So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Zombie_61]

^ I believe you've hit the bull's-eye by saying it's the name--the logo on those suitcases and such--that keeps them moving out the door along with the suckers who overpaid for them just so they could say they have Louis Vuitton luggage. I haven't had to shop for luggage during the last couple of decades, but way back when I did one of the first things I noticed was that the more expensive "name" items were cheaply made and rather flimsy; it's doubtful they would have held up under the handling of the guy who operated the clapboard on the old American Tourister luggage commercials, let alone the gorilla. Good items for people with more money than brains.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Vintage luggage is generally more stylish than the newer stuff, but I don’t use any of my old suitcases and trunks for travel. I keep some things stored in it, but mostly I have it just to have it. And to use as a coffee table (in the case of the aforementioned Hartmann trunk) and as a console table (in the case of a no-name wood-and-canvas trunk in the accessory dwelling unit).

It’s the wheels on the new suitcases that seal the deal for me. Helluva lot more practical.

 

[Fifty150]

There are several homes on my block which have Christmas lights up all year. Not my style. I don't have Christmas lights ever. Nor do I wear ugly Christmas sweaters. I am in the population percentage which Christmas has no meaning. I don't need a designated day to be kind to other people or give gifts.

 

[Zombie_61]

There are several homes on my block which have Christmas lights up all year. Not my style. I don't have Christmas lights ever. Nor do I wear ugly Christmas sweaters. I am in the population percentage which Christmas has no meaning. I don't need a designated day to be kind to other people or give gifts.

We know a couple who, at last count, places and decorates 11 different trees in their home for Christmas, and the decorations on each tree have to match a specific "theme", i.e. this one is a "Star Wars" tree, that one is a "Harry Potter" tree, in the oldest son's bedroom is the "baseball" tree, and so on. Yes, they even have a "Christmas" tree.

My wife and I stopped putting up Christmas trees and decorations about 35-36 years ago when we got our first cats because they proceeded to try to climb up that first tree they had ever seen and knock the ornaments to the floor. We never had children and by then had sort of "drifted away" from religion, so it really wasn't a big deal to either of us.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Haven't had a Christmas tree in over twenty years. There's no room, and I don't miss it anyway. One year one of the kids hung an ornament off the rabbit ears on my TV set and thought it looked pretty good, but that's about as far as I'm willing to go.

 

[tonyb]

I haven’t put up a Christmas tree in, like, eight(?) years. This is much to the dewy-eyed bride’s chagrin. We have lotsa great ornaments, too, some of which are true vintage items. But we don’t have a good place for a tree. I point this out to the missus and she really can’t put up a good argument to the contrary. We’ve considered putting a tree on our covered deck, but then it would be vulnerable to the stiff winds we sometimes get, and the squirrels. So nix that idea.

 

[Fifty150]

The not-late, great, still living Jackie Chan once remarked in an interview that if you care about the people in your life, you do not need an excuse, once a year, to treat them well. You can make dinner anytime of the year. You can take them out for a meal, anytime of the year. You can give a gift, anytime of the year. For me, that sort of rules out every day marked off on the calendar for making someone feel special. If I cared enough, they would be special every day of the year.

 

[Zombie_61]

Hey, I know Jacky Chan; he's a chef and the owner of an "Asian Fusion" restaurant here in my home town.

Yeah, okay, he's not the Jackie Chan, but he's a very nice man and one heck of a chef. I don't know what "Asian Fusion" is, exactly, but at that restaurant it's some of the best food I've ever eaten.

 

[Fifty150]

It means that they put mayo in the food.

 

[Trenchfriend]

German "Food Controllers" say, when asked what gastronomy they would prefer to go:
"Turk seldom, Chinese never!"

Sure, Asia-imbiss with open kitchen is another thing.

 

[Fifty150]

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A Hillsborough County homeowner could be fined by his HOA for putting up Christmas lights too early.
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[Edward]

^ I believe you've hit the bull's-eye by saying it's the name--the logo on those suitcases and such--that keeps them moving out the door along with the suckers who overpaid for them just so they could say they have Louis Vuitton luggage. I haven't had to shop for luggage during the last couple of decades, but way back when I did one of the first things I noticed was that the more expensive "name" items were cheaply made and rather flimsy; it's doubtful they would have held up under the handling of the guy who operated the clapboard on the old American Tourister luggage commercials, let alone the gorilla. Good items for people with more money than brains.

Or, indeed, people with more money than they can spend who can afford to replace such luggage if it's damaged without thinking twice about it, and who in any case tend to travel in a manner in which their luggage doesn't receive quite the same treatment as does that belonging to we plebians.

^^^^^
Vintage luggage is generally more stylish than the newer stuff, but I don’t use any of my old suitcases and trunks for travel. I keep some things stored in it, but mostly I have it just to have it. And to use as a coffee table (in the case of the aforementioned Hartmann trunk) and as a console table (in the case of a no-name wood-and-canvas trunk in the accessory dwelling unit).

It’s the wheels on the new suitcases that seal the deal for me. Helluva lot more practical.

The man who invented the suitcase and put that one little handle on it had servants to carry it for him. The man who invented the wheeled suitcase carried his own luggage.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I sometimes eat cold chow mein spread over matzo. That's fusion.

As for Christmas lights, it was a Maine tradition when I was growing up for neighborhood grocery stores to have exactly one string of lights, ringed around the Narragansett Beer sign hanging over the door. The string was left up all year round, but only plugged in from the day after Thanksgiving to New Years. You could tell how many years the string had been up there by the number of burned-out bulbs.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Too low blood pressure?

HELP IS HERE!

 

[tonyb]

…
ABC Action News
A Hillsborough County homeowner could be fined by his HOA for putting up Christmas lights too early.
…

Among the many reasons I don’t live in a “covenant protected” neighborhood.

We have blessedly few neighborhood-improver types around here. “Live and let” is the overall spirit of our little nondescript working-class subdivision (even if most working-class people couldn’t afford to buy in these days, what with real estate prices jumping nearly 20 percent over the past year, and by about 80 percent over the past five). If one were to pick nits, he could probably find some niggling municipal code violation on most properties around here — fences missing a picket or two, excess automobiles parked on strips of lawn alongside driveways, rather than on them, etc. The guy kitty-corner from me has yet to get around to replacing that strip of siding that’s been missing for at least five years.

 

[Hercule]

Happy Thanksgiving to all. For those entertaining, hosting or otherwise gathering today I wish you all the patience, understanding and restraint you can muster.

 

[Hercule]

... sadly i seemed to have failed at my own advice. Oh well, maybe I can do better at Christmas... (not likely, but Christmas miracle have been known to happen.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

For some reason I am now getting collection agency spam in German. My ausstehende Zahlung are apparently a matter of concern in Central Europe, and here I can't even afford to go to Lewiston.

 

[Trenchfriend]

For some reason I am now getting collection agency spam in German. My ausstehende Zahlung are apparently a matter of concern in Central Europe

WTF??

 

[Zombie_61]

For some reason I am now getting collection agency spam in German. My ausstehende Zahlung are apparently a matter of concern in Central Europe, and here I can't even afford to go to Lewiston.