Random thing you loathe right now.

Did eat the less sweet brownies. Made another batch with the right amount of sugar. Turned out much better.

Loath. Zero drive to do my actual work. It's not even a hard task. Just no energy. I'll just have to do it later too.

When I play an online card games and get the perfect hand only for the other player to surrender once they see my setup. I just want to use the thing and one-shot you, why did you have to quit?

fangblackbone wrote:

My wife lives by the horchata latte from peet's. A few times a week I am tasked with peet's drive thru duty :)

Firstly, Peet’s coffee is sooooo good. And B, the oat-milk horchata latte is to die for.

MathGoddess wrote:

Insurance doesn’t cover son’s Epi-pen anymore. This is a change in the last year. Didn’t know until attempting to fill prescription today.

Cost without insurance.......$1000.
Here’s hoping there is some generic.

Big Pharma is evil.

Ugh. You may want to consider contacting the company directly. Especially for stuff like this, if there's a hardship they often have a direct-discounting program that allows you to get it for substantially less.

I'll not comment further about my thoughts regarding a medical system that makes the above necessary.

I’m assuming you live in the US. I wonder if there’s a way for you to get it from Canada. I know nothing about these things

Sometimes you can get a coupon card for a medication. I got one from my doctor that had to be renewed yearly. This seems to depend on the brand and maybe the type of medicine.

Stealthpizza wrote:

Sometimes you can get a coupon card for a medication. I got one from my doctor that had to be renewed yearly. This seems to depend on the brand and maybe the type of medicine.

Your pharmacist may also have coupons/discounts available if you ask. In a surprising number of cases it's cheaper to use a coupon and pay the remainder in cash than to go through insurance.

I had no idea about that before I met my wife (who is a pharmacist) but now I ask about coupons for everything. If you're wondering why pharmacists don't just check for discounts for every prescription, it's because they're so overworked they just don't have time. Big retail pharmacy pharmacy corporations are universally sh*tty employers (CVS is the worst though, they're pure evil).

Layoffs started at my work today. I'm not affected, but I can guess at some of the people who are, and they're good people who needed those jobs.

The coupon card they have takes off $300.

Still waiting on allergist about other options.

Seems lots of people take joy in pointing out how incorrect someone else is in the internet. Sure some read polite, but there's many more who say "do your research" or "you're stupid."

Jonman wrote:

You're right that power is an issue. More specifically, power to weight ratio is an issue. Nuclear is waaay down the power to weight list, which is why flying reactors don't exist (with the exception of micro reactors for space applications, where the limiting factor is fuel weight, and the power output would barely run your cellphone).

Only if you stick to conventional nuclear-heated steam turbines and thermoelectric generators.

If you don't give a crap about things like the environment or safety, you can just set off lots of small nuclear explosions.

Spoiler:

Yeah, the tests were with conventional explosives. Still a good idea! :D

I wake up hungry so I make food. I eat three bites then my body says good enough.

What's the point of that?

I hate shopping for a car. I can never tell when people are being honest with me.

MaxShrek wrote:

Seems lots of people take joy in pointing out how incorrect someone else is in the internet. Sure some read polite, but there's many more who say "do your research" or "you're stupid."

Well actually...

just kidding. But seriously, come on brother, you must have learned by now that that’s why the internet was invented, right? You should do your research.

I know you’re not stupid. Call me.

The internet was made for unfettered access to pictures of boobies, wasn't it?

Gremlin wrote:

I hate shopping for a car. I can never tell when people are being honest with me.

If their lips are moving, they're not being honest.

I feel your pain, especially as I have an upcoming buy for my wife once I make it back to CONUS. I'm not a huge car guy (much more into planes), but I've developed a habit of perusing Jalopnik most days. Once of the things I've learned from the car gurus there is that if you're buying from a dealer, you need to decide on what you're willing to pay as an "out of the door price" (*not* a monthly payment amount) and stick to that regardless of what other shenanigans they pull. Let them fudge the numbers however they want to in the background, as long as the final price is the one you want.

For private sales, PPI is non-negotiable. That, along with a VIN title search, will get take care of most of the car nightmare scenarios you may run into before dropping your cash.

Gremlin wrote:

I hate shopping for a car. I can never tell when people are being honest with me.

Unless you have an immediate need, you might want to wait, as the Hertz bankruptcy could knock used car prices through the floor.

Good news update. Dr was able to call in generic epinephrine and it only cost $9. It expires in Jan, so we get to go through this again, and it’s a new injection system, but hopefully he wont need to use it.

(The $1000 price should be criminal though. I DID have to use the epi on him when he was 5.)

Use the Kelley Blue Book website. Also find reputable reviews for local dealers, once you decide on your brand to buy. Check Consumer Reports. If you're buying used, get the VIN and check the accident history through a service.

Go to a large, well-established dealership that has a well-regarded service department[. Research it. The reason is that they will be accustomed to beating other dealerships on price, and then they will make their profit on the service side (and if they are lucky, the interest on a loan). They will price low as a practice (and you can use the Blue Book or other sources to confirm, by checking pricing in your area.) The buying price is nearly irrelevant to them; this is not the 70's or 80's where you can browbeat large volume dealers, because they get their large volume through low prices. They will literally offer a few hundred or so off, and let you walk if you are not happy. I've watched this happen with aggressive buyers lol. (Some do inflate prices, of course, but they tend to have other practices that suck, like not giving prices before you show up and that sort of thing. Beware dealers who are simply not very responsive.)

