Storm the Field

I know several land guys at Callon. Not a big company, but one of the more active operators in the Delaware the last few years. They merged with Cimarex maybe 5 years ago and made some other small acquisitions the last few years. Recently bought out the latest iteration of Percussion.

Holy water retention, Batman! Scale on Wednesday was actually 201.8. 48 hours later and I clocked in at 197.6 before heading to the gym this morning. I'll split the baby and call 199 my "true" starting weight for the year.

More consolidation in Houston. Apache is buying Callon for around $4.5B.

2042 feels closer to when the Shepherd/Durham construction will finish. I'd say more likely 2142 for I-45.

Elon Musk sits around laughing at a bot that posts painfully unfunny Elon Musk quotes. "Grim" doesn't even get close to accurately describing this.

Weighed in at 201 this morning. Was 196 last time I checked in mid-December, so 5 lbs tacked on seems about right for the nearly 2-week food and booze spree I was on. Shouldn't take very long to get back to pre-bender weight, especially with zero beer intake and renewed focus on diet. Big goal the next few weeks/months is to change up, or really, add on, to the gym routine I had for most of 2023. Was laser focused on weight training and really only did maybe 20 minutes of cardio before lifting to get warmed up. Not nearly enough core work either. I put on some solid muscle mass, dropped some body fat %, and lost an inch or so off the waistline, but never really got anywhere near "slim and trim." This Spring is gonna be more focused on shedding weight and getting back closer to my perennial goal weight of 185.

Let's run it back for another year fellas. Feels like the '23 thread had some really good info and guys kicking ass. After a gluttonous, booze-soaked period stretching from around 12/21 thru bedtime last night, kicking off Day 1 of getting back to it. This will be my 5th or 6th straight year to do Almost Entirely Dry January (always have at least 1 cheat day for company party). Gonna wait until tomorrow morning for some of the weekend's bloating to subside to do my official weigh-in to determine my "real" starting weight. Happy that this year, for a change, I'm not starting over from scratch in the gym. Worked out pretty damn consistently for most of '23 and, despite the holidays, still managed to hit the gym more often than not in December. For once, I won't be heading into my first workout of the year this afternoon feeling weak as hell and won't be sore for several days afterwards. Good luck all, and keep the updates coming.

Nothing to see here, just one of Fox's main "straight news" business anchors posting shit you'd typically expect to see on TexAgs. This was in reply to him posting about how it's a "disgrace" that Biden would take a short vacation between Xmas and New Years.

Bloomberg infamously had a headline late in 2022 about "Economists see 100% chance of recession in next 12 months"

Ahh, good ol ' Shadowstats. The website that cranks and hacks trot out every so often to show that the "real" unemployment rate is actually 25% or something (usually referenced when there's a Democrat in office). They get their "data" by literally just making shit up. They take the official reported numbers for CPI, GDP, jobs...etc. and then just tack on or subtract a large percentage they've made up (whichever makes the number look worse) and say "these are what the numbers should be if calculated the right way before they started started fudging the numbers in (insert a year during the Clinton administration)."

Making one final in-season trip to the lease this coming Saturday. Haven't had any luck getting a deer this year, but did shoot a good size hog back right before Thanksgiving. One of the other guys shot a nice buck the 2nd weekend of the season, but that's been about it. I had a very busy November and December at work and other weekend activities going on to where I didn't get to head out nearly as often or for as long as I would have liked. Other than Opening Weekend, have only been able to make 2 quick trips where I only got to sit in a stand either once or twice before needing to head back home. Next year I need to schedule some Fridays or Mondays off where I can head up for a full weekend and get at least 4 hunts in. This season for me was really about just getting back into deer hunting for the first time in close to 2 decades, and getting the lease I joined into a state where you could realistically have a chance of shooting something. When my spot opened up back in July, there was not a single functioning feeder at any of the stands. After some hard work, by late October we managed to get 2 up and running. There are 2 other stands that are in decent shape but just need new feeders (one of which has already been purchased and just needs to be set up). Got more work to do this offseason, but we have every intention of having at least 4 huntable stands ready for Opening Weekend of 2024, and are going to make a more concerted effort to make sure all batteries and solar panels are in working order and feeders are consistently filled to start feeding sometime in September and running consistently throughout the season (had a few hiccups this year like clocks not set properly, dead battery in one feeder, running out of corn in another...etc.)

Some primo winter weather on tap to close out 2023 in Texas. Loving this forecast of calm, sunny days with highs around 60 and lows in the high 30's through NYE. Need to take advantage and walk the dogs and put some miles on my bike while it lasts. First week of 2024 looks to be very stereotypically January. Dreary, windy and chilly, with occasional showers.

November PCE comes in lower than expected. On a 6-month basis, core PCE, at 1.87%, is already lower than the 2% target.

WTF happened at 2pm this afternoon? All 3 indices and oil were up slightly through lunchtime and then fell off a fucking cliff. Everybody took the afternoon off to go blow some of their gains on last minute Xmas gift splurges?

We're number 1! We're number 1!

Oh the vibes they are a changin'... Best economic sentiment readings in 6 months.

I guess we're doing year-end updates already. Weighed in at 208 on 1/2/23 and currently sitting at 195. I've been down as low as 189 this year, but have put a few back on over the last few weeks of holiday season. Plus, I got the 'rona right before Thanksgiving and that knocked me off my workout schedule for quite a while. Just within the last couple trips to the gym can say I'm back to where I was in mid-November. Overall, quite happy with my progress this year. While 13 lbs doesn't sound like much "weight loss", my main focus this year was on adding muscle. When I started the year, I was probably close to 30% body fat. Just total dad bod, very little definition anywhere. After 11 solid months of lifting, I've probably got more muscle mass than at any point in the last 15 years and would guess I'm down closer to low 20's in body fat percentage. Initial focus for first few months of 2024 will be to shift gears and focus more on dropping those final 10 lbs and tightening up my mid-section. Arms, chest, and shoulders have all come along nicely this year, but my stomach, while protruding less than it did a year ago, still looks like a guy about to hit 40 that drinks too much beer. I dread doing any kind of HIIT, but realize I've got to reconfigure my workout routine to do something more than just light cardio and heavy lifting every day if I ever want to get where I'm trying to go.

My last F150 hat I bought used came with a retractable cover installed. It was great for the first year or so, but eventually some part broke and it would no longer retract from pulling the cord. Had to manually push it open, which was not easy. Eventually it could only open halfway, which made it less than useless. I finally just tore the whole thing out. Guy at a truck accessory store told me the retractable covers pretty much always eventually break.

Curious what price you got quote for those All in was $1650, installed.

My handsome devil Tyler immediately charmed the pretty new dark haired girl at daycare today.

Out-dated article from 2022 that talks about a Fall 2023 opening, but it is currently under construction. I'm guessing sometime in Summer 2024. https://houston.eater.com/2022/10/26/23424738/houstons-pit-room-opens-new-resturant-expansion-katy-barbecue-bbq-memorial-city

I'm looking forward to checking out the Pit Room's new flagship location when it opens up next year out in Memorial City, next door to Fishing Tackle Unlimited. Gonna be like 5x the size of the original.

I mean, they're not exactly across the street from each other. Truth is on Washington and Pinkerton is basically east of Norhill. Each would be between 2-3 miles away from TB. I'm pretty comfortable making the following prediction: If they do actually build a big Terry Black's at that location on Shepherd, it will be busy. Additionally, neither Truth nor Pinkerton's will see a noticeable drop-off in customers. Houston is not exactly shrinking, and the Heights specifically continues to get more and more dense. God knows how many new giant apartment complexes have sprung up in the past few years.