it's like that time ESPN ranked Kevin Durant as one of the best college basketball players... dude played one year at Texas, got a #4 seed in the tourney, and didn't get to the elite eight
Counterpoint is that Durant had a phenominal one year in college, winning all the individual awards and putting up nearly historical stats. Sure, basketball is the one sport where one superstar can/should win a championship, but the March Madness format (one and done) is created for chaos.
I should've gotten one right when they announced the shelter in place. I'm debating whether or not to get clippers and let my kids do it with a #2. I like my hair short rather than longer. I'm starting to have my hair like the Asian kids at Cal in the late 80s/early 90s, only without the short shave on the bottom half.
DIY. We used to take our oldest to supercuts; all he wanted was a buzz. Then dad bought the clippers and we convinced him to let us pay him half the price if we cut it. Now he and dad both do their own. They're pretty good with mirrors. Fortunately I'm not fancy. I go every five weeks, and my last appointment was Mar 12, so I'm okay working the simple 70's hairstyle.
Yep, although the warning expired early with no hint of tornado-related weather. A big storm passed through around 2:30 and it's been pleasant and sunny since then.
I think you all got a lot more bad weather than we did - mind you, I live in a weird weather bubble where most of the bad stuff goes around us. Matches the social and economic bubble tbh
I think the bad stuff went north of us. And now it is perfect out. About 5:30 I went out for a walk to get some fresh air and it was 70, sunny, and the breeze was relatively light. Very comfortable in t-shirt and shorts. Everybody and his brother was out running. As I walked by a restaurant a delivery driver who was waiting for what he was to deliver saw me and asked why I wasn't running today. Told him I'd been out earlier.
I just took a long post-dinner stroll - aside from having to re-route because of a Pepco crew dealing with a downed power line, it was very pleasant indeed.
It's been a wild two weeks in shanghai. 77 and sunny. 40 and giant rain storm on back to back days. Mainly cool and sunny right now, but with life retuning to normal - smog levels came back up (my morning bike ride was cancelled due to smog)
Sunny and warm for season to just plain warm. Has been for a week an forecasted to be for at least another week. One of the best runs of early spring weather ever around here, so of course most outdoor activities have been shut down.
Heavy rain overnight as the storm from the South worked its way east. Another line of heavy rain with winds to 50 MPH and possible tornadoes for mid-day. I managed to find the gap and get out for an hour of exercise and fresh air.
did you also get some nice weather yesterday? I set up the hammock across a rather large gap between trees in my backyard using ratcheting cargo straps:
it was only OK yesterday. I think it was in the 60s but it was overcast so didn't feel so warm. Still made a point of going to the park across the street and sat out and read for a couple hours. I take all the fresh air I can get these days.
ooh nice. Here it was breezy and in the 50s but I was pretty determined to enjoy it, got on a hat and a hoodie, tucked my hands in the pockets, and watched the local cardinals and chickadees get yelled at by the gang of grackles
I'm taking today off because most of Europe has the day after Easter off so the morning calls were cancelled today.
Also I'm maxed out on vacation so I needed to start taking time off. Our company has a rule that vacation must be taken within 12 months you earn it (the other companies I've worked at allow it to be used by the end of the next year if you have more than can be rolled over). So starting in March I was maxed and had to basically take a day and a half every month or lose it. Due to the corona virus they said they'd suspend that rule so I guess when this is all over I'll be taking at least a week+ off to use them. And even then I'll still need to take a day+ each month so I don't lose it.
Pew Research: 3 in 10 Americans think CV19 created in a lab. Some of the demographics of the believers surprised me. In other news, our society is seriously fucked in the head.
I'd just like to point out that when I lived in the Netherlands in the 70s, I never, not once, received antibiotics when I was sick and the doctor would give advice like "drink the water from boiled cabbages for the nutrients." Which might be good advice, but my point is they were a little more hard core than I'm willing to be in a pandemic.
On my walk I went by Safeway. They instituted a limit on how many can be in the store at any time but I've to go by when there was a line waiting to get in. Later on the walk there was a lonely roll of toilet paper on the side of the bike trail that was totally soaked from the rain.
"The gathering, which featured a Smurf DJ and Smurfs dancing in conga lines, was the town’s attempt to earn a spot in Guinness World Records for “Most people dressed as Smurfs.” So many people showed up in head-to-toe blue body paint that Landerneau easily smashed the record held by the German town of Lauchringen.
