The Coffee House

[Original katomi]

Hiya all. Just a few moments here between doing the garden and the now cooking tea/evening meal 5.45 BST

 

[Original katomi]

Time to go and cook if I don’t it’s burnt offerings lol

 

[jeffashman]

Good morning Folks! It's Taco Tuesday!! In other news... we got our passports in less than a month, color me impressed! We are now putting into motion a plan to visit the Cayman Islands. My biggest challenge? Do I take my Canon R7 and Tamron 18-400mm lens or play it safe and take my Canon Powershot SX10 IS (which has 28-560mm zoom and f/2.8 aperture). If I lose the SX10 or it gets stolen, I'll be much less heart broken. Note to self, get travel insurance. I'm leaning towards the SX10, because it takes pretty decent pictures, and is smaller and lighter to carry than the R7+lens. The biggest shocker so far has been the 38% VAT on the hotel room. I have a feeling that 38% is going to make this an expensive vacation but YOLO, right?

 

[terri]

Congrats on getting the passports! We made the mistake of moving two months after getting ours and, aside from a quick run into Ontario, haven't planned a thing.

Yes - YOLO! Don't sweat the cost too much or you'll never leave the house!

I do tend to travel light with camera gear and am generally glad not to have the extra stress of worrying about it. Go for it!

 

[jeffashman]

Congrats on getting the passports! We made the mistake of moving two months after getting ours and, aside from a quick run into Ontario, haven't planned a thing.

Yes - YOLO! Don't sweat the cost too much or you'll never leave the house!

I do tend to travel light with camera gear and am generally glad not to have the extra stress of worrying about it. Go for it!

Yep, I think I'll go with the SX10, since it takes pretty decent photos. Just have to spend some time to relearn it...
Swallowtail and Flower 2 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

 

[GBGilbert]

I don't suppose the topic of budgeting comes up here. In addition to photography and pyrography, I develop software as a pasttime. My focus has been creating a program for managing household finances. I've been working on this software since 2000. Been thinking about putting it out there to see if anyone else could be interested. I have a "Coming soon" website which, so far, hasn't drawn much attention.

 

[SquarePeg]

Good morning Folks! It's Taco Tuesday!! In other news... we got our passports in less than a month, color me impressed! We are now putting into motion a plan to visit the Cayman Islands. My biggest challenge? Do I take my Canon R7 and Tamron 18-400mm lens or play it safe and take my Canon Powershot SX10 IS (which has 28-560mm zoom and f/2.8 aperture). If I lose the SX10 or it gets stolen, I'll be much less heart broken. Note to self, get travel insurance. I'm leaning towards the SX10, because it takes pretty decent pictures, and is smaller and lighter to carry than the R7+lens. The biggest shocker so far has been the 38% VAT on the hotel room. I have a feeling that 38% is going to make this an expensive vacation but YOLO, right?

Just take the smaller camera and have fun without the worries. Unless it’s a photography specific trip. If it’s a vacation with family somewhere tropical, I use my iPhone these days.

 

[jeffashman]

Just take the smaller camera and have fun without the worries. Unless it’s a photography specific trip. If it’s a vacation with family somewhere tropical, I use my iPhone these days.

Yep, I've decided to take the PowerShot. I went back and looked at some of the images that I captured with it twelve years ago and forgot how nice the pix came out. I was given free travel on Cayman Airways/Southwest Airlines, so DW and I decided we'll take advantage of the opportunity. Hotel reservations have been made, and 90 days out I can schedule my positive space tickets, which means they will take two seats out of inventory and set them aside for us. We still have to pay the taxes, but that's easy.

 

[webestang64]

Since I have to find another apartment I decided to check out the apartments right across the street form work. I used to live there in the 90's so I know the place well. BUT back in the 90's I paid $485 a month....now that same floor plan is $1140. Oh well, at least I can walk to work and the grocery store and save about $100 in gas a month.
BTW the 3 Mustang's I own. Sold one (85 coupe) and taking one to store at a friends house (my 88 convertible- needs a second rebuild anyway). So that just leaves my 99 coupe I'll have at the apartment.
So I'll try again next year to buy a house.

 

[jeffashman]

Since I have to find another apartment I decided to check out the apartments right across the street form work. I used to live there in the 90's so I know the place well. BUT back in the 90's I paid $485 a month....now that same floor plan is $1140. Oh well, at least I can walk to work and the grocery store and save about $100 in gas a month.
BTW the 3 Mustang's I own. Sold one (85 coupe) and taking one to store at a friends house (my 88 convertible- needs a second rebuild anyway). So that just leaves my 99 coupe I'll have at the apartment.
So I'll try again next year to buy a house.

Less driving should lower insurance premiums as well.

 

[Original katomi]

I don't suppose the topic of budgeting comes up here. In addition to photography and pyrography, I develop software as a pasttime. My focus has been creating a program for managing household finances. I've been working on this software since 2000. Been thinking about putting it out there to see if anyone else could be interested. I have a "Coming soon" website which, so far, hasn't drawn much attention.

I built a spread sheet program for accounting on an old Dos 3 based spreadsheet

 

[dxqcanada]

Back in the 90's my wife and I rented a place just outside downtown Toronto ... two floors, patio deck, and a room the previous renter painted all flat black even the window ... I think we paid about $450 per month.
If that place was still there today it would be about $3000 a month.

 

[dxqcanada]

I don't suppose the topic of budgeting comes up here. In addition to photography and pyrography, I develop software as a pasttime. My focus has been creating a program for managing household finances. I've been working on this software since 2000. Been thinking about putting it out there to see if anyone else could be interested. I have a "Coming soon" website which, so far, hasn't drawn much attention.

I use a spreadsheet to micro manage my finances as I have not found anything that gives me a enough detail to know exactly how much I will have at a specific day ... times are financially tougher ... there was a time that I did not even have to think about not having money, not now.

 

[webestang64]

OK....so one more house to look at in south St. Louis city. This one looks very promising as it is listed by my realtor and has for sure been completely rehabbed. A little older than the other, built in 1891. Here's hoping.

 

[smoke665]

@webestang64 Wow a 133 year old house, if those walls could talk, the stories they could tell. Good luck, just be careful the term "rehab" covers a lot of territory, especially on an old house like that. Totally forgot my cousins daughter is a realtor in St. Louis, if yours doesn't work out you might contact her, https://bethmuckerman.worthclark.com/ her mom and I talk about every week.