u/AStormofSwines

Could use a little help navigating this.

Long story short, we started renting a house a couple months ago. Our landlord wants us to run the sprinkler, for the grass and the foundation. I knew there'd be some expense to that, but our first water bill was $400.

Some of that might have been our internal usage, but our landlord had us running our sprinkler system was running four nights a week, while the City of McKinney only allows for twice a week lest you get fined. I communicated this and he basically said "ok, run it two nice a week but for nearly double the amount of time you were doing before." (10 minute intervals instead of 6 minutes). So...darn near the same amount of water/money.

He wants it two days a week, two intervals each day (9p and 5a), 10 minutes per zone, 5 zones.

Some questions:

• Is that a reasonable amount?
• Is the foundation issue really that serious? Or, can it be run less than that and still keep the foundation 'safe'?
  • Is running it for longer intervals really going to do whatever he thinks it will?

I want to be a good tenant, protect the house, etc. Just hoping there's some middle ground where I can do that without paying out the ass and wasting a bunch of water.

I was able to point to McKinney rules time; any other authoritative sources like that would be much appreciated.

I'm sure many of us share the opinion that The Bird Hunters is one of the finest songs in modern music, especially country music. While some dorks are just smashing together tropes (e.g., Fish Hunt Golf Drink), this song is like it's taken from Lonesome Dove or something: traditional country imagery mixed with genuinely complex human emotions.

But...I've always wondered about the last verse (or pre-chorus):

>Dan says, "Hell of a shot, looks like you still got it

>That's what we came here to do

>Well, it's light enough still, at the foot of the hill

>We could kick up a single or two"

There's nothing wrong with it, but it also doesn't add anything to the story IMO. After the emotional and musical climax of the song--'Bet we'd dance on the 4th of July,' and the absolute banger fiddle drop--this just feels unnecessary, or even worse like it's getting in the way.

Like I said in the title, I'm nitpicking. It's still an incredible song. I'm just trying to understand why this part is there. Maybe I'm missing some meaning here, or it's important structurally?

Our 2015 Equinox has 130,000 miles on it. Lately it's been giving a "service stabilitrack" message. Took it into a shop and they spent all day looking but couldn't find a problem, in part because the message wasn't there all the time. Went back when the check engine light was on and they said the ABS control module needs replaced for $2k, parts and labor.

Two grand seems like a lot to spend on a car this old, but we're already in the process of buying a second car and can't really buy two cars at the same time.

So I guess my questions are: does this work NEED to be done to drive it safely? Is it possible the problem is something else? If it IS necessary and we do it, can we expect the car to keep going for a while longer?

Thanks in advance.

I'm new to...the area and trying to learn the local customs, lol.

If you were going to ask "What's the best Chinese restaurant in ____?", would you say "DFW" or "the DFW"? Or other?

And does context matter? Like, Reddit vs IRL?

To me, DFW is the airport and the DFW is the metroplex. But wtf do I know.

See title.

I think it's important to list both these positions, since it shows that I was a Specialist and now I'm a Managing Director, but a lot of the responsibilities stayed the same and I don't want to repeat them too much.

In plain English, it'd be "I was doing all these things, then with my new title I continued them and also took on XYZ." So maybe the first bullet in my new role be something like "In addition to responsibilities from previous role (see below),..."

Is that weird? Any other way to handle this?

Thanks!

I recently moved into the High Pointe neighborhood near 380 and 75, just north of the Costco.

As I was walking with my family to the local park I saw a drone flying overheard, to the west and out of sight. I thought this was strange since my very brief time as a drone pilot (before I crashed and broke it after like two days) taught me that 1) you should always have your drone in your sight, and 2) you shouldn't fly over other people's homes or any other places where you don't have explicit permission.

Then later in the evening I was taking out my trash and saw a very similar drone coming back the opposite direction.

Any insight?

I'm a recent transplant and I have several random questions related to sports in the area:

• Are there any pro/semi-pro sports teams that play indoors (aside from the Big Four major teams) in the summer/fall? Cheap entertainment for the family like minor league baseball, but with AC?
• Favorite places around McKinney to watch pro sports on TVs? Bonus points if it's a family friendly environment where I can keep one eye on the game, one eye on my child.
• Dallas Cowboys: should I try to become a fan or remain a Hater? (I don't hate any of the current players and I'm excited about Caleb Downs, just have an aversion to "America's Team.")
  • Other teams that are particularly fun to follow, or I should I avoid?
• College football: What percentage of CFB fans around here root for the Longhorns, and what's the breakdown of other fanbases?
  • Any smaller schools in the area that are fun to root for and go to their games?
• Any other recommendations? I have a three year old boy, always looking for things to do!

Brand new to all this: new to Texas, new to this deregulated market stuff, don't know my expected usage.

About this 10 month plan from Gexa:

• Initially I was going to look for a 5 month plan, since it seems like renewing/shopping around outside the summer is good.
• However, this looks like it has relatively low rates, especially for 100% renewable.

Any catches? By comparison, there's also this from Constellation https://www.constellation.com/bin/residential/GetContractVersionPDF?versionNum=4992383

Any insight is much appreciated...

New to the whole "deregulated energy market" thing and, wow...it's something.

Short version: If I move into a rental house that currently has electricity, can/should I A) take over the current plan, or B) shop around for a new plan? I assume B is better, but will my landlord have a termination fee?

My landlord told me to call Green Mountain Energy and switch it into my name. I tried to call them to learn about the current plan, but they wouldn't give me any information because I didn't have the account number, not an authorized user, etc. As much as I want to say "just put the fries in the bag" and not spend any more of my time learning about this, I assume it's worth it....

Just don't know what it's like when stopping/starting service at a given address. Thank you!

Edit: my landlord said I was free to shop around, he's not saying I have to use GME.

Not super religious, definitely not conservative, but interested in finding a church for my family. Most interested in community building and service. Grew up Lutheran, attended a UCC more recently.

Are there any, like...normal churches around that are neither mega nor MAGA?

As a Homewood resident I was surprised to see us at 141, just two spots ahead of Harvey. But then I saw Flossmoor at 181 and...that's just hilarious.

Like...I get that you're using some algorithm, but if it's that broken don't publish the piece, lol.

Any other absurd rankings on here?