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

Que Mr. Buffett:

Work, work, work
Big pile of it and the boss is a jerk.
I just want to disappear
Wishin' I was somewhere other than here.

Livin' for the weekend,
Jumpin' off the deep end,
With just enough money to buy
A license to chill
And I believe I will

Let the rat race run,
roll around in the sun until
Trouble turns funny, songs get sung
A little bit of money, the night's still young
Leave me alone I've got a license,
A license to chill

Girls, girls, girls
Ain't nothin' like them in the whole wide world.
So damn smart and cute,
And it's amazing what they pass off as a bathing suit.
Winners and losers
Sailors and cruisers
We're all qualified,
for a license to chill
And I believe I will

Let the rat race run,
roll around in the sun until
Trouble turns funny, songs get sung
A little bit of money, the night's still young
Leave me alone
I've got a license,
A license to chill

License to chill
And I believe I will
Let the rat race run,
roll around in the sun until
Trouble turns funny, songs get sung
One good song will last all night long
Leave me alone
I've got a license,
A license to chill

A license to chill

Ramos go rent me a coupe Deville
Hey KL, where's that barbecue grill
Head on down to Margaritaville
Have me a cheeseburger with a big pickle dill
Jesus, I sound kinda mentally ill
I guess I better go turn on Dr Phil
 
High Five Best Friends GIF by Saturday Night Live

I was recently reading a ranking of the greatest SNL commercial parodies ever and Schmitts Gay came in at #1 and I cannot really disagree.
 
Bold dates show that we are on pace more or less
Bold Red dates show that we are slow in our posting pace

1K2K3K4K5K6K7K8K9K10K11K12K
#20 -202502-12
#19 - 202402-1403-2805-2307-1909-3012-0212-317,064
#18 - 202302-1204-2506-2609-2611-0812-286,585
#17 - 202201-1902-1603-3105-1106-1607-2609-1411-0812-1612-3110,297
#16 - 202102-1103-3105-1907-1609-0710-1811-1912-1012-2212-2812-2912-3112,744
#15 - 202001-2703-1005-1207-2309-1611-1112-2812-3112-319,375
#14 - 201902-1204-0505-2407-1508-3010-1712-0512-2412-319,484
#13 - 201803-1605-3108-1011-0512-315,115
#12 - 201702-2805-2308-2411-2812-295,096
#11 - 201602-0903-2305-1207-0108-1810-1212-0712-318,072
#10 - 201502-0604-0606-1508-1410-0111-2912-3012-3112-319,570
# 9 -- 201401-3103-1205-2108-0910-2112-1112-3012-3112-319,291
# 8 -- 201301-1802-1203-2204-2205-1706-2007-3009-1611-1312-1912-3112-3112,050
# 7 -- 201202-2305-1207-1009-1211-0612-0612-2812-3112-319,327
# 6 -- 201102-2504-1205-2606-3008-1010-0512-0512-318,041
# 5 -- 201003-0405-0907-2609-2211-245,563
# 4 -- 200902-1904-2407-1310-0712-315,004
# 3 -- 200804-0407-0709-2312-224,085
# 2 -- 200703-1005-1907-2410-114,862
# 1 --2004-2007
Original
13,142
 
Just renewed my driver license. It expires in 2033, on my 57th birthday!!

DANG that seems like a long way off, like 2025 did in 2017. And I thought my 49th birthday was an eternity from then. (Yet here it is, a few weeks away.)

Jim
 
Years of careful document review has made me crave more precise language, so I will specify that I prefer to Netflix and then chill.
Yes, I have always been very precise with language myself. I remember an incident when I was a kid, and I was told to "go to your room, sleep, and ‘don't come out until you see sunlight shining through your window!’”

Well, a few hours later, the moon rose, and, with it, I saw sunlight through my window, reflected via the moon. I came out about 1 a.m.

Dad, though, saw it differently. He said that while I technically followed his request, I knew what he meant. Uh, no--I followed your request EXACTLY. If you wanted me to come out after sunrise, say that. You didn't say that, and it's not my job to interpret what you mean.

Decades later, he admitted he thought this was actually pretty funny.

