I started (regularly) cutting my own hair because I couldn't stand the way anyone else did it.  I'd go to a place, say "just cut a little off the bottom, where the back is a little rounded (not a total straight line cut) and layer the sides" and I'd end up going home and recutting it anyway.

I feel like outside of really expensive salons perhaps, layering of hair is becoming a lost art to most average/cheaper hair cutters.  So many don't seem to know how to do it at all and think an even hair trimmer use is layering.

Edited June 1, 20214 yr by LadyCrimson

I essentially do my hair the way I see it done in bootcamp videos, except I use a blade guard.

....screw going all the way up to Oregon.  Guess where we're going this weekend.
...hubby's company has an office in Sac.  and it's much closer to current office if he did have to come down here once in a while
...note, we're not actually all that likely to move but definitely want to check it out, because something that price could be a no-loan purchase for us (eg, we could still rent the 1st house for a year, vs. sell it, in case we change our minds)

...I know someone in Sac. and he's been complaining that all of us "Bay Area ppl" that are thinking the same thoughts, are coming up there and making rent hike up.    Probably happening all over in areas a couple hours away from the Bay in increasing cycles.  I'm guessing covid/work from home sped it up over the last year, too.  I wonder if that's going to bite some in the butt if companies start retracting the work from home promises as covid becomes less of a risk because productivity loss is noted to be too much.

Edited June 3, 20214 yr by LadyCrimson

Yeah...but Sacramento is super hot. I'd go up a bit higher into Placerville area if I were you. Granted, they catch fire every year.

Holy smokes, those prices. Is that... typical in those areas? 

19 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Yeah...but Sacramento is super hot. I'd go up a bit higher into Placerville area if I were you. Granted, they catch fire every year.

was 107F just a couple days past. 

home insurance has gone way up for our properties in sacramento county even though am not in a genuine high wildfire risk zone. anywhere with low water has seen an increase in home insurance. 

grass valley is comfortable, but is a long commute to a sacramento office. 

am admitting with the oppressive heat and the now seasonal wildfires making the air quality in the valley hazardous for 2-3 months each year, we were eyeballing humboldt county or perhaps maybe even doing the idaho move we has been contemplating for years. would be difficult to recommend sacramento specific, but have mentioned previous how we got multiple folks living near us who commute to the bay area and am twenty minutes east o' sacramento. 

HA! Good Fun!

ps am personal quite happy with increased rents and property values in our immediate area. 

Trying powerline adapaters as a solution to my sister's WiFi complaints.  Tested it out between the two outlets I am going to work with, got ~96 mbps.  Not that great on the face of it, but this is a pretty rough solution.  Should be enough for an AP though. Funny I got the adapters  before the long ethernet cable I need though, hah.

Coax was an option but there's stationary furniture (not my idea) blocking the ports.

Edited June 4, 20214 yr by Malcador

3 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

Yeah...but Sacramento is super hot. I'd go up a bit higher into Placerville area if I were you. Granted, they catch fire every year.

That's what air conditioning is for. I mean most of the time I just sit inside and stare at monitors anyway. Fire danger potential is a good point tho, as well as pollution. I personally would rather retire in the middle of a rainy non-tropical forest but there's not a lot of that in California. 

2 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Holy smokes, those prices. Is that... typical in those areas? 

Typical? Can't speak for Sac.  but we're somewhat lower side for our specific area - one of those few "east side" housing blocks that is considered a good starter-home/neighborhood vs. industrial. Most houses are more in 2-4 million range (at the moment). 

The Peninsula area of the middle W. Bay Area is extra-suburb expensive tho, relative to lot/house size/per foot especially.  Atherton, Woodside, Standford U, Los Altos all exist within it, lots of tech giant companies, etc.  I went to grade school in Atherton since my parents house was one of the cheaper "middle class" tract house neighborhoods right on Atherton's border, that was probably built to house all the plebs to serve Atherton.   Hahaha.. j/k.  Kinda.  Edit: when I was a kid most of those streets had no sidwalks/were still dirt paths...

if you go across the Bay to something like Fremont, it's a little cheaper. Many more (and newer) houses in that 1.5 million range vs. 2.5+ million.

Edited June 4, 20214 yr by LadyCrimson

^ Holy crap, how does anyone afford to live in California? I'm looking to buy a house vaguely around 1200 sqft with an acre of land or more and I'm looking in the $150K, preferably less, range. In the area I'm looking to move to, essentially the entire NC/TN border on the TN side, that's a realistic proposition.

Yeah, the Bay Area is crazy. I think we've been over that before.

 

Yeah despite the claims by some circles, deep blue states are not progressive by any stretch of the imagination, they are neoliberal hellholes.

I say this because a lot of poor people go out there thinking they're gonna hit some kind of progressive utopia, only to find themselves homeless or spending way too much living in some roach infested cheap motel room.

