Come and sit by me.

How do we feel about “co-working,” friends? Or has the hyphen been dropped entirely by now? In which case: How do we feel about coworking?

I think we need to keep the hyphen. Autocorrect tried to make that “cowering.”

I ask because co-working is the new dance craze that’s sweepin’ the nation. When Bridge was setting up its Detroit office, we looked at a couple of them. My boss asked only that it not be a place where if you stepped away from your desk for a minute you risked being run over by a hipster on a skateboard. We went through a couple, and they were beautiful places, but we couldn’t make them work, or co-work.

For starters, we needed at least a little privacy, and this seems to run contrary to the ethic of co-working. While there were lots of cubbies and cul-de-sacs and other places where you could make a phone call demanding the abortion money without too much risk of being eavesdropped upon, the co-working office where you can lock away your computer monitor, keep a private copier and a file cabinet or two wasn’t easy to find. No one really wanted to modify their lovingly restored reclaimed-wood loft into cubicles with locking doors, because hey! It’s CO-WORKING, not a bunch of veal-fattening pens. Get with the program.

The program, as near as I could tell via direct observation, was sitting at long tables staring into a laptop, feeding off the collective energy in the room. Bikes parked right next to your desk. An office kitchen with a few local craft brews in the fridge, takeout menus in the drawers. Funky signage. Funky everything. Maybe some old photos from the ’20s silkscreened, in heroic scale, on the walls. A few office dogs.

We ended up in a plain old traditional office with a locking door. I still park my bike near my desk. But every time a new co-working space opens, and the local Curbed website runs a shitload of photos, I feel a little bereft. I bet I’d like hanging there.

What am I thinking? In a month, they’d hold a vote and kick me out, after my third announcement to the room: SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTERS AND GO MEET SOME GIRLS, PEOPLE.

It does make you wonder how the office of the future will look. I’d much rather work in one of these places than in most of the offices I’ve endured, including the one in my spare bedroom. Cube life isn’t good for anyone.

So. Today the big time-waster on social media was the remarkable photos of ex-Tiger Prince Fielder, nude, published in ESPN magazine. I found myself poring over them, for no reason even approaching prurient. I just liked marveling at the size of the guy’s legs. There was a lot of talk of “eye bleach” and “things you can’t unsee” from the guys, a few clicks will take you to Venus Williams and her astounding booty. Plus many other sculpted athletes, all tastefully nekkid. Go waste some time of your own.

Me, I’m going to bed. I had a class tonight called Yoga Flex that taught me an important lesson: Yoga and weight-lifting are both fine workouts, but they really shouldn’t marry. It’ll never work out.

Happy Hump Day, all.

Posted at 12:30 am in Detroit life, Popculch |
 

66 responses to “Come and sit by me.”

  1. Sherri said on July 9, 2014 at 12:57 am

    I swear, Big Pharma execs are going to be the first against the wall when the revolution comes: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/health/some-generic-drug-prices-are-soaring.html?ref=health

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  2. Basset said on July 9, 2014 at 7:35 am

    Eye bleach indeed. And the tats don’t help any.

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  3. coozledad said on July 9, 2014 at 8:23 am

    It’s a hell of a lot easier to unsee something than unhear it.

    This guy has probably worn out more fleshlights than pairs of shoes. These are the guys who’ve woven the canker suppuration of defeat* into their lives so thoroughly it’s oozing out of their skin. Something vaguely lipid, with a smell of rancid butter and ashtrays:
    http://wonkette.com/553726/racist-official-is-oh-holy-sweet-jesus-thats-so-fing-racist#idc-container

    Too many of these fuckers in the south. The US army needs to blow them to shoeless shit-drawered bits again.

    *Faulkner. The elegance of this phrase is stunning. It’s apt for both the Klan riddled south and its neoconfederate twin, the GOP.

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  4. beb said on July 9, 2014 at 8:35 am

    I’m revealing my age when I say that I have never heard of Co-Working before. So this is guys sitting around a table pecking away at their laptops? I can’t imagine a less productive environment. Co-Working conjures up images of 50s office spaces where large rooms were filled with rows and rows of desks. Cubicals were an improvement over that by giving you a space you could call your own, that you could personalize and not have to worry about who’s watching if you need to pick your nose.

