WTF-Beta

I had never heard of the one hand thing either.

I have a similar thought about dividing what's important from what not so much.

So- wallet, phone, and keys.

I have one of those rubber things to hang glasses around your neck.

I need to stop thinking of them as being in the same category.

I'm near sighted but I could function without them if I had to and replacing them is easy.

I lost 2 phones in a short amount of time. It freaked me out.

To set up a new phone with the same number took me an hour on the phone (my neighbor's) the 1st time, and 3 hours on the phone at Best Buy the 2nd time.

The 3 hours was with no break, although the call randomly disconnected after an hour; then the 2nd call took 2 hours.

The 1st "agent" failed. The 2nd succeed. I have a feeling it's because it was a side job- he was studying electrical engineering. Even he only made it work at the last minute. Hence, the need to stand there forb 2 hours.

Well, I don't know how weird I am but I'm a nerd for sure.

Lamps.

'50's lucite table lamp. Keeper. Left here.

'70's porcelain base table lamp. Keeper. Left here.

'80's solid resin base in shape of tree branches with "carved" scene of mother American White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) 🤪 feeding baby. Keeper. Left here.

I wouldn't pay $1 for it at a garage sale but it's functional.

My lamps. This was a project.

2 small, matching ceramic lamps with mid-century design (I guess it's supposed to be like a woven basket, pineapple shaped, shade narrower at top than at bottom, takes (and I use- this was the point) incandescent bulbs with not many lumens. 🤪 Shades are tan.

1 small ceramic (advertised- in fact it's resin) lamp that's same size and also uses incandescent bulb.

Mid-century design- geometric. Looks like a jar with pattern of vertical lines. Pale- medium and unique orange color. Shade is not tapered. Shade is white.

Desk lamp with small round base, metal to bend to point the light. Also incandescent.

I'm trying to get the rest of the bulbs in my light fixtures replaced with LED.

Most of the fixtures are banks of lights in "boxes" on ceiling covered by plastic grates in the kitchen and large bathroom.

So the grates have to be taken apart and cleaned to replace bulbs. They aren't readily accessible. The minute the grates are moved dirt will start falling everywhere, the grates will be greasy, and they're too big to be cleaned inside.

So 2 projects in 1.

Oh, and I bought a $19.99 tall lamp from Walmart and tried to assemble it. So dumb of me to waste $19.99 on a tall lamp. $19.99 tall lamp?

I got the rods screwed together except the last one. It sits in a corner of my living room with the top most rid and actual light fixture hanging toward the floor waiting to be taken to the dumpsters.

I'd like a nice (enough) tall lamp for the living room. The living room is a pretty vast space with no ceiling fixture and no wiring for one.

Maybe I'll attach a chandelier (from Murano- j/k) from the ceiling with an extension cord. Yes, I like this idea.

There are 2 clamshell storm shutters outside the 2 living room windows.

They're open. I'm having them shut, for storms but mainly for privacy.

I have two in the big bedroom. They're shut. Some light gets in but nobody can see in at any angle. In fact, I could take the excuses for curtains that are there now and take them away. They're going anyway. It course I'll replace with something basic.

Lamps, yes. The real logistical challenge for me is keeping track of bulbs. I still don't know what I have installed, everything I have stored, and what bulb where is ready to say good bye.

ArchaeoHistories on X: "The second, alternative version of the Mona Lisa is widely known as the Isleworth Mona Lisa; an early 16th-century portrait that depicts Lisa del Giocondo looking noticeably younger than she does in the famous Louvre painting... Hidden from public view for decades, a myste… / X

https://share.google/aIF4SIWUTK0xnwvfu

Another fake. Mysterious MA.

He didn't paint it. It isn't from his workshop either.

Think about it. All these people have are assertions.

Look at this monstrosity. Look at the face. Look at the background.

Forgive me for being blunt but FFS./ rant

@jon-nyc Welcome to Pinellas County! I'm glad the weather was good for you! Need I say awesome work and poster of you!

Link to video

His mother is his foil.

She never leaves him alone. She's always making him do chores.

Who can say when it's fiction but let's be honest. Someone spoiled him. Lol!

@shirokuro I admire your positive attitude!

I need to be more positive, and whatever I do, I need to develop better discipline and consistency.

Agreed!

To be clear, I wasn't thinking about it being gas. Sorry.

