HBE4

Meeting my accountant tomorrow. Hope I don't end up in the hospital like @Ocean Boy

😄

23 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Yesterday I did a Zoom conference with the Actor Brett Gelman.During the course of conversation he mentioned acting in the show Stranger Things.I never watched it.Did anyone see it and if so would you recommend it ?

12 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Hi Lenny.  I watched the entire series with my son.  We loved it. I loved all the 80s references. Honestly, hard to say if you would like it or not.

9 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Yes, we watched the series.  I would recommend you check it out.  Not for everyone but you may enjoy.

I watch the entire series too. Loved the first couple of season but the later ones start to get a bit repetitive. It's kind of the same story over and over.

Love the 70 & 80's references as well. The science fiction part of the show can get pretty deep but I think you may enjoy it.  The final season was due to come out this year but has been pushed back to at least 2025, almost 10 years after the first season. Those young pre-teen kids will be young adults by then.

3 hours ago, helen haywood said:

  Vincent Bugliosi wrote a fantastic book about the trial:  Outrage:  The Five Reasons OJ Simpson Got Away With Murder.  Also felt terrible for OJ and Nicole’s children.

"The People vs OJ" is a great series about the trial with an all-star cast. It was originally on FX back in 2016 but can now be found on Hulu. Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story) is one of the producers and the series examines how the case evolved from an open-and-shut, no doubt about it guilty verdict to just enough doubt to not convict. Very well done. It shows the  case from the perspective of the prosecutors, defense and LAPD,

https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/how-to-watch-people-v-oj-simpson-rcna147442

33 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

She posts some memes over on FB but haven’t seen her around here in a long time. Same with @Tree_skier .

He posted yesterday in the thread about The Atlantic article about a writers first time cruising.

13 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Oh, that Bella head tilt!

That oh so adorable Bella head tilt!!

For some reason, pets always look so much cuter when they tilt their heads.

11 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

I am glad OB asked and you responded.  I just assumed that “knockdown” meant that the houses were demolished because the new owners didn’t like the ceilings (knockdown and rebuild is very common occurrence in Sydney).

I thought the same thing at first as well.   I thought it was a bit extreme to knock down a house just because you don't like the texture of the ceiling.  Maybe they meant knocking down the walls and/or ceiling?

I now know that it's a special knife/trowel called a knockdown knife used to create the texture.

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

RIP Bella.

 

Condolences to John and Laura.  The fond memories will be with you forever.

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

As of 2 hours ago, Bella is no longer suffering. I'm typing this with tears in my eyes.

Thank you both for posting this here. I had not been over on the FOB thread in a long time & had no idea what was happening.

After reading the article, I still consider it to be satire or as someone else said, dark humor.  I found myself chuckling out loud a few times and he very creatively seemed to nail a few topics that are frequent CC subjects. I'm also pretty sure some the people he met might be fellow posters here. LOL.

Having said all that, some of his comments about his fellow passengers did have a very sharp edge to them. The author definitely knows his audience. I can see & understand how someone might be offended if they consider this article to be a serious cruise review.  I do not.

 But on the whole, I considered a very enjoyably read. Special shout out to thank @NorthStarStateCruiser for the link so I didn't have to sign-up for the free trial

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

What is knockdown?

17 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

@Ocean Boy Just now saw your post. Does my post post above help explain?

Thank you both for the question and answer.  This whole time I was thinking knocking down the ceiling seems pretty extreme, not to mention messy & labor intensive. 

I was having a nitwit moment. I blame the earthquake & solar eclipse.

54 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Is this normal for B&H?  I agree they are a great store. The line is crazy long!

No, the line was strictly for those buying solar eclipse glasses.

It was an impulse purchase for me as I had every intention of viewing the eclipse on TV.  I was in an Irish pub where I caught the beginning of the women NCAA championship game, the topic of conversation in the place was the eclipse, where to watch it and where to buy glasses. Someone mention B&H and as luck would have it, I'd be walking right past the store on the way to the hockey game. Silly me thought I could just run in & grab a pair.

But everything turned out just fine. I had an hour to kill after the Auto Show & before the doors opened at Madison Square Garden & i had some interesting conversation with my fellow line mates so the time passed quickly.

2 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Simular experience.  When the total eclipse happened it was like someone turned on the air conditioner.  Now it's hot again!

We're you "over the moon" with excitement? 😃

I forgot to play a special Playlist. "Here Comes the Sun", "Paint it Black", "Total Eclipse of the Heart"...

1 hour ago, DaniDanielle said:

Finally, got to see it.  It was exciting I must admit.  It was like looking at the crescent moon.

My granddaughter went crazy.  

