Winning WFC recommendation: Yesterday DC recommended some noise cancelling headphones. They were on sale at best buy and so I snagged some. THEY ARE AWESOME. the horrid air filter fans we have going in the office are almost completely gone. If I start talking to someone, they automatically pause both music and the noise cancelling. I'm in love.
To be clear, I get Fbook notifications, so it's not that I have a spreadsheet tracking everyone :D The people who don't get birthday shoutouts--it's not that I'm ignoring you; I just don't get an alert about you on Fbook!
I’m getting sterilized next Wednesday via a vasectomy. Has anyone in here had the procedure? Any tips on recovery? How painful and difficult is the recovery?
Had my underbrush shaved by a burly bearded turbaned male nurse, which my wife thought was very funny. Minor superficial pain from the shots. Seeing smoke via the cauterizing my plumbing was weird. Tried not to breathe my own vas deferens smoke. Minor discomfort for several days - decreasing from a moderate discomfort down like a dull ache within a few days. I called it "Phantom Ball Pain". Ibuprofin + frozen peas took care of it pretty well.
had it done (jeez...almost 20 years ago). was not a difficult recovery. I played it up for a day, but I could have gone to work, no worries. The blood blister i got this weekend from playing with strong magnets (snapping some skin) hurt waaaay more, and still does.
I had it done a few years ago. They prescribed some painkillers but I never used them, just took some ibuprofen the first day and used a cold pad, wrapped in a towel, around the area. The procedure was on a Friday so I took it easy over the weekend and was back at work the next week.
Thanks. I am fortunate enough to have two beautiful kids. My daughter just turned 3 and my son is 6 months old. My wife and I are done and it is just safer for me to get sterilized than my wife. Plus, if something were to ever happen to my wife or we did ever separate, I am done having kids.
Driving to the Post office, saw an elaborate Christmas decoration, Santa on a sled, with some snow - Santa however was a skeleton - perfect 2020 metaphor. Also drove past a newer Ferrari- those things sound so fine - a saw one of those tiny-tinny Japanese flatbed trucks on my block.
We have hors d'oeuvres and dessert (only) on Christmas Eve with my mom's whole family (about 25 people). Christmas day we have prime rib at my house for dinner, with just my brothers & their families, and my mom. We're not doing any of it this year.
Open stockings first, then have Christmas breakfast of Panettone, Molinari sausages & port-poached pears with mascarpone. After that, open presents one at a time, youngest first. We're usually done by 12:30-1:00.
The missus and I did that a few years ago and it was fantastic, although planning it all out was a bit of work. We're 60% sure we'll try it again this year.
Snowboard like Shaun White. I went to X-Games some years ago and watched. So cool. I never really got to snowboard when I was a kid. Too old now. Hurts too much to fall.
A couple running friends did biathlon in winter when I lived in Anchorage. I don't shoot and was a terrible XC skier so didn't participate. If I could go back in time I would work at both skills and try it.
I was going to say curling because that feels like (but may not be true) a sport where you can remain at the top for decades, but I'll go with Yukigassen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukigassen) which is apparently a snowball fight "sport", because I think that would mean a great throwing arm and the ability to translate to an MLB pitching career.
Hockey because I'd get my name in a discussion with Wayne Gretzky, and I understand that hockey players are among the nicest professional athletes anywhere. Otherwise bobsled because...fast.
basically off-piste powder skiing. i didnt quite appreciate that it was a sport. i just thought you get off a helicopter, ski amazing powder and try not to die.
i am not an amazing skier, but getting away from the resort in any form and skiing fresh tracks is the most fun you can have on skis even if you have to work for it by hiking, skinning, going uphill for hours. you can also pay for helicopters and snow cats to do the work for you.
in the ideal non-coronavirus world i would have gone heli-skiing or cat-skiing this year for 50th bday present to myself.
my kids and i watch this fun(ny) video all throughout the ski season. the music is fantastic too
boys or girls? Because I'm guessing you'll be ready when the boy is about 6 and the girl is about 12. Girls seem to be easier when they're young and boys seem to be easier when they're older.
I'm looking at my filing cabinet that I know has a decade of old tax documents that I need to dump/shred. Only need to keep 3 years. Not my idea of a good time, hence why it hasn't been done.
