June chitchat

[agate]

I had no idea surge protectors were so short-lived. I agree that nothing lasts forever but anything electronic seems to be especially apt to give out after a very short time. Is everyone going bankrupt yet?

Is all of this due to inflation?

I have a question on the topic of inflation--for anyone who has an ironing board or might buy one. If you were looking around for an ironing board to buy, how much would you expect to pay?

Many years ago I bought my current ironing board. It may have been around 1990, and I'm pretty sure it cost $20. It's just a basic ironing board, no frills, working fine to this day but it's too heavy and cumbersome for me to handle very well. I could manage better with a somewhat smaller ironing board.

They do exist--lighter weight and pared down by just a couple of inches. But everywhere I've looked (nearly 10 sites) I can't find any free-standing ironing board for less than about $60.

A wall-mounted ironing board isn't possible, and tabletop models won't work. But $60 for an ordinary ironing board strikes me as outrageous. But maybe I just haven't kept up with how inflation has been going. Would someone clue me in please?

[flatcap]

Since ironing boards are no doubt made in China these days, you would think they cost less, not more than they did in the 1990s, but some things never change.

A company moves its production offshore, the quality declines, and the price remains as it was before. The consumer gets fleeced from the get-go.

What happens next? The price tracks with inflation, so the consumer is $%#@ed again and again, and on into the future.

I don't see a solution for this problem. It is simply a fact of life.

A good article on the subject appeared in Vox in January. It's not the usual treatise on business and economics. It discusses how things look from the consumer's point of view. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone.

For now, I'll just leave you with this famous thought for the day: “Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up.” — Ronald Wright

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ETA: I used the bls.gov CPI Inflation Calculator and found that $20 spent in April 1990 is the equivalent of $47 and change today. That puts you reasonably close to $60, so inflation alone might explain it.

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[agate]

Many thanks for the helpful reply!

Guess I should just move with the times and realize that ironing boards (and everything else) are costing not just more but ridiculously more than 30+ years ago.

[flatcap]

Just so everyone knows, there are more Google sites that work better than ordinary searches with the words strung out and nothing more than spaces between them.

What you often get then is a long list of results you have to wade through in order to find what you are looking for.

Below is a list of all the Google sites I know of for advanced searches. Proper input yields fewer results, focusing in on precisely what you are looking for.


Google Advanced Search

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Google Advanced Image Search (my favorite)

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Google Advanced Video Search

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Google Advanced Scholar Search (this one is good for finding journal articles on topics like MS)

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I have all of these bookmarked, with the bookmarks stored in an organized library folder on my desktop. Other than highlighting the word(s) in a news article or something like that and right-clicking the mouse to search the string the usual way, I always do advanced searches. I have a lot of time on my hands but not enough to waste it doing simple searches.

Hope this helps.

[flatcap]

Oh, geez....

I plugged in my new surge protector and set everything up, and now my computer speakers aren't working.

I tried everything I could think of to fix the problem and nothing worked. I checked all the connections and went through the usual routine (shutdown, reboot, etc.) and the dreadful sound of silence persisted.

Thinking it might be the computer itself causing the problem, I shut it down again, disconnected the speakers, and plugged in my headphones. After powering up again, sound came through the headphones, so I know it's the speakers.

When I was setting up the system using the new surge protector, I forgot to turn the on/off switch on the speakers to the off position, so maybe that caused it. I didn't see or hear any sparks when powering up, so I can't think of anything else.

Or maybe all it took to kill the speakers was to turn them off one last time via the old surge protector before I replaced it. Or maybe it was powering up again via the new surge protector with the speaker power switch still in the on position. As noted on Page 4, the speakers were producing a hissing sound after the recent power outage. It looks like I a need new pair to go with my new surge protector.

Well, isn't that special?

Now I get to spend money for new speakers on top of the price I paid for the new surge protector just so I can go back to watching YouTube videos and hear them. Too bad not all of them have closed captions.

So, it's off to Amazon I go, credit card in hand. At least shipping the new speakers will be free since the order will be considerably more than $25.

I need a break. Almost time for breakfast, so it shouldn't be long. Thank god for bacon and eggs. Something simple as that can sometimes save the day.

[flatcap]

I got back from breakfast and remembered I had an old pair of computer speakers in the closet, so I dug them out to see if they would work.

I tried the pair that failed after the power outage again and they were still dead, so I proceeded with my plan.

Voila! I have speakers that work!

I still have to get a new pair, but I am good-to-go for now.

[agate]

I can recall having a couple of speakers that attached to the computer, and once or twice they had to be replaced--but were surprisingly not very expensive.

[flatcap]

I might have said it before, but I have an old Sony 32" flat screen TV connected to my PC via the HDMI port. I wasn't sure it would work as a monitor, but it does.

I had to get used to looking at Windows on the big screen, but it didn't take very long, and watching movies on it is great.

If I ever have to replace it, it wouldn't cost very much. I paid $500 for the Sony ten years ago, and now the same thing costs less than $300. (A lot of them are well under $200.)

