UpperWestside

I can imagine. Nothing good comes for the people that get stuck with him. I remember when he got a popular principal in DISD fired because of test scores. The community overwhelmingly loved what she had done to transform a school that had been a haven for gangs into a place where the students felt safe and that someone actually cared for them. All this terrible human being cared about were test scores and how he could make the biggest amount of money off of the students. His brain is just completely fried and the world would be a better place if Mike Miles and his ilk had no place in it.

I felt the building shake for maybe 10 seconds tops. Went back to sleep right after.

This guy was absolutely the most hated superintendent in DISD history when he left. I feel fairly certain that Colorado Springs did not miss him either.

Those kids in Alaska did a pretty admirable thing on walking out of class and going to the Capitol. Their wonderful governor vetoed another education bill partly because, you guessed it, he wants the state to make it easier for charter schools to take root there. I am so glad I have not brought a child into this world where getting an actual education is now frowned upon. Meanwhile forming charter schools as a way to make money off of the children attending is really all that matters to any of these truly evil and awful people.

This is really cool to read. Good on you for tackling this and getting the help you needed to change your life for the better. It takes courage to do what you did. Congratulations to you and I hope you have many more milestones ahead to celebrate.

Yes I’d probably say that there should be a tech called for that no matter the player doing it. I am no fan of players working the officials. It’s one of the things that slowly pushed me away from watching a whole lot of NBA basketball because it’s tiresome. If a coach wants to make a case for a foul I feel that’s part of their job, but if you’re playing just focus on what you can control.

Soto seems like he might be good at this sport. I still remember seeing him hit his first homer in Yankee Stadium. He was 19 and the ball just sounded different. The only two players I have ever heard hit a ball like that does was himself and Yordan Alvarez. Just a completely different level of power with those two guys.

I remember volunteering at a shelter out on Long Island in Westbury. The two dogs that wound up being the friendliest to me were a female German Shepherd and a boxer and pit mix female. The shepherd barked incessantly at men and it was because her and her best friend were left outside on a chain mostly for 9 years from what I was told. After sitting by her cage for 3 months I went in and she was comfortable with me and we would play with all her toys. She was a sweetheart. The boxer/pit really did not like men and it took months of just sitting outside her cage gaining her trust. Once I did she would jump up on me and lick my face to death. One time she jumped up and got her took caught in my nose and drew a good bit of blood, but she was just so excited and happy so I didn’t care. She got a good home from what I recollect. Wish I had some pictures of the two of them, but it seems they have been lost.

Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of basketball can do about 15 minutes of research and find out why the Lakers shoot so many free throws compared to opponents. Again you continue to bang a conspiracy drum over a team IN NINTH PLACE. That is just all kinds of humorous. The other people that believe in them on this board in other places come across as being just as crazy as you are right now. Those people do not provide any humor though so you have that on them.

I do not think you grasp a basic understanding of why there is a difference of that size. Actually no you just don’t understand it. Then again you believe in conspiracies. You share that in common with another section of the board.

There is no irony here. Just a whole lot of exceptionally laughable conspiratorial claims. It’s fun to read more than anything because of the sheer silliness in the belief that the refs are in the bag for one team, a team barely holding onto a play-in spot that won’t do a thing of note for the rest of this season.

I don’t think they are in the bag for anyone. Conspiracy theories on this are nonsense. Nothing more and nothing less. The human mind, when the truth does not satisfy what it is looking for in the way of an answer, turns to whatever sounds the best. Officials can be bad at their job and that’s fine. The older I get the harder it is to imagine trying to call a game with the skill and athleticism on display and how fast the game is played. I do not necessarily care much for officials, but it is a tough job. Thinking there is a vast conspiracy to benefit one team that is going nowhere this year is beyond laughable.

The new season of Vera has been wonderful! Having David Leon return after almost a decade away in his new role is pretty cool. Brenda Blethyn said she would have ended the show if the producers had brought in a new core instead of getting Leon to return. The synergy between the two is just so good. Blethyn is still full of energy at 78, but whenever she is done I kinda hope Leon’s character can have his own show. He really excels at his role as the now DI Ashworth.

Went after work since there is an AMC a block away. I liked it and the nostalgia was cool since I frequent that library before work 2-3 times a week to just sit and read. It was a cool movie and man Ernie looks 30 years younger than his age. He has aged incredibly well and I love the role they gave him. He deserved it.

