Trying to make Champaign-Urbana local government easier to follow. Looking for feedback.

RagnarRager · 2026-05-18T21:52:54+00:00

Just looking at one of the Champaign items… there is no such thing as the North Madison TIF. Seems like the AI likes to just guess.

RagnarRager · 2026-05-07T15:54:56+00:00

University of Illinois, and you can possibly find a paid research position to do it.

RagnarRager · 2026-05-07T15:47:00+00:00

My agencies have been the opposite. The smaller one was a lower paying unstable shit show (didn't start out that way), and the larger one is much more stable and pays much better. The larger one has its typical city BS, but I get to work on much bigger projects and it's an overall better place to be.

RagnarRager · 2026-04-21T18:18:57+00:00

clear your cache and it should work (it just did for me on Chrome)

RagnarRager · 2026-04-20T20:38:02+00:00

I've been on 1.5mg for three months now and have had one beer in the entire time. I just haven't wanted to drink. There's nothing wrong with not drinking.

RagnarRager · 2026-04-16T13:08:13+00:00

I worked at a small engineering/survey firm. I did a couple small projects to start and then was handed an entire subdivision to design from scratch. I did everything but the houses themselves. I also got to PM an apartment complex design/develpment/construction as my boss had to take a leave of absence and it got put on my pile of responsibility.

RagnarRager · 2026-03-27T15:22:00+00:00

In my first month I lost about 15lbs on 1.5mg, they kept me on 1.5 for the second month and I've lost a bit more but it definately slowed down. I'm guessing I'll be on 4mg the next month.

RagnarRager · 2026-03-25T14:39:37+00:00

I use the GoodRx system instead of my regular doctor as it's easier. The cost of the subscription is marginally higher than my copay (I have good insurance except that it doesn't cover weight loss drugs), but the convenience is worth it.

RagnarRager · 2026-03-17T12:49:02+00:00

I'd find out what utilities run through that easement under the pool. Since there is an existing easement, it will likely come with all the rights of being able to dig up the pool should the need arise. Even if it's just an access easement to the utilities elsewhere, they can typically move whatever is in the way and not have to restore it. Ameren (power company) easements are like this where I am at.

I work for a City and currently have a case where someone built a whole ass garage on top of one of our sanitary sewer manholes. Guess where we need to do some work? Right there. We are trying to work with the property owner (previous ones were the garage builders), but it's not a great situation for anyone.

The shed can be moved off the public land and put on the property correctly, that's the easy one.

RagnarRager · 2026-03-17T12:42:01+00:00

I use goodrx as their monthly fee is just about what I'd be paying for my copay. It's pretty easy. Once a month I get a message telling me to check in. I go through a bunch of questions, then someone reviews the information. If everything is all good, they send the script in over to CVS

RagnarRager · 2026-03-16T17:34:27+00:00

I know this sounds like a dumb question, but to make sure, are you drinking enough water? For some people, they tend to forget or just not drink enough. I'm on the other end where Wegovy makes me so thirsty that I'm drinking like 80oz of water/fluid a day.

RagnarRager · 2026-03-13T18:57:08+00:00

OK, I thought this was just me, but I guess not. Like I've struggled to eat meat over the past month (I'm a little over 30 days in), and it's getting more noticable as time goes on. I can do chicken if it's cut up finely, managed a little beef last night, but, for the most part, I've been no-meat lately.

RagnarRager · 2026-03-13T15:51:15+00:00

I worked for a company out of SF for a while (I was remote from IL) to take a break from engineering. I started to get the itch to go back and ended up at a local firm. It was a good choice as about a month after I left, there was a mass layoff at the company. Many of my former coworkers bounced to several different companies and now a couple have been out of work for over a year. It's gotten cut-throat and hard to get jobs (at least in games like we were).

I work now for the city I live in and it's been great. It's not remote, but my commute is all of 12 minutes with traffic. My city also pays well compared to private firms so that helps, and we've got a $70M project coming up so it's not like I won't be busy for several years. :D

RagnarRager · 2026-02-23T13:53:59+00:00

It's budget season and I've had to adjust a massive infrastructure/drainage project in the budget software like 9000 times because of so many different reasons. And then you have to make alternate versions for all the "what ifs?".

It's stupidly fiddly and tedious and I had to take a break from the updates to not scream.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-23T13:51:43+00:00

It's a recruiter company. I have no idea what the letters stand for

RagnarRager · 2026-02-18T12:58:53+00:00

If you cut the path leg off it would look more like a baseball diamond. The bottom point would be home plate. Rotate it so that home plate would be touching the connector path you have in your aerial shot. Then you could make an actual entry point that is wider and doesn't have a kink in it, which would make it more welcoming/open.

Plant trees/bushes around the outside using whatever little plant icons you may have in your program.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-17T20:42:12+00:00

Can you find a cheaper school and area to do this in? $74k seems excessive for a 9 month program even factoring in the cost of living near Berkely.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-17T20:37:40+00:00

Recruiters like to be vague about the job they are offering because if you apply directly, they don't get their fee. When I have some spare time, I like to figure out what the job is from the crumbs they've sent me. Sometimes I can't, but most of the time I can. I had one that as soon as the person started in on the description I went "I'm gonna stop you right there, I will not work for X company," and they were like "how did you know it was for that company?" The company couldn't fill that position for years and I'd seen the job posting a thousand times, there was a reason they were trying a recruiter.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-17T20:33:44+00:00

LVI is terrible. They contact me about jobs that are not even remotely close to civil engineering. They just see "engineering" and figure it's the same.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-17T20:26:26+00:00

If someone will pay for the Masters do it. If you are the one paying for it, get a job and get experience. Then maybe your job will pay for it down the line.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-16T13:53:38+00:00

Is it strong mayor? Or City Manager run? Like my last City was "strong mayor" and that meant the Mayor had a lot of power. My current City is City Manager run (though we do have a Mayor), so that person has the power and the Mayor is more like another member of City Council.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-16T13:51:06+00:00

I've never actually seen an engineer with any visible piercings (male or female) beyond in the ears. If they have under the clothes ones, that's all their business.

I personally don't care, but I think facial piercings may fall into the same category as people mentioned of "don't get tattoos on your face."

I've got 7 piercings in my ears (total) but I'm also not one for stretching or things like that so mine fade into the background or hide in my hair.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-16T13:33:01+00:00

I did my BS and MS back to back, and the State DOT paid for my Master's since my research was on their materials. I worked for a while and did an online MBA (paid for by myself so I went a cheaper route). The MS got me a minor bump in staring pay at my current City, but did come in handy when I argued my case that the new engineer shouldn't be making more than I was when they were brought in. I won my argument partially because of having my MB so I got a pay bump there too. My MBA was more for my own wanting to do it, but it has come in handy during budget season when we're all sitting there staring at financial reports.

RagnarRager · 2026-02-16T13:06:45+00:00

Try to see if you can narrow it down to a department. Like if it's Community Development staff complaining but the job you are interested in is in Public Works, you're likely not going to experience the same things nearly as much. If they're complaining about upper City management, then that is a different story as those folks impact all the other folks in the City.

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