I was going to take a hike (my nerd poles are supposed to arrive in the mail today), but I've been so sick I just can't.
For the weekend, nothing. But Mrs y is taking next week off and we found a crazy cheap deal at the last moment for this place for a couple of nights. So that will be entertaining.
Wondering whether to go to the Sera Cahoone concert up at Snowbowl. (Anyone seen her?) Maybe the Helmville Rodeo as well.
Big fireworks show on the river, so I can't to anywhere Sunday or will never get a parking space again. Monday we're driving 2.5 hours each way to a party for a friend's 3-year-old. I was going to try to go with Lee so we could be a happy post-breakup family but she won't stop yelling at me every time we interact and so I decided that would be hell.
I'm expecting to work Saturday and Monday due to crushing schedule pressure. My GF is out of town anyway to might as well work now and take time later to spend with her.
On the plus side I do have a giant bottle of whiskey at home, so there's that.
Mrs ttaM and I are on holiday for 8 or 9 days, starting tomorrow. Not going anywhere due to enduring skintness, but we'll maybe head down to the coast for a day trip, take xelA to a few parks, go swimming, try to relax a bit. Maybe do a bit of DIY type stuff.
Moving into my new place, where I can have my girls part of the time. (I've been crashing in a friend's spare bedroom for the past 9 months.) Thrilled to have my girls when they're around. Scared to death of existential loneliness when they're not around. (I have essentially never lived alone.) also, IKEA is making out like a bandit off my ass.
To visit my mother while my sister travels in NS. I find my mother lucid and reflective when we visit, and she feels treated as an adult refreshing. She's 97, with comparatively few health problems.
We'll bring multiple coolers to stock up on sausages, cheese and beer, and then to stop at Milwaukee's "Fondy" market on the way home. Black neighborhood, Hmong purveyors; only missing N.A.'s to be a trifecta of Wisconsin's oppressed minorities.
After a short exposure to the small town environment, we always search for something radically different to do right away. It's a diverse enough state that we've always found it.
I've been to the IKEA here a few times. It's surreal when the call to prayer gets broadcast quite loudly over the store's PA.
Roberta and the kids are heading to Maryland for a wedding shower, so I will be enjoying the quiet and calm of my new house (which I totally love) all by myself. And oh man am I looking forward to it, even though I'll spend one day of it mowing the lawn and constructing an informed consent form that's due on Tuesday.
Also am planning to have lunch with Keegan, which will be the first time I've seen him since we moved him into the dorm at UNC.
Just put the part where it says your balls might fall off in small print at the bottom and copy the rest from an earlier form.
"You're free to withdraw from the study at any time without consequences to you. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine. We planned for 10% attrition because we know that some of you will be really unreliable. Because America is falling apart these days. But never mind about that or all the effort and expensive we've spent recruiting and enrolling you."
Kid birthday, I'm in the process of making an ice cream cake.
Kids want to buy a hermit crab, I've been working on talking them out of it.
I have an appointment Monday to have the camera on my iPhone6 repaired under warranty. Are they likely to actually repair it or just give me a new one and tell me to restore from backup? If the latter is there a chance I could shove some money at them to get one with more memory? I bought a 16GB because that was all that was available at the time and I couldn't wait the 3-4 weeks for the one I wanted because my previous phone had died. 16GB is not enough when bullshit apps each feel entitled to take up 100+MB.
I'm at a cabin by a lake in the ADKs. I'm going to try and paint an old table with chalky finish paint. It probably won't look as good as the painted furniture I see on the crafty blogs.
13: "If you choose to participate in this study, my balls might fall off."
Did I mention I'd be at work? I hope all your balls fall off. Harrumph.
Actually Saturday I'll be doing some spelunking out in the desert.
How far afield are you able to get to? Could you spend a day at Petra, for instance?
Making totally normal sized birthday cake for my mother, feels Lilliputian. Between bman and transbay tube being closed, the city should be wonderfully quiet this weekend, lovely.
Nothing much other than resealing the cover for an in-wall cistern that I unsealed because the toilet was running on, but as soon as I unsealed it, it stopped running on. Grr.
One thing about having the Apostropher do your informed consent forms is that there is literally no one on earth with a better knowledge of the range of things you could informedly consent to.
Kids want to buy a hermit crab, I've been working on talking them out of it.
You can buy hermit crabs?
That would mean crossing a few borders (some of which are contraindicated at this time though there are alternate routes) and take probably about 24 hours by car.
I am planning some road trips to Oman once I get my license and buy a car. I'm thinking of going several times, once just to hike/climb Jabal Shams and another during next year's monsoon season to the coast to see all the greenery.
I'm going to the beach with these friends I've been staying with, and all their thousands of children and other friends and other friends' children.
26 to 21.
Also planing a trip to Dubai in December for the film festival but I'll be doing that by plane.
Wedding on Sunday. Will have to decide whether to wear my too-big suit in full (bought when I thought I wouldn't lose much more weight for a while /humblebrag) or swap out the trousers for more recent khakis that do fit.
