The artist for my game has nearly finished his end of things, and the game isn't far from its release. It's allllll happeniiiiiiing
75 thoughts on “April 14, 2014: Almost There”
Back from our Trivia weekend in Stevens Point, where we finished in the top twenty out of 400-ish teams again this year. In the three years I've been playing, this is the first time I've had to work on the Monday after Trivia. I tried to sleep a bit more this year, but even so I'm just about wrecked.
I had a friend on this year's 11th place team. A Really Scary Mummy for anyone who followed XIV.
Actually, how the heck do these trivia things work in this day and age of google?
Name
W
L
SV
G
GS
IP
K/9
BB/9
HR/9
BABIP
LOB%
GB%
HR/FB
ERA
FIP
xFIP
WAR
Kevin Correia
0
1
0
3
3
18.2
4.82
1.93
0.48
.302
53.1 %
41.0 %
4.2 %
5.30
3.41
4.50
0.3
Kyle Gibson
2
0
0
2
2
11.1
4.76
6.35
0.00
.235
87.5 %
58.8 %
0.0 %
1.59
4.20
5.67
0.1
Phil Hughes
0
0
0
2
2
10.0
9.00
3.60
1.80
.345
63.4 %
30.0 %
16.7 %
7.20
5.24
4.31
0.0
Ricky Nolasco
1
1
0
3
3
18.0
4.50
3.50
1.50
.311
72.6 %
52.4 %
13.6 %
5.50
5.47
5.01
-0.1
Mike Pelfrey
0
2
0
2
2
10.1
5.23
6.10
3.48
.242
74.6 %
36.1 %
25.0 %
7.84
9.04
6.17
-0.4
Looking a little better than last week. They don't strike anyone out (15th in AL), walks are too high (15th in AL). This weekend was an elixir, for sure.
So, the Boy. Lives in Cali, goes to school (and has work-study) in Minnesota. Has to file taxes in both states (Because California).
(a) can't find a free way to file electronically to get his $13 back from Minnesota. Turbotax wants him to pay $30 even to print out the form. I told him he'll have to print out a blank form from the Dept. of Rev and transcribe. Oy.
(b) can file electronically for free in Cali. Buuuuut it looks like he owes a dollar. A DOLLAR!!!!1111ONE11111!!!!! You have GOT to be shitting me, California! Kid had nothing withheld in Cali (Because no earned income in the state) and he owes A DOLLAR???
I was incredulous, but then I looked. Cali requires you to file if (a) you are a dependent and (b) you have gross income greater than your standard deduction, which can be as low as $1,000 for a dependent. The tax tables do indeed specify tax owed can be as low as $1. That's insane.
Look on the bright side: you have a citrus tree in your back yard!
I prepped my taxes this weekend. Shame on me for waiting, but my wife, who gets all the mail and sorts it (because ND), somehow missed about 5 important documents. Like the 1099-DIV on stocks that she owns. Amazingly, though, it's my fault that she lost that.
Anyone know how I can get the info off a lost 1099? It would be cool to see exactly what has been reported to the government right there online. We can kind of piece it together, but I'd like to actually, you know, see the form.
your brokerage doesn't offer electronic delivery of tax documents?
we don't own any individual stocks. Vanguard, Fidelity, and others offer online access to tax stuff.
This. Some of my similar things were filled in automatically. Yay!
Zombieman, I trust you've confirmed that the boy *must* file his taxes in MN? I once had something like a $7 refund in VA and opted to just not put in the labor.
Yea, he has to file if he wants his withholding back.
Right. But it's $13.
That's a pizza. He's in college. Pizza.
That's at least two pizzas done right. Two. Pizzas.
Maybe even three pizzas if you are willing to go with frozen pizza. I remember stalking the pizza aisle with my roommates looking for the frozen pizzas that were the least cost per pound. That's how a lot of our grocery shopping went down. It was not healthy, but we ate.
It's all about opportunity cost. If that's worth it for him, cool. If not, cool. Cool cool cool.
I remember being an undergrad. Money was more scarce than time was.
In my day, $13 would have bought four cases of Pfeifer. It wasn't good, but it was good enough.
We must have the same day, Boss. Of course, to get four cases for $13 you had to return four cases of empties, but that was never a problem around the fraternity house, as I recall.
My kid has inherited my expensive tastes in beer. I don't think he drinks much shite.
