I hear you. Last month I decided to buy a new bike, following a somewhat similar psychology.
Your wife will be mad when she finds out you were going to buy a 2k computer for yourself but only want to spend $300 on her.
Speaking of knives-
- One kid accidentally packed his pocket knife in carry on, security in Scandinavian country caught it and took it away causing him to burst into tears in the security line. They claimed that normally when they catch a dangerous object they call the cops to interview you and you have to pay a ~$750 fine but they let us go because they felt bad for the kid. Can that process really be used that often, or is it only for people who look like Ogged? Anyway the knife was literally a couple millimeters too long, they have a little measurement dot marked on the counter to check.
- I'm in a place known for its knives, if anyone wants a fancy dagger or sword for fairly cheap (large daggers under $40).
Buy yourself a nice humblebrag while you're at it.
only for people who look like Ogged?
I accidentally tried to board with my Swiss Army knife post 9/11, and thought, shit, I guess that's the end of that knife, but they said no, write down your address and we'll mail it to you, and they did.
But the fact of TSA rules is that they change by the minute and they love to scold you for not knowing them, so who the hell knows.
||
You could pledge a bit to this worthy Kickstarter by long-time (but recently absent) commenter tierce de lollardie aka belle le triste at CT and B&T, dubdobdee on Twitter and thereabouts, pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on Freaky Trigger, and Mark Sinker, former editor of The Wire and NME IRL.
I'm in for £81 and may well double that in the next day if it sees more action (just a bit over 2 days to go). Now you get some added value for your USD with Brexit.
BTW Tierce in no way asked me to post this, and I apologize if he wouldn't want me to, or for posting his various cognomen above (though he makes no big secret of it).
He's long been one of my favorite people posting on the internets in many places and I think it would be great to see this get funded.
|>
6.3 I also apologize if I've violated some Mineshaft rule of which I'm unaware.
And they are not the same (in practice) in any two airports, or even during any two trips through the security theater, so who the hell knows?
I've found I can get that same "I am a financially comfortable person" psychological bump that I get from shopping by contributing to my IRA. I'm not sure how long that novelty will last. Sometimes forking money over to a charity works, too. I've been putting off the purchase of a desktop computer for a while, though.
Get a nice iPad. You don't need one, but it will definitely scratch exactly the itch of wanting a new shiny fun apple device. I bought myself one to celebrate getting a grant and it's just great.
I would back a Kickstarter that promotes girls in science through physics, puppets, and circus.
Oddly enough, I happen to have one right here.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/481394847/circus-town?ref=nav_search
Solid advice, though I happen to hate iPads (we have two, which sounds ridiculous, but if you're going to travel with kids...).
I really want the Apple Pencil, even though it's not an extraordinary stylus separate from the iPad Pro that I don't own, and won't be getting in the next year. But A. my old Pencil by 53 went AWOL, and B. it never worked as well as I'd hoped. I'm pretty sure the Apple Pencil will work better even on my current iPad.
Hmm, I've bought myself a lot recently. Books, nice sandals (though I should have chosen a different color and may get another pair), some new clothes, my birthday pen, new waistbeads because an old set broke, but none of it is expensive enough or very ogged-appropriate. I'm sure there will be some extra nice treats for the new house. $300 would cover a lot of babysitting.
My problem is that the things I want to buy are all obscure things on Ebay or the like, so if I wait too long they might disappear. Am always struggling to convince myself that if that 1983 12" EP on Abstract Records was in such high demand the seller wouldn't have been listing it continuously for the last three years.
I bought a few hundred dollars worth of Criterion* and other Blu-rays just before flying back to Arrakis.
*On a half off B&N sale.
12 I hate iPads too though they're useful for Facetime/Skyping the family and gf.
I just want a mouse and proper menus though and I can never quite figure out the swipe thing I'm always accidentally navigating to windows I don't want and can't figure out how to get out of. So I guess they make me feel like one of the olds.
You could get a really nice tent for $300.
Gadgets don't work for bribing myself, they're too much a part of my everyday for me to get a lever-hitting-rat dopamine boost from them even if they're extra fancy. I got a brown suede motorcycle jacket for myself as a new job present this winter, that was nice. If 300 fell in my lap and I couldn't spend it on boyf or kids I'd probably spend it on a few lessons to get back into horseback riding or a couple of bottles of the perfume I hoard fearing it will be discontinued.
Or on a new air conditioner; this one is making a terrible racket.
