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bobcat1995

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Everything posted by bobcat1995

  1. Looking for some advice about how to deal with the HOA and a possible drainage issue causing my retaining wall to fail. So I have included pics of the pond, spillway and wall. What is not shown, is that there are 3 more small ponds that feed into the large pond . When it rains, all the water from the top of the neighborhood drains down the hill into the 3 small ponds and then into the big pond (pictured.) All the extra water spills over and down a small creek in the green space behind my house. During moderate to heavy rain, the water coming off the spillway flows against the corner of the wall. Also, the house is about 15 years old. I have contemplated two course of actions. First, call the HOA, which really only consist of one overly active member and other members I don't know and seeing if we can come to an agreement. The president of the HOA (overly active) lives just on the other side of the small pond not pictured. Second, call an engineer and have then complete a report with videos and pics of the spillway after a rain. Once the report is completed and if it says the water from the spillway is a contributing factor to the failure of the wall, I contact the HOA and see if we can come to an agreement. You can see debris from the latest rain at the bottom of the tree, next to the corner of the wall. In Dallas........Thanks for your help!! TL DR: HOA's Suck! Need engineer report! Need retaining wall recommendations! OU Sucks!!
  2. This is a timely thread. i have begun the process of planning a trip to S. Africa. We will be in country for 7 days not counting arrival and departure days. The current plan is to spend half the time in and around Krueger and the other half in and around Cape Town. This is my daughters graduation trip and she wants to see the big 5. We have also talked about doing a shark dive while in Cape Town. A trip to the wine country is a must just so the wife has one day for her. I am open to any tips or further suggestions. We are flying AA because I have a little over $6000 in airline vouchers to use for the 4 of us travel. It only took one cancelled flight to Germany to get those vouchers. Traveling June 2020.
  3. The most surprising thing is my kids have never lost their cards. They have had debit cards since middle school. One is now in college and the other will be soon and never a lost card. My wife has lost at least 3 cards in the same time frame. Debit cards were the best thing when did when it came to money management for them. If the friends didn't bring money, they had to spend their own money on the friend.
  4. Same verse different year! There is always next year!
  5. We went a few years back and spent a whole week in the Arenal/La Fortuna Area. Rented a car and drove ourselves from San Jose. Hiked up Cerro Chato, Hanging Bridges and Zip Lining with Sky Adventures, Rappelling and waterfall jumping with a tour company called Desafio. We also went white water rafting with the same company. Spent a couple of afternoons at Tabacon Hot Springs. They had a pool bar where we watched the Women's World Cup. Visited La Fortuna Water Fall and yes its a lot of steps. My wife and daughter also paid to volunteer at an aminal refuge called Proyecto Asis. Why did we spend the whole week in La Fortuna and not split time on the west coast? We have spent many vacations on beaches in Mexico so this trip was to do things that we couldn't do at a beach. Hope to return someday to visit Manuel Antonio. Stayed at an Airbnb closer to El Castillo on the backside of Arenal from La Fortuna. The view of Arenal from our AirBnb... Proyecto Asis....
  6. 2020 Masters Tournament Ticket Lottery Signed up and waiting until July for my disappointment!!!!
  7. Reserve your tickets for Neuschwanstein as soon as possible. Eagles Nest was closed for the winter when we went in March but it was something my son wanted to see. Excuse to go back is what I told him. In the area of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, take the Zugspitze cable car to the top of the mountain for lunch and a beer. We rented a car for these two days. Take the train and the self-guided tour of Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich. Words can not describe standing in a gas chamber from WWII. Walk through the English Garden (big park) and enjoy the beer gardens (i think there are 4). We ate a place called the Seehaus in the garden. One of the best steaks I have ever eaten. Goto the Munich Residence (The Bavarian Palace), self-guided walking tour. BMW Museum was not bad if you are a car guy. My son enjoyed the museum. Take in a Bayern Munich game and buy tickets behind the goal. Just walk around Munich and enjoy. We were there for 4 full days and the only reservations we had were the castle and the futbol game. No time schedule to keep makes it easy to stop and drink a beer.
