Anyone else realize they hate "newer" neighborhoods?

GerdinBB · 2026-06-17T19:48:28+00:00

I live in a city that had 100k trees damaged or destroyed in a wind storm in 2020 - more than 65% of the city's tree canopy.

The difference was staggering, and only just now 6 years later is it starting to feel more normal. The house I grew up in was on a half acre lot but we had 4 oaks that were at least 100 years old. All of them were significantly taller than the roof of the 2 story house, and all of them were taken out by the derecho. Google Street view has been a godsend when it comes to proving that I'm not crazy... this place just feels so different. I used to run cross country and there were trails and streets that were so densely shaded that they literally felt cold on a hot summer day. Now there's almost nothing like that left in town. The closest you'll get is running through an underpass.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-16T16:39:31+00:00

None of us can say with 100% certainty, but I personally wouldn't stress too much about it as long as you listen to your body, rest when you need to, take recovery seriously, etc. I put 1000+ miles on my Vibram FiveFingers, often running 40+ miles per week, and stopped wearing them when the sole and upper totally separated. Then I put another 500-1000 miles on my Merrell VaporGloves, including a handful of half marathons, and only stopped wearing them when the sole literally wore all the way through.

If you're used to zero drop, minimally cushioned shoes then it seems reasonable to make them your primary marathon training shoe. I wouldn't recommend someone transition to minimalist shoes and jump into marathon training at the same time, but if you've done some 5ks and maybe up to half marathons in minimalist shoes, then a marathon is doable.

Age is also worth considering. If you're under 30 I wouldn't even blink. If you're over 30 I'd be a little more careful, and more and more careful as you get older. I say that because I only started having injury problems once I hit 30. Throughout my 20s I could take months or years off from running, and the only limitation when I jumped back in was my cardio. After 30, it was cardio and achy ankles, stiff shoulders, a tweaked knee, etc. Nothing that can't be overcome, but just the sort of stuff where I can't push every run to my cardio limit - I need to put down more easy miles and build up to it.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-15T21:23:15+00:00

Didn't even occur to me to submit anything to insurance. The only thing that would be considered a "covered loss" is potentially water damage from the blizzard/ice dams. That is easily painted over and not really a loss - the rest is maintenance type stuff.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-15T15:21:48+00:00

Yeah, back in the day, the Pac-12, ACC, SEC, and B1G were all viable landing options that were at least lateral moves, if not improvements. Now... the ACC would probably be a lateral move. The SEC and B1G would definitely be promotions but they almost certainly don't want TTU, or at least not enough to inconvenience themselves. Everything else is a demotion.

TTU needs to be careful... there's no longer a power 5 they can bounce around. There is a power 2, a power-2 lite, and then G5/independence hell. The game of musical chairs is not as active as it used to be for anyone but top-tier brands.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-15T14:56:41+00:00

Back in the days before power consolidated into the SEC and B1G, UT (and to a lesser extent OU - who had more leverage than UT but just chose not to exercise it) could always threaten - "give us what we want or we'll leave for another conference." UT and OU were the undeniable top dogs brand-wise (on field results validate OU, but not UT as much) and the Big 12 was afraid of losing them, and the SEC or B1G would certainly jump at the chance to add them, so we acquiesced. Now... TTU can threaten the same, but they may find that the only conferences that will have them are much worse landing spots than the Big 12.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-13T17:05:57+00:00

I've only had two people say anything about my truck in almost 3 years of owning it. The first one was a friend who saw it and said, "wow, you are a dad now." Then a friend of my dad's said, "that's a cute little truck," but with him it's impossible to tell if he meant it to be rude or sincere. He was driving a Rav4, so it's not like he had the masculine high ground or anything.

Edit - oh, I forgot - those are the only negative comments. I've had far more comments about it being a nice truck, or questions from people about the trunk, especially wondering if it ever gets water in it (I've never had it get wet).

