The Foot and Ball Guys league has been renewed. If you played last year, you've been emailed to join again.
160 thoughts on “August 5, 2013: FBG”
First Monday Book Day will appear when I get around to it. Unless someone beats me to it.
No worries, I won't have much to add except "still working on Brother's Karamozov".
Change Brothers Karamozov to Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and you've got my contribution.
At least get to the chapter called The Grand Inquisitor.
I've actually read the whole thing before (more than a decade ago now), but I'm long past that part this time. I prefer the preceding chapter with the little boy and the hounds. That one strikes me as a better confrontation of the Divine than the Inquisitor.
So... steroids.
my level of outrage is directly correlated to how much more this affects my fantasy team.
Yeah. Well. I've got Nelson Cruz.
i have had braun and still have peralta. but there's supposed to be some surprise names announced. fun for everyone!
Let's just hope it hits Buffalo's team hard.
Somehow, this whole thing will result in me winning the league.
That would be quite the impressive outcome, cheaps.
With Bud at the helm, anything can happen be shrugged off.
I lost A-Rod.
Or did I?
I've got Everth Cabrera. Wish I would have traded him about a month ago and let him be someone else's problem.
That would have been me.
Yeah, it turns out I traded you the wrong second baseman. You'll let me touch the trophy, right?
I am intrigued if the 214 game penalty sticks.
i couldn't care less, but i agree with the whole "the yankees better have to pay every cent of that ridiculous contract" thing.
This. I can stomach a lengthy suspension in a way I cannot stomach a lifetime ban. But I don't want to have to stomach owners/franchises benefiting from the players being suspended when they already got the benefit of their players using.
The lifetime ban stuff reeked to me of the Yankees praying they got out from under that awful contract. To that note, I hope they have to pay every damn cent of it.
I hope they have to pay double for knowingly employing a cheater*.
*no way they didn't know**
**just like every other team in the league with one of these guys***
***but f*** the Yankees.
Oy. I'm really disappointed that there is no mechanism to punish the teams that employ dopers. I realize that not having marquee players on your roster is a punishment, but, seriously, it's pretty frustrating that the Yankees are befitting from the suspension.
I think they should just preemptively suspend for the rest of the season every player with above an .870 OPS or starter with an xRA below 4.50. Cheaters all.
I remember meeting Eugene Freedman at an Orioles game way back before a legal career had ever crept into my mind and thinking his job sounded really interesting. Anyway, here's his take (as a lawyer for a labor union) on the ARod saga.
Nice link - thanks bud.
"It doesn’t mean that the parties won’t settle before the final award, but given the reports that the Commissioner is taking this personally, it is unlikely. The best counsel can never overcome an irrational client."
Aha! Thanks for the link.
As an aside, normally the employer is judicious in discipline and discharge cases because of the risk of large back-pay awards. In this case, MLB has no skin in the game. If it loses, the Yankees—not MLB—have to pay A-Rod. While that may be moot given the deep pockets of MLB, it does make for an interesting situation that is quite uncommon.
I am invoking my "moot" pet peeve. This does not seem to be a case in which "moot" is being used properly (to mean "arguable" or "debatable").
sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo - Aug 5, 2013 at 12:57 PM
Could Valdespin become the new most hated player in baseball once ARod retires/is burned at the stake?
The man made a mockery of the baseball record book.
A couple trade proposals out there re: Nelson Cruz + Zunino. If anyone is interested in that, Cruz is a 6th rounder and Zunino a 20th, looking for a high run/obp/SB guy in return. Just throwing it out here, since I don't know how much folks are checking the league site.
It sounds like the rest of the players are getting 50-game suspensions. A-Rod is getting more because he recruited others. Why did Braun get more?
So who did ARod recruit? Jesus Montero and Melky Cabrera?
I didn't realize Antonio Bastardo and Jordan Norberto were so much closer to ARod than most players. It just doesn't make sense.
Well, we'll just have to wait to see how history shines on the incident, hopefully as documented by the sports history chair at UW-Madison.
That chair has been filled now. My department hired a pretty promising young historian who should be around for years. We didn't hire the guy I wanted, but we did hire the guy who was the most impressive in his talk and visit.
Damn, I was hoping it was still basically Bud's, or at least under his influence.
Thankfully, he didn't even come to the job talks.
The press release states:
Rodriguez's discipline under the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program is based on his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years. Rodriguez's discipline under the Basic Agreement is for attempting to cover-up his violations of the Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner's investigation.
No recruiting mentioned, just the league being really angry at him.
That reads sort of like every other guy on the list should have gotten a 200+ game suspension and a threat of a lifetime ban, though I'm no lawyer.
Rodriguez’s discipline under the Basic Agreement is for attempting to cover-up his violations of the Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner’s investigation.
Yeah, the Melky precedent is a big problem for the league. I agree that players who obstruct investigation should face a higher penalty. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Unfortunately for the league, the fact that they didn't pursue it before would tend to indicate they've got a double standard, which calls into serious question their standing on what would otherwise be reasonable ground.
perhaps the difference is cabrera was only obstructing the league regarding his own case. with a-rod trying to purchase all of the biogenesis records, that would obstruct the cases against multiple individuals...?
My understanding (all based on hearsay that is leaked primarily by MLB, I'm assugreying) is that ARod was offered to buy back a bunch of evidence by Anthony Bosch. When ARod refused to buy the evidence, Bosch then sold it to MLB who are now using it against ARod. Quite amusing.
Remember back when George Steinbrenner was banned in the best interests of baseball for paying a scumbag to dig up dirt about his highest paid player to get out of paying his contract? Ya, me neither.
Methinks that George's "banning" had little or no effect on his pecuniary interests. It's not as though he was forced to sell.
Yea. I'd have to imagine that even the MLBPA would hold its nose and fight for a shorter suspension for ARod.
Lastly, I want to close by stating our profound disappointment in the way individuals granted access to private and privileged information felt compelled to share that information publicly. The manner in which confidential information was so freely exchanged is not only a threat to the success and credibility of our jointly administered program; it calls into question the level of trust required to administer such a program. It is our view that when the bargaining parties hold their annual review of the program, we must revisit the JDA’s confidentiality provisions and consider implementing stricter rules for any breach by any individual involved in the process.
Having a discussion over on the Book of Face, regarding whether steroids should just be permitted.
I stumbled onto an idea that I'm gonna have to think on some more, but I think I might like it... I even think it might be "principled" at a deeper level (why we really care about sports), despite initially seeming completely unprincipled. Figured it could be worth sharing here:
Of course, maybe it's easier to be unaware of things like uppers, so those seem to bother people less. We can see Barry Bond's gigantic head, and when we look at that we're confronted with the reality that he's on steroids. We don't have the same confrontation with players taking adderall or whatever. Maybe that's a relevant distinction for us spectators. We're watching athletic feats and we'd like to believe that they are, in fact, feats of athleticism and not products of science. When we're confronted with science in our viewing - Barry Bonds' big head or, say, bionic implants that would help someone run faster - it interferes with our ability to spectate.
