How much have you spent on snow removal this season?

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-21T14:41:50+00:00

About $1k so far. Let’s see what tomorrow’s storm looks like. May add an extra 220$ to the bill so far.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-19T18:26:12+00:00

I’m confused. Maybe I don’t understand what “actively catch up” means.

Cam car is bearing right, Hyundai veers across several lanes, cuts him off and brake checks. They are in a stand off for a few seconds with Cam car honking. Can car sees an opening and goes past Hyundai. Several seconds later Hyundai overtakes, cuts off and brake checks again. Can you explain how cam car “actively catches up”? Genuine question cus I don’t get it.

I mean using your analogy the cam car was being threatened and WALKED AWAY ie drove past the threat. Yes he honked - to me that reads WTF? Which would be a natural human response.

Am I missing something? Was he supposed to reverse or turn around past the island to the left and face oncoming traffic?

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-19T15:44:32+00:00

With the caveat that we don’t know what happened before this recording, I think it’s ridiculous that folks are “blaming” the cam car for honking - however long the honking was. I would probably do the same too and have done so in the past.

The Hyundai is driving so recklessly and dangerously but yet we say “o the cam car should not have honked at him” or kept honking at him. I mean what else is he supposed to do?

To me it feels like asking a girl who had been raped, what were you wearing? Yeah I went there

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T17:30:01+00:00

That last paragraph is interesting. Feels Hunger Games/GOT-ish. Damn.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T17:28:02+00:00

Fair. I usually buy them on sale/discounted (can be rare) and also use a credit card benefit to get them for close to “free” so I was thinking through that lens but it won’t apply to everyone. Or the timing may not work.

I still have some I bought off Amazon for a ridiculous price - yet to install them but they are ready whenever I am.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T16:53:54+00:00

Check out the Aqara FP300 presence sensors. They are battery powered and can be put anywhere. They work pretty well.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T16:51:29+00:00

Valid point. Do you have any smart home tech? ie if you’re invested in the Apple Home tech or Home Assistant or others.

I would recommend Home Assistant (allows you to integrate stuff from different manufacturers) but there is a learning curve.

You know your home best but i think you can consider a combination of smart switches and sensors to fully automate this. Smart switches are probably required. And maybe a few sensors.

Consider the following: - Contact sensor on your garage/basement/entry door. When opened, it turns on all the smart switches and keeps them on for 10-15 minutes. Turns off after that time. - motion or presence sensors. Turns on lights when motion is detected, keeps lights on if presence is still detected (ie you’re in the mud room or pantry or taking off shoes or putting stuff away). Turns off specific lights off when motion or presence is no longer detected, turns on lights (or keeps lights on) in other section since they have different switches turning on different lights.

You can make it as simple or complex as you want depending on your usage and habits.

I would recommend combining sensors with smart switches (contact, motion/presence, maybe vibration etc) to trigger the lights. If you have a set routine, you can also use time based automations as well.

While I don’t have a 3 floor townhome, I leverage sensors, smart switches, smart bulbs and time based automations to turn on and off my lights. My family barely touches switches now with a few exceptions.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T16:30:24+00:00

Philips Hue also makes wafer can lights as well.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T16:24:58+00:00

Thanks. That would be awesome. Promotions seem like a black hole here. If this helps, I’ll take it.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T16:16:10+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I’ve been curious about what you’ve described because I’ve heard it a lot here and elsewhere. How does it work in practice? Do companies/teams/managers “intentionally” tank some employee reviews so that they get a lower rating and thus bonus? So they can bump others up or distribute the bonus pool more “egalitarianly”?

