GottaDEAL 2025 Prize Club Discussion Thread

[bodotdot]

January 5th...too late to say Happy New Year?  What's the cutoff?

[bluebear]

51 minutes ago, bodotdot said:

Did you need to stand still longer to get a picture to show stars?  Does your phone camera have a setting?

 

I just put my phone on "Night Mode".  I wish I knew how to do all the extra manual fancy settings, but I don't.

With Night mode, it does take a few seconds to take the picture (about 5), so you do have to be still.  Mine are still a little smeary.  I imagine I could put it on a tripod, but that would take some setup,  and I'm too lazy for that!  

[cllehto]

10 hours ago, Gator Pam said:

So…
The past three days have been busy with bureaucracy dealings. As this is my birthday month where I’m turning 65, I am transitioning from Washington State Classic Medicaid for Adults, known as Apple Health to Medicare with Washington State Senior Classic Medicaid as my Medigap coverage.

Unfortunately, while I wanted to avoid Medicare Advantage Plans at all costs, I could not find a Part D plan which had my walking chemotherapy in their formulary at a premium and copay I could afford, even with Extra Help. I’m now enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Plan starting next month. After investigating, I went with the plan which also has provided my Medicaid Managed Care Plan for all these years since I moved to Washington.

 

Unfortunately, I do have several specialists I may need to change, particularly my original breast surgeon who I see for annual follow ups and my dentist, but it appears as if all of my other doctors are in plan.

Except for my allergy medication, which is a prescribed version of Zyrtec, all of my medications, including my chemo, is in this plan’s formulary. Hopefully the transition will go fairly smoothly.

I’m used to being on a Managed Care Plan, and have actually been very happy with all of the doctors and specialists who have seen me. I’m going into this Advantage Plan hoping the experience will be similar.

 

All that said to explain why I am a few days late with posting this gif. I have either been in the DSHS offices or on the phone with Medicare and Apple Health choosing plans and figuring out how this transitional month between Apple Health and the Advantage Plan will work, especially in getting my monthly multi-thousand dollar chemotherapy refill.

Happy Birthday Month to me!

 

https://tenor.com/bWkWc.gif

Happy Birthday! Good luck with the medical issues. I always hate open enrollment because it's hard to find a plan that still covers your doctors-seems the current plan changes every year...sometimes midyear.

[ytmomof4]

Waiting on the snow we are supposed to get wondering what we will actually get they keep changing the amount 

[Gator Pam]

Happy Epiphany/Three Kings Day/Little Christmas 

[gatorburg]

Hope everyone is doing well

[stacya]

Happy New Year! 

 

My luger, Kendall, returned home a few days before Christmas from a 2 week training camp and race in Utah, and just left yesterday for another 2 week training camp in Lake Placid, culminating in another race on Saturday, January 18. In the Utah race, she placed 4th, after being edged out by just 0.025 seconds. Not the result we wanted, and she was pretty upset to be edged out of the medals again, especially since she was 3rd after her first run, but the athlete who edged her out is also 2 years older than her, and has spent much more time on that track, where this was only Kendall's second training camp there. These athletes will meet again next weekend, on what is Kendall's home track, and we are hoping for a better outcome for her. Looking forward to being there to watch her race this time. We bring her home on the 19th, and she will spend about a month home before heading back to Utah for the final training camp of the season, where she will compete in 2 levels of National Championships in that time. In the meantime, she had an awesome article written about her that appeared on the front page of our local newspaper, and will have a third article written for our local area weekly Merchandiser in the next week or two. Today's photos include the pic from the front page of the newspaper article, and a pic from race day.

 

 

 

 

[magickallight]

On 1/1/2025 at 11:58 AM, Hartcollectibles said:

Happy New Year everyone!!!  Count me in for January!!!

 

[HomeinKS]

Happy New Year!  We are digging out after the weekend weather.  I've heard 16 inches here.  

[freesia39]

On 1/5/2025 at 6:08 AM, bodotdot said:

January 5th...too late to say Happy New Year?  What's the cutoff?

According to Larry David/Curb Your Enthusiasm, it's three days.

 

 

[HanShotFirst]

Frigid weather here (for the South) and predicted measurable snowfall on Friday.  The grocery stores are already packed.  I have enough trouble finding milk on a normal day so I can’t imagine what Thursday will bring.  I’ll be buying some tomorrow for sure.  

