Cup of Coffee

July 18, 2013: 17K

61 Comments

Yesterday a manager of mine told me that a conference call for upper management centered around me, after a ludicrous sales day I had on Tuesday. They talked to my manager about what I was doing and what other stores could learn from me. The guy running the call didn't ask for my insight personally, though. Corporations are funny.

61 thoughts on “July 18, 2013: 17K”

  1. It took 70 years, but a pitch drop has finally been caught on camera. Unfortunately, it was an upstart at Trinity College and not the original University of Queensland that did the filming.

  3. I just found out that the Eagles take on Canada in a rugby world cup qualifier down in Charleston, SC where my cousin lives. Flights are ~$200, so I might be able to make it down.

    1. I saw this and first thought "the Eagles are back together for another tour? Is Bernie Leadon involved?"

      2. First the gag was good, then you added Punto to the end and I legitimately laughed out loud.

    2. In the past (other places), I've complained about the way Law seems to view prospects differently based on what he thinks about the organization. He used be very down on the Twins, and was unfair to guys like Span. Now he's very bullish on the Twins, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's overhyping some of their prospects.

      By the way, here's the breakdown:
      #1 - Buxton
      #4 - Sano
      #30 - Stewart
      #38 - Meyer
      #41 - Rosario

      So yeah... Stewart already the 30th best prospect? Seems high.

      1. Where do the 1-3 picks from June rank? Gut feeling says #30 is too high, but seems like top-50 is reasonable at this point.

  7. Presale Thursday:

    Father John Misty October 11th, at First Avenue Main Room.

    Presale: Right Now until 10:00p Thursday 7/18

    Presale Code: FEARFUN

  8. Mrs. Twayn and I had a rough day yesterday, but in some ways it was also a hopeful one. We went to visit her little brother at the substance abuse treatment facility in Waverly (it's actually Hubert Humphrey's old home on the lake there). Part of the day involved family members reading letters about how the patients' addiction has impacted their lives. We ended up going last as a family, and I ended up going last of all. I don't think I've been that choked up emotionally since my father died. Three paragraphs and I couldn't get though it without several stops and more than a few tears and tissues. One of the top ten gut-wrenching days I've had in my while life, for sure. And as hard as it was for me, it was ten times harder on my wife, her older brother and her mom. The good news is that even though he had resisted going into treatment, BiL seems to be coming around. He knows he has a serious problem, and I think he's beginning to see that he's powerless to overcome it on his own. He's still struggling with a lot of guilt and shame. I don't think he's putting much stock in the 12 Steps that they espouse yet, and he's having a hard time with the Higher Power concept. Faith is not an easy thing for some people. But he's trying. As one of the guys in treatment said during the group meeting, "Meth is a real bitch." Amen to that.

    1. Addiction is... I don't know. It sucks what our brains try to convince of sometimes. I remember quitting cigarettes and months later a craving would come out of nowhere. And that was just cigarettes. I have no idea how people quit booze, meth, etc.

      Best of luck to all of you.

      1. Yeah, I finally quit smoking for good about five years ago after several previous attempts had failed. To this day I'll still get an occasional out-of-the-blue urge for a cigarette. It's easy to dismiss now, but it sure wasn't back then.

      2. I quit a lot of things, and actually, cigarettes were right up there in terms of difficulty. They're so easy to get, and so...legal. It's easy to justify.

    2. Visiting my brother in treatment was one of the toughest things I've ever been through. I had given up most everything without the aid of treatment, and I know that did him no favors, because he thought he could do the same. I remember a lot of what was said that day. It was great, but so tough to get through. Afterwards I went out for a smoke (I hadn't quit that yet) and one of the counselors joined me. She said it was one of the best "shares" she'd ever had from a family member, and as such, she could tell that I'd already been down the drug road myself.

      1. I tried a lot of things in my younger days, there's not much I didn't sample at one time or another in my 20's. I guess I was fortunate to be poor back then because it meant I couldn't indulge enough in some of the more addictive stuff to get hooked. But I do recall going on a fortnight bender, pass-out drunk every night until one Sunday when I ran out of booze and money at the same time. Not sure if it actually qualified as DTs, but I had a bad case of the sweats and shakes and serious lucid nightmares. Scared me so bad I didn't drink for a month or so after that.

  9. Thanks to everyone on their smartphone input yesterday. One quick followup - does anyone have experience with a Windows phone instead of Android and have a preference one or the other?

