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Was that recently with omicron abound, or earlier, with the less infectious strains, though?Also, the Monday GM tested positive today. We all had sat for about four hours together so it is likely that my yesterday's negative result was false negative of a test made too early.
Unless the booster worked really well, though I'd wouldn't bet on that - the GM got his a day after me.
Shiro is immune-compromised and spent and afternoon playing cards with his stepfather, who tested positive the very next day. Yet Shiro managed not to get it.
So being at the same table as someone who tests positive isn't a slam-dunk, "Now you're infected!" moment.
Admittedly, it was pre-Omicron.
EDIT: As were my clothes.
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It's funny the way people think.
I took the Celica in to the dealership for an oil change, and I complained that my next trip in June was likely to cost close to $2000, as I'd need new brake pads, work on the air conditioner, and other major maintenance.
The technician's response? "So buy a new car!"
Er... the Celica costs me around $500 a year in maintenance, and $500 a year in insurance. Plus it still gets over 30 mpg, so it's not a gas sink.
A new car would be around $6000/year for the lease, and another $5000/year for the insurance, and closer to $1000 a year in maintenance (I've seen the crap they make you do with new cars), so I'd be buying a new car to "save" -$11,000 a year.
Yeah, thanks, but no thanks!
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Why would you ever decide to lease a vehicle instead of just buying it outright or otherwise getting an auto loan? I don't understand... maybe it's just my regional CoL bubble but nobody that I have ever personally known, even extremely well-off people, would ever consider leasing a vehicle and gifting the leasing agency/bank/dealership 100% of the equity of the transport.
It's still so bizarre to me even after living with the internet for thirty years how we can occasionally glance through to see how the other halves live... I mean, I don't think that I've ever spent more than perhaps ... 5 or 6k in an entire year on vehicles even during bad years where one gets totaled and has to be replaced and that's all in with everything accounted for.
... It does make me very much miss my old van that came from Florida though, that thing was a beast, and even as a 12-year-old model when we bought it the undercarriage didn't have ANY rust or winter damage to it whatsoever... it's such a shame that it had to be scrapped after I got t-boned.
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Some people like to drive the newest things. If you lease it for X, you're not stuck with it at the end of X, nor do you have a continuing car payment on the old car. You can just move right into the newest model with none of the problems that might have cropped up in the old one.
It ain't for me, I like to drive things until the wheels fall off, but I can see why someone in a different lifestyle would want it.
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I suppose that's true, and not trying to pass judgment at all to be totally clear, it's just not something that mentally computes given how far my family, peers, and friends have always had to stretch our respective dollars and the idea of paying a premium to what amounts to a vehicle landlord is the financial equivalent of buying new socks for each day instead of washing them. Then again, I'm sure there are literally billions of people who would cringe at how wasteful I am when it comes to the amount of food I prepare only to throw away.
So, why lease?
If you don't know whether you're buying the car you want.
I've only leased one car in my life, ever: A Toyota Echo.
It was an absolute piece of junk. I hated it. I was ecstatic to be rid of it.
And if you compared the prices of (buying it - selling it after 5 years) vs. (leasing it for 5 years), we did quite a bit better using the lease.
If you know you're going to keep the car, you buy it. I mean, seriously, I have a 25-year-old Celica and a 15-year-old Prius that give some indication as to how often I shop for cars.
I'm only thinking "lease" because we don't know what the heck we want, so it's kind of like renting a car for a couple of years to figure out whether it's the one you want to keep for the next 20 years.
EDIT: And every lease I've seen comes with an option to buy the car at the end of the lease for a price that's roughly equivalent to what you would've paid financing the car for the duration of the lease and then paying it off. Leases aren't that much worse than buying the car outright.
EDIT 2: I think that's what people miss: You have 3 options:
(1) Buy outright.
(2) Lease, then buy. Costs around 15% more, but now you're 100% sure it's the car you want.
(3) Lease, then walk away. Typically you do better than if you'd bought the car then sold it yourself.
So the only people who are really hurting themselves are the people TOZ mentioned who just like "new things" so they lease over and over and over again.
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I think it makes a lot of sense for specific companies that don't want to manage a fleet of company cars. They get to keep up with high profile new models that makes their clients/CEOs feel catered to, while not having to worry about collisions or mechanical defects from being a long term problem, depending on the terms of the lease.
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I think it makes a lot of sense for specific companies that don't want to manage a fleet of company cars. They get to keep up with high profile new models that makes their clients/CEOs feel catered to, while not having to worry about collisions or mechanical defects from being a long term problem, depending on the terms of the lease.
LOL. I was reading up in Consumer Reports on "buy vs. lease" and large corporate fleets were their first example of a place leasing made sense.
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In other, stupider news, I bought a 3.23 pound Costco pack of raw beef bulgogi. Since we don't eat that much, I split it into two dinners.
