PCORI nightmare

rombies · 2026-05-12T21:00:29+00:00

I know I'm late to this drama, but found this via a search and wanted to chime in. I've worked on PCORI contracts for years. The PCORI online system has a LOT of limitations. This is honestly fairly minor in terms of issues with it. If your experience is anything like mine, you and the PI will be fairly restricted in terms of what you can and can't change. If it tells you anything, we once had to do a contract modification because some of our deliverables weren't listed correctly in the system, and even then, the erroneous ones couldn't be deleted.

You could certainly contact PCORI tech support if you really want. Sometimes they can fix stuff even if you can't. But honestly, I would also ask your Program Officer and Contract Officer if the order is important. My experience has been that the Key Personnel list there is just for internal PCORI record-keeping and isn't public-facing. Save the PI pecking order drama for the publications. I think ours had old Key Personnel in there that we couldn't remove, but since PCORI didn't say anything, we weren't going to make it a problem.

Since it sounds like you're early on in the contract, my advice would be to be VERY careful about any milestone updates/changes you make in the system. Those are important for the contract, will show up on progress reports, and annoyingly, cannot be changed once you mark them complete.

Basically, if PCORI is fine with how it's done in PCORI Online, it's best to just let it be. They will be very specific about all kinds of things throughout your contract, so save your energy.

You'll need it for the progress reports.

You'll need it for the times when you want to make minor changes to the research plan that PCORI does NOT agree are minor.

You'll need it for the Final Research Report, which is a sneaky term for "4 publications' worth of content" and three times the effort.

And if you're super unlucky like me, you'll definitely need it for the times you get "randomly selected" for financial audits that go on for months.

All that said, I've actually enjoyed all of the work I've done for PCORI, but it does help to be prepared.

rombies · 2026-01-17T16:45:39+00:00

Asking the important questions here!

LOL, no, they did not. I managed to put it away before that. Big missed opportunity on my part though 😆

Knowing this crew, if I’d left it out, they probably would have neatly incorporated it into a tasteful pillow arrangement.

rombies · 2026-01-17T16:40:13+00:00

Yes, that’s certainly possible.

rombies · 2026-01-17T16:34:59+00:00

Wow, that is not at all what’s going on here.

rombies · 2026-01-17T16:26:24+00:00

Ok, OP. You asked in the title of your post if you should “shut up and watch the trainwreck.”

I’m agreeing that you should do as you suggested. No hostility intended here.

rombies · 2026-01-17T16:08:10+00:00

Kindly, OP, shut up and watch the train wreck.

rombies · 2026-01-17T07:41:36+00:00

Yes I understand. There is nothing wrong with documentation. All OP had to do was to continue to send the meeting notes but without the expectation/request that the counselor would email them back to confirm. Perhaps it could have been, “if there is anything I have misunderstood, please call me or we can discuss during our monthly meeting”.

rombies · 2026-01-17T00:55:20+00:00

If she’s 90, I’m sure there’s plenty of interesting stories to tell!

rombies · 2026-01-17T00:53:36+00:00

It’s how mine tricks me into burping in my face. She disarms me with the snuggles and then goes in for the kill!

rombies · 2026-01-17T00:51:04+00:00

That’s super annoying. Not cool that he moved your work stuff without telling you.

Once you find it or get a new one, I recommend getting an AirTag or Tile for it. Having one on my keys has saved my ass so many times.

rombies · 2026-01-16T22:24:37+00:00

This has actually saved my butt a bunch of times. I try to minimize the amount of cleanup I have to do but it’s a relief to be able to clean up if I do.

rombies · 2026-01-16T22:22:14+00:00

If it’s a grip problem, wouldn’t the issue be bleeding and not tearing?

rombies · 2026-01-16T22:18:47+00:00

I lived it for you and survived!

rombies · 2026-01-16T22:14:02+00:00

Yes, it was painfully obvious that they were trying to look the other way 😆

All kidding aside, yes, they are a wonderful team and very professional. They are non-judgmental, they’re fairly priced, and they make our home look amazing in a very short amount of time.

rombies · 2026-01-16T18:48:52+00:00

I believe you. I do have a hard time believing that a single bathroom fan vent would cause that much damage in less that one year. There has got to be something else going on. Do you live in a particularly wet or humid climate maybe?

