social topic

arkarian

2010-08-26 01:07:24 am

red chamber dream

so you haven't gotten either of my queries?

Poision Envy

2010-08-26 01:26:39 am

Club 27 Goals

Bat update. He was being a sneaky fellow and hiding on one of the rafter wood thingies on the ceiling in the living room. He started flying around again so I put my cats in my room so they wouldn't go after him or try to escape into the night wilderness, and after opening a few doors he flew out.

Happy ending!

Opium

2010-08-26 01:39:35 am

You had a bat in your house? I'm hoping that nobody (pets included) had any contact whatsoever with it.

Poision Envy

2010-08-26 01:43:38 am

Club 27 Goals

Quote from Poision Envy:

[...]

On an unrelated note, while I was typing this I went downstairs to get some pudding and saw a bat in the house. I opened all the doors, then the bat flew into the living room then when I went in there he flew into another room, and now I can't find him anywhere. I'm hoping he flew outside, and I closed the doors so I guess I'll found out tonight if he's still staying as a guest or not.

Here's the Bat Story prequel ;)

windy

Edit history:

windy: 2010-08-26 02:13:00 am

2010-08-26 02:12:50 am

gyrotechnic lollipop

Quote from arkarian:

so you haven't gotten either of my queries?

sorry, i went to talk to my mom and was gone for way longer than i expected. i got them, but they showed up as a message in the channel and not as a private message window which is what i usually get when i do a query.

and now i absolutely have to go to bed if i'm going to function tomorrow, sorry!

and yay for the bat!!

arkarian

2010-08-26 02:14:04 am

red chamber dream

try going to xchat prefs -> chatting -> general and make sure the Auto open dialog on priv msg box is checked

windy

2010-08-26 02:14:54 am

gyrotechnic lollipop

no it was not! i figured it'd be a setting like that i somehow unchecked in a bout of stupidity. ty <3

arkarian

2010-08-26 02:15:02 am

red chamber dream

np. n8.

windy

2010-08-26 02:15:08 am

gyrotechnic lollipop

night!

DJGrenola

2010-08-26 02:41:30 am

seriously, fuck asbestos

arkarian

2010-08-26 02:41:42 am

red chamber dream

still looking for houses?

nate

2010-08-26 03:02:36 am

nah, he was trying to build a spaceship, and its chemical composition is not doing what he needs it of course it's still looking for a house.

arkarian

2010-08-26 03:04:24 am

red chamber dream

i was looking for urmom's house

DJGrenola

2010-08-26 03:40:09 am

No, not any more. I went from having no idea whether a deal would succeed to picking up the keys inside 48 hours, and as such there was no victory -- no opportunity to relax or celebrate. I was just dumped from one world of stress into another one.

I had a full building survey (the most expensive type) done on the place before buying it. The guttering is asbestos cement, and some of my ceilings are finished with a textured finish which may contain asbestos. At the time it didn't concern me too much, probably because the alternative (not buying the place) would have put me right back where I was a year ago, and I just don't think my brain was going to accept that. It may be fair to say that I buried my head in the sand over this.

The guttering isn't really a problem; it's external, and it can be replaced. Many of the other houses on the same road have had this done already, although it might cost a bit to get the stuff taken away.

The ceilings are more serious. Options range from "paint over it and forget about it" to "plaster over it and forget about it", "get the textured finish removed by an asbestos specialist" or, most cataclysmically, "get all the ceilings ripped out by an asbestos specialist, disposed of at great cost, and replaced with new plasterboard". The trouble is that what would seem like the safest option (total ceiling replacement) may in fact be the most dangerous, owing to the chance of releasing airborne asbestos fibres while the work is carried out. However, I feel I have a duty to get rid of the stuff if I can. Should I ever want to let the place out, I don't think I could live with myself if I knew there was asbestos present and my tenants were exposed to it. Even drilling a hole in the ceiling might be dangerous; and, of course, health and safety law is tightening all the time. My actions now may one day decide whether or not a court finds me negligent. In five years it might be the case that house sellers are obliged to reveal information about any and all asbestos content when the house is put up for sale, at which point the value of any asbestos-containing house will tank. You just don't know what will happen.

A couple of the ceilings were replastered by the previous owner. Unfortunately, again, I don't know whether she had them ripped out and replaced, or just plastered over them. Economy would suggest the latter, in which case there may be asbestos still up there, and she's made it harder for me to get rid of.

