Today I Learned...

[nextcar]

TIL that repairing a washing machine is relatively easy, but finding diagnostic tests to determine the problem on youtube is dicey at best...

[NoHaveMSG]

TIL one of my cousins who is close to me in age has been back for about a year in Oregon. About 5-6 years ago he got fed up and decided to move to Sweden because they are "better" I guess he couldn't get a job, couldn't get permanent residence without a way to provide for himself. Moved back to Chicago with some military's buddies after a pretty short stay over there, and was too embarrassed to let friends or family know he was back in the states until recently.

[soundman98]

today i re-learned, you can lead a new guy to a job, but you can't make him work.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by soundman98

today i re-learned, you can lead a new guy to a job, but you can't make him work.

.....and, the - "rest of the story" is?

[Spuds]

Today I learned that my division is being sold. Not really sure how I feel about it.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by humfrz

.....and, the - "rest of the story" is?

no paul harvey story here!

back in grade school, the other family that carpooled with us, the dad would always listen to paul harvey while waiting for us to get out of school. we always either caught the beginning, or the very end of the entire thing. but i'll never forget that crackling, slightly whiney voice.



just new guy frustrations. STEM is really screwing up the trades. this newest hire just learned to follow the rules of school. for the last 21 years, everyone's told him "go to school, they'll teach you everything you need to know". the kid talks like everything is an essay. never got into sports, so he never got actually pressured to complete things in a small amount of time, or have an understanding of applying force to make things work your way. little mechanical aptitude, and a general lack of curiosity of the world around him, so literally everything is new. a few days ago, he saw a tv antenna on a rooftop for the first time... in the 30 seconds after seeing it, he convinced himself that it was some sort of satellite array receiver for a harvard-educated scientist to study the stars from at home... literally everything i try to teach him goes this way, where no matter my instructions, he ends up attempting the process in the hardest way possible and then works his way backwards to the easier method...

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Today I learned that my division is being sold. Not really sure how I feel about it.

Oooooooo ..... it has been my experience that that never turns out to be good. As explained in corporate terms - "this is a buy out NOT a merger" -

In Army speak - "there is two kinds of people in the world, the fuckees and the fuckors, in this case, the Army is the fuckor and YOU is the fuckee".

I suggest you update your Résumé, renew your contacts and be flexible.

Good luck.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by soundman98

no paul harvey story here!

back in grade school, the other family that carpooled with us, the dad would always listen to paul harvey while waiting for us to get out of school. we always either caught the beginning, or the very end of the entire thing. but i'll never forget that crackling, slightly whiney voice.



just new guy frustrations. STEM is really screwing up the trades. this newest hire just learned to follow the rules of school. for the last 21 years, everyone's told him "go to school, they'll teach you everything you need to know". the kid talks like everything is an essay. never got into sports, so he never got actually pressured to complete things in a small amount of time, or have an understanding of applying force to make things work your way. little mechanical aptitude, and a general lack of curiosity of the world around him, so literally everything is new. a few days ago, he saw a tv antenna on a rooftop for the first time... in the 30 seconds after seeing it, he convinced himself that it was some sort of satellite array receiver for a harvard-educated scientist to study the stars from at home... literally everything i try to teach him goes this way, where no matter my instructions, he ends up attempting the process in the hardest way possible and then works his way backwards to the easier method...

What if I built a robot to help you out? Would that change your mind?

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Oooooooo ..... it has been my experience that that never turns out to be good. As explained in corporate terms - "this is a buy out NOT a merger" -

In Army speak - "there is two kinds of people in the world, the fuckees and the fuckors, in this case, the Army is the fuckor and YOU is the fuckee".

I suggest you update your Résumé, renew your contacts and be flexible.

Good luck.

Why do you say that? I'm not really worried about my career, and the new company is going to lose a lot of immediate profit if they piss me or the 6 others off enough to leave.

My personal feelings on the matter:
There's a significant financial incentive to stay at the new place for at least a year which, you know, money is good. But at the same time I'm going from employee #8/~300 to #1234 or something. Ironically, our success is what allowed the company to get into a position where the leadership had to sell our division because [complicated reasons].

On the good side, the corporate HQ of the new company is closer to where I live (in MD), and that is important to build relationships regardless of what tech companies like to say. The leadership is, well, I'm not usually impressed by executive's resumes but these guys are legit.

On the meh side, it's a publicly traded company which has its ups and downs. I'm going to have to figure out all sorts of IT and communications craziness in the changeover (its a complicated situation), and I have to figure out a completely different benefits package for the 4th time since 2019.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Spuds

What if I built a robot to help you out? Would that change your mind?

One could try.

Just remember this warning: when my emaxx got boring, I strapped E-size model rocket motors to it. There was only 1 small fire.

The robot you get back will not be the robot that was sent.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by soundman98

One could try.

Just remember this warning: when my emaxx got boring, I strapped E-size model rocket motors to it. There was only 1 small fire.

The robot you get back will not be the robot that was sent.

Planned obsolescence.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Why do you say that? I'm not really worried about my career, and the new company is going to lose a lot of immediate profit if they piss me or the 6 others off enough to leave.

Well, Spuds, first off, I misunderstood your size of a company "division". I usually think of a division as comprising several thousand employees, not 7 employees. - my bad.

Why did I caution you like I did? Like they say in the old country, prepare for the worse and ....(something or other - ).

Why do I say this? Over the past 60 years, I have worked for several companies, from one of the largest to one of the smallest.

I have observed many personnel comings and goings for many different reasons.

I wish you well with your career, I just suggest you stay vigilant -

[Dirty Harry]

Today I learned the things we do for the love of our cars.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/man-hu...eels-his-pain/

^I can really relate to this. I wasn’t sure where to put this link, but here seemed appropriate I guess.

[7 skulls]

Been watching alot of Roman history on youtube and came across this gem:

On the eve of the naval battle of Drepana, during the first Punic war, admiral Publius Claudius Pulcher was told that the sacred chickens were refusing to eat, a bad omen, but Pulcher wanted battle and ordered the sacred chickens to be thrown overboard, he allegedly said, “Then let them drink”. The Roman fleet was defeated.