OT for July 14th -- the thoughtful, helpful kind.

It’s much easier to warm yourself up when it’s cold outside then it is to cool your self off when it’s hot outside. The cold is a lot less uncomfortable than the heat as well.

I know what I signed up for when I moved back to the NW. I just want what I signed up for. Cold rain in mid-July is not what I signed up for; July, Aug, and Sep are supposed to be the nice months. that’s not too much to ask.

where he made some good points about how the push for everyone to go to college is reducing the number of people skilled in other areas like electricians etc.

Terrible advice.

It varied from field to field, so I’m basically talking just about my own shit here, but for years there was a tradition of at least trying to rank the MFA programs in terms of quality. This seems weird because you’re taking an art that’s largely subjective and then thinking up a hypothetical average MFA student that it’s going to work for, so the premise is already a bad one. Still, it seems that one should be able to talk about certain things like quality of instructors, their reputation, quality of life, course offerings, teaching offerings, and of course, funding. Except that when I was going through the rankings in detail, I realized that 1) the guy compiling them was crowdsourcing, for the most part, and 2) all those people in the crowd, who were already special snowflakes anyway (these are writers we’re talking about), didn’t give a goddamn about anything else but funding and having people throw a huge amount of money at them. So, it seems like there are a lot of schools out there where the instruction is of middling or slightly better ability, but they somehow have the resources to fund people, and those schools rocket up the chart whereas, say, UW, which has a ton of accolades for the individual staff members and a reputation going back to the Roethke days, plummets because you pretty much have no chance of getting any money the first year. Kind of boggling.

There are many benefits, but also many risks especially for young people. A few years out of college, our job security is lower, and our desire to cut bait and move/start a new career/be unemployed and party is higher.

Having experienced both, I can say without a doubt that buying a home is a bigger commitment than marriage. And arguably is more life-changing.

When people I went to Puyallup High School with who majored in Chemistry are making over 50 bucks an hour, I made some poor life choices.

Based on what he sees in his practice, Bohn believes many parents will do anything to avoid having their kids experience even mild discomfort, anxiety, or disappointment—"anything less than pleasant," as he puts it—with the result that when, as adults, they experience the normal frustrations of life, they think something must be terribly wrong.

It’s so true. And while it stings to see your child struggle or face difficulty, it’s much better in the long term if they learn how to deal with things.

I am a firm believer that the best way to teach your kid that the stove is hot and shouldn’t be touched is to let him touch it. Not in a mean way, but I’m not going to run to my nephew’s defense when he’s headed for a hot stove, because he’s got to learn at some point.

The other thing, though is the whole “it’s OK if you’re not good at X”. I firmly believe this is true, in all parts of life. I’m not good at math, and I’m not good at spatial context – I couldn’t put an IKEA product together from the instructions if you put a gun to my head. And I don’t for one second feel bad about that, or feel like it makes me less of a person, or whatever, nor do I need someone to pat me on the head and say “that’s OK, you’re still a special snowflake in my book”.

Life is about finding what you are good at, not about forcing yourself to be good at something you’re not because it’s marketable.

Yeah, he did the right thing

I’d want to meet the player, shake his hand, and get a picture. Wouldn’t even need it autographed. I’m much more into personal interactions than stuff.

But you only get so many moments in life to put yourself in a better situation. Griffey is going to be just fine. His great, great grandchildren will be just fine. He should understand why I want to at least get out of debt and do something to better my own life and a couple of signed bats and balls won’t do that.

But it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have gotten opportunities if he had sold opportunities.

They’re so inured to noises and sounds and smells that it takes more than a human sighting to freak them out.

sigh.

Seriously.

Taste bad are freak me out. >_>

I can’t see this, but I can only assume it’s terrible.

and who is the arbiter of who deserves to go and who doesn’t? The guy who worked his ass off and bought tickets and was first in line, or the guy who won a contest of knew a sponsor? What about the HR director’s admin for a team that gets a ticket because the team gets a ticket allocation? Did that person deserve to go? Why? Why not?

but I think some of the pain could’ve been lessened if I’d gotten over my inability to ask for help and guidance a little sooner.

but I have a friend who also wants to go, and that means scheduling up.

For some reason, that is the section of the state I have spent the least time in. I used to go up and down 5, but not head off to the east from there.

Only because I could eat the entire package if I let myself.

Bill Simmons is God of Hollywood. Simmons’ commentary on Will Smith—especially the calculated creatures Premiere Magazine quote I remember reading the—is good. KSK also links to this GQ article, which is a bit smarter than Simmons.
Also in GQ: Oral History of Michael Bay! Sadly, no comment from Megan Fox.

Maybe they just need a “hint” of something young and fresh. Truthfully, it was a long shot that they’d ever recapture the glory from Evil Dead 2.

There are just too many players. Skill still plays a part, luck still plays a part, but luck dominates skill in this field.