The Frying Pan

Hey sugar

I learned something new today about Windows!

two things actually

I learned how to use "God mode", but the very idea makes me nervous...

And I learned how to use the reliability monitor, which showed exactly the results I expected.

It's not my imagination, Dragon has been causing trouble since the day I installed him.

6:09 AM

Yup, it's a pig

Gotta take the rough with the smooth I guess

I would like to have it sequestered on one computer. I'd do all of my surfing on one and all of my Dragon stuff on another.

I've actually looked into one of those really cheapo laptops with Wi-Fi, just to bring to the Wi-Fi café at the new complex.

I'm optimistic about FreedomPop. Have you heard of that?

7:00 AM

Nope

It's a free or very inexpensive internet provider/ cell phone service provider.

I have ordered a cellular modem from them ($5 including shipping)

I won't know until I actually log on at my new place whether it will be feasible to use it exclusively, but I'm hopeful. Since the complex has a Wi-Fi café, I'll be able to watch videos and that kind of thing there.

the modem they sent me is a reconditioned one of these:

pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383814,00.asp

Cool

What's their data limit?

what I can't tell is whether I'll have any 4G coverage at all, and I am iffy on whether it even can use an LTE signal.

.5GB/month free

Up to 2GB for $20/month.

first month is a free trial

I can upgrade and downgrade willy-nilly in that first month.

I also get .3GB/month on my cell phone. I'm not sure if tethering is allowed, but they wouldn't know or care... Right?

I know that there is LTE all over Anchorage by Sprint.

They would know and possibly care about tethering

Depends on the compant4

Company

the company is GCI which I think is Sprint

7:14 AM

Do they not have a map online showing signal coverage?

yes they do...

And it also seems to conflict with itself

I know that the area is covered by LTE. What I am not clear on is whether the modem can use LTE, or whether the area has both LTE and (is WiMAX the right word?) 4G.

the modem will work with 3G, but at speeds so slow that I can't see me actually using it for any length of time.

7:29 AM

LTE is 4G

For all intents and purposes

Except Freedompop, apparently.

Or at least, not with that modem.

It has modem that isn't virtually free that uses LTE.

This seems to answer, and not in the way I wish:

forums.freedompop.com/discussion/8977/…

usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2014/12/07/…

Which is probably why it's free.

(the modem)

forums.freedompop.com/discussion/8216/…

8:07 AM

@Jolenealaska hmmm

if I could drive I would already have scoped out my new building, signal strength and all that.

I'm not going to be able to do anything for one more week. It's making me crazy.

to make matters worse I am craving something sweet, and I've got nothing in this house.

hmm

carrots?

:D

I actually have carrots :)

I just got a private message from an old friend on IMDb.

He pointed this out to me:

cfda.gov/…

do you have the necessary 90 days war-time service?

does Desert Storm count?

why has no one from the VA mentioned it before?

8:23 AM

I'm looking at the 90 day thing right now. The VA is funny about that kind of thing, nobody will tell you about benefits you may be eligible for, they'd rather you didn't find out.

tut. whose side are they on?

their's

tut

Gulf War (August 2, 1990 – through a future date to be set by law or Presidential Proclamation)

so I would qualify

sweet

8:27 AM

OMFG

$1000 a month wouldn't go amiss eh?

maybe they'll backdate it

I don't see a loophole here...

I seem to qualify in every way.

benefits.va.gov/pension/wartimeperiod.asp

well, get applying woman!

In 4 1/2 hours it will be business hours on the East Coast.

8:41 AM

vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-21-526EZ-ARE.pdf

ah, a nice simple government form O.o

I need a PDF viewer that supports forms

(filling)

nevermind

ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage

This cracks me up :)

ha

Surely that should pop up every time you use the internet, anywhere?

8:56 AM

I'm registering for the site now, tomorrow morning I will call my neurologist and ask her for specific language to use for describing my disability.

I was approved for Social Security and for discharge of my student loans in record time, so this really looks like a walk in the park.

sweet

I don't think it will in any way affect my Social Security income, but it might reduce or eliminate my housing assistance. If that happens, the net difference will still be positive, just $400 or so instead of $1070.

they say money can't buy happiness, but 'they' are usually people with a fuckton of it who don't want anyone else to have it

I wouldn't turn it down!

You have read studies on that haven't you?

i rarely read studies

but i recall something about 70k being a year being the ceiling

well, I'd like to test that hypothesis myself

9:02 AM

Well I haven't actually read the studies either, just articles about the studies.

basically, once your bills are comfortably paid, more money doesn't make you happier. However, not having quite enough (even if you've never known hunger), is a source of misery.

more money doesn't make the average person happier

they can't possibly speak for each individual

yes :)

I might not be happy until I make 150k

I consider myself above average in several important and deeply meaningful ways!

