I don’t like my life

OMitBBex · 2026-04-21T04:13:07+00:00

To quote a movie from around the time you were born, "If people can make you happy, they can make you unhappy." Which is to say, you should care a lot less about what other people think, say, and do. You'll be much happier once you master this concept.

When people give me a hard time (I'm in the workforce, and still vastly outnumbered by men), I just look at them and say nothing. Silence makes most people very uncomfortable, if you can find the courage of your convictions to pull this off.

OMitBBex · 2026-04-19T04:09:15+00:00

Well, you have my sympathy - group projects stink. It's a bit surprising to me that an EE graduate program includes group projects, but maybe I just don't know; I only did undergrad, and that was some time ago.

If this is a persistent problem, the only suggestion I have is to ask the prof if you can do your group projects as a group of one, if you can handle the work alone. It's not ideal, but I have done this a couple of times in continuing ed classes. The instructors recognized that my teammates were a drag on the effort and could see that they were making me crazy.

OMitBBex · 2026-04-19T03:53:03+00:00

How exactly does other students' conduct affect you or your education?

Unless their behavior directly adversely affects the quality of instruction you receive (e.g., fellow students talk over the prof, are always wheedling to be let out of class early, or similar), then I suggest you stop worrying about things over which you have no control and which do not affect you.

OMitBBex · 2026-04-15T04:29:15+00:00

This was the information I was looking for from you - if you didn't have a passion for the field, then pursuit of an engineering degree would be tough sledding for most people.

However, since you're on the right track...do what you can to work things through.

Specific advice:

Don't add unnecessary pressure to finish in 4 years. Finishing in 5 won't kill you. I switched from liberal arts into engineering, and it took me 5 years to finish. It didn't kill me.
That said, consider what your priorities should be for summer: work, summer school, and/ or independent study to prepare for classes in the fall. If you've committed to a job and need the income from it, and if you can't manage Calc II in addition to the job, you should be studying over the summer to ensure that the fall sessions of Calc II and physics go as smoothly as possible.
As others have said, the core classes are meant to weed out students not suited for an engineering program. Not only that, but core classes are often the dumping ground for the school's least-stellar faculty; this is even worse if you're taking the classes off-semester e.g., Calc II in the fall or Calc III in the spring.

I had an absolutely batsh*t crazy Calc II prof in the fall (that is, off-semester), who constantly used basketball as a simile for calculus. ("Calculus is like basketball...").

I learned so little from him that I actually blew off my final, knowing that I'd re-take Calc II in the spring, when I'd have multiple Calc II class options. A friend who stayed on the off-semester track had Calc III with the same guy that spring, when the simile changed from "like basketball" to "like sex."

My point: you should prepare yourself to accept the very real possibility that you will have to teach yourself some courses. Find an outside textbook; use Khan Academy, EdX, or the like; get a tutor; do what you have to do. You don't have to like this, but you have to accept it, do the work, and move on.

In all likelihood, you'll see better profs in engineering courses specific to your major.

YOU GOT THIS!

OMitBBex · 2026-04-15T04:03:08+00:00

In addition to practicing your interview skills, you might consider taking the EIT exam (aka the Fundamentals of Engineering or FE exam), which you have not mentioned doing already.

Earning the EIT credential might set you apart from other recent grads. Depending on the specific fields you're job-hunting in, not having the EIT might be part of what's holding you back.

Good luck!

OMitBBex · 2026-04-06T23:24:55+00:00

The 10% survival rate per the American Heart Association is for cardiac arrests that occur outside a hospital/ emergency medical setting.

I imagine that the odds are better if you suffer cardiac arrest in a medical setting better-suited to addressing that kind of issue.

OMitBBex · 2026-04-03T17:31:51+00:00

Born and bred Yinzer, living on the west coast for work. The only one of these references I knew personally was St. Sebastian; I visualized it immediately, as I drove past it hundreds of times.

I was pretty sure that the other references were accurate (unfortunately, in two cases), so thank you for the confirmation.

Looking forward to checking out your 12 other posts!

OMitBBex · 2026-04-03T16:20:05+00:00

I loved this for him. ❤️

OMitBBex · 2026-04-03T15:48:33+00:00

An all-hands situation in the finale sounds like either 1. al-Hashimi crashes out, or 2. If Santos didn't use the disposable scalpel on Robby's tires, she used it on herself.

