thehoff

Neighbors. Just start talking to them. Have them over. We do this for football (NFL) games or just for dinner.

Surprisingly (or maybe not). Kpop concerts. My wife is very into this music scene. She has definitely made friends she keeps in touch with (friends she met at the concert). I went to one and I couldn't believe how many fans went alone and formed their own groups at the concert to watch/dance. And this is for all ages (I saw 80 year olds down to the teenagers). Edit: I should note that the concerts she has been to did not cost an arm and a leg.

Also, yes, you probably do not have to shave everyday these days. I can get by with 2-3 a week if that and still not look messy. Even if I did I feel the Dorco with the double edge is not that expensive.

We had our entire system replaced about two years ago now. Was around 17k with furnace AND heatpump. I had maybe a half dozen quotes and picked the one that was just above middle of the pack (mind you we had to have it replaced as the system was failing).

We still have oil as backup for really cold days.

I was curious if this was all worth it so have been tracking our electricity and oil spend. We'll break even easily within the next few years compared to if we had just replaced everything with the cheaper stuff (non heatpump). Granted we were oil only for heat so that may not be a fair comparison for where you're at but for us its been a no-brainer.

We did have one quote just over 20k for basically the top of the line system which we were told would have given us more savings and a more comfortable home. I do sometimes wish we went with that (payback would have added some years).

Sure there are differences overall. In talking with other parents, for instance, the privates around us have classes on ways to study methods (notetaking, how to approach tests, things like that). Our public school does not do this (nor does any of the public middle schools we looked at). The privates around us also seem to give a lot more homework (even during the summer break).

Our math programs seem average for what they are learning. We have been going to additional math tutoring outside to get our son ahead but it wasn't because of the program at his school (we started in Kindergarten).

There is a also lot of info around bullying and so on. I just figured this was all schools. This one I don't know about at the other schools around us.

4H is around here as well but from random other activities we've taken our son to we found a nature society close to us owns a small farm and allows kids to come in and help with the chickens and couple cows they have (weekend, summer programs). Not exactly the same but maybe works for your family.

Our situation is the opposite. The house feels more comfortable overall. Its still a little warmer upstairs where the home office and bedrooms are but generally around the house it feels a little more consistent.

You can definitely tell when the oil furnace kicks in as the air is noticably hotter. But when that happens the house gets warmer faster and gets a little too hot before it turns off again. And stays a little too hot for too long.

We went with a midrange system. In hindsight I do kind of wish we went with a different installer who was pushing a more "cadillac" type system where the fan (according to him) would always be (or just about) on but be variable in speed basically keeping the house at the right temp more often and slightly more savings.

College football around here is much more affordable (as are college basketball games, G league for basketball, and minor league baseball).

We ended up in a house on the smaller end of what was available and we still think its probably too big for us (great neighborhood though).

On topic, its a great reminder to see say the Netflix charge happened and how much. An example is we subscribed to Viki for a couple months and forgot to cancel. Seeing that charge was a great reminder to poll the house if anyone was still using it.

Where we are at now, we have a wooded lot out back so we blow them back there (folks across the street do blow them to the curb and pay for a company to come out and vacuum them up).

No way we could just rake them either, there's just too much. For lawn sweepers they can be pretty big so you'd need somewhere to put it when you're done (at least the ones I've looked at).

>For the past few years, parents, researchers, and the news media have paid closer attention to the relationship between teenagers’ phone use and their mental health. Researchers such as Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge have shown that various measures of student well-being began a sharp decline around 2012 throughout the West, just as smartphones and social media emerged as the attentional centerpiece of teenage life. Some have even suggested that smartphone use is so corrosive, it’s systematically reducing student achievement.

One of ours is a 2006 with just over 230k miles on it (Toyota). The last few trips to the shop for just an oil change and tire rotation has turned into large bills to fix things. I don't think if we sold it earlier we'd come out much ahead but maybe I'm wrong.

We plan to replace this with a similar 2-3 year old model and drive that one into the ground. Our other is a Ford and has not been as reliable. That will be replaced with a Toyota when it's time comes (which sadly may be with a lot less years/mileage than the Toyota).

We cut the amount of gallons we used by over 50% compared to last year. Sure the oil infrastructure is needed to get it delivered (I wish we didn't need it) but I'm very happy that our heating (oil+electricity) bills are so much lower, even with the increased oil prices.

We went with a mid-range system but now I kind of wish we sprung for the "Cadillac" version.

Proper link.

Part of this training involves taking the puppies to elementary schools for socialization. The kids love seeing the puppies, the dog learns, and the trainer loves what he’s doing.

He spends about a year with the dogs then they are given up. He spends his own money and time raising and training these dogs.

Related: was talking with a neighbor about this story and we both agreed that it would be nice if we saw more of this in papers and local news instead of all the negativity.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_the_Rich

Strava https://www.strava.com/features

(Not affiliated with either, just a reader of dcrainmaker for many years).

Military schools. I’m not talking West Point, the other Academies, or VMI and the others. There are military boarding high schools where they do this.

I have an old HP one (8-10 years old) that works and the laser cartridge lasts a really long time. It’s even Wi-Fi enabled which works most of the time (unplug and plug back in for the times it doesn’t gets it humming along again).

Granted I only print probably 5-6 pages a month.

As impersonal as it is, virtual is what I’ve signed up for so wouldn’t expect anything different were I to get let go.

Reason given was that braking causes the front end to drop causing the deer to be “pushed” up onto the hood and into your windshield.

No sure if this is true or not.