:D

if I were to win a huge sum of money, I would give most of it away. Anything more than $70,000/year would just be a waste.

my happiest years were in that one room cabin peeing in a bucket.

i gracefully accept your offer

not to pee in a bucket, that's a bit kinky, but the money - sure, i'll take it off your hands

:D

9:13 AM

I just thought of someone I can call to answer questions for me maybe.

USAA is the financial group for the American Legion. I've only recently started using them, but I have my car insurance, my renters insurance, a credit card and a checking account through them. They do retirement planning, so I bet that they can answer questions about this pension.

9:28 AM

worth a try

I also find it really ironic that the impulsive decision to join the military way back when is what pays my medical bills now.

Yeah. Good choice, Brown

I'm registering for the site now to apply for the pension.

I don't know the answers to any of the "secret questions"!

what make was my first car??

hell I don't know

what hospital was I born in?

hell I don't know

what was the name of the school in which I attended kindergarten?

hell I don't know

in what city did your parents meet?

hell I don't know

just make it up

it doesn't have to be true, you just have to remember it

that's what I did, and then I just saved it to a word processing file.

9:36 AM

>.<

:)

The best thing to do is make the answers as outrageous as possible, then you will always remember them

First car: Lamborghini Testarossa

Hospital born in: Gettysburg Field Hospital no. 12

Faheem Mitha

No, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.

Kindergarten: Arnold Schwarzenegger Preparatory School for Girls

one time I signed up for a website that allowed me to sign my permanent fund dividends applications online...

it asked for information from my drivers license

9:38 AM

City your parents met: Timbuktu

until then I had never noticed that my drivers license said that I was 5.9 inches tall.

The shortest the system would accept is 3 feet.

awww, wickle jojo

thumbelina

9:54 AM

I found why I don't qualify :(

it is apparently a safety net for people without any income. My Social Security is actually more than the pension (by a tiny amount).

I thought it seemed too good to be true.

damnation

it's nice to know that it's there though, it pays for other things I might need someday.

yeah

but isn't everyone entitled to social security?

in which case, the pension would be moot

I was just thinking the same thing, if somebody is disabled enough to qualify for the pension that person would also qualify for Social Security.

Although the amount of Social Security depends in part on how much you made during the time that you worked.

if I were ever to need to hire somebody as a caregiver, this pension would pay considerably towards that.

benefits.va.gov/PENSION/rates.asp

also, Social Security can take forever to be approved

~350,000 vets get some amount of pension. So if someone has only worked minimum-wage jobs plus their stint in the military, they might get Social Security and a pension for a non-service-related disability.

10:14 AM

hmm

hmmm...in 2008, $2,858,181,000 was paid out to 319,363 vets. That's an average of $8950 per vet.

something doesn't add up

oh I bet I know

it all comes down to the dependents.

Social Security doesn't consider dependents when they figure the benefit amount

(I don't think they do, anyway)

and the pension might cover somebody who is temporarily disabled and unable to work, whereas Social Security requires at least six months of disability (I think)

i see

if I can figure out how to do it tactfully, I'll inquire of the person who sent me the message on IMDb. The temporary disability makes sense if he's having hip replacement done.

what a thrilling and labyrinthine system it is

yes it is

I was initially approved for Social Security disability because of my hips, and it was never supposed to be permanent. I knew I had MS, but the MS itself was not causing profound disability at that point.

Even now, other than a limp, most days I'm really not all that disabled. The problem is you can't hold down a job down if you're reliable 60% of the time.

10:35 AM

not with that attitude

:D

heck, you could go far in the TSA

!! :)

working out the Social Security ramifications of this book is going to be complicated as hell

you have to write it first

I am pretty pleased so far with my progress.

it's nothing with any continuity yet, but it's starting to look like something

or at least it is starting to look like something with a lot of words

i can see the dust jacket reviews now - "This book has a lot of words, often in the correct order"

but not always

the peanut curd chutney recipe looks kind of good

The veteran's pension questions have me looking at some other things just out of curiosity.

Something that is kind of odd is that there are all kinds of pages specific for female vets.

We have slightly different medical needs...mammograms, no prostate exams - like that,

But in 2015 it doesn't seem to be necessary to point out that some veterans are women now.

I think everybody knows that at this point.

Here's a bit of trivia for you:

how many American service women women do you think died in Vietnam during the Vietnam war?

roughly

11:07 AM

Hmmm

50?

8

Ok

I wonder how many of them were due to enemy action and how many were car accidents etc

that includes accidents, heart attacks all manners of death

1 was killed by shrapnel.

All others were accident or natural causes (from what I can tell)

mostly plane crashes

8 seems really low considering there were 11,000 military nurses stationed there.

11:35 AM

I'm not buying this:

"BBC News reported April 17, 2009, "According to several studies of the US military funded by the Department of Veteran Affairs, 30% of military women are raped while serving (14% of them gang raped), 71% are sexually assaulted, and 90% are sexually harassed."[131]

According to data reported by BPW/USA, despite representing 15% of the US troops in Iraq, female soldiers only account for 2% of the war casualties, with half of them being reported as suicides caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Because of the given figures and as BPW/denounces, military women were 15 times more likely to…

the 30% maybe

but the 71% and 90% of the first paragraph could only make sense if wolf whistling and such constitute sexual harassment and a goose is assault.

otherwise, I'm calling BS.

