Damor

My understanding is that NCFOM was originally conceived as a screenplay early in McCarthy's career, then revisited as a novel, so it makes sense how well it translated to the screen. Especially via the Coens. This thread has gotten me thinking about The Road a bunch lately, but I still haven't reread it. I am thinking about signing up for HBO Max to check out The Last of Us, though. For anyone who wants to nerd out about the final paragraph of The Road, here's an interesting link. Article is longcat spoilered below, but here's the abstract: "The closing paragraph of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road hums with mystery. Some find it suggestive of renewal, though only vaguely. Others contend that it does little to ameliorate the novel’s pessimism. Still others find it offers both lamentation and hopefulness, while some pass it over in silence. As an admirer with a taste for puzzle solving, here I offer a new interpretation revealing a surprisingly optimistic denouement."

The 17" TRD wheels just arrived today, so I'm in a similar spot. I found this on a 4runner forum and it seems to be quoted often enough to be reliable: @Patricio Swayze, looks like the 275s should fit fine. I'm looking at Toyo AT3s in either 265 or 275, which are pretty much the same price. Any big advantage/disadvantage to one more centimeter? (twss)

"Dad. DAD. He has his own bed. This is mine." "DAAAAAAD." Sigh....

Whatever you're into, man.

Curious for those who did the road to Hana what time of year you went. We have been to Maui twice but haven't done it. This trip, we have the time to devote a whole day to it without rushing and with kids who are of a tolerable age, so it's on the docket. We are going in late June/early July, though, so I'm wondering what the odds are that the waterfalls will have much flow. I'd just like to be able to establish reasonable expectations, especially for the older one who envisions plummeting gracefully off of a cliff into an idyllic pool filled with deep azure waters and cacao-skinned girls wearing nothing but fragrant orchid and plumeria lei and a smile. OK, there might be a little projecting there, but you get me.

Brr. I know the Limited doesn't quite fit into the spirit of the thread, but considering the used Toyota market right now, I was not going to turn a good deal down. My younger one will be driving it, and he's not as into truck stuff as his older brother (TRD Taco is upthread somewhere). As somebody who's not a big car guy, I'm happy for now with everything but the shitty stock Bridgestone tires, which fortunately are due to be replaced. I've been through the tires thread, but thought I'd ask here for any advice on a couple of options I'm thinking about: 1) Keep the stock 20" Limited wheels, but change sizes. The OEM size is 245/60/20, which has pretty limited options. I've been looking on some 4runner forums, and it seems like you can go to 275/55/20 without having to make any mods. There are a lot more options in that size, and I like the idea of a wider tire unless there's something I'm missing with that (there's a lot of conflicting info out there, and I'm assuming DT won't balk at installing them). Would probably put Michelin Defenders on for the current use case, but there are lots of options in the future (we're probably sending the older one to Colorado for college, and he has the Toyo Open Countrys the tire thread mafia likes for up there). 2) Swap out for a set of 17" TRD wheels. That opens up a lot more availability in both 265 and 275 sizes. It looks like that will run about $1k to make the change (is BAM wholesale legit?), but assuming this vehicle is going to be kept for 200k+ miles, it's a drop in the bucket. It's a little less of a grandma look, and I'd guess that if he ends up wanting to make other mods in the future it's a good starting point. I can always keep the 20" wheels around. Any thoughts/experiences/recommendations?

Eating lunch is exhausting. We must harvest solar energy for the purposes of digestion.

I, too, read it as a relatively new dad when my sons were 2yo and about 9mos. It messed me up for a good three months. It's the greatest book I may never read more than once. That said, I now have two first printing copies put away which they will receive when they are fathers themselves. I wrote them a little something on the flyleaf when they were little, and will add to it before they receive them. But I'll tell them to wait a few years before reading it. The concluding paragraph may be one of the most beautiful ever written: It comes to mind every time I'm fortunate enough to fish with my boys in a cold stream in Colorado.

RAWRRRRWHARRGARBL

[stupid long pic post incoming] Oh, hai there, Rupp! Do you want surprise??? Meet your new little brother... ...Augie!!! DERRRP and HERRRRP Did we just become best friends???

@Baboontyme, the Tripadvisor "forums" are a total beating, but it sounds like there is consensus that you can do better renting through one of the local island agencies than VRBO/AirBnB due to the fees and add on charges. I didn't pursue that much, though. I only really looked around Napili because that's where we wanted to stay, but there are several condo complexes around there that have a rental portal, though they aren't part of big resorts. Prices range from stupid to ludicrous.