    Prince Fielder nude? That’s something I don’t ever need to see.

    Talkingpointsmemo picked up the phone and called the EPA about this “rolling coal” fad. Seems that it’s against the law to tamper with or disable the emission controls on your car or truck. So rolling coal is illegal. Now if only we had some EPA police to go around ticketing people. Of course assholes being what they are, they’ll complain about jack-booted thugs taking awya their FREEDOM rather than the rule of law. Because the black man in the White House must obey the law but they don’t.

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  5. alex said on July 9, 2014 at 9:03 am

    Those hilljack smokestacks have been a popular accoutrement around here for years and I don’t think it has anything to do with anti-environmental fervor. The people driving around in them aren’t even capable of that level of consciousness. It’s more of a poor man’s Corvette kind of thing.

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  6. Deborah said on July 9, 2014 at 9:04 am

    Before I retired the design firm I worked for had a project doing the interiors of a co-working space called 1871, that’s the date of the Chicago fire. I wasn’t involved in the project officially because the client had another source for graphics but I was consulted about a few things so I toured the space a few times. I thought co-working was a great idea. http://www.1871.com/virtual-tour

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  7. Heather said on July 9, 2014 at 9:06 am

    I’d work in any office if I could swap my two-hour-a-day commute by car.

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  8. coozledad said on July 9, 2014 at 9:16 am

    Today in dead-ass dixie Republicans:

    http://www.wral.com/sheriff-vance-county-man-shot-to-death-by-grandson-11/13792825/

    Grandpa loved us everyone
    loved us like he loved his gun
    turned that gun on you and me
    I kneecapped him, right in the knee

    Well, it was more his haid I guess
    judging from the shitty mess…

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  9. Wim said on July 9, 2014 at 9:16 am

    I’ve never quite understood the people doing things–like rolling coal–that they imagine somehow discomfits hippies or liberals or the merely rational. That they think, somehow, that wasting power (which they pay for) or that using more fuel (ditto) will make Al Gore cry, or something. I suppose it may have something to do with not actually knowing any of the people they imagine they’re getting back at, and thereby not realizing how utterly ineffectual their efforts shall ever be, these culture warriors fearlessly and fecklessly ripping the stuffing out of strawmen.

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  10. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 9:39 am

    Wm – well said.

    Cooz – that is one amazing (in the “Oh my God!” sense of the word) story.

    The cruelty and ignorance within humanity never ceases to amaze me

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  11. Bob (not Greene) said on July 9, 2014 at 9:41 am

    Wim, when I first saw that coal-rolling deal, my first thought was — this response is simply a child throwing a tantrum. Over what? Who do they think they’re showing? The only thing they’re doing is poisoning the very air they themselves and their neighbors and families breathe. I mean, it’s absolute dumbfuckery. Yeah, you showed Obama. Astounding.

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    • nancy said on July 9, 2014 at 9:48 am

      If you dive into the links in the original Slate piece, you’ll see something called “hot girls gettin’ smoked.” These mouth-breathers pull up next to a pretty girl walking alongside the road and ask her if she smokes. She says yes and smiles at them, after which they blow exhaust in her face. WHO DOES THIS? SHE SMILED AT THEM.

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  12. Jeff Borden said on July 9, 2014 at 9:50 am

    One of the major tenets of conservative politics in America is that whoever pisses off liberals is cool. Many of these loons don’t have a substantive idea in their entire body, but if they piss off the left they are clearly great leaders and worthy of attention.

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  13. Bruce Fields said on July 9, 2014 at 9:56 am

    I work at home, but this year I’ve been experimenting with spending a day a week in coworking space in downtown Ann Arbor. I like the change of scene and the chance to see some colleagues (several of the people in my area of specialization joined the same place).

    I don’t think it provides much private space. All I need is power and network and a place to sit.

