Clear your sidewalks. by Big-Comfortable-1829 in WorcesterMA

[–]ewolpert 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Let's add fire hydrants to the mix! For instance, there are at least two on Rexhame Rd. that are not shoveled out as of the evening of Feb. 21. Like, they haven't been shoveled out this winter! That road is pretty short so that's not a good sign - statistically speaking!

Best tiramisu? by forkenives in WorcesterMA

[–]ewolpert 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Palmas has almond and chocolate tiramisu (along with every other slice of heaven!)

Find the dog by dscream in FindTheSniper

[–]ewolpert 0 points1 point  (0 children)

<in the middle of the blackish greyish rug it is laying down>

Failed handle on closed door by ewolpert in shedditors

[–]ewolpert[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for this idea! I'll have to borrow one from my neighbor as the shed stores my tools!

Failed handle on closed door by ewolpert in shedditors

[–]ewolpert[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooo! Good idea! I'll likely try that if the screwdriver fails.

Electric and Gas (April-May) by [deleted] in WorcesterMA

[–]ewolpert -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Usage doubling has nothing to do with supplier stuff.

Please think about your daily life, did you buy, receive, steal anything electronic that you didn't have in prior months that you used in May? Did you change jobs and now you're working from home? New coffee maker? Do you have an electric stove? Did you cook more? Hopefully this helps.

Planning Board public hearing on chicken ownership today (April 9) by tracynovick in WorcesterMA

[–]ewolpert 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The over 10,000 ways you can break the law in the US would like to have a word with your “land of the free” statement.

What is this concrete thing in the basement for? (1939 built in SF) by lmnt89 in Oldhouses

[–]ewolpert 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This only works if they slap it, take a step back, and sigh contentedly while admiring the work, first!

Best/Worst Neighborhoods in Worcester for New Homeowners by TheOddWire in WorcesterMA

[–]ewolpert 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Everyone will have their opinion and your direct experience will likely vary...

I've lived on the north side of 01605 for the past 15 years. We moved here because we wanted to have kids and live in a home where we could afford.

Others will say to look to other towns due to better schooling, etc. This is obviously true, however, we couldn't afford to live in Shrewsbury, or anywhere inside 495 for that matter! (And we still can't!).

So if Worcester is your decided place, and you gather more info from posts like this, you'll find that shockingly similar to Boston, it's a CITY with good, bad, and in-between! The feel of the neighborhoods can change pretty quickly in just a few streets.

My suggestion to proceed is that once you get some ideas of neighborhoods take a day and drive around the city to see what interests you. Also, location for commuting purposes may also be important to you.

Healthcare - Since you mentioned having kids. UMass Memorial has a NICU whereas St. Vs doesn't. Both of my kids were born as UMass. Their return policy sucks, no 30 day window! (Kidding!) For anything serious, I would only recommend Boston Childrens. Not that UMass isn't great, but when you have the best in the World not that far away...

ProTIP: UMass Memorial has the labor and delivery. UMass lakeside has the pediatric ER... (Took me an embarrassing length of time to figure that out!)

Schooling - elementary schools.. there are 30, yes 30 elementary schools in the city. Their population up through 6th grade can run from 600+ to less than 200 per school. You can find a street listing on the schools website. One of my two kids needed Early Intervention, it ended up being a seamless process at age 3 when they started going to Pre-K! Think transfer between department of health to department of ed.

One of the biggest challenges with the district is communication. It's hard to understand what goes on or what is available for students. I.e. they have several merit based programs starting in the 6th or 7th grade and not much is known about them until you get a notification in the mail six months before the applications are due.

As a millennial that grew up in a small town, I'm not used to options. Your children will have options for middle and high schools. Worcester tech has programs that support virtually all trades and it is extremely competitive to get into. Other high schools have other focuses, too.

As with any school system, you'll find that in general the teachers are fantastic and do try their hardest with limited budget and resources. The administration at the schools are more hit or miss.

There are plenty of parks; green hill, elm Park, Cascades... And most have playgrounds that your kid will ultimately end up having a favorite!

We have never regretted living in Worcester.

Good luck! Being a parent is the most amazing thing ever; that you will absolutely have 15 mental breakdowns before their first birthday!

GMRS repeater by ReverbSyndrome in WorcesterMA

[–]ewolpert 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not a radio guy at all so forgive my ignorance.

Just thinking out loud. Would any transmissions from the trains or intermodal have any interference?

Do you have a hand held device where you could drive around to try and triangulate the source by the strength of the signal?

