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

[Gumby]

Hey Gumby -
Where are you going in Italy? I love that you make it an annual trip. Since we schlep kids with us - we have to separate trips by a few years for budgetary reasons... but will be going there this summer (among other places.) Our plan is to visit cousins (2nd cousins of DH) in Sicily, then up to Bologna and to Venice. (Then off to the rest of Europe)

This year, we are flying into Rome and then driving up to stay at an agriturismo in Magione, just outside of Perugia. We will make it our home base and each day drive out to one or more of the various small towns in Umbria. We like to stay in one relatively small area for the whole week so that we can really get to know the place. Last April we spent a week in Venice, which we of course adored.

We spent a week in Sicily back in 2009. I really liked it there. We landed in Palermo, rented a car and then essentially circumnavigated the island, staying in Agrigento, Siracusa, Taormina and back to Palermo. It struck me that virtually every square inch of land not actually in a city or at the rocky top of a mountain was under cultivation - olives, almonds, lemons, oranges, tomatoes and more wherever we looked. It was also incredibly old, with the coolest Greek temples you can imagine. I enjoyed seeing the very things described in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.

We have not yet been to Bologna, but I hope to make it there soon.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Spent an hour plus on the phone with three entities to try to straighten out COBRA insurance service's failure to notify the actual insurance company that this month's payment had been made and cashed in due time so my upcoming second cataract surgery is covered to the hospital's satisfaction. Really frustrating helpless feeling. Grrrrr. Hate this stuff. Should have gone with an ACA policy. Six more months til medicare, when the COBRA middleman and its administrative fee will be gone.

 

[Hermit]

Spent an hour plus on the phone with three entities to try to straighten out COBRA insurance service's failure to notify the actual insurance company that this month's payment had been made and cashed in due time so my upcoming second cataract surgery is covered to the hospital's satisfaction. Really frustrating helpless feeling. Grrrrr. Hate this stuff. Should have gone with an ACA policy. Six more months til medicare, when the COBRA middleman and its administrative fee will be gone.

With my experience with ACA, you are still dealing with the same government driven health insurance. Working through ACA with DD has been pretty frustrating.

 

[Hermit]

I spent a cold and breezy day putting the snow plow back together. Good thing its done. We are supposed to get 3 - 5 inches of snow tomorrow.

DD came up for the day. We chatted for a while then she was off to do stuff at the kid's camp.

We were going skiing tomorrow, but with the snow forecast, we will probably postpone. The two lane mountain roads in a snow storm are no fun. It takes about 2 hours to get to the slopes on a clear day.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Major workout on the elliptical this AM while watching a DVD. Now up in our guest bedroom sorting out the stuff we piled there this year. Watching the snow through the window. It is beautiful. I'm a California girl who loves the beauty of snow. I'm finally able to embrace it, after 30 years of working. My house is filled with music, due to DH and DS. I have nowhere I need to be.

We have a precious gift, us early retirees.




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[Walt34]

Went to the gym, then stopped on the way home to get a gluten-free pizza with extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham, onions, and green peppers. Well, at least the last two are good for me. Today is my monthly day of dietary decadence.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

Quite morning in the kitchen w/ some coffee

Watched the birds eat some seed that I put out for them every day

Went over my Pension Benefit package

Decided to take a drive to the Black Mountain Open Space Preserve and hiked some of the trails

Walked back to Hilltop Park and sat on a bench to read a chapter or two of The Hobbit while enjoying the scenic view west to the ocean over the mist shrouded hills and valleys.

Will steam up from frozen tamales for dinner that we got at the farmers market last week.

 

[ls99]

Spent a half hour in a white chair, nearly horizontal while a woman with sharp pointy object and a reflecting device was poking around in my mouth, making scraping noises on my chewing implements. Then a guy came around, cheerily poking around and pronunced all is well. Please pay the lady at the front counter. I happen to be a cash customer.

Then went figure skating. Some ladies I have nat seen in a while were in the rink. Felt like an old home week. We swapped demonstrations of newly learned schticks, I mean moves accompanied by lots of laughter. A fun time was had by all.

 

[freebird5825]

I did everything today except what I was supposed to do...do a final review of my estate documents. The law firm who had done the w*rk for me back in 2008 had 2 attorneys split off on their own. And of course the name of the attorney who is designated as my successor Trustee (only in case of my incapacity) was own of the exiting ones. Argh.
The cost to re-execute the revocable living trust will be minimal. I'm coordinating with the paralegal by email. I did fine tune some of the trust beneficiaries, so it is not a wasted effort. I typed up all of the changes so there will be minimal billing hours for the paralegal.

So today I did laundry, folded clothes, packed and mailed a small package, made an excellent meat and potato stew using some leftover lamb, pork and fried kielbasa from the freezer, bought some nice speculative technology stock in two different/competing 3D printing companies, and surfed the net.

