What did you do today? 2018 version

[TrvlBug]

I had my cataract surgery five years ago, and very happy with the outcome. Now it's DW's turn, so I took her in for the measurements today. She has the same surgeon I used, and he is superb.

The bad news is that she has some very pronounced astigmatism, and will need toric lenses, which are $1,600 each out of pocket since insurance doesn't cover that. The alternative would be that she would have to wear glasses all the time instead of just readers, so it's well worth the expense.

She's pretty excited about it, and the first eye will be done next week, the other a month later.

Our surgeon is not only talented, but also just an extremely cool guy. Every year he goes back to India for a month to visit family, and while there he spends two weeks doing the same surgery for free at a local clinic. You have to love someone who does that.

One of my lenses is also a toric lens and I only had to pay the incremental amount between coverage for the basic lens and that of the toric lens. IIRC my additional cost was $900. 'Regular' insurance, not Medicare. Your costs may be lower unless the $1900 is the additional cost for toric.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Much warmer today, although everything is covered in salt. Seeing a car in the ditch at the bottom of my hill made me appreciate even more that I didn’t have to commute on ice-covered roads yesterday.

Took the cat to the vet for her sub-q fluids. She sits quietly for the vet tech but when we try at home she squirms and spits. Vet says it’s not uncommon. Gave us today’s visit for free.

Received a new set of Rubbermaid food containers from Amazon when we got home so spent a lot of time washing them, then rooting out all the old ones and their oddball lids and throwing them out (or saving some for sewing, the shop, or brewing uses). Marinated tofu for a stir fry, which is DW’s favorite. Making yogurt in the instant pot tonight.

Worked on a jigsaw puzzle some, too. We inherited a few from DF last year, most of which we gave him as Xmas presents.

 

[NW-Bound]

Take it on the road!

Sure.

I would need to upgrade the motorhome to a class A to haul that 22.5KWh battery and the 5kW inverter that the former feeds. I guess I can use the RV AC as the load. And without a solar array and/or grid power, how do I recharge that battery?

In my 1st RV trip 7 years ago, I brought along my desktop PC with the idea that when I had some dead time, I could do some work like edit some previous home videos or sort the photo collection. Hah! After a day of driving, I was dog-tired. And on days when I was not driving, I was just as tired after a day of sightseeing or hiking. Brought along a bunch of books, and managed to read one on a 6-week trip.

 

[CoolRich59]

What an amazing hassle to get away from their clutches!

And, of course, unless you gave them a false address and phone number, you are never really rid of them.

I cancelled my subscription a couple of months ago yet get 2-3 calls a week from them.

 

[Moemg]

.

However, it revealed that DW's gone a little too far in the now-we-can-spend-more-money department. While I had the dryer open, she said, "Why don't we just get a new dryer from Home Depot? That can put it on the truck with our new dishwasher and range."

After installing the parts, I held my breath as the igniter coil glowed. Just when I said "Ah, shoot! It didn't work." the flame ignited.

So Al we are talking about $2,000 to home depot to make the wife happy ! I would pick door one if I was you .

 

[braumeister]

One of my lenses is also a toric lens and I only had to pay the incremental amount between coverage for the basic lens and that of the toric lens. IIRC my additional cost was $900. 'Regular' insurance, not Medicare. Your costs may be lower unless the $1900 is the additional cost for toric.

We're both on Medicare, and this place does so many of these procedures that I'm sure they are right about the cost.
Already paid for the first one, the other will be next month.

 

[Music Lover]

I test drove a 2015 Acura TLX today (lease return). It was in great shape with low mileage, was the right trim level, and the price was reasonable. I made a offer that was tentatively accepted but have to wait as there is an existing offer in progress.

The salesman told me that there's a good chance that the offer in progress won't go through...the buyer has no job and has had no luck in getting bank approval for a loan (should you be telling me this?). They've lost patience with him and he has until tomorrow to come through or that deal is off the table. If so, the car is mine.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up because anything can happen, but I've been looking for over a year and am tired of car shopping.

 

[MichaelB]

DW had jury duty today, so I drove her up this morning at 7, dropped her off, then had a cup of coffee while she registered. She texted me that she'd be there 'til at least 2:30, so I drove home. A 50 mile round trip, a bit more than an hour each way during the rush hour. Got home, cancelled my appointment at the Apple store, and 10 minutes later DW called - she'd been released and needed me to drive back up to pick her up.

