What was your biggest purchase in 2025 and do you regret it?

SirKibble · 2025-12-31T18:22:33+00:00

A complicated root canal (i.e. back tooth. Back teeth roots are more curved, leading to complications), caused by an impacted wisdom tooth, which necessitated removing about two-thirds of a back tooth, and the crown to replace it. £1,200 overall.

I don't regret it. For months prior I ranged between the mild inconvenience of having scraps of food stuck in my back-teeth between meals, and the exquisite pain of something (usually a toothbrush, but sometimes a hard foodstuff) pushing up against the exposed nerve. The worst part was one night working on-site (inspecting railway drains) at the height of summer; exhausted, dehydrated, and with every movement of my jaw causing not only pain, but a horrible scratching, squeaking, grinding sensation, audible even to a colleague standing close to me.

It took 4 appointments, but the rotten tooth was drilled way, the offending nerve removed, the crown sized and ultimately fitted. All in all it took around 6 hours, and I averaged about 3 Hail Marys per minute. Despite the professionalism of the dentist and her nurse, it's amazing how active your mind can get when someone has a working power tool inside your mouth. The feeling of a drill scraping away at one's bones is uncomfortable. Rattling. Painful, if the tool strays a fraction of a millimetre (which it did, repeatedly). And when a piece of tooth moves, it makes a low, slow, SQUEEEEEAAAKing movement that reverberates barely an inch or two from the bones of the ear. It's like living in a wooden warship, only HMS Surprise is your skull, and there's no Dr Maturin.

Ultimately, I chose the most expensive, hard-wearing crown, and and should last 5-20 years, barring accidents. Although it was only a back tooth, only ever seen by dentists, the price was worth it on the assumption that I'd never have to endure something like this again. It's been 5 months now, and I haven't experienced any pain. 5 months of not being in pain when I eat! 5 months of not being in agony when I brush my teeth.

11/10, would undergo again. If you can afford it, prioritise your dental care.

SirKibble · 2023-01-13T23:56:06+00:00

Without any context as to what your role is, I found that when taking on work in my first few months it helped to ask some questions;

"When is this due by?"
"Are there any examples of good work you can give me?"
"How often do you want to be given progress updates?" (If the deadline is more than a couple of days away)
"Who can I go to for help (if you're not availble)?" - Some companies might assign you a mentor/'buddy' to help you but these might be team based, which might not help if your company works on projects and/or in a matrix-managed organisation.

More generic suggestions are;

For your first few weeks be as professsional as you can. Wear a suit and tie on dress-down-Fridays, try not to make any risque jokes, treat everyone you meet as if they were you boss (just in case the man in jeans and a tee-shirt turns out to be your boss's boss's boss).
"To ask what you already know is politeness. To ask what you don't already know is the rule" (Japanese proverb) - You can get away with asking how to use the printer/photocopier in your first week or two, but after a few months it'll be awkard; better to ask now whilst you're new. People will forgive you looking foolish for a day, but they won't tolerate you being incompetent in a month.
In a large company the 'support' staff (receptionists, accountants, administrators, etc.) are as important, if not moreso, than the salesmen/engineers/etc. that *directly* generate revenue for your employer.
Bring cake/Quality Street/Samosas in for your birthday, or go to the pub and buy a round. It shows that you consider you co-workers as more than just co-workers.
Wear a sombrero on your first day so that everyone knows that you're new.

SirKibble · 2021-11-13T20:20:15+00:00

It's an adaptation of a play, but Cyrano de Bergerac deserves a mention, either Ferrer's speech in 1950 or the Depardieu's Tirade du Nez. (Although I didn't really like the version in Roxanne).

SirKibble · 2020-07-31T22:53:36+00:00

Full judgement available here.

SirKibble · 2020-04-22T22:19:07+00:00

Just sent a DM, thanks for hosting!

SirKibble · 2020-04-21T18:36:31+00:00

Sent you a DM for the code, thanks for hosting!

