Throwdown Thursday: Are We Made for RV Living?

Throwdown Thursday: Are We Made for RV Living?

Heather 2 Comments

Paul and I have been reading a lot of articles about RV living. I’m intrigued by the idea of making our poker pilgrimage in an RV. The thought of being able to bring my house (albeit a very slimmed down house) along on our travels like a very ambitious turtle appeals to the part of me that hates to leave the couch. Paul, however, is pretty sure that this particular journey would end in homicide.

Heather: Don’t you think it would be nice to sleep in the same bed every night, no matter where we wake up? And to have our own little stocked pantry that we take along with us? No need to rely on hotel food or an AirBnB kitchen to have the right sharp knife?

Paul: Listen, if we have to share the same 300 square feet for 12 months, all the knives will be kept very dull. We get edgy and claustrophobic in our 1,500-square-foot house now. What are we going to be like when our couch and kitchen table are one entity?

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6 Travel Mistakes You Don't Want to Make

6 Travel Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

Paul Leave a comment

Heather and I generally travel well together. We do our research, weigh our options, and come to decisions that we both feel good about.  On trips we often praise ourselves for the fine job we did planning such a spectacular vacation. (Sadly, that’s true. We actually do.)

But, nobody’s perfect.

We have made our share of travel mistakes. We share them here in the hopes that you can avoid them on your own travels.

1. Traveling North for New Year’s

Recently we reviewed our impressions of Montreal. The city certainly has a lot of destination appeal. However, amid a record breaking cold snap this appeal plummets. We thought: how much colder can Montreal be compared to Boston at New Year’s? Answer: Nose snapping instant frostbite colder.

There’s a reason that people in the Northeast go south in the winter. I accept the logic now.

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Chasers Poker Room Review

Chasers Poker Room Review

Paul Leave a comment

In the fall of 2017, Chasers entered the competitive Southern New Hampshire poker scene with a bang. Granted a smallish bang, at only 16 poker tables, but the immediate returns were very good. On any given night Chasers poker room fills a large portion of those tables with active cash games. Although, we don’t play a lot of cash poker, we came away impressed. There is a lot of energy in the room and the cash players were clearly excited about this Salem, NH poker room. Over five years later, Chasers has held up well over time.

Setting

Chasers Poker Room occupies the basement of a now defunct Chinese restaurant. From the outside, the building does not inspire confidence. As you enter, the initial impression is “this is dark.” But the dark feeling quickly yields to a nice homey feel, atypical for your average poker room. There is a small bar immediately to the right of the door, with seating and a few high-top tables. Along the right wall is an attractive brick fireplace which we assume will never be used. In front of this wall are the table games: roulette, blackjack, and a couple of poker variations played against the dealer.

Although the room has a dark feel, the tables are very well lit from above. We had no problems seeing the cards. The chairs are padded and very comfortable, especially in comparison to some of the surrounding New Hampshire rooms. The footprint of the room is not huge, however, so the tables are a bit cramped. Read More

Six Ways to Save Money on Gas

6 Ways to Save Money on Gas

Paul Leave a comment

Gas is one of the most unpredictable and challenging budget items to control. We’re all at the mercy of fluctuating world markets. Just when you think you have a handle on your gas expenditures, prices jump 50 cents per gallon and there goes the budget. However, there are definitely ways you can save money on gas. In 2016, our household’s average monthly gas spend for two cars was $218. In 2017 we brought it down 26% to $162 a month, despite an increase of average gas prices from $2.18 in 2016 to $2.45 in 2017. If prices had remained at 2016 levels our raw gains would have been more like 32%. As it was, we saved close to $700 on gas in 2017. Of course, today gas is closer to $4 a gallon than $2. However the tips we share here still apply.

How did we do it? Well, buying a more efficient car was clearly the key. However, we also used a number of other strategies that really solidified our savings: Read More

Throwdown Thursday: Cutting the Cord

Throwdown Thursday: Cutting the Cord (Or Not)

Heather 2 Comments

Throwdown Thursday is a place where we debate anything that comes into our heads. This week we consider the idea of cutting the cord and getting rid of cable for the thousandth time.

Paul and I look in horror upon our monthly cable bill. Both children of the 70s, we remember the days when television was free (unless you count the labor costs of physically turning the channel knob and constantly rearranging the antennae). We keep trying to get that bill down, but over time it pops back up again. We regularly contemplate just cutting the cable and living a better life. A life of the mind (cue bluebirds fluttering above the couch).

Only we like TV. We really like TV. We love and worship TV like the pagan god it is. To the extent that we have to put hourly limits on ourselves as if we were thirteen-year-olds who would watch 24-7 if given the chance (yes). While we have scaled back from having all the channels, we still co-dependently cling to HBO and Showtime in a tight rotation. We’ve pondered at least dropping the premium channels, but then we remember that no Showtime means no Billions, and no Shameless. And no HBO means no Last Week Tonight, and no access to The Wire which we are finally watching about 15 years late. We say to each other “we could just wait until these things get to Netflix.” And then we laugh and laugh.

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