galyonj

You still got that kangaroo, though?

Back in 06, I saw Tom Waits at the Ryman. One of the best two concerts I've ever seen (the other was also Tom Waits, but in Knoxville in 08).

If I see it well enough to tell what it is, I count it. No shame.

I think it's interesting that, of all the substances that have bothered me, blood's never made the list. Just one of those things, I guess. I got a story to illustrate that'd just bring everybody down, so I'll just keep that one to myself. Got some cat food a few weeks ago, though. Fancy Feast Creamy Delights. It's a wet cat food that is advertised as having a "touch of milk in every bite." My girls loved it. Soon as I opened the drawer we keep their food in, they'd set up squalling for it. The problem is that it looks exactly like sausage gravy, only the sausage bits were replaced with little chunks of salmon or whitefish or whatever. Retched every time I opened a can of that stuff. I still can't think about eating sausage gravy.

Brother, I hate to break it to you, but everything is math.

Ew.

Absolutely true. It's a sickness. I like fast boats for the same reason I daily a Corvette. I've never NEEDED every horse, but it sure is fun to let them eat.

My current boat's got entirely too big a motor. It's a 15' hull with an XP150 on the transom. It's a hoot, however I cannot help but lust after (the availability of) speed. @TnRiver46 isn't wrong. East Tennessee builds some boats that'll git. That's good advice from you, as well. If I'm honest, I don't know who I'd take a boat to around here. As long as I don't need a lift, I can pretty much fix whatever I come across myself. If possible, it's always the smart play to use a powerplant that is at least easy to find parts for.

I told SWMBO that the next boat I bought was gonna be a Bullet, and, because she knows me, she rolled her eyes and asked how fast it went, then laughed at me and said no when I told her. But now, with your post, I have a new discussion point. "But baby, listen...we NEED this faster boat because what if a storm comes up and we've got to hustle off the water?"

Beautiful. A lifetime and another woman ago, we got a kitten from a girl she worked with. That cat snarled and yowled while she ate until she grew out of it. It was hilarious.

One of my favorite racing cheater stories comes from Toyota's efforts in the 95 WRC season.

"The Real Deal." It's marketing stuff from Z-Man.

Tbh I didn't either. I just looked up the bakery before I posted above, because it made me curious too.

I believe that's in Hawaii.

Leatherman – as a company, I mean – is historically one of a very small number of tool companies that I've never heard anything bad about. I'm not at all surprised at your story there.

I keep an OG Leatherman Wave in my fishing gear. I'd never go to the water without it. Terribly useful things.

Alternately, a dab of superglue on the back of the jighead where the plastic butts against it will help things stay put.

Love mine.

I need to fix you a plate soon.

My man. I started a new gig about a year ago. It's a young shop, so nobody (except sales, because they can't be trusted) has just one job. I'm sure everybody reading this knows what I'm talking about. I'd be perfectly content to remain a senior software engineer for the rest of my career. Come in, get my marching orders, write my code, and check out at the end of the day. Unfortunately, fate has different plans. Now I run a team in addition to getting to write code. And I feel some kind of way about this. I don't much like it, but I do my best, and I run my team with the same mindset that you do: Hire people you trust to do the job, get them the resources and work with them to fill knowledge gaps they might have to do the job I hired them for, then run interference for them as necessary so that they've got the bandwidth to do it. Otherwise, I stay out of their way and let them run the ball. All the credit goes to them, all the blame goes to me. I think a lot about what I wish I'd had in a leader/mentor when I was a baby engineer, and I try as hard as I can to be that person for my people. And I think that's really all you can do.

Same. But I'm also the chef de cuisine at my crib, which puts me in a bit of a bind. I know enough about the generalities to know whether I want a dry white or whatever, but I can't stand drinking them. So I tell SWMBO what I'm looking for, she picks a winner, and we end up with pretty good food.

You'd think that, and I wouldn't blame you, but you're wrong. Honestly I'm shocked that the cats aren't more of a problem. These dogs have turned this house into meowschwitz. Every toy the cats get is shredded the second one of the dogs finds it. Used to, I'd tie a plush mouse on one of my rods, and I'd fish for the cats until they collapsed for exhaustion. Great fun for everybody, great practice in looking at how predators behave for me. Antagonizing cats with that plush mouse is how I learned to drag a jig. Now that big yellow hound comes through like the Kool-Aid man, scares the bejesus out of the cats, and breaks me off. Alas, I love them all to bits.

Criminals.