A South Dakota/Wyoming Travelogue & Review
In the summer of 2019, I started planning the Trip of a Lifetime© to the United Kingdom. What a magnificent bastard of a trip that would have been. Sadly, it was scheduled for late March, 2020. We all know how that turned out. I had to cancel the entire thing 3 days before departure. The COVID Times started with a real gut punch for me. I spent a day trapped in my cubicle quietly weeping.
“Crying: acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon.” -Ron Swanson
I feel restless if I can’t be planning something at all times. When I complete the planning for one trip, I’m already starting to ideate the next. Needless to say, the last few months have tortured my ego relentlessly.
Throughout this time, I started hearing things – good things – about this governor in South Dakota who refused to destroy her state and its economy. Well, Western South Dakota has some fine travel options, I thought. Black Hills, Rushmore, Wall Drug, Badlands. And hey – Devil’s Tower ain’t too far away. About a week after I had the idea, the trip was booked. I had to get out of here. I had to go somewhere normal.
Rapid City
AvGeek note: American Airlines, DCA>CLT (A320, N123UW); CLT>RAP (CRJ9, N577NN).
I decided to make Rapid City my base. I could find a decent hotel and have some dining and shopping options. I settled on the Hotel Alex Johnson, aka “Sheraton Johnson Rapid City” made famous in the movie North by Northwest (it is mentioned several times, but never appears on camera). The hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places and is apparently quite haunted. Other than an occasional loss of a cable signal, I survived the ghosts.
 Historic lobby |
 Room without much of a view |
 Famously quiet guest, with OG Orange Man above |
The Alex Johnson boasts a rooftop restaurant/bar and a casual Irish pub with a decent selection of beers and a Starbucks on street level. The rooftop bar makes an excellent Old Fashioned. I did, however, have to teach them how to make an Aviation (they did a fine job).
 An sign |
 Your cruise director |
Before checking into my hotel, I visited Dinosaur Park to get an overview of the city and breathe some air. I was pleased that the visitors’ center did not require masks. It was a lovely Little House on the Prairie-style view.
There is a small selection of little shops and boutiques around the hotel, as well as a few casual and high-end dining options. It is at one of those fine dining options where I had one of the oddest waitress-customer interactions of my life. I sat down, had water poured for me, and the waitress came over and said “Hi! My name is Sally and I’ll be your server! Have you dined with us before? Would you like to hear about our specials?”
Just kidding.
She said “Are you ready to order, or….?” That’s it. That was the first thing she said to me. See why I asked a couple weeks ago if middle aged women are low on the customer totem pole with waiters?
 Cow |
 Tatanka |
I was glad to have stayed in RC just this once to see what it’s like. When I visit the area again, I see no need to go back there, as the other parts of the region offer much more fun & beauty…
Is that hollandaise on the steak?
Not enough. KK knows Hollandaise is a beverage.
A gravy boat of it on the side would have hit the spot
With King Crab…. It’s DELICIOUS!
Love the gif ?
And the shout-out to one of my all-time favorite movies.
This means something.
I can and do watch it over and over. I’m still discovering things I’ve overlooked.
Never seen it.
Do it.
Wasn’t some part of this trip supposed to involve the guy you have a crush on? Inquiring minds want to know.
South Dakota? No. I don’t know anyone there
Who’s the aviation guy you were crushing on?
I am disappointed in the quote. T-bone is just a raggedy version of a porterhouse. Real Rob Swanson would just order two and belittle someone ordering a t-bone instead.
” T-bone is just a raggedy version of a porterhouse. ”
??
A t-bone is a porterhouse with the best part cut off.
“Rob” Swanson??
She said “Are you ready to order, or….?”
I am not sure I would blame that on being a middle aged woman. Unless she was. That is the signature restaurant question in the west wastelands aka podunk western towns which I consider pretty much all of S Dakota. Professional waitstaff with professional standards set by a professional manager is hard to come by in my experience. Waiting tables is what you do between better jobs. I have eaten in restaurants who have had waiters/waitresses who actually chose that career path and and make good money and then you get good service. Not so in podunk unless the owner is waiting the tables.
This
Flyover America has consistently bad wait service, on par with some poor eastern European countries.
I don’t know if I would include all of flyover. Some of the best wait service I have experienced was in OKC but these were high end restaurants with the conditions mentioned above. Also, believe it or not Elway’s in DIA. Great service as well as the best airport food on the planet that I have found.
I must have gone on an off day.
Elways? Did you sit at the bar? Granted it has been 5 years since I lost my travel a lot job but I was always impressed when I rolled through there which was every couple months.
Yeah, Elways. I’d heard good things, like what you said, so decided to try it out. This was 3-4 years ago.
It happens. Had a great katsu dinner at a shop in Haneda. Went back a year later and it was meh.
There’s a place in town like that. The first time I went there, I wanted to lick the plate. It’s been good since, but not lick the plate good.
Exceptions proving the rule
In Nebraska, they just shove the food at you. Of course, the USDA prime steak and eggs for under ten bucks is well worth the shitty service.
Ya I would be good with that.
Bar La Grassa in Minneapolis. Outstanding food, terrific service.
Man, we had a great meal there. No Jimbo or Tundra to embarrass us.
Harsh.
But fair.
The first time I had professional waitservice, it blew my mind. I think I tipped the guy like 75%
Sinatra’s in the Encore hotel in Vegas.
