• Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, the built environment, planning adjacent topics, and anything else that comes to mind. No ads, no spam, and it's free. It's easy to join!

RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

We know it's the lady. If a kid is involved, anyone taking something away from the kid is instantly guilty. Always, no question, and besides, look at the haircut.

Karen GIF by moodman
 
We know it's the lady. If a kid is involved, anyone taking something away from the kid is instantly guilty. Always, no question, and besides, look at the haircut.

The thing that gets me is we are a couple days into it now, and we don't know for sure who this lady is. I mean come on with all the facial recognition tech that we have out there, multiple video angles, audio, and more, we should have a name by now.
 
We know it's the lady. If a kid is involved, anyone taking something away from the kid is instantly guilty. Always, no question, and besides, look at the haircut.
I tend to agree with you, but again... in the heat of the scramble, did the guy do anything that wasn't really kosher? We don't know the truth.

The thing that gets me is we are a couple days into it now, and we don't know for sure who this lady is. I mean come on with all the facial recognition tech that we have out there, multiple video angles, audio, and more, we should have a name by now.

There are reports it was someone named Cheryl Richardson Wagner. A Cheryl Richardson Wagner (who doesn't seem to look too much like the woman the video) who started to catch attention for the incident, claims to be a Red Sox fan.

Last night's Bills–Ravens game ended with a score of 41–40, marking the first time that exact score has ever occurred in professional football. The most common score in professional football is 20-17. You can check it out on Scorigami.

That was a lot of fun for us at the Bills Backers bar... at the end anyway. It was frustrating most of the night.
 
My point is that we really don't know what transpired. And absent that, it really seems harsh to condemn Baseball Cheryl (which is apparently her actual name). Yes, demanding the ball (after it had been given to a kid) was a bad look, but it could have just as easily the correction of a wrong than the commission of a wrong.
Do you think Cherylkaren would have let dad get away with the ball - return to his seat and give the ball to his kid - if she had her hand on it and he took it? She'd have exploded at that very moment and probably would ahve tried to claw his eyes out.

I think it is very generous of you to give her the benefit of the doubt. FWIW, I don't think she deserves any benefit.
 
Once Spotify "gets" your music likes, it really does lean into them. Sometimes I want just random music, and that doesn't seem to be possible anymore.

I like to let Spotify build me a "radio" playlist based on whatever song I want to start with and yeah, the longer I've used Spotify the less random it has gotten with those playlists. I wonder if it's possible to go in and sort of wipe all of it's saved data about me without deleting the playlists I've built and want to keep...
 
I've noticed on Pandora that some of my stations have overlapping songs. This might be due to the artist stations and the music genre I generally listen to, but I'm not sure why a Jimmy Buffet song started playing on the Billy Strings station...not that I minded.
 
I've noticed on Pandora that some of my stations have overlapping songs. This might be due to the artist stations and the music genre I generally listen to, but I'm not sure why a Jimmy Buffet song started playing on the Billy Strings station...not that I minded.

Weirdly I have a Pandora station that I built from a No Doubt song originally that was kind of a ska-reggae beat. The idea was I was looking for reggae with female vocals, but Pandora didn't understand that and the station plays reggae songs or songs with female vocals but very few that are both (mostly No Doubt songs). So I named the station Reggae and Whiny Girls and I listen to it quite a bit actually.

But here's the weird part: A couple of months ago it started playing mellow guitar instrumentals. I checked all the seed songs and artists; I don't see anything that would suggest that, and I've Thumb Downed every single instance that plays, but it still thinks I want to hear that on that station. Weird.

I also realized I've created at least three stations that are built on the same foundation: Doohickie Rock, Grandad Rock, and Caravan Radio. Doohickie Rock was my idea of what most people think of when they say Yacht Rock, but tailored to the stuff I prefer. Grandad Rock started from Bob Seger and covers a lot of the same ground. Caravan Radio was started from the Van Morrison song Caravan. Again, that same kind of vibe. Does Pandora let you merge stations you've created?
 
For the past few days I've been living off a massive batch of chicken chili I made this weekend with a ton of beans and corn.

To quote Bart Simpson, "I thought I was regular before, but I was wrong!" :omg:
 
What's the difference between a charcuterie board and a meat & cheese tray? Demographics.

One of The Girl's playlist is called "In the car with Dad" & its basically classic rock.
 
Demographics.
More specifically...income.

For the past few days I've been living off a massive batch of chicken chili I made this weekend with a ton of beans and corn.

To quote Bart Simpson, "I thought I was regular before, but I was wrong!" :omg:
I am currently in a rut of left-over homemade chicken noodle soup and plentiful pineapple chunks.

Nicolas Cage Wink GIF
 
What's the difference between a charcuterie board and a meat & cheese tray? Demographics.

