Grimas

Looking at what was the route on that map (and avoiding tolls), go a bit further north. Take 90 to 1960 to get on 59 at Humble. Head north past the 99 tollway to 242 (Patton Village) and head west to 1488 (just north of the Woodlands). Take this west thru Magnolia and then to Hempstead where you can get on 290. Mix of 2 and 4 lane roads but not many lights and speed limits are at least 60 mph or more most of the way. That I-10 stretch of construction from Katy to Sealy can be brutal especially during late afternoons... Do not use 1960 between 59 and 290 as the amount of stoplights is brutal... (I read the original post backwards so the directions above are from east to west)

Wait, wut? There was actual gin in those houses??? I've gotten dozens over the years and have always always just gone "yea, neat. Whatever..." when I've gotten one... I've probably got 3 sitting in my office drawers right now...

I read somewhere that the flies are so bad this year because a lot of bats died in the freeze. Sounds logical but who knows...

I've done the same seating config with my family. If I was in the same situation and she hadn't asked the waitress, er, flight attendant to get involved, I probably would have gotten up on my own and moved to an open pair of seats further back for the space. But because she made a stink about it, I would have stayed put just to be an ass back to her...

Hooked!

Wife has a friend from high school that lived on the 8th floor and is missing. We were in Miami earlier this week and were supposed to meet up with him but couldn't coordinate a meet and now wife is taking it hard we didn't meet up while we were there...

I signed up for the Clear trial before my current trip but the lines leaving Houston were nil so I didn’t really see any advantage over my TSA precheck other than my wife had to use the regular line while the kids were covered with my TSA precheck. Headed home right now and there was no Clear lane in their American terminal in Miami so got no advantage on the return trip. I will be canceling my Clear trial before it expires and just stick with my GE...

Texas residents say the temperatures on their smart thermostats were RAISED overnight without their permission after state's power operators warned of shortages amid a heat wave https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9703747/Texas-residents-say-temperature-smart-thermostats-raised-remotely.html

Headed out tomorrow... Can’t wait to shut work off for 2 weeks and luckily the Horns are on the way to Omaha so I have another excuse to go to a sports bar this weekend...

I meant to say it can be cold in December and to be prepared. The first week were there that trip, it was highs in the 50's but a front hit the second week and the highs were in the low 30's the second week.

Just remember it's frigging cold in December/January in Northern Italy... We were living in Norway the first time we visited for Christmas and left all out heavy cold weather gear at home thinking (yea, my bad) that Italy would be warmer... Wife and kids got new Italian designer winter coats because I was stupid...

all GE got extended last year I think until December...

I'd say one to 2 days max in Venice... Ride a gondola, walk over the bridge and eat some black squid-in pasta and hope it doesn't flood.... We flew in there several times as you could get something like $30/person for flights the airport from where we lived. On the second visit there, we skipped Venice all together and drove up and over the Adriatic and went to Croatia instead... 3rd trip there, we hopped on the train and headed east to Turin with stops in Verona and Milan (with a detour north to stay on Lake Como), Florence to Pisa to Lucca is a nice day trip... That being said, unless it's a beach resort in SE Asia, I'm more like Chevy Chase in Vacation at the Grand Canyon - yea it's nice... Another damn church... Next stop!

Wow - Just checked the prices and it's closer to 120 Euro/night in June... Damn Covid...

Dug through my emails after I posted and it was closer to $250 a night but here's the place we went to south of Florence: https://www.letorri.com/ It's been a few years but the site above gives you lots of options... Details: I confirm you with this e-mail, availability for 4 nights from 13th of December to 17th , in a three-room 4 people, at the total price of Euro 252,00. Apartment without extra charge, included final cleaning, taxes, weekly linen (not towels for pool), gas, electricity and heating in the price. DESCRIPTION THREE-ROOM 4 PEOPLE. In the three room-apartments there is a living room-kitchen, a master bedroom with double bed and bathroom, and another bedroom with two single beds, and a bathroom, for a total 80mt2. IN THE HEART OF TUSCANY. Le Torri Villa is about 20 km. from Florence, 30 Km from San Gimignano, 50 km from Siena, 60 km. from Pisa and 230 km from Rome. The kilometers are more or less equal to the time you'll take to reach each city. Bus service connection with Florence City. At your arrival full information and details maps Oh, typo - not 93 rooms but 3...

I haven't seen this mentioned but do a search for agriturismo's in the Tuscany region if you are looking for cool places to stay (agriturismo.it) - we did it a few years ago when we lived in Europe and had a blast. They are basically family farms/vinyards where they have converted part of it to apartments and you usually get meals with the family and other guests if you want... Near Rome, we stayed at a ranch that was inside the caldera of a volcano and had a huge apartment 93 rooms and a kitchen and living room) 20 minutes south of Florence that was something like $150/night for 4 of us...

