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Post by kds on Sept 13, 2024 13:56:44 GMT
My birthday is in July, and I had a very similar experience with my parents. They wanted to treat me to lunch at a mediocre restaurant that was an hour away or so (to have us meet roughly halfway between us, as they still live in my hometown while I'm in Minneapolis). So a gift to me was that I got to drive (through road construction) on a hot summer day for an early lunch of food I didn't want to eat--with conversation mostly being my parents' (mom's, anyway) complaining about everything. But it's exactly as you say, kds . My parents are getting up there, with my dad over 80 now and having had a multitude of health problems and my mom not so far behind, albeit healthier so far (knock on wood). So my internal whining was not a good look ... as I recognized even at the time. One would think losing my mother nearly four years would've taught me a lesson. But, I'd have much preferred a lunch rather than a dinner. For the bulk of the last 18 years, I'd have a standing Friday night dinner with my folks, now just my Dad. But, Saturday nights are usually open, which I like. But, since my sister and her family were there, it had to be an evening affair. Such is life.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 13, 2024 13:59:16 GMT
My birthday is in July, and I had a very similar experience with my parents. They wanted to treat me to lunch at a mediocre restaurant that was an hour away or so (to have us meet roughly halfway between us, as they still live in my hometown while I'm in Minneapolis). So a gift to me was that I got to drive (through road construction) on a hot summer day for an early lunch of food I didn't want to eat--with conversation mostly being my parents' (mom's, anyway) complaining about everything. But it's exactly as you say, kds . My parents are getting up there, with my dad over 80 now and having had a multitude of health problems and my mom not so far behind, albeit healthier so far (knock on wood). So my internal whining was not a good look ... as I recognized even at the time. One would think losing my mother nearly four years would've taught me a lesson. But, I'd have much preferred a lunch rather than a dinner. For the bulk of the last 18 years, I'd have a standing Friday night dinner with my folks, now just my Dad. But, Saturday nights are usually open, which I like. But, since my sister and her family were there, it had to be an evening affair. Such is life. The lunch was indeed much preferable--especially considering it was an hour outside of town. I think it was a Sunday night, too, so that drive home would have been annoying. (There's little I dislike so much as late-Sunday obligations when I work Monday. It feels like downright theft of my time.) But the point is still the same, for sure. Sometimes I need to just suck it up and enjoy the situation, even if it seems like a chore, because the clock is ticking.
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Post by kds on Sept 13, 2024 14:08:18 GMT
One would think losing my mother nearly four years would've taught me a lesson. But, I'd have much preferred a lunch rather than a dinner. For the bulk of the last 18 years, I'd have a standing Friday night dinner with my folks, now just my Dad. But, Saturday nights are usually open, which I like. But, since my sister and her family were there, it had to be an evening affair. Such is life. The lunch was indeed much preferable--especially considering it was an hour outside of town. I think it was a Sunday night, too, so that drive home would have been annoying. (There's little I dislike so much as late-Sunday obligations when I work Monday. It feels like downright theft of my time.) But the point is still the same, for sure. Sometimes I need to just suck it up and enjoy the situation, even if it seems like a chore, because the clock is ticking. I was fine once we got there. My big bugaboo is that I like planning things. So, I already had it in my brain that I had the day free. So, when my plan gets suddenly changed, I tend to get triggered. For whatever reason, my family is the opposite. They're not planners, and it drives me a little batty.
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Post by kds on Sept 17, 2024 20:17:18 GMT
The last several years, basically since becoming a parent, it's been a struggle for me to get out to Orioles games.
One big reason is we're often pretty busy during the summer months. So, when I go get a free night, I'd rather just relax over going downtown and going to the ballpark. Also, my wife's not really interested in going anymore. My son hasn't really shown an interest. Two of my best friends who are into baseball have moved out of state.
The Orioles final homestand of the regular season starts tonight. I finally got tickets for a game tomorrow night, and rain's in the forecast. Due to my schedule for this week, should the game get rained out, I would have a hard time making a make up game. And, I'd really hate to go to the ballpark just to sit through rain delays.
With this week already not off to a stellar start, having my lone 2024 Orioles game rained out wouldn't be ideal.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 20, 2024 17:55:40 GMT
For those of you in the corporate world: is there anything quite as annoying as annual compliance trainings? Data/system security, ethics, specialized regulatory compliance, etc.?
The content itself isn't that big a deal, and if they'd just give us a pamphlet and let us take the stupid quiz, that would be one thing. But every few years they "improve" it, which in this case means having made it into videos that mix PPT and little cartoons, with text read by AI narrators that mispronounce half the words (and when they are representing racially and ethnically diverse cartoon characters, incorporate somewhat offensive accents to their bad pronunciation), that we can't skip ahead on or are forced to retake the chapters. All to get to a quiz that's the same damn quiz it was last year, and the year before, and the year before, etc.
It's a beautiful late summer day and I'm listening to a damn robot mispronounce material related to regulatory compliance. If that isn't hell, I don't know what is.
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Post by kds on Sept 20, 2024 19:33:45 GMT
For those of you in the corporate world: is there anything quite as annoying as annual compliance trainings? Data/system security, ethics, specialized regulatory compliance, etc.? The content itself isn't that big a deal, and if they'd just give us a pamphlet and let us take the stupid quiz, that would be one thing. But every few years they "improve" it, which in this case means having made it into videos that mix PPT and little cartoons, with text read by AI narrators that mispronounce half the words (and when they are representing racially and ethnically diverse cartoon characters, incorporate somewhat offensive accents to their bad pronunciation), that we can't skip ahead on or are forced to retake the chapters. All to get to a quiz that's the same damn quiz it was last year, and the year before, and the year before, etc. It's a beautiful late summer day and I'm listening to a damn robot mispronounce material related to regulatory compliance. If that isn't hell, I don't know what is. We have these virtual trainings that we have to do each month. It's not a big deal. Each one only takes 10-15 mins. But, it's the same topics rehashed over and over. And, not even yearly, sometimes every other month, you'll get the same training .
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