Octopus Overlords

hitbyambulance wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2023 6:53 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2023 5:12 pm I've actually got a couple of old android phones around the house that now serve only as media devices. I keep them on the guest network so that I don't have to worry about older versions of Android, keep them plugged in, and have them hooked to the speakers. They're surprisingly versatile. The one in my room serves for music when I want it, podcasts when I'm painting, and as a customizable white noise machine at night, and given that I'm using free apps for it all, it costs me zero (well, maybe two or three bucks a year from being plugged in.)

be sure to monitor them for swelling Li-Ion batteries...

Spicy Pillows!

Z-Corn wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 1:24 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2023 6:53 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2023 5:12 pm I've actually got a couple of old android phones around the house that now serve only as media devices. I keep them on the guest network so that I don't have to worry about older versions of Android, keep them plugged in, and have them hooked to the speakers. They're surprisingly versatile. The one in my room serves for music when I want it, podcasts when I'm painting, and as a customizable white noise machine at night, and given that I'm using free apps for it all, it costs me zero (well, maybe two or three bucks a year from being plugged in.)

be sure to monitor them for swelling Li-Ion batteries...

Spicy Pillows!

Interesting. I was not aware that was a thing - I will check them. Sadly, we're not generating a lot of old Android devices anymore. I think I have one old, clunky tablet that would serve.

Stupid power company. My power usually never goes out. It may blink some though. If others are without power due to a storm I have power. Well around 5PM I noted it was dark for 5pm..no rain no wind. BAM power just flat died out. Nothing. It was dead still and dead quiet. It was like the end of the world. Was weird.

Sat here an HOUR melting in humidity. The temp was 73 but I was sweating buckets and my little dog was panting. So me and Buster did what me and my wife used to do in hot summer days before was had an AC unit. We went shopping in a nice bright lit cool air conditioned store. This time it was our local Walmart lol. I put Buster in his taxi and loaded us in the car and off we went. Put him and taxi in a buggy when we got there, grabbed a cold cola from the cooler up front and walked around the store. Nice and cool.

Stayed about an hour just walking and talking to my sister on the phone. Lots of pretty women in there today too. They all thought Buster was just adorable and would stop to baby talk him .Fun way to spend an otherwise hot evening.

I picked up one of these Coca Cola Ultimates. I have no idea what it is. But it and a Sprite took the last $5 to my name until Monday.

Wait mine isn't sugar free though..so dunno.

Can you add sugar and fix it?

I got the normal ultimate it seems. Which is what I wanted. I just tried it. hmmm its like a Coke but better. Richer I'd say. Thats what comes to mind. Not sure what they changed to get it this way.

Question asked online was what flavor is it and the answer was

Coca-Cola Ultimate has a lightly tropical, almost floral scent, and its taste isn't as chemical as some of the earlier flavor combos.

It does taste and smell like that. I actually really like it. Its different. Id buy both Classic Coke and Ultimate Coke. Im also tasting the tropical banana effect.

Well, people are out there shooting off their fireworks now. Maybe I'll be lucky and they're shooting each.

Same here. I wonder if people in real life do what they do in tv shows and use the fireworks as cover for their murderous gun rampages?

Today was the 50th annual Braintree Day, when my town holds its Independence Day celebration so as not to conflict with Boston's. Wife and I figured out that this was our 31st annual. Everything unfolded as expected: We didn't watch the parade ourselves because the restaurant that used to let us sit by their front windows has closed, but a local news video assured me that the parade was as corny and slow as always, with all the usual suspects on display. Many neighbors had parties and there was much harmless drunken hilarity across the street. The sweet sweet smell of cannabis was never far away, which is a recent and welcome addition. We went to the food truck rodeo for dinner and I got my annual Italian sausage sub from The Sausage Guy, while Wife got some glorified mozzarella sticks from a grilled cheese truck called Moms on the Go; I'm sure that mom getting high behind the truck only improves her mozzarella sticks. The people across the street mounted their unofficial fireworks extravaganza half an hour before the official show. The official fireworks went on time and in their usual format with a false finale halfway through.

The only unexpected addition came from two houses over. Those neighbors built an enormous 3-storey garage last summer. IDK what they store in there; I'm thinking meth lab, but that's probably just me. The outside of it is featureless -- no windows on the sides. Onto that blank white wall, the size of a drive-in movie screen, they projected Pirates of the Caribbean tonight.

