And now what did you do TODAY?

[CarlSeibert]

And then there's this:

 

 

 

This would be an African spurred tortoise. It's about two feet of exotic turtle. It turned up in our neighbor's yard. We're assuming it was a pet and was dumped at the end of our street (like Donut, Enigma and a kitten that we rescued). 

 

Anyhow, we were just talking about how inconvenient it would be if the creature figured out how to get under the fence and into our yard. 

 

So, this afternoon on the path to Bonnie's side garden, we have. One. Big-ass. Turtle.

 

 

[luvdunhill]

Invite Reks over, I am sure he could find something to do with a turtle...

[agile_one]

Bermuda in a hurricane is nasty business. indeed.  Nowhere to hide.  Good thoughts to many friends who live and sail there.

 

Carl ... that is one pretty tortoise.  I think he likes you.  Time to give him/her a name.  I vote, "Bruce".

Edited October 19, 2014 by agile_one

[CarlSeibert]

He does seem interested in me. I couldn't really tell if he was being friendly or if I looked like lunch. So I backed up through the gate and closed it. He had no interest in the grapes I offered him. I assume/hope such a creature is an herbivore. 

[grawk]

a very good friend of mine is Bermudan. she's been more concerned about this one than I can remember ever happening before. she's been offline for a day.

[shellylh]

Sorry Jacob.

 

Good luck Iain. 

 

After a pretty good couple of weeks of work, I've had a really shitty couple of days.  I found out on Friday that there was going to be this big train strike in Germany starting Saturday morning.  We had tickets to take the train from Bonn to Frankfurt on Saturday morning (to catch out flight).  So we decided to get a hotel near the airport and to get another train ticket for Friday.  OK, that is annoying but not too bad.  We get to the hotel (we've stayed there 3 other times) and I thoroughly check the room for bedbugs (like usual).  I find nothing suspicious.  However, just as we were about to leave, I see a bedbug crawling across the sheet.  What the fuck? ?  Why me again?  Luckily, I can dry clothing and put the luggage/shoes/backpacks in the "Packtite"  (bedbug heater/killer) but I cannot do anything about electronic, etc.  I am going to be soooo fucking pissed if we get bedbugs in our house again (we just had them 1 year ago).  

Edited October 19, 2014 by shellylh

[acidbasement]

Oh no, that sucks, Shelly. I wish you a return trip free of hitchhikers.

[Voltron]

Suckage indeed, Shelly. Think good thoughts and hope for the best. And kill with great prejudice.

[Aimless1]

Sorry Shelly.  Hope you make it home with no new friends attached.

[jvlgato]

Sorry, Shelly! Good luck getting home with no guests.

Carl, cool tortoise! My kids keep asking us to get a tortoise as a pet. Our neighbor down the street keeps offering theirs to us now that their kids are grown up and out of the house. Apparently they are usually herbivores, but this one is named 'Carny' because he eats meat. In fact, he had a tortoise friend once, who mysteriously vanished one day, leaving only his empty shell in the cage.

[shellylh]

I'd love to have a tortoise!

 

That sucks Shelly.  I would give living areas a prophylactic spray with Alpine or Phantom, when you get home, just in case a hitchhiker follows you home.

 

Unfortunately, I got rid of the Phantom I bought a few months ago.     I have some diatomaceous earth but I am not sure I will use it.  We have a lot of living areas.  

[skullguise]

Good luck, Shelly, hope nothing bad comes home with you.....

[CarlSeibert]

Tortoise update.  A couple guys found the tortoise  (we think the neighbor calls it Herman) wandering up the street this morning. They figured it must belong to the neighbors and put it back inside their gate.  One of them knew about tortoises as pets and said that this one was very friendly. It let him pet its head. The neighbors are out of town for a few days, so everybody on the street is going to have to be on turtle watch until they return. 

[Grahame]

Dealt with Comcast (lack of) customer service. For one of life's small victory's

 

Wanted to combine 2 individual services that I have for historical reasons, into 1 double play bundle that gave me exactly the same services + HBOGO, for less (Internet plus)

 

Tried to order on website, 

but cart added modem rental fee + install + shipping cost(when I have my own modem + cable card) with no way to edit / remove + 

 

Tried calling 1, then 2 then 3rd different comcast number - all different, in different places on bill / website ...

 * mostly busy

 * one time identified itself as charter cable, not comcast.

 * two dropped calls before being connected to a real human

 * this call may be recorded... , Why thank you, I will!

 * finally connected to what appeared to be an open mike in a call center ( could hear people on line in background ... "yesterday was crazy" ) for 12 minutes before call dropped.

 * got a call back from a somewhat flustered employee back from break who realized they hadn't signed out from their workstation, and hence why I was routed to their station

 * profuse apologies, how can I help?,

 * I explained the situation and what I wanted, but she was forced to go through her upsell sales script, which was sad

 * limited channels - can I sell you more, NO I want the same for less - how can that be a bad thing?

 * Internet telephony ? No thank you I have ooma, how much does that cost you? $27 less than what you charge! ...oh

 * Internet alarm/security system N/A in a secure apartment building.

 * Ok, I see, you'd like the package that gives you more than you have for less than you're currently paying. This is sales, I'm not authorized to lower your monthly payments. I'll have to pass you over to the loyalty department.

