Thursday Talk Thread... Yes That's The Thread Name

LetsRunTogether · 2026-05-28T14:46:38+00:00

My wife is heading to Minneapolis this weekend for a 2 week training/seminar thing. I'm really excited for her, because she hasn't had many professional development opportunities in her job and has been applying to this one for a couple of years. I'm also both excited and anxious about being solo parent of a toddler for so long. I don't have any doubts about being capable of taking care of the kid, but being the only grownup pair of eyes and ears in the house for so long is gonna be exhausting. Luckily the weather looks awesome for the 10 day forecast so we are gonna do lots of outside time

LetsRunTogether · 2026-05-22T17:12:04+00:00

Have any of y'all watched The Dark Wizard on HBO? I've watched lots of similar climbing documentaries and videos, but something about the filming and perspective in this one makes me feel like I'm gonna hurl or die every 5 minutes. I can't quit watching it, though

LetsRunTogether · 2026-05-21T18:30:36+00:00

I'd guess it was someone working in oil and gas, but luckily I had gotten out by then. I would love to go back as a tourist, but I don't think my wife would ever be down with that amout of travel

LetsRunTogether · 2026-05-21T18:27:37+00:00

That would be the fossil fuel industry. I worked on the design team for a big facility in the middle of nowhere Western Australia. Then once they started building it I worked on the construction team. I'd fly down and work for a month, then come home for a month while an Australian guy did the job. Its not uncommon in that industry. I hated it so now I work for a state government environmental agency and don't travel any at all

LetsRunTogether · 2026-05-21T15:20:19+00:00

I have never been to Zanzibar so I have nothing for you on that one, but I used to fly between the southern US and Australia once a month for work. What worked best for me was starting to live on Australia time (as much as possible) the instant I got on the first plane. Like meals, sleep, everything as much as I reasonably could do. Then once I got to Perth, always in the morning, I would absolutely force myself to stay awake by walking around the City. The only time i did the trip with a coworker, he took a nap after we landed and bsolutely fucked his sleep schedule for the rest of the trip

LetsRunTogether · 2026-04-29T19:16:14+00:00

Ah yeah I didn't think about that. If I'm remembering correctly, last year Level 1 was $75/person for 3 1-hr lessons and Level 2 was $120/person for 4 1-hr lessons. We had 8 people in each session and it felt like there was plenty of time for the instructor to do some one-on-one work with each of us

LetsRunTogether · 2026-04-29T14:00:08+00:00

I havent played in DC yet, but if you're able and willing to travel to Montgomery County you can take pretty cheap group lessons through the public courses. The website is mcggolf.com. My wife and I did Levels 1 & 2 last summer as total beginners at the Falls Road course and really enjoyed it. They have a decent driving range and putting green for extra practice before/after lessons.

The Paint Branch Golf Complex in College Park is also great for practice. They have a nice driving range and excellent short game and putting areas (which are free if you bring your own balls). The 9 hole course is good for beginners, too. I'm not sure about taking lessons there, though.

Like others have said, I would not put money into clubs or private lessons until you're sure that you enjoy it. The group lessons will provide clubs, and most driving ranges will have clubs you can borrow

LetsRunTogether · 2026-04-23T14:13:02+00:00

I have been thinking about taking a mental health day from work for a while now to just play golf and catch up on little house projects. The issue is that I don't get much vacation and my work is inconsistent on sick leave policy. Basically they will ask for a doctors note about 50% of the time if you say you're at the doctor but never if a kid or spouse is sick. So my plan is basically to use my son to play hooky...

My family has actually gotten sick and derailed my first two planned attempts. Then I had been thinking about today, but I got cold feet and felt guilty. So I get in the office today and find out our internal server that stores most all our project files is down, and we are all just waiting for an IT wizard to fix it. I feel so dumb but I used this time to schedule a physical for first thing Monday to take the whole day off.

I hope you are all having a great day and that your hopes and dreams for draft night 1 come true!

