| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Tonight's class lecture in my TX Master Naturalist course was on the reptiles and amphibians of Texas.
The lecturer on amphibians felt it important for us to be well-versed in frog mating positions (she showed us a chart of nine) and then a slideshow, and gave us a quiz we had to answer over Zoom chat.
She called it the Kermit Sutra.
This is not what I was expecting when I signed up.
The snake guy who followed her after the break was more run-of-the-mill, mostly identification and quizzing on facts-vs-old wives tales.
EDIT: Of COURSE this would be a top-of-the-page post. Good grief. I am fully dressed.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Tonight's class lecture in my TX Master Naturalist course was on the reptiles and amphibians of Texas.
The lecturer on amphibians felt it important for us to be well-versed in frog mating positions (she showed us a chart of nine) and then a slideshow, and gave us a quiz we had to answer over Zoom chat.
She called it the Kermit Sutra.
This is not what I was expecting when I signed up.
The snake guy who followed her after the break was more run-of-the-mill, mostly identification and quizzing on facts-vs-old wives tales.EDIT: Of COURSE this would be a top-of-the-page post. Good grief. I am fully dressed.
How much of the Kermit Sutra involved a pig?
Asking for a friend.
Gettin' froggy with it!
Na na na nanana, y'all!
Tonight's class lecture in my TX Master Naturalist course was on the reptiles and amphibians of Texas.
The lecturer on amphibians felt it important for us to be well-versed in frog mating positions (she showed us a chart of nine) and then a slideshow, and gave us a quiz we had to answer over Zoom chat.
She called it the Kermit Sutra.
This is not what I was expecting when I signed up.
The snake guy who followed her after the break was more run-of-the-mill, mostly identification and quizzing on facts-vs-old wives tales.EDIT: Of COURSE this would be a top-of-the-page post. Good grief. I am fully dressed.
Not what I expected either!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I finished Far Cry 5.
Apparently I have a new dad.
Also, I guess I'm going to be a super mutant now.
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It's sad that as you get older, you understand the "crotchety old geezer" stereotype more and more. ("All progress is bad. Everything manufactured today sucks. Etc. Etc. Etc.")
We needed a new stopper for the kitchen sink because the old one was vile and mildewy enough to classify as an EPA toxic supersite. GothBard went to the hardware store for me, but of course they weren't carrying any of the classic stoppers that have been used for the last 80+ years. Instead they had "modern" stoppers that consisted of a thin rubber circle, with the idea that water pressure would seal the circle to the bottom of the sink and block the drain.
If the bottom of your sink is perfectly flat.
If the circle remains utterly pristine for its existence.
If the rubber of the circle doesn't age at all.
When it was brand new, if I scrubbed the sink first the circle worked maybe half the time. Now that it's a couple of months old, it's worn enough that it no longer forms a perfect seal and it's useless. I have to go buy another stopper.
And the old man in the back of my brain checks off yet another, "Progress is terrible. Newfangled devices don't work. Newfangled manufacturing sucks." checkbox.
It's no wonder so many elderly people are bitter: You spend a lifetime buying items that just work, and now you can't.
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Overall, I'd give Far Cry 5 a C for story, two of the end guys were pretty much the same person, so the early one's fight seemed a bit contrived. I rather enjoyed going up against the survivalist and the drug lord siblings though. The most realistic ending is the first one, otherwise it's all pretty ridiculous. And then I'd give it an A+ for gameplay, map, s#$* to do or find, and companions. It is seriously a lot of fun to play! I highly recommend it!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's sad that as you get older, you understand the "crotchety old geezer" stereotype more and more. ("All progress is bad. Everything manufactured today sucks. Etc. Etc. Etc.")
We needed a new stopper for the kitchen sink because the old one was vile and mildewy enough to classify as an EPA toxic supersite. GothBard went to the hardware store for me, but of course they weren't carrying any of the classic stoppers that have been used for the last 80+ years. Instead they had "modern" stoppers that consisted of a thin rubber circle, with the idea that water pressure would seal the circle to the bottom of the sink and block the drain.
If the bottom of your sink is perfectly flat.
If the circle remains utterly pristine for its existence.
