What did you do today?

[Spicoli43]

zannej... Yeah, you're right. Price gouging is rampant, and all it would take is congress doing something about it. The suppliers will take advantage of everything, and the retailers will follow suit. Costco is notorious about lying every time they open their mouth, and several people here busted them during the early days of the pandemic when Toilet paper was like gold, the price went from $16.99 to $22.99. I told them no, and several others did as well. The price dropped back to normal the next day.

As far as "free market", all the people that are constantly demanding a minimum wage of $15 don't look at the rampant homelessness in Seattle as a clue. They don't understand how business works, and some are on thin margins and can't pay everybody the increased wage, so half the employees get let go. Add that on to the fact that the landlords know some of the people are twice as rich, and they increase the rent to the point that the people lucky enough to have a job are either in the same financial situation as before or worse.

 

[BuzzLOL]

Congress can't make stores sell at such low prices that they lose money. New York City has 'rent controls' but the buildings get run down because rent doesn't cover cost of repairs any more... Ghetto areas have no stores because the junkies who live there rob them and kill the employees so the stores move out. Democrats deceptively call those "under served areas"... blaming the stores instead of the real cause of the problem. Blaming 'guns' instead of drugs/drug abuse...
Doubling the minimum wage during normal times is lunacy and doing it during even a fake pandemic shutdown is insanity...
Many businesses and manufacturing plants have been shut down so stores have to pay higher prices for their stock from the few sources still available... it will take normal and/or over supply and competition to get prices back down...
Plus Democrats want everyone unemployed and on their Welfare so that they can control them and their voting habits and make promises to them for their votes...
I went through the local Costco on their Free Day here when it first opened and I only saw one thing I couldn't get at a lower price elsewhere and I already had a lifetime supply of that item... Plus, I didn't have to buy in giant bulk sizes elsewhere to get a good price...

 

[Flyover]

Price gouging has a reputational cost, and it's good that consumers have communication tools with which to fight back, but it shouldn't be illegal. Suppliers (whether it's a plumber fixing your sink or a wholesaler selling wood from China to Home Depot) absolutely should be able to charge whatever they think customers will pay. If you don't want to pay what they charge, it's a free country and nobody is forcing you to buy. Eventually they get the message and lower their prices, or else they can't compete with those who do. Or they rebrand and find a way to make the new price seem worthwhile. Nobody's got a direct line to your checking account unless you gave them one.

When we start passing more laws asking nanny government to control prices for consumers then we move a step closer to communism, and it's sometimes obvious when it happens because you get communist-style shortages and rationing. I'd rather have prices be allowed to fluctuate to accommodate market adjustments, and I can figure out my own clever workarounds or do without certain things if prices get too high. To some degree I feel like if you never Macguyver or DIY around price issues then you're not living in reality.

...and that is the most libertarian thing I've written since I was in my mid-20s!

 

[zannej]

Even if the politicians could pass laws to limit profits, they wouldn't. They get too many bribes from the corporations & would never want to risk losing their meal tickets. I'm going to stay out of any particular political discourse though.

I got some sleep. Brother woke me up wanting me to take him to the store for milk and Anbesol. No emergency dentists within 100 miles that are open on weekends. He has to wait until Monday to even get a dentist to answer the phone and then will have to schedule an appointment. I had to wait 2 weeks to see a dentist last time when I desperately needed a tooth pulled. His last toothache before this was so bad he had me take him to the ER, but they were more concerned with his blood pressure than his pain level. They didn't realize if they got his pain levels down that his blood pressure could drop. But then, there are a lot of druggies here so they are stingy with pain meds.

We don't even have a Lowes or HomeDepot in town. We used to have a Home Suite Home but someone broke into it and it shut down. We've got a crappy hardware store run by a jerk who hires rude employees and will often close 30minutes before closing time. So, it closes between 3:30pm and 4pm on week days and is closed on weekends. There's the hardware store I like with the nice owner that is open until 5:30pm. There's Tractor Supply which is open 'til 8pm (although, they lock the doors at 7:50pm) but it's a very small store so it doesn't have a lot of inventory. I wish they could expand in to the vacant store next to them (used to be a Fred's).

