All five seasons of Chuck are now available to stream on Netflix. I was going to go to bed early, but damnit.
Also, this f.lux thing for my eyes is amazing.
by John Cole| 52 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
All five seasons of Chuck are now available to stream on Netflix. I was going to go to bed early, but damnit.
Also, this f.lux thing for my eyes is amazing.
Comments are closed.
C.J.
f.lux is something you never notice until you turn it off. Then, MY EYES
Violet
Did you try f.lux because I suggested it to you in your insomnia thread last night/this morning? Glad you like it! Get something for your phone too.
Omnes Omnibus
You want amazing? This is amazing. I was still 15 when this happened and Reagan wasn’t yet president.
gene108
Saw 12 Years a Slave.
Thank god for progress. That’s all I can say. Very intense movie.
Darkrose
f.lux is awesome. I love it, even though I have to turn it off when I’m playing Skyrim.
Suzanne
I am having an existential crisis. I have one coworker who is a truly vile, horrible person. For example, she brags about her husband engaging in legal shenanigans in order to underpay his child support for his kids from his previous marriage so he can spoil the younger two of them rotten. Calls herself “mean girl” like the movie and brags about her designer handbags. Bragged to a coworker who got laid off about how her husband made tons of money and she only had a job for extras. Told a woman in our office who is infertile that infertility is God’s punishment to women who are too into their careers. Etc etc etc. Anyway, she is a huge gossip and loves to talk shit about me at work. The principal of our office knows that she is a PITA but doesn’t care about anyone’s personal issues, so I am stuck with her. I want to rage-quit on Monday. What to do…..
Violet
@Suzanne: She sounds awful. I’d recommend you document anything and everything she does because eventually she’ll do something to trip herself up. Then avoid interacting with her as much as possible and if you have to, don’t let her get to you. People like that are hoping to get a reaction out of others. Just smile and move on.
Amir Khalid
@Suzanne:
She sounds like a real sweetheart. That business with the husband’s child support seems to be a criminal matter. By any chance, has she let slip enough that you can report him?
J.Ty
<3 <3 <3 f.lux
@Suzanne: That sounds awful.
Suzanne
@Violet: I and others have reported her multiple times to HR, but nothing will change, because the office principal likes her. He knows she is a bitch to other people, but she does what he asks, so no jeopardy.
@Amir Khalid: Apparently it’s legal. She said he filed in some state which wasn’t where he lived so he would only have to pay child support on what he made at the time. He now makes over five times what he made when he got divorced, and yet he pays the same amount. She said they changed some law and he wouldn’t get away with it now. BUT SHE’S PROUD OF THIS. She thinks this is awesome behavior. So legal. Just immoral.
piratedan
@Suzanne: tbh, this kind of co-worker is dangerous, I would start keeping a journal, dates and times and events. Just to cover yourself, in case of vindictiveness, get documentation together just to CYA.
Violet
@Suzanne: Keep records anyway, if only for CYA. And you never know when the office principal will get hit by a bus and the next person will be very interested in those records.
J.Ty
@Suzanne: Seconding/thirding/whatever-ing the CYA records advice, for what it’s worth.
Suzanne
@Violet: That’s probably a good idea. I and others have reported a lot of what she’s done, so much of it is already recorded. But I’ll keep my own record.
Much of what she does and says, though, isn’t really actionable. It’s just rude and offensive and horrible and stupid. (She proudly announced once, “I don’t read books that don’t have pictures in them.” And she is forty.)
xenos
@Suzanne: This is not legit. But she could just be bullshitting, too. Nonetheless ,while the details of a case might be sealed, the parties to a case are almost always public. If someone felt like drawing the details out of her a little research could identify who the ex-wife is, and a phone call could be made.
Just sayin’. If you feel like some serious revenging, should it come to that. Otherwise, keep the dramatic people at arm’s length whenever possible, but you know that already.
wasabi gasp
Hey man, howzabout you slappin’ a Stone Temple Pilots youtube up top there and we get our groove on.
Messer Chups – For Everyone Over the 30
Suzanne
@xenos: I would not be surprised if she was bullshitting. She is dumber than a box of rocks and exceedingly image-conscious. Her computer password is “Mercedes”. Guess why.
Crusty Dem
@Suzanne:
Oy. Wish I had something helpful to say. Horrible. I’ve experienced terrible co- workers and terrible bosses and I think I prefer a terrible boss. Misery with company is more tolerable…
Suzanne
@Crusty Dem: Thanks. This woman is really awful. I had an issue with her about a year and a half ago, in which I called her out for being a gossip, and ever since, I’ve tried to stay away from her. Just found out that the gossip continues. I try to never speak to her or consort with her at all, but there are times that I have to interact with her for work. It is invariably a giant pain in the ass.
hitchhiker
I usually frame these experiences as:
1. I’m gathering information for an anthropological study on bizarre human behavior in western countries.
2. I’m doing background research for a novel/documentary/feature film that exposes the banality of evil.
Really, if you’re going to stay, it’s just as easy to think of her as a strange, interesting bug as a deeply irritating witch.
tc
@Suzanne: Would icing her out work? Maybe if everyone else refused to engage with her at all, her impact would be minimized.
