len_mullen

Is it still Black Friday? I have been sitting on a 20% off discount from an echo dot (which I got free with a Best Buy purchase) trade in since forever waiting for the Echo Show 15 to go on sale. I was pretty sure the ES15 would not go on sale until after the 20% off expired, but it went on sale 24 minutes ago. I bought one for $80 off. Saved another $40 with the 20% off. Got the stand for 34% off. All shipped free and paid for with gift cards! This is my second ES15. The first sits on my kitchen counter and entertains me while I am cooking and cleaning. It is also a phone. This one will go on my home office desk. Except for lack of Recast support, this is an excellent Echo Show device. I use a Sling TV AirTV Anywhere for broadcast television. It supports Pluto and a bunch of other free streaming TV services as well as the usual suspects (Prime, Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Tubi, Paramount+, etc). My first shipped without a remote, but Amazon sent one for free when an update turned the device into a Fire TV that did Echo Show stuff. Items Ordered Price 1 of: Single LCD Computer Monitor Free-Standing Desk Stand Mount Riser for 13 inch to 32 inch Screen with Swivel, Height Adjustable, Rotation, Vesa Base Stand Holds One (1) Screen up to 77Lbs(HT05B-001)), Hemudu Sold by: Hemudu (seller profile) Supplied by: Other Condition: New $22.13 1 of: Echo Show 15 | Full HD 15.6" smart display with Alexa and Fire TV built in | Remote included Sold by: Amazon.com Services, Inc Supplied by: Other Condition: New $199.99 Grand Total: $0.00

Hover over your avatar and click Find Content on the pop up. This is your first post in the new year.

I love me as I am. I do not care what others think. Or at least I have not run into an individual who could make me care what others think. Go ahead and be yourself in 2024. Happy New Year!

Retailers closed down over 4,600 stores in 2023, with more to come in 2024 Salem New Hampshire is a good example of this. Many of the stores in the malls remain empty and the K-Mart remains vacant, but Ocean State Job Lot replaced Toys'r'Us and the Tuscan Village has attracted a lot of business. In Seabrook New Hampshire, the mall anchored by Ames has only a Market Basket grocery store.

Last night we returned to the Verizon store to close the deal on my new phone. They let my two kids trade in their iPhone 13s for 15s for $0 each. I had to pay off the balance of the 13s to do this and there were fees amounting to $120 for the pair, but I did get three iPhone 15s for ~$200 with no commitment. So, three new phones and lower monthly bill -- despite adding a third line/phone. Thank you, Mr. Cook.

Yesterday was my first day out since before Black Friday. Needed to do a UPS drop at Staples. Still looked like BF in the store. Girl that helped me said BF was nothing special. Walked through Home Depot on my way to Walmart. Piles of BF merch crowded the front aisle. Walmart didn't look picked over either, but I didn't notice if the piles were from the BF ad. Last stop was Verizon where I got iPhone 15s for $200. That felt like BF...at Walmart. I wasn't quite ready for a phone, but I had been hearing the 'turn in any in any condition for a free 15' so I stopped in to see the fine print. They charged me $1/month 36 months plus $40 activation fee for a new 128GB iPhone 15 for a new line and upgraded the two existing iPhone 13s for $75 each in fees.

https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Bake-Oven-Ultimate-Strawberry/dp/B08J7W5ZD4/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=easy+bake+oven&qid=1701169719&sr=8-11

What did you get?

My calculation included a four year protection plan and cash back from Discover. Same price. Sorry if I misled you.

Hard to save money building a PC right now -- especially if you do not game. Newegg has a very decent machine for $829... Skytech Chronos Gaming PC Desktop INTEL Core i5 12400F 2.5 GHz, NVIDIA RTX 4060, 1TB NVME SSD, 16GB DDR4 RAM 3200, 650W GOLD PSU, 11AC Wi-Fi, Windows 11 Home 64-bit There are two empty slots for another 16GB of RAM. Unless you already have the three monitors, consider a really wide screen. Many will let you look at two computers at the same time. The thing I have noticed about building is that everything is a little bit smaller. I miss my 20/20.

Kohls has put itself out of business. Their loyalty program is difficult to use, they exempt too many products from their discounts, and their pick up process is horrible. Condolences on the isolation. Merry Christmas!

*All* husbands love OSJL.

