Be Excellent To Each Other

The name is written on them

https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/exac ... -p-7312527

Cheers... I was looking on a pesky mobile screen

I approve of the rainbow ordering.

All stickers removed?

They’re not ring binders though, they’re A4 sized storage boxes , there’s a little elastic strap that keeps the flappy lid shut. I got them from Amazon.

Links

I don’t know why but I just really wanted some nice colours that went well together.

Here's my new, and now only, guitar (unless you count my bass).



It's quite gorgeous. There's a newer version but it has ugly fret markers where as these ones are cute little abelone dots. Very nice.

It feels like a real step up from any of the three I've sold to pay for it.

The finish looks even nicer in your pic.

Yes, and the zebra pick ups are great. I love zebra pickups

You can’t beat black and gold.

It's really nice and it feels like I'm upgrade from what I'm used to. The string action is a bit high so I need to adjust that at some point but I don't want to mess with it while it's new.

Selling three guitars to get one is very satisfying to me. I feel like Minimalism is close to being a mental disorder but a helpful one.

I wish I was a minimalist. Had a great clear out when I moved my office but I’m drowning in stuff again.

I'm doing okay with not buying endless shite, it's the others. Thinking of making a "Goods in" sign for the front door.

It’s beautiful Blucey!

That is lovely..

Ta, folks! I feel like I've made the right choice with it.



I've never been too cluttered but it was a few years ago in my last house where I caught the bug. I had set up a bit of a mancave. I had loads of films, games, music stuff. The usual. And I had like 30+ of those Pop Vinyl things. Oh, and a load of old Nintendo Game and Watch things that I'd started collecting.

Anyway, I'd go in there and I was sort of blind to it all. And then one day I was annoyed by it, especially the Pop Vinyls. So I made a decision to sell half of it (I was way ahead of Stacey Solomon at this point). Every week I'd list like five things. Well, that was the plan but I accelerated it a bit. Once 50% of the stuff was gone, I decided to sell 50% of what was left. Some stuff was chucked, some was donated. But eventually I was getting rid of Ikea shelving unit things that the stuff was on. And since then I've really gotten rid of everything I don't need. I even reduced down the amount of work shirts and ties I had. Things like that.

This had a couple of extra benefits. The first was that I then sorted out the rest of the house and it was so effective that we were able to downsize to a smaller but cuter house in a nicer area. And the other was that I saved most of the money that it generated. You see, at the time I'd had a really tough project at work. One that caused me a lot of stress. And I thought that if I had a job like that in my 60s, it'd kill me. And so I invested the money towards my early retirement fund.

These days I try to only buy things that I'll get a lot of use out of. The watch thing is the only area where I've not been much of a minimalist and I've been thinking about selling half of those.

It's nice to have stuff that's fun to look at and whatever. But it's much more valuable to me to have space that's clean and calm. And to spend my money on one good thing rather than twenty useless things.

Russell likes these Wasjig puzzles. In some you have to make the scene from the POV of the protagonist in the box art, from behind the ‘camera’. Other ones may be the same scene, but 100 years ago, and this one is one of the ‘what happens next’ type that Darwin and I got him as a surprise from the Efteling gift shop.

It cost about 10x more than the usual ones we get simply as Russell usually buys them from charity shops, but I thought it was a *great* memento.

Ma is at a car boot in St Albans and has just sent me this photo

Lego Blather’s Museum!

Love that

I bought Leif's Caravan & Garden Shop and it's sat here waiting for me to build it

Oh, you must build it. I can home and built the museum when I got home from work today. I love it! It opens up and has some lovely details. I’ll take some pictures when the dogs leave me alone.

I also have a villager house to build, but I know the museum was coming out when I received the house, so I’ve been waiting to build them together. I’ll prob lay build that one tomorrow and then put them out together x

I’d like a model of The Roost

The final pieces for my electro shed.

A pair of Kali Audio LP-6 v2’s

Dog feeding station, for feeding the dog

Including ear washing bowl for removing remains of nosh picked up from feeding bowl. Nice.

French pool regulation compliant swimwear.

Looking good.

I bought two eero 6E pro wifi thingies from a bloke off facebook market place - all in boxes, brand new and unopened.

I can't say for certain and I don't wish to cast aspersions on the two fine gentlemen that had a car boot full of electronic gear but I'm feeling there is a very very very high probability that these have been knocked off from somewhere.

I bought a crown for my tooth. I bite down hard in my sleep when I am in a period of stress. I don’t grind my teeth, I just clench my jaw, and I have now broken another back tooth (1st molar, upper) doing this. I managed to do the same right at the beginning of Covid, which was great as there were no dentists, so I had to fix it myself over the phone with Russell’s cousins’s boss (who is a dentist).

Anyway, this time I have someone else to do the repair for me, but it cost £525.

