OT - What are you doing right now?

SGH

With Spring right around corner, might post a body shave next weekend 👍

lousubcap

Talk about psychic - earlier today I was debating mentioning a posting about a head shave with the Muhle R-41 but decided against it, although the driver was doing the shave with a cold water base.

Since I am living on a portable generator (started Friday afternoon) and the house is all electric I have basic life functions, obviously including the internet and most importantly the meat fridges/freezers and beer.

But since @SGH posted the above I wanted to tell you that with a bit more patience that cold water head shave was top shelf.  The chrome dome/cue ball feeling upon finish is a true treat.  I will go again tomorrow. 

JohnInCarolina

SGH said:

I was split on how to finish this fine shave off. I was torn between Old Spice and Taylor Of Old Bond Street. Ultimately I went with TOOBS. 

An excellent choice, my friend.

lousubcap

Not that this is a record for us but the first and only prediction for power restoration is Wednesday late evening.  Been out since Friday afternoon.  Hopefully they can do better but this area got hammered Friday PM. 

Ozzie_Isaac

lousubcap said:

Not that this is a record for us but the first and only prediction for power restoration is Wednesday late evening.  Been out since Friday afternoon.  Hopefully they can do better but this area got hammered Friday PM. 

My goodness, that is a long time without power.  Hopefully Wednesday is an "under promise and over deliver" type situation and not a typical government promise.

KimberlyO

Hang in there, cap. I too hope this ends for you before Wednesday and you can get back to life as normal. 

Legume

lousubcap said:

Not that this is a record for us but the first and only prediction for power restoration is Wednesday late evening.  Been out since Friday afternoon.  Hopefully they can do better but this area got hammered Friday PM. 

Did you move to Texas and I missed it?

Acn

JohnInCarolina said:

Acn said:

Scheduled SWMBO Jr’s first college visit/tour and getting some feels about how quickly they grow up…

We are doing some of the same with our oldest.  Hard to imagine being “empty nesters” but it will be here before we know it.

I know - we've only got the one, I'm not sure if the fact that the process will only happen once makes it better or worse.

So at some point in late January SWMBO Jr's school had a webinar about the college process.  One of their presenters was a guy works in admissions at Trinity College in CT (and wow - who is paying $80k+ to go to Hartford?) who I took an immediate dislike to because he kept referring to how different things now, compared to "Back in the 1900s" like SWMBO and I sent our applications off via pony express or something, but who had two crushing data points:

1) 90% of the time you will ever spend w/ your kids happens before they go to college.
2) For all the sophomores (like SWMBO Jr) who were listening...they had 957 days before they started college.

johnmitchell

@Acn
SWMBO Jr. 😂😂😂Classic 😂

Legume

Don't sweat it @Acn they all toss stats to try to shock or scare you.  If you were there with a sophomore, then you're probably ahead of 80% of parents already.  Regarding private school tuition, I have no stats, but I'd bet less than 25% pay full boat.  My experience has been that they offer some scholarship $ to almost every kid.  Everyone loves a sale and when you mix that with pride, it's a very effective model.

Applying early is the one thing I've seen that really helps with admission - the bar seems to creep up as schools start to fill their spots.  On the backside of that, getting waitlisted isn't a no, they're usually just waiting for spots to open up from accepted kids saying no.

fishlessman

finally looks like winter.

the town did a nice job with the plow.......

Ozzie_Isaac

Acn said:

1) 90% of the time you will ever spend w/ your kids happens before they go to college.

Ooof, that hits hard.  One is going to college this fall and another in a few years.

Personally, I love having my kids around and the thought of them not being around is rough.

GrateEggspectations

lousubcap said:

Headed back out to collect more branches from the winds of Friday.  All while listening to the tones of my generator. 59*F and sunny. 

Sorry to hear that. The good news is that I can think of no one more capable of weathering the storm. I’d take that 59F all day just about right now. 

Dyal_SC

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LLjFoIOyCfw

lkapigian

Hung a bunch of Italian Sausage to Dry 

JohnInCarolina

Acn said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Acn said:

Scheduled SWMBO Jr’s first college visit/tour and getting some feels about how quickly they grow up…

We are doing some of the same with our oldest.  Hard to imagine being “empty nesters” but it will be here before we know it.

 One of their presenters was a guy works in admissions at Trinity College in CT (and wow - who is paying $80k+ to go to Hartford?) 

Well Trinity isn’t a need blind institution, so safe bet there’s a good number of wealthy families essentially buying their kids’ way into a very selective school.  There’s a good number of places like that.

