A former bread truck driver fixed Doug Flutie's Batmobile.
And two longtime friends found love.
All because of cornhole.
"I definitely fell in love through cornhole, which is kind of goofy," Rosie Streker said. "But cornhole is such a big part of our life -- it really is our life."
That's brutal that they did it on a 2K route. First marathon I ran was on a five mile loop and that was bad enough. Four hours of back and forth would be terrible. I guess it was to make it easier to have judges watching for "illegal walking." I saw they moved the women's marathon later today to an hour earlier to try to beat the heat.
Certainly, but I don't know about the USC athletics department claiming her success as due to them. She turned pro so early that she never competed for the Trojans although Adidas did pay for her USC tuition. Then again, of course, everyone wants to be associated with success.
maybe?...I'm also working on an opinion piece on the Olympics for next week which is about the changing but still more parasitic than symbiotic relationships between the USA Olympic committees and American universities (which obviously is also different by sports) and the whole "controversial" thing about grooming international Olympians.
I'm also quite critical (but in different ways) of how Cal does their list of Olympians as well as how Pac-12 social media does it.
In better news, my company has pushed back our return to office to no sooner than October 4 for the first wave of operations people, mid-November for me. This isn't going to be the last delay, wise people say.
we were supposed to be going back into the office September 1, but there have been some vague emails from customer senior management about "re-evaluating the situation." So a delay would not be surprising.
our voluntary opening is pushed back to middle of Oct. but i dont see how things get too much better by then. if anything i expect it to get worse or stabilize before the winter spike that is looming.
Three consecutive days of an increase in cases in the UK (who, even "past their Delta peak" have a case rate 1.5x of the US). Their peak was 2.5x our current cases/100K. THIS IS GOING WELL FOLKS.
That D-Backs bullpen is legendarily awful, but I don't know that I can fault the manager for pulling his starter after 8 innings and over 100 pitches. You have to expect even a bad bullpen can hold a 4 run lead for one inning.
I haven't absorbed the details but apparently La Liga put some kind of salary cap in place and now Leo Messi is leaving Barcelona - rumor is that he's going to get some monster pay-day from Paris Saint-Germain.
Yeah, there are also some possibly crazy conspiracy theories about how this is just a power move by the Barca president on the La Liga president where Messi will still return to Barca and La Liga when the La Liga president relents in a week (something about no public statement yet from Messi). There is still bad blood from the Super League fiasco.
EAGAN, Minn. -- A day after Kirk Cousins doubled down on his stance regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, a hospital Cousins partners with in his hometown of Holland, Michigan, cut ties with the Minnesota Vikings quarterback.
Cousins, who is unvaccinated, was activated off the Vikings' COVID-19/reserve list Thursday after missing four practices. The 32-year-old quarterback was deemed a close contact after rookie Kellen Mond tested positive for the virus last Saturday.
Cousins said the size of the Vikings' quarterback meeting room was the reason he was considered a close contact and noted he had no symptoms and six negative tests since he was last in contact with Mond. The veteran QB said the position group has since moved rooms to a larger space inside TCO Performance Center and that he vows to follow the protocols in order to keep himself from reappearing on the COVID-19/reserve list.
Rather than driving just over 1 mile to drop off my rent check (I don't know why I never contact my landlord about sending the rent electronically), I opted to walk it a few days ago. The weather was nice but it was also more physical exertion than what I have done regularly at home, particularly after a road construction made the trip there more like 1.5 miles due to the detour. On the other hand, I saw how a lot of restaurants had reopened/closed/altered concepts in the past 1.5 years and also ended up getting "snacks" from 3 places to more than compensate for all the calories exerted. I should go outside more regularly, particularly if it's not super disgustingly hot and humid (like a few weeks ago).
Also, I drove to Chicago two weeks ago (a week before Lollapalooza) to meet up with my sister who was visiting her fiancee's family. Anyhow, I realized how that was only like the 5th time in the past year-plus that I was dining with people in person. On the other hand, it took only a couple of days before I remembered the extra stress about having to coordinate with other people about my schedule (I was mostly only sightseeing by myself...but evening plans with other people limited what I can do, in addition to the not so pleasant reminder of traffic).
