OT: On this episode of Days of the OT..

[Chainshot]

Note: first stop when I get to florida is costco for batteries and some sort of large volume water container.

Check out if your county has a disaster or hurricane planning office. They give away these crazy bath tub contraptions that you can fill up with portable water prior to a storm. I would recommend a generator if you don’t have one already because at least keeping your freezer and refrigerator cold during a power outage and maybe running the fan is important.

 

[brian_griffin]

Note: first stop when I get to florida is costco for batteries and some sort of large volume water container.

When's the move? 3rd / 4th week of Sept? Where I live the probability of hurricanes making landfall as a function of calendar date is remarkably low for the near entirety of the hurricane season with an pronounced spike starting around Sept 1, peaking at the 10th, then decaying over the next 10 days or so to the low-event-probability baseline.

Central Florida probably has a less-peaky, longer-duration probability curve.

Find out where your neighborhood is relative to the main transmission power distribution grid and ask neighbors what the typical restoration timeframe is. Likely <1 week. Maybe even a couple days. Use that to set your "shelter in place" timeframe.

Given your <1yo twins, if you have the space, consider:

• Buy gallon jugs of water. You'll use them regardless.
• Pack your fridge with products which can be chilled, remain unopened, and provide thermal mass to prolong the life of perishable items. Examples: 2L sodas, 1gal waters, sports drinks, beer/liquor, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, etc., ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, canned goods.
• Open sports drinks, pour off a couple ounces in a pitcher to drink later, cap them, then put them in the freezer well in advance of the storm. You can directly freeze half-liter water bottles as the plastic is thin enough they can handle the 4% volume expansion from liquid water to solid ice.
• Gas grill with full tank and/or extra tank. Or charcoal grill with 15lbs and fluid.
• If you need to use your range cookware on the grill, wrap the bottoms/sides in foil to keep from sooting them irreparably. Or keep a couple crappy pans you'd use for camping.

A large-volume water container is appropriate if your household water is from a well with an electric pump, because you'll lack water in the event of a power outage. You'd use that for drinking and for flushing toilets. If you're not on a well I don't know that it would be required, or even helpful, vs. filling a bathtub for flushing toilets if you have a second bathtub (which I assume you will). Most municipal water supplies and sewage systems remain fully functional during and after hurricanes, and/or have backup generators.

If a storm is imminent:
-Make sure any prescriptions for the kids are filled.
-Don't over-think it or panic, and convince northerly relatives and inlaws of the same. Millions of toddlers have lived through hurricanes just fine.

The last thing I'll add, since you're a new homeowner, is to buy a few 2x4's, a couple pounds of 16d nails or 3" T25 construction screws from a big-box store, and also get a large (25'x30') blue tarp from Harbor Freight or similar. If you have roof issues, you'll have the material on hand to do a temporary repair, regardless of whether you do it, or a neighbor, or a drive-by crew. Don't worry about having a ladder. Someone will.

Put your important papers (birth certificates, passports, homeowners policy, car titles, immunization records, social security cards) in a couple folders of different color from all the others, mark it "hurricane", and put it in a spare computer bag or backpack. Put it under a bed or in a closet, or put the folder in your desk and keep the empty bag under the bed. It will save you time if you have to evacuate.

I'm not an expert, but I've been through ~2 dozen named storms (tropical storms and hurricanes) of varying severity. I've only evacuated for one, at my wife's insistence. Have a plan, prepare, and know what you'll do as conditions change, before, during, and after the storm.

 

[Club]

Brooke Henderson stole my heart

 

[TehDoak]

Check out if your county has a disaster or hurricane planning office. They give away these crazy bath tub contraptions that you can fill up with portable water prior to a storm. I would recommend a generator if you don’t have one already because at least keeping your freezer and refrigerator cold during a power outage and maybe running the fan is important.

When's the move? 3rd / 4th week of Sept? Where I live the probability of hurricanes making landfall as a function of calendar date is remarkably low for the near entirety of the hurricane season with an pronounced spike starting around Sept 1, peaking at the 10th, then decaying over the next 10 days or so to the low-event-probability baseline.

Central Florida probably has a less-peaky, longer-duration probability curve.

Find out where your neighborhood is relative to the main transmission power distribution grid and ask neighbors what the typical restoration timeframe is. Likely <1 week. Maybe even a couple days. Use that to set your "shelter in place" timeframe.

