bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 6, 2020 19:53:07 GMT
Since about September I've had an allergy situation get worse after 2-3 day light cold. I thought it was the cold lingering on, but my sinuses have mostly been terrible since. I've tried multiple allergy medications and saline sprays, but only Zyrtec seems to moderately work. It's at least allowed me to sleep during the night without waking up to blow my nose. I've always had minor sinus issues, but I really hope I won't have to be on allergy medication for the rest of my life. I've had allergies most of my life, and I've found that they change over time. I can go a season where nothing happens at all, and then the next I'll be hit so hard I'm on a constant cycle of allergy meds. When allergies first come on, they can be really severe, but they can definitely mellow over time, or go away completely, or even change to something else. So hang in there, it may not last. Of course, if there is something in your environment that is causing them you might want to find out what it is. If it's seasonal... well, seasons change, lol.
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Post by kds on Feb 6, 2020 20:46:31 GMT
Since about September I've had an allergy situation get worse after 2-3 day light cold. I thought it was the cold lingering on, but my sinuses have mostly been terrible since. I've tried multiple allergy medications and saline sprays, but only Zyrtec seems to moderately work. It's at least allowed me to sleep during the night without waking up to blow my nose. I've always had minor sinus issues, but I really hope I won't have to be on allergy medication for the rest of my life. I'd go to an ENT. My wife has sinus issues, and she was having a tough time this fall / winter, but her ENT told her her sinuses needed to be drained. After the procedure, she said she's breathing better than she has in years.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Feb 6, 2020 21:16:25 GMT
I'll probably end up doing that.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 7, 2020 21:27:00 GMT
One part of my job is managing proposals. In some instances, particularly with government agencies, they hold pre-proposal calls with potential bidders.
I was just on one such call with a multistate consortium and about 15 potential bidders. The call went like this:
1) Five minutes of waiting for people to join and asking everyone to mute their phones. 2) Five minutes or so of confirming reps from each bidder were on the phone. "Do we have someone from ABC Co.?" "Yes." And so on.
3) Five minutes or so of introducing people from the various states, not in any context or for any reason. Just "this is Sue from California" kind of stuff. 4) Fifteen minutes of the primary host reading the PowerPoint slides he had circulated prior to the call. 5) Fifteen or 20 minutes of running through the bidders again, asking if they had questions. But clarifying that no answers were binding and all questions had to be submitted in writing via the process outlined in the RFP documents. (Making them entirely unnecessary ... yet a few people asked anyway, mostly to be told "I'm not sure, please submit that in writing.")
Good call! This is my life sometimes, people.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 7, 2020 23:44:34 GMT
One part of my job is managing proposals. In some instances, particularly with government agencies, they hold pre-proposal calls with potential bidders.
I was just on one such call with a multistate consortium and about 15 potential bidders. The call went like this:
1) Five minutes of waiting for people to join and asking everyone to mute their phones. 2) Five minutes or so of confirming reps from each bidder were on the phone. "Do we have someone from ABC Co.?" "Yes." And so on.
3) Five minutes or so of introducing people from the various states, not in any context or for any reason. Just "this is Sue from California" kind of stuff. 4) Fifteen minutes of the primary host reading the PowerPoint slides he had circulated prior to the call. 5) Fifteen or 20 minutes of running through the bidders again, asking if they had questions. But clarifying that no answers were binding and all questions had to be submitted in writing via the process outlined in the RFP documents. (Making them entirely unnecessary ... yet a few people asked anyway, mostly to be told "I'm not sure, please submit that in writing.")
Good call! This is my life sometimes, people.
I want YOUR job!
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 7, 2020 23:54:13 GMT
For those of us with a reasonable work ethic and little tolerance for wasted time, it can be hell sometimes. Granted, a comfortable hell: a stupid corporate job, yes, but it pays the bills.
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Post by kds on Feb 10, 2020 3:22:43 GMT
I'd love to open a pizza joint called Pizza Terra. We'd specialize in Chicago deep dish, and stay open late, until 3:34a or 3:35a.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 10, 2020 23:47:10 GMT
I have never tried Chicago deep dish pizza. Mr. Bellbottoms and I were talking about maybe trying some on our Valentine's date, but there is a strong possibility we will stick with tradition and go for Chinese soup dumplings instead.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 11, 2020 0:02:28 GMT
Ooh, Chinese food! That's on my menu once a week. General Tso's chicken, shrimp & broccoli, sweet & sour chicken, egg rolls, chicken chow mein, pork fried rice...