One of The Girl's playlist is called "In the car with Dad" & its basically classic rock.
My kid has a playlist titled "Dad vibe".
Dad Vibes GIF by Outmatched
 
Once Spotify "gets" your music likes, it really does lean into them. Sometimes I want just random music, and that doesn't seem to be possible anymore.
I find new to me music by listening to the shared playlist of other Spotify users that I know and some of the curated playlist from time to time. While I find myself skipping a lot of songs, I'll find a good many that I add to my own playlists.
 
Last week I spent several hours at the DMV for something that took 5 minutes.

Today I am at the county clerks office (satellite location) because I need to update my address for my vehicle registration (the state update does not transfer down to the counties here), and renew my plates. If the address was correct, I could do this on line, but the only way to update the address is to wait in line at the clerks office for a very long time for something that does not take that long.

I pulled a number. G32, ok that does not seem to bad. Until I saw that they were on number 86… So I left and got my allergy shot. Now that I get back I see they are on number 7… so there is hope.

I was thinking about stoping for a colonoscopy, but I figured it would be redundant with the county clerks office.
 
Last week I spent several hours at the DMV for something that took 5 minutes.

Today I am at the county clerks office (satellite location) because I need to update my address for my vehicle registration (the state update does not transfer down to the counties here), and renew my plates. If the address was correct, I could do this on line, but the only way to update the address is to wait in line at the clerks office for a very long time for something that does not take that long.

I pulled a number. G32, ok that does not seem to bad. Until I saw that they were on number 86… So I left and got my allergy shot. Now that I get back I see they are on number 7… so there is hope.

I was thinking about stoping for a colonoscopy, but I figured it would be redundant with the county clerks office.
monsters inc paperwork GIF
 
I was looking for something and found a note I made tucked into the corner of my bag. I don't remember scribbling it down, but I give it to you here in all its random glory, this being where it belongs:

"I've often thought that riding the train to work - as I've done in many instances throughout the years - defines my adult life. Am I riding the train to work because I am a conscientious citizen and planner? Doing my best to help and abuse our poor beleaguered planet less? Or am I just not well-off and organized enough to keep a dependable vehicle operating for myself? I don't actually know, even as I am riding the train to work."
 
I was listening to the Grateful Dead’s Casey Jones at lunch today and it got me thinking about the real Casey Jones. It had been years since I’d read up on his story, so I decided to look it up. Turns out, on the day of his fatal crash, his train was running 75 minutes behind schedule. If everything had gone smoothly, he would have actually rolled in only about two minutes late. Back then, train crews were penalized for being late, Casey Jones was written up 9 times and suspended a total of 145 days.

As an aside, there was no evidence to support that he was or wasn't high on cocaine.
 
I was looking for something and found a note I made tucked into the corner of my bag. I don't remember scribbling it down, but I give it to you here in all its random glory, this being where it belongs:

"I've often thought that riding the train to work - as I've done in many instances throughout the years - defines my adult life. Am I riding the train to work because I am a conscientious citizen and planner? Doing my best to help and abuse our poor beleaguered planet less? Or am I just not well-off and organized enough to keep a dependable vehicle operating for myself? I don't actually know, even as I am riding the train to work."

I have thought about such things whenever I get to ride a train and often the answer is the same, I don't need to find a parking space in a dense urban environment. That is always a win in my book.
 
The restaurant trend of pouring melted cheese over the top of a burger has got to end.
How the eff are you supposed to eat it? Get glop all over your hands? With a knife and fork? Doesn't eating a hamburger or hot dog with silverware instead of treating it as finger food defeat the very purpose of having a bun? What moron would order that?
 
HEY! Charlie Kirk just got shot at a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Crazy times. I am honestly just day after day horrified at how we appear to be descending. I'll say it first, so nobody has to: so many kids and other people have lost their lives to insane, irrational, unjustifiable acts of violence just like this. Just. Like. This.
 
Received a spam email today & it went to ALOT of people, Everyone is 'Replying To All' to be removed from the list.

I've received 67 so far. I do like a couple of people saying 'STOP REPLYING TO ALL"
 
HEY! Charlie Kirk just got shot at a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Crazy times. I am honestly just day after day horrified at how we appear to be descending. I'll say it first, so nobody has to: so many kids and other people have lost their lives to insane, irrational, unjustifiable acts of violence just like this. Just. Like. This.
thoughts and prayers right?
 
It seems silly that my unemployment benefits for this week are “not payable” because I did not sign up for job placement assistance. However, I can do so by Saturday to get the meager payment.

No, I didn’t sign up, because I already have a job lined up to start Monday. Seems redundant.
 
Hey, I am back - what'd I miss, anything?
Here's the rundown: Everybody pretty much said and did the things you would have expected. Although there was that one day we all had a water-fight and then when the laughter died down we told heart-rending stories about things that happened when we were younger. It got a little dark when @Maister remembered being lost in the woods and finding a man's body and then he ran all the way home and kept seeing an old lady in the shadows and he cried and cried and when he finally told his family they called the police but when he took them to the old twisty tree the body wasn't there and that reminded @mendelman that once he was making out in the woods after a party (I know, it seemed implausible to all of us as well, but we were having a moment) and he thought he kept seeing an old lady in the woods out of the corner of his eye and he was sitting with this girl from Canada (I know, again) by an old....twisty tree! OMG! And so it turns out they grew up in the same town and when we tried to find the town on google maps....it doesn't exist and so now we want to plan a road-trip-meet-up where the town is supposed to be so they can confront the past and we can find out who the old lady of the woods is.....