Just maybe I am leading too solitary of life, even for me, despite the fact that I am doing more "social" things via Zoom due to the pandemic (from online trivia to regular game nights with friends that I don't have locally...because I was doing too much travel, both work and pleasure, pre-pandemic).
I actually would need to check into this soonish because I am running out of checks. The easier thing might be just to check with the landlord (it is a Real Estate company but kind of small) and send money via Zelle or something like that. Years ago with a different landlord (in a different city), I had a landlord that wanted to charge $20 more per month as transaction fees if paying rent by other means than mailing checks.
Both BoA and Chase will send checks for you; I imagine other banks can do the same. Log into your online account and check the "bill pay" or "payments center" or something like that.
I always thought of "bill pay" is just for utilities where the utility companies have a system to accept electronic transfers. I do wonder if BoA does do this for free or if it would require a certain level of bank account (just like me ordering checks has a variable cost depending on which kind of account I currently have, based on how much money is in my account).
No BofA will send out a check to anyone. All you have to do is put their name and address and you can have BofA send a check to anyone. And they pay for shipping!
Here...I'll send you my information and you can send me a check just to prove it...
I don't do this because when you use bill pay, the bank takes the money out of your account the second they send the check, rather than when it's presented to them for payment. My landlord once either forgot to cash my check, or the bank screwed up the accounting (very unlikely) and I'm $5K richer as a result. Worth my forever stamp every month.
Once my check got lost in the mail. I had to pay a stop payment (which I would've had to do anyways if it was a regular one) but it was kind of a pain to go through the process of talking to the bank. Also I ended up having to drop off a check around the corner to the property manager since they needed it the next day or I would've had to pay a late fee. They knew I did bill pay so I think they gave me an extra day or two in case the mail was slow.
But I did have to do a stop payment so that my account could be credited the amount they took out when they created the check.
Since the place was across the alley I could've just walked over but I didn't want to worry about forgetting or an
I'm the heaviest I've ever been and have been having very little in-person interaction with humans other than the ones handing over carryout food or stocking grocery shelves... although I was chatting with a colleague whom I hadn't actually met in person despite having worked together for over a year, and when we realized we lived near one another we arranged to meet up for lunch today. And, for once, I was actually able to have a normal conversational flow (as opposed to forgetting to breath and speaking in 10 paragraphs chunks). It's going well is what I'm saying 😂
On the plus side, I've been training myself to do the dishes every night come what may (as opposed to my usual habit of dealing with them in the morning) and my wife is quite right, arriving in a clean kitchen is a more pleasant way to start the morning. She'll be very surprised when they all get home next week!
I've been working on that. I'm by myself and often rinse everything off but don't wash with soap until a day or so later. You are right that it's nice to walk into a clean kitchen in the morning.
the one upside of dealing with them in the morning is starting the day with some kind of accomplishment, but that is not a universal opinion in this house. Even though I've generally been the first person awake and working away during These Unprecedented Times.
Physical health: I've been doing Zoom ballet during the pandemic, so I feel like I'm doing *something* for my body. I am about to travel to Massachusetts and Ohio, which could be dangerous, but I will endeavor to keep my mask(s) on as much as possible.
Mental health: Aside from the stressful work drama with one colleague, I think I'm pretty ok. At work, I feel like my boss has my back, and I get along with other coworkers. Outside of work, I've tried to stay connected with people virtually and some in person. I should probably check in on my parents a bit more, because I think my dad probably still has a lot of complicated grieving to do (with his mother passing and all his relatives being awful bullies).
Creativity: Still riding the high of my short story being published, but I need to get back to working on my novel!
every year I have the same conversation in the wake of the annual blood tests in which the doctor is visibly preparing to lay into me about my cholesterol level (because I'm obviously not a paragon of health) and then it's on the slightly high side of fine so they have to improvise "oh that's good your tests for cholesterol are okay."
Is Newsom in actual danger of being recalled? The newest poll/survey seems to say so and with the rise of Covid cases is only going to complicate things further for him.
I’m worried Democratic voters might drop the ball on this and a GQP Governor might just be in our future.