This is one of the best introspective things I have ever read someone say here or anywhere else. Thank you so very much for opening up to us like this man. Just awesome to read your honesty.

Sometimes we meet people in passing that we were not really expecting and Saturday night at work counts as one of those moments. If I took an inventory of all the chance meetings I have had I could probably write a book about it. Tonght I thought my night would end a little early, but I wound up having three more tables and one in particular stood out. I wear a name badge around my neck at work to help folks to see my name and make them feel more comfortable. I have a typical German name that was passed down from my dad to me. Well this table of three was from Cologne. The husband and wife just returned from a motorcycle ride from LA to San Francisco. It was delayed a year because of the snowstorm last year. Anyhow they had their teenage daughter fly over to meet them once her school break started. I tell them my dad was from a small town called Eschwege. To the astonishment of the man he tells me he lived in Eschwege in his childhood and has never met someone in his travels that had ever mentioned it or knew where it was. He invited me to make a trip to Germany to see Eschwege. I have never been, but this man has not been back to Eschwege since he left in 1974 and this year marks since 60 years I believe since my dad left with his stepfather (US Army) and mother for America. He never returned to Germany. I don’t believe in chance meetings. This man gave me his contact information as he was leaving and I am going to take him up on this. I want to see my father’s hometown and where he grew up starting in January of 1946. Time to do a little research and find out what I can about where he may have resided and anything else about his family history during his 18 years there. Man meeting that man tonight was such a cool experience. I had another awesome chance meeting earlier in the night where I made some new friends as well.’ Sometimes you get completely blindsided with a wonderful surprise like this when you aren’t expecting it. I mention this because sometimes when you are really going through it you just have to look for and hope for the positives to come your way. I always tell folks that no matter how rough things seem there will be an end point and things will get better. Just always keep pushing forward bit by bit and sometimes you’ll have a cool day like this one.

That one should not be close. Sampson’s guys will grind them down and win by 15-20.

The next time that happens on Rocky Top will be the first. That game was just, well, something. I put it on at work and regret doing so. That was a slap fight and the winner is going to get a beat down next week. I give UT credit for their effort though. They played hard when I was watching. They just are lacking in high level talent.

Just remember all of the people that share his horrid views on life that willingly listen to him and think he’s a great senator.

Thank you for this response. I have found that for whatever reason the entirety of my adult life people will spill out their guts to me whether they know me well or not. Sometimes I hear hours worth of the life of a stranger, but it’s cool. I will truly listen to most anyone because it allows them to get out what bothers them and I in turn learn more about people, which for me is pretty interesting. The advice I give is usually taken pretty well, but I frame it in a way to where I do not say something that I haven’t been through myself. I always tells folks don’t fall on your face as many times as I did before you get it right.

Yeah this is not the place for that, but the religious gonna religious no matter what. I steer completely clear of people who put out their religious beliefs constantly about every situation. If I need to consider how my own beliefs cause me to think of a situation I can easily keep that to myself because there is no need to share it over and over. When people I work with want to talk to me about life the first thing I do is listen and let them describe their life and what they want to change. I never bring my beliefs into what they should do in order to feel better. I just tell them you have one life and that the best thing to do is take each day as a gift and do better today than the day before. From there it’s easier to talk about life.

I read a study addressing this and how horrific the consequences are of detaching from the natural world and spending too much time on social media and electronics in general. Nature is a natural soothing agent for us and we have largely abandoned “putting our feet in the dirt” in favor of spending all of our time indoors or in concrete jungles. We have to find ways to connect with real people in outdoor spaces as well as time alone in nature. These are steps we have the capability of pursuing and doing. This is something I learned on my own. Living in New York is cool, but the lack of nature and free space to roam and be one with the natural world has been detrimental in certain ways for me personally.

I spend a decent amount of time listening to younger folks vent about their issues in life. I do think that these social media outlets are a net negative on them because so many of these folks watch this stuff and think that it is something to strive for. Cognitively they cannot yet comprehend that there is peace and joy in just being content. Some of that comes with age, but some also comes from not being as exposed to these social media loops constantly. Also I think people could stand to put down their electronics for awhile and just go out and experience life, especially if it can be in a place where you can take in nature.

I have a friend that coaches basketball that used to like watching a Bennett coached team. Tonight he watched the game and said that their program is a complete fraud and Bennett needs to be shown the exit for that embarrassing performance.

Their style of play is completely unwatchable. I kinda wonder how much more time the 2019 title buys Bennett because this is embarrassing for the sport as a whole.