On a happy note, we got a washer and dryer combo for $100 the other day. That means more of our meager income can be allocated for the important things – and our Mixtec roomie doesn’t have to rely on his wife to spend her time and their cash dragging clothes to the coin-laundry – although for the Mixtecs in our area the laundromat doubles as a social club – so maybe it has it’s disadvantages as well. In any case, Yay! Our home is slowly dragging itself into the 1st world! Hehehehe.
Better living through craigslist =)
4.
Waldo
No sadder than “Ramen for Bachelors” or “One-Minute Duck Sauce Recipes”
5.
samuel
Yup, realistic and better than being in an unhealthy relationship just so you don’t have to see yourself this way. Statisically, the majority of relationships these days are unhealthy and doomed to failure. Now THAT is the really sad thing.
I have a pretty good cooking-for-one book called Going Solo in the Kitchen. I really need to pull it out again because I do like to cook, but there are only the two of us, and every goddamn recipe seems to make 6 or 8 (or more!) servings and we can’t keep up with the leftovers.
Also, I need to get me a new copy of The Bad For You Cookbook since one of my late cats peed all over my previous copy.
9.
beltane
The cover of that book somehow reminds me of the “20 Worst Album Covers of All Time” thing that was floating around the internet a few months ago. Aside from the poignancy of the dining alone angle, there is something very sad about American cultural detritus.
10.
Schlemizel
the thing only needs to be one page.
REHEATING RESTAURANT LEFTOVERS
and
SIMPLE CHOICE FROZEN MEALS
11.
Xecky Gilchrist
Ha, if the recipes produce decent food it’s a treasure, sad or not.
12.
BGK
Back when “Slate” was a paid site (yes, I paid for it) and not as given to smirking Kaussian contrarianism, they had in a review of the various brands of microwaveable frozen dinners, what I still find to be the funniest lines ever written about bad food:
Cheap microwave dinners are a mark of humiliation–something you eat while crying in your studio apartment, huddling in front of the space heater, and reading The Bell Jar.
The worst is the Budget Gourmet. It is the cuisine equivalent of the landlord banging at your door.
13.
RSA
One of my online friends maintains a Web site of vintage recipe cards, mainly from the 1960s and ’70s. Here’s a representative sample: a crown roast of frankfurters. It’s more than sad–it’s how to make the effort to become sad.
I think I’d rather use a Coleman stove and risk the CO poisoning than try to cook an actual meal in a microwave.
They’re great for heating certain things, but actual cooking? Hey, I tried. For years. It just doesn’t work.
18.
Marc
@4: It has to be an actual cookbook to be eligible.
19.
Mark S.
Was my family weird, because growing up we called it the “radar range.” But that circa 1970 model lasted for about 25 years.
20.
Punchy
A cookbook for a radar range? About as useless as a thong salesman at a Weight Watchers meeting.
21.
Butch
I actually was given a cookbook as a present that includes detailed instructions on how to set the table for your luncheon on the flagstone terrace overlooking a Napa Valley vineyard. The rest of the cookbook is just as useful.
22.
JPL
Now I’m enlightened. I am one of the few who seldom uses the microwave and several recipes sound yummy okay maybe not yummy but interesting okay not interesting but different. Publishers weekly even gave this book a review…link
@RSA: Ever see Altman’s “Three Women”? Sissy Spacek and Shelly DuVall are workers in a senior center in the desert and are trying to snag a doctor. They plan this big banquet with pigs in a blanket and cheeze whiz. It’s a long slog of a film but the sadness of their lives is mesmerizing.
Was my family weird, because growing up we called it the “radar range.” But that circa 1970 model lasted for about 25 years.
That was Amana’s trademarked name for it, as it devolved from some Raytheon radar research:
Raytheon’s research on the magnetron tube revealed the potential of microwaves to cook food. In 1945, Raytheon’s Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven by discovering that the magnetron could rapidly heat food. In 1947, the company demonstrated the Radarange microwave oven for commercial use.
I have a 1985 Amana that’s ugly as hell, but still going strong. The thing is built like a tank and will probably outlive me.
27.
the Conster
That reminds me of the opening of one of the Six Feet Under episodes that had the lady, very much like the one above, choking to death while eating her microwave dinner-for-one and no one found her for days.
I’m going to go and grab lunch out somewhere now.
28.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Mark S.: Comrade Mrs.Scrutinizer and I have been using a Kenmore microwave that’s a holdover from her first marriage—it’s a few months shy of 30 years old, and we keep hoping it will finally break so we can get one that isn’t the size of an original Volkswagen Beetle.
I remember the Amana RadarRange. That thing had more steel in it than a Buick, but even so the TV picture got snowy every time you turned it on. I loved the chrome plating (and as a friend remarked, tail fins) and that the sum of its controls were two huge dials that lit up when you turned them — one for seconds, one for minutes.
30.
Keith
She also has another good read: “Home Haircutting With a Mirror”
I do remember the damn thing weighed close to 200 pounds.
32.
evap
I have an Indian microwave cookbook, by which I mean Indian food made in the microwave. It’s actually pretty good and taught me how to cook rice in the microwave (which is a useful skill, although we normally use a rice cooker).
I’m pretty sure we had one back around 1976 or so. My parents probably threw it away when we moved to our new house with a built-in microwave. (This was 1980, so that was pretty big stuff.)
34.
Tehanu
A little o.t. maybe — my husband has a cookbook titled Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man, in which every recipe starts with cholesterol.
35.
BGK
Vaguely related question:
If one is the only bipedal person in one’s household, yet has a well-stocked bar put to frequent use, is that merely sad, or low-rent as well?
Ha ha. That scene was hilarious. Altman was a friggin’ genius. Whatever happened to Janice Rule? Me and the friend I saw that with (when it came out) still joke about that movie when we close something in the car door. The running joke was Shelley Duvall catching her dress in the car door every. single.time. while trying to be a temptress. I need to see that again.
Wish I would have learned to cook when I was single… one of the most dating marketable skills there is besides being rich… and despite not being single I still cook for one half the time probably. She’s a vegetarian and I’m not and we both can cook, so we cook together/for each other only when we are both into it.
I definitely remember that period when microwaves were a newfangled kitchen appliance and we thought it was going to make stoves obsolete. GoodBad Times. I also remember that we had this weird plate that was supposed to somehow make microwaved bacon not suck because it had ridges on it. Didn’t work.
39.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Mnemosyne: If you want a good microwave cookbook, track down a copy of Better By Microwave.
Thanks! I wish I’d known about it five years or so ago :)
These days I cook using an actual oven and stove (electric, but we do what we can) but there was quite a while when I lived by the heat of cavity magnetrons.
40.
Raven
@Tehanu: I’ve owned this one for 40 years, it’s a must!
This is the strangest and zaniest collection of recipes, remedies, survival tips, philosophical musings, diatribes, out-and-out historical flights of fancy –well, I can’t describe it. You have to read it to believe it. I first came upon it many years ago, and knew nothing about it (I collect cookbooks and food lore) To put it mildly,I was astonished. Who was this guy? Since then, as some of the other reviewers have done, I have bought several copies for near and dear friends (coincidentally, Minnesotians all) “Sauerbraten was invented by Charlemagne…Henry the VIII actually never amounted to anything and would not have made a good ditchdigger…In 1212 St. Francis went to the Holy Land. When he came back he taught his followers a simple way to poach eggs…Pate De Foie Gras was first made for Joan of Arc by one of her army cooks …” You get the idea. I have noticed that the various editions have different topics, but I am pleased to note that my 1969 edition still gives us explicit directions as to what to do in case of a hydrogen attack. Mr. Herter is certainly sure of himself, and his book offers hours of good, solid (hilarious) advice and recipes.If you should chance upon a copy at a used book store or garage sale, snap it up.
The “Car Talk” guys are retiring. They’ve recorded their last new show although I gather the program will continue for a while airing previous shows. Still, Saturday mornings won’t be quite the same.
45.
samuel
@stuckinred: I resemble that remark. Eating over the sink is underrated! Especially when you are in a hurry. My roomate with benefits doesn’t seem to mind. It’s usually that or eating in front of the computer or in front of the TV or whatever.
46.
piratedan
Euro 2012 has kicked off for all fans of the beautiful game
47.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Was my family weird, because growing up we called it the “radar range.” But that circa 1970 model lasted for about 25 years.
@Mark S.: Christ, I’m getting old. One of the original microwave manufacturers, Amana, I think, called their model the “radar range”. Not your family, just successful advertising.
48.
Raven
@RSA: Thank me after you see it! Janice Rule is the third woman and has a lesser, but very intense, role. She was in The Swimmer with Lancaster. That’s another trip without a suitcase of a film!
49.
Violet
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh, no! I was wondering how long they’d continue the show. They aren’t young guys. I just love that show.
I can’t imagine cooking everything via microwave. Wouldn’t the texture of things be awful?
50.
shortstop
Eating or cooking alone isn’t sad, unless one has no friends and has to do it every single night. Using a microwave to do it is deeply pathetic.
@SiubhanDuinne: I haven’t listened to them for years but am unreasonably bummed that they’re calling it a day.
53.
shortstop
@stuckinred: This is the only way to consume lusciously drippy tomato sandwiches assembled at the top of the summer harvest.
54.
quannlace
Is that Mr. Krabapple on the cover?
******************
Here’s a sad recipe book from my book shelves- “Drinks Without Alcohol.”
55.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: Damn. I enjoy that goofy nonsense. I’ve wondered how long they would go on. I think the elder brother is close to eighty.
56.
