Finding concerts Apr 16, 2025
I'm always kind of surprised how difficult it is to find concerts I might be interested in, and how bad the search engines are at performing this seemingly simple task.  When I go to a website of a concert venue or ticket seller, I can scroll through their list of upcoming events, but it's a total mishmash of every style of music from every generation.  And when I make the unfortunate decision to buy a ticket for a concert I want to attend, I get automatically signed up to receive emails from the ticket seller that say, "Hey, since you're going to a concert, would you be interested in going to a completely unrelated concert simply for the pleasure of experiencing the sensation of live music?"  Like, no.  If I go to death metal concert, I'm not interested in going to a techno concert simply because both things fit neatly into the box of "live music."  That's not how that works, that's not how anything works, and I feel like this issue should've been resolved in like 2002.  How can I not simply select "live music" from a drop-down box, then further select "music that contains a guitar" vs. "music that involves a DJ"?  These are not overlapping Venn diagrams, and I shouldn't have to tell the likes of TicketMaster how to serve me the content I actually want to pay money for.  Use those ticket fees for something good, you dorks. #music
Pumping gas Apr 9, 2025
I moved from one of the few states that don't let you pump your own gas, to one of the many states that do.  I have a lot of strong opinions about a lot of different things, and this is refreshingly not one of them.  I don't know why, I just really don't care whether I pump my own gas or not.  This opinion occupies exactly zero processor cycles in my brain.  And this is quite different than pretty much every other person on earth, who feels extremely strongly about one side or the other.  I guess it's kind of gross to touch a gas pump that thousands of other people touch, while standing outside in the heat or cold, breathing in poisonous gasoline fumes.  But I don't have to interact with anyone, which is nice.  Two sides, essentially equal; opinion weakly held.
Athletic quarterbacks Jan 2, 2025
Athletic quarterbacks (quarterbacks who can run and scramble as opposed to passing from the pocket) are all the rage in the NFL these days, both because they're fun to watch but also because they're successful.  But watching mobile quarterbacks in college football makes it pretty obvious that having that strength is also a weakness.  In high school and college football, defenses are undisciplined enough to allow some backyard football to happen quite a bit.  So a quarterback who can move around and dodge defenders can look like a superstar.  But as soon as a competent defense is involved, a scrambling quarterback is more likely a liability (notable exceptions abound in the current state of the NFL).  Mobile quarterbacks get accustomed to using their athleticism to get out of sticky situations, instead of developing proper decision-making skills, learning how to read a defense, and being content with throwing the ball away when that's the smart play.  The very thing that makes athletic quarterbacks successful in college is the same thing that makes them fail in the NFL. #sports
College football talent differential Jan 2, 2025
One of the weird and cool things about college football is that there's an insanely wide talent gap between the best and the worst players, as well as the best and the worst teams.  That's partly why the Heisman Trophy is sometimes relevant -- occasionally there's a player who is just hands-down better than everyone else.  This unfortunately makes some games meaningless, such as all the "cupcake" games at the beginning of the season where a blue-blood team like Alabama or Texas plays an unknown like Tennessee ... State Tech, or Louisiana ... Monroe Community College.  Technically these teams are all at the same "level" but realistically there's no way in hell a blue-blood will lose those games. 

In the NFL, the talent gap is much less pronounced.  "Any given Sunday" means that pretty much any team can beat pretty much any other team on any given Sunday.  The NFL is much more uniform, almost predictable.  Sure, a great player can have a great game at times.  But more often than not, a good offense will find a way to beat a good defense, and a good defense will find a way to stop a good offense.  Players are more consistent, and coaching is more intelligent.  Talent is distributed fairly evenly around the entire league. 

In college football, great players are essentially unstoppable, even in a game between two good teams.  This is because the talent isn't spread evenly across the league or even across a single team.  A single amazing player can consistently beat a team of pretty good players simply because there's a measurable difference in talent.  Being taller, faster, or stronger is still a differentiator at the college level.  This difference is smoothed out a bit in the NFL, which is why it's still fun to watch college football. #sports