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Apparently there are no baker’s rack for sale at the Robinson Town Center in Pittsburgh. My friend’s flight came in at 10, so I went up way early to shop at Costco and look around. Imagine the thrill creeping up my leg at 8 when I arrived and the greeter told me they close at 8:30. I felt like I was doing an athletic event, or one of those televised events where you have five minutes to throw as much shit into your cart as possible for free, running up and down aisles, pushing a cart full of butt ribbon and paper towels and kitty litter and Pellegrino and 8-packs of white albacore.

At least you didn’t burn this place down, so that is good. Although I would request that all future references to Friedman include the “Mustache of Understanding” somewhere in the post.

Reader Interactions

101Comments

  1. 1.

    General Stuck

    I’m right this minute dining on a salmon slab, baked Brussel Sprouts, and baked tator. And Charlie is as usual staring at me like he hasn’t eaten in days.

    I don’t have much to say, other than the troll stable we have here now, is about the lamest there has ever been. With plenty of Obama is a republican nonsense, and Timmy SchlongDong, or whatever he calls his self, arguing with some alien life form that seems to have taken up residence in the empty space between his ears.

  4. 4.

    Davis X. Machina

    Find a restaurant supply house. There’s a couple in the Strip, on Penn. Stuff is cheaper and lasts forever.

  5. 5.

    wag

    High speed Costco runs are a tradition at our house. My wife was in and out in 15 minutes this morning,came out with a trunk load

  7. 7.

    PsiFighter37

    Get ready to shit bricks if there’s no deal come Monday.

    What a depressing situation this whole debt ceiling debacle has become. And to think that Obama could be laying down some serious smackdown on the GOP now…the Democrats should be running up the score on Orange Julius & Co. like the Dream Team right now.

  8. 8.

    Linda Featheringill

    FWIW, Nikkei is floating downward but not plunging. There are some articles here and there about investors beginning to worry about the US debt-and-politics crisis.

    I’m wondering why the US investors [and other fat cats] haven’t pulled the Republican representatives into alignment with some sort of workable deal. I wonder if they can.

    Perhaps people in other countries are wondering that, too.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    Friedman and Dana Milbank should have a CNN show called “This Week with the Dick Whisperer and Mustache of Understanding.”

    Sponsored by Minwax.

  10. 10.

    Comrade Mary

    I just realized I left $700 of my retirement funds in mutual funds, which are exposed to the Canadian stock market, which is exposed to the batshit that’s hitting the American fan.

    Should I leave the money in there as an offering to the small gods?

  11. 11.

    ruemara

    I call for a basta, ya on Tom Friedman posts. For pete’s sake, have some compassion.

  12. 12.

    Martin

    Ah, memories. Wife on 6 months of bed rest with our 2nd, in and out of the hospital a couple times a week. 2 year old running around. Me in a new job with a contracting gig on the side. Grocery shopping each week took 15 minutes, usually around 11PM, me sprinting up and down the aisles with a shopping list organized by aisle. The two things my wife craved throughout the pregnancy resulted in a single arm sweep of everything on the shelf into the cart. After 6 months, I could do it in my sleep. Probably did a few times.

  13. 13.

    MattR

    Flying into Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Any suggestions for before or after the Cubs-Pirates game?

  14. 14.

    hamletta

    Just had a lovely choir rehearsal with my Catholic friends for our Requiem.

    The music director at my church is lovely and talented, but he’s not a singer. It’s nice to get a little vocal training (Drop your jaw!), since I’ve never really had any.

    One gentleman said it was nice to sing next to me (I sing tenor). That was nice. I work hard with practice tracks, because I can’t read worth a damn.

    He probably only said that because we wound up with a movement I know well. If he’d sat next to me during the Offertoire, he might not have been so complimentary.

  15. 15.

    Martin

    @Comrade Mary: Canada has a stock market? RIM, CCM, Tim Horton. Anything else up there? Can you invest in Celine Dion? I think you’re probably safe as long as you aren’t in RIM – they’re on death watch.

  16. 16.

    sfinny

    I found a very simple bakers rack at the Container Store about ten years ago. Wanted something to put in my pantry so the junk would be organized instead of in a great big pile. Don’t know if they still have them but mine has been great.

  20. 20.

    CaseyL

    I loved Supermarket Sweep as a kid. My mom used to watch with me, and we’d strategize what we would do if we had a shot at running around piling stuff up in our cart. Thank god Costco wasn’t around by then: watching people get to fill their cart for free at a Costco probably would have made me spontaneously combust from frustrated greed.

