We went and saw Deadpool on Saturday night. I wasn't sure what to expect, with all the hoopla about it being a rated R movie and not for children. I mostly agree now, but it wasn't really filled with gratuitous sex, it just had very specific things that made you cringe. In the opening battle scene which was done in slow motion and through it we heard most his origin story as he continuously broke the 4th wall and talked to the audience, something he supposedly did in the comics, he gets shot right in the asshole, which they show a hole in his costume. He kills a lot of "bad guys" by cutting off their heads, by almost splitting them in two with his swords, by any means possible. To show his special power of healing, he gets shot in the arm and shows the camera where the hole is immediately filled. After he has killed most of the bad guys, he has the one he is after stabbed through the chest and a concrete wall when a couple of B class X-Men show up. They have been trying to recruit him to join the good guys. The big silver metallic hero is a generic Arnold Schwarzenegger who just beats you, and the smaller girl heats up like a sun and explodes on people. They talk so much, the bad guy escapes, and they cuff him to bring him in, and again to show his healing powers, he cuts off his hand. In the next scene they show him already growing a baby hand and he uses it for some more comedy, messing around with his blind old lady roommate, he tickles her chin lovingly, she says that feels oddly like a baby arm, he says he needs to try jerking off, he is going to feel giant in that baby hand.
What makes it funny is Deapool played very comfortably by Ryan Reynolds constantly talking, mostly like a smart ass and directing the comedy to us. At one point he goes to the X-Men castle and only the same two X-Men answer the door. He says I'll wait outside and says "just you two again, like the studio didn't want to spend more money and show any other X-Men." He doesn't make mention of it, but it is funny that he uses the same cab driver to drive him to his battle scenes. He doesn't have a cool vehicle yet, like Wolverine and his motorcycle or the X-Men jet.
Since it is his origin story, we see that although he never coughs or shows signs of being sick, he has cancer in his lungs, and all over his chest. A mysterious man offers to heal him, in a shady way because he was a hero in the military with 41 confirmed kills. He blows him off, but then he looks at his girlfriend and feels bad she will be heartbroken if he doesn't try something. He goes to the shady character, and he does save him from the cancer but it is for their own devices. They have been turning people into mutants by forcing their genes to activate. They never know what exactly will happen, but something useful usually does. The catch is that they are implanted with something to make them slaves, Deadpool manages to escape, and the bad guy he is trying to kill in the opening scene is this guy.
It will be fun to see him inserted into the X-Men world as those dudes take themselves a bit too seriously, except for Wolverine who cracks the occasional joke.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
3/7/16 One Week Before Spring Break?
Texas is so big, Spring Break is divided up so not all the students are off at the same time. Because of this, my folks back home have their Spring Break this week, whereas ours starts next week. My folks were planning on going to Corpus Christi in their RV as that is what we had been doing for the longest time. My mom called Friday night, though, and because I am missed like the flowers miss the sun, they chose to come to Austin. Maybe their RV needed some minor repairs, they brought it along and left it at Crestview yesterday.
Another reason they decided to come up is because it is supposed to be a rainy week, and the coast isn't much fun when it is constantly raining. Since they came this way, my sister and her husband came because my nephews love coming up here and playing with Chubs. Since we got our latest bed, now every room has a king size bed, so everyone has a comfortable place to sleep, and our house is big enough that we are not all crowded in one room.
It really does suck that our vacations don't line up, but we do the best we can. My folks came up Saturday around 3:00pm, having to arrive before the service center closed at Crestview RV. Boy arrived around 3:30pm, Wife around 4:00pm, and my sister and her family around 5:00pm. There wasn't much to do except go eat. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse which has become our favorite steak place since Outback closed its doors on Ben White and Lamar. Dinner was delicious, and we were probably done by 8:30, to which Mom thought it would be fun to check Spec's out. There are no big liquor stores back home. They closed promptly at 9:00pm, but that was OK since Boy offered to get us some tickets to go see Deadpool. It was a pretty good movie, but really aimed for adults. My mom and dad stayed with the kids at our house. Boy headed back to San Marcos since he is in the middle of mid terms. The movie was great.