And in NY as well. Two most populous states with potentially Republican leadership, not reflecting the views of the people nor the flavor of either state. Some Repubs of the worst variety have a "replacement theory" where Democracy is snuffed out by a minority group leaning toward fascism.
Yep and this is why I have growing fear and anxiety about this. It’s as if Newsom is Cal and it’s the 2020 Big Game and all he needs is a chip shot PAT to go to OT…what could possibly go wrong?
About the only saving grace should the recall be successful, is that a different Democrat could be elected in November 2022.
I will vote NO on the recall, but I can't help but think that Dems have fucked this up, made this recall possible, by not reforming the recall election laws after Gray Davis was recalled in 2003.
The bar for a recall must be higher than what it is now.
It would. Such change could be accomplished by a proposition to amend Article II, Section 14 so that instead of 12 percent of the votes in the previous gubernatorial election, a higher percentage, say 20%, would be required to force a recall election.
In 1994, the Legislature placed Prop 183 on the ballot. Prop 183 allowed a recall election to be held within 180 days of the certification of signatures rather than the 60 to 80 days after signature certification as was the prescribed interim period prior to Prop 183. Prop 183 passed with 5,289,573 YES votes vs. 2,549,855 NO votes.
Point being that it is possible for the Legislature to take a critical first step to reform.
I went for a post-lunch walk and saw a car with a Cal license plate holder and a DC plate GOBEARS. No one I saw was wearing any Cal gear so I couldn't give any greeting.
Heh, Dihydrogen Monoxide AKA: water
THE OLYMPICS
The next great Olympic sport? It could be cornhole
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31944288/the-next-great-olympic-sport-cornhole
A BABYBEL CHEESEMAKER went viral.
A Taco Bell manager got her own trading card.
A chemical engineer became a TV regular.
A former bread truck driver fixed Doug Flutie's Batmobile.
And two longtime friends found love.
All because of cornhole.
"I definitely fell in love through cornhole, which is kind of goofy," Rosie Streker said. "But cornhole is such a big part of our life -- it really is our life."
Speaking of Taco Bell, I get a kick out of their Anime fries commercial!
This sounds like something the Americans would push for because they would dominate.
I caught a bit of the 50km speedwalking marathon yesterday. It's definitely a medal contender for the Olympics' goofiest-looking sport
https://twitter.com/Nrcoope/status/1423420621388664833
It's off the agenda for Paris. Probably the last time we'll ever see it.
Probably for the best.
That's brutal that they did it on a 2K route. First marathon I ran was on a five mile loop and that was bad enough. Four hours of back and forth would be terrible. I guess it was to make it easier to have judges watching for "illegal walking." I saw they moved the women's marathon later today to an hour earlier to try to beat the heat.
Last day of climbing action
Women's final was not that suspenseful as the heavy favorite win the gold.
The US woman came in 2nd in bouldering and had outside chance at medal until she accidentally slipped in a hold in her best event, lead climbing
Never work with children or animals. https://twitter.com/Jason_Keen/status/1423599013308272644?s=20
Allyson Felix ties Carl Lewis as most decorated track athlete at Olympics with a bronze in the 400m. https://twitter.com/Olympics/status/1423627288655114241?s=20
BTW she's 35 (!)
And a mother! She is an amazing person and athlete. Truly proud that she is representing the US, even if she is an USC alumna.
and she told Nike to get fucked for lowering fees to athletes who had children. Big fan.
I still insist that USC shouldn't be able to claim her because she turned pro before competing
She's still an alumna.
Certainly, but I don't know about the USC athletics department claiming her success as due to them. She turned pro so early that she never competed for the Trojans although Adidas did pay for her USC tuition. Then again, of course, everyone wants to be associated with success.
Oh for God's sake. She went to and graduated from USC, they get to claim her.
Yes, and we get to claim Lily Zhang even though there's no table tennis team here.
are you really this insecure?
maybe?...I'm also working on an opinion piece on the Olympics for next week which is about the changing but still more parasitic than symbiotic relationships between the USA Olympic committees and American universities (which obviously is also different by sports) and the whole "controversial" thing about grooming international Olympians.
