What is making you happy right now

[Aimless]

Funny videos are a great relaxer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW9YR5OyTa8

Wow, you really are a weird little fucker. There's no way nobody in your meatlife has picked up on what a fucking creep you are.

[Aimless]

Twitter Link

[Khendraja'aro]

We have a couple over here who built a "speed trap lookalike". Works just as well and the police says, as long as it is non-functional and on their own grounds, they're fine with it.

[Aimless]

We decided to tag along with my wife to her family's summer house, where she'll be hunting this week. The baby is beside herself with excitement because there's so much to explore. My feelings about going away to summer houses and the like have always been quite lukewarm... but I'm beginning to understand their appeal, despite being a city slicker to my core. Think it'll be a fun week

We have a couple over here who built a "speed trap lookalike". Works just as well and the police says, as long as it is non-functional and on their own grounds, they're fine with it.

Living their best lives

[wiggin]

Twitter Link

[Hazir]

Today Ronald went to a storage we have to check if a huge soup pan we were missing had wound up there after our last move. That turned out to be the case. Besides the pan he brought home a stack of small notebooklets. To see them was a huge surprise to me. We'd been using them over the years for jotting down all sorts of things and I thougth we'd certainly had run out of them long ago. I got them over 30 years ago when, during my first real job at the University of Utrecht, a couple of boxes were dumped on my desk with the instruction to get rid of them, since they had a logo printed on them of the sponsor of a medical conference. At the time I thought it a waste to simply throw them in the trash and I took them home. And now, all these years later, we're still using them.

[Aimless]

I feel like someone must've accidentally pressed fast-forward—but the adventure continues. What an exciting and weird first year of life, but I suspect the best—and weirdest—is yet to come my mother and sister came to visit for the munchkin's first birthday, and they've had a blast. Every morning, while I've slept in a little, my mother and my daughter have played, eaten, cuddled, babbled at each other and watched Bengali videos. I know my mother's been a little worried that my daughter would be afraid of her and/or not like spending time with her, but those concerns have vanished into thin air; all that remains is a little sadness over us not living in the same city so that they can hang out every day. She's leaving tomorrow, and it'll be several months—best case scenario—before they can hang out again, so they're squeezing out as much quality time as possible before then. That saree is ~30 years old; my mother dressed my sister in it for a series of beautiful and hilarious photos when she was a little under 2 years old. Through all that she's endured, she's held on to a number of these mementoes of love that she's now sharing with us, and it feels very, very nice.

[GGT]

Awww, so sweet!

Stupid question -- what does the forehead dot mean, and why is it a family tradition?

[Khendraja'aro]

I'm going to be a godfather! Now, thanks to the current epidemic the baptism will likely be next spring but still...

The way the little guy arrived will probably be one of those family stories for years to come - it's my friends' fourth and, considering what she went through with the other three, she was already joking with the midwife as to which fresh chaos would be expected of her this time.

It started with me being prophetic when I told her one hot summer's night that she likely would not get much sleep when I wished her a good night.. I meant the subtropic temperatures but the baby had other ideas. Roughly one hour after my message it was go time.

Now, considering that they're living a mere kilometer from their local hospital, it should not have been much of a problem. Well, in her words: "Okay, this time I got to see overwhelmed paramedics when I had to catch the baby myself so it did not hit the ground, 30 meters from the entrance." She was also told afterwards that the cord sported a perfect knot which would have posed a big problem if not for the speedy delivery.

[Kazuha Vinland]

I'm going to be a godfather! Now, thanks to the current epidemic the baptism will likely be next spring but still...

The way the little guy arrived will probably be one of those family stories for years to come - it's my friends' fourth and, considering what she went through with the other three, she was already joking with the midwife as to which fresh chaos would be expected of her this time.

It started with me being prophetic when I told her one hot summer's night that she likely would not get much sleep when I wished her a good night.. I meant the subtropic temperatures but the baby had other ideas. Roughly one hour after my message it was go time.

Now, considering that they're living a mere kilometer from their local hospital, it should not have been much of a problem. Well, in her words: "Okay, this time I got to see overwhelmed paramedics when I had to catch the baby myself so it did not hit the ground, 30 meters from the entrance." She was also told afterwards that the cord sported a perfect knot which would have posed a big problem if not for the speedy delivery.

That's great! Congratulations! Hopefully the world will improve till the time she gets more self awareness.

[GGT]

Babies make everything seem brighter and better. Congrats on being a godfather

I'm happy that my sons had a visit this past week, just the two of them. They're very close, and it had been almost a year (last Thanksgiving) since they've spent time together due to distance, and the pandemic! Made my heart swell to hear they had so much fun cooking, playing games, joking around, laughing, and just being brothers. I think this will be one of those "life moments" that they'll always remember and cherish.

[Wraith]

Schadenfreude.

[Timbuk2]

Schadenfreude.

Please, do expand.

[Wraith]

Please, do expand.

http://theworldforgotten.com/showthr...l=1#post219772

[wiggin]

Demonstration of the proper use of a face mask.

