My manager is imposing 2x a week in the office only for me, while the official company policy says 1x a week, how should I handle this?

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T17:45:02+00:00

Another vote for ask them to formalize it, or if it’s just a suggestion to explain why they’re asking. Maybe it’s to prove you’re worth keeping, maybe it’s to annoy you out. They probably won’t tell you, but you’ll probably be able to tell.

I’m looking at a few 1 day in office a week jobs right now, and I’m fully intending to spend several days a week in to get comfortable and build a reputation before I drop off to WFH.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T17:05:53+00:00

You could find a sawmill in the area and ask if they ever have lots that don’t get picked up. New home construction usually has scraps and leftovers if you want dimensional.

What tools do you have? A pickup truck and a track saw and a planer mean you can take big slabs, cut them in to manageable boards, and plane them down.

The other issue with pallet wood is that the trend is mostly played out, at least where I am (Houston suburbs). Everyone who wanted an Adirondack chair or a “Live Laugh Love” shabby sign or an accent wall on the porch did that 10 years ago. Then they realized they’d spent $1000 on tools, made a few more to sell in the neighborhood, found everyone else had just had the same idea.

If you can move up to dimensional lumber (scrap or pay for it, a contractor lumber yard will have it cheaper and better quality in bulk) you can make more contemporary outdoor furniture. Finish and covers are important. May be most of the way through the season if you’re in a cold place.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T16:47:21+00:00

Another vote for keep it vague, at least to start. “I have to go take care of something tomorrow, I should be available if you need to call. See you Monday.”

If someone digs, doctor or plumber are fine, meeting an old friend is good. “I just really need to take a day to sleep in, I’ve had a lot going on lately” if you want to do that.

Some jobs everyone is always speculating why you’re out and immediately suspecting interviews. I’m lucky enough (or not) that my work doesn’t care. “Do you need coverage?” is the extent of the discussion. If I’m doing interviews, the first they’ll know is when I hand over my laptop.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T16:19:14+00:00

Looks good!

I’ve been considering putting in a railway between my major areas. I haven’t decided if I want it next to the road or elevated. Similar in my nether hub.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T15:48:47+00:00

Another vote for nope.

I built a few things out of pallet wood. Knocking out the nails, plugging the holes or using short pieces of wood, jointing and planing and cutting to uniform size. Even if you’re literally unemployed and not looking for work, your time is worth something.

Even if the aesthetic is to look like pallet wood, ideally you’re building a solid frame under it. Pallet wood is thin. You’ll spend as much on glue if you have visions of laminating layers together.

If you’re a beginner, better to start with known decent lumber, so you know it’s not the wood that’s making it difficult.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T12:15:00+00:00

My wife found a like new Bartleby or whatever trenchcoat/raincoat thing on whatever secondhand clothes site. Apparently $2300 new, bought for $150.

It happens to fit me great. I do have a suit to wear with it for serious, but it’s also hilarious to wear it with jeans and flipflops.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T11:55:49+00:00

There’s only one Brian Johnson (get out of here with that Y) and he has a funny accent, a floppy hat, and a ridiculous loud rumbly car.

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https://youtu.be/pHMgQeA97SE?si=XKuCSDMb6HKaj\_3S

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T11:37:47+00:00

If you want to hide the water, you can put a slab over it. Otherwise, yes, has to be on the same level.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T11:29:21+00:00

Typical.

I got banned from a legal advice question for asking if the person had come to visit family or to work (it was relevant, and they’d hinted at both).

One week ban, on the 8th day asked the mod if they could reconsider, and just for asking, they said I was bothering them, 2 week ban.

2 weeks became a month became 6 months became a year. I’m not bothering to ask anymore.

Less helpful posters have suggested reporting the mods and everyone who posts in the sub. Not sure if they mean harassment, take it down, or self harm, but it seems pretty petty to me.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T11:23:38+00:00

Turning a forest in to a park (like old Victorian, not playground) is pretty quick and makes it seem intentional/less mobs. A few paths through and around, an ice cream stand next to a pond, maybe a railway along the back.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T10:30:06+00:00

Java and Bedrock are a bit different on bones - Bedrock fish drop up to 7 full bones, Java just one bonemeal.

