Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby cmsellers » Fri Sep 04, 2020 10:18 pm

House prices in Houston are actually surprisingly affordable, and I have an inheritance coming from my late grandmother at some point that will give me the beginning of a down payment, though saving for the rest of a down payment would have been easier if I hadn't paid $500 a month extra to be able to walk to work. (I guess I'm still technically walking to work, but I could be doing it literally anywhere.) Plus, I've been prioritizing retirement because Roth retirement accounts (my IRA and 401k), are pretty dope, but unlike the Canadian version you can't make up for lost time. Still, I hope to be able to start looking for a house within the year, as long as I don't get fired or laid off before then, and don't keep encountering unexpected large expenses.
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby cmsellers » Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:27 am

My complex is lousy with brown anoles, which are fascinating to watch but a horribly invasive species that has reportedly endangered the native green anoles. But I recently read that green anoles simply shifted their niche to the trees. And then this morning, I observed exactly that, as well a green anole jumping across from a loquat tree to the plants on my patio and exploring them. This is something the brown anoles never do, preferring to stay on bare metal.

On the Caribbean Islands, anoles have famously evolved half a dozen different niches for a given geographic area, divided by how high in the plant growth they live. And so, rather than the local extinction of the green anole, I may be witnessing evolution and niche partitioning in action.
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby cmsellers » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:13 pm

I've known since June that almost everybody at my company will have to re-apply for their jobs between now and October, with an expected 1/3 reduction in payroll.

However, it was recently confirmed that all new hires will be out-of-scope. I'm safe, at least for now.
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby NathanLoiselle » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:15 pm

What's out-of-scope?
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby cmsellers » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:20 pm

NathanLoiselle wrote:What's out-of-scope?

It means I don't have to re-apply for my job.
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby NathanLoiselle » Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:38 pm

No poop sherlock. But really, what's out-of-scope?
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby cmsellers » Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:41 am

Have a new birb. Will try to post new pictures at some point.
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby JamishT » Sun Sep 27, 2020 2:37 am

I just made dinner for Notch and his wife at my house, then beat them at Scrabble.

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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby Krashlia » Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:39 pm

cmsellers wrote:Have a new birb. Will try to post new pictures at some point.


Post birb...
Also, what happened to the sequoia?
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby jbobsully11 » Sat Nov 14, 2020 6:38 pm

I just closed the second credit card I ever opened. I didn't know if I'd be able to talk to anyone because it's the weekend, but a person answered right away. They even refunded part of the annual fee I paid (after they charged me the fee for this month; why they couldn't have applied the refund to the charge, I don't know).

In case it wasn't obvious, the fees are why I canceled the card.

1.5-week later edit to avoid double-posting: My temp contract "ended," and I still work at my job (I checked as I was leaving today). *removes "Aspiring" from TCS occupation*
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Crimson847 wrote:In other words, transgender-friendly privacy laws don't molest people, people molest people.

(Presumably, the only way to stop a bad guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law is a good guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law, and thus transgender-friendly privacy law rights need to be enshrined in the Constitution as well)
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby JamishT » Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:59 am

So for Thanksgiving, most of my nuclear gathered at what we refer to as "the home place", but everyone else calls the farm we grew up on. Yes, there is a pandemic going on and I was totally hypocritical to go, but that's not what this thread is for! I made stuffing and cranberry sauce for the first time, and the stuffing was delicious and the cranberry sauce was easy peasy (although it is not a tradition in my family, so not a lot of it was eaten). Also, my 11 (maybe?) year old niece absolutely rekt me by looking at my plate full of food and exclaiming "No wonder you weigh more than my dad!" which made me laugh and feel pride at her savageness. But that's not the brightest side, thing that is best! I played Monopoly against my oldest and middle brothers, and my oldest brother's girlfriend (who is a high school math teacher). AND I BEAT THEM. As the youngest, I've always been the one who was reliably easy to take advantage of in trades, but not this time! I do regret explaining my logic as much as I did, but my locking down the Free Parking corner sets, and a sizable Free Parking jackpot (which my oldest brother also received once before I did) caused me to end the game with more than $30,000 in total value!

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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby iMURDAu » Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:09 am

Oooo tell me about your stuffing. I make mine in a crockpot using potato bread cubes and mix in cooked down onions and celery and keep it moist with unsalted broth so I can salt to taste. Of course there's dried herbs and spices I throw in too.

We just hosted my parents. It sucks that we couldn't go visit the rest of the fam across the state. Too risky with the breakouts here in MD.
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby JamishT » Wed Dec 02, 2020 1:04 am

The recipe I used involved toasted corn bread chunks, turkey sausage, dried cranberries, and cooked down celery. It did call for onions, but onions are gross so I subbed in cloves of garlic.
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Last edited by JamishT on Wed Dec 02, 2020 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: added recipe link
JamishT was a heck of a guy,
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby jbobsully11 » Fri Dec 04, 2020 3:12 am

I cooked a salmon last night, and it came out pretty good, despite my slightly screwing up the (fairly straightforward) recipe I found. As a bonus, I didn't give myself food poisoning.
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Crimson847 wrote:In other words, transgender-friendly privacy laws don't molest people, people molest people.

(Presumably, the only way to stop a bad guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law is a good guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law, and thus transgender-friendly privacy law rights need to be enshrined in the Constitution as well)
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Re: Looking on the Brighter Side, Things that are good

Postby iMURDAu » Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:00 am

We got our nephew a Mercedes-Benz for Christmas!!!

He's only a year old but hey why not.

Of course it's a ride-on toy. He's not big enough to scoot around on it yet but he'll love pushing it and getting rides. Our son had a toy kind of like it when he was little and that was his personal vehicle. He'd ride it around the apartment, drive up and park at his little table to eat, truck stuff to different rooms, etc. We got a big gift bag for it so he'll be able to rip into a present that's way larger than he is. He just outgrew his walker so it's perfect timing.
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