51 thoughts on “November 12, 2020: Embrace The Epic Fail”

  1. Yesterday I got a 502 Bad Gateway message when trying to access the site, and Zee is reporting a similar problem currently. Anyone?

    1. Yesterday makes sense because the site was down for a system upgrade. Now doesn't because others are able to access it fine.

    2. I found this following a Facebook link but I haven't been able to reach the site through a browser (on either phone or tablet) for 3 days

  2. First world problems, but it seems that FB has changed the way that mobile works on their site. I access FB through my browser on my phone rather than the app (Because Reasons). Suddenly, it is no longer an option to edit posts there. Weird.

    1. I just tried a post, and yeah no edit function for me. That stinks! (I also check mobile FB (and Twitter!) through a browser and not an app)

  3. I got really excited this morning because my inner timing belt cover arrived. Or I thought it did. When I opened the box it was actually the outer timing belt cover. To be fair, the part numbers are very similar and it would be an easy mistake to make, but it throws me back another 2-3 days on this project. While I wait for the part I'm going to pull the throttle body off the intake manifold and give it a real good cleaning. I might as well install the manifold when I'm done since it shouldn't interfere with installing the timing belt or setting valve clearances. It gets me a little further down the road, anyway.

    1. Got the throttle body off and looked inside the intake manifold and it was absolutely filthy. I cleaned the throttle body then ran to the hardware store and got a dryer lint trap brush. I doused the whole inside of the manifold with WD40 and let it soak 10 minutes. Then I reamed out all of the air chambers with the brush and drained out the excess WD40. I repeated that a couple more times, then gave it a few shots of brake cleaner and drained it again. Then I wrapped the brush bristles in a shop rag and used that to wipe dry the air chambers. Finally, I blew it all out with compressed air and reattached the throttle body. It's clean enough to drink beer from.

  4. This COVID spike definitely has a different feel than either of the previous two.

    My wife's boss tested positive yesterday, a family we are good friends with let us know the mom can't smell/taste anything and is getting tested today (we watched their daughter, thankfully outdoors, over the weekend but still...), a neighbor is in self-isolation awaiting a test result, and my oldest son's school has to shut down after today, earlier than planned because of how many students and staff are out with positive tests or in quarantine. The rest of the district schools are going full remote after Thanksgiving.

    Scary times.

    1. It seems weird, but I've been beginning to stock up on some essentials just in case. Don't want to be short handed when stores get rushed if things continue as they're going. One of the few things I'm slightly more comfortable about is at least there's more of a "pandemic infrastructure" built up, if you will. Not just manufacturing wise with PPE, sanitizer, etc., but businesses are better set up with curbside and things like that. We all know the drill this time (well, most of us), so hopefully it won't be as crazy and chaotic as March.

    2. Agreed. Our nanny's roommate tested positive last weekend, and he is staying out of his apartment until the roommate recovers. The following day, the dad of one of the kids in the jalapeno's pod lost his sense of taste and smell, and he tested positive Tuesday morning. So that kids whole family is in quarantine (with the dad in the basement to try to remain separate.) The plan is for the pod to reconvene after Thanksgiving.

      Our distract starts full distance learning on 11/17, but the jalapeno has only been in school two days since October 8 and we opted for distance learning for the peperoncino since the beginning. The jalapeno hates the distance learning and needs super close monitoring after having lied to us about attending Google Meets and doing assignments, so that's fun. I'm just waiting for his traveling basketball season to be canceled...

      1. Basketball seems to be a link to the middle school, my son mentioned multiple kids from basketball have been out this week.

        We have the boys signed up for indoor clinics that are taking precautions, but we're struggling with the idea of keeping them signed up. Since they take place entirely or partially in school facilities, we're thinking the decision will be taken out of our hands and that would be best for all.

