Latest purchase thread

[Bliss Doubt]

Oops I meant to reply to Nadalama, talking about her office christmas tree.

Oh well, reading is reading.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Folks please keep a good eye on your financial accounts for the next little while. I think the hackers are out. I guess with the distributions from the government, they figure most everybody has some money right now.

I saw two transactions I didn't recognize in the checking account yesterday, called the bank, and the lady said yes, the Fraud Dept just caught those. They were done with my husband's Visa check card, so they had to deactivate and reissue his card.

It happened to me, November I think, 500.00. Giant pain to get it resolved, but it was resolved in my favor.

 

[nadalama]

Bought an old guitar for cheap off Mercari. It arrived yesterday, and omg I love it. It's a 26-year-old Washburn D10, made in Korea I think, black dreadnought, and it looks like an almost new guitar. Sounds great, good action, good strings, straight neck, flat top, and a decent, glossy finish with mostly very minor scratches on the pickguard and some tiny buckle dings on the back. I can't believe it for what I paid. Only concerning thing is a crack in what I think is just the finish, right below the bridge. Bridge itself is not loose, buckled, or uneven. I detect no dead spots. It came from Wyoming, so I know it was exposed to bitter cold, and I bet that's what caused the crack. Have a luthier nearby, so if it needs repair, it's worth spending the money as long as it doesn't get too bad before I take it in.

Last Washburn I had, I paid $350 for it. Can't go for too expensive, because I don't trust myself to keep at it. It's been 20 years since I played at all, so I'm basically starting from scratch, and with early-arthritic fingers to boot. We sold my other Washburn to my hubbs' brother, who passed it on to his son. BIL's son still has it, and I've wished a thousand times I'd kept it. The neck on the one I just got is narrower, though, and I think I prefer it, which is a miracle considering how much I've missed that other guitar.

My husband started this up. For some reason he got it into his head that he wanted an electric to play with a slide. Started talking to me about my old Washburn, next thing you know I'm buying guitars. Have two other real cheapies, a Jasmine JO37 (orchestra body) and a 3/4 size Chinese mystery mini concert, they are passable but harder to play because the action is a little high and my fingers are not "seasoned" yet. Also have a classical 3/4 size that looks almost like a parlor guitar on the way, but I think I can stop buying for a while now. I'm happy with the one that came yesterday. Grandchildren will enjoy some of the others, I'm sure. But you know what? There's a lot of difference in less expensive guitars now compared to when I first started playing in the early 70s. Those things, the Silvertone (Sears) and Harmony and even Yamaha instruments, were absolute torture in comparison.

Don talks about "walls of text." Yeah, that's what I did here. I'll hush now. I'm just so tickled!

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Bought an old guitar for cheap off Mercari. It arrived yesterday, and omg I love it. It's a 26-year-old Washburn D10, made in Korea I think, black dreadnought, and it looks like an almost new guitar. Sounds great, good action, good strings, straight neck, flat top, and a decent, glossy finish with mostly very minor scratches on the pickguard and some tiny buckle dings on the back. I can't believe it for what I paid. Only concerning thing is a crack in what I think is just the finish, right below the bridge. Bridge itself is not loose, buckled, or uneven. I detect no dead spots. It came from Wyoming, so I know it was exposed to bitter cold, and I bet that's what caused the crack. Have a luthier nearby, so if it needs repair, it's worth spending the money as long as it doesn't get too bad before I take it in.

Last Washburn I had, I paid $350 for it. Can't go for too expensive, because I don't trust myself to keep at it. It's been 20 years since I played at all, so I'm basically starting from scratch, and with early-arthritic fingers to boot. We sold my other Washburn to my hubbs' brother, who passed it on to his son. BIL's son still has it, and I've wished a thousand times I'd kept it. The neck on the one I just got is narrower, though, and I think I prefer it, which is a miracle considering how much I've missed that other guitar.

My husband started this up. For some reason he got it into his head that he wanted an electric to play with a slide. Started talking to me about my old Washburn, next thing you know I'm buying guitars. Have two other real cheapies, a Jasmine JO37 (orchestra body) and a 3/4 size Chinese mystery mini concert, they are passable but harder to play because the action is a little high and my fingers are not "seasoned" yet. Also have a classical 3/4 size that looks almost like a parlor guitar on the way, but I think I can stop buying for a while now. I'm happy with the one that came yesterday. Grandchildren will enjoy some of the others, I'm sure. But you know what? There's a lot of difference in less expensive guitars now compared to when I first started playing in the early 70s. Those things, the Silvertone (Sears) and Harmony and even Yamaha instruments, were absolute torture in comparison.

Don talks about "walls of text." Yeah, that's what I did here. I'll hush now. I'm just so tickled!

My dad left us an old Goya which he'd kept in beautiful condition. It was the only thing we argued over when cleaning out the old house and choosing what to keep. I got it because I could play three chords, but I later handed it over to my brother, who was very resentful toward me for commandeering it.

Let's see pics of the Washburn?

 

[~Don~]

Bought an old guitar for cheap off Mercari. It arrived yesterday, and omg I love it. It's a 26-year-old Washburn D10, made in Korea I think, black dreadnought, and it looks like an almost new guitar. Sounds great, good action, good strings, straight neck, flat top, and a decent, glossy finish with mostly very minor scratches on the pickguard and some tiny buckle dings on the back. I can't believe it for what I paid. Only concerning thing is a crack in what I think is just the finish, right below the bridge. Bridge itself is not loose, buckled, or uneven. I detect no dead spots. It came from Wyoming, so I know it was exposed to bitter cold, and I bet that's what caused the crack. Have a luthier nearby, so if it needs repair, it's worth spending the money as long as it doesn't get too bad before I take it in.

Last Washburn I had, I paid $350 for it. Can't go for too expensive, because I don't trust myself to keep at it. It's been 20 years since I played at all, so I'm basically starting from scratch, and with early-arthritic fingers to boot. We sold my other Washburn to my hubbs' brother, who passed it on to his son. BIL's son still has it, and I've wished a thousand times I'd kept it. The neck on the one I just got is narrower, though, and I think I prefer it, which is a miracle considering how much I've missed that other guitar.

