Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

This blog will pay for itself.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Second rate reporter says what?

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Humorous / Open Thread: Vacation Planning

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  1. 1.

    MikeJ

    Rattlesnakes do not share range with bigfoot. They’re only on the other side of the mountains.

    Coincidence, or do the bigfeet save us from rattlers?

  2. 2.

    Suffern ACE

    I just got back from Prague and Dresden this evening and have no intention of planning another vacation any time soon. On the plus side, Christmas shopping is almost complete. That means a few open threads in November and December where I can wonder why folks wait til the last minute when they have the whole year to shop.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    Long time friends are meeting in New England this summer and I’m thinking of joining them. There is a slight problem though since Miss Moxie howls the entire time that I am gone. The sons have both volunteered to take care of her though.

  4. 4.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Suffern ACE:

    That means a few open threads in November and December where I can wonder why folks wait til the last minute when they have the whole year to shop.

    Last minute Christmas shopping starts at about 11pm Christmas Eve.

    Any time before that shows care and forethought.

  5. 5.

    Yutsano

    @MikeJ: I bet you have a rock in your house that repels tigers too.

    No vacation this summer. I’ll have enough as it is due to the furlough days (FUCK YOU REPUBS!) plus if all goes well I’ll be planning a move to New Mexico that might require me to take a few days off. They might give me a week to move but no guarantees.

  6. 6.

    dance around in your bones

    I don’t know about vacation plans yet, but I just want to share my excitement and joy that I didn’t totally screw up my computer while resizing partitions!

    I have one of those idiotic Dell Inspiron’s that put all your Windows files,programs, and user profiles in a small C drive and all your data in a huge D drive. I don’t have all that much data, so my D drive was sitting there all lonely and shit, while my C drive was filling up.

    I used EaseUs Partition Master Free Edition(installed it about a week ago, but was afraid to use it w/o reading like 10,000 posts about it) and today I did it! In like, minutes!

    My C drive quadrupled in space, and D drive shrank to an adequate size.

    I don’t know why I am telling you this (I don’t work for the company or anything) except that I am so proud of myself for not totally borking my computer. ::::grin::::

    (all you techies are free to laugh at me now)

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    Since our US school systems continue the time-honored tradition of shutting down for the summer months

    Actually, there are quite a few districts which have switched to a year-round school calendar for some or even all their schools.

  9. 9.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    I don’t have “vacation plans” per se, but I have again become involved with a woman who is far away from me (i.e., long distance). She makes me happy, but I am sad I cannot be closer to her. If anyone has dealt with this before and has some advice, I would appreciate it.

  11. 11.

    raven

    We anticipate the addition will take until August so we’re pretty much stuck until then. It may be good so the princess has time to heal.

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): I’m going to assume she’s in the country. When I was dating the Canuckistani, we talked online A LOT. It really is crucial that you keep communicating with her since that will be your interactions until you two get a weekend or a week to meet up. It is sweeter when that happens. :)

  14. 14.

    James E. Powell

    @NotMax:

    At some point we need to examine the utility of the “school year” for educating adolescents.

  16. 16.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @dance around in your bones: Being a techie, I’ll resist the urge. But for future reference you can move documents, pictures, downloads, videos, etc to another drive. You can’t move AppData which is hidden and some programs put some pretty sizable stuff there.

  17. 17.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    @Yutsano (because apparently you send me into mod hell): We talk a lot, and I said before, after the last one, that I would NEVER do this again, but dammit if she wasn’t the bestest, and worth the wait. Grrr.

  18. 18.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): In the days pre-internet I had a GF who was from Malaysia, we communicated over the summer via snail mail. Pretty much no other way. Of course that was short term, but there’s always Skype now.

    On topic, the wife’s been wanting to take a longish drive in her car since she got it last year. I think I’ve convinced her for a drive to Whitney Portal.

  19. 19.

    Violet

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): Move or she moves so you can be close to each other. If that isn’t going to happen, then decide if you can be happy with a long distance relationship and if so, then make it work.

    The very worst is having the relationship while wishing it were something else–you lived closer together, you saw each other more often, you really want someone to share dinner, breakfast, bed with, etc. You have what you have. Either you can live with that or not. Decide, don’t pine for something else.

    As for making it work, you have to make your relationship and her a priority, as with every other relationship. Set times to Skype. Watch movies “together” while Skyping. Take turns as to who goes to visit and make sure you do that often.

    For me, it’s mostly deciding if long distance is enough and then making it work. Only the two of you know how that happens.