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  14. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 9:56 am

    I’d politely smile, too – while fervently hoping they keep on driving away – and busily scanning the area I’m in for any sort of store to duck into, or tree to hide behind, in case they go around the block

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  15. MaryRC said on July 9, 2014 at 10:05 am

    Seeing that 1871 space, all I can think of is how much my back would hurt if I had to sit on one of those bar stools or hassocks all day. I’ll bet there’s a cut-throat competition for those mesh office chairs.

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  16. coozledad said on July 9, 2014 at 10:08 am

    It just hit me that shooting took place in the vicinity of one of my old mail routes. Kitrell straddles the county borders of Southern Granville and Vance counties. In the early part of the last century it was known as “the hurricane” because it was so deeply inbred its residents had been reduced to complete savagery. Lots of extra fingers and toes in those parts. The people who made those “piss on Clinton” license plates did a bumper business among those helots back in the nineties.

    I’m surprised they didn’t fuck grandpa instead of shooting him, but you go with the impulse the lord gives you, not the impulse you might have later, when he can’t get away.

    Some genius bought a parcel of land and put a nudist colony down there several years back. I don’t know if it was called “Purtymouth”, but it should have been.

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  17. Jeff Borden said on July 9, 2014 at 10:19 am

    Those are some family values in Kitrell that ol’ Wayne La Pierre and the NRA can get behind.

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  18. Sue said on July 9, 2014 at 10:50 am

    Co-working: will only work with the right co-workers. And I have never in my many-decades-long working life found that mix.
    Coal-rolling: I have a young relative who explained thusly to her boyfriend regarding his pride and joy, the crotch-rocket motorcycle – “You get on the freeway and I guarantee that just about everyone you pass is thinking one thing – ‘Douche’.” I think this is the same concept, a disconnect between how you view yourself and how the world views you.

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  19. Charlotte said on July 9, 2014 at 11:13 am

    I’ve been working at home full time since 2001, and I wouldn’t go back to an office for love or money. Well, I probably would, but hoping I don’t have to. Just back from 2 days in our Seattle office, which is old fashioned — everyone has an office with doors that close. Specifically negotiated to keep them when they were acquired by Cisco. If you’re a visitor it seems hostile and unfriendly, but the people who actually work there love it.

    Also went out to see my father, who was in from Prague. 3rd time I’ve seen him since 1993. It was fine. Weird but fine. No paternal or parental vibe at all — like someone I used to know. Glad I did it, we went to a Mariner’s game, which was fun. He’s a hale 79, but you never know. I’ll feel okay about myself if that’s the last time I see him, I guess. But glad to get back to my wee little town where there are people who actually love me.

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  20. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 11:26 am

    Sue – cubicle working is insidious, really.

    Yes – I’ve had the “aha” moment when I realized that some large majority of people who work every day, out in the sun or in the snow or the rain; or in some sweltering foundry or factory, would trade places without hesitation.

    Climate control, plus cool drinks, ready access to a real bathroom, not becoming filthy from head-to-toe every day…these things are nice.

    But – sitting in proximity to the same 2 or 3 people, year after year (and now decade after decade)…..

    redacted

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  21. Sue said on July 9, 2014 at 11:41 am

    Brian, I keep thinking of this in terms of the talkers. It’s hard enough, when you at least have the walls of a cubicle to protect you, to fend off someone who cannot shut up but holy gods can you imagine what it would be like sharing a tiny table or a long table or a sofa/workspace? Maybe that’s why the youngsters always have earphones in. But I would look stupid doing that.

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  22. Julie Robinson said on July 9, 2014 at 11:49 am

    Agreed about those seats–oof. I wear headphones in a two-person office because I can’t do financial work without Bach and I don’t want to inflict it on someone who doesn’t share my musical taste. The 1871 space makes me wish for something more than my dungeon, but OTOH I’m a squirrel! person and I wouldn’t get anything done.

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  23. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 11:51 am

    Sue – entre nous* – young folks (imo) look pretty silly with those ear-buds in, and especially the round colorful headphones (I forget what they call them) which are now the rage.