SatanicPanic
@Suzanne: Punch her in the face!
+2 and giving unhelpful advice
@Omnes Omnibus: I miss Joe Strummer. He and Joey Ramone were the only two famous people whose death actually made me sad. They were both too young.
wasabi gasp
Wampire – Snacks
J.Ty
@SatanicPanic: This is super random, but I was thinking in the shower this morning that when Leonard Cohen finally kicks it, sure I’ll be sad, but I’ll also be pretty sure that Leonard Cohen is OK with the whole situation.
+saturday
SatanicPanic
@J.Ty: I sadly don’t know Leonard Cohen, though I’ve heard his name. I should branch out more from the punk and rap I usually listen to.
Speaking of heroes dying, I was big fan of this band called J Church and one night I was out at a bar wearing their T-Shirt and a guy randomly came up to me and said “Oh man, Lance Hahn (their singer) RIP” I was like “what!?!” ruined my night. I actually met him in person once though.
RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual
No doubt. They have an older version for PPC Macs like mine and it works very well.
J.Ty
@SatanicPanic: Ugh, the J Church is the worst bus.
Also, yeah, that’s a heck of a way to have your night ruined.
SatanicPanic
@J.Ty: Haha, that must have been why they named themselves that. You must be from The City.
J.Ty
@SatanicPanic: Live in, not from. Getting priced out quite soon unless other mr. j.ty’s employment situation changes soon though.
Comrade Mary
HOLY FUCK I JUST DOWNLOADED AND NOW MY WHOLE WORLD IS MARMALADE!
? Martin
f.lux is awesome.
? Martin
@Suzanne: My dad would write up fake documents from the coworkers he was trying to deal with – things that made it look like they were undermining their superiors, or a letter to an attorney regarding suing some vice president or some shit like that. Would make it look authentic and then when nobody was around, he’d leave a copy of it face down on the copier as though the person forgot to pick up the original for some other random coworker to discover and gossip around the office. Build a little narrative around this person that you can tell through fake documents. The other coworkers will love it, and if done right you can really fuck over your target with the boss.
IIRC, he drew up a ton of different documents that made it look like one of the VPs of his company was in dire financial trouble and may have been skimming from the firm and managed to leak them around the office in various ways.
If nothing else, it’ll make you feel better.
YellowJournalism
Listened to an interview with Chuck himself, Zachary Levi, on the radio two days ago. It was like hearing from an old friend. He shared some fun facts about the behind-the-scenes and his experiences at Comic Con. Gushed about geeking out over Anthony Hopkins being his costar in Thor.
Really wish I could go see his show on Broadway.
@Suzanne: Document, document, document! It’s possible if the harassment is serious enough that your company may be in violation of their own policies. Is there an official policy on employee harassment? I’m not sure exactly what legal options you could have if its proven that HR and your boss did nothing to protect you.
I had a coworker from Hell who loved to start shit. Luckily, she quit and went to work somewhere else. She honestly thought the business would shut down without her! Now she bitches about her coworkers at the new job and talks about how she does everything there and should quit to show that company how valuable she is. Vile people like that suck and are insecure enough to either really mess up or overvalue their role.
MikeJ
Bleh. Hatehatehate f.lux. Contrast is too low. Why would I want to make it more difficult to read text? I’m often up at 2am, and when I am I”m often writing code. I had to squint just to read the control panel for the program. Awful.
f.lux just makes my eyes incredibly tired. It reminds me of that awful fad from a few years ago when everybody decided that web pages looked cool with light medium grey text on a light grey background.
mai naem
@Suzanne: I work with someone like this person. Horrible horrible person. She pretty much complains about everybody else’s work. It took me a little while to figure out that she just does that because it makes her feel good about herself. Anyhow, she was obviously the favorite employee of our old big boss. Now, she’s just treated just like another number. I don’t deal with her now as much as I used to, thank god! I would document but do not rage quit unless you have another job actually lined up. I know a few people who rage quit and had a hard time finding another position. My guess is that your boss likes her because she’s probably a little “spy” for him in what’s going on in the office. Chances are you aren’t going to change anything unless your boss catches her in bed with a dead man or a live boy.
Botsplainer
I just started Chuck yesterday. I’m really liking it.
Botsplainer
PS – I’m up because there were sirens in the area. We’ve clearly had a population explosion among our local coyotes, because those nasty fucks were yipping all over the place.
debbie
Why not just calibrate your monitor?
SFAW
@Botsplainer:
Cole (well, via Balloon Juice, technically) turned me on to Chuck about a year ago. Was glad he did. It’s geek pr0n, or more accurately geek fantasy/pr0n, but being a geek, I’m OK with that.
Thanks John!
SFAW
@Suzanne:
Suzanne –
Not much to offer over-and-above what’s already been said, except that
(voice drops to a whisper)
I know a guy who knows a guy who can “handle” certain matters, if you know what I mean …
Not really, but sometimes I wish I did. You probably do, too, given current circumstances.
recurvata
Suzanne,
I’d second the documenting, but do it right in front of her. Keep a notepad and pen handy. Whenever she starts up, start writing. Record her if you can. All while being sweet and polite.
Also, is there someone above the level of office principal to go to? I wouldn’t normally advocate jumping rank, but it seems like that person is the one responsible for tolerating mean girl’s behavior.
HRA
@Suzanne:
I think I have her twin working in the office next to mine.
My advice is to change the subject when she says something unpleasant. It works for the moment and is really gratifying to see the result.
I also believe your principal has to have at the very least mutual friends with her. In my case, my manager is close friends with my co-worker. Have no doubt of spying going on and being reported.
I threw in an idea of the office being restructured and everyone being relocated some months ago. That reduced some of the constant need for interrupting me. Last week I learned there is a plan in the works to do what I thought I had invented. Now she tried a different tack to gather information.
She wants me to incorporate my garbage with her garbage and she would take care of it. It’s not going to happen.
BTW, its very evident that both of them have psychological problems.
Bob h
John, I presume that you are self-employed and have to confront the issue of maintaining coverage under ACA. What are your experiences with the W. Va. setup? I haven’t been around for awhile; maybe you’ve already talked about it.
Bitter and Deluded Lurker
@hitchhiker: I’d reframe that as clinical psychology. My joke with my wife is that whenever we visit one of our families we’re doing field work. With hers, it’s anthro, but with mine it’s psych.
Suzanne: Like everybody else, my advice is to document and disengage. Have a nice script handy to ignore her if she tries to engage (“That’s nice.”). She feeds off your reaction.
She is in fact a real-life troll.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Suzanne:
The woman who fucked me over at work went off birth control to get pregnant, but didn’t tell her boyfriend she did it.
Some people.
rikyrah
thank you for this Chuck news
Suzanne
@? Martin: That. Is. Hilarious.
Yeah, this woman is a total idiot/psycho. I have disengaged as much as is possible given her role (office manager/principal’s assistant), and keep every communication strictly professional and in view of others, either by cc’ing or within physical proximity. I and others have reported her to HR, but nothing will change unless our office principal finally gets sick of her BS. I am feeling better today and most likely will not stomp in and quit tomorrow, but I just love the idea of going in, quitting and when they ask me why, saying, “No, I don’t have anything else lined up. In fact, I may leave the profession. It’ shorthairs it, just to get away from Hose Beast. Muse on that.”
NotMax
I did like Jake 2.0. Never bothered to try Chuck, as it seemed like a rip-off of the Jake series.
Elizabelle
@Suzanne:
Um, because Mercedes McCambridge voiced the demon possessing Linda Blair in The Exorcist?
If you want to be passive aggressive, you could ask her sweetly about that.
Elizabelle
Suzanne: I have to catch up on the thread, but it strikes me that the iPhone has a voice recorder that could accidentally get engaged next time she’s being viperish at close enough range.
I think Amazon sells amplifiers for the mike function.
And my condolences on having to interact with such a narcissistic piece of work. Life is too short, and she’s probably taking a little bit of yours away everytime she stresses you out.
Voice recorder.
fuckwit
regards the bitch at the office: set her up or lay in wait for her to get arrogant enough to fuck over the boss or make a publicly disastrous mustake. i watched a friend do this to a guy everyone hated, and it worked, he got fired.
or, give her name to recruiters, and try o get one of your competitors to hire her away.
Older
@Suzanne: Suzanne, I read this earlier and thought all the useful advice had been given.
But I’ve been thinking, and I think all the states agree that child custody and support actions have to be filed either in the state the child lives in or the state the parent lives in. You don’t get to shop for a better venue. The child presumably lives in a state other than your acquaintance and her dirtbag of a husband. I’ll bet the investigating body (State Police, or State Bureau of Investigation, etc.) of that state would be interested in hearing about this situation. You could probably find out what they are called and how to reach them on the internet.
Go ahead, they totally deserve it. Plus, some such organizations pay a bounty. Or so I’ve heard.