Blow that Dough 2024

[GalaxyBoy]

Paid a hundred bucks for an espresso class at a highly rated coffee roaster and coffee shop near me, hoping to improve my home espresso technique especially latte art. Turned out to be well worth it; two hours of one on one teaching and I could make (and drink!) as much espresso as I wanted.

 

[explanade]

Paid Business class plane tickets for our trip to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for next month - $5300+ for tickets. We also reserved 4-star hotels, and a nice Audi A6 wagon rental. Probably $15,000 for this vacation.
Bought a new IPad for the wife and got an Iphone 14 Pro Max to use for this trip - so cough up another $2000.

New iPads are suppose to come out this month.

Maybe you will still be in the return window when the new ones finally ship.

 

[pacergal]

Paid a hundred bucks for an espresso class at a highly rated coffee roaster and coffee shop near me, hoping to improve my home espresso technique especially latte art. Turned out to be well worth it; two hours of one on one teaching and I could make (and drink!) as much espresso as I wanted.

That sounds like fun!

 

[Pointby2]

I'm waiting for the thread "WHY CAN'T I BLOW THAT DOUGH"!

Have two quotes for hardscaping - can't pull the trigger.
Planned out a cruise to Mekong Delta - can't do it.
Want to do an expedition cruise to Antarctica
Did all the research for a trip to watch the F1 race at Suzuka - probably too late
Did all the planning to visit/watch the Paris Olympics - again, probably too late.

I get all these great ideas, but just can't act on them! Argh.

 

[pb4uski]

I would have told her the truck is staying and she is welcome to go. ...

Sort of like those FreshPet dog food commercials!

 

[CincyDave]

Leaving tomorrow for a 12 day Caribbean Cruise on HAL. Been 2 years since last cruise. Also put a down payment on a 2 week Australian/New Zealand cruise in 2025 .

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I finally made it to a gem and mineral show! Petrified wood and agate. Not exactly BTD territory, as this vendor was offering a buy one, get one free on some items, so they both cost me....$129! But it's a good start, I can keep ramping it up from here!

 

[Hermit]

I picked up my new truck yesterday. It is a Toyota Tundra SR5 with a TRD package which is 4WD. Today is my birthday so I am calling it my birthday present to me. I ordered it in December of 2022. I am keeping my Jeep too so the truck is mostly just for fun. My next trip to town will include a stop at the truck topper store to blow a little more dough.

The topper is on the truck. Now I have ordered carpeting for the bed, a ladder so I can climb in the back, to be replaced by a fold out step in the near future. The kids, grand kids, and I are going to Texas to watch the eclipse next month. We are camping out the night before the big event. I plan to sleep in the truck and have ordered curtains for the topper. I am headed up to Loveland to pick up a shield for the transmission and transfer case along with shields for the catalytic converters. That is all to try to discourage theft of the catalytic converters. I think I am getting close to $5k on truck accessories. This is new ground for me. I have never done a bunch of stuff to a new vehicle before.

 

[cyber888]

New iPads are suppose to come out this month.

Maybe you will still be in the return window when the new ones finally ship.

Thanks but I got a good discount on it on Ebay (couple of hundred bucks), so it's fine.

 

[TheWizard]

I would have told her the truck is staying and she is welcome to go. I can't imagine living with a spouse that makes you get rid of something you love that gives you joy.

I agree...

 

[street]

Wow!!! Excellent BTD items!!! Nice truck Hermit.

The Cosmic Avenger >> Do you know where those agates come from, what State? Beautiful!!! I have a few friends that pick them and cut and polish as a hobby.

 

[athena53]

Is it too early to start 2025?

Just booked Ethiopia and Zanzibar in March, 2025. It will be over $10K with airfare since I fly Business Class. I haven't been to Africa and wasn't enamored of safari-type travel. We're all different but I'd rather be hiking, exploring cities and visiting churches and museums than sitting in an RV bumping over nonexistent roads no matter how magnificent the wildlife. This includes the museum where the skeleton of Lucy the Hominid is displayed and the churches in Lalibela. How can you NOT want to visit a place named Lalibela?

