The Update for Everybody Else

[Torie]

Well it is a small world I guess. I think I posted I was busted for pot possession in Winterset, Iowa, and spent a couple of hours in the city jail, until one of the deputies chauffeured me, with me sitting in the front seat unshackled, to the ATM to get bail money. Now the city police chief wants to buy one of our lots to build his dream home, and we have become good buddies. If we agree on price, I think one of the terms will be that if he lives within the family real estate empire, that he won't bust me for pot again. That would not be good!

And there you have it.

[Lief 🗽]

Wow so Torie is a slumlord now? Congrats man! I hope to break into the slumlord business once I've worked as a lawyer for a few years and saved up enough money.

[Torie]

Wow so Torie is a slumlord now? Congrats man! I hope to break into the slumlord business once I've worked as a lawyer for a few years and saved up enough money.

No, this is a lot, with a broken down old house which will be torn down (a great 60's hippie pad, and neat place to smoke pot since it is right next to the rushing river (but 15 feet above up a semi-cliff so no flooding risk) in a totally private location, but just 5 minutes from the downtown square in Winterset). This is part of the Iowa farm that the clan inherited that my great grandfather bought in 1879 (I have but a 1/6th interest but do all the work because I am able and can - but that is OK, I don't mind helping out relatives, and my cousins actually kind of need the money). My other properties in hip LA may be "slums" (not really - I only buy stuff that I would live in, and have in fact lived in a couple of years in a unit in a triplex that I bought in 1979 to get my first tax write-off), but I charge a fortune in rent for them.  Want a 2 bedroom apartment? That's about 3K per month now.

Anyway, if the police chief does not meet my price, I may buy out my relatives as to this 3.15 acre lot. I really love the place. I might refurbish the hippie pad, so I can hang out there (plus Muon2 can stay there when he drives west as a pit stop), as I subdivide and maneuver and plot and importune to get my way with the bureaucrats (everybody, and I mean everybody, in Madison County and City of Winterset government now knows me all too well,  including inter alia the police), to derive the maximum out of the farm. I just love drawing lines on a map of course. Who knew?

Good luck btw with your ambitions Lief. I'm pulling for you, despite the fact that if you get rich, you will probably start contributing money to the other party.

[patrick1]

Roughly 20 months after I decided to lose the gross amounts of weight I had put on over the years, Im down about 150lbs. Basically have held firm on weight for last few months while losing a pant size and correcting bad posture because of muscle imbalance.

13.5 months off the drink, increase in pay grade at work and learning to enjoy life again.

Surpassed original weight loss goal by 10-15lbs and 4 inches.  Put a 20 year drinking career to bed. Still many goals to achieve as I put them on hold for way too long...

Oh, Hi jmf.

[Torie]

Roughly 20 months after I decided to lose the gross amounts of weight I had put on over the years, Im down about 150lbs. Basically have held firm on weight for last few months while losing a pant size and correcting bad posture because of muscle imbalance.

13.5 months off the drink, increase in pay grade at work and learning to enjoy life again.

Surpassed original weight loss goal by 10-15lbs and 4 inches.  Put a 20 year drinking career to bed. Still many goals to achieve as I put them on hold for way too long...

Oh, Hi jmf.

I admire your courage, guts, determination and discipline Patrick. Most in your former situation, never break out of it.

[Pheurton Skeurto]

Been sporting the wife and two youngest around San Antonio the last few days.

Jmf, is that you?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Officially in panic mode for the MPRE tomorrow. I need a brief relaxation...

[opebo]

Up at eight AM today for conference.  Its hell on earth - about 2 hours sleep and sweating in a jacket and tie.

[afleitch]

You'll notice that when a rhetorical question such as the one I posted above is asked the answer from the person being criticized is never to agree with it. Regardless, the point here isn't that I like that hashtag. It's just that I find it extremely annoying when people who obviously don't understand why there is so much anger here sit up high from a position of privilege and make snide comments about how people below them need to be more polite and less angry.

As a gay man, I didn't get the life memo that I was in a position of privilege.

[Kitteh]

You'll notice that when a rhetorical question such as the one I posted above is asked the answer from the person being criticized is never to agree with it. Regardless, the point here isn't that I like that hashtag. It's just that I find it extremely annoying when people who obviously don't understand why there is so much anger here sit up high from a position of privilege and make snide comments about how people below them need to be more polite and less angry.

As a gay man, I didn't get the life memo that I was in a position of privilege.

As a cisgender man, when discussing the issue of trans people, you are.

[afleitch]

You'll notice that when a rhetorical question such as the one I posted above is asked the answer from the person being criticized is never to agree with it. Regardless, the point here isn't that I like that hashtag. It's just that I find it extremely annoying when people who obviously don't understand why there is so much anger here sit up high from a position of privilege and make snide comments about how people below them need to be more polite and less angry.

As a gay man, I didn't get the life memo that I was in a position of privilege.

As a cisgender man, when discussing the issue of trans people, you are.

I wasn't discussing the issue of trans people, I was discussing the issue of not using a tag that tells people like me, essentially an ally, to basically get fcked. It's not productive.

[Torie]

You'll notice that when a rhetorical question such as the one I posted above is asked the answer from the person being criticized is never to agree with it. Regardless, the point here isn't that I like that hashtag. It's just that I find it extremely annoying when people who obviously don't understand why there is so much anger here sit up high from a position of privilege and make snide comments about how people below them need to be more polite and less angry.