    They remind me of Gary Collins on the old Laugh-In show…and they’ve become ‘cool’!

    *learned that term from The Proprietress, many years ago.

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  24. LAMary said on July 9, 2014 at 12:08 pm

    Beats, by Dr. Dre, now owned by Apple, Brian.

    I wear headphones, the little cheap earbuds type, so I can selectively participate in the conversation in the office I share with three people. No cubicles, just desks. I’ve got the nicest view. Crape myrtle trees, now in bloom, with hummingbirds zipping around in the flowers.

    And I like the barenaked athletes. Those are some beautiful bodies they’ve got.

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  25. Suzanne said on July 9, 2014 at 12:18 pm

    I don’t think I could co-work for any length of time with all the distractions. Heck, I was the person who spent a lot of my college career at any library carrel I could find that was tucked away in the stacks far away from anyone. I tried studying once in college with a group of friends and accomplished nothing because of all the distractions.

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  26. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    ‘Beats’ – that’s it; thanks, Mary!

    I KNOW I’m getting old, but the appeal of those things is lost upon me

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  27. LAMary said on July 9, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    They’re not really very high quality according to reviews I’ve read, but they’re cool. Apple owns them now and the word is the will make Apple devices have s specific socket, and Beat have a specific plug, so you have to buy both of them. Your Beats won’t fit your old IPod or IPhone and your cheapo Skull Candy earbuds won’t fit your new IPod or IPhone.

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  28. BigHank53 said on July 9, 2014 at 12:54 pm

    The industrial design of Beats headphones is very good; a natural match for Apple. The headphones themselves, sadly, are terrible. A co-worker of mine (the old-fashioned kind of co-worker, as we have too much proprietary stuff around to ever share working space) used to work for Best Buy and got a look at some of their invoices. The $300 retail Beats headphones were less than $60 wholesale. I’ve no objection to a reasonable profit but that isn’t one. Look at Shure or Sennheiser or Audio-Technica or even Sony. Bose make some excellent noise-cancelling headphones if you want them for air travel.

    The coal-rolling dimbulbs are losers who’ve finally grasped the fact that they’re losers. The macho white America with $35/hour jobs you could get with a high school diploma has been shot, butchered, and sold off. They’re rebelling against clean cars and pretty girls and rules because they’re peckerwood dinosaurs the morning after that asteroid landed, and the only relief they can find is to make somebody else feel just as fucked-over as they do.

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  29. Deborah said on July 9, 2014 at 1:02 pm

    I can only listen to instrumental music when I work, if there are lyrics I find it too distracting. That is when I’m working on a design problem. If I’m doing physical labor that’s another story, then I like music I can sing along with.

    I’m sitting on a chaise poolside at Ojo right now. This is a private pool too, so peaceful. I wish I had remembered to bring a book. Stupid.

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  30. Judybusy said on July 9, 2014 at 1:18 pm

    Our county is transforming a lot of space to shared workspace: no permanent spot for you, but a wee locker and docking station. We are very mobile in my job, and have a very short turnaround time, so undocking, storing, re-docking is a massive waste of time. Also: the issue of noisy, hacking co-workers that the cube wall at least protects you from just a bit would be so problematic. We have a lot of sensitive conversations that I really wouldn’t want to have 2 feet away from someone, with the family member being able to overhear chatter as if they were interacting with a call center. Lastly, I keep a lot of shoes at work. Where are those supposed to go?!

    Thankfully, management is listening, and is sounds as if our program’s needs will be taken into consideration. There has been a lot of negative feedback about the shared workspace experience from employees already using it, and for once, we’re being listened to.

    Today I’m missing Prospero because I saw Bill Frisell last night (jazz guitarist) in a great, intimate setting. I know Pros would have some great story about how he and Bill got really blitzed together back in ’77, and that he was a really nice guy.

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  31. beb said on July 9, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    Retired in place… if only.

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  32. coozledad said on July 9, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    BigHank53: It baffles me why the dumbasses around here let little Britney and Ezekiel breed and then live up under them in whatever doglot or camper shell adjoins the house. There aren’t enough volunteer fire jobs in the fucking country to support the sprog they’re dropping in Person county.

