Time For You To Goat (February 2026 Scapegoat Blame Thread)

@cbilyak
No… I’m pretty sure we can fill that need!

@cbilyak
Super nice. Glad you had a good time. Look forward to seeing more pics scattered about this month. We will be hitting the waves March 8th with the granddaughter (14yr old) for a spring break cruise with one of her friends.

@chienfou you are going to have so much fun!!

@cbilyak
that’s the plan!

@cbilyak @chienfou
I love the pics of the drinks with the bartenders ass in the photo, I really needed a good laugh.

@chienfou @Star2236 I aim to please. Prior to that photo that bartender’s ass was juggling bottles and shakers and lost control of one of the shakers. It came flying straight at me, hit my martini glass, snapped it in half and Martini went all over me and my phone and the bar top. It was actually pretty funny.

@cbilyak @chienfou @Star2236 Yikes! Lucky for him that you have a good sense of humor!

@cbilyak @chienfou
Talk about entertainment.

@cbilyak @Star2236
And you’re the star of the show!

@cbilyak WTH?!?!?! I don’t see Captain Merrill Stubing anywhere.

@cfg83 I’ll work on getting that photo on my next cruise…setting sail February 27, so I will be an MIA goat the last 2 days of my goat-ship.

@cbilyak @cfg83
Yeah, I mentioned that when I suggested you. Thanks so much for “showing up” and being active in this short window shoehorned between your two cruises!
(28 days til mine)

@cbilyak You should appoint (anoint?) an overlap blame goat for those two days, since

/showme Anthropomorphized goat clocking in to time clock with sign that says “Sucker … errr … Goat of the Month”.

@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “Anthropomorphized goat clocking in to time clock with sign that says Sucker … errr … Goat of …”

@cbilyak @cfg83 February seems to be cruise season for Mehitzens. I just got back on Saturday and miss it already.

@cfg83 @ironcheftoni it is hard adjusting back to the real world!!! What cruise line and which ports did you experience? I am a self-proclaimed cruiseaholic.

@cbilyak @cfg83 It was a 14 day cruise to Eastern Caribbean
Ocho Rios Jamaica
San Juan Puerto Rico
St Maarten
St John Antiqua
St Thomas USVI
Puerto Plata, DR
Georgetown Cayman Islands
Cozumel

I had been to all of them except Ocho Rios and St John. Although it had been over 30 years since I had been to Grand Cayman.

Cozumel I have been to 5 times but this time docked at a different pier than usual. It was weird because it was the pier next to the hotel, El Cid that I first stayed at 35 years ago on my first dive trip. The hotel building looked the same but everything else had built up around it.

Counting the days until my next cruise in October.

@cbilyak @cfg83 @ironcheftoni
we are gonna be in ocho rios with granddaughter and her friend next month. Did you do any excursions there?

@cbilyak @cfg83 @chienfou yes! I did a zipline and a Jamaican bobsled excursion. The bobsled was a blast! Like a single rider roller coaster through the rainforest.

@cfg83 @ironcheftoni wow, that is great!!! I just love cruising.

@cfg83 @chienfou @ironcheftoni my first job after school was for a tour wholesaler, Jamaica was one of our most popular destinations, so I have been to Jamaica over 20 times. Kind of a been there, done that thing so I haven’t disembarked when any cruise I take stops there. That said, 30 years ago my 2 favorite things to do aside from hang out like a local was Dunn’s River Falls, and when I had more time, a tour to Kingston to see the Blue Mountains and get coffee beans fresh from the farm as well as a stop to see all things Bob Marley - but that is a chunk of time you may not have on a cruise.

@cbilyak @cfg83 @ironcheftoni
leaning towards the bobsled and konoko falls right now. Dunns river seems to be pretty crowded most days…

@cbilyak Here’s the image you requested for “the love goat”

@chienfou The novelty has probably worn off.

@chienfou
That’s a long time to go without power in the winter. I was thinking of them when I was reading an article about it yesterday.