IDK why they chose that particular movie, but I think we witnessed the birth of a new neighborhood tradition.

You can see highlights of a cheesy parade here if you're really bored.

I thought that looked pretty cool for a local parade.

When they came up with the term "old fart" they weren't just a whistling Dixie.

Ugh. YouTube shorts.

My subscription feed is now absolutely clogged with godawful, useless 'shorts', burying the content I actually want to see. I spent years avoiding TikTok because I thought it was inane, and now it's unavoidable.

dbt1949 wrote: Sun Jul 02, 2023 4:41 am I thought that looked pretty cool for a local parade.

Up until 5-6 years ago it used to pass one lot away from my house. We could ridicule it from our porch. They changed the route to make it less shut-down-everything.

My favorite part is the Shriners riding their mini trucks. I can't get enough of old men with silly hats driving toy cars.

I wrote and mailed a letter today. I literally can't remember the last time I did this. The mid 90s maybe. I can't believe my COBRA requires this to get keep my coverage after 12 months. It's not a HIPPA thing. They're just a payment service.

1. Its the 4th so got me some fireworks. No not that kind. Thtas a waste of money. No I got some Delta 9 THC gummy rings. Taste go good. Hoping they help me relax and sleep. Supposedly Delta 9 is good for that.

2. I think I know why Mustang drivers are always in those stupidity and wreck videos. Its part them part the car actually .Mustangs are small, fast, and agile. Until they aren't . And that line is sudden. The drivers overestimate their driving skills. Until the car takes that away from them abruptly either killing, ruining their car, or both.

Daehawk wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 2:56 pm 2. I think I know why Mustang drivers are always in those stupidity and wreck videos. Its part them part the car actually .Mustangs are small, fast, and agile. Until they aren't . And that line is sudden. The drivers overestimate their driving skills. Until the car takes that away from them abruptly either killing, ruining their car, or both.

I agree. In my experience, a lot of the people who buy 'muscle cars' (whether they qualify as them or not) are people who want to drive like action heroes. They want to live that fantasy, and don't always realize just how much skill is actually involved in not dying, or how easy it is for a powerful car to get away from you, or about how the cars on TV aren't stock, or about how they use camera tricks to make stunts performed at low speed look like they're much faster (I've seen chase scenes filmed that looked like you could outrun the pursuit vehicles, and outwalk the 'traffic' cars.)

I just tried one of those "Crack and egg" things. They really are quite good. Expensive as hell and not enough by itself for any guy here probably but maybe enough for a kid or his mom.

I like eggs but I have never tried crack. Are they good together?

They come in a few different flavors. Just crack your egg in the package and stir it up and microwave it for 30 seconds. I think they taste great. Great for snacks and about 240 calories(with egg).

dbt1949 wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:40 pm I just tried one of those "Crack and egg" things.

So, the local news station/site, which has been around since 1965, has started writing affiliate link listicles for their website content.

jztemple2 wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 7:33 pm By the way, a local news story mentioned that in the Orlando, FL area, the average price of a wedding is now $30,000 . That's about $29,750 more than my wife and I spent.

You guys spent way more than we did on ours.

$25 for the wedding, $50 for the bridal dress, I wore my uniform, and our "Honeymoon" was one night in a hotel room that we got for free because mother-in-law worked at the hotel.


Somehow we are still together 33.5 years later.

Ok 1/2 a THC gummy next time. I took one yesterday around 4pm I think. One hour later I was feeling it. An hour after that I was asleep on top my covers still wearing my clothes. I didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning.

Got up early this morning, dressed and drove to the drug store. Im out of some meds. Get there and the parking lot is empty. DOH its the 4th of July. SHIT. Had to drive home in shame. I hate holidays!!

Just got an email from my electrical provider. They broke down my electrical use. How much my AC used, how much my water heater used, how my my fridge used, etc.
Useful information but how in the hell do they do that?

I could unplug everything in this house and still get a bill.

Did they recently replace your meter?

dbt1949 wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 10:55 am Just got an email from my electrical provider. They broke down my electrical use. How much my AC used, how much my water heater used, how my my fridge used, etc.
Useful information but how in the hell do they do that?

I get the same thing. It's probably just breaking it down based on typical percentages.

