I recently decided to sell some (most?) of my sports memorabilia to pay off my student loans. But that's not all that's going to be for sale. This advice is pretty interesting. eBay is one of many places I'm considering to sell them. This looks more like advice for professional, almost full-time sellers, but the "don't waste time on descriptions" advice is good. I would have spent WAY too much time on my listings. Thanks!
Zorcy, I've got a few pieces of well-seasoned apple wood, from an apple tree that a neighbour cut down a few years back. Is it any good for aging or flavouring, and if so what sort of flavour would it give? I imagine it'd have to be shaved or charred like you would with a a piece of oak? Or is it not suitable at all?
So how does one determine value? It is cost of obtaining the degree vs. increase in earnings? And does the institution you get it from change that? Tuition varies widely from school to school? Do scholarship incentives count toward the cost of the degree (thus adversely affecting the ROI) or should that be deducted? Just some questions on how you're determining "value"....
A degree is nothing without working experience. I’m so happy I chose to work my way through school; it’s probably one of the only reasons I’m employed at a decent job with a good salary!
If you have already made wine, you have spent time and effort in a fine product. I would not disrespect that effort with turning it to vodka. You CAN make it into vodka by stripping all the water (and flavour) out. But if you start with a nice wine, use a different process and make Brandy. Just a thought, but it would be nice.
Unless the tea kettle is 3-5 gallons, it will be long and tedious to make any sizable about of product. Lets say you have gallon size kettle, you can only fill 3/4 full. This allows the vapors to form in the top. With 3 US quarts of 10% wash, running perfect, would only give you about 9 oz. Of that, you have to toss out the heads and tails since you used fruit to ferment. Lets just say a total of an ounce for good measure. That leaves you with a cup of high octane. You can cut it to 100 proof, or 50% and makes a pint, 16 oz. The 3 quarts will take some time to heat up, so you have to take that into account. If you start with 5 gallons of wine, you have to do this 7 times. If you have a high BTU stove, you could heat it to the right temp in about 15 minutes. That is 105 minutes, 1 hour and 45 minutes just to get up to temp. If you had a 3 gallon still, you could do it 2 times, with a heat up time of about 20 minutes each. that cuts your warm up time in half. It will form vapors faster in a large volume, too. In short, use the tea kettle to test, tweak and play with recipes, but for any volume, you will need to move up in size. A stainless steal beer keg is ideal, but even I don't have one of those, yet.
If you compare training costs and income earned, being an electrician takes the cake. In our state it's illegal for amateurs to do anything but the "easy" stuff. Our son's friend went to a Vo Tech high school and is doing quite well. The only downside is it's fairly seasonal.
If you look at who makes the most (even if they don't see it themselves), I suspect being a Physician's Assistant wins for hourly compensation. Whether we see a doctor or PA, we get billed the same amount. $72 for a ten minute slot.
I am going to go a completely different direction here and say an Associates Degree in Nursing. You can get this done at a community college in two years, you are going to start around $50k per year and top out around $120k a year. Plus with the nursing shortage you will always be able to find work. As we saw from the financial meltdown, lots of very educated people with degrees and finance can quickly become expendable
Provided a person is interested in the fields and can do the math (and science) I think that nursing and mechanical or electrical engineering are very valuable degrees.
I hear regularly about a shortage of nurses in the US so job security probably isn't a big issues. And I know that nurses can make very good money, especially if they're willing/able to work their schedule so that they work nights and/or weekends (nights on holiday weekends especially). There's also a lot of different options for specialization and working in different settings.
For those who are more technically inclined, it's hard to go wrong with a good ME or EE degree. Job opportunities can be found in many different industries all over the country and the world (as opposed to like a petroleum or aerospace engineering degree where you're more limited to specific geographical areas). The pay generally isn't spectacular - you're not going to get super rich as an engineer, especially if you don't head towards a management/leadership track. But you can make a good living and easily support a family.
We live in NW montana but stay toasty year round since we have a wood stove and can gather wood from all around us. Usually our utility bill (including all electricity) is $50 on a high month. More often it is about $35 which is nice because we can use the savings to pay for groceries up here (which are very high compared to other parts of the country I have been in!)