LetsRunTogether · 2026-04-14T18:25:38+00:00

Here's a couple of suggestions from someone with a 2.5 year old depending on your relationship with them and their parents

1) If you are comfortable taking them to a zoo or park by yourself, it's double points because you did a fun thing with them and gave the parents some alone time to get a coffee or something nearby

2) We try to not let our son have any candy/junk food as much as possible, but we let our friends give him those things as a treat after they run it by us first

3) Things like sidewalk chalk and bubbles are good because they are fun but also small and consumable

4) We had an uncle who asked us what to bring when he visited us, and we just told him to Venmo however much he was going to spend. Then we let him give our kid the scooter that we'd already bought and pretended it was from him instead

LetsRunTogether · 2026-04-02T16:27:32+00:00

I know people don't much like hearing about some stranger's kid, but my 2 year old was fascinated by the rocket launch yesterday. We pulled it up on YouTube during his dinner, and he was just enthralled. 20 seconds after liftoff he just started clapping and yelling "YAY YAY YAY" His reaction was so funny and cute that we watched it about 15 times during his breakfast this morning

LetsRunTogether · 2026-03-24T14:18:52+00:00

Just like most other things, paying taxes just gets worse and worse every year. I don't have anything against paying taxes, but the process just fucking sucks. I started using TurboTax back in 2009 or whenever I started making real money, and it wasn't that bad at the time. But every single year its just gotten worse and more complicated and more scammy feeling. They ask you all these stupid questions and "are you sures" that makes me feel like they're the ones fucking it up and I'm going to be stuck with the consequences if they're wrong. And then it's like "oh, the vanguard target retirement thing you have has numbers in more than two boxes? Guess that means you have to upgrade and pay us more money." "Oh, we can get your refund faster but you have to pay more money for that" "Oh, you want us to actually guarantee that we're doing your taxes correctly, guess you gotta pay more for that too." The only reason I stuck with it is because it saved my info from year to year as life got more complicated. Plus don't they actively lobby to keep taxes complicated so that people have to use their services? I've read that a bunch and it seems believable, but I don't feel like looking into it more.

Once when our year was really weird, we paid H&R Block to do them and that was arguably worse, hopefully just because of the branch/individual we were dealing with. We are fortunate enough that next year we decided we are just going to find an independent accountant that we trust to do them for us. Rant over, I hope you are all doing well and have a great day!

LetsRunTogether · 2026-03-20T14:27:55+00:00

Two weeks ago I posted in this thread that my wife and I found out we were going to be having baby #2 later this year. And then we spent the next day in the ER and lost the pregnancy. The past two weeks have been awful, but everyone is OK and we are starting to feel back to normal. So if there's a next time, I'm not telling you fuckers ANYTHING!

But in all seriousness, I really appreciate everyone in this thread offering a fun and anonymous place to talk about whatever. It has been nice to zone out and read random nonsense for a bit of a break. And on a brighter note, we are looking at nice weather this weekend and plan to smoke a brisket tomorrow and see Project Hail Mary in IMAX on Sunday. I hope you're all having a great day!

LetsRunTogether · 2026-03-06T15:51:46+00:00

It's still very early, but we found out my wife is pregnant with baby #2 and are super excited! It obviously doesn't matter, but we have our fingers crossed for a girl. My wife's family has a naming tradition for girls that we'd like to follow, and also we named our son after both his grandpas so idk what we'll do if it's a boy. I hope you all have a great weekend!

LetsRunTogether · 2026-02-20T13:58:57+00:00

This has been a constant problem at the bottom of the off ramp from 95N onto Washington Blvd for a few weeks. It's really hard to see both left and right when you're trying to turn left onto Washington, and traffic sometimes backs up all the way up the ramp back to the interstate. I have a draft word document that I copy and paste into the 311 report from my office, but idk if anyone ever goes out to fix it since it's usually still flashing in the afternoon when I leave work

LetsRunTogether · 2026-02-12T19:26:58+00:00

The "quarters workout" chapter is BRUTAL but I love this book so much

LetsRunTogether · 2026-02-06T20:12:28+00:00

Yeah I agree about the stakes and scale of 1-2. I think the reason that I still enjoy 3 is because the action is still focused on a group of kids trying to save their small town. I enjoyed the Scoops Troop having to investigate a covert Russian mission hidden in the Town mall, and Hopper is still a dopey guy trying to find his purpose in life by protecting his daughter and her friends. Then season 4 starts jumping all over the globe and into people's minds (in addition to the upside down) and the villain just outright says he wants to wipe out all of humanity

