Well, that’s a bummer. But I guess it’s about what I figured. I’ll see if I can use my super-platinum-premium-whatever status to finagle a discount on the fees. I’ll probably tell them that if they don’t give me a discount, I’ll take my business elsewhere. I mean, I’m already planning on taking my business elsewhere…

Software engineer. Using google. When I’m trying to figure out a tricky bug, I usually make 4 or 5 useless google searches and then finally figure out the right thing to search to solve my problem.

I’ve always had the exact opposite reaction to your job. I look at transcriptionists and think, “how on earth is that even possible?”

As long as we’re on the subject of thanksgiving turkey, here’s a tip: if you’re intimidated by carving the bird, get a rotisserie chicken once a week from now until turkey day, and carve that like you’re carving a turkey. You’ll become a lot more familiar with bird anatomy, and save yourself a lot of frustration.

About a month ago, I realized that I still have a safe deposit box at a bank on the other side of the country. (The box was included as a free perk when I put my retirement account at the bank’s brokerage, but in the last year it started showing up as a $75 fee and $75 rebate on my bank statements.)

If octopuses don’t have tentacles, someone, somewhere along the way, came up with a scientific definition for “tentacle” that doesn’t square with the English definition of “tentacle.”

If you’re looking for a fancy meal on the cheap, I’d recommend Bouchon (in the Venetian) for breakfast. Just a few dollars more expensive than the Cheesecake Factory Grand Lux Cafe for an entirely different caliber of meal.

Necessity being the mother of invention, I’ve been experimenting with different beers in my braises lately. And I’ve found that I can’t really tell a whole lot of difference between beers. Last night I used Budweiser, and it was every bit as good as when I’ve cooked with more substantial beers. Then again, it might…

I think you meant to reply to the article, not to my comment.

Another benefit of personal training you miss out on: the obligation mechanism. At least for me, I notice a pattern of (1) go to the gym irregularly, (2) decide I’m going to go more often, (3) get into a routine where I go to the gym, (4) something disrupts my schedule, (5) Stop going to the gym. I’m less likely to…

I’ve had the double-poop emergency with my kid before. When my wife got home and saw the remnants of the cleanup effort, I said jokingly, “one of us pooped on the floor.” Pretty sure she still thinks it was the kid.

adding in free agency just blows up the independent athletics department model

a pretty spunky fourth line

Malware that makes plain vanilla google my default search engine? Where’s the money in that?

Aww, I always liked this video. It’s part of the reason I started playing sax when I was a kid. (Also, I’d argue that the soundtrack is rather musical, not “cartoonish.”)

It’s not valued at $20 billion. $20 billion is just the number you get if you multiply the price per share that investors paid for preferred stock by the number of shares of (common plus preferred) stock.

Hmm, haven’t tried Mint for more than a day or two here or there on a throwaway VM. Maybe I should give it another shot, though I haven’t used a linux machine as my primary desktop in a few years. (Well, unless you count Chrome OS, I suppose.)

A couple of notes:

I’d settle for Google just keeping my default search engine as-is. It seems like twice a year I get an update that just says, “hey, it looks like you’re not using google as your search engine, that must be a mistake, let me fix that for you!”

I drink a lot of water (about 1 pint per hour I’m awake). It reduces the appeal of snacking a lot.