Life

[Gormongous]

I always wondered how many non-gamers were extremely confused when they announced it would be called Cortana.

I have to assume they do not care at all and it's the same if it had been called Lisa.

 

Why is it called Siri? I honestly don't know.

 

It's actually rather funny, because I have several friends with enough gaming literacy to recognize the name and enough tech literacy to know that it's coming to Windows Phone, and they're all hugely confused and underwhelmed that Microsoft's Siri-alike is some Halo character. It seems tacky to them, right?

[SuperBiasedMan]

Is it poor form to call yourself homeless just because you literally just don't have a place of residence even if you're economically capable of renting one and have places where you can stay if push comes to shove?

 

Because that's the state I'll be in when my lease runs out on Friday.

[Merus]

People have known about the Cortana thing for a while, I think the tech press decided it was a cute reference and being bold is probably a better idea for Microsoft given how uncool Windows Phone is.

[Thrik]

The UK voice for Siri is a bloke so I guess the name is gender neutral.

[Gormongous]

The UK voice for Siri is a bloke so I guess the name is gender neutral.

But is it a sexy bloke?

[Badfinger]

People have known about the Cortana thing for a while, I think the tech press decided it was a cute reference and being bold is probably a better idea for Microsoft given how uncool Windows Phone is.

 

I've apparently been in the dark for that particular item, because yesterday was the first day I've ever seen it. I'm pretty sure it was on the Travel channel or something. It's not like they're addressing an audience that necessarily has any idea at all what they're referencing.

[tegan]

 

I can tell this is gonna' be a good week.

[elmuerte]

good week to say inside and play video games

[tegan]

good week to say inside and play video games

 

I was thinking Persona 4 Golden. It's a good rainy day game.

[Merus]

I was thinking Persona 4 Golden. It's a good rainy day game.

 

You have to finish it before the fog rolls in though

[tegan]

I hate to ask this here, but I've been having some pretty severe money troubles lately. If anyone wants to throw a few dollars my way, it'd be much appreciated. My Paypal is teganrobichaud at gmail.com (the name on the account is the name of the relative who set it up for me, but I assure you it's mine). Thanks.

[JonCole]

I hate to ask this here, but I've been having some pretty severe money troubles lately. If anyone wants to throw a few dollars my way, it'd be much appreciated. My Paypal is teganrobichaud at gmail.com (the name on the account is the name of the relative who set it up for me, but I assure you it's mine). Thanks.

 

Would buying something on your society6 account also help at all for this particular request? There was someone there I was eyeing and could potentially prioritize buying now/soon if the purchase would help.

[I_smell]

EDIT- Nah, forget it, nope. This is someone else's story, I shouldn't post it.

[tegan]

Would buying something on your society6 account also help at all for this particular request? There was someone there I was eyeing and could potentially prioritize buying now/soon if the purchase would help.

 

Admittedly, it wouldn't really help. I make less than five bucks off of everything in the store and I can't even withdraw that through Paypal unless I make at least ten.

[JonCole]

I figured that was a possibility, good to know.

[Gormongous]

My day started at three this morning when I noticed the front entry hall to my studio apartment was flooded. Six hours of barking orders and bailing into the sink later, I finally had everything under control enough to get a few hours of sleep. Of course, I was woken up by my next-door neighbor, a seventy-year-old woman who I met for the first time last night and is quite clearly mentally ill, arguing with someone that it wasn't her fault that her toilet overflowed. She had stuffed a couple rolls of toilet paper into the bowl, which had solved things. Because I was the one "fiddling with it" and "making a fuss," it's my fault there are six flooded apartments in need of a thorough vacuuming and mopping.

 

It's moments like this one when, even though it's probably permanently outside of my means, I wish I could own a house where I could live without worrying about some idiot ruining all my stuff.

[SecretAsianMan]

It's moments like this one when, even though it's probably permanently outside of my means, I wish I could own a house where I could live without worrying about some idiot ruining all my stuff.

 

I own a home and have that worry.  The only problem is I am that idiot. 

 

But seriously, sorry to hear all that.

[Bjorn]

I own a home and have that worry.  The only problem is I am that idiot. 

 

This is one of the core truths of home ownership.

[undermind9]

flooding is never good.  i hope theres no carpet involved

 

as for home ownership - it doesn't necessarily get better when you leave the apartment life...although likely more quiet

 

ref back several weeks of my life complaints - damp sub-floor & new flooring voided warranty (never buckled..which was good) & ants (still minor problem)

 

next tasks are pet screens & garage organization

[Gormongous]

I own a home and have that worry.  The only problem is I am that idiot. 

