Grumpy Vet

Wife, daughter and I were car shopping in Virginia Saturday. I haven't eaten at a fast food place in a very long time. We were running out of time - so we swung into a Wendy's drive thru. We ordered 2 spicy chicken sandwich meals (one w/ a mango lemonade), a medium fry and a coke zero. I couldn't believe it was almost $35. Guess I'm a boomer - but it doesn't end there. We pay - they tell us to pull up and they will bring it out. Ten minutes later - lady brings out a bag. Order isn't even close. It is one burger and fries. I get out of the car and go back in. The lady behind the counter was rude AF. I politely said this isn't my order and she copped an attitude. Waited another five minutes.....asked for the third fry as it wasn't in the bag and left. I'll be damned if I go back to another Wendy's. I couldn't believe the price, terrible customer experience and attitude. Instead of surge pricing - they better fix their current situation. Can't believe people put up with that on a regular basis.

I've been in construction sales for 22 years dealing w/ general contractors and concrete contractors. I generally see things coming / plans before most of the general public. The Amazon HQ2 plans for a bunch of buildings in Crystal City was started over the past few years and then has been halted indefinitely. Met 6/7/8 was built. 1900 Crystal was built and a few others. Pen Place and the Amenities "building" across from the Pentagon are on hold. My guess is VA was planning on the revenue from all of these projects that are way behind schedule and they are doing whatever they can to pivot. Potomac Landing has slowly been growing over the last decade. It's been interesting to see. I'd be very concerned about the traffic patterns there. It is severely congested now. Be interesting to see what develops. As an aside - I can't believe the change by Audi Field at Buzzard Point. All the building over there is crazy. Stacks and 113 Potomac are both pretty cool. Wonder if they will try to figure out how to get rid of the power generation or military base over there so they can expand? Stay tuned.

I feel your pain. I used to go. Every week. No matter the weather or our record. I won't go now. Fond memories - but this monstrosity of a team we currently have elicits apathy from me. I feel awful for my mother and sister who just can't quit it. They are truly enduring something awful week in and week out there at Fed Ex. I'll watch the team play on TV, but I'll be damned if I miss my daughter's soccer games or spend the day driving to that S hole, watching terrible football, paying ridiculous prices for food/beverage and then waiting in traffic to drive home. Nope. Life is too short. Need a major shake up now. Coach / Owner / GM / Something. Anything. It isn't working.

@spjunkies - I was going to say the same thing - great insight from @TheShredder. I hope he's sandbagging a bit - but in a very jerk move by me - I'm thinking Gibby is one of my keepers in FFL given the current state of things. I hope BRob gets well soon and comes back strong / picks up where he left off.

I'll be surprised if baseball still exists as a professional sport in 50 years. I think we are seeing the beginning of the end. Too much money to few players - crippling teams. I don't see how there will be money available to pay players in the near future w/ a diminishing fanbase / TV & tix revenue. The old timer fans are dying off and the new generation couldn't care less about the sport. Too many games - too slow. Lerners made a sound business decision - but in sports I don't think it is always about that. I'm out on the Nats. Completely.

I've heard several people on a couple networks mention that they think that Putin is acting different....like he's changed from years ago. At 70+, could it be a last ditch effort to get back what he thinks should be in place or perhaps he has a cognitive decline? The latter is what scares me. An unchecked leader that isn't thinking clearly steam rolling through other countries. I hope this ends up better than I think it will. I'm afraid this won't end well.

