Mak'

I’ve recently switched from a Java-exclusive team to a Python-exclusive one, and this is the one thing I truly miss: An actively-maintained library for clear, extensible, fluent assertions. Being back to the likes of assertEquals is fine and all, but not as powerful or concise.

Yay! I can finally afford a hous-… and Blackrock just bought it out from underneath me…

I’m getting strong Hide the Pain Harold vibes.…

You know, I don’t actually know. Have been conditioned to avoid using them that I don’t even think about them.

Oh, I acknowledge that.

However, there are two things I get hung up on. One, can’t pay by check—Costco doesn’t accept checks. And, two, the traditional no-limits cards are generally Amex, which they don’t accept—only Visa.

So, yes, while nothing else you said was wrong per se, I’m still left to ponder just how the transaction would go down.

I know everyone’s general focus is on the cost of the thing and how ridiculous it seems, completely ignoring that it’s a Scotch that was aged longer than the overwhelming majority of us—me included—have been alive, and that there are some people for whom that taste is very much worth it.

Me, I’ve wrangled with exactly how you’re meant to pay for the thing and walk out the door with it. Am I bringing $27K—plus tax—worth of cash—three straps of hundos?—to Costco and having the cashier count it? Do I get pulled into the manager’s office instead? Or, do I put this on my Costco Citi Visa? Will they decline it, even if I have the credit limit? Can I sub in another Visa, since that’s all they take? Do I get walked out the door, or do I get a receipt for the checker to sharpie a line through?

It’s one of those movies that I put on for giggles one boring evening many moons ago, and spent the whole time going “what the fuck?”

Just…

Don’t.

This year’s? We can’t even make it through this sprint’s roadmap without a deviation.

Bonus points if it’s C-suite crashing the sprint.

Unflavored soju is my defense against drinking too much soju. I’ll have one bottle of that and be like “yep, I’m good”.

Meanwhile, everyone else is near the bottom of their second bottle of flavored soju and eyeing a third…

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I’m 25 years into my career and I’ve only just started to put this into practice. (I say “slightly” because, hey, I’ve been doing this without any advice or mentorship, and, maybe, one can be forgiven for not finding this stuff self-obvious…)

Took a new position and got tired of people scheduling my lunch four out of five days a week. In addition to the meetings before and after, it often meant most of my day in meetings without a break.

So, I threw a tentative meeting for that time slot and the number of lunchtime meetings cratered. Somehow, folks were able to figure out another time or solve it without a meeting. Only twice in four months have I been asked if that “meeting” could be moved.

Needless to say, I’m a convert and would wholeheartedly recommend the practice—of scheduling a self-meeting, for any purpose, be it lunch or even just productive time—to folks well before they hit 25 years.

“My, I bet you monsters lead interesting lives. I said to my girlfriend just the other day - Gee, I’ll bet monsters are interesting, I said. And I’ll bet you meet a lot of interesting people, too. I’m always interested in meeting interesting people. Now let’s dip our patties in the water!”

Substitute “walking down a road” with: “having dinner at a conference”, “chatting over lattes at the local coffee shop”, or “at a neighborhood cookout” as makes sense.

…so far.

Divorce? People have been murdered for less…

Joke aside, it’s definitely Breezewood.

I’ve been passing through that location for the last 30+ years, and there are unmistakable signs in this picture. It’s a very old one though, as most of these businesses are no longer there.

“It is God…”

If by “help” you mean buy cool toys and beat the shit out of people while wearing skin-tight rubber and lycra (not that I’m kink-shaming, mind)…

…I do love the idea of someone who makes much of their money illegally but also has this very honorable commitment to paying their fair share in taxes.

There’s, perhaps, a more practical explanation. As I’ve read before (in some other phrasing): If you’re going to commit a crime, commit only one at a time.

In this case, if you’re going to make your money illegally, for goodness’ sake, don’t evade taxes.

Once upon a time I used DDR to lose 30-40 pounds. I really enjoyed playing the game—even if I was never really great at it—and the side benefit is that I got into better shape.

But, that was a long time ago, in the PS1 era. Now—other than your L-TEK recommendation, which looks doable—I’m not even sure how I’d get back into it. Maybe worth my digging into again, seeing as how age has been putting on the pounds…