If the rubber of the circle doesn't age at all.When it was brand new, if I scrubbed the sink first the circle worked maybe half the time. Now that it's a couple of months old, it's worn enough that it no longer forms a perfect seal and it's useless. I have to go buy another stopper.
And the old man in the back of my brain checks off yet another, "Progress is terrible. Newfangled devices don't work. Newfangled manufacturing sucks." checkbox.
It's no wonder so many elderly people are bitter: You spend a lifetime buying items that just work, and now you can't.
Wow. I'm assuming GothBard went to Pastime Ace, because the El Cerrito Home Depot is horrible, and I'm surprised they didn't have it. What about that hardware store in Kensington on the Arlington? They're kinda random.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Overall, I'd give Far Cry 5 a C for story, two of the end guys were pretty much the same person, so the early one's fight seemed a bit contrived. I rather enjoyed going up against the survivalist and the drug lord siblings though. The most realistic ending is the first one, otherwise it's all pretty ridiculous. And then I'd give it an A+ for gameplay, map, s+%& to do or find, and companions. It is seriously a lot of fun to play! I highly recommend it!
It's funny -- your evaluation is pretty much spot-on, and the story is SO bad that some people can't stomach it.
I couldn't stand the constant, "Oh, time for you to be captured. Sorry. Lose 10 minutes to be reminded that you have no control," events. I quit less than halfway through. Shiro and GothBard similarly hated the story, but loved the gameplay, the NPCs, and everything else enough to keep playing it.
I'd rate it A+ for gameplay, F for story. You really have to make an effort to ignore the story entirely to enjoy the game.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Overall, I'd give Far Cry 5 a C for story, two of the end guys were pretty much the same person, so the early one's fight seemed a bit contrived. I rather enjoyed going up against the survivalist and the drug lord siblings though. The most realistic ending is the first one, otherwise it's all pretty ridiculous. And then I'd give it an A+ for gameplay, map, s+%& to do or find, and companions. It is seriously a lot of fun to play! I highly recommend it!It's funny -- your evaluation is pretty much spot-on, and the story is SO bad that some people can't stomach it.
I couldn't stand the constant, "Oh, time for you to be captured. Sorry. Lose 10 minutes to be reminded that you have no control," events. I quit less than halfway through. Shiro and GothBard similarly hated the story, but loved the gameplay, the NPCs, and everything else enough to keep playing it.
I'd rate it A+ for gameplay, F for story. You really have to make an effort to ignore the story entirely to enjoy the game.
Getting captured in a scripted event is sort of repeating thing in Far Cries. And every damn FC does that better than 5. You are captured in situations that make a lot more sense than merely: Oh, there is a group of enemies that spawn from nowhere. You killed them all? Good. Now you faint and wake up elsewhere. (though in most cases you still suffer from varying degree of cut-scene incompetence)
And don't get me effing started on the damn music box.
A big part of the issue is, in my opinion, that Far Cry is an open world game with mostly sandbox design that can let you handle things the way you want AND then deprives you completely of your agency in scripted events.
It made more sense in case of 3 and 4, because they give you a specific characters with their own personalities (even if Ajay is eternally surprised guy who is not sure what is going on and is pushed around by everyone as they please), so the scripted events make sense. In 5 the Deputy is a completely blank slate with no personality whatsoever beyond what player imagines about them and the scripted events clash with open world competence and behavior more.
Overall, I'd give Far Cry 5 a C for story, two of the end guys were pretty much the same person, so the early one's fight seemed a bit contrived. I rather enjoyed going up against the survivalist and the drug lord siblings though. The most realistic ending is the first one, otherwise it's all pretty ridiculous. And then I'd give it an A+ for gameplay, map, s+%& to do or find, and companions. It is seriously a lot of fun to play! I highly recommend it!It's funny -- your evaluation is pretty much spot-on, and the story is SO bad that some people can't stomach it.
I couldn't stand the constant, "Oh, time for you to be captured. Sorry. Lose 10 minutes to be reminded that you have no control," events. I quit less than halfway through. Shiro and GothBard similarly hated the story, but loved the gameplay, the NPCs, and everything else enough to keep playing it.
