277 thoughts on “December 15, 2016: So there’s an eight forty-nine AM now?”

  1. I've been getting to work later and later recently. While I realize in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal, getting a 3.5-year-old out of the house in the morning is making me crazy. And it doesn't seem to matter what time he wakes up--he takes for flippin' ever regardless.

    1. Kernel's five and we have the exact. same. problem. And as you say, in the grand scheme of things, not really a big deal ... doesn't make the 'getting out of the house' business any easier. Especially with the holiday work demands for my wife (7:00 a.m. meetings at HQ!? - ugh), one parent tackling the morning ready-getting of a toddler & a kindergartner ain't a walk in the park.

      1. The beginning of the school year was easier getting the trinket out of bed, but lately she has really, really not been wanting to get out of bed. I have to sit with her on the couch for a couple minutes to get her to stop crying and eat breakfast. The bauble is a little easier since he, at least, doesn't scream about it. Takes him forever to get in the mood to eat breakfast, though.

        On a side note, we are soooo close to never having to buy diapers again. I'm pretty excited about that.

      2. Aquinas has chores* in the morning that I have to remind him every day to do. He is entirely slow and unfocused every single day, and we end up missing the bus at least 1/3rd of the time. Not a big deal since the school is just a mile away, but since Philosofette leaves around 7 every morning I'm the only one on duty between that time and when the bus comes at 7:50. T/TH are better since Aristotle goes to preschool with Philosofette, but that'll change next year when she's in Kindergarten. Neitzsche is about 50/50 for good mornings where he eats breakfast/plays/watches PBS without issue, and those where everything is an issue. Heidegger is usually pretty happy, and I've found I can usually put off giving her a bottle until after the bus comes. I try to get myself and the daycare kids out by 8:30, but most days it's 8:50.

        I'd say we have a routine, but that it consists of "From 7 - 8:50: Kids take turns getting off task until Dad is sufficiently harried, then we pile into the van, forgetting some critical item for the day."

        My first coffee at work every morning is much appreciated.

        *For now it's just giving feed to one group of cattle and takes about 5 minutes.

        1. I put a Pepper packet on top, clearly marking it for you.
          It was wrapped crudely in parchment paper. It might have blown off, or someone might have put it in the receptacle.
          I left it there around 8:10, so I hoped there wasn't much a window for such disruption. I'll try again tomorrow.

          1. Eeep, I'm taking tomorrow off. Monday's all good, though. (And that's a day when I don't have to get any children out of the house--just my own self.)

            1. I didn't check, so someone got a cookie this morning.
              I'll save one, but I've afraid of it getting stale.

    3. My kids have been shockingly well behaved and helpful in the mornings lately. I'm pretty much always the only one getting them up and ready, and the last week or two they've both been ready to go early. Not sure why, and I don't think I've been doing anything differently, but I'm sure not complaining.

      As a trade off, they've been much more of a problem in the evening. Apparently, the almost three year old stuffed a towel in the drain and flooded the bathroom sink last night. Oy.

      2. had an 8:15, off-site meeting this morning and had to drop The Girl off at the airport on the way, as she's going to LaLa to visit The Boy. Amazingly, she was ready to go by 7:30, which was my declared departure time.

  2. One of my old roommate's good friends asked this on the Book of Face yesterday, and I was amused by the answers people provided:

    What is your favorite controversial, non-political opinion that you hold?

    Here's mine: Salads and baked goods (cakes, bread, etc.) should never contain fruits or nuts.

    3. My life has been positively impacted by avoiding Star Wars. Citizen Kane is not the greatest movie of all time. The Rolling Stones is the greatest band of all time.

      All this ground has been plowed.

    4. Chocolate and mint should never go together. Coffee and beer are just terrible. Rear Window bored me.

            1. I read that as coffee+beer, which is conditionally wrong (and, conditionally right, e.g., coffee stout). But as separate consumables? W.T.F.???!!!! God's gifts.

          1. Yeah. I can't find much technical
            fault with it. Perhaps I'm a victim of my era. I just found it predictable with low tension.

