Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Lathum]

I'm at the car dealer getting yearly service and more than half the people in the waiting area are talking openly on their phones.

We are truly in the downfall of society and I think our generation is the last one that will have had any form of human connections.

[Ghost Econ]

I live near Michelin and off the main road they have about a football field sized area of land with some small, undulating hills. Almost every day on my way home I see a small lawn robot just rolling around all by itself, just rolling around almost aimlessly living it's best life. And then I think about how someone probably lost their job.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I'm at the car dealer getting yearly service and more than half the people in the waiting area are talking openly on their phones.

We are truly in the downfall of society and I think our generation is the last one that will have had any form of human connections.

I was with my high school freshman at a percussion tournament, and we were in that long period between performances and awards. And when I was on the high school speech and debate team, we'd all have, like, 10 different card games going during that period.

Now it's all kids on phones.

Change happens. I get it. We aren't putting the genie back in the bottle. But something has been lost.

[Lathum]

yeah. I see the same thing with my daughters softball team in between games at tournaments or when we carpool to games.

[Ghost Econ]

Speaking of kids on phones, my daughter got grounded for not meeting curfew Monday night. She got to her boyfriend's and I texted her to be home at 10 instead of 11 (Spring Break) since I had to get up early and didn't want to wait up.

Well, she never responded and as we got closer to 10 I let her know she would be in trouble. 10 passed, no response, no answer to texts or calls. She finally responds 10 minutes before curfew and apologizes.

She gets home and she's crying cause she knows shes in trouble. Obviously our concern is more she's doing something she shouldn't, even though we know she wouldn't... but teens are teens so... She says that she put her phone down and didn't pick it up for the next 2 hours, they just chilled on the couch and watched TV. Said his parents were home and his sister was in the dining room doing homework.

We looked through her phone and yep, it wasn't used at all for those 2 hours. If she's to be believed they just talked and watched TV for 2 hours. And honestly, she's a horrible liar. Her story was so mundane that it's surprisingly believable. They just watched kids cartoons. She said she just never has the ringer or vibrate on the phone and she's been trying to disconnect lately.

She still got grounded and explained we need to be able to reach her for emergencies, but its amusing my daughter got in trouble because she (probably) did the one thing we actually want our kids to do, put up the phone.

Also, now I've played Wake Up Little Suzie the last 2 mornings when she woke up for swim practice.

[Lathum]

Thats a tough one.

I always tell my kids if there is no reason for them to have a phone if they don't respond to us when we want to get a hold of them.

My daughter is the opposite. She write me and if I don't write back immediately I get a string of texts

Dad
Dad
Dad
???
are you there
???
hello
dad
DAD!!!!

all within 12 seconds of each other.

[Ghost Econ]

That Dugger family is just fucked up.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

That Dugger family is just fucked up.

On a related note, I saw an article that Charlie Kirk's mentor "and father figure of modern cheerleading" died. Just that statement alone should be sufficient probable cause to investigate the dead guy's life.

[Lathum]

I am trying not to be irritated but my daughters softball team plays our first tournament this weekend.

There are 14 teams so it is a bit of a goofy format. Each team plays 2 pool games. Top 4 teams advance to the title bracket and the other 10 play a consolation game.

Obviously record is first followed by runs against. We won both games last night and are easily one of the top teams in the tournament, if not the best, and they paired us up with one of the other best teams.

We won both games and gave up 5 runs. Now I am seeing teams up against crappy teams on pummeling them so good chance we will miss out because of the run rule.

It's crap that you can go 2-0, beat one of the best teams in the tournament, and not have a chance to play for the trophy.

[flere-imsaho]

Yeah, someone didn't think that through. But they get the money anyway, so....

[Ksyrup]

Depends what your goal is. This early in the season especially, we always asked to play the better teams. The goal was to be prepared for the ASA/PGF qualifiers (at least those were the top 2 when my kids played). At least until 7th/8th grade when all our girls were playing HS ball and our first tourney was Scenic 16 and then immediately into qualifiers.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Depends what your goal is. This early in the season especially, we always asked to play the better teams. The goal was to be prepared for the ASA/PGF qualifiers (at least those were the top 2 when my kids played). At least until 7th/8th grade when all our girls were playing HS ball and our first tourney was Scenic 16 and then immediately into qualifiers.

This is our goal as well to get ready for east coast nationals. We’re 12U and playing in a bunch of 14u tournaments to get ready.