I don't think that steroids interfere with our ability to "spectate". Does anyone have problems with steroid use in pro "wrestling" or in bodybuilding? Not really.
I can think of at least a couple distinctions between pro wrestling and baseball.
And I was using "spectate" in a more particular sense than as a synonym for "watch". I guess what I'm thinking of here is kind of informed by Bartlett Giamatti's Take Time For Paradise, in which he writes a fair amount about the value of watching athletics and the relationship between the fan and the athlete.
How bout football then?
I'd say that's a fair parallel. And that when confronted with the likelihood of prevalent steroid use in football my desire to watch it plummets.
One thing football has going for it is the equipment, which tends to hide things like gigantic heads, so spectators aren't confronted as directly.
sure. So can I.
My point is that a lot of what we take as interest in "sports" is really interest in spectacle.
We care about both athletic competition and about the spectacle. In some competitions, it is not just the raw athleticism, but also the strategery. In others, it is just the spectacle.
Baseball has a very heavy dose of strategery. Not every Bo Jackson-level athlete can succeed at baseball (*cough* Michael Jordan *cough*). A fat tub of goo or a dumpy everyman can be a star in MLB. That just would not happen in swimming or track & field.
But chicks dig the long ball. Spectacle.
So basically... it's offensive when spectacle replaces strategy?
I suspect that for some people that is true. Like, say, Gordo. Getting all a-slobber about "productive outs" is conspicuously anti-spectacle. There is a significant portion of the baseball community that waxes on and on about how great it is when teams play small ball. Home runs and strike outs are fascist!!!!1111one11111!!!!
I'm far from that end of the spectrum, but I am offended by what appear to be significantly super-human improvements via chemicals (and would be similarly opposed to the same via other methods, say mechanical implants).
Actually, after the rash of young deaths in the past 15 years, the WWE has imposed stiff penalties on anyone that uses. There's a three-strike policy with 30-day and 60-day suspensions followed by termination. That sounds like lip service on the surface, but they've held some of the biggest-money acts off the show when they've violated the Wellness Policy, and that's not something they'd do unless they felt they had to.
The problem in wrestling is that the indies aren't so strict and will immediately pick up the guys who get fired regardless of what they did, because they have name value. As a result, there's no huge downside to using, unless one is addicted to the fame that comes with working for the #1 company.
As a result, there’s no huge downside to using
beside, you know, the health impacts, like shrunken testicles, man-boobs, heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, liver cancer, and liver failure.
Well, yeah, but young men in sports and wrestling have proven they don't think about those. Hence the WWE finally stepping in and attempting to save them from themselves.
Which is funny because it seems like the most popular (non-Cena division) guys right now are the smaller, non (less?)-roided up dudes. Its almost like the WWE accidentally discovered that the more middle-weight guys who can actually move around are more exciting to watch.
We went to the Buffalo Bison game last night and had mc and the brother's gf each scorekeep for an inning. Their systems were very innovative and adorable.
I've run into the same thing on my softball team...well, the innovative part anyway.
My favorite was something like "8LBIL. 7649TTH, WAIS".
"8 lost ball in lights. 7,6,4,9 tried to help, walked away in shame
My mom would always keep score for my little league games, she started with simple dashes and dots (dashes were runs, dots were outs), but gradually progressed to something similar (complete with editorial on the umpire's strikezone on nights when I'd pitch). That scorebook is one of my treasured keepsakes.
mc did catch onto the numbering system for positions very quickly. She is a smart lass.
I like "WAIS". Quite descriptive.
Agreed. I believe that will creep into out gamelogs.
It's really too bad we didn't have this one while _elm_n was "patrolling" LF.
I think most of those scores would have been 8 - WASH
Nishi!
Since some may think this is part of the forbidden topic, I'll put it in a spoiler.
I'll pile on too. I thought there would be more focus on the couple (I can't even identify which is your sibling from what's presented) but I'm just glad to read it.
To be fair to the SC Times, there was an article in Friday's paper about three different couples in the St. Cloud area getting married, including my sister (she's the blonde).
To be fair to the SC Times, it's a terrible paper.
But congrats to your sister.
You guys should register your complaints with @BigKat0
Oh, and congrats to the family!
I don't think the SC Times would find that fair at all, not that it isn't true, or that I care, or that I have any idea.
Went to college in the area; lots of friends and family that live there. Whether the times thinks it's fair, truer words have never been spoken.
The Judge I work for was one of the volunteers who performed a few ceremoies at Mayor Rybek's shindig. I think we have several more ceremonies scheduled later this month.
Congrats! Mr. NaCl's boss was married by Rybek at midnight on August 1, and I've enjoyed hearing about the spectacle, including a 6-foot-tall wedding cake.
I've gone with a Saranac schartzbier and some spicy bologna for lunch. Great choice.
better than Scheissbier, I'm guessing.
Well, there's a style that violates my "try everything once" policy.
I've had the Top 10 sandwiches in the Twin Cities on my fridge for awhile, but last week I finally got around to starting to try them. The plan is one a week.
So far, the pastrami on rye at Bewitched is vastly, VASTLY superior to the southern fried biscuit at Sun Street.
(My favorite personal sandwich in town is the Sasha at Cecil's Deli. I'm also going to have a very hard time going to Clancey's and not getting the roast beef.)
The club sandwich at Peter's Grill was one of my all-time favorites. And now I'm sad.
so, this thread reminds me of one of my all-time favorite sammiches, the Gondola ("Noblest Sandwich of Them All") at George's Pizza in Spamtown. (George was the father of one of my best friends in h.s.). At $4.95, it's a steal.
George's for pizza and Gondolas, and The Tender Maid are two must-stops in Spamtown.
Sheenie and I plan to go to Spamtown for the museum. Now I'll have something to eat!
(also, she followed your lead and pickled up some cucumbers yesterday!)
If you go to George's and happen to see Kevin, the owner (skinny, lanky guy, brownish hair and a moustache, most likely), say "hi" for me ("Dean's friend Brian says hi."). Kevin may or may not seem entirely sober; he has had some health problems in recent years.
Brother's Deli downtown has a "hand-cut" pastrami sandwich... I think maybe only as a special. But hand-cut means you get big meaty, fatty chunks of pastrami. My god. It's amazing.
Pastrami is my favorite sandwich meat. That looks insanely good.
click on it. i dare you.
(that one was "medium fat". upon my next visit, i knocked it up a notch. BAM!)
the bread there is really little more than a fig leaf.
Used some extra spice weasel?
Oh, best believe I did.
That's a Big Apple style pastrami. First you climb it, then you eat it.
Yeah, Katz-style. Stuff yourself from the cutter's samples whilst they make your sandwich (which should be shared, but you order your own anyways, only to bring half home). Pickle galore.
Whoa.
On the sandwich front in NE Minneapolis, I've been enjoying the offerings of Nuff.
I'm fond of Bewiched.
