The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Goofyernmost]

He picked them out! He's never been a real manly dude... he cross-stitches, knits, plays dungeons & dragons, paints...... and he loves his kitties, so for people who know us well, they would say those totally fit us!

Good, I was only kidding anyway. Those wouldn't fall right in line with my tastes, even though I do like Kitties, but, if it makes you guys happy, who am I to say otherwise. I will be curious though when you do get to fly someplace, how many of those you will see coming off the belt.

 

[Figgy1]

Hubs and I went to see the movie Shazam! this morning. It was entertaining. I don't really know what I was expecting but it had some good humor and adventure in it. Plus seeing Zachary Levi in it wasn't too bad either, I love his voice and it really makes me want to watch Tangled now.

another gee thnx now James wants to see it

 

[donaldtoo]

I think that is just plain terrible on the part of Simon. Did the man who owned the stores try and sell things onljne, or is something like that just not feasible?

It was discussed at one point, but, clothing is a pretty dicey thing to sell online as it is, especially for a small business. Plus, he had a lot of “fitted” merch in both suits and sport shirts, so the potential of being overwhelmed by returns was a real possibility.
When I worked at the Disney Store, Guests would buy a lot of clothing merch, both in the store and online, in different sizes as gifts, and even the online customers could return merch to their local Disney Store instead of packing it up and sending it back in and waiting for their refund.
I remember one lady in particular buying 5 sets of 4 different sizes of Christmas pajamas online for her 5 grandchildren, and then returning the 3 of each that didn’t fit to our store. Not only did our store not get any money from the original sale, we also took the financial hit for the return. Particularly annoying when it occurred during your management numbers hours.

Personally, I think a major part of the problem with the clothing store was that he did absolutely no advertising. None. He had been existing on word of mouth bringing business in for so long he saw no need to change.
He should have put aside a small budget for even just a few short radio spots. We could have simply asked the customers that weren’t regulars (we had many of them) what brought them into the store and tracked it to see how effective it was. People used to come into the original store all the time saying they never even knew it was there, even though the store been there almost 6 years.
I believe another part of it was that he just wanted to keep it all as simple as possible, make a decent living, and just go home at the end of the day, kinda’ like we are led to believe the shopkeepers of old did.
He wasn’t interested in devoting a ton of time to it and building an empire.
He’s still a young man (around 40), and I just wonder why he didn’t try to work it hard for a coupla’ decades and then just flat out retire around 45 or 50.
But, ultimately, not my life and none of my business. It just seemed like it had the real potential to be one of those type of success stories.

 

[Cesar R M]

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP TIME!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Hubs was enjoying the Twilight Zone marathon, too. Truly, one of the most creative shows ever on TV, with such intelligent, thought-provoking scripts. (And let us not forget "The Invaders" classic episode with Agnes Moorehead--zero dialogue!! )

Have yet to see that episode, so may hafta’ YouTube it soon!
And yep, just a great series all the way around...!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Currently watching “Sinkholes: Swallowed Alive - The Thing That Ate Florida” on Discovery Channel.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

another gee thnx now James wants to see it

No problem!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

He picked them out! He's never been a real manly dude... he cross-stitches, knits, plays dungeons & dragons, paints...... and he loves his kitties, so for people who know us well, they would say those totally fit us!

My dh can sew and he loooves cats!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I’m thinking of getting. Ew patio furniture for the porch and I saw these while out this morning. They are comfortable and would be a good height for Kapono. What do you all think? I’m thinking either two chairs and one ottoman or a chair with ottoman and the love seat. They kind of remind me of something from the Polynesian.
View attachment 364081View attachment 364082View attachment 364083

Love it!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Fish View attachment 364204

Such a pretty place!

 

[Rista1313]

I like how he has varied hobbies. That makes him interesting, and I know you two are happy and well matched.

that's just the tip of the iceberg of crafts for him... he drives me crazy sometimes with all the crafts!

 

[Rista1313]

Good, I was only kidding anyway. Those wouldn't fall right in line with my tastes, even though I do like Kitties, but, if it makes you guys happy, who am I to say otherwise. I will be curious though when you do get to fly someplace, how many of those you will see coming off the belt.

Hopefully not many, that's why we picked them!

 

[93boomer]

Back home!! Will catch up later

 

[donaldtoo]

You don’t need a girl for your mental stability. Take care of you first. Think of everything you are good at and feel proud of yourself. The right girl will come along. Having self confidence will also be something noticed by others and it will make you more approachable. Just my opinion.

Reminded me of this quote...

 

[Gabe1]

And we made it back before the snow. Woot.

