Messages

1

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Kids

« on: Today at 02:09:38 PM »

Number 2 coming in October

Please tell Mrs. DQ12 to aim for the 17th!

(October 17th, that is. Not a 17th kid lol!)

Can't have 17th without having a 2nd!

2

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: show us your buds (appreciate spring, you crapbags)

« on: April 17, 2024, 11:08:35 AM »

Put in a new bed recently (this was dirt, before -- shade prevents grass from growing in this part) and added the hastas.  I love when my hydrangeas wake up.

We planted about 250 vinca in the dirt patch to the right of where this photo is to deal with the dirt over in that part of the yard.  The fence, relatively close houses, and big ass tree blot out the sun over there.  Hoping those take.

3

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Cars.... How far have you went before getting a new one?

« on: April 17, 2024, 10:31:01 AM »

Needing to get rid of the sedan and going for with a little more size to comfortably fit my soon-to-be massive family.

My lasers are focused on the hyundai palisade.

Have you considered the Telluride?

They're basically the same, but in perusing around, I've found Tellurides to be a little more expensive. I think people see them as "cooler," which you pay a slight premium for. 

4

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Cars.... How far have you went before getting a new one?

« on: April 17, 2024, 09:42:23 AM »

Needing to get rid of the sedan and going for with a little more size to comfortably fit my soon-to-be massive family.

My lasers are focused on the hyundai palisade. 

5

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Kids

« on: April 17, 2024, 09:36:54 AM »

Number 2 coming in October

6

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: show us your buds (appreciate spring, you crapbags)

« on: April 17, 2024, 06:17:09 AM »

It’s like Tulipberg over at Clams house!

Lovely.

7

Wacky's World / Re: Wacky Ban

« on: April 16, 2024, 11:38:28 AM »

He kept calling Emawmeister fat too. 

8

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Kc restaurant suggestions

« on: April 10, 2024, 01:53:25 PM »

Damn, I'm not a big breakfast burrito person.  Embarrassingly, the only breakfast burritos I like are from McD's.

Is this a matter of taste (not liking them)? Or is it a matter of exposure?

honestly i think it's that most of the time, i find the tortillas are too thin and end up getting soggy/steamy from the eggs.  just not my thing.  Just a thin, soggy, stretchy tortilla jam packed full of eggs.

9

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: songs in your heavy rotation

« on: April 10, 2024, 11:31:32 AM »

And I will slightly disagree with you on the sound. The first two albums had, to my ear, distinct Paul Simon and zydeco influences. I don't hear those, here.

IDK.  This feels like it would fit in well with the likes of M79 and Walcott.  Walcott in particular.

10

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: songs in your heavy rotation

« on: April 10, 2024, 11:29:10 AM »

Any other bangers from Only God Was Above Us?

I listened to it all the way through on Sunday a couple times, but since then I've been solely preoccupied with ICP (WOOP WOOP!). 

Sitting here without looking back at the tracklist, I remember liking Capricorn.  Gen X Cops was OK, but didn't do a lot for me.  The last track (which is very long) seemed like one they were pretty proud of, but didn't move my needle much.

Anyway, it's a solid album.  I'd throw the whole thing on and see if anything jumps out.  I found this album much more exciting than Father of the Bride.

11

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: songs in your heavy rotation

« on: April 10, 2024, 11:20:28 AM »

Allow me, gentlemen.  Ice Cream Piano has been my obsession for the better part of the last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhzdY0ZAFcM

The little accidental on the "you" of "No one can hear you" and at that point in the melody throughout the rest of the song is so good.  And the pickup at around 1:16 is absolutely vintage VW.  And then in the second (third?) verse where the track gets a little more muted and you can hear the drums and rhythm guitar a little more -- so smooth. I've been messing around with it on the piano for the last couple days, and I was a little surprised that the melody is a lot simpler than i thought.  I expected it to be a lot more complex.  Good pop music, man.

First time I heard it (last Sunday) I remember thinking to myself "THIS is the Vampire Weekend I first started liking."  I've liked some of their other styles, but Ice Cream Piano feels closest to the great songs from their debut album.

Great track. They went a bit dark with Modern Vampires of the City, although even that had some absolute bangers.

Yes.  I've really liked songs from all of their albums - even (especially?) the experimental type stuff on MVotC.   Father of the Bride was largely a miss for me (though "Hold You Now" is still a regular listen for me).

But Ice Cream Piano feels the most in line with the original sound that really drew me in in the first place.  Upbeat, poppy, heavy strings. 

Allow me, gentlemen.  Ice Cream Piano has been my obsession for the better part of the last week.

... and I was a little surprised that the melody is a lot simpler than i thought.  I expected it to be a lot more complex. 

