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

[martyb]

Attended the funeral of my uncle in DFW. He was a 28 year Air Force veteran, my mom's younger brother (she is still alive at 84), and a man for whom I had the utmost respect. The Patriot Guard Riders and a very professional U.S. Air Force Honor Guard gave him a farewell befitting a man like my uncle. He was buried at Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery, in uniform. I was honored to "loan" him the necktie from my Air Force dress blue uniform.

 

[aja8888]

Attended the funeral of my uncle in DFW. He was a 28 year Air Force veteran, my mom's younger brother (she is still alive at 84), and a man for whom I had the utmost respect. The Patriot Guard Riders and a very professional U.S. Air Force Honor Guard gave him a farewell befitting a man like my uncle. He was buried at Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery, in uniform. I was honored to "loan" him the necktie from my Air Force dress blue uniform.

Heck, we must have passed each other on I-20 at one time today...

 

[martyb]

Heck, we must have passed each other on I-20 at one time today...

Oh yeah, I thought that was you.......

 

[seraphim]

Went out to lunch with a friend. Started to clean out the garage, but wasn't in the mood. Read the news and played 'Castle Midnight' on the iPad. Ate supper and played RummiKub. Dug out the extension tubes for my camera and messed around with them, so I could post something macro on the photography thread. Going to bed...

Love retirement.

 

[FIREd]

After yesterday's rather arduous hike, I spent the day puttering around the house. I cleaned up my desk, completed a watercolor painting, and worked on a book project. I still need to work on my tax return before going to bed.

 

[Sue J]

I helped my son finish up his taxes. He is a self employed freelancer and files a Schedule C. He does a pretty good job keeping track of things all year and then compiles it all for us to get together and do his taxes.

He paid Federal estimates all year but made more than 2012 so he owes on his self employment taxes. On the personal side I talked to him about the advantages of a Traditional IRA. His AGI was small enough to get him a 50% Saver Credit so he opened an IRA at Vanguard and put $1000 in a Target Retirement Fund. He's 27 so he has a long time frame.

For 2014 he has an HDHP with an HSA so he'll have that option, too.

New in Ohio for 2013 is a Small Business Deduction that reduced his state taxes to $0. Nice!

 

[Walt34]

Signed up for a 4-week nature & wildlife photography class at the local community college.

Installed the new gas clothes dryer. It has to sit farther out from the wall than the old one because naturally the vent outlet from the dryer and the outlet where it goes through the wall are exactly the same height and there's not enough side-to-side wiggle room to move the dryer right or left. It's not irksome enough to bother moving the vent that goes through the wall.

 

[seraphim]

Signed up for a 4-week nature & wildlife photography class at the local community college.

That ought to be fun. Going to pass on what you learn?

 

[mathjak107]

i can't wait until i go part time in july. we live all of 17 minutes from b&h photo . they have really nice classes and seminars so i should finally be able to attend some..

 

[seraphim]

Pulled out some old photo equipment and played around, DW and I took a shorter two mile hike, because we stilled ached from over doing it yesterday, ate at a Skyline Chili, and now I'm just goofing off...

 

[mathjak107]

Signed up for a 4-week nature & wildlife photography class at the local community college.

Installed the new gas clothes dryer. It has to sit farther out from the wall than the old one because naturally the vent outlet from the dryer and the outlet where it goes through the wall are exactly the same height and there's not enough side-to-side wiggle room to move the dryer right or left. It's not irksome enough to bother moving the vent that goes through the wall.

macro and wildlife are my two favorite areas of photography.

 

[seraphim]

i can't wait until i go part time in july. we live all of 17 minutes from b&h photo . they have really nice classes and seminars so i should finally be able to attend some..

Lucky. Hey, I noticed the Flickr site has a macro group you might be interested in joining.

 

[mathjak107]

if i spend anymore time on line my wife will shoot me.

 

[seraphim]

What type of camera will she use? *blank stare*

 

[Walt34]

That ought to be fun. Going to pass on what you learn?