Given your <1yo twins, if you have the space, consider:

• Buy gallon jugs of water. You'll use them regardless.
• Pack your fridge with products which can be chilled, remain unopened, and provide thermal mass to prolong the life of perishable items. Examples: 2L sodas, 1gal waters, sports drinks, beer/liquor, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, etc., ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, canned goods.
• Open sports drinks, pour off a couple ounces in a pitcher to drink later, cap them, then put them in the freezer well in advance of the storm. You can directly freeze half-liter water bottles as the plastic is thin enough they can handle the 4% volume expansion from liquid water to solid ice.
• Gas grill with full tank and/or extra tank. Or charcoal grill with 15lbs and fluid.
• If you need to use your range cookware on the grill, wrap the bottoms/sides in foil to keep from sooting them irreparably. Or keep a couple crappy pans you'd use for camping.

A large-volume water container is appropriate if your household water is from a well with an electric pump, because you'll lack water in the event of a power outage. You'd use that for drinking and for flushing toilets. If you're not on a well I don't know that it would be required, or even helpful, vs. filling a bathtub for flushing toilets if you have a second bathtub (which I assume you will). Most municipal water supplies and sewage systems remain fully functional during and after hurricanes, and/or have backup generators.

If a storm is imminent:
-Make sure any prescriptions for the kids are filled.
-Don't over-think it or panic, and convince northerly relatives and inlaws of the same. Millions of toddlers have lived through hurricanes just fine.

The last thing I'll add, since you're a new homeowner, is to buy a few 2x4's, a couple pounds of 16d nails or 3" T25 construction screws from a big-box store, and also get a large (25'x30') blue tarp from Harbor Freight or similar. If you have roof issues, you'll have the material on hand to do a temporary repair, regardless of whether you do it, or a neighbor, or a drive-by crew. Don't worry about having a ladder. Someone will.

Put your important papers (birth certificates, passports, homeowners policy, car titles, immunization records, social security cards) in a couple folders of different color from all the others, mark it "hurricane", and put it in a spare computer bag or backpack. Put it under a bed or in a closet, or put the folder in your desk and keep the empty bag under the bed. It will save you time if you have to evacuate.

I'm not an expert, but I've been through ~2 dozen named storms (tropical storms and hurricanes) of varying severity. I've only evacuated for one, at my wife's insistence. Have a plan, prepare, and know what you'll do as conditions change, before, during, and after the storm.

I didn't quite expect the volume of helpfull-ness for Hurricane prep in this thread. We're moving last week of Sept, so I'm hoping we can get through this season without instances. I'll be picking up a few supplies as soon as I'm down there however.

 

[Jim Bob]

The Kwahi Braves jersey should be the ultimate troll wear for a Sabres-Leafs game this season.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I didn't quite expect the volume of helpfull-ness for Hurricane prep in this thread. We're moving last week of Sept, so I'm hoping we can get through this season without instances. I'll be picking up a few supplies as soon as I'm down there however.

Just FYI, the last truly damaging hurricane to come through that region (west central FL) was 1921. Other hurricanes or tropical storms to come through Tampa/Lakeland over the last 150 years have reached about 70-80 mph max, but only a couple times. The rest, 15 or so, have downgraded or stayed around 20-40 mph.

 

[brian_griffin]

70-80 mph storm is tame by destructive comparison.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Is the drainage easement "flat" or a swale which collects water after heavy rains or spring snow melt? If it's low / wet, plant hemlocks there instead.


You must be a good referee. The bad ones don't need colonoscopies because their heads are in a situation where they can self-evaluate & diagnose.

Nice.

I now know what the insult "you skate like ref" really means.....

Believe it or not, the USA Hockey open book level 1 test is daunting. Lots of IF-THEN-ELSE, deliberately contrary language and use of .NOT logic.

If you ever programmed in FORTRAN or Pascal, you'd understand.....

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Any defined benefit pension plan will always be a better deal than a defined contribution plan.

State governments who offer such generous plans generally can't (or can't continue to) afford them without increasing tax revenues by either increasing tax rates or by increasing population.

An added issue is that many government pensions are not taxable at the state level if a retiree continues to live in that state, which means taxes paid by non-government-employee taxpayers in that state also must cover the loss of potential tax revenues from (un-taxed) government employee pensions.

I'll let you connect the dots from there...

Interesting set of arguments.. A lot of knowledge, validity, and wisdom (and a bit of envy) expressed in all of the posts but there are couple of points I feel called to add.....

1.) A lot of defined pension plans were developed prior to the increase in life expectancy. My pop's generation (Ford employee) died a whole lot earlier than folks are living these days. Survivor benefits are meager by comparison. It's like buying term life insurance. The company was betting that you'd be gone before they had to really pay out.