It was pretty exciting! Glad you got to see it.  It started slow but then you could see a little dent in the sun that grew into a pac-man and then a very thin crescent moom.  And the crescent shifted, first just the top of the sun, the left side & finally bottom.  Looked like a big smiley face except the nose & eyes were missing.  Lol

Temperature did drop a bit & the lighting got weird,  not dark but ominous. 

I took a few pictures but they did come out. I can share a picture of the long line at B&H. I meant to post it earlier.  This is about 1/4 of the line.

15 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

Just went out and checked here.  Barely starting to cover here, just a tiny nick of the edge covered.  Glasses work great though!

They really do! At first, I thought I got scammed as they looked like cheap 3-D movie glasses. Then when I put then on inside the house,  I couldn't see a thing. I thought maybe the lens was covered & needed to be peeled off. 

But when I looked at the sun, wow. I'm guessing maybe 25% coverage.  

Eclipse is set to start now. So far, nothing. A few high level clouds moving in but can still see the sun through them

It's going to peak @ 3:25 ,ET . About am 1 hour, 10 minutes from now. Should get 90% totality 

3 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

 

It sounds like it was a great day all-around!

And the weather was a perfect sunny & warm April in NY day!  Got 25,000 steps in.

On 4/5/2024 at 6:48 AM, Twenty2020 said:

To be fair... The writer is known for being satirical. I thought it was kind of funny in a dark humor sort of way. Not surprised he wrote for Succession.  Some of you need a little more sense of humor. Like he insulted your child or something. 

 

On 4/7/2024 at 12:43 AM, jean87510 said:

Great show.  And excellent writing. Did he write Connor's Wedding?

 

Also, I don't think many on here watch Succession.

I love Succession. Didn't care for the ending at first but in retrospect, as absurd as it was, it really was the only way to end the series.  But otherwise, a very well-written and perfectly cast show. 

Now that I know the author of the article was a writing on that show, I'm definitely going to read the entire article. . I knew all along it was satire but now I know it'll be enjoyable satire.

On 4/5/2024 at 7:21 AM, A&L_Ont said:

He kind of did, cruising is something we all love to do. Having never read anything by him I took it as serious VS dark/humour, as there are people out there that do not like cruises. 
 

I’ve never stepped on Icon, and don’t like her design.  IMO she’s an ugly child.  That said, I like cruising so don’t she’s ugly “out loud”. It’s more like he insulted you mother in-law, you put up with her but you can’t say what you think out loud about her. 
 

It would have been better if they put him on the world cruise.  If he actually hated cruising that would be hilarious. 

I'll reserve final judgement until I read the whole article but I'm going into it with the expectation that it's like being in the front row of a Don Rickles show or the "honored" guest of a Dean Martin roast. You'll need to be able to laugh at the insults coming at you.  As long as it's not too mean-spirited, I don't mind being on the receiving end of a joke.

Busy day yesterday. Took the train into the city. BTW, trains in and out of the city are also the beneficiary of the 3/4 of one cent per gallon of gas tax so figured I should get my moneys worth.😀 Plus, I hate driving & parking in the city.

Anyways, festivities included attending the New York Auto Show with my nephew to begin the day and ended with attending the New York Ranger game. Final game of my regular season package, an impressive 5-2 win over Montreal. Next game for me will be playoff, sometime after April 20th.

In between, I spent an hour waiting on line to buy a 4 pack of Solar Eclipse glasses from B&H Video. No exaggeration, the line stretched an entire city block, around the corner, down another city block to the end. As long as you got on the line before the stores 6:00 pm closing time, they would let you in. Once inside, the line zig-zagged up and down every aisle until it finally divided into two, for those that pre-ordered online and those (like me) that did not.  The pre-order pickup line was 10 times longer than mine so I lucked out there.  Of course, good old American capitalism was alive and well as some people would buy a few 10 packs, step outside & then sell the individual glasses to those waiting on line for $10 for one pair of glasses that cost $1. And people were buying them!!!  Someone told me he was heading over to Time Square where he knows he could get $20 per pair.

And in between all that, I found time to grab 2 beers at an Irish Pub and watch the beginning of the Catlin Clark show.  I know very little of basketball and even less of college basketball but she looked like a pretty good player. 🙂

42 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

PA has the second highest gas taxes, just behind California.  They also say that our higher prices is due to our stations being supplied by the New York market vs. Ohio getting theirs from the Chicago market.

 

Our local stations try to keep their prices a little lower than stations in our county that are not as close to the border.  For us, it makes sense to make a short drive and save.

