The Avenger

The Man still owes me an hour for a business trip I took about 8 years ago. Went to UK, as soon as I got there I lost an hour of sleep as they switched to BST (British Summer Time). After a week there I flew back just in time to lose another hour of sleep when we went to DST the following weekend. So I lost 2 hours in the spring and only gained 1 back in the fall - bastards owe me......

It's cheaper than their regular non-NFL RF remotes so I ordered one - I figure at some point I'll need another remote for one of my receivers anyway......

Yeah! I actually like the Spring jump ahead. My kids seem to wake up earlier every day as they rise based more on daylight than clock time, so having them wake up at 6:30 instead of 5:30 is great with me......

I hope we'll get money to replace the items - my guess is that I tell them the replacement value of everything we lost is X and they come back and give me a check for X minus the deuctible minus some other factor (the "yeah SURE it cost $1000 - here's $400" factor). I was hoping someone might give me some insight into how big that factor is - I'd be happy to get near what my stuff was worth, but if they give me 20% of what it's worth I'm really going to feel victimized again..... Yeah - real gold. I mentioned a gold chain because that in and of itself really tells you nothing about its value - was it a chapo $25 chain or a very nice $2500 necklace? Most of what we lost was nice jewelry, but certainly not Harry Winson stuff - I think the most expensive piece was a diamond bracelet that probably goes for about $1000. Sorry you had the same experience, Zamboni - it really does suck. The cops took some of the piggy banks that they went through - they thought they might be able to get some fingerprints there. I realize it's not the crime of the century, and I also realize that even if they caught the scumbag responsible for it today it wouldn't do a thing for me - my stuff's gone and it's not coming back and if caught the guy's not going to be severely punished. At this point it's more the hassle of having to go through the process and hoping I can be made close to whole again. The problem I have here is that I'm in MA, near NH and the police said the guy would surely pawn our stuff in NH where they don't have to report anything to the MA police - unless I go find it and buy it back it's gone. Does make you fantasize about getting the drop on the dude as he's in your house and being able to serve up some real justice. I've decided in that situation you could easily kill a guy and burry him in the back yard and they'd almost never catch you - nobody misses a crackhead and even when they do there's nothing to link him to you - why would anyone ever even ask you about a missing crackhead? Would make a good movie......

So my house was burglarized the other day - wife came home to find the door pried open and our stuff thrown everywhere. We lost cash and jewelry and now I'm dealing with my homeowner's insurance for the loss - anyone have experience with this? The insurance company is sending me forms to list my losses and tell them what I paid and what it will cost to replace. The adjuster told me the only thing they really needed me to try and give price info on was the jewelry as without that they have very little to go on (i.e. - if I list a gold necklace what type was it? How much did it cost? What's a similar one cost?). Now I know that when I list my losses and tally up what I think they're worth the insurance company will look at that and offer me something less than what I'm claiming, but I have no idea how much less. If I say I lost $2500 in jewelry are they likely to offer me $2200 or $800? Anyone been through this process? I'm really hoping against hop that this won't be a painful process (I already feel completely victimized) - the last thing I need is to get ripped off by the insurance company (I just got ripped off, and I actually pay money to the insurance company). Before you ask, I do NOT have receipts for the jewelry I lost (who keeps a receipt for a necklace they bought 15 years ago?). I also don't have pictures of the stuff. Yeah - I know I should have receipts or pictures, but honestly, in real life how many people are that organized/anal retentive? (pat yourself on the back if you are).

All these years later and the kids are still looking up to and emulating Michael Irvin.....

Just wait until they come out with the followup - Little Miss Muffet - damn if that ain't gonna be some kickass multi-million dollar CGI spider - just gotta figure out how to work in some car chases, physics-defying kung-fu and some mega-explosions and you got yourself one hell of a film.... Honestly, is there any reason for anyone over the age of 30 to even bother going to the movies anymore unless they're taking their kids to see the latest animated flick starring the voice of Meryl Streep as a cute and sassy tree sloth?

