Storm the Field

On the bright side, we got Jim Crane running the Astros as perennial WS contenders.

Curious why none of our 2023 home games have a start time scheduled yet. Almost all of our road games are set.

Finominile.

Oh the irony. The former President (being advised by Steve Bannon) is hanging out in Florida while a throng of his supporters ransack the capitol buildings in an ill-fated attempt to overturn the previous election on an early January day. "All great world historic-facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."

IMO, there's really no need for anyone to be militant about it. Gotta remember that it's a voluntary thing you're doing for your health/as a challenge to yourself. You're not a kid who's been grounded until February. If there's an event coming up where you really really really don't want to be sober, don't feel too bad about having a cheat day, unless you're the type where doing so will blow the whole thing up. My firm always does our big holiday party in January. It's coming up on Saturday and there's just no way I'm not drinking there. Going 29/30 on the month ain't too shabby.

If your weekends typically involve alcohol, then getting through the first one is usually the most challenging part of Dry January, and that goes for first-timers and veterans alike. Laying off during the week is a piece of cake comparatively. Even during the parts of the year when its not overindulgence season, there's a 99% I'm cracking a beer very soon after getting home from work on Friday. And Saturdays almost always involve booze from early afternoon until calling it a night. Takes some getting used to spending your relaxation time on the weekend without pouring drinks.

Started Ragnarok the weekend before Xmas. Got probably 15 hours into it and was loving it. Went out of town for a good chunk of the next week and then had a super busy work week leading up to New Years. Tried picking it back up on Sunday and just didn't feel right. Forgot where I had left off in the story and couldn't get back into it. Started a fresh game on Monday. Enjoying it all over again, but I'm much better at combat this time and not wasting experience and materials on gear and skills I end up not using. Progressing way quicker. Probably 4-5 more hours to go until I get back to where I quit last time and move forward.

I prefer the original.

Dipping my toes into being a (partial) season ticket holder this year. Wife and I are going in with a group of 8 total sharing 4 seats in 207.

Solid jobs report today. Good amount of jobs added but wage inflation moderated. U3 is down to 3.5%. Lowest since 1969. U6 is down to 6.5%. Lowest reading since the stat was created. Doooooomed!

I think this is my 5th year. Really seems to have caught on more widely the last 2 years. My whole work lunch crew is doing it this year. Primary point of course is to drop some weight. I was 9 lbs heavier at initial weigh-in this week than the weekend heading into Thanksgiving. Aside from all the calories you're cutting out, it's a lot easier to commit to exercising and eating healthier when you're never hungover and sleeping better. Second is to press reset on your relationship with booze after over-doing it for an extended period of time. For me, between Astros playoffs, football weekends, weather conducive to happy hours, company parties and extended breaks, it's way too easy to get in the habit of drinking more often than not October-December. One final side benefit is seeing your credit card bill for January. Grocery trips are cheaper and restaurant tabs are WAY cheaper without alcohol.

1899 not renewed for Season 2. Apparently it just didn't hit Netlix's "First 28 Days" metric to justify the budget. Bummer.

Quick follow-up. My current ride has some moderate damage to the right side of the front bumper. Sideswiped a parking barrier I couldn't see when reversing out of a spot at the grocery store a few months back. Let's say it would cost $1500 or so to repair/replace. When I go to trade in, would I be better off just leaving it as is and getting less trade-in value, or should I go ahead and get it fixed? I'm assuming a dealership can do the repairs themselves for less than a body shop, so leaning towards just trading in as-is.

Dueling reports this morning leading to a quick reversal from gains to losses. ISM Manufacturing Prices Index continued to crater, down to lowest level since mid-2020. However, JOLTS reports for November showed job openings remaining steady at 10.5M (was expected to drop to 10.0). Fed cares more about that 2nd one.

55 degrees, light winds, low humidity and not a cloud in the sky when I walked my dogs earlier. As nice a morning as you can hope for in Houston.

Doing it again. Currently a few pennies below $4.

Checking back in. Mostly Dry January starts today. Have a planned cheat day coming up for company party next weekend, but other than that, last night was the last time I should have a beer until February. Gonna do an official weigh-in tomorrow after the bloating from the weekend's gluttony has subsided. Good news this year is that I established a pretty good fitness routine last year so I'm not starting out from scratch again. Wasn't particularly strict the last month or so, so I'll probably need a couple weeks to get back to where I was heading into Thanksgiving week, but, all things considered, starting from a much stronger position than last year. Most important thing for me this year will be eating better. I tried to half-ass the diet last year. I know exactly what has worked for me in the past, so just need the discipline to stick to it. Also need to work in more intensive cardio. I'm pretty happy with where I am strength-wise, but really want to get back to around 190 and stay there.

We're eating pretty damn good today before getting back on the wagon tomorrow. Had some leftover chilaquiles from brunch yesterday. Threw them in with some fresh scrambled eggs and tossed on tortillas for breakfast tacos. Lunch was leftover prime rib (from dinner Friday) with a gorgonzola horseradish sauce on ciabatta. Dinner tonight is traditional. Slow cooked black-eyed peas with big chunks of ham and onions. Cabbage fried in bacon grease. Cornbread.

He'll be on Tucker Carlson tomorrow night as Cancel Culture's latest truth-telling victim. It's a pretty predictable path from there to GOP nominee for Senate in '24.

The circle of people saying this and the circle of people who hate when athletes get political probably perfectly overlap. No doubt they'd just as forcefully support a commentator that took a gratuitous shot at red states or MAGA voters, as long as it happened to be a truthful statement, right?

Hah. Saw the announcement this morning.

Had to crank the AC before hopping into bed last night. It was 73 upstairs.

Well, there's also the small matter that I get paid on billable hours and don't have PTO.

Damnit. Was just talking with some buddies at work about this. We're always busy this week, usually due diligence for some client's end of year acquisition project that has a hard cutoff of 11:59 on 12/30 or so. Never get to do the "take off from Xmas Eve through January 3rd" that a lot of people get to enjoy.