MrVilliam

Glad my wife and I aren't the only ones. It's frustrating to explain why proposed solutions won't work while already worked up over stressful bullshit. Sometimes there just aren't real solutions. Sometimes you just need to open a pressure relief valve for a minute so you can have a little reset and be better equipped to tackle the mountain of bullshit.

I'm a power plant operator who will be working day shift on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The shout-out is appreciated. Even our own families often don't understand that this is just how it's gonna shake out most of the time. My in-laws get annoyed that we just won't be able to visit at the same time as everybody else, but they just don't really think about the power they're relying on for their holiday at home. They're weekday office workers, and they could probably do more than half of their work from home.

Thankfully my wife very much understands it and we schedule all holidays based on actual availability instead of expecting me to try to cram things in before or after my 12 hour shifts plus 1 hour commute each way on the day of. A lot of people in this industry wind up divorced, and I think the schedule is mostly what's to blame.

The paycheck will be great, but it's still nice to hear that appreciation for the time we and our families are sacrificing to provide for the rest of society. In this way, I sort of get to be one Santa Claus of many. We are making sure that Christmas comes to everybody.

I appreciate the nuance and detail of your comment. I wanted to make sure I started with that so you don't think I'm just here to shit on your comment. I'm upset that we're here and slapping bandaids on this shit instead of actually thinking about solutions.

Congress can't pass a budget, but they can raise their own pay. They haven't passed any meaningful legislation in two years, but they can raise their own pay. They can't raise our minimum wage, but they can raise their own pay. Idk about you, but I've never gotten a raise for pisspoor performance at any job I've ever held. I'll be receiving a 3.5% raise in a couple weeks, and I've very much earned that, and it's thankfully a bit higher than the ~2.8% inflation over the past year so it's an actual raise. Not everybody has been so lucky. I'm completely on board with paying Congress well so that it's not gated off for only the wealthy elite to have access to, but let's not pretend that passing a raise for themselves right now is eradicating all semblance of corruption once and for all.

Why does Congress actually need to be in DC anymore anyway? Why not have an office in their district and securely remote vote? Having them in DC maintaining two residences is costing them more, keeping them physically distanced from their actual constituents, and making corporate lobbying significantly easier since they can easily talk face to face with dozens of reps/senators in a single afternoon. We could also raise the cap on the House since it's been undersized for proper representation for decades; no need to cap it to a number that can regularly gather in the chambers anymore. I'd rather they just stay in their district and lock their pay to their local inflation rate. If they want better raises, then they need to actually help their district.

Yeah, we don't have healthcare. We have profit-motivated health insurance. We pay in case we get injured or sick, and they only profit if they find a legitimate way to not cover us when we get injured or sick, so they try their damnedest to do that.

My wife and I hung out with a couple just a few times. They were cool, but it's hard enough to find time when my wife and I are both off and awake; lining that up with two other working adults (plus they have a kid) was impossible to do regularly.

I can get along okay with pretty much anybody, but most people I've met have proven to be a little too incurious or even hateful for me to want to go out of my way to spend time with. With every passing year, I value my time more and more (as I'm sure almost everybody must) so it's hard to justify setting time aside for building friendships with people if I don't naturally want to hang out with them. That having been said, I work rotating 12 hour shifts, so I'm not off every night and weekend like a lot of people are, and even if I am off I may be swinging my sleep schedule to prepare for not being off. A lot of people just can't understand that yes, I may be off that day, but I didn't get home until after 0500 and I need to sleep at some point. Or yes I'm off that day, but I need to be in bed by 2000 at the absolute latest because I need to get up at 0230 for work the next day.

I would recommend making a friend or two with neighbors if your work schedule isn't as shitty as mine is lol. Especially if your neighbors suck less than a lot of mine have. Just don't force a friendship where there doesn't need to be one just so you can feel better about asking them to water your plants while you're away for the weekend. If they're cool, they'll do it for you just knowing that they can ask you to return the favor down the road.

I took my now wife window shopping for rings when we were getting close to engagement time so that I'd know what she would want. It was clear that the answer was gonna be yes no matter what, but I knew she'd have a ring preference anyway. She saw prices and explicitly said that she'd like white sapphire on sterling silver. I found a bridal set that she adores which very much did not cost a month or two of salary.

Because we didn't blow a ton of money on engagement/wedding shit, we've had much more resources to support the marriage itself. I've heard of regular everyday people spending $3-4k on a fucking ring. We spent 9 days in a few different places in Spain for about that cost instead lol.

I for one believe that the question of whether a food service establishment has rats is very relevant to the business.

The character of the staff and clientele as well as the financial state of the staff as a direct result of how stingy their employer is can also be very relevant. Do you want to eat somewhere if the people preparing your food there will sell their morals and decency? Kinda seems likely that I could pay somebody there $100 to put their pubes into your quarter pounder.

I don't think they want the identity of the rat getting out. I'm willing to bet that there are plenty of people who really want to publicly remind everybody that snitches get stitches. Word on the street is that this rat can suddenly afford a $60k hospital bill, unlike UHC customers whose claims get denied every day.

Their opinion on your opinion is more interesting than your opinion. Ratio, my dude.

Now we know the answer to "why is Gamora?"

Oh no.

Anyway...

Dope! I appreciate you taking the time! So it sounds like a slightly less bloated version of 10 that gets more support, but it may not be exactly legal and breezy to obtain for my personal home use.

With the possible exception of finding drivers for a device or two, it sounds like I'll be better off just pivoting to a Linux distro mid 2025. I have been happy with SteamOS on my docked steam deck with m+kb and controller, so I'm sure I won't be missing much by picking a popular distro that I can find troubleshooting guidance for when I hit inevitable snags.