Iwritecode

My nephew is graduating Saturday. Then I'm taking all of next week of for vacation time. Actually, my vacation starts at 11:30AM tomorrow.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 26, 2016 -> 03:45 PM) Maybe the participation trophies aren't so smart after all. I've mentioned this before but I think the whole participation trophies meme is bulls***. I played softball in the 80's and we had them back then too. The thing was, we knew exactly what they were. Something to take up space on a shelf at home and then later get buried in a box in the back of a closet somewhere. They didn't make us feel any better. We were still jealous of the kids that got the much bigger and better first and second place trophies. Honestly, I get more annoyed at the people that celebrate their kid "graduating" every single grade level including pre-school.

I only lived with my parents for about 4 years after I graduated HS. I was able to go from living with them to buying my own house. All while going to college, having 2 kids and having a decent-paying job just about fall into my lap.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 26, 2016 -> 08:58 AM) I did it for about 15. SO glad those days are gone. I did a 50 minute drive for 11 years and a 2+ hour drive for almost 5 years. Now I'm less than 10 minutes from my front door to my desk.

My oldest will be 20 in August and she doesn't have plans to move out anytime soon. Mostly because she is working part-time and putting herself through the local community college. We'll see what happens after she actually gets her degree but full-time jobs are nearly non-existent in the low-skill places like fast-food and retail which is really all she is qualified for at the moment. I also know someone who is mid 30's and still lives at home. He ran into some financial troubles a few years back and he's just now digging himself out of that hole and plans on getting a place by the end of the year. Should be interesting to see when it happens because I don't think his parents are going to handle it well.

Anyone who has read the Dark Tower books should understand the significance of this object. It pretty much gives them free reign to do whatever they want in the movie as well. The Gunslinger fled across the desert and the man in black followed.

I hate bunting when the starting pitcher just threw 8 straight balls to the previous 2 batters.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 18, 2016 -> 08:46 AM) Sometimes when you drive alot that tool needs to be extremely comfy with lots of bells and whistles!!! Totally this. I spent 11 years driving 30+ miles one-way for my first job and almost 5 years driving 90 miles one-way at my previous job. So I've always had to make sure my cars were not only reliable, but comfortable as well considering how much time I spent in them. Fuel efficiency was also a big factor so more often than not, the newer the better.

QUOTE (brett05 @ May 13, 2016 -> 12:24 PM) Sure they do. It prevents people from doing what they want. That's not what discrimination means.

My daughter played softball for about 6 years. There were only a couple of times I got really upset. One was when the kids were around 7 or so and the opposing coach kept sending his runners around the bases because he knew kids that age have trouble throwing/catching the ball consistently. Our girls would be throwing the ball back to the pitcher and he'd have his kids still running. The other time was when my daughter was a few years older and the umpire was calling strikes on balls that literally bounced on or before the plate. I later found out that our coach told the umpire to "expand the zone" because we were winning by a lot. Finding that out actually made me even more upset.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 10, 2016 -> 03:29 PM) You said: "They don't mean you didn't earn what you have, just that you may have had less obstacles to get to it and you shouldn't ignore that. Just realize that there are a lot of things out there that you didn't have to deal with, and just be aware of that." Are you fricking serious? So that gives you the right to come up to me in a public place and yell "check your privileges" And I thought they were also saying "check your white privileges." How the hell does this group of people know that I don't accept the fact I've had less obstacles to overcome??? I might be totally that way. You don't know that when you approach me? But I sure as hell disagree with you screaming that in my face! How the hell do the Black Lives Matter group know that the people they are yelling at aren't fully cognizant of the fact they have had less obstacles. Yes it is VERY RUDE of that group to act in a mean manner to white people just trying to sit in a library. You said you've "got to this point for a reason?" What reason ... that person in the library for all you know is Mother Theresa II and does more things for black people than anybody in the last 100 years. You said: "It's complete s*** that we've gotten to the point that people feel compelled to say "check your privileges", but we've gotten to this point for a reason, because so many people have never given that any thought and can't understand that someone may have had different experiences than them." OMG. You did not get to this point for a reason, because AGAIN, the person you are telling to check their privileges may have done that many times. You don't know their position. Do you want the people in the library to fill out a form expressing their positions before you yell at them?? I was reading that some people who were marching on campus with the angry group of Black Lives Matter people came back to study later and got yelled at anyway!! After marching on campus. I am talking about rude behavior. You have NO RIGHT to invade my space and tell me to check my privileges and act rudely to me. Again how do you know I am not a sympathizer. You go up to the wrong person and you get a knuckle sandwich. Now can you respond to my response? Why do you feel you have the right to go up to innocent people whom you KNOW NOTHING ABOUT and ask them to check their privileges. How bout an answer of "I'll check them later; I'm here to study for my Calculus test motherf***er." I have yet to see anyone in this thread say that what happened in that library 6 months ago was ok.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 10, 2016 -> 01:22 PM) Please tell me we play the Braves this year. We play the Braves this year.

