[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

the sparrow does not apply

quid pro quo i'm helping you solve a major problem.

basically i'm combing through mountains of garbage and saying: this here will help you in a very concrete way

i don't lack for entertainment so entertainment is not a problem.

i'm trying to think of a problem you could help me solve for the favor exchange.

what kind of skills do you have? nunchuck skills? bo hunting skills? computer hacking skills?

I wish I had nunchuck skills. Bow-hunting hunting would probably be even better.

Other than that, I'm a great critical thinker and researcher!
I'm handy with a word processor, and I can lay out a page (broadshee, tab, magazine, you name it) like the goddamn wind.

I also have a knack for creating stupid shit in my head ... imaginary superheroes, bands, sci-fi epics.

You let me know if any of these bullshit skills could be useful to you.

I also know photoshop and some webpage design. Super fuckin' real world practical shit.

[!@#$%!]

i have a research problem trying to pick a truly reliable vpn in these end days of internet privacy

since it's been shown a lot of these vpn services don't do shit and might actually steal your data

who to trust?

that's a real headache and maybe even a story for your newspaper

another research problem i have that has to do w/ that too is what password manager to get

i'm thinking last pass which remains the darling of pc magazine

hm, this is less of a problem actually as i've reached my conclusion lol

but the vpn! that's a real bitch of a question when you look behind the marketing veils...

like, nord vpn is getting a lot of ads these days but... based in panama? hmmm... who do i sue if they steal my shit?

it's all very problematic. hm......

let me know if this is within your wheelhouse

[Severian]

Yeah that's not in my wheelhouse. I don't trust anyone.

[!@#$%!]

ok here's another one, simpler problem which involves people and bureaucracies:

you go to a government agency and ask for a certain response to a certain request

a (nice) government employee submits your request to the agency and says they will get back to you when the answer comes

but they refuse to give you a timeline for it except for "when it comes"

the following week, with the excuse of submitting paperwork, you remind them you're waiting for the reply

they say they have submitted your request and will notify you

how soon is too soon to remind them again of your existence, if you haven't heard yet, without becoming a pain in the ass?

or do you push push push push until they either get you the answer or tell you to fuck off?

hmmmm...

this is a nice person btw i dont wanna piss them off unnecessarily. i'm just not used to no deadlines because i have one and something's gotta give--.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

ok here's another one, simpler problem which involves people and bureaucracies:

you go to a government agency and ask for a certain response to a certain request

a (nice) government employee submits your request to the agency and says they will get back to you when the answer comes

but they refuse to give you a timeline for it except for "when it comes"

the following week, with the excuse of submitting paperwork, you remind them you're waiting for the reply

they say they have submitted your request and will notify you

how soon is too soon to remind them again of your existence, if you haven't heard yet, without becoming a pain in the ass?

or do you push push push push until they either get you the answer or tell you to fuck off?

hmmmm...

this is a nice person btw i dont wanna piss them off unnecessarily. i'm just not used to no deadlines because i have one and something's gotta give--.

Oh, this one I might be able to help with. I'm a nice guy who was raised by a sarcastic penny pinching bastard, so I have an innate "clerkbating" (as my father calls it) skill.

I get that the person's nice, and you don't want to be a dick, but by all fucking means remind them of your existence, like, now.

I think it's possible to do this politely. It requires a certain kind of *nudge-nudge* single-serving camaraderie that you can develop with clerks of all stripes if you kind of speak to them at their level (not in a class way, I just mean be empathetic).

I've filed a lot of government requests in my time. Most of them have been me needing something and being treated like garbage (an unemployment extension, for example). But I don't think this is the kind of thing you're asking about... I'd recommend going in in person at your soonest convenience and waiting for the crowd to thin a bit, or possibly near the end of the day when there aren't a lot of people around. I'd just be extremely gracious and polite. If you have a deadline looming, you just plain need to get an answer, and if he takes umbrage then he's not a nice chap after all, and you can rip out his jugular.

In short, there is no such thing as "too soon" if the request is pressing enough. For my unemployment, when I was on it, I had to be vigilant and persistent, but I was never mean because most govt workers deal with entitled nasty people all the time. If you like deadlines then I'll give you a deadline: 1 week from the last time you checked in, no later.

Of course it all depends on the request and the restrictions of your own deadline.

