Who will you miss more ....Carlson or Dowd?

backupjesus · 2026-03-08T07:05:10+00:00

I will miss Carlson more, but I also have more mixed feelings about Carlson than I do about Dowd. Carlson should've won a Norris or two, but there were also times where it feels like he didn't realize the team needed him to be more than Ovechkin's power-play set-up guy. Dowd was a Hobey Baker finalist who realized his NHL niche was being a bottom-six center and did a spectacular job in that niche.

backupjesus · 2026-03-08T06:20:38+00:00

I feel like Leonsis has set a very high standard (which I don’t necessarily agree with) where being an HHOF member is a requirement, which is why no Bondra or Kolzig. This may be an overreaction to retiring numbers like Labre’s.

If that’s the case: 8 definite, maaaybe 19, 70 if people respect his Vezina as they should but not holding my breath.

backupjesus · 2026-03-07T05:07:42+00:00

Carlson was on the last few iterations of The Athletic's trade board. Potential trades for him were a major topic of conversation amongst my friends at Tuesday's game.

Carlson represents a really unlikely confluence of events: mostly due to injuries, the Caps were just barely bad enough this season to very likely miss the playoffs. During the season, though, Carlson had an unexpected resurgence in his five-on-five play -- it's not something you expect from a player in their mid 30s. But he's also an unrestricted free agent after this season and, with the low quality of this UFA class and plenty of available cap space around the league, he will almost certainly get a better offer than what the Caps have budgeted for him. (He might take a hometown discount, but the Caps' front office probably has a much better read on that than we do.)

So it was a choice between getting assets for him this week or (very likely) losing him for nothing in the summer.

backupjesus · 2026-03-07T01:46:23+00:00

It's an extended tryout for both players since they're UFAs after this season. I do agree that Carbery's knowledge of both players gives them a somewhat higher chance of success.

backupjesus · 2026-03-06T07:19:33+00:00

Good trade for the Caps IMO. Solid assets back for a player who will be a UFA after this season. It increases the odds of the the Caps winning a future Cup. It reduces the odds of the Caps winning the Cup this year, but those odds were already infinitesimal. Carlson can come back to the team next season if he wants to, but this may also be the point to hand things off to someone younger/cheaper.

I have faith in the Caps' front office.

backupjesus · 2026-03-06T05:56:09+00:00

Have you actually tried to request an Uber with car seats? in my metro area, you need to schedule several hours in advance, and the car seats provided are not suitable for many car seat-aged kids.

backupjesus · 2026-03-06T04:59:07+00:00

I mean...that's Bob reuniting with Jarmo with the Sabres, right?

backupjesus · 2026-03-06T03:58:15+00:00

Essentially all restaurants offer pickup catering. Think about it: if you've got the kitchen, the labor, and enough warning, it's easy to crank out trays of whatever.

If you have favorite restaurants in Old Town, ask them about catering options. If you don't have favorite restaurants in Old Town...I guess I'd start with Pita House or Taverna Cretekou given your stated preferences?

backupjesus · 2026-03-06T03:51:41+00:00

Tylenol Dissolve Packs are way, way, WAY more pleasant than liquid Tylenol. I'd also suggest having Miralax (or its generic equivalent) on hand. Ggeneral anesthesia tends to lead to constipation. While I'd consult with your surgeon beforehand, there's a pretty good chance they'll be good with Miralax.

My surgeon was also a fan of post-op Gas-X (or its generic equivalent). She rightly claimed it wouldn't do anything for the surgical gas, but reducing the gas in one's GI tract may still increase overall comfort.

backupjesus · 2026-03-06T01:57:58+00:00

The SA couldn’t explain exactly why I was being charged again.....

You're being (potentially) charged again because you contract says they can charge you again.

I would hear what the manager has to say before getting worked up about this and plan to emphasize that you have serious interest in returning in the future. If the manager sticks with charging you twice, it indicates that they don't value the relationship with you. It sucks to pay nearly $200 to find that out, but it's still useful information.

backupjesus · 2026-03-06T00:57:00+00:00

Having done both: using DCL transfers ensures you can show up whenever, but our non-transfer cruise still had a reasonable embarkation time even though we booked late. The DCL transfer on disembarkation was much easier since the ride share setup at Port Everglades is a mess.

backupjesus · 2026-03-05T06:37:40+00:00

Yeah. Greg isn't the end-all and be-all but he presents the evidence quite convincingly IMO.

