The Drop in Centre

[Ryan Jones]

1 hour ago, 1brokNangel said:

Yea we've been dealing with rain as well, I think that's what brought in the cooler temps.

The same cold front that went through Indiana is now coming through the DC area with extremely heavy rain and marginal (under 30mph) winds. Temp has dropped from 75 at midnight to the mid 60s. Rain should clear out by noon at the latest and the weekend will be high temps in the low 70s with little humidity. Perfect weather for the DC area.

Of course with the rain the traffic is horrendous. Now that schools are back in and a lot of companies have started working from offices again our traffic is worse than it was before the pandemic. Part of it I think is that people got so used to having no traffic that they all left later for work. Plus those who hadn't driven in DC traffic for over a year due to working at home are finding out again how bad it can be.

Not to mention the flooded out roads and the idiots who try to drive through and then have to get rescued. I often wonder if their car insurance covers stupidity?

[chris191070]

Morning all

Hope everyone is keeping well.

Still in pain from my kidney stones but hopefully not for much longer, the hospital phoned yesterday I'm having the op on Tuesday 19th October.

Still waiting for Probate on Dad's estate.

Take care all and keep safe

[Ryan Jones]

You know what's annoying?

When you've decided for the first time in months to write something real only to have 25 pages of porn spew out of your mind and fingers in about 3 hours of writing.

Why doesn't the nonsexual writing come that easily? lol

Hope everyone's day is good. Had a second cousin report that all 3 of his kids have contracted covid. Both him and his wife were vaccinated, so far they haven't tested positive although they are quarantining. It doesn't seem serious with any of the 3 kids, they are ages 11, 10, 7 so not old enough for vaccination and they were back at school doing in person learning. Seems they all have fevers, one has a headache also. It's been 3-4 days and the symptoms are getting slightly better each day.

 

[kbois]

Well this week has been a total mixed bag of tricks.  I think I mentioned that the big pow wow went better than anticipated. The residents are getting a $48/month increase. Could've been a lot worse. 

The owner had to leave early for some sort of emergency. The national manager stuck around until Thursday. Whenever he's here I end up with a to-do list that makes Santa's naughty/nice lists look like a short grocery list. But...... I got my retractable awnings for the clubhouse approved. They get installed next week. Hopefully my fishing dock will get the go ahead too. (Complete with turtle basking platform)

Despite all the extra work, I still enjoy my job. The owner said he was very pleased with how I've done so far. My manager is having surgery in Nov so he's doing year end evaluations early. Starting this current pay period I'm getting a $2/hr raise. He also sent me a $200 gift card for this ah-mazing smokehouse/BBQ place in downtown Sarasota. It's nice to be rewarded for doing a job well. 

Our AC got fixed today. However it's going to have the same problem. The unit is 24 years old and is low on freon. Yes....the freon that is no longer made, can't get anymore and has made the unit obsolete. 

I really hope the management company authorizes a new one. I'm dreading our electric bill. This week was brutal. Even with a window unit and portable one the house stayed around 80. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Do something fun. 

[Ryan Jones]

19 minutes ago, kbois said:

I really hope the management company authorizes a new one. I'm dreading our electric bill. This week was brutal. Even with a window unit and portable one the house stayed around 80. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Do something fun. 

I'm always curious about other people's utility bills. We have natural gas, electric and water. Water is about $50/month, summer gas bill $45/month, electric $275/month. I have an old house with radiator heating so I think our cooling is pretty inefficient with window unit air conditioners. How does that compare with your overall bills? In the winter it's about the same amount just take a lot of the electric bill and change it to gas. March/April and October/November are probably our cheapest months since a lot of days we don't need heat or ac.

Anyone else?

Edited September 24, 2021 by Ryan Jones

[Mikiesboy]

1 hour ago, Ryan Jones said:

I'm always curious about other people's utility bills. We have natural gas, electric and water. Water is about $50/month, summer gas bill $45/month, electric $275/month. I have an old house with radiator heating so I think our cooling is pretty inefficient with window unit air conditioners. How does that compare with your overall bills? In the winter it's about the same amount just take a lot of the electric bill and change it to gas. March/April and October/November are probably our cheapest months since a lot of days we don't need heat or ac.

Anyone else?

We live in an apartment and so only pay our hydro (electricity) usually its about $50/mth.. with a high of $85 in August. The other stuff is in our rent which is $1,265/mth + hydro.

[Kitt]

Central Air has made a big difference in my electric bill. I've found if I leave it on all the time, open windows when outside Temps drop and close em again the minute the air kicks on my bills stay lower. My summer gas bill runs like $10 / month. I could shut the line down but that would require a service call befor use in the fall and you never know when the weather will make a big enough drop for heat. This way hubby can vacuum the venturi tube and we can fire the heat at will and not try and schedule the fall service during that first big rush.  I have pretty much that same shift from electric to gas seasonally.

