Random thoughts that are pointless and too dumb to say anywhere else thread ~ 2022 ~

[nate82]

I think you will have to get a third party remote for one.  There used to be a remote with a switch you could use for multiple TV’s but I don’t believe they make them anymore.

[MrTPlush]

11 hours ago, nate82 said:

I think you will have to get a third party remote for one.  There used to be a remote with a switch you could use for multiple TV’s but I don’t believe they make them anymore.

This is what I figured might be the best route if they are identical TVs. I could just buy a fire stick for one and then all is good in the world. 

[tmwiese55]

When I had two next to each other I'd usually have one game set on one TV and then be flipping on the other.  Simply putting a piece of paper over it to block the cable box worked.  Of course, if/when you did want to flip channels on it you'd have walk to it and take off the cover. 

Two TVs works great especially for baseball since it's such a slow sport, and you don't really need volume. Toss that on the 2nd tv and you can keep up with what's going on while watching whatever else on the other

[AKCheesehead]

I used to love having 2 tvs for NFL Sundays (game of interest on one, NFL network on the other) and the first 2 days of March Madness.

[MrTPlush]

I opted to get a 55" during black friday to go with a spare 50" I have (really it is my patio TV I drag out during summer). I really wanted 43"ers as they would fit better...but deals on those sizes suck. I just could not logically buy a worse TV and smaller TV for the same price as a 55".  Oh well...it won't be symmetrical between the side by side TVs...first world problems.

At least they are different brand TVs so the remotes won't interfere with each other...they would have drove me nuts. 

[pitchleague]

Every year, I (an countless others) laugh and laugh at the zany Thanksgiving week adventures of one Neil Page and Del Griffith.  But what about Neil's partner at his marketing firm, John?  HE took a later flight, sure, but his was also, undoubtedly re-routed elsewhere than Chicago.  I wonder what kind of zany adventure HE took to get home for Thanksgiving.

[jerichoholicninja]

When did men wearing a ring on their right index finger become a thing? I noticed a guy on my baseball team doing it over the summer and I've seen it a lot more recently. I can barely tolerated a ring on my ring finger. I have to take it off almost any time I do any labor intensive work with my hands. I made the mistake a wearing it while lifting at the gym last week and wound up with a huge blister from it. I can't imagine having one on the hand and finger I use constantly throughout the day.

[Samurai Bucky]

57 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

I noticed a guy on my baseball team doing it over the summer and I've seen it a lot more recently.

How else is he going to scuff up the ball while on the bump?  ??

[GAME05]

Wouldn't a silicone ring take away the need to remove it to do any work?

[Hopper]

3 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

When did men wearing a ring on their right index finger become a thing? I noticed a guy on my baseball team doing it over the summer and I've seen it a lot more recently. I can barely tolerated a ring on my ring finger. I have to take it off almost any time I do any labor intensive work with my hands. I made the mistake a wearing it while lifting at the gym last week and wound up with a huge blister from it. I can't imagine having one on the hand and finger I use constantly throughout the day.

Wasn't there a time when that meant that the ring owner was gay?  Seriously, I thought that if a man wears a ring on his right index finger, that was because he had a gay partner.  Not trying to offend anyone, but I think it is/was true at some time.

[Thurston Fluff]

This is the earliest I've finished my Christmas shopping.

[zurch1818]

I'm at a point in my life where more time off is more valuable to me than more money in the bank. In my last annual review, I actually requested no salary adjustment but an extra week of vacation instead.

Against my wishes, my company instead gave me a raise which that covers roughly 2.5 weeks of my old pay. I'm contemplating just taking an extra week of unpaid time off and pretending it is vacation. Doing the math on that, I still come out ahead from my original request.

Am I crazy to do this?

[Samurai Bucky]

14 hours ago, zurch1818 said:

I'm at a point in my life where more time off is more valuable to me than more money in the bank. In my last annual review, I actually requested no salary adjustment but an extra week of vacation instead.

