[Toshi]

Yeah, I'm not expecting much assistance. I can't log in to or otherwise query the optical network terminal, though, so I'm hoping they can just verify signal to that is good, etc.

Otherwise I'm going to try turning off wireless on the RT-AC68U downstairs (leaving two other dedicated access points not doing routing on the main floor and in master bedroom upstairs) to see if it's just overtaxed. I do have a lot of devices wired to it via two switches:

- TV
- AV receiver
- Blu-Ray player
- Harmony hub
- SolarCity box that reports panel output/status to the internets
- MyQ box for the garage door opener
- gaming/work computer
- two access points elsewhere in house

Perhaps routing all that traffic plus the wireless clients (two iPhones, one Leappad, one Kindle, two laptops, four DropCams) is taxing its wee silicon chip-brain.

 

[StiHacka]

Perhaps routing all that traffic plus the wireless clients (two iPhones, one Leappad, one Kindle, two laptops, four DropCams) has triggered traffic throttling and shaping at CentruryLink edge routers.

FTFY

 

[Toshi]

FTFY

A good thought but seems not the case:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/07/centurylink-charges-data-overage-fees-may-disconnect-excessive-users/

I'm not in Yakima and have their gigabit fiber anyway, which should be exempt in that market. Never received an overage warning from them either--there's only so much tentacle hentai one can download before getting bored, after all.

 

[jstuhlman]

toshi...y u not 2yo qx60 for 3 row family whip?

 

[Toshi]

toshi...y u not 2yo qx60 for 3 row family whip?

We will have a minivan. This frees me from 3 rows as long as I can fit 3 wide. The LS fits that bill, and I am super psyched about its "stereo" system (19 speakers!).

I'm an old man.

 

[jstuhlman]

are you really envisioning a great need to transport all three at a time when the minivan is not available? would you not just swap cars with mrs. toshi at said time?

 

[Toshi]

are you really envisioning a great need to transport all three at a time when the minivan is not available? would you not just swap cars with mrs. toshi at said time?

You are correct. But that's what she wanted, so why not? Gives me an excuse to get an LS, which I've wanted for a long while anyway.

 

[jstuhlman]

well get something funner then an LS then! unless you have a secret wish to roll biggie smallz style in "a lexus ls, four-and-a-half" . . .

 

[Toshi]

well get something funner then an LS then! unless you have a secret wish to roll biggie smallz style in "a lexus ls, four-and-a-half" . . .

Meh. Worst case is I get bored of it in 3 years or so, sell it, and start anew. Best case is that I love the stereo and quietness (both of them individually interests of mine) and keep it long term.

 

[Toshi]

I'm going to try turning off wireless on the RT-AC68U downstairs (leaving two other dedicated access points not doing routing on the main floor and in master bedroom upstairs) to see if it's just overtaxed.

Wireless turned on on the downstairs RT-AC68U also handling routing:

Wireless turned off (thus only routing on that unit, with wireless handled by the other two access points in the house--this via a gigabit Ethernet connection, clearly):

Problem solved. I'm not quite sure why I could get similar high speeds before with wireless on with that same router. Go figure.

 

[Toshi]

Perhaps problem not solved. Speeds went down with WiFi off on the downstairs router about an hour later.

This morning I updated the Merlin firmware and speeds are back up... for now. Hmph.

Edit: Speeds have stayed up with latest Merlin firmware. I even turned the WiFi back on on the downstairs router and they stayed 600+. Good enough. A perusal of the other options shows that they're all limited and that test regimens that purport to show 938 Mbps WAN to LAN NAT throughput are bogus (testing with one computer in DMZ, in particular).

 

[Toshi]

Jesus would have driven a Land Cruiser:

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-bishop-says-jesus-christ-would-have-accepted-this-land-cruiser-too-58068

 

[StiHacka]

Perhaps problem not solved. Speeds went down with WiFi off on the downstairs router about an hour later.

This morning I updated the Merlin firmware and speeds are back up... for now. Hmph.

Busy backplane?

 

[Toshi]

Busy backplane?

Alas, I am not nerdy enough to understand this reference. Unless it's about downloading porn. I understand that.

 

[Toshi]

Best case is that I love the stereo and quietness

More on this: One big draw of the stereo is that it plays DVD-Audio. I therefore went through the DVD-Audio offerings on Amazon and put a bunch on my wishlist, and ordered a few to have around as demo discs for the pending test drive. (Once the transfer to the local CarMax is complete I have 72 hours in which I get right of first refusal, iirc.)

I was therefore looking at how to get DVD-Audio (and maybe Super Audio CD as well) support at home. The OG DVD players all supported it, but the new slim-margin Blu-Ray players like the Samsung I have at the moment cut that support long ago, as far as I can tell. I thought I'd "have" to waste money and get something like the OPPO BDP-203, which would do 4K Blu-Ray as well as DVD-A and SACD.

One drawback with that setup is that when the source was switched to the Blu-Ray player for the audio then I couldn't fart around on my gaming computer, as the audio and the video inputs are tied together (everything is routed through the AV receiver--only one HDMI cable going into the TV). That led me to come to my senses and realize that a full-fledged Windows box with a DVD drive should and indeed can play back DVD-Audio discs just fine. Hell, since 2012 or so VLC does it natively!

The long and short of it is that I'm chilling on the couch downstairs, farting around the computer while simultaneously listening to Strauss's Vier Letzte Lieder in 5.1 surround sound via a DVD-Audio disc. I still haven't found the knockout track to use as my stereo audition track for the test drive, as it were, but the experience so far is good.

 

[Toshi]

So one of the draws of this Lexus was that Curt makes a 1.25" hitch for it. @narlus had reported that on his old Civic he'd had a local shop weld up a 2" receiver in place of the 1.25" receiver similarly available stock for his ride.

