Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

rtandon27

@themadvix - glad to hear MrVix is on the mend & hope you get there soon as well!  Nothing worse than feeling grotty when you are trying to get work done!

A random C0-0p question for you - do you manage to successfully stack offers with them? For instance the one pound off and the 50p off milk?  I picked up some milk & a breakfast pastry this morning on the way in to the office and only the 1 pound off was applied - rather than the 1.50 I was expecting!  The 50p off milk is still sitting on my card unused.  (Guess that's my punishment for not going for the healthier yogurt & fruit.)  I rarely shop with them these days, so am not up to date on how their offers work!

themadvix

rtandon27 said:

@themadvix - glad to hear MrVix is on the mend & hope you get there soon as well!  Nothing worse than feeling grotty when you are trying to get work done!

A random C0-0p question for you - do you manage to successfully stack offers with them? For instance the one pound off and the 50p off milk?  I picked up some milk & a breakfast pastry this morning on the way in to the office and only the 1 pound off was applied - rather than the 1.50 I was expecting!  The 50p off milk is still sitting on my card unused.  (Guess that's my punishment for not going for the healthier yogurt & fruit.)  I rarely shop with them these days, so am not up to date on how their offers work!

Thanks RT, we're both getting there... still sound like we smoke 40 a day though! 😂

Yes, I've always managed to stack Coop vouchers without any issues - I wonder if that was a blip? Unless something has changed, but I would have thought there'd have been some T&Cs email notice or similar. I think I've had it once where it hasn't worked - but only the once. Usually I find those offers to be most generous and compliant in that respect!

rtandon27

Ah - good to know it may have been a blip - I shan't be buying milk again this week, but for next time, I'll be sure to ask why both did not get applied!  The staff in that store are for the most part extremely kind and helpful, so I'm sure they would not mind me pointing it out!  In fact the manager there has in the past giving me a good natured ribbing for forgetting to scan my card, which is why the app is now on the phone!

edinburgher

@themadvix - why do you avoid AI studies? Ethical reasons? Something else?

themadvix

edinburgher said:

@themadvix - why do you avoid AI studies? Ethical reasons? Something else?

Yes, the ethics. I work in an industry that is likely to be completely subsumed by AI (and already has been in many aspects - it's been around in more basic forms in the industry for a lot longer than in others). Only this week, I've seen something about a large, well established company in France (part of a big multinational) replacing all of its valued ***** (insert job title here, would potentially out me) with AI - people who have been working with the company (probably as freelancers, given the unions in France and the sector), some for 30 years. All binned off just like that - with all their creativity, expertise and humanity - all of which are needed for the job to be done properly - gone with them.

 I can see it has some uses, but the utter insanity both morally and economically of replacing humans everywhere with bots is not something I can support. I know I'm a dinosaur and fighting a losing battle, and no judgement if you're happy to do them, but I can't do it. (However many millions I could make on Prolific - like you 😉)

Also, the endless ads on TV advertising how AI can be your brain for you (aimed at Gen-Z who apparently are willing to give up brain function) (I'm thinking of the ads about 'what shall I wear today', 'what do I need to take on a camping trip' etc.) are the epitome of everything that is wrong with society today  - the film Wall-E was potentially right about the blobs on hover things (replace with an e-scooter - why would anyone want to get exercise?!), but it missed the bit about how no one will have brains because AI does all their thinking for them!

Sorry, rant over. Like I said, someone is going to do the studies, and if it's you, I don't hold it against you, but I can't do it myself.

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Sorry, got a bit carried away there - think there may be other issues with society (although maybe Trump is one of those blobs from Wall-E?).

Back to money....

Thanks to @edinburgher, I opened 3 Santa savings accounts yesterday, with £25 TCB for each - all tracked, which will be nice little bonus when it comes in. Not opened for the interest rate, so only a £1 in each one. (Was dead easy, would highly recommend.)