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 1, 2020 14:01:05 GMT
So ... coronavirus. How interested or concerned is anyone? In the U.S., we've gone from watching from afar to several dozen confirmed cases and one death. This morning shopping at Target, I heard a young man trying to get masks (which the surgeon general and others say are unnecessary and not especially helpful for normal citizens in daily life and ought to be saved for healthcare professionals).
Do you think it's a serious risk? Do you expect an appropriate, excessive, or minimal reaction to it?
EDIT: NY Times had a pretty good, informative side-by-side comparison to the more typical flu. It discusses things like ease of transmissions, fatality rates, symptoms, treatments, etc.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 1, 2020 20:29:44 GMT
I'm unable to pull up that N.Y. Times article without a subscription...
Anyway, it is starting to worry me a little bit, I'll admit that. I fall into that "older" age bracket which is supposed to be more susceptible to the virus. We're told not to panic. Tell that to the family of the man who died and the now 74 people (the latest one in Rhode Island) in the U.S. who have contracted it. In church this morning, instead of shaking hands with your fellow parishioners at the Sign Of Peace, the priest waived it. I understand that testing kits are now being administered around the country. I'm hearing conflicting reports about when a vaccine might be ready, its effectiveness, and its affordability.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 1, 2020 21:45:20 GMT
Generally if you clear your cache you can start over on sites with subscription requirements. (You'll also be logged out of everything, though.)
Basically it said that the disease so far seems to be slightly easier to transmit than the common flu and quite a bit more deadly, but less deadly than SARS or MERS, for example. I believe the numbers were each infected person on average transmits the virus to 2.2 people (compared to about 1.2 for the flu, I think it said) and a mortality rate seemingly around 2%, which is far below SARS (10%) and far above the normal flu (0.1%). It seems they are saying it's most similar to Spanish flu.
It's funny you mention the age distinctions, because while I'm still in middle age at 43, I am recently beginning to think about things more from an older perspective, and this is one of them. Forty-three isn't OLD, but it sure isn't young when it comes to risk of injury and ailment.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Mar 2, 2020 13:39:22 GMT
Up until a few days ago, my concern about coronavirus was mild, at most. But in the last few days, there has been a reported "surge" (if 3 in one report can be called a surge) of confirmed cases in the GTA, and apparently one of them is known to have taken public transit. As a public transit user, that elevates my concern from mild to moderate.
In general, around here it seems that people are starting to prepare for the worst, with the local grocery stores seeing their shelves cleared as people stock up. Can't find a bottle of hand sanitizer anywhere.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 5, 2020 0:24:28 GMT
I'm starting to get a little worried about it. The confirmed cases are getting closer to home. If I lived or worked in a city or used public transportation regularly, I'd naturally be more worried. I guess time will tell. It hasn't affected my everyday life yet (other than creeping into my mind).
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Mar 5, 2020 0:30:55 GMT
I am celebrating a win today. There is this project that my boss asked me to take the lead on, for the pitch to the client. This is not my usual role. Normally I work on the development and production side. For this, it meant getting in front of that and doing a rather deep assessment, writing a detailed report, presenting that report to the client, and consulting on next steps. These tasks are not part of my regular job description, and can I just say that giving presentations is way out of my comfort zone. I lose my train of thought, and get tongue tied. I’m pretty sure that in the past I’ve left my body once or twice during a presentation. I would very much prefer to never give a presentation to anyone ever.
So I’ve been agonizing over this, the past couple of weeks. I didn’t mind doing the assessment and writing the report; that’s well within my capabilities even if it’s not usually what I do. But the report wasn’t all good news. There are some issues on the client’s side in terms of the scope of what we can deliver in a short timeline. And so every day over the past three weeks, knowing the day was coming closer, the day I’d have to go into a boardroom in the client’s offices and shake their hands and present this report, the anxiety steadily built.
So I worked my ass off on it. Because I wanted to do a good job on this, and win the project, and basically not fail. So today, I put on my suit (I normally wear jeans to work) and I went to the client’s offices and my boss introduced me, and I presented the report, gave my recommendations, and I miraculously managed to keep it together. When I was finished, I expected the worst - a major push back. I was sure that I must have missed something, or missed the mark entirely.
And then they agreed. They agreed with everything. They asked for a price, and when we can start. It was so low key. Pardon my language, but I fucking nailed it.
So I am having a glass of wine on a Wednesday night.
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