I vote for socking away almost all the little indulgence monies until you have a real-estate-sized lump ( or pay off loans). Feel poor, be rich.
Capital improvements to save time or reduce family fulminations, also worthwhile, and some of them happen to be shiny gadgets.
Ooh, air conditioning. I haven't said that the only downside to the new house is that no heating or air ducts connect to the room that will be mine, have I?
My computer is fine but I've been checking out the Chromebooks just so I never have to use Windows again. My firm of unnecessarily indulgence is buying lots of used books that I mostly don't read. It's just $4.74!
23 What what what what. Is it a bomb shelter? How does that work.
You could get a really nice tent for $300.
I was going to say I already have a tent, then I looked up what I paid for it and it was $460. That's when I was recently engaged and had way more disposable income. That said, I don't buy a ton of stuff and keep it for a very long time when I do, so buying somewhat fancy things seems ok.
I vote for socking away almost all the little indulgence monies until you have a real-estate-sized lump ( or pay off loans). Feel poor, be rich.
This is much more my style, though I do tend to go for a lot of little indulgences in my everyday life. It's interesting to see how people differ on this.
It would be more than $300 but there's a man I found in New Zealand who makes fibreglass fly rods I really lust after. And I could use another four piece rod of any sort for our upcoming trip to the high north.
One of the lovely things about fly rods as opposed to other self-gratifying purchases is that they last and last and hardly ever diminish in function. I have a couple now that are thirty years old and still give me huge pleasure to use. Theres not much else (camera lenses maybe) that keeps its value so well; and unlike camera lenses, the mount for a fly rod won't change: I have no plans to upgrade my right hand.
Of course this advice is no use whatever to Ogged unless he gets the tent out.
I went fishing for the first time ever a few weeks ago. At a local park, they keep a pond stocked with fish, and provide rods, and bait your hook. All you do is cast. I fished with the boys, who loved it, but honestly, despite being fully carnivorous, I felt horrible every time we snagged a fish.
gswift is going to give you so much shit for 29.
Then I should also add that I only consented to fish because someone else was touching the worms.
I recently picked up two Hudson Bay blankets for very cheap (because they are stained and full of holes, I mean, so it's not insane but I was happy). They're kind of wonderful, and for $300 you could probably get a nice new one or two fairly high quality used ones on eBay. It's too hot here right now to even think about a wool blanket, but I've been putting them on the floor and using that as a bed and that works really well.
I would probably buy a piece of art that I really liked, preferably from a local artist. Something that makes you feel happy every time you look at it, and that supports them financially at the same time.
If you don't have one, get a few visits from a housekeeper.
if gswift tases ogged for 29 I will perjure myself blind that the victim had a gun. Worms! Stocked pond! aaaargh
Hey, I caught a catfish in about five seconds. I'm a very talented fisherman.
Of course there would be some hierarchy of authentic fishing experiences. It's a fish! It's never going to be a worthy adversary!
Richard Dreyfus on line two for you.
Do you like whisky? Answer must be somewhere in TFA, but I'm too lazy to look.
Tierce's thing looks really cool!
If I had $300 to spare I would ... pay my dentist? (Don't ask.) Actually I would probably buy some ridiculous clothes or shoes because apparently this is the year I decided that all my disposable income should go to fancy clothes and shoes.
Is the Criterion Collection sale still on? You could get a lot of DVDs.
I do like whiskey, but can't really drink for various bodily decay reasons. I think I've settled on what I'll get: a new safety razor. I got the simple plastic one to try it out, and I'll stick with it, so I'll graduate to stainless steel.
I don't think a plastic blade can cut hair.
I assume they have titanium or diamond or something for the 1%ers.
That must be one hell of a nice razor for $300.
I might look into getting a chromebook to replace my laptop. It's approaching 10 years old and still runs Vista.
I'll bet $300 tents aren't even bear-proof.
1/4 oz indica, 1/4 oz sativa, 1/4 oz cbd hybrid (Luca Brasi base or grape stomper), all Liv/well Gold; 1 oz preweigh at Liv door
Give up. Nothing nice costs $300. Nice things are either free or a lot more than that. You thought your money would help you but you are wrong.
I would feel as if I had won $300 if there's an accidental north of Sweden meet up between neB and werdnA.
I guess a pretty OK bottle of scotch or wine. But even there it won't be a really good bottle, just a dumb-expensive one. Plus it seems like you're excluding food and drink.
