<p>Our house is about 1350 square feet & we’re quite happy here. H grew up in an 800 square foot home. We’re really not into housekeeping, but sadly there is no space for an office while we keep the kids’ rooms intact so they are comfortable when they visit (they’ll be here for Christmas!</p>
<p>Eventually, we may convert at least one of the bedrooms to an office/guest room, but are not in a rush. We are happy we don’t spend our lives cleaning and maintaining our home. Most of my sibs have houses several times larger. My folks living room is larger than our entire home. One of my sibs has a house about 6000 or so square feet & has cleaners come over to keep it clean, as well as a person to do the yard and another to do the pool. We prefer to handle our home on our own & not have tons of workers and strangers around our home.</p>
<p>Our two cars are a 1998 Volvo (170K miles on it) and 2000 Toyota van (102K miles on it); both still run very well and fully paid for. We hope to finish paying off our mortgage soon and have no plans to move houses at any point in the near future. When we tire of the current vehicles, we may purchase another in cash and retire one or both.</p>
<p>Cooling a 6K house is also a challenge, but put in central air. She installed photovoltaic, 48 panels or something and has little or no electrical bills now. We are considered the “poor relations,” a badge H & I wear with honor & distinction!</p>
<p>I don’t think that losing a million jobs would be wonderful; especially in the short-term.</p>
<p>If we fall off the fiscal cliff, I think that the ramifications will last at least several years. Especially if the Legislative and Executive branches continue their current path through the next administration.</p>
<p>I used to have a mouthful full of Cerec - about $18,000 worth. They fit badly. I would say half had failed at year 10.</p>
<p>If this is representative of 3d printing I would say it has a ways to go yet. </p>
<p>I stay away from Cerec now and happily wait for a lab to make whatever I need. I would blame my problems on the skill of the individual dentist but according to a lot of dentists I spoke to the consensus now is that Cerec onlays and crowns do not fit very well. I had ledges on all the Cerec onlays so that made sense.</p>
<p>I’ve had very good success with Cerec but I’m not the typical patient. I don’t get any anesthetic in dental procedures so we can do any needed adjustments after the crown or onlay goes in. I imagine that many may not bother with an additional appointment after they regain feeling to deal with minor issues that could become larger over time.</p>
<p>One part of the Cerec process that has always puzzled me is that it doesn’t take into account the tooth that is filed down. There is no picture taken of the tooth before it’s filed away. If they had this picture, then it might produce better results rather than trying to line up the resulting porcelain piece where you can’t see how it mates with the other side and surrounding teeth.</p>
<p>“I guess that you wouldn’t have to worry about heating bills where you are but can you imagine heating a 6K sq ft house in NH in the winter?”</p>
<p>I have no idea why people need or want 6,000 sq ft houses. property taxes are pretty high in NH, right?</p>
<p>If the fiscal cliff has negative affects for 3 years, the economy is going to be in trouble. I can’t believe our leaders will be so stupid and let the fiscal cliff cause problems that long.</p>
<p>You don’t need anesthetic?</p>
<p>People sleep in your loft? Do you work out in your basement?</p>
<p>Even though I live in southwestern Ct, I’ve already had the heat on. My oil bills are outrageous. For some reason, maybe because our house is on a hill facing north and doesn’t get much sun because the area around my house is heavily wooded, it’s always 10 degrees colder than other places. I’m already hating the weather coming and paying for oil. It’s expected that this winter will be snowier and colder than last winter which was a mild one. Anybody have any good ideas for hedging the price of oil besides the futures market which I don’t know anything about - yet.</p>
<p>I thought at one time I saw an article in seeking alpha about doing this with options but I can’t seem to find it. I’m too old to remember anything these days.</p>
<p>I can tell you what I did the past few days in both aapl and goog. </p>
<p>AAPL:</p>
<p>10/9/12 - bought 10/20 555 calls for 77; sold 10/20 645 calls for 7.90, bought 10/20 645 puts for 7.9, sold 605 puts for 5.79. breakeven = 632.47.</p>
<p>10/10/12 - sold my 10/20 655 puts and bought back the 645 puts (should have waited - I really thought aapl was going to go up so I figured on taking the profit on this yesterday)</p>
<p>10/11/12 - bought a few 10/20 aapl 555 calls for 76.5 which was a good price until the samsung news came out.</p>
<p>GOOG - 10/10/12 - bought 10/20 625 calls for 120.42, sold 765 calls for 12.43; bought 745 puts for 21.82, sold 715 puts for 9.67. max gain = 19.86 / max loss ( to 715) = .14, breakeven = 745.14.</p>
<p>It has been my experience that whenever I do these kinds of trades coupled with the put spreads, that the stock goes straight up and the put spreads are a waste of money but I can’t help but be very nervous.</p>
<p>Can you switch to Natural Gas? I’m expecting low heating bills again this year.</p>
<p>One thing about those 6,000 sq ft homes (they’re probably pretty rare around here). They tend to be built in more remote towns and the gas company probably doesn’t care to run lines out and the builder doesn’t want to foot the bill so they either have electric, propane or heating oil. Basically three crappy options on cost/BTU.</p>
<p>Pellet stoves are pretty popular up here these days to supplement other heating systems.</p>