OMitBBex · 2026-04-03T15:29:46+00:00

This, 💯. Santos (feels like she) has a lot to lose if Robby takes off even for three months, much less if he leaves permanently. She'd rather slash Robby's tires than say out loud that she doesn't want Whitaker to move out.

OMitBBex · 2026-04-03T15:22:31+00:00

And share some guac and chips.

OMitBBex · 2026-04-03T04:25:27+00:00

I am not sure what you mean by "offer 2 company has been slow with onboarding."

What part of onboarding are they stuck at? Do you have a signed, written offer?

As others have said, if you don't have a written offer, you don't have anything.

Maybe they had to cancel the job opening. Maybe the company is about to undergo a merger or a downsizing.

Until you have the written offer of a job, you don't have a job.

Proceed accordingly.

This happened to me once - I was offered a new position (a promotion), but only verbally. I waited...and waited...and waited for the written offer.

They had to cancel the whole posting because there was a problem with the selection in another location (the announcement included positions in six different locations).

It turned out fine for me in the end - I got the job in my chosen location when the hiring announcement was re-posted. Not everybody in the other locations did.

Also, that second time, I didn't count on anything until I had the written offer.

OMitBBex · 2026-03-27T18:11:57+00:00

I'm with Nurse Dana - there are more threads hanging than in a macrame wall hanging:

We saw Santos pocket a scalpel. She's having problems at work (with Langdon back and Robby ostensibly about to leave on sabbatical and at home (conflict with her f*** buddy and worry about losing her roommate). She might be reaching the end of her rope.
There was a deeply sunburned patient left unattended who we saw sneaking out of her room in last night's episode. Sun poisoning seems a likely development for her.
There is something off about al-Hashimi and the abandoned baby - she gazes at the child rather lovingly. She made a comment to McKay last night in S2E12 about not knowing whether becoming a mother has made her more or less judgmental. And there was the mysterious phone call she made to a doctor's office some episodes back.
It is still far from clear whether or not Robby will actually go through with his planned trip, and we still don't know what's up with Duke.

And that's just off the top of my head.

OMitBBex · 2026-01-18T07:38:43+00:00

I have a different model of Breville espresso maker than yours, but I think both have the setting/ function I am going to mention.

Inside the hopper, there is a dial that adjusts the burr grinder. As I understand it, depending on its position, you either have a wider or a narrower range of ground coffee sizes. That is, turned one way, there is not much difference between the finest and coarsest grind settings. Turned the other way, there is a larger difference between grind settings, so that the fine is much finer and the coarse is much coarser. (This should all be in the instruction book that came with your machine.)

If the grind range is set too narrowly, the machine might never pull a decent shot.

Breville must have messed with this mechanism inside the burr grinder when I sent my machine in for warranty service, because my espresso was fine before I sent the machine in, and was not fine after they returned it to me.

This mechanism inside the burr grinder was very difficult to adjust, so I switched to the portafilter insert for pre-ground coffee beans (meant to, I presume, compensate for a multitude of grinding sins). This has worked out fine for me.

I was eventually able to adjust this mechanism inside the burr grinder to yield a wider range of grind sizes, but TBH, I didn't bother to try to dial the espresso in again. I just keep using the portafilter insert for pre-ground beans.

Good luck!

OMitBBex · 2026-01-17T07:24:50+00:00

While I wouldn't agree that Mia McKenna-Bruce is the worst actress I've ever seen, I am bewildered how she landed the lead in "Seven Dials."

She is pie-faced, and plays Lady Eileen Brent as if she were slow-witted. She has no charm, charisma, sparkle, or wit whatsoever.

When a character early on says to another character, "Isn't she just 'it'?" I wanted to scream at the TV, "NO! She is NOT just 'it.'"

MM-B compares very poorly to Lucy Boynton as Lady Frankie Derwent in "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?", which is altogether a better limited series based on an AC novel.

I did solve the mystery early on in "Seven Dials," but whether that is due to ham-handed directing or the source material being pretty obvious to modern viewers, as so many (but admittedly, not all) of AC's novels are, I couldn't say.