Sunday started around 11:00am, we headed to breakfast at Don Dario's per my dad but it had a 40 minute wait. We then headed to Jalapeno's, which we have been going to for our Mexican food. It is pretty good, they have yet to mess up a meal. After eating we headed to Academy, but since I had stayed up most of the night, I was falling asleep, after 40 min or so at Academy. This was followed by us going home, most of us took a nap. I know I got up at 4:40pm, and came down to catch most everyone still napping. I drank a cup of coffee and had a piece of cake, then my mom started asking what we were gonna do, it was boring.
The evening was nice, we went to Jumpoline which the kids love, while Wife and I sat off to the side, I zoned out for a bit on some massage chairs. This was followed by picking up my brother, and then another fine meal at Mandola's, which was the only thing we could all agree on. We got there at 8:15 and ate until they closed at 9:00pm. I drank an espresso which woke me up for the drive home. There was a final pit stop at HEB for more coffee and milk before heading home.
I am writing this at 10:30pm and most everybody is already in bed, they would have stayed longer, but the fear of the pending storms this week is scaring them back so they don't run into flooding problems later in the week. It was fun having the family here for a couple days.
Another reason they decided to come up is because it is supposed to be a rainy week, and the coast isn't much fun when it is constantly raining. Since they came this way, my sister and her husband came because my nephews love coming up here and playing with Chubs. Since we got our latest bed, now every room has a king size bed, so everyone has a comfortable place to sleep, and our house is big enough that we are not all crowded in one room.
It really does suck that our vacations don't line up, but we do the best we can. My folks came up Saturday around 3:00pm, having to arrive before the service center closed at Crestview RV. Boy arrived around 3:30pm, Wife around 4:00pm, and my sister and her family around 5:00pm. There wasn't much to do except go eat. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse which has become our favorite steak place since Outback closed its doors on Ben White and Lamar. Dinner was delicious, and we were probably done by 8:30, to which Mom thought it would be fun to check Spec's out. There are no big liquor stores back home. They closed promptly at 9:00pm, but that was OK since Boy offered to get us some tickets to go see Deadpool. It was a pretty good movie, but really aimed for adults. My mom and dad stayed with the kids at our house. Boy headed back to San Marcos since he is in the middle of mid terms. The movie was great.
Sunday started around 11:00am, we headed to breakfast at Don Dario's per my dad but it had a 40 minute wait. We then headed to Jalapeno's, which we have been going to for our Mexican food. It is pretty good, they have yet to mess up a meal. After eating we headed to Academy, but since I had stayed up most of the night, I was falling asleep, after 40 min or so at Academy. This was followed by us going home, most of us took a nap. I know I got up at 4:40pm, and came down to catch most everyone still napping. I drank a cup of coffee and had a piece of cake, then my mom started asking what we were gonna do, it was boring.
The evening was nice, we went to Jumpoline which the kids love, while Wife and I sat off to the side, I zoned out for a bit on some massage chairs. This was followed by picking up my brother, and then another fine meal at Mandola's, which was the only thing we could all agree on. We got there at 8:15 and ate until they closed at 9:00pm. I drank an espresso which woke me up for the drive home. There was a final pit stop at HEB for more coffee and milk before heading home.
I am writing this at 10:30pm and most everybody is already in bed, they would have stayed longer, but the fear of the pending storms this week is scaring them back so they don't run into flooding problems later in the week. It was fun having the family here for a couple days.
Saturday, March 5, 2016
3/6/16 Do I Belong?
Throughout my life, I have often asked do I belong? I almost always felt like an outsider. In school, I ended up dating first a girl two years older than me, then Wife, who was two years younger than me. My mom said she felt I was too young when I started school, being born in late August, I would have been better waiting for the next school year. I almost could believe that, but right off the bat, Wife's cousin was my classmate and her birthday was a day or two around mine, and so was one of my best friends, so that angle is defeated, unless they too felt the same way.
