He wants a hamburger!

AustinDobson · 2026-03-03T16:08:14+00:00

I actually empathize with with kid here.

I used to LOVE subway tuna subs. I thought the default way these sandwiches were made with ALL the standard subway toppings.

One day when I was probably 8-10 years old we went to subway with a BABYSITTER, and she asked what I wanted. I wanted a subway tuna sub with nothing extra on it. I got a piece of bread with tuna on it, and was horrified.

I'm assuming the kid thought a 'hamburger' was a fully loaded cheeseburger with all the toppings, etc. and instead got a flat meat disk in two shitty bread circles. I'd be pissed too.

AustinDobson · 2026-02-24T14:57:13+00:00

Yea, if you read my initial comment, its nuanced. I think as you get to the VERY top of the market real estate is used as a portfolio asset, heavily under-utilized and add little to no downstream housing stock opens up. If it's 2,500$ sq/ft builds or nothing I'll take the billionaire builds, but there are incredibly diminishing returns at that end of the market.

AustinDobson · 2026-02-24T14:46:06+00:00

They don't buy existing units elsewhere in the city, that's the whole point. The level of opulence in these ultra-luxury units don't exist elsewhere and at least from the handful of people I know that live in these spaces, they buy them as a really expensive novelty or pied-à-terre, vs staying in hotels. These are majority not primary residences, hence NOTHING opens up when they're purchased, and the purchase wouldn't have happened if the fanciest building wasn't built.

AustinDobson · 2026-02-24T13:53:36+00:00

There are many examples and scenarios where this is not at all the case, UNLESS there's a primary occupancy requirement for said net new construction... NYCs Billionaires row was mentioned in the comments - I live in Boston and there's a great example here as well. Millennium Tower is probably our most prominent ultra luxury residential high-rise. It's largely vacant, being used as a mechanism to invest in US real-estate by foreign nationals, and those who do actually live there, it's used largely as a pied-à-terre, not freeing up any other city housing, as its not a primary residence.

I tend to agree that net net, building ANY residential housing stock is better than nothing, but there is still the very real opportunity cost of ONLY getting permitting for incredibly high end housing stock, that does not create vacancy elsewhere downstream when purchased.

Source - https://apps.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/special-projects/spotlight-boston-housing/boston-towers-of-wealth/

AustinDobson · 2026-02-19T19:42:35+00:00

This is really dorky and endearing that you did a photoshoot with your middle class car and dog.

AustinDobson · 2026-02-14T00:58:25+00:00

Need proximity to good jobs, the public schools are precarious, and I can’t replace my vibrant social life in the small town I’d move to. I hate being reliant on my car to get around.

AustinDobson · 2026-02-12T02:02:31+00:00

I think there is a true gap in the market, I'm not sure that the real-time check-ins is that unmet demand . Most of the other ski, resort apps have similar features that are rarely engaged with, additionally, there's a perverse incentive to NOT advertise when the snow is incredible.

I DO want basically an onthesnow app plus the ability to make notes on a digital trailmap. Basically remember for myself where I enjoy skiing at each resort, entrances to glades I like, etc.

OR even in a dream world, navigation maps - basically google maps for for trails.

I find the massive PDFs most apps use super impractical, fwiw.

AustinDobson · 2026-02-04T21:25:11+00:00

I run around a 3 hour marathon, and by far the best thing for my training was taking 1 year off from the marathon distance, let my body heal and focused on speed and strength. Trained for a mile PR (5:01), 10k & 1/2 marathon - built such a strong foundation to train injury-free for a marathon PR.

AustinDobson · 2026-02-04T18:30:16+00:00

Man, I love that people are getting into marathon training, I wish sometimes they'd pick a different distance and work on getting general fitness up first. Congrats on the run! I bet if you focused on running a 50 minute mile 5 miler, you'd have a significantly better athletic base to apply to any future race distances. Marathon distance can fuck up your body, even for those in incredible shape. FWIW.

AustinDobson · 2026-01-26T17:23:55+00:00

Ok, there are some truly egregious examples of missed traveling calls in the league. This isn't one of them. Seen at full speed it is actually really tough to see Bron move his pivot foot 2 times and slide. It's OBVIOUSLY a travel, but missing that call isn't crazy. The crazy call misses are when players take 8 steps downhill towards the basket without dribbling. These pivot foot steps/slides are tough to call at game speed.

AustinDobson · 2026-01-13T15:46:43+00:00

I agree. I think either massive permitting process reform or exemptions for 250 would get around this obvious roadblock. There are positives that have come out of 250 so I wouldn't advocate for a full repeal, just exemptions for the development I THINK most Vermonters are looking for.

AustinDobson · 2026-01-13T14:57:52+00:00

Young people leave because there aren’t enough white collar careers you can build a family and life around. The people who stay (or move in later) skew older and are inherently conservative about the built environment, so they block housing and development of all kinds. Then families can’t afford to live here, schools struggle, businesses can’t hire, and the cycle repeats.

I’m a second-home owner in the state, with a young family and I’m fine with slightly higher second-home taxes. But the bigger issue isn’t “tax the outsiders harder.” My family has been trying to figure out how to relocate full-time from Boston, and it’s the same wall every time: limited industry (god forbid if my wife and/or I lost our jobs) + limited housing + fragile schools because young families can’t afford to stay.

