What did you do today? 2018 version

[brewer12345]

A long day of hunting at my favorite hunting grounds the day after a snowstorm. Wonder how many miles I walked today? Beautiful sunrise, and I love listening to the crazy sounds the ice makes on the 3,000 acre lake there as it warms up in the morning. Did not manage to connect on any invasive doves (which are extremely tasty) and the geese stayed up by the river where I cannot go, but I did bag a couple squirrels and a rabbit who has eluded me in the past. Mid day I switched to another spot that can only be charitably called "prairie" because deserts have slightly fewer plants. Ya gotta walk long distances (tough in the snow wearing all the cold weather gear), but there are a lot of jackrabbits there and since they do not use burrows they are out and about even when everything else has gone to earth for their mid day nap. I must have flushed at least 5, but only one let me get close enough to connect.


The wind picked up in the afternoon. Toughed it out for a bit, but called it early as 25 mph winds are not amusing when the daily high is 30F and your feet are damp from a long day of slogging.


5 weeks left in season...

 

[pb4uski]

.... A month later Comcast sends me a letter saying I need to return it to them. I called them up and said "It's your mistake. Either send one of your people to pick it up or have UPS come and pick it up. But, if you want me to bring it to UPS, I want a $10 credit on my bill for wasting my time helping you correct your mistake."

So what happened?

 

[lwp2017]

Repaired the Keurig, it quit flowing water. Took the top cover off, discharge tube was plugged full of grounds.
How they got in the tank I don't know.
Took the hose off and thoroughly flushed it clean. Simple 10 minute fix.

Juiced most of my oranges and froze it in one quart batches. Saved some to make great tasting Orange Chicken for supper.

Picked spinach from the garden to go in our scrambled eggs and used the majority to make spinach dip, DW likes it with plain pita chips.

 

[Meadbh]

I made ricotta cheese by accident. Last night I started a batch of yogurt in my Instant Pot. Unfortunately I neglected to check the best before date on the little container of Activia that I used as a starter. This morning I found curds and whey, but no yogurt. So I think the live cultures had died. RIP, little bacteria!

Not to worry, I can make good use of the ricotta!

 

[TromboneAl]

What did I do today? Drank lots of plain tap water and took a nice long shower instead of a ship shower. Our boil water advisory is over, so now I can DO these things.

These things are blessings in disguise. For a while, you'll take a lot more pleasure in showering although it was ho-hum before, yes?

 

[TromboneAl]

Six hours fishing without a single bite. Still nice to take advantage of a non-rainy day, and I got a lot of paddling exercise.

Had a fun encounter with a curious otter. He'd been a lot closer, but I didn't think to take a photo until he was here:

 

[CoolRich59]

So what happened?

Well, it had a decent outcome, but was an "adventure" that I could without repeating.

When I told the Comcast rep I wanted a $10 credit if I had to bring the box to UPS, he not only said "No", he got very confrontational. He claimed that I had ordered a new service and then reneged. In fact, Comcast was being gracious in only requiring me to return the equipment and not charging me any service fees.

After some unproductive and hostile back and forth, I asked to speak to a supervisor. "No", he said, "that's not going to happen." At that point, I could see it was a waste of time continuing the call, and so I hung up.

After steaming about this treatment for a bit, I went to Twitter and ranted about how awful Comcast's customer service was. The next morning, I had a PM from a Comcast rep. She apologized for the way I was treated. Then she gave me a $20 credit for my trouble, and reduced my monthly bill by $20 for the next year.

So, instead of a $10 credit, I ended up with $260 in credits. That was fine--but I still plan on dumping Comcast as soon as there is a viable alternative in my area.

 

[MRG]

Well, it had a decent outcome, but was an "adventure" that I could without repeating.

When I told the Comcast rep I wanted a $10 credit if I had to bring the box to UPS, he not only said "No", he got very confrontational. He claimed that I had ordered a new service and then reneged. In fact, Comcast was being gracious in only requiring me to return the equipment and not charging me any service fees.

After some unproductive and hostile back and forth, I asked to speak to a supervisor. "No", he said, "that's not going to happen." At that point, I could see it was a waste of time continuing the call, and so I hung up.