(and wolf whistling is not harassment and a goose is not assault)

Faheem Mitha

@Jolenealaska those numbers see high. But why would the VA make stuff up? And what was the source of these statistics? What does studies mean here?

Casualties of the Iraq War

the quote is from wiki

Estimates of the casualties from the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (beginning with the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and the ensuing occupation and insurgency) have come in many forms, and the accuracy of the information available on different types of Iraq War casualties varies greatly. Scientific surveys of Iraqi deaths resulting from the first four years of the Iraq War found that between 151,000 to over one million Iraqis died as a result of conflict during this time. A later study, published in 2011, found that approximately 500,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the conflict since the invasion...

the VA wouldn't make up those stats, but the BPW may be manipulating them.

So perhaps the BPW calls a wolf whistle harassment.

I'm only possibly buying the 30% stat by including iffy he said/she said incidents.

The penalty if convicted of rape while in the military can include death.

(although it is only happened once, in 1961)

12:07 PM

trepidatious times tonight

I will be .... cleaning my camera sensor

it's like waiting for a close relative to go in for a major operation, only I'm performing the surgery.

these stats make a lot more sense:

Hey guys. What's up?

militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2014/12/04/…

Hi Cindy!

what is involved in cleaning a camera sensor?

I got a call about a job. Well, actually a message as it came around 7 pm Friday and I missed it. :)

@Cindy ooooooooooooooo

@Jolenealaska taking the lens off and vvvvvveeeeeerrrrrryyyyy carefully wiping it with a special swab

the sensor, not the lens

12:14 PM

@Cindy OOH!

So I can call later. The call was from the west coast so no need to call before 11 am my time.

that's quite a commute

LOL. Really!

the time zone explains why they would call so late too

so what's the job??

Yes. As soon as I saw the missed call and heard the message I knew. It's a rep job for a watch company. This position is only 3 days a week but they do have full time employees, so there is potential for later if something opens up. And if the research I did on what they pay is accurate I would be making in 3 days almost what I used to make for FT.

I said I wasn't going to get my hopes up too early on, but I can't help but be excited.

12:20 PM

i am available to send free samples to

I'll put you first on my list. ;)

I'd be excited too!

Good Luck!

Thanks! I'm pulling out all the stops!

basket of mini muffins sent?

That comes after the initial conversation.

And they will be homemade.

12:27 PM

each one will be carved into a scale model of a different watch that they make

a working scale model

can you tell us what the company is?

Citizen Watch.

definitely send me samples :)

Hubby reminded me that I'm not 30 any more. My response was that they have my resume so they surely know that, and they didn't have to call. So, maybe my experience will count more than my age. :)

jeez, he sounds like a real diplomat!

evidently feeling particularly foot-loose and fancy free with his balls that day

What are you applying for that age should matter?

Pole dancer?

12:42 PM

@ElendilTheTall LOL. I usually just tell him he should know. (He's 2 years older than I am.)

@Cerberus I know! I always though experience and work history would be more important.

I'm sure they are!

Yay its official the right amount of money was finally transferred into my bank from Comcast.

@Jay woohoo

drinks are on jay y'all

@Cerberus Not always. But I do have to say that this is the first time ever that I've felt that my age was a megative. Many of these companies are looking for young, fresh-out-of-college types. I'll give you an example. I've got ~30 years of experience. There is one company I've applied to 4 times (for the same position) in the last 9 months, and I can't even get an interview. Yet they have filled it 4 times with younguns and every 2 months or so it is open again. In fact it's open again now

@ElendilTheTall Haha only the first round

12:54 PM

@Jay I want iced tea. Unsweetened, lots of ice. ;)

@Cindy long island ice tea you mean?

unsweetened? what kind of pervert are you?

@Cindy Ah, I see. That sucks!

But young people also have it hard sometimes, because every job requires work experience in the field, etc...

@Cindy Use your coverletter to highlight the fact that your maturity will be a positive aspect of hiring you

@Cerberus So true, i had trouble finding a job at first because most jobs asked for 2-3 years of experience

@Jay the vicious circle of experience. you need experience to get the job, you can't get experience until you get the job

12:57 PM

and the jobs that was entry level straight out of college had soo many applications, that it was pretty much a free for all

dog eat dog world out there

Only reason i got this job is pretty i literally spent hours and hours practicing talking to myself in the mirror

and somehow really impressed one of the recruiters with my "confidences" and words

Exactly!

@ElendilTheTall The best kind. ;)

A wise man knows everything, a clever man knows every one.

I can say for a fact that I was very lucky that i got the job i got. Well 55% luck, 45% skills