Hoping the Twins can score even more runs than they have in the past couple days.
41 thoughts on “May 9, 2023: >0”
I woke up yesterday with one dog. I went to bed, completely unplanned, with two.
My wife found a posting from someone looking to re-home a 6 month old 3/4 Golden-1/4 Doodle because she's a single mom working and going back to school and they already have three dogs and a fourth just wasn't working out. He's very sweet, and our 4 year old golden appears over the moon so far. The cat doesn't give a crap.
Cool! During the pandemic, we adopted a 4-time loser, Bernie , a 7-year-old Goldendoodle of unknown mix (he’s grayish & looks more poodle than any sort of golden). I then added a Wheaton terrier puppy because I didn’t know how long Bernie would be with us - he was a significantly overweight, natty matted mess and we didn’t know what his life had been like in the three prior homes … probably not good per the vet at his first visit. He’s lost ~18 lbs in the intervening years and is a pretty sweet guy. The Wheaton is a happy idiot* and hyper as fvck all. No more puppies in the house from now on.
*he’s actually really intelligent - they both are - but good lord do they like to act the fool.
Awesome! I do often feel bad that, when we do get new pets we're not taking shelter pets that I know we could give a better life to, so kudos to you on that.
This one, though, came completely suddenly and by surprise. The first full day has been great (except the "I'm in a new place so I'd better piss and crap all over the place"). When they go outside together, he tries to copy whatever our golden does and follows her all over.
Rough play for old friend Akil Baddoo.
Akil Baddoo was caught stealing second because the throw hit him in the junk and bounced into the glove 😳🤮 pic.twitter.com/zjhQlYiQNa
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) May 9, 2023
And he doesn't get an assist
That play is nuts!
I thought it was ballsy to attempt the steal in the first place.
I’ve been thrilled that one of the annual compliance courses hasn’t changed in five years and doesn’t require you sitting through it; just test and go.
This course should take approximately 45 minutes to complete
I can scrub through the video and keep the PDF open during the quiz? You're off by a factor of 10 there.
The Great 2023 Car Chase Continues:
Drove down to Fox Lake, Illinois (presumably skirting the Palace Hotel Ballroom at Lake Wasapamani) to make a deposit on a RAV4 Hybrid that is currently on a train from Portland after arriving Stateside from Japan. It’s our fourth choice trim level, lower than all but one, but has a couple options we weren’t expecting. It’s not the color we want, but it’s a livable second choice “color” (dark gray). Dealer is selling at MSRP, but doesn’t allow dibs on cars without coming in to make a deposit. Okay. I found them through the Costco Auto Program, which eliminates the back-and-forth between sales staff & manager. They were very easy to deal with over the phone: factual, open about availability, and up-front on likelihood of getting a trim we want more in any future allocation.
The hitch came when they came back with the Costco pricing. We get a discount on MSRP before port-installed options and a discount on those options. Fine; I don’t want mud flaps or roof bars, but they’re already on the car. I can take the bars off. Fine.
But then came the coup de grâce: a dealer-installed GPS anti-theft & exterior/interior protection package that is non-negotiable. Costco requires them to discount it, but they can include it. The discounted cost is basically 10% of MSRP. I balk. Mrs. Hayes is outside with the Poissonnière, who got car sick (nausea, no puke) on the way down. Salesman explains the package was not mandatory pre-COVID, but when sales dropped from 200+ a month to 125 in a good month, the management made it mandatory as a cost-recovery stream. I grumble but know I’m screwed; there are no RAV4 Hybrids in in the eastern half of the state thanks to “chip shortage” and dealer collusion. Everywhere else has waiting lists stretching months (August or worse); this car is on a train to Chicago and can have my name on it. I deposit my 500 bones so as not to return to square one. We’ll have a car by the end of the month!
Meanwhile, I was able to make an appointment for this morning to test drive a CR-V Hybrid that just came into the People’s Republic’s biggest Honda dealer. We get there; instead of the black or white I was told it would be, it’s the color we want — a beautiful iridescent blue — and the trim level we want. Test drive goes well; Mrs. Hayes prefers the RAV4’s seat comfort, and the Toyota hybrid system is superior. The hitch is, the CR-V’s MSRP is $1300 under the RAV4’s MSRP, and the dealer would throw in the body-side moldings, door guards, & mats to make it as close to evenly equipped as it can be. Off-the-lot price for the CR-V is $4k under the RAV4’s — because of that effing mandatory dealer package. I can either get the car we’d want if we bought a Honda or the fourth-choice trim of our second-choice Toyota model for 10% more. You can see where this is going.
In short, late stage capitalism sucks.
What do you mean by "trim level"?
For Subaru it’s premium, limited, and touring or wilderness for the outback. They have other markings for bigger models. Related to the interior - leather vs fabric, driver assist, Dolby sound system, dog kennel, roof rack, moon roof, or essentially anything else that the dealer can throw on the car to increase price and keep the actual cost hidden from consumers.
