December chat thread: Try it now.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > December chat thread: Try it now.

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Why the gently caress am I having to run the AC in December?

And what's up with this poo poo?

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ¿ Dec 1, 2018 19:59

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 10, 2024 17:34

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

So one of GF's cats absolutely HATES the vacuum. She'll hiss at it if you're just moving it around (not plugged in, just moving it into the closet or something similar), and if you move it towards her, she goes into full on halloween cat mode.

I vacuumed today. She was... unhappy. I needed to put her back in the bedroom before leaving for work.

I made the mistake of picking her up while she was still a bit spooked..... and walking through the room with the vacuum (across the room at that point).

Not doing that again.

Randall's (our version of Safeway) had BOGO for 4x4" bandages and triple antibiotic ointment. Went ahead and got a tetanus shot while there, since (a) I'm way overdue and my Dr was already pushing me to get one, and (b) there's a very slight chance of getting it from a deep cat scratch (cat scratch fever is far more likely, but hey, been putting off the shot for awhile).

Since I handle a lot of food, I get to wear a glove on one hand (on top of bandages) for several days until this starts healing. I keep disposable latex gloves in the car (in case of a flat, insomnia-inspired oil changes, etc), so I've been wearing one all day.

Galler posted:

I drag the heel of my hand across the wall while holding the end off the magnet the tiniest bit off the surface off the wall and when I feel a tug I gently let them stick.

Years ago I bought a bunch of small, plastic-coated neodymium magnets.

They don't mar the fridge or anything else I've used them on. They're small ones; small enough that they'll barely hold each other if you put one on each side of your hand (instead of crushing your hand), but they'll find any nail through drywall easily.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:07 on Dec 2, 2018

# ¿ Dec 2, 2018 08:59

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

QuarkMartial posted:

It'd certainly make the car more in tents.

So long as he doesn't meth around.

Rhyno posted:

I was looking at my records and my new employer-supplied coverage is roughly the same cost as what I was paying for Marketplace coverage. But the major difference is I'm now in an actual network and don't have to drive 2.5 hours to find a doctor that would take the Ambetter bullshit I was forced into.

Ambetter is pretty decent in Texas, but it's backed by a different company here.

It kinda sucked in DFW, as only one hospital network accepted them (out of the 4 or so major ones in the Dallas side of DFW), but plenty of PCPs accepted it. In Austin, both of the major hospital networks accept it, and finding a doctor was incredibly easy.

I'm pretty happy with it. My deductible this year was $575, generic prescriptions were $1/30 days (and everything I'm on is available in generic), $1 to see my PCP (which my old doctor and current doctor just waived, it costs more to actually bother collecting the $1), urgent care was $15 (in and out of network), ER visits $100. Next year it's the same, except urgent care drops to $10 (and only in-network, but the major PCP and urgent care system here [Austin Regional Clinic] is in-network), and I think ER visits go up a bit. I think I spent maybe $50 out of pocket if you don't count glucose test strips (it's easier to just order them on Amazon out of pocket).

# ¿ Dec 3, 2018 06:48

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

The Prong Song posted:

in the US it's illegal for GCs to expire. Also, Amazon gift cards are the bomb. If 10 people can give me $50 gift card I can now buy myself a $500 item I really wanted.

Wrong.

In some states it's illegal for them to expire. But at a federal level, they have to be honored for 5 years (which is a lot better than what they did before the CARD act passed)

The Door Frame posted:

I don't know if I'm with or not with my ex, but I am a weak man, and I have no excuses for my behavior

Let the little head do the thinking again?

(you okay?)

# ¿ Dec 4, 2018 06:36

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Hey IT goons, what's the best balance between price and reliability (and cheap toner) for a wifi-equipped laser printer right now? Built in duplexing would be very nice, but isn't a deal breaker. Still Brother?

I need something compact with wifi, otherwise i'd buy an old tank of an HP.

I'm gonna be printing several hundred pages of poo poo in January (I want hard copies of all of my tax/business stuff for the year :corsair:

). Plus I'm sick of feeding this stupid inkjet. I swear this fucker needs a new cartridge every 100 pages.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2018 08:54

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

IOwnCalculus posted:

STR: Dell has a few lasers that are literally rebranded Brothers. They are just different enough that you can't use a Brother toner in it, but the usual suspects have just as many cheap as gently caress toners for the Dell versions as they do for the Brothers. Depending on when you buy you might be able to get a better deal on the Dell - I did.

Good to know.

