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

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl Did the car come up as stolen?

Don't know yet...but I doubt it. I think this is a case of an employee driving a work truck. But the truck didn't have a company name on it. That's the way it usually is around here.

The pd dispatch has the info on the vehicle....whether they find him or not is questionable. Even if they do and there's no insurance, we'll have to file on ours.

I hope they get him...he/the owner of the vehicle will be fined out the wahzoo or spend time in jail.

For three years I worked at the court, investigated auto insurance not carried by owners and helped put a lot of people in jail. I want them to find him...I want it big time.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI Today was a very nice day, until..... DH called me a few minutes ago (after a gig) and said a guy rear ended him in the parking lot. DH is not hurt....he tried to get the guys DL # and insurance card. Well...you guessed it...he had no DL or proof of insurance...and said it wasn't his truck. DH wrote the license plate number down and called the police. The guy took off... Son of a biscuit eater. Just shoot me now.

Did DH take a picture of the driver?

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Did DH take a picture of the driver?

No....he doesn't have that capability on his cell. There might be cameras in the parking lot tho.

[Gumby]

Installed three new storage cabinets in my garage. It is finally starting to look how I originally envisioned it when we built it six years ago.

After completing my cabinets, the young wife and I took a ride in the roadster and stopped for lunch. We just returned from a four mile walk along the beach.

[harley]

Finished my taxes an hour or so ago. First time ever I'm going to get a refund. It said my taxable income this year was $1,854. Amazing. But I had to do two state taxes for the first time ever (but not the last). What a PITA. Turbotax says my chances of an audit are medium-high. That would suck. But I have to admit playing games with taxable income, deductions, selling stocks with no cap gains, etc. is sort of fun. If they didn't have the deadline I could make it a hobby.

On another topic, are any of y'all in touch with Martha? I was reading an old thread and she ahd some good comments on it. I haven't seen her on the board in a year or so. She and I seldom agreed politically, but she made me think. I miss her. If you talk to her tell her I said hi.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley On another topic, are any of y'all in touch with Martha? I was reading an old thread and she ahd some good comments on it. I haven't seen her on the board in a year or so. She and I seldom agreed politically, but she made me think. I miss her. If you talk to her tell her I said hi.

You could send her a PM.

She's birding & bicycling around the south-central U.S. but with limited bandwidth.

[Walt34]

I wondered if one of the participants in this Seniors surprise Dulles Town Mall with flash mob - WTOP.com was a member of the the board here.

Pretty cool - the retirees practiced for a couple of months for a flash mob at the local mall. Some had never heard of a flash mob.

[donheff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 I wondered if one of the participants in this Seniors surprise Dulles Town Mall with flash mob - WTOP.com was a member of the the board here. Pretty cool - the retirees practiced for a couple of months for a flash mob at the local mall. Some had never heard of a flash mob.

Not to far from my neck of the woods but I think I will pass. I thought flash mobs just trashed stores and stole purses.

[donheff]

I rode out to Point Loma yesterday in a hurricane wind. Beautiful. On to LA this morning.

[MichaelB]

We went to see a film yesterday. One of the local cinemas has a balcony reserved seating section with full bar and grill until the film begins, and we thought we would check it out. My thinking - at least people there won't be flashing their cell phones all during the movie to check their facebook page updates.

I was wrong...

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB We went to see a film yesterday. One of the local cinemas has a balcony reserved seating section with full bar and grill until the film begins, and we thought we would check it out. My thinking - at least people there won't be flashing their cell phones all during the movie to check their facebook page updates. I was wrong...

One of my pet peeves. I really misjudged the whole shift to mobile devices. As a kid in the 1970's, I was an eager ham radio operator and used to spend many of my waking hours talking to other ham operators on the radio, whether I was at home or outside. I took my radio with me everywhere. It was a real novelty. Then after my late 20's, the novelty of being able to do it anywhere wore off, and I settled into a routine of doing ham radio at home only.

