The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Gabe1]

I got the update yesterday. So far, I really really hate it. Mostly because of Cortana. I don't want to go messing around on the registry, so I disabled as much of Cortana as I can while maintaining the search function. And then I complained to Microsoft about why they are forcing Cortana on me when I don't want Cortana. Almost as annoying as the paper clip was in Microsoft Office, but at least I could change that to a cute cartoon cat.

I've been ignoring Cortana while trying to figure out what to do about it.

 

[donaldtoo]

Sounds logical.

 

[Gabe1]

Same here. We've had Sonic's coming out of our Sonic's for what seems like forever 'round these parts.
Their food has never disappointed...!

Sonic's food is suprising pretty darn good. At times DD and I will go just for a Cherry-Limeade.

 

[donaldtoo]

If I'm spending a lot already on a WDW trip, it would have to be something special to spend a lot more at some of those.

Yep, I'm still very disappointed at the $32 (I believe it was), now $35 strip steak both myself and DS had at BoG on our June of '13 trip.
Fortunately, we had the normal $60 a day DDP at my 50% CM discount, so it was only $30.
I would never pay full price for the DDP.
We had many good meals, but, no day at WDW is worth $60 a day per person just for food...!

 

[donaldtoo]

Sonic's food is suprising pretty darn good. At times DD and I will go just for a Cherry-Limeade.

Yep, those things are one of the most awesome soft drinks I've ever had, but, I haven't had one in years...
DWifey gets one anytime we go there.
Might need to remedy that this weekend...!

 

[donaldtoo]

That is what I say about doughnuts!

I know, you meant to say Round Rock Donuts...!

 

[Gabe1]

Yes, we had that type available everywhere I have lived, including here in NC. When I was younger we used to have them once in awhile, but, not often as they (natural casing franks) were more expensive. Also my mother objected to what they were encased in. She never did get the link sausage connection and we never told her.

Have you tried this sauce recipe? I boil the ground meat as it separates nicely and doesn't get clumpy. This one isn't sweet like the coney ones are with the ketchup and tomato paste, worse campbell soup.

• 1lb hamburger
• 1⁄2lb beef hot dog, ground up
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoon cummin
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 cups water

 

[donaldtoo]

There's a history of alcoholism on both sides of my family. My great grandfather on my dad's side was an alcoholic. My maternal grandfather is an alcoholic. We've been having that battle with him lately. Other family members, while not alcoholics, have had addiction problems. Two cousins on my dad's side have both had drug problems, and my maternal grandmother was a gambling addict.

Just always something I have to keep in mind. Especially since I know I already demonstrate addictive behaviors, usually when it comes to technology, and then I have to break the addiction. No fun.

At least you are aware, recognize, understand, and are prepared to deal with it.
So many are not.
Good on you...!

 

[BAChicagoGal]

I started a trip report. It is called the Tale of our Adventures.

 

[donaldtoo]

I waited too long for an epidural with my DS and he was 9#. Labor went very fast but he got stuck at the very end because of his big honk'n head. They told me later the winner of the largest head in the nursery. Anyhoo, his heartrate started to drop and she, my OB decided it was salad spoon time. No epidural, no knocking me out only novocaine in the area of the incision that trust me did nothing in the 60 seconds before she told me don't even consider moving what so ever (and I did not) and she yanked that kid right out. He had already broken my tailbone. That boy caused lots of damage down there. 5 freak'n days in the hospital and only released cause I said I was leaving. A reason my kids are 5 years apart, surprised I ever decided to have a 2nd child. She was 7 1/2# and average sized head. I could have walked out of the hospital that night but she went to the PIC Unit as she decided to inhale fluids she should not have. Guess it is always something.

Double ouch...!!!!!

With our first, they started drippin' the pitocin at about 7:30a and she wasn't "salad-spooned" 'til 10:54 that night. It was a ride for DWifey and baby. I'm proud to admit I was a rock! I was there and supportive for it all...!!!
A bunch of guys must not be able to handle it, 'cause nurses kept askin' me if I was OK...
"I'm fine, thank you!"
Although, I also must admit, I did share a six-pack of brew with my youngest bro on the tailgate of his pickup in the hospital parkin' garage after baby and mommy called it a night.
It was an awesome day...!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

OK gang, I'm a goner...
Half-day Friday tomorrow...!
Sweet Disney dreams to all...!!!
See y'alllllllllllllllllllll...!!!!!

 

[Cesar R M]

I've been ignoring Cortana while trying to figure out what to do about it.

DISABLE IT. NO MERCY!!

 

[Cesar R M]

Also, seems there are good news on the horizon, my boss told me he's about to make contracts with 2 companies. So hopefully I will start to get paid as I should soon.

As for more life progress..
I also inscribed myself to english classes (my entry test netted me in "intermediate-advanced" , aka level 13 , where 16 is "vantage" and level 20+ is "professional".
I am surprised the teacher said I could speak english fairly well despite being deaf. (yaay points for me).
Anyway, going to start in 2 weeks all saturdays.

I'm debating if I should just pay and get the darn TOEFL test to see my levels too. But I'm scared of the spoken portion.
Sometimes I needed to ask my teacher to repeat 3 times in a row to understand. And the TOEFL test only allows 2 repeats, and is using a computer speaker/headphones.

