OFFTOP 1.7.11 - A Fresh New Year
by Chris Hafner on Jan 7, 2011 11:52 AM PST
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PrintOur last OFFTOP is more than a week old and over 1,000 comments, so here's a new OFFTOP - the first started in 2011.
Let's talk about 2011. I love the beginning of a new year, because it stretches seemingly infinitely off into the future, full of promise and potential. It's a bit like a new baseball season, because really anything could happen in the new year and it's easy to take a sunny view of that range of possibilities. I'd like to think that I'll be smarter, fitter, more insightful, and happier at the end of the year, a better person in every way - despite the fact that I'll likely squander much of the year with the banal tasks of life and will wind up just a bit older and perhaps a bit more jaded.
How about you? How do you think about the new year - fresh with possibility, or just another month on the calendar? Will this year be particularly interesting for you? Do you expect to enjoy 2011 more than 2010?
If I think of additional prompts, I'll pop them into the comments section. Of course, all the normal topics are in-bounds as well.
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I'm pretty sure that it was decided that instead of being called 2011 this would be called the year of Katal.
by Kirk on Jan 7, 2011 11:57 AM PST reply actions 6 recs
I expect to accomplish a few things this year.
I want to camp in Yosemite.
I want to go to Lake Tahoe.
I want to come up in the plus column in poker winnings and actually have it be a supplemental income.
I’m also going to pay off my car and at least one credit card.
I think its good to have goals based on a year, because if you just say “Its on my bucket list” you might never get it done.
I wish I had your list.
Mine is:
Buy a new truck
Fix my deck
Finish my fence
Fix the interior cracks from the house settling
Get my youngest boy to HS graduation
Yours is way more exciting.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Hopefully!
It will be “new” for me, but not brand new, so I’m hoping there isn’t any snowpocalypse that drives the prices on 4×4′s up dramatically before I get my tax return.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I've always wanted a "new" car, but my 97 accord is the newest car I've ever had.
So I thought that would be a goal, to get a car thats made in the 2000’s, but I realized that I’d rather have the money right now and not making payments. Also, if I’m tied down to something like a new car or car payment, it makes it tougher to just move out of the country (Next years goal?) Yes, I’m trying to knock this stuff out BEFORE marriage.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 1:30 PM PST up reply actions
I'm hoping to get into the 2000's as well,
But with buying my wife a new car a couple years ago, it looks like I’m hovering around 1999 to 2002 somewhere. So we’ll see. I’ve never had a “new” car for myself, and I don’t really care that much about it. I’d rather save the money and just have something older, but nice.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I used to revile resolutions.
But the past couple years I put myself into a mode like what you have, and made things more realistic. It’s worked out much better for me. Here’re my most-viable-to-least-viable goals for the year:
Get out to the west coast, if even only for a week (Overleaf!)
Be able to run 5 miles without stopping/walking.
Get up to date with my certifications, Mac and MS.
Re-learn CSS/AJAX/HTML – Learn Rails, Ruby, HTML5
Feel comfortable walking up to anyone and striking a conversation
Get the fuck out of NJ (Like I said, least viable)
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Touch shy are you?
I recommend drinking more. It makes talking (too much) much easier.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I'm not shy by any means, but my interactions are usually task based (meetings, speeches, teaching, fixing).
I have problems relating to anyone (I have almost no empathy reflex), so small talk and meeting people on a personal instead of a professional level is difficult.
I also don’t drink, so that cuts out the best place I can think of to practice.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Perhaps consider joining a club of some kind?
That is a good way to get personal interactions with people.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything that would fit my schedule and interests.
This year I’m actually making a concerted effort as opposed to just looking around in the past. I’m thinking Rugby once I get my knees in order and my fitness level up a little bit.
Anyone have any rugby experience? Is it a game that anyone can pick up easily, and will it ruin your knees like football does?
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
by Faux on Jan 7, 2011 1:11 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Try meetup.com?
Its how I came to find a bunch of Seahawks fans in LA. They have a bunch of other things and interests that people meet up for and is a good way to perhaps practice those interactions.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 1:13 PM PST up reply actions
Never heard of it, I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks, bud.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I'm guessing you're overseas, since you're mentioning rugby?
I don’t know if all those sites are international or not.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
New Jersey, actually. I just know I can't do football again and will never have the speed for soccer, but like sports.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Softball is good.
No need for speed, and relatively easy on the knees unless you play like a madman.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Or bowling is always good.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
by Thingray on Jan 7, 2011 1:23 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Prerequisite rec for bowling.
Charter Member: Dave Sims Sweet Hat Club // Career .384 BA, .543 OBP for Rocky Diablos
by Two Rs and Two Ls on Jan 8, 2011 2:16 AM PST up reply actions
Speaking of which
I wonder how crowded the bar will be tomorrow. I kind of want to go but at the same time I’m not sure.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
My friend's in a local rugby league.
Says it’s hell on the back and that it really requires you to be in good shape, especially with respect to cardio.
Maybe that comes after I can make the 5-mile mark, then.
I’m back up to 1/2 mile after my latest surgery (and subsequent 40lbs), and more by the day.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
As someone who contemplated rugby... try Aussie Rules Football
It’s a quicker game, but I’m not sure the cardio demands would be radically different (much larger field is ameliorated by larger teams). You’re a big guy, as I remember, and that helps in both sports. But Aussie Rules just seems a lot more interesting to me as someone who didn’t grow up with either. Really cool game, fun to play, and will introduce you to tons of people (most of whom drink a lot, but that’d be true of Rugby as well).
There are clubs in NYC and Philly, though there may be lower level things going on in NJ. I forget what part of the state you live in.
....Can you add Drupal into your learning mix as well.
If so I may have some freelance work for you.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 10:46 AM PST up reply actions
Where do you live in Jersey (if you don't mind my asking)?
I also live in Jersey and have never managed to meet another Mariners fan while living here.
North, Boonton.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Hmm, I've never heard of it. Which county?
I’m in Princeton, but I used to live up in Bergen County near Hackensack.
NW Morris. Up 287 from Morristown.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I already have a nomination for my favorite heart-warming story of 2011.
An Israeli animal hospital has mounted wheels on an injured tortoise to help it get around, creating perhaps the most adorable creature imaginable by the human mind. And judging by the printing on the wheels, they’re even radials! No crappy bias-plies for this tortoise.
Part of me wants to see this little guy pop wheelies and strike fear into the local hare population.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 7, 2011 11:59 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
If you pull him back, does he wind up and then shoot forward?
If not, ripoff.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 7, 2011 12:10 PM PST up reply actions 11 recs
This begs for a "yo dawg" joke, but I can't think of one. So I'll just share this instead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/7939684.stm
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
tttttthhhhheee rrrrrrrriiiiiiiimmmmmmmsssss kkkkeeeeeppppp ssssppppiiinnniiiinnnggg eeeeevvvveerrrryyytttimmmmmeeeee hhhheeeeee sssssttttttttttoooppppppsssss
...and now I'm here
Those look as if they were adhered to him with chewing gum.
That’s one minty-fresh turtle.
Chickity-check yourself before you Rec yourself.
by thehemogoblin on Jan 7, 2011 12:38 PM PST up reply actions
This new year has already seen me get a new car, so I can only imagine that it will continue to be a good year
I don’t usually view a new year as a fresh start or anything like that, but I can certainly see how some people do
This is not surprising at all
I hate buying beer at sporting events anyway, but at least this is compelling evidence to save a couple of bucks if I choose to spend that much money on a beer
by tootthekazoo on Jan 7, 2011 12:07 PM PST up reply actions
I hate it too, but I that whole "captive audience" thing kind of makes it necessary.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
And also pointless to complain about
If you don’t already know you’re getting ripped off by buying a single beer for the price of a sale six-pack of mid-range beer at a grocery store then there’s kinda no hope. If you buy a beer at a sporting event, you are a willing participant in why they are so expensive – and I say that as a person who buys beer at sporting events all the time.
This is the same with people complaining about drink prices in a bar.
If you don’t want to pay bar prices, buy your own bottle and stay home and make your own appletinis.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Ayup
It is true that I drink less at ballgames than I would normally, but the stupid price for beer at games doesn’t stop me entirely, so I can’t then sit there and say OH MY GOD THIS DELICIOUS BEER THAT I WAS NOT COMPELLED TO PURCHASE ON THIS HOT DAY IS WAY TOO EXPENSIVE I’M GOING TO CALL THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU or anything.
I don't care about the prices so much as I hate to miss any game action to go wait in line for another beverage.
And it doesn’t seem like you see many beer vendors in the stands anymore, so therefore I usually nurse each beer the best I can (not to mention getting in a good solid pre-funk).
"Do you really want to go that way?"
@dannyoneil Worth noting: The Qwest Field beer story going viral fails to recognize price difference is based on premium vs. non-premium beer.
by msb on Jan 7, 2011 4:30 PM PST up reply actions
So the premiums come in (what appears) to be a larger cup,
is that what he’s saying?
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
heh
First & Goal:
“We received a copy of the YouTube video showing the quantity of liquid served in the 16 oz. beer cup is the same quantity that fits into the 20 oz. beer cup. This is the first time we have been alerted to this fact. Upon our internal investigation this afternoon, we discovered the cups that are marked 16 oz. hold 20 oz. of liquid. Fans who purchased a 16 oz. beer actually received 20 oz. of beer for the 16 oz. price. Fans that purchased the 20 oz. beer received the amount they purchased. We are working with Levy Restaurants to follow up with the cup vendor about the measurement and to determine how long this has been occurring at Qwest Field. We are determined to find a solution as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we will serve domestic beer in the 20 oz. cup at tomorrow’s playoff game to ensure all fans receive the amount they purchase, and we will charge the 16 oz. price.”
by msb on Jan 7, 2011 6:15 PM PST up reply actions
I'd like to petition for the New Year to begin on Dec 22
Jan 1 makes no astronomical sense. To hell with the Roman Senate
I just want to find a sweet summer legal internship this year
Oh and give up on eating out unless it’s for a date or special occasion.
I'm sure your significant other isn't a fan of your second resolution.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 7, 2011 1:44 PM PST up reply actions 9 recs
Depends on who's doing the cooking, and/or if it's a euphemism.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Early nomination for Comment of the Year.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 1:46 PM PST up reply actions
I'm in the same boat with you on that first one.
I graduate in 2012, which is the year I actually have to find a job, and for that reason fuck 2012, I hope 2011 lasts forever.
Thirded. And trying to find a job in journalism is a scary proposition.
Chickity-check yourself before you Rec yourself.
by thehemogoblin on Jan 11, 2011 2:14 PM PST up reply actions
Every two years, I go into January thinking I'm going to drive every mile of state highway in a new state.
It’s Arizona time, bitches
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Why not New Mexico?
Spare yourself the worst state in the country
by Matthew on Jan 7, 2011 1:09 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
The northeast corner is a nice drive, but otherwise I agree.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I'm hoping to finish Arizona quickly and then move to New Mexico
Arizona has a fairly small state highway system (much smaller than WA or WY), but New Mexico has a big one and is obviously further away
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I'm so crazy jealous of Corco for doing all of this road-tripping.
I’d really love to do that, because I grew up taking vacations on the road during the summer and I really like to drive. I just don’t have a car and I can’t find the time to do it during the summer anyway anymore.
Chickity-check yourself before you Rec yourself.
by thehemogoblin on Jan 7, 2011 1:42 PM PST up reply actions
I agree
I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’d love to not be tied down to anything so I could just up and drive away for a couple of days. My wife hates being in the car and my near-7-year-old son would get bored as hell, but I’d love to explore the roads like Corco does
What other states have you done?
I imagine that can be really amazing or really awful.
by ungoreatstefan on Jan 7, 2011 1:11 PM PST up reply actions
From the looks of it, he's done Washington and Wyoming to completion.
Start here, then move around.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 7, 2011 1:46 PM PST up reply actions
Both
The parts where you get to see pretty much every random small town and scenery opportunity in a state is cool, the part where you drive 40 miles through barren sagebrush just to turn around and drive 40 miles back isn’t so cool
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
6 to 50??
Of state highway? No way… Hawaii has more than 50 miles of state highway.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
That makes much more sense.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I'm guessing the only reason that comment hasn't gone green is that deadpan doesn't translate to text very well.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
I just went with the first.
But you do make a good point.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
I'm thinking 6 to 50 might be a bit low.
I drive more than 6 miles of state highway just to get to work each day.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I would imagine MT is in the tens of thousands.
Can’t speak for other states though.
That sounds about right
It’s a surprisingly large system because a lot of random dirt roads are state highways
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
For reference:
http://mt.gov/images/mapmontana.gif
The state is ~500 miles east to west.
Man, I have a long way to go
I’ve only driven the little triangle by Alzada in the SE corner of the state and 212→308→78 near Red Lodge
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
The strech between Missoula and Kalispell is one of my favorite drives ever
by Aaron Campeau on Jan 7, 2011 2:00 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I do that one a lot, so it doesn't do as much for me anymore.
Montana is an amazingly scenic state. Combine that with thousands of miles of low traffic highways, and you’ve got a lifetime of weekend roadtrips. I try to take advantage of it as much as possible.
Plus they have the most laid back Highway Patrol in the nation!
They don’t automatically assume you’re guilty of something.
Very true. It does start and end in MT though!
Wyoming really is awesome as well. It and Alaska are the only states I’ve been willing to apply for jobs in besides MT, I could convince myself to live there.
Varies
Washington and Wyoming had around 7,000. Arizona has about 5,000. Texas has 45,000 because it’s huge and every single cowpath is a state highway
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
When I see this post, I read:
5,000 / 20 MPG = 250 gallons
250 * 2.92 (avg price of a gallon in AZ) = $730
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
Keeping in mind that to drive those 5,000 miles while living in Tucson and not being able to do it in one fell swoop and even then having to double back to do it
You have to triple that number
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Oh that reminds me
you have to make time to go to the Titan Missile Museum at some point – it’s really cool. Plus to get there, you get to drive on one of the only, if not the only, Interstate highway that’s signed in metric units!
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 2:06 PM PST up reply actions
Well, I will have to do that!
I definitely need to drive that before they change the signs to English units, which is still a few years off
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
That's a lot of cash to cough up, just to drive around the desert a bunch.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
Everybody needs a hobby I suppose.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Being single and bar-averse leads to lots of disposable income relative to my age and living situation
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Spending all your free time driving in the desert alone might be why you're single.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I have no doubt in my mind
I’m not ready to give it up yet- I’ve weighed girlfriend vs. highways and highways comes out ahead every time.
One day though
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
by Corco on Jan 7, 2011 3:32 PM PST up reply actions 9 recs
"What's the highway got that I haven't got?!?"
Interesting question female… I’ll get back to you on that.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
by Thingray on Jan 7, 2011 3:38 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Driving highways is fun because you get to go to lots of different places, unlike in a monogamous relationship
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I wonder if match.com can hook you up with a girl that is into highways too.
Somehow I doubt that’s on the questionairre.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
In a monogamous relationship you get to go to up to three different places
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 7, 2011 5:43 PM PST up reply actions 12 recs
"I’ve weighed girlfriend vs. highways and highways comes out ahead every time."
Corco, you’re so awesome.
Why does that comment only have 2 recs?