When mobile phones started getting smaller, I remember Nokia being touted as a very promising stock. The predictions ran that mobile was going to be huge, and people would become inseparable from their wireless devices. I dismissed that prediction, because I thought that only radio and electronics geeks like myself would be interested in being attached to a wireless device wherever they went. The large majority of well-adjusted adults would have no interest.

How very wrong I was. I still don't quite understand why some people can't just put their darned phones down and look at the view, talk to a stranger, or just be comfortable being in the moment with themselves. It annoys me sometimes; other times I find it comic.

I'm only 48 and am far too young to feel this cranky and disconnected from popular culture, but I do.

PS - I use Facebook often, but at home only. I don't even own a cell phone.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom As a kid in the 1970's, I was an eager ham radio operator and used to spend many of my waking hours talking to other ham operators on the radio, whether I was at home or outside. I took my radio with me everywhere. It was a real novelty. Then after my late 20's, the novelty of being able to do it anywhere wore off, and I settled into a routine of doing ham radio at home only.

Frank has been a ham for over 40 years and still takes a radio with him when we go on road trips. I guess the thrill never wore off for him. It doesn't do much for me, though (but then I am not a ham).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom I still don't quite understand why some people can't just put their darned phones down and look at the view, talk to a stranger, or just be comfortable being in the moment with themselves. It annoys me sometimes; other times I find it comic. I'm only 48 and am far too young to feel this cranky and disconnected from popular culture, but I do.

Believe me, you're not the only one. Nothing looks stupider to me than someone walking down the street with a phone plastered to his/her ear. I take my iPhone with me everywhere, but I don't use it all the time like younger people do. In fact, I often forget that essentially I have all the information on the internet with me always.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom PS - I use Facebook often, but at home only. I don't even own a cell phone.

Now that is unusual! I didn't get a cell phone until 2000, and felt I was the last person to get one. The world has become a difficult place for those without a cell phone. It has been forever since I saw a phone booth.

Sometimes I feel like a living anachronism, too. Right now, I am in the midst of the Gigantic Scanning Project that most people finished doing years ago. A couple of days ago I got one of those new sheet-feed scanners that is much faster than my old flatbed scanner ever was. It only takes two or three seconds to scan a photo, I suppose. I have a box of thousands of family photos dating back 150+ years, since I have become the family photo repository person somehow. The scanning part is a snap with this new scanner, but it still takes time to puzzle over the who/when/where of each photo for organizational purposes. So far I have finished over 1000 and I am finally making some visible progress.

This will will make any future hurricane evacuations much easier, and I can send copies on memory cards to relatives and be done with this responsibility.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Believe me, you're not the only one. Nothing looks stupider to me than someone walking down the street with a phone plastered to his/her ear. I take my iPhone with me everywhere, but I don't use it all the time like younger people do. In fact, I often forget that essentially I have all the information on the internet with me always.

Regretfully, no. The last few times, including yesterday, that people nearby were compelled to check their facebook frequently during a movie, the culprits were all middle aged. A sorry sight they were.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB Regretfully, no. The last few times, including yesterday, that people nearby were compelled to check their facebook frequently during a movie, the culprits were all middle aged. A sorry sight they were.

Oh! My mistake. I really don't understand why people do this. After all, they paid for the movie, too, so you'd think they would want the experience of seeing it and focusing on what they paid for.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Frank has been a ham for over 40 years and still takes a radio with him when we go on road trips. I guess the thrill never wore off for him. It doesn't do much for me, though (but then I am not a ham).

Although I've been licensed since the age of 15, my interest has waxed and waned on a regular basis since then, so I'm not as consistently passionate about it as many hams. Frank is the lucky one to have been constantly in the grip of such passionate interest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R In fact, I often forget that essentially I have all the information on the internet with me always

I know I'm not saying anything new, but it wasn't that long ago ago when most people felt that they would never, ever buy anything over the internet. Witnessing how we have collectively changed from that mindset to depending on it for much of our commerce and communication has been fascinating. We have seen a complete shift, and it still blows me away to think of it. Apologies for repeating something that everyone here already knows, but it has been a treat to have been witness to this technical and cultural change.