I've had 2 during the pandemic that already had to be thrown away. The 3rd one isn't much better. And an inadequately tested software rollout functionally destroyed one that I owned, corrupting the communication portion of the operating system.
WaPo runs an anecdotal article about Covid life in a deep red community in SD that drank deeply from the Trump misinformation and is now suffering the consequences. [paywall]
I think No 1 is deciding not to come back for Christmas. Between quarantining for 7+ days and everything I think he's decided, over the last few days, to just stay put. I think I'm going to try to find a couple of delivery services to send him some dinners. Maybe something from one of the Goldbelly stores if they will deliver to him.
oh I'm sure he'll eat it all in one sitting. It looks like they slice the meat off and give it to you. I'm going to see if I can leave a comment and ask them to give him the entire carcass. Lots of leftover meat by the bones and you can probably also make broth. Though the bones and meat are really good to eat.
B1G decides to change their own rules, and seed Ohio State into the conference Championship game. Also, the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket between Purdue and Indiana has been cancelled by mutual agreement (for the first time in over a century) due to Covid issues on both campuses.
The problem is each previous move that Boise St. has actually made has been regionally progressive and made sense. Until and unless either the Pac-12 or the BIGXII seriously considers adding both Boise St. and BYU (which would make tremendous sense, so it probably won't happen any time soon), they are kind of stuck. (Remember the overall disaster TCU's brief foray into the Big East that led Boise St. to look into that before was.)
Yeah I don’t see BYU ever getting a Pac 12 invite. I also doubt Boise State will never get an invite. However, if the Pac 12 were to invite Boise State, I think SDSU would be the better and more likely addition with Boise State.
BYU and Boise State are a better fit for the Big 12.
Yes, for the Pac, one of the CSU's that has made the investment in both sports and research to go along with the rest of the schools. I don't know enough about Boise to comment.
Do they want to keep the new schools paired up so that teams can do a 4 day trip for BB? If so, then Boise and SDSU wouldn't work. Though Boise and WSU would be pretty close to each other. Probably closer than WSU and UW?
Boise *may* have done a lot more for research in the past few decades or so but they were a junior college until 1965. I kind of doubt that the Pac-12 would care to add them (because of their TV market size) with the ready-made excuse of the academics.
It isn't all that large at the moment, but the one thing Boise has going for it is it is a rapidly growing tv market, with literally nothing to limit its future growth.
Yeah SDSU is building a new stadium and really a new campus with SDSU West at the old Qualcomm site. Plus, SDSU has been investing heavily on research. My wife works for the SDSU Research Foundation and they have been busy these last 5 years.
Washington pauses all football activity after an increase in positive Covid tests. Additional PCR testing in progress. No decision about Saturday's UW at Oregon game that will decide the Pac-12 North if played. If the game is not played, Washington wins the North by default (literally).
Utah at Colorado game being moved from Friday night to Saturday morning at 10 AM MT in order to get into the "Big Noon" window. And maybe get some eyes on the Buffs. And just maybe get someone out of quarantine. And simultaneously create another window of opportunity for positive tests to arise.
Its Duck folks that generally hold this opinion, with the scarcer Coug a close second. USC folks generally take a "can't be bothered" attitude to the Dawgs, though there are enough purple hazed events in history to warrant that mindset among Trojans, and everyone else in the conference too.
I understand not punishing teams for their COVID cases, but should a team be rewarded for it? Of course, there is a strong chance that if UW cases are not false positives, then they will be shorthanded or unavailable to play the following weekend for the Pac-12 Championship game.
Unless the conference pivots and seeds Colorado into the game (wouldn't it be helpful if Chip would chip in with an upset win over USC?), which would leave Washington wrestling with how to manage their Apple Cup responsibilities.
Apropos: my wife told me yesterday that her direct report's brother caught Covid. He thought Covid was a hoax, caught it, spent 10 days in ICU, and - among other things - all his teeth fell out. I had no idea that teeth falling out was a potential side-effect.
I can't find it now but I saw a reddit post where a politician had corona and when he was talking on camera in the house or senate, his tooth fell out. Let me see if I can find it.
