MattPie

I had a similar one, but on a fairly narrow but moderate traffic road. There's no way I could have gotten off the road enough to not block a lane, putting everyone at risk so I put the flashers on (to acknowledge the cop) and drove up less than a mile to parking area I knew was there. I like to think he appreciated that he didn't have to stand in traffic to talk to me; he didn't give me any trouble about not pulling over in any case. SS70, what would you prefer in that situation? I assume you make stops on those windy narrow roads up there often. Should the driver wait until there's somewhere safe for everyone or pull over immediately?

Hmmmm, maybe not? Western Executive: "You'd get the most for Hall...I like Hall but there is a missing level of engagement, somehow. You want to love him. He plays hard, with reckless abandon. He tries, he battles. But there is a lack of awareness, it seems to me." https://twitter.com/kikkerlaika/status/672519046877872128 Sounds a bit like E Kane, perhaps?

Gun owners (legal and otherwise) are generally killing non-gun owners (at least in the cases that get significant play in the media). If "liberals" aren't supposed to look to gun owners for the answers, and can't come up with their own solutions (because the liberals are coming for my guns), what other course to you recommend? The only we hear about is to become gun owners themselves in some half-assed effort to protect themselves. There may be a lesson from the movie and video game industry, both of which are fairly self-regulated (I think, maybe Josie will pipe up) in terms of ratings. If you don't come up with a solution for a problem with your industry/hobby, the government will. Entertainment decided to create their own solution and for the most part people leave them alone (except for the crazy parents that don't understand the ratings). Do you want to be part of creating a solution, or complain about the solution that the government comes up with when enough voters get fed up?

Stage 1: Adrenaline. Heart thudding. Nervous, even over "minor" stuff like speeding (or most recently, an expired registration) Stage 2: Prep, because I want to be respectful and as non-threatening as possible. Take my wallet out, get the registration out before the officer approaches and have them ready. If it's nice out, roll down all the windows and if it's dark, turn on all the interior lights. Shut off the car, of course. Stage 3: When the officer approaches, make sure to keep things visible (head, hands, etc.) to make sure there's no mistaking my intentions. Stage 4: Admit to whatever I did wrong. I'm not really going to fight the ticket; I was wrong, might as well suck it up. Stage 5: Wish the officer good day, etc. Now that's being said as a middle-aged white guy who is generally Lawful-Good. I give all that thought because in the back of mind I know these things can go bad, even though it's unlikely they will for me. I have a tough time imagining how I'd feel if I were non-white and had more chance (real or perceived) of being harassed by the police. (I'm not casting aspersions here, I think the data shows that minorities have more interaction with the police in general, and more bad interactions as well.)

They can set it on fire after the game as part of the fireworks!

I feel youse. My parents keep asking us to come visit them in Florida over the winter. Neither my wife or I want to go. My parents are nice and all, but from what I've seen of Florida it's an endless line of strip malls and golf courses between beaches. The NJ/DE/MD beaches are a really easy day trip for us, so it's not that big a draw, leaving golf (which we don't) and strip malls. We keep offering to have them come visit us but they mostly blow the idea off. It reminds me of this, if my parents weren't retired and I didn't have a toddler to manage for the trip. http://www.theonion.com/article/parents-with-more-vacation-time-financial-resource-37103 Fun fact: the Paoli, PA location for the article is 3 miles from here.

You guys suck.

I'm interested. There's a bunch of good Philly-area beer.

And in this case, it seems like with little regard to which wings are on each side. Unless they're really putting the only actual RW the Sabres have on Eichel's LW.

I was wondering that too. It's about time, too. After reading on Timmy's life after hockey I can't be mad at him, just the people that gave him all that money.

Year ago, a friend of mine had, "You found Jesus? If no one claims him in 30 days, he's yours to keep!"

On the surface, you can say the internet allows you to find other people to reinforce and encourage whatever type of crazy you are a lot easier than if you had to do it locally.

According to wikipedia, there are roughly 460,000 Army and Air National Guard members. There's another (I assume you can't be in both) 500,000-ish Reserve members split across the branches of the services. So roughly 1M people out of the roughly 50M households with guns (assuming every reserve/guard member has a gun in the house). There's bound be a population of former military, reserve, and guard members in the gun-owning population also. The remainder is still a lot of people that likely haven't had a lot of training on how to use a gun.