QUOTE (brett05 @ May 9, 2016 -> 01:17 PM) I agree it doesn't fix it, but it is a start. Like I said, new construction gets it, existing gets retro fitted. Solves both sides of the coin. The new construction may not be a big problem but even if all businesses had the money/room to make this change, what do we do in the meantime? This would take years if not decades to complete.

I have a credit card that I use like twice a year. Apparently when I paid my bill last month I was a day late. So the CC company sent me a paper bill in the mail for 7 cents. The postage alone for them to even send it to me was 7 times that amount...

QUOTE (brett05 @ May 9, 2016 -> 09:40 AM) The solution is to move to individualized "bathrooms" with locks. Problem solved for all viewpoints. It will take time and money on existing buildings, but attainable in new construction. A lot of places already have "family" bathrooms which are simply a single person bathroom in addition to the usual men's/women's. But that still doesn't fix the issue with locker rooms and showers.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 5, 2016 -> 04:26 PM) I'm sorry. I was grossed out and freaked out. He had high heels was stumbling in them. Was obviously a guy. Had a dress. Can I help it that I like women, not men, and looking at the guy at that time made me not want to eat? He mighta been the nicest guy in the world, but I can't be willing to be nice 100 percent of the time. Seeing the guy brought all sorts of images of what might be wrong with him. That last line is pretty offensive. There's nothing "wrong" with the guy. He's different from you, but so is everyone else. There's no "wrong" way to live your life.

QUOTE (Tex @ May 5, 2016 -> 08:29 AM) Criminals do not follow laws, that is why they are criminals. So all the worries people have about their children being harmed are the same with or without these laws. Criminals break laws, it's what makes them criminals. These laws will allow honest people to use the restroom this is most appropriate for them. If you are creeping on a kid, you will still get arrested. But in the example I posted, no law was being broken. The girls in the locker room felt uncomfortable but they couldn't legally tell the guy to get out.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 5, 2016 -> 07:55 AM) Ummm...let's just say that if you're playing well enough that ESPN or FOX or whoever makes you the national game of the week, you're doing something well. Team doing well, good buzz...positive vibes, more people want to go out and attend the game, at least that's how it works in most sports. The point is that it used to be a "cool" thing or an honor to be selected to be on ESPN, that meant your team was playing great and worthy of fans' attention...not just locally/regionally, but nationally. This game was scheduled to be on ESPN before the season started. It has nothing to do with how well they are playing. There's another ESPN game scheduled for the end of the month .

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 20, 2016 -> 09:33 AM) What if a gay woman wants to leer at your daughters? I suppose that could be a worry but at least they have the same parts. There are a lot of people that aren't completely comfortable changing in lockerrooms even around others of the same sex but it's part of life and most just deal with it. But why compound the problem even more by letting anyone and everyone in the lockerrooms with no possible repercussions? QUOTE (lostfan @ May 4, 2016 -> 03:57 PM) People have been pissing and s***ting in public restrooms (with or without transgendered people doing the same) their entire lives without needing help and suddenly in 2016 some people decided everyone needed a set of rules on how to do it. Aside from the differences between bathrooms and lockerroom, we seem to have two separate solutions to this supposed problem. On one hand, we have at least one state that says people must use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex noted on their birth certificate. Then we have the complete polar opposite in other places that say people are free to use whichever one they feel like. I don't think either one of these is the correct way to handle it.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ May 5, 2016 -> 07:34 AM) Also, you have a 8:50am normal start time?? That's amazing. I would have loved that when I was in high school. I was thinking the same thing. We used to start school at 7:40 and got out at 2:20. Within the last couple of years though they've decided that teenagers need more sleep so they've bumped up the start times to 8:00 or later. The elementary kids actually get out before the HS kids.

QUOTE (Tex @ May 3, 2016 -> 12:42 PM) The profit margins on phones is crazy. Yes they are. And as long as people are willing to pay the inflated prices, they will continue to sell them.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 22, 2016 -> 10:42 AM) B.) No school in Chicago was on Spring Break this week. Not UIC, DePaul, Northwestern, Loyala, Roosevelt or Robert Morris College. Maybe Chicago St. was? The entire CPS is on spring break. See page 21.

I kinda feel bad that I really don't feel sad about Prince dying. I felt kinda the same way when Bowie and MJ went. It just doesn't really affect me.