Frontline did an awsome piece on the meth epidemic a few years ago - it started out showing people's first mug shots juxtaposed against their most recent mug shot. The program is excellent - you can watch it online: Frontline - The Meth Epidemic

The River - Bruce Spingsteen A song about someone having hopes and dreams in their youth and having those dreams completely discarded when the reality of struggling to make a living come crashing in "...Is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse..." His wedding day - something that should be one of the biggest and happiest days of his life is described: "We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle No flowers no wedding dress "

Honestly, with the CBA and its treatment of rookies still a big question mark, I don't think too many teams are going to be interested in any trades involving high picks - too much uncertainly. Is there going to be a rookie cap? If so, what's it going to look like? It should make top 5 picks more affordable, but nobody really knows what will happen. With the kind of money and commitment involved with high draft picks I really can't believe too many teams are going to want to play with fire and get involved in trades for top 5 picks - this is not the year.

Rush Hour (6am-9am and 4pm-7pm) has special rules for the highway: - No truck traffic, particularly anything with a wide load that takes up more than 1 lane of a 3 lane highway - you want to move your house, do it in the middle of the day - No traffic stops - the only reason you should pull someone over and throw on the lights which cause an 8 mile backup is if there is gunplay - causing an 8 mile backup to give someone a speeding ticket is rediculous - No harm/no foul accidents - if 2 cars make contact in stop and go traffic and there is no damage and nobody got hurt, get back on the damn road and let it slide - don't cause a huge backup exchanging worthless information for 45 minutes (and if you call the cops for such an incident they should be allowed to shoot you for being a dumbass) - No prisoner trash crews - you already harmed society once, don't do it again by causing a backup when everybody slows down to see your sorry orange jumpsuit picking up trash - do that in the middle of the day - On snowy days when your wipers start to get iced up, get off at an exit or rest area to futz with them - don't stop on the highway - seriously, it's a snowy road filled with other vehicles who are hampered by weather - really dangerouse thing to do - Turn on your damn lights when the visibility is poor! If you drive a gray car and there's a lot of spray coming up from the road you are really hard to see until the last second

Thank God! I've had this flask of Neroli for quite some time and looking for good recipies - you'd be surprised how few recipies call for it - now I know what I can do with 10 drops of it......

Another 18" or so in the past 2 days here in the NW suburbs of Boston on the NH border. The snow in my backyard is now almost chest high on the season, and I'm 6'2" - I'm guessing we have 4' of snow on the gound. Roofs are collapsing and if I don't shovel mine (not a flat roof - a slanted one) I might be in trouble. Impossible to find a roof rake. My driveway which could normally park about 8 cars can now only park about 5 - the rest is taken up by a huge snow mound from the plow - he can't lft the snow so the footprint of the pile just grows and eats real estate in my driveway. More snow on Saturday and then who knows what's coming in the following week. I don't care what little rat thing in PA says, spring can't come soon enough.

We've had pretty much identical weather up here in the NW suburbs of Boston. In the 11 years I've been here I have never seen this much snow on the ground at once. 2004 was snowier, but we had melting inbetween storms - this has just been piling up. Through Wednesday we are projected to get another 20" or so. No idea where to put the stuff - already dangerous to back out of the driveway because you just can't see - dito for some intersections. Thank God I got snowshoes for Christmas!

My son broke his foot when he was 2 - rough-housing with his twin sister he fell akwardly and broke 2 bones in his foot. Like you we didn't think anything was broken until the next day when he couldn't walk - then we went for x-rays and saw that it actually was that bad - we felt terrible for waiting to take him but there was no swelling or intense pain - hard to know what's really up with a toddler. Anyway, as a previous poster stated, kids heal really quickly - amazing to watch. Seemed like it was only like 5 weeks or so until he was pretty much back to his old self. The good news is that no only do little kids heal fast, they are also really good at self regulating - they don't push themselves to do things that can't (in my son's case, run or jump). I think you'll find that your little guy will do a good job of sticking to the things he can do (and adapting better than you'd ever imagine) and staying away from things he shouldn't (picking up heavier things, using his arm to push himself up, etc.). The biggest problems you're probably going to have are 1)Bathing - what a pain trying to keep a kid's cast dry while also making sure to maintain hygiene, and 2)Making sure he doesn't do anything to reinjure it (i.e. - climbing up where he can fall). Aside from those two things I think you'll find it easier to deal with than you think. Sorry to hear about the accident - not fun! Good luck!

