Grimas

My high school kid just told me that his history teacher told them Russia was invading Ukraine to get the neo-nazis... Argh...

When the Germans began to retreat from the advancing Russian army, my grandparents and my father and his older sister got on a train headed west - (grandfather had fought as a partisan against the Russians in the late 1930's when the occupied Lithuania before the Germans invaded in '39/40. He knew he was toast/gonna be sent to a Siberian camp if he was still around when the Russians reoccupied Lithuania.) The train headed west was stopped in Poland and all males between the ages of 14-60 were pulled off the train and forced onto another train headed east to fight the Soviets. Grandfather told grandmother to go to a specific town in Austria where there was a refugee camp and told her to wait there for him. As his train headed east, he jumped off and started the walk west... It took him 2 years but he finally met-up with his wife and kid in the camp in Austria and then was able to immigrate to the US because they had family that that migrated to the US in the 20's and could sponsor them... Dad's older sister died of pneumonia during that 2 year wait and is buried in that town...

Cancelled a trip for the family to Lithuania at the end of May this morning... I don't want to possibly repeat the trip my grandfather made in 1944 walking the family to Germany to GTFO ahead of the Russians...

As someone said to me years ago (way before I was married or an expat), "when I die, I want to come back as an expat wife..."

Ukraine needs go start blowing up the pipelines crossing their country. It cuts off money to Russia and gets rid of any excuse to Germany for not assisting... Want the gas to resume? Better stop the war so the pipelines can get fixed... Otherwise - freeze krauts...

So anyone take advantage of one of these timeshare pitches from Marriott/Sheraton? I got an offer to visit the Sheraton Kauai for $599 for 5 nights plus some other benefits including the resort fee. I know it's a timeshare pitch that the T&C's say you must attend so I can easily put in my headphones and sleep during it. (I assume I got the offer as I've been a Marriott gold member for years but I don't think I can get any perks from my status if I do this...) While I haven't visited Hawaii, I'd rather have an offer to one of their other resorts if I could get a similar deal. Any tips on how to get an offer to one of the other locations as I assume these come unsolicited?

The challenge these days in accepting an expat assignment (assume they actually start offering them again) is the uncertainty of having a job on your return to the US... I've had several friends that were returned home during the recent downturn only to find out there isn't a job for you when you get back... I got lucky and got have one of those heritage EU passports for me and my kids so if it goes tit-up here and I'm forced to retire early, we are all moving back to Europe where I can get on one of the national health care programs over there until I turn 65... (And the kids can go to University over there as an EU citizen which they can do regardless if we relocate again...)

The biggest issue I've seen is where an expat gets laid off in a foreign county and were on a visa sponsored by the company. In theory, they should pay to relocate you back home but for those wanting to remain in country, getting a local work permit is an issue if you aren't sponsored by another county...

I want a Mack Bolan "The Executioner" series...

Got lucky today(well, last night with the wife as well but no pics)... Have been trying to buy my retired mom an old car just to get to the grocery, bank and pharmacy today after she wrecked her previous car last year (ice storm). Had been looking for something in the 5k range but everything I saw was crap. Saw a posting on Next door for someone offering a 2002 Chevy Traverse for 4500 and 200k miles. KBB had it as $2k max for private sale. Took a look at it today and it had been owned by the same person since new and had all the service records. (Son was selling it for parents, now deceased). Car was clean other than a cracked windshield - I jacked it up and no leaks or issues with any of the busings, bearings or joints that I could see (I've bought quite a few cars in the past and know what to look for)... He just wanted it out of his driveway and I walked out the door for 2500$ for it and both sides were happy (guy even gave me 5# of venison and cheddar sausage fdom his freezer to try)... Got lucky as he lived out in the country and no one had looked at the truck as he was asking too much and no one had come to look at it and I was happy as I was willing to spend 3500 for it and I don't have to shuttle my mother around to get groceries any more (at least until she wrecks this one...) As they say in sales, both sides were happy as it was a win-win solution for both of us...

Corporate multiplier for bonus at COP is supposedly 1.8...

I heard from someone at Chevron that their corporate multiplier for the bonus will be 1.5...

So wife re-ended someone on the freeway (totally her fault) in her Merc and a claim has been submitted by the person she hit so I'll be taking a hit on my policy and premium... On our end, it was mostly plastic damage but the hood is buckled and will probably need to be replaced. Insurance company gave me a list of "preferred" repair shops. Is there any reason I shouldn't just take it to the dealer to get it fixed as opposed to one of these shops? Most of the repairs will require new parts (bumper, grill) from the dealer anyways and I'm going to have to pay the deductible regardless of where I take it... (The damage shouldn't be enough to get it totaled...) (Pissed the car my wife hit had 8 people in it including a bunch of kids with no car seats yet the cop said he wouldn't give them a ticket for no seats so I'm sure my insurance will be paying out a bunch of on injury claims...)