While the victory still has to be certified by Guinness World Records, festival organizers are relieved no one reported getting sick afterward. “There’s been a bit of anxiety over the past few weeks,” Alain Péron, who helped stage the world record attempt, told Le Journal du Dimanche.
The Smurf party was “a very beautiful event,” Péron added, with a trace of nostalgia. “It was perhaps one of the last parties of ‘life before.’”
TAPPER: Do you think lives could have been saved if social distancing, physical distancing, stay-at-home measures had started third week of February, instead of mid-March?
"FAUCI: You know, Jake, again, it’s the what would have, what could have. It’s — it’s very difficult to go back and say that. I mean, obviously, you could logically say, that if you had a process that was ongoing, and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously, no one is going to deny that.
But what goes into those kinds of decisions is — is complicated. But you’re right. I mean, obviously, if we had, right from the very beginning, shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different."
CPBL - which is the pro baseball league in Taiwan, had its opening game on Sunday. Playing the game in front of zero fans but mannequins and robots and real-life dancers.
Lunch was croissant melt with ham and cheese. Dinner will be a roasted chicken. I'll be seasoning it with salt and pepper and brushed with melted butter on the skin. I tried Safeway pickup. It was fine but the schedule is like 1 week out. I may try it again. I was able to get two big Jif PB jars but only got one bag of flour. I'll probably still need to go to the store in a couple of days to get a few things that I couldn't get with pickup.
I'm early in the cycle of my once-per-10-days visits to the grocery store, so I still have fresh produce. For lunch, it's Irish Lamb Stew and BBQ'd asparagus. Tonight, it's pozole, oven-roasted romanesco w/ garlic/olive oil, and baked battered-zucchini. Tomorrow, chicken breasts w/ artichokes, lemon, capers, garlic & a roasted butternut/ginger soup. Fare gets a bit more canned/frozen later in the week.
I smoked a pork shoulder for 12 hours yesterday, so the next several meals will have some variant of that. We're going to try making pork fried rice with it tonight.
Last night, my daughter made Napoleons (napoleon?) for desert, very tasty, but it was an absolute ton of work for her. And she said, once it was all put together, it was only good for an hour or so, so I gave the rest away to Atoms and two other tenants in the building.
Way too well. Just seeing what everyone else is cooking and then getting inspired: just over the last few days: fermented citrus roast chicken with thyme, spicy hand-pulled noodles, pizza with miataki mushrooms, charred tomatoes over toast, fried mortadella sandwich
just know that the portion in the recipe makes 3 portions which was a poor idea at the time especially since they don't keep once rolled out. so only roll out a couple of oily sausages.
Cleaning out remnants in the freezer the last couple of days. Had saved a few extra home-prepared burgers from the last couple of bar-b-ques, so had grilled burgers last evening. Today, its the last of some left-over sausages that are going on the grill.
I don't generally eat a lot of pizza but the local neighborhood pizza place is open so I have been going up at lunchtime every couple days to help them out.
I made tacos with corn tortillas that I was pretty happy with. Sliced up leftover chicken breast that I sauteed to brown/reheat, with sour cream, guac, salsa, shredded cheese, sauteed onion, black beans
I am about 40% matzah at this point, and since my younger daughter is trying out being gluten free, I'm rapidly approach an additional 35 - 30% tortilla.
Good. It needs to be a national holiday, even if vote-by-mail becomes the norm. Although neither will happen because the Republican party doesn't want people to vote.
this was a great idea. Hoping other states will do it since it's clear the federal government won't. The big key here though was extending early voting to 45 days in advance; hopefully everyone gets a chance to vote regardless of where the 'situation' is then.
The financial structure is whack. It has only $30b in LT assets, and presumably very little short-term assets since it's probably burning through all its cash right now.
On the financing side, it has a NEGATIVE $72b equity balance. Rather than go bankrupt, the entity is kept afloat by employee financing - essentially all the promise to pay their employees future benefits (pension, disability, vacation, etc.). They only have $11b in debt. If the entity goes Chapter 9 (the government version of reorganization), there is nobody to default on but the employees. There is virtually no wiggle room on their balance sheet to restructure.
Without a bailout and/or change of that law, USPS will quickly implode and take down over half million employee's benefits/pensions, plus another half million or so former USPS worker's pensions.
