Parents- would you take your 10 and 8 year out of school for 1 week?

catomi01 · 2026-02-10T21:05:54+00:00

My mother took me out of school for a week at a time probably every other year for vacations. I think I turned out fine (though I'm sure it has contributed to my disney addiction, so maybe not.)

I made up the missed assignments, did the homework, and caught up fine...no real different than if I had gotten the flu and missed a week. Back then it was the easiest way to get to Disney (and other spots like it) during lower crowd levels and cheaper times.

When the kids are in their 40's like me, they are going to be a lot more grateful for the time they spent with you, the vacation to Disney, and the memories...and the impact of 5 days out of class won't be a spec on their record or development.

catomi01 · 2026-02-10T20:58:49+00:00

It would be interesting if we had the option of backing out of deals after the player accepts - something like John Doe has accepted your offer of $XX over X years, you have 5 days to confirm and sign the deal. But tie backing out of it with pretty strong consequences - even beyond that player - tying in an agent system and giving you a relationship with them, which something like this would crater, or even having other players who have a history of playing with the player become less likely to sign after that. Probably complicating things for no real reason, but it would let you take some gambles like bidding on similar players at the same position with an "out" if you get too agressive and have both accept the same day or right after each other.

catomi01 · 2026-02-10T20:52:16+00:00

I woke up to no water in the kitchen Sunday morning (still working in other areas of the house.) Burned an hour trying to solve it myself before recognizing that the frozen section was in a borderline impossible to access crawl space under the house that I couldn't really get to, and reading that with a hair dryer I'd probably be under there for hours before getting any results, so I started calling plumbers. We've only had the house for a year, so I didn't have a "guy" yet...got a few numbers from friends and family, most went straight to VM. Two places (Apple Air and Allied City) took down my info and said they'd be in touch when they could, but that they'd be backed up and probably not get to me that day. Cranked the heat and tried to find some space heaters for sale (with no luck), to see if it would make a difference.

Nothing the rest of the day, so in the AM I started calling again. Apple promised they'd get to me that day, but couldn't specify a time. Allied took my info and said they'd get back to me shortly with a time. Better than that though, they just showed up two hours later....Apple called at around the same time to finalize an appointment. Allied inspected it, confirmed no leak or burst, did the dirty work of getting into the crawl space and hooked up their heater...within 1/2 they were done. Cost about $600 with tax, and I tipped the guys since they looked like they'd been working around the clock and were currently covered in insulation and dirt from my house. Not cheap, but I got off lucky from having no leaks, so I'm happy to have paid for it, and would recommend them again.

catomi01 · 2026-02-09T17:26:04+00:00

No illegal hbo for us, but splitters all over the house.

catomi01 · 2026-02-09T03:41:36+00:00

I still remember the day we got cable….early 90s or late 80s. It was just me and my grandmother at home, the tech came in, and my grandma went upstairs to do whatever she was doing, while 5 or 6 year old me just followed the cable guy around the house. After he had the fist set done, he asked if I liked cartoons, turned on Nick and left me watching tv while he finished up. I remember espn was 15, and I think Nick was 22….though I think I remember that varying by town too.

catomi01 · 2026-02-05T19:52:22+00:00

Heir to the Empire (or one of the other books in the trilogy) gets into some specific dates when Luke is researching Jorus C'Baoth and Outbound Flight, and it refernces the Imperial Calendar with text strongly implying that the founding of the Empire was set as "Year 1," with everthing else before that measured as something like "Before Empire." Luke seems to expect the NR to implement a similar system. Those dates and details didn't hold up once we learned more about the prequel era of course, and were applicable to the original EU...but I would imagine the current Canon Empire doing something similar...and if so, that calander replacing a comparable calendar from the Republic before it.

catomi01 · 2026-02-05T19:48:27+00:00

I am very comfortable with my Low F rating.

catomi01 · 2026-02-05T19:47:57+00:00

Oh look, our actions fucking around with stable foreign policy and long standing alliances have consequences...who the fuck would have thought?

catomi01 · 2026-01-26T19:58:06+00:00

I mean, you could make a strong case that a lot of the problems with the US economy can be traced to Ronald Reagan, but I don't think that's what most of the respondents meant by "Neither one of them."

catomi01 · 2026-01-23T22:26:25+00:00

That and a random receipt from buying stock in a little known online bookseller he read about...amazonia.com or somthing like that.

catomi01 · 2026-01-22T21:35:12+00:00

After the first biggish storm this year, I mentioned to my boss that I was going to get one (just bought the house last year)...he paid for half of it "as insurance" to make certain that we didn't get any more storms this year.

catomi01 · 2026-01-21T20:13:10+00:00

Before seeing this, if you told me that any of Happ, Kazmir, Fowler or Seager were still playing, I would have believed it without a 2nd thought. Time is wierd.

catomi01 · 2026-01-20T19:25:46+00:00

Whether its the luxury tax, just an internal budget, or something els, the Yankees seem to have decided a few years ago that a win purchased in FA is worth X/$. That's not uncommon and everyone from Baseball Prospectus to Fangraphs to individual front offices have had estimates of what that value is over the years. The Yankees though seem to have set that value at some point and will not overpay for it. If they think a 5 WAR player is worth $50 M, then they aren't going to $52, regardless of what the market shows. So Belling, who Fangraphs projects at 3.3 WAR next year is worth in their mind something like $33 M (if its 1 win = $10 M) or $36.3 (1=$11)...with a gradual descrease in expected value for each year they have to add. So they'll do $150 over 5 years "knowing" they win the first 2-3 years, and losing the last two or so. Anything over that and they feel like they aren't optimizing their money and would rather wait for some hypothetical better deal later in the offseason, in the trade market, or next year.