Of course, I earned my expensive tastes, via consuming my shares of Pfeiffer, Hauenstein, Wisco Premium, Blatz, etc. Kids these days....
Red Dog, Icehouse, Miller Red, Schmidt, Deer Brand
Premo was the first beer that tasted like anything.
It's not owned through a brokerage. She owns a closely held stock of a small corporation located in small town Minnesota.
She owns a closely held stock of a small corporation located in small town Minnesota
Been there in a nearby state. The Close Corp still should have that record and be able to send it to you the same day via PDF or Camera Phone or whatever. The corp has to have copies of the 1099, so a well placed call should do the trick. At least that's where I started last year and I had the jpeg later that day.
Oy.
Now you understand the problem fully. I said, honey, can we at least look at your account to figure out what the amounts were? Nope, she never deposited just the dividend checks alone.
May have to file an extension. Luckily, we will be getting a small refund (<$100, I know approximately what those dividend amounts are), so no money out of my pocket. We owe the state of Minnesota, though, so a check will have to be sent, along with an extension filed. Yippee.
Unless, of course, we can somehow piece it all together.
There is no penalty for filing late when you are getting a refund since the penalty is based on how much you owe. Plus, the government would rather hold on to your refund money longer anyways.
Right, but I owe the State of Minnesota.
Yea, I proved this one about 18 years ago by forgetting to file before my extension ran out. Yea, the feds owed me money. Le sigh.
(they did insist -- rather insistently -- that I file nonetheless)
Crisis averted. Wife found all the missing documents in another, unmarked location. Filing!
This.
the Mrs. is the mail-getter and bill-payer. But she files nothing. Or rather, she throws everything in a big pile. You'd think I would clue in and start filing on a monthly basis or so, so that I would not be pulling my hair out at tax time every year.
I'm all three, which makes things easier.
Quicken. File. Import into Turbotax. Profit.
also, I'm right there with you on the mail. I'm lucky if I even get informed that there was mail.
Living where I do, I regularly miss/don't receive the post. It has created a ton of problems over the last 28 months where I'm considering getting a PO box. Which is crazy in my mind.
I have the opposite problem. It never occurs to Mrs. A to get the mail. If I'm gone for a few days, it will simply collect in the box until I get home to get it.
Right. When I'm in Omaha, I have to specifically ask "What was in the mail today?" to clue someone in. Which reminds me, I need to ask this afternoon...
Um. This also. I am the "mail getter." Mrs. Y doesn't either; in fact I'm not ever sure she knows where the MB is.
also also, TWO citrus trees. But who's counting?
Citrus isn't specific enough. LIMES LIMES LIMES! Went from 10 for $1 6 months ago to $0.69 cents a piece this week.
I wish. But if I had limes, prolly would just encourage theft, what with the soaring prices. I don't need the mexican cartels in my back yard.
This made me lol. What does a Forgien Lime Cartel look like?
Yeah I think this will do:
Excellent.
Unfortunately, my crack about mexican cartels is funny because true. They have been hijacking shipments of limes.
I eat a lot of limes. 1 for 10 was so anti scurvy. One lime for 69 cents? come on. Bold new world w/ food costs. I heart tomatos, and I'll pay for the grocery tomatos to a point; but since this last week I'll be waiting for our tomato plants.
Out of curiosity, how does one eat a lot of limes?
One drinks a lot of gin and tonics and waste not, want not?
Today's Arm Side run link takes on the appropriate response to doctoring baseballs.
Tom Haberstroh ($) reports that in superclutch situations (a one possession game with less than a minute remaining), the Timberwolves have been outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes this season (105 points per 48 minutes), the worst rate since the NBA started tracking this in 1997.
But, you knew that already.
Relatedly, the Wolves have the highest point differential (+2.9 per game) of any non-playoff team during the 16 team playoff format.
But, you knew that already.
I just read a summary of it on A Wolf Among Wolves, and yeah, nothing I didn't know.
It did help cement my burgeoning distaste for Kevin Martin and mitigate any possible feelings of loss I might have had about Adelman's impending retirement, though.
The Twins have the best SRS in the AL Central at 1.6 and the fourth best in the AL behind the M's, A's and Angels. SRS is B-Ref's way of comparing teams based on run differential and strength of schedule. This means the Twins are 1.6 runs per game better than the average ML team.