Have you heard your outside condenser make a large noise when it turns on? This the the "hard start" that sucks a lot of energy to get the unit going. Once it starts, the load drops off. The soft start basically ramps up the power draw until the compressor kicks in and thus you don't get this "peak load". I had my A/C guy install it when I had my bi-annual service call for 150-200. I had it installed a few years ago as it's supposed to lengthen the life of your compressor. Not having these on your A/C is one reason they tell you to set your A/C down to 60 when you are running on the generator to keep it from cycling on and off and getting the power draw every time.

I got 2 of these off Amazon - $60/each https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FWAZEIU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 My modem and router don't use much energy and I think I got 4-5 hours out of it before the battery died.

No plumbing needed on the current setup as I just use propane tanks. The estimated $15k cost of the big Generac was something like $7k for the unit and another 7K for the pad, the transfer switch, running about 300' of plumbing as the gas main is on the other side of the house from the electrical panel and the install. Neighbors without the same gas issue have been paying 10-11k for there cast including install.

My journey down this path is because I already have a 3200W Champion Inverter (it can't be paired) I haul out to the deer lease but sits in my garage the rest of the time. Last year, I lost power at home 3-4 time for a few hours and usually after about an hour, I would pull the generator out and run a bunch of extension cables into the house to power some lights, the fridges/freezer, a tv and the wifi. (I've since added UPS to my wifi so I didn't have to run the cable up the stairs to the modem/router.) While I have gas heat, I realized during the recent freeze that doesn't matter if you don't have electricity, the thermostats and blower don't work... For less than $2000, I can now flip a few switches and live a bit more comfortably for a few days if needed. If it's longer than that, we'll be bugging out to stay with family in other parts of the state until power is restored...

Icepick, catch pan, neighbor's truck... https://www.amazon.com/GasTapper-Gasoline-Transfer-Equipment-Vehicles/dp/B00QSPU0NS/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7pKFBhDUARIsAFUoMDYdHnw3Ue-ur3XOyb9f8_9IN-oFa6xsLifheeIUYIde2lL_oqDZP78aApjPEALw_wcB&hvadid=177583837850&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9027720&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=11253720922796573218&hvtargid=kwd-132670641425&hydadcr=7478_9586273&keywords=gas+tapper&qid=1621431882&sr=8-2

I forgot to add - a propane tank should last 8-10 hours if not on max load. If it looks like it's going to be a longer outage like post hurricane or zombie attack, I'll probably not keep in on all the time - run for a bit to cool house down, charge of the UPS's and devices and to keep the fridges cold. Backup plan is to siphon and use the 50+ gallons of gas in car tanks...

I have a covered patio/bike storage area on one side of the house. I'll just leave it there (chained down and under a roof and an extra cover) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q1DLKBG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It weighs 200# and I wouldn't want to be lifting it up into the back of my truck myself but it moves pretty easily on the wheels if I wanted to keep it in the garage and just roll it out when needed. I may pull the wheels off of it to keep it walking away in the middle of the night... I went with a "proper" install as I wanted my wife/kids to be able to also get the house turned on if I'm not here. The other thing to consider is if you want to go with a 30A or 50A connector as you can only feed a max of 7200W into a 30A connector so having a larger generator than the 30A connection can handle is a waste of $$. As 50A connector can handle 12000W. (More info posted on page 8 of the "Next grid failure" discussion).

I just got my "whole house" generator connected today. The original quote for a 22Kw Generac was about $15K installed (gas on total opposite side of the house and would need to plumbed quite a distance and under driveway and other slab). I went with a portable, dual fuel 12,500kw generator and it was around $1000 for the generator and another $700 for the lockout switch, 50A inlet and 20' of 50A cable plus labor. Tested it today and can run both the 5ton and 3ton A/C's (with soft start kits), 3 fridges/freezers, multiple TV's, VSP pool pumps, WIFi and lights in every room (most with LED bulbs) in a 4,000 sq. ft. house. Only downside is I have to manually turn the system on/off - turn off all breakers, turn off main power, plug in cable from generator to the external outlet, fire up generator with the remote, engage lockout and then turn breakers back on to areas that are needed... (I don't see drying clothes as a must have during a power outage). Genny will mainly run on 20# propane tanks - I usually have 4 full ones on hand for the grills) and can use gasoline from the SUV's as a backup if I run out of propane - I don't want to deal with old gas and carburetor issues... Sure it isn't instant on but I can have the whole house up and running in 3-5 minutes for a 1/7th of the cost (and can take the generator with me if I move)... Just something to consider...

See if someone will share their "corporate rate" ID code with you. My Hertz card account is still tied to my previous employer and when I put in my gold card number, I got a weekly rental at the corporate price... (I'd share but the code tied to my account no longer works when I just plug in the corporate discount code without my card...) I guess the are honoring the corporate discounts and they are charging whatever they want to non-corporate renters...