2022 Sled Hockey Preview

by | Oct 19, 2022 | Sports | 196 comments

Hockey season is once again upon us. The NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks have decided to tank and try for the number one draft pick next summer, which means there will be a season of terrible games ahead of us. So let’s see what’s in store for the sled version of the Blackhawks and your pal The Other Kevin.

Chicago A

After the Paralympics, the regulars are back. Well, sort of. Another of our Paralympic players moved to Nashville, leaving us with just one Paralympic player on our A team. The competing teams in our league have four, five, or more, so we don’t expect too many wins from Chicago. For this reason, players on the edge of making A team (meaning The Other Kevin)  have been delegated to B team, at least for the beginning of the season. A Team continues to participate in the Midwest Sled Hockey League (MWSHL), which includes teams from St. Louis, Denver, Nashville, and New Hampshire.

Chicago B

All the players from last year have returned, and we have one new player who already seems promising. B team’s league from last year fell apart, but we’ll compete in the two big tournaments, and travel with A team to play games against other B teams. We did fairly well last year, not winning any championships but still winning enough to be competitive. I’ll continue to play defense and I should get a lot of ice time.

2022-23 Schedule

I’m often asked by fellow Glibs when I’ll be in town playing hockey. Here’s what we have planned for this year. As always, our schedule could change, sometimes at the last minute. (We learned this the hard with with teams dropping out due to COVID cases last year). With the exception of the first A Team weekend, I plan on attending all of these tournaments.

October 21 – 23: MWSHL Weekend #1 in New Hampshire (A team only)

November 17-21: NHL Classic in San Diego (Both Teams)

December 10-11: Morgan Park Rink (Chicago) tourney (B team)

January 6-8: MWSHL Weekend #2 in St. Louis, MO (B team games as well TBD)

February 10-12: MWSHL Weekend #3 in Denver, CO (B team games as well TBD)

March 10-12: Wirtz Cup MWSHL Wknd #4 in Chicago, IL (B team games too)

April 13 – 16: USA Hockey Disabled Festival in St. Louis, MO (Both Teams)

June 2023 – Hendrickson Hockey Festival in Blaine, MN (possible combined A/B Team)

As usual, I’ll write up a recap after each tournament. Hopefully I’ll meet a few more of you this time. The three Glibs I’ve met have been wonderful.

About The Author

The Other Kevin

The Other Kevin

Indiana Man, father of 3, programmer, and sled hockey player.

196 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “As usual, I’ll write up a recap after each tournament. Hopefully I’ll meet a few more of you this time. The three Glibs I’ve met have been wonderful.”

    And I’ll read them, although I barely understand hockey.

    • Brochettaward

      Guys use sticks to propel a puck around the ice in between fist fights. What is there to get?

      • rhywun

        Also, the fist fights are the best part, and therefore discouraged.

      • Brochettaward

        One of my favorite sports moments was a hockey fight. Redwings, Avalanche in like 1997 or some shit. Dropped the puck at the start of the game, and the two guys just went right at each other.

        If I were a big hockey fan, I couldn’t tell you how pissed I would be seeing the NHL cave to the likes of ESPN talking heads on the issue of fighting, among other things. It’s like the guys who run the NHL say fuck you to their actual fans as much as possible.

      • rhywun

        LOL.

        To be fair, there are still plenty of fights. Fortunately I rarely get stuck having to watch hockey on ESPN.

      • Lackadaisical

        It was at the Joe Louis Arena, so completely justified actions by the players, They were just paying homage.

      • MikeS

        It’s like the guys who run the NHL virtually all professional sports say fuck you to their actual fans as much as possible.

        FIFY

      • rhywun

        Yeah and it’s much worse in some other sports.

      • Lackadaisical

        END HATE

      • rhywun

        “Let us kneel.”

      • Swiss Servator

        Go watch MMA or Boxing if you want a fight. I want ice hockey.

      • whiz

        ^^This

      • Swiss Servator

        Clown college…assemble!

      • Brochettaward

        Of course you do, hall monitor. Of course you do…

        Fighting is an ingrained part of ice hockey. It’s part of the history and tradition of the sport, its culture. Why do we even let hockey players hit one another on the ice? I mean, we can just watch guys skate around with a puck with no physical risk at all! There’s be little need for fighting if there was no contact, and what a pretty little game it would be!

      • Swiss Servator

        This simply shows that you have no understanding of checking. I’d love to see you hit by an NHL player going near 30mph on the ice….and then you try to call it wussy.