After the sweep by the A's, they were near the bottom. Early season swings are a lot of fun.
Indeed. I would think that a practical optimist would point out at this point that the Twins are .500 and just a game behind first place. Which is better than a kick in the nuts.
My God. US Air had a very pornographic image on their twitter feed for like an hour before it was deleted. I won't link to it but you can find it if you want (Deadspin?). Extremely NSFW.
Obviously a hack or disgruntled employee. But how it stayed up for so long is a huge mystery too. Did the guy in charge of social media have to get permission from some muckity-muck before he/she could delete it?
Hacked and password change would take a while to recover.
I was on the Bookface a week or two ago and got accosted with one of their "do you know these people" scrolling galleries of ostensible profile pics, one of which was a full on crotch shot of some young, um, "lady" may not be the right term. Oy. I presume somebody's account got hacked, but it certainly wasn't anyone who's name (or lady bits) I recognized.
apropos, I read a very scary/disturbing story in the SacBee/WaPo this morning about how hackers have shown how to use the Heartbleed exploit to hack certificates. Oy.
Wisconsin GOP to vote on a resolution at their convention to secede from the United States. Man, would this mean that the Packers would have to move to the CFL?
I bet their new nation would have a decent World Baseball Classic team. They've traditionally been strong in long track speed skating as well.
Curling! Plus Miller Lite would be an import!
Make sure your passports are up-to-date, Wisco Citizens.
Build the dang wall!
The Party of Lincoln is apparently not the party of recognizing irony.
Well, Alanis too.
Yup, these are our politicians.
Kevin Love has 19 points in 8 minutes
And Rubio made 6 of 7 free throws and is 2 for 2 from the field for 10 points- in the first quarter! What a weird team...
Once the pressure was off for making the playoffs, this team has been on fire.
I take that back
Not on fire
They have been playing a more entertaining style of basketball
Or maybe Gorgui has got more playing time.
Not a good third quarter.
Kevin Love's 1st quarter: 22/8/3
"pay the man his money"
Switching back and forth betw wolves game and A's/Angels. Is it just me or has Poo-holes lost about 50 lbs?
So, my buddy who never leaves voicemails and rarely texts called me at 8:30, 9:15 and 9:40...of course, no message and I'm in a meeting and can't chat. Call him back at like 10:40 and he's like, "You ready for tomorrow!?" Confused, I'm like, "Remind me what tomorrow is again?" "You forgot that I'm taking you to the Twins game tomorrow as a birthday gift...row 2, dugout box...my bosses tickets?" He says.
Yep, I forgot. I'm glad he kept after me! Are long johns going to be sufficient?
Nice. And its Jackie Robinson day!
The Reds and Pirates combined for 10 HRs before rain suspended the game in the 7th tied at 7-7. Crazy.
Back from our Trivia weekend in Stevens Point, where we finished in the top twenty out of 400-ish teams again this year. In the three years I've been playing, this is the first time I've had to work on the Monday after Trivia. I tried to sleep a bit more this year, but even so I'm just about wrecked.
I had a friend on this year's 11th place team. A Really Scary Mummy for anyone who followed XIV.
Actually, how the heck do these trivia things work in this day and age of google?
Looking a little better than last week. They don't strike anyone out (15th in AL), walks are too high (15th in AL). This weekend was an elixir, for sure.
So, the Boy. Lives in Cali, goes to school (and has work-study) in Minnesota. Has to file taxes in both states (Because California).
(a) can't find a free way to file electronically to get his $13 back from Minnesota. Turbotax wants him to pay $30 even to print out the form. I told him he'll have to print out a blank form from the Dept. of Rev and transcribe. Oy.
(b) can file electronically for free in Cali. Buuuuut it looks like he owes a dollar. A DOLLAR!!!!1111ONE11111!!!!! You have GOT to be shitting me, California! Kid had nothing withheld in Cali (Because no earned income in the state) and he owes A DOLLAR???
I was incredulous, but then I looked. Cali requires you to file if (a) you are a dependent and (b) you have gross income greater than your standard deduction, which can be as low as $1,000 for a dependent. The tax tables do indeed specify tax owed can be as low as $1. That's insane.
Look on the bright side: you have a citrus tree in your back yard!