@chienfou My cruise companion is from the Nashville area. The morning our cruise set sail, she learned a tree cracked from the ice and fell on her car back home, shattering her windshield and damaging the hood. Poor thing was dealing with insurance people in between Love Goating at sea.

@cbilyak
Oh, that’s really sucks. OTOH at least she had something to divert her attention in between phone calls etc. Hopefully she got it resolved okay. Did she have any power issues at her house?

@chienfou no power issues, thank goodness since her 18 year old son was home. I think she is still dealing with insurance adjusters She cannot blame me for it happening since I wasn’t goat yet. She CAN blame me for it taking this long to address since I AM now goat

@chienfou I hope their place is new enough to have been built with the better grade of PEX plumbing. After this long without power, I’d be astonished if the pipes weren’t frozen, and pvc/cpvc can burst just as easily as iron or copper.

Proving once again:
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

@macromeh
Ahhh…BTDT!

@macromeh I accept full responsibility. I am having the best scientists in the world working on an anti @cbilyak vaccine. Be patient with me, please and feel better soon.

@cbilyak
Go easy on yourself, sounds like you gave it your best shot!

@cbilyak A self-blaming goat saves the rest of us the burden of posting blames ourselves.
Keep up the good work!

@Kyeh And I thought I was cool when I kept my gigabet alive for THE WHOLE 1998 Baseball season.

@cfg83 I had to look that up & I still don’t get it.
But as for my click count, hey - it proves I can accomplish something, sometimes!

@Kyeh Oops, yet another misspelling, gigaPet …

@cfg83 OHH! That makes more sense.

@Kyeh
Impressive! I’d say those are once in a lifetime numbers!

@Lynnerizer Thank you! They are for me, certainly!

@lonocat You’re way ahead of me in quantity, but I’ve opted to go for symmetry.

@Kyeh I applaud your work and symmetry, it’s so much easier just to click and move on.

@Kyeh @lonocat
Some of us go for a more minimalist approach.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@chienfou @lonocat That’s because you’re busy accomplishing more important things.

@Kyeh @lonocat
/ That’s because you’re busy (thinking about) accomplishing more important things.

There… FIFY!

@chienfou @lonocat

@Kidsandliz I am so sorry you went through that and had to advocate so hard for yourself. People suck sometimes and when you are suffering, you should be allowed to focus on getting better, not fighting for yourself.

@Kidsandliz I got marginally better handling with my first stone; you’ve heard the tale.

That mess truly sucks. I hope somebody did kitty maintenance for you.

@cbilyak It would help if we had competent doctors here. We are last in the nation for health care for good reason. This is one of them. This is the armpit of the nation for so many reasons. Thanks though.

@werehatrack Yes the people who found fosters for the cats some people I knew left behind when they moved came and fed them for me.

@Kidsandliz
I’m sorry you had to go through this. Unfortunately that is a reality of the system we live with. Not having a pharmacy open in 4 in the morning is a big enough problem in a marginally metro area, a total nightmare in a small rural town like the one I live in.
And I can tell you from personal experience that while you may be responsible enough to stay until the pain meds wear off before you drive home or to the pharmacy, there is no way you can legally keep someone in the ER against their wishes. Once medicated they can sign out AMA (against medical advice), and with HIPPA laws being what they are we’re not allowed to report them to the local police (to have them pulled over for driving while impaired for instance). This creates a huge liability issue for the facility, as well as the potential danger for the community.
That being said, there’s no reason for the ER doc to be rude about the whole process. This should have been explained to you before discharge.
Hopefully they at least gave you some fluids and something like Toradol in an initial attempt to manage your pain. Also hopefully the inpatient experience was a bit better. Typically we would have sent you home with a strainer and follow up instructions. The anticipation would have been that you follow up after a few days (i.e after the weekend) with someone. I realize that it’s difficult to get appointments with specialists a lot of times, but your PCP can frequently facilitate that after you’ve been through an ER visit.
Glad you’re on the mend and back home. Did you ever actually confirm that you passed the stones?

@chienfou it was never actually confirmed that they made their exit because nobody was straining anything. I know the pain was traveling and eventually quit so I’m presuming that I did because it hasn’t come back.

