Random Thoughts About Thoughts Random

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 6:57 pm

The original French surname of my family sounds like an obscenity when pronounced by English speakers, so when my great-grandfather and his brother and their families emigrated from Belgium to Canada ~100 years ago, they changed it to a made up similar name. So, only a VERY small number of people have my surname.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 7:52 pm

Phuc Dat Bich?

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 8:14 pm

You're basically begging us to turn this into the "Delores" episode of Seinfeld.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 8:17 pm

The name was Faucconier. In French, it's pronounced Fawk-con-yay. (Means "Falconer". Don't know why they didn't just change it to that.)

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 8:19 pm

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:24 pm

20,248. 95.51% white.

Well, we know this census is bullshit.

duff · Post by **duff** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:32 am

24,404. 94.05% white. The other three variations 55% or higher black. I guess I could possibly be blacker than Johnnie (or Howard).

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:11 pm

I find it hard to believe there are 652 people who share my last name, and I live with two of them.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 4:49 pm

And yes, I'm fully aware I've slipped into the Jerloma chasm..the Jerloma Rabbithole, which is a good name for a Swamp Band... left when jerloma left. I hate myself, too.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:20 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote:I find it hard to believe there are 652 people who share my last name, and I live with two of them.

I think I mentioned this when we met so many years ago, but I know a guy down here with your last name. He now has 2 kids. Pretty sure they're under 6 years old each, so you need to up your number to at least 654.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:57 pm

sancarlos wrote:The name was Faucconier. In French, it's pronounced Fawk-con-yay. (Means "Falconer". Don't know why they didn't just change it to that.)

Pronounce it Fuck Kanye, and it'll fly.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 10:45 am

govmentchedda wrote:
DSafetyGuy wrote:I find it hard to believe there are 652 people who share my last name, and I live with two of them.
I think I mentioned this when we met so many years ago, but I know a guy down here with your last name. He now has 2 kids. Pretty sure they're under 6 years old each, so you need to up your number to at least 654.

Guess that means it should be 655 since my son is two. I should probably double-check the daily tree for additional adjustments.

The oddest experience I have ever had with my last name was that, on two separate occasions, desk personnel with Delta pronounced my last name correctly (a red flag on its own) and mentioned that they used to work with someone who had the same last name, but is now retired. I have to figure it was the same guy even though once was in Detroit and the other was in Vegas.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 11:18 am

I think the number is census responses - which in some cases would be households. So 600 of them if they were all families of 4 would be 2400.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 1:57 pm

I'm tied for 16,980. But a more common variant of my name is in the 2800s.

Growing up I never ever heard of anyone having my last name outside my family. But in the past ten-fifteen years there have been one movie character, two TV characters from big cable shows, and a hockey player and soccer player. Though only one of those is my spelling.

My wife's name doesn't show up, which surprises me because she probably has at least 100 people in her family alone.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:20 pm

Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 8:07 am

A_B wrote:Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?

Amazon has done it's best to ruin Christmas about 20 times in my house. Every time I touch a computer there's an add for gifts I've been considering. They ship things and my phone goes off. Things show up to my house and 15 minutes later Amazon sends an email that says "HEY YOU WANNA REVIEW THAT THING YOU GOT????".

I have to make sure my phone is face down or never off my person and it's stressing me out. This must be what people who cheat on their SOs feel like. Who would endure the stress?

duff · Post by **duff** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 8:28 am

BSF21 wrote:
A_B wrote:Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?
Amazon has done it's best to ruin Christmas about 20 times in my house. Every time I touch a computer there's an add for gifts I've been considering. They ship things and my phone goes off. Things show up to my house and 15 minutes later Amazon sends an email that says "HEY YOU WANNA REVIEW THAT THING YOU GOT????".

I have to make sure my phone is face down or never off my person and it's stressing me out. This must be what people who cheat on their SOs feel like. Who would endure the stress?

