mobb_deep

Hey geeks. Long time no talk! As a couple of you know, I moved to the suburbs of north Houston about 18 months back. My wife spent most of her adolescent life here. Moving to Southern California for a career opportunity in the early 2000’s; where we met, settled down, and started a small family. Fast forward to 2021, her parents are in their late 70’s, and starting to have a pretty hard time living independently. Like many others at the time, we were both working remotely (wife was way before Covid), and had the opportunity to more or less move anywhere in the country. So, after discussing with one another, her siblings in Dallas and the SF bay, we decided to be the ones to move back to Houston, buying a home a few miles from her parents house. As there has historically been a bit of bad blood between two states, I thought it would be fun to share my experience, as an implant from CA. The good: 1) The dollar goes WAY further. From the price of gas, no state income tax, and much more affordable housing, I’m much less financially stressed. I was able to take the equity from my tiny 1000 sq ft 2 bed/bath beater condo in OC and put 20% down on a completely remodeled 3200 sq foot 4 bed/3 bath home on almost an acre of land. It has a pool/spa, large yard, etc. etc. Not to mention I’m paying 1000 less monthly on the mortgage, even with the higher rate on this loan, vs the last. 2) The people are generally much friendlier and hospitable. A lot more smiles and salutations from people we encounter daily, All of our neighbors are super friendly, welcomed us to the neighborhood and frequently invite us over to BBQ or watch some sports. I suspect some of that warm welcome has to do with my wife’s roots here, and they definitely throw in a dig now and then about CA and “not to bring our politics here”, but it seems pretty light hearted. I more or less tell them I don’t really follow politics or watch the news, and think both sides have good/bad ideas and leave it at that. 3) The quality of life. Moving from an overpopulated urban area to a large planned suburb definitely improved my quality of life. There are great fishing holes all over, green belt trails my daughter can ride her bike to school or friends house on, no helicopters, airplanes or loud cars driving around at all hours of the day. It’s just silent after 9-10 PM, sans a few frogs and crickets looking to hook up. 4) The BBQ. No explanation needed on this one. The bad: 1) The weather. It can be absolutely brutal and is so random. Cold and rainy one hour, hot a rainy another, then hot and humid the next. Moving from somewhere that was basically 75 and sunny year round, the weather has definitely taken some time to adjust too. There’s also so many skeeters! It’s pretty much impossible to go outside around dusk in this part of Texas. You’ll get annihilated in no time. 2) The what I like to call “Freedom to be a Christian” phenomena. When most people from Texas talk about freedom, they really compartmentalize it. You’re free to walk into a grocery store open carrying, but not free to buy a bottle of liquor. You need to go special stores for that, and of course… those aren’t allowed to even be open on the sabbath. You’re free to use public education to indoctrinate children into Christianity, and even forced to display a copy of the 10 commandments in all classrooms. But anything to do with other religions, or secularism is of course not protected by those same “freedoms”. Personally, I just want school to teach my kid to read, write, math and basic economics and civics. Leave the social justice, religious, sex, tranny crap from both sides for the parents to deal with. 3) The drivers. There seems to be no understanding of passing lanes and the proper way to use a highway. You got people and big rigs going 60 in the passing lane, other people going 80 in the merge lane, and a mixture of people going 60-90 in the middle lanes, all swerving in and out of traffic. Like seriously, is driving progressively slower from the left (passing) down to the right (merging) not a thing here? It’s complete chaos! 4) The Mexican food. I’ve found a few decent taquerias and had some pretty good food from taco trucks, but none of it comes close to SoCal. And that’s not even getting into the whole Tex Mex garbage; which shouldn’t even be allowed to call itself Mexican food. So yah. That’s been my experience so far. I miss some things from home, but glad to no longer deal with others. Texas has been mostly great and has alot or charm and things to offer, but has it’s own challenges. At the end of the day, I think what I learned most is I want to live all over the US and experience all the great places this country has to offer. Life’s too short to spend in a single bubble!

Driving 5 minutes and being at the beach. Driving an hour and skiing on the mountains. Mostly just my friends and my brother. We spent a lot of time together going to concerts, fishing and camping, riding dirt bikes, etc. I’m making some new friends here though, and have plenty of places to crash in OC, so I’m blessed either way!

