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Anything You Want


gwilson

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Payam

I really appreciate the support especially being new on here but I think the subject should just be dropped as there are no hard feelings.

Nick_G may be a newbie to this forum and this subject matter, and is still young, wide-eyed, and optimistic about the world. He's going to take his licks as the reality is communicated to him that life is not 'Sim City: Walt Disney edition'.

Optimistic yes but a good portion of that optimism is because most of the people who I hear telling me that things can't be a certain way without facts or figures to prove it (not talking about anyone on here) are coming from a generation that if anything, has done little to gain my trust and much to give me reason to be skeptical. A generation that is well on it's way out. I am young, I do have energy, do I believe I can change the world, no of course not, do I believe if many people work toward a common goal much can be achieved, as trite or cliched as that sounds, yes. Can we do anything without true historical perspective, absolutely not, as history will be bound to repeat itself.

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Jack-in-the-box offers up bacon milk shake.

I couldn't resist. It was interesting, if you're into that whole frothy cold vanillobacon taste.

I'm glad they gave me a free sample and i didnt have to pay $3 for the full shake... that would have been a little too much baconshake.. but as for the sample.. a couple spoonfulls o baconshake. Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

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Jack-in-the-box offers up bacon milk shake.

I couldn't resist. It was interesting, if you're into that whole frothy cold vanillobacon taste.

I'm glad they gave me a free sample and i didnt have to pay $3 for the full shake... that would have been a little too much baconshake.. but as for the sample.. a couple spoonfulls o baconshake. Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

Hahaha

I know its chic or what not to put bacon in desserts but to grind it up into a shake.... when you were there did Jack in the Box have a recommend pairing?

Chocolate Shake best with Hamburgers

Vanilla Shake best with Chicken

Bacon Shake best with Breakfast Jack Combo ?

Edited by Nick_G
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Jack-in-the-box offers up bacon milk shake.

I couldn't resist. It was interesting, if you're into that whole frothy cold vanillobacon taste.

I'm glad they gave me a free sample and i didnt have to pay $3 for the full shake... that would have been a little too much baconshake.. but as for the sample.. a couple spoonfulls o baconshake. Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

&*(^#$^$(&($^$^(@!

I'm leaving now.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So the RDA HomeTour was this past weekend.

Didn't get a single mention on HAIF. I'm on RDA's email list.. didn't get a mention there either.

Their marketing sucks. I'm pretty ticked that I missed this one.

Was anyone here aware that it was this weekend? Anyone go? Bollocks

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City council will be talking tomorrow about a new ordinance for feeding the homeless. http://blog.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2012/03/houston-wants-to-regulate-feeding-the-homeless/ and http://innerlooped.com/1635/homeless-feeding-regulations/

We've contacted James Rodriguez and Wanda Adam's offices in support of it. You may consider contacting your council member as well.

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I'm contacting my councilpersons to tell them criminalizing charity is nothing to brag about. Didn't some dude named Jesus feed a bunch of homeless people bread and fish once upon a time? Did he get fined $2,000 for his act of kindness?

I generally have little use for preachers, but when they finally do something worthwhile, such as feeding the less fortunate, the LAST thing I am going to do is attempt to punish them for it. James Rodriguez should be ashamed. Enforce littering rules if you must. But limiting the feeding areas because some people get grossed out at seeing homeless people is ridiculous.

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I'm contacting my councilpersons to tell them criminalizing charity is nothing to brag about. Didn't some dude named Jesus feed a bunch of homeless people bread and fish once upon a time? Did he get fined $2,000 for his act of kindness?

I generally have little use for preachers, but when they finally do something worthwhile, such as feeding the less fortunate, the LAST thing I am going to do is attempt to punish them for it. James Rodriguez should be ashamed. Enforce littering rules if you must. But limiting the feeding areas because some people get grossed out at seeing homeless people is ridiculous.

No one is grossed out. It's a matter of safety. The homeless dart out into traffic and litter is left everywhere. They will still be able to feed the homeless... so no one is stopping that. There are tons of organizations better equipped to help the homeless (Search, etc.) and the churches should donate to them if they want to help. The reality is that preachers want a flock to preach to, and they use food as a way to get a crowd. They've been offered chances to help at places like Search but they turned them down because they wanted to run everything their own way.

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So, the aim is to stifle freedom of speech and religion afterall. I am even more disgusted. There are litter ordinances to deal with the trash. Inform the churches that it will be enforced. I have to say, in all my years working downtown, I have never once seen a homeless person "dart", into traffic, or anywhere else. "Darting" is simply not something that the homeless do. Now, if you claimed they "shuffled", I may have bought it. But, "dart"? I call hyperbole.

