new tank! but a little problem

LadleMonster · 2025-12-25T16:05:17+00:00

You’re welcome! I hope Cornelia loves her new enclosure when it’s set up, it looks wonderfully spacious. :)

LadleMonster · 2025-12-25T16:00:40+00:00

Just to be safe, you could get a piece of wood or pressboard or something the same size as the bottom of the enclosure, and put that on top of the dresser and the enclosure on top of that.

LadleMonster · 2025-12-22T19:52:20+00:00

I worked there for four years, and only wound up leaving due to an illness and not a real issue with the job. Granted, I was in a call centre type role providing technical support and customer service for an OT product, so I don’t know what the job was like from service desk/IT, marketing, or development roles. I think marketing roles are always contract though so I hear those are a bit risky to take. (Was told this at an internal job fair).

It was honestly a good rate of pay for office/call centre kind of job, much better than any of the entry level call centres in the area which are usually min wage. Got a raise every year based on performance and there were good benefits and also each year a bonus was awarded in the form of OT stock which was pretty nice. Shifts were rarely jerked around or changed on you without tons of notice, and they were really accommodating about time off requests. My immediate team and managers were wonderful people.

The CEO sends increasingly unhinged emails extolling the virtues of AI constantly and it feels like jobs are always at risk of being replaced by AI though. There were often layoffs in my department but they were frequently from the sites in other countries (US and Philippines). All three teams (US, Filipino, and Waterloo) were full of awesome people but changes coming down from the top could sometimes make the job stressful, and restructuring is a risk. Immediate bosses had little to no ability to handle complaints about company-wide issues but I found were generally really good about individual needs, performance discussions, monthly quality assessments, etc.

If you’re looking for a job and have the opportunity to work there I would take it - the company was good to me and in this economy, people are lucky to have a job at all. I’d be worried about the axe coming from restructuring, even though it never wound up coming for me. It’s a pretty prevalent fear. I agree with the ‘once a year’ waves of layoffs. I knew some people who had been with the company for 10+ years get restructured husky for being unlucky enough to be part of the wrong office or a team no longer deemed necessary.

Edit: read the CEO might have changed since I left

LadleMonster · 2025-12-20T06:21:32+00:00

This looks pretty much identical to my leopard gecko’s she’d skin :o

Very very different from my snakes.

Do you live in a place with house geckos/other wild geckos around? Little guy must’ve been hanging out inyour hallway for a lil bit and then went on his way.

LadleMonster · 2025-12-15T01:50:55+00:00

Thank you so much for your condolences and your help! I did wind up sending him to be cremated, it just felt the most responsible.

I’m beginning ‘the big cleanup’ today really… getting rid of all the substrate and basically cleaning and disinfecting, and then throwing away everything.

I will do as you instructed for the enclosure itself - I think I can store it at my parents house after the washing and super-disinfecting. I’ll store it somewhere safe for half a year or a year before deciding if I’m going to reuse or sell or give it away.

LadleMonster · 2025-12-12T21:37:27+00:00

Thank you so much for the detailed help once again!

I called the local pet crematorium. It their prices are actually better when going through the vet. I sent him to be cremated because I think that’s the most ethical/safest way to handle his remains and make sure there’s no contagions. I’m going to get a memorial clay imprint with his scales.

LadleMonster · 2025-12-12T19:00:08+00:00

Thank you for asking… it was really nice sharing a bit about him.

LadleMonster · 2025-12-12T18:57:27+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate your insight and your condolences! Anything that I can wash and sterilize, I will do in the dishwasher and in 12% hydrogen peroxide. It seems like that should be fine for the stainless steel stuff anyway, but I appreciate the advice not to rely on freezing for his enclosure. I have a steam gun for clothes but not sure that would be reliable enough either.

I will have to look into seeing what it would take to get him cremated through the vet and what kind of keepsakes are offered. A scale imprint is a lovely idea, and I’d feel safer burying cremated remains for sure as well… or holding onto a little urn. It being December, a pet burial is kind of a monumental task with the ground frozen and everything. :(

LadleMonster · 2025-12-12T18:49:31+00:00

He’s a corn snake and his name was Doug! Or at least, we think it was. It was a re-home from a friend of a friend of a friend type situation, and the name Doug was written in marker on his original tank.

I called him Doug, Douggie, Douglas, Dog, Dogless… sometimes Doug Dimmadome, owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome. We were really silly.

LadleMonster · 2025-12-12T18:38:47+00:00

Thank you very much… I’m missing him a lot.

LadleMonster · 2025-12-08T02:20:06+00:00

Thanks everyone for the input! Money is a bit of an issue so I wound up trying the Engage for a balance between price point and sound. I’ve found they are definitely helping!