One of the sales I did not participate in was my local McKinnons. $4.99/# Porterhouse and T-Bone steaks were as tempting as anything else this year. BUT, it was while supplies last and I figured there'd be three or a guy in front of me who filled his carriage with steak, so I slept in. These days the cost of gasoline has to be accounted for. still need a list

I got two of these... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BY3W5NST?th=1 along with four year protection. Really completes the 'nest' I started last year. $841/ HIGHLY rated 240Hz 5120x1440 LG 49" UltraGear Curved Gaming Monitor with HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort, 4-Pole HP Out DTS HP, X, and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro seems like a righteous deal to me.

Mine is capable of playing games. I use it to stream video at bedtime. It has 40TB of storage for the collection of movies and tv shows I have legally downloaded from broadcast television. It runs my home automation. It stores my records, manages my budget, and does my taxes. It backs up all my other computers. It is my all day long computer (web, email, etc.). I could do a lot of this on a laptop, but most of it not as well. I definitely could not do it on a laptop that cost as much as my desktop.

Nevermind. Price of the linked desktop just popped to 1999.99. Congratulations if you got one. I was planning to buy a desktop computer this year. I joined Costco expecting to get a good deal there. While I was waiting for the deals, someone gave me a Coolermaster RC-690 case. It's a roomy case with ten drive bays, so I started looking for a suitable system board. Old friend Newegg bundled an ASRock Z690 Pro, an Intel Core i7-12700KF CPU, and 16GB (2 x 8GB) of G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series RAM for for $349.99. I purchased a Noctua NH-U12S CPU Cooler for $89.95, 16GB more G.SKILL RAM for $37.99, and a SAMSUNG 870 QVO SATA III SSD 4TB 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive for $203. I added a Corsair HX750W 750-Watt PSU, an AMD Radeon RX 480, and a DVD writer from stock. Besides the SSD boot disk, I have three 3TB DVR disks installed. I'll be bringing over a pair of 6T disks and another 3TB DVR disk once I retire my current desktop. So, I have nearly $700 into this rig and I still need to buy a graphics card. I haven't stopped paying attention to the Desktop deals. For most, ten drive bays are not essential. You just need enough RAM, CPU, and fast storage to get your job done. So, when buying a computer, make a list of the things you want it to do, choose the software you want to use to do those things, and use the softwares' requirements to spec your machine. My desktop is a workhorse. I run office apps, create database applications, edit videos, and play games. I also tend to keep my computers a long time -- usually a decade -- so I need a rig that is upgradable. Most people just want something they can play games, surf the web, stream videos, and compose email on. For most people this is a solid desktop... RAM: 16GB CPU: 12/13 gen i5/i7 GPU: RTX 4060 Ti, RTX 3070, RX 6700 XT (See this chart for comparison of a LOT of GPUs) Storage: OS 1-4TB SSD, Storage Data 2-4TB spinning disk Last year, I paid $1,149.99 for this on 11/19. It was $350 higher on Black Friday. It's the same $1499.99 today. The $139.99 WD - BLACK Gaming 8TB Internal SATA Hard Drive for Desktops I added is now $179.99. So, not a great year for buying a desktop computer. This is the only BF desktop I would consider... $999 Walmart ASUS ROG Strix GT15 Gaming Desktop, Intel Core i7-12700F, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD, Windows 11, G15CF-WB786 The video card in this computer is worth around $700.

Just need to make sure 1) the memory is upgradable, 2) you are capable of doing the upgrade, and 3) you get the right RAM.

I just refurbished six laptops. For all but two, simply replacing the disk with an SSD and adding RAM left me with a very serviceable computer. The other two were fitted with lighter operating systems. The one I use is a Lenovo Ideapad 310. i7-6500u @ 2.50 GHz, 12GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD running Windows 10. Camera is not great and the keyboard is not backlit. I paid $390 six and a half years ago plus another $50 for the SSD. Were I looking for a laptop, I'd want a 15.6/17.3" screen, >8GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a camera with a shutter, and a backlit keyboard. I don't see any of those. The only laptops I have (reluctantly) recommended this year... ASUS Vivobook 17.3" Laptop, Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB Memory, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Home, Midnight (F1704ZA-SB52) 4.6 87 Reviews | $399.99 $699.99 42% off ASUS Vivobook 15.6" Laptop, Intel Core i5-1235U, 16GB Memory, 512 GB SSD, Windows 11 Home, Midnight (F1504ZA-SB54) 4.3 38 Reviews | $399.99 $679.99 41% off Summary: i3/17.3" 8GB plus backlit keyboard vs i5/15.6 16GB of RAM without backlit keyboard Per Asus product page each has a 720P shuttered camera and an expansion slot for memory which is probably filled on the 15.6" model. Is there a case for having more than 8GB of RAM? Sure there is, but the bang for the buck starts to trail off. The time when more than 8GB of RAM becomes useful and starts paying for itself is when you're running several resource-heavy applications simultaneously -- especially high-end image or 4K+ video processing, CAD, or 3D modeling. Happy Shopping!