When I finally saw the bulk of the notes, the triage nurse didn’t even mention. I was an excruciating pain and couldn’t stand up straight and I didn’t get adequate pain control until after I have been admitted.

The ER doctor said we’ve given you enough pain meds. It shouldn’t hurt anymore. I told her it barely cut the edge off the pain and it was still agonizing. Turns out it took three times what they originallygave me to stop the pain and then they switched to a more potent pain med.

Moral of that story is if I ever have to go back to the ER, and I hope I never do, if she’s the doctor assigned to me ask for a different doctor. I see she’s got online 1.2 google ratings so I’m not the only one who was unhappy with her.

At least the kidney stones have passed. For that I’m grateful.

@Kidsandliz
Glad you’re doing better, surprised they didn’t have you straining urine while you were inpatient.
Sorry you had to go through that with an ER doc that sounds like she could use a dose of compassion.
I can’t remember from previous discussions if you’ve had many stones in the past. One of the reasons that they will strain them is to analyze whether they’re uric acid or calcium.
At any rate, fluids are your friend (unless you’re a CHF patient)

@chienfou We have the worst health care in the nation. What happened to me is one reason why.

@Kidsandliz So sorry you had to go through that. A friend of mine always wishes people that offend her lifetime diarrhea with spicy butt so hope she gets that too!

@Kidsandliz Awwww.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Nice… That’s how Bandit’s name was almost Potter

@chienfou @Kyeh I remember that photo you posted so long ago. Your little one has grown up. I remember to when you wore he’d never be an indoor cat watch. You live to eat those words didn’t you?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Yep… And they were delicious!
I’m so glad SWMBO’s allergies have been able to tolerate the cats being indoor/outdoor. They have brought a bunch of joy to our lives over the past few years.

@chienfou @Kidsandliz I’ve heard that people can kind of develop a tolerance towards particular cats if they’re around them all the time. My brothar’s allergic & used to start sneezing when he came to my house, but he’s okay now with his own cat.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Adaptive allergies … that’s pretty cool!

@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh I went through a period in my late teen years where I was horribly allergic to cats. Eventually it (mostly) passed - now I can hold them and pet them without issue (but still don’t want them near my face).

@Wollyhop There has been a reply to your post.

@werehatrack Yeah, I know.

@Wollyhop I accept full responsibility for your postingaphobia lately and am thrilled to have you back cluttering up the forum threads.

@ItalianScallion

@ItalianScallion

@ItalianScallion I accept all blame and am deeply sorry. I will call upon my psychic friends to see if any of them can assist in your recovery of data.

@ItalianScallion

@cbilyak Much appreciated. What a Goat!

@ItalianScallion Any luck with this?

@Kyeh Kinda sorta, don’t know yet. Just when I was about to give up and turn the drive in for a replacement, I noticed “Rescue Data Recovery Services” on the label. After doing some digging, I found that data recovery was included with purchase of the drive. Unfortunately I had to call Seagate’s customer service instead of just fill out an online form. An hour and a half later(!), Seagate had what they needed and I had a shipping label emailed to me to send it to their data recovery center. In four to six weeks, I should either have a new drive with all my data on it, or if the data wasn’t able to be recovered, just a new drive. We’ll see…

@ItalianScallion @Kyeh If the platters were still spinning, the outlook is pretty good. I had a WD freeze its spindle bearing at a mere ten years in service a while back, and that recovery went into four figures.

@ItalianScallion So it’s not all bad - you woke up this morning!

@Kyeh @werehatrack Oh, I went the recovery route another time and yes, the cost was over $1000, but they got back all but a handful of files. Didn’t want to spend that again, but when I saw I wouldn’t have to pay for recovery, well… that changed everything!

@macromeh Yes, I woke up and see the box with the hard drive in it that I have to take to the UPS Store. It looks like a lovely, not-too-cold day for a short walk today!

@werehatrack Yes, the platters were spinning and there was clicking, presumably read retries… that were unsuccessful. I’m thinking head crash with the resulting loss of some data.

