madbad2000

If going to Europe, try to avoid going in July and August as was mentioned. Not only are crowds packed in Med, even if you go to other areas in Europe you may see some businesses closed because the owners went on holiday. We did Paris for Spring Break and we all had a great time (kids 6 + 8). I expected to be disappointed and it was very good. I hate big cities and only acquiesced because it was my daughter's wish list location. I would recommend Croatia to any and everyone. Nice combination of natural beauty, cities, history and beach/water. Fantastic and welcoming people is an added cherry on the top. I have also done Scotland and Ireland. I can't recommend them enough. Scotland is gorgeous with natural beauty everywhere. Ireland is more developed but also great people everywhere. In terms of transportation, I tend to get a car wherever I go because I like to be on my own schedule and visit smaller, local cities. Never had my issues during in Europe, no matter which side of the road.

I watched it yesterday and I really enjoyed it. It was like an extra long Mando episode, which is what I expected. I like it better as a series, but definitely glad I saw it in the theater.

It's not just self checkout, they do it for the main lines when it gets busy. By pre scanning they do make it faster in some instances because you get up there, swipe, pay and roll out. I'm not sure it's always faster because if a cart is full and/or you have a lot of smaller items they have to move them around, try to scan, keep track of items etc. which can make it slower. It would make it a lot faster if the scanners had a credit card receiver and small printer. You still have to stay in line and wait for cashier to complete transaction.

Ravens nix the Crosby trade then pivot to Hendrickson on 4 year, $112M deal.

With free agency about to start and a few trades queued up there is no better time than now to start the discussion for the 2026 season.

They could tey. And would Willis go there? Far too many other teams that are in the QB market with better organizations/chance to win. Just off the top of my head he could be an option in Pittsburgh, LA Rams, Arizona, Miami, Indianapolis. Jets, Cleveland and maybe even Minnesota may be in the running too, but I'm not going to Jets if I can go to the top 5. Jets are 😍 baby better off stacking up support pieces and then going all in on QB next year to put into a better stacked team.

And the same team has three first round picks next year AND likely picking near the top. May have just kicked that can a year.

I gave up on Amazon Prime last year and haven't noticed a big difference. We have an Amazon distribution warehouse like 5 miles from my house and quite a few of the items I was getting were coming in past the two day shipping. I also scratch my head at USPS because our mail seems to go through Birmingham (hour and 45 mins away) even when sending letters in the neighborhood or city. So we send a letter, it goes to Birmingham and then comes back to Madison, AL two-three days later. I would have assumed they have a mail processing center in Huntsville at a minimum.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/injured/_/year/2025 I didn't verify numbers or method, but a quick search had something to start the discussion.

Artificial. I bought ta really nice, realistic tree once I got out of the army and wasn't dragging my belongings with me all the time. Bought it post Christmas on a mega sale and been going strong for 11 years now. I trim it completely and we make it an event with the kids. I play christmas music and we reminisce about the memories of the ornaments and where we got them. We make it a habit to get an ornament from our major travel trips each year, do the annual family picture ornament and have accumulated some nice German ornaments over the year for the cultural tie in with my wife being German. Growing up we did a real tree one time and never again. Such a hassle to acquire, install and upkeep. I also much prefer to see the trees growing in nature instead of a one time use being cut down and drying out in my living room. Thankfully we have not had many mishaps. Our little cat made a run up the tree her first year, but she is so small nothing happened. The commotion that came with getting her out probably scarred her from doing it again, even though she does love hanging out under it.

I'll try it if you do it

Happy with that. Will be even more happy if they worked out a deal. At least one elite tool, check. Hopefully he can stick at 3rd

I loved looking at the band list again. Thanks for sharing an awesome memory Jim.

I don't follow the MLB draft nearly as much as the NFL, so I can't reasonably say who I would like. I'm with you, give me tools. Give me top of the draft hit, fastball, power, something big. Jace Laviollette keeps standing out to me as an option. Easy to hope on enough contact to make that power dangerous. With the way the Brewers draft, I'm fully in I believe mode and can't wait to see who we tab.

I like the earlier draft in the past so players could get to rookie ball in the same year. Is the draft during the ASG really a draw? I would imagine the people that tune in would be the same crowd at any time. They should be smarter about it and embrace the actual spectacle. Conduct draft early then have the top draftees show up to the ASG for some type of festivity: skills comp, hr derby, show off for host team by having the day 1 picks for that team in the stadium and signing. Just holding the draft is pretty weak IMHO.