I prepped my taxes this weekend. Shame on me for waiting, but my wife, who gets all the mail and sorts it (because ND), somehow missed about 5 important documents. Like the 1099-DIV on stocks that she owns. Amazingly, though, it's my fault that she lost that.
Anyone know how I can get the info off a lost 1099? It would be cool to see exactly what has been reported to the government right there online. We can kind of piece it together, but I'd like to actually, you know, see the form.
your brokerage doesn't offer electronic delivery of tax documents?
we don't own any individual stocks. Vanguard, Fidelity, and others offer online access to tax stuff.
This. Some of my similar things were filled in automatically. Yay!
Zombieman, I trust you've confirmed that the boy *must* file his taxes in MN? I once had something like a $7 refund in VA and opted to just not put in the labor.
Yea, he has to file if he wants his withholding back.
Right. But it's $13.
That's a pizza. He's in college. Pizza.
That's at least two pizzas done right. Two. Pizzas.
Maybe even three pizzas if you are willing to go with frozen pizza. I remember stalking the pizza aisle with my roommates looking for the frozen pizzas that were the least cost per pound. That's how a lot of our grocery shopping went down. It was not healthy, but we ate.
It's all about opportunity cost. If that's worth it for him, cool. If not, cool. Cool cool cool.
I remember being an undergrad. Money was more scarce than time was.
In my day, $13 would have bought four cases of Pfeifer. It wasn't good, but it was good enough.
We must have the same day, Boss. Of course, to get four cases for $13 you had to return four cases of empties, but that was never a problem around the fraternity house, as I recall.
My kid has inherited my expensive tastes in beer. I don't think he drinks much shite.
Of course, I earned my expensive tastes, via consuming my shares of Pfeiffer, Hauenstein, Wisco Premium, Blatz, etc. Kids these days....
Red Dog, Icehouse, Miller Red, Schmidt, Deer Brand
Premo was the first beer that tasted like anything.
It's not owned through a brokerage. She owns a closely held stock of a small corporation located in small town Minnesota.
Been there in a nearby state. The Close Corp still should have that record and be able to send it to you the same day via PDF or Camera Phone or whatever. The corp has to have copies of the 1099, so a well placed call should do the trick. At least that's where I started last year and I had the jpeg later that day.
Oy.
Now you understand the problem fully. I said, honey, can we at least look at your account to figure out what the amounts were? Nope, she never deposited just the dividend checks alone.
May have to file an extension. Luckily, we will be getting a small refund (<$100, I know approximately what those dividend amounts are), so no money out of my pocket. We owe the state of Minnesota, though, so a check will have to be sent, along with an extension filed. Yippee. Unless, of course, we can somehow piece it all together.
There is no penalty for filing late when you are getting a refund since the penalty is based on how much you owe. Plus, the government would rather hold on to your refund money longer anyways.
Right, but I owe the State of Minnesota.
Yea, I proved this one about 18 years ago by forgetting to file before my extension ran out. Yea, the feds owed me money. Le sigh.
(they did insist -- rather insistently -- that I file nonetheless)
Crisis averted. Wife found all the missing documents in another, unmarked location. Filing!
This.
the Mrs. is the mail-getter and bill-payer. But she files nothing. Or rather, she throws everything in a big pile. You'd think I would clue in and start filing on a monthly basis or so, so that I would not be pulling my hair out at tax time every year.
I'm all three, which makes things easier.
Quicken. File. Import into Turbotax. Profit.
also, I'm right there with you on the mail. I'm lucky if I even get informed that there was mail.
Living where I do, I regularly miss/don't receive the post. It has created a ton of problems over the last 28 months where I'm considering getting a PO box. Which is crazy in my mind.
I have the opposite problem. It never occurs to Mrs. A to get the mail. If I'm gone for a few days, it will simply collect in the box until I get home to get it.
Right. When I'm in Omaha, I have to specifically ask "What was in the mail today?" to clue someone in. Which reminds me, I need to ask this afternoon...
Um. This also. I am the "mail getter." Mrs. Y doesn't either; in fact I'm not ever sure she knows where the MB is.
also also, TWO citrus trees. But who's counting?
Citrus isn't specific enough. LIMES LIMES LIMES! Went from 10 for $1 6 months ago to $0.69 cents a piece this week.
I wish. But if I had limes, prolly would just encourage theft, what with the soaring prices. I don't need the mexican cartels in my back yard.
