Fezmid

So I purchased tickets for the evening TSO show tonight... And a couple of days ago one of my vendors gave me a couple of tickets to their suite for the afternoon show! Looks like I'll be seeing them twice today!

Season's probably over (although there's a very very very slight chance we could still get in...). That said, we're still getting together in IRC and hope that you will be there too!

I've said this before (and caught flack for it), but I'm a huge proponent of the EFF. This bill is one of the things they're fighting as well. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/protect-ip-act-very-real-very-bad-call-now-block-it https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173 And if you want to do more than sign an internet petition, you can donate (tax deductible) to EFF: https://supporters.eff.org/join

Wow, that comment is ridiculous. It's EASY to make bad wings -- almost every restaurant in the country has succeeded in making bad wings. I actually went to Legend Larry's once. It was ok, but nowhere near as good as I was expecting. In addition, they apparently only have 1 fryer because it took them forever to bring all of the food out -- and it all came out at different times (we had wings, mozzarella sticks, fries, and some other things; our hears still hate us for that trip!). How can the list of top 5 not even have Duff's? That's terrible.

I have a great mechanic in the Twin Cities as well. AJ mentioned Angies List and I HIGHLY recommend that -- it's cheap and worth every penny.

All I want to say is... Go Terriers!

Last week was do or die and we died... If we lose this way, then the season is pretty much officially over. If we win... Then people may get excited again! Come visit us in the unofficial chat room that has moderation.

Jack did the research and said this is probably your itinerary: http://www.cruiseroyalcaribbean.com/sc.do?d=05/01/2012&d2=05/31/2012&i=869880&c=44&v=561&IncludeAlumniRates=false&IncludeSeniorRates=false&zipcode=ZipCode&statecode=&dsc=y They only have so many different cruises in each area.

Oh, good points. If you get seasick, you want a room as close to the middle and as low to the water as possible since those are the most "stable." The ship usually doesn't rock that much, but if the weather is bad it can. They sell acupuncture bracelets to help with seasickness - don't buy them, I think they're a waste. Lots of people use the dots, like Jack mentioned. Another thing people do is to buy motion sickness medicine and take half a tablet a day and start that a couple of days before you get on the ship. It makes you drowsy, so take them before bed, but it works. (a tip we learned on Cruise Critic).

For a longer cruise I completely agree. But did you see their itinerary? It's like 7am-7pm every day but one. When they get back from excursions, they will get ready for dinner, see a show, maybe dance, then go to bed for the next 7am excursion. In that case, I don't think it's worth it for one day. For cruises with more sea days, or shorter excursions, definitely!

Uhhhh.....

I hope you have $50 saved in your bank account for me.

Ahh, you're right, I didn't see that the light was being reset. My mistake!

You missed the second part of my response -- have you waited a few days to see if the light goes off?

Did you make sure you tightened the gas cap so that it clicks a few times? When my check engine light turned on years ago, I was told to do that and wait a few days. Sure enough, the light went out and hasn't been back on since. Apparently the sensor takes a while to "reset" itself or something...

Wow, arrogant much? Instead of people posting their impressions on the discussion board, why don't you just post a few topics a day and tell everyone everything they need to know about the team. We can save a lot of time and effort that way, all knowing swami that you are.

Here's the video: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/09000d5d8244a7d4/WK-11-Can-t-Miss-Play-Dolphins-block-punt-and-score That wasn't Smith's guy to block. Maybe an argument could be made that he was supposed to pick someone up if the other guy missed the block, but the defensive back (can't tell who from the picture, but I *think* it was Searcy) was supposed to pick up the inside rusher because on a punt, the outside rusher generally won't get in. He instead picked up the outside guy. Brad Smith was clearly looking to block someone who comes from up the middle and seeing nothing, ran downfield to cover the punt. Smith didn't miss the block, the other guy did.

I thought it was a defensive back who missed the block on the punt... In fact, I'm pretty sure it was.

I'm sure CBS had a hand in that.

Well keep in mind that the $1000 was for my trip in Cairo. It was for two days and included all transportation around Cairo, a hotel room for the night at a REALLY fancy hotel (Obama stayed at the hotel when he visited Cairo), admission to the pyramids, a camel ride, the laser light show, all meals, the museum, and more. And that was for two people, so only $500/each. Well worth it. Most excursions won't cost anywhere near that much since you won't be spending the night. The only other ones that I've paid a lot for was the helicopter ride to the glacier where they train for the Iditarod. I think that was like $300-$400. Jack explained the onboard charging of stuff for you. You can review your balance on the TV in your stateroom too on RCCL. Definitely do this! Even if you don't think you'll ever cruise again, you might and by signing up, you get free stuff, preferred treatment, coupon books, etc.

I actually kinda like the formal nights. The extra packing sucks, but it's nice to get all dressed up for a fancy meal. That's the night they usually have steak and lobster. Speaking of food -- keep in mind that when in the formal dining hall, you can ask for ANYTHING you want and you'll get it if it's available. Not sure if you want the steak or seafood? Get both! Want shrimp cocktail but it's not on the menu? Ask for it anyway, and if they have shrimp, you'll get it. On our Med cruise, the guy from Rochester really wanted vanilla ice cream with caramel. The ship didn't have any caramel sauce on board! So what happened? The waiter told the chefs about it and the next day they made him homemade caramel sauce - and did that every night for the rest of the cruise. Cruises offer little things like that. Also while you don't need cash onboard most of the time - you DO need it to tip room service folks. Room service is free though.

This is it - do or die. We hope to see you all in the IRC chat room, where things are more civil than the Shoutbox due to onsite moderation. GO BILLS!

The basic story is, "Public funds help pay for stadiums, so owners shouldn't be able to blackout local fans." http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/16/sports-fans-coalition-intends-to-lobby-against-nfl-blackouts/

I'm always nervous about missing the ship for some reason, but I think you're probably doing the right thing... We did a private tour when we were in Cairo and it was AWESOME. It was just me and my wife with our driver and tour guide. We could go wherever we wanted, stay as long as we wanted at attractions, and it was very cool. We talked to others who were in Cairo and they complained that they were herded around like sheep. To top it off, it was about $250 cheaper too! The downside was that they didn't take credit card... So we had to have all of that money (about $1k or so) in cash while we were in Barcelona and then on the ship. They let us go on the ship to get the money so we didn't have to carry it around Cairo with us at least (no payment due until the trip was over - satisfaction guaranteed ).

The balcony is nice, but I don't think it's a must-have and depends a lot on the itinerary. With this cruise, I don't know if I'd pay the extra... Days 2, 3, and 4 they probably won't have any time to use the balcony because they're in port early and by the time they get back, it's time for dinner and a show. Days 1 and 5 are the only two they might use -- and I'd say day 1 will be used exploring the ship, so do they want to pay extra for one real day of use? We had an outside stateroom (no balcony) for Alaska and it was fine -- we could still see outside, but just couldn't sit out there. There weren't many sea days, so that wasn't a big deal. For the Hawaii and Med trip we took, we definitely wanted a balcony because of all of the sea days.