[ilikefree]

Finally back to work today. We were supposed to go back yesterday but the roads in our county were very slippery so they closed school for the day. We did have a 2 hour delay this morning but we ended up going after the delay. We haven't seen temps above freezing for a while now and it doesn't look like it will warm above freezing anytime soon. We got a couple inches of snow here Sunday night, closer to Monday morning, but nothing like what southern Ohio got.

[wittenlover]

While we officially started back up for work last Thursday, today was first day back in the office. So, of course I woke up with a splitting headache. On a WFH day, I would've simply taken some ibuprofen, left most of my lights off, turned the brightness down on my laptop screen and been fine. But noooooo... I had to come into the office where every last stinkin light is on, the air is drier than heck, and people were being noisier than normal (since it was our first day back). I've made it through but I truly cannot wait to get home and become a hermit for the night. It's been a LONG day... 

 

That said, hope everyone that got snow/ice dumped on them in the last few days is OK. My bestie down in Indiana definitely got hammered, though she was blessed to not lose power (truly insult to injury for those that did with the frigid temps). 

[wittenlover]

16 hours ago, Kanyon71 said:

The whole hybrid thing is stupid. If we can work from home some days we can work from home all days. 

 

Not necessarily true... There are legal limitations/ramifications on parts of my job that I simply cannot do from home. I'm OK with that.

 

That said, "just running to my office" to accomplish some tasks would waste half my day in packing up office/driving/resetting first in my office then back home because of where I live in proximity to my office. Sooooo.... I'm actually more productive being in just one place or the other on any given day. Fixed hybrid schedule gives my plants that I deal with the confidence of knowing when I'll be in office to accomplish tasks there vs when things might need to wait a day because I'm WFH. Urgent matters are always the exception to the rule and I will drop everything else on a WFH day to attend to those types of things, no matter the inconvenience. (Comes with the territory of my job and something I've known would be the nature of it from the very beginning.)

[len_mullen]

33 minutes ago, Kanyon71 said:

So it’s nothing but probably some outdated law that says you have to be in the office to do it?

 

No.  80% of my job is administrative.  I can do that in the office or remotely.  20% of my job has to be executed in a designated space.  If I do those things outside the space, it's a felony.  While the specifics of the infraction are above my paygrade, I manage to be compliant.

[freesia39]

<insert very long series of thoughts on hybrid vs fully remote here> I work in HR, I see a lot.

[bluebear]

My department has been allowing some positions 1 remote day a week for about 10 years.  I've been in that group for 6.  We were told from the start that this was a privilege,  and if we had a meeting or some other obligation, we had to come in.  

Sometimes, people will still take meetings virtually,  but in-person meetings are much easier for me.  So I will still come in.  However, I live 2 miles from work, so it's easy.  

A few years ago, my role was slightly different, so there actually were things that I had to put my hands on to do.  Currently there isn't much, but it could change.  Plus, sometimes you just need to see people. 

But it is nice having some time without people and interruptions.  (Plus, I share a trailer with 6 other people, and sometimes they are very talkative and distracting! )

 

Our HR department frowns on remote working.   We started this years ago before it was a very common thing.  I fully expect at some point we will lose them.  Oh well.  

[Bopeep]

Our company has been remote since 2020. After a couple years, it was pretty much a given that we would just stay remote. We got rid of a lot of office supplies and rented out half our building (there's a locked door that separates the 2). Now the owners are building new offices for all the companies under their umbrella and are saying we have to go back once the office is done. "We aren't spending this money on a new building for no one to work in it!". Then why build it???  I'm actually praying they will at least let us work a hybrid schedule.

[wittenlover]

15 hours ago, len_mullen said:

 

No.  80% of my job is administrative.  I can do that in the office or remotely.  20% of my job has to be executed in a designated space.  If I do those things outside the space, it's a felony.  While the specifics of the infraction are above my paygrade, I manage to be compliant.

 

Same. While not quite to felony level with my job, similar legal limitations exist for me as well.

[freesia39]

HR hat:

Working hybrid is a privilege and not an entitlement. It can be revoked at any time, whether due to leadership discretion, poor performance or the position has evolved to require additional presence. Providing hybrid work arrangements is a benefit that may help attract and retain employees, especially to support commute times and help with affordability for those who may live further away from the office. (massive issue here in CA.)

