15:46 – Barbara arrived home about 10:15 last night, and I still have cleaning up to do.
Barbara mentioned this morning that she wants to buy a new mattress. She used to prefer the firm mattress that we have now, but said she noticed on her trip that she slept much better on a softer mattress. I told her I was happy with our current mattress, but I’m pretty much mattress-neutral so to go ahead and find one that makes her happy and buy it. But, I told her, just a new mattress would make her more comfortable, doubling or tripling our stock of stored food would make me more comfortable. That means another trip over to the LDS store in Greensboro and some runs to Costco and Sam’s Club. So it’s a deal.
Then Barbara mentioned that it would make her happy to replace the front windows in our house. Fine, I told her, but it would make me happy to buy several more shotguns and rifles and lots of ammunition. (We already have multiple pistols in .357, .44, and .45 ACP, plus .22 rimfires, so we don’t need more pistols.) So it’s a deal.
What? Thought you lost all those in the river.
On the mattress front, I use a memory foam pad and really like it. There’s also the adjustable type. Each side sets their own firmness.
Regarding mattresses, the best contributor to domestic tranquility was when we bought a Sleep Number bed ( http://www.sleepnumber.com/ ). You can spend a reasonable amount or a lot, but the inexpensive beds work just as well. You would need to get a least a queen size so that both sides are adjustable. I am a big guy, tall and stout, and my wife is 5’2″ and petite and this is the only type of bed that works for both of us. I recommend you find a store in your area and try them out. However, mattress sales people are sometimes used car salesman flunk outs so be prepared to be assertive and avoid the upsell.
Had a Sleep Number. Liked it for the most part but what I did not like about the Sleep Number was the gap, hard spot down the middle that separates the air bladders. Got rid of it for a Posterpedic memory foam mattress, California King. Wonderful mattress. Of course, mattresses are very much a person choice. Damn expensive as are all high quality mattresses. I think we paid $2K for the Posterpedic. That was just the mattress. We built the base ourselves and used the headboard from our old water bed (that headboard is 35 years old).
When I was younger the common wisdom was a firm mattress. Now the trend is toward soft. Never did understand the hard mattress as back then that was about all you could buy that would last. I don’t know how long the memory foam will last but I suspect it will make 20 years.
You didn’t bargain hard enough.
I wonder if the gun control people will notice that this guy was stopped from killing more by a guy with a gun…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-27/5773348
Progressive Narrative Fail & Steeling Myself to Watch “Madam Secretary” so You Don’t Have to . . .
The local police are classifying it as “workplace violence” …
Yeah, the Feds are involved and do not want it associated with Muslimism. So ‘workplace violence’ it is. Forget the guy was a Muslim convert.
Best mattresses I have ever slept on are from IKEA — both in Europe and the US. But mattresses are so subjective.
All that firm stuff and the doctors who supported it, drove me nuts as a kid, because I had no input whatsoever into things like mattress firmness, clothes I wore, furniture in my room, towels I could use, etc., etc. — until I left home for college (as my dad used to say, ‘if I pay, I decide’). What shocked me was when I started visiting relatives in England and found their beds were so soft they practically swallowed you up. What I like is something in-between. Too soft and I have to wake up and work, just to roll over. Too hard and my back aches before morning comes.
BTW, in Germany, a bed for 2 has separate mattresses for each side, kind of like 2 twin beds squeezed together. That hard dividing line Ray talks about was always there. Definite impediment to intimacy. No wonder the German birthrate is in trouble.
The usual suspects in Australia are standing up for the peace loving Muslim community, who are often refugees who came here illegally:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/religious-leaders-denounce-terrorism/5765596
“The leaders stressed that the sanctity of life is of paramount importance to all people of faith.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-26/police-reveal-rise-in-attacks-as-terror-suspect-farewelled/5772942
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/police-name-man-shot-dead-outside-melbourne-police-station/5765364
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-25/police-officer-stabbed-by-terror-suspect-home-from-hospital/5769476?section=vic
http://thediplomad.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/aussies-round-up-isis-experts-have.html
My old mattress in Canberra lasted almost 29 years. I was quite happy with its comfort level. The base was falling apart and bits of wire sticking up through the mattress so I had it taken to the dump there and bought a new one here. I think it’s a bit firm, something a bit softer would have been nice in retrospect. The salesperson said if I got one that was too soft I might sink in to it and that would result in me overheating. That would have been okay most of the year because I feel the cold at night and sleep with a doona *and* an electric blanket. In high summer I can just turn on the air conditioning.