I'd rate it A+ for gameplay, F for story. You really have to make an effort to ignore the story entirely to enjoy the game.
Getting captured in a scripted event is sort of repeating thing in Far Cries. And every damn FC does that better than 5. You are captured in situations that make a lot more sense than merely: Oh, there is a group of enemies that spawn from nowhere. You killed them all? Good. Now you faint and wake up elsewhere. (though in most cases you still suffer from varying degree of cut-scene incompetence)
And don't get me effing started on the damn music box.
A big part of the issue is, in my opinion, that Far Cry is an open world game with mostly sandbox design that can let you handle things the way you want AND then deprives you completely of your agency in scripted events.
It made more sense in case of 3 and 4, because they give you a specific characters with their own personalities (even if Ajay is eternally surprised guy who is not sure what is going on and is pushed around by everyone as they please), so the scripted events make sense. In 5 the...
The first guy's capturing gimmick was absolutely stupid I will give you that. I rather liked the survivalist's as they seemed pretty spot on for a survivalist doomsday cult indoctrination. By the time I got to the drug lord I was mostly flying by helicopter so I only had to suffer one of her monologues before knocking off enough drug boats and compounds to piss her off.
...hardware rant...Wow. I'm assuming GothBard went to Pastime Ace, because the El Cerrito Home Depot is horrible, and I'm surprised they didn't have it. What about that hardware store in Kensington on the Arlington? They're kinda random.
Yep. Exactly. The Pastime Ace is horrible because almost everything there is store brand, meaning, "Cheap as crap and doesn't work."
I've documented my issues with Home Depot in the past.
So this weekend I'll toodle up to the Kensington Ace to see what they have. You're right; even though they're part of the Ace chain the owner still runs it like his own mom & pop shop, so they have a lot of great stuff, and they're missing a lot of stuff.
But a kitchen sink stopper? Should be a no-brainer.
It's sad that as you get older, you understand the "crotchety old geezer" stereotype more and more. ("All progress is bad. Everything manufactured today sucks. Etc. Etc. Etc.")
We needed a new stopper for the kitchen sink because the old one was vile and mildewy enough to classify as an EPA toxic supersite. GothBard went to the hardware store for me, but of course they weren't carrying any of the classic stoppers that have been used for the last 80+ years. Instead they had "modern" stoppers that consisted of a thin rubber circle, with the idea that water pressure would seal the circle to the bottom of the sink and block the drain.
If the bottom of your sink is perfectly flat.
If the circle remains utterly pristine for its existence.
If the rubber of the circle doesn't age at all.When it was brand new, if I scrubbed the sink first the circle worked maybe half the time. Now that it's a couple of months old, it's worn enough that it no longer forms a perfect seal and it's useless. I have to go buy another stopper.
And the old man in the back of my brain checks off yet another, "Progress is terrible. Newfangled devices don't work. Newfangled manufacturing sucks." checkbox.
It's no wonder so many elderly people are bitter: You spend a lifetime buying items that just work, and now you can't.
The history behind those things that work is sometimes shocking.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
...hardware rant...Wow. I'm assuming GothBard went to Pastime Ace, because the El Cerrito Home Depot is horrible, and I'm surprised they didn't have it. What about that hardware store in Kensington on the Arlington? They're kinda random.Yep. Exactly. The Pastime Ace is horrible because almost everything there is store brand, meaning, "Cheap as crap and doesn't work."
I've documented my issues with Home Depot in the past.
So this weekend I'll toodle up to the Kensington Ace to see what they have. You're right; even though they're part of the Ace chain the owner still runs it like his own mom & pop shop, so they have a lot of great stuff, and they're missing a lot of stuff.
But a kitchen sink stopper? Should be a no-brainer.
Every Ace Hardware is like that. I think the chain gives an incredible amount of leeway as far as running things.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Stuff is being done. At work. By me!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's sad that as you get older, you understand the "crotchety old geezer" stereotype more and more. ("All progress is bad. Everything manufactured today sucks. Etc. Etc. Etc.")
