CheezWizHed

The NBA TV app would randomly play Bucks games last year. It would show four video feeds at one time: One from the top of each backboard, one following the best player on offense (Giannis typically) and one following the ball. No announcers, just the crowd noise and PA announcer (like you were at the game). it was pretty cool, though a bit dizzying if you were looking at different views. And we could never guess exactly when they would have it and when they wouldn't (except never when there was a nationally televised game). We paid nothing for it, but watched more games there than anywhere else last year (outside WI, so no FSWI). Now, I see the app was replaced (not upgraded, but the old obsoleted and the new listed as a different app). I'm fearing that feature won't exist anymore.

A year or two is too long to have that money sitting on the sidelines. Bitcoin or anything volatile? No. But there's plenty of "safe" stocks that will yield 2-3% in dividends, and if the stocks go up even a little you'll get a total return of 5-7%. Even if you're not comfortable with an individual stock, get an ETF that maximizes dividends. I basically keep my emergency funds in a money market that regularly get 2-3% for no risk. Unlike CDs, I can take out the money as needed. Check out: https://fundsus.dws.com/us/en-us/products/money-market-funds.html

His projected arbitration salary was $8m IIRC. Despite the HR title, he only put up a 113 wRC+. Combine that with poor baserunning and poor defense at 1B, and he was a below-average player (1 fWAR, 0.9 rWAR). Replacing him with Aguilar and Thames, for less money, was an excellent move, I suspect many GMs would not have dared non-tender the HR champion. He put up a 71 wRC+ with the Yankees in 2017 and hasn't played in the majors since. Yes, but we could've easily resigned him for much less as there was little demand for him. Obviously, no one knows how he would've turned out for the Brewers the second year, but I have to believe being in a situation where he was an everyday player is easier than the part-time he was with NYY. Signing Thames ultimately was the right move. But at the time, it was very also very risky. Getting Aguilar was just dumb luck.

Yeah, I did misread that. Thanks for pointing it out.

Ok, time to stop and turn back to investing strategies.

A couple things to note: - COVID drove up inflation too. I'm not sure the exact percentage, but prices are visibly higher than pre-COVID (especially anything service related). - Corporations don't "own" the money in the stock market. That is money borrowed from people. - Far more than 1% of people have money in the stock market. Far more disturbing is the number of small businesses that closed while big businesses were allowed to operate.

Every time I tried to take some sort of formal tutorial I got bored real fast. I'll add that knowing your learning style and playing goals are very important for what direction you take too. Like jerichoholicninja posted here, he got bored with the more formal and preferred to just have fun and pick up stuff. I'm the type that needed a structure to help me learn it. I'd poke around at a few sites (including tutorials on YouTube) and see what works best for you. And "Party on Wayne!"

Some years ago, I did two years of in-person lessons and got to "campfire strummer" level - know how to hold the guitar, learned the basic chords, read music, etc... I played a lot after, but struggled to really increase any skills. Last November, I started Tony's Acoustic Challenge and I'm really enjoying it. It is very structured and focused more on practicing new things instead of perfecting one thing at a time. 5 days a week you have something new to practice and he wants a minimum of 10 min/day - preferably more of course. But it is amazing what just 10/min per day working on a skill will do. He does have a 30 day starter course for new guitar players to teach the basics, but I've not tried it as I felt I was past that. So I'm not sure how it would be starting as a new player. I paid $200 for a year subscription and I'm really liking it. But certainly go through the starter videos before paying (though there is a 2 month money back guarantee too). One nice feature of TAC is the community around it also. There is a forum to ask questions or celebrate victories. There are also online jam sessions (and live jam when COVID wasn't a problem). But TAC doesn't really teach you songs (there is a $$ add-on, but that isn't the point of the lessons). Like you said, I wanted some structure and TAC does a good job of simply saying - play this for 10 min then come back tomorrow for another 10 min. Yousician is kind of the opposite - more like playing guitar hero. Their lessons are a little more rudimentary and if you don't really get good at the one song they have you play, you'll struggle to continue to move up. But they also have a free time-limited way to use the app (like 15 min/day). I had the one year subscription and enjoyed it, but didn't progress like I hoped. I still play the free side for 10-15 min occasionally when I want to play a song. Two others I've looked into are the Fender online and Masters' series. But I've not tried them, but look interesting.

