The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[DryerLintFan]

Yep! You are going to be a very savvy student entering your MBA program even before your first class.

When do you start?

Thank you!! May seventh!! So far away but I'm sure it will be here in the blink of an eye!

 

[FutureCEO]

To be honest I don't know the rules for non EU members that want to live in the UK but it sounds as if you have done your homework. When will you hear about grad school?

Not sure but people online said they heard back within a month

 

[Gabe1]

A Lidl opened today about 20 minutes walk from my home. I thought it wouldn't be too busy if I went in the afternoon but boy was I wrong. I had to stand in line just to get in, luckily it moved quickly and they were handing out slices of cake so I was happy enough.
It was crazy busy inside but it is a beautiful store with a large selection of products. It will be great to get my shopping there from now on.

Everytime a new Mariano's open here in N. Illinois we had the same wall to wall people.
The privately owned company sold to a major player. So in eight years it went from awesome to blah. Sad.

I looked, not any Lidl's this a way yet.

 

[Gabe1]

Yes.

So did you book it?

 

[Gabe1]

There is a promenade with statues of important people of history, no women of course.

That is a British tradition that has carried over to this side of the pond too. [/QUOTE]

 

[Gabe1]

So far so good 33 and rain. The puddles are getting deep and they'll freeze overnight Now I'm wondering if they'll have school tomorrow. Seeing how close to very dangerous it is I'm ok with the closing.

I feel your pain. When the rain stopped all the puddles on the sidewalks and street froze when the temps dipped. It didn't last long but it wasn't pretty. The ponds on the grass didn't freeze. All and all I think the ground thawed maybe 2 inches 'cause that is how far you now sink down into the liquid mud even on the grass.

 

[donaldtoo]

That is funny! I was I guess 12 or so when that show came out? I watched it with my family and had a slight crush on Dirk Benedict. Speaking of here is another film we started letting my kids watch, Spaceballs. It went over quite well. Anyway, I didn't seem to be bothered by the violence in The A-Team. It definitely wasn’t as graphic and bloody like a lot of movies are now. I love Colin Firth and dh and I watched The Kingsman. That film was over the top bloody and violent. Too much for me.

Never watched A-Team, but, Spaceballs is another total classic IMO...!!!!!!!

 

[Cesar R M]

I also recall far better discounts years ago. As others have pointed out, they've converted many more hotel rooms into DVC--which is cutting down the room inventory for non-DVC rooms. Hence (even more) inflated prices are being charged for a limited inventory. They're getting the money, so there's no incentive for them to stop inflating prices anytime soon.

I kinda threw my hands up in the air about 7 years ago, and now I stay at either Swan (Westin) or Dolphin (Sheraton), because they're both still on property. (Starwood manages both of them now for Marriott.) There's more opportunity to negotiate better rates with these 2 hotels, as they're constantly adjusting prices, depending upon demand. Also, they do a fair amount of convention/meeting business, and I wait for them to release block holds--and they drop the prices then to fill available rooms. That's when I go in for the kill.

Conversely, the WDW owned hotels tend to only have a few rate structures by season.

Except when they reach a level where they cant convert DVC units enough to keep pumping the value and money on the infrastructures.
DVC is "lot of money cash upfront and nothing but smaller fees later", hotels are "medium levels of money continuously"

 

[Gabe1]

Thank you!! May seventh!! So far away but I'm sure it will be here in the blink of an eye!

Excited for you! My DD Grad School goes by 8 week sessions as most have full time careers. She has two weeks left to go in her first session of her Masters. Been a few years since I've seen that intense side of my kid. She is focused and driven, makes me tired just watching her juggle 2 jobs and grad school. So I feed her. Yesterday it was
pretty pretty Easter cookies.

 

[donaldtoo]

Watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith on AMC. I'm not a fan of Jolie or Pitt, but this flick is actually pretty funny...!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

He should have taken it slow.. I mean, dying in the bathroom? Must have been one hell of a spicy burrito.

Not to mention all the pills he was taking...

 

[Gabe1]

Except when they reach a level where they cant convert DVC units enough to keep pumping the value and money on the infrastructures.
DVC is "lot of money cash upfront and nothing but smaller fees later", hotels are "medium levels of money continuously"

Disney is great at selling their DVC. The have a different product than most timeshares that is the tool that makes many buy into it which is perfect for those in the salary bracket than can genuinely afford it. We considered it. It would not have been good for us those years later by timing as the economy tanked, I had two kids in college and if I had to deal with DVC additionally it would have been uglier. Disney was in a slump so offloading or renting points out would have been difficult.

I look at the warning signs right now in the economy since the first of the year, have not seen that type of mood swings in the market in many years now. IMO DVC are meant for those who have the financial back-up to weather the storm when we hit those times when the economy tanks.

I have a niece that has a DVC, she is 33, 2 kids and a hubby. She bought it prior to kids or marriage. She took has always loved Disney. She had a good job, some money in the bank
and bought the DVC at both Bay Lake and AK She can't afford a house or a reliable car but has a DVC. But Disney has a way of talking some into the fold that really should not have.

 

[Gabe1]

Not sure but people online said they heard back within a month

I will keep sending Good Karma your way and some *pixie dust* as you await.

Best of Luck!

 

[donaldtoo]

OK y'all, out for now, and tomorrow is Half-day Friday...!!!
The sweetest of whatever dreams to all...!!!!!
See ya' realllllll sooooooonnnnnnn...!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gabe1]

I wish my Aldi was that large. Very jelly!

Some of the Aldi's here are expanding. Not the one by me but others are. There are two Trader Joes now that I can get to from time to time if it isn't too hot out anyhow. Both were likely better received than anticipated because at times they are packed to the gills and at those times they struggle to keep shelves stocked not that they are not trying, just victims of their own success.

