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boilerhorn

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by boilerhorn

  1. Thanks. I used the search function before even looking at the section. My bad.
  2. Bump - any recommendations in N or NW Austin? Someone pulled out in front of our '22 Yukon. Not too major, but needs fixed.
  3. We fans have been complaining about how loud (and shitty) the music has been - from the jumbotron and otherwise - for years. Traylor should be thankful he only has to deal with it once every 2 or so years.
  4. It looked to me like Sark was frustrated at Traylor/UTSA. Sark maintained eye contact and gave direct responses. Traylor seemed to avoid eye contact and his body language was less assertive. Perhaps I misread it and I was applying my perspective about the timeout w/ 22 seconds left...
  5. Sark does not seem satisfied with what he is hearing.
  6. https://espnpressroom.com/us/bios/galindo_lowell/ A native of San Antonio, Texas, Galindo was graduated from Emerson College in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism.
  7. First and foremost - Fuck Penn State. Fuck Franklin, Diaz, Paterno, Sandusky, etc. Second, c'mon Brohm, you had that game locked up. Brohm's offense reminds me of the run-and-shoot. They have no way to move the ball AND move the clock. Before the last unsuccessful drive, Purdue had the lead and the ball 2 times. They ran 12 plays and 3:43 in clock in those 2 drives. 2 3-and outs running into the pile can run 4:00 off the clock.
  8. My stream of consciousness $0.02... Ward was one of the top hosts for some time, then he grew stale. It seemed like he got lazy and each show focused on a single news story or headline. I guess that works for a 3 hour show where drive time was 15-30 minutes per listener. His MIL picking football games was good radio. I am not sure how Ed Clements is still on the radio. Seems underprepared and is mailing it in - and has been this way for a decade. That said, he was a decent foil for Ward when they worked together. Babers has dramatically improved over the years. He does his homework. However, he throws out tons of stats and data to catalyze conversation. However, data != information. I'm exaggerating, but he'll pull out some stat like "Last year, Texas was 6-7 on third downs following an opponents time out in the third quarter when down by a touchdown and preceding a Ford commercial." Uh, OK. I've always enjoyed Bucky on the radio. And, for the most part, he has ALWAYS been unprepared (or at least underprepared). For some reason, it did not bother me. He had enough personality - and Erin was always prepared - that it did not matter. Dudley and Bob was pretty decent radio in the early 90s. I think Dudley took a major turn for the worse when Howard Stern's syndicated show was added to the Austin market. Dudley lacked Stern's wit and his interviewing capabilities. He tried to match/beat Stern and it made his show uninteresting. From that point, the show stagnated. Going even further back, there was Dave Jarrott on K98 and KEY103. He brought fake commercials and parody bits to the market in the 80s. Recall the "Hiney Winery" in Pflugerville? And the wine-colored velvet-covered couch...
  9. Yeah, people seem to forget that Kaepernick was not a very effective QB for the final 3 or so years he was in the NFL. In 2014, he was 8-8 as a starter, closing out the season with a 1-4 record. In 2015, he was 2-6 as a starter and was benched in favor of Blaine Gabbert. In 2016, he replaced Gabbert and finished 1-9 as a starter. His kneeling protests started in Sept 2016, so the 49ers played him - as a starter - for at least 10 games after his protests began. And, they benched him in 2015 - BEFORE his protests began. In total, the 49ers were 4-19 in the final 23 games Kaepernick played as a starter.
  10. This is my new mode of operation for drop offs and pick ups at the airport. Before noon - you get dropped off at arrivals. After 3 (and especially after 5), you get picked up at departures. I am a fan of Park and Zoom, but the traffic delays have made it less compelling than it was in the past. ABIA management is just a microcosm of Austin city management. It's been this way since the 70s, but it is far more impactful and irritating now that there are around 2.3 million people in the area.
  11. I agree with this. I also thought that Lucas's dialog and directing did a pretty good job at making McGregor, Portman, Christopher Lee, Sam Jackson and Christiansen all look like pretty shitty actors. That's quite the feat. That said, Christiansen stood out...
  12. I found info at draftkings: https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/leagues/baseball/88671599 Texas +425 Stanford +500 Notre Dame +500 Arkansas +550 Ole Miss +650 Oklahoma +700 Auburn +700 Texas A&M +800
  13. For reference, a 231 pound person (same weight as Haskins) will have a BAC of 0.24% 2 hours after drinking 13 1.5 oz shots of 80 proof liquor. A 750ml bottle of liquor contains 17 shots.
  14. A couple of Austin dealerships have responded to this by capping their pricing at MSRP. When we were looking in Nov-Feb, Covert GMC on 183/Duval had $5k-$15k over sticker (market adjustment) on in-transit or on-lot Yukons or pickups. Enough people were paying it, as I received zero hard-sell and rationalization when I expressed, "I have never paid close to sticker for a GM vehicle." Maxwell GMC in Round Rock capped at MSRP. When talking to the sales and finance folks, they reflected that they were making plenty of money and were taking the long view on this. When the supply problems end...
  15. Perhaps Willis is just not very good.
  16. And the types of extracurricular activities that might prepare you for a career as a neurosurgeon could land you in jail. In his memoir, On Writing, Stephen King notes, "If you want to become a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." King notes that tends to write about 2x what actually gets published. He also disdains adverbs. Paraphrased: Only use them in dialogue, on special occasions, and maybe not even then. I recommend On Writing, fwiw. I tend to agree, but it might help if you are an out-of-state resident willing to pay full freight. We had a guy like that at my previous job. When we had our annual opinion survey, HR would immediately recognize who it was.
