On Fri, 17 Mar 2017 16:33:13 +0000, Stephen wrote:

>> Never underestimate the power of people to ignore what's right in front
>> of their faces.
> 
> I know. Most people only see what they want to see.

Yup. :)

>> What's more, we all are "stupid" about something -
>> sometime it's ignorance, or just missing something critical (I had a
>> student in a class years ago who, for one of the labs, misread the
>> instructions and used the examples in the book verbatim, rather than
>> using the example as a guide to create a configuration file.  He got
>> halfway through the lab before he started having problems, and had to
>> go back and redo it.  Challenging thing for an instructor to deal with
>> - catching him up without making him feel bad about such a mistake in
>> front of the class (he was sitting in the front row, as I recall).
>>
>>
> Easily done and kudos to you. But the important thing is did he repeat
> his mistake?
> That is teaching?

He didn't repeat his mistake, but I think he felt badly about how much 
he'd missed the mark by.  Fortunately, I kept a set of files that had 
"the answer" in them so he was able to catch up easily, and he did see 
what he'd done wrong, so he learned that way.

Making mistakes is a great way to learn, and I underscored with my class 
as well as the people I've managed the past year (just changed teams, so 
I'm going through this with the new team I'm managing) that when it comes 
to mistakes, I've made a few.  (Not actually quoting a Queen song, but I 
may as well be.)

>> Actually, for us, it usually involves fireworks or guns.  'Murica.
>>
> Guns are for crims or fearties. A weapon is whatever you can get your
> hands on. Be it a pencil or a shoelace.

Oh, yeah, but when it comes to doing stupid shit, 'Murica is great at 
using those two things as ways of demonstrating that stupidity.

>>>> The UK had Brexit, but we had a Trump card.
>>>>
>>> And you're welcome to it.
>>
>> Now what did I ever do to you? :P
>>
> You live in places that are hard to visit. :)

Pffft.  You need to come out to our island sometime and check it out.  
Preferably *after* they've finished the reconstruction work in our 
bathroom. :/

A couple weeks ago (and keep in mind, that construction on our apartment 
building wrapped up last April - so it's less than a year old), the on-
site property management folks stopped by to let us know they thought 
there might be a problem with one of our bathrooms - there was water 
leaking into the garage, and it *seemed* to be coming from our unit, 
right above where the water was coming through.

Week before last, towards the end of the week, we had no fewer than 7 
contractors in our master bath at the same time, trying to figure out 
where the water was coming from.  All pointing fingers at each other 
(plumbers, folks who installed the shower pan, folks who installed the 
other fixtures) - and they concluded that it had to be coming from the 
shower - which made sense, because the wood had swelled up to the point 
that the tiles and grout were cracking.

So, demolition early last week.  Glass shower cubicle removed, tile 
pulled up, underlayment - and yep, the damn pan was installed 
incorrectly, and it had flooded.  Wood absolutely *soaked* and rotting.  
Oh, and mold - tons of mold.  Foam insulation completely soaked.

Mold abatement team came in on Friday to start prepping, and found that 
the sopping wet insulation had leaked over into the next section of floor 
- so the toilet comes out, along with the rest of the floor and subfloor.

A couple days ago, the main investor in the property - who is properly 
pissed off about this (but they're all relieved it's *us* and not some of 
the, shall we say, fussier residents) says that obviously we can't stay 
in the apartment, and that they'll pay for us to stay in a hotel.  The on-
site property management (a couple of great gals to work with) tell us 
"find someplace nice to stay; the construction company is buying, because 
they screwed up.  And let us know where, and we'll give you 
recommendations on great places to eat in the area if we can.  Oh, and 
next month's rent?  You're getting a discount, along with discounts on 
water and electric because they're having to use lots of both to do this 
work." I've got a buddy who plays blues, and they were doing a jam 
tonight at a local brewery, so I asked him where a decent place to stay 
was up near where they were playing.  I said "not the Ritz, but not Motel 
6", and got a great recommendation.  The recommendations for local 
restaurants were fantastic - locally farmed, locally grown food that was 
some of the best we've had in a long time.

All on someone else's nickel. :)  Except for the beer and dinner tonight, 
unless they insist - because we'd planned on going up there tonight 
anyways.

While we're out, we get a call from the abatement guys.  More bad news - 
the insulation is wet back under the cabinets, so they're going to have 
to stop and get hold of the subcontractor who did the cabinet work and 
have the cabinets removed sometime next week, and then the abatement guys 
have to come back and finish the job.

And, of course, I work from home - and as mentioned earlier, I moved to 
manage a different department (our customer/partner training team - 3 
people right now, but we're going to grow it - I'm really excited about 
the new role) - one of my first tasks was to create training for, shall 
we say, a very large local software company whom we're partnering with on 
some stuff - to be delivered this coming Monday.  So demolition work is 
going on while I'm on the call with them earlier this week.

Next Saturday, we have two concerts in Seattle on Saturday; PDQ Bach 
(Peter Schickele) in the afternoon, and then the Seattle Symphony 
performing Beethoven's 5th Symphony that evening.  (That is actually a 
very funny coincidence; Schickele did a recording back in 1990 called "On 
the air", during which they have a performance of the first movement of 
the 5th - complete with a sports-announcer-style commentary.  I really 
wonder if they planned it, or if it was just happenstance.)

And on the 28th, it's our 20th wedding anniversary.  So, with the rent 
discount (they haven't said how much, but knowing them, it'll be 
significant), we're going to have a pretty nice 20th anniversary 
celebration. :)

Which just goes to show that mold in the bathroom can be a "good" 
thing. ;)

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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