This is nothing more than another attempt by the City to hide the homeless from those who are disgusted by them.

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1. How is this stifling free speech? Churches can preach anything they want to. This just keeps them off private property.

2. Litter laws are enforced against people right now (which does no good for the homeless). Forcing the churches to pick up after themselves and their patrons seems like a fair request.

3. Yes, dart (and shuffle). Come watch people under Pierce elevated on a Saturday/Sunday. I think no one has been hit yet because traffic is slow on those mornings.

4. How is the city trying to "hide" them when they are inviting them into city parks? Under Pierce elevated and 59 is hiding. Bringing them into a controlled public park isn't hiding them at all.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I went a little crazy when I saw the that douche' location name was picked alongside the "Stadium" station. In fact, I had a (admittedly) insane argument when someone said "EaDo" in a conversation.

What surprised them was how many people were nodding their heads as they were agreeing with me.

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I would guess MAS = masonry and PRI = primary?

Hrm... I'm not sure. I took at a look at the house over the weekend. The original owners added 400 sq ft sunroom to the house. It looks as if it were part of the original structure (doesnt look bad at all). Maybe they redid the exterior when they added the sunroom.

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I went to the Original Marini's Empanada House this weekend. For a suburban style building, it was awesome. The patio felt very cozy. I think there was also a starbucks around the corner which shared the same patio.

http://www.theoriginalmarinis.com/

Anyone else been there?

Yes, this place is great. Everything is handmade and they are incredibly friendly. Highly recommended to all.

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Just east of the beltway on the south side of Westheimer. Empanadas were good, but my post was more about the building.

It is one of the more interesting strip centers. Been there a bunch of times over the years and never even noticed the Original Marini's..

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  • 2 months later...

Yeah, expanses of fluffy insulation can give a surreal look to an area. However, even though I have only laid 1/3 of the attic, there is already a noticeable difference. In the past, my AC could not keep up during very hot days. Even though the thermostat may be set at 78, the interior temp would creep up to 80 or more in the late afternoon. Yesterday, it never crept up, and by 8:30 pm, the AC was back to cycling, as opposed to running continuously. Last summer, the AC would run continuously until 11;30 or midnight. Of course, it "only" got up to 96 degrees yesterday. We'll see how it does today at 98.

Another pic...

AtticInsulationR-302.jpg

Edited by RedScare
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Your attic insulation looks very neat and geometric. I added a bunch of insulation to my attic a year ago last winter (on a cold day :)), and it looks pretty haphazard, but then again I have to crawl through much tighter spaces to reach mine thanks to a split attic. Prior to adding more insulation, my house would reach 82-83 on a average hot summer afternoon with the AC running continuously, or 85-87 on a really hot day. Now I can easily keep it at 77-78 (even 75-76 if I want) on a 99-degree day like today, and even then it occasionally cycles. Part of this is due to adding wall insulation, which I had professionally done. I suspect last summer would have been unbearable or would've required adding window AC units if not for the added insulation -- so it paid itself off pretty quickly. It's also noticeably quieter in the house. Good luck and stay cool.

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Yeah, it looks all neat and orderly there because that is the open area. Behind me in that photograph are the AC duct runs, which, although hung from the rafters, will still make it hard to simply roll the insulation out as I did in the photo. Today was noticeably warmer. I had to quit before noon, whereas yesterday I laid insulation until 1:00 pm.

It is good to hear that you got such good results from your retrofit. I toyed with putting insulation in my walls, but since the HAHC is refusing to allow replacement of siding...and I refuse to do it from the inside, or use foam...that is not looking very likely. I hope to get enough results from the attic insulation that it suffices.

There is one other option that I found last night that I had never thought of before. A guy added a false wall inside his house adjacent to his existing wall, and insulated that. In his case, he ended up with double insulated walls at R-30. In my case, it would be R-15, as the exterior wall would still be uninsulated. But, that is better than nothing. In my house, it would reduce square footage by only 38 square feet...hardly noticeable...and I would end up with some nice deep window ledges. Something to think about, and not terribly expensive.

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Yeah, it looks all neat and orderly there because that is the open area. Behind me in that photograph are the AC duct runs, which, although hung from the rafters, will still make it hard to simply roll the insulation out as I did in the photo. Today was noticeably warmer. I had to quit before noon, whereas yesterday I laid insulation until 1:00 pm.

It is good to hear that you got such good results from your retrofit. I toyed with putting insulation in my walls, but since the HAHC is refusing to allow replacement of siding...and I refuse to do it from the inside, or use foam...that is not looking very likely. I hope to get enough results from the attic insulation that it suffices.

