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

jumbach said:
Went to Sacramento over the weekend for a wedding. So in the last two weeks, I've gained my first grandniece and a new cousin!

JIm
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Is cousin-in-law a thing? Assuming that you acquired the the cousin through marriage and not the grandniece.
 
Big Owl said:
Is cousin-in-law a thing? Assuming that you acquired the the cousin through marriage and not the grandniece.
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Yes, the groom is cousin via my now-deceased stepfather. (Stepdad's sister's daughter's son.) So now his wife is my cousin by default. Different part of the family from my grandniece, who is my sister's daughter's kid.
 
jumbach said:
I am going to be the guest on a local radio show next week. I'll be on with Jason Biggs on KGBF 93.7 from 9 to 10 a.m., talking about Reno history, along with "bitches, gripes, and complaints," based on my "Standing On My Head" columns. For obvious reasons, I won't be talking about any current development issues or politics.

The station booked me for the whole hour!

You should be able to stream it, but I'll try to post the link after the show as well.

Jim
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A local involved citizen came in on my last day at my last public job and asked me to do a debrief on the city's problems and a review of my time there/reasons for leaving on his local radio show. Hard no. I gave him a copy of Republic and told him it had all the answers.
 
joscoffee said:
A local involved citizen came in on my last day at my last public job and asked me to do a debrief on the city's problems and a review of my time there/reasons for leaving on his local radio show. Hard no. I gave him a copy of Republic and told him it had all the answers.
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I had something similar but it was a guy who had a local pod-cast. At that time he was very pro-(insert name of difficult elected official) and I knew it would not go well. Since then he has flipped.
 
Big Owl said:
Is cousin-in-law a thing?
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Christmas Vacation GIF by filmeditor
 
jumbach said:
I am going to be the guest on a local radio show next week. I'll be on with Jason Biggs on KGBF 93.7 from 9 to 10 a.m., talking about Reno history, along with "bitches, gripes, and complaints," based on my "Standing On My Head" columns. For obvious reasons, I won't be talking about any current development issues or politics.

The station booked me for the whole hour!

You should be able to stream it, but I'll try to post the link after the show as well.

Jim
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Is Reno named for the Reno brothers - the outlaws that committed the first train robbery in the US? (The brothers were lynched after a mob broke into the county jail in my fair 'burg.) The Reno Gang
 
^ AIB joscoffee & michaelskis
Nobody wanted/offered to interview me when I retired after 31 years in my fair city.
I might of invoked the Sgt. Schulz defense.
 
Gedunker said:
Is Reno named for the Reno brothers - the outlaws that committed the first train robbery in the US? (The brothers were lynched after a mob broke into the county jail in my fair 'burg.) The Reno Gang
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No, it's named for a Union general, Jesse Reno, who was killed in 1862 in the Battle of South Mountain and never set foot in the city.

Don't even get me started about how there is no lake on Lake Street and no mill on Mill Street.

Fun fact: Reno is the second city mentioned in the Johnny Cash classic "I've Been Everywhere." Winnemucca takes pride that it's the first.

Jim
 
Big Owl said:
Is cousin-in-law a thing? Assuming that you acquired the the cousin through marriage and not the grandniece.
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Yes my cousin's cousin (I am her cousin on her dad's side and this cousin's cousin is on her Mom's side) is a friend of mine - we are a lot alike in a separated-at-birth kind of thing, though we don't look alike
 
I have been wondering for over a year what the proper term for "new husband of a (technically) former stepmother" is . . . my father died in 2016, but my stepmom was my mom for all intents and purposes since I was five. Mom got remarried last year. The best I can come up with is "stepfather," but that's probably not the proper term.

So for now I just call him by his name, Euell. He's an absolute gem and I'm happy for Mom.

Jim
 
jumbach said:
I have been wondering for over a year what the proper term for "new husband of a (technically) former stepmother" is . . . my father died in 2016, but my stepmom was my mom for all intents and purposes since I was five. Mom got remarried last year. The best I can come up with is "stepfather," but that's probably not the proper term.

