Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[Browncoat]

I have a few bills where a check is pretty much my only option.  There are no on-line options, and the only other option is to write a credit card number on the paper I have to mail back.  Nope.  Not happening.  I'd rather send a check.

Fortunately, one of those bills is the water bill, and I can drop that off in the town's secure drop box. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

11 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I have a few bills where a check is pretty much my only option.  There are no on-line options, and the only other option is to write a credit card number on the paper I have to mail back.  Nope.  Not happening.  I'd rather send a check.

Fortunately, one of those bills is the water bill, and I can drop that off in the town's secure drop box. 

I have a couple also. Not sure what the almighty postmaster general has in mind for them.

[jennifer6973]

If the bills are utility, you can check your local walmart or grocery store and see if they have an option to pay it there.

[Browncoat]

56 minutes ago, jennifer6973 said:

If the bills are utility, you can check your local walmart or grocery store and see if they have an option to pay it there.

Electricity I can do with auto-pay, and for the water, it’s just as easy to drop the check off at the town building as to introduce a third party like the grocery store.

[BlueSkies]

I went and played tennis today.  Today I felt pretty good on the court.  But last week I didnt.  Guess we all have good and bad days regardless of our skill level.

 

Like said on an earlier post here even though I couldn't stand playing middle school basketball for my school and coach, I really regret giving it up.  That was kind of a bitch move in retrospect on my part.  In the sense that sits a precedent of wanting to give up or in when things aren't pleasant.

 

 

I very much advocate kids playing team sports.  No need for kids to get stressed out about it but there's good lessons learned there that could be applied to life.  Hell I still remember one of my coaches screaming out "Box Out" when I'm about to make an unpleasant phone call at work 

[SuprSuprElevated]

I just smelled this photo, lol. Memories~

[Gramto6]

2 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I just smelled this photo, lol. Memories~

Yeah, I remember smelling those too! Very glad they are a thing of the past!

[shapeshifter]

Just popping in to share this:

If I didn't live in a condo where my HOA fees pay to have the grass cut, and if I'd thought of it, I might have done this. 😉

[Laura Holt]

We had plans for this evening that just got cancelled.  When I was younger this would have been bad news and I'd have tried to find something else to do on a Saturday night.  Now it's like being given the gift of a bonus night where we don't have to go out or do anything other than nothing at all.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Laura Holt

[isalicat]

22 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Well, now the PO is saying that they don't advise sending checks through the mail, as they cannot ensure that they won't be stolen, either by their own personnel, or by a random mail thief.

I realize that it is 2023, but there are still those older folks who aren't comfortable with the internet, or paying their bills on it, regardless of how we may feel about it. 

For me, it just solidifies my thought that the postal service as a mail delivery business model is beyond obsolete, and should be ended, saving the taxpayers billion$. I realize that many many would become unemployed, and that is most unfortunate, but lots of folks have had to suffer a similar fate. 

<sigh> Progress

Once upon a time, working for the U.S. Post Office was a great job with security and benefits, etc. Now most all employees (except for management) are not employees at all but contractors (like the people who deliver your mail) that are like Uber or Lyft contractors - no benefits, just an hourly salary for when they are actually working. They did all this decades ago to cut costs but it hasn't worked out well (which is one of the reasons the mail is less than secure) so they might as well as eliminate it as a government function and let the whole thing be privatized.

[SoMuchTV]

3 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I just smelled this photo, lol. Memories~

Haha, everything’s way too clean!  There should be coffee and grape soda stains, not to mention the ashes and burn holes. 

[jennifer6973]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Just popping in to share this:

If I didn't live in a condo where my HOA fees pay to have the grass cut, and if I'd thought of it, I might have done this. 😉

My neighbor in Florida used to cut his grass at 6 am.  My father said it was because he once had skin cancer and to leave him be.  Easy for him, he slept on the other side of the house. 

[Kitty Redstone]

2 hours ago, isalicat said:

They did all this decades ago to cut costs but it hasn't worked out well (which is one of the reasons the mail is less than secure) so they might as well as eliminate it as a government function and let the whole thing be privatized.

I sincerely hope this doesn't happen. It will mean even higher rates and slower delivery times, and rural areas would be disproportionately impacted with service area cuts. I rely upon USPS for my tiny business and anything that hurts the people who buy from me (whether it be in extra postage costs or the inconvenience of driving for miles to a lock box) is going to hurt me. Things are tough enough as it is.