Hands down, the best wait service around. But it should be for $70 plates.
Bullshit.
I’ve been all over and there are good and bad everywhere.
There are. But I’ve yet to get quality service in Arkansas and Missouri. Friendly maybe, but not professional.
And it’s just weird in Utah outside of Salt Lake.
To me, professional = not chatty, not snobby, not rude. I want to be left alone and bring me my food.
Attentive, knows the menu, cares if you enjoyed it.
And the best ones are like hotel concierges. They know the area and can help you out if you need it.
Attentive = you’re bugging me.
“Attentive” meaning keeping an eye on the table and what needs to be done.
Not asking about how your day is going. That’s what the bartender is for.
When I first started traveling to Europe (Russia in particular), the sensation of being watched all the time was un-nerving. If you set an empty glass on the table, there would be someone there in a few seconds to ask if you needed anything else.
Eventually, you get used to it.
Then you get pissed when you can’t get a refill on your iced tea for five minutes because the waitstaff is no where to be found.
Yes. I prefer as little pestering as possible.
“because the waitstaff is no where to be found.”
IOW, Scotland
What Sloper said. Standard not-wanting-to-interrupt-you-if-you-aren’t-ready question.
I had a server once who mixed up Dad’s Riesling and my pinot noir.
*chuckle*
There used to be a restaurant in New Orleans called King Louis XIV.
Probably the highest end French restaurant I’ve ever been to. Beef Wellington, flambes, you name it.
Every waiter was a trained chef and the service was part of the spectacle.
During the drink ordering, the waiter went around the table ( including a high German couple that were definitely Nazi party members in their youth) and everyone was showing off their wine snobbery.
The waiter got to my father’s business partner who promptly tried to order a Coors. I thought they were going to throw him out or his wife was going to stab him.
Still funny.
To me (former waitress), that’s not good service. The waiter/waitress should never make you feel bad about what you order. And I worked at Flying J. If the waitress/waiter made someone feel bad, they are an asshole and I hope you left them a penny tip.
I don’t know how my father tipped that one, but it was probably pretty good. Gary was an ass. Shortly after the Coors ordering, he started checking all the crystal to see if it was real by running his finger along the rims. Spilled water all over his wife in the process. I was a teenager so I thought it was hilarious but had to stifle it.
Now dad did stiff the asshole waiter at Arnauds in New Orleans. But that’s because he ignored our table in favor of the drunks next to us. That led to an interesting confrontation in front of the restaurant when the waiter came rushing out to challenge him.
Do tell!
Dad doesn’t back down. So when the waiter came up to him and got pushy, dad got very loud and told the entire crowd waiting in line outside how lousy the service was in painstaking detail and how he could get similar food at Denny’s.
I thought Mom was going to have a stroke.
LOL. Awesome.
Sounds similar to my one dining experience in NO. A bestie and I were traveling the Redneck Riviera, and he wanted to stop in NO. I was ambivalent about it, so we went through the French 1/4, and settled on some restaurant I can’t be bothered to remember, and we were seated on the upstairs terrace.
Waiter was a kid, younger than us, who couldn’t give a rat-shit about us, and spent most of
hisour time standing at the bar, watching the US women’s soccer (this was ’99). My friend had to get up and walk over to him for a refill of water.When the bill came, they automatically added in the gratuity of 18%–standard for large parties, sure. But, they do it for every ticket. Kid obviously thought he was going to get his, either way, so he didn’t have to pt out any effort. We paid just the cost, and not the tip. He got all flustered as he started to walk away, counting the $. He came back, telling us we hadn’t given him enough, and it went downhill from there. He wanted to know if we needed the manager, as the gratuity was included per policy, and I told him we would tip what we thought was merited, not what they thought.
As he walked away, he yelled out through the restaurant, “You’re the reason we add this!”
I replied, “And, you’re the reason you aren’t getting it!”
We left him a small stack of pennies on the corner of the table–about 5-6 cents. He was the worst waitstaff I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve had iced tea spilled in my lap at one of my fave local places, with nary more than a slight apology from the manager (no discount offered, or, anything to make up for it). I still go back there, though.
With all due respect to my fellow glibs in the New Orleans area–Screw NO (and its restaurants).
Especially if it WA a high end place that supposedly has excellent service. That kind of place may get people for whom it is a once in a lifetime ex, and some waiter ruins it by being a snob – wow – FUCK THEM!
WA should be was. WTF autocorrect?
They sent Burt Reynolds over to Texas to get the guy his Coors, didn’t they?
Big Enos or Little Enos?
That’s Size 68 Extra Fat, and Size 12 Dwarf!
I wouldn’t blink at that. I’ve been trying to figure out what was wrong with it.
Right there with you. I *hate* chatty waiters. I don’t care what the specials are when they’re listed on the menu. I don’t trust anything you have to say about the quality of the food. Just STFU and let me read the menu.
A good waiter will ask if you want the rundown.
I had a young female waiter recently start giving me her entire high school trauma history including her bitch fights in the hallways. That got weird.
Waffle house?
Armenian restaurant
Great food though. The owners run the place like you’re family over to visit.
Was that an advertisement for the floor show?
^this. The waitstaff are not my host at a dinner party and I have no great desire to chat with them. I do not need an introduction, nor do I need commentary on my order.
I had Flo at a highway restaurant in Miscogee .
“What’ll it be, Hon?”
Then she ran the specials by me.
“What kind of dressing, Hon?”