There are only two of us and we have eleven flat screens. I passed on 3D and I am very satisfied with the quality and size of the televisions I have. I have been buying HDTVs since 2008 and have only had one fail. TCL sent a guy to my home to repair the television and it is still going strong. If I were shopping for a television... I would be paying attention to size. Sorry guys -- size does matter. Relax, though, bigger is not always better. When I shop for a TV for a particular application, I like to cut a piece of cardboard to the size of the screen I think I need, place it where the TV will be, sit where I watch television, and see what I think of the size. Sounds silly, but a salesman at sears once told me that the most common reason for the return of a television was that it was too big for the room. If you don't trust yourself, here is some professional advice... That said, my youngest (26) sits about two feet away from a 55" set when he plays Call of Duty on his Xbox. Viewing angle matters too. For this I highly recommend a visit to the retailer. Stand relative to the demo set where you would sit in your home. Here is a good article on viewing angles. Performance for a TV is how well the television programming you want to watch on a TV looks and sounds. If you watch sports, visit the store when a hockey game is on. See if they can tune it in for you. Or record a game and ask the salesman to play your file. If you are noticing lag or pixelization, you will not love the television. Here is a pretty good article on sports viewing that includes viewing angles for 113 televisions. I don't get too excited about the 'smartness' of my televisions, but, if you have an antenna on your roof or in your attic, TCL's Roku TVs are outstanding. They build a grid style program guide using data in the RF stream, so there is no need for any kind of service or even an internet connection. Plug in a 16GB thumb drive and you have a 90 minute buffer so you can pause, rewind, and fast forward through programming. I have and love four of the 55" 4K sets. All of my Roku TVs have a FireTV Stick attached. My FireTV has a Roku attached. Here are some televisions I would consider... $99 Walmart onn. 43” Class FHD (1080P) LED Roku Smart TV (100133209) $188 Walmart TCL 55" Class 4-Series 4K UHD HDR Smart Roku TV - 55S41R $228 Walmart TCL 65" Class 4-Series 4K UHD HDR Smart Roku TV - 65S41R $348 Walmart TCL 65” Class S Class 4K UHD HDR LED Smart TV with Google TV, 65S450G -- $2 more at Best Buy $579.99 Best Buy Samsung - 75" Class TU690T Crystal UHD 4K Smart Tizen TV $648 Walmart Hisense 75" Class U6 Series Mini-LED ULED 4K UHD Google Smart TV (75U6K, 2023 Model) -- $2 more at Best Buy $899.99 Best Buy LG - 86” Class UR7800 Series LED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV Happy Shopping!

I don't think that is the problem. I think we are all FULL. The last TV I bought was a 75" Toshiba in 2021. I didn't even nibble on the 3D TVs. I keep my computers 10 years. My phones at least four.

As of today, they have stores in these states... Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont Online sales must be picked up at a store and only Insiders can place online orders. Everything good requires a FREE Insiders membership. Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.

