I also think the importance of hard work alone shifts from generation to generation. Success builds on the previous generations' success. My Grandpa grew up poor and worked his ass off to become a very successful engineer. That opened doors for his kids which then opened doors for their kids. My kids have it better than I did. I don't pretend I grew up in the same world as my Grandpa though. We didn't start in the same place.
The window etching one really gets me. They pulled that shit on the last car I bought and I was surprisingly able to get a refund for it. They also lied about installing tint and wheel locks (used car with tint receipt in glovebox and no wheel locks even on the car) so they removed that too. Fucking thieves.
The interior colors on old cars are so great. My Grandpa had a 1964 Mercury Montclair. Blue exterior and interior. Thankfully my Uncle kept it and restored it to its former glory.
The cheaper models still have the top lint traps. I usually try to go cheaper just because they're simpler with less shit to break. Or just buy a Speed Queen that's simple and expensive.
We typically keep ours at 74 when we're home and that's fine to me. I could go to 76, but higher than that starts to suck. Seems like everyone else I know keeps theirs at 68-70 which seems insane to me. No thanks to $500 electricity bills. Thankfully my new house has more shade and badass windows. We'll see how that works out during the Summer months.
I swear I read in the property tax thread where the state just disappeared a $1.4B windfall last year. They could use that to 'relieve the burden'. Or maybe that was just fake news.
That's because all of the people on Nextdoor bitching that some suspicious man knocked on their door asking for access to their backyard WITH NO WARNING!
We sold our pretty basic although somewhat upgraded house in the West Houston burbs for almost $100K more than I thought it was worth. Had probably 50 showings and more offers than I could count. Builder grade house a few doors down listed for half a million and was pending in two days. Amazing if that is what half a million gets you in the burbs these days.