We needed a new stopper for the kitchen sink because the old one was vile and mildewy enough to classify as an EPA toxic supersite. GothBard went to the hardware store for me, but of course they weren't carrying any of the classic stoppers that have been used for the last 80+ years. Instead they had "modern" stoppers that consisted of a thin rubber circle, with the idea that water pressure would seal the circle to the bottom of the sink and block the drain.
If the bottom of your sink is perfectly flat.
If the circle remains utterly pristine for its existence.
If the rubber of the circle doesn't age at all.When it was brand new, if I scrubbed the sink first the circle worked maybe half the time. Now that it's a couple of months old, it's worn enough that it no longer forms a perfect seal and it's useless. I have to go buy another stopper.
And the old man in the back of my brain checks off yet another, "Progress is terrible. Newfangled devices don't work. Newfangled manufacturing sucks." checkbox.
It's no wonder so many elderly people are bitter: You spend a lifetime buying items that just work, and now you can't.
The sad thing is, in many cases they're right. But explaining why would require Politics, so... [redacted]. (Though I imagine most of us are at least passingly aware.)
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Teensy Valeros and I made an agreement.
Of the six paragraphs he still needed to do (Food, Shelter, Clothing, Art, Communication, and Transportation)he would do one every morning and one every afternoon, and the rest of the time was his to do with as he wishes, and that will still leave the weekend free.
So this morning, he sort of mostly almost cleaned his room (it looks *better*) and finished the Food section with an hour left to play before lunch. And only told me I was a terrible mother and he hates me once.
I call that a success.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Overall, I'd give Far Cry 5 a C for story, two of the end guys were pretty much the same person, so the early one's fight seemed a bit contrived. I rather enjoyed going up against the survivalist and the drug lord siblings though. The most realistic ending is the first one, otherwise it's all pretty ridiculous. And then I'd give it an A+ for gameplay, map, s+%& to do or find, and companions. It is seriously a lot of fun to play! I highly recommend it!It's funny -- your evaluation is pretty much spot-on, and the story is SO bad that some people can't stomach it.
I couldn't stand the constant, "Oh, time for you to be captured. Sorry. Lose 10 minutes to be reminded that you have no control," events. I quit less than halfway through. Shiro and GothBard similarly hated the story, but loved the gameplay, the NPCs, and everything else enough to keep playing it.
I'd rate it A+ for gameplay, F for story. You really have to make an effort to ignore the story entirely to enjoy the game.
I was ready to give it an F for story but I genuinely had fun with a lot of the side missions and recruiting various allies.
But yes, the main story is crazy stupid, and I knew that going in. But I after awhile I would use those cutscenes as an opportunity to go to the bathroom or get a drink or something to eat. And the game was otherwise a lot of fun to play.
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The Problem with Owning an Older Car for Your Kids:
NobodysHome: What's up?
Impus Major: Have you filled the tank on the Celica recently?
NH: Yeah. I just filled it on Sunday. What's the problem?
IM: Oh. I was just worried because I haven't filled the tank in a month and the gas gauge always reads Full. I thought it might be broken.
And I have to admit, it's not an invalid point.
Next up, Resident Evil 7! something else!
Why no RE7?
The Problem with Owning an Older Car for Your Kids:
NobodysHome: What's up?
Impus Major: Have you filled the tank on the Celica recently?
NH: Yeah. I just filled it on Sunday. What's the problem?
IM: Oh. I was just worried because I haven't filled the tank in a month and the gas gauge always reads Full. I thought it might be broken.And I have to admit, it's not an invalid point.
The Death trap truck didn't have a working gas gauge so on snow runs I'd bring an extra couple of gas cans with me and then halfway through my run I'd empty one into the gas tank. I only drove it empty three times that winter!
Why no RE7?
Too slow paced.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've been plugging away at Far Cry 6, which so far isn't as stupid as 5 story wise.
I've actually been doing a lot of the collection and side missions and haven't been progressing the main story as far as I should be.
I will say that I really like the main character for this one, I find her often saying exactly and she exudes confidence, as opposed to everyone else having absolutely no confidence in you.
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One last thing about 5.
So, when you meet Hurk and he's worshipping his monkey idol and spouting nonsense and you wonder why he's so messed up.
