Real Life and What's Happening...

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Acmegamer said:
Or not upgrade to Windows 11 as long as they're doing security and driver updates for Windows 10 you're good to go. I tend to replace systems every 4 to 6 years personally but that's me. If this current system won't support running Windows 11 I'll just wait and replace the whole system in at a later date. My current system will be four years old in April. Figure as long as I can get driver and security updates for the next two years I'm good

Honestly I'm very tempted to pass on the Windows 11 update for this system and wait to make the jump with the next system in two years. What I'm seeing of Windows 11 isn't really making me happy. Looks like a lot of change for change reasons which always irks me. If it works well, why fuck with it? Stop re-inventing the fucking wheel.
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I had hoped to get a bit longer out of the machine than 2024. Fortunately the laptop (a P52s) I also got does have a CPU on the supported list, so I have the option of using that as my driver as well. After I got it, I discovered you could pimp it out to 64GB RAM, and I might well not have gotten the desktop if I had known one could do that before I got it.

Really, the driver behind W11 is not a desire to use it, but rather a need to have ongoing security updates - stuff like Citrix workspace will start throwing its toys out of the cot on unsupported versions.

It's more of an embuggerance than a crisis. I'm mainly not amused that a machine that's just a few years old is dropped from support. The last generation of kit I bought lasted from 2012 through to earlier this year, and was still working perfectly well. I got the new machines for 4k support and the desktop for memory capacity and maybe hosting a gaming card once the price comes down out of the stratosphere.
 
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I can totally understand that and I tend to agree that it's frustrating. I ran the tool to check when it first came out and appeared fine. I know they've recently improved the tool to not only tell you whether you can do the update to Windows 11 but if you can't why.

Which is a big improvement over the previous version of the tool which said your system doesn't support Windows 11 without telling you why. Some of the reasons are correctable and some aren't but at least you know why now.

I think Microsoft is caught between a rock and a hard place with this particular version. Since there were all those recent security issues with cpus built into them. lol Of course learning that the issue was actually an ongoing and old one was quite annoying.

I've got my systems running the way I like and as long as I can get driver and security updates for the next two to three years I really think for peace of mind I'll leave off on this one. As I've gotten older tech by and large doesn't thrill me. I've slowly become more of a "I want what I want and I want it to work and work consistently" sort of user.

I don't want to spend hours and hours dicking with hardware and software anymore. It's why I no longer build my own systems anymore. I'll repair them or replace/upgrade parts but overall I'm done with done with tech as a "oh I want to fiddle with that" thing. It's a tool for me these days and that's fine.
 
Acmegamer said:
I've got my systems running the way I like and as long as I can get driver and security updates for the next two to three years I really think for peace of mind I'll leave off on this one. As I've gotten older tech by and large doesn't thrill me. I've slowly become more of a "I want what I want and I want it to work and work consistently" sort of user.
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I'm a contractor so I use this stuff for work need it to work - I'm largely in that mindset as well. Keeping certain capabilities often drives particular software versions so one wants a build that does the job predictably. At the moment I'm using a 10 year old version of Visio as they drastically nerfed the database modelling functionality in the version after that. I've got Adobe CS6 at the moment and it works reasonably well but it's starting to show its age as DTRPG announced they were dropping support for it.

I've had a history of getting a build working and sticking with that for many years at a time - at one point I was running a portfolio of 16 bit Windows software well into the latter part of the '90s. Why? Because it worked and was reasonably stable.

What's most annoying is that this happened right at the beginning of a cycle - although the machinery was secondhand it was all just one generation old. If I had been using the machines for a few years I would have been less fussed.
 
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Acmegamer said:
Or not upgrade to Windows 11 as long as they're doing security and driver updates for Windows 10 you're good to go. I tend to replace systems every 4 to 6 years personally but that's me. If this current system won't support running Windows 11 I'll just wait and replace the whole system in at a later date. My current system will be four years old in April. Figure as long as I can get driver and security updates for the next two years I'm good

Honestly I'm very tempted to pass on the Windows 11 update for this system and wait to make the jump with the next system in two years. What I'm seeing of Windows 11 isn't really making me happy. Looks like a lot of change for change reasons which always irks me. If it works well, why fuck with it? Stop re-inventing the fucking wheel.
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Can I get a MF'n Amen on this!

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Was it Vista when they finally decided not try their best to make sure old software kept on working? I seem to recall that's when they decided to stop replicating old bugs that random software counted on and other such things
 
Acmegamer said:
Honestly I'm very tempted to pass on the Windows 11 update for this system and wait to make the jump with the next system in two years. What I'm seeing of Windows 11 isn't really making me happy. Looks like a lot of change for change reasons which always irks me. If it works well, why fuck with it? Stop re-inventing the fucking wheel.
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So Microsoft is continuing their habit of releasing a good OS followed by a shit one?
 