Yep. Impus Major found the leftover raw, marinated beef and helped himself.
And didn't even notice!!!!
It was two days ago and it was marinated beef so he's probably fine, but still. "If you can't tell the difference between raw and cooked beef, you may have no taste..."
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True. With leasing you get a car that also gets regular maintenance, and you can ditch it after a few years and get something else.
I bought my current car. It was exactly what I wanted in a car. Economical, quick and sporty, but practical, with a reputation for reliability. They've stopped making them, so I got it before they were finished. I'm one of those people who buys a car and drives it forever, but not everyone is so sure what they want or like.
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In other, stupider news, I bought a 3.23 pound Costco pack of raw beef bulgogi. Since we don't eat that much, I split it into two dinners.
Yep. Impus Major found the leftover raw, marinated beef and helped himself.
And didn't even notice!!!!
It was two days ago and it was marinated beef so he's probably fine, but still. "If you can't tell the difference between raw and cooked beef, you may have no taste..."
My mom once put a bunch of cod on a plate in the refrigerator to thaw out so she could fry it for supper and one of my brothers found it and ate the entire plate full of raw fish.
HUh. I feel temptation to install Far Cry 4 and play it again...
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"If you can't tell the difference between raw and cooked beef, you may have no taste..."
A good chili sauce sniff test should determine if they've lost some smell or taste, that's how I confirmed it after realizing my food just wasn't really "doing it" for me for about two days... I still wish I could just go back to NOT smelling or tasting stuff though because at least then I wouldn't need to fuss with this new diet, even extremely bland sauerkraut would be a godsend compared to the chemical/cleaning fluid/burnt plastic taste that all cabbage has now.
That's a good idea. I'm not as worried about the taste (the meat was marinated to the point of being pure brown, so I'm sure it tasted ok), but the texture had to be WAAAAAY off...
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Remind them of the withdraw action, if it's available in the ruleset (it is in PF1, not sure about PF2 or 5E).#1: How are you holding up? I'm glad to see you back online, but I'm still concerned. Because I'm a mother hen by nature.
Tomorrow is the visitation and funeral. I've had detached objectivity for the last week.
Mom had put half down on a new furnace. It's getting installed Monday morning. Meeting with lawyers that afternoon.
She had no will and had done no other estate/funeral planning. I'm...dealing...
But tomorrow is going to be rough.
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Remind them of the withdraw action, if it's available in the ruleset (it is in PF1, not sure about PF2 or 5E).#1: How are you holding up? I'm glad to see you back online, but I'm still concerned. Because I'm a mother hen by nature.Tomorrow is the visitation and funeral. I've had detached objectivity for the last week.
Mom had put half down on a new furnace. It's getting installed Monday morning. Meeting with lawyers that afternoon.
She had no will and had done no other estate/funeral planning. I'm...dealing...
But tomorrow is going to be rough.
For me, the memorial for my father was actually the easy part. We all hung around, talked about him, talked smack about him, and had lots of giggles. Yeah, there were lots of tears, but all in all it went OK.
The furnace, the lawyers, and especially the lack of estate planning is going to be the nightmare.
Good luck!
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Aaaand... apparently being nice is now worth $40/hour.
GothBard had to drop me off at the shop to pick up the Celica an hour early. They were aghast, and told me it would be at least an hour, and I said, "No worries! I know where your waiting room is!"
So I sat there patiently for an hour, then came out. And they apologized profusely again. I smiled, repeated that I was in no hurry, and it still wasn't 6:30 pm when I'd expected the car to be ready, so there was no reason to apologize or stress about me. We started chatting a bit, and another customer called in who'd apparently read them the riot act about having their car ready exactly on time and then ran late themselves.
My car was ready at exactly 6:30 pm, as expected. The guy was like, "No; you deserve the biggest discount I can give you for being so patient!"
So I got $40 off my oil change just for not being a jerk.
Not hard.
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I'm having a rough day.
It's the anniversary of my dad's death. The thirteenth to be precise. We'd been out late at an inauguration party celebrating President Obama, and I had maybe three hours of sleep before I got the phone call that he'd been lost at sea.
Wow, my dad died just three days before yours. I'm so sorry for your losses.
Maybe that's why I don't remember Obama's inauguration?
We can share the cookies. <3
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My mom once put a bunch of cod on a plate in the refrigerator to thaw out so she could fry it for supper and one of my brothers found it and ate the entire plate full of raw fish.In other, stupider news, I bought a 3.23 pound Costco pack of raw beef bulgogi. Since we don't eat that much, I split it into two dinners.
Yep. Impus Major found the leftover raw, marinated beef and helped himself.
And didn't even notice!!!!
It was two days ago and it was marinated beef so he's probably fine, but still. "If you can't tell the difference between raw and cooked beef, you may have no taste..."
