Fasting BG 2021

[skb]

Tamagno - I would not be sure that no one wants to hear past performances.  The music was good the first time someone heard it, and it is extra good the second, third and fourth time it is heard.  My Uncle was not famous but I would give anything to hear him sing again, especially now he has passed away.

Tamagno, I quite agree with this. I would suggest starting a dedicated YouTube Channel and uploading your videos there.

[Tamagno]

96 this morning.

In my family its my older sister who is nearly fanatical over keeping family stuff. While I do have a YouTube channel, I rarely update it.

SKB, buying a new TV has become a bigger challenge than it used to be. Figuring out things like whether or not you need a soundbar, for example, involves knowing rather a lot about what the capabilities of the TVs are plus how worthwhile it is to have 4K capability and so on. It really doesn't matter if you get a "smart" TV as those capabilities also come with whatever streaming box(es) you'll be using. I got a new TV last winter which is a Samsung - a brand that meets my needs without needing to pay for OLED, QLED or whatever at least in the model I got. You can go nuts trying to find the best TV which is largely impossible while most of us would be perfectly happy with a brand like TCL that's cheaper and has a good reputation.

[Grammabear]

118 this morning.

We have a smart TV that we bought at WalMart because we had an old television that absolutely quit working.  In spite of our best efforts to secure a repair for it, we were told the TV was done for.  Since we don't know anything about the different properties of a smart TV, we just bought one that fit our living area.  So far it works okay and that is all we require.

Today a repairman is supposed to come and see if our washer can be repaired.  Otherwise we have to try to find a place that sells big appliances and buy a new one. 

[walkerwally1]

82 this morning.  It is cooling down a bit each day and tomorrow it is supposed to be under the 100° mark.  That won't last long but it will be nice for a change.
I looked at Amazon to see what their big "Prime Day" sale offered and I didn't see anything that interested me. 
I bought an Amazon Fire TV made by Toshiba when my TV died to take advantage of the Prime TV offerings and it is a pretty nice TV all around except when I got it the speakers were pretty "tinny" so I spent more on a sound bar.  Not really required but it does sound a lot better.  I don't get any TV from my cable provider as we have good antenna reception and we get all of the Los Angeles channels.  That plus Netflix and the free streaming available offers pretty much all of the TV I need.
Repairing any home appliance is so costly nowadays it is rarely worth it.  We bought a new dish washer a couple of years ago and it quit working but thankfully it was still under warranty and they sent a repairman out and the electronic control board had failed.  He ordered a new one and replaced it but if it hadn't been under warranty it would have cost more than half the cost of a new one plus the labor. 

[bigskygal]

124 this blue sky morning.

79° was the high yesterday, today's forecast is 90°/52°. Ugh, too hot for me!

Yeah Wally, I looked around Amazon yesterday and didn't really see anything I wanted/needed to buy on Prime Days. I have my Shopping List loaded with things I want and when I feel like shopping will go there.

[skb]

124 today morning.

When I do decide to buy a TV a lot of research will be called for. Like tamagno says, there are tons of options and it is confusing to make up your mind.

On the 21st, India created a record of sorts by administering 880,000 vaccination shots. As per reports, the rural number is much higher than the urban. Experts say that we are looking at the 3rd wave of the delta+ variant sometime in October and I guess this time the government doesn't want to be caught with its pants down.

Another interesting bit that I read was that Angela Merkel got the 2nd jab of the Moderna vaccine after taking the first one of Astra Zeneca. All previous info suggested that, that shouldn't be done. 

[Tamagno]

128 this morning.

SKB, when I lived in Germany there was a saying among American friends there: "There's a right way, a wrong way and a German way." Doubtless Frau Merkel has her reasons for switching vaccine brands in mid-stream. 

Grammabear, I'm afraid that buying a washing machine is nearly as complicated as buying a TV. The brand called Speed Queen, I believe has the least electronic complications to deal with, but tends to be a bit limited in load size. Otherwise, my sister just got an Electrolux that she's very happy with.

I'm with you all on Prime sales this time - nothing I need so I'll pass on this one (and save even more money).

[skb]

On the 21st, India created a record of sorts by administering 880,000 vaccination shots.

Sorry, the figure is 8,800,000.

[Grammabear]

109 this morning.

I woke today to the "rumble" of thunder which is welcome in our area IF bad storms don't accompany it.  We need rain desperately.  The farmers around here have crops that need rain in order to grow.  Hoping for a gentle - all day - rain.