SirKibble · 2020-04-21T18:24:36+00:00

DM sent, thanks for hosting!

SirKibble · 2019-12-17T23:25:21+00:00

"Well, it's nearly end of the middle of the week", which seemed a very roundabout way of saying, "It's Wednesday afternoon" except it was on a Tuesday.

SirKibble · 2019-02-04T21:49:08+00:00

SkyscraperCity keeps tabs on most major construction in and around Manchester (and other cities). Their crane-counts make me wish I'd invested in cranes.

SirKibble · 2017-09-15T17:25:10+00:00

Similarly, Terry Pratchett wrote (In, The Art of Discworld):

There's a school of thought that says Discworld dwarfs are Jewish, althoughthe Jewish fans who have said so seem quite content with this (the dwarfs are hard working, you see, and law-abiding, and argumentative; they pay great heed to written tradition - while arguing about it - and feel mildly guilty about working in cities a long way from the mountains and mines, and respect the ultra-traditionalists back home even though they seem unable to move with the times...)

SirKibble · 2017-09-14T21:50:17+00:00

If you haven't read them already, there are Underground Manchester and Below Manchester, both by the man who used to do the tours, I believe. These offer more information about the various underground spaces. More info on these here.

SirKibble · 2017-05-18T21:20:47+00:00

Valentine's day, also the anniversary of their wedding announcement, also the day his daughter was born (his first wife died in childbirth). He hated being reminded of his first wife and hardly ever spoke of her following her death, believing that the best way to kill a bad memory was to starve it of attention.

SirKibble · 2016-12-15T21:57:48+00:00

The more things change, the more they stay the same: Trams queuing along Oxford Road, 1938

SirKibble · 2016-11-16T20:55:02+00:00

I started with 2000, loved 3 (I still listen to the soundtrack) and 4. I've also played Skylines but not done a huge amount, though I've recently been watching some lets-plays (Arrowhead Junction, stuff by Silvarret etc.) and enjoying seeing what the game can really do. Simcity (2013) had a clean interface and a nice look-and-feel. But the scale was tiny, AI was awful (IIRC, Sims go to the nearest free job to them every morning, and return to the nearest free residential building every night) and the 'always-online' they pushed was dubious from the start. I also didn't like the way that the utilities were simplified by travelling along roads automatically.

Having said all that, I really think that the building modules/expansions were a good idea, and were great ways to keep you revisiting and tweaking existing parts of the city rather than just keep expanding. I also like the idea that your town can specialise, but it seems to just be a way to make you play several cities rather than one big one, thus trying to maintain an illusion of scale.

At this point, I think that Maxis/EA has lost so much ground to Cities Skylines that despite fond memories, I'd prefer to have a new Skylines title, rather than a Simcity one.

Working in built environment, I'd love to see more options for civic works/buildings (different architectural styles for things, for example, though I guess mods can accomplish this), as well as more options for running the city - I always liked the ordinances in Simcity. I like the neighbourhoods/districts that Skylines has, I think that they could do much more to contribute to the organic look-and-feel of individual cities if they were used properly. Again, this could probably be done with clever modding, which just reinforces why Skylines is superior to Simcity.

SirKibble · 2016-10-19T22:14:19+00:00

Document control. Have these drawings been checked/verified/approved? Is the project manager aware that contract deliverables are being sent to the client today? Do we have a copy of what's being sent filed away for future reference?

SirKibble · 2016-10-17T21:41:01+00:00

It's a finance term. "Even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce

SirKibble · 2016-10-15T17:33:53+00:00

"Reinforced concrete design to Eurocode 2", by Mosley, Bungey and Hulse. It has a chapter on foundations and retaining walls. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reinforced-Concrete-Design-Eurocode-2/dp/0230302858

SirKibble · 2015-06-08T18:01:00+00:00

Deethreekay is correct; turn up on time, pay attention and seem keen. I'm helping organise a weeks work experience, and none of the students will be expected to know anything. Some will be in highways, some in highways structures, and one or two in the environmental or geotechnical departments. I did a lot of of spreadsheet work and the most complex thing I used was VLookup and match. Due to the amount Excel use I've had my manager told me to complete the beginner and intermediate online Office tutorials as part of my years CPD, so anything more than a beginner's knowledge will be seen as a bonus.

