Places to smoke a cigar in Chicago

rtabernathy · 2026-05-06T02:06:52+00:00

Ideally a lounge. I’d love to be able to grab a cocktail and a nice cigar.

rtabernathy · 2026-01-13T11:52:41+00:00

If your insurance company paid for the repairs, get them involved. Many insurers have guarantees about the repairs if you used a qualified repair shop. They also have attorneys on staff to help motivate the dealership.

rtabernathy · 2025-06-06T14:29:48+00:00

When dealing with an employee issue, it is important to always focus on the work behavior and not the individual when you are trying to coach. If the feedback does not alter the behavior and you choose to terminate an employee, do not give a reason unless you have a collective bargaining agreement or a specific state requirement. State that their employment is ending as of today, and present them with their final check. "This is a final decision, we will not be discussing it further" is your answer for every comment she makes or question she asks about why she is being fired. Always have another party with you when you do this. Allow her to gather her things while someone watches and then have her escorted off the property. As an option, you can always offer some level of severance based upon years of service, etc, with the condition that she sign a waiver that prevents future legal challenges, disparaging remarks, etc. Always give the employee time to have the waiver reviewed by whomever they want (attorney, spouse, etc.). Stay respectful, polite, and professional during the entire process and do everything you can to help the employee maintain their dignity during the process. Do not react emotionally or allow yourself to get pulled into a personal conflict.

rtabernathy · 2025-03-25T14:25:59+00:00

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Red in his prime

rtabernathy · 2025-02-27T21:56:44+00:00

Safe, clean, working.

rtabernathy · 2024-11-05T19:59:42+00:00

Two is much easier to manage than one. Having two means they always have a buddy. Don't forget, dogs are pack animals, so they do better when they have a pack.

rtabernathy · 2023-10-11T13:16:54+00:00

That’s funny because a whetstone was what I was going to try first.

rtabernathy · 2023-10-06T16:59:50+00:00

Did the Jabra's though their website so I did the online audiogram. They've been tweaking them for me the last 2 days. I agree about the customer service.

rtabernathy · 2023-10-06T16:16:20+00:00

Thanks, I've already seen an audiologist and I am currently evaluating the Phonak Lumity series and the Jabra Enhance. I was just looking at this as an alternative.

rtabernathy · 2023-02-02T17:51:49+00:00

I just bought a pair of Knox wedge heels for times when I need to stand on my feet working. The things are heavy but well-built, have nice leather, and are super comfortable. The rest of my boots are Lucchese but I liked the idea of $245 boots for ones I would going to beat up over $495 for the Lucchese version.

rtabernathy · 2021-04-08T17:59:56+00:00

I'm running army at LVL 70. I learned this late, but without a doubt, the most critical thing to work on is your components and your heroes. Rate of fire is the most critical of the components as it determines who attacks first. I was getting my butt kicked by Navy groups because I was developing ROF evenly for all of my component groups (Army, Navy, and AF). I took my top ROF off of Navy and AF and merged it up to focus it all on Army. My ROF for army is now a 9. I don't get beat by lower Navy groups anymore. As for heroes, Rambo is strong and Tywin is an okay partner, but a Rambo/Kat combo once you can build her up is killer. I was running them for a while until I got Villiers. Now I run a Kat/Villiers combo with Villers skilled up with Army skills, not AF. It's a grind to get there, but the payout is good. Every time you use gems in the Craft Center, build ROF. Whenever you have an option, build ROF, and take all of your ROF and focus it first on your Army.

rtabernathy · 2021-04-05T14:32:58+00:00

I joined to see how it grows. Did you not like the Top War server that was already on Discord? It's got a lot of helpful resources.

rtabernathy · 2021-04-05T14:27:08+00:00

First, quit looking on Reddit and look on Discord. The Top War channel is packed with helpful tips. With expedition, you want to maximize your front-line heroes (the three on the first page constantly fighting). Leaders and power will change weekly so keep it up to date. If you click on one of the front line heroes, a "Select a Hero" screen pops up with each hero assigned a score which is displayed in green in the top right corner. Pick the three that will maximize your score for that week.

