Messages

26

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Best thing you've bought recently

« on: September 22, 2021, 10:31:23 AM »

https://www.ryobitools.com/products/details/46396025432

I've had gas chainsaws in the past and they were always a pain to get started.  This thing is perfect for my needs.  I'm not felling any large trees, just mostly routine tree trimming, or disposing of fallen limbs and stuff like that.  But so far it seems this thing wouldn't have much trouble with larger jobs as well.  After my initial hesitancy I've been buying more and more electric outdoor tools including a string trimmer, hedge trimmer and blower.  I love them all and I don't foresee ever going back to gas unless I get a much larger property that requires longer run times.  I bought a push mower last year and now I wish I'd had the balls to go electric on that too.

Nice, i've started doing this too. I should have stuck with the same brand though. I have the black and decker chainsaw and small weed whacker. The chainsaw is great but the whacker is just ok. They both use the same batteries though, so that's nice. I also have a Stihl leaf blower and it is incred. Stihl is pricey, but this thing blows the concrete off my patio. I'm considering the Ryiobi riding mower. Its a pretty big investment though. I've heard its great, but the issue is there aren't a lot of places that work on them when you do have an issue.

Yep I have the same issue.  My weed whacker, blower and electric drill are all 20v craftsman that use the same battery.  My hedge trimmer is a Kobalt and now my chainsaw is a Ryobi.  I bought the Ryobi because I really wanted a 14 inch and the Craftsman electric saws didn't get great reviews.  Kobalt hedge trimmer was a gift.  It's nice but I would have bought a 20v Craftsman hedge trimmer if given the choice.

I got an EGO battery powered lawn mower a while back, and I absolutely love the thing. Never any problems starting it, you can use the self-propelling motor without turning on the blade motor. It's relatively quiet. It has plenty of power. No need to worry about winterizing it, or maintenance. We have 1/3 acre and it can mow the yard on a single charge.

27

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: September 22, 2021, 10:22:40 AM »

While we're discussing this, it's amazing how little middle school administrators care about middle school sports. Club sports definitely go harder. My daughter has had back to back cross country meets cancelled on total bullshit. Last Thursday she couldn't run because their bus was cancelled. They didn't give parents the option of taking our own kids to the meet. Yesterday the meet was cancelled by the host school because of a thunderstorm watch. Not thunder, not rain, not a thunderstorm warning, just a watch. It ended up raining for 10 minutes, an hour and a half before the meet was scheduled to start. The Ames coaches didn't practice after the cancellation.

crap is frustrating.

Unsurprisingly, middle school football here in Texas gets taken pretty seriously. Maybe volleyball too (I don't have any girls, so I'm not sure). Middle school basketball was an okay, but not great experience for my kid. And middle school soccer is an absolute utter complete joke in our district.

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: September 22, 2021, 10:16:21 AM »

We have three kids. At the beginning of school/sports season a year ago we pulled all of them out of basically everything due to COVID concerns. My dad lives close by, he's a cancer survivor, and we're the only people that he knows within like a 500 mile radius, so we were being extra cautious.

Our younger two were okay with everything, and sort of relished the ridiculous amount of time that they now had to play video games (which drove me crazy, a year on after the vaccine we have them back in activities again). The oldest one, without soccer, was absolutely despondent. After about a month and a half after consulting with our pediatrician we decided to let him go back to playing. The change in his demeanor was immediate and striking. We could actually be around him again.

All that is to say is that there are no obviously correct answers. There are risks and costs to all of this, both in doing some of these things, but in not doing them as well.

29

Kansas State Football / Re: Conspiracy Theory: is Fitz trying to edge out PurplePride.com?

« on: July 29, 2021, 12:03:35 PM »

Lmao, when did all of this wealth and arrogance stuff happen? It’s beyond great.

Before we played them in Austin in 1999. It was a huge game, we were a very underrated 13 and they were an egregiously overrated 15. He said this the week of the game and we went down there and beat the crap out of them.

That was all triggered when some sportswriter had a column that included a section called "Why We Hate K-State."

Weef didn't like that too much.

30

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 19, 2021, 05:32:14 PM »

I've seen what USSoccer was trying to do at the youth level from the inside since lil' SF played in the US Development Academy for a couple of years before it dissolved. And I know a bunch of kids that are playing for the Austin FC academy team. Neither of those solutions is any solution at all for the vast majority of kids.

USSoccer is a complete mess. Saying that we should let them control everything is a hilariously bad idea.