This made me lol. What does a Forgien Lime Cartel look like?
Yeah I think this will do:
Excellent.
Unfortunately, my crack about mexican cartels is funny because true. They have been hijacking shipments of limes.
I eat a lot of limes. 1 for 10 was so anti scurvy. One lime for 69 cents? come on. Bold new world w/ food costs. I heart tomatos, and I'll pay for the grocery tomatos to a point; but since this last week I'll be waiting for our tomato plants.
Out of curiosity, how does one eat a lot of limes?
One drinks a lot of gin and tonics and waste not, want not?
lime pickle!
Today's Arm Side run link takes on the appropriate response to doctoring baseballs.
Tom Haberstroh ($) reports that in superclutch situations (a one possession game with less than a minute remaining), the Timberwolves have been outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes this season (105 points per 48 minutes), the worst rate since the NBA started tracking this in 1997.
But, you knew that already.
Relatedly, the Wolves have the highest point differential (+2.9 per game) of any non-playoff team during the 16 team playoff format.
But, you knew that already.
I just read a summary of it on A Wolf Among Wolves, and yeah, nothing I didn't know.
It did help cement my burgeoning distaste for Kevin Martin and mitigate any possible feelings of loss I might have had about Adelman's impending retirement, though.
The Twins have the best SRS in the AL Central at 1.6 and the fourth best in the AL behind the M's, A's and Angels. SRS is B-Ref's way of comparing teams based on run differential and strength of schedule. This means the Twins are 1.6 runs per game better than the average ML team.
After the sweep by the A's, they were near the bottom. Early season swings are a lot of fun.
Indeed. I would think that a practical optimist would point out at this point that the Twins are .500 and just a game behind first place. Which is better than a kick in the nuts.
Happy Space Monday!
My God. US Air had a very pornographic image on their twitter feed for like an hour before it was deleted. I won't link to it but you can find it if you want (Deadspin?). Extremely NSFW.
Obviously a hack or disgruntled employee. But how it stayed up for so long is a huge mystery too. Did the guy in charge of social media have to get permission from some muckity-muck before he/she could delete it?
Hacked and password change would take a while to recover.
I was on the Bookface a week or two ago and got accosted with one of their "do you know these people" scrolling galleries of ostensible profile pics, one of which was a full on crotch shot of some young, um, "lady" may not be the right term. Oy. I presume somebody's account got hacked, but it certainly wasn't anyone who's name (or lady bits) I recognized.
apropos, I read a very scary/disturbing story in the SacBee/WaPo this morning about how hackers have shown how to use the Heartbleed exploit to hack certificates. Oy.
Wisconsin GOP to vote on a resolution at their convention to secede from the United States. Man, would this mean that the Packers would have to move to the CFL?
I bet their new nation would have a decent World Baseball Classic team. They've traditionally been strong in long track speed skating as well.
Curling! Plus Miller Lite would be an import!
Make sure your passports are up-to-date, Wisco Citizens.
Build the dang wall!
The Party of Lincoln is apparently not the party of recognizing irony.
Well, Alanis too.
Yup, these are our politicians.
Kevin Love has 19 points in 8 minutes
And Rubio made 6 of 7 free throws and is 2 for 2 from the field for 10 points- in the first quarter! What a weird team...
Once the pressure was off for making the playoffs, this team has been on fire.
I take that back
Not on fire
They have been playing a more entertaining style of basketball
Or maybe Gorgui has got more playing time.
Not a good third quarter.
Kevin Love's 1st quarter: 22/8/3
"pay the man his money"
Switching back and forth betw wolves game and A's/Angels. Is it just me or has Poo-holes lost about 50 lbs?
So, my buddy who never leaves voicemails and rarely texts called me at 8:30, 9:15 and 9:40...of course, no message and I'm in a meeting and can't chat. Call him back at like 10:40 and he's like, "You ready for tomorrow!?" Confused, I'm like, "Remind me what tomorrow is again?" "You forgot that I'm taking you to the Twins game tomorrow as a birthday gift...row 2, dugout box...my bosses tickets?" He says.
Yep, I forgot. I'm glad he kept after me! Are long johns going to be sufficient?
Nice. And its Jackie Robinson day!
The Reds and Pirates combined for 10 HRs before rain suspended the game in the 7th tied at 7-7. Crazy.