samhexum

Dear Abby: For nearly three years, I have been seeing a man who later asked me to move in with him. He abruptly stopped emailing me four months ago. I waited several weeks and then emailed him, telling him how upset and hurt I was and asking what was going on. I found out — NOT from him — that he has been in a relationship with another woman for the last five years. I am furious! I am at a loss about what I should do. — Shattered in Oregon Dear Shattered MORON: The man may have abruptly stopped communicating with you because the woman he has been involved with found out about the romance he was having with you. Have you heard from him since? (If not, she may have rendered him speechless.) It’s important you find a way to discharge some of your righteous anger. Believe it or not, physical exercise can help. Talking to friends or a therapist may also lessen the urge to explode. Learn whatever lesson there is to learn from this and move on. Do NOT let it rule your life. Everyone makes mistakes, and he was one. MARRY THE MAN, BECAUSE IF YOU’RE SO STUPID YOU HAVE TO WRITE ME TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO HERE, YOU DESERVE WHATEVER HAPPENS. .Dear Abby: What’s the best way to deal with an “overgifter”? My friend of 10 years is one, often giving gifts beyond holidays and birthdays. Every time we hang out, she gives me something, either food or small trinkets. I asked her three years ago to tone it down. Two years ago, I sent her a letter saying I value our friendship and, for me, the best gift is quality time. She stopped for a while, but six months ago, she started up again. Abby, I throw away all her gifts. They are usually stale or expired foodstuffs or trinkets I don’t have the space to store. I’m trying to find a way to make my boundaries clear. But I don’t want to hurt her feelings in the process. — Too Much in Washington Dear Too Much: Because your friend may have forgotten, remind her that you do not want her giving these gifts and that the most treasured gift she can give you is time with her. Explain that her continuing to do it is making you UNCOMFORTABLE. Then cross your fingers and hope that this time she gets the message. If she doesn’t, you will have to remind her yet again. ASK YOUR FRIEND IF SHE COULD PLEASE BUY YOU SOME GARBAGE BAGS TO THROW AWAY ALL THE LOVELY GIFTS SHE GIVES YOU. Dear Abby: Without consulting me, my husband gave my father’s U.S. Army uniform to my brother complete with honor patches. My sister-in-law now wears it as a fashion statement, saying that she is a “Sullivan.” This is not sitting well with me. She is only a Sullivan by marriage. I feel it is disgraceful to prance around in something you haven’t earned, and it’s insulting not just to my late father, but to all who have served. Her father also served, but she isn’t wearing his uniform. — Disrespected in the Midwest Dear Disrespected: Your husband should not have given YOUR brother the uniform without first consulting you because it wasn’t his property to give. KILL THE BASTARD! What your SIL is doing with it seems less like a fashion statement and more like an example of “stolen valor,” which may be offensive to many people, particularly those who have served. KILL THE BITCH! It is not a crime by virtue of the fact that she isn’t impersonating a soldier. But it would be in better taste for her to wear her own father’s uniform rather than your dad’s. TELL YOUR BROTHER IF THE BITCH KEEPS WEARING IT, YOU’LL BE WEARING A NEW UNIFORM; A LOVELY ORANGE ONE FOR KILLING HER.

