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Jiggy-Z

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Posts posted by Jiggy-Z

  1. 16 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:


    Wait, what? Was someone holding you at gunpoint? Did you call the cops?

    Had to have a place with a veggie burger option and I was facing a hunger mutiny.  Nobody wanted to eat there and I suggested just waiting until we got home.  We were just outside of Brenham in Chappel Hill? so not a lot of options.  Car was unanimous-"never again".

  2. OK.  Divisional update:

    Both of my boys advanced in sport climbing (ropes) to the national competition in Philadelphia  next month. So in theory, they are among the top 50 in the US for their age and sex for this discipline (see breakdown below for those interested).  So a nice Father's Day gift for me.

    For those of you with kids interested in youth competition a quick rundown: 

    There are two seasons:  Bouldering  which is typically summer/fall local competition with regional round in December, Divisional round in January and Nationals in February.

    Sport and Speed which is typically spring/summer competition with regional round in  May, Divisional round in June, and Nationals in July.

     

    Regional qualification is pretty easy, just enter some official local comps and finish in the top 20 in 2 of them.

    Regional competition at the younger levels is typically 30-40 climbers of both sexes.  Top 10 in each advance to divisional comp.  Regional comp is one day.

    Divisional comp is top 10 from two regions.  Our region is  Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  Our divisional region partner has Arizona and New Mexico.

    Divisional comp is 2 days.  20 competitors are whittled down to top 10 for the second day. Second day comp is for top 10 of which the top 6 are selected for Nationals.

    There are 8 divisions in the US, so 48-50 climbers in each age group of both sexes qualify for nationals. There are 5 age groups (D =<11, C 12-13, B 14-15, A 16-17, and Jr. 18-19.)

    Nationals is 3 days/rounds.  1st day/round gets the top 20, Semi final round gets it down to top 10.  Final round orders the top 10.  Top 4 get US National Team standing.

    It is not unusual to have both male and female climbers from B, A, and Jr. also compete in the Open category, which as the name implies is not dependent on age.

     

    Speed climbing has different qualification standards and I believe all that is required to compete at the national competition is participation at regional and divisional.  Speed was kind of an afterthought competition until it became the third leg of Olympic and International competition.    

    There are also plenty of non sanctioned competitions such as the outdoor comps Granite Gripper at Enchanted rock and Limestoner at Reimers or various fun "themed" comps around Halloween or Valentines Day etc. 

  3. 13 hours ago, williemackgarza said:


    Jiggy, why no RSS?
    We use tons of suppliers in the austin area, rss being one.
    Just curious why you dont like them.
    They are locally owned and treat us right.
    Sometimes higher $ sometimes lower $. We buy tons of rebar and tools and material from them.
    Just depends on what the sales group can quote on each project.

    No problem with RSS.  Said I had just forgot about them. They are not my primary rebar or supply vendor, mostly just because  we are south and they are north, habits etc.

  4. 43 minutes ago, Asithappens said:

    I'm not an expert, but most of the backer rod stuff is the same. Ditto for the self-leveling product.

    As the expert above did say, if you're going to use a lot, buy it by the case.  Jiggy-Z is the expert....

    Like Williemack said, use backer rod  (or sand) to fill up the space so you don't have to so much of the self-leveling caulk. And, the backer rod will float. That's not usually a problem, but keep in mind.

     

    Backer rod does not matter (there are different kinds), its only there to provide a bottom before the material sets.  Just make sure backer rod is wide enough to provide snug fit.  Forgot about RSS.  Also a lot of the larger equipment rental places have all that as well.  Others:  Ram tool, Barnsco, Central Texas Equipment, United Rentals.

  5. 3 minutes ago, GSU&UT said:

    My dad is still a hardcore fundamentalist "evangelical" southern baptist. Growing up and finally leaving, it really soured me on just all christianity as a whole.

    I grew up catholic.  I feel your pain, only not as much since we can drink, and I did, a lot, especially lately.  Thought and prayer,s I guess?

  6. 2 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

    the alternative will be getting voted out - something he can, and will, blame on others/foul play/whatever he thinks of.  resigning is something he can't blame away.  it would be an admission that he's not fully in charge of everything around him - something he's never going to do.

    once he loses the election, he will have lawsuits in every state, demand recounts, it will be fucking ugly from nov to january.  count on that.

    he will die telling everyone that the count was wrong and he really won, but the media/angry democrats screwed him out of anger/pettiness/jealousy.

    That is how this is going to go...and don't forget 30% of this country will be right there with him.

  7. 2 hours ago, Homercles said:

     


    That’s how I feel listening to BBC Newshour with me, Tim Franks. I know the word is often a terrible place, but there’s not a lot I can do about it.

    Texas Standard is often interesting, along with Think and Hidden Brain if I can find the time to listen.

     

    All this plus...after awhile NPR starts to repeat itself with the exact same stories.  I like it for the commercial free experience.  By the end of the day I switch over to Ed and Jeff for my afternoon commute.