Need to go there again soon.
in addition to the main fantasy football league, i also resurrected the B-LEAGUE. i've sent an email to all of last year's participants. spooky and i have discussed some sort of system where players can be promoted to the main league, but we never really landed on any consensus.
Looking forward to reasserting my dominance over the B League's second best division.
I'll be happy to play if I'm needed for the league. If someone else wants in, though, I'll also be happy to step aside.
I would be willing to join this year (or play in the C-League if necessary)
According to Charley Walters, Dazzle is getting carpel tunnel surgery. Huh? He misses a couple foul balls in the booth and suddenly he goes on the DL.
they made color commentators of tougher stuff back in the day. Is carpal tunnel even a thing?
When Halsey Hall got hurt, he just rubbed some tobacco juice on it had another drink and another cigar and kept broadcasting.
It's a made-up injury, for sure. You'll never convince me that Dazzle ever used a keyboard.
Now that summer school is over and I can resume having a life outside of school & work for two weeks, I want to start getting together information to help J & I move. We want to move to the west coast, but we're not sure where just yet. Vancouver is high on the list but super expensive, but we're also considering San Diego, the LA area, the Bay area, or Seattle. It'll all sort of depend on costs, safety, public transportation, and job market since all the areas we have a pretty high desire to live in. Basically I want to pool as many resources together as I can to figure out these things to help us make a list. As I've never considered or completed a move half way across the country, do any of you have any suggestions as to where I should go to figure this stuff out?
I've moved plenty of times, but my method has little more to it than cram two bags full of clothes and take off. From your description, I think you're looking for something a bit more thorough.
That sounds suspiciously like my method.
I moved across the country to go to law school. I moved as much stuff as I could fit into a 15 passenger van that my family owned, and it all stayed out in D.C. until I moved back. The move back also involved Philosofette and Aquinas. We rented a truck from Budget (which was easily the cheapest for us), and loaded it up. They had good estimates about how much truck we'd need, and that pretty much nailed it. My father-in-law and I drove the truck back from MN. No complaints about that process. It was work, but it was probably the cheapest and, in some ways, easiest method for us. We had lots of people to help us pack up and unpack again, so the most difficult part was figuring out which beer to buy for everyone (also where to order pizza from).
Law school provided my apt. first year, so finding that was easy. We did internet searches for apartments when we moved back, identified a handful, and the in-laws checked 'em out for us. We're still in the same apt. from that search.
Just finished a cross-country move about a month ago (and by finished, I mean we arrived. I think we're at 80% unpacked right now). If you're packing/loading yourself, get as much help as you can on both ends, it makes a huge difference. We had three brothers (+ one of their girlfreinds) and my parents in Kansas for 5 days before we left, and it sped things up to the point that we really didn't have to stress about getting out before our deadline (our house was sold and the closing date was the day we left town).
We rented a truck (UHaul was the cheapest and had the best pickup/dropoff locations at both ends) and put our car on a trailer behind it. Did the drive over two days, which was a little stressful with a 1-year old (and two cats) in tow, but in reality not that bad. We got a 17' truck that was recommended for a house of our size (3Bed/2Bath) and filled it to the brim (after we donated our couch).
We spent a weekend in New Mexico looking at houses to buy or rent about 3 months before we were planning to move, our real-estate agent had a group of college kids that would have helped us unload (for a fee, of course), but we managed it with just us and my parents. U-Haul also offers you the option of hiring people to help load/unload if you want it.
We did look into moving companies, but the cost was prohibitive for us. They'll come and do an estimate if you call them.
The other factor was the amount of stuff we would have had to keep with us for the little one (since it would take several days longer for our stuff to make the trip than it would take us) didn't actually make the move all that much easier for us.
and by finished, I mean we arrived. I think we’re at 80% unpacked right now
13 years out here, and we still have not unpacked our stereo system.
Where I live, the unemployment rate is still high and the cost of living is pretty high, too. That being said, the weather is awesome except for hot and dry July-September. I wouldn't recommend someone moving to California unless they had a good, high-paying job lined up that they were confident they would be able to keep.
I generally agree with this advice, but would note that there are pockets of impressive employment growth in California.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics Map applet lets you map unemployment levels and changes by county or metropolitan statistical area by state and time period.
The most recently available data there is June 2013. Unemployment rates compared to June 2012 fell in every county in the state. Things are definitely getting better.
The hope would be that I could relocate with my current job and find J work wherever we move. I'm not sure my job is high-paying but it's a reasonable amount of money at least... though I'm a bit nervous it wouldn't be enough on its own.
I don't know much about the coastal city/state selection process as I've basically just gone where the Navy sent me. We did just complete a move based as much on schools, commute, community and employment as anything else and I'm happy to share our selection process.
However, if you have any questions at all about the actual moving, please consider my resume and feel free to shoot me an email @ bmjohnson327athotmaildotcom
Since 2002
I've moved from MN (rented room) -> FL (rented house) -> MN (townhome) -> VA (apt, city 1) -> VA (apt, city 2) -> VA (house, city 3) -> MN (house, city 1) -> MN (house, city 2).
I have moved: myself & 1 bag, myself & 1 bedroom, myself and spouse w/ 1 br house, myself and spouse w/ 2 br apt, myself and spouse w/ 2 br apt and 1 dog, myself and spouse w/ 3 br house and 2 dogs, myself and spouse and child and 2 dogs and 3+ br house.
I have moved myself, with help from 1 buddy, with help from spouse and 1 buddy in U-Haul, with help from spouse and 6 buddies w/ trucks, with help from spouse, 1 buddy and professional moving co., and finally - with help from my spouse and family (brothers, sisters, parents) and buddies w/ trucks and multiple trips with a 20' U-Haul.
I know it isn't on your list, but I really liked Portland. No bugs, moderate climate, close to ocean and beach.
Everybody told me I would love Seattle but it was just too congested for me.
Yep, Portland would get a vote from me, too. And not Seattle, for the same reason.
I lived in LA for 5+ years, and I would only go back to visit.
I will definitely take this into consideration. It's the big NW city I have the least connections to, mostly.
I lived there for a summer, at least north of Seattle in Everett, and very much enjoyed it. I would agree that the congestion would be bad because the metro area is very stretched out, so basicall all traffic is going north and south, mostly on I-5.
I've heard the traffic in Seattle is really awful and that the public transportation isn't very good. I've heard this same thing about LA, too. This is part of what scares me about this move. I'm an overthinker, and this would be by far the biggest decision I've made thus far in my life. But I think in the end it would be worth it. I just want to make sure we're okay once we arrive since we'll be a long way away from almost everyone we know.
Seattle's my favorite city, more than likely. I like disappearing into seas of humanity.
At one point dr. Chop and I moved once every 5 months for 6 years. Yeah.
To expand on the above, We moved from Mn to Buffalo in 2002, and once there we switched apartments 4 times in 2 years due to a variety of circumstances. For the initial move we rented a 10 foot U-haul and loaded it with as much crap as we could including a small couch / love seat combo, our bed, and some crappy kitchen furniture. The local moves were done with friends trucks and about a million trips.
