What did you do today? 2017 version

[street]

Went ice fishing at a small very rural dam. I had to pull my sled in with my gear. I stayed about an hour till it started to snow and blow. No fish but had fun and will try t again on a better day.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We went to see LaLa Land. I guess we enjoyed it well enough (I find Ryan Gosling easy on the eyes). It's hard to believe it is expected to sweep the Oscars--I don't think it is any more award-worthy than the other movies that are nominated. I guess if you want to win awards from the entertainment industry, you get bonus points by making a movie about the entertainment industry.

 

[MBAustin]

I wish everyone the best with their health issues. Like one guy told me getting old isn't for sissy's. Lol I wish all of you the best.

+1. Don't think most of us appreciate our good health enough until we don't have it any more...

 

[W2R]

We went to see LaLa Land. [...]

I feel like I've been off in LaLa Land too. Just kidding

 

[Moemg]

I started the painful procedure called new car shopping .Frankly forget waterboarding make the convicts go car shopping they will reform .We went to look at the Rav4 which I really like but they added so many electronics to it that I will never use so I said I would think about it .Apparently to car dealers this means bring in the manager to try and convince you and if that doesn't work they have you sit there forever .We finally stood up to leave and they brought in yet another manager . Seriously car dealers if you are going to do this forget serving coffee and water bring out the wine .

 

[aja8888]

I started the painful procedure called new car shopping .Frankly forget waterboarding make the convicts go car shopping they will reform .We went to look at the Rav4 which I really like but they added so many electronics to it that I will never use so I said I would think about it .Apparently to car dealers this means bring in the manager to try and convince you and if that doesn't work they have you sit there forever .We finally stood up to leave and they brought in yet another manager . Seriously car dealers if you are going to do this forget serving coffee and water bring out the wine .

I tried to buy a 2017 GMC Canyon pickup in December with the minimum electronics package (The "Canyon" Package), V6, extended cab, 6' bed, ANY COLOR. The GMC website build pricing was about $28K. We went to two large GMC dealers and I couldn't even get a salesman to spend any time with me seeing if one existed in the area. They did let me test drive the $46,000 version. I walked and said when you get the one I want for $28K, call me. No calls in over 45 days.

We decided today that we don't need a new pickup truck now (or probably didn't in Decmber).

 

[Ronstar]

Went to see Hidden Figures. Great movie.

 

[ElizabethT]

I tried to buy a 2017 GMC Canyon pickup in December with the minimum electronics package (The "Canyon" Package), V6, extended cab, 6' bed, ANY COLOR. The GMC website build pricing was about $28K. We went to two large GMC dealers and I couldn't even get a salesman to spend any time with me seeing if one existed in the area. They did let me test drive the $46,000 version. I walked and said when you get the one I want for $28K, call me. No calls in over 45 days.

We decided today that we don't need a new pickup truck now (or probably didn't in Decmber).

For our last two new car purchases, we bought the dealership newspaper advertised Basic Package vehicle. You know, the one where they show how many 'like this' are in stock. Pretty painless, other than the actual purchase. Paying by check really confounds them!

 

[Philliefan33]

For the first time ever, I wrote to my congressman to voice my opinion. I might be whistling into the wind, but I feel better.

 

[Walt34]

Finally got some almost-good photos of the helicopter in the family room. This may become a project. Put the camera on a tripod with the interval timer set, four SB-900 strobes bouncing off the walls/ceiling and try to hold the helicopter where the lens is aimed and focused. It turned out that I could have zoomed in quite a bit, these are heavily cropped.

And most times, I can land it on the table next to the chair. DW cringes though.

 

[Souschef]

Spent the afternoon helping a neighbor who was just widowed. Her husband was 3 years younger than me and passed away last Saturday.
Both DW and I used to be on a grief recovery website as hosts, so we can really help her with the emotional side of things.
Also, I did their taxes last year, and can help her with the financial end of things.

 

[MBAustin]

Nice pictures, Walt! Must be fun zooming it around the house and making your wife duck and cover, eh?

 

[travelover]

I started the painful procedure called new car shopping .Frankly forget waterboarding make the convicts go car shopping they will reform .We went to look at the Rav4 which I really like but they added so many electronics to it that I will never use so I said I would think about it .Apparently to car dealers this means bring in the manager to try and convince you and if that doesn't work they have you sit there forever. We finally stood up to leave and they brought in yet another manager . Seriously car dealers if you are going to do this forget serving coffee and water bring out the wine .

I just bought a new car but I refuse to do the sit around and be sold thing. I decided on what I wanted based on reading Consumer Reports and online reviews, popped into a dealership just to look at the actual vehicle to convince myself that was the one, then I requested quotes from 9 area dealers. Anyone that called was requested to submit a quote via email. Most dealers advertise that they will meet or beat any deal, so I spend the next few days letting them bid against each other. When I felt that I'd squeezed out the last drop (per TrueCar), I told the winning dealer when I wanted to pick it up. I'll show up Monday and write a check.

