OT: HFPens Community Lounge: A Pocket Full of Bits

[Randy Butternubs]

Great choice. Broadway was unreal when I visited a few years ago

If you're talking about downtown Broadway near where it was bombed, I will be avoiding that.

I'm going by myself and plan on starting my adventuring early. Likely to take a nap at some point and will then hit up a bar with to-go beers for dinner near the hotel. And then right back to the hotel to avoid COVID/idiots/fights/shootings/crowds to drink some beers and watch Netflix.

I'm honestly just going so I don't waste $270 that Southwest has of mine.

 

[Empoleon8771]

High five GERD brother! Thankfully mine has been mostly manageable with a PPI and trying to eat better, has not yet reached the place where surgery is considered necessary. The biggest symptom I get is a high-pitched barking cough which, to be fair, is annoying as hell and sends my wife up a tree. I wouldn't be surprised if, at some future point, the manometry may be in my cards as well.

I've been taking PPIs for about a year now, and I think they generally work pretty well. The only reflux symptom I'm having is bloating, so I don't think I have that serious of a case. If not for the BRAVO test I got with my last endoscopy, I'm not sure they would have even known about the GERD. Apparently my esophagus looked fine, but the BRAVO test showed that there was a lot of acid.

My best advice would be to adopt a speed limit when eating. It'll help greatly with the gas and bloating. If I try to keep pace with a 'normal' eater, I inevitably just make myself sick.

GERD sucks, but it's manageable at least. Acidic and greasy foods are, sadly, your enemy now. You can afford to cheat on occasion unless your situation is really bad, at least. I still have pizza on occasion...I just have to do the napkin grease pat-down first unless I want to burp for the ensuing 3-4 hours.

I had no idea what a LINX device was until you mentioned it and now I'm actually jealous of you . My esophagus was effectively surgically tied around itself to achieve the same result...an inelegant solution to an inelegant problem that caused as many problems as it fixed. 'Twas the only option on the table when I was 10 and spitting stomach acid like an annoyed camel, though...

This was the alternative I had to the LINX device, and which one I got was dependent on the manometry. That's why the manometry was an important test for me to take, if my esophagus pressure wasn't high enough to open up the LINX device, they couldn't use the LINX device.

Pizza's a weird one for me. I've gotten an upset stomach whenever I've eaten homemade pizza, but I also put garlic on my pizza and I know that garlic is a big GERD trigger for me. I also recall being able to eat subway chicken parm (just pizza sauce and mozz cheese on top of grilled chicken) fine, but that was about a year ago.

I know ketchup moderately upsets my stomach and garlic is even worse, but I'm not actually sure if pizza is bad for me. I just don't particularly want to find out, although I've been toying with the idea of trying something like buffalo chicken pizza.

Welp, just booked a flight to Nashville for the weekend.

Hope you have fun, I've heard a lot of good things about Nashville.

I think I'm going to DC over the 4th of July weekend, but I don't think I'm going to do any trips outside of that this year. I decided to splurge and buy a 4k, 144 Hz monitor and that cost me $900, so I'd rather not also go on a super expensive vacation

 

[T1K]

If you're talking about downtown Broadway near where it was bombed, I will be avoiding that.

I'm going by myself and plan on starting my adventuring early. Likely to take a nap at some point and will then hit up a bar with to-go beers for dinner near the hotel. And then right back to the hotel to avoid COVID/idiots/fights/shootings/crowds to drink some beers and watch Netflix.

I'm honestly just going so I don't waste $270 that Southwest has of mine.

There’s some pretty sweet bars there, some with decks and live music. I doubt much of that is going on right now though.

Personally if I had a voucher like that I’d be heading down to a beach in Florida.

 

[HandshakeLine]

If you're talking about downtown Broadway near where it was bombed, I will be avoiding that.

I'm going by myself and plan on starting my adventuring early. Likely to take a nap at some point and will then hit up a bar with to-go beers for dinner near the hotel. And then right back to the hotel to avoid COVID/idiots/fights/shootings/crowds to drink some beers and watch Netflix.

I'm honestly just going so I don't waste $270 that Southwest has of mine.

Spite is as good of a reason to travel as any.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Spite is as good of a reason to travel as any.

Out of spite is how I do most things.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Out of spite is how I do most things.

Better than doing things for Sprite, I agree.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Out of spite is how I do most things.

Randy’s girlfriend: The dishes are piling up

Randy:

 

[Randy Butternubs]

My company has a "Culture Champions Group" and needed new members. I volunteered.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Just applied to a job at Pitt.

 

[KIRK]

Spite is as good of a reason to travel as any.

Hold it. Only travel? You told me spite is as good as reason as any to live.

 

[KIRK]

Just applied to a job at Pitt.

So, I'm moving to SC and now you're applying to get the hell out of dodge. Well, can't say I blame you.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm curious, does anyone here have any experience with flooring companies in Pittsburgh and can give a recommendation? I'm planning on getting either vinyl or hardwood for my entryway to 1st floor stairs and living room, and I'm not sure what companies I should be talking to. I saw Enterprise Today has a 50% off sale, but their reviews are downright heinous and I kinda want to avoid them.

 

[LOGiK]

I always did flooring myself be it carpet or connecting those interlocking hardwood floor pieces over a room up to an entire house.
Speaking of which, I have all the stuff ready to do our kitchen, once the weather warms up a bit, which it has............. sigh******** There goes an entire day or two.

-----

Anyway I'm up to Zora in Zelda botw and I can now swim up waterfalls.... WAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! Not just swim up.... I mean rocket fish swim to launch out the top of the fall hahaha... did not expect that! Been so long since I played a zelda its like a legit surprise all the coo mechanics/features/additions from old zelda's....