Winning WFC recommendation: Yesterday DC recommended some noise cancelling headphones. They were on sale at best buy and so I snagged some. THEY ARE AWESOME. the horrid air filter fans we have going in the office are almost completely gone. If I start talking to someone, they automatically pause both music and the noise cancelling. I'm in love.
Now Playing: Atomic Dog - George Clinton.
Glad to hear it!
* rim shot *
unintentional
They are WAAAAYYYY higher end then I would have purchased if I had done my own research, being a cheapskate.
yikes, I'm glad you liked them then
not more money than I was willing to part with, so no worries.
Happy birthday, Ruey!
Thanks! My sister got me a pasta maker, so my goal for tonight is to prove that I'm not yet too old to learn a new skill.
Happy Birthday!
hbd!
happy bday.
and thanks @TheBuckeyeBear for always keeping on top of these things
To be clear, I get Fbook notifications, so it's not that I have a spreadsheet tracking everyone :D The people who don't get birthday shoutouts--it's not that I'm ignoring you; I just don't get an alert about you on Fbook!
Only a couple of weeks until the best week of the year, when DCT, Jesus and I all have birthdays!
I’m getting sterilized next Wednesday via a vasectomy. Has anyone in here had the procedure? Any tips on recovery? How painful and difficult is the recovery?
Like TBB, I just want to say that I love that all of you guys have done this. 💙
I’m sterile due to illness, does that count?
Had my underbrush shaved by a burly bearded turbaned male nurse, which my wife thought was very funny. Minor superficial pain from the shots. Seeing smoke via the cauterizing my plumbing was weird. Tried not to breathe my own vas deferens smoke. Minor discomfort for several days - decreasing from a moderate discomfort down like a dull ache within a few days. I called it "Phantom Ball Pain". Ibuprofin + frozen peas took care of it pretty well.
if you were in Austin, Dr Dick Chopp would be doing the deed and you could proudly sport your new "I got Chopped!" t shirt
Haha! That sounds great!
he runs a special every March Madness so guys will have a medical excuse to take those 2 days off before the weekend
That's just awesome
This man sounds like a genius and local hero.
I had only minor pain for about 24 hours after the procedure, wasn't too bad at all.
Thanks!
had it done (jeez...almost 20 years ago). was not a difficult recovery. I played it up for a day, but I could have gone to work, no worries. The blood blister i got this weekend from playing with strong magnets (snapping some skin) hurt waaaay more, and still does.
Thanks!
I had it done a few years ago. They prescribed some painkillers but I never used them, just took some ibuprofen the first day and used a cold pad, wrapped in a towel, around the area. The procedure was on a Friday so I took it easy over the weekend and was back at work the next week.
Thanks!
Yeah I think they told me it's good to get the procedure on Thurs and recover over the weekend. So that's what I did.
I did. I just took it easy for a few days. Getting bags of frozen peas did help. I didn't recall recovery being that bad but it was also 16 years ago.
I had it done at Kaiser and remember everyone had to go to a 1 hour meeting that included telling you how expensive it was to reverse.
Thanks!
I (obviously) have not, but I applaud you for doing your part for contraception and wish you a smooth recovery!
oh come on, you can do it! :P
Thanks. I am fortunate enough to have two beautiful kids. My daughter just turned 3 and my son is 6 months old. My wife and I are done and it is just safer for me to get sterilized than my wife. Plus, if something were to ever happen to my wife or we did ever separate, I am done having kids.
If you had any guts, you'd jog home from the procedure...now THAT'S tough
Around my 'hood yesterday
Driving to the Post office, saw an elaborate Christmas decoration, Santa on a sled, with some snow - Santa however was a skeleton - perfect 2020 metaphor. Also drove past a newer Ferrari- those things sound so fine - a saw one of those tiny-tinny Japanese flatbed trucks on my block.
busy day!
Does your family have a holiday tradition?
We have hors d'oeuvres and dessert (only) on Christmas Eve with my mom's whole family (about 25 people). Christmas day we have prime rib at my house for dinner, with just my brothers & their families, and my mom. We're not doing any of it this year.
You might have to kiss yourself under some artificial mistletoe.
That's just Tuesday.
