, right ?
Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon Jun 22 16:02:00 2009 (jwKxK)
4
Sadly no fire was necessary. I came home from work early so I could t take him to the bird rehab place in York County. He was dead. He had eaten quite a bit, 7 worms and several Vienna sausages, cut into strips. I don't know what happened, I assume he killed himself trying to fly out of the box.
Robins are a dime a dozen and there are truly dreadful things happening in this world as I type this, but the fact that I couldn't keep this little bird I found on the interstate alive long enough to get him to the rehab place really tears me up for some reason.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Jun 22 20:02:49 2009 (V5zw/)
Pizza by The Slice....Alas No
So I had to run out to my mobile home today to pay my lot-rent and cut the grass.The latter was thwarted by rain but I stopped for lunch at a new Greek Cafe on Jefferson Avenue next to the Asian Grocery near the What A Burger.
I ordered a slice of pizza only to be told that the store did not sell pizza by the slice...one had to buy the whole pizza! The proprietor, for whom English was obviously not his first language, seemed perplexed that people kept coming in asking for slices.
I pointed out the sign that said "Pizza by the slice" and explained that that did not mean the whole pizza was pre-sliced.
So I ordered a gyro... ...which was one of the best I've ever had. The slices of gyro meat were waaay thicker than usual, the olives were fresh and the thing was spiced differently than I was accustomed to..but better.
My weight loss scheme precluded me from partaking of the baklava
The place the Greek Cafe and Food Mart is fantastic find. It's also a tobacco shop, has a hookah booth and sells hookahs. I don't smoke, but I applaud anyone with the balls to open a hookah shop in Newport News.
Next time I'm over there I'll try some of their kebabs...or I'll take home some of their pizza...I hear its pre-sliced.
Status Report
Mom met with both surgeons yesterday. The prognosis is dismaying. She requires a total mastectomy and the surgery will take over 8 hours. There is a nontrivial chance that she won't wake up. The surgery date is not set YET as she wants to talk to the Oncologist again...but it will be in the next two weeks. After the surgery its going to be rough indeed. As mentioned previously, I've moved into the
sewing room at my folks and there is going to be a lot of help required around their
house for the next few months. I talked with the manager at UPS today and informed him of the situation. I must say they are being very supportive. Any prayers are appreciated.
General Banality Status
Still no word on Mom. She was supposed to go into the hospital for the full biopsy just over 2 weeks
ago. Unfortunately, she took an aspirin before the appointment which would have invalidated
the test...somehow...so it was rescheduled. We should know something this Thursday. Dad and I have, of course, secured the aspirin. She has
seen a cardiologist and her heart issues are not directly heart related(!?). Rather
they are due to inflammation around the heart. Whether this is
simple inflammation or actual cancer pressing against her heart we wont know
till Thursday. I would think that if it was just an infection they would have caught it, but then I'm not a doctor.
All other issues are fairly trivial by comparison.
An Observation of the Demoralization Effects of Data Storage Mishaps Upon a Single Example of The Eastern North American Population of Male Undergraduate College Students of Older Than Typical Age
My current term paper nightmare brings to mind this....
......which, due to the fact that I can now relate to her utterly brings to mind this....
Bad News
After recovering from cancer surgery a few years ago, my mom has quite naturally been getting a LOT of checkups...all X-Rays have come back negative though. Friday, when seeing a doctor for an unrelated matter (chest pains) she had an ultrasound done. The heart doctor immediately sent her to get an MRI. It seems that Mom has a rather rare form of cancer that does not show up on X-Rays...and it has been steadily growing these last three years...to the point that it is causing her pain now. There is not much information other than the fact that there is a LOT of it and her recent symptoms (extreme fatigue, dizzyness and nausea) are not at all encouraging. I've moved back into the sewing room at my parents house as I will undoubtedly be needed shortly and we await further word. But this does not look good.
For a student of Japanese at ODU, the Virginia Beach Cherry Blossom Festival is sort of an annual requirement lest one get scowels on the following Monday. I had much to do today between work, family matters and studying but I was able to make it out to Red Wing Park in time to make the last hour or so. For the first time In my experience, the festival was held on a day that was warm and rain free.
Not only that, but the Cherry Blossoms were actually in bloom during the festival for the first time ever in the 5 years they've been holding it.