Looking at AirBnB places in Dorset for a possible couple of days away, also. Not quite sure how I feel about AirBnB, plus the chumminess of the write-ups puts me off.
AirBnB is as good as the place you stay in and the price you pay. You're not making new friends for life.
No, quite the opposite. The last thing I want is to be in someone's house, or with someone feeling that we want to know them. That's what puts me off a lot of the write-ups.
'Give us the keys, bugger off, and we promise to i) pay you money, ii) not wreck the place.'
Is what I'd like.
We're in the last stages of finishing up a big renovation project and there's tons of logistical/moving back in stuff to do but I have to work (ie comment here) all weekend, so I'll leave it all in the hands of my wife who also has to take care of oir one year old baby. Sucks to be married to me!
I'm going to the beach with these friends I've been staying with, and all their thousands of children and other friends and other friends' children.
Seventeen children.
I dunno if they have it in the UK, but I prefer VRBO, which has more of a "I am a landlord in the vacation rental business" vibe and less of a "hey man sharing economy crash at my pad and also pay me $500" vibe.
25- We just took a trip to the pet store, they are $5 or $8 depending on whether you get the "fancy" one.
I'm going to visit my parents and not do much, but also taking the chance to drive through some of California I haven't spend much time in. Part of my effort to drive highways that aren't 1, 5, or 101 (though I'll be on 5 and 101 part of the time).
"Here's your one chance, Fancy. Don't let me down."
Yeah, the airbnb model is definitely a place where the concept of emotional labor seems to fit. My host in Portland walked me through it, spelling out all the cues, and it wasn't terrible or anything. One five minute conversation and texts on arrival/departure, and then the emotionally laborious review. Genuinely nice place and worth that trouble, but acting social is for sure part of the cost (and I am way on the sullen end of the spectrum esp. for a chick).
I've only used VRBO for the same reasons. Or Homeaway, which is equivalent.
I'm going to take a pair of shoes back to the cobbler because the new sole needs repaired already (and he better not try to charge me for it). Maybe I'll make some bread? I resent the closure of the transbay tube.
re: 35
Good tip. Turns out we do have VRBO, and they have places in the areas I'd like to go.
With AirBnB emotional labor could be seen as a sort of signal - like, someone who puts in the effort to establish a soothing, caring persona is less likely to be a callous trasher? (Of course, they could also be a sociopath.)
32. Can you promise to not wreck the place? Are you going to keep your little lad in a cage?
Oddly enough, for straightforward business transactions on holiday lettings, we've found Trip4dvi5or to be pretty good.
I'm going to take a pair of shoes back to the cobbler because the new sole needs repaired already (and he better not try to charge me for it). Maybe I'll make some bread? I resent the closure of the transbay tube.
Have a monocle.
That seems nonsensical. It just struck me as a very steampunk weekend.
Assuming this is open for all sorts of conversations, have others who've become primary parents of small children found themselves totally exhausted or should I worry I'm getting sick or something? By the time I have them asleep, which takes longer than I wish it would, I'm about ready to fall over myself. Sometimes I can then wake early and get things done and I'm keeping up with the housekeeping on at least a minimal level, but oh my goodness I am tired!
Monocles were for the people ordering other people to bake bread and take their shoes to the cobbler, a point the steampunk movement seems to miss.
47: You might be sick, but that sounds pretty normal.
47 -- holy shit that's not unusual. I've found extended solo time with small kids much more exhausting than anything I've ever done, including eg going to trial.
I am sick, which I hate. The only recompense is that I can sneeze on people who don't remove their backpacks when standing on a crowded bus.
have others who've become primary parents of small children found themselves totally exhausted or should I worry I'm getting sick or something?
1. What's the current custody arrangement? What sort of breaks are you getting?
2. Yes it's super exhausting, but:
3. I said something similar when Ace was about 10 months old, and the doctor pooh-poohed me, and it turns out (a year later) I was actually lacking energy and feeling extra run down for medical reasons. (Anemia, specifically vitamin B was super low.)
4. Because has your workload increased particularly? I got the impression that Lee did diddly-shit when she was around, anyway.
29: Rent a tux. Or a morning suit, depending on time of day.
New plan! We just bought tickets to a minor league baseball game. $42.50 for the whole family to sit in the second row behind third base.
There's probably some collateral damage, but sneezing is a very unspecific weapon.
We are sticking close to home (as we struggle out of the debt we built up on vacation last month), and looking around for a not-packed place to have a nice picnic. Besides that, re-sorting baby stuffs, pulling out fall wear.
re: 47
Yes, shattering. Although I'm not a sole parent, because of working patterns and long commutes, Mrs ttaM and I basically alternate childcare. There's normally, at most, one day a week when we are both around together. This week, for example, I've done every bed-time, and most of the mornings. xelA has seen his Mum for about 20 minutes each morning, and that's about it. And it gets knackering.