After steaming about this treatment for a bit, I went to Twitter and ranted about how awful Comcast's customer service was. The next morning, I had a PM from a Comcast rep. She apologized for the way I was treated. Then she gave me a $20 credit for my trouble, and reduced my monthly bill by $20 for the next year.

So, instead of a $10 credit, I ended up with $260 in credits. That was fine--but I still plan on dumping Comcast as soon as there is a viable alternative in my area.

Smart. Service providers do pay attention to social media.

 

[CoolRich59]

Smart. Service providers do pay attention to social media.

I think they put better trained/experienced reps on their social media accounts.

A year or so ago, Verizon really messed up my account. I called and despite an hour's worth of effort, the rep was not able to figure out the problem. But, the next day when I sent a tweet asking for help, the rep who responded was able to fix the issue quickly.

 

[Walt34]

Ordered ten rubber-powered model airplanes, specifically designed and made for kids ages four (with help) to ten or so. It even comes with "homework" asking them to answer simple questions about center of gravity, amount of thrust on flight duration and the like, and a 20-to-one rubber winder to speed things up winding the rubber "motor". At just over $9 each with shipping these things are a deal. I was flying rubber-band airplanes from age 5 or so and never saw one fly as long as the one in the video. I'm going to distribute them to various young relatives in hopes of starting an interest in aviation.

This could be costly to some respective parents in the long term though. Tuition at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is not cheap.

 

[CoolRich59]

Ordered ten rubber-powered model airplanes, specifically designed and made for kids ages four (with help) to ten or so. It even comes with "homework" asking them to answer simple questions about center of gravity, amount of thrust on flight duration and the like, and a 20-to-one rubber winder to speed things up winding the rubber "motor". At just over $9 each with shipping these things are a deal. I was flying rubber-band airplanes from age 5 or so and never saw one fly as long as the one in the video. I'm going to distribute them to various young relatives in hopes of starting an interest in aviation.

Wow. I think my grandson would love one of these. He is a very bright and inquisitive 4-year-old. His other grandpa is an engineer and he definitely got his genes.

Do you have a link for the site that sells these?

 

[Walt34]

Wow. I think my grandson would love one of these. He is a very bright and inquisitive 4-year-old. His other grandpa is an engineer and he definitely got his genes.

Do you have a link for the site that sells these?

Definitely the target audience for these. The link to order is down near the bottom of the page, just under the assembly/flight video. The actual flying starts at 9:40.

AMA Alpha & Postal Contest | AMA Flight School

 

[Ginny]

We bought a home is Myrtle Beach, SC! Moving from the left coast!

 

[Ronstar]

We bought a home is Myrtle Beach, SC! Moving from the left coast!

Congrats!

 

[Ronstar]

Went to a SS seminar. Getting another report (this will be our third) as to when to take SS.

 

[Hermit]

Today turned out to be a busy day. I needed to go in to town to the local lumber yard to get a good deal on the last day of 20% off for geezers on Wednesdays for the month of January. I still had the plow and chains on the truck so I plowed the back roads here on the Ranch before I got the truck ready to go to town. If I don't keep those roads plowed, the drifts can get too deep to get through. After that, I took the chains and plow off and went to town. One of the guys in the yard helped me load everything. When I got home, it was getting dark and I got everything off the top of the truck and into the house. I still have a bunch of sheathing and subflooring in the back of the truck, but it is inside the topper and will keep until I have time to move it. Tomorrow I have to go down to the Springs to get an update on the Kid's Camp Jeep that has been waiting for off road upgrades for over a year. Wish me luck on that one!

 

[CoolRich59]

Definitely the target audience for these. The link to order is down near the bottom of the page, just under the assembly/flight video. The actual flying starts at 9:40.

AMA Alpha & Postal Contest | AMA Flight School

Thank you!

 

[Ronstar]

Good luck on the Jeep redo, Hermit! I’m sure it will be even more of a beast with the off road upgrades. I miss my Jeep. And seeing a bunch of old pristine Jeeps at the Barrett Jackson auction didn’t help.

 

[NW-Bound]

...

I do not take restrictions on water usage very well.