I don't think I was anxious because of it, I just ended up keeping to myself. I could never handle myself well in a group of bigger than two or three. Even now, I need the eye contact or the mmm-hmm, otherwise I'm left thinking "are you listening?" I love texting, but I hate when someone asks how's it going, but then are texting other people. There's no way you are listening to me and writing to someone else. When I call my mom and am telling her a story, I have to constantly check, are you still there, she won't do the mmm-hmm, or the yeah, or make some small noise to indicate she is listening. Texting though, is great. Send out a thought, and accept that people are busy, eventually they will get back to you. By now I know who is good at responding and who sucks. Some people are just about them. They will respond, if it benefits them, otherwise, "I didn't see your text", or "I was asleep". I might consider those people friends, but I won't really look forward to interacting with them.
When I moved out was an interesting point in my life. I moved in with a guy who for better or worse was a "rival" at the junior college we had been at. We played different games and they usually broke down into teams by cities. This guy hated us because we always beat them, but he ended up becoming a good friend for that period of time. He was the kind of guy who could go anywhere and make himself feel at home, so I just rode his coattail into all sorts of parties and gatherings. Although honestly, I still felt more comfortable in smaller groups, which I managed to befriend a group of gals from Eagle Pass, and they were good at making me feel like myself. I still talk to my closest friend from that group, almost 21 years later, but it's different when people are married and living in different cities.
After graduation I floated in some odd jobs for a couple years before ending up at AMD, and now I have been at the same place for 20 years this November. I have survived 7 or 8 layoffs, I am always ranked near the top of the group, and I am trusted to work by myself at night alone, for the most part. It has taken a long time, but as far as work, I feel I am important to the bottom line.
We met some neighbors who became friends when we moved to our first house, and we still hang out with them. We seem to get along better with the sister of our old neighbor, who also happens to be Girlie's mom, they insist we are not friends, we are family. Again, I can be a handsy, hard pill to swallow and they have put up with us for about nineteen years.
Wife has been a part of my life since I was sixteen, she was fourteen. I have never forced her to stay, and again, I can be a pain in the ass, specially with her who has no problem telling me to do this, that, and the other like she was my boss. But I guess she feels like she belongs if she can tell me to do this, that and the other, and I bitch and moan, but manage to do 70-80 percent of what she asks for. What else can I say, I do belong here because here I am.
I don't think I was anxious because of it, I just ended up keeping to myself. I could never handle myself well in a group of bigger than two or three. Even now, I need the eye contact or the mmm-hmm, otherwise I'm left thinking "are you listening?" I love texting, but I hate when someone asks how's it going, but then are texting other people. There's no way you are listening to me and writing to someone else. When I call my mom and am telling her a story, I have to constantly check, are you still there, she won't do the mmm-hmm, or the yeah, or make some small noise to indicate she is listening. Texting though, is great. Send out a thought, and accept that people are busy, eventually they will get back to you. By now I know who is good at responding and who sucks. Some people are just about them. They will respond, if it benefits them, otherwise, "I didn't see your text", or "I was asleep". I might consider those people friends, but I won't really look forward to interacting with them.
When I moved out was an interesting point in my life. I moved in with a guy who for better or worse was a "rival" at the junior college we had been at. We played different games and they usually broke down into teams by cities. This guy hated us because we always beat them, but he ended up becoming a good friend for that period of time. He was the kind of guy who could go anywhere and make himself feel at home, so I just rode his coattail into all sorts of parties and gatherings. Although honestly, I still felt more comfortable in smaller groups, which I managed to befriend a group of gals from Eagle Pass, and they were good at making me feel like myself. I still talk to my closest friend from that group, almost 21 years later, but it's different when people are married and living in different cities.
After graduation I floated in some odd jobs for a couple years before ending up at AMD, and now I have been at the same place for 20 years this November. I have survived 7 or 8 layoffs, I am always ranked near the top of the group, and I am trusted to work by myself at night alone, for the most part. It has taken a long time, but as far as work, I feel I am important to the bottom line.
We met some neighbors who became friends when we moved to our first house, and we still hang out with them. We seem to get along better with the sister of our old neighbor, who also happens to be Girlie's mom, they insist we are not friends, we are family. Again, I can be a handsy, hard pill to swallow and they have put up with us for about nineteen years.
