The "Off Topic" Off Topic Thread

[Parazombie]

Okay, so sometimes, I just have these random thoughts I want to share with people because I'm bored. That's what this thread is for. Posts don't have to be related to each other in any way. It's pretty much an ongoing "Randomness Game" thread. I just thought it would be fun to post completely random thoughts, or images, or links, or anything I haven't thought of yet.

I'm sick of the stupid crows and ravens that have moved into my neighborhood. They're chasing off the cute little finches!

My dog won't go to the bathroom if the ground is wet because he doesn't like getting his paws wet, yet when it's raining, he scratches at the deck door until someone lets him out so he can go play in the rain!

"Twerking" and "selfie" should never be entered as new words into Webster's Dictionary.

[Ping]

My cat sits at the door crying until someone gets her harness on her and takes her for a walk. We can't let her out roaming alone because we have some wild critters that might want to make her into a meal. Today my daughter took her outside and I didn't even notice and as I was coming in she ran up behind me. I almost slammed the door in her face, lol.

And love our birds that are here - it reminds me every day that I don't live in the darn city any more. The thumping of the car speakers as they would drive past would make me so mad! We have so many birds, it's fun trying to pick out all the sounds. The crows, the steller's jays, morning doves and owles... soemtimes it sounds like I live in the jungle.

The steller's jays (top bird in the image below) are mean and cranky birds. They have this awful shreeky sound. But they are so pretty - we feed them and keep water in the bird baths for them. But our little finches don't take no guff from them, eithr. I see the finches chase them away all the time.

[Parazombie]

We have Steller's Jays here too. They make a variety of noises, all annoying. The other day some stupid crows were invading their tree, and they were NOT happy about it. I made some hawk-like noises (which I think they're capable of too) and they eventually went away.

I know California is having a bad drought, but this sudden down pour of rain worries me, since it can cause landslides. Getting the rain gradually prevents that from happening, and I live on a hill. Our foundation was done recently, but hills have minds of their own.

My sister and I have started a Beanie Boo collection. They're like beanie babies, but are softer, cuter, have gigantic eyes, and are not mostly bears. We have 32 right now.

I'm not diggin' this paper I have to write on Tupac. I have no interest in it.

[Parazombie]

I hate Mondays!

My sister and I noticed a few days ago that a spider egg sack (specifically, a Cross Orb Weaver) hatched, and we've been watching the spiderlings like an experiment. That's not the actual term for them, but I call them that because I think "smurflings" was cute. Most of them are still near where they hatched.

Bacon is AWESOME!

[Ping]

Just shipped my husband out today for 2 weeks. He's working with a crew to help with the recovery efforts at the Oso mudslide here in Washington. He's taking a kitchen crew from the prison that he works at, and they are in charge of feeding the workers at the site. I understand your fears, but I do not understand why anyone would want to build on the side of a hill. It's beautiful, but after Oso I can't imagine it being worth the risk. In Wisconsin where I'm from we can't build without a permit - and they wouldn't give permits to build in dangerous spots. But I just read an article on how the state doesn't have the power to stop people from building in hazardous areas - and that's hogwash!

I still have Beanie Babies - a great big bag of them somewhere. I was going to give them to someone and I forgot what I did with them.

What kind of paper did you have to write for Tupac? Sounds interesting, even though I'm not a huge fan of the music.

We had spiders like that last year. What do I need to do to make sure we don't get them back?

[Parazombie]

Apr 9, 2014 20:18:58 GMT -7 Ping said:

Just shipped my husband out today for 2 weeks. He's working with a crew to help with the recovery efforts at the Oso mudslide here in Washington. He's taking a kitchen crew from the prison that he works at, and they are in charge of feeding the workers at the site. I understand your fears, but I do not understand why anyone would want to build on the side of a hill. It's beautiful, but after Oso I can't imagine it being worth the risk. In Wisconsin where I'm from we can't build without a permit - and they wouldn't give permits to build in dangerous spots. But I just read an article on how the state doesn't have the power to stop people from building in hazardous areas - and that's hogwash!

I still have Beanie Babies - a great big bag of them somewhere. I was going to give them to someone and I forgot what I did with them.

What kind of paper did you have to write for Tupac? Sounds interesting, even though I'm not a huge fan of the music.

We had spiders like that last year. What do I need to do to make sure we don't get them back?

We haven't had any huge mudslides in my area for a while, which eases my fear a bit. I'm with you though, living on a hill is overrated in areas that are prone to them. I'm glad your husband is able to help the workers, and I'm all for prison programs! What does he do at the prison? Wisconsin seems like they have their stuff together way more than us here. At least they HAVE laws, even if they can't stop people from building. Isn't that illegal without permits though?

We have some old school beanie babies too. One is worth about $300 now. My ex gave it to me, and then after we broke up, he said he wanted it back. I told him he could have it if he gave me all my stuff back that I left at his house. He said no. All I had over there was a few VHS movies and a Monopoly board game. That's worth like, $40 maybe? Karma is a female dog slang. My sister and I now have 37 Beanie Boos, and four little clips. It's an odd thing for a 29 and 31 year old to collect, but it's the only collection we have in common.

