Cup of Coffee

May 9th, 2014: Rip It

145 Comments

I don't drink coffee, but I'm running on very little sleep so knock-off, Dollar Tree brand energy drink it is. It doesn't taste as good as Red Bull, but it's about 1/6th the price per ounce, so it'll do.

145 thoughts on “May 9th, 2014: Rip It”

  1. It's looking more and more like a Heat/Spurs finals rematch. I'm good with that.

  3. Dread Pirate's OOTP invite pays off. My squad, the Boston Bees, win the 1983 National Series. First series win since '52. This proves I'd be great and general managing the Twins!

  4. Hey Mags, since tomorrow is the last game of EPL season can you post the standings and the spreadsheet again so that we can see who has a chance to win and if any games are important or not to our results?

    Thanks!

      1. Here's the link. How I went from losing out on the title last year two years ago by a goal to dead last I'll never know.

        Edit: I actually did win last year, I was off by a year. Still, 2nd, 1st, then 18th is not good.

          1. Well, Nibbish wtf was towards the top for a long time too, so... And I'm currently winning, so clearly this has nothing to do with anything.

  6. In my basement. Yesterday, I drove from one capital city to the suburb of another. Six and a half hours.

        1. As much as I love that somebody got this reference, I'm even more happy that you managed to transcribe the "Lithuanian"-Scotsman speech correctly.

          2. I practically have this movie memorized. I even learned some "Russian". Mostly I just remember

            Ramius: Oopah Ruskie (Rushkee)?
            Ryan: Nimnoga

            And that Ramius is the "Vilnius Nahstalvnyick", the Vilnius school master. He's not actually Russian, he's Lithuanian by birth, raised by his maternal grandfather, a fisherman.

            All of the apologies for my butchering of the Russian language.

          3. a-hahaha!

            Took me a second, but I finally made the dot-to-dot connections back to the film in question. Thanks for helping out with that.

      2. It's about 450 miles, I needed to be out there, and home by this morning because Europe tomorrow. So, a long trip, but if you are going to drive 450 miles, that's about the easiest 450 miles you can possibly drive.

        Also, after being with my family a whole lot in March and April because vacation/Easter, this month is hellish in that regard. But, after I get back, life will settle down a little more and we are going to KY in June to celebrate my niece's high school graduation. I"ve been to 47 states, KY is not one of them. Bonus!

            1. Two I have been to!
              I've been to every state west of the Mississippi except LA, AZ, and HI.
              I've been to 5 states east of the Mississippi plus DC.
              6 if you count the Cincinnati airport (which is in KY).
              (MN counts as West)

              1. With KY I will have every state east of the Mississippi and actually, of course, all but one of the lower 48.

                1. That's cool. I only recently passed the halfway mark by moving to New Mexico. I've only ever been to 4 states that border an ocean (FL, SC, NJ, MA) but I'm getting a lot of the interior US checked off.

                  1. I've been to 30 states, 32 if you count changing planes at LAX and Boston-Logan.

                    2. Throw in 8 more countries (11 if you want to count the 4 constituent states of the UK seperately).

                    3. (11 if you want to count the 4 constituent states of the UK seperately).

                      Easy now, the vote isn't till this fall.

                    4. FIFA and the Int'l Rugby board both recognize them 4 separate countries.

                  2. I'm not sure I'll ever collect all fifty; most of the states I've been to are the ones I actually want to visit. There are only a few outliers – Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Maine, Hawaii – on the haven't-been-but-want-to-see list. The idea of actually going to Florida, Alabama. Georgia, and South Carolina makes me squirm. I have more Canadian provinces on my must-visit list than American states.

                    2. My direct supervisor lives and works in GA. I rather enjoy working for her, so I'm good with going there. I have been to GA at least fifteen times, and probably more than that. I made several trips to Augusta, back when I had colleagues there that worked in the golf cart industry. I had a good buddy there who was a terrific host. Always enjoyable.

                      Alabama: Watched NDSU win one of their 11 football national championships in Florence (1990). That was an interesting trip.

                      Florida: Disneyworld and Disney Cruise; also one other trip there in the past.

                      South Carolina: One week trip to Hilton Head for a conference. That was pretty cool.