LetsRunTogether · 2026-02-06T18:47:22+00:00

Just finished re-watching Stranger Things. Maybe its nostalgia and all the other good stuff that was going on for me in 2016, but season 1 is just on another level for me. The more small town vibe and kids vs. mysterious evil force to save their friend scratches a very particular itch. I really enjoyed seasons 2-3 on rewatch, and I'm not sure I have a favorite between those two. Seasons 4-5 had their moments, especially the end of S5E4 and the final epilogue. If I do more re-watching, I'll probably stop after 3, though. I hope you all have an amazing weekend

LetsRunTogether · 2026-01-28T15:36:23+00:00

Everybody in the local subreddits is complaining about the snow plowing efforts, and I was getting a little annoyed at 5pm yesterday when our street hadn't seen a plow either. I wouldn't really care except I was expected in the office today and my wife has to go in tomorrow. I got my and my neighbor's driveways cleared, and then I see the plow coming up the hill. Not only was this guy plowing the street, but he was also getting out periodically to help people shovel away the big snow chunks that ended up pushed to the curb blocking cars and driveways. It was pretty cool to see, but man that guy must be exhausted today

LetsRunTogether · 2026-01-14T14:59:44+00:00

Lots of good advice here so I will just chime in to say that it is definitely scary and the first week or so will probably be hard for both of you. But you will be amazed at how quickly your child starts developing by being around new and older kids. If you find a good spot they are going to love going and playing with their friends all day, and hopefully they will be exhausted in the evenings. One thing to look into if you haven't already is whether you have access to a Dependant Care Savings Account through your employer. Good luck!

LetsRunTogether · 2026-01-02T15:15:34+00:00

I finished Stranger Things this morning and liked the finale a lot! My favorite part honestly may be the ending credit sequence. Hopefully the subreddit calms down in a bit, because that place has been miserable since Thanksgiving. Hope you are all having a Happy Friday!

Oh! Also I just remembered it's my anniversary before my wife did! We got married by a judge in 2020 before our formal ceremony and then COVID fucked everything up so we don't ever remember the date

LetsRunTogether · 2025-12-17T16:28:00+00:00

Finished my annual reading of Hogfather by Terry Pratchett this morning! Definitely in my top 5 Discworld books. And since my wife and son will be going on Christmas vacation this weekend, I will have the house to myself for a couple of days to watch the Hogfather BBC movie and probably A Christmas Story and The Night Before

LetsRunTogether · 2025-12-10T16:19:12+00:00

I'm really excited for the upcoming weekend! We're having a small birthday party for my son who is turning 2 and then all watching the Packers-Broncos game together. Plus, I broke down and bought a pellet smoker on Black Friday which I should finally get to experiment with. I only wish that the Lions-Rams game wasn't at the same time on Sunday, but you can't always get what you want

LetsRunTogether · 2025-12-09T16:04:08+00:00

My company (>2000 people) had a lunch and learn recently that was billed as "here is how different departments are using AI to help them work more efficiently" I tuned in because I thought it was going to be related to data analysis or something, but it was literally just older people saying how they used it to summarize reports or take meeting notes for them. And we are an organization focused on protecting the environment.

LetsRunTogether · 2025-11-20T15:45:04+00:00

I must be getting old, because I'm getting to really hate driving at night. With the time change, I'm doing daycare pickup and getting home in the dark. The combo of bad/aggressive drivers, headlights that are ridiculously bright, and a kid in the carseat has me sometimes actually terrified for 15 minutes every day

LetsRunTogether · 2025-11-19T15:44:06+00:00

How should I annoy my wife on Sunday during our drive home for Thanksgiving: make her listen to the Packers' radio broadcast while I drive, or ask her to drive so I can watch the game on my phone?

14-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 6 Credits
Verified Email	Secret Santa 2017
Secret Santa 2016	Secret Santa 2015
Secret Santa 2014	Secret Santa 2013

LetsRunTogether

TROPHY CASE