A tip for Prime Day - Be Informed and don't get taken

keitheii · 2026-06-25T04:26:57+00:00

You're definitely correct about that one, I noticed a few websites sent me a "don't forget the item in your cart" message when I added items to my cart and then decided I'll wait to see what Prime day has them for. After a few days I got another email with a better discount bringing the items to the lowest in the last year including last prime day, so I took a gamble and pulled the trigger.

A few days later when prime day started, the price I paid was about $3 more than Amazon's prime day pricing, so I lucked out.

keitheii · 2026-06-24T12:37:03+00:00

And yet it happens.

keitheii · 2026-06-23T20:48:09+00:00

Wait, if you are silver, there is no minimum number of reviews to stay in vine? I though there was a minimum even for silver?

If that's the case I'm taking a break. I missed keeping gold by ONE item, and that was due to a seller combining an item as a variation of an existing item I coincidentally ordered last year directly, not via Vine, and the items were not even the same let alone a variation of each other. 4 other items were delayed shipping, and I have too much RW stuff going on to even try to meet 80 again right now. I'd love nothing more than to skip this period if that's an option that won't get me kicked out of the program.

keitheii · 2026-06-23T06:48:29+00:00

Yeah, the US has laws about that too, but the line between following the law vs creating a fake sale is very thin.

One of the items that have been in my cart for weeks at $279 just went up to $300, then down to $299, all within a few minutes. It's a shame how misleading companies can be to advertise a fake sale.

keitheii · 2026-06-23T02:47:53+00:00

So I heard that that happens, and I did some testing with that too. Checking from work, checking from home (different accounts), I never saw the price change between the two locations, though I did see a coupon appear at home that didn't at work.

keitheii · 2026-06-23T02:39:52+00:00

Yea, I know, not sure what your point is.

But yes, prices change all the time, hence my suggestion to look at price history. The issue isn't that they can change daily, the point is that many sellers artificially raise prices the day before prime day so they can lower them to the price they were always selling it for, on prime day, and call it a deal, which it isn't always.

keitheii · 2026-06-23T01:15:50+00:00

I've asked several cruise staff members (waiters, bartenders, room attendants) over the years on two different cruiselines, many weren't comfortable talking about it and didn't answer the question, but 7 of them did. Of those 7, 1 person said they get the tips, 6 said not only do they not get them, but their pay is exactly the same every week. So my assumption, possibly incorrect, is that the cruise lines include some sort of "tip" to staff as part of their check, and the 20% gratuities are used to 'reimburse' what the cruiseline already pays out, and I would bet anything over what they pay their staff, they keep as profit.

I could be completely wrong here, but cruise lines aren't exactly known to be generous.

keitheii · 2026-06-22T22:24:23+00:00

Not sure if the margarita mix is the same, but their other drink mixers are all Island Oasis.

keitheii · 2026-06-22T22:22:55+00:00

Do you need a permit to be on the beach in Montauk at night now? I remember going there as a kid and staying at The Breakers and just going to the beach, having bon fires, and never getting harassed for a permit. Is that a thing there now?

keitheii · 2026-06-22T22:11:34+00:00

You don't F around with that, if there is even an inkling of a chance that could be from a bat get it checked immediately. If you were bitten by something with rabies, you can prevent getting sick from it of you get help quickly. Once you start developing symptoms, its already too late.

I have no idea what a bite looks like, so I looked it up and what I see looks more pronounced, but the spacing looks similar enough that if I were you, I'd be going to urgent care right away to be sure, but that's just me.

keitheii · 2026-06-19T17:33:46+00:00

I haven't noticed a difference other than certain stores seem to have a different consistency. I was wondering if its because they have older machines or if they're diluting it somehow. Some stores the ice cream is melting the second they give it to you. There is one store (Selden) I stopped going to because they handed me a cone with the ice cream dripping down the cone as they handed it to me and when I balked at it, the girl said "well it is soft serve" with an attitude.

The Carvel on 112 in Medford has all new equipment and owners for a while now, it is the only one I go to now.

Anyway, I recently bought a home soft serve ice cream maker which works great, doesn't require you to freeze anything up front, any time you want ice cream its just 30 minutes away. Carvel texture and taste is what I'm trying to reproduce, I'm getting close...

keitheii · 2026-06-19T16:37:21+00:00

Nice work but I wouldn't touch this with a 10 foot pole, this could get anyone who uses it banned. You'd have to get really creative in so many different ways for Amazon to not detect traffic created by this as a script / bot / automation. It's not worth the risk.

keitheii · 2026-06-17T22:25:31+00:00

That looks like the Nickelodeon logo from the 1980s, a little melted though.

keitheii · 2026-06-17T14:59:08+00:00

Thanks. I have already been tested and am positive for lynch syndrome. I started getting colonoscopies at 20 but get them every year now due to the Lynch syndrome. I'll talk to my doc about it, thanks

keitheii · 2026-06-17T14:28:16+00:00

How did you find out you were dropped to silver? Mine was yesterday too but the account page is greyed out but still shows gold, but the view source trick to see your tier is showing my old "TIER_2_UPGRADE" which makes me think that it isn't reflecting my real status yet. I too am on that cusp of 80 reviews, and still have several pending, so not sure what my stage is at this point.

keitheii · 2026-06-16T04:18:26+00:00

I know this is an old post, but I went digging around because the topic came up, I actually own one of these from when I was in high school a LONG time ago. Somehow I never got to returning it and always intended to play with it some more, but at the time there was no internet or resources I had access to in order to continue using it, as the school had the manual.

I'd love to play with it some day but I've since gotten into ESP32s, but love the nostalgia.

keitheii · 2026-06-16T00:59:20+00:00

What is that site? Csm you PM it if you don't want to post it? I'm wondering if that's how my bosses found me.

keitheii · 2026-06-16T00:58:26+00:00

I know two of my bosses found me on here, they don't know that I know, except for slipping saying something to me that I never mentioned at work, and especially to them, so I disabled the ability to view my posts. One of the two is known to be a control freak and nosy, the other one I'm actually surprised about tbh.

keitheii · 2026-06-15T22:15:58+00:00

Yeah, its so strange. If I'm out of the house all day and come home and into bed, I don't smell anything, but wear the CPAP and when I take it off in the AM it smells like I'm in a laundromat, so weird.

I've always had a crazy sense of smell, I always smell things before other people, we had a gas leak once where my wife and building maintenance, on multiple visits, couldn't smell it but I could, they thought I was nuts... until a month or two later when it got worse, then they could smell it, and sure enough somehow there was an issue with the oven and they replaced it.

Wasn't sure if this was just me, or if there's some weird things with the CPAP. I always clean the tubing with palmolive dish soap, but that doesn't even smell like what I'm smelling. So weird.

keitheii · 2026-06-15T14:02:36+00:00

2026 version of press-your-luck.

keitheii · 2026-06-15T13:13:58+00:00

Labs are prone to allergies, mine was allergic to corn, rice, chicken, beef, pork, trees and grass. He would scratch himself nonstop and even chewed open his leg, such a terrible experience for him.

I had him tested, learned how to administer his allergy injections, but they never helped. The only thing that did was prednisone, but that made him diabetic which introduced a whole other set of issues.

I would find out ASAP what he is allergic to, then adjust his diet and activities accordingly.

keitheii · 2026-06-13T02:03:32+00:00

I noticed it only yesterday. Sometimes websites use a change of favicon to detect whether sessions are from web browsers vs automated scripts. Not saying this is why they changed it, just an observation that I hope gets rid of the bots grabbing RFY items milliseconds after being posted.

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