68 thoughts on “November 19, 2013: Whoa”

  1. Due to circumstances somewhat but not entirely beyond my control, there will be no winter baseball updates today. If nothing unexpected happens, updates will resume tomorrow.

  2. You might recall that my wife and I suffered through several miscarriages after the birth of our daughter. This was a difficult time, for sure. After the second one, she needed a D&C procedure and the doctor who performed the procedure was willing to do it on a Sunday. I found it odd that he wouldn't just schedule it during the week. Why was he going out of his way to make this convenient for us? After the procedure, he came and talked to me and was just about the nicest guy you would ever want to meet. I was very happy to have my wife's care in his hands and I was amazed at his willingness to give up his Sunday to help us. I never saw this doctor again, but in my opinion, he was a credit to his profession.

    This was just one story, and a minor one at that, about this guy, Stephen Larson, who was murdered in his home last week.

    2. was just about the nicest guy

      I never knew the alleged killer, but coworkers did and said similar things about him. As more things come to light, I'm trying to keep that in mind.

      1. All I'll say about that is that I hope that I'm never in the position where I know someone who killed someone else in cold blood.

  5. Follow up on my speeding ticket from last month. I saw a hearing officer this morning, and he couldn't wait to take $90 off my fine. I decided not to go in front of a judge due to time considerations and the fact that I don't really have a good defense. I suppose I could have asked for physical proof that the radar gun was used and used properly, but I didn't ask how much burden the officer has and I know I was going really fast and I didn't really feel like engaging in the adversarial process.

    Now I just have to hope my insurance company doesn't look at my driving record.

    1. Minnesota doesn't have the option of Traffic School to avoid points on your license and a record?

  7. Question for my fellow beer enthusiasts:

    I'm thinking about getting my little brother, who is showing signs if becoming a well-adjusted beer snob (yes!) a starter assortment of glassware for Christmas. I have a few ideas about what might be best to include, but I'm happy for suggestions. I'm thinking one each of a tulip, a stange, a weizen, a pilsner, a goblet, and a maß.

    If you have a preferred glassware company or retailer, I'd love to hear about that, too.

    1. My recommendation: two of each. 🙂

      but seriously. I have about a dozen pint glasses, one of which I use daily. I have two pilsners, three tulips, a goblet (thanks, Buffalo!), two IPA glasses, and a couple of mugs hidden away somewhere (a half-liter ceramic, and a pewter). But I rarely actually use anything other than the pint glasses and the pilsners.

      1. I, too, drink mostly from pint glasses. A tulip or snifter is probably my second most used glass.

        Good point about two. Not sure it's in the budget, but the second half of each pair could come later. My main intent is to allow him to experience the styles he tries out with their correct delivery method.

        1. If the budget doesn't allow for two of each now, I would go with two each of a subset. Really. Beer is meant to be shared.

          1. I was having this discussion with a friend yesterday. He was discussing how into beer he was and I was talking about how I wish I had more opportunities to drink it. Honestly I spend most of my time alone and/or with people who aren't big beer drinkers so most of the time it's not terribly appealing. Sharing it is far more important.

            2. I hear you guys, and agree. Two of a couple styles it is. I think he probably has a pint glass or two - most beer drinkers seem to have a couple - so I might do pairs of a pilsner, a tulip and...? Maybe the weizen, in terms of use? Or two IPA glasses?

                1. Agreed, although it also goes the other way with weizens being able to double for pilsners, if you ask me, because I do that often. My weizen glasses are my lager glasses as well.

    2. I am going to say you should get him glassware from Libbey glass, but that's only because they melt their glass using my product. 😉

      To be more serious, I pretty much agree with bS. I use my pint glasses everyday, but I love having a tulip for special occasions/beers and wish I had a pilsner glass. If you can get him an imperial pint glass, that would be even better than a regular one. I adore those and need to get a couple myself. It doesn't fit his situation, but I also use my small mugs a lot because I like them for my kegged beers so I don't drink them up as fast.

      Another really awesome thing you could do is get him a beer festival glass by going to a beer festival with him. He may never use the glass afterwards, but it'd be worth it.

      1. Is an Imperial pint glass the same as a nonick? I love those.

        Little brother goes to university in Kansas, so a fest (or brewery tour) between now and Christmas won't be possible. But for a future Christmas or birthday, that's a terrific idea.

              1. I'm glad my wife is not from the same family as you guys. I've broken more of my glassware than she has. Of course, she never uses it, so that helps.

            2. Our glassware was doing just fine until a road construction project caused vibrations significant to knock a number of the pint glasses off a shelf and onto the tile floor. That was quite a mess to come home to.

              (To be fair, we did get a letter warning us ahead of time, but it didn't occur to us that things would actually be at risk of falling off shelves.)

            1. I have two of those and they are fantastic. I have a 0.5 l Spaten mug I bought at the Gausthaus in Stillwater and a 1.0 l HB mug I inherited from a roomate. That second one gets used a bit less, though.

              1. I have one of these (1L) from a special at the Royal Mile in DSM during the 2006 World Cup. And two of these (0.5L) from Consumer's in Buffalo as freebies with growler fills.

                It was previously suggested to me that I might not want to drink out of the former as much anymore, but now that I'm single I may disregard that.

    1. If it's anything like the Scotland game, I'll be glad I'm at work so I can justify not watching it.

      1. Looks like I'm glad I did.

        Sweden-Portugal looks like it was a barnburner. I wished this one went the other way, as I a) have a very good friend who's Swedish and b) ugh...Cristiano Ronaldo

    1. More time to heal up, I guess. I hope it's just a case of being young and dumb and he learns from it.

  11. I hope General Mills is paying the person who runs the Hamburger Helper twitter account is handsomely.

    Helper ‏@helper
    Hey, @GaryPayton_20, let us know if you need any tips about being the Glove.

    made me laugh

      1. I think thats why it struck me as funny. its like a 10 year old reference randomly thrown out there by a corporate account.

        I also may be in a weird mood today.

    1. Probably for the best- I don't see the combination of Johnson's injury history plus the Twins training staff ending well.

    1. I saw that, and it gives me warm fuzzies but I don't think its totally fair until the bench improves. I would really like to see Williams moved for a bench scorer, his draft number be damned. At this point, they're in the Minnesota path of selling as low as possible.

  14. The Chinese are the worst, most inconsiderate drivers I have ever seen. Watching out my window has been..... interesting.

      1. Having seen a lot of Russian dash-cam videos, I think Moscow might be more dangerous, but the traffic in LA is a god damn walk in the park compared to what I've seen here in China, and this isn't even one of the mega-cities. People drive the wrong way, stick themselves to the car in front of them blocking intersections so no one can turn and just generally force their way to wherever they can. Its brutal.

        1. I've actually heard far fewer horns here in DC than I did in Buffalo. Traffic here seems denser, but there seems to be less aggression. Still a whole lot of idiotic driving. Then again, I'm way out at the edge of things, not down on the Beltway or taking 66 everyday.

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