  20. 20.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):

    My DH and I spent a grand total of 6 weeks together from meeting and marrying(one year later) and then another 6 months apart until I got out of the WRNS and moved to the US. We wrote each other lots and lots of letters (no e-mail back then). So my advise would be write alot of letters. We celebrate our 22nd anniversary this year.

  21. 21.

    dance around in your bones

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I had actually already moved my documents, pictures, downloads, videos, etc to the D drive. It just wasn’t using that much space (like I said, I don’t have that much on it – I’m not much of a downloader).

    I just really wanted to expand my C drive so I wouldn’t get muy nervioso every time I saw the pie chart of space left on C drive.

    Thanks for resisting the urge to LOL at me.

  22. 22.

    Catsy

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):

    I don’t have “vacation plans” per se, but I have again become involved with a woman who is far away from me (i.e., long distance). She makes me happy, but I am sad I cannot be closer to her. If anyone has dealt with this before and has some advice, I would appreciate it.

    I am in the same boat. After breaking up with my partner of 10 years, I’ve become involved with a Canadian woman with whom I’ve been friends for a long time. It’s a challenge in more ways than one.

    But yeah. Communicate daily if you can, visit each other as often as is feasible, and–this is the most critical part of making long-distance relationships last that most people neglect–have a long-term plan for being together in the same place.

    That doesn’t mean you need to talk about marriage right away or anything like that, but it does mean that if you’re serious about them you should be thinking forward to what your “endgame” is. All of my experience over the years has taught me that serious long-distance relationships can almost never survive in perpetuity.

    Also, something someone else said rung a bell: watching stuff together online can work really well. My girlfriend and I cue up episodes of anime together and synchronize when we start in IM, then chat about it as we’re watching.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yutsano:
    Are you aware that when people hit the reply button on your comments, FYWP eats their reply? This has been going on for quite a few days now. Nobody knows how come.

  26. 26.

    raven

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): Yea, didn’t mean to be flip. When my first wife and I met she was a student at Illinois and, after getting the bootskie from that fine institution, I was in Chicago at a JC. I’d haul ass down there on the weekends but the worst time was Kent State. I totally freaked because I really thought the shit was coming down. I told her to stay put and got down there most rickey tic. Fond memories.

  30. 30.

    Origuy

    Also, poison ivy doesn’t grow in Oregon. On the West Coast, it’s poison oak. Different plant, same poison.

  31. 31.

    Violet

    @Amir Khalid: Just tried replying to Yutsano’s comment and my comment disappeared into thin air. You don’t get the “In moderation” notice. Don’t seem to be any banned words or anything. Only seems to happen when I reply to Yutsy.

  32. 32.

    dance around in your bones

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I also increased my RAM from 2GB to 8GB after I got it (hand-me-down laptop Win7 64bit) and I did that all by myself, too! With a tiny screwdriver and a bit of flop sweat – once again after reading multiple ‘how to change RAM safely’ and didn’t fry my system.

    Ha! You guys think it’s so easy ;)

    @Amir Khalid: I will attest to this – I have attempted to reply to Yutsano and had my comments just disappear with no rhyme or reason. Seen other commenters say the same……bizarro!

  33. 33.

    geg6

    There is no such thing as summer vacation for financial aid officers. Other than the first two weeks of fall semester, it’s my busiest time of year.

    However, I do have a bunch of my old friends coming into town for Memorial Day, all of whom were part of the Great Diaspora of Western PAers who went south during the Reagan years because there was no work here for a decade. Two coming in from FL, one from LA, one from TX and one from MS. Been a long time since we’ve been all together, so I’m pretty psyched for it.

  35. 35.

    Dee Loralei

    Friends daughter is getting marries in Orlando in October. She and her fiance moved there so she could do her residency. The wedding is a week after my sons 23 bday, so we’re thinking about going early or staying longer so we can do Universal and Disney World now that he’s tall enough to ride the rides. Haven’t been since he was 5.

  37. 37.

    indycat32

    @Ben Franklin: What’s with these guys and home invasions? Is that a big problem or are they spending way too much time watching the Lifetime Movie Channel.

  38. 38.

    Steeplejack

    I’m about to watch Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on HBO. Is this a good idea? I got burned bad by Prometheus a couple of weeks ago.

    On the plus side, promo for Moonrise Kingdom on May 18.

  40. 40.

    Ruckus

    @Viva BrisVegas:
    I used to do all my xmas shopping on xmas eve starting at about 1pm. There is no time for indecision. You see something, you buy it. You don’t see something, you’re in the wrong store, change right now. Of course if it really is the thought that counts, I was in deep shit.

  42. 42.

    dance around in your bones

    @Steeplejack: Thanks! I was so proud of myself.