                    3. Oregon and Montana are gorgeous, and haven't been raped of their beauty with an endless parade of billboards (Oregon is especially great there, as well as Wyoming). I never really stopped in either state but driving through them was a joy.

                    5. The idea of actually going to Florida, Alabama. Georgia, and South Carolina makes me squirm.

                      I can tell you that pockets of Florida are very pleasant [insert plug for Ft. Myers, the Keys, and some place near Orlando]

                    6. Florida, Alabama. Georgia, and South Carolina

                      I have lived, worked or otherwise spent time in each of these - I didn't absolutely love any of them, but as some have pointed out, each had some charming locales to be sure.

                    7. Florida, Alabama. Georgia, and South Carolina makes me squirm

                      As with all things, ymmv. Destin and Fort Walton are absolutely gorgeous places in Florida, and gulf shores, while somewhat trashy, is also spectacular. Mobile, and the bay, are fun places to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Charleston is often referred to as a clean version of NOLA. They can have the cleanliness, I'll take the culture. Charleston is still a beautiful city, though.

                      I say all of this from the perspective of living in the south, but not really the south. The parts of Louisiana north of I 10 scare me a little bit. Jackson, MS made a pretty negative impression on several work trips , but that could have been the folks I was dealing with. Again, ymmv.

                2. I've been to 39 states. I could easily knock out Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in a quick trip, but the scattered states out west I've missed are quite scattered.

                  After this past week, I've now been to 5 European countries to go along with 2 in Africa, 2 in South America, and the 3 biggies in North America. Oh, and Antarctica.

                  Sheenie was raised traveling all the time, so she's been to all seven continents (and all except Antarctica at least twice).

                  1. I'm missing CT, RI, NH, VT, ME from the northeast, and MS and AL from the South. And Alaska. So, 42, I guess (43 counting DC). And I've lived in MN, NE (as a baby), MD, VA, DC, CA, and IL.

                    My only foreign "travels" are to Tijuana (twice) in grad school, Canada (once) on a fly-in fishing trip in jr. high with the family, and Bermuda on my honeymoon. But I've eaten in French, German, Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, English, Irish, Belgian, Russian, Swedish, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Israeli, Egyptian, Moroccan, Afghan, Lebanese, Persian, Ethiopian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Laotian, Burmese, Indian, Mongolian, Indonesian, Cuban, (generic Caribbean), Mexican, Salvadoran, Brazilian, Argentine, and Chilean restaurants!!!!111one1111!!!!

            2. I've been to 35 states and will add four more (WY, MT, ID & OR) next month ... Family Truckster Style!

              Edit: Oh, and one US Commonwealth (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands).

              1. I'm at about 24 (25 including D.C.) with plans to add MA to the list this summer. I also mentioned it yesterday, but in a few weeks I'm making my first trip to England. I will have at least one full weekend with no work to do, and possibly the Friday before and Monday after as well. I'll be in Manchester, probably with a car, so if anyone has any suggestions as to what I should do aside from drinking beer (only item on my list so far) I'm all ears.

                1. Holy cats, I've visited 41 states and the district. I've lived in five that span NY to NM, so that helps.

  7. Rip It happens to be the non-amphetamine upper of choice for your deployed United States Army. At least in recent history.

    1. My BiL said while he was in Afghanistan last year that energy drinks were banned and he had to get by on coffee and chew. Something about some dumbasses here Stateside passing out in the summer heat from dehydration after not drinking anything but Rip It for like a week and ruining it for everyone.

      1. Ephedra was banned right around the time I joined up. I knew plenty of guys who were upset about that.

        I never got into energy drinks, but I drank a ton of coffee & local tea (a rocket fuel concentrate with sugar) and cultivated a three-pack-a-day habit in Iraq. Nasal snuff works pretty well, too.

        1. I got addicted to energy drinks (Full Throttle, to be exact) when I worked in the Apple Valley store and had greater responsibilities in a high-stress store right near corporate. They were killing me, frankly, as I often took down two in a day and my heart was racing all the time. All things in moderation, gang.

          1. The last time I had an energy drink was during a spiel a few years ago. Got pretty deep into a bottle of bourbon the first night, then had an 8 am game the next morning which I prepared for by drinking a red bull. Boy was that stupid. It made my hangover worse and added what I thought was going to result in a heart attack. They also taste undrinkably bad.

