The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Gabe1]

I didn't take a lot of pictures in my phone today but here is a couple Disney pictures. We did some Animal Kingdom today and dinner at Jiko which was amazing! The drinks are from the Victoria Falls lounge.
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Awe so lovely. We didn't get snow today but I am envious. Have an awesome time and those drinks look awesome. Was it warmer today down there?

 

[Gabe1]

*
I'm "lame" compared to most of you.
My style is to peek in when I have time.

Skim around......if some phrase or key word catches my attention and then I read that fully.....then MAYBE back up in the thread to see everything in context.
I'm also regularly checking school e-mail and I participate in two forums on Tripadvisor ( NJ and PA)

heeheehee!

That is how we slowly but surely suck ya into our little world here....you're always welcome.

 

[Gabe1]

A Rant of my Saturday Night......

Me right now. Went out for dinner today and as I arrived at our destination I was pulled over by a sheriff.

It is a strange not quite an intersection with a double light for one intersection. There is a firehouse just before the intersection for about 50 feet. A light just before the firehouse and striping in front of the station on the road and the next light one car length in front of the real intersection without striping and there I sat as I paused for an ambulance waiting for it to pass through the intersection with a green light and arrow which I had ignored give the ambulance coming in the other direction down the road. The deputy said I should have stopped at the red light before the firehouse. But it was the clicker that changed that light and I was already moving forward. He shined his light into my truck and saw the back seat with a 36 pack of water and 3 4 gallon jugs of water for the water cooler. Yep, looking like a big bust for a Saturday night. lol. He was kind and I was equally respectful but did explain...though he held his ground. He took my licence tobuldn't issue me a ticket. I said thank you, but was annoyed beyond my gratitude expressed. I was left to wonder if that intersection given the hospital and firehouse doesn't hold up in court with the clickers they all have to change the lights leaving you in limbo? Or if it is a good way to possibly nab DUIs on a Saturday night. I already had to pay the state for copies of a birth certificate, marriage licience, and a TSA precheck to the Feds this month. So didn't want to pay a fine for something beyond my control.

So rather than eating what I had had a taste for I ate a salad. While there is various forms of liquior in the house there is only one little single serve wines here. I should have prepared.

 

[Gabe1]

My kids liked it as well. I did the whole dance thing for a few years with the 2 older girls. I will just say that I am happy they switched to gymnastics. Just avoiding the recitals was huge for me. I will say since I have experience with both, I saw a heck of a lot more progress and quicker with gymnastics than with dance. By us, the gymnastics and dance places offer a free trial class. Do they do that by you? Might be a good way for her to get a taste of a class.

I didn't like dance though it was similar and a good foundation for gymnastics if only for the 'poses' the judges seem to adore on floor. Floor and Dance are even more subjective than most of gymnastics is as most of it is if you nail it or not. You perfect a move or you don't though even by the scores that is still as subjective as dive is. Likely why I preferred swimming for me and my kids. (though some of those judges disqualifications were questionable.) The first one that hit the touch pad wins, no opinions. My DD would have been good at gymnastics, she was a climber and swung from limb to limb of trees. Still while intro'd she never found the love. She had the bod for it tiny and skinny like I was growing up. Still, even with her ER visits she doesn't have the injuries I had in gymnastics that linger on at my age, smarter than I was I guess.

I can remember one time my son doing B r e a s t Stroke and a two hand touch is required to turn. I watched him from the deck slap and turn and have a great push off and the judges hand go up. After the race was over and he was DQ'd I asked what the DQ was of the judge. He didn't two hand touch!!!! I thanked the judge for the explanation and told the coach. I thought he was going to strangle the judge. Something the kid in all his years never missed it was his stroke. The judge was from the opposing team. We both bit our tongue but it shows you how subjective kids sports can be.

 

[Gabe1]

Just wanna say that sometimes I skip over a bunch of posts here, but it's not intentional; and I'm not avoiding anyone. There's just something about this recent upgrade to the site here, that often makes me miss where the heck I left off!!

