Bernard

I had no idea a la carte pricing was so hard for people to understand. Bernard

Cabs suck in Stillwater, but I stumbled out of a bar there late one night and flagged down a passing two truck. He gladly gave me (and a random friend I ran into on the street) a ride to our hotel for like $40. There's always someone around who wants to make a few bucks. 🙂 As for Morgantown, I just booked the last room (allegedly) at the Lakeview Golf Resort. $99/night. Not as close to downtown as I'd like, but close enough. It's where the WVU team stays the night before games. And they have a nice (not free) breakfast buffet. Bernard

Also... Not the most scenic, but one beautiful morning I was on a motorcycle traveling east on Highway 90 from Alpine to Del Rio. Went so long without seeing another vehicle that I started imaging I was the dictator of this whole place and I had this highway built for my sole use and enjoyment. It was nice while it lasted. Bernard

As touched on in the OP, 337, 335, and 336 are known as the Three Sisters. Very popular with the motorcycle crowd. I've driven them all on motorcycle and car. Quite scenic. Bernard

This x 1,000. If the government REALLY wanted to help those without insurance, they should require all healthcare providers to bill uninsured patients at the same rate as Medicare, or Medicaid, or whoever the biggest insurer is in the region. So fucking easy. With the stroke of a fucking pen, and ZERO cost to taxpayers, tens of millions of people could be helped. And any provider that doesn't like it can fuck right off. The smoke and mirrors involved in our current healthcare reimbursement system is fucking disgusting. Bernard

This photo taken at the spot in west Texas where Truman lands his plane to drop off Gardner Barnes' ex-girlfriend in the movie Fandango. Bernard

2002 CLK430. Black. Full disclosure though: I had a 1982 Dodge 400 convertible in high school and through UT graduation. THEN I replaced it with a 1982 Chrysler LeBaron convertible before going German. Bernard

I was driving east on W. Alabama one evening. As I was crossing Kirby, some jackass in a black Suburban came flying through his red light southbound. I was surely about to get T-boned. Pulled my wheel all the way right and stomped on the brakes. I avoided the Suburban, but crashed straight in the left hand turn signal. Ripped it right off of its base. Out of spite (I suppose), the whole light pole cam crashing down on the roof of my convertible leaving a pronounced bow in all the roof hardware. To make matters worse, the four concrete encased bolts that anchored the light pole opened up the bottom of my car like a can opener. The Suburban driver fled the scene. HPD wrote me a ticket. City of Houston sent me a bill for about $10,000. My insurance paid the bill. Only had liability coverage though, so my car was a complete loss. Actually, I sold it for $3,500 to a guy who deals in wrecked vehicles. No profit. Bernard

Down another 10 pounds since the above post. Up three notches on my belt since the start. Bernard

Not sure. I was at that game, but with a different group of friends. Fun weekend. I recall one of our guys was too hung over on Saturday to even get out of bed. He couldn't even rally for the 2:30(?) kickoff. We slid his game ticket between his cheek and pillow. He showed up at the Super Dome in the 4th Quarter. Bernard

The OSU bus trip has officially become an urban legend. I can assure you, the total actual losses involved were no where near that number. More like $1,000-$2,000 IIRC. Bernard

I'm friends with Bob to this day. He's doing great. He been living a very domesticated, small town life for a decade plus now. He's 180-ed from seeking the spotlight to shunning it. He owns/runs several successful businesses. I've heard his version of the OSU bus story, which adds many other details than were publicly discussed. No doubt it was a giant clusterfuck. I really don't remember all the deets, so I'm not here to contradict anyone's version of the story either. I'm sure some folks directly involved in the situation rightfully feel like they got jobbed, but I don't believe any of their money went to line Bob's pockets. Bob has his share of shortcomings, just like the rest of us. He's never been short on cash though. He's full of big ideas, but the execution is sometimes lacking. His intentions were always good. The last great Wheeler boondoggle I participated in was relief caravan to Moore, OK after the F5 hit in 2013(?). A dozen or so caravan-ed there to help out. We spent a whole day moving what remained of a smashed house out to the street literally brick-by-brink, bucket brigade style. Incredible amount of work. Homeowner was thrilled. We uncovered a few items he was really hoping to find. Was it fun? Yes. Was is well organized? No. Did we help people? No doubt. Did we spend hours being confused and uncertain and spinning our wheels at times? Yep. Typical Wheeler event. I'd do it again in a second. Bernard