The USPS issue is SO MUCH bigger than vote by mail. Things like bank statements, rent payments, "online" bill pay, the IRS, the DMV, utility bills -- all totally dependent on a cheap method to distribute paper.
You might think that most of that can be done totally online, but only a little more than half of our customers (at my bank -- admittedly not a high income demographic, but our customers look like America) have digitally enabled banking, and for a significant proportion of those who don't, it's because they don't have capability. And about half of our "online bill pay" activity involves mailing a physical check to the payee.
Yup I agree. My mom doesn't like to do any sort of digital billing so she gets all her bills in paper. She likes to see it and keep the paperwork rather than have to go onto her account and get it. She even goes to the bank to do everything, even get cash, rather than do it online or go to the ATM.
the get cash was "go to the ATM". The rather than do it online was go to the bank. I agree it could've been more clear. Though recently she has been going online to check things like if her tenants have paid their rent and a couple of small things. Otherwise she goes to the bank to deposit checks and stuff like that.
The one conservative I know on Facebook who still interacts with me is completely obsessed with the idea that delivering mail 6 days a week is ridiculous and we could completely get by with 2 bulk deliveries a week. He also wants to see more people getting fired for not having enough hustle or something. You won't be surprised to discover that he has an MBA from Harvard and lives in Alamo.
I saw a take on Twitter that our individual actions, no matter how many stamps we ship, will not save the Post Office. We need actual policy. I also enjoyed DCTrojan's Twitter analysis.
It's disappointing and frustrating, but not surprising, to learn of yet another issue with *HUGE* implications that is being grossly under-understood while making snap judgement single agenda driven decisions. What could go wrong?
the sad part is that USPS apparently has a site that lays this out, but I wanted to do the work for myself so I could, for once, be confident in my bullshit
I'm enjoying people's senior portraits, but I don't actually see it as supporting the Class of 2020. Like...sorry you don't get a graduation ceremony, but here's a picture of me as a young'un?
CARE and FERA are PG&E discount programs that help eligible customers pay their energy bills. Over 1.4 million customers are receiving a bill discount through these two programs. Simply complete the online CARE/FERA enrollment form and we’ll let you know if you’re eligible.
California Alternate Rates for Energy Program (CARE). A monthly discount of 20% or more on gas and electricity. Participants qualify through income guidelines or if enrolled in certain public assistance programs.
Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA). A monthly discount of 18% on electricity only. Must be a household with three or more people. Participants qualify through income guidelines.
Do you have quarantine rules to try to maintain a semblance of normalcy?
For instance, I have made a rule for myself that I have to shower at least six days a week, I have to get out of my PJs every day, and I have to make the bed daily, so that I do not slide into a morass of slovenliness.
I really should start making some quarantine rules for myself. I think I only "went to bed" like 6 times last week. A couple of the sleeps were like for 10+ hours though.
I'm seriously about to institute a lunchtime beer to try and keep my shit together during the afternoon. I have no fuse left with this customer, and I'm pretty sure that my management is slowly prepping to "move me on." That might be paranoia, but sometimes they really are out to get you 😂
agree with the need to maintain normalcy and consistency. So get up with the alarm, shower everyday though I drifted into shampooing my hair every other day (TMI?). I'm not working up a sweat so,,,, Very casual dress for work (no video calls!), though I've yet to put on shoes while in the house.
Nothing more than at least check customer email by 0900 if not already working, and get outside every day. Last week I somehow failed to leave the house on Tuesday or Wednesday and by 5pm on Thursday I was an absolute wreck.
Yes! I appear to be neat and tidy, but am basically a slob at heart, so I have to make myself be neat and tidy when my routine has been upended. Normally all of those things are part of a routine and the absence of one has me a little bit upside down. I suspect I'm brushing my teeth more because I can never remember if I've brushed my teeth yet or not.
Freeze them. Put them in the oven for about 20 min and they're good to go. After last Pi Day I had a slice in the freezer I forgot about and ate it probably in Nov or Dec. Was good.
I just saw that Lou Malnati's does frozen delivery. You can get 6 9" pizzas for 120. That's not too bad. I wonder how much of it is delivery. It looks like the 9" are smalls so shipping is about $60 for next day. So maybe that's kinda bad.