Ozzie_Isaac

JohnInCarolina said:

Acn said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Acn said:

Scheduled SWMBO Jr’s first college visit/tour and getting some feels about how quickly they grow up…

We are doing some of the same with our oldest.  Hard to imagine being “empty nesters” but it will be here before we know it.

 One of their presenters was a guy works in admissions at Trinity College in CT (and wow - who is paying $80k+ to go to Hartford?) 

Well Trinity isn’t a need blind institution, so safe bet there’s a good number of wealthy families essentially buying their kids’ way into a very selective school.  There’s a good number of places like that.

What does "need blind" mean?  Like you need the blind to buy into a game of Texas Hold'em?

JohnInCarolina

Ozzie_Isaac said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Acn said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Acn said:

Scheduled SWMBO Jr’s first college visit/tour and getting some feels about how quickly they grow up…

We are doing some of the same with our oldest.  Hard to imagine being “empty nesters” but it will be here before we know it.

 One of their presenters was a guy works in admissions at Trinity College in CT (and wow - who is paying $80k+ to go to Hartford?) 

Well Trinity isn’t a need blind institution, so safe bet there’s a good number of wealthy families essentially buying their kids’ way into a very selective school.  There’s a good number of places like that.

What does "need blind" mean?  Like you need the blind to buy into a game of Texas Hold'em?

Close!

Need blind institutions don’t factor in the ability of the student’s family to pay when it comes to admission decisions.  

GrateEggspectations

Some pictures from a week or so back. Was away for work about 2200 miles away from home. They received a snowstorm (very rare there), so my return was delayed multiple times and I finally returned three days late.

And here my gal was laughing at me for packing my guitar, which was carry-on. Came in mighty handy!

nolaegghead

Cleaning up from yesterday’s raw fish boil…

lousubcap

@nolaegghead - Center isle of the banquet.  The attendees were dealt a great experience. 

Better to be lucky than good.

JohnInCarolina

@GrateEggspectations - beautiful pictures - where is that?

lousubcap

JohnInCarolina said:

@GrateEggspectations - beautiful pictures - where is that?

Vancouver by chance???

GrateEggspectations

@lousubcap - On the money. 

Speaking of money, it’s Canada’s priciest real estate. Lots of competition from foreign buyers here. Can see why. Beautiful city. Also pretty much Canada’s warmest temps (though technically, I think that’s just a touch South, in Victoria).

lousubcap

It really is a beautiful city but I would offer that Victoria is right there.  The weather moderation provided by the Sound serves as a great enhancement.  

I will always say that the best dressed professional women I have ever seen were in Victoria. 

JohnInCarolina

GrateEggspectations said:

@lousubcap - On the money. 

Speaking of money, it’s Canada’s priciest real estate. Lots of competition from foreign buyers here. Can see why. Beautiful city. Also pretty much Canada’s warmest temps (though technically, I think that’s just a touch South, in Victoria).

Nice.  I’ve never been but plan to be there for a conference in the summer of 2024.

WeberWho

Story time....

I believe my HDMI board in my Onkyo receiver has finally bit the bullet. A known issue for Onkyo receivers. The receiver still plays audio but the video has been an issue. So I've been using the TV speakers in the meantime. I stumbled upon a newly posted ad on Marketplace for a Pioneer receiver . While not new I couldn't pass it up for $25. I mean you can hardly buy a remote for a receiver for $25. This will be plenty of power for my TV, front left/right speakers, and center speaker. Just an easy plug and play for the meantime. It was supposed to be that easy or so I thought. Let me explain......



Here's where it gets dicey. My GPS sent me down a long icy hill in my 2wd truck when I went to pick up the receiver. My GPS showed his house lodged in between two neighborhoods. I was thinking his driveway had to be located down the hill/alley. Next thing I know I'm halfway down the hill with no more driveways except for the one at the very bottom. I knew I was screwed at this point. I slowly make my way to the bottom of the hill and turn around. I figured there was no way I'm making it up this icy hill. Only one way to find out. I hit the gas and hoped for the best. I unfortunately only made it about halfway up the hill. My truck goes sliding/gliding back down. Let's give this another try, so I make another run up the hill and my truck makes it about halfway once again. This time my truck glides back down the hill with the brakes locked up and gets pushed into a snow bank. I had to fight with my truck just to get out of the snowbank to make my way back down the hill. I make another go and this time I make it just past halfway. I put my brakes on and I didn't know what to do. I sat there for a minute or two trying to think how I can get my truck back down and not slide into a pole, fence, or snow bank. One of the homeowners who live on the hill/alley came home. They were smart and were dropped off at the top of the hill and walked down to their house. While sitting there contemplating what to do the gentleman came up to my truck and asked what I was thinking. He said he'd move his car further up in his driveway so that I'd have a place to turn into if I made it that far up the hill. His advice was to go up the hill in reverse. His thought was that I'd have better control of my truck if I went sliding back down the hill. While maybe a good idea I simply wouldn't have enough speed going up the hill backwards to have any chance of making it. So I slowly guide my truck back down the hill the best I could. I message the seller who was selling the receiver as I wanted to let him know that I was stuck behind his house and that I'd be late from the ETA that I had given him. He sent me this message:



I'm glad I didn't see this message. I'm sitting at the bottom of the icy hill looking up and thinking, "There's no way I can get towed out of this. No tow truck would be willing to take the chance to tow me out. Which made me think that it would need to be winched up the hill. I didn't even want to think how expensive that was going to be. All I know is that winch bill would have bought me one nice new receiver." I then thought to myself, "I can't sit here and sulk." I had a pretty good excuse though. I helped my buddy shovel until 4:30am this morning, slept maybe two hours, and worked my 10 hour job before picking up the receiver. The last place I wanted to be was stuck at the bottom of the icy hill but what do you do. I asked the big guy upstairs for a little help and smashed the gas peddle and went balls to the wall. My truck went bouncing up and down with me praying that my tires would find any little dry spots on the icy hill to make its way up. Low and behold my little truck fought like hell all the way up and somehow defeated all odds and found level ground! All I can say is that I'm very happy and relieved to be home with my truck in the garage and a cheap receiver sitting on the table....

Ozzie_Isaac

WeberWho said:

Story time....

I believe my HDMI board in my Onkyo receiver has finally bit the bullet. A known issue for Onkyo receivers. The receiver still plays audio but the video has been an issue. So I've been using the TV speakers in the meantime. I stumbled upon a newly posted ad on Marketplace for a Pioneer receiver . While not new I couldn't pass it up for $25. I mean you can hardly buy a remote for a receiver for $25. This will be plenty of power for my TV, front left/right speakers, and center speaker. Just an easy plug and play for the meantime. It was supposed to be that easy or so I thought. Let me explain......



Here's where it gets dicey. My GPS sent me down a long icy hill in my 2wd truck when I went to pick up the receiver. My GPS showed his house lodged in between two neighborhoods. I was thinking his driveway had to be located down the hill/alley. Next thing I know I'm halfway down the hill with no more driveways except for the one at the very bottom. I knew I was screwed at this point. I slowly make my way to the bottom of the hill and turn around. I figured there was no way I'm making it up this icy hill. Only one way to find out. I hit the gas and hoped for the best. I unfortunately only made it about halfway up the hill. My truck goes sliding/gliding back down. Let's give this another try, so I make another run up the hill and my truck makes it about halfway once again. This time my truck glides back down the hill with the brakes locked up and gets pushed into a snow bank. I had to fight with my truck just to get out of the snowbank to make my way back down the hill. I make another go and this time I make it just past halfway. I put my brakes on and I didn't know what to do. I sat there for a minute or two trying to think how I can get my truck back down and not slide into a pole, fence, or snow bank. One of the homeowners who live on the hill/alley came home. They were smart and were dropped off at the top of the hill and walked down to their house. While sitting there contemplating what to do the gentleman came up to my truck and asked what I was thinking. He said he'd move his car further up in his driveway so that I'd have a place to turn into if I made it that far up the hill. His advice was to go up the hill in reverse. His thought was that I'd have better control of my truck if I went sliding back down the hill. While maybe a good idea I simply wouldn't have enough speed going up the hill backwards to have any chance of making it. So I slowly guide my truck back down the hill the best I could. I message the seller who was selling the receiver as I wanted to let him know that I was stuck behind his house and that I'd be late from the ETA that I had given him. He sent me this message:



I'm glad I didn't see this message. I'm sitting at the bottom of the icy hill looking up and thinking, "There's no way I can get towed out of this. No tow truck would be willing to take the chance to tow me out. Which made me think that it would need to be winched up the hill. I didn't even want to think how expensive that was going to be. All I know is that winch bill would have bought me one nice new receiver." I then thought to myself, "I can't sit here and sulk." I had a pretty good excuse though. I helped my buddy shovel until 4:30am this morning, slept maybe two hours, and worked my 10 hour job before picking up the receiver. The last place I wanted to be was stuck at the bottom of the icy hill but what do you do. I asked the big guy upstairs for a little help and smashed the gas peddle and went balls to the wall. My truck went bouncing up and down with me praying that my tires would find any little dry spots on the icy hill to make its way up. Low and behold my little truck fought like hell all the way up and somehow defeated all odds and found level ground! All I can say is that I'm very happy and relieved to be home with my truck in the garage and a cheap receiver sitting on the table....