Sending wine, ammo and bail money. Be safe and inside my friend

My plan is Soups being made. My coping mechanism. Unfortunately my kid has to travel to Downtown Chicago tomorrow morning. If we get what we have been told I will be nervous. I hope the trucks heeded the warnings and put their plows back on their trucks. Noted the salt spinners and plows were off for a few weeks now. As the weather got nice the last few weeks (except for the wind) we have had major water and sewer collapses. We had that polar vortex in January. Things crack but because they are frozen in place the ice holds the ground stable. Now that there was a thaw things starting blowing up. In front of my DD place in a disability parking spot a sewer slightly sunk but the curb and pavers above it on the sidewalk just sunk, totally hallow beneath. Getting worse by the day. Too many things like this for Public Works to keep up with so they are in Priority mode. She has a construction horse and cone in the middle of her sidewalk. Disability spot a horse. So the department broke down their winterised vehicles for repair modes. Oops

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Why is it assumed that everyone that didn’t get a college degree of any kind wanted more than what they already have...?

I am not surprised due to the era of people out there compare to my Mom's late uncle.

My mom's late uncle had a college degree in the law field was a dean/professor, but he respected people without a college degree such as my dad. My mom's uncle got his law degree in 1940 and that meant he grew up in the depression. My mom's uncle also had brothers that did skill labor including his your brother aka the grandfather that died when my mom was a kid.

My mom's uncle didn't care about my dad not having a college degree, he respected his skill set. My mom's uncle had my dad do some stuff for him because he didn't have the skill set of my dad.

I remembered earlier this decade, a comment section in local online newspaper talked down about the high school my dad graduated from. There were people in the comment section that claimed it was bad school back in the 1960s and 1970s because not a lot students from that school went to college in that era including my dad.

There was not a of students from that high school went to college back in the 1960s and 1970s for a very good reason. His High school was a technical school. Students were taught skills to be employed to be a carpenter, electrician, plumber, and other skill labor jobs. That means those students wanted good payed jobs out of high school. What the person the comment section didn't get is if everyone gets 4 years of college, there would not be electricians, plummers, and some other professionals.

The truth is back in the 1960s and 1970s, companies actually were after students that attended the high school my dad went to because of how good that school was. The only way to enter that high school was you needed to have at least a 3.0 GPA and my dad was a straight a student in middle school before that school lowered their standard sometime after my dad graduated. My dad took an online test and his results were so good that it was though my dad had a masters degree, but he didn't.

My dad actually was bored in school because things came so easy for him at school and expect him to go to a 4 year college is not a good fit at all. My dad hired less than a month after graduation from high school. Two companies actually were after my dad for giving him a job. My dad didn't want to go to college. An online test showed my dad had a masters degree based on how he scored, but he didn't. My dad actually was easily bored in school from a class standpoint because of how easy it was for him. He actually one of those students that can an "A" without studying for a testing without cheating.

The other thing was if he went to college, his parents wouldn't pay for it. My dad's parents didn't even pay a single dollar for his first car when he live. My dad had to work multiple jobs as a teenager to get enough money for a car although his parents had a say in what cars are he could

My dad is a person loves working with his hands. My dad basically was off the charts from a talent standpoint. My dad always took pride in being a jack of all trades. While he worked with electricity is the field, the talent level is more than that.

I saw my dad doing plumbing work on the house, doing carpentry work at home including building a new porch, replacing widows by himself, and replacing part of sidewalk with new concrete in the past. My dad going to a 4 year college would be waste due to the nature of his skillset in the trade field.

 

[donaldtoo]

Yah, I end up putting a space or two after the sentence that I want to place the emoji. Sometimes, even that doesn't work -- the emoji just wants to end up wherever it feels like going?! (This time it worked, because it knew I was made at it.)

Sounds a bit different than my issue with my work desktop, but, at least my iPhone plays nicer...!!!

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I came back home from the Midwest Gaming Classic earlier today and I not be back tomorrow there. I also didn't buy tickets for the after parties either. It looks like there is going to be a snow shower tomorrow.

Besides that, I don't know if my body can handle tomorrow after what my legs were feeling today at the convention. My knees, calfs, and ankles were bothering me at times during the convention. My problem started after I had kneel the floor at vendor hall. Vendors there had tubs of merchandise for sale on the floor besides the tables. I couldn't move that fast and felt like I was limping a little bit.

Despite the fact the Star Wars Convention was less than one hundred miles away from the Midwest gaming classic, the convention was packed. The Midwest gaming classic had more than a delorean on display. I saw Jurassic park jeeps there and a replica of Ecto-1.

I didn't eat the Midwest Gaming classic at all. The food lines were very line. There was some food inside vendor hall being served and there was food served in a hall way. Music was played at vendor hall hall including Ducktales music.

The vendors had video games, swords, plush stuff, clothes, magnets, and other stuff. I did use up all the cash I brought.

I was in video muesum and a couple arcade rooms.

