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Mid Winter Banter, Observation and General Discussion 2018


dryslot

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Monthly Snowfall through March 16:

March Snowfall for Select New England Cities:
Bangor: 32.5" (7th highest)
Boston: 21.9" (Tied 6th highest)
Bridgeport: 11.5" (9th highest)
Burlington: 30.1" (8th highest)
Concord: 28.1" (11th highest)
Manchester: 31.5" (2nd highest)
Portland: 31.6" (8th highest)
Worcester: 40.0" (2nd highest)

Records:
Bangor: 41.5", 1956
Boston: 38.9", 1993
Bridgeport: 21.8", 1967
Burlington: 47.6", 2001
Concord: 38.3", 1956
Manchester: 37.7", 1916
Portland: 49.0", 1993
Worcester: 44.1", 1993

March Snowfall for additional Select Locations:
Albany: 36.0" (3rd highest)
Binghamton: 35.0" (4th highest)
Islip: 13.5" (4th highest)
Syracuse: 43.6" (3rd highest)

Records for additional Select Locations:
Albany: 50.9", 1888
Binghamton: 46.5", 2001
Islip: 23.3", 1967
Syracuse: 54.4", 1993

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3 hours ago, powderfreak said:

4 straight days of snow.  I mean its like every time you look outside it is snowing.  Just took the dog for her evening walk with snow falling, as it was on Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening, Thursday evening and now Friday evening.  From a skiing perspective, averaging about a foot a day for 4 days is damn near perfect.  36" in 24 hours would be a lot of fun too, but this is like one long drawn out orgasm for lack of a better word for the powder fiends.

Storm total is *only* 20.5" at home with 24" depth (there was 8" or so on the ground before hand) but if you want "wintry appeal" this week is going to be hard to beat.  There have been much bigger storms in town, and storms that brought 30" in 24 hours, but the consistent flakes have been special.  The stoke in town is about as high as I've seen it... like only it can be in a ski town when the local mountain has had 70" in 9 days on the mid/upper slopes.

The scene this evening on the dog walk...

Qr2Ui3W.jpg

 

 

Awesome stuff 

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Now if you are going to have a cold shot this time of year you do it after a big snow.

 Probably below zero in the valleys tonight and tomorrow night with highs in the teens.  This morning isn't cold in the teens but it's very windy.  Lots of snow transport overnight.

It finally stopped snowing.  First morning since Monday without flakes flying.

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I installed solar panels over a year ago to not have to deal with New Englands outrageous electricity prices but this is a interesting article about that cold snap back in Dec/Jan. I just crunched some numbers for my moms house and she paid almost .30kwh from Eversource  in CT. Thats just a hair cheaper what they pay in Hawaii where power is produced from oil fired power plants. Insane.

 

A cold snap that began December 26 pushed up demand for both natural gas and electricity, raising prices and resulting in a total energy market value of $856 million for the month. The bulk of that energy market value came in the last week of the month, during the cold snap, when the energy market value was $395.6 million for just one week.

http://isonewswire.com/updates/2018/1/31/monthly-wholesale-electricity-prices-and-demand-in-new-engla.html

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a

 

Curious what some of you pay a month for power? 

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6 hours ago, FRWEATHA said:

Driving through RI up thru Worcester today. Pretty uniform snow cover. Seemed a little thin around Providence. Honestly, going by the piles seemed more impressive here than Worcester area.

wet snow produces big piles. I saw reports of 14-18 inches in the city of fall river.  Do you think the 18 inch total is accurate?  I'm assuming the highest totals were in the northern reaches of the city limits. The urban heat island affect kept totals a bit lower in Providence.  The 95 webcams were black top a good part of the day on 95 through downtown.  Newport, only 14 miles ssw of the south end of Fall River only had 6 inches.  Our poster on the sakonnet side of Portsmouth did not report a total but I'm assuming the number was around 10.  Providence didn't get into the meat of the heavy bands either as the city was a wee bit too far west, east, and south for the heaviest bands. The mid and outer cape got screwed on every single snowstorm this winter.

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15 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

You don't have a personal circle of friends and/or extended family that can assist as 'beta readers' ? 

That's probably the best approach.  

I'm not sure I can devote the kind of time/ attention to it at a detail level for which to give you the kind of cogent feedback you'll need, frankly.  I don't do a lot of reading normally... and I have a tech job that exhausts my will do much more than weather-related diatribes these days...  Ha ha.  But work, gym, g-f, eat sleep schit phuck swear and traffic later, life is pretty consuming for me. 

Don't you have an old aunt Edna, wrapped in a blanket with her bifocals peering willingly down, while an old slobbering cat purrs for her bony fingers curling their prurient tips through it's fur  ...? You now the scene - everyone's got an 'aunt Edna'   ... retired librarian... 

