   | | Discussion involving leisure activities: books, travel, hobbies, sports, Internet fun and more. Please read Msg #1 before posting. |
Msg #37061
3 replies | Retro tickets | By Mike Goodey on 5/11/24 1:07pm
My sister came across an old envelope with keepsakes in it while cleaning out some items left after my mom died. Mind you this was from 13 years ago. There were birthday cards from my grandmother and aunt from 1964. There was a letter from my grandmother when my mom and I had gone to Chicago to attend my uncle's funeral about the same time.
Lo and behold, there was a booklet of Disneyland tickets: "This coupon may be used for one admission to any A thru E attraction in Disneyland." Ticket numbers R014544.
Gee, I wonder if they are still good? There's no expiration on the tickets. There are 7 tickets. The cost of the booklet was $6.50. Pretty interesting, has a huge key on each ticket and the front of the passport has the Walt Disney story. 'Your Admission & 10 Adventures in DISNEYLAND."
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| | Msg #37055
3 replies | "WE HAVE COVID!" | By Bear900/CA on 5/11/24 1:39am
"JUST DIG A HOLE AND BURY US."
Last text message from my sister today before saying she had to back to bed. We've been in touch as she's been sick all week. Then her husband came down ill. They finally tested and are both positive. We're obviously very concerned for both. Covid seemed to be a thing of the past.
Reminder, if you're of the mindset, to get boosted. We got our Spring boosters two weeks ago with no side affects other then a slightly sore arm.
We haven't masked but still watch our distance and still disinfect at home and work everyday. Still wipe things down before bringing them inside.
We had a dozen people over for dinner the same weekend we got boosted so are not hermits. Me nephew, and his wife who just graduated college with honors, will be visiting next weekend and we'll be celebrating that plus our anniversary. So, our social life is wide open.
Can't say how long our streak will last but we will just keep chugging along. Fortunately, neither of us has had so much as a cold since 2019.
Again, just a reminder if you're so inclined.
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| Msg #37048
4 replies | I'm installing a dimmer | By SC/CA on 5/8/24 7:04pm
switch, which I’ve done before, but it’s been a while and I’m a little baffled. I checked online and haven’t found anything definitive, so thought I’d check to see if anyone’s had experience with this.
The situation is that my dimmer-switch wires and junction-box wires don’t match-up exactly. The dimmer has a black wire, a red wire, and a green ground wire. My junction box has 2 black wires (which were previously hooked-up to a toggle switch). Capped off are two copper ground wires and two capped white wires. I kind of remember that it’s okay to do black to red, black to black (as they’re both hot in a light box?)...and cap off the green ground?..but wanted to make sure first.
Neither the instructions nor the manufacturer is helpful, so I’ll be bringing my dimmer into the hardware store tomorrow along with a picture of the junction box. But, on the off chance that anyone has been in a similar situation, thought I’d just check. You never know! :-)
PS - I'm being safe. Power's off. Things are capped. Already got the light fixture installed (looks good!), just want to do the dimmer now :-)
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| Msg #37043
0 replies | Sad | By Mike Goodey on 5/7/24 1:29pm
Prayers go out to the families of the two Caltrans workers killed while cleaning the embankment of the northbound 71 expressway. A driver of a box truck accidentally sideswiped a utility truck parked on the side and then careened into the two workers.
One of the workers died at the scene and the other succombed to injuries at the hospital. The driver passed drug and alcohol tests and is helping with the investigation.
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| | | Msg #37035
1 replies | Birthday bash | By Mike Goodey on 5/4/24 10:58pm
Went to a friend's birthday party tonight. She turns 70. She is an appraiser and has been for many years.
Wife and I came over to their house last year to look at their pool that a guy fixed up. That's how we ended up getting our pool remodeled and redone.
Anyway, we went into her home tonight and all the work they have done to it was amazing! They're 1800 sq ft. home is now 2600 sq ft. A huge kitchen and big island with stovetop. It's in the old part of Chino so they have plenty of land, especially the back yard. Two new patio covers, a huge bbq and bar setup with big screen t.v. and lots of cement. Hate to think what this must have cost them but I'm sure they took advantage of the very low interest rates a couple of years ago.
