Garlic cheesey grits are pretty awesome. Butter/cheese grits good. Both better with bloody mary after a run.
'Grats LM. Legit happy for you and happy news for internet acquaintances is a good thing for my mental health so yay.
Wife had strong chick-fil-a cravings during pregnancy. Their SW salad is decent and their shakes are pretty good. Bojangles is substantially better, IMO, but I would put CFA way ahead of Zaxby's. The few times I have eaten at Z, it goes right through me. Like I have to stop before leaving restaurant speed.
Was at 170 during Ironman training. Those days are past. I would almost be a clydesdale these days. Not quite, but getting there.
I am part of a cat rescue group, self funded. There are many such groups for cats, dogs, and many other types of pets. People that abandon their pets or give them to kill shelters are...not my sort of people.
That said, I am proud to have found loving forever homes for 80+ felines that we have fostered (and that is just my wife and I, there are other members, so we have saved likely several thousand felines in total over the years between all memebers). It is not really that hard to find such orgs, people often choose not to, and that IMO is cruel, and speaks to the kind of people they are. Bit of a...personal topic for me.
Wife is active with a dog rescue group, which is part of why I know the contents of the original post, but they are strained for resources at moment and not able to digest 20 dogs this week. Happy to do more virtue signaling if needed.
Also, as a sad aside, many are pit mixes, which for better or worse, are less adoptable.
I hate people for any number of reasons. Today's reason is as follows: County Animal shelter is a small facility (12 runs) and is a kill shelter. Fine. Well, not fine, but it is what it is. Rural community, limited resources, they do what they can.
Facility has a fire. Runs limited. Dogs are being kept in the crates on the animal control vehicles because there is not room in the shelter.
Parallel fact: animal abandonment always goes up around the holidays/end of year. This year no exception for this county.
County has to announce that all animals are code red from the moment they are onboarded because of limits on facilities.
Now - riddle me this - if you know that abandoning your pet is a death sentence...what makes you choose to abandon your pet in this environment? Are you too lazy/cheap to euthanize your pet yourself? Why dump your dog in this county when you know it is just going to be euthanized?
I grew up with white pines being the tree of choice for our annual tribute to odin. NC has a fascination with Frazier firs. I am underwhelmed. It can be hard to find a white pine here, but they are almost always cheaper than the firs. A 6-7 white pine is usually around 50-60 depending on how close to xmas. A comparably sized fir is 75-120.
This year we went with a 6' fir and it was 80 on thanksgiving weekend.
I normally skip flu shots as well, but this year and last I went ahead and got them. In part because...well, this is not the time to get the flu and MAYBE need to be hospitalized for it and in part because my household has 3 people < 6 years old including two in preschool/kindergarten...so kids and runny noses and and and and and....so yeah, I caved and got these flu shots.
Edit: Personal decision on the flu shot. You do you. I have my reasons.
I made the mistake of doubling up with a flu shot and my third moderna shot. Hours 36-60 were pretty horrible, especially as compared to shots 1, 2. Fever, chills, fuzzy head, fatigue.
In hindsight maybe dont double up flu and booster. YMMV
Had I known I would have warned you- lots of stories aroundabouts about the horrors of mixing the two, and more than a few...individuals...are now antivax because of their experiences.
Eh. I have a schedule which allows for those lost hours and the net benefit to my mental well being by having both behind me is still on the plus side. We have two that are too young to receive the shots yet, so in general I feel I have to be extra careful.
And, it may have helped dodge catching from some minor exposures I managed to let slip past my paranoia.
But for those folks who do not have the luxury of being out of commission for a couple days...do spread them out.
I made the mistake of doubling up with a flu shot and my third moderna shot. Hours 36-60 were pretty horrible, especially as compared to shots 1, 2. Fever, chills, fuzzy head, fatigue.
In hindsight maybe dont double up flu and booster. YMMV
We have a conversation in my company's Yammer (which is like an inter-company Facebook) where someone is griping about how Spotify is blocked on work computers.
Funny thing: Jammer means 'too bad' in Dutch and the Y sound can be sutstituted for the J sound in cases so we're pretty sure microsoft didnt run the name patst any dutch speaking/understanding individual.
Much like the Chevy Nova in Mexico.
Or Meta in Hebrew.
The J. Geils Band also had issues in Germany apparently as the american pronunciation of the Geils corresponds to some form of slur in German.
And a totally depressing downer for my (likely) last post of the day:
Our long-time hiking partner is finally likely to pass away within the next week or two. It's not particularly tragic; she's 95 and ready to move on. But she's asked for no visitors, no gatherings, nothing. She just wants some peace and quiet and then she's ready to go.
I'm respecting that wish and leaving her alone.
And my brothers are horrified at me for it. Can't I at least call her?