Wife has been a part of my life since I was sixteen, she was fourteen. I have never forced her to stay, and again, I can be a pain in the ass, specially with her who has no problem telling me to do this, that, and the other like she was my boss. But I guess she feels like she belongs if she can tell me to do this, that and the other, and I bitch and moan, but manage to do 70-80 percent of what she asks for. What else can I say, I do belong here because here I am.
3/5/16 Rare Family Night?
Friday was a good night. FIrst of all, it was payday and I got a at check from all the extra hours I worked the last two weeks. After refinancing and doing this and that with our bills, we are finally ahead to the point we were talking about moving some money into our savings, first time in a log time we are in this position.
When Wife got home, we went and ate like we always do, but we headed to Kyle, since their HEB does treat you like a human and still gives you bags. Lunch was at Whataburger, and there just aren't many burgers that can beat their taste. I like finishing my burger with an apple pie, but that's just me. The Whataburger is in the same area there, but we moved closer to the store. It was one of those we have money, let's fill the basket with food. Wife was all the briskets are on sale, you want one or two, I said one is fine, then she repeats "they are on sale, you want one or two?", looking at each through their plastic bags like they were babies and they were both hers. I repeated, we can play this game all day, I said 1. If you want two, go ahead, but I said 1. She then gave the 2nd one to Chubs to go return it to the freezer. Chubs got plenty of snacks for his crew, I got some avocadoes to make some guacamole dip, hadn't had that since last summer, the shitty little container from Taco Cabana doesn't count.
We then got home, I lit the grill, took out the trash, Boy got home all in a tizzy, no hi or hugs, just "did you get my new bankcard?" We both said no, he repeated himself, then he got mad at us and got loud, we both jumped him to slow down, and start with a hello. He had just been embarassed at Walmart, his card didn't work, Chase has been changing to cards with microchips or something. He said he called and did get a new one ordered, so all he can do is wait. Carry some cash in the meantime.
I grilled some chicken wings, followed by fajitas and sausage. The food was great, it had been awhile since we had grilled, and it was nice, Chubs had a friend over, but that was it. Our friends still have the sick dad, which everyone is tending to, so they wo't be coming until that whole ordeal passes, I guess. Boy was alone, which was also rare lately.
We watched a show on Netflix while we ate, but after such a good meal with 3/4 of a Newcastle Beer, I could not stay awake. Wife started watching Walking Dead, and I tried writing this while she watched it, but I fell asleep by 11:00pm. She said after she came to bed, to stop fighting it, just go to sleep, and when you get up in iddle of the night, try again. This took about 20 minutes at 5:00am. It is much easier to write when one isn't fighting themselves.
When Wife got home, we went and ate like we always do, but we headed to Kyle, since their HEB does treat you like a human and still gives you bags. Lunch was at Whataburger, and there just aren't many burgers that can beat their taste. I like finishing my burger with an apple pie, but that's just me. The Whataburger is in the same area there, but we moved closer to the store. It was one of those we have money, let's fill the basket with food. Wife was all the briskets are on sale, you want one or two, I said one is fine, then she repeats "they are on sale, you want one or two?", looking at each through their plastic bags like they were babies and they were both hers. I repeated, we can play this game all day, I said 1. If you want two, go ahead, but I said 1. She then gave the 2nd one to Chubs to go return it to the freezer. Chubs got plenty of snacks for his crew, I got some avocadoes to make some guacamole dip, hadn't had that since last summer, the shitty little container from Taco Cabana doesn't count.
We then got home, I lit the grill, took out the trash, Boy got home all in a tizzy, no hi or hugs, just "did you get my new bankcard?" We both said no, he repeated himself, then he got mad at us and got loud, we both jumped him to slow down, and start with a hello. He had just been embarassed at Walmart, his card didn't work, Chase has been changing to cards with microchips or something. He said he called and did get a new one ordered, so all he can do is wait. Carry some cash in the meantime.
