Syndergaard is an Angel, on a 1-year deal. That’s a lot of money for a guy who has pitched 2 innings in the last 2 years.
Renato Nunez is a Ham Fighter. (Yeah, yeah, I know.)
247 thoughts on “Mid-November Grill”
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I find the whole Gruden fiasco questionable. How just these leaked sure reeks of something and I think if others were ever released we would end up seeing more people saying things just as bad.
But your original point stands and really stood before any of us knew the emails existed.
For sure someone wanted to embarrass him, but it’s not clear what’s actionable about that, and his specific complaint about the motive and timing seems to be BS.
Yeah, when you’re pretty much nailed cold in writing being a racist/sexist/asshole, best to STFU. You’re not going to reframe that narrative.
In other news, I am day-to-day with flu-like symptoms after yesterday’s booster. I didn’t have much of a reaction after the two shots in the spring. Hurray for a working immune system?
I was sort of disappointed that I had no adverse reaction to my booster. I assume that I must have antibodies, but???
This is why I don’t go anywhere
People still…still!…don’t understand that masks mostly protect other people, not the wearer. If you want a mask to keep yourself safe it has to be an N95 equivalent.
I read that as “other people not wearing masks, and giving me grief for mine, infected me”.
my booster tomorrow is in doubt as one of my clients that i was face to face with for about 15 minutes friday has tested positive.
He has been in jail since august. Also, it’s the third time he has tested positive since mid 2020
cancelled booster, had covid test.
Got yelled at by 2 judges because I was on zoom and not live. I had to rmind them that they were informed of who was exposed.
Everything is so dumb
24 hours later, I have no reaction to the booster (all three Pfizer) except for the sore arm of a True Athletic.
Watching Sonny Dykes’ SMU team reprise so many of his Cal teams’ performances in today’s game at Cincinnati is giving me nasty flashbacks and turning my stomach a bit though.
It was a good weekend for Cincinnati’s playoff hopes. Oregon loss probably mattered more than crushing SMU.
Was disappointed with lack of poo-flinging in the monkey article.
Checking in on CONCACAF qualifying halfway through the final round, it’s the USA, Mexico, and Canada holding down the automatic spots, with Panama just three points off the top and in the playoff spot. The other four teams are pretty well adrift at this point. The last set of matches in 2021 is today, with the group reconvening for six more matches between late January and March.
The USA is in Kingston to face Jamaica at 2 pm in front of a crowd restricted to 5,000 due to COVID. To my eyes, Jamaica has the best shot of the bottom four to make a late run at qualifying. They’ve added some good players from the English Premier League during this process, but they play a little like they just met before the game.
Game of the day should be Canada-Mexico. Canada looked good in drawing with Mexico on the road, and in a wonderful bit of gamesmanship they have scheduled today’s return match outdoors in Edmonton, where it is currently snowing and where gametime temps should be in the high teens. That one may not look much like soccer, but it’s still a must watch
The Telemundo crew has the big puffy jackets for the live Edmonton pregame.
But I will be watching my first Tar Heels game of the year, on road at College of Charleston. New UNC coach Hubert Davis also went to the same high school as me.
Canada just went up 2-0 and they celebrated by jumping into a snow drift. This is fabulous.
“Soviet-style character assassination”
Are they erasing him from the pictures with Al and Mark?
I dread the takes when this happens
And see it shouldnt be that way. Going and playing at your AAA park is a simple time-honored tradition. But because of the morons calling the shots it is going to be a disaster. I guess Kaval wil get a huge traffic bump on all of his tweets during the games.
Man, the Warriors are such a joy to watch. Also, can I commit to watch 30 minutes of James Harden dribbling at the top of the key and shooting free throws and just get it over with?
Man, you have too many guns and very strange laws
also…
In the same vein.
yeah. you understand correctly
Are folks following the Cal Falcons drama? Grinnell was found injured few weeks ago, by a rival male who has since been attempting to move in with Annie. Grinnell now set for release back in a few hours. Will he vie to regain his mate and nest? Exciting!
Real life guy you are playing in a movie doesn’t like your look and prevents you from using his name? Well, can’t do it this time, can you?