If you start with sugar and yeast, you're not going to make methanol.
The way people poisoned themselves with methanol wasn't by making a mistake in distilling moonshine. It was by finding laboratory or industrial methanol and drinking it without understanding what it was. (Or, probably even more often, by buying deliberately mislabeled industrial methanol from someone willing to poison people to make a buck.)
The response letter from turbo tax states that these glitches have been fixed as of 3-13-09. Well, this isn't the case. I was reviewing my property tax refund prepared by turbo tax, and the information between lines 10 and 11 are left blank. I filed my taxes just a few days before April 15th, an entire month, after turbo tax claims to have fixed this glitch. I'm really glad now that I didn't have this automatically submitted with my federal return.
I knew women in the 1970's who flew with NO luggage--they wore everything and carried the extras in their purses. I don't know how they would fare now, but they used to fly wearing say, two skirts and two blouses under a sweater. The big problem was shoes, but they packed some of those little indoor/outdoor foldup slippers in their purses. Jeans are pretty useless overseas--they're too heavy, they take forever to dry, and in the cities you might as well wear a sign saying "American Tourist."
Great posts and I really enjoyed the brewing posts too. Looking forward to the mustard post, I've been interested in trying it for some time but can't find dry mustard for a reasonable cost. Thanks for the posts.
"if I were to die tonight, I can't think of a thing I would really regret not having done. Does this mean I am already at the end?"
Dude! Thats exactly how I feel. Here's a sample of some things on my "bucket" list:
Regret no having :
- Dated more "hot" women
- made hit movies
- designed best selling video games
- produced a successful TV show
- made more money
- gone back to school and learn some "cool" money making skills
- been paid lots to travel the world and teach people stuff
WTF ? Sounds like a teenager's fantasy...my goals are all adolescent fantasies. Its embarrassing :o
Your emergency plan needs to include a plan to maintain health insurance. Are you eligible for COBRA? How much will that cost? (Hint: more than you're currently paying for employer health insurance.) Are you, or your children, eligible for state health programs like medicaid or CHIP? Do you qualify for one of the new high-risk pools? What would the premiums be? Is there a place in your community to get low-cost healthcare and vaccines for the kids? Look into these resources *before* a job loss, so you know what to do in an emergency.
A huge # of bankruptcies are caused by illness that prevents the person from working at the same time as they get socked with 6-figure medical bills. So knowing your health insurance options, as well as having disability insurance, are essential parts of your emergency plan.
A lot of the anxiety stems from people not acting on their finances. Watching debt accumulate & savings dwindle can be very scary especially when you don't do anything about it. Some people feel hopeless. But, you can do something about it & start to take charge of your finances. It starts by putting together a budget.
I was trying to parallel park and when I wanted to straighten my wheels i hit the car in the front. what did i do wrong. I did not back up enough towards the curb or when i positionned my car in the beginning it was a mistake. I really want to know what went wrong so i can avoid that in the future.
if somebody can write the common mistakes for parallel parking and how to avoid them i will appreciate it and others readers will certainly be glad to do so as well.
Ok so im making my own wine, now i want to distill it to make a vodka of some sort. Im going to be using a cheap home made still from a tea pot with copper tube. and it will be my first time.
but im reading about this methanol from other places as well as on here, your blogs being the most informative. can you direct me to a link or tell me alot more, possibly everything i need to know to not produce methanol instead of ethanol and go blind? I have no books to go by, i just know what i know from the internet posts that i read.
thanks
Oops, I just realized that we're looking for "Free" methods...sorry. I still feel the small investment in DIY periodical subscriptions is well worth the price.
Try subscribing to periodicals such as Family Handyman, or Fine Homebuilding. After a few years you'll have your own personal library of DIY info to refer back to. As you're building said library, you'll be inspired by all the possibilities for+ new projects and upgrades to make on your own house.
I just received a card today. It really freaked me out because I'm still a teenager. I really think that what they are doing is really creepy and I want them to quit doing it.
I recently decided to sell some (most?) of my sports memorabilia to pay off my student loans. But that's not all that's going to be for sale. This advice is pretty interesting. eBay is one of many places I'm considering to sell them. This looks more like advice for professional, almost full-time sellers, but the "don't waste time on descriptions" advice is good. I would have spent WAY too much time on my listings. Thanks!
