Saturday, October 1, 2016

Poor Choice of Terms

I get that the NCAA is trying to reduce the incidence of head trauma. Fine. Noble goal. If you want to say that _any_ hit to the head is illegal, call it an "illegal hit to the head".


When you call it "targeting", however, the use of such term implies intent on the part of the hitter and that the basis is for the call is that intention. If the initial point of contact isn't the head - that the contact to the head was the result of the initial contact getting deflected/redirected into the head, you can't claim intent. If the hitting player was otherwise not in control of their impact-path (e.g., they got blocked), you can't claim intent. Change the name of the fucking penalty.


And, no, I don't care if saying "targeting" is easier for lazy referees to slobber ito their mics than "illegal hit to the head" is.



Friday, September 30, 2016

Rainy Days and Longevity

So roofer came by to do his inspection. Definitely need new roofing all around.

Now to wait to see what the estimate is and whether it all fits within my rainy-day savings or if I have to finance. If I have to finance, I'll probably look to see how much bigger the loan would have to be to accommodate a solar install.

Was kind of funny - if a bit sobering: the estimator had forgotten to leave us with the swatch-book of shingles. When he came back by to correct that oversight, he was showing me the different categories and says to me, "I personally wouldn't splurge on the 'premium' shingles," to which I replied, "my goal, in all of this, is to not have to worry about putting another roof on this house till I'm eligible to collect full social security: I'll be 47 this January". He responded back that I definitely wouldn't need the premium shingles/roofing materials since everything was guaranteed for well longer than 20 years.

One of the funny things about being in the back half of my 40s: I need to start weighing so many more decisions against actuarial likelihoods:

  • Will this roof repair last me at least as long as I plan to be working
  • Is it likely that this new doctor/dentist/etc.will still be in practice for as long as I need their services
  • Does it make sense to buy this new appliance now, or wait "X" years so that its likely end of life will be sometime after I've retired and moved away
And it all ties back to the realization that, even if I live to be 90, I've got less years ahead of me than I do behind me. Right now, for the more ahead than behind to happen, I'd need to live to be 93 or so. In which case, even if I've planned my savings appropriately for a typical lifespan, I'll likely have outlived those savings-plans.

Bleah.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

I Didn't Mean It Literally

2" of rain early Monday morning. Another couple inches last night. Forecast is calling for another 2-5" of rain each of the next several days.

Open door, yesterday, and get dripped on as I'm passing through the door frame. Rainwater is dripping from the (rain-swollen) interior-trim around my door frame.

Today, during one of the not-actively-raining periods (and while light enough to still see well), I get out a ladder and try to sort out how the water's getting in. Find that the moisture's coming from the roof-line. Step out into the yard to look at the roof over our foyer. Looks like the roof is ever so slightly sagging in one spot. Roof is 14+ years old (we moved in in 2002). I guess it's not unexpected that it might have age-related sagging. Unfortunately, the slight sagging looks like it might be allowing some capillary action up under the shingles and then between the backing plywood (at least when it's raining so heavily that the rain sheets on the roof).

I have rainy-day savings ...but this is a little too literal requirement for their use.