My friend called the city to ask them to come inspect his yard and see if it was cleaned up enough and if not, what they wanted him to do to clean it up more. They never showed up. He's still having plumbing issues. The city sewer is made of brick and the plumber finally came back. Said that he had cast iron drains and something about the way it is configured means it's impossible to snake it out. Told my friend to buy some sort of chemical to pour down. It was such a strong chemical he had to sign special forms to get it. Plumber said not to let it sit more than 30 min before flushing as it would eat through cast iron. So, he poured that down and flushed and stuff went through. He was happy thinking it was unclogged. Then he messaged to say that it clogged again on the 2nd flush.

I wonder if there is some sort of break in the line where dirt is getting in or something and the plumber doesn't want to fix it.

 

[Spicoli43]

Flyover... Libertarian free market is fine. At one point 3 years ago, I could fly to Kansas or some other flat land and buy a brand new F250 for $25,000 less than here because (my theory) they don't have Mountains there, but have to accept the full fleet of Fords as a dealer, so they offload the Trucks.

Free market doesn't work when it's a concerted effort to raise prices across the board. Everybody in town has higher prices, and Menards, which doesn't exist in Montana, has higher prices. The prices will stay high while the housing market is high. In the areas where the housing market is depressed, the prices should be lower.

zannej... Yes, the politicians are almost all bought and paid for in every industry. There's a reason it's almost impossible to get a 30 year refi or purchase below 2.25%, which is actually 42%. They can charge us 42% because enough if not all of congress is in bed with the banking industry. That's just them.

On your friend's tooth pain...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=oil+pulling+for+tooth+pain&ia=web

 

[Eddie_T]

For supper I had baked eggs in grits cups. I have now tried hash brown cups, grated baked potato cups, grated raw potato cups and leftover grits cups. All are good but for easiest, quickest, shortest baking time and least mess I will go with frozen (thawed of course) hash browns. The raw grated potato and the leftover grits required baking the cups 30" or longer before adding the eggs whereas hashbrowns required only about 16" @ 400°.

 

[BuzzLOL]

Advanced the clocks in the house... will have to do vehicles next...

 

[Spicoli43]

Advanced the clocks in the house... will have to do vehicles next...

Yeah, giant pain in the *** for no reason at all.

 

[zannej]

Spicoli, I know I said I wouldn't get political, but f**** Jimmy Carter for allowing banks to charge more than 10% interest! And for making it so all student loans were immune to bankruptcy (and for being awful to federal employees, treating his Secret Service agents like garbage, giving away the Panama Canal, giving "back" national treasures to a corrupt regime that melted down the priceless jewelry & artifacts, beating a swimming rabbit to death with an oar, and allegedly shooting/killing his neighbor's cat). Used to be only federal student loans were, but he did banks a favor and screwed the rest of us over for generations. They need to go back to anything over 10% being usery. You also hit on another thing that doesn't get enforced anymore-- barring of coordinated price-setting for things. IIRC, it used to be (and may still be) illegal for companies to get together and set high prices to artificially inflate costs.

Flyover, I forgot to mention, when I say price "gouging" I don't mean charging a reasonable amount to get a good profit. I mean when they charge absurdly high prices for a huge profit. I know the whole "don't buy it and they will lower prices thing" works in some cases, but when the product is something people absolutely need then that isn't an option. People still have to buy toilet paper, medicine, food, etc. Personally, I think price-gouging should be banned for essential resources like oil, electricity, water, gas, & medicine. Should be prohibited on staple foods as well. Sure, let them charge enough to profit, but don't make it so asininely expensive that people can't afford it. IIRC it was either FDR or Truman who passed a law barring price-gouging on essential resources, but it's not being enforced anymore. It's one thing to raise prices to cover expenses and gain a decent profit- it's another to upcharge 300% and make a ton more $ on fewer products. Sad thing is, sometimes if they had lower prices they'd get more sales & have better profit.