Against my wishes, my company instead gave me a raise which that covers roughly 2.5 weeks of my old pay. I'm contemplating just taking an extra week of unpaid time off and pretending it is vacation. Doing the math on that, I still come out ahead from my original request.

Am I crazy to do this?

Take solace.  I haven't had a review in seven years.  Part of being in a small company.

[GAME05]

We technically have them once a year and fill them out online. You mark "meets expectations" or you can argue for "exceeds expectations" if you really want to. You get no raise or promotion opportunities because of it, plus the result is hugely bias toward whether the boss likes you or not. Last year I wrote mine in the third person just to be annoying.

[zurch1818]

4 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Take solace.  I haven't had a review in seven years.  Part of being in a small company.

That sounds really nice (assuming you still get a chance for a raise).  If not, you should really approach your supervisor for one or bring something up about asking how you can add more value to the company which makes you worth more (or some other HR jargon).  

Our company is also what I would deem small (60 total employees) but the owners are all about reviews, so we actually have quarterly reviews (which one of them is an annual). 

4 hours ago, GAME05 said:

We technically have them once a year and fill them out online. You mark "meets expectations" or you can argue for "exceeds expectations" if you really want to. You get no raise or promotion opportunities because of it, plus the result is hugely bias toward whether the boss likes you or not. Last year I wrote mine in the third person just to be annoying.

That just sounds like awfulness.  I'm sorry you have to go through that.  Our annual review form is kind of brutal about setting goals and talking about what works and doesn't work.  There is a spot where you grade yourself up top but then it is all essay after that.  You get the top spot and then your supervisor writes a response right below it.

I am the leader of our group, which means I conduct all 5 team members reviews (20 total per year plus my 4 that I have with my supervisor, an owner of the company).  My third quarter is brutal because that is my annual quarter plus I have 3 of my team members that also have annuals.  That's 4 annual review forms I get to fill out.

I do really enjoy working for my company.  I actually had my 10 year anniversary a few months ago and have no intentions of leaving.  I just liked it better when I was just an engineer and didn't have to manage people on top of being a technical expert.

[hawing]

Wisconsin makes sure that state employees are evaluated annually. I vaguely recall seeing a directive a few years back indicating that "exceeds expectations" should be used sparingly.  In 2020 I got that ranking.  After all the extra work I took on that year, I remember thinking that if it didn't happen that year, it would probably never happen. 

Then I got the same ranking in 2021, which was almost as tumultuous as 2020.

The 2022 evaluation won't happen until January, but I remarked to my supervisor this summer (after an especially trying period of hiring students) that when my 2022 evaluation comes around and we discover that I accomplished virtually nothing new...and she didn't even let me finish that sentence because she said "oh, I know."  I think she is just grateful I'm still here.

Of course, state employees here either get a 2% increase or no increase, depending on the legislative climate - so whether I meet or exceed expectations is largely a pride thing. 

[nate82]

The company I work for it depends on what department you are in on how the evaluation is looked at.  They used to have this where you had to have x% of people in meets, needs improvement and exceeds.  There used to be very heated debates in the yearly manager meetings about this.  Thankfully they finally got rid of that stupid rule no idea who thought that was a good idea must have been an absolute moron in HR who thought that one up. 

Right now it is extremely hard to get exceeds and if you are getting an exceed the next question from upper management is this person going to be promoted or not.  If they are not on track to be promoted then they have to a really good reason why they are not and why they are getting an exceeds. 

Other departments I have been in it is like oh you did something this year here have an exceeds.  It was basically useless as it meant nothing but management used it as an excuse why raises were lower in that department.  Look you got an exceeds why aren't you happy with getting only a .1% raise? 

[stoutdude04]

On 12/10/2022 at 12:36 AM, zurch1818 said:

I'm at a point in my life where more time off is more valuable to me than more money in the bank. In my last annual review, I actually requested no salary adjustment but an extra week of vacation instead.