Tomarse posted:

I just had a �beyond meat� burger.
It significantly weirded me out (but was good!)

Have any of you proper meat eating goons had one?

I've had that one along with a couple of other vegetarian burger patties.

The good ones are really good.

Alarbus posted:

On the bad rebranding side, Samsung laser printers are rebadged HP, and the drivers are the absolute clusterfuck you'd immediately think of when combining HP and Samsung. Avoid both.

My last laser was a Samsung, but it was before they combined cesspools, AFAIK (it's ~7 yrs old, parents have it now). I'd forgotten about that though.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2018 07:25

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

nm posted:

Then I'd just buy the best printer for the money and add a cheap print server if it works out cheaper, which I bet it almost always does.

Hell my loving ROUTER has a print server built in, so long as the printer supports USB.

Problem is.... I can't put it near the router. It has to be off on its own, unless I can get GF to clear out all her boxes from under the desk ( :laffo:

that ain't ever happening, especially since she's very against me getting a laser printer to begin with; I print way too much to keep buying ink for her drat inkjet). And GF's cats are wire destroyers - every exposed cable has to be in split tube loom and hidden behind poo poo (bitter apple doesn't phase the fuckers).

Her inkjet supports printing from mobile devices (surprising for how old it is), has built in wifi (even for the scanner part), etc, and it's an Epson (so you're only buying the ink, not a complete printhead, when you replace a cartridge), but it's still expensive to run compared to a laser. And slow. And a serious pain in the dick to unclog the nozzles on when, say, someone leaves it in a hot garage for 6 months. :argh:

(I've only gotten black to print reliably)

Anyway, I guess I'm gonna keep an eye for Brother or Dell printers to pop up on Slickdeals. They had a Samsung today for $39, but the HP part weirded me out (also the deal got taken down by the time I saw it anyway).

# ¿ Dec 6, 2018 06:56

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Goober Peas posted:

I buy my toner from a goon in SAmart - have had 0 quality issues and his stuff is $20/color vs $80/color that Dell charges.

Is it the goon in the Dallas area, that runs Great Cartridge with his dad?

I've bought from him plenty of times (in person when I lived there). Always easy to deal with; he's wandered into AI a few times too. Can't find his thread anymore tho.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2018 06:50

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

64bit_Dophins posted:

In other news my Honda is not burning a quart of oil for every other tank of gas so that's cool.

My Integra (B18A) burned >1 qt per tank.

It didn't leak a drop from the engine itself. The exhaust was dripping some, though. It was amusing when I finally gave up on getting it running right, gave it to a friend, and he tore into it. He said that when he unbolted the exhaust, a pool of oil ran out of the cat.

That loving car made James Bond cream himself with the smoke screen it could put out - anytime somebody got on my rear end, all I had to do was drop down a gear (automatic, but still) and goose it a bit. It also got me banned from parking in the parking lot of an employer, as I usually left right at open (and would smoke out the entire parking lot when I started it).

PO had put an adjustable FPR on it... and never changed the fuel filter. He had helpfully installed a gauge, which showed it dropping to <15 PSI when doing WOT snaps with it parked once it started smoking. Explains all the pinging (which probably had a little to do with why it burned so much oil).

DJ Commie posted:

My last running car fell victim to an 18" deep puddle in a city parking lot. Serves me right for running the K&N in the fender in winter.

My Civic suffered a similar fate (complete with picking up pieces of block, crank, rod, and piston from the road). :sigh:

# ¿ Dec 8, 2018 11:24

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Latest batshit crazy story.

GF refuses to run the heat until it's below ~55 inside. I'm okay with this, our electricity is expensive as hell at this place. The actual kWh usage isn't that bad, but there's a nearly $30 base charge with the co-op we're in, just to stay connected, plus city franchise fees that vary per kWh, and the kWh rate varies depending on the season and whether or not the CEO of the co-op needs to make a payment on his stable of Veyrons.

So my mother bought us a really nice down comforter for Christmas, for in-store pickup at Macy's. I picked it up.

Got home. "WTF is that?"

Me: "My mom bought this for us. It's a lot warmer than what we have!

"

Her: "We're NOT using that. It's too heavy. I HATE DOWN COMFORTERS, THEY'RE TOO HOT!!!!111!11!!"

me: *looks at down comforter we've been using since I moved here* you mean like ... THAT down comforter that's on the bed now? :fuckoff:

The one that leaves me freezing, because it's a really light summer version of what she just dropped $200 on for us?"

