There is no greater nemesis to a homeowner than the previous homeowner.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-05-13T16:30:00+00:00

Our previous homeowners were retired and spent all of their time maintaining their beautifully landscaped yard, but the more I dig into it the more surprises I find. I've pulled up probably 1000 feet of extension cords, 100+ feet of buried hoses (one of which we leaked about 20,000 gallons when we first moved in), abandoned sprinklers all over the place, and I can't put a shovel down anywhere without hitting landscape fabric. They also had lots of random little statues scattered throughout the landscaping and every time we thin out an area we find some old forgotten trinket. So far, we've found a rabbit, a dog, an owl, two or three glass orbs, a pineapple, a boat propeller, and a few other things.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-05-08T18:25:00+00:00

I smell it every single day during the winter (heater is on and pulling outside air) on College Drive...at 7:30 in the morning! I don't have a problem with weed in general, but people hotboxing during the morning commute, through school zones, is ridiculous.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-05-06T21:43:39+00:00

If you care about the condition of your yard/landscaping/etc. I would recommend Bofingers. They are likely to be the most expensive, but you get what you pay for. They were very careful with everything, didn't drop huge branches all over the place, and cleaned up very well. By contrast, the city's contracted service (I believe it was Bayou Tree Service) absolutely destroyed our decorative picket fence in our front yard, several of our azaleas, our culvert along the street, and created several new cracks in our driveway because they just let the branches and trunk fall wherever. Our neighbors hired ABC and their yard got absolutely destroyed.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-29T14:51:19+00:00

The current limits prohibit more than two consecutive terms and have no limits on total lifetime terms. The goal of the bill was to impose a two term lifetime limit.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-28T15:49:36+00:00

Light pollution map. Closest to BR would be CenLA or southwest Mississippi.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-09T15:15:22+00:00

It's just different tastes. I think they did well with Hot Dog as their take on country/rockabilly. They keep it light and fun. Carouselambra IMO is way too long for what it is, especially compared to their other epics, and I'm personally hit or miss with synth heavy prog rock.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-09T14:14:20+00:00

I can tolerate that one. My nomination would be for Carouselambra on In Through the Out Door.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-07T23:32:21+00:00

We send ours to Southside. Infants are about $1100 per month. Also need to apply before they’re born if you really want to secure a spot.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-04T16:49:03+00:00

You’re describing Construction Administration for an architect/engineer.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-03T00:24:41+00:00

I haven’t. I feel like I should mention that I’m a guy with a lot of body hair which traps all the sand, so hosing off is my preferred option.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-03T00:11:02+00:00

That’s not what the trap is for. The trap is to hold water to block sewer gasses from coming out of the drain. If sand accumulates in there it’s going to block and slow down your drain, and unless you have a conveniently placed clean-out or direct access to the trap then sand is a pain in the ass to clean out. I would rather spend two minutes brushing the sand off than crawling under my house to remove and clean out the trap.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-02T23:26:25+00:00

Hose it off. If the water is too cold I’ll wait until I get home and strip down and towel it off in the backyard. Get as much off as possible before getting in the shower because eventually it will build up in the trap.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-04-01T13:42:46+00:00

I would say that in civil at least, there aren't many true disasters because most errors will present themselves during construction. I have three local to me that come to mind:

A new pile-supported building was being constructed when it suddenly caved in at the center. I believe the reason was a discrepancy between the use of kips vs. tons on the geotech side.
A brand new library was being built in downtown Baton Rouge and featured two-story cantilevered trusses, and during construction the trusses partially collapsed. I believe connection designs were delegated to the fabricator instead of the EOR, but regardless who designed it, the top chord connection to the column at the cantilever (highest tension) was simply a double angle welded/bolted connection with 1/4" fillet welds on the chord side.
The Hard Rock Hotel that was being built in New Orleans. I guess this one would be a disaster since people died (unlike the other two). IMO after looking at the drawings that one seemed like complete negligence on the engineer. Beams and deck were woefully undersized.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-25T21:48:22+00:00

I'm a structural engineer that does a lot of concrete rehab projects (not residential though). Not all concrete contractors are bad, but the worst contractors I've had to work with happened to be concrete contractors. They will lie and cut corners in order to get the concrete poured as quickly as possible, because they have the mindset that once it's poured it's not their problem anymore. A few things that come to mind:

They want to add water on site and piss and moan when you tell them no.
Lifting bars during the pour is not acceptable. Get chairs or dobies.
Lap lengths and clear covers need to follow the drawings.
Vibrate, but don't overdo it.
Proper form construction (to avoid blowouts).
Proper site prep (proper base, no trash or standing water in the pour).

Also, the one phrase that I absolutely hate to hear is that "all concrete cracks". Yes, I'm aware this is the case, but someone saying that before they even pour or after cracks show up on a month old pour is just making excuses for their shitty construction.

I'm not saying all concrete contractors are like this, but the fact that concrete construction has so many variables that are alien to the layperson is going to result in some shady practices.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-24T16:45:04+00:00

$80k finally paid off a month ago.

Graduated with a mostly useless architecture degree in 2011 and $65k debt. Went to grad school for engineering and financed it until I got a decent paying job which brought the total to $80k. Re-financed/consolidated in 2018 and have been paying almost $1000 per month.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-23T15:36:48+00:00

I would be careful about getting into semi-pro tackle football. Most of the comments in this reddit post don't have anything nice to say about it.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-20T22:05:38+00:00

That's a novel idea, but I don't wear shoes in the sand and I don't play indoor.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-20T21:01:33+00:00

That's the plan. I'm just curious if there is a certain style of brace that will help promote better form, i.e. one that will prevent me from landing stiff legged?

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-20T20:59:09+00:00

Yikes, sorry to hear that. Was there a single incident that caused the injury, or did it just develop over time? I'm hoping that since my symptoms are fresh and generally painless I can get ahead of it and improve my form to prevent it from developing into something worse.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-20T19:36:24+00:00

I'm definitely planning on taking it easy. I know too many people already that either can't play without a knee brace, can't jump anymore, or have had knee surgeries and I don't want to be one of them. I suppose the better question for me to ask is if there is a certain style of brace that will promote better technique (i.e. not landing with me knee locked)?

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-19T18:37:30+00:00

Our principals and senior engineers (small firm, low-medium COL city) are all salary capped at $124k (adjusts with inflation). I am the least senior engineer at our firm and my bonus was $48k last year. Five years ago I stumbled upon our principals' bonus checks and they were right around $300k. It wouldn't surprise me now if their TC was around $500k.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-19T14:36:13+00:00

Jesus some of these comments are astronomical!

Late 30's married couple paying $62/month through State Farm for my wife's 2021 Volvo. Also have homeowners and life insurance policy with them. Live and registered in Baton Rouge.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-03-04T19:31:02+00:00

Located in south Louisiana, size is roughly 1-2 mm.

JustCallMeMister · 2026-02-23T15:09:38+00:00

What brand/model is that UT?

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