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Hayduke

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Everything posted by Hayduke

  1. Somewhere near Antigo, Wisconsin. Not sure of the exact location, other than it being close to or on the Ice Age Trail, which I've mostly finished up in that area (I'm section-hiking, about 600 miles in now with about 500 to go). We've talked about that but keep missing our opportunities.
  2. Look away for five minutes and suddenly it's 2-1 Bayern. Not sure Dortmund will be able to grab this one back on the road, so it looks like Bayern will have a full six-point lead in the table over Leverkusen with just five more games to play. Home games against Mainz and BMG sandwiched between away games with Heidenheim, Leipzig and Hoffenheim. Leverkusen with games at St. Pauli, Freiburg and Mainz with home games against Augsburg and Dortmund. It would be pretty damned impressive if they somehow take the title with that slate -- especially with four of those five teams in the top nine and fighting for European play. And, before I can even finish this post, it's 2-2, but now only two minutes and stoppage time left. Regardless, things look much better for Bayern than Leverkusen. Also, Kentucky coach gets booted, and with good reason. That guy definitely moved into the pitch instead of away. That announcer insisted he was bracing, but if you have time to move to "brace," you're drawing in, not pushing out.
  3. Nice counterattack by Dortmund early in the second half -- 1-0 over Bayern. Had this open in another window and happened to catch it during the Horns' pitching change ... nice goal.
  4. Newsletter update this week from our former neighbors that @Captain Ron and those who love this thread should appreciate: It's been a productive, but challenging season. We've made nearly 1,000 gallons of syrup, and potentially have a couple hundred more gallons to cook. The sap run has been sporadic, but strong. The sugar content of the sap has been high (we're likely averaging above 2.5%), and the syrup quality has been good. Even though it's been a productive season, it's been a challenging one. There are problems every year, it's just the nature of maple syrup production. But this year has been exceptional. We had a massive ice storm that brought down a lot of trees and branches and knocked out power for four days at the farm. That lack of power put us significantly behind in cooking syrup--it's now over a week later and we're still trying to catch up. Thankfully, the temperatures were cool enough that we didn't lose any sap. Adding to our challenges this season, one of our storage tanks collapsed. It's hard to explain how a stainless steel tank just collapses, but it did. We also had random hoses disconnect and spray hot sap, sap tanks overflow, and electric breakers blow out. Fortunately, these were temporary issues and no one was hurt during any of these events. Uff-da. All of that considered, we're grateful for all of the sap from the trees. Without the sap, we wouldn't have syrup. Without the syrup, we wouldn't be able to eat Saturday morning pancakes. And so on.... And, we appreciate all the help we've had in the woods and the sugarshack. We've had a great crew of people supporting us through the season. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped us make this season possible!
  5. These guys don't screw around when they negotiate.
  6. Unless you got up early, this one was over before your coffee was in the pot. I was slow with mine and turned the game on in the 7th minute to find Hoffenheim up 1-0. Now 2-0 at the start of the second half. National team member Jonathan Burkardt not playing for Mainz and I can't even find info on why ... but plenty on how he's probably leaving the team at the end of the season. And with Amiri already out for too many yellows, it was already iffy. I'm not quite ready to say it was fun while it lasted, but I suspect Mainz will take a lot of money for Burkardt and continue using it to make life at the relegation end my primary source of Bundesliga entertainment. But it is entertaining, and that's one of the reasons I think it would be a great move for college football, which is clearly moving more and more toward being a major league sport.
  7. That Thamel X post is worth looking at just because of this response ...
  8. Now, THAT is PR. But I'm assuming "Giddings" is code for some other place and that we're going to have to buy the book to get any real detail here.
  9. Conclusion was indeed carbon monoxide poisoning. Interesting column in the Tico Times -- https://ticotimes.net/2025/04/03/why-expats-are-trading-costa-rican-residency-for-tourist-status
  10. It was indeed. That picture drew me to watch the replay, and it was worth the effort. Dortmund making a big move up the table the last two weeks by thumping Mainz and Freiburg in succession. I'd like to see them keep it going against Bayern next week not for their sake, but to tighten things up at the top. Leverkusen pulls out another extra-time winner today. The whole idea of Mainz to the Champions League is something I'm looking at as a lark, but maybe it'll be a nice spring bonus. They'll have to face Hoffenheim on the road next week without Nadiem Amiri, who had a desperate foul at the end of the game that included grabbing the ball with his hand when it just didn't look necessary. Too bad -- would have been that much more interesting to watch him play against his original club. You gonna watch that one, @Pato del Muerto?
  11. Look at that. "Woe is us" post already out of date. 1-1 in the 75th.
  12. Mainz has about 20 minutes to save its 9-game home unbeaten streak, and its position in the Champions League, in the match against relegation contender Holstein Kiel. Meh. And offsides on the equalizer.