            They do serve some good, however, in that, if you see someone at a bar ordering red bull and vodka (or whatever), they are obviously a person to never interact with.

              2. Sorry, guys, Jag & Red Bull are good.

                I used to hang with this chick I worked with named Jen, and a distressing number of bartenders downtown greeted her by name and asked if she wanted a "Jen Shot" (1/2 Jag, 1/2 RB).

        2. Similar here - coffee, lots of coffee over there ... and powdered Gatorade. Smoked some but preferred Red Man, Levi or Beech-Nut. Boxes & boxes of the stuff.

            2. I wouldn't put smoking powdered Gatorade past a few of the guys I knew in high school and the Navy.

          2. I'm a Tang man, myself. It's the astronauts' drink!

            I did Red Man (plug) for a while when we weren't able to smoke in the field. Learned pretty quickly not to gut the stuff.

        3. When I was in college Ephedrine was easily available at any drugstore, you just had to ask for it because it was kept behind the counter. Those little pink capsules got me through a few finals week all-night cram sessions, but I never liked the other side-effects; crank bugs crawling around under the skin is unsettling to me. Also, are there really people who like the taste of Red Bull?

  8. Youngstown State is hiring a new president: it's their erstwhile football coach, Jim Tressel. President Cheaty McSweatervest!

    Spoiler SelectShow

  9. Wild Playoff Watch: Matt Cooke Returns Edition

    Game 4 - 8:45 Central, tonight! (NBCSN) I think the Rangers and Penguins have played their entire series since the last time the Wild hit the ice.

    I will just point out that scoring the first goal worked out really well for Minnesota in Game 3, and I think they should do that again. One more home win and this series gets really interesting.

    2. I think not letting Chicago score their own first goal was also an excellent strategy that should similarly be tried once more.

    3. Cheering for the Pens as well. If that series raps up, game five won't have to be the second half of a doubleheader.

    4. From Russo:

      Defenseman Ryan Suter, the NHL’s time-on-ice leader the past two seasons, practiced and showed no lingering effects of an arm injury from Tuesday’s Game 3. Left wing Matt Moulson, however, didn’t practice and will miss at least Game 4 with a lower-body injury that coach Mike Yeo said the veteran has been battling through for a while.

      It may explain why Moulson, acquired to add goal-scoring pop in the playoffs, has been so ineffective this series (one assist) and has only one goal in 10 playoff games.

      Left wing Matt Cooke will return from a seven-game suspension for kneeing Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie in the first round and replace Moulson on the third line with rookies Erik Haula and Justin Fontaine.

      So, Moulson's being replaced by Cooke, but not for the reasons I expected...well, sort-of.

    5. Its nice that these two Central time zone teams get that sweet Central time zone start times.

      1. For a year and a half I drank all the Full Throttles in the world before going cold turkey. I haven't had one now in six years.

        1. ...untrue. I had a single Monster at an all-night inventory count at work last year. I wondered what all my previous fuss had been about.

            1. Actually, when I worked at the now demolished 50th and France Amoco, I'd heard urban legends about the guy that filled a Tupperware container with about $0.50 of gas, mixed it with water, and drank it. I didn't believe it until I saw (and smelled) him for myself.

              A buncha weirdos came through that place.

    2. I tried Jolt Cola back when I had a third shift in the radar lab back in the late 80's. I might have had my eyes open, but I don't think I would categorize myself as awake.

  12. So, yeah, Miami Dolphins lineman Mike Pouncey tweeted this last night:

  13. I just saw Judge Purple People Eater. No word on his opinion of Viking draft.

      1. Okay, my favorite story regarding Alan Page. Back in the old days when I was an engineer (I'm going to say this was in 2000), we had a young kid who was a self-proclaimed huge Vikings fan. Every time the Vikings lost a game, he'd wear some Vikings paraphernalia. After the 1999 Championship Game, he wore the Helga braids.

        Back then, there was an article in Sports Illustrated about Page and it made the point that he was born between the dropping of the two Atomic Bombs in WWII. I was talking about this article one day and I mentioned that Page was born between the two bombs and he looked at me and said, with a straight face, "Who's Alan Page?"