            1. If I would have picked something for you I'd would state that Beau doesn't think that the following Beatles songs aren't even their top 160 best songs:

              Rain
              Tomorrow Never Knows
              She Loves You
              I Want to Hold Your Hand
              Sgt Peppers Lonely Hear Club Band

      1. True
        EAR turned me against it when we were still new highschool sweethearts.
        We met in Willmar (about halfway) on a Saturday in December and went to evening mass among other things. The cantor sung that song at one point.

        1. Heh, nice.

          That said, I tend to avoid rye whiskeys since I found out most of them are made in the same mega-distillery in Indiana. (Tempelton Rye can go right to hell.)

      2. I probably agree in either case, but is that for a Wisconsin-style old fashioned, or traditional (aka real....) old fashioned?

        1. That's why it's regional specific. You ask anyone down here what a traditional old fashioned is and you'll get brandy and it isn't recommended to say otherwise.

                  1. I meet folks from all over the world at my job (which happens to be in the heart of the French quarter), and almost universally they comment on the amount of booze consumed in the big easy. People from Wisco don't seem to be phased.

                    1. Seriously. I was attending a funeral and staying at a hotel in Appleton. 3 different families (unconnected to us or each other) were set up in the lobby hanging out, and each of them had a frickin' bar at their table. We're talking like 5-10 bottles each plus beer.

                      That reminds me, I missed Oktoberfest in La Crosse this year...

                    2. Awww man, you just reminded me that we were planning on doing the Appleton Men's Spiel but didn't register in time.

              2. There are at least four major variations, although Sweet and Sour (in that order) are the most common. I don't think there's any more ground to say a Brandy Old Fashioned is not an Old Fashioned unless we're prepared to throw vodka out of all martinis and bourbon out of most whiskey cocktails not originating in the American South.

                1. I didn't really mean this to be denigrating to the Wisconsin-style, more that I'd say it's just a different drink that is deserving of its own name. If it were just a matter of changing out the main liquor, then sure, call it a brandy old fashioned, the same way you'd say vodka martini. But, if you change the liquor, AND add in soda/Sprite, AND add muddled fruit, that seems different enough to count as something else completely.

                  Similar issue: if I order an old fashioned at a donut shop, I'm expecting what is often also called a sour cream donut. But, when I lived in Georgia, an old fashioned was a plain, regular cake donut. That was a disappointing discovery.

    8. My three: Emoji detract from communication more than they add. The greatest musical (movie or otherwise) of all time is The Blues Brothers. New York City does not belong on any list of the ten best skylines in the United States.

        1. 'Better American Skylines than NYC' SelectShow

          New York City has a few iconic structures (Empire State & Chrysler buildings, WTC, various bridges) and a lot of really drab, characterless filler. It's simultaneously full and unbalanced. It doesn't help that it doesn't have much going on in the topography department outside the river/estuary situation, while cities like Las Vegas, Honolulu, and Denver can make up some ground with the natural landcape's additions to their skylines.

              1. I would think the view looking toward downtown from 35W around 16A and the far side of the river would still be pretty good. Probably not so much around S Washington and the closer parts of Hiawatha?

              1. That's saying something being from the East St. Louis angle. Photo almost looks altered/highlighted, though.

              1. I've got no problem being a homer and saying that the drive up to downtown along John Nolen is quite lovely.

            1. Ooo, that reminds me of another one: soup is highly overrated. I can barely think of a single soup I'd take over a salad (nuts are okay, no fruit).

              1. Fun fact: when Noah Webster was creating American spellings for his dictionary (e.g. dropping the "u" from "colour"), he wanted to change "soup" to "soop."

                  1. You don't get to define away a soup as Not A Soup just because it's got stuff in it.

                    I mean, what's the difference between Pho or ramen and chicken noodle soup, conceptually? All are noodles+stuff and broth.

                    You are on, ahem, more solid grounds talking about risotto.

                    1. Well, I guess those skew into "main course" territory for me, so I'm going by that definition. I'm fan of both of those though, so if you'd like, I guess you could say I'm a soup fan then.

    10. Movies directed by Clint Eastwood are terrible, but could have been great if the last 20 minutes of beating the audience over the head with the point of the movie was cut.

