38 thoughts on “March 16, 2023: Mad, I Tell You”

  1. I heard about the Jimmy Eat World show at the Armory on the Current this morning, so I checked their website. The show earlier in the week is The Beths+The National. I would very much like to go either (or both!) of these shows.

    1. I'm not submitting one for the first time. I've been so checked out on College Basketball I probably would have just had an autoselect on top seeds or most popular picks. Ten to 15 year ago I was doing days long research on my picks.

      2. I found that when I used to do a ton of research I would get more frustrated with bad results. So I just raced through this bracket in 2 minutes. I decided to pick Houston to win it all because it's one of my favorite songs.

        1. Pretty much this, except I'd say more "my bracket got frustrated" and I still had a ton of fun doing it, but mostly because I was running a pool for others. I definitely know less this year than ever before, so it was a 2 minute selection process. I did a WGOM bracket and a family bracket, and as I sit here now, I have no idea who is winning either one for me. That I even got it done with traveling is kind of a miracle.

            1. Oh that's brilliant! Love it. Now I can root for my other bracket and, as soon as that's busted, I can just root for upsets!

  3. Here's my list of words/phrases that should be sunset after 2023 (so far):

    Sunset – at least quit using it in I.T. meetings. It's meant to be a nice word.

    Pivot – I was in a meeting where the presenter said this so many times I fined her $25 in the Webex chat.

    Headwinds / Tailwinds – sailing metaphors meaning that we will likely miss earnings projections.

    It is what it is – God I hate this one.

    Like – this is so, like, overused.

    Guardrails – it’s what you erect on your project to keep the newbies from wrecking the place.

    Level-set – I think this may mean I’m right and you’re wrong.

    Super-summarized – not sure what this means - sounds like Millenial-consultant-speak.

    Rat-hole – It’s when the meeting is going awry and you meant to say rabbit-hole but rat-hole sounds meaner.

    Don’t be a hater – a way to shut down an opposing opinion – just meaner.

    Comparing someone to the Nazis – just stop it – visit Tiergarten 4 or Auschwitz.

    Deprecate – it’s what I.T. people say to sound smart about retiring software (see sunset above), but is dangerously close to defecate.

    Data Lake – it’s the body of water that is evaporating into the Cloud.

    Shout Out - e.g. this. is a Shout Out to our friends in Finance (please don't cut our funding!!).

    So Nation: Feel free to add more to the list – Oops - I meant to say “Pile On”.

    1. "Friendly Reminder" -- I know you're not trying to sound passive-aggressive and just trying to come off gentle, but stop it. I'm an adult. I can handle a regular reminder.

    2. I'm okay with a handful of those, and haven't heard some of the others used that much. Leave deprecate out of it, or get your hearing aid checked -- it's being used correctly 😜

      I hate hearing people say something's turning into "a cluster", especially by church staff, for example; you know the context of the phrase, right? Then pick a different term please.

      1. It's because the actual cluster word is so satisfying to say and they want to say it so badly but they can't.

        One of my employees says "clustercuss" and it just doesn't have the same impact

    3. As a replacement for It is what it is, I've been saying "it's the pool we've chosen to swim in." I'm sure my co-workers probably complain about it on some WGOM-type site they are on.

      1. Somehow I've lately been finding myself simultaneously saying "it is what it is" more often and more annoyed at the phrase. What I usually mean is "We're going to need to make the best of this" or "this isn't how we wanted it to work, but that's okay" or something along those lines - it often comes out when I'm giving bad news to clients and/or my children, and trying to make it clear that just because this piece of things is bad, it doesn't mean we let that beat us.

        So it's meant in a really good way, but comes off poorly...

    4. I work with Tailwind all the time so that one is still in for me.

      I work in IT and I haven't ever heard most of these.

      Time to start using "It be what it be" Like, as a guardrail against GenXers not being able to let that one go. Don't be a hater, we are deprecating them because otherwise the Nazi's will rat-hole our daily standups. We need this to be an agile waterfall or we'll have to sunset meetings.

    5. Let’s put a pin in that. Every time I hear this I also hear a memorable phrase from Ball Four, “His ass was so tight you couldn’t drive a pin up it.”

      1. After a pin is put one must circle back. Per my last email you’ll note my displeasure in lack of response.

    6. Some additional 2023 retiree candidates from others:

      Spot-On – group think at it’s finest.

      Just gotta add that the guy who said “hydrate the data lake” instead of “populate” should be shot. Or maybe drowned.

      Woke - Nuff said.

      Using the term Rock Star in occupations other than rock music.

      Totes McGoats, Boaty McBoatface - not gonna make Merriam's so go away.

    2. In 1985 I was living in Tulsa and working in a video store near TU. When this came out on video every copy was checked out every night, so I played it in the store as much as I could. Other high-demand titles back then included Buckaroo Bonzai, Spinal Tap, and Repo Man. The 80s were weird.

  6. Probably the best thing overheard in NYC:

    The Lego Store is across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral, and we were standing in line to get into Lego next to a dude in full steampunk attire (top hat, stylized goggles, leather gloves with cut-off fingers, etc.). Steampunk dude points at St. Patrick's and says "What the heck is that place? Defense against the dark arts?"

    In my head I say, "That's... actually pretty accurate."

  7. The perfect WBC format for 2026, one man's opinion:

    24 teams -- the top 8 ranked teams in the world get a first-round bye. I think you can justify this because 1-8 are currently, on balance, a lot better than 17-24, but it's nice to have a bigger field in the tournament to improve interest in the game worldwide.

    Round 1:
    Two groups of 8 teams each, play round-robin style. Each team is therefore guaranteed 7 games, and progressing is not quite as neat and tidy as a best-of-7 series, but it's awfully similar. Top 4 from each group advance.

    Round 2:
    Two groups of 8 teams each (4 from the top 8 and 4 from Round 1 in each group). Top 4 from each group advance.

    Final elimination round:
    8-team double elimination tournament
    Day 1: Everyone plays
    Day 2: Everyone plays, 2 teams eliminated
    Day 3: Consolation bracket only, 2 teams eliminated
    Day 4: Everyone remaining plays, 1 team eliminated
    Day 5: Consolation bracket only, 1 team eliminated (earns 3rd place)
    Day 6: Championship round

    Have the day 6 game be definitive rather than using the variation where the consolation bracket team has to win twice.

    It's a lot of baseball (this is a good thing), but it's still basically a 3-week format, and I think having bigger groups in the initial rounds gives everyone the fairest chance to advance through the tournament (outside of playing a much more extended format), and the double elimination bracket at the end prevents one bad day from sending you home before the championship game.

    If you're too concerned about which top 8 teams get byes, I would love to get baseball back into the Olympics and use the qualifying and tournament rounds of the Olympics to determine the top 8 nations. It wouldn't be perfect, because you wouldn't have MLB players there (not sure if NPB or KBO has taken Olympic breaks in the past), but I think it would be a good way to sort of consolidate tournaments, so you don't have to have a totally separate seeding tournament.

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