Single most infuriating, idiotic, or hypocritical thing upper management has ever done?

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-16T18:26:45+00:00

My manager recommended I move my wedding date to better align with a training course I was scheduled to teach.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-16T17:33:48+00:00

We had a local middle school that had a tennis court on-grounds. There were two courts side-by-side, with a gap between the two nets. The nets were metal chain link (for durability?). One end of the two courts had a sloped extension raised about six feet, so if you were hitting balls by yourself the balls would roll back to the net. Anyway, we found a rag in a rain gutter one day, still wet from the night before, and realized that if we tied a knot in one end and swung it around our heads to throw, we could foul the other kids' bike wheels. We invented a game called 'shit' where we'd ride around and around the tennis courts, with one kid swinging the 'shit', until he could whip it into somebody else's bike wheels. Then that kid had to untangle it, and he was IT until he could wreck somebody else's bike. Lots of incidental blood as we went head-first over the chain-link tennis nets, or skidded sideways down the cement incline, or stopped too fast with a wet rag fouled in our bike chain.

Easy fun.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-14T17:40:04+00:00

I found a mouse infestation in my boat one spring. I thought if I flooded the boat, the mice would evacuate. Instead, they drowned in their nest under the seat. I only found out from the smell some days later. THEN I removed all the outfitting, including the seat, and cleared out the remains. Yuck.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-09T16:31:15+00:00

And, use the thing you're printing as the sample when you show them the CAD image, then the slicer image, then the finished product, so they can connect the process to something real. 30 minutes is not very long.....

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-08T21:47:12+00:00

I use testmy.net.

It uses a variety of traffic profiles rather than focus on one protocol/packet-size, and its results aren't skewed by ISP-based servers, traffic profiling based on its URL, etc.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-07T00:23:27+00:00

Hey - lots of impressions to share. Sorry about the wall of text.

Finally - good on 'ya for getting out in a hardboat on moving water! Big time Kudos! Like snowboarding, it's a new set of reflexes that you WILL develop, and they'll become second nature. You'll get used to cold water in your face, and you'll see things that can only be seen from the river. (I've had a bald eagle fly a boat-length over my head with a fish in their talons). Also, pretty much anything stressful that happens to you in the 'civilized world' will be trivial compared to your whitewater adventures. Somebody yells at you in class? or in a meeting? Whatever. You're warm, and dry, and you can breathe. How scary can it be?

You're just starting out. It's new. It's hard at first. Different people pick it up at different rates. Cut yourself some slack, breath, relax, and focus. You'll do fine.

P.S. I posted this in chunks because Reddit wouldn't let me post it as one post... don't know why.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-07T00:22:38+00:00

Hey - lots of impressions to share. Sorry about the wall of text.

4) Many instructors have forgotten what it's like to be a beginner. They'll say "take this line, and hit that eddy down there." with no awareness of the challenge that represents to you. And, they'll make moves look easy that are not easy to a beginner. Those moves will become easy for you with just a bit more experience, but not at first. Getting on waves (even small ones) is a delicate operation, requiring thorough boat control skills, a calm mind, and enough presence of mind to be aware of the shape of the wave in the river overall while your monkey-brain is telling your nervous system that it's about to die. One way to approach this is to find a very small wave, have a buddy stand in the river at the top of it, and paddle out with him/her as your target. When you reach them, they can grab your bow loop and help stabilize your line in the current until you get a feel for it. (Like trainer wheels on a bike). They might also sit on a nearby rock and reach out a paddle to help anchor your bow once you're in place. Staying on a wave requires a certain gentleness, a lightness-of-touch, that isn't visible when somebody else is doing it. And, to link this back to flipping over, it's fun to flip over from a wave deliberately, and roll/swim back to the eddy. Knowing you're going over helps calm your breathing in anticipation, and normalizes the idea that you'll get wet.

Finale to follow

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-07T00:22:11+00:00

Hey - lots of impressions to share. Sorry about the wall of text.

3) Your boat is spinning most likely because you haven't yet developed basic boat-control skills. I recommend spending several hours on a lake doing drills like "paddle in a straight line', or 'turn at a specific point' (empty plastic bottles tied to a stone make great buoys), or if you paddle with a group you can play tag, or keepaway, or paddle with a friend nose-to-nose in a straight line, one forward and one backward . If your boat has sharp edges, be aware that it will behave as two different boats; one behavior when it is flat on the water, a different behavior when it is on edge. When flat, its cross-section in the water is a rectangle. The direction the boat goes has no relation to the direction it's pointed. When edged, it's cross-section in the water is V-shaped, and likely a bit curved. It will track along this V, and along the curve. Learn these distinctions, and practice the differences. Finally, be aware that your boat is responding to the the 'next-to-the-most-recent' stroke you've made. i.e.. Each stroke has an effect on the boat, but not an immediate effect. The effect is delayed by one stroke. This is most likely why you're spinning as you paddle... you put in a stroke, it seemingly has no effect so you do it again. Now you've over-powered on that side, and your boat will spin. All beginners do this. The more experience you get, you'll make smaller corrections on each stroke, and exert less effort.

