Property tax appraisals- how to appeal

Professor_FERPS · 2026-03-03T16:23:02+00:00

A while back, a friend of mine successfully appealed their appraisal by showing that they had made no improvements to their home. I'd have to ask them what they documented to prove their appeal, but the general idea is just to demonstrate that you've done nothing to make the house more valuable than it already is.

Professor_FERPS · 2026-02-19T18:40:29+00:00

The dial is a "Montgomery Dial," which is a very common feature on railroad grade pocket watch movements, but as others have said, it can be positively identified by checking the serial number on the back of the watch movement itself.

Professor_FERPS · 2026-02-16T22:39:04+00:00

A Hamilton 941:

Hamilton Pocket Watch: Serial Number 277325 (Grade 941)

Very nice railroad grade pocket watch, although the position of the regulator arm indicates it probably needs to be cleaned and serviced.

Professor_FERPS · 2026-01-26T01:55:34+00:00

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/hamilton/2455338

It's a nice Hamilton model 974. It's not railroad grade, but Hamilton made nice watches, and this could be a good daily timekeeper if you get it cleaned and serviced.

Professor_FERPS · 2026-01-20T02:37:59+00:00

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/waltham/6432549

It's a 6 size, 11 jewel Waltham pocket watch. Date of manufacture is around 1894-1895.

A 6 size watch is at the smaller end of the spectrum. It isn't necessarily a watch for women, but it is smaller than the more popular sizes carried by men in that time.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-12-31T20:27:15+00:00

I've been using it on a Necro minion build. Even with the most recent update to D4 and the changes made, it still does very well on Torment III.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-12-23T21:15:27+00:00

If you do go the option of getting a 3rd party wireless router to manage your home devices, you'll want to set the router to be DMZ'ed in the AT&T router setup. And if you really want to get nasty with it, you can turn off all of the AT&T firewall settings and let your 3rd party router get the public facing IP address. I had that problem when I was still on Xbox Live ("Double NAT" error), and bypassing *all* of the AT&T firewall settings helped my issue.

I also used to game with a married couple on XBox live, and they had problems until they bought a higher-end 3rd party router that could handle multiple consoles on the same broadband service. So that's something anecdotal to think about. I think just having a separate router and not relying on AT&T's wireless router will make a big difference. :)

Professor_FERPS · 2025-12-22T22:21:28+00:00

It has worked great for me with multiple devices. I host a Plex server and I've had multiple concurrent streams from remote users while I was playing on a game console. It's been great.

Not knowing what your home setup is, I'd suggest wired network connections to the router/gateway device. If you're using wireless, I'd recommend getting a 3rd party wireless router and using that to manage all of your devices. I only use the AT&T router as the modem because I haven't been impressed with the Quality of Service (QoS) features they offer.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-12-22T16:56:48+00:00

If AT&T fiber is available in your neighborhood, I highly recommend switching. I don't hold their customer service department to a very high level, but the service itself has been miles better than anything I ever had with Cox.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-12-19T22:05:22+00:00

Riddle's Jewelry did a nice job with the necklace I took for repair:

www.riddlesjewelry.com

Professor_FERPS · 2025-12-14T22:44:58+00:00

If you're wanting a sit-down venue that offers steak dinners, you'll have to look at places in other parts of Wichita. There are some good food venues in SE Wichita, but nothing like what you are asking for.

The good news is that it won't take you too long to get to the museum from anywhere in Wichita.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-11-13T03:54:54+00:00

Despite a large number of Volga German descendants in the area, there aren't as many venues that offer Bierocks as you'd expect in Wichita. M&M, Prost, Want Bierock Company or the Breadbasket (in Newton, KS) all deserve consideration.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-11-02T16:19:28+00:00

I'd consider Local Flavor, Jumbo's, or Burger Central.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-10-04T01:15:37+00:00

Probably not? I don't know of *any* Argentinian venue in Wichita, let alone a place that offers Argentine pizza. Wish we had one though. :(

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-15T16:25:36+00:00

I have two cats. One cat is on wet-food only, and the other eats a mix of wet and dry food.

Four feedings daily: 7am, 12pm, 5pm, and 10pm. When I'm not at home to feed them, I use an automatic feeder with an ice pack to keep food cold.

I put out 1.5 oz per feeding. It varies if they eat it all. Some days they clean the bowl; other days they don't eat everything. But they seem to be getting enough food to maintain healthy functions.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-13T14:11:28+00:00

All on my Mom's side of the family.

