OT: The OT Thread: 50 degree temps in this economy? (Warning in post 368)

[Beerz]

I'm watching a documentary about this man who contracted a virus back in the 80's. The virus destroyed his memory. His memory is only 7 seconds long.

Sabre fans could use this virus.

 

[Gras]

Yep, it was a great campaign by the folks who make plastics. One of the more indelible marks of the oil folks - they did a great job. Ironic now that most people have plastic stuck inside them. Even more so when some of them have never been fully tested for their impacts on humans.

You may want to rethink the plastic ones too since there is evidence they don't actually ever wind up being recycled into anything.

Most stuff sent to recycling still ends up in the landfill since theres no buyers for the product and it is not cost effective to produce product from used material instead of new material.

 

[Chainshot]

Most stuff sent to recycling still ends up in the landfill since theres no buyers for the product and it is not cost effective to produce product from used material instead of new material.

Yep, when the economics of sending the recycling places to be recycled as a raw material fell apart, it pushed things back into traditional disposal. Now hey, there is always using less or finding other uses for things in use. Unbleached paper bags make an excellent weed barrier. Plastic bags, not so much.

 

[Uberpecker]

Has the Pegula thread on the trade board actually been deleted? I did like it.

 

[brian_griffin]

I'm having a low-level breakdown. We have sold our home, and will move out in two months ... but we have nowhere to move to yet. I don't necessarily mind that, but where we want to buy is high demand and has people throwing money at houses to get them. I don't want to be sucked into that shit, but the longer we look for houses and dont come to an agreement with a seller, the more my panic will grow.

(and)

Ummm... why would you sell before having somewhere to go? I don't think I could do that. I did have a situation where I had a living destination situation - lost an apartment because my ex hadn't cleared my part of her old business debt as was part of our divorce agreement so my credit check came back below their approval level right as I was supposed to leave university housing. That lead to a month of chaos, I can tell you. Never, never again.

True story: ~25 years ago, colleague of mine in another location (same company) in a hot housing demand market was raking leaves out front one fall day. Car pulls up and couple asks him if he wants to sell his house. Colleague asks how much, and receives an answer which caused him to immediately answer "Yes!!" At dinner that evening, he then explained to his wife they were selling their house. (They had 2 or 3 kids, as well.)

I may have mentioned that my ex shoved "her dog" off on me and has left the area (and at the moment, the country). Today is a combo of a vet visit that she said she would pay for but now can't without it being by paying me - and it's rent day, that money is gone - and talking to my complex about having her here since the management office has completely turned over since I first rented here 5.25 years ago and they want her gone.

Initially read "her" as meaning your Ex and not the dog. Perhaps unfortunate your management office can't help solve the larger problem

In a somewhat related note, my youngest told me that the water bill at my ex-wife's house (that she got me kicked out of in 2012) is still in my name on the drive to school this morning. And my ex told him not to tell me.

I will not be sharing that piece of info with my wife because I do not want the drama.

It doesn't bother me a ton as the negative consequences to not paying it are bigger for her than for me. But, it shouldn't be that hard to change since she obviously got the email address that the meter read requests get sent to updated, so I don't know why she doesn't change it from me to her.

After my divorce, the most difficult re-assignment of bill responsibility was the water bill. By far. Took an act of Congress. Everything else was easy. Electric company was too easy. Suffice to say I could have made a phone call and had the power for anyone (known to me or random stranger) disconnected without (IMO) suitable proof of authority to do so.

Ugh, seeing my friends and colleagues from USFS and USNPS posting on places like LinkedIn and seeing the position I have been on the waiting list for at Acadia is just gone. f***.

Have never visited, but would love to. A job there? Perhaps my dream retirement!!! (not asserting anything re: you treating it as retirement) Too cold and mountainous and general nature overload (asthma) for my wife, however.

It's not that uncommon here. Not sure how it works for you guys, but here you put an offer down with conditions. I.e I'll buy your house for $xx but only if 1) I'm happy with a builder's assessment 2) I'm happy with the council records 3) I can get approval from the lending from the bank. The seller then can accept one offer (if they have had a few put in the table). You then have a set time to fulfil your conditions before you've actually bought the house.

One common condition here is "sale of our own property". Basically it's "I'll buy your house, but I won't have the money for it until mine is sold." It's common, but also for the seller it doesn't really give them any certainty as the person might not sell, or it might take months. So if they have three offers and two have that condition, they'll usually go for the one that doesn't have it, often even if it's a lower dollar offer.

Which means we are in a stronger buying position if we know how much money we have at our disposal and we don't have to put that condition on our offers.

It's a risk we chose to take, and it's a risk im now stressing about.

We have the same thing in the USA. Called conditional offers. Sellers typically prefer unconditional offers as a certain fraction of conditional offers either fall through, or closing is extended, or the buyer is stuck carrying two payments for a period of time. Good luck.

 

[brian_griffin]

One of my mates had 12 months of free power in his first place when he moved out of home. They repeatedly rang the power company to try and sort it out but were told that their address didn't exist, or it was vacant and was not using any power. So eventually they gave up and moved out later having never paid a cent.

I never paid for trash pickup at one house I lived. The 90gallon roller cart was never collected by Waste Management after the seller sold & left. I didn't bother signing up, just put my modest amount of trash out weekly (typically 1-2 plastic grocery bags of food garbage) unless I was doing a project in the garage. It kept on being collected. I'd wave to the crew, give them water or gatorade in summer when it was hot, etc., if I was home when they collected. Several different drivers / crews. Finally a new driver didn't collect a couple weeks in a row and when I "confronted" him he said I (meaning my address) wasn't on his list. So henceforth I just threw my trash in neighbors cans, or took it to work and slipped it in the factor entrance cans.

When my current wife and I started dating, I disposed at her apt. complex compactor.

Now I pay for it legitimately in our current house (since 2013).

Smokey Bear. No "the".

View attachment 984773

Talking Heads. No "the".

My retirement account is not happy today. Geez. Can we try to avoid these tariff wars going forward? It's probably better for the common man.

Always remember, paper losses aren't real.

Perhaps it varies by market but a quick online check show Aldi's paper bags for a whopping $0.12 a piece. The reusable one's are $1.09.

Such obstacles.

I was in NYS from last Thursday through Tuesday (yesterday), excepting a weekend in the PA Alleghenies. I brought a couple cloth bags with me on my travels, bought 1 paper bag, but often pack up groceries in an empty cardboard box from stocking the shelves. Waxed banana boxes with a carboard insert (collapsed box, or a flat for soup cans, etc.) are the best. I'm frugal.