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MidTexHorn

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Everything posted by MidTexHorn

  1. Yeah, we'll I'm surrounded by them out here in the Permian Basin. It's not a pretty thing and it will get really ugly if this goes where I think it's going to go.
  2. This former straight ticket Republican voter just made his first contribution to a political campaign ever for Beto. Also bought a sign, a t shirt and some koozies. I'm in.
  3. Interesting stuff. Trump is a polarizing figure. My hard core Republican friends and family are strongly in favor of him and will no doubt turnout. But I've run into a number of folks who are more like me as well - folks who have traditionally voted Republican, view themselves as moderate or economically conservative/socially liberal. The folks I've talked to in this camp are horrified by not only Trump but by the fact that the Republicans are so supportive of him. It'll be interesting to see what happens with these folks over the next couple elections and beyond. For me, I've moved all the way over to the Dem side although I'll never formally join the party. For some, the move may be temporary and only last an election or two, which of course is what @bad_teammate seems to think is a fait accompli.
  4. I think this conversation with @bad_teammatehas largely run its course and the ball is not being advanced. I probably fall somewhere between Group 2 and Group 4 in his proposed groupings, as I would say that I am a lifelong Republican voter (but never a party member) who has been falling away over the course of the past decade and now is a centrist who leans slightly left. I think the Dems are nearly as corrupt as the Republicans in many ways, but at this point in time I'll settle for rooting out the most obvious devil in front of us (Trump and the corrupt Republicans/NRA/etc.) with the hope that this process ultimately leads to a cleanup of the systemic ills for both parties. Money is absolutely destroying our political system and it's a problem on both sides, it's just that the Republicans have a lot of additional problems to go along with it. Just some very incomplete thoughts.
  5. This aging white lawyer laughed
  6. This exactly. Some of us have come around, and it started before Trump on a number of ideas. For some like me, Trump is the straw that broke the camel's back, but it's been in the works for a while. Some of us are actually capable of evolving intellectually and learning from our mistakes, believe it or not. @bad_teammate you're being a dick to the very people who you should be welcoming to your side. It's a mistake, try to learn from it.
  7. Count me in on Team Patriot also. And as I said, previously despite a life-long history of voting Republican, I've come around and that will no longer be a default. In fact, if I don't see some drastic changes my default will likely be towards the Dems for the foreseeable future. This is not a temporary, feel good move for me. I have seen the error of my ways.
  8. I'm 51 years old. Never a member of the Republican party, but voted straight ticket Republican most of my life until 2016 when I didn't like Trump or Hilary and voted Libertarian and mixed in mostly Dems and Libertarians down ballot. I will be voting straight ticket Dem for the foreseeable future, even though I'm not a big fan of that party. It's just that it's far better than what the Republicans have become. I'm very worried for my country.
  9. We really enjoyed a hole in the wall seafood place called Claw for dinner one night. The Dublin Prawns were spectacular. Everyone else has it pretty well covered. Dublin is fine for a long weekend. Might add in a quick train ride up to Howth or Malahide to get out of the city for a few hours.
  10. This is entertaining. Will Korea be Germany's Trinidad and Tobago?
  11. Oh, forgot to mention that we discovered what may be my new all time favorite beer in Cork at the Franciscan Well Brewery - their Chieftain IPA. Holy shit was it good. It was a low alcohol (5.5%) and mildly hopped session IPA and we all fell in love with it. Found it at a few other places around Ireland. Gotta see if they export to the US, but I doubt it.
  12. That wasn't me - never made it to Blarney Castle. Yeah, I'm bummed about missing the Gap. It was probably the top thing I wanted to do on my list, but due to my wife having some panic attack issues about the roads I had to make a last second decision to skip it. She's just not a very adventurous traveler. In hindsight maybe should've hiked and boated like you did, but everyone did have a blast biking around the lakes so it wasn't a total loss.
  13. Couple more things I forget to mention: 1) Galway reminded me very much of an old European seaside version of Austin back in the 70s before half of California moved in and started turning the place into Dallas. One afternoon while drinking at the Salt House Bar (highly recommended), we struck up a conversation with a strikingly beautiful Irish girl who was on a one year sabbatical from her teaching job and had taken a part time position as a waitress in one of the local pubs. She had the lightest blue eyes I've ever seen, but I digress. She said Galway has been called "the town where ambition goes to die" and I can see why. If I was ever to drop out of the rat race and go become a professional alcoholic, Galway wouldn't be a bad place to do it. 2) We rented bikes in Killarney and rode around the national park there. Had intended to ride the Gap of Dunloe, but there's no way I was going to get my wife to bike those roads. Still had a blast though and it was a beautful way to spend a few hours. 3) Didn't get to see much of it while on the drive from Dingle to Galway, but The Burren was a really interesting area and we wished we'd been able to devote at least a few hours to exploring it. Very odd look to the place. 4) Otisdog - we did hit the Dingle Distillery tour and had a great and informative time with the old guy and enjoyed his take on the current state of US politics. Got to taste their gin and whiskey. My wife drank gin and tonics with the Dingle Gin for the rest of the trip.