My husband started this up. For some reason he got it into his head that he wanted an electric to play with a slide. Started talking to me about my old Washburn, next thing you know I'm buying guitars. Have two other real cheapies, a Jasmine JO37 (orchestra body) and a 3/4 size Chinese mystery mini concert, they are passable but harder to play because the action is a little high and my fingers are not "seasoned" yet. Also have a classical 3/4 size that looks almost like a parlor guitar on the way, but I think I can stop buying for a while now. I'm happy with the one that came yesterday. Grandchildren will enjoy some of the others, I'm sure. But you know what? There's a lot of difference in less expensive guitars now compared to when I first started playing in the early 70s. Those things, the Silvertone (Sears) and Harmony and even Yamaha instruments, were absolute torture in comparison.

Don talks about "walls of text." Yeah, that's what I did here. I'll hush now. I'm just so tickled!

Still way cheaper than my last few purchases

Carbon Industry Nine Hydra wheel set for my MTB, tools, more spare cassettes and chains… oh and some new shoes… Saucony Echelon 8’s (not for the MTB)

No wall of text this time


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk as

 

[~Don~]

Forgot to add… 5lbs of whole bean from Ramshead Coffee roaster in Montana

Super affordable compared to BirdRock roasters here in San Diego… just enough for a month.

Separate them into 1lb vacuum sealed containers… lasts about a month… which reminds me, time to make some more lol

Guess this would be a wall of text if it was a single reply


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nadalama]

My dad left us an old Goya which he'd kept in beautiful condition. It was the only thing we argued over when cleaning out the old house and choosing what to keep. I got it because I could play three chords, but I later handed it over to my brother, who was very resentful toward me for commandeering it.

Let's see pics of the Washburn?

Here are a couple of the pics that were on Mercari:

 

[Synphul]

All the parts and pieces for the audio stuff I ordered showed up. Well most, still waiting on a different set of speakers. I should've paid attention to the banana clips and how they attach, not a fan of the ones I got. Where you slip the speaker cable through the first piece and fan/splay out the wire onto the threads and just wind it together vs an internal post with screw. Oh well live and learn (took a few tries as it kept shearing through the speaker wire).

The first avr I grabbed off ebay they backed out with some lame excuse. Ended up with an older yamaha htr 5550 for around $70 shipped. Can't complain really since I've seen shipping prices and the unit's just over 21lbs. Banana plugs to the avr, bare wire to the 5 way posts on the speakers. Have the fluance sx6 connected and they sound pretty nice. Connected to my pc with optical cable and the sub plugged into the avr with an adapter. Ran a 5.1 test off yt (even though it's 2.1 setup) and was surprised. Clear left, right, ghosted center channel blending the two and even covered rear left/right with fainter distant sound from the L/R stereo speakers.

I don't listen to it super loud though these are far louder/cleaner than the old pc speakers. I've got them running some background sound comfortable listening level at like 3% on windows and -30db on the avr.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Don talks about "walls of text." Yeah, that's what I did here. I'll hush now. I'm just so tickled!

Sometimes there's a lot to say. I enjoyed reading.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Groceries. I'm finally back on track. The thing about the holidays is, bad stuff is around, and you start thinking you owe yourself gingerbread, fudge, peppermint mocha. It takes all the way through January to get back to uncompromised self discipline.

Bought four 3-packs of romaine AND four Caesar salad kits, a bag of apples, bag of seedless red grapes, 22.00 worth of organic naval oranges (unbelievable in size and flavor this year, but with a choking price), a whole wheat baguette to make croutons, various cheeses, and a package of butter toffee Pnuttles.

I know, that last item, but you can eat them one at a time and they go a long way.

 

[Lady Sarah]

After the latest power outages, it came time to order new lanterns. They came in today. These use 18650 batteries I can take out and recharge, just like my flashlights. They also have solar panels on top, and can be used as flashlights.

In the same order, I replaced an old frying pan with a Gotham Steel 14" pan with lid. I was able to fry up 4 pork chops at one time in it.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

After the latest power outages, it came time to order new lanterns. They came in today. These use 18650 batteries I can take out and recharge, just like my flashlights. They also have solar panels on top, and can be used as flashlights.

In the same order, I replaced an old frying pan with a Gotham Steel 14" pan with lid. I was able to fry up 4 pork chops at one time in it.

Can't have enough of these devices with the solar panel included, for recharging the vapes in a crisis.

 

[SnapDragon NY]

Had to buy and install an over the stove microwave after my 10 year old one quit working. Ordered the Whirlpool over the stove Low Profile in SS, took over a week to get the new on from Best Buy delivered to my house.
Not too bad getting the old one down- but the wall behind it had huge screw holes and not painted all the way that the low profile being shorter would show. So the next day I had to sand everything, then a few coats a drywall compound on the holes and uneven wall, and paint, had to wait until the next day to put that microwave up- Not fun putting the new one in, but it is up there now- has a 400CFM fan and nice light.

 

[olalal]

coffee pot and a new flowerpot


Edited : Removed spam link

 

[Synphul]

Upgrading the living room tv. Did a bit of research, as I get older I find myself further and further out of the loop. Generally speaking I enjoy tech but there's just too much to keep track of. And for someone who likes tech I'm finding myself a slow adopter. As in I still use a dvd player and stop trying to take the cd/dvd drive option from my pc. I still use them. lol. Only switched to flat panel tv's around '09-10. Been using a 32" in the living room for the past 9-10yrs, happened to find a decent sale ahead of the superbowl on a 55".

Should be a nice upgrade. Honestly don't keep tabs on sports much so was a little surprised when I noticed multiple tv's on 'sale'. Then realized oh, duh, superbowl sales. Initially looked at oled's (tech) and sounded decent until I saw the prices. Ouch, back to other stuff. Hisense 4k with at least a few dimming zones and led backlighting. Qled or something. Tired of the crappy blacks and bloom effect but oled was just too 'spensive. Also getting tired of things like text messages being part of the plot in shows/movies and squinting to see what the hell they say. Thinking it might be clearer as well since the current screen is only 720p. Didn't have full hd content back then, they say 1080 scales evenly to 4k and the last satellite tv upgrade bumped the signal to 1080.

