TTBM #4? 5? I don't even-

Whoops, missed a word there.

Steve Jobs is dead. []

Holy hell. I did not see that coming.

Yeah I saw that on the news a couple of hours ago.

JT_the_Ninja wrote:Whoops, missed a word there.

Steve Jobs is dead. []

wait... what?
he just quit apple like... a week ago or something

Back in August, Taco.

If it were MY Steve, trust me, you guys would know. I feel terrible for Steve Job's dying. I never really had any feelings one way or another for him, but I did respect him for the businessman he was.

On the topic of deaths, my Grandpa passed away yesterday, a few minutes after 2pm. The strange thing is I saw him a few days ago, and we talked and bonded like we never did before. I guess...I find comfort in the thought I was able to see him properly for one last time.

My condolences, Rare. I lost one grandfather at age 10 and the other two years ago, so I know what that's like...it's always too sudden. []

My condolences as well Rare. At the very least, you know that you and he were able to have a talk about what mattered.

Sorry to hear that, Rare.

You know what? Here's a free "Beat Charles up, but don't break his bones or take his life or anything serious" card. Use it whenever you want. (AM will now have to stick by me a lot.)

Thanks everyone, it really means a lot. The funeral is Monday, and the military is going to give him gun salutes while playing Taps. It's gonna be a rough few days.

-Pockets Charles's Card-

Sorry to hear that Rare.

I feel your pain, Rare. My own grandfather died a year ago around this time. He was in perfect health so it came as quite a shock to everyone. The sad thing now is that my grandmother has dementia (and must have had it for years) but we hardly noticed because he always took care of her and she just followed him wherever they went.

I know she doesn't know who I am any more and she can't even remember the names of her children when they come to visit. On a bad day she can't remember they're her children at all and tells people we have to let my grandfather know where she is so he doesn't get worried. The saddest thing was when she had a better day, and actually seemed to remember what happened and what's happening to her, she looked at the picture of my grandfather and just asked "Why did you have to go and leave me like this?"

TTBM: I'm sad now.

My condolences to you Rare.

@someguy: More job for me, but remember Charles, MY SYRUP ARE NOT MADE TO TASTE GOOD!!

My sincere condolences Rare, most of us know how it is to lose a family member... It's always hard

I am sorry to hear about what happened Spooky, when I lost my grandmother she had died from cancer that spread quickly and robbed her of her mind and health in the last few months of her life. I never had a chance to talk to her during that time so I feel like I never had a chance to to say anything worthwhile. You are a strong person who has loved ones to help you through these times so remember that.

I'm sorry that he died Rare. I feel absolutly terrible for more then one reason. I hope that he is in God's hands now. I wish there was more I could do then just feel sorry for your family. Godspeed.

Thanks for the support everyone. Monday is the funeral, and tomorrow I am going shopping for new formal wear. It's going to be a hectic few days so don't be surprised if I'm on less than usual. p:

i'm sorry rare, i'm going to try and make it to the funeral home on sunday since i wont smell like fish that day.

Why would a Taco bot smell like fish? There isn't any fish in tacos...

is there?

Looks like I picked a bad few days not to log on.

Sorry to hear about your loss, Rare. Grandparents are wonderful people, who we love and appreciate for that side of life that we never got to experience (and all the stories of the daft things your parents did as kids). Sadly, they're often the first people we know that we lose. My grandmother was recently visiting from Christchurch, and when she went back on Wednesday, I had to accept that I might not see her again.

Please accept my condolences, and to all who have grandparents out there, give them a call/e-mail and say hi. Because you don't know what might happen tomorrow.

Today my dad and I had a pretty foul experience in my local model shop which I'm pretty saddened about.

You might recall I got a new model steam engine for my layout. It was a lovely little locomotive but pretty finicky: it wouldn't go around our track properly. So, we decided to return it to the shop and get a different one.

