Chisoxfn

QUOTE (SexiAlexei @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 02:58 PM) I have absolutely no idea where to start, so after seeing this thread I thought I might ask here and hopefully someone could point me in the right direction. My dad loves home improvement projects, but doesn't like to finish them. I'd say my parent's home is 30-40% under "renovations" right now and not getting much better. It's been his plan for a long time to do these improvements so he can get the house in selling shape and move to a much cheaper area. However, recently he has mentioned just selling the house as is so my parents can just get out. This in my mind is an AWFUL idea. He'd be leaving so much money on the table. I mentioned that he should get someone in there to evaluate the house, give suggestions on improvements that would increase the value of the house, and then just get someone to do them. He seemed open to the idea, but neither of us know where to start. So this is my question. Who would you hire to come in and suggest home improvements? What I'm looking for is someone to come in, say if you remodel your kitchen it'll cost you $8k, but your house value could go up $12k. Things along this line. Would this be a realtor? Does something like this even exist? Maybe I've seen too much HGTV. Thanks in advance. Forwarning, normally doing work to your house isn't going to actually improve its value (if it was actually functional). However, if a house is in total dissaray, then someone could buy the house well below the value and then do such work (having the right connections at less than market value) and then get value out of it. In your case, it might really be the fact that if you don't finish the work, you've driven negative value (cause someone else is going to have to do the dirty work) because it is totally not functioning and split apart (vs. even an as is house), so while the net cost of the project might cost you money (vs. where you'd have been if you just sold as is prior to the projects)...it might be the only option to not have sunk that money plus whatever discount for selling an unfinished project. The exception to this is basic stuff to ensure you house shows well, can help ensure that A it sells quickly and be you get the fair value (or a little premium) but rarely in general if you do big remodels (via a contractor with normal pricing) do you get it back (short-term)...long-term you very well might but that would be driven by more general market appreciation. And agree with the other suggestions. Go with a couple established realtors (get a couple opinions to ensure the opinions have been vetted).

QUOTE (oldsox @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 01:32 PM) Minor league players get financial help in a lot of ways not mentioned, plus many of the younger players are in the 18-21 year age group, and their parents should be able to help, just as many college students get help from their folks. That said, I have long thought that not only should the teams make it better for the young minor leaguers, but also the existing players could help. Of course, it would have to go through the MLPA, which would happen only in fiction, but major league players as a group probably are paid something between $3-4 Billion per year. Tax them a fraction of a per cent per year, match it from the 30 owners, and presto, problem solved. It would be tax deductible. Exclude the players in the first 3 years of service. I disagree that parents should be expected to help. You are a working professional at this point (I'll caveat this by saying when I got my first professional job, I still lived at home, but I was cheap) but providing free rent to a family member and actually paying for one's rent are two very different concepts...one involves you just keeping your kid at your house more, along with some incremental costs (extra food & energy costs) while the other involves you paying for a 2nd place and said minor leaguer has no option but to go to whatever affiliate the big league club wants to send him). To me, it is pretty clearly, it is in the clubs best interest to ensure you are at a minimum, able to sleep in a clean room and get quality food and nutrients in your system. Personally, if I ran a franchise, I'd have state of the art dorm rooms at my minor league facilities, which would include specifically catered meals with organic food and produce to ensure my athletes (if they so choose to) can eat right and put the absolute best stuff in their body. I'd also ensure that the dorm had great work out facilities, etc, again to make it as easy on these young kids as possible to take the next steps in their career (if they so choose). While that doesn't mean you are paying them more (and to be frank, I'm not certain that an organization could actually choose to play players more...not sure what is contractually stipulated as part of the overall collective bargaining agreement(s). But I presume their is absolutely nothing against providing top notch training facilities and health and resources. It is a small price to pay given the overall payroll and I'm truly amazed it hasn't caught on. Just think about what Chip Kelly instituted at Oregon (and again Philly) in terms of the food in the cafeteria's and the training technology. Again, not talking about Chip the personel man, rather Chip the health / science freak (as one makes sense and the other doesn't). But you do that at all your levels and you should have people who appreciate being part of your organization (at a young age) and also get the absolute most out of your players because you are giving them the best chances at succeeding. And if I applied this to real life business, if I were a company hiring a top notch finance MBA from Harvard, would I hire him and say, here's this computer with Windows 98, no, I'd invest in him to ensure he'd succeed. Giving this players appropriate living conditions and ensuring they have a proper diet are just complete no-brainers to me. Stuns me that an owner hasn't thought out of the box to do this. Really, other then being cheap, the only other thing I can think of which could impact things is the distinct seperation between minor league affiliates and the major league team...meaning if the White Sox invested $2.5M in a facility at Winston Salem, the affiliate could walk (when contract ends) and now you have a sunk cost of building the facility. That said, I'm sure if you negotiated a longer term contract with the affiliates (no reason not to), you could still make things work. Plus, cost of land / doing this is much cheaper for a minor league team, given that you normally play in small markets where overall cost of living are less then that of most major league cities.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 01:39 PM) Bulls are a -3 tomorrow. That seems crazy to me.I can't justify them as a favorite. New system and Rose has almost no playing time. I realize Kyrie is out but they still have LBJ and Love and company. I'm obviously a homer and think the Bulls can win, but if I were being objective, I would think at worse you'd have these teams even.