Luckily uses the same mounting pattern and the wall mount I'm using for the 32" and will support the weight. Just have to lower the mount some to fit the new tv. Not sure the actual mount location/distance so will have to measure once the new one arrives. Think it's supposed to show up monday.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Upgrading the living room tv. Did a bit of research, as I get older I find myself further and further out of the loop. Generally speaking I enjoy tech but there's just too much to keep track of. And for someone who likes tech I'm finding myself a slow adopter. As in I still use a dvd player and stop trying to take the cd/dvd drive option from my pc. I still use them. lol. Only switched to flat panel tv's around '09-10. Been using a 32" in the living room for the past 9-10yrs, happened to find a decent sale ahead of the superbowl on a 55".

+1 on the CD/DVD drive. I'm looking for a new solid state computer to replace my Dell when it gives out, because it's been really noisy lately. In hunting, priority 1 has been the CD/DVD, then the solid state drive. You get digital entertainment products and they can disappear, or be disappeared, from your computer, or be altered/edited there. In fact, dunno if it's true or not, I have read that external drives have back doors in them, to defeat your privacy and your ownership of the content stored on them.

55" huh? Too bad you have to settle for a little ole thing like that.

 

[Ruppy_bear]

I lost a bet to friend and I paid $40 for someone to do a job that gives my friend pleasure, which he could have done by himself for free.

Son of a bitch that's a pretty expensive job that he could have done himself.

This is a true story and I'm only posting this story for laughs, I don't mean make anyone feel uncomfortable. (If you get it then you get it)

 

[Bliss Doubt]

A box of these (stock photo is just easier):



I'm really surprised at how delicious they are. Each one is 90 calories, and they're as big as any standard candy bar, not minis. The peppermint layer is more chewy than creamy, like a nougat, and the peppermint flavor is milder than a York.

 

[Synphul]

+1 on the CD/DVD drive. I'm looking for a new solid state computer to replace my Dell when it gives out, because it's been really noisy lately. In hunting, priority 1 has been the CD/DVD, then the solid state drive. You get digital entertainment products and they can disappear, or be disappeared, from your computer, or be altered/edited there. In fact, dunno if it's true or not, I have read that external drives have back doors in them, to defeat your privacy and your ownership of the content stored on them.

55" huh? Too bad you have to settle for a little ole thing like that.

The travesty lol. I don't know about external drives having backdoors, wouldn't surprise me. I'm sure half the cpu's out there have backdoors built in. I've always had slow internet and it's so much easier for larger data sets and things if I have a disc. They act like they're saving so much by just making it a digital download (which takes forever for me) and yet the price remains the same in spite of doing away with the physical media, packaging, shipping. Not like the price reflected the savings. I'm not a fan of cloud stuff, it's handy sometimes sure. But less secure and if whoever has access (company, host, product company) can simply shut you out from your own stuff.

People on the cutting edge have been whining about why pc's still ship with optical drives or ports, how it's not needed. Like slow up, some of us still use them. Solid state is nice, definitely quiet and snappy. But even now still lacks storage capacity of mechanical drives so my system still spins and whirs to some extent. And though prices have come down, still not exactly competitive with the price/volume of spinning drives. Instead of trying to make that happen, solid state with the capacity/price of older style seems like they're just trying to force the old style out. Much like they did with tv's and monitors. Similar with all the smart appliance stuff, not everyone wants it.

Or streaming services, while I'm happy they're streaming 4k and all that, netflix, hulu and whatever. Not everyone can access them simply because the age old problem, so many people still without decent high speed internet. You'd think if they wanted more customers they might push a little harder to gain a larger customer base by vying for higher speed service inclusion to more than just the metro areas.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

The travesty lol. I don't know about external drives having backdoors, wouldn't surprise me. I'm sure half the cpu's out there have backdoors built in. I've always had slow internet and it's so much easier for larger data sets and things if I have a disc. They act like they're saving so much by just making it a digital download (which takes forever for me) and yet the price remains the same in spite of doing away with the physical media, packaging, shipping. Not like the price reflected the savings. I'm not a fan of cloud stuff, it's handy sometimes sure. But less secure and if whoever has access (company, host, product company) can simply shut you out from your own stuff.

People on the cutting edge have been whining about why pc's still ship with optical drives or ports, how it's not needed. Like slow up, some of us still use them. Solid state is nice, definitely quiet and snappy. But even now still lacks storage capacity of mechanical drives so my system still spins and whirs to some extent. And though prices have come down, still not exactly competitive with the price/volume of spinning drives. Instead of trying to make that happen, solid state with the capacity/price of older style seems like they're just trying to force the old style out. Much like they did with tv's and monitors. Similar with all the smart appliance stuff, not everyone wants it.

Or streaming services, while I'm happy they're streaming 4k and all that, netflix, hulu and whatever. Not everyone can access them simply because the age old problem, so many people still without decent high speed internet. You'd think if they wanted more customers they might push a little harder to gain a larger customer base by vying for higher speed service inclusion to more than just the metro areas.

You've said a lot, and I'm so glad you're talking about this, because I have not yet taken the plunge on the new laptop. I'll take the conversation to PM if anybody prefers it, but I think others could benefit from it.

"People on the cutting edge have been whining about why pc's still ship with optical drives or ports, how it's not needed."

Some people who think they're on the cutting edge really aren't, and move too fast without thinking. 'Nuff said about that.

"I don't know about external drives having backdoors, wouldn't surprise me."

It's when an external drive, like a My Digital Passport, is connected to your computer that the back door is supposedly there to be invaded. I don't know if it's true, but I've read that in many sources, and I can't see why it wouldn't be.

I really don't use the CD/DVD drive for viewing or listening. I use it for converting CD tracks to mp3 because it gives me higher quality music for my online radio station, 320 kbps as compared to 256 and sometimes even lower. And, not everything is available as a download.