I'm also quite critical (but in different ways) of how Cal does their list of Olympians as well as how Pac-12 social media does it.
Not sure if this makes it better or worse.
She is amazing. Hopefully she can get another medal in the relay tomorrow.
TODAY IN COVID
In better news, my company has pushed back our return to office to no sooner than October 4 for the first wave of operations people, mid-November for me. This isn't going to be the last delay, wise people say.
With the holiday spike coming up I'm going to guess it will be well after the New Year.
I was just reading that Amazon moved it's return date to January.
we were supposed to be going back into the office September 1, but there have been some vague emails from customer senior management about "re-evaluating the situation." So a delay would not be surprising.
our voluntary opening is pushed back to middle of Oct. but i dont see how things get too much better by then. if anything i expect it to get worse or stabilize before the winter spike that is looming.
Three consecutive days of an increase in cases in the UK (who, even "past their Delta peak" have a case rate 1.5x of the US). Their peak was 2.5x our current cases/100K. THIS IS GOING WELL FOLKS.
Tennessee wants to be Texas https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1423336704484724739?s=20
Texas trying to spread the 'rona faster in their schools https://twitter.com/WilliamJoy/status/1423385282951397377?s=20
PRO
Ramon Laureano tests positive for steroid-like substance, banned for 80 games by MLB.
Unfazed by 4-0 deficit, Giants unleash epic ninth inning comeback
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2021/8/5/22611910/san-francisco-giants-diamondbacks-recap-kris-bryant
That D-Backs bullpen is legendarily awful, but I don't know that I can fault the manager for pulling his starter after 8 innings and over 100 pitches. You have to expect even a bad bullpen can hold a 4 run lead for one inning.
Iguodala back to the Warriors
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31973070/free-agent-andre-iguodala-agrees-return-golden-state-warriors
Trashtros lose to Twins 5-3. A's now 4 back.
"Trashtros" - I like it.
I haven't absorbed the details but apparently La Liga put some kind of salary cap in place and now Leo Messi is leaving Barcelona - rumor is that he's going to get some monster pay-day from Paris Saint-Germain.
https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1423643123318771715?s=20
Yeah, there are also some possibly crazy conspiracy theories about how this is just a power move by the Barca president on the La Liga president where Messi will still return to Barca and La Liga when the La Liga president relents in a week (something about no public statement yet from Messi). There is still bad blood from the Super League fiasco.
Kirk Cousins makes it clear he's not getting vaccinated, so people piled on https://twitter.com/CelticWombat/status/1423482722081669125?s=20
Hometown hospital cuts ties with Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins over vaccine comments
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31975009/hometown-hospital-cuts-ties-minnesota-vikings-qb-kirk-cousins-vaccine-comments
EAGAN, Minn. -- A day after Kirk Cousins doubled down on his stance regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, a hospital Cousins partners with in his hometown of Holland, Michigan, cut ties with the Minnesota Vikings quarterback.
Cousins, who is unvaccinated, was activated off the Vikings' COVID-19/reserve list Thursday after missing four practices. The 32-year-old quarterback was deemed a close contact after rookie Kellen Mond tested positive for the virus last Saturday.
Cousins said the size of the Vikings' quarterback meeting room was the reason he was considered a close contact and noted he had no symptoms and six negative tests since he was last in contact with Mond. The veteran QB said the position group has since moved rooms to a larger space inside TCO Performance Center and that he vows to follow the protocols in order to keep himself from reappearing on the COVID-19/reserve list.
oh, that's going to leave a mark.
MINOR IMPROVEMENTS TO YOUR WELL BEING
Rather than driving just over 1 mile to drop off my rent check (I don't know why I never contact my landlord about sending the rent electronically), I opted to walk it a few days ago. The weather was nice but it was also more physical exertion than what I have done regularly at home, particularly after a road construction made the trip there more like 1.5 miles due to the detour. On the other hand, I saw how a lot of restaurants had reopened/closed/altered concepts in the past 1.5 years and also ended up getting "snacks" from 3 places to more than compensate for all the calories exerted. I should go outside more regularly, particularly if it's not super disgustingly hot and humid (like a few weeks ago).