[Kazuha Vinland]

Perhaps a bit incoherent, but work life throwing me challenges. The simple task is to make our computer sales department soar, but doing so is a super complex balance task of developing the right parametres, at the right time - and all the time considering the fact that those determining the development of said parametres, are all humans! Managing is insanely challenging, but also super rewarding. To lay down the pure analytics, the strategy, the pitching exercises, to keep moral high, while also dealing with customer disputes, logistics, cleanliness.. It feels like I'm having 10 000 different considerations and decision makings every day, and somehow managing to navigate it all, gives me a great sense of empowerment. Downside being lousy pay compared to the effort that goes into it, occasionally 12 hour work days, and work every other weekend. The work-life balance is heavily skewed towards work right now, and I cannot even being to imagine being able to balance it with having a kid, no less two kids. Something which I have also been dreaming of. But alas, at the current period of time, I enjoy the thrill of it massively, and children can wait maybe a year or two more.

[Timbuk2]

Man, car insurance is cheap in Deutschland.

I pay north of €600 pa for mine. And I am the lowest risk and therefore lowest cost category too, at my middle age and with no prior claims nor penalties. Though I am not in the lowest risk area (London), and the car is high risk / high value too (V8 AMG C63), €600 is still far from expensive in UK terms.

Young kids particularly can face annual premiums between €2000 and €3000 to insure their first car, often in excess of the vehicle value itself.

[Aimless]

Man, car insurance is cheap in Deutschland.

I pay north of €600 pa for mine. And I am the lowest risk and therefore lowest cost category too, at my middle age and with no prior claims nor penalties. Though I am not in the lowest risk area (London), and the car is high risk / high value too (V8 AMG C63), €600 is still far from expensive in UK terms.

Young kids particularly can face annual premiums between €2000 and €3000 to insure their first car, often in excess of the vehicle value itself.

Average auto insurance premiums are about 750 EUR/year here, I think. But I'm guessing that's only because half of the population consists of cautious senior citizens

[Hazir]

Seems like my youngest sister and her husband have made it through covid-19.

I pay €110 a month in car insurance, but that's very much because I haven't driven a car in 16 years (besides the odd rental). So the premiums I see makes my mouth water.

[Aimless]

Seems like my youngest sister and her husband have made it through covid-19.

Glad to hear it, hope their recovery is swift and complete. Unfortunately, my cousin is still ill, months after being discharged from the hospital.

[Loki]

Seems like my youngest sister and her husband have made it through covid-19.

I pay €110 a month in car insurance, but that's very much because I haven't driven a car in 16 years (besides the odd rental). So the premiums I see makes my mouth water.

I got a 10% discount for not having any car accidents in 10 years...mostly because I didn't have a car for those 10 years.

[Ominous Gamer]

I just paid $1200 for 6 months on 3 cars, 2 at full coverage.
My high schooler can earn her permit this year.

[GGT]

I just paid $1200 for 6 months on 3 cars, 2 at full coverage.
My high schooler can earn her permit this year.

Good luck with that.

[wiggin]

I pay about $440 a year, but my car is 15 years old.

[GGT]

I was over-insured for years -- when it didn't cost much to be paranoid. haha

I'm now paying ~ $40/month for an '08 bare bones Toyota Yaris. Haven't had a speeding ticket or accident, never made a claim, and drive less than 5,000 miles/year. But they raised my rates when I moved to a different zip code, and after I turned 60 yrs old. Auto Insurance is a mandated scheme that sucks. But I'm happy to own my car, and not have a car loan.

[Hazir]

Our HOA has voted 99% in favor of a plan to improve the energy efficiency of our building. We were getting a bit pessimistic after not hearing back from the 'meeting' on the plan 2 weeks ago. But I guess they were kist a bit slow typing out the minutes. The plan is going to cost almost €30K per appartment, but it's really going to make this place nicer. And as far as I know the raise in service fees are fully deductable

[Aimless]

Our HOA has voted 99% in favor of a plan to improve the energy efficiency of our building. We were getting a bit pessimistic after not hearing back from the 'meeting' on the plan 2 weeks ago. But I guess they were kist a bit slow typing out the minutes. The plan is going to cost almost €30K per appartment, but it's really going to make this place nicer. And as far as I know the raise in service fees are fully deductable

Dang, sounds like a major overhaul... what exactly will they be doing to improve energy efficiency?

[Hazir]

It is a major overhaul. The buildings are about 40 years old, low-rise brick buildings. When they were built ridiculously little attention was given to energy efficiency. Which means that the floors of the ground floor flats aren't insulated from cold coming up from the crawling space under the building, and I recently heard that the insulation value of the roofs is close to non-existent. The outer walls are double but poorly insulated. Finally the windows are aluminium framed with double glazing. Most of them do keep out most of the weather but don't keep in the heat. The insulation in all directions will be brought up to modern standards, and the windows will be replaced with PVC (I think) ones with triple glazing. Even the big ass sliding doors to the balcony which are about 6sqm each (2). Ventilation system will be replaced entirely and we'll replace all light with led. As you can expect there is some asbestos still on the buildings, but that's not going to be a major headache. Solar panels will be installed on all roofs.

Energy certification goal is A for every single appartment, at the moment they are between D and G. Mine is a D. Seems like if we achieve that we're also eligible for a huge subsidy from the state.

According to the proposals the work will start after this winter. Completion could take up to 2 years. But that's to be expected with about 800 units to be tackled.

[wiggin]

[Timbuk2]

Oreos



Sickly, overly-sugared American mush.