It really helps when it's in the key of Cmaj. It's in C, right?

Yeah.   

12

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: songs in your heavy rotation

« on: April 10, 2024, 10:56:21 AM »

Allow me, gentlemen.  Ice Cream Piano has been my obsession for the better part of the last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhzdY0ZAFcM

The little accidental on the "you" of "No one can hear you" and at that point in the melody throughout the rest of the song is so good.  And the pickup at around 1:16 is absolutely vintage VW.  And then in the second (third?) verse where the track gets a little more muted and you can hear the drums and rhythm guitar a little more -- so smooth. I've been messing around with it on the piano for the last couple days, and I was a little surprised that the melody is a lot simpler than i thought.  I expected it to be a lot more complex.  Good pop music, man.

First time I heard it (last Sunday) I remember thinking to myself "THIS is the Vampire Weekend I first started liking."  I've liked some of their other styles, but Ice Cream Piano feels closest to the great songs from their debut album. 

13

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Kc restaurant suggestions

« on: April 10, 2024, 10:50:50 AM »

Damn, I'm not a big breakfast burrito person.  Embarrassingly, the only breakfast burritos I like are from McD's.

14

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Kc restaurant suggestions

« on: April 10, 2024, 10:27:21 AM »

anyone else lombardiing?

tell me where this is from right now

15

The New Joe Montgomery Birther Pit / Re: Thread for when someone on the other side does something good

« on: April 04, 2024, 02:44:20 PM »

I had a pro bono client who represented himself and won his eviction case. If cat's stats (TM) are true, that is a rare result. Still, the slumlord continued to pursue him, and that's where we came into the case. We whipped the slumlord's ass pretty good, if I do say so myself. But most poor people don't have access to a white-shoe law firm and just throw up their hands and give up, flee, move, etc.

I'm a little dubious about whether most landlords are using "white-shoe law firms" for eviction proceedings.  EDIT - nvm i misread.  your tenant had the white shoe law firm.  not the slumlord.

But speaking of Cat's Stats, he said between 51-75% of self-represented tenants lost their case.  if something like 40ish% of self-represented tenants are winning, it doesn't really seem that rare.  .  Especially when you factor in the logical self-selection element (if you know you ought to be evicted, there's less of a chance of you showing up to court, getting representation, etc.).

16

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: 201* Concert Thread

« on: April 04, 2024, 01:51:46 PM »

OH MAN DQ that was quite a write-up. Thank you so much for the fill-in. I'd been really curious what specifics would be rolled out on this tour; knew the general gist of how it'd go but it's nice to hear more detail because this tour didn't really come within seven hours of me. They just announced they're gonna do a second run of shows though so hopefully it'll come closer. If not I'll probably travel to it. It's interesting that from that era they chose to go with Nothing But Flowers. I think I'm probably in your boat: I've seen them a ton of times but I don't think I've ever heard that one live. I need the juice on the producer drama. Not even sure who that refers to.

I do miss Joe, though. He was such a phenomenal multi-instrumentalist. Do you ever listen to his solo stuff? Because it's rough ridin' incredible.

Nothing But Flowers was the showcase for Guster on Ice, which makes sense.

No on Joe.  Never listened to his solo stuff (but maybe I will!).

17

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: The Royals

« on: April 03, 2024, 09:55:46 AM »

i'm sad it didn't pass.

i don't think the chiefs go anywhere, but i think there's a decent chance KC loses the royals because of this. 

18

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Midwest Cheap

« on: April 03, 2024, 09:52:58 AM »

I buy those big logs of hamburger meat and go home and vac seal into individual 1 lb bags. Everything sucks about it and the savings isn't enough to be impactful but I have to admit being to quickly thaw out a thin sheet of meat is also not that rewarding.

The real midwesterners either buy a side/quarter of beef OR just grind their own.  I’ve been eyeballing a kitchen-aid grinder for a while.

I don’t buy roast beef anymore.  I buy my own roast, make it, and use my deli-slicer to cut it thin.

I was thinking I might get one of those grinder attachments for a stand mixer. I recently ground some meat myself for the first time in the food processor and it turned out great. Makes me feel better about buying a bigger piece of meat and trimming it up knowing I can put the scraps to good use.

Yeah.  I spent a lot of time on butcher tiktok.  daydreaming about processing big old cuts of meat into steaks and roasts and grind really felt like i was becoming a real a midwestern man.

19

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: 201* Concert Thread

« on: April 03, 2024, 09:51:30 AM »

@DQ12 tell me about The Eras Tour

@SkinnyBenny - sorry for the late response


It was really fun.  We got to the venue about half an hour before the concert started.  There was a giant line around the sidewalk of the madrid.  It took us about 25 minutes or so to get through the line.  After standing in line for about five minutes, it started raining.  None of our group (me, my sister, and bro in law) had umbrellas.  It rained HARD.  My sister got under another group's umbrella while the line moved, but me and BIL got drenched.  Then the golf ball sized hail started.  Suffice to say, we were soaked.

