biodork

Ahh, I did not know that. Well then I guess I can understand them being true to the original story, but it still looked silly to me. Other than that, I didn't mind the movie at all. From a technical standpoint it was impressive how they made him look so scrawny at the beginning of the story.

Dunno about anyone else, but I didn't like the first Captain America movie as much because of the villain. Why did they have to go cartoonish and make him look like a red alien? Totally unnecessary and just silly, IMO. Otherwise a good movie, and the second one was a rare case where the sequel was better than the original.

I should've been a little clearer in my original complaint; it's the main window you get when you open one of the new Office programs that has the absurdly large tile-like buttons, not the main program. The main program still has the stupid little pictures for everything where there used to be simple text describing the function.

Yeah, maybe tablet-like isn't the right word... I just hate how it looks more and more cartoon-y and less professional in my opinion. I don't need gigantic buttons and options I could read from across the room without my contacts, and I don't care if I can personalize whether there are clouds or aliens or vines across the top; I just want a streamlined and functional program where I can find the menu options I want without having to play Pictionary.

Yeah, they should've stopped at 2003 IMO. I'd gotten used to 2007 and 2010 even though I wasn't a big fan, but 2013 just sucks... more stuff that looks like it's meant for a tablet. Boo.

Microsoft Office 2013. Ew.

Ouch, man... how the heck did you fracture your wrist and live with it for so long?? Our health insurance system is surely f*cked up when things like this are allowed to happen. Yeah, I'm used to it, unfortunately... I'm sympathize with Howard in The Big Bang Theory.

Still no offers (and no more showings) on the house after 4 weeks. Getting very discouraged there. Yesterday the head of a different lab came through looking for someone, and he found me and asked if I was new. I said yes, and he must've heard from my boss that she'd recruited me because he asked if I'm the one who'd worked for my previous boss, who they all know because he used to work here. I said yes, and he told me he's been reading our most recent publication (of which I am first author) because his lab is starting to work on something similar. He asked if I'd done the experiments in the paper, and I told him that I'd done all but the clinical work, and he told me he wanted to introduce me to his lab members so they can ask questions if they have trouble when setting things up because it's good to know someone with that kind of expertise. Then he asked if I was a PhD, and when I told him I had a Master's, his face fell and he said, "oh, that's too bad... I've been looking to hire someone in my lab, and I've talked to lots of people but they weren't any good." WTF, dude? For one, I'm not looking to change labs, but whyinthehell do people in research still insist on putting so much value on a piece of paper that proves little other than time put in when presented with other, more tangible evidence that someone is fully qualified? :wallbash: And my dad has his consultation with radiation oncology yesterday. They were hoping to get a treatment plan arranged at UPenn and have his actual treatment done at home (Delaware), but they doctor told him that he should be treated at UPenn because they can do a different type of radiation that is more targeted to the superficial layers with less risk of side effects from traditional radiation. Okay, that's good to know. But they also want to combine it with chemo because they say there's a 25% chance of recurrence with radiation alone, and they want him to get radiation 5x / week for 6 weeks. :blink: I'm glad they are considering all options and want to make sure he has the best possible chance at being cancer-free, but we thought he was through the worst of the treatment and are now realizing he has a long ways to go yet.

I read them backwards because I hadn't realized that Black House was a sequel, but they're sufficiently standalone that I enjoyed it anyhow. I need to read the Dark Tower series at some point; you've probably noticed that King likes to re-use certain places in his stories (Derry, ME being the most obvious one), and there are ties between places used in the Talisman and Black House to the Dark Tower books from what my dad has told me. I don't know if you've seen the movie versions of The Stand, It, or Dreamcatcher, but in all three cases the books are far better and are entertaining reads. (The first two were probably way before your time and were done in tv mini-series style, and the latter was more recent but Hollywood ruined it.)

Thanks, but I think you mean Jo (and Carter). ;)

I think Jo chimed in earlier in the thread, and I'm just reading for now since there's very little known for certain yet. Only thing I know for sure is that independent of age and/or consent, the dude has a girlfriend and he's messing around with other girls in his hometown. IMO that already makes him an idiot regardless of what exactly went down, and possibly much worse.

Thanks, all!

After about 5 weeks of being out of work, I am FINALLY starting the new gig on Monday. It's a little stupid that I'll only end up being there for 6-8 weeks at this point, but at least I'll still have about 2 weeks of overlap with the person I'm supposed to learn from, and it'll be nice to get a paycheck again. My dad got his temporary tracheostomy removed this past Monday, and the lymph node biopsies they'd done at the time of his surgery showed no signs of metastasis, thank God.

I had one with my old car, but darned if I know what I did with it! I'll have to dig around and see if it turns up. It worked great for music, but podcasts were sometimes problematic because the audio would be low enough at times to trigger some kind of "auto-off" function. But that thing should be around here somewhere...

I should look into that; I do love me some "Wait, Wait!" but I have an older iPod that isn't recognized by my car (boo). I've tried an aux cable but the sound quality is so awful I can't use it. :lol: Sadly, they were not in my demographic (single mom with two small children).

:lol: Amen to that, man. Separate (somewhat petty) complaint: in the last four weeks, I've driven from Harrisburg, PA to center city Philadelphia four times, Delaware four times, and Baltimore twice. I'm so sick of being in the car for hours on end every few days, and it's not going to get any better next week.

