what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[aja8888]

Met three Forum members for lunch today (Alan, LOL, 2B) at Goose's Acre in The Woodlands, TX. We had a great time!

The Gooses Acre Bistro and Irish Pub - 21 Waterway, The Woodlands, Texas

 

[ls99]

Finished a solar heating setup for my camp's bathroom. Typically the toilet drain line would freeze up by late December, thus I become outgoing for the freeze duration.

Rough calculation indicates a good chance of keeping it at least 15 to 20 F above freezing with heat storage in about 25 gallons of water for multiple cloudy days.

In theory it works, February being the worst month for insolation, will be the proof.

Don't really feel like messing with composting toilet, but will make one up as an experimental backup. Store bought types are hideously expensive. Also don't feel like running the generator for an incinerator type toilet. Besides they are bloody expensive.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Last time they closed only some of the stores, we went to take a look at one nearest us, and got quite a few bricks of Kerrygold cheese, my favorite, at 40% off.

This time, going a few more miles to a further remaining store, we did not find much to buy. The cheese was all gone already at 10% off. There was plenty of wine left, but even at 30% off the price of a bottle I often drink was still higher compared to the price at Total Wine.

We didn't get as many bargains this time either. Last time the whole F&E store by us was 50% off everything, including wine and beer so we really stocked up. We don't have a Total Wine in our area, but many of the closeout prices at the F&E we went to last week were still more than Grocery Outlet's every day prices, so it wasn't as good of a bargain trip as last time.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We drove into San Francisco last night for a show at a comedy club. The show wasn't the funniest we've ever been to but was a pretty drive into the city with the bridges and skyscrapers lit up and a nice date night. Today we saw The Martian in 3D.

When we got home we had to take in the Chinese lanterns and prepare the backyard for a rain storm. It is pretty exciting here getting rain these days.

 

[Philliefan33]

Went off island to the DMV, and now have a Florida driver's license.

Have a contract on house in Ohio. Will be driving up next week to sign stuff and decide what to give away and what to bring back.

Any advice on setting up a smartphone as a wifi hotspot?

On an iPhone, it's very easy. Under "Settings" select "Personal Hotspot". The first time in, you have to set a WiFi password. When activated, other devices will see "Khan's iPhone" as an available wifi network. Log in just like any other wifi.

If you don't have an iPhone, there's probably a similar method.

 

[harley]

Went off island to the DMV, and now have a Florida driver's license.

Did you use the regular eye test machine, or the "special" one? When DW and I went in for ours, we took our eye tests and passed easily. Then a woman went after us and couldn't read the letters with 3 tries. So they took her to another machine, where she passed. I can only assume the letters in that one were about 3 feet tall. Ah, Florida drivers!

Any advice on setting up a smartphone as a wifi hotspot?

Depends on the phone. On my Samsung Galaxy you go to Apps, then Settings, Wireless and Networking, Tethering and Portable Hotspot. Then go through the setup process. It's pretty easy.

 

[rodi]

Went to see Burnt, where Bradley Cooper plays a chef arising from the ashes of a meltdown to pursue three Michelin stars. Great actors, ridiculous story--maybe the good stuff got edited out. My favorite haute cuisine movie remains The Hundred-Foot Journey.

The Hundred Foot Journey was a great movie. I also recommend Chef starring Jon Favreau.

I liked Chef. But it was nothing compared to my two favorite cooking movies:
- Babette's Feast
- Big Night Out

Both inspired me to get more into cooking.

 

[rodi]

Walked on the beach, did some housework, coached FLL robotics (qualifying tournament is in less than 2 weeks - I'm in full panic mode trying to get these 12 year old boys to get stuff done!!!)

Now I'm relaxing before tomorrow - which is basically a repeat of today except the robotics team is going on a field trip to share their "solution". Oh - and have a tricky timing handoff of my other son to my husband for his dental appt... Hard to be 2 places at once.

 

[Gumby]

I liked Chef. But it was nothing compared to my two favorite cooking movies:
- Babette's Feast
- Big Night Out

Both inspired me to get more into cooking.

I had forgotten about Babette's Feast. It also was a great movie; one that made me very hungry. I've never seen Big Night Out.

