What did you do today? 2016 version

[traineeinvestor]

Pokemon Go. It's oddly addicting.

I prefer Chardonnay Go: ‘Chardonnay Go’: It’s Pokemon for moms | WKRN News 2

 

[ElizabethT]

Did a 7 mile training hike for an upcoming backpack. I carried 20 lbs, DH carried 30. We'll gradually increase to 30 and 40 lbs respectively over the next couple of weeks. Adding the weight really amps the effort quotient - I came home, showered and immediately took a nap, as did DH.

Went to a production of Funny Girl at one of our nearby community theaters in the afternoon, which was delightful, then out for a sushi dinner.

 

[MRG]

Called Vanguard to initiate rolling over my old 401k! I'd left it there to have an alternate source of funds from 56-59.5. I hit that milestone in a few weeks. It was a good idea to have an alternate source of funds but costly. The pain of the Megacorp's profit sharing fund for last year(down 25%) is depressing. If I had any emotional attachment to that fund it's over!

The rollover gal did suggest I do a free consultation with a CFP to get things allocated. We'll see how things go over the next couple of weeks hopefully all goes well. I've been thinking it's a bad time to do it right now. How do I know?

 

[MichaelB]

I got thrown out of a bank branch this afternoon. Preparing for a trip, my banks have no branches in the area, so I stopped by a local branch of a national bank and asked if they would be so kind as to exchange a couple of 100 bills for lesser denominations. As I was not a customer, they refused, which I understood. But the manager came up and added "due to bank regulations". That's BS. I asked which regulation prohibited that transaction, and she replied "banking regulations only allow us to accept 100 dollar bills from customers". This is not true, and I told her so. Then added (which I probably shouldn't have) that they (the manager and teller) should have the courage to at least tell the truth, admit it is bank policy, and not throw the blame elsewhere. Only I didn't use the word courage, and that's when they asked me to leave. They even called the guard to make sure I left, which I did without protest.

 

[W2R]

Finally got around to re-organizing the art niche in my den. This is a lighted niche about 3.5'x2.5' and around 5' high, and perfect for displaying sculptures and other objets d'art. I put a tapestry over the bottom surface, and put up a drawing that I love on the back. Then rearranged my sculptures so that everything looks nice, circular/peaceful, and uncrowded.

OK, this wasn't the most necessary thing in the world to do, but it made me happy to mess around with it and make it prettier.

I also hung five paintings and drawings elsewhere in the house. After living here for a year I feel like I developed an intuition or intensely strong sense about exactly where each of these five needed to be and I know they are perfectly placed. That is why I did not hang them the minute I got here. I know, I'm weird about my art, but in my own way instead of feng shui. I am happy with it. Cost to make me feel happy and peaceful was $0.00

Then we went to lunch. I ordered a small bowl of tomato basil soup, perfect for a dark, stormy day like today, and pretty cheap too.

 

[pb4uski]

I got thrown out of a bank branch this afternoon. Preparing for a trip, my banks have no branches in the area, so I stopped by a local branch of a national bank and asked if they would be so kind as to exchange a couple of 100 bills for lesser denominations. As I was not a customer, they refused, which I understood. But the manager came up and added "due to bank regulations". That's BS. I asked which regulation prohibited that transaction, and she replied "banking regulations only allow us to accept 100 dollar bills from customers". This is not true, and I told her so. Then added (which I probably shouldn't have) that they (the manager and teller) should have the courage to at least tell the truth, admit it is bank policy, and not throw the blame elsewhere. Only I didn't use the word courage, and that's when they asked me to leave. They even called the guard to make sure I left, which I did without protest.

That sounds like BS to me too. If you had time to kill you could open an account, deposit the $100 bills. Then do a withdrawal and ask for $20s, closing the account is there is a minimum balance required. I like that idea. And give them a big smile on your way out the door.

 

[aja8888]

That sounds like BS to me too. If you had time to kill you could open an account, deposit the $100 bills. Then do a withdrawal and ask for $20s, closing the account is there is a minimum balance required. I like that idea. And give them a big smile on your way out the door.

Or he could have stopped at a convenience store and bought a Coke and paid for it with the $100 bill.

