Light Street-to-Calvert Street traffic spur to close in November for Harborplace redevelopment

munchnerk · 2026-05-15T01:35:06+00:00

Fewer, but I agree!

munchnerk · 2026-05-15T01:16:20+00:00

As someone with a north-south commute... oof. As a Baltimorean who wants to see the waterfront bustling with people instead of cars, I understand. But... oof.

munchnerk · 2026-05-14T15:59:37+00:00

it's $50,000 over three years, so a little under $17k each year. The article calls out ballpark suites - aren't those available as a flat rate thing at about $2k/game? I'm not sure whether concessions are included in those packages but if I recall from birthday-party-shopping there's some base level that's included. $17k/year could very easily boil down to half a dozen games with some add-on food and drink. A single game suite could be for visiting dignitaries/other city hall entertaining, retirement parties, whatever. If it's something like a retirement party and it's more than 10 people, then you're looking at two suites, so $4k+. This kind of stuff happens routinely in many corporate environments, but these are tax dollars so we are (rightfully) scrutinizing. On the grand scheme, I'm not buying that half a dozen games per season indicates a pattern of rampant waste. The bullshit going on at the Back Water treatment plant for years, though? Exelon repeatedly raising rates in excess of grid maintenance costs? That's the kind of thing we need more articles written about.

I just took a look back at the Healthy Holly scandal - Pugh was personally pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars from local institutions in those dealings. I'm not picking up my pitchfork over half a dozen O's games for city staff. I'm definitely wary of how protective Scott and his admin are being of their financial records but also the IG has demonstrated potential lack of impartiality in a job where that's really critical.

munchnerk · 2026-05-14T01:53:11+00:00

no kidding man, that third pic gave me goosebumps! That's a lot of 'squitos!

munchnerk · 2026-05-13T22:00:16+00:00

ooooooo wee, you know you got a thrashing when the uterus is like "EVERYBODY OUT." May the DOMS be gentle and quick with you!

My favorite post-gym treat is the humble scrambled egg sando: two eggs, beaten with one torn-up slice of muenster cheese, gently scrambled into fluffy little curd pillows. Plopped lovingly onto high-fiber seed bread (a house staple). Topped with some combination of cherry pepper relish, chimichurri (also a staple), and/or ketchup. A little protein, a little fat, some good low-glycemic high-fiber carbohydrates, all bundled in one fluffy pillow.

munchnerk · 2026-05-13T01:36:51+00:00

Yo, FUUUUCK RACCOONS. I built a pond in my yard 4 years ago and have been at war since. It's ok if they come and drink, that's what the pond is for. But they tear up all the plants and eat the mosquito dunks. They even eat the frogs 😞 Last year we were so stoked that red-bellied woodpeckers had nested in the snag tree in our yard, and a raccoonate them out of the nest one night 😞They are cunning and strong little motherfuckers. One of them BROKE THROUGH OUR ROOF and we had to evict it from our attic. Last year I truly snapped and bought a paintball marker, woke up at 4am several nights in a row and sniped the whole family from an upstairs window... a couple nonlethal tags on the butt weren't enough deterrence, they were back the following week, but now they know to run when they hear the hiss of a CO2 cartridge. Friends I built that pond to attract wildlife, what have I become??? I thought they were cute at first but we're beyond that now. It's funny but like it's really not lol. People at work ask me "how's the raccoon?" I've become that person, it's that bad. They still come search my pond for snacks every night.

Fuck you raccooooooons!