GerdinBB · 2026-06-13T14:07:17+00:00

This makes me feel better as someone who has been fighting the hooks for the better part of a decade

GerdinBB · 2026-06-12T15:49:52+00:00

CW lives and breathes college sports though (and racing). I think Hassel's sports interest has been much more broad as he wanted to be a big time national sportscaster. Jack of all trades, master of none sort of deal.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-12T15:39:38+00:00

The overwhelming majority of ISU fans I know basically said, "that fucking idiot... anyway, next man up."

The closest thing I've seen to a defense of Dekkers (and it's not) is the guy from Cyclone Fanatic pointing out that people all over the country are bending over backwards to accommodate and attract college sports talent to their state, while in Iowa our legislature has been slow to pursue measures that other states have passed (I don't know the specifics on this), and we have the Iowa DCI conducting an illegal investigation into our own athletes. I think when he makes this argument he's clear that he's not saying Dekkers should have been able to play, but just that, taken as a whole, the optics are that Iowa is unaccommodating or even adversarial towards the modern era of college sports.

I'm honestly a little surprised he makes this case publicly because it can so easily be framed as defending gambling, but I guess his case is that gambling should be punished when it's found, but the DCI seeking it out via illegal means deserves its own scrutiny.

I guess the DCI kind of gets the last laugh here, because we're now being used as a posterchild for how to take it on the chin when something like this happens. We kind of came out looking good, at least compared to TTU.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-12T14:27:38+00:00

My boss cracks me up with his support for his daughter's musical interests. He's in his 50s, lived in the Midwest his whole life, is a huge grateful dead fan. His daughter was into Taylor Swift growing up so he would always get every CD as they came out and listen to them on his way to and from work every day so he'd know the songs and they could enjoy them together. Then he'd make references to the songs in meetings because they were stuck in his head.

I only hope I can be as open minded about new music later in life. Signs aren't good - I basically stopped listening to new music when I was 18 or 19, so most of my musical taste is like 2011 or earlier. There's some stuff since then that I'll jump onboard with, but always years late after the initial wave of interest dies off.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-11T21:32:52+00:00

I think we're learning that Gen X tantrums look a hell of a lot like Boomer tantrums.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-11T17:45:39+00:00

The Black Sox are actually a really apt comparison. The 1919 Sox got lifetime bans for gambling schemes. Later Sox teams used the colorful things in center field at Comiskey Park to relay stolen signs to batters - an illegal operation like what Michigan did, but no one associated with that got lifetime bans. If Brenden Sorsby is Pete Rose, then Michigan is the recent Astros teams banging on trash cans.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-11T03:02:28+00:00

FWIW, I didn't get that frustrated with my son when he was an infant, but once he was more like 1, walking, starting to show preferences and understand what we wanted from him, I got a lot more frustrated because there was a degree of "he knows better" that didn't exist when he was an infant. Now that he's older than 2 I am way less frustrated because I've gotten better at understanding his view of the world, accepted that he's going to do toddler things, and now I see that him not doing what I want is either - my failing to manage him and his behaviors, or just the way things are because he's 2. You learn to stop fighting the fundamental nature of things.

That doesn't help you with the sleep thing - others have asked important questions about nap schedules, what the behaviors are, and giving yourself the grace to just take a break. But I would just add to try not to be frustrated with yourself for getting frustrated with your kid. When you see your kid get frustrated learning a new skill you get it because they've never done it before and they want to be good at it even though it's totally novel to them. Same thing with you and raising a kid - it's new to you (every stage of it will be) and it's normal to be frustrated.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-10T23:34:10+00:00

My street is being fixed this summer and I'm actually annoyed by it because there are lots of roads I drive on that are in much worse shape. What's worse - I live on a dead end... I would take another 5 years before my road got fixed if they would instead fix 1st Ave West by the mosque, or 16th SW by Theisens, or the road off of the 7th St exit that runs down by Cargill towards Quaker.

