Thwomp!

I guess I should have conveyed my intended sarcasm better. Knowing Johnson's stated politics and prior statements about Texas, I was showing (what I thought was) interesting proof.

My kids are going on winter break after today as well. Finally getting cold here this weekend, so with shopping done and nothing left to do to get ready for the Holidays, I'm looking forward to a nice, lazy, relaxing weekend with the fireplace, movies, video games, my family, alcohol, egg nog, and a Sabres game (not necessarily in that order). It's been a long week at work (not as long as Bio's though) so I'm really looking forward to it.

This is where I am, but since they won't do that, I blew up my Bills fandom instead. I'm undergoing a long, indeterminate, overdue rebuild. The core isn't rotten, it's the whole gnarled tree.

Thank you. I've done the same on big purchases and it's awesome!

That's sounds awful. It sounds like there is a reason that job was open to begin with. I don't know how anyone could tolerate that for long.

I thought most insurers were doing something like this these days? Mine gives my wife and I $350 a year each if we get a general health screening, do some other online health screenings, and track a few health goals that you can choose from a long list. In my case, and I'm sure many others, I would question the data they're getting since I just tend to "get it done" as quickly (but not always as accurately) as possible :angel: :ph34r: Oh and it's not required, it's voluntary. And it's up to $350, since you can do some stuff but not other stuff if you choose.

Nonpartisan political group, Crowdpac, ranked every city in the country on how liberal or conservative they are, using political donations since 1980 as the measurement. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/14/the-10-most-liberal-and-conservative-cities-in-the-u-s-as-judged-by-campaign-donors/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_fix Big Johnson will be surprised and happy to know that 5 of the top 10 conservative cities are located in Texas, while 3 of the most liberal cities are located each in NY (including Ithaca) and California. You can search for any city here. https://www.crowdpac.com/games/lookup/hometown Pretty interesting to me and they certainly have a large amount of data to back this up with.

And this, among other reasons, is why this city doesn't even care that the Blue Jackets exist. They have always been a poorly run franchise that would likely not exist in Columbus under a free-market, sink or swim scenario.

I guess. Use the system to your advantage. Especially if it's easy. You're making the purchases anyway, may as well get something extra for it.

If you would have played your cards right, you could have been doing commercials with Mike Robitaille and John Murphy :P

2 of the 3 main grocery stores we shop at do the same thing. Plus warehouse chains like Costco and Sam's Club often have cheaper gas for members. It's just a "perk" in my mind. What I get is what I get, I've never bought more to get more. Here's really the best way to work the system. Some grocery stores, such as Giant Eagle, give more fuel perks for gift card purchases. Any Amazon purchase, get a gift card to pay for it. Best Buy, Chipotle, even Hulu can be done this way, and many, many others. We very often (especially this time of year) have free or extremely cheap gas using this system. It's not even difficult since most of the cards can be bought electronically as well.

This has been a very entertaining GDT and the game is still 5 hours away :thumbsup:

But are we 26th in the league more due to the current lines or more due to the constant shuffling and lack of gelling? Some lines earlier showed promise and were still dismantled in the next practice anyway. I'd like to see some lines that show promise and hopefully some results stick together for 10 games or so, through thick and thin. I don't think we've seen much if any of that yet. He's been too quick and eager to tinker imo. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Reasonable and unreasonable people are always welcome to disagree. :beer:

It has settled down recently, but for most of the season it's been constant and it's been more detrimental than helpful imo. With Ennis returning soon, there's also the strong possibility that it returns to it's former frequency.

It's been hinted at here and there, but does anyone else truly detest Bylsma's handling of the lines? I've always thought that line chemistry was very important, but the lines this year have had zero chance to gel. They change every practice and every game. It's like a kid with a lego set. Constant tinkering for the sake of tinkering. Even when lines seem to be going well and in the right direction chemistry-wise, they are soon thereafter broken up again and a different seemingly less effective line is put together. It seems to be settling down a bit lately, but can we please try to build a cohesive unit line by line instead of the constant tinkering?

And if we're on the NHL's list to the extent that they're purposely screwing with us, we can all forget about those dreams of drafting in the top 3 no matter what our final place in the standings are.

Hey now! They have Cody McCormick locked up too!

This struck me as funny. :w00t: This is when you know you've finally "made it". To WGR's credit, they haven't picked this up that I know of. If I listen to WFAN out of NYC, this commercial is on constantly and yes it can drive anyone insane. I think it could work for them when people finally get to their breaking points. "Yes, take my car! Just stop the damn commercials!!!"

It's the American dream! Run a company so poorly that they pay you a $21.4 million dollar severance package (including $50,000 for "career counseling" :w00t: ) to get rid of you, wait 10 years during which time you become a politician because no one else will hire you to run anything, then run for president as a "successful business person". :rolleyes:

Came across this from MMQB: This is the final installment of our three-part series on the NFL’s “Corridor of Woe”—Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, proud franchises suffering through decades of hard times. In each city we looked at a pivotal element of team success—owner, coach, quarterback—to see what has gone wrong and what needs to change if these teams are to find the path to a Super Bowl. The article is titled "Is Tyrod Taylor the Guy?" Love how we're part of the "Corridor of Woe". Fun times. http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/16/tyrod-taylor-buffalo-bills-nfl-rex-ryan-doug-whaley-jim-kelly

I wouldn't agree with the first sentence. On the 2nd, I hope so, but the NFL is pretty much unwatchable between the officiating, the commercials, and the Bills.

I did learn that Kane's interior decorating looks much like a grandparent's house. :P

I agree it is sad that the franchise has gotten to this point. I've been a Bills fan my whole life: been to countless games, bought countless merchandise, fought countless battles defending the Bills. I'm just over it now. I'm still a Bills fan, just a very detached one now. I'll pay attention to them kinda like I do the NBA (check the standings every couple weeks and pay attention to what's generally going on in the league).

It's a broken record year after year after year.... Just a tweak here and there. Just this. Just that. There should be many, many more whiner line callers than there are already. They've (the NFL and the Bills) finally worn me down to where Claude is and it's going to take a whole heck of a lot to bring me back. I'm not buying into anything until there's ample reason to do so.

There's the theme I was referring to.