Has anything of interest happened to you recently?

One of my co-workers had a stroke at work yesterday. It wasn't like she toppled over; she was just sort of drowsing off in her chair. Another co-worker became concerned and used a mnemonic we were taught at a recent CPR training (& which also goes around in emails): S-T-R (first three letters of "stroke")

Smile (ask person to smile, check if face is drooping on one side)
Talk (check for speaking trouble, word salad, etc)
Raise (can they raise both arms?)

The "smile" part pretty much confirmed the problem (face was drooping) and the other indicators did too, so they called 911. She's doing about as well as can be hoped today.

So this STR thing and my alert co-worker might just have saved her life or prevented worse disability.

FAST is the usual stroke acronym.
Face,
Arms,
Speech,
Time.

About fifteen minutes after Bahimiron left this morning for an all day event, someone buzzed our place at 8 am. I ignored it, cause usually it's someone hitting the wrong number. But then it happened again. Now I'm sick and have barely gotten out of bed in a day and a half and the only person I can think it would be is my mom, and if it was her she'd call if I didn't answer the door. Instead, someone leans on the buzzer again for a good ten seconds.

So I get mildly freaked out. There's no way to know who the hell that is unless I open my door and peak around the corner, in which case whoever it is knows I'm home. I decide not to answer.

Next thing I know? Knocking on my door. Not the outside door, my door. There's no peephole or anything so I just quietly make my way to the window to watch whoever it is when they leave, super freaked out now.

It was the head of our condo association--a real asshole of a guy that I don't like to deal with on a good day. There's something wrong with the building's heat (and has been for, oh, five years?) and he just decided that today he'd have the guy come over and test each apartment. Without giving us any advanced warning even though he has our cell phone numbers. I fucking hate him.

My uncle got a desperately needed heart transplant from an 18 year old donor. Somewhere a family is grieving and my heart goes out to them. Every organ was used. Our entire family is so blessed that this person was an organ donor. Please become an organ donor if you aren't one and make sure your family knows your intentions. PSA over.

I've found that people who want to take leadership roles are often the absolute worst people for the job. I suggest either you or Bahimiron kill him and eat his brain. Then you can take over the Condo Association and eventually, Masachu... Massachuss... FFS, who came up with that fucking name?

Accepted to my second choice university! Now I'm just waiting for Toronto. :D

I have learned that the easiest way to get through a hard* DDR song is to scream "FUCK" at the top of your lungs while you keep going. Has worked every time thus far.

*Your definition of hard may vary.

Dalhousie University! It's got a great staff (some of which I met personally during my tour), and it's in my city so I don't need to pay for residence or anything.

My son is now a month old, he was born early on Christmas in the night, a huge surprise. He is healthy by all measures, and yesterday he just smiled for the first time. My wife and I feel blessed, and not a day goes by that I don't bless the good Lord for His wonderful gift to us. I am arranging for his baptism.

I work in IT security for the federal government, and will soon look to be transferred back to my province of Quebec. I want to live there to raise my family, where I grew and lived for most all my life. I am saving enough money to put a huge downpayment for a house, and my wife and I are trying to decide in which city we want to move in.

My mom, sister, and sister's two kids came down to visit yesterday. Quat and I gave my old iPad 1 to my niece, who was over the moon. She told us later than she gets teased at school for not having fancy tech. She owns a basic cellphone for in case of emergencies, and Quat and I gave her a basic Kindle for her birthday in September. But apparently some of her classmates have iPhone 5's. And they're TEN. What the fucking fuck.

So apparently the heating problems for the whole building have been traced back to our unit, of course. The head of the condo association is saying that when our plumber disconnected our radiator, he knocked something into the pipe that then blocked the rest of the building. I have a hard time believing that since it was disconnected over a year and a half ago, but whatever. We can't fucking win.

I work in what amounts to an equal opportunity after school care setting, meaning that no matter if you can't really afford to have afterschool/day care for your kid we will still take them and you can pay us a reduced amount.

It shocks me how many of these kids have tech that is as fancy if not fancier than what I own. Blows. My. Mind.

...My phone is so old they don't make it anymore...

My phone is a hand-me-down from my dead grandfather, because he had a cellphone before I did.

I see kids in first grade with phones that are way fancier than mine and I am just like "...what do you even need something like that for?" You need a phone to make a call; what, are you gonna use all of your fancy Spongebob apps while writing your basic addition assignment?

Had a baby.

XPav 2.1? (...second one, yes?)

Yup, second baby, a girl this time.

So XXPav?

The improved version, so to speak.

Edit: And congratulations.