Christmas.
bagels and lox and inexpensive danishes for Christmas breakfast.
Many:
Open stockings first, then have Christmas breakfast of Panettone, Molinari sausages & port-poached pears with mascarpone. After that, open presents one at a time, youngest first. We're usually done by 12:30-1:00.
The boys always want brisket for Christmas.
i have always wanted to make the Italian Xmas-eve dinner w/ 7 fishes. maybe i'll propose it again this year ...
The missus and I did that a few years ago and it was fantastic, although planning it all out was a bit of work. We're 60% sure we'll try it again this year.
skiing between Xmas and NYers. unlikely to happen this year.
We eat North Indian food on Christmas Eve.
I've been making some headway with that as a habit, although it will have to be carry out this year if we repeat.
Sort-of. Probably Gordo's on Xmas Eve this year, actually. Maybe Prime rib on Xmas day.
This Nativity Scene (California)
https://twitter.com/miblogestublog/status/1336329144745906179
oof
accurate, but oof
In the gospels Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt to escape Herod's persecutions. What if they were caged up?
If you were granted a wish to guarantee become the top 5 people of any winter sport, which would you pick and why?
Snowboard like Shaun White. I went to X-Games some years ago and watched. So cool. I never really got to snowboard when I was a kid. Too old now. Hurts too much to fall.
Downhill. franz klammer '76.
Biathlon. I feel like the shooting skills will come in handy.
A couple running friends did biathlon in winter when I lived in Anchorage. I don't shoot and was a terrible XC skier so didn't participate. If I could go back in time I would work at both skills and try it.
I will always watch a little biathlon if I happen to see it come on.
This was my answer too. There's nothing quite like combining sprint skiing with marksmanship.
especially after running/skiing hard and being out of breath. apparently that is the hard part
I was going to say curling because that feels like (but may not be true) a sport where you can remain at the top for decades, but I'll go with Yukigassen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukigassen) which is apparently a snowball fight "sport", because I think that would mean a great throwing arm and the ability to translate to an MLB pitching career.
Hockey because I'd get my name in a discussion with Wayne Gretzky, and I understand that hockey players are among the nicest professional athletes anywhere. Otherwise bobsled because...fast.
freeride skiing.
basically off-piste powder skiing. i didnt quite appreciate that it was a sport. i just thought you get off a helicopter, ski amazing powder and try not to die.
i am not an amazing skier, but getting away from the resort in any form and skiing fresh tracks is the most fun you can have on skis even if you have to work for it by hiking, skinning, going uphill for hours. you can also pay for helicopters and snow cats to do the work for you.
in the ideal non-coronavirus world i would have gone heli-skiing or cat-skiing this year for 50th bday present to myself.
my kids and i watch this fun(ny) video all throughout the ski season. the music is fantastic too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7pQOyoeB9A&list=FLd1ORzEoReGIE7vcIIpWBjg&index=5&t=532s
Giant Slalom. Really fun event. Downhill is too fast. Slalom is volunteering to beat your own arms and legs with switches.
GS is interesting. So is Super G. Downhill is still THE event that casts a shadow over everything else.
You have to be clinically insane to want to do Downhill. TV hides how steep they are.
I knew someone who raced downhill... until the crash and reconstructive surgery on his face. Changed to Tennis.
I get to be five people? Cool! How about modern pentathlon?
Ok I was confused...
Something in the room that can be donated
I have a 3 year old and a 6 month old so a lot of stuff. My wife has way too many clothes, most of which she doesn’t wear and can be donated.
I have a 21 year old to donate...
Ha, I thought you were trying to donate the children!
They are still in the fun and cute phase so no, not yet at least.
boys or girls? Because I'm guessing you'll be ready when the boy is about 6 and the girl is about 12. Girls seem to be easier when they're young and boys seem to be easier when they're older.
One of each.
you can have ours. 13 and 16.
Something in the room that can be thrown away
I have a bookcase I'd like to get rid of, so I can replace it with a bigger and more elegant one. Does that count?
I'm looking at my filing cabinet that I know has a decade of old tax documents that I need to dump/shred. Only need to keep 3 years. Not my idea of a good time, hence why it hasn't been done.
