Hello, folks.
How are you doing? I understand that there's a fundraiser going on. This is a humble little site, but even humble little sites need $$$ to keep on keeping on. Hungryjoe asked that I say a few words about this. Open up your wallets, folks and shake out a few nickels.
I've been away for a while. In fact, I'd been gone so long that at first that I'd forgotten my login password. Then I remembered: THEWARRIORSBLEWA3-1LEADINTHENBAFINALS (all caps).
The reason I took a hiatus was that someone suggested, when I wished everyone a Happy 2016 on New Years Eve and announced that I'd be off the grid for a week that my being off the grid would make 2016 a truly Happy New Year. This is exactly the type of care and concern that I tried to foster at the site over the years, so I stayed off the grid in the hopes of everyone having a Happy New Year.
Turns out, though, that it's nearly unanimous that 2016 has been, all things considered, pretty crappy. Is it because I haven't been around? Well you can decide that. I thought about swooping in before the election and announcing that I was back to save us all from Trump. I didn't do that, of course, and now we have the most deplorable person to ever hold the office ready to disgrace our country. I'm not sure, but I think that this is the first time in the history of our country that a President-Elect settled a fraud case for $25 million and then headed to twitter to brag that the settlement was a fraction of the potential damage award. Oh. Mr. President-Elect, did you defraud those people of $50 million? $100 million? Or more? Did I say all this out loud? I can say that out loud and not break the politics ban because, well, I'm not talking about politics. Remember when red trucker hats used to be cool?
Personally, I've been doing pretty well, thanks for asking. My little baby girl is now 9 1/2 years old. Some of you may remember that I asked ubelmann to write for the site when she was born because I could no longer write every day with her around. She's now over five feet tall and headed to six feet, I think. (If only she'd pick up a basketball. She does willingly watch basketball with me, but play? Not a chance.) She's skating almost every day and working on her Axel. She plays piano very well for the amount of time she's been playing. I tell her every day, pretty much, that she's got more talent there than I did and that she can really be a good pianist. In other words, I have to motivate her to practice. I used to have to motivate her to skate, but she's doing pretty well there now and doesn't need my motivation.
I'm still working out of state a lot, but not as much as I used to. Plus, I do fly there now, so I've gone from driving about 35,000 miles a year to under 10,000. That makes life a lot… easier. I do spend a fair amount of time away from my family and sometimes that gets to be lonely, but I'm used to it and my time home has gone up quite a bit. Still though, when make that monthly trek, there are days. I've been doing this commute now for almost 6 1/2 years.
In January, we'll be heading out for our fourth Disney cruise. I consider this to be my one real indulgence. Miss SBG and I really love it. Lucy likes it. I can't wait to get on the boat, unplug, and enjoy a week of escaping from all that concerns me.
I'm so old that I remember when we had a banner at the site referring to the Twins saying, "Is It 2014 Yet?" That 2016 campaign was one for the ages. 2016 was necessary. The Twins needed to clean house a long, long time ago. One thing this long period of craptacular baseball has done for me is uncouple me from watching. I gotta go to the rink and watch Miss SBG twirl and jump -- I ain't got no time for watching Ricky Nolasco or some other stiff give the other club 6 runs in the first three innings. I've been a fan for over 40 years, but I'm more of a fair weather fan now. If they win, great. If they lose, I'm outta here. Good job, Twins, you've started to chip away at your most ardent supporters.
One club that never seems to fall on hard times will be gunning for their sixth consecutive FCS Title, entering the playoffs as the number 1 seed. I'm a little less than completely confident that they'll get that sixth one, but even if they don't, man, what a run. In this, what is no doubt the weakest of the six teams, they've gone 10-1 and beat a middle of the pack B1G team. Plus, they are extremely young… very few seniors and they didn't pull a single redshirt. So, all's good there.
Speaking of all being good, how about LeBron? Turns out he's a once in a generation player who carried his club to almost unimaginable heights. Turns out he's pretty woke, too. Heard the Warriors had a pretty good season though, congrats on the 73 wins. To lose a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals after setting the all-time regular season win record… That's a… that's a real kick in the nuts.
Blah, blah, blah. I'm still the same old guy. It's just that my favorite sport is figure skating now.
