Official "Married Couples Off-Topic Thread" (2)

[illudium_phosdex]

Everyone I know from Canada raves about Tim's. One of these days I'm going to cross the boarder and see what the hype is all about.

 

[Verve]

I love Tim's!

 

[Hetta]

Starbucks venti decaf coffee - the breakfast of champions. I have one right now by my left hand.

 

[BigDaddy4]

Ooooh, my head! Apparently Seattle's rush hour is from about 5 am till about 11 pm. So much for leaving early to beat the traffic. I am SO freaked out I was shaking so badly I could hardly sign the registration at the hotel. Then they instructed me where to park. LOL. Try squeezing a full size 4-dr sedan into a place hardly big enough for a smart car for two! No one better park beside me or I'll be pretty messed up and won't be able to get in my car to go home. That would be a challenge even if I was a size 2 - which I'm not!

Well, hubby's not on the skype right now, so I'm going downstairs to the starbucks. I must say, this is quite the quaint hotel. Maybe I'll find my way to where I'm going tomorrow so my morning's a little easier.

VG, I hope your stay in our beautiful city wasn't too bad for you. I hope you at least got to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the water.

I don't know where your hotel was or where your conference was, but several hotels have airport shuttle for free or a nominal fee. Also, there is always the option of a cab or other paid transportation. It may be worth it for your sanity!

As for Starbucks, you can rarely go very far without going past one. lol! Just as Seattle has a lot of micro breweries for beer, we also have a lot of micro coffee roasters. My wife has tried several of them and found them to be better tasting than Starbucks.

 

[BigDaddy4]

Go Seahawks! 6-1 and on our way to the Super Bowl!!

 

[*LILAC]

I love Tim's!

I believe there are a few Tim's in America. Check out the website Welcome to Tim Hortons

 

[illudium_phosdex]

I think you're right, Lilac but if memory serves, I believe they're all in the North East. I'm in Alaska so I'd be better off running into British Columbia I think. I have a passport card so I could totally do that. And we're not *that* far from the boarder. The hubs and I have discussed going to Vancouver but it just hasn't happened.

 

[ValleyGal]

VG, I hope your stay in our beautiful city wasn't too bad for you. I hope you at least got to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the water.

I don't know where your hotel was or where your conference was, but several hotels have airport shuttle for free or a nominal fee. Also, there is always the option of a cab or other paid transportation. It may be worth it for your sanity!

As for Starbucks, you can rarely go very far without going past one. lol! Just as Seattle has a lot of micro breweries for beer, we also have a lot of micro coffee roasters. My wife has tried several of them and found them to be better tasting than Starbucks.

Yes, thank you! I enjoyed the sunset watching the barges in the inlet from the hotel roof. I was only three blocks from the space needle, and my conference was in the Seattle Center.

If I had flown in, I certainly would have taken a shuttle. It's not too far of a drive for me, so I drove. But now that I know Seattle's rush hour lasts all day and half the night, I might try to find a train or something that goes there so I can park and ride. That's a crazy city! Where do all those people live and work?? How can they handle commuting in such heavy traffic?

Next time I go, my A34 will be with me, and he can drive. Then I can enjoy Seattle. lol. Next time, I'd like to go to the Space Needle and Pike Place Market and other attractions. But I'm no good on my own in cities. I have irrational fears of getting lost.

If you live in Seattle, you are very very brave. It takes guts to go outside, and even more to get into a car and drive somewhere!

 

[ValleyGal]

I think you're right, Lilac but if memory serves, I believe they're all in the North East. I'm in Alaska so I'd be better off running into British Columbia I think. I have a passport card so I could totally do that. And we're not *that* far from the boarder. The hubs and I have discussed going to Vancouver but it just hasn't happened.

If you ever come down this way, let us know! You have friends here!

 

[illudium_phosdex]

If you ever come down this way, let us know! You have friends here!

That would be super cool!

 

[BigDaddy4]

Yes, thank you! I enjoyed the sunset watching the barges in the inlet from the hotel roof. I was only three blocks from the space needle, and my conference was in the Seattle Center.

If I had flown in, I certainly would have taken a shuttle. It's not too far of a drive for me, so I drove. But now that I know Seattle's rush hour lasts all day and half the night, I might try to find a train or something that goes there so I can park and ride. That's a crazy city! Where do all those people live and work?? How can they handle commuting in such heavy traffic?

Next time I go, my A34 will be with me, and he can drive. Then I can enjoy Seattle. lol. Next time, I'd like to go to the Space Needle and Pike Place Market and other attractions. But I'm no good on my own in cities. I have irrational fears of getting lost.

If you live in Seattle, you are very very brave. It takes guts to go outside, and even more to get into a car and drive somewhere!

Ah, I guess I didn't realize you were driving in. Just be thankful there wasn't a sporting event that night to further complicate the traffic!

I live and work in the suburbs of Seattle, so I don't have to deal with the heavy traffic of downtown Seattle, thankfully! But in years past, I have. Still, for me, nothing beats having snow capped mountains to the east and west that enhance both sunrises and sunsets, as well as a multitude of outdoor activities to participate in with the numerous mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, etc.