    I’m like the cocktail weenie of techietude. But willing to learn!

  43. 43.

    Yutsano

    @Violet: I swear I got banned and no one bothered to tell me. Either that or Soonergrunt is just fucking with me. But yeah some folks can reply to me no problem and some get eted by Tunch. It’s bizarre.

  44. 44.

    Randy P

    Actually yes. Have a long-awaited trip to Munich coming up in June.

    Munich of course is beer heaven and I’m sure I can’t go wrong, but I’d like to sample something that’s not easily available in the states. Last time I was in Germany (5 years ago) I ended up going back over and over to hefeweizen, because I knew it, it was reasonably different from my usual choices, and I liked it.

    But you can get that stuff in every joint in the US with a moderate selection. I’d like to be a little more adventurous.

    So… any suggestions?

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    @Steeplejack:
    The movie makes some rather farfetched claims about the details of Abraham Lincoln’s personal history, and the exact nature of some of the Southern forces in your country’s Civil War. Claims which you will likely regard with some scepticism. These minor flaws aside, it is probably the most exciting, action-packed presidential biopic ever filmed.

  46. 46.

    Steeplejack

    @Dee Loralei:

    The wedding is a week after my sons 23 bday, so we’re thinking about going early or staying longer so we can do Universal and Disney World now that he’s tall enough to ride the rides.

    Late bloomer?

  47. 47.

    JPL

    Tonight I had a choice between two videos, Les Mis and Silver Linings Playbook. I chose Les Mis since I know that ending.

    @Yutsano: Maybe it was Violet. Just an idea.

  48. 48.

    dance around in your bones

    @efgoldman:

    Most of the people I know send their computers out to be ‘fixed’, but I like to try and learn as much as I can (also, no tengo mucho dinero)so for me it’s a challenge.

    At the risk of looking like I am promoting a particular site, I have found Tech Support Guy forums to be an invaluable place for free information and help.

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack

    @Amir Khalid:

    Ha! You funny. Although I hear Sally Field gives an underrated performance in it. Looking forward to that.

    It’s spooling on the DVR now. If it’s too awful I can bail at 9:00 for Detective Vares on MHz. Hipster Finnish P.I. Jussi Vares taking care of business on the mean streets of Turku and environs. Pretty good series.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @Yutsano

    Matter of fact, still have a oldish reply hanging out from when the prob (or feature of the rebuild?) showed up, about your query in a thread then about bad cheeses.

    There are tasteless cheeses, and abhorrent cheese-like products, but in term of real fermented cheese?

    Casu Marzu. Cheese with live larvae wiggling about in it.

    In Italian, it is called formaggio marcio, literally “rotten cheese.”

    Good. Now I can close that tab. :·)

  52. 52.

    Joseph Nobles

    Tonight TCM is airing Derek Jarman’s The Tempest in the wee hours, followed by a documentary on his work. I find Jarman a taste I can’t acquire, but a friend of mine swears by him.

  53. 53.

    Calouste

    The vacation plan for this year is strawberries and cream in SW19. Might involve watching some people hit a ball around as well.

  54. 54.

    Amir Khalid

    @JPL:
    Les Miserables has been an obsession for me since I saw the movie musical in December. I have the DVD now. Hathaway’s I Dreamed A Dream and Redmayne’s Empty Chairs at Empty Tables still blow me away.

  55. 55.

    IowaOldLady

    @Suffern ACE:

    On the plus side, Christmas shopping is almost complete

    Seriously? It’s MAY! We only just got all the outside lights taken down from last Christmas. You are upsetting the natural order of things.

  57. 57.

    YellowJournalism

    @Catsy: Giant THIS to everything Catsy said. Hubby and I were long distance for seven years before we married (9 yrs this summer). Setting aside times for “dates” where you watch a movie or play online games helps a lot between visits. This was before Skype, so now the possibilities would be far more open than it was for us back on the day of AOL IM or other options. Make sure you talk at least once every day and write the occasional letter, send flowers, send a gift, or some other surprise by mail. Even with all the great communication tech out there, it’s nice to receive something tangible to connect you to them.

  58. 58.

    Mike in NC

    Hoping to finally make it to Key West in the fall, and seriously thinking about a Baltic cruise in 2014, with stops in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm, Tallinn, and St Petersburg.

  59. 59.

    2liberal

    i am flying 2500 miles back east to be with family (two surviving sisters plus dad) for a few days. Looking forward to it. we do this usually twice per year.

  60. 60.