Back to the fund raiser. This site and its previous incarnations have meant a lot to me and I'm reasonably sure to a lot of you, too. I can think of a lot worse ways to spend your hard earned dough than to kick a few bucks toward the maintenance of this site. For example, paying to watch Ricky Nolasco stink out the joint (I'm aware he was traded… and promptly started pitching better). Money is a resource and a fairly scarce one for most of us. That's why we shouldn't waste it. A dollar a month or two dollars a month to support a site where you can talk about just about anything is a fine allocation of resources. Please keep the site going. Thanks. And remember, the Warriors (best team, evah!!!!11!!eleventy!!!!) blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
Boss, thanks for the updates. I still remember the first time I stumbled onto the old basement. I'm glad to hear that things are progressing, and I can't believe how old your kid-o is.... wow, time flies.
Remember the peach background color the old basement sported for a time? Uffda.
I kinda liked it...
It was supposed to be sepia.
half-bakef!
Hey, I feel shortchanged – no mousal update or catblogging? Is this really The Boss?
For obvious reasons, 2016 will always be a special year in my book. I know I'm in the minority. Seems like time has flown since Miss SNG came on the scene. I'm not ready to entertain the idea it fill fly just as quickly for the Poissonnier.
Missed ya, Stick.
The cats are now 13, 12, and 11. Two of them, Jags and Theo, have aged gracefully. One, Ellie, has not. She's a real problem. Jags gets sick and sometimes pukes, but her periodic hazardous waste deposits are much less, um, accidental.
Still get mice, but the hillbilly mousetrap is a real killer.
I tried to hit most of my pet topics in the post, but I missed a couple.
Blue, our cat, turned 15 this year, and has decided that she can shit where she eats. Various behavioral tricks have helped, but she's also just getting old. I feel you on the hazardous waste deposits.
This – and, eventually, urine – was what our oldest was up to. He was 13, and to be honest never the most mentally stable of cats. The pooping was behavior, the urine a medical issue. Both were...difficult...to handle gracefully.
Half-baked!
Glad to know you're above league average on the cats. I definitely rememberreading about Jags – and Theo? (Middle kitty, if memory serves?) We recently said goodbye to our oldest, who had developed a large abdominal mass that was causing some difficult-to-endure behaviors. (Senility was also in play). When you've got cat problems, you've got problems.
I'm going to have to look into that hillbilly mousetrap. We finally got our first mouse in this house this weekend.
Not enough Moss ribbing.
I think that ranting about Trump counts as that. Also, his playing Rolling Stones songs at his rallies -- after they asked him not to -- was particularly galling to me.
That choice still baffles me, regardless of the band's opinion.
Well, you can't always get what you want.
Welcome back.
Moss has no love for Trump, y'all. The whole thing was a complete disgrace. As far as Moss is concerned, whoever won was just going to be keeping a seat warm for four years.
Welcome back, Boss. Moss just came around a couple days ago for the first time in ages too. Quite the coincidence...
See, it worked! Moss, did you get my e-mail? I'm going to be unavailable for a while.
Yep, let's meet up when you can. The Moss family are out of country from 12/12 to 1/5 though, so either before or after that. Cheers guv!
Goddamnit! NO FORBIDDEN ZONE TALK!
Also, good to see you around the Basement. Now, would you like to squeeze more lemon juice on my paper cut?
I don't know what you are talking about. Seriously, though, I just about lost my mind when he blocked that shot. That was Kirby's game 6 HR level chills. And like with the Kirby HR, things weren't settled yet.
I love that there's a whole WIkipedia article on that.
Stick!!!
Was hoping to hear some-at on SBGville. What the heck is going on there? Fracking?
Glad to hear life is going well for you for the most part. Best wishes always.
Did you see the shout out to you in the tags on this post?
No, I didn't. Thanks for including it and for point it out. Because, of course, presidents come and go, the Twins go up and down, time passes by, but bears are always cool.
Jeff A likes this.
This bear's buddy
Thanks for the update, Stick. Good to hear from you!
To lose a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals after setting the all-time regular season win record...
Don't forget that the first ever unanimous MVP was on that 73 win club that blew a 3-1 lead!
You know what else was unanimous? LBJ's Finals MVP. Come to think of it, he should have won two straight Finals MVPs, but he was blocked from that by Andre Iguodala. And then, LBJ blocked Iguodala on the way to his MVP.
Even if this was only a one-off (I truly hope note) it was great to hear from you. Moar musings are always welcome ... even if I know nothing about figure skating.
Even if this was only a one-off (I truly hope note) it was great to hear from you. Moar musings are always welcome ... however, I know nothing about figure skating.
Duplicate comment detected; it looks as though you’ve already said that!
and typos to boot .... ahh well, too late now.
Nice to see you, Mr. SBG! I for one welcome more figure skating updates anytime you care to share them! 🙂