 

[Alan]

Met three Forum members for lunch today (Alan, LOL, 2B) at Goose's Acre in The Woodlands, TX. We had a great time!

The Gooses Acre Bistro and Irish Pub - 21 Waterway, The Woodlands, Texas

Yes, I really enjoy our ROMEO* lunches, excellent company in a nice setting.


* Retired Old Men Eating Out

 

[braumeister]

Voted this morning, and what a treat.
For the first time in my life I can walk to the polling place and it was a beautiful mild autumn day. On top of that, it's a small poll with only one precinct, so I was the only voter in the place. Two more were coming in as I left.

The experience was so good it nearly made up for not having any really good candidates for office!

 

[Huston55]

Saw yet one more piece of useless crap that people buy.



Evidently this item will transport you to new locations...where you'd likely buy more useless crap.



Ahhhhhh, the good life!


You may be whatever you resolve to be.

 

[pb4uski]

Today I had one of the most pleasurable rounds of golf that I have ever had. Met up with 5 friends for breakfast and then one guy went home (chores to be done) and 5 of us continued to the course. While I normally do not like playing as a fivesome, we did and pretty much had the course to ourselves being early November in northern New Hampshire. Two of us walked and the rest rode carts. The sun came on the 4th hole and I shed my sweater and pants and played the rest of the round in shorts and a golf shirt. Temp was in the 60s so it was very comfortable.

I played well for me (bogie train with a few pars here and there and a couple doubles) and between playing well, the beautiful sunny weather, a nice course, walking and the camaraderie of playing with good friends it was a great day.

 

[HFWR]

The sun came on the 4th hole and I shed my sweater and pants...

Useless without pics...

 

[BBQ-Nut]

Saw yet one more piece of useless crap that people buy.

View attachment 22564View attachment 22565

Evidently this item will transport you to new locations...where you'd likely buy more useless crap.

View attachment 22566

Ahhhhhh, the good life!


You may be whatever you resolve to be.

"They" are already working on the "Floaty Chair"

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Once a week when the weather is good I join a retired Forest Service friend to maintain the roads in the woods up Mt. Baker. Usually we cut the brush back and clear the ditches. Yesterday we cleared trees that had fallen on a road in a recent wind storm. Hard work for me.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[rodi]

Once a week when the weather is good I join a retired Forest Service friend to maintain the roads in the woods up Mt. Baker. Usually we cut the brush back and clear the ditches. Yesterday we cleared trees that had fallen on a road in a recent wind storm. Hard work for me.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

I love that area. I lived in Bellingham for 3 years and used to do a lot of hiking in/around the Baker area.

 

[MichaelB]

An interesting day so far. Today was moving day for my brother, everything was packed yesterday. The movers didn't show. It took about 3 hours to determine there was some sort of misunderstanding. Then, the HOA rep didn't show for our meeting. Not sure why. Then, the handyman didn't show. Also not sure why. Now I'm busy rescheduling.

After all this, on my drive back home, I stopped by a local hot dog chain, very big and popular, for a quick bite to eat. As I waited for my order the deep fryer caught fire. They had a fire extinguisher nearby and used it quickly, but not expertly. There were about 10 or so servings of fries above the frying station, in boxes or under the heat lamp, ready to be served. Retardant mist clearly reached all the exposed fries. No one appeared to notice but me, and they served all of them despite by vigorous objections. One was mine, which I promptly returned. I just finished notifying the county health dept. and the corporate office of this restaurant chain.

I told the people that were getting the bad fries about the contamination, they just took their orders and walked out.

 

[pb4uski]

Amazing that store management was so stupid. Then again, perhaps not.

 

[braumeister]

The movers didn't show.
...
the HOA rep didn't show
...
the handyman didn't show.

Probably doesn't apply to you, but if that happened to me, DW would be making comments about my deodorant.

Good for you on reporting the restaurant's boneheaded move!

 

[NW-Bound]

My wife saw that Sprouts, a grocery chain we frequent, has a special sale on $100 gift cards today for $90. So, we went there to buy 5 cards for ourselves to use, after asking to be sure that these cards have no expiration date.

Then, we stop by the men's clothing store where I bought the tux two weeks ago to pick up another new suit that was being altered to fit. And, I walked out of there with four casual short-sleeve shirts, 100% silk. How did that happen?

