20thStDad

It looks pretty badass at 6:15 am when there is barely any light, coming down Shepherd over Memorial/Allen. Every day I wish I had my camera.

No doubt! ECU has now taken it to Va Tech and WV, two teams that are overrated EVERY year because they play nobody. Both are good, on one side of the ball (WV offense and VT D/ST), but to be an elite team you need offense and defense. AND...they are the Pirates. You have to like that. What's the school war cry, "AAARRRRRRR!!!!"? I hope so.

Ohio St does not...they are going to lose by 50 to USC, and I hate USC. Hate both really, but I'd rather the more overrated one lose...that being Ohio St at this point. Michigan looked really weak again too.

We don't have a landline - it was only like $6 extra to hook up through cell line. Works fine for me. Has gone out (lost signal or whatever) twice, when brinks was actually doing some system update. Beeped for a little bit, came back on a few hours later. Noise maker still worked though. I was only peeved because they didn't notify us ahead of time that it would be down (nice thing to know) and we ended up calling them for 10 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong.

Went to Canino's this morning, it was awesome. We'll be going back for sure. Even hit the bakery across the street, also a great suggestion. Thanks for the tips on the new spot!

My lettering was what kept me from perfect scores in drafting. I loved it though, I wish I took more of those classes or had a reason to do it in real life. I've done minimal drafting for different projects over the years but haven't sat at a real drafting table since the class. I write like a four year old...that's why I type, very neatly.

I've never been creeped out, but I have many times thought about it being a great place to toss a body over the side. Then again water levels have been lower in recent years, you are probably better off near the spillway between LaPlace and New Orleans or hwy 90 just outside of Morgan City. Gators are fun, when we used to wakeboard in the intercoastal canal we would pass by them. Just don't fall right now...nothing fancy til they are out of sight.

So is it only a matter of $ for better materials when they want the surface to last? I'm thinking of bridges like the I-10 Atchafalaya basin bridge - it was built in the 60s, and I know I haven't been around forever, but I don't see how they could repave it even if they wanted to, and it's fine. Do they just money up for bridges to where they never have to redo the surface, or is there some stealth night crew with magical concrete patching? I have seen concrete patching before, but usually it is obvious where they've done it and I haven't noticed this on the basin bridge.

If I didn't think I would just end up hurting me or my wife I'd do that and put bear traps all up in there. Maiming someone trying to steal from me is not something I mind. I looked into wireless motion detectors, but got feedback from neighbors that they had problems with theirs. I thought about getting a door chime set up on the garage door and other door also. But it would be wireless too. Then I saw a butterfly, got distracted, and forgot about all of that until this thread came up.

Good point about the garage - I wish we had a motion sensor or at least a door sensor in our detached. That's the only place we've been hit, didn't know anything til morning. I have thought about at least putting a noise maker out there, but at this point it would be a royal pain to hook something up to the system in the house.

Ooooh, fun. If the VP is an imaginary candidate, I can have whatever I want. My imaginary VP can create doritos and scotch out of thin air. I know who I'm voting for now!!

I asked about some of these things when we moved into our place. The most important thing is the motion sensor. Ours has a good view of the stairs, no one can get up without setting it off. Only place downstairs someone could be without setting it off is the kitchen. We do have sensors on windows, but I agree those aren't that important. All they do is remind me when they are open when I try to set the alarm. I guess that's helpful. I do wish we had some kind of carbon monoxide monitoring or smoke alarm rigged to it. Right now we have CO/smoke alarms just as standalone noisemakers, which is ok but not if everyone in the house is already passed out, however unlikely that might be. Brinks does have a cool website where you can check your status, do tests, and see a history of alarms and tests. I looked at it one time.

This is an interesting conversation, I hear a lot of ideas I like. I'm with the one about the government putting some regulations and oversight on things. The insurance companies just keep increasing costs and being dropped by health providers, it's not getting any better. I don't know if I would use the UK as any good example - the people I've talked to about it say it's horrible, they still spend a ton on private insurance and their options for care are crap. So many go out of the country to do things, according to the few I've talked to.

