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CoTex

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Posts posted by CoTex

  1. 10 hours ago, Covri said:

    Pretty sure there never has been and never will be again a Le Mars, Iowa reference on a football message board. 

    I spent a week one January at the Sioux City Hard Rock working my days in Le Mars.  I like three things in Le Mars.  Blue bunny ice cream, a pork cutlet Sammich, and the highway out.  Sioux City in January is hard on the mind.

  2. I’ve seen the hot crazy matrix - I think we need the “whore/housewife” equivalent.

    On the one hand, I don’t really want to wake up next to the pioneer woman.  However, if you told me I had ALS and needed to find someone to manage my affairs, raise kids and wipe ass, i wouldn’t pick one of Manziel’s castoff skanks.

    Somewhere in the middle you’ve got someone like Giselle or Natalie Portman.   They could get pretty high on both axis and still not be a man or a AI robot.  Afleck’s ex wife seems like she might score well.  No on any kardashian but the money wouldn’t hurt.

  3. 1 hour ago, 'stache said:

    Ninety percent of the time I say none of my business but sometimes it’s ok to be judgmental. Fuck that guy. Same with these 80 year old bastards having kids. Such cruelty to a poor child to guarantee they won’t know their father very long if at all.

    I was at a continuing education workshop once about how to make effective sentencing arguments on behalf of persons convicted of federal crimes.  Teachers/facilitators were from all over buy my two included this guy Ronald Tyler - Faculty - Stanford Law School and a public defender from Baltimore.

    They required each of us to work up a mock case and argue it.  Basically, learn your case, practice and then stand up and say    "Judge, take it easy on my guy because _______." to this panel.

    I had a couple of arguments and one was "my client never had a father - his father was a drug dealer who was incarcerated and so, instead of a father figure in the home he had an empty chair and stories of "dad in prison."  But for this, maybe he would have led a more productive life.  Father's absence contributed to this guy's problems and maybe he's less culpable - take it easy, pretty please."

    ...

     

    Ho lee fook.  They didn't like that shit one iota.  I got the old "you are aware that there are many homes with no fathers, same-gender parents, single mother, blah blah and your argument is not only false but it diminishes them.  Your argument perpetuates stereotypes, blah, blah, blah."

    I would love to tell you all that I turned the corner on those peeps and tied it all up with a nice bow but I'm pretty sure I responded something like this:

     

    • Hook 'Em 4
  4. 3 minutes ago, nnm said:

    A few years after I got out of high school in NM, I got a part-time job as an assistant cook. The head chef was a nice guy but really started down a dark path. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when he slipped a Mickey to the son of a girl I liked. He ended up buying the farm with a bunch of nazis and I moved to Alaska. 

    You should have hired a lawyer.

  5. 1 hour ago, tbone_ said:

    Could you have just called 911?

    Yeah.  I’ve asked myself that.  It was tense - I was trying to get him away from my son - truck blocked in and dude was screaming.  I should have stayed in truck with windows up and just called “the man.”

  6. 1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

    I used to be “likes to fight guy” screaming at cars that cut me off, flashing my beams , tailgating.  Now I just pretend that said person had an emergency and I helped them

    I have been in fights everywhere from Port Aransas to Bridgeport Connecticut.  I have a scar over my left eye because right handed guy hit me good one night on 6th.  I have a scar on left palm because I ended up kicking and gouging in glass on the floor of a bar one night.

    I was never likes to fight guy - just smartass big mouth guy.  But, Saturday morning wearing hoka’s with your kid - different game.

    Getting madder.

    • Hook 'Em 1
  7. 14 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

    Glad you are ok. Were they pulling some sort of shakedown racket? Sounds sketchy as hell. Let someone load up for cheap. Angry, big black man and threatens the customer, hoping they come off anything they have just so they can leave un harmed.

    They are going to run into the wrong person one day with nothing to lose or just doesn't fuck around with someone like that, and it can end badly for those people selling the firewood.

    I can’t be sure, but I suspect the log splitter guy was seasonal.  He didn’t look homeless but looked pretty rough.  No alarm bells because I was sorta expecting firewood guy to look like something from deliverance.  