"How do you think my anus feels?"-House
by seattle_since_81 on Jan 7, 2011 8:08 PM PST up reply actions
JACK BURTON HERE ON THE PORKCHOP EXPRESS
LIKE I USED TO TELL MY EX WIFE – I ONLY DRIVE AS FAST AS I CAN SEE. BESIDES ITS ALL IN THE REFLEXES!
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 10:52 AM PST up reply actions
I estimated in Wyoming I was only actually driving new road 14% of the time I set out to drive new road
Washington was a lot better, but still well under 50%
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I was looking at MT not too long ago and wondering how much of it I've done.
I think I’m at like 60-65%. We’ve got a lot of miles to cover.
The plan for 2011 was to be fiscally responsible, clear out our remaining debt and put my wife and I in a position to buy a house at the end of the year.
Then our friends decided to have an all-inclusive destination wedding in Jamaica that’s going to cost my wife and I northwards of $4,000 total to attend. (No backing out of this one – wife’s maid of honor.)
There goes that idea.
I love it when people plan weddings that end up costing the people in their wedding party massive amounts of money.
To me that’s about the most selfish thing you can do. The only cost the people in my wedding had to pay was the cost of gas to get there (and it was local).
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Well my sister had a location wedding in the Caribbean, but that was mainly because she wanted a small wedding.
That way she knew pretty much only the closest people would show up.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 1:24 PM PST up reply actions
That's our plan
A destination wedding means you get a small wedding without the guilt of failing to invite all of your friends and family!
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 7, 2011 1:41 PM PST up reply actions
You could say that a destination wedding is the most passive-aggressive wedding possible
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 7, 2011 1:42 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
Plus you get to weed out the real friends from the acquaintances
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 1:42 PM PST up reply actions
Precisely!
Pay the way of the truly important ones and then see who really cares among the rest
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 7, 2011 1:43 PM PST up reply actions
I'd say that telling everyone you're getting married in Vegas and then having a fake wedding a month later is pretty passive aggressive
by Aaron Campeau on Jan 7, 2011 1:44 PM PST up reply actions
I'm trying to decide if I want to go crash the wedding of one of my exes.
It’s going to be in Japan. I don’t know yet if I’m invited, but she posted to facebook that she sent out the invitations.
Charter Member: Dave Sims Sweet Hat Club // Career .384 BA, .543 OBP for Rocky Diablos
by Two Rs and Two Ls on Jan 8, 2011 2:24 AM PST up reply actions
I guess Ms. Jeff will need a screen name change to Mrs. Jeff soon enough?
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
It's not really an "issue" but the only real issue is that you do get a few people who say "Sure!" and you're like "Really??? Uh, okay."
i.e. Robert will be there.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 1:47 PM PST up reply actions
I should hope that Robert will be there
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 7, 2011 1:48 PM PST up reply actions
What kind of wedding present would you be expecting from him, out of curiosity?
A framed copy of his hospital hit-list I think would be the best you would get
I read this as Stanking.
Now I have this visual of Robert doing the Stanky leg for 90minutes straight.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 10:54 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
We're doing this to an extent.
We scheduled the wedding two hours out of town (in an area that gets pounded with snow), in January, in the middle of the week.
Figured it’d weed out all the fringe people we’d rather not have.
Good God - I'm surprised that they're assuming all of their attendees can afford that trip.
Any chance you could save some money by just sending your wife? In 2010 my daughter and I skipped a friend’s wedding because we just couldn’t swing the expense. My wife was the MoH and still attended, but that was the most we could do.
I told my wife that I was planning on flying down the day of and flying back the day after but that didn't sit really well with her.
We didn’t have a proper honeymoon so this would be our first trip anywhere after our marriage. She’s making the best of the situation, treating it like a belated honeymoon. Me, I’d rather save the money.
Still,
it’s sort of a “forced” honeymoon. Just seems presumptuous of the couple getting married to make the people in the wedding party choose between spending 4k to attend, or being a jerk and saying “no”.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Yeah, that is perfectly reasonable and its unreasonable for anyone to assume that anyone else could go.
It should be a bonus if people say yes.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 1:32 PM PST up reply actions
Reasonably, no...
But have you ever had to tell someone that you couldn’t/wouldn’t be in their wedding? It typically is not a fun situation, especially of they want you to be the best man or MOH.
It puts you in a tough position when they make you the person who has to decide if it’s feasible.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I think that asking your friends to spend that much money on your wedding (assuming all of your friends aren't loaded)
is incredibly presumptuous and selfish and though it might be uncomfortable to say know it is in no way unreasonable to do so. People turn into really selfish assholes where there weddings are concerned.
by Aaron Campeau on Jan 7, 2011 1:39 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
That's exactly what I was saying.
It’s selfish of them, and puts you in the position to have to make the decision. It’s one thing to decide if you’re a guest, but when you’re invited to be in the wedding party it’s different.
I didn’t even make my guys pay to rent their tuxedos. It’s my wedding, they shouldn’t have to pay for anything (except the bachelor party perhaps).
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I had my guys pay for Tuxes.
But they’ve all done the same thing. So its kind of worked out.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 10:57 AM PST up reply actions
Same on my end
My brother and brother-in-law-to-be didn’t really count, but my 2 best friends both paid for their own and I fully expect(ed) to do it at their weddings (one was married back in 2008 and I had to pay my own)
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:13 AM PST up reply actions
"People turn into really selfish assholes where there weddings are concerned."
This is completely true, but ultimately I find it hard to blame people for that. This is their day, after all – it’s them getting married, and the wedding should be how they want it to be. If they want to have a wedding in Jamaica, they should have a wedding in Jamaica. It’s their event.
But if they do that, they should really make clear to everybody that there are no hard feelings if they can’t afford to attend, or perhaps even have a local reception for people who can’t make it.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 7, 2011 2:33 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, I'm fine with people having the wedding they want.
I just think they should recognize that what they are asking of people might be unrealistic.
by Aaron Campeau on Jan 7, 2011 9:40 PM PST up reply actions
My entire family bitched because I told them they couldn't bring their kids, and thus 2/3 of my extended family did not show up
I didn’t want to deal with people’s asshole kids and they all hated me for it, but fuck ’em
by tootthekazoo on Jan 7, 2011 5:00 PM PST up reply actions 4 recs
I banned kids too.
Amazing how upset that makes people.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Ditto.
A few people probably got upset, but you know what was great? Being able to drink a ton, party, and not have anyone worry about making loud sexual references in front of little Burt’s sensitive ears.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
We thought about doing our wedding in Hawaii.
But vetoed it pretty quickly because of having to ask people to pay to come. (Also I didn’t want my mother in law near us on our honeymoon)
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:00 AM PST up reply actions
I'd spend the entire trip mentioning how much you really wanted to buy a house this year.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 1:48 PM PST up reply actions
I think they call that "making the best of a bad situation"
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
When they plan a destination wedding.
They better be ready for people to say “no”
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 10:56 AM PST up reply actions
I'd back out if I couldn't afford it/didn't want to pay that much. In fact, I probably would have laughed in their face.
It’s the principle.
by Matthew on Jan 7, 2011 1:14 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
People skills!
Chickity-check yourself before you Rec yourself.
by thehemogoblin on Jan 7, 2011 1:48 PM PST up reply actions
I think that it would be incredibly rude to laugh in the face of someone who asked you to be in their wedding party.
It’s like when someone asked me to be tthe godparent to their child. I was thinking “Are you fucking kidding me?”, but I told them I was honored, but I didn’t feel I was the right person for the job (they were actually looking for someone to take the child if something happened to them, not just for a ceremonial person).
"Do you really want to go that way?"
by Thingray on Jan 7, 2011 1:50 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
And with a destination wedding
you can also say “I’d be honored, but money’s really tight” and the wedding party then has a chance to stump up some cash to help out.
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 1:51 PM PST up reply actions
Some of our friends had a destination wedding.
It wasn’t the Caribbean, but it was California, and not everybody in the Portland area could attend. To mitigate this, the couple hosted a wedding gathering about a month later in Portland. It worked perfectly.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 7, 2011 1:53 PM PST up reply actions
I almost had to attend a wedding in Guatamala this summer.
I had the same reaction as you. Thank God a closer friend later scheduled his wedding for the same weekend.
Holy crap.
thanks god I have cheap relatives and friends.
beautiful weddings, all.
by msb on Jan 7, 2011 1:40 PM PST up reply actions
The cheapest weddings are frequently the most beautiful.
In my mind, simplicity in weddings beats ostentation hands-down. The money is better spent on food and drink for the raucous reception anyway.
That's where most of my money went.
NO HOST BAR!!!
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Those three words are the key to a successful wedding reception
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 1:51 PM PST up reply actions
We made the crucial mistake of buying many kegs of high-quality beer and many bottles of wine ...
… while almost completely neglecting the food. By the time we finished the reception line, the food was all gone, everybody was completely hammered, and civilization was crumbling.
We got married at a McMenamins
the food was copious, the beer was free-flowing, and civilization crumbled anyway. It was awesome.
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 1:54 PM PST up reply actions
Our first night of our honeymoon was at the McMenamin's Edgefield.
Yeah, after both the effluvia and passed-out drunks were cleaned up, pretty much everybody except my grandparents were pleased with how the reception went.
That's where our wedding was!
golf, drinking, food, drinking, wedding, drinking….can’t go wrong.
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 1:58 PM PST up reply actions
McMenamins beers aren't the absolute best in the world, but it's hard to find fault with their properties.
Any bed and breakfast with several different places to drink, each with its own distinct character, is a winner in my book.
Exactly
we were scouting locations, and nobody could beat their combination of site, price, and services – most caterers don’t include alcohol in their prices, and McMenamins does (as long as you hit a certain minimum spend). I wouldn’t necessarily choose McMenamins as a dinner spot with so many other phenomenal brewers in town, but for an event like that it was perfect.
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 2:04 PM PST up reply actions
The nice thing is,
my local pub supplies us with all the booze we could possibly want, and only made us pay for what we used. So we didn’t have to worry about ordering too much or too little. And a good friend supplied three kegs from Diamond Knot, so we had quality beer as well.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Bonus
Its all inclusive. Time to get loaded.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 10:56 AM PST up reply actions
Not really.
I think I had only been to four by the time I was 21, and three of those were family.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I didn't until I was 23.
Though now I have attended like 6
...and now I'm here
I haven't attended a wedding since I was thirteen or so.
I am totally cool with the fact that most people I know are not getting married.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 10, 2011 4:16 PM PST up reply actions
All my friends are getting married, and it's kinda weirding me out.
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
I'm starting to enter the engagement period and it's also weirding me out.
But I guess it means my wedding drought will be over soon!
You! Cake or death?
Yeah, I'm 28 and most of my friends don't even have girlfriends (neither do I) and for the most part haven't had a serious girlfriend for as long as I've known them.
People are much more apt to wait these days and I’m cool with that.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 10, 2011 4:38 PM PST up reply actions
Jim Harbaugh is future Kirk? This story just keeps getting more interesting.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Jim Harbaugh is current Kirk's cousin.
by Kirk on Jan 7, 2011 3:28 PM PST via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
Nope
The more interesting story is how Kirk was a Ravens fan for years than they randomly hired his cousin to be head coach.
I'm excited for the new year.
As I reach old age I find my metabolism getting progressively slower, and I’ve definitely grown more and more out of shape since college. I’m looking forward to the Warrior Dash, as taking part in it provides me the choice of either exercising again or embarassing myself. I can handle those options. While it’s a cliche, I look forward to getting into better shape this year.
Is SBN looking weird for anyone today on Chrome?
Comments don’t seem to be highlighting or threading normally.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
Refresh. It does that to me sometimes.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Shut down the window and opened a new one.
We seem to be good now.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 7, 2011 1:36 PM PST up reply actions
This happens to me on FG all the time.
After a refresh or two it seems to go bac to normal.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I'm shocked KSK didn't release a Hater's Guide to the Postseason: Seattle Seahawks this week
I guess they must be real confident the Seahawks will be around next week, and that they can publish it then.
Indeed!
Seriously if when we win today, every person in the country who is not a football fan is climbing aboard the bandwagon.
Odd, I thought they were an ESPN affiliate.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
I think Groz just wanted to visit
they talked about how long they’ve known each other, about the FSN re-branding, and then about the game on sat.
I realized it was the first time I’d ever heard her just shoot the breeze
by msb on Jan 7, 2011 2:27 PM PST up reply actions
Her voice annoys me...
It’s like she tries to put too much emotion into the way she speaks on TV, and she says “S” sounds in an odd way, almost like a ’shh" sound.
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Just switch the channel when she comes on.
That’s what I do.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
Those can be some of the best conversations. I almost said interview but I hesitate to do that
Since it sounds like it lacks the formal structure. Anyway, some of that shoot the breeze stuff can lead to the most interesting places
There are precisely two ways to make New Yorker cartoons even the slightest bit funny
1. Caption every single one “Christ, what an asshole!”
2. Caption them literally.
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 2:09 PM PST reply actions 5 recs
I'd be apathetic if I weren't pedantic.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 2:36 PM PST up reply actions
"Lois, I find this meatloaf to be shallow and pedantic"
"Do you really want to go that way?"
Close, but no cigar.
“I’d be more apathetic if I weren’t so lethargic.”
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 7, 2011 2:40 PM PST up reply actions
I just came back to the OT to see if I could correct myself before someone else did.
That’s 0-for-2 right there.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 2:48 PM PST up reply actions
Every year I'm pretty much marking time until Spring Training starts.
This is typically the worst time of year for me to deal with. Short on sunshine, gray and drizzly, getting outside to exercise is a struggle of willpower and self discipline since the weather blows ass. New Years to March has zero redeeming qualities.
NFL Playoffs?
I’ll happily be travelling to Spring Training for the 2nd year in a row. ST 2010 was one of the funnest trips of my life.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 4:15 PM PST up reply actions
What movies are you looking forward to this year?
I want to know what movies everyone might be interested in seeing this year. Seeing as how 2010 was probably the most boring year in movies, 2011 looks as though it could be one of the best in the last 10 years other than 2009.
I myself cannot wait for Battle: Los Angeles, Moneyball, and Hangover 2.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
Based on the trailers I saw on Mythbusters,
I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad that they essentially made it a comedy.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Still gonna be better than Green Lantern
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
I did not realize until just now that those are different movies.
Damn.
"That's fuckin' ingenious, if I understand it correctly. It's a Swiss fuckin' watch. "
by the other side on Jan 7, 2011 6:43 PM PST up reply actions
The Green Hornet looks terrible to me.
I hope Kevin Smith dies in his car and Seth Rogen gets his damn act together.
I just want to point out that it's never good that a movie release gets pushed back
They were originally supposed to release it to theaters the week of Christmas and the production company pulled it and delayed the release by almost a month. Also, if you’re seeing this much press and hype around it, it’s likely going to suck (see: Love Guru).
Having not seen the Green Hornet yet I can assume that it will be nowhere near as bad as the Love Guru
I watched that out of curiosity the other day as I’d heard it was pretty damn bad, and it was worse than I expected. It wasn’t even “so bad it’s comical” – it was just horribly, awfully bad.
by pdb on Jan 8, 2011 9:19 AM PST up reply actions
I don't go to theaters to watch movies,
but Hangover 2 seems like a movie that is just destined to fail. I would think they can’t improve on the first one, all they can do is re-trace all the old jokes.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I am terrified of Hangover 2
there’s almost no way it can be as funny as the first one.
by pdb on Jan 7, 2011 4:40 PM PST up reply actions
Does it have to be as funny as the first one though?