By the time we ordered my wife thought I stopped there to see an old GF.
Every good diner in NYC (and that’s most of them outside Manhattan) has that waitress. It’s almost surreal getting that from some slip of a girl half my age but I like it.
The Continental in Quebec City. None of the waitstaff is under 60, they make an excellent Martini, and the tableside food prep is excellent. The waitstaff do the finishing touches– deboning and plating the fish, combining the ingredients for the Caesar salad, etc.
I can’t afford to nor would I want to eat like that at every meal as it would get old, but it is a nice treat once in a while.
That actually makes me sad. Still working as waiters/waitresses.
? They probably make great money.
Some of my favorite waitresses were crusty old ladies with that seen-it-all attitude.
I can’t stand that attitude.
^ This.
Waiting tables is a legitimate career in some places.
In Houston, there was actually a progression to it. I was waiting tables at probably the third tier, was making $17.50/hour and had the experience/recommendations to move up a tier.
Yep, I’ve got a customer who is a professional waiter. He works a high end restaurant in Austin. Keeps a book of birthdays and anniversaries of regular clients and is absolutely flawless when working a table. He’s probably in his mid ’50s and put 2 kids through college waiting tables.
“What doncha want?”
The head bartender at Old Ebbits in DC is probably pulling down low six figures, just on tips.
When you walk into a place that’s not Mel’s Diner, you want to think they’re pleased to have you there.
What did you do to piss off Mel?
She kissed his grits?
We live in amazing times when that show can now be seen on one of those retro-networks almost any day of the week.
?
Worst service I have ever had was in Berkeley, at a place named suspiciously like Cheese Penis.
I live in the most Podunk of Podunk western towns (pop. 8500 – largest metropolitan area for 150 miles in any direction). That would be considered poor service here.
I just pulled a London Broil (on sale buy one get one free) out of the smoker. Thin sliced smoked beef on a caesar salad is on the menu tonight at casa de sloper.
Pictures! or it didn’t happen!
See last nights post for WS’ work.
Oh, yum!
Smoke tacos, now this?! I really want you to cook me dinner some day.
I need to drag out the video and pics of the el pastor adventure when I was cooking wearing my bike helmet with the go pro. I was drunk enough to not be able to coherently speak. Much like some Zoom happy hours. You might want to rethink that. Every night is not a great night but I did not fall down that night.
Eh, I’ll bring the tequila. And you know I buy the good stuff.
Wait just one minute. Does P Brooks know he’s been thrown over?
Also, I’m going to expect you to wear the bike helmet and go pro during the next zoom.
And nothing else?
I love it out there. Sorry you didn’t make it to the State Game Lodge for all the CC awesomeness.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
Rapid City is where I think of my vacations really beginning. Everything up until there is travelling to the cool stuff. Deadwood and Rushmore (and of course Wall Drug) are too touristy for my taste but the Badlands are cool, and driving west from there everything is beautiful. Speaking of Little House, did you head up to Desmet?
Thanks for writing, Kristen!
I love vicariously traveling.
Seconded.
I even love reading other people’s experiences of places I’ve already been.
Thanks, KK.
I dunno. This seems kind of pathetic to me.
Your first vacation in 2 years and you didn’t engage in sex tourism?
Gay.
Well, this was just Part 1. Who knows what’s to come? So to speak.
Right?
All I’m saying is that this travelogue was difficult, though not impossible, to masturbate to.
More lube.
Really? Asparagus and Hollandaise sauce wasn’t representative enough?
Needs moar eggplant.
It’s too bad I won’t ever be able to write up my UK trip, then
Are you going to rent a truck and fifth wheel before you buy?
Isn’t masturbation a bit gay? It is a sex act with someone of the same sex, after all.
There’s an exception for yourself, since it’s difficult to participate without participating.
Does the exception cover clones?
No. That’s totally gay.
Kinky
What if you modify the clones ala Lazarus, Lapis Lazuli, and Lorelei Long?
See The Boys, Homelander on Homelander.
Lorelei
You realize that all of these copies are close family, right?
Someone say
Dagnabbit, someone say Lorelei?
God Damn it!
I can’t fucking click on you-tube without being subjected to an “Amy McGrath badmouthing Mitch McConnell” ad every thirty seconds..
My hand has multiple personalities, many of them female celebrities.
Alright, Mitch…
Well alrighty then.
I guess we will have to wait until part 69.
*sigh*
*mumbles* “The hero we need”
Or something.
Meh.
Hunter Biden hardest hit!
I like the lobby picture and look forward to more parts.
Yes. I also like the gif. I didn’t know you could make those like that.
I really want to travel more in this country.
I just want to travel more.
My wife and I are on a mission to visit all the National Parks. We are at like 18 out of 62, or whatever the number is today.
We are lucky to have so many cool places to see in this country, but my stupid bucket list is gonna require that i live to like 120.
Done Utah yet?
Yep. All five parks, plus Grand Canyon.
We rented a cabin in the La Sal mountains outside of Moab that still makes me wistful.
I’m jealous. I’ve driven thru three of them there but couldn’t spend any time to speak of. It’s like being on an alien planet.
Several years ago we discovered that you could buy a pass for four Parks; Natural Bridges, Bryce, Zion and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We towed the bike behind the motorhome and had a memorable vacation. I love southern Utah.
Good to have goals. Keeps you going!
