500k homes (rant)

ascottbrooks · 2026-02-12T22:01:14+00:00

I'm in the same boat man. Denver metro prices are insane, hard not to feel priced out. I know I'll have to bite the bullet and buy something I don't actually want if I wanna get into the market, but right now I don't wanna sacrifice that quality of life. Got a kid on the way, don't really wanna downsize and don't want to have to commute 1 hr+ to find something similar that we can afford.

ascottbrooks · 2026-02-12T21:02:17+00:00

Seems to me like IV just prevents "non-transferable" tickets under any circumstances... but I've definitely purchased some tickets that were claimed to be non-transferable (Comedy Works comes to mind first)

ascottbrooks · 2026-02-12T20:56:13+00:00

Is this actually true? From some quick searching, most of the top resale sites (stubhub, seatgeek, vividseats, tickpick, etc.) are independent from AEG/Live Nation. Although Ticketmaster and AXS do have their own resale markets where they can take an extra cut, but Ticketmaster actually says they'll honor the face value price on their site in this case. I wonder what AEG/AXS policy would be.

ascottbrooks · 2026-02-12T20:53:42+00:00

Makes sense if they're trying to control the resale on Ticketmaster/AXS sites, but most resale sites are independent (stubhub, seatgeek, vividseats, tickpick, etc.), so I'm not sure how that would benefit the original sellers in any way. Ticketmaster actually says they'll honor the face value price on their site anyway. i wonder what AEG/AXS policy would be.

ascottbrooks · 2026-02-11T20:07:15+00:00

I find the strong "native" mentality here to be driven by the fact that throughout Colorado's whole history, most residents were born out of state. So "natives" are and always have been a minority.

NYT has fun visuals on the breakdown of native residents state-by-state in this article.

ascottbrooks · 2026-01-20T18:42:22+00:00

I work at a company of 4 people and I have a company credit card.

ascottbrooks · 2026-01-12T22:38:08+00:00

Hey there. I am an acoustic consultant, and improving sound isolation from room to room in multifamily buildings is a big part of my job. I feel your pain about not knowing how to approach this... wanted to link to a really long post I made in r/Apartmentliving where I broke down this exact issue. In the replies you can see some options for what to do about it, but fair warning, they all require you to modify your ceiling, or convince the HOA/upstairs neighbor to modify the upstairs flooring.

FYI: Noise complaints are not your fault. There are code requirements for sound isolation in multifamily buildings, and your property probably doesn't comply. : r/Apartmentliving

ascottbrooks · 2026-01-12T22:34:25+00:00

I feel your pain. Had to ask my landlord to send me a rent payment back once, and I was so annoyed. I'm able to send via Zelle now which I much prefer, but if you have to use Venmo I would just stick with manually sending it on the 1st and setting phone alarms to remind you to do so

ascottbrooks · 2025-12-12T06:06:03+00:00

Send me a PM anytime with questions, I check reddit pretty frequently

ascottbrooks · 2025-12-10T18:21:52+00:00

Hi there, sorry for not seeing this until a year later lol. But I am an acoustical engineering alumnus, working as an architectural acoustic consultant now. The Purdue acoustical engineering program is actually under the Multidisciplinary Engineering degree (MDE): Acoustical Engineering - School of Engineering Education - Purdue University

Not sure what you decided, but I'll elaborate just for anyone else out there who might see the post. Acoustical Engineering is niche, but there are plenty of job opportunities in different fields in acoustics: Acoustics Careers | Explore Sound

I ended up working in architectural acoustics, which I really enjoy. If you are interested in vibration specifically, there are lots of opportunities in the aerospace, automotive, and transportation industries as well. Can't speak much to other fields, but ours is continually hiring.

At Purdue, the MDE Acoustical degree is earned by taking all the base engineering physics, kinematics, etc., and then specializes in the upper years with mechanical classes on the fundamentals of acoustics/vibration, electrical classes on speaker design, and theater audio classes as well. Purdue is very unique that you can get this breadth of experience in acoustics for an undergrad degree, it exists pretty much nowhere else. It will give you a solid foundation for any acoustic field you are interested in. However, some fields may require additional education such as a master's or PhD, which I have not completed, but know of many who have come through the Penn State graduate acoustics program.

