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Old 02-11-2018, 07:20 PM   #301
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DD picked out her wedding dress today and paid for it with my CC. I can't wait for this wedding bloodletting to end...in April.
We simply wrote DD a big check. Like ripping a band-aid (make that a big bandage) off all at once.
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Old 02-11-2018, 07:33 PM   #302
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...I'm doing my write-a-book-in-one-month thing. I find it's the best way, but it's a love/hate experience.

One thing is that when I've finished my word count goal for the day, I have the feeling of being free. On vacation.

Of course, I am on vacation all the time, but this makes the feeling more intense.
Setting yourself a word quota? Man, that's work.

This reminds me to spend sometime away from the keyboard and to get back to the soldering iron.
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Old 02-11-2018, 07:38 PM   #303
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Been there, done that. Something tells me you will be all smiles at the wedding! Congrats to you and the new couple in advance!
Thanks! it should be a nice time for her and the future SIL!
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Old 02-11-2018, 08:08 PM   #304
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I'll start with this unaltered pic at the dress shop today (I was not there) but DW was:

Attachment 27797

Gorgeous daughter & dress ! Dress shopping with my daughter for her wedding dress was one of the high lights of my life !
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Old 02-11-2018, 08:12 PM   #305
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We simply wrote DD a big check. Like ripping a band-aid (make that a big bandage) off all at once.
I did that but I also bought the dress and veil . Best wedding ever !
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Old 02-11-2018, 08:14 PM   #306
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Gorgeous daughter & dress ! Dress shopping with my daughter for her wedding dress was one of the high lights of my life !
Thanks, and you can bet that DW is enjoying the time spent with her during this process.
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Old 02-11-2018, 09:25 PM   #307
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Did our income taxes.
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Old 02-12-2018, 04:14 AM   #308
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Finished a Google Paper Signals project. You set up a $30 Arduino board that includes Wifi, to receive commands from the Google Assistant app on your phone. The project produces a very limited device. For instance, I did the timer and there is about a 30 second lag time between the time you tell Google Assistant to "Set a timer for X minutes" and when the device starts timing. It's better for tracking when some sort of data point changes on the web, like weather or stocks. But you learn about how the programming works, how to connect modules to the Arduino, and the mechanics of building an enclosure, in this case, cardboard.

I have been curious about these little boards since they first started coming out, but there were more practical things to do while I was working. For me, this is the ultimate joy of retirement - being able to spend time on some little pursuit just for the heck of it.

Loved NW-Bound's dissection of an LED bulb, even though I know nothing about electronics.
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Old 02-12-2018, 07:56 AM   #309
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I'll start with this unaltered pic at the dress shop today (I was not there) but DW was:



Attachment 27797


Congrats, aja8888! Your DD looks very nice and happy in her dress. Looks like she is a model for my DW’s favorite tv show “Say Yes to the Dress”
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Old 02-12-2018, 08:03 AM   #310
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Congrats, aja8888! Your DD looks very nice and happy in her dress. Looks like she is a model for my DW’s favorite tv show “Say Yes to the Dress”
Thanks Ron. Yeah, she is happy as any bride-to be-usually is. Dad will be glad when it's the day after the wedding. But this is a fun time for the family and that's what it is all about!
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Old 02-12-2018, 09:04 AM   #311
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Finished a Google Paper Signals project. You set up a $30 Arduino board that includes Wifi, to receive commands from the Google Assistant app on your phone. The project produces a very limited device. For instance, I did the timer and there is about a 30 second lag time between the time you tell Google Assistant to "Set a timer for X minutes" and when the device starts timing. It's better for tracking when some sort of data point changes on the web, like weather or stocks. But you learn about how the programming works, how to connect modules to the Arduino, and the mechanics of building an enclosure, in this case, cardboard.

I have been curious about these little boards since they first started coming out, but there were more practical things to do while I was working. For me, this is the ultimate joy of retirement - being able to spend time on some little pursuit just for the heck of it...
I did not know about Google's Paper Signals. Very interesting. You are leveraging off Google's tool in the cloud, and that makes it easier. I am surprised at that 30-sec lag.

I see that you are in CS. I am an EE, and when I was in school my university did not even have a CS department. However, I did a lot of Fortran and assembly language early in my work, later switching to C which I taught myself.