My feeling is that it doesn't matter how I feel about the situation. She's the one who's dying, and her explicit wish is to be left alone in peace. Who am I to disturb that for my own wishes?
EDIT: And to be 100% clear, she is NOT a "drama queen". She's always said exactly what she meant. She's clear of mind and not suffering from any form of dementia. And she made it clear that she didn't want to be bothered during her exit.
I'm so sorry, my friend.
e-Hugs and prayers.
Yeah, like Tac said. Though honoring her wishes is hard, but for the best. Alas that these dark days must be ours.
Paraphrasing and I cannot find original for proper attribution - but ask yourself "are you trying to comfort them or are you trying to comfort yourself?"
I would also note that Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster and lost. While not Fortune 500 category, they have their own PR gravitas.
My general rule of thumb is, "Cost them at least 10 times as much as they cheated you out of."
EDIT: So typically Shiro would let the corporate events staff know that they shouldn't use TicketMaster for any events. It's easy to rack up tens of thousands in lost fees just by letting the events coordinator know who NOT to do business with.
Fair. And for some things, effective and satisfying. But for concerts, it assumes that they can't/don't sell the tickets to someone else. In such case, the delta is zero for them. And both of your examples are fungible goods. Concert services not so much.
You want to see the Rolling Stones in person (for example), you pay ticketmaster one way or another. Or you don't see the Rolling Stones in person.
But now I am just being argumentative for no purpose. Enjoy the show. With or without perks.
Shiro got us top-tier tickets to Halestorm/Evanescence tonight, including getting to sit in on the sound check and a post-concert Q&A with Evanescence.
This morning he got a text from Ticketmaster that we all have to be there by 3:00 pm for an 8:00 pm concert in order to qualify for all the stuff he paid a hefty sum for.
He's pretty darned pissed, and rightfully so. I'm a peon. I can drop a half day at the drop of a hat. He's an executive. He can't just cut work because he feels like it.
Stay tuned for more of this fiasco...
EDIT: Impus Major continues to be inscrutably wise for his age. We polled the group, and Impus Major's response was, "Honestly, I don't need all that stuff, and I don't want to have to sit around the arena for 3.5 hours just to get it. I'd rather just accept the good seats, see a good show, and let the rest go."
And that is what we decided on doing, because it will give US the most happiness.
What will happen to Ticketmaster after screwing over a "C-level executive of a Fortune 500 company" (as Shiro describes himself) should be quite entertaining. Shiro seems like a mellow, "Whatever happens, happens," guy. But he can get really mean when people cheat him.
Both put on a pretty amazing show. Lzzy is very personable. Although with COVID, she may not be as much as normal.
And the duet between Lzzy and Amy is always awesome.
Josh is pretty chill, but also exceptionally nice - particularly if you have CrossFit tendencies.
Jealous.
Edit: and I would totally see them naked. Cause Lzzy is all about the threesomes.
Apropos of nothing else in my quick review of the last few days, but mostly just because I just discovered this voice and I know that some of you have eclectic musical tastes...
I recommend diana ankudinova. Youtube has her performances from the russian voice talent show. I recommend wicked game first, then can't help falling in love with you.
If if is more your speed, the charismatic voice also dissects these two performances.
Tragic backstory too if you are inclined to read her wikipedia page.
The cars/trucks in my recent inventory have had alarms, but I feel like they were not reactive alarms - rather they were driver initiated, typically from the fob.
The hypothetical use being, I am threatened by BBEG as I approach my car. I hit the panic button and car starts screaming. This may startle the BBEG long enough for me to get in car and lock door or alert the hypothetical parking attendant/friendly neighbor/masked crusader to come rescue me.
So while I have not had car alarms go off because of anyone messing with car, I have had my toddler grab fob and set it off.
Yes, the coloration of the Eldritch Foundry minis is VERY disappointing. One, the details were observable enough that with painting, it looks pretty good. The second one I did the details are so hard to see that painting has been quite difficult. It does not help that these are both short characters (a halfling and a very short human).
Hero Forge does have a colorized option - that is, they use colored resin to give you a colored mini. The reviews are mixed and the price point is...steep. I have not tried this option, but after my two EF minis, I will not likely go back.
We played SS. The jokes about the segauthi were rampant. Lots of confusion effects. We blipped through/hand waved a lot of the final book, which was problematic because there are clues there that make the final fight a bit easier. Likewise, our paladin was exceptionally upset over certain attributes of the BBEG. However, if we had played through the entirety of the last book, we might have known of that attribute.
Overall, my group enjoyed it, but there are definitely a good bit of 'let's structure this encounter to F the players as much as possible.'
I have been the cynical old bitter guy in my group for some time. Not necessarily the oldest (but only by a month), but definitely the most cynical about pretty much everything.
Hivemmind reasonableness query - it is arguably political as it is covid related, so spoilered.