Ungrateful. As. gently caress.

I put in 65 hours last week, 70 scheduled this week (so far, I'll very likely add on), in hopes of saving up enough to GTFO. Working at least 13 hours tomorrow across 3 contracts (so far). If I keep working like this for much of next year, I'm gonna find myself into 6 figure territory, but holy poo poo taxes are gonna kick my rear end at that point. I'm following a friend's work ethic - he can't stand his wife, so he works 80+ hours a week (and pulls in well over $100k just in the gig economy - none of it involving Uber or Lyft).

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:45 on Dec 10, 2018

# ¿ Dec 10, 2018 09:37

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Adiabatic posted:

For real I'm looking into first responder training right now I don't ever want to feel that helpless ever again

Check with your local fire department. Some of them will offer classes to the public for very cheap - usually AED, CPR, and basic first aid all in one. It'll be on their web page if it's a thing they do.

If they don't, check with Red Cross and American Heart Association for local classes (my last certification was American Heart Association). Also check with HR at work - they may have to have a certain number of people on-site that are certified; if they do, they may pay for you to go.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2018 06:58

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Finally added a light kit to the bedroom ceiling fan (bedroom is a wire free zone thanks to GF's wire-destroying cats, so no lamps, chargers, etc...). For whatever reason, the first few buildings in this complex don't have lights on the fans, even though the website photos show them (management gave us the okay to add the light kit).

Who can tell me what kind of surprise was waiting for me in that cover had I not noticed something lurking, and had I been a little careless with the plug? I'm glad it had a plug, but that could have been a rather... painful.. experience.

(sorry for portrait mode...)

# ¿ Dec 11, 2018 21:20

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

spog posted:

Was the cat hiding inside the fitting, waiting to slash you?

That's the cat that did this last week, funny enough.

Nah. Exposed pins + capacitor. Would have pissed me off good had I touched the pins.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2018 22:29

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

The Prong Song posted:

Welcome back, STR found a woman so good she made him switch teams. Or he's pinch hitting. Or something something baseball.

Pinch hitting. :cripes:

More like ran into my ex GF from high school (also first relationship I ever had was with her, way back in the 1990s, before some of y'alls was even a thought in yer daddy's nutsacks). :corsair:

The upside is I got to escape DFW for Austin. This is gonna be UGLY when I drop the bomb though.

Magnus Praeda posted:

It's just that STR took a break from that for a bit.

Well I mean, when you go through a multi-year dry spell, any port in a storm sounds good.

And she did light a fire under my rear end to move to Austin, which I like far more than Dallas. Just didn't realize she'd be batshit crazy. I mean, I've known her for 26 years. Quite possibly longer, as we recently found out we went to the same day care around the same time. Eek.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2018 07:32

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Dddddouble post.

GF sent me to the garage with orders to "find all of the Christmas stuff - there should be 2 boxes of lights, 1 of ornaments, a tree, and wrapping paper".

I only found the tree and wrapping paper, and went through literally every box in the garage. I also rearranged it a bit. It took a few pallets of KY, but the Saturn is in there. It's a very tight squeeze, I can barely get out of it. She told me to go through every box to find everything, so I did. She didn't tell me NOT to rearrange the garage to not be a disaster while I was in there. :v:

(she's gonna lose her poo poo, but we agreed the garage was mine to park in "as soon as everything got moved to storage"... that was in August.. I've been bugging her daily for about 2 months about the whole storage room thing, and weekly since I moved here)

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Dec 12, 2018

# ¿ Dec 12, 2018 09:55

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Spotted a rare one today.

tetrapyloctomy posted:

When we treat priapism, just pulling out a big loving needle and syringe and saying, "I'm going to stick this in your dick and take 60cc of blood out of it," often is enough to resolve the issue.

My dick just turned into an innie. :cry:

# ¿ Dec 14, 2018 06:48

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

"I'm going to stick this in your dick and take 60cc of blood out of it" makes it go into hiding pretty effectively.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2018 07:12

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

So between 3 of my 4 spinning HDs all breaking 7 years of actual power on time (1 has over 8 years power-on), and being out of space....

Right now I have a 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and "4TB" (but the way it was partitioned from the factory, I can only use 3TB on it.. didn't realize until I had a substantial amount of data on it, and since it's external with a special snowflake controller, I can't extend the partition... or do anything with the unused space without blowing away what's on the drive now).

It's HDD upgrade time!