2.) The Nation's economic standard of living has gone south over the past 60 years. Your dollar buys so much less these days than it did 50 years ago. Sure, there's a lot more stuff and options available but basically middle class (working man) wages have been flat for decades. Retirees get caught up in this pickle. Do you think all those old guys and gals working at Home Depot at minimum wage are doing it because they are bored??? Even with COLA's, the pensions they retired at don't buy anywhere near as much 5 - 10 years later. And costs keep going up.......

3.)This has had an interesting effect. Agreed that government employees have job security unmatched by private industry. This has its good points and bad points. But going back some 35+ years, I can tell you that government wages and opportunity lagged far behind private industry. From the 70's through the 80's and 90's. I had plenty of friends pulling down 6 figure incomes in the late 1990's and early 2000's working for places like Sun Microsystems, Intergraph, Martin Marietta, etc.. while my salary inched up via cost of living increases or in steps. I could have gone to work there. But I understood the value that a govt. defined benefit pension offered for the long term. I am amazed at how many of my friends in private industry never saved much of what they were bringing home. I guess they thought the good times would roll forever....

4.) And then globalism took root in a major way with industry moving offshore (China, esp.) and suddenly, the manufacturing sector no longer provided good jobs for regular folks. Professionals have still been able to maintain their standard of living - medical, law, IT, engineering, etc.. But the little guy's got nothing but service sector type jobs that don't pay well.

I'll end it there because I don't want to go political either. But I will let you all know that federal level defined benefit pensions have not been an option since the mid 1980's. Its defined contribution (FERS) and 401K (TSP) and social security all the way. Can't say the same for State and local but the Fed's recognized the problem years ago and transitioned out of Civil Service Retirement System. I was fortunate to slipped in before this happened and would not be enjoying a decent retirement if I hadn't.

 

[Chainshot]

So I had ONE last trip of heavy/bulky stuff to move into storage and my van decided it was time go Roy Batty and be time to die. I’m currently using it as a temporary storage shed halfway across campus in one of the public parking lots. With school being closed Monday for the holiday and Tuesday because of the hurricane, I have a couple of days to get everything out of it and have it towed to the garage. Almost everything that I own is out of my campus apartment and in storage across town. It’s been a weird 42 weeks living on campus for the most part.

 

[Chainshot]

This logo rebranding of the charging Buffalo has gone too far.

 

[brian_griffin]

So I had ONE last trip of heavy/bulky stuff to move into storage and my van decided it was time go Roy Batty and be time to die. I’m currently using it as a temporary storage shed halfway across campus in one of the public parking lots. With school being closed Monday for the holiday and Tuesday because of the hurricane, I have a couple of days to get everything out of it and have it towed to the garage. Almost everything that I own is out of my campus apartment and in storage across town. It’s been a weird 42 weeks living on campus for the most part.

Vehicles can be "water-tight" storage compartments.
My son's Toyota 4-runner leaks in the rear window seal, so I've duct-taped that. We'll see how the experiment goes...

Yard and home secured today. Didn't go in to work, canceled my meetings I own/chair. Called in for a couple BS meetings.
Will work rest of week from home as long as power/internet persists. Daughter's return to college postponed (was to return tomorrow - I think will be postponed to Sunday???). Both son's college and HS classes canceled rest of week.

Helping secure neighbors / other family members. Was supposed to fly out of Myrtle Beach tomorrow for a wedding in Buffalo this weekend, returning Monday. Not gonna happen. Running out for gas / beer / propane early evening. Factory locking-in Wed mid-afternoon until Friday AM. I've "aged out" of having to do that; did that years ago in prior jobs/roles.

 

[brian_griffin]

View attachment 252483 This logo rebranding of the charging Buffalo has gone too far.

Still looks better than the "slug"!!!!!!

 

[Dreakon13]

I'm not sure where to put this... but GOOD GOD. This feels like the longest offseason that I can remember. Usually I feel the pinch a little bit and slide somewhat comfortably into training camp and preseason and before I know it the season is starting, but this year I've basically been staring at the clock since Krueger was hired.

So... has the season started yet? Another month? Okay.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I'm not sure where to put this... but GOOD GOD. This feels like the longest offseason that I can remember. Usually I feel the pinch a little bit and slide somewhat comfortably into training camp and preseason and before I know it the season is starting, but this year I've basically been staring at the clock since Krueger was hired.

So... has the season started yet? Another month? Okay.

At least there's 10 or 11 dominos that have to fall in the next month (or so) with the significant RFAs that have yet to sign. The bright side is that this off-season is more of a slow movie that gets crazy at the very end. Might be worth the wait.