Have completed and sent back the work I was doing for main client. He says all is quiet now, but I suspect that's only in the short term (he also knows I'm unavailable Weds-Fri, so not likely to give me something until next week anyway). I am working on something for Cambridge at the minute, which will likely fill the remaining working time this week (I'm out tomorrow afternoon too in reality).

Have been to see cat client this morning and will go again shortly (a two-visit day). Also baked a loaf, four rolls and some granola - so nice to have proper bread again. Our fridge is virtually empty currently - we have a small supermarket delivery coming tomorrow and R'ford will be coming on Thursday. The freezer is quite full, but not of meal-type food for the most part (and I need to actually look properly too, but haven't felt up to it). If I get the chance tomorrow, I'll pop to the refill shop for various items too (I've got the car and am returning the pizza oven, which is past the refill shop, so it would be good to do that too, but time is a factor tomorrow - more to do than hours in the day). I don't want to spend a huge amount, but frugal January can only go so far -  we don't have much food in.

I managed to get out for a walk in the sunshine (and light snow) at lunchtime - only around the block, but it is so nice to be able to do that after not feeling well enough to do it for about a week.

MS things:
* A few small HW spin wins over the past few days 
* 3x Santa £25 cashbacks tracked
* 1P surveys
* PA survey
* Lunch used up the crumbs from a packet of crisps and the last of the Olio hummus.
* Paid my tax bill - early, but I get stressed if I leave it too close to the deadline
* US client has been in touch to send PO and answer my queries - a relief as I need the answers!

Gratitudes:
* Gorgeous sunshine here all day (imagine we've raked in the solar power, but it's promptly gone straight back out in heat pump consumption! Mr MV keeps complaining when the battery runs out - I have to keep reminding him that we didn't used to have any 'battery' for the gas, so it's all a win!)
* Cuddles with Ginger Cat - heard the sad news that one of my friend's cats is going to have to be PTS today, so kitty cuddles are extra appreciated today
* We are feeling better... although slowly.

Have a good evening all!

beanielou

Nothing better than cuddles with a ginger cat. Sorry about your friends cat. 

themadvix

Thanks Beanie - so sad for her 😢

greenbee

Have you watched Idiocracy tmv? (I watched it for work). I'm not sure whether it's reassuring or terrifying.

My AI lead spends a lot of time using me to demo how AI can help you be more productive, but also what it can't replace (AI prompts - if VERY well written - can do the boring stuff I don't like doing, but no matter how well he writes a prompt, it can't do the bit that my brain is needed for). We also spend a lot of time pointing out to people how their AI results are problematic, often because of sloppily written prompts or a lack of understanding of the dataset that the AI has access to. A lot of businesses are going to be in trouble if they think they can replace their retiring boomers/entry level GenZ with AI, let along the GenX and Millenials in the middle. Mind you, most of them will be unaware of the existence of GenX so we should be OK

I lost the early solar generation to the snow on the panels, but have generated just over 11kWh today, so the battery was full by the time the next lot of snow (actually graupel) arrived, and the DW had run. The next few days may be a bit harder as there will be more snow, less sunshine and not much in the way of cheap Agile slots to top the battery up with!

Greying_Pilgrim

Oooooh, thank you greenbee - you may well have answered a question that was on the tip of my tongue from reading tmv's post.  If I look out of our bedroom window (which I can, unfettered - mostly - by condensation these days  - smug -😁), I get a direct view of a (relatively) newly installed set of solar panels.  I think there are... 6? panels on the roof. This morning, they were white over with snow - and I mean white over.  Even the roof panels around them hadn't got as much snow on.  I noted at lunch time, the snow hadn't shifted - it hadn't even 'slipped' - as it was doing on the car windscreen from being in the sun.  So my question was going to be, unless you have a brush on an extendable pole - much like a window cleaners - do you have to forgo energy generation on snow days?  OK, so in parts of the UK, snow is less abundant than elsewhere, but today was a lovely bright, sunny day - I would have thought some generation was possible, had the panels been clear.  

It just struck me today how an inch or so of powdery snow had rather hijacked the homeowners green intentions (possibly).

Greying X