Chuck wrote:
“No wonder the German birthrate is in trouble.”
Not to worry Chuck, the Muslims are helping make up the numbers… 🙁
My Samsung Galaxy S3 died a week ago. No idea why, but I have noted here that starting around February, after a charge lasting up to 3 days, I had to start charging every overnight. Then around May, it started getting noticeably warm and the battery lasted only 4 to 5 hours off the charger. Phone company told me to get a new battery. Brand spanking new battery lasted only 3 to 4 hours — worse than the old one. Went to bed a week ago tonight, and the phone was totally dead in the morning. Totally. Swapping batteries made no difference whatever, and plugging into a charger did nothing. For the last several weeks, the thing was getting too hot to leave in my pocket, and the place it was hot was not where the battery was located.
Guy at the phone store kept trying to blame the heat on too many apps running, but I told him I don’t use other apps than the basic ones to make phone calls and text, and if I did, I killed them using the Android method of removing them from the ‘desktop’. And besides, the heat just started in May, after a year of working properly.
So. I am on somebody else’s friends and family account. That other person is an employee of the phone company, so I am under different rules than regular users, and different rules than regular employees. Looks like I will be without a phone for 2 weeks, minimum. So far I am getting by, but I ain’t a happy camper. Currently fighting through the red tape, which is very difficult when the only phone number I have, is that dead one, and only phones from my particular cell phone company work on their network — regardless whether the phone is unlocked. Thus, my old Motorola PEBL cannot be pressed into service as a backup; I have to wait for the Galaxy to either be fixed or declared unfixable. No loaners at this company. I am beginning to wonder if the unlimited data for $30/mo less than everyone else pays, is worth this hassle.
And customer service these days is really a two-edged sword. First, it is nearly impossible to talk with someone at any company via phone these days, but when you do get connected, then secondly, it takes a long, long time to deal with the problem. Had to deliver some stuff to my son earlier this week, so I used his phone to call the special number I have to use as friend or family of an employee. That call took 35 minutes — after I reached someone. I did not have my computer with me, but the person I spoke with said an email was being sent, confirming everything we had spent 35 minutes talking about, and giving me elective options, that I could respond to. That was on Wednesday. I still have not received that email, but have no phone to tell them that.
In Germany, dealing with the government is an ordeal and business customer service is easy to reach, instant in problem-solving, and you never have to contact them again. In America, dealing with government is easy (I have never spent more than about 5 minutes in any government office — even getting my driver’s license on returning to the US –), whereas getting hold of business customer service takes a maze of menu options where I almost always have to do it twice after picking the wrong option, then 10 minutes of being on hold, then the 35 minutes of talking. And then they did not send me what is necessary to move the solution forward. No wonder people go postal in this environment.
Not to worry Chuck, the Muslims are helping make up the numbers… 🙁
Guess they don’t sleep on mattresses that are hard in the middle.
I am definitely not renewing my Prime membership. As our host notes, prices at Amazon are nowadays exorbitant. Needed a case for my dad’s Stratocaster, which was lost somewhere along the line after his death. That guitar is going to DIL, who — although a computer programmer — spent her higher education time in music school. Everything I looked at is more expensive at Amazon than advertised prices at brick and mortar music store outlets. And I already noted that Amazon has me pegged as a high-volume buyer of CD’s, thus I cannot buy a CD for less than 14.95, but my son looks up the same CD on Amazon and they will sell it to him for 11.95. That crap should be illegal as clear discrimination. It is in Germany. As are coupons and loyalty cards over there, which do not exist in that country.
Of course, as most here know, after 40+ years working in television, I do not even own a TV now, and never intend to buy one again, so any offerings of video with Prime are completely irrelevant to me. Furthermore, although Prime delivery was always next day during the trial period, it is now no better than their standard delivery without Prime. In fact, the last 2 Prime purchases I made, both took over a week for delivery and neither of those late Prime deliveries were explained. I recently joined Costco, and both purchases could have been made more inexpensively at Costco, had I joined a few weeks earlier, with home delivery in my own car.