Kraken wrote: Wed Jun 21, 2023 11:58 pm We recently took an adult ed class on Social Security that validated my plan: the low earner (me) will claim when I reach full retirement age in November, while the high earner will wait until she turns 70. This strategy will maximize our combined benefits (because I'll draw about 36 "little" checks before she claims her first big one) while ensuring that whichever of us lives longer will benefit from the largest checks -- assuming that we don't both die earlier than expected, which seems like a reasonable bet right now.

We saw the SSA folks last week and got my social security to activate on my 70th birthday. Yesterday my wife got a long letter from them and had to call them (and wait over an hour on hold ) to ask about some confusing final paragraph about how they were going to stop her social security checks after I turned seventy(!). Turns out what is going to happen is they will stop sending her social security money, but instead she will receive an amount amounting to about a third of my social security, which will still be significantly larger than she's getting now. She hadn't expected that, so it's welcome news, but she does now need to figure how this affects our tax situation.

Getting paid for living is nice isn't it?

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:14 pm Getting paid for living is nice isn't it?

It depends on what the people setting the payments think us living is worth.

Yes,yes it is. Got full amount at 67 in my case. My wife got it at 65.

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:14 pm Getting paid for living is nice isn't it?

My SS record shows that I have contributed about $100k over my 50+ years of work, and my employers have paid the same. For the past 15 years I've paid both the employee and employer parts myself, as all self-employed people must do. It will take me about 96 months to collect that much in benefits. Should I live that long, I'll be 74.5 years old before I come out ahead. I'll also keep working for some years after I "retire" so I'll be in the weird position of paying SS taxes while drawing SS checks. If I'm going to get paid for living, it's with my own money.

Yes, I know SS is pay-go and it's not really my money coming back; my money was spent as it was paid in, so I'll technically be mooching off the young. Please don't tell them.

Brian wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 6:47 am $25 for the wedding, $50 for the bridal dress, I wore my uniform, and our "Honeymoon" was one night in a hotel room that we got for free because mother-in-law worked at the hotel.


Somehow we are still together 33.5 years later.

Our cost whatever the license cost, plus a pair of wedding rings (which didn't arrive until a few weeks later). Our honeymoon was a nice dinner at a fancy place in Skaneateles, NY. We took a trip the following year.

Last week was 33 years for us as well.

Hrdina wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:41 pm

Brian wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 6:47 am $25 for the wedding, $50 for the bridal dress, I wore my uniform, and our "Honeymoon" was one night in a hotel room that we got for free because mother-in-law worked at the hotel.


Somehow we are still together 33.5 years later.

Our cost whatever the license cost, plus a pair of wedding rings (which didn't arrive until a few weeks later). Our honeymoon was a nice dinner at a fancy place in Skaneateles, NY. We took a trip the following year.

Last week was 33 years for us as well.

What was that restaurant called? We also had a nice dinner at a fancy place in Skaneateles -- not for our honeymoon, but for an early anniversary. My memory of the place is that they were piping in music from a CD player, which were still new and semi-exotic. The CD kept skipping in that weird digital way that they had.

Next month makes 40 years for us.

Kraken wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:45 pm Next month makes 40 years for us.

Rookie...

Wedding #1 was... geeze, 30 years ago. I don't remember what we actually spent, but it was probably under $20 for a cheap grocery store cake and a bottle of the cheapest champagne. My first wife and I didn't last long (which was mostly, but not entirely, on me.)

Wedding #2 cost nothing at all beyond the license and fees. It was a zero-effort task that, to us, was just about getting the legal contract in place. We actually went to one of the cliche Reno 'wedding chapels', then refused to take any of the proceedings seriously, annoying the, er, officiant. The actual 'wedding' part of it we tried very hard not to give any meaning to. Why? Because a couple of days later we got on a plane for Wedding 2.5 (which was held in Indiana where all of her family lived.) The refusal to take any of Wedding 2 seriously was because we wanted to shift all of the meaning to the actual ceremony, not have it split between two events.

Wedding #2.5 was much more of a production, with special clothing, catering, musicians, flights, florists, etc. It didn't cost us too much (because her parents paid for most of the on-site stuff.)

Kraken wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:45 pm What was that restaurant called? We also had a nice dinner at a fancy place in Skaneateles -- not for our honeymoon, but for an early anniversary. My memory of the place is that they were piping in music from a CD player, which were still new and semi-exotic. The CD kept skipping in that weird digital way that they had.

I wouldn't swear to it, but it may have been the Sherwood Inn, right there by the lakeside.