Lookin

I should be so lucky.  
I can say that when I studied massage back in the day, client arousal was discussed so it wasn't a surprise when it happened and we knew not to overreact, if at all.  I guess your Ben would have had similar training and would not be fazed.
Unless of course he also liked what he saw and next time your one-eyes may cross. 👀

Many years ago, a friend moved to Germany to marry his partner.  He asked the lady at the corner grocery for a box of plums that were stacked behind her.  The box she gave him contained a couple plums that were past their prime.  He asked her if he could pick his own box.  Nein!, she told him, Somebody has to eat them. 😁
Personally, I'd rather have plums that are slightly overripe than the purple billiard balls at my local Safeway.  I understand that some fruit is bred to look good even after going through a large complex distribution system.  Flavor, texture and perhaps nutrition take a back seat to eye appeal at the point of sale.  I wonder if US customers are less interested in how something tastes.  That was all that mattered where I grew up, near a major farming community..
I really appreciate all the contributors to this thread!  And I'm sure hoping for an Aldi or Lidl to open near where I live.  😋

Many years ago, a friend moved to Germany to marry his partner.  He asked the lady at the corner grocery for a box of plums that were stacked behind her.  The box she gave him contained a couple plums that were past their prime.  He asked her if he could pick his own box.  Nein!, she told him, Somebody has to eat them. 😁
Personally, I'd rather have plums that are slightly overripe than the purple billiard balls at my local Safeway.  I understand that some fruit is bred to look good even after going through a large complex distribution system.  Flavor, texture and perhaps nutrition take a back seat to eye appeal at the point of sale.  I wonder if US customers are less interested in how something tastes.  That was all that mattered where I grew up, near a major farming community..
I really appreciate all the contributors to this thread!  And I'm sure hoping for an Aldi or Lidl to open near where I live.  😋

Wouldn't defend their meats but I do think their produce is much better than many grocery stores. Being small they buy in small lots and often local while the big chains ship produce cross country in huge lots. Their 50 cent avocados are fresher than TJ's 2.50 ones that sat in a CA warehouse before being shipped to the east coast. (And avocados age faster than a 29 yr old RM escort.)

I think Aldi stalled a little after the first 2,300 stores in the US because only poor areas would support their small cluttered warehouse look that Europeans are used to. But with runaway food inflation, their sales have jumped and that's why they're buying 400 Winn Dixie stores in Florida. The Aldi-killer is Lidl which has taken over Europe now from Aldi but has only 170 US stores so far. Billa from Hungary is also killing Aldi in central Europe including Austria. Tesco has always had the UK market.  In the US Lidl has bigger very clean supermarket-type stores. They all have the same EU packaged foods and much cheaper produce than the US stores, and barely so-so meats. Lidl has the lowest prices by far too. Wherever a Lidl opens, the close by Aldi usually closes in Europe and that was true here in College Park, MD too. People here think they're the same company but in fact they are fierce competitors. 

For me it's a septuagenarian from NYC who expects people to believe he has never before heard of a "mug shot."  😆

Wow.  Thanks for the very thorough input.  The questionable produce and meat at ALDI seems to be a common theme.  I'm reasonably happy with the produce I get at our local grocery store so I'll likely stick with that.  Meat is a different story.  I'm not very happy with meat I get anywhere anymore.  Maybe ALDI won't be a solution for the meat problem either.  Bread is another problem.  After you spend time in Europe and eat the bread there, bread in the US just doesn't measure up.  So hard to find decent white bread around here.
I'll definitely check out some of the items you have recommended.  I'm looking forward to checking out the store when it opens...I'm assuming in the next 60 days.  Oh...and I'll remember to to take a quarter!  Thanks again!!