Kidding. Anyway, one strategy you could try:  go on line or dip into networks (go to writers groups at community meet ups ? etc...) get into the fray and circuit the field, and use those ins to source smaller/smallish publishing houses.  Those organization may not be auto 86ing new author submissions like the bigger more popular places, like Penguin for example...which seems to have their tentacles wrapped around the entire world of literary arts. Smaller outfits might even be hungrier for new material as they too are lesser known and don't have as many manuscripts to choose from.  Most of them, if they have any semblance of professional legitimacy...will have a submission protocol.  Of which, a query later is required... Submit a query later - it describes the genre, and a very brief account of the story's over-arcing plot ( couple paragraphs tops..).  Be strategic... work the letter first .. make it perfect and pristine, and run that by Ray or someone who seems to have some ability to dissect word choice and whomever you know what I mean.  They may send back, "that sounds like an intriguing story, please send us ... x-y-z"  ...it's always a nice feeling to have someone of a third party actually ask you for more...  Then, you work on submitting the x-y-z... which typically will be a more expanded synopsis of the novel, the characters descriptions and roles in the story, with over arcing plot and resolution.  This submission is typically 6 to 10 pages, plus any form crap.  But, the point is, you work that stage singularly, too...  Get that perfect..send it in.. Then, they'll ask you for the rest of the story - the whole shebang manuscript.  Which, hopefully...while all this other stuff has been happening, you were polishing that...  you could send that in, and they may actually 'offer' to edit it with you if they like the concept and other submission work enough..  But, would probably contract to take more of the proceeds if it sells depending on how much that is required.  

Another route you could choose is something like Amazon self publishing ...Kindle perhaps ..etc.  You can do so for low money.. and, if you want more marketing and/or editorial work, start paying... But at the end, you may have a decent enough book to throw up on the e-book trades for like 1.99 a copy.....  Hey, 20,000 people buy it world over - that's 39,800 ... not that money matters.  If you just wanna be published that is..  If enough people like it, you could take those numbers before a publisher who might get convinced to to take a chance and work with you based upon that success.. 

 

Tip, you should be flattered that James is seeking what he perceives to be an expert opinion on your part.  There are 24 hours in a day.  Like you said work, gym, your babe, chowing, schitting and phucking are very important, but unless you plan on joining and co-starring alongside stormy daniels on the make America horny again nationwide tour I'm pretty confident you can make some time to review his manuscript and give your unvarnished opinion.  And I'm sure James will appreciate your findings yay or nay.  James is nursing some wounds after his titanic sized Cape Cod, MA bust but he always bounces back.

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19 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

Yup! that's certainly a good point too.  We are definitely prone to some sort of bias for whatever our team is, that is involved in whatever market. 

I suppose to Houston, last year's World Series was the greatest baseball ever played... After Harvey ravaged that area of Texas close to the brink of civility breakdown...the galvanizing affect of people coming together in support ...ultimately, celebration for that region's superiority ... winning that culturally coveted trophy, that was pretty gigantic ... And I can't say fairly that I would be opposed to value in that.. sure.  

Personally, I am a Red Sox "fan" ... I quote that because I don't blindly embrace sports teams and or their constituent meat-heads of narcissists that inevitably break your hearts the moment you dare adore them... by stepping out of the lime-light of awe and under the orange light of some horrible infamy... 

Sardonics aside, I've lived and breathed eastern Mass since midway through 1984, so that puts me pretty squarely in this market up this way...and so, tend to root and pine and opine in said favor. Having said that, I am not so rabid as a fan that I can't respect and appreciate other teams.  I really was paused when Derek retired.  I also thought it was beyond classy when Mariano took off his hat and waved to the Red Sox audience, who returned in kind a thunderous seismic applause, opening day that next year in 2005 (and the beginning of his retirement tour!) after he gave up the home run that effectively opened the door to the Red Sox pulling off 2004's remarkable come-back.

That's all the huge cinema - that's what I appreciate.  Yeah, I want 'my team' to win - who doesn't. 

We'll see if this world series championship and having such an exciting player in Altuve improves Houston's fortunes and becomes a better baseball town.  For years the Astros had the lowest ratings out of any team in MLB.  Oakland and the white sox are usually at the bottom in terms of local tv ratings.  Surprisingly, the Dodgers, annually, have always been near the bottom.  For years the red sox and cardinals were usually at the top but in recent years the red sox have fallen but are still usually in the top 10.  After a few terrible years ratings wise on YES the Yankees climbed to the number 9 spot last year and with all the hype this year the Yankee numbers should go through the roof.  In terms of total viewers the Yankees are usually always number one because the NYC tv market is so big.  

Overall local MLB ratings continue to drop year after year and national ratings are anemic.  This is why playoff games have gone exclusively to cable.  Lots of people can't even find FSN and it's not even available in most hotels.  This is why MLB is desperately experimenting with ideas to increase the pace of the game.

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4 hours ago, BrianW said:

I installed solar panels over a year ago to not have to deal with New Englands outrageous electricity prices but this is a interesting article about that cold snap back in Dec/Jan. I just crunched some numbers for my moms house and she paid almost .30kwh from Eversource  in CT. Thats just a hair cheaper what they pay in Hawaii where power is produced from oil fired power plants. Insane.

