Stefanie the Human

I don't usually visit this section of the board often, as I follow the WNBA more than the NBA. Oddly, that's because of Kobe Bryant. I grew up a Lakers fan, but I was not a fan of Kobe Bryant. I thought he was a selfish player, and I didn't ever really accept him even though I acknowledge his obvious skill as a player. I ended up distancing myself from following the Lakers, and subsequently the NBA, thanks to the Lakers picking Kobe over Shaq (especially after Colorado). I decided to loosely follow the NBA at that point, and ended up following the WNBA more. Over the last few years, I've been picking back up with the NBA again, but admittedly it was after Kobe's retirement that I started following more in depth. So needless to say, when Kobe became one of the most vocal WNBA supporters, I initially wrote it off as typical Kobe selfishness. I thought of it was Kobe only caring about the WNBA because he was grooming his daughter to become a WNBA player. Then I listened to the first episode of Ledlow & Parker (which is a very good podcast, by the way), where Kobe has an interview. He mostly talked about coaching his daughter's team, but he also talked about how the WNBA didn't have the resources or media attention that it as a league deserved. I went in prepared to roll my eyes and scoff at Kobe, but I was impressed. Maybe he wasn't selfish. Maybe he wasn't just interested in women's basketball because of his daughter. Maybe he was genuinely interested in it as a section of the sport he loved. I was looking forward to a future, eight to ten years down the line, where Gigi Bryant was on the WNBA court and Kobe was courtside rooting her on. A next level version of Courtney and Don Williams. The fact that this isn't ever going to happen now, because we lost both Kobe and Gigi today, makes me sadder than I would've thought possible if you had talked to me about it even three months ago.

The only way we'll know for sure is if someone else is the first to get in and interrupt a beatdown instead of getting chased off. I'd also be fine if it's the other way and Aubrey has a cult following, though. Like I said, I prefer the different personalities amongst the AEW referees.

I guess I should clarify, I don't know why fans cheering for a referee trying to break up beatdowns or stop interference is a bad thing. If anything it shows they're engaged in the action. I didn't see the chants for Aubrey as the crowd cheering a referee over the wrestlers, but as being happy the beatdown was over and cheering for the first person who actually was able to stop it. If AEW sees it as being a problem, then I suspect they'll send wrestlers to break up brawls instead of the referees in the future. I also disagree that Aubrey has anything that she needs to tone down. As I mentioned, I like that she's an official that actually attempts to show some form of control of the match instead of being there just to count the fall. I also like that AEW has referees that have unique personalities and styles instead of being cookie cutter and nameless. It's a very small part of the presentation, but it makes a big difference, and I think the fact that it makes such a difference is why we've had quite a conversation over seconds of chanting.

There is no show that has kept me wondering just what will happen next quite like this one. As much as I don't want the series to end, I'm looking forward to having the full set so I can binge through the whole thing one weekend.

I think the thing with Aubrey is because of what she represents. As a woman referee, she easily could be portrayed as timid and fearful to step in, but she's not. She has the authority that a referee is supposed to have in a wrestling match, that being that if you break the rules right in front of her or if you push her, she'll threaten to disqualify you. I like the idea of referees trying to have some kind of control of the match, instead of just being there to count the fall. Otherwise, why are they there? I saw the chants for her Wednesday as because the Inner Circle had chased off another ref who tried to break up the beatdown on Moxley, but they didn't chase her off. The fans recognized that and chanted for her for a few seconds. I don't see the issue here.

We use Cloudflare at my job for DDOS protection. I don't know much about the nuts and bolts of it but it sure does seem to work well since we've implemented it.

I haven't lived near a Rally's in a decade or so, but my memory of them is that their fries were the best thing on their menu. Everything else was not good.

What is left of Deadspin to move anyway? Can you truly move empty husks of zombie sites that have no goodwill remaining?

Both indicated a cheap table to me, but leaving nothing left it open to chance that someone swiped the tip from the table before I could bus it (which happens sometimes at the pizza place). I mentioned this earlier, but the only thing that truly indicated to me that something was wrong with my service was when someone outright told me something was wrong, or asked to speak to my manager about their meal. Leaving a bad tip after telling me that everything was fine when I delivered the check didn't give me anything actionable to work on.