[ebk57]

It's perfectly safe to mail checks as long as you take precautions.  Don't put them in your mailbox, don't put them in blue boxes overnight.  The best thing is to take them inside the post office and put them in the mail slots there.  We definitely do not need mail going to the private sector. 

https://www.postofficereview.org/articles/usps-asserts-security-mailing-checks-amidst-contrasting-reports

[isalicat]

1 hour ago, Kitty Redstone said:

I sincerely hope this doesn't happen. It will mean even higher rates and slower delivery times, and rural areas would be disproportionately impacted with service area cuts. I rely upon USPS for my tiny business and anything that hurts the people who buy from me (whether it be in extra postage costs or the inconvenience of driving for miles to a lock box) is going to hurt me. Things are tough enough as it is.

I entirely empathize - I used to buy and sell on eBay pretty much constantly from a very rural, mountainous area with snow on the ground 8-9 months out of the year. Yet my experience was that Fedex and UPS were much more willing to wade through the snow or muck down my driveway; the U.S.P.S. was only willing to leave letters in a lock box two blocks from my house and packages had to be retrieved at the post office itself. We are already getting higher rates (first class postage just went up again as of July 1st) and if you need to send anything insured, please don't do it through the Post Office as if it is lost or damaged, good luck on a claim (spoken from personal and business experience).

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, ebk57 said:

We definitely do not need mail going to the private sector. 

True, and across the board; privatization of public services has never benefited anyone other than the particular corporate interest.

[SuprSuprElevated]

10 hours ago, ebk57 said:

It's perfectly safe to mail checks as long as you take precautions.  Don't put them in your mailbox, don't put them in blue boxes overnight.  The best thing is to take them inside the post office and put them in the mail slots there.  We definitely do not need mail going to the private sector. 

https://www.postofficereview.org/articles/usps-asserts-security-mailing-checks-amidst-contrasting-reports

May as well just drive them to the recipient myself.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

so they might as well as eliminate it as a government function and let the whole thing be privatized.

This is a terrible idea. Prices would sky rocket and service and wages would hit rock bottom.

[RealHousewife]

So my sister is driving with a hat and sunglasses at all times. She says she's doing it to prevent skin aging. Is this a thing? I have heard of people wearing hats if they're going to be outside for an extended period of time, but not just driving.

[Mindthinkr]

Driving with sunglasses is a good idea. They can reduce glare with limits eye strain, and exposure to light can cause future eye problems such as cataracts. Even in our vehicles we still can have exposure to UV light which is also bad for our skin so I can see why she thinks the hat would reduce the risk to her face. Especially if combined with SPF protection. 

[ginger90]

41 minutes ago, RealHousewife said:

So my sister is driving with a hat and sunglasses at all times. She says she's doing it to prevent skin aging. Is this a thing? I have heard of people wearing hats if they're going to be outside for an extended period of time, but not just driving.

As long as the hat isn’t a floppy one, and doesn’t interfere with her peripheral vision, it couldn’t hurt.

[RealHousewife]

25 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

Driving with sunglasses is a good idea. They can reduce glare with limits eye strain, and exposure to light can cause future eye problems such as cataracts. Even in our vehicles we still can have exposure to UV light which is also bad for our skin so I can see why she thinks the hat would reduce the risk to her face. Especially if combined with SPF protection. 

I wear sunglasses myself when the sun is wrong. 

9 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

As long as the hat isn’t a floppy one, and doesn’t interfere with her peripheral vision, it couldn’t hurt.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm all for taking it easy on sun exposure, but it just looks hardcore to me. Hats mess with my hair and makeup, so I normally just wear them if I'm going to be outdoors for awhile. 

[BlueSkies]

I always had it in my mind eating a donut from Dunkin' Donuts was like one of the unhealthiest things you can eat.

 

I'm not saying its healthy but a Boston Creme donut only as 270 calories in it.  Less than a bagel or muffin.  

 

Donuts or doughnuts how you ever want to type I think will be my new food that fulfills my sweet tooth in moderation 

[jennifer6973]

5 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

May as well just drive them to the recipient myself.

Where I live, we only have PO Box delivery from the post office.  When we put local mail in the box, it goes to a town 2 hours away and then sent back.  So that is a possibility round here.

[Mindthinkr]

11 minutes ago, jennifer6973 said:

Where I live, we only have PO Box delivery from the post office.  When we put local mail in the box, it goes to a town 2 hours away and then sent back.  So that is a possibility round here.

My local mail has to go 104 miles away to be sorted and sent back. I can get a letter to Colorado quicker than I can to one in my town (east coast). 

