What you did today

[LadyCrimson]

We haven't had dental in years and hardly used it when we did. They do tend to be expensive but outside of basic preventive, most dental coverage that came with employment in our area is even less comprehensive than "regular" medical insurance. Not worth bothering to buy on one's own, imo. Unless you have a constant need for major dental care for some reason.

 

And today I'm doing idle housework while waiting for some videos to render. My cat, btw, likes to chase after me and get underfoot while I'm sweeping/dusting/picking up and such. I think he's trying to trip/kill me.

[LadyCrimson]

The Price of Tech:

 

 

 

....gas on top of that is another $40(summer) to $110(winter)

....this is with us living literally in the dark as far as lighting is concerned (low-watt florescent bulbs too) and having a very small house etc. It's probably almost all computer/TV/media related, electric dryer, and in summer, some A/C use.

....lately every month the utility company likes to send us (and everyone else I'm sure) graphs showing us how far beyond what they think of as "low" and "normal" household-use we are re:kwh consumption.

[LadyCrimson]

P.S. Should have added above that I know there's probably places with higher power costs. I don't really mind the costs that much. You use, you pay. What amuses me most is the huge number of kwh we accrue total (for two people). I wish I still had a utility bill from the late-80's, where I'd suspect kwh fell more in the 300-400 range, even with some of the toys we occasionally had/used+higher watt bulbs.

Sometimes I feel like I have no idea how all those kwh add up. We've gone through periods where we don't have the PC's on much, for example, but the bill and hours don't drop by much. But there's still a lot of things like router/firewalls and other tech doodads that hubby has on 24/7 even when main PC's/TV are off.

Then again, maybe the utility company "smart meters" are ripping us off...

...and yes I spend too much time contemplating such things, when I have nothing better to do on a Sat. afternoon.

[Hurlshort]

I hate PG&E.

[Guard Dog]

You guys should look into solar panels. I installed two 18x12 and it has cut my bills by a third easy

[Hurlshort]

You guys should look into solar panels. I installed two 18x12 and it has cut my bills by a third easy

 

If I owned, I would jump on getting those yesterday.  We get enough sun to cut our bill by a ton.  Alas, my landlord isn't going to put money he doesn't have to into this house.

[kirottu]

Today for the first time ever I liked a post made by Volourn. 

[Azdeus]

The Price of Tech:

 

 

 

....gas on top of that is another $40(summer) to $110(winter)

....this is with us living literally in the dark as far as lighting is concerned (low-watt florescent bulbs too) and having a very small house etc. It's probably almost all computer/TV/media related, electric dryer, and in summer, some A/C use.

....lately every month the utility company likes to send us (and everyone else I'm sure) graphs showing us how far beyond what they think of as "low" and "normal" household-use we are re:kwh consumption.

 

 

1629kWh during november. And it's a warm winter.

[kgambit]

The Price of Tech:

 

 

 

....gas on top of that is another $40(summer) to $110(winter)

....this is with us living literally in the dark as far as lighting is concerned (low-watt florescent bulbs too) and having a very small house etc. It's probably almost all computer/TV/media related, electric dryer, and in summer, some A/C use.

....lately every month the utility company likes to send us (and everyone else I'm sure) graphs showing us how far beyond what they think of as "low" and "normal" household-use we are re:kwh consumption.

 

Those Tier 3 and tier 4 KwH rates are obscene.  The gas costs sound reasonable (consider yourself lucky that can heat with natural gas - electric heating is a pain in the tush).

[Raithe]

Hm, puttering around on a really grim, windy and off/on rainy day. Actually poked a bit at some work matters, slipped in some gaming time on Kotor 2, read a little Roman Era steampunk that was interesting, pondering on twelfth night and making sure all the decorations are down by manana, and got into an interesting talk with an old girlfriend of mine.  One of those interesting look back at where things went wrong as it were, and how we're still friends with the occasional flirt without it causing any trouble. 

 

Heh, although it was interesting to hear her try to explain to me that I have a very good effect on women that I don't realise I have, since I tend to view myself as that slightly thin, incredibly pale geek type with glasses and what's now becoming a receding hairline..     While she was all "no, you're tall, lean, dress up very nicely, smart, humorous, and when you talk to a girl you talk TO her not AT her and we feel like we've become your sole focus on the planet, and your voice is amazing. The fact that you don't realise any of that just makes it hotter."

 

I'm not sure I'm really synching up the two images there.  Ah well, still nice to be told that sort of stuff.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Raithe

[Woldan]

Brought my stationary bike from my garage back to my exercise room. Power is nothing without control endurance.

I have to admit that cycling that way is really dull and one of the most boring activities there is safe sleeping, but its totally necessary in this time of year. 

 

Though it being a dull activity isn't so bad, forcing yourself to do an exhausting, boring and difficult task teaches you self discipline and tenacity. 

Edited January 5, 2014 by Woldan

[Labadal]

I usually put some music on. I don't like it either, but time flies by when I listen to something. That's how I force my self through exercises I don't particularly enjoy.

[Woldan]

I used to listen to music until I realized that when reaching a certain point of exhaustion I don't even listen to the music anymore, my whole focus goes to keeping up with the exercise. Same with watching TV or any other distraction. The feeling of boredom and dullness persists though.  