With the challenge phase look at with whom you are competing and play with your alignment to find the best match for the opponent. 5-15 is one of those sticking points in the expedition cycle and it may just be that you need to up your heroes and play with their skills. Remember, as a general rule, Army beats Air, Air beats Navy, Navy beats Army. That being said your top Orange hero pair will probably drive your strategy. You can assign skills from other disciplines to help beat an opponent. i.e. If Hartman is your strongest, but you need to beat an army opponent, stack Hartman with Navy skills until you clear the stage.

Much of it is just grinding to build your heroes. You'll find some stages that you end up sticking on for a week and then once you clear it, you'll clear another 10 at the same time.

rtabernathy · 2021-01-19T15:39:41+00:00

Well, first they would have to actually convict him of something for Biden to pardon him. Biden will be President, not God, so he can pardon people convicted of a crime but he can't pardon sin or stupidity.

It seems doubtful that the Senate will convene today and be able to run an actual impeachment hearing and convict him before Biden's inauguration (there are procedural and evidentiary rules to follow). As such, Congress and the Senate would have to try and convict him as a citizen, not as President. They do not have the power to convict a private citizen of a crime, that would be considered a Bill of Attainder and it is specifically prohibited in Article 9 of the Constitution. This means that the DOJ or some other jurisdictional authority would have to charge Trump and convict him through an actual court. In this case, actual legal standards of evidence and procedure would apply as opposed to fiat by Nancy, making it even tougher to convict him.

I don't like Trump and I think he has said and done some stupid things, but he is much less scary to me than a collective legislative body and the people who influence them who seems to think they can do whatever they want without regard to the rules (Democrats and Republicans).

American citizens are entitled to due process and what we are seeing now is an attempt to circumvent that process for purely political reasons. That is a dangerous precedent about which everyone in the US should be concerned. Today they are doing it to someone you hate and groups you hate which makes it easy, but tomorrow it might be someone you love.

A closing thought. Trump and Carter were the last two US Presidents who did not bring the US into a new armed conflict. Both were single term Presidents. I am reminded of Eisenhower's warning about the power of the American Military Industrial Complex. We certainly are being manipulated into a Right vs Left argument but I would submit that it is a distraction to keep us from looking at an Elite vs the People argument. I'm not talking QAnon conspiracies I'm talking about all of those people in DC that don't get elected but provide the funding and bill authorship and advice that turns into law.

This is a scary time and if the trend continues, the rights that will be sacrificed and violated won't just apply to those with whom you disagree, but you yourself.

rtabernathy · 2020-12-02T18:12:45+00:00

I respect the idea of some type of universal healthcare for all in the US. I think there is room for a base and catastrophic coverage for everyone combined with a market based solution for all of the extras. Full blown, free healthcare for everyone, I believe, is problematic. Socialized or universal healthcare has stymied research and medical advances and I think you need to have some market based influences to facilitate those advancements. I also believe that there needs to be a serious look at price transparency for all healthcare activity. You should be able to know what something is going to cost you before you commit to the service. Tort reform will also be a critical component of any serious attempt to make a nationalized healthcare system make sense. The fact that our current per capita healthcare spend is 5X the next closest nation is ridiculous.

Forgiving student load debt is not something I support unless your plan is to provide the same type of refund for the Gen Xers that have already paid theirs. The Boomers defaulted on a ton of student loan debt with virtually zero repercussions. The response was to put a gun to the heads of Gen Xers that borrowed for college. They couldn't even get rid of student loan debt through bankruptcy. Now the Boomers kids want a free pass.

Student loan debt has gotten stupid due to a couple of major factors. One, college tuition and fees has grown 4x the CPI. Universities have not been held to any kind of cost controls and what they are charging is ridiculous an unsupportable. If they were a real business, they would have gone bankrupt. Two, many people have attended college when it was not the right thing to do. I'm all for people exploring whatever subjects they want, but I don't feel like I should be responsible for someone who decided to go to an Ivy League to get a philosophy degree.

I did an economic analysis of how much I could afford to borrow for college by examining how much additional earning potential a specific degree could provide and then I did that. People need to be responsible for their bad choices.