CAL
ESPN ignores Cal
[I-Don't-Know-About-That.gif]
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1249057136048574467
This must be about performance in college and not at the next level in the NFL, because otherwise no way Florida makes the QB list.
it's like that time ESPN ranked Kevin Durant as one of the best college basketball players... dude played one year at Texas, got a #4 seed in the tourney, and didn't get to the elite eight
Counterpoint is that Durant had a phenominal one year in college, winning all the individual awards and putting up nearly historical stats. Sure, basketball is the one sport where one superstar can/should win a championship, but the March Madness format (one and done) is created for chaos.
...Pitt? Texas A&M? Arkansas?
Faraudo: Saffell family talks about CV-19
https://www.si.com/college/cal/news/saffell-first-reponders
Haircuts, hair treatment
I should've gotten one right when they announced the shelter in place. I'm debating whether or not to get clippers and let my kids do it with a #2. I like my hair short rather than longer. I'm starting to have my hair like the Asian kids at Cal in the late 80s/early 90s, only without the short shave on the bottom half.
I cut my own, so I'm thankfully unaffected by the closures.
How do you do the back?
DIY. We used to take our oldest to supercuts; all he wanted was a buzz. Then dad bought the clippers and we convinced him to let us pay him half the price if we cut it. Now he and dad both do their own. They're pretty good with mirrors. Fortunately I'm not fancy. I go every five weeks, and my last appointment was Mar 12, so I'm okay working the simple 70's hairstyle.
I get it cut once every two years, by which point it's usually grown out long enough to donate
I got my haircut in early January, so I'm good for another 2.5 years or so.
Yeah, I had one in February. I'm cool for 2020.
My hair is growing out, and so is my facial hair.
I had one scheduled for the *day* that non-essential businesses were closed here. I'm in dire need.
Can you have a nape of anything other than your neck?
(This came up for me yesterday because someone said "nape of her back" and when I looked it up, Dictionary.com said a nape is the back of the neck)
Weather
high of 71 and sunny. Supposed to be low 70s until the weekend.
It was raining so hard that I didn't hear my alarm this morning...that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it
Tornados. They scare me.
We're now under a tornado watch until 6pm (along with DE, NJ, half of PA, and part of VA). Should be a fun afternoon...
Is Philly in the half of PA? Sounds like it's the eastern half not the western half judging by the other states.
Yep, although the warning expired early with no hint of tornado-related weather. A big storm passed through around 2:30 and it's been pleasant and sunny since then.
I think you all got a lot more bad weather than we did - mind you, I live in a weird weather bubble where most of the bad stuff goes around us. Matches the social and economic bubble tbh
I think the bad stuff went north of us. And now it is perfect out. About 5:30 I went out for a walk to get some fresh air and it was 70, sunny, and the breeze was relatively light. Very comfortable in t-shirt and shorts. Everybody and his brother was out running. As I walked by a restaurant a delivery driver who was waiting for what he was to deliver saw me and asked why I wasn't running today. Told him I'd been out earlier.
I just took a long post-dinner stroll - aside from having to re-route because of a Pepco crew dealing with a downed power line, it was very pleasant indeed.
2.6" of rain overnight. Winds with some heavy gusts, so we may have some trees toppling at some point today.
OOF.
It's been a wild two weeks in shanghai. 77 and sunny. 40 and giant rain storm on back to back days. Mainly cool and sunny right now, but with life retuning to normal - smog levels came back up (my morning bike ride was cancelled due to smog)
Rain is the best
Sunny and warm for season to just plain warm. Has been for a week an forecasted to be for at least another week. One of the best runs of early spring weather ever around here, so of course most outdoor activities have been shut down.
Heavy rain overnight as the storm from the South worked its way east. Another line of heavy rain with winds to 50 MPH and possible tornadoes for mid-day. I managed to find the gap and get out for an hour of exercise and fresh air.
weather buddies
o/
did you also get some nice weather yesterday? I set up the hammock across a rather large gap between trees in my backyard using ratcheting cargo straps:
https://tinyurl.com/tkq84y6
\o
it was only OK yesterday. I think it was in the 60s but it was overcast so didn't feel so warm. Still made a point of going to the park across the street and sat out and read for a couple hours. I take all the fresh air I can get these days.
ooh nice. Here it was breezy and in the 50s but I was pretty determined to enjoy it, got on a hat and a hoodie, tucked my hands in the pockets, and watched the local cardinals and chickadees get yelled at by the gang of grackles
70 mph winds and 1-2" of rain here. Going into the lab this afternoon to check for flooding.
