-
Posts
1081 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Downloads
Recruiting - 2020
2019-2020 Football Season
Football
Entertainment
Sports
News and Business
Cloak Room
Transfer Portal
Recruiting
Events
Everything posted by Spaulding Smails
-
Fix it yourself. All kidding aside, what is stopping you from doing just that? If you are capable of doing so and were to try to fix it yourself, how much time would you spend troubleshooting, tracking down parts, etc? As the owner of a service company, it's incredibly infuriating and demoralizing when we hear a customer "I could have done it myself in half as long as it took your guy to do it!" while ignoring the time spent troubleshooting, tracking down parts, checking for safety / functionality and cleaning. Did you approve or sign their hourly rate sheet on the front end before the work began? Now, to play the other side of the coin, it does not sound like this service company has been transparent with you, and many companies put people out there who aren't the best and either screw things up or basically get paid to learn on the job. Or, they have shitty processes that rack up hours without any work getting accomplished. I'm guessing your experience is rooted in one of these. We constantly ask our employees to present "clearly communicated realistic expectations". Sounds like they failed here. If they knew it may have taken three trips, they should have communicated that up front as a possibility. And, if they're learning on the fly, they should be transparent and receptive to billing at a lesser rate. My guess is this is a larger company with an absentee ownership group who's simply trying to hit a metric for hours billed with no common sense oversight on individual transactions and a lack of empowerment for that tech to make those types of decisions around discounts, etc. We see that a lot when service companies are big and fragmented. So, where do you go from here? Are there other service companies you can try? Or, are you essentially starting over if you bring someone else in at this point in the game? I'm dealing with that exact scenario with my AV guys. They were awesome when they did the install four years ago when we built our house. Now, their service absolutely sucks. I've been waiting two months for them to replace something that is sitting in their warehouse. They send over new people every time I schedule service and they're basically charging me to re-learn my system. It sucks, but I'm between a rock and a hard place because I don't want to pay a different company who won't cover the existing warranties and would really need to re-learn everything. That being said, I'd reach out to your service company and try to be nice at first. Explain to them the situation and see how they react. If that doesn't work, then escalate. But, you have to ask if that extra time and energy solves anything and ultimately costs you more in the long run.
-
I like all of these additions. The overall list is decent but misses some of the more unique texas fare. Like chili pequins, barbacoa, redfish on the half shell, calf fries and a ranch water to wash it all down.
-
Same here. We checked into our hotel the day that they closed the mountain in Telluride this past spring. Luckily, we were one day at the hotel before checking into our VRBO. The owner was cool, and allowed us to re-book for this coming Spring Break. So, we're going to give it a go again in a few months. But, our house is ski-in / ski-out. So, not a huge deal if the on-mountain dining is closed. We'll have five kids and four adults and we're driving, so we were planning on having most meals at the house anyways. If the snow is good and capacity is limited, it could actually be better.
-
I'd go as simple as possible in this case. To your point, it doesn't look like weather will be much of a concern, so if you can at least keep water from dripping on it, you should be golden. If you want it to look nice when not in use, use a durable exterior wood (Cedar, Ipe, Massaranduba). Cedar WAS way cheaper but has skyrocketed in price as of late. The easiest way to build it would be with bi-parting swing doors (like you'd see on a dart board cabinet). Or if you want to go super slick, look at getting gas charged lift supports like you'd see on an awning window so it can lift up and stay out of the way when the TV is in use. If you have moderate carpentry skills and a miter saw, this should be a fun and easy project. Don't overthink it.
-
Can you send pics of the area that you want to put it? Exposed to the elements or under cover? My company built a few over the years. A lot of my recommendations are contingent on exposure both from a weather and sun perspective. I don't even cover mine under my patio. Just leave it out and exposed. I bought a relatively cheap TV and just plan on replacing it every 5 years or so. My folks put a fabric cover over their TV and it seems to do a good job of keeping moisture out, but they get a bit more sun and driving rain exposure than I do. I helped a buddy build his out of Cedar with an awning style door that acts as a shade cover. It has weatherstripping around, so it's relatively water tight. And, we've built some that are fully exposed with steel surrounds or even Star Board which worked pretty well.