  14. Just got back to Midland from our trip to Ireland. Had a great time, drank way too much, etc. Had surprisingly warm weather for the entire trip, only really rained once while in Galway. We were actually slightly disappointed the weather wasn't a bit more typical since we were really looking forward to avoiding the Texas heat, but it's hard to complain about 75 and sunny even if the pubs are a bit stuffy at that temp. A few deviations from the itinerary that I posted up above, including spending first night south of Dublin in the Glendalough region which was really cool. Some favorite moments and recommendations below, as well as a few things that weren't quite what we hoped. 1) Galway was an absolute blast. What a fun town. My favorite night of the trip was the night it rained as we were wandering around down by the river so we ran over to the Crane pub and found an unbelievable trad music session upstairs with about 15 locals playing. Not touristy, just the real deal. We stayed in an apartment a block away from all of the action. 2) Probably a tie for our favorite night was seeing LCD Soundsystem at Malahide Castle north of Dublin. Took the DART train from the city center (very easy), stopped in Malahide (which is a cute little town) for some nice seafood before the show, then walked over to the castle grounds. Weather was gloriously sunny, upper 60s with a light cool breeze, grass was green and comfortable, shitters were clean and well maintained, they had people patrolling the grounds picking up trash. If ACL Fest was like this, I'd go more often. Just an all around perfect evening with, as James Murphy said, "the longest fucking sunset I've ever seen." 3) Driving was an experience. Took me 24 hours to get used to it, but was fine after that. The roads are shockingly narrow when out in the countryside and in the older parts of the cities. Driving in Cork on many streets that were two way but were narrower than any one way street I've seen in the States was interesting to say the least, but I figured it out and grew to enjoy it. My wife was stressed out with the roads though and she really didn't enjoy our driving days. Traffic jams in the middle of nowhere due to tractors and sheep crossing are a real thing. 4) Stayed at an AirBNB above the Dame Tavern in Dublin (right across the lane from the more famous Stags Head Pub) and really enjoyed that experience. The Dame wasn't too touristy, more of a locals old man pub, which we all loved. There was a large balcony/patio overlooking the Stags Head and the street below which was great for late night drinking as the pubs shut down. On summer weekends they have street concerts right out front which would be a lot of fun. Showers in the place were Irish "quirky" to say the least, but overall a fantastic stay. 5) Our biggest splurge stay of the trip was at the Pax Guest House in Dingle. Check out the pics and reviews on Tripadvisor, they're 100% accurate. Place is unbelievable, view is mindblowing, and the breakfasts can't be beat. Very impressive operation. 6) Dingle on the whole was a bit of a let down for me. We all enjoyed it, but it just felt overwhelmingly touristy to me and I just wanted to get away from all of the Americans by the time we left. I think I'd enjoy it more in the off season. That said, there are some really cool old pubs and great seafood here and we did have some good times. One of the best meals of the trip was a pretty pricey bowl of amazing seafood stew at Doyle's. 7) Favorite meal of the trip was probably a tie between the aforementioned seafood stew at Doyle's in Dingle and a ridiculous seafood feast at Klaw in Dublin. Klaw is a total hole in the wall, maybe 15 seats total. We crammed into a small table that was literally half hanging into the kitchen. You walk through the kitchen, barely skirting a very hot stove, grill and various boiling pots of seafood, to get to the bathroom (no way they could get away with this in the States). Their Dublin Bay prawns cracked in half and lightly grilled in some butter were mindblowing - one of the best things I've ever eaten. 😎 Made a fairly last minute decision to spend first night in Glendalough rather than Dublin and glad we did. It was a beautiful leisurely drive there through the Sally Gap on Old Military Road which helped me get my left-side driving legs under me and we enjoyed hiking around the national park. 9) Cliffs of Moher are indeed spectacular, but I could've done without the stop. It's one of those have to see it things, but after 15 minutes it's just some really impressive cliffs and we were ready to move on. Happy to answer any questions that folks have. I may update this post with pics if I ever get around to uploading them.
  15. I'm not proud, but I will at least be watching. Hate to admit it, but didn't even check the calendar when I booked the flight.
  16. I’ll be watching at some bar in the Charlotte airport. Really wasn’t thinking we’d make the final when I booked this flight 6 months ago.
  17. FYI for anyone heading that way this summer, Balmorhea is CLOSED for a while due to some structural problems with part of the pool. Hate to see anyone drive all the way there for nothing. It really is an awesome spot, hope they get it fixed up soon. https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/balmorhea
  18. Herman and CDC want it, so that's good enough for me. Expect it to happen in the next couple of years.
  19. Actually pretty nice weather this weekend in Lubbock and not much wind. It's been a pretty shitty spring with all of the dust storms, so it's nice to get a decent weekend for a change.
  20. Almost guarantee Metallica will be Friday. They’ve been booking the rap/EDM stuff on Saturdays more the last few years as that day has the biggest crowds of kids, so Gambino gets Saturday and that leaves only Friday for Metallica.
  21. I was going to say this or Ireland since you're in New York to start with. Flights wouldn't be much worse than traveling to the west coast.
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