I thought for sure New York would have been number 2 behind California but after a bit of some confusing research, we are actually ranked 9th (all taxes including local sales tax) or 13th (just state tax) in the nation.  And because I live so close to NYC, there is an additional tax to support mass transit but that's minimal, 3/4 per one cent on the gallon. Why not just round it up to a penny per gallon? 

The one good thing is that - with the exception of the sales tax -  most of the other taxes are based on per gallon, not price, so as prices rise, we don't pay more tax.

I grew up in Rockland County, NY which borders NJ. Back then, New Jersey gas was significantly cheaper so it was worth the drive to get "Jersey gas" as we called it. This was back when driving big old American cars with big engines and big gas tanks, getting 15 MPG.

Plus it was an excuse to visit some of our favorite diners such as Park Ridge Diner @BonTXNY

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

What category cabin is the deck above, that balcony looks like there is no promenade wrapped around it?

9 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

No, there is no promenade. BUT, come to think of it, I really don't like the whole layout of the ship. It seems to me that even the pricier cabins on deck 9 and above do not look down to the water, they look down on the promenade..

It looks like from the balcony above, you can look down into the balcony below as well as the promenade.

Not my cup of tea but I guess if someone likes people watching or meeting new people as they stroll the promenade, this is the balcony cabins for them.

Or if they are an exhibitionist! 😲

3 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Never thought I'd see anyone even close to Gretzky's records.  His assists and points records are probably safe.  Impressive accomplishments for both Sid and Ovechkin.  Between Lemieux, Jagr, and Crosby, Pittsburgh always seems to have great scorers.

Agree!

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ovechkin play in his 40’s.  Jagr did, and he is still playing at 52, although no longer in the NHL. 
 

It has been a treat to see some of these greats play.  

Considering how hard he plays, its amazing he still is playing. I guess as long as he's productive & enjoying the game, I can see him playing a few more years.

Part of me wants Gretzky goal scoring record to remain his and part of me wants to see Ovechkin break record.  As noted above, The Great One has plenty of other records that should/may be untouchable for years to come.

15 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises?search=departurePort:BWI|nights:gte12&country=USA

 

Complain to RCI, not ME.

 

 

Cape Liberty:  With Barbados and St. Lucia = Southern  Without = Eastern

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises?search=departurePort:BYE|nights:9~11,gte12|ship:AN,OY&country=USA

 

15 hours ago, Tatka said:

Nope, they are Southern

 

Royal even markets cruises with Antigua and St Kitts (Anthem) as Southern 

 

 

Looks like St, Martin & Antigua identify with both  Eastern and Southern. Does that make them itinerary-fluid? 😁

Hope that joke isn't to edgy🤪

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was listening to the Mets game on radio and one of the broadcasters said there was another earthquake at 5:45 this afternoon.

1 hour ago, DaniDanielle said:

We had an aftershock about an hour ago.  Heard Brooklyn was hit hard.

luckily my daughter and the kids were still on the island.

Around 6:00 pm, I felt an aftershock. This time, it felt like a sonic boon from a jet. Or dynamite blasting way off in the distance. House trembled for a few seconds & that was it.

If it wasn't for this morning quake, I wouldn't have given it a second thought.  Someone mentioned it was a 4.0 magnitude.

8 minutes ago, Coralc said:

People sharing photos of the "damage" caused by the earthquake. #We will rebuild. My apologies, but they are very funny. ☺️🤣

People Are Sharing Pictures Of Damage Caused By The East Coast Earthquake, And Here's How It's Looking Out There (yahoo.com)

Hilarious!

When my step-daughter came home, she noticed one of the pictures hanging in her bedroom wall was askew.  As she straighten it, she declared "We Will Rebuild!"

On 4/3/2024 at 7:31 AM, h20skibum said:

For all of our hockey fans on this thread, I wasn’t aware that Sid was close to one of Gretzky’s records.  Monday’s game assured that he will have averaged a point a game for 19 straight years. 
 

That is quite an accomplishment, it speaks to his consistency.   Just bought my Ranger playoff tickets for rounds 1 & (hopefully) 2. Fingers-crossed, I don't see Sid the Kid. He's a Ranger-killer.

Alex Ovechkin is 46 goals away from breaking Gretzky records for career regular season goals. If he can keep up his current pace, that's about a 1 1/2 seasons away. I wonder if he's going to play into his 40's to set a new record?

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

This all sounds mild compared to when a helicopter flies over the office as it is landing at the hospital. Everything vibrates including my insides.

A few people on the news have likened it to a low flying plane/helicopter or a train or large tractor trailer passing by.  It did at first but - not to sound like an attention-getting drama queen - towards the last few seconds, there was some very sharp & abrupt shaking of the house. More than just vibration. I'm mildly surprised there are no cracks in the wall or foundation.