UConn James

Ditto on the second paragraph. I was in Macy's getting some sheet sets in early September and there was a girl in there putting up trees and all kinds of Christmas stuff. Sacrilege! I put up the (artificial --- two things of lights went out last year and I just said screw it and cut them all off with wire cutters and ~3 hours. tree the Friday or Saturday right after Thanksgiving. It's artificial with a kind of frocking that I liked. Two strings of lights went out last year, two years after we got the damn thing, and despite changing out fuses, nothing, so I said screw it and grabbed some wire cutters and ~3 hours later (couldn't believe how intricate it all was) and a lot of white fluff stuff on the floor, it was devoid of lights. We picked up some LED strings on clearance and so we're going back to stringing them up manually. Also do some evergreen garland and lights around the lamp post near the driveway. Gonna be different this year, for a few reasons. A serious illness in the family not the least. I suppose some would pack it in facing this and not bother, but that's not us. We press on. and there is some comfort in the rites/rituals. BTW, we are a clear light family. Traditional. I just think colored lights are a bit tacky and better saved for New Year's.

There is now a second accuser. http://www.eonline.com/news/364807/elmo-s-kevin-clash-second-accuser-cecil-singleton-files-sex-abuse-lawsuit-alleges-groping-and-more

Even Poojer wouldn't. (I think.)

So... someone should wear a three-piece suit and use a handful of hair product to pump their gas? "The West Wing" had a good turn with Alan Alda about the post-election period where the defeated candidate goes from HUGE crowds and ALWAYS having some decision to make and then the next day, the life they'd gotten kind of used to... and then having that just drop off a cliff. I imagine that Mr. Romney will take some time off and spend a deal of it with his family after pursuing the presidency for 6 years. And then... back to business. Doubtful there's more politics in his future --- maybe a cabinet post in a Republican admin. I also think he'd be a very good IOC President with Jacques Rogge being term-limited next year IIRC. Frankly, I don't know why he moved to California. Soon to be the highest taxes around, but he's got enough coin that he doesn't really have to worry about it until the Benbernake starts printing $400B/month in QE 10.

Yup. Maryland just jumped, officially and now owes the ACC a cool $50M. It's really a sideways move for them, methinks, and their football program isn't going to see success for quite a while. Rutgers will be announcing their Big(?)10 move tomorrow or Wed. Word is that UConn or Louisville will be invited to the ACC. Knowing my alma mater's travails as well as BC's Catholic stiff-upper-lip intractability on having New England neighbors in the ACC, it will be Louisville, who's been courting any conference that might take them since the dominoes first stated to fall (and before). :-( I just don't get why the conferences couldn't / can't all just get together and sort this stevestojan out and be done with it. This has all been like taking off a Band-Aid one hair at a time, only prolonging the anguish. Make 16-team major conferences and then make some 16- or whatever mid-majors. (Oh. And if I were Boise State, Houston, SMU, et al. who committed to the new Big East... I'd GTFO. Now.)

But coach, I took a bite and then I just HAD to celebrate!!!

Hmmm.... Looks like ND will be #1. Wow.

That's kind of why I respected the whole thing of the winner of each major conference getting a big-time bowl invite. Just like the NFL has different conferences that emphasize different playing styles (AFC North is characterized by tough defense, NFC East about gridiron offense, NFC South lush grass and vertical passing, etc.) the college football conferences have different styles of play. I don't get the allure of watching two teams of similar styles possibly/probably playing each other for all the marbles. With the conference-winner system, if you want to play for the championship, then win your conference. I'm curious and excited about the playoff system, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to worry about in the implementation of the thing WRT conference bias.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8644587/maryland-terrapins-rutgers-scarlet-knights-talks-join-big-ten-conference-sources-say Wow. If this happens and UConn still doesn't get an ACC nod with the slot opening up, then it's just not ever going to happen for the Huskies due to BC being inveterate Catholic-administraion !@#$s... but I repeat myself... who still won't turn the other cheek about a lawsuit filed by CT's former AG, who in his time there filed suit against anything that moved. Time to forgive, forget and establish a GREAT New England football rivalry that *should* have happened 10 years ago, and re-establish the classic Big East basketball rivalries.