All that crap is why I always walk onto a lot with the intention of getting the absolute basest package possible. When I got the Focus, I made sure it was the SE and no more. I do admit the top of the line package our Kia has (bought used) is nice, but I've never regretted not having those features in my car.
Cars without capitalism? Good luck!
One can recognize that capitalism has produced some marvelous things without endorsing the particular form practiced in the current moment, which would likely provoke criticism from Adam Smith himself.
What do you have against Yugos and Ladas?
Not gonna lie — I would not turn down the keys to a Lada Niva, much less a Tatra 603 or GAZ Chaika.
As if Bring A Trailer isn’t fraught with enough peril!
I'd love a Trabant 601
Obligatory
whew, its been a whirlwind week. I just put in my resignation at my current job and accepted a senior mechanical engineering position at Generac. I will work here until the 26th, and start there on the 30th. I don't really look forward to the commute (45 miles), but I do look forward to what sounds like a better job.
Best of luck!
Thanks! I'll be working on becoming an expert in alternators for home generators. So if any of you are preppers, I can hook you up.
I could've used that last year.
I've played around in my head of setting up my own turbine and powerbank.
Not a prepped but am a semi regular user of generators. Oh, yeah, hurricane season has started. Crazy.
Congrats, cheaps!
Well, if the commute has to be linger than desirable, at least it’s not entirely the opposite direction from the curling club…
Congrats on a successful hunt.
Good luck with the new job. If it doesn't work out you should just move to this fine city of lakes in Minnesota. There must be at least 50 mechanical engineers spread throughout the various companies in our county. Mostly designing packaging machinery.
Speaking of raging against the bureaucratic machine...I just paid for permits for our bathroom remodel. Holy shit.
Apparently, they do not charge on a cost recovery basis, because our review only took a few minutes to be approved. As much as those guys make, they don't make that much.
I'm surprised they did this, but it's the right move.
Twins predicted my game log. I noted Miranda had been the worst regular with a 67 wRC+ compared to Correa's 72 wRC+. Miranda's OAA at third has also been bad, at -4 runs only a month into the season.
Yeah, they kind of backed themselves into a corner, letting Urshela go for basically nothing. Betting big on Miranda hasn't paid dividends yet.
They have a couple going guys that could end up here soon
They do. I think the thought was that Miranda could provide a stopgap for this year to get to Royce/Brooks. At this point, everyone's hoping that Royce has a great rehab and is able to step right into third base. That's....a big ask.
I am hoping the time across the river will let Miranda get his schwing back. He looked so promising last year.
I woke up yesterday with one dog. I went to bed, completely unplanned, with two.
My wife found a posting from someone looking to re-home a 6 month old 3/4 Golden-1/4 Doodle because she's a single mom working and going back to school and they already have three dogs and a fourth just wasn't working out. He's very sweet, and our 4 year old golden appears over the moon so far. The cat doesn't give a crap.
Cool! During the pandemic, we adopted a 4-time loser, Bernie , a 7-year-old
Goldendoodle of unknown mix (he’s grayish & looks more poodle than any sort of golden). I then added a Wheaton terrier puppy because I didn’t know how long Bernie would be with us - he was a significantly overweight, natty matted mess and we didn’t know what his life had been like in the three prior homes … probably not good per the vet at his first visit. He’s lost ~18 lbs in the intervening years and is a pretty sweet guy. The Wheaton is a happy idiot* and hyper as fvck all. No more puppies in the house from now on.*he’s actually really intelligent - they both are - but good lord do they like to act the fool.
Awesome! I do often feel bad that, when we do get new pets we're not taking shelter pets that I know we could give a better life to, so kudos to you on that.
This one, though, came completely suddenly and by surprise. The first full day has been great (except the "I'm in a new place so I'd better piss and crap all over the place"). When they go outside together, he tries to copy whatever our golden does and follows her all over.
Rough play for old friend Akil Baddoo.
And he doesn't get an assist
That play is nuts!
I thought it was ballsy to attempt the steal in the first place.
Heaping insult upon injury.
Marney Gellner is cancer-free.
I know I've said I don't get how people can listen to podcasts and such at anything higher than 1x speed, but I was thrilled to find out the work compliance course I had to take offered a 2x speed option.
I’ve been thrilled that one of the annual compliance courses hasn’t changed in five years and doesn’t require you sitting through it; just test and go.
This course should take approximately 45 minutes to complete
I can scrub through the video and keep the PDF open during the quiz? You're off by a factor of 10 there.
The Great 2023 Car Chase Continues:
Drove down to Fox Lake, Illinois (presumably skirting the Palace Hotel Ballroom at Lake Wasapamani) to make a deposit on a RAV4 Hybrid that is currently on a train from Portland after arriving Stateside from Japan. It’s our fourth choice trim level, lower than all but one, but has a couple options we weren’t expecting. It’s not the color we want, but it’s a livable second choice “color” (dark gray). Dealer is selling at MSRP, but doesn’t allow dibs on cars without coming in to make a deposit. Okay. I found them through the Costco Auto Program, which eliminates the back-and-forth between sales staff & manager. They were very easy to deal with over the phone: factual, open about availability, and up-front on likelihood of getting a trim we want more in any future allocation.