    Was there still room for the people you were picking up, and their luggage, when the Costco run was done?

  21. 21.

    srv

    I, for one, am outraged at your bizarre obsession with a Baker’s Rack when we’re on the cusp of a wingularity-induced collapse of the US government. Even Tunch is freaked out enough that he no longer feels safe at home.

    Perhaps you should have visited Costco’s outdoor furniture section for Titanic deck chairs.

  22. 22.

    Shinobi

    Aww robinson township, college nostolgia. We used to take the 28x out to Ikea. I’m sure 50 college students carrying banana chairs and lack tables didn’t annoy ANYONE who actually used public transportation for normal transportation.

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    At least you didn’t burn this place down

    Oh good, he hasn’t checked the liquor cabinet yet.

    I’m spending money at a stronger clip than I really should be. At least my expenses are more or less stable for a few months.

  24. 24.

    Jennifer

    Don’t sweat Cosco, dood. I posted a link to the baker’s rack you’re looking for in last night’s thread. Under $100, in the style you like, and they’ll ship it to you for free.

  26. 26.

    MattR

    @Yutsano:

    I’m spending money at a stronger clip than I really should be

    Tell me about it. After car repairs, dental work and my sister’s graduation present (and the upcoming kitchen remodeling) I finally had to put my foot down and stay semi-local for vacation instead of splurging for Amsterdam.

    (EDIT: I know I am lucky that these are my problems and that I am able to afford these expenses without having to give up something important like food. But at the same time, the unexpected $10K in expenses means I probably can’t afford to move to a house any time soon)

  30. 30.

    Jennifer

    Ok, here’s the link to your baker’s rack again. Simple design, with a solid maple top which is nice if you ever need extra work surface, plus it’s reasonably priced and it got good reviews.

    Also too BTW: over at my joint I’ve got a video of a cat climbing a ladder, which, if you’ve ever seen a cat climb a ladder, is hilarious. They end up either too scrunched up or too stretched out and it just makes their bodies look funny. The only thing funnier than seeing just any cat climbing a ladder would be watching Tunch climb a ladder.

  31. 31.

    The Dangerman

    @Paddy:

    Tea Bagger “Fiscal Conservative” Rep (R- IL) Joe Walsh sued for $100,000 in child support

    Well, from all evidence, life’s been good to him so far.

  33. 33.

    Bill White

    I can’t decide which BJ ad is more offensive, the blond model eating the giant zucchini or the ad that suggests I should “Profit with Jim Cramer”

  35. 35.

    Martin

    Global markets down 1%-2%. How long before the Russians get tired of this shit and put hits out on House Republicans? I’m thinking they’ve probably done it for far less.

  36. 36.

    sfinny

    Jennifer, that link looks just like the one I bought. And regarding the cat/ladder thing, my cat once tried to climb a short step ladder and was a miserable failure. He is a bit of a clutz as cats go. And Tunch seems to have very short legs and tail relative to his body. Wouldn’t work well on a step program.

  37. 37.

    JC

    On the debt ceiling, it’s pretty much a done deal, looks like. The Reid and Boehner plan aren’t different enough that a compromise bill won’t be worked out.

    Still a small chance it could all go to crap, but not likely at this point.

    Looks like NO NEW REVENUE – as I had predicted, Boehner would hold the line on revenues, and get his way.

    Hopefully, the ‘cuts’ are for the most part bogus.

    It’s important to understand though, that what should have been a no brainer debt ceiling raise will end up being a ‘bipartisan’ austerity measure, that doesn’t actually address the causes of our debt. Which are solved with new revenue, revoking the Bush tax cuts, reining in medical expenses, and winding down wars.

    So, stuck, O’donnell, ABL, looks like, the administration and the Democrats allowed the hostage takers to cut off a pound of flesh from the baby, before releasing the baby THIS TIME.

    It doesn’t look like an 11th dimension chess master move to me.

    I’d be happy to be proven wrong though. Please feel free to do so!

  43. 43.

    jacy

    How is two posts about Friedman in a row not “burning the place down,” that’s what I’d like to know.

  45. 45.

    Jennifer

    @ sfinny:

    And Tunch seems to have very short legs and tail relative to his body.

    That’s why he would look funnier climbing a ladder than most cats look. Well, that, and also because he’s so fat.

  46. 46.

    Steeplejack

    Night shift checking in. Actually got home at 11:20, but I have been getting caught up on my Balloon Juice homework and just got to this post.

