Little things that annoy you

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Cervus

I've been having far too many work-related dreams lately. I've just had two in the past 12 hours (One just before I got up this morning for work, and another when I came home and took a nap.)

I've been waking up every night for the last week (and before that, while I was worried about starting) thinking about work... I don't feel I've got much sleep at all, but weirdly - at least from a couple of days after starting - it's not a bad thing. It's not really anxiety, it's more that there's so much to do and to piece together that my brain can't do it subconsciously in the usual sleep patterns, and wakes me up for it. But I'm still getting up feeling rested and relaxed.

It's kind of unusual - I didn't realise it was possible to lie awake all night thinking about work, and still feel good (better than I have for ages) - but even that's a little annoying because I like sleep too!

[Richard W]

... My annoyance is that I am being very organised, since I'm not going to have as much free time as I'm used to between now and Christmas, and I'd come up with a nice list of things I need to do in town. Now it's absolutely pouring with rain, in a steady kind of way that suggests it will continue for hours, and I don't want to go out at all.

Still, it's only 9.30 and the shops might not even be open yet on a Sunday. And I need to get dressed and eat breakfast first anyway. Perhaps it will have stopped by then.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

We had a windstorm Thursday night, and lots of small branches were broken off trees. My mini-rant is against those who don't clear the public sidewalk of these branches.

My dog is basically blind, and he's small, and running into these branches can be a real issue for him. I try to pick them up before he comes across them, but sometimes there are just too many.

Seaboe

[mbravo]

I made some mushroom soup from a family recipe cookbook to bring to Christmas dinner tomorrow. It smells delicious and the first few bites are very tasty, but it is definitely overly salty. As it is a cream based soup, I am hesitant to add acids. Some sites suggest adding a potato, but others say this doesn't work and only removes some of the flavor from the soup in addition to slightly reducing a salt taste.

I will know better next time to watch with with the bouillon cubes.

[Sooeygun]

Originally Posted by mbravo

I made some mushroom soup from a family recipe cookbook to bring to Christmas dinner tomorrow. It smells delicious and the first few bites are very tasty, but it is definitely overly salty. As it is a cream based soup, I am hesitant to add acids. Some sites suggest adding a potato, but others say this doesn't work and only removes some of the flavor from the soup in addition to slightly reducing a salt taste.

I will know better next time to watch with with the bouillon cubes.

I've never had a problem adding lemon juice (as long as it's not too much) to cream soups. There are enough other ingredients. But that said, there's not much you can do for overly salty, except to make a non salty batch and mix it. Maybe you could saute up some more mushrooms and add them, then add more cream?

The potato thing is a myth.

[ASL]

Originally Posted by Sooeygun

The potato thing is a myth.

But is it true that if you speak French with a hot potato in your mouth, you’ll come off like an American speaking English?

[Beachlife!]

A potato won't soak up the salt, but adding potatoes will dilute the saltiness.

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by ASL

But is it true that if you speak French with a hot potato in your mouth, you’ll come off like an American speaking English?

When I speak french with a potato in mouth, I just sound like someone who's not done chewing, trying to talk without spitting out potato...

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

A potato won't soak up the salt, but adding potatoes will dilute the saltiness.

But then, so will adding any other ingredient that isn't salty.

[Lainie]

Sure, but potatoes are well-suited for adding to a cream soup, IMO.

[Cervus]

My hard-wired smoke alarm, which is less than a year old, spontaneously went off and I don't know why. It's not a CO detector, no breaker tripped or power surge, and I wasn't using any appliances or cooking. I've read that humidity or insects or dust can set off a false alarm, but I wish I knew for sure.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Sure, but potatoes are well-suited for adding to a cream soup, IMO.

That is true.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Cervus

My hard-wired smoke alarm, which is less than a year old, spontaneously went off and I don't know why. It's not a CO detector, no breaker tripped or power surge, and I wasn't using any appliances or cooking. I've read that humidity or insects or dust can set off a false alarm, but I wish I knew for sure.

I've had that problem, too; the smoke alarm going off in the middle of the night when there's no smoke and no fire, annoying both me and my neighbor.

I'm wondering if this is something my electrician could do something about, if the problem's something on that end.

Thanks.

Bill

[RichardM]

Try cleaning the smoke detector with compressed air, i.e., the cans that are used to blow out computers. Might work, might not.

[erwins]

Cervus said hers is pretty new, but in case that doesn't apply in your case, Bill, they do expire. There should be a replace by date on it. Also, you can vacuum out dust (you don't have to have canned air).

In one place I lived, there was no exhaust fan in the bathroom, and a smoke detector was in the hall just outside the bathroom door. It would go off anytime someone opened the door after a hot shower because of the humid/steamy air coming out the door.

If it's an optical detector, I suppose a suffiently bright light in just the right place could set it off.

[Crius of CoH]

Originally Posted by erwins

If it's an optical detector, I suppose a suffiently bright light in just the right place could set it off.

That would be a seriously defective smoke alarm. There is a labyrinth inside the alarm that prevents the alarm's internal photo cell from "seeing" light from the alarm's internal LED; smoke particles (or dust or anything else that can get in there, such as a small spider) reflect light around the labyrinth to reach the photo cell and trigger the alarm function (voltage from the light hitting the cell).

Most smoke alarm failures are due to it becoming dirty - vacuuming can help but compressed air is usually better. Replace after 10 years (or the date printed on the detector). It is possible that circuit boards can be or become faulty. It is also possible that the labyrinth is malformed and allowing light to reach the photocell, but that should be obvious from the moment the smoke alarm is installed.

[mbravo]

The CGI additions to the original Star Wars trilogy. I know this is an old, old thing to be annoyed by but DH has the movies on TBS right now and it's reopening old wounds

I watched these movies so much from the time I was born until sometime in elementary school that sitting here with my back turned to the screen, I can hear and know when something is there "that shouldn't be." I know this is old and by now outdated CGI but it looks so incompetent and ruins my immersion.

[ASL]

Originally Posted by mbravo

The CGI additions to the original Star Wars trilogy. I know this is an old, old thing to be annoyed by but DH has the movies on TBS right now and it's reopening old wounds

It’s okay, let it out. Let it out. This is a safe place with people who support you.

That said, you should probably walk out of the room during the dance scene in Jaba's palace. The real head scratcher isn’t merely that it’s bad CGI, it’s that it’s worse than what it’s painted over (for lack of a better term).

Like one of those bad preservation/restoration jobs done on centuries-old art by an ameteur painter. You now the one I’m talking about:

[crocoduck_hunter]

I think it was mostly showing off George Lucas's questionable taste.

And possibly questionable eyesight.

[ganzfeld]

Nothing lasts - neither digital or analog. Everything will be corrupted. It's just good fortune for Star Wars to have been corrupted so early in its history and by someone so close to the original. (g)You just have to let go as soon as you see something wonderful. Star Wars was never going to be the same anyway - even if it had been kept in a refrigerated vault from 1977.