hawing

It's heartening to see that we have multiple 52-year-olds here at Brewerfan. Though I know 53 is looming close for at least a couple of us. Yup, let's get you a new pair of thongs at Kmart. Those super cheap rubbery flip flops always make me think of Kmart. Also, TYME machine for life. My mom used to stock two of Monroe's four TYME machines with cash in the early 80s.

That's where I stand at the moment. I'm not super excited about adopting the DH universally, but why bring it up in February with an eye toward March implementation when NL teams would have to scramble to tweak their rosters? I realize the pace of recent offseason markets has made it easier than before to make roster moves relatively late, but this seems like a big adjustment to make. (Mayyyybe less so for the Brewers)

Oh, you guys. This is INSANE. My state agency is located on the UW-Madison campus. UW-Madison announced this morning (after what felt like undue hemming and hawing - I get to use that phrase all I want) that they're closing all but essential parts of campus from 5:00 today until noon Thursday - the same time frame as the wind chill warning. Essential means things like maintenance, public safety, dorm employees, health and animal care. None of the campus libraries will be open. But my agency is not administratively part of campus, so we can only close to the public if the governor authorizes it. He has not done that. Right now the Department of Administration is meeting to consider our request to at least be able to reduce our hours to closing at 5:00 today and Wednesday. Our night librarian is due at 4:00 and she doesn't know yet whether she's working tonight! My students are all bailing out, so if we do have to stay open, I'll be staying until 9:00 (after arriving at 7:45 AM). I really don't want to come in tomorrow. We're allowed to stay home if we use leave time (which is no problem for me), but I don't have any student coverage. We don't know if buses will run on their normal schedule or switch to weekend type service. I picked my career of public services and I don't typically shy away from its requirements, but this is messed. up. It's not like this cold wasn't forecast for most of the last week. **Feel free to make me feel slightly better by commiserating, but keep it apolitical. This is a bureaucratic problem.

It's a huge part of pop culture if you're of a certain age or older. That's what surprises me about its continued popularity. I l o v e d Peanuts as a kid and was sad at its (and Mr. Schulz's) demise, but I don't seek out the rerun strips. (I kind of want to make a baby boomer quip, but there are better directions for this thread to take.)

Invader, our ticket rep told me last week that the kid area is going to be on the lower (ground?) level of the Wisconsin Center. The SSH area will be on that level too. So at least they're spatially spreading things out more.

If that were to be a thing ever, it needs to be done for Uecker. Or Hank Aaron. It would be nearly impossible to go wrong, goodwill-wise, with featuring either Hank or Ueck. As much as I respect the Commissioner Emeritus...incorporating his name would make the franchise a laughingstock with a lot of the rest of the baseball world. Fairly or otherwise.

[sarcasm]It'll be so well received at Brewers On Deck.[/sarcasm] Quick, David, sign a big name!

Add me to the list of fans who are disappointed. AmFam has been throwing money around Madison (chiefly at UW) for a while now, so I suppose that they're aiming for MKE isn't a total surprise? Miller Park is a corporate name that isn't IN YOUR FACE corporate. American Family Field (the least offensive iteration I can think of) is. At least it sounds slightly less chintzy than Guaranteed Rate Field.

Yeah, the format for the ball-glove non-personalized plates is (number)AB. AC is at the end of the "21st century M" plate numbers. We thought about personalization, but in Madison just having Brewers plates already makes us stand out plenty. Even in Milwaukee, we've only ever seen our make/color of car with a ball-glove logo on just one other car - so in a way we stand out in MKE too. I've seen HEY 19 in the Molitor Lot, though I don't remember it being on a delivery vehicle. I don't know about K9HANK, but HANKK9 is taken, by Brewerfan's own zachlaka. And frankly, I like ReverendBrewmeister's theory best of all ideas so far.

That is one of my theories. The other is "one god-d*** vote," which has me trying to think of which Brewer has missed on the HOF by one vote. Ted Simmons maybe? It could also be not related to baseball but the owner of the personalized plate is a Brewers fan.

Colleague saw a ball-glove license plate that reads 1GD VT. What do you think it means?

I only saw shot glasses at the Miller Park team store (terrace level) during October. They were probably also at the other MP stores, but those were so jammed with fans I didn't visit them.

Keep thinking! And keep it random, pointless and/or dumb. "The Sandlot 2" is on and it's terrible. I stopped watching a while ago but the SO will apparently watch anything. Here's a link to the 2015-2018 thread: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=32290

Is that plagiarism or just public relations disguised as journalism? I'm just a little late, but for the sake of board performance, I'm starting a new Random Thoughts thread for the rest of 2019. All hail this four-year thread!

I'm going to be bugged if any more of my student employees call in sick this short work week. It also bugs me to imagine the sheer volume of "hindsight" jokes that people will be making a year from now. Link to the most recent What's bugging you? thread, hopefully giving you one less thing to be bugged about: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=34957

What's bugging ME is that I had the great idea on Sunday (12/30) to close this thread at the end of 2018 and forgot until the evening of January 1, 2019. Look for the ALL NEW 2019 What's Bugging You? thread.

