HBE4

Great to see you & best of luck to you and your daughter. I probably missed the fact your daughter had MS but glad she is doing better to lift your spirits and more importantly, to come visit you. I was thinking of you the other night. I'm watching Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" in the opening scene of one of the episodes was filmed at our old stomping grounds, Rockland Lake State Park. Once of the funniest scenes, he was driving the car - and old 1950's Porsche 356 roadster - down the sidewalk. I wonder how much of the park they had to shutdown to film that 1 minute introduction

Glad you caught & treated it in time. So many times in the past, I would always develop some sort of medical condition before a cruise or island vacation. Usually a tooth ache and I'd have visions of getting a root canal in Jamaica. Fortunately, my dentist would see me right away & either prescribe medication or tell me to stop clenching my teeth. Pre-vacation stress & sure enough, by the time day 1 of vacation was over, tooth ache gone.

Originally I wasn't even going to look at Sony as that was stretching my budget to the max. But after I asked the salesman if any of the TV's could be taken out of "Showroom Demo Mode" (or whatever it's called) so I could see what it would look like realistically, he said just with Sony. He must've seen the skeptical look on my face and quickly explained that Sony is so confident in their picture quality that it would still be just as good as other manufactures "Demo Mode" & none of the other manufactures are that confident. I don't know if that's true but what I do know is true is that after a few minutes when my eyes adjusted to the dimmer or washed out pictures, they were still amazing. He played a variety of content for me so at least I was able to compare 5 different Sony TV's to each other. Even the bottom of the line "value" (using the term loosely) model was good with the next step up model very, very good and still around $1,100. From there, they do go up in $500 increments to get to QLED & OLED so now "budget creep" is setting it which is also very common for me. Yes, the QLED & OLED are clearly better but are they $500-$600 better? Maybe, over a 10 year period that's only $50 more per year which is less than what I spend on beer at ONE (1) Ranger game. I can justify anything in terms of beer. 🙂. Or I could down size to the 55 inch model, emphasizing quality over size. FYI. my seating area will range from 8-10 feet away from the TV. At the end, he did say Sony usually releases their new TV models in March so it's possible that the current models may drop in price later in March. No guarantee of course on price drop and availability. Decisions, Decisions....

I'm pretty sure the sales guy @ Best Buy regrets asking "Can I help you?" 90 minutes later, I'm sure we talked about every TV under the sun. I think I heard him muttering under his breath and shaking his as I left. Just kidding, he could talked all weekend about TVs. A true professional. Meanwhile,my brain hurts. In addition to new stuff, I also watch a lot of older stuff (think Seinfeld & old John Wayne movies). Apparently a TV that is good at upscaling should be my priority. So forget about OLED, QLED, ,and mini-LED, it's all about upscaling older content to 4k. Of course, the high priced Sony is best at this. So guess what's on top of my list right now. Did I mention my brain hurts? Although honestly, whatever I buy will be light years better than what I'm replacing. Gotta keep that in mind. I think I need a nap.

Thank you all for the excellent advice on TV's and how & where to buy a TV. This is exactly the first hand info I was looking for. I am now suffering from "analysis paralysis", which is actually very common for me as I will research something to death & then have information overload. 😀 Sometimes I wish I could make more spontaneous decisions. Ironic that your mention this particular model. When I first started this life-consuming odyssey of trying to pick the perfect TV at the best price, I had LG OLED B3 model in mind before being distracted by literally shinier objects, the TCL QM8 & other QLED TV's. Best Buy is having a 3 day sale & this model (LG B3) happens to be $200 off. After weeks of research, I may have just ended up where I started!! Which takes me back to my statement above of needing to make more spontaneous decisions. I'm pretty sure it was $300 off during the week leading up to the Super Bowl. 😒. Not a big deal but mildly annoyed at myself.

+1

That's a shame, I really liked Macy's too. Especially when they had their "One Day Sale" on Wednesday, with a "preview" day on Tuesday. Followed by a Sat/Sun weekend sale with a "preview" day on Friday. So basically, don't shop on Monday as that was the one day everything was full price 🤑 Then if you had a right coupon, you could score an extra 20 - 30% off the sale price. But after a while, the coupons got annoying as there would be 97 exceptions/exclusions listed on the back in the tiniest font ever invented. Agree, I normally like to feel & try something before buying it unless I'm buying the exact same thing.

I'm pretty sure most things in my parents house came from Sears. My dad swore by Craftsman tools. Sears was the pre-Internet version of Amazon. Except you could get your car fixed at Sears, can't do that at Amazon.

