The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[MinnieM123]

Wow I have been gone forever. Too much independence day partying.

O.k. So I had to go back to this post because I was confused (that happens often with me ).

What I'm trying to figure out is, are you saying that you just woke up (your post was last night at 8:10 p.m.), from all the July 4th celebrations, and thought (last night) was July 5th? Did you slip into a comatose state for about 6 days, after excessive partying and libations?

 

[Progress.City]

How dreadful. You need to dive into the pool to cool off, pronto!!

View attachment 100732

It's 82 here in Netanya, Israel...

 

[Goofyernmost]

You did raise an excellent point in your first paragraph about today's recycling efforts. Agree, that is a major step forward. Thank goodness for something positive . . .

I still can't get behind technology companies that intentionally make devices that are useless within a few years (or less) and need pricey replacements. Even for people like yourself and others who love techie things (and that's a big group of people), the built-in obsolescence/continual cost factor must infuriate you as well.

But the worst part of all this (broader situation, from tech to everything else) is the "throwaway mentality" that permeates our society. You see, that's the part that punches me in the gut; it's everywhere. Kids are growing up now with this attitude as well, and I don't blame any of them for jumping on the status quo bandwagon. Their parents do it; they emulate their parents. They're bombarded with Madison Avenue hype to continually buy and upgrade, and dump whatever they have now, to do it. It certainly doesn't teach people to respect what they have. Sadly, it's the new norm.

I agree with you, it is a pain to know that whatever you have in the line of technological gear will be short lived. However, I also understand that this isn't all bad. With the rate of change in technology today, making something last for years is a waste of time, energy and money. Most things we buy today are practically obsolete by the time we get it out of the box. That is due to the rapid advances that are the norm for that area.

For those of us that are able to not be obsessed with having the latest and the greatest, we can make do with older technology as long as it serves our purpose. Heck, I still have all my financial records on a 2005 Quicken program. For my uses it is all I need. The bells and whistles of the new stuff are not something that I care to use, so the old does just fine. But, I'm an old coot and really don't want all that stuff, so as long as I can keep that program running with no problems there is no need to upgrade.

I have a daughter that is enamored by all the new stuff and all the gadgets. She isn't one of those, always looking at her phone types, but, she has a million apps. on her smartphone and uses most of them.

So to make a long story longer, I have no issues with planned obsolescence of new technology because it is the era that we live in. This too will one day slow up and some other thing/obsession will take it's place. You know, like the Stone Age, the Dark Ages, The Steel Age, etc.... We are currently in the age of technology and it is, to me, an amazing thing to watch constantly changing, improving and expanding. It's really an exciting time to be in.

 

[betty rose]

I have between now (1:50pm) and 7pm before I'm supposed to join the family for the close of shabbot (sabbath). Real religious Jewish families do not use any electronics during the sabbath, so my updates now are breaking the rules, but I'm doing this in the privacy of my own room here. I'm totally showing respect for their sabbath by also going to synagogue with them and praying in ancient Hebrew (even though I am totally lost). The one thing I hate about joining them in praying at the synagogue is that they spend more time standing and praying than sitting and praying and my feet are absolutely killing me!

Tomorrow is the beginning of the work week. First thing I have to do is go to the bank and deposit that big check. They told me at that bank that they will open a line of credit to my account when I deposit that check, as well as set up a second account for the business I am starting. Essentially, the bank is giving me a fresh clean start as far as my credit is concerned. Those here who remember me from when I was PeterAlt should understand this is a big leap forward for me!

After I take care of business, it's either back to Jerusalem, or anywhere in Israel, and maybe find an apartment. There's not much available in the Jerusalem area that is affordable, so market forces may dictate that I find a place somewhere else.

Thanks for the update. I hope you can find a good place to call home, and good luck on your new business.

 

[Andrew C]

O.k. So I had to go back to this post because I was confused (that happens often with me ).

What I'm trying to figure out is, are you saying that you just woke up (your post was last night at 8:10 p.m.), from all the July 4th celebrations, and thought (last night) was July 5th? Did you slip into a comatose state for about 6 days, after excessive partying and libations?

Haha. That would have been awesome.

No..just been busy since the holiday so have not been able to get on here much.

 

[betty rose]

Haven't seen either Minions movie yet. A friend of mine saw it yesterday as well, and she thought it wasn't anything special (I don't know if she saw the first one, but I assume she did as she has two children).

Most movies I never see in theaters, but on DVD months after the fact. I'm a little slow . . .

It was my first Minion movie, so I have nothing to compare it to. I'm going to watch the other two, daughter has them on tape.

 

[betty rose]

Good morning everyone. Sunshine and low 90's today. No rain yippee!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Disneyland Paris looks so beautiful. The Americans parks have no greenery except for AK.

It was beautiful but also shabby in parts too. I liked the greenery there too, and so did a lot of other people. I was amazed at the amount of people that would climb over the fences and hang out in the green spaces. Some of them were even picnicking in those areas!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

You are getting me excited for my October DLP trip!

I hope you have fun, it is a fun park and has its own merits.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

yeah, but sometimes you have to check carefully.

as some companies.. to drive down costs.. put less quality materials.
So, the new couch might have "agglomerated wood"(compressed shredded wood) than real wood beams.
things like that.
I've seen the same drop in quality in clothing washing machines as well.

the older ones could easily withstand a hurricane or a bomb.
now they get corroded by just sitting there.

