Mr Info

I received my form letter from Directv about the 2017 a couple of days ago. In it, I saw the statement "Your NFL SUNDAY TICKET subscription subscription will renew automatically. Look for the first of six easy monthly payments of $62.99 on an upcoming bill." At the bottom of the statement in smaller print was "If you decide to cancel, you must call 1.800.531.5000 no later than September 10, 2017." Like most, if not all of you, I have never paid full price for Sunday Ticket. Every year, there is always that Directv call. Years prior I was interested in what others had negotiated so I always went to a similar thread on TBD for reference. So, I called that number, and stated I wanted to change my programming. I assume that a first level rep picked up. We spoke very briefly and said I wanted to cancel Sunday Ticket because it was too expensive. I also reminded him that I was a long-time Sunday Ticket client and also an AT&T mobile account holder. He came back on the line and told me that there would be no charge this year for Sunday Ticket Max. I was a bit taken aback and asked him to confirm which he did. Shortest call I ever had with Directv and great start to a weekend. Hope everyone else does as well or better.

Probably what Pegulas are planning to do is similar to the revenues other owners are going after. They are buying property around their stadiums to create entertainment districts for eating/drinking/etc. These buildings and others like it will enable that.

Date just added and night before the opener. Tix go on sale June 9. Might be of interest for those coming in early for the game. I remember combining a Waters Wall show with a Bills game on a weekend a few years ago.

Congrats on doing that. I stopped adding salt to anything years ago since it's typically in overabundance for all prepared foods. Now, I can immediately tell when an item is over salted. I have been on a low-dose anti-hypertensive for a while. I was unable to lower my bp as much as I wanted even after eliminating salt as much as possible. Both of my parents are on anti-hypertensives but at a higher dosage so there is probably a genetic influence. I have an agreement with my doctor to be aggressive in treatment. Hypertension is one area where there are varied opinions on what is acceptable, http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2014/new-blood-pressure-guidelines-raise-controversy.html, but my doctor works with me to focus on the lower limit.

I have not tried them yet but their concept (and competitors) appears enticing though somewhat expensive. But you are paying for convenience. It is based on using locally sourced ingredients which I referred to in an earlier post I made in this thread. Here is one review of the competitors in this market: http://12tomatoes.com/delivery-meal-kits/ Here is another review where Peach Dish beat Blue Apron: http://observer.com/2016/01/we-tried-blue-apron-hello-fresh-and-their-4-competitors-one-was-clearly-the-best/ I prefer shopping for my own ingredients and determining which is fresher, ripe, etc.

In spite of what I have said previously in this thread, at heart I am an optimist. Quality of food may have been in decline but there appears to be an upsurge in restaurants using locally sourced foods http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/News/Demand-for-local-foods-is-on-the-rise and there are more local vendors at farmers markets advertising their items (with pics of their farm/operation) that their items are grown with no synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, ionizing radiation, etc. Perhaps this will spread and people will eat more healthy so draconian measures are not necessary. Maybe continued education on eating healthy would be beneficial. Fortunately, some of us have the means ($) to purchase these items. The untreated local specialty food market items are expensive and beyond the budget of those who might benefit the most. I am uncertain how that can be addressed. What is incredible is the amazing taste of packaged foods. They are non nutritious but they have been designed to 'create hunger' for more. Stimulate the consumer but not entirely satisfy as you do not want the consumer to feel full. Design a food with a nice crunch, mix of simple tastes, fats for smoothness, tingling saltiness, & underlying sweetness. Make it light so that it can be consumed by grazing...not eating. That way you will purchase the 30 pack box at Sam's. It's genius. Dammit, DF1O5, I'm a biochemist, not an flavorist.

Oh, c'mon! I bet you tell that to all the Bills' analytics guys.

I never brought up taxes. My perspective was on private insurance costs. You are complaining about high cigarette taxes so I will assume you live in NY which is #1 in the country for this. I live in VA which is #49 in the country for cigarette taxes. This explains why my NY smoker friends ask me to bring back cartons of cigarettes. I will confess that I have no idea what states use to base their cigarette tax. There is in addition to federal tax on cigarettes. Whatever the basis of the cigarette tax, the impact to the consumer can be reduced. You can stop smoking, get them in another state (though this may be illegal), petition your govt to reduce them, etc. I will bring up some analogies to this. I see lots on ex NY, NJ, VT, NH living in VA and NC. This is especially true for retirees on a fixed income. Property taxes are at least half in VA & NC compared to the former states I listed. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-property-taxes/11585/ People may have complained about these taxes but they have chosen to move to avoid the impact. The same can be said for gasoline taxes. If the higher costs of gasoline taxes are impacting you adversely, then you sell your low mpg vehicle and obtain a high mpg vehicle. You can continue to !@#$ing complain or do something to address it. Completely agree with this. And that perspective should be considered and extended to a lot more outside of fast food/obesity.

