Ted Leitner, in the 13th inning of a night game (which is now in its 14th inning): It’s getting late..
Me, on the East Coast: YA THINK??!?!
Thankfully I don’t have to be up in the morning.
AND WE GET THE WALK-OFF HOMER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE 14TH!!!
It was worth staying up for, even way over here.
Just hours after posting about *@#7@**#* kids in the workplace, I was up at my local watering hole. One of the bartenders just recently had a baby. At the end of the evening I looked up and saw his SO there and realized, “if she’s here, SO IS THE BABY!”
And as adorable as the little one was in photos, he was 10x more adorable in person.
At Dad’s workplace.
Babies are adorable, and he’s not there every night through the whole shift.
So sue me.
If you don’t follow baseball, I don’t know how much coverage has been given to Adam LaRoche’s retirement outside the sports pages. Long story short: Part of his contract is that his son is allowed in the clubhouse – the White Sox decided they wanted to curtail it, and he decided to walk away.
The Washington Post says it’s opened a conversation that is bigger than baseball. And they’re not wrong. But I still have more questions than answers as to how this whole conversation is being framed.
First, let me say I have no disagreement with Adam LaRoche’s decision. He decided that management’s change of heart was unacceptable and he had the resources and will to step away and that’s fine.
But I have some issues with the conversation.
— I don’t want to hear the word “sacrifice” here. If you are financially stable enough that you can turn down a 13 million dollar salary to spend more time with your family – that is a choice, and a luxury choice at that.
— As far as White Sox management is concerned – I know you gotta do what you gotta do to get talent. But if you didn’t really want the kid in the clubhouse, why did you agree to it? Did you think he’d get bored and not want to come around and the “problem” would solve itself? Or that Dad wasn’t really serious about the request? (Personally, I don’t think it’s an appropriate place for a kid in the first place, and would have said so – but this is probably why I am not in charge of bringing talent for my ballclub.)
— By all accounts, LaRoche’s teammates didn’t have a problem with his son being around (fortunately it seems he’s a good kid) – but how is it fair to his other teammates who have kids that *his* kid gets to come around and theirs don’t? Or his teammates that just really don’t want any kid in the clubhouse, but didn’t feel they could say anything? Yes, I know – everyone negotiates their own contract, but still…this is the type of thing that can definitely breed some resentment in the workplace.
— I don’t have children – more by circumstance than choice, but it’s been better all around for me – I realize I don’t have the time or patience for modern parenting. But when did the workplace stop being an adult place? No, I don’t hate children. But unless my job actually involves kids, I don’t want them wandering around my workplace. (Yes, I realize that saying this out loud virtually guarantees that I will get a job where everyone brings their kids in.)
— Finally – if this was a woman making this decision to step away from a high paying position – sports, CEO, whatever – would we even be talking about her dedication to her family? Or a “sacrifice”? Or lauding her as some kind of parental heroine? Or would we just hear yet again, “This justifies women being paid less and/or not being moved up the ranks – they just up and leave anyway.”?
I hope Adam LaRoche is happy and at peace with his decision, and that his son understands and appreciates it. But let’s not pretend that it was anything other than a luxury for him to make that decision – and it’s a decision that many people – men and women alike – simply cannot afford to make.
At, least as far as the campaign of He Who Shall Not Be Named is concerned. (I realize this lack of imagination does not bode well for any future writing career I may envision…)
But I really didn’t see it getting to this point. I figured he would get in to promote his book, get bored and be done with it.
I sure as hell didn’t see his racist, bigoted, and violent supporters coming out of the woodwork – or his gleeful embrace of them. (I’d like to think it is because I like to see the best in people and not that I am a terrible political strategist – but it could be both. There is probably a reason I am not being courted by K Street.)
In the very early days, I expected he’d have some support amongst the “we should run the government like a business” crowd. (Even though you cannot and should not run a government like a business, and certainly not like he has run his businesses. But there is always a percentage of the populace that wants a business person in charge.)