At Christmas, I did something like 13 days in a row, solo, as Mrs ttaM was basically working almost every day, and even though it should be quite easy, I was buggered.
So I can imagine with 3, it must really run you down if you don't have a routine, and co-operative kids.
re: 44.1
Actually, although he's prone to bashing himself, he's not destructive. I can't recall him breaking or permanently damaging anything in our flat, ever. Maybe one of his own toys, but nothing springs to mind.
Other people's places are maybe less child friendly, though.
Caring for kids is exhausting in direct proportion to how little you get back from them I think. When my daughter is being sweet and helpful and delighting me with her stories, it's pretty relaxing. When she is demanding and refusing shit nonstop and switching focus every 5 minutes, utter wipeout. No comment on how much of that I think any parent can control, because I have no idea.
Torn between pushing for a last-minute trip to Lassen and a much saner and cheaper dull weekend of epic dullness and cleaning at home. Of course dull will win, but it's not quite a fait accompli yet.
Going to the Philadelphia zoo with my son!
The cobbler at the Kensington circle? He's loony! But usually an excellent shoe repair guy.
Minivet, there are some decent consignment stores in SF that sell menswear. Resist the rental!
63.1 Wasn't there a thread a little while back where you and nosflow were talking shoe repair in SF and you said that one of the guys was crazy or am I experiencing blog déjà lu.
Going to hear J/eremy C/orbyn speak on Sunday evening, to see what all the fuss is about. Though his bandwagon has rather been upstaged by the refugee crisis in the last few days, and I doubt all the twelve hundred or so people who've registered to attend will actually turn up.
53.1: Oh, this is a bad question. Lee has them two weekends a month still (6 pm Friday to 5 pm Sunday) and, um, down to one evening 2 hours every other month. Gulp. Beyond that she takes one girl for 3ish hours every Monday, but 2 is no easier than 3 for me, and Selah some Friday afternoons including I guess now, except this is actually her first time doing that. Not a lot of downtime and [redacted]. Hooray!
I do have my annual physical coming up and they'll check the fun blood stuff, so I guess I'll find out if it's a problem. It's not shingles-tired or anything, just run down and feeling like it would be a good idea to go to bed and so I do.
Yes, that precise cobbler. When I brought the shoes (three pairs!) to be repaired he engaged me in boring conversation for like forty minutes, about such topics as bike security (he recommended getting a total beater and making even more beaten), how I should set up my monitor etc. arrangement at work, and the desirability of my getting, like, tassled loafers if I wanted to move up in the workplace ("But I don't like those shoes", I said, when he gestured toward a conservative and ugly pair in the rear of his shop), and the shoes I was then wearing. My impression was that he excoriates 50% of his customers so I felt I was getting off pretty easy.
All business when I picked them up, though, no chitchat at all.
Because my knowledge of the contemporary UK derives exclusively from Top Gear and blogs, I always mentally confuse Jeremy Corbyn and Jeremy Clarkson.
That's the guy! He's in the East Bay, not SF. Basically if you are a reasonably attractive woman it is virtually impossible to get out of his shop. He just talks and talks and talks managing to stave off every possible opportunity to end the interaction within the normal bounds of polite conversation until you are forced to flee abruptly. I also suspect he would be one of those hold onto your hand for waaaaaaay too long in a handshake types. Ick.
But when I've been in his shop with a guy he's comparatively taciturn.
Sorry you got the barrage but feel retrospectively less misogynistically oppressed now so that's nice.
I'm assuming one can't get a new, fitting suit in a single day (which is all I have). Am I wrong?
I have this vague fear that I will run into my ex there even though how often does she need the services of a cobbler? It can't be that often.
Once when I was blue, and also still dating her, I requested pictures of her being cheery, and as she was out running errands one of them was a selfie with the cobbler, who managed to look vaguely non-disgruntled at it, apparently quite a feat.
71: you probably can for enough money.
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Well, that was disturbing. A student in my intro to philosophy class drew a strange diagram on the board, and whenever I asked a question, he would point to it and say the answers are there. He was generally giggling and disruptive, interrupting people to point out that we were communicating by sound.
In my incident report I said he seemed to be either high or having a manic episode. I'm leaning toward the latter, but a recent encounter with dread Cthulhu, the Sleeper of R'lyeh cannot be ruled out.
>|
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I really like the Guardian, mostly, which makes it extra terrible that they so often post backwards-chronology lists of "live updates" instead of the article I think I'm clicking on. I hate it so much! SO MUCH! And while I used to feel like I could predict with a moderate degree of confidence when that would happen, and avoid it, now it's just basically every current event that I want to read about and it doesn't say "live blog" on the front page or anything.
My life is very hard.
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72.1 would make a nice story problem but we'd need to know how many shoes she had, how much wear was typical, and some pictures of her feet in heels crushing mice.
74 Maybe it was a stupid joke of which you were the intended butt.
Because my knowledge of the contemporary UK derives exclusively from Top Gear and blogs, I always mentally confuse Jeremy Corbyn and Jeremy Clarkson.