@narfcake exploding caps? And here I thought it was exploding cats! This goat is confused apparently and willing to tape all blame. That is what I am here for anyway.

@narfcake I guess it’s a bonus when you don’t have to bother with testing them.

@narfcake Back that sucker up and get a replacement coming; that cap may have popped for a Reason.

@narfcake @werehatrack Depending on where it came from, the cap might just be old. If not, I’d replace it and if it goes bad again, it’s time for troubleshooting. I picked up a Hallicrafters SX40 shortwave receiver from 1946 and I immediately replaced the caps in the power supply circuit, so this wouldn’t happen… and also would hopefully fix the loud 60 Hz hum. It fixed the hum, but now the power transformer smokes a few seconds after being turned on. I’ll get back to troubleshooting it one of these days. I just hope the transformer isn’t gone; it’s the single most expensive (and hard to find) part in the radio.

@ItalianScallion @werehatrack It’s from a low voltage regulator board off a parts cleaner of unknown origins – it’s devoid of branding and model numbers; no part numbers on any of the boards either. Replacing the whole thing would pretty much be only option without electronics and soldering skills.

(This repair was done for work, at work. Two new caps, and it’s powered back up, so that’s good enough. If it blows up again, then we’ll consider something else.)

@ItalianScallion @narfcake @werehatrack @cbilyak Exploding caps you say! What would that look like?

@cbilyak @ItalianScallion @narfcake @yakkoTDI Mehdi at Electroboom has had way too much fun kabooming them, too.

@yakkoTDI I accept box blame like no other…I also had a similar problem, so I left out the fainting goat from my exchange box

@cbilyak @yakkoTDI
Probably a good idea. By the time you poked all those air holes in the box it probably wouldn’t have not been very “UPS safe” anyway.

@Kidsandliz
O.M.G!!! That’s insane!

@Kidsandliz HOLY CARP!!

@Kyeh Yeah. We were lucky we weren’t hit. We were missed literally by just a second.

I called the landlord and texted. No answer. Sent photos and he called immediately. Asked me if I went into the attic. I didn’t even know there was a crawl space up there. Also saw that some giant vent thing wasn’t connected either. He said he was coming out there to look at it the next day (eg tomorrow). Seriously? Not immediately?

@Kidsandliz Oh! I like what you’ve done to the place! It really opens it up! (sorry )

I’m just a lowly property manager and landlord, but I can tell you real estate tennant laws are very local. So I’m going to answer the best I can.

The place where you gave notice seems to be a done deal there, so I would attempt to work with the new landlord. They didn’t/aren’t providing you with a livable apartment so perhaps they have a different vacant unit they can put you up in while repairs are made. Perhaps if you are extraordinarily lucky their insurance may pay for a hotel, but I wouldn’t count on it.

It would be ideal if you had your own renters insurance because that would most likely have provision for a hotel or something in case of disaster. This seems to be pretty disastrous. But most people don’t carry renters insurance. Good luck!

@therealjrn I do have renter’s insurance. I will have to see what is in it. I got it for protection against theft, fire, etc.

As I had said TENTATIVE in the email that isn’t a formal notice I am leaving on a certain date. Is it?

Thanks for your answer by the way. Too bad laws are totally local. Where I live now is in one city and county and the new place is about 7 miles away in a different city and county. Sounds like that will make life, um, “interesting”. Sigh.

@Kidsandliz JFC, this is beyond awful. And the old place was bad enough from a landlord standpoint, but how in hell did the new one miss that the ceiling drywall was falling? I have to wonder if this place was subjected to a sub-low-bid rehab by a contractor who was even worse than the one who did my roof.

As for the literal fallout, that looks like it could be either blown cellulose, blown rock wool, or blown fiberglass. Cellulose is the cheapest, so without a close look, I’d make that my first guess. The latter two are the nastiest of the three, but not necessarily dire. It’s not likely to be asbestos, as that was already collecting lawsuits when that place was built.

@Kidsandliz asks “As I had said TENTATIVE in the email that isn’t a formal notice I am leaving on a certain date. Is it?”