There is one other option that I found last night that I had never thought of before. A guy added a false wall inside his house adjacent to his existing wall, and insulated that. In his case, he ended up with double insulated walls at R-30. In my case, it would be R-15, as the exterior wall would still be uninsulated. But, that is better than nothing. In my house, it would reduce square footage by only 38 square feet...hardly noticeable...and I would end up with some nice deep window ledges. Something to think about, and not terribly expensive.

Interesting idea with the false walls, that would provide some heavy-duty insulating.

I had cellulose foam sprayed from the inside walls for mine. It required drilling two quarter-sized holes between every set of studs, and the process is very messy and fills every speck of the house with loads of dust. It's also a pleasant-weather job since you need the windows open to clear the air afterwards. Of course, it required patching, retexturing, and repainting all the affected walls...not a lot of fun. But it was relatively cheap, and like begin in the attic in a hot day, you really appreciate it when it's all done.

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Scare, the people we bought our house from in Timbergrove had cellulose blown in in the mid 90's. The took off the top row of siding (cedar shakes) and filled the cavities. You could probably do that with fiberglass without a historic morons commission permit. We will have to replace our siding fairly soon. at that point, we will remove all of the insulation, OK it will fall out, then have an electrician replace th etwo wire electrical with grounded, and put in fiberglass batts. Then, new tyvek, nailers, and new cedar. I can't wait to see how much damage the AC drain has done over the years...

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Just a little update. I am now 2/3 finished rolling insulation. I hope to finish this weekend. Since it is not completely covered, it is a bit difficult to see big changes in the cooling patterns. However, I have noticed a couple of things. In the past, my AC would run continuously from 10:30 or 11:00 am until 11:00 pm or midnight. Last summer, it sometimes did not return to cycling until 2:00 or 3:00 am! This week, even with 3 100 degree days, the AC returned to cycling by 8:30 to 10:00 pm. That is a significant improvement. Also, whereas the interior temperature would rise to 82 or 83 in the past, it never went higher than 81 this week, and then only once. The other days it went only to 80. Today, the AC cycled all day, although the high was only about 93, and it is was overcast for a decent portion of the day.

Still, I am encouraged that once I have the entire attic covered, that the AC will be able to keep up. If it does, and returns to cycling at a respectable hour, say 8:00 pm, I'll be happy.

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Alright! The rain dropped the temps in my attic drastically, allowing me to finish up early. Nice and quiet without the AC running constantly. I'm curious what results will be once we get back to the high 90s and sunshine.

AtticR-30.jpg

Edited by RedScare
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And the finishing touch...

Attichatch.jpg

I had some unused windows screens that just happen to be the exact same size as my attic hatch opening. So, I put a screen over the opening, laid a couple of batts on it, and it lays on top of the ladder once I close the hatch. Pretty sweet.

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And the finishing touch...

Attichatch.jpg

I had some unused windows screens that just happen to be the exact same size as my attic hatch opening. So, I put a screen over the opening, laid a couple of batts on it, and it lays on top of the ladder once I close the hatch. Pretty sweet.

Nice...

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You know, it was kind of cool looking at my SmartMeter account, and seeing my energy usage drop as I got more insulation in. It dropped from 89 kwh to 70, to 59, then to 40 on Saturday. Now, granted, the temperature was dropping all 4 days, but it was still cool to watch it go down. The real test will come when we get a couple of 98 or 99 degree days with sun all day.

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You will notice a huge difference. During college I lived with my aunt and uncle in Bellaire. So I got the privilege of pulling out the 40-year old pancake thin blown in insulation originally installed. We then went with 12" of batts. Did nothing else to the walls of one of those old three-bedroom half-brick, half-shingled bungalows. Probably cut his electric bill by half and made it "feel" significantly warmer during the winder also.

But if you had a choice - why on earth did you pick summer to do it?

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A combination of things led to the poor timing. General procrastination, combined with financing (had a sizeable tax bill to deal with) pushed it to May. I also spent some time putting covers on several electrical boxes and spraying foam around several holes and can lights. Then just as I was getting ready to start, I cracked a tooth, and needed to deal with that. I waited until my mouth was all better before starting the attic. Pure bad luck meant that right as I started, temps shot up from the low 90s to near 100.

It really wasn't the worst thing in the world. I would install several rolls in the morning, and once it got really hot, I would stop for the day. By doing that, I was able to do the install myself, saving $500 or more. Sure, it spread the install out to about 3 weekends, but was worth it. Total cost was less than $700.