Nothing nice costs $300. Nice things are either free or a lot more than that.
Totally, completely wrong. Buying nice things in this range is a great way to put little bits of luxury into your life without spending a ton of money. You can get a really nice chef's knife for way under $300; ditto the razor. It depends on your hobbies, but there are definitely things you can buy that you'd appreciate. If you cook, there are dozens of cookware items for under $300 that you can enjoy. I'm not talking about self-consciously "luxury" items that cost $10,000 just because, but nicer versions of everyday tools.
25: It's a shotgun style house and my room (second floor) and kitchen (first) are in an addition at the back. The kitchen has vents but I guess I'll get a European-style wall unit for myself. Still worth it to have two rooms and a stairwell between the girls and me.
And what the hell, since this is the buying-things thread, this is the house I'm buying. Decidedly not a coastal real estate market.
Also, convenient to the Licking, so you've got that going for you.
The little closets on top of the big closets are very dear. Well done you.
If I had real money, I'd buy a nice guitar. There's loads of lovely US made ones around at the moment, but that'd be 3000, not 300.
300 -- maybe a new turntable preamp -- maybe something I could build myself from a kit -- or a nice(r) vintage watch or pen. I have a nice kitchen knife but I could easily add another.
Yeah, I'll get the fireplace turned into a gas one that's actually usable. I suppose we're a little closer to the licking than to the Ohio. You see right into the baseball stadium from the sidewalk, so we'll get fireworks just summer weekends and be able to see them rather than just hear them like we do now. I'm moving two of my antique roses but will mostly he restating. The whole garden in the current place is what I put in, so I know I can do it. There's a huge stump in the back that Mara is going to turn into a fairy house and she'd like me to bring the toad from our current back yard along. It's perfectly livable as is but has a lot of potential too. Plus I'll be able to save a lot of money rather than just keeping my head above water like I have been. I'm excited.
$300 will buy you a medium-nice yixing teapot, if that's your thing. That's what I'd go for.
If you cook, there are dozens of cookware items for under $300 that you can enjoy.
Agreed. One of the best luxury (though apparently not Halford-style luxury) cookware items I ever bought was Le Creuset dutch oven. Makes me feel happy every time I use it, and it really does offer superior stovetop-to-oven performance.
If I had some money to spend on a luxury kitchen/cookware item, I might consider a set of really nice salt and pepper mills. I don't have a specific brand in mind, but I think the thing I'm thinking of is probably French?
That house is really lovely. The fireplace looks awesome/terrifying.
If I had $300 to spend on a luxury good I'd buy a bottle of Puredistance I. Or maybe Tubereuse Criminelle.
Also, convenient to the Licking, so you've got that going for you.
Are we not doing "phrasing" anymore?
Le Creuset dutch oven
Yes! I also really enjoy mine.
Makes me feel happy every time I use it
For me this is my chef's knife, which I bought about fifteen years ago for $120. Seemed like a lot at the time; seems like a bargain now. I use that knife every day.
I guess in more generalized shopping confessions I can say that the woman I'm dating also has a plant name and since I was ordering perfume already I got and am currently wearing one with both namesake fragrances. I am totally a conceptual creepy stalker.
Mother of god, 29!
Like 28 I'm flirting with getting a new fly fishing rig now that we're making better money. Probably a 5 weight Loomis light presentation? All said and done with a good reel it'll go north of 1k but I'll get decades of use out of it.
It cost me around $300 to have a small bowl repaired with gold, not including shipping to and from Japan, since I am a lunatic.
72: but it looks incredibly rad.
27 is me basically, but I don't often get everyday luxuries either. Both phone and laptop need replacing and I can afford to, but keep postponing. I'm just a bad consumer. Objectively pro-deflation.
Don't hurt the fishies!
Yeah, I always feel bad when they get hooked in the cheek (Does a fish actually have a cheek? I dunno. But it sure looks a cheek to me).
And I'm in the Adirondacks at the moment, in a cabin by a lake in the mountains, surrounded by hunter-and-fisherman guys, and going half-feral myself. And I love it here so much: it's about 15 degrees Fahrenheit cooler here than in the NYC area (it's my global warming escape hatch!), and also it just feels like my home and native land: the bits of French, the mom-and-pop maple syrup operations, the damn black flies. But I do feel bad for the fishies.
I watched a guy shoot a fish with an arrow. That seems worse. Obviously, not catch and release.