They had a sale that lowered the shirts to a price that was hard to resist, and my wife insisted that I got them for the upcoming trips. Whoa! How did I become a fashionista all of a sudden? This is scary!

... As I waited for my order the deep fryer caught fire. They had a fire extinguisher nearby and used it quickly, but not expertly. There were about 10 or so servings of fries above the frying station, in boxes or under the heat lamp, ready to be served. Retardant mist clearly reached all the exposed fries...

Hopefully, the dry powder in the extinguisher is something benign like sodium bicarbonate, or potassium bicarbonate. It could also be monoammonium phosphate, a fertilizer, or potassium chloride. Of course, there might be other impurities in the powdery agent.

 

[W2R]

An interesting day so far. Today was moving day for my brother, everything was packed yesterday. The movers didn't show. It took about 3 hours to determine there was some sort of misunderstanding. Then, the HOA rep didn't show for our meeting. Not sure why. Then, the handyman didn't show. Also not sure why. Now I'm busy rescheduling.

After all this, on my drive back home, I stopped by a local hot dog chain, very big and popular, for a quick bite to eat. As I waited for my order the deep fryer caught fire. They had a fire extinguisher nearby and used it quickly, but not expertly. There were about 10 or so servings of fries above the frying station, in boxes or under the heat lamp, ready to be served. Retardant mist clearly reached all the exposed fries. No one appeared to notice but me, and they served all of them despite by vigorous objections. One was mine, which I promptly returned. I just finished notifying the county health dept. and the corporate office of this restaurant chain.

I told the people that were getting the bad fries about the contamination, they just took their orders and walked out.

Some days it's just not worth getting out of bed! I hope you are somehow able to get a good night's sleep tonight, and awaken to a better day tomorrow.

 

[REWahoo]

An interesting day so far. Today was moving day for my brother, everything was packed yesterday. The movers didn't show. It took about 3 hours to determine there was some sort of misunderstanding. Then, the HOA rep didn't show for our meeting. Not sure why. Then, the handyman didn't show. Also not sure why. Now I'm busy rescheduling.

After all this, on my drive back home, I stopped by a local hot dog chain, very big and popular, for a quick bite to eat. As I waited for my order the deep fryer caught fire. They had a fire extinguisher nearby and used it quickly, but not expertly. There were about 10 or so servings of fries above the frying station, in boxes or under the heat lamp, ready to be served. Retardant mist clearly reached all the exposed fries. No one appeared to notice but me, and they served all of them despite by vigorous objections. One was mine, which I promptly returned. I just finished notifying the county health dept. and the corporate office of this restaurant chain.

I told the people that were getting the bad fries about the contamination, they just took their orders and walked out.

Wow.

First it was cancer-causing hot dogs, now it's poisoned fries...

 

[rodi]

Wow Michael - that is really scary that they served the fries - and even scarier that customers knowingly took them.


Yesterday was another robotics team meeting (and field trip) followed by a few of the team members playing wall ball against the garage. My son decides to trip over the base of the basketball hoop and lands in our planter in the front yard... impaling his hand (about 1/8 of an inch deep) and hurting his wrist. I wash/neosporin the wound, apply a bandaid, get him a bag of ice, and an old sling (we have many... unfortunately.) He was still complaining of pain this morning so I wrote him a PE note and decided to reassess things after school.

Today I skipped my walk on the beach and misc. chores to try and rest to get over my cold. But I still had to deal with kids after school. Pick up injured son and determine it's swollen and has some limited range of motion... Make an appointment with Urgent Care. (Hoping to avoid the $800 walk-in-the-door ER fee that Kaiser charges to HDHP folks.)

Check in for the appt, and am told that if it *is* broken they will send me over to the ER (about 2 blocks away) for casting.

Fortunately, the doctor quickly determined that he actually does have full range of motion, doesn't even feel an x-ray is necessary, and we're sent on our way home.

If he had broken his wrist this would have been the third broken bone for him this calendar year. (Broke left elbow in Jan, Broke right wrist in April.) Not to mention other son's lovely orbital fracture when he took a baseball to the face in April.

I am waiting for child protective services to show up at our door any moment now.

 

[NW-Bound]

Good grief! I hope your sons' unlucky streak will end before they start to drive.