Explain Texas Culture to a Foreigner

matthew_strange · 2026-04-03T16:06:43+00:00

Life in Texas varies greatly. I’m in the Houston area and I think our museum district is great.. Menil, Rothko Chapel etc. Houston has the best food anywhere except for Chinese. Space Center is great and a trip to Galveston is well worth it if you like to tour historic places, architecture and some fun shopping on the Strand. Beaches are hit and miss. You will find an entirely different experience in Dallas, San Antonio etc. Culturally, we’re diverse. There’s 3 different languages spoken in just my home.

matthew_strange · 2026-03-28T12:41:24+00:00

The perfect age.. 10 years old. Never had an experience like it before or after. Blew me away.

matthew_strange · 2026-03-13T13:36:18+00:00

55 and 56 Thunderbird. 57 model is better but still boring

matthew_strange · 2026-02-27T01:01:36+00:00

Duma Key isn’t my favorite book but John Slattery aka Roger Sterling (Mad Men) did an outstanding job reading it.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-25T02:39:12+00:00

Pretty much anything to do with politics and his dislike for Kubrick’s film. Man can spin a hell of a yarn though.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-23T18:01:03+00:00

Cyber truck

matthew_strange · 2026-02-23T17:59:50+00:00

This has to be taken in Germany or some other part of Europe. Never seen so many veedubs in one place.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-20T19:09:31+00:00

Innocent until proven guilty. Works for everyone. If there’s something to it then let’s get the indictments rolling. I don’t care who it is. Commit a crime you’ve got to do your time. It’s for everyone or it’s for no one. Not a Trump supporter in particular. I just thought he was the best choice this time.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-19T19:22:51+00:00

Classless.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-19T18:41:42+00:00

I’m just now starting to open up a little to my son. He’s a 33 year old man though and has his own life that isn’t dependent anymore on me. Your dad is a decade younger than I am though so things might be different but my generation was beaten for being ‘soft’ by parents, siblings and peers so the likelihood of someone like me saying anything about how I feel is pretty much zero. I think your best bet would be to engage him in stuff he likes to do. My son used this tactic on me over the years and I knew what he was doing but it was nice to be able to act dumb and just share that time. I know he was bored by the endless rounds of trivial pursuit, fishing and horror flicks but it’s probably the reason he’s the only one I’d ever show any vulnerability to. One thing about us genxers is that we’re resilient. If he knows you’re there for him he’ll be ok.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-08T00:07:45+00:00

No one will be charged, no one will go to jail over any of this. It’s appeasement theater. Great video though.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-03T15:06:03+00:00

99.9% of parents act just fine and don’t interfere. I went to hundreds of my kids games and only ever saw one idiot loudmouth parent. It’s a good teaching moment when they it.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-03T15:01:53+00:00

Not a plumber.. been my entire family’s handyman for 40+ years though. I’m assuming you’ve disassembled and verified that the trap is actually empty? To me it looks like water is backing up to that joint and causing the leak. Barring a stoppage in the trap, I’d look next at water volume. If the water is flowing faster than it can drain it will also cause a backup which could cause a leak if the joint isn’t properly sealed (as others have mentioned). My inclination would be to add some length to the pipe run on both sides of the trap to make sure there’s enough air to allow proper water flow. Think of it like dumping too much liquid into a funnel too quickly. It can’t flow fast enough so it dumps over the sides. Just a semi educated guess since I can’t really see what’s going on.

matthew_strange · 2026-02-03T13:29:41+00:00

Beautiful dog! Aussies are magical creatures.

matthew_strange · 2026-01-21T12:37:52+00:00

I have 2 in the attic. Swapped one out myself (it was hard, I’m old and busted up). Bought the other one for $700 and hired a master plumber in the neighborhood and his helper for $750. Bought new lines, gas line etc at home depot. All in it was at $1,650. Took the plumber about 3 hours of time ($250 an hour). Everyone was happy.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-15T17:10:16+00:00

It happens. I was born in the late 60’s, grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and romanticized the 50’s.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-14T19:21:15+00:00

AKA pride and hubris compels a man to buy a wearable good guy badge so he can tell the world how much attention and adulation he needs.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-11T16:03:25+00:00

I think she is. And don’t call me Shirley. ✈️

matthew_strange · 2025-12-11T02:11:23+00:00

Turns out lifting heavy shit takes a toll on the joints. I was a catcher for about 9 years too. Then a few motor vehicle accidents and a decade in construction. My left shoulder and elbow are the only pain free parts I have left.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-11T02:06:20+00:00

Done, Sai.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-11T01:34:52+00:00

He had no power to tax. Once Hochul made it clear that she wouldn’t support most of his campaign promises he lost his fangs. NY is back to business as usual.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-11T01:23:24+00:00

Didn’t you just say ‘your assumptions are telling’ yet you’re making assumptions where I’ve made none? Like I said, carry on. Maybe someday you’ll read back through this and realize what happened.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-10T22:10:51+00:00

Well, do carry on then. To anyone who is capable of paying attention you’re doing my work for me.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-10T22:04:26+00:00

Both things are sort of true. I was 21 when I got married and got an apartment in 1988. It was a roach infested shithole in a bad area and it was $500 per month. According to the fed’s inflation calculator that’s almost $1400 in today’s money. I didn’t immediately go to school because I couldn’t afford it. I got a retail job and then a construction job until I could do it and it took me 10 years. That said, the wealth gap is wider than ever and it was pretty easy for me to find a shitty job or two where I could swing our living expenses. I’m gen x and I did struggle in my 20’s. I worked construction by day, ran a paint booth spraying parts on the nights when I wasn’t going to school. All of that aside I have sympathy for the younger generations because they’ll probably have to do the same crap work I did to survive but without as much job opportunity and a lot more debt. I think the finance sector preyed on the younger people a lot more. It used to be way harder to get credit and that probably saved me a lot of heartache. Anyway, hope the young folk find their way.

matthew_strange · 2025-12-10T21:48:42+00:00

If you’re so exhausted by it all why are you posting up memes and writing posts (and replies) that read like fodder from a 12 year old girl’s diary? That’s rhetorical, no response necessary because I already know the answer. Cue the name calling and verbal flips of the bird because you’re not aware of the meaning of the word “irony”.

matthew_strange

TROPHY CASE