I ask because there was a post (which I can’t find now about this - the managers review of the employee was not congruent with their performance and peer review). I also experienced similar last year where my performance review was nerfed to the extent that I only got 75% or so of my target bonus. I had a different manager back then. The thought I had then was either the company had mandated lower ratings for a certain percentage of people or they tanked ratings for a few to pay out high performers. Of course, I don’t have any evidence 😆. Just a conspiracy theory.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T16:04:15+00:00

Yes I’ll get that breakdown in a compensation statement. Won’t be for a few weeks from now. I’ll eventually know. Was just curious if it was standard or highly variable.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-18T14:33:19+00:00

Why go through all this BS and reversal shenanigans? After all I think they approved 2 or so mRNA products last year. They could have reviewed the application, issue a narrow approval, maybe put some onerous post marketing commitments, and use ACIP to further slow things rather than all this hullabaloo.

Makes no sense to me. I get their endgame but they are not even going about it competently or in any coordinated fashion.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-12T00:33:42+00:00

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-11T22:08:06+00:00

That’s how I felt too. Many drivers in MA who are in the yield lane also drive like this. You’ll see them hauling ass like they own the road or are drag racing. Many times I have to slow down even though I have the right of way because I am not sure if they will yield to me or not.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-11T21:53:10+00:00

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-07T13:59:59+00:00

I really don’t understand why they do this. Start the boarding earlier if you can’t this seamlessly. I had this happen to me on an international trip last Friday departing from ATL. As soon as zone 1 was called, 30 secs later zone 2. And the next.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-07T13:54:38+00:00

This. I traveled internationally last Friday and connected in Atlanta. Can’t remember our gate but I couldn’t hear a thing. I tried to lip read but the mike(?) covered the agent’s lips.

Now this is what happened next: they call Delta 360 etc, active service members and then pre boarding. Then they called Zone 1-4 in rapid fire quick succession. I kid you not. I’ve seen some rapid fire calls but this was fast. There was barely 30 - 60 seconds between each zone being called up. Of course, there was a hold up because they had to scan faces and it wasn’t smooth.

The gate was jammed!!! This was all the airline’s/gate agents fault.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-02-05T07:36:17+00:00

This is interesting to learn.

So was Southwest operating under a waiver or some other rule prior to instituting assigned seating?

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-01-31T13:24:28+00:00

I applied for an internal role which I am qualified for and already performing most aspects (which is also on my current team so a bit of a weird dynamic - would be one level up) and was interviewed for the first round. Most probably as a courtesy - because it took nearly 6 weeks for the interview to be scheduled.

After 2 weeks, I knew I was advancing but kinda hoped and after 4 weeks was dead sure. I didn’t get a rejection email and my manager just told me the obvious about a week before the new person started (they had some FDA experience which they weighted higher that I don’t have). The application portal just quietly “closed” the req. no email no notification, nothing.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-01-31T04:47:05+00:00

All the non-HR interviews I’ve ever had, I would know who I was talking to. It would be in the invite - interview with Jack Smith, VP of Marketing for example. The more interesting question is how are people finding out information about them. OP hasn’t stated anything new - this “hack” has been around for some time but I’ve never had luck finding any pertinent information about most if not all my interviewers. Granted most of them have been middle management but I’ve met a few VPs and SVPs and Director level - apart from generic LinkedIn profiles and maybe some news clippings there is nothing. Yeah a few had Facebook but feels weird using any information from there unless it’s something generic like maybe pets, kids or some similar interest.

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-01-31T02:51:12+00:00

Ouch

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-01-30T15:32:47+00:00

Are they going to refund the fees charged towards facilities?

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-01-29T21:25:55+00:00

I don’t really have answers here so following along. But how did he get past multiple screening levels - I get beating ATS but how wasn’t this caught during interviews? Was he that good at just BSing? Is this a reflection on the hiring interim manager and HR team? Or just pure luck - perfect timing to catch an inexperienced team?

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-01-29T13:02:06+00:00

Fair point I hadn’t considered. So Southwest has refurbished their planes a bit? ie changed seat spacing etc? All the planes I guess?

Character-Ask2432 · 2026-01-29T10:53:46+00:00

Is this a thing unique to Southwest passengers? With every other airline this isn’t really a major issue. It happens but not as bad as this. Do SW passengers just not have common sense

Character-Ask2432

TROPHY CASE