The incentives for a professional club lead them to try and find and develop the small number of kids that may turn into a professional athlete some day. If you think that the pressure to specialize is high now, wait until you see what happens when a club is truly in charge.

31

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 19, 2021, 05:28:47 PM »

lil sd just turned 8 and did tryouts for a new select team and made it and he starts practicing 2-3 days a week in late August going straight through winter at the indoor facility for the 2022 season. This is probably a normal thing for people who didn’t grow up in Meade Kansas but it seems pretty wild to me that they do this crap. It’s not even majors. Like, I guess you are just a baseball kid now bud. Hope you don’t burn out and do heavy drugs I guess.


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That's starting a little younger than what my kids have done with soccer, but not by a lot. As a parent you become the proverbial frog in a pot of hot water. Things get ratcheted up a little at a time until you find yourself doing things that you never would have imagined that you were willing to sign up for just a few years later.

Having said that, I've seen kids have a lot of fun doing this kind of stuff. Good luck to little SD.

32

Kansas State Football / Re: How much are we going to pay our players?

« on: July 09, 2021, 03:43:18 PM »

This seems like one of those things that could be "arranged" by the athletic department without being officially arranged by the athletic department extraodinarily easily.

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 09, 2021, 03:38:31 PM »

When my wife goes, she doesn't know the score, but she does know how many times my kid has headed the ball.

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: Sporting KC Thread!! (Featuring All of MLS and sometimes Mexican Leagues too)

« on: July 09, 2021, 03:33:25 PM »

I went to the first home Austin FC game a couple of weeks ago. I've never seen so many brand new jerseys in my life. It was too bad that it took them a couple of more home games before they could get a goal. The city is very much behind the team so far. Hopefully they'll get good sooner rather than later.

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 09, 2021, 03:30:17 PM »

I'm taking a 14 year old to a water polo tournament in Orange County in a few weeks! And the team kinda SUCKS!!!

How big is the youth water polo scene?

It is by far more popular in California than anywhere else but it isn't a crazy big scene even here and it was really hurt by pool access during covid. There were ~16 girls' teams in the Junior Olympic Zone qualifiers which basically covered the Bay Area. Boys probably had double the number of teams because girls started playing relatively recently.

It's a really cool sport, I'm going to watch all the women's games in the Olympics. It's rough, there's room for creativity with the ball, and they have a shot clock even for little kids so it's always back and forth. I could sit and watch competitive games all afternoon.

It seems like a really tough sport to play. I mean, if you're trying to rest a little it's going to be pretty obvious that suddenly you're doing a back float.

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 09, 2021, 03:13:50 PM »

My oldest kid is 15, which isn't exactly little anymore, but anyway...

He's been in North Carolina this week for the Boys ECNL National "Champions League", where 64 teams go and play in 16 round robin groups. His team won their group, and then a knock-out game today. The prize for that is he is going to St. Louis for an 8 team knock-out style tournament in two weeks.

Then he gets a week off before training for the next season starts.

This sort of seems like a lot...

Is that at the complex outside of Cary?

North of Greensboro.

37

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 09, 2021, 03:11:19 PM »

My oldest kid is 15, which isn't exactly little anymore, but anyway...

He's been in North Carolina this week for the Boys ECNL National "Champions League", where 64 teams go and play in 16 round robin groups. His team won their group, and then a knock-out game today. The prize for that is he is going to St. Louis for an 8 team knock-out style tournament in two weeks.

Then he gets a week off before training for the next season starts.

This sort of seems like a lot...

Gah!


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This is on top of the fact that there is only one other team in his league from our city (Austin). So even the rest of the year half the games are in Dallas/Houston/San Antonio + 1 trip to Oklahoma.

That is wild. I bet your kid whips ass at baseball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oops. I guess I didn't post the sport.

38

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 09, 2021, 02:47:50 PM »

I'm taking a 14 year old to a water polo tournament in Orange County in a few weeks! And the team kinda SUCKS!!!

How big is the youth water polo scene?

39

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 09, 2021, 02:46:39 PM »

My oldest kid is 15, which isn't exactly little anymore, but anyway...

He's been in North Carolina this week for the Boys ECNL National "Champions League", where 64 teams go and play in 16 round robin groups. His team won their group, and then a knock-out game today. The prize for that is he is going to St. Louis for an 8 team knock-out style tournament in two weeks.

Then he gets a week off before training for the next season starts.

This sort of seems like a lot...

Gah!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is on top of the fact that there is only one other team in his league from our city (Austin). So even the rest of the year half the games are in Dallas/Houston/San Antonio + 1 trip to Oklahoma.