    Mini-weekend for me, because I am off work tomorrow, then back on Friday and Saturday. Go figure. We have a “new management team” at the store, and they are changing everything to make it mo’ better! Yay! The work schedule looks like it is being produced by a Monte Carlo simulation, so there are lots of anomalies and weirdnesses. Short version: at this point I’m just glad for another day of not being there.

    Plan to spend tomorrow whittling away at the DVR backlog and continuing the “spring cleaning”/reorg of the man-cave.

  47. 47.

    Comrade Luke

    John, you really need an Amazon Wish List, so we can just buy you this shit ourselves.

  49. 49.

    Comrade Luke

    @Steeplejack:

    Here’s to the night shift!

    I wonder if the east coasters wake up in the morning, come here and sigh at how much catching up they have to do like we do here in the west. :)

  51. 51.

    PeakVT

    @BethanyAnne: There’s some code in FYWP that interprets certain punctuation as tags, and coverts them to formatting in HTML. If it can be turned off for this blog, I wish someone would.

  52. 52.

    Martin

    I wonder if the east coasters wake up in the morning, come here and sigh at how much catching up they have to do like we do here in the west. :)

    Like when we wake up and find 11 threads and missed Cole going galt 4 times?

  54. 54.

    Little Boots

    I still think yelling at Doug is the important thing here. what else is there?

  55. 55.

    Narcissus

    Ok so if the country defaults, what does that mean for my student loans? Is there some way I can come out on top from this thing? Do I need hyperinflation or what? I don’t have any wealth to be destroyed.

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @ Little Boots:

    why must everyone ignore Doug’s thread?

    You mean the one with both m_c (under her new name) and Timmy Trolldick at the same time? Why would anyone avoid that?

  58. 58.

    Little Boots

    I’m the only one that appreciates Doug, clearly. I just hope he gets that.

  61. 61.

    Martin

    Ok so if the country defaults, what does that mean for my student loans?

    Well, if you’re on the receiving end (currently a student) the Feds aren’t going to be sending your loan funds along. I think any university that can afford to float students (virtually all of them) will go ahead and do that under the circumstances. The good news for current students is that Stafford and PLUS rates are set July 1, so all is good there, but next year they may go up for newly originated loans.

    If you’re now on the paying end, Stafford and PLUS loans are fixed based on when the loan was originated, so no change in payments.

    For other college loans, it varies, but if they’re variable rate, then payments may go up.

  62. 62.

    Comrade Luke

    @Martin:

    I play a little game. I get the posts from this site in my rss reader, and try to guess how many comments there will be based on the content of the post.

    The ones that have the most, by far, tend to be “Tunch is missing” and “You guys are all a bunch of fuckers”.

    And it’s unbelievable how many comments any post mentioning Brooks, Friedman or Sullivan, especially since 20% of them are “Why are we still talking about “.

    Around midday the Stuck/Fuckhead “Fuck me? No, fuck you!” threads get going, and at night all the front pagers post at the same time, and everyone ends up ganging up on ABL (apparently she’s like how Doug was referring to Friedman earlier in the day).

    All in a day’s work at Balloon Juice!

  63. 63.

    Comrade Luke

    @Yutsano: I don’t have a job currently, so I usually check around 10am west coast time. BJ has by far the most comments in my feed reader, partly because it’s the only feed where I break my “never subscribe to blogs with multiple authors” rule.

  66. 66.

    MattR

    @Comrade Luke:

    I wonder if the east coasters wake up in the morning, come here and sigh at how much catching up they have to do like we do here in the west. :)

    Some of us are on the east coast.

    @Yutsano: I have discovered that dental work is so much more pleasant when you are able to breathe out of your nose. Unfortunately I discovered that after years of avoiding the dentist because of how miserable it is when you have to breathe through your mouth. So the real pain is to my bank account (and I am just realizing I mentioned previously in this thread. Probably a sign I should head to bed. Probably not gonna, but a sign I should nonetheless)

  67. 67.

    Steeplejack

    @Comrade Luke:

    I often feel like an honorary West Coaster, because I get home late at night and find that a lot of the interesting/incendiary threads I want to reply to are burned out or going cold.

  69. 69.

    MikeJ

    Yea! Building my new four score giggle jam server. Boo! Trying to get it talking to the real computers running samba.

    Looks like a long night alternating fun of a new system of frustration of putting everything to the way I like like it.

  70. 70.

    Yutsano

    @MikeJ: We shall mourn you gracefully and wake you heartily. And in the interim maybe buy you a pint when you’re finished.

    @MattR: I miss my old dentist. He was A) hawt and B) very very good. But of course stupid me had to move. Oh well.

  72. 72.