I feel like people set too high of standards for sequels that causes everyone to be disappointed by them. If you can avoid comparing the two movies you will find that you will enjoy far more sequels than you would if you otherwise.
The problem with comedic sequels is that you have to either outfunny the original or take it in a completely different direction.
Otherwise there’s no reason to make it. Who wants to see the same jokes again and again?
You don't have to outfunny it though. You just have to be funny.
I don’t think they’ll be using the same jokes in this one as they did in the last but I also don’t think it will be as funny. That is something that most people would think of as a failure or a massive let down, which really it is just something that is not quite as good as the original.
And its Todd Phillips, who I think either hits a home run or sometimes just hits a cute bloop single.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 5:07 PM PST up reply actions
And in my opinion, its almost like Due Date was Todd Phillips letdown post-Hangover.
He wasn’t a name to the general public until the general public peed their pants with The Hangover. I mean, Old School was a huge hit, but not a lot of people know who he was. (“I’m here for the gangbang”)
Then Hangover was a massive hit, everybody wants to know what he’ll due next, and Due Date was billed as such…. and I thought it was just okay.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 5:09 PM PST up reply actions
I expect the Hangover to get a large crowd just to see what direction they went.
Critics may vary in their reviews of it but the bottom line is it will still be a success.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 7, 2011 5:28 PM PST up reply actions
Niether has anything on The Goods - Live Hard Sell Hard.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:04 AM PST up reply actions
That move was hilarious
Especially because, as a former car-salesman, I can vouch that those traveling sales groups are staffed by fucking psychos so it was stunningly accurate
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:17 AM PST up reply actions
Those 3 can't work together again until they finish the trilogy that they've been talking about for so long.
And Greg Mottola is pretty well-accomplished I’d say.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 7, 2011 5:10 PM PST up reply actions
I liked this list on
SlashFilm. Not because I agree, just because those movies all look like they could be neat. Hugh Jackman promotes boxing robots! Transformers 3 might not suck! Moneyball! Scream4? Okay, whatever.
I'm expecting Transformers 3 to be the least successfull of the series.
I don’t think anyone would want to see one without Megan Fox.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 7, 2011 5:23 PM PST up reply actions
I don't remember if it's a 2011 movie,
But I really want to see the Adventures of Tin-Tin movie, because Tin-Tin is fucking awesome
laaaaaaaaaaaaaame
At least they don’t show up on the primary’s very much. And the Rave Green seems much more ravier this time. Stupid stripes ruin two spectacular kits.
Those are terrible. Absolutely terrible.
(Card-carrying member of Uni Watch.)
Chickity-check yourself before you Rec yourself.
by thehemogoblin on Jan 9, 2011 9:38 PM PST up reply actions
Plans for 2011 - finally go to Europe!
I’m studying abroad in Germany this semester, leaving at the end of February. I’ve never been abroad and I’ve got a ton of placed to visit. France, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland… 4 1/2 months doesn’t quite seem long enough.
You! Cake or death?
If you're going for 4.5 months and you're going to be in Denmark you absolutely must spend a few days in Sweden
by Fett42 on Jan 8, 2011 10:06 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Seconded2theMax
Stockholm and Kopenhagen are absoulte must visits. Most importantly the language barrier is nearly non existent there
In honor of today's game
Led Zeppelin, “When the Levee Breaks” to Hurricane Katrine footage:
I've put together a Seahawks playlist to get myself pumped up.
It includes some Zeppelin, but I’m kicking myself for not thinking of WtLB. Good call, Fett.
My Seahawks playlist: Immigrant song, Thunderstruck, Today Was A Good Day, Play With Fire, Hit ’Em Up, Rocket Queen, Gimme Shelter, Lounge (Closing Time), Tennessee Stud, Long Tall Sally, Street Fighting Man.
by katal on Jan 8, 2011 10:10 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Am I looking at a playlist that includes Modest Mouse and Tupac?
by Joe Metro on Jan 8, 2011 10:26 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Here's the one that I've been using this year!
Let’s Go-Lil Jon,The Air that I Breathe- All that Remains, Bat Country- Avenged Sevenfold (A hold over from my 2005 playlist, More of a good luck charm instead of something that gets the blood running), Chapter Four- Avenged Sevenfold, Song 2-Blur, Down with the sickness-Disturbed, Just Stop- Disturbed, Only for the Weak- In Flames, Pinball Map- In Flames, Suburban Me- In Flames, Clayman- In Flames, Dead End- In Flames, Free Fall- In Flames, Trigger- In Flames, Take this life- In Flames, Versus Terminus- In Flames, This is new shit- Marilyn Manson, You think I aint worth a dollar but I feel like a millionaire- Queens of the Stone Age, Chop Suey- System of A Down, You Wouldn’t know- The Hell Yeahs, Bittersweet Symphony- Verve ( I more protective of this being the Seahawks official song than I am of the Sexson LLogo)
I don't want to make promises since I remember how these things have worked out for me in the past
but there is a tentitive deal in place which appears to be air tight that if the Seahawks pull out the slam dunk victory today that this site will be getting new leadership for the next month.
Well, 2nd greatest
That one Felix moment alone tops all the awesomeness combined that I experienced in 2010
Yep
2010 was not a banner year in my house, mostly on the employment front. Fortunately everything non-work related was good, but when I got laid off, had to quit a second job because of untenable stress, and my wife hates her job with a blinding white hot passion and can’t get out of it as soon as she’d like because what she does is unique, that tends to cast a shadow over daily life that I’m glad to see gone in 2011.
Had a similar situation. I got laid off which put extra pressure on my to work more hours in a situation that wasn't healthy for her.
It bit us in the ass and she had a severe panic attack that forced her to “quit” – Luckily since she works for my Dad – He restructured her job so she can work from home. And luckily my brother and I’s business has started strong so her working less hours isn’t a problem.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:11 AM PST up reply actions
But for me getting laid off is the best thing thats ever happened to me.
And honestly despite the awfulness of the panic attack. Its probably the best thing thats happen to my wife.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:14 AM PST up reply actions
My wife is desperately hoping for a layoff as her company might be on the market soon
short of going back to school it’s really the best short-term outcome she could get at this point as she’s been at her company for 12 years and would get a fat severance package.
The Mariners were terrible, but the Sounders, Huskies and Seahawks were all somewhere between tolerable and great.
I’d say 2010 was an acceptable year.
Mine was pretty good, actually
But I know plenty of people that had really, really rough years and its tough to see/hear that going on around me when things are going well on my end
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:10 AM PST up reply actions
I knew a lot of people who had bad years.
I was fortunate to come out of it a bit disappointed in a few cases, but with nothing I could really complain about.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 11:49 AM PST up reply actions
If this p.o.s. house stops falling apart one piece at a time then 2011 will win
Otherwise, 2010 was a strange year all around so it was pretty much typical
I lost my job
and before i was laid off I wasn’t being paid. My gf also left me.
All in all a pretty shit year.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
2010 was great.
I wasn’t in jail, and I bought a new house. I’d say that’s pretty good.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I spent much of the year being employed to think about how terrible the job market was for others.
So, I guess it was a good year.
Meh
It was definitely the most interesting year of my life so far. Mostly good but the last quarter of it kind of sucked. 2011 is looking up though so woot.
by Mariner John on Jan 10, 2011 11:54 PM PST up reply actions
Yeah, when something this big happens I'm not sure if it qualifies as politics or not.
Anyway, it really puts the football game in perspective.
Corco is here
Holy shit- 2 miles from my apartment. I drove by that Safeway last night
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Good to know you're alright
It’s always a bit unsettling when something like this goes down so close to where you spend time. I got freaked out enough when a guy was killed here in Auburn at the Top Food directly next door to my shop, can’t imagine how this would make me feel
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:47 AM PST up reply actions
Right now it's "Why the fuck did I move to Tucson!?"
I’ve only been here 48 hours
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
From a selfish standpoint, this was not a good time for this to happen
Coming from super-safe Wyoming I was already quasi-freaked out by security guards in grocery stores and “LOCK IT OR LOSE IT” signs posted everywhere and now this happens
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
What does "LOCK IT OR LOSE IT" refer to?
High theft rates?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:51 AM PST up reply actions
I guess people regularly steal cars and take them to Mexico down here
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
One thing about Tucson is that you're on the front lines of the immigration debate
a lot of people there are ridiculously, over-the-top paranoid about illegals and the massive crime wave that they are thought to bring. But just like any mid-sized American city, just don’t leave valuables in your car in plain sight and make sure you lock your front door and you’ll be fine.
That's what I like to hear
I can’t imagine it’s any sketchier than Tacoma- it doesn’t seem to be
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
That stabbing in Bellingham happened in a neighborhood that I used to trick and treat in.
And I still walk my dog in
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:48 AM PST up reply actions
The Top foods shares a border with my business
I go there all the time for lunch and post-work beer purchasing. If I’d been out on the back lot at work when that happened I would have been able to see it, that’s how close it was. Bullshit is what it is. There was also a homeless guy beaten and left for dead at the intersection less than 100 feet from my shop. I can see the intersection out the window right now
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:53 AM PST up reply actions
I don't have a sense of whether there are really more incidents than before
or if it is that they get reported more heavily with the media and the social media
It just happened so things are still settling out
I’ve been watching reports on KOLD.com and they are still trying to sort out the story.
She's gone now...
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 11:38 AM PST up reply actions
Maybe not.
“@KOLD_news13 LATE BREAKING: UMC officials confirm Rep. Giffords is in surgery. She has not been declared dead. Please RT”
It seems reports are going back and forth.
I hope she isn't, but "shot in the head" seems less than hopeful.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 11:41 AM PST up reply actions
Especially with 6 others dead, since that means that it wasn't exactly a BB gun he was using
I’ve seen the phrase “point blank” attached to several of the reports as well, which is also not a positive statement
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:43 AM PST up reply actions
Whoops, wrong link
This 24 hour news cycle really sucks for stuff like this. Too much too fast, and it all balloons out of control
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:19 PM PST up reply actions
MSNBC just conceded they're getting reports of both dead/not dead.
Guess we’ll have to wait for the press conference in an hour.
Always possible that she has been clinically dead on multiple occasions as well
No pulse on the scene, resuscitated, “dead” again on the way to hospital, and then whatever happens during surgery
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:48 AM PST up reply actions
That was what I was going off of.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
I'm really curious as to who the shooter is and what his motives are.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:40 AM PST up reply actions
Should have a better idea after the press conference in about an hour
Shooting up a crowd may mean that this wasn’t politically motivated, perhaps
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:42 AM PST up reply actions
Looking at her as a politician.
It really could of been anybody.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:43 AM PST up reply actions
It was a heavily advertised political event though
Rep. Giffords held “Congress On Your Corner” events all over her district and this was one of them.
Yeah I get that part
But if he’s just spraying a crowd then it may not be that simple to call this an “assassination.” It most likely was exactly what it looks like, but I’d like to think that this was just some nutso piece of shit that wanted to shoot a crowd
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
I'd venture the shooter shot the crowd to deter assassination suspicion
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Most likely
I’m trying to put the most positive spin on the whole thing as possible, but I’m sure that’s what really happened. Again, thankfully they caught the guy
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:55 AM PST up reply actions
That's the key
It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out why this happened, and that’s a good thing
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Sounded like he ran up to her and shot her in the head.
But we still don’t know.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:54 AM PST up reply actions
I wasn't sure how/if to broach this as well
What the fuck is wrong with people?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:33 AM PST up reply actions
Nice work by this fellow.
The suspect ran off and was tackled by a bystander.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:44 AM PST up reply actions
Thats a ballsy thing to do after a person started shooting everybody.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 11:45 AM PST up reply actions
Well if he fired that many shots he probably only started running after he ran out of bullets
This sounds somewhat similar to the plot of Machete
How do you even get off 15 to 20 bullets without getting tackled from behind?
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Gunshots inspire crippling fear in people
How’d the Columbine guys walk into a crowded lunchroom and start firing without a single person trying to stop them?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:03 PM PST up reply actions
Any time I'm at the gun range I notice that pretty much everybody there tenses up and flinches when a shot goes off
Even when they are the one shooting the gun. It’s a natural reaction, and fight or flight generally takes into account how the matchup favors you. Fists vs. guns is a losing battle, so panic sets in and people run/hide. I’m actually surprised that nobody else pulled a gun on the shooter, I’d think that there would at least be one person in the nearby area that was carrying
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:09 PM PST up reply actions
The one thing that confuses me about this is that I'm not seeing that she had any kind of security detail.
Aren’t there normally several police officers at the bare minimum at these types of event?
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
Probably not for an event like this
Sounds like it was supposed to be a casual gathering, where people could voice opinions without feeling like they had eyes all over them
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:10 PM PST up reply actions
The news interviewed a Congressman from a neighboring district, who said that some of his staffers carried concealed weapon permits.
It may have been the same thing for her.
That's kind of what I was getting at with my comment above
I don’t want to stereotype or anything, but I figured that there would be at least a few people there with a gun
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:13 PM PST up reply actions
I have a friend that lives in Prescott
and he tells me that carrying is pretty much standard practice for most folks he knows. Even in the bars, which is quite odd to me.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
You'll be fine as long as your AK47 is loaded and operational.
Concealing it may be a tad on the challenging side however.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
I love guns as long as I don't actually have to carry one or touch one or shoot one
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
C'mon.
My Supersoaker would be a great addition to your household. Being in the desert might make it a bit difficult to find ammo, but I have the utmost confidence in your abilities.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
I'll stick with a bow
Not the most efficient thing for bar defense, but I’ll make do
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I hadn't thought of that, but this is a good idea
It does help loosen people up when there are no obvious police or bodyguard-types around, and having a random staff person carrying a pistol would help as a “just in case” sort of thing
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:13 PM PST up reply actions
I would hope he got the snot kicked out of him at least.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
Absolutely, he was lucky to make it out of there alive I bet.
by EnglishMariner on Jan 8, 2011 5:10 PM PST up reply actions
I'm not a violent man
but in this case I could see myself taking some frustration out on that individual.
Be it right or wrong, I would be quite OK with it.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
Of course the fact that he killed an innocent 9 yr old girl might actually give me a valid reason to be violent.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
Absolutely
And as Scruffy said, props to the person that caught the dude
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
I'm of the other opinion. Seems less messy going forward when they end right there at the scene.
None of the stupid “my dog told me to do it” crap and such
But also no mindless speculation if he's still alive
Sure, he may be crazy, but I’m fascinated by people that have that kind of weird motivations, and it helps those responsible for preventing/investigating this kind of stuff to do their jobs better by having a better understanding of what makes these people tick
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:05 PM PST up reply actions
This is what I think too. Understanding these events is important.
...and now I'm here
Yeah I don't know. There's almost always unanswered questions
Seems like there’s never a clear cut reason why since the act itself is always so reprehensible. How can you have a reason for such a thing that a sane person could relate to? The released info on his myspace page like crazy town anyway.