I cut the cord probably 10 years ago now. At the time, satellite was about $120/month. I currently pay $60 for MLB TV (which is now free for T-Moble customers), $100 for NFL replay. I also have Prime, but technically the streaming came "free" after paying for other services - but if you wish another $130/year. Hulu is free for Sprint customers (T-mobile and Sprint just merged, hence why I paid for MLB TV last year). I will occasionally pay for a month of Sling to watch the NBA playoffs or something like that. So $1440/year satellite and around $270/year for other services (going off memory for the above numbers - but they should be close) and going down this year. Savings of over $1100. Another way we save money - I downloaded the Google Rewards App. I fill out a 2-3 question survey a couple times a week. Each survey gives me $0.10-$0.50 in my Google Play account. I think use that money to pay for rental movies on Google Play.

Career number-wise the two are similar: Gallo: 208/327/499/825 Carter: 217/312/456/768 Their best years (both at age 25 - and both in limited games) are a bit different however: Gallo: 253/389/598/986 over 70 games (2019) Carter: 239/350/514/864 over 67 games Personally, I never quite got why we didn't give Carter another year. He wasn't perfect, but he was fairly inexpensive and filled a need. I'm not going to spend a lot on Gallo to acquire him, but a Ray/Lutz/Lazar package isn't that expensive. Perhaps 2019 was his flash in a pan or maybe he is trending up. He will be 27 this year, so he is just in his prime years. I'm confused. You say this package will be more valuable to other teams, then point out all the flaws in the package. Isn't that why it aligns with (an imperfect) Gallo?

I love McRib's! Please send smoked ribs now! I also love the mcrib and demand smoked ribs delivered to me I often smoke my own ribs, but if someone wants to deliver... I LOVE the McRib!

We have been talking about having our OF set with Garcia, Yelich, and Cain, but has anyone heard if Cain is actually planning on playing this year? Will there be an COVID opt-out option again?

Yeah, really hard to tell what impact he has had on the drafts. There are a lot of team aspects to drafting (scouting, ranking, etc..) where even if he was making 100% of the final calls, he is standing on information given him by others. Generally only the very, very, best and worst will make an impact with one person leaving.

I think the McRib is delicious, but I don't eat them because they are delicious in a "non-natural" way. Everything tastes artificial and enhanced... I tend to avoid foods that are overly processed and chemically enhanced.

The Packer's run defense has been greatly improved lately: - Barnes back and healthy; he is our most reliable MLB and best tackler. - allowing Barnes/Martin/Kirksey some time to gel together - Clark is starting to look like the Clark we expected and not Clark of the 1st month - Keke has solidified our 3rd DL. - Lowry has been much improved since all the above has helped. And it isn't like the Titans don't have warts too. The Titan's rushing offense aligns with our Defensive weakness, but our Passing offense aligns with their defensive weakness too. The Browns put up 41 points on them.

Here's hoping the Badgers get a big lead so WF has to play ketchup all game. I don't think be able to mustard a win. A bowl victory, no matter how insignificant is one to relish in in this strange year. Better?

Actually, it'd be funny if the Bills got a SB win and left MN alone with the 0-4 record.

Here's hoping the Mayo Bowl is well refrigerated. I'd hate for anyone to get botulism on top of all the COVID issues this year.

Personally I have never cared for Fangraphs or others to quote the value per WAR at $9 million or even more. Teams may end up paying that much for WAR but that's because guys like Pujols, David Wright, Ellsbury, Miguel Cabrera (and many, many more) make tons of money while producing little or no WAR. Such players are worth a fraction of what they are being paid and could only be traded with the inclusion of tons of cash if at all. So when those guys are included, it artificially drives up the value per WAR conclusion. Free agent hitters typically sign for $4 to $5 million per WAR and that's what should be used in trying to value draft picks in my opinion. That is why I left the comparison at WAR and not $$. The $9M/WAR is only used to convert their own (Fangraphs) value numbers per draft pick to WAR.

Announcers: They moved Kirksey to the WILL LB position so he can read and react! Kirksey: Stands in the middle of the D, not reacting to Bridgewater's scramble until a RB blocks him (then he continues to not move as he couldn't disengage the block). Put Barnes back in.

What will that cost the Packers? Do they even have the cap space? $4.8M for a 1st round tender, $3.6M for 2nd. Then, of course, there is the chance someone signs him to a big contract.

Wow, don't see that from Lazard very often. I think he had too much time to think about it...

Preston Smith was in coverage for that last play, too (never threw his way). Kirksey was decent in coverage that drive, too.