The concert proper was really fun.  It was, objectively speaking, extremely self-indulgent, but the crowd (including me) was game for whatever.  The format of the concert is pretty straightforward -- they do a little skit whenever each "era" starts.  So for Parachute, it was just Ryan and Adam and Brian sitting against a dorm room back-drop playing acoustic guitars and pretty stripped down bongos.  There were a lot of "boy wasn't this time period different!" type jokes that were corny, but again, they were able to get away with whatever they wanted.  In particular, after the GUOTS era, there was apparently some band turmoil directed at their new producer that i wasn't familiar with.  That bit (including the "evil" music producer being portrayed by a puppet) felt a little awkward -- but maybe if I knew the inside story it wouldn't have been quite as awkward.

The music was phenomenal.  I've obviously never heard Happy Frappy played live before.  Never heard Nothing But Flowers live.  Just a terrific grab bag of songs.  The playlist we got is below:

Sketch 1: Dorm Room
Parachute
(Ryan and Adam Only)
Play Video

Sketch 2: Enter Brian
Happy Frappy

Sketch 3: Harvard Square
Demons
Airport Song

Sketch 4: Lillywhite
What You Wish For
Center of Attention
Barrel of a Gun

Sketch 5: Tour Bus
Jesus on the Radio
Play Video

Sketch 6: Joe Joins Band
Keep It Together
Play Video
Careful
(Nothing but) Flowers

Lightning Rod
Satellite
The Captain

Sketch 7: Evil Producer
Thunder Song
(Brian Solo)

Act 2
Do You Love Me

Sketch 8: Joe Leaves Band
Lost at Sea
This is How it Feels to Have a Broken Heart
Long Night
Doin' It By Myself

Sketch 9: Dave Gets Mad/Appreciated
Mind Kontrol
Terrified

Sketch 10: Covid
Keep Going
Black Balloon

Finale
Come Downstairs and Say Hello

Campfire
Happier
Amsterdam

I know very, very little post-GUOTS guster.  I learned that Warner Bros. dropped Guster after that album, which makes my post-GUOTS lack of awareness make some sense.  So there were about 40 minutes of music (between Do you Love Me and CDASH) where I didn't know or really care that much about it.  On the whole though, we all had a blast.  Threw the ping pong balls.  Seeing Nothing But Flowers was a highlight.  What You Wish For was phenomenal.  CDASH always makes me get choked up after I made it one of my "sing my daughter to sleep" songs. Yeah, it was fantastic.

@SkinnyBenny  THOUGHTS?!

20

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Kc restaurant suggestions

« on: March 27, 2024, 10:16:38 AM »

I'm friends with the owner of blind box.  I always enjoy it.

Their sunday brunch buffet is absolutely astonishing.

21

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: 201* Concert Thread

« on: March 18, 2024, 12:53:18 PM »

@DQ12 tell me about The Eras Tour

@SkinnyBenny - sorry for the late response


It was really fun.  We got to the venue about half an hour before the concert started.  There was a giant line around the sidewalk of the madrid.  It took us about 25 minutes or so to get through the line.  After standing in line for about five minutes, it started raining.  None of our group (me, my sister, and bro in law) had umbrellas.  It rained HARD.  My sister got under another group's umbrella while the line moved, but me and BIL got drenched.  Then the golf ball sized hail started.  Suffice to say, we were soaked.

The concert proper was really fun.  It was, objectively speaking, extremely self-indulgent, but the crowd (including me) was game for whatever.  The format of the concert is pretty straightforward -- they do a little skit whenever each "era" starts.  So for Parachute, it was just Ryan and Adam and Brian sitting against a dorm room back-drop playing acoustic guitars and pretty stripped down bongos.  There were a lot of "boy wasn't this time period different!" type jokes that were corny, but again, they were able to get away with whatever they wanted.  In particular, after the GUOTS era, there was apparently some band turmoil directed at their new producer that i wasn't familiar with.  That bit (including the "evil" music producer being portrayed by a puppet) felt a little awkward -- but maybe if I knew the inside story it wouldn't have been quite as awkward.