Raven
@samuel: I wasn’t making a judgment, just thought it might add to the conversation. She was a very attractive woman who had to resort to dating services. She finally got married again. Her husband was hanging christmas lights when he had a heart attack and fell off the ladder and died. Last I knew she was a born again christian, possibly the saddest part of the whole story.
I can’t imagine cooking everything via microwave. Wouldn’t the texture of things be awful?
That’s why that Better by Microwave book is so good — the authors picked dishes that do really well in the microwave. You can make surprisingly good eggs in the microwave if you keep an eye on them, and Irish oatmeal is SO much easier than it is on the stovetop. Chicken poached in the microwave is pretty much identical to poaching it on the stovetop. Etc.
You’re never going to get a roasted chicken out of a microwave, but you can get some darn good side dishes in the poached/steamed family.
59.
Ronnie Pudding
I was curious whether there’s a Toaster Oven for One cookbook out there, but doesn’t seem to be.
I actually find this kind of sad. Not a bad idea, but there’s something about the title. “So…you are leaving home.” The ellipses seem to imply something better left unsaid.
Wonder how stuckinred came back? Must be using too many computers!
61.
beltane
@shortstop: My husband works nights and Fridays, when my older kids go to my ex-husband’s, has become my eat alone night and my favorite night of the week. No microwave, though.
If one is the only bipedal person in one’s household, yet has a well-stocked bar put to frequent use, is that merely sad, or low-rent as well?
The determining factor in my mind is how frequent/volume consumed? I think it’s great to have a well-stocked bar a) for guests and b) because I don’t want the same thing every time.
@Mnemosyne: I seem to recall a food scientist on Fresh Aire (HEY! I’ve admitted before to being a tote-bagger!) saying that steaming fresh vegetables in the microwave is the healthiest way to cook them.
65.
quannlace
SiubhanDuinne Says:
The “Car Talk” guys are retiring. They’ve recorded their last new show although I gather the program will continue for a while airing previous shows. Still, Saturday mornings won’t be quite the same.
Saturday’s haven’t been the same since they moved ‘Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” to 11 a.m.
66.
Raven
You can do some interesting things with a clay cooker in a nuker oven.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve heard the same thing. However, I cling to low-tech ways when steaming. I must force myself to switch over.
70.
Scuffletuffle
Waaaah! Stop looking in my windoooooooowwwwwssss….
71.
FlipYrWhig
We didn’t have a microwave until 2005. My post-hippie parents thought microwaves would irradiate everything in sight, and my wife’s parents are practically Amish when it comes to electricity. The one time in college I tried to reheat pizza in a microwave, the plastic plate I was using started to bubble and melt.
72.
Hal
My laugh of the day: A facebook friend posted about her lazy, no good, drug dealer of a neighbor, who through his illegal activities is apparently able to purchase tons of great stuff, while the facebook friend has to work her fingers to the bone. (She actually got laid off, then tried to get fired to collect unemployment. A fact she told everyone in ear shot at work about.)
Anyhoo, the laugh came in the form of a comment from some dude with a don’t tread on me flag as his profile pic who complained; “that’s what happens when you throw away the constitution and turn to socialism.”
I’m still trying to figure out why socialist equals drug dealing, but my official policy now is when anyone screams SOCIALISM!, I immediately write them off as a victim of a serious head injury, and pay them no attention.
73.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I see NPR is going to be airing composites of recycled bits of CarTalk after they stop recording new shows. I guess Click and Clack saw Friedman and MoDo doing it in print and figured, what the hell?
This book makes Blenderella feel very superior. I suspect she feels the same way after her morning dump so I’m not going to give her much credit.
76.
FlipYrWhig
@Hal: “Soc1alist” to teabaggers means “free stuff from the government for lazy moochers.”
77.
shortstop
@Hal: Obviously, your friend’s neighbor’s customers are paying him in food stamps funded by hard-working victims such as your friend. Or maybe they’re getting direct government subsidies for their drugs; I think I heard about that new federal program in a chain email. Repeal Obamabuzz!
78.
muddy
I’m back in the hospital today, and had a unnecessarily harrowing experience in the ER last night.
But they just brought the lunch and it was salmon and asparagus. That was nice. And there is wi-fi, which is civilized.
Totally OT, but where are these weird states where you can collect unemployment if you get fired, but not if you get laid off? IIRC (and, fortunately, it’s been years), here in California you cannot get unemployment benefits if you get fired and can only get them if you’re laid off or if the job loss is otherwise not your fault (company goes out of business, etc.)
What the heck is the rationale for deciding that someone who was laid off can’t get benefits, but someone who was fired can?
Aw man, I can’t remember a weekend without Tom and Ray, much less imagine one.
As to the cookbook, the only sadder thing I can envision would be something by Blenderella on Today’s Moderne Kitchen Appliances and their Role in Gaining Freedom(tm) for the Overclass.
@shortstop: I still remember a show of theirs when they got into a lengthy discussion with some woman who wanted to cover her car in sequins or something, and they were seriously discussing adhesives and aerodynamic drag and the like. I had to pull over, as I was laughing so hard I could barely see.
And I just love, love the accent, which is so hard for a non-native to get right. Cough-The Departed-cough.
86.
shortstop
@muddy: Sorry you’re in the hospital and hope you’re on the mend, but WTF kind of elitist joint is that? You should be getting lukewarm, soggy beef stew and strange looks from the nursing staff when you ask about connectivity. That’s how real Americans like their healthcare.
87.
muddy
@Mnemosyne: I just assumed it was a typing mix-up. ??
88.
BGinCHI
RIP Barry Unsworth.
Great novelist.
If you never read Sacred Hunger or Morality play, I highly recommend those or any of his books.
89.
kindness
OK, Radar Range. You all should know that in WWII navy guys would stand in front of the radar dish at certain spots on the deck to warm themselves. They didn’t know they were getting bounced microwaves, they only knew for some reason it was warm if you stood right there for a while. R&D figured it out and hence the name Radar Range.
Does anyone else find it odd that Romney’s speech about the virtues of free enterprise and capitalism was given at a company which relies entirely on government contracts?
I still don’t get the reasoning — if you punch out your boss, you can collect unemployment insurance, but if you get laid off, you’re SOL and should have planned better? It makes no sense to me.
97.
JPL
I’ll have another will not have another win tomorrow and Click and Clack are retiring. Today really sucks.
….spoiler alert…
At least my day isn’t as bad as a certain tennis player I’m watching.
98.
Raven
@Mnemosyne: When I broke my back in a wreck in 75 I was hurt too badly to look for work so I couldn’t get unemployment and I wasn’t hurt badly enough to get social security disability. If it had not been for the GI Bill bennies I had left I would have be screwed. As it was it was one of the two or three best things that ever happened to me because it forced me to go back to school while all my buddies were union hod carriers on nuclear power plant.
I was not ready for either that pic or the story details.
Are they sure he was charging that rate and not paying it? [shudder]
(Should add I was expecting a sexy Fraulein in Lederhosen and little else. You know, like a French maid only you invade Poland, afterwards.)
101.
SatanicPanic
@Mnemosyne: I think you have it backwards. If you get fired you can’t collect unemployment, but if you get laid off you can.
102.
Tripod
They have over the stoves now with convection ovens built in. The kid at the big box did me a solid when he pointed out the futility of that on a 110V microwave draw.
103.
Raven
@trollhattan: Yes, and she and Sissy exchanged personalities after Sissy hit her head on the diving board.
I’ve seen several people say in comments that, in the state that they live in, you can only collect UE if you were fired, but not if you were laid off. I’m trying to figure out which states these are and what the rationale is.
I guess theoretically all of those people are confused by what the actual rules are in their state, but that’s what a few commenters like Hal have been saying (he talked about his co-worker trying to get fired instead of laid off because otherwise she can’t collect UE benefits).
I’m trying to get them to clarify it for me, because it makes no sense.
107.
FlipYrWhig
@Mnemosyne: That too. And people who speak Spanish. But it’s a flexible category that can encompass disability cheats and people who work for the DMV, depending on the point you want to make about why everyone but you has it way too easy.
108.
muddy
@shortstop: It’s a very small town/rural hospital, there are only 6 chairs in the ER waiting room I think there are 24 patient rooms, and have not seen anyone doubled up.
The only “news” on the tv is Fox though, I said, Didn’t it make people have a stroke? Everyone loved that. I love Vermont.
The worst part is being separated from my puppy, before last week’s hospitalization we had only ever been apart for 7 hours. My baby, waah. I told the housesitter to give him and the cats as much treats as they could stand.
109.
FlipYrWhig
@Valdivia: Sacred Hunger is fantastic. It’s about the Atlantic slave trade in the 19th century.
110.
Suffern ACE
@SatanicPanic: I think it’s all confused. I can see someone trying to underperform in a job that they don’t like but can’t quit so that they’ll be targeted in a RIF. One of the things about RIFs is that while a lot of good people get let go, managers also get rid of their bad people as well – folks who say, don’t mess up enough to fire and aren’t worth documenting, people who were brought on against their wishes (because so and so’s relation needed a job and you owned a favor to so and so), etc.
Wish I would have learned to cook when I was single… one of the most dating marketable skills there is besides being rich…
It only works as an enhancement to other marketable skills.
Related: the worst of the Beavis clones in the cubicle farm outside my office door is particularly grating today. During one of his many daily schmoopy-calls to his long-term girlfriend, he was complaining that she discarded the outer packaging from the container of some frozen meatball-thing he brought with him to eat today. The outer carton had the microwave cooking directions, and she should’ve had the courtesy to clip them or write them down or something.