Those of you who have read my mother posts in Health know that I'm consulting with cardiologists on my mitral valve prolapse but if open heart surgery is an answer, I'd be OK to travel in 3 months. Tour can be cancelled or moved for full refund up to 90 days prior and I always book refundable Business Class airfare so if the worst happens I can get everything back. They also have a limited number of single accommodations (no single supplement-BIG benefit) and they fill up fast so I decided to book it.

I'm excited!

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

Those of you who have read my mother posts in Health know that I'm consulting with cardiologists on my mitral valve prolapse but if open heart surgery is an answer, I'd be OK to travel in 3 months. Tour can be cancelled or moved for full refund up to 90 days prior and I always book refundable Business Class airfare so if the worst happens I can get everything back. They also have a limited number of single accommodations (no single supplement-BIG benefit) and they fill up fast so I decided to book it.

I'm excited!

Hopefully all goes well if you need surgery. Wish you the best of luck if that happens.
My father needed triple bypass surgery last August. He was 80. He was cleared for travel at around 90 days and he had a trans-Atlantic repositioning cruise booked from Rome back to Florida with a few days in Italy beforehand and he told us at the time of the surgery that he definitely planned on going on that trip and being on that cruise.
Long story short, he ended up passing away on the ship the second morning of the cruise from a heart attack.
At least he went while doing something he loved and wanted to do. I'm at peace with it.
But be careful and take it easy.

 

[athena53]

At least he went while doing something he loved and wanted to do. I'm at peace with it.
But be careful and take it easy.

Thanks- I'm 71 so I hope I have a few more years left. It's hard to fight the "time's a-wastin'" feeling. When the guy at the travel company asked my if Id thought about a second trip in 2025, the truth was that I HAD- but I need to see how things go.

I should also mention that I have MedJet Assist in addition to health insurance. If I have anything serious enough to get me admitted to a hospital anywhere when traveling they'll send a private plane with medical staff on board and take me to the facility of my choice, including home.

 

[sengsational]

Eclipse BTD - challenge

I looked at a driving trip from NC to Indiana for the eclipse, but it just looked like too much driving and too much traffic. But it's only 2.5 hours up, and 2.5 hours back on an airplane! I looked at charters and saw a 7 passenger plane for $7500. I figured if I could get even one other couple, that might work. Two other couples would be a smam-dunk. But nobody I've floated the idea past has been interested. My cousin's daughter, who is a pilot, is unfortunately out of the country then, but said to contact the flight school, as some students might be needing hours and could use a subsidized day of flying. I want to BTD, but dropping $7K for just DW and I... it's just not quite worth it. Oh, and my emails to the flight schools haven't generated any response.

 

[Jimonlimon]

How much dough we all have varies. I’m newly retired. Due to some issues with kids still on college financial aid we are planning to draw the bare minimum from our 401k for the next two years.

I was trying to decide which gas grill would complete my outdoor kitchen. It was down to the Weber Genesis for about $1400 or the Summit for about $3500. My final decision? New grates for my old grill should suffice for the next year at least.

 

[explanade]

$3500?

That's a lot of meat you can buy for that money.

Lot of filet mignons.

 

[audreyh1]

How much dough we all have varies. I’m newly retired. Due to some issues with kids still on college financial aid we are planning to draw the bare minimum from our 401k for the next two years.

I was trying to decide which gas grill would complete my outdoor kitchen. It was down to the Weber Genesis for about $1400 or the Summit for about $3500. My final decision? New grates for my old grill should suffice for the next year at least.

Yeah, a couple of years ago I got new grates, new knobs and new flavorizer bars for my 10 year old Weber Genesis, which probably cost under $700 back in 2011, and it still feels like a new grill!

 

[Surewhitey]

Booked & general idea of Southern Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria for May... Our 3rd European trip since Covid lifted.