Except the one we dropped by accident.
As long as the barrel wasn't stocked.
When I was a kid, up at Little Cedar Lake (Petit-Lac-des-Cèdres) near Maniwaki (in the goddamn wilderness of near-northern Québec, in other words), my uncle sent me and my cousin Anne-Marie out fishing with a local hunting-and-fishing lad. The only English this guy knew he had learned from the local descendants of Irish immigrants (Tabernak! and Jésus-Murphy!). He mostly spoke French, and didn't know much English, in other words. He was very sweet, though, and one of those French-Canadian wilderness guys who could stay out overnight in the woods and not even worry about encountering a bear. The fish that he helped me catch he called a "barbotte" (maybe something like a catfish?).
85: Eh, that burbot sounds like a contender.
And then one day my cousin Michael came up north, came up north from Ottawa, and "it's Da!" he called out from the rocky shore. And that's how I knew my grandfather had died.
We called our fathers "Dad" and "Daddy," but our paternal grandfather, he was always, in deference to an earlier paternal usage, "our Da."
43 It's going on till the end of July.
Speaking of the Canadian wilderness, today I saw a car with Northwest Territories plates. They were shaped like a bear.
I'm disappointed, Barry, that you didn't refer to tierce's "various cognomina".
89: Well of course. You know how Canadians are about bears.
I do, as far as you can know while keeping "safe search" on.
That'll do, I guess, but it won't get you far.
90 I have next to no Latin and it already seems like a plural to me.
Well, far it be it from me to demand an ursine purity. I'm just a humble Canuck, after all (though it's true, we're a little bit weird when it comes to bears, we citizens of northen Canuckistan).
If you want access to a French-Canadian cri-de-coeur: might I suggest Ray Lamontagne's "Empty"? Okay, admittedly, the dude is from New Hampshire, but his French-Canadian roots are quite obvious, and they apparently run quite deep:
She lifts her skirt up to her knees
Walks through the garden rows with her bare feet, laughing
And I never learned to count my blessings
I choose instead to dwell in my disasters...
Will I always feel this way
So empty, so estranged?
To understand these lyrics is to know what it means to a Canadian in this our modern world. That is all.
To understand these lyrics is to know what it means to a Canadian in this our modern world. That is all.
You might want to run that by some other Canadians.
I think we have another one around here somewhere.
You might want to run that by some other Canadians.
What, the Ukrainian-Canadian faction? I appreciate their sweetbreads, but sorry, no.
Well, the French Canadians. The Canadians who aren't currently in their maudlin cups. I dunno, I've met other Canadians, you know.
Jane has the wrong song. It is "Dead Flag Blues" by Godspeed, You Black Emperor! Except when it is "The Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers.
100: Well, the French Canadians I do know, as a matter of fact. Jésus-Murphy! Sorry, but I seriously doubt you have some mysterious access to French-Canadian culture that I, somehow, unaccountably lack. I have, like, second and third cousins who only speak French, after all.
I certainly claim no deep familiarity with French-Canadian culture, but I do claim that there is no one thing it is to be a Canadian in this modern world, and that there are plenty of Canadians in this modern world who would disagree with 95.
by Stan Rogers.
Ah well, Stan Rogers, and Barrett's Privateers. Cue some American telling me I know nothing, nothing at all, at all, about Novia Scotian culture.
Has it really come to this? That we're fighting over the nature of Canadian identity?
Gotta fight over something, apparently, and this is way less annoying than the political fights.
If anyone wants to post ponderous/portentous song lyrics and claim that anyone who understands them knows what it is to be, I don't know, Belgian in the modern world, I'll gibe at them too.
Or American! Or British! Or Finnish!
The song that best explains what it means to be an American is, of course, Plastic Jesus.
I don't know what the equivalent is for Finns.
Adventure Time theme song? Does it have one?
Argh. I lost the link from 104. But I grew you speaking French with my maternal grandmother. And yeah, I do sort of think I know a little bit about her culture. O Canada! we have more than one official language that we expect you to know.
Do one's barbs still land, if the target so resolutely misses their thrust?
I'm sure Buttercup will be along at some point to tell us the Norwegian equivalent.
It's a moving target, neb. I mean how many anthems have they had anyway?
115: probably something with Varg Vikernes.
I was going to go with "Kick Out the Jams" but 109 is probably right.
Well I don't want no Abba Zabba
Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
suitable for this boy
Well it's the only thing
that can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
can satisfy my soul
...