Jim
 
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Yes, I have always been very precise with language myself. I remember an incident when I was a kid, and I was told to "go to your room, sleep, and ‘don't come out until you see sunlight shining through your window!’”

Well, a few hours later, the moon rose, and, with it, I saw sunlight through my window, reflected via the moon. I came out about 1 a.m.

Dad, though, saw it differently. He said that while I technically followed his request, I knew what he meant. Uh, no--I followed your request EXACTLY. If you wanted me to come out after sunrise, say that. You didn't say that, and it's not my job to interpret what you mean.

Decades later, he admitted he thought this was actually pretty funny.

Jim
Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
SNL: The 40 Best Skits Of All Time, Ranked

My favorites
40 Washington's Dream
22 The Blues Brothers
15 Mister Robinson's Neighborhood
14 NPR’s Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls
11 Celebrity Jeopardy!
9 Chippendale Audition
7 Matt Foley: Van Down By The River
1 More Cowbell
My favorite was the one where Dan Aykroyd played the Norge repairman in the Nerds.
 
There is a lady I got to know in the neighborhood. Sometimes while walking my dog by her house I'd wave and eventually I stopped by and chatted with her and learned her name was Nancy. I would wave when I saw her and stop by to chat once in a while.

Recently I noticed her car wasn't in the driveway anymore, and then more recently there was a different car there. Her car was 30 years old so I figured maybe she got a new one... but no. I finally looked up her full name on the zoning map and plugged it into google. Nancy passed away in November.

She owned several rent homes with her husband. He died some years ago. They had a son who lives in Houston. I wonder if they'll sell the houses or just continue to rent them out. Not sure why it matters...

That's the problem I guess with living in an older, established neighborhood: a lot of the neighbors are older and they die off one by one. The guy across the street from us, who grew up in the house he lived in (it was his parents' house), passed away a year or two after we moved in. The lady around the corner that I talk to now and then (she's always good to find out the neighborhood gossip), lost her husband a year and a half ago.

Our next door neighbors are older and have numerous health issues; we have to help them out from time to time. I suspect one or the other, maybe both, will pass in the next year or three. I remember when we got to know them, they expressed relief that "good neighbors" bought the house next to them. If they pass on, I will have the same concern.

Live is fleeting, huh?
 
I took advantage of the snow day and took our youngest to the sledding hill at the golf course behind our neighborhood during lunch. We must have gone up and down those hills 50x. Our oldest daughter would have called it quits after about 20 minutes but we were out there close to 90. I am beat!
 
My sinuses (all over my face) feel super congested but a 12-hour sudafed at 2:00 in the afternoon is ill-advised. Just going to have to tough it out until it's Benadryl (bed) time.
Yep. The "Sweet spot" for Benadyrl is 7:30 p.m. Asleep by 8:30 (slightly earlier than usual) wake up at the normal time with only minimal grogginess. YMMV, IANAD.
 
There is a lady I got to know in the neighborhood. Sometimes while walking my dog by her house I'd wave and eventually I stopped by and chatted with her and learned her name was Nancy. I would wave when I saw her and stop by to chat once in a while.

Recently I noticed her car wasn't in the driveway anymore, and then more recently there was a different car there. Her car was 30 years old so I figured maybe she got a new one... but no. I finally looked up her full name on the zoning map and plugged it into google. Nancy passed away in November.

She owned several rent homes with her husband. He died some years ago. They had a son who lives in Houston. I wonder if they'll sell the houses or just continue to rent them out. Not sure why it matters...

That's the problem I guess with living in an older, established neighborhood: a lot of the neighbors are older and they die off one by one. The guy across the street from us, who grew up in the house he lived in (it was his parents' house), passed away a year or two after we moved in. The lady around the corner that I talk to now and then (she's always good to find out the neighborhood gossip), lost her husband a year and a half ago.

Our next door neighbors are older and have numerous health issues; we have to help them out from time to time. I suspect one or the other, maybe both, will pass in the next year or three. I remember when we got to know them, they expressed relief that "good neighbors" bought the house next to them. If they pass on, I will have the same concern.

