Merv's Texas Adventures

Discussion in 'SBAF Blogs' started by purr1n, Dec 31, 2020.

  1. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Marv, how far do you have to travel for xiao long bao?
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Haha. I may actually get a more normal shaped office 11'x14'. Julie's is insisting on getting an interior designer. We'll see how that goes with with big screen, computer, AverLab, another small BLH speaker I am building, MiniDSP EARS, JBL monitors, cables, etc.

    The rest goes into the garage.

    The big speakers will need to be snuck in the middle of the night.


    About 15 minutes. This place looks super legit, but I have not tried it yet. Maybe for lunch today.

    --

    Corpus is weird. It's like the Republican Mirror Mirror version of the greater Santa Cruz area. Instead of hippies in their vans doing wavy hand and arm dances by the beach, there are dudes in big trucks fishing by the beach. Santa Cruz has its pro surfers by the doggie beach. Corpus has its pro wind surfers. Santa Cruz has its bums on Pacific who the local police try to kick out. Corpus has its bums downtown that mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night. Santa Cruz has its meh mall in Capitola. Corpus has its meh mall too in the middle of town. Santa Cruz loves its Biden/Harris signs as much as Corpus loves its Trump/Pence signs. Santa Cruz has UCSC. Corpus has Texas A&M CC. Santa Cruz has its local beach bums, the dudes wasted on pot lying on the rocks. Corpus has its local beach bums, the dudes with the cigars and buzzed on beer. The Santa Cruz area is a lesbian mecca (at least when I lived there). Corpus is LGBT too, that is Liberty Guns Beer and Trump (generally, I get the sense that people really don't give a F, even if you have sex with pigeons - just don't advertise it.). Santa Cruz (today) has a meth problem. Corpus has an opioid problem.
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2021
  3. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Once you have had a big black wide fridge, you'll never go back.
     
  4. Cryptowolf

    Cryptowolf Repping Chi Town - Friend

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    17 X 39. Oh, you meant Purr1n. :oops:

    My home office, bar, and audio area is entirely below ground though and we jokingly call it the dungeon.
     
  5. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    After having some recent fridge adventures, I thought it might be nice to look at some commercial separates next time. They'd be more efficient than a combined consumer unit, and maybe we wouldn't have to run an extra fridge in the garage.

    Currently we have the main one, a small standalone freezer, and another combo in the garage. That's a lot of motors to run.
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    PXL_20210103_190241573.jpg

    Holy shit. I can't believe Corpus has a place like this. Not bad, not bad at all. It's in the OG heartier style with the thicker wrapper, like the one I had in Melbourne as opposed to the delicate DTF / Taiwanese style. I wouldn't say premium class, but solid.

    The real surprise for me was this: pork belly over preserved mustard greens. WTH? Stuff like this is not supposed to be found in Corpus! I could barely find this in Irvine, and maybe one Hakka place on Powell in SF serves this. FWIW, I thought Irvine Chinese food was always second rate. The "B" rated cleanliness joints in the San Gabriel area were better. "B" stands for Best. Too much time cleaning kitchen means less time to make good food.

    PXL_20210103_184529445.jpg
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    upload_2021-1-4_20-4-19.png

    I am seriously one happy dad. That's awesome. This will be a nice counterbalance to California general history classes which seemed to be a bit too consumed with curing white guilt. It's the South, so I know he'll get to learn some about the historic battles which any boy will love. For those who may not be aware, California education omits anything about battles, blood, guts, and glory for any kind of history.

    The four wacky boomer US history teachers I had in high school focused half of the school year on the Reconstruction. We learned nothing about the Civil War itself. I had to go back and read about it, and also about 20th century history to pass the college AP test.
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2021
  8. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    California sounds fucked up. Do they realize that the Western world is Christian because Jesus was the deity who answered a Roman Emperor’s Conan the Barbarian type, “Give me victory or to hell with you,” prayer to let him put his enemy’s head on a stick? That they’re not all in a thatch roof hut somewhere in the old country farming dirt or ripping people’s hearts out because a psycho Spanish farmer named Cortez decided that farming sucked and that he would go Conan the Barbarian somewhere despite what the Spanish government thought, rich white guys were willing to shoot people over not wanting to pay taxes, and yet more rich white guys believed that God stuck the Western half of the USA there so that they could conquer it?
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2021
  9. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    I came across this article relevant to your adventures