We ended up in the championship and fell short but second place in a 16 team tournament first one of the year I’ll take it. The team that won is awesome and we hung with them. Had one bad inning where the ball got hit to our weakest players and it showed.

[CrimsonFox]

Jeff Webb, Charlie Kirk Mentor, Dies at 76 in Pickleball Accident

F this guy. probably responsible for more student accidents than cars

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Jeff Webb, Charlie Kirk Mentor, Dies at 76 in Pickleball Accident

F this guy. probably responsible for more student accidents than cars

Wait, pickleball accident? Now the DOD is not even trying to give plausible excuses. I wonder how Iran got him?

[Ghost Econ]

I just realized next year will be 30 years since I last played a game a baseball. I don't even think I've played slow pitch softball since then. Aside from hitting grounders to 5 year olds once, I don't know that I've hit or even thrown a baseball otherwise since then.

[Ksyrup]

My rotator cuffs are still paying for 10-12 years of my girls playing softball. Especially since Caitlin was a pitcher - I probably threw 10x more balls with my kids than I ever threw growing up.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

My rotator cuffs are still paying for 10-12 years of my girls playing softball. Especially since Caitlin was a pitcher - I probably threw 10x more balls with my kids than I ever threw growing up.

Yup. I throw hundreds a week in addition to hitting them and feeding a fast pitch machine.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

My rotator cuffs are still paying for 10-12 years of my girls playing softball. Especially since Caitlin was a pitcher - I probably threw 10x more balls with my kids than I ever threw growing up.

Every time I've thrown a ball farther than 5 feet for about the past 15 years, normally just lobbing a ball in open space to a dog, my elbow hurts. I feel like I need tommy John. I can't imagine what would happen if I tried to throw for real at one of those guess your speed challenges.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I just realized next year will be 30 years since I last played a game a baseball. I don't even think I've played slow pitch softball since then. Aside from hitting grounders to 5 year olds once, I don't know that I've hit or even thrown a baseball otherwise since then.

Yep. I think about this periodically; I used to watch people throw out ceremonial first pitches and think "how can they do THAT badly?" but now I'm not 100% convinced I wouldn't also look foolish. There was a time when I was looking forward to being old enough to play in an over-30 league, but that time passed and I never joined up. Haven't played softball either. I'd like to think that I could throw a ball and swing a bat, but who knows. Especially with throwing my shoulder has been screwy ages (I blame football). I could never throw fast, but I'd been known to launch a throw over the backstop from RF (should have just hit the cutoff man...). That probably wouldn't work any more.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Wait, pickleball accident? Now the DOD is not even trying to give plausible excuses. I wonder how Iran got him?

what does he have to do with iran? it sounds more like final destination

[Ghost Econ]

Overheard someone in the office ask if The Martian (Matt Damon movie) was based on a true story.

[PilotMan]

Did they have to ask chatgpt? Because it feels like the critical thinking skills are gone, and AI is only going to make it so, so, so worse.

[Passacaglia]

Can any of you Atlanta people help me out? I'm driving to Florida, and need a hotel for the night this Saturday on the way there, and Friday and Saturday night on the way back. There's 5 of us, so we need either a room with two beds and a sofa bed, or two rooms, one which has two beds. I figure people living in Atlanta probably don't know much about hotels in Atlanta, but figured I'd ask.

On the weekend of the way back, we're planning to go to the aquarium and the Coke museum, which look like they are right by each other. If we choose a hotel that's super-close to it, is it walkable, or is it the kind of thing where you'd have to drive anyway?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Can any of you Atlanta people help me out? I'm driving to Florida, and need a hotel for the night this Saturday on the way there, and Friday and Saturday night on the way back. There's 5 of us, so we need either a room with two beds and a sofa bed, or two rooms, one which has two beds. I figure people living in Atlanta probably don't know much about hotels in Atlanta, but figured I'd ask.

On the weekend of the way back, we're planning to go to the aquarium and the Coke museum, which look like they are right by each other. If we choose a hotel that's super-close to it, is it walkable, or is it the kind of thing where you'd have to drive anyway?

I'm just assuming that your path through GA is I-75 (75/85 concurrently through downtown ATL). The equation might change a bit if you were on a different interstate/path.

Assuming that you at least don't want to pay more than you ought to (we all have our own individual pain tolerance when it comes to hotels), I'd certainly recommend staying outside the city proper on the way down.