        Of course you’d be dead, First.

      • whiz

        There is violence in lots of sports. Fighting in pro hockey should be treated as in football — get kicked out of the game and maybe for longer. College hockey is just fine without wholesale fighting.

      • Brochettaward

        I think it is you, as usual, who missed the point.

      • Swiss Servator

        You were the one whining about how anyone who is against fighting must not even want contact…

        You sound like an 80 year old with calcified synapses. “Back in my day…”

      • Brochettaward

        I’ll listen to the people who are ingrained into the sport who believe that fighting plays an essential role in regulating the sport, thanks.

        And the reality is it won’t stop with fighting. Just like in football, it hasn’t stopped yet with the attempts to decrease the physicality of the game. There are certainly suits up the higher echelons of NHL management who would love to do away with fighting and see a more wide open offensive game, just like in the NFL. And they’ll have the sports equivalent of useful idiots cheering them on.

      • Swiss Servator

        IF WE CANNOT HAVE FIST FIGHTS, THEM FAGGOTZ HAZ WUN!

        When Ice Hockey was developed, or Rugby Football or American Football….did the inventors/developers hope for fist fights, or an athletics contest that demanded a lot of its participants, including high speed collisions and plenty of physical struggle?

        Again, you want a fist fight, you have boxing and MMA.

      • Brochettaward

        Seeing as how fighting has been part of the sport since the very first games were played, I do in fact think the creators were fine with it being part of the sport there, Swiss.

        When do you think there was a time where fighting wasn’t part of ice hockey? You act as if you are championing a return to something that never even existed in the first place. Since there was ice hockey as we know it being played, guys were fighting on the ice.

      • Brochettaward

        Moreover, the fighting was ALWAYS one of the main attractions and leagues known for their fighting drew bigger audiences.

      • Swiss Servator

        Fighting didn’t get into hockey until decades after it was started….show your work. Or do you think they were brawling all over the ice in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950 and 1960s?

        Sure, every Montreal Canadiens fan wasn’t going to see Rocket Richard, they were going to see a fist fight!

      • Brochettaward

        I’d rather let anyone Google the claim you just made yourself, and see just how educated you are on the subject. Because it literally takes two seconds. Guys were charged with assault and murder for shit they did on the ice in the earliest days of the sport, Swiss.

        They do teach you to do research in law school before spouting off at the mouth, don’t they?

      • Swiss Servator

        Yup, hockey was a bloodsport in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s… The authorities called for its banning, it needed to be scourged from society that wouldn’t even let a curse word in a movie…You are an ass, but right now enough of an amusement that you won’t get damnatio memoriae’d…

      • Brochettaward

        It’s amusing how you can’t have a debate, argument, discussion or much of anything without getting hostile with others, and that you frequently have to resort to falling back on your powers as a moderator around here.

        Fighting didn’t get into hockey until decades after it was started….

        Started much earlier than that, but you can still can’t mesh this statement with the one you just admitted to. When WASN’T fighting part of hockey, Swiss?

      • MikeS

        You are an ass, but right now enough of an amusement that you won’t get damnatio memoriae’d

        There’s the old Swissy! Threatening a ban for someone disagreeing with him to strenuously.

      • Brochettaward

        Because newsflash, it aint just me you’ve played this game with. Your hysterics over anything Russia related were pretty entertaining for most of us.

      • Swiss Servator

        Not to worry Mike S., you are on the side of the angels here….

      • MikeS

        I actually prefer your Swiss cow butts to your veiled threats. But you do you.

        By the way, are Eddie’s last posts still in moderation?

      • Brochettaward

        I think Swiss’s predicably timed authoritarian mod boner has distracted from the fact that he is 100% completely wrong about the history of fighting in hockey.

      • MikeS

        I will give you a lot of credit for one thing though, Swiss; you are the only one of the founders that still regularly interacts with the plebes. Good on you for that.

      • Grumbletarian

        https://thehockeynews.com/news/from-deaths-to-monsters-a-history-of-fighting-in-hockey

        By the time the NHL formed in 1917, fighting was well established in both professional and amateur leagues across the continent. Yet it took five full years of operation before the NHL instituted a specific penalty for a punch-up – a five-minute penalty – but that didn’t stop players from going after each other. At that stage in the league’s history, virtually every player had to be tough enough to look after himself.

