The Coffee House

[terri]

We've had fires for the last couple of nights. We ripped out the gas logs and replaced the mantel and surrounding tile over the summer, since the last mantel was apparently way out of compliance.

So, the best discovery has been that Miss Finn is quite a fire cat. She collapses in front of the logs and barely moves.

Our other cat, Bex, sits at a safe distance and doesn't seem to care one way or another. Finn's like a hound dog.

 

[snowbear]

The temperature is almost at the point where we can open the windows, just a little too cool.

 

[SquarePeg]

Our other cat, Bex, sits at a safe distance and doesn't seem to care one way or another. Finn's like a hound dog.

Weird angle or ginormous kitty?

 

[Fujidave]

Not up to much today, cold grotty and grey out and no rain forecast.

 

[Fujidave]

Well the rain did actually come in today, so Susie wanted a shot for her boyfriend. Plus it gave me time to practice using the Godox350TTL on the camera.

 

[terri]

Our other cat, Bex, sits at a safe distance and doesn't seem to care one way or another. Finn's like a hound dog.

Weird angle or ginormous kitty?

Weird angle, cell phone shot. She's actually the smaller of the two, but she can still stretch out with the best of them!

 

[waday]

Hi all, odd question for you. I was recently the winner of an online contest, and I won a gift card to the store. I'm trying to figure out what to get. My question is this: would you buy a wide variety of inexpensive items (that you would potentially buy separately without a free gift card), or would you buy one or two expensive/high quality items that you would likely never purchase if they weren't free? Or another option?

ETA: for example, pretend it's a gift card for $500 for a camera store. Would you put it all towards a lens for $500 that you probably wouldn't buy if it weren't free, or would you buy a lens cloth, a new camera battery, other batteries, etc.? Would you be practical or spoil yourself?

 

[SquarePeg]

Hi all, odd question for you. I was recently the winner of an online contest, and I won a gift card to the store. I'm trying to figure out what to get. My question is this: would you buy a wide variety of inexpensive items (that you would potentially buy separately without a free gift card), or would you buy one or two expensive/high quality items that you would likely never purchase if they weren't free? Or another option?

I don't think you can really go wrong with either approach. I would be tempted to splurge since spending winnings on practical stuff is kind of lame . As long as you believe in the value of these otherwise out of reach items. I find that, if we're talking camera gear, there's a lot of really good cheap versions out there - especially if you're not a pro. If this is a general type of retailer like Target or Walmart then I would buy the practical items or put it on hold and use it when you have an unexpected expense. If it's a smaller store that could go out of business then I would spend it right away on the smaller things.

 

[SquarePeg]

Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...

Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect. For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system. Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down. Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades). What a pita to chase all this down. I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it... I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.

Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car. Anyone have a CRV? I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot. I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships. One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.

 

[Original katomi]

Given your what if.
I would see how long the card was valid and watch the used section and get the best value.
Prob something that I would not normally be able to afford.
Lens cloths , those I regard as consumable and replace ... maybe more often than some but my
thought is a lens cloth is cheaper than a lens to replace. So it’s not worth using a dirty lens cloth

 

[tirediron]

...Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car. Anyone have a CRV? I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot. I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships. One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.

Don't own one, but I've wrenched on a couple. Seem to be well made, reliable vehicles on the higher end of the Honda/Toyota reliability spectrum. Any particular year/trim package?

 

[SquarePeg]

...Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car. Anyone have a CRV? I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot. I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships. One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.

Don't own one, but I've wrenched on a couple. Seem to be well made, reliable vehicles on the higher end of the Honda/Toyota reliability spectrum. Any particular year/trim package?

I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer. You'd think it would be easy but no...

 

[vintagesnaps]

If I won a $500 card I'd probably buy something I wouldn't buy otherwise, unless I had other expenses and would be better off to just use it for more practical necessities.

It's trying to be sunny. Before we warm up, get rain, then get colder - again! It is Groundhog Day, the movie, same weather again this week as the week before and the week before...!

 

[tirediron]

I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer. You'd think it would be easy but no...

Have you looked at private sales?

 

[vintagesnaps]

1 hour til - Beanpot!!!!!!!!!!! Hockey, no actual beans will be consumed.

Realized I've seen 3 of those 4 Boston college teams play live, in person, at a tournament. Was thinking I should look for my pictures of Northeastern U's Doghouse, they apparently had/have a 'road' version to travel to their games, small in number but energetic. They're going for a threepot (-peat)!