Terminalcoffee discussion

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/323/luxur...

Interesting article...some of you may have heard about it on NPR...what do you think? What are luxuries to you? What are necessities to you?

I think I could live without my cell phone - I really don't use it much. I don't have a microwave, and don't really miss it.

But I would hate not to have a dishwasher. And I LOVE having my own washer and dryer, after so many years of scrounging quarters.

I live in Sacramento. Air conditioning in both my home AND my car are absolute MUSTS.

I've lived without a cell phone before and I could do it again, but it would be hard, especially since pay phones seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur.

I could definitely live without my iPod, the internet, and TV but I would be sad. But I could do it. Just like I could technically do without a dishwasher and clothes washer/dryer but it would suck.

Losing our pay checks helped us to reevaluate what we NEED and what we can do without.

OK who here could do without our home computer?

Right.

5 years ago I hardly used it so wouldn't have missed it. Now? Ahem. It's a necessity.

I could easily live without cable and TV. I'd LOVE to live without it as a matter of fact. But that is probably #1 and 2 on Richard's list. Gah.

We have not had TV in over 12 years so I can live without that. Internet and my iPhone would be tough to live without. I like my XM radio but I could do without it too. I have been to some real remote places in Africa, China, India and Cemtral America and can really appreciate simple conveniences

Wait, I HAVE to have MLB

Necessities: Air, water, packaged foods, laptop, camera, clean workspace.

Luxuries: Social/sex life, use of legs, calculator, Jean Genet novels, autographed John Smoltz baseball...

So, for Matthew, legs are highly overrated!

Smoltz baseball? Wow

Lori wrote: "So, for Matthew, legs are highly overrated! "

Yeah shocking, especially for someone so young, and who plays baseball.

Kevin, get that sports talk out out! of this nice, tidy conveniences thread!

I didn't start it

"Wait, I HAVE to have MLB," he said, not ten posts ago.

Miller Lite Beer.

Ha! The legs thing was a joke. I'd be sad without them.

Kevin: I lived in Atlanta from '96-'98. Lots of stories to tell.

Jim: How many homers is Big Z going to hit this year? I'd say...5.

"Matthew!" she said, stomping her foot in annoyance. "Stop that right this instant!"

"You know you have a thread for that," RA gently chimes in...

"get a room!" Lori exuberantly adds.

Haha!

"oh thank you for joining in, my dear!" Sally eagerly scoots over the comfiest chair for Lori, brushing off invisible crumbs, as she slowly tugs/pulls the heavy old beast across the room.

"Has anyone remembered to water the ficus?" Larry inquires.

"Huh," chuckles Sally thoughtfully, "How's it doing? I haven't thought about it in about a week."

"Well," Larry says softly, "The leaves have been falling off a lot today." He shakes the main stem and about 200 leaves float to the floor. "It won't be long and I won't be able to hide behind it."

"RA!" Sally picks up the intercom, "bring that compost bin from under the kitchen sink! We have to feed the Larry camouflage its dinner!"

Larry just shakes his head and sighs deeply. "I think it's too fucking late," he mumbles under his breath.

::Sherrie walks over with stapler & starts reassembling the ficus leaves:: Poor ficus...

"Psssst, Sherrie," Larry whispers. "Can you sneak me some of the leftover lasagna from the fridge?"

"Yep... here ya go", Sherrie replies. "Do you want some jello pudding too? It's chocolate."

I chimed in no such thing about baseball! No such thing!

I loved it a couple days back when Sally got made when we "baseball upped" a thread. That's my favorite new phrase lately.

And Z will hit one, maybe two. People know how to pitch to him now.

Now, in deference to our lovely, sore-footed Sally, let us take the Z home run conversation to the baseball thread:)

Maybe we need a fake ficus.

see, i missed nothing when i left last night. some of these threads are like suspended in time (ala twilight zone. you can just step out and then step back in and you are in virtually the same spot 12 hours later.

like verbal freeze tag. i love it

"Ew," Larry says. ""That lasagna has turned a little funky." He gingerly drops it into the ficus pot.

"Ficus offus!" howls the ficus, effectively killing the conversation.

::quietly slips in a fake ficus for Larry, and removes the real one with the lasagna::

::finds all sorts of random Larry-deposited objects in ficus pot::

He didn't happen to throw my car keys in there did he?

:::checks inventory of deposited objects::: Nope.

By the way, I definitely could live without a dishwasher. I like washing dishes. I like seeing them all in a row clean on the counter.

you are now the object of many a GR woman's desire RA

Thanks, Kevin. But after they see how I can't match my shoes with the rest of my clothes I'll plummet again, I'm afraid.

you kidding. my wife would let a guy wear one work boot and one size 10 stiletto if he would wash the dishes (not that i know about the high heels)

I can't always match my shoes to my clothes either -that's what s**tkicker boots are for - but I can always get them to match each other. It's a gift. Also, I'm pretty good at knowing which one goes on which foot.

Sarah Pi wrote: Also, I'm pretty good at knowing which one goes on which foot. "

Any pointers for those of us who still struggle with this?

The velcro should point away from your other foot, not toward it.

I wish I had velcro shoes when I was younger. Kids these days take velcro for granted!

I didn't learn to tie shoes until fourth or fifth grade, thanks to velcro and, when necessary, my ability to convince others to tie my shoes for me. I had quite the scam going.

I also didn't learn long division until high school. I was absent the week they taught it in elementary, and came back in time to learn the short-cut version, so I just did that for years.

The short-cut version being punching the keys on a calculator?

I had my appendix out right at the time that they taught long division, and was out for about 2 weeks (things were different then). I was anxious and behind the curve for a long time after that.

I notice kids walking around with their shoes untied quite a bit these days. That drives me nuts. They walk on the bottoms of their pants and their shoelaces. What's with that?

That and the sneakers with the roller skates built in. I fully expect to see a major injury related to those any day now. I'm surprised stores even allow them.

And don't get me started on little kids wearing crocs. I've seen several small guys take a nosedive when they tried to run in airports with them on. Such a stupid hazard.

OK, my "kids these days" rant is officially over.

Sarah Pi wrote: "The velcro should point away from your other foot, not toward it."

Thanks, but mine are all slip ons without velcro. The method I use now is to put on my shoes and take a couple steps, if I don't fall down I presume that I have them on the right feet.

Jim - How many right feet do you have? Maybe that's the problem right there.

Larry - These days I tie my shoes, but I do walk on the bottoms of my pants. They just don't make my waist size in my length, and I don't hem.

Short-cut long division involves doing parts in your head instead of carrying them down. I was good at math, so that was easy enough.

Roller-shoes have caused injuries. The Brain Injury Association does not like them at all. They're designed so that any fall you take ends up being a backwards fall, which means no hands to catch you, which means concussion or brain injury. Bad news.

I wish they had Heely's in size 13

Kevin and I wear the same shoe size.

high-five shoe size twin

Ugh... my daughter is asking & asking for Heelys (Heelies? Heelees?), but she can't roller skate in normal skates. The first time she used those at playground we had her all padded up, helmeted and good to go, but she falls face first into the concrete and loosened her front teeth. They came out a week later. Double Tooth Fairy duty!

We bought her a mouthgaurd now. What's next? Wrap-around Goggles & Duct tape over bubble wrap all over the exposed parts?

Jared wants to buy her the Heelies, I don't. I can't tell who's gonna win this one.

RA - It's a good thing Jared will do dishes, otherwise your wife would have a run for her money! ;)