The music was phenomenal.  I've obviously never heard Happy Frappy played live before.  Never heard Nothing But Flowers live.  Just a terrific grab bag of songs.  The playlist we got is below:

Sketch 1: Dorm Room
Parachute
(Ryan and Adam Only)
Play Video

Sketch 2: Enter Brian
Happy Frappy

Sketch 3: Harvard Square
Demons
Airport Song

Sketch 4: Lillywhite
What You Wish For
Center of Attention
Barrel of a Gun

Sketch 5: Tour Bus
Jesus on the Radio
Play Video

Sketch 6: Joe Joins Band
Keep It Together
Play Video
Careful
(Nothing but) Flowers

Lightning Rod
Satellite
The Captain

Sketch 7: Evil Producer
Thunder Song
(Brian Solo)

Act 2
Do You Love Me

Sketch 8: Joe Leaves Band
Lost at Sea
This is How it Feels to Have a Broken Heart
Long Night
Doin' It By Myself

Sketch 9: Dave Gets Mad/Appreciated
Mind Kontrol
Terrified

Sketch 10: Covid
Keep Going
Black Balloon

Finale
Come Downstairs and Say Hello

Campfire
Happier
Amsterdam

I know very, very little post-GUOTS guster.  I learned that Warner Bros. dropped Guster after that album, which makes my post-GUOTS lack of awareness make some sense.  So there were about 40 minutes of music (between Do you Love Me and CDASH) where I didn't know or really care that much about it.  On the whole though, we all had a blast.  Threw the ping pong balls.  Seeing Nothing But Flowers was a highlight.  What You Wish For was phenomenal.  CDASH always makes me get choked up after I made it one of my "sing my daughter to sleep" songs. Yeah, it was fantastic.

22

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: White people name, White people shame

« on: March 18, 2024, 12:34:37 PM »

Dakoda is in forever in spell check hell

Yeah i think that won the prize for me.  Dakoda. 

Any time I think of the name "Dakota" (or Dakoda, as it were), I think of this post Daris made 14 years ago:

townie #7- hey emily how are you?
townie #11- not great. jimmy deployed in november and the boys are really rebelling without him to put them in line.
townie #7- oh. that sucks. i remember what it was like when dakota deployed. it was tough.
townie #9- you know what cheer the boys up?
townie #11- no. what april?
townie #9- tickets to da cats. fear the beard.
townie #11 great idea. i'll go get one of those new holiday paks right before i head into work.
townie #7- i didn't know you had a job.
townie #11- oh hell yeah. once jimmy deployed i had to get out of the house every once in a while. just started out at bobby t's on monday. i'm loving it. i'm still engorged from the latest pregnancy and it really is showing in the tips i'm collecting.
townie #7- that's great em. go cats
townie #11- fear the beard.
townie #9- yeah. fear the beard and eff obama and the terrorists.
townies #11 and #7- eff yeah. cheers to that.
townie #9- can i bum a smoke from someone?

23

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: 201* Concert Thread

« on: March 13, 2024, 12:04:38 PM »

Seeing Guster at the madrid on Wednesday cc @SkinnyBenny

Need a full report. This tour is going to be insane but I won't be able to go to any of the dates. :(

I know.  I was kind of wish washy on going (I’ve seen them a bunch and haven’t listened to any of their post-GUOTS stuff.  But my sister talked me into it.

I checked out some recent setlists, and you can imagine my surprise.  Whoa they’re playing Happy Frappy?

24

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Lawn Care

« on: March 12, 2024, 09:11:01 PM »

i’ve been doing the same thing with my weekends- I finally got all of the straggler leaves out of the beds.  my neighbors on each side kinda suck at this stuff so I just went onto their property and got the leaves I needed to get gone from there too. 

last week I cut down all off the long grass plant things (4 of them). I guess they regrow every year but you need to trim them to little stubs.

tomorrow i’m getting my new EarthWay 2600A spreader delivered which i’ll use this weekend to put down the scotts max crabgrass preventer that’s on sale for $15 off right now at costco.  pretty hyped about this spreader tbh.

last october I planted 100 tulip bulbs and 50 hyacinth bulbs and i’m really excited to be celebrating the fruits of that labor right now as those bitches are popping up everywhere.
 
yet to be seen- the hydrangeas I planted last fall.  it’s not been seen since november.  fingers rough ridin' crossed.

That’s a lot of tulips.  Our first one bloomed today. 

The ‘drangeas will come.  You might go and pull some mulch off if they’re covered at all.  Might be some green popping up.  Ours are starting to wake up a bit, though one is still sleeping.  Some water might also help them.

25

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Lawn Care

« on: March 12, 2024, 09:11:26 AM »

Man, it's that time of year again.  I've spent about 12 hours over the last couple of weekends clearing the yard from gumballs and stubborn leaves that made it through the winter.

On sunday we went to Family Tree and bought a couple of hydrangeas and a yew (to replace the ones that unfortunately perished last year). 

I crave being outside and improving my small piece of property.  It's my favorite thing to do currently.