After Buffalo we moved to Albuquerque with a six month lease and no intention of staying in that apartment. We borrowed a truck from Dr. Chop's dad and rented the largest U-Haul trailer. We filled the trailer, the bed of the pick up, and the car we owned to the brim. The trip took three days. That move was kind of miserable for a number of reasons. We didn't have enough money to travel to NM to look for apartments, and didn't have enough time cash to ride out a week or more in a motel while looking. We rented our first place sight unseen which caused some heart burn and anxiety. The trip was exhausting, and the unloading was brutal (August in Abq is pretty warm). Once there we moved another 2 times in under a year. Again, not really looking to do so, but our second landlord refused to hook up the heat until well into November. We parted ways, and had to move out as finals were starting for Dr. Chop.
Four years later we moved to Texas. We spent two weekends in San Angelo looking for a house to buy / rent.In those four years we acquired a crap load of shit. We had a moving sale that put no dent in our collection of shit. We donated a pile of stuff and still didn't lighten the load. We rented a 24 foot Penske truck and filled it 3/4 of the way. My brother drove a 10 foot U-haul with Dr. Chop from Minnesota filled with stuff from her family. We unloaded by ourselves, and again in August. I had about half of our stuff still in New Mexico at a smaller apartment in the same complex that we'd lived in for those 4 years. An apartment fire made it unnecessary for us to figure out how to get my stuff to Texas.
From there we moved to New Orleans. This was a pretty brutal move, but totally worth the effort. We came down and stayed for a week to find an apartment. We scoured craigslist, pad mapper, zillow, and the local real estate websites. We drove for hours on end through out all parts of the city (DPWY can attest to the craziness of this city - the patchwork quality of good neighborhoods bumping up against atrocious neighborhoods) looking for a 'safe' place to live. We polled our friends, and talked to the neighbors and mailpeople in the hoods we were looking in. The second apartment we saw was perfect. Great location, lots of character, seconds walk from a decent bar, on mardi gras parade routes (!), and well within our budget. The agent told us we would be first in line, but called later that night to tell us that we were actually beaten to the punch. Rage ensued. We started seeing crappy houses move off the rental market in hours for 1200-1400 dollars a month - in shitty neighborhoods. We panicked. We jumped at a place, but the dude wouldn't furnish a lease before we were set to leave the state to retrieve our stuff and move. Long story short ---> Novak is there to save my sanity. (Last compliment I'll ever heap on that dude(not)). Eventually we settled on our current place, and from a year's experience we did alright. The move itself was more difficult than it needed to be. We tried to work our budget into a place where we could hire movers, but the remote location of our origination made it cost prohibitive. We tried every permutation, but had to settle on U-haul again. We hired some folks from the uhaul site, and that made a world of difference. The San Angelo folks were less than awesome, which fit the entire Texas experience for us, but in we had some graduate students unloading our stuff here in NOLA. They were professional, hard working, and interesting dudes. I'm sure we wouldn't have completed the move in without their help.
We'll move again sometime in the next year, but it'll most likely be a cross town affair with time to spare.
The take away from our experience is that:
A. Spend a lot of time looking for a place. If the 'perfect' apartment falls through don't panic. Restart the search calmly. If you need non legal, soul searching help call Novak.
B. Do your research beforehand. We rarely had the luxury of thinking things through. The last move to NOLA was different for us in that regard. A little internet time every night made a world of difference when it came time to find a place. I kind of knew what to expect with regards to price and neighborhood safety before we hit the ground. We were lucky to have friends both from here and those who are married to people from here who offered insight in our search.
C. If you live in a rural area you're probably going to have to rent a U-haul or equivalent. Pods, U-pack, even the U-haul box wouldn't drop off in our origination town because there wasn't a large enough market for them. We were basically forced into using a u-haul because they were the only game in town. In the long run, a u-haul give you a bit of flexibility that other options don't. You get to make the decisions on how your crap is packed, you can pick the route / number of days it'll take, and your stuff arrives with you.
D. Purge. We've moved a lot of shit that we shouldn't have moved. Seriously. I wish we could have been a bit more sparse with this move. Once you've moved something across country it is imbued with special meaning. That toilet brush becomes just a little bit more unique and special because you brought it with you. The couch is the best ever. The hockey gear you haven't used since moving to the desert? I'm totally going to start skating again once we move to NOLA. totes. yeah. A year on my skates, stick, pucks, .... still in the closet. Purge. Sentimental stuff is one thing, but everyday, common crap will become elevated to priceless heirloom if you move it across country.
E. enjoy the shit out of your new environment. I spent too much time grousing about how much I hated West Texas to see the good things that were there. I wouldn't move back there, ever, but there were some alright things that I missed.
somewhat apropos, when we moved across-country (DC to SD) for grad school, the day we arrived in SD it was over 100 degrees. "It's never this hot," is the line we got from people. Hah! Although it turned out to be mostly true.
I sweat through a pair of shorts during the move-in in nola. A pair of shorts. No lie.
I moved from MN to LA just after the '84 olympics -- it was 103°F in MN when I left, and > 100°F in The Valley when I got there.
To go the other way, the day I moved to my current place of residence was during a bad ice storm which I got to drive the Uhaul in. (Ok, so it wasn't cross country, but the otherwise 40 minute drive from Madison seemed to take as long as a cross country trip.)
Sentimental stuff is one thing, but everyday, common crap will become elevated to priceless heirloom if you move it across country.
Oh, yea, this. My SiL was in Chambana when we had the moving sale to move to our second house there. She was personally responsible for selling a lot of our crap, which we might otherwise have hauled several more times. You have to be ruthless, or get a relative or friend to be ruthless for you.
the Green Bay Packer signed QB Vince Young
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Someone needs to shore up LT with the loss of Bulaga for the season. Hopefully Vince is hitting the buffet line as we speak!
Not sure how this works, or if it will at all, but here goes...
Remember when I pitched with my fly open? We made a t-shirt from it. Available race day for $20. Proceeds go to CF pic.twitter.com/H3vXhnvO6o— Glen Perkins (@glen_perkins) August 5, 2013
I like it!
Well, the Yankees evidently have no qualms about A-Rod and PED's. Sheesh.
Considering the big extension the Yankmes signed A-Rod to after the first time he admitted using PEDs an lying about it, this isn't exactly surprising.
I won't link to it (you are welcome), but Craig Calterra, Hardball Talk might be better served by staying far away from politics, even when someone in the sports world says something really stupid and political.
I know the article you're talking about, and yeah, the no-politics rule here looks even better after seeing that article and the reactions and comments it spawned.
I've seen people bring politics into a lot of the comments there, regardless of whether the story warrants them or not. That's probably one reason I stopped going.
That, and Calcaterra has a tendency to become a dismissive blowhard at times when nuance and ranges of opinion are perfectly acceptable.
Using "blowhard" and "nuance" in the same sentence? Awesome.
That feels familiar, although it's been so long, I would have been guessing.
As I've mentioned before, the comments section tends to be pretty good.