 

[Gabe1]

THNX lol
Me to James, How many bowls of mac and cheese did you have
James uno
Me one large storage container isn't uno bowls

Well Mom, you asked how many bowls not how many servings.

 

[Gabe1]

If I remember correctly, you can pay by day. Around 40 USD last time I read.. might be above 60 now lol.

Yeahhhhhhhhhhh....I know.

 

[Gabe1]

No kidding! And it sounds like he was EXTREMELY lucky to only have bruises and sprains. (I asked my hubby, and I was right about the translation) I'm guessing the car must not have been going very fast. Still, not a good thing, but as far as getting hit by a car goes, it could have been MUCH worse.

My Dad in his 80's hit a bicyclist at an intersection. Here the rules of the road are cyclists must obey the rules of the road. The cyclist landed on the hood of my Dads car in a 25mph zone. Fortunately for my Dad a 'walker' saw the whole thing happen as the cyclist blew through the stop sign with his children on bikes also and the 'walker' also
told police that my Dad had stopped at the 4 way stop and the cyclists blew the stop sign while riding in the street and that there was no chance for my Dad to avoid as the cyclists were coming down a large hill with speed far faster than 25mph and blew the stop. The bike and man and the car were 'hurt.' At the end of the saga the man had to pay for the damages to my Dads car...which wasn't the way it all started to come down between insurance companies. But that was it for my elderly Dad. The man and his bike rattled him so much he never did drive again.

 

[Gabe1]

I talked to his teacher, who assured me that the two classes very rarely interact. I guess the kid has been there since December! I had no idea, which I guess is a good thing, because if he's been there since a month after DS, that means that he's at least not targeting DS at the moment. The teacher said that the kid's aggression is focused towards his own class right now. I guess that happens sometimes with new kids, they are trying to find their place and move up in the pecking order and so far, he's concentrating on making his place in his class, so his bad behavior is happening there, and is not involving kids from other classes. BUT, the teacher thanked me for letting them know, because once the kid has worked his way in and has settled in his new class, his attention could be diverted and then he might find DS a convenient target, so he said they will keep an eye out and he also made a deal with DS that if the kid says anything or does anything to him that isn't nice, he's to go to his teacher immediately so he can help and we'll keep each other informed if DS tells the teacher or us about an incident, we'll pass it to the other. So we will all be aIble to help him. It just makes me nervous having that kid anywhere in close proximity to my son. But, this school doesn't allow that behavior so I'm confident that IF anything happens, it will be handled.

Amen for your son and you guys too that the school will be on top of all this. The teacher said that the kid's aggression is focused towards his own class right now. Wow that sentence is disconcerting for the other students. That kid is sadly so messed up and it is a shame he is messing so much with other students where ever he attends.

Amen again that your son confided in you that that student has followed him to his new school. Any idea how long your son has been harboring that to himself? Poor kid. He must take comfort that the teachers and staff are on top of it unlike his old school. But still, the odds of that. I really want to know what booted that bully from his old school. In our school district we have a co-op with other districts 'cause we are are all very tiny districts. Anything from hearing and visually impaired to autistic to cognitive...we also have a division for behaviorally impaired. Our little hamlet houses the behaviorally impaired. They are on a separate floor but still interact in some areas including at times busing. If there was anything I could trade away in our district is giving away to another district in our
co-op it would be this special needs group. Having had a special needs daughter I get the special services and appreciate that.

Behavioral special needs has such a difficult impact on the general student body and is by law excused by law as special needs disability. At best the district can remove the student for 6 months and repeat. I have no answers but have an abundance of empathy for all. I know first hand from a boy a few properties down from me how he got that way at his Mom's hand. He was the sweetest preschooler. A lovely boy. His Mom overwhelmed put an end to all that sweetness. And now rather than socially working through his issues he is stuck in a situation with fellow students with pretty nasty behavioral issues far worse that his. We all know how that will work out in the end. So freak'n frustrating.

 

[Gabe1]

Yeah, people do some nutty things!! But I do have to say, from my experiences in biking to work and picking DS up from school, it seems to me that people on bikes tend to be really unsafe! A few weeks ago, some teenager on a bike ran right into DD because he was pulling out of the Jumbo parking lot and was looking to the right instead of forward and didn't see her. The day before that, some guy on a bike ran into a girl who had the right of way because he didn't want to wait for her to get past. He clipped her and kept going, with her shouting curses at him as he rode away. And before Christmas, DS narrowly avoided a collision when some guy at an intersection was coming from the left, turning right, onto the bike lane that's actually going the other way, and decided to go AROUND DS before turning, so went right in front of DS, who then slammed on his breaks and swerved...lucky he didn't end up in the street. And the worst part was there was a police car at the intersection, the guy didn't even apologize or ask if DS was ok before riding away and the police did nothing. And just yesterday, there was a group of kids probably around DD's age, and one boy was on the back of another's bike and they were ALL over the street, swerving. I couldn't get past them because no matter which way I went, they swerved that way. There was a car coming from the other direction that had to stop and wait for them to get past so he didn't hit them, and another car in back of me...we were both stuck with these two boys going at a snails pace ahead and not being considerate enough to pull over and let other traffic pass them. All the while laughing hysterically, like it was SOOOO funny to back traffic up and create a dangerous situation. After we got onto the bike path from the street, I called to them that what they were doing was really dangerous and could I please get past them if they were going to do that....the one looks at me all confused and says "What's wrong?" And like I said, my friend's son is not the most responsible and his judgment is lacking, so it would not surprise me one bit if he just wasn't paying attention and rode right in front of a car. I HATE riding a bike here...it really is extremely dangerous, but I don't know what's worse...other bike traffic or cars.

I can not get past the bike traffic in your country. Oh My. A entirely different World.