It was pretty busy so we had a wander round and I managed to spot a few hidden gems in there. It's a tiny place, and there's stuff crammed in everywhere, and if you have a bit of a look you can find some pretty rare stuff. Some boxes had been moved around or even removed (it's hard to say) and I spotted Edward, James, Gordon AND Henry all on one wall, AND a Stepney hidden away too! As a bit of a Thomas fan, I really want to get these locomotives at one point. But I digress.

My dad and I were chatting while we waited for the crowds to die down a little and we eventually settled on which locomotive we wanted (a Class 31 diesel, in case you were wondering). So, we finally managed to get near the counter and we began to sort everything out. We weren't just taking back a locomotive, you see: we'd decided to return a couple of buildings that didn't really fit on the layout, and then automatically put that money towards the loco we were getting. Which is fine: the shop owners have said we can do that without issue.

Now, the loco we were returning was out of a larger train set, or so we had deduced. And when the (incredibly obnoxious) shop owner asked why there was no box with the loco, the other shop assistant and I explained we had concluded it was out of a larger set and as such wouldn't have a box. Well, he was incredibly rude towards this other shop assistant, quite nastily insisting that the loco DID have a box and she wasn't looking hard enough. He was also pretty rude to us when I asked if the new loco we were getting came with the couplings (since the couplings were detachable for added realism with this loco).

The real problem came when we tried to return the old faulty loco. Since the locomotive was technically second-hand now (since we'd run it on our layout) he was arguing that he'd have to deduct some money from our refund. Despite (accidentally) charging us about £12 too much, the model being intrinsically finicky and our spending of about £500 in the shop so far. (Railway modelling is a very expensive hobby) Long story short, we had a big argument over it, at which point he eventually said he'd give us the full refund and return the locomotive to the manufacturer as a faulty product. But as a result we're most likely never going to shop there again. In fact, my Dad turned around after leaving the shop to say to the owner that he, Dad, thought he had behaved abominably to his shop assistant.

This is a blow because the shop is local, has a really nice range of stuff, is the cheapest in the country and the other shop assistant (the one who was berated) is really friendly. But the owner is consistently arrogant, rude and in this case greedy, and we really don't want to give him our business, assuming he now serves us at all. Furthermore, we want buying new stuff to be a pleasurable experience and his presence there (he isn't always there) is always going to sour the whole process.

The practical upshot of this is we'll go to other shops, which may be further away, more expensive, and might not have the stuff we're after, since a lot of the locomotives and buildings and the like are done in pretty limited quantities, if they're even made (Henry has been discontinued now, although you can get new ones IF you do a bit of digging). But basically, a useful resource and pleasurable experience is closed to us now for the foreseeable future. Unless we can predict with perfect accuracy when the shop owner is not there, or he gets a personality transplant.

TTBM: My mother hijacking my fucking weekend.
I have to get up at 6-30 am every day, I don't get home until 6-30 pm and my pills make me tired as fuck.
She left me alone to mind the baby once already this weekend and now she's going to make me mind him while she "cleans her room for five minutes" - ie, dicking about with clothes for two hours and then coming down and yelling at me that her room is not yet clean.
I give negative fucks about her room.
I need sleep.

TTBM: I don't know how to feel about my relatives. Most of them I've never met(and for good reason, it seems) and most of the time I'm okay with that. But I'm conditioned to avoid meeting people I'm related to, thanks to my father. I can't tell if it's a positive or negative thing. If I think about my grandfather really hard I'll start to hate him, because he's really awful, but if he shows up one day I can't find it in me to hate him. He sucks and he's terrible but he cares about me. Uncle Jim is the same way, the crazy dope-dealing bastard. (Luckily Aunt Karen never cares about anyone but herself so I can continue to feel negatively about her.)
Anyway this concludes a five-minute rant about things that don't actually matter.

TTBM: I love Thanksgiving dinner.

I hate preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.

I think it does matter though, Ziggy. They're your family, you know? For better or worse. And you only really get one family in life, so it shouldn't be too unreasonable to want to meet them, or not mind if you do.