Isn't that just Mid-Western tradition, though? I can imagine the locals sitting around a hole in the ice, shooting fish with semi-automatic weaponry and whooping, then devouring them then and there inbetween swigs of Bud Light or Colt .45.
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Isn't that just Mid-Western tradition, though? I can imagine the locals sitting around a hole in the ice, shooting fish with semi-automatic weaponry and whooping, then devouring them then and there inbetween swigs of Bud Light or Colt .45.My mom once put a bunch of cod on a plate in the refrigerator to thaw out so she could fry it for supper and one of my brothers found it and ate the entire plate full of raw fish.In other, stupider news, I bought a 3.23 pound Costco pack of raw beef bulgogi. Since we don't eat that much, I split it into two dinners.
Yep. Impus Major found the leftover raw, marinated beef and helped himself.
And didn't even notice!!!!
It was two days ago and it was marinated beef so he's probably fine, but still. "If you can't tell the difference between raw and cooked beef, you may have no taste..."
The British truly understand the Midwest.
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So, last night I cooked up the remaining beef belgugi. Impus Major admitted it tasted much better cooked.
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Can anyone explain to me why I'm watching cricket?
No.
Can anyone explain to me why I'm watching cricket?
Because butterflies are out of season.
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Third covid shot, a really sore arm but no other issues. Which is pretty good considering the second shot knocked me out for nearly a week.
Good to hear Cap, suppose I should get my arse in gear and get my third.
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Can anyone explain to me why I'm watching cricket?
Because you think you could do a better job than our national team, and you would be absolutely right.
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Had our first "scare" yesterday afternoon -- Impus Major tried to go for a walk, decided to go up the hill, and his heart promptly started hurting.
Considering he was explicitly told to avoid any "strenuous exercise" until April, and it's barely over 2 weeks since he left the hospital, I've got to guess that it's "normal", but, "I can't walk up a hill without my heart hurting" is pretty terrifying in a 20-year-old.
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I go into the office today for the very first time to pick up some supplies and meet my coworkers and boss for a meeting, then it's back to working from home. I may even get paid today.
I am excited.
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Good to hear Cap, suppose I should get my arse in gear and get my third.
No, no, the shot is in the arm, not the arse. No worrying there.
Not being able to sit for a few days would be an issue.
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A friend got me groceries for about a week so I am set for now.
Happy Fried Egg, John!
(That is my favourite joke at the moment)
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Happy Fried Egg, John!
(That is my favourite joke at the moment)
It's not Lent yet.
(My grandmother used to make fried egg sandwiches for lunchboxes on Fridays during Lent.)
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I can't imagine what cold fried egg, in a sundvich, might taste like. Dear me.
In other news, I tried using dehydrated potato in a batter, as per your tip some way back, LM, and it worked excellently, so thankyou very much for that.
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Happy Fried Egg, John!
(That is my favourite joke at the moment)
It's not Lent yet.
(My grandmother used to make fried egg sandwiches for lunchboxes on Fridays during Lent.)
My mom used to make us those too! Except lent was never mentioned.
By the by, I hate fried eggs.
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So Val's boys ballet class is learning the "Me Old Bamboo" number from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for one of the spring shows, and his teacher told the boys they should watch the movie to get a better sense of the number. Val immediately said, "Oh, I've seen it." So his friends asked him for details about the plot. He answered, "Well, I don't really remember much, except for the part where the nuns steal part of the Nazis' car so it won't go..."
Driving out to the British Emporium
in Grapevine to pick up a tinned haggis for Burns Night (observed) tomorrow. Because family traditions are what you make them, and we've been doing it since the kids were tiny, and Hermione recites Burns better than anyone I've heard.
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Unfortunately, going into that store for one can of haggis means I am now devouring an entire packet of Jaffa Cakes while driving. And I have an Irn-Bru to wash them down. That store is evil.
Driving out to the British Emporium
in Grapevine to pick up a tinned haggis for Burns Night (observed) tomorrow. Because family traditions are what you make them, and we've been doing it since the kids were tiny, and Hermione recites Burns better than anyone I've heard.
OK, I've gotta know: Does anyone other than WW touch that stuff?
As I've said to you in person, I've visited Scotland in both 1997 and 2019, and the haggis there both times was amazing. Even when WW and ex-CHP absolutely, 100% insisted that they'd secretly imported haggis direct from Scotland, the stuff was inedible.
And the canned stuff is worse. I wouldn't spackle my walls with it.
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Jaffa Cakes are a tip-top biscuit.
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Driving out to the British Emporium
in Grapevine to pick up a tinned haggis for Burns Night (observed) tomorrow. Because family traditions are what you make them, and we've been doing it since the kids were tiny, and Hermione recites Burns better than anyone I've heard.OK, I've gotta know: Does anyone other than WW touch that stuff?