But it doesn't stop there. The house was built in (I believe) the late 1960s, prime time for asbestos-based building materials. It's ex-Local Authority (i.e. built and originally owned by local government for letting out to low-income tenants), and asbestos was popular as a building material in local authority housing because it was cheap and fire resistant. The fact that I failed to consider this fully may turn out to be one of my biggest mistakes ever. I am now wondering what else there might be inside those four walls that has that horrible lung-piercing white stuff in it.

UK government health and safety guidelines suggest that asbestos should be left where it is wherever possible, since the biggest risk occurs when it is disturbed, cut, damaged or drilled. However I suspect that this attitude may be based on not wanting to cause mass panic or huge expense, rather than from any particular desire to keep the public safe. Fuck the HSE: I want to get rid of it; all of it.

You have to know the facts before you can judge the risks. I'm having a contractor come in on Friday to take samples and send them away for electron microscope analysis. I'll know next week.

No, not any more. I went from having no idea whether a deal would succeed to picking up the keys inside 48 hours, and as such there was no victory -- no opportunity to relax or celebrate. I was just dumped from one world of stress into another one.

I had a full building survey (the most expensive type) done on the place before buying it. The guttering is asbestos cement, and some of my ceilings are finished with a textured finish which may contain asbestos. At the time it didn't concern me too much, probably because the alternative (not buying the place) would have put me right back where I was a year ago, and I just don't think my brain was going to accept that. It may be fair to say that I buried my head in the sand over this.

The guttering isn't really a problem; it's external, and it can be replaced. Many of the other houses on the same road have had this done already, although it might cost a bit to get the stuff taken away.

The ceilings are more serious. Options range from "paint over it and forget about it" to "plaster over it and forget about it", "get the textured finish removed by an asbestos specialist" or, most cataclysmically, "get all the ceilings ripped out by an asbestos specialist, disposed of at great cost, and replaced with new plasterboard". The trouble is that what would seem like the safest option (total ceiling replacement) may in fact be the most dangerous, owing to the chance of releasing airborne asbestos fibres while the work is carried out. However, I feel I have a duty to get rid of the stuff if I can. Should I ever want to let the place out, I don't think I could live with myself if I knew there was asbestos present and my tenants were exposed to it. Even drilling a hole in the ceiling might be dangerous; and, of course, health and safety law is tightening all the time. My actions now may one day decide whether or not a court finds me negligent. In five years it might be the case that house sellers are obliged to reveal information about any and all asbestos content when the house is put up for sale, at which point the value of any asbestos-containing house will tank. You just don't know what will happen.

A couple of the ceilings were replastered by the previous owner. Unfortunately, again, I don't know whether she had them ripped out and replaced, or just plastered over them. Economy would suggest the latter, in which case there may be asbestos still up there, and she's made it harder for me to get rid of.

But it doesn't stop there. The house was built in (I believe) the late 1960s, prime time for asbestos-based building materials. It's ex-Local Authority (i.e. built and originally owned by local government for letting out to low-income tenants), and asbestos was popular as a building material in local authority housing because it was cheap and fire resistant. The fact that I failed to consider this fully may turn out to be one of my biggest mistakes ever. I am now wondering what else there might be inside those four walls that has that horrible lung-piercing white stuff in it.

UK government health and safety guidelines suggest that asbestos should be left where it is wherever possible, since the biggest risk occurs when it is disturbed, cut, damaged or drilled. However I suspect that this attitude may be based on not wanting to cause mass panic or huge expense, rather than from any particular desire to keep the public safe. Fuck the HSE: I want to get rid of it; all of it.

You have to know the facts before you can judge the risks. I'm having a contractor come in on Friday to take samples and send them away for electron microscope analysis. I'll know next week.

nate

2010-08-26 04:07:58 am

ok well keep us updated.

couple things.

some of the buildings on campus where i live have undergone what they call asbestos abatement since i've lived here. this tells me a couple things. first of all it was less expensive than tearing down the building and replacing it in some cases. they tear down whole buildings and replace them on campus all the time so that makes me think they got a really good deal with a contractor to redo these buildings. the one they did last year is a dorm and i think it was on or around the windows, so they replaced a couple hundred windows. it may have been elsewhere inside too but obviously i couldn't get too close. lots of guys in bunny suits coming in and out of the doors and "toxic waste/biohazard" cargo containers in the parking lot. i guess we've come a long way from when the romans used asbestos tablecloths and just threw them in the fireplace to sanitize them.

