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boilerhorn

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by boilerhorn

  1. Given everyone thought we were stuck with him indefinitely, it was among the best ideas out there.
  2. I have never had the opportunity to see U2 live, despite them being one of my favorite bands. Timelines and locations never worked out. Before their first show a the Sphere, tickets could be easily found on ticketmaster - non-resale. They are largely gone now. My son will be in Vegas for a conference and he was able to score floor GA tickets - before the first show. Face value was $300 + $70 handling fee. I think the folks dove in hoping to resell.
  3. You had already received many kudos for this post, but I wanted to reinforce this. And to say, "guilty as charged." There are many contributions to this. First, engineers make decent money right out of college. Second, most employers have very good benefits. Third, engineering professions have relatively low unemployment rates. Fourth, most have parents w/ technical backgrounds and we nudge them in a direction we understand. Yes, myopia. Edited to add: for the most part, there is a clear and calculable ROI on the cost of college. Also, more than most other disciplines, classes in HS and college (esp. in programming) give someone a feel for what they will be doing at age 25. High school (or even lower division college) econ, history, and english classes do not do that for a business, psych, or econ profession. The programming and intro engineering classes do (Calc classes notwithstanding.)
  4. For my older kids, we started "informal" college visits after 8th grade year. In most/all cases, the younger ones tagged along. As a consequence, all of them got to see/feel/etc. the environments of places like Texas, Texas A&M, SMU, TCU, UTD, etc. I recommend gettning started before junior year. My youngest graduated HS in 2023. Because of COVID, we did not (or could not) visit any colleges from Mar'20 - May'22. As a result, he did not have a really good feel for any of the places - and a 2-day whirlwind visit of colleges will not often do the trick. He narrowed his selections to Texas A&M, Purdue, and RPI, wanting to major in CS. He did not want to go to UT. Narrowed further to Purdue and RPI (because of the way A&M handles "freshman engineering") and ultimately chose Purdue. We'll see how he likes that decision in February... We were tried to nudge a little toward SMU (closer to home, smaller school, decent ECE program, strong Dallas area internships, etc), but he did not have the same feeling. Did not want ECE and the SMU CS dept has been a little disorganized as of late. Also, he was turned off by the fact that some of the less capable, more foolish kids from his school were going to SMU.
  5. Are you rooting for both of them? They are both abhorrent.
  6. My bad - that is indeed true.
  7. I was a big DM fan in HS, through "Some Great Reward." They could really play; outstanding for the genre. Same with Duran Duran and INXS. For each of them, I really preferred their earlier work over their later work. IMO, "Don't Change" is INXS's best song. That said, some of Duran Duran's top 10 songs were from their 2nd eponymous release in 1993 (Ordinary World and Come Undone). None of those bands had what I would consider a superstar talent at any of their instruments (well, DM made some VERY original electronic sounds and some of the early remixes were fantastic). For example, Steve Smith (Journey), Stewart Copeland (Police) are. EVH was. etc. They had above average musicians, above average songwriting, and very strong frontmen.
  8. Yeah, from about 1989-1996, he was a heroin users, a cocaine user, and would use whatever else he could find. Gahan died for 2 minutes in 1996. https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/a-quarter-century-has-passed-since-depeche-modes-dave-gahan-briefly-died/
  9. That rule applies for almost every franchise or sole proprietorship.
  10. @C-Man - silly question about diminished value claims. At one point, I believe I read that Texas did not have a path to a diminished value claim. However, I am hearing anecdotes (and found some web references) where it is possible. Where does it make sense and how successful is it? I suspect it is more relevant for a classic car or a super car and not for a 2013 Honda Civic. With the baseball sized hail, I suspect an auto shop can repair the vehicle, but the claim against it might diminish the value. Any insights would be very welcomed.
  11. Reporting in a little late, but saw Sting at Moody in Austin on Sept 17. Setlist was great. Strong mix of Police classics with his solo work. He played around 19 songs and, after an encore, he closed with Roxanne then Fragile. Walking on the Moon and Fields of Gold might have been my favorites. He increased the tempo for Every Breath You Take, which I liked. Positives: Sting still sounds fantastic, vocally and on the bass. He is clearly keeping in fantastic physical shape, too. His guitar player, harmonica player, and backing vocalists are very talented. And he highlighted each of them at various points in the show. He comes off as fairly humble (which is not his reputation). Negatives: Mix for the first two songs had drums and guitars drowning out the bass and vocals. The drummer was pedestrian and it really stood out on King of Pain and Every Little Thing She Does is Magic. Especially King of Pain, where Stewart Copeland was masterful. The drummer just played straight ahead 4/4 on the high hat and snare. To me it was almost distracting. All in all, I am glad I went. It was a last minute decision.
  12. And puta is Spanish for Baylor.
  13. Barely any rain in 78750. Just wind. 78756 - pool ball size hail, broken windshield and damaged 2 of my kids' vehicles. Nowhere near as bad as some of the Round Rock experiences.
  14. Looking for some advice. Want to buy some boots and have not worn boots in 20+ years. In my limited research, I keep coming back to Lucchese as the best combination of comfort, quality, and fit. Given it is the first pair of boots for 20+ years, I want to keep the costs down, in the event they end up in my closet in 2 months time. One constraint: I have hallus rigidus (arthritic stiff toe) in my right foot and do not want the boots to make it worse (of course). So, that means I'll need a rigid/rocker sole and (possibly) a relatively large toe box. Any recommendations? And "Don't get boots, you arthritic city slicker" can be a legit response, if that's what you conclude.
  15. And F Joey McGuire.
  16. They have to wait until oil hits $125/bbl again. To replace Jimbo will cost in excess of $120mm, when you consider his buyout, the new coach's likely buyout, and the new contract. They set a horrible precedent giving a washed up coach a 10 year contract.