I have a similar ‘goal’, but I like being free to wander so I never have planned itineraries, and I really like Yellowstone and the surrounding area, so I usually end up there, then get ambitious and try to stretch out from there (then end up getting to some park exhausted and with too little time to see much of it, sorry Teddy Rooselvelt park, you looked cool for the hour I spent in you maybe next year you get top billing).
Sounds kinky.
My wife is a fucking genius trip planner. She finds the cool cabin, books the cool excursions, etc.
Left to my own devices, I’d get obsessed with a trout stream and local restaurant and never venture away.
Rent a cabin at Cape Blanco state park in January or February. Hopefully you get a storm.
Need to bring bedding and works better if you have some camping basics so maybe a little difficult unless driving.
That would be nice. I love my wife, but planning trips is a nightmare. I have to convince her of every place I want to go.
She just wants a dark, quiet hotel room with room service.
Aka, a cabin where you do the cooking and clean up. That’s how you sell it.
Err, mind if I travel with your wife?
Actually Mrs. Dean is similar. Our groove is a half day or so of out-and-about, and a solid chunk of hanging-out-with-room service.
Yep. I always need a day vegging out by the pool. Or, taking a nap in the afternoon, or similar.
We’re going to Bass Lake next weekend. It’s a cabin where you do all the cooking and cleaning. Cheap and easy and it’s beautiful lake. The cabin has room for two families, so if you split the costs, it almost free.
We’re letting people stay with us, but not splitting the costs this time, btw.
Gotta have a balcony with comfy chairs and a great view of nature.
SP is a goddess of trip planning and a wonderful road trip companion. We did both Dakotas and Montana on our last week-long trip- which was far too long ago.
When we stay at a hotel and aren’t dining out, we bring the food and wine for our evenings in. Or find the best local pizza. Much better than room service.
You and SP are adorbs together.
When you come to Bandelier NM you have a place to crash. And when you come to Carlsbad Caverns we’ll meet you there.
Side note: “They” are trying to change Bandelier National Monument to Bandelier National Park. Not seeing the difference.
With Joshua Tree National Monument, I could sneak out a little early and get a campsite before a long weekend.
With Joshua Tree National Park you had to get a reservation way in advance.
National Monuments are proclaimed by the President under the Antiquities Act (as amended). National Parks are established by an act of Congress. When I was a youth The Grand Canyon was covered under XX entities: Marble Canyon National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park and Grand Canyon National Monument. Eventually they were consolidated into the GCNP.
Funding and level of development of trails etc. NPs get more.
Hitting up every National Park is on my list. I’m at 12, I think. Last I checked.
Counted 18 by looking at a map. Almost forgot about Alaska, Maui and Everglades.
It’s 19, forgot about Great Smoky Mountains NP.
62, according to Wiki.
Thanks for the Wiki reference. It’s 20 for me. Most of Saint John is a NP.
Even American Samoa? Wow!
36 National Parks, 60+ National Monuments, 17 National Battlefields, and a bunch of National Historic Sites of various such.
I worked one summer during college as a seasonal climbing Ranger at Devil’s Tower. I had a great time but realized that being a Park Ranger is a hard way to make a living. Because of the demand for the job a Master’s degree might get you on as a GS-7. Plus you’ll probably need to work multiple years as a seasonal before you get a chance for a full time position.
My tentative plan is after I retire, hit the road and visit most of the places I want to visit in the US.
What is this vacation thing you speak of?
It’s like being unemployed, but you have a job when you get back.
What is this vacation thing you speak of?
We are retired.
We were traveling on Sep 5th weekend and there was heavy traffic.
Me: “What’s all this traffic?”
Mrs. Hobbit: “It’s a holiday weekend.”
Me: “What’s a holiday? What’s a weekend?”
OT: STEVE SMITH ‘will talk about spacewalking, being an astronaut and excelling at teamwork as part of the Virtual Astronaut lecture series on Tuesday (Oct. 6) at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT)’
https://www.space.com/nasa-astronaut-steve-smith-virtual-astronaut
Donation not taxation.
I love this remake, which just played on TV during a football break. It plays a lot on local TV, advertising a hospital. A few months after I first heard it, I found myself spending 11 days at the same hospital. Fuckers. Now I don’t know how to feel about that song.
So I’m stoned again on Percocet.
Probably why I’m being overly opinionated and generalizing too much. My apologies to the Midwesterners.
Got to go back into the urologist tomorrow. Have a feeling they’re going to go in after the stone. Yay.
Think of it as ending the pain
There’s only one cure for the pain.
In case you haven’t got time for it?
I feel a bit like Ted’s for posting this one.
Good luck, get well soon.
If they operate, you can get the experience afterwards of being a cartoon character where you drink water and it comes out of the surgical hole on the side.
More likely, I’m going to get the claw/sonic blaster up the pee hole.
The mere thought of it causes major shrinkage.
Oy. I hope it goes well Scruffy.
Ugh, flashbacks of my spring and summer.
It’s funnier when it’s someone else. I only had to clean and change the dressings.
So did I. ?
Happily, my recent operation fixed it.
Lol.
No worries, dude. I just want you to be healthy again so that when my customer in NN finally let’s me visit again we can go have some fun!
Absolutely!
Wait… what’s fun? I think I forgot. Damn middle age.
