patrick.net

We went to the Loveless Cafe (around Nashville - they have decent recipes online) as stop on our road trip. The food was good, but only in that it tasted like my wife's home cooking. Gee, pay 5X for the same thing. At least it was real food.

I was briefly in a Texas blues band around 7 years ago. The guitar player and his wife had us out to his spread off the grid, where she cooked fried chicken in a cast iron frying pan on a fire. It tasted really good. There are still some places unaffected by the californication that's afflicting other places who uncritically accept CA libtard refugees/insurgents.

stereotomy says

It tasted really good. There are still some places unaffected by the californication that's afflicting other places who uncritically accept CA libtard refugees/insurgents.

The Californication is happening in weird spots like Bozeman, MT. I play drums and jammed with some guys from CA out there. The town has changed dramatically over the last decade. I visit once or twice a year to see two good buddies that were in my wedding. Fish, hike, snowboard, etc. The place has changed for the worse. All the dive bars with real food got overrun by hipster brewery type restaurants that just make the place attractive but don't make good food.

Or they just make the food massive so you think you're getting value but it's bad food. I'm a food snob as an adult. My mom would make the same meals every week. Dad never cooked. I vowed to change that as an adult. 80% of my online time is learning to cook and recipes. Tacos al pastor tomorrow. First time making that. Cooked for my chef buddy out in Montana (from IL but lives in Michigan) and he loved what I made.

Restaurant cooking has gotten so bland lately. I'm legit contemplating just not eating restaurant food anymore outside of desperation. Although our townie BBQ place is really good. And if I do go out just have a soup or salad. You'd think burgers would be easy, but I haven't had a good one in ages. No one makes an average GRILLED chicken sandwich (fuck fried). Fried food is probably worse than smoking for your health. Not a knock on your experience either stereo. I just don't like fried food. I have high BP and that ain't good for me. I like it, just shouldn't eat it. So grilled for me.

Amen about burgers. Can't remember the last time I had one I liked.

GNL says

Amen about burgers. Can't remember the last time I had one I liked.

I don't get it. I'm no master chef but dear god the restaurants in a ton of places can't make the basics. I season and press my own burger in the summer mainly. 5-10lbs batches and freeze them. Kids will eat them, so nothing crazy spice wise. Restaurants just make them big with basically a salad on top. I just want a good burger. No different than a good steak. It's not hard.

That's why I think BBQ is so popular. You can really F it up and it's still decent. Although I've had trash BBQ from family members that thought it was great... Had to hold my tongue on that one...

Eman says

If I were KING, I would eliminate state income tax so retirees don’t have to move out of CA to save money.

If I were KING, I would consider eliminate property taxes for all retirees too.

Considering that our currency is fiat, the government can, and does, print all the money they want. Taxes aren't about revenue but control.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/28/business/boston-office-tower-sale/

In 2005, this downtown office tower sold for $121.7 million. It just resold for $78 million.

zzyzzx says

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/28/business/boston-office-tower-sale/

In 2005, this downtown office tower sold for $121.7 million. It just resold for $78 million.

Is that surprising? Cities will take a beating. Won't be a crash though. Savvy people will figure out a way to repurpose commercial properties and make money. Yes there will be losses, but the only thing being build is shipping warehouses now. There's not a glut of high rise properties on the market generally. Market specific of course.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/04/29/the-real-problem-with-commercial-real-estate-is-people-not-coming-to-work-says-bruce-ratner.html

The real problem with commercial real estate is people not coming to work, says Bruce Ratner

People are tired of dressing up, spending a fortune on tolls and gas, sitting in an hour's traffic, thinking this is it and they're going to fill out the W2 and the benefits form, just to found out it's yet a third interview, and having an HR Ditz ask them what color socks they like and what that says about them. Then they drive home and figure the extra $15k/year just ups their tax bracket with a shitload of commute, extra expense, and corporate bullshit and settle for a lower paying job remote or closer to home.

Also, companies are going to have to come to grips that with retiring boomers, and colleges only teaching LGBTQ+ and Wokeness, they're going to have to train people again at their OWN expense. Guatemalan Highlanders who don't read and write Spanish, much less English, can't do the basic White Collar or semi-skilled work.

Many states fudged their college graduation numbers and subsidized useless liberal arts faculty by wrapping tech certificates up in Associates degrees, so 6-12 month tech certificates that used to be a couple of nights a weekend or a Saturday are now a 2+ year ordeal. Longer if young people are trying to get into minimal debt by working F/T at the same time.

Interesting times are coming.

cre is our state skyrocketing. it’s simple really, money leaving cities pouring into smaller towns. hope it slows down, locals getting priced out big time. but there’s lots of money chasing cre.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fort-worths-tallest-building-sells-111742615.html

Fort Worth's tallest building sells for just $12.3M at auction in stunning price drop

Burnett Plaza, the tallest building in Fort Worth, Texas, has been purchased via foreclosure auction for $12.3 million just three years after it was sold for more than $137.5 million, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

It was most recently appraised at $104.5 million by Tarrant Appraisal District, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

WookieMan says

but the only thing being build is shipping warehouses now

Wrongo boyo. The Biden admiistration is spending beaucoup bucks to expand manufacturing in the US, especially of semiconductors. Part of the reshoring initiative.

President Joe Biden tours the building site for a new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. computer chip plant Dec. 6, 2022, in Phoenix.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-science-technology-government-and-politics-arizona-8c764cdeed7e4917a3323f7f916bcd48
https://apnews.com/article/gretchen-whitmer-biden-technology-government-and-politics-michigan-4d5ac5a4bec5a2e61b4567639240d97c

Al_Sharpton_for_President says

WookieMan says

but the only thing being build is shipping warehouses now

Wrongo boyo. The Biden admiistration is spending beaucoup bucks to expand manufacturing in the US, especially of semiconductors. Part of the reshoring initiative.

President Joe Biden tours the building site for a new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. computer chip plant Dec. 6, 2022, in Phoenix.

I've seen the plant. It's a good thing. About the only thing Biden did okay at. Golf at Quintero to the west and you'll know what I'm talking about if you have been.

We import cheap shit. We also make cheap shit by stay at home mom stuff like Etsy and people need places to store that. Throw in Amazon and other large shippers.

IL is losing population still, yet we're building massive warehouses. Why? It's needed. That's where the commercial money is. Large residential rental properties/communities as well given interest rates. Office space is the biggest loser. I don't see that changing unless you can change the usage or zoning on it. Cities hit especially hard.