Anybody have an opinion in TCL TV's? I think I'm about to pull the trigger on this - a TCL QM8 65 inch 4K with mini-led QLED Smart (is there any other kind? ) TV https://www.tcl.com/us/en/products/home-theater/qm8-class/65-class-4k-mini-led-qled-hdr-google-tv-65qm850g 3 of 4 Samsung TV's I've had all died a premature death within 3 years of purchase. The 4th one is going on 10 years now & is showing its age, large patches of pixels not longer seem to work correctly or not work at all giving the image a "blotchy" look. Since I've had bad luck with Samsung and Sony is just too expensive, I'm not considering either brand. My main TV is an LG which I love & I was pretty certain I was going to buy another LG until I read the reviews of the TCL QM8 from professionals & users. Everybody seems blown away by the quality of the picture. In terms of technology, the mini-LED QLED is the newest tech, known for it's brightness. Picture quality wise, it's a small step down from OLED TV's which is considered the best but those work better in darker rooms (so I'm told) & since this TV is going into a very bright, sun-filled room, mini-LED QLED seems the way to go. TCL lists the price $1,699 which must be Royal math as Best Buy has it for $1,399 on sale for $999. Still a bit more than I wanted - I was looking in the $700-$800 range - but since it's being compared to the picture quality of Sony & Samsung's that are twice the price, it seems like too good of a deal to pass on. I welcome any and all thoughts, opinions, critiques and off-topic comments. 🙂 EDIT: And when I say I'm about to pull the trigger, I mean by Sunday. That's when the sale ends.

I didn't know there were any Sears left, much less 13 of them. I do know there is one Blockbuster left, in Bend Oregon

I've also noticed that she's not online as much as she used to be. Hopefully just busy catching up with old friends. Also noticed that our resident bad boy @Jimbo hasn't posted in a while either. Monopoly again?😉

The other day, the weatherman mentioned there will be hazy skies due to the wildfires. I thought it was way to early in the year for the Canadian wildfires but a later report clarified it was from the Texas panhandle. The Smokehouse Creek fires which - ironically - is near the town of Canadian,Texas. Coincidence? 🤠 Anyways, the haze wasn't so bad but the dramatic weather change was. After a few mild, spring like days of high 50's, almost May-like 60 degree days, a cold front roared in last night, torrential rain, 60 mph winds and a 30+ degree drop in the temperature. Woke up to high 20's today & lots of downed branches. Thankfully we didn't lost power.

Last Tuesday is $5 movie night at the local movie theater so went to see "American Fiction". Really enjoyed it, the best way to describe it is that it's a satirical comedy/drama that's been nominated for a bunch of awards, including Best Picture, Actor and Supporting Actor. Finally got around to watching "Oppenheimer" and after a confusing 30 minutes of time jumping (I knew very little of the story beforehand), decided to followed @bobmacliberty excellent advice & watched the Youtube documentary first & then the movie. The documentary is 1 hour 37 minutes long, close to 2 hours with commercials & the movie is 3 hours long so it was a long night, But well worth it. Watching the documentary first made the movie so much more clear & enjoyable.

That looks like it would be the "After" picture of a Bella cruise.

I haven't been around much the past week other than a quick peek here and there but I'm glad to see the Dad jokes are still well represented. And too all of those that are facing a medical trauma, challenge/setback or has a family member/friend (too many to mention sadly) in same situation, sending good vibes your way. 🙏

Thank you for a great trip report & the race update. Seems like a late start for a race, is that to avoid the heat? I didn't think Vegas was that hot this time of year. And I can't think of a better way to reward yourself than with an In-and-Out burger.

Love how a tooth falls out of his mouth as he's yelling at someone, around 15-20 seconds in. 😆

Sounds like a more colorful way to say "Lurking in the shadows" or just "Lurker". I'm going to try to use it someday, both here on CC and IRL. 😉

Now I see it.

I can't see it either. Both Laptop and phone show a big, blank screen. It must be written in invisible ink.😉

Thanks. Owen is an awesome young man.

For sure. There is no way I ever want to go through that procedure & have done a complete 180 when it comes to taking care of my teeth. I might have become borderline OCD when it comes to flossing, brushing etc & make sure I go for my regular cleanings & check-ups. One good thing is I got approval from the insurance company for 4 cleanings per year, every 3 months. That lasted until I changed insurance companies & it went back to standard 2 free cleanings per year. However, I still go for 4 & just pay the additional 2 out of pocket. It's worth it to me

What is a DE kid?

It was painful. Upper gums both sides had the flap surgery & lower gums had the root scaling, which I guess they call deep cleaning now. 4 separate appointments, one for each quadrant spread out over 3 months, I think. This was over 10 years ago, maybe closer to 15. But I also had gingivitis. When my dentist first mentioned the deep cleaning to me, I said I would thing about it & maybe at my next appointment in 6 months I would make a decision. But I developed a nasty gum infection before the appointment. In your case, if everything is fine, it sounds like you don't "need" it but if insurance approves, it sounds like it won't hurt either, other than sensitive gums for a few days after. But I might follow @Jimbo advice & wait until after your cruise, just to be safe. Also, I loved my former dentist. He had a very conservative approach - the old, it it ain't broke, don't fix it attitude. When he was ready to retire & sell his half of the practice, he spent a year until he found someone with the same approach he & his partner had. Bonus is she is much younger & easier on the eyes and has the same conservative approach. No upselling at all.

My understanding is that deep cleaning as a preventive measure is when you have signs of the first stages of gum disease. If everything is fine, you probably don't need it. In my case, I did have early signs of gum disease & hesitated with the deep cleaning - i think it was called tooth scaling or root scaling - until it was too late & I needed more extensive gum surgery. I won't give details as it's gross but google gum flap surgery.