Cup of Coffee

March 9, 2012: Usefulness

116 Comments

I've been asked to work 3-10am next week on Tuesday, to help a project team move around TVs. I weigh 80 pounds when I'm wet and wearing boots, and I don't sell TVs. But I had a day off, so...ugh.

116 thoughts on “March 9, 2012: Usefulness”

    1. I refuse to read that article, and am pretty bummed out that it was written at all. There are some things the world is just better off not knowing.

    2. I can assure you that it's not Rick Reilly. It it were Rick Reilly, his handle would have been @daditsreallymerickreillyainticoolboner

  3. Spooky, it sounds like you need to mix in a triple bacon cheeseburger now and again.

    1. But not today, because it's a Friday during lent.

      Also, reminder to AMR: Go get your Fish Taco John's today.

      2. Went, thanks for the tip. A Bit disappointed, I remember TJ's being more flavorful.
        Also: don't order the medium combo. Medium soda is what I would call "extra large", and medium Potatoes Olé are what I would call "meal-sized" (for vegetarians). I was too sleep-deprived to realized the quantities of extras I had ordered relative to the fish taco.

          1. Of course, this discussion never happened and I'm sure this is a big joke, fellow member of the bar! 😛

            1. Heck, I can't even afford a big screen, much less insurance on it. I work for legal aid...

                1. 60 people applied for my position. They interviewed 12. Then gave a 2nd interview to 4.

                  In good times, my position sits empty.

  4. My sources tell me that the son of Gary Guyet Gaite Guet (::Looking it up::) Gaetti, and the daughter of Dan Gladden are gonna get married.

    That's gonna be really tough when one of them gets traded.

    2. My friend is apparently on good terms with the daughter of Terry Steinbech. I keep telling him to go for it. I want to attend that wedding.

  5. I see on the Book of Face that we are just one month out from the home opener. Have we discussed writing duties for game logs and recaps this year? I've been fairly scarce this offseason so I don't know if I missed it or not.

  6. Who said it?

    I don't blame Kahn for picking Wesley Johnson in 2010. (I would have taken DeMarcus Cousins, but whatever.) Nobody killed that pick at the time — it made sense. But when you look at what Minnesota built from a painful six-year stretch of chronic losing (Love, Rubio, Pekovic, Williams, etc), what jumps out is that Johnson pick, which really came down to luck of the draw. They needed a perimeter player; he was the best one available. Two years earlier, they could have snagged Russ Westbrook or Eric Gordon. One year earlier, Tyreke Evans, Rubio and Curry were sitting there. But that year? Wes Johnson was the best available 
 and he just doesn't have it. If Westbrook stayed ONE extra year at UCLA, he goes first or second and pushes Evan Turner to Minnesota. Alas.

    Spoiler SelectShow

    1. I can feel it. He won't admit it, and will probably claim he's always held this opinion, but the seismic event is there.

    2. I don't blame Kahn for picking Wesley Johnson in 2010. (I would have taken DeMarcus Cousins, but whatever.) ... They needed a perimeter player; he was the best one available.

      Then why not take DMC and trade for a non-Wesley Johnson perimeter player? It's not like those sorts of trades are impossible to win (see: Mayo/Love.)

      1. That's not the point, not even close. The Wolves are winning and he's working on changing the narrative. Would'ves, could'ves, should'ves have NOTHING to do with it.

  7. Wife informed me today that I shouldn't stir coffee in french press with silverware -- that's why they break. It's not because she jammed it awkwardly into the dishwasher. No, that's not it at all. My fault, guys!

    1. You may remember back in the old days that I posted a picture of a french press with no handle because it got set upon our glass top stove on a hot burner and it melted. I'm going to die penniless, with my vast fortune wasted on cheap french presses.

        1. Holy buckets, has it been that long? I remember the pre-Lucy days' around...well, not these specific parts, but these parts's predecessor.

