My wife and I bought a house with two GIANT trees in the backyard. At least sixty feet tall, four feet across. They were probably planted when the house was built in '72.
One month in, one of them dies. It cost $2,700 to remove it and leave the stump.
Then in March this year the OTHER ONE FUCKING DIES TOO. We went ahead and had the stumps ground this time. $4,400.
I spent $7,100 to have a backyard with 0 trees and 2 mounds where I would rather have trees. Fucking NOTHING to show for all that money. Those trees were gorgeous. I was pretty devastated when we had to have the second one cut down.
Apart from the trees, we have had:
A 50 year old toilet flush valve break ($35 plus the time it took me to repair the toilet because I do not want to figure out how to get rid of an old toilet);
The garbage disposal fail ($300 for a new disposal; $450 for the plumber because I got in over my head);
The gas valve on the heater break ($840 plus a weekend of it being 45° in my house before anyone in town could come with the part)
A garage door that hangs up as it closes. I’m gonna ignore that one for as long as I can and just pull it down while it closes for now. Maybe I’ll get the hardware to convert it to a manual door while I’m young enough to pull it up and down.
I see your pfp. I just came home from a road trip to Galveston, and I think I’ve had my fill of Buc-ees for a while. The brisket sandwiches and jerky are worth it, though.
My brother works for a school with 200 kids PreK-12. He’s a teacher, but he also does IT. He gets a $500/yr stipend, and he calls me at least twice a week with basic questions that are solved 95% of the time by rebooting the computer.
I’ve told him a number of times the district owes me that stipend lol
Actually, many houses are built this way. My house has 15A receptacles on 20A circuits. I don’t agree with it. The breaker should always be the weakest point. But the NEC (section 210.21) allows you to put 15A receptacles on 20A circuits as long as you use a duplex receptacle OR there are multiple simplex receptacles on the circuit.
This kind of thing is why code requires washing machines to have their own dedicated circuits, but you always find a duplex receptacle where the washing machine goes. It’s not for your convenience. It’s the most cost-effective way to pass code.
This was pretty much how I operated when I was single, but my wife won’t tolerate below 55 at night. I had a 600 ft² apartment, and my power bills were $150 in summer and $25 in winter. But now my wife and I have a 1,500 ft² house so that’s just not feasible. In summer, I take a cold shower before bed, the thermostat gets left at 71, we put up a box fan on medium, and we sleep with no blanket. That makes things tolerable when the overnight lows are 80 degrees. It’s also what kept the power bills below $250 this summer. We fucking roasted this year. 10 to 15 degrees above average all summer. 90-95 is very tolerable, even when it’s humid. Just drink lots of water and you’ll do alright. But 105-110? Count me the fuck out.
I sleep at 60. House is 65 all day between November and April. We don’t get true winter here so the heat hardly has to run. In May/June when we need to start running the AC, everything goes up 10-12 degrees.
I can’t cope much over about 78. 80 degrees indoors and I’ve got no fewer than three fans aimed at myself. Gas bills in winter are relatively low. I’d like to get a little unit just for the bedroom and the computer room, then I don’t have to cool the whole house to stay comfortable. Leave the house at 82 during the day and keep the rooms I’m in at 72.
I’m the kind of guy to wear shorts when it’s below freezing outside.
I’d say more than half the crappy situations I end up in are both outside of and beyond my control. Sometimes, you just have to ride the suck train until things improve. Therapy is a powerful tool, but it has its limits, and it’s important to know when and how it can be helpful.
Personally I just like the lack of difficulty in air cooling. And air cooling can also be very quiet. I have a case with soundproofing inside, and my PSU and GPU fans only spin up when they get hot enough to justify it. The noise level is so low as to be imperceptible. My dog breathes louder.
I played bass with a little four piece band in college. I’d listen to a lot of music with the bass turned up so I could learn basslines, practice them, and then build off of them and do my own thing. And it was a pretty easy transition since a bass is strung just like a guitar without a B or high E string. I haven’t played regularly in a long time, but I do find time to get the guitar out and kill time when I’m at home alone here and there. Most of the music I listen to is one of like four different chord progressions, each made up of three or four chords lol
Playing the music and being subjected to it are totally different. I played guitar and trumpet in my youth and doing Christmas music for the school and the town parade were always a blast. But now that I’m a jaded adult…lol
Getting my guitar out and figuring out new songs is still a lot of fun, even if I’m kind of terrible at it.
I honestly hate the vast majority of Christmas music. And I’ve never worked retail. God I feel awful for anyone who has to work that sector between November and January.
Last Christmas gets a pass though. I kinda love Wham