I have been forbidden to use Amazon this Christmas. I had to purchase an air filter for my furnace and the wife got upset because she thought I was snooping around for what she got me. Had to remove the app from my phone also so I wouldn't get notifications.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:33 am

duff wrote:
BSF21 wrote:
A_B wrote:Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?
Amazon has done it's best to ruin Christmas about 20 times in my house. Every time I touch a computer there's an add for gifts I've been considering. They ship things and my phone goes off. Things show up to my house and 15 minutes later Amazon sends an email that says "HEY YOU WANNA REVIEW THAT THING YOU GOT????".

I have to make sure my phone is face down or never off my person and it's stressing me out. This must be what people who cheat on their SOs feel like. Who would endure the stress?
I have been forbidden to use Amazon this Christmas. I had to purchase an air filter for my furnace and the wife got upset because she thought I was snooping around for what she got me. Had to remove the app from my phone also so I wouldn't get notifications.

I have to buy local for my wife. Which I don't mind. She usually uses a co-workers Prime account to get me anything.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:37 am

A_B wrote:
duff wrote:
BSF21 wrote:
A_B wrote:Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?
Amazon has done it's best to ruin Christmas about 20 times in my house. Every time I touch a computer there's an add for gifts I've been considering. They ship things and my phone goes off. Things show up to my house and 15 minutes later Amazon sends an email that says "HEY YOU WANNA REVIEW THAT THING YOU GOT????".

I have to make sure my phone is face down or never off my person and it's stressing me out. This must be what people who cheat on their SOs feel like. Who would endure the stress?
I have been forbidden to use Amazon this Christmas. I had to purchase an air filter for my furnace and the wife got upset because she thought I was snooping around for what she got me. Had to remove the app from my phone also so I wouldn't get notifications.
I have to buy local for my wife. Which I don't mind. She usually uses a co-workers Prime account to get me anything.

BSFGF's 2 biggest gifts were local this year. Makes me happy to drop coin in the city and know it stays here. It ain't cheap though!

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:48 am

A_B wrote:Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?

Almost two years later they keep trying to entice me to buy food for my dead dog.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:56 am

BSF21 wrote:BSFGF's 2 biggest gifts were local this year. Makes me happy to drop coin in the city and know it stays here. It ain't cheap though!

They're taking that money home and spending it on Amazon.

duff · Post by **duff** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:04 am

BSF21 wrote:BSFGF's 2 biggest gifts were local this year. Makes me happy to drop coin in the city and know it stays here. It ain't cheap though!

Buying from Hamilton Commons isn't local.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:30 am

duff wrote:
BSF21 wrote:BSFGF's 2 biggest gifts were local this year. Makes me happy to drop coin in the city and know it stays here. It ain't cheap though!
Buying from Hamilton Commons isn't local.

Haha! I haven't set foot out there for Xmas (though I was at Cabella's before Thanksgiving).

I don't want to ruin in case BSFGF has found me out and is snooping, but I assure you both of these presents couldn't be more local if they tried. Single location small shops.

And yea, they're buying shit on Amazon with it, but so it goes.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:31 am

duff wrote:
BSF21 wrote:BSFGF's 2 biggest gifts were local this year. Makes me happy to drop coin in the city and know it stays here. It ain't cheap though!
Buying from Hamilton Commons isn't local.

Also to this point, how fucking stupid are outdoor malls? Like I wanna freeze my balls off walking between shitty stores.

Post by **brian** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:49 am

mister d wrote:
A_B wrote:Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?
Almost two years later they keep trying to entice me to buy food for my dead dog.

On the bright side at least they don't know it's dead. That would be creepier.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:37 pm

brian wrote:
mister d wrote:
A_B wrote:Why the heck does Amazon suggest things in ads to me THAT I BOUGHT YESTERDAY?
Almost two years later they keep trying to entice me to buy food for my dead dog.
On the bright side at least they don't know it's dead. That would be creepier.