 

[gayl]

1. Updated asset allocation:
Lg cap index 67.9%
Sm cap index 5.8%
Int cap index 18%
Cash / bonds 8.3%

2. Hike

3. Cooked up veggies in risk of going bad & froze them. They'll be good for pasta later

4. Picked up the repaired horn case. $30 is cheaper than a new one

 

[MRG]

Gym day. It snowed a few inches overnight so it was difficult to get motivated to go. We went out to lunch after and had a refreshing margarita to get our necessary salt.

When we got home a former co-w*rker had texted. Wow things changed at Megacorp today. I guess we're going to profit about 25k from this announcement.

Frankly, I was happier to hear from him. We have an odd relationship, don't see each other for a couple of years, and pick up a conversation mid sentence.

 

[Ronstar]

Practicing some Python programming in order to make a raspberry pi based weather (and possibly news) display.

 

[iloveyoga]

Still in warm, sunny Orlando. Laying in bed watching the bad weather back in Iowa. With my coffee.

 

[CoolRich59]

Our surgeon is not only talented, but also just an extremely cool guy. Every year he goes back to India for a month to visit family, and while there he spends two weeks doing the same surgery for free at a local clinic. You have to love someone who does that.

That is fantastic. He sounds like an incredible person.

 

[Nemo2]

Still in warm, sunny Orlando. Laying in bed watching the bad weather back in Iowa. With my coffee.

Wow...what floor are you on?

 

[CoolRich59]

Wow...what floor are you on?

 

[braumeister]

Very cold day last week, and I couldn't get the car started. OK, five year old battery, it's reasonable. Took it into the dealer for a new battery, but first I had to jump start it.

Opening the hood, I was amazed at the incredible amount of corrosion on the battery terminal. Had to work at it for a bit in order to clear a spot to clamp on a jumper cable.

At the dealer, the cable fell apart when they took it off. Not a simple length of wire -- oh, no, that would be too simple. It's a wiring harness that needs an extensive job to remove/replace, and none of the dealers in the area had one in stock. Just got the new one installed today, for another big repair bill. So basically I'm out $700 for just a battery.

With well over 100,000 miles on the car, this was the first thing that broke, so I can't really complain, but it sure emphasized the complexity of modern cars!

 

[travelover]

..........
At the dealer, the cable fell apart when they took it off. Not a simple length of wire -- oh, no, that would be too simple. It's a wiring harness that needs an extensive job to remove/replace, and none of the dealers in the area had one in stock. Just got the new one installed today, for another big repair bill. So basically I'm out $700 for just a battery..........

Not to make you feel bad, but for the benefit of others, you can strip back the cable end and put on a new terminal. Any welding supply shop has the right crimper - probably do it in the parking lot for $10.

 

[braumeister]

Not to make you feel bad, but for the benefit of others, you can strip back the cable end and put on a new terminal.

Oh, I absolutely agree. But SWMBO insisted on the OEM cable, and you know how that goes.

 

[aja8888]

One of the benefits of checking under the hood periodically is to catch these issues early on.

 

[Dawg52]

Played golf the last 2 days. Nice round yesterday buy sucked today. Course very wet so that can contribute to poor play. Got to blame it on something. But have to play when you can in the winter. Next week or two the temps head south again and golf with be limited.

 

[braumeister]

One of the benefits of checking under the hood periodically is to catch these issues early on.

Trust me, I'm as embarrassed by this as you think I should be. Just posted it as kind of a penance.

 

[RobbieB]

Cut a hole in the wall between my bedroom and the dining room;

And installed a room to room ventilator;

I tested it last night and it did a good job of distributing the heat from the wood stove in the middle.

 

[CoolRich59]

Got a call today. It's my 4-year-old-grandson, looking for Grandma because she's not answering her phone.

GS: "Tell Grandma to call right away. I want to talk to her."

Me: "I sure will."

GS: "Don't forget Grandpa".

Me: "No sir. I will let her know right away."

 

[Music Lover]

I picked up my new (used) car today...a 2015 Acura TLX Tech

I've been looking on and off for over a year and finally found one that met my requirements...low mileage (42k kms), it wasn't black or brown , and had heated seats and steering wheel, and remote start.

After I got home, I spent an half hour or so learning all the options and settings and tweaking things to my preference, and then read the manual to learn as much as I could.

 

[Gumby]

I made castile soap today. Going out to dinner with friends later.