Tables did turn pretty quickly at the pizza place compared to the seafood restaurant. I could easily have two seatings at a four top at the pizza place in the time it would take to have one seating at the seafood place, just because the seafood place would have four or five courses involved compared to a pizza and maybe some wings and a couple of rounds of beers. That said, the pizza place was also where the tables would get completely trashed too. Ever had to clean up a table completely covered in a layer of blue cheese dressing from some folks who think it's hilarious? The pizza place also had a lot of cruel pranks, like people who would leave full glasses of water turned upside down, so the moment you lift the glass all the water comes rushing out (and the tip would be inside of the glass, usually a dollar or two in paper money that is now soaking wet on a $50-60 check). There would also be folks (usually on Sunday lunches) that would give religious tracts that were designed to look like money instead of actual tips. That didn't happen at the seafood restaurant. There would be fussy customers, but very rarely did I get tipped below 15% there. Bad tips, or tips wrapped in pranks like the aforementioned water glass, didn't really give me a lot of feedback as a server. What would give me feedback would be when someone would speak to the manager, or when a customer would tell me that I made a mistake. Those are things that were actionable. A bad tip gave me nothing actionable to work on or to improve. I could always tell a bad tip was coming, too, if I would drop the check off and nobody at the table would look at me. As far as my own tipping methods... since waiting tables was how I kept afloat for a couple of years, I tip pretty high. My standard is around 25%, rounded up to the nearest dollar. With delivery, I do $5 to start and $1 for every additional item I order, plus an extra $3 if it's inclement weather. So if I order two pizzas and a soda, and it's raining, that driver's getting $10 from me, because I didn't have to go outside to get it. Getting food delivered or eating out is something I rarely do as I'm very specific about what I eat, so if I'm going to do so, I'm going to make sure the people who are taking care of me are getting something in return.

Higher-end restaurants also don't give larger sections as well, specifically because of the care you mentioned. I waited tables in my early-20s at an upscale seafood restaurant where I only had a section larger than three tables if someone called out sick, because of the amount of care and attention needed to be provided to each table. I also waited tables at a pizza restaurant where my section was usually eight to ten tables. If I had full sections every night, I made more money at the pizza place. Problem is, I only would get full sections on the weekends there, so overall I made more money at the seafood restaurant. I always had full sections at the seafood restaurant because the sections were so small and the restaurant was always booked up.

It varies state to state, but to my understanding, assault is the threat of physical harm (as in, I have threatened to punch you), and the definition of battery is the act of physical harm (as in, I have punched you). Some states refer to battery as "assault", and some states refer to battery as "assault and battery", it's all complicated for no reason.

J.T.'s advice is solid. The thing with mental health is that everyone's different. I can tell you what works for me but it may not work for her. For me, when I'm in a depressive state, I need people I trust to reach out to me because I will get really insular. The whole "reach out if you need help" is great for the person offering help to feel better, but for me when I feel like I'm helpless and anything I do hurts someone, I won't reach out because I think it hurts them. This is specifically because I was raised in an abusive household where I was told everything was my fault, everything I did hurt someone, everything I did was wrong, so as a result when I get depressed, I shut down and try not to hurt anyone because that's what I was raised with and that's what was programmed into me. That means I need people to come to me, tell me I'm not a burden, there isn't anything wrong with me, et cetera. It's a lot to manage but it does snap me out of things better, and fortunately I have people who love me that are willing to do that for me. (I'm very grateful for that every time it happens, and luckily that's few and far between these days.) If your wife's the same way, you probably need to be giving her a lot of reassurance right now. Basically, find the things that help her when she's in this state and keep mashing those buttons. Meds may work, talking it out may work, being told she's not a burden may work, maybe a combo of all of them work, but now's where you need to be listening to what she's responding positively to and deliver that to her regularly.

Everything went great! I am quite sore.

Insurance red tape has been cut through and things appear resolved. Unless anything else happens, I'm having surgery December 11. Things are quite exciting over here!