    I think boss guy probably went for coffee or something and when he came back he was surprised - didn’t expect to see someone driving off with his product.

    Then overreacted and that combined with low IQ and blind rage - he couldn’t  put 2 and 2 together.

    Did boss guy have a pistol in the truck?  I did (unloaded).  Knife in pocket?  If we start fighting is splitter guy gonna break it up?  Slap me with a firewood stick?

    What the fuck man - I brought cash and just want firewood.  I asked for 40 sticks - you set the price.  It wasn’t even load up for cheap.  If dude had said $50 I would have paid it because real goal was to get home and spruce up yard for party.

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  8. If you have anything to lose.  Family, home, career, it’s hard to win in a situation like that.

    yeah, on a keyboard we’re all Dirty Harry and Marcellus Wallace but when this dude is going all mf’er and your 11 year old is crying.  Are you going to push all your chips in on money that doesn’t really change your life?

    As for me, I didn’t.  I guess I’m a pussy but now I’m drinking my woodford and gaining saltiness.

    • Hook 'Em 2
  9. Worked for a law firm at 610 and the bayou one summer.  That all glass building on the east side of 610, one or two exits north of Westheimer.

    I would track my hours on a piece of paper, and turn it in both as my time sheet and billing records.

    At that time the Harris District clerk was the slowest government office in the solar system and so most of my time was .2 drive to clerks office. 1.2 wait in line .2 drive back to office, for various files.

    The lady office manager handled payroll and so on payday I would turn in my time sheet/billing and get paid.

    I would hand it to her and she would grade my paper.  “Oh, this shouldn’t take that long,” or “we can’t bill for this.”

    She would mark down my time and then pay me.  Basically discount my time card by 20%.
     

     I was trapped.  Only needed that job for 10 weeks so, quit to make a few extra bucks or take it.  I took it but as revenge I kept my parking card when I left which, according to them, cost them a $40 deposit.  
     

    I did learn from it though.

    • Rage+1 1
  10. Almost got into a scrape today.

    Ran out of firewood and having party tonight.  Need firewood but our annual guy ain’t doin it on weekend.

    So I drive to a rural area in a sketch neighborhood where I have seen firewood for sale on side of road.  Guy with large pile is splitting logs and has a couple cords.  Inside a chain link fenced lot.

    I asked for 40 sticks.  He says “$30 - you load it.”

    I back truck in and start loading with my 11 year old son.  We get loaded, say thanks and are pulling out of lot.  Truck races up and blocks me in.  Large black man wearing a bunch of fake brand polo shit and gold gets out and starts cussing and screaming.  I mean this guy is at level 9 and going berserk.  Gimme my money mother fucker and this and that.

    I figure out quickly that splitter guy ain’t the boss and boss ain’t happy with whatever deal I’ve cut.

    Guy looks in bed of truck “you owe me $150.”  

    Now I’ve got a couple of problems.  I’ve got $90 in my wallet - I don’t have $150.  11 year old feels very threatened - is crying.  Truck blocked in.  .40 in the center console of the truck - unloaded no ammo.

    ”calm down man - we can sort this out.”  Guy won’t calm down - irrational, freaking out.  Splitter guy walks away.  Zero help at all.

    I said “I got $90, you can have it and the $30 I paid him and I’m leaving.”  
     

    More “fuck you, gimme my money.”

    I calmly repeated it about 3 more times before he took the $90 and moved his truck. It seriously crossed my mind that we were going to get shot or at least fist fight right there in front of my son.  Shitty deal.

    now I’m surly and contemplating ways to take revenge and get my $90 back.

     

    • Rage+1 5
  11. 19 minutes ago, capnamerca said:

    Turns out, winning gets a LOT easier when you have Tim Hudson ($850k), Mark Mulder ($800k), and Barry Zito ($500k) under contract for <$1m each, the latter two still on their rookie deals. Fucking Chad Bradford and Scott Hatteberg weren't the reasons that team went to the playoffs. 