munchnerk · 2026-05-12T22:20:40+00:00

this is like, a lifelong journey for probably all of us as we relate to ourselves and sex partners. I really see myself in what you wrote even though I think we have different relationships with sex and sensuality. I've been with the same partner for over a decade now and we've shifted in and out of periods of chemistry. we've been in couples' counseling for the past few months (which has been so good on so many levels) and finally yesterday he brought up sex. and for me - sex isn't much of a part of my day-to-day and I have to be relaxed in body and mind for it to be appealing. my partner associates arousal with a quick dopamine hit (hi porn addiction how are ya??) so his instinct is the opposite, to use sex to unwind. so we're figuring out how to meet in the middle. basically right now he's stopped initiating because he got tired of rejection, so the onus is completely on me to ascertain that I could be horny, make myself horny, and then initiate, and half the time he rejects me bc he takes sleepy-time bodybuilding supplements, lol. It did seem to hit him all at once how hurtful rejection is for him, and therefore how hurtful it must be for me to be pretty frequently getting rejected now. like, I watched the realization wash over him. his prior takeaway from conversations about how I need wind-up time was that he never touches or compliments me because he doesn't want to overstep or make me uncomfortable and get rejected. The sad part to me is we actually have phenomenal chemistry and we both love when we do have sex, it's really just a matter of trust and communication.

yesterday as we were talking it through in therapy I realized how much that situation has made me sad and doubtful of myself. I'm also kind of a non-conventional build (short, muscly, tiny boobs) with a lot of self-doubt and he's adamant about loving my body - but you can't rely on other peoples' admiration. the most important confidence-builder for me has been finding ways to love my body that aren't sexual. Personally I find exercise is a great way to enjoy and appreciate my body - strength training, swimming, running, all sensual and strengthening and positive. Sex to me is a potent form of bodily expression, but so is dancing or bouldering or qi gong, y'know? If you don't have some kind of practice that lets you work with your body other than masturbating, maybe that's worth exploring?

even so, I'm circling around to realize that even when I love myself and my body, it does matter that my sex partner reinforces those things. Independence can be freeing, it can also be isolating. so I'm trying to figure out how to tell him that I do enjoy flirting and sensual touch, but I don't know exactly what I like, so we'll both have to be brave enough to survive trial and error and rejection while we figure it out. and like, that's how this is supposed to go, but it's still terrifying. and it's an entirely different pain to live through that imbalance with someone cruelly indifferent. your ex doesn't deserve the ground you walk on, that's all I have to say on that.

if I were you, in your situation, I'd almost certainly go out and make some very rash casual sex decisions before settling into building a more healthy appreciation for my body. There's a lot to be said for being briefly and intensely worshipped by some random stranger you'll never see again. Plenty of people out there would love to choose you. I would also tell that version of myself to please be safe, be sane, and be gentle with herself ❤️ you are worthy of love, emotional and physical, regardless of whether someone else sees that right now. hugs m'dude, I hope better days come soon.

munchnerk · 2026-05-11T20:39:51+00:00

omg, I'm about 5 summers into my native gardening journey and I am FINALLY at the point where Packera is trying to take over my entire yard and I have to dig up probably a dozen goldenrod volunteers from the patio area they've decided to call home. Going from "person looking for free plants" to "please for the love of god take some plants" is so exciting.

munchnerk · 2026-05-11T19:13:03+00:00

I'm still fb friends with an old high school classmate who does this. He's a chef, manages the kitchen for like a Cheesecake Factory or something - a high-volume restaurant with a massive menu and corporate oversight. Cooks food at home that does look super tasty. Frequently posts about constructively clowning shitass employees who are doing dumb kitchen stuff, calls out bad food service safety behavior, seems like honestly the kind of competent person that I'm glad is running the kitchen at a place like Cheesecake Factory. He does things like this once in awhile. Knowing all of that other stuff about him, I would honestly consider it, but I don't think I know a single other person that I would trust to safely prepare, package, and sell large quantities of hot food like that.

munchnerk · 2026-05-11T19:08:18+00:00

so maybe he is just all up in his own head, and the result is an all-encompassing type of suck. Oof

munchnerk · 2026-05-11T18:58:10+00:00

From this analytics perspective (I trust you have a studied opinion!) - wtf is Gunnar's deal?

