The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Gabe1]

4x post

 

[brifraz]

I thought I just heard on the news that Carol County schools are closed tomorrow.

Yup. This officially puts us over by one day. So, we will have school on June 15th (teachers will have to go in for a work day on June 18). Moments like this make us all so thankful that our governor mandated that school start after Labor Day and end June 15th and that waivers of days won't be granted in most circumstances - thank goodness CCPS had 6 days this year, some counties are in a real bind now and may have to have school on Easter Monday!

Nice to hear from you. You've been missed.

Thanks! Glad to be able to stop in. The snow gods granted me some time!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Sympathy like. Are you out of days yet?

This was #7. We get ten. I don't want anymore snow!

 

[MOXOMUMD]

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Yup. This officially puts us over by one day. So, we will have school on June 15th (teachers will have to go in for a work day on June 18). Moments like this make us all so thankful that our governor mandated that school start after Labor Day and end June 15th and that waivers of days won't be granted in most circumstances - thank goodness CCPS had 6 days this year, some counties are in a real bind now and may have to have school on Easter Monday!



Thanks! Glad to be able to stop in. The snow gods granted me some time!

I wish they had done that while I was in school. Although it is nice for my my brother. Plus we can do our summer WDW trip later in August now.

 

[Gabe1]

Yup. This officially puts us over by one day. So, we will have school on June 15th (teachers will have to go in for a work day on June 18). Moments like this make us all so thankful that our governor mandated that school start after Labor Day and end June 15th and that waivers of days won't be granted in most circumstances - thank goodness CCPS had 6 days this year, some counties are in a real bind now and may have to have school on Easter Monday!


Thanks! Glad to be able to stop in. The snow gods granted me some time!

It is so interesting how different areas and states place their holidays and breaks. My kids are 5 years apart (grown) and I believe we only had Easter Monday off twice and that was because of where Easter fell those years in combo with Spring Break. Then I read on this thread some districts don't have Spring Breaks. I remember when my oldest started college his state University had a Fall Break, I was like what the heck? I just got you there!!!!

Most of the schools here have gone to a collegiate schedule. It allows for high school students to have finals before winter break but they go back mid August to get in the proper amount of days by the end of the semester. Usually they are out prior to Memorial Day and finished with finals.

 

[donaldtoo]

Way behind, again...40-ish pages...skipping ahead again.......

 

[donaldtoo]

Funny thing about Jack -- if I whisper to him, he looks up at me so lovingly with his tail wagging. If I talk to him in a normal tone of voice, he ignores me and walks away.

Minnie the Dog Whisperer...!!!!!

 

[Gabe1]

Yea, thank god for MapQuest's ability to use LARGE TYPE. That is my backup. When I had to wear glasses for distance seeing I had bifocals and that was very handy. Without them I can no longer read anything up close while driving. I am getting glasses again strictly for driving. My prescription is very tiny, but, just enough so they will write it up for me and solve the driving problem and touring problem and I can still take them off to watch 3D without a huge difference in my vision.

My iPhone does LARGE TYPE too and it also lets me brighten the screen which also helps when I get a stupid text message in the middle of the night.

I lost my ability to see up close a decade ago. It started slowly but got to the point where when I was shopping I couldn't read prices or expiration dates. I had cheater glasses all over the house, in the car, coat pockets etc.

I went to bifocals several years ago so I could just wear my glasses all the time and not be looking for readers or needing my kids to read tags to me. I can see just fine distance so I don't have a restricted drivers licence.

 

[Goofyernmost]

My iPhone does LARGE TYPE too and it also lets me brighten the screen which also helps when I get a stupid text message in the middle of the night.

I lost my ability to see up close a decade ago. It started slowly but got to the point where when I was shopping I couldn't read prices or expiration dates. I had cheater glasses all over the house, in the car, coat pockets etc.

I went to bifocals several years ago so I could just wear my glasses all the time and not be looking for readers or needing my kids to read tags to me. I can see just fine distance so I don't have a restricted drivers licence.

I don't remember what year I did this, but, I took a course with Accent Travel to become a travel agent. This was when computer flight lists were just starting. What they used was (I forget the name) a big 8 1/2 X 11 book about 3 inches thick. The pages listed every scheduled flight for the entire world each day and the print was about this size. I'm not kidding. I was forced to run out and buy my first set of readers. I think I was in my late 40's at the time.

I had a restricted drivers license since I was 21 until I had my first cataract surgery two years ago. My current drivers license does not require glasses, but, last year when I started driving bus at the airport I had to have a DOT physical and I think the other cataract had started to grow and I couldn't pass the eye test without glasses. So my Physical Card shows that I need to be wearing them on the job. Now that the second surgery is done, I once again do not need glasses to see distance, just reading.

 

[donaldtoo]

I find in my older age (I turned 56 yesterday)that I can't make out the details on your typical paper folded map. Too small!
Or....I'm too old! Not sure which...

Happy belated 56th...!!!!!



I started having to wear drugstore cheaters in my early 40's. Other than that my medium and far vision are 20/20 (knock on my wood head ). I can see a gnat on a dogs beeeeehind 200 yards off...!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

View attachment 271484

Happy Spring!

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

@donaldtoo thanks for your b-day wish.
I'm gonna head outside and start shoveling. I just received a call that my school district is closed tomorrow.
This time it IS for a good reason. There is plenty for me to shovel and it's still coming down. Weather Channel's website for my town says it won't stop 'til 3AM. I'm shoveling 'cause my wife needs to go to work and I don't want to kill myself in the morning....so clear what's there now and get what falls beyond that....get it in the morning .