    Yeah, and Brad Pitt and the fat guy from The Hangover to manage them.  Even I could win with that crew.

  12. 40 minutes ago, Slacks said:

    a car wash... Houston summer at a car wash. 

     Taco Bell. 

    Airport baggage handler (Houston summer again) 

    Credit card 'sales' (auto dialer cold calling 4 hours a night) 

    Box maker at Dell. 

     

    Every one of those jobs had adults who worked there for a living...

    Getting Texas McCombs degrees was worth every cent and sacrifice. 

    Now we're getting somewhere.  Summer of '94, the Wash Tub car wash on Broadway, in San Antonio.  Get the little red towels, dry the car, windex the windows, collect your dollar tip, repeat.

    When you see that black suburban coming down the tunnel you had better make yourself scarce.  The surface temperature of a black suburban in San Antonio in July is greater than the temperature of the fryer grease at Corndog 7.

    When people talk about having spiritual experiences in sweat lodges, I can relate.

     

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  13. 4 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:


    honestly i have no clue what python is, Id suggest learning as much excel as possible. It’ll empress any employer

    has he thought about law school ? Through friends and family, i know 5 kids at ut in the mechanical e program, 4 of the 5 want to go straight to law school 

    It's a good idea.  I suspect IP work isn't going away.

    Python is a programming language.  My internet research leads me to conclude it is a more common language and decent starting place.

     

  14. Thanks to all of you for the input.  I'm a little out of my element on this one and appreciate the thoughts and sounding board.  

    I need this kid to hurry up and be a success so I can worry about other things like, how to gamble on the sugar bowl in such a way that I can pay for my tickets to the national championship game.

    Present thought is to buy tickets now, and then bet against Texas, maybe the moneyline.  Texas loses, I get a stack of cash and can sell my tickets to some poor Alabama/Michigan fan for a loss.  Texas wins, I get a stack of cash and when ticket prices spike I'm already locked in.  Haven't really worked out the numbers yet but I'm a shitty gambler and I'm pretty sure that me betting against Texas guarantees a Texas win. 

  15. 3 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

    So, you want to change a set up that has all the components that sets him up for debt free personal/academic success for off chance that a "better" university, with unknown support and financial burden, will net him maybe $10K in his first job?

     

    I want to set him up to succeed as best I can.

    • Hook 'Em 1
  16. 2 minutes ago, orange dream said:

    So what would the financial plan be if he moved from A&M-TXARK to any of the other schools you mentioned?

    Going from a free place to live and net positive cashflow while getting his degree to anything that involved cash outflow and / or debt would have to be looked at skeptically based on the situation you described.

    Good on him (and you) for efforts to date though.

    The plan would be to go to the financial aid office fortified with our prayers and ass-kissing.  It would cost more in tuition, dorm, everything, and he would be farther from his people/alone.

    Maybe a plan is to try to finish on time, and see what you've got - $0 debt and paper in hand.  Look at jobs and, if nada, look at grad school.

    I'm asking this today because I'm seriously at a loss.  I kind of figured I had handed this deal off to fate, but now I feel like the stakes are high.  He did exactly what he was told which is rare with 18 year olds.  Drug/alcohol free kid in college that works and, for his hobby, fixes shit.  If someone had gotten to this kid 4 years earlier and encouraged him in high school, he likely would have gotten a scholarship somehow/somewhere.

    I feel pressure to give him good advice.  His parents are good people but have no experience in this arena.  Apparently I don't either.

  17. 2 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

    What is python going to do for him ?

    The craft, knowledge and skills of being a machinist is a dying skill. Being able to just think in that manner is a huge asset to have. 
     

    how does he feel about welding ? Thats a high demand field. all my customers have subject matter experts with engineering degrees to cover welding projects 

    I don't know what python is going to do for him but, along the lines of CS or EE, he may to need to code sooner or later.  He's going to sit around for 30 days over the holiday break, and I thought this might be a nice line to add to his resume "Google Professional Certificate - Python."  I guess I could tell him to watch Breaking Bad reruns or play Assassin's Creed but I thought I would challenge him and throw him some cash for a little side gig.

