Thank Grog It’s Firday!
Holyfreakinshirt! If I hear one more person quote another news source, other than THIS new source, I am going to lose it! ?And when I say “lose it,” I’m not talking about the “where’d I put my keys” kinda lose it.
Wait. What? There are different places you can go to get news about TSTO and the Simpsons? Come on. Really? After all of this time, people actually go anyplace else than here to find out what’s going on?
This isn’t like the big debate over CNN or FOX, or any other traditional news sources (and no...I won’t go there). It is about getting your TSTO news from any other source, than right here. Why? Because Alissa cares!!
Wait. It’s not that I DON’T care…it’s just that Alissa cares, way, way, way more than I do. In fact, other than a couple of others who appear to have gone completely off the rails, (and yes, I am still just talking about TSTO) there is only one reliable, regular, obsessively up-to-date source of TSTO News around.
And no, I’m not talking about John.
Remember John? He is the “insider dude” from EA that was supposed to be feeding us all of the “insider” news about the major updates.
Wait. Let me check my emails.
Wow. THREE emails from John, this entire year. One for “Love Springfieldian Style” in January. One for “Game of Games” in June (which we got two days after the event started…thanks, for nothing, John), and one for “Simpson’s Babies” in August…which again was on the actual day the update hit.
So, no, John is not a reliable source for TSTO News (got that Gio?). I hear from my long, lost, cousin from England more than I hear from John. And I actually WANT to hear from John. Mostly. If he still works at EA. Which I continue to doubt…for obvious reasons.
As I said in the last “Addicts Live,” I just don’t think there is much of a “TSTO Team” at EA anymore. I really do think that the “team” may be one, or maybe two writers from Gracie, and one, perhaps half-time coder, who may or may not have a “side hustle” as a Taco Bell delivery guy (I’m pretty sure Taco Bell delivers in the San Francisco area). Or, TSTO is programmed by a “team” of interns from the local community college, who simply implement the same code, with different graphics, event after event, after event…like watching and implementing video instructions on “how to assemble kitchen cabinets properly, for an under-counter sink.” I’ll get to that in a minute…
But, this is only my opinion. Which is not actual hard news. Which is something you should be able to tell the difference between. Hard news is based on fact (John barely writes us anymore), and not opinion (John never really existed).
See? The “News” can be confusing! That’s why it is so important to all of us who play this “Silly Little Game” to know the difference between real NEWS and other “news sources.”
There are still a handful of options out there. The Forum (aka TSTO Troll Land) is still around…but, it’s like watching a YouTube channel to get your political news. You know what they are going to say, before they say it. The WIKI is being updated…kinda…but, you have know how to find the information, by clicking, and clicking and clicking…and then it may or may not be accurate, because John did or didn’t actually send the Wiki-Dudalino any “hard news.” And then there is the TSTO FaceBook page, which is basically kind of…well…a FaceBook page. It is loaded with lot of comments and nothing. Kind of like a lot of the 24-hour News Channels. I mean…if you get your news from Facebook, or 24-hour news channels…you deserve to be confused.
So, again…if you want REAL NEWS when something happens (or in the case of the missing update, something doesn’t happen) there is only one real place to go, HERE. Because Alissa only prints the facts (along with the occasional SIB, or Musing). Facts are facts. The rest is just Filler. Like this post.
So, yes…I have loads of opinions about politics (Go to Crankyoldguy,com for those), and yes, I have even been on a panel discussion (click link to listen) about the new flavor of ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s, (Peach Mint). But, the fact is…after providing internet news servers to hundreds of broadcast markets across the nation for twenty years, I have pretty much become immune to “the news,” no matter how outrageous it is.
In the “rest of the world,” I get my news from a variety of sources, so I can make up my own mind. However, none of them are “YouTube Channels,” because most of those are just one or two people…with opinions. And remember, opinions are not news. Opinions are considered editorial content. Not the same.
