Discussion Thread Monday 28 🥪 April 2025

I love how this cat sits
This is the mother cat. Who absolutely will be spayed soon.
- She looks like she has a quest for me.
- she's so pretty 🙂
  
  She always covers her paws with her tail. It gives her a real "royalty" kind of look.
- She's beautiful!
- Oh an orange girl!

On Saturday, I thought about switching to primary teaching. On Sunday, a customer comes in with her kids, the older one annoying the younger one. The mum tells the older kid to pick his favourite item in a particular aisle of the shop, and he does but then goes back to annoying his brother. So I went around with this kid and we picked out different colours and numbers. The mum tells me she's a primary teacher and that I should do primary.
I will miss teaching science a bit. I explained a bit about stomach acid to a kid today and his face lit up, and also saw a prac simulating digestion, with food turning into crap, and students got to "shit out" the food by cutting a hole at the end of a plastic bag and squeezing the digested food out.
But I think primary is where I'm headed :)

I will very shortly be undertaking the exciting task of filling the van with petrol for the first time. Like the blinkers the fuel cap is on the opposite side of the car than I am used to. I have to break 19 years of habit and pull up to a different fuel pump.

I did my democratic duty today. Got a spam text from trumpests as I was standing in queue. Coincidence or geolocation? Is that even possible?
- The magnate behind trumpests could be spending all that money on the betterment of society but instead forms a shonky political party?
  
  I can think of two things right now that money could go to that would probably have a positive impact
- Coincidence. They're not that advanced.
  I got a text today too, and I was no where near a voting place. Unless they are so advanced they could tell I opened my postal vote envelope I think it's safe to say they are just spamming everyone.
  
  They are. They keep texting me.
  They started out with reasonable pitches like fixing housing and high speed trains but now they’re also talking about double fees for international students and cutting immigration by 80%… the mask is slipping. The real agenda emerges.
  Edit: Unfortunately you can’t report it as spam and Do Not Call doesn’t apply. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14654113/amp/trumpet-text-message.html

8 rental inspections booked this week. I've got a couple more with queries in as times are not listed. It's getting very hard to keep track of everything. My initial spreadsheet idea didn't work out, I'm going with the advanced scraps of paper approach instead. Allows for shuffling and throwing in the bin as required.

I turned off email and sms notifications on my phone. Holy shit what a reduction in distracting beeps to break my concentration. Most of it was bullshit emails or reminders about services that really didn't need my attention there and then.
- the only email notifications you need are bills. Insane people have those on if you're not on call.

Spotted in Brunswick. Bit hard to read, but very funny
- The spam from this party is unreal - got two messages over the last few days, and more before that. How do they have my number?!
- What’s the last word at the top changed to? Rump?
  
  Yeah… Vote 0 rump riot (bum face)
  Nonsense solutions reducing the living
- It's art!
- Love to see it!!!
- This is brilliant!!

Sanity check: My kelpies got anxiety. There were some fireworks over the weekend in the middle of suburbia for some carnival thing. We didnt know, and it took 30-45 minutes to get a poor traumatized dog out of his kennel to come inside for a cuddle on the couch. I'm speaking to the vet to get some anti anxiety meds. I just asked the council if there was some sort of site or list to get notified on planned fireworks (since the council have to approve them anyway) they said there wasn't but I could put in a request in writing.
Am I being THAT guy if I send an email to the council just saying "Hey, it'd be really awesome if you updated your request form so that when you approve the fireworks it sends out an email or updates a web page saying "Fireworks approved for this date and time at this location"? the oval thing they use is surrounded by housing estates, seems like a really simple thing to do to make a dog (and his owners) life a bit easier? Or am I being a NIMBY?
- Be That Guy. You've found a hole in the system that needs plugging.
  It ain't just for dogs, people get triggered by that shit too.
- Seems reasonable to me.
- Not at all a NIMBY. It sounds like a great suggestion, and is really something they should already be doing. You might want to consider either sending it to your local councillor as well, or at least sending them a copy, as if they push the idea it will tend to get things happening much quicker. It's the sort of thing that should be fairly easy for them to implement and is also likely to be popular without upsetting anyone, so they might be happy to jump on board to push the idea forward. I'd suggest an opt-in email list that people could sign up to, which could be advertised to pet owners with the registration renewal notices.
- That's a fantastic idea! I don't know if those Asian cracker bunches count for firework approvals, but I've had them let off meters from the house without warning before --panicking both me and the cats.
  If there is notice, I start playing some thumpy music (like Rammstein) very low several hours beforehand and up the volume every half hour or so. Seems to help somewhat. There is also a thing called a Thumdercoat.
- Great idea. It'd be low effort for them and would probably save them money on having to deal with/catch escaped dogs roaming the streets.
  Councils tend to be more fragmented and disconnected than most orgs though so it'll be a matter of getting to the right person.
  I hope the poor pup's ok. I grew up with kelpies and they're such beautiful dogs.
- I don't think this is NIMBY, I think it's very very reasonable. My only note is that your council might never do anything about it (iirc you are in Casey?) but I'm sure you know all about managing your own expectations when it comes to getting the cogs moving in local government...
- At minimum councils should have help pages for pet owners regarding fireworks.
  They want to regulate fireworks then they have the responsibility to make sure it goes smoothly and safely.
- Do it, a warning gives you the chance to start medicating pup ahead of time (some recommend taking it a few days before a stressful event) and make sure he’s inside when the noise begins.
  I’m not sure how effective it would be on a kennel without a door but you can buy stick on soundproofing foam intended for musicians. Perhaps try it inside an enclosed space like built in wardrobe or a ‘litterbox cabinet’ so there’s a quiet place to hide?