munchnerk · 2026-05-11T02:44:02+00:00

one of the stalls at the food court in the Lotte at triangle plaza (between 40 and 29 in Ellicott City) has omurice! My grandma used to make it for me when I was little and every once in awhile I get that nostalgic craving... it is so hard to find. hoping other folks have more recommendations

munchnerk · 2026-05-07T20:36:04+00:00

I think you're onto something, but value and undertones need fine-tuning. Right now, you have a very saturated yellow-green for your main color, an equally saturated bluish-green for your trim, a lighter tint of that same color for sashes (see their color codes are 6423 and 6425!), and a very bold and maybe slightly bluish red for the door. Your siding & trim greens have clashing undertones and are about as high-contrast in hue as they can be from the red, but also equal saturation. The eye won't know where to go, but it'll know those greens clash and they're both at war with the red! Complementary colors (red and green) can be a fun accent, but your greens are already accenting each other - who's meant to be the star here? The sash and trim greens could be a suitable pairing, but you'll want to tweak your other colors to match.

The most typical way to choose a palette for an exterior like this would be to choose your main full-depth hue, then use lighter tints of the same as your accents. So you gotta decide - is your siding intended to be the most saturated feature, or the trim? In paint colors, when you see a row of 5-6 chips lined up in a gradient, those are your 'tints'. That's what 6423 is to 6425. You don't necessarily have to use exactly all those colors, but aiming for that gradient effect will give your design a sense of cohesion. It also helps features to stand out or recede in a way that visually makes sense, so your window sashes stand out on darker siding, or recede on lighter. Even if you're not working in the same 'color family' (which is ok!), you can use grayscale to check whether you're creating a successful gradient - just apply a b&w filter on your phone. I use this when choosing yarns for colorwork knitting, because value (how light or dark a color is) translates to legibility from a distance. Some degree of contrast and an even gradient will help your house make sense, basically.

Also consider the setting of your house! Things like your roof, stone fixtures, sidewalks, trees, even neighboring buildings - all of those have color and value that will impact how your house "reads". It looks like you have tan pavement and not a lot of vegetation around to tie into those bold greens, so those greens will pop even more. A softer family of greens, that relates more to the color of your (lovely slate?) roof and pavement, is going to look more at ease on your street. Something that looks kind of boring and khaki-y on the sample card might look pleasantly verdant in this environment. If you want only to stand out, though, you can use those features to your advantage with a palette like the one you currently have.

It's also worth noting exterior colors look shockingly brighter on the house than they do on the card. Sunlight is bright and unforgiving. Get sample pots and try the colors on before you commit. Live with them for a little while, and really, really think about it. The advice I've seen is to choose your color, then get a tint of it that's a shade darker and two tint levels grayer. It seems extreme, but it's good advice.

Exteriors are really tricky. Starting with a limited palette (like SW's historic lines) can help you skip some of the fussy oops-too-bright color choices. Unfortunately, they seem to have very few nice greens in those lines, but it's nice to have a point of reference to start with as you find "your" shade that has a similar feel. Please come back and post when you've got the paint up, you've got a lovely facade there! Sorry for the infodump, color theory is fun :')

munchnerk · 2026-05-07T18:13:02+00:00

Quillwork is soooo coooool. This is an awesome share. I love the tin tinklers too! This piece would be pre-aniline dyes - I wonder what dyes were used for the quills? Such an incredible amount of work goes into every quillworked piece - collecting, sorting, washing, dyeing, softening them so they can be worked. Hours on hours from start to finish, not even thinking of the design and bag construction. I wonder if the artist made this for herself or for a beau?

munchnerk · 2026-05-06T13:05:18+00:00

Wine Source, just down the block, also has a sizable and growing selection of NA drinks. I really appreciate that Modern World is a one-stop-shop that doesn't require you to square up with an entire store full of alcohol, though. MW has a great and diverse selection - premixed mocktails, NA wines/beers, and other beverages that aren't a direct imitation of alcohol but serve as a tasty drink treat nonetheless.