      2. Bloom County is sometimes funny. Is it still in newspapers?
        I would imagine we could do this all day with any number of strips.

        1. There are new strips made available electronically. I don't think it's published in newspapers.

          Yes we could do this all day with comics.

    13. I trot this one out every four years (or every 2, now that the Winter Olympics are off-cycle with the Summer Olympics):

      Sports are athletic competitions that involve objective scoring. Athletic competitions that lack objective scoring are not sports.

      2. I assume elapsed times and height/distance qualify as scoring, even if they're not points-based? If so, I can probably go along with this one.

        1. Boxing is an edge case, I suppose, since a knock-out is pretty objective. But judging, in general, is a strong indication of Not A Sport.

          curling: sport. gymnastics, diving, all the trick-skiing stuff, snowboarding, etc., not sports.

          1. Agreed. They're arts, and there's nothing wrong with being an art. It's amazing how I can say gymnastics isn't a sport and be vilified because it's assumed I'm saying this as a criticism.

            1. I think that goes along with an assumption that since you're male, you only will like something if it qualifies as a sport. It's still a competition, much like marching band competition or the many farming-related competitions at county and state fairs. In many ways, judged competitions are more stressful than playing a sport. You often feel you have to be perfect or stand out so much above the rest as to make it easy for the judges to pick you as the best and you rarely have an idea of how you have done until results are announced.

    14. Most of the big classic rock artists from the 70s are awful.

      Diet Dr. Pepper isn't actually that good of a diet soda.

      "The Takeover" is a far more savage diss track than "Ether."

      The South is better than East or West coast rap.

      Arrested Development isn't actually all that good.

          1. The third season is a flaming pile of trash. I didn't even bother with the 4th. 1st & 2nd are alright, I guess, but I have no desire to ever watch them again.

          2. Actually, the 3rd season is amazing for the first half, and then kinda sucks for the second half, but is still better than whatever else was on TV at the time.

                    3. Oh come on. Family Fued jumped the shark when they featured The Hatfields vs. The Montagues.

                      Still haven't seen those other two. Still love LOST.

      3. Most of the big classic rock artists from the 70s are awful.

        Okay, I'll add one: If you add up all the former Beatles' solo efforts, they can't top either Electric Light Orchestra's catalog or Jeff Lynne's non-ELO production work.

        2. Oh man, my Beatles opinion would probably have made heads explode. (or no one would have paid any attention like on FMD's).

            2. Come at me!

              I laughed pretty hard.

              I was once nearly in a bar fight because I held firm in my opinion that if Lennon had lived longer he would have fronted an even shitter band than wings. Lots of folks seem to like wings... I just don't get it.

              3. Wings and ELO have a lot in common; while ELO had much better production and instrumentation/harmonies, they both had good songwriting. (for every Silly Love Songs there's a Horace Wimp)
                SEND HIM!!

                1. When I took the History of Rock N Roll class in college, the instructor asked when Paul McCartney wrote silly love songs. Answer: from 1972 to 1979.

                2. To connect this with Philos' comment about tattoos, in spite of my professions in this thread, I may have a Wings song title/lyric tattooed on my person.

      4. Arrested Development isn't actually all that good.
        Maybe not anymore, but this is a pretty fantastic run of singles: "Tennessee", "People Everyday", and "Mr. Wendal"

        1. My wife was also a cheerleader and she would like it if my daughter did it as well. I do not agree with her.

          1. I would find it difficult to refrain from torpedoing ambitions of cheerleadership. Or at least not doggedly encouraging alternate activities.

              1. Not worse in my mind. Not by a long shot.

                Dance = athletic endeavor, and therefore somewhat redeeming. Cheerleading = ???, not redeeming.

                1. Dance has plenty of redeeming qualities. But not necessarily in the context of taking place at halftime during because the crowd needs to watch teen girls in tight clothing in order to be entertained at a sporting event.

                  Also, cheerleading does include athleticism. I have my issues with it, but that's not one of them.

                  1. I guess as I remember it in high school... our danceline was impressive athletically, and performed in their own right, not just at half time (indeed, did quite well in state competitions, if I recall correctly), and our cheerleaders just stood there moving pompoms with their arms.

