Weather...Fuck it.

[Matt]

Rob is right. You have 3 months of hellish winter every year but the states are totally prepared for it. Those 3 months, bad as they are, make you appreciate and enjoy the other 9 months all the more intensely. Of those 9 months, 3 will be transitional months and will be enjoyable (Spring and Fall) and the other 6 will be glorious.

No hurricanes up here in MN. We get occasional tornadoes and blizzards, that's it. Does it get fucking cold? Sure, but again...the state is prepared for it and just stay inside like everyone else does.

[BillyG]

Hey I would definitely live in Chicago. I've always thought I would like it there. And it's fucking CHEAP even to live in the city proper, cheaper than Houston.

People asking if they can help, donate to the Houston Food Bank. We have a massive food supply issue because grocery stores lost perishable food and our farms lost stored food due to loss of power. We need to bring in a TON of food and water from other states, and fast.

https://www.houstonfoodbank.org/

[BillyG]

Also want to hear the fucked up part? This whole thing is probably great for my job. We already knew there is a natural gas shortage that needs to be addressed in the next 18 months. And the GOP in Texas is going to push even more drilling in this aftermath.

[Ingrid]

I concur with the Minnesotans. But if east coast is on the table, I say go with PA. Philly is an awesome city and there’s good commuter rail if you don’t want to live in the city.

[Matt]

speaking of rail, we've been building more and more rail in the Twin Cities metro over the past few years. Unfortunately, it sounds like a lot of that might get put on perma-hold due to Covid-19. Ridership on the existing rail is down something like 96%, so there's a lot of pushback on continuing to fund these projects when nobody is using them. I think it's short-sighted, and I also think that letting the existing work go fallow for a few years would be a mistake. For instance, down where I live, they've been building the SW light rail for the past couple of years, and I think it's slated to be done in 2024. We've got half-built bridges and such all over the place. To stop NOW...no.

[BillyG]

I concur with the Minnesotans. But if east coast is on the table, I say go with PA. Philly is an awesome city and there’s good commuter rail if you don’t want to live in the city.

I love Philadelphia. Not sure that Sarah would like the city living there so much, it's a HUGE shock from Houston. And if we move we want to be somewhere we can walk around and stuff, which we could but city living with 4 animals and needing yard for dogs is tough.

[Matt]

Don't rule out MN. The cost of living here is very, very reasonable, the housing market is strong but affordable, the economy is pretty strong with a rousing tech industry and medical device industry. We have a gorgeous lake system for walking/biking around, a decent food scene, all of the major sports and concerts, a major international airport that is a featured hub for Delta and other airlines (so getting anywhere in the world is a breeze), and we're overall quite blue in the metro area. Get out into the boonies and it's pretty red but stay in the metro and you're safely blue.

[Ingrid]

There’s also Madison. Hop, skip and a jump from Chi town. Gorgeous city. From what I understand, very walkable. I don’t know about the city proper in regards to pets, but definitely something to look into. Not to step on any toes, Matt. Just trying to think of anywhere and everywhere that will get Billy and Sarah out of the hellscape of Texas.

[Matt]

No toe steppage taken! And yeah, there are plenty of areas up in the North that would work. I only cite Minneapolis because it's a large metro area. As they live in Houston, they'd probably want to keep to a large metro area.

[BillyG]

hah, thanks yall. And yes, we want to be close to a metro area with diversity.

[Captain Russ]

Playing catch up to the Houston side of things but we’ve been extremely lucky in the southeast of Austin. Just this morning had the update of boil orders but made preparations for at least two weeks without leaving the house and then some. Working from home has made things incredibly easy to adapt a lot of things that would probably send anybody over the Cliff screaming. Stay bundled Billy and Josh. And the rest of you, carry on with your winter dealings as you see fit and be safe!

[BillyG]

Just had my first shower since Sunday. I didn't wash my face because the water isn't great. And the pressure isn't great...but still. A SHOWER. My sink faucet has no water pressure. Hoping it resolves itself because the earliest plumber appointment we've found is March 1st.

[JLynnCarr]

Damn! You guys in TX got hit hard. I am so sorry! I'm hoping that everything gets better there soon.

[BillyG]

Kitchen sink is busted. Found a link. Good thing it was before the new kitchen goes in? Have a friend of my sister's coming to work on it tomorrow.

[B_Metal]

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were miserable off & on. I have a generator but for some brilliant fucking reason they kept cutting our power after midnight allowing us to wake up to FREEZING FUCKING TEMPS. Luckily the generator/heaters warmed us up quickly and none of the pets died and none of us got hypothermia. Also fuck Ted "off to Cancun" Cruz.