I grilled some chicken wings, followed by fajitas and sausage. The food was great, it had been awhile since we had grilled, and it was nice, Chubs had a friend over, but that was it. Our friends still have the sick dad, which everyone is tending to, so they wo't be coming until that whole ordeal passes, I guess. Boy was alone, which was also rare lately.
We watched a show on Netflix while we ate, but after such a good meal with 3/4 of a Newcastle Beer, I could not stay awake. Wife started watching Walking Dead, and I tried writing this while she watched it, but I fell asleep by 11:00pm. She said after she came to bed, to stop fighting it, just go to sleep, and when you get up in iddle of the night, try again. This took about 20 minutes at 5:00am. It is much easier to write when one isn't fighting themselves.
Friday, March 4, 2016
3/4/16 Gold Rush? (TV show)
I have just finished watching the second season of Gold Rush, a show from the Discovery channel. I admit that I went and bought Hulu so I could continue watching the third season of Highway Thru Hell which I was watching last week. After Wife told me that it was on there, it wasn't, I coughed up the money. She saw Highway To Hell, which was something different. Anyways, in my efforts to make lemonade out of lemons, I found this show and it is the same idea. A bunch of tough guys doing a job I would find hard getting excited to do out in the wilds of Alaska.
The Hoffman Family, after deciding they were not doing well financially, decided to sell what they owned, buy a bunch of mining equipment and go strike for gold in Alaska. In the first few episodes I couldn't believe they took their kids like it was a camping trip. They get on site and there are black and grizzly bears in the area, with a bear actually running through the campground. At a certain point they get tired of the bear messing around with them, that they go hunting for it, shoot it and then it eat. I am fine with them killing the bears, it just seemed savage to kill eat because it is a threat, then might as well eat you since you are made of meat and we are running low on food.
It seemed weird that the reason you go all the way to Alaska is to mine and you have all this equipment with you, and it was like three weeks before they finally started their machine to sift for the gold. Then there was another great gap in operations before they actually went after the gold. What was mind blowing to me was that they made it seem like it was a big deal when they would work an 18 hour day. Their normal workday was eight hours. I'm sorry, but that is shit. If you have a five month work period between freezing conditions, show up, work a minimum 12-15 hours and even 18 hours should be normal. What does a campsite with a bunch of men need 16 hours of downtime for? To get drunk? I thought this was a colossal waste of time.
The second season seemed like well, now they know what they are doing, they had finally dug deep to where there seemed to be more gold, but the idiot in charge forgot to make a monthly payment on the lease and so they lost the land they were working. The owner had brought in another guy to keep an eye on the Hoffman team, and in the second season pretty much stole the land from under them, which was a very shitty, and cowardly thing to do, I thought. He bought the lease and brought in his guys, and offered the original guys $80,000 for their equipment. Then he rips their separator out of the way, he wants to bring in his own. He was just a down and dirty cheat, I wanted to like the guy, but you don't step over a man who has risked all their savings and steal their land from under them.
At the end of the second season, the Hoffman group (about six guys) found a different piece of land to work and almost hit 100 ounces of gold, their goal, while the old cheater hit about 80 ounces, working with just two other guys.
There are five seasons total, and I can't stop watching, I want to see the guys strike it rich. I love the idea that from nothing but their ingenuity and some muscle, a group of men can go out and conquer.
The Hoffman Family, after deciding they were not doing well financially, decided to sell what they owned, buy a bunch of mining equipment and go strike for gold in Alaska. In the first few episodes I couldn't believe they took their kids like it was a camping trip. They get on site and there are black and grizzly bears in the area, with a bear actually running through the campground. At a certain point they get tired of the bear messing around with them, that they go hunting for it, shoot it and then it eat. I am fine with them killing the bears, it just seemed savage to kill eat because it is a threat, then might as well eat you since you are made of meat and we are running low on food.
It seemed weird that the reason you go all the way to Alaska is to mine and you have all this equipment with you, and it was like three weeks before they finally started their machine to sift for the gold. Then there was another great gap in operations before they actually went after the gold. What was mind blowing to me was that they made it seem like it was a big deal when they would work an 18 hour day. Their normal workday was eight hours. I'm sorry, but that is shit. If you have a five month work period between freezing conditions, show up, work a minimum 12-15 hours and even 18 hours should be normal. What does a campsite with a bunch of men need 16 hours of downtime for? To get drunk? I thought this was a colossal waste of time.