      3. I've actively discouraged it. The neighbors down the street have their daughter participate in some Vikings related cheerleading events. Our daughter does. not. do. that. But, they say, you get to go to a game and perform at halftime! As if that would be an incentive for me.

    16. Mitch Hedberg's words were much funnier than Mitch Hedberg himself.

      Music may have "peaked" in the 60's and 70's, but the worship of it bores me.

      Tomatoes are disgusting unless made into sauce or ketchup...which is a sauce.

      1. I've been slowly trying to get more into tomatoes. Sauces are fine (ketchup is pointless though*), but raw tomatoes aren't that appealing to me.

        *Hmm, I guess that's my hot take so far.

        1. It has taken me quite a bit of work, but I like tomatoes in* things now, not just sauces.

          *But they can overwhelm, so I like them in limited form in things.

        2. Agree on the pointlessness of ketchup. Also, it's served on top of meatloaf, which a thoroughly horrible concoction.

        3. I would never eat a raw tomato of the type you would find in a grocery store. Now, off the vine in the summer time? That's heaven.

      3. ┳┻|
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        ┳┻| _
        ┻┳| •.•) Music from the '90s and the '00s
        ┳┻|⊂ﾉ is better than the '60s and '70s
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      5. Agree on Hedberg. I can read his lines and laugh repeatedly, but I can't sit and watch him do it for any significant length of time.

        Tomatoes are amazing, though, in all its forms.

    17. Gwen Stefani should never have left No Doubt. I don't even know if she left, or if they disbanded, or what. No matter...huge mistake.

      1. Would you say that use of the word cockles gets your hackles up, or does your dander get into a lather whilst they blather to no end?

    19. So, this was fun. I'm shocked, SHOCKED, at how many people here have a disdain for coffee. Jesus wept. Now, get off my lawn.

    20. I gotta say, reviewing today's conversation was both illuminating and hilarious. I'm not sure how many of these controversial opinions are strongly held beliefs by you people, but I am sorely disappointed to have missed the active portion of the discourse. (What bS said about state workers is a good take ... well, it was for me today anyway).

      I like:
      sunflower seeds in a salad
      Star Wars
      Beer (a lot)
      Coffee (a lot)
      Thin mints
      Tomatoes (sauces, soup, fresh, what-have-you)
      The Beatles & The Stones
      Tattoos (of all kinds ... except maybe those with words in a language/alphabet the wearer doesn't speak/read/write or otherwise have a cultural, racial or familial connection to. That kinda bugs me)
      Old Fashioneds (Bucky-style, traditional, what-have-you)
      Soup
      Salad
      Clint Eastwood movies
      Mashed potatoes
      Golf
      Arrested Development (Southern Rap ... I've never seen an episode of the show)
      Wings & ELO
      Dance
      All mustards
      Mayo

      ... I don't know anyone who actually says "cockles" or "whilst," but if I did, it would probably annoy the shit outta me.

      1. Reading your reactions to the conversation in list form is thoroughly amusing. Thank you for that.

        1. Eh. They're certainly not for me, but who am I to judge the content, let alone location? None of mine are visible (even in a t-shirt) because I'm conscious of the importance of a traditional 'professional appearance' when interacting with Legislators, older veterans, counterparts in other state agencies and in the Governor's office, etc.

          It's without question that a poorly considered tattoo can be ragrettable, but I have enough other things of my own to get worked up about.

  3. So, yesterday, I discussed a snafu with my flight reservation. I was supposed to fly out at 5 AM this AM and I had to pay $200 to change to 5PM.

    I went to check in this morning and...

    NO FLIGHT.

    It turns out that the change was made to 5PM yesterday.

    HOLY CRAP.

    I called delta to change the reservation again. They (their automated system) said, hey, you are in line, we'll call you back if you want instead of waiting. I've done this before, it's neat. They call you back when your spot is next. A nice, modern convenience. But, uh, the wait time announced as MORE THAN TWO HOURS. I put my name in the queue and then I hung up and called back to "make a new reservation".