Later this week I got 2 homelands to catch up on. Pumped up given what DA said. I only pretty much am down to Homeland and Walking Dead as my regular shows (although Grimm comes back). Really scaled back after having kids. Will work good since Bulls season starts tuesday anyway and I only watch about an hour of TV a night (once kids are a sleep and house is clean and we are ready for following day).

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 11:09 AM) Yeah, that was awesome.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 10:59 AM) Oh...Im' not saying the show has jumped the shark at all. I think I said I'm enjoying this season more then last season and how it has been total must watch TV in my eyes. This season has been awesome...I'd say the best first 3 episodes of any season thus far.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) Regarding Rick: The freshness from the fear the walking dead might have also helped get me ready and amped for the main show (which was a smart and I'm sure profitable move on A&E's part).

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 08:30 AM) If it turns out to not be true (and based on a lot of internet chatter, it seems like it is not true), That is the one theory I have in my mind.

QUOTE (MEANS @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 06:02 AM) so TWD was pretty shocking last night, didn't see that one coming, lots of speculation around the internets today if really true or not... Yeah, I was stunned as well. This season has started off fantastic in my mind. Last two episodes were chop full of action and in this case shock. That was a top 3 character for me.

QUOTE (shipps @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 09:54 AM) I know this story has pretty much faded away but I am still really interested of what all went down. I want to know how Pace found himself in a situation like this and how/why did he react. That will give some insight about Pace who obviously IS going to be here for the future. Did Pace mishandle something that blew up in into a huge ordeal? We dont know jacks*** about what happened. It appears that Ratfliff showed up to camp on drugs (or drunk..not sure which) and the Bears had a family matter pick him up to take him home and then he blew up and came multiple times and at that point Pace cut him (wasn't putting up with it). Pace put himself in the middle after the incidents. This wasn't Ratliff being all fine and Pace said something to him and Ratliff blew up. Bears don't want to publicly state that as they try to be quiet about their business and don't blast players in the open (not this regime at least). They just turn you out and that is what Pace did. The beat writers are all commending him on it and they know more then they are reporting so I think if it was an issue about Pace, we'd know about it. Plus, Ratliff has a history of these incidents (with Dallas and Chicago). Its just with this new regime, you actually have to deal with the repercussions of that sort of incident (where as past Bears regimes let players get away with it and it didn't allow for a true winning culture to arise).

On a sidenote, I'm excited about our bench...Taj and Noah are going to be mean coming off the bench. When we get Dunleavy back, having those guys with McBuckets and Snell plus Brooks and company will be a fun 2nd unit.