BuffaloPride, I hope you know enough to now make/help make your wife a nice quiet dinner at home. I, too, am in favor of naming the player. Everyone at the restaurant knows who it was, the restaurant employees/owners know who it was, the only ones in the dark are those people who can put a bit of public shaming on the individual. This is not exactly the Marshawn Lynch incident where he directly caused an unpleasant situation... which didn't help anything WRT his staying with the team. So if you're not naming the player to protect him in this way, I really don't think it's necessary. But.... dude's not going to get a babysitter next time if he thinks he can just get away with somewhat indirectly causing a scene last night and ruining the atmosphere for peoples' nice dinners. We don't know what the situation was, whether they were out of groceries, or the babysitter didn't show, or just having a horrible, rotten, no-good day --- we all have those --- but what happened still happened and it wasn't the definition of social graces. I'd be writing a letter to the owner of Tempo, for sure. I get that he would not want to cause a fuss with the organization or players who are part of his clientele, and there are only so many people in town who eat at places like that regularly, but he's got the other 90% of his clientele to think about, too.

Yup, $130M in private equity to get it out of bankruptcy in 2009 really did it in!!! I mean, capital investment so an American company is able to continue operating for 3 years and keeping 18,500 people employed (right up until they demand more money and benefits in the face of sagging sales) is... uh... anti-American! Yeah, that's what it is! When the company is split up and fire-saled, I wonder... who's going to buy all the cream-filled centers? Doesn't that get sticky? What about the royalties from "Die Hard"? What foodstuff is going to allow murderers to blame sugar-highs for their crimes? #TheTwinkieDefense. Welcome to the next 4 years, America. You asked for it, you got it.

http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121115/CITYANDREGION/121119470/two-bills-drive-1004#LPFWLP_S Stadium concrete is not all that bad, and expected costs for it are about $4M-5M, and would. be structurally sound for another 10-15 years. I've gotta agree with WotaGuy's post above that it's crazy for this franchise, and especially this ownership situation, to try to keep up with the (Jerry) Jones' of the league. There are some light repairs and additions that can be made --- portable bathroom units? Handrails, as suggested.... but does the county/team really have to spend 1/4 of the cost of an entirely new stadium so it remains habitable until the next owner? Seriously, 96 year olds don't remodel their houses. They're not going to recoup the money spent, and the next owner is just going to rip out the flooring and cabinets anyway, even if it's new, so they can put in what *they* want. Make necessary repairs for safety. But let the next owner decide what to do. A structural stadium rehab sure the hell isn't going to stop him/her from moving the team if that's the aim, and it'll tie their hands if they actually do want to stay in WNY but want a new stadium as has been posited in Niagra Falls or downtown. I say... status quo.

Almost the exact same circumstances for us c. 2008. My little guy who we'd had from the very start --- I picked him up off the ground when his mother gave birth to him outside and then walked away and made like she didn't want anything to do with him. We kept him for 12 great years. Then a large abdominal mass and had to do right by him, and stayed with him and told him he was a good boy even as the vet slipped the needle in. It literally broke my heart, and then hardened it. Didn't want another dog. Looking back, I was very moody and angry a lot. And then some drunk dude walked into our house... just walked in while I was alone. And that was it, we were getting another dog after about three years. And I've written it here before and I'll write it again. Waiting was the stupidest thing. The hurt doesn't go away and the new can't replace the old, but as the vet said, there is time in life to have maybe six dogs (through long experience I've discovered that one at a time is enough) and they all teach you something different... a big thing. One will teach you Loyalty and Honor. Another will teach Strength and Endurance. Or Patience and Gentleness. Et cetera. So certainly take some time to grieve... but don't take too long. We've all got too much to learn from them.

Lisa voted for Penner. Which is weird, because she and Skupin are supposedly as close as an alliance-of-two as you can be without it being official... and Skupin voted Artis. I just can't wait for Abi to get hers, loudmouth assumptive b----. She has no clue how much she's being played by Pete. I don't know whether it was just the early focus on Blue in the tribal councils and my missing a few eps, but Denise and Malcom are two of my rooting-for players. Denise is just a squat little powerhouse in the competitions and is simply survivng the alliance / numbers-game squabbles by going along until she has to make a move. And her and Malcom (with an idol) could be really dangerous.