I’ve had Xochi on my yelp list for a bit. Definitely want to check that place out. There’s a place called La Calle Tacos that looks really good too. I’m sure there are tons of great places in Houston proper. I’m in the Spring/Woodlands area, so it’s a bit of a trek to get into the city. Did venture into to the city to see WEEN at the White Oak Music Hall last week, and that was a blast.

Yo brother! Got one! https://imgur.com/a/CYUqcyD Definitely helps a little. How much… I dunno.

Meh. The entire country is headed towards 1984. Just with a little RuPaul’s Drag Show added from the left, and the Handmaid's Tale from the right. It’s all a bunch bullshit.

I’ve been trying to figure out what So Cal is famous for. We have the best Mexican food in the country, so I want to say Fish Tacos, but that’s something we obviously imported from south of the border.

Haha. Good to see you. I'm just passing through. I legit believe my continued sobriety and happiness would be in jeopardy if I went full bored again. As much as I love many of the old timers, this place is toxic as hell!

Fair enough. I have had a CD for her since she was born, and definitely don’t feel it’s not my responsibility to help her. On the counter side, of all the things our government spends our tax dollars on, I believe education and healthcare should be priority. Just behind military/border protection and critical infrastructure. It’s to the benefit of all IMO.

It did feel great. I remember posting about it on Facebook haha. One of my prouder moments in life. It definitely shouldn’t be free, and I agree that economics/finances should be prioritized over the arts in primary school.

Yah I dunno. I don’t do politics, so you won’t get any bites from me on that one. I only speak on my own personal experience, and my reflections later in life. I was a 19 year old, on my own financially, with a choice to either join the military or take out a loan if I wanted to “learn computers”. I’ve gone on to have a successful career, paid my loan, etc. etc. But it wasn’t without great sacrifice and some really dicey financial positions along the way. And this was all in the early 90’s, when the cost of education was much lower when adjusted to cost of living. Now having a teenager myself, I’d hate to see her go through the same hardship, and I ultimately believe a highly educated society is beneficial to all Americans. The more accessible education is, the better IMO.

@IGotWorms “Ranch Dressing”

The mid round RB’s are all crap shoot. Elliot, Jacobs, Conner, Mitchell, Montgomery, etc. Pretty tough sledding if you don’t go RB/RB. I didn’t draft a second RB until round 5. Just stacked WR and took a few bodies to rotate at RB2

QB: Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields RB: Dalvin Cook, Cam Akers, Kareem Hunt, Michael Carter, Tyler Allgeier WR: Davante Adams, AJ Brown, Keenan Allen, Deandre Hopkins, Chase Claypool TE: Dalton Schultz, Irv Smith Jr.

I’m torn on this one. When I first heard the news, I was pissed and wanted a refund for the 15 years of .edu loans I paid. Then I remembered how young and naive I was when I took out the loan, how my loan was sold to 4 different brokers, and how hard it was to keep current earlier on my career, and I can empathize. I feel like a basic BS/BA public education should be reasonably accessible, and is ultimately better for America as a whole. Advanced degrees and specialized fields should carry a higher price tag.

Your team blows more than KSB’s haha. Gabe Davis in the 4th? Is that even a real NFL player?

‘tis the season! GO LIONS! P.S. what’s up @Hardcore troubadour and @Bier Meister!

he clearly drafted 7th or 8th you focking retard. your team blows KSB

Yup. That’s me. I stop in from time to time. Check in on the DNDL league. Just busy with family and all the boring grownup BS. Good to see you though. Are you the gent that sent me the books?

I’ll ask my scout master and get back to you.

I’ve been stuck back in the P(a)ST all this time. What has it been like here in the future? I don’t see any flying cars anywhere.

fock skids

Deebo Samuel deserves an honorable mention. Most people drafted him in the 8th/9th round and he’s WR4 in my PPR league.

55.6 points. Boom championship! Thanks for convincing me I wasn’t nuts!

Did cbfalcon lose yet?

I got to sit JJ for Jamar Chase now right? This just seems too obvious, to be anything other than a really bad idea. Change line-up that got you to the finals during the finals. Always works!