  8. 42 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

    i've yet to see a single poll (or story about a poll) that is good news for trump, or trump voters.

    even the cnn "the majority of voters think trump will be reelected" article wasn't exactly the story that you expected when you read the headline.

    a michigan poll i saw this morning had bernie and biden both leading trump 53-41.  greatest economy ever and still stuck at 41.  that should tell you something.

    Its like you guys learned nothing from our predicting the demise of Ou sucks football.

  9. 4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

    Well, when the vast majority of your base has never executed any legal document much beyond a marriage certificate and a mortgage (which should tip them off right there), it's pretty easy to convince them that a single piece of paper is all it takes for two sovereign nations to come to a trade agreement.

    The rest of the country rightly expects that hundreds of lawyers would be involved, and when it's all said and done, the final documents would number in the thousands of pages.  But hey, "he talks like us".

    Well, if I remember correctly, FDR, Stalin, and Churchill divided Europe up on a cocktail napkin.  Not saying that was the whole agreement but it does happen.

  10. On 5/25/2019 at 7:31 PM, Michael Knight said:

    The weakest parts of the new trilogy is its reliance on the old stars to carry the narrative.  Mark Hamil Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford were all just bad,  Ford can't act anymore and the other 2 never were very good to begin with. I'm pretty sure Billy Dee is gonna be a shit show too.

    Has the force taught you nothing?

    th?id=OIP.UCjHcmIPAfn_MNCFq869gwAAAA&pid

  11. Was down in Katy yesterday with the family to climb the tall walls at Momentum in preparation for the youth Divisional sport climbing round.

    1st the fun stuff.

    We were trying to get the kids to strategically plan their shakeouts and rest rather than their usual tactic of just shooting up the route only to fail on a move close to the top due to fatigue.-a favorite gotcha tactic of the youth route setters in competition.  We didn't do much lead climbing as the competition is top rope only for the age divisions my kids are in.  Changes next year for one of them.

    They climbed a bunch of routes.  The 11 year olds were able to top out as high as 5.12.d , and that was after being pretty pumped.  I think they each got in 15 routes, but a lot of those were one attempt only just like competition.  My 13 year old bonked because he did not eat breakfast or lunch and spent most his time bouldering just to piss me off, I think.  He was able to work some things and get a bunch of V6 and V7s -not his greatest day but at least he worked it.

    Now onto the interesting stuff.

    I am not a very experienced or good climber, but I know when shit does not look right.  I noticed these two dudes that somehow managed to slip past the eye of the staff and were doing some pretty dangerous stuff on their descends.  I had to narc on them.  they got warned a couple of times, but they really need to be sat down and retaught.  Hope they got kicked out after we left or something.  The staff had already had a tough day because:

    Earlier that day a male climber had ascended and topped his route and looked to have passed out right after topping out.  Witnesses thought he was fooling around with some kind of victory pose at first.  His belayer brought him down only to find out he was not breathing and his heart had stopped.  The fast thinking general manager and  youth coach immediately started administering CPR and mouth to mouth while 911 was called.  They were able to get him to throw up (not on his own) and continued CPR and MtoM for seemed like an hour but I'm sure it was only 5 to 10 minutes before EMS arrived.  EMS was able to get his heart started but were unable to get him breathing on his own, but were able to get some kind of respirator going.  I have no idea how the gentleman ultimately did, but I am sure he would have dead on arrival if not for the work of the GM and coach.

    I left the area when asked by staff and did not return until he was on the way to the hospital.  What I did see was pretty scary. The climber was very pale and had started to get a bluish and purple color at his ears and extremities...and this was fairly early on.  Rumors and scuttlebutt had indicated that the man's wife had indicated he had recently been diagnosed with some kind of heart issue.  First time I had ever really seen anything like that up close.

    So, take those CPR classes or get re-certified.  I plan to. 

     

     

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  12. 14 minutes ago, troph said:

    student loans are the most secure loan in America (not dischargable in bankruptcy and are obtained early in life), yet rates are variable and high.  risk / reward is not commensurate with a competitive market.  on top of that costs are crazy high now, far outpacing inflation for years and years.  and the reasons for government subsidies on interest or on grants are known and very compelling yet the federal government continues to decrease these programs.  it's a major issue.

    Mark Cuban's plan is stupid, people don't want private loans but the federal government has shrunk government backed lending and allowed lenders to increase lender profits when those loans are backed by the government.  he's nearsighted and not thinking about it from a policy perspective, his answer is shallow and not thoughtful.

    Once again, basically a tax on the middle class.

  13. 4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    In retrospect, when it came to electing a black man to be president....

    giphy.gif

    A lot of us believed what we wanted to -- that we'd progressed as a society, that we were beyond grunting masses responding to age-old dog whistles.

    We were WAY fucking wrong.  I truly had no idea how badly electing a black man as president was going to fucking break the brains of half the people in the country, but it did.  And they ain't going anywhere.  

    I have pointed that out on this site more than once.

    Given the facts that we were:

    In the worst economy since the Great Depression.

    Current lame duck R president had record low approval.

    In an unpopular war(s) under widely known false pretenses.

    Sarah Palin was a vice presidential candidate.

    McCain was old.