An Olympic equestrian may have jeopardized his spot at the 2024 Paris Games after he wore a Borat-like “mankini” during a recent event. Shane Rose, a three-time Olympic medalist for Australia, has been sidelined by Equestrian Australia for wearing the outfit during a showjumping fancy dress event at the Wallaby Hill Extravaganza last Sunday. Rose, 50, posted a photo of himself in the attire on Instagram along with him in a gorilla suit and a beer costume. He later apologized as he faces a review from Equestrian Australia, the country’s governing body for equestrian, and Sports Integrity Australia. Darren Gocher, chief executive of Equestrian Australia, told the Sydney Morning Herald that complaints were made over Rose’s outfit, along with the fact minors were in attendance. “There were concerns raised about it. Whether it is one [complaint] or 1,000, we have an obligation to review it,” Gocher told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We received a letter with concerns and it was also sent to Sports Integrity Australia and the ASC (Australian Sports Commission) and we have an obligation under our code of conduct to review, if that happens. “He hasn’t been sanctioned, he hasn’t been suspended. He has been stood down from competition while we review and we have committed to getting the review done this week.” Rose captured silver at the 2008 and 2020 Olympics in Beijing and Tokyo, respectively, and bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, all in team eventing. The selections for the Olympic team will be revealed in June. A suspension would seemingly hurt Rose’s chances of competing at another Olympics. Equestrian Australia will begin reviewing the incident Monday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. “My phone went nuts [after the event] with people laughing and things. But I have been told there was one lady, and I think the words were she showed concern, not a formal complaint,” Rose told the Morning Herald. “With a bit of luck this will all be a bit of a laugh in a few days and we can all move on. I wore a costume which you could see at a theme park or a beach, potentially no one has done it on [a] horse, but there you go. “I think I am a good person and I do a lot for the sport, and for people in different situations. I don’t feel like I have done anything particularly bad. In hindsight, I should have re-thought what I did but at the time I thought it was just a bit of fun. Hopefully in a couple of days we can all move on and it will be behind us.” Rose initially apologized “to anyone that I offended” in a Facebook post that has since been deleted, noting in a different post on Saturday that he removed it because “It is not my intention to have this issue escalated any more.” https://nypost.com/2024/02/18/sports/olympic-equestrian-medalist-shane-rose-sidelined-for-wearing-mankini/ A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

Free DieHard Car Battery at Advanced Auto Parts "On National Battery Day, Sunday, Feb. 18, Advance will surprise randomly selected customers with a free DieHard® battery, including those getting their current battery tested, at participating stores nationwide. As part of National Battery Day, Advance is partnering with pro football star quarterback Baker Mayfield to encourage motorists to get their car batteries tested."

Mom runs over 7-year-old son with car after forcing him to walk from school as punishment The walking home part? MAYBE acceptable punishment. Running him over? DEFINITELY excessive!

The unluck of the draw. A Powerball player claims he was denied a life-changing jackpot worth $340 million despite his numbers matching the lottery’s website last year, which the company claims was a “mistake.” Now, he’s suing Powerball and the DC Lottery John Cheeks bought a Powerball ticket on Jan. 6, 2023, when the jackpot rose to the $340 million prize, according to a complaint filed last November. Cheeks, who told NBC 4 he purchased the ticket using his family birthdates, missed the live drawing on Jan. 7, but wasn’t in a rush to check his numbers since the odds of winning a Powerball jackpot is about 1 in 292.2 million. He claimed he checked the DC Lottery’s website the following day and saw his winning numbers, believing he had become the year’s first multimillionaire. “I just politely called a friend. I took a picture as he recommended, and that was it. I went to sleep,” Cheeks told the outlet. For three days, the DC Lottery website showed his ticket numbers, according to the complaint. The numbers posted on the website, however, differed from those pulled during the live Powerball broadcast. He tried to redeem the ticket at a licensed retailer on Jan. 10 and discovered none of his numbers matched up to what was drawn live. Cheeks claimed he then went to the DC Office of Lottery and Gaming prize center to check with them, but again, he was told he was not the winner. “’Hey, this ticket is no good. Just throw it in the trash can,’” Cheeks recalled to the outlet. “And I gave him a stern look. I said, ‘In the trash can?’ ‘Oh yeah, just throw it away. You’re not gonna get paid. There’s a trash can right there.’” Cheeks has since placed the ticket in a safety deposit box. Cheek’s attorney, Richard Evans, said his client was eventually informed by a lottery contractor that Taoti Enterprises — a DC-based digital advertising agency that manages the DC Lottery’s website — made a “mistake” and posted the wrong numbers. “They have said that one of their contractors made a mistake,” Evans told NBC 4. “I haven’t seen the evidence to support that yet.” Despite Cheeks not having the correct numbers of the live drawing, Evan feels that something needs to be done for his client. “Even if a mistake was made, the question becomes: What do you do about that?” The jackpot eventually grew to $754.6 million before a ticketholder in Washington claimed the prize on Feb. 6. In Nov. 2023, Iowa lottery officials blamed “human reporting error” for posting the incorrect numbers, which remained on its website for over six hours. Those who were up and cashed their tickets were able to claim their prize, which ranged from $4 to $200, according to Fox 9. He'd have a better claim if he'd quit his job or spent extravagantly in those 3 days.

What is Facebook?