Frozen meatball cooking directions.
My desk has a head-shaped dent in it.
112.
shortstop
@FlipYrWhig: Okay, but this is a drug dealer operating within the Holy Free Market, so the question is where socialism comes in. Perhaps the DD is melanin-enhanced and thus fits one of the accepted definitions of “socialist,” but if so, this was not mentioned in the original story.
Old Hal needs to come back and answer all our questions, instead of working or whatever other responsible and worthwhile thing he’s doing with his time.
113.
shortstop
Hey, I just noticed we can say “socialist” now. I feel so freeeeeeeee.
Ever see Altman’s “Three Women”? Sissy Spacek and Shelly DuVall are workers in a senior center in the desert and are trying to snag a doctor. They plan this big banquet with pigs in a blanket and cheeze whiz. It’s a long slog of a film but the sadness of their lives is mesmerizing.
An enigmatic, offbeat film that can be very rewarding if you give it a chance. And the scene you mention here is both sad and ridiculous.
RE: microwave. Agree that sometimes fish or veggies can be done very well in a microwave, although clearly the Deity of Technology sayeth that the microwave was meant for popcorn.
A little tip: people often let stuff get too dried out in a microwave. If you put a piece of lettuce on top or on the side of whatever is being cooked, a considerable amount of moisture is retained.
116.
Hungry Joe
“Three Women” (1977) is brilliant — both hilarious and deeply disturbing. Altman butchered the ending (reached too far, I think), but SO many scenes have stuck with me all these years. The Pigs in a Blanket fiasco is transcendent.
Re Ramen: My Japanese roommate in college introduced me to Ramen back when NOBODY knew about it. Every time somebody mentions Ramen I feel like screaming, “I knew about it first!” What is it that makes us want to do this — stake a claim to something/someone we stumbled upon that/who later became popular?
I should be working, but I am boss-free this morning and enjoying it a little too much. My supervisor is going to be here soon, so I may have to knock off before Hal is able to clarify.
118.
Hill Dweller
@JPL: Federer is too old to consistently win playing the type of tennis the slow courts and tennis balls dictate now. The rocket scientists that run the sport have decided the players should be forced to endure clay court style points/matches all season long. Consequently, tennis has become a physical, war of attrition for the last 4 or 5 years, as opposed to a skill sport. At Fed’s age, he needs quicker conditions, which allows him to use all his weapons.
119.
Suffern ACE
@Mnemosyne: People might be confused, but when lots of people are confused the same way, I wonder where that stuff starts. Maybe they are confusing a bunch of stories together. It may be that the people who they heard about getting laid off didn’t qualify for the UE because their companies hadn’t paid the premiums. I have heard about that happening in the past. I am not certain what happens to those workers. It’s great that the company that was cheating them gets a fine, but do the workers actually get the UE comp?
120.
muddy
@asiangrrlMN: Thanks! I’m waiting on tests and have not seen a doc today. I have long term chronic illness, but have been stable and not had to go to the hospital for years until last week. Not going home right away.
The ER doc was a real asshole and triggered my PTSD yesterday, after having been warned by the nurse what the story was. “Yeah, *right*” was his comment. He said I could be calm if I wanted to. Well, I had been calm when I came in, before he yelled at me and got really aggressive. And after I said he had to go away and get another doctor, the head hospitalist came in and was really great, and I was able to pull it together eventually. The asshole never said sorry, but then doctors don’t like to, because they think it’s secret code for “please sue me now”.
I was thinking how it would have been great if I kicked him in the balls and then said, you don’t have to bend over and gasp, you could be calm if you wanted to. He’s getting reported.
121.
Yutsano
First World Problem Whine! commencing:
I managed to spill soda on my keyboard last night. It was working fine so I figured no harm done> This morning half the keys stop working. Fortunately Microsoft determined there would be idiots like me in the world and gave me an out via the on-screen keyboard. It’ll do until I get an external UBS one somewhere. Fun stuff!
122.
shortstop
@Mnemosyne: I should be working, too, but I’m the boss of me so I’m flagrantly breaking all my rules. Oh, Hal, Hal, why did you leave us this way?
123.
Suffern ACE
@shortstop: The problem with socialists is that they pass so many laws and break them, all at the same time. Drug dealing – Socialist. War on Drugs – Socialist.
I don’t have many, as a rule, but it’s a good excuse for having 20 kinds of booze on hand! I rarely partake myself anymore, it doesn’t agree with me most times. But if I want one, I want one, and I don’t know what flavor ahead of time.
125.
SatanicPanic
@Mnemosyne: I don’t know, I’m just going on what I know about California. I’m not an expert and have never been on unemployment, which I understand is the qualification I need to comment at BJ ;)
Speaking from a California perspective–if laid off you can collect UI but if fired for cause you (generally) cannot.
I’ve been in situations where somebody fired for cause filed for UI anyway, and the company HR person then goes to a hearing and contests it. Employers are motivated to do so because their UI permiums go up if they have too many claims.
Rules for other states, I don’t know.
128.
muddy
@Maude: Thank you! Better lunch than I would have had at home.
129.
Suffern ACE
@SatanicPanic: Maybe they’ve lied to us all these years as a form of behavior control. The same way they lied about some kind of permanent record in junior high that would follow us around the rest of our lives. Maybe we’ve been told “Don’t get fired or you won’t get UE” is just a big lie to keep us from punching out our managers. If we declared next Wednesday “National Steal Something from Your Company Day” we’d soon find out.
Laptop or desktop PC? I wouldn’t run a laptop through a dishwasher (duh) but a detatched keyboard can often be resurrected by doing so.
131.
Poopyman
@BGK: Back in the 70’s I worked with a guy whose Army experience was working on the DEW Line up in the Arctic. He said that to keep warm they would go out and stand in front of the antennas. We decided that explained a lot about the guy.
I had a friend in high school whose family was from India and she would make chai tea from scratch (basically boiling the tea leaves in milk on the stove and then straining it), so I feel your pain.
133.
muddy
@Maude: Great offer. I am too weak to do it myself. I spoke to my son last night, he’s 3000 miles away, he was upset that he didn’t know what to do. I said there is nothing you could do even if you were here. He said that he could punch the asshole in the face, but instead could only say that he loved me.
And he doesn’t even know what I ordered for his birthday next week. The big 30!
Sometimes I say I should get the present for his birthday, I did all the damn work.
134.
muddy
@Yutsano: Diet soda does not dry sticky like regular soda. We used to use it to wash up when camping sometimes.
Nice try but Nope. The world’s saddest cookbook is the Ron Paul Family Cookbook, which includes chicken recipes from vegetarians and weird instructions like “put complete box of crackers in a jug.”
136.
muddy
@Raven: When my doctor told me to apply for SSDI, I said I thought that took 2 years or something.
“Not for you!” Swell, that’s great. I guess.
137.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: Internal laptop keyboard. And I can’t afford to fix it or get a new one right now. I can deal with the external board until I’m back home and can figure something else out.
@Yutsano: 99% of laptop keyboards are detachable. You need something flat to get into the divider between the case and kb, and you can then pop it out. Depending on what the issue is, it might just need a good cleaning.
ETA: Towards the back there is a thin film/ribbon that will unhook from the kb itself – so just pop the other 3 sides first, gently, and then work the back being careful. It should take under 10 minutes, even the first time you do it. If you are gentle, the risk of damage is minimal – and if it already doesn’t work you have nothing to lose.
144.
Gin & Tonic
@shortstop: While I wouldn’t runa keyboard through a dishwasher, we’ve rinsed out plenty. Not really a problem. Even awful stuff like pineapple juice.
Look at it this way – you’re unlikely to make it any worse than it already is.
145.
Yutsano
@gaz: I’m sure it just needs cleaned, I just don’t have the stamina to do it right away. I can live with this until I get my brother to dismantle the thing and figure it out.
@muddy: Ugh. Sorry to hear that. Assholes are assholes are assholes. Report him tout de suite, and hope you’re outie soon.
@Yutsano: Funny. I was trying to email you the other day when I realized my Q/X key didn’t work (Dvorak/Qwerty). Fortunately, I haz warranty, so I got a replacement keyboard the next day.
ETA: I called it definitely a First World Problem, too, when I talked about it with my brother.
@muddy:
SSDI depends on your doctor at the initial application. If your doc knows what to write, you’ll get it. You will go to their doc and those are usually good.
It took me 26 months. I had some wingding specialists that were awful. It was the regular doc that did it.
149.
muddy
@Raven: Me too. Sadly it took them nearly a year to diagnose me, because I’m a crazy person and they wouldn’t listen to me. By then the damage was done. I might have recovered if they found out right away and treated me. As it was they said another couple of weeks and I’d have been done.
But when I called lawyers they said I wouldn’t have a case unless I had died. I apologized to my son for robbing him of a million bucks, lol.
150.
Raven
@muddy: Hope things are or will get better for you.
I’m too young for medicare and too old for her to care!
151.
Boohunney
Would it be considered sad that I don’t even own a microwave?
I remember a book around the time of the advent of the microve called “Microwaves are for Cooking!” because most everyone merely used them for reheating.
I don’t think I had actually cooked anything successfully till my dad showed me how to do white fish filets (casserole dish with milk – the milk absorbed the fish oil for a cleaner, less fishy taste).
I also now use it quite often for fresh veggies (corn, artichoke, etc., cook up great).
I had previously read about microwave ovens not being healthy in regards to the heating of the food, but was reminded of that by a story of a girl who watered a plant with microwaved water and how it did much more poorly than the control.