Oh, they know. It is all part of their plan to put the idea of getting another dog into your head, so they can resume selling you dog food. This shit runs deep.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 8:48 am

I used to be guilty of this, but I can't begin to tell you how annoyed I get now when a sportscaster/commentator/writer pulls the old:

"Do I think it's right so and so did such and such? No, It isn't right." where they act like someone is asking a question and then they answer. It's lazy and a cop out. Just say what you think instead of forming a fake question!

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 9:06 am

A_B wrote:I used to be guilty of this, but I can't begin to tell you how annoyed I get now when a sportscaster/commentator/writer pulls the old:

"Do I think it's right so and so did such and such? No, It isn't right." where they act like someone is asking a question and then they answer. It's lazy and a cop out. Just say what you think instead of forming a fake question!

That is a pet peeve of mine. It's seeped out from the political arena - pundits and politicians and officials do it all the time. It's a ridiculously easy way to deflect a question and obfuscate its meaning and add a bunch of caveats.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 9:20 am

Do I think this probably belongs more in a pet peeves or whining thread? Yes. Yes I do.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 9:29 am

mister d wrote:Do I think this probably belongs more in a pet peeves or whining thread? Yes. Yes I do.

My search skills are not Rass-esque.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:06 pm

Today is my first experience with Albuquerque drivers and snow. I gotta say, with the topography of the city and the way Americans think they have the skills to drive it's been a tragicomedy.

First, I got the notification that I could come into work a couple hours late. So I took my time. I'm glad I did. The powder snow that fell was not salted or plowed (it was a few inches, but still) so it turned to ice due to temps in the teens.

Second, actually driving my typical drive from apartment to the base was neat. You had the overly cautious drivers doing 10-15 in normally 35 zones. You had aggressive drivers that seemed to think ice didn't affect them. With the snow/ice covering street markings, 3 lane streets were 2 lane streets. And a main road off the highway that has a noticeable and gradual uphill to it was iced over and everyone was stuck.

Oh, and I got to work in time to read a mass email notification that the base is closed to non mission essential personnel. That typically applies to me since I fly a desk, but my old school mentality retired flight chief, deemed otherwise. So...fun!

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:24 pm

My first experience with ABQ snow we got 3-4 inches and it was like the apocalypse had descended on the city. It was all gone by noon, but schools had already been closed for the day.

I'd say a good quarter of NM drivers are in cars with bald ass used tires, and the driving test is literally driving around a block, so...

Post by **Sabo** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:40 pm

I've driven in a lot of cities in the U.S., and Albuquerque drivers are the worst group I've ever encountered. Some of the stupidity I saw was mind-blowing.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:44 pm

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/ ... dobe/n9492

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 2:21 pm

Sabo wrote:I've driven in a lot of cities in the U.S., and Albuquerque drivers are the worst group I've ever encountered. Some of the stupidity I saw was mind-blowing.

Co-sign. Add to that a level of machismo and aggressiveness that makes the highways a massive game of chicken.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 3:33 pm

sancarlos wrote:
Sabo wrote:I've driven in a lot of cities in the U.S., and Albuquerque drivers are the worst group I've ever encountered. Some of the stupidity I saw was mind-blowing.
Co-sign. Add to that a level of machismo and aggressiveness that makes the highways a massive game of chicken.

And huge-ass trucks. And back in the day, they also used to have drive-through liquor stores.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:33 am

This weekend is ABQ Comic Con. Free entry for active military! Yassss.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:53 pm

I'm helping the third grader with a Black History month project. She has to write (fill out) a 6 page biography of 20s blues singer Bessie Smith. The project requires she draw a picture of the subject for all six pages. There are not that many pictures available of this particular early 20th century blues singer. I'm definitely including a US stamp, and debating including her tombstone.

My older kid had the same project (Stevie was her subject) and she was able to both print pictures and type up and print out the written portion, too.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:06 pm

Reduced to doing a map of TN with a star on Chattanooga. The grave stone (apparently donated by Janis Joplin) is in play...

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:21 pm

I put "Bessie Smith blues" into a bing search and got quite a few different images.