    This election should have been a Reaganesqe landslide.  I said it the morning after the election...No surprise Obama won, but I don't think a lot of America wants a black president.

     

     

     

  14. Humans are the scourge of the planet and we should limit ourselves via population control.

    Yes we can limit our polluting energy consumption through "clean energy".  But what will that do?  It will enable us to prosper and multiply.

    We can eliminate any world food shortages. But what will that do?  It will enable us to prosper and multiply.

    We prolong life.  Not just a few years of meaningless existence at the end but really add some productive years. To what end end.  Same effect as prospering and multiplying.

    We can stamp out racism, bigotry, global wars, religious persecution, pedophilia, sex trading, crime, and all manner of bad behavior.

    In the end we will foul everything we touch due to our own success.

     

  15. I was born in 1967, so by the time the 80's arrived, I could not really claim to have been a child of the 80's with play and all of that running around type of kid stuff.  The 70's were great for that.

    But I entered Jr. High in 1979 and finished up the decade with a Masters from UT in 1990.  Even in the early 80's I got the impression that the 80's wanted nothing to do with the 60s or 70s.  Almost overnight, bell bottoms and long unkept hair were gone.  Gone also were the cause folk songs with flute, mandolin, and other unusual instrumentation.  Rock with a driving beat was in.

    Economically, I think we were all tired of social experiments that had not worked and were worn by the vulnerability that multiple gas shortages revealed.  Everyone wanted to just concentrate on themselves.

    Of course, this was coming from the top end of the working class, not from some teenager like me.  But I got the signal loud and clear.  The 80s got pretty stale for me in a hurry.  By 1986 I was growing my hair long and living the dream until I knocked up my girlfriend and became a dad at 21-so then it was right back to being 80's man.

    To me the 90's were very cool.  I have mentioned my disdain for the boomer culture on many posts before.  I had no idea what "boomer culture" was back in 1990 but I could see it as young workforce employee.  Practices were stale, institutions were worn out from squeezing out high volume, and I could tell things needed to change.  The 90s to me were when we threw off a lot of dead weight from 50's-80s and finally got around to reevaluating everything based not on past practices but on what would work or not based on its own merit.

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  16. On 5/25/2019 at 9:08 AM, Nueces River Rat said:

    I graduated from high school in 90 and undergrad in 95.   Yea I farted around and changed majors and all the shit for a year and we didn't have all the advanced/dual credit shit kids have today.   I guess I got a good view on both the 80's and 90's vs some who might have graduated from high school later in the decade who might have been a little immature to make good observations about the 80's.  Of course I think the 80's were great because no one really gave a shit about your politics or anything else.  You could agree to disagree and still be friends.  Thanks Facebook and Twitter for helping to totally fuck that up today.  

    Anyhow I guess the 90's look like good times now.   The Soviet Union was gone.   The now internet/computer thing was kicking into high gear later in in the decade.   The GOP gained strength on local through Federal offices, but compared to the cluster fuck in DC now, both parties worked together and got some significant stuff done.   On the downside, the seeds for tabloid style Journalism began to sprout thanks to the TV trials noted above, etc.   

    BUT I will say the 90's were sort of like the roaring 20's and the Ike years of the 50's where we all thought things were humming along and then boom shit hit the fan the next decade.   The 20's the mojo was a rising stock market,  isolationism because we just fought a bloody war in Europe and everything was good until the meltdown on Wall Street which helped start the Great Depression which really didn't end until WWII.   The 50's we were all on the same page and were beginning to face and try to reconcile some Civil Rights issues and it was carrying over into the 60's.  Then JFK got shot and Vietnam occurred and those baby boomer who were going through their teens during the 50's and early 60's went ape shit and the mid to the late 60's into the 70's were total chaos with Watergate as icing on the cake.  I mean people talk about chaos now, talk to your parents or grandparents about that era and you might think today is just a walk in the park.

    The 90's, the seeds of 9/11 were being planted starting with the first attempt at bombing the WTC and a few other things we deferred on dealing with OBL and his organization.   Same thing with what led to the financial crisis in 2008.   Bank regulations were changed to allow pretty much anyone who could sign their name to borrow for a new home and a few other things in the investment side which came back to bite (see Bears Stearns).  

    Funny thing now looking back after writing this is seems like when we feel like things are a total mess, we actually were OK and look back at those time being better.   Everyone thought during the 80's we were going to blow up the world with the Soviet Union.  Now my kids think the decade I grew up in was pretty bad ass.  Go figure but I kind of agree.  I think one thing they like is we grew up without the instant communication thing.

     

    I will also add this about the 1920's:  Of course we all know the Great Depression did not really begin with the October stock market crash-there had to have been over speculation  for it to have occurred in the first place. But putting that aside, there was really no break for many Americans going all the way back to WWI.  Following the war much of the midwest and other parts of the country were already in severe drought.  Farmers did what Wall Street did and over financed and doubled down on dubious agricultural practices that depleted their land at an even faster rate in the absence of normal rainfall.  By the time of the 1929 crash, many had been in a depression for at least 7 years.  And let us not forget that pesky Spanish Flu that hit right after the war and before the drought.

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