He flows like the big muddy
but that's ok
Pour him over ice cream
for a nice parfait
Anyone who understands these lyrics knows what it's like to be a deracinated Jew from California in this modern world.
114: wrong comment thread, try "Philosophy" next door
Speaking of songs that I associate with Canada, perhaps wrongly, I was at a farmer's market yesterday that had a guy playing guitar who did a great rendition of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
120: Or possibly "Harpooning," two threads over.
I wonder all the time what's Canadian and what it means to me.
Last weekend looked at my dad's Colville plates with my brother who was remembering being a kid in the National Gallery. Then I met, at a party back in Chicago, a woman born in Haiti, raised in Montreal. We talked Bourassa and Duplessis.
Mine is a Canada of memory; I never lived in Trudeau's country.
Are those lyrics in 95 presented in their original language?
I want Lord Castock's take on the matter.
There's nothing like a discussion of Canadian identity to bring the Canadian lurkers out of the woodwork.
Mine are a pretentious people! with a way for words!
do you know how long our people have lurked, Teofilo?
nor have we been sober when so doing!
the strong wine is in our veins and the urge to cite Alistair MacLeod gratuitously surges up...
do you know how long our people have lurked, Teofilo?
Well, couldn't be more than 13 years or so.
Maybe that's a lot longer in Canadian years.
Anyone who understands these lyrics knows what it's like to be a deracinated Jew from California in this modern world.
Isn't that what movies are for?
Cue Stan Rogers. I'm still expecting some Yank to tell me I know nothing, nothing at all. No hard feelings, lads, but the know-nothing, know-everything stance does get a bit tiresome, you know?
Too bad we can't get the input of those quintessential Canucks, Mordecai Richler and Saul Bellow, on the matter. But it's not too late to inquire of Guy Maddin!
131: No, those are for deracinated Jews in California imagining what it's like to be other kinds of people.
There was a time when I would have tried to clear up the misunderstandings in this sort of dispute, but I can no longer bring myself to care.
I'm still expecting some Yank to tell me I know nothing, nothing at all.
You do seem to know nothing about why 95 strikes me as ludicrous, if it's seriously meant, as it seems to be.
Note to self: Once Jews become deracinated, they spend way too much time imagining having super powers. At least the ones in California.
137: Nah, we do that even before deracination. Just look at the golem tradition.
I don't think it (what strikes me as ludicrous) is particularly mysterious! I think it is fairly plain.
132: honest reading Jane, I think he was just pointing out the basic folly of such an enterprise, not calling out your particulars.
Mordecai Richler
Ha! Fair point. My (trad. Irish Catholic) father loved Mordecai like he loved going to Montreal for a smoked meat sandwich. But I think he loved Mordecai even more than that: he thought Richler had raised the standard of Canadian letters, all classy-like.
I have nothing against melodrama, which god knows I indulge in regularly. Nor even against connecting a melodramatic episode to something one seems to see in one's personal national heritage. But inflating it to be the Key to Modern Whatevers, Canadians or what have you—that is silly! It's silly! Why should we even think there is a what-it-is-to-be-a-Canadian-in-the-modern-world? That encompasses some rando whose family has been living on the Île d'Orléans since yonks, some other rando who's a first-generation child of emigrants from Japan, and (let's see) one of Canada's many fine Jewish citizens?
133: Don Cherry doesn't get a nod, Neb?
As far as I'm concerned there's only one Don Cherry and he played the trumpet.
I'd help you out, neb, but see 135.
You are, indeed, wise beyond your years.
I don't even know how old you are, but I can hardly conceive an age that could encompass such wisdom.
I'm exceptionally foolish, though, so that likely means little.
Not sure what that implies in terms of wisdom or foolishness.
You're two years away from being as wise as a Rolling Rock label.
Moby knows his bars and his beers.
Actually, I never really like Rolling Rock much and after they moved it from near my in-law's bar (to New Jersey), I haven't had it since.
I used to ride by that brewery in NJ all the time on the train to NYC.
O, Jesus Christ, nobody anywhere should ever be expected to defend Don Cherry. His high shirt collar points just creep me out, and he's all about the lads from Napanee. It's like, Budge McFarlane and Dougie McDougall, and Go Kingston! but a high point collar may hide a multitude of sins...
The missing "be" in 95 actually renders it a weaker and more plausible claim.
The missing "be" in 95 actually renders it a weaker and more plausible claim.
