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Damor

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Damor

  1. A lot of it depends on how long you're planning on being in the house. If you're going to resell any time soon, keep an eye on putting stuff in that will help resale value without doing anything too over the top that you won't get money back on (or may be too specific to appeal to buyers, like pink marble countertops). We just finished building, so I'll toss in a few things: Carpet: I don't remember a lot about this, but the pad quality makes a lot of difference in comfort and wear. Flooring: Everything has its drawbacks. I've had engineered hardwoods before and didn't like the look or feel. I've had real hardwoods and hated it when they got fucked up. I've had wood-look tile in a rental and hated the feel and grime accumulation in the grout. We went with stained and scored concrete this time, but it's so highly variable in how it turns out that it made my wife apoplectic at several points. One thing we almost did was the new wood-look vinyl planks. Sounds cheap and shitty (and some is), but some of it looks really good, and it's supposed to be very durable and repairable, especially if you have dogs. Countertops: I wanted to try soapstone, but nobody around here had much experience with it. We went with granite. Pricing goes up with grade (essentially the pattern, I think), and thickness. Don't get a dated edge like bullnose. The new engineered quartz stuff is popular, but was too modern for us, and it can get as expensive as granite. Cabinets: your wife will tell you what you want. Do deep, heavy duty drawers for heavy/bulky pots and pans. After we were done, the trivial things that pleased the shit out of me the most were: -- Heated floors in the master bathroom/shower. Really not that expensive to do before the tile goes down, really expensive to go back and do later. Protip: don't forget the shower bench. -- Trash drawers errywhere. Put one anywhere you might do food prep. It's so nice not to have to drip messy shit all over the kitchen floor trying to get to the one trash can you stuck in the pantry as an afterthought. -- Don't forget to add electrical outlets by the terlits for Surly 1% bidets. -- Solid core master bedroom door. Keeps noise from the kids out, noise from your mom in.
  2. Thanks, y'all. It's got a bubbler line run to it, so I'll try to figure out which zone it's on and give it a little more love, though the rest of the yard/beds look to be doing fine from a watering standpoint. Hopefully it just needs a little more, or this is just a normal stress reaction. I just kinda panicked because I kill things, and these were expensive things.
  3. What's up with my bur oak? It was put in about 6mos ago. The other one is similar but less pronounced. /ignoramus
  4. Some of the great places JW, Brisket, and others posted on the old site: El Farol: great tapas Maria's New Mexican kitchen: Great Christmas anything, huge margarita list Geronimo: Fancy joint. The elk tenderloin is indeed fantastic. Take your special lady friend. Kakawa Chocolate House: Schmancy chocolaitier. Cool chocolate drinks. Definitely take your special lady friend. Ten Thousand Waves: I don't generally dig spas, but absolutely and unquestionably take your special lady friend.
  5. Flattened glazed donut 'tortilla,' egg, cheese, chorizo. It's off 290 west of mopac. Here's the menu: [emoji327] Shinyribs: Donut Taco Palace - YouTube
  6. My local Ace sells liquid muriatic acid as well. They also carry 10% bleach, which is nice, but you have to check the date on that stuff. Is algae guard of any use? My builder said he adds it every 3 months, but I don't see it talked about on TFP, and I figure if I keep the other chemistry in range that should take care of it.
  7. My MIL has a place up there, so we've done this before. There's enough to occupy them for a long weekend. Let them spend a bunch of your monies on go-karts and mini golf and all that stuff at Funtrackers. That will occupy them happily for most of an afternoon. There's a little park across from that where, even if they don't like the outdoors, they can goof around in the creek and get soggy for an hour or so. If you don't have dinners already planned, they'll probably like Farley's, as its target demographic is frat boys and other nascent adolescents, and you can get a good pizza and beer there. I think the Irish pub there closed down permanently (it was OK), but there are a couple decent beer joints. Rio Grande Grill had pretty good food and brews, but nothing particularly kid-attractive (I've conditioned my boys to like brewpubs, so they thought it was great). I will say that the Log Cabin is awesome for breakfast, probably the best meal I've had in Ruidoso. My boys have enjoyed the Billy the Kid stuff in Lincoln and the Smokey the Bear museum in Capitan, but at that age you might get more eye-rolling than you'd like, especially since it's a bit of a drive for a long weekend trip. There are some other museums around, but it's summer, so no enrichment, please. I think it would be a great idea if the grandparents took the kids to the chuckwagon dinner and western show at the Flying J Ranch, while you and the wife go have drinks and dinner somewhere else and then shag in the hot tub (safety first) while they're gone.
  8. Wow, thanks for the DavidSW recommendation. I can buy from him with full factory warranty for about tree-fiddy more. I'm quite OK with that premium. Jomashop was kind enough to cancel since I just ordered this morning. Cabo, you can come over to my house and fuck my sister.
  9. Thank you. Emailed DavidSW, though I didn't see the model I was after on their site.
  10. Going to drink at an AI near PdC next month, flying into CUN. On SWA.
  11. Figured I'd post a followup to a question I asked on the old site before it went to shit. I was shopping for a Lady Datejust for my wife's upcoming birthday (Rolex's pricing on these is a work of evil genius) and thinking AD vs Jomashop. My experience was that, in Austin, Ben Bridge was willing to basically knock off the tax but wouldn't go any lower, even if I paid cash moneys. Russell Korman wasn't very interested in dealing (I guess that's what I get for pulling up in my shitty car and being a terrible negotiator), but offered a couple hundred off and would ship out of state to save tax (doesn't do me a lot of good). Just ordered off of Jomashop. I'm a bit anxious, but I figure saving $1500 over the AD would cover a couple servicings in case something goes wrong. Fingers crossed.
  12. Have only been to the one in Salado, but it's a lot of fun. Old people, feats of strength, Renfest types, and a bunch of Asian kids playing bagpipes in private school bands. /nowaisis If the Scottish Pie Shoppe trailer from Albuquerque (!) is there, don't miss it. My boys obsess about the scotch eggs.
  13. Swayze, I had the same issue. I logged out, changed my password, and logged back in and it's working again.
  14. I haven't been since like 2004, but this is the first time I'm really thinking about it. Headliners are damn good, the other bands read like a KUTX playlist I've actually heard of (likes me some Alvvays), and my 13yo has decided he's into Metallica. My younger one turns 11 a few days after weekend one, so I should be able to get him in free, correct? How much of a clusterfuck is this thing these days with kids? I grow into more of a misanthrope with every passing year -- is there room anymore to park yourself comfortably away from the stage and still hear anything? And how long to I have to perseverate about this until 3-day passes sell out?
  15. Yeah, sounds like Colorado was one of the preferred relocation areas after the earthquakes in Nepal. There's a really good one in Gunnison as well. Wonder if it should go on the Road Trip map...
  16. Yeah, Cooper's can be inconsistent, but it's never been anything worse than good for me.
  17. Damor