I was cleaning yesterday and found an issue of Minnesota History from a couple of years ago that I somehow missed reading when it first arrived. There's an article in there about the Gorbachevs' visit to the Twin Cities. I haven't read it yet, but just from glancing through apparently Raisa Gorbachev visited with a family in their home just a block from where I live. I may have to walk over there sometime and see if it's still the same owners. Would that be weird?
I remember that visit. People were lined up along the streets where M. G. motorcar were driving thru.
Doveryai no Proveryai baby.
I remember it, too. I remember my father bringing me to see the motorcade.
i remember watching ms. gorbachev visiting the family on a pay black and white TV at a restaurant. fat lorenzo's? no, that's not right... somewhere in that neighborhood though.
5-8 Club? There's not much else over there.
nope, there isn't, but it definitely wasn't the 5-8 club. oh well. i could easily be misremembering that part, but the pay B&Ws were definitely there.
watching los gigantes vs brewers. axford just airmailed IBB ball four to the backdrop to allow a runner to advance to third.
First Monday Book Day will appear when I get around to it. Unless someone beats me to it.
No worries, I won't have much to add except "still working on Brother's Karamozov".
Change Brothers Karamozov to Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and you've got my contribution.
At least get to the chapter called The Grand Inquisitor.
I've actually read the whole thing before (more than a decade ago now), but I'm long past that part this time. I prefer the preceding chapter with the little boy and the hounds. That one strikes me as a better confrontation of the Divine than the Inquisitor.
So... steroids.
my level of outrage is directly correlated to how much more this affects my fantasy team.
Yeah. Well. I've got Nelson Cruz.
i
havehad braun and still have peralta. but there's supposed to be some surprise names announced. fun for everyone!Let's just hope it hits Buffalo's team hard.
Somehow, this whole thing will result in me winning the league.
That would be quite the impressive outcome, cheaps.
With Bud at the helm, anything can
happenbe shrugged off.I lost A-Rod.
Or did I?
I've got Everth Cabrera. Wish I would have traded him about a month ago and let him be someone else's problem.
That would have been me.
Yeah, it turns out I traded you the wrong second baseman. You'll let me touch the trophy, right?
I am intrigued if the 214 game penalty sticks.
i couldn't care less, but i agree with the whole "the yankees better have to pay every cent of that ridiculous contract" thing.
This. I can stomach a lengthy suspension in a way I cannot stomach a lifetime ban. But I don't want to have to stomach owners/franchises benefiting from the players being suspended when they already got the benefit of their players using.
The lifetime ban stuff reeked to me of the Yankees praying they got out from under that awful contract. To that note, I hope they have to pay every damn cent of it.
I hope they have to pay double for knowingly employing a cheater*.
*no way they didn't know**
**just like every other team in the league with one of these guys***
***but f*** the Yankees.
Oy. I'm really disappointed that there is no mechanism to punish the teams that employ dopers. I realize that not having marquee players on your roster is a punishment, but, seriously, it's pretty frustrating that the Yankees are befitting from the suspension.
I think they should just preemptively suspend for the rest of the season every player with above an .870 OPS or starter with an xRA below 4.50. Cheaters all.
I remember meeting Eugene Freedman at an Orioles game way back before a legal career had ever crept into my mind and thinking his job sounded really interesting. Anyway, here's his take (as a lawyer for a labor union) on the ARod saga.
Nice link - thanks bud.
"It doesn’t mean that the parties won’t settle before the final award, but given the reports that the Commissioner is taking this personally, it is unlikely. The best counsel can never overcome an irrational client."
Aha! Thanks for the link.
I am invoking my "moot" pet peeve. This does not seem to be a case in which "moot" is being used properly (to mean "arguable" or "debatable").
And Nelson Cruz is accepting his suspension now.
so, not Danny Valencia.
also, a quality comment on that piece:
The man made a mockery of the baseball record book.
A couple trade proposals out there re: Nelson Cruz + Zunino. If anyone is interested in that, Cruz is a 6th rounder and Zunino a 20th, looking for a high run/obp/SB guy in return. Just throwing it out here, since I don't know how much folks are checking the league site.
It sounds like the rest of the players are getting 50-game suspensions. A-Rod is getting more because he recruited others. Why did Braun get more?
So who did ARod recruit? Jesus Montero and Melky Cabrera?
I didn't realize Antonio Bastardo and Jordan Norberto were so much closer to ARod than most players. It just doesn't make sense.
Well, we'll just have to wait to see how history shines on the incident, hopefully as documented by the sports history chair at UW-Madison.
That chair has been filled now. My department hired a pretty promising young historian who should be around for years. We didn't hire the guy I wanted, but we did hire the guy who was the most impressive in his talk and visit.
Damn, I was hoping it was still basically Bud's, or at least under his influence.
Thankfully, he didn't even come to the job talks.
The press release states:
No recruiting mentioned, just the league being really angry at him.
That reads sort of like every other guy on the list should have gotten a 200+ game suspension and a threat of a lifetime ban, though I'm no lawyer.
Like creating a fake website for fake products to explain a test result?
Yeah, the Melky precedent is a big problem for the league. I agree that players who obstruct investigation should face a higher penalty. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Unfortunately for the league, the fact that they didn't pursue it before would tend to indicate they've got a double standard, which calls into serious question their standing on what would otherwise be reasonable ground.
perhaps the difference is cabrera was only obstructing the league regarding his own case. with a-rod trying to purchase all of the biogenesis records, that would obstruct the cases against multiple individuals...?
My understanding (all based on hearsay that is leaked primarily by MLB, I'm assugreying) is that ARod was offered to buy back a bunch of evidence by Anthony Bosch. When ARod refused to buy the evidence, Bosch then sold it to MLB who are now using it against ARod. Quite amusing.
Remember back when George Steinbrenner was banned in the best interests of baseball for paying a scumbag to dig up dirt about his highest paid player to get out of paying his contract? Ya, me neither.
Methinks that George's "banning" had little or no effect on his pecuniary interests. It's not as though he was forced to sell.
Yea. I'd have to imagine that even the MLBPA would hold its nose and fight for a shorter suspension for ARod.
And they are.
My favorite part of the MLBPA's press release:
Having a discussion over on the Book of Face, regarding whether steroids should just be permitted.
I stumbled onto an idea that I'm gonna have to think on some more, but I think I might like it... I even think it might be "principled" at a deeper level (why we really care about sports), despite initially seeming completely unprincipled. Figured it could be worth sharing here:
I don't think that steroids interfere with our ability to "spectate". Does anyone have problems with steroid use in pro "wrestling" or in bodybuilding? Not really.
I can think of at least a couple distinctions between pro wrestling and baseball.
And I was using "spectate" in a more particular sense than as a synonym for "watch". I guess what I'm thinking of here is kind of informed by Bartlett Giamatti's Take Time For Paradise, in which he writes a fair amount about the value of watching athletics and the relationship between the fan and the athlete.
How bout football then?