          1. She has announced that she wants the birthday party at our house. Guest list is set: she has eight(!) kids on the list. We suggested maybe Chuck E. Cheese for this occasion. Not going over well: (a) that was what we did last year and (b) she wants to have a Blue's Clues type game that she is going to invent and she couldn't very well hide clues at Chuck E. Cheese. I'm looking at upwards of 25 folks at our house in April. The weather can be crappy then, so I'm thinking it will be, um... something.

            I have to figure out a way to get her off of this idea. She already has the party fully planned in her head and announced that she couldn't sleep the other night because she was so excited about it. Hoo boy.

              1. Not quite.

                Another story: a couple of weeks ago, she decided that she didn't want to go to pre-school on a day when I was home. She fought to get in the car and when she got there, she threw a fit, rolled around on the floor and generally made a pint sized ass of herself. Her mother relented and she took her home. Dad informed her that since she'd pulled this stunt, she was going to work and that her father was going to bird dog her all day. After about 10 minutes of that, she said, Dad, I want to go to school.

                I said, get your shoes and coat on. She went to school and apologized to her teacher for her behavior. She acted as she was supposed to for the rest of the day.

                She is very strong-willed, but she knows that Dad is not going to put up with misbehavior.

                1. SBG, I know you have plenty to do, but I'd love it if you'd to get back to writing occasional features here.

                  1. I have some stories built up, for sure. I might do that, but I can't promise anything.

                  2. yeah, this stuff sounds like it would be great material for an upcoming column or something 😉

                    1. I have agreed to do a "Father Knows Best" column on March 15th, so I suppose I should stop talking now, but believe me, I have enough material for a book.

                  3. One more thing: Miss SBG did something today that is frowned upon in this establishment. She went into her room and tearfully screamed that I was not to come in. I told her that I forgave her for her misstep and she dropped the anger immediately. I said, we're going to take a nap now. I took her down to the family room and held her for a little bit and she went from being all wound up to sound asleep in five minutes.

                    It is clear to me that she does not want to disappoint me. I recognize that I have to be very careful with her. I don't want to spoil her, for sure, but I also don't want to break that spirit that she has. A not-quite five year old, who has a completely planned out birthday party, with the menu and the activities and the theme -- I don't want to shunt that creativity, at the same time, I also don't want to let her think that anything goes.

                    We talk a lot about learning how to be a big girl. I think she understands.

                    1. The trinket is showing signs of being a very outspoken individual as well, though no word on how willful that will become. (but considering her parents, I'm expecting oodles of stubbornness.) I am hoping that, in 3-4 years, I will be able to present similar stories of interesting parental situations with successful outcomes.

                2. Guess I missed the /joak tag or something. But party at your house is unwanted probably at any age.

                  1. Nah. It was funny.

                    Believe me, she does tug at my heart strings. I'm sure we will probably have exactly the party that she wants. What I worry about with this is that her friends aren't going to be as into her party idea as she is. She's got a million ideas -- she just doesn't quite realize yet that her friends may not be on her wavelength. Oh well, it probably would be a good idea to let her do all this stuff and if it isn't the GREATEST 5 YEAR OLD BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER, who cares.

                    I was for the home party last year and against Chuck E. Cheese. But then we went to CEC and I found out that (a) it is actually not that expensive and (b) it requires that we do very little. So, when I suggested CEC this year my wife was thinking that I had come around to her way of thinking. Maybe so. But, only if her way of thinking is revolved around minimizing stress at only a small increase in cost.

                    1. After having birthday parties at CEC for my daughters the last couple of years (they turned 6 and 7), it is a good way to throw a fairly simple and hassle-free birthday party. Unfortunately, the pizza sucks.

                3. She is very strong-willed, but she knows that Dad is not going to put up with misbehavior.

                  You are my hero, SBG. I don't put up with carp from the Girl either, but I don't have your mad skillz. Instead, I too often blow my stack and it turns into a shouting match. Which means I've lost, even if she ends up doing what she was told/expected to do.

                  If only I could show the patience in the every day management stuff with the kids that I exercise with my staff, or that I exercised when teaching the Boy how to drive a stick.

