What did you do today? 2018 version

[97guns]

Staying at a posh $350 San Francisco hotel for free tonight as a mystery shopper, getting $50 to do it too. Waiting for 5:30 for complimentary wine and hors d’ oeuvres then gonna have a nice Thai dinner down the street. Stop by the Golden Gate in the morning for a few pics before heading home.

 

[Nemo2]

Medias, Transylvania:

Old historic town centre, few to virtually zero tourists, (except for us); lots of money, (we presume federal, probably borrowed federal), being poured into upgrades and restorations.

Talked with an 'older', (probably younger than me), lady in a bookstore, who said the population is half what it was under the communists - people are emigrating, houses are put up for sale but there are no buyers, so they become dilapidated and unpurchaseable.

Her daughter, in Bucharest, (who speaks five languages), managed to land a teaching position; the lady herself, who has a background in oil & gas*, runs the bookstore.

(*During her career she was engaged in some projects in Vietnam, and a couple years ago was invited to a symposium there.......figuring she couldn't afford to go, she let it slide, until they clarified that it was "All expenses paid".)

Vietnam, she said, is booming.

 

[Ronstar]

This could be either under this topic, or Blow the Dough! Today was the day I got to fly a P-51 Mustang
The story is below

Quite an experience!

 

[ls99]

Got ew tires mounted on the 99 Suburban, includes blowing some dough. The old ones were over seven years old. Bit overdue. With the new winter tires for it in the fall, the tires are likely worth more then the vehicle. Even though it is near pristine, no rust, and at 125,000 miles. I just happen to like it. I may even have it detailed one of these days.

 

[Hermit]

Got ew tires mounted on the 99 Suburban, includes blowing some dough. The old ones were over seven years old. Bit overdue. With the new winter tires for it in the fall, the tires are likely worth more then the vehicle. Even though it is near pristine, no rust, and at 125,000 miles. I just happen to like it. I may even have it detailed one of these days.

Those are good vehicles. One of the few that stand up to the beating cars get up here on the mountain dirt roads.

 

[IMATERP]

Last night, my week culminated with me selling my 2008 Honda Accord (136,800 miles) to a private party and then I went and purchased a new vehicle. New vehicle is a 2018 Toyota Hybrid RAV4 LE.

Spending the week going through the selection and haggling process really wore me out. Glad the mission is accomplished.

I

 

[38Chevy454]

This could be either under this topic, or Blow the Dough! Today was the day I got to fly a P-51 Mustang
The story is below

Very cool! There is nothing like the sweet sound of a Merlin V-12.

 

[braumeister]

DW just finished her weekend activities.

Friday evening a 1 mile race.
Saturday a 5K and a 10K.
This morning a half marathon.

I'm debating whether to have her committed to the asylum, but also kind of proud of someone who was a total couch potato four years ago.

 

[NW-Bound]

In the process of installing the lithium batteries into the RV, I have to do a lot of work. The batteries are slightly larger, so only one can go in the factory box that used to house two lead-acid ones. The 2nd battery is mounted under the counter, right below the 2kW inverter. I cut a new side door in the cabinet to allow easy access to all this electronics, instead of having to remove the oven as I used to have to do. I also remount the solar charge controller and the shore power charger.

I may not mount the 3rd battery, as it would have to be elsewhere, and the closest available space is 6 ft away and behind the rear wheels. Just one lithium battery is a lot stronger than the 2 lead-acid it replaces already.

Still have to redo all the wiring for the switch-over circuit between the inverter and the shore-power/generator.

It is getting to 106F (41C) today, or 20F above normal. This temperature is ridiculous.

 

[MBAustin]

Yesterday went to the memorial service for a 90-year old neighbor and church member. Also last week learned that our 90-year old neighbor across the street died last weekend, and that 90-year old FIL has increasing dementia issues. Another reminder that getting old isn't for sissies.

Today after church was the annual "legacy luncheon" for our church's endowment fund, of which I'm currently chair. Went very well - the committee got there at 8:30 this morning to set up, then we washed the dishes and cleaned up everything after the luncheon and were still done by 2pm. Some years the luncheon program has dragged on past 2:30, which is way too long. Learned something from the guest speaker - in Texas, the named executor of a will is permitted to decline, and if there are no successor executors (or none that accept), the county will assign it to one of a pool of attorneys. Yikes! Good reason to make sure your executor designations are up-to-date!