Women's league proves it has chance at success In Toronto on Friday, 19,285 fans set all-time attendance record for women’s hockey.

Ah those folksy stories they told as they played chess on balmy summer nights...

2 Queens College School of Music faculty members bring home Grammy awards New interactive street art “Lights Up” downtown Jamaica The Downtown Jamaica Partnership launched three free new interactive street art installations in the heart of downtown Jamaica. The temporary installment dubbed the ‘‘Light Lane ” features colorful lights and music that emits from the three stationary bikes that make up the installments. Interested in taking a ride? The installations can be found at the 165th street mall on Jamaica Avenue and Union Hall street outside of the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, and also at the Parsons Boulevard Plaza located between Jamaica and Archer Avenues. The exhibit runs until Mid-March.

@WilliamM's reaction to this was 'so... what?'

A COMICS HOMAGE TO JESSICA SIMPSON:

then I hope you've led a virtuous life...

I haven't watched this series for a while, but tonight I watched the Glenn Close episode (S6, E3). She was delightful in it.

Man who murdered Jackson Heights woman in SoHo hotel fled wearing her clothes I'd say that's an interesting wrinkle, but he probably ironed them first.

and just a hop, skip, and a jump away... Regal Atlas Park movie theater applies for beer and wine license

He's been suspended 2 games for PEDs.

He was my perfect match. Then he swindled me out of $71,640 — my life savings. Now I’m suing him for fraud. When I matched on Hinge with Rob Harris, a blonde haired, blue-eyed 30-year-old real estate agent who worked at Real Brokerage last April, he love bombed me. SMALL FEET? He was a real estate agent from New Jersey, like me. He was very funny, witty. We cracked jokes. He was light hearted. A family guy who loved dogs. Charming. Entrepreneurial. His prompt that got me to message him on Hinge was: “I’ll fall in love with you if you make me laugh.” I responded, “That won’t be a problem.” I sent him my number and we continued the conversation. The chemistry was instant and eventually, we talked about moving to Miami and putting an offer on a condo. We were talking all day non-stop. About our jobs in real estate, about silly nostalgic things like “Sponge Bob.” I looked him up to make sure he was a real estate agent. That checked out. He told me personal things about his life, he said, “A few girls I was talking to were taken aback by this, but I need to tell you, about a year ago, I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a thickened heart wall. “Just so you know, some days I’m able to get up and go and other days I’m so exhausted because I could be sitting still and my heart is pumping at 150 beats per minute.” My grandmother had something similar. I wasn’t going to write him off because of a heart issue. He was helping pay his mom’s mortgage and taking care of things for his family because his stepdad was having a serious back surgery, he told me. I thought, “that’s really honorable, he stepped up to the plate as the other man in the family.” We set a time to meet — he was going to drive into the city. Then at 7 p.m. that night I got an audio message saying: “Christina, I’m really sorry. Something is going on at the hospital I need to make sure my stepdad is okay. I’m really sorry. I do see a future here, please don’t be mad.” I can’t be the a–hole and get mad at that. I also had compassion for him and his situation because my mother had breast cancer, kidney cancer and a form of bone marrow cancer in the span of three years. I had to make a lot of concessions in my life. It was easy for us to connect on that level. He was sending me NYU Langone sites about the surgery — everything he was saying was checking out. In May, we finally went out on our first date. When we met, he opened the car door of his Tesla Model 3 for me. I thought, “What a gentleman.” We went to Catch Steak in Chelsea. He was a very nice dresser, wearing a black T-shirt and gray jeans with a designer watch. He came off as a very sweet, nurturing guy. When I met him in person I was like, “He’s not just good on the phone, over text, he’s handsome and we have good conversation.” On the date he said to me that he planned to move to Florida in October, and if this goes anywhere, is that something you’re open to? I said it’s funny, because I have family down there, my best friend is down there, I go back and forth as it is. I was in the process of getting a Florida real estate license. I was like, “yeah, this is synchronicity.” Our first kiss was electric. We talked until 3 a.m. that night. He sent me an audio message that said, “I think I met the love of my life.” The next month, he invited me to his friend’s birthday dinner. We were approaching the place and he said, “I don’t want to go. I just want to spend time with you, I haven’t seen you.” We were right in front of the restaurant. I thought it was a little weird, but we went out for dinner blocks from the place. He didn’t want any pictures on social media because he said he wanted to keep our life private because when too many people know your business, it ruins a good thing. On August 10, he asked me to Venmo him $501 to test if his Venmo works and promised to repay me. Shortly after, we went to Miami where we stayed at the W Hotel in Brickell. We were both applying for our Florida real estate licenses. He told me we’re going to have a future together. He was putting in an offer on a condo in Aventura, Florida and told me he stayed in Miami to work on building his real estate network. On August, 21 he asked me for $1,310 to pay for a yacht charter and a restaurant, to help him build a real estate network in Miami, which isn’t out of the ordinary to spend on marketing. He told me he didn’t want to show the lender how much he was spending while we were making the offer on the Miami condo — which added up. Then, he asked me for $5,000 for an Airbnb and said he would pay me back – he even sent me his bank statement showing $720,000. He promised to give me $10,000 in cash the next time we saw each other. I was getting nervous because my savings started to dwindle. Then he drops a bombshell on me, saying he owned a house with an ex-girl friend. When they broke up things got really hairy and at one point the police were called, he said, and she was going to press charges. Then, an hour before I was supposed to leave to fly down to Florida I get a text from him saying, ‘Houston we have a problem.’ He doesn’t answer the phone. I’m texting him non-stop. He sends me this long text saying apparently this thing with an ex was never cleared up, and they arrested me. I said, “Why do you still have your phone? What do I do?” He said he needed bail. He asked me for $12,000. I wired him the money. It turns out he was never arrested and the money went to the Airbnb. I went to the police department in October, they said basically what you have is credit card fraud. When I tried to serve him the court docs, I found out he had been living with another girl in New Jersey the whole time. She said he moved to Miami! LOVE IS A MANY $PLENDORED THING https://nypost.com/2024/02/16/lifestyle/real-life-tinder-swindler-charmed-me-out-of-my-life-savings/

