Category: culture

And it’s hot again. Overcast most of yesterday,but still hot, and humid to match. Probably got more of that coming today. Now it’s really summer.

So I did some things. Drove around, met with people, put stuff in my truck. Took it out in various places. Moved some stuff around in the house. Put a thing back together for sale on ebay. Went out for dinner. We get a 25% discount because D2 isn’t here… which is one way of looking at it, I guess.

Because of reasons, detailed yesterday, I don’t have a new phone yet. My old phone battery is so swollen it pushed the back off my phone… it’s about twice as thick as it should be. Since I don’t want any fires in my pants, I think I’ll find an old phone to swap my sim to today. It’s seriously scary how swollen it is and I didn’t realize because I just thought something was wrong with the case. Yikes.

I did change my phone plan to a “senior” 55 plus plan. It’s $40/month instead of $72, and has unlimited talk, text, and data- although they can throttle me if the network is congested. I typically use 2-3 GB of my current 4GB plan per month, so unlimited won’t help much. I can add one of the kids on a second line, both will drop to $35, and the kid will appreciate the unlimited data. I wouldn’t have known about the plan if T Mobile didn’t send me a flyer for their 55+ plan, which prompted me to call ATT. ATT will just let you keep paying higher rates even if they have newer, cheaper plans. There are a couple of small differences, Autopay has to draft from a bank account instead of credit card, and I can’t get paper bills anymore. Despite the payment and billing changes, saving ~$360 a year seems worth it.

FWIW, if we change the ATT fiber bill to my name we’ll save another $18/mo because of the bundle. We’re currently on the cheapest and least capable plan, 1 gig a month for $89. Speedof.me says we’re getting 750/500 at my desk. The router test says 920/900. If there’s no reason not to change the names, I’ll get the fiber in my name and bring the savings to ~$500 a year. That’s worth doing.

Today I might have a pickup if I won anything from an estate auction. I’ll know if an invoice shows up in my email. There wasn’t anything when I went to bed. That’s good, because I’ve decided I’m spending too much time driving around picking stuff up. That’s where all my time is going and it contributes to me not getting stuff done. I can change that. I think. Dunno if I’m strong enough to resist the pull of a bargain. I’ll try to start limiting which days I do pickups.

It’s tempting to buy all the things, since I stack all the things, but ultimately I need time to assimilate some of the things, and to actually stack the things.

All while working to improve my situation… get to work!

nick

Hot. Hooo boy hot. Yesterday was sunny and hot all day. Indoor warehouse spaces were sweltering. There is a chance that some stuff will push into Houston from the Gulf today, but if it doesn’t, I’m betting on another hot day.

I got a couple of small things done yesterday. Mostly I did pickups and chatted with people. Auction prices were down this week and last, and most of the sellers are putting it down to buyers spending cash on the July 4th celebrations. I’m not so sure. It’s also possible that some buyers are out of town on vacation. It feels a bit bigger than that though. Gubs were underpriced and usually carry guns sell really well. Ammo was reasonable. I’m getting a lot of stuff without any real competition. Could be people really are finally running out of money.

I know things are not as rosy here at Casa De Nick as they were a year ago. Lot of fairly big expenses in the past year and more still to come too. Resources have been earmarked and allocated, but there is definitely a change. Silver coins at $32 an ounce, and Charmin Blue at $33, and a 20pc bucket of KFC all dark meat, no sides or biscuits was $32 before tax. I get three meals from the bucket, plus feed the family one, so it’s not that bad overall, but it’s still a bit shocking for a bucket of fried chicken. And inflation keeps raging.

Last trip to costco and to HEB I didn’t buy meat. I’ve got freezers full, and there wasn’t anything I wanted on sale… but that’s the result of planning most people didn’t do. It feels like we’re that little bit closer to hard times all of a sudden.

Which is why we prep. Stack when it’s cheap, eat when it’s dear.

nick

Forecast says, clear but with something blowing in from the Gulf of America. It was mostly clear and really hot yesterday. There was a bit of cloudiness to the northwest, but metro area all the way down to NASA was clear. Did I mention it was really hot? Getting a cooling rain in the day is something I kinda got used to.

I spent all afternoon doing pickups. Drove a whole lot in a really big figure eight. I was in Seally, Cypress, Webster/crystal lake (NASA), Pasadena, and just north of downtown before returning home. Filled up the truck. Moved a bunch to the “take to BOL” pile, still have a bunch to go through. I looked at one invoice and it really was more ‘wants’ than ‘needs’. There was some medical stuff, but nothing major. I will be pulling back a bit in the next couple of weeks, unless it’s really helpful stuff, and really cheap. More solar, gubs, defensive stuff, or food would all be helpful. Craft supplies for the kids would not.