 * Hi this is * In the loyalty department ... I want ... can you do that for me?

 * I'm not seeing the same internet price here, but I can do that for you, and lower your monthly bill for your, I'll just do that now.

 * Remote cable modem reset, drops the viop call we were on

 * Things reset. Voicemail is left acknowledging actions 

 * new online services show up as authorized

 * activate + register HBOGO on all the devices I can think of, after finding out my HBO ID is my comcast ID via google (who knew).

 * remote access to the HBO back catalog. that i can but on the big screen, or any screen ( + streampix, but who cares)

 

Got what I wanted. Comcast gets less of my hard earned. result. Almost pays my monthly diet coke bill. Almost.

 

And they wonder why people want to cut the cord.

 

But a small victory, that feels. so. good.

 

Next week I get to see if they are geo-locked

Edited October 20, 2014 by Grahame

[randerson3024]

I froze my ass off in a dark field in Iceland and didn't see any fucking Northern Lights.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Dealt with Comcast (lack of) customer service. For one of life's small victory's

 

Wanted to combine 2 individual services that I have for historical reasons, into 1 double play bundle that gave me exactly the same services + HBOGO, for less (Internet plus)

 

Tried to order on website, 

but cart added modem rental fee + install + shipping cost(when I have my own modem + cable card) with no way to edit / remove + 

 

Tried calling 1, then 2 then 3rd different comcast number - all different, in different places on bill / website ...

 * mostly busy

 * one time identified itself as charter cable, not comcast.

 * two dropped calls before being connected to a real human

 * this call may be recorded... , Why thank you, I will!

 * finally connected to what appeared to be an open mike in a call center ( could hear people on line in background ... "yesterday was crazy" ) for 12 minutes before call dropped.

 * got a call back from a somewhat flustered employee back from break who realized they hadn't signed out from their workstation, and hence why I was routed to their station

 * profuse apologies, how can I help?,

 * I explained the situation and what I wanted, but she was forced to go through her upsell sales script, which was sad

 * limited channels - can I sell you more, NO I want the same for less - how can that be a bad thing?

 * Internet telephony ? No thank you I have ooma, how much does that cost you? $27 less than what you charge! ...oh

 * Internet alarm/security system N/A in a secure apartment building.

 * Ok, I see, you'd like the package that gives you more than you have for less than you're currently paying. This is sales, I'm not authorized to lower your monthly payments. I'll have to pass you over to the loyalty department.

 * Hi this is * In the loyalty department ... I want ... can you do that for me?

 * I'm not seeing the same internet price here, but I can do that for you, and lower your monthly bill for your, I'll just do that now.

 * Remote cable modem reset, drops the viop call we were on

 * Things reset. Voicemail is left acknowledging actions 

 * new online services show up as authorized

 * activate + register HBOGO on all the devices I can think of, after finding out my HBO ID is my comcast ID via google (who knew).

 * remote access to the HBO back catalog. that i can but on the big screen, or any screen ( + streampix, but who cares)

 

Got what I wanted. Comcast gets less of my hard earned. result. Almost pays my monthly diet coke bill. Almost.

 

And they wonder why people want to cut the cord.

 

But a small victory, that feels. so. good.

 

Next week I get to see if they are geo-locked

 

Went through a similar thing, but remembered ahead of time to call with my cell phone instead VOIP so I didn't lose them during the modem reset.  

 

They doubled my internet speed with Xfinity triple play, and cut my current bill by $60/mo the first year, and cut it by $40/mo the second year.  After that I'll still save $20/mo, and still no contract.

[Grahame]

Had the embiggened knee drained, and cortisone shot prior to upcoming trip to UK. Hopefully that will keep me sufficiently mobile for the duration.

I've been living with this for a year now, and it doesn't seem to be responding to treatment.

Next possible escalation is expensive injectables in the new year ("you'll hit your deductible"), if the methotrexate still has not yielded  any results.

Plenty of reading material on the injectables. Might seriously consider an elimination diet at this point just to see. Ho Hum.

[shellylh]

I heard this could be caused by Diet Coke.

Serious though, that sucks.

[Torpedo]

Sorry for the lack of response, hopefully some more treatment works.

[Dusty Chalk]

A year?!?  Yeezh.

 

Me:  I volunteered to -- and did -- transport 3 cats away from a shelter to a vet for a rescue organization.  I guess I'm an honorary Fancy Cats Rescue Team member now.

[Aimless1]

Local shelter just turned down three stray kittens ... no room at the inn.

[Dusty Chalk]

Yup, the three I grabbed were scheduled to be euthanized because they were owner surrenders and the place had run out of room.  They were holding them in their carriers.

 

Better to turn 'em down than to take them in and kill them later when they run out of room, which is the policy of a lot of shelters.  I really wish TNR was more ubiquitous.  But even that's not the right answer for a lot of cats (these were seniors, so were probably dead meat if returned to the wild).

[acidbasement]

I'm watching the news out of Ottawa.  This is fucking nuts.  One gunman killed inside the Parliament building, and the police are scouring downtown for more.  No innocent people killed so far.  Let's hope it stays that way.

[Voltron]

This is disgusting and cowardly.  One soldier and one gunman are now dead.  Another gunman may be on the loose and there are some victims in the hospital.  Sad day for Canada.

[jvlgato]

I hate this. I thought this didn't happen in Canada?!