I flipped them them bird yesterday on the phone, but they didn't care because they suck. If someone wants to convince me satellite is better (and cheaper) I might. All the flyers I get for directv are basically the same price as what I have after the promo period, with a contract, and with potential weather cutting out my signal. EDIT: If I go AT&T DSL am I going to have to buy a modem? If so, recommendations?

Yeah we are probably going to do the DSL thing. Fastest speed is still $8 less per month than Comcast. But, after talking with them further today, NO, they don't have u-verse where we are. I entered 15 addresses in the damn website yesterday just trying to find a guinea pig to price out options, but none of them said it was available. They offered dish network, but nah. Unless my cable tv price goes up for dropping internet (pretty sure it doesn't, although internet would go WAY up if I dropped comcast tv), we will probably keep comcast tv and go with DSL internet...unless they try to hit us with stupid installation fees. I don't pay those.

I've only heard a couple so far, and while decent they aren't near what they used to be.

Yeah they require a certain taste. If everyone liked it, it would be John Maier or something else that sucks. But thankfully it's not. I love long solos, I could listen to an album of just that. They haven't done any good ones though since the black album - however the best were most definitely before that.

I will eat any pizza. If I see one of these I'll try it out.

I know my parents did that...25 years ago, in Louisiana. I do not know if that is possible now.

Ha! I saw Motorhead a few years ago, it was fun. How can anyone mock you for Motorhead? As for Metallica, if you didn't spend your middle school years and early high school wearing a lot of either black or concert shirts and recording really crappily played metallica songs played by you, your cousin, and the neighbor (on cassette, in the neighbors bedroom) between episodes of trying to steal cigarettes - well, then you aren't me. So...heard another song on the way to work today. I liked this one better than the other one. Still need some time to digest all the songs once I get my hands on them. But I would say a definite step up from St. Anger, which I guess isn't saying much (IMO).

So, their last album St. Anger made me...angry. I gave it a shot, I listened to it many times thinking that it might grow on me like other great albums have had to do - but no. The drums were annoying, not a single solo, and I just didn't like it. Well...they were playing songs from the new Metallica album "Death Magnetic" today on XM 51 (all metallica right now). Different than St. Anger from what I heard, the annoying drum wasn't as annoying, but still a little bit there. The good thing is they brought back the solos. According to what they were saying every song has one, many have 2 or more. That's encouraging. I will probably buy it, if only because I've been a Metallica fan for nearly 20 years now and am just curious what it will be like. Has anyone else heard it or have an opinion yet? Nothing will live up to the Kill em All, Ride, Master, and And Justice...it never can. Some things on Load and Reload I didn't mind so much either, but in general they weren't my thing. I think they're still a great band, but hey, they are in their 40s. If you haven't changed from your early 20s to your 40s then there is something wrong with you.

Just got off the phone with Comcast, telling them I won't stand to see my bill go up $20 in a year when my services have stayed the same. I told them I might stick around if they can put one of their promotional rates on my account, but they wouldn't do it, even after I flat told them I was dropping them. So...I'm dropping them. We called and they said they have u-verse here. Looking at the U200 deal, should I be worried about the quality of that compared to ComCrap digital/HD package? On the internet, it touts down 1.5MBps and up 1MBps for "Express" (3/1 for the Pro) - what am I losing here versus comcast? I do upload/download things from time to time, but I'm not gaming online or anything. Convince me it's the right decision! I would love to make that call to Comcrap to tell them to f off.

Stupid question (never sold a house): Realtor fees, is it 6%, where buyer/seller split 3 each, or do they split 3%? I can't remember.

Some of those were interesting, but come on, labeling your responses "THE FACTS"?? All he did was put his own slant against the republican slant. Some of it was interesting, but most to me sounded like defensive whining. side note: I'm find myself defending BOTH sides whenever I hear people go at them with the middle school cut downs. So much so that I am confusing myself and still am very undecided.

This is a good point - old people vote like crazy, way more than other demographics. They getting polled as much as everyone else? I haven't looked at the source of any polls, but if any are internet they are leaving out the most important voters.