The second season seemed like well, now they know what they are doing, they had finally dug deep to where there seemed to be more gold, but the idiot in charge forgot to make a monthly payment on the lease and so they lost the land they were working. The owner had brought in another guy to keep an eye on the Hoffman team, and in the second season pretty much stole the land from under them, which was a very shitty, and cowardly thing to do, I thought. He bought the lease and brought in his guys, and offered the original guys $80,000 for their equipment. Then he rips their separator out of the way, he wants to bring in his own. He was just a down and dirty cheat, I wanted to like the guy, but you don't step over a man who has risked all their savings and steal their land from under them.
At the end of the second season, the Hoffman group (about six guys) found a different piece of land to work and almost hit 100 ounces of gold, their goal, while the old cheater hit about 80 ounces, working with just two other guys.
There are five seasons total, and I can't stop watching, I want to see the guys strike it rich. I love the idea that from nothing but their ingenuity and some muscle, a group of men can go out and conquer.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
3/3/16 1.5 Hours And I Am Off Schedule All Day?
Yesterday was one of those days where Wife needed Chubs with her after school. She has a crappy job which requires her to have after school meetings now and then. I usually don't mind them until they affect me. She had a similar one the week before and thinking it was one of a kind, first one this semester at least, I was Johnny on the spot. I remembered Chub's phone, I was early to pick him up, and made great time to the shitty Mcdonald's I wrote about last week. This week I thought again, and stayed in bed until the last minute, then I was late to pick up Chubs after school, when you are late, you are made more late because you then have to get off and go sign them out inside, it becomes a pain in the ass. When I finally get Chubs and I am ready to head towards Bastrop, Chubs asks for his phone, which this time I forgot. He starts spazzing out and "please, can we go get it?" I called Wife at this point to find out what was going on. She said she had time to come to Austin to get him, so no freaky McDonald's this time. We ran and got Chub's phone, which he uses like a Gameboy with all the games he has on there.
We finally met at Jack In The Box, ate and I handed Chubs over. I could either run home, poop, shower and run back to a mile from where we ate or tough it out and mosey on in to work around 4pm. I did, which was nice as I got out early, which means I got out of work early, so I went to bed earlier, then today woke up earlier. I actually got out of bed to where I looked at the time, and was able to stretch without rushing. I even had time to go eat with my best friend, we had a nice meal at Luby's, she even had a coupon for BOGO free, so lunch was only $11.99. By then, it wasn't even 4:30, so I went home, took care of my personal stuff, and my bestie went and picked up Chubs, while I headed to work early, again.
The hard part is the long stretch of 4:30pm to 10:00pm, when I go to lunch, but then after lunch, it seems a lot shorter. It is about 3:00am as I am writing this, and I get out at 5:15, so I got basically two more hours. My plan is to be in bed and snoring by 6:00am, before Wife and Chubs wake up. If I get to interacting with them, I end up staying awake until 7:00am, and that will just put me back into my old time slot. For now, I am riding on a surfboard ahead of my usual self. If there is no OT this week, I will begin my weekend a couple hours sooner this weekend. Doesn't sound like much, but after being on the same schedule for almost 20 years, I have to entertain myself by playing these little games.
We finally met at Jack In The Box, ate and I handed Chubs over. I could either run home, poop, shower and run back to a mile from where we ate or tough it out and mosey on in to work around 4pm. I did, which was nice as I got out early, which means I got out of work early, so I went to bed earlier, then today woke up earlier. I actually got out of bed to where I looked at the time, and was able to stretch without rushing. I even had time to go eat with my best friend, we had a nice meal at Luby's, she even had a coupon for BOGO free, so lunch was only $11.99. By then, it wasn't even 4:30, so I went home, took care of my personal stuff, and my bestie went and picked up Chubs, while I headed to work early, again.