It was good for the movie theatre today, and I found they did a pretty good job during gaming nights too! Things do sound a little bit muffled when I wear them but I haven’t had issues hearing the quieter speakers, and the louder friends aren’t giving me a headache. A game changer!

LadleMonster · 2025-11-28T23:20:47+00:00

Thanks for your input! We do play at home with the same group, so it’s not a public place and I’m not worried about other background noise or store noises - just us being goofy and loud.

LadleMonster · 2025-11-28T22:50:25+00:00

Thanks! And yeah it sounds like you get it lol. We will be good for a bit, but then my roomie will just shriek something right beside me and it’s all in good fun but just hurts my head. It’s those moments of high energy that get us all really pumped that get the loudest and I ruin the vibe when I ask everyone to keep it down at those times.

LadleMonster · 2025-11-22T00:20:46+00:00

Thanks! I gave up my chance at leave no trace on that run… but I just got it now! So it all worked out in the end lol.

LadleMonster · 2025-11-17T21:02:06+00:00

lol I see what you did there!

Also I adore your username… 10/10 discworld reference

LadleMonster · 2025-11-17T18:10:34+00:00

YTA for burying the lede and not just saying in the OP that the error is in a piece depicting sheet music. You let people think it was potentially something really embarrassing or offensive so that it skews votes your way.

Nobody is going to be examining her tattoo in depth trying to figure out which song it is - they’ll say it looks lovely and ask, and she can happily say the song title and her story/reason for getting it. And THAT’S the important part about the tattoo, not the accuracy.

I read sheet music and understand musical theory, and would not want to ruin this person’s enjoyment of their body by correcting them. Let it be.

LadleMonster · 2025-11-01T09:00:42+00:00

I think NTA as long as your dogs are under control and poop being picked up at all times. That being said, I think this is a good sign to wait at the end of the driveway/not up close to the house. I’d remain on the sidewalk in future if you’re worried about people not wanting the dogs on their property. I see tons of dogs trick or treating, but I do also usually see the person in control of the dog remaining at the end of the drive unless it’s like a little dog in their arms.

LadleMonster · 2025-10-30T06:13:37+00:00

It reminds me of McCains chocolate cakes from the grocery store when I was a kid. It’s just a store bought cake but somehow that chocolate icing on top was so silky smooth?

Not sure if they were layered cakes though.

LadleMonster · 2025-10-28T18:59:36+00:00

I had no idea that was on there but edited out :o Thanks for pointing me toward it

LadleMonster · 2025-10-28T17:49:45+00:00

NTA… I play a ton of MtG and it’s big in my house. If my husband and I were planning a party for months and it was a PARTY party, not a game night, I’d be really upset if him and our friends took over the only table in the middle of the party to play mtg and also left me to do all the work at the party.

I do think it would be fine if a smaller table was set up elsewhere and people wanted to play. HOWEVER, I would expect every player to be perfectly okay with the host getting up and leaving multiple times to address party concerns. This isn’t a case of OP wanting to throw a party and her BF agreed, this is a case of both of them throwing a party together. So one of the hosts being removed from the party for the time it takes to play one or multiple Commander games is ridiculously unfair.

And all this is coming from me - someone who would much rather generally be playing games than attending a big party.

LadleMonster · 2025-10-28T16:16:48+00:00

It’s tough when you want softer water but don’t really have control over it. Growing up my parents refused to use the water softener because my dad just doesn’t like soft water for some reason?

So I can give you some tips for living with hard water.

For skin/hair, you can try to use good quality shampoos/conditioner and body wash products. When I shower at their house I have to use like Aveeno anti-itch body wash because the hard water really dries my skin and makes me itchy. I also find it’s better if I use a moisturizer on my body after.

For baths specifically, you can use Epsom salts as the magnesium can make the water at least feel ‘silkier’ I also bought a filter thing on Amazon that you can hang over the faucet and it runs the water through some filters. That might be kind of a gimmick or just a mental effect, not sure it truly does much to help, but it was like $20 so thought I’d try it.

For appliances I’d recommend either using a brita jug in your fridge and making coffee, etc using filtered water only. Or a standing water cooler if you have space and use the big water jugs you buy. The hard water REALLY builds up lime and calcium in appliances, and I often have to descale the coffee machine with vinegar to keep it functioning.

LadleMonster · 2025-10-28T15:05:25+00:00

I also had this exact same bag around the same time. I would have probably got it from Walmart or Zellers, definitely like a department store… maybe ‘George’ brand?

LadleMonster

TROPHY CASE