stm25rs

Sir, that's a bat

He'll be getting poked a bit by the neurologist, but that should be the last if it for a bit, then just play the waiting game. He has started licking/cleaning his lame paw today, so maybe that's a sign he's getting some sensation back.

Took him to a local pet ER yesterday since our regular vet is booked out for a few weeks. Basically confirmed what our friend said regarding nerve issue. Also took an x-ray to rule out fracture, and shaved his lame foot to confirm there was no secondary snake bite or other localized wound. They didn't see anything on the x-ray but sending the images to an external resource to confirm. Next step is visit with a neurologist. Forgot to mention in the previous posts....we have pet insurance, so we'd only be paying 20% of bills, and that's if the initial ER isn't liable for everything.

Fortunately we live in Baltimore, so between here and DC and Philly there are a ton of veterinary resources and specialists. He's only 2.5 years old, so we would absolutely spend the money to make him right. Hopefully the ER vet's insurance would cover it, but if not, we'd still consider it money well spent

Absolute nightmare of a weekend. Backcountry camping in Shenandoah. Dog got bit on the snout by a copperhead at 8:30pm Friday, first night we got in. Hiked him back out 4 miles uphill in the dark (yay for headlamps) to get to the car - he was a trooper and kept going, was worried we'd have to carry him. Start driving out of the park (emergency phone by where we parked was out of order, obviously) and as soon as we got service looked up an emergency vet, about 45 mins away in Harrisonburg. Get there around 11:30pm, vet has antivenin, cool all good, he'll be fine, right? Well, we go to pick him up around 4pm Saturday (after hiking back to our campsite and packing out our gear), and he has a limp back right leg. Vet says he gave several antibiotic injections in that thigh, so just sore, should resolve in a couple days. But he wasn't even putting weight on it and walking gingerly. Looked like his lower leg was paralyzed, kind of dragging his toes. Got home late Saturday, took him to my vet friend's house yesterday. He did some reaction tests (hammer tapping joints) and forcep pinching to test pain. Appears to be nerve damage. Friend said he was pinching as hard as possible, should have been excruciating levels of pain, and it wasn't registering at all. Appears the ER vet either hit a nerve with an injection, or injected so much in a close area that the nerve got pinched by surrounding drug/fluid. My friend said he was taught not to inject in the thigh because of this potential issue. Could resolve in a couple/few weeks then need physical therapy to rehab muscle. Could require surgery to rejigger nerves or tendons or something to restore functionality. Could require amputation. Gonna take him to our regular vet this week and see what next steps are. http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/6107e5394c2ef/20210731_165903.mp4

Also noteworthy that 99.2% of deaths in May in the US were unvaccinated So apparently it doesn't prevent infection, but prevents most death

Did mine 3 or 4 years ago. But bought from a local HVAC shop cause it was hot as shit outside and I wanted it immediately

Here comes rwebb saying people are not entitled to the fruits of their labor! Back to the fields with ye, peasant!

July 4th boating

Wedding is at the Seattle Sculpture Park, so pretty central What's wrong with Seattle? Seems like a fun place to visit for a yuppie like me

My company does quarterly updates of salesperson standings, but we're all on different commission structures, so it isn't exactly clear who is making what, and what they need to hit to get their target Company I'm interviewing with is a little more stable pay structure. I currently am commission only, so kinda high risk, high reward. This other company is salary plus bonus based on where you are relative to target, plus profit sharing based on how the whole division does. Pretty sure the salary plus bonus will be higher than my current role, but maybe not as much upside if everything swings my way here...and the owner doesn't screw me again

I went to a bachelor party in Fort Lauderdale mid May. We got in on a Thursday and that Friday was when CDC lifted the mask guidelines. Of course, it was also Florida, so masks were already a rarity. Next flight is late August, going to a wedding in Seattle