Heh.
I don’t think Hill is a good actor at all, but apparently the surviving band members (plus one of Garcia’s daughters) are all involved with it.
RIP Dave Frishberg
Just a little off-season lockout. What could go wrong.
Wish we could afford to afford to do things like this, but we just don’t have the same financial means as the Rays I guess.
My guess is that arb and free agency years are going to be cut back by the CBA and the back end of this contract are going to be expensive looking in 2021, but not so bad in 2027 when the dodgers are paying his salary after dumping a ton of 65 prospects for him.
If the A’s made such a deal and it went all Pujolsy we wouldn’t contend for another 10 years.
Pujols with the Angels was for ages 32-41 (or maybe 34-43).
Franco is 20.
He could get hurt, of course, but there is such thing as being too risk averse.
That’s true of course, but when such an investment would represent half your budget the risk of ruin becomes substantially larger, and one’s definition of acceptable risk needs to reflect that.
Of course my definition is that billionaires can acceptably risk hundreds of millions and if Fisher needs to liquidate one of his mansions then fuck him.
sigh
So which dipshit Giants writer gave LaMonte Wade, Jr their 10th place MVP vote?
Baggarly.
Can’t believe that guy got on Jeopardy and I haven’t.
I don’t get the impression BEck would stick on a team for the season. I don’t see an updated list so I don’t know how many people are on the roster
Beck is about as useful to a Major League team as Kyler Murray at this point. I could see someone giving Reed a shot in Spring Training.
With 13 free agents (and other guys like Moll, Bolt and maybe Manchin who could be jettisoned) there is plenty of space on the roster.
Diaz is a 20-year-old who put up pretty good numbers at high-A Lansing, mostly playing 3B. Seems like a stretch to stick on a major league roster, but definitely an interesting prospect.
(Beck also played at Lansing, and didn’t hit at all.)
Juan pitched mostly at low-A Stockton plus a bit at Lansing, but with 40 K in 27 innings I can see why you’d want to protect him.
Reed was on our radar with some defensive gems in spring training, plus a couple of big hits, but he’s 26 and has never really hit apart from one year at high-A in 2018. Doesn’t look like a real prospect at all.
I’m a little more surprised by Howard. I think he was always considered a low-ceiling prospect, and had pretty bad numbers at Las Vegas, but that doesn’t mean much, and we (and just about everyone) could always use more pitching.
I’m good with jettisoning Manchin, preferably by catapult.
I guess I meant to write Machin, but that too.
Murdering protestors is legal in Wisconsin, good to know.
Sad, but not surprising. And sad that it is not surprising.
It’s the same logic used by so many violent policemen, and by George Zimmerman, and in many states getting blessed for civilians by “stand your ground” laws: show up armed, start a fight, and then claim self-defense, or the even more nebulous fear for your life (often the fear being that the other person might get control of your weapon) after you shoot the person with whom you started the fight. Just another consequence of our national firearm fetish.
100 this. FKing depressing.
And of course there’s also the fact that a large chunk of the right in this country harbors violent fantasies of finally getting to use those guns they’ve been fetishizing to kill their fellow Americans. They’re not even afraid to say it in public anymore, what with the many not just arguing Rittenhouse’s homicides were technically justified by his subjective belief, but that he is actually some kind of hero for the totality of his choices that day.
This was always going to be a tough conviction.
If I had the facts of the Rittenhouse, albeit with a better client, I wouldn’t mind trying it. With a couple of breaks you could win. Of course in this trial the defense go gifts to go along with breaks, so the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
I suspect with a better client you don’t get the breaks you need.
correct
Yeah – it’s just mind-boggling that we are neither surprised nor outraged. And that this is surely more so the trigger for more idiots to act like he did than to seriously overhaul the legal system.
And rich white admitted rapist don’t go to jail
Yeah, right
He goes on to quote Kaval saying they’re down to 2-3 Vegas-area sites and are negotiating with those land owners too. They also own half the Oakland Coliseum land. Rich guy parking cash in real estate, who cares.
Speaking of which, this week the Oakland city council entered into some sort of agreement for potential development at the Coliseum site (choosing Robert Bobb’s group over Dave Stewart’s) and then I saw this where some Las Vegas TV station seems to get it completely wrong, thinking that means development of a new ballpark.
