What did you do today? 2017 version

[Philliefan33]

Well, I suggested to DH that we go to the winter festival being held at a nearby ski area. We don't downhill ski, but there are other things going on and I thought it would be a nice outing. But DH said "if it is outside I don't want to go". Yeah well, of course it is outside.

Instead, I bundled up and walked to the clubhouse to pick up mail. It took about an hour, but the sun was shining and I was dressed properly. I got my "outside" fix in spite of DH.

This afternoon I'll make chili and cornbread, then sit by the fire and read or watch basketball on tv.

 

[RobbieB]

Thanks. No, not yet, surround needs to get installed. That and first fire will be today, it's just going to be a small one, I'm supposed to burn at no more than 250 F stove top for 20 minutes. Then go to 450 F next fire for an hour so that the paint cures properly and maintains it's shade.

Lotta work. I had to cut a lot of metal out of that zero clearance including the bottom so that I could brick and mortar right to the slab. Thing weighs 300 lbs and needs good support. And that "flex" flue liner is not that flexible, had to use a 45 degree elbow as there was no way the liner was going to bend 45 degrees in 6 inches.

 

[John Galt III]

Got one step closer to altering my TV paying habits. Turned on the tube, went to the political channels I usually like, 2 liberal and one conservative. All commercials. Switched to the commercial-free station, and watched about 20 minutes of a good movie. Switched back to the political channels, 2 in commercial, one has content on, but it was the same old junk they always have. Too boring. Switched back to the commercial-free movie until it ended. I'm paying $108 per month for 'expanded basic' cable alone. I must be crazy. But the gf has to have her game shows. Millions of channels, but we only watch about 9 of them. Sigh. I know, I know, I've read all about how to cut the cord. One of these days. One of these days.

 

[Walt34]

Twenty minutes flying time with the R/C helicopter in the family room, starting to ease into forward flight with it, with generally good results. But not always. DW is out shopping with her sister so I took advantage of having the house to myself. It's cold out so I have no interest in going outside.

 

[street]

RobbieB >>> yep those projects are a lot of work and seems like always run into a snag or two. That will be nice once you are done.

 

[W2R]

Got one step closer to altering my TV paying habits. Turned on the tube, went to the political channels I usually like, 2 liberal and one conservative. All commercials. Switched to the commercial-free station, and watched about 20 minutes of a good movie. Switched back to the political channels, 2 in commercial, one has content on, but it was the same old junk they always have. Too boring. Switched back to the commercial-free movie until it ended. I'm paying $108 per month for 'expanded basic' cable alone. I must be crazy. But the gf has to have her game shows. Millions of channels, but we only watch about 9 of them. Sigh. I know, I know, I've read all about how to cut the cord. One of these days. One of these days.

Believe me, I know how it is! It took me years to get up the nerve to do it, but honestly I don't miss cable TV one bit.

Maybe you could get some good game shows for your gf OTA.

 

[braumeister]

I was idly looking at the world in Google Maps today and happened to remember that we found ourselves driving right behind a Google Street View car in the summer of 2014. We had no idea whether they were operating the cameras at the time, so didn't think much about it. I just went to the spot and sure enough there's my car. Can't recognize us through the windshield and the license plate is mercifully blurred, but it's definitely us. Fascinating!

 

[EastWest Gal]

I grew up in the middle of PA. I got the out and escaped.

Funny, I escaped the high COL and the traffic and moved to the middle of PA from California. Because of that I am in this group and FIREd. My son is snowboarding right now after work while DH and I are resting after a snorkel outing in Hawaii. This beats living in a townhouse in a subpar school district in Silicon Valley working my a** off. You'd be surprised how many CA transplants we know.

 

[NW-Bound]

I was idly looking at the world in Google Maps today and happened to remember that we found ourselves driving right behind a Google Street View car in the summer of 2014. We had no idea whether they were operating the cameras at the time, so didn't think much about it. I just went to the spot and sure enough there's my car. Can't recognize us through the windshield and the license plate is mercifully blurred, but it's definitely us. Fascinating!

I love to look at street views all around the world. I once followed the street view of the Dempster Highway in Alaska, and at the deadend of the road in Inuvik, I could see another Google car in the view. Apparently, they travel in pairs in more remote areas for backup.

I have run across a Google Street View car about twice or three times not too far from my home, on a residential street. And they have updated the view of my neighborhood at least 3 times that I know of. I had the front yard redone less than 2 years ago, and the new view already reflects that. There are areas in the country that are not completely covered, so I don't know what makes them drive through my neck of the wood so often.

 

[Ronstar]

.....There are areas in the country that are not completely covered, so I don't know what makes them drive through my neck of the wood so often.

As mobile mapping technology improves, additional datasets can be acquired making new applications possible. So the new and improved cars go back to previously completed streets to obtain data that they were unable to obtain with the old technology. For example, getting additional data to support self driving cars, asset inventories, etc.

 

[W2R]

What did I do? My taxes! Well, at least I filed my taxes with the IRS. Louisiana isn't ready for taxes to be e-filed, yet, according to Turbotax. I would say something rude about Louisiana but it wouldn't be nice.

We had lunch together and shared a pepperoni pizza. I know, what awful nutrition, right? But it was sooooo good, and we don't eat pizza often.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

I managed to convert two trash bags full of paperwork into five bags of shredded confetti. Even sitting on the bags to compress them wouldn't let me reduce the size much. I'd have thought shredding would have taken up less volume.