Wouldn’t it be possible to adjust the molecular vibrations to correct this somehow? I recall a physics professor stated molecular energy has to do with the speed of the atoms in regards to heat and used the example of cold water from a firehose had heat unrelated to any friction involved in the impact.
I don’t know if I understood that or explained it correctly, but goddamn it, get some NASA scientists to fix the probs with microwave ovens so I don’t have to fear them like I do GMO franken-foods.
I just got done making about 3 lbs of taco-meat/black bean mix, and 1 lb of pico de gallo, for our “white people tacos”. I don’t even bother making it in small quantities anymore because we never get tired of the stuff.
I didn’t use a microwave for any of that. Just a stove and my wonderful cutco chef’s knife.
I can’t wait until later this summer when our pico will all come from our gardens (w/ the exception of the squeezed lime juice).
I got it done in time for my wife’s lunch, too. woot!
Well that’s a bummer, but it’s possible there’s some moisture yet to dry out, which might take awhile. Have to ask–regular or diet? This is one instance when those nasty chemicals are preferable to nature’s own high-fructose corn syrup.
157.
Yutsano
@shortstop: Well it is my fault in the first place. I’m only sorry for telling my brother, his response was pretty much just mocking and snark. I don’t care as long as he comes over.
@trollhattan: Regular. Which means the syrup spread in the heat last night. I’ll leave it open and see what that does.
@Yutsano: You realize that if he mocked you for spilling something on your keyboard that’s probably the single most effective way to tempt karmic retribution, right? There’s some sort of universal constant around that. It’s only a matter of time.
PS: Make sure he knows that the keyboard can probably come off – it’s weird, but it’s one of the best kept secrets about laptops. Most people that are otherwise gurus have no idea unless they’ve done a lot of laptop hardware repair.
It can sometimes resurrect a keyboard that’s taken a fatal load of unwanted liquid, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it for one that’s merely nasty.
Some folks just toss it in, others do some dismantling first. Apparently, you have to be verrrry patient waiting for it to completely dry.
I had previously read about microwave ovens not being healthy in regards to the heating of the food, but was reminded of that by a story of a girl who watered a plant with microwaved water and how it did much more poorly than the control.
Was the control water boiled by other means, or was it unheated tap water? Because I could see a lot of minerals etc vaporizing out of boiled water no matter what the means of boiling it was.
ETA: I should always check Snopes.com first — they say it’s false. They even ran the test themselves.
161.
shortstop
@trollhattan: Very interesting — thanks. In all these years, I’ve never moved past nasty to disaster with a keyboard, which is a bona fide miracle given my klutziness. I figure my number’s gotta be up pretty soon.
@trollhattan: For plain-jane desktop keyboards, it’s much better to pop the keys off before doing this, as it speeds the drying and gets more of the gunk out. For laptop keyboards, that’s usually not feasible – better to just toss them in the dishwasher as is, and yeah – wait forever for them to dry. Although honestly, it’s usually easier to just get a new one for $4 used at a thrift shop or $7 new from an online retailer or discount outlet. They are commodity items now.
For the ones with the key-lights and screens, or built-in trackpad gadgets and stuff, I’d keep them away from a dishwasher, as there is probably some gear inside that the pressurized water will get trapped inside of.
163.
Patricia Kayden
@Hal: But aren’t you being insulting to people with actual head injuries?
Yup, I know what you mean. Just reading comments here can be a clear and present danger to keyboards, and TBogg has claimed more than his fair share, I’m certain.
Thing is, certain keyboards just “fit” and feel right and I want to keep those going. I think that’s why early IBM keyboards remain in demand–nobody does keyboards like they did.
Nice tactile feel, compact, no wonky USB drivers (just Plain old USB hid so it works with my PS3 for example). Fairly durable, cheap and available (used) all over the place due to how common they are. They’re great!
Appreciate the tip! Have an HP at work that I really like and an HP at home that barely rates a “meh.” Can’t guess why one sucks and why one’s wunderbar, just is.
@trollhattan: I just looked and dell apparently isn’t selling them anymore. A search based on part # and “dell keyboard” yields plenty of results. Some are like $30 – seems the average price, and more than I’d pay. I’ve seen them for $12 though too, which is a fair price, IMO. You can buy cheap keyboards retail for less than that, but the quality of the dell kb almost certainly better, and so I’d say it’s easily worth $12-$15 bucks – even $20 if the situation was convenient.
ETA: Like any keyboard, it takes a few days of using for your fingers to adjust to it if you touch-type. Other than that, no biggie. Also, I’m not a fan of the so-called ergonomic ones that split in the middle, so for my money, I like these dell ones.
In answering one of the questions he talked about how not all crisis countries were done in by deficit spending, how austerity in a depressed economy is counterproductive, how short term stimulus and long term deficit reduction can peacefully coexist. It seriously sounded like it was lifted straight out of a Krugman blog post.
169.
LanceThruster
@Mnemosyne: Wow. Thanks for doing my homework for me. Shows it helps to seek confirmation of the conventional wisdom. I think they most likely got it right on this one.
Still, I do not trust Snopes re: their 9/11 ‘debunking” so their weighing in on an issue is not always the Gold Seal end all of controversy AFAIAC.
Additionally, my pal Bernie the Attorney once referred me to a study early on in the history of the microwave done in Scandanavia somewhere where it supposedly showed that food integrity (wholesomeness) was compromised by the microwave heating. I’ve tried to find that study before with no luck. Supposedly the country that did the study discourages their use.
Bernie the Attorney was also exasperated by the fairly recent question about does freezing bottled water release greater toxins from the plastic. When the local news would report the story, they’d mention the dearth of studies on such.
Bernie railed that a single goddamn lab could do a test, and resolve the issue quite simply, but that that would seem to complicated for the brainiacs at Eyewitless News.
170.
andy
Don’t own a microwave but all my cooking is for one.
We already know that some nutrients are lost from vegetables by cooking them at all, which is where the “raw food” nuts come from, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some are lost through microwave cooking.
I know there was a lot of worry about microwaves when they first started becoming popular in the 1970s but, honestly, truly bad effects would have shown up by now. I suspect that the nutrition problem with microwaves is indirect in that they make it easier for people to eat frozen, processed foods instead of cooking from scratch.
And Snopes does sometimes bend over backwards to be fair and balanced, but since they actually took the time to do the plant test themselves, I think we can count their results as reliable.
Totally OT, but where are these weird states where you can collect unemployment if you get fired, but not if you get laid off?
I live in NY and some people I know who were fired still applied for unemployment. My employer then had to contest and actually send a manager to an unemployment hearing. I use to live in CA, but never collected unemployment there, but I was also under the impression UE is for layoffs only. So I guess if you are fired and apply, if your employer does not contest then you get benefits?
@Hal: In washington state there are terms under which you can and cannot collect unemployment, but they don’t have to do with whether or not you are fired. One of the only ways you can pretty much guarantee you won’t get UE here is if you quit.
174.
LanceThruster
@Mnemosyne: I agree. Thanks again for finding that. Your other observations seem pretty sensible as well.
@Mnemosyne: I heard that certain vegetables like spinach actually benefit as compared to eating them raw? I can’t remember where I heard it, so I won’t say with any certitude. I suppose I could look it up, but I’m too lazy. =)
Okay, so the person you know was fired, but tried to get them to change it to a layoff instead of what you originally said? Or the person is so dumb that she thinks you can only get benefits if you’re fired? I’m still confused by your original story.
177.
kerFuFFler
@RSA: The sight of that pathetic crown roast made my day! The recipes at that site remind me of a cookbook my aunt’s church created for a fundraiser—-pretty much all of the recipes included jello, marshmallows, or both!
@Mark S.:
Low rent is american cheese slices on wonder bread(I always did wonder if it was bread) washed down with bud. Not me I swear. It was my cousin.
On the other hand I lived for six years with a mid 70’s amana microwave and a hot plate. It’s a good way to lose weight if you actually like the taste of food. If on the other hand you think kraft mac and cheese is actual food this method doesn’t work.
179.
Grondo
Saddest thing ever? Chicken cooked in a microwave. And I mean raw chicken, cooked on a plate in a microwave on high, and then served as-is.
180.
Montarvillois
My microwave expired about 2 years ago. I haven’t replaced it, have no intention to do so and its absence provides me more precious counter space. Used it to heat water in a mug and warm-up leftover pizza. I am a party of one with a functioning stove and refrigerator and can create a fine meal anytime I want.
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Patricia Kayden
Not sad. Realistic.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Both sad and realistic.
gaz
That is sort of unintentionally sad. Wow.
On a happy note, we got a washer and dryer combo for $100 the other day. That means more of our meager income can be allocated for the important things – and our Mixtec roomie doesn’t have to rely on his wife to spend her time and their cash dragging clothes to the coin-laundry – although for the Mixtecs in our area the laundromat doubles as a social club – so maybe it has it’s disadvantages as well. In any case, Yay! Our home is slowly dragging itself into the 1st world! Hehehehe.
Better living through craigslist =)
Waldo
No sadder than “Ramen for Bachelors” or “One-Minute Duck Sauce Recipes”
samuel
Yup, realistic and better than being in an unhealthy relationship just so you don’t have to see yourself this way. Statisically, the majority of relationships these days are unhealthy and doomed to failure. Now THAT is the really sad thing.
stuckinred
“Ill Have Another” out of the Belmont.
eldorado
Chapter 11 [BONUS CHAPTER]: Eating with Cats via
Mnemosyne
I have a pretty good cooking-for-one book called Going Solo in the Kitchen. I really need to pull it out again because I do like to cook, but there are only the two of us, and every goddamn recipe seems to make 6 or 8 (or more!) servings and we can’t keep up with the leftovers.