[kbois]

1 hour ago, Ryan Jones said:

I'm always curious about other people's utility bills. We have natural gas, electric and water. Water is about $50/month, summer gas bill $45/month, electric $275/month. I have an old house with radiator heating so I think our cooling is pretty inefficient with window unit air conditioners. How does that compare with your overall bills? In the winter it's about the same amount just take a lot of the electric bill and change it to gas. March/April and October/November are probably our cheapest months since a lot of days we don't need heat or ac.

Anyone else?

Our electric is on 'budget billing'. They average 12 months and we normally pay around $250/mo. No gas bill to deal with. But rent is astronomical... $2060 including pet fee. We also have to pay water/sewer and trash which hovers around $100. We don't have cable, just internet and a few streaming channels, so about $150 total for all of it. Adulting kinda sucks sometimes 😏

[spyke]

13 hours ago, Ryan Jones said:

I'm always curious about other people's utility bills. We have natural gas, electric and water. Water is about $50/month, summer gas bill $45/month, electric $275/month. I have an old house with radiator heating so I think our cooling is pretty inefficient with window unit air conditioners. How does that compare with your overall bills? In the winter it's about the same amount just take a lot of the electric bill and change it to gas. March/April and October/November are probably our cheapest months since a lot of days we don't need heat or ac.

Anyone else?

Where I live, the city is the provider for electricity, water, sewer, and trash pickup, so it's all on one bill. I also have natural gas service(furnace, cooktop, clothes dryer, and tankless water heater) and that runs $12-14 except in winter months.  Last month total was about $240. Water/Sewer $40, trash $24, and electric $176. During the winter it kind of reverses where the gas bill is up into the $90-$160 range, and the electric falls to around $60. 

Over the years I've tried to do a lot to reduce my electric bill.  The city functions as a re-seller of power, so the rates are highly marked up. Back in the day, it was common to get a bill for $350-$500 a month. Once they dropped natural gas in my neighborhood, I converted a lot of things over to gas. Replacing the one water heater to a on demand gas fired tankless system immediately shaved $50 off my monthly electric bill. Replaced my aging heating/AC system that was geothermal (great concept but always had issues) with a high efficiency gas furnace (95%) and 18 SEER A/C. Always hated my electric cooktop, so now I have a gas model and couldn't be happier. Same with the clothes dryer. Guess I'm weird in that I don't mind paying a gas bill, but I've always hated paying an electric bill to the city because of the outrageous rates they charged compared to other providers. 😉

Edited September 25, 2021 by spyke

[Ryan Jones]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm lucky since I own my house and it's paid for. I do still have property taxes and insurance which is slightly over $6500/year. So that's approximately $550/month although I pay it all at once so it seems a lot more. That bill just came due this month.

Putting central heating in my old (built in the mid 1930s) house was cost prohibitive. It really would have made more sense to just demolish the house and build a new one instead. If I ever move I'm thinking of doing just that, the houses is my area have jumped about $200k in the past five years. While it's great that they went up, it's not so great when your property taxes are based on the assessed value. 

There's been a big surge in tearing down these 1930s houses and rebuilding what appear to be kit houses. They all seem rather alike, with maybe 4-5 different styles. Haven't checked yet on the actual costs involved but I know that the difference between offers on a friend's old house and the price paid for the new kit house was close to $350k so I am assuming he made a lot more on it.

[chris191070]

My monthly bills are £87 gas/electricity, £5 water/sewage, £15 TV license, £35 Council tax and £525  rent. Then you've got the tv/broadband £85.

[Starrynight22]

On 9/24/2021 at 6:52 PM, Ryan Jones said:

I'm always curious about other people's utility bills. We have natural gas, electric and water. Water is about $50/month, summer gas bill $45/month, electric $275/month. I have an old house with radiator heating so I think our cooling is pretty inefficient with window unit air conditioners. How does that compare with your overall bills? In the winter it's about the same amount just take a lot of the electric bill and change it to gas. March/April and October/November are probably our cheapest months since a lot of days we don't need heat or ac.

Anyone else?

We have electric heat/service (no gas) and central air.  My bill is usually around 150 a month if I run either heat or a.c.  which is most of the year.  The household has bad allergy sufferers so we tend not to let the Windows open extended amounts of time. Plus several of my neighbors use weed and the stink is obnoxious.  

 

Our water/sewer is billed with rent (not included just billed with...its weird) and it is usually around 45ish dollars

 

 

Southern Ohio,for reference 

[Ryan Jones]

7 hours ago, Starrynight22 said:

We have electric heat/service (no gas) and central air.  My bill is usually around 150 a month if I run either heat or a.c.  which is most of the year.  The household has bad allergy sufferers so we tend not to let the Windows open extended amounts of time. Plus several of my neighbors use weed and the stink is obnoxious.  

