The Atari Report has been permanently cancelled

[newtmonkey]

I'll just put this here and leave.  I hope it might give you something to think about, @BIGHMW

 

One of the worst experiences I ever had in my life of various ups and downs, was maxing out my credit card back when I was a college kid.  I had no clue about managing budgets, because I was on my own for the first time in my life.  For some reason I was given a limit way beyond my means, and between my limited income, my addiction to buying stuff, and the interest rate, I ended up in massive debt.  I spent many months, close to a year, spinning my wheels just staying afloat.  It was horrible.  But I paid it off, and it ended up being a learning experience for me.

 

From that point, I've always lived within my means.  I've had jobs that paid well, and jobs that didn't.  Whenever I found myself in a situation where my income wasn't great, I made sure to track my budget.  When you are on a limited income, you'd be surprised how little you can actually spend.  Part of that means eliminating recurring expensives you really don't need.  Spending a ton of money on cable TV and steaming, when you barely watch any of it, makes no sense.  I know in your case you have some fixed income because of your disability, but even so, you really need to consider balancing your budget imo.

Edited June 22, 2022 by newtmonkey

[Keatah]

17 minutes ago, newtmonkey said:

For some reason I was given a limit way beyond my means,

Oh not fur just some any old reason. They do that to trap you into the interest payments. They know there is a risk of you defaulting and/or filing bankruptcy. But they bank on you making a good number of payments first, enough to actually have paid the original purchases off and then some - before the shit hits the fan. Once it does they write it all off.

 

A lot of financial stuff is like Kaboom. You make a little mistake and the game becomes harder. Another one and the game becomes impossible. It takes away the very resources you need to stay afloat. And that is why I totally utterly hate videogames like that. Best to just stop playing at first sign of trouble rather than have to triple your efforts for the same return.

 

 

[BIGHMW]

30 minutes ago, newtmonkey said:

I'll just put this here and leave.  I hope it might give you something to think about, @BIGHMW

 

One of the worst experiences I ever had in my life of various ups and downs, was maxing out my credit card back when I was a college kid.  I had no clue about managing budgets, because I was on my own for the first time in my life.  For some reason I was given a limit way beyond my means, and between my limited income, my addiction to buying stuff, and the interest rate, I ended up in massive debt.  I spent many months, close to a year, spinning my wheels just staying afloat.  It was horrible.  But I paid it off, and it ended up being a learning experience for me.

 

From that point, I've always lived within my means.  I've had jobs that paid well, and jobs that didn't.  Whenever I found myself in a situation where my income wasn't great, I made sure to track my budget.  When you are on a limited income, you'd be surprised how little you can actually spend.  Part of that means eliminating recurring expensives you really don't need.  Spending a ton of money on cable TV and streaming, when you barely watch any of it, makes no sense.  I know in your case you have some fixed income because of your disability, but even so, you really need to consider balancing your budget imo.

Maybe you're both right. And when it comes to the streaming and the cable TV thing, the cable guy was here again, yesterday, he dropped by without my knowledge to try and install my local cable and upgrade me to broadband internet but once again could not due to there being no on-sight management to give permission (our complex is run by Cascade Management in Portland, Oregon, out-of-state, yes I AM calling them out that's why I mentioned them, they're no good) and no means of contacting them (they also will not return your phone calls or e-mails for anything and believe me we are all being treated like shit here right now) so maybe it's a good thing I don't have it right now, but with no working rooftop antenna (they will not fix it) and with only the web to do even this post, maybe you're right, it's time I ditch Hulu, Peacock and ESPN+ and just live off the web as well as my library of physical media and all of my recordings and downloads and of course, my Atari and Coleco systems for my entertainment. I cut the cord (I was a Dish Network customer from 1997-2019) 3 years ago, now I'll just be getting most of my entertainment off my own gear, and if I ever want more content, I'll just either, buy it (on physical media and then digitize it if it's analog) or stream-capture it (on my HD Capture Pro digital USB flash-drive recorder) or download it, even if it's "illegally" done so.