Zorcy, I've got a few pieces of well-seasoned apple wood, from an apple tree that a neighbour cut down a few years back. Is it any good for aging or flavouring, and if so what sort of flavour would it give? I imagine it'd have to be shaved or charred like you would with a a piece of oak? Or is it not suitable at all?
So how does one determine value? It is cost of obtaining the degree vs. increase in earnings? And does the institution you get it from change that? Tuition varies widely from school to school? Do scholarship incentives count toward the cost of the degree (thus adversely affecting the ROI) or should that be deducted? Just some questions on how you're determining "value"....
A degree is nothing without working experience. I’m so happy I chose to work my way through school; it’s probably one of the only reasons I’m employed at a decent job with a good salary!
anonimus360
If you have already made wine, you have spent time and effort in a fine product. I would not disrespect that effort with turning it to vodka. You CAN make it into vodka by stripping all the water (and flavour) out. But if you start with a nice wine, use a different process and make Brandy. Just a thought, but it would be nice.
Unless the tea kettle is 3-5 gallons, it will be long and tedious to make any sizable about of product. Lets say you have gallon size kettle, you can only fill 3/4 full. This allows the vapors to form in the top. With 3 US quarts of 10% wash, running perfect, would only give you about 9 oz. Of that, you have to toss out the heads and tails since you used fruit to ferment. Lets just say a total of an ounce for good measure. That leaves you with a cup of high octane. You can cut it to 100 proof, or 50% and makes a pint, 16 oz. The 3 quarts will take some time to heat up, so you have to take that into account. If you start with 5 gallons of wine, you have to do this 7 times. If you have a high BTU stove, you could heat it to the right temp in about 15 minutes. That is 105 minutes, 1 hour and 45 minutes just to get up to temp. If you had a 3 gallon still, you could do it 2 times, with a heat up time of about 20 minutes each. that cuts your warm up time in half. It will form vapors faster in a large volume, too. In short, use the tea kettle to test, tweak and play with recipes, but for any volume, you will need to move up in size. A stainless steal beer keg is ideal, but even I don't have one of those, yet.
If you compare training costs and income earned, being an electrician takes the cake. In our state it's illegal for amateurs to do anything but the "easy" stuff. Our son's friend went to a Vo Tech high school and is doing quite well. The only downside is it's fairly seasonal.
If you look at who makes the most (even if they don't see it themselves), I suspect being a Physician's Assistant wins for hourly compensation. Whether we see a doctor or PA, we get billed the same amount. $72 for a ten minute slot.
I am going to go a completely different direction here and say an Associates Degree in Nursing. You can get this done at a community college in two years, you are going to start around $50k per year and top out around $120k a year. Plus with the nursing shortage you will always be able to find work. As we saw from the financial meltdown, lots of very educated people with degrees and finance can quickly become expendable
Provided a person is interested in the fields and can do the math (and science) I think that nursing and mechanical or electrical engineering are very valuable degrees.
I hear regularly about a shortage of nurses in the US so job security probably isn't a big issues. And I know that nurses can make very good money, especially if they're willing/able to work their schedule so that they work nights and/or weekends (nights on holiday weekends especially). There's also a lot of different options for specialization and working in different settings.
For those who are more technically inclined, it's hard to go wrong with a good ME or EE degree. Job opportunities can be found in many different industries all over the country and the world (as opposed to like a petroleum or aerospace engineering degree where you're more limited to specific geographical areas). The pay generally isn't spectacular - you're not going to get super rich as an engineer, especially if you don't head towards a management/leadership track. But you can make a good living and easily support a family.
We live in NW montana but stay toasty year round since we have a wood stove and can gather wood from all around us. Usually our utility bill (including all electricity) is $50 on a high month. More often it is about $35 which is nice because we can use the savings to pay for groceries up here (which are very high compared to other parts of the country I have been in!)
If you start with sugar and yeast, you're not going to make methanol.
The way people poisoned themselves with methanol wasn't by making a mistake in distilling moonshine. It was by finding laboratory or industrial methanol and drinking it without understanding what it was. (Or, probably even more often, by buying deliberately mislabeled industrial methanol from someone willing to poison people to make a buck.)