“Trump jumps over a defender and scores a touchdown to the dismay of screaming liberals in a parody campaign video released just minutes after he was discharged from Walter Reed”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8808635/Trump-campaign-releases-parody-video-president-scoring-touchdown-release-hospital.html
LOL
Trump with the CCPV still has more energy than Sleepy Joe
I’m surprised the author of that piece made it the end of the article before succumbing to the vapors.
For as long as I can remember, my mother’s constant complaint was being ignored by waitstaff.
I don’t know what triggers it, I don’t even have a theory.
Wait… I have a hypothesis or two. But it requires data on the average behaviour in terms of hassle and tipping in order to falsify.
Can confirm. Table of women is one of the worst. Not THE worst, but lots of work, low tips and separate checks.
From things I’ve heard and witnessed, this is most likely the explanation you’ll get from random waitstaff.
Chiefs aren’t trying.
Patriots are discombobulated.
Tomorrow, Patriots’ QB3 will have a new job as QB2.
And isn’t defensive pass interference the entire point of the game?
Offensive pass interference is much sillier.
110% agree.
The logic here is impeccable. When choosing energy sources, nuclear should be excluded because it tends to push renewables out of the market.
In other words, nuclear is too good and renewables can’t compete so nuclear should be shut down.
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-crowd-nuclear-renewables-dont.html
It’s the only conclusion when the starting premise is nuclear==evil.
Reality schmreality.
Nuclear and hydro power are the two best “clean” energy sources. They also are the least popular with the greens. There are a lot of watermelons out there.
Interesting lists from wiki:
List of countries by electricity production – An older list (data from a few years ago), but it illustrates that hydro and nuclear constitute the bulk of clean energy production, by a lot
List of countries by renewable energy production – A more granular breakdown of “green” energy production, amounts and sources
They’re stockpiling. *wink*
Hydro is better at killing fish than windmills are at killing birds.
But also better at producing electricity, so you win some you lose some.
Although, couldn’t hydro be made even more sustainable if it was somehow combined with a fishery? Net up all the fish being sucked towards the intake and sell them at market. Win-win-win.
It’s not just the dam itself that kills the fish but also the damming of the river. The hundred plus years of history of mitigation attempts has a lot of money spent for what’s at best is a managed decline.
This is for salmon and salmonid species of the west coast drainage. I’m less familiar with hydropower back east.
Further Grand Canyon story. The Colorado River was really, really muddy and warm before Glen Canyon Dam was put in up river. The clear, cold water and rising trout populations made the Humpback River Chub protected under the Endangered Species Act. The endangered American Bald Eagle love the trout. Now the NPS has to try and grow the populations of both species- the two species that require the river be at polar opposite conditions.
Renewables like the windmills that work 30% of the time, break down constantly and are ‘serviced’ by sending out a multi truck convoy across hundreds of miles to bring the replacement parts out to the eyesore wind farm? It amuses me that the urban sophisticates, who are completely dependent upon the most energy intensive distribution network in human history to survive, are so enamored of plans that will devastate that network, while the rubes who live out where you actually can grow food and survive if that network collapses want to keep burning coal and oil.
Even though it’s renewable if you build the right kind reactors.
Yo, Sean.
On that 410 upper, I didn’t mention the best potential benefit.
A high capacity home defense shotgun for a woman. Lighter, lower recoil, addresses the main issue women (alright /stereotypes OFF) someone smaller framed/ recoil sensitive has with shotguns. Mrs. Dean is no one’s wallflower, but a 12 gauge . . . Not her bag. Something like this would be ideal, if she felt the need for something more than her Sig.
I seriously considered a 410 shotgun for home defense.
I settled on 20 gauge instead. #3 buck is 20 1/4-inch pellets at 1,000+ ft/sec as I recall. More than enough damage to stop an intruder.
Recoil is not bad.
With my body size 12 ga hurts to shoot.
Dad gave me a Japanese copy of a Charles Daly side-by-side in 20 ga that fits me perfectly.
I don’t think that an intruder is going to notice the difference.
It’s now officially on the list, and a good reason to shop for a new lower setup.
There was an Indian restaurant in Manchester, NH who got bascially two kinds of reviews;
1. “This place is wonderful. The owner, [name] makes you feel like you are a member of the family. So friendly and engaging. Oh, and the food was wonderful.
2.”The food is great but the owner won’t STFU and leave you alone. If we’d wanted a family dinner, we’d have stayed home.”
We never went. Would have left review #2.
“Isn’t there something in the kitchen that needs attending to?”
/I’d avoid that place too.
Taj?
I think so.
So … that happened. That game should have an asterisk beside it.
What happened? Did someone use a dirty word and the other team walked off?
Cam Newton was positive for WuFlu, so he stayed home. QB2 was … not good. QB3 wasn’t much better. It was kind of a whiff. Mostly just a meh game against the JV team.
I enjoyed it – I mean, New England lost.
More looking forward to KC @ BUF next week.
Two weeks. Well, week and a half.
I’m skeert!
Starting QB can’t play? Totally unprecedented!
Patriots, dude. Not used to no-Brady.
*Wipes away tear*
Nice article Kristen. I look forward to the rest of the series.
https://twitter.com/SallyMayweather/status/1313105984852762626/photo/1
“No low balling, I know what I have.”
*chuckle*
Please, no one is paying that much.
I mean, I hate metric and for some reason even I have 9mm rounds somewhere on the bottom of the hudson.
Pert near.
I bought my 9mm target ammo at 27 cents per round. Wikiarms.com says It’s double that now (and you must buy 1,000 rounds). I bought my .22 ammo at 4 cents per round. It’s triple that now.
