Work & windows
So I was going to bed but then I remembered I was going to post more, and realized I had actual stuff to say.
I've achieved partial work nirvana, in that I now only have to go to the office three times a week. It's heaven. It's especially heaven because while I like my job, the person I partner with 99% of the time is a horrible, horrible person. Ok, she's probably not horrible in her personal life, but in her work life she is horrible. She has about a billion flaws and I am sure I'll spend a lot of time enumerating them here in the future. But here is the very worst one. The one that, if she is ever found dead with a letter opener stuck out of her eyeball, will stand as my primary defense in court:
She thinks the word "beguiled" means "baffled."
She thinks this very sincerely, and it is her favorite word. About five or six times a day she comes to me confused about some part of her job that she needs explained to her for the billionth time, and says something along the lines of, "I read the email you sent about how to do X, and I was completely beguiled! Could you explain it to me again?"
Or, "I'm not sure why our boss would want us to do that, it's utterly beguiling!"
Or, "Are you as beguiled as me about this really simple request we just received from IT?"
Over. And over. And over AGAIN.
STABBITY. STABBITY STAB STAB!
Grar. You agree with me that this is horrible, right? TELL ME IT'S NOT JUST ME. It's totally a stabbing offense, RIGHT?
So that's one thing I had to say, and here's the second: Windows! Today I went to get all the windows of my car tinted professionally (except the windshield, naturally). I spent a few days researching it last week, and while it was kind of spendy, I think it's probably something I should have done a long time ago. I have this autoimmune condition that makes me super sensitive to UV light, and I drive to/from New Hampshire three times a week in sunshine now.
Since my car is black, and the windows are now pretty black, I feel like I should be wearing a single ear bud and shuttling Obama around in the back seat. But even on the short drive home, the car felt a lot cooler. The tinting is just dark grey, not some bizarre color, and it's got a lifetime warranty against things like peeling or turning purple or being visibly not part of the originally manufactured windows. It's apparently a very thin layer of ceramic you can see through (which made me mutter "transparent aluminum!" to myself and crack up inside because GEEK), but which blocks 99% of all UV rays and doesn't interfere with cell or wifi signals. (Yes, glass usually protects a lot against UV rays, but it still lets UVA in to some extent, and that's part of what makes my skin go purple.)
In the course of getting this done, I learned a few things. First, windshield glass and side/rear window glass are not created equal. Windshield glass these days is usually manufactured with transparent, untinted UV protection layered into the glass. Side and rear windows are made of tempered glass, which does block some UV but not nearly as much as windshield glass. Hey, just in case anybody ever asks you - now you know!
The other thing I learned is that the laws about which windows can be shaded and how much they can be shaded vary state to state. In MA, for instance, you are not allowed to tint more than the top six inches of your windshield, and your side windows have to allow more than 35% of light in and cannot be more than 35% reflective. The way they do this is, they have a little light meter they use on your windows before tinting. They check how much tinting you have, and then they tell you what level of tinting you can add so that you stay legal, and then you can decide if you want that, or maybe some even lighter level of tinting.
Here's the third thing I learned: What to do if you want your windows to let in LESS than 35% of visible light in Massachusetts!
You pay CASH.
Don't get me wrong, I did not do this. If you get pulled over with windows too dark, the police person will check it with a meter, and then send you to have it removed within 7 days or you will get a ticket. Then you have blown around $300. However, while I was there, the guy who got his car done before me was sent off to a cash machine around the corner. I hadn't brought enough cash to pay for the tinting that way (in fact I hadn't brought enough cash to pay for a soda while I waited), so I said to the owner of the shop, "Do you only take cash?"
And he said, without any further prompting whatsoever, "No, we take credit, but that guy wanted 10% darker than the legal limit. If you want it darker than the legal limit, you have to pay in cash. We don't want our name associated with it."
Somehow I'm going to find a way to work this into a Fast & Furious story - see if I don't!
Meanwhile, my totally street-legal car looks cool and will not cause my pale vampiric flesh to smolder and catch fire. Totally successful day!