the other thing it tells me is that texas tech is afraid of legal stuff involving asbestos, afraid enough that they will spend all this money partially rebuilding certain buildings. in order to understand why this is such a big deal you have to understand that texas tech is the lord and master of this entire area. their word is law, literally. they are the trendsetters. so if they decide that it will be less expensive in the long run to remove asbestos then i am extremely convinced that at least in the legal climate of my state and country it is worth the cost of doing so. make no mistake - texas tech is a corporation that performs educational activities. so it's always about most bang for the buck. that's just how the culture is here, i'm not making any judgments in this particular post. but i say this because it seems like you have reached a similar conclusion and i want to back that up with my own experiences in this area.

of course if it turns out you don't have asbestos inside then this is all for naught but i'm sure you do - you said it yourself, that's just how it was done. now the task is to take care of it and people can do that for you no problem, just will take more money off your hands. if you need a place to stay while the work is going on let me know and i can pick you up at the airport and hide you here - i've got a nice place now and it would be no problem at all. lot of fun too i would think to work on some stuff together and play the primes and whatnot.

ok well keep us updated.

couple things.

some of the buildings on campus where i live have undergone what they call asbestos abatement since i've lived here. this tells me a couple things. first of all it was less expensive than tearing down the building and replacing it in some cases. they tear down whole buildings and replace them on campus all the time so that makes me think they got a really good deal with a contractor to redo these buildings. the one they did last year is a dorm and i think it was on or around the windows, so they replaced a couple hundred windows. it may have been elsewhere inside too but obviously i couldn't get too close. lots of guys in bunny suits coming in and out of the doors and "toxic waste/biohazard" cargo containers in the parking lot. i guess we've come a long way from when the romans used asbestos tablecloths and just threw them in the fireplace to sanitize them.

the other thing it tells me is that texas tech is afraid of legal stuff involving asbestos, afraid enough that they will spend all this money partially rebuilding certain buildings. in order to understand why this is such a big deal you have to understand that texas tech is the lord and master of this entire area. their word is law, literally. they are the trendsetters. so if they decide that it will be less expensive in the long run to remove asbestos then i am extremely convinced that at least in the legal climate of my state and country it is worth the cost of doing so. make no mistake - texas tech is a corporation that performs educational activities. so it's always about most bang for the buck. that's just how the culture is here, i'm not making any judgments in this particular post. but i say this because it seems like you have reached a similar conclusion and i want to back that up with my own experiences in this area.

of course if it turns out you don't have asbestos inside then this is all for naught but i'm sure you do - you said it yourself, that's just how it was done. now the task is to take care of it and people can do that for you no problem, just will take more money off your hands. if you need a place to stay while the work is going on let me know and i can pick you up at the airport and hide you here - i've got a nice place now and it would be no problem at all. lot of fun too i would think to work on some stuff together and play the primes and whatnot.

arkarian

2010-08-26 04:22:38 am

red chamber dream

my old elementary school (built in the 60s) contained tons of it and was closed for years until recently when it was refurbished quite nicely as an office building. so it can be done ... just a question of for how much.

kesvalk

2010-08-26 08:38:33 am

Indie Lover

so, today is my birthday... yay, i think...

i really wanted to have my wii fixed as a present, but reality don't work this way -_-
not with me anyway...

nate

2010-08-26 08:43:07 am

happy birthday!

Idkbutlike2

2010-08-26 10:35:33 am

HB, Kesvalk!

Gaius_4

2010-08-26 12:01:21 pm

Kv•B^H+1

Kesvalk x Birthday to the Happiest power +1.

teach

-----------

I was tracking a shipment... I ordered some parts to redo some wiring in my 2 (arcade) controllers (4 sets of Molex wire to wire connectors). First the shipment was being sent from Cincinnati Ohio, then it went down to Independence Kentucky, back up to Ohio -in Grove City, then to Earth City, Missouri (almost there!), then, for reasons only God knows why, it's sent way over to Orlando FL. Perhaps they forgot to take it off the truck when they delivered it to MO.

I'm just baffled as to why my stuff if getting a cross country trip. Confused

Plus, that put my estimated delivery date 3 days later than it was previously expected to arrive. Now it's due to arrive on Sept. 1st. aiwebs_031

That is, until it's sent to some other remote/out-of-the-way place not even in my general direction.