What I like is that they aren't sitting right next to their neighbors so the DJ was able to crank up the music. Wall to wall privacy, a jacuzzi under one patio, the bbq and bar, tv under the other. There was quite a crowd to enjoy this day.
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| Msg #37029
13 replies | Hey Bear, | By SC/CA on 5/4/24 1:11pm
Here are some relaxation techniques that my husband and I really like. But, before that, Here’s SNL’s take on navigating SoCal’s highways as seen in “The Californians.”
http://youtu.be/Tt-tG6ufH90?si=ZLijByfv-6GLs6eH
As an aside, my family in NYC and Long Island speak in the same exact traffic-speak in navigating their landscape, just different accents ;-)
For simmering down (ok here’s SNL’s simmer-down-now, I can’t resist)...
http://youtu.be/cOjqLNEeAKA?si=Vc8Eb_5UN7GUNHVQ ),
I like relaxation exercises at the end of my workout routine. Most of my workout videos (love twobirds yoga on youtube) have a small mediation at the end. Just 5 minutes makes a big difference for me.
Here are some others that my husband and I’ve enjoyed:
This hamstring/lower back routine has a nice relaxation routine at the end at about 39:31.
http://youtu.be/gDQNqZMv1V0?si=zK6eDe_he3-DvXU2
We really like brain education tv. This one’s a quick-fix for anxiety:
http://youtu.be/-4FnLWq_eOA?si=0zMBnkmeqSj8iojW
This one’s for the vagus nerve. We did the video every day for about one month and there was a noticeable difference in energy. It also improved my husband’s sleep.
http://youtu.be/zUx5kLFyx-M?si=4k3mOMMJiKODn6dV
For me, it's great as a quick everyday thing, Ringo Starr style :-) Happy simmering, with a smile!
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| Msg #37027
1 replies | Home for sale | By Mike Goodey on 5/2/24 2:06pm
A friend of ours died a few months ago so her grandkids put her home up for sale. The home is in Upland which is a very nice area especially up above 19th street. It's a 3 bedroom, with a new pool. They were asking $990,000 and took the offer of $1.2 mil.
There still isn't enough inventory of homes for sale. I keep getting calls asking if I'm interested in selling my home. I usually ask them "where will I go then?"
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| Msg #37024
2 replies | A little movement | By Mike Goodey on 5/1/24 4:07pm
Thought I had dance moves but it was just a 4.3 earthquake 6 miles from Corona.
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| | | Msg #37015
0 replies | More rants - SoCal Freeways | By Bear900/CA on 4/24/24 3:04pm
Wanted to visit a lifelong friend about an hour northeast of San Diego. I'm on the central coast, that means the center of CA. So, I knew it was going to a 5-hour drive, and at least a couple of heart attacks and near life and death misses.
So, I turned on my Google GPS....
Take the 101 south, the 154 north, reconnect to the 101 south towards Pasadena (don't stop for the Rose Bowl), keep straight on the 210 east, right on the CA 57, left on the CA 91 east (oh boy, all you folks down-under know what a stall that one is), right on the I-15 towards Barstow heading towards San Diego. Yakity-yak!
Somewhere along one of those interchanges was what appeared to be cars driving up from out of the ground. Dark green mountains on both sides were pretty, but you better not look! I had to keep my eyes on the horizon not to get vertigo looking over the guard rails and the spaghetti knots of interchanges far beneath us.
Except for the 101 parts of the drive, there is absolutely nowhere to exit without sling-shotting out of the solar system and never getting back on. Seriously, no gas stations, no service or food signs, no potty breaks! You better not drink coffee before taking this drive.
I told my life-long friend, "Nice knowing ya", then spent the first night dreaming and twitching about the return drive. Mrs. Bear navigated with her pad, I had my phone directing me, and absolutely no radio or conversation beyond "Stay in your left two lanes next two 2 miles ahead". Gotta cross over 5 lanes between relentless convoys of trucks. White-knuckling, heart-pounding, air-gasping hour upon hour of sheer near death.
My friend and I have known each other since HS. His wife and I since Jr High. They also knew Mrs. Bear when she was just a cubby. We spent three full days laughing it up and then preparing to die on our return trip. Ugh!