It was basically a paper on his life, and how it related to his music. If we had gone more in depth with the lyrics, I would have been okay with that, but it was almost like doing a research paper on "Thug Life", which I really didn't think I needed to know anything about. Honestly, I don't get the whole genius thing, especially when I can't understand half the lyrics, and the excessive swearing is ridiculous.

You can pretty much only keep spiders away with pesticides, or constant cleaning. Orb Weavers are very beneficial though. Last summer, I told my mom to not use the pesticide and to let the spiders do their job. I ended up with only three mosquito bites instead of the hundred or so I usually get. Ground spiders and Cobweb spiders aren't nearly as beneficial, and usually just bite people and leave web messes. If you ever want a spider or any other kind of bug identified, snap me a picture and I'll tell you what it is.

[Ping]

Apr 10, 2014 11:19:10 GMT -7 Parazombie said:

We haven't had any huge mudslides in my area for a while, which eases my fear a bit. I'm with you though, living on a hill is overrated in areas that are prone to them. I'm glad your husband is able to help the workers, and I'm all for prison programs! What does he do at the prison? Wisconsin seems like they have their stuff together way more than us here. At least they HAVE laws, even if they can't stop people from building. Isn't that illegal without permits though?

My husband is a Corrections Officer. He normally takes crews out to work clearing brush and trees and other plant life. They work along the Interstate, on State land, Organic farms, Fire Departments, and even schools (during the summer months, only). When there are wildfires in the area, he takes Fire crews to help the DNR. Two years ago there were some really bad fires that they helped fight. So even though it's prisoners, they do a great job supporting the State and they work in areas where everyone else is running away. I'm very proud of what he and his team do.

My husband reported that they found another victim of the mudslide today - a 14 year old boy. There are no more happy endings there. If anything, the family doesn't have suffer with not knowing. But it's not like they aren't suffering now that they do know. I think they probably already knew. It's tough news to digest, even for me. I can only be thankful that it's not my child and pray for the family for peace in their hearts.

We have some old school beanie babies too. One is worth about $300 now. My ex gave it to me, and then after we broke up, he said he wanted it back. I told him he could have it if he gave me all my stuff back that I left at his house. He said no. All I had over there was a few VHS movies and a Monopoly board game. That's worth like, $40 maybe? Karma is a female dog slang. My sister and I now have 37 Beanie Boos, and four little clips. It's an odd thing for a 29 and 31 year old to collect, but it's the only collection we have in common.

I should find mine and see if any are worth $$. The one I spent the most on was the Princess Diana Beanie Baby. That was my pride and joy.

It was basically a paper on his life, and how it related to his music. If we had gone more in depth with the lyrics, I would have been okay with that, but it was almost like doing a research paper on "Thug Life", which I really didn't think I needed to know anything about. Honestly, I don't get the whole genius thing, especially when I can't understand half the lyrics, and the excessive swearing is ridiculous.

Huh - I would have never thought of him as a genius. Based on anything I can remember and it's not much, I would argue that we was not a genus and more of a victim to the gang life.

You can pretty much only keep spiders away with pesticides, or constant cleaning. Orb Weavers are very beneficial though. Last summer, I told my mom to not use the pesticide and to let the spiders do their job. I ended up with only three mosquito bites instead of the hundred or so I usually get. Ground spiders and Cobweb spiders aren't nearly as beneficial, and usually just bite people and leave web messes. If you ever want a spider or any other kind of bug identified, snap me a picture and I'll tell you what it is.

Yeah - I don't like pesticides. It's not good for us, or my kitty. I think I'll just be happy the spiders keep the other bugs away - we didn't have many mosquitoes here, either. Every now and then we'll see a spider running across the room. We live in an old house out in the country, so we get our share of unwanted guests - but I'd rather have those kinds of pests than live in town and deal with the other unwanted guests. Just today a friend of mine's husband was leaving the house to go to work, and someone was breaking into his car at the same time! And the car is 3 feet from their door - so she's pretty freaked out. So much, that they decided to move and found a new house this afternoon!

Well - I don't know how much time I will have to spend around here starting next week. I'm working a full-time job and a half with my promotion - it's working for two teams and they both keep me pretty busy. I've worked very hard to be a Community Manager and I finally have the title. I'm super excited about that, too!

But I'm also a few classes away from getting my Bachelor of Science in IT (Telecommunication and Networking). I have to complete my courses by July 4th or face having to take new courses, too. I'm tired of putting it off, so I'm determined that I will not rest until my goal is achieved.  After that I want to study and get certified in Project Management. My goal would be to get my Masters' Degree in Project Management, but it's sooo expensive. Maybe if I got a really great paying job that would help me pay for it - we'll see where the path takes me next.

[Parazombie]

Well, I'm not going to quote again because it's already pretty long, so I'll respond to all the bits in different colors.