I read four papers daily (online…I don’t want to get ink on my keyboard, or add to the landfill). I don’t watch ANY cable news shows. I catch the headlines on the show on which my daughter, Katie, is an Associate Director (CBS This Morning), mostly because I am proud of her work. And then, to try to make sense of it all, I read things like “The Media Today“ which basically looks behind headline stories, from the perspective of the folks who bring us the Columbia Journalism Review (originating from Columbia University). So…yes…it is admittedly, opinions about headlines, which in many cases are mostly opinions…so opinions about opinions, which once determined as fact (or not) become news.
So, compared to “getting the news” these days about “regular stuff” (and what in the hell can possibly considered “regular” about the news today?), getting News About TSTO is simple. Simple…just like the game has become (fact, not opinion).
Which is not how PHASE III of the Miller Major Remodel (MMR) has gone.
In theory…kitchen cabinets are Easy. You tear out the old cabs…and then put the news ones in their place. A bit of mess (because you have to move everything from the cabinets, drawers and cupboards for the last 20 years), a bit of sawdust…and BOOM! You are ready to install.
Your cabs need to be level…across the entire kitchen (which in our case is U-shaped, on a not entirely level floor), so lots of shims and creativity are involved, to get the cabs ready for the guys who install the counter tops to come and laser-measure your work. Done, and Done…
However…as per usual…with an old house, you have to be ready for a lot of surprise twists and turns. No. This time I didn’t need a jackhammer. But, I did have to order a special attachment for my reciprocating saw…so I can get the freakin’ 3 layers of old linoleum off of the freakin’ floor, so I can install the NEW floor, while I am waiting for the counter tops to be installed.
I tried Chipping It Off…using the recommended (by Youtube vids) tools: scraper, cutter, mallet, knee pads). I took more than 2 hours, to clear less than 5 square feet. UGH!!
So…the top layer of linoleum appears to have been put down with wheat paste, or Elmer’s glue. Once started, it comes up in huge, random swaths.
It was clearly installed very quickly, and most likely in the late 90s, to help make the house “ready for market.” The house sat on the market for years…most likely because it was during a time of political upheaval (impeachment of Clinton). We bought it in the year 2000, the year of the most contested Presidential election in modern history…at a desperate bargain price. Such, a deal!
Layer 2, I have determined to be from the mid-80s. It is a hideous flower/block pattern, and has a little more traditional (and stubborn) glue backing. But, clearly dates the house from a time when Disco was already dead, corporate “new wave” rock was king, and the deregulation of Broadcasting standards and practices took place under Reagan. It just feels old, tired, and confused. (You can fill in the political punchline).
Layer 3 (or ONE, if you are looking at this from a geographic/archaeology standpoint) was the original layer. It was laid down with copious amounts for floor adhesive…and from what I can tell, was a dark brown, with smatterings of lighter “baby-poop-brown” highlights. Lovely. Ironically, it was laid down the same year the Watergate scandal broke in the Washington Post, and Nixon’s fall (more like a leap) from grace began.
So…yes…it is only fitting, that this “Floor Archaeology” seems to line up with times of serious political upheaval in our country. Who knows? Every one of these horrible eras may be due to the fact that the owners of the house (there have been 4 including us), changed the flooring in the kitchen.
But, that is rumor…and opinion…NOT hard news.
So, let’s recap.
FACT- No update for TSTO this week. OPINION-Not surprised. It sucks…but EA and Gracie are in hospice mode.
FACT- remodeling old houses is fraught with hideous surprises, twists, turns and setbacks. OPINION- After weeks and weeks of inhaling “history” as I demo and rebuild, it is entirely likely that the kitchen and bathroom floors of this house are in some way dictating the political outcome of the era under which they are undertaken.
FACT-This is the ONLY TSTO News Source Worth Following. OPINION- Alissa is “da bomb and Mack Mama” of TSTO.
Now…time to start hanging the upper cabs…so we can put stuff back in the shelves, drawers, and fancy new pull-outs and all access corner cabs. Woot Woot!
Maybe in 20 more years (if we are still here), someone who is remodeling the kitchen during the impeachment of President Kardashian, will say, “Wow…this guy really took the time to do this right!”