Also, I drove to Chicago two weeks ago (a week before Lollapalooza) to meet up with my sister who was visiting her fiancee's family. Anyhow, I realized how that was only like the 5th time in the past year-plus that I was dining with people in person. On the other hand, it took only a couple of days before I remembered the extra stress about having to coordinate with other people about my schedule (I was mostly only sightseeing by myself...but evening plans with other people limited what I can do, in addition to the not so pleasant reminder of traffic).
Just maybe I am leading too solitary of life, even for me, despite the fact that I am doing more "social" things via Zoom due to the pandemic (from online trivia to regular game nights with friends that I don't have locally...because I was doing too much travel, both work and pleasure, pre-pandemic).
Can you not schedule checks to be mailed out from your bank?
I actually would need to check into this soonish because I am running out of checks. The easier thing might be just to check with the landlord (it is a Real Estate company but kind of small) and send money via Zelle or something like that. Years ago with a different landlord (in a different city), I had a landlord that wanted to charge $20 more per month as transaction fees if paying rent by other means than mailing checks.
Both BoA and Chase will send checks for you; I imagine other banks can do the same. Log into your online account and check the "bill pay" or "payments center" or something like that.
I always thought of "bill pay" is just for utilities where the utility companies have a system to accept electronic transfers. I do wonder if BoA does do this for free or if it would require a certain level of bank account (just like me ordering checks has a variable cost depending on which kind of account I currently have, based on how much money is in my account).
No BofA will send out a check to anyone. All you have to do is put their name and address and you can have BofA send a check to anyone. And they pay for shipping!
Here...I'll send you my information and you can send me a check just to prove it...
OMG I AM TELLING YOU IT WORKS FUCKING JUST SET IT UP
I don't do this because when you use bill pay, the bank takes the money out of your account the second they send the check, rather than when it's presented to them for payment. My landlord once either forgot to cash my check, or the bank screwed up the accounting (very unlikely) and I'm $5K richer as a result. Worth my forever stamp every month.
Once my check got lost in the mail. I had to pay a stop payment (which I would've had to do anyways if it was a regular one) but it was kind of a pain to go through the process of talking to the bank. Also I ended up having to drop off a check around the corner to the property manager since they needed it the next day or I would've had to pay a late fee. They knew I did bill pay so I think they gave me an extra day or two in case the mail was slow.
But I did have to do a stop payment so that my account could be credited the amount they took out when they created the check.
Since the place was across the alley I could've just walked over but I didn't want to worry about forgetting or an
What?!?!?!
My landlord once either forgot to cash my check, or the bank screwed up the accounting
Oh, also a consideration!
Almost all banks, trust me.
I'm the heaviest I've ever been and have been having very little in-person interaction with humans other than the ones handing over carryout food or stocking grocery shelves... although I was chatting with a colleague whom I hadn't actually met in person despite having worked together for over a year, and when we realized we lived near one another we arranged to meet up for lunch today. And, for once, I was actually able to have a normal conversational flow (as opposed to forgetting to breath and speaking in 10 paragraphs chunks). It's going well is what I'm saying 😂
On the plus side, I've been training myself to do the dishes every night come what may (as opposed to my usual habit of dealing with them in the morning) and my wife is quite right, arriving in a clean kitchen is a more pleasant way to start the morning. She'll be very surprised when they all get home next week!
I am also working on that as well and I agree with that it is much more pleasant to wake up to a clean kitchen sink.
I've been working on that. I'm by myself and often rinse everything off but don't wash with soap until a day or so later. You are right that it's nice to walk into a clean kitchen in the morning.
the one upside of dealing with them in the morning is starting the day with some kind of accomplishment, but that is not a universal opinion in this house. Even though I've generally been the first person awake and working away during These Unprecedented Times.
I think I'm doing ok as far as well-being goes.
Physical health: I've been doing Zoom ballet during the pandemic, so I feel like I'm doing *something* for my body. I am about to travel to Massachusetts and Ohio, which could be dangerous, but I will endeavor to keep my mask(s) on as much as possible.
