The totally off-topic thread

[Hvr]

Group Certificates, or Payment Summaries, are to be provided no later than July 14th.

I mailed ours 5th July (which I didnt have to do as we have them online) and uploaded to online employee portal July 3rd.

If I get one more email or phone call asking where is their Payment Summary, my inside my head voice is going to tell them to F off and go online like they are reminded to do every single month but they still ask where are their pay slips.

Why do you employ stupid people?

 

[TheRealTMA]

Insurance quote.

8 days travel insurance including $3K car excess insurance $112.00

or $4K Car excess insurance only $280.00

Maybe try RACQ TI or use Platinum Credit Card TI.

 

[Denali]

This is Claire, Claire is at the Sushi Train.

She thinks its OK to sit at a table for 6 on her own and ignore the single bench seats (lots of people waiting for tables today/party of 4 stood right next to her and she took the last big table).

Claire also thinks its OK to take a plate off the Sushi train, take the cover off, breath over the sushi, decide its not for her, return the cover and then return the plate to the train line.

Claire is the reason why ebola spreads.

 

[JohnK]

Flew BKK-CEI on Saturday afternoon and drron and mrs.dr.ron were also on flight and flight was chockers.

We sat in 24C and 24D and in 24B and 24E was a young Spanish couple. Could well be part of tour group. Very little English but he asked to swap seats and I said no. During ascent said to wife we let them swap and we did that when seat belt sign was off. They were happy.

We left Chiang Rai yesterday and now in Holiday Inn Chiang Mai. Guess who walks past us on way out of breakfast. Wife recognised them and both smiled and said hello.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Im pretty disgusted with how small the blocks are getting. We recently sold a house that was a smidge over 600mtr sq and apparently they can build 2 homes on this without needing council permission to go that small.

We drove past a new development on the weekend and the houses are so close together, the one set of scaffolding in the middle is allowing the brickies to work on both houses.

Crazy.

yes - Ms FM was looking to buy her first house and of course she and husband were really keen on a new house in one of the new Canberra suburbs - all bright and shiny. We then pointed out to them that it was on a 297 sq m block! We talked them into looking in one of the old suburbs. For the same price they bought a house on nearly 1000 sq m. Ok it is old and I think long term when they can afford it, they will do a big renovation, or maybe a knock down and rebuild (it has no insulation in the walls etc, so it would make sense), but they have heaps of space and all the houses round them are on those sized blocks as well.

 

[RAM]

I bought a new car a few years ago and was handed the keys and they opened the showroom doors for me to drive off. I don't think they were expecting me to sit there for 60+ minutes reading the manual before I even put the key in the ignition.

I did the same many decades past. Trouble is I stopped reading after the first 40-50 pages. Drove off home feeling quite righteous and.....

Turned of the ignition and pulled the key out. Well attempted to and failed. This was before mobile phones became ubiquitous.

Quickly grabbed the Toyota manual and re-read the first 75 pages (who knew there was a manual screw system in case the pop-up lights blew a fuse) but could not find anything about "ignition key sticking".

So the dilemma -

1. Did I dare get out of the car to go inside and phone leavng a brand new car with the ignition key inside.
2. Sit and wait a few hours for a neighbour to come home/walk by.
3. Drive back to the dealer and admit defeat.
4. PANIC!

Re-read manual a few times while thinking which option to take, thought there must be a really simple explanation, surely.

Twenty minutes or so later I was down under the steering column looking up and saw the small black plastic button about half the size of a pea, sticking out around 1/16th of an inch aka 1.5mm - and pushed it. Nothing remarkable seemed to happen, so back sitting in seat pushed it again and pulled on key - miracle.

Give me COBOL, CPM, MDBS, Pascal, Fortran, BDM, even the complete set of Vax-VMS manuals (why had nobody at UNSW ever opened them?) any day.

 

[Cossie]

yes - Ms FM was looking to buy her first house and of course she and husband were really keen on a new house in one of the new Canberra suburbs - all bright and shiny. We then pointed out to them that it was on a 297 sq m block! We talked them into looking in one of the old suburbs. For the same price they bought a house on nearly 1000 sq m. Ok it is old and I think long term when they can afford it, they will do a big renovation, or maybe a knock down and rebuild (it has no insulation in the walls etc, so it would make sense), but they have heaps of space and all the houses round them are on those sized blocks as well.

1,000 sqm is great, particularily if it's in an area that can be redeveloped. When my sister and I inherited the family home we had hoped to subdivide, and build 2 new tonhouses, it was a corner block, so would have been ideal for this. Anyway after making inquiries we were told that as the block was only 560 sqm, we would never be given planning permission to do that.
So we took the easy option. It was bought by someone with 'connections', I dare say they will get around the rules and there will be 2 houses on it in the future.....

 

[mannej]

Cossie, did you speak to the council or to a licensed surveyor.

Yes it does come down to the R Codes, but there is leeway if you are just under the minimum.

 

[Flying mermaid]

1,000 sqm is great, particularily if it's in an area that can be redeveloped. When my sister and I inherited the family home we had hoped to subdivide, and build 2 new tonhouses, it was a corner block, so would have been ideal for this. Anyway after making inquiries we were told that as the block was only 560 sqm, we would never be given planning permission to do that.
So we took the easy option. It was bought by someone with 'connections', I dare say they will get around the rules and there will be 2 houses on it in the future.....