[!@#$%!]

thanks! yeah i wasn't treated like garbage, actually it was a nice meeting.

but the issue is i'm stuck with the gatekeeper who sends my request up the chain of command. even if the gatekeeper is nice i have no way to follow up what happens past them.

what i'll do is calendar a series of deadlines and recontact at those times if still unanswered.

the request is not pressing, i still have plenty of time to hearing back from them, plus it's not life-or-death. but the issue is i want to move forward with my life and i'm an impatient bastard.

SO. i'll do one by may first and then one every other week till that zit pops or i lose my shit, whichever comes first.

thanks for the ear/thoughts/help!

[_tunic_]

last night I earned 38 Euros by ordering a pizza!
paid the delivery guy with 50 Euros, he gave me the change and the pizza
I closed the door and the pizza was yummy
then I realised that I still had that 50 Euro bill, and the change, and the pizza

hurray! NY Pizza rules!

[EVOLghost]

Your pizza's are 38 euros? Was it just one?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

Your pizza's are 38 euros? Was it just one?

12!

(38 was the change)

[!@#$%!]

im tired of shitty mondays so going to start the hardcore experiment of waking up early on sunday mornings regardless of sat. night sleep time-- it will make for a shitty sunday, but there's nothing to do anyway and monday wll be normalized

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

im tired of shitty mondays so going to start the hardcore experiment of waking up early on sunday mornings regardless of sat. night sleep time-- it will make for a shitty sunday, but there's nothing to do anyway and monday wll be normalized

Word.

Word, word, word. I'm going to do the same thing. I actually came home to take a 15-minute nap today at 10 a.m. after an assignment. I never thought I would need to go back to sleep at 10 a.m., and doing so for 15 minutes just seems ridiculous, but those 15 minutes were so fucking sweet it didn't even matter.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Severian

Word.

Word, word, word. I'm going to do the same thing. I actually came home to take a 15-minute nap today at 10 a.m. after an assignment. I never thought I would need to go back to sleep at 10 a.m., and doing so for 15 minutes just seems ridiculous, but those 15 minutes were so fucking sweet it didn't even matter.

yeah. 545 am sundays here i come.

i tried napping as well but was too frazzled to actually do it. so my brain was shit all day, and only managed to perform dumb admin tasks like clearing my inbox and paying some taxes, which is good and useful-- but i was so slow at it, it was ridiculous-- and i hope i didn't fuck something up.

i could not study worth a fuck though. looked at a book i was reading last week and it was incomprehensible.

and yeah, a 10-20 min nap is great if you can manage it. but sometimes even that is not enough.

i'd rather feel like this on a sunday, and stay in my pajamas and eat potato chips and drink beer and watch stupid movies like if i had the flu and then crash HARD at an early hour.

545am sundays here i come. fuuuuuuck! i'm scared now ha ha ha ha

but yeah im doing it

[EVOLghost]

Y'all doods are crazy.



Did I mention I bought a car? It's one of these. 2008 535xi with 84k miles

 

[EVOLghost]

And yeah. It was in basically perfect condition. A little wear by the window switches, and slight wear on the shifter. Everything else is immaculate. Was so happy with this purchase. Drives like a charm.

[Bytor Peltor]

CONGRATS EVOL - always makes me happy to see SYG Boardmembers prospering......what was the first CD you played in it?

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

And yeah. It was in basically perfect condition. A little wear by the window switches, and slight wear on the shifter. Everything else is immaculate. Was so happy with this purchase. Drives like a charm.

[EVOLghost]

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

CONGRATS EVOL - always makes me happy to see SYG Boardmembers prospering......what was the first CD you played in it?

Actually...no CD yet. First song I played was Haroumi Hosono's 'Sports men'

[EVOLghost]

How's everything with you Peltor? Staying busy?

[Severian]

So you know how I was bitching about money? Well, a new position has opened at work, and I've been offered the job. It's going to be only a teency bit more money, but it will secure my position. I'm going to kind of test drive it for a bit and see if it's something I want to do, which is a huge kindness from my boss.

[EVOLghost]

Yo!!!!! That's awesome man. Happy to hear that. I hope everything works out in your favor and you really enjoy the new position.

[!@#$%!]

nothing like a new position to make life entertaining!

 

CONGRATS

remember though, it's not how much you make but how much you KEEP. think in terms of net worth, and your savings rate, and what part of your income are obligations and which are wants-- not just raw salary. even millionaires go bankrupt (and become presidents of amerikkka)

you started on the elizabeth warren book yet? she'll save you from slaughter