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Everything posted by Horn of Gabriel
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Marion Cotillard
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I think we all have seen experienced similar. In my experience HOA boards forget that they're not JUST about enforcement, they're also about making reasonable judgement calls - in fact that is their primary purpose, or should be! When I see HOAs veering too far over to enforcement it's usually for one or more of a few reasons: People on the board get off on control or conflict and are using it as a power play The "noisy 5%" of the community has taken over and is terrorizing the other 95% via the HOA (aka little old lady syndrome) There are one or more lawyers on the HOA board who enjoy shit like Robert's Rules and writing nastygrams The HOA was set up incorrectly to start with and requires insane requirements to change anything; I was in a HOA once that required 80% of the ENTIRE community to vote in favor of any rule change. Average voter participation in the board meetings: 2%, average vote by mail participation: 5%... Effectively the rules were frozen in place for eternity. I just don't buy the argument of "but if we make an exception here that locks us into making exceptions elsewhere!" ...because it simply isn't true. Exceptions are just that, exceptions. A functional HOA can and should be empowered to make exceptions as needed. The residents have the power to address those exceptions by replacing the HOA leadership each year if they don't like the judgement calls that they make. My $0.02.
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Um, the elected HOA president and the elected members of the HOA board? Don't we have representation for exactly this reason, to make reasonable rules and apply human common sense and judgement in situations exactly like this? If not, we don't really need HOAs, we just need computers since every rule is now black/white.
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They made good work of the weakest (but still good) book in the series so far. Can't wait for next season.
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Austin Homeless Free for All Ordinance
Horn of Gabriel replied to rage-a-holic's topic in Cloak Room
Abbotross -
THIS
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You got the AT4 trim? How's the ride in that, looks like the off-road tires. Also, how did you option it out?
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Really nice truck, and the same one that's been on my mind. Come back after driving it some more and give your impressions!
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Yeah I flipped on FSSW and it was beautiful. I think the DDR 3-pointer was the biggest cheer of the night. Seeing Kawhi cry and toss his hands up in frustration was beautiful. Fuck that guy so much. That sting will never go away, if you want out just do it the right way and don't burn the fucking house down on the way out the door. I hope he tears his ACL, MCL, PCL on the same play and then strokes out.
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🤮🤮🤮 that reads like a quote from the Onion. That said, JFC, we're not declining a bowl game nor are we firing Herman after Tech. We're Texas; we're going suffer through another year of shit, and end NEXT year 6-6 and THEN fire Herman, but we'll stretch it out into recruiting season to make sure we do maximum fuck up to the program first. Then we'll settle for another "up and coming" coordinator or head coach of a smaller program. We're Texas, we don't swing for the fences. Maybe 40 years from now the stars will align again.
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Longhorns @ Rapists - FS1/Surly Discord 2:30 Central
Horn of Gabriel replied to Surly Bevo's topic in Football
What an embarrassing tackle attempt by Jones -
Under two minutes left and we jump offsides. Dumb and preventable but it’s done. They’re now inside the 30 with downs to burn and an easy FG. Why not let them run it in? We get the ball back with a chance to win...or we can do what we did and let them milk the clock to zero and kick the chip shot to win.
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I’m curious what the liberal response to China is these days. Seems to me we have tried the “play nice” appeasement route, also the globalist route via WTO. It hasn’t worked because it assumes rational honest actors on the other side of the table. That’s not China. They have a whole different frame of morality, ideas around intellectual property (there is none unless we made it), and theft. I don’t like the sanctions and trade war but I ask what the alternative is at this point? Asking nicely and harsh language hasn’t worked. TPP was shaping up to be a disaster.
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Donna Imam FTW, but I'm already on record there.
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Advice on family life with a travel job
Horn of Gabriel replied to lazytexasfan's topic in Can You Help Me With This?
If Vera Farmiga in her prime threw herself at me all bets are off. People definitely glamorize travel. "Oh you're going to XYZ city, that's amazing!" ...no bitch, a hotel room in Paris looks exactly like a hotel room in Omaha. Plus you're there alone, which you do get used to but it's depressing to not have anyone there to share it with. -
Advice on family life with a travel job
Horn of Gabriel replied to lazytexasfan's topic in Can You Help Me With This?