Aldi is by far the largest grocer in the world and the chain that drove Wal Mart out of Europe with it's lower prices. It used to be on every other corner in Europe. But Lidl has been replacing it in Europe for the past couple decades and now is open in the US also. Lidl's US headquarters is next to DC National airport. (they have a "Lidl Express" in the building ). A few Lidls opened around DC the past few years, including one in Columbia Heights, DC with free parking a month ago.. I started going to as well as the Trader Joes a block from my house. (Aldis here are all in poorer suburban areas). Lidls are much bigger and cleaner and more modern than Aldis in the US. But they're similar German grocery stores with similar low prices and fierce competitors.. Both have a big selection of German imports, mostly candy and bakery. Lidl has a big fresh German bakery in every store. Imported Austrian Sacher Tortes, French stuffed escargots, and Greek fresh squid etc show up around the store. Aldi expanded rapidly in the US to working class suburbs and stalled because of it's small "basic" stores. Lidl is seen as the more American-looking store that will capture the US market with similar prices and products. The "10%" upper class order their groceries now and the working class just can't afford the inflation we've had in food but they don't want to give up big modern stores to deal with Aldi. 
The selection at Trader Joe's, Lidl and Aldi is very similar. TJs sells more high-end US products under their name. Lidl and Aldi sell similar EU-made products under their name. Lidls are twice as big as TJ or Aldi. TJs have too many employees (they block the aisles) and their prices have recently soared because of that. 
Some comparisons with my Trader Joe's prices:
Avocados: TJ today: $2.49 each for medium. Lidl: 72 cents each for extra jumbo, 50 cents for large.
Cheap bread: TJ's $2.29 loaf for small cheapest white. Lidl- Always 50 cents a loaf for extra large white bread.
Cheddar Cheese spread with flavors: TJs: 4.99 , Lidl: $2.49
Gallon 1% Skim Milk: TJ's 3.99 ; Lidl  2.22
18oz peanut butter: TJs  3.29; Lidl 1.50 (on sale). 
Lidl and Aldi have a few national brands but, like TJ's are mostly store brands at half the price of TJ's brands. 
There have been stories about how the biggest gainer from our runaway grocery inflation has been Aldi. I go up to Lidl once a week for both it's variety and savings while getting half as much stuff at TJs. Both Lidl and Aldi are full of working class people but American Aldis look a little run-down too. 
My Czech friends are always elated to find a Lidl or Aldi close to anywhere we stay, including the French Riviera and Piccadilly Square. 

 
 

I grew up shopping at Aldi (their first store was in Iowa and in 1977 they invaded Chicago. My parents were somewhere between flat-broke and moderate income) The stores have evolved over the years from selling very basic items to selling basics and not-so-basic items. I shop the Aldis in Phoenix a couple of times per month and love them.
They have three main advantages:
Price Specialty merchandise Ease of getting in and out. (They have small, but efficiently organized, stores) Almost all of their products are store-brand. I find the quality to be excellent. There have been a few items I didn't care for (shredded cheese, pickles, and bread) and they refunded my money without question. (They have a "twice-as-nice" guarantee - replacement and refund) They sell limited-time items called "Aldi Finds." I've really enjoyed their milk chocolate truffles, which I first bought last year and then couldn't find until this year. I stocked up.  Also, my dad bought of their "Crofton" (store brand) stainless steel saucepans back in 2009 and didn't take very good care of it. I snagged it when we cleaned out his house and cleaned it up. It heats faster and more evenly than my Calphalon stainless steel.
Yes. Their "Deutsche Kuche" brand has German-inspired and German-made products. I've liked every product I've tried. Some of the items are seasonal or are one-time "Aldi Finds," so if you find something you like it's a good idea to stock up.
No, I don't, for a few reasons:
They don't have a store close to where I live. The closest one is in Tempe, AZ. I shop there when I shop at the local Target and PetSmart and stock up on things I really like. Their selection of fresh produce and meat is variable. Sometimes, they have leaner cuts of meat and other times they don't. They do, however, have a great selection of conventional, "natural," and organic chicken. A lot of their merchandise is processed and packaged. I eat very little processed food. They don't sell everything I buy. A few standouts:
Their fresh salmon is outstanding. It's similar to the salmon Trader Joe's sells but is priced about $1/pound less than TJ's Park Street Deli classic hummus is the best pre-made hummus I've ever had. Appleton Farms Prosciutto is also very good. Not the best I've had, but in the top 5. They are also in the $4 - $5 range at the Phoenix-area stores. Specially Selected Cold Smoked Salmon is great. Again, not the absolute best, but in the top 5. For the price, it can't be beat Organic Cage-Free Eggs are a steal. During the height of the avian flu-induced egg shortage they didn't raise the prices sky-high. I want to say they were $4.99 a dozen, which is what TJ's and Whole Foods charge when there isn't a shortage. Their spices are well-priced. Yes:
Bread: haven't found any I liked. Frozen shrimp: It's not that I didn't like it, but they add more salt to their cooked shrimp than the one Costco sells. However, they are on-par with most store- and name-brands. Chicken Italian Sausage: Just didn't like it. Steak: Tried the filet and strip, thinking they were the same as the ones at TJ's. (package was similar) Was tough and gristly. They refunded my money and replaced the steaks. Replacement was just as bad. To me, it is worth the drive once in a while. If they were closer to me, I'd shop there more often. I can walk to a Safeway and a Fry's (Kroger) when the temperature is below 80, so Aldi is an excursion. I will say that their meat is variable. Sometimes they have great meat at a good price and others not so much. 
There's a Reddit forum (or "subreddit") about Aldi. It's worth checking out.
Aldi has been in the US since 1976 but expanded to SoCal in the last five or so years. Putting the quarter to get the cart is an Aldi thing that they've done since they opened. It is a deposit, not a fee. Unlike California Redemption Value, where you have to take the containers to a crappy recycling center that might or might not be open to get your money back, you receive the quarter back when you return the cart. It saves the employees from having to chase carts in the parking lot and ensures there are always available carts, which is not always the case at grocery stores. If you don't have a quarter, they will give you one. 
I've heard the same feedback about their meat and produce in Southern California. Last time I was in Palm Springs I stopped in and it was like a completely different chain than in Arizona. Probably poor management.
The dollar store comment is just unfounded. Their own brands are not the same junk as most of the dollar store brands. The bad produce in SoCal is an exception, but that's not a chain-wide phenomenon. If the reviewers who think Aldi is an expensive dollar store shared their feedback with Aldi management, there might be a change.