Live is fleeting, huh?
We're in one of the older neighborhoods in our town. Most of the residents are either in their 70-80s or in their 30s. The older residents have generally lived in the homes for 40-50 years but probably weren't the original occupants. The younger residents have bought homes as the older generation passed away or moved in with family/nursing home because they like being in historic homes or close to downtown/parks. It's really amazing some of the residents in their 90s who are still living independently. I'll generally wave or try to help them if they're out doing yard work. My wife has adopted many as bonus grandparents. She goes and checks on them, brings them food or treats occasionally. We still will walk by a house and hear that another resident has passed away every couple of months. It's nice to see the homes get recycled for new families, but can be a bit sad seeing the older residents disappear one by one.
 
Our neighborhood was built largely between 1950 and 1960. When we bought our house 7 years ago, we bought it from the second owner who bought it in 1962. There were a lot of people like that in the neighborhood, but they're thinning out pretty quickly. Being a few years from retirement I will soon be joining the cadre of "old folks" in the neighborhood.

I met a family a couple weeks ago who bought their house a year or so ago and have been fixing it up. They are probably in their late 30s/early 40s. A lot of the homes are flipped by flippers but the neighborhood is still affordable enough that families can still buy in.
 
Most of the houses in our neighborhood were built in the mid '50s and early '60s. We bought our house about 15 years ago and there were still quite a few of the original homeowners here when we moved in, including the guy in the house right behind us (who is now 96 and still in pretty good health) and a woman a few houses down from us who lives across from our elementary school bus stop. The majority of the rest of the residents had probably been here since the mid '90s when, looking at old sales and tax data, there was a bunch of turnover.

When we moved in, there were not many people our age (30ish years old) and there were almost no kids at all and it stayed that way with just a few houses selling in any given year until about 7 or 8 years ago when there were a ton of houses sold and a lot of new construction. Now there are a lot of kids.

We check in on the old guy behind us from time to time, but his son moved in with him a few years back after he fell and was in the hospital for a bit. We have a feeling that the son moved in thinking it would be temporary and his dad wouldn't last too long after that but it's been 10 years and he's still kickin'. The lot that the house behind us is on is very small for our neighborhood and very shallow with a weird curve to it. The guy who lives there was an architect and he was telling us that he bought that lot after all the other homes in the neighborhood were built. None of the two or three builders putting all the original houses up here wanted that lot so he bought it and built a custom home on it. His was probably the only custom home in a sea of spec built sameness. It's a small house but it's actually a pretty cool MCM design. I know he's getting up there in years and even if he doesn't die I sort of worry that he'll move into an assisted living facility and the house will get sold and torn down (the son works for a university here but also for the CDC in Atlanta and has a big house down there that I know he wants to move back down there eventually).
 
Watching kids sled down the borrow piles in our neighborhood at 7 Degrees -14 WC. There is hope.
As a Minnesota kid, that is what we frequently did. Bundle up and go sledding. Had a great hill at the end of my street. We would see how far we could slide out onto the lake. The metal runner sleds were much faster than the plastic sleds. I used my grandfathers Flexible Flyer from the early 1920s. Still have it. Google says 390 feet from where we generally started (the house at the top was not there when I was kid) with a 30 foot drop or so. Built tree houses in the woods above the yellow line (that house was not there, either) and had a great time as a kid in this neighborhood. I know there are a few coins in those woods I chucked them there because my parents would not let me buy a bomb pop from the ice cream man. I did anyway and thought they would know if they saw I had change so I donated to the woods. I must have been 8 or 9.

1739490716708.png
 
Anyone else remember this song?


I hadn't thought of it for nearly 50 years but saw it pop up on suggestions. Listening to it now, I want to say this song, which by the way came out in 1977, is actually an example of proto-rap. This predates "Rapture" by Debby
Harry (Blondie) by a good three years.
 

I have this 45 buried somewhere.

"I was talking to your mother just the other night
I said I thought you were an asshole. She said 'yes, I think you're right"
 
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Why is it I am log into Facebook on my phone but am banned from logining on my pc ?
Our IT Dept. bans a lot of innocuous sites (like ESPN and that of Girl Scouts of the USA, for example). No idea why, but their system, their rules--I'm OK with that.

Jim

Three-day weekend.

Also, today is the 31st anniversary of the day I first met my wife: February 14, 1994.