(Actually, what happened to the A’s plans for housing at the Coliseum site? Is that not part of their plans anymore?)
The ENA with Bobb’s group lets them try to assemble something for Oakland’s 50% of the Coliseum site, then come back in a year (always longer) and pitch the City on the deal. WNBA is way more likely (the arena will still exist), NFL expansion distant second to anchor a deal which as advertised would include a black-owned business district and housing. Good detail here. Decent concept, we’ll see if they can make it work. Oakland often enters ENAs that in the end amount to nothing…remember the Wayans Brothers? It’s more about the local pols placating the East Oakland site diehards with the chance of some sports team. I note staff did not endorse the ENA.
The A’s plans for the land are build housing only in the sense that housing conveys the highest return, in practice they’d just sell/lease their rights, but useful to hold while still negotiating the HT deal.
Just build a superblock around it MSG style.
Hard to read this as anything but “we need something in the news about how Vegas is still a thing.”
what a bad liar.
Funny thing is Kaval arrived as a good liar, but in marketing no one calls you on it.
indeed
The same day Oakland announced it’s secured a whole bunch of the infrastructure funding to connect JLS and the waterfront to downtown. And what a coincidence that the A’s are saying they’ll be announcing a Vegas site “early next year” which happens to be when Libby says the Council will vote.
“this baseball sized parcel, I offer you $1,000! Don’t answer me now, Wait at least 6 weeks”
That’s enough for this parcel, apparently.
Taking that proposal at face value for a few seconds, which I think is more than this exercise deserves:
That AAA ballpark is in a great location for a AAA team that caters primarily to locals. It benefits from synergy with the adjacent “Downtown Summerlin” upscale shopping and restaurant complex.
The property mentioned in the article, “just west of the 215 Beltway and Summerlin Parkway”, is a couple miles north of there, on the other side of the freeway. There is no existing retail development in that location. What the A’s would get would be a stadium way out in the suburbs, next to a freeway and surrounded by acres of asphalt parking lots but not much else.
Yeah, sure, that would attract locals in what would be the smallest market in MLB, but it would be difficult to get tourists out there, and tourist money is the only sensible reason for going to Vegas.
I don’t see how an MLB park pencils out in any Vegas-area site. Not enough locals or tourists to even partially fill the stands for 81 dates a year. Not to mention the oppressive heat.
So looking through B-Ref it looks like LV averaged around 6,800 a game in 2021. Now obviously a MLB club get a bit of a lift from that and maybe an enclosed (though I seem to remember that wasnt the plan) stadium might help a bit too. But is it going to be 2-3x as much when you also are probably jumping the prices significantly? I dont think so.
I didn’t think the NHL would succeed in Vegas but *so far* the Golden Knights have done pretty well in the on-Strip location. They got a quick bump from an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals, we’ll see how that looks in years 11-15 but right now it’s a thumbs-up.
I do think baseball will have a Vegas team by the end of the decade, whether it’s the A’s, Rays or an expansion team when they go to 32, and the ballpark will be an on-Strip retractable roof. MLB won’t get the taxpayer money the Raiders got but the casino resorts have an incentive for financial participation to fill rooms and their casinos during the summer slow season.
5Aces, MLB attendance at a ballpark on the Strip can’t be extrapolated from minor league attendance in Summerlin; that’s apples and oranges.
Agreed. I was going off of the Summerlin info above-and even then I know there are caveats. But yes if it is right on the strip that changes things because casual fans can now go with little to no effort. I still worry you see the issue the Raiders are supposedly already seeing of the stadium being a mix of the other team’s fans and comps from a casino. But Fisher, Manfred, etc wont care as long as the checks clear.
Well, as we all know, once the A’s have bought a piece of land, that’s it.
I mean, obviously, once they set their mind on a piece of land, nothing can stop,them.
Okay, maybe they would do a little shopping around, but if it gets to the point of putting down earnest money and paying an annual fee, obviously no bunch of savvy business people would do that if it wasn’t a done deal.
