Anonymous
Post 06/10/2017 01:28     Subject: 2017 RHOP
Great Falls is not as good as Potomac. Potomac has Anglers inn a much bigger falls park with the c&o canal national park , the gold mines, Bullis , Saint Andrews, Congressional Country Club, Avenel, Churchill.. There is nothing in Great Falls.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2017 01:07     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ashley's husband is such an ass and I hope she leaves him while she is still young. So controlling and pathetic at the same time. She can do so much better. I don't understand why Karen would move to Great Falls. Not really a good place to go to downsize. There is more to this - black Bill Gates may be having some financial troubles.

The way Ashley's Chef was looking at her? Hmmmm. He didn't seem quite as happy when Michael walked in.


I noticed that too. He (the chef) seemed very protective of Ashley and not at all fond of Michael. Interesting.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2017 01:05     Subject: 2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:They are all so sad and insecure it's hard to watch. Way to much fake hair and make up. They give women of color a bad rep. My friends in Potomac are so much better.


And the boobs constantly hanging out on all of them, is truly something to behold. I don't know *anyone* who dresses like they do.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2017 01:03     Subject: 2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:I like Monique, but she dresses real Jersey Shore ish; tacky.


I agree. She's clearly the most wealthy of the bunch, but she dresses in such a tacky way. She needs to learn that less is more. It's interesting that she and her husband seem very down-to-earth, given their wealth. I was also interested in seeing her parents, thinking they'd be very Jersey-ish. They seemed lovely though. I wonder where Monique gets her street-talk from.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2017 01:00     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:Ashley's husband is such an ass and I hope she leaves him while she is still young. So controlling and pathetic at the same time. She can do so much better. I don't understand why Karen would move to Great Falls. Not really a good place to go to downsize. There is more to this - black Bill Gates may be having some financial troubles.


+1
I live in Great Falls and was laughing so hard when Karen declared that she'd simply bring her "Queen Bee-ness" from Potomac to GF, and rule the roost here. Too, too funny. I don't know anyone so full of herself. People are people here - most aren't caricatures.

In addition, the house they showed in Great Falls is hardly downsizing! It was much grander than their current one. I'm not sure I "get" what she means by downsizing.
Anonymous
Post 06/06/2017 15:05     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:Ashley's husband is such an ass and I hope she leaves him while she is still young. So controlling and pathetic at the same time. She can do so much better. I don't understand why Karen would move to Great Falls. Not really a good place to go to downsize. There is more to this - black Bill Gates may be having some financial troubles.

The way Ashley's Chef was looking at her? Hmmmm. He didn't seem quite as happy when Michael walked in.
Anonymous
Post 06/06/2017 10:40     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Last season was spent with the transparent charade of the ladies pretending they lived in Potomac and that they had money. I think this season is a bit better because the ladies have acted more like themselves.....although if that's the real Giselle I feel sorry for her.
Anonymous
Post 06/06/2017 09:48     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ashley's husband is such an ass and I hope she leaves him while she is still young. So controlling and pathetic at the same time. She can do so much better.


I think he's treating her like he treats his daughter -- who is about the same age as Ashley. My friend knows all of them, as her husband is a part owner of the bar/club L2 in Georgetown, and Ashley was a bartender there, which is how she met her husband in the first place.


I think she acts like a child. That last fight they had prior to the event they had at their restaurant was ridiculous. Every time he tried to talk, she cut him off and yelled at him. I remember thinking at the time I watched it "well, that's why he treats you like a child...b/c you act like one."
Anonymous
Post 06/05/2017 17:35     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ashley's husband is such an ass and I hope she leaves him while she is still young. So controlling and pathetic at the same time. She can do so much better. I don't understand why Karen would move to Great Falls. Not really a good place to go to downsize. There is more to this - black Bill Gates may be having some financial troubles.


+1 don't get the great falls downsizing either. Most lots are pretty big and the houses are more expensive. Typically not where someone who is an empty nester would move.


+1
Anonymous
Post 06/05/2017 15:30     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know that much of the drama is scripted but I'm curious how AA women feel about the show and its cast. Particularly AA women in the DMV.

I like them better than the Atlanta ladies...but they are pretty boring.