    Eric

    Thinking seriously about going to paul gilberts guitar camp in july. Just dont want to be the weakest player there. But he is such a cool dude that it will rock. Andy timmons will be there too

  61. 61.

    Phylllis

    A few weekend trips this summer, including taking in the Braves v D’backs in June. Big vacation to DC next summer & plan to take the train up and back.

  63. 63.

    Mike in NC

    @Randy P: All I can offer is that we took a Blue Danube cruise a couple of years ago and 95% of the beers, wines, and liquor we sampled aren’t available over here.

  64. 64.

    lojasmo

    The boy is skiing palmer glacier (mount hood) in June. Mom and I will be staying at Kennedy school hotel in portland.
    Side trips to the ocean, the gorge, or seattle would be possibilities.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yutsano:

    It’s not that I have anything to say, but I’m intrigued by the fact that replies to you — AND YOU ALONE — become Tunchbait.

    So this is by way of being a test.

  66. 66.

    Mandalay

    Business friendly Texas:

    The Texas fertilizer plant that exploded last month, killing 14 people, injuring more than 200 others and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to the surrounding area had only $1 million in liability coverage, lawyers said Saturday…

    “The bottom line is, this lack of insurance coverage is just consistent with the overall lack of responsibility we’ve seen from the fertilizer plant, starting from the fact that from day one they have yet to acknowledge responsibility,” Roberts said…

    He said he wasn’t surprised that the plant was carrying such a small policy.

    “It’s rare for Texas to require insurance for any kind of hazardous activity,” he said. “We have very little oversight of hazardous activities and even less regulation.“

  67. 67.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Just read that yesterday was Pete Seeger’s 94th birthday. He’s still performing every so often, too. Think that’s worth a thread.

  69. 69.

    sophronia

    Taking my 9-year-old to Malaysia to attend a family member’s wedding. Should be a lot of fun once we’re there, but 23 hours on a plane to get there will be sheer hell. I don’t know why we still can’t just put ourselves in suspended animation until things like this are over.

  71. 71.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Steeplejack:

    Well, you know. The title says it all. I think any depiction of the Confederacy as a puppet of vampire aristos would be a good time for any lefty, myself.

    I’m still not sure what to think of Prometheus. I think the people involved were trying something different, and it didn’t quite work, but props for trying. I think it’s interesting to contrast with the Avengers, in terms of a lack of eager-to-please-ness.

  72. 72.

    ruemara

    If this here lottery ticket works out, I suppose I shall head to Iceland and help my friend after she gives birth to her second child. It would be a vacation for me.

  75. 75.

    RSA

    @Randy P:

    Last time I was in Germany (5 years ago) I ended up going back over and over to hefeweizen, because I knew it, it was reasonably different from my usual choices, and I liked it.

    It’s been ten years or so since I’ve been to Germany, but I spent five years living outside Munich in the ’80s. I don’t have suggestions for specific beers, but here are a few thoughts.

    We lived a short distance away from Landshut, and so we made regular visits to Weihenstephan (the oldest brewery still operating in the world). If you haven’t visited for a tour or just a drink, and you like hefeweizen, that’s definitely worthwhile.

    Some of the seasonal brews don’t seem to make it to the States, if I recall. There’s some variety in bock, for example, that may be worth exploring.

    Whenever I visited Cologne, I liked drinking koelsch. I’ve never found a stateside koelsh that tasted as good, though maybe that’s nostalgia on my part.

    Have fun! (If you ever find yourself in a tiny village called Moosburg an der Isar, where we lived, stop by The Pub and have a Guiness. This was our regular hang-out; the bartender, Juerg, speaks fluent English. He may remember die Amerikaner, though it would be a stretch.)

  76. 76.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    @Catsy: Thanks, and to everyone else upthread for your replies. Not sure where things are going, but I’m along for the ride.

  77. 77.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    @Catsy: Doesn’t work for me. My reply got eated to @yutsano

  78. 78.

    RSA

    Also, thinking about a trip to visit old haunts in Europe this summer, depending on finances.

  80. 80.

    PurpleGirl

    @dance around in your bones: When I got my first computer, a friend told me he’d help me and answer any question but I also had to learn how to ask good questions. For example, I couldn’t call and say “it won’t turn on”. I had to have some idea of why it wouldn’t turn on. So I learned enough about the hardware side of computers that I called myself a “pseudo techno geek.” It got to the point that I was drawing up my own specifications for what I wanted in a computer. He’s still my fall-back for troubleshooting, but he’s proud with what I’ve done with computers.

  81. 81.