Not sure what an "A34" is, but I hope you can enjoy your next visit here with a little less stress. Don't you have a GPS on your phone?

 

[ValleyGal]

A34 is Apostolic34 - the OP of the original off-topic thread, and my husband. Next time he can drive - he's originally from greater Detroit, so he is more used to city driving than I am. We also live in suburbs - we are in a bedroom community to a bedroom community, so there's not a lot of traffic, and yes, I agree that there is no other place that compares to the mountains of the West Coast and the Cascades.

I do have a gps. The suction thing on the back doesn't suck anymore, so it won't stay on the window for more than ten minutes or so. I leave it sitting on my seat, and inevitably something bumps it and I lose the address. Of course, when I'm all stressed out, It's impossible to see both the gps and the road. Without it, I would not have made it to the hotel or home again. I never take my phone with me because of the astronomical roaming fees in the US. But even the comfort of a gps is not enough to satisfy irrational fears. That's why they're irrational...nothing makes it better except someone else to get lost with.

One thing I like about your area is that people there are so friendly when they're not driving. I met some of the nicest people there.

 

[Verve]

I believe there are a few Tim's in America. Check out the website Welcome to Tim Hortons

Oh I know...

Husband stopped at a couple of them for me on our honeymoon.

We need a Tim's in DFW!

 

[illudium_phosdex]

After 8 years in Alaska, I finally got to attend my first Native Alaskan potlatch. It was absolutely amazing. The hosts, The Alaska Federation of Natives, were so gracious. There was so much food. I had moose head soup for the first time and it was delicious. They also had drummers and dancers perform native songs. It was really festive. I've been feeling blue for about a week now and this was exactly what I needed.

 

[ValleyGal]

10 Fun Facts
1. You can’t wash your eyes with soap.
2. You can’t count your hair.
3. You can’t breathe through your nose with your tongue out.
4. You just tried number 3.
6. When you did number 3, you realized it’s possible, only you look like a dog.
7. You’re smiling right now because you were fooled.
8. You skipped number 5.
9. You just checked to see if there is a number 5.
10. Share this with your friends to have some fun too.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

So, I called Chase Slate to pay off a credit card that was opened (stupidly) when we had no idea how credit actually impacted your life. In exchange, I got screamed at by a customer service rep who didn't want to take the payment and tried to tell me that I couldn't cancel my auto-payments, even with a credit on the account (we overpaid because they couldn't tell me what the payoff quote was including interest, which I'm pretty sure is illegal...) until they'd drafted two payments and saw the account was closed because there was nowhere to apply the money. 45 minutes and two supervisors later, they took the payment, but only after warning me of the "dire consequences to my credit" in paying off the card off early.

In short, we're two small bills and 4 months away from being debt-free. If we include the car payment, we're 1 year from having no bills beyond general living expenses (rent, electricity, phones, insurance). I'm pretty pumped. We're taking the money that paying this off frees up and putting it towards our other bills... One will be paid in December, and we'll roll the savings from this bill and that to the next bill, and be done with that in March (hopefully Feb).

On a related note? Credit cards suck.

 

[BigDaddy4]

So, I called Chase Slate to pay off a credit card that was opened (stupidly) when we had no idea how credit actually impacted your life. In exchange, I got screamed at by a customer service rep who didn't want to take the payment and tried to tell me that I couldn't cancel my auto-payments, even with a credit on the account (we overpaid because they couldn't tell me what the payoff quote was including interest, which I'm pretty sure is illegal...) until they'd drafted two payments and saw the account was closed because there was nowhere to apply the money. 45 minutes and two supervisors later, they took the payment, but only after warning me of the "dire consequences to my credit" in paying off the card off early.

In short, we're two small bills and 4 months away from being debt-free. If we include the car payment, we're 1 year from having no bills beyond general living expenses (rent, electricity, phones, insurance). I'm pretty pumped. We're taking the money that paying this off frees up and putting it towards our other bills... One will be paid in December, and we'll roll the savings from this bill and that to the next bill, and be done with that in March (hopefully Feb).

On a related note? Credit cards suck.

That's awesome! We are debt free as well and have no credit cards at all. It is so nice to pay with cash! It's not always easy, but I think it's worth it.

May God bless your efforts to live debt free.

 

[ImaginaryDay]

Rowan Atkinson Live - The devil Toby welcomes you to hell - YouTube

 

[mkgal1]

This made me L-O-L

SHES NOT A CHRISTIAN - Vine - YouTube

 

[ValleyGal]

OH MAN!! I saw that on lame late night tv one year - a looong time ago. I wondered to some of my American friends if that's what Christianity is really like in the US. They told me YES....the further south you go, that's exactly what they're like.

I started to wonder if the BoC in the US is aware of their own contribution to their persecution. This is why they are not liked, and why the church is in crisis, not growing, and why many, many people are leaving their fundamentalist roots. This is SCARY!! If that is the face of Christianity in the US, I'd rather not associate myself with them, although I will not leave the faith because I know he is the way of salvation. Sometimes I am ashamed of my association, and a lot of people consider us guilty of the same type of craziness just because we associate as Christians.

Yeah, I can go on my own rant about this....but I'll step off my apple box now.