  8. Spent Spring Break 2019 in Germany with our two kids ages 16 and 15, Berlin and Munich. Berlin was great and emotionally heavy because we visited a lot of WWII sites or memorials. While in Munich, we contemplated taking a day trip by train to Salzberg but decided to save that for another vacation. Munich and Southern Bavaria were awesome. Lots of great places to eat and if one of your kids is a picky eater like my 15 yr old, there are plenty of McDonald's around as well. Also Starbucks for the wife. We rented a car for a few days to drive ourselves around Southern Bavaria and then took the subways in Munich.
  9. Spent Spring break in Germany; Berlin, Munich, and Southern Bavaria to be exact. The trip was for my son who is graduating HS this year and it was our first time in Europe. Flew into Munich and then took an EasyJet flight to Berlin. Thought about taking the train to Berlin but we didn't want to spend that much extra time traveling after flying all night. Berlin was heavy due to all the WWII exhibits we visited: Topography of Terror, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin Story Bunker and the Berlin Wall. Also visited the TV Tower, Brandenberg Gate, and the Reichstag Dome. We lost a day in Berlin at the beginning of our trip due to AA downsizing our plane out of Dallas causing us to miss our original flight to Munich. I wish we had the extra day to take in a few more sites. We did take one off the beaten path trip thanks to a guy we met in the Philadelphia Airport. He suggested we visit a place called "Classic Remise Berlin". It was 1/3 museum, 1/3 classic car repair shops and 1/3 garage for expensive cars. We met a guy there who was putting license plates on his new McLaren 720 and he had a more expensive McLaren parked in a different stall. My son, a car fanatic, was super excited. Flew EasyJet back to Munich Munich/Southern Bavaria was great!! We rented a car for a few days to visit Neuschwanstein Castle, Zugspitze Mountain, and Mittenwald. We could have taken a train to the castle but if at all possible, I prefer to be on my own time schedule. Walked forever around Munich and saw all the sights we wanted to see. Ate good, drank beer, relaxed and didn't worry about anything. We had very few set reservations when we landed in Germany (hotels, car, flights, castle, FC Bayern and Dachau). Everything else we planned the night before or just happened to walk by (Munich Residence aka Bavarian Palace.) Walked through the English Garden and had a damn good steak at Seehaus. Also visited the Viktualienmarket and the BMW Museum in Munich. One of the best nights was the FC Bayern game. We stood the whole game in a section behind the goal. The seating assignments were different as they are on a first come first serve basis by sections. Had I know I didn't have an actual seat, we would have got there a little earlier. We sat about 5 rows from the field. Also, wasn't prepared for the stadium not to take cash. Either credit card or some type of FC Bayern card fans could load money onto. There was also a discount on beer if you brought your empty cup back to the beer stand. The beer was about $5 for the first round and then $3 if you brought your cup back. Freaking Crazy!!!! FC Bayern won 6-0 and the crowd was having a lot of fun. Drank beers and ate at the Hofbrauhous as well. Finished off Munich with a trip to Dachau Concentration Camp. It is hard to put into words what it felt like to stand in an actual gas chamber, one of 3 or 4 left after WWII. When the US troops reached the camp at the end of the war, there were bodies stacked up to be burned and the incinerators were still lit. Here are some cell phone pics from the trip..... Memorial to the Murdered Jews Reichstag Building The gate (bad pic) Dachau Concentration Camp Fc Bayern Bavarian Palace Mittenwald Neuschwanstein Castle
  10. We took a day trip to the city of Vinales and along the way, we stopped at a roadside tourist trap. All the tour buses and private cars stopped there on their way somewhere out of Havanna. This cart was also at the roadside bar/restroom (pay for toilet paper)/snack/souvenir stop. On the highway, we passed many of there horse-drawn carts moseying down the road. The building in the pic is used to dry tobacco after the harvest. The pic could probably use a crop on the right side but the sweat on the horse and the machete are what caught my eye.
  11. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the Santeria chicken sacrifice that occurred outside our apartment on the first night we arrived.
  12. Not a photog by any stretch of the imagination but we spent 7 full days in Cuba last summer and this is one of my favorite pics from Central Havana. This was taken just a few blocks from where we were staying. Taken with an iphone because I dont think I had my camera with me on this night. I love the buildings, small goals, and the street soccer scene. The motion blur screws up the ball but it was beat up and tattered.