You SHOULD be proud of your husband, and what he and his team does. Those are dangerous conditions to work in (fires and mudslide clean up) and not a lot of people would jump in to volunteer like that. While I know that some people HAVE  to go to prison to due time for their criminal behavior, I'm sure they're happy to leave for a while, even if it IS to just do some work.
I can't imagine what the parents of that 14 year old boy are going through. My dad mentioned to me today that someone in his office has a 7 year old son with inoperable brain tumors. SEVEN YEARS OLD! It seems so cruel and unjust that these poor kids are losing their lives so young. It seems like someone is reporting about a child dying almost every night on the news. My heart goes out to those parents, because no parent should EVER outlive their child.

I wish I had the Princess Diana Beanie Baby! Those are still worth quite a lot apparently, and newer Beanie Baby collectors try to get their hands on one in any way possible. I know that for Beanie Boos, the Justice store exclusives are the rare ones. They're quite hard to find. Each store has a very limited amount. We have yet to get our hands on one.

I certainly never thought he was a genius either, even after reading all about his life, and listening to his crazy potty mouth lyrics. Okay, so he saw what was REALLY going on around him. It doesn't take a genius to see that if you open your eyes and pay attention. Plus I don't like rap, and I don't like hearing constant f-bombs being dropped, and I DEFINITELY don't like having to translate thug slang! Now we're doing poetry, and the "kids" in my class are clueless (some are fresh out of high school, others are going back to school) and most of the older students don't get it either. But they understood Tupac. My teacher is a very smart woman (I'm her teacher's assistant!) and I'm sure she had her reasons, but I'm just glad it's over with!

I'm definitely not into pesticides. They do have these new "orange pesticides" which are supposed to be people and pet friendly, but unless I have a mound of termites in the backyard, I would never use the stuff. I live with my family, however, and my mom and my sister are TERRIFIED of most bugs, especially spiders, so when my mom sees too many, she'll attempt to poison them all. Unfortunately for her (but fortunately for the bugs) she hasn't figured out yet that she should do that what I'm NOT home, he he.
I live in Oakland, which is like, the 4th most violent city in the country, and I've had my fair share of break ins and other things. Just a few months ago, our car windows were all shot at with a pellet gun of some sort. it was just us, so we were targeted. We're 99% sure it's these nasty neighbors that live behind us. Their kids make this AWFUL noise in the backyard, like they're hitting a giant metal ball with a giant metal bat, and it goes on for hours, and because this is a hilly area, it echos like you wouldn't believe. Well, two days before our windows got shot up, my sister screamed "Shut up!" out the window when she couldn't take it anymore. This happened once before when our neighbor next door yelled at them to shut up. The next day, there was a huge dent in one of our cars, and right next to it was a brick. We have no proof, but they cause everyone trouble, so we're almost positive it's them.
I live in a better part of Oakland, called the Crocker Highlands, an upper-middle class neighborhood, which is considered the "lower hills" and crime used to be virtually unheard of here (except for a few of the neighbor boys being dumb and breaking into houses in THEIR own neighborhood thinking they wouldn't get caught) but the last few years have been terrible. In the past six months, several of my neighbors have had their house broken into...in the middle of the day! People are actually watching us and our habits, and it's really creepy. It's two or three a month now. Luckily, no one has been hurt, but a few people have been held at gunpoint. For Oakland's 415,000 residents, we have 645 police men...in the 4th most violent city in the country. It makes no sense, but apparently Oakland doesn't have the money to hire more. Trust me, I'm thinking about moving on myself.

Congratulations on the promotion! School is a pain in the butt, but it's worth it in the end. I tend to take things semester by semester, and see where my path takes me as well. What's a Community Manager? It may seem self explanatory, but I want to know more. It will be sad to not have you around as much, but life does have a habit of getting in the way.

[Parazombie]

Right now I'm doing T.A. (teacher's assistant) work for my teacher at this very moment. I'm editing an assignment handout sheet. It's amazing how someone with a Ph.D can have so many grammatical mistakes!

My dog will only go number two if no one is watching.

The taco truck's horn sound sadistic an evil. Someone should tune that thing!

Earth Day is every day people - do your part so cockroaches and amoebas don't become the dominant species!

Camel spiders aren't actually spiders. They are arachnids called "Solifuges".

[Ping]

As a community manger, I monitor over my client's social media pages. I schedule the updates on their social media pages and respond back to their customer's to help them with their questions - or just to keep the conversation moving in a positive direction. I also keep track of what people are talking about and report it all back to the client and that helps them make important decisions. I wrote the guidelines for their social media pages and oversee the moderators who help enforce them.

So basically, when you see a business on social media and you leave a complaint or a suggestion, they often forward that on to their teams. If they see a lot of suggestions for the same thing, they may decide to implement it. And more businesses are starting to talk to their customers, too.

Social media helps ginormous businesses look small again. And I help them with that by being the human that they are talking to.

So yeah, I am on social media all day. Right now I'm just working with Twitter and Facebook. I used to be a paid moderator and for a gaming company and I ran one of their Facebook pages dedicated for one specific game. It's a lot of fun - but it's also stressful at the same time. There are so many people who can't complain without being totally rude. So my skin is thick!