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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 19 (2024)

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DVD said:
My daughter has decided Faygo is the greatest soda ever. I had to order some for her because it's not sold out here.
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Inexplicable brand loyalty is the only thing more American than apple pie - a pie to which Americans have inexplicable brand loyalty.

High-five the kid for me.
 
ursus said:
Inexplicable brand loyalty is the only thing more American than apple pie - a pie to which Americans have inexplicable brand loyalty.

High-five the kid for me.
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Can't, she's at school. Maybe later. It will of course be awkward because she will know nothing about this conversation. It will be an entirely random high-five. Although she should be okay with it because I do provide random hugs.
 
Big Owl said:
Occasionally, I'll find myself scrolling through Facebook market place looking for a "deal" that I can't pass up. Sometimes random stuff show up in the algorithm but mainly my 'feed" is full car parts and home improvement tools and supplies. This morning, I saw a concert quality didgeridoo for $50 bucks in a town 30 minutes away.... A piece of me really wants a didgeridoo but the practical side of me knows that I don't need a didgeridoo. My impulsive side wants to ask the buyer if he'll take $25 but my practical side is concerned that he will and I'll end up with a didgeridoo that will ultimately end up at goodwill.
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Go for it.
 
DVD said:
My daughter has decided Faygo is the greatest soda ever. I had to order some for her because it's not sold out here.
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I get Faygo frequently but I happen to live where it's made, so it generally has the advantage of being less expensive in stores, at least locally, than its Coke and PepsiCo product counterparts. As far as taste, apart from their cream soda, I don't find any of their other flavors to be superior. And some, like Cola and 'Moon Mist' (the Mountain Dew analogue), I find are even inferior.
 
Where are my Triangle people at? I am heading down for a quick conference in May - little laefest in Raleigh?
 
DVD said:
Can't, she's at school. Maybe later. It will of course be awkward because she will know nothing about this conversation. It will be an entirely random high-five. Although she should be okay with it because I do provide random hugs.
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I am okay with random hugs from certain non-random people but not random hugs from random people. I got offered a complimentary fist bump at Rose's in Surf City, NC a few years back. I thought that was weird at the time but now that it was cool.
 
michaelskis said:
Same down here. I worked outside on Saturday and felt like crap all day on Sunday.



In 1940, my Grandfather about 20 miles down the street at Fordham and Queen, a block off 7 Mile.
View attachment 61954

Some years ago I did a deep dive into Ansestry.com and found addresses all over Detroit for different family members. One is where Wayne State Hospital is located, another is where a hotel sits today. The house above is in a neighborhood where 1/2 to 2/3 of the homes have been demolished due to neglect.
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When we moved to Detroit in 1991, we tried to buy a house right away but it didn't work out (had some financial complications that precluded a mortgage). I remember we were looking in East Detroit (now known as Eastpointe) and looked at a couple of houses very similar to that, but without the nice front porch.

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Big Owl said:
Occasionally, I'll find myself scrolling through Facebook market place looking for a "deal" that I can't pass up. Sometimes random stuff show up in the algorithm but mainly my 'feed" is full car parts and home improvement tools and supplies. This morning, I saw a concert quality didgeridoo for $50 bucks in a town 30 minutes away.... A piece of me really wants a didgeridoo but the practical side of me knows that I don't need a didgeridoo. My impulsive side wants to ask the buyer if he'll take $25 but my practical side is concerned that he will and I'll end up with a didgeridoo that will ultimately end up at goodwill.
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This is my life. Only not didgeridoos, but classic cars and motorcycles. Perhaps specialty tools that "I might need someday"
 
Big Owl said:
Occasionally, I'll find myself scrolling through Facebook market place looking for a "deal" that I can't pass up. Sometimes random stuff show up in the algorithm but mainly my 'feed" is full car parts and home improvement tools and supplies. This morning, I saw a concert quality didgeridoo for $50 bucks in a town 30 minutes away.... A piece of me really wants a didgeridoo but the practical side of me knows that I don't need a didgeridoo. My impulsive side wants to ask the buyer if he'll take $25 but my practical side is concerned that he will and I'll end up with a didgeridoo that will ultimately end up at goodwill.
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Hubby has a didgeridoo. I can say with confidence that you should just let that one pass.
 
Maister said:
I get Faygo frequently but I happen to live where it's made, so it generally has the advantage of being less expensive in stores, at least locally, than its Coke and PepsiCo product counterparts. As far as taste, apart from their cream soda, I don't find any of their other flavors to be superior. And some, like Cola and 'Moon Mist' (the Mountain Dew analogue), I find are even inferior.
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I tried to convince her that other brands are just as good like Shasta, Crush and Fanta. No dice. Faygo is the best ever and there is no replacement.

She does like this hamburger place that has a bunch of indie and old school sodas, but the hamburgers are mediocre compared to our local place Lenny's. Great greasy burgers and awesome milkshakes, but also a bit pricey.
 