  2. Tundra

    February 10-12: MWSHL Weekend #3 in Denver, CO (B team games as well TBD)

    Woohoo!

    First to see games in two different states!

    • R.J.

      Nice. Denver is almost close. If I can swing it, I will go.

    • The Other Kevin

      Hell yeah!

  3. Brochettaward

    Started watching Halloween Ends. I knew I was in for stupid, and not even 10 minutes in, it hasn’t disappointed.

    Where exactly does a guy like Michael Meyers hide for 4 years without anyone noticing? I mean, the earlier sequels had the same issue with various answers given. But the guy would have to be the most wanted man in the country. He’s an elderly mute escaped con who has spent his entire adult life in an asylum or prison. That’s just the sort of stupid thing you ask yourself because the movie takes itself so seriously. The attempt to paint the second as some sort of social commentary was ridiculous enough. They started this one off by trying to paint the town of Haddonfield as traumatized and permanently scarred by his villainy.

    • rhywun

      I gave up after III. Actually, I don’t know if I saw II. But sure, III wasn’t really a Halloween movie but at the end of the day who cares. One and done.

      They were never as fun as the Friday the 13th movies anyway.

      • MikeS

        III was decent enough. Why the idiot people in charge decided to make it part of the Halloween saga has always confused me.

    • R.J.

      He was with Biden in the basement.

      I knew it would be horrible so I avoided it like the plague. I already have the stink of The Munsters movie on me.

      • Brochettaward

        THE MOVIE ACTUALLY ANSWERS THE QUESTION!

        Like one of the shitty earlier sequels, he was living the sewers.

      • R.J.

        I was right.

      • Brochettaward

        No, no, you don’t know how stupid this is. A character feeding victims to a Michael Meyers who is badly wounded from the gang bang he took four years earlier, but somehow survived with no medical treatment…

        Or, or just maybe…they’ll get even dumber than that…and this will all be some sort of unreliable narrative story.

      • MikeS

        If that happens, I’m sure you’ll be the First to let us know.

      • Brochettaward

        When The First That Shall Change Everything comes, you shall be the last. And you will weep as you seen the ascension of all before you, and despair. But fear not, for even after all of your seconds, you, too, shall be saved.

      • MikeS

        I see what you did there.

  4. DEG

    October 21 – 23: MWSHL Weekend #1 in New Hampshire (A team only)

    That’s this weekend. Where in NH?

    • R.J.

      I cannot get any hits on that on the web to locate the games.

      • DEG

        I poked around, and saw something about Rochester, NH.

        I could make Rochester on Saturday depending on time. I don’t know anything about Rochester so I couldn’t pick a place to meet.

        Kevin, TPTB have my e-mail address if you want to try arrange a meet-up on Saturday.

      • The Other Kevin

        Sadly I’m not on this trip!

      • R.J.

        I saw that is was “A” for DEG in NH. How about Colorado?

      • The Other Kevin

        Not sure, but both teams are going so I’ll be there.

  5. DEG

    OT: Project Veritas Action’s latest

    Chris Baugh, Advance Team Aide, NYC Mayor Eric Adams: “I have no sympathy for them. They made a choice [not to get vaccinated]. They chose not to do a very harmless thing that protects the rest of society. F**k ‘em. 1,400 people voluntarily quit their jobs rather than get vaccinated. They don’t deserve their jobs back. We have thousands and thousands of vacancies in city government right now. I’m worried about filling all of those jobs more than I’m worried about giving people who volunteered to leave their job back.”

    • R.J.

      That guy is an asshole. Major Asshole. How many assholes they got over there?

    • Brochettaward

      What’s more startling – the very real (and probably willful) ignorance he probably has of the vaccines in question and any potential side effects, or his tyranny?

      And oh what it would be like to be able to peer into an ultimate reality where Trump took the election or it came out a few months sooner, to see all of these smug cunts singing a different tune because then it would have just been Bad Orange Mans vaccine.

      • rhywun

        “I will never take the Trump vaccine.”

        /said by every Democrat and somehow memory-holed

    • rhywun

      protects the rest of society

      That aged well after the Pfizer lady laughed it off.

      But let’s look on the bright side. Fourteen hundred vacancies is a good thing.

      • rhywun

        Poking around yesterday, I saw some mention of “adult vaccination schedule”. I didn’t dive down that path any further but it makes me pause.

      • Gustave Lytton

        They’re coming for you. They’re gonna hold you down and give you that tdap booster you’ve been skipping.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, that’s the hill *I* die on.