What a truly great game hot damn... Even the music is relaxing... kinda reminds me of Witcher 3 with the music (although NOWHERE close) just relaxing to wander and frantic when a fight nears.

 

[LOGiK]

@Ogrezilla

whorey cow man... I tackled vah ruta and it took 3 hours to get to the city to even start that divine beast quest... than another 3 hours from initial boss fight, mid DB quest puzzle dungeon, end DB boss fight.... holy hell!!!

This game is just ridiculously compact such an enormous world with stuff to find everywhere and the quests built into the surrounding area and puzzles / dungeons built into divine beasts... just wow.

Little bit of shadow of the colossus in this game.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I've owned Breath of the Wild since it was released (but for the Wii U) and I haven't completed the main quest. Mostly because I rarely game anymore. I think I've only got the castle left.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I know the COVID thread isn't a thing anymore but worth sharing:

Fully vaccinated? You can ditch the mask, CDC says

Mask mandate gone for vaccinated Americans.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I know the COVID thread isn't a thing anymore but worth sharing:

Fully vaccinated? You can ditch the mask, CDC says

Mask mandate gone for vaccinated Americans.

But companies can still require them as I’m sure you know.

 

[Empoleon8771]

But companies can still require them as I’m sure you know.

I think most companies will mostly go by CDC guidelines, so they'll be lifted soon as well. But I imagine the safer bet is that the entire mask mandate gets lifted in June and that's when things get back to "normal", whatever you want to consider "normal", and that's when companies lift it.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Will be interesting to see, as a practical matter, how restaurants, hotels, etc manage that. Let's avoid the grand political discussion . . . I'm just noting that even if it were entirely proper to put up a sign saying 'masks required if you haven't been vaccinated', how do you actually enforce that? '

'Welcome to WalMart. May I see your proof of vaccination before you enter without a mask'. Not sure that happens, so in the end, you're left to choose between requiring everyone to wear them anyway or putting up a sign encouraging non-vaccinated people to wear masks in the store.

Gotta think it'll be a mess for a while . . .

Not getting political about whether I like the move or not, but I view a partial mandate recall is effectively a full mandate recall. This is basically green lighting not wearing masks for everyone. Which, if you want my opinion, is fine.

I would have just scrapped the mandate entirely over a partial repeal. A partial repeal In practice is going to be essentially a full repeal so why not just fully get rid of it if you're partially getting rid of it?

Edit: I just realized I said not to get political and then immediately said afterwards I was fine with it. Oops.

 

[KIRK]

Not getting political about whether I like the move or not, but I view a partial mandate recall is effectively a full mandate recall. This is basically green lighting not wearing masks for everyone. Which, if you want my opinion, is fine.

I would have just scrapped the mandate entirely over a partial repeal. A partial repeal In practice is going to be essentially a full repeal so why not just fully get rid of it if you're partially getting rid of it?

Yeah, pretty much where I'm at. Either a business says 'everyone still has to wear them' or hope for the best. There's going to be a transition period, but it wouldn't stun me if masks were done aside from those few venues cited within the next 90 days.

EDIT: One nice side effect, I hope, will be an end to this lunacy with refusing to open the schools. I trust (or I hope) pretty much everyone is on the same page with that one.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Finalized my new floor installations. I'm paying $4300 to install vinyl flooring in my living room and new carpeting on my stairs. The vinyl I picked out is fairly high quality stuff, so I think the price was worth it. This is the color I got, I think it's going to look really good:

I think this is going to fit amazingly well with my furniture and rug that are already in my living room:

Edit: sorry about the massive picture, but I think this is the last post on this page so I don't actually care that much

 

[Empoleon8771]

So don't turn this thread into a shithole...

I ignored that thread to come here to enjoy anything but hockey and f***ing covid.

Out with you... OUT!

It was one post sharing good news, I wasn't trying to devolve the thread back into that

 

[Ogrezilla]

@Ogrezilla

whorey cow man... I tackled vah ruta and it took 3 hours to get to the city to even start that divine beast quest... than another 3 hours from initial boss fight, mid DB quest puzzle dungeon, end DB boss fight.... holy hell!!!

This game is just ridiculously compact such an enormous world with stuff to find everywhere and the quests built into the surrounding area and puzzles / dungeons built into divine beasts... just wow.

Little bit of shadow of the colossus in this game.

I don't remember which is which, but it sounds like you're pretty good. I loved the Zora and bird abilities just for more mobility.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Man, something so strange (in a good way) has happened with my middle cat since adopting my new cat. Before I adopted my new cat, my middle cat was always super skittish, would chew on wires out of anxiety and would just be generally scared all of the time. But now with the new cat? When I've had people over, the cat has just casually chills out and even lets other people pet her. She doesn't chew on wires anymore. She was never a lap cat before either, but I just picked her up and set her on my lap and she actually laid down on my lap.

Maybe she just needed a similarly aged cat to get some of the energy/anxiety out, but man she's like an entirely new cat at this point. She's not as social as other 2 cats, the young one is basically a dog (she'll come up to greet anyone and ask for pets) and the old one is really friendly too. But man, she's definitely no longer the ultra scared, stereotypical calico anymore either.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

A guy I knew in high school named Steve Carter passed away today. He played junior in the OHL for the Belleville Bulls, briefly played minor pro, then settled back in Kingston to be a policeman.

It's kind of a weird feeling. We were friends, but not super close. It's just kind of jarring because he's not that old.