I hate daylight savings time. Since people are canceling Dr. Seuss, cartoon characters, etc, how about canceling Daylight Savings Time? It's archaic and annoying and actually has a significant impact on people's lives-- unlike the other things.

I'm currently trying to figure out what I need to get my front gate fixed so I can keep my cows in. Even if I can't repair the fence yet-- need trees removed and need to fill in holes where trees uprooted, I want to get the gate back up at least. And I need to get a barn for the cows. I admit, I got a little fancy with the design and hope it's affordable. I want a solar powered gable fan with temperature switch to start blowing air out when it gets to hot and have it shut off when it cools off. There are adjustable disc thingies that turn on at specific temps and cut off at lower temps. I'm trying to figure out the average temperature so the fan won't be running 24/7. I don't think it gets down to 70 or below here very often once summer starts. So I'm thinking 75 or 80 as cut off. If I can find a thing that can be programmed for that. I want a 100w panel with battery and charge control (there are some batteries with built-in charge control). I wonder if I need a charge controller for my gate opener's solar panel...

I'm planning to do some cleaning today but I lost my balance earlier and hurt my shoulder when I tried to catch myself.

Also trying to talk my friend out of buying a vehicle for way below book value so I suspect there's something majorly wrong with it and that his "friend" is scamming him. It's a GMC 2017 Sierra Denali and the guy wants a little over $8k for it. When I price-checked I haven't seen any under $22k. Supposedly has 50k miles on it too. Guy does bodywork/paint and told my friend that owners got it pained for like $8500 and couldn't afford to pay him for the work so he's trying to sell it. So, first off, I question whether he actually has the title and 2nd I wonder if it had major body damage. It's too good to be true and raising red flags. Friend is determined to get it.

He's also having problems because another former friend dumped a vehicle in his yard over a year and a half ago and is refusing to get it removed. I told him to call local PD, tell them it's abandoned & have it tagged for removal & impound at the owner's expense. When he first told the guy he needed the car gone or he'd be fined $5400 by the city, the guy told him to push the car behind his house. Friend told him that wasn't an option. Found someone who would tow it to the other guy for $100 but he refused to pay it. My friend needs it gone by Tuesday. The guy who abandoned his car owes my brother $500 and owes my mother $1k but hasn't made any effort to pay.

Eddie, those eggs look delicious!

 

[Spicoli43]

zannej... I didn't know most of that about Carter, but knew he was a horrible President growing up.

.65% on a 30 year loan would be 10% actual, in which most people could afford a pretty nice $250,000 house at $764 a month.

I heard somewhere along the line that mortgage rates were at 13% once, which is 298% actual!

With your friend's GMC situation, you already know the GIGANTIC RED FLAG. If he refuses to see it, there is nothing more you can do. To me, that price says flood damage. I bet it's a salvage title, or as you say, maybe non existent. Also, I have never met anyone that would pay that much for paint unless they were keeping it forever. Eventually I'll have one of my cars completely refurbed, but it was on a poster of mine on my wall in Junior High, so it's not going anywhere.

I know it isn't easy, but I would find anywhere else to move to. You have posted multiple times about the fines they threaten. I would tell them to bleep themselves and then go to bleep. I don't have a filter when it comes to corruption.

 

[zannej]

We lived near DC when Carter was president. My father was personal friends with his Secret Service agents and they despised Carter. He would make them fold his laundry, scream at them about the way they folded it-- like, he didn't want the crease on his pants to look a certain way-- constantly called them stupid, canceled Christmas bonuses, had every other lightbulb removed from federal buildings to reduce electric bills (but had them put back when Dept of Labor told him that wasn't going to fly). Also said he walked around the White House barefoot & they could hear his feet sticking to the floor making suction noises. His official codename was Deacon but they called him "Old A**hole". They said he cared more about appearances and being liked by the public than about doing the right thing. I don't know if any of that has changed, but I still remember watching a Habitat for Humanities video where he tried to hammer a nail with the claw end. Even I've never derped that badly trying to hammer a nail and I am terrible at hammering nails. Had my elderly friend laughing pretty hard at how bad my aim is. I can hope that Carter has changed for the better since his presidency.