    WAIT TIME: 30 SECONDS

    I talked to the representative, a nice woman, who confirmed that the flight was re-booked for yesterday and that the BOOKING WAS MADE AT THE B-TOWN AIRPORT COUNTER. I said, no, I made this reservation change at my desk. She said, no, we can see that the booking was made at the counter. I said, I don't care what you can see, I made the reservation sitting right where I am sitting right now.

    Anywho, they did rebook for no additional fees. I'm pretty sure that I didn't make this mistake and that the folks at the B-TOWN airport did, in fact, rebook my flight incorrectly. Oy vey.

    GET ME OUT OF HERE (at 5PM today).

  4. R. I. P. Bernard Fox, who was Colonel Crittendon on Hogan's Heroes, Dr. Bombay on Bewitched, and played numerous other roles, as well--you couldn't watch TV in the sixties for very long without seeing him. He was eighty-nine.

      1. It's the OC Register. What would you expect them to call him? If it was a non-California paper, I would definitely be upset with them calling him that, but the OC Register certainly needs to relate stories to their readers.

            1. Were we not discussing the headline? That's like referring to "former submariner Jimmy Carter" in a headline.

              2. You may not like it, but this is common practice to emphasize local ties with athletes. L.A. Times did the same thing. The Riverside Press-Enterprise used "Angels Hall of Famer Rod Carew" which I think is worse because it sounds like he went into the Hall as an Angel, so is misleading, even though it could be a reference to him in the team's Hall of Fame. And it's not like he's only loosely tied to the team. He played 7 seasons with them and was a 6-time All-Star and had his number retired by the Angels.

                1. Common practice does not make it good practice. Jim Fregosi is a former Angels great who was a 6-time All Star in California and who has had his number retired by the Angels. He was Carew's manager in California. He's from Orange County.

                  Rod Carew's a Hall of Famer. In fact, he was a Hall of Fame caliber player before he ever put on an Angels uniform.

                    1. maybe an imagined memory, but I thought I recalled that part of why he wanted to go to the Angels was this connection.

                      anyway, I was appalled* to see the HOF describe him as "primarily" a first baseman. Jiminy. He made his reputation as a 2b and had only 54 fewer career appearances at 2b than at 1b. "Primarily" seems inappropriate.

                      *ok, not appalled.

    1. I'm excited to read that book. Barry Ritholtz just interviewed Lewis on his podcast. No mention of Lewis being married to Tabitha Soren. Ritholtz obviously was not a teenager in tge MTV News days.

  7. I got to work about 6:55 this morning in order to give a 7:30 am final. I know for many that may not be all that early, but depending on the day of the week, that's somewhere between 2-4.5 hours earlier than I normally get here. Plus, I finished giving another test at 10 pm last night, so this has been a rough morning.

    1. Dr. chop taught an 8 am this semester, and will never do it again. Her routine is to prep before class to be fresh with the material, but that weren't happing this semester. (Selfishly, I get to sleep in a little later next semester too).

      1. Yeah, I don't do 8 am classes.

        This class normally starts at 9:45, but our final exam schedule means that 9:45 classes for some reason have to take their exam more than two hours earlier than the usual class time. I feel much worse for the students (including one who was also in my exam until 10 pm last night....). I just have to sit there, they have to actually think.

          1. I have never understood why final times get shifted around so much. Is it just a question of needing more time/space to do it? Why not try to keep class time/test start times as close to the same as possible?

            1. They need to move around a little for us because the time you get for the final (2.5 hours) is different from the normal class length (1:20 for a twice-a-week lecture). And to be fair, most classes at my school end up with final exam times that pretty close to the normal class time, and it's really just those 9:45 am classes that end up changing by much.

              1. It seems to me like moving to earlier times is... a huge issue. At least, it would have been for me. Late tests > early tests.

                1. Plus, if a student has arranged the rest of their life (work, childcare, etc.) to get to class at a certain time of day, then has to shift for the most day of class that has the biggest effect on their letter grade? Again, it's crappy for me giving the test, but way, way worse for them.

            2. The deeper I get into academic administration, the more I avoid anything having to do with the timetable.

    2. 'Spoiler' SelectShow
      1. Bloody Maria SelectShow

          1. I can't believe that nobody in the thread noticed or noted that it was on the rocks. Who the hell does that to a martini?

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