Good morning, all! Gotta work a long one tonight but hoping to relax until then.

Working all day... Woop.

Asshole cat jumped a baby gate to let me know at 545 he was hungry. Little shit has been locked in the litter room for about two hours now.

Today: watch it rain and do some painting and baking.

Tomorrow: finish all of the yard work. Get the lawn chemicals down. Spray the wood with stuff to keep the carpenter bees out. Finish the compost bins. Maybe a bike ride.

Never thought of spraying to keep carpenter bees out. Does it work well?

Decided yesterday to take a job offer up in New Hampshire so I guess I'll be busy packing stuff up and getting the house sale-ready for the next couple of weeks. I'm not looking forward to moving but I am excited to live up there.

Super sad to leave the life I built and the friends I made here, I'm a little old to have to do it all again.

Working today, hopefully finishing up my taxes tonight, and hoping for a nicer day tomorrow so I can spend some time outside.

Congratulations on the new job! I've got friends who live in New Hampshire and they love it there.

Awesome! Where in NH? Are you gonna change your username? 🤔

Nashua area. I gotta find a town that ends with -mond. Or begins with Stitch.

Thanks, I've spent summers there my whole life, I love it.

Just think of all the “should I love to RVA 🤔” posts you will no longer have to see!

Best of luck with the move! As someone who has moved a lot in the past decade, moving can suck but is also a nice way to hit refresh and throw out stuff you don’t need anymore.

Water hose surgery so I can attach the new long handle sprayer. Then some gardening to clean up the front of the house until the rain shows up.

My first in person DND session today up in NOVA. I’m so excited. Also trying my first batch of mead today after only a short age on one bottle (the rest will age for a couple of months

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/r/nashua is full of those posts.

Seconding this, what do you spray?

A: I’m probably going to get hate for killing the bees

B: yes it does more or less keep them from digging into the brand new deck stuff built a few years ago and reduces my need to constantly fill in holes with a mix of sawdust and wood glue all spring and summer long.

I mean, does it kill them, or deter them?

Edit - either way, I’m pro bee, but I can’t have them destroying my brand new deck.

I also failed to sleep in. My kids decided to play some 7am video games, which led to yelling and controller-throwing. We had a chat about respecting our toys, especially the ones Mommy spent a ton of money on, and how to control “gamer rage”. I’m a gamer but never got the rage, so… any advice is welcome, please!!

We’re going to have a big Saturday morning family breakfast, then kids’ basketball, church tomorrow. Otherwise I plan on relaxing as much as I can.

I'm heading up to Harrisonburg today to visit my son at JMU. I'll take him and his roommate out to dinner, then a buddy of mine is playing in a band at a brewery, so we'll hit that. Should be fun.

Hahah I’m sorry. I never understood gamer rage either, but I know it’s common. It’s a competitive thing I guess. Back when I used to play sports (moderately competitively) some people would freak out and I just never got it. But I’m about to have my first kid, so I’m sure I’ll see it soon enough.

Fell asleep on the couch last night, bent ass neck. Woke up at midnight, transferred to concrete slab bed, couldn’t sleep for another 2.5 hours, wake up at 7:30 with bent neck and solidified spine. Time to butt chug espresso.

I like the sound of /u/stitchua

It MAY be Avesta but don’t quote me on that. Juggling a few things and can’t quite check right now.

NH looks like a nice place to be. Geographically it’s in a good spot, kind of like here. Closer to Maine and Canada which is neat. Winter is the big difference.

Much better than Nashitch, which sounds like a region-specific STD.

Saw this entertaining thread pop up from the Raleigh subreddit about children in drinking establishments. Any spots in Richmond that have this problem? I can't think of any.

Getting some piddly house chores done while the other half works a half-day, then this evening a group of us are going to see Cocaine Bear, because why would you not?

I recall getting super mad at video games as a kid because it felt i had no power/ability to win. Since maturing, i have taking care to practice looking at what exactly happened to allow the other player to win and think about what could have been done to counter, and how i can implement that strategy in the future. Just my take though

Buy as many sets of long johns you can find while they are on sale down here. You are going to need them. Like when someone asks why certain laws exist in Virginia and the answer is always explained as it's a Commonwealth. The mantra for New Hampshire to explain it is Live Free or Die. I worked for a company out of Manchester and had to spend a couple of weeks up there training during the pandemic. It was interesting to say the least.

I too was awoken much too early by puppy. I'm going to the Pet Expo later, but I'm not sure about taking him like I originally planned since it's going to rain. I don't want to deal with wet dog in the husband's car since mine currently has a broken window motor.

I miss sleeping in. I don't think I've properly slept in since 2012. I've also been failing to get more than 6-7 hours of sleep for weeks now and it seems like it will catch up with me eventually!

The SO is taking the boy up to grandma's for the night, so I will have the house to myself. It's gonna be risky business up in here! Except not really because I'm old and risk averse.

I’ve only been a couple of times but I think Hardywood West Creek might be operating an unlicensed childcare center.

What does living free or dying have to do with long johns?