    I’ve been entertaining the idea of running a fake campaign for county commissioner as a states rights Republican asswipe to siphon some votes off the Duke Energy candidates, but you couldn’t run to the right of them if your platform was “Run them damn Jews and Gypsies out of Roxboro” because they’ve pretty much gone there already.

    Maybe I could get some traction with “Why is three squares and a cot only good enough for prisoners. Why cain’t we have sprog camp?”

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  33. Jeff Borden said on July 9, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    Damn, Cooz, don’t ever change. I love your wit.

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  34. Sherri said on July 9, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    Cooz, their reaction to that would be “Prisoners get three squares and a cot?! Unamerican! We should be starving their asses! Bread and water for prisoners!”

    You can’t get to the right of them.

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  35. Joe kobiels said on July 9, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    Mobile update.
    Just passing Buffalo on the way back from Bangor Maine. Staying low out of a strong head wind.3 hr down and 2 to go.
    Cheers
    Pilot Joe

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  36. Dexter said on July 9, 2014 at 2:39 pm

    Shake rattle and roll, if you don’t find yourself down on the cobblestone path. Fabian Cancellara said it best post-race: ” Eliminate the cobbles? What next, because if they eliminated the mountains I would be a favorite to win.” Retired TDFer Chris VandeVelde said they should re-think having so many cobble segments, and others agreed that the Tour de France is going to be less exciting in the end since Chris Froome, the reigning champ, crashed out of the race early today.
    In case you missed it, it was rough. Those cobbles are bad enough dry, but it was raining “cats and dogs” as Paul Sherwen said. Froome crashed before the cobblestones appeared in front of him…he immediately abandoned the Tour.
    I am surprised some of the bicycles did not simply shake apart. That life is a tough way to make a million bucks, for sure. I had to record the final seven miles of the race, so I don’t know who won. Gotta go watch it right now.

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  37. LAMary said on July 9, 2014 at 3:28 pm

    I have bad memories of riding my bike on cobblestones in Philadelphia. I think still have some scars from riding on wet cobblestones.

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  38. Jolene said on July 9, 2014 at 3:37 pm

    The federal government is experimenting with various forms of co-working too. At the GSA, employees telecommute some days, travel for work a lot, and make reservations for space at desks and conference rooms. The idea is to save money by reducing the amount if unoccupied space they are paying for.

    Am glad I never had to do this. My office was always a sort of second home. I think I’d have found it very distracting and productivity-diminishing to have to set myself up to work in a new space every few days.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/us/08desks.html?src=twr&_r=0

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  39. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 3:47 pm

    Y’know, I was thinking that the Repubs are completely wide-open for 2016, and that a governor like Indiana’s Pence might just dark-horse his way into the fray (or, more likely Kasich of Ohio, but we digress)

    And then…..

    http://wane.com/2014/07/09/indiana-agencies-told-to-ignore-gay-marriages/

    The lead:

    INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s office is telling state agencies act as if no gay marriages had been performed during three days following a federal court order.

    The memo from the governor’s chief counsel tells executive branch agencies to execute their functions as though the June 25 court order had not been issued.

    Paging Governor Wallace; Governor Wallace to the white courtesy phone, please (presumably the gates of hell still has courtesy phones, eh?)

    Pence self-destructed more quickly then Governor Perry of Texas last time around.

    So I still think he’ll run, but he’s opted for losing the race and making a post-governing career of flapping his lips on Fox News.

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  40. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 9, 2014 at 3:48 pm

    Mother-of-a-bride. It should be the vitreous oath it sounds like, but in more general circulation. Gahhhh.

    Thanks for letting me vent. It’s been one of those summers. [exeunt laughing]

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  41. Julie Robinson said on July 9, 2014 at 3:50 pm

    Cobblestones? Cobblestones are nuthin’! What about gravel? All those loose stones and their sharp edges left me with a mosaic of scars. Thus the plight of the rural child, who also has to walk uphill 5 miles to school, both ways, natch.