I've been doing this for about 10 years. I have about 1M+ miles on American and probably the same amount on the other airlines over that time. During that time I've done about 350 trips to over 30 states and 13 countries WW. Currently I'm 42. You're asking the right questions, some of the same stuff I asked when I started. For me, I had progressed up the ranks to the exec level and my work days were non-stop: 24 hrs/day email, phone calls w/ Asia and Europe, etc. Decisions were being made at all hours and if you wanted to be in the decision loop, you had to participate - also if you wanted to progress career wise (in tech). I had the opportunity to move over to executive and professional training as an instructor. My kids are 9 and 11 now. My youngest (son) was born the same month that I started traveling like this. Not going to lie, it was hard. There were times when my wife felt stranded, because she was. It's pretty gut wrenching to take a call from your wife home with a 2 y/o and a newborn who is sick and she can't sleep and you're 3000 miles away. There's literally nothing you can say or do to make things better. Actually there are a few things: the compensation part of the role allowed us to outsource a ton of stuff we used to do ourselves: lawn service, maid service, for awhile I paid a laundry service to do all our laundry which was a pretty good deal @$8/load they pick it up wash/dry and fold it and bring it back to you the next day. That took some of the stress off. My typical week is travel out Sunday/Monday afternoon and travel back Wed/Thurs night. I'm usually doing that 3 weeks/month. A few years ago we got short staffed and had to do more, that year I was on the road 47 weeks - which was too much. My company has it set up right for the executive instructors, which make the tradeoffs worth it: When you're working, you're working and when you're home you're home - I only get a dozen or so work emails per week. I'm not expected to do much other than expenses when I get home. But when I'm leading training on the road, I have to "on," for the whole day, leading a class of smart and engaged people for 8 hrs/day, 3-4 days in a row with public speaking and facilitation. That drains you b/c it takes a ton of energy...so the home time is designed as your recharge time with family. Sometimes on my weeks when I'm not teaching I'll do other stuff, or fly the family out to meet me wherever I am - in fact they just met me in California and we visited family and did a trip tot the Sequoia National Park, which was awesome. Compensation - I'm compensated above what I would have been making as a VP of Marketing or VP of Product, in terms of cash. But when I did the calculation and thought about how you have to "on" 24 hours a day in a exec role, and the fact that I can basically forget about work when I'm home in this role, the work/life balance question becomes much closer. My wife and I just had our 15th anniversary. We're going strong. My kids are fine too - they know the routine. Dad goes to work, Dad comes home. I try to focus on them fully when I'm home. Most of the time I'm gone they are in school anyway. There are a few things that are hard for me to do, like I can't commit to being a coach on my son's baseball team b/c of my travel. I actually did it this year, but as an asst. coach and I was able to make all the games and 90% of the practices b/c the timing worked out, but sometimes it doesn't. I have to work really hard on maintaining a solid relationship with my daughter, who is about to be a teenager in 18 months, I want to provide her with a loving and supportive family environment at home, but I'd be doing that regardless of my travel situation. Most important you have to really support and trust your spouse. Schedule dates and special times with her. Listen and pitch in. Prepare yourself to attack the honey-do list when you get home - and BTW you will not be in any mood to do that shit after you've been traveling all week, but you've got to buck up and do it anyway. There are multiple right answers to this question. Only you can figure it out. Here are the variables you'll need to balance and take into account: Amount of travel - days/week, and weeks/year Work expected outside of travel days - are you expected to do shit at home AND on the road? That would suck. Where you'll travel - domestic or int'l. Going to Asia on the reg really sucks! Domestic is much easier and easier to get home on the night of a meeting. Compensation - are they making it worth your while? Cash is king... Time off - get a lot of it and plan to use it. Just realize that your family will be jazzed about using your miles to go on vacation and all you will want is to sit @ home... Your wife - does she have an independent streak or does she need you there a lot? You - are you going to get homesick or miss your family after being gone a few days? How about a few days for 10 weeks in a row? Your relationship - how strong is your trust in each other? Would either of you stray? Would either of you be concerned about the other straying? If the answer is yes to either, that is like rust for a relationship and will eat it up over time. Kids - do you have them, how old, how much do they need you, etc. Doing lots of travel with newborns is HELL, trust me. Your wife is very vulnerable during those early years and it's a make or break time for the family. Career - is this a launch pad for major career advancement? Nothing wrong with a parallel move or getting paid, just another variable to balance. Best of luck w/ the decision - hit me over PM if you want more or chat by phone w/ a road warrior... -