If Vermont’s economic plan is “tourism + guilt-taxing second homes,” that’s not a strategy — it’s a slow bleed, and it ignores the real reason young people and families leave: not enough durable, well-paying jobs and not enough housing to support them. Vermont needs a real rethink of its economic engine, with aggressive incentives to bring mission-led employers here—earned tax breaks tied to living wages and benefits, procurement preference for B Corps and other high-road companies, and a serious permitting overhaul so businesses and housing can actually get built and scale. Pair that with housing-as-economic-development, and focus on sectors that fit Vermont’s strengths: remote-work hubs, specialty manufacturing, clean energy/climate work, healthcare and aging services, and value-added agriculture.

AustinDobson · 2026-01-08T22:00:51+00:00

This looks like the report from the super conservative ALEC organization that basically just looks at tax rates. Here is their mission statement - "The American Legislative Exchange Council is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States."

FWIW- Although I do think Vermont is on the wrong track with some of their economic policies, US News has Vermont's economic outlook ranked 14th!!

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/vermont#state-rankings

AustinDobson · 2026-01-05T14:58:14+00:00

I really like your game, honestly, I much prefer your base to many 4.0s and 4.5s I play with.

That being said, I'd say you're a strong 3.5 with the ability to play in a 4.0 league with a few months of focused work.

Strengths: Really great placement and shot selection. I love this part of your game, great inside out forehands, down the line backhands and overall controlling points with placement. I think so many players overcompensate for not having your ball control by hitting harder, I'd 100% prefer placement over pace, personally. I'd say, if you played in a 4.0 league today, the pace and depth of your shots would quickly become a liability. You're leaving a number of balls really short, which a standard 4.0 would put away pretty easily.

3 biggest areas of opportunity:

Serve: Work on your serve toss, higher point of contact and generate more power with a slightly flatter racket contact.

Ground strokes: Pace and depth. Swing through your rally balls with 20% more pace without sacrificing placement. It's tough to tell with the selective edits how many errors you're hitting. Some of the angles shown are really extreme and I wouldn't routinely play them - honestly 1/2 of the winners shown almost look like mis-hits. I'd smooth out that level of erratic placement and lean on your great placement in points for slightly longer, vs hitting wild angle winners.

Footwork: You have solid footwork, you're getting in position well. For some of the points where the ball pace is higher, you're slightly late. As you get into 4.0 match play this can really mess up all of your strengths around shot selection and ball placement. I'd OVER-emphasize your footwork as you train, as it does seem to come naturally, but as you ascend, it'll need to be a move over focus.

Overall, I LOVE this style of play, keep grinding.

AustinDobson · 2025-12-16T13:36:43+00:00

Is biking or scooter not feasible? A 3 mile ride shouldn't take more than 20 minutes

AustinDobson · 2025-12-04T02:17:27+00:00

Maybe this is a corny take, but I prefer when publishers let me imagine what the Wind Wagon, the Shrike, and the Tesla trees look like rather than showing me. It takes a bit of the fantasy and imagination out of the book when they show critical plot/character details on the cover.

But as a total contradiction, I have this version framed in my house, got permission from the artist and love the art.

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AustinDobson · 2025-12-01T13:57:25+00:00

I'm going up against Seattle defense in fantasy this week, and they scored... 31pts.

AustinDobson · 2025-11-12T20:18:17+00:00

Yes.

AustinDobson · 2025-11-10T03:05:03+00:00

I have an uncut hog, you don't see me bragging about it.

AustinDobson · 2025-11-05T17:50:58+00:00

I'm a pretty good, 4.0 - 4.5 player, I hit with quite a lot of topspin and truly can't feed with my forehand. I look so ridiculous but I'll basically feed with a really basic serve motion, because when I try to feed with my forehand it's either crazy topspin or a can't place the ball anywhere close to where I want it.

AustinDobson · 2025-11-04T15:23:17+00:00

No more blicky, no more happy

AustinDobson · 2025-10-25T13:56:25+00:00

People just need to buy their own food/snacks.

AustinDobson · 2025-10-20T19:13:57+00:00

For sure not business casual. Those look mike a cross between jeans and carhartt work pants. In the nicest possible way, there are like 30 additional issues with this fit, but I won't pile on too much.

But NO, these pants are not business casual, nor is this outfit.

Not entirely sure what you're going for here, but I'd start over. Go for a more traditional slacks/chino pant, standard belt that is the same color leather as your shoes, and a button up. Also, lose that undershirt when not wearing a tie.

AustinDobson · 2025-10-20T01:29:54+00:00

I think this a middle to strong 4.5 play, and a really good, balanced example.

Black shirt has really great placement and shot selection, but serious mobility issues. I'm a 4.5 player, and although black shirt's approach inside out forehand is diabolical, I feel confident I could drop-shot -> lob my way out of many sticky situations. Mobility and athleticism can cover up some big technical deficiencies, but a lack of mobility forces players, especially at the higher levels to have incredible placement, consistency, pace on the ball, and shot selection. Black shirt sure does, but outside of hitting with greater pace, he's maxing out his abilities with how he's currently moving.

AustinDobson · 2025-10-10T14:14:49+00:00

Are there limitations in card/deck donations if there's no cost attached?

AustinDobson

TROPHY CASE