I had the first part of the procedure yesterday. My dentist said the great thing is that I have amazing gum health. Unfortunately this means I have no recession at all, so he had to cut my gum away.

Sold a watch to buy this one and I regret it.

The watch I sold was also a Bulova but I got rid because it was a tad big for me and didn't have a date compilation. Also, the seconds hand was only for the chronograph so you rarely saw Bulova's lovely smooth sweep.

This watch is a better fit, has a date complication and a smooth sweeping seconds hand the whole time. But I can't really get on with the '70s aesthetic. I liked it in the shop (and then went and bought it on eBay for a pretty good saving) but not into it now.

It's going on eBay with another watch.

Aldi has blessed us all with these God tier snacks.

Many years ago Rev Owen sent me a copy of his favourite book, and I’ve read it a few times, and it’s a brilliant bit of escapism.

I was looking for a copy online yesterday, for a friend’s daughter getting her GCSE results on Thursday, and I saw this whilst I was shopping.

Down to £14.99 I thought it would be silly not to get it, so now I have a gift for me, too!

Speedo do swimming googled that look like aviator shades, and I feel like you need a pair to complete your look.

I'd like a pair like that but with completely blacked out lenses, like 100% block so that I can put them on and not have to see the horrors of the compliant swimwear.

Just got my MS Office 365 Personal renewal reminder.

Thank you for being a valued Microsoft 365 subscriber. To reflect the value we’ve added over the past decade, address rising costs and enable us to continue delivering new innovations, we’re increasing the price of your subscription.

Effective 14 February 2025, the price for Microsoft 365 Personal subscriptions will increase from GBP 59.99* per year to GBP 84.99* per year. To continue with the new price, no action is needed—your payment method on file will be automatically charged. To make changes to your subscription plan or turn off recurring billing, visit your Microsoft account at least two days before your next billing date.

By maintaining your subscription, you’ll enjoy secure cloud storage, advanced security for your data and devices and cutting-edge AI-powered features, along with all your other subscription benefits. Experience a whole new life for your favourite apps with Microsoft Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, plus create stunning designs and edit photos in a flash with Designer. Thank you for choosing Microsoft.

Learn more about how to manage your subscription, including how to cancel and switch your subscription.

Dear Microsoft, Thanks for the info, but you're not increasing the price of my subscription, you're adding your shitty AI features that I didn't ask for and don't want, and charging an extra £25 for the privilege.

Thanks, but no thanks. I've managed to navigate my way through the 'change subscription' process and change to Personal Classic, for the same price as last year.

Have a nice day.

Corkscrew which was 5x the cost of this bottle of wine.

Man, that pisses me off. Are Microsoft not making enough money?!

That's the thing with all these subscriptions, they're all about greed.

There's a really good app that I use for tracking my weightlifting at the gym. It's called Stronglifts. It's expensive for what it is though (essentially doing the job of a spreadsheet but in a more portable, convenient way). I paid for a year (about 40 quid) and because I'd stuck with it, I bought a lifetime license for 80 quid. Now my wife's started training with me, we went to buy her the lifetime license. But they've stopped doing those. Claiming that they need the constant money to keep developing the app (even though the app as it was two years ago does exactly the job anyone would need it to do) and now the yearly license has gone up by a tenner.

Pricks.

If I was paying for Office, I wouldn't. I'd use Office 2003 or something. It does all the core stuff you need from Office.

I am tempted....

Just got a Ninja Creami - https://ninjakitchen.co.uk/product/ninj ... zidNC501UK

Basically it is a funky blender that turns what ever you have frozen into a wonderful desert. I got it as I am trying to eat better and i love frozen desserts.

I have done so far.

Just banana, this was great. best ay to use up bananas.
Just pineapple, was very refreshing.

Almond butter, banana and protein powered ice cream, - this was lush. I am on my second batch.

It is so simple I can use it Shove all your ingredients in one of their tubs, and freeze for 24 hours. Once frozen, pop in the machine, and 4 mins later a fab ice cream.

Oh man, they don't ever mention having to wait 24 hours in the adverts.

I want ice cream now, damnit.

Yes, that was a shock, but it is not an ice cream machine, but more an inverted posh blender. It does 7 or 10 dessert types depending on the model.

4 on the go.

The machine I have. Will allows me to mix a full tub, top and bottom separately

So I can make a tub of base. Then add mix ins.

A new Xbox controller.

A well fancy balance board. I didn't buy it, my wife got it me as an out of the blue surprise:



It's really addictive, can't resist having a go that turns into ten minutes every time I walk past it.

Don't tell my wife.

A fancy router? Surely everyone will benefit, just file it under home maintenance.

Just don't tell her how much it cost and you'll be fine

Not bought but more of a I’m sure these will be of great interest to certain members. Spotted in HMV.