[Laminar]

At the last company I worked for, I decided to stop traveling full time and took an in-office design job where I spent all day at a desk doing complex calculations, then generating reports based on those calculations.

That job required:
- Carefulness and extreme attention to detail
- Ability to consistently run a task from start to finish
- Excellent organisational skills
- Extreme ability to focus and prioritise many tasks and projects
- Keeping track of multiple projects
- Sitting at a desk from 8 to 5
- Patience waiting for data and responses from customers

After a couple of years of that I was in a not-great place. My performance at work was fine - it usually took a few iterations back and forth with our calculation checker before I'd get all of my stuff right, and I had trouble doing anything until right before it was due, but I got good reviews and my work looked fine. But I would say the crushing mental toll of being in that box all day wore on me to the point that it was affecting me at home my wife wanted me to look for another job.

The funny part is the above list applies to my current job, except for the sitting at a desk part. There are some days where I do spend most of the day at my desk, but since we're in an active production facility there's always something to go look at, fix, troubleshoot, or improve. Any time I have to sit down and do the long term financial planning, scheduling, or budgeting hurts though.

[ghporter]

Yep, the set of constraints for the previous job were (almost) more than your coping strategies could handle, but simply changing the “stuck at a desk all day” to “getting up and moving around” part was enough to let you manage. I’m sure there’s a lot to “getting up and moving around” beyond just mobility; more relevant inputs/stimuli, changes in environment (including background sounds, different people, etc.), and so on. But it clearly broke you out of being chained to your desk, and for people with even mild ADHD, a 100% desk job is painful.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

This sent me down a rabbit hole yesterday of 2013-2017 posts. It made me wonder again if ANY engagement is better than less engagement, but it's positive. A huge amount of those posts were BadKosh and Chongo parroting media talking points, CTP doing a bad job of arguing in bad faith, and everyone else getting all riled up about it. Besson had a lot of "but why [social thing]?" type of posts.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...22#post4031922

In hindsight, I was unkind.

I absolutely love the shit out of besson, but without knowing the spectrum part, it was almost impossible to resist giving him a hard time.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

What makes you think you're somewhere in the neurodiversity universe?

This is going to sound silly, but the biggest thing is how hooked I can get on a good grinding mechanic in a video game. If given the opportunity, I’ll literally do it almost every waking hour for weeks straight.

[subego]

@Lam,

How do you compensate for the disorganization and lack of focus?

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

✅continually losing or misplacing things

Like, your wallet and keys, or everything?

[subego]

On (a less interesting) topic, had to drive around a bunch yesterday. Generally $4.49⁹ in the city. Five cents less at the cheap Mobil. Saw a place with diesel for $4.99⁹, which is odd because it’s little cheaper than par everywhere else.

Control Speedway in the burbs was $4.09⁹. Slightly irritating because I passed $3.99⁹ options along the way.

[ghporter]

I’ve been seeing some yo-yo pricing for regular lately, generally around $3.10, +/- anywhere from 4 to 8 cents, and that changes on a daily basis.

I haven’t paid a lot of attention over the last few weeks, but it seems like the yo-yo effect is part of a downward trend - specifically in the Sea World area of San Antonio. With that said, I don’t think there are any local market issues that could impact prices, so I’m probably seeing a general trend overlaid on the prices in this “suburban” market.

[subego]

For easy copying: ±

[ghporter]

Thanks. I just fudged it…and omitted the 9/10 bit as well.

[andi*pandi]

Average price I'm seeing is still around $3.50 here.

[subego]

Diesel

In the city: $5.49⁹
In the burbs: $3.79⁹

JFC

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

@Lam,

How do you compensate for the disorganization and lack of focus?

I can put headphones on and chug through a grueling task, but I'm probably going to feel spent afterwards. And if there is ANY hiccup, like a needing an answer from someone who's not around, needing to make an actual phone call, or a spreadsheet I can't find, you've lost me and we'll try again tomorrow. If there's ever the tiniest delay in an app loading or freezing up for a second I almost reflexively alt-tab over to Chrome and I will lose about 20 minutes checking out my usual forums and Marketplace. Only the strictest of deadlines where someone is specifically expecting results from me at a certain time will get me to really dial in.