      • EvilSheldon

        That’s the hill that some other people die on first.

      • LJW

        While I hate the CDC that wasnt a vote to add the shot to the schedule, that vote is tomorrow. Regardless the school vaccine requirements are set by your state not the CDC. Sorry blue staters.

      • R.J.

        Thank goodness for that.

      • rhywun

        So, probably 75% of America instead of 100%.

      • Lackadaisical

        Every state right now does use it though. Some states are easier to get an exception then others.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        ^This.

        Also, good luck trying to find a pediatrician that will not follow the CDC schedule. The first 4 pediatric practices I tried refused to accept my children as patients when I said we wanted to modify the CDC schedule. We ended up finding an excellent family medicine physician instead who didn’t care.

      • Lackadaisical

        I didn’t say it was. What do you think the CDC will do, especially with a15-0 vote in favor?

      • Mojeaux

        So glad my kids are out of vaccine age.

      • MikeS

        But your future grandkids are not.

      • Mojeaux

        There will be no grandchildren in my future at all.

        I feel for the parents of kids coming up, but I’m happy to be past it.

  6. rhywun

    Last month in derp: My landlord “now accepts Zelle”. So I sign up and… they refuse to accept the amount of my rent because it is “too high”. They want you to post “smaller amounts” first. Um… okay.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      It’s a trap. They’ll nail you for structuring or it will look like you’re buying drugs.

      • rhywun

        Yup.

        OTOH… They said I could not post more than $500.
        The average rent in the United States is $1,100.

      • hayeksplosives

        Why such a low transaction cap? I have sent a couple grand at a time on Venmo…

      • rhywun

        They said you have to process some lower payments first before they will accept larger ones.

  7. The Other Kevin

    We’re a month out from that first big tournament and we still have no idea who’s on our roster. Well I’m on it at least.

  8. rhywun
    • Brochettaward

      Something tells me that if Southern states were bragging about setting up tent cities for migrants, regardless of how many X-Boxes there were, the media would gin up outrage.

      • Mojeaux

        Because they’z the icky peoplez, and the media don’t like the icky peoplez.

    • MikeS

      HELP Meyer is run by HELP USA, a nonprofit organization that grew out of one founded by disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and was formerly chaired by his sister, Maria Cuomo Cole.

      Under terms of a $64.7 million contract, the city pays more than $5,300 a month each to house 200 single men in 95 dorm-style rooms at HELP Meyer.

      There we go.

      • Swiss Servator

        Every time I think they cannot be so shameless in their corruption….I am proven wrong.

      • rhywun

        You’d think with an effective income of around 100K those guys could do better.

    • Chafed

      Maybe the aspiring actor they interviewed could get a job that pays instead of being homeless. Just a thought.

  9. Tonio

    TOK, please reach out to me if you’re ever in the Mid-Atlantic for a hockey game.

  10. Swiss Servator

    December 10-11: Morgan Park Rink (Chicago) tourney (B team)

    March 10-12: Wirtz Cup MWSHL Wknd #4 in Chicago, IL (B team games too)

    Hmmmm.

    • R.J.

      Other Kevin, a forum post when locations and such are available might help.

      • Swiss Servator

        Indeed…I am eyeballing that Morgan Park tourney.

    • Brochettaward

      There used to a time, much to Swiss’s shock and horror, that our lawmakers got into fist fights on the floor of even the Senate.

      Now, they cry they have PTSD because they were “bullied” by another lawmaker. We are lucky that our enemies are a powerful combination of corrupt and incompetent, but that will only last so long.

      • Swiss Servator

        I like your idea…solve any disagreement with violence! Why persuade….that old lady complained that you cut in line…punch a bitch!

      • Chafed

        Chris Brown approves.

      • MikeS

        I recently got into a First fight. Obviously I won.

      • Brochettaward

        “The evidence is insufficient to substantiate Hernandez’s complaint,” investigator Melissa Healy, a lawyer with a Portland firm, wrote in her draft report.

        I wonder what would have happened if the accused had a R next to their name in that blue state, or if the genders had been reversed. Not that I’m siding with the sniveling cunt. But it’s hard to tell what’s what when they are all playing the victim card. It’s kind of sad that political capital in the Democratic party is determined by who can claim to be the biggest victim.

        The race is tighter this year in this blue state because unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson, a former veteran Democratic lawmaker, is also on the ballot.