 

Edit: Yay, I just burned 1020 Kjoule in less than 20 minutes! That means I can eat some extra donuts tomorrow!

Edited January 5, 2014 by Woldan

[LadyCrimson]

I hate PG&E.

Those Tier 3 and tier 4 KwH rates are obscene.

Yeah...I hate PG&E too.

Have an acquaintance in Idaho...their (winter) base rate seems to be .07/kwh and they can stay in that tier for 800kwh, so their electric for approx the same amount of use is less than $100.

 

We haven't researched it much but I bet installing enough solar to make a big dent in the bill would cost a fair bit here (since we wouldn't do it ourselves) and take about 4-8 years to pay for itself. By this I mean a system that's more than a couple of panels stuck on top of the roof or on the lawn or whatever. Maybe something like $15k-20k. Altho there may be utility incentives/rebates that would reduce that by half. At any rate this crap tract house and the area it's in isn't worth the investment.

[Gorgon]

I think I use about 2500 a year on average. Too lazy to turn things off. 

[Gorgon]

Kwh, not kilojoules

[Hurlshort]

I almost forgot to mention that we were parked next to a family from Germany during our RV trip a few days ago, and they had this huge Steyr motorhome that they had actually shipped to the US.  It looked a bit like this:

 

 

It was amazing.  I didn't get to talk to the dad very long, but I wish I had asked him more questions,a s I can't find anything about it online.  It must be a special order thing.  They were in the middle of a year long expedition, pretty awesome.  

 

http://www.fuess-mobile.de/english%20offen/innenausbau_14.htm

Edited January 6, 2014 by Hurlshot

[ShadySands]

Played SWTOR half of the day with the missus and later developed a seething hatred of Windows Server 2012

[Raithe]

I seem to be running on around 5 hours sleep a night for the past  4 or 6 days. It's starting to blur a bit.

 

Also, my sister turned up a the weekend to have me look at some troubles on her laptop once more... has anyone mentioned how much Win8 should be loathed recently?

[Woldan]

I almost forgot to mention that we were parked next to a family from Germany during our RV trip a few days ago, and they had this huge Steyr motorhome that they had actually shipped to the US.  It looked a bit like this:

 

 

It was amazing.  I didn't get to talk to the dad very long, but I wish I had asked him more questions,a s I can't find anything about it online. It must be a special order thing.  They were in the middle of a year long expedition, pretty awesome.  

What a coincidence, a good friend of mine works in a special purpose vehicles garage, they build all sorts of such vehicles for extreme expeditions -just like the one you posted- for customers all around the world. They refit Ranger Rovers and Steyr trucks with electrical winches, new suspensions, water tanks and pretty much everything you need or want.

 

The craziest they have built was a pickup truck (don't remember the model) that had one winch on the front, one at the back and a little crane on the bed. It could literally drag itself up a mountain - and that is exactly what it was made for. 

Edited January 6, 2014 by Woldan

[Raithe]

Heh, I was once inside a gold-plated Land Rover that had a foldable back roof section and elevating gun seat in the rear.

 

Of course, I was about 10 at the time so it made a different impression on me back then.

[Raithe]

Don't you just love passive aggressive family members?

 

 - decided that now must be the time that something must be done so.. "Are you going to want help doing that today?"

Sure, it'll need two people when I do it later, I'm working on something now and I'm planning on doing that this afternoon.

- 15 minutes later

"So when are you going to want help to do that?"

"As I said, later this afternoon, not right now."

- 10 minutes later

"Do you need help with that thing now?"

"No, as I said I'm working on something and I'm doing that later.."

- repeat, on a 5-10 minute cycle until the hassle just isn't worth it and it gets taken care of now -

[BruceVC]

Don't you just love passive aggressive family members?

 

 - decided that now must be the time that something must be done so.. "Are you going to want help doing that today?"

Sure, it'll need two people when I do it later, I'm working on something now and I'm planning on doing that this afternoon.

- 15 minutes later

"So when are you going to want help to do that?"

"As I said, later this afternoon, not right now."

- 10 minutes later

"Do you need help with that thing now?"

"No, as I said I'm working on something and I'm doing that later.."

- repeat, on a 5-10 minute cycle until the hassle just isn't worth it and it gets taken care of now -

 

Is this your sister?

[Raithe]

 

Don't you just love passive aggressive family members?

 

 - decided that now must be the time that something must be done so.. "Are you going to want help doing that today?"

Sure, it'll need two people when I do it later, I'm working on something now and I'm planning on doing that this afternoon.

- 15 minutes later

"So when are you going to want help to do that?"

"As I said, later this afternoon, not right now."

- 10 minutes later

"Do you need help with that thing now?"

"No, as I said I'm working on something and I'm doing that later.."

- repeat, on a 5-10 minute cycle until the hassle just isn't worth it and it gets taken care of now -

 

Is this your sister?

 

 

No that's my father.

Between that and things like finding open scissors buried in the folds of my mothers bed sheets when I was tidying things up, there are times I really do feel like I'm the parent ...

[Malcador]

Well, stopping one's kids from procrastinating things is a parent's work.