        Who is Alan Page. Who. Is. Alan. Page.

        I just didn't know what to say for a while. I just smiled and said, "He's arguably the greatest player in the history of the franchise."

        "Oh."

        1. What's really sad is that there is someone out there who will enevitably say that about Kirby Puckett.

        2. still one of my favorite Vikings stories, boss. I shake my head every time.

          However, I do need to check myself occasionally. Alan Page's last game with the Vikings was in 1978, which was roughly 22 years before the events in the story. The kid was, what, mid-20s? So he probably never saw Page with the Vikings.

          When I was a school teacher, I used to use Tip O'Neill's autobiographical book, Man of the House as a supplementary reading in my Intro to American Govt course. Until I realized at some point in the early '00s that my students hadn't even been born when O'Neill retired from the House of Representatives (1987).

          1. Yeah. Well, if you were a big time fan, you'd think you'd have heard of a dude who was a league MVP and HOFer.

            But yes. I am so old that kids have been making me feel old for a decade and a half.

            1. Having never watched either of them play, I would think Page ~ Killebrew. I find it hard to comprehend a huge Twins fan not knowing Killebrew. Maybe Alan Page is too generic of a name for immediate recognition?

  14. Welp, I'm doing a terrible job focusing on my brass tacks. I think I need to logout of this site and others and stay away for the whole weekend.
    See y'all sometime next week.

          1. I feel adding anything more would be tacky, so I'll show myself out.

            *steps out into street*

            Taxi!

  15. I just got an email for MLB Premium for $57.49 for the rest of the year. It says it's for "free game of the day" users, so if that's you keep an eye out. Now to scrape up $57.49 by the 31st.

    1. A week ago I would have strongly considered that deal. After the last couple of Twins games and the roster "management" going on, I'm finding that hard to get excited for.

      1. Maybe by the 31st things have turned around to the point the deal is enticing again.

        1. Well I just saw the lineup for today's game and it includes three actual outfielders (of varying skill, but still.) So a step in the right direction!

            1. Kubel in LF, Hicks in CF and Parmelee in RF is probably better than Willingham, Hicks and Arcia on Opening Day. The only better alignments the Twins have had is maybe when Hicks was in the OF with Fuld or Mastroianni.

  17. Well, hey, time to call off the dogs.

    Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling reportedly claims he made his now-infamous racist comments to his personal assistant V. Stiviano because he was jealous that she was being courted by black men.

    “The girl is black. I like her," Sterling said in an audio recording, which was obtained by Radar Online and published Friday. "I’m jealous that she’s with other black guys. I want her. So what the hell. Can I in private tell her, ‘I don’t want you to be with anybody?’ Am I a person? Do I have freedom of speech?”

    'BS Meter is pegged' SelectShow

    1. so, she IS his "funny bunny," "silly rabbit" even if he doesn't call her that?

  19. Donde, está, la biblioteca. Me llamo T-Bone La araña discoteca. Discoteca, muñeca, La biblioteca Está en bigotes grandes, el perro, manteca. Manteca, bigotes, gigante, pequeño, la cabeza es nieve, cerveza es bueno. Buenos dias, me gusta papas frías, los bigotes de la cabra Es Cameron Diaz.

    Yea boi. Boi. Yea. What. It’s 2009. Word

    From the 2nd episode, still one of my favorite closers.

  20. Nietzsche, aka Xavier Bryan, was born at 11:49 a.m., at a length of 20.5" and weighing 18 lbs 15 oz. Mother and baby are both doing beautifully.

    1. No hockey game at the hospital. Saw part of Twins though. My son approved.

  24. It was a long, ugly week, filled with managering. I beat a teail to HR and wrote a pair of "counseling memos" on one employee, plumultiple emails and conversations. I can't wait for this to escalate next week. This is why I make the big bucks. And why ordinary citizens dislike the civil service so often.

      1. "Beat a teil" might be better known as "beat a trail" and "plumultiple" as "plus multiple"

  26. Class A Fort Myers center fielder Byron Buxton was removed from Friday’s lineup during batting practice after complaining of a sore left wrist.

    “We gave him the day off,” Twins farm director Brad Steil wrote in a text message.

    Again, why can't we have nice things? Why?

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