the joy of pool ownership...

[alacrity]

...somewhere just south of boat ownership, is my guess. We've had a pool for 10 years since we built our house. I think it has maybe been used 40 times...
It's on an automated system so the pump runs a couple hours a day, and we have a pool guy once a week who just deals with the chem and semiannual filter cleaning etc. I joined because of the intermittent unreliability of the heater.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

You will not find many members here advocating for the use of a "pool guy" ... we are mostly DIYers which is cheaper and provides better water quality
Hopefully we can help with your heater.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to the forum. Happy to have you with us.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Pretty sure I have only used my pool 40 times also ... in August! :-D

 

[alacrity]

We have used our "pool guy" only because I kept forgetting to do it -- not because it's difficult. The pool is out there - and not used much at all - and so it's too easy to let the maintainence slide. When my kids were younger this was something I took care of because i wanted it exactly right.. but one moved away and the other is almost out. And there are more than enough repair and improvement and Honey-do projects around here that I'd rather hand the basics off to a guy who enjoys (or at least tolerates) the chem fumes. Sorry if it offends the true DIYers... but I gotta triage. (Plus, all things being equal, I would WAY rather be in the garage working on a motorcycle...) Sorry. No offense meant to anyone at all.

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And of course: thank you for the warm welcome. I belong to a couple similar sites for other things and it has gotten to the point where I am no longer surprised by how friendly, knowledgable, earnest and all-around helpful some of us Americans can be.

 

[tim5055]

Well, let us know if we can help. Sorry to say, I avoid LA but I'm sure it can be a nice place to live.

If the pool,guy is doing a good job and you are happy, don't mess with success.

Now, I have to ask - what's all the hype about In & Out Burger???

 

[alacrity]

HA! Well... i like my burgers messy, so in n' out isn't my first choice when I really wanna go for it. BUT, their stuff is good because it's as fast as big chain fast food but isn't reconstituted frozen byproducts etc. That's why people like it (in general) . The shakes are made with milk and ice cream (yes, really) and the fries are made from real potatoes, where they use an old school hand operated press. Usually it's a high school kid who does this instead of working out, because it IS just that (you do 1000 raw potatoes in a shift and see if you can move your arms after). They also are pretty stringent about changing the fry oil a lot, so it just has this fresh/healthy kind of taste if you can imagine those terms ever being applied to fries. And the same thing goes for the burgers. I don't think the meat is frozen first. It's all good, but I like big thick messy chili burgers and they don't do chili there. People who are used to MickeyD fries often think there is something "wrong" with the in n out ones, because you can taste the potato... funny right?

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Well, let us know if we can help.

I posted a question about the heater in that section of the forum...

 

[pooldv]

Uh-oh! We got In&Out burgers and 5Guys a couple of years ago. 5 Guys is better by FAR! And 5 Guys doesn't have shakes which is bad, but good for the waist line. :chef: But, In&Out definitely beats the chains hands down, but they were never on the list to start with.

No offense on any of your comments, alacrity. Everyone has their thing, or two.

 

[tim5055]

HA! Well... i like my burgers messy, so in n' out isn't my first choice when I really wanna go for it. BUT, their stuff is good because it's as fast as big chain fast food but isn't reconstituted frozen byproducts etc. That's why people like it (in general) . The shakes are made with milk and ice cream (yes, really) and the fries are made from real potatoes, where they use an old school hand operated press. Usually it's a high school kid who does this instead of working out, because it IS just that (you do 1000 raw potatoes in a shift and see if you can move your arms after). They also are pretty stringent about changing the fry oil a lot, so it just has this fresh/healthy kind of taste if you can imagine those terms ever being applied to fries. And the same thing goes for the burgers. I don't think the meat is frozen first. It's all good, but I like big thick messy chili burgers and they don't do chili there. People who are used to MickeyD fries often think there is something "wrong" with the in n out ones, because you can taste the potato... funny right?

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I posted a question about the heater in that section of the forum...

