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

[daylatedollarshort]

Our weekend events were going out for Mexican food, seeing a Dickens play one evening and a modern dance performance another. We'd never been to the theater the dance performance was in before. It's a movie palace type theater from 1927 that has been restored to modern day standards so it an attractive venue.

 

[Lucantes]

an in-the-middle dish sure to annoy meat eaters and vegetarians alike.

 

[W2R]

Today I got my first Louisiana driver's license with no vision restriction, thanks to my recent cataract surgery. The vision test was a snap.

Then I came home to find both my chip-and-pin debit MasterCard and my replacement BCBS card in my mailbox. That's nearly all the cards I needed to replace those in the wallet I lost last Sunday.

Tomorrow, Amazon will deliver a new wallet, too.

 

[ElizabethT]

Our last training hike, hooray, for our upcoming Grand Canyon backpack. We've been quite diligent in our training, with the hope we'll be conditioned enough to enjoy the scenery as we go, rather than simply suffering from the weight of our packs.

A late afternoon photography class after that, followed by dinner at home. I plan to spend the evening reading in bed, though after our morning hike I'll likely be so tired I won't get through more than a few pages before falling asleep.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

Our last training hike, hooray, for our upcoming Grand Canyon backpack. We've been quite diligent in our training, with the hope we'll be conditioned enough to enjoy the scenery as we go, rather than simply suffering from the weight of our packs.

A late afternoon photography class after that, followed by dinner at home. I plan to spend the evening reading in bed, though after our morning hike I'll likely be so tired I won't get through more than a few pages before falling asleep.

You are going to be blown away by the GC - esp since you will be packing in for an up close experience.

I hope your conditioning included uphill hikes.

The hike into and along the bottom are not so bad, the hike out and up is what tests a lot of folks.

Be sure to snap a couple of pictures to share when you get back!

 

[pb4uski]

Yes, that is the bear of the GC compared to conventional day hikes.... the toughest part (uphill) is at the end of the day when you are worn out.

 

[ElizabethT]

Yes, that is the bear of the GC compared to conventional day hikes.... the toughest part (uphill) is at the end of the day when you are worn out.

Our hike out occurs on Days 6 and 7, so it will be spread out. Additionally, we'll be down considerably in backpack weight, having eaten through the food for days 1 -5. We should also be feeling pretty strong by then, with five days of backpacking under out belts.

That's the plan anyway!

(I should mention we spent 10 days hiking over 100 miles in the Swiss Alps a couple of years ago, which involved daily elevation gains of many thousands of feet at high altitude. In that we stay lower than 5000 feet in the Grand Canyon, we're feeling pretty good at this point.)

 

[MBAustin]

Gumby - amazing music, that's one I haven't heard before. Also neat that it's a virtual choir - not easy to pull that off! The college choral group I sing with started rehearsals of Bach's Christmas Oratorio last night - very happy that I learned German when we lived there in the 90's.

Elizabeth - have a wonderful hike and post some pictures. DH and I did the GC hike back in the 80s. I actually found the hike down harder than back up - it got hotter as we went down and my knees didn't like the slope. Going up, the trick for me was to walk slower than usual and take frequent breaks. Enjoy!

I'm headed out to get my flu shot and shingles shot (friend recently had shingles and highly recommends the shot) then grocery shopping. Dentist this afternoon (cleaning and checkup) and a church endowment meeting this evening. Hope to fit in a few fall house chores as well.

 

[MichaelB]

Drove down to the Knoxville area for a wedding. Very nice area, we'd driven through but never explored. The wedding and reception were in the Smokie Mountains, just outside Knoxville, an absolutely beautiful area. Someone looking to "get away from it all" would be happy there.

 

[Sea Kayaker]

Gym day...as most of my FIRE days are.

In a few days I embark on my most extended "snowbird" stint...a month a half on the southern tip of the Baja. Skies have become grey, the weather drizzly, as it is want to do here in the PNW and I am ready for some warmth.

Extended warm weather Fall/Winter escapes were always a motivating factor which helped keep me on the FIRE path. I am so excited to start reaping what I worked so damn hard to sow.

It will be interesting to see the reactions of my Mexican contingent of friends to the 50 pounds-lighter version of me at the beach or pool.