What's got you torqued? (there's a metric mechanical joke for you)

LOL, I'll get to work on that one; I love it!

My daughter pointed at my Sabres T-shirt last night and said, "Mooo!" (she's all into animal noises right now). I wasn't sure if this belongs in the Awesome or Complaint thread, so I'll put it here. What does the buffalo (er, bison) say?

The Sixers were equally impressive until breaking their streak the other day. (I don't actually follow the NBA, but heard it mentioned on the radio here)

I was thinking about it some more last night, and other people have alluded to it, but when you get approved for a mortgage they'll approve you for, frankly, a lot more than you can comfortably afford. I forget what the formula is but there's no way I could live comfortably if I had maxxed out my mortgage. Think of it like the NHL salary cap and you're Florida with an internal budget and not the Rangers (or Sabres these days) spending to the limit. It doesn't seem like you'd do that, but I figured it should be said.

I don't think Crockpots go that high.

I'm fairly sure I do too. Wife handles it though, and so far just the IRA stuff.

That was my thought too.

I don't want to argue too much since it really depends on the specifics of each situation, but if I had continued to rent (granted, a two-bed apartment and not a house), I'd still be paying $300-400 less per month than my mortgage. Over 9 years, that's a lot a money, especially if I had just taken my down payment and invested it in an index fund or something. And as I mentioned, if I sold today I *might* get my down payment back (my house's value has declined at least 10%, and for awhile it was closer to 20%). And I did make extra payments early on to try to get ahead. As for rates, mine is in the mid-4% range from 2010, the earlier rate was a little higher (maybe 6%, nowhere near teens). That was in the heart of the housing bubble where banks were practically giving money away. I'm not saying don't buy a house, I'm saying be wary. There's a confluence of stuff that made my decision pretty questionable, although it seemed like a good idea at the time. As it is, if I ran the numbers I'd bet the house is one of the worst decisions I've made financially. The only other thing that comes close is buying a motorcycle. My house started depreciating a couple years after I bought it, my bad luck (or lack of foresight). It's still worth less than I paid. My property and school taxes are more than my parents' place in Elma, so I don't want to hear about how bad NYS taxes are, either. Between PA state and local income taxes, I'm pretty close to NYS income tax too. (I'm checking out now, I'm getting too ranty) Your second paragraph is spot on. Maybe if you look at just the mortgage+ vs. rent, you come out OK. But once you add in all the maintenance and improvements it starts to get dicey. Maybe some of that comes back when you sell, but something like the lawn is just a cost. And like tires on a car, you're never going to recoup the cost; you can only lose value if the lawn needs work when you're selling.

In my experience, the first thing to know is: YOU ARE GOING TO SPEND MORE MONEY PER MONTH TO OWN THAN RENT. Some of that money comes back with tax breaks, but I still feel like I'm paying out way more than I way when I was renting. Partly with the mortgage itself, but also the other bills and costs that you're shielded from in a rental (trash collection, water, HOA fees, lawn maintenance, &c.). Long term, like 10-15 years, I think you start to get ahead (although I've owned my house 9 years and a don't feel like I'm ahead at all) but that's assuming your house stays stable in value or increases. Until recently my mortgage balance and home value tracked pretty well such that I'd just barely be able to pay off my mortgage if I sold my house. And I considered myself fortunate that I wasn't "underwater" at any point so I wouldn't have to pay into selling my house like the people I bought from. But if I sold today, I'd get roughly my down payment back (last I checked). All the money I paid into capital and interest (and property taxes, and fees)? Gone. I don't want to be completely negative, I have a nice house that meets most of my needs. And I bought at a ridiculously bad time. But do your homework and be prepared to live in that place for a LONG time in case the market dictates that selling your house would be cost-prohibitive.

Can he kick extra points? No, and I thought the same thing when Moulson's was called too. :blink:

Are you arguing that the media plays-up "white guy on anyone else violence" or the media doesn't care about a black man shooting up a park in the city?