Easter
I'm taking today off because most of Europe has the day after Easter off so the morning calls were cancelled today.
Also I'm maxed out on vacation so I needed to start taking time off. Our company has a rule that vacation must be taken within 12 months you earn it (the other companies I've worked at allow it to be used by the end of the next year if you have more than can be rolled over). So starting in March I was maxed and had to basically take a day and a half every month or lose it. Due to the corona virus they said they'd suspend that rule so I guess when this is all over I'll be taking at least a week+ off to use them. And even then I'll still need to take a day+ each month so I don't lose it.
Targeting?
https://twitter.com/kurtsiegelin/status/1249511897793204224
Although the dog launches, there's no contact with the head or neck area. No targeting here.
illegal block in the back, unless we're counting eggs as the ball carrier
also the dog had his/her head up. Kid wasn't hit with the crown of the head.
Here's how my Easter went
https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1249395372922826753
Ate Mexican and watched the Tiger King post-show wrap episode over Zoom with some friends
Did a Zoom web conference with my family, most of which time was spent helping my grandparents figure out how to Zoom.
pltm
@quality time@
Burning Man
They've totally ruined Labor Day weekend for this year!
I was supposed to go to Minnesota for Labor Day this year...who knows when it'll be ok for us to travel again!?
LOL yes.
Today in CV19
Pew Research: 3 in 10 Americans think CV19 created in a lab. Some of the demographics of the believers surprised me. In other news, our society is seriously fucked in the head.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/08/nearly-three-in-ten-americans-believe-covid-19-was-made-in-a-lab/
I don't find the results that surprising.
Official Dutch CV19 FAQs say that if you've recovered from symptoms for 24 hours, you are no longer infectious
https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/frequently-asked-questions-about-coronavirus-and-health
I'd just like to point out that when I lived in the Netherlands in the 70s, I never, not once, received antibiotics when I was sick and the doctor would give advice like "drink the water from boiled cabbages for the nutrients." Which might be good advice, but my point is they were a little more hard core than I'm willing to be in a pandemic.
Ok but do we trust the Dutch? What would CalBear81 say????
On my walk I went by Safeway. They instituted a limit on how many can be in the store at any time but I've to go by when there was a line waiting to get in. Later on the walk there was a lonely roll of toilet paper on the side of the bike trail that was totally soaked from the rain.
*yet to go by
Say what?
"The gathering, which featured a Smurf DJ and Smurfs dancing in conga lines, was the town’s attempt to earn a spot in Guinness World Records for “Most people dressed as Smurfs.” So many people showed up in head-to-toe blue body paint that Landerneau easily smashed the record held by the German town of Lauchringen.
While the victory still has to be certified by Guinness World Records, festival organizers are relieved no one reported getting sick afterward. “There’s been a bit of anxiety over the past few weeks,” Alain Péron, who helped stage the world record attempt, told Le Journal du Dimanche.
The Smurf party was “a very beautiful event,” Péron added, with a trace of nostalgia. “It was perhaps one of the last parties of ‘life before.’”
Oh yeah, I saw some memes about other countries preparing for the pandemic, and France having a smurf party
TAPPER: Do you think lives could have been saved if social distancing, physical distancing, stay-at-home measures had started third week of February, instead of mid-March?
"FAUCI: You know, Jake, again, it’s the what would have, what could have. It’s — it’s very difficult to go back and say that. I mean, obviously, you could logically say, that if you had a process that was ongoing, and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously, no one is going to deny that.
But what goes into those kinds of decisions is — is complicated. But you’re right. I mean, obviously, if we had, right from the very beginning, shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/13/trump-fire-fauci-coronavirus/
You just knew it couldn't last.
PRO
CPBL - which is the pro baseball league in Taiwan, had its opening game on Sunday. Playing the game in front of zero fans but mannequins and robots and real-life dancers.
https://twitter.com/CPBL/status/1249707184377573376
NASCAR driver Kyle Larson gets suspended without pay for dropping an N-bomb at an virtual racing event.
Obviously a no-no, but it is even weirder since he's Eurasian and from Elk Grove, CA.
https://twitter.com/justinmelillo/status/1249709896242802690
Not that weird. Lots of Asian racists.
What can you not eat during quarantine?
At the moment, sugar (because I'm staying with my fitness-focused brother).