Arduino makes it very easy and fun to build things and see it work. When one wants to go another step, there are other more powerful microcontrollers to play with, but they take more effort. I am experimenting with a few.

I did not keep up with technology since I stopped work 6 years ago, and when I looked into it again a couple of months ago, was amazed at what was available. So many things to investigate...
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Old 02-12-2018, 09:55 AM   #312
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Yesterday turned cooler and cloudier by us so we ended up staying home and getting household chores done. Our neighbors moved to assisted living and the adult kids are having a hard time clearing out all the clutter, so seeing that is giving us an extra incentive to take pity on our adult kids and declutter now.

Yesterday I tackled the front closet and found we had something like 12 umbrellas and 30 baseball caps collected over the years. So we pared that down and combined with some other closets I cleaned out I have two more bags of clutter for Goodwill. It feels good seeing the closet cleaned out and I hope someone else out there can use our surplus baseball caps and umbrellas.
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:18 AM   #313
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aja8888....the pic of your daughter sure made me smile. I needed that because....

Got an email from my primary care doc this morning. He left his practice at the end of 2017. He's now going the concierge route...the membership fee will be $3k a person. But hey, this includes valet parking...what a deal.

At this point in my life, I think I'll pass.
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:21 AM   #314
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aja8888, a wonderful photo and beautiful bride-to-be.
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:25 AM   #315
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Got an email from my primary care doc this morning. He left his practice at the end of 2017. He's now going the concierge route...the membership fee will be $3k a person. But hey, this includes valet parking...what a deal.

At this point in my life, I think I'll pass.
DW's doc tried and failed at that, discovering far more than the expected number of her patients wouldn't fork over the $. By the time the doc contacted all the patients who declined her concierge invitation to say "never mind", they had found new docs and were moving on (including DW). Had to be a big financial hit to her practice.
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:27 AM   #316
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aja8888....the pic of your daughter sure made me smile.
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aja8888, a wonderful photo and beautiful bride-to-be.
Thanks folks!
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:50 AM   #317
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DW's doc tried and failed at that, discovering far more than the expected number of her patients wouldn't fork over the $. By the time the doc contacted all the patients who declined her concierge invitation to say "never mind", they had found new docs and were moving on (including DW). Had to be a big financial hit to her practice.
Makes me wonder how well he'll do. We got a letter in December of last year saying he was leaving his practice; he won't begin the new practice until April 2nd.

I figure many of his patients (like yours truly) has made other arrangements.

He's a fine doctor, I hope he's successful...time will tell.
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Old 02-12-2018, 11:41 AM   #318
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Woke up to some welcome snow. Had coffee with DW watched the lovely white flakes all around us. We're blanketed in clouds and flakes.

I didn't want to cook breakfast so I volunteered to go fetch McDonald's. It's only a couple of miles. I took the Wrangler as it's better in snow. No big deal, a nice gentle 25 mph drive. I guess they'd plowed the road, polished the snow, they don't put anything on it.

About the time I get towards town the road opens up with parking lots next to it. It became harder to see where the road was. Suddenly I know I'm headed into the right hand ditch! Oh crap! I stepped on it and cranked the wheel to get out. That happened too quickly and I'm in the left lane getting ready for a 360° turn. Luckily it managed to straighten out and I survived. There was a person ahead of me that did the same maneuver. Where folks were going across the main road and starting and stopping it was ice!

I almost turned around right there but it was only a few hundred yards. I chatted for a few minutes with the gal at the counter, she claimed there were a couple of rollover accidents on the highway.

A very slow drive through the icy patches. Probably ought to get the snowblower out, looks like a couple of snowy days(we hope)..

I did change our e-mail address on Fidelity, Vanguard, Alley, and Amazon this morning as our old one is too secure. OK, it's more difficult to change e-mail on Amazon than Vanguard.
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Old 02-12-2018, 05:28 PM   #319
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I did change our e-mail address on Fidelity, Vanguard, Alley, and Amazon this morning as our old one is too secure.
TOO secure?
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Old 02-12-2018, 05:30 PM   #320
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Spent most of the day organizing and categorizing medical expense records for 2017 taxes. Felt too much like w*rk sitting in front of a computer all day. This is the first year we're able to deduct medical expenses since our income is much lower and we're paying health insurance premiums with after-tax money. Swore we'd do a better job filing records this year.
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