I'm all HGST right now, except for the external Western Digital (which is packed just as full). What brands are decent these days? I was thinking a pair of 8TBs (one internal, one external for backups), and also keep the existing 4TB for less important stuff. Or would an external 8TB and a pair of internal 4TBs be a better price?

Looks like HGST is mostly enterprise stuff now, but there's a lot of "low hour OEM" drives out there for cheap (which means no warranty). :ohdear:

# ¿ Dec 15, 2018 00:40

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

IOwnCalculus posted:

Cheapest out there is shucking a WD 8TB or 10TB external. Or just leave it in its case for easier warranty service if you don't mind having an external.

Next cheapest is getting a used drive from someone like GoHardDrive that offers their own warranty. I added some used HGST 8TB to my server this way because I didn't want to have to store a bunch of WD enclosures for warranty work. But my next round of upgrades will probably be shucked WDs because they're so much cheaper.

Outside of those, take your pick from new Toshiba, new HGST, or new WD. Only one I'd still avoid is Seagate, since the last time I tried them, literally every one was either DOA or died within the burn in process.

Wasn't sure how the used OEM ones would go, but the price is really attractive. Attractive enough that I can deal with less of a warranty.

I've always had really bad luck with Seagate; I refuse to touch them. Western Digital was usually pretty solid for me, but my last couple died fairly early (but did start throwing SMART errors well before dying, while every Seagate just up and died with no warning).

I've yet to have a HGST fail, though two of the three I have, do have bad sectors (1 on one drive, 2 on another; the count hasn't increased in 6+ years, so I don't consider it a bad thing). One started life as an external, and my cat knocked it over several times while running, I'm sure that's where the 2 came from.

My external is a WD Green inside its housing (WD MyBook). USB 3.0 at least, but I've just heard so many bad things about Greens that I'd prefer not to run them.

Fermented Tinal posted:

So far I'm liking it but I really think the fingerprint sensor should do double-duty as a secondary home button. I find myself tapping it to go back to the home screen even though I know it doesn't do that on any phone that has a back fingerprint sensor.

My Moto G5 Plus has the fingerprint sensor where Samsung would put their combo fingerprint/home button.

It locks it if I forget and try to use it as a home button. :argh:

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Dec 15, 2018

# ¿ Dec 15, 2018 03:59

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

IOwnCalculus posted:

The 8/10TB externals that get shucked for their drives have either reds, white-label reds, or occasionally even HGST drives in them.

Oh, well in that case...

fake edit: just looked on Amazon, $159 for the 8TB. Yeah, ordering that on payday to toss in as an internal drive, then another one after the holidays to use as an external backup. The $100 difference for a 10TB isn't worth the extra 2TB.

Rhyno posted:

I have that 10TB in my wishlist,just waiting for a price break. I'm tired of having 5 drives that I have to swap around to find what I'm looking for.

Get a SATA card maybe? I think my board has 8 SATA ports... maybe 10. But if yours doesn't, an add on SATA card is cheap.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Dec 15, 2018

# ¿ Dec 15, 2018 06:56

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Oh, gotcha. Does it have USB 3.0 at least? If it does, a powered USB 3.0 hub and a few USB 3.0 to SATA adapters may be a stopgap fix.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2018 07:29

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Kazinsal posted:

Be careful with the 10 TB ones, some of them use a technique called Shingled Magnetic Recording that basically magnetically overlaps tracks on the hard disk platters so your write speeds can sometimes be kinda low since it has to write overlapping tracks back onto themselves. If that's something that matters to you

The majority of stuff I have is audio/video; once it's on the drive, it's staying there.

Good to know though.

IOwnCalculus posted:

The 8TB regularly drops to 130 and the 10tb has hit 160ish recently.

Also good to know. I'll keep an eye out for the 8TB to drop.

Suburban Dad posted:

How do you folks need so much hard drive space? I try not be be a physical or digital hoarder. I think I have maybe 2tb all told, and 1tb is a backup external.

Movies. Many of which would be drat near impossible to replace, so I'd like to keep them safely backed up.

slidebite posted:

I have family in the Caribbean with no natural gas infrastructure and they also have 100+lb propane tanks just like that for their range

Hell, the smallish suburb I live in doesn't have gas infrastructure in much of the city. Several large restaurants that I pick up from frequently have massive propane tanks behind them, and even the grills at the cabana in my apartment complex have (typical grill-sized, but locked up in a cage) propane tanks.