I'm with you on this. Maybe Modrak didn't have the say on who was picked, but hercertainly has a big hand in rating the players and letting whomever makes the pick know how they rank. I can see maybe missing the boat on Maybin (the Bills certainly weren't the only people heading into the draft that felt he was first round talent), but to me the most damning thing is that year after year the Bills draft board has guys considered first round talent who are nowhere near first round talent - Maybin, Whitner, McKelvin, Losman, McCargo. Some of these guys are bigger busts than others, but regardless of who makes the pick the fact that these guys are even in the mix means that the talent evaluation and ranking is wrong - that's on Modrak.

Actually, I probably would be OK with no show. If you're going to do the U.S., do the U.S. - don't keep putting the fans on by hinting that you're going to tour and then not touring - they've been leading the fans on for months. I'd rather they came out and said something to the effect of "All the stars lined up for us to do some Sonisphere shows in 2010 but schedules and logistics make a correponding U.S. tour something we're not going to be able to do for awhile". Instead, they kept hinting at a tour and then came out with this - very disappointing. I'm OK with bands playing 1 show festivals - shows I'd love to see but can't realistically get to - Metallica's Day on the Green shows are perfect examples. But those are always promoted as 1 shot deals - they don't keep hinting that they're going to do a big tour and then only do 1 special show - THAT'S what I object to. The other thing that bothers me (and I'm not sure how you eliminate it) is that when tickets get really scarce only those willing to spend big bucks get to go. Back in the day if you really wanted to see a show you stood out in front of the venue or the local ticket place and were rewarded with tickets if you put in the effort. Nowadays it doesn't matter where the show is, the big national ticket brokers and all their resources snap up big numbers of tickets and sell them on the Internet to anyone who can afford them - the fans get shut out. Kind of hard to swallow that all of the bands on this bill came up because kids with almost no money went to their shows and bought their albums via the metal underground and now the only folks who can go see them are folks with substantial disposable income.

The fans are NOT happy. I don't think they thought this out too well - I think they sold the rights to a promoter for a ton of money and he wanted an exclusive - nobody gave any thought to the fans and the backlash. Certainly makes me question how much I want to support these bands and I've been going to these shows since the early 80s.

They're touting it as "The Only Show in the U.S." as if that's some sort of selling point. That's a huge F.U. to the millions of fans who have no ability to get to see the show because they either live nowhere near Indio, CA and/or have no ability to shell out the type of coin it's going to take to get one of those tickets and get there. It's like the Super Bowl - it certainly ain't about the fans - its about the money. So help me, if they put out a DVD of the show for $49.95 I'm gonna lose it. What the hell does it say when Bulgaria gets as many shows as the U.S.? Bulgaria? Really? Bulgaria gets a show and nowhere in the midwest or east coast?

Weak. 1 freakin' show 3000 miles away at a venue that holds 36,000 people tops. Now all they have to do is ensure ticket brokers get all the tickets and then nobody with less than a cool grand to spend will be able to see the show. Yeah - that's what thrash is all about - making sure the real fans never get to see a show like that.

Yep - pretty good show except that here in the northeast the lineup was Megadeth/Slayer/Testament - would have rather seen Anthrax but seeing Testament for the first time in years was good, even if Chuck Billy gained about 100 lbs.

Oh man that would be sweet! I almost bit the bullet and went to one of the European shows last summer but things got too busy at work (I even had to miss the Sofia simulcast that I already had tickets to). I've seen each of these bands lots of times but the closest I've seen to all 4 was Clash of the Titans in 1991 at MSG - think I've seen about every other 2 band combination as well......

The winner will be the side with the money, and that's the owners. As Chris Rock says, there's a difference between rich and wealthy - "Shaq is rich. The white guy who signs Shaq's check is wealthy".

You think your world is upsidedown now, just wait until you find out your astrological sign is wrong - you've been reading the wrong horoscope, man - just blows your mind.........

Dude - it was the keychain vendors - they wanted to keep it that way, even though they knew it was wrong. For 2000 years they used their immense power to prevent this, just so they could sell us all keychains with the wrong signs. Now, because the economy is down they've decided to let this change out for no other reason than to make us buy new keychains with the correct signs for their own selfish financial gains! They're making millions as we poor saps read the wrong advice in the paper and lives our lives all wrong! Once you follow the money and see who holds the power it all just makes so much sense....