I questioned my friend about the title issue. He claims his friend was given the title when he got a lien on it. As far as I know, a title lien means the person can't sell it without paying the debt- it doesn't mean the lien-holder can sell the vehicle. I discussed it with my Mom and she asked why a paint job would be that expensive. My feeling was there was major damage to cover. I also told him if the car was worth so much & guy actually had the title, why didn't he do a trade-in type deal-- trade-in value should be over $20k. I told my friend I have a very bad feeling about this deal & I hope he will listen to me on it. It was a disaster when he ignored my bad feelings in the past. I think I bummed him out, but I'm trying to make sure he doesn't get screwed over yet again. I have a much better feeling about the mini cooper he wants to buy. Better gas mileage, reasonable price, & not some questionable sale from a "friend".

I've been researching more on gate opener stuff again because I really need to get my front gate fixed (even if parts of the fence are up in the air hanging from the roots of uprooted trees).

 

[zannej]

Went to the doctor for regular checkup. A1C was 8.5 (too high). Fasting sugars was too high. Cholesterol was great (bad cholesterol was low enough and good was high enough). Everything but my sugars looked good. I did mention the kidney stones but there isn't much they can do for that. He recommended cutting out white rice, white milk, white flour, white potatoes, etc. (I'm going to pretend that is an excuse to drink chocolate milk since it's brown). I mentioned the stew my brother makes and he said we could use rutabagas instead of potatoes in it & they were delicious. He was right on that. He also recommended trying almond milk saying you can hardly tell the difference. He was wrong on that. We got some almond milk and it has this nasty bitter aftertaste.
I've been put on Metformin for insulin resistance. He also prescribed anti-inflammatory meds for my injured rotator cuff and showed me some exercises I can do. His nurse gave me a sheet with a list of exercises to try.
I showed him the picture of the green Soylent and we had a chuckle. Talked about how we wouldn't try it and at the same time we said "Soylent Green is people!"
He suggested some recipes. My brother was along because he missed a previous appointment. He told him the diagnosis he was supposed to get and suggested some exercises for his hip and warned him not to drink/eat too much soy because it can mess with hormone levels. He also told us both we should walk every day- even walk inside or in place if it's raining or too hot outside.
Went to see our friend afterward and it looks like the city never got back to him about his yard. I think the mayor was BSing. He did get someone to haul off the other guy's car. Hauled it to the guy's house so he couldn't make a stink about it, but the guy had the nerve to call and kvetch about stuff he claimed was missing from the vehicle. The dude left it there for over a year and a half unlocked with the keys in it. Anything missing is on him. He doesn't have the right to catch an attitude about a non-working car he dumped in my friend's yard that blocked the landscaping people from being able to get in the back with their equipment.
While we were there some guys rolled up and brought out a dowsing rod to try to locate the sewer line. The guy found two potential areas several feet apart. We think the one to the left was the correct one, but are not certain. My friend dug about 3ft down. Started hitting gray clay. We went to the store for a different style shovel and to get one of those rods with handles that you poke in the ground to try to find pipes. None of the plumbers have that device where you snake it through the pipes and use a sensor from above ground to find it & it costs over $1k so we aren't getting it. Poked around in all the spots but didn't find anything. Even poked inside the dug out areas to see if the pipe was deeper. No dice. I got a ground tamper thingy for when it's time to level the yard out. Friend used it after filling the holes back in. He said he has a metal detector but we don't know if it works and if it can sense deep enough. If it can, maybe we can run an auger far enough out through the pipe to be able to detect it.
Absolute worst case, we pull the toilet, take up the floor, find the main sewer line under it, cut it off and replace it with PVC that we can run out from under the house and then run it 80ft to the street and have the city tie it in to their sewer line somehow. Not sure if that is feasible though.
After all that poking around, my brother made beef stew with rutabaga and it was delicious. I brought some of the dinner I made for mom over for them to try & they liked it, but they were full from the stew.
Got home and was resting until a few minutes ago when 2 of my brother's cats decided to have a knock down drag out fight and managed to knock down the box with my toilet tank. Box ripped open and tank broke. I was planning to install it when we did the waterlines next week (hoping it would be next week). Ugh.