        I’m no expert on Oregon politics, but something tells me there’s more to the tight race than this.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Tina Kotek is a hateful dyke that makes Hillary look like a charmer by comparison. Fucker needs to go back to Pennsylvania. She’s not an Oregonian. Drazan is a leftist RINO and Johnson is old money/old school Democrat who politics for personal advantage.

      • Chafed

        That RINO is looking good by comparison.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yes. I’ll probably pull the lever for her despite her squishy squash suburban politics, general political incompetence, and lack of principles.

        Johnson is pulling from Kotek for those who can’t stomach Tina! but also would rather be dead than vote for a Republican or re-examine their own role in the state’s mess. Who knows if it will last as Johnson becomes increasingly unlikely to win and a Republican might pull it off.

      • Sean

        We don’t want her.

    • MikeS

      A legislator got PTSD because of bullying from a colleague? I’m not a big “when men were men” type, but good grief…can’t anyone be a fucking adult anymore?

      • rhywun

        can’t anyone be a fucking adult anymore?

        Applies equally well to… well, anything in the last decade or so in America.

      • MikeS

        And even a conversation or two on this post. 🧐

        I’m out. I hope everyone reading this has a good night, and a pleasant tomorrow.

  11. Mojeaux

    Since Cheesecake Factory has had the gall to discontinue their peppermint bark cheesecake (conflicting reports, tho; can’t get a straight answer from anybody), I decided to make one myself, which will cost a good $75 and about 7 hours of my life I’ll never get back—and I’m the only one who likes it! Damn you, CF!

    • Gender Traitor

      But that means more for you, now doesn’t it? 😋

      • Mojeaux

        Well, yes, but one piece once a year is good for me. @TO’G, yes, I’ll freeze the rest.

      • hayeksplosives

        I make cheesecake in the Instant Pot. Just have to get the right size springform pan (7inch for the 6 qt size Instant pot).

        Perfect size for empty nesters, and pretty easy. I use an almond crumb crust if I’m doing keto.

        Just a thought. If you have an instant pot.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Such much?

      You can freeze it…

  12. Brochettaward

    Redlettermedia excuses the new Halloween movie because it tried something different. Only it wasn’t really different, but another recycled idea from an earlier Halloween sequel that was simply abandoned for the same reason this movie abandoned its own idea in the end…because people go see these shitty slasher movies to see the same slasher movie villain doing the same thing over and over again. If you weren’t going to go all in or weren’t able to go all in on your idea because of studio interference, which I suspect was the case, then don’t even bother. Michael Myers should have been dead in the movie, maybe the character finds the corpse and mask in the sewer and is just delusional. The idea of Michael transferring his power and evil to another directly is stupid.

    I’d forgive the movie if it was well written rather than contrived nonsense in many spots, but it aint. It wasn’t Halloween Kills level of bad, but there are still really agonizingly stupid bits of dialogue and plot points that make you gag. And the character of Corey is TOO pathetic for most of the movie. He gets beaten up by a band geek 6 inches shorter than him and his androgynous, mulletted sidekick. Make his enemies a little more menacing and evil rather than cartoony.

    The marketing for the movie is completely deceptive, so naturally people are going to end up pissed. RLM forgets who and what these movies are made for. It aint to provoke interesting conversations on the nature of evil, not that this movie really accomplished that.

    • Brochettaward

      Still, probably preferred this to both of the other movies in the rebooted trilogy until the final 10 minutes. I wasn’t a fan of 2018 and Kills can only be enjoyed in a schlocky so bad its good sort of way, and even then not really.

  13. Toxteth O'Grady

    Gee, but don’t these sidewalks curl up after midnight.

  14. Toxteth O'Grady

    Festus? Are ya oot there?

  15. CPRM

    Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Raven’ is a lot longer than I remember. Working with it for a project…for a website you wouldn’t know…she’s from Canada.

    • Sean

      Morning. 😃

      • UnCivilServant

        How are things in your neck of the woods.

        I at least get to telecommute today.

      • Sean

        Interesting. Things are interesting.

        I hope by the end of next week, they become good. We shall see.

      • Sean

        How about you?

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m starting to correct my sleep schedule.

      • Sean

    • Rat on a train

      Hello. Another chilly morning for a walk but I got in two miles because I woke up early. Now hanging with the cat waiting until I have to wake the boy.

