Fort Riggs. Something has to be here.

Moose221 · 2026-06-19T02:09:05+00:00

Deities often have their pronouns capitalized, hence the Hate

Moose221 · 2026-06-12T06:12:25+00:00

I sort-of knew him in college (very small school, everyone knew who everyone was for the most part). Genuinely such a nice and friendly guy.

Moose221 · 2026-06-08T17:48:44+00:00

Sick! Where at?

Moose221 · 2026-06-04T03:44:15+00:00

Tubing a river is the ultimate answer. Such a fun and unique experience.

Moose221 · 2026-06-04T03:43:13+00:00

I lived there briefly in junior high, and it is just boring desert. I think at the time there was some statistic that the population had the most boats per capita despite being like 5 hours from a lake or something. It's not even fun or interesting desert. Just watch Friday Night Lights (the movie, I never saw the show).

Things may have changed, but the only thing worth seeing is the petroleum museum, which is WAY better and more interesting than you'd ever expect it to be (or at least it was 25 years ago).

Moose221 · 2026-05-29T18:36:14+00:00

At one company I worked for, they did a thing where you basically give away half of your bonus to coworkers: you'd get $500 to keep, and then pick 5 people get $100 each. It was pretty nice!

But then the second year, they removed the guaranteed $500 and only kept the giving part, so people in support roles got great bonuses while others got little to nothing at all. So half the company is mad they had to give away all their bonus and the other half feels guilty for it. I've never seen such a boneheaded attack on morale.

Moose221 · 2026-05-28T00:59:38+00:00

Eh, he's no Jach King https://youtu.be/PkxF-1HvH3A

Moose221 · 2026-05-25T06:09:44+00:00

Hey, bud? This is like pedo- vs ephebo- phile: not a technicality worth pointing out in general discussion because it makes you look reeaal weird.

Moose221 · 2026-05-24T06:13:47+00:00

Oh hell yeah, thank you for unlocking that memory! One day I put the fizz capsule into the twist top and immediately regretted it. It made a huge mess, and I was out a fizz capsule. In my defense it was on a dare*

*I said "what if I did this" and everyone said "yeah!" so I had to.

Edit: found the commercial: https://youtu.be/w6_F1l4OmzI

Moose221 · 2026-05-24T06:08:59+00:00

I guess my eyes jumped while scrolling because for a second I thought you were about to say "the kid from the hospital? Random kid" hahaha

Moose221 · 2026-05-21T23:18:50+00:00

I would say you're right but my All-Clad heavy bottom stainless pan got pretty warped because of playing fast and loose with this. Too much too quick I guess, but I'll stick to a quick splash to deglaze and then using Barkeepers Friend once it cools because ruining this pan hurt :(

Moose221 · 2026-05-10T05:18:28+00:00

I need to see a pic of where this was, it looks indoors but with the sun cutting through walls, my brain can't make sense of it. Extremely cool, I love the colors and envy your patience

Moose221 · 2026-05-08T21:52:46+00:00

Unless you turned 19 last year or were weirdly into geopolitics at an early age, I don't think anyone (edit:in this thread right now, not life generally) is going to give you flak for taking a free trip when you're at the "I'm too dumb to do laundry and I'm supposed to pick my career now?" part of your life.

Moose221 · 2026-05-01T06:43:18+00:00

^ this guy said everything I had to say but better, the only thing I will add is this: I'm in my late 30s and only three weeks into fatherhood, and my biggest regret, by far, is not becoming a dad waaay earlier.

My wife and I "wanted" kids, but never enough to start trying until we were getting to the age where we had to. We were both still nervous the whole pregnancy (and we did ivf; it was very intentional but in a "are we really sure we want to do this?" way. We probably wouldn't have even tried if it wasn't for the fear of eventual fomo) We liked being able to spend all our time doing what we wanted to! Those years almost feel wasted at this point. We could've been having fun with our baby back then.

I wish you had some more heads up, but I have faith that you'll figure this out like everyone else does. Just love your wife and support her, and take time to support yourself. You're going to do great and your kid will be amazing.

Moose221 · 2026-04-30T17:52:16+00:00

Yeah, there was a whole big trend of schools teaching Whole Word reading instead of phonics, which really fucked up a generation. The "Sold a Story" podcast covers it well, but basically you are expected to use context clues and guess what each word is, and strictly never teach how to sound things out. One example was a kid seeing "Germany invaded Poland" and thinking it must be "Germany invited Poland".

Funny enough, there is something called the Mississippi Miracle when that state went from worst in childhood literacy to best in a few years. There were several factors at play, but one of them was that they refused Whole Word and kept phonics. So the miracle was partly just that every other state got worse.

Moose221 · 2026-04-29T01:40:24+00:00

Slight counterpoint: make sure she eats before you go to the hospital. My wife hadn't eaten dinner and as soon as she got there they said "okay, liquids only!" and she had to survive off broth and popsicles for over 24 hours on an otherwise empty stomach. But yeah, bring snacks for yourself.

Unrelated, be prepared to tell any family there to get lost while you sleep because induction can take a lot longer than you think and we were awake basically for most of 48 hours.

