saundena

I like Olean. It's wasn't fancy, but it felt like more like my home town of Rochester did, than Houston did. Yet, at that time, I was ready for a big city and have no regrets. I still say 3rd Base in Olean has some of the best wings on the planet, and I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Rock City. I also spent a year in Wellsville.

N.A. director of sales (logistics and leasing industry) In 2009 I moved from Olean to Houston and it was terrific. I was young (late 20's), early in my career and moving from a town of 15k to the 4th biggest city in the US. It was great. Despite the higher cost of living in a big city, not having to pay NYS taxes mean that my EoM cost of living was the same! But honestly I do miss the North. People are very friendly in the South, but it seems out of obligation rather than from a place of genuine sincerity- seems kinda fake at times. It's not that way with everyone, but my generalization of life here based on what I've experienced. As a true political independent that has social and economic views all over the map, I'll say that the state government here makes me want to puke. Texas is so hopelessly corrupt. At least in NY, NJ, etc., we eventually jail or run our corrupt politicians out of office. That's all I'll say about that. Houston is a concrete jungle bisected by overpasses and bayous. I've never liked the heat and I loath that our only seasons are named hurricane, freeze, hot and hotter. I just wish we had seasons. Most of Texas honestly is quite beautiful, but it's such a big state, it's hard to enjoy most of it when working in a big city. Professional salaries are very good no doubt, but not like it was. Cost of living is rising higher than most places due to insurance costs, property taxes etc. I honestly don't know how most people do it. Public transportation is non existent and traffic can be a 2 hour ordeal each way (plus $10 tolls depending on where you live). Average families are struggling. Home insurance and property tax increases are going to push people into defaulting on their mortgages. I have nice. Sturdy 85 year old brick house that never flooded or had a storm related loss, and my hole owners insurance went up 48% last year....and that is after shopping it around for a month. If that keeps happening people will lose their homes just like is starting to happen in FL and CA. I won't even say too much about the grid. Houston calls ourselves the energy capital of the world, yet when a cat 1 hurricane hits (Berryl 2024), we still have 30k people without power 3 weeks after the storm. Contrast this with Florida, who gets multiple cat 3, 5 and 5 hurricanes per year... their people have utilities back in a week, generally (I have family on FL West Coast). Don't even get me started on the freezes that kill 200 people at a time because of grid failures. Deregulation gives us nice cheap energy, but it's not reliable. Also, Texas doesn't have the Bills, but we have Christians Tailgate (Bagby location), voted the best Bills backers bar in the country! It's not all bad though. The Texas medical center is the best medical complex in the world. MD Anderson is consistently (along with Sloan) ranked as either the #1 or #2 cancer center in the world. We have the best childrens hospital in the world, and Methodist is a top 3 hospital in many, many different disciplines in medicine. I'd like to plug the doctors, nurses and medical professionals at Memorial Hermann who over the past 17 days saves my dad's life. We went into the ER for what we thought and the flu, but was actually a staph /MSSA infection in his blood, that then went to his pacemaker and heart and then due to various medical complications gave him a stroke. The fast action of their team saves his life and prevented most of the serious damage from the stroke and he's expected to make a near completely recovery in a few months (great neurologists and electrophysiologists at memorial Hermann)! We (the big TX cities) do have plenty of good jobs an also have great universities and technical schools (but public schools in general area quite bad in Texas). Also, Houston might be the best food city in the US. A lot of the big name chefs have test kitchens and restaurants here. NY and Chicago (honorable me too to NOLA) are also fantastic food cities, but Houston has quality and variety on par with both, except much less expensive. So yeah if you know of anybody looking for a strong sales leader and expert business developer, please direct them to this post 🙂 Go Bills!

True. Can't argue that. Know anybody hiring in Buffalo? I'm in Texas, AKA the new armpit of America. I'd cut off appendages to move out of here haha

I think Sparta, NJ is one of the best places in the country (especially on the East Coast). Beautiful community, affordable if you're a celebrity, easy access to skiing, the shore, NYC and also much closer to Europe flight wise than most other places in the USA

I don't see him staying in Buffalo after he retires. This is not a knock on him either. His family has deep roots in Cali (their farm) and I just feel he stays close to that part of his life which in interviews he recalls warmly. I'm not saying he lives the rest of his life in Firebaugh, but considering his Hollywood fiancee- California is a better fit for his lifestyle. Wouldn't be surprised though if he ends up with a hunting cabin or a bunch of land that he and his buddies can screw around on with dirt bikes, snowmobiles, etc., In Western NY, when the Bills have home games Time is money. He will be a billionaire and even with his own private jet, it doesn't makes sense to fly to California just to play golf, for the privilege of living in Western NY. I'm from ROC. I love WNY, but honestly if money were no object, California (northern CA) is where I would live... Or Tahoe.

I've always wondered that too.

I think we should keep him so long as he agrees to take a pay cut. Even in a limited role on 3rd downs, he still got pressure better than the others on our Dline.

He's a good coach. But.... I don't know what else to say. We can't win in big moments. We should have been going for XP instead of 2pt and on that 4th down where we didn't convert, that should have been a FG. The Chiefs were ready for every short yardage play. For crying out loud; can't we try running it to the right once? McDermott was ok on this game, not great, but Spags took Brady to the woodshed. KC has had a horseshoe shoved up their ass all years. In retrospect, this outcome was not surprising

Sorry about your dad. I know what you mean about having those visions or whatever you want to call them pop into your head because it's happening to me these past few weeks. Like hearing news reports of the electric mood in Buffalo following the win, Kelly being interviewed with tears in his eyes, tweets from famous athletes congratulating Josh, etc. Do I dare to dream?!?!

Anybody with dreams of the bills winning? I've had very power and realistic dreams were the Bills win the SB. Never know who them team they are playing against is (usually the Dolphins or Chiefs), but the fact of the matter is that it they win the SB. I think I'll see it once in my life. I hope this is the year! ☝️☝️☝️

Unfortunately, I think the Chiefs hit that playoff gear and win a close one. Having an extra 2 weeks off helps them, especially while we came away from Baltimore banged up on defense, even if Milano, Rapp, etc. play. Chiefs 30 Bills 27 That said I'm usually negative so hopefully I'm surprised and Buffalo punches their SB ticket!

Brady was great in the 1st half. No so great in the second half. I wish we would have sneaked it twice, but when it was 4th and two, McD absolutely made the right call. Ravens defense was too tough to risk it. The drop on the 2 point conversion vindicated McD, but even if it was caught, we had over a minute and a half, 2 time pits and Josh Allen. Very happy for our team and also McDermott!

The football gods might be doing us a solid weatherwise on Sunday. The forecast calls for a high of 20 degF and low of 9 degF w/ winds 5 to 10 mph. Apparently LJ doesn't like the cold and only has a 1-1 record in gea below freezing. https://www.google.com/amp/s/en.as.com/nfl/john-harbaughs-clear-message-about-qb-lamar-jackson-playing-in-the-cold-n/%3foutputType=amp

Rams hosed again by the refs. The guy was thrown into the punter!

I guess it was correct by the letter of the law, but certainly not the spirit of the law. How can you pass a friggen ball looking at the ground. Vikes got hosed