The greatest reason for delaying this purchase is that I keep hoping one day I'll read of a new computer or brand better designed for internet privacy. I've been fending off a Windows update since around 2018 because it was known to install a keystroke logger. When I found out about that, it was all over the tech sites, with methods to prevent it. My most tech savvy friends seem unaware of it, and tell me a keystroke logger is malware. Then they tell me it's dangerous to fend off updates because it leaves my computer vulnerable. I do have SecureIT antivirus, and Dell installs updates regularly. I've had no fallout from disabling Windows updates. Some browsers don't work anymore, but my privacy browsers work just fine, and my photo and audio editing programs, email, everything.

So, I don't want any damn Windows key logger on my computer, where I store client credit card details and other sensitive information. I use an ethernet cable and keep wifi turned off. When I had this Dell installed I made my tech guy disable cloud storage, disable Cortana, and remove the Edge browser.
Keeping the key logger at bay, I feel I've done all I can for privacy until I find a brand or model that has
no back doors, or keeps them sealed shut. I just want a computer that works for me, rather than me working for the information thieves.

The one I've had my eye on is this (though I'll try NOT to buy it on Amzn):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082NZX92C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=AP0XFNHIH85WR&th=1

All of the features and ports are comparable to my Dell Inspiron, except for the solid state drive, and only 12gb memory. My Dell has 18 gb RAM, but in the nearly five years I've had it, with all the music, photos, videos, work files and other data I have stored, I'm barely at 25 percent of using up that RAM, so I'm not concerned about the 12 gb memory on the HP.

Time moves on, and things change, but I'm also not accustomed to think of HP as having the best products. So I'm stuck in idle, doing this computer shopping search about every six weeks, or when the Dell is making scary noise.

Appreciate any and all feedback, though I'll glaze over if the conversation becomes so technical I can no longer understand it. Again, happy to remove it to PM if anybody is annoyed by the "wall of text".

 

[Synphul]

Oof, when you realize the old tv takes m4 screws to mount to the wall mount and the new one takes m6. But like a dumbass, didn't know this ahead of time so didn't order the m6 mounting screws. Sunnuva bitch. Gonna be a couple more days and gotta put the old tv back up. Suckballs. You'd think for the $2 the company could've included them with the tv, but no. Just like they could've mentioned the length needed instead of just 'm6'. Ok, x ... what? They only made the tv, they should know the depth of the threads they used. The further into the future we go the lamer shit gets. Now I have to get an electronics engineering and installation specialist degree. lol. Always something.

 

[Pastorfuzz]

Oof, when you realize the old tv takes m4 screws to mount to the wall mount and the new one takes m6. But like a dumbass, didn't know this ahead of time so didn't order the m6 mounting screws. Sunnuva bitch. Gonna be a couple more days and gotta put the old tv back up. Suckballs. You'd think for the $2 the company could've included them with the tv, but no. Just like they could've mentioned the length needed instead of just 'm6'. Ok, x ... what? They only made the tv, they should know the depth of the threads they used. The further into the future we go the lamer shit gets. Now I have to get an electronics engineering and installation specialist degree. lol. Always something.

I just bought 4 casters for my smoker. 6 inch industrial type. Paid close to $100 for them and they didn’t come with washers or the nuts.
Assholes

 

[Synphul]

I just bought 4 casters for my smoker. 6 inch industrial type. Paid close to $100 for them and they didn’t come with washers or the nuts.
Assholes

Damn. That's insane. Just don't get why companies do that. Or at the very least indicate 'these pieces not included, requires xyz' so people can plan ahead. It's not like car parts where you reuse most of the fasteners. Vape stuff drives me nuts with that too. May or may not include extra orings. Ok fine, at least list them out. Your device will require 2 12x.5mm orings, 1 8x1mm oring or whatever. List it in the parts list, so when people DO have to replace them they're not playing Hercule Poirot trying to sort it out. They manufacture it, they know the exact specs of those parts.

I'm just glad I caught it before I had everything apart and had the wall mount remounted lower on the wall and stuff, had the new tv all unpacked. I could be mistaken but I don't think the wall mount came with any screws/hardware either. I don't recall buying separate machine screws but hell that was 8-9yrs ago? I'm lucky to remember what I did last week. lol.

 

[Synphul]

Just a quick follow up, the mounting bolts arrived for the tv. Ended up using pieces out of two sets. The one set said it was for hisense tv's and the bolts seemed nicer (larger heads) but came with puny ass washers that weren't quite big enough for my liking to span the slots in the mount arms. So used the slightly longer screws from a bigger multi kit which also had larger washers. The heads weren't as large but doubled up the washers, one snug to the bolt size and the other with larger diameter to catch both sides of the mount slot.

Kind of a pain in the ass hoisting it up and blindly pushing against the wall mount. Trying to get the hooks on the bracket pieces to catch the rail of the mount. Actually got it the first go though which had me really skeptical as I turned the tv so I could see behind it. Thought for sure it hadn't caught and was just barely snagged on there, waiting for it to drop suddenly. Thankfully didn't. After digging through the packs of items included with the tv, found they included 4 mounting screws. How nice of them, except they weren't the right size lmfao. Like seriously, the tv requires 4x 6mm vesa screws and they included 4x 4mm - and no washers. Wtf.

Nothing to really go by for comparisons as far as how it stacks against 'nice' tv's. Pretty happy with it though. Colors are a lot more intense than the old one and the range of what's on the screen (darks vs brights). It's not just a matter of not having the old one set properly with contrast/brightness. No real bloom effect on blacks and darker colors that were lost before show up (like navy suits and black backgrounds). It looks like there's some sort of bleed around the edges on the onscreen menu but I think it's just the menu screen design because it goes away during normal viewing. I've only noticed it on the menu screen. Everything seems vivid and crisp, no blur around text on the screen or anything. Definite improvement over the old one.