What I read is that the commercial clothes washers are sold by some appliance stores to residential customers.

I'd like to be corrected by Steve if I'm wrong because I'm considering this option.

@Bernard said:

After my experience with the LG washer I will never buy another of their products.

Everyone says that.

I'm in a bind.

Maybe another big box store not Home Depot both sells Danby, and does haul away.

I'll start (re-start) here.

I looked at the Asko price point for the base model. Not happening.

I might get a commercial Speed Queen.

I'm not getting a 3 years and the electronics kill the machine washer no matter what.

@wtg Google AI this to double check but I've read that there are appliance stores who will sell commercial Speed Queen washers and dryers to residential customers.

Hi, jon.

You're well traveled to say the least.

Well, I've been deep into home security videos now that I have a home to secure, and the same with personal security videos, now that I'm living alone.

I watched a video by ex-CIA (these videos are a dime dozen) last night.

I want to run what the man said by you.

He said- keep one hand free at all times. Choose ahead of time. I don't see how he couldn't have meant the dominant hand.

To be complete, he said scan the terminal on a schedule of your own making. He said look everywhere but nowhere specifically, at nothing specific, at nobody specific. Only make sure you do it routinely every x minutes.

So, his theory is that if you're in public and you have something to carry (e.g. a bag), and you are using both hands, you can easily get distracted by what you're doing, not be aware of your surroundings, and drop things on the ground very easily (e.g. a cellphone- I know this part to be true after losing 2 cellphones over the past 1 1/2 years- that you can lose a cellphone or wallet- don't want to Jix it but haven't done that).

So, when I go anywhere, my wallet and keys are in a bag in a zipped pocket, inside a zipped main pocket. My phone and reading glasses are more of a problem because I have to use them almost constantly.

I'd like to know your thoughts on all this, and what you think of doing everything using one hand while having the other free.

I don't see how I could use only one hand but maybe.

In any case, I'd like to improve. I feel like I do get distracted. I know I drop stuff on the ground, even if not recently.

So, do you have any security tips for traveling?

Go commercial or go home.

Link to video

This is a typical day for me but in a less lighter hearted way of course.

What has to be done? Is it a business day? What can't be done before 9 or after 5? What appointments have to be kept? What office work has to get done? Is someone coming? If so, when? It doesn't stop.

This happened to me just yesterday.

Chose a clothes washer at Home Depot.

Planned on it for a week.

Might have ordered it today.

No.

I had to put all the necessary information in my phone.

I had to do it yesterday.

So I attempt it and it's only at this point I read every word on the product page (aka "fine print").

Haul away and installation are not available for this item.

I can't haul away my clothes washer. I don't know how to do anything with plumbing.

So I said FI. I'll think about this another day.

And Thursday I edited an extensive list of financial notes that only existed on paper and accidentally threw it away.

I had worked on it for 3 days.

At this point I've used the time and energy I had allotted for the task. But of course now I have to start over.

Yeah, I got nowhere Thursday and Friday.

I did get a few projects done with the house last week had taken days and weeks of planning including logistics of course.

I did lots of deep cleaning and many garbage hauls.

But that kind of thing doesn't get the bills paid.

This is humor but the truth in it can be so frustrating at least to me.

Wish I had an Audi but will settle for a random shower.

BFN.

My best friend in college said something on this general topic that has stayed with me.

He said-

"Life was not meant for stasis".

@bernard Congratulations! It's gorgeous! And it looks great in situ for sure.

Well, it's like living in a mansion compared to my previous place. It's a double wide. It's huge for 1 person.

I have a kitchen of course, a dining room, a huge living room, cathedral ceiling, I can't touch the ceiling with my fingers in the bedrooms. I need to stretch another good 3" no matter how hard I try. I have a bedroom with attached bathroom. I have a second bedroom that is much larger than the master. The guest bathroom is his and hers and it has the washer and dryer.

I have a sun porch with a 2nd door to the outside. It the same tile floor as the rest of the mobile home except the bedrooms, storm windows of the kind of quality from time back, an Art Deco style wall light, a ceiling fan of the kind of build quality from time back, and even a a Bell System phone cord outlet. Lol.

It's a very strange floor plan.

Clearly the large bedroom should be my study.

But I did run into one major renovation issue.

There's a very slow but constant water leak.