Originally Posted by subego 

Like, your wallet and keys, or everything?

If I'm working on a car, I can put a tool or part down and 15 seconds later have no idea where it is.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

This is going to sound silly, but the biggest thing is how hooked I can get on a good grinding mechanic in a video game. If given the opportunity, I’ll literally do it almost every waking hour for weeks straight.

I think that was me with reddit. When I deleted the app, Settings moved back a spot and took its place. The number of times I had 3.5 seconds of mental downtime and pulled out my phone and opened up Settings purely on muscle memory is wild.

Fortnite is interesting in this way - in a 20 minute match, you might actually get into only 5 or so firefights, the rest of the match is spent exploring and opening loot boxes. On its face the ratio of time played to actual action seems poor, but apparently the concept of opening loot boxes to perfect the loadout pokes at the right reward centers in my brain that it's still compelling.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

If I'm working on a car, I can put a tool or part down and 15 seconds later have no idea where it is.

I worked on a shoot where where everyone was convinced they had filmed a ghost wandering around in the background.

Nope. Just me looking for where I put down my gloves.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

but apparently the concept of opening loot boxes to perfect the loadout pokes at the right reward centers in my brain that it's still compelling.

Have you ever heard of Disgaea?

You can go on adventures inside your loot, which improves the loot. Improved loot makes you stronger, which lets you go deeper into the loot to improve it more.

This is all I do. I don’t actually play through the story.

[Laminar]

I played through all of Borderlands and found the constantly shifting weapon classes and abilities exhausting. Likewise, any game where I feel like my outcome will be affected purely by my willingness to put in more time turns me off right away. I was watching YouTube videos for Rocket League tips and the general recommendation was to practice for at least an hour a day to get good at the dribbling and mid-flight mechanics...not a chance. Destiny 2 has huge customization options to find the right class, weapon loadout, and skill advancements for all of that, and after every match you have to consider the newly unlocked items against the current loadout...exhausting. You could spend 15-30 minutes or more between each match going to cash in currency for new upgrades and weapons and then adjust the loadout and then optimize your points toward each weapon or skill all for a 0.1% increase in match performance...no thanks.

I think I like that with Fortnite:
- Every game starts from scratch, no weapons, armor, anything
- Skins are purely cosmetic, there's no advantage to any skin, bling, customizable or purchasable item - no in-game advantage can be bought or earned with playing time
- Fixed time limit - the playable area continually decreases, forcing an end to the game
- The matchmaking seems good. I will sometimes die early game if I get too aggressive in initiating conflict, but I can usually make it to top 10 or 20, so they're pairing me up with the right level of players. It's not too easy, and I don't feel consistently outmatched, but any actual victory will feel hard-won.

This leads to a natural conclusion of "this is the best I could do with the time and resources I was given" which is, like, my whole jam. Give me unlimited time to complete a task and I'll never do it. Give me a real deadline with some teeth and I can actually make something happen.

That being said, I absolutely cannot do Build mode - my son is good at it and it's absolutely mind-bending watching his hands on the keyboard and mouse. It's hours and hours and hours of time spent developing the muscle memory to nearly-instantly construct an entire box around yourself immediately upon being fired at. And once you're boxed up, it's again muscle memory to reflexively edit the walls you built to let yourself out or trap your enemy in, making several moves per second. I'll watch him play and have absolutely no idea what's happening on screen until all of a sudden he's headshotted the enemy seemingly out of the blue. Not for me.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I can put headphones on and chug through a grueling task, but I'm probably going to feel spent afterwards. And if there is ANY hiccup, like a needing an answer from someone who's not around, needing to make an actual phone call, or a spreadsheet I can't find, you've lost me and we'll try again tomorrow. If there's ever the tiniest delay in an app loading or freezing up for a second I almost reflexively alt-tab over to Chrome and I will lose about 20 minutes checking out my usual forums and Marketplace. Only the strictest of deadlines where someone is specifically expecting results from me at a certain time will get me to really dial in.

Is this also the case if something really interests you?

