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Tonesky

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Everything posted by Tonesky

  1. Trip was terrific! We spent 2.5 days in Seattle (Pike's Place Market, Gates Foundation, Kerry Park, Chihuly Gardens, Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture, Boeing factory tour, and The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum), before heading to the Olympic Peninsula and an overnight to Victoria, BC. We spent the arrival afternoon and the next morning hiking at Lake Quinault, and the second afternoon at Ruby and Kalaloch beaches. We blew off Hoh due to time and distance, and with encouragement from the Park Rangers, who assured we could get the same rain forest experience at Lake Quinault as at Hoh, only with less hours in the car, no wait to enter (limited parking access at Hoh), and fewer people on the trail. The next morning, we headed for Port Angeles, with stops at Sol Duc Falls and Lake Crescent (Spruce RR, Devil's Punchbowl trail). The full day based out of Port Angeles, we hiked Hurricane Hill in the morning and relaxed in Sequim in the afternoon, including visiting a couple of lavender farms, where the lavender was just beginning to bloom, but which was still worthwhile and provided shopping opportunities for the womenfolk. Salty Girls Oyster Bar in Sequim is highly recommended! The next morning, we took the ferry to Victoria, BC for one night. That afternoon, we went on a whale watching expedition. The next morning, we went to Butchart Gardens, and wandered around in the afternoon (more shopping), before catching the evening ferry back to Port Angeles. The final day on the Peninsula, we explored tide pools at Salt Creek Recreation Area in the morning, returned to Salty Girls in Sequim for lunch, and stopped for a couple of hours in Port Townsend (more shopping....) Finally, we spend 1.5 days hanging with family in Seattle, before returning home. All in all, a great trip. Photos to follow in separate posts.
  2. Punchline: I bought a 10 piece set of Hestan Nanobond in mid-May. So far, I am very pleased! Backstory: Not long after my January post, I called Hestan and spoke at length with their "cookware concierge." He was very helpful, without pushing me to buy anything. I told him of my handle pickiness and my interest in the Williams Sonoma ("WS") branded Thermo-Clad cookware, made by Hestan, and asked about its quality compared to the Hestan branded Probond cookware. He said that they were essentially the same, with a handful of design elements specified by WS, including the more comfortable rounded handle. He said that Hestan designed their handles to have a more comfortable grip than All Clad, while still providing grip security. He suggested that I return to WS, find an oven mitt or hand towel, and handle the various pans again as I would if it was coming out of a hot oven. As he had suggested, with just a bit of torque, the WS branded pans, with the rounded handles, just spun around in my hand - no grip security whatsoever. The Hestan (and All Clad) pans were fully secure. I called back to chat some more and he told me that, if I wanted the Hestan and was not in a hurry, to hold off a couple of months and it would be 20% off for Mother's Day.
  3. Tonesky

    Longhorn Network

  4. Seattle is off to a strong start.
  5. Gorgeous today in Seattle - Kerry Park.
  6. This looks great. Thanks!
  7. We already have tickets. Looking forward to it.
  8. Started this thread, but abandoned Vancouver…. Beginning descent to Sea-Tac now. Going on whale trip with Eagle Wing out of Victoria BC one week from today.
  9. If I could repeat my experience from the 90s - Akumal condo, rental car, carefree exploration up and down the coast, nighttime driving between Akumal and PDC - I'd be all over it. But, those days are gone forever.
  10. Homegrown tomatoes
  11. Tonesky

    Wine

    New arrival. To be ignored for 5-10 years.
  12. Take within a few seconds of each other.
  13. Still fantastic.
  14. Weekend One
  15. Pleased to see Leon Bridges and Khruangbin on separate nights. I expect (hope) Khruangbin is Leon Bridges's band, but was worried they'd have limited time for their own music.
  16. But, you are probably much thinner than me....
  17. Short rib on polenta, with roasted potatoes and sautéed broccolini.
  18. Never heard of them, but Spotify confirms. Thanks! I love Surly!
  19. I'd take the offer and reload for next year. Most of HCAD's comps for sales since 1/1 were adjusted to be higher value on 1/1. And, the market is still in decline, with no interest rate relief in sight. I think next year may be the time to drive the value down.
  20. Warning: My protestingpropertytaxes.com contestation report was rejected by HCAD because 8 of the 10 sales comps they used to calculate my market value are out of my market area. And, the two that are in my market area were not particularly helpful.... This was a complete waste of $179. HCAD accepted my measure only appraisal, permanently reduced their record of the SF of my house and garage, and, after a bit of back and forth, we settled on a 7% reduction. The measure only appraisal was well worth its $200 price.
  21. Excited for Khruangbin, but fear they’ll be with/backup Leon Bridges and have limited time for their own music.
  22. I have an informal scheduled for Tuesday morning. We are fairly new construction. I successfully protested value during the build which straddled 1/1/22, but HCAD still has us at about 350SF larger than actual. I obtained a SF only appraisal that confirms our correct SF. The plan was pretty much to just argue for a prorata reduction in the improvements value based on the incorrect SF. But, within days of filing my protest, I got an offer for a 4% reduction on the incorrect SF appraisal. So, I got an "appraisal contestation report" from protestingpropertytaxes.com to have comparable sales data based on the correct SF. I am cautiously optimistic for a good result. One note about protestingpropertytaxes.com. They factor in only land and house SF. They do not include or factor in garage and/or porch SF, both of which HCAD includes as individual factors in valuation for the improvements. I assume that is standard - that other CADs do so too. I've now compiled those numbers from HCAD, and the protestingpropertytax.com comps have garages ranging from 432 to 805 SF, and porches ranging from 68 to 572 SF. I'll be pissed if HCAD points that out as reason my comps are not true comps, or that the adjusted value of my comps are not accurate and reliable....
  23. X
  24. I predict at least 1 less than the aggy spring game. Whoop!
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