LOL
If I didn’t know you were a savvy veteran journalist I might think you were mocking the A’s ownership.
Also, FYI, I got Covid in St. Paul, so be careful if you go back home. I learned after the fact that MN is having one of the worst upticks in the country.
Yeah, it’s bad. I’m not going until things settle down a bit – as much as I really want to see Dayton’s Christmas windows, returned from the dead,
I’m blaming it on the woman I talked to who went to Irondale.
Awesome.
The first story from 2006 is co-bylined by a now-colleague of mine who was in her first year at the Chronicle when she wrote it – she was astonished when U sent it to her.
This week’s installment of the R-J’s Mr. Akers waving his Green and Gold pom-poms:
I do think that’s a site where a MLB stadium could be successful.
A leak by someone to CNBC with a no comment from the team. OK.
Interesting coincidence about this: Bally’s has also taken over operation of the casino resort that has been known as “Montbleu” up here; the re-branding as “Bally’s Lake Tahoe” is taking place this month. That property also has a sports and entertainment facility currently under construction on a front corner of the property, in this case a minor-league type arena that will seat 4200 for basketball, hockey, etc. and up to 6000 with floor space for concerts. I saw the first structural steel going in when I passed by yesterday. The Events Center is supposed to open in January 2023.
That will be nice because we don’t have a large venue other than the temporary bleacher setup behind Harvey’s that is only usable during the summer. The casino showrooms don’t hold enough customers to attract top acts, and it’s funny sometimes driving through and seeing the upcoming shows on the marquees. Outside of summer now there’s an awful lot of ABBAcadabra, The Pettybreakers and one I also saw yesterday, Three Dog Night…(!). 6000 capacity isn’t going to bring in the superstars but we’ll do better than the cover bands and the county fair type retreads, and that’s going to fill rooms and casinos during slower periods.
– Former top prospect, then missed three years with four arm surgeries
– Out of options
– Relative of Mike Marshall
the guy who went out with belinda Carlise or the 104 inning reliever
Because if the former, cool, if the latter, wha’ happen?
The pitcher (106 games, 208 innings, and the Cy Young in 1974).
B-R says nephew, wikipedia says “Marshall taught the screwball to his cousin, Brent Honeywell Sr., who taught it to his son, Brent Honeywell Jr.”
A couple paragraphs after the one about his theories that he “believes could completely eradicate pitching-arm injuries.”
I now see wha happen
Manchester United is the best comedy on TV right now.
Bad news, looks like this season of the the show is finally over.
Good news, a new season starts next weekend.
YouTube’s attempt to auto-subtitle the commentary has been throwing up some bizarre attempts recently. United/Watford included:
“the three-headed shoot school anything you decided that be too higher it’s a go”
(Free header, should score, anything he decided – David de Gea – it’s a goal)
“there’s water in the show 100ft into a turtle lay”
(Ismaila Sarr puts his penalty disappointment firmly behind him)
Between the A’s and Cal the last three months have been relentless sports suck around here. Taking the Axe back is a nice moment of redemption.
Not every Stanford fan was in the depths of despair.
Oof. That dancing may be worse than losing the axe.
It also makes me unreasonably happy that Kaval got crappy seats.
College football had family-friendly pricing not that long ago. No more. Cal had sold a fair number of tickets for the USC game at a minimum of $50 for end zone to $100 and up once you get around the corner of the end zone to the sideline side. That game was scheduled on Nov. 13 with a nice 12:30 p.m. kickoff. It succumbed to Cal’s Covid issue and was rescheduled for December 4 with a family-unfriendly and City of Berkeley-unfriendly kickoff time of 8:00 p.m. (gotta get that TV money and that’s where Fox could squeeze a rescheduled game onto FS1). I’ll be expecting some e-mails offering cut-rate deals for that in the next week or so.
Meanwhile Stephen Piscotty will cash checks* amounting to nearly 1/5 of the reported budgeted 2022 payroll.
*The only way they could dump Piscotty’s contract would be to “throw in” Tyler Soderstrom in a Luzardo-for-Marte type deal.
why didn’t they do that in the marte deal!
I suspect lowrie will be standing near 2nd next year
I was thinking Jed might retire. He was a fine pickup for the first half, but really faded.