So for now I just call him by his name, Euell. He's an absolute gem and I'm happy for Mom.

Jim
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I call my mom's 94-year-old guy her "boy toy."
 
jumbach said:
I have been wondering for over a year what the proper term for "new husband of a (technically) former stepmother" is . . . my father died in 2016, but my stepmom was my mom for all intents and purposes since I was five. Mom got remarried last year. The best I can come up with is "stepfather," but that's probably not the proper term.

So for now I just call him by his name, Euell. He's an absolute gem and I'm happy for Mom.

Jim
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Growing up I was asked to bless the food when Grandma came for a visit with her new husband (RIP to my namesake). I got through "and bless Grandma and..." and blanked on what to call him. Ten seconds of furious thinking yielded "...and Mr. Lastname" and much embarassment.
 
Black smoke from the conclave, so no pope.

Not that it makes any difference to me, since I am not Catholic, but you'd think they would have a succession plan, i.e., have someone lined up to become Pope if the current Pope dies, just like Presidents, kings, etc. do. A "Pope in Waiting," so to speak.

In related news, my niece is having trouble finding a priest to do a baptism of my new grandniece, since she not born into marriage. I didn't know people still cared about that and the "no babies before marriage" thing had gone out about 50 years ago. I guess not.
 
JNA said:
Who likes egg salad sandwiches ?
Who puts hard boiled eggs in their potato salad ?
Who eats hard boiled eggs ?
Who eats pickled eggs ?
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3/4 here. Pickled eggs are 🤮
 
JNA said:
Who likes egg salad sandwiches ?
Who puts hard boiled eggs in their potato salad ?
Who eats hard boiled eggs ?
Who eats pickled eggs ?
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I tried to find a gif that works for this situation... and was unable to.


But the answer is "Yes".



But then again I am also the guy who eats sardines out of the can too... (It is amazing how healthy they are!)
 
jumbach said:
Black smoke from the conclave, so no pope.

Not that it makes any difference to me, since I am not Catholic, but you'd think they would have a succession plan, i.e., have someone lined up to become Pope if the current Pope dies, just like Presidents, kings, etc. do. A "Pope in Waiting," so to speak.

In related news, my niece is having trouble finding a priest to do a baptism of my new grandniece, since she not born into marriage. I didn't know people still cared about that and the "no babies before marriage" thing had gone out about 50 years ago. I guess not.
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Thay makes me mad. The baby is innocent, and potentially a future practicing Catholic. It's really about how much you put in your envelope. I've seen it happen here.
 
Maister said:
Yo
Yo
Lemme break it down, y'all
Old School....
All the sucka MC's sayin' Hayzoos be trippin'
My Glock 'n Cardinal posse say we on a mission
You ain't got 10 percent to gimme my tithe?
Da boyz pay you a visit. Take you for a ride...
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Hit it.




















Mike D Mca GIF by Beastie Boys
 
Bet no one's thought about this rap from over 40 years ago


So you think you're bad with your rap
Well, I'll tell you, Pilgrim, I started the crap
When you were in diapers and wetting the sheets
I was on the Ponderosa rappin' to the beat
 
Budget work session tonight. Starts at 6pm should be done by 7pm. We have them fairly well trained right now to just focus on the big picture and not get caught up in the weeds of individual line items.
 