Ladies....
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
by Faux on Jan 10, 2011 4:08 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
And still grinning...
I’m assuming this is a mug shot?
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
No, I think this is Robert after the Lynch touchdown.
...and now I'm here
Drugs like that age you pretty fast.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 10, 2011 4:40 PM PST up reply actions
Heh, I somehow forgot about that teensy little part
Don’t do drugs, Coach.
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
But one can understand crazy.
If the answer is “he had aliens tell him to do it” then that still makes some sense, even if it’s wildly nuts. Maybe it’s just me personally, but I don’t like things being illogical without some type of explanation, even if the explanation is unsatisfactory.
...and now I'm here
Thus far, the explanation seems to be that the government is using grammar to control people's minds.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 10, 2011 4:18 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I thought it was LL doing that.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
by Thingray on Jan 10, 2011 4:18 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Ommguh, no way. I just had that discussion with my Biff.
...and now I'm here
Found on FG
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
by Faux on Jan 10, 2011 4:28 PM PST up reply actions 6 recs
You're looking for a logical explanation for an illogical act.
With some of these things we may just never know.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Very few things in life, including being crazy, are illogical.
In the sense that if someone believes that grammar is controlling their mind, while that itself may not be logical, it helps to make sense of where a person’s mindset is when they commit something terrible. In fact, in some ways it may be a logical response to something that isn’t by itself logical.
Guy shoots innocent people.
Guy is crazy
Guy thinks that little green men are beaming him information from space.
Guy thinks that shooting innocent 9 year old girl will stop little green men.
Guy shoots innocent 9 year old girl.
That’s logic, even if it is fucked up logic, and while it would still be terrible, I would consider that a satisfactory answer to how something awful occurred.
...and now I'm here
Almost everything, no matter how completely insane, has at least somewhat of a logical process behind it.
In the sense that you can see a sequence of events that makes up what caused another event to occur. However, the only way to do that is if the person is alive to explain it. That is why him being alive, at least for now, is important for – if nothing else – some type of understanding of tragic events.
...and now I'm here
Although I don't think it will be the case here,
there have been people like this that lived through the event, and still refuse to give any reason (crazy or not).
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Well, yeah.
But if he’s dead there won’t be any, and I am of the opinion that the world is an easier place to live when you can come out with an understanding of why difficult to understand things occur.
I have a buddy that is still missing. Been over a month now. The hardest part for myself and his family isn’t that he’s missing. The hardest part is that they don’t know why. Having that little bit of understanding is all that they need to make their lives easier, and it’s the same in this case with this lunatic – knowing why, if possible, is important, if for nothing else than to help keep the world a less messed up place. Being crazy is still all part of on logical answer, and if they can find out more, they should.
...and now I'm here
That makes perfect sense.
When my grandfather passed away there were some questions regarding exactly what happened. The questions about it made it even harder on my family, so I completely understand. Sorry about your friend.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Most people that I've know that have lost loved ones always have questions
There’s a piece missing and it’s always going to be missing, and often times people seem to try and fill that void looking for the answer. Not an answer, the answer.
I disagree with the idea that answers are not usually found.
I think closure may not always be found, but answers are usually pretty easy to come by.
...and now I'm here
I recall you posting stuff about that friend in Wisconsin.
Is he the one that is still missing? It is incredible that in todays world of instantaneous news that someone can simply disappear.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 10, 2011 4:39 PM PST up reply actions
Its incredible that in a world of cell phones anyone can disappear.
And not to say its impossible or anything, but I pretty much feel like I’m being tracked all the time anyway.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 10, 2011 4:41 PM PST up reply actions
No news at all. I assume he is presumed deceased.
This was the largest online campaign for a missing person in history, or something like that, dubbed “the social media amber alert.” Still not one word about his whereabouts.
...and now I'm here
Maybe you and I can write a guy off as nuts and say, "there's an answer"
It’s the drawn out process. Answers leading to more “why?” or “how could this happen?”, “why didn’t someone do something sooner?”. The blame game. Searching for the one person to pin it on since you can’t blame crazy man because his broken mind exonerates him somehow.
It gets endlessly processed in the media. Potential grandstanding because of the jurisdictional issues. He gets processed as another Charles Manson/Sirhan Sirhan type and he’s in the news periodically for the rest of my life. Ugh.
If he could provide information that would somehow lead to preventing something similar in the future, that would be another story.
Well, those are two different issues.
We can get started down a road with what is wrong with the media, but that would take 15 off topic threads and several LL bannings. Still, the ability to understand events I think is important for everyone, and if the answer to why that occurred is that he’s crazy and heard voices or saw ghosts or whatever, that’s fine, but that’s an answer.
...and now I'm here
It seems rare that even a crazy person would say "What the hell, I'ma go pick up and gun and shoot some kids!"
So I totally understand what you’re saying, Cap. The guy had SOME kind of motivation going through his head, no matter how crazy, and knowing at least a little bit about that motivation would make the situation a lot easier to process for…everyone, really.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
Still working on your psych career?
http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2008/2/8/135852/6324#3647220
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Gave it up to continue my freelance writing work.
May go back someday, but even if I started today I wouldn’t be done until I was somewhere between 35 and 37, and I don’t know how much I want to start a new career when I’m almost 40 with thousands of dollars in school loans and no guarantee that it would be anything more than marginally better than what I do now.
But unfortunately I cannot continue or I will be Live Journaling.
...and now I'm here
Info like this will really help give a better idea of motivation here
If he was only shooting “important” people then yeah, this was planned. I saw on HuffPo that the guy was apparently calling out names as he was shooting, maybe he knew exactly who he was there to shoot
by tootthekazoo on Jan 8, 2011 12:07 PM PST up reply actions
He could have also shot the congressperson to distract from the fact that he wanted to get the judge
It’s good they caught this guy then so we can know what the fuck was going on
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
The congress person had some previous incidents.
Including a gun being drop at a town hall meeting she had.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 8, 2011 12:09 PM PST up reply actions
He also apparently shot the district director for the DNC and a press secretary.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 12:10 PM PST up reply actions
Also born on September 11th, 2001, so that's going ot make for some really annoying news.
...and now I'm here
I don't care about that part.
But the fact he took out people that weren’t even on his shit list (apparently) makes me very angry. If you are so crazy you want to kill someone fine, but there’s no reason to take others out while you do it.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Fine?
I imagine you probably would like to re-word this comment?
Perhaps "fine" was the wrong way to put it.
But if you have a beef with someone (say a rival gang member), go take it out with them personally. Don’t go shooting up the entire playground. Kind of old school mob rules I guess.
I don’t condone murder or any type of violence at all. But I think killing random people in the process makes you twice as evil, and twice as crazy.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I don't think we can say "please, if you're going to be a crazy killer, be a crazy killer with reason"
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 10, 2011 4:36 PM PST up reply actions
We can't.
But it doesn’t change my opinions regarding their actions.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
It's just like CapSea said.
If he targeted the congresswoman, there is at least some logic to that. But I have a harder time understanding the loss of the poor little girl and other bystanders.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
by Thingray on Jan 10, 2011 4:46 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
This assumes that he targeted them specifically.
I would guess more likely is that he shot the congresswoman and then started firing at random killing anyone in his path. And again, while that seems illogical, I would argue it’s crazy, but still not illogical. The guy probably is full of adrenaline, ready to commit his horrible deed and after he does starts to shoot everything in his murderous last stand.
Maybe it’s just me, but that still makes sense. There is a difference, at least to me, between something being tragic, crazy and awful and something being impossible to understand.
...and now I'm here
Excellent point.
Maybe the best way for me to put it is that when it’s less targeted, it makes it feel even more tragic to me.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I have a philosophical question along those lines I like to pose to people
but will not do it here because I find it too nuanced for text-only
Instead, I will chose this time to again wish that our language could evolve away from bastardizing the word “tragic/tragedy”. It’s a step below the knee jerk labeling of people as a “hero” and two steps below any remote coincidence being called “ironic”
by Matthew on Jan 10, 2011 4:59 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Its like the end of Menace II Society and Boyz in the Hood...
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 10, 2011 4:59 PM PST up reply actions
I'm surprised this kind of shit doesn't happen more often.
...and now I'm here
With adequate security these things should happen much less often.
But I get your point. Letting people do what they will can be either a positive or a negative.
Which one will it be today?
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
I thought that was an odd ad as well.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
What the fuck are the Seahawks doing?!
You don’t take the lead in the playoffs. You’re from Seattle dammit!
...and now I'm here
Maybe the refs should ignore more obvious holds and blocks in the back, that would help them out.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Oh my God
Matt Hasselbeck is marauding.
Is Matt Hasselbeck the Marauder?
by Decatur on Jan 8, 2011 3:28 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
That Mike Williams dropped pass, Obomanu pass, and then delay of game forcing a punt
will haunt seattle forever
On the delay of game penalty.
I’m pretty sure it was intentional. It was a 53yard attempt. And theres never been a 50+ yarder kicked to the open end of the stadium.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 10, 2011 9:49 AM PST up reply actions
Pretty sure that kicking into the Bourgham End of the stadium is pretty difficult too.
COME BACK BROWNIE :( :( :(
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
by Faux on Jan 8, 2011 4:48 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
These words cannot describe how amazing that play was.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 8, 2011 4:51 PM PST up reply actions
IT BROKE MY BRAIN
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Hope they re-show it.
I had entered my “oh, no, our closer’s in” mode, and started making dinner
by msb on Jan 8, 2011 4:53 PM PST up reply actions
To go with the half dozen great blocks on everyone else
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 8, 2011 5:07 PM PST up reply actions
From the FG thread (lost the poster)
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I'm a fan of this rendition.
“The Marshawn Lynch touchdown, as I saw it”
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 9, 2011 2:53 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
Funny how Lynch in two weeks went from "Well that was kind of a wasted addition" to "wow, we wouldn't be here without him{"
I never thought the “Best” anything of any kind would belong to Lynch.
Then again the best catch in team history belongs to a QB.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 9, 2011 8:31 PM PST up reply actions
It's a shame we can't easily make a trollface version of the Seahawks logo.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 10:39 PM PST up reply actions
YES YES YES
TURN GREEN IMMEDIATELY
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 11:03 PM PST up reply actions
I saw this over at Fark.
RIP Dave Neihaus.
by Goose on Jan 9, 2011 12:05 PM PST up reply actions 5 recs
That was the first NFL game I have ever watched from start to finish, and I enjoyed it.
That run from that guy [sorry I don’t understand even the basics here] was pretty incredible.
I think Just go with it looks worse.
It’s really too bad that, once great movie stars are now throwing their success away like this.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 8, 2011 5:27 PM PST up reply actions
The Seahawks just won the game.
I am concerned as to what Robert may do.
Does he have a mitigating pal nearby?
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
I'm afraid that future Matthew may be the only thing to help.
And since he hasn’t been here yet, things may get ugly rather quickly.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
Or challenge someone to a race around the stadium and break both arms within the first few seconds.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 8, 2011 10:40 PM PST up reply actions
DA;LGFVK:o'PLVSGFVK/LKGFKLGK;OGKJ;LDF AS GJLKGFVJ EK KJ;LJV,MLKJ;!
by Robert on Jan 8, 2011 6:07 PM PST reply actions 6 recs
You know what I really want to hear more of?
How even bad teams can still beat better teams. That’s really fun to hear all the time everywhere.
...and now I'm here
Goals you say!
Get a sub-21 minute 3 mile. I’m in the 22-24 range right now depending on terrain and trying to improve.
Regain the 10 pounds I lost from June to December. I was a light 140(135-140 depending on scale) but now I am maybe 128. Also pull-up strength since I’m interested in doing NROTC in college and am choosing the MC option and that is the part of the PFT I’m currently lackluster on.
Finish the culminating project in order to graduate. I fucking hate this.
Pick a college. I’ve applied to UW and in the process with UNC, SPU, OSU and I’m deciding between Texas A&M or University of Hawaii for my last choice.
You got slurved!
North Carolina or Northern Colorado? If North Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill?
I’ve always really liked Texas A&M- College Station is supposed to be a really neat college town and the school has a pretty good reputation.
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I have two primary interests:
Nursing(RN) And getting a BSN
Engineering-Mechanical or Aerospace
Quite polar opposites
You got slurved!
Why did you apply to SPU and not SU if you're planning on being an RN?
I’m legitimately curious since I know our nursing program is supposed to be rather good.
by Mariner John on Jan 11, 2011 11:15 AM PST up reply actions
I enjoyed SPU a bit more than SU and I heard mixed things about SU.
When it comes to nursing I also hear SPU is the greater school.
You got slurved!
That was the best time I've ever had watching a game of any kind.
This is also the worst hangover I’ve ever had.
go.
hawks.
!
I need a good barbecue sauce
I intend mostly on using it with grilled chicken. Any recommendations?
Charter Member: Dave Sims Sweet Hat Club // Career .384 BA, .543 OBP for Rocky Diablos
by Two Rs and Two Ls on Jan 9, 2011 2:10 PM PST reply actions
Making yourself or buying?
When I’ve had to buy, I don’t mind Sweet Baby Ray’s. It’s one of the sweeter ones, but makes a good marinade sauce for chicken.
If nobody has given a good answer for making one by tomorrow, I’ll find my recipe. It’s put away for the winter.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
KC Masterpiece is magical for the price- especially the Hickory Brown Sugar version
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Is anyone else having problems with comments?
I’m not sure what it is but now all of my new comments have disappeared and it only shows the comments like they have already been viewed.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 9, 2011 5:14 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
SBN is having problems network-wide.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Okay thanks.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 9, 2011 6:31 PM PST up reply actions
I think we can all agree that Marshawn Lynch's TD was only the 2nd most impressive scored against the Saints this year
The first one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P0yfq2wDvU
by Fett42 on Jan 10, 2011 8:02 AM PST reply actions 5 recs
Marshawn put da team on his back.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 10, 2011 12:28 PM PST up reply actions
Mac and Me is the greatest product placement film of all-time.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 10, 2011 10:58 AM PST up reply actions
Mac and Me is a feature-length commercial.
by Eyebrows on Jan 10, 2011 4:10 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
What is this work thing you speak of
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
It's that dumb thing they expect me to do if I expect them to pay me.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
You guys! More former Angels infielders!
https://twitter.com/#!/TheRealMariners/status/24589212477034496
by Eyebrows on Jan 10, 2011 2:17 PM PST via mobile reply actions
Rockies signed Sean White.
But even more hilarious is a tweet from the beat reporter for the Denver Post:
Sean White is 29. He posted a 2.80 ERA in 2009. This is classic low-risk, high-reward flier.
Clever that they omitted 2010's numbers.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
Very sad.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 10, 2011 9:56 PM PST up reply actions
This has been a good college football game.
Then Brent Musburger just said “This is for all the Tostitos.” BARGLE.
Congrats to Auburn for being the single dirtiest CFB team I have ever seen.
I hope that the Cowboys pick up Fairly, because all the “illegal hands to the face” calls the next season would warm my heart.
Also congrats to the BCS officials on knowing what side of the bread is buttered and choosing to ignore everything but the most egregious offenses.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Bitter much?
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
by Corco on Jan 10, 2011 9:22 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
I haven't said it here before, but I've been calling them that since I first saw them play Clemson.