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A combination of things led to the poor timing. General procrastination, combined with financing (had a sizeable tax bill to deal with) pushed it to May. I also spent some time putting covers on several electrical boxes and spraying foam around several holes and can lights. Then just as I was getting ready to start, I cracked a tooth, and needed to deal with that. I waited until my mouth was all better before starting the attic. Pure bad luck meant that right as I started, temps shot up from the low 90s to near 100.

It really wasn't the worst thing in the world. I would install several rolls in the morning, and once it got really hot, I would stop for the day. By doing that, I was able to do the install myself, saving $500 or more. Sure, it spread the install out to about 3 weekends, but was worth it. Total cost was less than $700.

It's funny how that works, isn't it?

Let's take a house in the City of Houston valued at $270,000 in 2011 as an example. The tax rate is 2.52%. The bill is $5,315 per year. Figure that you could've made a real average rate of return of 5% per year if you were to invest that sum in stocks and bonds (rather than illiquid real estate). The value of that stream of payments in perpetuity is $106,300.

If local taxes were based on income or sales taxes and about 25% of household income (or tax savings) went toward housing and were taxable, then we should figure that the effect on property values of this property tax scheme is to reduce them by $79,725. (But this ignores that people would demand more real estate than they presently do, due to market distortions.)

Individuals subject to increasing property taxes may have built a great deal of equity for themselves, yet still be cash-poor. (And this would be especially true during periods of low cash income.) The consequence is deferred maintenance and deferred capital improvements, even if that corresponds to lower energy consumption. Is that good public policy?

Perhaps Texas should follow North Dakota's example, or at least dial things back.

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OK, I am 8 days into the full attic insulation analysis, and I thought I'd share some numbers. Since last Saturday, I haven't used 60 kwh in a day yet. The first few days were rainy and overcast, but usage plummeted to 32 to 40 kwh. On Monday, we started getting back into regular summer sun and heat. Every day from Monday through Friday has ranged between 56 and 58 kwh. Temperatures for those 5 days ranged from 91 to 95. Last year, usage ran from 80 to over 100 kwh per day. Admittedly, those were higher temps, but it looks like I am saving at least 20% with the new insulation.

The most important factor is that the AC continues to cycle throughout the afternoon. Last summer, the AC would run continuously from about 11 am to midnighte, or later. This, of course, ran up electricity usage, but, since the unit was maxed out, it could not keep the house to the set temp. If the AC is cycling, it clearly has enough capacity to keep up with the high temps.

The takeaway from this is that extra insulation in the attic pays big dividends. My $630 investment will probably pay for itself in 2 summers. Add in gas savings over the winter, and it will be less. It needs to be a minimum R-30, or 9 inches. R-38 is even better. And, it is not that hard to do yourself, so you can save money on install labor. Just do it.

Now, if I could only find a way to do my walls this cheap. :(

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Red, pick a long holiday weekend, say Thanksgiving. I bet you could strip your siding, insulate, and reside with Hardiplank before the City figured out what was going on. What's the after the fact penalty?

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Red, pick a long holiday weekend, say Thanksgiving. I bet you could strip your siding, insulate, and reside with Hardiplank before the City figured out what was going on. What's the after the fact penalty?

$500 a day, I think. :o You know, I'd consider it, except there are posters on this forum who claim to have taken photos of old houses in the Heights, in order to snitch us out to the City. That's the kind of friendly neighbors we have here. Guess they never heard the term, "snitches end up in ditches".

Back before the final ordinance took effect, a friend of mine was actually tagged for doing that. She had no idea that a permit AND HAHC review was required. They simply made her get reviewed and buy a permit. However, that was when HAHC was trying to convince everyone they were reasonable. Anyone who has watched their meetings knows that is no longer the case.

On the other hand, there ARE ways to avoid the City's heavy hand. Repairs up to 128 square feet are exempt from permitting, and if you reuse the siding there is nothing for HAHC to review. Most of my walls are less than 128 square feet when the window area is subtracted out. I could repair the walls getting the most sun without going over the limit. They also happen to be the walls that are most in need of maintenance and repair.

Edited by RedScare
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I am still trying to figure out why the City thinks there's a real governmental interest in replacement windows and siding. I can understand plumbing and electrical, there are life safety issues there, but windows? Siding? Why would the City care one whit about those?

I do have a complaint about the electrical permits. The City won't let you pul your own permit, you have to spend a ton of money to hire a master electrician. Why not let me pull my own permit, and red tag me if I don't do the work correctly? That little rule means I'm not rewiring my garage, becuase the quotes I received averaged $2300, while I could do it for about $150 in materials. Yes, I know how to do the rewiring.

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