So someone else will sign him for the first half and the A’s will pick him up at the break.
The Bills falling apart in every possible way
If Kyler Murray were a couple years into a successful career as an Oakland Athletic that commercial where he’s telling Tebow he “can’t handle the curve” would be better.
The A’s must have told Christenson he’s not going to be the new manager. I’m betting it will be Shooty Babitt.
Rotating day laborer managers picked up on street corners in East Oakland.
If anyone would ever try an updated version of the College of Coaches…
While Shooty is obviously facetious, the A’s have never had a person of color in that job. They’re overdue, which is a reason I think it won’t be Kotsay.
Agreed, and also I’m not a huge Kotsay fan, I can’t get past the Christopher Walken vibe.
The A’s job presents the old problem, though, that POCs seeking their first manager jobs tend to only get a chance with bad teams, then get saddled with a losing record.
I thought we already agreed it was going to be tony kemp
Ron Washington is available, no?
Coco Crisp will be ready by the time the A’s have good players again.
I guess he passed the audition.
I can’t really explain why but I wish Kotsay had gone with Bob and Christianson had stayed in Oakland.
Chen looks appropriately enthusiastic in that photo
“Why am I wearing this jersey the team doesn’t use anymore? Did they just have an extra one lying around? Is this team really THAT cheap?”
Oh noes, another Matt Holliday.
Happy Thanksgiving FKers!
Yes, Happy Thanksgiving! We would give thanks for some snow. It’s dang close to beach weather up here all this weekend and beyond.
I *am told* Tahoe did finally get some snow, and much more, to be measured in feet, is expected over the next several days.
Hah hah that is awesome, I am badly overdue for some island time.
Thank FK for FKers.
Happy pie day.
We’ve made it into the holiday season. The Aces family actually ate at almost dinner time last night. No one had to go to work and no one was going shopping since almost everything was closed (as it should be).
Now we holiday-Im thinking about breaking out the perfect Christmas candle even if it is going to be almost 80 today.
Happy FKing Holidays to all!
Today in draws:
-One determined either Italy or Portugal (or both) will miss the World Cup
-One was played in the opening game of the chess world championship match
Maybe the first one screwed up Magnus’s World Cup fantasy league team.
Magnus has now played 19 straight draws in classical over three title defenses. He’s basically turned it into a world championship of rapid chess, where he dominates.
Sounds like a Nepo misplay cost him a chance to win one today.
Yeah, let them start with rapid, then move to blitz and bullet
Magnus traded his queen for Nepo’s two rooks today. This may end up another draw but it’s an interesting one at least.
It’s a great game!
Yeah, I’m loving this one. The players appear to be suffering mightily.
f3 looks strange
Everyone seems confused about why Nepo abandoned his passed pawn that was bogging Magnus’ rooks down. May have been a big blunder.
Yeah, that seemed like a way to a draw
Seven hours into this game now. Both have been playing under significant time trouble at times, especially Magnus. This may end up a draw by exhaustion.
Queen vs. Rook, Knight, and two connected pawns is an interesting endgame. Magnus thinks there has to be a win here, but he has so little time on the clock to think.
Drama!
I think he found the win. Magnus is something else, man.
That was thrilling. Nepo had this smirk briefly before the last time control, like “you had your chance, but I got this now”. But, it’s so hard to basically play rapid vs. Magnus, after seven hours of grueling chess
Nepo looked like he had been through hell by the end. Magnus also looked wiped out, but he just kept blitzing out accurate moves until it was done. Really amazing stuff.
I like the graphs Five Thirty Eight is doing that track the computer evaluation after each move. This one was very spiky, with a period right around the first time control where it was dead even.
Looks like Magnus has broken Nepo. After the relentless precision and tiny advantages of the previous games, today’s was a shocker.
Not sure how Nepo now gets past the thought “All I have to do is win 2 of 6 against the GOAT to get to blitz, where he’s the even GerOAT”
Yup, I think either one of us could have taken over ten moves prior to the resignation ant brought it home
I would have blundered into a perpetual or something.