-
100% this. Well, except for the fact that I have about 75% of the OCD gene that my dad has. So, I'm definitely more OCD than not. I like things neat and in order, but I think it's relatively passive compared to my pops who is over the top. Except for the yard. That has to be perfect. I have finally acquiesced to letting my son mow. When he started last year, we did "post mow debriefs", and I gave him pointers on flow, pattern, deck height adjustments and bagging procedure. He's about 80% of the way there, so my anxiety has waned a bit. Mowing the yard is serious bidness.
-
Our place isn't huge and is low fenced, but we still try to be selective. We have bigger, younger deer, but it's always a crap shoot to balance between watching them grow and getting them before a neighbor does. I'll try to get more pics this weekend when I'm up there.
-
Kimble
-
Any input on the age of this 9 pt? Thinking it may be a good cull buck for my son this year. I'm guessing 4-1/2.
-
Years ago, we had a hog trap that we kept near the pond at our lease in Live Oak Co. It was essentially the hog-sized version of the Have-A-Heart trap. Not ideal. We inadvertently trapped a little 6-pt buck in there. He managed to get his antlers stuck in the hog paneling, so even when we opened the door to let him out, he couldn't escape. I ended up climbing up on top of the trap with a hammer and breaking his antlers so he could get loose. He was bucking and thrashing the whole time, but once he was freed and got out, he just stood there and looked at me for a few seconds before walking off. Weird feeling. And, yes I hated that trap and would never own one of my own. We use a round trap with an open top now at our place in Kimble Co. No more stuck deer.
-
I think 5.5 is right. Starting the Roman nose and bigger belly. Just a little sway back and not much brisket neck. I'd score him in the low 160s for sure. I always miss on the mass, but he has nice consistent height and looks to be about 23" inside spread. He's also going to net really high. Not much variation between the sides. Great buck!
-
I think the rut in Hays County isn't too far away. Saw a nice Hill Country buck at dusk last night with his nose to the ground walking briskly towards two doe. Saw another decent buck in my front yard at dawn who looked like he was on a mission. Always seems like the rut around here is earlier that most other areas. We usually see it around mid-November at our ranch in Kimble County and it was always right before Christmas when I hunted in South Texas. Anyone else seeing signs of the rut?
-
Great point. Truth be told, I knew the bet was dead when I placed it. But, my kid's a huge Spieth fan, and it'll give us (me) something to root for should he pull off a miracle.
-
Question for the degenerate gamblers here. While in Vegas in January, I put $100 on Spieth to win The Master at +3500. Is that bet still alive? Or did it become null when The Masters cancelled in April and rescheduled for November?
-
Looks like a coachwhip skin
-
nerf weapons (aka shooting my children with foam darts)
Spaulding Smails replied to CleverNickname's topic in Hobbies
This is my go-to. It's the equivalent of being a Comanche while the kids are early settlers with muskets. I wait for them to waste their entire artillery, then I come in close and destroy them. It's compact, easy to load and shoots fast and straight. -
Zero. I'd eat it all, but only two am I not fond of. Liver and canned tuna. Love me some canned chicken and canned ham, but canned tuna sucks.
-
Bad ass! That's really well done! Those bulbs are pretty tough, BTW. I remember we toyed with putting a cage around ours for the same reason, but figured it was more likely to get a hook caught, so we left the bulb exposed. Killer job.