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  42. Kirk said on July 9, 2014 at 4:08 pm

    Deborah@29: I was doing some massive homework for a 10-day seminar a number of years back and found the same thing. In fact, it had to be classical music, at low volume.

    Joe@35: This might have been addressed here before, but just wondering: How many hours have you accumulated up there?

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  43. Cara said on July 9, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    Brian,

    Agreed, Pence will run, not as a dark horse, but as a mule in a horse’s harness, (remember Margaret Mitchell?) No, not the Democrat’s donkey, just a mule.

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  44. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 4:56 pm

    Cara – well said, and amen!

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  45. LAMary said on July 9, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    Worse than gravel is oiled sand. At our house at the then agricultural northeast end of Long Island, they packed down the sand and put black oil on it to make a road surface. The idea was that cars would pack that down firmly. However, if you rode a bike on a freshly oiled road and either had to turn sharply or stop suddenly things went bad very quickly.

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  46. David in Cincinnati said on July 9, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    I hesitate to be an online pedant, but Brian Stouder, I think you mean Gary Owens, not Gary Collins.

    I was only in second grade or thereabouts, but from that time on I’m proud to say that my parents let me watch Laugh In every week – I didn’t understand most of the jokes at the time, but my brain absorbed them to the point that years later, I would suddenly “get” a joke I’d heard on Laugh In years and years before!

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  47. Dave said on July 9, 2014 at 5:49 pm

    All these comments about working in offices reminds me of how I thought working in a office all day, even with regular hours, would have seemed like punishment.

    Yes, Gary Owens, David in Cincy, you’re correct.

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  48. alex said on July 9, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    Now, now, if Mr. Pence is an impotent ass, it’s not because of his chromosomes. But, yes, he’s most certainly wearing blinkers.

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  49. LAMary said on July 9, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    I know the soccer fans are few and far between here, but jeez. Netherlands vs. Argentina is 0-0 going to penalty kicks.

    Go Netherlands. Connie bent je Oranjegekte?

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  50. LAMary said on July 9, 2014 at 6:48 pm

    Argentina got it in penalty kicks, 4-2.

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  51. Joe Kobiela said on July 9, 2014 at 6:52 pm

    Kirk@42,
    I have around 9,500 total around 7,500 multi engine, have been averaging around 900 + a year for the last 7 yrs
    Pilot Joe

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  52. Deborah said on July 9, 2014 at 6:54 pm

    For those of you who will be making a trip to Northern New Mexico you might consider going to Ojo Caliente. It used to be a rundown hippie spa (and we actually really liked it back then) it’s quite chi chi now and a little pricey but they do have specials. It’s historic, a true New Mexico experience, natural hot springs fed pools. I go there a couple of times a year when I’m here but I always ask myself why I don’t go there more often. The best time to go is at night in the winter when you can watch the stars from a steamy pool, with a kiva fireplace burning nearby, but it’s great in the summer too, really all year round. They have four mineral pools, a mud bath experience, a sauna and a steam room and offer a bunch of massages, facials etc. It’s in a beautiful setting, you can’t beat it. I know I sound like an advertisement but check it out http://www.ojospa.com. You can get a day pass on weekdays for about $20, it’s $35 on weekends, that gets you in to all the pools, sauna and steam room. Not bad. The treatments are what jack the price up so I forgo those. They also have an inn so you can stay there and get the royal treatment.

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  53. Deborah said on July 9, 2014 at 6:56 pm

    Oh, I should warn you to turn your sound off if you go to the Ojo link, there’s an annoying soundtrack.

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  54. Connie said on July 9, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    Ja, LAMary.

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  55. brian stouder said on July 9, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    Well, let me just say that next week the young folks and I are packing up and heading to South Dakota for Mt Rushmore, plus several other Chevy Chase-like stops, no doubt.