 

[Lady Sarah]

Being a bit of a penny pincher that likes nice stuff, I could not resist getting this nice solid wood credenza for a hundred fifty bucks plus the price of gas to pick it up. Getting it in the house was fun. Getting it in that room was almost a nitemare.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Being a bit of a penny pincher that likes nice stuff, I could not resist getting this nice solid wood credenza for a hundred fifty bucks plus the price of gas to pick it up. Getting it in the house was fun. Getting it in that room was almost a nitemare.

Beautiful piece. I would a million times rather have antique or even plain old used furniture than buy new. It's so much better value to treasure what's already in this world, the trees that have already been cut down, the fuel that already powered the tugboats, the saws, the shipping to the stores. The previous owners' lives absorbed into the grain shows in the patina. Most of my furniture is old used stuff, including my grandma's best pieces.

From the 1940's to the late 70's or early 80's that solid wood furniture represented heavy US deforestation at a time of good solid employment. It has to be worth keeping and passing down. Nowadays a lot of what you can get new is made cheaply abroad, using labor that is nearly or abjectly slave labor, so the kind of thing you're showing here supports small business owners, re-sellers, charity thrift shops.

I always write too much. I buy everything second hand, clothes, dishes, kitchen wares, everything except shoes, socks, underwear and vape gear

 

[Wb80]

Being a bit of a penny pincher that likes nice stuff, I could not resist getting this nice solid wood credenza for a hundred fifty bucks plus the price of gas to pick it up. Getting it in the house was fun. Getting it in that room was almost a nitemare.

View attachment 191372

That is gorgeous

 

[Lady Sarah]

Beautiful piece. I would a million times rather have antique or even plain old used furniture than buy new. It's so much better value to treasure what's already in this world, the trees that have already been cut down, the fuel that already powered the tugboats, the saws, the shipping to the stores. The previous owners' lives absorbed into the grain shows in the patina. Most of my furniture is old used stuff, including my grandma's best pieces.

From the 1940's to the late 70's or early 80's that solid wood furniture represented heavy US deforestation at a time of good solid employment. It has to be worth keeping and passing down. Nowadays a lot of what you can get new is made cheaply abroad, using labor that is nearly or abjectly slave labor, so the kind of thing you're showing here supports small business owners, re-sellers, charity thrift shops.

I always write too much. I buy everything second hand, clothes, dishes, kitchen wares, everything except shoes, socks, underwear and vape gear

It was made in China. Don't know when. Don't really care. The wood was prolly cut down from US forests and sent there. It's a nice match for a hutch my sister told me about that some dipstick put out next to the dumpster. I brought that solid wood beast home too.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

It was made in China. Don't know when. Don't really care. The wood was prolly cut down from US forests and sent there. It's a nice match for a hutch my sister told me about that some dipstick put out next to the dumpster. I brought that solid wood beast home too.

Right there. Can't imagine putting good furniture out as garbage when there are charities that will pick it up for free, but people do it all the time.

Nice rescues, both pieces. That sword up top looks interesting.

 

[nadalama]

Beautiful piece. I would a million times rather have antique or even plain old used furniture than buy new. It's so much better value to treasure what's already in this world, the trees that have already been cut down, the fuel that already powered the tugboats, the saws, the shipping to the stores. The previous owners' lives absorbed into the grain shows in the patina. Most of my furniture is old used stuff, including my grandma's best pieces.

From the 1940's to the late 70's or early 80's that solid wood furniture represented heavy US deforestation at a time of good solid employment. It has to be worth keeping and passing down. Nowadays a lot of what you can get new is made cheaply abroad, using labor that is nearly or abjectly slave labor, so the kind of thing you're showing here supports small business owners, re-sellers, charity thrift shops.

I always write too much. I buy everything second hand, clothes, dishes, kitchen wares, everything except shoes, socks, underwear and vape gear

I agree so much with this. I have quite a few pieces of 1940s-era furniture, and things like wall art/picture frames/decorative boxes/etc. that have been rescued over the years. We bought several wonderful pieces while we lived in Savannah, which has shops that you can get lost in for days.

Also love glassware from that same era, things like candy dishes, cut crystal or glass ashtrays, Jadeite, things like that.

 

[Lady Sarah]

Right there. Can't imagine putting good furniture out as garbage when there are charities that will pick it up for free, but people do it all the time.

Nice rescues, both pieces. That sword up top looks interesting.

That isn't a sword. That is a bowie style knife I made from a rasp. I made 2 that size. The other one sold for $120.00 to a customer in Arizona. You could actually chop down a small tree with it.

 

[Synphul]

Finally got parts for the truck ordered. Chaps my ass that the brake that's acting up and ate the pads metal to metal is the caliper I replaced (all because the damn bleeder screw got stuck to begin with). No more games with this thing, replacing the front brakes. Pretty sure they were in decent condition to start, replacing the rears a couple years ago and needing to bleed the system out resulted in the stuck bleeder that led to an unplanned caliper replacement. Trying to save money just did the one side.

Not sure if it was a bad caliper, if it was the mismatched reman/old pair, maybe one of the brake hoses collapsed inside. Either way, new pads, calipers, rotors, brake hoses on both sides. And I could feel a little popping in the hub bearing so that's getting replaced as well. Along with new mounting bolts and all that crap. The master cylinder was replaced shortly before I got the truck and I think about the only thing left in the entire brake system I haven't replaced is the abs pump. Plus a few bulbs to fix the flickering interior lights that drive me nuts. Around 470 in parts, another 100 or so in tools. Ugh. Still probably significantly cheaper than a shop, probably around $1200 or more to have them do it.

Naturally in spite of the tools I have from working in a shop never seem to have the right ones. Story of my life lol. Didn't have a torque wrench to run up to 180ft lbs for the spindle nut, or a 36mm for the damn thing. Settled on cheapy amazon tools that got decent reviews, not being in a shop day in and day out struggling to justify $450 on a torque wrench and $70 on a socket I'll use once (hopefully) the next few years from someplace like snapon. Finally getting some nicer weather (60's and 70's) this next week, much rather that than 33 and snowing.