Yesterday a huge bird flew past my head while I was walking along the beach. It was a sea eagle 😲 https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profiles/white-bellied-sea-eagle/
today I saw a pair of small hawks hunting on the grassy dunes . I took a pic but it looks so tiny perched up there on the top of the tree where it can look out for prey

A kid today used TWENTY matches to light a Bunsen burner because another kid kept blowing out the flame. Grrr
- lol at that point I'd just give them a bic lighter.
- Not cool, it's a safety issue.
  
  Literally playing with fire.

I have now done Democracy. There really needs to be a way to put the Arse Trumpets lower than last place.
- tough call cause I wanna put family first last. And Pauline Pantsdown last. And the Libs last.
  
  Yeah, I had 5 out of 8 candidates that I wanted last. I just want the trumpets even more last.
- Arse trumpets hehe
- I don't like the libs but I put them above those wild fringe parties so they won't get a preference at all. Put them any higher and it all flows to the liberal party anyway
  
  Yeah I rate the libs higher than the RWNJ parties. If the choice was dutton or palmer I'd take dutton... and probably look to leave the country.

My back and feet are absolutely dead, this is the worst possible posture to have while working lmao. I only have one more mini report thing for the day (but it's going to be a pain and a half to write)
Then I need to look at trying to do this in python: looking up original and replacement strings in a CSV table, and renaming files accordingly using regex. So the CSV might have two columns, old (1, 2, 3...) and new (89, 23, 7...) and I need to rename a folder of files from item_1_img_1.jpg, item_1_img_2.jpg, item_2_img_1.jpg, item_3_img_1.jpg... to item_89_img_1.jpg, item_89_img_2.jpg, item_23_img_1.jpg, item_7_img_1.jpg etc...
I know what steps are involved logically but not the functions or all the futzing around with environments etc. Might be time to ask chatgpt. Brain is fried. Had to move around tables and washing machines and what not today...
- Chatgpt is great for stuff like this

I'm slow cooking braised steak and onions and the house smells amazing. Also very peppery.
- sounds very nice 🤤

Back from holiday. Landed to a grey Melbourne over the weekend and wondered why TF I live here. Then I had a coffee and I was like "oh yep, no I kind of get it now". Devastated to discover I haven't been made redundant in my absence at work.
- Where did you go? What did you do?
  
  just up near coffs harbor visiting family. Mostly just drank coffee at the beach.

Ugh. As if the texts weren’t enough I got an 🍑🎺 ad that was dogwhistling against the acknowledgement of country and passive aggressively doing the ‘all ~~lives~~ Australians matter’ crap. And openly saying that they intend to emulate Rump.
I have an old android around here… when I find the charger I can install Revance or whatever the latest thing is and watch videos with that.
Edit: I am feeling kind of scared that people will buy it though, especially when they hammer on really salient issues like housing and cost of living and offer a scapegoat.
- I'm not getting any messages, nor emails 🤷‍♀️

Okay, I didn't manage to get up early enough, but I've helped my mum with all the morning chores, had a good breakfast, made a rare SECOND! cup of coffee and written down the most urgent work stuff to do. Time to put on the headphones and get blastin'. I wish I could've brought my work laptop with me though, my personal laptop has so many distracting things on it...
E: getting stuck into it \o/ but holy hell working in my bedroom crouched on the floor is not doing my back and legs a favour. Study has no AC and living room too busy with tradespeople coming and going and having to shut a lot of windows to run the AC (and it will be too cold for my mum).
Have sussed out a good massage place nearby that I am definitely visiting tomorrow...

was cold, put oodie on
now i'm boiling
😶‍🌫️

Coming back to work almost feels like a holiday from kind of being a single parent, looking after two sick kids, and a massive drive yesterday

Nap awake nap awake nap awake
How is it already Monday evening 😭

tide's still out, time for a walk 🙂🌊

Sky pretty

I am ready for my holiday. Can I go now?
- Yes you may. Provided you've cleaned your room and brushed the cat and put the rubbish out.
  
  I wouldn't mind a holiday that involved brushing cats. If the cats are friendly enough...
- not gonna lie I'm ready to go again! got one booked for next month. Pretty excited.
- As long as you've brought enough holiday to share with the whole class.

I dreamt about babies choking all night and I have woken up a bit disconcerted and on edge.

Beep Beep 🚚
🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋
- A trio of tacos, please. And some sort of fancy cocktail, with a little umbrella in it.
  
  🌮🌮🌮🎩💎♦️^☂️🍹
- Bacon & eggs on toast please and coffee, lots of coffee. Mondays suck.
  
  🥓🍳🍳
  🍞
  ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️

I gave in, I put the heater on this morning.

Yeah, I’d been messing with her mouth and trying to get in some little scrubs to get her used to the toothbrush… but today was the first real attempt at a clean and it was so difficult.

Edit: I brushed my own teeth right after and she just sat and watched me do it with a haunted thousand yard stare

Nose is blocked. I hate mouth breathing 😭
whinge whinge rant rant

Oh man. I feel so sick. Definitely ringing to sort things today.
While I wait I’m going through the document the vet sent me about dental health stuff for cats.

I also got an inspection letter so I’ll have to sort a time for that and at least drag myself through a quick tidy and sweep of this tip. They always know when it’s a bad time don’t they?

☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️