Snake Diggity

The difference between the “Austin sucks now compared to 10/20/30/40/50/60 years ago” is that there’s now actual evidence that it’s more true. Austin is no longer topping any of the “best places to live” lists. There are plenty of good arguments that Houston or San Antonio or Corpus are better places to live. That said, there’s still plenty to love about Austin. We now have MLS to add to UT sports and F1 to add to SXSW. There are a shitload of great restaurants and breweries that have opened in the last 10 years. But instead of being defined by the University, state govt, and hippy/music culture, Austin is now clearly defined by economic/career opportunity. That’s where it stands out relative to other cities. That trait will always bring huge problems like traffic, crowds, a loss of culture, and expense. I will likely never leave because we are committed to living close to extended family, and I don’t think I could ever go back to living in a small town, which limits me to SA, Houston, or Austin. If that weren’t the case, I’d probably move to San Diego or Charlotte.

LoL nothing surprising happened after the Tech loss. Really sucks to kick the shit out of OU and it doesn’t really matter.

Sorry for your loss.

When we potty trained my oldest, we told her she’d get candy once she went poop in the potty the first time. She did, and so I handed her a Hershey chocolate kiss as a reward. She tossed it in the toilet.

Potty training was one of the VERY few things about parenthood that was easier than I expected. We did the deal where you stay home and don’t let the kid wear pants for a weekend asking them to go potty every 15 waking minutes. Worked like a charm for both girls and I think they were around 20 months. Hang in there.

That game was pretty damning on Sark. 2022 was never going to be the last word in him unless he had posted a losing season. 2023 will be another opportunity to get to the standard or fail: 6 wins or less and Sark should be fired 7-8 wins and he is firmly on the hot seat for 2024 (meaning 10 wins or else) 9 wins and his seat should be warm for 2024 and beyond (meaning any step backward results in firing) 10 wins and he has met the standard 11 wins and he is on the radar for an extension 12+ wins and he gets an extension I expect us to win 10 games next season. The roster is on track to be stacked.

That solar number is absolutely pitiful.

Mitch McConnell, Tucker Carlson, Clarence Thomas, W, Dick Cheney, and Ted Cruz are all in the running for varying reasons. But none of them is anywhere close to Trump.

I don’t think so. In order to be eligible for the prospect promotion incentive the player had to be on multiple preseason Top 100 lists, and Pena was not. I am also not sure every team would get a 1st rd pick; it may be similar to qualifying offer compensation, where the pick is determined by the teams revenue, in which case Houston would only get a 4th round pick.

This roster is looking like it will be our deepest and most talented since 2009. Ewers still has a wide range of outcomes but the talent and depth in the QB room is there. Replacing Bijan is no easy task but I have a lot of faith in Brooks, Baxter, Robinson, and Blue. With Whittington, Worthy, and Neyor coming back, Cook/Niblett, and at least 1 good portal addition expected, this will be the best WR room we've had in over a decade. TE is set with Sanders, and it's possible they add another dynamic player if they get Duce Robinson. OL is still relatively young but returns 4 starters plus Williams and Campbell who played a lot. We probably can't weather early injuries very well but there's talent and depth there. DL is stacked. Sorrell, Collins, Murphy, and Sweat are all potential All-Big 12 players, and Finkley, Broughton, and Burke played pretty extensively last year. Then there's 8 RS FR and true FR behind them, plus the potential of a good portal addition. I expect Blackwell to break out at LB and Hill to play early. Those 2 plus Gbenda and Ford will make for a really good LB corps and the 5 other freshmen all have upside. Holmes plus another good portal DB will round out this group nicely. Watts, Thompson, Gilbeau, and Barron are all returning starters. Brooks, Jordan, Taaffe, and Crawford all played extensively last year. Then add in Allen, Muhammad, Williams, Brice, and LTG and its a very deep, very high upside unit on part with the 2000-2010 standard. Adding Sanborn is a very underrated move. Special teams will be good. I do think we need a portal interior DL and another DB, but other than that as long as we stay healthy and don't have any major unexpected attrition, this should be a top 8 team next year.