    I don’t think we’ll make it all the way to the Little Big Horn, but there’s a big big rodeo that we will catch

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  56. Connie said on July 9, 2014 at 8:22 pm

    My childhood memory of Mt. Rushmore: everything sparkles. Let’s play peel the mica. Enjoy the trip. I leave Saturday for Glen Lake/Sleeping Bear. Aaah, beach time. Any one been swimming in Lake Michigan yet or is it still too cold?

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  57. Dexter said on July 9, 2014 at 8:38 pm

    What a joyous thrill it was when Dad borrowed Uncle’s truck, loaded up the bicycles and took us into town, to Grandma’s house so we could spend all afternoon riding on tar streets. We lived on a dusty gravel road, I can still hear that crunching sound in my head from riding on gravel. For years here the city left one street as it was in 1890, paved with bricks. That was odd riding on. I have ridden on cobblestones before somewhere, can’t recall where, only that I hated it.

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  58. Dave Kobiela said on July 9, 2014 at 10:02 pm

    That’s a lotta hours, Pilot Joe. Making good money, doing something you love. I really am happy for you. Just seems like a good time to remember that without COLLECTIVE BARGAINIG, and the solidarity of our USW and UAW brothers and sisters, you (and I), would be going in to that hot sweaty factory again tonight (for $12-$15/hr. not $30). Early retirement, health care!!, time off to take flying lessons, make as much $$ as you can and still draw that full defined benefit pension…just sayin’.

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  59. Dave Kobiela said on July 9, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    Collective bargainiNg. My mistake. Kind of funny that this fancy phone/computer doesn’t see that word often enough to correct it.

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  60. MichaelG said on July 9, 2014 at 10:10 pm

    Lord, Dexter, Fabian Cancellara do go on. I thought he’d never shut up. Yes, there was a lot of breast beating over the cobble stone question. Two things the breast beaters seemed to miss are worth noting. One, it rained quite hard and the cobble stones were, as a result, quite slippery. Two, the rain made the paved roads very slippery and most of the crashes were on the wet pavement before the riders even encountered any cobble stones including both of Froome’s falls. After they figure out how to banish the rain I’ll be willing to talk about eliminating the cobble stones. Bob Roll had pretty much the same attitude I do.

    Mary and Connie, the Netherlands got past Mexico on a penalty kick that resulted from a fake fall by one of the Dutch players. (Robbens I think it was.) He even admitted that he took a dive in an effort to provoke a penalty. That pissed me off and I’ve been rooting against the Netherlands ever since. That whole business of pretending to be mortally wounded every time one of those players falls down really detracts from enjoyment of the game. I saw one guy fall down without being touched and writhe around on the ground as if in pain. Fortunately nobody paid him any attention.

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  61. Sherri said on July 9, 2014 at 10:49 pm

    MichaelG, it was Robben. He’s a notorious diver.

    The semifinal games were both pretty much duds, after so many exciting games leading up to them. Brazil had a total meltdown, and Argentina and the Netherlands played much of the game like they’d just as soon go to penalty kicks. The most interesting thing was Zabaleta playing a big chunk of extra time with a huge wad of gauze sticking out of his mouth: https://twitter.com/pablo_zabaleta/status/487014639449174018

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  62. Jolene said on July 10, 2014 at 12:02 am

    Was the gauze the most iñteresting thing, Sherri, or was it the blue hair?

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  63. MichaelG said on July 10, 2014 at 12:43 am

    See, that’s the thing, Sherri. Why would the officials allow such an important game to be decided by a bogus action on the part of a known actor? FIFA needs to clean that shit up. It’s like drugs in cycling.

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  64. Sherri said on July 10, 2014 at 12:55 am

    The blue hair was after the game. The gauze was during the game.

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  65. Dexter said on July 10, 2014 at 1:41 am

    MichaelG, Cancellara is indeed quite the chatterbox, perfect for Bob Roll and VandeVelde and the host as they had 22 minutes to kill until the top of the hour. The downpours that made life hell for most of the riders kept reminding me of something, and I just figured it out. When I was in training to be a medic at Fort Sam Houston (San Antonio) , we were on a long march to a bivouac location and it poured like that the entire time, even all night long. Miserable, cold November night. Just like today in that part of France.

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