H2O

1 minute ago, pazzo83 said:

Of course you do some of this stuff, and some people complain "oh what about my parking" or "now this is so inconvenient for me!" - as if folks' lives are less important.  I mean for fuck's sake, you live in a major city - it's not all about you and your personal vehicle.

I wish metro wasn't as much of a cluster eff.  Would make for a much more viable means for many and get rid of the need for people to drive into the city.

10 minutes ago, pazzo83 said:

DC has an issue where there is no reciprocity with VA and MD, so camera tickets you get in DC don't do anything to your points if you are a MD or VA driver.  And DC doesn't have the resources to boot/tow every car with this level of violations (it's an ongoing discussion here).  The frustrating thing here is that most of these insane levels of violations are from out-of-state drivers where DC has limited resources to go after them.

There was a news story they did right after that crash and they said DC has about 88 MILLION in unpaid tickets.  Thats right.  88 Million.

30 minutes ago, mattie g said:

I'm not on the pool board, but as the Team Rep I have a lot of inside info as to what goes on.

For our pool, there was a lot of "we do things this way because that's the way it's always been done." The Board turned over almost completely last year, so I give them a little leeway in trying to shift the mindset of how to effectively run the place, but I still feel like there's an unwillingness to make attempts to change.

I hear you about the amenities thing. Our pool is quite nice, but it's not like we have tennis courts or a big picnic area or a playground or whatever. I do think that we could do more to enhance the social aspect of the pool outside of the ad hoc parents having drinks and pizza on a Friday night (which is a lot of fun as it is!). Just need to make it a place that folks want to hang out and feel it's worth their while.

When I joined our pool we didn't even have a website that was easy to find or updated.  We've only recently embraced social media as a mean to advertise and had zero marketing when I was on the board.  Now there is a more concerted effort to get the name out.  And in a lot of ways the success of the swim team was the best advertising we had.  But with that came problems.  Again, people expected our pool to be this awesome place based on moving up to higher divisions.  So the ones only joining for swim team would leave when it didn't meet those expectations.  And we have what i call rental families.  they only join because of the swim team and don't make much effort to be part of the pool community.  Never help on set up/clean up, barely attend social functions, etc.  They only use the pool for swim team.  So its been a struggle to build a solid group who just enjoy the pool for what it is.  

32 minutes ago, mappy said:

it sounds like an accident that ended horribly. bad place, bad time, on 695 in a construction zone. i had to laugh at people thinking someone was racing and thats what caused it. 

so many assumptions based on nothing. 

I def thought it could have been impaired driver or distracted.  I've seen it a ton just from all the years of working along roads.  But as explained, terrible things can happen from accidents and this is just one of those really bad ones.  Once cars lose control then anything can happen.  And its sad 6 people died.  

21 minutes ago, mattie g said:

It's tough around here. There are so many (small-ish) pools close by, but even then I don't really get why folks would uproot and go to another. Oh well...

Our team struggles to even get enough kids to fill lanes and relays, so our struggle about bringing in new kids is the complete opposite of yours! My main beef is with the pool itself, though. It's a wonderful pool (clean, open, plenty of space, and a real community feel tucked right in the middle of the neighborhood), but there's never really been outreach to expose the pool to nearby neighborhoods. Our other issue is that a large subdivision almost right next to ours is in a completely different grade school catchment area, so those families almost all go to that other pool. "Our" catchment area is stretched out, so it's hard to convince folks to come to our pool if there's another around.

Ugh...just writing this makes me less happy about this season than before.

I could tell you stories about your first part.  It can be bad because there are a lot of crappy parents out there.  

What I've found in all my years is that the struggle to keep and attract members stems from the too high of expectations new members have of what a pool offers.  We have heard time and time again how people expect a country club type level pool for what they feel they pay for.  They need all the amenities and it needs to be fancy and gorgeous.  Well, there are pools that offer that but expect to pay $1000s to just join and then pay over $800 every year.  Most small pools like mine try to balance out keeping costs low to attract people and doing what we can to make the pool appealing.  The prob is we are an old pool.  And what do people want in a pool?  Is it the pool or you need a great toilet to shit in?  I go to swim, not complain about the parking lot looking rough.  If I have a place to set my cooler with beer I'm not supposed to have and chill with my kids then I'm happy.  