...and there are no fireworks. I must say that the attendance was surprisingly large. (These pics were taken as the festival was disbanding). Despite the mud (It's rained here for 5 days straight) the enthusiasm was high and many people decided to dress up for the festival in culturally appropriate attire...
Exams Upon Me
Posting has been light due to 17 credits worth of midterms and papers. Tomorrow is a cram day. The rest of the week is exams. Light posting will continue, so here is a pic of Yuki Nagato as compensation.
And how the heck did a pachinko manufacturer manage to get Yamato's infamously tangled rights straight enough to make something like that? Did they just ignore the IP matter entirely?
Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon Feb 23 13:16:54 2009 (jwKxK)
1
It's never fun when your car dies, and it's not like you need the extra suffering. For what it's worth though, I had a car that had a bad habit of eating an alternator, starter, or voltage regulator every three months or so. It wasnt until I replaced all three at once that the problem went away, apparently they were damaging each other on failure. Replacing the alternator and voltage regulator at once, while painful on your wallet right now, was probably the correct choice in the long run.
Posted by: David at Mon Feb 16 00:46:40 2009 (n/RK7)
Hobby Space News of the commercial space industry A Babe In The Universe Rather Eclectic Cosmology Encyclopedia Astronautica Superb spacecraft resource The Unwanted Blog Scott Lowther blogs about forgotten aerospace projects and sells amazingly informative articles on the same. Also, there are cats. Transterrestrial Musings Commentary on Infinity...and beyond! Colony WorldsSpace colonization news! The Alternate Energy Blog It's a blog about alternate energy (DUH!) Next Big Future Brian Wang: Tracking our progress to the FUTURE. Nuclear Green Charles Barton, who seems to be either a cool curmudgeon, or a rational hippy, talks about energy policy and the terrible environmental consequences of not going nuclear Energy From Thorium Focuses on the merits of thorium cycle nuclear reactors WizBang Current events commentary...with a wiz and a bang The Gates of Vienna Tenaciously studying a very old war The Anchoress insightful blogging, presumably from the catacombs Murdoc Online"Howling Mad Murdoc" has a millblog...golly! EaglespeakMaritime security matters Commander Salamander Fullbore blackshoe blogging! Belmont Club Richard Fernandez blogs on current events BaldilocksUnderstated and interesting blog on current events The Dissident Frogman French bi-lingual current events blog The "Moderate" VoiceI don't think that word means what they think it does....but this lefty blog is a worthy read nonetheless. Meryl Yourish News, Jews and Meryls' Views Classical Values Eric Scheie blogs about the culture war and its incompatibility with our republic. Jerry Pournell: Chaos ManorOne of Science fictions greats blogs on futurism, current events, technology and wisdom A Distant Soil The website of Colleen Dorans' superb fantasy comic, includes a blog focused on the comic industry, creator issues and human rights. John C. Wright The Sci-Fi/ Fantasy writer muses on a wide range of topics. Now Read This! The founder of the UK Comics Creators Guild blogs on comics past and present. The Rambling Rebuilder Charity, relief work, roleplaying games Rats NestThe Art and rantings of Vince Riley Gorilla Daze Allan Harvey, UK based cartoonist and comics historian has a comicophillic blog! Pulpjunkie Tim Driscoll reviews old movies, silents and talkies, classics and clunkers. Suburban Banshee Just like a suburban Leprechaun....but taller, more dangerous and a certified genius. Satharn's Musings Through TimeThe Crazy Catlady of The Barony of Tir Ysgithr アニ・ノート(Ani-Nouto) Thoughtful, curmudgeonly, otakuism that pulls no punches and suffers no fools. Chizumatic Stephen Den Beste analyzes anime...with a microscope, a slide rule and a tricorder. Wonderduck Anime, Formula One Racing, Sad Girls in Snow...Duck Triumphalism Beta Waffle What will likely be the most thoroughly tested waffle evah! Zoopraxiscope Too In this thrilling sequel to Zoopraxiscope, Don, Middle American Man of Mystery, keeps tabs on anime, orchids, and absurdities. Mahou Meido MeganekkoUbu blogs on Anime, computer games and other non-vital interests Twentysided More geekery than you can shake a stick at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas Sounds like Plaigarism...but isn't Ambient IronyAll Meenuvians Praise the lathe of the maker! Hail Pixy!!
Damn, man, you have my sympathy. 