Merry Christmas everyone. Update - wife, younger daughter and I got our rapid results back around 8 PM the same day we tested (Thursday). Happy to report - 3 negatives. Yesterday around 11 AM we got the results of the PCRs - 3 negatives. Impressive turnaround. Less than 24 hours on the PCR. Last Saturday before anyone knew the roommate was even getting tested - my oldest and her boyfriend went to the movies together and then went for food. They were together masked and unmasked for about 5 hours. He has also tested negative. Last Sunday, after my oldest daughter got her rapid back as negative - my two daughters hung out most of the evening after the wife and I went to bed. They stayed away from each other on Friday and Saturday and my older daughter wore a mask around us before Sunday evening. She has been wearing a mask around us since she got her PCR results. So here is my thinking...... I'm thinking my oldest got the Covid 12/9-12/11. Maybe the gym? Maybe hanging out in someone else's dorm? Their inner circle has come back 5/7 cases positive. She had very mild symptoms early that following week (12/13). By the middle of the week she didn't have any symptoms - but by then the roomie caught it. Roomie tests positive Saturday on the rapid as she is smack dab in the middle of the infection. Older daughter is wrapping up the infection so she tests negative on the rapid (less disease/less likely to transmit) but the more precise PCR picks up traces of the virus. I'm still a little surprised the younger daughter didn't get it after their hang session Sunday night. Some of the family was pushing for normal Christmas Eve and Christmas with the negative tests. The rationale was the symptoms were around the 13th - so 10 days after would put her out of isolation yesterday. Out of an abundance of caution, we are deferring to what the testing place said - 10 days after last contact with someone known to have tested positive (roomie last Friday). That keeps her locked down until the 27th as she has been asymptomatic since last seeing her roomie. Some places say that she should be isolating 10 days after the test - which would put it at the 29th. The amount of varied information you hear and read really is troubling. I'm just thankful that everyone so far is healthy and doing ok. It is a bummer to have to delay plans - but I'd take that over someone being really sick. Everyone in our family that can be - is double vaccinated and boosted. Our 14 year old recently passed 6 months since her 2nd shot and doesn't qualify for a booster in Maryland (16+). I'll be curious if that changes soon. Anywho....I share in hopes that my experience can help someone else. Both in testing and isolating / quarantining. Everyone have a safe and healthy holiday. Yours in hating Dallas, GV

Thanks for the reply j. We had our eye on that mobile unit at Small Miracles (used to be at the old Pizza Hut) - but after we got burned yesterday afternoon - we were concerned the smaller operations were going to run out of tests. The same company did our oldest daughter's test on Sunday at Blandair park. They were so slow and late to open up we decided to gamble on the Fairgrounds. When we got in line at the FG - we never imagined we'd be there that long. That's why I posted. We actually got a little giddy at the end - determined to see it through. We tried All Care and they had no appointments available. We tried the Quality First in Clarksville - no appointments until the 27th. I think the last few days have really stressed the system and has pretty much broken it. My sister sent me a place that has appointments available in Elkridge / Columbia - but they want $275 per PCR and $140 for rapid. For a group of three - that's way pricey. Sounds like we are in the same hood. We live about 5 miles east of the Fair Grounds and 5 miles west of Small Miracles. Stay safe and have a great holiday. Wishing for a Christmas miracle that the wife, youngest daughter and I dodge a bullet and we take it to the 'Boys this weekend.

Just sharing our testing experience from this week as an FYI...... Our oldest daughter came back from Towson University on Friday last week. Towson had a big outbreak and she wanted out. All finals moved to online. She had some sniffles on Monday last week. Her roomie had sniffles on Thursday / Friday. My wife picked them up and brought them back to Howard County. They all wore masks in the car. Roomie went and got tested on Saturday. Stood in line for 4 hours. Rapid came back positive. Crap. We couldn't find any tests for Saturday - so on Sunday, my wife took my daughter to a mobile testing facility. They got there 2 hours before it opened. We knew it would be bad since not many spots open on a Sunday. They were 11th in line. They were there for 4.5 hours. I ended up taking them folding chairs and blankets. Sunday night - roomies PCR came back positive. Sunday night older daughter's rapid came back negative. On Tuesday, early in the AM, daughter's PCR came back positive. Crap. We looked to book tests for wife, daughter and me on Wednesday. Secured three appointments Wednesday afternoon. When we went - they ran out of PCR tests and wanted to charge $100 each for the rapids. I don't mind the charge so much (although that wasn't anywhere on the website or insurance info when we booked) - but that seems a bit steep for just a rapid w/ no more accurate PCR. So today - we went to Howard County Fairgrounds. They open at 8:30. We got there at 7:00AM. We were about 175 cars back. Five cars after us - they started turning cars away. We were tested and on our way at 3:08 pm. We were there for 8 hours and 8 minutes. Maybe where some of you are - the testing is great. It used to be around here too - a couple weeks ago. It is The Hunger Games where we live in Howard County, Maryland. We have many friends and family that simply can't find a place to get a test. Maybe it will get better after Xmas. I'm thinking it won't as more people get together and more people get exposed. Now we wait for results. We delayed holiday gatherings w/ family until oldest daughter is out of QT and hoping we are negative so the timer doesn't reset. Older daughter has no symptoms. We have no symptoms either. Happy Holidays all. GV