Woke up Tues morning at 10:30am to several missed calls/texts regarding a buyer who wanted to see the house at 11:30am. Faaack! Rushed around to vacuum and pick up and took a quick shower, and it was so warm in the bathroom after that I left an extra fan on and only got half dressed while I finished getting ready to leave the house. Suddenly I hear voices and when I turn around there are people walking up my stairs, and I had to shout "I need pants!" So horribly awkward. My Realtor had told their Realtor I wasn't home since he hadn't reached me earlier in the morning so they took it upon themselves to come over early and I never heard them come in. Supposedly they were considering an offer (deciding between my house and one other they'd seen), but we still haven't heard back yet.

I registered for the free upgrade (currently running Win 7 Pro, 64-bit), but after reading this thread and a bunch of articles online, I think I'm going to hold off until October: http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/28/microsoft-windows-10-should-you-upgrade/3/

Sounds like JB's departure is much more amicable than TB's was: http://sabres.buffalonews.com/2015/08/03/sabres-front-office-gets-cleanup/

If you find that you enjoy Stephen King, I highly recommend The Talisman and The Black House (both collaborations with Peter Straub).

If you're curious about trying more Asian food, I definitely recommend this cookbook (or any of the series): http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Thai-Everyday-Recipes/dp/0811837319 I have this one and really love it. There are plenty of non-seafood recipes, and the ones I've tried are so flavorful that I I forget they're not bad for you! So if you have access to a decent Asian grocery store (or can order online) and like lime and salt, you'll find a lot of these to be very enjoyable. The main "non-traditional" ingredients you'd want to have on hand are fish sauce (sounds gross, but it's basically liquid salt with lots of flavor), maybe red curry paste, and canned coconut milk. As for Indian, I love a good curried lentil soup (this recipe is decent): http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-curried-lentil-soup/a218fb69-3128-425e-9d1e-817aefd96cf8 And a slow cooker is your best friend when time to cook is an issue. Here's another link with lots of healthy soup recipes that might help you get more veggies: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/09/50-light-and-healthy-soup-recipes.html You'll certainly have to experiment a little and see what you like, but that's part of the fun! If you're intimidated by cooking, this is a great (and very easy) recipe for crock pot salsa chicken that I like: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/10/embarrassingly-easy-crock-pot-salsa.html I've made this a bunch of times with boneless skinless chicken breasts, and it's so easy and versatile... I've eaten it over rice, on a salad, in sandwiches, etc. Works really well as leftovers and freezes well, too.

Thanks, man. It definitely helps me to know he's improving and in better spirits. It's been a rough summer so far, but hopefully this is the beginning of things starting to head back in the right direction.

Nothing in here the last three weeks? I think the Awesome Thread has seemingly replaced the need for this one. Either way, I'll throw out something F'N Fantastic from this week (about time I had some good news): my dad went home from the rehab hospital on Tuesday, and is improving every day. He still has a long way to go before he's fully healed, but his mental state is much improved and he's able to talk again, which is wonderful.

:cry:

Yikes. I hope at least the virus / rash resolves itself quickly and without further issue. Here's my weekly roundup: 1) Still unemployed until 8/10, and that's only if HR finishes processing their multitude of clearances in time. I have to go to Baltimore both tomorrow morning and again next Monday. God, I hope this is all worth it 6 months from now. 2) They're normally my carrier of choice, but lately the USPS is pissing me off. I thought I was doing a smart thing when I set up a PO box at my local post office so my mail wouldn't accumulate at the house while I was away during the week, except since the job has yet to start it's just been an extra pain in my ass to get my mail for the last month. Plus they don't tell you that they'll start charging you extra postage to get any packages that end up being forwarded because their idiotic system requires that any forwarded mail has to be sent to their office in Philadelphia before processing and being sent back to where it already was for me. I had to pay $9 today to pick up a package my brother sent via Amazon Prime that was in my area last Fri or Sat. and only made it to me late Tuesday. Blargh. 3) More idiotic HR people, but this time at my old job. Before I left I asked what I needed to do to make my last day official, and was told to email both our departmental and university HR reps once my online attendance had been completed. I did that on 6/30, knowing my vacation payout wouldn't be processed until payroll ran at the end of July. I checked the online system on Monday, and it's showing that I've signed a new 1 year appointment starting 7/1/15, which is clearly incorrect, so I emailed both of them again (copying the original message from June) to check on things. On Tues. morning I checked the payroll system and it had a paycheck listed for this Friday, but it included insurance premiums, retirement contributions, etc. and I would have thought my coverage ended 6/30. Each HR person replied separately, essentially deflecting responsibility to the other one, telling me that I hadn't been properly terminated in the system, they were going to delete the paycheck showing for this Friday, and that I would be paid my vacation at the end of August. WTF, people??? How hard is your GD job, and why should I have to wait an extra 4 1/2 weeks to be paid because of their gross incompetence??? And if my unemployment claim gets denied because my previous employer didn't bother to terminate me properly I am going to raise hell. 4) I really liked my realtor when I first met with him, but now he is pissing me off. My house has now been on the market for just over 2 weeks with zero showings, and last Sat. I asked him if we should go ahead and drop the price and he wanted me to wait until tomorrow. On Tues. morning I told him I wanted to go ahead and drop the price, and he got the paperwork filed and done. Yesterday he emailed me to say he'd done a search on similar homes in my neighborhood that were active, pending, or sold, and told me that the site indicated there's a buyers market with 8 months of inventory and we should price 10% below market to sell. WTF, dude?! Why didn't you look at this kind of thing BEFORE listing my house for sale? Whyinthehell am I paying a realtor if he's not going to bother looking at this kind of information and include it in the plan to sell? I tore into him yesterday. So angry.