That sounds like a single night, just sleeping before getting back on the road. Pick something in the suburbs, read reviews carefully when selecting. In-town hotels have almost all been absolute shit with bad reviews & super expensive parking ever since Covid.

Cobb County (Marietta, Smyrna) would normally be preferred but with the Braves home this weekend it'll be priced up. And just south of the city is pretty sketchy territory. Might be best to get well south of the airport before making your stop (cause you sure a.f. don't want to deal with that area)

The return trip, eh, some of that answer depends on your tolerance for walking. And your tolerance for what you might (or might not) encounter while doing so. This page lists several of the most obvious suspects for that. I'd strongly advise the same counsel I gave earlier though: read current reviews carefully when selecting. Downtown hotels, even the premium brands, have REALLY struggled with multiple issues in the past few years. I actually know more than one high end travelers (not my lane, but they do exist lol) who say ATL is about as poor an example for most brands as you can find anywhere. And since you're driving, check & doublecheck on the parking situation. Not only the costs but also the safety & even access to vehicle. That's become REALLY sketchy a.f.

And to be clear, no I'm not saying "are you nuts? do NOT do this". I'm merely advising that you put maybe an extra level of effort into checking out your choices instead of making an off-the-cuff decision.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Can any of you Atlanta people help me out? I'm driving to Florida, and need a hotel for the night this Saturday on the way there, and Friday and Saturday night on the way back. There's 5 of us, so we need either a room with two beds and a sofa bed, or two rooms, one which has two beds. I figure people living in Atlanta probably don't know much about hotels in Atlanta, but figured I'd ask.

On the weekend of the way back, we're planning to go to the aquarium and the Coke museum, which look like they are right by each other. If we choose a hotel that's super-close to it, is it walkable, or is it the kind of thing where you'd have to drive anyway?

I actually do stay in Atlanta quite frequently, and exactly the area you are talking about (Centennial Olympic Park). If you want to stay right there, I have stayed at Omni hotel (old high end), Signia (new, but high end) and the Hilton Garden Inn. All were fine, and right on the park. Hilton Garden Inn is likely the most affordable, but all of them are in the $200-350 a night range. You can sometimes get some crazy deals with Omni and it will be closer to $150. You can also stay on the Marta line and then just ride in. The Westin Peachtree Plaza is also very close, and is somewhat historic, but the rooms the last time I stayed feel dated. Then again, depending on which tower you end up at in the Omni, those rooms feel dated as well.

[Passacaglia]

Thanks, guys. I booked Embassy Suites Buckhead for Saturday night. The kids saw Gone with the Wind for the first time pretty recently, so we'll stop at the Margaret Mitchell house for a quick minute Sunday morning before we head to Tampa. The Embassy Suites Midtown was closer, but didn't have rooms with enough beds for us.

Still working on the return trip. I'm definitely feeling some sticker shock looking at Centennial Olympic Park. Is it worth it to stay around there? It seems like we could save a lot by staying somewhere else, but then I'm not sure where.

Anyone have kid-friendly dinner recommendations? Maybe if we plan to eat dinner downtown, it would make sense to stay there, but if we have plans to eat in another neighborhood, we'd just stay in Buckhead again as long as we had a good experience on the way down.

[Lathum]

Really proud of my daughter and her softball team. They play 12U and played in a 14U tournament today. They went 1-2 but TBH we could have won the first game. We threw our #4 pitcher to get her some reps. Up 3 in the last inning we could have brought in a better pitcher but wanted to get her the reps and we blew it in the field. We won the last game 2-0 with out #1 pitcher striking out literally every batter and my daughter called the whole game on her own catching.

They hung in there against high school kids and weren't in the least intimidated. It was a good day.

[Ghost Econ]

Just watched a kid with no arms and legs swim a 100 yard freestyle in 3:38. He would honestly probably beat me.

[21C]

Well, my trusty six year old laptop finally packed it in today. Looked like a power issue that I tried to troubleshoot but had no luck. I hoped that the hard drives were recoverable but only one seemed to be OK. I finally worked out that I had a faulty cable on my SSD enclosure so I am finally back on the road to recovery. I'm just glad that I happened to have an old disused work laptop that I could repurpose. I really need to backup more often.

Thought I'd lost my long term Football Manager 21 save for a second.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

Just watched a kid with no arms and legs swim a 100 yard freestyle in 3:38. He would honestly probably beat me.