We live in Howard County, MD. They just sent us emails that all concerts, sporting events, clubs, practices, extracurricular events are canceled until 1/15 and maybe longer for public schools in our county. I get the need to try to stem the spread. I feel really bad for the kids. The rates are definitely increasing but I read the positivity rate in schools for teachers / kids was 4%. I'm not sure that is totally accurate - local FaceBook groups are going nuts on one another.

Happy belated Thanksgiving. My sister yesterday mentioned that Giant Food had a bunch of appointments available and she was getting her booster today. I don't normally shop at Giant (I'm a HT and Safeway guy). We pulled it up on a phone and blammo - appointments available for tomorrow. CVS, Walgreens, Safeway, Harris Teeter and all the other ones I checked were over a week out on appointments. Yay Giant. Going booster and flu - fingers crossed it doesn't put me on my butt. Yours in hating Dallas, GV

Thanks guys - I appreciate the response. I'd love it if places had a walk up - but I can't seem to find anything like that. That would be ideal. I called a couple local pharmacies and they were all by appointment only. I'll double check the CVS or enlist my 14 year old to navigate the interwebs to see if she can find something. I can't do tonight as I'm out of town - but maybe I can find something for early next week. It was one of my daughter's friends that got us our first shots down at Regency Stadium in Waldorf when it was like the Hunger Games to get a shot. If I can't get anything - I'll see about a walk up in Montgomery County next week in my travels and give that a shot. I'm surprised Howard County doesn't have anything like that (or maybe they do and I'm just bad at Internetting). Thanks again for your time and input. GV

Hi all - For those of you that recently got the booster, where are you finding it? I'm in Howard County Maryland and I can't find any appointments sooner than a couple weeks out. I'm reticent to pick something that far out. I'm in sales and have a pretty crazy schedule right now. I have a few new jobs starting up out of town and will more than likely be out of town a bunch over the next few weeks. I won't know for sure when until a day or two before. I've checked local pharmacies, grocery stores and the local health department. The earliest I've found is 2nd week in December. I'm a Pfizer guy sitting at about 7 months past dose #2. From all the stuff in the news and social media - you'd think you could find something within 48 hours and within 20 miles - but that's not what I'm finding. Thanks, GV

Hi all. Hope everyone is having a successful FF season. I'm having a tough time w/ this week's lineup. I've got Lockett and the question is - will he go off vs. WFT? If this were your lineup - anybody in there you would sit for Lockett? I like the idea of Renfrow and Carr vs. Dallas together as a team. I'm up against some stiff competition this week and my team just doesn't seem to be able to score many points although I've eeked out some squeakers. Thanks for any advice. GV

I was rooting for Taylor. I was hoping he would get a shot. Love underdog stories. While the timing is unfortunate with all the injuries, he got his shot and he's not the guy. A decent backup and I hope we keep him as such. Ron has to get this next QB choice right or he's Ade Jimoh. GV

Thanks for the reply guys. The one she is using now is, much to SS's chagrin, is a Canon. It is a PowerShot A2600. It is pretty old. Maybe she doesn't need a DSLR and there is another option that would allow for more tweaking of settings / filters / etc. I have been reading up on stuff over the last couple days but honestly there is so much conflicting information that it is making my head swim........so here I am asking for a little advice. Appreciate it.

Hi all. My daughter turns 14 the end of this month and she is asking for a DSLR camera. I'd really appreciate any advice you all can offer. She's very creative and artistic and we want to encourage her interest in photography. She's been using her iPhone or a point and shoot for a while. There are some real expensive options out there. Anything entry level you all could recommend? She'd be fine w/ used if there is a good platform (Ebay?) or a base model new that we can add to over time (lenses/filters...etc). Perhaps an older model that is still readily available? Appreciate the help. GV

They have lost what we were. I have some amazing daughters that I've chosen to put ahead of this terrible team. I'm rooting them on at soccer and academics. The sad point is that when this generation dies out - our legacy won't care. My rabid family fan base is done soon. We won't renew. It is dying out.