They’re a straight out dirty team.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Maybe this is just living where I do, but I feel like Boise State could beat Auburn.
I also had hopes that UW would beat Oregon, and that the Seahawks would beat the Saints.
BSU could definitely have beaten Oregon (recent sample size proves as much!)- I'm not sure about Auburn.
Until tonight I would have said “no” but I didn’t see Auburn playing such mind-blowingly good football that BSU couldn’t have been super competitive against them
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I don't think BSU is deep enough to hang with either team for 4 quarters
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
That's what I thought about TCU and Wisconsin, too
and I’m actually a champion of the non-AQ teams.
I think the small schools have gotten a LOT better just in the past five years, and right now certain ones have a pretty large coaching advantage as well.
by seattlebruin on Jan 12, 2011 9:12 AM PST up reply actions
Yeah I think BSU is a well coached and run program
but let’s face it, they probably don’t have anywhere near the quality depth of Oregon or Auburn. Both schools were running their second team defensive lines in and out of the game in the second quarter.
Cam Newton is bigger than pretty much every single defender on Oregon, they were tackling him with 3 people and he would just fall forward for 3 yards. Can you imagine the third string line backers and defensive backs trying to bring him down?
Scholarship limits have allowed the smaller schools to get more talent than they would before, but bigger programs will almost always have superior depth.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
OK sure, the small schools won't be as big and as deep as the big schools
but for a certain few, they can win by beating their opposition schematically with enough good players to not have a huge discrepancy in talent.
I don’t think Boise would have beaten Auburn, but I also don’t think Auburn would have killed them. In other terms, I would set that line at like Auburn -5.5 or so.
by seattlebruin on Jan 12, 2011 9:35 AM PST up reply actions
Well sure I don't think it would be a full on blow out
but look at Oregon and Auburn’s seasons, they both had multiple games where they trailed, or another team hung around before eventually just running out of gas.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
I hope the Seahawks pick up Nick Fairley because....
he’s the best player in the draft.
He’s probably no Suh, but he was the MVP of the game. Character not-withstanding, at least he wasn’t the guy that knee-butted a helpless player.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 8:21 AM PST up reply actions
Only because he didn't get the chance
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
by bluemax on Jan 12, 2011 9:05 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs
That game had all the makings of a good football game, even all the right content.
Yet it still fell completely flat for me. I kind of hate both teams, so there is that.
GET OFF ME!!!
I hated rooting for Auburn, but then I realized that in Arizona (more so in Washington) an Oregon win means having to listen to a bunch of Oregon fans talk about how great their team is for an entire year.
If Auburn wins, well, there’s no Auburn fans around. They’ll be basking, but away from me, and that’s all I care about.
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
This was kind of my mindset.
And as a fan that’s a pretty shitty mindset in which to watch a game. And now I’m all sad because no college football.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 10, 2011 10:07 PM PST up reply actions
Did anybody else spend 10 seconds trying to figure out what the clever "fan sign" was supposed to be...
before realizing it wasn’t a fan sign?
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 8:23 AM PST up reply actions
Robert I know you enjoy finding elaborate ways to express your happiness
But posting walls of pictures and gifs really bogs this site down and I’m sure I’m not the only one that experiences a major slowdown when it happens. Please try to avoid this in the future
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:23 AM PST up reply actions
If I may ask, what separates this from a single, large picture?
I’ve seen people get slapped on the wrists over the years for posting a photo that is too large, even if that person is a regular here. How is stacking pictures like this any different?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 2:23 PM PST up reply actions
So is that the ultimate decider?
It’s ok to spam a wall of pictures as long as the total height is below 300 pixels? Same with gifs? Game threads are going to suck this year if that info gets out
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 2:31 PM PST up reply actions
Demon cock?
(I wish I could find that gif again.)
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 2:34 PM PST up reply actions
So rules are only enforced based on context?
Robots!
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 2:36 PM PST up reply actions
I'd love to hard defined, hard rules
but people have trouble wrapping the notion that above every possible rule is the standard that you should do your best to be considerate to other posters. From using the subject line, to using proper spelling/grammar, to limiting image sizes, to avoiding personal attacks and so on; every single rule we have is a branch of that goal.
If I can figure out a way for people to just get that, I could move on to other things
If I may, then
How is posting a bunch of gifs or a wall of the same picture being “considerate to other posters” when people have long complained that it causes their browser to bog down or even crash? Just last week Jeff mentioned to Robert that he “should know better” about doing the same thing, yet here it happens again. I’m not trying to argue for the sake of arguing, but there needs to be consistency with enforcement if your ultimate goal is what you’ve stated above.
I’m not trying to be a contrarian or anything, and I like Robert. I asked politely that he consider not doing this in the future, but then I am told that it is acceptable for him (and presumably anybody else) to do it. I just got curious about your initial response to me saying that to him, because I’ve been led to believe that things like that are not ok. If they are fine then I’ll just suck it up and let my browser run like dog turds so that I can try and participate in the discussions here
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 2:46 PM PST up reply actions
If you collapse the comment - The slowness goes away.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 2:47 PM PST up reply actions
And that's what I've been doing
But my computer is old enough that I need to shut down the browser every hour or two to let it clear the memory. When I re-load, I have to wait for it to load, and then as I scroll close to the images/gifs the whole thing bogs down until I can get to that part of the page. Then, I have to wait after clicking for it to collapse. I know I’m not the only one here with a slow computer and thus am likely not the only one that has to experience a similar problem
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 2:50 PM PST up reply actions
Jeff replied to a Robert comment that had a bunch of under 300 images stacked on top
these were formed so as to avoid the comment itself topping 300.
It’s not the same thing. It’s obviously different.
And I don’t consider it a wall of GIFs. It’s six relatively small sized (in terms of file size) GIFs. They load pretty fast, even on Chrome which sucks at GIFs.
Obviously different in terms of height of the post
We’ll have to agree to disagree on the rest of things here
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 3:13 PM PST up reply actions
What an odd mix of hilarious and profoundly disturbing.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
That raptors one is amazing.
Has anyone seen the mascot blooper where Clutch (Houston Rockets) falls down the stairs and pies Daryl Morey (the GM) in the face?
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 2:45 PM PST up reply actions
This is an example of an image that doesn't require the full 300 pixels.
And why I am finding the rule of a 300 pixel limit to be nearly pointless.
As someone who just started a new job in which the IT environment sucks I would lobby for retaining the 300 pixel limit
As at my new job, I am stuck with using IE6. That’s right, IE6. I can’t use thumb drives to load portable versions of Firefox/Chrome, I can’t download new browsers, for me at this point it’s IE6 or nothing.
Side note: Browsing modern websites in IE6 is painful.
Wouldn't be an issue if you had just chosen to stay unemployed
You have no right to complain
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 3:14 PM PST up reply actions
I wanted to stay unemployed
but my wife, my mortgage holder, and my credit card company disagreed.
Side note to the kids: Don’t ever grow up.
Too late!
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:16 PM PST up reply actions
Can you hear me all the way back there in the '50s?
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 11, 2011 3:14 PM PST up reply actions
How on earth is that even possible
even the US DoD has cleared IE7 for use
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 3:16 PM PST up reply actions
I have machines that are still required to be Windows 2000.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I worked on Windows 95 up until 2005.
It was painful, especially because IE just sucked and so did dialup.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:17 PM PST up reply actions
I'm not gonna lie, I'm upgrading everyone to Windows 7 and thats been pretty painful too.
XP4LIFE!!
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 3:23 PM PST up reply actions
Pssshh.. what's even the point? So you can have 7 for like a month before the world collapses?
Unless you know where the giant Russian ships are, it’s futile.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 3:25 PM PST up reply actions
Lucky for me John Cusack owes me a favor...
I was the guy that saw 1408 in the theater.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 3:27 PM PST up reply actions
I thought it was $2.00?
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I was referring to the purchase price of the ticket to see 1408
but I’m always good with a Better Off Dead reference.
Glad you caught it.
I thought it might be a bit too obscure/old.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I work for a health care company that assumedly has a vested interest in the survival of the species
so they’ll need functional systems come 2012 and beyond.
Giant Russian ships?
No way man, Planet X and solar flares.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:29 PM PST up reply actions
Better that than Vista.
My mom’s workplace tried doing that. Everyone hated it. A year later, they’re upgrading to 7.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 11, 2011 4:28 PM PST up reply actions
Did anyone other than Microsoft like anything about Vista?
It was like Millenium but way slower and only slightly more stable.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
Millenium crashed our brand new 2000 Dell Dimension 4100s hard drive
Twice.
I asked my parents if we could get XP, and while they normally resisted my early-adolescence technology requests (I asked for everything), they got it the day it came out
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Aside from the fact that it constantly prompted you as though you had no idea how to use a computer.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 11, 2011 8:30 PM PST up reply actions
Also it's a resource hog.
Windows 7 runs about the same as XP. Vista runs about three-quarters the speed.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 11, 2011 8:31 PM PST up reply actions
Doesn't mean it wasn't a terrible idea for a feature.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 11, 2011 8:47 PM PST up reply actions
It was a good idea that was poorly executed.
Most people that use computers have no idea how to use them and this was a method to stop them from ruining their machine than blaming Microsoft for not developing a securer OS. The functionality is still in 7 just at a less intrusive default level.
I can understand the rationale involved.
It just would have been better if there had been some prompts on activation or something like that which indicated how much access each user should have.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 11, 2011 8:58 PM PST up reply actions
I need to get Microsoft to work in denying access to Lookout Landing
as a default security option in the next OS patch.
by Matthew on Jan 11, 2011 9:00 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
The screen saver with the bubbles was ok
Assuming your PC was beefy enough to handle the ridiculous amount of CPU it required.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
My computer just goes into power save
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
I didn't say I used it for its intended purpose
I just liked watching the bubbles bounce around and change colors.
Ooooh, bubbles.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
I just started a job, and I got a machine with Windows 7 on it, and was told to install Visual Studios 6.0 on it.
Visual Studios 6.0 came out in 1998. Half it’s features cause it to crash in 7. I miss being able to debug.
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
XP Mode!?
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I just decided that since I'm doing website stuff for the next while, that figureing out how to get it to work is a problem for future joof.
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
Same thing!
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I'm still running Windows XP from 2002 in my office.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
This org has people on IE6, 7, and 8
Legacy apps are the reason people are still on 6, apparently 7 is available on request if there’s a business need (which is how I’ll get 7 at some point) and the entire company will be on 8 by the end of the year. It’s a massive company though (130K employees nationwide) so these things re nice and slow.
Developing modern websites for IE6 is even more painful, apparently.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 3:16 PM PST up reply actions
Yes - Yes it is.
Account Director “We want rounded corners to show up in IE6”
Me “There in IE 6 – They don’t know what the internet actually looks like”
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 3:20 PM PST up reply actions
I just got out of a call that confirmed this!
One of our vendors is building us a web-based solution and when I told him that at least 1,000 of the users of their solution will be on IE6 until at least October, I was met with a moment of stunned silence in which I’m sure he was thinking “oh my god how do I get around this this is ridiculous it’s 2010 and IE6 is barely even supported any more”. I felt bad for him until I saw how much we were paying him and then I thought “for what we’re paying you you should go make it work on Netscape Navigator, just because”.
Pretty soon every website will be designed for mobile only.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 3:24 PM PST up reply actions
Surprisingly not that hard.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I don't want to let people go wily-nily on image sizes.
I see what it looks like on other blogs. I want no part in that.
I simply meant, that we said 300 width and everyone just sized width=300 with no regard to height.
Then we said 300 height and everyone just sizes height=300 with no regard to if that’s needed.
I just want to get people to do the following things when posting images:
Get the image URL
Paste it into comment with height no more than 300
Preview comment
Adjust height down
Preview comment
Preview comment
Consider whether comment is funny
Post comment
by Matthew on Jan 11, 2011 3:24 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
?
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
by Faux on Jan 11, 2011 3:30 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Aww, it stripped the alttext.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
This comment is helpful. Does that mean I should rec?
Alternatively, This comment is terrible. Does that mean I should flag?
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:38 PM PST up reply actions
Although it's also a matter of personal preference to some extent.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I've been interpreting the rule as 300 pixels on the longest side - seems like that's a safe way to go.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 3:29 PM PST up reply actions
Width isn't a huge issue.
Because that’s just unused white space otherwise. Height is different.
I did preview the image, and it looked fine to me.
Here it is at 150:
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:31 PM PST up reply actions
But then again I don't run this blog.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:31 PM PST up reply actions
It was pretty fine.
There are a lot more egregious cases of images that only needed to be like 100 pixels tall, being blown up to 300 simply because “that’s the limit”.
You had the unfortunate timing of posting this image while a discussion of image sizes was ongoing in another subthread.
Is that guy part clown?
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
He is an amazingly awesome GM.
Michael Lewis did a piece on Shane Battier a while back titles “The No-Stats All-Star.” It was all about statistical analysis within the rockets org and how they used that to acquire Battier.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:35 PM PST up reply actions
Yeah, but Michael Lewis makes everyone seem awesome because he's an awesome writer.
Yes, the Rockets have been hamstrung by the big contracts Morey inherited, but they still haven’t done much in the post-season. (Sure, maybe his shit doesn’t work in the playoffs, like another Lewis subject.)
More likely because Yao Ming keeps exploding. =/
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
True.
Morey always seems to loot and pillage in trades though. Here‘s a version of his trade with the Knicks. It’s crunch time for him though. All his acquisitions need to perform, which hasn’t really been happening this season. I don’t think he’ll get rid of Yao, because he’s (a) really good when healthy and (b) an Ichiro-like part of the fan-base. That makes the core of Yao-Martin-Brooks need to accomplish something. Hopefully all those picks will translate into solid support.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:47 PM PST up reply actions
Yeah, he doesn't have an ideal situation.
He seems like a smart guy who does well in trades, but he needs to win something before I call him amazingly awesome.
I could have certainly gone smaller on this one.
My bad. Should I have sized it around 150?
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 3:16 PM PST up reply actions
Well - I'm having Crow for Breakfast
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 8:59 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
REC THE ALMIGHTY GLORIOUS FUCK OUT OF THIS MOTHERFUCKER
"Retarded isn't a race." -Thingray
by Matt Erickson on Jan 11, 2011 9:02 AM PST up reply actions
Cool and Lame
In a surprise move, Verizon is allowing the iPhone 4 to be a mobile Mi-Fi device that can share its 3G connection to up to 5 Wi-Fi enabled devices. This means your laptop can share your iPhone’s 3G internet connection when a regular connection is not available.
Yay
However, as a CDMA device, you won’t be able to use your 3G internet connection and Voice at the same time.Booo!
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:05 AM PST up reply actions
I think the language is getting lost in translation.
The App for it comes installed on the phone for free. So people are rewording it as they choose.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 10:04 AM PST up reply actions
Well yeah, I'm not surprised it's already on the phone
But with Sprint’s Evo and Epic, it’s there too. It’s just that it doesn’t work unless you have the proper coding on the account level of things. Nifty feature, nothing that you couldn’t do tethering though
I was excited until I read the CMDA thing
now I’m not sure I want to switch.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
Also
I wonder if the iPhone 5 gets released at the same time on Verizon?
