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Ghost of LL

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Ghost of LL

  1. Two suggestions: Get over to Clark's Oyster Bar (6th & Blanco). The weather is still nice and their outdoor bar seating is first-come-first-served. If you get there before 7:00, I've never had more than a few minutes' wait. After dinner you can go over to Howard's Bar across the street. Alternatively, I really like Pesce on 4th between Colorado and Lavaca. Good French place. It's small; not particularly trendy. But just a solid French bistro.
  2. Who's going to campaign on that message? You? With your Harvard mouth? Nobody who looks or talks like you would make it out of the primary in any rural Texas county. That's because the only Democrats in rural Texas counties are Black or (increasingly rarely) Hispanic. You're not going to win in a primary election against a Black or Hispanic candidate (depending on which part of the state you're in). So you've got to have a Black or Hispanic Democrat carry that message. And do you think any white rural Texas Republican voter is going to listen to that message from that messenger? And this is the underlying issue that is encapsulated in this thread--Democrats are just done with the whole democracy. They're at the "they bought their tickets; they knew what they were getting into. I say, 'let 'em crash'" stage. A message of "empathy," even if it could be conveyed by a persuasive messenger to a persuadable audience, isn't in the cards.
  3. Am I the only one who still cares about her goddamned emails?!
  4. I think I may be weirdly ok with that. It depends a lot on how the bottom half of this inning goes.
  5. I had an upper-class childhood.
  6. The goal here is the Russian model. Sell off everything that the government does profitably and then just leave the unprofitable stuff undone (but leave it undone in such a way as to enrich certain favored government allies who are charged with "doing" the undone thing). Have you ever been to rural Russia? The roads are typically not paved. There very frequently is not running water. Electricity is spotty. Broadband is . . . ha--that's funny. But goddamn--they fucking love Putin in rural Russia.
  7. This. This right here is the type of quitter talk that exemplifies why America could go to the moon 60 years ago and today can't figure out how to keep the body panels on a shitty looking truck. It's this kind of talk that encapsulates everything that's wrong with this country.
  8. That was is probably not right. But there are a ton of common phrases that have nautical origins that don't immediately seem to be nautical. For example, "the 'bitter end' is the final part of an anchor chain or rope that secures the anchor to the ship. To reach the bitter end was to have the chain or rope extended as far as it can go. Similarly, if you say you've reached the 'bitter end' today, it means you've gone as far as you can, often in a difficult situation." One that's not on that website is "scuttlebutt." The "scuttlebutt" aboard a ship is the water barrel--kind of equivalent to saying "standing around the water cooler." The "butt" was a cask or barrel that was "scuttled"--i.e., had a hole drilled in it--to take water out for drinking.
  9. Joseph diGenova, who has spent the last several years running around every cable news program he can find stanning for Donald Trump, just got his SSN and other personal information leaked when Trump declassified the JFK files in the typically slapdash manner that we have come to expect from this Administration. So that's fun.
  10. I know. I searched as well and couldn't find it. I've been twice. In that time, I think I've hit up every tent. Hippodrom is definitely my favorite (it's now the Marstall tent after the Hippodrom's owner lost the concessions when he was convicted of tax evasion). There's the Ochsenbraterei, which specializes in ox--and that's good and fun (though the half chicken is always my favorite, and it's served at virtually every tent). Just about every tent closes at 10:00 or 10:30. The exceptions are the Kafer-Wiesn tent and the Weinzelt, which are open until 1:00 (but the Weinzelt only serves wine and champagne after 10:30). Both those tents are relatively small, so if you want to be there after 10:30, you'd do well to go and get a seat a bit earlier. But I'm going to tell you--by 10:30, I was wasted. I didn't need anything more to drink. We did find a couple beer bars just off the Wiesn that are open later. They were plenty full and fun. I have no clue where they were.
