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Damor

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Damor

  1. I've seen them mentioned in passing on occasion (most recently by @Brisketexan), but never a dedicated discussion. We have a current HS junior who is bright and an incredibly kind and empathetic soul of whom I am extremely proud; however, the other side of his particular coin makes him somewhat passive and lacking in confidence as compared with his peers, as well as lagging in maturity and self-motivation (in retrospect, he would have been a very good candidate for a redshirt kindergarten year, something I'm trying to stop kicking myself over). I'll try not to get all longcat with some of the issues we're working on at school (in case you wondered, high school still sucks), but what it really boils down to is that we are working to help him find inspiration and self-motivation. We've always tried the philosophy of pouring gasoline on any spark he's showed, and we'd hoped to do some horizon-broadening travel the last couple summers that hasn't worked out (thanks COVID), but we know that his time with us is drawing to a close and we need to use what we have left wisely to help him find a direction and a goal other than "I'm supposed to go to college." I could go on and on but I won't, because I imagine we aren't the only ones trying to work this out, and I really intend this to be less about him in particular and more about understanding what's available to him. A gap year is something we've briefly discussed with him, but it's probably time for us to learn more seriously about it so that we can all get some reliable information and insight -- one thing we do know is that this is going to have to be his decision, because trying to make it anything else is not going to end well. I found what looks like a reputable site to start at in the Gap Year Association, and it seems that the main pathways are to go with an established program provider, use a counseling service for something more individualized, or let them come up with something and do it independently. I'd be happy to hear of any other trustworthy resources to check out. I'd be deeply interested in anyone's personal gap year experience (yourself or as a parent), as well as any good (or bad) resources/experiences along the way. We plan to visit with his counselor about this, but frankly, my expectations for that are low, and I guess I trust you degenerates on the whole much more when trying to look for a broader worldview than the relatively small and insular one his formal education has given him thus far. And I did already check -- his 529 will not reimburse for 'hookers and blow.'
  2. Pfizer, second dose 1/10 S 473 N (-) Paystub [redacted] Only 31 payments left on Corvette
  3. 4) Everyone is the hero of their own story. 3) The great thing about life is it's never so bad that it can't get worse. 2) Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to. 1) ou sucks
  4. ^^^ That's my scenario right now with 16yo and 13yo boys. They are both vaccinated but I am certain a large number of their teammates are not. The 16yo doesn't want to wear a mask at school, and the 13yo is ambivalent (he's around more kids who are under 12). If mine develop symptoms, they will be tested and held out (we already had to do that for the 16yo when he spiked a 103 temp right before two-a-days, tested negative). I've warned them both that while I consider it being a bad teammate to be unvaccinated, if mine don't mask up and take every precaution, they're still at risk for getting thrown under the bus when shit inevitably happens, because people suck, and nobody's going to blame the unvaccinated starting senior. It does help that vaccinated exposures won't require quarantine, but: 1) That guideline predates Delta 2) Nobody is going to demand proof of vaccination. Let the shitshow commence.
  5. BSWH system data: Fully vaccinated cases are almost universally immunosuppressed or other severe comorbidities. I've been working the evening shift for the last week, and it's just nonstop from the imaging standpoint, worse than anything from the winter in terms of volume, severity, and age. Trashed 30yo lungs are no longer a novelty, and have seen multiple young 20's and older teens with widespread lung disease. 30's and 40's on ECMO. I'm sick of this shit.
  6. We didn't resurface, but we did Cooldeck on our new construction about 3 years ago. I love it. It does stay much cooler than other surfaces, is nonslip, and has stood up to derpy boys and a derpy dog. I really wish we'd done it on the porches instead of stamped/stained concrete, and may see if I can get it overlaid on that one of these days.
  7. One of those piercing moments. I want to be The Grandfather when I grow up. Another is Herman Blume's haircut scene in Rushmore. The whole scene is just perfect, from the pin exchange to Blume's expression when he meets Bert to "Are you fond of that mustache? You think you wanna keep it for a while?" Same for the Jaguar Shark scene in Life Aquatic. I see why Anderson is so persnickety, because every little thing in those scenes is done for a reason and done to perfection. And one of the all-time greats: Even though I know all of these scenes by heart, every time I watch them I'm glued to the screen like it's the first time.
  8. Damor