Cause: Cause of the cause Rising wages: demographic trends Oil: geopolitical instability, corporate greed/market manipulation Supply chains: trailing pandemic effects, geopolitical instability Underlying all of that is monetary policy and the idea that inflation can be self-perpetuating

Nice work Crane. Now go sign Taylor Rogers and trade for Danny Jansen, then find a badass PoBO.

Would this be a reasonable expectation for a finish? WR DeAndre Moore TE Ka'Morreun Pimpton EDGE Tausili Akana TBD Portal DB Signing day surprise +1 (Scott?) Signing day surprise -1 (Spencer?)

I gotta hand it to that motherfucker. He is a master at doing shit that is absolutely unbelievable but also totally believable.

If they really didn’t add anyone else I would expect the “everyday lineup” would have Meyers in CF with McCormick in LF and Yordan DH’ing. Hensley/Diaz would probably be on the roster but I think they’d play less than Meyers.

Ramon Laureano and Teoscar Hernandez have been pretty good. Max Stassi, JD Davis, Tony Kemp, Josh Rojas, Jose Siri, Myles Straw, Bryan De La Cruz, Enrique Hernandez, Patrick Sandoval, Vince Velasquez, and Jordan Lyles should all be meaningful contributors next season. But yeah, Hader and Musgrove are pretty easily the 2 who have produced the most since being traded.

I agree with the sentiment of all 3 of these comments. I don’t think raising rates is having the intended effect on inflation and I am not at all sure that inflation receding is due to rate increases as much as due to other factors (oil prices normalizing, supply chains recovering from covid, etc.). However, I am ok with them having raised rates to this point because I think continued super low rate policy was bad, and using this low unemployment environment to normalize things (regardless of inflation) to give them more leeway in changing rates in the future is a good thing. I just hope they prioritize keeping unemployment low (I.e. avoiding/minimizing recession) over continuing to raise to combat inflation. 5-6% inflation with 6% unemployment is WAY better than 2-3% inflation with 11% unemployment. I’m hoping they do one more 0.5 hike next month and then chill for awhile.

I did. Random, nonsensical superstitions are always popping up. Vacuuming at night is bad luck, whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you will do all year (I win on this one, as she always makes sure we fuck on 1/1), etc. She's cool with fans tho.

In a vacuum the logical move would be to sell off players for cash in this overvalued environment and save it for when prices come back down, which could take years. But the Astros can’t do that because the rules prevent it (and because they are firmly in a contending window). So the next best thing is to focus on the trade market (particularly on acquiring unproven yet unheralded young players who you can quickly enhance), since all players’ values are appreciating together. In a world where Chris Bassitt is getting $60M+, Luis García or Jose Urquidy should carry a shit ton of value. My move would be to try to flip one of those guys for an underrated catcher or OF.

When I went and bought one for myself, guess what I bought? This too.

Yep. Shit is scary considering how powerful he is.

When that kind of stuff happens, I just fix it. Thanks dad. Good for you.

The circular white electronic appliance in the pic is a sound machine used for white noise to help drown outside noise as a sleep aid. They are often used for baby/kids rooms but adults use them too. That particular model is made by a company called Homedics, and is, as I said, a raging piece of shit. DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF SHIT: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Relaxing-Soothing-Charging-Auto-Off/dp/B00A2JBMRE/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1YNNC5UOFG4VJ&keywords=homedics+sound+machine&qid=1670773475&sprefix=homedics+sound+machine%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzRzNWWVlENVhRUkpQJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODkzMDU2Mlc1OUZVNU9JUkQxRyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzU5NTgyMkVVOVFDSFlTMkZNUyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= Homedics also makes other products my wife has purchased (humidifier, room air purifier), and they are all pieces of shit.

That sound machine is a RAGING piece of shit. My wife has bought 3 of them and all 3 had the volume/power knob go out within 6 months. Fuck Homedics.

Just now: “Does the microwave use 60 seconds for a minute?” She has a Master’s in Accounting.