Why only 3? You can be audited for 7.
Normal audit is limited to three unless fraud can be shown.
@my customer laptop@
I've had 2 during the pandemic that already had to be thrown away. The 3rd one isn't much better. And an inadequately tested software rollout functionally destroyed one that I owned, corrupting the communication portion of the operating system.
😬 😬😬😬😬😬
Today in Covid
Headline in today's (E-)newspaper: "Poll shows only half in US want shots as vaccine nears"
Glad they did this very useful exercise. We now have an inventory taken of those needing mental health services as soon as possible.
WaPo runs an anecdotal article about Covid life in a deep red community in SD that drank deeply from the Trump misinformation and is now suffering the consequences. [paywall]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/09/south-dakota-mitchell-covid-masks/?arc404=true
I think No 1 is deciding not to come back for Christmas. Between quarantining for 7+ days and everything I think he's decided, over the last few days, to just stay put. I think I'm going to try to find a couple of delivery services to send him some dinners. Maybe something from one of the Goldbelly stores if they will deliver to him.
Katz's deli does a good pastrami pack
Zabars will also deliver something similar.
Ooh...Katz's would be good as well.
That's smart of him, and I think what you're planning will be a nice thing to do :)
I saw a Peking Duck dinner for 6 from a place in NYC. Probably the perfect size for him.
i could help him eat it. we'll be in Philly for Xmas if the whole world doesnt implode by then.
oh I'm sure he'll eat it all in one sitting. It looks like they slice the meat off and give it to you. I'm going to see if I can leave a comment and ask them to give him the entire carcass. Lots of leftover meat by the bones and you can probably also make broth. Though the bones and meat are really good to eat.
sort of strange ... i had a dream last night that i died of coronavirus right after my recent bday.
my dead self's reaction was "i guess i lived a good life, so maybe it is ok"
Russian health officials tell recipients of the Sputnik V vaccine that they can't drink alcohol for 2 months.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/12/08/no-alcohol-for-2-months-russia-tells-coronavirus-vaccine-recipients-a72280
I’m sure a lot of Russians are regretting getting the vaccine now and some people will probably wait.
No alcohol? During the middle of Russian winter? Pfft. Not gonna happen.
Elsewhere in college
B1G decides to change their own rules, and seed Ohio State into the conference Championship game. Also, the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket between Purdue and Indiana has been cancelled by mutual agreement (for the first time in over a century) due to Covid issues on both campuses.
Boise State in discussion to leave the Mountain West
https://www.idahopress.com/blueturfsports/football/harsin-urged-boise-state-leadership-to-leave-mountain-west-conference-emails-show/article_f855ea98-7e28-5d58-a3b4-b2504031bbf5.html
The problem is each previous move that Boise St. has actually made has been regionally progressive and made sense. Until and unless either the Pac-12 or the BIGXII seriously considers adding both Boise St. and BYU (which would make tremendous sense, so it probably won't happen any time soon), they are kind of stuck. (Remember the overall disaster TCU's brief foray into the Big East that led Boise St. to look into that before was.)
Yeah I don’t see BYU ever getting a Pac 12 invite. I also doubt Boise State will never get an invite. However, if the Pac 12 were to invite Boise State, I think SDSU would be the better and more likely addition with Boise State.
BYU and Boise State are a better fit for the Big 12.
I think we should let in Boise State and SDSU in, and ditch the Arizona schools.
but if we do that, the Pac2 average STD rate will plummet! Unless SC picks up the slack...
Plus I feel like we need to keep the Arizona schools to help as a bridge for Texas and Oklahoma to finally join the Pac 12.
I can't make up my mind if I think that's a plus or a minus
But Arizona is finally going blue! We have put in so much work, we can’t give up on them now.
Yes, for the Pac, one of the CSU's that has made the investment in both sports and research to go along with the rest of the schools. I don't know enough about Boise to comment.
Do they want to keep the new schools paired up so that teams can do a 4 day trip for BB? If so, then Boise and SDSU wouldn't work. Though Boise and WSU would be pretty close to each other. Probably closer than WSU and UW?