I slept til 9 and I’m so happy about it! The kitties didn’t mind and I worked late at my part time gig last night, so I’m really happy for the extra zzz

How exciting! What race/class are you playing?

Long Johns so you don't die. 😆

I'm up in Boston for the weekend visiting friends and going ice climbing tomorrow.

Today's gunna be checking out a bagel spot I vaguely remember being told is amazing (just saw it on the map and something pinged in my head) and then walking over to their climbing gym. Should be nice.... I just need them to wake up, morning people problems

We were told it’s going to be an insane one-shot and to make level 15 characters.

So of course I went with something I’ve never played with: Leonin Paladin of Glory (yes the “worst” oath, but it just fit the character I was making too well)

Yeah that's a good one

That sounds so cool! Go forth and smite.

Beware black fly season 🙀

Thank you! “TO GLORY! Ah haaa!”

He also smokes a cigar so I’m waiting for an encounter to go haywire but we make it out so I can have him light it up and say “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Honestly it's not just "gamer rage," it could happen with tennis or other sports, too. I suggest finding ways to help focus the kid on having fun playing vs winning. This is something I struggled with as a kid and identifying some coping mechanisms back then could have helped me a lot with life in general.

Bagelsaurus?

The rapidly dropping barometric pressure has given me a blazing headache. Does anyone else get that?

It's a psychological tangle of wires imo. A major appeal of gaming is control. You press the button and it responds to that command immediately. Makes monkey brain feel good in a world of little control.

But having total control also means you're responsible for any fuck ups like not parrying at the right time and dyin like ass. It causes an immediate self-reflection that causes some to be embarrassed, frustrated, angry, deflect...ect. And some respond to these emotions with anger.

Adults do it all the time in real life but they don't realize it's the same as "gamer rage". How many times have you seen a full grown adult do somethin stupid, embarrassing, or frustrating and lose their mind? Stub their toe and get angry at the wall despite THEM being the only thing in motion. Not the fuckin wall.

People get very angry when forced to reconcile they don't have as much control as they thought, have control and still fucked it up, or just plain made a mistake. Learning how to reflect on oneself can be difficult when you're young. But it's important to do so. Or you'll become that dude that freaks out anytime you make a tiny mistake or miscalculation. Or worse, deflect and project it onto others and become an insufferable narcissist.

Edit- sorry I love video games and psychology and have seen this shit in online gaming for decades lol. People snapping Wii remotes in half cause they fucked up jumped into spikes and blame Mario.

Hah yep, was hoping to get out there when they opened though

Lol, that used to be a common thread pre-covid. Perhaps it'll come back when the warm weather sticks around.

If you like vegetarian/vegan food check out veggie Galaxy. Even if you don’t like vegetarian /vegan food it’s awesome.

I like that analysis.

Good luck. ManchVegas? Manchester Airport used to be pretty nice to fly out of, worth the drive up from Boston

given it's been a commuter suburb of Boston for 40 years, that's actually a bit shocking

Black flies should beware of me.

NH is perhaps shockingly cold in the winter. Makes Buffalo look Balmy. Mt Washington regularly has the worst winter in the lower 48, they had a -104 degree windchill this winter.

Man I had a bad craving for Perlys today. Does anyone know why online says they’re closed?

I'm a bit confused by that myself, but NH winter and long underwear do go hand in hand.

Sleeping until 8am IS sleeping in

ugg. Is it bad in NH? Never was really there in mud season. Maine, oh my god, that was amazingly bad.

clearly a nap opportunity. naps are good

I don't get that at all. The people I'll be working with all live one or two towns over, they have a 45-60 minute commute. As a guy who's never had a drive to work longer than a quarter of an hour, I'm definitely not down with that. People sell their time for cheaper digs, doesn't make any sense. I'm gonna run out of time before I run out of money, that hour before and after work is priceless to me.

go to Pizzeria Regina (North end only) and eat good pizza!

I guess I'll just literally freeze my balls off because I'm not a fan of wearing two pairs of pants at a time.

sniff, it's been so long since a good "kids in breweries" thread

This makes perfect sense! My oldest kid does like things to be predictable and under control, so I can understand his rage now. And I totally get mad at inanimate objects when I stub my toe. Thank you!

Drove to the mother in law’s this morning, gonna drive back tomorrow afternoon. So basically spending my weekend in the car.

Congrats on the job, I hope the move goes well. Without your help my partner and I would have never gotten to add the longest of long boys to our little fuzzy family.

No problem. I'm a control freak as well so I know the feeling. Took years to acknowledge I like control and to be okay with that but still be mindful and accept when things are out of my control. Or suddenly change from being in my control to suddenly not.

Video games are a great way to live a "power fantasy" in a harmless way. Especially as a kid where you have little control. Too young to be right but too old to be wrong haha.

One thing I recommend is trying to teach em to go with the flow. Don't get too attached to how you think something will go. Offer alternatives before an event is set in motion. Goin to get ice-cream? Ask em what they're gonna get. "Chocolate!" "Ooo, chocolate is good. And if they don't have chocolate?" Make em acknowledge the possibility of having to change their plan based on outside variables they can't control.