  17. I found value in doing it myself, but I might be the exception. First, I have a couple of friends in the real estate business who pulled comps for me. Second, my property has a couple of unique characteristics (largely relative to the rest of the neighborhood) that would be more difficult for an aggregator to handle. Third, I wanted to understand how the sausage was made. In many cases, I got some sort of reduction. Two times, I cited the CAD's own data to get a reduction - when they showed their comps, their numbers were wrong. Two times, I showed nearby comps to get about 5-10% reductions. Two other times, I got around 15% reductions. One was because of a market pull-back and insufficient comp data. Another was because of a functional obsolescence. Fwiw, the functional obsolescence was dropped because "people will buy anything right now" which was hard to disagree with. I found value in it, but I treated it like a short-term hobby. It's not the best choice for everyone.
  18. Couple of comments based on what I have learned over the years. I have appealed darn near every year since 2008. Out of principal AND it requires the CAD to give you the comps and methodology used for the appraisal. One year, I called one of the tax reduction aggregators and asked to pay for 1 hour of his time. He said he would make more money just processing more appeals, then proceeded to talk to me for 30 mins. He was friendly and informative. First, many of the tax appeal aggregators have worked for the CAD in the past. They make money on volume. I have seen these guys roll in to the TCAD office with a dolly and 4 filing boxes full of properties to appeal. They are chummy with the folks in the office. Second, the land value is not arbitrary. I forget the EXACT methodology, but it is loosely this. They subtract the old land value from the new appraised value to determine a possible "new" improvement valuation. If that new value is 25% (? cannot recall the number ?) higher than replacement value for the improvement/structure across a neighborhood, it triggers a re-appraisal of the land values in the area. Third, commercial property valuations have always lagged in Travis County. In 2013, the Driskill Hotel and related adjacent properties were purchased by Hilton for $85mm. Hilton proceeded to add $8mm in improvements. The 2014 and 2015 TCAD valuations were less than $40mm. This is after a VERY public disclosure of the purchase price. Today, I see commercial property being slightly depressed, given we really do not know what is going to happen with "return to work." Last, the formal appeals process is problematic. After you deal with an uninterested and angry member of TCAD, you can appeal to a volunteer panel. This volunteer panel is composed of 3 retired folks from the community, with little or no expertise in property valuations. In one of my appeals, I showed data to support my claim, noted functional obsolescence in part of my property, etc. One of the panel members said, "I do not understand what Mr. Boilerhorn was trying to say, so I will side with the appraisal office." No attempt to understand, etc. It did not impede my case, as the other 2 members understood. Incidentally, the CAD used "he appeals every year" to kick off their defense of their appraisal. Uh, that should not matter.
  19. Far NW Austin. Up 100% total. Land up 350% Improvement up 50%.
  20. That's the backup plan. Wife and I are fine w/ it. He wants to be his own man, etc. That's just my nature. High LTV makes me nervous, regardless of situation. In reality, we'd really already solved the problem; I was just curious about other folks' experiences in a market like this.
  21. Thanks for the reply. Rate lock has around a week left. You are right that it might not matter. Agree about appraisal company having zero incentive to work with us. They are accountable to the lender. They are using a mix of listings and sales, which I found odd. LTV was high - 90%. Did not want to empty the bank account. May have to go to 95%, which would make me nervous. Upon reflection, none of this is really that strange. Appraiser is accountable to the lender. I was just surprised that it was so far off. Your point about the trailing edge adaptation to new values is likely what is going on. There are tons of folks dropping in w/ 20% over ask, cash only offers in Austin right now. I'll just see how it plays out.
  22. My son is looking to buy in NW Austin. Found a house he liked and offered what is standard in the area: 10-15% over ask. HIs agent was comfortable with that as was the loan officer helping him out. He lost out on 3 other homes in the same neighborhood, as he did not bid high enough. Appraiser shows up and appraises as 1-2% over ask. Appraiser made mistakes in (1) price offered (2) home materials used (3) improvements (4) used ask price of aforementioned homes as comps (not sale prices). Agent said to wait to appeal until after the homes he missed out on closed - so they could update their comps. Appraisal company refuses to review or re-appraise. His options put *way* more money down. change mortgage companies, get new appraisal, and new 1% higher interest rate. Option 1 is possible, but not the best. Option 2 kinda screws him. Is what happened common? I am pretty sure the appraisal company will not be used by this lender again. Also, what would you do?
  23. Sambora will never be confused for Hendrix, Van Halen, Clapton, Slash, etc., but he was definitely influential. He did break a little ground with the voice/guitar effects in "You Give Love a Bad Name," even if he did overuse it at times. In addition, Wanted Dead or Alive is a different level from most other BonJovi songs. The acoustic intro is strong and memorable and the electric solo is one of best from that era. In fact I think I can hum it from memory even today. In terms of overall influence, as @Pato del Muerto notes, was the decision to play Wanted... live and fully acoustic. If it did not kick off The Unplugged series, it certainly added tons of credibility to it. And Unplugged from that era was fantastic. If you were an aspiring musician of any sort, Sambora was a decent musical role model at that time. His riffs were clean, catchy, and accessible. If nothing else, if you mastered Sambora's riffs, you were ready for something more challenging.
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