Bunch said:
Was it Vista when they finally decided not try their best to make sure old software kept on working? I seem to recall that's when they decided to stop replicating old bugs that random software counted on and other such things
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Vista was the first release of the NT 6 code base. TBH, I think Windows peaked with the NT5 code base (Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and 2003 R2) and it's been downhill ever since. The userspace on Windows is an abyss of tentacled horrors.
 
Simlasa said:
And here I am holding tight to my Win 7 system... only giving up XP when it stopped letting me watch streaming stuff.
Gonna have to get a new computer, but that's going to bring a tsuname of annoying issues.
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I can't even chime in with my usual spiel about secondhand Thinkpads - everything before the 80 series is unsupported by Windows 11.
 
I just got laid off and am seething with rage. While HR was babbling about severance pay and shipping their PC back, I hardly paid attention because I couldn't even think straight I was so angry. Once again I am screwed over by "it's not what you know it's who you know." I am going out for a drink
 
Brock Savage said:
I just got laid off and am seething with rage. While HR was babbling about severance pay and shipping their PC back, I hardly paid attention because I couldn't even think straight I was so angry. Once again I am screwed over by "it's not what you know it's who you know." I am going out for a drink
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That sucks ass man. I can't believe people are getting laid off at a time like this, there's so many places that are begging for warm bodies right now.
 
Giganotosaurus said:
That sucks ass man. I can't believe people are getting laid off at a time like this, there's so many places that are begging for warm bodies right now.
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I hear a LOT of noise locally about the need for teachers... but I know experienced people trying to get hired by the school disctrict and getting a whole lot of runaround by the folks in the office downtown, stories of lost paperwork and technical hold-ups that have a lot of us scratching our heads. It's tempting to think there is some sort of hiring freeze despite stories on the news about a 'critical shortage'.
Same thing for nurses, where I hear stories about a shortage, but nurses tell me the hospital is purposefully running short-staffed.
 
Simlasa said:
I hear a LOT of noise locally about the need for teachers... but I know experienced people trying to get hired by the school disctrict and getting a whole lot of runaround by the folks in the office downtown, stories of lost paperwork and technical hold-ups that have a lot of us scratching our heads. It's tempting to think there is some sort of hiring freeze despite stories on the news about a 'critical shortage'.
Same thing for nurses, where I hear stories about a shortage, but nurses tell me the hospital is purposefully running short-staffed.
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I would hazard a guess that not having enough office staff to deal with the paperwork is exasperating the problem.

As for the hospitals purposely running short-staffed, that sounds like conspiracy theory territory.
 
Giganotosaurus said:
I would hazard a guess that not having enough office staff to deal with the paperwork is exasperating the problem.

As for the hospitals purposely running short-staffed, that sounds like conspiracy theory territory.
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Maybe... I'm only talking about local stuff though... so small-scale conspiracy at worst.
 
Simlasa said:
Same thing for nurses, where I hear stories about a shortage, but nurses tell me the hospital is purposefully running short-staffed.
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i've never heard of such a thing. wife is a nurse, mother is a nurse, mother in law is in heatlhcare
 
Tulpa Girl said:
Work has gotten more stressful, due to the presence of the new corporate overlords, and their completely lack of understanding of basic human psychology and reality in general. It's gotten to the point that I'm updating my resume, although for various reasons I probably won't seriously start to job-hunt until sometime next month.

In the last several days this has coincided with one of my occasional funks where I'd really just not have to deal with people in general. Given the increased stress from the work, and having to use every last bit of self-control not to bitchslap the new manager, has dialed up the people-loathing instinct to point where I don't even want to deal with people online... which is why I haven't posted or logged in over the last few days. I also canceled the one-shot I had initially planned to run for the teens yesterday; thankfully, the adult group already had planned to skip last night for various reasons.

Based on previous iterations of said funks, this will probably abate in a couple more days, or maybe a few days after that. Until, probably won't be logging in during that time, or at least not as much.
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Illegitimi non carborundum. At least now's a good time to be looking for work.

From my experience, you're going to encounter narcissistic cunts in about 1 workplace in 3. You don't owe them anything, least of all your mental health.
 
Giganotosaurus said:
I would hazard a guess that not having enough office staff to deal with the paperwork is exasperating the problem.

