biodork

Well to be fair, I haven't tried one yet for myself, but since I'm still somewhat of whisky noob that's not as surprising. I do need to try one, considering I've not been enamored of sweet vermouth.

My house is okay, apart from a minor fence issue that will require repair. Overall, feeling very fortunate to have what I do and to be back home safely when so many have lost so much in the several days.

Lol wait a minute... You expect me to believe that you, bourbon afficionado that you are, hadn't tried an Old Fashioned prior to tonight? (And dammit; I knew there was a reason I meant to get oranges at the store yesterday!) I gotta get back to whisky... being in the Caribbean has put me on a rum kick.

Finally going home today. We were supposed to fly from Miami to Philly Monday night, but obviously that was canceled so we've been stuck in the Miami airport the last two nights. Anxious to see how my house fared in the storm... seems like power never went out, but I'm guessing the stuff from my porch is all over the place and hoping my fence didn't take too much of a beating. Here's hoping the rest of you SabreSpacers fared well.

Thanks E... Most days are okay, but there are definitely times when the memory of that last trip to the vet is still far too vivid. At some point hopefully that one will be replaced by happier thoughts (I found a great video of him playing with a squeaky toy from a few years back), but I miss the little guy.

Okay, I watched the Obama speech and re-watched the (full) Romney speech, now with the knowledge that it was intended to be a roast. I don't find Mitt's nearly as objectionable as before (both were funny), although he definitely took advantage of the opportunity to make more "I'm kidding, but really I'm not" jokes that weren't entirely lighthearted than Obama's. I must not have been paying much attention in prior election years, because I don't remember seeing one of those dinners before. On to the next...

This story: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/marine-carries-youngster-finish-line-prosthetic-leg-breaks-110936900.html Awesome.

Much appreciation to Chz and Taro (and anyone else) for taking the time to read this stuff and explain it here in layman's terms.

That's entirely possible. It's also equally possible that someone who likes Romney at the outset would continue to find the jokes amusing because they are at the expense of someone they dislike. I think this is kind of what I was getting at... being unfamiliar with the event I'm not sure, but a true roast seems inappropriate for a mixed audience political event. Could be par for the course, though.

Beats me; I'm no comedian. But he managed to do it for the first few minutes. I think it's pretty well-established that everyone will view those speeches differently depending on their own biases, and I make no claims of being immune to that. (Edited for typo.)

If you'd read the entirety of the post you just quoted, you'd see where I indicated that I was unaware it was a roast and that changes my perception (somewhat). You can still make jokes without being a douche. I haven't watched Obama's yet to see if I feel the same way.

Congrats indeed! Looks like your persistence paid off.

Well if that's the case then that may change my opinion, but it seems odd to have them roasting each other in person when most of the jabs would only be funny to half the audience. :shrugs: Then again, perhaps my first impression wasn't too far off... I resent that insinuation. If I were an undecided voter, the first few minutes of Romney's routine make him come off as likeable and funny, which is completely different from my existing impression of him. At some point it stops being funny and becomes off-putting. For me, that point is around 3 minutes in, but as weave often says, your mileage may vary. It's not much different in my mind from watching a comedian who spends too much of his routine on d!ck jokes. Yeah, the first couple are funny and I'll laugh, but after a while, it's like, really dude? Move on to something else.

Haha, thanks, but you saw how fair-skinned I am; between the bright sunlight and white sand, it'd be like trying to photograph a vampire. ;)

:leaves to check other thread: lol

I got about 3 minutes in before his schtick got old. A couple of jabs are all in good fun, but at some point it starts to sound mean-spirited rather than amusing. It's not supposed to be a roast, man!

Saturday is the wedding of a good friend whom I haven't seen in a couple of months, and by this time next week, I will be halfway through a much-needed vacation in the Dominican Republic. As an added bonus, that also buys me time away from the political circus that has consumed so much of my time the last several weeks. Truly F'N Fantastic. And good luck to d4rksabre on your interview today! Hopefully you'll have cause to post later.

Good acronym. :thumbsup:

Actually... http://www.colbertna...martian-gayness

Thanks, I'll have to check that out!

Because that's not insulting at all...

Wow, good stuff there -- thanks, TBPhD!

Yikes man... hopefully before long you two will be living together and the craptacular roomie will be out of the picture for good. Have you been hanging around Jordan Leopold? ;) Feel better, Chz! For me: why in God's name must B vitamins smell and taste so incredibly awful?? Can't they find a way to mask it with some kind of coating? I want to gag every time I open the bottle.

Of course he has an agenda and wants Romney to look bad. That doesn't mean the story isn't true. And I don't think Romney is stupid at all; I think he'll say anything and everything it takes to get elected, which includes stretching the truth and denying his past positions on topics however is required to achieve that goal. But, I'm also unlikely to give Romney the benefit of the doubt since I perceive him to be untrustworthy, so my interpretation of these stories will naturally be different from your own. And that's fine. Edit: for you, sizz: a more balanced view of the "binders" story (even includes mention of the first article you'd linked)

To the first bolded: :P , and IMO it's indicative of a larger character issue for Romney. Why lie about something so trivial? The real version of the story would have been fine, and he could have easily spun that to him being happy about it (even if he wasn't) without taking credit and then looking bad afterwards. To the second bolded, I will ashamedly admit I have done this myself for a long time. When you're first out of college with debts that your income cannot match, things start going on credit out of necessity. And after a while, you're so used to carrying balances (and unable to realistically reduce them) that you find yourself using credit for things out of habit that, in retrospect, were absolutely not necessities. People tell you you'll eventually pay things off when you get further in your career and start making "real" money, except your salary doesn't actually increase much over time, and eventually you realize far too late that you have no disposable income because it's all going to credit card payments. It's embarrassing and I wish I could go back and tell my 22 year old self to do better, but what can you do. <sigh> I'd give anything to be better off financially now, but a combination of my own missteps and circumstance has led me here and now I have no choice but to live within my means, which I should have been doing all along. Quote from the first article: Is anyone really surprised to hear the White House is a boys' club? Probably no different than upper management at many corporations. From the second: the graph shows 56% in both 2008 and 2011. So, probably not unlike party conventions and debates, you get a bounce after a significant event (the election) and then return to baseline. Yawn. FWIW, I wasn't hunting for anti-Romney articles; I read an email from a blog / newsletter and checked out the story from there.