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June 30, 2015: Tests

73 Comments

Today is the Milkmaid's birthday. Because of our impending vacation, she has insisted that I don't buy her anything this year. Her test is whether or not she can be okay with it if I don't. And, of course, so is mine.

73 thoughts on “June 30, 2015: Tests”

  3. My wife and I have a very different approach to gifts for birthday/Christmas, etc. We really don't buy anything for each other anymore. If there's something we want, we buy it ourselves and declare that it's our present for that occasion.
    So much easier.

    1. I don't want gifts for any occasion. My wish is that my wife and daughter be nice to me on my birthday. That is not the way it works in the reverse.

        1. I concur. Unfortunately, I rarely get my wish. (well, ok, they're mostly nice to me.) For my last birthday I had to tell my wife that the best gift she could get me was to not get me one.

      2. I'm much the same way. I don't want gifts, of course, this is motivated by me not wanting to give them either
        Gifts is definitely not my love language.

        1. I'm less big on birthday/anniversary gifts, but I love giving Christmas gifts. Finding the perfect gift is a lot of fun for me.

          1. I usually eschew gifts and my wife tends to gladly oblige because I get particular when I have something in mind.
            I am still waiting on my Father's Day Kraut Source, though. I sent the link. Twice.

                    1. Not yet. I have my second batch of kraut fermenting, and plan to do a batch of dill pickles soon.

                    2. all you need is a cabbage cutter and a big old crock to put the slaw in and you're all set.

          2. Right again. I hate "lists" because I love surprising people with something they never expected.

        2. I don't want gifts, of course, this is motivated by me not wanting to give them either

          I'm sorta on this boat. I would like to give people good, thoughtful gifts, but my income almost never allows. Then when/if someone gets me something nice, I feel like I can't reciprocate well enough. So I usually just ask that no one get me anything.

    2. When we purchase furniture, airline tickets for vacation, etc., it's usually accompanied by, "This is your birthday present." (or Father's Day, or fill in the blank), and we're more than happy with that.

      1. Heh. We are similar.

        I do enjoy getting presents -- I mean, who doesn't? -- but I'm usually just as happy with some family time and a dinner out or a Big, Fat Steak and a nice beer.

        1. bS, we're similar in that regard.
          Gift-giving days are kind-of a big deal in my house. My wife likes to celebrate, especially "her" days. She likes family time/nice dinner out too, but she really does like actual gifts as well.

          My birthday was in March and I finally got a combo birthday/Father's Day gift last week.

          1. I'm usually good at picking out gifts for my wife and kids (but not always in equal amounts for the kids). I'm not real good at getting gifts outside that small circle.

            I'm very bad at getting gifts, it turns out I'm very particular, and I must not communicate that well.
            Case in point: last year for Father's Day, I wanted a big bird-feeder hook to hang from the deck. Instead I got one that hangs from the side of a house and if attached where I wanted it, would a) let the Raccoons and Squirrels eat everything easily and b) not let me see any birds that would come to it. I'm sure my wife doesn't want to attach a feeder to the house. I was very specific with my wife this year and I got the hook I wanted! Now the hummingbird nectar isn't drained nightly!

      2. We went on a cruise in January, which at the time that we made the trip reservation, was intended to be 50th birthday gifts for wife and me and 10th wedding anniversary gifts (it is not a cheap vacation). Turns out that that was not remembered when said days came around. Heh.

      1. Whoa now, you wanna just completely decimate the AA team? They got a second half and a postseason to think about.

  5. I'm happy to announce that my commute has gone from an hour and 20+ minutes to 8 minutes. By foot.

    3. I'd be more than just "happy."
      Not to mention "Oops, I forgot my lunch at home. See you guys in an hour."

          1. They encourage it. Wait. That makes it sound like they don't want me around...

            Seriously though, this place is amazing, and accommodating of the way life happens. I can't believe how quickly (is 6 months of job searching quick?) things turned around for us. And how good a situation I ended up in. I knew things were very dark where I was previously, but until I got into the light of this employment, I didn't truly realize how very dark they were.

            1. It feels awesome when you go from a job you don't like to a job you really do like, doesn't it?

              1. Definitely! Speaking from fairly recent experience, Awesome is a great descriptor for how it feels, though I'd never claim my prior employment was "dark."

      2. She's really not like that. She told me again, today, that she didn't want or need anything since we're about to go on vacation. I did part of the cooking for her, and that was more than enough.

  7. I'm about to the point of broadening my job search parameters from "I want this job, I'll apply" to "I probably wouldn't get too depressed doing this job for up to six months."

      2. It's kind of interesting to see that Dozier does not rate particularly well on the defensive metrics, yet has ranked first in 2b assists each of the last three seasons and ranks highly on range factor as a 2b.

        I'd rather have Joe Panik (perhaps because I see Panik regularly on local cable and because he's 4 years younger), but Dozier has certainly proven to be pretty good.

        1. Well, when you play every day for a team that has had the fewest strikeouts the last three years, it's not hard to see how that player would get more chances than anyone. That would explain the most assists for sure and range factor is the total number of putouts and assists divided by innings. Also, Plouffe is in top 4 for third basemen in 3 of the past 4 seasons as well. Joe Mauer ranks high as well last year and this year in range factor.

    1. Pretty sure they're both wrong. (I haven't read the link.)
      Hoping Scioscia gets himself fired.

  11. Okay, enough about gift-giving; here's a peeve: why is it that I'm totally supposed to remember what meal Mrs. Runner always orders, and yet when she is picking up lunch and my cellphone doesn't show her calls (for some reason), she has no clue what I usually order and picks up something not really even close?

      1. Just be happy she's bringing you lunch. My wife generally grabs something for herself and Kernel, assuming I've already eaten!

    2. My theory on this is that the world revolves around her*.

      *Her being my wife, your wife, etc.

            1. I've held a job for most of the last 30 years. I'm pretty sure that any notion that the world revolves around me has been pounded out of me.

    3. To Philosofette's everlasting credit, she always screws up the order because she's trying really hard not to. There's always a logic to her approach. Usually a flawed logic, but, still... she can at least voice a thought process about it.

      Also, she doesn't complain at all about whatever I pick out for her. She is the least picky person I've ever met.

      1. Sheenie pretty much always gets the order correct (probably because we have pretty similar palettes, and so knows that as long as mayo isn't involved, I'll probably eat anything).

        1. The obvious response was:

          She is the least picky person I've ever met.

          Well, that explains why she married you...

          1. The Valet has recently discovered the art of getting food everywhere, so it clearly runs in the family

  12. As of 5:30. there has been no announcement that this game will be delayed. But the tarp is on the field and scattered showers are everywhere. We expect to be delayed at some point tonght. We just don't know when

    2. Yes, sorta. Our antenna is getting a really choppy signal tonight and I'm afraid to fiddle too much lest I make it worse.

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