And then every time he said something more patently awful, I kept thinking, “OK, this will do him in. Either his supporters will back away slowly or the party will do something, or both, and this farce will be over.”
And neither happened.
I will take some responsibility in this. Somehow I have contributed to a society where it is acceptable to be the way he is, and the way his followers are. I didn’t tell people that their words or actions were not acceptable often enough. I didn’t condemn my representatives for allowing bad behavior towards our President. I didn’t say, “You need to cut this shit out RIGHT NOW” in my best Mom voice. (And I have a really good Mom voice when the situation warrants it.) I just kept writing it off to “Wow, some people are REALLY sore losers.”
But at the same time, I feel like there HAD to have been strategists in the GOP who saw exactly the things that I just couldn’t envision. (And I feel for them, because it must suck to see things like this in advance.)
And yet, I read articles about how the GOP is “trying” to derail his campaign. Look, I have seen House of Cards – hey GOP, you’re not trying very hard.
I know that my country isn’t perfect. I know that racism didn’t magically go away when President Obama was elected. I know that I have probably stayed quiet sometimes because I just couldn’t deal with a confrontation with someone.
But I didn’t see a George Wallace 2.0 campaign coming.
I just thought better of my fellow citizens, imperfect as we all may be.
In a naive or just plainly stupid move, I had great hopes about securing a position within my federal or county government. Not a senior executive in charge of everything position – just a public sector position. And I have given up.
I’m not sure what the last straw was, but it has hit and my job searching back has broken. (I suspect it was being determined “Best Qualified” for a cattle call for resumes that I somehow missed was a cattle call for resumes where there was no intent to hire. Maybe not, but that stands out at the moment. My bad for missing that they were just amassing resumes for a later date, but jeez.)
I know the governmental hiring process is slow – but there are positions where a decision hasn’t been made one way or another in 11 months. There is slow and there is not hiring but refusing to say you’re not hiring.
So, private sector headhunters – I’ll be in touch.
My Tivo is already working overtime with the Kitten Bowl, Puppy Bowl, and some quarterback dance off happening later.
Most importantly, it’s the day where I can eat an entire batch of cheesy ranch bacon dip without guilt.*
I have a lot of friends who are Broncos fans, so I guess I’m sort of rooting for them?
But I’ll be honest – I’m watching for the commercials. :)
Enjoy the games!
*It’s so good.
1 pint sour cream
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I usually use more)
1/4 c. bacon pieces (I always use more)
Mix, chill, eat.
Lord knows the media is excited about it, but I keep looking at the process and thinking, “Oh hell no.”
I’m in Virginia – we have plain old primaries. Regular polling place, regular voting hours, absentee ballots available and in-person absentee voting available. It’s like any other election. Get in, vote, get your sticker, go to Starbucks. Even with our new (stupid) ID laws, it’s pretty accessible.
In Iowa, the caucuses are held in the evening. Welp, that’s great if you have a 9-5 job. Otherwise, you’re pretty much out of luck – no absentee. And it’s not an in and out thing, either.
They keep spinning it as a “gathering of neighbors” – yeah, I really want to be stuck in a room with people trying to get me to change my mind over who I want to be the nominee for president. How many people actually stay away from these events because they just do not want to listen to Bob down the block go on and on about his guy?
And in the Democratic caucus – it’s not even secret. (Really DNC? I am disappointed.) Seriously, people go gather in groups to indicate who they’re supporting. And then try to get others to support them. Yeah, that’s fun to have people badgering you about who you want to support. How many people stay away because they would like to keep their political preferences to themselves?
Overall, the entire thing strikes me as classist, open to intimidation tactics, and the last way I’d want to spend a Monday evening.
But they seem to like it. So, no moving to Iowa for me. (Hopefully they’re nicer to each other there about politics than they are here.)
Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure I have it and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It’s so nice to not have to go outside and shovel and I am happy to not go anywhere.
Maybe if I’d not been going outside damn near every 2 hours, I’d be itching to get out and go somewhere. And I’ll be honest, usually when the first snowflakes fall, I have a sudden urge to take a road trip.