Dozens of ‘rogue’ cows run free along South Carolina highway after 18-wheeler crashes in fiery blaze Talk about free-range cattle. A swarm of cows ran free across a South Carolina highway Tuesday after the tractor-trailer carrying them ran off the road in a fiery wreck. Wild photographs showed real-life cowboys lassoing the runaway cows as they bolted down the interstate and waded in nearby waters. “In an unusual [sight], riders on horseback used lassos to catch some of the cows and place them in cattle trailers,” Colleton County Fire-Rescue said in a release. More than 35 cattle were inside an 18-wheeler when it crashed into a bridge, burst into flames and split in half, with its cattle car plunging into a river near Walterboro, a city 50 miles west of Charleston. Rescue teams responded just past 1 a.m. to find the mangled truck completely engulfed in flames and hanging over the side of the bridge, leaking diesel fuel across the roadway and into the water below. Miraculously, the driver and his herd escaped from the inferno, officials said. The driver was rushed to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. “Firefighters and law enforcement discovered several cows in the river and on the banks. Some were injured,” fire officials said. The rest of the herd had run loose into the woods and along the highway, setting off a wild day-long chase involving rescue teams and local veterinarians and ranchers, some of whom arrived on horseback. Out of an abundance of caution, investigators shut down both the northbound and southbound sides of the roadway as they hunted down the roaming cattle, want of which were dark-colored and not visible during nighttime along the rural highway. “The effort ran into hours as the cattle ran in multiple directions,” the fire department said. Officials re-opened the highway after 10 exhilarating hours, but the chase wasn’t over — it took the remainder of the day to round up rogue cows that had escaped to neighborhoods along the highway. OY! HOW DO I HITCHHIKE WITHOUT THUMBS?

I see you got over your reluctance to take the 7. How was the food?

WHO GOT SUCKED OFF? 13 MINUTES UNTIL WE FIND OUT!

In a recent interview with Deadline, Craig Erwich, who oversees ABC, Freeform and Hulu, confirmed that the New York City-based comedy will relocate to California for at least part of Season 4. And now, TVLine can confirm that Molly Shannon will appear as part of a season-long arc as a “high-powered Los Angeles business woman who finds herself drawn into the world of the investigation in New York.” Additionally, Meryl Streep will reprise her Season 3 role as Oliver’s girlfriend, Loretta Durkin.