I absolutely love ALDI.  Yes, advantage is mostly the price, but one extra perk is that the checkout people always seem pleasant. 
I'm addicted to their Winking Owl wine - certainly not the best wine I've ever had, but at $2.99/bottle it's a steal; compares favorably with $15-$2 wines.
I've found their produce and their milk doesn't last as long as from other stores.  
I use it as my main grocery store but mostly for staples; they don't carry slightly esoteric items (bread flour, for example). 
They have knockoff Girl Scout cookies and their peanut butter patties are excellent.  They use a chocolate rather than a vanilla cookie inside.

@mike carey, Best wishes for a very Happy Birthday! 🎉 Thanks for the many contributions you’ve made to this site. Your hard and dedicated work as a Moderator is much appreciated! 🎂👏🏼🥂👍🏼

No pool here but I do have a potluck every Fourth of July.  In the past, I've filled the cooler with champagne, wine, beer, water, fruit drinks, and sodas.  In addition, everyone has always brought what they like to drink and I've ended up with more leftover alcohol than I'll drink in a year.  🤤
So this year I decided not to buy any wine and, lo and behold, some guy decided that's what he wants.  I found a bottle in the refrigerator to tide him over, but I wouldn't have felt bad if there had been none.  This isn't Cheers and, if somebody has a preferred drink, they can damn well bring some.
Not sure what Emily Post would have to say.  She'd probably tell me that a good host would have plenty of everything his guests might want and she'd probably tell my guest that he shouldn't come to a potluck without bringing something to drink.  I'm pretty sure she'd tell us both that good manners means making sure the other person feels comfortable.  I guess the best resolution in this case would have been for my (and your) guest to have been satisfied with what's on offer.  And, once they missed that boat, the next best resolution was for you and me to do our best to make our guest happy.  Which we did.
Though, just to be on the safe side, I'll try doing a better job on next year's guest list.  
 

A friend of mine gets jittery days before he gets on a plane.  Statistics don't mean anything to him.  He picks a window seat behind the engine and watches the whole way to Brazil.  He averages one trip a year.  I suggested a mild sedative which he pops when he gets on the plane.  It helps, but I can't recall a single time when facts alone overcame feelings of anxiety.  Reason and emotion are different things, and the best I can do is listen.
I used to enjoy air travel and it still doesn't bother me once I'm on the plane.  It's the hassle of navigating to, from and through the airport that keeps me close to home these days.  That and the peanuts.  🙁

Very sad indeed.    We in Kansas haven't had smoke this year.   That happens when the Rockies have a lot of fires.   I hope it can come to an end with the start of fall.
 

