Thanks again All...No worries Bob.

The service is next week and I still have his golf bag until then. I'll give it to one of his son-in-laws at the service.


On another very mundane note, I got an email from Taylor guitars today about their 'holiday' gift guide...It's October 3rd FFS!

With the holidays just around the corner, there’s no better time than the present to start thinking about the perfect gifts for the guitar players and musicians in your life.

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"I give you my word as a Biden"

Probably because if you're looking for something to get built or special ordered and you don't pull the trigger the next couple of weeks, you are out of luck for the holidays

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Fair point.

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"I give you my word as a Biden"

What happened?

Why can't I find the Black and Orange Peanut Butter Kiss things anywhere? I usually eat a bag or 2 each halloween season and this year NOBODY has them. I'm going nuts.

They are in the same place as circus peanuts.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Sleep is a waste of time. I wish I could get by on 3 hours or less per night.

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"I give you my word as a Biden"

Gone fishing...

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whistler shut the fuck up, what is wrong with you? Seriously

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

You are a great testimony to fortitude Augie.

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Thanks, I wish. I do the best I can. I enjoy coming here and seeing the daily interactions and it's nice to see mac make an appearance.

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"I give you my word as a Biden"

I thought my in-laws were leaving on Friday but my wife told me last night they are leaving Monday morning. My step daughter has been with us since October 1st. In-laws came October 5th. Both not leaving until October 17th. Starting to get a bit irritated so just trying to hold my shit together yet another weekend. I just think these long stays are cruel and unusual punishment, plus get to drive 8+ hours to visit them for Thanksgiving in 6 weeks.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Last night, a limb from a neighbor's dead tree fell on some power lines and knocked power out to the house. It was restored pretty quickly, but there appears to be some damage done to the weatherhead mast that will need repairs. His tree really needs to go as its dead and rotted, and there are other limbs that look like they may fall at any time.

Today another limb fell and damaged part of our new fence. Pretty sure this was from a tree on our property though. Fortunately, it looks like only one section will have to be replaced.

Its only money, yeah?

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I'm beginning to suspect that I may be the worst youth soccer coach in the history of the sport.

The only thing worse than my team are some of the parents of the kids on it--and some of the parents of kids on opposing teams. Truly horrific individuals.

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Do.Your.Job

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The modern world is divided between those that would numb itself to its meaninglessness through various substances and various hedonisms and those that realize it and go crazy

Did you mess up snack time?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Sport parents are the worst...especially the ones projecting their inabilities onto their offspring.

Soccer is bad, but there isn't much worse than a travel baseball or softball parent.

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We are a rec league team that somehow got placed in a division with several "elite" teams. Our opponents are apparently training year round and have been playing together for two or more seasons; meanwhile, 2/3 of the kids on our roster refuse to run and are only intermittently aware that they are engaged in an athletic competition when they are on the field. A few of the parents continually bitch at me about my player rotations even though their kids either don't come to practice or are playing out of their age group. It's a disaster.

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I have coached youth sports for almost 20 years now and I completely agree with the softball answer. By far the worst parents I have had was back when my daughters played softball.

That is something that I have really enjoyed about tennis. I have had a run of really good parents and no issues over the last 10 years of coaching tennis.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

That sucks man. We had that happen on year in a basketball league we signed up for. We signed up for the recreational league and got put in the competitive league. It was a nightmare. It is amazing how parents are so blind to see something so simple that if you do not come to practice you do not get to play the same amount as someone who comes to practice.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm running into it now with one of the dads of one of my travel bowlers. Guy never shuts up, and is micromanaging every freakin shot...giving his kid terrible advice. He's a baseball coach. I was happy that the kid's mom brought him to practice on Monday. It gave me a break from that nutcase.

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I didn't realize "bowling coach" was a thing

I should mention that as bad as some of the parents are, a couple of the grandparents are even worse. There is one grandpa who is incredibly derisive towards everyone other than his grandkid and a grandma who seems like she wants to fight people all the time. It's quite a scene.

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Many of those things are why I stopped in house baseball and went to travel. The in house kids and their parents did not care. In a sport like baseball, it does not work when whole segments of the team are not engaged. My son would have innings with five strikeouts because either the catcher would drop the third strike, could not throw it to first, or the guy at first could not complete the out.

There was one crazy game where every recorded out was a strikeout because any ball put in play was a “hit”.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Gotta team them about beer frames…

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Hawaii (fuck) You

My kids did bowling through the school for fun, it was actually quite a deal I paid the $35 fee and they got like 6 weeks of bowling 3 games a week. Not really any coaching going on, just a school staff member at the lanes supervising making sure the kids stay out of trouble. You got psycho parents in bowling too, micromanaging every "throw" or whatever you call it. I sat in the lounge and drank during the hour and a half each week.

Then drove the kids home huh? Smart.

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I did have a chance to see maybe the worst parents I have ever encountered this year on one of our tennis opponents for the year. She was their top player on the team. Mom and dad each carried around a notebook and took notes on every detail of the match and when her match was over they would go over every mistake she made. I asked the opposing coach about it and she told me it was a complete nightmare and that she had to close tennis practice that year to keep them away from practice every day. The girl seemed like a sweetheart and I felt horrible for her. I cannot imagine having to put up with psychos like that. I walked by her and her father an hour after her singles match was over and he was still yelling at her for something he thought she did dumb on one of the serves. I wanted to punch him in the mouth.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I would think keeping a notebook would be a good way of tracking matches and certainly something that you could use to get better in the future yeah? Especially if you end up playing that player again down the road you might know their tendencies or whatever. But yeah there is definitely a line between trying to improve and going crazy over every little mistake.



Right?

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Sure keep track of results and maybe some thoughts on ways to better attack a player could be helpful.

But this couple was completely over the top. The coach said they never praise the girl for anything, they only focus on her mistakes. And the girl was a solid player, but just watching her you could tell she played afraid of making mistakes. She was tentative with most shots. I guarantee she would have played much better if mom and dad went home and she did not have them hovering over her.

One of the most important things I have learned about coaching girls in particular is you better praise them for things they do well, even if they are really small things. If all you do is focus on negatives they will just assume they never do anything right and eventually just shut down. If you talk to them about positives then they will listen to you more on how to correct the negatives.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Sounds like you need to watch the movie Kicking and Screaming and get you some Italians.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins