Octopus Overlords

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:39 am I get to pay $1,600 for storm damage cleanup around my house. 100 MPH winds last week that were NOT a tornado.

My trees crushed both back yard neighbors' fences. Sorry about that!

Could be worse, at least 7 neighbors to the northeast of me all had trees on their roofs. It's been nothing but chainsaw music here for a week.

Just in time for Christmas, a crew showed up today (unannounced) to "prune" my willow tree. The City Compliance Department demanded it due to a neighbor's complaint regarding a hanging limb. One of the neighbors who got their fence crushed...so I don't really blame her.

I knew The City was going to do this, I just didn't know it was going to be today.

$2145 for "pruning" plus whatever The City fines me, $100 or so. That's over $3k for what wasn't even a tornado. Have I mentioned how much I hate owning a home?

I know somebody's wife who won't get any presents this year...

All of my expected major purchases are behind me -- well, except Wife has four more teeth to replace, but we have the money for that in the bank, and then her bionic mouth project will finally be finished (after four years and $40,000). So...next anticipated major purchase is hiring an electrician to rewire our house, which I won't do until spring because I like having heat during the winter.

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:05 pm $2145 for "pruning" plus whatever The City fines me, $100 or so. That's over $3k for what wasn't even a tornado. Have I mentioned how much I hate owning a home?

I'm looking at hiring for some tree removal next year. My neighbor had a huge tree ripped out by a crew in about 90 minutes for $500. I was all "I have no idea how a company can afford to that but if they are insured, I want their number" I was terrified removal would the price you paid. I can't see how they make living for less even if I can't afford to pay that kind of money. For pruning? $2100? /faints

Hot water heater. Came home from work tonight and jumped into the shower and there was no hot water. Went over to the hot water heater and tried to restart the pilot light. Took a break to eat supper and noticed water dripping on my dining room table. Looked up and see the ceiling is getting saturated with water. Ran back upstairs and shut off the water. Weird that it would start leaking right when I was trying to fire it back up. And who thought it was a good idea to put the mechanicals on the second floor. Put a call into the repair man but it will probably be Thursday before I can get any help. No water for the holidays. This water heater lasted 7 1/2 years.

I just paid $900 for my front tooth bridge. Dentist was going to do an implant, but after x-ray, decided that my jaw doesn't show enough bone density, and I need to see an oral surgeon... out of pocket to get a second opinion. I told him to skip it and just do the bridge. Right now I have a temporary, with the permanent coming in a few weeks. But I have 600 in FSA so I'm really out of pocket $300.

mori wrote: ↑Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:55 pm And who thought it was a good idea to put the mechanicals on the second floor. Put a call into the repair man but it will probably be Thursday before I can get any help. No water for the holidays. This water heater lasted 7 1/2 years.

Moving utilities out of the cellar makes sense as floods come more often...but the second floor in a house? No. And yeah, these things always happen on holiday weekends. Our last two water heaters were replaced on emergency terms, and both times we paid way too much for a fairly crappy replacement unit. (The second time it still had some warranty left, so I got a pro-rated price...but the emergency service call dwarfs the price of the unit anyway.)

Your story reminds me that our current water heater is getting old, and I ought to be proactive this time. Maybe even look into one of those tankless jobbies.

Are you on oil heat? Not sure it matters, but our new house has a indirect water heater system that is run through the oil furnace and it's effectively a tankless, on demand system. Would recommend, though it might require significant changes to your furnace (assuming it can be done to a gas furnace as well). Having replaced 3 electric water heaters in 12 years, all I can say is F that nonsense.

You know our water heater crapola. When I got here in 1988 the one here was probably 2 decades old if not more. It went maybe 1992 and they put another in . It lasted...and Im guessing on my memory on this stuff......about 15 year. Then another and I think the last one lasted a couple years..maybe 4...it was barely in warranty when it went kaput. Me and D had this one installed free cept for labor in 2016. We were going to try flushing it out every year or two to see if that helped. We let it go thinking we'd doit 2018 but didn't get to it and this year I was in no mental state to bother with a damn water heater. Plus I was afraid if I break it Im not sure who to call as she knew people...and I know no one at all. usually her cousin knew people too and thats who found the last guy. But the cousin died Christmas 2017.

But I HAVE to flush it come warm spring. I dont want to lose it. Should be simple enough. Unscrew the old fuses, attach hose, open valve.

I just bought a new 2020 Nissan Murano. My old car was a Murano also and I took it in for service at 120,000 miles and 14 years old. It was going to take $3500 to fix a bunch of stuff needed because the car is was just old, and the tech said there were a couple of other possible issues down the road. So a new car it was. Nissan had $5,000 cash back and the dealer gave me another $4,000 off so I got a pretty sweet deal I think. It wasn't planned but it wasn't totally unplanned with, just because the car was so old and I knew I might need to get a new at any time. So yay, me Merry
Christmas to me!

My mom had a Nissan Maxima in the 80s and my dad a Nissan truck. Both were very solid vehicles with no troubles.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:35 pm Are you on oil heat? Not sure it matters, but our new house has a indirect water heater system that is run through the oil furnace and it's effectively a tankless, on demand system. Would recommend, though it might require significant changes to your furnace (assuming it can be done to a gas furnace as well). Having replaced 3 electric water heaters in 12 years, all I can say is F that nonsense.

The system in the old part of the house is a gas boiler, side-arm, and radiator heat. During the winter the faucet water gets HOT! I assume because the boiler is running more frequently to heat the radiators. Last time I had a repairman here, he said that the old boilers are only about 50% efficient; but that they run forever. The zone controls, however, are apparently far less sturdy. I think I've replaced all three of mine. Though I guess that's not too bad for being in the house nearly 20 years.

The addition has a water heater. It takes ages now for the faucets to get warm. Which is a bummer. But I do like that I have separate water and heat systems. So barring a power outage, I can always just shift to the other part of the house if I need to. So hopefully (knocks on wood) I won't have to make those holiday/weekend emergency calls... again.

I would like to go to a tankless water heater but will see how the timeline works out with getting something installed. It is just me living in this house with very light hot water demand so tankless would be the most efficient and practical for my needs.

2020 Kia Telluride.

First payment is the day after Christmas.

I like the styling on the Murano; if I had to drive a station wagon, that would probably be the one.

My 1979 Datsun 710 was the most cost-effective car I ever owned. Bought it for $600 and sold it two years later for $400; the only money I put into it was new tires and a battery.

$1100 later I have hot water again. Sadly I was not able to go tankless. The plumber came to the house Friday morning and we discussed options. But when he said that a new vent system would need to be run and cutting into the roof, my heart sunk. That meant dealing with the development management and asking for permission. F those F'n F'rs (I don't have the best relationship with them). So it was going to be a like for like change. I would of gladly paid twice as much for the more energy efficient tankless unit install. He came back Saturday morning and a couple hours later he was done.

Even though I would never admit it to family and friends, roughing it was not a big deal. Improvising and doing without was not a big deal. Could of gotten by till after the holiday season.

According to this plumber, I could of run 220V to an electric tankless water heater, but he said those were shit. Can anyone comment?

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Dec 24, 2019 2:07 pm I like the styling on the Murano; if I had to drive a station wagon, that would probably be the one.

My 1979 Datsun 710 was the most cost-effective car I ever owned. Bought it for $600 and sold it two years later for $400; the only money I put into it was new tires and a battery.

The only station wagon I ever liked the look of was the Dodge Magnum wagon. Our vet back when they came out had one and I liked the lines.



Charger / Magnum mashup

Tires for gilraen's car, apparently.

Though I will be much happier when she has new tires. Her current ones have almost no tread left.

Got another 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid to replace the one that was totaled on the freeway in November.

It's the exact same car i had before the accident except it's gray, it only has 13000 miles on it and the payments are $150 lower thanks to the insurance payout going to the down payment. I paid about the same for this one that I paid for the previous one in 2017 (it was used but only a few months old) which tells me I got a screaming deal back then.

A lot of hassle to wind up with the exact same car.

I used to have one of those. I thought they stopped making them.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:42 am I used to have one of those. I thought they stopped making them.

Accord Hybrids? Yep, they still make those.

A puppy. $300 for a rescue puppy. And bunch more for puppy supplies and upcoming vet visits for vaccinations/neutering.

9 week old male German Shephard/Lab mix. Had first round of vaccinations.

Daughter is planning to self-train as a service dog (mental support, sort of like dogs for PTSD).

Her first dog, wife's first dog. My brother got a puppy when I was like 7-8. We had dogs before that. I don't remember anything about puppy training.

I have a fair idea of dog care basic requirements (I don't have them but have several friends/relatives who do and helped my aunt when I was there).

Puppies are a TON of work compared to basic dog care. Not at all like kittens. Litter box trained and they're pretty much good to go. Puppy needs to go outside every 2 hours minimum, if not more often. Immediately after naps, shortly after eating. Can't leave him alone or he'll start getting into things he shouldn't and might chew/swallow something that will hurt him. Have to get up over night (made the kid do this, though she goes to bed early and I'm off work for a while, so I took the last shift of the night (about midnight).

