One of my photos of The Stockyards was chosen to be included in the Schmap guide to Fort Worth! It doesn’t pay anything, but hey, it’s a bit of an ego stroke, at least!
Join me tonight at the Flying Saucer (Now with 100% less smoke!) for the BCS Championship Bowl Game at 7 PM. If the big screen TV is broken, or if can’t get a seat at the bar, we’ll move to a bar to be named later. I’ll try to update this post with details if you’re interested in following.
UPDATE 4:30PM: I just called the Saucer (they have a phone, who knew!?) and the TV is STILL broken. Seriously, guys, get a plasma
Anyway, let’s move the party to ummmm… Baker St. Pub on Camp Bowie. Looks like they have decent drink specials, and you un-Americans what don’t drink beer can get a girly drink there.
Look for the big bald guy in a red hooded sweatshirt. (I don’t have any Buckeyes gear at the moment.)
But it turns out that my loathing of making left turns is good for the environment AND more efficient.
w00t! Pete turning right FTW!
This is the second of my series of posts on the changes I’ll be making in my financial life. The first discussed setting specific goals and making sure that you’re in harmony with your significant others about what you want to achieve. This post will discuss the next step, coming to grips with the situation.
The Reckoning
In a lot of these “we got out of debt!” stories, people will say how the debt snuck up on them, as if their brains and their bank accounts had never met. That’s not the case with MY debt (and I say MY debt, because I’m the spendy one). I spent us into declaring bankruptcy 4 years ago because I couldn’t tell myself NO when the question was “can I have…”. I figured that I had a good job, with tons of upside to my earning potential, so I might as well enjoy myself. I was in denial about the total amount of debt that I’d piled up, but I was fully aware that I was spending money I didn’t have while I was doing it. Like so many others, I did the math and the numbers told me that if I was able to make the credit card payments, then I must be able to afford whatever it is I’m considering buying.
I think it’s pretty obvious that this line of thinking got me into some serious financial trouble. Before the bankruptcy, we had nearly $60,000 in debt, both secured and unsecured. (And no mortgage!) Afterwards, we just had our cars and one credit card which we affirmed during the process so we would have something for “emergencies.” But when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and can’t control your spending impulses, EVERYTHING is an emergency, and we weren’t able to make any headway on paying down our debt.
Well, here’s your chance! Read more about it on Adam’s blog…
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working with some of the other extremely talented bloggers in Fort Worth to set up a joint effort site, one that covers the City from nearly every possible angle, but keeps the flexibility and humor that you’re used to from reading our individual blogs.
I’m VERY happy to announce:
Over the last year of doing this, I’ve realized that I wasn’t going to be able to cover everything myself, both because of a lack of time, but also because I just can’t possibly be as informed or talented as a group of people would be. West and Clear is the answer to that. Please, go check it out, add it to your favorites, and be sure to come back and visit often!
Cowtown Chronicles isn’t going anywhere, I’m just going to transition it to more of a personal/opinion blog. The podcast, however, WILL be moving over to westandclear.com. I just don’t have the creative juice to produce and record two separate podcasts every week without them being repetitive and boring. I’ll try to make it as easy as possible for everyone to transition to the new podcast feed.
I just got ANOTHER offer from Four Sevens on behalf of Chesapeake for my mineral rights. (I shredded the first one after seeing all the ways in which it was worse than XTO’s offer.) This offer came via FedEx, I suppose because it’s getting so close to the signing parties for the two neighborhoods which just struck deals with XTO.
I wonder if they’re offering a similar deal ($12,500 signing bonus, 25% royalties, no fees besides taxes, 3 year term) to Mistletoe Heights or Berkeley homeowners, particularly since the well site Chesapeake has is the 8th Avenue site that pretty much EVERYONE thinks is a bad idea.
I wonder if we could get them to drop the Trinity Trees site if the whole neighborhood decided to go with their offer instead of XTO’s.
This Barnett Shale thing just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.
Fritz,
I’m sorry I said what I did during Podcast Episode 9. Literally the day after we recorded that show, I ran into Mark and Jamie downtown and they clued me in to what was going on with the pricing. I should have known that you can’t control the price at retail, and it doesn’t surprise me at all that some retailers would take advantage of your success and quality product by marking it up beyond all reason. I still highly recommend your beers when I’m out with friends or encounter someone who needs guidance while at the store.
Pete
PS: The Oktoberfest has really grown on me, as well! I like that it’s more balanced than what we typically get, and while I am still a die-hard fan of malty beers, your Oktoberfest is an excellent alternative to those overly sweet offerings from other folks. I can’t wait for Winter Warmer!
This week -Modern ’till Midnight both impressed and disappointed us. (I called it midnight at the Modern.)Kevin discusses the ugliest building in Fort Worth.And that’s about it. Thanks for listening, and as usual, feel free to click the link on the right to subscribe in iTunes so you get this automatically delivered whenever we post it.
I like taking pictures! I need a better camera, though. 
Here are a few shots from our wander around the Tandy Hills Nature Area. If you haven’t been out there, YOU MUST GO! (I highly recommend Sunday mornings.)
The definition of tenacity.
It looks like aliens just dropped the city on the prairie.