Jim
 
Also, today is the 31st anniversary of the day I first met my wife: February 14, 1994.

Jim

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the day I got out of the Marines and tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of the day I met my wife!

I got out of the Marines on the 13th and then on the 14th I was driving back to Michigan and a friend who knew I'd be home soon called to invite me to a party at his girlfriend's house to watch a Michigan v MSU basketball game. I didn't really want to go but he told me it would be a good chance to get out and meet some new people since I will have just moved back.

I briefly met a girl at that party and probably said 4 words to her but I must have made a good impression because she asked my friend's GF to pass her phone number on to me. I didn't really even remember her from the party but gave her a call anyway and three years later we were married!
 
Our IT Dept. bans a lot of innocuous sites (like ESPN and that of Girl Scouts of the USA, for example). No idea why, but their system, their rules--I'm OK with that.

Jim

Three-day weekend.

Also, today is the 31st anniversary of the day I first met my wife: February 14, 1994.

Jim
We've had a fair number of governmental sites that won't work due to our firewall being too tight. Most have been opened up but one of the county sites is still unavailable for some reason.
 
I feel less than efficient today. In fact, I feel downright dull and lazy. I can barely muster the desire to type. Yesterday was gloomy and filled with snow. Today is gloomy and drizzly and dirty. February is - without question - the worst month of the year. At least in this hemisphere.

I'm going to have another donut. And it's on you, February. Also people say your name wrong it bugs the shit outta me.
 
Also, today is the 31st anniversary of the day I first met my wife: February 14, 1994.

Jim
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the day I got out of the Marines and tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of the day I met my wife!

I got out of the Marines on the 13th and then on the 14th I was driving back to Michigan and a friend who knew I'd be home soon called to invite me to a party at his girlfriend's house to watch a Michigan v MSU basketball game. I didn't really want to go but he told me it would be a good chance to get out and meet some new people since I will have just moved back.

I briefly met a girl at that party and probably said 4 words to her but I must have made a good impression because she asked my friend's GF to pass her phone number on to me. I didn't really even remember her from the party but gave her a call anyway and three years later we were married!
We're about 14 days past my wife's and my 24th anniversary of being exclusive (and about 22.5 years of marriage)
 
On my bio can i say I am a member of the founders club at casa bonita?

Unrelated (though I vote "YES", Raf): I've always thought there should be a restaurant surrounded by beautiful trees serving really delicious food called "Casa Sombra". It just sounds like somewhere I want to eat.
 
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the day I got out of the Marines and tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of the day I met my wife!

I got out of the Marines on the 13th and then on the 14th I was driving back to Michigan and a friend who knew I'd be home soon called to invite me to a party at his girlfriend's house to watch a Michigan v MSU basketball game. I didn't really want to go but he told me it would be a good chance to get out and meet some new people since I will have just moved back.

I briefly met a girl at that party and probably said 4 words to her but I must have made a good impression because she asked my friend's GF to pass her phone number on to me. I didn't really even remember her from the party but gave her a call anyway and three years later we were married!
Oorah! My brother is a USMC Major (ret.) so I feel that I can say that.
 
Anyone else remember this song?


I hadn't thought of it for nearly 50 years but saw it pop up on suggestions. Listening to it now, I want to say this song, which by the way came out in 1977, is actually an example of proto-rap. This predates "Rapture" by Debby
Harry (Blondie) by a good three years.

Nope. Never heard it before.
 
Yep. The "Sweet spot" for Benadyrl is 7:30 p.m. Asleep by 8:30 (slightly earlier than usual) wake up at the normal time with only minimal grogginess. YMMV, IANAD.
That's my strategy exactly. Sometimes it takes until 9:00 to feel groggy enough to go to bed (I usually am more like a 10-10:30 bedtime person). But if I take a benadryl after 9:00 or so it's a bear to get up at a normal time he next morning.
 
On vacation in California, boy is it expensive here. And this is before accounting for the exchange rate.
 
President's Day?
I am here and we are open... kids have no school though.

I did not watch the SNL special. Was it any good?

Yesterday I did watch the new Gladiator 2 movie. It was much better than I anticipated, although I was surprised to hear
that Lucius was the son of Maximus.
 
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