Edited June 22, 2022 by BIGHMW

[newtmonkey]

@BIGHMW

 

I say, go (free) web only.  There's so much good stuff just on youtube alone, and if you have a decent physical collection of dvds, blurays, whatever, that can last you forever.  I understand if you want you want sports, you can't get that for free.  It's something you'll need to consider, whether it is really worth the cost.

 

I hope you will arrive at a budget/lifestyle where you can enjoy things without any stress.  Honestly, I know how you feel about spending too much, freaking out, selling your stuff, then repeating the process.  It's 100% unneeded stress, if you would just budget your life properly!  I know that, because I was there!

[Crazy Climber]

On 6/2/2022 at 7:02 PM, BIGHMW said:

 

 

I'm blown away your rent is that cheap! Unless you have some kind of locked in deal, I would prepare for an increase...

 

That being said, a lot of people are giving you budget advice...but after groceries, gas, etc.. you really don't have a ton of money to play with for retro games, even with a hard budget. Sure, you could cut HULU and get a homebrew or two a month instead but that seems like a bad trade off...and I love homebrews!!

 

I would go with one of the following options...

 

1 - Pick one system and make that your baby...sell everything else so you have a little money to play with (patiently, only buy the stuff you really want!!)

 

or

 

2 - tastefully resell stuff... (be fair about it, etc..)

 

Nothing wrong with buying 2 of something or picking up a good local deal and flipping it for a little extra cash. Plenty of people here do it, they just don't talk about it. As long as you give the buyer a good deal too, everyone is happy

Just don't turn into one of those D-bags that is only here for profits and you'll be fine lol.

[BIGHMW]

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

2 - tastefully resell stuff... (be fair about it, etc..)

 

Nothing wrong with buying 2 of something or picking up a good local deal and flipping it for a little extra cash. Plenty of people here do it, they just don't talk about it. As long as you give the buyer a good deal too, everyone is happy

Just don't turn into one of those D-bags that is only here for profits and you'll be fine lol.

Well, I DO have quite a knack I have somewhat developed for making handmade beaded jewelry and I have a nice collection that I have made for myself and want (ed) to share my newfound talent with most of my co-workers at Safeway and maybe even with some of you, so I launched a somewhat little small business I like to call "Ray's Beads", in which encapsulates that talent, I specialize in sports teams' jewelry, mainly beaded jewelry in the official team colors of all of your favorite sports teams, any team, any league, any sport!!! I DO have some pending orders I'll be working on tonight (I'm off but 2 nights this week due to salary cap issues as I can only earn so much $$$ gross/month due to me being on disability), mainly for some of my co-workers, my necklace and bracelet sets sell for $15.00 each and include an 18-20" necklace and a 9" bracelet along with it done up in your favorite team's colors!!! We even take custom orders too!!! As we say at Ray's Beads....

 

"...if you can dream it, we can make it!!!"

 

[Lord Mushroom]

18 hours ago, Keatah said:

Oh not fur just some any old reason. They do that to trap you into the interest payments. They know there is a risk of you defaulting and/or filing bankruptcy. But they bank on you making a good number of payments first, enough to actually have paid the original purchases off and then some - before the shit hits the fan. Once it does they write it all off.

Electronics stores in Norway break even or lose money on actually selling things. They make money by tricking stupid people to buy on credit with very high interest and to buy insurance they don´t need.

[Leonard Smith]

4 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

Electronics stores in Norway break even or lose money on actually selling things. They make money by tricking stupid people to buy on credit with very high interest and to buy insurance they don´t need.

That's the secret for the automotive industry as well.

Financing, selling overpriced add-ons, and then hoping you have your cars serviced at their centers.

[CapitanClassic]

2 hours ago, Leonard Smith said:

That's the secret for the automotive industry as well.

Financing, selling overpriced add-ons, and then hoping you have your cars serviced at their centers.

Yeah, don’t remember when the trend started happening exactly, but used to work at a GameStop near 2000 when they started selling protection plans. Those things (along with home warranties) are the biggest rip-offs.

