Augie

Careful! Don’t go spending that equity. This feels a lot like 2004-2005. Then came 2006, and all the people under water on their houses started defaulting. “Why should I pay when it’s worth less than I owe?” People would rather have an STD than real estate in those days! Then the banks failing in 2008. We need to learn from our mistakes. If you do a quick google search of real estates cycles, you will likely see about 18 years come up. I’m not a blind believer, but you can probably do the math and look at the market. What do you think? I don’t mean to preach, but my working life has been in banking and real estate. It’s a sensitive subject for me. Be wise and be safe. .

Tell the truth, you had a lot of space around you, didn’t you?

But, then……..they ARE the Browns!

Awesome! I enjoy short ribs and for a while there I was pretty into cooking. Now most of our family and friends are so picky about what they eat, I’d have to make an alternative meal for those who don’t do red meat, and another for the vegetarians. Some will do chicken but not red meat. Some will do shellfish but not fish. Then you have gluten, dairy and my buddy with the egg allergy. I’ve kind of give up! 🤷‍♂️ Restaurants and Whole Foods see more of us as a result. I’m happy for you that you got to enjoy a terrific meal!

It seemed to die off as kids started getting older and going off to college and a couple of the “core” families moved away. I’m not sure how many years that went on, but it had a good run. We had families from Williamsville to Hamburg attending. Not sure what park we went to. Fond memories…..

New Years DAY meal related: My father was a germaphobe. He once scolded his doctor for licking his fingers to turn the page. Picnics were out of the question because flies would land on your food. We grew up as a picnic free family. One New Years Eve the adults had had enough to drink that they starter to rib my dad about it. They pointed out that the next day, New Years Day in Buffalo, there would be no flies outside, and a new tradition began! The following day a big group of families met up at a state park, and there was not a fly in sight! They brought coffee cakes, fired up the grills, cooked bacon and eggs and all kinds of other stuff. The food seemed secondary to many of the adults suffering hangovers. They spent much of their time at the Bloody Mary Bar they arranged. People eventually brought snowmobiles and the adults were lubricated enough to let young kids go out on them alone. I thought we were hopelessly lost on more than one occasion! For YEARS that was something we all looked forward to, and the crowd grew over time. It was a case of taking a negative and making something very special out of it.

I was in the check out at the grocery store and one of the gossip magazines had a Betty White at 100 cover. The lady in front in front of me said “nope, she died a couple hours ago”. A strange percentage of my family members lost were right around the holidays. Our first year in FL my wife flew up to see her father in the hospital on Christmas Eve. He was pretty out of it, but he kept saying “I can’t do it, I can’t do it”. She finally got him to explain that he couldn’t die on Christmas and forever taint the day. He made it until 12/29. RIP, Dan Reeves. A huge name in the sport, and so much more. .

McD should have thrown the challenge flag on…..wait, never mind! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Unfortunately, not according to the Canadian judges. You just can’t trust them! They don’t know true art! EDIT: To get to the point of the thread, “sabotage” means to deliberately destroy something. No coach, who wasn’t looking to get fired, would do such a thing. Ever. Find another way to make the argument. Maybe he misplaced his priorities? Sabotage makes zero sense. .

They probably just wanted you to drop off your quality food at the door step. Save on all the entree and alcohol expense. Sorry, maybe I have become cynical about your “party friends”. Don’t blame ME, you painted the picture! 😋 Hoping for a GREAT New Year for you and yours. (My wife is in bed already.)

BUT, he broke his hand! Ha! they asked him if he regretted it, and he said he regretted that he broke bones (in his throwing hand). He’s a strange dude. Good coach, strange dude. He could have faced assault charges (relax, hyperbole) the way he “greeted” Jim Schwartz post-game. Anyone remember that? Just odd as hell.

Well, you wanna go happy!

My prediction? Professor Plum, in the library, with the candlestick.

I’m not really into museums or cathedrals. You could count on one hand the museums or cathedrals I’d willingly spend my time on. Only the best of the best. We went with a bunch of friends from church to Spain a few years ago. On a side trip to Montserrat (unbelievably beautiful!) the guide was trying to get us all into the cathedral. To my great relief, our priest buddy who organized the trip pulled us aside and said “we’d enjoy the incline more” and took a ride to the top of the mountain. One of the most amazing hours of my life! When we came down I had ten minutes to go thru the cathedral, and that was plenty. One exception: Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is one of the most amazing sights of my life. Still under construction after a couple hundred years, the stained glass made you think you could touch the light coming thru. I don’t have words to describe it, but it’s the best of the best quality.