Boise *may* have done a lot more for research in the past few decades or so but they were a junior college until 1965. I kind of doubt that the Pac-12 would care to add them (because of their TV market size) with the ready-made excuse of the academics.
It isn't all that large at the moment, but the one thing Boise has going for it is it is a rapidly growing tv market, with literally nothing to limit its future growth.
Yeah SDSU is building a new stadium and really a new campus with SDSU West at the old Qualcomm site. Plus, SDSU has been investing heavily on research. My wife works for the SDSU Research Foundation and they have been busy these last 5 years.
BYU will NEVER be in the Pac-anything ever, for good reasons that have nothing to do with football.
I differ about whether those reasons are good reasons. But they are real reasons for the foreseeable future.
You mean forever, because BYU is never going to evolve.
Hey they finally allowed black people serving in the lay priesthood, going on missions or getting married in temples in 78!
U Miami's CB Al Blades Jr out for the season due to myocarditis via Covid
https://twitter.com/AlBlades_Jr/status/1336439770365501445
Washington pauses all football activity after an increase in positive Covid tests. Additional PCR testing in progress. No decision about Saturday's UW at Oregon game that will decide the Pac-12 North if played. If the game is not played, Washington wins the North by default (literally).
Utah at Colorado game being moved from Friday night to Saturday morning at 10 AM MT in order to get into the "Big Noon" window. And maybe get some eyes on the Buffs. And just maybe get someone out of quarantine. And simultaneously create another window of opportunity for positive tests to arise.
I am broadly against anything good happening for Washington
Its Duck folks that generally hold this opinion, with the scarcer Coug a close second. USC folks generally take a "can't be bothered" attitude to the Dawgs, though there are enough purple hazed events in history to warrant that mindset among Trojans, and everyone else in the conference too.
I understand not punishing teams for their COVID cases, but should a team be rewarded for it? Of course, there is a strong chance that if UW cases are not false positives, then they will be shorthanded or unavailable to play the following weekend for the Pac-12 Championship game.
Unless the conference pivots and seeds Colorado into the game (wouldn't it be helpful if Chip would chip in with an upset win over USC?), which would leave Washington wrestling with how to manage their Apple Cup responsibilities.
UW pauses all football activity due to Covid. Game vs. Oregon thrown into doubt.
https://twitter.com/ESPNRittenberg/status/1336696672349347841
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Axios investigation into potential PRC trying to influence US politics, especially California. Some hanky-panky was also involved.
https://www.axios.com/china-spy-california-politicians-9d2dfb99-f839-4e00-8bd8-59dec0daf589.html
Rep. Louie Gohmert's (R-TX) tooth falls out while speaking during a press conference. On a related note, Gohmert previously contracted Covid.
https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1336450387503616001
Apropos: my wife told me yesterday that her direct report's brother caught Covid. He thought Covid was a hoax, caught it, spent 10 days in ICU, and - among other things - all his teeth fell out. I had no idea that teeth falling out was a potential side-effect.
I can't find it now but I saw a reddit post where a politician had corona and when he was talking on camera in the house or senate, his tooth fell out. Let me see if I can find it.
Apparently it was a temp crown that came out.
https://people.com/politics/louie-gohmert-tooth-appears-to-fall-out-mid-speech-during-press-conference/
PRO
UEFA: PSG vs. Basakehir. Teams walk off after racist bruhaha from officials, match suspended/rescheduled, officials get booted from the match.
https://twitter.com/mrbluemoon24/status/1336418627327832064
interesting context from someone who speaks Romanian:
https://twitter.com/warneagle/status/1336436112764489728?s=20
CAL
Go Bears!
Cougs will be Coug'n it. I see some favorable turnovers in our future.
Spokesman-Review: WSU RB Max Borghi out vs. Cal (paywall)
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/dec/06/running-back-max-borghi-set-to-miss-third-consecut/
Great news for us. He was an excellent RB in the Air Raid and should be even better in Rolovich's run-and-shoot.
It's supposed to be 29 degrees at kickoff, so it's probably going to be a pretty sloppy game.
Probably not. Only a 10% chance of snow until early the next morning. I'd bet on dry (though I'd definitely pack gear for snow).
That's just cold enough to make it tough. It was in the low 30s here this morning and I finally got out the running tights.