 

[Ronstar]

After 2 weeks of solid house maintenance tasks - I spent today hiking in the woods. A perfect day.

 

[rodi]

After walking the dog on the beach (I know - that's something I mention almost every time) I sat down and looked at all things money.

- I paid our property taxes.
- I did our monthly transfer to the kids 529s.
- I transferred money to/from various accounts to make sure all bills would be covered.
- I got sucked into the updated Fidelity RIP tool after reading a thread here... that was several hours of tweaking/playing around with it to get changing expenses (kid dependent) modeled correctly.
- Had a talk with DH about our finances... he's mostly abdicated all things money to me... but I like to apprise him of our spending & expenses plus the values of our accounts periodically.

Oh - and I did some laundry in there and schlepped the kids to/fro...

 

[braumeister]

Since the doc told me a couple of weeks ago that I was heading toward a hip replacement, I called an old friend who had that done a few years ago. It was almost comical, since I opened the conversation by asking how he was, and he replied "Well, not bad except I'm getting ready to have my other hip replaced."

My response was "Exactly what I'm calling about."

Anyway, he gave me some good perspectives and filled in some missing information for me. One thing he said, which I've heard from others as well, is "Don't wait too long. I wish I had made the decision sooner."

Still not sure when I'll do it, but almost certainly within the next 12 months. The more I learn about it, the less I worry.

 

[aja8888]

Since the doc told me a couple of weeks ago that I was heading toward a hip replacement, I called an old friend who had that done a few years ago. It was almost comical, since I opened the conversation by asking how he was, and he replied "Well, not bad except I'm getting ready to have my other hip replaced."

My response was "Exactly what I'm calling about."

Anyway, he gave me some good perspectives and filled in some missing information for me. One thing he said, which I've heard from others as well, is "Don't wait too long. I wish I had made the decision sooner."

Still not sure when I'll do it, but almost certainly within the next 12 months. The more I learn about it, the less I worry.

Mike (HaHa) and I each had a hip replacement done within the last few years. May I suggest you look into the "anterior procedure" as a way to have the surgery. It's minimally invasive with a very short recovery time.

I used this surgeon and procedure:

Anterior Total Hip Replacement Video - Minimally Invasive Hip Arthritis Surgery, Houston Texas

 

[MRG]

Gym day...as most of my FIRE days are.

In a few days I embark on my most extended "snowbird" stint...a month a half on the southern tip of the Baja. Skies have become grey, the weather drizzly, as it is want to do here in the PNW and I am ready for some warmth.

Extended warm weather Fall/Winter escapes were always a motivating factor which helped keep me on the FIRE path. I am so excited to start reaping what I worked so damn hard to sow.

It will be interesting to see the reactions of my Mexican contingent of friends to the 50 pounds-lighter version of me at the beach or pool.

Congratulations, I'm guessing they will notice!

 

[ElizabethT]

We spent almost the entire day packing our backpacks for our upcoming Grand Canyon stint. I bought a small food scale a few weeks ago, and while it wasn't meant to use for backpacking, we used it all afternoon to our amazement at how those pesky little ounces added up to pounds. All told, we took an additional two pounds out of our backpacks by removing everything from their holding sacks (sleeping bags, down jackets, rain gear), removing or swapping out misc hanging items like thermometers and carabiners, and weighing and swapping out things like socks, pants and shirts for lighter counterparts. Bags felt good when we were done!

I made a hugh batch of veggie fajitas for dinner in order to go through the produce still on hand, which won't hold over the week we'll be gone. Afterward, I spent time planning out a final few excursions for a Caribbean cruise we'll be taking a few weeks after we return home from this trip. Yeah for fluff trips!

And yes, I'll definitely post a few photos of the GC when we return.

 

[NW-Bound]

On the spur of the moment, coming back from the wedding rehearsal for our daughter, we stopped by a store to buy a tux. I was just going to wear my usual black dinner suit, but then this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, so why not go the extra mile?

To get more use out of the tux, I will need to bring it on the upcoming cruise.

Coming back home, checked my stocks, and found that it was a happy day on Wall St. Nice!

