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GottaDEAL 2020 Black Friday Prize Club Posting Thread

Brad

By Brad
in 2020

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len_mullen

len_mullen

Posted
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August 1st.  Not much different than June 1st or July 1st for me.  School is paid for, will be remote, and is on autopilot.  
 
Work is still pretty comfortable.  I've worked from home about 1/3 of time so far this year.  It's a little less now (1/5), but my commute remains a breeze, gas prices are still <$2/g, and parking is not a problem.  I do not get out of my car from the time I leave my workplace until I reach the New Hampshire border.  

 

Despite not getting any stimulus handouts and losing a lot of money in my 401k, I have managed to accumulate a pile of cash this year.  Retirement plans are firming up.  I am now 638 days from pension eligibility and 881 days from retirement.  
 
I have finally succumbed to the mask nazis.  Unlike this guy...
 
fauci-no-mask.png
 
I found a couple comfortable masks on ebay.  They still impair my breathing and lower my O2 levels, but I only use one when absolutely necessary...
 
s-l225.jpg
 
The seller does custom masks and is making me a couple Make Breathing Great Again! masks.  White print on red, of course.
 
The girl who cuts my hair has set up shop at a new location.  We've seen her once this summer.  My dentist has re-opened.  My son has an appointment Friday.  Dentist sent a link to a new device they are using to keep us all safe...
 
isolite-systems-1.png

 

Hope the hygienist doesn't breathe on my eyes or teeth.  I gag a little looking at the picture.  Should be fun.

 

And now, no t-shirts!

 

Happy August.

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HanShotFirst

HanShotFirst

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Happy August from a "red zone" state.  We can't seem to get our act together so the quicker this year gets over with the better.  It's actually unseasonably cool today for August but I'm sure it won't last.  School is set to start in a few weeks here so we shall see how that goes.  I'm expecting them to get shut down soon though because enough people still don't seem to be taking this virus serious enough.  This is one time I'm super grateful I have no children.  Trying to navigate a full time healthcare job and keep my self safe is enough without the added pressure of keeping a child safe.  God bless all of you have had to do just that since March.  

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HomeinKS

HomeinKS

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School is starting 2 weeks later than usual here, August 27.  

Things are fairly normal workwise, except for not going into the office much but I was already mostly working from home.  We are doing family visits face to face mostly.

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HanShotFirst

HanShotFirst

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August is here and we are 2 1/2 months from our vacation. Not looking good for this trip [emoji22]

I'm so sorry.  I feel the same.  No birthday trip for my sister's birthday, which was this past weekend, like we had planned.  A December trip for my birthday is not looking good either.  Stupid covid......

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tyreejames

tyreejames

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Happy August [emoji4] I continue to work from home; I’ve started going to the office once every two weeks for a half-day. Our staffing levels are closely monitored so you have to put in your request the week prior.

 

Really looking forward to the ‘ber months.

Edited by tyreejames
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colemandawn4905

colemandawn4905

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My sister used to work in HR. She always warned me that HR works for the company not the employees. Don't trust them. If you are part of a union, ask your steward what is going on. If not, hope for the best and plan for the worst. Consider looking for another job. It's a good idea to do that when you are still financially comfortable.

I got my letter today. They eliminated my job. Oh well. Back on the job hunt but it will be ok

August 1st! Let’s hope this month brings nothing but good days.

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len_mullen

len_mullen

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I got my letter today. They eliminated my job. Oh well. Back on the job hunt but it will be ok

August 1st! Let’s hope this month brings nothing but good days.

 

I am angry on your behalf.  I am angry for all the soldiers who have been let go by companies taking all the government money.  I hope you get a great job so you can lift a finger towards your former employer.  I am already doing that.

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wittenlover

wittenlover

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Just bought tickets to go watch the races at Daytona on the Road Course, got great seats row 3 in the section cant wait, i live close enough that we can drive over in the morning and drive back home after the races end.

 

cant wait the last race we were at was Coke 600 at Charlotte and my daughter has talked about wanting to go back again and watch in person herself so i had to jump at this chance

Checking in for August and maybe we’ll see you there, riven3d??? One of my best friends lives close enough to do the same, so I’m taking a road trip down from MI, picking up our third amigo on my way through in SC, and we’re headed to the track. No hotels required - we’ll be crashing with her and her family, so exposure risks are minimal. We all decided it was worth taking the chance.

 

Meanwhile, still mainly working from home here. That said, boss, coworker, and I literally pulled an all-nighter this past Monday (my “shift” was 21 hours from time I walked into office to time I walked out) to crank on a software reflash project that went from “oh as long as we finish half the units by the end of this week, we’ll be fine” to “by the way, the customer just told us they need them all by COB Wednesday” on Monday afternoon. (Not even kidding.) Caffeine was our friend and three of us was the right number to pull it off. Boss’s boss is now very pissed at the team that dumped this on us and will be giving the three of us a couple comp days each to make up for it.

 

The best part of this past week, though, was lunch with my “little” brother on Monday (shortly before I found out we’d need to work all night). I hadn’t seen him face to face in at least 5 or 6 years. Bear hugs freely given, pandemic be d***ed. Selfie taken to show dad we did, in fact get together. Good, good, times... [emoji170][emoji170][emoji170]

 

8a88bc6f4945810cdc16e66e020d3f3a.jpg

 

Hope all of my GDers are staying healthy. Much love to all as we keep navigating this crazy time we’re living in.

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Gator Pam

Gator Pam

Posted
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I would have thought that things would be improving this far into the year, but of course they aren’t. Things are getting even more ridiculous.