I never heard of Jeremy Corbyn until this year, but for a decade I've confused Jeremy Clarkson and Jeremy Paxman.
Why are so many 50-ish British men named "Jeremy"? And "Chris"? And "Antony", spelled "Anthony"?
77: After an encounter with security he agreed to go to the hospital for evaluation.
Chris, at least, was a perennial super-common name until quite recently. It was number one as recently as 1984, though it seems to have fallen off a cliff in the 2000s.
So, have you ever seen 12 Monkeys?
71, 73: or with luck! As you have a backup plan already, why not take your chance to get something you look great in for a song? Summer weight suiting should be near optimally priced now. And I bet the SF shops will be pretty uncrowded.
83: I find clothes shopping distasteful at the best of times, and then adding on the short notice and tube closure I doubt I'll do this, but store recommendations?
I have a big day planned for tomorrow, with a wildflower hike, grilling by a lake, then dinner at what I hope is a nice restaurant in a small, outlying city. Then Sunday lie around, and Monday try to get some work done.
I cannot fucking believe we're going to have nearly 2 solid weeks of heat (±90°) and humidity, and at this time of year (when it certainly gets like this, but rarely for any length of time).
I've been told I'm going to Dominica in a couple weeks for Tropical Storm Erika-related program activities. So, in advance of that, I plan to spend this weekend hacking together a bunch of Dominica-related GIS data.
Not that I get Monday off. But that's election day here, so it could be interesting.
So I forgot to buy tickets to the philharmonic here thinking the concert was in 2 weeks instead of tomorrow and now they're sold out. Grrr. At least I can go sulk in a cave tomorrow afternoon.
(A lot of the orchestra members have flats in my building and I can hear them practicing tonight.)
Hmmm if the thrill of the chase does not appeal then skip it. Nothing worse than shopping under pressure if you don't like it.
Impossible to make good recs without knowing your style (only met you once so far but hoping to improve in that in future!) BUT for consignment sui generis on market is near my gym and sometimes has intriguing pieces in the window or at least they seem so at 530 am! And for new I suspect the sales at bloomingd and nm in the shopping center will be favorable this weekend for summer weight things. Brooks bros must be shipped at with extreme caution so as not to look ridiculous but the odd piece from them can be wonderful, the better half got some gorgeous very pale aqua esque trousers to wear with his boating jacket at the wedding and he looked scrumptious. The hayes valley and mission are rife with expensive boutiques that when they opened carried some nice jackets etc but now only carry 200 $ t shirts. It is extremely discouraging.
Chat up the musicians and see if you can finagle being smuggled backstage!
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23 and Symphony No. 5.
92 that would be nice but I'm afraid it's too late, they're all locked away in their flats practicing!
85.2: I know. Looking at the forecast for next week was depressing. Not that long distance forecasts are always right, but it looks like no break until Thursday.
And the stupid sun. It's always there. Somebody bring the clouds back.
If the humidity is this high, shouldn't there be a cloud? Clouds are made of humidity.
85.2 I don't want to get tiresome on this point (but I will!) but we're just starting to get down towards those levels* and it feels like an enormous relief.
*low 100s, it's 95 now at 9:30 PM and the sun set almost 4 hours ago.
It's supposed to be miserable there. It's part of the local culture or something.
Like how you can get mixed drinks with sausages in them in Milwaukee.
I can't get either of those things!
And "Antony", spelled "Anthony"?
Because that is and always has been the default spelling in Britain (at least England). To your more general question, Chris, Nick, Tim and Jeremy were in the top 10 middle class names throughout the 1950s. What were American boys called?
Take a look:
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1950s.html
102: John, Bill, Tom, Jerry . . .
The names in 102 sound like 70s-early 80s. Lots in my age group.
Someone shopping in SF? I was buying all my "nicer" stuff at Sean when I lived there. Definitely slim fit, but good clothes.
Franz has one pair of particularly, delightfully loud knickers, I call him Reg when he wears them as in Reg retired to a flat on the Costa Brava.
Also shopping question, where would one go in London for snazzy men's shalwar kameez?
111. I'm all for those making a comeback. Anybody with a daughter to name should seriously consider Æthelflæd.
I also can endorse Sean, though I've never bought a suit there.
I have bought suits at Sean, and been happy with them.
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My sister is coming to visit me, and we're planning to spend Wednesday, Sept. 9, in Manhattan. Is anyone interested in a midweek meet-up somewhere near Penn Station? Our train doesn't leave until 9pm, so we have some flexibility.
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Minivet, I'm not sure how far off the fit is, but have you considered rush alterations? It looks like that's entirely possible. Drop off today, pick up tomorrow?
I may just miss you...I'm in NYC through Tuesday night.
Sean very good quality, definitely cut narrow, on the casual end of the scale per me. Suspect degeneration to expensive t shirts, but perhaps they've dodged that one.