Fanciest thing I have is an iPhone... I don't know, 3, 3GS, 4? I can't tell, even then, I only started using it last year. Before then, I used a Nokia phone that my mother had for 4-5 years. It was ancient even when I first got it. I think I still have it, it's got pictures of little me going to the zoo!
My cousin, who's younger than me owns an iPhone 5, okay, not that amazing, but my older sister owns an iPad and, for some reason, two iPhones. My mother is using a Galaxy thingie, and whenever I go to visit relatives, everyone older than me seems to have an iPad. Heck, my uncle of age 50+ uses a Kindle.
The elderly of my family are more technologically up to date than me. Not that I mind but what the heck.

My youngest (7) don't have a phone, but plays on my old iPhone 3GS at home. The oldest (11) has my hand me down iPhone 4S - most kids in her class has iPhones (mostly 4's some 5's) or advanced Androids - there's like one kid with a dumbphone.

But she uses it all the time and not just for playing - I recently got her math teacher to cancel the calculator recommendation, because I pointed out to her and the other parents that most of the kids already had phones which much more advanced calculators, than the one the school was recommending everybody buy. When I bought the iPhone 5, my wife decided to stay on the 4 and let the kid have the 4S, because she uses the advanced features much more than my wife do.
So while I agree, that's it's terribly expensive hardware to let the kids use (but we can afford it), it's not true that they have no "need" for them. I had no need for my Commodore 64, when I was a kid (it cost about the same), but without that, I'm not sure I'd have my rather fine paying job without it.


And congrats XPav!

I got my first phone when I was 15, because I was taking night classes and dad was tired of me calling from a payphone when the class was over so he could pick me up.

Yeah, I got my first when I was 27 - but I'm also really old.

From Wikipedia: Inventor Charles E. Alden claimed, in the 29 April 1906 issue of the New York World, to have invented a device called the “vest pocket telephone" although Alden never had the chance to produce this device in large quantities

I didn't get a cellphone until four years ago. I was 44 at the time. You know, elderly.

In other interesting events that happened to me recently, I got through the weekend without breaking my hip, losing my dentures or dancing.

I held out getting a cell phone until 2002, so I would've been 21-ish. Was definitely one of the last of my friends to get one, but it really was a matter of "Couldn't afford it" prior to that.

STILL DON'T HAVE ONE, MOTHERFUCKERS! I will be the last person in North America to get a cell phone, and probably the last person on Earth to keep buying physical media. I'M LIKE A THAWED-OUT CAVEMAN.

I didn't own a cell phone until I was 27. Even then, I had a $20 pre-paid phone until my early thirties when I finally joined the 21st century and got an iPhone.

I should point out that I did yell at a cloud on the weekend.

And then, being Canadian, promptly apologized and bought the cloud a double-double.

I didn't have a smartphone until my boss bought me one. He bought me a goddamn Nexus 4. Overkill* much?

* There is no overkill, only "open fire" and "I need to reload"?

I have to confess. I do not have a mobile phone. Of any nature.
It feels bloody great.

My 2-year-old son works modern technology better than my wife. He navigates his (used to be mine but nope, he co-opted it) Kindle Fire like a pro, and he can't read more than letters and numbers at this point (and basic, short words, occasionally). So yeah, I can totally see him wanting/using a smart phone when he's in grade school.

A pic of my son relaxing and watching videos on his Kindle Fire:


The other day, I saw him watching YouTube on the KF. He paused the video, opened a new tab, selected a different YouTube page he had bookmarked, and started watching that video instead. It's pretty scary how quickly he's adopted the technology. As a side effect, he now thinks EVERY screen is a touchscreen.

To be fair, lil'uns adapt and learn very quickly.

also i am really jealous i want that toy story couch thing wow.

balut my lil niece is about the same, and she's about 3.
She also has a couch like that, only it's disney princesses. They could be long lost twins. Owo

Ummm so lessee, some Jehovah Witnesses keep visiting me assuring that the world is not going to be destroyed but that all suffering will end and only the meek and moldable will be saved to be indoctrined or something. Kidding about that latter part, but people are persistent. Thought the whole, "featherless heathen" thing had already well been established by our first meeting.

My kids both knew how to slide to unlock before they were two. At three and five they both have fully mastered use of iPads, iPod Touches, and Kindles.

But that doesn't mean I'm buying them a damned iPhone when they turn ten.

I just categorically oppose giving anyone under the age of 15 anything that has a triple-digit cost and can be destroyed by dropping it in the toilet. I don't trust anyone under the age of 25 to not drop electronics in the toilet, but I realize that teenagers have schedules that need coordinating.