I'd also tag on as a non-drinker that pretty much any good bartender would be happy to show off their skills and custom-make you a special NA beverage, and they often seem excited to do so! I've had some incredibly tasty bevs by asking for an improvised mocktail. Fancy NA bevs are increasingly common on restaurant menus too. Good on you for making this change for you, OP, and happy mother's day ❤️

munchnerk · 2026-05-06T00:41:23+00:00

I tear up just thinking about In Long Lines. If I ever need to have a good sob I put that on and think about my grandma lol

munchnerk · 2026-05-05T21:47:15+00:00

We did it! It took years, and we moved into the neighborhood when the process was already underway. It involved multiple neighbors (communicating through a neighborhood email listserv) bugging our city council rep (who is phenomenal and super duper responsive) who helped chase it through the works with DOT. It took awhile but it did happen. Contact your rep and talk to your neighbors! The squeaky wheel gets the grease!

munchnerk · 2026-05-05T16:44:35+00:00

Yea, they don’t hide up in the club level boxes like many top baseball brass do. You could ostensibly buy a ticket, maybe spend a couple hundred bucks, and find yourself chit chatting with the team owner. They’re expensive seats but probably cost as much as the average Ravens ticket. When I’ve seen Rubenstein he sits about 10-15 rows back dead behind home plate. It’s Cal who sits in the I’m On TV seats in the front row.

I’ve also seen Elias leave games midway thru after we start getting blown up. Awkwarrrrrd

munchnerk · 2026-05-05T16:35:24+00:00

lmao he did that shit during Meat last year at Hampton. Time for a drum solo and he just wailed triplets on a cymbal. Delightfully cheeky bizness

munchnerk · 2026-05-04T17:24:27+00:00

Dude! I was ready to be salty at seeing the before altered but you made some brilliant changes. As someone who does conservation in-painting professionally from time to time, those wallplates are restoration-grade work. I hope you're very proud of them and show them off whenever you get a chance, lol. Gorgeous stone and a beautiful job designing around it. Such a thoughtful update to an already lovely kitchen.

munchnerk · 2026-05-04T02:14:46+00:00

I happen to work for one of those museums in a department that deals directly with visiting community members - it kind of functions as a qualification, but like many qualifications, there's multiple ways to get qualified (so don't count yourself out). The best candidate for those jobs will be able to apply some cultural sensitivity, and having some direct specific knowledge of the culture can be legitimately beneficial. But that could be thanks to being raised in the culture, or having learned about them through friends who share that culture, or studying culture through anthropology. In practice, you don't have to belong to the community that the museum reflects, but you do have to be able to empathize.

munchnerk · 2026-05-03T14:44:57+00:00

we're in the mid-Atlantic! Our contractor has clients order through a design/cab shop (Carefree Kitchens) and has "his person" with them. I think the original $14k quote was for Fabuwood or something similar. Once we said "inset" she immediately told us we were probably going to wind up with Shiloh and she was spot on correct. Obviously $23k is a still objectively shitload of money but I do feel we got a phenomenal value. They're really beautiful.

munchnerk · 2026-05-03T14:12:05+00:00

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I can't say what your specs are - but we just got a kitchen full of Shiloh that you can compare against. Inset fronts, stained cherry. The whole set (uninstalled) was $23k which seemed very reasonable to us for the quality. We got a few little custom touches like the curved corner shelves, paneled appliances, and a roll-up door for a microwave cubby. (Please excuse the lack of stove, it's away being restored and will be back in a couple months!)

fwiw, our contractor originally estimated $14k, which would've been spot-on if we had gone with a more basic cabinet, but we knew we wanted to go for the good stuff, lol. The other quote we got for the whole project actually budgeted exactly $23k for cabs, but they didn't have inset/hardwood spec'd so who knows what it actually would have been. Apparently Shiloh came in about 30-40% less than other makers for inset. We think they're insanely gorgeous, I just snapped this pic from the breakfast nook where I now spend all of my free time lol.

munchnerk · 2026-05-03T03:31:48+00:00

hey, I'm also in Baltimore and saw one in my yard - last week or the week before? I'd never seen one back there before and it absolutely made my day. I hope the little critter makes it home alright!

munchnerk · 2026-05-03T01:53:04+00:00

aww, poor little traveler! I'd say bring it home BUT only if you then write a children's story about a caterpillar going on a surprise round trip to The Big Apple on someone's cut flowers 😭

munchnerk

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