I'd say that's a fair parallel. And that when confronted with the likelihood of prevalent steroid use in football my desire to watch it plummets.
One thing football has going for it is the equipment, which tends to hide things like gigantic heads, so spectators aren't confronted as directly.
sure. So can I.
My point is that a lot of what we take as interest in "sports" is really interest in spectacle.
We care about both athletic competition and about the spectacle. In some competitions, it is not just the raw athleticism, but also the strategery. In others, it is just the spectacle.
Baseball has a very heavy dose of strategery. Not every Bo Jackson-level athlete can succeed at baseball (*cough* Michael Jordan *cough*). A fat tub of goo or a dumpy everyman can be a star in MLB. That just would not happen in swimming or track & field.
But chicks dig the long ball. Spectacle.
So basically... it's offensive when spectacle replaces strategy?
I suspect that for some people that is true. Like, say, Gordo. Getting all a-slobber about "productive outs" is conspicuously anti-spectacle. There is a significant portion of the baseball community that waxes on and on about how great it is when teams play small ball. Home runs and strike outs are fascist!!!!1111one11111!!!!
I'm far from that end of the spectrum, but I am offended by what appear to be significantly super-human improvements via chemicals (and would be similarly opposed to the same via other methods, say mechanical implants).
Actually, after the rash of young deaths in the past 15 years, the WWE has imposed stiff penalties on anyone that uses. There's a three-strike policy with 30-day and 60-day suspensions followed by termination. That sounds like lip service on the surface, but they've held some of the biggest-money acts off the show when they've violated the Wellness Policy, and that's not something they'd do unless they felt they had to.
The problem in wrestling is that the indies aren't so strict and will immediately pick up the guys who get fired regardless of what they did, because they have name value. As a result, there's no huge downside to using, unless one is addicted to the fame that comes with working for the #1 company.
beside, you know, the health impacts, like shrunken testicles, man-boobs, heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, liver cancer, and liver failure.
Well, yeah, but young men in sports and wrestling have proven they don't think about those. Hence the WWE finally stepping in and attempting to save them from themselves.
Which is funny because it seems like the most popular (non-Cena division) guys right now are the smaller, non (less?)-roided up dudes. Its almost like the WWE accidentally discovered that the more middle-weight guys who can actually move around are more exciting to watch.
We went to the Buffalo Bison game last night and had mc and the brother's gf each scorekeep for an inning. Their systems were very innovative and adorable.
I've run into the same thing on my softball team...well, the innovative part anyway.
My favorite was something like "8LBIL. 7649TTH, WAIS".
My mom would always keep score for my little league games, she started with simple dashes and dots (dashes were runs, dots were outs), but gradually progressed to something similar (complete with editorial on the umpire's strikezone on nights when I'd pitch). That scorebook is one of my treasured keepsakes.
mc did catch onto the numbering system for positions very quickly. She is a smart lass.
I like "WAIS". Quite descriptive.
Agreed. I believe that will creep into out gamelogs.
It's really too bad we didn't have this one while _elm_n was "patrolling" LF.
I think most of those scores would have been 8 - WASH
Nishi!
Since some may think this is part of the forbidden topic, I'll put it in a spoiler.
Congratulations to the newly-weds!
dido.
I'll pile on too. I thought there would be more focus on the couple (I can't even identify which is your sibling from what's presented) but I'm just glad to read it.
To be fair to the SC Times, there was an article in Friday's paper about three different couples in the St. Cloud area getting married, including my sister (she's the blonde).
To be fair to the SC Times, it's a terrible paper.
But congrats to your sister.
You guys should register your complaints with @BigKat0
Oh, and congrats to the family!
I don't think the SC Times would find that fair at all, not that it isn't true, or that I care, or that I have any idea.
Went to college in the area; lots of friends and family that live there. Whether the times thinks it's fair, truer words have never been spoken.
I can see the resemblance.
May they have a very happy life together.
I've gone with a Saranac schartzbier and some spicy bologna for lunch. Great choice.
better than Scheissbier, I'm guessing.
Well, there's a style that violates my "try everything once" policy.
I've had the Top 10 sandwiches in the Twin Cities on my fridge for awhile, but last week I finally got around to starting to try them. The plan is one a week.
So far, the pastrami on rye at Bewitched is vastly, VASTLY superior to the southern fried biscuit at Sun Street.
(My favorite personal sandwich in town is the Sasha at Cecil's Deli. I'm also going to have a very hard time going to Clancey's and not getting the roast beef.)
The club sandwich at Peter's Grill was one of my all-time favorites. And now I'm sad.
so, this thread reminds me of one of my all-time favorite sammiches, the Gondola ("Noblest Sandwich of Them All") at George's Pizza in Spamtown. (George was the father of one of my best friends in h.s.). At $4.95, it's a steal.
George's for pizza and Gondolas, and The Tender Maid are two must-stops in Spamtown.
Sheenie and I plan to go to Spamtown for the museum. Now I'll have something to eat!
(also, she followed your lead and pickled up some cucumbers yesterday!)
If you go to George's and happen to see Kevin, the owner (skinny, lanky guy, brownish hair and a moustache, most likely), say "hi" for me ("Dean's friend Brian says hi."). Kevin may or may not seem entirely sober; he has had some health problems in recent years.
Brother's Deli downtown has a "hand-cut" pastrami sandwich... I think maybe only as a special. But hand-cut means you get big meaty, fatty chunks of pastrami. My god. It's amazing.
Pastrami is my favorite sandwich meat. That looks insanely good.
click on it. i dare you.
(that one was "medium fat". upon my next visit, i knocked it up a notch. BAM!)
the bread there is really little more than a fig leaf.
Used some extra spice weasel?
Oh, best believe I did.
That's a Big Apple style pastrami. First you climb it, then you eat it.
Yeah, Katz-style. Stuff yourself from the cutter's samples whilst they make your sandwich (which should be shared, but you order your own anyways, only to bring half home). Pickle galore.
Whoa.
On the sandwich front in NE Minneapolis, I've been enjoying the offerings of Nuff.
I'm fond of Bewiched.
Need to go there again soon.
cc to Daneeka's Ghost: The Cheetah Code screening!!!1111one111!!!
ok, so it's not really about cheetahs per se.
in addition to the main fantasy football league, i also resurrected the B-LEAGUE. i've sent an email to all of last year's participants. spooky and i have discussed some sort of system where players can be promoted to the main league, but we never really landed on any consensus.
Looking forward to reasserting my dominance over the B League's second best division.
I'll be happy to play if I'm needed for the league. If someone else wants in, though, I'll also be happy to step aside.
I would be willing to join this year (or play in the C-League if necessary)
According to Charley Walters, Dazzle is getting carpel tunnel surgery. Huh? He misses a couple foul balls in the booth and suddenly he goes on the DL.
they made color commentators of tougher stuff back in the day. Is carpal tunnel even a thing?
When Halsey Hall got hurt, he just
rubbed some tobacco juice on ithad another drink and another cigar and kept broadcasting.It's a made-up injury, for sure. You'll never convince me that Dazzle ever used a keyboard.