This season is much better than last year's One World because as you say, there were looser parameters with more than 2 tribes. Just like the men vs. women theme that resulted in a totally unexciting last half of the season, having two tribes and then it being basically decided just based on a simple numbers game based on their season-long arc / social conceit is crap. Glad they mixed it up, and encourage less of a tribal focus / identity. I didn't have a favorable view of Penner. Still not sure about him, but that was a brilliant strategy in the reward challenge and I also appreciated his talks with Lisa last night. Especially the big-picture view of this game. That was a man working his behind off trying to save the same. And he was spot-on. Once you've turned on your allegiance even the least tiny bit, you'd better go full throttle, b/c they'll go after you first. And Lisa's vote shows she still doesn't get that, even with Abi's stink eye / death stare directed straight at her. The preview looks like that's going to come to a head next week.

I saw a South African ballot years ago that had 28 candidates for president. I think that was too much.

If I'm reading it right, he was saying that the FIRING is not in and of itself due to the sex act, but the implications that are surmised e.g. they were boinking so that's why she got the promotion rather than Fred, who is more qualified / they stopped boinking so that's why she was fired. Lawsuits in these matters get numerous, vicious, and extremely costly both in $ and b/c of the distraction to business. That's why those clauses are in employment contracts. KD wasn't saying sexual vs. nonsexual.

Another dumb See You Next Tuesday.

Now it's on to find the highest octane fuel producers!

As I wrote above, if it's a decent machine and especially if it's 15+ years old when they still built things to last awhile, a simple fix can be much more cost-effective than buying new and having to replace this new one even faster than an oldie. This is not a big secret. They're making appliances of cheaper materials today and they are designed to not last long... so you can get the pleasure of forking over more $ even more frequently. That's a hell of a business model, I'll say!! But... if Fez or anyone is going to go the new route, Lowe's has the same kind of card [cue the Coke ZERO commercial] AND?!??! ... if you pick up a change-of-address envelope at the Post Office, the 10% off coupons for Lowe's are back. For a big item like this, 10% can be $50-80+ off.

The voice/creator of Elmo does, however, allegedly like to be tickled --- and more --- by 16-year-old boys.... SMH (And... I wrote allegedly b/c you have to, but even PBS is totally walking away from this guy. A guy who they released a documentary about a couple of years ago that received a lot of attention.) http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/voice-elmo-actor-accused-sex-teen-denies-charges-article-1.1200566

Funny. I've never seen more sore winners!!

Well, he's gotta leave a wedge issue or two for the 2016 Democrat. I mean, working to achieve your base's policy goals means they'll have no reason to keep voting for you. The gay community might turn to things like improving the economy or reducing the deficit/debt and Dems don't want that. There's future-elections to win, dammit!

In case no one noticed, this is an offense league now. The rules are bent over backwards to promote scoring. You take DEEP shots downfield to get PI calls. You don't have a guy who can consistently throw well and make ALL the throws, game in and game out, you're screwed. Fitz was putting EVERYTHING HE HAS into 20-yard outs. If you saw the first Dalton TD pass vs. the Giants today, Fitzpatrick couldn't throw that in his dreams. Gutting it out another year with him is just going to be more of the same. The D needs some work, needs Dareus to come back for this sophomore slump (and maybe mow some more lawns this offseason like he did during the lockout) and for Mario to show up in Year 2 when most UFAs start getting comfortable (and I he doesn't, release him). We need LBs in the worst way. But if it's Te'o vs. finally getting a franchise QB even if you have to (ad if it's possible to) move up, you get the QB. QB is the heart of your team. And seriously, if they try the whole Tarvaris Jackson 'Look what we found in the garbage last year! Let's polish 'im up and try him out!' routine, I'm completely done with this team. TJ should be given an audition this year, but I get the sinking feeling that he's going to be the marketing ploy for why we didn't draft a QB again.

"The November Christmas" was played on broadcast teevee (we're antenna-only with a Netflix supplement and very happy that way) last year and I've gotta admit to wiping a few tears. Really hits home this year as my mum is now facing her own cancer battle....