As for the hospitals purposely running short-staffed, that sounds like conspiracy theory territory.
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Not really, hospitals are notoriously bad about being run by bean counters. Not so much purposely running short staffed as cutting back when there is a temporary slow down even though they know it takes months or years to refill positions. This happened where my wife works, with Covid the ER actually slowed down for a time as people with minor issues were staying home rather than risk getting exposed to Covid or being tested for Covid (and quarantined) when they just had a cold or flu.
Staff started voluntarily taking unpaid days off to keep the HR cuts at bay since it was obvious what was causing the slow down, and that it wouldn't last. This is in a hospital already facing staffing issues. HR doesn't care they just want to keep their short term costs down, damn the long term consequences.

Many hospitals rely fairly heavily on travelling nurses. These help to fill in for vacations, vacancies and seasonal upswings. I understand there are a lot fewer travelling nurses these days as people don't want to be moving around so much with Covid. Not sure how much control these nurses have over placement which may also be an issue. I could certainly see a travelling nurse not wanting to get assigned to a Covid hotspot or an area where the politics of Covid are at odds with their own (vaccine / mask mandates or the other end pretending it is just the flu with no precautions needed).
I think this shortage of travelling nurses is where many of the nursing shortage stories are coming from, although I have heard nursing schools are seeing a reduction of applicants (still highly competitive though so sounds like seats are getting filled and this may not amount to much long term).
 
Finally got past the funk I was in, just in time to take the vacation days I had requested some time back. Currently chilling out in Atlanta with some friends, and get to relax here through the weekend.

Job hunting will probably be delayed another month or two, as I realistically need my current insurance for some medical stuff that's coming up soon.
 
Giganotosaurus said:
I would hazard a guess that not having enough office staff to deal with the paperwork is exasperating the problem.

As for the hospitals purposely running short-staffed, that sounds like conspiracy theory territory.
Click to expand...

Not really, hospitals are notoriously bad about being run by bean counters. Not so much purposely running short staffed as cutting back when there is a temporary slow down even though they know it takes months or years to refill positions. This happened where my wife works, with Covid the ER actually slowed down for a time as people with minor issues were staying home rather than risk getting exposed to Covid or being tested for Covid (and quarantined) when they just had a cold or flu.
Staff started voluntarily taking unpaid days off to keep the HR cuts at bay since it was obvious what was causing the slow down, and that it wouldn't last. This is in a hospital already facing staffing issues. HR doesn't care they just want to keep their short term costs down, damn the long term consequences.

Many hospitals rely fairly heavily on travelling nurses. These help to fill in for vacations, vacancies and seasonal upswings. I understand there are a lot fewer travelling nurses these days as people don't want to be moving around so much with Covid. Not sure how much control these nurses have over placement which may also be an issue. I could certainly see a travelling nurse not wanting to get assigned to a Covid hotspot or an area where the politics of Covid are at odds with their own (vaccine / mask mandates or the other end pretending it is just the flu with no precautions needed).
I think this shortage of travelling nurses is where many of the nursing shortage stories are coming from, although I have heard nursing schools are seeing a reduction of applicants (still highly competitive though so sounds like seats are getting filled and this may not amount to much long term).

Simlasa said:
I hear a LOT of noise locally about the need for teachers... but I know experienced people trying to get hired by the school disctrict and getting a whole lot of runaround by the folks in the office downtown, stories of lost paperwork and technical hold-ups that have a lot of us scratching our heads. It's tempting to think there is some sort of hiring freeze despite stories on the news about a 'critical shortage'.
Same thing for nurses, where I hear stories about a shortage, but nurses tell me the hospital is purposefully running short-staffed.
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Also seen some stories suggesting there is a mismatch of jobs and employees. A lot of entry level stuff and a lot of jobs with very specific entry requirements, which is leaving many unemployed unable to apply or grossly over qualified. Doesn't seem to be a bad time to be a kid fresh out of high school though. Star Bucks seems to be hiring all the time lately. I have always thought for a guy Star Bucks was sort of the home economics of high school / college jobs. Decent pay, free coffee and like 4-1 women to men working there.
 
Toadmaster said:
I have always thought for a guy Star Bucks was sort of the home economics of high school / college jobs. Decent pay, free coffee and like 4-1 women to men working there.
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Not so helpful if they've got student loans to pay off though.
Also, the specific teachers I'm referencing all have experience in other counties/states, none are newbies. One managed to get hired to a public school while waiting on the public school district.
It just seems frustrating and odd.
 
Simlasa said:
Not so helpful if they've got student loans to pay off though.
Also, the specific teachers I'm referencing all have experience in other counties/states, none are newbies. One managed to get hired to a public school while waiting on the public school district.
It just seems frustrating and odd.
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Sorry went off on a tangent, I was just thinking as a kid just out of high school or just staring at a community college it would be a nice job, not suggesting it would be a good job for someone with work experience, bills, maybe a family to support.