Alright...I'm predicting it right now...Rose wins comeback player of the year and Bulls lose in the finals to the Spurs. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baske...1024-story.html PS: Again, another article and again Rose is saying the right things. Maybe someone finally got through to him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 24, 2015 -> 07:54 PM) 1) Seems Duke is always involved in some crazy games. 2) Thanks to GaTech and USC for pushing Iowa up in the rankings...but I have this sneaking suspicion that they will be tripped up at Indiana next week. Jimbo Fisher, you and Nick Saban are everything that's wrong with college football. 3) Poor Nebraska...growing up with Oklahoma as my second team because my dad went to school there, I can for the first time ever say I'm starting to feel sorry and pity for their great fanbase. They definitely deserve better. That program was so good that they were like the Patriots of twenty years ago, and for most of the Osborne years. Iowa isn't near as good as the polls would indicate. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they are winning and I hope they keep winning and their defense is good, but they have their own issues and are one of the most beatable teams I've ever seen ranked as high as they are this late in the season.

In that whole article, I actually thought Rose's quotes were as good as I've heard in years. He seemed pretty on point and in general everything was as if he had a PR guy helping him or he decided he was going to start "caring" what people thought again. Rumor is he just got so tired of all the people questioning him that he decided he just didn't care anymore and wasn't going to put in the effort at these things. I suppose to an extent I can understand that sentiment given how much heat he took for things which only he really knows (in regards to how good he felt and whether he was ready to play, etc).

One rumor that he might have showed up on drugs and then was immediately cut and then came back. No idea whether it is valid and it has not been picked up by any major publication, rather pure message board fodder. .

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 01:52 PM) It takes something special to make you feel sorry for Jay Cutler. Not really. If you hear a lot of the quotes from his current teammates and some past teammates, its really seems that so much of the stuff you hear about Jay was a bunch of bull. Dilfer and others have said it as well, he is a hard working dude and the perception was negative in Denver, but their was a lot more smoke their. Jay isn't a top leader and clearly has some confidence issues which is clear. What was said in that article was consistent. If you watch football, you'd see that Jay is a warrior on the field. You can talk about his football game however you want, but you can't debate that by and large Bears never did anything to build around him. And someone could say, oh but Jay whined or got mad...well, look at Brady or Rodgers...they are brutal and no one ever cares. City of Chicago meathead fans are the worst on the planet.

Really good piece from Bleacher report by the Bronco's GM who drafted Cutler. Very interesting when you read about what Mcdaniels did and why Cutler wanted out (justifiably). http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2580349...ened-from-there

I thought this past weeks Walking Dead was very entertaining.

Wanne...just saw the one you made. That one is cool too. I'll leave it to a vote. Which one does everyone want? The other can get used in a few months.

Voila!!! Thanks Shy

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Oct 15, 2015 -> 03:21 PM) Great news! Now give us back the catch-all thread. NEVER...MUAHAHAH.

I like it, a sense of humor from Rose.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 15, 2015 -> 12:28 PM) the WS win.... Honestly, I think I go for the multiple playoff appearances. Its more fun when your team is relevant. Yes, I like to win, but I also enjoy baseball and to have just one season that I enjoyed a lot and then 8 crappy ones or 7 or 8 seasons that I enjoyed (maybe not as much as that one), we'll I'll go quantity over quality in this case. Now no one ever knows that, but if you asked me as a fan, I'd always say give me multiple playoff chances (because I think the post-season is a crapshoot anyway).

QUOTE (shysocks @ Oct 15, 2015 -> 11:40 AM) Thanks! I can, but I kind of like the symmetry of having the team's best position player, starting pitcher, and reliever on there. I also wanna make sure that this would go up and I wouldn't be wasting my time. I'm going to add the updated version you posted to the site later today. If members prefer an alternative view with the other players, I am fine with that. This is a site for the people.