Mental health: Aside from the stressful work drama with one colleague, I think I'm pretty ok. At work, I feel like my boss has my back, and I get along with other coworkers. Outside of work, I've tried to stay connected with people virtually and some in person. I should probably check in on my parents a bit more, because I think my dad probably still has a lot of complicated grieving to do (with his mother passing and all his relatives being awful bullies).
Creativity: Still riding the high of my short story being published, but I need to get back to working on my novel!
Got back my high cholesterol report. Looks like I might have to do more than just minor tweaks to diet.
Perhaps it is mostly genetic or age because I don't think I eat any worse than a couple years ago.
My cholesterol level started going up when I hit 45. My doc prescribed Atorvastatin, a kind of calcium tab that lowers cholesterol.
every year I have the same conversation in the wake of the annual blood tests in which the doctor is visibly preparing to lay into me about my cholesterol level (because I'm obviously not a paragon of health) and then it's on the slightly high side of fine so they have to improvise "oh that's good your tests for cholesterol are okay."
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Is Newsom in actual danger of being recalled? The newest poll/survey seems to say so and with the rise of Covid cases is only going to complicate things further for him.
I’m worried Democratic voters might drop the ball on this and a GQP Governor might just be in our future.
Since I'm voting early - who am I supposed to check for "if recalled, who should get my vote?"
And in NY as well. Two most populous states with potentially Republican leadership, not reflecting the views of the people nor the flavor of either state. Some Repubs of the worst variety have a "replacement theory" where Democracy is snuffed out by a minority group leaning toward fascism.
The group leaning toward fascism IS Republicans.
As with any meaningful election, I'm concerned that complacent Democrats will stay home and concede a very winnable election.
This is basically the only way it could happen. Democrats don't show up.
Yep and this is why I have growing fear and anxiety about this. It’s as if Newsom is Cal and it’s the 2020 Big Game and all he needs is a chip shot PAT to go to OT…what could possibly go wrong?
Which would be bad, very bad.
It would be bad but I can’t see a GQP Governor accomplishing much with a Democratic controlled state legislature.
And the new governor would only have a year before they'd have to run for re-election against a full slate of Democrats.
About the only saving grace should the recall be successful, is that a different Democrat could be elected in November 2022.
I will vote NO on the recall, but I can't help but think that Dems have fucked this up, made this recall possible, by not reforming the recall election laws after Gray Davis was recalled in 2003.
The bar for a recall must be higher than what it is now.
Do you a clear idea how to accomplish this? Wouldn't require a change to the State's constitution?
It would. Such change could be accomplished by a proposition to amend Article II, Section 14 so that instead of 12 percent of the votes in the previous gubernatorial election, a higher percentage, say 20%, would be required to force a recall election.
In 1994, the Legislature placed Prop 183 on the ballot. Prop 183 allowed a recall election to be held within 180 days of the certification of signatures rather than the 60 to 80 days after signature certification as was the prescribed interim period prior to Prop 183. Prop 183 passed with 5,289,573 YES votes vs. 2,549,855 NO votes.
Point being that it is possible for the Legislature to take a critical first step to reform.
I would assume they left it the way it is so that it's also easier to recall a republican gov.
This is true but I think they should raise the 12% minimum of signatures for a recall to at least 20%
I assume so also.
Not good governance.
How Trump stiff-armed Congress — and gaslighted the courts — to build his wall
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/06/trump-congress-wall-pentagon-502652
this is rather a stark presentation of all the anti immigrant / great replacement rhetoric that right wing politicians are using to blame anyone other than their supporters for COVID spikes https://twitter.com/AdamWeinstein/status/1423646389188374533?s=20
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
College football odds: Ole Miss, Oklahoma State among undervalued teams entering 2021 season
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/21-compelling-storylines-teams-coaches-players-that-will-dominate-the-2021-college-football-season/
Dodd’s a boob. How can you take an article that says “don’t sleep on ‘Bama” seriously...
Note: Cal not amongst the potential surprise teams, but UCLA is.
Drove by the stadium a few minutes ago and practice appears to be going on.
CAL
Go Bears!!!
I went for a post-lunch walk and saw a car with a Cal license plate holder and a DC plate GOBEARS. No one I saw was wearing any Cal gear so I couldn't give any greeting.