KnowYard Community

The 2021 storm should have been a wake-up call. 200+ people died. And here we are still running the same grid on hope and prayers every summer.

Red light running is the Texas state pastime. The light turns red and three more cars go through. I wait a full two seconds after my light turns green now.

The deregulated market is the problem. Nobody wants to invest in reserve capacity because there's no profit in power plants that only run during emergencies. So we have zero buffer.

Nobody in this state understands the zipper merge. Two lanes go to one and everyone treats it like a personal insult.

I genuinely think some of these projects are designed to never finish so the contracts keep paying out. Call me cynical but 3 years for a highway widening is insane.

Cat shield or cage. $150-300 installed. It's a metal plate bolted over the catalytic converter. Doesn't make it impossible to steal but makes it take 10+ minutes instead of 90 seconds. Most thieves move on.

The SEC basketball gauntlet is brutal. Texas went from beating Kansas State and Iowa State to playing Kentucky and Auburn every year. The level jumped.

The healthcare shortage in Texas is real. We have fewer doctors per capita than most states. It's not you — the system is genuinely overwhelmed.

Texas is at-will employment. They can fire you for almost any reason at any time. So when they say "job security," ask about actual turnover rates. That's the real answer.

Reolink cameras (no subscription, local storage) paired with SimpliSafe sensors for monitoring. Best of both worlds. Camera footage stays on YOUR hard drive, not someone else's cloud.

Brazilian jiu jitsu gym. I know it sounds random but hear me out — you train with the same people 3-4 times a week, you suffer together, and the community is insanely tight. Changed my social life.

Local politics affect your daily life more than national. Worth paying attention.

the student section has gotten so much better. real energy

I watched someone walk out of a store with a full cart last week. Employees didn't even react. They're told not to intervene. I don't blame them — not worth getting hurt over merchandise.

Basketball recruiting to Austin is a cheat code. What recruit is choosing Fayetteville over Austin? The city sells itself.

Rec sports league. Volleyball, kickball, softball. You see the same people every week, you grab beers after games, friendships happen naturally. That's how I built my entire friend group here.

SimpliSafe. No contract, $17/month monitoring, easy DIY install. Had it 3 years and it's triggered twice from actual incidents — both times the monitoring center called within 30 seconds. Would buy again.

Community health centers (FQHCs) take everyone regardless of insurance and usually have shorter wait times. Google "community health center near me." They're federally funded and underutilized.

Army Corps of Engineers parks around the lakes are always less crowded than city parks. Free or cheap, good trails, water access. Google the nearest lake to you and look for Army Corps sites.

attending games again for the first time since kawhi left. the energy is BACK

Nobody in this state understands the zipper merge. Two lanes go to one and everyone treats it like a personal insult.

For dentists: look at newer practices that opened in the last 1-2 years. They're actively building their patient base so they have availability. Established dentists are booked out forever.

Thompson's ceiling is terrifying for the rest of the league. If he develops even a league-average three-point shot it's over.

Apartment dwellers are still screwed though. No home charging means relying on public chargers which are slower, more expensive, and sometimes broken. Until apartments have chargers, EVs are a homeowner thing.

Ring Alarm Pro with the cameras. If you're already in the Ring ecosystem it just works. $20/month for monitoring and cloud storage for all cameras. The integration is the selling point.