 

Basically showing that COVID-19 is not a seasonal virus, unlike the flu. Historically, pandemics tend to run two years or so. Until a working vaccine which at least 70% of the population is willing to get is viable, we're in this for the long haul. Especially if many continue to flaunt scientific advice.
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Gator Pam

Gator Pam

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My one piece of advice, since I only deep fry turkeys on occasion, so have never owned an electric deep fryer, much less one with built in filtration, is to check out this awesome hack for cleaning deep fry oil over and over from Serious Eats.

 

A Mind-blowing Technique for Cleaning Deep Fry Oil

len, have you given this a try, yet? If so, were you happy with the effectiveness of the method?
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bluebear

bluebear

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Happy August!!!! The year is sailing by for sure. I'm keeping busy working on blankets for all the kiddos for Christmas.

 

Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe!

I've been making blankets as well. I finished number 14 today. But so far, only 5 haven't been given away yet, and 2 of those probably won't make it to Christmas. My parents and sister and her family will all receive them for Christmas though.

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len_mullen

len_mullen

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len, have you given this a try, yet? If so, were you happy with the effectiveness of the method?

 

Not yet.  Just got the new deep fryer.  Tonight is her maiden voyage -- french fries.  Mission is benchmarking.  This is necessary because the fryer sets the temperature via a variable resister set by the operator rather than reacting to a measured temperature.  While I have found that the fryer maintains a consistent temperature, that temperature does not align with the one on the dial.  Also, the top temperature appears to be 350f vs the advertised temperature of 400f.  A lot of my recipes call for temperatures of 375f.

 

That said, chips and fries were excellent.  The chips were just a test.  We had fries with marinated steak tips and corn on the cob -- great way to end an August weekend.  Lobstah and clams tomorrow.  Nice way to start off an August week ;-)

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len_mullen

len_mullen

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I wrote this up for a friend and wanted to share here.  He was looking for alternatives to Comcast.  It turns out there are some very good options...

 

Over-The-Air (antenna)...
 
A UHF antenna pointed at Boston/Needham would likely pull in...
 
ABC/WCVB, BOUNCE, BUZZR, CBS/WBZ, CHARGE!, circle, COMET, COZI, CW/WLVI, DABL, Fox/WFXT, getTV, GRIT, Heroes & Icons, HSN, ION, LAFF, MeTV, Mystery, MyTV/WSBK, NBC/WBTS, NBC/LX, PBS/Create/Kids/World, qubo, QVC, Stadium, Start, TBD, ThisTV, and WHDH
 
Adequate antenna could be hung in a south facing window...
 
 
Add a Recast whole house DVR and you can watch two concurrent streams on any TV equipped with a FireTV stick...
 
 
With the Recast, if you subscribe to Pluto (free) or Philo ($20/month) the channels are added to your OTA program guide.  If you subscribe to Prime, you can add premium channels to your guide as well.
 
 
There is also something called PrimeTV...
 
 
Free/Ad Supported TV and Movies...
 
 
Free streamed local channels...
 
 
You can stream 'cable replacement' services...
 
YouTube TV: https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ $64.99/month
fuboTV: https://www.fubo.tv/welcome $64.99/$84.99/month
Hulu + Live TV: https://www.hulu.com/live-tv $54.99/month
Sling TV: https://www.sling.com/ $30/month
AT&T TV Now: https://www.atttvnow.com/ from $55/month
 
You can try most (all?) of these on your PC.  Most (all?) for free.  It would be best to try all of these and decide what works best for you before cancelling COMCAST.
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angelbabymommy

angelbabymommy

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I wrote this up for a friend and wanted to share here. He was looking for alternatives to Comcast. It turns out there are some very good options...

Over-The-Air (antenna)...

A UHF antenna pointed at Boston/Needham would likely pull in...

ABC/WCVB, BOUNCE, BUZZR, CBS/WBZ, CHARGE!, circle, COMET, COZI, CW/WLVI, DABL, Fox/WFXT, getTV, GRIT, Heroes & Icons, HSN, ION, LAFF, MeTV, Mystery, MyTV/WSBK, NBC/WBTS, NBC/LX, PBS/Create/Kids/World, qubo, QVC, Stadium, Start, TBD, ThisTV, and WHDH

Adequate antenna could be hung in a south facing window...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HQ4BRIG

Add a Recast whole house DVR and you can watch two concurrent streams on any TV equipped with a FireTV stick...

https://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-Recast-over-the-air-DVR-1TB-150-hours/dp/B074J1GPB8

https://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-Stick-4K-with-Alexa-Voice-Remote/dp/B079QHML21

With the Recast, if you subscribe to Pluto (free) or Philo ($20/month) the channels are added to your OTA program guide. If you subscribe to Prime, you can add premium channels to your guide as well.

https://help.philo.com/channel-lineup/

https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-prime-video-channels-everything-you-need-to-know/

There is also something called PrimeTV...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/epg

Free/Ad Supported TV and Movies...

 

PlexTV: https://mediaverse.plex.tv/

Pluto: https://pluto.tv/welcome

Roku Channel: https://therokuchannel.roku.com/

Vudu: https://www.vudu.com/

 

Free streamed local channels...

 

https://www.locast.org/markets/506

 

You can stream 'cable replacement' services...

 

 

YouTube TV: https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ $64.99/month

fuboTV: https://www.fubo.tv/welcome $64.99/$84.99/month

Hulu + Live TV: https://www.hulu.com/live-tv $54.99/month

Sling TV: https://www.sling.com/ $30/month

Philo: https://www.philo.com/login/subscribe $20/month

AT&T TV Now: https://www.atttvnow.com/ from $55/month

 

You can try most (all?) of these on your PC. Most (all?) for free. It would be best to try all of these and decide what works best for you before cancelling COMCAST.

I replaced Comcast with Roku boxes and subscribed to Sling...best decision I made for my household.

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