                  Which reminds me, the Girl is 15 now, which means this time next year, I will be teaching her how to drive stick. Thank god I have low cholesterol.

                  1. We'll see where I am in 10 years with her. It could very well be that I am going to be in the same boat as you are now. I don't often blow up at home because my wife doesn't respond well at all to that.

                    1. We'll see where I am in 10 SEVEN years with her.

                      FTFY. It starts at twelveteen, at least.

                  2. I don't put up with carp from the Girl either

                    I agree, junk fish are not acceptable from your offspring.

                  3. Elder Daughter was the easy one, Younger Daughter is the hard one. I never had personality clashes or discipline problems with Elder, but Younger and I used to butt heads frequently. That was before I gave up. Things have been much calmer since the surrender.

  8. CC to mobile site users:
    I tweaked the CSS some, so I'm hoping the LTEs going off the side of screen issue is fixed.

    1. Nice work, sean. I just tested, and it works fine on my Droid, although when you scroll over the screen background shifts abruptly from white to a faint, pinkish hue.

    2. hmm, the text doesn't go off my screen, but it doesn't have a horizontal scroll bar so the further nested comments are basically are one long one-letter column.

  9. John Shea ‏ @JohnSheaHey

    BREAKING NEWS: #Athletics OF Jason Pridie suspended 50 games, violating minor-league drug program. Agent Matt Sosnick not returning calls.

    2. Not surprising, he's exactly the sort of player who stands to gain a lot from a little boost in performance.

    1. One of Sheenie's parents' high-society N'Awlins friends gave her a Louis Vuitton wallet at a wedding shower. The clip to shut it broke within two years, so she brought it for repairs and was told it was a knock-off. For some reason, that always absolutely cracks me up picturing a pretentious, high-falutin' Southern woman pulling that stunt.

      1. Nice. Did she tell her mother? Because that would be terrific gristle for the gossip mill. Not saying your M-I-L is a gossip, of course.

    2. Why not both? 🙂

      (oh, and werd to the blogger: inspect the beer label. It is "1554" not "1154")

    3. My favorite part of St Pats is the day after when corned beef is on sale. I need a deep freeze.

    6. Both it is, then. But I better do the shopping myself. And the cooking, for that matter.

  12. Today's game would have been the one I would have gone to if I could have chosen the Florida vacation destination this year. We'll see what I missed...

  14. Magoo bait.

    It’s not just Arkansas that omits the feats of black high-schoolers who played in segregated schools. In 1956, forward Hubert “Geese” Ausbie of Crescent, Okla., scored 186 points over three consecutive tournament games for all-black Douglas High School. Ausbie, who went on to play the role of the “Clown Prince of Basketball” for the Harlem Globetrotters, recalls averaging from 30 to 40 points a game as a high-schooler. Ausbie’s name, though, isn’t on Oklahoma’s all-time scoring list. (He tells me he should be near the top, in the neighborhood of supposed all-time leader Rotnei Clarke.) And Ausbie isn’t the only former Globetrotter who might be unfairly excluded from the record book. Other possibilities from Oklahoma alone include Marquis Haynes, who helped the Globetrotters defeat the NBA champion Minneapolis Lakers, and twins Lawrence and Lance Cudjoe.

    These legends’ absence from the historical record—and their resulting exclusion from news stories about modern-day prep basketball stars—is a direct consequence of the Deep South’s segregationist past. Before the late 1960s, whites played against whites and blacks played against blacks. Arkansas, like many other states, separated its athletics associations by race. In 1967, what had been the all-white association incorporated its black counterpart, and what’s now the Arkansas Activities Association was born. This merger, though, was not accompanied by the integration of the state record book.

    The high-school record keepers I contacted across the South appear open to correcting the record. Wadie Moore, the Arkansas Activities Association’s assistant executive director, is open to giving heretofore excluded black athletes their due so long as he can see documentation of their scoring marks. And after receiving my call, Moore says he now plans to email news outlets around Arkansas to ask for help with finding these records for other great pre-integration athletes.