 

[donaldtoo]

@donaldtoo thanks for your b-day wish.
I'm gonna head outside and start shoveling. I just received a call that my school district is closed tomorrow.
This time it IS for a good reason. There is plenty for me to shovel and it's still coming down. Weather Channel's website for my town says it won't stop 'til 3AM.

You're welcome!
Sympathy like.
Have fun shoveling...!

 

[donaldtoo]

View attachment 271495

Looks like the fried shrimp platter I used to enjoy's a goner too...

 

[Gabe1]

This. The lines to get in to order at CHH, and Pecos Bill were about a block long. And the wifi wasn't working, so you couldn't really use mobile ordering. Even desperate, we wouldn't get on those lines. Went back to POP for lunch. Worst burger ever, in case you were wondering.

Duly noted! Thanks.

 

[donaldtoo]

But I chose to leave there and move here. What kind of crazy person does such a thing?!

Seriously.. I wouldn’t even go to Orlando in the winter for 2 decades.. not north of Jupiter.. now I’ve shattered that rule.lol. Oh I’m so dumb.
To be fair, I did go north one week per year to see snow.. then hightailed it back to the warmth.

Sympathy like.
In my 55+ years, I've never lived in a cold climate, and have no intention of starting now...my car dosen't slip and slide on sunshine and heat, and neither do I...!

 

[Gabe1]

I don't remember what year I did this, but, I took a course with Accent Travel to become a travel agent. This was when computer flight lists were just starting. What they used was (I forget the name) a big 8 1/2 X 11 book about 3 inches thick. The pages listed every scheduled flight for the entire world each day and the print was about this size. I'm not kidding. I was forced to run out and buy my first set of readers. I think I was in my late 40's at the time.

I had a restricted drivers license since I was 21 until I had my first cataract surgery two years ago. My current drivers license does not require glasses, but, last year when I started driving bus at the airport I had to have a DOT physical and I think the other cataract had started to grow and I couldn't pass the eye test without glasses. So my Physical Card shows that I need to be wearing them on the job. Now that the second surgery is done, I once again do not need glasses to see distance, just reading.

That is great news.

I am sure the day will come but my glasses I wear most of the time that are bifocal are clear on top. My distance vision was not this good growing up or well into 20's but when I was Prego the first time my eyes went to 20/20. My OB assured me after the kid was born it would likely return to what it was or possibly worse. Nope! If I think back about being Prego that was the one bonus I can recall. Didn't like it Didn't like it at all.

 

[donaldtoo]

Our tile finally gave way tonight, and water started leaking into the downstairs bath. So i guess we need to replace our whole bath/tile in short order. Booo.

Not good.
Sympathy like.

 

[Gabe1]

All things are relative. If you look at those prices now measured against current wages it is like a gift from heaven, however, take it back to 1983 and it is as hard to come by for a family as it is now. I was a manager at a printing/publishing company back then and the hoops we had to jump through to make that road trip to Florida was amazing. You didn't feed a family, provide housing, food, clothing and other necessities on the salaries at the time and have a very big amount left over for luxuries. (At least in New England at the time) What made it worse was the only time we had that we felt was worth going there was in the winter and add to that the cost of heating and you were usually running a deficit. We had to save for months. Figure out how we were going to do this as inexpensively as we could. Want to know another part of it? I had done an advertising trade out with a travel agency and got free admission tickets and it still was a chore to make the ends meet. There were restaurants that promoted kids free with adult meal purchases and we went to those. We stayed at Econo-Lodges even though, if I recall, the Contemporary was only about $40.00 per night. It was still to much.

We tend to forget those things when we wax nostalgic about how cheap things were in the past. Pound for pound it was actually worse in my memory. As the admission prices increase, wages increased enough so subsequent years were easier then the originals to accomplish. The overused thought about how Disney has exceeded the cost of living index is true but not relevant. Other things managed to stay below our salary levels and we had more spendable income that could be used for frills. WDW remained something that we wanted to do, but, never was something that we had to do. It was a luxury and easily scratched off the "to do list" if other things more necessary got in the way.

What would be great is if Disney decided to have a "back to '83 day" just for those that went in 1983. I could get on board with that. Imagine all the kids that went back then that could now bring their own children and even grandchildren for a day. I'm betting that the place would really be packed. Of course, it would be restricted to just MK and Epcot, but, I can live with that. (Excuse the little amount of selfish daydreaming there.)

I daydream all the time too. Nice happy thoughts about Disney Vacations always bring a smile to my face.

For the 2.5 decades we took family trips to Disney we always used our Tax Refund. We'd generally receive the funds in Early Spring and we'd have a family meeting, pick dates, talk about resorts and I'd stroll over to the travel agent and book our package usually it was via The Walt Disney World Travel Corp. There were always several perks in the package, like free breakfasts anywhere on property each day, Free round of Mini Golf, 2 days in Water Park, Free round of golf with clubs and taxi included, free admission to Pleasure Island and the year they intro'd pins and pin trading we as the 2 adults received to baseball caps with 4 pins. Of course the kids got those.

It is always a wonderful time for us and last September we endured Irma, lost 2 park days but still had an awesome time and something 'different' to talk about.

 

[donaldtoo]

We kept thinking about him and others we know there. A women my son grew up with teaches in an Austin Elementary School and we have a few other friends that moved there years ago because Austin seems to be ever expanding, so they are all on our minds. Have to imagine everyone is on edge.

Thanks.
With him being cornered early this morning and blowing himself to shreds the madness seems to finally be over.
Unfortunately, ever-expanding also means the greater the chances for crazy. "Keep Austin Weird" is fine, "Make Austin Crazy" ain't.
Although, obviously, not good for the business I'm in, I really do miss the old, much smaller Austin.