I've tried to take a mental note of what page I left off on. The problem is that mental thing....

 

[Gabe1]

That usually happens to me,

Spoiler: If you are a bit of a hypochondriac, don't look

right before stomach flu hits.

I was up your way today for a Craft Fair. I am in awe of how ignorant some people are. Hack'n like they had tuberculosis. Not covering their mouths. We were playing dodge the sick-o's Your sick stay home. Craft Fairs are hardly critical attendance. Grrr....

 

[Gabe1]

I'm not sure it was even just thrown. These are military-grade laptops. It takes a lot more than a drop or a throw to destroy them. My coworker said she's never seen one that has come in that bad condition.

It was also less than a year old, which is even more painful.

Yeah, my DD didn't have a scratch on it and it was trashed. My DS was very similar to the one in your pictures.
One, glad DD belonged to the University and 2 was so glad at the time Dell was a great product and they stood behind their whatever the cause. My DD high school laptop also a Dell had an in home service which they attempted to try to dodge once. Ultimately a dude showed up at my kitchen table and fixed its physical failings. I was kinda sad when Dell kinda fell with their warranties and product, it was great in its day.

 

[Gabe1]

Our garage stores a lot of stuff too. We needed a 3 car garage and not a 2. Our cars aren't in the garage either. Our snow blower, bikes, strollers(which I guess we don't need), etc. sure take a lot of room.

We took a big step backwards one year. We emptied the garage and put 2 cars in it. The side portion of the small compact car space was the 'extra' zone. We took a serious look at what needed to be in there and what shouldn't. We made adjustments with shelves and hooks to hang things. We bought proper attachments for walls to hang things for the yard and garden. Never from that point forward did the car live outside the garage and we held firm we were not leaving cars outside and crap inside. Made life better.

I methodically downsized also what we held onto in our basement. After my kids graduated from college my head hurt as a room was overtaken. I sorted, boxed and donated. I took back my basement. It was a mindset change of what was still good or still good for us. Given the basement was the footprint of the house and 25 years in that house at the time it took some doing over time but I did win in the end. I went into it with the mindset that I had way too much stuff.

 

[Gabe1]

I've tried just a little Mucinex before, but it made my heart race. No more Mucinex for me!

I've had that same thing with a few cold drugs. Thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Note, the Mucinex on the shelf and the Mucinex behind the counter that you have to sign for is very different formulas same as the Advil products for colds and allergies, they widely differ also in active ingredients.

 

[Gabe1]

Me, too. I like a balanced approach to shopping.

We stopped at the mall today after a craft show. We could see a woman sitting in a seating area outside a major department store ordering online while sitting within a mall. A funny moment.

 

[Gabe1]

Yadda yadda yadda . . . we're so lucky he picked us. I think I mentioned (long time ago) that we actually got Jack on sale?! Yah, the little twerp had been in the shelter for quite some time, with no takers. The day we went to the shelter, he was on "special" -- dog of the day. Sold!

The extent Jack went to to make sure you took him home. It worked.

 

[Gabe1]

Yep, I agree. That teacher should have been fired. What is the point of teaching then if you are not willing to do it.

My DD shared a story today with me. A colleague of hers has a DD in first grade not far from here. When the teacher doesn't like the behavior of a student she takes a spray bottle filled with water and drenches the student with water in the face.

Oh she'd be so gone in my district. I am in awe of the lack of boundaries of a select few teachers.

 

[Gabe1]

It also is bad because now there will be less competition. Who do you get toys from now? Target, Walmart, Amazon? Think about Wall-E. Everything eventually became Buy N Large. I think that is what Amazon is becoming. I try and avoid using them, but sometimes have no choice. Love/Hate relationship.