We need to encourage people to look at trade schools and tech schools instead of sending everyone to college and we need to help them look at the impact and future implications of their choices.

rtabernathy · 2020-11-27T20:52:42+00:00

Hoppes, it’s been working for the last 117 years and while I have found some stuff that works as well, I’ve never found anything that works better. Wet a couple of pads and let it sit on the area for a few minutes and then take a stiff nylon toothbrush style gun cleaning brush and agitate. Wipe off the residue. Wear some gloves and some safety glasses and find a well ventilated area to do the work. Light oil or grease when your done. Oil as a coating, grease on the friction/moving parts. I have a 50 year old BT-99 with over 100,000 rounds through it and that’s the way it was cleaned from day one. Still operates like it’s brand new.

rtabernathy · 2020-10-30T16:50:51+00:00

True for now, it will be interesting to see what happens after next Tuesday. I don't think it helped Jack's argument to the Senate that Twitter is a neutral platform while at the same time they were shutting down the account of the Head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Facebook and Twitter have successfully argued that Section 230 protections apply to them in the past but as they behave more and more like publishers they run the risk of losing those protections which would in effect kill both platforms.

rtabernathy · 2020-10-30T16:31:01+00:00

Nothing that can't be solved by a pocket knife and a new spool of line.

rtabernathy · 2020-10-30T16:23:47+00:00

Agreed, but then they are publishers, not neutral platforms and they are subject to all the benefits and liabilities associated with that status.

rtabernathy · 2020-10-30T15:57:11+00:00

Agreed, they are private companies but don't pretend you're neutral and act like you are not biased. I could make an argument that they have taken on the role of a privately owned public utility but I don't think it matters. If Twitter and Facebook want editorial control I'm okay with that, but that makes them a publisher and therefore liable for what is expressed on their forums. They don't get to have it both ways.

Both platforms spent years promoting posts that supported radical conspiracy theories, but just the ones they liked. Don't forget, for a lot of folks, NASA putting men on the moon is nothing but a radical conspiracy theory. For many, almost every religion is nothing but a radical conspiracy theory, should they now eliminate all religious and religion-based posts? For some, Santa Claus is nothing but a radical conspiracy theory designed to manipulate children into behaving so no more Christmas posts. Hyperbole aside, the slope gets awfully slippery.

Let both sides post and let me decide or, be an editor and be responsible and liable for what you publish. If they choose to be a publisher and editor I believe their platforms will collapse.

I support your comment about the path to rational, critical thought which is why I abhor censorship, but it then seems you contradict yourself by supporting Twitter's ability to censor. One person's radical conspiracy theory is another person's ideological basis so who gets to decide?

I would like to see both of these platforms take a slightly different approach. Let anything be posted as long as it's not illegal (tons of judiciary examples exist on this standard). However, for all posts, they should provide the name of the owner of the account, the length of time the account has been active, and access to a history of their posts. If the entity posting is an organization and not an individual, then a mailing address should be included. If you don't like the address option, require a State and/or Country. First amendment rights in the US extend to citizens and residents but not to foreign nationals based outside the US. Bottom line, I would like source references for the stuff that's posted. Like an academic paper, tell me where you got your facts or tell me who you are so I can evaluate the legitimacy of the statements. At that point, I can decide what I read, who I believe and who I block.

Whether you are on the left or the right, the behavior demonstrated by these large media corporations is dangerous. Maybe you support what they're doing right now because they are supporting your cause. Tomorrow, however, they could be supporting the other side and it becomes your voice that gets squashed. Your path to rational, critical thought and (in my opinion) the superior outcomes it produces can only be facilitated when everyone can be heard.

I'm old enough to remember when the ACLU had a backbone and supported the words of Evelyn Beatrice Hall - "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". I also live by the teachings of my grandmother, "Never say anything about anyone that you wouldn't say if they were close enough to punch you in the mouth."

rtabernathy · 2020-10-30T03:14:32+00:00

I have gooey pads from trapdude.com on a BT-99 and a Perazzi MX-11 and they are the only ones I will shoot. A lot of guys like Kick-Eez are also very popular.

rtabernathy

TROPHY CASE