And then you help out and recruit his mom, who drives a helicopter around going on and on on the radio in painfully graphic detail about her rather robust sex life. The entire game.
In addition to his dad being a b%&~%&& crazy right-wing conspiracy fringe candidate (which is actually spot on for Montana). Thankfully his dad doesn't join the party. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be divorced but again, this is Montana so anything goes.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
One last thing about 5.
So, when you meet Hurk and he's worshipping his monkey idol and spouting nonsense and you wonder why he's so messed up.
And then you help out and recruit his mom, who drives a helicopter around going on and on on the radio in painfully graphic detail about her rather robust sex life. The entire game.
In addition to his dad being a b%#%$#* crazy right-wing conspiracy fringe candidate (which is actually spot on for Montana). Thankfully his dad doesn't join the party. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be divorced but again, this is Montana so anything goes.
They are (or at lest they are in separation, though they are more likely divorced, I think she might got her place in the divorce settlement).
I was sort of annoyed I could not shoot Hurk's a**hole dad.
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And it continues...
...Impus Major's significant assignments are due Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, so he wants to move the family game from Tuesday night to Thursday night. Since he has no classes on Friday, that should be great, right?Nope. Just this week he has a take-home test and a written essay, due on a day that he has no school.
I'd love to take these teachers and randomly throughout the summer say, "No, sorry. You have an unscheduled work day today, and your pay will be docked if you don't show up! Get to it!"
If you don't have class session that day, you can't have assignments due that day. It's common courtesy, and should be common sense at a community college where a significant percentage of the students is people who have REAL jobs and need a reliable schedule from their teachers.
Bad monkey...Professor likes to play power games (only thing I can fathom as to motivation)..BAD MONKEY! Prof needs to be called into school over the summer randomly and forced to write on a black board, in chalk, for 8 hours straight "T is for teaching, not tormenting." Or maybe the classic "I will stop being a D-bag"
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
As of five minutes ago, I paid off the last of the $12,200 my mother-in-law loaned us when we left California and restarted our lives here in Texas.
Any money we give her from here on out is equity. (Since WW and his sister will jointly inherit the house, but she doesn't want it and he does, we have to document all the money we give her towards property taxes, insurance, renovations and repairs, etc. so that it can all get figured out by the MiL's lawyer and accountant.)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As of five minutes ago, I paid off the last of the $12,200 my mother-in-law loaned us when we left California and restarted our lives here in Texas.
Any money we give her from here on out is equity. (Since WW and his sister will jointly inherit the house, but she doesn't want it and he does, we have to document all the money we give her towards property taxes, insurance, renovations and repairs, etc. so that it can all get figured out by the MiL's lawyer and accountant.)
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Hello, everyone.
Hiya, John!
Hope the day is treating you well.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Marvel Movie Timeline #20: Thor: Ragnarok:
What surprised me the most about re-watching Thor: Ragnarok was that I liked it significantly less the second time through. I didn't like seeing World War Hulk (an amazing graphic novel) turned into a Thor story the first time around, but the second time around you start seeing all the inconsistencies.
So, yeah, it's still a really fun movie. The opening sequence is great. The characters all have their motives and don't come across as cardboard cut-outs. I think even Scourge's arc is interesting and believable, and he's mostly a throwaway character. Hela has good reasons for what she does.
The problem is the constant, eternal, "In spite of the fact that I could kill you right now and it would make my life significantly easier, I'm going to let you live for plot reasons," going on in the movie. And lots of other such things. Tons and tons of, "I could end the movie and win right here by doing xxx, but because we have another hour of runtime I won't."
If you haven't seen it, definitely do so. The first run-through is a blast. You might not want to watch it a second time, though, because then all those questions you managed to suppress during the first watch-through bubble to the surface of your brain, and you start thinking, "Really?"
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
This is probably one of those incidents where not being aware of the source material makes it a better film.
I admit, I develop technical training, so I'm very accustomed to, "What the engineers tell me the application should do and what it actually does are two completely distinct things, so I should step through every process to make sure my training is accurate."
What appalls me is just how many companies trust scripted QA and never have a human being test out their business processes.