 

Our water/sewer is billed with rent (not included just billed with...its weird) and it is usually around 45ish dollars

 

I can relate to the weed odor. It's weird, when I'm in Amsterdam I don't notice it. I guess because I'm too busy smoking it to notice. Especially when we had the coffee shop. Now though the weed just smells different. When you exit the casino to the parking garage the odor usually hits you like a ton of bricks.

My guy doesn't do well under the influence so I don't partake here. Or in Amsterdam unless my grandson is around to make sure Justin doesn't wander off into traffic, or a canal. I feel like I need to put one of those baby leashes on him to keep him under control!

[Fae Briona]

When using a mandolin to slice things up for supper, please be careful - even if you are using the shield.

Injury to my thumb is relatively minor, compared to what it could have been. Sink looked like an abattoir.  😟

[Reader1810]

1 hour ago, Fae Briona said:

When using a mandolin to slice things up for supper, please be careful - even if you are using the shield.

Injury to my thumb is relatively minor, compared to what it could have been. Sink looked like an abattoir.  😟

Wishing your thumb a speedy recovery.  

When I get one of those things I also plan on getting the safety gloves  along with it. Knowing myself,  I just know it will be a good idea.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Reader1810

[Ryan Jones]

3 hours ago, Fae Briona said:

When using a mandolin to slice things up for supper, please be careful - even if you are using the shield.

Injury to my thumb is relatively minor, compared to what it could have been. Sink looked like an abattoir.  😟

Had one of those. Now I just break out the food processor, use the correct blade and let it do the work.

I actually did slightly slice a section of a thumb also, about half way through. So I pushed it back together. The area looked about like you described. It's amazing how much blood seems to erupt from the smallest of slices! My thumb did heal up just fine. The area that I pushed back regrew together with no long term injury.

[Solus Magus]

On 9/22/2021 at 7:57 PM, spyke said:

The short term solution is that you have to figure out a way to direct their attentions away from you either through subtle suggestions or blatantly throwing out a red herring. Long term, you need to look for another job because micromanagers never change. 

Yeah, that's about the good news. I got a new work and I just to suck it up since we're obliged to render a month before we finally get to resign.

On the upside, one of my bosses is now Kendall Jenner. That was unexpected. I guess I'll be receiving her tequila more often. LOL. But I may have to give it away since I don't drink anymore Haha.

[spyke]

17 hours ago, Reader1810 said:

When I get one of those things I also plan on getting the safety gloves  along with it. Knowing myself,  I just know it will be a good idea.

I think you're onto something here! Thank you for suggesting this. It's an absolutely brilliant idea!

[Reader1810]

41 minutes ago, spyke said:

I think you're onto something here! Thank you for suggesting this. It's an absolutely brilliant idea!

The one I want comes with these gloves. Smart thinking on the manufacturer’s part, perhaps? 

[mollyhousemouse]

happy monday

just popping in to let you know i am still around. there's just been a crap-ton of drama at work & it's taken a toll. it looks to have cleared itself up (the perpetrator of the drama quit) & management loved my ideas for getting our report issue straightened out. SO this week WILL be better than the last few. AND they will get better moving forward.

take care everyone

[kbois]

1 hour ago, Reader1810 said:

The one I want comes with these gloves. Smart thinking on the manufacturer’s part, perhaps? 

I bought a pair when I got my chopper thing. Then discovered the chopper came with a pair...🙄😒

 

1 hour ago, mollyhousemouse said:

happy monday

just popping in to let you know i am still around. there's just been a crap-ton of drama at work & it's taken a toll. it looks to have cleared itself up (the perpetrator of the drama quit) & management loved my ideas for getting our report issue straightened out. SO this week WILL be better than the last few. AND they will get better moving forward.

take care everyone

Hi molly!

Good to hear from you and I'm happy your work drama seems to be resolved. I still have a few issues here, but luckily nothing too major or stressful, more annoying than anything. 

Still dealing with barely working AC at home. Supposedly someone will be calling me to "update" the situation. I see another phone call in my immediate future. My patience is hanging by an itty-bitty-teeny-tiny little thread. *sigh*

[Reader1810]

1 hour ago, kbois said:

I bought a pair when I got my chopper thing. Then discovered the chopper came with a pair...🙄😒

Never hurts to have a spare pair. 

[Reader1810]

Okay, I’m sure some of you may know this already.

As for me, when I read the title (it was it my Chrome feed) I thought ‘how the heck do you do that?’

https://toriavey.com/how-to/how-to-seed-tomatoes/

Read the article and now I know how to seed a tomato.  

[kbois]

Just in case someone needs a hug today......

[chris191070]

9 minutes ago, kbois said:

Just in case someone needs a hug today......