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| Msg #37010
7 replies | Rant rant rant | By Mike Goodey on 4/22/24 5:27pm
We had Terminex scheduled today to do our termite inspection between 8-10am. At 11:30am I called Terminex to find out where the tech was. The young lady tries to get in touch with Randy, the manager. She tells me she emailed him and sent him messages on his tablet.
At 1:30pm I called again and talked to Amy and told her that no one showed up to do the inspection and that it was scheduled today. I also told her that Terminex had scheduled service earlier in the month without letting us know! Thankfully the tech was ill and couldn't do the inspection. We only found out about it because they called us about it.
I was on the phone with Amy for an hour and a half waiting for her to get in contact with the branch manager and his superior. She was very accommodating knowing my frustration. Then the phone call drops and the survey comes on the line. You know darn well I gave Terminex failing grades.
So, I call again, get someone else who tells me someone will call me tomorrow to reschedule. I shouldn't have but I went off on her about why someone wouldn't call me today to reschedule. She gets Randy, branch manager, on the phone so I tell him everything that has gone wrong. He made the mistake of telling me that we weren't't scheduled! I ripped him a new one telling him that Amy confirmed our appointment when I talked to her. My BP is going through the roof!!!
I would not recommend Terminex to anyone but we have an original contract with them, that they no longer issue, that states that they have to fix anything that is destroyed by termites.
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| Msg #37002
7 replies | High potassium | By Mike Goodey on 4/20/24 8:36pm
I had blood drawn the other day and my dr. calls me to say my potassium is high...wanted to know if I had eaten avocados, tomatoes, potatoes etc. I told him I ate very little of them so he writes me a prescription of some powder I have to drink with water for 3 days.
I ask the pharmacist if there are any side affects, she replies 'Bloating and diarrhea." I'm like "Can I just keep the high potassium?"
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| Msg #36998
2 replies | Oh Kaiser | By Mike Goodey on 4/17/24 7:29pm
Last Wednesday night my wife became ill and she wanted to go to the emergency at Kaiser hospital.( she has to be awfully sick to go to the hospital). We arrived at 7:30 pm.
We go in and the place is packed, SRO, luckily we were able to find two chairs together. About and hour and a half later she is called in to get her vitals checked.
They are pretty consistently calling names for vitals checking of newer patients and you could see a lot of elderly and very young children waiting. Once in a while someone would be called into the ER. So we wait, and wait, and wait. Remember it started at 7:30 pm and now it's just before midnight. We can hear the receptionist telling newly arrived patients that there are some who have waited 10 hours to be seen. I tell my wife, as she is bent over, cramping, that we could go home for awhile and get a little sleep and then come back. But she tells me that she may lose her turn so she wants to stay. Of course we see patients that came after us get called in before us. Guessing those are more urgent. All the time my wife has abdomen pain.
Well soon it's 2 am and the waiting area is thinning out a little because people are getting upset for having to wait so long. Some are going home for a bit, then coming back. hmmmmm.
Now it's 4:30 am and I can feel my head bobbing as I'm drifting off. My wife has her head on my shoulder then wakes up again and repositions herself. Yes it's 4:30 in the morning! But wait! There's more! I begin to see the sunrise at 6 am and go up to the receptionist to ask how much longer. Her reply is "Some patients have been here 12 hours." We're getting close. She then tells me the shift change is at 7 am and hopefully there are more dr.'s coming on . then my wife gets called...for vitals again!!!!!! We are both thinking this is just ridiculous!!
So 7 am rolls around and other patients come in and sit down and this guy tells his wife "The receptionist said there are people who have been here 12 hours!" He tells her that they will wait until 7:30 am and then decide to go or not if she isn't called.
At 7:30 am my wife is finally called into the ER, exactly 12 hours of waiting in the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area. She was admitted , tested scanned and released on Monday morning. Luckily she is felling better and told me "Next time we are calling 911!" I'll pay the $300.
I do have to say that my wife has taken me to the ER before and I have never waited anything like that before...maybe because I am a type 1 diabetic.
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| | | Msg #36990
2 replies | OJ passes at 76 | By  Cheryl Elliott on 4/11/24 10:10am
What a sad life. He once lifted himself out of poverty with his football career, but then fell all the way to the bottom in such darkness. He would never recover from the fateful events he set in motion.
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