I'm not sure it is less competition, more different competition. I watched Bargain Town, prior to Toys R Us go away and Child's World another nicer version of Toys R Us go away. I see Legolands pop up and American Doll pop up and gain strong footing. Book stores start carrying popular board games. Though shaky in their own right place like Best Buy having a strong hold on videos and gaming similar to Target and Walmart. It evolves but it is not gone.

 

[Gabe1]

I’m soooooo glad that my kiddo is not doing Common Core!



Call me a big meanie, but I think this is good for kids.
It doesn’t matter if it’s math, spelling, building blocks, or a sport.. Criticism in a constructive way isn’t bad, imo. Nor is the discipline and the awareness that comes with it.
I remember the first time my son was goofing off at football practice, age 5, summer before kindergarten- full tackle. Well, my kiddo and the other boy who was messing around, they both had to run a lap around the field.. in their uniforms and helmets. They were told why, and that failure to pay attention can result in an injury. Guess who paid attention consistently after that?
I do know that there are parents who have a different thought process regarding that, but I’m A-OK with it.

If our district had gone to Common Core my DD would have likely been home schooled. When the lead professor wouldn't sign off on the final product because Common Core could only admit students math abilities into a Community College vs a University for Sciences, Engineering or Mathematics and yet pushed it onto districts it should have been a wake up call that he and others invented a very limited math curriculum. Just that the system delayed teaching basic algebra was a warning sign. So happy we dodged that bullet. Sad for the students that will not know what hit them until they take their SATs 10 years later.

 

[Gabe1]

I think "just do your best" is good, but I also think kids need to understand that they have the power to do better. Disappointed that kid won and you didn't? "It's okay, you did your best" isn't as effective as "It's okay, you did your best, and if you keep practicing those footwork drills, then next time you'll do better". Just my two cents.

Well said. I was not willing to let my kids back in the day take the easy route either. I looked at their education as their job. As in any job you do your best and keep trying to do it better just not slide.

 

[Gabe1]

As the date of opening gets close. You will still get tons of crowds of those fanboys hoping to ride in the softopenings and testing phases.

Rumors are floating that StarWars Disneyland at least initially will be an upcharge to enter that land. We are seeing similar at WDW, staying later an upcharge over EMHs. Now a good Chunk of Animal Kingdom 20th being an up-charge and must be a D23 member to participate, so pay admission to AK, Pay to be a Member of D23 to qualify and pay for a hard ticket, so paying 3 times to participate. Disney has quite the business model happening.

 

[Gabe1]

And it will keep happening if companies are so stubborn to embrace new technology. Amazon pretty much killed them all.

Can you imagine of Toys R Us used an amazon like site with multiple sources to sell toys?
They didnt. Very similar error as Blockbuster, who believed they were untouchable.

And what killed Barns and Noble and many department stores. No matter what your business is you have to keep with the the trends and tech is one of them.

 

[Gabe1]

This kind of coaching is usually related to prevent anxiety on kids. Who feel forced to "win" and feel like crap if they lost. Even if the "games" arent even tournament or things to win.

My goodness. My kids learned from young sometimes you win at a simple board game and sometimes you loose. No need to have an anxiety attack over it.

 

[Gabe1]

What are the odds that they will offer rooms for 6 that aren't suites, so I wouldn't need to book 2 rooms?

I have zero knowledge but my guess is doubtful.

 

[Gabe1]

Haha thanks! We had lots of deer and big horn sheep do that in Utah!! You have to drive real slow and watch out for them. And also people stop in the middle of the roads to get out and take pictures.

We have a small road here that leads to a main road. At a curve it changes names. Brilliant right? It is when the road changes from a county road from a local road. Today venturing out the car in front of me slows down to about 5 mph. when it hits the blind curve it stops. It stops and doesn't have any thought it stopped in a middle of a road to gain their barrings. Just sat there. So wanted to honk but I just kept trying to watch what was going to come up behind me. It moved maybe 25 feet ad stopped again in the middle of the freak'n road. Finally turned I think to get over. People live in their own little worlds.