Unfortunately that is what Canberra seems like today - those with connections find it easy..... Ms FM should find it easy to build a bigger house, as they should be well within all the current rules for boundaries etc. Just hope they can afford it before they want to start a family (I suspect Mum and Dad might end up helping a bit as well ).

 

[RAM]

Nope. As I told my husband when he went to touch it, "Dont make it worse!"

It just paint scratched but Im not OK with it just being patched over with spray paint, because it will still be rough to touch/look at.

I'm not particular about my cars but its a little thing that can be fixed.

I understand HOWEVER as has been discussed on many different issues within this thread - 1,001 videos on youtube explaining how to do it anything (and quite well if you look around at a few on the topic). But, get a quote first from a couple of places to put it in perspective.

To get rid of the roughness a repair shop's tip - tooth paste can be used as a soft cutting agent - put a little (really little about the size of 1/4th a pea) amount on a damp toothbrush and gently brush around the affected surface three or four times (at most). Do it gently and wash it off with a lot of water first DO NOT wipe it off before washing down well.

Test the surface to see if still rough and if necessary repeat.

For touch-up spray - practice on your rubbish bin for example. Hold the can exactly the distance away from the surface it says to (nothing wrong with getting a ruler out in practice!). Less is more with the touch-up spray paint.

Do not do it if it has just rained or is about to, and preferably not first thing in the morning when the surface is very cold (aka during the cold months - in summer early morning is a good time).

 

[RAM]

insurance quote.

8 days travel insurance including $3k car excess insurance $112.00

or $4k car excess insurance only $280.00

PEDANT WARNING

Maybe I've been on the PC too long today but...

$112 for a $3,000 excess or pay more ($280) for a bigger excess ($4,000) - a typo or am I missing something?

Are you not supposed to pay less premium the higher the excess?

 

[Cossie]

Cossie, did you speak to the council or to a licensed surveyor.

Yes it does come down to the R Codes, but there is leeway if you are just under the minimum.

Spoke to someone at the planning office, also our neighbour is a licensed surveyor, he asked around for us and was told 'no' as well. Probably just as well, it could have been a major cause of angst!

 

[Denali]

I did the same many decades past. Trouble is I stopped reading after the first 40-50 pages. Drove off home feeling quite righteous and.....

Turned of the ignition and pulled the key out. Well attempted to and failed. This was before mobile phones became ubiquitous.

Quickly grabbed the Toyota manual and re-read the first 75 pages (who knew there was a manual screw system in case the pop-up lights blew a fuse) but could not find anything about "ignition key sticking".

So the dilemma -

1. Did I dare get out of the car to go inside and phone leavng a brand new car with the ignition key inside.
2. Sit and wait a few hours for a neighbour to come home/walk by.
3. Drive back to the dealer and admit defeat.
4. PANIC!

Re-read manual a few times while thinking which option to take, thought there must be a really simple explanation, surely.

Twenty minutes or so later I was down under the steering column looking up and saw the small black plastic button about half the size of a pea, sticking out around 1/16th of an inch aka 1.5mm - and pushed it. Nothing remarkable seemed to happen, so back sitting in seat pushed it again and pulled on key - miracle.

Give me COBOL, CPM, MDBS, Pascal, Fortran, BDM, even the complete set of Vax-VMS manuals (why had nobody at UNSW ever opened them?) any day.

Once, my car would start for about 5 seconds, then turn off.

Had to get the car towed to dealer, it was a new car, and they spent 3 days trying to figure it out.

Eventually realised the micro chip that was in the key that talked to the engine dropped out.

New set of keys and reprogramming and car returned. They said they've never seen it happen before.

 

[rainbowgirl]

Once, my car would start for about 5 seconds, then turn off.

Had to get the car towed to dealer, it was a new car, and they spent 3 days trying to figure it out.

Eventually realised the micro chip that was in the key that talked to the engine dropped out.

New set of keys and reprogramming and car returned. They said they've never seen it happen before.

We had a similar thing happen on holidays. We were using the spare key for some reason which hadn't been used since we'd bought the car second hand. It was a communication issue between the key and the car and we were told that the spare key was a non genuine copy and wouldn't work. It took less than 3 days for the local mechanic to figure it out but it caused a lot of inconvenience in the meantime.

 

[Denali]

PEDANT WARNING

Maybe I've been on the PC too long today but...

$112 for a $3,000 excess or pay more ($280) for a bigger excess ($4,000) - a typo or am I missing something?

Are you not supposed to pay less premium the higher the excess?

The $112 quote is for full travel insurance, including $5 million liability, medical, luggage, missed connection ect and car excess.

The $280 quote is for car excess only.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Who are the learned Netflix AFFers around here? How does and how often can a series your are half way through all of a sudden disappear into the wild blue yonder from Netflix?

 

[Pushka]

Who are the learned Netflix AFFers around here? How does and how often can a series your are half way through all of a sudden disappear into the wild blue yonder from Netflix?

They usually give a months warning shown in the particular series when it's about to be withdrawn. I'm currently watching Netflix on a cruise ship being streamed in the Baltic.

 

[PLANT]

It's AMAZON PRIME DAY!!!
Also 7/11 day in the states!
Nothing really grabbed me yet on deals.....
I had 4 free slurpies a few years back in BOSTON

 

[drron]

Eightblack is back-
Sorry About That... - FlyerTalk Forums=

 

[Denali]

Each of the 3 B&Bs I booked for Scotland emailed me a friendly list of info for our stay, which is helpful.

Lots of info on how to drive through herds of cows and sheep.