Not everytime cause you don't wanna overanalyze every possibility. But it helps with kids not getting too worked up and confused when life changes as rapidly as it does at times.

Horrible. We were on the coast of Maine after hiking in NH, and it was much better thanks to the breeze.

for me it was a pond in Maine where my aunt had a camp. Beautiful, but unbearable.

if you get thin underwear by smartwool, or the other technical stuff it's surprisingly ok. Not ideal, I fled New England for a reason, but ok

I agree with you but a lot don't. And there used to be a huge tax advantage to being right over the border there

I was supposed to meet with people for DnD later today, but they pans unfortunately got cancelled last minute. On the bright side, now I get to sleep for a bit longer before I have to start schoolwork

Twitch Streaming! Might even do some community jackbox.

Been doing near nonstop video editing, only with breaks to enjoy the weather. It will be nice to do a stream day since the outside will be gross.

when did that happen? I had a blinding headache last night

I'm debating about taking the dog to the expo. I'm worried it will be packed and lots of dumbasses that can't lease their dogs properly.

45-60 minutes?!

Maybe at 5am on a Saturday with no construction

I take my kids to the breweries but they just sit a the table and play tablet or phone while I talk with the wife. Been doing this since 2011. While I only goto a select favorite few (Midnight, Tabol, Crazy Rooster, and Garden Grove) those places are fine. Helps that my kids know all the owners and they know me. Keeps my kids dumbassery in check.

The worst is Hardyewood West Creek. Those west end/short pump Todd's and Karen's (yes, I know my flair) get piss drunk while their kids run around the forest like little shits. There is even a fight club ring in the back (it's really gaga ball). I've seen way to many stumbling parents to realize it's a shitshow. It's fine when the weather is cold but watch out...it's getting warmer.

You're likely just encouraging your cat to behave worse. Or take a nap lol depending on the personality. Positive reinforcement is the way.

Also how have you gone this long without an automatic feeder?

It's fine. Plenty of space. Not like times past where it was super packed. I only saw one terribly behaved dog that barked at folks.

Heading back home from New Orleans once everyone wakes up.

But stopping in South Carolina and then back to rva sometime tomorrow. Not driving though, so..sleeping

It woke me up around 3:45am.

I'm not talking about the commute to and from Boston, I'm talking about places like Merrimack, Hudson, Newton etc to Nashua.

So cold. So dreary. I think I need coffee and lots of baked goods to survive this!

I got some silk long underwear from LL Bean many years ago. Very lightweight but do an excellent job of keeping you warm.

I’m kicking off week 2 of vacation in Wintergreen. Winter is definitely over for Virginia. Heading to Snowshoe next week. Anyone got recommendations for food around Waynesboro?

On day 8 of a Covid infection. Still testing positive. My wife tested negative today. Feel OK, just tired. I'm not leaving the house until I test negative though. Our whole house is packed up and in storage for our upcoming move to Varina, so the wife and I have one TV sitting in the floor. Going a bit stir crazy.

It's been so bad in Raleigh for years lol

Can we stop talking about my underwear situation please?

I have a younger brother who would throw absolute fits if he died or something in a game. I spent a summer with him between college semesters and he noticed that I lose it with laughter each time I'm really trying in a game and fail (laughter intensity tending to be proportional to how hard I'm trying). I noticed that it started to rub off on him, so I made greater efforts to point out how hilarious I found whatever was happening. I think he still has trouble, but for the most part he snaps out of it if he is reminded. Not sure if that is possible with whatever ages you are dealing with, but good luck!

I mean, I wouldn't use Mount Washington as the data point. It's just a fun stat because of the geographical influence on weather.

Bourbon recommendations. I'm about out of my Buffalo Trace (I pick up a ton when I cross state lines to see my mom in Tennessee). I love the price and the easy sipping. Any good bourbons that are great on the rocks that are priced decent? Seems like Virginia has jumped on the "everyone make bourbon/whisky" train and Id like to know what to get or avoid.

it will be a lovely day when it's bad here again

100%!

But NH weather in winter and mud season does suck. And Nashua is on the warm side of the state, and it's 18 and snowing there right now. Hanover is 13 with a low of -1. And that feels so much colder in NE for some reason

I can only wish.

I actually met someone at the rock climbing gym who suggested that! We're going tomorrow

Dude share the link!!

Just going to leave this here...

You've found my superhero identity!

Aw, It's twitch.tv/marzeliax (YouTube is same username)

Ended up doing an "all ages" established community night so some younger family far away could participate in the jackbox safely, but then just played some drum and bass with cool visualizations.

You're totally welcome to stop by in the future. I usually have more open JB games than the set we did last night, but jackbox can be tricky with strangers bc some ppl really like to troll with racist /sexist shit

Deff pls "name drop" that we met in the rva server if you ever come by for a jackbox if we aren't acquainted by twitch usernames yet.

Happy Weekend!