First, I apologize to anyone looking for more info on Chik-fil-a. I did not intend to hijack this thread. To address your points DF1O5. I am not certain what can or should be done. I am just pointing out the $ consequences to others from obesity. Understandably, most people do not want govt controlling their choices. Although I pointed out direct impacts from obesity to Medicare, Medicaid, and Workers Comp, that was my mistake to overemphasize that. What impacts me more is the increasing costs of private insurance and certainly some of that is due to the increase of obesity in the US (and other countries as well). Companies are trying to manage this through different means (e.g, on site gyms, sponsorship to athletic clubs, education, fit bit competitions, etc.). People should be able to make decisions but if their decisions impact others (e.g., smoking) than their independence has encroached on others independence. And the federal govt and states have enacted legislation on smoking and well they should. Unfortunately, people are generally selfish and it is all about me and what I want to do without consideration of anyone else. I never mentioned a fast food tax. I indirectly referred to an obesity tax. You are fortunate to eat fast food but not gain weight. Perhaps it is your metabolism or maybe you got lucky in the DNA dept and will never gain weight, encounter heart disease or have to take medication for hypertension or hypercholesterolemia. But the majority of people are not like that. I am not advocating for a govt/federal tax on obesity, Perhaps higher life insurance and medical insurance by private companies addresses it. If you choose to eat fast food (or smoke) and analytics prove there is a direct correlation between this and hospital visits, medication, etc. (which there is) than perhaps you should bear a higher premium for health insurance. Hopefully, our goal to increase GDP is not based on having a sicker population in order to bolster our health services industry. The US may have a dwindling manufacturing industry but that is being supplanted by a fairly robust technology industry. Let me know if you are a good pharmacologist, biophysicist, or biochemical engineer and I will recommend you for a job in our company so I can obtain a referral bonus.

I guess they go work at Saladworks or similar. But, I cannot say if Saladworks or healthy fast food places have food that is really 'healthy' because I go to a ff place only 1-2 times a year. And it usually tastes great but I regret it later on & vow I will not return but invariably give it another shot.

I think concern may have been a better verb than worry. Obesity has a direct impact to everyone, That is not an opinion but based on analytics (see info from links below). All of us absorb the spiraling cost of medical care and the increase in obesity is driving up our expenses for employer health insurance and workers comp. There are direct costs those that result from outpatient and inpatient health services along with indirect costs such as higher insurance and lost work. The correlation with other conditions such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, cancer, etc. is strong. This is taken from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-consequences/economic/ Moderately obese (BMI between 30 and 35) individuals are more than twice as likely as healthy weight individuals to be prescribed prescription pharmaceuticals to manage medical conditions.7 Costs for patients presenting at emergency rooms with chest pains are 41 percent higher for severely obese patients, 28 percent higher for obese patients and 22 percent higher for overweight patients than for healthy- weight patients.8 If the obesity problem in the US would be addressed, Out of the $16 billion, Medicare could save more than $5 billion and Medicaid could save more than $1.9 billion. This is from http://stateofobesity.org/healthcare-costs-obesity Obesity now costs Americans more in health care costs than smoking https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/04/30/obesity-now-costs-americans-more-in-healthcare-costs-than-smoking/#2e3d181953d7 I would use the analogy of smoking. Sure, it is your right to choose to smoke but then you have to bear the consequences and those may be higher costs for life insurance and medical coverage.

I can recite their '75 starting lineup without pause but will have to ponder a bit to relay what I had for lunch yesterday. I had a Run TMC t-shirt but can't locate it. Have a Dubs shirt from a game at Oracle Arena we attended a couple of years ago. I like Oracle arena even if it's the oldest in the NBA. Kinda like New Era in that regard.

I have been a Warriors fan since Rick Barry was my favorite player & on the team. Used to save my $ as a kid to get a seat at the Aud & watch him & Warriors. But lots of lean years between the 75 Chanpioship w him & Warriors & recent success. Very pleased the finals games at Oracle starting 8 or 9 EDT than typicsl 10:30. I do not enjoy watching half-court iso that a bunch of NBA teams use. Prefer the up-tempo passing game the Warriors & other teams utilize. Really enjoy watching the finals with my sons while drinking beers. When I feel a win is certain, I breakout a celebratory glass of good single malt. But completely understand if others are bored with NBA playoffs if not a Warriors or Cavs fan as they have been completely one-sided affairs. If KD decides to sign for less to keep Iggy & Shaun on the team then the dominance may continue. Warriors appear to be an unselfish team & guys enjoy playing together.