Electricity is obscenely expensive here too, compared to what I'm used to. Austin itself has pretty cheap power (a friend just sent me a screenshot of her $12 electric bill :argh:

), and most of the other surrounding towns are either on Austin Power, or deregulated (so you choose who bills you). The small towns northwest of Austin (like the one I'm in) are on a co-op.

Seat Safety Switch posted:

My 1702 has seen some pretty good mileage with me, though it's starting to have some odd glitches that I'm not sure how to repair. Still pretty afraid of opening up a CRT.

I opened up a TV when I was... 8? 9? 10? or so once. I was that kid that took apart everything in the house.

You can probably guess what the first thing I grabbed was...

wanna guess how far away I wound up?

Queen Combat posted:

Just finished chatting with Amazon, they said "we have to investigate with the carrier before we can do anything." I don't know what kind of investigation they need to do other than, "Was it actually delivered here, or did you mysteriously take a photo of it delivered then put it back into your car?" but whatever.

If they actually sent you a picture of it when it was delivered, it was AMZL (Amazon Logistics). They're slowly moving from independent contractors back to 3rd party DSPs (delivery service providers), but either way, that's a strike against whoever dropped it. They all use the same app, which records the exact (well, as exact as consumer devices can get) GPS location where it was marked "delivered". Even if they didn't take that pic, if the tracking starts with TBA, it was AMZL.

Even with the DSPs, Amazon will threaten to yank their contract entirely if they refuse to terminate a courier who has a history (and by history, I mean something like 0.5% of deliveries) of fuckups.

There's not going to be an "investigation with the courier". They'll pull the GPS coordinates, look at the photo, realize both match as being dropped at the office, and either put a black mark on that courier's record, or deactivate them. (a good thing in that case, the lazy ones make us good ones look bad) It takes about 2 minutes for them to do it. But every form of customer contact is outsourced overseas (hell even their HR is outsourced to India), so... things move a bit slow. And everything is heavily scripted.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2018 07:57

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Applebees Appetizer posted:

Looks like he tried to avoid the strip, over corrected and lost control.

Bingo. He nailed the strip (you can see it go flying up in the air if you watch frame by frame), but tires don't instantly deflate when spiked. That was 100% driver fuckup.

Geoj posted:

Hope everyone that got hit has un/underinsured coverage because I seriously doubt the Cobalt's policy is going to pay on that (assuming it was insured at all/not stolen)

Even if that was the named insured driving, insurance generally says "lol get bent" if the incident happened during the commission of a felony.

And if they're after you with spike strips, you dun' hosed up good. In TX, evading arrest can be a misdemeanor or felony - it's automatically upgraded to a state jail felony if you use a vehicle trying to get away. I would think most other states are similar. So there goes your insurance coverage.

Applebees Appetizer posted:

call my mom

Lol what's mom gonna do for you in that situation.

Probably caught a face full of dashboard and was dazed/concussed. Judging by the chiming with the engine still running, at least one airbag went off too.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2018 06:27

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Holy pope on a rope. GF finally got a storage unit. It only took 2 1/2 months of constant nagging! (and it turns out the GM of the storage place has distant connections to my family in our mutual home town... small world! his brother in law's family worked with my grandfather and uncle)

She was pushing for a 5x10. I pushed for a 10x10 and pointed out all the crap in the garage. Everything I'm stacking is stacked nearly 8 ft high in the storage room, and the 10x10 room is already half full (though to be fair there's a bit of non-stackable stuff in there). I've also claimed 1/3 of it as my own. She's annoyed that I won't mix our stuff, I guess she still hasn't processed the fact that I'm moving out once the lease is up.

I haven't seen half of the living room since I moved in. Or two walls of the garage. I can see them now!

Now the fun part... I started just hauling anything I knew she wasn't immediately attached to to the storage room. So now she wants to methodically inspect each and every box before I touch it (... poo poo will still get hauled out when she's at work). Everything I had in the garage (except for tools and soon-to-be-installed parts) is now in storage. Everything I had in the apartment, except for a few boxes under the desk (and stuff used at least once a month) is in storage. I finally don't feel like I'm living like a hoarder (even if my desk is still a disaster). I can even get my car into the garage (not hers though.. hers is shorter, but wider - I can barely open the doors as it is, and have to angle the car pretty decently to be able to actually walk out without climbing over it). But I want to get the garage to where I can not only get the car in, but I can actually do poo poo like change the oil, or even get to the front of the car once it's parked. And not squeeze myself between all of her cross stitch stuff and the car trying to leave the garage.