118: Doubt I can even drop off today.
I am absolutely certain your back up plan will be great, relax and take note of all the tips here for future pleasurable and leisurely shopping. Should be a luxurious reward for all your healthiness, not a high pressure slog.
I don't recall expensive t-shirts the last time I was there, admittedly a while ago. I did get a really pleasing pair of very blue (purportedly Klein Blue) pants there, which I may have mentioned here before.
The shop next door to Piccino was having a terrific sale a week or two ago, they have some nice men's clothes. I got a trio of great dresses: https://instagram.com/p/6apYUzB8Iy/.
We are actually headed to apotown for a car exchange/quick visit with my one kid.
J,Robot I'm not at the "other place" (actually not clear what you all mean by that but anyways) so will say here wishing you lots of ease and healing and fingers crossed re surgeon's reservation of aesthetic discretion.
Last weekend my father and sister and i did this 238km / 5500m climbing bike race, and I know the thread's about this weekend, but since that was by far the most badass thing I have ever done or will ever do in my life, I wanted to brag. This weekend my father and I will continue hanging curtains, and hopefully my wife and I can go hiking on Sunday.
In an update to 1, I now have my nerd poles plus a new stove and spirit burner. This burner is genuinely Swedish instead of a cheap, Chinese copy of a Swedish design. Thanks Obama.
Hiking, "mountain climbing*" in NH with post-hiking picnic. Then two days of utter torpor aside from another picnic, or so I hope. More hiking in NH with somewhat more mountainous mountain in two weeks but that's presumably off-topic.
* Mountain that wouldn't rate a name out west.
Pittsburgh types, we are having an impressive rainstorm and I'm still hopeful cooler air will follow. If so, it's probably headed your way!
It's raining right now, but somehow still sunny. Stupid sun, go away.
130: I recommend a genuine Swedish alcohol stove, as first recommended to me on this by urple.
The photos of refugees walking 100 miles from Hungary to Austria are stunning.
Thanks for making the hiking seem pointless.
128 [when it's dark outside] is awesome Trapnel. Brag away.
Hey SF area people I'm at the beer hall at 1 Polk (conveniently close to CC station) and the beer is good, it isn't punitively loud and the spiced nuts are excellent. We should keep in mind for future meet ups!
And by the time I toddle off to be tortured by the bodywork dude i should be pretty lit. Have to bake a cake tonight! Oh nos! But maybe litness will mean more effective if brutal anti sciatica tx???
135- it's like watching the Sound of Music in reverse.
"A woman realizes the man she married has a daughter only two years younger than herself so she runs away to a convent."
It does make more sense.
Well. Good on Angela Merkel (!) and Nicola Sturgeon.
J Robot meetup? I don't have a Penn Station bar immediately on tap, but there must be something decent nearby.
We got the boy back today after a week with his mom. Were planning to go camping but got a late invitation to visit some friends on Long Island. First day of school is Wednesday, then he goes back to his mom's that afternoon, so a meetup that night could work.
Seconding heebie, Thorn: see your GP and get your blood checked. I found out that I was iron-deficient anemic earlier this summer (unbelievably exhausted, racing heart rate, and oh, yeah, my running pace slowed.) You might just be tired from the kids, but it's very easy for anemia to sneak up on you.
My treasured Swedish alcohol stove turned out to cook a whole lot better this summer when we stacked the space around the burner with dry twigs
You can send the sun here for a while, we haven't seen much of it and even our usual Indian summer hasn't materialised.
Also, Thorn, get your B12 checked. Four or five shots a year can make a difference.
I do get anemic regularly, which is part of the checkup. I'll see what else they find. Thanks!
My sister has had great results from B12 shots.
Oh right, B12 is pernicious anemia. I've had that in the past too, because I specialize in Victorian-sounding ailments. Shingles is more modern, I guess, but even that wasn't age-appropriate. I'll see what the doctor says. Even if it is just exhaustion, it can get better with time as I get used to the things I need to do.
And I'm writing this from bed while the girls amuse themselves within earshot, which is pretty great and easy for me. Weekends together are a lot more relaxed now.
151: I was apprehensive, but it worked surprisingly well. By itself the burner was hardly strong enough even to melt the butter in the pan, but with a handful of twigs added it cooked the trout that Nworb had caught for lunch in no time at all.
I've never tried to fry with one but it sounds like you needed a wind screen.
This morning we played tennis with our two older kids while the younger ones ran around an adjacent field/playground. We just started doing some lessons for them after they came back from camp and said they liked playing. The eight year old is surprisingly consistent already, he had some ~10 stroke rallies he played from the baseline and was hitting with topspin.
Next we're going raspberry picking, then dinner and ice cream cake, then minor league baseball with fireworks at the end of the game.