The 3D printing companies are well established and just did some major league press releases. I've been watching them for about 3 months, seeing how they were doing commercially. The stocks may fly or they may crash, but I'm learning a lot about 3D printing technology as I go. Very neat stuff!

PM me if you want details.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

After not leaving the house for several days, I finally went to file my homestead exemption, and swing by the post office to mail off an odd shape box. Both those errands took about 15 minutes, so swung by Chili's for a couple of margaritas and some queso with chips.

I was highly entertained by some business folks that were chatting about politics from the office. It really sounded like a dreadful place to be and thankfully they couldn't see me smiling at the situation. They got up to go back to w+rk and I had another margarita before coming home and taking an impromptu nap.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Went bird watching and to the movie "Unbroken"View attachment 20938


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Nice pic!

Went to see the movie Unbroken a couple of weeks ago with DWs friend who is second cousins to Louis Zamperini. Lou's family was honored in the Rose bowl parade with their own car. When I saw them on TV, they looked like carbon copies of our friend!

Interesting story. I want to read the books.

 

[Moemg]

+1 I agree. I read the book first then saw the movie. Enjoyed the book but was unimpressed by the movie. They left so much information out.


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I read the book and loved it but could not see how it would translate to a movie so I skipped seeing it .

 

[Sea Kayaker]

Skipped out on my gym day. Drove over to visit some of my ex coworkers on a job site. They treated me as a CURIOSITY. I didn't linger.

 

[Ronstar]

Nice pic!

Went to see the movie Unbroken a couple of weeks ago with DWs friend who is second cousins to Louis Zamperini. Lou's family was honored in the Rose bowl parade with their own car. When I saw them on TV, they looked like carbon copies of our friend!

Interesting story. I want to read the books.

Thanks Free to canoe. I need to read "Unbroken" also after seeing the positive reviews here. I liked the movie, but 95% of it was in the prisoner camps.


Sent from my iPhone .using Early Retirement .//82339)

 

[Hermit]

I had an interesting outing at Costco today. Went in the one near DD's appartment and there was a liquor display at the entrance! I've never seen such a thing in Colorado. I asked the clerk that was there how that could be. He said it was due to the previous warehouse chain that had been taken over years ago that had a liquor license. They had recently gotten approval to take the liquor out of a caged area and put it out on the floor. So now I have access to Costco's normal selection of wines and liquor.

Stopped at the hearing aid center to ak some questions. The young clerk said something from about 20 feet away. I was standing next to the soda machines and couldn't hear her. When I kept standing there she came over and asked what I wanted. I told her I couldn't hear what she said. In an annoyed tone she told me she was helping a lady that was sitting in the food court and that it would be a while. I think I did us both a favor and left.

 

[MBAustin]

Enjoyed 24 hours of rain - think of Portland (chilly, misty, with some real rain mixed in). According to Weather Underground we got more than 2" of rain, so perhaps it's enough for the lake (reservoir) to get some benefit.

After prayer shawl knitting group this morning, spent all day preparing for our monthly bunco group - it was my turn to hostess. We marked 11 years as a group, with 7 of us (out of 14) being original members. A good time was had by all.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

My main event for today was decluttering and organizing. I'm doing a few areas of the house each day until the whole house is organized and clutter free. Today I did the dining room and part of the kitchen. I have several bags of stuff queued up to take to the charity thrift shop tomorrow.

 

[Sue J]

Over the weekend I answered a call from a marketing company asking if I'd be interested in participating in a group discussion about health insurance. I am suspicious of these things so I asked a lot of questions, the first being, how did you get my number. She said I may have participated in a survey at a mall. I haven't been to a mall in years but DH said he filled out a survey at a car show months ago. They were looking for the person in the household who handles most of the medical insurance decisions and handles the claims or makes the appointments. That's me. They asked a few demographic type questions and I must have been what they were looking for.

The group discussion was last night for an hour and a half. It took place at a marketing company in an office park. Snacks and drinks were offered while we waited. There was a mirror on the wall so we figured we were being watched.The moderator introduced himself and moved us to the conference room. One entire wall was mirrors and there was a camera and mics in the ceiling. The moderator gave us some simple ground rules and we did introductions. There were supposed to be 8 of us but only 5 showed up.

The topic was how did we pick our medical insurance and did we use the marketplace website. What was most important in your decision? What else did you consider? Did you make any calls to insurers or the marketplace? Did you encounter any stumbling blocks on the website? How could the process be improved?

This was very interesting and I'm glad I participated! In appreciation for our efforts we given an "honorarium" of $100 cash. Yep, that was worth 1.5 hours of my time.

