24 thoughts on “February 11, 2019: Just The Worst”

  1. If I'm being totally honest, I'm loving the post gif, but I'm a little disappointed it's not a coffee cup he's tossing instead of the Grammy.

      1. Oh, I didn't even mean to suggest it was possible. Truth be told, I'm just usually so impressed by the ability to find relevant coffee-related images.

  2. My wife and I like watching the Grammys. I actually thought last night's show was the best in ages. Lots of good performances and I didn't hate a lot of the winners.

    1. Didn't watch (no CBS at our place) and by and large was fine with the winners with two strong exceptions: first, the target of this post (I mean come on), and second, though I'm largely ignorant on the nominees beyond these two, there's no way Kacey beats Janelle for AotY, so I'm not crazy about that either (and I love that album).

      1. I've heard enough about GvF to where I've avoided them entirely, and have yet to hear so much as a song of theirs.

        As far as Janelle vs. Kacey... I don't mind that much. Either of the two of them would've been my choice among those nominated. Monae's album was actually my least favorite of hers so far, but was still very good. I sort of missed Musgraves' album entirely last year, so it was actually nice to listen to it last week to see what I'd missed. While I wouldn't have gone so far as to call it the album of the year, it had a lot to like about it. It feels very summery, while never feeling slight. I'm not annoyed at all that it won, and actually, I'd say it's the best winner in the last few years.

        1. Yeah, I have much stronger feelings on the GvF part. I've heard just enough to be shocked at how derivative they are, but also by how bad they are at it. Also, not that I was all that impressed with other nominees, but it just seemed sad that they're saying this is the best rock album 2018 had to offer. Really hard for me to take anything else seriously after that.

    2. With all the great singers in the world, why should we even have autotune? Especially on a live performance.

      1. Autotune is an effect, just like reverb or chorus, so there is definitely a use for it, just not ALL THE TIME. If one were to use it like Godley & Creme used pitch shifting on "I Pity Inanimate Objects" or Imogen Heap used a vocoder on "Hide and Seek", it could be a cool thing.

        1. Right. The vocoder effect can be interesting in small doses.

          The autotune warbly sound effect is used as a framework to some of the newer rap songs, which (apologies to Zack) is one of the reasons that I really don't care for a lot of the newer styles of rap music that much. I just don't care for the effect.

  3. Truck Time with Twayn update: Friday morning my wife texted me that the blower motor on the van died when it was -13 degrees. I drove to Plymouth and swapped vehicles and took it to the shop. They diagnosed a bad resistor and motor and recommended replacing the resistor connector because it had overheated and cooked some insulation, it was hard and brittle a good inch up the wire. They quoted me $560 for the job. I thanked them and went home, called the auto parts store and got everything I needed for $130. I didn't get started on the actual work until Saturday afternoon because they had sent the wrong resistor and connector from the warehouse in the morning delivery. Replacing these blower motors on these Mopar minivans is a well known PITA job. After removing the glove box, you have to take off a side trim piece, pull back the carpet, and cut all the insulation out from around the blower motor housing, which it right up against the firewall in the back. There's a screw in the back of the housing that's hidden by the insulation. After you cut and dig and rasp and pull out enough to finally expose the screw, you have to use a flexible extension for your 8mm socket to get it out. I found that a nut driver handle worked much better than the ratchet wrench on those screws because it gives better control. I got to where I could feel the back screw and had to quit for the day because we had orchestra tickets. The next day I reamed out a bunch more of the insulation with a saw blade and got the last housing screw out. The motor mount was just three screws and it dropped out pretty easily after maneuvering the air diverter around a bit. Getting it back in wasn't so easy, especially since most of this job is done laying with your back on the car floor, your feet on the garage floor, and your head under the dash. Anyway, once the motor was in the rest was a can of corn. Replace housing (throw away that screw from the back because you're not going to bother putting it back in), replace resistor (two screws), replace air diverter actuator (2 screws) and splice in the new connector (3 wires). Yes, it was a pain in the butt job, but for $430 I can tolerate some temporary discomfort.

    1. You've reminded me that a colleague called me today to ask what thickness plex he should order to cover a large window. When I asked why, he responded with, "I saw this thing that a guy was charging 400 bucks for, and I realized that I could make it way cheaper." To which I said, "this is the classic meat move, see something that costs x$ and know that you can do it cheaper, and then realize that it cost you 12 hours and you saved $1." I wished him godspeed.

  4. Uggggghhhhh. I just slipped and fell in the exact same spot on my driveway as I did yesterday and landed the exact same way (right elbow first). Yesterday's fall caused a number of strained muscles in my abdomen and neck, so I imagine tomorrow will be immensely uncomfortable. I think I'll spend tonight bed ridden.

    1. My driveway is on an incline (or is that decline?), and last week as I was getting out of the car with salt I just purchased to salt the driveway, I damn near face planted on the very first step. Hands and knee took the worst of it. Lots of cursing and resigned laughter.

      1. I did this last year on a hike up to Heublein Tower in Simsbury. Going up no problem, using hiking sticks, etc. But coming back down the hill, there's like a glacier where the sun doesn't shine. I was being very careful to skirt the ice patches, yet I still fell prey to the Ice God's (insert random Swedish name here) wrath, and down I went, hard, on my shoulder, and slid a bit down the hill. For a minute I thot my shoulder was dislocated, then it popped back into place.

        The rotator cuff was the problem, and I couldn't even pull the car door shut with my left arm. I did start swimming right away, and did a bunch of Select Therapy sessions, to ensure I got the full range of motion back. No trace of that injury a year later.

    1. Wolves win by 10 but somehow Jerryd Bayless managed to be -25 in less than 15 minutes. That's a whole lot of suck. He had just 2 points and 2 assists but no turnovers. The next worst +/- for the Wolves was -5.

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