Case in point: Impus Minor just turned 18. I started an investment account for him. Setting up the account was a bunch of standard stuff. "What would you like your username to be? Password? Now give us all your contact info. OK. We're set! Give us 1-2 days to confirm your information and activate the account."
Impus Minor got a text that the account was active. We tried to sign in. We couldn't. We tried to reset the password. We couldn't. We tried to verify the username. We couldn't.
Two days later we had some free time so we tried again. This time we were prompted with, "Specify a username."
In short, the original application asks you for a username and password... and those are discarded and never used again. That's bad enough. But then you get the text that the account is active 24-48 hours before it actually is.
Did ANY human being ever actually test this process before putting it into their production code?
I suspect the answer is a solid, "No, but all the scripts ran just fine!"
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Today I went to the shoe shop.
"Halloa", I said, "Do you have Shoes for sale?"
"Why, Sir, by a bizarre coincidence, it so happens that we do. Pray, does Sir intend to pay for them?"
"Oh indeed yes. I will pay Good Money for Good Shoes"
"Then perhaps Sir would like this pair of brown desert boots in return for three hundred and ninety pounds of solid English coinage?"
Did they have little wheels in, or flashing LED strips on the side?
Were there functional wings on the heels?
Could they cover seven leagues with one stride?
Were they made of solid f!#!ing gold?
Friends, none of those things were true, believe it or not, so I bought a pair at a much, much more modest price and had done.
Today I went to the shoe shop.
"Halloa", I said, "Do you have Shoes for sale?"
"Why, Sir, by a bizarre coincidence, it so happens that we do. Pray, does Sir intend to pay for them?"
"Oh indeed yes. I will pay Good Money for Good Shoes"
"Then perhaps Sir would like this pair of brown desert boots in return for three hundred and ninety pounds of solid English coinage?"
Did they have little wheels in, or flashing LED strips on the side?
Were there functional wings on the heels?
Could they cover seven leagues with one stride?
Were they made of solid f#%#ing gold?
Friends, none of those things were true, believe it or not, so I bought a pair at a much, much more modest price and had done.
That's about three times the price of outdoor boots I had discussed with a friend last week.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
My job alerts today included, "Home Room Teacher".
Er...
#1: I am 100% NOT qualified to work with kids under 13
#2: What kind of school has the kind of budget to hire me as a home room teacher?
Someone's algorithm needs fixing...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Today I went to the shoe shop.
"Halloa", I said, "Do you have Shoes for sale?"
"Why, Sir, by a bizarre coincidence, it so happens that we do. Pray, does Sir intend to pay for them?"
"Oh indeed yes. I will pay Good Money for Good Shoes"
"Then perhaps Sir would like this pair of brown desert boots in return for three hundred and ninety pounds of solid English coinage?"
Did they have little wheels in, or flashing LED strips on the side?
Were there functional wings on the heels?
Could they cover seven leagues with one stride?
Were they made of solid f&%$ing gold?
Friends, none of those things were true, believe it or not, so I bought a pair at a much, much more modest price and had done.
That's over $500.
Shoes that expensive are like civet-poop coffee or gold-plated steaks. There may be perfectly logical reasons to justify the cost, but I have no desire to experience them.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
We went to Camden Town in London during the record-setting 2019 heat wave and got a leather jacket, leather gloves, and two pairs of leather boots, all for about 500 pounds.
You sure there wasn't a second pair of boots inside the first?
So this'll be interesting.
Shiro got in touch with the salesperson and she said that yes, the car would be arriving Saturday, and yes, he could buy it outright on Saturday, and yes, he'd only have to pay the agreed-upon price.
The fact that all three of us expect that he'll drive up only to have them pull the same exact dealer markup bullpuckey says a lot about car dealerships.
As does the modern realization that people who finance are better than those with cash on hand.
Sure, she could sell a car this year for 100% cash, impress us, and we'd buy a car from her next year for 100% cash. But if instead she can finance that same car to some poor schmuck for 14.9% APR, she'll do better by her company in the long run.
Sad but true.
Today I went to the shoe shop.
"Halloa", I said, "Do you have Shoes for sale?"