        1. I definitely want safety to be prioritized; it's just that those two 90-minute practices were the most peaceful part of my week. So it's a question of figuring out activities that keep him active and allow for social interaction while also keeping him safe. He's meeting a friend to go sledding afternoon, and I'm praying for lots of snow that's the right quality for outdoor play from here on out!

          1. I'm praying for lots of snow that's the right quality for outdoor play from here on out!

            I'm building the kids a skating rink in the backyard, and will be re-hanging the "batting cage" (tarp) in the basement soon. Agreed that those activities are key.

      2. My son (seven) has also been lying about doing assignments (but has attended all the meets). He gets so overwhelmed and hates school so much right now. Sometimes though if we just sit with him for five minutes, he will get clarity and breeze through. Half of his frustration is how often the assignments fail to load or crash on him.

        1. The issue we've been dealing with during class time is the kids will open up additional windows and be playing games or watching videos when they are supposed to be in class. Both kids do it, but our 6 year old is much worse about it. We try to be with him as much as we can to try to stop it, but with my wife and I teaching classes ourselves, plus meetings, we can't sit in the same room with him all school day.

        2. OK. I would like to know if ANY of the children are succeeding at this. Where are the numbers on this. Maybe we could feel a little better about how things are going.
          My 14-yo has pages of missing assignments (but gets grace because IEP). We restrict wifi and I collected his phone. I haven't totally cut him off from friends on his discord messaging boards, but that's about all I have left.
          The 11-yo had left a majority of her assignments undone until we figured that our. First trimester is a bust. She's the "good one" we thought could handle Distance Learning.
          7-yo gonna 7-yo. She doesn't do anything we don't directly watch her do.
          We're at our wits' end and openly admitting to people how much we're struggling right now.

          1. My son's teacher said most of the kids in her class are struggling with the same thing. She's giving a lot of grace and is focusing more on assignments that are directly related to assessments. She also showed my son all the things she's also behind on so he doesn't feel too bad.

            My son is an ideal classroom student and all his teachers love him. He just needs more structure.

            My niece and nephew (high school and middle school) are apparently doing really well; they're quick workers and often have more free time now than they did during regular school.

          2. My middle schooler is really struggling with subjects that aren't naturally interesting to him. Math, science, and some parts of social studies are going well outside of a few missed assignments here or there (some seem to be system issues, which are incredibly frustrating).

            But language arts in particular is a slog, he gives up at the first sign of an issue and his effort is pretty low on the work he does do. With it going full-time distance I think he's going to need a tutor, I feel like his writing really needs work.

            He needs more hand-holding and it is hard for working parents to give him enough.

            Fortunately the 6-year old is in a pod with an amazing teacher taking a sabattical this year, otherwise, yuck.

          3. one of my managers has a 6-year old, and a husband who works in tech support who has to be on the phone pretty much all day long. So, she is trying to juggle managing her staff and overseeing remote schooling (I won't call it "remote learning" because absurd for most young kids). It's a nightmare. She just decided to take the next month off to try to get her kid in a better focus.

          4. I feel like it's going fairly well for our kids. At least as well as can be expected. I keep thinking of the phrase "There are no good options."

            9-year-old is a big time rule follower. If his teacher tells him to do something, he will do it. My biggest concern for him is whether or not he's really being pushed and challenged enough. I think the answer is probably not, but I feel like what he's getting has been good enough. (Another personal pandemic mantra: "Good enough" is in fact good enough.). His teacher just completed a masters specifically related to online education, so I feel like we absolutely lucked out with him have someone who has an idea of how to structure an online class and be effective in that environment.

            6-year-old's teacher is much less tech savvy, but things are still going fairly well with him. But, I know the only reason it's really working for him at all is that he has an IEP and a one-to-one aid with him all day. I was unsure of how the district would deal with having an aid in the online setup, but it's really been as much a necessity for him online as it was for in-person school. So the aid is with him (virtually) during his individual work time, and she can help help make sure that he's actually completing what he is supposed to be doing. I think if he didn't have the aid, this would not be working at all for him. He will still often not turn in the assignments online, even though he did the work on paper, he just skips the part where he takes a picture of it and submits it. So, we've had a few weekend submission marathons where he tries to catch up.

