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tx-ogre

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Posts posted by tx-ogre

    The "new" truck.... finally

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    Nice catch.  I had an ‘85 F-150 extended cab that I bought new.  Had the 300 6 cylinder with the “big stick” 4 speed manual transmission.  Had it for about 6 years and only sold it because of a change in the family driving situation and had to get a different vehicle.   Very reliable.  The only problem (multiple times) was the A/C evaporator cores were terrible and had to be replaced 3 times in 6 years.

    Utilities and Big Brother

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    11 hours ago, fortyearspickn said:

    Exactly.   It was like this in South Florida in the 70s.  Developers, Bankers and Politicians got rich with 'dredge and fill'  housing tracts that had no infrastructure behind them.  Here and now - when a third of the population doesn't know how it was 20 years ago - there are no expectations of how it should be, or what shouldn't be changed.  They accept horrible traffic,  brownouts, etc.  The NBA team, San Antonio Spurs, are now threatening to leave the city if they don't get a new arena. Their first was The AlamoDome - built in '93.  Had a new one (AT&T Center) built in 2002.   Politicians have to save face and keep our one and only top level team (we have no MLB or NFL teams)  so they need the money to pay for it.  It's circle joke. 

    Same thing here.  My wife and I moved to the Austin area permanently in 2012 after I retired.  Most of my wife’s family live here and  we had been coming here 2-3 times a year since 1986.  The population of the city of Austin has tripled and the population of the suburbs has exploded.  Austin is so expensive to live in that a lot of people are moving further and further out.  And unbelievably, other than the construction of the toll roads (that a lot of people railed against at the time), there has been very little improvement/expansion of the road system.  We live in unincorporated Hay County just south of the Austin city limits/Travis County line.  What used to feel like country living is now a three-ring circus.  We have talked about relocating in a few years.

    We had no desire to live in Austin, mostly because of the incompetence of city/county government.  While the local governments in Buda, Kyle (the fasting growing city) and San Marcos (County Seat) leave something to be desired, we are constantly reminded after seeing the Austin City Council and Mayor in action, we could be a lot worse off.

    • Like 1

    Utilities and Big Brother

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    7 hours ago, fortyearspickn said:

    Earlier this week I got a voicemail from our city's water company stating they would be installing new water meters.  Electronic, which they can control, read and monitor from their offices.  At the same time, in the news, they got approval yesterday to implement a changes to their pricing practices.  First and foremost - monitoring and fining those who use too much water  or for watering your lawn, outside of approved hours on your day. 

    Last week - our home thermostat (Nest brand) started showing an orange message in the little round screen. Instead of the temperature - for over a week now, it has shown a little 'utilities' icon with the message  "If you would like us at the Electric Company  to control your home's temperature, reducing it at peak usage times,  just click here. " 

    So - our water and power are basically controllable by bureaucrats.   San Antonio has a  dry climate - 32" average rainfall/year.  And of course, very hot.  So water and electricity are certainly issues.  The problem is exacerbated by the population growth - in the Top Five for the past several years.  From 1.3M in 2000 to 2.4M in 2023.   City Leaders want to attract people and businesses and the money they bring in.  Schools, roads and utilities are always struggling to keep up.   Not the same city we moved to 25 years ago. 

    In 1991 the  city water people were just waking up.  They found the Biggest Number One water user was some guy on the outskirts who had a massive catfish farm!  Funded by an investor from NJ,  rather than install filters to clean the water in his ponds - he just continuously flushed them with new water. Using 45 million gallons a day from the well he drilled  -  the worlds largest water well!  1/4 of the entire city's usage.    They shut him down after a years long struggle in the courts and legislature.  The water was free to him !   Sometimes it's hard to have confidence in the 'experts' - and when they control your water and power - it becomes scary. 

    We’re in the same boat here in Hays County, just south of Austin.  The bureaucratic/political  geniuses keep telling us to conserve water and placing additional restrictions on us.  But at the same time, these same clowns can’t issue building permits for more residential, commercial and industrial properties fast enough.  A lot of people are calling for a moratorium on new building until a real solution to the water issue has been found.

    • Upvote 1

    How many guitars does a guitarist need?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    I have 2 LPs, 2 SGs and an ES-335 so I have Gibsons pretty much covered.  Also a 6 string Ltd.  A 7 string Ltd and an 8 string Ibanez so I also have extended-range guitars covered.  A P-bass, a 4 string Ltd bass and a 6 string Ibanez bass.  About the only other guitars that I would be interested in would be a Tele and a decent acoustic.  And maybe a J-bass.

    Message for the forum from JDGM

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    As someone who has experienced many of the same things one on top of another and knows what it’s like, I’m pulling for you.  Hang in there, my friend.  It will suck at first, but things do eventually get better.  And it’s a great feeling when it does.

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 1
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