Larry T. Spider

My theory is simple. Trump put up somebody that’s unpopular with many in his own party. It’s a loyalty test.

What if the person doing the harm is also special needs?

Nope. The district was not able to get their facility that will house the program ready by start of school this year. We are still on track to open in fall 2025. I have another program starting in the next couple of months that is smaller, but if they both happen, I’ll be over quota without any other deals. Our fiscal year starts/ends September 1st so plenty of time to add some backup possibilities. My gut feeling is pretty good but it doesn’t take much for these deals to fall apart. So many moving pieces and usually a 6-18 month sales cycle.

I know quite a few blue collar Hispanics that love him for all the shit talking and bravado. They also like WWE rasslin.

I thought Harris was pretty good but this was trumps “Biden debate moment”. He’s always been an idiot but go back to his debate with HRC. He was a lot sharper in his own weird way back then. All he has left is scare tactics. World war 3, illegals raping your mom and eating your pets, Marxism, etc. It will certainly work for his base but he’s not picking up any new voters.

I fly about twice a month and rarely have issues. I left my house in round rock and was at my gate in under an hour last time. Sometimes the pre check line is long but it moves.

I’m in western RR. We got about 5 good minutes. More than my wife can say.

The hotel is also in massive debt. This isn’t going to help.

I love the system in Madrid. It makes everything so easy. There are a lot of factors that make it harder here such as density and our cities are already built for cars. But I think the number one reason is that the public doesn’t truly demand it. A train system is a basic expectation in Europe and much of Asia. Here it is a “nice to have” outside of NYC and Chicago (kinda). My other hot take is that American cities like to half ass projects. It doesn’t really work for rail. You either need a complete system that allows people to not buy a car or just don’t bother. Example: Austin’s red line. It’s better than nothing but I still need a car.

Lake still looks depressing but it’s 46.5% full. Up from 39.4% 3 months ago. Lake going up in the summer is never a bad thing.

Solid shower this morning in Round Rock. Great addition to yesterday’s rain. I always assume August will be completely dry so any rain is a surprise.

I wouldn’t say that Birmingham is on my retirement list but you can definitely do a lot worse. They have enough good bars and restaurants to keep you entertained, a decent downtown scene, and you are closer to getting four seasons. It’s an easy drive to the beach, Atlanta, or Nashville. Buying a nice house is cheap as hell and they do have some very nice neighborhoods. Metro population is over 1.1 million. Natural beauty isn’t great but better than I expected with hills and trees kinda similar to the western part of Austin. Cons are crime is pretty bad but the nicer hoods won’t have an issue. You don’t escape red state politics if that’s important to you. You can get dropped off at the airport and be at your gate in 3 minutes but almost all flights are going to have a connection.

True story. I travel to Birmingham for work sometimes. It was pretty hot this week but next week is all highs in the upper 80s and gets down into the upper 60s at night. They actually have a low projected at 61 one day next week. Totally different world than most of Texas.

If you have lived there, I’m sure that you have picked up on a million differences that a visitor wouldn’t. I haven’t lived in either. My take is that they are both big, spread out, car dependent cities with a lot of traffic. However both are diverse and have the great food scene that goes with it. You could say the same about several other big southern cities, but maybe without the same great food. My main point is that LAs appeal is largely related to the physical location and other than that it’s not very different than other big, spread out cities.

I haven’t spent much time in Texarkana but drive through it a lot because of work. The drive to Dallas is less than 3 hours. 5-6 will get you to Austin.