Cup of Coffee

November 14, 2017: Strange Feeling

45 Comments

I was driving home last night, and I thought, ooo! there's a Wolves game on tonight. Sweet!

Then I realized I was actually excited to watch it rather than just pop it in on the background. It's fun having a good team.

45 thoughts on “November 14, 2017: Strange Feeling”

  1. Once the Wolves get back into a normal time zone I'll be more excited to watch, so I missed last night's game. (Also, I was watching curling anyway. If you want to see embarassing production values, check out NBC's curling stream. They have a CGI desk for the "booth".) But checking the box score, I'd be even more excited to watch if Thibs would frickin #freeBjelica already.

  2. Yesterday I noticed that I was going to come up one leg short of remaining a Southwest A-lister next year. I ended up scheduling a cheap round trip on Dec. 2 that will take me to Wichita, KS and then back again (by way of Las Vegas), so I should be getting the majority of our Christmas cards written and sent that day. Got free airport parking and free in-flight drink coupons, so I should be set.

  3. I didn't get to see the game because of prior commitments. Well, I could have, but by the time I would've been able to see the end, I had forgotten about it.

    I may get out to the game next Wednesday with the Magic.

    1. I flipped the game on for a few minutes several times. I don't know what it is, but watching basketball just doesn't appeal to me quite as much as it used to. I will happily follow a good Timberwolves team, and watch bits of games, but I can't just sit down and watch the whole thing like I can for baseball or hockey. It's weird, right?

      1. To me? Yeah. Basketball works for me so well because it's such a visceral game. I can't explain it, but I even meet some emotional needs when the opposition goes on a 20-4 run and I'm losing my mind. It's an game of extremes - I remain a person who needs extremes...it's a happy marriage.

    2. Wait... so... Does this mean in a couple years Bill Smith will be sending their valuable prospects to other teams for relief pitchers?

  5. I'm loving the new banners.

    Seems an appropriate time to thank all who are constantly putting in behind the scenes work here. Thanks!

        1. I've culled most if not all of the obsolete ones. Some still have departed players, but they aren't necessarily "featured". I'm really loathe to take down that Mauer/Rubio one though.

  6. 'Update on Butch' SelectShow

    1. This isn't intended as a criticism, but it's easy to say you're "looking into" or "are interested in" or "are investigating" players. I'll get interested when they actually sign someone.

      1. Yes, but generally, in the history of the Twins, it's hard to remember a time when the Twins were even rumored to be going after top free agents that weren't their own players they were attempting to re-sign. I get what you're saying that rumors should always be taken with a grain of salt or whatever but in the past, the Twins have always been careful not to raise expectations about the possibility of the team going on a spending spree. It should also be noted the Twins are in a very good place financially.

  8. Cool family things...
    Have to brag where you can. My little sis was recognized as the #1 ROTC nursing cadet in the country. She's pretty Hooah for a nurse. Prizes for this sort of achievement...probably gets to live in Seattle/Tacoma instead of San Antonio or Fayetteville.

    Also, my son got suspended from middle school for whacking a kid with a badminton racket after he lost and they celebrated. That's...not cool.

    2. Not really related, but your LTE somehow reminded me of my morning. I ... uhm ... 'sternly' reprimanded some kid at my daughter's daycare today.

      FKB(?) alert...

      Context: My daughter is very sensitive & emotional ... like, look at her the wrong way (make a face she thinks is mocking or angry) and she's ready to cry; give her a hug and tell her how amazing she is and she's beaming. Lately, she's been concerned (is certain) that other kids don't like her or are laughing at her. It doesn't take much to break her heart.

      We were in the hallway at child care and I was checking her and Niblet into the computer system, when a snotty voice from her classroom (adjacent to the keypad, but out of my sightline) mockingly calls out to her, "What are you looking at!?! as she's standing there next to me. We couldn't have been at the door for more than 10 seconds at that point. She embarrassedly looks down and away - and I damn near lost my shit. I leaned into the doorway and stared this kid down (7-9 years old maybe? - it's a classroom for various school-aged children, before & after school care) and he sort-of nervously grins in surprise at me, then leans back and looks at his buddy and snickers. Says under his breath, but loud enough to hear, "what's he staring at?" I stand there long enough for it to be uncomfortable, and he just kept grinning at me. So ... I walk into the classroom and over to his table. I stop about 6 feet away, with the table and some other students (and a "teacher") between us, I tell him in my dad voice that it's not okay for him to talk to my daughter that way. Tell him that he better not do it again, either in front of me, or when I'm not there. He stops smiling and just holds his half-eaten toast partway to his mouth. I say if I hear about it from her that he treats her that way again, there will be consequences (I did not define what they might be - pretty sure there isn't anything I could actually 'do' about him being a jerk ... at that point I was working hard not to yell or swear at him). Then I had my daughter come into the classroom, and told him to apologize to her. He did. The two "teachers" and the rest of the classmates eating breakfast just sat there. I was so livid, that I just nodded at his apology and Kernel and I walked out to take Niblet down to his room.