Today I’ll do one pickup that got missed earlier in the week, and one that I got to a little too late to actually pickup. The missed one was a new auction, so they kept the stuff for me. Turns out I never got the email with the invoice or pickup instructions. It’s happened before with other auctions. Sometimes the management software just pukes. The rest of the day will be spent at home doing home stuff. I might show D1 how to use the pressure washer so she can wash “her” car. And maybe I can get her to wash mine too. Probably not.

Time to do a little work on improving my situation. Stacks are good for the day.

nick

Could we get another hot, sunny day without rain? Maybe today will be like yesterday and we will. It was over 100F in my driveway yesterday and the heat stuck around all evening too. It was still quiet warm when I went to bed.

I spent Tuesday morning at the computer, then picking up D1 from her trip. I got two pickups in on the way home from the airport. Took a bit longer than I thought it would, so afterwards I stayed home and cooked.

I cooked taco meat for dinner using a liquid pouch of flavoring, and then cooked two more taco dinners of ground beef, and two 1 1/3 dinners of plain ground beef. I vac sealed and froze everything but last night’s dinner. I’ll take them to the BOL with me as quick dinner options. Warm up the meat, add a sauce or flavor packet and pasta, rice, or tortillas and you’ve got a really quick meal without much effort. Granted that ground meat skillet meals aren’t that hard to start, it makes it even easier and quicker. It means I can have a hamburger based meal as easily as one from canned chicken too.

Since my wife’s been trying the sou vide cooker on chicken and vac sealing the result, adding some ready to eat beef to the freezer makes sense. I like to eat, and I like having options.

Having stacks gives me options. Get some of your own!

Today I’ll be doing more pickups. Prices have fallen again and I won more stuff than I expected to. One auction (the fraudsters) I’m basically winning almost everything I bid on with an opening bid, usually $1, or $2. They aren’t high value items, but I like saving $20 or $25 on things I’d buy anyway. The auctioneer at one of my pickups said she was doing the same thing. Good for us, not good for the seller, but they did it to themselves by acting unethically. There’s a lesson in there.

Lessons, like things that can be turned into money, are lying around everywhere, you just have to learn to see them.

Anything that helps me stack, helps.

nick

Looking at the national forecast it is supposed to finally be clear today. Yesterday was still wandering storm cells. Nothing at the house, but several places I went to had rain, and W got poured on downtown. We’ll see if the two day forecast was correct.

I did auction stuff in the morning, (and a little bit of domestic bliss), then headed out to do my pickup. I got some good stuff for the BOL, and for the kids. Then I hit the goodwill outlet (the bins) because my self control is weak. It was a quiet day, and I got some good stuff, but mostly media – books, dvds, and some classic rock albums. It was about half stuff to sell and half stuff to use or keep. The desire to acquire was strong yesterday.

Today I’ll do office stuff in the morning, then head to the aeropuerto to get the kid. I’ve got one pickup to do, and I can do it on the way to the airport. That should leave me the afternoon to do some more stuff around the house.

I’ve got a couple things I really can’t put off any longer but I’ve been reluctant to do, for some reason. Nothing rational, just didn’t want to. Gotta push through that. Sometimes it’s hard to keep pushing.

It’s important to at least try though. And to stack. Be consistent with that.

nick

And…… another couple of days of mixed sun and storm. Yesterday had the same on again off again storming as cells moved through the area. Today will probably have them too. The national forecast shows it finally clearing over Texas on Tuesday. If it doesn’t rain too much, and it lowers the air temp, I’m ok with it. But the whole flash flood thing has got to end.

I got nothing done. Woke late, felt all out of sorts with some sort of weirdness in my head, so I did auction stuff all day, which mainly means sitting at my desk looking at listings. Ok, one load of domestic bliss happened. Not much else.

Today I’ve got one kid visiting with grandma, one at Girl Scout camp, and no reason to get out of bed except the huge to do list… Hmmm, how motivated will I actually be? Really I’ve got some auction pickups that have to happen Monday and Tuesday, so even if I really wanted to, I can’t blow off the day. Plus, I’m already behind. WAY behind. And if I stay in bed too long, my back hurts.

Poor poor pitiful me. 😛

I will get out of bed, and I will do some things. Maybe without any kid taxi demands I can do MORE than usual? We’ll see.

It is weird not having them in the house or due home later. “The future awaits you in an offworld colony…”

Now I’m just rambling. Get out and do something, meet someone, or learn something new. And stack.

nick