[Laura Holt]

1 hour ago, BlueSkies said:

I'm not saying its healthy but a Boston Creme donut only as 270 calories in it.  Less than a bagel or muffin.

I remember the happy day when I realized that a Tim Horton's bran muffin actually had more calories than the chocolate croissant I wanted to get for my mid morning break.  I've never looked back.

[peacheslatour]

57 minutes ago, Laura Holt said:

I remember the happy day when I realized that a Tim Horton's bran muffin actually had more calories than the chocolate croissant I wanted to get for my mid morning break.  I've never looked back.

Ah, the day I found out my beloved coffee ice cream had the same calories and calcium as my yogurt. That was a good day.

[Laura Holt]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

beloved coffee ice cream

You're the first person I've "met" that has mentioned loving coffee ice cream.  It's my not so secret addiction.

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, Laura Holt said:

You're the first person I've "met" that has mentioned loving coffee ice cream.  It's my not so secret addiction.

I eat it almost every day. It's delicious and it helps with my "condition", lol.

[isalicat]

3 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

I always had it in my mind eating a donut from Dunkin' Donuts was like one of the unhealthiest things you can eat.

 

I'm not saying its healthy but a Boston Creme donut only as 270 calories in it.  Less than a bagel or muffin.  

 

Donuts or doughnuts how you ever want to type I think will be my new food that fulfills my sweet tooth in moderation 

Its not always all about the calories....the unfortunate fact is that donuts are super highly processed food that combines sugar and flour, both of which are well known causes of the increase in inflammatory diseases. So a donut a couple times a year is no biggie, but on a weekly basis the whole grain muffin or bagel is going to be a far better choice. Better yet - retrain your sweet tooth to appreciate nature's candy: fruit! If you stop eating sugary snacks entirely for a couple of weeks you will be amazed at how great an apple or a bunch of strawberries will taste. But to each their own!

[PRgal]

4 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

I always had it in my mind eating a donut from Dunkin' Donuts was like one of the unhealthiest things you can eat.

 

I'm not saying its healthy but a Boston Creme donut only as 270 calories in it.  Less than a bagel or muffin.  

 

Donuts or doughnuts how you ever want to type I think will be my new food that fulfills my sweet tooth in moderation 

But certainly more added sugar!

[peacheslatour]

18 minutes ago, PRgal said:

But certainly more added sugar!

I read somewhere that a bowl of chili has about the same calories as a donut. But waaay more vitamins , fiber and protein. I love chili.

[EtheltoTillie]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Ah, the day I found out my beloved coffee ice cream had the same calories and calcium as my yogurt. That was a good day.

 

1 hour ago, Laura Holt said:

You're the first person I've "met" that has mentioned loving coffee ice cream.  It's my not so secret addiction.

I'm in your club!  Haagen Dazs coffee is my favorite.  Coffee ice cream has always been my favorite flavor.  We used to buy Schrafft's when I was a kid, but since Haagen Dazs came on the market in the early 70s, I have never looked back. What brands do you prefer? 

Edited July 9, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[oliviabenson]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Ah, the day I found out my beloved coffee ice cream had the same calories and calcium as my yogurt. That was a good day.

I love coffee ice cream! 

@EtheltoTillie try coffee brownie ice cream sandwiches from Trader Joe’s. I hope they were not discontinued lol. 

[EtheltoTillie]

5 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

I love coffee ice cream! 

@EtheltoTillie try coffee brownie ice cream sandwiches from Trader Joe’s. I hope they were not discontinued lol. 

Hmm, that sounds good.  I don't have a convenient Trader Joe's.  I used to make coffee ice cream sandwiches with Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream and Cocoa Crispies coating.  It was a recipe from one of the magazines I worked at!  I love Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream pops. 

[oliviabenson]

Just now, EtheltoTillie said:

Hmm, that sounds good.  I don't have a convenient Trader Joe's.  I used to make coffee ice cream sandwiches with Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream and Cocoa Crispies coating.  It was a recipe from one of the magazines I worked at!  I love Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream pops. 

No TJ near me either. It takes an hour each way. I rarely go anymore. A few times a year lol.

[EtheltoTillie]

5 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

No TJ near me either. It takes an hour each way. I rarely go anymore. A few times a year lol.

You would laugh at me, then.   I actually live about 10 blocks from a TJs, but it's a long 10 blocks to walk, and it's always crowded and annoying when you get there.  The NYC TJs are kind of a nightmare.  I'm not a real fan of particular products there, as many people are.  So I just don't go.  I have another supermarket on the block I live on.