"Why, Sir, by a bizarre coincidence, it so happens that we do. Pray, does Sir intend to pay for them?"
"Oh indeed yes. I will pay Good Money for Good Shoes"
"Then perhaps Sir would like this pair of brown desert boots in return for three hundred and ninety pounds of solid English coinage?"
Did they have little wheels in, or flashing LED strips on the side?
Were there functional wings on the heels?
Could they cover seven leagues with one stride?
Were they made of solid f&%$ing gold?
Friends, none of those things were true, believe it or not, so I bought a pair at a much, much more modest price and had done.
That's over $500.
Shoes that expensive are like civet-poop coffee or gold-plated steaks. There may be perfectly logical reasons to justify the cost, but I have no desire to experience them.
Now I know what to get you for your birthday!
Impurities detected....
So this'll be interesting.
Shiro got in touch with the salesperson and she said that yes, the car would be arriving Saturday, and yes, he could buy it outright on Saturday, and yes, he'd only have to pay the agreed-upon price.
The fact that all three of us expect that he'll drive up only to have them pull the same exact dealer markup bullpuckey says a lot about car dealerships.
As does the modern realization that people who finance are better than those with cash on hand.
Sure, she could sell a car this year for 100% cash, impress us, and we'd buy a car from her next year for 100% cash. But if instead she can finance that same car to some poor schmuck for 14.9% APR, she'll do better by her company in the long run.
Sad but true.
You ARE getting old!
The fact that dealerships can make significant amounts of profit by upselling interest rates (as in, the bank approves you for a loan at 4%, but the dealership tells it's 6%, you sign the papers, and the dealership gets to keep the extra 2%) is one reason a former car dealer suggests you imply that you will finance, even if you are planning to pay cash. If they think they can make an extra $2500 off you by upselling your interest rate, they may be willing to knock $2000 off the price. Then, once a final price is agreed upon, you say "Know what, I think I'll just pay cash". He also suggested that when the finance manager says "Great news! I got the bank to approve you for only 6%!", that you say "Can I see the approval form?". They don't have to show it to you, but if they refuse it suggests that they may be trying to rip you off.
Yeah, I've heard exactly the same thing -- dealerships love financing for the reasons you mention, plus they can add thousands of dollars to the cost of the car with "rust-proof coatings" and "fabric protection" and easily hide it in the monthly cost. Geez, when we were leasing the Echo the entire conversation was, "Well, how much do you want to pay a month?"
He wasn't amused by my consistent response of "$50. Now what will you actually let me pay?"
But when we're walking in ready to pay MSRP, it's amazingly annoying we still can't buy the car. Just like my McRib example: "Well, we know the menu says $3.69, but *YOU* have to pay $4.09 because you're paying in full up front."
And 4%? 6%? It really has been a while. My friends were living in Sacramento and getting car dealership loan offers and routinely seeing interest rates in the 20s.
EDIT: To clarify, their fax number was one digit off of a car dealership's finance office, so they were getting contracts sent from the dealership for financial approval, and the loan rates ran from 12% up to 30%.
Today I went to the shoe shop.
"Halloa", I said, "Do you have Shoes for sale?"
"Why, Sir, by a bizarre coincidence, it so happens that we do. Pray, does Sir intend to pay for them?"
"Oh indeed yes. I will pay Good Money for Good Shoes"
"Then perhaps Sir would like this pair of brown desert boots in return for three hundred and ninety pounds of solid English coinage?"
Did they have little wheels in, or flashing LED strips on the side?
Were there functional wings on the heels?
Could they cover seven leagues with one stride?
Were they made of solid f&%$ing gold?
Friends, none of those things were true, believe it or not, so I bought a pair at a much, much more modest price and had done.
That's over $500.
Shoes that expensive are like civet-poop coffee or gold-plated steaks. There may be perfectly logical reasons to justify the cost, but I have no desire to experience them.
Um, yeah, and those wouldn't even be in my size.
Due to the size of my feet and the fact that I've had to battle plantar fasciitis on and off for a couple decades, my every day shoes typically run $130-150. A pair of boots tends to hit around $200 to find a pair that both fits *and* I deem comfortable. Shoes/boot over $500? Just no.