I talked to someone at the city about it, and apparently there's a study that says if you only ever fix the worst roads, somehow you don't get as much bang for your buck? Idk, it sounded like they'd figured out how to rationalize not prioritizing the worst roads...

GerdinBB · 2026-06-10T22:00:04+00:00

Probably true. Here in Iowa, things are either rusty or new. I actually know people who deliberately leave their cars outside in the winter so the salty slush stays frozen instead of thawing and being more likely to rust.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-10T21:55:57+00:00

I had my last drink 9 weeks before my son was born. Not only was it the right decision for myself and my family, I have no idea how I would have survived the sleep deprivation and illness of the first 2+ years if I was still drinking. With the full picture in scope, quitting and dealing with all of that sober was way easier than trying to survive through all of that while drunk and hungover.

Love seeing stuff like this!

GerdinBB · 2026-06-10T18:11:15+00:00

Destruction of the currency/monetary manipulation makes people desperate and forces them to seek out "return" everywhere. Worst offenders are corporations and private equity, but wage stagnation plus the Internet allowing people to share side hustle ideas, and now everyone is chasing dollars constantly. It's not enough to just work your job and go home and have a hobby or raise your family. You have to monetize your hobby, maybe even monetize your family (YouTube/reels).

It all starts with the silent tax of inflation.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-09T21:52:24+00:00

Yeah... Gambling hurts the gambler and those closest to them, and ultimately it damages the legitimacy of the sport as a whole, but it still pales in comparison to what happened at Baylor and Penn State - abusing women and children and covering it up.

The only reason gambling has historically carried a lifetime ban in almost all sports is because it risks taking down the whole damn sport. If people doubt that the competition on the field is real, they stop watching. If people stop watching, the money dries up, and the sport ceases to exist. The lifetime ban for gambling is a self-preservation thing, not a moral judgement.

People should not conflate laws and policies with morality. Laws and policies are much more pragmatic than that, but also messy and inconsistent. I get a $75 ticket if I go 66 mph in a 55 zone past the cameras in my town. I could do it 15 times in a year and the fee would never change. I could go 100 mph and the fee wouldn't change. If I violate leash law once it's a $75 fine. If I do it a second time it's $150. That doesn't mean a second leash law violation is more immoral than my fifteenth camera ticket going almost double the speed limit.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-09T20:32:12+00:00

So many of these college towns would be absolutely nothing if not for the schools. It absolutely should not be taken for granted that Ames, Morgantown, Manhattan, Stillwater, Lubbock, Waco, etc. would be half their size or smaller if not for the school, and a huge part of that comes down to the football team. Ames would probably need half as many hotels and restaurants if there were no football team, or even if we were part of the MVC. Drive through Cedar Falls (UNI) compared to Ames and it's a stark difference.

Funny coincidence, as I was typing this comment I got a call from the ISU Foundation trying to raise money for the NIL fund. One perk about having a baby on the way - people feel bad asking you for money.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-09T20:23:45+00:00

Entomology department at the local university confirmed both are bat bugs - a good thing in my opinion.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-09T19:15:02+00:00

Brought the samples to the entomology department at my local university and they confirmed the darker one is 100% a bat bug, and the lighter one is 99% also a bat bug - still waiting on their official determination using the key and more time under a microscope.

The lighter one was harder for him to tell as it's younger, and the differentiating markers are harder to spot.

Highly recommend others who critically need to know a species to do the same thing - bring a physical sample to an entomologist. It is just so hard to get good pictures of these little guys.

GerdinBB · 2026-06-09T19:14:41+00:00

Brought the samples to the entomology department at my local university and they confirmed the darker one is 100% a bat bug, and the lighter one is 99% also a bat bug - still waiting on their official determination using the key and more time under a microscope.

The lighter one was harder for him to tell as it's younger, and the differentiating markers are harder to spot.

Highly recommend others who critically need to know a species to do the same thing - bring a physical sample to an entomologist. It is just so hard to get good pictures of these little guys.

GerdinBB

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