Also, I need to get me a new copy of The Bad For You Cookbook since one of my late cats peed all over my previous copy.
beltane
The cover of that book somehow reminds me of the “20 Worst Album Covers of All Time” thing that was floating around the internet a few months ago. Aside from the poignancy of the dining alone angle, there is something very sad about American cultural detritus.
Schlemizel
the thing only needs to be one page.
REHEATING RESTAURANT LEFTOVERS
and
SIMPLE CHOICE FROZEN MEALS
Xecky Gilchrist
Ha, if the recipes produce decent food it’s a treasure, sad or not.
BGK
Back when “Slate” was a paid site (yes, I paid for it) and not as given to smirking Kaussian contrarianism, they had in a review of the various brands of microwaveable frozen dinners, what I still find to be the funniest lines ever written about bad food:
RSA
One of my online friends maintains a Web site of vintage recipe cards, mainly from the 1960s and ’70s. Here’s a representative sample: a crown roast of frankfurters. It’s more than sad–it’s how to make the effort to become sad.
stuckinred
I used to work with a single woman who perfected the art of eating over the sink to facilitate cleanup!
Heliopause
Did anybody see President Krugman’s press conference?
dr. bloor
Keerist, everybody cheer up already.
Forum Transmitted Disease
I think I’d rather use a Coleman stove and risk the CO poisoning than try to cook an actual meal in a microwave.
They’re great for heating certain things, but actual cooking? Hey, I tried. For years. It just doesn’t work.
Marc
@4: It has to be an actual cookbook to be eligible.
Mark S.
Was my family weird, because growing up we called it the “radar range.” But that circa 1970 model lasted for about 25 years.
Punchy
A cookbook for a radar range? About as useless as a thong salesman at a Weight Watchers meeting.
Butch
I actually was given a cookbook as a present that includes detailed instructions on how to set the table for your luncheon on the flagstone terrace overlooking a Napa Valley vineyard. The rest of the cookbook is just as useful.
JPL
Now I’m enlightened. I am one of the few who seldom uses the microwave and several recipes sound yummy okay maybe not yummy but interesting okay not interesting but different. Publishers weekly even gave this book a review…link
Mnemosyne
@Xecky Gilchrist:
If you want a good microwave cookbook, track down a copy of Better By Microwave.
Why, yes, I did acquire most of my cookbooks back when I was single. How did you guess?
Mark S.
@Punchy:
Oh, so other people know of this radar range.
stuckinred
@RSA: Ever see Altman’s “Three Women”? Sissy Spacek and Shelly DuVall are workers in a senior center in the desert and are trying to snag a doctor. They plan this big banquet with pigs in a blanket and cheeze whiz. It’s a long slog of a film but the sadness of their lives is mesmerizing.
BGK
@Mark S.:
That was Amana’s trademarked name for it, as it devolved from some Raytheon radar research:
I have a 1985 Amana that’s ugly as hell, but still going strong. The thing is built like a tank and will probably outlive me.
the Conster
That reminds me of the opening of one of the Six Feet Under episodes that had the lady, very much like the one above, choking to death while eating her microwave dinner-for-one and no one found her for days.
I’m going to go and grab lunch out somewhere now.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Mark S.: Comrade Mrs.Scrutinizer and I have been using a Kenmore microwave that’s a holdover from her first marriage—it’s a few months shy of 30 years old, and we keep hoping it will finally break so we can get one that isn’t the size of an original Volkswagen Beetle.
The Other Chuck
I remember the Amana RadarRange. That thing had more steel in it than a Buick, but even so the TV picture got snowy every time you turned it on. I loved the chrome plating (and as a friend remarked, tail fins) and that the sum of its controls were two huge dials that lit up when you turned them — one for seconds, one for minutes.
Keith
She also has another good read: “Home Haircutting With a Mirror”
Mark S.
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
I do remember the damn thing weighed close to 200 pounds.
evap
I have an Indian microwave cookbook, by which I mean Indian food made in the microwave. It’s actually pretty good and taught me how to cook rice in the microwave (which is a useful skill, although we normally use a rice cooker).
Mnemosyne
@The Other Chuck:
I’m pretty sure we had one back around 1976 or so. My parents probably threw it away when we moved to our new house with a built-in microwave. (This was 1980, so that was pretty big stuff.)
Tehanu
A little o.t. maybe — my husband has a cookbook titled Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man, in which every recipe starts with cholesterol.
BGK
Vaguely related question:
If one is the only bipedal person in one’s household, yet has a well-stocked bar put to frequent use, is that merely sad, or low-rent as well?
gaz
Cooking with semen
Parody? You be the judge!
the Conster
@stuckinred:
Ha ha. That scene was hilarious. Altman was a friggin’ genius. Whatever happened to Janice Rule? Me and the friend I saw that with (when it came out) still joke about that movie when we close something in the car door. The running joke was Shelley Duvall catching her dress in the car door every. single.time. while trying to be a temptress. I need to see that again.
J.W. Hamner
Wish I would have learned to cook when I was single… one of the most dating marketable skills there is besides being rich… and despite not being single I still cook for one half the time probably. She’s a vegetarian and I’m not and we both can cook, so we cook together/for each other only when we are both into it.
I definitely remember that period when microwaves were a newfangled kitchen appliance and we thought it was going to make stoves obsolete.
GoodBad Times. I also remember that we had this weird plate that was supposed to somehow make microwaved bacon not suck because it had ridges on it. Didn’t work.Xecky Gilchrist
@Mnemosyne: If you want a good microwave cookbook, track down a copy of Better By Microwave.
Thanks! I wish I’d known about it five years or so ago :)
These days I cook using an actual oven and stove (electric, but we do what we can) but there was quite a while when I lived by the heat of cavity magnetrons.
Raven
@Tehanu: I’ve owned this one for 40 years, it’s a must!
Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices
amazon review
RSA
@stuckinred:
No–thanks for the recommendation!
Mark S.
@BGK:
No, low-rent is if someone comes over, the only thing you have to offer is whatever is left over from the Keystone suitcase you bought last night.
Valdivia
@Heliopause:
I didn’t, how was it?
SiubhanDuinne
The “Car Talk” guys are retiring. They’ve recorded their last new show although I gather the program will continue for a while airing previous shows. Still, Saturday mornings won’t be quite the same.
samuel
@stuckinred: I resemble that remark. Eating over the sink is underrated! Especially when you are in a hurry. My roomate with benefits doesn’t seem to mind. It’s usually that or eating in front of the computer or in front of the TV or whatever.
piratedan
Euro 2012 has kicked off for all fans of the beautiful game
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Mark S.: Christ, I’m getting old. One of the original microwave manufacturers, Amana, I think, called their model the “radar range”. Not your family, just successful advertising.
Raven
@RSA: Thank me after you see it! Janice Rule is the third woman and has a lesser, but very intense, role. She was in The Swimmer with Lancaster. That’s another trip without a suitcase of a film!
Violet
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh, no! I was wondering how long they’d continue the show. They aren’t young guys. I just love that show.
I can’t imagine cooking everything via microwave. Wouldn’t the texture of things be awful?
shortstop
Eating or cooking alone isn’t sad, unless one has no friends and has to do it every single night. Using a microwave to do it is deeply pathetic.
Valdivia
@SiubhanDuinne:
that gives me such a sad. I love Car Talk.
shortstop
@SiubhanDuinne: I haven’t listened to them for years but am unreasonably bummed that they’re calling it a day.
shortstop
@stuckinred: This is the only way to consume lusciously drippy tomato sandwiches assembled at the top of the summer harvest.
quannlace
Is that Mr. Krabapple on the cover?
******************
Here’s a sad recipe book from my book shelves- “Drinks Without Alcohol.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: Damn. I enjoy that goofy nonsense. I’ve wondered how long they would go on. I think the elder brother is close to eighty.
Raven
@samuel: I wasn’t making a judgment, just thought it might add to the conversation. She was a very attractive woman who had to resort to dating services. She finally got married again. Her husband was hanging christmas lights when he had a heart attack and fell off the ladder and died. Last I knew she was a born again christian, possibly the saddest part of the whole story.
rlrr
Here’s an exercise program to go along with this diet.
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
That’s why that Better by Microwave book is so good — the authors picked dishes that do really well in the microwave. You can make surprisingly good eggs in the microwave if you keep an eye on them, and Irish oatmeal is SO much easier than it is on the stovetop. Chicken poached in the microwave is pretty much identical to poaching it on the stovetop. Etc.
You’re never going to get a roasted chicken out of a microwave, but you can get some darn good side dishes in the poached/steamed family.
Ronnie Pudding
I was curious whether there’s a Toaster Oven for One cookbook out there, but doesn’t seem to be.
I actually find this kind of sad. Not a bad idea, but there’s something about the title. “So…you are leaving home.” The ellipses seem to imply something better left unsaid.
http://www.amazon.com/So-You-Are-Leaving-Home-ebook/dp/B006NH775K/ref=tag_stp_s2f_edpp_cookin15ne
Raven
Wonder how stuckinred came back? Must be using too many computers!
beltane
@shortstop: My husband works nights and Fridays, when my older kids go to my ex-husband’s, has become my eat alone night and my favorite night of the week. No microwave, though.
muddy
@BGK:
The determining factor in my mind is how frequent/volume consumed? I think it’s great to have a well-stocked bar a) for guests and b) because I don’t want the same thing every time.
rlrr
@Waldo:
Aptly named instant ramen…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: I seem to recall a food scientist on Fresh Aire (HEY! I’ve admitted before to being a tote-bagger!) saying that steaming fresh vegetables in the microwave is the healthiest way to cook them.
quannlace
Saturday’s haven’t been the same since they moved ‘Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” to 11 a.m.