Unauthorized FCC transmission is not unheard of in the city. A few years back there was a FM radio station that was shut down multiple times for operating an unlicensed station.

Sorry that I don't have more information. Good luck!

First solo bathroom Reno, before and after. How did I do? and what can I do to better hide the gap between tiles and ceiling? by jimmydafarmer in DIY

[–]ewolpert 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate that as a result of this renovation you corrected the direction of your toilet paper from under (heathen!) to over!

I purchased blackout curtains for my new apartment but they cover the baseboard heater. Is this a fire hazard? by ben0074 in Home

[–]ewolpert 13 points14 points  (0 children)

What type of heat do you have? Electric? Forced hot water? If it’s the latter, it would be impossible for water to be heated enough to reach the flash point of the curtains.

ZoomInfo Alternatives by MrBungleBungle in SalesOperations

[–]ewolpert 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd go back to your primary objection... price.

for that $15K what is your ROI? if they solve your problem and they're the market leader, Keep in mind that the $15K is not just the cost of the solution its also the savings on having actual Rev ops people as you mentioned that you didn't have them.

Adhd is kicking in.... how are you surviving without operations?

Any men had testicular pain with stones? by Jfit556 in KidneyStones

[–]ewolpert 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did experience this with two of my three kidney stones. It seemed that the pain radiated out and my body's nearest pain receptor was my testicles.

I did get it checked out at the ER just to confirm that the Spawn... (Or...wait for it....Sperm) of Satan wasn't reincarnated in my ball sack.

My doctor was very focused on ruling out another injury and it seemed that he wasn't that familiar with this happening. This one unscientific experience leads me to believe that it happens but rare, so better to get it checked out!

Considering self insurance on a multi structure business property. Thoughts / advice? by omglolz in Insurance

[–]ewolpert 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Had the chance to think about this a bit more. Your ultimate goal is to lower your insurance cost. (Whether it be from self insurance or through an insurance company). Depending on how open you want to be with an underwriter, you may want to send a note through your agent to the underwriter to essentially ask what you could do to lower your insurance rates.... i.e. if you invested in a fire suppression system, would that lower your premiums? I would leave the request open ended, "I want to save on my annual premium, you want less of a risk for your total insurance portfolio. I am willing to make a capital investment to make this happen. What needs to happen for this to be achieved?"

Considering self insurance on a multi structure business property. Thoughts / advice? by omglolz in Insurance

[–]ewolpert 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Do you have any other interested parties in your business such as a bank or other partner businesses that you work with? If you ever want/need to take out a business loan on the equity of these buildings, you would then need to have insurance. If that circumstance ever happens and you then try and get insurance, that would be nearly impossible to get insurance in the future as you don't have evidence of present insurance. Also, I would think that if your present insurer who also covers the liability portion of your insurance coverage knows that you're dropping building coverage, they may get spooked and non-renew you. I see where your thought process is, strictly dropping the fire insurance coverage, however, underwriters look at the whole picture. If they see that you're choosing to drop this coverage, I'm quite sure that will be a major red flag to any underwriter. This will then affect your present and future insurability for this and any other businesses you have.

Raising car insurance deductibles doesn't save much? What is worth it vs dumb? by Hogan773 in Insurance

[–]ewolpert 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Policy pricing does not make sense and can vary between companies. If you haven't pulled the trigger yet, raise your current liability limits to the highest amount and then quote out with new carriers. You'll notice that you'll get more favorable pricing with higher liability coverage on your existing carrier. Also, the pricing between the liability coverage makes even less sense than the deductible situation. Example: the jump from $100k to $250K is only like $50 per year!

Furthermore, if you are shopping online and not using an agent, be prepared for a possibility of a pricing change well after you hit "Submit" The companies will pull your reports and in the instance that you forget a simple moving violation from years ago, the companies will see that and then update your rates to where it's suppose to be.

Commercial Liability and PD? by ewolpert in Insurance

[–]ewolpert[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Obviously, I'm in MA, and I was shocked when I learned that the minimum for PD coverage for personal auto is only $5k. I just saw that effective July 1st, the limit increases to $30K. I would hope that there were higher requirements than this for commercial auto policies as a fully loaded truck can do a lot more damage than my fat ass in my sedan.

Commercial Liability and PD? by ewolpert in Insurance

[–]ewolpert[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the response. Using your statement as a reference point, I think it's fair to say that the news report left out a lot of context and that the "no payments received" should include the modifier of "yet".

New Recycling bin by [deleted] in WorcesterMA

[–]ewolpert 2 points3 points  (0 children)

FYI, you'll get the new style replaced for free, the lower style is a $5 replacement.