Against my wishes, my company instead gave me a raise which that covers roughly 2.5 weeks of my old pay. I'm contemplating just taking an extra week of unpaid time off and pretending it is vacation. Doing the math on that, I still come out ahead from my original request.

Am I crazy to do this?

Not crazy at all. Time is more valuable than money to me as well.  I took an unpaid 2 weeks when my son was born so I could be home longer.

Wife works for a corporate company here in Wisconsin - she is able to buy 2 weeks vacation every year.  Whatever days she doesn't use they are required to pay back.  Obviously she does this.  Worst case she gets a nice chunk of money in January.

[CheezWizHed]

2 hours ago, hawing said:

Wisconsin makes sure that state employees are evaluated annually. I vaguely recall seeing a directive a few years back indicating that "exceeds expectations" should be used sparingly.  In 2020 I got that ranking.  After all the extra work I took on that year, I remember thinking that if it didn't happen that year, it would probably never happen. 

Then I got the same ranking in 2021, which was almost as tumultuous as 2020.

The 2022 evaluation won't happen until January, but I remarked to my supervisor this summer (after an especially trying period of hiring students) that when my 2022 evaluation comes around and we discover that I accomplished virtually nothing new...and she didn't even let me finish that sentence because she said "oh, I know."  I think she is just grateful I'm still here.

Of course, state employees here either get a 2% increase or no increase, depending on the legislative climate - so whether I meet or exceed expectations is largely a pride thing. 

In the corporate world, I've seen where HR recommends the top 20% be "Exceeding expectations", 80% be meeting and 10% be at needs improvement. 

Of course, that is a guideline (at least the intent, but occasionally enforced) to give mangers and idea of what they should do.  However, my experience is that it was more for certain managers that thought it was easier to simply rate their entire team as "exceeds expectations" to minimize any real discussion.  Of course, that starts skewing the merit pool and overly rewards those that don't deserve it. 

[AKCheesehead]

On 12/9/2022 at 9:36 PM, zurch1818 said:

I'm at a point in my life where more time off is more valuable to me than more money in the bank. In my last annual review, I actually requested no salary adjustment but an extra week of vacation instead.

Against my wishes, my company instead gave me a raise which that covers roughly 2.5 weeks of my old pay. I'm contemplating just taking an extra week of unpaid time off and pretending it is vacation. Doing the math on that, I still come out ahead from my original request.

Am I crazy to do this?

Not crazy at all, to me at least, since that's what you wanted to begin with.  If they'll let you do it, you're getting that extra week you wanted, and also getting a small pay raise. 

[adambr2]

Is it normal to always feel like everyone else around you has more money than you?

[homer]

6 hours ago, adambr2 said:

Is it normal to always feel like everyone else around you has more money than you?

Yeah but then I look at average credit card debt in the US and I realize I'm doing ok.

[stoutdude04]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:06 AM, homer said:

Yeah but then I look at average credit card debt in the US and I realize I'm doing ok.

This.  We have 0 credit card debt each month...and it feels so good.  I think back to when I was a dumb college kid and opened 2 cards for 6 inch subs.  Woof.

[owbc]

On 12/14/2022 at 7:06 AM, homer said:

Yeah but then I look at average credit card debt in the US and I realize I'm doing ok.

The average family in this country is bordering on financial ruin. It's pretty scary. 

[nate82]

2 hours ago, stoutdude04 said:

This.  We have 0 credit card debt each month...and it feels so good.  I think back to when I was a dumb college kid and opened 2 cards for 6 inch subs.  Woof.

I put everything on my credit cards and then pay them off at the end of the month.  I don’t like paying for things with my debit card.

You have basically zero protection against fraud with your debit card.  Well there are some protections but it takes forever for the money to be returned.  Far easier to remove charges on your credit card and you are protected more than you are with your debit card.