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Now that is unusual! I didn't get a cell phone until 2000, and felt I was the last person to get one. The world has become a difficult place for those without a cell phone. It has been forever since I saw a phone booth.

Back in the day, I owned a pager for keeping in touch with the office. I felt like the last person on earth to ditch my pager and graduate to a cellphone. I owned it until I stopped working, and was then able to manage without. It was a move of necessity as a result of my rather restrictive budget. I rarely stray outside the metro area and if I do, am nearly always with someone who has a cell. It's one less thing to carry - and I like to carry as little as possible with me (is that a guy thing?)

However, if I ever make good on my promise to go full-time RV-ing, I'm sure that a mobile phone will be part of the package.

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Right now, I am in the midst of the Gigantic Scanning Project that most people finished doing years ago. A couple of days ago I got one of those new sheet-feed scanners that is much faster than my old flatbed scanner ever was. It only takes two or three seconds to scan a photo, I suppose. I have a box of thousands of family photos dating back 150+ years, since I have become the family photo repository person somehow. The scanning part is a snap with this new scanner, but it still takes time to puzzle over the who/when/where of each photo for organizational purposes. So far I have finished over 1000 and I am finally making some visible progress.

You're not the only one left W2R - I'm right in there with you. All this stuff is great once you've got it in the digital domain, but getting it there can be very time-consuming can't it? I won't bore you with the details of my particular digitization project, but it sometimes makes me wish that I could mentally let go of all this stuff and just toss it. I have at least a few years left before I'm done.

Our family trunk of photos is in the possession of one of my brothers. He's not really a fan of spending long hours in front of the computer, so I think he's decided to put the trunk up in the attic and think about what to do with it some other time. There are some really interesting photos there, but I do wonder (as with a lot of the digitization I do) whether the results are really worth the many hours spent scanning. I may not have a smartphone, but while scanning and saving files, I'm effectively removing myself from direct interaction with the outside world in the same way that all those middle-aged FB-checkers at MichaelB's film screening were

[Gumby]

I have a cell phone. It doesn't text or take pictures or surf the web or do anything but make phone calls. I keep it turned off unless I want to make a call, which occurs about once per month or less. I don't usually carry it on my person and often have no idea where it is.

I do not understand people who are glued to their smart phones, and I really don't understand people (such as my young wife's high school students) who would rather send two dozen poorly worded and easily misunderstood text messages when they could clear things up in five seconds by actually speaking to each other.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I really don't understand people (such as my young wife's high school students) who would rather send two dozen poorly worded and easily misunderstood text messages when they could clear things up in five seconds by actually speaking to each other.

Hallelulah. I couldn't agree with you more.

[ksr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I have a cell phone. It doesn't text or take pictures or surf the web or do anything but make phone calls. I keep it turned off unless I want to make a call, which occurs about once per month or less.

This describes my situation exactly. I have a pre-paid phone and only add minutes once a year to keep the phone active. I keep it turned off and don't even know how to pick up messages on it. A few people have gotten annoyed with me when I refuse to give them a cell number, even though I tell them it would be useless to them as the phone is turned off unless I make an outgoing call.

[Lisa99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I do not understand people who are glued to their smart phones, and I really don't understand people (such as my young wife's high school students) who would rather send two dozen poorly worded and easily misunderstood text messages when they could clear things up in five seconds by actually speaking to each other.

This happens in the corporate world with email and IM as well. I have some employees who will email back and forth 10 times and never think to just pick up the phone and talk! And whe I get cc:ed on every one of the messages it drives me bonkers!

[pb4uski]

Put in the dock, boat lift and jet ski lift. Early on I discovered I had a leak in my waders, but I just grit my teeth and kept on trucking. Darn that water was cold!!! Checked the thermometer - only 44F. Burr.

Guess it is time for new waders.