They are not going to *lose* money, so the person you will screw is the sales guy, who these days will be salary + commission. A well-run dealership with open pricing (doesn't try to hide things or force you into add-ons) will let you take the time to check other sources and satisfy yourself that they are offering a good price. And of course you can still dicker a bit, but why? Screwing over an honest dealership means taking money from the sales person, not the dealership or the company. (It's the "Fast Eddie" ones you need to filter out, don't even set foot in one.)

Anyway, after you decide, they will offer a certain amount of free service to get you in the door. Decide whether you want to pre-pay service for a period, knowing that's where their profit comes from. And CHECK THE RECEIPTS after the first few services, if they are going to get greedy, the service department is where it will happen. Make sure that they did not charge you for the free services you paid for (or were given). Also, decide what you're going to let them do. My dealership likes to replace the cabin air filter (a $15 part that lives in the glove compartment, believe it or not) for $90. I can change it in under a minute with no tools lol. The first time they did that as part of the standard maintenance, after I asked them not to, they simply wiped out the charge and let me keep the new filter lol. I *know* they are making bank on maintenance. Luckily, mechanically, they do a great job. I just don't buy my tires or whatever from them, and for small stuff, I'll use the neighborhood garage. (And no, they should not get pissed off, a good dealer will be wall-to-wall busy in the shop so they'll just think you're smart.) I also get them to knock off something each time, a bit of labor or shop supplies, just to let them know I'm watching. And they do it lol.

Just remember. You can spend a day or two of unpleasant time negotiating $500 or even more off of the car price, but they can make that back on an in-house loan or in the service department in no time. Why bother? Be smart where it matters. Figure out where to get good, cheap service for the repeatable stuff, and solid dealership experience for the big important stuff. That's where you will save your money, and it'll be a lot more than you could possibly save on an up front price.

Stealthpizza wrote:

I wake up hungry so I make food. I eat three bites then my body says good enough.

What's the point of that?

Body needed water?

I wish my body would do that to me. Not having that off switch is a loathe for me, for sure.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:
Stealthpizza wrote:

I wake up hungry so I make food. I eat three bites then my body says good enough.

What's the point of that?

Body needed water?

Shouldn't I wake up thirsty then?

Coldstream wrote:

Once of the things I've learned from the car gurus there is that if you're buying from a dealer, you need to decide on what you're willing to pay as an "out of the door price" (*not* a monthly payment amount) and stick to that regardless of what other shenanigans they pull.

I ran into that a few years ago when buying my last car. The car we were looking at had a few features we didn't like, so we asked if they could come down in price. The salesman brought us offer after offer, each one with a lower monthly payment than the last. It looked like the price was getting lowered, but the dealership was actually just futzing around with other numbers: the size of the down payment, the term of the loan, the rate of the loan, and so forth. The price of the car didn't budge until we were walking out the door, then they knocked a few hundred dollars off the price. We still left.

I honestly didn't even notice the razzle dazzle until I was thinking about it later and realized they'd almost put one over on me. It was a very instructive experience.

Yep. A good dealership would have explained that they can't just remove the bits off the car, and maybe shown you a different car or offered to hold you one when the right kind came in. The sleazy ones try to play games with multiple "offers". That's a giveaway these days. They have little money to play with on the actual sale.

And if they treat you that way buying, what will they do for warranty stuff?

Gremlin wrote:

I hate shopping for a car. I can never tell when people are being honest with me.

I am a Carmax convert. I bought my last car there, it was the most pleasant car buying experience I've ever had. Literally zero pressure, no haggling, and the entire process from "I'll take it!" to driving off the lot was maybe 45 minutes.

You still have to do a little bit of research, and be patient. We were recently looking for a new car for my wife, and had settled on a Nissan Rogue. They had a ton of them, and their prices are clearly set by standard formulas based on features, year, mileage, etc. We found two cars that were identical, except one had 29k miles and one had 51k miles. They were the same price. When we pointed that out, their response was basically "Yeah, that's how it works out sometimes. You should obviously buy the 29k car."

I like CarMax too, had a good experience with them the time I bought from them.

Avoid the "Buy Here, Pay Here" places. They are just there to take advantage of people with bad credit.

Stealthpizza wrote:
Danjo Olivaw wrote:
Stealthpizza wrote:

I wake up hungry so I make food. I eat three bites then my body says good enough.

What's the point of that?

Body needed water?

Shouldn't I wake up thirsty then?

Unfortunately you might be thirsty but think you are hungry, there are lots of studies out there on how we can easily mistake thirst for hunger.

Infyrnos wrote:
Stealthpizza wrote:
Danjo Olivaw wrote:
Stealthpizza wrote:

I wake up hungry so I make food. I eat three bites then my body says good enough.

What's the point of that?

Body needed water?

Shouldn't I wake up thirsty then?

Unfortunately you might be thirsty but think you are hungry, there are lots of studies out there on how we can easily mistake thirst for hunger.

Actually I went looking for proper studies after Infyrnos hit back, found little, then misremembered that I'd come back here to qualify validity. Best metric of truthitood I can put to this internet-witch myth is Plausible.

The cost is low, the downside is low, and if I'm wrong nothing bad happens. The same logic applies to face masks.

Apologies for not qualifying sooner.