      • UnCivilServant

        I just took the AC out the window this morning because it had gotten chilly in the house. (I hadn’t run it in weeks)

      • Lackadaisical

        It’s actually cool here too. It’s a wonderful 50 out. Ran the fireplace with the door open last night.. Don’t get too many chances to do that.

  16. Sean

    Thinking about getting my car windows tinted. #random

    • UnCivilServant

      Shouldn’t you get the brakes done first?

      • Sean

        Today.

    • Rat on a train

      rose tinted?

      • Sean

        🏳️‍🌈

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Don’t forget to get yourself a boomin’ system put in while you’re there. Your neighbors will love you for it.

      • Sean

        I think the stock Fender system is 9 speakers and 400w. I’m not upgrading it.

    • Lackadaisical

      I did, and I’ve been very happy with it, but it’s almost a necessity here.

    • Rat on a train

      Totally intended for kids during Halloween and not an attempt to hide from authorities. Panic accordingly.

      • Sean

        *sets hair on fire*
        *runs around*

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They’re giving out free drugs at Halloween now? Man did I miss the boat on that one, all we ever got was razor blades in the candy apples.

      • Rat on a train

        and popcorn balls

      • Fourscore

        Candy corn in a napkin.

      • Rat on a train

        bulk generic candy

      • Fourscore

        I always liked the lazy people that would give out nickels or the rare dime.

      • Grosspatzer

        Nickel bags are a common treat in the projects.

    • Grosspatzer

      Heh, I was one of those 64 million casualties. We were having lunch on the Ocean City NJ boardwalk celebrating my wife’s birthday when the 2011 quake (5.8) struck. Table started to rattle, then a few pictures fell from the walls of the restaurant. Ruined our lunch, it did.

      • Rat on a train

        I was in Arlington VA. After what felt like a regular CSX freight train passing the building was evacuated and then the office was closed. We were allowed to reenter the building, at OUR OWN RISK!!!, to retrieve personal items. It was a disaster getting home. All rail transit (Metro, MARC, VRE) was ridiculously speed restricted to 15 mph because EARTHQUAKE. Combine that with everyone trying to get home at the same time.

      • Grosspatzer

        LOL. Panic is something to behold, after our aborted lunch we watched people running from the beach in terror. TSUNAMI!!!

  17. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam
    whats goody

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Wake me up when it’s a shark or some other toothed monster. Now that’d be worth an article.

    • Lackadaisical

      The reporter is so dramatic. She wasn’t anywhere near being pulled into the water it losing her hand. More pussification.

  18. Gender Traitor

    Good morning, homey, RoaT, Sean, and U!

    Still waiting for the coffee – had to finish the prep and start it manually because SOMEONE forgot to do their bit and flip the Auto-on switch last night.

    Had to run the bean grinder twice. The first time, I didn’t realize there were no beans in the hopper.😒

      • Gender Traitor

        Nope.

        Nor a cat.

      • UnCivilServant

        😶 So… I can’t tease you over it I guess.

        Unrelated, I want to take days off, but I also don’t want to use my leave time.

      • Gender Traitor

        That would be a problem. Could you convincingly argue that inflation is increasing the amount of comp time and leave time you have available? Maybe whip up a suitably inscrutable spreadsheet?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Didnt you just do that?

      • UnCivilServant

        No. The question would only really count if the answer were yes.

      • Rat on a train

        You sound like a Fed.

      • UnCivilServant

        That wounds like something a Fed would say to throw off suspicion.

    • Gender Traitor

      It’s all good now. I have my coffee. 🙂☕ And if it’s too strong or too weak, well, I can just adjust the creamer and sweetener accordingly.

  19. Grosspatzer

    Mornin’, reprobates!

    Enjoy that Covfefe, GT, I surely am enjoying this here cup of fine Costa Rican.

    UCS, can’t you feign come down with some terrible illness to get a day or two off?

    • UnCivilServant

      Oh, no, that would burn sick leave, which is far more valuable than regular vacation time.

      • Rat on a train

        Need to save the uncapped sick leave to boost final year’s pay for calculating retirement pay.

      • UnCivilServant

        In our case we get to trade it in to get discounts on our health insurance in retirement. If you save up 1200 or so hours the coverage is free.

      • Gender Traitor

        Wow! How many hours of sick leave do you get per year (or other applicable unit of time)? And do the unused hours carry over from one year to the next?