The arcade rooms were packed. The biggest of the two rooms had pinball games. One of side seemed to be a little bit more packed than the other, but I think it due to the nature of the pinball games. There were big licensed pinball games there Wily Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: the pinball was revealed and people were busy playing it. I seem a lot of pinball games being played such as the NASCAR pinball game, Deal Pool Pinball game, Star Wars Pinball game, and bunch of others. It seemed to have over 200 pinball games. There was over 100 plus video game machines.

I did notice the video game and computer museum was bigger this year for the Midwest gaming classic.

 

[Gabe1]

degrees are worthless for most people

Obviously I will disagree with that statement, 'cause that is me as I value education. In addition I have 2 kids in your age group that both have professional positions because of their degrees so useless to them isn't true. But you I have deeper empathy for as you are not unmotivated. By date of birth you were a victim of circumstance. You graduated at a time where the entire nation was struggling with employment, many professionals working service and retail positions trying to make ends meet. There wasn't a worse time to be a young adult grad than you. Add onto that my generation seems to want to belittle millennial's as an entire age group. My age group was the anti-establishment, hippie generation that seems to want to in their AARP years pound on Millennial's. It is frustrating for me and I am sure for you too as you are trying.

If I have any advice for you it is two fold. One is to try incredibly hard to leave the contract employment vicious circle. It was dead end in my era and remains that way and will likely be in the future. It is sold to young as a gateway to being hired permanently with all sorts of promises. It isn't the norm. The head hunters placing contract employees have little desire to have you employed by anyone besides them. The type of companies that utilize contract employees view them as a different class of employee, not theirs. Few are ever asked to join the firms. Most are always laid off or contracts terminated or stay forever in the limbo of not really employed by a firm, it hurts the resume after a prolonged period, other firms look at it after a prolonged period...why didn't they want to hire this dud/dudette.

Trying to break the cycle I'd suggest governmental bodies and there are so many, go for the positions that require a 4 year degree. You have so many opportunities from Federal, State, County and local. From Post Office to Park Districts. You qualify for most office positions in a Park District and you qualify to be a Postmaster which have many more rural area stepping stones to climb that ladder beyond where you are stuck now. My suggestion would be to apply for the majority of everyone that lacks a very specific 4 year degree like CPA as an example. There are thousands of governmental positions available every week to step out of contract employment.

Second would be the interview process and what might be happening there. I can't remember what your degree is in. You have implied loudly you dislike this country and want to be living in the UK. At times we all drag our dissatisfaction in life into how we communicate making bold statements that lack the statistics to back them. My son only a couple years younger than you was caught in that same graduation era of recession that you were. He went back to Disney after doing a CP, for an internship after he graduated college. It opened so many doors for him. A talking point. (what are your interview talking points) He had two of his college buddies that struggled as you have for years trying get beyond the interview process never getting the real employment. Both a year apart hired a reputable interview consultant. As I tried to explain to @Cesar R M a few weeks ago sometimes it is the failure to interview well vs your credentials. After this many years if you have been trying to overcome contract employment (I assume you are trying and interviewing weekly) there is something you are not aware of. Both of my sons buddies after hiring on an interview consultant did find career employment. It is just important to do the research to find very reputable consultants. Some people just lack the social skills to interview well and it has nothing to do with their intelligence or their qualifications.

And ultimately you will have to decide where to dedicate your ambitions. Is your strategy to build a life here in the states or will you always be unhappy until you live in the UK? The UK is not without its own governmental issues like we currently have in the states. Both countries are unstable in their direction for the future. If nothing is going to make you happy beyond living in the UK, strike everything I have to suggest above.

 

[Gabe1]

I will give a positive story pertaining to college tuition. Frank Langone, founder of Home Depot has long donated to NYU. A few years ago he had an endowment that grew big enough so that NYU med was tuition free. He announced the other day that NYU will have free tuition (not room and board), for all students. Boy do I wish that was available when I went there. I think Frank Langone has done a wonderful thing that is truly beneficial. There are many people who have wealth that are all talk about charity and helping others. This will help so many with post school debt. This is a model many schools should try and follow using their endowments along with their donors.

How nice. That is how Tulane is. My DD was offered a 90% scholarship to Tulane including room and board. They have a huge endowment fund and last year had an annual record breaking donation year to the endowment fund.

My DD wrestled with U of I or Tulane to the very last hour of the deadline day. I was useless to help her as they both had major PROs and very few minus points. There are so many scholarships out there as @Goofyernmost testified to with his DD. Cost of becoming educated is achievable if you put the time into research and applying for scholarships at least on the undergrad level if you have the will and desire to become educated and put the effort into your grades in high school. Your ACT and SAT scores will be the judge. But there are other ways too. My niece pursued an odd sport in her area of field hockey. Sports are not to be ignored. There isn't really a professional Field Hockey Profession anymore than my kids could have become professional swimmers but don't discount colleges paying for students devoted to sports or activities like band. Parents and students though have to have a plan in place to make the student marketable. No different than being a marketable adult.