What are you angry about? I mean you had a middle class upbringing, and had/will have a decent education didn't you? And as you will learn, absent in extremis, angry and impolite folks do poorly in this society typically. And it's not good for your health to boot. Far better to argue your positions calmly and without anger, and after having mastered a topic. Then folks will listen. They run away from angry and impolite people. Is it possible that you have an undue sense of entitlement? Just asking. Know thyself first.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Got like two more days before I move to U of D. I got a couple things to take care of. On one end I got tons of crap I have to get ready and get together to move. On the other hand, there're some folks I gotta hang with, including a guitarist I gotta jam with, before I leave. I'm running outta time to do that and folks' work schedules don't help. Meanwhile, my room mate isn't moving in til Friday while I move in on Tuesday, so it's like "What the Hell am I gonna be doing?" Fourth situation I gotta deal with is that on the 22nd, some friends have tickets to a Tigers game. However, there's this quasi-orientation crap that's going on like the entire first week before classes start on the 26th. On the 22nd, I'm up to my ears in God-knows-what in terms of activities going until like eleven o'clock at night. College isn't supposed to be like some sadistic summer camp, so I should be able to leave, right? I have no idea how important any of the crap I'd hypothetically miss could possibly be, so it's all like "What the fock am I supposed to be doing!?", y'know?

[Leftbehind]

Will have to get it checked, but think I'm lactose intolerant now.

[afleitch]

Will have to get it checked, but think I'm lactose intolerant now.

I am too. I live on that Lactofree stuff.

[opebo]

Up at eight AM today for conference.  Its hell on earth - about 2 hours sleep and sweating in a jacket and tie.

Hey, I not only survived that conference, but I cemented friendlier relations with the boss.. and they gave me an envelope with 1,500 baht in it for my 'extra work) - about $50 or so.

The weird thing was - the conference was infiltrated by about five Thai and Laotian Christians!  Uninvited/unregistered weirdos who seemed to be vaguely academic (like grad students or something), but all they did was interrupt question periods with bizarre lectures and non-sequiturs about god and Christianity.  In my section one even tried to read from the Bible!  At lunch some of them chatted me up and told me I was a 'follower of Satan' for supporting Obama and gay marriage!  This was all incredibly bizarre coming from Thai people (who rarely convert), but I suppose those few who do convert tend to be extremists.

[Morning in Atlas]

One more day in New Hampshire.

[Lief 🗽]

I got a job offer! So excited! But mostly just relieved.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I got a job offer! So excited! But mostly just relieved.

Good man!

Will you get up at 4:40AM, and leave by 7:30AM, thereby not having time for a proper breakfast?

[Lief 🗽]

My schedule will be as follows:

3:30 AM Wake-up
4:00 AM Brief Relaxation
5:00 AM Bible Study
6:00 AM Sh[inks]
7:00 AM Shower
8:00 AM Shave
8:30 AM Brush Teeth

Unfortunately there will be no time for making breakfast in that schedule and I'll be forced to pick up a light 1000-2000 calorie breakfast from Dunkin Donuts on my way to work. But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that schedule.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

That schedule is LEGIT

You can celebrate your job with a giant steak dinner every night this week! It's called being an American.

[Torie]

My schedule will be as follows:

3:30 AM Wake-up
4:00 AM Brief Relaxation
5:00 AM Bible Study
6:00 AM Sh[inks]
7:00 AM Shower
8:00 AM Shave
8:30 AM Brush Teeth

Unfortunately there will be no time for making breakfast in that schedule and I'll be forced to pick up a light 1000-2000 calorie breakfast from Dunkin Donuts on my way to work. But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that schedule.

The schedule is just fabulous, but nevertheless you might consider combining the "brief relaxation" with your hour long shower (running water you know in the movies has a certain symbolism to it, so it is not like nobody has done that before). It appears that there might be time there to fit that in (by the way, showers that can accommodate two are far superior). That way, you will have time after scoring the donuts, to make your breakfast more balanced, by dropping by MacDonald's and rounding your meal out with a nice nutritious Egg McMuffin sandwich, preferably with sausage in it. That way, between the orangey material that they label cheese and whatever meat they put in what they call a sausage, you will actually be able to work in a few grams of protein, just so your body remembers what protein is like.

[traininthedistance]

Last night we (my GF, a couple friends, and I) were in the semifinals of this super-hard pub quiz we go to each week.  We didn't do that well, but fortunately the team we were matched up with was apparently just as mediocre.  So we were given a tiebreaker question that I assumed they made up on the fly.

The tiebreaker question was, "In one minute, write down as many counties of New York State as you can".

Boom.  Now we're in the finals.  Though the other two teams in the finals are certainly better (it's a three-for-all), so we will likely come in last there.  Which is still good for fabulous prizes.

[Torie]

Went with bf to Ripples last night, and dirty danced my head off for 2-3 hours to the pulsating beat with mirrors. Had a blast.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Went with bf to Ripples last night, and dirty danced my head off for 2-3 hours to the pulsating beat with mirrors. Had a blast.

I'm sure you and Don lit up the dance floor.  If we click on the link will be besieged with gay bar spam?