Next week onward (when I'm on my own again), other people's cooking.
currently, leavened bread
Did you see the AITA (I only saw it on Twitter thanks to Twist) about the guy who's strict Passover? His brother showed up with a dozen bagels...
Aha https://twitter.com/AITA_reddit/status/1248584494040391680
So, you are NTA about the bagels. But you are 100% TA for having a family gathering during a fucking lockdown.
good lord, I feel like *everyone* knows this. I was on the fence until he refused to put the box in the car. Seriously?!
and all the replies that doesn't say NTA are just "religious is dumb"
how long does that last?
until Thursday afternoon. Gonna order pizza for dinner Thursday night
What’s your favorite thing to eat?
Carnitas burrito w/ guac, beans, rice, lime juice, & hot salsa. I could eat it every single day.
probably Mexican or Chinese. Though I'm not picky.
Carnitas super burrito from El Farolito, tacos from El Paisa@.com, and a bowl of wonton noodles from Jim Tsai Kee in Hong Kong.
anything I didn't have to cook
Shrimp.
I've discovered that sourdough starter discard makes a tasty savory pancake
Fried chicken
That's a ridiculous question, way, way too many things to eat to narrow it down, but I will say I like potato chips too much.
Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica.
Absolute kryptonite. There is no such thing as an open bag of potato chips in my pantry.
What are you eating?
Ramen...and not enough good choices of toppings available in my fridge to make it feel like more than just a convenient meal
Lunch was croissant melt with ham and cheese. Dinner will be a roasted chicken. I'll be seasoning it with salt and pepper and brushed with melted butter on the skin. I tried Safeway pickup. It was fine but the schedule is like 1 week out. I may try it again. I was able to get two big Jif PB jars but only got one bag of flour. I'll probably still need to go to the store in a couple of days to get a few things that I couldn't get with pickup.
I'm early in the cycle of my once-per-10-days visits to the grocery store, so I still have fresh produce. For lunch, it's Irish Lamb Stew and BBQ'd asparagus. Tonight, it's pozole, oven-roasted romanesco w/ garlic/olive oil, and baked battered-zucchini. Tomorrow, chicken breasts w/ artichokes, lemon, capers, garlic & a roasted butternut/ginger soup. Fare gets a bit more canned/frozen later in the week.
I smoked a pork shoulder for 12 hours yesterday, so the next several meals will have some variant of that. We're going to try making pork fried rice with it tonight.
Mmm, fried rice
Last night, my daughter made Napoleons (napoleon?) for desert, very tasty, but it was an absolute ton of work for her. And she said, once it was all put together, it was only good for an hour or so, so I gave the rest away to Atoms and two other tenants in the building.
it's never worth the effort of making your own puff pastry, but I suppose now is the time if you're ever going to do it.
Impressed. I love mille-feuille (custard? yes!) but so.much.work to make them. much easier to visit my local bakery
I can affirm their deliciousness. Very flaky and delightful!
I just had Easter cheesecake for breakfast. All semblance of discipline has broken down in this household.
19/19, would do the same given the opportunity
Way too well. Just seeing what everyone else is cooking and then getting inspired: just over the last few days: fermented citrus roast chicken with thyme, spicy hand-pulled noodles, pizza with miataki mushrooms, charred tomatoes over toast, fried mortadella sandwich
just know that the portion in the recipe makes 3 portions which was a poor idea at the time especially since they don't keep once rolled out. so only roll out a couple of oily sausages.
sushi. in support of our local favorite restaurant.
Cleaning out remnants in the freezer the last couple of days. Had saved a few extra home-prepared burgers from the last couple of bar-b-ques, so had grilled burgers last evening. Today, its the last of some left-over sausages that are going on the grill.
Tomorrow is taco Tuesday though!
Crab curry!
Ham
Dang, that's something we missed. I even forgot it was Easter until someone wished me a happy Easter up on the deck
I don't generally eat a lot of pizza but the local neighborhood pizza place is open so I have been going up at lunchtime every couple days to help them out.
feeling lazy about cooking has never felt so charitable!
We actually had our first take-out of this whole time this Saturday. Pizzaiolo on Telegraph, quite good.
MATZAH FOR DAYS
I made tacos with corn tortillas that I was pretty happy with. Sliced up leftover chicken breast that I sauteed to brown/reheat, with sour cream, guac, salsa, shredded cheese, sauteed onion, black beans
No horseradish?
in my taco? or in general
My Passover joke of maror with matzo needs more work.