@Jerry Callo, I think we probably started on the same template for the phone contract. Here are a few more tweaks we made: -- I will never give anyone other than my parents my PIN code. If I choose to allow another person to use my phone, I will be held fully responsible for anything they do with it (messages, photos, searches, etc.) as though I had done it myself. -- I will never delete messages, emails, browser history, or anything else from this phone without a parent’s assistance. I will not try to be sneaky or devious about my activities. It doesn’t do any good, anyway, because nothing ever disappears from the internet. -- I will never give out personal details of myself or my family over the internet, and if asked for them, I will notify a parent immediately. -- I will always maintain enough battery (>15%) to use this phone as a tool for communicating with my parents, meaning that I cannot use it for entertainment, photos, schoolwork, or any other purposes below that battery level. -- I will not share pictures or videos of another person without asking for and receiving their permission. I will never use my phone or social media to bully or tease anyone, even if my friends think it’s funny. -- If I ever receive anything inappropriate or find myself in a place on the internet I do not belong, I will immediately notify a parent, show them the problem, and allow them to help me resolve the issue. I know that this will happen at some point and that I can come to them openly without fear of punishment. Now, if I try to fix it myself or hide, it… boy, look out. Ours are now 17 and 15 (boys), and over time they've gotten graduated privileges (often grudgingly), but they have managed them reasonably well (there will always be fuckups). We were very glad to have done the contract to have talking points to return to and to cease arguments and whining. And I'm sure Apple has an equivalent, but we used the Google Family Link app to limit their access to certain apps and set time limits both for apps and overall screen time until we eventually gave up on that. Probably the best thing that happened for their caution and awareness, though, was when one of my son's best friends got catfished via Insta to send pics... then got the blackmail threats. Nothing quite cements the lesson like hearing your buddy talk about getting interviewed by the FBI and Homeland Security, unfortunately.

Thanks. Yeah, that one in particular, Die Hard, looks impressive but would probably be wasted on us. We've been out sailfishing at Isla Mujeres and had a blast, but aren't super serious. I'd think targeting Mahi wouldn't require the intensity of chasing marlin. Edit: Man, reading the Yelp and Google reviews on all these guys is an absolute beating. Once you get past the one-star reviews unreasonable people leave because they didn't catch anything, they all have at least a handful of legitimate sounding but sometimes conflicting negatives. Makes you wonder if they review bomb each other. I did find one, Like Try, with consistently excellent reviews; however, they damn well better since their 6-hr rate is $8250. I'll be leaving that to the Surly 0.1%, thanks.

I started the dominoes falling for my older son's HS graduation trip. Going for two weeks at the end of June/early July. We've been to Maui twice before, but the first time was when we got married, and the second was 12 years ago, so it'll be quite a different agenda having two teenage boys as opposed to two under 5. We're going to stay on the west side at the Napili Surf Resort, so that should be good for days just hanging at the beach. Thus far on the agenda, we're planning on doing the Old Lahaina Luau with some family who will be along (holy shit, I forgot how expensive that is), a ton of restaurants (several shamelessly stolen from this thread), and renting snorkel gear to wander around to various beaches. We're renting a Jeep from a place called Bext, which I hope is as awesome as their reviews. They don't give you any pearl-clutching over where you go, so we're going to do the full road to Hana (we have never done the RTH) and I'd really like to do the Kahekili highway up north, probably making that a day of hiking/snorkeling in a loop. My BIL and his family with younger kids will be over there part of the time, and we were talking about doing a snorkel trip, probably either with Trilogy or Teralani. Anyone else I should look at? I'd read that Molokini gets a little overrated, thoughts on that vs. the west Maui spots? Never done one of these before. Anybody ever done any fishing out of Lahaina? There are several well-reviewed charters, which look like they range from laid-back to extremely hard core (leave at 2am kind of stuff). Primarily we'll have to decide if we want to do bottom fishing or go out deep for big pelagics. My older one has catching a Mahi Mahi on his bucket list, so that will figure into the equation. If anyone has any experience or advice, I'm all ears. Can't wait.

Thanks very much. Dumb question, but first time I've done an overnight layover, so I appreciate the voice of experience. I'm thinking with a family of yahoos, checking through is probably safer. I did at least perform due diligence and find that we should be good to exploit the AMEX lounge for dinner/nightcaps and breakfast/bloody marys in between. Any reason to consider paying more for the Grand Hyatt over the Regency for a single overnight layover? I'm thinking no, since we'll be sharing the room with two stinky teenage boys.