 

[Vape Fan]

SPACE Seating

Office Star Products - Welcome

www.officestar.net

Through 3 different promotions etc, wound up getting it from Amazon for $31 shipped.
One of the best warranties in the business. Lifetime on casters, base, pneumatic lift, mechanism under seat...3yrs on the rest, including foam, fabric and the rest of it. Space Seating = sister of US based Office Star distributor and apparently good company for customer service and directly honor warranty with stateside parts and such. I had interaction with them on some details and they answered phone and were nice, knowledgeable etc.
Not manufactured in USA made, but at least its Taiwan.

 

[Vape Fan]

Finally got parts for the truck ordered. Chaps my ass that the brake that's acting up and ate the pads metal to metal is the caliper I replaced (all because the damn bleeder screw got stuck to begin with). No more games with this thing, replacing the front brakes. Pretty sure they were in decent condition to start, replacing the rears a couple years ago and needing to bleed the system out resulted in the stuck bleeder that led to an unplanned caliper replacement. Trying to save money just did the one side.

Like we know, the best brakes may be different for different vehicles.

I have a minivan and we know those front discs brakes wear quickly since the engine weight is right over the top of them, and being a van, the front does more stopping work than some other types. After owning it a bit, putting 50-60K pr yr on it, I went to ebay and bought a set of those cheap slotted/drilled rotors thinking keeping the heat down would help. I got ceramic pads and they didn't hold up. Changed to Auto Zone's "gold" line of semi metalic pads. Those rotors with those pads are unbelievable, and least for this car. When I drove that much, I could go a year (50-60K mi) without servicing them. When I did I just replaced the front rotors and pads (back ok) and kept rolling. 1nce a year isn't much when its that many miles.

 

[nadalama]

Like we know, the best brakes may be different for different vehicles.

I have a minivan and we know those front discs brakes wear quickly since the engine weight is right over the top of them, and being a van, the front does more stopping work than some other types. After owning it a bit, putting 50-60K pr yr on it, I went to ebay and bought a set of those cheap slotted/drilled rotors thinking keeping the heat down would help. I got ceramic pads and they didn't hold up. Changed to Auto Zone's "gold" line of semi metalic pads. Those rotors with those pads are unbelievable, and least for this car. When I drove that much, I could go a year (50-60K mi) without servicing them. When I did I just replaced the front rotors and pads (back ok) and kept rolling. 1nce a year isn't much when its that many miles.

I used to drive that much, thank goodness I don't any more. I agree with you, though, about it being completely worthwhile to buy good-quality brake parts. I'd have to have new pads every few months if I bought the cheap-o store brand pads. Started using Raybestos pads when I could find them, and it made a huge difference. (Don't remember buying anything special for rotors, except when I was driving Fords years ago - those Ford rotors weren't worth a shit, especially in the spring when there'd be a lot of standing water on the roads. They would warp like there's no tomorrow.)

 

[Vape Fan]

I used to drive that much, thank goodness I don't any more. I agree with you, though, about it being completely worthwhile to buy good-quality brake parts. I'd have to have new pads every few months if I bought the cheap-o store brand pads. Started using Raybestos pads when I could find them, and it made a huge difference. (Don't remember buying anything special for rotors, except when I was driving Fords years ago - those Ford rotors weren't worth a shit, especially in the spring when there'd be a lot of standing water on the roads. They would warp like there's no tomorrow.)

Good point about weather. What I bought/did worked as good as I could have wanted...being where it can be 118 in the shade not to mention next to asphalt...contrete..etc, and being under extreme use. The purpose of the slotted/drilled wasn't a sporty choice, all about dissipating heat and they certainly did that. So yeah, I didn't really save on parts, or pay extra. But the savings on brake service was huge, like going 5-6 yrs w/o doing anything.

 

[Synphul]

Like we know, the best brakes may be different for different vehicles.

I have a minivan and we know those front discs brakes wear quickly since the engine weight is right over the top of them, and being a van, the front does more stopping work than some other types. After owning it a bit, putting 50-60K pr yr on it, I went to ebay and bought a set of those cheap slotted/drilled rotors thinking keeping the heat down would help. I got ceramic pads and they didn't hold up. Changed to Auto Zone's "gold" line of semi metalic pads. Those rotors with those pads are unbelievable, and least for this car. When I drove that much, I could go a year (50-60K mi) without servicing them. When I did I just replaced the front rotors and pads (back ok) and kept rolling. 1nce a year isn't much when its that many miles.

That's a lot of driving for sure. I thought I had a lengthy commute putting 30k/yr on the car. No idea the last time front brakes were done on this truck. They still looked in decent condition, a couple years ago I replaced the rears due to fluid leaks. Gm trucks are notorious for brake lines rusting out so I replaced all the hardline from master cylinder to the abs pump and to the rears with nicopp. When I did the rears I put new rotors, parking brake pads, all the hardware, calipers, rotors and pads. And found a bad axle seal so replaced that and the bearing while I was in there. Intended just to repair the rears to get it through inspection but that required bleeding the brakes. Which led me to a frozen bleeder on the one front caliper and resulted in much cussing and eventually swapping the caliper.

Brakes started making nasty noise so pulled the wheel on the side I replaced the caliper to get a better look. Outer pad was wearing somewhat low but the inboard was full on metal to metal. The other side still looks decent with maybe 25-30% left. Typically excessive inboard pad wear like that is either the caliper or a brake hose that's jacked up internally. Can't just replace one side so now the fronts are getting done. For the relatively low cost of brake hoses, replacing those in the event one of those hoses are shot. It could be the reman caliper I installed. Enough headaches with it, time to just replace stuff. It's an older truck with over 200k mi on it. I'm sure they're due. The truck doesn't see many miles which kind of threw me off when the brakes wore so quickly. Talking under 5k mi a year.