I was concerned that this would be a political discussion that turned into an argument but it wasn't, they just wanted to know our priorities and experiences.

One woman hadn't had health insurance for over 15 years. She didn't want to pay the penalty last year so she finally got insured through the marketplace. She went for her free preventative physical and they told her to also get her free preventative mammogram, which she had never had before. Then she got the callback saying that her screening showed something that needed further testing. She's upset because that's not covered! So we discussed preventative vs diagnostic/medical. It's "covered" but part of her deductible and she says she can't afford to pay that. She's in her 40's, self employed and can't afford to find out is she has breast cancer! Very sad. I'm thinking there are local medical facilities that could help her with assistance, but she is choosing to ignore the issue.

At that point the moderator moved us along to keep us on topic. I'm glad the folks behind the mirror heard her issue. It's certainly not their fault that she won't follow up on her mammogram. It's just something that's part of the reality of medical care for some people.

I wanted to hold her hand and tell her she really needs to work on building up an emergency fund, but I didn't.

 

[braumeister]

Stopped at the hearing aid center to ak some questions. The young clerk said something from about 20 feet away. I was standing next to the soda machines and couldn't hear her. When I kept standing there she came over and asked what I wanted. I told her I couldn't hear what she said. In an annoyed tone she told me she was helping a lady that was sitting in the food court and that it would be a while. I think I did us both a favor and left.

Glad it's not just me. I had a similarly mystifying experience at Costco a couple of months ago. Stopped at the optical counter and was completely ignored by the clerk. There was nobody else in sight. Finally got his attention and he said he couldn't help me. I asked why not, and he said he was in the middle of a transaction with someone else who was "out shopping for a while, but she'll be back."
Me: "But there's no one here now, can't you work with me while you're waiting for her?"
Clerk: "No, I started a transaction in the register and I can't do anything else until it's complete. She'll be back eventually."
Me: Bye.

Costco is great, but sometimes I get the feeling they're not originally from this planet.

 

[ls99]

Got baffled.

In the mail received a black envelope. Said: Luxury without limits. An invitation to apply for black visa card.

Not that I have any any interest in applying. If they figure I am good enough, just send me one.

Wonder how come I am such a lucky guy to get such an invite? //sarcasm off

Edit add: Not only is it black, it is Stainless steel/Carbon hybrid. Wow.
Uh, just got to the punch line; Annual fee $495.- Hope they know how to kiss my a....

 

[Walt34]

Not that I have any any interest in applying. If they figure I am good enough, just send me one.

I'm pretty sure there is a law against the cc companies doing that - sending out an unsolicited cc. Back in the '60's before the consumer protection laws were in place they did that often and when the cards were stolen from the mail the person to whom it was issued was on the hook for the bill and the current law then was such that the courts would uphold it!

At least that's my recollection of what was going on.

Obviously that didn't last long.

 

[ls99]

Nowadays cards are not valid until activated, even on replacement cards. Though agree good not send out card willy nilly. I do have othe visa cards. Maybe they figure I am a sucker.

 

[Walt34]

Last July I spent a few days in the hospital and came home with two overlapping stents in a heart artery. The bill was a bit over $45k and the insurance co. initially rejected the claim because of coding issues. Today I received the notice that they paid the bill, for $32.4K. Quite a difference!

I'm kinda afraid to say this for fear of jinxing it, but so far I have paid out of pocket - $0.00.

 

[rodi]

This year, we are flying into Rome and then driving up to stay at an agriturismo in Magione, just outside of Perugia. We will make it our home base and each day drive out to one or more of the various small towns in Umbria. We like to stay in one relatively small area for the whole week so that we can really get to know the place. Last April we spent a week in Venice, which we of course adored.

We spent a week in Sicily back in 2009. I really liked it there. We landed in Palermo, rented a car and then essentially circumnavigated the island, staying in Agrigento, Siracusa, Taormina and back to Palermo. It struck me that virtually every square inch of land not actually in a city or at the rocky top of a mountain was under cultivation - olives, almonds, lemons, oranges, tomatoes and more wherever we looked. It was also incredibly old, with the coolest Greek temples you can imagine. I enjoyed seeing the very things described in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.

We have not yet been to Bologna, but I hope to make it there soon.

That's the way I like to travel. In fact our trip this summer is a series of 1 week VRBO rentals. So we'll get to know the various stops better than if we were only spending a day or two.
Since you were just in Venice... any tips? I did a day trip (while staying with a friend who lived in Verona) so I've been to the Doges palace, etc... and my kids should like that. I'm also thinking Murano could be interesting.

 

[bbbamI]

Drank my coffee as usual, made the bed, went grocery shopping, straightened the house a bit, helped dh 'bust up' our tub in the master bath, removed debris, then fixed supper.

'What will I do all day?'....my Aunt Fanny.