Raven
You can do some interesting things with a clay cooker in a nuker oven.
Raven
@quannlace: Wow, Neal Boortz and Car Talk!
rlrr
Another approach to eating…
shortstop
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve heard the same thing. However, I cling to low-tech ways when steaming. I must force myself to switch over.
Scuffletuffle
Waaaah! Stop looking in my windoooooooowwwwwssss….
FlipYrWhig
We didn’t have a microwave until 2005. My post-hippie parents thought microwaves would irradiate everything in sight, and my wife’s parents are practically Amish when it comes to electricity. The one time in college I tried to reheat pizza in a microwave, the plastic plate I was using started to bubble and melt.
Hal
My laugh of the day: A facebook friend posted about her lazy, no good, drug dealer of a neighbor, who through his illegal activities is apparently able to purchase tons of great stuff, while the facebook friend has to work her fingers to the bone. (She actually got laid off, then tried to get fired to collect unemployment. A fact she told everyone in ear shot at work about.)
Anyhoo, the laugh came in the form of a comment from some dude with a don’t tread on me flag as his profile pic who complained; “that’s what happens when you throw away the constitution and turn to socialism.”
I’m still trying to figure out why socialist equals drug dealing, but my official policy now is when anyone screams SOCIALISM!, I immediately write them off as a victim of a serious head injury, and pay them no attention.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I see NPR is going to be airing composites of recycled bits of CarTalk after they stop recording new shows. I guess Click and Clack saw Friedman and MoDo doing it in print and figured, what the hell?
Bob2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFjstQ30RI8
kindness
This book makes Blenderella feel very superior. I suspect she feels the same way after her morning dump so I’m not going to give her much credit.
FlipYrWhig
@Hal: “Soc1alist” to teabaggers means “free stuff from the government for lazy moochers.”
shortstop
@Hal: Obviously, your friend’s neighbor’s customers are paying him in food stamps funded by hard-working victims such as your friend. Or maybe they’re getting direct government subsidies for their drugs; I think I heard about that new federal program in a chain email. Repeal Obamabuzz!
muddy
I’m back in the hospital today, and had a unnecessarily harrowing experience in the ER last night.
But they just brought the lunch and it was salmon and asparagus. That was nice. And there is wi-fi, which is civilized.
asiangrrlMN
I don’t need no steeenking cookbook to work my microwave!
@muddy: Oh no! Hope you recover quickly, muddy.
Mnemosyne
@Hal:
Totally OT, but where are these weird states where you can collect unemployment if you get fired, but not if you get laid off? IIRC (and, fortunately, it’s been years), here in California you cannot get unemployment benefits if you get fired and can only get them if you’re laid off or if the job loss is otherwise not your fault (company goes out of business, etc.)
What the heck is the rationale for deciding that someone who was laid off can’t get benefits, but someone who was fired can?
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
Aw man, I can’t remember a weekend without Tom and Ray, much less imagine one.
As to the cookbook, the only sadder thing I can envision would be something by Blenderella on Today’s Moderne Kitchen Appliances and their Role in Gaining Freedom(tm) for the Overclass.
redshirt
“Our Fair City” – the Car Talk guys made Cambridge seem like an OK place to drive, for the most part. FALSE ADVERTISING!
muddy
Fish also steams well in the microwave. I also use it to make a jug of iced tea, it is faster than an electric kettle or the stove.
Mnemosyne
@FlipYrWhig:
I thought it meant “blah people.”
Gin & Tonic
@shortstop: I still remember a show of theirs when they got into a lengthy discussion with some woman who wanted to cover her car in sequins or something, and they were seriously discussing adhesives and aerodynamic drag and the like. I had to pull over, as I was laughing so hard I could barely see.
And I just love, love the accent, which is so hard for a non-native to get right. Cough-The Departed-cough.
shortstop
@muddy: Sorry you’re in the hospital and hope you’re on the mend, but WTF kind of elitist joint is that? You should be getting lukewarm, soggy beef stew and strange looks from the nursing staff when you ask about connectivity. That’s how real Americans like their healthcare.
muddy
@Mnemosyne: I just assumed it was a typing mix-up. ??
BGinCHI
RIP Barry Unsworth.
Great novelist.
If you never read Sacred Hunger or Morality play, I highly recommend those or any of his books.
kindness
OK, Radar Range. You all should know that in WWII navy guys would stand in front of the radar dish at certain spots on the deck to warm themselves. They didn’t know they were getting bounced microwaves, they only knew for some reason it was warm if you stood right there for a while. R&D figured it out and hence the name Radar Range.
Raven
And in more compelling news from the University of Georgia!
Well, we haven’t had a raise in 4 years!
“A University of Georgia German professor was arrested Thursday for prostitution, authorities say.”
SatanicPanic
@Mnemosyne: It’s your fault if you get fired, but not your fault if you get laid off, I believe is the reasoning there.
Tonybrown74
@gaz:
Oh, my …
You, know I wasn’t ready …
trollhattan
@stuckinred:
Was that the one where Shelly Duval always closed the car door on her skirt? IIRC she drove a Pinto with flower stickers on it.
Why do I [dis?]remember any of this?
rlrr
Does anyone else find it odd that Romney’s speech about the virtues of free enterprise and capitalism was given at a company which relies entirely on government contracts?
Valdivia
@BGinCHI:
with a title like Sacred Hunger I am very intrigued. Thanks for the rec.
Mnemosyne
@SatanicPanic:
I still don’t get the reasoning — if you punch out your boss, you can collect unemployment insurance, but if you get laid off, you’re SOL and should have planned better? It makes no sense to me.
JPL
I’ll have another will not have another win tomorrow and Click and Clack are retiring. Today really sucks.
….spoiler alert…
At least my day isn’t as bad as a certain tennis player I’m watching.
Raven
@Mnemosyne: When I broke my back in a wreck in 75 I was hurt too badly to look for work so I couldn’t get unemployment and I wasn’t hurt badly enough to get social security disability. If it had not been for the GI Bill bennies I had left I would have be screwed. As it was it was one of the two or three best things that ever happened to me because it forced me to go back to school while all my buddies were union hod carriers on nuclear power plant.
BGK
@muddy:
What are these “guests” of which you speak?
trollhattan
@Raven:
I was not ready for either that pic or the story details.
Are they sure he was charging that rate and not paying it? [shudder]
(Should add I was expecting a sexy Fraulein in Lederhosen and little else. You know, like a French maid only you invade Poland, afterwards.)
SatanicPanic
@Mnemosyne: I think you have it backwards. If you get fired you can’t collect unemployment, but if you get laid off you can.
Tripod
They have over the stoves now with convection ovens built in. The kid at the big box did me a solid when he pointed out the futility of that on a 110V microwave draw.
Raven
@trollhattan: Yes, and she and Sissy exchanged personalities after Sissy hit her head on the diving board.
burnspbesq
@Heliopause:
About damn time.
Raven
@trollhattan: One of my FB friends just said he looked pretty good for a 65 year old woman!
Mnemosyne
@SatanicPanic:
I’ve seen several people say in comments that, in the state that they live in, you can only collect UE if you were fired, but not if you were laid off. I’m trying to figure out which states these are and what the rationale is.
I guess theoretically all of those people are confused by what the actual rules are in their state, but that’s what a few commenters like Hal have been saying (he talked about his co-worker trying to get fired instead of laid off because otherwise she can’t collect UE benefits).
I’m trying to get them to clarify it for me, because it makes no sense.
FlipYrWhig
@Mnemosyne: That too. And people who speak Spanish. But it’s a flexible category that can encompass disability cheats and people who work for the DMV, depending on the point you want to make about why everyone but you has it way too easy.
muddy
@shortstop: It’s a very small town/rural hospital, there are only 6 chairs in the ER waiting room I think there are 24 patient rooms, and have not seen anyone doubled up.
The only “news” on the tv is Fox though, I said, Didn’t it make people have a stroke? Everyone loved that. I love Vermont.
The worst part is being separated from my puppy, before last week’s hospitalization we had only ever been apart for 7 hours. My baby, waah. I told the housesitter to give him and the cats as much treats as they could stand.
FlipYrWhig
@Valdivia: Sacred Hunger is fantastic. It’s about the Atlantic slave trade in the 19th century.
Suffern ACE
@SatanicPanic: I think it’s all confused. I can see someone trying to underperform in a job that they don’t like but can’t quit so that they’ll be targeted in a RIF. One of the things about RIFs is that while a lot of good people get let go, managers also get rid of their bad people as well – folks who say, don’t mess up enough to fire and aren’t worth documenting, people who were brought on against their wishes (because so and so’s relation needed a job and you owned a favor to so and so), etc.
BGK
@J.W. Hamner:
It only works as an enhancement to other marketable skills.
Related: the worst of the Beavis clones in the cubicle farm outside my office door is particularly grating today. During one of his many daily schmoopy-calls to his long-term girlfriend, he was complaining that she discarded the outer packaging from the container of some frozen meatball-thing he brought with him to eat today. The outer carton had the microwave cooking directions, and she should’ve had the courtesy to clip them or write them down or something.
Frozen meatball cooking directions.