More cool 538 visualizations here
Nepo used the rest day to get his man bun cut off and to prepare a fresh c4 opening.
And now he appears to have just blundered into another loss, according to Caruana and the chess.com commentators.
Yeah – that was a bizarre move. Trapping the bishop was hardly deeply hidden.
Even I saw that he couldn’t do what he did before he did it. The commentators all went “oh no!!!” In unison when he did it.
3 down with 5 to play, settling for the draw in game 10 smells like trying to keep the losing score respectable rather than trying to win and risking a blow-out.
… though I guess it’s a better strategy than the blundering-with-white alternative he seems to be specializing in.
He really collapsed mentally after that epic first win for Magnus. Hard to watch.
Yup – the flip from the extraordinary precision of the first 5 draws to the blunders after the loss has been shocking. It really did a number on him.
oh my god, he is going to go broke
It’s gonna be Brady vs. Belichick in the Super Bowl, isn’t it?
Feels so good to be wrong
And even better to be doubly wrong.
Speaking of yuck.
Less yuck than the Giants at least.
Good for Marcus getting that many years. Looking forward to the Rangers salary dumping him to us in 2026.
OH god if Marcus wound up with the Giants I would have just walked straight into the Bay and never come back.
Still too fucking soon.
That one and
Just wait till you see what they get for the package of Olson and Bassitt though.
LOL:
We also haven’t traded anyone yet!
Collusion thought of the day: MLB has encouraged teams before the lockout starts to ink high-value free agents but to avoid budget cutting trades, so they can say “look we’re spending so much money!”
We could project as a last-place team, even before trading anyone.
So they play Semien at 2nd?
And Kiner-Falefa to 3rd? Catcher??
Reading through the Texas media that does sound like the answer. Semien and Seager are both with Scott Boras now so Marcus didn’t get blindsided by the Seager signing. If playing SS were the priority for him I bet there were some reasonable offers.
That’s where he played with the Blue Jays this past season (1246 innings at 2B vs 134 at SS).
Sure, but since he can play short and they’re throwing a bunch of money at him I’d imagined they’d be playing him there.
Short of working through Cot’s team by team, how do I find the the league-wide 2b salaries?
This from 2019 is the best I can find without a subscription.
It does include the fantastic nugget that Robinson Cano cost the Mets $4B/WAR!
Even with Gray the Rangers risk replicating the formula that has held Mike Trout to three postseason games in eleven years.
The Semien signing in particular is kind of weird, because even with these additions I’m not sure they are a contender in the short term, and he is not young.
Then again, at this point I would rather have an owner who spent money unwisely than one who won’t spend money at all.
Your move, Mr. Fisher.
Mr. Fisher: “I’m on it!!”
Boom!
I know its only a gong, but absurd that Salah and De Bruyne are both behind Ronaldo in the Ballon d’Or voting … would anyone really want him on their team over either of the others?
Second elections are typically better for the employer, but this one might be different
more ex a’s getting a payday
Since no one has picked the low-hanging fruit yet: Stay away from the 14-year-old girls, Ryon. They’re nothing but trouble.
“los Cerveceros de Milwaukee”
love it
So do I
Anyone else watch Get Back? Extraordinary fly-on-wall look at the process of musical genius. You probably have to be a big fan to wade through the full 8 hours, but the moments of brilliance are worth it.
Started watching it before my family members commandeered the TV from me. I found it completely riveting and am excited to…get back…into it.
It actually got me to order Disney+, so I’m looking forward to watching it.
I really really enjoyed it. It’s so rare to see the best in the world just doing what they’re best at. Also, Ringo farted.
(Also also, now I blame George for the breakup. Angsty post-teenager ruins best musical group.)
That was a man with a masterpiece of a triple album just waiting to burst out of him as soon as he could get out of the toxic relationship he was in with bossy Paul and out-to-lunch John.
MLB used two different balls in 2021
Paywalled – can you share anything? Was it like a controlled A-B test kind of thing?
It’s kind of convoluted, but the upshot is:
– They announced before this season that they were switching to slightly lighter, less resilient balls (which it seems they had maybe already started using some in 2020). [Both old and new are within specs according to the rules.]