    Maui

    For your boat excursion, look at the Scotch Mist if you want something that's not a giant tour. The cap'n is kinda crusty, but in an endearing way.
  18. I inappropriately posted this in another thread, but I can't seem to shake the feeling: Ugh. I'm no Nostradamus, but I have a sinking feeling in my stomach I haven't felt since 'shock and awe' in Iraq. I'm going to just keep watching 'The Iron Giant' with my 10yo son...
  19. Fair assessment. My bad.
  20. Damor

    Beer Drankin tunes...

    I got a playlist for that somewhere...
  21. Anyone have any experience or recommendations on a reasonably priced outdoor projector? I'd like to be able to set something up for the kids to watch movies in the evening and stuff (think Alamo-style Jaws showing in the pool). I've looked around at places like AVSforum, but it's easy to go down the rabbit hole there and I don't want to drop $3000 on something that a kid is going to trip over and knock into the pool. I have a 120" portable screen I picked up years ago on Woot (and hasn't come out of the box), and I was planning to plug a Chromecast into it for a source. I have a bluetooth boombox I could hook up as long it has an AUX out for adequate sound. So far, I'd been led to the Optoma 142X and 143X, which look like they would fit the bill and the budget. Then I also found the Dashbon Flix, which is intriguing as it's more like an all-in-one portable unit that would be easy to set up and move around, possibly worth the extra cost. Any experience or thoughts?
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