When in doubt, skinny pedal!  Glad all is well that ended well.

lousubcap

@WeberWho - Glad it all worked out.  He!! of a ride right there. 

WeberWho

Ozzie_Isaac said:

WeberWho said:

Story time....

I believe my HDMI board in my Onkyo receiver has finally bit the bullet. A known issue for Onkyo receivers. The receiver still plays audio but the video has been an issue. So I've been using the TV speakers in the meantime. I stumbled upon a newly posted ad on Marketplace for a Pioneer receiver . While not new I couldn't pass it up for $25. I mean you can hardly buy a remote for a receiver for $25. This will be plenty of power for my TV, front left/right speakers, and center speaker. Just an easy plug and play for the meantime. It was supposed to be that easy or so I thought. Let me explain......



Here's where it gets dicey. My GPS sent me down a long icy hill in my 2wd truck when I went to pick up the receiver. My GPS showed his house lodged in between two neighborhoods. I was thinking his driveway had to be located down the hill/alley. Next thing I know I'm halfway down the hill with no more driveways except for the one at the very bottom. I knew I was screwed at this point. I slowly make my way to the bottom of the hill and turn around. I figured there was no way I'm making it up this icy hill. Only one way to find out. I hit the gas and hoped for the best. I unfortunately only made it about halfway up the hill. My truck goes sliding/gliding back down. Let's give this another try, so I make another run up the hill and my truck makes it about halfway once again. This time my truck glides back down the hill with the brakes locked up and gets pushed into a snow bank. I had to fight with my truck just to get out of the snowbank to make my way back down the hill. I make another go and this time I make it just past halfway. I put my brakes on and I didn't know what to do. I sat there for a minute or two trying to think how I can get my truck back down and not slide into a pole, fence, or snow bank. One of the homeowners who live on the hill/alley came home. They were smart and were dropped off at the top of the hill and walked down to their house. While sitting there contemplating what to do the gentleman came up to my truck and asked what I was thinking. He said he'd move his car further up in his driveway so that I'd have a place to turn into if I made it that far up the hill. His advice was to go up the hill in reverse. His thought was that I'd have better control of my truck if I went sliding back down the hill. While maybe a good idea I simply wouldn't have enough speed going up the hill backwards to have any chance of making it. So I slowly guide my truck back down the hill the best I could. I message the seller who was selling the receiver as I wanted to let him know that I was stuck behind his house and that I'd be late from the ETA that I had given him. He sent me this message:



I'm glad I didn't see this message. I'm sitting at the bottom of the icy hill looking up and thinking, "There's no way I can get towed out of this. No tow truck would be willing to take the chance to tow me out. Which made me think that it would need to be winched up the hill. I didn't even want to think how expensive that was going to be. All I know is that winch bill would have bought me one nice new receiver." I then thought to myself, "I can't sit here and sulk." I had a pretty good excuse though. I helped my buddy shovel until 4:30am this morning, slept maybe two hours, and worked my 10 hour job before picking up the receiver. The last place I wanted to be was stuck at the bottom of the icy hill but what do you do. I asked the big guy upstairs for a little help and smashed the gas peddle and went balls to the wall. My truck went bouncing up and down with me praying that my tires would find any little dry spots on the icy hill to make its way up. Low and behold my little truck fought like hell all the way up and somehow defeated all odds and found level ground! All I can say is that I'm very happy and relieved to be home with my truck in the garage and a cheap receiver sitting on the table....

When in doubt, skinny pedal!  Glad all is well that ended well.

No doubt. It's manual transmission and I was working that clutch. That little dinky 2wd truck felt like a trophy truck bouncing off chunks of ice ripping up that hill yesterday. My mom borrowed my truck that morning as she needed to pick up chairs that wouldn't fit in her car. So I removed all the weight in the box. Being RWD that rear end was dancing with nothing to hold it down. I thought I had zero percent chance of making it up the hill with ice and fresh snow covering it. All I had to offer was momentum and a prayer. I'm glad it worked out.