Now I see why my stepdad was such a dick about the garage at my parents house. My mom has TONS of poo poo out there. I've organized it 3 or 4 times over the past several years enough to get her car in, then stuff starts creeping back out. This last time was the charm, her car's been in the garage for a year. Still, 2 car garage, the remaining half is 2/3 her stuff, 1/6 stepdad's stuff, 1/6 my stuff (not counting stuff like the lawn mower, edger, etc). I was promised the garage for my parking (and wrenching needs) before I moved in w/GF; I've been here since August 1st and finally got the car in for the first time last week (with a 55 gallon drum of lube and a few prybars).

_{I also found out the lease is until May. So unless I win the lottery, I'm stuck unless I couch surf and continue to pay rent here.}

Barely related - finally found a remote that can do both gates and garage doors. Supports the code hopping that the apartment garage door opener uses (it's just an Overhead Door Legacy from ~2004) and the more specialized stuff for the entry gates (I want to say the receivers are either DoorKing or Lanier, but the remote they gave me is a generic one with no branding). A whopping $20 on Amazon. Pain in the dick to clone the remotes though, and still required programming into the garage door opener. Was apprehensive based on the reviews, but once you figure out the fickle programming, it works fine (and it's only $20 anyway).

Javid posted:

Three parts I need and there is absolutely no combination of them that comes from one goddamned warehouse. With all that shipping factored in, O'Reilly's is cheaper, so gently caress it I'm not even gonna wait for shipping.

This is why I cross shop Amazon. Parts cost is usually higher, but factor in Prime and suddenly Amazon is a lot more attractive for a lot of car parts.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 10:19 on Dec 20, 2018

# ¿ Dec 20, 2018 09:57

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Applebees Appetizer posted:

My wife has bins of clothes/shoes from when my son was a baby and older. She can't let it go. She also keeps tons of poo poo because of "what if" we need it someday. She gets upset if I try to get her to let go of some of it, but I finally got her to get rid of some bins full of winter clothes from when she lived in Boston in the 90's that have absolutely no use in Florida.

I've always been a bit of a minimalist so i don't get it either.

I used to be the same way - I would never get rid of anything. But about 8 years ago I just threw almost everything out except for clothing, furniture currently being used, and, well, my old comic books (which I still have... I really need to toss most of them into recycling, 99% of them aren't worth poo poo). The only things I have in storage are a PC, my TV, end table, and decor. I have dishes and cookware at the apartment.

The garage is still a tight fit. At least now I can open one door halfway though.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2018 02:32

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Well it's a drat good thing the paint on this car is already trashed (no paint at all in several places, just exposed plastic).

Tried to hang a shop light in the garage. Lost the original chains and S hooks when I moved, got replacements. A hook didn't like the angle (used the garage door opener framing, and used a cheater to plug it into the switched ceiling light socket).

LF A pillar is now missing some paint, and the windshield has a nice deep scratch all the way across (diagonally). :argh:

Pretty shocked that T8 tubes survived that drop though.

Ideally I'd have removed the car from the garage, but I'd have to park half a block away if I did that at this hour. Welp.. :sigh:

# ¿ Dec 21, 2018 08:13

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

QuarkMartial posted:

Truly heaven on Earth

Goober Peas posted:

Ooh baby do you know what that's worth

drat YOU

# ¿ Dec 24, 2018 06:31

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

If anyone's interested, seems Rockauto has some Fram Pro Synthetic oil filters on clearance (not sure which ones in particular, but noticed the ones for mine when I used their wholesaler closeout list).

Yeah I know the hate Fram gets, but the Pro Synthetic is essentially the Ultra without the rubber grip (99% filtration, good for 15k, silicone anti drainback valve), not the cardboard garbage that you get in their cheapest filters. I just nabbed the last 2 that fit my car for $2.54/ea + shipping (came out to $9.81 for both shipped, which is at the low end of what a single good filter normally runs me if I can't find a good special at a parts store).

Also, are the Harbor Freight Earthquake XT cordless impacts any good? They claim 1200 ft/uggas on their 20V, and I got a coupon that knocks it down to $239.60 (including 4Ah battery, charger, and case). Coupon code 13000405, looks like it works online too (the super coupons - 20% or 25% off - don't work on their Earthquake line). Seems pretty cheap for something with even half as much torque when you factor in the battery and charger.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Dec 26, 2018

# ¿ Dec 26, 2018 06:37

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Good enough for me. I'm getting tired of renting a bay at a DIY shop anytime I need ugga duggas (nice having a lift, but still... 30 minute drive, no guarantee a bay will be open, and their equipment is getting pretty worn... when I have a decently sized 1 car garage + ramps + jackstands here)

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Dec 26, 2018

# ¿ Dec 26, 2018 08:00

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Ferremit posted:

Milwaukee M18 One key 1/2� ugga dugga. I sheared off a loving 22mm wheel stud on a tractor with the loving thing trying to undo a wheel nut!