Spoiler:
We have what I would call an expanded pod of people who are allowed in/out of our house on a regular basis. We generally trust them to be smart about covid protocols and the amount of risk they take outside our bubble is comparable to the amount of risk we take (e.g., adults are vaccinated, drive through dining, outside parks, unvaccinated small children in school, home gyms, etc.).
The child of one couple in our expanded pod goes to a school that has a covid cluster. Not her classroom and they dont commingle classrooms. The school took it seriously enough to shut down this week.
My wife socialized with mother in this couple on Sat. After possible child exposure, but before school alerted mother.
Is it now unreasonable to request a week isolation or covid test before allowing back inside our bubble?
The incubation period for delta is shorter, but you can be infectious for two days before showing symptoms. And, for vaccinated people, as I understand it, delta may be communicable without any symptoms.
We are in NC so there is a fair amount of general covid protocol exhaustion in the population as well as some resignation that we are all going to get it anyway at this point.
I had my first pumpkin spice donut this week. Normally that occurs Labor Day weekend. However, the pool is still open and it was 72 at 430 AM for my run. So, I put this in the late summer stages for NC.
As for other issues. I gave myself a FB-free september for other reasons and do not really miss it. Twitter, IMO, is better for boobs than reddit, but each to their own.
Most places in NC that 'require' proof of vaccination do so on an honor system. The 'enforcement' at lollapalooza was laughable - people waving pieces of paper at the checkpoint from 5+ feet away.
Likewise, even though my part of NC has returned to an interior space mask mandate, all that has happened is that the stores put up the signs that masks are required and no one enforces. There may likewise still be signs or announcements about social distancing, frequently referring to spots marked on the floor for queues, but the markings on the floors have been removed in almost every case.
So there is that.
In other news, am enjoying some online/discord Blades in the Dark. it is enough TotM that it works well in discord with a dice rolling overlay in d20. Also have finally resumed painting minis. Yay lockdown? Mostly Bones V stuff, but some odd older pieces. 25 mm at almost 50 versus 25 mm at 22 makes a huge difference. Am starting to understand the move to 28 mm. And the Reaper Cthulhu mini - that boy chonky.
Dwarven Forge. IMO the best 3D scenery made for TTRPGs and to some extent war-gaming.
There are plenty of alternatives, many of them less expensive, but I have yet to encounter any that provide the same detail, durability, and just general awesome. O and great customer support.
I accept that other people may disagree with my conclusion - particularly when the price is considered.
I could run an errand to my mom's house. Nope, no energy to do that either - setting aside whether that is a good use of gas in the southeast at the moment.
So meh. I have a DF build itching to come out on a table - not that it will get played, but because building DF is relaxing. Just not sure a mental health afternoon is a good idea at the moment.
I read Battlefield Earth as a 13 year old on a car ride across the US. KY to CA. Lots of boring roads. I remember selecting the book because of its thickness (about 1000 pages in the paperback edition I found). Finished it before we got to the Grand Canyon. It was good for that sort of trip.
I reread as an adult. I can now recognize come of the conventions of that era of pulp writing. It is not unreadable, but in the bottom 40%. IMO. By way of comparison, I have not been able to reread as an adult some of the ERB Mars books, Narnia, Mack Bolan, or many other pulp era/pulp style books.
Bored and not feeling motivated, so will dip in here to provide quick tax lesson.
The usual caveat about I am not YOUR attorney, this is not legal advice and what not applies.
But...
Spoiler:
Section 61 of the federal tax code defines any money you make from any source as INCOME.
That is the starting point. Simple numbers included for simple.
So you made 50K from your employer. All of that is income.
Your employer took out 100/mo for health insurance? You still had 50K income.
Your employer took 100/mo for state taxes? You still had 50K income.
And so on.
Because of history and what could loosely be considered a sense of fairness - deductions are provided. They are also, as CS noted, used to promote certain types of economic behavior.
There are two types - above the line (which are good) and below the line (showing up on your A form, which are less good)
Above the line deductions actually decrease your official income from your gross income to your adjusted gross income (AGI).
Above the line deductions include contributions to your 401k, payments to employer sponsored health insurance plans, and a few others. Because they are powerful, there is a general belief in the need to keep the number of these relatively small.
Below the line deductions are applied after you find your AGI. You list them all on your schedule A, cross apply caps, phase outs, and what not. If you don't want to keep records, you are allowed to just take the standard deduction. But typically if you are paying a mortgage, your mortgage interest will make it worth while to itemize.
Itemized deductions are things that are considered 'kind of important' that the gov't wants to incentivize, but not really. Charitable contributions, owning a home and things that are included out of sense of fairness - state taxes, child care credits, student loan deductions health care expenses and so on.
From this you get taxable income, which is what the feds then tax.