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:08 AM PST up reply actions
I was more curious about Verizons pricing.
And how much I’m going to start saving on my ATT bill for them to try to keep their iphone customers.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:16 AM PST up reply actions
I'm not an iphone or ATT expert but my friend said he just can't wait for a shitload of people to jump ship to Verizon, because ATT will become so much better when it happens.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 9:17 AM PST up reply actions
Exactly why I won't switch!
And because I still don’t have any complaints of ATT
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:21 AM PST up reply actions
I detest AT&T but I'm still grandfathered into their unlimited data plan for $30 a month.
I’ll stay with them until they force a change there.
And this is the other reason I don't want to switch
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
Yeah, if you're on one of the unlimited plans it's worth staying
Although, many of the tiered data plans aren’t bad. What most people with iPhones don’t understand is that it’s incredibly difficult to reach the 2GB cap that AT&T has now. I try to push my Android as much as I can with data (not using WiFi, streaming Pandora while I’m driving), and the most that I’ve been able to plow through is 1.3GB in a month
On the reverse of that coin, though
My Googlebook came free with an incredibly generous offer of 100MB per month of data from Verizon. Free!
by tootthekazoo on Jan 12, 2011 11:05 AM PST up reply actions
Hopefully at a rate of less than 3.3MB/day in daily use!
Seriously, I could use that up in about an hour of semi-normal browsing. Chase a few links to some random videos, 20 minutes with LL open, it wouldn’t take any time at all. Although I’ll say that it would be handy to have to use in a pinch, if I’m out and about and have to check something online and my cellphone is unavailable for some reason or other and there is no wi-fi around
by tootthekazoo on Jan 12, 2011 11:16 AM PST up reply actions
3.3MB is pretty slim
As long as you’re on WiFi then it shouldn’t be a problem, but good luck everywhere else
Exactly
Obviously that assumes daily use, but I could definitely kill 100MB in a single session. That said, it works great as a backup. $10 will get me an unlimited-use pass for 24 hours if needed, as well
by tootthekazoo on Jan 12, 2011 11:26 AM PST up reply actions
Yup
It’s excessive if you’re going to do it a couple times per month, but as a one-time “emergency” use, it’s not so bad
by tootthekazoo on Jan 12, 2011 2:10 PM PST up reply actions
Of course this would be the exception to the rule, but I burned thru 4GB of data the first day I got my newest phone
Playstation roms can be rather large
No complaints from me either
They’ve been good to me for 6+ years
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:34 AM PST up reply actions
The network as a whole will get better, that's for sure
The thing I dislike about this though is that everybody is going to have an iPhone now, meaning that less developers will support other OSes (Android excluded) with apps, less accessories for other devices (again, Android excluded). I begrudgingly got an iPhone back when the 3Gs launched because I basically had no other choice. Switched to Windows Phone 7 in November but this announcement does not spell good news for development on WP7, Blackberry, WebOS, etc.
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:33 AM PST up reply actions
So that further reinforces my point
But I’ve noticed that the “big” Android devices do have pretty solid accessory markets.
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:38 AM PST up reply actions
If I go into a store I might find 3 evo cases, 4 for the incredible and 35 for iPhones.
So better than what its been in the past but still not good enough for selection
Try being in my shoes with a Samsung Focus
I’ve seen 2 total available for it, and the selection isn’t much better online
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:45 AM PST up reply actions
Meh.
I actually switched out of my unlimited plan to save money. And I’ve never come close to my cap.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:19 AM PST up reply actions
Yeah it makes sense because not everyone needs nearly as much data as people like me.
It’s better lower the price for them in order to allow better market penetration. I generally think that the more people with smartphones the better.
I loved it when it was announced.
Because I knew my wife hardly used 60 MB a month on her phone.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:30 AM PST up reply actions
I don't know, tiered pricing still scares me a bit.
I just don’t trust data carriers and ISPs to set and then keep reasonable pricing tiers.
"See? People like tiered data on their phones!"
“I know it’s all that they have available to them, but all of our smartphone customers have one of our 2 available plans!”
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:47 AM PST up reply actions
I actually think what they are going to do long term is replace home internet connections with mobile connections ala Clear
In ten years I wouldn’t be surprised if Deutsche telecom sells T-Mobile to Sprint then Comcast buys out the two so the major carriers are AT&T, Verizon and Comcast and they all offer quadruple play bundles
That's really, really long-term.
Broadband over the air has a fucking long way to go before that can even be considered a remotely acceptable mass-use option.
To elaborate
the infrastructure needs to be expanded an incredible amount and they still need to improve the technology to deliver more bandwidth.
The US lags behind a lot of the world in terms of how much data we can push through our networks. Going to mobile options like Clear doesn’t close the gap.
I'm exactly halfway through the billing cycle and I have used 563 MB!
But part of that was because I was using it as a tether this weekend. My average month is ~500MB
I'm right around 300MB a month.
So I switched to the 2GB plan.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:36 AM PST up reply actions
They may do that for short term, but Verizon has been championing tiered data plans for quite some time now
And this huge influx of customers will make it an easy sell
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:28 AM PST up reply actions
Interesting
However, third place Sprint and fourth place T-Mobile could stand to lose the most, analysts say. Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. believes Verizon may have paid extra to keep the iPhone between AT&T and itself in the U.S.
I’m a little surprised Verizon was willing to bend over.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 9:18 AM PST up reply actions
I was just about to post and see who else was excited about this!
now who’s getting it?
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 9:23 AM PST up reply actions
Eh.
I’m running my contract out with AT&T and then seeing how the Microsoft phone market looks.
For me, it all depends on the pricing scheme
I really want the iPhone because the Incredible’s battery life is such a disaster (even though the phone is amazing). If they offer it to existing customers at the new activation price, it’s going to be awfully hard to turn down, especially since I can almost certainly sell my Incredible on CL or eBay for a pretty penny
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 9:26 AM PST up reply actions
I would be disappointed but not terribly surprised if that was the final number
and I’d be 100% OK with offsetting half the cost of a 32GB iPhone
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 9:28 AM PST up reply actions
That's what I'm afraid of, since I obviously re-upped my plan last April for the Incredible
I won’t be sad if I have to keep my phone, but I wouldn’t mind getting the iPhone either
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 9:31 AM PST up reply actions
No, I see Verizon allowing early-upgrades like AT&T did for the iPhone 4
Which will be hilarious when a ton of people upgrade and get one and then the iPhone 5 launches in July and people are unable to upgrade again
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:36 AM PST up reply actions
I will be one of those people!
because hey, shiny!
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 9:38 AM PST up reply actions
I would be very surprised if this was the case.
The reason why AT&T did this was because they new the Verizon iPhone was on the horizon and wanted to get as many people locked into 2 year plans as possible since they knew a large amount of them would jump ship.
I believe that they also did that for the 3G or 3GS though
If Verizon doesn’t allow at least discounted upgrades then I don’t think this launch will go all that well for them. Most people that want an iPhone already have one because they waited for their contract with a different carrier to end. Conversely, the ones that have held out because AT&T wouldn’t work well in their area are likely already in a contract now with Verizon, because if they couldn’t go to AT&T for the iPhone then they may as well have gotten the next best thing that Verizon offered, be it the Droid series or a Samsung device.
With the iPhone 4 having been out less than a year, they are catching a lot of people in between. People that hate AT&T won’t pay a $350 ETF to leave just to get Verizon, and a Verizon customer will not be very likely to spend $500+ to get an iPhone when they already have a perfectly good Android device
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:44 AM PST up reply actions
And Robert wins, at least for now
http://support.vzw.com/faqs/iphone/iphone_faq.html
Will Verizon Wireless be offering an early upgrade promotion?
No, Verizon Wireless is not offering any early upgrade promotion at this time.
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 9:52 AM PST up reply actions
I'm actually surprised by this
Are there really that many people out there off-contract that can make that switch?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:56 AM PST up reply actions
I find it odd because Verizon has offered people early upgrades in the past with other smartphones, and it seems like a bajillion people would buy an iPhone if offered the opportunity
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 9:58 AM PST up reply actions
Exactly
This makes no sense to me, unless they just haven’t got anything ready to announce, which also would make no sense. Like I said above, everybody that wants an iPhone has one except for Verizon customers that wouldn’t switch. But, that means that the Verizon customers are probably under contract with an Android device of some kind because that was the best that Verizon offered. It’s a big leap of faith by V to just assume that people will buy out of contract or jump ship and pay an ETF
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:02 AM PST up reply actions
Or it could be a long-term network thing over a short-term cash cow
they could intentionally be trying to limit how many people pick up early iPhones until they’re sure the network can handle it, but if that were the case, why not just artificially short the number of units available?
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 10:05 AM PST up reply actions
They've been saying all along that the reason they waited 3 years was to beef up their network
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:24 AM PST up reply actions
And now that it's going to get bum-rushed with iPhone customers...
It gives AT&T a chance to fix theirs and do what they said they would regarding HSPDA+
Or ATT will do exactly what they did during the GSM rollout and underscale everything while expecting LTE to pick up the slack.
Verizon had done the same thing every time a new technology comes out, build up network and keep down services until it is ready to support them.
Hell, they refused to open GPS for a whole generation of phones because they knew the problems it had and didn’t want to support it.
Based on past actions, I would say that if Verizon is rolling out an iPhone, they’re ready for anything that it can bring.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Yeah, I don't think Verizon's network will take much of a hit with this
I do look forward to AT&T’s network load likely being lighter by the end of summer though. I don’t know if they’ll capitalize on that, but less load means a better experience to the end-user
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:45 AM PST up reply actions
In places like San Francisco and New York I see a lot of people jumping ship
Just the known problems outweigh some people’s objections to staying with AT&T for too much longer. I personally believe that having two carriers with the iPhone will help in the long run
A lot of people are going to be willing to try Verizon's network
After years of negative press about AT&T’s network and all the gaffes they’ve had with the iPhone in particular, I would be willing to bet that there is quite the number of people who would be willing to at least give it a shot.
Is it really going to be worth $350 to end their contracts and another $300 to buy another iPhone though?
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 10:06 AM PST up reply actions
To some people, yes
Especially those who were originally with Verizon and switched to AT&T to get the iPhone in the first place
I still lean towards what toot is saying though
sure, people will be tempted, but $650 total is a lot of money, and it seems like a ton of people would be willing to fork over $300 for a new phone if Verizon would let them.
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 10:11 AM PST up reply actions
The vast majority of people buying the iPhone buy the 200 dollar one.
Also the ETF goes down each month.
Hm, I didn't realize that
is the allure of having an IPHONE vs everything else really so great that people aren’t willing to spend the extra $100 up front on a 32GB? I don’t think there’s any way I’d get the iPhone and not just splurge on the 32 GB one
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 10:14 AM PST up reply actions
Customers are really really really really stupid.
And most of them already have an iPod or other MP3 player to use.
In my experience having an iPhone is more a status symbol than anything
Many students that I sell to here all have one “because it’s cool”, not for functionality
What's this "pay" you speak of?
One of the nice things about being a student is that I have no tax liability
One of the worse things about being a business owner is I owe the government a lot of money.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 10:27 AM PST up reply actions
That sucks
I thought about opening up my own mobile catering business a few years ago, but oh my god there is a lot of money involved that I would owe to soo many different people
Doesn't this suck to all holy hell?
...and now I'm here
You can always pay early by quarter...
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Ya - 2011 is going to be a lot more organized.
I also technically worked 5 jobs this last year!
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 10:39 AM PST up reply actions
Good news is I didn't make a whole ton.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 10:43 AM PST up reply actions
That's the kind of good news that LL can support!
...and now I'm here
That's good. Sounds like you should definitely have an accountant/tax person. You probably have a crapload of write-offs.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 10:43 AM PST up reply actions
He'll find a way to write off every hour you spent making gifs.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 11, 2011 10:44 AM PST up reply actions
That's tough though if it is your first year in business
You have nothing to base your figures on. My wife will pay quarterly next year but was advised to pay all at once for this year because she needed to find out what her yearly was before quarterly pay would make sense
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:43 AM PST up reply actions
I went through this with my dad years ago, and what we ended up doing was setting aside the quarterly payments based on a "2/3 of optimistic" model.
At the end of each quarter we projected out what he would owe on an optimistic profit forecast, and cut it by 2/3. With the various startup costs and “new to the business” losses he took at various times, he actually came within 1K of his payments out of over 200K in revenue.
I’m not saying that he couldn’t have been hit hard at the end, or even gotten a little back based on losses, but at least he had that chunk stashed that was basically house money.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Exactly
I’m not saying that people aren’t going to switch to Verizon for network purposes. I’m saying that paying $600+ to cancel AT&T and buy another iPhone is a lot of money to fork out just on the hopes that Verizon has a better network
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:18 AM PST up reply actions
But assume that you're out OFC with AT&T
You take away the liability for an Early Term. Fee and just have to pay startup costs, what’s your thoughts on it then?
Then obviously you pick the company of your choice
I’m not saying that AT&T customers will have a problem with Verizon, I’m speaking only about people that are already under contract with either company. If I’m on AT&T and have an iPhone 4 that I just purchased in July with a new 2-year contract, am I really going to pay close to $300 just to get out of AT&T and sign up with Verizon for another $200 plus an activation fee to get the exact same phone on a different network? And if I’m freshly under a new agreement with Verizon am I going to pay full price of $600+ for an iPhone 4, even if I’m likely fairly happy with my current phone? It’s a huge commitment to make from either side of the coin
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:42 AM PST up reply actions
If you absolutely hate your current situation and experience, then yes you will
You can sell that iPhone once you pay your ETF, which will offset a good majority of the cost.
Will AT&T iPhones really be a hot commodity at this time?
although I guess again, I’m really underestimating how dumb people are
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 10:54 AM PST up reply actions
Every time a new iPhone launches, the previous models go on sale for good money
People are dumb, yes. I have a 3GS at home that I need to sell and could probably fetch $200 or more for it.
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 11:02 AM PST up reply actions
There's going to be another new iPhone probably in August
but it’s going to be a small upgrade (ala the 3G to the 3GS).
If I get another iPhone, I’m waiting another year for the expected major upgrade.
Yup
I’m going to sell mine, I restored it last night. I want to get it on the market before the Verizon launch so that it doesn’t get lost in the mix of resells on Craigslist
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 11:08 AM PST up reply actions
If no one gives you $200 on craigslist
contact this guy
His co worker is the Vice Storm guy!
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:12 AM PST up reply actions
A guy in Bellingham buys them from 200-300
Because he uses the parts to fix ipods and broken phones.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:05 AM PST up reply actions
I just can't see hating something so badly that I would be willing to pay that much to get out of it
Say that selling my AT&T iPhone gets me the exact cost of my ETF. I would still have to be paying $200+ just to get into a new 2 year deal with a company on the hopes that they would be better. That’s putting a lot of faith in Verizon. I’m not saying that they aren’t worth it, but that’s a big risk to take because what if Verizon is not much better than AT&T in this scenario. Then what did you gain?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:56 AM PST up reply actions
Most carriers still have a 30 day trial
I tell people when I set them up to “use the phone as much as they possibly can” when they get onto a new network to see if they’ll like it or not, and if they don’t, they can cancel with no penalties.