 

Now when you buy anything (I remembered them offering warranties for toys at Toys-R-Us, before they went bankrupt), they want to sell you a protection plan. I have seen these cost as much as  1/6th the price of whatever it is you are buying. No thanks. Especially with stuff like electronics where the failure rate is about 2%, and usually it fails almost immediately within the normal 90 day period. Those home warranties are a scam too, requiring you to pay $25-$50 for a technician to come out and decide if your failure is covered. Surprise, for some made up reason, it turns out that wasn’t covered and you are out $50 plus your yearly premiums.

 

With all the free YouTube videos, you can learn to fix a ton of home/car issues yourself. If you cannot afford in the unlikely chance something is going to fail, you clearly cannot afford to pay the 1/6th amount extra to replace it. (And with tech costs depreciation, you likely could replace it yourself for half the cost in a few years anyway)

[+cvga]

3 hours ago, Leonard Smith said:

That's the secret for the automotive industry as well.

Financing, selling overpriced add-ons, and then hoping you have your cars serviced at their centers.

I offered to pay cash two cars ago and was told that I would have to pay more if I paid in cash. I financed it and then paid it off since there wasn't a penalty.

[Lord Mushroom]

1 hour ago, CapitanClassic said:

Especially with stuff like electronics where the failure rate is about 2%, and usually it fails almost immediately within the normal 90 day period.

It is even worse here. In Norway you get by law a 5 year guarantee if the product you buy is supposed to last more than 2 years. Some companies limit the insurance they are selling to 5 years, so the insurance they are selling is literally worthless.

[Razzie.P]

Based on what I've seen on here, I'd think the best way for you to increase your youtube activity is just to make alternating videos claiming "Atari Report is cancelled" then "Atari Report is Back On!" and just alternate those topics.  We'll take you viral in no time!

 

[+GoldLeader]

5 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Based on what I've seen on here, I'd think the best way for you to increase your youtube activity is just to make alternating videos claiming "Atari Report is cancelled" then "Atari Report is Back On!" ...

 

 

So what you're saying is Don't change a thing.

[skosh]

You may want to consider Mint mobile for your phone plan. $15 month / 4GB .  By switching you would save $888 per year and I would imagine your service would be similar to what you already have.

[jerseystyle]

There’s only one thing you can do…

 

 

[digdugnate]

On 6/23/2022 at 11:02 PM, jerseystyle said:

There’s only one thing you can do…

 

 

That's water under the fridge, tho.

[roadrunner]

Thread should be moved to off topic, can't be too many peeps that post their monthly bills on the interwebs.


I'll leave you with a pic of Cindy Margolis  






 

[+GoldLeader]

Trailer Park Boys!  I love those guys...Anyway worst case Ontario,  ya got a free Cindy Margolis pic out of it.

[BIGHMW]

On 6/27/2022 at 2:25 PM, GoldLeader said:

ya got a free Cindy Margolis pic out of it.

She happens to be not only a hero and role model for me in the entertainment business, in fact she is THE main reason why I stayed in it after S.M.F. broke up in 2002, but, I was also counting on her (since we're old high school classmates from our days at Erikson Center from 1982-84) to help me "get my foot in the door" when it came to the mainstream side of it, but, as you can see, I already announced my retirement at the end of this year (the first video), although one dead former German dictator wasn't too happy about it (second video) despite his own colleagues trying to both defend my career and also convince him otherwise that my career should've been legit.

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by BIGHMW

[+Cafeman]

[+x=usr(1536)]

Best.  Deepfakes.  EVER.

[BIGHMW]

Now before we permanently close the book on The Atari Report, on this what is the 2nd Anniversary of this now-defunct series, I will be putting out previously unreleased, fully-edited, Series Finale episodes of each of the editions (2600, 5200, 7800, and 8-Bit Editions) of TAR and mentioning the subsequent launch of The Atari 5200 SuperReport which will air later on this week on each as well as where to find it.

[toiletunes]

[+GoldLeader]

[Leonard Smith]

Everytime I read about "The Atari Report" and its ensuing retirement, I think back to all those bands that announce farewell tours, but then change their minds over and over.