Sure! I'm looking forward to the class. Frankly, I doubt I'll learn anything there that I haven't already read in books but it's an incentive to get off my butt and go take some pictures, maybe meet some interesting people.

if i spend anymore time on line my wife will shoot me.

I've heard that one before too!

 

[mathjak107]

What type of camera will she use? *blank stare*

with her having a nyc pistol permit i don't think it will be camera lol

 

[Walt34]

we live all of 17 minutes from b&h photo . they have really nice classes and seminars so i should finally be able to attend some..

If I ever hit the lottery B&H is gonna absolutely love me.

I was going to suggest you work part time there but I think I know what would happen - just sign your paycheck and hand it back....

 

[mathjak107]

omg, last year i won 5k in a contest on a forum...

i decided to get the d800 and i was going to give my wife 1/2 for jewelry.

well we get to b&h and she decides she wants a new camera instead so now we get the cameras and we decide to upgrade lenses.

by the time we left i spent 12k.

we had no adult supervision at all.

 

[NW-Bound]

We drove back to our main metropolitan suburb home today.

Had a nice reunion up in the "mountain" home with my best friend, a high-school classmate back from the "old country". My health has not completely recovered, as my cold tolerance has degraded. I had to set the thermostat up to 60F instead of the old 45F. Temperature at night in the bedroom was set with a portable heater to 70F instead of 60F.

Oh, I would not want my friend to think I am a cheapskate either. He's from the East Coast, and said his town is usually not as cold. The low temp was 22F a few days ago, and now the high temperature at the low-elevation home is 92F!

 

[seraphim]

what did you do today?

Stop it, MathJak - I'm trying to be good show some restraint lol. Maybe next January. Too much travel and sundry expenses this year...

 

[Walt34]

by the time we left i spent 12k.

we had no adult supervision at all.

Yeah, but it sure was fun!

 

[mathjak107]

that is the problem when you both are in to it. there is just no adult supervision. a normal wife would say are you nuts a 2300.00 lens? nope , not mine , i have to get two.

buying one of the nikon r1c1 macro flashes was expensive enough but buying 2 was worse . lol

we have 2 of almost everything including brutely expensive real right stuff heads and gitzo tripods.

i am lucky i am not retired yet. we just figured we would buy everything we wanted before i go part time in july.

 

[FIREd]

I went on a walk this morning. The air was very stuffy, like on a summer day in the south. The San Francisco Giants had their first home game of the season this afternoon, so the neighborhood is brimming with sports fans. The US Coast Guards did a spectacular fly-by for the game opening. I put the final touches on my tax return. One of my K-1s and a 1099 form from Vanguard did not import correctly into TurboTax and I had to manually enter all that information.

 

[Mango1956]

DH & I took a kayaking course today, put on by the Regional Park District for people 50 & over. It was the first time either of us have been in a kayak, and we had a great time!

Kayaks (in very good condition), paddles, and life jackets -- excuse me, PFDs -- were provided, and the price of the course was very reasonable, imo. We could have had a 2-person kayak, but we opted for individual kayaks.

There were about a dozen participants, all kayaking newbies. Three park staffers taught us, and I think they did a great job. We really lucked out on the weather, a couple of nasty rainstorms passed thru the area over the past week, but it was glorious out today.

It was a great way to become familiarized with kayaking & get our feet wet, literally. We're now looking into places where we can go & rent them. We may have found a new pastime, oh boy!

I think you were wise to choose the individual kayaks. There is a joke that 2 person kayaks are "divorce boats" DH and I discovered that as we were bickering about "what the hell are you doing" "No what the hell are YOU doing?" when we rented a 2 person. Much better to have your own. And I have to say, there's nothing like being on the water-we are hikers, but the first time I paddled a kayak, I thought, "yeah, this is something I need to do!) Have fun if you decide to go with it!

 

[Mango1956]

W.....ked at the college today getting ready for our semi annual plant sale. Garden fever is in the air here in northern Calif! 80 degrees as I type this. Took a call from a hot tub dealer, and I think this might be the one-Sundance 780 series Dover-last year's model, and he wants to deal. Hydrotherapy, here we come!