Minnesota Twins: Kyle Gibson Should Stay, Even Though Scott Diamond Was Demoted
Now that summer school is over and I can resume having a life outside of school & work for two weeks, I want to start getting together information to help J & I move. We want to move to the west coast, but we're not sure where just yet. Vancouver is high on the list but super expensive, but we're also considering San Diego, the LA area, the Bay area, or Seattle. It'll all sort of depend on costs, safety, public transportation, and job market since all the areas we have a pretty high desire to live in. Basically I want to pool as many resources together as I can to figure out these things to help us make a list. As I've never considered or completed a move half way across the country, do any of you have any suggestions as to where I should go to figure this stuff out?
I've moved plenty of times, but my method has little more to it than cram two bags full of clothes and take off. From your description, I think you're looking for something a bit more thorough.
That sounds suspiciously like my method.
I moved across the country to go to law school. I moved as much stuff as I could fit into a 15 passenger van that my family owned, and it all stayed out in D.C. until I moved back. The move back also involved Philosofette and Aquinas. We rented a truck from Budget (which was easily the cheapest for us), and loaded it up. They had good estimates about how much truck we'd need, and that pretty much nailed it. My father-in-law and I drove the truck back from MN. No complaints about that process. It was work, but it was probably the cheapest and, in some ways, easiest method for us. We had lots of people to help us pack up and unpack again, so the most difficult part was figuring out which beer to buy for everyone (also where to order pizza from).
Law school provided my apt. first year, so finding that was easy. We did internet searches for apartments when we moved back, identified a handful, and the in-laws checked 'em out for us. We're still in the same apt. from that search.
Just finished a cross-country move about a month ago (and by finished, I mean we arrived. I think we're at 80% unpacked right now). If you're packing/loading yourself, get as much help as you can on both ends, it makes a huge difference. We had three brothers (+ one of their girlfreinds) and my parents in Kansas for 5 days before we left, and it sped things up to the point that we really didn't have to stress about getting out before our deadline (our house was sold and the closing date was the day we left town).
We rented a truck (UHaul was the cheapest and had the best pickup/dropoff locations at both ends) and put our car on a trailer behind it. Did the drive over two days, which was a little stressful with a 1-year old (and two cats) in tow, but in reality not that bad. We got a 17' truck that was recommended for a house of our size (3Bed/2Bath) and filled it to the brim (after we donated our couch).
We spent a weekend in New Mexico looking at houses to buy or rent about 3 months before we were planning to move, our real-estate agent had a group of college kids that would have helped us unload (for a fee, of course), but we managed it with just us and my parents. U-Haul also offers you the option of hiring people to help load/unload if you want it.
We did look into moving companies, but the cost was prohibitive for us. They'll come and do an estimate if you call them.
The other factor was the amount of stuff we would have had to keep with us for the little one (since it would take several days longer for our stuff to make the trip than it would take us) didn't actually make the move all that much easier for us.
13 years out here, and we still have not unpacked our stereo system.
Where I live, the unemployment rate is still high and the cost of living is pretty high, too. That being said, the weather is awesome except for hot and dry July-September. I wouldn't recommend someone moving to California unless they had a good, high-paying job lined up that they were confident they would be able to keep.
I generally agree with this advice, but would note that there are pockets of impressive employment growth in California.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics Map applet lets you map unemployment levels and changes by county or metropolitan statistical area by state and time period.
The most recently available data there is June 2013. Unemployment rates compared to June 2012 fell in every county in the state. Things are definitely getting better.
The hope would be that I could relocate with my current job and find J work wherever we move. I'm not sure my job is high-paying but it's a reasonable amount of money at least... though I'm a bit nervous it wouldn't be enough on its own.
I don't know much about the coastal city/state selection process as I've basically just gone where the Navy sent me. We did just complete a move based as much on schools, commute, community and employment as anything else and I'm happy to share our selection process.
However, if you have any questions at all about the actual moving, please consider my resume and feel free to shoot me an email @ bmjohnson327athotmaildotcom
Since 2002
I've moved from MN (rented room) -> FL (rented house) -> MN (townhome) -> VA (apt, city 1) -> VA (apt, city 2) -> VA (house, city 3) -> MN (house, city 1) -> MN (house, city 2).
I have moved: myself & 1 bag, myself & 1 bedroom, myself and spouse w/ 1 br house, myself and spouse w/ 2 br apt, myself and spouse w/ 2 br apt and 1 dog, myself and spouse w/ 3 br house and 2 dogs, myself and spouse and child and 2 dogs and 3+ br house.
I have moved myself, with help from 1 buddy, with help from spouse and 1 buddy in U-Haul, with help from spouse and 6 buddies w/ trucks, with help from spouse, 1 buddy and professional moving co., and finally - with help from my spouse and family (brothers, sisters, parents) and buddies w/ trucks and multiple trips with a 20' U-Haul.
I know it isn't on your list, but I really liked Portland. No bugs, moderate climate, close to ocean and beach.
Everybody told me I would love Seattle but it was just too congested for me.
Yep, Portland would get a vote from me, too. And not Seattle, for the same reason.
I lived in LA for 5+ years, and I would only go back to visit.
I will definitely take this into consideration. It's the big NW city I have the least connections to, mostly.
I lived there for a summer, at least north of Seattle in Everett, and very much enjoyed it. I would agree that the congestion would be bad because the metro area is very stretched out, so basicall all traffic is going north and south, mostly on I-5.
I've heard the traffic in Seattle is really awful and that the public transportation isn't very good. I've heard this same thing about LA, too. This is part of what scares me about this move. I'm an overthinker, and this would be by far the biggest decision I've made thus far in my life. But I think in the end it would be worth it. I just want to make sure we're okay once we arrive since we'll be a long way away from almost everyone we know.
Seattle's my favorite city, more than likely. I like disappearing into seas of humanity.
At one point dr. Chop and I moved once every 5 months for 6 years. Yeah.
To expand on the above, We moved from Mn to Buffalo in 2002, and once there we switched apartments 4 times in 2 years due to a variety of circumstances. For the initial move we rented a 10 foot U-haul and loaded it with as much crap as we could including a small couch / love seat combo, our bed, and some crappy kitchen furniture. The local moves were done with friends trucks and about a million trips.
After Buffalo we moved to Albuquerque with a six month lease and no intention of staying in that apartment. We borrowed a truck from Dr. Chop's dad and rented the largest U-Haul trailer. We filled the trailer, the bed of the pick up, and the car we owned to the brim. The trip took three days. That move was kind of miserable for a number of reasons. We didn't have enough money to travel to NM to look for apartments, and didn't have enough time cash to ride out a week or more in a motel while looking. We rented our first place sight unseen which caused some heart burn and anxiety. The trip was exhausting, and the unloading was brutal (August in Abq is pretty warm). Once there we moved another 2 times in under a year. Again, not really looking to do so, but our second landlord refused to hook up the heat until well into November. We parted ways, and had to move out as finals were starting for Dr. Chop.