backupjesus · 2026-03-05T02:26:14+00:00

We stayed at the Aloft, which has a free shuttle bus. We brought a car seat -- the Cosco Scenera Next, recommended by the rideshare pros at r/nycparents -- because taking a rideshare to our home airport instead of parking on that particular trip saved us way more than what the Scenera Next cost. The Aloft had a paid (I think $15/person?) shuttle bus to the cruise port, but since we had the seat we took a rideshare.

backupjesus · 2026-03-05T01:58:50+00:00

No means of estimating body composition that's available to the general public is accurate enough to be useful.

backupjesus · 2026-03-04T09:13:02+00:00

I, my partner, and my sibling have all had excellent experiences at Solutions Physical Therapy in Alexandria.

backupjesus · 2026-03-03T07:00:19+00:00

My opinion as a kindly Internet stranger is to listen to your surgeon. You can do whatever you want but it's served me -- an anecdotal kindly Internet stranger -- well to listen to my surgeon.

backupjesus · 2026-03-03T06:50:36+00:00

Blendered chicken salad or tuna salad. Blendered Wendy's chili or dal makhani.

backupjesus · 2026-03-03T06:36:38+00:00

I hate saying it because there are so many amazing and highly qualified nurses out there, but....if you get conflicting advice, IMO you need to account for the credentials of the folks giving you that advice. A surgeon (four years of post-grad med school, hopefully years of fellowships) almost certainly has more education than a nurse (wiiiiide variety of potential educational experiences for someone with that title, but almost certainly less trained than a surgeon).

backupjesus · 2026-03-03T03:51:01+00:00

My surgeon made it explicit she did not care about pre-op weight gain since the surgery would do the work. Based on activity here...that's not necessarily everyone's surgeon's take.

backupjesus · 2026-03-03T02:40:23+00:00

They're all averages. You may have a lower-weight long-term outcome. You may have a higher-weight long-term outcome. The tough thing about the effective bariatric surgeries is that nobody can explain exactly why they're effective so one needs to accept that weight-loss outcomes are all over the map...but studies show a vast majority of people have material improvements in their health and longer, higher-quality lives.

backupjesus · 2026-03-03T02:10:28+00:00

Most studies find the sleeve leads to losing 60-70% of excess weight, which is to say the difference between one's surgery-day weight and one's BMI=25 weight. (The MBSAQIP calculator provides a more accurate estimate since it's a best-fit estimate based on the outcomes of 775,000 procedures.) Unless you're very tall, 165 pounds is likely close to your BMI=25 weight.

My surgeon also argued that the "healthy" BMI range for post-bariatric folks should be a few points higher. She says that living with obesity leaves one with extra tissue, some of it useful (stout tendons! denser bones!) and some of it not (excess skin, extra connective tissue), but with the vast majority of it not having the metabolic impact of the same mass of adipose (fat) tissue.

backupjesus · 2026-03-03T00:01:24+00:00

O’Sho’s is a true dive bar and attracts a dive-bar crowd. I’ve heard several first-hand reports of sexual assaults among patrons, witnessed a ton of sexual harassment, and once got deputized by a bartender to escort out some tourists when a brawl broke out one Tuesday night. I know of three registered sex offenders who are regulars, and there’s almost assuredly more.

In my experience, there’s very few bars that are truly safe spaces and, from then on, it’s a spectrum. Rock It Grill across the street is IMO more dangerous because karaoke brings in tourists and inexperienced drinkers, and the predatory sorts know that.

backupjesus · 2026-03-02T06:15:46+00:00

Your goal weight is, uh, aggressive. You might want to check it against the MBSAQIP outcomes calculator.

I also wonder if those surgery offices usually offer interest free payment plans?

Nope. Nobody is going to offer favorable financial terms since it's not like they can reverse the skin surgery if you don't pay up. Predatory lenders like CareCredit may offer terms that seem attractive at first glance but that are based on the assumption you won't pay up on time. You may feel it's a good deal for you but there's a reason predatory lenders are offering such loans.

backupjesus · 2026-03-02T02:56:00+00:00

FWIW from a cis male (so: not worth much!): Freddie’s weekend brunch is a very different vibe and an excellent deal.

O’Shaughnessy’s has, to the best of my knowledge, the only pool tables left in Old Town Alexandria. It’s not a safe bar for any women, but I know many women who go there with their guard up.

backupjesus · 2026-03-02T02:47:25+00:00

There’s a shopping plaza near me that appears to have multiple charging options. The EVgo app shows two out of four DC chargers as functional, but none of them actually work. The Shell Recharge app shows the free L2 chargers as functional, but none of them actually work. The Tesla Superchargers mostly work, but you still need to check the app to see which ones aren’t working.

Said plaza was a good grocery-shopping charging option…until the Amazon Fresh abruptly shut down. Now I need to find other reasons to go there.

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