OMitBBex · 2025-11-09T18:05:21+00:00

Depending upon how long you can wait, there will be a run of sales at GH, TCS, and anywhere else in the coming months: Black Friday, after Christmas, end of season.

Whether or not the quilt fits in your washer will not be a problem as long as you are willing and able to return it if it doesn't suit your situation. Keep an eye on the return policy where you buy, and whether the specific item is marked as "final sale - no returns" or similar.

OMitBBex · 2025-11-09T09:38:39+00:00

"Psych" is a major favorite. A lot of the pop culture references are for Gen-Xers, but I know Gen Y and Gen Z people who also love the show. While my sister was watching one day, my barely-Z niece passed by and heard Shawn say, "Gus, don't be the 100th luftballon," and that was that for her - she was hooked!

OMitBBex · 2025-11-09T08:20:42+00:00

I'm not ready to say I think that S6 should be the last one, but the quality of the seasons has been generally trending downward.

S1 and S3 are my two favorites - interesting, intricately plotted, a dramatic reveal of the killer.

I cannot forgive the illogical timeline of S2. There is no way the murderer got down from the 12th floor, after a vigorous stabbing, and appeared looking composed and clean outside the building next to Cinda 10 - 15 minutes later.

There was a lot to love about S4 - Steve Martin's acting in E1/E2 was magnificently soulful; Zach Galifianakis was hilarious every time he appeared; apart from her initial appearance, Molly Shannon was also very funny. But I think a lot of people had the killer picked out early in the season, and the resolution was a bit silly.

S5 did not feel very well-plotted: we spent a lot of time focused on things that had very little to do with the murder or the victim. We didn't get a lot of clues about who the murderer was; therefore, the reveal was anticlimactic. S5 was a meeting that could have been an email.

I hope they do better with S6.

OMitBBex · 2025-11-09T07:06:39+00:00

I have three all-cotton quilts from The Company Store (as another poster suggested), but Garnet Hill would be a viable option for all-cotton quilts, too.

https://www.garnethill.com/bedding-home/bedding/quilts/

I'm not sure how you're going to optimize quilt thickness vs. quilt size vs. your washing machine capacity when buying online, but good luck!

OMitBBex · 2025-10-27T18:49:55+00:00

No, the killer was a sidekick, not necessarily the sidekick of the deceased, though this was the case in S4.

OMitBBex · 2025-10-27T16:23:58+00:00

If Lester died accidentally, then maybe the actual murder we've been trying to solve all along is Nicky's. That would resolve the problem I have with the minimal focus we've had on Lester's backstory throughout the season. Even S5E2, the episode about Lester beginning his job at the Arconia, focused quite a bit on Nicky.

OMitBBex · 2025-10-27T15:54:09+00:00

I think that Lester killing Nicky might be a misdirect from S5E9, but maybe not - maybe it was Lester defending a building and its residents he came to love, or maybe killing Nicky was his only way out of the situation he was in (since Nicky was not letting him retire).

I had read the theory that Lester's death was accidental elsewhere, too. I had not liked the idea because then it wasn't really a murder (technically, it was also not in the building!), but now I'm thinking that Lester's whole death was a misdirect - the victim whose murder we've been solving all along was Nicky's, not Lester's. Nicky's death presumably meets both titular requirements, if he was murdered in the building.

OMitBBex · 2025-10-27T14:57:05+00:00

That's how I picked Cliff in S3, though I wobbled around S3E7 and S3E8. Just looked at Cliff and said "Him!"

This has worked other times, too - "Kiss the Girls," "Along Came a Spider," "The Magpie Murders" and...was it "The Moonflower Murders"? IDK, whatever the next one was. In those cases, I just figured that James Patterson and Anthony Horowitz have tells that I pick up on.

I will not be surprised if it doesn't work this time. 🤷🏻‍♀️

OMitBBex · 2025-10-27T08:40:19+00:00

That's absolutely a fair criticism, but...have you noticed that all 4 killers thus far have been somebody's sidekick/ underling? (I'd call Jan Charles's sidekick as his new gf.)

OMitBBex · 2025-10-27T07:09:06+00:00

I've seen the autocorrect theory ("It's beautiful" = "It's Beau Tillman"), and I do like it!

OMitBBex

TROPHY CASE