I expect a lot of knee-jerk cancellations of AT&T though, before finding out if Verizon is better for them
According to the internet, AT&T sucks and Verizon is great so I don’t think many people will bother waiting to see how Verizon will work for them
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 11:04 AM PST up reply actions
Well its not like Verizon is a saint.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:07 AM PST up reply actions
I thought they were the patron saint of distracted drivers?
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
That's the point I'm trying to make
Is Verizon going to be so much better than AT&T to justify the lengths you’d have to go to drop your contract and switch? And what happens if Verizon is slower, or you realize that you used voice and data together much more often than you thought?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 11:17 AM PST up reply actions
The voice and data thing is huge for me
There have been more than one occasion that I’ve been using pandora or the A-GPS on my phone while driving and I’ve received a phone call. It’s nice to have them running at the same time and not have to worry about restarting an application
You mean you want to be able to use 3G on and off for more than 4 hours without the battery dying?
by Mariner John on Jan 11, 2011 11:25 AM PST up reply actions
As an iPhone owner, the idea of switching to an iPhone for better battery life is hilarious to me.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:28 AM PST up reply actions
As an Incredible owner, the idea of switching to an iPhone for battery life makes sense >:(
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 11:29 AM PST up reply actions
I was amazed I could go three days without charging it in Canada.
Amazing what not having 3G on can do.
by Mariner John on Jan 11, 2011 11:34 AM PST up reply actions
This is both logical and indicative of what I think is the biggest problem with smartphones today.
Even with 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Push e-mail and notifications turned off on my iPhone, and screen brightness turned down to near minimum, I can use up my battery in a couple of hours if I’m using it heavily. With all of that stuff turned on, I drain the battery before the end of the day even if I don’t use the damn thing.
I’m convinced that if you’re a smartphone owner today you really have to have chargers at work, in your cars, and in many rooms at home just to have a fighting chance at keeping it alive throughout the day.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:37 AM PST up reply actions
This is undoubtedly my biggest beef
It’s so far beyond ridiculous, it’s….ridiculous.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
The physical life of the battery blows my mind too.
I’ve had my MyTouch for just about 1 year, and the battery life now is probably 50% of what it was when I first got it.
It’s complete insanity to me that the technology in my phone can’t even survive the 2 year period I need to wait between upgrades.
The next year is going to be pretty sucky because I don’t want to cough up $400 for another smartphone.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
This is the one that's currently killing me
i got an extended battery for my Incredible within a month of buying the phone, and now, eight months later, the new battery is just as bad as the old one ever was, even though it has 40% larger charge
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 11:44 AM PST up reply actions
This has been the biggest problem switching to a smartphone for me
When I first got a phone on my own, I had a Motorola that I could count on plugging in for a charge, then not have to worry about it for a few days, unless I used the mp3 function. Now I wait until I’m one foot out the door to unplug my phone and by the time I get home I’m at around 30% battery life
I must not be a heavy user.
I can easily get through two days on a full charge (with normal use) on my Droid. If I start downloading hours of videos or something, it can eat up the battery pretty quickly, but otherwise I just charge it at night when I go to bed. I do have an emergency charger at work, but I think I’ve only used it twice.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
If I turn off the data connection all together I can get mine to last longer
But if I’m using the phone normally, forget it
What's the point of a smartphone if you turn off all your data connection though?
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
Hm
I know abender said he turned push way down and that seemed to help a lot. I might try that too
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 11:53 AM PST up reply actions
If I'm at work, I use it all the time to demo to customers
But if I’m at home or with friends and such, I don’t want to be pulling out my phone to check my email or Facebook at every second. I turn it off if I’m not using it because there is no need to it to be on then
That ended up being one of my biggest complaints with the iPhone
Since it required Apple’s cable it was tough to charge it wherever I was. My current phone uses micro USB, and I had a bunch of those chargers just lying around. I’ve got one plugged in at work, one at home, and then I keep the actual charger cable and wall plug that came with the phone in my car. Much easier to plan for in this case
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 11:41 AM PST up reply actions
My biggest wish for my iPhone is to be able to configure power-use profiles.
I’m used to adjusting 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, screen brightness, push notifications, and the rest when necessary, but it would be nice to move a slider to one position when I’m going to be around chargers all day and to another when I’m not.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:58 AM PST up reply actions
I kept a close eye on my iPhone battery usage this morning and was somehow surprised by how bad it was.
After one hour of sporadic use that included checking a couple of e-mail accounts, Twitter, Facebook, clicking on a few news stories, and playing a quick game of Cribbage, I had used up 40% of my battery life.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 12, 2011 10:08 AM PST up reply actions
When I first got mine I was amazed at how quickly the battery life was sapped.
Now that I keep wi-fi and push notifications turned off and the contrast down it’s much more reasonable.
You! Cake or death?
Yeah, that's not normal.
I had an hour or so of moderately heavy use and it went from 70% (I didn’t charge it last night) to around 52-55%.
I can go 2 days without charging my iphone.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:36 AM PST up reply actions
Yes and No
Yes most of the time I am – But the days I need to go 2 days without charging are normally travel like days where 3G is being used.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:40 AM PST up reply actions
Mine is already so dark I often struggle to read it.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:42 AM PST up reply actions
Blast - I just saw your posts above.
Which iPhone do you have?
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:43 AM PST up reply actions
The 3GS - which is apparently the worst of the bunch for battery life.
The iPhone 4 is supposed to be a bit better in this regard.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:43 AM PST up reply actions
I have the 3GS also.
Maybe mines special.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:46 AM PST up reply actions
The rest of your life is already sparklier and vastly more interesting than mine.
It stands to reason that your battery life would be way better too.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:47 AM PST up reply actions
Was the sparklier a twighlight reference?
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 11, 2011 11:56 AM PST up reply actions
I was trying *not* to make it a TwiLLight reference, since those should be saved for SB.
I think what I meant was “more Technicolor-y.”
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:58 AM PST up reply actions
It may be! I have a 3GS and actually quite like the battery life.
I’m not a Robert-level power user, but keeping wifi off gets me legitimately good battery life unless I’m downloading a ton (which I can’t usually do at work).
Now, my wife has a 3GS; we bought them together at the same time/store. My battery life is noticeably better. Always has been. I really can’t figure it out.
My wife and I have a similar situation.
My wife bought her 3GS about a month after I bought mine. We have our phones configured similarly and with many of the same apps. Yet hers will last overnight without charging, while I have to keep it on life support all day.
Perhaps a select few of us just received inferior batteries.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:54 AM PST up reply actions
My wife and I have identical phones (purchased at the exact same time) as well, and my battery has always outlasted hers.
Weird how that works.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I think I am going to experiment with turning wi-fi off since I rarely use it
and see if that improves the battery
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 11:52 AM PST up reply actions
That was one of the biggest battery savers on my iPhone
I would turn off wi-fi on the way down to my car in the morning and turn it back on when I got home. That alone was enough to save me from having to charge as soon as I got home
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 12:06 PM PST up reply actions
No kidding
I use my Samsung Focus much more often than I used my iPhone and the battery is just fine. The iPhone wouldn’t last more than about 6 hours of normal use, and that was with most push services turned off. On my Focus I have full push turned on for everything and can get through a whole work day with basically no problems
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 11:37 AM PST up reply actions
I have been hearing that there are going to be some new battery technologies coming out in the near future
And when this happens, I will be investing a lot of money in them
Normally you'd want to invest before stuff like that comes out
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 12:11 PM PST up reply actions
Well that's what I meant. There are several companies trying to lead the way right now
It’s a matter of figuring out which one will come out on top.
Plus you're talking about the difference in investing in Windows circa Win 3.11 vs Win95
Either way you’re going to make a shit-ton of money
Just poking fun
You’re right though, there is some crazy battery technology in the works right now and it will be great when it finally reaches consumer-level
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 12:16 PM PST up reply actions
All I learned last night is that Nick Fairley doesn't speak English
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 11:36 AM PST up reply actions
Neither does his uncle Ron.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Neither does most of the state of Alabama
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
Well this was inevitable.
Verizon sells Fios to Frontier. Frontier hikes Fios TV by 46% per month to con people into switching to DirecTV.
Congrats Frontier, you’ve somehow made Comcast Xfinity the better option.
How is Xfinity TV treating people these days?
I have no idea who the hell they are.
All I know is they’re my ISP, phone, and cable provider now.
That's good to know, I guess
You would think that there would be some sort of monopoly laws in place to protect us against this
Verizon didn't make you do a contract, did they?
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 10:48 AM PST up reply actions
If I can't talk Frontier into keeping my rates the same I'm going to have to go back to Comcast
and I dread that because Comcast’s customer support might be the worst customer support I’ve ever dealt with.
Worse than Lookout Landing customer support?
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 10:55 AM PST up reply actions
Except on Fridays.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
by Thingray on Jan 11, 2011 10:58 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Broadstripe
It’s phone! Hooray phone!
by ThomasG on Jan 11, 2011 12:32 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Beacon Hill/Central District/Leschi all have it
I’m up in Wallingford now and Comcast is a godsent in comparison. It’s terrible, literally the worst cable provider that I’ve ever encountered
Try Clear. Customer Care is no great shakes, but you really don't it.
And if the reception is awful, you’ll know right away and can take it back. If the reception is good, it won’t change.
by TrustBaseball on Jan 11, 2011 8:59 PM PST up reply actions
Hmm. I like Clear, but have never even had to talk to customer service
Because I’ve never had an issue. Step 1, plug in modem. Step 2, use internet.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
I have the exact same situation.
1/4 mile from a tower and there is sometimes 24 hour periods with no service. And it’s always “The towers down right now should be back up soon!” I have never gotten the speeds I am supposed to either.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 12, 2011 10:45 AM PST up reply actions
We have it set up at work to demo and I'm not happy with it
It’s good for people who just need basic service, but if you need something for gaming or Netflix it’s not what I would suggest. The intermintent service blackouts are common too.
Speeds up to 512k!!!
I really hate how companies word it that way and will claim that 1k/s is technically within their quoted speeds.
Also, as an ISP, %99.999 connectivity should be standard.
You would think so.
Clear isn’t exactly the cheapest option either, but for them to experience outages like they do is unacceptable
The problem with Clear is the FCC restricts the amount of power they can use to communicate with their towers
From experience in a similar field, you really really need a line of sight to the access point for that technology to work well.
I've still never had a problem with Comcast in years and years
and actually they’ve been very helpful (read: incompetent) and undercharged me on a few occasions.
Frontier has been my family's phone and internet provider in rural Idaho for years now
They’ve almost always been in really rural markets. Weird to see them expanding into Seattle
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
The internet sucks
Still charging my parents $49.95 a month for 256 kbps internet service
Fuck Frontier
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
If they're rural, it can be very expensive to even provide the service.
My wife’s family lives in the middle of nowhere, and they’re scheduled to get real internet service somewhere around 2312.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
My Dad has something out in Illinois that is microwave dish based
I know when we lived there about 15 years ago, we had this microwave thing on the top of the house that we got like 30 channels on. It was “like” cable, but since nobody wanted to run a cable line to this tiny village, it was the next best thing since satellite was still really costly
It's that moving picture box you see in some people's homes.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Let's not be so hasty, is it heavier than a duck?
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
I find most TV/Internet companies suck.
Though the cool thing if you don’t mind basic cable is splitting the coax and getting both internet and regular definition TV.
That’s how I get back at them.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 11:57 AM PST up reply actions
It's still expensive though
I think Kirk and I pay like $100/month right now for just that. Soon it’ll just be internet though. If your good about it you can find anything you want on the interwebs and over the air is a lot better picture-quality than the shit Xfinity is piping through it’s tubes
I have been doing this for a while now. The only thing I miss,
is being able to sit down on the couch, and have the TV tell me what to watch. Instead I’m getting a bit tired of having to figure out and go find what I want to watch. Not too big of a drawback though
The xbox is slowly taking over the role of the cable box
I recently bought one and discovered that I can boot up my tv tuner card on my computer to watch hi-def from it on my living room tv. It’s awesome
You should threaten to blow up a hospital to get attention
by seattlebruin on Jan 11, 2011 12:20 PM PST up reply actions
Appropriate comment coming from someone named Fuzz
by d0nkey on Jan 11, 2011 12:27 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
I'm actually a secret government agent keeping tabs on Robert
We first got a tip of his threatened domestic terrorism following Super Bowl 40 and became very interested in his activities. So actually, we have no files on him as I’m very bad at my job, unless beer receipts count
See, make mistakes like that and people notice you.
Like the saying goes.. If you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all
by d0nkey on Jan 11, 2011 12:25 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
One of the best Futurama episodes ever.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
My only problem with Xfinity is the execrable UI on their DVR
but service-wise, I haven’t ever had a problem, and they just price-matched the DirecTV package I was going to switch to for a year, so I have no complaints about Xfinity customer service. Their DVR leaves a bit to be desired, it’s kinda clunky, but that’s not a dealbreaker for me.
I'm amazed by how good the DVR is on Windows Media Center.
It’s not perfect, but it’s better than anything else I’ve tried. I guess Microsoft doesn’t care about letting you skip commercials.
Frontier took over and we never heard a peep. No letters, email, nothing.
Then they left cryptic messages regarding a credit card that was no longer active, some mumbling, incoherent words, it was very strange. Having never heard of Frontier, I was assuming some type of credit card scam which occupied half a day.
Now Frontier insists we set up an account to pay electronically, which we’d love to do. Only we’ve never received a paper contract from them or email. I finally got the account number from customer service (she insists they’re not supposed to give it out over the phone) and start the online process. Next question after inputting the account number is for the account pin number. Which would be on the bill. Which they won’t send us for some mysterious reason.
Pretty stupid transition process in my opinion. Almost as if there was no plan at all.
Yeah I never got a single email or anything about my internet switching over.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
I wonder if this is why I've been having more internet outages in the last 3 months
I’ve hard Verizon DSL for 3 years and the only issues I had were when moving. Then starting in November I’ve had multiple random outages. Which are really annoying when they happen in the middle of a competitive online team based video games :(
I do remember calling the support line once and being told that my support was now handled by Frontier, that was weird.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
This is great.
Several years ago, Rockwell International decided to get into the high energy efficient transmission business. They were getting ready to tape their first introductory video when,
as a warm up, the professional narrator began what has become a legend within the training industry.
Now remember this is strictly off the cuff, nothing is written down.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
The Turbo Encabulator!
I rather like the Retro Encabulator as well.
Linky
by Chris Hafner on Jan 11, 2011 11:25 AM PST up reply actions
Actual prescription information sheet
by Matthew on Jan 11, 2011 2:25 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Travel through that wormhole.
It will get you to your destination in mere seconds. We just wish we understood how.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
MCHammer had LOLPants
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
by Faux on Jan 11, 2011 12:12 PM PST up reply actions 6 recs
I can haz cheezburgers?
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 12:58 PM PST up reply actions
.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett Mariners Minors
by JY on Jan 11, 2011 2:28 PM PST up reply actions
Man, I can wait for the 90s to be back.
I have chest full of IOU t-shirts and Z Cavaricci pants just ready for the occasion. And a store down the street still carries Bud Dry. All I’ll need is a DVD of A Different World seasons 1-3 and paarty!