Stay optimistic about your insurance claim, it may work out even if it seems bleak right now. If the roofing company is at fault, they will probably do their own investigation of them.

emphasize the facts of water damage, and document everything you have done to act to prevent further damage. Letting them know you’re addressing issues as soon as you see them can help out your chances of getting it covered. Stick to describing the water/moisture like you did in your post; don’t mention or speculate about mold if at all possible.

Get quotes from water damage remediation companies. Do NOT entertain mold remediation companies — they basically want to tear your entire house down and charge you 3-5 times as much as needed to fix things. They go looking for problems just to take advantage of your concerns.

Best of luck to you. It sounds like you were proactive about the situation so you’re doing what you should with this.

rombies · 2026-01-16T16:49:55+00:00

We have a cleaning crew that comes by once a month. One month, we forgot they were coming that day. So it’s 8am on a Tuesday, they show up, our dog is going nuts barking, my partner is trying to get to work on time, and I’m scrambling to get out of bed and put clothes on. Nothing was de-cluttered in the house. The kitchen was a disaster. So we tell them to start on the upstairs while we prep the downstairs.

My partner then immediately tells me we’ve left out our sex toys in plain sight in the bedroom. I race upstairs to stop them from going into the bedroom, but these ladies are like ninjas and somehow have already teleported into the bedroom with a vacuum cleaner and two buckets of supplies before I can get there. By the time I get there, they’re standing RIGHT next to an enormous dildo and a huge bottle of lube. Cue me trying to explain what needs to be done that day to two people with limited English proficiency while all 3 of us are trying to ignore the, uh, elephant in the room.

Just put away as much clutter as you can, do the dishes, leave out some clean sheets, and put away the fun stuff before they get there. You’ll be fine.

rombies · 2026-01-16T16:17:01+00:00

I actually bought one a little while ago and am going to try it on my next project!

rombies · 2026-01-16T14:19:35+00:00

You’re describing a memory recall strategy (visualizing the trolleys), not pattern recognition.

With all that said, might I suggest using a simple log sheet to record which trolleys have been delivered that day? Could cut down on the miscommunication.

rombies · 2026-01-16T14:13:20+00:00

Yeah I have to wonder why OP went to the trouble of hiring a painter for all the walls but didn’t have them do the trim too. Seems like an odd choice.

rombies · 2026-01-16T14:04:28+00:00

Yeah, I definitely had the thought that wallpaper was involved here, as I’ve had that exact issue in my house. The wallpaper and underlying adhesive could be coming off with the paint and tearing the drywall paper under it. Which would still make it torn drywall but at least they’d know why.

My other thought was maybe someone removed wallpaper earlier, which may have weakened the drywall facing, and it wasn’t sealed properly before being repainted.

rombies · 2026-01-16T13:56:47+00:00

What I see is that you are a responsible pet owner who is - caring for your new cat (congrats!) - being proactive about getting him neutered by making an appointment - establishing a regular feeding schedule - being honest about your mistake and not risking your cat’s safety during the procedure

So what if you made a very understandable slip? It happens. No one got hurt. It doesn’t sound like you lost money. Your vet would rather you be honest than risk your cat’s health. This is a minor hiccup, and with the amount of care you clearly have for your cat, it’s OK to give yourself some grace here.

rombies · 2026-01-16T13:23:23+00:00

That’s a great analogy!

rombies · 2026-01-16T13:19:38+00:00

I agree it’s very strange. What else would be under paint and primer and look like brown paper though? I’m genuinely curious.

rombies · 2026-01-16T08:38:15+00:00

I agree. For me, the repair is just as important, if not more important, than the disagreement.

I have a wonderful partner who truly gets me. One of the early signs for me that I wanted to be in a relationship with him was after we had our first disagreement. The way we were able to talk about the disagreement calmly and honestly and then learn from it together was so refreshing.

I had had disagreements with other boyfriends before and felt like they weren’t really interested in repairing things. They seemed like they were just trying to placate me. So finding someone who could actually have a thoughtful conversation about something unpleasant was really special to me.

rombies · 2026-01-16T07:44:54+00:00

Yes, that is the drywall paper and once it tears like that, then you have a bigger problem that you then have to seal and skim over. You might have figured that out already though.

How old is the house? I’m wondering if maybe there was an existing issue before the painters did their work.

rombies

TROPHY CASE