    New Music 2021

    Lord Huron is my 13yo's favorite band, and as I posted in another thread, I'm pumped that I found tickets to see them at Red Rocks for his birthday. Hell, they might be my favorite band at present -- when they auctioned a bunch of stuff to support their crew last summer, I spent a stupid amount of money. They're definitely doing some different creative things. The "Alive from Whispering Pines" streaming shows they did were really cool, and worth checking out on Youtube. In other news, I heard this Vagabon track on KUTX a little while back, and damned if it's not still blowing my mind:
  9. The 76571 agrees. 974240195_PXL_20210622_0233391252.mp4 974240195_PXL_20210622_0233391252.mp4
  10. Well this looks interesting.
  11. Lots of good advice here. A few more random things: Agree to oversize the garage and covered porches. They're never big enough. For cabinets, definitely soft close drawers. Get the drawings and label every cabinet with what you want to put in it, then make adjustments as needed. Get sliding shelves for larger and heavier cookware. We put trash/recycling bins both next to the main sink and the island prep sink, a small add which makes a huge difference. My wife likes to bake, so we put two stand mixer lifts in one of the cabinets. Be sure to put an outlet inside. One of the best bang-for-the buck small details we did was heated floors in the master bathroom. It was remarkably inexpensive for a pleasant luxury. We also put in a heated towel rack. Pro move: heat the master shower floor and bench on a separate circuit which you can operate at a higher temperature. Your wife will appreciate it, and will show you her appreciation. If you sized the master shower appropriately, that is. We put floor drains in the laundry room and the game room. Great for peace of mind in case something decides to leak one day. Put lots of quad outlets in. Both sides of the master bed for chargers, lamps, and, uh... etc. Lots of quads in the kitchen for small appliances, Google stuff, etc. Don't forget to put soffit plugs on a switch (smart switch is even better) for Christmas lights. If you are putting in a pool, make sure you have a hose bib nearby for filling and cleaning equipment (kicking myself over this one). We ran Cat6 from a homerun AV closet errrwhere. It may be overkill, but allows me to wireless backhaul my Google mesh and gets streaming devices like smart TVs off of wifi. Love our Blue Star gas cooktop. Be sure to get your vent sized appropriately, both dimension and volume. We put a warming drawer below ours, honestly could use another one. Best kitchen splurge was an undercounter pellet ice maker. Couldn't live without it now. The best advice we got on picking out anything cosmetic that matters to both of you was this: when you're looking at options/selections, don't pick out what you each like best and try to come to an agreement. Instead, cross off what you hate or is a no-go. Eliminate until you're left with stuff you both find acceptable, and somebody pick. We're pretty chill with similar tastes, but we found this really sped the process up and gave us a much more satisfying result. Good luck. We put a lot of thought into it and love our house, but I don't ever want to do it again.
  12. Thanks @Valmy77, just scored tickets behind the dugout, row 5. Unbelievably excited to make it back to the Disch.
  13. So what's the preferred source for good Supers tickets? I used to have really kick-ass season tickets until my boys got too busy playing ball themselves, but since the stars are aligned that we have nothing going on, I'd love to surprise them with our first trip to the Disch in years.
  14. Forgot the frying pan action shot, but made some Ed McGill fried taters yesterday. Big hit with the family and a blast from the past for me. I might add some garlic next time, although that's not canon and too highfalutin' for Gramp's fishing trip grub.
  15. He killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How have you been?
  16. If you happen to take the more southern route and go through Post (my destination is more central CO), Holly's Drive-In has great burgers. And it may have changed owners lately, but we stumbled on English Field House in Amarillo last time we went through. Total gem for breakfast stuck in an odd place right next to the airport. Lots of military aviation patches/photos for you plane buffs, cool view of the airfield, and good food. I didn't realize that the Amarillo airport is a big fueling stop for private aviation, so if you're nice to the staff you can get some good stories about their frequent celebrity visitors. If you're really nice, they may let you admire Morgan Freeman's personal utensil set that he leaves there. One of the cooler road trip discoveries I've made, after having driving through Amarillo countless times growing up.
  17. Add Flaming Hot Cheetos for a $4 upcharge. Or Takis if it's an authentico kind of place.
  18. I grew up putting salt on grapefruit, thought it was weird to see people put sugar on it. That's also what we left out for Santa instead of cookies when I was a kid. Dunno if that was a South Texas thing or a weird family thing. And yeah, my grandfather's idea of lunch when fishing was invariably Vienna sausages on saltines. Sometimes accompanied by half an onion, eaten like an apple. Fortunately, he usually redeemed himself at supper with T-bones and what he called "Ed McGill Fried Taters" after his old fishing buddy: sliced potatoes and onions fried in a skillet with tons of salt and pepper. Damn, I need to make me some of that.
  19. Very nice, clear explanation. The mRNA vaccines are beautiful in their simplicity. This is well outside my area, but my primary concern for any long-term effects would be something related to inducing an unexpected, as-yet unknown autoinflammatory immune response (immune system, you scary). But having anecdotally seen a few cases of MIS-C, I would much rather take that chance with just the S protein than the entire virus. So my 16yo is fully vaxxed and my 13yo got his first shot last Monday.
  20. My 16yo got his second dose through school today. He didn't notice anything with the first round, we'll see how the second goes. Waiting for them to open it up so we can get our 13yo vaxxed and put this shit in the rearview.
  21. Statistically and historically speaking, the most likely location for uncontrolled rocket re-entry by far is @South Austin's mom.
  22. Damor