I got a job at Burger King when I was a high school senior, and it wasn't easy getting that job. The one group that seems to have it pretty good right now are those just getting into the job market, with a lot of entry level jobs bumping up their wages, and many to choose from. Every fast food place, hardware store etc has help wanted signs up, and some are having to change their hours due to a lack of employees to fill the shifts.

Unfortunately it sounds like your friends are in the spot that I've been reading about where they have the skills and experience so employers who say they need people should be shoving the hiring papers into their hands, but for some reason they just aren't responding. I think a lot of employers are so used to being able to super selective and make people jump through hoops just because "thems the rulz" that they literally don't know how to skip the BS and just get people hired now.

HR is rarely directly impacted by staffing shortages (unless they are in HR). I often wished I could make them come out on the fire line to replace the seasonal employee who quit 2 weeks into the season when they would tell me it will take 4-6 months to hire another. They used to be able to get someone hired in a couple of weeks, but seems they can't do that anymore.
 
Toadmaster said:
Sorry went off on a tangent, I was just thinking as a kid just out of high school or just staring at a community college it would be a nice job, not suggesting it would be a good job for someone with work experience, bills, maybe a family to support.
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I was just reading somewhere that the average age of fast food workers is 27.
 
Giganotosaurus said:
I gotta say, Coyotes attacking people is something I have never heard of. Reading the article tells me that the parks visitors are some of the dumbest human beings alive. Wild animals are not pets people. Anyone stupid enough to feed them deserves what's coming to them.
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They are being fed by people so much and so often the coyotes show up when they hear candy wrappers. This is a human problem, not a coyote problem. Close the whole park until the coyotes start hunting rabbits again. Not gonna end well for the coyotes. :sad:
 
Giganotosaurus said:
Sadistic and manipulative enough to be in management, but too stupid to be in upper management.
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You just clarified something for me after being trounced by mgmnt for decades. Kind of like the Peter Principle of cruelty. Nice!
 
Simlasa said:
I was just reading somewhere that the average age of fast food workers is 27.
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Wow, I wonder what they define as "fast food". I could see that if they include chain restaurants like Applebees, Denny's and such, but that is very surprising if it is just classic fast food, the burger places, Taco Bell, KFC etc.

I guess they do get a number of much older employees trying to supplement their SS which could pull the average way up without actually having a lot of 25-30 year old employees working those jobs. 5x 20 year olds and 1x 65 year old provides an average age of 27.5 but when you go there you would mostly see "teens".
 
Nobby-W said:
Vista was the first release of the NT 6 code base. TBH, I think Windows peaked with the NT5 code base (Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and 2003 R2) and it's been downhill ever since. The userspace on Windows is an abyss of tentacled horrors.
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Cthulhu of OSes?
 
Giganotosaurus said:
As for the hospitals purposely running short-staffed, that sounds like conspiracy theory territory.
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Almost every hospital I know runs understaffed intentionally to save money. Understaffing is a major cause of burnout as the remaining workers have a heavier load. Caregivers care about their patients, and pick up the slack. The admin care about dollars.
 
chuckdee said:
Is there something where you can't control your meds? He's your doctor- not the other way around unless there's special circumstances. He's supposed to work with you, not you deal with the shit he throws your way. Might be time to find another?
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Long story, I can see them for free, as they're a public mental health organization, which I've only had trouble with two doctors my first, and this one--and yeah I had issues with the first one so they moved me to a doctor at another nearby city who was great. They didn't offer that this time. I have found another but it has a copay (not a bad one, but since I'm on disability any extra money I spend hurts.)
 
Luca said:
I just want to offer my best wishes to all those of you who’re facing difficulties right now. Hang in there and hopefully things will take an upturn.

Man, I suck at this thing. But really hoping you get a break.
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Nah that was perfect. I am terrible at comforting people who are sad and find that expressing my true feelings on the matter is often counter productive (people don't want solutions, they want comfort).

On the plus side I am cool as a cucumber in a crisis situation.
 
Luca said:
I just want to offer my best wishes to all those of you who’re facing difficulties right now. Hang in there and hopefully things will take an upturn.

Man, I suck at this thing. But really hoping you get a break.
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Thank you, it really is appreciated. And sometimes saying things simply is saying things best.
 
Health stuff. Nothing serious. Lifestyle changes and all. And tests, lots of tests. You know… stuff.
 
Brock Savage said:
I just got laid off and am seething with rage. While HR was babbling about severance pay and shipping their PC back, I hardly paid attention because I couldn't even think straight I was so angry. Once again I am screwed over by "it's not what you know it's who you know." I am going out for a drink
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Ouch, sorry dude.
 
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