    Even for those with the best of intentions, finding documentation can be incredibly difficult.

  16. Its pretty easy for me to dislike ESPN. I dont like the way the cover sports (breathless reporting of stories they make up *coughRedSox/Yankeescough*), I dont like the way the cover games (silly announcers or color men, weird camera cuts during the game) but watching a few days of college basketball has driven me nuts. They endless promote their 'Bracketologist' (a position they made up!) as the end all be all when it comes to teams making it into the tournament. Guess what, no one knows who goes into the NCAA tournament until the selection committee announces it. I've resorted to muting the games, but cant escape it because they flash 'Bracketology' graphics every 5 minutes.

    I needed to get that off my chest.

    2. The best part is that Joe Lunardi (I'm assuming it's still him) gets tipped off by the committee (even though he's not supposed to) and can use his tips to claim to have "missed one at large team in the last 5 years" or whatever the latest complaint was. Back in 2007 when GW stole a bubble spot by winning the A10, Lunardi's "final bracket" changed on "Selection Sunday" to the final correct field after all of the games were finished. No reason for those changes except the insider info he was given.

  17. Alright, I've been given the go ahead to schedule my pre-employment drug test. This thing is starting to feel more real. Its a long way to go until I start, but man I'm feeling pretty good about it.

      1. Hmmm, I just ate a salad with poppy seed dressing for lunch and plan to take that test on Monday. What's the estimate time in system for that stuff?

        1. According to the Google trace amounts can show up for a couple of days. Apparently the false positives are pretty rare, but you should mark it on the questionnaire.

    1. this has been making the rounds for a few days. i think it's pretty sweet actually (even though, yes, this could definitely be printed word for word in the onion).

      1. I might think it was kind of sweet if I wasn't overwhelmed with sadness. Had someone opened the exact same restaurant with the same quality of food, but it wasn't associated with Olive Garden, I think it's unlikely that it'd get a review that good. The marketers have won.

        1. Was it that good of a review? I mean, it was nice and all, but she hardly said anything about what the food actually tasted like. I don't read restaurant reviews, as fine dining is pretty much lost on me, but if I was to read them I think the main thing I'd want to know is how good the food was.

          1. Are you kidding? The salad had several black olives! 🙂

            I found this very amusing mainly, I think, because of my own ND heritage. There is the whole Olive Garden is impressive angle, but also there's the idea that Grand Forks has something that Fargo has. Certainly, GF the city thinks of itself as a little brother to Fargo. We have an OG, too(!), is so GF.

            Having spent a little time back in the homeland, it is rather amusing to see the stories on the local news. There ain't that much happening in Fargo, either. But, the idea that an Olive Garden restaurant opening in GF being BIG NEWS is unsurprising, humorous, and also part of the charm of ND.

            1. I don't think a restaurant review on Page X makes it capital letters BIG NEWS.

              Having grown up closer to GF but having gone to college in F/M, I never saw any rivalry between the towns. But then again I stayed on the east side of the river.

          1. If my joke at your expense was premised on a homonym*, does that make it an ad homonym attack?

            *Yes, yes, I understand it's not actually a homonym, it's only a homophone.

  21. I missed the time Conseco Fieldhouse changed its name to Farmers Life Fieldhouse (or something like that)

  22. Stef and I are going on a road trip this April, from the 14th to the 22nd. We'll hit Des Moines, Omaha/Lincoln, Denver, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Kansas City, then back home.

    Probably going to see Daneeka on the way back. Don't know where everyone lives, but if anybody is on that general road map and would like to meet up or whatever, would like to hear from ya.

        1. I was just kidding, really. Plus w/ Spooky coming to town, hopefully that works for me.

    2. Let me know when you're going to be in the Omaha area, we're usually available for a drink or a meal or whatever. You can check with Rhu-Ru, we're not to embarrassing to be seen with in public.

    3. Shoot. If it was last year, you might've been able to stop in North Sioux. I'm afraid beautiful downtown Gettysburg is going to be too far out of your way.

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