    Mandalay

    @efgoldman:

    The present difficulties … well, I don’t think it is really serious — it’s an accident

    Speaking of “accidents”:

    No charges will be filed in the accidental shooting that landed a 10-year-old in the hospital Friday afternoon, according to The Lexington Dispatch…

    “We located the individual who did the shooting,” Sheriff David Grice told the paper. “He was shooting from his front porch. He fired one round after cleaning his gun in what he thought was a safe direction and hit that kid.”…

    The sheriff said deputies have reviewed the case with representatives from the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office and do not believe charges are warranted.

    Nobody could have predicted that firing a gun in “what he thought was a safe direction” would result in a person getting shot.

  83. 83.

    Denali

    @Suffern Ace,

    Our vacation plans hinge around a new grandchild to be born in Hungary in September; we plan a side trip to Dresden – any thoughts on how many days to spend there?

  85. 85.

    dance around in your bones

    @PurpleGirl: Your friend gave you very good advice. The more information you can provide about what preceded your ‘event’ and the more you know about your machine, the better people are able to help you.

    That’s why I am always trying to learn more. And hopefully be able to troubleshoot my own problems. The site I mentioned says “There’s no such thing as stupid questions, but they’re the easiest to answer”. I’m not sure how tongue in cheek that is, but they are good at teasing out the specifics, which many people do not provide initially.

    Good on you for learning more!

  86. 86.

    normal liberal

    @Mike in NC: my alumnae association offers those Baltic/eastern Europe packages every year, but I’ve never quite summoned up the multi thousands required. A while back there was a Baltic cruise plus rail to Budapest thing that sounded amazing, but fell during a period when I couldn’t take the time.

    In other words, color me envious.

  87. 87.

    RaflW

    Road trips! Chicago later this month for my sweetie getting his M Div, then a June trip to Milwaukee, Louisville (church conference, so technically not vakay), St Louis and Kansas City. Also UU summer camp here in Minnesota. That’ll be cabin-camp.
    I’ll tent camp in August north of Lake Superior with about 40 gay men + 1 lesbian and 1 straight gal (hey! We’re diverse!). My partner doesn’t do tents or outhouses, so that part is solo, but we’ve got lots of together time…that graduation is not currently followed by employment.
    Should be a fun summer!

  88. 88.

    Mnemosyne

    We’re going to Chicago in August for my dad’s memorial, so not really a vacation. If I do get a new car this fall, we may combine it with our annual weekend trip to Santa Barbara, take a couple of extra days, and use SB as a home base to go a little further up the coast to Hearst Castle, SLO, etc.

    Our carpets are nice and clean but still damp. It’s pretty funny to see the cats literally pussyfooting around.

  91. 91.

    normal liberal

    @Mike in NC: I’m glad to hear you tout Prague; it’s on my very short list, and I recently gained an excuse by discovering that a chunk of my family originated there, rather than in Germany as we had believed. My brother made a few visits to Prague about 20 tears ago, and really loved it.

  92. 92.

    Amir Khalid

    @JPL:
    Tom Hooper has said that he was very much aware of the parallels between the economic inequality in France of 1832 and in the world today, and in the unrest brought about by both. As Hugo’s people say, the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.

  93. 93.

    YellowJournalism

    @Mandalay: If I were that child’s parent, I would be furious that there were no charges and be looking into a civil suit to help pay for the hospital bills and recovery.

  94. 94.

    Suffern ACE

    @Denali: sorry for the late reply. But I would go with two days for dresden. The sights are open from 10-6, which is not enough open time to see everything in one day. Two will get you through at a quick pace. Three if you get tired looking at decorative objects and art and need to rest. If I had one day, I would visit the green vaults (old and new) and the porcelain museum and leave it at that.

  95. 95.

    keestadoll

    Mr. Keestadoll and I are in that soup so many find themselves in where we have enough money for the mortgage and utilities, so I’m quite jealous of those able to fly off to new and exotic places. That being said, we have a family tent, lots of Cabelas pots, pans, and lanterns, and will be doing some camping near some nifty swimming holes here in Humboldt County this summer. Not much hiking though–you never know when you might accidentally stumble into a cartel grow.

  96. 96.

    Del

    @YellowJournalism: What I never get about these stories is why they didn’t slap the guy with a reckless endangerment charge at the very least.

    As for vacation? I’m on the last day of a week and a half off. Didn’t go anywhere, though I’d love to have had the chance. The wife’s in her last week of college and stressing out so I figured I’d take over all the house duties and let her focus and relax.

    I will say this though, you can get a LOT of reading and gaming done in a week and the next time I see a teenager complain about “having nothing to do” I think I’ll slap em. I’m not looking forward to going back to work.

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