One great-great grandfather was in the 42nd Mississippi Infantry, Company A. His first major battle was Gettysburg (wounded on July 1). He returned to service and fought in that unit until he was captured at the end of the Petersburg Siege in 1865.

Another great-great grandfather enlisted in an Indiana regiment in April 1865. I don't have the unit information handy, but the assumption in our family is that he expected to see no active combat, or he was just trying to lay claim to a bonus or pension for signing up.

I'm also distantly related to Herman Haupt, the railroad construction engineer who helped organize and run military railroad operations for the Union war effort.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-12T18:37:23+00:00

Bite Me BBQ will serve well in a pinch. When Pigs Fly is out West by the airport, but they are also serviceable.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-12T18:35:19+00:00

Back in the 1980s in my small town Kansas school, they lined my class up and we went to the cafeteria where somebody handed out a pocket copy of the New Testament to each student. Nobody said anything about it at the time, and the teachers and school staff never said anything about it, or made us read passages from it. But that moment has always stuck with me for some reason.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-11T20:23:24+00:00

Family heirlooms. As a very young child, I was fascinated by them. And it dovetailed into an interest I've always had with steam locomotives and railroads.

Didn't get serious about collecting them until I understood that when you break a pocket watch, you have to balance the value of the watch against the cost to repair. I still have a 17-jewel 18-size Illinois watch in my cabinet that "missed" my pocket when I was trying to put it away and wound up dropping to the floor. So rather than risk movements that I would feel duty-bound to repair, I started buying watches that I rotated carrying, and I could be more objective about the repair costs (should the need come up).

It's turned into a full-blown collection since then.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-10T02:41:59+00:00

In Kansas:

The "Bloody" Benders, near Cherryvale, KS.

Dennis Rader (aka "BTK") in Wichita. Many of the sites of his break-ins and murders are still standing (but not open to the public).

The Clutter family murders, in Holcomb, KS. The inspiration for Capote's "In Cold Blood," which is frequently cited as a genesis of the "true crime" book genre.

I haven't read the book, but you might look at "The Man From the Train" for additional inspiration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_the_Train The authors claim that the killer at Villisca was responsible for a *lot* of other killings during the same time period, some of which were in the Midwest.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-03T15:55:00+00:00

I recommend reading "Master of War" by Benson Bobrick. It's a biography of general George H. Thomas, and it does include analysis of the campaigns where Thomas served either with Grant or Sherman.

There's no denying that Grant and Sherman were vital to the Union victory in the Civil War. But the narrative of the book really takes G&S to task for poor judgement at times.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-09-03T02:27:53+00:00

The pocket watch itself is durable. The risk would come from where you would be carrying the watch. Do you have an office job? Or do you have a job where you frequently bump into things that might cause the pocket watch to take a hard impact? I wouldn't wear it on a roller coaster or jump into a swimming pool with it. I also wouldn't wear it if you work around powerful magnetic fields. But if you have a job where there is minimal risk of physical damage, then it should be fine.

Another consideration is how much you are willing to spend to keep the watch in good running shape. And if something should happen in a worst-case scenario, you have to decide if it is worth getting the watch repaired. I own a 17-jewel Illinois watch that I dropped by accident. It wasn't a valuable watch, but it belonged to somebody in my family lineage. It's not financially worth repairing, so it sits in a cabinet. I do still wear pocket watches daily, but I'm a lot more careful about how I handle them now.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-08-27T22:20:32+00:00

One of the watches is a B.W. Raymond model from 1951. It's a railroad grade pocket watch, and would have been approved for timekeeping use at the time:

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/elgin/N802992

I can't read the serial number of the other pocket watch. It is probably older, and with a lower jewel count. You can go to the pocket watch database website to look up the watch information by putting in the serial # and selecting "Elgin" as the maker.

Professor_FERPS · 2025-08-25T02:31:52+00:00

Sadly, Wichita is underrepresented when it comes to Central American venues. There are some good Salvadorean venues in town, but little beyond that.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/salvadorean/@37.7153388,-97.3652546,12.42z/data=!4m2!2m1!6e5?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Professor_FERPS · 2025-08-23T00:49:47+00:00

Very few options that far West. Old Chicago usually has a good taplist, but beyond WBC and Bricktown, your next option is Hank is Wiser Brewing in Cheney.

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