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Everything posted by Ag with kids
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WTF does Trump have to do with this? Explain large approval of Biden for the Dems? Well, the community of CC isn't the monolithic thing you seem to think it is. I live on NPI. There's probably 3 different CoI just here on the island. Then, there's the Bluff (which I assume has more than one). I haven't learned much past that yet. But, all those communities I mentioned are QUITE different and have different goals/views. I did mention Tarrant County having at least 20 What you're proposing would result in a HoR with about 100K+ people in it.
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You realize that the "mandering" part of gerrymandering came about because one of the districts drawn in 1812 and approved by Gov Gerry of Mass resembled a salamander. This is not new. Now, are they more efficient, yeah. But this is definitely something that's been going on for 200+ years... And I agree that NC shouldn't have representation like that. Which is why I referenced TX. In 2000, every single statewide office was held by a Republican. The state voted overwhelmingly for GWB for POTUS. Both Senators were Republicans. So, obviously, the partisanship of the state aligned with the GOP. And yet the HoR for TX were majority Democrat due to 1990 Democratic gerrymandering. The NC case is wrong and the TX case was wrong.
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I saw the comments above about going in December. We usually do Sint Maarten for Christmas and a few years ago did an excursion to St Barts. Included ferry ride and a Jeep when we got there. Had a great time. Stopped somewhere and ate (don't ask me where). It was kind of busy, but wasn't too bad at the 4 or 5 beaches we stopped at. So, don't be TOO afraid of high season. It WAS a sight to see in the harbor when you pull into it, though. About 20 of the yachts you see there have their own wikipedia page. And watching the planes land was pretty awesome. Not Sint Maarten awesome, but still really cool. I'd like to try staying there some time, but I still really like Sint Maarten/St Martin.
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Faction...well, that's kind of ill defined. If your neighborhood has different views than the neighborhood across the street, you now have two competing "factions". And Communities of Interest is hard to define. I live in Corpus now so I haven't learned it as well, but I lived in the DFW area for quite some time. Just Tarrant County would probably be at least 20 different CoI...Do they all get separate representatives at the state and federal level? Obviously, the answer is no, because that's not practical. Now, the weird ass districts they draw now are, in my opinion, not a great solution and there's got to be a better way to do it that respect CoI. But, I still believe, at the aggregate level, if the state votes majority Party A for every single statewide office, then the overall values of the majority of the state tend to align with Representatives from Party A and the split of Representatives should represent that (hence, Representative)... I will say that some of the laws that are on record somewhat DEMAND that we get at least some of these weird ass districts since they require X number of majority minority districts, which drives the process in part. BTW, factions started right after Washington left office and has been going on our entire history. What we have now is just a continuation of 200+ years of "destroying our political culture"... And now that's 2 posts in Politics in the past several years...
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I didn't say it was an either/or. I said the first part of your statement, but I didn't say the second part. I believe the make up of the state and House of Reps should match closely to the make up of the state. Why should a state that votes for one party for every single statewide office be represented in the state lege or HoR by more members of the opposition party? But, communities of interest are also important. I agree that the shitty districts they draw are ridiculous. I think they should work to achieve BOTH goals when they draw the lines... However, I noticed that the Democratic Party in Texas sure wasn't concerned with gerrymandering being a problem for about 130 years when they were the ones who benefitted from it. Their concern only seemed to pop up when they weren't the ones in charge for a change... And WTF did you bring me up for? I haven't posted on this politics board in forever...I've only occasionally been in the travel board.
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I would only buy on French side of St Martin. Dutch side is way too crowded. The Cupecoy area is pretty nice and not very crowded.
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Boathouse has some pretty solid food. And more than just fried food like Snoopy's.
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Meh...I know Hurricanes are seen as a huge risk, but only a few have hit St Bart's (or most of the Caribbean) in recorded history. It's kind of like here in Corpus. Only 6 in recorded history and only 1 did major damage. Harvey DID fuck up Port A and Rockport though.... Compare that to living in Tornado Alley (I lived in DFW for 30+ years) where you know you're getting hail and tornadoes EVERY year. PLUS, with hurricanes, you've got DAYS to make plans to evacuate. Now, you WOULD have to have a long term plan to stay away if it gets hit by a hurricane... Basically, a low hurricane risk place would be the Colorado, but it's not very beachy.🙂
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Belize has their QRP program that is pretty good for expats. We've actually looked into it and are thinking of maybe doing that when we retire (while keeping our base on N Padre Island). Last Christmas, we looked at some condos in Sint Maarten that were pretty close to Maho/Cupecoy and looked like they might be promising. I'll dig and see if I can find the info we got from that.