Good point. The couch and love seat set I was looking at was the same brand as what I have. What I have, I have had for 10 years and the upholstery is worn (because of the dogs mostly) but the frame is in excellent shape. That is why I wanted to get it reupholstered, but I just might end up buying slipcovers as that is the cheapest option right now.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

THERE IS A DRAGON IN THE BOTTOM OF THE CASTLE??

Yep and it breathes out smoke and moves. It was really dark in there so I had a difficult time getting quality pictures.

 

[Andrew C]

I hope you have fun, it is a fun park and has its own merits.

I just changed my hotel booking to be closer to the park. Booked an apartment through airbnb, which is about a 5 minute bus ride to the park!

Hopefully I can take pictures as nice as yours!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wow. Such sacrifice. We, and all generations to come, need to never forget.
And yes, my grandfather on my pops side was born in 1900. I'm Interested in all of history, but, the WWII era is of special interest.

The first job I had in HS was working at a Go-kart track for a WWII vet and his wife. They were like our second parents. We all called them Mama and Papa. He was a Seabee in the Pacific Theater. He was on Saipan, Peleliu, etc.
At one point, he even ended up on the cover of Stars and Stripes magazine 'cause a holdout Japanese soldier/sniper shot a hole through his dress uniform hat as he was drivin' across an airstrip on one of those islands...missed droppin' 'em by a mere inch, or so...!
Such good people. Unfortunately, they are long gone now.
I so very much appreciate the service of your loved ones.

Really cool story. It was a good generation of people.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

@ajrwdwgirl , the Disney Paris photos were AMAZING!!! My goodness, what a beautiful park--everything looks so new and clean, too. I never realized before what a lovely park that is. (Oddly, I just assumed if it wasn't one of the original parks here in the States, they may have not put as much effort into the design, etc., but that obviously wasn't the case in Paris!!)

Things were clean but there was a lot of stuff that was in need of repair. They are in the process of repairing and repainting so it will continue to look better. I purposely didn't want pictures of stuff looking bad, but I did take a picture of the Mark Twain Riverboat that they have off to the side and literally rotting away. The imagineers definitely put a lot of effort into the design and details though.

 

[Progress.City]

Thanks for the update. I hope you can find a good place to call home, and good luck on your new business.

Toda roba! (Thank you very much)

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I just changed my hotel booking to be closer to the park. Booked an apartment through airbnb, which is about a 5 minute bus ride to the park!

Hopefully I can take pictures as nice as yours!

It is nice being close to the parks. It was about a 10 minute walk to the park gates , and one time we took the bus which took about 10 minutes to the park gate too. Thanks for the nice words about my pictures.

 

[Progress.City]

I agree with you, it is a pain to know that whatever you have in the line of technological gear will be short lived. However, I also understand that this isn't all bad. With the rate of change in technology today, making something last for years is a waste of time, energy and money. Most things we buy today are practically obsolete by the time we get it out of the box. That is due to the rapid advances that are the norm for that area.

For those of us that are able to not be obsessed with having the latest and the greatest, we can make do with older technology as long as it serves our purpose. Heck, I still have all my financial records on a 1995 Quicken program. For my uses it is all I need. The bells and whistles of the new stuff are not something that I care to use, so the old does just fine. But, I'm an old coot and really don't want all that stuff, so as long as I can keep that program running with no problems there is no need to upgrade.

I have a daughter that is enamored by all the new stuff and all the gadgets. She isn't one of those, always looking at her phone types, but, she has a million apps. on her smartphone and uses most of them.

So to make a long story longer, I have no issues with planned obsolescence of new technology because it is the era that we live in. This too will one day slow up and some other thing/obsession will take it's place. You know, like the Stone Age, the Dark Ages, The Steel Age, etc.... We are currently in the age of technology and it is, to me, an amazing thing to watch constantly changing, improving and expanding. It's really an exciting time to be in.

I'm finding everywhere I go here in Israel, there is technology that are pretty basic and "just make sense" and you wonder why it's not being used in the U.S. For example, when you take a shower, the water pressure drives a pipe sized turbine at the faucet behind the wall that activates hot water on demand. The water is preheated using solar panels and then is reheated to the desired temperature using the electricity generated from the water pressure!

 

[betty rose]

I just changed my hotel booking to be closer to the park. Booked an apartment through airbnb, which is about a 5 minute bus ride to the park!

Hopefully I can take pictures as nice as yours!

Multiple trips to France, I'm so excited! Glad to hear you are going to take pictures! That means another "vacation" for the Chit Chatter's.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Here's pictures of our first full day at Disneyland Paris. By staying at the Sequoia Lodge we got 2 hours of Extra Magic hours in the morning for the Disneyland park. We arrived at a little before 8 am, and really the park was empty for the first hour. There were 4 rides open in Fantasyland 2 rides open in Discoveryland and then characters on Main Street (this had the most line).
The studios park in the morning




Hubby walking through the castle


At Toad Hall, it was a restaurant. It had a decent chicken sandwich (not good but more edible than the lasagna we had the night before at a quick service).

 

[betty rose]

It is nice being close to the parks. It was about a 10 minute walk to the park gates , and one time we took the bus which took about 10 minutes to the park gate too. Thanks for the nice words about my pictures.

I loved your pictures also, I couldn't wait until each day to "see" where "we " were going. I loved getting to enjoy your trip, as it unfolded. I will never really get to Paris, your trip was the next best thing!