[Laminar]

YES. I can be digging through a build thread on an incredible car with all sorts of fascinating fabrication and the kind of thing that should just totally enrapture me, and suddenly my brain will give me the "this is work, quick! tab somewhere else!" Then I have to find something else I can do before I can get back to the "slog" of the thing in the world that interests me most.

[subego]

Interesting! I’ve been noting certain similarities between us, but this is something where I end up on the opposite side. I get ultra-hyper-focused, lose track of time because of it, will start shirking obligations because I don’t wast to change focus, etc.

[Laminar]

Where I do get lost is if I'm actually physically working on something. It takes a lot of motivation to get out to the garage and start something, but once I'm out there I will lose hours and straight up forget to eat if I'm elbow deep in a project.

My first engine swap was complete in a matter of weeks because of this. My current engine swap is approaching year 2 and it's barely started, but my job situation and kid situation have severely reduced my opportunities for having enough energy to start working.

Wiring is something that gets me - I frequently read car builders absolutely dread wiring, but the zen of designing the circuits, tracing the wires, crimping connections, bundling harnesses, etc. just disappears the time.

[subego]

Holy shit…

Just saw diesel for over $8.

[Thorzdad]

Regular here took a sudden rise yesterday. I saw $2.55 last night. It was $2.25 a couple of days ago

[subego]

In the burbs, it just dipped below $4. That $8 diesel has to be a mistake.

[subego]

Mobil in the city next to Costco. Never noticed they had E85.




Control suburban Speedway.





Edit: I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Pizzeria Uno sucks, it sucks it’s been exported, and it sucks that’s what people think is Chicago pizza.

[Laminar]

I run into quite a few Chicagoans and nothing triggers them harder than insinuating that all pizza is the same.

[subego]

The sad truth is for all intents and purposes, New York pizza is better.

[Laminar]

Costco has frozen Motor City Pizza Co, which is probably the best frozen pizza I've ever had. It approaches how much I like Pizza Hut, which tells you where I fall in the pizza spectrum.

[ghporter]

Maybe…but it would be some specific New York pizza, not “New York style pizza.”

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but my introduction to Chicago style pizza was at a restaurant called “Conan’s Pizza”, just off the Drag in Austin. Thick crust edges, lots of “depth” to both the structure and flavors, and some amazing cheese choices. I also think their brick oven had several spells cast on it for “awesomeness” and “deliciousness.”

The folks working there were mostly UT students, but management seemed to be real restaurant people. They were up front about “our pizza is our own take on Chicago style,” and “we think it’s as close as you will get outside the Chicago metro area.”

Nowadays, most chain pizza is pretty generic. While I have a geographical loyalty to Little Caesars, and Domino’s Pizza, as like me, they are Southeastern Michigan natives, but their current products seem to max out at “boy, the high school cafeteria ladies outdid themselves today.”

But…There’s a relatively local chain called “VIA 313” that makes Detroit style pizza. Not “college town” pizza, or “we’re trying to make someone else’s style of pizza,” but the kind of stuff the founders of the company ate before they moved away from Detroit. And it’s pretty dang good, too.

[subego]

Maybe a better way to put it is 9 times out of 10 I prefer thin crust over pan.

New York thin is greasy and floppy cut into slices. Chicago thin has a crispier crust, usually cut into squares. I much prefer the former. There used to be a place who did a good job of the latter, but they’ve closed, as has my New York style go-to.

For pan, the place to go here is Lou Malnati’s. Lou started out at Uno in the 50s, and then opened his own far superior deal. It’s good, but like I said, I want it rarely.


I actually like Pizza Hut, but it really varies by franchise owner. My nearby one used to be good, now it’s not. Domino’s is okay, though I’d say go with their non-pizza offerings.

[ghporter]

Indeed, franchise owner variation is something that most pizza chains have let get out of hand. If the master web site says you can order black olives, and you select those for you online order, EVERY franchise should have black olives, or tell you “we’re out” when you try to order. Not so much.

A “formerly local” sandwich chain, Schlotzksy’s, has the same problem. They sell salads, and the menu includes a bunch of dressing options…the closest store “has never had” a particular dressing (which is the default with one salad)…Huh?

