bch2014

Insane smoke taking the ferry over to Williamsburg.

I'm going to Croatia next week and I'm also slightly nervous about the "have a breakthrough infection and get stuck there for 10 days more than planned" problem. Good thing is that AirBnbs are relatively cheap there and my job is pretty remote friendly so it wouldn't be the end of the world. Work from 2 PM-11 PM every day and hike, swim, lounge in the mornings while I "quarantined." Anyhow-that fear is still not going to stop me from enjoying the nightlife there-which is supposedly world class. I'd be more cautious in an expensive country like Iceland.

What happened? Tomorrow is my first day back.

Agree with the people you talked with-I was in Hilton Head in March, and while more open than the northeast was at the time, it certainly wasn’t “open season.” Same with Utah in February. First time I really felt like things were “normal” was in Tennessee in early May. I was just in Tahoe for the 4th and it’s open season there-just like it is NY, MA, NH.

Take the vacation as you planned. Is there any “off-boarding” you’ll have to do at your job to help your employer bridge the gap before they can fill the position (I.e. train a coworker on tasks you only know how to do)? If so, prioritize doing those activities in your remaining days. If not, well, even less of a reason to worry.

In Lake Tahoe for the weekend.. We got 2 hours of rain this afternoon. If it’s raining in Tahoe, Stein is officially dead.

In terms of cities that I’ve lived in… Craziest Drivers: 1) Houston (so many unregistered, poorly maintained vehicles weaving down 20 lane wide highways). 2) Boston 3) NY (Drivers aren’t really crazy except for the cabbies IMO) 4) Dallas Worst Traffic: 1) NYC (but there are so many good public transit alternatives that I don’t have to sit in it much-so not much effect on my day to day life). 2) Houston 3) Boston 4) Dallas (overbuilt road system and lots of toll roads=winning)

How about the one in Atlanta during the SEC championship basketball semifinals a dozen or so years ago? There was also a massive tornado that blew through North Dallas in 2019 while I was living there, though it didn’t hit the CBD. https://www.weather.gov/fwd/tornadoes-october2019 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ajc.com/sports/college/recalling-the-tornado-2008-sec-tournament/AYY5lYigBSdqdzWeI7jeFM/%3foutputType=amp

79° here on the lake at 1030 PM here in Meredith. Yuck.

Since this is the Covid thread, I thought I’d give a mask report. In the DC area for work this week… Montgomery County, MD still has tons of masks, even outdoors. Just across the border in Fairfax County, VA, I hardly see any around. There’s not any political difference between MD and NOVA at this point so I was shocked by the contrast. Perhaps @PhineasC has a take on this.

Great game on ESPNU right now... Arizona vs. Ole Miss. Stadium pretty full and loud in the 100+ degree heat.

It's not that I don't care-I think we need more boots-on-the-ground law enforcement in those areas. I'm just saying that the average visitor's experience (which is how this conversation started-Sox fans in Baltimore and people not visiting NYC) has nothing to be worried about. But agreed-don't walk through a NYCHA project at 3 AM on a HHH (had to get a weather angle in there) July night. Your chances of being shot there are higher now than they were three years ago. As for @RUNNAWAYICEBERG's comment re: real estate developers... That's the least of the city's problems... Housing costs are one of the biggest drivers of inequality, and we need more development to help drive them down.

There has definitely been a surge in violence in American cities in 2020-21. Anyone who is denying that has their head in the sand. HOWEVER, in most cities, that surge has been isolated to already-dangerous pockets of the city. Anyone who won't come to NYC as a visitor because they think they'll be a crime victim is quite frankly, out of touch. For example, from January-April 2021, there were 12 murders south of 96th St in Manhattan and north and east of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. That encompasses the area that most tourists visit and has a population of approximately 1.5MM. If you annualize those 12 murders, and even apply a growth factor given that the middle third of the year (summer) is usually the most violent, you get yourself to approximately 50 murders. For context, Dallas has a similar population to the area I just laid out and in 2019, pre crime wave, had 210 murders. Comparing Baltimore to NYC, the 2020 murder rate in Baltimore was 9.8x that of NYC so they don't belong in the same conversation.

When you used to come to NYC, did you hangout a lot in Brownsville, Far Rockaway, East New York, etc? Assuming your a normal visitor, and the answer is no, you’ll be totally fine in the city. Not to mention that the leading candidate for mayor is running on a “law and order” platform and is a former cop.

There's no evidence that, in aggregate, increased density/development causes decreased property values so the idea that someone building more housing on your street is going to ruin your property value is unfounded. Americans need to get used to living in much denser quarters if we're serious about reducing our carbon footprints. Not NYC dense, or even Boston dense, but Newton dense, certainly.

Agreed that most people on this forum are middle class and upward and many live in suburban environments, but HOAs are actually much less common in New England compared to the balance of the country.

Isn’t there still some question as to whether the plaque is actually the cause of Alzheimer’s?

Visiting my dad in Concord (MA) for first time since early April. Quick drive through the center and 50% of people are still masking outdoors here. Like night and day between here and Meredith (NH) where I was this weekend (no masks indoors or outdoors for most part). Slightly less extreme but still a stark contrast between here and my NYC zip code (maybe 10% outdoor masking there).

Went to Home Depot in Tilton today mask free. Booked a late July trip to Croatia also. We live.

Winnipesaukee water temperature up to 59... Less shrinkage than normal next weekend at the lake.

Crazy that’s so hot up in NNE. Only 71° here in the urban heat island.

Tough afternoon for crypto. All the major coins (and lots of the minor ones) down 10-20%.

NY mask mandate lifted today but just did a walk-by and Trump buildings still requiring. Interesting.

Off 32.6% over the last 24 hours. Glad I stayed away from the crypto trade in recent weeks. I’m sure long term holders are still going to end up way ahead but I never want to be the last one in the door to any asset class. Meanwhile, stocks and bonds are getting smoked too, but we are due for that.

Not sure your point here? Sounds like there was a withholding issue. Not as if unemployed people are taxed at a higher rate than employed people.