 

A cold snap that began December 26 pushed up demand for both natural gas and electricity, raising prices and resulting in a total energy market value of $856 million for the month. The bulk of that energy market value came in the last week of the month, during the cold snap, when the energy market value was $395.6 million for just one week.

http://isonewswire.com/updates/2018/1/31/monthly-wholesale-electricity-prices-and-demand-in-new-engla.html

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a

 

Curious what some of you pay a month for power? 

Last month was 132. More than last year but have a 7 month old so that equals more lights on 

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25 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Anyone have an opinion on condo vs home ownership?

My fiancé and I have been researching and it appears condos are more affordable... at least on the surface.

Anyone have experience with this or thoughts?

Condos are OK but can be a PITA. Personally I’m done living with people around me. You’ll need a lawyer to help go over the condo docs.

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7 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Condos are OK but can be a PITA. Personally I’m done living with people around me. You’ll need a lawyer to help go over the condo docs.

Yeah... i hate people so that’s obviously kind of the issue. There are some townhouses and duplexes where you just have then 1 neighbor and not 10 families attached to 1 big building.

My cousin lives in a duplex and likes it, so that could be an option.

From what I’ve read, you really need to parse the HOA stuff. They can hVe some pretty ridiculous rules and limitations on what you can do even though you technically own it.

Also you need to try to find out when major maintenance was done last. Like roof replacement, etc. My mom said my grandmother bought a condo and within the first 5 months they asked for a huge lump sum on top of HOA fee because the roof and pool needed to be re done. I think that’s the type of situation where it can become problematic. 

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13 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Condos are OK but can be a PITA. Personally I’m done living with people around me. You’ll need a lawyer to help go over the condo docs.

 

39 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Anyone have an opinion on condo vs home ownership?

My fiancé and I have been researching and it appears condos are more affordable... at least on the surface.

Anyone have experience with this or thoughts?

Condos can be more affordable on the surface but the taxes can be just as high as a small house and the condo fees can be outrageous - several thousand dollars a year - and they don’t do anything but grounds maintenance and keeping up the outside of the home.  You can put that money aside to do your own repairs. Plus with a condo you share at least one wall and maybe an entire floor/ceiling  with your neighbors.  That can be tough to deal with once you’ve made a purchase and aren’t inclined to go anywhere (and neither are they). 

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Yeah keep in mind the monthly HOA fees with a condo when accounting for the price. Your "mortgage" by itself might end up 1400 per month but there could be a 400 per month HOA fee so you're really at 1800. 

Condos have benefits of course but you got to weigh the extra fees and such. 

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Yeah.. nothing is immenent. We’re putting money away in hopes of looking maybe towards spring of next year. Hoping to have roughly 30k put aside.

some of these condos have estimated mortgages half the price of what a low end fixer upper type house in this market has.

some really nice condos in the 175-200k range.

Weve basically already decided we wouldn’t consider a place that has over 300 a month in HOA fees.

A lot are in the 150-200 range which is manageable 

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5 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Yeah.. nothing is immenent. We’re putting money away in hopes of looking maybe towards spring of next year. Hoping to have roughly 30k put aside.

some of these condos have estimated mortgages half the price of what a low end fixer upper type house in this market has.

some really nice condos in the 175-200k range.

Weve basically already decided we wouldn’t consider a place that has over 300 a month in HOA fees.

A lot are in the 150-200 range which is manageable 

I looked at many many condos and found that when the HOA fee was <300 the upkeep was sorely lacking.  In fact many in the 350-400 range weren’t looking too hot.  Good if you can find otherwise but be careful.  Once you’re in, you’re on the hook for that money. Good to know someone on the inside.  Not everyone is gonna come clean. Not to be negative but it’s true lol. 

 

Also, small complexes of just a few homes tend to have lower fees but the danger is if someone doesn’t pay, the fund is gonna suffer very quickly

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1 minute ago, JBinStoughton said:

I looked at many many condos and found that when the HOA fee was <300 the upkeep was sorely lacking.  In fact many in the 350-400 range weren’t looking too hot.  Good if you can find otherwise but be careful.  Once you’re in, you’re on the hook for that money. Good to know someone on the inside.  Not everyone is gonna come clean. Not to be negative but it’s true lol. 

Yeah that’s the rub. It’s hard to re sell immediately if you don’t end up liking it.

Im not too picky. As long as they plow in the winter and mow in the summer.. I’m pretty much good.

my fiancé’s step father is a contractor, it won’t be difficult for him to tell if the roof and everything outside is in good shape. 

I think everything else is on the owner, if I’m not mistaken.

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3 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Yeah that’s the rub. It’s hard to re sell immediately if you don’t end up liking it.

Im not too picky. As long as they plow in the winter and mow in the summer.. I’m pretty much good.

my fiancé’s step father is a contractor, it won’t be difficult for him to tell if the roof and everything outside is in good shape. 

I think everything else is on the owner, if I’m not mistaken.

Yes pretty much the roof and siding and the grounds. All else is on the owner. 

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