That's nearly $200 more than the one I'm looking at once you get a battery and charger. :stare:

(and has similar specs) (undoubtedly better quality tho)

Elmnt80 posted:

I like the little 3/8 drive 12v cordless ugga dugga we have at work. They regularly go on sale for like $50-60 and kick out an honest hundred ft lbs

I don't think that's gonna cut it for suspension work, which is what I need it for.

CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:

Ryobi ONE+ are not the best or most powerful but if you want bang for buck they just cant be beaten - something that cheap shouldn't be that powerful, or that rugged, or batteries that last that long or have such a well thought out tool and battery system.

The price is drat attractive ($130 for just the bare tool, or.. $130 with a battery, charger, and case), but I'm worried 300 ft/lbs may not be enough for some rusty bits. I may jump on that anyway though - I can always return it if it's not enough.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2018 21:26

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:

If your part cant be removed by a Ryobi then you really should use a breaker bar first anyway

My issue is there's some rust. Not excessive, but I'm afraid a breaker bar will either round off the bolt heads, or snap them off. But the price difference is enough that I'll give the Ryobi a try. Home Depot's return policy is decent.

GF will want to murder me for going to Home Depot when she works for their competition, but Kobalt's cheapest 1/2" cordless impact is $220 with battery. Then again, it's also more than double the torque (claims 650 ft/lbs), 24 volts, but less impacts per minute. But if I'm already spending that much, I might as well go with the Harbor Freight one.

I've had good luck with Kobalt stuff so far, but Ryobi seems to be a better value with an excellent ecosystem.

fake edit: gently caress it, just ordered one. And for some reason, the price dropped to $99.00 during checkout. :iiam:

(yes, it's the 1/2" impact Wrench Kit, w/battery, charger, and case). Wikibuy's plugin ran through a bunch of coupon codes, but claimed none worked. I guess one of them did, but it doesn't show any coupon codes applied.

Darchangel posted:

Yeah, that�s pretty much how I knew that.
In other news, it�s currently raining buckets here in Dallas. Pretty impressive from the 15th floor of a building.

Austin got hammered a little while ago. I was in far northwest Austin (Steiner Ranch for ATX goons), a good 30 minutes from home, when it hit. It's calmed down a bit, but still a little random thunder now and then.

I had stayed pretty dry up until my last delivery (sky opened up when I was out of the car). Then I helped push someone off the road after they hydrolocked their car. I feel like a drowned rat right now (though at least I had a thin rain coat). First time I've seen a tornado watch since moving here, too.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2018 07:32

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:

Ryobi ONE+ 1/2" ugga duggas. Cheap, works, robust.

Damnit. I blame everyone here for my wallet being about $140 lighter now. $107.17 w/tax for the ugga dugga kit, $32.45 for the sockets and wobble extensions at Horror Freight.

... it makes an ozone smell, but works fine, when I use it. Uh... that's concerning. I'll see if it keeps making smells like burning after I use it for actual stuff, I just ran it for a few seconds unloaded.

While I was blowing money, I also finally got around to buying a new bong, and a pretty sweet tie dye shirt. :350:

So I guess I still wound up spending almost as much as I would have on a Kobalt or Horror Freight setup...

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Dec 28, 2018

# ¿ Dec 28, 2018 06:37

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

e: nvm

# ¿ Dec 28, 2018 08:15

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Went to visit parents, came home with an oldish laptop (2010?).

Still, free laptop is best laptop. Slapped a spare SSD in, trying to get a Win10 upgrade on it (I know most legit paths are shut down, trying one I suspect still works) - if I can't, I'm either stuck with Win7 or going to toss Linux on it. It's a Pentium T4400 w/4GB RAM, not exactly a powerhouse, and the battery is toasted (meh, :20bux:

for a knockoff on Amazon), but it'll be nice to have a laptop again.

The kicker: it only has one RAM slot. Did they ever make 8GB DDR2 sticks, or did they max out at 4GB? It'd be nice to slap 8GB in, but I'm not having any luck with the googles.