– An astrophysicist with too much time on her hands who cuts open and tests balls found both the older ones and newer ones among balls that were used this year, possibly even in the same games.
– The league said, oh yeah, because of covid-related production issues we had to use some old stock with the newer ones.
– But she also looked at codes in the balls themselves indicating when they were manufactured, and it seemed like even this year the production was switching between the older and newer versions.
– Players and teams were not really informed this was happening (again, the league’s version of the story seems to dispute this), and are understandably upset upon finding out. Doolittle one of those quoted.
– The league says it won’t happen again.
Thanks – so not a test. And once again MLB shows they can’t be trusted. Perfect.
Mexico’s new soccer crest is kind of awesome.
Well I have no idea when a new CBA might come into being. February, March, April, I’m hoping no later than May. But when it does, man am I looking forward to that deep dive into the scheduling and travel provisions.
I don’t know if it was influenced more by the fact that both my parents died before they reached the retirement age or by the fact that I was nearly killed when I was 19, but I’ve always felt uneasy about wasting my life away. And although I could never really complain about my work-life balance, just like Jovanotti, I wanted more. Volevo di più. I always thought that it would be really nice if I could make some kind of change before I turn 50.
So, with 40 days to spare, I renegotiated my contract yesterday, offering a 25% pay decrease in exchange to upping the number of the work days I can take off to 106 (I already had 42 in my previous contract). Effectively this means that I will spend four and a half months (December through mid-April) on Canary Islands where we rent a small beach house and still have a month off in summer to spend on my island in Croatia or some smaller trips. While I like money and will obviously miss it (both in short term and through the effects this move will have on my pension), I am very happy that I found the strength of conviction to make it happen. Financially, I will offset a part of it through some tennis lessons I give (I got licensed from German Olympic Committee couple of months ago), but also by living a cheaper life, which is another thing that I really wanted to do for a while. I realized how much less money I need when on the Canaries, in big part because Amazon needs 2-3 weeks to deliver there, so I don’t impulse-buy anything (and most of those purchases turn to be things I don’t really need or use). Also, seafood is a bargain there (or for free when I fish), and I eat it at least 3-4 times a week, which I really missed in Germany.
So, I’m happy and I know it and wanted to share with you FKers.
That’s fantastic! Will your workload actually shrink by 30% too, or will you be expected to do more work per day (and/or make it up with unpaid evenings/weekends/vacation days)?
Mostly I love what I do (and am very aware of how lucky I am) but the fact that the work is unbounded and the deadlines relentless makes for a very poor work/life balance, which has been made all the worse by working from home where my desk is 10m from my bed.
I can vouch for ptbnl’s lack of work-life balance
I raised the issue at my annual performance review this year and was mocked by my supervisor who is doing 3 full-time director-level jobs herself.
It will. I have a new engineer under my wings who will take care of some of my stuff once I bring her up to speed.
And it was important to me to be able to take my time off in big chunks. I have seen a danger of people working x-number of hours shorter every day, and they get a raw deal, as they don’t quite manage to get out in time. I also sensed what you said – when I’m at home and my Teams pings although I should not be available, I normally take a look and often engage. But I started combatting that in having fixed times to give tennis lessons at my club, so I force myself to leave the PC.
Good for you! I’m going through the same process myself, although in a more limited way, since I won’t be islanding anywhere! I’m really trying to figure out which clients to keep, which to pitch, and how I can really scale back my hours and force myself to take more vacation time. One of my main goals is getting as many clients as I can on a flat rate fee rather than hourly. Ever since I started working hourly, it’s just too easy to see time as money, and then just work all the time. It’s proving to be mentally unhealthy.
Fingers crossed that it works out!
Congrats, I would absolutely make that same choice if I could. Of course here in the good ole USA the lack of government-provided healthcare almost forces one to work forever. Unlike you I mostly do not enjoy my work and would love to reduce then retire, but that’s not in the cards any time soon
This sounds like a great plan. I want to have enough money that I don’t think about or worry about it and can have a comfortable standard of living, but beyond that the utility of having more money drops very quickly. Have a wonderful time in the Canaries!
Got into a mini argument with a judge yesterday because of “priorities.” He just mad that his generation thought work was most important.