Eh…are you out? Your stuff gone and all that? Did you turn in the keys?

Your prior landlord might take pity, but if you already moved out, there isn’t much to argue as to your intent to move.

Hopefully your insurance will handle a short stay at a hotel. Yay! Swimming Pool! Mini Bar! Cable TV! Try to get a place that serves free breakfast. Waffles!

@Kidsandliz Oh My! My heart goes out to you for all the drama that dealing with all this will entail. Normally I am quick to accept the blame, but will skirt blame on this one because it is so “extra”.

Good luck and I truly hope the new landlord is also “extra” and takes care of things, and you, like an upstanding human. Keep us updated.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn
I agree. Most likely insulation appears to be blown cellulose. So many questions…
In the (first) picture of the hanging sheet it doesn’t appear that there are holes where it’s detached from the intermediate ceiling joists. Were there too few screws/nails in it?
Is the drywall/insulation damp? If so why? Is the roof leaking or is the hot water heater in the attic and that’s what’s leaking?
Are the joists on 16 inch centers or 19.2?
It definitely makes you wonder what other problems may be hidden in the house.
So sorry you’re having to go through this. Moving in general is stressful enough, but I can’t imagine! Good luck sorting all this out.

@therealjrn Not moved out yet. I had only moved stuff from storage into there (I currently live in 525 sf, two room apt and the new place was bigger and a house). All my stuff and me is still in my “old” place.

@cbilyak Dear goat. The rules are you have to accept all blame. As a result I still blame you.

And the new landlord appears to be a slum lord. Tried to blame me for this. Huh?

@chienfou @therealjrn I am glad to hear it is unlikely to be asbestos.

As for other problems I noticed some large metal vent has an issue - the upper and lower ones aren’t connected. Who knows what else.

@Kidsandliz tried to blame you?!?! I have no words.

Due to the gravity of the situation and any pending legal action, I do not accept blame in writing, LOL.

@chienfou @therealjrn @cbilyak

Further blame. I just came from the house and the landlord said it was my fault the ceiling fell because I had too much stuff in the bedrooms (packed boxes) and caused the foundation to sink. Umm likely it is because he had to replace the roof due to the leaks and didn’t fix the ceilings sufficient or at all.

@chienfou @Kidsandliz @therealjrn And what happens when you actually have furniture in there ? Get out of that deal, call the cops if you have to, that is beyond reason and mental stability.

@cbilyak @chienfou @Kidsandliz @therealjrn Yes, really - that guy sounds like a rotten scoundrel.

@cbilyak @chienfou @therealjrn I actually do have most of my stuff in there. And he is abusive.

@cbilyak @Kidsandliz @therealjrn
Sorry to hear you’re having so much trouble. It sounds like it’s going to be a total s*** show for a while. Good luck
Out of the frying pan…

@Kidsandliz
If it was a ransomware attack that locked down the system you have less to worry about than if it was a data breach. We had this happen at our hospital several years back when someone on their laptop at one of our remote clinics opened a phishing email and clicked the attached link. Needless to say that raised a shitload of problems…

@Kidsandliz it’s sure been a week for you with my screwing up so much for you. Thankfully there is only one more week left of my goathood and I am certain the next goat will be kinder to you.

@chienfou Well that is good to know. How long did it take for your system to open back up to give medical care again (everything except the ER, hospialized already there, and emergency surgeries are cancelled)?

@cbilyak meh does not have a “you can’t blame the goat” position. I blame you for trying to change to goat job description to an I accept no blame position.

@Kidsandliz
Seems like it took three or four days. I think they had to bring in an outside consultant to fix the problem. Believe they were able to retrieve a backup for all their data, don’t think they actually ever paid a random. I remember it being a general clusterfuck in the ER as we went back to paper charting.
I’m not sure that they ever actually canceled appointments, but we were not doing much surgery back then anyway. Colonoscopies on the other hand…? I really don’t remember or never actually knew.

You did a mehvelous job @cbilyak!
/showme cbilyak in her goat yoga class

@therealjrn Here’s the image you requested for “cbilyak in her goat yoga class”