Dumb question amnesty, please, regarding an overnight layover. I just booked flights for the family from AUS to Maui via DFW (curiously, it was over 20% cheaper to do that than to drive to DFW to take the same direct flight from DFW --> OGG). We'll have an overnight layover between those departing flights, so I'm thinking I'll just book a room at one of the Hyatt hotels at the terminal. So I guess we just pack carryons with our possibles for that night, and go in and out of security for our stay? And our checked bags just hang out in the system overnight and submit to whatever fate awaits them? Seems a little weird, but obviously I'm not a jet-setter.

Great Christmas all around here, but it's especially good to be Dog, It can be frustrating to have to wait... but good things come to puppers who do.

Buncha culinarily gifted assholes on this site. This thread is both inspiring and intimidating. I don't consider myself much of a cook, but figured I'd try out a goose this year because why not? Longcat version is on the Turkey thread. It was also my HS senior's last Christmas under our roof, and we had my MIL for Christmas with us for the first time since our boys were tiny, so somehow over the course of the day this morphed from our usual buffet in PJs to my wife getting out her grandmother's china for the first time ever. Had a great time. Dry brined and roasted a goose which HEB actually had while being open: As my wife is a Miss St grad and my son has it on his short list, it was served Crossbones Style in honor and memory of Cap'n Leach: Roasted potatoes are always good (I like Kenji's Serious Eats version), but the goose fat absolutely took them to 11: Stole a recipe for Brussels sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts from Nigella Lawson: And finished with her Christmas Pudding recipe which nobody but me likes: That's fine, just means more Cointreau cream for me. Merry Christmas, assholes.

Whew, been a long, fun day. But I think I've recovered just enough after a few fingers of Lagavulin on the back porch with Nick Offerman to post some pics. I'll spoiler the longcat version and put the rest of dinner in the Christmas Menu thread later, though that one is highly intimidating. Buncha gifted culinary assholes around here. The short version is that goose is fucking awesome. Just do it. Follow the Serious Eats instructions and you'll be good to go (though the gravy got mixed reviews). Turkey is great, especially for the larger crowd we have at Thanksgiving, but I'm going to indulge in goose at Christmas as much as possible from now on. And if I can do it, anyone can. Longcat version:

In a decisive blow for the common man, I stuck it to those corporate greedmongers for a smooth $40.44. There will be no happy holiday slumber on Melody Lane this year, ha ha!

Anybody roasted a goose? I decided that if somehow HEB was open and had one, I'd take it as a sign from The Universe that I should try it. So, unlikely as 'twas, here we are. I'm a dry brine spatchcock turkey guy, so feeling a little like a memorable disaster of epic proportion is on the horizon. There's not much online about spatchcocking geeses, but I'm guessing since the breast is darker meat there's less of a risk of drying it out vs. a turkey. There's a Serious Eats page that includes dry brining following blanching (another common theme), though it's not the usual Kenji level of nerd vetting. I've read a few different approaches online as well as Nigella Lawson's recipe. I'll probably piece something together by Christmas Morn that involves blanching, dry brining, Lawson's stuffing, and setting the kitchen on fire with a deluge of goose fat. And roasted potatoes, natch. The fortunate thing is that neither I or my family has had goose before, so if it's awful I can just tell them they are Philistines with no appreciation for the finer things whilst feeding the dog under the table. Links to some things I have found: Serious Eats NPR Somebody else who sounds like they know what they've at least learned the hard way

Today was a good day to be Dog. ... or to be with Dog.

We put in a 48" Blue Star cooktop thanks to the Shaggy/Surly hive mind. I'm a terrible cook, but I absolutely love it. I had to learn how to tweak the flow as I'm pretty sure my installer didn't know what he was doing, but it still gets hot AF. The simmer burner is great. The small griddle insert gets used all the time for grilled cheese/quesadillas (haven't ever used the grill insert). The custom colored knobs were stupid expensive but look great. Probably my favorite thing we did in the kitchen, although I feel a little bad for ruining my boys on their future shitty apartment stoves. And as far as electronics and shit, it was great to be able to manually light it and make chili during Snowmageddon.

At this point, I think it would be just as effective and infinitely more cathartic to compile them into a montage to be shown at our final Big 12 press conference, set to "My Heart Will Go On," "The Way We Were," and whatever else we can come up with to fill the 3hr run time. Open to suggestions.

Down to $70 today on Amazon from the usual $100. I've actually got the 2000amp version (also down from $200 to $150 today). If you have cars that love to eat batteries or kids who leave doors ajar/lights on, these things are awesome. So much simpler and more compact than jumper cables, and works as a USB power bank as well. My teenage drivers will be getting these as stocking stuffers.