It seems to me for various reasons that vent caps got worn out or destroyed that lead to, or led to, ducting for the bathroom ceiling fans.

I think this is because my bathroom ceiling fan's ducting has been removed (how anyone got access to it and why they took it away and didn't replace it? A complete mystery.

Unfortunately, the water had caused minor ceiling and wall damage.

Sadly, it's rotted some of the floor boards under the past its prime wall to wall bedroom carpet in both bedrooms.

There are 3 bad spots where your foot will actually sink down if you put your weight on them. One in the large bedroom opposite the bathroom wall, one in my bedroom opposite bathroom wall, and 2nd one in my bedroom in the far inside corner, where water travels in a line leading back to the position of the ceiling fan. Strangely, the ceiling looks brand new until you get to the far corner. Then obviously the water travels downward with gravity.

I'm not upset from a due diligence point of view.

We don't do licenced home inspections. I haven't heard of it. The sales are "as is" no matter what, and the sellers have no obligation or incentive to renovate anything. There could be a lien holders, in theory, but I never heard of anyone not paying cash. So there have never been lien holder requirements.

I don't have an estimate yet. I haven't had time. The rainy season is about to end. I plan to figure out what's happening and what will be involved in repairing the leak asap for sure.

I don't know what I'm going to do about the floor. I can't think about that now or my head will explode. The entire subfloor for this many sq ft can be replaced (and the work is made possible by the fact the structure is raised about 4 ft off the ground) for 7k.

I don't want to spend 7k. I might let the water damage "dry out" (except it won't really) as long as the floor will hold.

Unfortunately, the previous owners lived here for 3 months a year. Of course they factored this in (and their plan to sell- of course) when making maintenance decisions.

It is what it is.

The large bedroom's carpet makes it unusable except for storage for now. Carpet's great but it has to be taken care of on a daily basis. You can't ignore it for 9 months of the year. Clearly they were not going to replace it because they knew about the floor.

But I like it! It is c. 1972 and was the highest price point everything brand and options possible built in the original 1/2 of the park. It's one of the nicest mobile homes (I mean top 10 out of 400 not to brag about it) and the street is the nicest street in the park IMO.

It's kind of a "grande dame" complete with a little water damage. Lol.

It's like a '70's time capsule in a way. You know I love that.

Right now I'm doing security upgrades. I have a plan I spent months researching. I'm almost done. In fact I have 10 solar power perimeter stake lights arriving today.

The locks were just changed.

I have the keys. What other keys are floating around after all these years? There aren't any now.

But yes! My life here is much less stressful.

I mean just the fact of having electricity doesn't suck.

I like living alone.

Imagine- this is the first time I've done it.

It's all good.

Thanks for asking.

@Mik said:

You might have a salt water pool where you are. They have a lot less chemicals.

Maybe. It wouldn't be a municipal facility but you could be right. I'll check.

I meant to say something about our beaches.

Note: If a Florida vacation is somerhing you want to take or more likely take your family on then listen carefully.

The beaches here had more industrial pollution (development run off, agricultural run off, same as HI) than people wanted to think about way back when, let alone now.

There is red tide occasionally, although nothing like that one year when it made the beaches look like a hellscape.

People should also know the flesh eating bacteria found in ocean water that people might/ should associate with the Tropics is rampant up and down the west coast of Florida.

I don't know when it got this way, but the problem is pretty severe.

Yeah, and sharks.

I don't go to the beach.

Of course I did way back when, but never again.

@mik I want a fresh water swimming pool.

Swim, no pressure on joints, don't take a chlorine bath.

Well, that's one of my materialistic fantasies.

As to gym-- not going to one unless someone were to physically drag me to one and even then I'd escape and make a run for it (no pun intended).

As to exercise machines-- I like this idea. I want to do it. Now however my living room is filled with indoor furniture, patio furniture, 3 coffee tables I need to get rid of, and one bedroom door. I actually slammed it permanently open and unable to open more as well as close. In short, I bent the hinges.

I had to free it and store it in the living room. It's big (tall) and solid (not technically solid wood but made with thick and heavy wood panels).

I don't remember why I lost my temper.

@kluurs Please describe the right shoes and feel free to name brands and models?

I have a stand pair of NB. They're nothing to write home about...

In fact, they're pretty uncomfortable.