 

[aja8888]

Oil and filter change on our 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe @ 75,000 trouble free miles. I also rotated the tires while I had it up for the underside work. Also topped off coolant and ww fluid. It's DW's car so I have to make sure it is always up-to-date, maintenance wise.

Looked into booking a cabin for our trip to Cedarerville, U.P., Michigan next month. (boat building trip for myself and two friends).

 

[Philliefan33]

DH and I consulted our guidebook and selected a hike that we haven’t done before. It turned out to be very scenic and enjoyable. We walked out for an hour, at first through a forest and then along a mountain stream. We turned around when the trail disappeared (maybe crossed the stream?). This trail may become one of my regular options. It could be relatively short, at just two miles RT to have lunch streamside, or a decent workout if I do the five-mile version we did today.

 

[97guns]

Been a busy last week of traveling and today was the first day to stay home all day, did 2 loads of laundry and watched Giants and Warriors games, Sharks hockey starts in :45

 

[Hermit]

DW just finished her weekend activities.

Friday evening a 1 mile race.
Saturday a 5K and a 10K.
This morning a half marathon.

I'm debating whether to have her committed to the asylum, but also kind of proud of someone who was a total couch potato four years ago.

That's impressive!

 

[travelover]

After whining here about a crappy, time wasting generator for sale on Craigslist last week, I scored a great deal on an older American-made one for less than half the price of the bad one. Next step is to replace my Federal Pacific service panel and include a generator interlock with the installation. That will allow me to flip two breakers and go from utility power to generator power. I'm also investigating a conversion kit to allow the generator to run off natural gas, which is fairly simple on a constant speed engine like a generator.

 

[gayl]

Went by Google calendar which marked today as Mother's Day. So it was homemade eggs florentine (made too much hollandaise), fresh fruit, mimosas, & forgotten cookies. Then son tells me mothers day is NEXT Sunday & he'll do it then

 

[aja8888]

Went by Google calendar which marked today as Mother's Day. So it was homemade eggs florentine (made too much hollandaise), fresh fruit, mimosas, & forgotten cookies. Then son tells me mothers day is NEXT Sunday & he'll do it then

You must have a different Google calendar than the rest of us!

 

[gayl]

You must have a different Google calendar than the rest of us!

It downloaded it wrong into my Samsung calendar but hey I can have mimosas more than once

 

[NW-Bound]

For many years, we always hosted Mother's Day and Father's Day for the big family, which involved our siblings who lived in town. However, the last two summers, we were traveling during both Mother's and Father's Days.

This year, we will be home for Mother's Day, so resume this tradition. Our children wanted to take us out, but we prefer the big family party.

The party will be smaller, as two of wife's siblings have moved away, and my sister and her husband are traveling as well as one of my nieces and her husband. Still counted 20 people.

After whining here about a crappy, time wasting generator for sale on Craigslist last week, I scored a great deal on an older American-made one for less than half the price of the bad one. Next step is to replace my Federal Pacific service panel and include a generator interlock with the installation. That will allow me to flip two breakers and go from utility power to generator power. I'm also investigating a conversion kit to allow the generator to run off natural gas, which is fairly simple on a constant speed engine like a generator.

Is power loss that frequent in your area?

Here, I recall the couple of times we lost power over the decades, and it was for an hour or two. It was mostly due to equipment failure at a substation.

Up in the high-country home, power loss was more frequent like once a year when we were not there, as evidenced by the clock on the stove flashing. It was usually caused by brief periods of power shutdown to allow new homes in the area getting hooked up to the grid.

 

[Nemo2]

What did we do today? It went like this.........the 'plan' was to take two trains out to the monastery at https://m.crestinortodox.ro/biserici-manastiri/manastirea-turnu-67824.html.

The first leg went great....newer train, met a charming Romanian lady who had spent around 30 years in the U.S. before returning to Romania.

Second leg, an older train, (no, wait, make that an OLDER train), which, when it arrived at the unmanned monastery station, stopped for maybe 30 seconds.......Deb managed to get off, into weeds by a wire fence, but I didn't......"Get off at the next station", she yelled.