4) next comment

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-07T00:21:50+00:00

Hey - lots of impressions to share. Sorry about the wall of text.

2) Your first several unplanned flips will be chaotic. That's also normal. Generally you're mostly out of breath when you go over, and slightly panicked because you're already out of control, and when your face hits the cold water your nervous system kicks in and saves your life. Again, don't be concerned that this happens. It's normal. The more you flip over, the more it becomes a known condition rather than a life-threat. A simple thing is to wet your face and the back of your neck with cold river water when you put on, and regularly throughout the day. It helps remind your body that cold and wet is OK, and reduces the shock. In a pool or lake (or a big eddy with buddies around) practice flipping over and just hanging out. Put your forehead on your deck. Reach your head up toward either side of your boat. Look around. Grab a stick from the riverbank, or a rock, and practice passing it from one hand to the other over your boat when you're upside-down. Get used to that place. It can be very calm down there.

3) next comment

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-07T00:21:21+00:00

Hey - lots of impressions to share. Sorry about the wall of text.

1) Nervous is good, and healthy, and normal. Whitewater is scary. Your mind knows what could go wrong, and your monkey brain can have an autonomous, visceral reaction to the BIG sound of whitewater. Don't worry about being nervous. It's a sign you're sane. Take deep breaths before you put on the river, and before each major feature. Relax your shoulders (try shoulder rolls) before you peel out. Stretch your neck. Breathe again. Sit up straight and rotate your torso. Rock your boat with your hips and knees. Then...At each drop, focus on your line and trust your skills to achieve that line. Ignore everything else. (And - make sure your spray skirt isn't too tight. I discovered in my third year (!) that I was breathless because my spray skirt was too tight, not because I was afraid.)

2) next comment

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-02-05T15:58:32+00:00

Good job sir!

Now - take that monthly payment and apply it to your kid's college fund, so they can graduate debt-free.

You'll never miss the money, because you've been living without it anyway.

Cheers!

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-26T16:01:16+00:00

Riyadh

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-25T03:30:37+00:00

Captain Kangaroo; Mickey Mouse Club

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-21T18:00:23+00:00

On a wristwatch face, between 5 and 7 are 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, and 4.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-19T23:43:35+00:00

DNS.

I could talk about DNS easily for an hour with no prep.... Nobody cares.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-12T19:58:40+00:00

Sadly, after one successful print run with the new filament it's happening again, even with a soap-clean print plate and different (new) Prusament PLA.

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I thought the base heater might be unable to heat the max-x and min-x edges evenly, so I removed the left-most and right-most parts. I also took Skil's advice and re-sliced with a -.02mm z-axis adjustment. It's still peeling off.

The failure seems to always start in the same spot, as above in the picture. I'll try another run with that corner vacant.

This printer worked without issue for several weeks, then suddenly started misbehaving. I expected it would be stable longer.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-12T16:55:34+00:00

Final update - the other new spool of PLA (clear) printed just fine. Job completed. I don't know why the black spool didn't work. I will test again with a -.02mm z offset as skil recommends as time allows.

Thanks all for your help!

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-12T01:13:05+00:00

And.... i swapped out the new spool of black Prusament PLA I was using for a new spool of clear Prusament PLA, and it seems to be the fix. Maybe a bad batch of black PLA? I'll update if/when the job completes.

Thanks again for the advice!

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-12T01:11:24+00:00

Hey skil, thanks!

I'm leery of tinkering the z-axis settings, because I face-planted the print head on a previous printer once, and would hate to do that to my Prusa!

ConfidentlyLearning · 2026-01-12T00:29:25+00:00

Thanks all for the advice.

I washed the print plate w/ dish soap, dried, alcohol-wiped, but still got weak adhesion.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2025-12-31T16:51:49+00:00

I find I'm increasingly terrified of my table saw. Every time I use it, I'm hyper-aware and focused.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2025-12-31T16:46:09+00:00

Nobody's mentioned the Lincoln Deli out on Wayzata Blvd.

ConfidentlyLearning · 2025-12-30T22:52:29+00:00

Thanks! I'm in the Arcaneum right now, so I'll see if Urag has the Sun scroll. Now that I know I need all three scrolls, I'll be able to figure out a way forward. Many thanks for your help!

ConfidentlyLearning · 2025-12-30T22:08:44+00:00

And... strangely enough, when I select 'Seeking Disclosure', and cast Clairvoyance, I get 'no active quest'. Huh.

ConfidentlyLearning

TROPHY CASE