I almost don’t want to go shooting because the replacement ammo is so expensive.
I haven’t been shooting in months because of that exact reason.
Same
Call it .38 Short?
I just bought 12,000 9mm 147grn. coated bullets, to tide me over until the economy collapses. I’ll be reloading them for about 12 cents apiece.
*handloader master race*
We went grocery shopping today. As a general rule I don’t look at prices, we’re not extravagant or top shelf feeders but today I looked around a little and either there has been a lot of inflation recently or I’ve been out of the loop a long time.
Ex. Rutabaga, $1.99 a lb. I stuck one on the scale, 2.5 lbs. $5 for a damned rutabaga? It had the heavy wax coat, etc. I could grow those things easily but not be able to even give them away. The deer won’t even eat ’em. I don’t even like them in soup or stew, I’d rather have an extra potato instead.
A pineapple from Guatemala was only $2.77. Potatoes 1.49 a lb. A family pack of steak was discounted 10 cents a lb. How much a pound? $17.99, so I’d save 30 cents on a $50 item? A family of 4 would have a tough time getting by on 40K, there would be few discretionary items.
/Started looking at seed catalogs (again)
Oh, I forgot. I looked at ammo prices, I haven’t bought ammo for over 30 years (’cause I reload). That took my breathe away too. The shelves looked like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. I asked about gun powder and the reaction was a hysterical laugh, I got out of that department quickly. There were few choices and no rifle /pistol powder that I could use. Fortunately I am in good stead.
Yep. I’m looking at freezers and expanding the garden
It’s not just you. Sellers are testing what the market will bear.
We got a quote or two (pre-covid) for fireplace masonry and for staining and sealing the pergola.
Now that we’ve resumed taking quotes, the prices are twice as high. Same on other goods I’ve noticed.
I think the companies that have scraped by in order to survive are trying to recoup their losses now.
Unfortunately the reality is that big, well-placed donor companies like Amazon are benefiting greatly from the WuFlu as nearly all commerce is shifted online.
It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Amazon is considered “essential” or is even subsidized by govt.
Well, they’ll be paying for it in a few years. They will become the newest demons of capitalism.
They aren’t already?
I seem to remember a campaign to prevent them from opening an HQ in NYC because they were robber-barons.
Before the COVID, but even now Bezos is the devil. It’s only going to get worse.
I still don’t understand how they can ship everything I buy for “free”. But I don’t question it.
Ground shipping costs are going up too to the point where it is getting cheaper to ship 100lb packages by truck. (LTL prices seem to have gone down.)
Some years I can get 100 lbs of venison for $1 and a lot of time spent in the cold outdoors. ;^) (though watching the sun rise is worth it.)
/wonders what venison pot stickers taste like.
But yeah, the money printers are going BBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Inflation is going up, Up, UP.
The last venison I had was about $40 a pound.
What with the $1000 deductible and processing fees.
Took me a while 🙂
It’s getting bad.
Smart beasts.
I haven’t noticed that. Food prices are higher on average but nothing that bad. Last week there was beef tenderloin for $6 a pound. This week there is pork tenderloin for $.99.
I have cleaning supplies for barter! I’d kill for those kind of meat prices around here.
There was even bleach. Tiny little bottles of store brand, but it was something. No idea who buys a pint of bleach though.
Thanks for the picture of Silent Cal, cool to know he stayed there. And loved the North by Northwest reference, my main reason for going to Mount Rushmore 34 years ago was trying to see the patio area Cary Grant viewed the monument from, and the park’s cafeteria that Eva Marie Saint ‘shot’ Grant in. It was of course much different by then (if it ever was even the real site, or perhaps modeled after the actual place, rather than a generic ‘cafeteria’ soundstage), but I could picture the scene happening inside there nonetheless.
Speaking of Silent Cal, I’m halfway through Amity Shlaes’ biography of him, “Coolidge”. I’ve just gotten to Warren Harding dying and Coolidge taking over. One of the first things he does is major federal budget cuts (no one had to tell him ‘fuck you, cut spending’, he actually did), and then he cut taxes. He says that what people earn is their property, and the government shouldn’t be taking so much of it away. He also figures that lower taxes will cause businesses to flourish, and the tax revenues to climb as a result, even at the lower rates (which it did). What a man! How can it be almost 100 years later, and the majority of people in this country seemingly can’t learn from that, and instead want to follow the path of the 103-year-old total disaster that was the Bolsheviks taking over Russia?
Gift idea for my Pa! Thanks!
An excellent Old Fashioned, and a fine Aviation cocktail? Be still, my beating heart. Did they have a Sazerac on the menu?
So it looks like they got him
https://www.cnet.com/news/john-mcafee-indicted-for-tax-evasion-in-the-us/
Making an example of him is my guess.
I’m going to guess there is good evidence to back up the charges.
Spain, though. That was a big risk.
Is it bad I like him more now?
No. I feel like Ragnar Danneskjöld just got thrown in the hold.
Greedy enemy of the state…
Inorite??
Fuck the IRS.
Amen.
Well, maybe not.
https://twitter.com/theemrsmcafee/status/1313238348438401024
Good for you, Kristen. Looked relaxing. I don’t understand what the waitress did wrong, though. I don’t wanna know my server’s name.