40

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: July 09, 2021, 02:10:35 PM »

My oldest kid is 15, which isn't exactly little anymore, but anyway...

He's been in North Carolina this week for the Boys ECNL National "Champions League", where 64 teams go and play in 16 round robin groups. His team won their group, and then a knock-out game today. The prize for that is he is going to St. Louis for an 8 team knock-out style tournament in two weeks.

Then he gets a week off before training for the next season starts.

This sort of seems like a lot...

41

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Dogs

« on: April 16, 2021, 08:43:42 AM »

hello willie.   

He's pretty close to my platonic ideal dog.

42

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Dogs

« on: April 16, 2021, 08:43:00 AM »

Good luck PX. I'm sure that good boy will be in a great place in no time.

43

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Dogs

« on: April 15, 2021, 12:04:31 PM »

Willie out after taking a swim in my dad's farm pond.

44

Kansas State Football / Re: Big Idea

« on: April 07, 2021, 01:22:57 PM »

Long sleeve swim shirts with UV protection are what even the kids should be wearing anyway. You're good.

45

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Winter Death Storm 2011 (Updated for Winter Death Storm 2014)

« on: February 23, 2021, 10:11:25 PM »

@SleepFighter @AST

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/us/texas-storm-recovery-tuesday/index.html


Looks like some scalps were got.

It doesn't hurt my feelings. I think that the whole board should resign, as well as all of the officers. That the CEO of ERCOT makes $800k+ is gross. But at the end of the day, ERCOT didn't have regulatory authority to do much of anything. They could have been jumping up and down saying that Texas producers should abide by the voluntary guidelines that FERC came out with after blackouts associated with a winter storm in 2011. But I don't think that people that would be willing to do that would have much chance to be appointed to the ERCOT board anyway.

46

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Winter Death Storm 2011 (Updated for Winter Death Storm 2014)

« on: February 21, 2021, 05:02:26 PM »

Let's be clear. Energy prices were clearing at much lower than the maximum allowed by TX statute. The TX Public Utility Commission decided that wasn't how the market was supposed to work, and so decreed that prices should be set to the maximum. Then those prices were passed to end customers using a pricing model that was clearly not envisioned by the legislature when crafting the statute.

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Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Winter Death Storm 2011 (Updated for Winter Death Storm 2014)

« on: February 19, 2021, 04:06:38 PM »

Millions of Texans were without power for multiple days. The grid is apparently stable, but there are still some without power. Now thousands of Texans (including me) have been without water service for multiple days, and there is no word on when that might end. Multiple deaths are linked to these facts. Millions or Billions of dollars of property damage has occurred across a vast area. That doesn't begin to take into account the lost productivity.

Yes, the weather was unusual, but this is not some six sigma event. Freezing temperatures across the state have happened before (for instance 1989 and 2011), and should absolutely have been anticipated to happen again.

And so what have our state-wide leaders been up to? Our current governor decided to go on national TV and falsely blame the issues on renewable energy. Our previous governor indicated that Texans would rather deal with extended blackouts than have federal regulations extend to our grid. Our junior senator has managed to become one of the biggest laughing stocks in the entire country, mostly for being an bad person.  This is in addition to the normal TX nonsense like a vocal minority in the legislature calling for secession.

As far as I'm concerned, we Texans deserve to get crapped on a little.

48

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Winter Death Storm 2011 (Updated for Winter Death Storm 2014)

« on: February 18, 2021, 08:55:26 AM »

Those are indeed wholesale prices, and most customers are on fixed rate contracts that won't see immediate large jumps.

However, there is at least one company in TX that charges individual consumers a flat fee to get access to wholesale electricity prices. That company began telling individuals to find another provider last week. This week, bills for their customers were in the several hundreds to a few thousand dollars per day.

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Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Winter Death Storm 2011 (Updated for Winter Death Storm 2014)

« on: February 17, 2021, 05:15:43 PM »

The amount of outrage about this is kind of comical.  Like, this is a once every 20 years weather event.

Get mumped.

50

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Winter Death Storm 2011 (Updated for Winter Death Storm 2014)

« on: February 17, 2021, 05:14:56 PM »

We didn't have electricity for 30+ hours, from early Monday morning to yesterday afternoon. It got down into the 40's inside the house. Some people in my zip *still* without power. Lucky us, as of this morning we don't have water, due to some combination of burst mains and/or electricity shut off at pump stations.

This crap is rough ridin' maddening, but no, I don't think a damn thing will change.