 

[pb4uski]

True, but where is the fun in that?

 

[Taxman59]

A week ago. my oldest son managed to drop his phone into a glass of water (didn't spill the water though ). Since he now needed a new phone, he researched the carriers and decided on Cricket Wireless. Much cheaper, but a pain to move 5 phones at one time (4 different cities). Today, I moved DW and my phone from Verizon to Cricket. 2+ hours (they had me pay the first month's bill along with the activation fee etc, and then when the time came to activate the phone, my payment hadn't gone through to the account site (it hit my CC, just didn't process all the way through their system). The sales person spent most of that time on the phone with their tech support and billing support and kept getting the answer "just wait a bit, it will eventually clear and then the customer can come back in and get the phone turned on"! I began to wonder if this was a mistake. However, DW and I went to have lunch next door and came back and the phones were turned on and now it is up to my other 2 DS to sit through that process and we will save about $250 a month !

I also ran I-ORP and FireCalc again today, and I am UNDERspending what I could by about $10k, and that is before the reduction in the phone bill!!! Party on!

 

[Walt34]

Today was the last day of physical therapy from the fall. The bruise on my leg has gone from the size of half a cantaloupe to half a golf ball. Or at least the part that I can see, maybe the other half is under the skin.

And I was reminded of another reason we moved to WV when the property tax bill arrived - for the house & vehicles, $1,582. Had we stayed near D.C. I have no doubt it would be at least four times that.

 

[braumeister]

I got thrown out of a bank branch this afternoon.

That is truly disgusting. Sorry you had to go through that BS.

I was also running into that sort of thing regularly since I do practically all my banking online with either USAA or PenFed, so about five years ago I opened a checking account with Chase Bank. It was one of those deals where if you then get a Visa card through them, they put a couple hundred bucks in your account. So not a bad deal, no fees anywhere, etc.

The only thing I ever use it for is to have a local bank branch available (Chase seems to have about three branches in every ZIP code in the country).

I keep a small amount of money in the account and top it up with a transfer as needed. When I need cash for a trip I can just walk into any branch and get some. I also use it to exchange one size bill for another as you wanted to do.

OK, I lose a buck or two in interest every year by keeping some money in my Chase account, but it has certainly proven very useful over time. You might consider it.

 

[braumeister]

DW just returned from Chicago and brought me something called a "Long John."

Yes, that is a full strip of bacon on it, covered in a maple glaze.

Yes, it really is not that bad.

 

[Marita40]

That looks like something that would be found at the MN State Fair, on a stick of course.

 

[braumeister]

That looks like something that would be found at the MN State Fair, on a stick of course.

Sounds like someone who has been there!

Not the latest list (this is from 2011) but served at the MN State Fair:

• Alligator Sausage on-a-stick
• Baby Potatoes on-a-stick
• Bacon (Fried) on-a-stick
• Bananas (chocolate covered) on-a-stick
• Beef Kabobs on-a-stick
• Bologna (deep-fried) on-a-stick
• Bomb Pops on-a-stick
• Breakfast Lollipop
• Butterscotch Cake on-a-stick
• Candy Apples on-a-stick
• Candy Bars (deep fried) on-a-stick
• Caramel Apples on-a-stick
• Caramel Apple Puppies on-a-stick
• Catfish on-a-stick
• Cheese on-a-stick
• Cheesecake (chocolate covered) on-a-stick
• Chicken on-a-stick
• Chicken Teriyaki on-a-stick
• Chicken Bites on-a-stick
• Coffee (frozen) on-a-stick
• Corndogs on-a-stick
• Cotton Candy on-a-stick
• Custard on-a-stick
• Espresso (frozen) on-a-stick
• Fruit (fresh) on-a-stick
• Fruit (fried) on-a-stick
• Fry Dog on-a-stick
• Fudge Puppies on-a-stick
• Gyro on-a-stick
• Hot Dago on-a-stick
• Hot Dish on-a-stick
• Hot Dogs (wrap) on-a-stick
• Jerk Chicken on-a-stick
• Key Lime Pie Dipped in Chocolate (frozen) on-a-stick
• Kufta Kabob on-a-stick
• Lamb (leg of) on-a-stick
• Macaroni & Cheese on-a-stick
• Marshmallows (Chocolate-dipped) on-a-stick
• Mashed Potatoes (deep-fried) on-a-stick
• Meatballs (porcupine wild rice & ground pork) on-a-stick
• Meatballs (Greek) on-a-stick
• Meatballs (Scotch) on-a-stick
• Meat Kabobs on-a-stick
• Northwoods Salad on-a-stick
• Nut Roll (chocolate-dipped) on-a-stick
• Pickles on-a-stick
• Pizza on-a-stick
• Pizza Kabob on-a-stick
• Poncho Dogs on-a-stick
• Pork Chops on-a-stick
• Pretzel Dog on-a-stick
• Pronto Pups on-a-stick
• Sausage on-a-stick
• Sausage and Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers on-a-stick
• Scotch Eggs on-a-stick
• Shrimp on-a-stick
• Shrimp (grilled) on-a-stick
• S’mores on-a-stick
• S’mores (deep-fried) on-a-stick
• Spaghetti & Meatballs on-a-stick
• Spudsters on-a-stick
• Steak on-a-stick
• Taffy Pops on-a-stick
• Tater Tots (deep-fried) on-a-stick
• Texas Steak Dinner on-a-stick
• Texas Tater Dog on-a-stick
• Tornado Potato on-a-stick
• Turkey Tenderloin (bacon-wrapped) on-a-stick
• Turtle Puppies on-a-stick
• Vegie Fries on-a-stick
• Vegetable Kabobs on-a-stick
• Waffle (Belgian) on-a-stick
• Walleye on-a-stick
• Wild Rice Corndog on-a-stick
• Wonder Bar (chocolate-dipped ice cream) on-a-stick

 

[splitwdw]

DW just returned from Chicago and brought me something called a "Long John."

Yes, that is a full strip of bacon on it, covered in a maple glaze.

Yes, it really is not that bad.

But, what is a "Long John"? Hard to tell what it is from the pic.

 

[Just_Steve]

I converted a screened in porch to a 3 season room a few years ago but due to length of my workdays the last few years never had time to finish it, so today I completed the electrical hook ups and taught my son how to run a circuit into the main panel without getting electrocuted.

 

[travelover]

..........Only I didn't use the word courage, and that's when they asked me to leave. They even called the guard to make sure I left, which I did without protest.

Consider it a badge of honor. I got tossed out of Trader Joes when they refused to give me my deposit back (30 cents) on three beer bottles they'd sold me a year ago.

"I've been thrown out of better places than this!!"

 

[HFWR]

That looks like something that would be found at the MN State Fair, on a stick of course.

Then deep-fry it! (Texas State Fair)

 

[MBAustin]

Lunch stop on our RV trip to NM. Good thing I had the sandwiches ready.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Marita40]

What is a Long John? A doughnut shaped like the one above, in these parts at least. Also called crullers.

 

[braumeister]

What is a Long John? A doughnut shaped like the one above, in these parts at least. Also called crullers.

Yes, exactly. In NYC we called them crullers.

 

[NW-Bound]

DW just returned from Chicago and brought me something called a "Long John."

Yes, that is a full strip of bacon on it, covered in a maple glaze.

Yes, it really is not that bad.

It is true that scary looking things do not have to taste bad. However, taking the 1st bite either requires some courage, or the recognition of the constituents of the "thing", as in this case.

 

[MichaelB]

Nothing scary looking about a crueller with maple glaze and a slice of bacon. The only courage needed is to look at the scale and check the weight gain the next day.

 

[NW-Bound]

Perhaps Braumeister's photo does not do this delicacy justice, or maybe I still have bleary eyes in this early morning hour (4AM here), but it first looked a bit scary to me. I asked myself "what animal is that".

 

[braumeister]

Nothing scary looking about a crueller with maple glaze and a slice of bacon. The only courage needed is to look at the scale and check the weight gain the next day.

By my calculations, it was worth it.
No different than my celebration of National Ice Cream Day on Sunday.
But those things need to be few and far between, alas.