  13. Pretty sure it was the officer behind the door that fired and not the one saying "What Happened?" Well, that's what the story reads and the video shows the round coming through the door. The officer who shot her immediately called on the radio a "Signal 10" (assuming that means someone was shot.)
  14. Freed's Furniture not Gabberts and yes they have a big sign on the outside of the building. Also try..... https://www.furniturewithasoul.com/dallas/product-category/tables/dining-tables/
  15. Oncor came to house, lost leg at the box in ground. They were able to fix without having to call another crew who fixes stuff
  16. The Interent says I possibly "lost a leg", called Oncor and waiting for them to come out.
  17. So i call a friend who says to turn the dryer on to see if I am getting enough power to the dryer. Tuen the dryer on and the lights in the house come back on, turn dryer off and the lights go dark.
  18. All the ones not working appear to be on one side of the breaker box but there are rooms on that same side that are working. About to head to the store and pick up a new voltage meter, mine is missing a cable.
  19. So my son calls while I'm out running errands and says the plugs in his room (upstairs) stopped working. I ask him to check GFI outlet in his bathroom and he says the light is not on. I get home to find the garage door won't open. Upon further inspection the lights in the garage work, the plugs do not. The lights in the kitchen, living room and dining room do not work but the plugs do work. There are other rooms where the lights work do not work but the plugs do work. I check the breaker box and none of the breakers are tripped. I still go through and flip them all on and off. Still nothing works. The fridge and oven are working. Thoughts?
  20. There is debate among law enforcement about how far Garrity reaches once it has been read to an officer. Some say any statement to IA or CID after Garrity is read is inadmissible in criminal proceedings. Some say that if there is a clear line between what is criminal and administrative, you can obtain a statement for CID after the Officer has given a statement under Garrity to IA and use that CID statement in criminal proceedings. So what does an agency do? Exactly what DPD did. You finish the criminal case and then start the IA investigation. This means there are two clear separate investigations and the officer can't say I thought I was protected by Garrity. Once the criminal is finished, an agency must make sure they follow all the steps in the IA so the officer can't say in an appeal that they were denied their due process on appeal and get their job back. I think DPD has a history that favors officers on appeal. I also believe that they are civil service but not State 143 civil service.
  21. Officers do not have the right to assert their 5th amendment rights to an internal investigation. They do have "Garrity Warnings" which in a nut shell say, that if they are compelled to give a statement in reference to an administrative investigation, that statement can not be used as evidence in a criminal investigation. I thought Chief Hall said they had to wait for the criminal investigation to be complete before the internal started? An officer can invoke the 5th for the criminal and then be compelled to ask questions or write a statement during the administrative. Makes me wonder if DPD is going to allow officers to review body cams or in car cams before writing a statement for the criminal or admin investigations?
  22. The removal of the 72-hour rule is just going to make officers refuse to answer any questions after a shooting for the criminal investigation. They will invoke their "Miranda" right to remain silent, just as a normal citizen can. How many defense attorneys on this site would want their clients waving their right to remain silent? DPD criminal investigations will rely on witnesses, body cam, in car cameras and other officer statements. This should be just fine unless you have an off duty officer enter an apartment that belongs to someone else and then kill that person. No body cam, no witnesses, no other officers. Since DPD does not run concurrent criminal and internal affair investigations (per chief Hall), the officer will not be compelled to tell their story until the IA investigation starts.
  23. TCOLE has a form called an F5 - SEPARATION OF LICENSE. The form list out reasons why the officer is no longer employed. One of the options is Dishonorably Discharged. I would hope not even a small, backwoods agency with only two people would hire an ex-officer with a dishonorable discharge. Dishonorably Discharged (A) was terminated, by a law enforcement agency or retired or resigned in lieu of termination by the agency in relation to allegations of criminal misconduct; or (B) was terminated, by a law enforcement agency or retired or resigned in lieu of termination by the agency for insubordination or untruthfulness.
  24. Yes and No, the police association can continue to support her if they choose. Not sure what type of support they could offer outside of legal support. Not sure any DPS association actually supplements any wages for officers who are suspended or terminated. She was also likely a dues paying member of CLEAT or TMPA which will pick up her legal fees for the criminal and civil trials.
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