Four years later we moved to Texas. We spent two weekends in San Angelo looking for a house to buy / rent.In those four years we acquired a crap load of shit. We had a moving sale that put no dent in our collection of shit. We donated a pile of stuff and still didn't lighten the load. We rented a 24 foot Penske truck and filled it 3/4 of the way. My brother drove a 10 foot U-haul with Dr. Chop from Minnesota filled with stuff from her family. We unloaded by ourselves, and again in August. I had about half of our stuff still in New Mexico at a smaller apartment in the same complex that we'd lived in for those 4 years. An apartment fire made it unnecessary for us to figure out how to get my stuff to Texas.
From there we moved to New Orleans. This was a pretty brutal move, but totally worth the effort. We came down and stayed for a week to find an apartment. We scoured craigslist, pad mapper, zillow, and the local real estate websites. We drove for hours on end through out all parts of the city (DPWY can attest to the craziness of this city - the patchwork quality of good neighborhoods bumping up against atrocious neighborhoods) looking for a 'safe' place to live. We polled our friends, and talked to the neighbors and mailpeople in the hoods we were looking in. The second apartment we saw was perfect. Great location, lots of character, seconds walk from a decent bar, on mardi gras parade routes (!), and well within our budget. The agent told us we would be first in line, but called later that night to tell us that we were actually beaten to the punch. Rage ensued. We started seeing crappy houses move off the rental market in hours for 1200-1400 dollars a month - in shitty neighborhoods. We panicked. We jumped at a place, but the dude wouldn't furnish a lease before we were set to leave the state to retrieve our stuff and move. Long story short ---> Novak is there to save my sanity. (Last compliment I'll ever heap on that dude(not)). Eventually we settled on our current place, and from a year's experience we did alright. The move itself was more difficult than it needed to be. We tried to work our budget into a place where we could hire movers, but the remote location of our origination made it cost prohibitive. We tried every permutation, but had to settle on U-haul again. We hired some folks from the uhaul site, and that made a world of difference. The San Angelo folks were less than awesome, which fit the entire Texas experience for us, but in we had some graduate students unloading our stuff here in NOLA. They were professional, hard working, and interesting dudes. I'm sure we wouldn't have completed the move in without their help.
We'll move again sometime in the next year, but it'll most likely be a cross town affair with time to spare.
The take away from our experience is that:
A. Spend a lot of time looking for a place. If the 'perfect' apartment falls through don't panic. Restart the search calmly. If you need non legal, soul searching help call Novak.
B. Do your research beforehand. We rarely had the luxury of thinking things through. The last move to NOLA was different for us in that regard. A little internet time every night made a world of difference when it came time to find a place. I kind of knew what to expect with regards to price and neighborhood safety before we hit the ground. We were lucky to have friends both from here and those who are married to people from here who offered insight in our search.
C. If you live in a rural area you're probably going to have to rent a U-haul or equivalent. Pods, U-pack, even the U-haul box wouldn't drop off in our origination town because there wasn't a large enough market for them. We were basically forced into using a u-haul because they were the only game in town. In the long run, a u-haul give you a bit of flexibility that other options don't. You get to make the decisions on how your crap is packed, you can pick the route / number of days it'll take, and your stuff arrives with you.
D. Purge. We've moved a lot of shit that we shouldn't have moved. Seriously. I wish we could have been a bit more sparse with this move. Once you've moved something across country it is imbued with special meaning. That toilet brush becomes just a little bit more unique and special because you brought it with you. The couch is the best ever. The hockey gear you haven't used since moving to the desert? I'm totally going to start skating again once we move to NOLA. totes. yeah. A year on my skates, stick, pucks, .... still in the closet. Purge. Sentimental stuff is one thing, but everyday, common crap will become elevated to priceless heirloom if you move it across country.
E. enjoy the shit out of your new environment. I spent too much time grousing about how much I hated West Texas to see the good things that were there. I wouldn't move back there, ever, but there were some alright things that I missed.
somewhat apropos, when we moved across-country (DC to SD) for grad school, the day we arrived in SD it was over 100 degrees. "It's never this hot," is the line we got from people. Hah! Although it turned out to be mostly true.
I sweat through a pair of shorts during the move-in in nola. A pair of shorts. No lie.
I moved from MN to LA just after the '84 olympics -- it was 103°F in MN when I left, and > 100°F in The Valley when I got there.
To go the other way, the day I moved to my current place of residence was during a bad ice storm which I got to drive the Uhaul in. (Ok, so it wasn't cross country, but the otherwise 40 minute drive from Madison seemed to take as long as a cross country trip.)
Oh, yea, this. My SiL was in Chambana when we had the moving sale to move to our second house there. She was personally responsible for selling a lot of our crap, which we might otherwise have hauled several more times. You have to be ruthless, or get a relative or friend to be ruthless for you.
the Green Bay Packer signed QB Vince Young
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Someone needs to shore up LT with the loss of Bulaga for the season. Hopefully Vince is hitting the buffet line as we speak!
Not sure how this works, or if it will at all, but here goes...
I like it!
Well, the Yankees evidently have no qualms about A-Rod and PED's. Sheesh.
Considering the big extension the Yankmes signed A-Rod to after the first time he admitted using PEDs an lying about it, this isn't exactly surprising.
I won't link to it (you are welcome), but Craig Calterra, Hardball Talk might be better served by staying far away from politics, even when someone in the sports world says something really stupid and political.
I know the article you're talking about, and yeah, the no-politics rule here looks even better after seeing that article and the reactions and comments it spawned.
I've seen people bring politics into a lot of the comments there, regardless of whether the story warrants them or not. That's probably one reason I stopped going.
That, and Calcaterra has a tendency to become a dismissive blowhard at times when nuance and ranges of opinion are perfectly acceptable.
Using "blowhard" and "nuance" in the same sentence? Awesome.
That feels familiar, although it's been so long, I would have been guessing.
As I've mentioned before, the comments section tends to be pretty good.
I was cleaning yesterday and found an issue of Minnesota History from a couple of years ago that I somehow missed reading when it first arrived. There's an article in there about the Gorbachevs' visit to the Twin Cities. I haven't read it yet, but just from glancing through apparently Raisa Gorbachev visited with a family in their home just a block from where I live. I may have to walk over there sometime and see if it's still the same owners. Would that be weird?
I remember that visit. People were lined up along the streets where M. G. motorcar were driving thru.
Doveryai no Proveryai baby.
I remember it, too. I remember my father bringing me to see the motorcade.
i remember watching ms. gorbachev visiting the family on a pay black and white TV at a restaurant. fat lorenzo's? no, that's not right... somewhere in that neighborhood though.
5-8 Club? There's not much else over there.
nope, there isn't, but it definitely wasn't the 5-8 club. oh well. i could easily be misremembering that part, but the pay B&Ws were definitely there.
watching los gigantes vs brewers. axford just airmailed IBB ball four to the backdrop to allow a runner to advance to third.
now bases loaded and here comes Frenchy.