 

[brian_griffin]

At least there's 10 or 11 dominos that have to fall in the next month (or so) with the significant RFAs that have yet to sign. The bright side is that this off-season is more of a slow movie that gets crazy at the very end. Might be worth the wait.

It’s like Tim Curry in Clue where there are multiple possible endings, depending on where you see it.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

View attachment 252483 This logo rebranding of the charging Buffalo has gone too far.

Wow, do you guys ever see the stars much less the Milky Way with all that light pollution?

 

[brian_griffin]

Wow, do you guys ever see the stars much less the Milky Way with all that light pollution?

Where I live, the population has doubled in the ~30 years since I've moved here. The "urban glow" horizon is substantial. One of the reasons I enjoy my visits to the PA Alleghenies and NY Southern Tier is the thousands of lower-magnitude stars which become visible.

 

[TehDoak]

Buying houses is awful.

Our appraisal on the new house came back low. Like 6% below sale price. Considering we are only putting 5% down (yay physician loans!)...this is a bit of a problem for us. However, the appraisal is bad. The listed SF was 2864. Appraiser came back with 2783, or a gap of 81 sqft, roughly. Our builder challenged the appraisal, provided them with blueprints and surveys, appraiser stands firm. We finally get the measurements and math from him, and its fairly obvious how he messed it up. He had assumed a straight line from one corner to another when in fact it was 2-3 feet different over 37 linear feet, even if you estimate low, it's 74 feet, pretty much getting us to the stated SF.

The seller/builder basically has taken this as a personal insult to their build quality at this point. The owner of the company takes a 3rd party surveyor out to the site with him. They hand measure each wall and generate a brand new CAD drawing. The SF is actually higher than the blueprint due to where the garage/living area wall is (I guess they had to shift it slightly?) bringing us to a total 2930 SF. The owner has the 3rd party and himself both stamp it with a state of Florida PE stamp.

The bank, as of right now, still won't even grant us a second appraisal. My loan officer and her boss are appealing the banks own internal processes and we won't hear back on a 2nd appraisal until friday. We are supposed to close next Friday (which is of the window at this point barring some miracle). We are hoping it will all wrap the next weeks as the movers are packing it up on 9/22 and unload on 9/25.

On top of all this, my current landlord hasn't filled our townhouse for October which we are breaking lease on, so he's claiming we have to pay rent on it after we vacate until it's filled. So we're calling a lawyer as well as he told us the terms of breaking the lease were 60 days notice and 1 months rent (which we've already satisfied). He's a real cheap asshole who has lied to us several times in the 15 months we've lived here and we'd rather pay the lawyer than give him another dime.

Also I am flying to SF for a job interview on Sunday and redeye back Monday night. Weeeeeeeeee

 

[Jim Bob]

The little guy had his first hockey practice last night and has his first JV football game of the season today.

Not only is it their season opener, it is also against their big rivals and it is the first football game in the school's new stadium.

I am thankful that we don't play every game on the road this year. It was not fun last year.

Although, the two games against teams that are the longest drive away are both on the road. The upside is that I will be in Florida and miss one of them.

And this does remind me of my son:



I mean, he did agree with this one:

 

[brian_griffin]

@TehDoak
FWIW, square footage disagreements between builder/prints, tax roll listings, realtor listings, and reality/"God" measurements are common. Regardless, that's a good-sized house for a growing family.

It will work out. The bank wants your monthly payment flow, so they're motivated to get the deal done, even if they have to generate new paperwork.

 

[Jim Bob]

Nate's team won 7-6 over their rivals yesterday.

After the game, he said that the coaches weren't real happy with their performance. I get that. It shouldn't have been that close and there were some things that they need to clean up.

But this morning, I did get this text which made me smile.

 

[Jim Bob]

Anyone else getting "This tweet is unavailable" recently?

It started happening for me at home last night and it is happening again today on my work laptop. I forget what to check to solve the issue as the tweet actually are available and it's the embedded view that is broken.

Instagram embedding looks weird, too.

 

[Chainshot]

Two hours from being homeless. But I have a job starting Monday!


It ain’t that bad, I am awaiting a bunch of rental applications. I have someone putting me up for the weekend and if need be, I will head either to stay with family.

 

[Jim Bob]

Anyone else getting "This tweet is unavailable" recently?

It started happening for me at home last night and it is happening again today on my work laptop. I forget what to check to solve the issue as the tweet actually are available and it's the embedded view that is broken.

Instagram embedding looks weird, too.

OK, something changed with Chrome.

Now I need to figure out what setting is screwing things up.

Thanks, Google.