Unfortunately it's far cheaper usually to live in Red States than Blue States, and Green States don't exist

Anyway what did I do today?   think I found the woman of my dreams 😄

41 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

^ Holy crap, how does anyone afford to live in California? I'm looking to buy a house vaguely around 1200 sqft with an acre of land or more and I'm looking in the $150K, preferably less, range. In the area I'm looking to move to, essentially the entire NC/TN border on the TN side, that's a realistic proposition.

You inherit, get really lucky in some fashion, or have a top 10-12% household income or something - or share rent with multiple people.

It's always been crazy here, but I think the last 20 years it's been extra crazy. Not enough housing, bidding wars, and people no longer looking at homes as very long term forever-home investments but more short-term quick-money get-ahead plans that jack up prices and seller expectations.

My parents house: early 1970's, $32k - 2007 or so (I forget), 1.3 million (over 30 years to get that high) - 2021, 3 million (only 14ish years to increase as much again). 
Our tiny house: 12ish years ago, $575k - 2018/2019, $850k-ish - mid-2021, 1.45 million

Edited June 4, 20214 yr by LadyCrimson

20 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

You inherit, get really lucky in some fashion, or have a top 10-12% household income or something - or share rent with multiple people.

One of Australia's bigger problems is housing prices. Mostly because they have become investment objects, so the "haves" buy them up in larger and larger quantities, driving up prices so the "have nots" have no chance of entering the housing market (despite being families consisting of decent money earners). The gap is increasing at a worrying pace at the moment.

 

Meh, you know you're getting old when you can just sit and enjoy a cup of hazelnut flavoured instant coffee 😇

That's not a coffee for "real men!"... My ancestors would be ashamed of me 😂

^  Yeah, it's definitely not limited to California/Bay Area.  I've seen people say it's getting bad in some places in Canada, all kinds of areas.  There are the well known more extreme city/area examples but it's becoming systemic all over, imo. 

... hubby's been "predicting" a massive overall (not just housing) inflation spike problem for a while now for various reasons (like lumber costs have skyrocketed for a while now, along with plenty of other things, like ... gpu's - haha) that's only going to make the have/have-not gap worse yet again.  I can't say I'd disagree with him.

am thinking people who have not lived where it is sooper hot don't really understand ac. during the summer in sacramento you turn up your thermostat to 78 and pray your newish and cutting edge cooling system doesn't crap out during the numerous weeklong +100 heatwaves. if you got western exposure, you better have a lotta trees in the front o' the house, 'cause a nice unobstructed view means those windows is trying to turn your house into a solar oven. you can keep the blinds closed and add blackout curtains, which helps a bit, but then the high ceilings and bright interior you paid a whole lotta extra money to acquire is kinda a waste, no?

god forbid you own a two-story home. 

most people work during the day, so your house being unpleasant warm even with the ac running is no big deal 'cept for weekends and later in the eve. old people tend to be cold all the time, so they probable don't care if is hot. get home from work and maybe you got a whole-house fan, and ceiling fans and you do all your cooking outside on the grill or with a microwave 'cause until 10pm is too hot to cook for real in the house. maybe find a way to make livable.

alternative. gd likely has a bunker he ain't admitting to owning. no doubt his underground haven is cool in summer and easier to keep warm in winter. pm gd and get advice on how to build a nice climate controlled and windowless bunker in some dog p00p ugly and cheap part o' the country where it won't matter 'cause you is living like a moleman underground and windowless. 

and few homes in ca have basements. too bad.  would be nice to retreat to basement during the hottest summer days.

@Keyrock

don't concern your self 'bout ca. plenty o' people buy homes in ca. that is part o' the problem. no matter how expensive it gets, more houses is being built in places with not enough water to support all those homes.

https://time.com/5368610/san-francisco-poop-patrol-problem/

story starts out with a focus on the need for such in sf and the homelessness issue in the bay area. were referenced on these boards btw.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/san-francisco-deploys-poop-patrol-team-to-eliminate-waste-in-the-streets-2019-08-02

$70k, not including nice benefits, sounds like extreme overpay, but once one realizes how much is housing in the bay area... meh. is only a shocking story for those not living in the bay area.

people get paid more in many parts o' CA, but not enough to buy homes where they work. chances are when they eventual do buy a house, they buy too much house compared to what they may afford, 'cause banks are right back to where they were with making risky loans like they were doing in the early and mid 2000s.

is a whole cycle o' stoopid and is as if nobody in the real estate biz remembers 2008.

HA! Good Fun!

eh, while we don't get 100+ days for weeks or months at a time here I think most of us are aware that typical home A/C does not turn your room/house into a freezer at such temps.  Mostly it just takes the edge off so at least you sweat modestly less whilst sitting around in your underwear, maybe still using a floor fan for extra 'breeze.'  Hubby spent some years in south central valley - he thinks it's never warm enough or warm often enough in the Bay.