Caving was fun though it was more of a gigantic karst sinkhole than a proper cave system. Still pretty big and deep and way cooler when you climbed down all the way inside. It was a nice scramble/climb getting back up. I noted the complete absence of broken beer bottles, cigarette butts, and used condoms I'd expect to see at similar sites in the states. There was graffiti in English ("I ♥ India") and Arabic on the walls and disappointingly a single fucking swastika. I'll be coming back with a can of spray paint to cover that over some time in the near future.
156: oh it has a wind shield. It's called a storm kök. Maybe the fault was the weak alcohol we were sold.
The storm one is king. You must have had shit fuel. All hail storm stove.
Okay JESUS CHRIST, I think lourdes kayak and I are on, respectively, our third and fifth lost pair of sunglasses within a 12-month period. How the hell does a person keep track of these things? Like, do I need to go to the Rockridge shop where I was assured that prices start at $270, because I know I would be protective of any personal item that expensive? I know I'm not going to buy 22 more of the usual $10 kind (or $3 or $15 or whatever Real American Men pay for sunglasses -- I have no idea what they cost), but it's just ridiculous.
You need to get some of those neon colored cords that connect to the back of the arms and go around your neck so you can just leave them hanging there when you aren't using them.
You could do what I do and need prescription sunglasses, which removes the possibility of acquiring them cheaply.
I'm watching a Scandinavian movie. It's about the end of the world but it starts with an academic seeking grant money. Come on Norway. I could have watched Kirk Cameron deal with the end of the world.
This an open thread? So here. And whatever is all the days of my life.
Have prescription sunglasses, so ain't gonna lose em, since they never leave my face. Sometimes I wonder if I can still swim.
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Movies!: Hungarian White God is a terrific doggy story; Civeyrac's Les Solitaires has two extended nude male wrestling scenes with dangles; Miike Takashi's Big Bang Love gay prison romance; and his remake of Graveyard of Honor maddog yakuza are both masterpieces.
Gurren Lagaan is indeed top twenty all time
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō is what has me excited enough to post. Yes, I have also read some of the manga.
This is light years beyond almost all the manga being translated and published in the US."[15] A reviewer at Uknighted Manganime wrote, "Artwise, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou ranks as the most impressive I have ever seen," adding, "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is, in short, the finest manga I have ever read, and I don't see it being surpassed anytime soon, if ever."
Oh, android runs a coffee shop on the Yokohama coast and never gets any customers. Post-apocalypse, humanity down to a few million and dropping. Streets are overgrown, ruins everywhere, most viewed under water.
Gentle, peaceful tone with the usual guitar soundtrack. Gorgeous late-90s art, all soft impressionism in pastels. No this is not Aria, which was also about time, but mostly about young girls becoming adults in a New World (terraformed Mars) of possibility.
YKK is about death, and about enjoying the beauty of the lights going out. So calm and peaceful, because everybody's fucking dead and survivors are resigned to extinction. In episode one the main character changes from packing a pistol to packing a camera, because they are no longer any marauders, but can't find any reason to take a picture. Amazing stuff. A very subtle gentle mindfuck.
"To think that an era
Came to its twilight so pleasantly."
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And now, Finmark with the kids and a guy who found a rock.
Finmark looks nice, kind of like Middle Earth. Maybe they filmed in New Zealand to save money.
... which removes the possibility of acquiring them cheaply.
I wouldn't be so sure about that...
I think the poor little girl is about to find a corpse.
112: LB, we'd love to see you. Any other New Yorker's up for a Wednesday night meet-up?
Still no corpse. Just a hornless Viking hat.
The least likeable member of the party is about to get ate. I hope.
165 Just about everyone I know who's seen White God hated it and for seemingly good reasons.
Gurren Lagann is indeed good anime.
YKK looks good, it's on the list.
170 C,mon NY'ers, meet-up! I'd be there if I could.
171 reminds me I should really dig up that Mongol/Viking helm and other pics to post to the Flickr pool.
Oh the joys of getting up at 5:20 for work on a Sunday.
How the hell does a person keep track of these things?
On your eyes, on your head, or in one spot in your home. Don't set them down for a minute, or put them in your purse, or in a pocket, or in the car, or anywhere else.
If you must steal a baby dragon, you should at least tell the rest of the party.
Apparently, karma includes being eaten next if you pull that shit.
Pretty good. Still, nothing at all to do with the end of the world. They even found a new girlfriend/mom.
176- sorry, what were you saying?
The kids entering school as the class of 2019 have never known a world without internet traditions.
Habba jiobba jibsaa jibba wine and beer and ahbiving arough rigme. HoWP eyo yo gusys a re alirings.
So the Kim Davis letter in which she purports to quote Jesus but really paraphrases a song from Phantom of the Opera -- real or parody?
Is that what Spike is quoting from in 181?
Maybe the fault was the weak alcohol we were sold.
You're supposed to drink the beer and burn the meths in the stove.
So, the earlier scripture quote in the letter is actually James 1:2 and not Luke 16:18. Luke 16:18 is the prohibition on divorce and on marrying someone who has divorced. If she really wrote that, that's a hell of an error to make.