TOFB said:
Wow, more searching and I found it. I'll scan the original for a comparison later. 18682 Tracy Street Detroit 48235.

and only 3 blocks from 7 Mile and Highway 10.

View attachment 61950
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Just a few miles south of me! I don't go through that area much but when I do, it seems to have held up pretty well, as has much of the city between 6 and 8 Mile Roads. Just about a mile or so east of that house you posted are the Palmer Park, Sherwood Forest, and University neighborhoods, all of which are still pretty desirable, however, if you go about 2 miles to the SW, you're in the Brightmoor neighborhood, which is probably one of the worst in the city.

Doohickie said:
When we moved to Detroit in 1991, we tried to buy a house right away but it didn't work out (had some financial complications that precluded a mortgage). I remember we were looking in East Detroit (now known as Eastpointe) and looked at a couple of houses very similar to that, but without the nice front porch.

View attachment 61955
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Both my parents lived in Warren growing up, on the very eastern edge of the city and graduated from East Detroit High. My dad's first job was as a soda jerk in the '50s at the Rexall Drugs at 9 Mile and Gratiot in East Detroit and my aunt and uncle lived in East Detroit until just a few years ago (and yes, we all still call it East Detroit). My parents were married at the Episcopal church in East Detroit that my Opa helped build and my Oma lived in a retirement home in the city for years until she moved in with us. Most of my cousins on my dad's side went to East Detroit Schools (we were the oddballs who had moved out to the country) and a couple of my cousins both taught there for years (they're both retired now though).
 
Sadly, my dad's boyhood home was lost in the 1980s. It is just about three blocks from us now. One of my bands plays at this church often and I always make it a point of parking literally in the footprint of the house.

1709574941790.png
 
TOFB said:
Sadly, my dad's boyhood home was lost in the 1980s.
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The house I showed was my paternal side. On my maternal side, the neighborhood my mom's parents grew up in (they lived on the same street) was absorbed by the steel mills in Lackawanna.

The "Seneca Drive" that goes through the white buildings is the map remnant of their street. If you go back to 1926 in Historic Aerials, you can see the neighborhood. By 1963, the plant was there.

1709577885588.png

Interesting fact: The City of Lackawanna was originally part of the Town of West Seneca. When Lackawanna Steel (later bought out by Bethlehem Steel) moved there and demanded West Seneca provide infrastructure for the steel plant, West Seneca divested itself of its shorefront and gave it to the steel company which renamed it Lackawanna, NY.
 
luckless pedestrian said:
Where are my Triangle people at? I am heading down for a quick conference in May - little laefest in Raleigh?
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That has potential. I 'm just a couple hours away.

When in May? Mrs. P & I will be there on May 11th, but will be very busy. Easily arrange a quick trip.
 
The Faygo discussion reminded me of this AI-generated photo of Bob Seger as a Juggalo I had saved on my phone. I'm still waiting on that collab album Ramblin' Gamblin Hatchetman.

1709582963928.png
 
Well a shady rezoning the town is trying to sneak through across the street from me appears to be bringing me out of planning/zoning retirement so to speak.

Apparently the town manager forgot what I used to do and thinks I'm not going to call them on their crap.
 
AG74683 said:
Well a shady rezoning the town is trying to sneak through across the street from me appears to be bringing me out of planning/zoning retirement so to speak.

Apparently the town manager forgot what I used to do and thinks I'm not going to call them on their crap.
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Welcome home AG
 
AG74683 said:
Well a shady rezoning the town is trying to sneak through across the street from me appears to be bringing me out of planning/zoning retirement so to speak.

Apparently the town manager forgot what I used to do and thinks I'm not going to call them on their crap.
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From planner to nimby...the circle of life is complete.

Also welcome back!
 
This is day two of me trying not to have caffeine (diet Mt. Dew) till lunch. It's not going well. Yesterday hair grew spontaneously from my right cheek but disappeared later. It mocked me. My need mocks me.

I can feel the walls closing in. This is the end. The doom of all ages is upon me. I'm not the boss, so I can't just leave when I want, and I can't find a pretense for a site visit. What am I supposed to do, go upstairs to the vending machine and pay 2 bucks for a can of pop like an animal? I won't do it. I won't.

I'll just let the darkness take me.
 
ursus said:
This is day two of me trying not to have caffeine (diet Mt. Dew) till lunch. It's not going well. Yesterday hair grew spontaneously from my right cheek but disappeared later. It mocked me. My need mocks me.

I can feel the walls closing in. This is the end. The doom of all ages is upon me. I'm not the boss, so I can't just leave when I want, and I can't find a pretense for a site visit. What am I supposed to do, go upstairs to the vending machine and pay 2 bucks for a can of pop like an animal? I won't do it. I won't.