    Canuckistani Tom

    32 @PeakVT

    Well, that’s better than what I was expecting. I thought that Perry’s prayers would be answered in the form of a Cat 5 hurricane.

  74. 74.

    Kathryn

    Gen Stuck… are there baby hummers too? I come back to check on the state of Lily and Tunch, make sure John hasn’t accidentally severed parts of himself, and wait a long time for hummers. :-)

    Oh, and kudos to JeffreyW for the goldfinch pic. Loved it.

  75. 75.

    scav

    @Yutsano & @MikeJ: Mourn? I thought that sounded like a man giddy at the thought of something meaty to obsess about and ignore manuals while doing so. Sheer bliss. Grand storm we’re getting here in Chicago. That spooky veins in the eyeball type lightning.

  76. 76.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    Fortunately, I have a rack in my dun basement. Ginni loves it.
    .
    .

  78. 78.

    MikeJ

    @scav: I’m at the point of putting silver naked lady mudflaps and a foot shaped accelerator pedal on it. But we don’t do pinstripes around here. Noting to remind us of the FY.

  80. 80.

    Little Boots

    oh, cmon, you bitches are supposed to be the site that doesn’t sleep. so where are you?

  81. 81.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    Is it that I’m annoying?

    No, it’s just that you will find less traffic on the night shift, so the give and take is a little less–like two ships clanging their hulls together as they pass in the night, rather than the inner-harbor clusterfuck that is the day shift.

  82. 82.

    Mark S.

    @JC:

    The Reid and Boehner plan aren’t different enough that a compromise bill won’t be worked out.

    I think the big difference is whether we’ll have to do this again in six months. I don’t think the cuts are a big deal. They won’t take place soon, so there will be new Congresses and Presidents to ignore them. That’s the problem with ten year budget plans.

  83. 83.

    Little Boots

    oh, I know, steeplejack, I just say this stuff, especially at night. I can’t help it.

  84. 84.

    Mark S.

    Joshua Green (who’s usually not an idiot) finds a real American hero:

    Instead, it was directed at the one person who clearly did mean exactly what his party has been saying and was willing to fight for it. If Republican House members had any convictions at all, Teller would get a medal and a promotion.

    Teller was sending emails behind his boss’ back to conservative groups to pressure in voting against Boehner. Yeah, that will get your ass reamed.

  85. 85.

    Little Boots

    they’re doomed. it’s awesome. really, we keeping they know what they’re doing. but no, they don’t.

  92. 92.

    TenguPhule

    The Reid and Boehner plan aren’t different enough that a compromise bill won’t be worked out.

    I think trying to compromise between shit sandwich and cyanide surprise is going to be a bit harder then that.

  93. 93.

    Valdivia

    Was away for a few days meeting up with my long lost love from 20 years ago. And really really trying not to engage with the news that Republicans have willfully created a crisis that could be catastrophic for the world economy. But glad to see Tunch is ok and John has all his body parts.

    That crazy thread with the 2 trolls was like a freaking black hole. yikes!

  94. 94.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @PeakVT:

    Well… look at the bright side. Perry was praying for rain, right? Here comes their rain! Prayers answered.

    I’m sure that Perry will rush out and claim credit for attracting the rain, right? ;)

  95. 95.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Re: the mustache of unserstanding: i will repeat this on a later thread probably, and it’s likely a project for driftglass, but a funny idea is The Pundit League of America, with MoU, Bobo, Chunky Bobo, Modo and possiby Kthughulu. Then you could have the wapo version with Krauthammer, Will, Dionne, Gerson and whoever their other stable of wingnuts are.

    Like DC vs Marvel. Fighting the good fight for centrism, elitism and the village way!

    Illustrations with comic book graphics for all of them.

  96. 96.

    JPL

    Rep. Walsh is on CBS News preaching about fiscal conservancy and saying that we can’t and won’t default even if we don’t raise the debt limit. It’s the same line that representative used. They didn’t ask him about his own finances.

  97. 97.

    The Golux

    When we go to Costco, we steer clear of that Yerpeen soshulist Pellegrino, and get the Vintage Seltzer, five bucks for twelve liters (or litres, for you CESMs). We go through at least a case a week.

  98. 98.

    4jkb4ia

    E. J. Dionne: I read it. Bolsters my opinion that partisanship is what these people know. They are afraid of being called partisan more than of being praised for sanity.

    Pleased to see the new EW site on the blogroll.

  99. 99.

    Jennifer

    I probably should be embarrassed by this, but I actually know who the Golux is. Not the one posting here but the literary one.

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