HBE4

Can you unleash your inner geek again if I ask 2 questions? 1) Does distance matter? To clarify, I know it does as I've done a speed test sitting next to the WiFi router and clock in at a 150+ mps. Then I head upstairs to the "far end" of the house so there is a few walls between me and the WiFi router and the speed test shows 40 mps. Still sufficient but wonder if I upgrade my service to double the bandwidth, will it also double at that distance to 80 mps or stay at 40 mps due to distance and walls & floors blocking? 2) With only 2 people living in this house, only 2 devices may be actively in use at once but 6 more devices sitting passively (cell phones, tablets, Alexa, etc). Are the passive devices much of a draw on bandwidth as they are "always on"? I can't find any definitive answers to these questions so any thing you can share will be appreciated. TIA.

The beauty is on the inside. Don't be so superficial (light-hearted sarcasm 🙂) Personally, I think the Radiance-class ships are the nicest looking, classic lines and well proportioned. Anything above Freedom class looks ungainly, like a floating apartment building, with a lot of fun & cool stuff within that building. IMHO, of course.

Good luck. I've been trying to catch up since yesterday. For every 2 pages I read, a new one is created.

Just wanted to add that I was at my brother-in-laws house this past week and he'd ditching his Direct TV service for YouTube TV. I believe yesterday was the first day so I'm interested to see what he thinks after a couple of weeks.

Been away for the better part of the week & with the exception of a random pop-in to like a post or two, I've fallen waaayyyy behind. Normally, I'd just read back 2-3 pages to see the current conversations but for some reason - probably too much time on my hands - decided to read all 25+ pages since I last left off. Glad I did as I found the conversations related to Cable TV costs, Internet Speed, Streaming Platforms & YouTube TV most interesting. With XFINITY cable, I have middle of the road Internet (300 mps) and channel line up (175 channels but no premium channels) which is costing me $197 per month. I probably watch 10 channels at the most and would say 90% of my TV viewing is now thru a steaming platform. NetFlix, Hulu, Prime, Max, Disney+, Paramount and Peacock are the 7 streaming platforms that I either subscribe to or use a someone else's password to access. I may cut the cord & get rid of the cable TV going and shop around for just Internet. From what I reading, I can easily save $100 a month, maybe even as much of $150. While I do like watching my local news stations, I can't really justify the cost anymore. Funny thing is, XFINITY just sent me a new cable box as a replacement as they deemed mine too old. It's 4K capable. Great, I thought to myself, I finally can get the full benefit of my 4K TV. Until the rep told me that they don't actually broadcast in 4K, so still same picture quality. 🙄

You're right. You get to keep the farm.

No, but I wish I was as from what I read, it was a pretty exciting game. Rangers have been playing with a vengeance this year, no doubt fueled by lasts years disappointing early playoff exit, Of course, there is still 4 more months in the regular season so fingers-crossed they are playing this well come April.

Even if the sale did go thru on time, 1 month to rebrand the ship & get it ready for a 3 year cruise with a presumably new crew seems pretty tight schedule.

They are all beautiful but I like the first one the most. Big and fat, just like a Christmas tree should be! 🙂

That is great and almost a little too good. I always thought slow and steady ( 1/2 - 1 pound per week) is the way to go with weight loss. At least that has been experience when aggressively losing weight, quick to come off, quick to come back on. When I lose the weight slowly, it seems to come back slowly.*** *** Disclaimer: This is based on my personal experience with my own personal body. I am not a medical professional nor expertly trained in anything medically or medically adjacent.. Your experience may vary based on too many circumstances to list. This is not intended as medical advice and always consult your personal physician or other qualified health care provider or qualified loved one before making changes to diet and exercise regime. This is not intended as an advertisement nor solicitation for payment of any kind. No personal information has been gathered or sold to third-party vendors. Please click to "like" button to acknowledge these terms and conditions and other excuses as to why this info may be totally useless to you and gets me off the hook for being liable for anything that may happen, has already happened or is currently happening to you. 🙂

I know he played on the HS baseball team with Brian Leetch. Leetch played both baseball & hockey in high school. I guess he was a better hockey player than pitcher.