I'll just let the darkness take me.
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You can help me fill out the budget worksheet
 
Gedunker said:
Nothing like coming home to raw sewage in your basement. (My house was built way prior to backflow preventers.)
Now to go through the claims process with my employer. What could possibly go wrong, right?
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I ended up calling a restoration company the city uses to clean the basement. They did a good job but are stupid expensive (I probably would be too, if I was cleaning raw sewage for a living). Bills paid in full total nearly $1300. I lost a small amount of drywall and (probably original, c.1964) vinyl flooring, which I am not claiming. Hopefully the tort claim doesn't hit any snags and I get my money back reasonably quickly.
 
Gedunker said:
I ended up calling a restoration company the city uses to clean the basement. They did a good job but are stupid expensive (I probably would be too, if I was cleaning raw sewage for a living). Bills paid in full total nearly $1300. I lost a small amount of drywall and (probably original, c.1964) vinyl flooring, which I am not claiming. Hopefully the tort claim doesn't hit any snags and I get my money back reasonably quickly.
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I apprenticed to a plumber in early high school and the prices are as you mentioned. People always looked dejected when the plumber would give his prices. I asked him how he thought about it and he said he didn't play in shit for fun and nobody wanted it outside the pipes so they would pay what he wanted. I told him the nexus between customer discomfort and immediacy was a good crossroads for business and he told me to shut the f up. I learned a lot in the field.
 
Planit said:
You can help me fill out the budget worksheet
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Oh, send it to me: I'll make all the sunzabitches pay for their petty, small-minded, chintzy, grubby...you get the picture. When I hurt, I want the whole world to hurt. I'm not selfish with pain. Reality feels fluid. I may be the devil. Or maybe Ned Flanders, it's unclear. I think I'm seeing a color I've never seen before on that tree. Why is it waving to me? What does it want? I'll put cutting it down in your budget! That'll show it.

What's your name, little tree? Do you want to taste the sting of my backhand!!!?!!
 
ursus said:
This is day two of me trying not to have caffeine (diet Mt. Dew) till lunch. It's not going well. Yesterday hair grew spontaneously from my right cheek but disappeared later. It mocked me. My need mocks me.

I can feel the walls closing in. This is the end. The doom of all ages is upon me. I'm not the boss, so I can't just leave when I want, and I can't find a pretense for a site visit. What am I supposed to do, go upstairs to the vending machine and pay 2 bucks for a can of pop like an animal? I won't do it. I won't.

I'll just let the darkness take me.
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Come work for me. We've got diet Dew stocked in the fridge. Free. For real.
 
kms said:
Is this part of a healthy diet?
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Not for me.
I posted that because it falls into the category of "what will they think of next"
which fit this thread of random thoughts for wild & crazy as opposed to serious.
 
ursus said:
This is day two of me trying not to have caffeine (diet Mt. Dew) till lunch. It's not going well. Yesterday hair grew spontaneously from my right cheek but disappeared later. It mocked me. My need mocks me.

I can feel the walls closing in. This is the end. The doom of all ages is upon me. I'm not the boss, so I can't just leave when I want, and I can't find a pretense for a site visit. What am I supposed to do, go upstairs to the vending machine and pay 2 bucks for a can of pop like an animal? I won't do it. I won't.

I'll just let the darkness take me.
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Sleep is an excellent idea. Just build a fort under your desk.

Tranplanner said:
I sing this song at home whenever we have ice cream, much to my wife's annoyance.
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Does he know he stops by just about 11 o'clock and he has all flavors. I bet he even has a Mt. Dew flavor.
 
DVD said:
Sleep is an excellent idea. Just build a fort under your desk.


Does he know he stops by just about 11 o'clock and he has all flavors. I bet he even has a Mt. Dew flavor.
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Push-ups too!
 
I made paella for dinner yesterday. Holy crap that is a labor intensive meal!

Now I can see why Estelle Costanza was so peeved when Helen and Morty blew her off for dinner.
 
While walking my dogs yesterday I was talking to one of the neighbors a few blocks down. I've spoken to them before but we never introduced ourselves. So I volunteered, "I'm Paul." She responded, "I'm Edna and my husband's name is George." They're about my age, perhaps a bit older, but.... really? George and Edna? Especially Edna.

A house in between theirs and mine hit the market this week; the owner passed away last fall. Her name was Ida Jean, but she was 82. The old-fashioned name doesn't seem seem so out of place. But an Edna who's 60-ish? Seems old-fashioned for someone my age. Maybe it's a family name.
 
Doohickie said:
While walking my dogs yesterday I was talking to one of the neighbors a few blocks down. I've spoken to them before but we never introduced ourselves. So I volunteered, "I'm Paul." She responded, "I'm Edna and my husband's name is George." They're about my age, perhaps a bit older, but.... really? George and Edna? Especially Edna.

A house in between theirs and mine hit the market this week; the owner passed away last fall. Her name was Ida Jean, but she was 82. The old-fashioned name doesn't seem seem so out of place. But an Edna who's 60-ish? Seems old-fashioned for someone my age. Maybe it's a family name.
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She's named after someone in her family who was named Ed.

 
Went back up to the office today. Kind of a sickening feeling. It may be the last. I gained nothing.
 
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