CAF is a joke. You know it is because the cops whine so much about reigning it in. There are instances when CAF has been used to shut down drug dealers and arms smugglers. Unfortunately it has also ensnared lots of regular people. Reason magazine has a whole series on this, cops have used CAF on immigrants (legal and illegal) trying to support their families, on small business owners, and even once stole money that a church was moving between states to build homes for the homeless. There are lots of problems with CAF but the biggest is that cops are not incentivized to care about how it’s used, and there are not penalties for misuse. The reason why most CAFs are only a few thousand dollars is that in the CAF system, they’re not charging YOU with a crime, they’re charging your money with a CIVIL violation. You have to prove that the money isn’t in violation to get it back, and that means paying a lawyer. For a Few thousand, it’s a losing proposition. The cops know that. So the money sits in evidence until they win the “case” by default. If you really want to make your blood boil, google “equitable sharing.” The feds have looser rules around CAF than most states, so they let local popo’s act as their enforcement arm to bring bs CAF cases, and cut a deal where they split the proceeds. Some jurisdictions make a significant percentage of their revenues from CAF now. Even if someone fights and wins a CAF case, they will often find their money or property has disappeared into the bureaucracy and it no longer there. Guess what?! Sovereign immunity, bitch! Going down this rabbit hole will turn you into a civil libertarian real quick. Check out reason.com for more. CAF is completely, hopelessly broken and needs to be dug out to the roots.
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I had a thread on my friend Donna Imam, who is running in the (D) primary for TX31, the seat that John Carter (R) currently holds. There were originally about 8 candidates in the (D) primary, now it's down to about 3 who are viable. Donna led the field for fundraising and public events in Q3.
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Austin Homeless Free for All Ordinance
Horn of Gabriel replied to rage-a-holic's topic in Cloak Room
Pretty much agree with all of this. Austin like so many cities have failed here. The failure has been at many levels: recognizing the scope of the problem, getting constituent buy-in to address it, funding the solution, managing the solution, and communicating positive outcomes. As a result, plus the macro us/them polarization of the country overall, we've fallen into a death spiral of "homeless bad" vs. "Heartless KLBJ Todd and Don listener!" ...which if we're being fair I'm pretty sure I saw that smear thrown around earlier as well. Neither is true (who listens to KLBJ anyway?), I believe that those that are against open camping would agree that they want a fair solution for those that suffer from homelessness that doesn't belittle, criminalize, and helps give them a hand up - or more extensive help for those that really need it with mental health issues. The frustration is borne out of how the City adjusted for a symptom without treating the disease, while not communicating what they were doing. Like the train debacle, if it were done right from the start, we might/could have gotten something that was actually good. Now because of inept management by the City and people who are too proud to admit they fucked it up, it's probably too late to go back and do it right, at least until a good portion of the council and mayor are turned over, IMO. -
Austin Homeless Free for All Ordinance
Horn of Gabriel replied to rage-a-holic's topic in Cloak Room
Really, it sure seems like they have something in common! One may be called zoning code and the other ordinance but they both govern behaviors and where they are allowed. The shopkeep on Lavaca doesn't care if it's a zoning problem or an ordinance problem - he wants the homeless guy to stop shitting outside his door. Also I'll note that even though zoning appropriate for Community First or Haven type development doesn't exist doesn't mean that it can't. If Austin can built the ARCH in the beating heart of the tourist district, continue rolling out the disaster of CodeNEXT, and build a ghost-train to nowhere, then they can create a new code appropriate for this problem. It takes leadership, guts, and community engagement to get constituent trust up and stakeholders bought in - exactly the kind of stuff that Austin city council leadership has NOT done by forcing this on the city and doing lip service engagement to the community. People act as if contentious land use regulation and having a city where there are a few well connected and funded advocacy groups is unique; they are not. Maybe Jimmy is the guy to break this problem - I've known him personally for many years - but I'm not holding my breath. -
Austin Homeless Free for All Ordinance
Horn of Gabriel replied to rage-a-holic's topic in Cloak Room
Wrong. -
Austin Homeless Free for All Ordinance
Horn of Gabriel replied to rage-a-holic's topic in Cloak Room
Multiple places have been proposed upthread, such as the old Home Depot building near St. John's. YES of course zoning would need to be changed but if the CoA can effectively rezone the entire City to decriminalize public camping, they can rezone a handful of plots for more effective relocation and servicing of population that suffers from homelessness.
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