Sadly, this restaurant that started as a “hole in the wall” shop in the heart of Austin, is now a corporate minion. Dammit.

I’d almost make a day trip to Austin (about 100 miles each way) just to be able to eat in a “real” Schlotzsky’s restaurant.

Oh, on-topic: around here regular has been slowly descending from about $3.30/gal to $3.14 or so yesterday. End of summer driving season, maybe.

[reader50]

Regular unleaded is back up in CA.

$5.79⁹ at The Stickup
$5.39⁹ at ARCO.
$4.99⁹ at the off-brand station.

[subego]

At the gas station where I get my car washed. Did not fill up.





Edit: car wash was $15, which included them vacuuming and doing an interior wipe down.

[subego]

Much more reasonable at the control suburban Speedway. Speedy Freeze is on the rise though.

[subego]

Mobil in the city next to the Costco.

[Laminar]

I follow an auto journalist on Instagram that mostly talks about cars but for some reason decided to post a picture of gas prices in California. Nothing brings out the social media crazies like mentioning:
- Gas prices during a democratic presidential term
- KKKalifornia

[Brien]

Gas has gone up nearly a dollar in 2 weeks here. Crazy.

[ghporter]

Some time last week, some local stations started bouncing the price of regular up from about $3.05 to about $3.59 per gallon. My go-to grocery/gas station was still at $3.15 when I filled up, then a few days later they went to $3.59 as well.

Since the weekend, prices have been slowly floating downward, with most in the $3.36 +/- range nearby. No idea at all what bounced prices up, or why they’re settling down.

[reader50]

It seems to have been the Libya flooding. The oil futures market jumped up on fears Libya would lose output.

[ghporter]

That is somehow reassuring. And the local, slow settling down of prices now also makes sense - to an extent.

[Brien]

$6.39 for regular. Ouch. My wallet.

[Gregg]

Average here is $3.59

[Laminar]

Realized on the way to my parents' that I needed to fill up and nowhere had E85 so I had to switch back to good ol' E10. Cost $108 to put in 30 gallons and the pump was slow enough that we had time to go in, use the potty, dilly-dally over what snacks to get, wait in line, get back out to the pump, and still sit there for several more minutes. On the plus side I averaged 19+mpg doing 60mph for the 80 mile trip.

[Spheric Harlot]

Prices have dropped slightly to $7.60/gallon, regular.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

On the plus side I averaged 19+mpg doing 60mph for the 80 mile trip.

That’s an “on the plus side” mpg?

[ghporter]

For “truck” any two digit city MPG is “good”. Nearly 20 MPG on the highway is also “good” because pick up trucks’ aerodynamics are…lacking.

Filled up today at $3.19⁹ at the grocery/gas station. Others around were not much more, but Gas Buddy says there are at least a few places asking $3.70⁹ “nearby”. The app does not say what sorts of “other services” come with gas that’s 50¢/gallon more expensive than almost everywhere else.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

That’s an “on the plus side” mpg?

Yep, my last tank of mostly in-town driving on E85 was 11.0mpg.

[andi*pandi]

$3.49 yesterday in the MA suburbs which surprised me. It was enough in the boondocks that I expected pirate prices, but instead it was a small full service Shell. Closer to my house spotted $3.69.

[subego]

“Cheap” Mobil in the city next to the Costco:




Control suburban Speedway:



Speedy Freeze holding steady.

[ghporter]

We were near Big Bend National Park this past week, WAY out west. The area is quite remote, and somewhat like other “remote” areas, some things are priced as if they got first class airfare out there. For example, at the junction of TX118 and FM 170 is an Alon station. They were out of mid-grade and premium gas, and their regular was priced at $4.29⁹. There’s another Alon station INSIDE Big Bend National Park, whose prices were about 18¢ lower. Oh, and there’s a Sunoco station in Lajitas (site of the “world renowned” Lajitas Golf Resort), but they don’t have a price sign posted, and nobody’s stopped there and reported the price to Gas Buddy, but I’ll bet they have “Golf Resort”-level prices.

Then we got back to San Antonio yesterday afternoon. $2.75⁹ at our preferred grocery/gas location. We were very pleased with that…