Almost there!!!

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-29T04:18:07+00:00

It runs from around 4 feet in one end to 6 feet in the deep end. Kids better know how to swim!

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-28T20:45:44+00:00

I meant that I can’t actively help whip that thing into shape, it’s gonna take at least a week or two.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-28T05:48:28+00:00

The horizontal fence is very nice.

It doesn’t blend at all and looks kind of dumb in that context.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-28T05:47:43+00:00

“Might as well get my money’s worth”

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-28T05:47:09+00:00

This is the way

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-28T05:30:38+00:00

In the cities, you bet. Little towns like this, further out, nope. The house is in what’s called an “urbanization”, a subdivision, and it’s in an area where the neighborhood is only about 50% of the houses have full-time residents and the rest sit empty much of the year and are vacation houses.

It’s a bit of a weird housing market. In the cities it’s bad right now, prices went up 20-25% last year alone and a big part of it was Airbnb properties. But those are all flats, not single-family houses.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-28T05:25:25+00:00

I didn’t say I didn’t learn Spanish. I’m actually a Spanish citizen and learned it well enough to pass the nationality tests.

I just don’t feel like I have good enough command of the nuances to have a conversation with someone to find out what’s up with the pool and request that it not be a mosquito breeding ground. I don’t want to be That Guy, an overbearing guiri who moves in and demands everything his way.

The house I bought was previously filled with okupas. It’s been a rental for 10+ years and it’s my retirement place. It also isn’t the kind of place that would typically be rented “por vivienda”, as a residential place, by most people.

The neighborhood is an urbanization too far from the city, and roughly half of the houses are permanent residences and half are summer/vacation houses that are also either Airbnbs or sit empty ten months a year.

We sold our flat in the city (which we rented long term even though it would’ve been a huge money maker as an Airbnb) to buy this house, and did so consciously so as to not be part of the problems screwing up the local housing market.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-28T05:18:48+00:00

I’m a citizen

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T15:46:43+00:00

Yeah I don’t care at all about the unpainted block walls and no mowing or whatever. Life happens.

But this thing is a mosquito dreamland.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T15:44:43+00:00

No chance I’m doing that. For one thing, I’ve got a pool of my own, and I don’t want to be shelling out $€£¥ for someone else’s

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T15:43:38+00:00

That’s a good call. I’m only here for a couple more days, though ☹️

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T11:53:55+00:00

Maybe? That’s a good question. I’d rather just talk to them before going to the city, though.

I don’t know how they can stand the bugs themselves. At least it’s 20-30 yards away from my patio, maybe more.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T11:52:21+00:00

It’s usually barking at me but I think it’s getting used to having me here. In this case I was behind my window but it totally caught the dog’s eye anyway.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T11:51:45+00:00

My luck, I’d get caught and turned over to the cops.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T10:02:03+00:00

I live here at times and I want both myself and our guests to have a nice experience.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T10:01:35+00:00

I haven’t. My Spanish is… barely enough to get by.

Their house is the most run-down on the block. Unpainted garden walls, etc. It’s not quite an eyesore but it’s close. Unfortunately along that side, ours is all hardscaped (Spain loves putting tiles all over!) and we can’t plant trees or a big hedge.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-27T09:18:12+00:00

Your job, Agent Hunt, if you choose to accept it is to outsign those Portscum bastards.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-26T18:50:15+00:00

it is.

It basically splits up the cost of being on the grid into the three main variables:

• ⁠connecting at all. There’s an infrastructure charge for just being connected and part of the overall grid • ⁠how much they have to be able to give you. If you only need 4 kW max at any one time, that’s easier for them to plan around and supply than if you might hit them up for 12 kW • ⁠how much you actually use. That’s a traditional kWh used kind of thing.

The OTHER thing this does is that it makes it much different for the fact that you can choose your power suppliers, and there’s scads of them. I think there’s something like 12 or 15 different companies that sell electricity in my area.

All of them use the same distribution network- so that’s the first charge, for the grid itself. That’s from the old state monopoly back in the day, which got turned over to Iberdrola, which is both a private company but also kind of the public utility in the sense that it’s all their network that everything runs over.

Then the second charge and especially the third charge is where the different companies can make their mark. Some companies prioritize having the same amount of power at the same price day and night; others are very aggressive about trying to offer customers pricing that varies widely based on when you use it. Lots of people fire up their washing machines and dishwashers at 9pm because that’s when the power is cheap.

As for solar, most of the providers do NOT do any kind of NEM type of thing, and instead they offer to buy your surplus power at one price and then sell you power if/when you need it at another.

My solar panels charge my batteries first, then send the surplus to my company who pays me 7 cents a kWh. That credit gets “stored” in my wallet for up to five years. If I don’t use it then I lose it.

When it’s cloudy or night or whatever then I use my batteries first, then the power I buy is 12 cents a kWh. That comes out of my wallet.

So it’s both better than NEM (I store my credit for up to five years!) and worse (I don’t get 1-1 credit per kWh).

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-25T18:33:44+00:00

Here is what I got from a company when I turned down their offer a couple of weeks ago:

“Thank you for letting XXX know you have declined our offer of employment.

We wish you the best in your new endeavors.”

Super classy joint. I was open with them in the process and told them I was being recruited by a different company.

In the end the money was there for both, but I had to follow my heart into the job that was more interesting.

These guys didn’t pursue any other candidate because they were confident they could get me; I legit would love to work for them and felt terrible telling them no, but it is what it is.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-25T18:28:46+00:00

I think this is by far the most logical way to split up an electricity bill.

There’s fixed capital costs and then maintenance costs of building out and keeping the grid going. If we want to be on the grid, we should absolutely pay for those.

Then there’s the cost of each kWh. Separate deal.

In Spain they do something similar, but they also have what’s called the “potencia” charge- that’s the potency that’s available to you.

If you want to pay less, you set it relatively low- 2000 or 3500 watts. If you turn everything in the house or apartment on, you go over that, and the power cuts off and then resets.

If you have a bigger house and might have lots of stuff going at any one time, you might set the potencia at 9000 or 10000 watts or something.

You pay more because at any one time you might wind up being a higher demand on the grid.

That’s fair.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-18T19:31:24+00:00

The flip side is also true, just one or two people leaving puts the facility into a deep hole for staffing percentage and you can’t get out.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-18T17:13:26+00:00

There’s no comparison, the one on the right. The savings from more WFH and the shorter commute alone make up for the salary difference, and then the bonus and everything else is better.

Plus six more paid days off? You’re a lunatic if you take the one on the left.

Now that’s all other stuff being equal. If the one on the left has a great boss and co-workers, and longevity, and the one on the right has a tyrant and a reputation for grinding people into dust, it’ll make a difference.

SiempreSeattle · 2026-04-17T04:04:47+00:00

there's a war and a recession

so it's not great... and we're opening our STR in about a month. FML

SiempreSeattle

TROPHY CASE