[ Optional: Reply at Dreamwidth |
comments ]
I've achieved partial work nirvana, in that I now only have to go to the office three times a week. It's heaven. It's especially heaven because while I like my job, the person I partner with 99% of the time is a horrible, horrible person. Ok, she's probably not horrible in her personal life, but in her work life she is horrible. She has about a billion flaws and I am sure I'll spend a lot of time enumerating them here in the future. But here is the very worst one. The one that, if she is ever found dead with a letter opener stuck out of her eyeball, will stand as my primary defense in court:
She thinks the word "beguiled" means "baffled."
She thinks this very sincerely, and it is her favorite word. About five or six times a day she comes to me confused about some part of her job that she needs explained to her for the billionth time, and says something along the lines of, "I read the email you sent about how to do X, and I was completely beguiled! Could you explain it to me again?"
Or, "I'm not sure why our boss would want us to do that, it's utterly beguiling!"
Or, "Are you as beguiled as me about this really simple request we just received from IT?"
Over. And over. And over AGAIN.
STABBITY. STABBITY STAB STAB!
Grar. You agree with me that this is horrible, right? TELL ME IT'S NOT JUST ME. It's totally a stabbing offense, RIGHT?
So that's one thing I had to say, and here's the second: Windows! Today I went to get all the windows of my car tinted professionally (except the windshield, naturally). I spent a few days researching it last week, and while it was kind of spendy, I think it's probably something I should have done a long time ago. I have this autoimmune condition that makes me super sensitive to UV light, and I drive to/from New Hampshire three times a week in sunshine now.
Since my car is black, and the windows are now pretty black, I feel like I should be wearing a single ear bud and shuttling Obama around in the back seat. But even on the short drive home, the car felt a lot cooler. The tinting is just dark grey, not some bizarre color, and it's got a lifetime warranty against things like peeling or turning purple or being visibly not part of the originally manufactured windows. It's apparently a very thin layer of ceramic you can see through (which made me mutter "transparent aluminum!" to myself and crack up inside because GEEK), but which blocks 99% of all UV rays and doesn't interfere with cell or wifi signals. (Yes, glass usually protects a lot against UV rays, but it still lets UVA in to some extent, and that's part of what makes my skin go purple.)
In the course of getting this done, I learned a few things. First, windshield glass and side/rear window glass are not created equal. Windshield glass these days is usually manufactured with transparent, untinted UV protection layered into the glass. Side and rear windows are made of tempered glass, which does block some UV but not nearly as much as windshield glass. Hey, just in case anybody ever asks you - now you know!
The other thing I learned is that the laws about which windows can be shaded and how much they can be shaded vary state to state. In MA, for instance, you are not allowed to tint more than the top six inches of your windshield, and your side windows have to allow more than 35% of light in and cannot be more than 35% reflective. The way they do this is, they have a little light meter they use on your windows before tinting. They check how much tinting you have, and then they tell you what level of tinting you can add so that you stay legal, and then you can decide if you want that, or maybe some even lighter level of tinting.
Here's the third thing I learned: What to do if you want your windows to let in LESS than 35% of visible light in Massachusetts!
You pay CASH.
Don't get me wrong, I did not do this. If you get pulled over with windows too dark, the police person will check it with a meter, and then send you to have it removed within 7 days or you will get a ticket. Then you have blown around $300. However, while I was there, the guy who got his car done before me was sent off to a cash machine around the corner. I hadn't brought enough cash to pay for the tinting that way (in fact I hadn't brought enough cash to pay for a soda while I waited), so I said to the owner of the shop, "Do you only take cash?"
And he said, without any further prompting whatsoever, "No, we take credit, but that guy wanted 10% darker than the legal limit. If you want it darker than the legal limit, you have to pay in cash. We don't want our name associated with it."
Somehow I'm going to find a way to work this into a Fast & Furious story - see if I don't!
Meanwhile, my totally street-legal car looks cool and will not cause my pale vampiric flesh to smolder and catch fire. Totally successful day!
[ Optional: Reply at Dreamwidth |
comments ]