My desk has a head-shaped dent in it.
shortstop
@FlipYrWhig: Okay, but this is a drug dealer operating within the Holy Free Market, so the question is where socialism comes in. Perhaps the DD is melanin-enhanced and thus fits one of the accepted definitions of “socialist,” but if so, this was not mentioned in the original story.
Old Hal needs to come back and answer all our questions, instead of working or whatever other responsible and worthwhile thing he’s doing with his time.
shortstop
Hey, I just noticed we can say “socialist” now. I feel so freeeeeeeee.
Maude
@muddy:
Get well and get out of there.
Glad lunch was good.
Brachiator
@stuckinred:
An enigmatic, offbeat film that can be very rewarding if you give it a chance. And the scene you mention here is both sad and ridiculous.
RE: microwave. Agree that sometimes fish or veggies can be done very well in a microwave, although clearly the Deity of Technology sayeth that the microwave was meant for popcorn.
A little tip: people often let stuff get too dried out in a microwave. If you put a piece of lettuce on top or on the side of whatever is being cooked, a considerable amount of moisture is retained.
Hungry Joe
“Three Women” (1977) is brilliant — both hilarious and deeply disturbing. Altman butchered the ending (reached too far, I think), but SO many scenes have stuck with me all these years. The Pigs in a Blanket fiasco is transcendent.
Re Ramen: My Japanese roommate in college introduced me to Ramen back when NOBODY knew about it. Every time somebody mentions Ramen I feel like screaming, “I knew about it first!” What is it that makes us want to do this — stake a claim to something/someone we stumbled upon that/who later became popular?
Mnemosyne
@shortstop:
I should be working, but I am boss-free this morning and enjoying it a little too much. My supervisor is going to be here soon, so I may have to knock off before Hal is able to clarify.
Hill Dweller
@JPL: Federer is too old to consistently win playing the type of tennis the slow courts and tennis balls dictate now. The rocket scientists that run the sport have decided the players should be forced to endure clay court style points/matches all season long. Consequently, tennis has become a physical, war of attrition for the last 4 or 5 years, as opposed to a skill sport. At Fed’s age, he needs quicker conditions, which allows him to use all his weapons.
Suffern ACE
@Mnemosyne: People might be confused, but when lots of people are confused the same way, I wonder where that stuff starts. Maybe they are confusing a bunch of stories together. It may be that the people who they heard about getting laid off didn’t qualify for the UE because their companies hadn’t paid the premiums. I have heard about that happening in the past. I am not certain what happens to those workers. It’s great that the company that was cheating them gets a fine, but do the workers actually get the UE comp?
muddy
@asiangrrlMN: Thanks! I’m waiting on tests and have not seen a doc today. I have long term chronic illness, but have been stable and not had to go to the hospital for years until last week. Not going home right away.
The ER doc was a real asshole and triggered my PTSD yesterday, after having been warned by the nurse what the story was. “Yeah, *right*” was his comment. He said I could be calm if I wanted to. Well, I had been calm when I came in, before he yelled at me and got really aggressive. And after I said he had to go away and get another doctor, the head hospitalist came in and was really great, and I was able to pull it together eventually. The asshole never said sorry, but then doctors don’t like to, because they think it’s secret code for “please sue me now”.
I was thinking how it would have been great if I kicked him in the balls and then said, you don’t have to bend over and gasp, you could be calm if you wanted to. He’s getting reported.
Yutsano
First World Problem Whine! commencing:
I managed to spill soda on my keyboard last night. It was working fine so I figured no harm done> This morning half the keys stop working. Fortunately Microsoft determined there would be idiots like me in the world and gave me an out via the on-screen keyboard. It’ll do until I get an external UBS one somewhere. Fun stuff!
shortstop
@Mnemosyne: I should be working, too, but I’m the boss of me so I’m flagrantly breaking all my rules. Oh, Hal, Hal, why did you leave us this way?
Suffern ACE
@shortstop: The problem with socialists is that they pass so many laws and break them, all at the same time. Drug dealing – Socialist. War on Drugs – Socialist.
muddy
@BGK:
I don’t have many, as a rule, but it’s a good excuse for having 20 kinds of booze on hand! I rarely partake myself anymore, it doesn’t agree with me most times. But if I want one, I want one, and I don’t know what flavor ahead of time.
SatanicPanic
@Mnemosyne: I don’t know, I’m just going on what I know about California. I’m not an expert and have never been on unemployment, which I understand is the qualification I need to comment at BJ ;)
Maude
@muddy:
#120, send him to me first, there won’t be anything to kick. I’ll save you the trouble.
trollhattan
@Suffern ACE:
Speaking from a California perspective–if laid off you can collect UI but if fired for cause you (generally) cannot.
I’ve been in situations where somebody fired for cause filed for UI anyway, and the company HR person then goes to a hearing and contests it. Employers are motivated to do so because their UI permiums go up if they have too many claims.
Rules for other states, I don’t know.
muddy
@Maude: Thank you! Better lunch than I would have had at home.
Suffern ACE
@SatanicPanic: Maybe they’ve lied to us all these years as a form of behavior control. The same way they lied about some kind of permanent record in junior high that would follow us around the rest of our lives. Maybe we’ve been told “Don’t get fired or you won’t get UE” is just a big lie to keep us from punching out our managers. If we declared next Wednesday “National Steal Something from Your Company Day” we’d soon find out.
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
Laptop or desktop PC? I wouldn’t run a laptop through a dishwasher (duh) but a detatched keyboard can often be resurrected by doing so.
Poopyman
@BGK: Back in the 70’s I worked with a guy whose Army experience was working on the DEW Line up in the Arctic. He said that to keep warm they would go out and stand in front of the antennas. We decided that explained a lot about the guy.
Mnemosyne
@Hungry Joe:
I had a friend in high school whose family was from India and she would make chai tea from scratch (basically boiling the tea leaves in milk on the stove and then straining it), so I feel your pain.
muddy
@Maude: Great offer. I am too weak to do it myself. I spoke to my son last night, he’s 3000 miles away, he was upset that he didn’t know what to do. I said there is nothing you could do even if you were here. He said that he could punch the asshole in the face, but instead could only say that he loved me.
And he doesn’t even know what I ordered for his birthday next week. The big 30!
Sometimes I say I should get the present for his birthday, I did all the damn work.
muddy
@Yutsano: Diet soda does not dry sticky like regular soda. We used to use it to wash up when camping sometimes.
Southern Beale
Nice try but Nope. The world’s saddest cookbook is the Ron Paul Family Cookbook, which includes chicken recipes from vegetarians and weird instructions like “put complete box of crackers in a jug.”
muddy
@Raven: When my doctor told me to apply for SSDI, I said I thought that took 2 years or something.
“Not for you!” Swell, that’s great. I guess.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: Internal laptop keyboard. And I can’t afford to fix it or get a new one right now. I can deal with the external board until I’m back home and can figure something else out.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Suffern ACE:
I think the rule is that you can collect unemployment if you are fired or laid off, but not if you quit or resign.
Raven
@muddy: I’d rather have had the outcome I did than to have really needed it.
BGK
@Poopyman:
Hmmm…you may be on to something. Beavis Maximus was formerly career Air Force. I’ll ask our mutual boss if his duties ever involved EMF or radiation.
shortstop
@Suffern ACE: I believe you have described the problem perfectly.
@SatanicPanic: Now THAT was funny.
@trollhattan: Seriously? You can put a detached keyboard in the dishwasher? That is some news I can use.
catclub
@BGK: “will probably outlive me.”
Heck, it will probably kill you.
gaz
@Yutsano: 99% of laptop keyboards are detachable. You need something flat to get into the divider between the case and kb, and you can then pop it out. Depending on what the issue is, it might just need a good cleaning.
ETA: Towards the back there is a thin film/ribbon that will unhook from the kb itself – so just pop the other 3 sides first, gently, and then work the back being careful. It should take under 10 minutes, even the first time you do it. If you are gentle, the risk of damage is minimal – and if it already doesn’t work you have nothing to lose.
Gin & Tonic
@shortstop: While I wouldn’t runa keyboard through a dishwasher, we’ve rinsed out plenty. Not really a problem. Even awful stuff like pineapple juice.
Look at it this way – you’re unlikely to make it any worse than it already is.
Yutsano
@gaz: I’m sure it just needs cleaned, I just don’t have the stamina to do it right away. I can live with this until I get my brother to dismantle the thing and figure it out.
Maude
@gaz:
They say distilled water will work and let it dry out.
asiangrrlMN
@muddy: Ugh. Sorry to hear that. Assholes are assholes are assholes. Report him tout de suite, and hope you’re outie soon.
@Yutsano: Funny. I was trying to email you the other day when I realized my Q/X key didn’t work (Dvorak/Qwerty). Fortunately, I haz warranty, so I got a replacement keyboard the next day.
ETA: I called it definitely a First World Problem, too, when I talked about it with my brother.
Maude
@muddy:
SSDI depends on your doctor at the initial application. If your doc knows what to write, you’ll get it. You will go to their doc and those are usually good.
It took me 26 months. I had some wingding specialists that were awful. It was the regular doc that did it.
muddy
@Raven: Me too. Sadly it took them nearly a year to diagnose me, because I’m a crazy person and they wouldn’t listen to me. By then the damage was done. I might have recovered if they found out right away and treated me. As it was they said another couple of weeks and I’d have been done.
But when I called lawyers they said I wouldn’t have a case unless I had died. I apologized to my son for robbing him of a million bucks, lol.
Raven
@muddy: Hope things are or will get better for you.
I’m too young for medicare and too old for her to care!