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-12/california-exodus-intensifying-retirees-musicians-teachers-actors

    Ugh, hated Texas history. One of the more boring useless classes I had. Usually taught by the football coach.

    you're not going to get as much civil war as you are about Texas independence from mexico and the 6 flags that flew over the state.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Texas history is middle school, small time in the scheme of things. American history is high school. Kid likes Texas history, but then again he likes all history. He was rather fascinated about Admiral Yi, his turtle ships, and how the Koreans fought off the Japanese in the 16th century. I didn't even know anything about this.

    Did you do the Texas Pledge in addition to the Pledge of Allegiance?
     
  11. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Yeah, for sure. I thought it was normal for every state to have their own pledge.
     
  12. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    Thought of this thread yesterday when I renewed my car registration. It cost $75, and if you do it online you save $1 and get your new stickers in the mail.

    In CA my car registration was never that cheap, and the first year it was something outrageous (like $850 in the mid 90's) because my TX vehicle didn't have the CA emissions sticker on it.
     
  13. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Shit, not even Indiana had its own pledge.
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    A few states have it, but they are not recited. Some TX legislators not too far back forced it to be spoken in school. And the added the God part to it too. I hate it when the "under God" part is added, because it interrupts the rhythm. Otherwise I could care less.

    "Honor the Texas flag of 1836; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible." (OG version)

    "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible." (2007+ version)

    ^ awkward, interrupts the flow. I prefer the OG version.​

    Texas gets to fly its flag at the same height of the USA flag. In California, the state flag is flown under the USA flag. You have to understand, Texans are proud. Texas itself is a HUGE brand in Texas. The Texas logo is put on ice cream, dumplings, trucks, condoms, etc. I'm getting @schiit to make special Texas edition gear. (moar power, more piety).

    Don't get me wrong because from my experience so far, Texans don't mean to be assholes about it. I think if someone out of state said "WTF is this Texas pledge thing, sounds insurrectionist to me?", a proper Texan would with open arms politely invite such as person down to their home and have a beer to discuss.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2021
  15. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    So Texas is indivisible like Yahweh and Allah? Does Texas need angels to go smite people for Texas when Texas runs out of flame strike spells? I guess when they decided on the mythical attributes of Texas, they decided against Jesus powers because Jesus was a bit too convoluted and his hard R rated methods of murdering sinners a bit too graphic and oh gosh, Middle Eastern, for the megachurches.
     
  16. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Utterly unintersting Thadfact: The Yellow Rose of Texas was one of my first favourite songs.

    i think I moved on to Island in the Sun, which I love dearly to this day

    :sail:
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    There have been various movements to divide Texas into smaller pieces for greater Senate representation or for greater representation of certain parts of TX/OK where the people felt underrepresented. Part of this stems from an 1845 deal from the US Congress: ...Third – New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number...

    It's complex.

    Some people today, including those outside of Texas, believe that somewhere buried in the Texas Constitution, a provision exists that allows Texas to legally secede from the Union. Again, it's complex. Long story here about an educator in Michigan who believed this and got my wife to believe this for ten minutes, before she was corrected my our smart-ass son. Nevermind the Civil War and US Constitution.

    Texas is big and very different from part to part. I can almost guess which big city in Texas people are from upon meeting them. (I've been in different parts of TX before for work). And then there is everything in-between the big (and medium sized) cities. Think high elves, tech-gnomes, dwarves, halflings, orcs and goblins, etc.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2021
  18. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    So Texas is Gondor under Denethor and not Viggo Mortensen and an Elf princess. Got it.
     
  19. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    Texas songs, haha This is how Marv tells people where he is now:

     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Pretty much. El Paso, Austin, Houston, and Dallas are like different kingdoms. Then there are the smaller kingdoms. The weird thing is that shit actually gets done. For a large state, Texas has done extremely well in getting its vaccine allocation injected into people, using 49% of the doses. My former state of California ranks just above the US territories in the Pacific with 26%.
     

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