I stopped going because the team was terrible, fan experience was terrible and Fan Captains (I was one) were treated as throw aways. I prioritized my kids/wife over watching a terrible team that gave two craps about fans. My mother and sister continue to go games. God bless them. I went today because my sister couldn’t go - so my mother could go, Hoping I don’t have to go back anytime soon. It’s bad.

Unfortunately I was there today. First game in 4 years. Used to go to every game. The “ceremony”: It was disorganized. It was uninspiring. It was rushed. It smelled of something thrown together at the last minute. The tribute video was something you find on YouTube. The halftime ceremony shoehorned in 100 alums before a cut to the “ceremony”. It was disgraceful. Go back and look at the tape. Watch the faces of 21s family during the ceremony. Reprehensible. PS - flyover was at least 30 seconds late….PA announcer talking about a flyover in the past that hasn’t yet happened. Super Cringe. S show on all levels. GV

Morning everyone - happy game day. Tannehill is my QB1 and has been meh. My backup is Carr....he's ben lighting it up. Will he fall off a cliff this week? What say you all - do we have the stones to start Carr over Tannehill? Most places have them pretty equally ranked this week. Thanks - GV

@skinfan2k - I made it myself. I'm sure there is some site out there that compiles all that information - but I sure couldn't find it. I just went to a few different sites and compiled the information for the top 150 or so players. I tried to pick a few different sites to try to get different points of views...hence the average. I tried something a little new this year with it to select my keepers. I took the average draft position for all eligible keepers divided by the cost (round) to get a "value" score. Chubb was #14 avg pick divided by cost to keep of 7th round = 2.0 value. Gibby cost me a 10th round and his avg position was 19 = so he was 1.9 value. The lower the value score - theoretically the better choice. Be interesting to see if it works out or not. I may regret not keeping Mahomes again. Cost Value PLAYER Round Josh JacobsRB | LV N/A Travis KelceTE | KC N/A Keenan AllenWR | LAC N/A Adam ThielenWR | MIN 2 26.5 Raheem MostertRB | SF 3 23.3 Patrick MahomesQB | KC (2 yr Keeper) 4 8.9 D'Andre SwiftRB | DET 5 4.9 Julian EdelmanWR | NE N/A Nick ChubbRB | CLE (2 yr Keeper) 7 2.0 CeeDee LambWR | DAL 8 4.8 Jerry JeudyWR | DEN N/A Antonio GibsonRB | WAS 10 1.9 Chris HerndonTE | NYJ N/A Cam NewtonQB | NE N/A Football TeamDST | WAS 13 Matt GayK | LAR N/A Tee Higgins - WR Cincy 12 5.2 Ryan Succop - K TB Jalen Hurts - QB - Phil 12 8.7 Chase Claypool - WR Pitt 12 4.8

Thanks for taking the time to read and offer advice. Sounds like very sound advice. I'll plan on that and hopefully don't get thrown for a loop. Good luck this season. Thanks - GV

Hi all. Good luck to everyone this year in FF. I'd love some advice from you all. Our draft is next week and I'm trying to decide on a strategy. I'm in a 10 team 1/2 pt PPR league. I have the 7th pick. Keeper league. Ekeler was kept by another. I kept Chubb & Gibson so I'm decent on RBs. If one of top 6 RBs fall to 7 - I figure I take them and complete my good RB haul. If none of them fall - do I take Adams or Kelce or next best RB w/ 7th pick? Part of me leans - load up on RBs - but the other part says I have 2 decent RBs already (only sacrificing a 7th and a 10th round - keeper rules) and I should grab the top WR or TE. If I grab another RB at 7 - think I have to go one of the top WR at 14. If I grab Kelce or Adams - think I shoot for Najee Harris at 14 or if not available - grab another top WR and roll w/ my 2 top RBs