187: I was just thinking about checking in to see how you are doing. Sorry your head hurts. I find drinking tons of fluids helpful sometimes.
Fredric Jameson on time travel, LRB
Kant distinguished between two kinds of non-conceptual language: the symbol and the schema. Traditional literature cleaved to the symbol and its 'picture-thinking' (thereby allowing Hegel to pronounce its supercession by philosophy as such, in his theory of the 'end of art'). But science fiction had the schema; and it is what we have been calling literality, the use of visual materials not to represent the world but to represent our thoughts about the world.
Also, Raymond Williams chapter on Dickens in Country and City is like xactly what I'm talking about.
Definitely fake.
Fluids, that's how I got into this mess.
Yeah, I had some diet coke and five glasses of water, but what I think would really relieve my headache would be if the room would kindly stop spinning.
Artificial sweeteners. They do that.
This seems like a fun project to do on weekends.
Thanks. I bookmarked the marker of kits and plans.
I was wondering when someone was going to mention that post here.
At least somebody did more than wonder.
Hey, I had stuff to do. I don't spend all of my time on Unfogged. (Just most.)
195. That was a nice piece. I wish he'd do more of them.
Epoxied fiberglass is a great material. Bigger boats are the same except they have less wood at their core. Molds are used more to build the hull.
My dad and a friend made a canoe. But they broke it on some rocks.
Being less charitable- woodworking and boatbuilding aren't terrible obsessions to pick up for a midlife crisis.
There's a nice lumber store about a mile away, although really expensive. I built the ladders for the kids' new lofts in our renovation last year and bough material for one there. Then I got slightly lower quality wood at Home Depot for 1/4 the price.
I'm trying to sell out enough that I can get a stupid car and land for a cob house in the forest. But woodworking and boat building would do in a pinch.
None of them are quite in the same league as chasing topless eighteen-year olds, but maybe the quiet dignity is worth it.
My wife's cousin is a professional boat builder. This summer he made an extremely lightweight dory out of stuff that was lying around the shop. The hull was made out of a space-age polymer canvas stretched around a wooden frame.
I'm all about the quiet dignity. That and the wisdom that comes with age.
Quiet dignity, the wisdom that comes with age, and advanced polymers.
Quiet dignity, wisdom, polymers, and never ever drinking beer flavored with fruit (unless hops is a fruit). The bartender just let me try another pumpkin beer. I don't see how those still exist, let alone command a premium.
Better than the cherry beer I tried last fall.
Worse than IC Light. Probably not worse than IC regular, but I'm not going to put that to the test.
To my surprise I've been drinking a lot of Ballast Point's Grapefruit IPA this summer. Doesn't really taste like grapefruit.
That sounds like it costs more than Yuengling.
Good instinct. It's not that expensive in the scheme of beers-that-are-more-expensive-than-Yuengling, though. And you can get it in cans.
195, 202, etc: also http://www.zhi.net/. There are other kit companies, but that one has been around since my little seven-year-old fingers held together the bits my dad was gluing. Decent learner's instrument, too.
IC Light is $2 a can until the Pirates game ends.
214: Did it provide wisdom and or dignity?
Less than grapefruit beer, more than pumpkin beer.
I don't get the fruit thing. Or how people I only know through work are showing up in my Facebook as "people you may know".
Are they searching me on Facebook to find out what I'm going instead of their project? Because you're going to be a lower priority if you're not funded.
Who would search co-workers on Facebook? The bored? Should I pass their names to headhunters if I ever know any headhunters?
Look around you carefully - do you see Mark Zuckerberg?* He may be following you, and writing down who you talk to.
*If you do it is already too late.
221.1 just ruined It Follows for me.
re: 214
I've always fancied building:
http://www.earlymusicshop.com/product.aspx/en-GB/1000510-ems-8-course-renaissance-lute-kit
which isn't a bad price, assuming the resulting instrument is decent enough. Comparable with an entry level-ish classical guitar.
One of the Physics profs at my undergrad institution scratch built a harpsichord over the course of about 30 years. Everything hand cut and finished and lovingly pieced together. It looks absolutely lovely.
216: well, not for me, unless it counts as marshmallow gratification. (Possibly.)
My dad built ours without playing a keyboard, or really intending to, but right after finishing an experimental physics PhD and leaving academia for what's now called IT. It was a physics thing for a while.
I daydream about building a clavichord, that politest of note-bending instruments.
No rodeo today for us; I'll probably just go work.
I'm getting a car, I guess -- I kind of had my heart set on a diesel, but the wife is just adamant that it not be a diesel. Not a hill to die on, obviously, but kind of annoying all the same.
I've been looking at getting a car here myself. I've been torn between something small, a bit sporty and sensible like the Civic Si I had in NY or something I can do some serious exploring with like a Toyota FJ Cruiser (discontinued in the states but they still make them for the ME). Lately leaning towards the latter as I've been planning some excursions in the region.