And that's what you missed. Also some political stuff that makes me uncomfortable and some really funny gifs. :)
 
Here's the rundown: Everybody pretty much said and did the things you would have expected. Although there was that one day we all had a water-fight and then when the laughter died down we told heart-rending stories about things that happened when we were younger. It got a little dark when @Maister remembered being lost in the woods and finding a man's body and then he ran all the way home and kept seeing an old lady in the shadows and he cried and cried and when he finally told his family they called the police but when he took them to the old twisty tree the body wasn't there and that reminded @mendelman that once he was making out in the woods after a party (I know, it seemed implausible to all of us as well, but we were having a moment) and he thought he kept seeing an old lady in the woods out of the corner of his eye and he was sitting with this girl from Canada (I know, again) by an old....twisty tree! OMG! And so it turns out they grew up in the same town and when we tried to find the town on google maps....it doesn't exist and so now we want to plan a road-trip-meet-up where the town is supposed to be so they can confront the past and we can find out who the old lady of the woods is.....

And that's what you missed. Also some political stuff that makes me uncomfortable and some really funny gifs. :)
My 'Canadian' girlfriend....


Canadian GIF by Billboard Music Awards
 
All I listen to at work is Led Zeppelin. Houses of the Holy-Physical Graffiti are good for getting work done to, LZ I-IV are for the long readings I have to do when I pour through code and environmental reports.

My former coworker does the same with Classical music, I sometimes do the same with Minimalist music when I need to focus. But Zeppelin is just soooooo familiar to me musically and lyrically, that it makes great background music for reading.
 
I have one final interview today, as a Planning Technician for the City of Fernley, 30 miles east of Reno. It's exactly the same position I had with Reno. I cancelled everything else in preparation for my new role with the State of Nevada beginning Monday.

I figure I might as well go and see what they have to say. I have learned from a former Reno co-worker who is now with Fernley that there are exactly zero other applicants for the role. This position pays almost what I made with Reno, and pays more than I would get from the state job I am going back to.

JIm
 
Here's the rundown: Everybody pretty much said and did the things you would have expected. Although there was that one day we all had a water-fight and then when the laughter died down we told heart-rending stories about things that happened when we were younger. It got a little dark when @Maister remembered being lost in the woods and finding a man's body and then he ran all the way home and kept seeing an old lady in the shadows and he cried and cried and when he finally told his family they called the police but when he took them to the old twisty tree the body wasn't there and that reminded @mendelman that once he was making out in the woods after a party (I know, it seemed implausible to all of us as well, but we were having a moment) and he thought he kept seeing an old lady in the woods out of the corner of his eye and he was sitting with this girl from Canada (I know, again) by an old....twisty tree! OMG! And so it turns out they grew up in the same town and when we tried to find the town on google maps....it doesn't exist and so now we want to plan a road-trip-meet-up where the town is supposed to be so they can confront the past and we can find out who the old lady of the woods is.....

And that's what you missed. Also some political stuff that makes me uncomfortable and some really funny gifs. :)

This is the kind of debrief we should all expect when we go away for a bit - thank you

My away time was no less exciting - I attended a conference outside my usual foray with the Association of Science and Technology Centers - it's a long story of why I had to go - but I will say it's cool to go to something a little outside your usual work - there are a lot of cool people doing some cool things out there

All I listen to at work is Led Zeppelin. Houses of the Holy-Physical Graffiti are good for getting work done to, LZ I-IV are for the long readings I have to do when I pour through code and environmental reports.

My former coworker does the same with Classical music, I sometimes do the same with Minimalist music when I need to focus. But Zeppelin is just soooooo familiar to me musically and lyrically, that it makes great background music for reading.

I have a bunch of musicians play lists on Pandora and I hit mix stations so I have a bizarre mix of everything from Fleetwood Mac to Still Woozy, Mozart to Thievery Corporation, and Dave Brubeck to Saint Motel - it's a little bizarre but whatever
 
Not-humble brag: So my 401k gained another digit yesterday. Since putting the money with a planner four months ago, he's increased its value 9%. He's paying me more than my job at this point. A couple decades ago we were drowning in debt and went into credit counseling. We managed to recover by living frugally. Mostly.

I had it in a lot of stock funds when the pandemic hit and it totally tanked... even with me pumping money in from my paycheck it was still going down. If you had told me it would grow this fast from that point, I would have been shocked. Hoping I can keep the trend going for another coupla years and I might be able to afford retirement.
 
Back
Top