Too subtle?
https://mobile.twitter.com/AndoBaruka/status/1313258471639314432
That helicopter ones has some good replies it (including yours). Some choice ones
https://twitter.com/IDJoe4Congress/status/1312270208686411778?s=20
https://twitter.com/JakeFJakeFJakeF/status/1312393347147931649?s=20
Cornered animals will fantasize. I know I have.
I thought you got banned?
Nope. There was a 15 minute or so span where Twitter wouldn’t let anyone post. I’m too insignificant to get their attention, I assume.
I thought you were gonna retire it sometime recently.
I’m just tweeting about 5 minutes a day. It’s pointless, but some people put up some interesting stuff.
That includes you, too.
For the record–it isn’t a wish, on my part, so much as trying to remember correctly.
I laughed at the end
Same.
Another little funny ending
Not too shabby! Then again, it’s no fart humor…
That was good.
Mauree, it’s utterly contemptable that you accuse him of stealing your style!
Or maaaaaaybe she interprets everything he does as ruining it.
I’d say she ruins her style… It’s Maureen Dowd, ffs.
Jefferson Parish ISD/School board–you bitches are lucky.
I know it’s from tax $. That said, I would add a couple of zeros to that lawsuit, if I were them.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
She apparently was one of several that assaulted a trans woman before they assaulted and chased someone who tried to stop it.
https://twitter.com/mrandyngo/status/1312535624805613571?s=21
Yet somehow fails to be arrested since. Meanwhile a guy shooting paintballs back at violent criminals that are using force to try and shut down the lawful assembly he was in, is quickly charged and arrested.
Seems the officers are getting impatient with antifa’s bullshit.
There was another incident where a cop was pepper sprayed in his car. Seems like it’s escalating on both sides.
https://katu.com/news/local/man-shatters-portland-police-cruisers-window-and-pepper-sprays-officer-inside-ppb-says
I don’t doubt that there are a lot of antifa hoping to get some sort of clearance to start pulling whatever triggers they have. They better realize that, for better or worse, not only are there plenty of officers who will do so once antifa starts, there are plenty of LARPers, L&O types, and people simply tired of antifa shit that will return fire on them.
I’m kinda of surprised it hasn’t happened already with bluecheck marks on twitter happily doxxing and defaming people.
The crowd must be gigantic assholes because they have me rooting for the cop.
Right?? I may be more inclined to do so/say he was in the right, though. Could he have gone around her? I suppose it’s possible. That said, when the mob is, apparently, unafraid that your solo ass is both armed, and, had the backing of the courts (enough to crowd around you)…they aren’t playing with a full deck, and you realize you need to GTFO.
Watching videos of Jeremy Dewitte on Real World Police. They’re like crack. That guy is a nut job.
Who is this guy?
Police impersonator in Florida
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLII9g37Tnzh8UDAk3NMZk5kasTRbKwxkt
Some people just have too much time on their hands, and require to much authoritah
Man, you are right, GL–this is fascinating.
I’m enraptured and have been watching for about 45 minutes now.
SF and CPRM are going to have to step up theirs games. Real life is nipping at their heals
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1313267143232942081?s=21
I really hoped to see Hat & Hair come bounding down the steps, out of the helicopter.
Dammit….
KK–My apologies for going o/t. Was the trip relatively inexpensive, overall? As in, was it still costly, or, were the prices cheaper (as I would think they are)?
The airline was so desperate for passengers they let KK fly the plane.
I mean….not a bad choice, from the sound of it.
I’ve mostly traveled for work this summer. Hotel prices don’t seem to be any lower but I am traveling to more outdoor activity orientated areas.
Ah. I was asking more about that area, specifically, and the related costs of visiting there, Don’t know that I would ever go, but, costs might move the needle, so to speak.
Sad trombone
https://dailycaller.com/2020/10/05/nba-ratings-hit-finals-game-3-record-low/
Like Rhy said, you can watch classic TV shows from your youth on any number of channels these days. Seems the safer bet than pro sports, these days.
Is it too much to ask my teens to text home when their “jog” turns into “we found a friend”?
I don’t even care you are out and about but you louts can run maybe 2 or 3 miles and you have been gone for 5 hours.
seems like a fair request
then one day you don’t even know what time zone they’re in
I’ve got a very short list of people I text on trips. I just send the airport code of the towns I’m in starting when I leave and until I’m back. I will usually agree with a calendar I keep that is much the same: the code of the town in which I’ll sleep each night.
My adventures don’t include new airports anymore (64 on the list seems to be about all I’ll notch), but, when I’m settled into another seat or cleared another town’s limits, some see ORD or BHM or occasionally CDG and know I’m thinking about them and carry them with me always at least in a little way.
I know a guy who worked on Colin Powell’s advance team. He would go wherever Perk was going to go except one to ten weeks earlier and prep the diplomatic space. Then he would return to DC and accompany Powell to the meetings, tours, etc…
He said he would leave a note on the hotel door each night with three pieces of information: the city he was in, the time zone designation, and the time of his flight out.
Otherwise, you’d lose track of where and when you were.
I’ve taken pictures of the room number on my phone so I remember which one it is.
Worst sense of disorientation was going from a poor night of sleep in a Denver Courtyard, long day of weather delays and reroutes, to a cookie cutter identical Courtyard in Raleigh. When I woke up the next day, I thought I was back in Denver.
My thoughts were:
Girl
Booze
Drugs
Hanging out
It was the first one.
“She was just out and about at 10 at night anf you just happened to run into her?”