    Whatcha reading?

    Funny, because it seems like a lot of my reading lately has gravitated toward religious discussion. I don't know this book or its central argument, but what I understand of Hitchens is that a large part of his outlook is that science and religion are incompatible. Here are a couple books I have really enjoyed lately which speak to that, and address some of Hitchens' arguments specifically: Francis Collins' The Language of God This is well written for an intelligent general audience and has the further benefit of being written by someone who, like CS Lewis in Mere Christianity, began from the atheist perspective. It makes some very interesting arguments from Collins' own experience with genetics, as well as addresses some more universal issues (literally). One thing that I find very refreshing is that he not only makes cogent arguments for the existence of God in opposition to atheism, but also spends a very significant amount of time calling out the anti-intellectualism and ignorance of fundamentalism and young Earth creationists for the damage that they do. Really great read IMO. Stephen Barr's The Believing Scientist I'm pretty sure it was someone on a previous iteration of Surly/Shaggy/Shitty/Whatever who turned me on to Barr's Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, which is a really outstanding book but can get very technical (especially if, like me, you have little understanding of particle physics or quantum theory beyond Schrödinger's Cat). This is a collection of essays which largely distill and shorten those arguments so that they can be digested in smaller bites. As such, it can get a little repetitive and can be a little superficial, but it's still a very interesting read. If you were to read this and like it, I'd strongly suggest following it with Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, where he fleshes out a lot of these concepts much more fully. I just started in on a biographical novel about Pontius Pilate which looks to be good, but these might be more relevant to what you're talking about. BTW, this is one of my favorite threads on the site. Thank y'all for all the contributions.
  23. @Dbeasy We rented a jeep from Colorado 145 in Telluride and did Imogene in July of 2016. They were very well reviewed, and we had a great experience. Their website has a list of trail conditions that gives you a brief summary of each. We did a 4-door jeep since our boys were smaller back then. Do you think your crew would be amenable to that? I think if your two more adventurous guys were driving, Imogene would be fine, but asking your old or pregnant person to drive is probably a recipe for unhappiness. Of course, cramming them into the rear of the jeep may be just as bad or worse. I don't recall a lot of bad drop offs or anything super intense on Imogene, but the early part of the descent has some pretty steep sections where I had to get up out of the seat to see over the hood: (I know that's hard to show with photos) "Which is better, 1?" "Or 2?" The worst part of the day for me was turning around at the parking area at the top of Bridal Veil Falls, because I have a heights thing. Ugh.
  24. The key is in the squishy word "should." I should do a lot of things.
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