The response letter from turbo tax states that these glitches have been fixed as of 3-13-09. Well, this isn't the case. I was reviewing my property tax refund prepared by turbo tax, and the information between lines 10 and 11 are left blank. I filed my taxes just a few days before April 15th, an entire month, after turbo tax claims to have fixed this glitch. I'm really glad now that I didn't have this automatically submitted with my federal return.
Birth control pills
No explanation necessary
I knew women in the 1970's who flew with NO luggage--they wore everything and carried the extras in their purses. I don't know how they would fare now, but they used to fly wearing say, two skirts and two blouses under a sweater. The big problem was shoes, but they packed some of those little indoor/outdoor foldup slippers in their purses. Jeans are pretty useless overseas--they're too heavy, they take forever to dry, and in the cities you might as well wear a sign saying "American Tourist."
Great posts and I really enjoyed the brewing posts too. Looking forward to the mustard post, I've been interested in trying it for some time but can't find dry mustard for a reasonable cost. Thanks for the posts.
"if I were to die tonight, I can't think of a thing I would really regret not having done. Does this mean I am already at the end?"
Dude! Thats exactly how I feel. Here's a sample of some things on my "bucket" list:
Regret no having :
- Dated more "hot" women
- made hit movies
- designed best selling video games
- produced a successful TV show
- made more money
- gone back to school and learn some "cool" money making skills
- been paid lots to travel the world and teach people stuff
WTF ? Sounds like a teenager's fantasy...my goals are all adolescent fantasies. Its embarrassing :o
Your emergency plan needs to include a plan to maintain health insurance. Are you eligible for COBRA? How much will that cost? (Hint: more than you're currently paying for employer health insurance.) Are you, or your children, eligible for state health programs like medicaid or CHIP? Do you qualify for one of the new high-risk pools? What would the premiums be? Is there a place in your community to get low-cost healthcare and vaccines for the kids? Look into these resources *before* a job loss, so you know what to do in an emergency.
A huge # of bankruptcies are caused by illness that prevents the person from working at the same time as they get socked with 6-figure medical bills. So knowing your health insurance options, as well as having disability insurance, are essential parts of your emergency plan.
A lot of the anxiety stems from people not acting on their finances. Watching debt accumulate & savings dwindle can be very scary especially when you don't do anything about it. Some people feel hopeless. But, you can do something about it & start to take charge of your finances. It starts by putting together a budget.
I was trying to parallel park and when I wanted to straighten my wheels i hit the car in the front. what did i do wrong. I did not back up enough towards the curb or when i positionned my car in the beginning it was a mistake. I really want to know what went wrong so i can avoid that in the future.
if somebody can write the common mistakes for parallel parking and how to avoid them i will appreciate it and others readers will certainly be glad to do so as well.
Thank you
I think openness and pledging to meet in the middle are the only ways to make this kind of relationship really workout!
Great article.
Ok so im making my own wine, now i want to distill it to make a vodka of some sort. Im going to be using a cheap home made still from a tea pot with copper tube. and it will be my first time.
but im reading about this methanol from other places as well as on here, your blogs being the most informative. can you direct me to a link or tell me alot more, possibly everything i need to know to not produce methanol instead of ethanol and go blind? I have no books to go by, i just know what i know from the internet posts that i read.
thanks
When you want natural...
What to look for:
Lack of packaging and ease of identification as animal, vegetable, or mineral
What to avoid:
Large sticker reading "all natural!" or "organic!" or "no chemicals!"
Oops, I just realized that we're looking for "Free" methods...sorry. I still feel the small investment in DIY periodical subscriptions is well worth the price.
Try subscribing to periodicals such as Family Handyman, or Fine Homebuilding. After a few years you'll have your own personal library of DIY info to refer back to. As you're building said library, you'll be inspired by all the possibilities for+ new projects and upgrades to make on your own house.
An introductory Spanish course. I absolutely fell in love with the language - I decided to add Spanish as my second major.
I just received a card today. It really freaked me out because I'm still a teenager. I really think that what they are doing is really creepy and I want them to quit doing it.