Work first - I'm really not a heater guy - don't have one and no gas to run it. But, you have Richard on the case and he is one of the best there is.

Now, back to burgers. I'm sure at some point I'll end up back in LA, so what do you recommend? I was in San Fran this winter and did In & Out, good but not impresive.

To pooldv, I've eaten at 5 guys quite a few times, but they seem to have fallen under the spell of quantity over quality. I don't want a huge bag of mediocre fries, I want a reasonable serving of great fries. Their burgers are OK, but too much grease.

I liked Bobby Flay's burger joint in DC. Tasty burger, not too much grease and nice sides.

Official website of Bobby's Burger Palace

 

[alacrity]

oh man... this is a burger-man's town. I don't think you'd be the first to make a trip for that alone. GOTTA go to the original Tommy's at beverly and rampart in the 'hood there. It is a shack at the side of a parking lot that hasn't closed (literally) since like 1948 and has spawned dozens of franchise stores. Get a double chili cheese with everything and make sure they don't give you a beefsteak tomato slice that isn't ripe enough (yeah that happens). Gotta try UMAMI burgers because they're just... great... and I can't explain it. some sorta flavor sensor science involved there. And there's a dive burger joint way out east of here in CHINO that makes an insanely good burger with great fries. It's like 90 mins in traffic for me so I only go when am on my way to or from something else way out there... it's called: Super Chili Burgers. And then there are the many asian/american or asian/mexican mashup places that are great... like Baci Burger on Sawtelle in West LA and Fuji’s Famous Burger in huntington beach (orange county). And then... oh man...the list is LONGGGG and I ate two hours ago and am making myself hungry again.

 

[tim5055]

P

oh man... this is a burger-man's town. I don't think you'd be the first to make a trip for that alone. GOTTA go to the original Tommy's at beverly and rampart in the 'hood there. It is a shack at the side of a parking lot that hasn't closed (literally) since like 1948 and has spawned dozens of franchise stores. Get a double chili cheese with everything and make sure they don't give you a beefsteak tomato slice that isn't ripe enough (yeah that happens). Gotta try UMAMI burgers because they're just... great... and I can't explain it. some sorta flavor sensor science involved there. And there's a dive burger joint way out east of here in CHINO that makes an insanely good burger with great fries. It's like 90 mins in traffic for me so I only go when am on my way to or from something else way out there... it's called: Super Chili Burgers. And then there are the many asian/american or asian/mexican mashup places that are great... like Baci Burger on Sawtelle in West LA and Fuji’s Famous Burger in huntington beach (orange county). And then... oh man...the list is LONGGGG and I ate two hours ago and am making myself hungry again.

OK, I'm retired but I tag along when the wife travels west. If I get out that way I'm looking you up!

 

[EVChargeGuy]

...somewhere just south of boat ownership, is my guess. We've had a pool for 10 years since we built our house. I think it has maybe been used 40 times...
.......

I understand, Being a life long Boat owner, up until the last year or so we just didn't use the pool often. We even closed the pool for 8+ years because of "living on the boat for the summers" didn't leave the time for the pool. But things change and now without any boat, our TFPool with surrounding area has become a joy for us.
I also don't miss the 600gals of diesel needed to run11-13hrs ;-)

 

[alacrity]

600 gallons of diesel per day? sheesh... you gotta be a Saudi prince to have that not seem crazy...

 

[EVChargeGuy]

Far from a Saudi Prince here ;-) Just in IT Sales
I did not use 600 gallons a day, just 600Gal per fill up.
That's 11-13Hrs of med-high speed(24-31Knts) running time which equaled about 325-350 miles distance.
If I was on a long trip without time constraints I could get close to 600 miles per tank
So depending on how the boat was used how long the fuel lasted-
We could go out to Oyster Bay for a long weekend and use less than 100gal including running the GenSet

Even smaller Gas powered boats could burn up that much just screwing around like towing tubers, wakeboarding etc

BOAT= Break Out Another Thousand!