Which I did......asked a Romanian woman, who spoke no English, the way, by road, to the monastery.......her response appeared to be "There's nothing BUT monasteries around here!".

So.....hit the road and tried hitching.......not a chance...truckers won't stop, and cars apparently wonder why some old fart is trying to grab a ride.

Saved by a young guy heading in the other direction who had stopped to take a leak. He was starting up a dairy business and kindly gave me a ride to the monastery station......was Deb there? Was she ****.

So......hiked up to the monastery.....no sign of her.....back to the road......and here she comes in a car with a monk!

She'd hooked up with the monk and was likely heading to the second station while I was coming the other way with the dairy farmer.

(Kinda like one of those stage productions where one character walks in through door 'A' just as another is walking out through door 'B'.)


Up to the monastery where they fed us and gave us a personal tour.........(and, yes, we did give them an (unsolicited) donation).....before driving us back to the station and ensuring we boarded.

People have often said that, if I fell in sh*t, I'd come up smelling like roses.

Exhibit 'A'.

 

[Hermit]

What did we do today? It went like this.........the 'plan' was to take two trains out to the monastery at https://m.crestinortodox.ro/biserici-manastiri/manastirea-turnu-67824.html.

The first leg went great....newer train, met a charming Romanian lady who had spent around 30 years in the U.S. before returning to Romania.

Second leg, an older train, (no, wait, make that an OLDER train), which, when it arrived at the unmanned monastery station, stopped for maybe 30 seconds.......Deb managed to get off, into weeds by a wire fence, but I didn't......"Get off at the next station", she yelled.

Which I did......asked a Romanian woman, who spoke no English, the way, by road, to the monastery.......her response appeared to be "There's nothing BUT monasteries around here!".

So.....hit the road and tried hitching.......not a chance...truckers won't stop, and cars apparently wonder why some old fart is trying to grab a ride.

Saved by a young guy heading in the other direction who had stopped to take a leak. He was starting up a dairy business and kindly gave me a ride to the monastery station......was Deb there? Was she ****.

So......hiked up to the monastery.....no sign of her.....back to the road......and here she comes in a car with a monk!

She'd hooked up with the monk and was likely heading to the second station while I was coming the other way with the dairy farmer.

(Kinda like one of those stage productions where one character walks in through door 'A' just as another is walking out through door 'B'.)


Up to the monastery where they fed us and gave us a personal tour.........(and, yes, we did give them an (unsolicited) donation).....before driving us back to the station and ensuring we boarded.

People have often said that, if I fell in sh*t, I'd come up smelling like roses.

Exhibit 'A'.

The day will be a highlight of the whole trip! Glad all worked out fine.

 

[RobbieB]

It was time to renew my driver license which I could have done by mail, but I wanted to get the new "real ID" version so's I would not have to carry my passport to fly domestic.

Made the appointment at DMV for today and took in my 3 needed types of ID, my appt slip and the renewal notice. All went well and I again passed the vision test w/o my glasses. I am good to go.

Regarding appointments, just do it. There was nobody in the appt line when I got there and the other line was out the door, around the building and into the parking lot. I heard the check in lady advise the guy she checked in that the wait from then would be 2 hours. You know in addition to the hour he spent in the check in line already. I was in and out in 45 minutes including the 15 minutes I had to wait after check in.

 

[MRG]

Took my truck in for minor body work, I guess $3500 is minor? Had a rental car from Enterprise. When I went to pick it up the very young woman asked where I worked? For some reason that was the funniest thing I ever heard at that moment. Cracked me up for a good while, of course I made it worse with a illed timed joke about work being a four letter word. She wasn't laughing or letting me have the car till I said retired.

Can you not rent a car if you're just an unemployed bum?

 

[RobbieB]

You cannot rent a car if;

You have no valid driver license
You are less than 21 years of age
You don't have a credit card

I think there are ways around the CC like a cash bond, but it' ain't easy.

 

[aja8888]

You cannot rent a car if;

You have no valid driver license
You are less than 21 years of age
You don't have a credit card

I think there are ways around the CC like a cash bond, but it' ain't easy.

Debit cards work too.