Reproducing the human voice is not especially taxing for even the smallest, thinnest speakers.  But if the TV is set up to emphasize other frequencies, human voices may end up being de-emphasized.
Many flat panel TV's, mine included, have an audio adjustment menu.  Mine has a setting called 'Dialog'.  When selected, it will bring human voice frequencies to the forefront.  I find it makes a difference in intelligibility, though it may not provide the best sound for enjoying a musical.
Digital signal processing (DSP) is one of those things that's easy for TV manufacturers to do, so they do it.  But their out-of-the-box settings may be a pain in the ass for those of us with the old-fashioned expectation that we should be able to hear what somebody's saying.  🗣️👂
 
(Apologies if the linked article covered this.  The paywall let me read only the first couple paragraphs.)

I can totally relate to your friend.  There was a time when I would consult with one of my old friends before boarding (Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, I.W. Harper, Old Grand-Dad).  Things were pretty good when I boarded the plane, but, as soon as I heard the whine of the engines, my friend was gone.

A friend of mine gets jittery days before he gets on a plane.  Statistics don't mean anything to him.  He picks a window seat behind the engine and watches the whole way to Brazil.  He averages one trip a year.  I suggested a mild sedative which he pops when he gets on the plane.  It helps, but I can't recall a single time when facts alone overcame feelings of anxiety.  Reason and emotion are different things, and the best I can do is listen.
I used to enjoy air travel and it still doesn't bother me once I'm on the plane.  It's the hassle of navigating to, from and through the airport that keeps me close to home these days.  That and the peanuts.  🙁

In retrospect, I believe you are entitled to an explanation for my misinterpretation of your statement.
Understand, I'm not playing the blame game or attempting to nullify my oversight, however, if your statement had shown more sentence structure rather than dependence upon punctuation, I believe my misunderstanding might have been avoided.
Your statement reads "You just lost me with that strawman.  Stick to the topic we're talking about."
Had your statement read "You just lost me with that strawman argument," or "You just lost me with that strawman point of view," or "You just lost me with that strawman crap," I might have seen "strawman" differently.    
In any event "ducking out" is not the way I would like to be remembered.            

I live in the central prairie provinces and we are quite use to the weather and typically are not paralyzed by the weather or snowfall as are some areas ( like Vancouver) who are not use  to the extreme weather. A week or so in the south is just a nice mid winter break from the cold but would still never give it up. Love the 4 seasons we have. 

I was born here and all my family is here and enjoy the sports scene and food and our non winter months are nice.

No danger of water in the house (I think). However, the intense downbursts of rain have returned, accompanied by higher wind speeds. Oh, and the good news in all of this? The blistering temperatures of the past two months have suddenly been replaced by temps in the 70s.

So far, at least we have been spared the strong wind that was predicted. Luckily for us, we live at the highest point in our gated community, so the water flows around and away from our house and down to the street, which funnels it to lower areas of the community which may be experiencing the flooding.

Hurricane Hillary was a total bust in Las Vegas, phew!  The heavy rains all passed to the west of us.  At 11pm Sunday, when the rain was supposed to be heaviest, it wasn't raining at all.  The pleasant consequence of Hillary is that it brought beautiful cool weather for a few days, 70s & 80s, when the normal highs are 108-110°.

I lost nearly all of my hearing to a disease called otosclerosis then had surgery* to restore  part of it. So, I watch everything with captions turned on.   I've learned to enjoy that sometimes I get extra insights on a scene because the person doing the caption puts details in.  For example, I watched a show recently where rather than just showing the "music playing" subtitle, it gave the name of the artist and title of the song.
 
*I now have prosthetic stapes in my left ear.  I mistakenly told my coworker that I have a prophylactate in my ear.  

Reproducing the human voice is not especially taxing for even the smallest, thinnest speakers.  But if the TV is set up to emphasize other frequencies, human voices may end up being de-emphasized.
Many flat panel TV's, mine included, have an audio adjustment menu.  Mine has a setting called 'Dialog'.  When selected, it will bring human voice frequencies to the forefront.  I find it makes a difference in intelligibility, though it may not provide the best sound for enjoying a musical.
Digital signal processing (DSP) is one of those things that's easy for TV manufacturers to do, so they do it.  But their out-of-the-box settings may be a pain in the ass for those of us with the old-fashioned expectation that we should be able to hear what somebody's saying.  🗣️👂
 
(Apologies if the linked article covered this.  The paywall let me read only the first couple paragraphs.)