I'm black and live in MD and love the show!! I like that they're kinda boring -- they actually seem like halfway decent ppl who would be friendly in real life. I prefer the more run-of-the-mill drama they have to the over-the-top stuff on other Housewives series but it may be that because I'm local I just like seeing places and people I relate to.


+1


+2 RHOA has had a very mean-spirited vibe the last couple of seasons. Also those ladies don't seem as open with their personal lives as the RHOP cast. Instead they start a rumor or beef between each other and ride that drama episode after episode for an entire season.
Anonymous
Post 06/05/2017 14:56     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:The Karen house sale storyline hasn't made a lot of sense until Charisse's recent comments insinuating financial troubles are at the source of the sale (not a true desire to downsize)

* The house was listed as far back at 2014 (for $2.5M). The asking price was eventually cut to $1.75M. Somebody with better internet skills can probably find out what it actually sold for
* Karen stated she had a $10K monthly mortgage. That's a big nut to crack each month.
* While Karen refers to her husband as the black Bill Gates, it's worth taking a closer look at his career
----> He worked for IBM for 25 years, culminating as a regional manager
-----> He co-founded or was asked to run a start up in 1991 and was the CEO for 20 years
-------> By the time he and Karen bought the Potomac McMansion (~2004), his stake in the company, Paradigm Holdings, was worth about $40M (12M shares at $3.25/share) ...on paper
---------> That valuation was precarious, because paradigm seems to have gone public as a microcap reverse merger. Never a sign of a solid, growing company. In fact, the company generated about $60M in revenue in 2004 but that number shrank to $40M by 2008 and the company was losing money
------------> By 2010, local defense contractor CACI bought Paradigm for ...$0.29 per share. At the time, Raymond held about 10M shares so his take was < $3M
--------------> Not hard to imagine needing to make some adjustments commensurate with that significant apparent drop in wealth


The company looks like a typical Beltway Bandit firm. Just providing staffing/services for various government contracts.

Here's their total revenue from gov't contracts by year, and you can see a very steady and sometimes significant decline over the years:
http://www.fedmine.us/userDownloadedfiles/Contractor_DUNS_926338492-PARADIGMSOLUTIONSCORPORATION__02_09_2012-copyright_FEDMINE_213665.html

I can see why they did well earlier -- they were an 8a ("disadvantaged, minority-owned") buisiness from 1994-2004, making it much easier to get contracts. Once they exited that program, the real contracting world is much more difficult.

I like his personality, at least on the show. I thikn he's a no-nonsense, no-drama tech person. He's no Black Bill Gates though. Gates produced software and huge innovations. His company was just a body shop. His new company (Paradigm Solutions) does indeed produce software, but not cutting edge by any means. The usual operations management stuff: http://www.paradigmsi.com/company/the-paradigm-team/ (I'm an IT person so I know what's good and what's not).
Anonymous
Post 06/05/2017 14:47     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:Ashley's husband is such an ass and I hope she leaves him while she is still young. So controlling and pathetic at the same time. She can do so much better.


I think he's treating her like he treats his daughter -- who is about the same age as Ashley. My friend knows all of them, as her husband is a part owner of the bar/club L2 in Georgetown, and Ashley was a bartender there, which is how she met her husband in the first place.
Anonymous
Post 06/05/2017 14:41     Subject: 2017 RHOP
Karen seemed extremely relieved that they sold the house. I think there is more to the story.
Anonymous
Post 06/05/2017 14:39     Subject: 2017 RHOP
They are all so sad and insecure it's hard to watch. Way to much fake hair and make up. They give women of color a bad rep. My friends in Potomac are so much better.
Anonymous
Post 06/05/2017 14:38     Subject: Re:2017 RHOP
Anonymous wrote:Ashley's husband is such an ass and I hope she leaves him while she is still young. So controlling and pathetic at the same time. She can do so much better. I don't understand why Karen would move to Great Falls. Not really a good place to go to downsize. There is more to this - black Bill Gates may be having some financial troubles.


+1 don't get the great falls downsizing either. Most lots are pretty big and the houses are more expensive. Typically not where someone who is an empty nester would move.