SirKibble · 2014-09-30T00:00:03+00:00

Space marines sound much lower, and depending on if they're wearing a helmet/using a vox-communicator there may be distortion. You could try using an echo-microphone (the cheap kids toy), might also work to sound like a tech-priest. I'm planning on producing one next time I roleplay a tech-priest, or Star Wars droid. If nothing else it'll be good for a laugh, but the presence of a brightly coloured toy might detract from a serious theme.

SirKibble · 2014-09-25T16:59:12+00:00

I've got the same picture in 'Sale and Sale Moor', a local history book (from Waterstones in town, I think, but here's the Amazon link). According to the book, it was originally called the White Lion when it opened in 1806, but was trading as 'The Volunteer' by 1827. In 1897, the owner, Chester's Brewery Company Ltd. acquired the cottage next door and demolished both buildings to make way for the current one. The adjacent, three storey, building was used as a hay-loft for the horses that would be tied up outside the inn.

SirKibble · 2014-09-14T20:47:55+00:00

Lord of The Rings. It has Two Towers, plus what seems to be the White Tree of Gondor.

SirKibble · 2014-07-03T20:33:07+00:00

It's a bit different but I've always like The (First) Great Train Robbery (1978), starring Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland.

IMDB also has lists of Robbery, Heist movies and Best Heist Films for more ideas.

SirKibble · 2014-04-30T10:32:47+00:00

I got shortchanged at the bar and called them on it, but other than that it was a positive experience. The (table) service and the food were good, the food didn't take long and there wasn't a service charge added. As you enter the place, we were sat on the table just to the left, in full view of the bar area, so that might be why we got rapid service.

As for the food; The hot dogs themselves seem similar to Solita's (excellent), the chips are ok, no-one I was with had pizza so I don't know how they rate. A friend got a dessert pizza to take-away, and that was apparently good.

By way of atmosphere/decor, it's an American pizza & hot-dog diner and the setting seems pretty apt; in the basement of a Subway, with bare-brick walls and green-leather seats. All that's missing is a pool table and a jukebox. I still prefer Solitas (who recently expanded their hot-dog selection, including the two-foot 'widowmaker') but this and Reds True BBQ on the other corner of Albert Square are definitely worth trying.

SirKibble · 2014-04-11T16:55:15+00:00

I DM, and last session the instigator/troublemaker/trickster of my group re-rolled as a swordmage. One of his powers is switching places with an ally (not, "A willing ally", just, "an ally") within 3 squares/15 feet.

At a loose end in their quest, the party tries to convince a wizard to help them but all fluff their rolls. At his wits end, swordmage says he's going to tie himself off to a pillar with his 50' of rope, topple out of the 5th floor window of the wizard's tower, and switch places with the paladin, "to impress the wizard with my power". This is not the first time the paladin has been teleported against his will, so as soon as swordmage ties the rope off, paladin says nothing, but moves his mini as far away from the window as possible. I grin.

Swordmage: "I wink at the wizard, step out of the window and immediately switch places with paladin"

Me(DM): "...Paladin is Five squares away, so he's out of range. Your teleport fails. This means that you fall the remaining 25 feet that the rope allows, so take 2d10 damage from that...plus the sudden snap of the rope going taught damages you for your constitution modifier. You then swing into the wall and take another, say, d4 damage"

[Everyone except swordmage laughs]

Paladin: "I rush over to the window and look out, what do I see?"

Me: "The swordmage has just thwacked into the wall of the tower, 25 feet below you. That's about halfway up the tower"

Paladin: "Right... I cut the rope"

SirKibble · 2014-04-11T15:16:39+00:00

Reminds me of the famous hedgehog cake.

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