    2. My understanding is that people tend to like it, but there aren't many apps available. That is slowly changing, but iOS and Android have a large head start.

    3. I should preface this by saying I work at Microsoft and I had feature phones before I got my Windows phone. I like my Windows phone a lot, but if you like particular apps, you should do your homework to see if what the Windows store has available works for you.

      The guy in the cube next to me bought the Nokia Lumia 521 from Walmart for $130 and is doing the $30 T-Mobile pay as you go plan. That phone doesn't have a front facing camera or flash, but he says he's impressed with how the pictures come out.

      I like the way the OS integrates social media so you don't need to launch apps if you just want to quick post an update or check your twitter/FB feed. I prefer live tiles to icons. I also prefer the keyboard software over the IOS keyboard (I have an iPod touch and iPad). I've never owned an android device. But there are some apps I have on my iPad that I wish were available on Windows phone.

    1. That's a pretty great article.

      Henschen estimates his crew shows about a dozen proposals on the videoboard each season. He can only recall one rejection, years ago at the Metrodome.

      "That was pretty brutal," he said.

      I was at that game, and the rejection was pretty brutal. He proposed, and she starting to shake her head and then was crying. The guy had no idea what to do next, and the camera operators didn't really know how to handle it either. There was probably 15 seconds of awkwardness, then they cut to something else.

      1. I was the first of any of my friends or siblings to get engaged and told them all, repeatedly, when it comes to engagement - don't ask a question you don't already know the answer to.*

        *that last part may be familiar to our resident litigators/lawyer-types. I laughed a bit when I first heard it at the SBG College of Law.

  11. If anyone is in the CR/Andover/North 'burbs area tonight, and wants a free root beer float, let me know. My sister is opening her dental practice, and tonight is their open house.

    In other news, if anyone is in that area and wants a good dentist...

    1. free tooth-decaying treats at the dentist! That's like free salty snacks at the bar, right? 🙂

          1. Does she have flat screen televisions and headphones? I went to a dentist that had a little flat screen tv with headphones. They would ask if you wanted to watch Seinfeld, Parks & Rec, etc.

            It is pretty awesome. Time just flies by.

    1. When we went to Wrigley last summer, there was a six piece jazz/blues band that came out in different section of the stadium between innings and played a couple of quick songs. It was great. Huey must not make it to any Cubs games.

  13. Watching the NBCSN TdF replays. Heh.

    They play a Michelob Light commercial that the wife absolutely hates. The second it comes on she dives for the remote and hits the mute (moot) button. I find the commercial nondescript - it show some clean-cut dude working thru the day to his nighttime romping, always with his lite beer at his side.

    I think its a smarmy-thing.

  14. watching Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughn on pbs. SRV looks soo young. great, great stuff.

    1. Not sure if I ever told my SRV story here. We were living in Cedar Rapids back in 1990, my first TV news job. We were dirt poor and living in the 'hood at the time, hearing nearby gunshots at night was not entirely uncommon (even CR had gang activity back then). My wife knew that he was absolutely my favorite musician, so when she found out he was coming to town she bought me a ticket for my birthday. She only got one because that was literally all we could afford at the time. I arranged to have the night off, but at the last minute my news director told me I had to work. When I protested, he said it was work that night or not at all. So I gave the ticket to a friend of ours, one of the wife's co-workers who had never even heard of Stevie Ray. The next day he couldn't thank me enough, his praise was effusive, said it was the best concert he'd ever seen and couldn't believe anyone could play guitar like that. One morning five months later I was at work putting my show rundown together when the AP flash came over the wire. Initially the bulletin said that Eric Clapton had died in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin. I was devastated, and then terribly relieved a few minutes later when the correction came over saying Clapton wasn't on the chopper after all. Then about five minutes later another flash come over the wire -- Stevie Ray Vaughan was dead. I've never forgiven my old news director for that, and I probably never will. Some things can't be forgiven. Some grudges you just have to cultivate as long as you live.

      2. vaguely related, I may have mentioned once or twice that my oldest friend had lined up tickets for us to see the Clash open for the Who on their first farewell tour in Dez Moinez. We were to meet some friends of his to pick up our tickets and attend. A few hours before, he called to say he had to work, but that I could go without him. (DM is 169 miles from Spamtown and I did not know his friends).

        I poke him with a stick about it every couple of years.

Comments are closed.