That does not change that your INCOME is more than that. You made the money. They could tax it.
Interestingly, while yes Trump was definitely sending a big F U to CA and NY when he urged the passage of a cap on the combined mortgage interest/state taxes, the actual sentiment is, at the same time, actually a liberal agenda - namely taxation of the rich - it taxes the "rich" (or more accurately it taxes the high income folks (even if their net worth is low and thus they are not what "rich" really means. They are rich from a sound bite understanding)0. That is, if you are making enough money to be able to afford a big mortgage and/or have high state income taxes, you are rich and you should be taxed.
It hit the conservative base too. It does not take that large a mortgage, even at the low recent rates, to go past 10K of interest in the first few years.
Setting aside the need to be kind, there is also a bit of 'if you are incapable of figuring this subject yyy out, are you really someone I want working within my company?'
Maybe subject yyy is not central to their job function, but if it is even tangential to their job function, then I would expect/hope that they had a modicum of proficiency in addressing subject yyy
Grats on finishing a campaign. It should be a positive thing with a sense of accomplishment. A bit of a let down mixed with ebullition of a hopefully well done job. Feel free to ignore the following if you think it is unwanted or overly pedantic.
Something my group does after the dust settles is have a roses/thorns/buds session. The military has another term for it, but institutional scab picking is a term I have also heard used.
Basically, go through what people liked, what they disliked, and to what they look forward.
You may have to be careful with egos and presupposes that your players can handle constructive criticism, but it can be helpful to hear, for example, 'I did not like it when Tiny Valeros took the magic crab and never used it because it totally fit with my need to do Y.' Especially when it is coupled with 'I loved it when Tiny Valeros swooped down on the back of bad guy bill and executed a triple sneak attack of doom.' If egos are not up to this, then have the comments be focused only on the self. 'I loved it when I was able to do x, y, and z and your description of scene Q was great' next to 'I realize I need to be better able to keep track of where I am in the initiative so I am ready to go on my turn.'
And, if you ever do want to run again, hearing 'we want more magic items' or 'better barkeeps with whom I can flirt' may help you in future planning.
Or, as noted, you can ignore this and just be done. because being done is its own reward.
My morning had a rare morning where the baby slept in. Accordingly, I put away the china and silver and finished scrubbing the roaster pan. A little painting this morning. Trying to finish my second mini in 3 years or so. Did a rack from wiz kids and now trying to finish this kobold from Reaper (I think. Maybe an old Ral Partha). My week away from work flew by without much relaxation I am afraid. Ah well.
Drivethrurpg has some self publishing options. I am only tangentially aware of this and do not know details but my google fu shows a reddit thread on it which may be a place to start exploring if/when you get serious.
I also note a lot of kickstarters will deliver through this option
I miss NM today particularly bad for some reason. It has been on my mind all week because of module/adventure I am writing, but I can almost taste the pine scent in the air and the crisp mountain air near Cimarron.
I opted for more projects. Not making much progress as chaos is abounding in my house. Grandmas kidnapped the kids and left me and the wife unit at loose ends. As she is pregnant my more nefarious thoughts may be sidetracked by sleep.
wagner's Die Walkure. It is the entrance of Brunhilde the valkyrie for Ride of the Valkyries.
I have always envisioned Brunhilde as a bit of a suicide bomber on her winged horse, so her battle cry here seemed appropriate.
The intro declaratives are particularly hard for many singers as they then have to transition to the more lyrical follow-on. James Levine may be a pederast, but he gave me an awesome Brunhilde back in 09 or 10.
Of course, you're talking to the girl who once had her PC dive, ululating, into a Hungry Pit to attack a Corpse Orgy because it was an abomination that needed to die.
Dir rat' ich, Vater, rüste dich selbst;
harten Sturm sollst du bestehn.
Fricka naht, deine Frau,
im Wagen mit dem Widdergespann.
Hei! Wie die goldne Geissel sie schwingt!
Die armen Tiere ächzen vor Angst;
wild rasseln die Räder;
zornig fährt sie zum Zank!
In solchem Strausse streit' ich nicht gern,
lieb' ich auch mutiger Männer Schlacht!
Drum sieh, wie den Sturm du bestehst:
ich Lustige lass' dich im Stich!
Hojotoho! Hojotoho!
Heiaha! Heiaha!
Heiahaha!
While there is no clear indication that they ever met, most things I have seen indicate that Alex was not fond of Sean in large part because of the SNL skits. Or maybe he just got tired of people coming up to him and saying 'suck it trebek' in their worst scottish accent.
But yes, you would hope that they could have a beverage and laugh about it now.
Dwarven Forge Kickstarter Pledge Manager filled out. Ooofda. Still some items I want, but I covered all my bases I think. This one has some much eye candy. And I don't do a lot of aboveground adventuring.