 

[ls99]

Changed Hot Tub fluid, er, water and filter, scrubbed the tub. It is now coming up from the 56F tap water temperature.

Looking ahead for the month long weather forecast, seems my Kayak will be hanging from garage ceiling in about two weeks, major bummer. On the upside, I'll have more time to spend in the skating rink.

 

[pb4uski]

Great day for me. Woke up too early (6:15 am) and a golf buddy picked me up at 7:15. We met up with another guy, went out to breakfast and met up with 17 other guys at the course. Great course in a development with multi-million dollar vacation homes.

Opened with a tap in birdie. Played well overall (for me... 3 under net despite 3 blow-up holes). Our team came in second.

Drove home, took a nap, had dinner and then went to visit with friends and had dessert at their place (a very good apple pie with cheddar cheese).

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Yesterday we took the train into the city to see a play. Today was mostly routine stuff - errands, catching up on paperwork, walking the dog and enjoying a beer on the patio together in the afternoon.

 

[MBAustin]

It's supposed to be the first rainy weekend here in central TX since June. Although so far it's just been light rain on and off since yesterday morning, predictions are for large rain totals by Sunday evening. I had planned to go to the Formula 1 qualifying tomorrow at Circuit of the Americas, but will now wait to see how bad the weather is (they race in the rain, but not sure I want to spend hours in the rain just to see it). Glad I didn't buy tickets in advance.

Today is the only day with nothing scheduled all week, so I cleaned out three drawers in my dresser and now am doing laundry while catching up on the interwebs. Also need to finish writing up some reports for a volunteer assignment and take care of some financial stuff - RMD from the IRA I inherited when my mother died last year, paying bills, etc. I will take DH to the adaptive gym this afternoon if it isn't raining too hard and he wants to go.

Dinner tonight will be yummy - Costco had chanterelle mushrooms for about ½ the usual price this week so I'll be fixing them (probably just a simple saute) and making fresh pasta. Mmmmm.

 

[rodi]

Spent the day doing kid related stuff. Started off driving the kids to school (normally they take the public bus and I walk the dog on the beach after I drop them at the bus stop.). I had my TB test read by a Dr./Volunteer mom who had offered free TB tests for school volunteers. (The district requires volunteers to have TB tests within the past 4 years and mine expired in August.) After that I attended a "coffee with the principal". The principal is new so I wanted to suss out what her pluses/minuses are.

All of that was before 9am.

Came home and cleaned the house then spent some time getting organized for the robotics team. They'd hand written some changes for their project/skit - so I transcribed the changes and printed out new copies. By this time it was time to go fetch the kids so I could get them home in time for the rest of the robotics team to show up. (The team, except my son, go to the local middle school... we're the oddballs with our kids going to a magnet 10 miles away.)

Now I'm relaxing and getting ready for robotics team tomorrow.... and again on Sunday. Only 3 weeks till their qualifying tournament.

 

[davemartin88]

Yesterday- finished up a project to take some cherry and walnut boards I had sawed and stickered to dry a couple of years ago. Wood is now dry and ready for use (has been that way a while really) so put a rack on the wall and moved the wood in to a storage shed where it will be out of the elements. Have over 150 board feet of both the cherry and walnut and looks to have dried well. Then I moved all the tractor equipment in to the barn and got the snow plow ready to be used- didn't attach it to the BobCat but easy to get to if needed- hopefully not for a while. I plow the gravel road from our house to the main road when needed, it's 1.2 miles but doesn't take long with the plow.

 

[Moemg]

Today I bought a ticket to a benefit for our library . It is an evening with Steven King & John Grisham . They are two of my favorite authors so it should be interesting .In fact I just finished Grisham's new book "Rogue Lawyer ".Steven King lives locally so it is not unusual to see him do a benefit but never the two together .

 

[Sea Kayaker]

Finished putting my garden to bed for the season before I am Baja-bound...which meant gathering fallen leaves (mostly maple) and covering all my vegetable beds with about a 6 inch layer of them. Also planted some garlic and covered them with leaves too. The idea is that over winter the leaves will prevent the PNW rains from robbing the soil of nutrients and the decomposing leaves will in turn provide the soil with lots of organic matter come Spring.