A family friend took us to Cedar Point in Ohio as a kid. It was better than the only thing I knew at that point, which was Crystal Beach. We lived a couple hours from Orlando when the kids were young. I didn’t love the parks, the heat on blacktop, waiting 45 minutes for a 2 minute ride or the prices. Having a Fast Pass made it more bearable. I preferred Busch Gardens in Tampa to anything in Orlando, but maybe that’s just me?

I really like Boston. We started our honeymoon there (for some reason I can’t recall 38 years later) and my wife worked for Bank Of Boston for years. Like the town to visit a LOT. But we’ve also done it a LOT. Sister in Providence and wife has work interests there, so we will be back! The wife technically works out of NYC now (Manhattan), but has barely been there the last couple years. I bet you can guess why! But you make an excellent point about getting out of Manhattan. My nephew lived in Brooklyn for 10-15 years before recently moving to Newport, RI. He could be a good advisor for us on where to go and what to do. My sister would visit him often and said walking the Brooklyn Bridge is one of her favorite things to do in the city. I’m not a huge museum guy and have done the highlights there, but I’d love to get to know Central Park better. What a gem! Good ideas, and will probably extend a trip when the wife starts getting back regularly and the trip is subsidized by the bank. 😋

I’m watching Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. The Arizona episode is the best you can do to understand the Grand Canyon without actually being there. It still doesn’t do it justice, but if you can’t be there in person, it’s a start! They also go to places @SinceThe70s, @LeGOATski and I think @Nextmanup mentioned like Sedona. If you get the Smithsonian Channel, look for this. It’s worth it.

Are you serious, or just punching me in the gut for giggles? 😋 I lived there for 18 years before the awful decision to end up in Atlanta. I would pack the car and drive back tonight if I could, but Atlanta offers job$ and Career$ Sarasota does not. The Sarasota real estate market has to crash again. I saw this in 2004-2005, then came the first quarter of 2006. CRASH! People would rather have an STD than real estate. I want nobody to get hurt, but I’ll be there in 5 years if they crash again. It has to come back to reality.

I use this theory related to golf and trees, and somehow I am almost always wrong! 🤷‍♂️ You’d think I would learn. No worries, I take a LOT of balls.

We had elaborate plans for my wife’s brother to bring his wife and three “kids”, with the youngest being a HS senior. His wife has stage 4 cancer and we were eager to see them. Our son returned from Christmas in FL with his wife’s family. She promptly became ill upon return, and tested positive. So far, he’s feels fine, but we can’t get more tests yet. The BIL is a doctor in hospital administration a few hours away. We were all looking forward to getting together, and I think they were looking forward to being taken care of as a family for the weekend. We were not exposed to the DIL, but our son came over while she was starting to feel ill. That makes it risky. Beside that, there are so many people testing positive at the BIL’s hospital they are finding it hard to adequately staff. I’m not sure what factored more heavily in their decision, but the trip is off. Looks like we will wing it. It will be just the two of us, and it just might be leftover spicy salmon with pineapple. I like to cook, and was looking forward to the gathering. I will admit, I’m getting tired of preparing food for people who have become so picky. My wife is best to avoid gluten and dairy, as is her family. My DIL is a vegetarian. My nieces will eat chicken, but not red meat. One will eat fish, but the other won’t eat anything that “swims in it’s own poop”. Another friend will eat shellfish, but not fish. WTF? I’m not talking peanut allergies here (but when did THAT start?), I’m talking picky %^$# people! Sorry, tangent and rant ends here! Have a fabulous and safe New Years Eve! .

I took both my sons when they turned 16 as a rite of passage. Cemented die hard Bills fans. Congrats on an event your kids will never forget. That beats “things” hands down! They probably don’t need an extra sweater. My kids have no idea what they got for their 16th DBay or. Christmas, but they will NEVER forget that trip! Well done! Tell the wife she done good! 😋

We went to Stowe (following Boston) on our February honeymoon almost 38 years ago. That might actually be nice to do again! My sister is a partner in a place in Killington so I’ve been there a few times too. I just checked and was surprised to see the USVI has a travel portal with testing restrictions. I’d LOVE to get there, and was surprised they made it a bit more complicated.

The USVI is VERY appealing to me, and it was in the back of my mind. I might be able to sell that to the wife, too. I always envisioned combining Alaska with some time in Vancouver, both high on my wish list. Nashville is awesome! We used to have a place there. It is so much more than country music, which people generally don’t understand! I tried to get a college buddy and his wife come visit but he said it wasn’t his cup of tea…….but he had never been there! How could he know? It’s also a college town and a medical hub, among other things. I’d rather live in Nashville than Atlanta, but I’ll hold out for better weather after the wife retires.

I won’t even give the OP a barf, because it feels like a cry for attention….. from someone not worthy of attention.

Wayward, you say? That just might be right up my alley!