  13. Glad that worked out. That's not a bad $500 to spend. Have put too much time into trying to find attorneys over the past few years for a couple of different reasons, and it can be a lot of work to find the right one for the situation. A guy gets to clearly see why it's a business decision for both the attorneys and the ones who need 'em. I've paid initial consult fees to attorneys who say they'll answer follow-up questions but don't (even simple ones that would take a quick email). Had probate attorneys refuse to back off of their $3,000-$5,000 estimates for simple muniment of title work even though I had done most of the work for them already, just to divide a $20,000 insurance policy among multiple siblings (and ended up paying a legal aid society $350 for, plus court fees -- gave them a donation afterward). Maddening, but I figure there is probably some good info on a few posts in this forum, so came over to see what was here. Nice to see a fairly quick resolution for you on this one.
  14. No doubt that the UC system is great. But UCSB is probably best described as a peer to UT in overall quality. They're both plenty to aspire to, and obviously most of the value is going to come from the specific program a student chooses. I'd respond pretty much the same way to this one. Arizona has some things going for it. A lesser reputation for sure, but some good programs and in an area that has its own advantages, including networking. I'm a university faculty member at a second-tier state school in the Midwest that at least until recently was considered a top-10 regional school for its size. We've got a very small number of national-class programs here and one or maybe two world-class programs. Most of the rest is just average. Also dad to a U. of Minnesota senior and a high school junior, so I've got my own observations and beliefs. I've seen plenty of students wander all over, heard many debt stories, worried about changes eroding our education system, and fretted for my students and my kids because of the job market. Also talked to a few faculty who wished they or their kids had been plumbers or electricians instead. We (and my wife mostly defers to me on this stuff) have mainly told our kids to avoid debt above all and try to pick a place that has what they think they want, but also options. Because most kids -- like most Surly denizens, probably -- are likely to switch directions, and that's increasingly likely to happen multiple times. Never would have imagined our son's course, which involves ROTC and the reserves. Obviously not for everybody, but if he can last one more year in his habits, he will be able to roll over his entire college investment account into an IRA. He's done some really cool stuff but also has a regular college life (non-military orgs and activities) and still hangs in the Twin Cities with two of his best friends from growing up. We mostly buy him stuff -- a bed, a plane ticket, lots of food, clothing -- but have never paid a tuition or rent bill. One thing that helps is he still has no car and we strongly encourage him not to get one unless he really needs it. He came close this spring but backed off, which we believe wise (even though my wife says she would pay for it, a used one from a relative). During breaks, we drive him to school/back or he gets rides from friends. Lately he's done some bus trips and we drive to a nearby city to pick him up. Our daughter is a youth apprentice in a top 600 or so Fortune company, and they, like many other organizations, are a corporate equivalent of the reserves in that they'll offer substantial educational help in return for a post-college commitment. We're not entirely certain of how that works and she's been reluctant to check into it as much as we're pushing her to. Definitely not going to force it on her, but it does give her limited options, near some decent to good schools, to work through college in a professional career. We highlight the advantages of that. The car is a different matter with her, and we're not sure how that will go. Probably some kind of deal regarding work. She saves a lot more than our son did, and if we get lucky, she could have the same situation at the end because of her grades and maybe other options. But we preach that a standard college path (4-5 years, including 1-2 living on campus) can be a real trap for any family that has to sacrifice for its children. But even debt is an option, a risk that can pay off. We encourage our daughter to see this as a more flexible path, and we're fortunate our son is modeling that for her.
  15. This was a great photo from the DFB site after Stiller's goal to give VfB the 1-0 lead. Almost looks like they're lined up in formation, but you can see from a still from the video, just below the picture, that it was a matter of being at the right angle for the photo at the right time.
  16. Hayduke

    We got Soul?

    Great thread. Thanks, @elguapo. Grew up on military bases around the U.S. and in Germany, where virtually every one of these songs was a staple on the radio and especially on the jukeboxes of the base snack bars. My first real job was at a snack bar, where a coworker, an older Korean woman, would use her daily breaks by pulling up next to the jukebox, lighting a cigarette, and puffing away while staring into the distance and listening to this song, practically spitting out a derisive "huh" two or three times with every play. Especially during the opening spoken portion. Day after day, week after week, for an entire summer I watched this routine. Not sure I've seen that level of fixation on a song since.
  17. Watched all three of those you shared and liked them all, but I think I'm too simple to be affected in the same way that perhaps you were because of the tempo of the Arctic Monkeys and the imagery in the Death Cab for Cutie video. Old 97's had more of the combo of tempo, lyrics and overall feel to bring the sentiment. But I certainly appreciate a good relationship song that doesn't make me feel like jumping off my porch. And now I'm done with this stuff for the night or I'll never get caught up.