12 hours ago, nj2va said:

Geez, that's terrible.  Police: 6 dead after work-zone crash on Baltimore Beltway - WTOP News

 

This is why I’m glad I’m retired. This is stuff I was exposed to. Careless drivers and despite plenty of cokes and light and precautions you get this. 
 

Unless it was a medical emergency my bet is drunk driver or texting

23.3°

27

and windy

We have atmospheric tumbleweeds

I'm thinking of building a windmill to generate some juice.  Should make a ton of money.

35F and still windy and petty

I'm here for the petty wind obs

6 minutes ago, mappy said:

Yeah, I get it too. Can't have the fans in the stands booing Howell every time he makes a bad throw because they want Heinicke on the field instead. Heinicke just made bank though, 20mil for 2 years in Atlanta... his hometown to boot. Good for him.

I'm hearing that the WTFs did make offers but it got to be above what they wanted to pay.  Thats how it goes.  10 mil a year for a backup is super high end and just not what Rivera wanted to pay for a backup.

And agree with the other part.  If Howell plays bad then all you'd hear is Heinicke's name chanted.  Can't hate the guy for going to where he gets paid.

That sucks.  Wish him well but he was epic here.

2 minutes ago, North Balti Zen said:

First legit snow for my six month old puppy! He was so happy and confused .

Sounds like what my reaction will be when I see snow again

I am enjoying the heavy wind and the accumulation of air

What a way to spend mornings

41F and heavy pollen runoff

25 minutes ago, stormtracker said:

Almost time yall

I got rain

epic clouds currently

That’s bait

8 minutes ago, mappy said:

Pivotal isn't out to 84 yet, but here is DC at hr81

16 minutes ago, stormtracker said:

It had so much promise.  Frustrating.  But yeah, it's going to change about 20 times

We have time on our side for a positive change.  Maybe by june the GFS will finally nail down a track and we can get a tropical low up the coast

21 minutes ago, WVclimo said:

Congratulations on retirement Andrew.  I’m happy for you, buddy.

And same to you for being where you want to be and happy early 60th!!  May you have many more after!

8 minutes ago, MacChump said:

looks like something went down but can't figure out what

Some Perry Mason you are.  

43 minutes ago, WVclimo said:

Great post Bob.  Happy for you that you’ve found that spread of dirt to develop a dream with. 

I started a business when I was 30.  Made and lost fortunes.  Had some great times, but never got too caught up in the successes.  Once ego gets involved, the downturns that will surely come can consume you.

Turning 60 in a few weeks.  Fortunate to be in good health and a part of my kids’ lives.  The rest of it is just rolling downstream as you said.  I’m content letting others run in that rat race.  Ain’t jealous of them at all.

 

The only thing I chased was turning 50. Not that I wanted to but that was the goal. Turning that finally meant all the hard work and sacrifice paid off. 
 

I knew I was never going to be rich. Didn’t take a path in life that would make $$$. All I wanted tho was to provide. Make enough to have a home, family and be able to do fun things occasionally. There were going to be tough times and that happened. But thru it all I kept going with the hope it would work out. 
 

my goal was to retire at 50. Thank whomever one can pray to that I was able to get thru 30 years of work to make it. All I wanted was to be able to get out at an age where I can do things with my kids. That’s what I’m trying to do now. The mileage I put on myself from work is taking a toll tho. Shit hurts now and I hope I didn’t wear things out too soon to be able to enjoy it all. 
 

But thankfully I can now do things and be there for my kids. I’m not money rich but spirit rich. I have wonderful friends that also help me see the joy in life. And while I still have my health I’m gonna try to make others happy and do the things that some never get to. One doesn’t need wealth to be wealthy.