The health tracker that I use will announce a significant update in 15 minutes. I just wonder if it will be worth the hype. I had some issues with the current version in the past, but those all seem to have been resolved when I did a full/hard reset.

www.whoop.com

WHOOP | Unlock Human Performance & Healthspan

Optimize sleep, strain, and recovery with WHOOP, the most advanced fitness and health wearable. With personalized insights, improve performance, build healthier habits, and extend healthspan with continuous health monitoring.
www.whoop.com www.whoop.com
 
btrage said:
Budget work session tonight. Starts at 6pm should be done by 7pm. We have them fairly well trained right now to just focus on the big picture and not get caught up in the weeds of individual line items.
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5 of the 6 on council will do this, but there's 1 who will be in the weeds (he argued about a $400 case of paint last year)
 
So glad I don't do budget hearings. The boss gets to deal with that mess. I just get the find a way to make more money tasks.
 
btrage said:
Budget work session tonight. Starts at 6pm should be done by 7pm. We have them fairly well trained right now to just focus on the big picture and not get caught up in the weeds of individual line items.
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oh man, ours went so bad last night - can't even...
 
Woke up feeling like {poop emoji} this morning, but by 2 p.m. I was feeling much better. Too late to go into the office by then, so I'm just WFH today. Not a fan of WFH, but for things like this it's the best option.

I'll work 2-6 pm and take just six hours of sick time instead of ten. Never know when I may need those extra four hours.

Jim
 
luckless pedestrian said:
oh man, ours went so bad last night - can't even...
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it wasn't my budget, mine is next week, but I am shaking about it - it was another department's and it was painful to watch - unless you are 5, watching someone else gettin' it is not fun and so stressful - especially for a department that works very hard

oddly, I was there for my TIF budget, which I thought I'd be raked over the coals on, and they literally made up a question just for show -

so the moral of the story is I have no idea what's going to happen next week ugh
 
luckless pedestrian said:
it wasn't my budget, mine is next week, but I am shaking about it - it was another department's and it was painful to watch - unless you are 5, watching someone else gettin' it is not fun and so stressful - especially for a department that works very hard

oddly, I was there for my TIF budget, which I thought I'd be raked over the coals on, and they literally made up a question just for show -

so the moral of the story is I have no idea what's going to happen next week ugh
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Our CM releases the proposed budget later today...given it's an election year for City Council and the Mayor...and the economic headwinds being created by both the state and feds...I also have no idea what to expect...though I'm guessing my Capital Budget presentation will be longer than last year (which was about 2.5 hours of me in the hot seat).
 
We had a confirmed high of 80 degrees at the airport yesterday, which means that, according to my rule, the ten-day clock to switch over from snow tires to summer tires in the Elantra has begun. We got teased with a couple 79's last week, but no 80.

I plan to do it Sunday morning before all the mother festivities.

Forecast calls for a dusting of snow Tuesday, but not enough to affect getting around, I am sure. That's why I wait until we have an 80-degree day rather than making it calendar-based like I do for the summer to winter swapover. (Second Saturday of December, unless that's the 8th, in which case, it's done the next day).

Jim
 
I had a weird dream last night that I was accepting a Tony for having written the book for a musical based on the TV show "Shark Tank."
 
For the life of me, I don't see how you get "Leo XIV" out of "Robert Provost." Why not "Robert I" or "Bob I" or whatever?

I'm not Catholic, but I am sure there is a formula. It really makes no difference to me who the pope is, but the whole pomp and circumstance behind choosing one is always cool to see.

Jim
 
jumbach said:
For the life of me, I don't see how you get "Leo XIV" out of "Robert Provost." Why not "Robert I" or "Bob I" or whatever?

I'm not Catholic, but I am sure there is a formula. It really makes no difference to me who the pope is, but the whole pomp and circumstance behind choosing one is always cool to see.

Jim
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I am not Catholic but I understand that they pick a name that aligns to their vision or has special meaning to them; however, not going with Pope Bob was a missed opportunity.
 
Anyone else's allergies seem to be getting worse with just their eyes? I swear that it seems each year the sneezing is roughly the same, but my eyes continue to get worse with itching, etc.
 
Maister said:
Depression is closing in on me once again. Simple things become a major labor. Nothing is very enjoyable. Routine tasks fill me with trepidation.
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I feel the impending sense of doom isn't helping

I am sorry you are feeling this way - I feel like we are all in this cloud in here lately

I hope today brings one little bright patch - that's what I do, look for a small light
 
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