Why should we even think there is a what-it-is-to-be-a-Canadian-in-the-modern-world
Well, sure. There's no reason to think there should be. Except that, I sort of think there is, and I'm confident I'm closer to the ground than you are, mon paysan.
One vote for The Last Saskatchewan Pirate as the meaning of Canada.
My cousin Budge playing Canadian music.
mon paysan
I thought that was just the Italians who said that. Without the "mon" part.
I vote for The Cremation of Sam McGee.
(Which I had not actually read until just now, but nevermind.)
And yes, that's a poem rather than a song, but I'm sure someone has set it to music at some point.
Once again I am sad that Don Freed's song about Canadian history does not appear to exist on the internet. So I guess I'll have to say that Being A Pirate is a Canadian classic.
Is Italian culture warmer than Finnish culture? What is warmth? What is culture? This is all an unknowable morass!
Things I did not know: " There was strong momentum for [Ian Tyson] to be nominated the Greatest Canadian, but he fell short."
I like this Canadian song about the modern world.
One more Canadian singer/songwriter, here's Corb Lund singing, "Long Gone To Saskatchewan" (song starts at 2:10)
Staying in rural Ontario for a wedding, we were put up in a group of cottages by a lake, and my cottage had a CD collection, with all the CDs by a bunch of dreary Canadian country/folk singers all of whom cater to entirely Canadian audiences. The one that looked most promising was called "More of The Stompin' Tom Phenomenon", by Stompin' Tom Connors. It was as dreary as the rest, but the most memorable song was a song ABOUT another dreary Canadian country-folk singer who mostly sang songs about Canada. So for its recursive properties, I say the most Canadian song is Stompin' Tom Connors's song "Rita MacNeil".
Since we're talking about Canada, I'll put in an obligatory plug for Hark! A Vagrant.
I vote for The Cremation of Sam McGee.
Oh, wow, I had an uncle who worked as an announcer for the CBC, who used to recite The Cremation of Sam McGee as a party piece. He had a deep, rich voice, all primed for elocution, and he was a local celebrity, I guess. He was otherwise sort of a creep, though, and my father? he hated him with a true passion. Goddamn sonofabitch, sitting on the couch reading Time magazine, while his wife tried to deal with their seven children ("Oh, Bonnie, I just can't cope"), and each child turned out worse than the one who came before, like a goddamned sausage factory.
Oh yeah, H!AV is great. To ponder more Canadian Canadians one could also squint at the word cloud behind "The World Needs More Canada" at Chapters in Vancouver, which I guess is closed following the conversion of the entire Pacific Northwest into an AWS server farm.
I actually have no idea how Service is received in Canada. He's a big deal in Alaska; one of the big public high schools in Anchorage is named after him. That particular poem, at least, is widely known in the lower 48 as well. I first heard of it in high school, though like I said I didn't actually read it until just now.
You can also buy anthologies of his poetry in drugstores here. Seriously.
Cooler than that hothead Dan McGrew.
Canadian hell surely trends cold?
Hell in Canada would be Heaven in Texas.
A Canadian friend of mine couldn't deal with Texas, moved to Winnipeg, and has since only complained about the weather during summer heat waves.
I'd still think about getting myself the laptop (but wait a month or two until the new ones are released). Who owns the one they handed you? If it's your employer's machine, they probably have (or should have!) corporate monitoring software on it, and if you leave they'll want it back and wipe it and all your data.
(haven't read the thread yet)
I just spent the equivalent of $265 to put myself through this: http://www.theplace.org.uk/week-3-rambert
I had no idea you had to get the early sausage at a sausage factory. Is that just Canada?
Who owns the one they handed you?
They own it. But my Air is fine for my personal stuff (using it now!) and it was really for dev/builds/videoconferences that I wanted a faster machine with a bigger screen, and now that's taken care of.
If you really want to be able to have a faster machine with a bigger screen, why not get a Windows desktop with two or more monitors?
I think my work computer might cost as much as a Pro. It's very nice, but about five years old.
193
Why does it have to be a desktop? My work machine is a laptop with a docking station and has two large monitors. It's a Windoze box. My only real objection to it is that when I undock it and lug it around, it and its power supply are big and clunky.
Where are the nuclear solar capacitor butane hamster-wheel powered computers we were promised?
I've never had something like that so I have no idea how it works.
197. You have to keep feeding the hamsters. Then they do the work.
What about art? There are early 20th century prints I've had my eye on for a while, but the price keeps going up.