EDIT: I fucked up the quote here. Somehow it showed up twice. Bernard

I'm driving back to Houston right after the game to watch the Texans first game, same as last time we played there, which was am 8 PM kickoff. Yeah!!! Two extra hours. 8 PM kickoff was kinda bad ass though. Bernard

1. When in a fight, hit first and hit hard. 2. Been to Texans road games in Dallas, New Orleans, Tennessee, Miami, San Diego, San Fransisco, Chicago, Green Bay, Buffalo, and Kansas City. Wore gear. Cheered loud. Very few issues. Almost came to blows with some Chiefs fans in the parking lot before a game. A few of them playing catch thought it would be hilarious to "accidentally" throw their ball multiple times into our group who were standing around eating and drinking and talking. My buddy picked up their "errant" ball and punted it over a fence and down a hill and onto a road, which actually was hilarious. Some Bills fans a few rows away were talking shit in the first quarter of the game, but then STFU before too long. That would have been an awesome game for fisticuffs since we were sitting in the Bills friends and family section. The Bills QB's grandad was sitting a few seats to our left and Bill's OL / former Longhorn Mike Williams' family was sitting directly behind us. Bernard

Freeze your credit with all three credit bureaus. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-to-freeze-credit Bernard

Speaking of LKQ... https://www.lkqonline.com/2013-ford-c-max-transmission-or-transaxle-assembly/-hPD3DncnnD/-i~260895609 My guess is someone handy will invest an afternoon swapping in a used tranny and she'll be on Craigslist or some Buy-Here-Pay lot in a couple weeks after the auction. Bernard

2013 seems pretty young for the scrap yard. How many miles? Condition? Sounds like you got a cash price from someone who plans to tow it over to Manheim or Copart and sell to dealer who will fix the tranny and flip it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/133753378167?hash=item1f24529577:g:BkMAAOSwIuRgY-RP As touched on above, scrap car prices are more like $200-$300. Those cars get bought by guys who remove the tires, wheels and catalytic convertor, then drop off the rest at LKQ (or similar) who will harvest more parts before putting the carcass in the crusher/shredder before shipping it to China or other scrap metal buyers. Bernard

Bernard

It sure seems that way. Hopefully I have a better maintenance plan this time around. 🙂 I disagree that fasting for weight loss is unhealthy. I agree all the shit food and beer I ate/drank to gain the weight was unhealthy. I guess 50% is still an F though. 🙂 Bernard

Tried to edit the above post, but ran out of time. He's what I wanted to add... In 2018, I lost 70 pounds between New Years and St. Patrick's Day via fasting. Lost another 20+ pounds over the next several months too. Felt great. Then football season came around. And copious amounts of beer. And parties. And travel. Etc. Over the past few years, I gained a lot of that weight back, but is that fastings fault? I ate a lot of shit food in a large quantities. Now the scale is headed down again. Hopefully this time I'll have a better maintenance plan. 🙂 Bernard

Yes, based on my personal experience, extended fasting leads to sustained weight loss. You WILL lose weight. If you mean maintenance, once you've reached your goal weight, no. At that point, a new, weight maintenance eating plan must be employed. Bernard

Thanks, washpark. If I die, i'll let you know. I once went 27 days during which I only ate two salads. One salad on day 10. One salad on day 20. No issues. Felt great. 48 hour fast is nothing. I don't want to get in link posting battle, but surely you're aware I could post plenty of links quoting medical doctors outlining the benefits of fasting, right? Bernard

Well, I guess I'm fucked. Just finished 30 days of One-Meal-Every-Other-Day. And walking six miles a day (most days). Dropped 25 pounds. Feel great. Plan to continue. Need to lose about 50 more. 🙂 Bernard

Having a gun in your truck makes you a pussy. Bernard