Not this time around. Maybe it’s the sweatpants. (That’s why I don’t wear them too often – it results in a spectacular lack of productivity.)
The only thing I messed up in snow prep was not getting birdseed. However, we’ll have snowpack for a while and I think tomorrow it will be OK to go out to the store and not be in the way of clearing up in the rest of the neighborhood. Sorry, birds – but better late than never?
For now though, I am happily becoming one with my couch.
The last pair of Timberland’s I had lasted me 8 years. Then I couldn’t find the style again last year when I needed to replace them (other than a custom order) – so I got a pair of Steve Madden’s that didn’t even last 18 months before they were completely falling apart. I refused to make that mistake again and went on the hunt. Their website showed that my boots were back!! I went to the outlet mall on the off chance their Timberland store had them. No luck. God help me, off to Tyson’s to the retail Timberland store. They had them! But not in my size. About that time I wanted to just lay down on the floor and cry. I just wanted good boots again.
But I was able to find out what my size was (it had long since rubbed off the old boots) and order online. They arrived Wednesday.
OK, they’re not the prettiest footwear on the planet. But they are AWESOME. Took less than a day to break them in, they’re comfortable as all get out and my feet have been warm and dry throughout the ridiculous weather.
Timberland, you keep making these boots and I will keep buying them. Sorry there is going to be an 8 year gap in between purchases, but they’re that good.
Around 11:30 last night, the snow finally stopped. All in all, I’d say we got in the neighborhood of 30 inches.
Between my brother and myself, we were out there 13 times over the course of 35 hours. Thank god for my neighbor with the snowblower who gave us a big boost by coming by yesterday morning. When it stopped last night, I went out and shoveled one last time, put down the ice melt, and came inside and basked in the glory of defeating the storm. (OK, I didn’t do it alone, but let me have my Wonder Woman moment. I mean, if we’re going to count who was outside more…but we won’t…but it was me.) I kind of feel like the ultimate grown up.
I suspect the plow driver that saw me out there last night either thought I was really on top of things, or I’d lost my mind. (It could be a little of both.)
I aggressively slept in this morning because our sidewalks were already clear!!
My neighbor with the snowblower came by again this morning and took out the snow mountain at the end of the driveway deposited by the plows. I’ve already taken over gingerbread – I think I need to send over a side of beef or something. I promise, if I ever buy a big snowblower, I will clear everything I can see just like he does.
Our street looks great – that is part great work by VDOT and part accident of location. We live on a circle and one of the snow emergency routes dead ends into it. The plows have to go around the circle because they’re too big to do a U-turn at the end of the snow route. Works for me. There are primary routes that probably don’t look as good as our street – happens every time.
The snow was light enough that it didn’t bring down trees into power lines. (However, as things melt and the snow gets heavier, it could be an issue.) But the power held beautifully all over the county.
We’re getting lots of closing announcements for tomorrow – and I think that is just plain smart. Give the trucks the time to really clear the roads. Give people the time to actually relax after getting dug out. Keep people off the damn roads.
If you’re a non-essential business and you’re open today? I am very disappointed in you.
We’re not completely done, but what is left it trivial at best and impacts no one but us. The most important is keeping a bathroom area open for the dog in the backyard. (Easy since there is no more snow falling!!) The cars need to be cleared, but we’re not going anywhere anytime soon. The front porch is covered in drifted snow, but it’s concrete and honestly – no one comes to the front door anyway.
If we can’t get a path cut to the mailbox for our awesome mail-lady, I’ll just put the mail on hold til that is done.
One more quick pass over the sidewalks and another bit of ice melt before dark.
The critters have all been great blizzard buddies. Moxley has persevered like a champ. Lily has been plastered by my side in bed every night – and has not run and hid when the plows have come by. (They are scary.) Carmen? Carmen has just had this look on her face of, “This is why we live in here and not out there.”
More than anything, I’m just glad the damn snow stopped.
 | A Dreamer on This timeline suuuuuucks. |
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Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female. 