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Beach on NPI is packed all the way down to PINS Saturday. Based on the clusterfuck that was on the bridge/causeway, I assume it was the same yesterday. We just took the boat to Doc's for lunch and then Boathouse to watch a friend play. Boathouse isn't a touron destination, especially during the day, so it was full of us locals avoiding them... I heard The Slip, Farah's and Pelican were open, but haven't been. This is NOT the weekend to be driving after drinking anything since NPI is crawling with cops looking to pull over everyone...
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Any news on Shorty's opening up? I'd hate to think this stuff shitcanned them. And yes, the weekend is going to be bad. My boss was in a meeting with the county yesterday and the sheriff and park rangers are going to be patrolling the ski canals heavily. Which sucks, because that's where we locals go to hide out from the tourons on the beach on weekends like this...
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A few years back, my dumbass oldest boy came out to the beach with us (we had a ton of family in for vacation). He backed his truck up and spun his tires with the brake on to sink the backend down like a lot of folks do. BUT....he did it in the sand where the water had been coming up to. Next thing he knows, he's fucking stuck. I tried pulling him out with my Jeep + winch and couldn't do it. My son tried to dig the tires out but that just made it worse (listening to his old man is not his strong suit). 3 hours later, we had a guy come out with a deuce and a half and it took him a full running start to get the truck unstuck. We all had a great time watching the shenanigans and getting drunk while talking with the constable the whole time (he was there to make sure no one got hurt trying to get the truck out - he said - I think he was just as amused as we were)
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A few weeks ago I ended up pulling about 12 vehicles out of the soft sand around Marker 238 (south of Bob Hall) with my 2 door Wrangler, about half of those were 4x2 trucks...Got a little amusement out of that.
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Most of the NPI restaurants are open to 50% (at least) now. I've been about 5 or 6 times to Scuttlebutt's since they opened up.
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NPI has been packed this whole shutdown time. I think it's partially because Port A was closed for awhile and everyone was off work/working from home and decided to come to the beach. Middle of the week in the mid afternoon last week we had to go all the way down to the very last access road (right before PINS) so that we could get on the beach without having people all up our ass. I shudder to think how bad it'll be this Memorial Day weekend. On a good note, I own a condo here on the island and usually from April to late May it's not very busy. But, my place has been rented solid since March and is booked out for quite a bit from now, too.
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I'm not that big a fan of cities, especially new ones...fucking sue me. I didn't live in the US until I was 10 and my parents were both teachers so I grew up seeing shit tons of amazing history growing up. I went to a church that was almost 700 years old in our small English town. Now, I live 3 min from the beach on Padre Island now. I like that better. BTW, I'm here in NYC now. It's cool so far. Definitely bolstered by the fact that we had Per Se for dinner earlier (with a seat right on the window overlooking Central Park, so that was nice. good view). That was one AMAZING meal. We've got several things planned for tomorrow - the Staten Island Ferry so we can see the SoL and say we did the ferry. I have tix to the Top of the Rock so I can do that. Also meeting up with some family I haven't seen in 30+ years that live in Jersey. Depending on time, we'll see what else we can squeeze in. But, when I leave on Sunday, I'll have more of an urge to visit DFW than NYC again...but that's because I have kids/grandkids up in DFW. Otherwise, the only reason I'd hit DFW or NYC was because I was connecting on a flight in an airport.
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Thanks! I figured I might grab a NY slice (not Sbarro) while I was there (when lived in Weatherford, we had pizza place where everyone that work there was from the Bronx, so I've had some). Plus Katz Deli and Per Se, so I have a lot of the food covered. I'll definitely put the 9/11 memorial on the list now.
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Die? Nope. I'm just not that big of a city person. I've got plenty of places to travel to in the world that don't involve brand new big cities. I grew up overseas going to cities like Munich, London, Paris, etc...and work has sent me to places like Singapore, Prague, Dubai, etc... I'd rather spend my travel dollars on going to places with beaches or historical sites... I AM literally checking the box on NYC. Yes...I get that there are a lot of great things there. But, they don't really interest me much. To me, it's not much better than DFW with really fucking tall buildings and people that talk funny... As a side note (based on your username), I checked Chicago off the list because I've been through O'hare a few times...(I'm only ¼ kidding)...