 

Some positions are not conducive to remote work. I remind employees that while you may have worked fully remote during the pandemic - so did many of your colleagues and teammates. We had no option but to make it work. As return to office has normalized and stabilized, the expectation set out by your organization should reflect the needs of your organization. Some roles require in person connections for productivity, brainstorming; others require employees to be in person due to the nature of the work - we cannot feed residents remotely, support their maintenance, conduct research experiments with ridiculously expensive equipment that costs millions, teach classes, or even in non-academic examples (as I work in academia) interview employees during an investigation (I do not like doing this remotely due to security concerns and the conversations are VERY different when I hold them in person)

 

If your company is fully remote, it's different - the expectations are different. If it is not, I advise any employee to be open and flexible when you are asked to return to the office, or add occasional additional days per week as needed. I work two days a week in person, and often add a third day due to meetings, events etc. I also advise employees to maximize in person days - I purposely schedule in person meetings, 1:1s with my team, etc - so that I don't have to hear "but I come in and sit on zoom meetings." Some meetings are better held over zoom - the meeting I had with finance as we reviewed data is better when you have a screen to look at salaries right in front of you. Some conversations need to be in person. Some work is done much better in person; some work can ONLY be done in person.

 

I tell people all the time who say they don't want to come in: then do not be surprised if you no longer have a role to work hybrid from as we are not required to allow you to work hybrid. Employees have been terminated for deliberately not coming in on their assigned days.

 

And because I have to say it OFTEN - working hybrid or remotely is NOT a substitute for child care. We understand emergencies happen, and you may need to pick up a child due to illness, issues at school, etc. That has happened in the before times and will continue to happen. You cannot be inflexible on hybrid days because you only have child care two days a week, for example. There is no way you can be productive with a 2 year old roaming around, and the time has passed for children to pop up behind you in meetings.

 

Non HR Hat:
I live close to work, I don't mind coming in. Don't abuse that by having me come in for you either, because that's rude. But if you're going to complain you have to come in one extra day ONCE a month because your manager wants everyone there on the same day for team meetings or company wide events, I am not going to have sympathy. If you want to work fully remote, find a fully remote position. You cannot expect a company to bend to your preference to be fully remote if it does not meet operational needs, is not consistent with other members of the team, or meets the vision of leadership.

 

You need to make it work in order to continue making it work. I've heard too many examples of one person effing it up for an entire team because they were refusing to come in, or disappearing for three hours a day, not being responsive, and hybrid privileges were revoked for an entire team. Don't be that person.

[packratfamily]

Hi Folks, we got Snow and I am happy. Put out bird seed and suet and peanuts and water and watch the birds come and go. We have lots of woodpeckers and various song birds and a few squirrels, who cannot get into the suet feeder,

Had tons of snow growing up, so it brings back fun times even though I’m not sledding.

 

Feel awful for the California fires though. CANNOT imagine that.

 

Happy New Year to all here

 

[bribri25]

Wishing everyone safe from the weather across the country. Here for January. I'm pretty sure I've never made it to January before.

[cllehto]

Happy Saturday!

[HanShotFirst]

On 1/9/2025 at 9:37 AM, freesia39 said:

<insert very long series of thoughts on hybrid vs fully remote here> I work in HR, I see a lot.

So does my sister.  And as of this year, she and the entire university is losing their WFH options.  

[len_mullen]

On 1/9/2025 at 10:37 AM, freesia39 said:

<insert very long series of thoughts on hybrid vs fully remote here> I work in HR, I see a lot.

 

My HR rep lives in a different state from where I work.  She has never been to the facility, has never responded to an email from me, and has never answered her phone when I have called during business hours.  There is something to be said for being able to darken an enemy's door from time to time.

[HanShotFirst]

Finally on the backend of Snowpocalypse 2025 here in Tennessee. We ended up with about 7 inches of it yesterday.  Beautiful while it lasted though.  

[mgreen]

Checking in for January from California. Crazy wildfires going on all over. Fires are over 100 miles from us, but they shut off power in a bunch of different areas. My sister's power was off for 2 days.

[jstluvem]

On 1/7/2025 at 9:43 AM, HomeinKS said:

Happy New Year!  We are digging out after the weekend weather.  I've heard 16 inches here.  

4 snow days and I'm ready for school!

[magickallight]

18 hours ago, jstluvem said:

4 snow days and I'm ready for school!

 

[freesia39]

On 1/11/2025 at 1:18 PM, len_mullen said:

 

My HR rep lives in a different state from where I work.  She has never been to the facility, has never responded to an email from me, and has never answered her phone when I have called during business hours.  There is something to be said for being able to darken an enemy's door from time to time.

Sigh these are the HR people ruining it for the rest of us that do the right thing...

 

I do admit I don't always answer the phone (I have way too many people calling trying to sell me crap) but I will call you back. And I always respond to an email or slack message.