[agate]

Just a couple of scenes from the area of the world I live in. I can't take credit for the photos.

Salmon River:

Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor (Pacific coast):

[flatcap]

Beautiful place to be, agate. Salmon River, as in Idaho? The picture at top looks like it might be, but the other doesn't. If it is, color me envious. I consider the area one of the most beautiful in the country and at one time wanted to retire to the town of Salmon, ID. Unfortunately, I am stranded — and I mean stranded — here in the desert.

ETA: I should have asked you first about the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor. I looked it up and see it is in CA.

Along another line, I have been thinking about changing to a new dentist because his hygienist moved to another practice. At my last appointment, Tamara told me she was leaving because she was not given enough time with patients. They were only giving her half an hour to do cleanings, which even I thought was too little time. She also let me know where she was going, gave me her phone number if I needed to call her with questions, and wrote on the sticky note the dates of my last SRPs.

To confirm that Tamara has moved to her new job, I called my current dentist's office today with a discreet cover story in case she had decided to stay on. I asked if she could give me a callback to answer an imaginary question I had. They told me she had quit and asked if someone else could answer my question. I said no, that I would look it up on the internet. This seemed not to sit well with receptionist, but I said it was OK and got off the call.

Next, I contacted the office where Tamara is now working to confirm she was there. The receptionist said she was, so I asked whether I would be able to see Tamara as my hygienist if I were to become a new patient. I was assured that would be possible not only at my first appointment but from that point going forward.

That left only one question and that was about the new patient forms they have on their website. The forms are the kind you print out and fill out at home. I can't write by hand anymore, so I asked the receptionist if I could get help with that when I arrive. She said yes and told me they also have PDF versions of the forms that I can fill out from my keyboard and would email them to me if I wanted. I said that would be no problem at all and that I in fact prefer it.

Now all I have to do is make the final decision as to whether or not I will follow Tamara to her new place of work. I like my current dentist, but he does operate a sort of assembly line and doesn't spend a lot of time with me. For example, he tried to sell me on an expensive cosmetic procedure and his pitch lasted for what seemed like much less than a minute before he moved on to the next patient waiting in the chair just across the 'hallway' (it's not another room; they have dividers to separate patients). That left me no time to ask questions about the procedure and got me to thinking that I might be better off elsewhere. The other thing is, I had already told him that, at my age and income level, I was disinterested in cosmetic dentistry treatments. Whether he just forgot, I'm not sure, but I feel the whole deal was about selling something, not paying much attention to the patient.

Other than keep on thinking about it, I don't know what to do. Part of me thinks I should stay with the dentist I have because, frankly, I am afraid the new one will turn out to be a hack. I have always had trouble establishing rapport with dentists, and I have it at least to some extent with the one I have now. But I had it with Tamara, too, so maybe I would be better off going with her to her new place of work.

Decisions, decisions. Sometimes I wish I never have to make another one, and this one is tough.

[agate]

The vexed problem of finding a good dentist is one I've had to deal with all too often.

I'd stay away from any dentist who seems to be pushing a purely cosmetic procedure.

I'm also underwhelmed by dentists who are part of a national chain. I've only tried one of those but the experience went on for over a year and involved considerable dental work. She seemed fine, and the place seemed adequate, until my particular insurance plan expired. After that they turned very very chilly even though I'd have paid their bill.

Odd way to treat an established patient, it seemed to me. I left.

Why not check out the dental practice where Tamara the hygienist is now working? Have you looked those people up on Yelp? Is there just one dentist there or several? If there is more than one dentist, I'd look up each one of them--on Yelp and anywhere else where there is likely to be information and/or ratings/reviews. And if you find a dentist there who seems to be good, I'd certainly follow that hygienist there. A good hygienist is able to help you prevent unpleasant trips to the dentist.

I've had some excellent hygienists over the years, and I'm very grateful for their help. Thanks to them, when I've gone to the dentist I may have avoided some very miserable dental procedures.

A dentist who is thinking of ways to save you money and misery is an honest dentist even if his office isn't fancy. I have such a dentist now and have been going there for about 10 years.

For instance, he's been watching a molar and recently said I'd need to have a root canal on it. I went in all primed for the expense of that, and then he re-examined the situation and announced that he thought a new filling would do the job. He did that, and it's been holding now for a couple of years. He could have just gone ahead with the root canal and billed me for it. But he didn't.

[flatcap]

You're right, agate: I should look at the reviews. I did that before I first saw my current dentist, and what I saw closed the deal.

It's time I look at my options, so I am. The practice I am looking at has three dentists on board so I have choices. They are not part of a chain.

Your dentist sounds like a very good one. You are lucky to have him.

[agate]

Actually I depended on Yelp reviews when I decided to try this dentist.

[flatcap]

I was just combing through my collection of cat pics and found this one of Bilbo (aka, Black Attacker).

kFlTcJ3.jpg

Wish I had posted this one before. He looks more like the cutie he was.

[agate]

That was a cat of yours? Very handsome, and if ever there was a black cat needed, for Halloween maybe, that one looks totally black. So often there's a little spot of white somewhere.