Boohunney
Would it be considered sad that I don’t even own a microwave?
tybee
@BGK:
i have a 1981 Kenmore that is still going strong.
it’s big enough to hold a turkey if one wishes to ruin a bird.
shortstop
@Yutsano: Sorry you brought this up yet? ;)
LanceThruster
I remember a book around the time of the advent of the microve called “Microwaves are for Cooking!” because most everyone merely used them for reheating.
I don’t think I had actually cooked anything successfully till my dad showed me how to do white fish filets (casserole dish with milk – the milk absorbed the fish oil for a cleaner, less fishy taste).
I also now use it quite often for fresh veggies (corn, artichoke, etc., cook up great).
I had previously read about microwave ovens not being healthy in regards to the heating of the food, but was reminded of that by a story of a girl who watered a plant with microwaved water and how it did much more poorly than the control.
Wouldn’t it be possible to adjust the molecular vibrations to correct this somehow? I recall a physics professor stated molecular energy has to do with the speed of the atoms in regards to heat and used the example of cold water from a firehose had heat unrelated to any friction involved in the impact.
I don’t know if I understood that or explained it correctly, but goddamn it, get some NASA scientists to fix the probs with microwave ovens so I don’t have to fear them like I do GMO franken-foods.
gaz
I just got done making about 3 lbs of taco-meat/black bean mix, and 1 lb of pico de gallo, for our “white people tacos”. I don’t even bother making it in small quantities anymore because we never get tired of the stuff.
I didn’t use a microwave for any of that. Just a stove and my wonderful cutco chef’s knife.
I can’t wait until later this summer when our pico will all come from our gardens (w/ the exception of the squeezed lime juice).
I got it done in time for my wife’s lunch, too. woot!
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
Well that’s a bummer, but it’s possible there’s some moisture yet to dry out, which might take awhile. Have to ask–regular or diet? This is one instance when those nasty chemicals are preferable to nature’s own high-fructose corn syrup.
Yutsano
@shortstop: Well it is my fault in the first place. I’m only sorry for telling my brother, his response was pretty much just mocking and snark. I don’t care as long as he comes over.
@trollhattan: Regular. Which means the syrup spread in the heat last night. I’ll leave it open and see what that does.
gaz
@Yutsano: You realize that if he mocked you for spilling something on your keyboard that’s probably the single most effective way to tempt karmic retribution, right? There’s some sort of universal constant around that. It’s only a matter of time.
PS: Make sure he knows that the keyboard can probably come off – it’s weird, but it’s one of the best kept secrets about laptops. Most people that are otherwise gurus have no idea unless they’ve done a lot of laptop hardware repair.
In any case, I wish you luck in that. =)
trollhattan
@shortstop:
It can sometimes resurrect a keyboard that’s taken a fatal load of unwanted liquid, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it for one that’s merely nasty.
Some folks just toss it in, others do some dismantling first. Apparently, you have to be verrrry patient waiting for it to completely dry.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2009/04/can_you_clean_a_keyboard_in_a.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/65915/how-to-clean-your-filthy-keyboard-in-the-dishwasher-without-ruining-it/
Mnemosyne
@LanceThruster:
Was the control water boiled by other means, or was it unheated tap water? Because I could see a lot of minerals etc vaporizing out of boiled water no matter what the means of boiling it was.
ETA: I should always check Snopes.com first — they say it’s false. They even ran the test themselves.
shortstop
@trollhattan: Very interesting — thanks. In all these years, I’ve never moved past nasty to disaster with a keyboard, which is a bona fide miracle given my klutziness. I figure my number’s gotta be up pretty soon.
gaz
@trollhattan: For plain-jane desktop keyboards, it’s much better to pop the keys off before doing this, as it speeds the drying and gets more of the gunk out. For laptop keyboards, that’s usually not feasible – better to just toss them in the dishwasher as is, and yeah – wait forever for them to dry. Although honestly, it’s usually easier to just get a new one for $4 used at a thrift shop or $7 new from an online retailer or discount outlet. They are commodity items now.
For the ones with the key-lights and screens, or built-in trackpad gadgets and stuff, I’d keep them away from a dishwasher, as there is probably some gear inside that the pressurized water will get trapped inside of.
Patricia Kayden
@Hal: But aren’t you being insulting to people with actual head injuries?
trollhattan
@shortstop:
Yup, I know what you mean. Just reading comments here can be a clear and present danger to keyboards, and TBogg has claimed more than his fair share, I’m certain.
Thing is, certain keyboards just “fit” and feel right and I want to keep those going. I think that’s why early IBM keyboards remain in demand–nobody does keyboards like they did.
gaz
@trollhattan: My favorite desktop usb keyboard is currently that simple compact 104 key from Dell: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&sku=310-7995
Nice tactile feel, compact, no wonky USB drivers (just Plain old USB hid so it works with my PS3 for example). Fairly durable, cheap and available (used) all over the place due to how common they are. They’re great!
trollhattan
@gaz:
Appreciate the tip! Have an HP at work that I really like and an HP at home that barely rates a “meh.” Can’t guess why one sucks and why one’s wunderbar, just is.
gaz
@trollhattan: I just looked and dell apparently isn’t selling them anymore. A search based on part # and “dell keyboard” yields plenty of results. Some are like $30 – seems the average price, and more than I’d pay. I’ve seen them for $12 though too, which is a fair price, IMO. You can buy cheap keyboards retail for less than that, but the quality of the dell kb almost certainly better, and so I’d say it’s easily worth $12-$15 bucks – even $20 if the situation was convenient.
ETA: Like any keyboard, it takes a few days of using for your fingers to adjust to it if you touch-type. Other than that, no biggie. Also, I’m not a fan of the so-called ergonomic ones that split in the middle, so for my money, I like these dell ones.
Heliopause
@Valdivia:
In answering one of the questions he talked about how not all crisis countries were done in by deficit spending, how austerity in a depressed economy is counterproductive, how short term stimulus and long term deficit reduction can peacefully coexist. It seriously sounded like it was lifted straight out of a Krugman blog post.
LanceThruster
@Mnemosyne: Wow. Thanks for doing my homework for me. Shows it helps to seek confirmation of the conventional wisdom. I think they most likely got it right on this one.
Still, I do not trust Snopes re: their 9/11 ‘debunking” so their weighing in on an issue is not always the Gold Seal end all of controversy AFAIAC.
Additionally, my pal Bernie the Attorney once referred me to a study early on in the history of the microwave done in Scandanavia somewhere where it supposedly showed that food integrity (wholesomeness) was compromised by the microwave heating. I’ve tried to find that study before with no luck. Supposedly the country that did the study discourages their use.
Bernie the Attorney was also exasperated by the fairly recent question about does freezing bottled water release greater toxins from the plastic. When the local news would report the story, they’d mention the dearth of studies on such.
Bernie railed that a single goddamn lab could do a test, and resolve the issue quite simply, but that that would seem to complicated for the brainiacs at Eyewitless News.
andy
Don’t own a microwave but all my cooking is for one.
Mnemosyne
@LanceThruster:
We already know that some nutrients are lost from vegetables by cooking them at all, which is where the “raw food” nuts come from, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some are lost through microwave cooking.
I know there was a lot of worry about microwaves when they first started becoming popular in the 1970s but, honestly, truly bad effects would have shown up by now. I suspect that the nutrition problem with microwaves is indirect in that they make it easier for people to eat frozen, processed foods instead of cooking from scratch.
And Snopes does sometimes bend over backwards to be fair and balanced, but since they actually took the time to do the plant test themselves, I think we can count their results as reliable.
Hal
@Mnemosyne:
I live in NY and some people I know who were fired still applied for unemployment. My employer then had to contest and actually send a manager to an unemployment hearing. I use to live in CA, but never collected unemployment there, but I was also under the impression UE is for layoffs only. So I guess if you are fired and apply, if your employer does not contest then you get benefits?
gaz
@Hal: In washington state there are terms under which you can and cannot collect unemployment, but they don’t have to do with whether or not you are fired. One of the only ways you can pretty much guarantee you won’t get UE here is if you quit.
LanceThruster
@Mnemosyne: I agree. Thanks again for finding that. Your other observations seem pretty sensible as well.
gaz
@Mnemosyne: I heard that certain vegetables like spinach actually benefit as compared to eating them raw? I can’t remember where I heard it, so I won’t say with any certitude. I suppose I could look it up, but I’m too lazy. =)
Mnemosyne
@Hal:
Okay, so the person you know was fired, but tried to get them to change it to a layoff instead of what you originally said? Or the person is so dumb that she thinks you can only get benefits if you’re fired? I’m still confused by your original story.
kerFuFFler
@RSA: The sight of that pathetic crown roast made my day! The recipes at that site remind me of a cookbook my aunt’s church created for a fundraiser—-pretty much all of the recipes included jello, marshmallows, or both!
Ruckus
@Mark S.:
Low rent is american cheese slices on wonder bread(I always did wonder if it was bread) washed down with bud. Not me I swear. It was my cousin.
On the other hand I lived for six years with a mid 70’s amana microwave and a hot plate. It’s a good way to lose weight if you actually like the taste of food. If on the other hand you think kraft mac and cheese is actual food this method doesn’t work.
Grondo
Saddest thing ever? Chicken cooked in a microwave. And I mean raw chicken, cooked on a plate in a microwave on high, and then served as-is.
Montarvillois
My microwave expired about 2 years ago. I haven’t replaced it, have no intention to do so and its absence provides me more precious counter space. Used it to heat water in a mug and warm-up leftover pizza. I am a party of one with a functioning stove and refrigerator and can create a fine meal anytime I want.