At least they wait until warm weather. I have a couple of Japanese Red Maples that usually drop the last of their leaves between Christmas & New Years. Tough to blow/rake leaves when they are frozen to the ground.

Thank you. I'm reading posts about what people pay for turkey and all I kept thinking to myself is every supermarket around me is giving away free turkeys if you spend X dollars. Granted, maybe the free turkey isn't as good as a store bought turkey but I find if you drown it in enough gravy, it's hard to tell the difference. Besides, I'm more about the side dishes. I'll load up my plate first with mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, string bean casserole, a couple of piping hot dinner rolls, various other veggies - corns, peas, etc - there is hardly room for a slice turkey.

It's been so long, I forgot the purpose of the picture. New TV? New rug? New cat tower?😁

Don't call me Shirley. 🙃

There is still time to delete this post.

My only purpose for bringing this up is as an example of something that was never taxable before but now is. Tax rules change every year. The only iffy, maybe is if you sign up for a new credit card and get a sign-up bonus that is paid out in cash & does not require any spending in X amounts of days. Rare, I know but it must've happen as the IRS has rules for it. At least that is what I was able to discern from the 3 links I posted. Not sure if you looked at them. Honestly, the tax implications of using a few hundred dollars of BOA RC rewards when booking a cruise is something I'll never think about.

Obviously, Jade is displeased with you. You must've done something of offend her and must seek forgiveness immediately. 🤣

There was a mention of 4X Royal BOA CC rewards the other day. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2974699-4x-points-on-bank-of-america-visa/ Looks like Dec 10th is the last day to earn.

Uhh, maybe. Or maybe not. Tax laws are constantly being tweaked every year. I found this out when I tried to resell tickers to several sporting events I could not attend. Never had an issue in years past until last year. New IRS rule says that anything over $600 (I think) is taxable income. And I was just over the threshold. For credit card rewards point, they are not taxable as it's considered a rebate. Unless it comes from a sign-on bonus with no spending requirements or other strings attached. So in the vast majority of cases, not taxable. Disclaimer: I am not a tax specialist or attorney by any stretch of the imagination. Just a guy that uses Goggle. I'd triple check my sources & seek out your own. I will not be held accountable nor reimburse anyone that takes my advice. You'll find out if you owe taxes when your credit card company sends you a 1099-MISC. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/110614/are-credit-card-rewards-considered-taxable-income-irs.asp https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/credit-cards/advice/are-credit-card-rewards-taxable/ https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/credit-card-rewards-count-taxable-income/

I too have a bunch if old manuals, boxed away, Out of sight and out of mind. And I can very well relate to your problem. 🙂

I would always joke that if my pager went off while in a public place, I would loudly talk into my Timex wristwatch while cupping my ear with my other hand - pretending to have a ear piece I guess - and say "Tell The President he'll just have to wait until I get there" 😀

When I started my I.T. career in the 80's, we took turns having the beeper, on-call one week at a time. No remote connectivity during off hours so you'd have to drive into the office to fix the problem. That's always fun at 2 am on a winters night. At the time, it was a 25-30 minute drive for me. One weekend was really bad & I had to go into the office on 4 or 5 different occasions. Next time it was my turn, my boss took pity on me & booked a hotel across the street from the office, all food and drinks paid & I could have my future DW stay with me too, with all her food and drinks paid. My first career job was COBOL programmer on IBM mainframes. Hate those SC07 (bad data) and having to read hexadecimal dumps (aka Egyptian Hieroglyphics ) to figure what and where it came from .....at the aforementioned 2 am winter night. And the dozens of 500 page IBM manuals were useless.

Yes! I think they only lasted one iteration. LOL Well, maybe slightly longer but not much.