Have you considered bags/containers made from plant materials? But I am not clear on their pricing comparison but if paper/pulp keeps increasing perhaps this could be considered as an option. This is one of them but there are many others: http://www.worldcentric.org/ My wife uses them (or similar) for utensils, plates, take out containers, etc. for her mobile food trailer. It costs more than plastic but she uses "everything is compostable", "taste not waste", etc. in her marketing

Thanks for posting that. What I found interesting in that article is that most of the sources for stadium public funding do not typically impact the locals such as hotel & rental car tax increases.

Hey Paul, Yep, figured I'd have to address some smart a$$ comments from you. Ok, here goes. Completely agree with you on driving vs flying from RIC as when you figure the airport stop & layover to BUF from RIC then it's nearly equal in time. I drive to DCA or IAD and take a direct flight. I am north of RVA so either of those are 90 mins. away. Drive up Sat morning to airport and back Sun night during football season and no traffic in either direction. 1.5 hrs of driving vs. 8 hrs...I will gladly take the 1.5 hrs. Fortunate that I have lots of FF miles from biz trips so I use those. Actually, I am driving up to Buffalo in July with a big SUV to pick up a bunch of apartment components as my nephew's wife will be doing an internship at the Library of Congress and relocating to NoVA. TBH, if the Bills are in the hunt at the end of the season, I will drive there. I have already selected games to attend for for 2017 and redeemed FF miles to be sure to get those flights. But I hold onto my tix later in the season in hopes that the Bills will still be in it. If they are, then too late to redeem FF miles and too expensive to fly so I would drive. Unfortunately, the Bills have dashed that hope by Thanksgiving. Regarding Panthers game...maybe. I will be snooty again and will consider flying since RIC flies direct to CLT. The stadium is ~7 miles from the airport and either taxi, Uber, or Airport Sprinter will get you to the stadium relatively inexpensively and fairly quickly. 5 hrs of driving vs 1 hr flight. But I guess I would miss the banter of our conversation on the way there and back so not sure just yet. Do you have FF miles to burn?

Here is a old link to info on donating tix: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/148474-how-can-i-donate-season-tickets-electronically/ Here is another link to Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo: http://www.bgcbuffalo.org/donate

I re-upped. 20+ years for me. I live near Richmond, VA & get to 2-3 games/yr. Pass the games I cannot attend to family in WNY or friends or donate them. My sister lives on Sheldon Rd which is a 5 min walk to the stadium so very convenient for us going to games. I would not consider giving up my tix. Always have a great time at tailgate at Hammers lot prior to game, walking around lots observing/taking pics/laughing, & going to the game regardless of outcome. Plus, combine it with spending time w family & it's an all-around win.

Duck is good but also like Sugar Shack Donuts and WPA bakery. Mrs. Yoders Donuts kicks a$$ but they are mobile. These are local donut places which I assume is also true for Paula's. This is the Richmond, VA area. Not a chain guy for just about anything food & drink related. Always go with local restaurants no matter where I am which is why I enjoy returning to WNY as so many great independent eateries.

But this part is true, "And Poojer would..,"

Probably help my wife with her mobile food truck/catering biz. The objective is to run it just enough to pay for our fixed costs and use the 401k, pension, SS for fun.

I try to work in vacations by extending business trips. This year I am planning vacation extensions in Denmark, China, and Morocco and will have my wife join me for the vacation part of the trip. Some will occur in summer but 1-2 might be delayed to the fall.

Did you eat a big steak or siimilar food the day before your recent cholesterol test? That can have an impact on the value if that occurred. My cholesterol had always been in the normal range but one time it was quite a bit higher than normal & my doc asked what I had eaten the day before the test. I recalled ingesting a giant steak the night before that test which is atypical for me. He ordered a follow-up and I ate my typical diet the days prior to the test and it came back normal. Just stick with your normal diet before these kind of tests to make sure readings are normalized.

Good to see several active clinical studies evaluating both new components along with re-use of existing therapies for treatment of ALS: https://www.mda.org/research/clinical-studies-and-trials/amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis Best to Mr. Clark and others afflicted with ALS.