189 looks lovely! I didn't know you dance!
Is there any reason for me to get an Inspiron 2 in 1 instead of a chromebooK? I'll be using it basically for web surfing/email, giving powerpoint presentations at meetings, and a bit of word processing. I'm not a gamer, so souped up graphics capability doesn't mean much to me.
Hmm...I'm also in the "feel poor, be rich" school, except as a grad student it's more "feel destitute, be slightly less so." I do enjoy putting money in my Roth IRA. If I felt more secure, I would upgrade my housing to a one bedroom apt, and not the cheapest studio I could find that didn't have people getting shot in the hallways.
If I had to spend $300 on luxury items, I also think I'd get a Le Creuset dutch oven, because I like to cook & bake and it's an area where quality really does matter. I'd also maybe get a better knife, but I think I'd prefer a Dutch Oven first. A Vitamix blender would also be on the list.
I have a weakness for buying clothes, but this year I'm on a no new clothes diet. I did break down and buy two pairs of shorts at target when I realized none of my old shorts fit comfortably and I didn't have any really casual shorts. Of course, about 3 weeks after I bought my shorts, I miraculously lost the 5 lbs I'd gained a year and a half ago. (It was apparently waiting for me to invest in clothes in a larger size). I still needed casual shorts so know I own slightly baggier than intended shorts, but I'm happy with the purchase.
I also spend money on travel, and I'm going to have to make several trips to Prague this coming year and I'd like to go to Portland this fall, so I need to save up for tickets.
I apparently did my taxes wrong yet again(!), but this time it means I'm getting a $400 refund from the IRS. That's kind of like gift money since I wasn't planning on it, but I'll probably either put it in my IRA or save it for tickets.
I come from people who see physical discomfort and frugality as a moral good, so when I see my classmates spending money on luxuries I don't feel I can afford,* I get a little thrill of knowing that I'm more frugal and able to put up with discomfort than they are. Thinking about it objectively, it's kind of weird and the joy of moral superiority really doesn't outweigh enjoying life, but I try not to really question these beliefs because then I'll just be depressed about it.
*taking uber to o'hare instead of public transit at 3:30 am, buying expensive coffee instead of getting costco coffee through a friend with membership, getting takeout instead of eating cottage cheese with fruit for three meals in a row, upgrading ipod every other year instead of using an obsolete one with a broken left ear jack, etc
re #2 and Swiss Army knives-- my kiddo had a magic 8 ball taken away from him at security when he was 8. He's good about decking his bag now.
I missed this post but I am this post. I buy myself books I won't read, records I'll listen to once, and so on, because I want to feel that going to work still allows me to do nice things for myself. I recently spent around $300 on a hundred-year-old banjo, which I actually have played and will play. It's lovely, but it also needed new tuners which, with labor for installing them, made it a ~$450 purchase, whoops. I am not rolling in dough right now.
(Friday I downshifted to smaller tokens of job-justification and bought a $5 used paperback of Francis Poulenc's letters. Still got that little narcotic lull, the click in the head as Brick says.)
I've found I can get that same "I am a financially comfortable person" psychological bump that I get from shopping by contributing to my IRA.
I was enjoying socking money into savings for, what, maybe a down payment or something one day, until I took a 20% pay cut because I am a moron.
Canadian hell surely trends cold?
Canadians will bitch and moan about the cold (Canadians love to complain about everything), but mostly we're just showing off (look how hale and hearty we are! to put up with this extreme 'wintry mix,' and still run airline services and get the kids to school on time in January...). But Canadians basically love the cold (and, relatedly, we also love hockey: an irrational, national obsession).
Hell for Canadians (which may differ from 'Canadian hell,' admittedly) is a 'typical' American summer.
When I first moved to Baltimore, my only real experience of America in summer was some cross-border shopping expeditions from Ontario to upstate New York. Baltimore actually astonished me. I had never, ever experienced such high heat and humidity in my life; and I seriously couldn't believe that people could actually function at such high temperatures. Would gladly welcome an ice storm, rather than suffer through another B'more heat wave in July.
My advice is to never visit Houston.
I wonder if any Canadian has ever legit disliked the cold, and possibly even moved away, to a warmer place. Maybe any such person is ipso facto not a real Canadian?
Maybe someone who moved to Canada from a warmer climate, even?