I've thought about making my own muzzle loader. That's dignified enough and very quiet until the end.
Alternatively, 54 drones and a lawn chair.
Not quite as good as the guy who used balloons, but what is?
Maybe it's just that I have a cheap drone, but don't the batteries on those die rather suddenly, causing them to flutter back to earth? I guess that's why he only went 10 feet up.
I guess fear of death is still a thing.
And I do walk upon Wan's Dyke
And I do survey the land
And I did become the Reaper with my own bare hands
For I am Wodan
Though some call me Hermes
Some call me Roman Mercury
God of cargos
God of weather
Hanging God of boundaries
Hanging God of Gibbet Hill
Killing God of hidden doorways
wtf kind of nutbar syncretist identifies Odin and Hermes, that's what I want to know.
Hermēs or Mercury was commonly identified by Roman observers with the Germanic god Wotan/Woden/Odin, hence Latin dies Mercurius corresponds to English Wednesday from Wodnes dæg 'Woden's day'.
I would really have thought Zeus/Jupiter the more obvious choice.
I think it's called "denigrating other cultures."
The wedding was nice, and diverse enough that I was far from underdressed in slacks and suit jacket. The vows included the phrase "fellow social justice warriors".
Question for Anglo-Celtic Islanders: how feasible is it to combine a cheap flight to Dublin (getting me transatlantic) with a separately purchased ticket connecting to London? In particular, do those hops tend to be pretty plentiful and standard-priced, even in the high season?
218: Our school crossing guard showed up on AB's FB. WTF?
218: Our school crossing guard showed up on AB's FB. WTF?
Look buddy, you spend 30 years up to your elbows in sheep guts and then tell me how much YOU care about which ridiculous barbarian godlet gets mapped onto which real god.
Tacitus identified Wotan with Mercury. They're both wind gods. I think the two D'Aulaures books probably lead to a mistaken identification of Wotan/Odin and Zeus/Jupiter.
242: Maybe your neighbors all friended her.
239: Without digging it up, this has been discussed here before. Since Thor was the thunder god, he got associated with Zeus/Jupiter. Still not sure why that left Hermes for Odin, but what are you gonna do?
245: I doubt the d'Aulaures have that much influence. It's just as simple as "who's the father/boss god?" Moderns don't think in terms of aspects, they think in terms of roles/hierarchy.
Hermes/Odin makes sense in terms of magic and knowledge and stuff.
I guess there's some orthodox pagans who dispute that Woden/Wotan/Odin/Odhinn are all the same god anyway. Which seems goofy to me, but then, it's no more ridiculous than any other theology.
Is anyone up? There's a really weird dust storm here, like something out of a Stephen King story. Everyone's staying indoors. Does the outside world still exist?
I think so, Awl, but I don't think I can really prove it.
At least before I've finished my coffee.
My ankle hurts, therefore I exist. I don't see any dust, therefore something outside of the dust storm exists.
No dust storm in these here parts.
It's still stupid hot here today. Fall isn't going to start until the end of the week.
It's been so long, I find myself looking back longingly and pining for drizzle.
Thursday high of 75 and rainy. Praise the maker. This heat and sun isn't how fall in Pittsburgh works.
258: Was not in town on Saturday (was down cooling off* in North Carolina), but saw via radar that we were right on the edge of some localized heavy rain in the North Hills. And was gratified to see about an inch in the rain gauge upon our return.
*Sort of.
Too late, I already chugged it.
And people say marching bands are boring.
Question for Anglo-Celtic Islanders: how feasible is it to combine a cheap flight to Dublin (getting me transatlantic) with a separately purchased ticket connecting to London? In particular, do those hops tend to be pretty plentiful and standard-priced, even in the high season?
I've done this. Aer Lingus sell'em and they come up as options in Kayak. Reasonable, although we could have done better direct by booking earlier. You can clear US CBP in Dublin going that way.
That said, Aer Lingus transatlantic is a bit sucky. The A330s are showing their age, the seating is packed in, and it's hardly a thousand welcomes.
A330s looking old? On domestic U.S. flights, you'll still get planes that haven't been manufactured since the A330 went into service. It's only been three or four years since I last flew on a DC-9.
I've been surprised to see a bunch of 727s of late. Production ended 31 years ago.
Hmm. The wiki article suggests this is unlikely*. Are there any other large passenger planes with that layout?
*As of 2 years ago, just 188 in service worldwide, and 1/4 of those are in non-US airlines
In particular, do those hops tend to be pretty plentiful and standard-priced, even in the high season?
Sure, if you book enough in advance. Bear in mind that Ryanair, which does a lot of the cheap flights, is the world's shittest airline, though.
The MD-11 is a large aircraft with the three engine configuration.
Don't fly the configuration where the one engine is in the galley.
Went away for a 4 day gaming convention in LA, which was delightful. Got to try lots of new systems and play with new GMs.
Plus, it felt like getting one over on the world, taking Friday off.
270: Nope, def. has that 727 high tail config.