This year’s? We can’t even make it through this sprint’s roadmap without a deviation.

Bonus points if it’s C-suite crashing the sprint.

My first temptation was to say that it might be an age thing, but then I know many people my age who still don’t care about plants.

For me, it’s like a switch flipped one day. When I was younger, I just didn’t really care, and the few times I was given a plant, it did not end well. Figured that I just had a brown thumb.

But, maybe 10-some-odd years ago, I got a peace lily, and, by then, something had changed. I wanted to see this plant thrive, and it brought me just a little bit of satisfaction to see it doing well. It doesn’t hurt that peace lilies will tell you when they need watered, and, as such are pretty easy to keep.

I’m still not the best plant dad, but I’d since gone on to buy about a dozen more and appreciate the bit of greenery around the house.

Unflavored soju is my defense against drinking too much soju. I’ll have one bottle of that and be like “yep, I’m good”.

Meanwhile, everyone else is near the bottom of their second bottle of flavored soju and eyeing a third…

I’ll have to buy the White Album again…

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I’m 25 years into my career and I’ve only just started to put this into practice. (I say “slightly” because, hey, I’ve been doing this without any advice or mentorship, and, maybe, one can be forgiven for not finding this stuff self-obvious…)

Took a new position and got tired of people scheduling my lunch four out of five days a week. In addition to the meetings before and after, it often meant most of my day in meetings without a break.

So, I threw a tentative meeting for that time slot and the number of lunchtime meetings cratered. Somehow, folks were able to figure out another time or solve it without a meeting. Only twice in four months have I been asked if that “meeting” could be moved.

Needless to say, I’m a convert and would wholeheartedly recommend the practice—of scheduling a self-meeting, for any purpose, be it lunch or even just productive time—to folks well before they hit 25 years.

Hard agree. I played through the opening twice in my first sitting. Died both times. Put it down for a year and a half.

Finally decided to try again and picked it back up. Passed the opening sequence and got into the game proper. And, I can say that I had a pretty good time—excepting a key, bullshit timed mission that I barely passed.

They really did not need to gatekeep the game behind the poor design of the opening.

That these people think they are “in Christ” is a massive act of self-delusion. There is nothing Christ-like, or even godly, about their speech or behavior, even judging by the books they hold sacred.

With how well the “every accusation is a confession” adage seems to hold up, I’m pretty darned sure that lizard people are real at this point.

I was put in mind of my favorite episode: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happiness_Patrol.

Maybe not a direct match for the camera bit, but probably the kind of culture they’re trying to create.

Those NextDoor posts are something else.

In my area, they tend to take on racist undertones. But, there are also posts of equal-opportunity fearmongering, wherein strange cars, teenagers with clipboards, or nicely-dressed middle-aged ladies taking pictures of houses are suspected of casing the joint for later break-in, accompanied by the usual question: Should I call the police?

Folks really are that fearful, and it’s a sad state of affairs.

“My, I bet you monsters lead interesting lives. I said to my girlfriend just the other day - Gee, I’ll bet monsters are interesting, I said. And I’ll bet you meet a lot of interesting people, too. I’m always interested in meeting interesting people. Now let’s dip our patties in the water!”

Substitute “walking down a road” with: “having dinner at a conference”, “chatting over lattes at the local coffee shop”, or “at a neighborhood cookout” as makes sense.

…so far.

It’s interesting that you’d mention “trim packages“ here, because that’s one of the things that’s turned me off of one manufacturer.

I was seriously looking into an Ioniq 6 at one point. It’s got a look only a weirdo like me can love. However, it starts at a decent price—even if it goes up quickly from there—gets some good positive reviews, and has some decent performance. But, I like the things that I have in my current car, like a sunroof, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel. Well, in order to get those, I have to step up to 20-inch wheels, which eats into the range by almost 50 miles—or some 15%.

Can I get the premium trim line without the monster truck wheels? No. Can I get the heated seats and steering wheel (I’ll forego the sunroof) on the lower trim line with smaller wheels and more range? No. And, they’re not the only ones. For some reason, all these EV manufacturers think they have to put bigger wheels on the premium lines, and thereby kill range.

And I just don’t get it…

Divorce? People have been murdered for less…

Joke aside, it’s definitely Breezewood.

I’ve been passing through that location for the last 30+ years, and there are unmistakable signs in this picture. It’s a very old one though, as most of these businesses are no longer there.

I’m happy to see someone else mention Murakami.

I went on tear in university—a long time ago now—reading everything that had been translated to English by then. And, while they had the most bizarro plots, I found them to be the most compelling reads, wanting to read more and more, until I ran out of things to read.

He definitely deserves a place on this list.

“It is God…”

If by “help” you mean buy cool toys and beat the shit out of people while wearing skin-tight rubber and lycra (not that I’m kink-shaming, mind)…

I’m curious: Which station was this?