The hitch came when they came back with the Costco pricing. We get a discount on MSRP before port-installed options and a discount on those options. Fine; I don’t want mud flaps or roof bars, but they’re already on the car. I can take the bars off. Fine.
But then came the coup de grâce: a dealer-installed GPS anti-theft & exterior/interior protection package that is non-negotiable. Costco requires them to discount it, but they can include it. The discounted cost is basically 10% of MSRP. I balk. Mrs. Hayes is outside with the Poissonnière, who got car sick (nausea, no puke) on the way down. Salesman explains the package was not mandatory pre-COVID, but when sales dropped from 200+ a month to 125 in a good month, the management made it mandatory as a cost-recovery stream. I grumble but know I’m screwed; there are no RAV4 Hybrids in in the eastern half of the state thanks to “chip shortage” and dealer collusion. Everywhere else has waiting lists stretching months (August or worse); this car is on a train to Chicago and can have my name on it. I deposit my 500 bones so as not to return to square one. We’ll have a car by the end of the month!
Meanwhile, I was able to make an appointment for this morning to test drive a CR-V Hybrid that just came into the People’s Republic’s biggest Honda dealer. We get there; instead of the black or white I was told it would be, it’s the color we want — a beautiful iridescent blue — and the trim level we want. Test drive goes well; Mrs. Hayes prefers the RAV4’s seat comfort, and the Toyota hybrid system is superior. The hitch is, the CR-V’s MSRP is $1300 under the RAV4’s MSRP, and the dealer would throw in the body-side moldings, door guards, & mats to make it as close to evenly equipped as it can be. Off-the-lot price for the CR-V is $4k under the RAV4’s — because of that effing mandatory dealer package. I can either get the car we’d want if we bought a Honda or the fourth-choice trim of our second-choice Toyota model for 10% more. You can see where this is going.
In short, late stage capitalism sucks.
What do you mean by "trim level"?
For Subaru it’s premium, limited, and touring or wilderness for the outback. They have other markings for bigger models. Related to the interior - leather vs fabric, driver assist, Dolby sound system, dog kennel, roof rack, moon roof, or essentially anything else that the dealer can throw on the car to increase price and keep the actual cost hidden from consumers.
All that crap is why I always walk onto a lot with the intention of getting the absolute basest package possible. When I got the Focus, I made sure it was the SE and no more. I do admit the top of the line package our Kia has (bought used) is nice, but I've never regretted not having those features in my car.
Cars without capitalism? Good luck!
One can recognize that capitalism has produced some marvelous things without endorsing the particular form practiced in the current moment, which would likely provoke criticism from Adam Smith himself.
What do you have against Yugos and Ladas?
Not gonna lie — I would not turn down the keys to a Lada Niva, much less a Tatra 603 or GAZ Chaika.
Have I got the site for you!
http://sovietcar.com/services/
As if Bring A Trailer isn’t fraught with enough peril!
I'd love a Trabant 601
Obligatory
whew, its been a whirlwind week. I just put in my resignation at my current job and accepted a senior mechanical engineering position at Generac. I will work here until the 26th, and start there on the 30th. I don't really look forward to the commute (45 miles), but I do look forward to what sounds like a better job.
Best of luck!
Thanks! I'll be working on becoming an expert in alternators for home generators. So if any of you are preppers, I can hook you up.
I could've used that last year.
I've played around in my head of setting up my own turbine and powerbank.
Not a prepped but am a semi regular user of generators. Oh, yeah, hurricane season has started. Crazy.
Congrats, cheaps!
Well, if the commute has to be linger than desirable, at least it’s not entirely the opposite direction from the curling club…
Congrats on a successful hunt.
Good luck with the new job. If it doesn't work out you should just move to this fine city of lakes in Minnesota. There must be at least 50 mechanical engineers spread throughout the various companies in our county. Mostly designing packaging machinery.
Speaking of raging against the bureaucratic machine...I just paid for permits for our bathroom remodel. Holy shit.
Apparently, they do not charge on a cost recovery basis, because our review only took a few minutes to be approved. As much as those guys make, they don't make that much.
Ah, garbage human.
Farmer to Twins.
Miranda to Saints.
I'm surprised they did this, but it's the right move.
Twins predicted my game log. I noted Miranda had been the worst regular with a 67 wRC+ compared to Correa's 72 wRC+. Miranda's OAA at third has also been bad, at -4 runs only a month into the season.
Yeah, they kind of backed themselves into a corner, letting Urshela go for basically nothing. Betting big on Miranda hasn't paid dividends yet.
They have a couple going guys that could end up here soon
They do. I think the thought was that Miranda could provide a stopgap for this year to get to Royce/Brooks. At this point, everyone's hoping that Royce has a great rehab and is able to step right into third base. That's....a big ask.
I am hoping the time across the river will let Miranda get his schwing back. He looked so promising last year.