Nobrainer’s Think Tank

Perhaps this will become a series. Probably not. Who knows. My first official offender of the “I quit reading when…” comes from a WaPo story about schools taking measures to avoid lawsuits when kids are cut from athletic teams.

Olsson, 15, tried hard not to think about that possible endpoint when he arrived at Severna Park at 7:30 a.m. last Monday. He had enough to worry about. As the coaches took attendance for the first time, Olsson stood out awkwardly from the other 48 aspiring junior varsity players. At 6 feet 2 inches, he hovered more than a foot above many of his freshman and sophomore counterparts. His long, wavy hair — a style that befits his rock-and-roll guitar playing — stamped him as unique amongst crew-cut soccer players.

First, I seriously doubt he was hovering. Secondly, to say have was more than a foot taller than “many” of these kids seems unbelievable to me. I reckon “many” is highly relative. I have never been tall with respect to my peers. But I was damn taller than 5′ 2″ when I was a freshman in high school. Thirdly, if there is a team rule preventing long hair, then that’s your own stupid fault, especially if you know about the rule to begin with.

How did things end? I don’t have a fucking clue because I quit reading.

My favorite university to hate has finally decided to dump it’s basketball coach, whom I also despise.

Sadly, I’m sure he’ll be picked up by another university in no time. If he winds up in the ACC I will have a conniption.

UC Bob Huggins sucks

Matt Labash goes North of the Border for a firsthand look at illegal immigration.

In my internetless time yesterday, it seemed like a fine idea to head to Kroger. I got there, got in, got pissed they were out of wheat bread, found something similar, and kept shopping.

About right in the middle of this Kroger is the cheese, just before that the eggs. I picked up a dozen, good looking eggs, and turned my attention to the cheese. I knew exactly what I needed - sliced swiss cheese, which is mixed in with the American cheese. Two short, but thick older ladies just had just planted themselves in front of the American.

How long should it take to pick a pack of cheese? When you’re past middle age, I reckon you ought to know whether you like low or high quality cheese, and if you need a small or large quantity.

- “Well this is cheapest.”
- “Let’s get that that… Oh, that’s too processed.”

- “Well what’s the difference between these two. The tag says they’re the same but this one’s more expensive.” (long pause) “Oh, there’s more in this pack.”

- “This pack is only a cent more than that pack and it’s better cheese.” (long pause) “Oh, but you don’t get as much.”

On and on it went and I died a little inside.

I decided to bring my Mr. Beer home brewing kit out of retirement this weekend. It has been sitting idle since the summer of 2000, if I remember correctly. There’s not much too it. So right now I’ve got about 2 gallons of an English-type brown ale fermenting in my apartment. The one-way valve on the unit is releasing small but steady amounts of waste gas, which is a good sign.

After a week of fermentation, the beer will be mixed with regular sugar mostly to produce carbonation. Typically, you would bottle your homebrew at this point, but try to avoid the sediment in the bottom of the bottle when you imbibe. I’m hoping to avoid the sediment however. So, I need a two gallon pressure vessel that is both easy to sanitize and drain, leaving the sediment undisturbed. Any ideas?

As I noted, and as some of you predicted, my new real estate management company is sucking big time.

I’m typing this post from my office? Why, you ask? Because the internet in my building has gone the way of the fucking dinosaurs. Earlier in the week a few neighbors asked if my internet was working because theirs was gone. Well last night right before I went out (friends don’t buy friends shots of Jager) my internet went down. And it’s still down. Management is going to be peppered with phone calls every hour of every day until this problem is fixed.

Then again, they may not have money to fix the problem. It seems they also don’t know what a bank is. None of us have had our August rent checks deposited.

And did I mention that the new ownership runs mental health facilities? And did I mention that one of the buildings on site is going to be rennovated for patient treatment? So, class, what does that mean? That’s right Billy, the crazies are going to be visiting all the time. Yay!

A few more days of this and about 40 people are going to be shopping for lawyers.

Update: My first phone call went to the guy whose name was listed in the 3 paragraph letter (the only bit of correspondence I’ve had with this company) as the person to call if there were any questions. He didn’t answer. So I decided this should count as an emergency, I need my internet. Well the emergency number is apparently set up to answer your call, pause for about 5 seconds, then automatically hang up. And the problem still isn’t fixed.