I cannot answer these questions (and apparently nobody else can either). Sorry! I would if I had any answers…
3 Likes
My new computer stopped working well not too long after buying it - the speakers went from pretty good to really bad and the wifi basically stopped working - constantly disconnecting and even when it worked, it would usually be less than 1 Mbps. I’ve been using LAN in my FIL’s office for the last few days and was on the point of taking the computer back, but I decided to try fixing it one more time (it would be a pain to have to reinstall everything, for a start).
I fixed both problems in about 15 minutes, after finding the reason for both online. I’m not usually good at troubleshooting computer problems (especially when they involve networks), but today it just worked. I seriously thought the speakers were broken too and I’d at least have to use external speakers or earphones, but resetting the sound to default and disabling the location setting on Windows 10 worked perfectly. It’s like I have a new computer again.
Also, we’ve been having problems getting a yearly tax statement - there was some extra paperwork to do that they didn’t ask us to do the year before, but the lack of a statement resulted in the health insurance charging us the maximum possible premium - retroactively for the past year and a half, to be paid immediately. My income was lower last year for various reasons, so we definitely didn’t owe that much. However, I finally got the tax statement today, and we’re owed a fairly large rebate, as well as the extra money back from the health insurance company.
One of these days I’m going to work out the German tax system - I gave a statement every month and another at the end of the year, and it still wasn’t enough.
16 Likes
A total different victory than most. But finally found out, at the Nature Museum, what a beach found is.
Wondered for years, and just went asking. The biologist first got it wrong ‘chest bone’ , but after looking at a clean skeleton of a dolphin. We found out wat it, with high propeability, is. A ‘hyoid bone from a porpoise’.
16 Likes
I’ll call this a victory…for now. Only a $100 to get my garage door fixed.
But it’s on borrowed time. Guess iis time to price out garage doors. Joy.
11 Likes
That’s impressively low - for anywhere, not just Chicagoland.
As for a new door, after too many bad experiences with indie companies I’d just go to a big box store; at least with their contractors there’s someone you can complain to. I put our current opener in myself, it was surprisingly easy.
3 Likes
Another victory - a week ago we found out that we have about a month to leave our house and find somewhere else. It’s not easy to find affordable accommodation here, and we weren’t looking forward to the prospect of paying more for a smaller house farther from schools and work that we would also need to renovate.
Well, we found one. It is significantly smaller than the house we have now, but still manageable as long as we’re creative and willing to downsize a bit. It will need some work too (e.g. the whole place will need to be painted and we’ll have to replace the carpet in a few rooms - this is well within what you might expect for rental properties in Germany). It is a lot cheaper though - less than two thirds of the price of similarly sized houses we’ve seen. The location is great too - it’s only about 100m from my wife’s workplace and very close to schools and a supermarket, whereas other houses were quite a distance from them (this is important as we have small kids and no car). We can move in at the start of October, so it looks like we’ll have a minimum amount of disturbance to our lives and won’t have to worry about where to live.next month.
27 Likes
That’s really awesome news! Better all around, except maybe for the smaller size, but hasn’t BB taught us that it’s hip to be part of the Tiny Home movement?
11 Likes
Normally that’s a voluntary sort of thing. But I can see us as totally freaking out about both a move and smaller quarters, but being quite pleased at a cost reduction. We need something bigger and cheaper, though. Which seems unlikely in this neck of the woods that we like living in.
5 Likes
Well, a few years ago the four of us lived and worked in the kids’ room for a month while another family was staying with us (we had a mattress on the floor and hanging space outside the room), so we should be OK with small living spaces.
We’ll actually be taking a long-term couchsurfer with us too, so he’ll be helping with the move.
12 Likes
That is wonderful news! That must feel like a thousand kilos lifted off your back.
8 Likes
So, a couple of things: in the house next door, there’s a dog which barks, whimpers and cries all day. It’s heartbreaking to hear, especially as I’m home all day. I couldn’t take it any more, so went and knocked on the door, told them about it and asked if they thought it would help to walk the dog when I hear her cry or whatever. After a 10 day silence from the owners, they decided to give it a go, so I’m walking the lovely Layla! If I can figure out how to post a pic, I will.
Plus: in an industry that’s dying day-by-day, picked up some newspaper freelance journalism. Three days a week, guaranteed, for at least a year. Fits in well with the other job I wrote about a coupla months ago and is also working from home. Stoked, even if the contract I signed agreed to ‘neither directly or indirectly retain services from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria or the Crimea’. Yeah, think I can comfortably agree to not work with or for Kim Jong Il or his ilk. Cuba’s a bit weird though, seeing as it’s opening up… 
21 Likes
My neighbor (whose mailbox I confessed to spite-peeing on) finally moved! Their son did some very very bad things 12 years ago when he was 12. Haven’t seen him much lately but glad they are g-o-n-e either way.
18 Likes
I brought the kids to see it today - it’s got a lot of potential and a nice back garden that we can work with (we may even be able to transplant some of our current garden). The kids seem OK about moving now that they’ve seen the place.
There’s actually an inner city train track between us and the hospital, although they upgraded the trains this year and it’s pretty quiet:
I’m also kind of looking forward to fixing up a house - almost everything needs to be decorated inside (e.g. the carpets are old and my son and I have asthma, so they’ll have to go) and I’ll probably convert the garage to an office/lounge area for my FIL*, so I’ve got a blank slate to work with. We’re saving almost 700 EUR/month over what we were expecting (when you include electricity/heating/travel expenses too), so I’ve got the money to have fun with it too.
*which will give us all more living space.
16 Likes
15 years after losing his legs in a crash in the 2001 American Memorial CART race, Alex Zanardi wins gold and silver medals in the Paralympics.
12 Likes
Small victory: my small place is now lit exclusively by vacuum tubes, Edison bulbs, and candles. This goes very well with the mythology I cultivate around myself.
11 Likes
As the super hero captain analogue?
5 Likes
It’s a bird, it’s a plane… Well yes it’s a bird, it’s TWEEDY BIRD!!
(Thanks to @OtherMichael for my super hero name)
9 Likes
Is smugness allowed on this thread? Because I just got a wonderful comment from my fiancee regarding my cooking skills. Apparently “it’s unfair that you can just throw things together into a bowl without measuring them and they come out tasting that good”. 
22 Likes
My wife goes to bed early on the same day I unexpectedly got a copy of The Force Awakens at the library!
13 Likes
If you get a comment like that, you should be sharing it with everyone. And then inviting me around for dinner so I can confirm.
5 Likes