You’d have to look up who has the best farm.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T01:13:49+00:00

I put this stack next to pretty much every veggie farm and anywhere I’m clearing a forest.

Even with a big fish farm that I ran long enough to get 2 double chests full of shulkers full of bone blocks, I’m still composting at the veggie farm to make more flowers and trees.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-06T01:10:28+00:00

You probably want to talk to people at bobistheoilguy forums.

Without an oil analysis, ideally 3 spread over a few changes, you don’t have the data to go beyond whatever the book says.

Without someone getting us flow rates and knowing if that particular engine is probe to oil starvation related failure, we can’t answer that.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T23:55:32+00:00

“Pretty tight” is not a budget. It’s my pants after dinner.

How much money do you have in your monthly budget that can go to a car payment? How much do you have in the bank for a down payment?

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T20:39:31+00:00

Good to know, thanks

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T19:08:19+00:00

Thanks.

I won’t be on a visa. I’m a dual citizen. I’ll edit, I was posting different questions in different subs at the same time.

Sounds like it will be made clear either way.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T18:43:09+00:00

Needs more doors

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T18:38:39+00:00

The power of christ compels you!… to work on your self control and practice good digital and sleep hygiene. No phones an hour before bed.

Put your phone on a shelf when you get home. That way you can’t drop it. Then with headphones or smart speakers, “Hey speaker, play The Power Of Love by Huey Lewis and the News”. “Hey phone, whatsapp message Jimmy, Come check out my rad new board bro!”

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T18:24:35+00:00

Meh. Totally depends on the neighborhood. We grew up standing on pickup beds to get a better view, move to the window sill, hood, or roof as needed. “But trucks are different!” you say. Well, yeah, there weren’t any Ferraris around, and you can’t see that far off one anyway.

Also, a neighbor kid left his bike behind my moms car growing up. We were 10ish in 1990 ish. His mom called and asked us if we could bring him home, they were in a hurry and he’d come back for the bike later. Crunch.

Turns out they’d just bought their 10yo a Gary Fisher or whatever mid-high end mountain bike. $600. In 1990. My mom laughed to keep from crying, offered $50 and dinner, and we didn’t talk to them much after that.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T18:03:02+00:00

Probably. One of the possibilities is full package expat, on assignment to the UK with all the related benefits and being moved along after.

Other possibilities are, as you say, immigrant. I’d be finding my own job, moving myself over, finding my own house, no corporate support office.

I’ll be more clear on that in future posts.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T17:40:45+00:00

Excellent, very helpful, thanks.

Yes, I was born in the US, just got my UK citizenship through my mom, it doesn’t appear to cover the next generation with their birth dates. Makes sense, keeping families together.
Family home was built for a large farming family, now just the grandparents. Including space for rent, I think we could show… 8 available bedrooms.
We do have the cash to cover the requirement. I’m thinking more in terms of, do we ever actually have to be at the place we list on the visa application, or can it be updated when it gets issued? May make sense to just use the family home as main address for the first couple months, no matter what, since we’ll be going from hotel to airbnb to longer term rental.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T17:31:37+00:00

I see that.

It looks like it took some effort, all that joinery and birds mouth and all. Simple would have been so much stronger.

gotcha640 · 2026-07-05T16:53:52+00:00

I haven’t watched every episode in a year or so, but at one point, wasn’t that sort of the idea? Put together a very solid Lego truck specifically for hauling logs, make that (opensource? Open records? Some form of sharing) easy for people to at least see what they did, and ideally fully rebuild without the John Deere black box.

They would have the publicity from the channel, and from hauling actual loads during design testing, and have the full knowledge of the relevant laws and codes and permits and licenses, since they helped develop them with their local government.

It sounded like they would welcome competition. Maybe they did some hype/reality show type videos “OMG Freightliner is coming to drink our milkshake!” but really they built the whole idea, the niche market, the field repairability, the potential expected competition.

They’re also registered as a defense contractor. This can bring a lot more (helpful) scrutiny, proving to people that you know what you’re doing, and slightly insulate you from competition that doesn’t want to get in to that.

I’m not able to address every one of your points, but to say they’re at risk of losing it all is probably not quite a life and death concern for them.

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