TheGreenManalishi

2010-08-26 12:04:46 pm

Quote from kesvalk:

so, today is my birthday... yay, i think...

i really wanted to have my wii fixed as a present, but reality don't work this way -_-
not with me anyway...

Have a good 'un

kesvalk

Edit history:

kesvalk: 2010-08-26 12:27:16 pm

2010-08-26 12:26:13 pm

Indie Lover

thx guys

about stuff getting MIA midway in the delivery, when i brought my DS, it had gone to the other side of São Paulo (Brazil) before getting here, it was estimated to arrive in 15 days, but i only got it after 2 months

it was 2 very stressful months...

PS: for some reason, the GC memory card i brought came from china came in 15 days... i was expecting 2 months... (as the site says 2 months is the expected time for the delivery to get from china to brazil)

Gaius_4

Edit history:

Gaius_4: 2010-08-26 12:42:09 pm

2010-08-26 12:41:11 pm

My shipment was going through FedEx, then somewhere, somehow; the Good 'ol U.S. Postal Service got thrown into the mix. But it's still being sent via FedEx. Think

Perhaps that's what I get for choosing the economical shipping option. Embarassed

windy

Edit history:

windy: 2010-08-26 04:36:46 pm

windy: 2010-08-26 04:36:22 pm

2010-08-26 04:36:01 pm

gyrotechnic lollipop

well, i left for class over an hour and a half early today because i've been having trouble finding a parking place on tuesdays and thursdays. i drove around for 50 minutes in my usual parking lot with no luck. (i usually have my free pick of places.) about 20-25 other cars were also looking for a place and many were driving recklessly, so i was extremely nervous by this point.

less than ten minutes before my class started, i finally lucked out and found a place, but i wasn't expecting it and wasn't in a good position to go into the spot. someone else was tailgating me so i couldn't back up, and there was someone across from me as well so i couldn't curve around. i was desperate for the place and knew i wasn't going to get another one if i moved on, so i tried to pull in. i ended up overshooting and lightly scraped the car to the left of me. no visible damage for them, but a long line of paint lost for me. i value my car as highly as my life, and i burst out crying as soon as i heard the paint scraping sound. with five minutes to my class and me sobbing in my car, i just turned around and came home. someone already left a long scrape on the side of my car last semester, and i'm glad we didn't go ahead and get it fixed during the summer since i have something else needing fixing now...

this parking lot is bad to begin with, but starting this semester the school did away with parking tags, so it's free parking for anyone now. on top of that, there was some parade or something today, during the busiest time of day for classes, and a whole bunch of visitors came and took up all the parking. i tried other lots way far away from my building and there were no parking places there, either.

i also had nightmares about my mom dying this morning. my day has sucked.

well, i left for class over an hour and a half early today because i've been having trouble finding a parking place on tuesdays and thursdays. i drove around for 50 minutes in my usual parking lot with no luck. (i usually have my free pick of places.) about 20-25 other cars were also looking for a place and many were driving recklessly, so i was extremely nervous by this point.

less than ten minutes before my class started, i finally lucked out and found a place, but i wasn't expecting it and wasn't in a good position to go into the spot. someone else was tailgating me so i couldn't back up, and there was someone across from me as well so i couldn't curve around. i was desperate for the place and knew i wasn't going to get another one if i moved on, so i tried to pull in. i ended up overshooting and lightly scraped the car to the left of me. no visible damage for them, but a long line of paint lost for me. i value my car as highly as my life, and i burst out crying as soon as i heard the paint scraping sound. with five minutes to my class and me sobbing in my car, i just turned around and came home. someone already left a long scrape on the side of my car last semester, and i'm glad we didn't go ahead and get it fixed during the summer since i have something else needing fixing now...

this parking lot is bad to begin with, but starting this semester the school did away with parking tags, so it's free parking for anyone now. on top of that, there was some parade or something today, during the busiest time of day for classes, and a whole bunch of visitors came and took up all the parking. i tried other lots way far away from my building and there were no parking places there, either.

i also had nightmares about my mom dying this morning. my day has sucked.

nate

2010-08-26 04:49:06 pm

i did that to another car in one of the parking lots in high school. i drove crap cars in high school though so i didn't care. i'm sure you'll eventually get it fixed. seems like you're going to have to get there a lot earlier and camp but there's nothing you can do so can just bring things to do before class starts i guess. i used to sit with my people for an hour, around 6:15-7:30 when high school started. 6:15 was about the latest you could still get a parking space anywhere.