I decided to get rid of a few blu-ray discs that came with DVDs too. Which means I'm not done with this chore yet after all.

I bought a semi-hard case DVD wallet to store my blu-rays and game discs in, so I organized that today too.

All this was after spending a few hours out wandering a few stores just to stretch the legs for a while. That left my bad knee in worse shape and my lower back in so much pain it was hard to breathe. Thank whoever invented Percicet.

Somewhere in there I played around with learning to program in C++ too.

It's been a wonderful and productive day.

There was one downside. We treated ourself to a rare coffee from Starbucks. Told the barista to heat it up to 140. This is somewhere between child and max temperature. Every other Starbucks has managed this without issue. This guy said he did it, but we scalded ourselves taking that first swallow. Roof of my mouth and tongue both feel raw still. I imagine there's a free coffee in it with a friendly retelling in a private message to whoever manages their Facebook page.

 

[MRG]

Funny, I escaped the high COL and the traffic and moved to the middle of PA from California. Because of that I am in this group and FIREd. My son is snowboarding right now after work while DH and I are resting after a snorkel outing in Hawaii. This beats living in a townhouse in a subpar school district in Silicon Valley working my a** off. You'd be surprised how many CA transplants we know.

It's nice area, I think you're 80 miles south of where I grew up. Biggest issue in the area(back in the 70s) was a lack of employment.

For me, leaving the area meant exposure to a great big world with no one to help me. I had to figure out I didn't have the right skills and go get them. Then my world got even bigger!

I'm of the opinion that if I didn't leave the area I'd been dead 25 years ago. Every time I'm back there with my old crowd I realize "but for the grace of God, go I".

 

[NW-Bound]

Drove up to the high-country 2nd home by myself, leaving my wife home with MIL.

There's snow still on the ground, but the temperature got up to 47F. Inside, it's not too bad at 58F even though the thermostat is set at 45F, due to the large glass south façade.

Did not bring up more booze, and the bottle of Cognac is nearly empty. Need to make a booze run to the nearest town 40 miles away tomorrow.

 

[Hermit]

... Did not bring up more booze, and the bottle of Cognac is nearly empty. Need to make a booze run to the nearest town 40 miles away tomorrow.

Sorry to hear of the unfortunate circumstance. Hope all is better tomorrow!

 

[NW-Bound]

Thank you. I do exercise restraint when using this "alternative fuel" for heating, even when I am by myself.

By the way, a reason I had to drive up was that our electric bills have been so low this winter compared to earlier years. Made me wonder if the heat pump/heater craps out, and the home gets frozen.

 

[Souschef]

Today was the first day of the AARP Tax season. We volunteer to help seniors and low income people fill out and file their taxes. We got off to a rough start as the WiFi was not working so we could not access the tax program. We devised a workaround by connecting our router to a hard wired internet connection.
We have new software this year, which made it doubly hard. It is going to be a learning experience, and we will be there until April 18th.

 

[Philliefan33]

Today was the first day of the AARP Tax season. We volunteer to help seniors and low income people fill out and file their taxes. We got off to a rough start as the WiFi was not working so we could not access the tax program. We devised a workaround by connecting our router to a hard wired internet connection.
We have new software this year, which made it doubly hard. It is going to be a learning experience, and we will be there until April 18th.

It's my first year as an AARP tax volunteer. Our site is open Monday and Friday, so we started last Friday.

One issue we are having is that the software is not moving everything into the PA return correctly, so we have to be very careful to double-check that all of the PA forms are included. How is the state return working for you?

 

[Souschef]

It's my first year as an AARP tax volunteer. Our site is open Monday and Friday, so we started last Friday.

One issue we are having is that the software is not moving everything into the PA return correctly, so we have to be very careful to double-check that all of the PA forms are included. How is the state return working for you?

We are in CA, and have not any problems with the state return. Thank you very much for volunteering.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Twenty minutes flying time with the R/C helicopter in the family room, starting to ease into forward flight with it, with generally good results.

And to think, people ask me after I tell them I'm retiring at age 57, "But what will you DO all day??"

 

[HFWR]

We are in CA, and have not any problems with the state return. Thank you very much for volunteering.

No problem with state returns in Texas... [emoji41]

 

[NW-Bound]

No problem with state returns in Texas... [emoji41]

Didn't you bribe them so that you do not have to do a tax return (the bribe is called high RE tax)?

I guess it could be a lot worse in some other states, where the above "bribe" is not enough and they still gouge you for high income taxes.

 

[HFWR]

Didn't you bribe them so that you do not have to do a tax return (the bribe is called high RE tax)?

I guess it could be a lot worse in some other states, where the above "bribe" is not enough and they still gouge you for high income taxes.

Pick your poison...

 

[MRG]

Another phone call to Ally bank. This is the fourth call attempting to fund our account. Now since the bank account number was incorrect, didn't have enough digits, they have to review our whole setup. This adventure should only take another 5-7 business days! Maybe everyone takes a month to fund an account, but I am not happy with their service.

For the life of me I cannot understand how the online interface didn't force me to enter the entire number! I swear I did.

 

[Calico]

Went to see "Hidden Figures." Highly recommend it.

It was the rare movie that I thought was worth seeing in the theater (rather than waiting for it to appear on Netflix).