      • UnCivilServant

        Sick leave accruals are 3.75 hours per two week pay period, and are uncapped in terms of rollovers. Or 97.5hrs/year

      • UnCivilServant

        Of course, thinks like catching the flu or needing gall bladder surgery eats into that.

      • Gender Traitor

        Hang on to all your other internal organs.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s a pretty sweet deal. My dad managed to retire six months early from his accumulated sick leave.

      • UnCivilServant

        Because of my past usage, to get the best of it, I need to use less than 40 sick days in the next sixteen and a half years. 🙁

      • Lackadaisical

        Hope often do you get sick? 2 days a year should be plenty…

      • UnCivilServant

        When I was in the office 100% it was more often. Since remote work has been implemented, I’ve not been sick as often. Given how bad the air is in that office building, our longstanding speculation was sick building syndrome.

      • Lackadaisical

        I used to scoff at such things and assume it’s psychosomatic. Given all the garbage buildings are made of, I’m not so sure anymore… Seems very common in government buildings though.

      • UnCivilServant

        I didn’t believe it until I experienced it.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, ‘patzie! All systems go for tomorrow?

      • Grosspatzer

        Thanks, looks good. Last night I identified as a drug-addled Patzer on the Zoom. Percocet is a wonder drug.

  20. Gender Traitor

    Ugh! Just went to the local TV news “powerhouse” station’s website to check on traffic – the only news I care about on weekday mornings. The top NEWS headline on the main page is about an accident on the interstate with a lane blocked….right along my route to the office. And I can’t take the day off because Reliable Coworker is off today and tomorrow, so I have several tasks to cover in his absence. 😣

    • Grosspatzer

      Boo. Why I love working from home, reason 3749.

      • Gender Traitor

        My commute used to be about fifteen minutes, all on surface streets. Then my original credit union employer merged with another CU on the opposite side of town, so now my commute is about half an hour, half on surface streets and half on the highway. But at least I still had a job. That was possibly the most remarkable thing about the merger – the respective CUs’ CEOs were determined NOT to lay anyone off, even in the back office, and they succeeded.

      • Rat on a train

        According to the “everyone should live close to their job” people, you were supposed to move when your job location changed. If you are in a multiple worker household, you need to keep all your jobs in one place.

      • UnCivilServant

        Villeins belong on the manor dontchaknow

      • Gender Traitor

        To those people I would say:

        1. Moving sucks.
        B. The residential real estate around my new worksite is overpriced and the commercial/retail areas are overdeveloped, making just going shopping a PITA. I’ll just keep living here in the “unfashionable” part of town, thankyouverymuCHUH!

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m sure we can find a pod best your work you could afford… To rent. You don’t need to own anything after all.

    • Rat on a train

      See, high-speed rail would solve this problem.

  21. Fourscore

    Morning all !

    I have the coffee already from the night before, push the button on the way to the facilities, Eureka! Now I’m having to start the wood furnace before coffee, that cuts into my time by 4-5 minutes but alas, no one said mornings would be easy. Now that mornings are cold/frosty I need to either wait or take extra special care when I go out. I’m not going to walk on frost covered grass if I can help it.

    It only takes one little mistake…

    • Grosspatzer

      Mornin’!

      “It only takes one little mistake…”

      Word. These days I am VERY careful going up and down stairs. Next home will be single level.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      We have an wood furnace in the basement, but it’s too dangerous to use with the chimney in poor condition (rusted out liner). I’ve been considering an outdoor wood furnace for several years now that connects right into the existing house ductwork.

      Might need to pull the trigger if energy prices here follow Europe’s lead. Oil prices already have me thinking I’ll skip filling the tank this year and just rely on the heat pump. I probably have enough oil left for the handful of single digit nights we get in VA.

      • Lackadaisical

        What’s the advantage of having it outside?

        Reduced for risk? Sounds like a pain to feed.

      • Sean

        I think you can burn junkier wood in the outdoor ones.

      • Fourscore

        And eliminates the fire danger. The disadvantage is having to go outside twice a day and fill the stove. A -30 is a -30.

  22. Not Adahn

    Good morning!

    A better match yesterday than last week so far. Best/worst stage finishes in the staff match were 3rd(!)/14th. Funny thing tho. That stage where I look like a decent shooter? I had a higher hit factor in the Limited match, but for some reason everyone else shooting that stage managed to miss a target or have some other disaster.

    Didn’t sleep well, too much worrying about the stages I tanked. Usually I’m better at letting that shit go, but whachagonnadoo?

  23. Rat on a train

    .