  11. There are a number of threads on here about Oktoberfest from over the years. Definitely do a google search. Where to stay: There are a number of places right along Schwanthalerstrasse that is a short walk to the Wiesn. I've stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott, and it's perfectly fine. At least as of a few years ago, it was actually a very good use of Marriott points (which is pretty rare for that shitty program). Tents: There are more than a dozen tents. Each of the six Munich breweries has its own tent. And then there are other tents that aren't directly affiliated with a brewery, but still only serve one brewery's beer. There's also a wine tent. Each tent has its own vibe. Hippodrome is the smallest and coolest. It's where you're most likely to see a celebrity. Hofbrau is heavily antipodean. Lowenbrau is heavily American. Augustiner tends to be kind of low-key. Seating: You can only get a reservation if you have a party of six or more. So if it's just two of you, you just go in and grab a seat where available. It's all long picnic-style tables, so you'll be sitting with people. It's polite to ask the others already sitting at the table "sind diese Sitzen frei?" You have to be seated to order; there's no bar you go up to. You'll see "Reserviert" on some tables with a time, which means that it is reserved after that time. Up to that time, you can sit there. If/when the reserving party shows up, you have to scram (though they'll often invite you to stay if there's room). Honestly--the sitting with strangers from around the world and striking up increasingly drunken conversations is the most fun part of Oktoberfest. Attire: You gotta wear lederhosen. Your lady should wear a dirndl. Everyone else will be wearing that. We were getting dressed and Mrs.LL said "I feel stupid wearing this." Of course, we started walking to the Weisn and rounded a corner and everyone was wearing lederhosen/dirndl, and she felt a lot better.
  12. Crossing. I think he was trying to head into Vaqueros. Dude--what the fuck kinda neighborhood did you grow up in?
  13. I know—imagine what being tied into the 11th agains UTSA will do to a man.
  14. Well, I guess you win. That’s far more horrific.
  15. Jesus Christ—I just saw on the news that the dude was on a motorcycle. Fuck. I thought he was moving fast, and there was a lot of debris. But it never occurred to me that was was on a motorcycle. Fuck.
  16. Oh, no—I saw him get hit.
  17. But then I’d end up in Folsom Prison.
  18. Oh, and it was right out front of Ted Lorenz’s office. And it’d be unseemly to steal work from him like that.
  19. Look—I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have the thought. But the guy was probably homeless. So really—what’re his damages?
  20. And that’s a first. Which for a man my age, is kind of extraordinary. Those of you who served in combat have undoubtedly seen it many times. I haven’t. Driving home along 360. Some guy decided it would be a good idea to cross the highway. It wasn’t. Car ahead of me hits him. Anytime a shoe flies off, it’s bad. This was no different. I suggest someone check his pulse. He doesn’t have one. Someone has the presence of mind to start chest compressions. That actually works, from the standpoint that it started the blood flowing as evidenced by the growing pool of blood from the back of his head. I didn’t do shit to help. You think you’d be a superhero in that situation. I certainly wasn’t. I stood there fairly slack-jawed. Then I went to Maudie’s and had a couple margaritas. I’m not feeling particularly great right now.
  21. 1) Those are good uniforms. 2) Good luck to him. That's a program that deserves better than it has gotten over the past few years.
  22. Because aggy loves America much more than you do, you stupid t-sip. How could you not know that? The thing I'm puzzling over is that fucking patch. You've got ATM over an outline of the map of Texas. Ok--so far so good. But then you've got an American-ish flag. I say "American-ish" because for some reason it has 29 stripes and (by my rough count) about 87 stars. But whatever--if you're going to have an American flag, shouldn't it be over a map of the United States? There's just a lot of aggy going on with that fucking patch, and it really makes me a bit insane.
  23. Well, that’s just terrible.
  24. Sorry—there are no houses in Tuscany. You see, they’re passed down from generation to generation. So it’s really impossible to get a house in Tuscany.
  25. That's kind of where I am, too. It's kind of a show that fit perfectly with its moment in time. But it had a lifespan. And I think we're well past that lifespan. I suppose I'll probably watch. Maybe.
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