          5. Our youngest is nine and in 4th grade. We just had our first parent-teacher conference last night, and she is doing really well. Her reading and writing is improving and she's doing well in math and science. We worried about her the most, but she lucked out and got a great teacher. I think that makes a huge difference. The teacher splits the kids into small group Google Meets for most projects, instead of having 30 4th graders on a single call, and the she pops into the various meets.

            My middle schooler is doing well, but we expected that. She's typically done with school first, by 1:00 pm. The two high schoolers are plugging along.

            I feel for you folks with younger ones though. That has got to be really tough.

          6. I will say that my 7-year-old son is probably doing better with this than in-person learning, largely because his ADHD doesn't affect anyone in his class. He also really like that he can go at his own pace, which is much faster than most kids which was also an issue with his ADHD because he'd get bored and then act out.

            Also, a friend of mine has a 16-year-old he says is doing way better at home, mostly because he can similarly work at his own pace and he doesn't have to deal with students in his classes that don't want to be at school.

            My 9-year-old daughter, on the other hand, is struggling. She's *very* social, so not actually being with anyone is not working for her. She also lied about doing her math homework the first three weeks of the year, and tried to do it again a couple weeks ago.

            So yeah, this whole pandemic stuff has really highlighted how there is no single way to educate every kid.

      3. High school and Middle School started full distance as of today. The administration is being publicly hopeful and saying that they'll be back in a few weeks, but the way that cases have been going nuclear around here, I can't imagine the rest are that far behind. I'm kind of ready for it at this point, just to get it over with.

        It really does feel different this time around. Part of that is that we're having literally twenty times as many cases as we were having a couple of months ago, part of it is that is feels like it's everywhere. My wife's boss has it right now, a couple of our neighbors have had it, a family friend actually died from it a couple of weeks ago... it just feels suffocating.

        1. "A few weeks"...We had a similar conversation. Almost all the waves everywhere have had about a two month curve. My hip-pocket assessment is that the predictable human behavior and virus progression mean that there's something about people recognizing the spike/danger and modifying behavior after 2-3 weeks, and then the 5-6 week virus tapering.
          I caveat this with limited sample size particularly in terms of fall/winter environmental factors and getting into virus fatigue/holidays. This could be a much longer slog. Even absent that, I'm not under any delusion my big kids will be back in a school building until after the New Year, and possibly much longer.

    3. Yeah. I can’t count how many people I know with COVID at this point. Let alone those quarantined due to contact.

      Our older two do pretty well with online learning. When they’re forced entirely home (I expect that to happen after tomorrow), the youngest one (4th grade) definitely has more trouble. We need to figure out how to better handle her situation. It weren’t great last spring.

  5. We have a final in the Iowa 8-man football state semifinal game. 108-94. I bet the under at 195.

  6. Speaking of epic fails, I drove to Ramsey today to get tabs for the minivan but I couldn't. Why? Because all state licensing offices are closed this week. Why? Because they're replacing MNLARS with a system that's actually supposed to work. We shall see.

  7. So I went to Dr. Fear earlier today for my first in-person appt. since Jan. We had a brief Zoom session in April when I had chills/nausea, but that didn't end up being anything (probably food poisoning).

    I've had a weird cough for about 4 weeks now, tickly cough. He didn't see any evidence of fluid in my lungs, but wants an X-Ray. Other observations: since I was there last, I've gained a lot of weight. I blame COVID but it's probably more a combo of much less physical activity and too many carbs.

    He put the Ixnay on us going to Minny for Xgiving thru Xmas. He said I can write a note for you if you need it. I said we're good. Told the fam earlier tonite and everyone was cool with that.

    Need to cut back on the carbs and the gin/tonics.

    I may be on the Sacred Heart cabbage soup diet next week...

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