  18. Took our daughter to a running camp in Colorado a couple of years ago and got some much-needed alone time with my wife. Spent a little time with some of her family as well and got together with an old friend. The kind of vacation that everybody needs, and it made me start putting together a playlist that also includes some John Denver. Not many mean "Colorado" like he does. I'm sorry about your father. Sounds like you had some great memories with him, and not everybody gets those.
  19. I remember that too; that was cool. Women's sports are really fun when it gets to that stage and it's your team. It's just a different kind of emotion, and dads are just big old bags of wimpiness. The reactions of Rori Harmon and Vic Schaefer tonight, when they knew they were going back to the Final Four and there were still a few seconds left in the game, were just a blast. Don't know if you saw it, but Harmon was holding the ball and bent over toward the floor like she was going to lose it; Schaefer was squatting with his head down and looked like he was going to bawl.
  20. That was great. Sometimes I think all takes to be a screenwriter is to get a good soundtrack so all you have to do is let somebody else's words do all the work. Of course, it's a little more difficult than that, but you get the right song and you're a good way down the path. Pre-teen girls? Geez, I wish. I was an angsty soon-to-be Longhorn by then.
  21. Never heard of these guys. Listened to "Brought Me" while watching the Horns beat TCU (and Maddie Booker's dad trying to be cool watching his daughter). Now listening to the whole Cat in the Rain album and enjoying their lyrics. Love the roots rock/bluegrass/Americana instrumentation. Two great things for you, @Al_4_ISU: it's only 2025, and someday you're going to look around and realize she's brought you two or three or four more adopted daughters, and maybe more. Especially if she's playing sports, which for some reason they seem to approach quite differently. When our daughter, who's 16 now, was around your daughter's age now, I stopped thinking I needed to get a gun and started thinking, "Man, those poor boys." She was three weeks premature and of course scared us to death, so I can only imagine how you view yours after all that struggle (which my sister and her husband also went through, and they've got an in-vitro grad in her mid-20s and another adopted daughter). But girls are tough in a way that most of us dads will never be, I think. For me, it's the summer or fall of 2026 that's going to wreck me. Our son left in 2021 for boot camp and that was tough. But having her head to college, or wherever, is going to be a completely different ball game.
  22. Here's an unusual one ... imperial lager aged in bourbon barrels with hops terpenes added. Four of the six who tried this didn't like it. I did. More herbal than liquor-like to me. Louis XIII from O'So in Plover, WI in a bomber. Power out on our block because of an ice storm, so we moved up to the living room for happy hour.
  23. Didn't see this on one here. It's on my Sunday morning playlist for drinking coffee and sitting around thinking. I bought this album back when it first came out and "Alright Guy" was getting some airplay. This one probably didn't, and that's understandable, given the shock that comes at the end the first time you hear it. Hits a little harder this week because I got some insight about one of my students on Thursday from a colleague at the university -- a reminder of how difficult it is for all of us to figure stuff out in any of our relationships. Edited for a tear warning: dads and moms, this is a tough one. I hate to do that, but it feels necessary.
  24. I've got the Mainz club page in English bookmarked, but I actually don't visit it a lot -- mostly just watch the games. I visit the Bundesliga main site a couple of times a week, and the English site for the Deutsche Fußball-Bund is useful, but it used to be a lot better as a one-stop shop. Then they stopped putting the tables and a bunch of news up for the first and second divisions. Now it's third division and national team stuff, which is still good, but it was a lot better before. I think they even had all the regional stuff, but no more -- just third division, national teams and the Pokal. Since ESPN took over the Bundesliga site, it seems a little less functional in some ways, but they've improved over the last couple of years. Took me forever to see the little icon for the 2. Liga at the top of the page on their most recent makeover, though. Bummer about the red card for Stuttgart against Frankfurt today. Stuttgart made a game of it up until the end, but it was a tough spot to be in.
  25. Working out but got to the TV for the second half of the early games. Saw Augsburg sub in French-born, Congo national player Samuel Essende, who scored 17 seconds into the half to put Hoffenheim down 1-0. Then switched to BMG-Red Bull, where I watched BMG hit the posts several times but get one in to take the 1-0 win. Switched back to the end of Hoffenheim, where I had missed the penalty kick that tied it at 1-1. Apparently it was quite the second half, and both teams looked about done. BMG moves past Red Bull into fifth. Both Augsburg and Hoffenheim move up a spot, but Hoffenheim is still in a virtual tie with Union Berlin, which plays tomorrow against Freiburg in a game with implications for both ends of the table. Brunch now, Eintracht and Stuttgart coming up. Glad to see the games back on -- have some work to catch up on, so I'll watch Stuttgart in one window while grading in another.
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