It is a little harder if you don't know for sure what you want, as the dealers have more opportunity to mess with you. Electronics seem to be the next big thing in vehicles, not sure how to dodge that - I can only go with a company that seems to manage quality better than others.

 

[REWahoo]

I just bought a new car ...

You buy the Highlander?

 

[Walt34]

Nice pictures, Walt! Must be fun zooming it around the house and making your wife duck and cover, eh?

Normally she hides in the basement family room.

This time she was out doing some errands.

 

[bmcgonig]

I tried to buy a 2017 GMC Canyon pickup in December with the minimum electronics package (The "Canyon" Package), V6, extended cab, 6' bed, ANY COLOR. The GMC website build pricing was about $28K. We went to two large GMC dealers and I couldn't even get a salesman to spend any time with me seeing if one existed in the area. They did let me test drive the $46,000 version. I walked and said when you get the one I want for $28K, call me. No calls in over 45 days.

We decided today that we don't need a new pickup truck now (or probably didn't in Decmber).

Can't you just have them order it?

 

[Moemg]

I just bought a new car but I refuse to do the sit around and be sold thing. I decided on what I wanted based on reading Consumer Reports and online reviews, popped into a dealership just to look at the actual vehicle to convince myself that was the one, then I requested quotes from 9 area dealers. Anyone that called was requested to submit a quote via email. Most dealers advertise that they will meet for beat any deal, so I spend the next few days letting them bid against each other. When I felt that I'd squeezed out the last drop (per TrueCar),

Thanks , I am going to go that route once I am sure on what car I want .

 

[travelover]

You buy the Highlander?

Yea. LE Plus AWD. A minivan masquerading as an SUV.

 

[Marita40]

Ordered a lovely new 8 x 10 all wool oriental rug for the living room. I had danced around this for many months but didn't spring for it because of the expense. Today I noted that the online venue had a 30% discount--so I bit the bullet.
My justification: life is short.

 

[MRG]

Went walking with DW she's had stomach issues since we tried a new Mexican place. I think the salsa she used was habenero based. This was first time she's felt well.

Showed her the power of fluffy snow. A person down the road parked a new Ford in the ditch when the snow started. Sitting there off the road with the snowplow piling snow against and over the top. It was completely covered for a month till a day ago when they dug it out. The side the plow was on is bad! Plow never touched it, big chunks of frozen snow did. Looks like a huge hand crunched it in! Nice soft fluffy snow.

Does insurance cover ignorance?

 

[REWahoo]

Yea. LE Plus AWD. A minivan masquerading as an SUV.

I'll bet you'll be very happy with your decision. DW has a 2014 XLE we purchased as a CPO vehicle in early 2015 and she loves it.

 

[aja8888]

Can't you just have them order it?

I wanted to drive the model with the options to make sure it was what I wanted. Plus, very little, if any, price leverage placing an order.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Electronics seem to be the next big thing in vehicles, not sure how to dodge that - I can only go with a company that seems to manage quality better than others.

They're becoming legally mandated. Rearview cameras are mandatory on all 2017 or 2018+ models now. Who knows what's coming next, except of course it'll make every car more expensive.

So far I've been spending today on the herculean task of ripping my DVDs to backup hard drives so I can ditches these storage boxes and the DVD cases. I'm thinking of throwing all the DVDs into a giant binder just to cut down on the storage space requirements while keeping them as another layer of redundancy.

I also made a stack of paperwork I'm whittling down to scan for backups too. I'm accepting that I'll need to keep two hard drives and make new copies of each every 5 years or so. Thank you Google et al. for your yearly storage media reports for life expectancy of hard drives.

 

[Ronstar]

Finally got some almost-good photos of the helicopter in the family room. This may become a project. Put the camera on a tripod with the interval timer set, four SB-900 strobes bouncing off the walls/ceiling and try to hold the helicopter where the lens is aimed and focused. It turned out that I could have zoomed in quite a bit, these are heavily cropped.

And most times, I can land it on the table next to the chair. DW cringes though.

Looks fun! And a little dangerous.

 

[Sunset]

I just bought a new car but I refuse to do the sit around and be sold thing. I decided on what I wanted based on reading Consumer Reports and online reviews, popped into a dealership just to look at the actual vehicle to convince myself that was the one, then I requested quotes from 9 area dealers. Anyone that called was requested to submit a quote via email. Most dealers advertise that they will meet or beat any deal, so I spend the next few days letting them bid against each other. When I felt that I'd squeezed out the last drop (per TrueCar), I told the winning dealer when I wanted to pick it up. I'll show up Monday and write a check.

It is a little harder if you don't know for sure what you want, as the dealers have more opportunity to mess with you. Electronics seem to be the next big thing in vehicles, not sure how to dodge that - I can only go with a company that seems to manage quality better than others.

I did that, and when I get there, the car had some extra stuff added, they took one or two off the price, example was the pin striping, but I did pay for 2 others (floor mats was one)

So be prepared for that, or be prepared to walk.