At the end of Badger football and men's basketball games, you'll hear PA announcer Mike Mahnke say it, in direct tribute to Mr. Betts.

Adam McCalvy passed on the following earlier this week: Clearly this is a bigger deal to Brewers fans who frequent Miller Park than to those farther flung. But man, this is only the (start of the) second changing of the guard at the PA mic since 1976, when Bob Betts took over. That in itself is significant to me. As much as I hate to point it out, Robb seemed to experience some decline in the past season or so - in terms of getting names wrong and the like. Lane Grindle took the mic for most if not all of the 2018 postseason games; at the time, the explanation was that Robb had badly injured his knee, but now I wonder just a bit about that. I'll miss Robb, but I'm also intrigued by who might take his place.

We got an email from our ticket rep before our glasses even arrived saying they're not dishwasher safe - so I have a feeling the packaging doesn't specify that.

I'm eagerly awaiting ours, now that I know to look for a Brewers package. They have really stepped up their SSH appreciation game. And it kind of makes up for the apparent absence of 2018 postseason pint glasses. We still use our 2011 pint glasses regularly.

The Brewers announced their 2019 giveaways today. Seems a bit late, but they had a longer 2018 season, so I guess? https://www.mlb.com/brewers/tickets/promotions/featured-giveaways Bobbles (6): Aguilar, Jeffress, Yelich, Fielder, Hader and a TBD in late August. "Wearables" (4): Short-sleeved T-shirt, a trucker hat, a Cooper replica jersey, and a strapback hat. "Accessories" (2): Can holder (I assume a koozie?) and a fanny pack. So only 12 dates this year. The t-shirt, can holder, and two caps are for the first 10,000 fans (in some cases age 21+) and the other items are all-fans.

In regard to food allergies/sensitivities, just don't be this person: Link

Okay, now for what bugs me about work and leave. Some of you already know I'm a librarian at a state agency. There are 7 of us in public services, providing coverage at the reference and circulation desks. These have to be staffed whenever the library is open (54-70 hours per week). We have student employees too (I handle most of that), but for safety's sake we strive to always have a "grownup" employee on duty. One of the colleagues misses a lot of time. It is never for frivolous reasons. Her family has a heartbreaking history of mostly medical misfortune, going back literally decades, and those problems are usually the reason behind the absences. She is very good at her work, and reliable as a colleague when she is present. But when she is absent (which since it's due to one health issue or another, tends to be unpredictable), it really wreaks havoc with the rest of us. It's gotten so when she offers to cover a particular shift or take on a time sensitive project, I find myself thinking "welp, I wonder if she'll actually be able to carry it out." I feel guilty when I have those thoughts. A few years ago, when she got a merit raise (now that Wisconsin agencies are in a mode where raises are few and far between), I was surprised by how hard I took it. I suspect the person who supervised her at the time did it in part out of acknowledgment of her family's medical burdens - and again, when she's available to do it, her work is excellent - but I can't think of a time in my career when I felt more resentful. My operation is staffed more hours per week than any other in my agency, and I put in a lot of effort to make sure my desk is consistently and competently staffed (which with a constantly changing cast of 18 to 20-something college students is no small feat). I know what I should do is count my blessings all the time that I haven't had home life experiences like she's had, but sometimes I wonder why I'm putting in the effort and whether anyone actually values it. Another work attendance "bug": I employ 5-10 college students at a time (depending on the time of year) to staff the circulation desk. One student this fall has missed a lot of time - also for legit medical reasons, and never without any notice - but every absence means I have to scramble to find coverage, generally abruptly. At mid-semester, he mentioned to me that he is a client of the campus disability services center and has a credential (not the right word but I don't know what is) that he can show to faculty saying that he needs accommodation for frequent absences from class. He gave no indication that the same allowance applies to a campus job. Had he informed me of this at hiring time, I would have suggested he work in a department with a less time-sensitive schedule than mine requires. (The students do employment forms, where this would be disclosed, with HR staff in our building, so I wouldn't have been present if he had disclosed, and I'm assuming HR would have told me if he had.) I'd like to think I have some standing to suggest that we assign him fewer front desk hours in the spring, and more behind the scenes hours that don't require a strict schedule. To my mind, that would seem like the best way to accommodate his variable availability. But he also seems like the type to get super defensive about anything that could be interpreted as critical, and I'd like to not get swept into or even threatened with ADA-type litigation. It'll be about a month before I have to set the schedule for next semester, so I don't have to decide immediately, but I'm not sure how to approach it. I'm usually pretty confident in my ability to interact with my employees, but I'm stumped with this person. Anyway, it's gotten so as his shifts approach, I find myself wondering (fairly or otherwise) whether he's actually going to be able to show up. It is bugging me.

bensheeps, I have followed up on the suggestion I made to you privately. Have fun and bring us back some swag! Assuming there's cool swag.