It turned out that our washer needs a new pump which is not too expensive.  The bearings on the motor are in excellent condition for a machine of this age, so we decided to go ahead with replacing the pump.  The only drawback is that it will take a week to get here and some more time to schedule the installation of the pump.  In the meantime we have to find a public laundromat to wash the clothes.  We also decided to continue looking at new washing machines and try to do our due research on all the different features.  I wish they just made 'plain' machine without all these 'gadgets' on them.

[walkerwally1]

85 this morning.  Still cooling down with a high predicted today of 95° and near the same tomorrow.  After that it will be going back to over 100°.  The drought in the West is pretty bad with major reservoirs at the lowest seen for a long time.  Farmers in California are going to be in a tough situation this year.  There isn't any relief in sight.
I think most new TVs are pretty much the same depending on how much you want to spend.  I don't see a need for a 4K TV when it is not really big and the one I got looks quite good and has all of the features I wanted.  When you start to look at the huge TVs some are putting in their living areas then maybe things like 4K and other features may be useful. 
Grammabear, all of the "features" on new appliances are  what the manufacture hopes will convince a buyer to choose their product.  Most people don't take into consideration what that will mean later when it breaks. 

[bigskygal]

123 this cloudy morning.

85° was the high yesterday, today's forecast is 84°/61°.

My dishwasher quit working maybe 2 years ago. Since it is just me and I don't dirty a lot of dishes, I just use it now as a dish rack and hand wash what few dishes I use. All my appliances were bought new when I moved here in 2004 so I expect "planned obsolescence" will begin to kick in soon. I'm just hoping not all at once!!

[skb]

Coincidentally out washing machine has also gone kaput. It was a German make called Indessit which had opened shop in India, but now are no longer here. So it's PCB needs a replacement which is not available and we have to trade it in for a new one.

Sorry about the goof up on 880,000 vs 8,800,000. That's because I didn't grow up with counting the American way. 'Million' still confuses me. In India, we apply the comma, first after the 1000s and then after every 2 digits. So that number makes more sense to most Indians as 88,00,000

Did not check today.

[Tamagno]

116 this morning.

However you write it (and its fascinating the Indian system) SKB, that's a huge number of vaccines!

Grammabear, I'm glad you don't need a new washer right away. The brand I mentioned yesterday, Speed Queen, can be seen here:

https://speedqueen.com/

I know a number of people who have these and really like them.

I'm with you though, BigSkyGal, in that if I lived alone I probably wouldn't bother with a dishwasher as its my habit to wash, dry and put away whatever I use in the kitchen as soon as I've used it - probably, I'd get rid of most all the dishes and utensils we have. I did that when I was single and got by just fine with a bowl, a spoon and a frying pan.

[Grammabear]

91 this morning.

I hand wash dishes also, mostly because we don't have a dishwasher nor the space to put one.  When we remodeled our kitchen several years ago, we researched possibly getting a dishwasher and learned that our current plumbing arrangements in the kitchen just didn't support a dishwasher.  We usually wash dishes right after the meal.

Tamagno - Thank you for the Speed Queen link.  I looked it up and was pleasantly surprised to learn that machine is made in the USA in Ripon, Wisconsin.  I definitely like to support companies whose products are made here.  My current wash machine is one of those machines who does not have an agitator.  I am less than thrilled with how it operates, and Speed Queen seems to have more dependable performance.

skb - When you got the Covid vaccine, did you have to go to your doctor's office or a hospital?  We went to a local Senior Center which was staffed by nurses from the local hospitals.  Now, they are offering the vaccines at most pharmacies.

[walkerwally1]

Another interesting bit that I read was that Angela Merkel got the 2nd jab of the Moderna vaccine after taking the first one of Astra Zeneca. All previous info suggested that, that shouldn't be done. 

I saw an article today about that and it is thought by some that mixing the first and second dose with different vaccines may be a benefit.  Some countries including Germany have authorized this as a treatment. 

Mixing vaccines — scientists call it "heterologous prime-boost" — is not a new idea, and researchers have experimented with it in fighting a handful of other diseases, like Ebola.
Scientists have long theorized that giving people two slightly different vaccines might generate a stronger immune response,
 perhaps because the vaccines stimulate slightly different parts of the immune system or teach it to recognize different parts of an invading pathogen.

I guess that explains why Angela Merkel did it.