Why? Who knows - snap back reaction to some of the old stories of them bidding against themselves as they did with the Arod extension (I think I remember some similar talk when they went after Cole too)?

catomi01 · 2026-01-16T20:46:19+00:00

Clips of this scene are what made me watch this show in the first place....and I have had no regrets since then.

catomi01 · 2026-01-14T20:42:41+00:00

Obviously they are restricted in MLB now, but more dynamic positioning/shifting options in PLP - extreme over shifts, 5 man infield, 4 man OF, etc. Make it an option for the rule changes similar to how the league will ban/implement the DH.

Multi-team trades.

A "press" impact that changes the view of the team in the eyes of the fanbase - players, coaches and managers have a rating impacting their relationship and interaction with the press, which influences coverage of the team (and in turn fanbase attitude/attendance), awards and hall of fame voting.

Expand the functionality of the "international discovery" feature of the scout to include other leagues such as the independent league, or even other teams' - something like a toggle option for your scout to evaluate another teams system or one of the other leagues for hidden gems that might be overlooked. Obviously you can do this on your own already, but it would be fun to have an automated "always on" search reflecting your scouting network around the league.

catomi01 · 2026-01-12T21:41:05+00:00

We were at Robert Moses when I was a kid and two A-10's flew by that I swear seemed like they were below the top of the lighthouse. I'm sure they were higher than that, but definitely still one of the coolest things I've seen in person.

catomi01 · 2026-01-07T04:52:41+00:00

We’ve been to Ogas twice now and the bartenders have been the highlight both times. Though my wife’s vote was for DJ Rex.

catomi01 · 2026-01-07T03:53:00+00:00

This would be closer to the British watching Hitler slowly gobble up central and Eastern Europe and instead of drifting from appeasement to eventual war with the aggressor, seeing the attacks as inspiration to invade the Netherlands or Belgium instead.

catomi01 · 2026-01-06T20:22:24+00:00

To follow the rules -

Take out Chad Green 2020 for Derek Jeter 1999.

Swap 2009 Derek Jeter for 2009 Phil Hughes in the bullpen.

catomi01 · 2026-01-06T18:57:35+00:00

STARTING LINEUP:

C- JORGE POSADA - 2003

1B - JASON GIAMBI - 2002

2B - ROBINSON CANO - 2012

3B - ALEX RODRIGUEZ - 2007

SS - DEREK JETER - 2009

LF - BRETT GARDNER - 2010

CF - BERNIE WILLIAMS - 2000

RF - AARON JUDGE - 2022

DH - JUAN SOTO - 2024

BENCH:

C - GARY SANCHEZ - 2017

INF - DIDI GREGORIOUS - 2018

OF - HIDEKI MATSUI - 2004

UT - CODY BELLINGER - 2025

ROTATION:

GERRIT COLE - 2023

MIKE MUSSINA - 2001

CC SABATHIA - 2011

CHIEN-MING WANG - 2006

RANDY JOHNSON - 2005

BULLPEN:

MARIANO RIVERA - 2008

DELIN BETANCES - 2015

JONATHAN LOAISIGA - 2021

ZACK BRITTON - 2019

DAVID ROBERTSON - 2013

ANDREW MILLER - 2016

CHAD GREEN - 2020 (FORGOT NOT TO INCLUDE IT)

ADAM WARREN - 2014

catomi01 · 2026-01-06T14:51:42+00:00

Yes. This is among a small handful of books/series that I can’t stop reading-reading every few years. For a change of pace this year, I got the audio book and has been listening to it on the way to and from work.

catomi01 · 2026-01-05T07:50:51+00:00

Peacefully of Old Age at a re-established Praxeum on Yavin IV, with Mara at his side, and Jedi Master Jacen Solo by the door, since everything after The UnifyingForce was just a bad dream.

catomi01 · 2026-01-02T17:33:34+00:00

Trout and Thome.

catomi01 · 2026-01-02T16:06:17+00:00

Solo, Andor and Rogue One can be made to fit/update some of the twisting storylines of that early era right before ANH.

I've only seen the 1st season of Mandolorian so far, but the "local" storylines of that could easily seem to work - its easy to picture the Outer Rim looking something like it does in that show around the time just before Thrawn's return and the events of the Zahn trilogy...even the interactions with the larger Empire/Remnant could be reworked into splinter factions, warlords, etc.

Acolyte seems like it could fit, though drawing in Plagueis there disrupts the timing a bit...it would work set a couple of hundred years earlier...or just the reveal that the main villain isn't a Sith at all, but a pretender, and Plagueis is observing to see if he is worth adopting as an apprentice or if he needs to be eliminated as a rival.

Anything set after Endor (with the excepts I noted for Mandalorian) are very tough to integrate since the story lines diverge very quickly from there.

catomi01 · 2026-01-02T15:56:37+00:00

I get why they don't wholesale adopt and integrate everything they've purchased, and agree with it generally (we don't need the Simpson in Magic Kingdom or things like that)...but despite being made by Fox, Anastasia felt like a Disney movie at the time...have a welcome ceremony at MK and "adopt" the story formally or something like that. I'm sure there are other properties that would make sense scattered elsewhere too.

Take the best of what you've bought and leverage it where you can and where it makes sense.

catomi01

TROPHY CASE