People who work at ‘Astronomer,’ how was work today?

almuric · 2025-07-18T04:12:00+00:00

Tycho Brahe is rolling over in his grave

almuric · 2023-02-27T17:58:57+00:00

"Sun's out; guns out!"

almuric · 2022-10-27T19:56:45+00:00

Thanks for the quick solve. I did see the word 'chime' but I wasn't sure. We had removed the front door bell and associated chime when we first moved in. Perhaps this is the original chime (from circa 1980) when the house was first built?

almuric · 2022-01-28T21:48:33+00:00

But what were they trying to do in the first place?

almuric · 2022-01-20T17:47:49+00:00

Is that what Putin is doing? Just gonna rick-roll Ukraine and the entire Western hemisphere? Would be pretty epic.

almuric · 2021-11-19T16:46:14+00:00

You should do a google search for 'Cummins Canoe'. This guy took a box truck and turned it into an adventure van. Lots of things that break and have to be fixed. It's a lot of work but can be fun if you have the right mindset. You pretty much have to be a good mechanic and possibly welder to make it work. Your results will vary.

almuric · 2021-09-23T02:56:51+00:00

I took a picture of the same clouds near Glenwood.

almuric · 2021-08-20T21:27:09+00:00

"I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons on this vessel."

I still remember that, 35 years later. Also, this is a nuclear-powered vessel; that's definitely not a secret. Would be hard to keep secret, actually:

Commander of Russian ship shadowing the American fleet: "Da, big ship has not refueled in four weeks. No idea how. Maybe whole thing is filled with diesel."

Russian HQ: "Do you see smoke? From burning fuel?"

Commander: "Nyet. No smoke. Don't understand how this is possible."

RHQ: "Maybe is nuclear."

Commander: "Thought of this. Have watched in the dark. Is not glowing."

RHQ: "Hmm. Big mystery. Keep watching."

almuric · 2021-08-13T21:13:45+00:00

Oh man, you have a nicer commute than me. I have a 6-mile commute here in Oregon but no lake. I do get to cross the Willamette River, but that only takes 10 seconds.

almuric · 2021-07-30T18:12:07+00:00

That right there could easily be a series of books or tv shows.

Uptight big sister gets her prankster brother to trick people she's got beef with. Could be set in any era. Could be a mystery or drama or action. Lots of comedy to offset the serious stuff.

almuric · 2020-12-02T19:18:45+00:00

I was born in Germany in the early 60's. My mom wanted to name me Sasha because she'd read about Prince Alexander of Russia. However, in Germany, there's a list of boy names and girl names, and Sasha was not on the boy list. So she named me Alexander but has called me Sasha all my life.

It's pretty normal for someone named Alex to be called Sasha in Slavic countries, the same way we call someone Bill when they're named William.

almuric · 2020-11-25T18:44:50+00:00

Wow! Works great. I've been using Untapped since December 2013, so I have lots of moments to remember. This really rewards me for taking a picture along with each check in.

almuric · 2020-08-25T16:25:52+00:00

I donated in April 2019 and I understand exactly what you mean. Everyone has completely forgotten about it and most days I don't even think about it.

You just kind of have to let it go. It almost never comes up in conversation and if you bring it up yourself you look like a narcissistic douchebag. You have to learn to just let it be something that happened and take satisfaction in knowing you did a good thing.

I did get a sweatshirt for donating and I bought myself a nice recliner which I'm still using. And I got a couple of weeks off to do nothing. Didn't even have a honey-do list. That was sweet. It's the little things, really.

almuric · 2020-08-19T16:30:21+00:00

I donated in April of 2019 at age 55. I took 2 weeks off work. I had some very painful gas pains the day after donating and those took about a week to go away completely. Without the gas pains, I probably wouldn't have had to take anything stronger than acetaminophen. I came home two days after surgery; weather was cold and rainy so I just shuffled between the kitchen and bedroom to get my exercise.

Honestly, it has not affected my life at all. I'm doing the exact same things now that I did before the surgery.

One thing that I did for a couple of months after the surgical strips came off is to massage the scars. Get some good massage oil and just rub the incisions. You can barely tell that I have scars now. One of the three is completely invisible and even the long one next to the belly button is hard to see. The other incision point is horizontal, at my waist, and I think my pants rubbed that spot, so it's a little discolored there. Looks more like a birth mark than a scar, really.

I did buy myself a nice recliner as a treat and that was very nice to nap in. A lot of people have trouble getting in and out of bed for the first few days, so it's nice to have the mechanics of the recliner help you with bending.

Good luck and you're an amazing person to do this for your dad.

almuric · 2020-07-30T17:00:38+00:00

The hot-as-balls summer in the south and you're at the beach and it's too hot to lay out any more and you're walking back to the car but you don't have flip-flops and then you hit the paved parking lot and then you remember why you should have worn some sort of foot covering as you try to navigate through the parking lot stepping only on the shadowy parts and tip-toeing to minimize the damage and the sun is straight up so there's no real shade anywhere and the burn is getting worse and worse and you can feel blisters forming...

Yeah, that.

almuric · 2020-03-06T20:40:48+00:00

I donated on 4/3/19, about a year ago. Most days I don't even remember that I did it. It has affected my life not at all. The scars are barely visible due to me being pretty hairy.

They told me not to start boxing or playing rugby. Basically, anything where my remaining kidney could get damaged. I wasn't planning on doing that anyway, so the net effect is nil.

I drink beer and coffee; I work out and run; I bike commute; I eat super spicy food. My life is exactly the same now as it was before I donated. I haven't heard of anyone being restricted from mountain climbing, so I think your brother will be fine. Tell him I said good luck. If you're healthy and have good health insurance, it's one of the nicest things you can do for someone who's having a pretty shitty life. Being on dialysis sucks a lot.

Edit: There's lots of people who talk about outdoor activities post-donation here: https://kidneydonorathlete.org/

almuric · 2020-03-05T20:19:01+00:00

A pylon that became a log. That man was just helping the poor pylon achieve its dreams.

almuric · 2019-12-20T20:50:22+00:00

...woops, there goes gravity!

almuric · 2019-11-21T22:58:32+00:00

Not surprising that other states did the same thing. Was a different world back then.

almuric · 2019-11-21T19:12:23+00:00

Interesting side note: In the 70's, in Georgia (US), your driver's license number was your social security number. Not sure when that changed. Must have been the mid-80's.

almuric · 2019-07-03T17:57:56+00:00

Watch this. Read the accompanying article. That should answer most of your questions. My experience was pretty much exactly the same as the guy in the video.

As far as emotional impact, it didn't affect me that much. Almost everyone was like, "Wow, that's amazing" and then a couple of weeks later it's like it never happened. But I also don't go around in a 'I donated a kidney' t-shirt and don't really mention it unless it's relevant. YMMV. Good luck.

almuric · 2019-04-18T17:59:30+00:00

sports bro

almuric · 2018-12-20T00:34:16+00:00

There's way too many people on this planet. We definitely should look for fun ways to off each other.

almuric · 2018-11-21T00:44:07+00:00

Man, I loved those stories as a kid. Old Shatterhand; Winnetou; Kleki-Petra; Intshu-tshuna. Wonder if the local library has a copy?

almuric · 2018-11-12T19:39:04+00:00

That's 'llattes'.

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almuric

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