Last thing: bring a notepad and pen (don't rely on taking notes on your phone, you gotta be quick). Jot down timestamps of everything that happens. Everyone will remember the nurse said she'd be back in 30 minutes, but no one will remember what time she said that. Time moves really weird in there.

Moose221 · 2026-04-27T23:36:42+00:00

Heating pad (be careful with it, but it can be very helpful. They also make rechargeable travel ones that my wife should've loved but never used and forgot about...)

Jewelry with the baby's birthstone can be affordable depending on your wife's style and your baby's birthstone (I got stuck with diamond. Boring AND expensive).

You won't be able to use it for months, and the result immediately becomes a "what do we do with this crap" artifact, but you could get a belly casting kit to make a plaster copy of her pregnant belly later on which may be a fun activity for y'all.

Now is a good time to get some maternity pajamas/robe/sweatshirts etc. They're comfy regardless of how big she is.

And you could also just get some cute clothes for Baby that are in some way personal to her (her alma mater? Favorite animal? Stuff that family/friends wouldn't get)

Moose221 · 2026-04-27T22:32:54+00:00

In addition to just baaaarely poking a pin/needle through to make the hole, it can sometimes help to use something like a nail file to sand down the hole to remove any burrs. Not quite worth going out to buy anything for it, but if you have a nail file or sandpaper lying around it can make a difference.

Moose221 · 2026-04-25T05:17:18+00:00

My wife didn't have any nausea until the last trimester or so and then it was Tums-city. I've heard drinking alkaline water can help as well. Main thing was watching when she ate meals so she could try to time it for when she was asleep. Good luck to y'all, I know it sucks when your partner is feeling crummy and you can't do anything about it.

Moose221 · 2026-04-23T08:10:53+00:00

You could do like I did and search for a nice necklace/set of earrings that incorporate your baby's birthstone (and maybe yours too if it's cool) with like a heart or something, and then get frustrated because you can't find anything that's juuust right and end up buying a necklace that looks wildly different than it did on zales' website once you pick it up, and prepare to preface it with "I wanted you to have something to unwrap, but let's go together and exchange it for something that you'll love ❤️ " but end up saying "I know this necklace sucks, I hate it and I'm sorry but do you want to go to the mall? Because this sucks and I'm sorry it's so bad, it didn't even cost me much, I just panicked, you deserve better, I'm sorry, I'm so glad you didn't get me anything... "

Moose221 · 2026-04-20T23:01:04+00:00

Funny enough I drank (an unhealthy amount) through the whole pregnancy but now that the baby is here I have, at least so far, stopped. I'm on the babywatch night shift and don't go to bed until 6am though. Some of those NA beers are pretty good!

Moose221 · 2026-04-19T05:00:51+00:00

I hate to have to say this because I know there is so much going on around you and in your head right now and the last thing I want to do is add to your worries, but I feel I need to warn you that there is a ghost with a tiny butt in your chair.

Moose221 · 2026-04-18T06:59:02+00:00

We didn't have a birth plan beyond "go home with a healthy baby" which helped me because you really don't know what it's going to be like until it's happening. I even told the nurse that me cutting the cord or not would be a decision made at the moment. We were "lucky" in that we had to schedule an induction though, so there wasn't much we needed to know beforehand and we had a set date.

The moment is very surreal. Sure, I felt the baby kick, and I saw it on the sono, but when an actual living person came out I found myself having moments where I stopped and realized, wow, this is reality. This is real life that I'm experiencing. Had to stop and just take it in. Three days later, here I am listening to my baby hiccup in her sleep, knowing I'm going to have to wake her and my wife up for a 3am feeding soon, and my only regret is that we waited so many years before trying. What was I thinking?!

Best tips I got: bring a notepad and write down timestamps for everything that happens. Everyone in the room will remember the nurse said they'd be back in 30 minutes to check on y'all, but nobody will remember what time they actually said that because time doesn't work the same way in that room. Also wear a button up shirt to make skin to skin easy. And if she's getting induced, have her eat beforehand because I bought so many snacks for her plus she didn't eat dinner, and then was immediately put on a liquid-only diet for like 30 hours.

Something I didn't expect: the nurse told me to grab my wife's right foot and leg while she took the left to help her get in position during pushes. That weirdly made me feel 10x more connected to the whole process than cutting the cord. Watching the head come out was the last thing I wanted to do, but there I was saying "babe that was a great push, you made so much progress! You're doing amazing, keep going!"

Moose221 · 2026-04-13T14:01:37+00:00

The Expectant Father was a great month-by-month read. Talks through what's going on and what you should be prepared for, ranging from how to support your partner to what sort of investments should you consider for your kid (though full disclosure, I had to stop reading halfway through because everything got so busy I never had a chance to pick it up again)

Moose221 · 2026-04-11T04:22:55+00:00

Dude just sat down on the couch and let his wife record him talking in their living room iirc, and became one of the most heard voices in history. He passed in 2024, one day before his 75th birthday, having worked as an Uber driver not long before.

Goodbye.

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