As I've said to you in person, I've visited Scotland in both 1997 and 2019, and the haggis there both times was amazing. Even when WW and ex-CHP absolutely, 100% insisted that they'd secretly imported haggis direct from Scotland, the stuff was inedible.
And the canned stuff is worse. I wouldn't spackle my walls with it.
They have a brand called "Caledonian Kitchen" which the owner of the shop remarked was "actually quite good" and WW really likes. It smells much better than the one they sold at the Berkeley Bowl. No, I don't touch it, but I have a "no organ meats" rule similar to your "no sea bugs" rule.
They also sell a larger, frozen haggis that looks more the real thing, but it's twice the size, and if we're not having a bunch of people over (perhaps next year) I'm not going to bother.
Also, if you spackle your walls with it, your house is going to smell like a pit trap full of... well, you know. The thing Nora jumped in after.
They have a brand called "Caledonian Kitchen" which the owner of the shop remarked was "actually quite good" and WW really likes. It smells much better than the one they sold at the Berkeley Bowl. No, I don't touch it, but I have a "no organ meats" rule similar to your "no sea bugs" rule.Driving out to the British Emporium
in Grapevine to pick up a tinned haggis for Burns Night (observed) tomorrow. Because family traditions are what you make them, and we've been doing it since the kids were tiny, and Hermione recites Burns better than anyone I've heard.OK, I've gotta know: Does anyone other than WW touch that stuff?
As I've said to you in person, I've visited Scotland in both 1997 and 2019, and the haggis there both times was amazing. Even when WW and ex-CHP absolutely, 100% insisted that they'd secretly imported haggis direct from Scotland, the stuff was inedible.
And the canned stuff is worse. I wouldn't spackle my walls with it.
But, but flaczki!
There was a period in my life when I liked that but now I don't feel the appeal anymore. It worked mainly due to seasoning and I no longer pick spicy dishes.
They have a brand called "Caledonian Kitchen" which the owner of the shop remarked was "actually quite good" and WW really likes. It smells much better than the one they sold at the Berkeley Bowl. No, I don't touch it, but I have a "no organ meats" rule similar to your "no sea bugs" rule.Driving out to the British Emporium
in Grapevine to pick up a tinned haggis for Burns Night (observed) tomorrow. Because family traditions are what you make them, and we've been doing it since the kids were tiny, and Hermione recites Burns better than anyone I've heard.OK, I've gotta know: Does anyone other than WW touch that stuff?
As I've said to you in person, I've visited Scotland in both 1997 and 2019, and the haggis there both times was amazing. Even when WW and ex-CHP absolutely, 100% insisted that they'd secretly imported haggis direct from Scotland, the stuff was inedible.
And the canned stuff is worse. I wouldn't spackle my walls with it.
But, but flaczki!
There was a period in my life when I liked that but now I don't feel the appeal anymore. It worked mainly due to seasoning and I no longer pick spicy dishes.
NO. No flaki EVER.
I love czarnina, but that's my limit for creepy ingredients in my food.
They have a brand called "Caledonian Kitchen" which the owner of the shop remarked was "actually quite good" and WW really likes. It smells much better than the one they sold at the Berkeley Bowl. No, I don't touch it, but I have a "no organ meats" rule similar to your "no sea bugs" rule.Driving out to the British Emporium
in Grapevine to pick up a tinned haggis for Burns Night (observed) tomorrow. Because family traditions are what you make them, and we've been doing it since the kids were tiny, and Hermione recites Burns better than anyone I've heard.OK, I've gotta know: Does anyone other than WW touch that stuff?
As I've said to you in person, I've visited Scotland in both 1997 and 2019, and the haggis there both times was amazing. Even when WW and ex-CHP absolutely, 100% insisted that they'd secretly imported haggis direct from Scotland, the stuff was inedible.
And the canned stuff is worse. I wouldn't spackle my walls with it.
But, but flaczki!
There was a period in my life when I liked that but now I don't feel the appeal anymore. It worked mainly due to seasoning and I no longer pick spicy dishes.
NO. No flaki EVER.
I love czarnina, but that's my limit for creepy ingredients in my food.
Yeah, when I was in Istanbul my friends insisted that I eat something very similar to that because it was a "Turkish national dish". They drowned theirs in vinegar and black pepper, but it still wasn't enough to mask the appallingly foul aroma of the original ingredients.
Pretty much the only dish that I know of that was originally developed to mask rotting/spoiled/otherwise terrible meat and that tastes good now almost anywhere you get it in the world is curry.
Though I've been to London. You can get some of the best curries in the world there, and some of the worst.
EDIT: Apparently the Turkish dish is called Corbasi.
All I know is you haven't lived until you've had Quaker Potluck lutefisk.