Grimas

North Houston (Woodlands)

Thanks! I was thinking 250-300 off the top of my head so I'll shoot for more...

That my my thinking... My cover is foil lined and insulated so a small heat source in there should trap the heat in there and be good overnight... Not warm enough to cook the PVC but good enough to keep the brass above freezing. (I drained the valves but the previous brass one cracked last freeze despite being wrapped and drained...)

So what can I sell a slightly used 22" WSF for these days? With cover, upgraded thermometer, upgraded diffuser and door seal... Won a XL BGE at a raffle and later bought a Traeger right after got the WSM and it's just sitting in my garage...

That sucks... I had planned to take it a few years ago when I had to stay in Madrid over a weekend but ended up going to Barcelona via train instead...

I tried it last night for the first time under the insulated cover our our pool backflow preventer as it's on the north side of the house...

Didn't realize FAFSA is actually a requirement to graduate in Texas... (From our school district) The Texas Legislature established a new requirement for Texas high school students to complete a financial aid application in order to graduate. Starting in the 2021-2022 school year,

One more nice day trip from Madrid is taking the train to Segovia - a roman aqueduct, Gothic cathedral in center of town and one of the castles that "inspired" one of the Disney castles.

There is an overnight train that leaves Madrid at midnight and arrives in Lisbon at 7am. I’ve been planning to take it on one of my Madrid trips (for work) but haven’t done it yet so can’t vouch for the experience…

Take the high speed train from Madrid to Toledo and make a day trip of it. I got on one of those hop-on/pop-off tour busses from the Toledo train station and after the tour, got off and walked around town for a few hours before taking the escalators down and catching the train back to Madrid. It’s a pretty small town to see in a day.

Conroe ISD just announced schools closed on Tuesday - we had a nice mist come down just hard enough to make everything wet that ought to make for an interesting commute tonight...

I bought some of those 10-hour chemical hand warmers and am gonna put one packet inside each insulated "sock" that I have on every outside faucet. Not sure if will make any difference but I figured, what the heck...

DM sent

Have they ever flown off a flattop?

Does anyone know if we've ever put Apache's on Navy ships? I'd think they would make a great tool to patrol the seas around the ships and remove any smaller surface craft better than a fast mover...

I understand it's easier with the "OneApp" (or whatever it's called) where you fill out just one application online - with some schools having different requirements on questions and essays - for all the schools you are applying to (as opposed to separate applications to each and every school...). No need to fill in the same basic info for each and every application... And the FAFSA process is different this year with a new system that matches your 1040 and other tax reporting to what you submit on the FAFSA (which delayed the application start process until Jan1 this year) as all the numbers have to match or it kicks you out of the system until they match... While you might have already been accepted to schools, you won't know what additional aid might be offered for another month (assuming you applied the past 2 weeks). Luckily, you don't have to accept any offers until sometime in March.

We usually just put a bag or two of whatever we haven't opened yet - potting soil/mulch/compost - on top of the water main and then take it off after the freeze.

You basically need to submit a FAFSA to get any merit or non-academic funds. Want to apply for that 500 grant from the Daughters of the American Revolution because your wife is a member, you must include the FAFSA application. (Some private schools require the CSS instead of the FAFSA when applying - same basic info but different ways of calculating financial need/ability to pay)

FAFSA/CSS is just one part of it. The main part was matching kid with schools based on grades, ranking and desired degree as well as where they have the best chance for academic scholarships and then you can focus on where to apply. They also review all essays and applications before you submit them - no way my kid would have listened to my thoughts/comments on what was originally written so having an outside reviewer made a big difference in what was originally written by my kid vs what eventually got submitted... Also, if you fill in the FAFSA incorrect and you have to wait a full year to make corrections. There are a lot of grants and other scholarships available - $500 here, $1000 there - that all require a FAFSA when you apply for them to even be considered. They also help you "negotiate" with schools who are offering you scholarships - school X may initially offer some amount while school Y makes a different offer. You can play one offer off the other to get even more money if they really want your kid especially if both schools compete with each other for the same pool of students. Our advisor has a good database from previous clients so they have a good feel of how much the schools are willing to pay/increase their initial offer. Sure, you can do it all this yourself but I hire consultants all the time in my line of work and understand that sometimes it's worth hiring someone who does this process all the time vs. trying to figure out how do it all by yourself...

Location? Mine is in Houston and I think they like to have some face-to-face meetings with you and the kid during the process... Cost was in the $5k range that covers you until they graduate university (they help with filing the FAFSA every year even once the kid is in school).

See my old post #394 from a few years ago- my whole setup was $2000 to power a 4000sqft house:

Good read from Art: https://www.artberman.com/blog/beginning-of-the-end-for-the-permian/

Great season that should have gone another week… Glad I’m a UT fan instead of an aggy/land thief fan going into the 2024 season…

Good to visit campuses ahead of applying just to get a “feel” of the place and to decide if you even apply to that school and then another round of visits once you get acceptance letters. We have a college “consultant” that gave us a list of schools our twins could get into - based on grades and potential scholarships - but after initial visits, eliminated some of those after the visit. Now doing the next round of visits once they got accepted to decide which is the best fit. (Sure, kid #2 could get into UNT or UTD with a free ride if they applied but after a visit, no way in hell did they want to go there based on what they saw on the initial visit…) Now that they have a few acceptances and $ offers, will revisit in the coming months to decide where to go… Will be having some tough discussions shortly - yea, I know you liked school x but I will have to pay out-of-state tuition for you to go there while school z is in-state and is offering you some $ as well…. Guess where you are going…

Great season guys...