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Ok...So, I've got a short trip planned to NYC coming up. Basically, 2 days staying at the Hilton Midtown. I've never been to NYC (and probably won't go back unless I have to). I have ONE thing planned...dinner at Per Se, so I have that going for me. What are the things I absolutely "must do" in the short time I'm there? I've got the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building on my list. I'm thinking about a trip to Katz's Deli, too (yeah yeah, cliche, sue me). Other than that, what other things can I see in the short time I'm there?
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TRAVEL: Points, Miles, Discounts, Tips, Advice & Questions
Ag with kids replied to Spankytoes's topic in Food and Travel
Just as a PSA, if you've got an AMEX that has an airline credit, buying 500 mile upgrades from American WILL trigger the credit. Just did it on a couple of my cards (AMEX Platinum and AMEX Business Platinum). Before you ask, I have the Business Platinum because I actually have a business and I just got the personal Platinum. I'll have to reevaluate when the Business card comes up for renewal whether it's worth it. I can write off the annual fee to help offset the AF, so that's a plus. And the airline credit gets me another $200 towards AF. Plus, if I do any business traveling, I can get 5x MR points booking it thru AMEX. -
TRAVEL: Points, Miles, Discounts, Tips, Advice & Questions
Ag with kids replied to Spankytoes's topic in Food and Travel
I think the only real extra is that I can get complementary under-500 mi upgrades and then do the 500 mi upgrades. I'm in Corpus now so any work flights are routing through DFW. I seem to have at least a 50% hit rate for getting upgraded there (complementary). And I've gotten several on my personal travel too (I flew SXM-SAT after Christmas and my GF and I got upgraded on both legs. I know if I'd paid to fly First each of those times it definitely would have cost more than $595. And I'm at that point in my life where I don't mind spending a little extra for the comfort factor... So, I'd hate to lose that. Unless one of the cards can get me that... -
TRAVEL: Points, Miles, Discounts, Tips, Advice & Questions
Ag with kids replied to Spankytoes's topic in Food and Travel
When I said discounted, I was referring to getting the access for less than actually buying a membership (I.e. the annual fee for the card is less than a membership). I guess I phrased that poorly. Mea culpa. -
TRAVEL: Points, Miles, Discounts, Tips, Advice & Questions
Ag with kids replied to Spankytoes's topic in Food and Travel
This is off topic to credit cards, but still relevant to this thread... Since I was AA Gold/Platinum for a number of years earlier because work made me travel, the last 2 years, when I haven't made Gold, AA has offered to let me pay for a Status boost so I at least get Gold. I did it last year and plan on doing it again this year. I've got till 1/31 to sign up. Currently, it's $595, but I'm waiting to see if it will drop price again (initial offer was $735). I travel 4-8 times a year (at least twice to the Caribbean) so it seems to make sense. I get to purchase premium seating up front, which I like. And I can do 500 mi upgrades. Plus, now that I live in Corpus, a lot of my flights will be CRP-DFW, and I've got about a 60% hit rate on auto upgrade on those. Any downsides that I haven't thought of (yeah...the money, I got that)? And towards the CC side, I've got an AMEX Plat for lounge access (and I can get 5x points booking through them) and just got an AA Executive card for the sign up and discounted Admiral's Lounge (I've noticed that I always seem to end up closer to one of those rather than a AMEX lounge). Thoughts on that strategery? -
TRAVEL: Points, Miles, Discounts, Tips, Advice & Questions
Ag with kids replied to Spankytoes's topic in Food and Travel
What are y'all's thoughts about getting a good amount of points, but not using them right away? I've got 300K AMEX MR points, 450K Hilton points, 200K AA points and about 200K Marriott points. I travel 4-10 times a year, both for business and personal (and I have cards that give me extra points on all of those). I was thinking about letting things build up for several more years (possibly until I retire somewhere between 5 and 9 years from now). Then, I'd use the absolute shit out of them until they were gone. Or, should I slowly bleed them out every year as I do my personal travel? FWIW, I do at least one trip to the Caribbean/Belize and at least one trip to New Orleans a year... Up until now, I've spent them here and there, but I'm looking at getting some bigger vacations later
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