Hayley Maxfield Is Ready To Be A Star, Celtics Fans Fighting & 'SUCKMEOV 69' Kings Fan
What's the best value vacation destination for 2024?
I can't be the only one interested in this topic as we head into May. I know we're in the middle of a period where everything costs a ton and Airbnb is going to slap $250 on every single booking for cleaning fees.
That's why I want you to give up your honey hole. Share your secrets. What's the best value destination out there right now?
Yes, we could go to Northern Michigan, again, but I want to hear new places where a vacation budget is going to stretch.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
Is it normal in your 40s to get bummed out when your routine (Saturday lunch and drinks at a certain restaurant) is thrown into chaos?
- GenXer Warren M in Florida writes:
Here’s a little story that I never thought would affect me, and that’s developing routines as we get older, plus dealing with change now vs. in our 20s and 30s. When my Grandpa (and later my Dad and Stepdad) got older, he’d get set in his ways and get into routines.
Have breakfast a coffee at this place, lunch there, grocery run over here, etc. But if anything were to happen, i.e., the restaurant stopped serving breakfast, it would be hard for him to change that routine, at least at first.
In my 20s and 30s, that’s life! Favorite Italian restaurant is sold and the new one stinks? No problem. Routine thrown off, no big deal. I’d manage. But now in my 40s, oh my! I get it!
So a few months ago, my Saturday routine was almost upended: Run or ride my bike, clean up, errands, lunch at my favorite local Latin American fast casual restaurant, and read Saturday Screencaps. Great way to get my weekend started. Well, I’m chatting with a regular at the bar (it’s not really a bar, per se, but more of another place to eat and get a cerveza) and the long-time server, who is super nice, drops a bomb on us: They’re going to close the location, go to a new place (across the street) and no longer have TVs to watch, but mostly it will be a take-out place. Oh and it’s her last day.
Man, you’d think the other regular(s) and I lost a dear friend, because we panicked! "Whatever shall we do, wherever shall we go?!" As it turns out, the place is open a few more months, but all the regulars are gone. Yes, the restaurant is moving, but it’s to a brand-new building and they will keep some elements from the old one (not the bar). But, again, regulars already left.
And then I was like, "Man, now I get it! Now I get why my Grandpa, Dad, and Stepdad would be bummed out if something happened to their regular routines as they got older!"
Sorry for the long story, but I wonder if any other Gen Xers out there are experiencing this as they get older? Or am I just an old man?
Kinsey:
I'm no Dr. Phil, but I have to believe this is normal mental behaviors that Warren is describing. We have our lives dialed in to a level of comfort and then all of a sudden, it's thrown into chaos by change.
But, let's look at this positively: Warren now gets to go on the hunt for a new place and that can be exciting. Maybe there's a beautiful, 10 lunch spot out there that Warren didn't know about. Maybe he'll come to learn that this Latin American fast casual was actually a 7, or an 8 on a special day, and there are 10s out there waiting to be discovered.
Or maybe, at the end of the day, Warren was actually dating a 10 lunch spot and he really did have the best life going.
Times change. Life changes. At this point, it's all about trying to move forward and remembering the good times at the Latin American fast-casual lunch spot.
Have you had a moment like what Warren's describing? Tell us about it and how you overcame the heartache.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
How would Babe Ruth do against modern pitching? Would he even make the Majors?
– Resident economist Jared P. checks in:
Your Babe Ruth question reminded me of the Lucas critique in economics, which states that models that do not account for changing behavior of people/firms through time will fail to be helpful. That is, if the model stays the same and people change, the model is using an outdated way of thinking and will therefore project poorly.
How does this relate to your Babe Ruth question? Easy. If we took Babe Ruth as is and stuck him in the modern game, he would probably struggle because he adapted to the game at his time and the game has changed considerably. However, put Babe Ruth in the modern game with all of the modern training/diet/coaching (and let him have that from youth), and he would probably be great.
Baseball hasn't changed the same way basketball has changed (e.g., prioritizing shooting over low post skills). It's still eye-hand coordination and mechanics.
Buck-I-Guy stories from the wild: At the valet stand
Disclaimer: Yes, I know Buck-I-Guy is an asshole. Yes, I know Buckeyes fans hate him and wish he'd go away. Yes, I know he is known to refuse photos unless you pay him.
- Collin writes:
My friends love to send me anything in the news about the Buck-I-Guy due to the disdain I have for him. I'm sure there are a million stories, could be an entertaining article, what's the worst interaction/most outlandish act from fake famous fans like him.
Mine was back in the winter of 2008. I had finished undergrad and was working a job making $14/hr at the time, we all remember what the market was like at that time so I was valeting for extra money on Fridays and Saturdays. Some company booked BIG to show up to their holiday party and I happened to be valeting that night. It was $3.00 to valet and tips were generally $2 most of the time. End of the night, BIG hands me his ticket and I go get his Lexus LS400 (Not his absurd show mobile), and when I bring the car around and tell him it's $3.00 he starts to try to haggle that he's the entertainment and he should be exempted. I explain that I'm not with the company party and that it's $3.00.
I still clench my fists when I recall what happened next. He opens his trunk and pulls out a picture of himself and offers me a signed copy of it instead of paying for valet. I was in such shock and didn't even feel like dealing with him since a line was forming waiting to get their car next I just said, take the car and let him off for free.
I'm sure plenty of others are sharing similar stories, if an article like this on dealing with BIG would get traction, feel free to share as much or little as you'd like.
Have a good week.
I said no complaining until Monday
- Tom from Florida sent this on Sunday:
Why am I getting the Mcafee scams when I'm on screencaps?Seems to be a
virus with this site. Not Good!!!
Kinsey:
Trust me, Tom, I'm not trying to hack your computer. And when I determine it's a no-complaining weekend, you can't send complaint emails until Monday.
Disgusting travel ball parents
- Duncan in Georgia writes:
I've mentioned before that my son plays 11U travel, and we're lucky that our parents and coaches are very chill. Today we beat a team that was the complete opposite. Dads telling their kids that they were embarrassments, to swing the bat, etc.
Every time a kid made an out, or god forbid struck out, they immediately looked at their dad because they knew they'd get yelled at. If we had a parent do that, our coaches would tell them to leave.
I like travel ball because my son is a good player, and he needs the competition. But any time we play a team like today, I just can't understand how parents can act that way. Keep enjoying the house ball!
Kinsey:
I have to keep beating this drum because I can see it coming a mile away. Look at this scenario that reportedly played out this weekend.
It's coming. It's just a matter of enough parents becoming emotional and high school baseball at the top levels will be dead.
Ok, now that I have that out of the way, it's a huge week for Screencaps' 12U house ball team. We have three practices and one of those will hopefully be a scrimmage to see what game-action looks like.
The practice schedule looks like it should be perfectly positioned to avoid rain, so it's time to work on sliding, base-running, chasing down fly balls and continue to get the pitchers comfortable on the mound.
In other words, it's going to be a busy week for this coach.
Johnny Manziel stories
- Neil OD writes:
Beer guy Neil checking in again. A good friend of mine leased a white Range Rover that previously belonged to Johnny Football. When he valeted it at a popular downtown restaurant, the attendant said to my friend, 'This is the first time I've parked this car that is doesn't smell like weed!'
Check your wallet
Make sure to check those dollars!
######################
That's it. Let's get going on the final Monday of April 2024. The sun is out. The A/C is on – Saturday, we went from heat to A/C in a matter of hours – and the plants are growing like weeds.
Go have an incredible day at work or retirement.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com