    I majored in business and went to law school.  I know dick about engineering or computer science other than you'll probably like the women in the college of education or nursing better than you'll like the women in the cs building.  Journalism and Social Work can pay off too.

    I also know dick about welding other than there seems to be a lot of it in small towns, and his high school shop teacher thought he was good at it.  I don't think there's anything wrong with being a welder but I think this kid has some horsepower to burn.

     

    • Hook 'Em 1
  18. 6 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

    Sounds like he’s doing great where he’s at. Unless his engineering program isn’s an accredited program, he’s fine. He should be more focused on internships. If he’s that mechanically inclined, any rotating equipment oem would want to talk with him. His 2nd focus should be graduAting with as little debt as possible 
     

    I went to a small state university / engineering college - he’ll be fine: I have many extremely successful classmates, with careers that any ut or am grad would kill for. Vp’s of top 100 companies, owning their companies, retiring at 50 and so on …

    Recent example - a lot of companies that recruited at ut and am this year, also recruited the smaller / less ‘prestigious’ texas engineering programs in the same week. 

     

    He is doing great.  I literally teared up when I heard his grades.  I figured he would pull down b's and c's and would need a little encouragement.  "Don't quit, now you know what to expect, just graduate - your grades won't matter after you get your first job."

    I guess I can save that speech for one of my own kids.

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 1
  19. Maybe this is the wrong topic but I'm not sure it warrants a new one.

    I am mentoring a young man who I think has a bright future.  In high school, he took all the mediocre classes, had a 2.9, and a 23 on the ACT.  His shop teacher encouraged him to be a welder.  Literally said "I'm going to help you get a welder job at ______ company.  

    My wife saw a spark and told him to take an ACT prep course.  He bumped his score up to 29, with just a little prep.  Encouraged him to apply to colleges, he got into OK state and a few others.  He ended up attending Texas A&M Texarkana because he can live with family there and they gave him money.  Basically paying him to attend.  He majored in Mech. E. and just finished his first semester.  3.8 gpa.  He told me "I can do better, I played too many video games this fall." 

    The whole time he was working part time at a local business basically as a gopher.  This young man was a quiet but good high school athlete who, for whatever reason, never had a ton of ambition.  Sort of just puttered through.  Family are good people, all auto mechanics.  No discipline issues.  To make extra money this young man finds broken gas string trimmers/weed eaters, fixes them and sells them on social media.  Can turn out 1 or 2 per weekend.  

    So, I personally think that, with his grades and apparent drive, I need to help and encourage him transfer to the best possible school that will take him.  If you're going to major in engineering, better school is ... better.  But, I understand there is an argument for "if kid is succeeding, why would you mess with that."  Yes, I understand a 3.8 at tamu-txk is not the same as splitting the atom, but I think it's a showing that he takes it seriously.  These are the best grades he's ever made.

    Assuming he doesn't discover beer this spring, and makes another round of grades, I think I can get him into UTD, Tech, ousux or maybe aggy.  I feel like Austin is a stretch but will likely apply.

    My basic questions are:

    1.  How big of an advantage would it be to graduate from UTD over TAMU-Texarkana?  I assume that UTD's career services is going to put its grads into places like Texas Instruments and Toyota.  I assume it's just better than a regional aggy school. 

    2.  Of those schools, how do you rank the engineering/computer science departments (UTD, aggy, ousux, Tech, Okie lite).

    3.  How much weight do you put on "aint broke, don't fix it... a degree from a mediocre program is good enough... if he wants more go to grad school somewhere better."  

    4.  He's thinking about changing to ee instead of mechanical engineering.  I think ee or computer science would likely be better but, any thoughts?  I'm not trying to tell him what to be but, he really doesn't know - likes to build things and fix things.

    5.  He's got 1 month until classes start again, and I am thinking about challenging him to something.  I'm thinking "take a google class on how to program Python and, if you can show me some proficiency, I'll give you $250."

    I can be an asshole and this kid may be the only one that comes to my funeral.  I want to help him as best I can.

    Please comment - any advice is appreciated.

     

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