“Shes a soccer player dad…”
Well that clears that up.
Go on….
/since I’m not related…and, hopefully, there were adult versions around.
“She brought a friend!” All is well…
Another fire video, perhaps the power of karma? And public employees stepping up beyond their job descriptions in two of the three.
https://youtu.be/Qn0LsTbrgwk
Drove through close to there again yesterday. Still seems unreal the amount of destruction in such a short time.
Too bad Jeremy DeWitte doesn’t have the itch to be a firefighter…
What if the only thing that would stop the fires were Liberal tears? Would they vote Donni in …for the environment??
The would be the new “would you murder baby Hitler?” Argument.
I’m willing to see the hypothesis tested….
/just sayin’
Also–howdy!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NSNuqX3EY70
?
Mornin’ Glibs.
I got into the office before the lights were turned on. I could lie and say I don’t know why I do it on working from work days, but I do know. If there’s no one else in the building, there’s no one to hassle me about not wearing a mask.
?☕
I thought you were supposed to filter the coffee before it went into the cup, not as you’re drinking it.
What an interesting idea….
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/10/supreme-court-wont-hear-challenge-to-gov-wolfs-shutdown-order.html
The same court that usurped the legislative power to draw legislative districts?
String them up from lampposts bext to wolf.
Ah, different court.
Still, string up the PA supreme court next to Wolf. They’ve earned it.
So, the SC says the State can’t compel you to bake the cake, but they can compel you NOT to bake the cake? ?
Relying on the judiciary to come riding in on their white horses is a fool’s errand.
https://www.fox29.com/news/4-charged-with-attempted-murder-after-shots-fired-at-camden-officers-home
They caught the “alleged” peeps shooting at the two cops home in Camden.
mornin’ ya’all
You misspelled “Evening, Lemures”
You are correct, since Ive been working overnights. In my head its 5:30pm
Have dinner and relax.
I do enjoy the ability to open a beer at 6:30 am, and not feel shameful.
“Membership does have its privileges!” Welcome to the Night-born.
Having to deal with “quirky” union assholes all night, this is constantly playing in my head @ work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxwrLLlQwBw
“Friends! How many of us have them?” Surely not a bunch of gay-bos like that.
Mornin’, homey & UCS.
Glad I got the hardest part of my month-end stuff done yesterday. Had a heck of a time dropping off to sleep last night.
I’ve got no good advice.
/Chronic Insomniac.
But I was wondering if, after having read Lucid Blue, you would find it believable that Ed and Errol would be friends in a sequel.
I’m embarrassed to ask this, but could you please remind me who Ed is? I’m about halfway through Shadowrealm now (just finished Part 12,) and when I search for Ed in LB, even if I type in a space ahead of AND after “Ed” I get every single “-ed” suffix in the book.
Biokinetic loudmouth, son of Norman ‘Hynomancer’ Wilson
Do I recall correctly he was angry to discover he had that power?
Despite what I recall of their conflicts, I tend to believe just about any two people could bond after going through their experiences together.
I ask, because it’s in the half finished “Junior Redemptioners” I have hanging around on my computer waiting for me to complete it.
I’m stuck on a birthday party for a trio of teenage girls, one of which is the personification of entitlement. But it’s plot relevant. I also think I need to push it back a bit to let another subplot advance and bring Kevan back into the narrative before the events that stem from the party unleash chaos.
Fun fact – the rich woman has a driver who has to constantly remind her that his name is not ‘Connie’. I plan to have him walk off that job at some point during the story. In ‘Mechbay Murder’, the narrator’s borther is ‘Connor’ who just started working for a limo rental place run by a ‘Mr. Lovekill’. In the extended Omnirunner, Dan meets Lovekill as his life is starting to fall apart. As a gesture of consolation, Dan gives him a card for two free drinks and no over charge at a club, only he gives Lovekill the wrong card, which results in the man meeting people who help finance his limo company…
Why yes, I do like having background stories in my work that reward attentive readers.
Did Errol ever develop powers? If not, maybe Ed is drawn to Errol because Errol DOESN’T have powers.
I apologize for not recalling details. I claim lots of interim reading since then. And lack of sleep.
*spoiler*
At the very end, after getting accidentally dosed with Iteration Thirteen, Errol does develop powers. One of the last scenes is testing his flight.
*/spoiler*
::rereads scene:: I think both Ed & Errol resent having powers, which could be something over which they might bond?
*looks up Part 12*
Oh, Michelangelo just kicked Shadowdemon’s ass.
Mornin
Ooo… according to my calendar, Holloween has a full moon this year (and a blue moon, since it was full on the 1st)
Gonna go out & howl?
In madness.
But quietly.
And not outside.
All the better to shoot looters with.
It’s strange. When in my cube, I often need to put on headphones just to drown out people who believe all calls and training videos need to be on loud speaker (but thankfully can’t use the PA system). But whenever I’m wearing my headphones, I feel like I’m shirking more than if they’re off… regardless of the amount of work getting done.
It’s double odd in the early mornings, because my workday hasn’t officially started yet.
“biokinetic loudmouth”
Punk band name? Or album name ?
Nope, former roommate.
To me the most telling thing about Trump’s balcony scene wasn’t the “gasping for air” which I didn’t see but instead the backing away from the chopper wash to maintain the Hair. Maybe that’s just me and the couple of hundred of us on this site, though. “Back up Donald. You’re going to screw the deal!”
Heh.