Oh Great, Snow. You Know What That Means.

Oh great, snow. You know what that means.

It means inconsiderate, lazy, selfish, assholes are going to be driving around with their vehicles covered in snow.

Roof, hood, trunk, windows, mirrors, bed covers - covered in snow, the barest hints scraped away by the windshield wipers and maybe the effort of holding the button to make a side window roll up and down.

Hoping it'll all melt eventually, or blow off once they start driving.

Yah. In my FACE.

Don't "have time" to clean your car off?

How much time you going to waste when you cause me to crash and I take your ass to court? How's a criminal negligence charge going to look on your resume?

"But my children's-sports-team-minivan / suburbitank-for-grocery-shopping / lifted-full-cab-hemi-truck is too tall to reach all that snow on top!"

You live in Canada. Snow isn't a surprise. The LACK of snow is maybe a surprise. But now it's here, like it always is eventually, own up and clear it because it's the decent thing to do. It's the same reason you shovel your sidewalk. It might not actually benefit - YOU-, but it helps everyone else, and covers your ass from fines.

- like seriously some dudebro sunglasses boi pulled up beside me with a sports car shorter than my motorcycle, and it had an inch of snow on it. One sweep would have shoved it all off. The barest minimum effort. Ugh .-

To everyone who does their part to make sure their vehicles are safe, we appreciate you! Thank you!

""We need someone small who can fit up here":

My world is drywall dust and metal studs.

Also the floor is non-load-bearing ceiling tiles lava.

To watch, or not.

I'm trying to figure out how to come to terms with wanting to watch a movie because it has several talented, not hugely lucrative actors in it that I very much like; but one very big name actor in it who is a bland overhyped hack who basically plays himself playing a part and can't even learn his damn lines like a professional.

Boycotting it WAS a no brainer but now I keep finding minor characters are talent I enjoy, so I'm not sure which is the lesser of two evils - Ignoring the film and missing out on their performances; or watching it and giving Mr DrunkDumbass another tick on his 'number of views'. In the long run my viewership means nothing, but it's the principal of the thing.

Temperature Control

Me as a child: Why can't we turn up the heat? More clothes are stupid. We're inside! We have heating! We are gods of our artificial environment!

Me as a broke ass adult opening a hydro bill: Ohhhhhh.

Theatre Tips and Tricks:

Nightvision:

No, not the goggles.

So you're backstage and it's dark and you forgot your flashlight and you KNOW there's scenery and props that you are probably going to run in to, but no matter how hard you stare, you can only see the black void that exists in all technician's souls.

And there's an actual, biological science reason as to why.

It comes down to those little things in the eyeball called rods and cones. Cones are near the center of the retina and are great at picking up colour. Rods are on the edges of the retina and are great at picking up light. Rods are a bit shit at colour, but cones are a bit shit if there isn't a lot of light.

So when you stare -AT- something in low light conditions, you're mostly using the Cones, and they're like "We can't tell what that is because it's too dark so here's a dark blob."

What you want to do is look Above or to the Side of what you want to see. And then gather information with your peripheral vision. This uses the signals from the rods who are like "We'll suck in all the light we can to help you see, but we're not sure what color that is," which is fine.

It's tricky to get used to, because of course we want to look right at where we're going, but next time you're waving your arms blindly in the wings, give it a go.

Also note it takes five to twenty minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to dark conditions, and you can wreck that in a couple seconds by flicking on a light, so keep one eye closed if you have to click on your MagLight to check something and that can help retain your vision in at least one eye.

Hope that helps!

I am "smol", as the kids these days say. I think. Short, scrawny, underweight, harmless looking. But also really flexible and agile and pretty darn good balance. So being height challenged I too often find myself straining to reach just another inch or two to secure some clamp or loosen some bolt or clip in a safety - and No, Anrita, I can't "just make the lift go higher" because there's gods damned structural steel in the way.

Net result is I'm constantly just jumping up on the kickplate of the bucket, or standing on the apex of an A-Frame, or any number of things that are giving other people heart attacks, and I'm like; "If I feel unsafe, I don't do it. But safety laws are also for the lowest common denominator. 50 year old, overweight white men with bad backs and knees." Just because Gary can't even imagine balancing on one foot with another hooked over a pipe and an elbow braced to the wall, doesn't mean I can't zip up like a squirrel and get it done.

And yah, there're been a few "I've wildly misjudged this" moments.

I may have been in a Genie lift working by myself once, and when asked "why is this taking so long" I pointed out I needed to come in, climb out, move the lift, go back up, repeat. Every five feet. They jokingly teased about an old worker there who would just grab the (wall anchored) pipes, brace his gut on the railing, and pull the lift around, while elevated. And then left.

About ten minutes later, already frustrated at the tediousness of it all, I thought to myself; "Hell. If Ronnie could do it..." So I gripped the pipe, braced, and tugged. The bucket shifted forward smoothly. I'm about 18 feet up, and expected more wobble or resistance, but it was really quiet easy. Surprised, and pleased, I pulled forward a couple more feet then went to let go of the pipe.

And that's when I felt the bucket sway.

Disclaimer: The outriggers may have not been in because FFS it was already taking too long. Always operate elevation devices with all required safety features in place.

So my hands, instead of relaxing, death gripped the pipe as I realized what was happening below me. I wasn't pulling the base of the lift along as I'd believed. I was pulling the bucket, and tipping the lift over. I ccaaareeefully retraced my path until I heard the "thunk" of the rear wheels hitting the floor again, descended, got out of the bucket, and spent about five minutes in a chair contemplating poor life choices.

TL:DR = Use your outriggers. But also acknowledge some people are just comfortable in possibly risky situations.

some of you never watched your life flash before your eyes while standing one rung higher than recommended on a ladder to hang lights and it shows