Ceramic pads can be fine on typical passenger vehicles, usually on nicer cars, sedans, euro vehicles etc. Less brake dust getting on nicer wheels, typically quieter. But they wear the rotors faster and don't have the stopping power of semi metallic. Sm's tend to be a little more noise sometimes but with a truck that occasionally gets loaded down I want the extra stopping power. The slotted rotors aren't much of an upgrade for a typical vehicle, there's less surface area for friction. More or less intended for track use where brakes will see hard use and higher speeds to help vent and dissipate rapid heat build up. Like a lot of racing stuff, performance may be increased but at a cost of longevity. Race rated parts aren't really designed for years of service, they get heavily used and frequently swapped.

Hard to keep up with brands anymore, they change hands so many times with ownership and most things are made overseas. Quality has taken a nosedive. Even bigger names like Moog aren't what they used to be. Same thing with everything, a good portion of mac and snapon tools are made overseas, porter cable isn't what it used to be etc.

 

[Vape Fan]

That's a lot of driving for sure. I thought I had a lengthy commute putting 30k/yr on the car. No idea the last time front brakes were done on this truck. They still looked in decent condition, a couple years ago I replaced the rears due to fluid leaks. Gm trucks are notorious for brake lines rusting out so I replaced all the hardline from master cylinder to the abs pump and to the rears with nicopp. When I did the rears I put new rotors, parking brake pads, all the hardware, calipers, rotors and pads. And found a bad axle seal so replaced that and the bearing while I was in there. Intended just to repair the rears to get it through inspection but that required bleeding the brakes. Which led me to a frozen bleeder on the one front caliper and resulted in much cussing and eventually swapping the caliper.

Brakes started making nasty noise so pulled the wheel on the side I replaced the caliper to get a better look. Outer pad was wearing somewhat low but the inboard was full on metal to metal. The other side still looks decent with maybe 25-30% left. Typically excessive inboard pad wear like that is either the caliper or a brake hose that's jacked up internally. Can't just replace one side so now the fronts are getting done. For the relatively low cost of brake hoses, replacing those in the event one of those hoses are shot. It could be the reman caliper I installed. Enough headaches with it, time to just replace stuff. It's an older truck with over 200k mi on it. I'm sure they're due. The truck doesn't see many miles which kind of threw me off when the brakes wore so quickly. Talking under 5k mi a year.

Ceramic pads can be fine on typical passenger vehicles, usually on nicer cars, sedans, euro vehicles etc. Less brake dust getting on nicer wheels, typically quieter. But they wear the rotors faster and don't have the stopping power of semi metallic. Sm's tend to be a little more noise sometimes but with a truck that occasionally gets loaded down I want the extra stopping power. The slotted rotors aren't much of an upgrade for a typical vehicle, there's less surface area for friction. More or less intended for track use where brakes will see hard use and higher speeds to help vent and dissipate rapid heat build up. Like a lot of racing stuff, performance may be increased but at a cost of longevity. Race rated parts aren't really designed for years of service, they get heavily used and frequently swapped.

Hard to keep up with brands anymore, they change hands so many times with ownership and most things are made overseas. Quality has taken a nosedive. Even bigger names like Moog aren't what they used to be. Same thing with everything, a good portion of mac and snapon tools are made overseas, porter cable isn't what it used to be etc.

I hear ya. When replacing next to or around wheel, including suspension, might as well think in pairs - 2front/2rear. Mostly when we do one side of something and having those new parts, the old parts on the other side wear out even faster. I always did all those things in pairs. Brake parts, hubs, tie rod ends, bushings, etc.
I hear ya on the use for slotted/drilled/ceramic too. Tried ceramic once and they started wearing the rotors even tho the rotor manuf suggested them.But the rotors were perfect for my veh and climate.
That setup I have on this van doesn't produce a lot of brake dust, thankfully, becasue that was a concern. Didn't want to be washing the car every 2-3 days - here where it hardly ever rains.
Something I did do when replacing rotors was have them turned on the car, just enough to make sure they were true to the car. Ppl say you don't have to turn new rotors but not always the case. And I think that played a part in the time of service I got.

I've used Moog, tie rods, ball joints bushings, struts...they were ok but not like better days.

 

[olalal]

I usually rarely buy anything. Usually it is clothes and it is online because it is cheaper, more original and faster. I don't spend a lot of money since I'm a student and I don't have a lot of it. Usually my money goes on food, sometimes on clothes and on writing essays (sometimes I try to write them myself using the examples of but sometimes I ask them to do it for me). When I come to my parents on vacation, I can live luxuriously: buy various things that I don’t need, go to cafes often with friends, don’t deny yourself the purchase of accessories or clothes and shoes
Moderator edited out spam link

 

[pitydent]

I usually rarely buy anything. Usually it is clothes and it is online because it is cheaper, more original and faster. I don't spend a lot of money since I'm a student and I don't have a lot of it. Usually my money goes on food, sometimes on clothes and on writing essays (sometimes I try to write them myself using the examples like that of but sometimes I ask them to do it for me). When I come to my parents on vacation, I can live luxuriously: buy various things that I don’t need, go to cafes often with friends, don’t deny yourself the purchase of accessories or clothes and shoes

I usually use similar services for essay writing. I thought it would waste all my money, but probably it's not. My parents give me enough money for food and some hanging outs with my friends. So I don't overthink my clothes. For me, it's not a priority. I'm also part-time working, that's an excellent opportunity for poor students to balance studying and making money. Seems to me it's an essential part of growing up and separating from family. What do you think about it?

 

[ImReallyHighBut]

I usually use similar services for essay writing. I thought it would waste all my money, but probably it's not. My parents give me enough money for food and some hanging outs with my friends. So I don't overthink my clothes. For me, it's not a priority. I'm also part-time working, that's an excellent opportunity for poor students to balance studying and making money. Seems to me it's an essential part of growing up and separating from family. What do you think about it?

What a bunch of losers.

 

[Synphul]

Finally got a break in the weather and started tackling the brakes and crap on the truck. And just what I figured would happen (never fails), partway into it and had to stop. Idk where all my flare nut wrenches go or end up but somewhere I'm sure I've got a pile of the bastards. Have a nice set someplace, ended up buying a small pack of cheapos last time I needed one for the brake lines. For the life of me can't find it, so ordered yet another set of line wrenches. And naturally the rain's back and all this week looks soggy as shit.

Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow and I can find a dry period to finish up. Wasn't worth rounding off the flare nut on the lines I just replaced a couple years ago. Looks like the hub assembly was replaced once already, not sure who did it but nothing on it was nearly as tight as it should've been. The hub to knuckle mounting bolts weren't that tight and the spindle nut came off loads easier than the lug nuts. Despite the fact it should be torqued down 25% tighter than the lug nuts.

Next on the list I think I'll be in the same boat as amyst. Riding on wishes and hopes at this point, between wear and dry rot this truck needs new rubbers. Looking at a set of cooper discoverer at3 lt's. The brakes were definitely due. I think the one side of the old rotor had maybe 3/16-1/4" of metal left before it got into the vanes.

 

[Tornadoalleydeb]

Just got this
It’s a Lil Debbie size! lol

I loved the first Frontier I had years ago. Hubby wanted me to get the 2022 one but it was a bit bigger than I wanted. Then I saw this 2020 which had a bunch of extra bells and whistles so I took it for a quick drive and he saw the smile on my face and yep, done deal

 

[Tornadoalleydeb]

Years ago my daughter bought me this really nice purse and the straps finally started to fray. So I found the same brand at Khols and JC Penny's. It's almost the exact same style but with a different pattern. Love it! and right now Kohl's is running a 25% off sale online and in store. Bonus!

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Okay, talking prepper for a minute.

All I ever hear in the news is "coming food shortages", over and over again. Grain and fertilizer, US rail lines refusing to ship,. Food processing plants all over the country, having mysterious overnight fires and explosions. Somewhere in Arizona (I think) a plane crashed on what was probably the only building in existence for miles. The only building for maybe 200 miles, and a plane crashes right into it, some kind of food processing facility.

I already was kind of a prepper for the last few years, with a month or two of extra canned goods, water, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate bars, stuff like that. Now I look at those 25+ year shelf life prepper food kits, and they are super expensive for what they are, dehydrated food, just add water, in packets inside of buckets.

So last night I panicked and bought:

Pack of 12 Vigo black beans & rice, 22.99. Each one of those is a day of food for one person.

Pack of 8 boxes Wasa multigrain crispbreads, 26.24

Giant 30 oz. jar Tru Nut peanut butter powder (I don't know how much PB that makes when you add water, but LOTS. 14.99

So that's a total of 64.22 for at least two months of food, maybe three months with austerity and self discipline.

But I still feel panicky.

 

[Tornadoalleydeb]

and going back to my other purchase.............................
Look at what I just found on my truck
I had no idea I had this extra until I was sitting in it programming the Navigation thingy and I happened to look up and saw a handle that opens the cover part
I had seen pictures where some of the Frontiers had this sun/moon roof option, and I had said to myself, man I wish mine had that...............lol I'm so excited



Starting tonight though it's going to start raining and keep on through Friday. lol go figure. I guess May is the rainy month here. At least I wont have to water my grass

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I have serious buyers remorse over this latest purchase which just arrived. It's the French press coffee maker on the left. My old one is on the right.



I recently had a weekend house guest who is really into coffee, and turned up her nose at the Folgers coffee bags (like tea bags) that I use every day and really like. I didn't have any ground coffee on hand, so I couldn't bring down the old French press and make her happy, and anyway it only makes 2.5 cups.

I decided next time I would be ready. I don't know why I thought a 4-cup press would be a lot larger than a 2.5 cupper. As you can see, it isn't, and I hate it. My old one has a smooth rounded handle, and a porcelain knob on top of the plunger piece. The new one has a plastic plunger top, and that black collar you see inside the top of the glass is another piece of ugly plastic. It also has the sharp edged carafe handle. Altogether it's ugly.

The thing about getting a fabulous deal on "new in box" from an individual non-commercial seller on Ebay, is that you can't return it unless it arrives broken, so I'll have to give away or donate the new one. I don't want to open the cabinet and see it. I wasted the money, though thankfully not a lot.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Finally got my new computer hooked up and running, after a week of offloading files to external drives, a whole day yesterday of figuring out how to pull the previous laptop, encountering an army of vicious dust bunnies, then figuring out how to hook up the new one. Last time I hired a tech guy. I saved the hundred bucks by doing this all myself, but by the end of the day I needed chocolate for sanity, and I felt like I needed two showers (but just one did the trick).

Pretty, huh?



Solid state is a whole new world of computers, to me anyway. I never knew about solid state until earlier this year. It's very peaceful around here since I no longer have to hear the swan song death rattle of my previous laptop every time I boot up.

I'm hoping for the best. The madly expensive Dell didn't last even five years. Before that the madly cheap Toshiba had to replaced after just two years (DON'T BUY ONE). This one is somewhere in the middle, less RAM, but after 4.5 years I wasn't even halfway to using up the 16gb RAM on my previous one, even with massive amounts of music, video, photo, client files, production software, etc. etc., so I saved a lot by going with 8gb RAM.

 

[SteveS45]

RAM is Random Access Memory and HDD Space is for storage~! I am using a Toshiba Satellite right now with a Touch Screen. Too Expensive for the customer to fix but I touch a shot with a Used Motherboard and then the HDD took a shit. Still a nice machine with awesome battery life.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

RAM is Random Access Memory and HDD Space is for storage~! I am using a Toshiba Satellite right now with a Touch Screen. Too Expensive for the customer to fix but I touch a shot with a Used Motherboard and then the HDD took a shit. Still a nice machine with awesome battery life.

You're right, but there is a correlation between RAM and HDD, in that the hard disk storage is always greater than the RAM. As I was adding more and more files over the 4.5 years I used the Dell, I could see the RAM getting taken up accordingly.

Anyway, I'm not sure what kind of Toshiba I had, but I had to replace it because it crashed all the time, and the only way to get it to re-boot was to take out the battery for a little while, then put it back. I was afraid one day I wouldn't be able to get it to boot up again, and would have to waste a day of work to shop for a new computer.