      On the way back, her lead "teacher" met me in the hallway and asked if this was an issue that she hadn't been aware of. She seemed very concerned about it being bullying or somesuch. I said, "No," but informed her that my kid is sensitive and isn't very good about standing up for herself (quite the opposite, she shrinks and feels bad about herself). So, if there's someone being mean to her who's old enough to know better, and I'm standing right there, I'm going to call them out on it. I said that no more follow up was needed ... I just wouldn't put up with that kind of behavior.

      I'm hopeful it isn't an issue, but man, it was not something I was prepared to deal with. I just reacted to the tone of his voice, and his response to my stare only exacerbated things. I guess I was hoping he'd be embarrassed or something ... I don't know.

      1. In my head I'm seeing that video of the guy who starts knock-out slapping everyone in sight after something happened to his kid.

        Might be a good FKB discussion, but if our kids are out there among...people, we best prepare ourselves for the inevitability of these situations. For the record, my son is usually the super-sensitive one who is now recognizing that he's an outsider in middle school. Tough place to be. He's an easy target for someone who wants to provoke a little entertainment. Still not sure how we handle it.

            1. Sorry, that wasn't directly at you. I've put out the call for contributors several times recently with no response, and since then this was probably the 3rd of 4th time someone started a thread (usually acknowledging, "huh, this would probably make a good FKB") on a good topic.

              1. No worries...meant more to convey that I'm picking up what you're putting down. Look for my post tomorrow!

      2. Good for you. I know it's easy as a parent to not engage in these situations as we think we may embarrass our kids. I had 2 situations like you describe. One, a kid in the hockey locker room was making fun of my quiet /introverted son. I did get in his face about it not being the way to treat a teammate. I then went to the Dad and explained what happened and described how I handled it. 9 years later the Dads and the boys are good friends. A couple years after that incident a neighbor boy, bullied my son on the bus. We are good friends with his parents, and he is a year older than my son. I called their house and the boy in question answered. I told him that I heard about the bullying incident, and that I was greatly disappointed. I told him that I was giving him one "pass" when it comes to bullying. I told him I would not tell his Dad this time, but the next time he would not be happy with the ramifications. Never had another issue since. Families are great friends. My son was actually proud that I stood up for him both times, which surprised me. Shorty after these 2 incidents, he had a couple situations where he totally stood up and had his own "Christmas Story/Ralphie" moments. Both times, he intervened when a friend or teammate was bullied and fixed the problem. Proud papa moments. I once had a supervisor that told me that as managers, we had to approach conflict like firemen. Rush into the fire and put it out. Don't stand across the street and hope it rains.

  10. Voters were consistent since both MOY had their teams see big improvements in win totals this season after being big disappointments the year before. The difference was that Lovullo didn't manaage the Diamondbacks last year, but still, both teams could be said that they bounced back after having a disappointing season the year before so kind of hard to say if the managers really made that much difference or if the teams were just "regressing to the mean." Of course, a lot of Twins fans felt the Twins overachieved in Molitor's first season.

  12. I'm trying out Firefox Quantum. Much faster and cleaner, but I'm finding a lot of compatibility issues with legacy extensions and add-ons, including my VPN.

    1. They needed to do it, but there are going to be numerous extensions that get left behind and don't update. It will probably be a while for many still-developed extensions to update to the new system.

    2. After a day of using it, I really have no huge problems with it. One thing I would change is I would go back to the old way of using "Private Tab" (which allowed a tab to be "incognito" without opening a whole window) instead of the "Incognito Window" (which opens up a new window)

      1. I don't think that was possible before. I'm looking at the new tab options and the only way to get a private tab is with a new window. Maybe an extension that now no longer works with the new version.

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