Thursday, May 21, 2020

It sucks not to have things to look forward to.

Before the world stopped I had planned a long weekend in Middle California.  I figured it was going to be a hard year - but not this hard.

I wasn't even sure if we were going to be allowed to travel but we kept our Airbnb. We figured rental hosts would need the money and we would need a break from the world. 

I threw my back out last Spring. I never made it to the beach once because I was nervous I would get out there and not be able to get back. I figured this year I would go to the beach twice as often to make up for it.

A couple of weeks ago our host mailed us and asked if we were coming. We were like - yes. Still coming!

They were like - yeah... we don't want you to come. Everyone else canceled and we need to cram a renter in there.

This isn't too much of a surprise obvi, and I'm not going to stand in the way of someone surviving. But the thing that was interesting is that we had chosen a granny rental because we wanted to be right down town and drink. This wasn't a single family home. It was something bigger than a tiny house in someones back yard. 

If that person had to cram someone in to survive, you can only imagine how messed up Airbnb's model is going to be.

It also made me super curious about all those people who financed granny units a year or two ago. It was the super hot thing for a minute. They were calling them ADU's.

9 comments:

  1. It's not a town. It's in the middle of California.

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  2. In this case, the middle was the pacific coast north of LA, South of San Jose.

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  3. I have always enjoyed the drive down Hwy 1!

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  4. Now here it is Baycon weekend... and not only am I no longer in the area, but I assume it's not happening this year.
    Oh, well. Last time I actually made it to Baycon, Silicon, or Consonance was several years ago. Then life got too busy, about the time the Bay Area cons got less fun.
    According to the plan for this year (as of early January), by now we ought to have had a bunch of fun outings on the family schedule. Somehow, that hasn't happened.

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  5. Right now it seems like ~everything~ is canceled until at least September. On the bright side - everyone is being forced to be better. It seems I am not the only one who pretty much refuses to do a webinar or zoom meeting. We put up with being bored in person pretty well.... but not on the internet! I give youtube about three minutes before I'm out. So, that's their base. Why would I hang out being bored on basically a sales pitch? Dance for us monkeys.

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  6. Capital of Texas RefugeeSunday, May 24, 2020 3:31:00 PM

    Hey wabbit, wanna Corvette?

    VISIT SUNNY FLORIDA
    WHERE YOU'RE GOING, YOU DON'T NEED A MASK

    That should be Florida's new state motto. :-)

    BTW, Zipcar's now doing Car Ownership for Retards: Zipcar has a new program where you have a dedicated Zipcar sitting waiting for you in a spot.

    Prices start at $299/month, but you can easily hit $1300/month if you choose an "Everyday" instead of "Weekday" plan with as little as 30 miles/day.

    And with all of the vehicles getting dumped on the market, especially low-to-middle range stuff such as the rest of Hertz's fleet, why in the fuck would these people think this is a great idea?

    Oh, and the best part: although Zipcar provides primary insurance for their on-demand rentals, the insurance they're providing for this is secondary insurance.

    So it's like very expensive car rental with your own insurance!

    You could just go to an airport and rent via Avis, Zipcar's owner, and get a COVID Convoy-friendly vehicle without the extra bullshit.

    But wait, free gas, such a deal ... if gas weren't below two bucks a gallon in most places.

    Is there some sort of tax angle to this where companies with too much cash can pay for an employee's vehicle without turning it into a company car purchase with extra special accounting and all of that shit?

    Because in terms of liability defenses, I get better mileage out of running a barely profitable LLC in another state (woo hoo, Wyoming!) and doing everything out of there.

    "Why would I hang out being bored on basically a sales pitch? Dance for us monkeys."

    I'm sure there are very progressive companies in the Bay Area that can combine the two: hang out for the sales pitch, stay for the strippers.

    "Are you in the underwater cable business? HAVE WE GOT SOMEONE WHO CAN SHOW YOU HOW TO LAY MILES OF CABLE!" :-)

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  7. Yeah - I don't think Florida man is going to make it.

    But Zipcar. Nothing makes me happier than them NOT surviving. It wouldn't be the worst thing the virus did honestly. Their whole business model is about restricting your rights at the government level so you are dependent on them. I can't even tell you how many times I saw them at infrastructure meetings. They were a big fans of trying to get government to tax your car by how long it was and tax you by the mile you drove but they would be exempt of course because they were connected..

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  8. Capital of Texas RefugeeMonday, May 25, 2020 3:48:00 PM

    After the Apocalypse, only two things will survive ...

    Cockroaches and Florida Man.

    Never, ever bet against Florida Man, because he's even tougher than the damned cockroaches down here. :-)

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