I have often wondered why there are so few basements in California in general.  Close to the bays I might guess watertable (and building on landfill) could have something to do with it (maybe, I'm no terrain risk analyst or something) but other areas, not sure.

And yeah ... I noticed they aren't as strict re: downpayment percent anymore, again, and various other things. Isn't Calif. minimum wage $14 now or something? Won't be long before a double Whopper costs $15 and our fave large pizza is $50. Not that we eat Whoppers. Pizza on the other hand ...

36 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

he thinks it's never warm enough or warm often enough in the Bay.

 

then am especial perplexed 'cause the winters are colder in the valley. 

the only fog we get in the valley is during the winter months. the summers here are indeed much warmer than the bay area and the kinda "warm" weather months in san francisco which inspired the quote attributed to twain. 

sacramento has three months o' genuine pleasant weather split 'tween 1.5 months in spring and 1.5 months in the fall, and with the wildfires and the air quality, is getting less livable each year. 

'pon reflection, houses built above the snow line in ca frequent have basements, so am suspecting basements is actual beneficial when building somewheres cold or if there is ice or somesuch, but am talking out our kiester guessing. water table sure isn't the reason why is not done in our neck o' the woods, but ca is a big state so is no doubt places where water table could be an issue. even so, other than elevation, ca basements is rare.  

HA! Good Fun!

Its officially winter in SA and we have several cold spells that have led to snow falling in some parts of the  country

Its cold and dark  in  CPT now and especially in the morning when I go for my walk, so I leave at about 7:30 am and that means I see the sunrise during the early stages of my walk 🚶‍♂️

 

50 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

pon reflection, houses built above the snow line in ca frequent have basements, so am suspecting basements is actual beneficial when building somewheres cold or if there is ice or somesuch,

Google says you're probably correct - something about the land freezing causing expansion/contraction etc, which causes mayhem to foundations, so they dig deeper to stabilize/prevent such.  Dig a little deeper, you have a basement.  Possibly for more pipe freezing/access considerations sometimes too who knows.

FL's water table in some places seems to be a big reason.

I think the general not-having them here is just because they weren't truly "needed" for any architectural reason in most places, and it was cheaper to build without (at least back then?), and then it just stayed that way out of habit.

Re: hubby and valley - it was the Visalia area in the early-mid 80's I think - yeah he mentioned nights could be sometimes cooler. It's just the day summer temps were much warmer (and more warmer days) then the Bay.  He also lived in Alaska for maybe a year as a kid and he's never recovered from the "endless night" winter blues type stuff.  Basically he just hates winter/long nights/temps under 78F, period. 

Edited June 4, 20214 yr by LadyCrimson

Its supposed to hit ~88F today (and the next 6 days) so I think Ill have to fire up the AC for the first time this year. Thats not really uncomfortable to me but my wife has a rather narrow temperature "comfort zone". 

I sold the wood burning iron stove I’ve been restoring yesterday. It turned out pretty nice if I do say so. I wasn’t able to find exact parts to do the restoration so I had to do a little reengineering. It wasn’t expensive just a lot of time and a lot of elbow grease. I really wanted to keep it and make use of it but my original plans for it have changed and I really don’t have anywhere to keep it. If I keep it in the barn it will be rusted again in no time.

Time to find a new project.

Firefox updated today and it looks and feels absolutely horrendous, good lord almighty. Everything is double-spaced for some goshforsaken reason, and the top of my browser where the tabs are is so freaking fat. I hate it so much. It's Opera all over again... Going to have to identify the last version of Firefox that wasn't horrible, save the installer and then always disable auto-updating until they come to their senses or there's an add-on to fix this disgusting display.

(e): Okay, successfully downgraded. It tried to tell me my profile (containing login cookies, bookmarks, extensions, setting customization, etc.) wouldn't be compatible with the old version and generated an entirely new profile, but I found the old profile in AppData and manually overrode it, and it seems like everything's fine. Never thought Firefox of all browsers would be this pants, but here we are... What other browsers besides Firefox and Chrome have the needed extension versatility? Ugh.

Edited June 4, 20214 yr by Bartimaeus

17 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Holy smokes, those prices. Is that... typical in those areas? 

It seems to be. Rent and housing are insane in California (and they're not good nationally to begin with), with the Bay Area and LA being extremely bad.

56 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Firefox updated today and it looks and feels absolutely horrendous, good lord almighty

You can just turn off the Proton UI.  Although apparently they're removing that option in 90, hah.

4 minutes ago, Malcador said:

You can just turn off the Proton UI.  Although apparently they're removing that option in 90, hah.

Yeah, I read that, plus they're apparently going to remove the limited compact mode for Proton as well, hence why I went and downgraded entirely while disabling auto-updating (...and firewalling off their update service juuust in case). Stupid.