Oh yeah. GF's doctor closed for the holidays, she ran out of her ADD meds, and her doctor has no emergency contact number. :argh:

(it's also a schedule 2 drug, so none of this "hey pharmacist, I can't get ahold of my doctor, can you spot me a few?" stuff that works on non-controlled substances). I know amphetamine withdrawal isn't the end of the world, but hoooooooly poo poo she's bitchy. I guess the upside is she's sleeping a lot.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Dec 31, 2018

# ¿ Dec 31, 2018 04:25

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Yeah it's DDR2. It was a low end laptop for its day. I'm annoyed as hell that it only has 1 RAM slot, but meh.

And the Win10 upgrade path worked; it shows "Windows is activated with a digital license". It's still sluggish, but I suspect it's doing a lot of poo poo in the background (using it now, keeps up w/typing fine, but every now and then I hear the device connected/disconnected sound and see a brief driver install popup). Plus, well, it's a T4400. Not exactly a high end CPU in its day.

I need to find a PCI-x NIC that supports 5 GHz now; 2.4 is so loving saturated where I'm at. At least it's a standard PCI-x module.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2018 04:55

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Powershift posted:

my tablet has a lovely atom processor and windows update constantly running poo poo in the background absolutely murders anything else you try to do with it sometimes.

Thank gently caress it's not quite THAT lovely. I had one of those tablets, and it was.... painful. This isn't terrible, it's just mildly annoying when you're used to an i7. All I plan to use it for is web stuff, so it'll meet that need fine. 10 runs a little better than 7 did on it, FWIW.

Just found that the windows compatibility something or other was murdering the CPU and hammering the SSD. Found some forums posts on that issue and how to disable it (it's a phone home app that sends MS data about performance and compatibility issues, go figure). Seems to have made a decent difference, but it's definitely hammering away at something in the background. Brand new install, so I'm guessing it's just doing typical post-install stuff and checking for updates. :ohdear:

e: huh, battery isn't completely toast. just unplugged it, it's still showing 100% after several minutes. I suspect I'll get about 15-20 minutes out of it at best, though (and not the 3h:02m Windows is predicting).
e2: 100% with 2:36 now :laffo:

I give it another 10 minutes before it croaks. It's a nearly 9 year old li-ion battery from a laptop that wasn't unplugged for over 5 years...

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Dec 31, 2018

# ¿ Dec 31, 2018 05:09

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

That's exactly what I did, via the official MS media creation tool. It wasn't prompting to install any updates, just seemed to be digging for drivers in the background (i.e. 5 minutes into the first actual desktop session, it went from VGA to 1366xwhatever with no warning).

So battery results: it lasted a little under 30 minutes, without much active use (screen kept on, but only occasional web browsing with Chrome, nothing else has been installed yet), before it tried to hibernate (which was apparently too much of a draw for the battery, it powered off in the middle of hibernating). That's with the SSD in there (an old Samsung EVO 840) instead of the HDD it came with. A no-name battery is less than :20bux:

, and that's about the max amount of money I want to throw at a 9 year old Asus. I might try tossing elementalOS on it instead; it's only going to be used for music and web stuff, mayyyyyyyybe some Word (or OpenOffice if I go Linux).

# ¿ Dec 31, 2018 06:02

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Fermented Tinal posted:

otherwise just splurg some of that "I make $100k/y with the gig economy" dosh and get an Office 365 sub.

Lol, less than half that, but I do have an Office 365 sub, courtesy of the university I attended for 2 semesters.

For whatever reason, they never deactivated my access to Office; I have to login through the university's email system (which is just hosted by OWS anyway), then go through a few drop downs, but I have access to Office 365 (5 PC license) through that. It's been 6 years since I attended. :iiam:

It seems to be tied to my Microsoft account, which is... through the university. So if they ever kill that account, uh, guess I'm gonna have to do a reinstall of Windows. Maybe I should make a local-only admin account someday... :v:

They normally keep their .edu email accounts active for all alumni, but I didn't graduate, so I don't qualify as alumni. Not complaining.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2018 06:23

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 10, 2024 17:34

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

64bit_Dophins posted:

Thanks for the heads up on the Windows 10 licenses. I've been needing one for the past few months now.

If you have a working Win7/8/8.1 install (as in activated), you can download the Windows 10 installation media creator and click "upgrade this computer". It still works, for some reason.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2018 19:40

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > December chat thread: Try it now.