Rant ahead My company has had 3 of our outside sales reps (which is what I do) quit in the last 1.5 months. At full staffing we're around 14 sales people. I have one offer on the table and an interview with another company coming up. I'll take the first offer, but would prefer to go with this upcoming interview company. I spoke with a recent quit, and he said he's heard from 3 other people who are actively looking. We're a smallish company, maybe 90 people, and the owner is a micromanaging asshole that screws with the compensation of salespeople. Last year he took away all of our power plants (we do industrial process controls) and assigned them to a couple recently highered "specialists". Mid covid, when business was already down. And didn't make up for it by bumping up our commission rate or lowering our target or anything like that. Power plants were 10% of my 2019 revenue. And as a commission only salesperson, it hurt. The move also was unsuccessful, business at those plants fell off a cliff since the account change. I've heard stories of him doing similar things in the past. Like cutting the commission rate of his top sales people cause he thought they were making too much money and therefore not motivated to continue growing the business. No thanks.

There's a Prime Rib in Baltimore, where I live. Same owners, same menu, but the Baltimore one is a few dollars cheaper. They (the Baltimore one at least) dropped the jackets required dress code a few years ago

The Prime Rib was something like $50-60 for a filet mignon. And that's without any sides, so plus $10 for a side of mashed taters, and $10-15 for a side of veggies. I'm a pretty good cook, so usually when I'm dining out I try to order things I don't cook at home. One perk of city living is lots of places in walking distance, and there are some good happy hour deals on food. We also have a list of newish places around the city to work through

Went to a restaurant called Charleston here in Baltimore last week. Depending who you ask, it's the best, or at least top 3, restaurant in Baltimore. Was $$$, but damn, absolutely incredible. Creative dishes, great wine pairings. And we had a table right by the kitchen, so got dinner and a show. I've been to The Prime Rib, a high end steak house, but wasn't too impressed. I can cook steak just fine myself, and the apps/sides weren't anything special. Only thing that stood out there was the service, so nowhere near worth the price in my view.

Fun fact - dopamine, commonly known as the "feel good" neurotransmitter, is produced from the amino acid tyrosine. Tyrosine crystals are present in cheeses such as romano, parmesan, and gruyere.

Taking acid at a party is asking for a bad time. Or, so I've heard. From a friend.

I'm going mask-free whenever possible. Baltimore City still has an indoor mask mandate, the state mandate is lifted, and some stores in the surrounding counties have taken down their mask signs. So when I go to a store I carry it with me, if they have a sign up, I put it on, otherwise it goes in the pocket. Most of the customers I've visited for work since MD lifted the mandate still have mask requirements though. I'm vaccinated, my girlfriend is vaccinated, and my mom (the only high risk person I see regularly) is vaccinated.

Yes, surprisingly fitting for the times and location lol

Yup, like laz said, a high end one....I've been to a couple crappy strip clubs in the past and always been disappointed/surprised, like, "people pay money to see these chicks?" But that was not the case there. They did a couple intermission things, one was a fire dancer performance, the other was two girls in mad max style lingerie (masks included) and a dude on drums smashing out the mad max theme song, so that was entertaining.

I was in Fort Lauderdale a couple weeks ago for a bachelor party. We arrived Thursday night, then that Friday CDC updates their mask guidance for indoor mask wearing for vaxxed people. Was definitely a bit unusual seeing so many maskless people indoors, but was also a nice taste of return to normalcy. And Scarlett's was an A++ experience. I also noticed a lot of Uber drivers there didn't wear seatbelts. Baltimore City still has an indoor mask mandate, though Maryland has lifted the state level requirement. Some stores in the surrounding counties still require a mask, and stores that don't require still have a lot of people wearing masks.

You all starting to see turnover at your company/in your industry? A few weeks ago I saw an article predicting a huge wave of turnover - people who made up their mind right before covid that decided to stick things out due to uncertainty, or other people who had things happen at work during/as a result of covid that was the final straw. We've had 2 good people leave in the last 2 weeks, one was that first category, the other was the latter.

Got a cute pic of doggo, then saw a lawnmower on fire in the park

That fulfilment center is super close to me...I sometimes get same day delivery if I order before noon.