Funny as I was thinking - how could you not go swim in a cenote as a beach is a beach...

Argh - I was trying to pick up some more on Friday at .60 and missed this run up...

So I'm still waiting to get my machine... I ordered and paid for my ResMed 10 and a nasal pillow in December but I didn't read my prescription that said "full mask" so it stopped my order. Dr provided me a new prescription to include nasal pillows and sent it in but that apparently sent my order to the back of the line. Of course, supplier is now out of ResMed 10's. I was contacted by the supplier about 10 days ago and they said they had my order and because they can't get the 10's anymore, they would be sending a 11 but there is also now a backlog on those (2-6 weeks...) I was ready to cancel that order but when i talked to the local place, I'd now have to pay an additional $300 (as the deductible for 2022 hasn't yet been met) plus their rental plan was $40/10 months while the online vendor was $40/5 months so I'm going to wait it out... Argh...

For those of you who have EV's, how much did your electricity bill go up when you connected your car?

Sideload Kodi and then "The Oath" video addon... https://troypoint.com/how-to-install-kodi-on-fire-tv/

Available on Apple+ (or Kodi..)

Boiling Point was pretty good. It's an evening in a London restaurant following the head chef and staff over the course of one evening. What's really impressive is that it filmed as one take (at least I didn't see any place where the filming stopped) and its like a play done in 3D where the stage is moving with the camera.

invited = figured

Agreed and they like to show their tits! My single friend had a blast once he invited out to never disagree with a woman. He used to get picked up at bars all the time but finally "settled down" when he went home with a chick and found her male "partner" bottle feeding her kid and he got up and said "bang her brains out - its her night out this month...". Too much for him so he bailed...

In a sec! (I used to have a connection that could get me a table easily but no mas...) Kiin Kiin is also great (Only Asian restaurant with a Michelin star)

I equate Denmark to California - it does have some great places to visit and things to do. Would I ever want to live there again? Absolutely not... It is a great place to raise young kids and for the most part is very safe (as long as you avoid the areas where the Middle Eastern refugees have taken over). It's expensive as hell - my income tax would have been 57% but because of a waiver, I "only" paid 47% income tax. Then add 25% VAT on everything, cars have over 100% tax on the value ($65K for an Opel wagon with a stick!) and additional taxes added to everything... We would do a monthly run to buy cases of beer, soda and beef in Germany as the Danish taxes were much higher on these than in Germany... (Norwegians go to Sweden to shop while the Swedes go to Denmark and the Danes go to Germany...) This influences the work practices there - since they are taxed so high on what they make, don't spend a moment working longer than is required... (Fair enough regarding the work/life balance)It's a totally socialist society - if you think your neighbor had a car that is too expensive for what you think they make? Report them to the tax authorities and they will get audited... (Side note: While Denmark doesn't do this, in Norway they actually publish everyone's salary and taxes once a year so you can keep track of what your neighbors/co-workers make...)The whole system is based on everyone working full-time jobs - a stay-at-home mother is unheard of except in the expat community. Work stops at 4 so you can run to the school to pick up your kid and then rush to the grocery before it closes at 6 to buy food for the evening. (This has since changed and you can shop some stores until 9).My wife went into our bank to try to have her government child subsidy check - all women regardless of income - get paid around a $800/kid/month until the kid is 18 - into our joint account and the woman banker tried to convince her not to as I might "steal her money" from our account. The wife had a good laugh with that one as she told the banker that she is actually stealing all my money...) Danes love to talk American politics with you and tell you how screwed up the US is regardless of who is in power. But if you ever try to discuss Danish politics, you are basically told you don't have the right to discuss their politics since you aren't a Dane... Not to be sexist but women run the country and the men have all been neutered. As a male, if you disagree with the comment or opinion that comes from a Danish woman, you get the evil glare of death or are told to F-off... The Danish men know better than to have a different opinion and just sit there and nod because they know what will happen if they disagree... This is the basic mindset of those living in the Scandinavian countries called the the "Law of Jante":You're not to think you are anything special.You're not to think you are as good as we are.You're not to think you are smarter than we are.You're not to imagine yourself better than we are.You're not to think you know more than we do.You're not to think you are more important than we are.You're not to think you are good at anything.You're not to laugh at us.You're not to think anyone cares about you.You're not to think you can teach us anything.