Hey, around here there's been the big story about a kid with no arms and legs who became a cornhole champion...and now is under arrest for shooting and killing a passenger in the vehicle he was driving.

[Ghost Econ]

So we're getting a Raising Canes. To celebrate, I decided to finally try Guthrie's, which I've been told is the original chicken/toast/fries place and that Canes and Zaxbys were basically stolen out it by disgruntled workers.

So Guthrie's, the chick tastes literally exactly like Zaxbys. I've eaten enough Zaxby's to know this. The fries were the same crinkle fries. A little crisper than Zaxby's as a whole, but absolutely no seasoning. I don't know if they forgot or if they don't come with seasoning. The only way crinkle fries are tolerable are if they're fried in really old oil or duck fat, or if they are well seasoned. These fries were not it. I couldn't get through half of them. The toast... At first I was skeptical because only one side was toasted and it was pretty thick. I was expecting it to be a little gummy, but it was actually really crisp. A bit too much crust, but honestly I think if it was buttered and toasted on both sides the bread would destroy Zaxby's. As it is I think it's tied with when you get a good piece of Zaxby's toast. There's time where you only get soggy Zaxby's bread and it's a disaster, but when they get the butter right I could eat a whole loaf.

So as a whole, I'd rate the 3 Zaxby's, then Guthrie's close if not for the fries, then Canes a distant third. It's been a decade, but the times I had Canes it was the most flavorless chicken and toast I've had.

I'm interested to try Slim Chickens as I've heard its solid. Huey Magoos is in the same vein, but one time I had it and it was a disaster. The other time the chicken and fries were good, but their toast just doesn't do it.

Are there any other chicken/fries/toast chains I don't know about?

[B & B]

I must chime in here.

Guthrie's the Gut-bomb is the OG. Way back in college it was the go to. Nothing but fried chicken, fried chicken sandwiches those puffy crinkle cut fries and the thick texas toast. They streamlined and killed it.

My college roommates GF worked there and would come back with full togo boxes of the 'leftover' end of the night fingers. We were so glutton but at 20 who cared. This happened many many times way back in the 90s

Think you just got a bad round on the fry seasoning but they were nothing super special.

[CrimsonFox]

All these space disaster movies and games have left me disappointed about the current touchdown.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So we're getting a Raising Canes. To celebrate, I decided to finally try Guthrie's, which I've been told is the original chicken/toast/fries place and that Canes and Zaxbys were basically stolen out it by disgruntled workers.

So Guthrie's, the chick tastes literally exactly like Zaxbys. I've eaten enough Zaxby's to know this. The fries were the same crinkle fries. A little crisper than Zaxby's as a whole, but absolutely no seasoning. I don't know if they forgot or if they don't come with seasoning. The only way crinkle fries are tolerable are if they're fried in really old oil or duck fat, or if they are well seasoned. These fries were not it. I couldn't get through half of them. The toast... At first I was skeptical because only one side was toasted and it was pretty thick. I was expecting it to be a little gummy, but it was actually really crisp. A bit too much crust, but honestly I think if it was buttered and toasted on both sides the bread would destroy Zaxby's. As it is I think it's tied with when you get a good piece of Zaxby's toast. There's time where you only get soggy Zaxby's bread and it's a disaster, but when they get the butter right I could eat a whole loaf.

So as a whole, I'd rate the 3 Zaxby's, then Guthrie's close if not for the fries, then Canes a distant third. It's been a decade, but the times I had Canes it was the most flavorless chicken and toast I've had.

I'm interested to try Slim Chickens as I've heard its solid. Huey Magoos is in the same vein, but one time I had it and it was a disaster. The other time the chicken and fries were good, but their toast just doesn't do it.

Are there any other chicken/fries/toast chains I don't know about?

Canes is a clear #1 for us. We haven't been to Zaxby's since pre-Covid. Chicken is fried too heavily. Canes is nice and light.

Jaggers is a new place we have in Lexington. I think it might be a small test of a new chicken place by the Texas Roadhouse people. TBF, it has more than just chicken.

Also Huey Magoos, which is in Asheville. We go at least once when we visit my parents.

[GrantDawg]

I'm dying for a good burger and all we have is ten thousand of these chicken finger places. I don't like chicken fingers at all.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So we're getting a Raising Canes. To celebrate, I decided to finally try Guthrie's, which I've been told is the original chicken/toast/fries place and that Canes and Zaxbys were basically stolen out it by disgruntled workers.