Edited July 9, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[theredhead77]

56 minutes ago, isalicat said:

Its not always Tall about the calories....the unfortunate fact is that donuts are super highly processed food that combines sugar and flour, both of which are well known causes of the increase in inflammatory diseases. So a donut a couple times a year is no biggie, but on a weekly basis the whole grain muffin or bagel is going to be a far better choice. Better yet - retrain your sweet tooth to appreciate nature's candy: fruit! If you stop eating sugary snacks entirely for a couple of weeks you will be amazed at how great an apple or a bunch of strawberries will taste. But to each their own!

There is nothing wrong with enjoying treats in moderation. Too much of anything, including  fruit, isn't healthy.

[oliviabenson]

8 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

You would laugh at me, then.   I actually live about 10 blocks from a TJs, but it's a long 10 blocks to walk, and it's always crowded and annoying when you get there.  The NYC TJs are kind of a nightmare.  I'm not a real fan of particular products there, as many people are.  So I just don't go.  I have another supermarket on the block I live on.

Wow 10 blocks? That’s awesome! 
 

I get it it’s very crowded lol. I used to go at 8 pm when they were restocking stuff and less people.

[Laura Holt]

3 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

Too much of anything, including  fruit, isn't healthy.

As I recently discovered to my sorrow when I found that too much pineapple is not going to make my tummy happy.

[EtheltoTillie]

19 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Wow 10 blocks? That’s awesome! 
 

I get it it’s very crowded lol. I used to go at 8 pm when they were restocking stuff and less people.

Ten blocks is not awesome when you have to carry the groceries home LOL.  NYC distance calculation is a special sport. 

[oliviabenson]

Cantaloupe clears out my pipes haha.

[oliviabenson]

4 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Ten blocks is not awesome when you have to carry the groceries home LOL.  NYC distance calculation is a special sport. 

I stuff food in a backpack and tie a reusable bag to it. Frees up my hands. 
 

I prefer aldis anyway it’s way more convenient to go to!

[Mondrianyone]

There's a local ice cream brand up here called Gifford's, and they used to have a coffee fudge flavor that I loved. They seem to have discontinued it, although I was in denial about that for a while. They still do a plain coffee flavor, which you can kind of tweak to be like the coffee fudge if you stir in some chocolate syrup. Not the same, but you do what you have to do.

[EtheltoTillie]

3 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

There's a local ice cream brand up here called Gifford's, and they used to have a coffee fudge flavor that I loved. They seem to have discontinued it, although I was in denial about that for a while. They still do a plain coffee flavor, which you can kind of tweak to be like the coffee fudge if you stir in some chocolate syrup. Not the same, but you do what you have to do.

You are reminding me that before I committed myself to Haagen Dazs coffee flavor, I relied on Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge.  I still like that in a cone.   Try the Cocoa Krispies, though. 

Edited July 9, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Mondrianyone]

1 minute ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge

The nearest Baskin-Robbins is like two hours away. Otherwise I'd be on a Jamoca Almond Fudge IV drip. Sometimes life protects us from our own worst impulses.

[EtheltoTillie]

@Mondrianyone I've arrived at the second degree of separation.  I Googled Giffords, and it turns out that it's the ice cream they sell at the local ice cream shop in my little village on Long Island!  I've had it many times.  Apparently, they sell it at King Kullen also.  Go figure.  They have more than local distribution.

Also, their web site says they had a fire at their plant and they are limiting flavors.  So maybe that's why you're not seeing your desired flavor. 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Mondrianyone]

1 minute ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Also, their web site says they had a fire at their plant and they are limited flavors.  So maybe that's why you're not seeing your desired flavor. 

It's not the reason. They discontinued it quite a bit before the fire. I know because I've been wearing a black armband since then.

But I didn't realize their distribution went beyond New England! It's good ice cream, no? Not Häagen-Dazs level, but good.

[EtheltoTillie]

7 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

It's not the reason. They discontinued it quite a bit before the fire. I know because I've been wearing a black armband since then.

But I didn't realize their distribution went beyond New England! It's good ice cream, no? Not Häagen-Dazs level, but good.

How do you do an umlaut?  I've been leaving it out while knowing it should be there.  I probably could seek it out in symbols, but I'm too lazy. 

[Mondrianyone]

7 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

How do you do an umlaut?

You hold down the Control key and hit 0228 on the numeric keypad at the same time. Or you could use the Character Map, but that's a lot slower.

I have a few of the codes memorized, like é, because I use them so often, but others I just guess at till I get them right.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Mondrianyone
left out the zero