I wonder if any Canadian has ever legit disliked the cold,
Great question! You know, in my younger (hardcore anti-free-trade, anti-American-empire, Canadian-nationalist etc etc) days, I had nothing but contempt for any Canadian who would prefer Tampa or Orlando to Ottawa or Montreal.
And then my parents' health began to fail, and they started spending a month or two in Florida every winter. To this I objected very much: how awful of them to suggest that spending time in the belly of the (American) beast was preferable to toughing it out in their home and native land of Canada. "The snowbirds" is what I tended to sneer, and I was self-righteously judgmental about their preference for winter in Florida over winter in Ottawa (the coldest goddamn capital city in the world in 2015).
And then my parents got too sick to go to Florida, and in realizing the implications of this loss, I felt wrong, and humbled, and chastened. In Florida, they went out into the sunshine almost every day, and met up with other people, and socialized. In Ottawa, as elderly people with compromised health, they were virtual shut-ins. They stayed inside all day, were afraid to go out because of the cold and the winds and the ice (you slip on the ice as an elderly person, you're looking at a broken hip, which might prove fatal), and they just got depressed.
The Canadian winter is great for skaters and skiers and snowboarders and nordic bird-watchers. But it's really quite brutal on the elderly.
Don't 25% of Canadians live south of Minneapolis? Can't be that cold.
Don't 25% of Canadians live south of Minneapolis?
Yeah, we're basically wimps. Toronto, now: I remember visiting Toronto during March Break when I was a kid, and thinking I was in the tropics because I didn't have to wear mittens!
When we moved to Columbus in '64 I think I took the heat and humidity as coming with the territory. And the Ohio winters were bitter in their own way: damper and more shivery, with freezing rain.
Here's what ogged should spend his money on --
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/vgm/5695154534.html
A few people have mentioned Chromebooks, and I have to say, having just spent the evening playing around with one (I bought an Acer R11 for our former housemate, the Syrian refugee), they're pretty damn impressive. $300 for an 11.6" laptop/tablet hybrid,
Goddamn HTML tags. That was supposed to be:
$300 for an 11.6" laptop/tablet hybrid, less than 3lbs weight, 10 hrs battery life, an SD card slot so you can add another 64GB storage if you need it, and as of a month ago, you can also run any Android app on it. As for performance, I bought the 4gb RAM model, and it seemed to have no problems with a fair number of tabs open.
A few people have mentioned Chromebooks
John Scalzi just posted about them as well.
I am a nerd, and I have disposable income, and those two things mean that I end up buying a lot of technology. I buy some for utility and some just because it's shiny and I have relatively few defenses against shiny. This has recently led me to consider, out of all the tech that I do have in my house and on my person, which represents the best actual value -- that is, what tech do I have that I get the most out of, relative to the price I paid for it?
...
With that said, the single piece of tech I have that I think has given me the best utility return on investment, hands down, is the Chromebook Flip I bought last year. It cost me $280 or so when I got it (the version I have, with the 4GB RAM, is now down to $250), and in return I've gotten a super-useful little laptop that does nearly everything I need it to do. . . .
And to be blunt, if I drop it, or leave it somewhere, or it gets stolen? I'm out $280, it's replaceable for less than that now, and all the data I use on it is stored elsewhere. I wouldn't say its disposable, but I would feel rather less put out than I was a few years ago when I accidentally left my Mac Air at LaGuardia and it somehow magically made its way to Brooklyn and then dropped off the radar completely. That was expensive stupidity on my part. Losing the Chromebook Flip, while it would still be stupidity, is within my budget.
I can't believe I missed the Canadian identity thread because I was up north picking blueberries and swimming and looking at bear poop. (My kid saw the bear.) I felt sorry for the fish that got caught. While I was looking at bear poop I was on a walk memorizing some Shaw for an audition that may never happen. I love my job with all my heart, and I always have. Unless you count the part of my job that is looking for the job, which if included feels like 70% of the job. And that part I do not love, and feel barely competent at, and put too little effort into. This year I'd like to improve that part.
Penny (phone still weird)
It's silly! Why should we even think there is a what-it-is-to-be-a-Canadian-in-the-modern-world? That encompasses some rando whose family has been living on the Île d'Orléans since yonks, some other rando who's a first-generation child of emigrants from Japan, and (let's see) one of Canada's many fine Jewish citizens?
This is to me the most Canadian sounding thing in the thread. Neb is a stealth Canadian or making fun of us like a pro.
Penny with the phone again