-
The usual (deer, hog, squirrel, possum, lots of armadillos) and one rare one which I still remember / regret to this day. I hit a ring tail cat about 10 years ago on my way to work. Love those little guys. He darted out right as I was going over the low water crossing near my house, and I had nowhere to swerve. During the rut about 15 years ago, I had a buck dart out (chasing poon I'm sure) in the early morning hours and slam into the side of my truck doing 65 mph. Shattered the side view mirror and his antlers left a crease down the right side of the truck. I turned around to see if he was dead, and he was long gone. May have survived, and may have folded up in the brush off the side of the road. I also had a guy in a Honda Accord slam a big buck headed the other way once. Real close to my house right before turning into my neighborhood. I had the deer on a game cam and he was really nice by hill country standards. I pulled over, and the dude in the Accord was beside himself and in a panic. He car was banged up but driveable. He was distraught because the deer was still alive but badly wounded just on the other side of the fence. I had my pistol on me and put him down. Not sure if that made the guy feel better or worse. He was still a train wreck and didn't want to drive. Most recently, my wife managed to hit a damn turkey in my truck. We had to 86 our Colorado ski trip (arrived the day they closed the mountain due to COVID). So, we decided to make a cannonball run home. I drove all morning, and we switched in Albuquerque after lunch so I could get caught up on some work with the shit hitting the fan due to the Rona. After turning off I-40, she managed to hit a turkey. On a flat stretch of highway. When we both saw him at least 500 yds ahead. He flew right before impact, so instead of running over him, he exploded on the grill. Needless to say, we switched back to me driving and the remainder of the trip was completely quiet.
-
I'm a huge fan of Clausen's pickles. Both the whole and the spear. Best Maid hamburger slices on a pulled pork sammich is bliss. Though I'm a dill guy through and through, we recently bought these and they are amazing. Go so well with a reuben.
-
I'm in the same boat. As the owner of a construction company, I always pitch striated roof panels so I don't have to field call backs about oil-canning, but on my personal house, I went flat panel galvalume. Love the oil canning and I like the variations in patina that are starting to show after four years. I think it adds character, and it's not sacrificing performance (unless we get a crazy wind storm where flat panels are less rigid). That's an interesting take on SDLs vs true divided lites. I never really thought about that, but it makes sense. I actually had a customer complain a few months ago because the tempered glass in her living room adjacent to the front door looked slightly different than the non-tempered glass in the next bedroom. We always go all tempered in the same room to avoid that issue, but she was concerned about the difference from the exterior between rooms. I couldn't notice it. Luckily, we have a good relationship with the window manufacturer, and they came out to back us up and cited the language in their product sheet that she signed identifying potential variances in glass color. It's the same with paint. We had an architect insist that samples we put up not only matched color and sheen, but also PRODUCT so he could review. So, we had to buy full gallons of all 15 samples he wanted to see. I thought it was bullshit, but sure enough, he was able to pretty much call out each color variance. Some people can see variations that others can't.
-
We installed a La Cornue range a few years ago on a project. It was a really, really well made appliance. That thing seemingly weighed more than a battleship. To the point of @Landomatic, they need to be the focal point of a kitchen, otherwise they may potentially detract from the aesthetics. In this case, we did a double glass-front SubZero fridge, and the range was flanked by stone columns in the center of the kitchen with a big island. Definite focal point and it made sense in the design. From a functionality standpoint, this particular client was a major foodie and loved to cook, so it made sense to her. If you love to cook, can make it the show piece of the kitchen and have the coin, go for it. Otherwise, go with Wolf or Viking. Sidebar... That same client gave me her 30 year old Viking range. Needed a new igniter for the oven, and I had to convert it from NG to propane, but it's freaking awesome. Though the new Viking stuff is fine, the pre-acquisition products are incredibly well built. The appliance guy I use came to do the conversion and said those old Viking ranges are some of the best built products he works with.
-
Surly's Texas Small Town/Road Trip Gems
Spaulding Smails replied to PatrickMcHorn's topic in Food and Travel
I was just talking about this exact same sammich with my buddy yesterday. That's a must stop location for us when en route to NoLa or Red Stick. -
My dumbest quarantine hobby - making clear ice
Spaulding Smails replied to UncleSonny's topic in Food and Travel
As if on queue, I saw a commercial for this a few times yesterday. https://www.lg.com/us/discover/instaview-door-in-door/craft-ice -
My dumbest quarantine hobby - making clear ice
Spaulding Smails replied to UncleSonny's topic in Food and Travel
Fun hobby for sure. Lots of nuances. I've done it before, and there's lots of variables. A few years ago, I built a bar on Rainey and installed a Clinebell ice machine. Learned a lot about how clear ice is made. These machines are super cool. https://clinebellequipment.com/pages/cb300x2e
Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!