I actually prefer it with the horseradish root than with the jar. It's definitely more potent but it's a consistency thing
I am about 40% matzah at this point, and since my younger daughter is trying out being gluten free, I'm rapidly approach an additional 35 - 30% tortilla.
or approaching, whatever.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Virginia makes Election Day a state holiday:
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/april/headline-856055-en.html
Good. It needs to be a national holiday, even if vote-by-mail becomes the norm. Although neither will happen because the Republican party doesn't want people to vote.
this was a great idea. Hoping other states will do it since it's clear the federal government won't. The big key here though was extending early voting to 45 days in advance; hopefully everyone gets a chance to vote regardless of where the 'situation' is then.
Someone doesn't appear to know what's in the Constitution, specifically the 10th Amendment.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVfz_K9UwAAz2fi?format=jpg&name=large
He never ever knew anything.
US Executive Science Officer explains problem w/ CV19.
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1248699275355328512
USPS
Here's the USPS financials:
https://about.usps.com/what/financials/financial-conditions-results-reports/fy2020-q1.pdf
The financial structure is whack. It has only $30b in LT assets, and presumably very little short-term assets since it's probably burning through all its cash right now.
On the financing side, it has a NEGATIVE $72b equity balance. Rather than go bankrupt, the entity is kept afloat by employee financing - essentially all the promise to pay their employees future benefits (pension, disability, vacation, etc.). They only have $11b in debt. If the entity goes Chapter 9 (the government version of reorganization), there is nobody to default on but the employees. There is virtually no wiggle room on their balance sheet to restructure.
Without a bailout and/or change of that law, USPS will quickly implode and take down over half million employee's benefits/pensions, plus another half million or so former USPS worker's pensions.
If the USPS shuts down, Bon Appetite's Carla Lalli will uncannily get all five of her New Year's wishes (Tweet has since been deleted):
https://i.redd.it/yfyuoid55cs41.jpg
The monkey paw definitely curled quite a bit.
The USPS issue is SO MUCH bigger than vote by mail. Things like bank statements, rent payments, "online" bill pay, the IRS, the DMV, utility bills -- all totally dependent on a cheap method to distribute paper.
You might think that most of that can be done totally online, but only a little more than half of our customers (at my bank -- admittedly not a high income demographic, but our customers look like America) have digitally enabled banking, and for a significant proportion of those who don't, it's because they don't have capability. And about half of our "online bill pay" activity involves mailing a physical check to the payee.
Yup I agree. My mom doesn't like to do any sort of digital billing so she gets all her bills in paper. She likes to see it and keep the paperwork rather than have to go onto her account and get it. She even goes to the bank to do everything, even get cash, rather than do it online or go to the ATM.
How do you get cash online?
the get cash was "go to the ATM". The rather than do it online was go to the bank. I agree it could've been more clear. Though recently she has been going online to check things like if her tenants have paid their rent and a couple of small things. Otherwise she goes to the bank to deposit checks and stuff like that.
The one conservative I know on Facebook who still interacts with me is completely obsessed with the idea that delivering mail 6 days a week is ridiculous and we could completely get by with 2 bulk deliveries a week. He also wants to see more people getting fired for not having enough hustle or something. You won't be surprised to discover that he has an MBA from Harvard and lives in Alamo.
I saw a take on Twitter that our individual actions, no matter how many stamps we ship, will not save the Post Office. We need actual policy. I also enjoyed DCTrojan's Twitter analysis.
It's disappointing and frustrating, but not surprising, to learn of yet another issue with *HUGE* implications that is being grossly under-understood while making snap judgement single agenda driven decisions. What could go wrong?
is there actual support for action against the USPS, or is it a very vocal, but very small, minority?
The White House has had it does not support a USPS bailout.
does a government agency need to be bailed out to be solvent?
It does when Congress does its level best to cripple them
Thanks, DC, for digging up a lot of useful information!
the sad part is that USPS apparently has a site that lays this out, but I wanted to do the work for myself so I could, for once, be confident in my bullshit
(also for not being an asshole)
opinions vary
TBF I am grading you on a curve for being a Trojan
I'm enjoying people's senior portraits, but I don't actually see it as supporting the Class of 2020. Like...sorry you don't get a graduation ceremony, but here's a picture of me as a young'un?
If anyone wants to do a DBD Zoom, I'm free Thursday starting at 3:30 Pacific.
