Recliner Chair Shopping

My brother and I went to the county dump. We brought my old broke down recliner chair. It was stuck in the reclined position permanently. I looked up some local furniture shops. Momoko and I went shopping this weekend.

The first store was near the big city far to the North. I let Google Maps direct me there. Once close, Momoko told me to take a hard right onto an exit. It was the wrong way. After a U-turn, we found ourselves in a low income neighborhood.

This was my kind of area for shopping. I am positive the locals don't pay much for furniture. We pulled into a store in the basement of a warehouse. I was surprised that there was hardly any customers parked outside.<.br>
A salesman approached us immediately. I told him I wanted a recliner chair. I did not want a rocker or one that swivels. I told him I preferred one that had power reclining abilities. He said they had exactly one in the store.

The salesman took us to a light blue chair. I sat on it and it felt fine. I asked if I could test the power reclining. The sales guy checked, but there was no plug connected to the chair. He asked other salesmen and searched, but oculd not find the plug.

I was pleased that the chair cost only $300. Normally the low end power reclining ones go for $400. I asked the sales guy where I could pick up the chair if I bought it. He said their warehosue was closed due to COVID. He said they only deliver. Cost was $200. But he said he could cut that down to $100. I noped out of there.

Changing Colleges

This summer, Little Kat took his last college class for his Associates degree. He has been admitted to a four year college to get his Bachelors degree. Classes start in about one week.

Little Kat's degree will be in Computer Tecnology. Initially he was going to specialize in Cybersecurity. However that track is no longer offered at his college. So instead he will be focused on Network Enterprise Infrastructure.

Momoko and I are still not convinced he is in the right specialty. The goal is for him to be in the are where we think he has the best chance of getting good grades and graduating. Little Kat wants to have a computer forensics job. That is a bit of a niche. So we are having him think about a backup job if forensics falls through.

Tree Work

While on vacation, my brother called me worried about a dead tree we had on our property. He said the high winds from recent storms made this a danger. I told him I would check it out when I got home. Initially I had overlooked this tree, as it is on our property, but behind our back fence. It did look dangerous.

I indentified three tree companies and called them up. Thought I should get 3 estimates for tree removal. My brother also mentioned some other large tree branches that were growing onto our back roof. I noticed them before. So I figured I should get a quote for that trimming too.

The first company came out promptly and quoted me $1500 for everything. That seemed steep. I thought it would be half the price. The guy said they would come out with a lift so their guys would not have to climb any trees. I waited for the other two vendors, but they never even showed up to estimate the jobs.

Meeting on College

Momoko and I meet weekly with Little Kat to discuss college. Now that his summer community college class is over, we talk more about the future. Specifically we talk about his 4 year college program, degree track, and subsequent career. We gave him an action item last week to research Indeed for job details for his intended career.

Little Kat located three job titles surrounding the computer foresics industry. There were only a total of 50 entry level jobs available locally. The starting pay was good. Most needed at least one technical ceritication. Some wanted experience and/or a polygraph. There was a mix of degrees required for the jobs.

I was a bit concerned about the total number of jobs available. Luckily Little Kat has decided on a cybersecurity track. That field has a lot of other more general jobs that he could qualify for. Still, I think we need to think hard about what goals Little Kat is shooting for. And we should identify steps needed to increase his probably of success a landing a good job.

Day on Vacation

We drove to Waffle House for breakfast. There were only offering to go orders. The cook heated up my hash browns with the peppered jalapenos on the stove. On the way back to Momoko's dad's house, we stopped off for some drinks and loaded fries. Back home we watched a Jonas Brothers olympic special that was taped on DVR.

We went to our favorite Great Clips store for hair cuts. However the location had permanently closed. We visited the half price bookstore in the same shopping center. Momoko could not find any BTS merchandise. I saw a Steve Jobs books, but passed on it because it was in a $3 section, but was selling for $7. I did puchase a book on Bentley and Rolls Royce auto designs. It cost me $3.

I needed a bathroom break. So we stopped back at Momoko's dad's house. I took over the driving, and took us across town to another Great Clips barber shop. They had us in their database. My barber knew how I wanted my hair. They would not let us pay separately. Seems like they also picked up a scam from Super Clips where they charge you per minute for blow drying.

Next I drove to an On Cue gas station to fill up the car, which was below half a tank. It needed less than 6 gallons of gas due to a small gas tank. Then we dropped by a neighborhood Walmart to purchase ingredients for homemade chicken soup.

Gun Show

 

Momoko's brother in law asked me if I wanted to go to a gun show with him. I said no, but if he was going, I would tag along. He picked me up in his Chevy Malibu rental (his car got hit and is being repaired). He printed out $2 off coupons for the show. There was heavy metal playing from his playlist in his car.

We went to the state fair grounds. It was hard to drive in as all but the main entrance was closed. Once we did get on the premises, it was difficult to locate close parking. Entry to the show was a reasonable $14. We paid $12 after redeeming the coupons.

There were more than just guns at this show. There were coins and old currencies. I liked the Japanese swords. Machine-made ones were reasonable. Hand-made ones cost a lot of money. I saw a $5 sale for t-shirts. Unfortunately they only had small/medium/large sizes.

The most interesting item was a wooden plaque custom made to load bullets into a clip. It ran for $75. I asked if they could ship out of state. They said yes, if I paid a $15 shipping fee. Momoko's brother-in-law said no to a raffle that was offered. He also bargained down a wire scorpion from $10 to $5.

 We saw one last vendor in the lobby on the way out. We took the scenic path home. Had trouble finding an on ramp to the highway. We drove by our favorite theater.

Couch Shopping for Grandpa

Momoko, Kit Kat, and I were visiting Momoko's dad. His old couch needed to go. Momoko's brother-in-law took it to the dump. Our job was to find a new one. Momoko measured the couch area. She also measured where a potential loveseat could go.

We first went to a furniture store Momoko found. The parking lot was sparse. It was also janky. There were couches in the showroom lined back to front. You could only sit on the couches in the front. All the rest were not accessible.

The sales guy pulled out couches for us to try. It came down to two fabric ones. I liked the cheaper one. It cost $799 for the couch plus love seat. Delivery was $75 in cash. The sales guy thought they could be delivered either that day or the day after. 

That day we cleared room for both pieces of furniture. We did try one other furniture store. Average couch plus loveseat was over $2500 there. We ended up going with the bargain couch store. The delivery guys came on July 4. They pushed the couches through the narrow doors.

I took off the protective plastic and cardboard wrapping. I bundled them up and put them in the second big trash can outside. Kit Kat installed the feet on the furniture. The new space allowed Momoko to host dinner for the extended family at grandpas. She server homemade chicken soup.