Fuck, does this mean I have to find another wallet chain? Those things were such a pain in the ass.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
The idea of a wallet chain was to fasten it to your pants, not your ass.
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
by ToddK on Jan 11, 2011 4:17 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
When Lynch is running like a legitimate threat,
it opens up a lot of the playbook.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
So I got into the MLB Manager Online Beta...
Its like Pokemon cards but with baseball players…
It gave me a choice of favorite team, location, and what type of team I wanted (Offensive, Fielding, Pitching). I chose Mariners, Washington and offensive; this is the team it gave me…
Team’s name is Bloomquist Grit.
That is pretty offensive… and a pretty good Razzball team. You use points to buy training cards to train your players and you get new players by scouting. All random. Point system based on level and years; example is Sabathia is a 10/10, Kazmir is a 5/10, Luke French is a 3/10 (Yeah… surprised). Training with the cards you choose a player and click a card and on the back its like a scratch ticket, some are nothing and some have +1~5 points depending on the level of the card and how many cards the player has. It started to overheat my laptop a couple times too…
When Chone Figgins is your second-best player, you know there's a problem.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 11, 2011 4:07 PM PST up reply actions
Sounds kind of like Madden Ultimate Team
or whatever the crappy card game mode in Madden is called.
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
Do the comment bears? No? Then 334.2..13323211
...and now I'm here
Danish is one of the most incomprehensible languages I have ever heard.
You! Cake or death?
by Torrid on Jan 11, 2011 7:35 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
What?
How do you view, say, Norwegian, which is essentially the same language, only spoken in a manner conducive to understanding?
Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are all inter-intelligible to me.
I cannot really tell a difference
I've honestly not heard this before.
You say you encountered Danish after Swedish/Norwegian?
Swedish/Norwegian are very similar; it’s an intonation/accent difference, and not even a very big one.
Danish has a tendency to swallow syllables/letters and to pronounce certain consonants more softly, which obscures differences. The whole thing just sounds slurred to me, but that’s probably because I learned Norwegian first.
If I'm not mistaken, isn't Danish more similar to English than any other language? Or is that Dutch?
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
It's very similar to English
I’d think that German is more similar in terms of vocab, but Danish closer in grammar.
I sort of speak German, so written Danish isn't so bad.
But I lived among a few Danes last semester and I found their pronunciation to be incredibly difficult to imitate, as well as to intuit from the spelling of words.
You! Cake or death?
Maybe it's just me then.
I learned about ten phrases of Danish before visiting the Denmark/Norway/Sweden belt and based on those, had little issues getting the gist of signs/announcements.
Snow!
And high winds! My lights keep flickering!
by tootthekazoo on Jan 11, 2011 9:07 PM PST up reply actions
AND WORK
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 10:27 AM PST up reply actions
I'll trade you
I miss snow like a potter misses his pots. You guys are lucky.
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Yeah, I watched that when I was there during Thanksgiving and it was 60-70 the whole time.
And no, I will not trade you Seattle for Tuscon, that seems like a raw deal on my end.
Relativism!
I saw the same thing in Athens last month except it more like 70-75. At some point, I get that if you are used to higher temps, then mild can seem cold, but it escaped me how people could wear hats, mittens and big coats when it was warmer than a Seattle summer day
All I could think of was the Ancient Greek rhetoric about how Persians were weak because
they weren’t exposed to weather seasons like the Greeks were.
It must be weird being a country that peaked 2,500 years ago.
It kind of feels like that as a Trail Blazers fan.
Chickity-check yourself before you Rec yourself.
by thehemogoblin on Jan 11, 2011 10:08 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Gee that must be really rough for you
by Aaron Campeau on Jan 11, 2011 10:41 PM PST up reply actions 5 recs
I can't sleep at night, thinking of all of those missed Shawn Kemp threes.
Chickity-check yourself before you Rec yourself.
by thehemogoblin on Jan 11, 2011 10:51 PM PST up reply actions
I am Greek. This makes me sad.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been mocked by people saying “You guys claim to have invented math, but didn’t even have the number 0! HA”
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
I guess
People’s blood must adapt pretty well- I was in a t-shirt by December in Laramie on the off day it got up to 30. I’m still in that mode right now so I’m sweating outside in this 50 degree heat and people who have noticed this have just laughed and said “Just wait until July”
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I'm taking one last admiring look at my snowfall
the flakes already look fatter and wetter; I bet we see clear roads in the morning
I love snow. 7" here overnight, and I got up at 4 this morning just to take a walk in it before anyone started shoveling (including myself).
Then at 5 I started shoveling, just got done half an hour ago, and can’t remember why exactly I love snow so much.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
There is nothing more beautiful than seeing snow in the street lights at night.
…they should send down Huntington & Nutting, because they aren’t ready, either. - royshowell
by Marinerfanjake on Jan 12, 2011 9:28 AM PST up reply actions
In NJ, there's enough light pollution that when you have a heavy cloud cover and snow on the ground, it stays light enough to read throughout the night.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
That was basically true for me last night.
Just a glow that lit up the curtains and the room.
I've had this happen with a full moon out in the middle of the forest.
Went camping in the snow with the boyscouts one time, and it was bright enough to see perfectly clear at 1 AM.
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
Snow is great if you get it in less than foot-high quantities and you don't have to move around in it
it’s pretty to look at but a pain to remove and get around in.
Slush Slush Slush
Took my dog for a walk in it. Was still fun, but boy did we get wet.
Ski party in the streets!
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 10:28 AM PST up reply actions
I simply adore how fucking clueless the weather people are right now.
Projected low today? 34. Current temperature? 25. Try again bitches. But hey that means nonmelting snow!
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 12, 2011 10:33 AM PST up reply actions
Last friday in the Seattle area they were calling for 20"
TWENTY INCHES!
Instead we got 2 inches of snow that had melted by morning, and a shitload of rain coming
Talk about disappointment.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
In Everett near Lowell we got about four inches (more where it drifted),
and it didn’t warm up enough to melt it by this morning. Spent around and hour shoveling the cars out and spreading de-icer just to get out and go to work this morning.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Jealous?
I’d rather have less sleep instead of having to wake up an hour early and go out in the sleet and shovel for an hour. It did look pretty though.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I'm saying, that for me, I wouldn't shovel shit. I'd go right back to bed and work off of the laptop
Shoveling snow is one of the worst things to do in the world.
I understand.
I don’t have the option of working from home (yet, come on new software!), and my wife had meetings to attend, so it was shoveling time.
If I had known we were going to have snow sticking around in the morning, I would have spread de-icer last night. But all the news reports were saying it would be long gone by that time, so I stayed inside and watched TV instead like a lazy bastard.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Really?
I find shoveling snow to be super relaxing- like mowing the lawn. One of the reasons I love my parents is that they save the massive snow accumulation on their roof and deck for when I get home, so when I come home for Christmas I always have to start by spending a day shoveling the roof and deck (if these things go unshoveled and there’s too much snow, they collapse)
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I don't mind shoveling so much when I don't have a time crunch.
I can shovel a bit, drink some hot cider or a warm adult beverage, then shovel a bit more… But when it’s “Oh NO!! I have to hurry and dig out to get to work!!” it kind of sucks. Add in the sleet and strong winds this morning, and I was not a happy man.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Yeah, and there is NO way I'm getting on my roof in the snow unless it's a massive emergency.
I’m not into falling off things from 40 feet up.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
Yeah that part isn't so much fun since the roof is pitched- the trick is to start at the top of the roof, stand parallel to the pitch and shovel sideways instead of just pushing the snow straight down the pitch, or tie yourself to something
But you don’t want to do that unless there’s a few feet of snow up there, because A) the weight of that snow keeps you on the roof and B) amount of snow gives you traction. If you tried to do it with just a few inches on the roof you’d probably fall off
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I have a tie-in built into my roof.
If I really had to go up there I would go buy the proper harness and rope to make sure I was safe.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I am really angry right now.
I stayed up super late cause I thought for SURE I would be working from home tonight..
Plus I have a secret love for the snow.
When was the last time a (D-1) college player scored 50?
by seattlebruin on Jan 12, 2011 9:13 AM PST up reply actions
I have no idea but I love the name Jimmer Fredette
by pdb on Jan 12, 2011 9:15 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I have a friend named Jimmy, and I'm calling him Jimmer from now on.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
I wish my dad were still alive so I could call him Fredette
I mean, I still could, it just wouldn’t have the same impact.
This is proving much more difficult to look up than I expected
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
Someone did it last week
Mike James of Lamar, though the trick is that his D1 team was playing a D3 school.
Did a player at Kentucky do it?
I’m going off my shotty recollection, but it would be in the last two years.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 10:29 AM PST up reply actions
From his Kentucky profile
Set a new UK single-game scoring record (Thompson-Boling Arena record) at Tennessee with 54 points on 15-of-22 shooting, including a UK record 10 three-pointers and 14-of-14 from the charity stripe
Happened 1/13/09, so just over two years ago (fiddlesticks!). He also had two other games that year with 45+ pts.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 10:37 AM PST up reply actions
I'm guessing he's been an asshole since he was about six years old
Karma IS a bitch, LeBron. Remember that.
I took this to mean Lebron is afraid of Karma.
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
For that to actually happen, wouldn't the Cavs actaully have to make the playoffs?
by seattlebruin on Jan 12, 2011 2:01 PM PST up reply actions
No, I don't think so.
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
Maybe he'll quit again a la game 5!
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 2:04 PM PST up reply actions
That will teach Delonte West!
Dustin Ackley is going to make Joe Morgan look like Joey Cora.
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
Heh
-Joe Pos
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
This is hilarious
it appears to be only me having this problem, and it’s only in Firefox – it works in IE.
I can’t report it to tech support either, because we’re technically not supposed to be using Firefox.
by seattlebruin on Jan 12, 2011 10:16 AM PST up reply actions
Apparently your superiors still have stock in Alta Vista.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 12, 2011 10:09 AM PST up reply actions
One of my bosses still insists on using Dogpile.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 12, 2011 10:16 AM PST up reply actions
God I hate dogpile
Anybody who thinks it’s a good idea for a product to be called a euphemism for animal feces deserves to fail.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
I don't think a "dogpile" is meant to refer to a pile of dog feces, is it?
I believe it’s more akin to “piling on” – it’s a stack of football players jumping on a loose ball or, more figuratively, a bunch of people piling on to criticize a bad comment on Lookout Landing.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 12, 2011 10:31 AM PST up reply actions
?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dog%20pile
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
Dogpile is indeed a group of people piling on.
But even though it’s not listed on urban dictionary, some web searching (dogpiling?) reveals that others shared my opinion. Apparently in the UK “dogpile” is more commonly used to refer to dog poo than it is in the US.
i.e., one forum says “dogpile sounds like something in the yard that needs cleaning up, not a search engine.”
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
This is perhaps my favorite CL ad of all time
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/mob/2156111526.html
1) Trying to trade a used Incredible for a much better phone
2) Owns and uses a smartphone, but does/can not check e-mail
ALL CAPS MAKES IT CLEAR THAT I REALLY WANT TO TRADE
God I hate people.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 12, 2011 10:36 AM PST up reply actions
I loathe Craigslist sellers who don't accept e-mail.
by Chris Hafner on Jan 12, 2011 10:38 AM PST up reply actions
I DISAGREE
I DON’T READ LL REPLIES PLEASE CALL 555-1212 WITH REPLIES
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
by Faux on Jan 12, 2011 10:41 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I don't know how anybody can prefer phone calls to emails when selling something on Craigslist
I hate talking on the phone and use it only as a last resort. I’m not really looking forward to selling my iPhone for this very reason though, I just don’t want to deal with the kind of people that Craigslist will typically bring out
by tootthekazoo on Jan 12, 2011 10:58 AM PST up reply actions
Also I prefer to not have random people getting my phone number
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
Absolutely yes to this one
Although having Google Voice helps make that a bit more manageable
by tootthekazoo on Jan 12, 2011 11:26 AM PST up reply actions
This is what I've heard
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
"I CAN LEAVE THE APPS ON IT OR RETURN IT BACK TO VERISON"
Is the latter part supposed to be a threat? “THE APPS HAVE TO BE ON IT STILL OR I’LL JUST RETURN IT TO VERIZON!”
by Mariner John on Jan 12, 2011 11:20 AM PST up reply actions
I would guess he means he will put it back to factory default settings
To improve, they should try to become the musical southern cal of the west. - bRuins Nation poster on the Stanford band.
"Wine only turns into alchohol if you let it sit"
Arrested Development season 3 now on Hulu
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
It aint easy being white
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 11:17 AM PST up reply actions
Mr. F!
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 2:02 PM PST up reply actions
I'm starting Arrested Development this weekend actually.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 12, 2011 11:32 AM PST up reply actions
You will not regret it.
Maybe the most underrated show ever.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 12, 2011 11:34 AM PST up reply actions
Underrated for its time is what I meant.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 12, 2011 12:06 PM PST up reply actions
Better choice!
I absolutely loved Andy Richter Controls the Universe, but even that’s on DVD, so it can’t be too underrated. Love Monkey was a good show. As were the bits of Frank Leaves for the Orient that I remember.
Funny you mention Andy Richter in an Arrested Development subthread.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 3:53 PM PST up reply actions
I'm afraid I prematurely shot my wad on what was supposed to be a dry run, so I'm afraid I have something of a mess on my hands.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 3:56 PM PST up reply actions
If someone creates a new OT soon, I'm going to have to say this again...
but Sportsdome was AMAZING!!!
That was seriously the hardest I’ve ever laughed watching a new show.
by Kenneth Arthur on Jan 12, 2011 11:02 AM PST reply actions
Really? Okay...
After watching Tosh.0 it was pretty average.
by Mariner John on Jan 12, 2011 11:22 AM PST up reply actions
Am I the only person who wants to pop Daniel Tosh in the mouth?
I can’t fucking stand that guy or his show.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 12, 2011 11:29 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
How dare you speak to my lover that way
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
His stand up is much better than his show.
GET OFF ME!!!
by the other side on Jan 12, 2011 11:34 AM PST up reply actions
Agreed.
M's fan in the Bay, soon to be LA
by perfectstrat on Jan 12, 2011 11:36 AM PST up reply actions
I do not find him funny
either his show or his standup, although his standup is slightly better than that show. Oh my god that show.
HEY LOOK I FOUND THIS FUNNY THING ON THE INTERNET LET’S SNARK ABOUT IT AREN’T I CLEVER
I would say I agree. But he makes fun of his show almost more then the web clips.
by Scruffy Lefty on Jan 12, 2011 2:29 PM PST up reply actions
For that type of show I actually prefer The Soup.
I can only take Tosh in very small doses.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
by Thingray on Jan 12, 2011 2:58 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Maybe it's just my age group?
I think he’s actually a really good comedian though and is good at improving.
by Mariner John on Jan 12, 2011 3:22 PM PST up reply actions
I haven't seen his stand up.
But to me he sounds just like any of my buddies riffing about idiots on TV. It’s not that I hate him, I just don’t want to watch a full TV show of him.
"Come on. Let's go drink till we can't feel feelings any more."
20II? What is that, some 1970s BMW?
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
by Corco on Jan 12, 2011 12:16 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Did the pressure get to you?
Or did someone pay you off?
"Making hitmen legal would really help the unemployment rate."-Thingray
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