 

[Flyover]

Once you set limits on what companies can charge for things, even if you say it's only when they charge "unreasonable" prices for "too much" profit, you're on a slippery slope. (It's also a little baby step towards communism.) I heard a good adage which is "Don't pass any law you wouldn't trust in the hands of your political enemies." So, imagine how the law could be abused, and how it could even be used against you.

Then again maybe the ship has already sailed.

I'm ready to build my basement shelves, just waiting for the right time. Maybe if I can get my work done early and give my wife a chance to go for a jog she'll repay me with a couple hours to at least get my lumber cut to size...

 

[zannej]

Unfortunately, people have literally died and are still dying because of price gouging on things people need to survive. There needs to be some balance.

Today I texted the guy who sells/installs the metal buildings but never heard back from him and the message is unread. I also contacted him on FB via marketplace (where he advertised). No response thus far. I might see if the owner of the local hardware store does business with American Steel Carports instead. I know he installs carports & metal buildings and he's not the type to rip people off.

I ordered some stuff to try to fix my bathroom floor. The last batch of patch leveler we used didn't include the additive and it has cracked in some places. The closet flange isn't level so I'm going to have to try to loosen the screws and shim to make it level and then level the floor around it (I don't care too much if it's level outside of where the toilet sits so long as it isn't super bumpy. Wish I could find old scrap asphalt shingles nobody wants anymore to use as shims.

My brother had a dentist appointment to get a tooth pulled. I sat in the office for 40 minutes, then told the clerk I was going to sit in the truck to charge my phone. Charged my phone while reclining with the heated seat on. Rain was pouring down and wind was pretty strong. It stopped raining before my brother came out. Took about an hour. Went to Walmart to pick up prescriptions and had to wait for his to be ready. They said 45 minutes. We came back in 50 & they said they needed another 10. I checked out with the groceries and took them out to the truck while he waited for his meds to be ready. Saw my friend leaving Walmart- he went in just to use the bathroom.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go to Sams to get more water and Lowes to pick up some stuff for working on my floor. I also got some wingnuts for the toilet tank I need to order. Still debating whether I should buy it from HomeDepot or Amazon. Both would have to ship it to me (bc HomeDepot takes for friggin ever to find "ship to store" stuff). I'm trying to figure out which one will charge lower sales tax. Tank is exactly the same price at both. I think it's 9.95% in Alexandria. It's 10.45% where I live. Although, it may be worth it to buy from Amazon if they charge the higher tax just to not have to deal with a lost shipment.

 

[Eddie_T]

I was installing on a ceramic tile floor but this should work on any floor. I leveled with 2 or 3 wooden shims then stuffed a dry grout under the flange to support the toilet. The grout was dry enough not to shrink as it set up.

 

[DesertRider]

Been working on the new workshop, needed to run a 100 amp sub panel off the primary panel at the house.

 

[zannej]

Eddie, I want to avoid using wood as it can rot from water. The roof shingles don't compress and don't rot. But, I will probably end up using plastic or metal shims.

Took my new meds last night and it went through me hard. Pharmacist warned it could cause diarrhea. It was bad. No stomach pain at least. It's reduced my appetite, which isn't a bad thing. But I had the chills and felt exhausted so I slept until 3.

Was supposed to go to the post office but forgot. Went to Lowes to pick up my supplies. I should have checked to make sure everything was in the bags but I was too tired. I went for curbside pickup and sat there 20+ minutes after using the app to notify them I was there. After that I went inside. Turns out they don't actually do curbside pickup and there is no system inside to notify them of customers waiting for pickup. They have 1 employee running the online pickup thing and she can't go outside. They have the parking spots for it to make it look like it works, but they don't actually have it working. I'll have to contact higher offices about that so maybe they can get things organized and people don't sit there wasting time.