The hard part is the long stretch of 4:30pm to 10:00pm, when I go to lunch, but then after lunch, it seems a lot shorter. It is about 3:00am as I am writing this, and I get out at 5:15, so I got basically two more hours. My plan is to be in bed and snoring by 6:00am, before Wife and Chubs wake up. If I get to interacting with them, I end up staying awake until 7:00am, and that will just put me back into my old time slot. For now, I am riding on a surfboard ahead of my usual self. If there is no OT this week, I will begin my weekend a couple hours sooner this weekend. Doesn't sound like much, but after being on the same schedule for almost 20 years, I have to entertain myself by playing these little games.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
3/2/16 Solar Panels For The Rich?
Another stimulating conversation with Chubs, today it was on why don't we all have solar panels on our houses? I told him that was a great question, and it all boils down to cost. Solar panels sound great and one day they will be, but right now they still don't cover all the needs of a house. The next question from Chubs is do they keep working at night? I said no. Solar panels require the sun to make electrical energy. It can either be used to charge batteries if it is a stand alone system, or if connected to the city power supply, it will make the little spinning measuring thingy run in reverse. If you are real good and don't run your air conditioner, the city might even owe you a little money.
That sounds great, why don't we have one already? They have come and talked to us about installing one, I just didn't think it would be cost effective. Units start in the $20,000 range, although when they came around they had incentives to where it might only cost about $8,000. That is a lot cheaper, but you have to remember it doesn't cover all your electric service. Maybe it saves you $200 a month, and a little less over the winter months since the sun isn't as strong and you just don't run things like A/C in the cold. I see a savings of $1200-$1500 a year. That is great, but it would still take the unit running at tip top shape for maybe 6 years to pay itself off, if we had the city incentives, otherwise it would have to run perfectly for close to fifteen years to see the unit pay for itself. Now, how many things do you know that can be left out in the sun and still last that long without breaking down. I just could not wrap my head around the idea there wouldn't be maintenance issues on an electrical device that is left out in the rain, in the cold, in the awful heat here in Texas. I certainly am not climbing up on a ladder to my second story roof, that idea makes me queasy.
Coincidentally, we see solar panels in our lab from time to time. We are helping them make them better. Someday, it may be that a small panel is all you need to run a house, or maybe even a car, that will be awesome. And it would be awesome to be off the grid and be self sustaining, but that dream is still maybe a decade away.
If we ever get to where we don't have bills, I wouldn't mind investing in them. I've heard they raise the value of your house, and nothing would be cooler than getting a check from the electric company for them buying my electricity, and not the other way around.
I love that Chubs is interested in stuff like this, it just tells me there is a good brain rolling around in that huge melon of his.
That sounds great, why don't we have one already? They have come and talked to us about installing one, I just didn't think it would be cost effective. Units start in the $20,000 range, although when they came around they had incentives to where it might only cost about $8,000. That is a lot cheaper, but you have to remember it doesn't cover all your electric service. Maybe it saves you $200 a month, and a little less over the winter months since the sun isn't as strong and you just don't run things like A/C in the cold. I see a savings of $1200-$1500 a year. That is great, but it would still take the unit running at tip top shape for maybe 6 years to pay itself off, if we had the city incentives, otherwise it would have to run perfectly for close to fifteen years to see the unit pay for itself. Now, how many things do you know that can be left out in the sun and still last that long without breaking down. I just could not wrap my head around the idea there wouldn't be maintenance issues on an electrical device that is left out in the rain, in the cold, in the awful heat here in Texas. I certainly am not climbing up on a ladder to my second story roof, that idea makes me queasy.
Coincidentally, we see solar panels in our lab from time to time. We are helping them make them better. Someday, it may be that a small panel is all you need to run a house, or maybe even a car, that will be awesome. And it would be awesome to be off the grid and be self sustaining, but that dream is still maybe a decade away.
If we ever get to where we don't have bills, I wouldn't mind investing in them. I've heard they raise the value of your house, and nothing would be cooler than getting a check from the electric company for them buying my electricity, and not the other way around.
I love that Chubs is interested in stuff like this, it just tells me there is a good brain rolling around in that huge melon of his.
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