  17. Auburn has 7 QBS on the roster: 3 Fr, 3 sophomores, 1 upper classmen. The 1 upper classman is Thorne - a transfer from Michigan State. He had "ok" stats last year as a starter, but was mediocre to poor against any Big10 team w/ a pulse. QB2 is Robby Ashford, transfer from Oregon. He's pretty mediocre, too. QB3, Geriner, is a RS FR 4* recruit. They can't be worse, can they?
  18. Counterpoint:
  19. Yep an average of an average of an average of .... yielding a single number should always be scrutinized.
  20. @Frank Drebin - thank you for posting that! A quick link to 2022 grade 8 math data: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/mathematics/states/groups/?grade=8 Texas white: 284 Texas hispanic: 265 Texas black: 260 Texas asian: 307 Wisconsin white: 291 Wisconsin hispanic: 264 Wisconsin black: 237 Wisconsin asian: 288 Link to 2022 4th grade reading: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/states/groups/?grade=4 Texas white: 228 Texas hispanic: 205 Texas black: 204 Texas asian: 251 Wisconsin white: 226 Wisconsin hispanic: 202 Wisconsin black: 186 Wisconsin asian: 219 Texas 7, Wisconsin 1 - I picked 2 at random Fixating on averages can and may result in poor decision making Grade 4 literacy rates are directly correlated (and likely causal) to adult success, fwiw.
  21. LT bond writers and/or proponents ignored recent cautionary tales if they put everything in 1 or 2 bonds. RRISD set the example on how to do this around 15-20 years ago. A few years after the ~$36mm bond to build "The Palace on Parmer" (Kelly Reeves Athletic Center), darn near every bond failed. Someone on the school board or at the administration office (impossible that it was one of the superintendents, as they were mouth-breathers) had an idea to (1) split into many bonds and (2) make sure each bond impacted EVERY school in the district in some fashion. Johnny's middle school gets new carpet. Sally's elementary gets a revamped cafeteria. Holly's high school gets a new performing arts center. etc. From memory, I can think of few bonds that have failed in RRISD since. I concede that I could be misremembering details and that some bonds could have failed... Prosper receiving $100mm from recapture is insane.
  22. Totally agree that EVA > United. Of the 7 or so trips I made to Taipei, I took EVA 2 times. It is definitely superior to United, but its time/day options were a little more limited than United. Also, I was able to fly business, so the United experience was not as poor as it would have been in coach.
  23. I have never and will never fly spirit or frontier. There are far too many stories to share, but ones that stand out are canceled flights that result in you being stuck in your location for another 2-3 days. Even on SWA, there is a 100% chance you are out of there within 12 hours. For business, I try to optimize travel time, convenience, and cost - and in that order. I often will schedule a direct flight out of Austin at 6a to optimize travel time, only to regret it when I have to wake at 3:30a to get there. However, I arrive on the west coast w/ a full day. I typically avoid SWA coming from the west coast toward Austin, esp. at the end of the day, as they are notoriously behind schedule out of places like SJC. A former colleague did tons of flying to SFO and Taiwan - and I did a few times. His airline of choice was United, as SFO is a United hub and they have a daily direct flight to Taipei. For family, I use a similar calculus, but a little more biased toward cost. SWA often gets a lean here with their baggage "leniency" and their availability at some destinations. A mistake some folks make is saving $$ on tickets by taking a late flight to a destination (or early flight home), not realizing that they are spending the money w/ another day of hotel or a lost day visiting. None of the calculus will ever result in Spirit or Frontier. When the Spirit/Frontier merger was announced a common response was, "They wanted to make the unquestioned worst airline in the world."
  24. Austin location already shuttered. Elgin location closing. Ran out of money, it appears. https://www.mysanantonio.com/food/article/circle-brewing-closing-austin-18375336.php A popular Austin brewing company shuttered its original location earlier this year after more than a decade, leaving only its newer Elgin operation open. For fans of the brand's Blur hefeweizen, there's some more bad news out there this week. On Monday, September 18, Circle Brewing announced that it is completely shutting down after almost 15 years in business. "It is with a heavy heart and the utmost sadness that we must announce the closing of Circle Brewing Company," the owners Ben Sabel and Judson Mulherin wrote on Facebook, acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic played a major factor in the demise of the business. Started in 2008, the original Braker Lane location opened its doors in 2010, first as a distribution-only brewery and eventually as a taproom. That era saw an enormous upswing in breweries opening all over Central Texas, like Austin Beerworks, Jester King, and 512 Brewing, among dozens of others. In 2019, the company purchased 23 acres in Elgin, just east of Austin. The idea was to create a brewery that was fully farm-to-glass: grown, brewed, and poured onsite. "Then Covid came along to ensure the buildout took forever and cost twice as much," the owners wrote. Sabel and Mulherin write that their biggest regret is not seeing the Elgin vision through.
  25. This is a horrific student recruiting video. aTm was one of many colleges we visited for my youngest last year. I was pleasently surprised that NONE of the tour, videos, etc. were anything like this. It would have turned off nearly 100% of the crowd. The primary tour guides (aTm students) gave a single uninspired "whoop" during the tour as we stopped near Kyle Field. Our engineering dept tour guide was one of the heads of admissions - and an Aggie alumnus. He focused on the department, research, faculty, and facilities. None of the foolishness I feared. As an entity, though, they just cannot seem to modernize. And maybe they do not feel the need. They have record enrollment, which is good for business. The penchant of their leadership to collossally screw up the management and handing of female and minority administrative and faculty talent should eventually lead to a major modernization. Well, that's what I keep saying to myself... And hoping for, as a Texas resident and taxpayer.
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