I'm in. The time can help the East Coasters as well.
In there like swimwear.
I'm in!
In case this is helpful for anyone: https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/save-energy-money/help-paying-your-bill/longer-term-assistance/care/care.page
CARE and FERA are PG&E discount programs that help eligible customers pay their energy bills. Over 1.4 million customers are receiving a bill discount through these two programs. Simply complete the online CARE/FERA enrollment form and we’ll let you know if you’re eligible.
California Alternate Rates for Energy Program (CARE). A monthly discount of 20% or more on gas and electricity. Participants qualify through income guidelines or if enrolled in certain public assistance programs.
Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA). A monthly discount of 18% on electricity only. Must be a household with three or more people. Participants qualify through income guidelines.
Do you have quarantine rules to try to maintain a semblance of normalcy?
For instance, I have made a rule for myself that I have to shower at least six days a week, I have to get out of my PJs every day, and I have to make the bed daily, so that I do not slide into a morass of slovenliness.
I really should start making some quarantine rules for myself. I think I only "went to bed" like 6 times last week. A couple of the sleeps were like for 10+ hours though.
Shower daily. Change out of PJs before doing work. House chores always get done. Spirit-based drinks not allowed in the morning.
I'm seriously about to institute a lunchtime beer to try and keep my shit together during the afternoon. I have no fuse left with this customer, and I'm pretty sure that my management is slowly prepping to "move me on." That might be paranoia, but sometimes they really are out to get you 😂
True, even paranoids do have enemies.
ride 150 miles a week, rain or shine.
agree with the need to maintain normalcy and consistency. So get up with the alarm, shower everyday though I drifted into shampooing my hair every other day (TMI?). I'm not working up a sweat so,,,, Very casual dress for work (no video calls!), though I've yet to put on shoes while in the house.
I'm trying not to let myself become nocturnal, so I'm only allowed to snooze my "Go To Bed" alarm 5 times.
Yes, I shower every morning and put on real clothes no matter what.
Nothing more than at least check customer email by 0900 if not already working, and get outside every day. Last week I somehow failed to leave the house on Tuesday or Wednesday and by 5pm on Thursday I was an absolute wreck.
Sounds about like normal operating procedures!
Yes! I appear to be neat and tidy, but am basically a slob at heart, so I have to make myself be neat and tidy when my routine has been upended. Normally all of those things are part of a routine and the absence of one has me a little bit upside down. I suspect I'm brushing my teeth more because I can never remember if I've brushed my teeth yet or not.
I don't even try to appear to be neat and tidy. The only time I iron is when I have to wear a dress shirt for something.
I have been showering six days a week and making my bed at least.
I never make my bed. I never understood the point.
It looks nice and neat, and for many (including myself) neatness is calming.
Me too
I usually don't do it when I'm by myself.
OOOoooOOOooo
Another humblebrag
nah, the point was that I'm more likely to do it to keep up appearances than because there's an inherent use
lol someone's bitter
All I really do is take the sheet and comforter and throw it back up to the top. I don't do any sort of tucking or anything with the pillows.
I wonder if anyone will get this: “Oh, Lawrence! Pop the tags.”
Zachary's Pizza - 25% off half-baked pizzas from Monday to Wednesday.
I just saw that they have to be picked up by 4PM. I think we're having Zach's for dinner on Wed.
Ooohhh...I'm tempted. I also have a couple of slices left from Pi Day.
They can't be any good now...
Freeze them. Put them in the oven for about 20 min and they're good to go. After last Pi Day I had a slice in the freezer I forgot about and ate it probably in Nov or Dec. Was good.
HOW FAR DO THEY DELIVER
They don't - have to call it in for takeout. Must call in the order by 4pm.
that's too far
I wonder how easy it would be to freeze them and pack a box with dry ice and ship 2 day. I assume the shipping costs would be prohibitive.
every couple months I get a hankering for deep dish and then I look on Yelp for the nearest and then I get depressed
I just saw that Lou Malnati's does frozen delivery. You can get 6 9" pizzas for 120. That's not too bad. I wonder how much of it is delivery. It looks like the 9" are smalls so shipping is about $60 for next day. So maybe that's kinda bad.
I got you:
https://ship.giordanos.com/
And thus, D-Money's Deep Cut Chicago-Style Pizza was born in the rural western reaches of Massachusetts....
ooh