BTW, I officially moved my drug dealings from Walmart to Costco. Walmart told me I could not do 90 day supply purchases. That was all I needed to hear from them, for me to make the switch to Costco, which was more than happy to make it 90 days, instead of requiring me to return every 30 days for refills, like Walmart apparently demands. I suspect Walmart wants people in their store as often as they can make them come, and what better way than to refuse to do the 90 day supply. With the Costco membership, I no longer have any reason at all to shop at Walmart.
I am beginning to wonder if the unlimited data for $30/mo less than everyone else pays, is worth this hassle.
I switched to Straight Talk when my Verizon contract was up. Big mistake, at least for me. I went from $140 a month to about $100 a month (two phones, one with data). I could save some money and indeed I did.
But I went back to Verizon. The service was better by a lot. With ST you cannot get anyone on the phone that speaks English when you have a problem. I had no LTE on ST where I live and overall the coverage was just not good. Verizon had none of those problems.
I understand that ST now uses Verizon and CDMA so my coverage and data problems would no longer be an issue. But I am still not going to change. Not worth the hassle plus Verizon has better flip phones than what ST offers.
My son’s wife works for T-Mobile. He gets phone service for $10 a month, unlimited everything. I could join his plan but I would still suffer coverage problems. Just not worth it.
I also need a phone that will work GSM overseas. I cannot buy the phone from the Verizon store. I have to go to the Apple store where I can sign up for Verizon. I cannot go to Verizon and do the same with the phone I need. Seems odd.
And on another topic, flights and TSA. I am leaving on a business trip and my wife is going with me. Last time I flew Delta I got TSA Precheck. This time I did not but my wife did. I have the frequent flyer number, she does not. Why did she get Precheck and I did not is a mystery. Our boarding passes are both on my phone so she will have to go through the same line that I go through (remove shoes, computer out of case, etc.) without the advantages of Precheck.
I am doing my best to stay off airplanes these days. Family can come and visit me, instead of the other way around. I was the one who went to them in the past, but airline travel is so uncomfortable and inconvenient these days, that I am not at all motivated to ever fly again. I miss my European relatives, but saw a lot of them over the years. Even Tina Turner is not returning from Zurich to Brownsville, Tennessee for the opening of a museum dedicated to her, and I do not blame her one bit. She “has problems with flying long distances.” These days, I have problems flying even short distances.
Biggest problem for me on the phone front is my carrier’s refusal to permit any phone but one you buy from them on their network. I thought we passed that hurdle by prohibiting the Bell companies from forcing you to use their phones during the last millennium.
Before replacing the mattress, consider changing pillows. I just spent a couple months in India and the pillow wasn’t tall/high enough to support my head. 2 pillows were too high. My shoulders hurt the entire time.
Regarding unlocked phones, I bought a Samsung Duos down there and hate the damn thing. Underpowered (though I have yet to root it to get rid of the bloatware). After much research, consideration and talking to friends, I’m going for a Motorola Moto G (2nd Gen). I’d love a Moto X developer edition, but can’t justify the $600 price tag.
Dual sim is handy. In USA, I use H2O Wireless for voice (cheap, but voice quality not that great), but would like another sim just for data. Any suggestions?
Oh, and speaking of our overlords at TSA, I merrily waltzed through every checkpoint between here and India with 5 scalpel blades in my purse. Yeah, I feel real safe.
I have had an iPhone 4 for a while now, and it’s OK; they gave me an iPhone 5S at work and it seems to stay very warm all the time and lately I’ve had to charge it twice a day. Another IT guy told me to turn off the Bluetooth, which I’ve done; also sez if I’m carrying it around the job all day between the wireless access points all over the place, there could be constant net chatter on it which drains the battery. We shall see; all the work emails go to both phones anyway so I left the newer one at home, fully charged but turned off. And I’m mainly carrying my own around now.
Neither one is worth a pee-hole in the snow at my home location or my office at work, due to really crappy cell coverage at both ends; in between on the most rural stretches of country roads, it’s five bahz.