 

But seriously, sorry to hear all that.

flooding is never good.  i hope theres no carpet involved

 

as for home ownership - it doesn't necessarily get better when you leave the apartment life...although likely more quiet

 

ref back several weeks of my life complaints - damp sub-floor & new flooring voided warranty (never buckled..which was good) & ants (still minor problem)

 

next tasks are pet screens & garage organization

 

I have the psychological makeup where I have very little problem with any hardship so long as it is mostly my fault, so I can deal with being the idiot, just not with other idiots. The fact that, as far as I can tell from hindsight, her toilet started flooding a little after 2:00, but the first time anything was done about it was 3:30, when I practically forced my way into her apartment and then went downstairs to tell the manager myself, makes me so angry I feel faint.

 

And yeah, a large patch of carpet is soaked, plus the bottom edge of the bathroom cabinet is warped and some of the entry hall's linoleum is now loose. I did my best with the wet vac after the "professionals" came by and did a ten-minute once-over. It's almost a good thing, if I don't die from black mold, because I've lived in this building for five years now and disliked every other minute without really having a compelling reason to move out. Now seeing that the monthly rent goes up twenty bucks every year and yet that it takes them two and a half hours to send a guy over with a key to turn off the water, when literally half of the second flood has half an inch of standing water, is something for me to keep in mind for next July...

[SuperBiasedMan]

the monthly rent goes up twenty bucks every year

 

I'm now curious about how renting works in other places because it's a terrible volatile mess in Dublin, where my rent was going up €500 ($670) this year, thankfully we were already planning on leaving before we found this out, the month before we were supposed to sign this new lease with rent that was going up by 60%.

[Gormongous]

I'm now curious about how renting works in other places because it's a terrible volatile mess in Dublin, where my rent was going up €500 ($670) this year, thankfully we were already planning on leaving before we found this out, the month before we were supposed to sign this new lease with rent that was going up by 60%.

 

St. Louis is actually a pretty good city for renting, mostly because it's not near anything important and there are no major industries attracting people. However, I live near a university, because I like to walk to my work, and so I'm subject to incredibly exploitative ways students are bilked of money by landlords. The vast majority of apartment buildings for a couple miles in any direction are $700 for a studio apartment that would otherwise be $450 and the few that aren't, like my dumpy little building, raise their rates by five to ten percent every year, with the assumption that students will finish their degrees and move out before their rent eventually equals that of a nicer place.

 

Honestly, almost every multiple-building landlord I've ever had to deal with has been a morally bankrupt individual, through and through. I've actually repainted things and made repairs to this apartment, only to have those same things cited in my renewed lease as a reason for raising my rent.

[Dewar]

5-10% raise every year seems to be fairly typical around here as well. I'm not looking forward to that prospective rent raise this coming year. I hope that our new place isn't going to try and screw with us, I don't know if we can afford a hike.

[SuperBiasedMan]

The vast majority of apartment buildings for a couple miles in any direction are $700 for a studio apartment that would otherwise be $450

 

That sums up Dublin pretty well. Generally landlords here are also pretty lax about doing things at best and demanding of their tenants at worst. The relative lack of demand means they can get away with too much and so feel entitled to it (not just price, also things like deciding not to take people on social welfare or students based on their prejudices). Most often here, the reason that rents go up is just 'to keep up with market rates'. Which just means that since other people raised their prices, our landlord can too.

 

 

EDIT: Though I forgot to say, our 60% rent increase this year was after last year where the rent didn't change at all when we signed onto our second lease. Which overall was of more benefit to us, but still just shows how unstable the system is.

[syntheticgerbil]

My day started at three this morning when I noticed the front entry hall to my studio apartment was flooded. Six hours of barking orders and bailing into the sink later, I finally had everything under control enough to get a few hours of sleep. Of course, I was woken up by my next-door neighbor, a seventy-year-old woman who I met for the first time last night and is quite clearly mentally ill, arguing with someone that it wasn't her fault that her toilet overflowed. She had stuffed a couple rolls of toilet paper into the bowl, which had solved things. Because I was the one "fiddling with it" and "making a fuss," it's my fault there are six flooded apartments in need of a thorough vacuuming and mopping.

 

It's moments like this one when, even though it's probably permanently outside of my means, I wish I could own a house where I could live without worrying about some idiot ruining all my stuff.

Wait, who caused all of this? I got confused with with the order barking and sink bailing.