Frank is doing his laundry over here at the moment since his washer is broken. I really don't mind because there are only two of us anyway. Even with his laundry, normally I never exceed the minimum water usage on my water bill ($2.91/month). This month it might be more because I had to run the water more than usual to keep my pipes from freezing.
...

Wow! How can they even maintain the piping, pumps, and water treatment system if they charge so little?

I just looked and I paid $1693 for the last 12 months to the city for water. The bill also includes garbage collection and sewer, but still...

 

[W2R]

Wow! How can they even maintain the piping, pumps, and water treatment system if they charge so little?

I just looked and I paid $1693 for the last 12 months to the city for water. The bill also includes garbage collection and sewer, but still...

Water bills inside the city limits (a mile from us) are tremendously high, often $500-$1000 per month, due to Katrina damage to a very old system and for other political reasons I won't go into here. But I don't live there.

Here in our suburb we have a newer, better system than exists in historic New Orleans neighborhoods and we pay a millage on our property taxes for its upkeep. The minimum "water bill" is $25.49/month ($50.98 every two months, actually), of which $2.91 is for water and the rest is for sewerage, garbage collection, mosquito control, park maintenance, and a $1 fee. I always pay the minimum bill so that is $611.76/year.

We are surrounded by water on every side and through the middle, and it has rained over 70"/year each year for the past 3 years. If you dig a hole it fills with water immediately. So, water is everywhere and not a scarcity as it is in some regions.

Property tax here is really low as well, despite the millage I mentioned above. On the other hand, we have one of the highest sales taxes in the country so you can't win.

Overall, our cost of living is about average or a little below I guess.

 

[thatguy]

Took jello & water to DW who woke up with the flu and stayed in bed all day.

 

[MRG]

Went down to springs this morning. It was sunny and a balmy 30°F when we got there. It's a little tough to walk outside in a bathing suit with icy walkways. The steam coming off the springs has iced over the plants and tiki umbrellas giving an unusual feel to the place.

We spent a couple of hours there soaking in 104°F. Had the needed salt on a margarita after a while, and much water. Finally a short nap in the sun, after all it warmed up to 40.

 

[Walt34]

Yesterday I received an email from a retired police officer who now works for the union, we both were on the street together back in the '80's-90's. She had received a phone call from a guy whose case I had worked about 2000 when I was working computer crime cases and he wanted to thank me for what I had done for him! After talking with him this morning I actually remembered the case.

He'd been a Marine stationed in Turkey and had ordered a new computer online via eBay, and it never arrived. Through some digging, he found out that many other people had ordered computers from the same seller and they hadn't received any either. Anyway, to make a long story short I ended up serving a search warrant on the residence and later arrested the seller. The thing I remember most about it was that the suspect was a slow learner - before the first case came to court he was doing the same thing again! So I arrested him again. He ended up doing ~2 1/2 years in prison and eventually did make restitution to the Marine. That phone call made my day!

Took the Honda to the dealer for a recall to replace some battery sensor prone to starting a fire, while waiting for that we went to the gym for a cardio-only workout, then back to get the car, now roasting a chicken in the oven.

 

[REWahoo]

Walt, really nice to hear a story where the good guys win!

 

[Hermit]

Yesterday I received an email from a retired police officer who now works for the union, we both were on the street together back in the '80's-90's. She had received a phone call from a guy whose case I had worked about 2000 when I was working computer crime cases and he wanted to thank me for what I had done for him! After talking with him this morning I actually remembered the case.

He'd been a Marine stationed in Turkey and had ordered a new computer online via eBay, and it never arrived. Through some digging, he found out that many other people had ordered computers from the same seller and they hadn't received any either. Anyway, to make a long story short I ended up serving a search warrant on the residence and later arrested the seller. The thing I remember most about it was that the suspect was a slow learner - before the first case came to court he was doing the same thing again! So I arrested him again. He ended up doing ~2 1/2 years in prison and eventually did make restitution to the Marine. That phone call made my day!

Took the Honda to the dealer for a recall to replace some battery sensor prone to starting a fire, while waiting for that we went to the gym for a cardio-only workout, then back to get the car, now roasting a chicken in the oven.

17 years later. That is awesome!