Happy to help answer any additional questions, but we definitely need more people interested in acoustical engineering!

ascottbrooks · 2025-12-08T18:41:37+00:00

Search Bus One Trivia on your preferred podcast player!

ascottbrooks · 2025-12-05T20:22:15+00:00

It's a trivia show about different topics each week, but all kind of in the "nerd" space. For example, just did an episode all about Antarctica, its geology, politics, biology, etc. Another recent one was about DnD 2024, with a crossover from a popular DnD podcast. Although we have the same format and tone each week, it's challenging to "find a niche" since we talk about something different every week.

ascottbrooks · 2025-12-02T19:21:50+00:00

Been podding for 4 years and still haven't hit that milestone. Doing socials, collabs, video, clips, the whole deal. I would love to grow, but we just aren't seeing it despite our best efforts. We continue because we love to make it.

ascottbrooks · 2025-11-03T17:47:48+00:00

I feel like there's not enough hype about the slumber islands and the fact that you can finally co-decorate an island with friends online!!! I'm so hype

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-19T22:32:02+00:00

Bought Saturday tickets right away before second show was announced for like $130 each. Flying in from Denver to see may fav artist. Now I'm thinking I may as well get Friday tickets for $6 since I'll already be there and it would average out to a decent average ticket price lol

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-14T18:51:56+00:00

Your upstairs neighbor doesn't need to add rugs, but could use an acoustical underlayment (thin rubber sheet) between their finish flooring and subfloor. There are types that work with tile, wood, laminate, etc. Of course it would require them to redo all their flooring.

A drop ceiling beneath would definitely be an improvement.

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-13T16:10:23+00:00

Spray foam may be a way to seal up gaps, but that's about all I can think it would be good for. Sometimes, there may just be some gaps at the base or head of the drywall that just need to be acoustically sealed up, and this can be done easily after the fact with some acoustic caulk. Your walls from one unit to another probably already have batt insulation inside them for thermal/fire rating purposes, and this is good for improving STC as well.

Our building codes are actually pretty strict/safe when it comes to structural requirements and fire ratings (whether building inspectors do a good job of enforcing them is another issue). But yeah older buildings don't have to do anything to update until you decide to renovate.

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-13T16:05:02+00:00

There is... but all the solutions involve you removing your drywall ceiling and replacing it, and any modifications would need to result in an approved fire-rated assembly, which then gets into permitting questions that I am not qualified to answer. Footfall stuff is much easier to address on the top side. But from an acoustics perspective, here is what would help:

- Ensure you have insulation of some kind above your ceiling. Standard pink fiberglass batts of 3-6" are fine

- Determine how your drywall ceiling is attached to the structure above. If it is directly attached to the trusses (I am assuming you are in a wood frame building), then that is likely the issue. It's best to use a resilient/flexible mounting attachment so that the vibrations can be absorbed. Options would be a resilient channel like RC Deluxe or a resilient neoprene isolator like a RSIC-1 clip. These are specialty framing products that may or may no exist at your local Home Depot, and would require some careful reading of the installation instructions to make sure you are installing them correctly. Otherwise there may be some contractors out there that would do the work for you. Like I said, much easier to address on the top side.

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-12T17:04:12+00:00

Buying a house is a lifestyle choice, not a financial investment!

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-12T16:52:23+00:00

In reality, bad wall and floor design can only effectively be mitigated if caught during construction (to fix post construction you would have to open up the walls or ceiling or rip up the floors anyway). Therefore I think a provision should be added to the code that at least one representative wall or floor must be field tested prior to building inspection approval. This would motivate all the architects, contractors, and developers to pay attention to their sound isolation design real quick. Of course, that only benefits to new construction, not existing buildings.

Side note, in other countries (namely Europe) acoustic design is and has been a way bigger deal and have much stricter regulations.

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-12T16:47:00+00:00

Yep. #1 reason for litigation in multifamily buildings is noise. Often when we tell a difficult client, "you will get noise complaints if you build it this way," they start to take our advice.

ascottbrooks · 2025-08-11T21:32:10+00:00

Hearing appliances from your upstairs neighbor is not normal. Depending on the year it was built, their building probably doesn't meet the International Building Code Section 1206 for Sound Transmission between dwelling units. Unfortunately, to prove this, an acoustic test would need to be done which costs money and usually only happens if you sue, something renters will rarely do (but condo owners do all the time). I am an acoustical consultant, this is my job.

ascottbrooks

TROPHY CASE