And then I'm facepalming as well, because it seems Canada has the IELTS standard and not the TOEFL one (TOEFL=US english test, IELTS = European).
Going to have to ask if the school im going to go has IELTS tests too.

 

[Cesar R M]

Also, you guys do mind if I do my trip report here?

 

[MOXOMUMD]

A closed A&W has no car hops, so not really something that matters in the winter. Most areas don't even have A&W's anymore or at least none that I have seen recently. There used to be a lot of them up north... none that I have seen in the past 10 years.

We have three in our county, all with car hops. Ours has a cruise-in every other week. We always pick a spot where we people watch and listen to the oldies dj while we eat. They average about fifty cars each time.

 

[Gabe1]

Also, seems there are good news on the horizon, my boss told me he's about to make contracts with 2 companies. So hopefully I will start to get paid as I should soon.

As for more life progress..
I also inscribed myself to english classes (my entry test netted me in "intermediate-advanced" , aka level 13 , where 16 is "vantage" and level 20+ is "professional".
I am surprised the teacher said I could speak english fairly well despite being deaf. (yaay points for me).
Anyway, going to start in 2 weeks all saturdays.

I'm debating if I should just pay and get the darn TOEFL test to see my levels too. But I'm scared of the spoken portion.
Sometimes I needed to ask my teacher to repeat 3 times in a row to understand. And the TOEFL test only allows 2 repeats, and is using a computer speaker/headphones.

And then I'm facepalming as well, because it seems Canada has the IELTS standard and not the TOEFL one (TOEFL=US english test, IELTS = European).
Going to have to ask if the school im going to go has IELTS tests too.

My DD deals with this everyday at her University where she works and I remember her talking about it. I believe there are accomodations and allowances for documented hard of hearing and deaf.

 

[Gabe1]

Double ouch...!!!!!

With our first, they started drippin' the pitocin at about 7:30a and she wasn't "salad-spooned" 'til 10:54 that night. It was a ride for DWifey and baby. I'm proud to admit I was a rock! I was there and supportive for it all...!!!
A bunch of guys must not be able to handle it, 'cause nurses kept askin' me if I was OK...
"I'm fine, thank you!"
Although, I also must admit, I did share a six-pack of brew with my youngest bro on the tailgate of his pickup in the hospital parkin' garage after baby and mommy called it a night.
It was an awesome day...!!!

During a normal delivery of their first my BIL went splat on the floor. Completely out.... I still crack up when I think about it.

 

[Gabe1]

I spent a lot of time playing Candy Land with our daughter. I loved that game almost as much as she did.

My favorite game to play with the kids was SPLAT.

 

[Gabe1]

Well, over here, most women do home births. It's rare for a woman to give birth in a hospital. Usually only high risk pregnancies are done in hospital. They also don't usually give you any kind of pain medication unless there's a necessity. With me, I told them the very first appointment with my mid-wife that I wanted to be in a hospital, and I wanted drugs. She said they don't do that, that they'd have to see how the labor was going. With DD, because I had been in labor for several hours without progress, they needed to give me something to make the contractions productive, BUT, that also made the contractions stronger, so then I needed the epidural to take the edge off of them. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given them to me. With my son, they wouldn't give me anything. They said I was doing fine without them and it was progressing on its own, so I didn't need anything. It also went really fast, and they won't give you anything unless they can monitor for half an hour first, and because they didn't know how much longer it would take, if they had time to monitor, they wouldn't let me have anything. But most women give birth in their own bed at home and don't even need to be in the hospital at all unless something goes wrong.

Yeah, both times I'm glad I was in a hospital. Likely both my DS and I wouldn't have lived. DD I didn't even get to hold as they rushed her to th NIC unit from the fluids she inhaled. I don't like hospitals but it is nice to know all the necessary equipment is right there. With my DS they took me from my room to an OR and seconds.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Well, over here, most women do home births. It's rare for a woman to give birth in a hospital. Usually only high risk pregnancies are done in hospital. They also don't usually give you any kind of pain medication unless there's a necessity. With me, I told them the very first appointment with my mid-wife that I wanted to be in a hospital, and I wanted drugs. She said they don't do that, that they'd have to see how the labor was going. With DD, because I had been in labor for several hours without progress, they needed to give me something to make the contractions productive, BUT, that also made the contractions stronger, so then I needed the epidural to take the edge off of them. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given them to me. With my son, they wouldn't give me anything. They said I was doing fine without them and it was progressing on its own, so I didn't need anything. It also went really fast, and they won't give you anything unless they can monitor for half an hour first, and because they didn't know how much longer it would take, if they had time to monitor, they wouldn't let me have anything. But most women give birth in their own bed at home and don't even need to be in the hospital at all unless something goes wrong.

My daughter had home birth for all three of her kids. All of us were worried because it isn't like the old days of birthing that hospitals once did, it is more just a place to be in the event of an emergency. But she, wouldn't hear of it and went the home-birth route. The first one she even recorded on VCR. After viewing it, she took possession of it and it hasn't been seen since and the last two did not have the benefit of Televised birthing. The first two were also in water, the last one was without. She was fortunate, I think, to have two really good Midwifes available. There was a 10 year gap between the first two and the last one. Since she was almost 38 at the time, many were very concerned about the wisdom of that choice, but, all went well.

After witnessing the first birth, my youngest daughter decided that she wasn't going to wait for labor for the epidural, but, was planning to opt for it much earlier, like at conception.