Went to Sams to get water but the water I needed was in a pallet on a shelf I couldn't reach. Needed a forklift to get it. I was seriously tempted to try to find a ladder, climb up there, cut the plastic off the pallet and pull a couple cases down. Finally found an employee who couldn't find a forklift operator. He found another employee, they asked around in the back. All forklift operators were on break and they estimated it would take an hour to get the pallet down. I couldn't wait that long. They apologized but it wasn't their fault. I'll put in an online order for the water and pick it up next time.

My friend's computer chair broke and they had a new chair (very similar to the one he'd had) on sale so I grabbed it for him. Dropped it off and he immediately opened it up and assembled it. He just got a "new" used car. A Toyota Scion. I think he paid too much for it-- Something around $12k. Paint is dull and it needs a new windshield. But it got 46mpg on his way home.

In a bit of good news, the drainage setup we put in place worked. He had to make an adjustment with the gravel in the little trench, but it drained well. He said it's the first time in years his front yard didn't turn in to a swamp when it rained.

The weather was actually nice today. There was a chill in the air that made it pleasant to be outside. Not too cold but not too hot.

 

[Eddie_T]

I didn't provide enough info. After the grout sets up you remove the narrow shims and fill their spaces with grout. My floor was level but the bottom of my $900 Kohler toilet wasn't flat and it kept rocking until I discovered the problem.

 

[Flyover]

Yesterday I ripped those two solid wood doors I bought at auction, so now I have four shelves (two for each shelving unit). Man were they heavy! Plus a couple days ago I somehow injured my left wrist (I think it was from lifting weights on Sunday while, uh, drunk) so I had to be real careful how I grabbed those doors to move them. It's funny how when you're injured the hard thing is remembering not to apply force in the one very specific way that aggravates the injury.

To power my circular saw to rip the doors I decided to run a 25' 12-gauge extension cable from the outlet in the ceiling that powers the garage door opener. I tied it to the metal truss that holds the opener, so the stress isn't on the connection. When I was done ripping the doors I left the cable plugged in but looped it over a hook on the side wall so it's out of the way but usable anywhere I need it. It's like a poor man's version of those power cords that come on a reel that hangs from the ceiling in a mechanic's shop.

 

[zannej]

I'm a fan of solid wood crafting. Particle board, osb, and mdf are a poor substitute, IMO. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to that.

Been trying to draw my vanity and it's mirror in Sketchup. I took measurements of the mirror but did not get a picture. Didn't feel like going to get my phone. LOL. The mirror turned out better than the vanity. Well, the vanity part is OK but I'm struggling with the top with the sink. It has all sorts of curves that are impossible to do in Sketchup. I tried even with plugins. Got so irritated I started over from scratch.
This is the real vanity (sitting in a defunct shower collecting dust)


This is what I have thus far of the vanity in my sketch-- I'm not happy with the sides of the top-- having trouble getting the angles to go the way I want them to and be curved. Might have to make it squared and then see if I can find the right plugins to make it curve. The basin curves out and down from the sides, which is a complicated shape to try to make. When I tried to use an auto-tool it got rid of some of the detail. I can draw the lines but getting the skin to go over it is a problem.


I finally heard back from the guy about the barn. I sent him a link to the specs I picked and he said "Draw a picture and send it to me, doesn't have to be a good picture" I was like "Dude, did you try the link? Did it not work? It has the drawings and blueprints." I will need to make some mods though. Inside I want to be able to have some sort of shop lights. I want to get as solar panel, battery, and inverter setup though. I can get a solar powered gable fan that doesn't need an inverter but I want at least one LED shop light and possibly want to be able to add a ceramic heater (that I can set somewhere the cows can't knock it over). I'm hoping a 100w solar panel could cover all that but I'm not sure how to wire it. I think my friend does though. If I can't find the right size gable fan in solar, I will try find one that can be hooked via the inverter but not draw too much power.