So Guthrie's, the chick tastes literally exactly like Zaxbys. I've eaten enough Zaxby's to know this. The fries were the same crinkle fries. A little crisper than Zaxby's as a whole, but absolutely no seasoning. I don't know if they forgot or if they don't come with seasoning. The only way crinkle fries are tolerable are if they're fried in really old oil or duck fat, or if they are well seasoned. These fries were not it. I couldn't get through half of them. The toast... At first I was skeptical because only one side was toasted and it was pretty thick. I was expecting it to be a little gummy, but it was actually really crisp. A bit too much crust, but honestly I think if it was buttered and toasted on both sides the bread would destroy Zaxby's. As it is I think it's tied with when you get a good piece of Zaxby's toast. There's time where you only get soggy Zaxby's bread and it's a disaster, but when they get the butter right I could eat a whole loaf.

So as a whole, I'd rate the 3 Zaxby's, then Guthrie's close if not for the fries, then Canes a distant third. It's been a decade, but the times I had Canes it was the most flavorless chicken and toast I've had.

I'm interested to try Slim Chickens as I've heard its solid. Huey Magoos is in the same vein, but one time I had it and it was a disaster. The other time the chicken and fries were good, but their toast just doesn't do it.

Are there any other chicken/fries/toast chains I don't know about?

I was in Nashville a week ago and stopped at a Hattie B's. I haven't been to most of these places, so I can't compare, but it was good.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah that's a famous Nashville hot chicken place. There are several of those franchises too - I consider that a sub-genre, separate from the typical Canes/Zaxby's places.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I'm dying for a good burger and all we have is ten thousand of these chicken finger places. I don't like chicken fingers at all.

fwiw, y'know who has a surprisingly good burger (at least 90% of the time)?

W n' B Factory

Frequently BOGO'ed on the delivery platforms, worth giving a try if you haven't (of course YMMV, franchise stuff can surely vary from one location to another)

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

fwiw, y'know who has a surprisingly good burger (at least 90% of the time)?

W n' B Factory

Frequently BOGO'ed on the delivery platforms, worth giving a try if you haven't (of course YMMV, franchise stuff can surely vary from one location to another)

Need to try it. There is one just 3 miles from me.

[GrantDawg]

Just one more day, and I will be off till Wednesday of next week. Jordancon weekend, baby!

[Lathum]

Why is it every time I go into a Home Depot the one aisle I need something from is gated off so they can forklift something in there.

[Ghost Econ]

I think my daughter's boyfriend found the best way to get me on his side to make me think I'm the funniest person he's met. He told my daughter and his parents this.

You know, he can just be blowing smoke up my ass, but I'm going to allow it.

Also, he loves the Beatles and thinks Airplane is one of the greatest movies there is. If he plays text sims I'm going to be a little concerned.

[flere-imsaho]

Good chance he's just using her to get to you. Be careful.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I think my daughter's boyfriend found the best way to get me on his side to make me think I'm the funniest person he's met. He told my daughter and his parents this.

You know, he can just be blowing smoke up my ass, but I'm going to allow it.

Also, he loves the Beatles and thinks Airplane is one of the greatest movies there is. If he plays text sims I'm going to be a little concerned.

You should intervene and steal him for yourself

[Ghost Econ]

These are my hopes, I need someone to play video games with.

[Passacaglia]

Getting in a little FOF time in the morning before the kids wake up, and I'm feeling like it's going to be a bad/stupid day based on how it's going so far. I'm making all sorts of dumb mistakes -- stuff like hitting "simulate one day" instead of "save", putting an injured player on the inactive roster, then when I needed to activate someone else, activating the same guy I just inactivated. A few others too, but those have been the dumbest.

[Lathum]

You should apply for a job with the Mets.

[Lathum]

Tripping over a suitcase in the middle
Of the night in a hotel and bashing my head in landing me in the ER wasn’t something had in my bingo card.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Tripping over a suitcase in the middle
Of the night in a hotel and bashing my head in landing me in the ER wasn’t something had in my bingo card.

Geez man. That sucks.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Tripping over a suitcase in the middle
Of the night in a hotel and bashing my head in landing me in the ER wasn’t something had in my bingo card.

I prefer music bingo myself. Although I have bashed my head against a table after hearing a Meghan Trainor song.