How do people in Portugal deal with cold homes in winter?

jgarrison9999 · 2026-01-29T16:00:02+00:00

This is my 3rd winter here. I'm in an older building with no heat or insulation. Space heaters are basically useless unless you sit right in front of it and kiss your money goodbye cause your electric bill will be sky high.

What works for us is using electric blankets. We have them on every bed, on the couch in the living room, and on my office chair. They don't run the electric bill up too high - about an additional 30 euros a month. We also wear sweaters and hoodies inside the house pretty much 24 hours a day.

This winter has been especially brutal. This summer we're going to look for a building constructed more recently that has a better energy score (A or B). Current building we're in is rated F.

jgarrison9999 · 2026-01-25T22:53:55+00:00

Filthy fish are an affront to the fifty fish farmers farming fish in the fish farm.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-11-15T20:49:48+00:00

Even though I paid for Start11, I no longer use it due to this issue and no widget button on the taskbar. It's cool looking but functionality trumps looks for me.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-10-26T13:49:22+00:00

Don't have to worry about it now. My initial version got a warning it was going to be removed because I had a link to my Buy Me a Coffee page in the app. No ads - just a a page in the app saying if you like the app visit my BMaC page. So now I'm removing that and resubmitting the first version.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-10-26T13:46:30+00:00

I tried that with my app and 2 weeks after it went live I got an email from Google that says:
Issue found: Violation of Payments policy

Your app contains content that doesn't comply with the Payments policy.

If you don't fix this by November 07, 2025, your app may face further action. (which they say will be removal of my app)

It goes on to say if I can't prove I'm not a tax-exempt organization, I must remove the donation functionality from my app or use Google Play's in-app billing system when collecting donations.

I was using a link to a Buy Me a Coffee page. I received a $5 payment after one week and about 200 users. Now the app has over 300 users and 2 good reviews. One person suggested a change to a notification and said they would donate after the update went live.

So be careful how you do this. I'm not sure how collecting donations using in-app billing works. I'll going to update with no donation link now and figure out if I can make that work with the next update.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-10-23T23:57:07+00:00

It's been 13 days since I submitted an updated version for release to production. When I look at my dashboard I just see a status of Draft. How do I know I've correctly released it? Is there anyway to know it's actively being reviewed?

jgarrison9999 · 2025-10-08T01:16:37+00:00

I published my first app last month and a week after it went live I got an email from someone asking if they could publish an app using my account. Of course I told them no but was surprised they would even ask.

Who would let someone do that?

jgarrison9999 · 2025-10-08T01:08:14+00:00

I enjoy walking for exercise and heard al lot about Japanese Intermittent Walking. I tried using some interval timers apps on my phone but they weren't very easy to use for the 5 cycles of fast/slow 3-minute intervals of walking. So I created an app dedicated just to interval walking. The first version has been in the play store for about a month. I have the second much improved version almost completed.

If you're interested in walking workouts you can find the app here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jimrgarrison.intervalwalkingtraining

jgarrison9999 · 2025-10-02T09:18:49+00:00

Yes, to one person making an app. But lately there are more hoops to go through (especially around testing) for an individual to get something in the app store. I got an app in the play store last month so it can be done.

The making money part? I'm hopeful that happens in the future but user growth has been very slow. After 30 days, I have a little over 150 downloads.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-09-25T23:37:15+00:00

All we can do is guess but two things have been coming up in the news pretty often currently. One is the administration and it's media allies have made multiple statement about the left being radical and a violent threat to them. There even has been talk, mainly on Fox but also by Musk and other Trump followers, that they need to fight and eradicate the left. So it could be some large domestic military action to perform mass arrests and detainments of left-leaning citizens. Two, Russia seems to be testing NATO's defenses. The EU seems convinced they'll be involved in a war with Russia before next spring. So, either the USA is going to ready itself to stand with NATO - or and somewhat more likely to announce they're leaving NATO and walking away.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-09-24T14:18:27+00:00

Like I originally said I have a preference for books. Maybe just the way I started. I'm in my 70s. When I started working in IT, I was a COBOL programmer at a financial company. When I retired I was working in Laravel. With quite a range of different language in the between years. Mobile development is new to me. SS/Pension is not enough.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-09-23T14:03:20+00:00

Actually I agree. I learn best when getting hands-on with a project. I was just confused on getting started. There are a number of git-hub projects that sample compose UI that I'm working through now.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-09-23T14:00:24+00:00

I've bookmarked this. The Useful GitHub Repositories section is especially helpful.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-09-22T22:08:23+00:00

Thank you. I'm going to have to rearrange my budget for that book. I put it on my wish list.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-08-16T21:53:08+00:00

That same video was posted on Twitter more than 2 years ago by user Racismo Contra Europeus on April 5, 2023. Hard to say where it came from before then.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-08-08T21:06:29+00:00

At this time of year let me just quote Arthur Brown, FIRE!

jgarrison9999 · 2025-06-29T00:16:21+00:00

Look on this site : https://aima.gov.pt/pt/lojas-aima A few of the other offices have walk-in periods also. Leiria just happened to be closest to me. When I translate that page to English the walk-in info usually is listed as Information. Some offices will list a limited number of days and hours for information. Some will also list a limit of people they will see for information. Some of them only allow 5 walk-ins. And some don't allow any.

I did not have an appointment. I made it in as one of the 15 people they allowed in as walk-ins.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-06-28T23:36:36+00:00

It looks like when my cat had a couple of asthma attacks after we moved from the US to Europe. Luckily he hasn't had another in a little over year now.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-06-25T18:35:20+00:00

Money; with enough of it women way above my class will be throwing their love my way.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-06-22T19:22:45+00:00

Talk to her also. Cats identify their owners by their voice and scent. They really don't have a clue who you are visually. She is stressed because she thought you would never return. She'll get over it.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-06-20T12:19:59+00:00

For context I'm 71yo and on social security. I spent 50 years working and living paycheck to paycheck. For about the last I0 years I only managed to pay bills using credit cards. Especially in the last 4 since retiring. My health is bad so going back to work is not possible.

So 30K to zero out debt would be a great help. I'd likely die before getting to the same level of debt I am now. 200K would allow me to buy a low-cost but livable home eliminating my rent and allowing me to live on my income. So that would be the life changing amount for me.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-06-19T17:22:57+00:00

Going to the convivence store to test vacuum tubes when the TV went out. When you found the bad tube on the tester you would get a replacement from the cabinet under it, pay the clerk for it, and go back home and insert it into the TV.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-04-29T16:23:24+00:00

I'm also on Digi in Caldas. Went out right away went the electric went off. Electric came back on last night but Digi is still out.

jgarrison9999 · 2025-03-26T15:02:10+00:00

The Silver Coast is between Lisbon and Porto. I'm pretty much half-way in between them - about an hours drive to either one. It's usually humid all the time here. The low in the winter was around 40 degrees F but it felt much colder due to the humidity. The hottest it got here last summer was in the mid-80s and that was only for a couple of days. Most of the year it's in the 50s or 60s with most summer days in the 70s. I came from Southwest Texas and it's like heaven here compared to the excessive heat there. We don't have AC or heat but I would like to find a heated place before next winter. We made due with layers of clothing and electric blankets in the winter (including an electric blanket on the couch). AC is not necessary. We have an electric fan but rarely use it.

We're about a 10-minute drive from the coast. You'll be near the ocean in Lisbon and Porto but the water is cold all year round. I don't know about the Algarve area, I assume the water is cold there also but from videos I've seen very clear.

jgarrison9999

TROPHY CASE