Augie

I learned the bolded lesson the hard way right before Covid. It was a work trip to Denver followed by a side trip to Vail. Book with a 3rd party and you deal with people “elsewhere” with limited english skills or training. Call the hotel and they can’t help you about any change policies, whoever bought those nights at the hotel make the rules regarding any changes. Virtually impossible to manage. I ALWAYS try to go directly thru the hotel now. Last trip before Covid was a Windstar cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon. I loved Barcelona! I’m with you, I want to see NEW places more than become infinitely familiar with any one place. Hit the highlights, then decide what you want to see more of later. Hope you make it, and sleep thru a LONG flight back home.

Experiences and memories > things. Wise choice, I hope to see you there.

I enjoyed growing up in WNY. There were a lot of indoor activities that ate up countless hours of free time. That was not limited to bars, bowling alleys and skating. There were……”other activities” to keep things interesting for teenage kids. Not at all a bad place for a kid to grow up, IMO.

A Bills game was always going to be my excuse to get to London. Unfortunately (that sounds wrong!), it’s a travel packed year for us with two trips (Hilton Head Island and Sarasota, FL) already in the books and two weeks planned for Paris and southern Italy in May. Add a week in New England in July, plus a trip to Blowing Rock, NC in August and I thought I was pretty much done for the year. THEN, a buddy sends me the Bills outline of a schedule and points out the obvious - that I really should be there. I point out that we had enough into our travel budget already to have bought a nice new car, so I’ll probably pass. He is recently retired from a job of frequent corporate travel for the last 24 years and he has gazillions of miles on Delta and he’ll get me the plane ticket for a mere 125,000 sky miles he doesn’t need. He’s already sent me a screen shot for a comfort + seat. Hmmmm. I’d hate to disappoint him! I’ll wait and see what the date is, but it’s hard to say no to an offer like that. A bit awkward, but I need to seriously consider this.

What was I thinking? Maybe he can steal a credit card or something? 🤷‍♂️

My wife’s family is generally lactose intolerant. Believe me, milk can be just as scary as a spider. 😱

Leave @Royale with Cheese out of this! He knows not where he’s been!

What would you pay to see Oprah and Dr Phil in a cage match???

Only because you were trying to get me first, I promise. I get wanting to win. I really do. GO BILLS!

Weak response? Not at all, but I certainly don’t leave that to you to judge. The team has their goals (winning, which I clearly stated, but maybe not clearly enough for you), and we are not actually part of the team. A SB would be very entertaining. What you or I think doesn’t matter to the team, and at least I know that. If you think your ridiculously high standards make you a better fan, you are again mistaken. Yes, everybody wants to win the Super Bowl. Every year. But that’s not how it works. What do you do if your kid is top 5 in their class, but not valedictorian? I can live with that, and I’d be proud. At least I might have some nominal impact on my child, while we have no impact as “fans” living on the outside. Having goals in life is important, but pointless if you have zero impact on the outcome. A SB victory may be an awesome wish, but since you have no control over the outcome, it’s a senseless “goal”. This isn’t worth it. Have a nice life.

The team’s goal is to win. My goal is to be entertained. I’ve been pretty successful. I hope to get a few more weeks of entertainment next season. It’s pretty simple, really.

He may be the biggest overachiever in the entire NFL. He certainly has flaws, but he does a lot despite generally mediocre at best surroundings.

Do you understand what happens to the scape goat? Do you know who Josh Allen is? Nothing else you say matters there.

Something with stupid young kids. It’s pretty much universal it seems. If he ever puts a sailor hat on his head that will be a deal breaker. I can only take so much…. Sorry, too soon……but that fruit was SO LOW.

Your way of thinking would mean Belichick would never be a HC after the Browns, or Andy Reid is just a good OC. Did they need more of your “accountability”?

Apparently you didn’t read every word I wrote, or you just failed to comprehend. I personally know a person who was in a situation that sounded exactly like this, and he was found to have been innocent of THOSE charges. (There were other consequences.) I have no idea, because I’m not going to guess about something without full (as possible) knowledge. You could argue that it is far more probable that he was way over the limit and he was guilty of all kinds of things, and serious things. But, because they are such serious things, with such serious consequences, I’ll wait and see. It certainly doesn’t look good, but no harm in waiting for more facts. The real question is, WHAT is he guilty of? .

I obviously have no idea what happened here, and I’m glad I don’t have to sort it out. It certainly looks bad. I’m actually posting because this sounds eerily similar to something that happened to one of my buddies sons. He WAS racing on I-75, and there were people around. People saw them racing and he admitted it. His driving was at least partially responsible for a family of four going into the median and rolling their SUV in a horrific accident. Nobody died, but serious injuries resulting in multiple surgeries and years of physical therapy and recovery. It was looking quite grim, for good reason. BUT, at the time of the accident his buddy had gotten off the highway and he was no longer racing. He was just a lousy teen driver. This was confirmed by several witnesses, including an off duty cop. It saved his ass. Causing an accident is horrible. Doing it while racing is that times a billion. Like all similarly awful situations, I’ll try to wait for things to play out before forming an opinion. It might be just what most people probably imagine, but we don’t know for sure. Side note: It’s unforeseen stuff like this why it’s wise to at least look into a good umbrella policy. Your car insurance has limits, and you might be up the creek. Worth looking into. .

It’s ESPN and they are mostly idiots??? .

What a terrific idea! Let’s take a page out of the Brown’s playbook. It’s worked wonders for them!!! 😋 At least by using the same basic framework with some appropriate (and necessary) tweaks we can remain in the running every year. Starting over is what the Browns do. Even if you get lucky the first or second (or 5th) time, the transition is still difficult, and could be the easiest way to waste a chunk of Josh’s prime years. Change does not guarantee success. In fact, the odds are against you.

That is absolutely ridiculous, but I guess it tells us something. Maybe we should give Rex another shot.

I hope you’re OK, but that brings up a pet peeve. Yes, everybody needs to look out for people on motorcycles, including the people on motorcycles. The bumper stickers annoy me as some clown is weaving across lanes at 80 mph. Mini-rant over. .

WHAT? If you do something wrong, you pay the price regardless of age or financial status. He was saying 16 year olds shouldn’t drive, and 18 year olds shouldn’t have expensive sports cars. What if they earned it? Who should tell them how they can spend it? He didn’t think paying these football players was a good idea, but in other sports they can have enormous contracts. The best 18 year old golfer or tennis can make millions without any questions. .

Nobody knows the bold better than I do, but what exactly are you going to do about it. Enact a new law? If they have the money, and are of legal age, there is nothing you can do about it. Other than tell them to get off your lawn, I suppose.

What if he’s a golf or tennis prodigy? Or a software savant? If they are 18 what is to be done about it?

Funny you say that! I probably just had my permit at the time, and the head of traffic for Amherst told my class they will never pull you over for less than 10 over. In 30 some years he’d only seen it twice, and both times they just wanted to pull them over for any old reason. Is that wise to tell a bunch of 16 year old kids? I was a bit over 75, and it was a bit under 65. But it was wide, empty streets with 5 lanes. That’s all you’ll get out of me!