I just noticed that I have not shopped at Shaw's in November. I used to shop there weekly. A few minutes ago I deleted another coupon from Bed, Bath & Beyond. Except for motor oil and Sudafed, I don't shop at Walmart anymore. I haven't used Amazon's Subscribe and Save since August 6th. While I placed 91 orders at Amazon in 2023, only eight were in the last three months and 91 is down 44% from the 163 placed in 2022. My last order on Amazon.com was a month ago -- nothing this Christmas season so far. I have not bought anything from Kohls since June and I only spent $13.99. Nothing from Best Buy since June. This spring I bought a couple 100' patch cables at Staples because I was in a hurry. Last purchase at Home Depot was 9/5/2023. I have decided not to purchase Ford vehicles going forward -- I've bought nine since I started driving. The last one in 2016. We haven't had cable since 2010. I haven't paid for local, local long distance, or long distance since 2008. We are about to fire Verizon. None of these merchants has gone out of business except BB&B which has reemerged as online only. I don't boycott. I have stopped doing business with them because of price, selection, service, and/or rewards programs. For most retailers, rewards programs have become less attractive over the last decade. Most reserve their best offers for new customers. Some exempt so many items as to render the program worthless. One, though, has changed the way I shop. In September of 2021, I bought a Z Grills Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker for $399.99 from Ocean State Job Lot. It was the same price on Amazon.com. OSJL included a store credit of $200 with the purchase. In March of 2023, I purchased an Arcade1up Asteroids partycade from OSJL. I paid $299.99 for the partycade -- $100 less than it was on Amazon -- and I got a store credit for $299.99. Since then I have purchased six more partycades under the same terms as well as a projector, an exercise bike, and a carpet cleaner -- all including a store credit equal to the purchase price. OSJL has a table called 'eat for free' where you get store credit for any items purchased equal to the purchase price. At first, I was simply excited to get all the free stuff. Eventually it occurred to me that the stuff wasn't really free if I did not spend the store credit. So I studied the store's products and prices. First casualty was Subscribe and Save. I found I could purchase the same items at OSJL for the same price as SnS without buying by the case. Second casualty was non-fresh grocery items. And then clothes. And hardware store items. I used store credit to purchase vinyl plank flooring for my kitchen. While my quest for value is relentless, no merchant has disrupted my shopping as much as OSJL since Amazon. Happy shopping! PS they sell Christmas trees and decorations, winterizing items, and furniture.

Just a couple days out from BF and I don't have a list. I have not looked at ads. I don't plan on going shopping. A lot of people are telling me the same thing. So, what happens if no one goes shopping on BF or CM? My theory is that the stores end up with a lot of merchandise and scramble to sell everything before Christmas. I suspect we would see dramatic markdowns increasing as Christmas approached. That's how things worked when I was a kid and I would be happy if it became the norm again. I remember my mother would drag me off to the stores a couple days before Christmas to snag the best deals. My dad would buy The Gift -- usually during the summer -- and my mother would fill the living room with cheer. Good times!

The best toy I have ever owned is the ATGames Legends Ultimate Arcade full size cabinet which I joined Sam's Club just to buy a couple BFs ago. Since then, I have purchased seven Arcade1up party-cades. These have less games, but cost less and are more widely available. They are designed to sit on a counter, hang over a door, or hang on a wall using provided hardware. PCs have 17" displays. Controls are near arcade quality and vary by the collection of games. Dimensions are 18.5"W x 7.5"D x 28.75"H (despite what you may read in the specs). The games are arcade quality. Amazon sells these... The first PC I bought was which includes Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Tempest, Super Breakout, Lunar Lander, Gravitar, Warlords, and Avalanche. Control set includes a spinner and buttons. My second PC was the Super Pac-Man model which includes Super Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Pac-Land, Pac-Mania, Dig Dug, Dig Dug II, Mappy, Rompers, Rolling Thunder, New Rally-X. I thought I was done once I bought Ms. Pac-Man with Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Dig Dug 2, Pac & Pal, Pac-Man Plus, and Super Pac-Man. I was wrong and have since purchased Centipede (Centipede, Millipede, Crystal Castle, Missile Command, Liberator, Akka Arrh, Super Break Out, and Avalanche), Galaga, (Galaga, Galaga '88, Gaplus, Galaxian, King & Balloon, Xevious, Dragon Spirit, Bosconian, Motos, and Grobda), Ms. Pac-Man 40th Anniversary edition (Ms. Pac-Man, Pac & Pal, Dig Dug, Hopping Mappy, Tower of Druaga, New Rally-X, Rally X, Rompers, King & Balloon, and Mappy), and Defender (Defender, Joust, Rampage, Gauntlet, Sinistar, Root Beer Tapper, Bubbles, Wizard of Wor, Klax, and Gorf). I am lobbying Arcade1Up for a Space Invaders Party-Cade. These go in and out of stock on Amazon.com and elsewhere. Obviously, highly recommended for any child of the 80s. Due to post limitations on this thread, if you would to discuss these in depth, please start a new topic or PM me.

I just noticed that Target is 5% cash back at Target for the holidays. Happy shopping!