Kid's working with neighbor girl she went to school with who just got a dog not so long ago (so knew puppy training place and what they told her to do and is working to be a pet trainer or work with animals in some capacity (not a vet, didn't want to get into the insides of the critters).

Cat's not happy with him. Cat has gotten a little more comfortable in that he can be in the same room (not on the ground, but up on furniture) if the dog is not too active. Cat has taken to hiding in kitchen cupboard a lot of the time.

On the whole, I'd rather stick with cats, but they make lousy service animals.

Even little puppies can learn.

Probably a digital piano for my daughter since she is very interested in learning to play piano and have been asking for us to let her take piano classes.

A real piano is not suitable for my apartment so that only leave it to a digital or a hybrid piano and a hybrid piano is too expensive.

I guess I have to postpone getting a new GPU and a new monitor for another year.

Maybe start out with a Casio (do they still exist?) keyboard to see if she has aptitude and interest for it before you spend big bucks. That's what I'd do, and I'd be a horrible father.

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:09 pm Maybe start out with a Casio (do they still exist?) keyboard to see if she has aptitude and interest for it before you spend big bucks. That's what I'd do, and I'd be a horrible father.

She has aptitude, but I'm not sure about her long term interest. My plan is for her to take a beginner piano class first for a month or two then if she is still intereted, I'll get a digital piano for her to practice at home.

Only thing about digitals is the keyboards are usually not full sized.

Smart move. I had at least some aptitude for lots of not-sports things when I was a kid, but my interest faded as soon as fun turned into work.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:19 pm Only thing about digitals is the keyboards are usually not full sized.

Low end digital piano models are smaller with less keys but the middle to top models are all full size.

This is probably what I'll buy for her if she is still interested in learning piano after taking piano classes for two months:

$600 of HSA to burn so...designer reading glasses? Tons of first aid supplies?

HSA? Those funds should carry over year to year. It's an FSA that becomes "use it or lose it" at the end of the year.

Super duper first aid kits for the house and cars, TENS unit for muscle soreness, Sonicare toothbrush, ...

disarm wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2019 11:59 am HSA? Those funds should carry over year to year. It's an FSA that becomes "use it or lose it" at the end of the year.

Sorry, yeah FSA.

Isgrimnur wrote:Sonicare toothbrush...

I just got a Sonicare DiamondClean last month after using a manual toothbrush for 40 years...holy smokes what a difference! I'm already convinced that everyone should be using a quality electric toothbrush and just bought one for my wife

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2019 12:00 pm Super duper first aid kits for the house and cars, TENS unit for muscle soreness, Sonicare toothbrush, ...

Toothbrush is a good one.

I have tourniquets, chest seals, and Israeli bandages in every backpack and go-bag ("Stop the Bleed") in the house. Also in the car. Have a drawer full first aid supplies from last year. Have a blood pressure thing from last year too.

Sunscreen? I don't use it but the wife and kids do and IIRC it's expensive.

Maybe a bunch of tourniquets to donate to the CPD? I know some kid did a fundraiser for that recently and they were appreciative.

Browsing the FSA store for ideas.

Sunscreen expires and the latest science is suggesting the chemicals soaking into your skin and in your blood might not be good. Stick with zinc oxide sunscreens instead, IMHO. Also, wear hats and long sleeve shirts. Avoid the sun, it burns. Burns the precious.

See if you can get N100 or N95 masks for a go-bag in the medical shop. Space (foil) blankets. You can buy contact lenses with them too and stash them away (assuming you or your wife wear them).

Masks is a good one. I go through those when cleaning and keep some in the range bag for dirty ranges.

No one in the house wears contacts.

Not sure if foil blankets are covered but have a ton already anyway.



Did you know that you need a prescription for hydrocortisone to be covered? It's an OTC product but not reimbursable unless rx'd.

In January our first order of Insulin will burn through a large part of the deductible. I’m on the other side of the equation.

Toothbrush doesn't appear to be eligible.

So far cpr masks for car and backpack, lots of first aid supplies, sunscreen, reading glasses, condoms (who knew?), thermometer.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2019 4:49 pm Toothbrush doesn't appear to be eligible.

Well, that sucks.

Most FSA can carry over a limited amount (a few hundred, typically).

I have a Waterpik but haven't used it yet. I actually have TWO sets of electric toothbrushes, but I kinda lost the first one's charge base. *sigh*