 

[old medic]

I looked at a driving trip from NC to Indiana for the eclipse,

Sorry.... I asked the DW and she said NO!

 

[pacergal]

Booked a pacific Coast cruise with siblings, with FC air fare to San Diego for DH and I.

 

[Palmtree]

I was trying to decide which gas grill would complete my outdoor kitchen. It was down to the Weber Genesis for about $1400 or the Summit for about $3500. My final decision? New grates for my old grill should suffice for the next year at least.

I have an late 1980's era Weber Genesis that was given to me about 10 years ago. A friend was moving out of the country and couldn't take it. I used it for 8 years and it was looking tired. The frame was rusting away and the lid somehow got a hole in it. I thought about buying a new one but ran across an online posting that someone in a city about 2 hours away was giving away for free the exact same grill. The worse parts of my grill were the best of this one and vis-versa. I had a friend who live about 10 minutes away from them so he picked it up for me. The grates and burner were toast but the frame and lid was in fine shape, so I "Franensteined" the two grills, using the best parts of each. Painted the hot box and bought new stainless steel grates, and now it's like I have a brand new grill.

To keep this in the BTD lane, I did go out an buy a standing rib roast for Easter. Cha-Ching!

 

[CardsFan]

Minor BTD. We have a tradition of camping at a friend's farm over Memorial Day (40+ years). We all started with tents (but we were in our 20's). Move to tent trailers, then campers. We sold our last camper, so now we will spend about $1,200 for a RV for 4 days. Basically a comfortable place to sleep with A/C or heat. (and a toilet)

So, $300 a night to sleep at a farm party.

And worth every penny for the memories past and future.

 

[skyking1]

Minor BTD. We have a tradition of camping at a friend's farm over Memorial Day (40+ years). We all started with tents (but we were in our 20's). Move to tent trailers, then campers. We sold our last camper, so now we will spend about $1,200 for a RV for 4 days. Basically a comfortable place to sleep with A/C or heat. (and a toilet)

So, $300 a night to sleep at a farm party.

And worth every penny for the memories past and future.

Bolded an important detail
That is a great BTD. it is a small price to pay to continue a great tradition.
Today's BTD: I picked up this solid Rockwell bandsaw from about 1970.
it came out of a commercial shop and has a 3 phase motor, but the seller had a new single phase 2 HP to go with it.

It needs new tires, blades, a pulley for the new motor and a fence.
I'll probably have $900 wrapped up in it when I get done. Woohoo!
I will use it for resawing rough lumber for projects.

 

[Route246]

I needed a NAS for my home network which includes a lot of compute power plus mobile devices. Colleagues recommended Synology so I looked into it and BTD for 72TB of NAS RAID Storage. Total Damage $4009.43, roughly the same cost of my latest Mac Studio.

This thing is amazing, especially on a 10G network connection. No glitches setting it up. It even does SAN if I want to go that route but I'm currently using NFS for Mac and will use SMB for everything else. I can add 10 more drives for expansion if I fill up the existing 72TB. Generally, on a RAID device you never want to get near 90% capacity but it is nice to know there is an upgrade policy.

I also added a 5-year extended warranty with pre-replacement.

Item	Vendor	Quantity	Total Cost incl tax
Synology DiskStation DS1821+ 8-Bay NAS Enclosure	B&H Photo	1	$1,091.24
Seagate IronWolf 12TB NAS Internal Hard Drive	Amazon	8	$1,945.88
32GB Kit 2x16GB DDR4-2666 PC4-21300 ECC SODIMM	Amazon	1	$127.53
Crucial P3 Plus 2TB PCIe Gen4 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD	Amazon	2	$258.40
Synology 10Gb Ethernet Adapter 1 RJ45 Port (E10G18-T1)	Amazon	1	$152.76
8 Port 10Gb Ethernet Switch Unmanaged, 8X 10Gbe Base-T Ports	Amazon	1	$294.63
Extended warranty +	Synology	1	138.99
			$4,009.43