Anyway he also ruled against me on every motion. Such a dick
so I have been swamped, prepping for a trial that was dismissed the day the jury was expected in and now starting another 12/6, but I had to share my friend was just hired by google glass lady on a domestic violence case that includes her posting messages all around calling he husband a child molester and other crazy bullshit
How was the second trial? I had my first COVID-era one for three weeks in November, and I’m still recovering.
My voir dire chart was so fucked up, spent way too much time trying to figure out who was who and were they were seated. I am si used tp the block of 18 potential jurors right in front of me. Opening was hard, but closing was easy. Evidence was no different. Harder to spy on the jurors though, to see if they were taking notes.
Good result NG on the two strikes, hung 8-4 on the third felony, guilty of a misdo. Way more tired. Don’t know if its age, masks, or being out of practice.
Congrats!
Baseball owner holds important meeting with union.
School shooter with gun supplied by parents, who are now on the run from police…sad new level of America unlocked.
Yeah, that story is really fked up.
Local sheriff knows “intuitively” that they aren’t dangerous.
My god, I am astounded everytime
I really love watching GP II play. JTA, too.
Rarified air for the football colins! All people of goodwill will be on team Bearcat.
First half of the AAC championship was a bit too close for comfort, but then the 3rd quarter made it clear why this team deserves its ranking. Probably they are going to get crushed by Bama, but you never know.
Please start better than Kyler Murray’s Oklahoma team did (28-0 Alabama 2 minutes into the second quarter).
Bill S. Preston, Esq. knows what’s up
It looks like a lovely December evening for football in Buffalo. My favorite is when the punter launches one that initially goes forward, then starts going straight up, then winds up going behind him.
Atletico-Porto was not the best advertisement for the beautiful game.
*bangs head against wall*
The Chron published an OpEd today by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. headlined “Sirhan Sirhan didn’t kill my dad,” in which he names a security guard (conveniently dead for libel purposes) as the actual killer.
Great newspaper.
I just saw the headline on-line, and wondered why they were giving space to an established crackpot.
The reason to keep listening to this game would be to count Brent Musburger’s uses of “embarrassing” (three so far).
The Raiders are comically bad so far. First snap of game a fumble for a KC TD to set the tone.
I shall save battery at 35-3 and four “embarrassing”s.
LOL
I’m in trial a week, and all you fkers can talk about is chess?
The good news is: we’re not complaining about what a crappy return the A’s got on the fire sale trades.
Keep the lockout going forever imo.
There have been some articles about who they’re interviewing for the manager job. It seems like a bad sign that not one of us has cared enough to post or talk about it.
I’m finding it difficult to view sports with any attitude other than cynicism right now. The approach of A’s ownership toward the ballpark and their apparent lack of interest in fielding a competitive team is part of it to be sure but it doesn’t end there.
I barely watched any of the baseball postseason for lack of interest. GM’s remark about letting the lockout go on was sarcastic but I do expect it to drag on well into spring. As to the NFL I mostly follow the Raiders hoping they fail miserably and since Gruden/Ruggs they have accommodated that nicely.
I could share my thoughts on the torments to which Mark Meadows should be subjected. Anyone know where to find a good set of thumbscrews?
Not guilty on two strikes (assault with a firearm and death threats) hung on false imprisonment and guilty on misdemeanor brandishing a weapon.
Not bad
He must’ve had a good lawyer.
Good news … my clone of Faction’s Penske File Pale Ale won best in show on Sunday.
Bad news … one of the judges just tested positive so now I have to stay home all week.
Hopefully you have plenty of your Penske Ale to last you through the week
15 gallons, less Sunday’s dent, so I should be OK.
Congratulations!
hey well at least your client who you sat next to 6 hours a day for a week didn’t claim he had covid yesterday
and congratulations on the week at home
Also, check out the k strut on my kid in the fifth video
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXWuLMKvUgo/
The Premier League is now facing a flood on match cancellations due to a COVID surge, while still having only 59% of players vaccinated. There needs to be some cost associated with that refusal – for example, unvaccinated players not being allowed to be counted as “unavailable” (which sets the threshold for cancellation).