Well, I've struck out on that unless I pick up welding myself. None of the local shops will do this, even those that build custom hitches for RVs and the like. I think it's a liability issue.

I guess I'm stuck with an adapter then, like this:

Tongue weight limit on that rack and the adapter alike are 350 lbs so it still should work with the 4 bike attachment... right? I guess I'll find out. The good news is that going with a riser adapter will help departure angle--I think I mentioned this earlier when musing about the 1.25" hitch options for the Prius idea similarly neglected in the interim.

 

[StiHacka]

So one of the draws of this Lexus was that Curt makes a 1.25" hitch for it. @narlus had reported that on his old Civic he'd had a local shop weld up a 2" receiver in place of the 1.25" receiver similarly available stock for his ride.

Well, I've struck out on that unless I pick up welding myself. None of the local shops will do this, even those that build custom hitches for RVs and the like. I think it's a liability issue.

I guess I'm stuck with an adapter then, like this:

Tongue weight limit on that rack and the adapter alike are 350 lbs so it still should work with the 4 bike attachment... right? I guess I'll find out. The good news is that going with a riser adapter will help departure angle--I think I mentioned this earlier when musing about the 1.25" hitch options for the Prius idea similarly neglected in the interim.

Looks very flexy.

 

[Toshi]

Looks very flexy.

Flexy is fine. Cracky is what I want to avoid.

 

[Toshi]

I guess I'm stuck with an adapter then, like this:

To the surprise of literally no one (including myself), I'm having second thoughts about this Lexus LS plan.

There's that hitch/adapter issue exacerbated by the 4 bike T2 rack.

The instructions for hitch installation seem a royal pain in the ass: removing underbody shield, trimming it a bit, removing bumper cover, removing foam and plastic bits from bumper beam, unscrewing bumper beam, then somehow lifting the bumper beam and the hitch simultaneously while screwing it back in place, followed by putting everything back in order.

I'm also not convinced it's actually a wide enough car for true 3-wide action. There's this photo that I used to convince myself, true:

But then there are these data (note proper plurality of data ) on rear hip room:

2012 RAV4: 52.4", which is definitely too narrow for two Britax Advocates + an adult human back there
2007 Land Cruiser: 57.9". This works for two Britax seats + an adult.
2012 LS 460/L: 55.5"... which is solidly in "maybe will work?" territory.

If the car isn't truly wide enough for 2 seats + adult then I'm obligated to keep the Land Cruiser around. It'd be parked on the street, which seems a very poor idea given @Adventurous's experience with hail damage and the like...


It's no accident that I picked a dealer with no deposit for that Prius Prime lark when I was dead set on moving back to Seattle and that I picked a CarMax Lexus LS with a $0 transfer fee...



What I think I'll do is let that pending CarMax transfer complete (no word on when that's happening), and at that point head to the store with a DVD-Audio disc and two of the Britax car seats in the back (as they always are in both of our current vehicles).

If I am blown away by the stereo and if there exists adult-size room in the back seat with the Britaxes in the center and side positions then I'll buy it and deal with the hitch issues, possibly through returning the extra 2 bike attachment and making other people drive to the trailhead.

If either of those conditions is not met then I'll continue on my scheming ways without a Lexus LS in the garage.

 

[Toshi]

Alternately, in order to be less of an asshole to the innocent CarMax people I could take that same DVD-Audio disc and those car seats to the 2009 or 2014 Lexus LSs already at local CarMax stores and try that experiment.

I probably should do that.

 

[Toshi]

In other, non-neurotic news, we're getting a kitten:

Those are my kids (duh) and the kitten in question. A few more weeks of weaning before it comes home with us officially.

 

[Toshi]

I test fit the car seats at a local CarMax. This particular car was a short wheelbase ex-smoker's car with illegal tint and an annoying tint strip on the windshield. Also no Mark Levinson so my DVD-Audio disc wasn't recognized.

The angle is somewhat deceptive. The edge of the middle car seat's head bolster was about even with the edge of the front passenger's headrest. Not very comfortable, in other words. I am broader of shoulder than the average bear but I had to hang an arm entirely into the middle car seat to fit. It doesn't pass the "would Jessica willingly sit there for an hour" test by a mile.

Therefore I canceled my (free/no obligation) transfer request for that long wheelbase Georgia LS 460. I'm leaning living in the slow lane, literally, with my 265 hp, 5600 lb Land Cruiser. I think I will add a USB audio interface, though, to bring it to this century. The audio quality via the tape adapter I use now is quite poor in the upper frequencies.

 

[jstuhlman]

i'm still not sure why you think you're going to have to haul all three kids at the same time if you already have a vehicle in which you can do same...

 

[Toshi]

i'm still not sure why you think you're going to have to haul all three kids at the same time if you already have a vehicle in which you can do same...

That's the wife's paranoia, that something would come up and the other vehicle would have to be used in a pinch. If I drop that criterion then I should just adopt the wife's electric car when she gets a minivan. It has 2" hitches available.

 

[Toshi]

If I drop that criterion then I should just adopt the wife's electric car when she gets a minivan.

This pretty much solves the 3 kid scenario here. By next spring the then-not-so-new 2018 Odyssey should be discounted, so that'll be the time to pounce.

The stick-with-two-kids scenario isn't very interesting, either, as since her car is electric I probably should just keep the Land Cruiser anyway for ski trips.

This brings me to the pressing question: What ski season passes should I spring for this year? Last year we did Winter Park only. Mary Jane is great for me with regard to variety and ease of access to the slopes from parking but frankly Winter Park when one must trek all the way over to the lesson building is kind of a pain. (The wagons are rarely available.)

I can get free during the week to go skiing but Mariko will be in full-time preschool and Jessica doesn't want me to pull her all the time to go skiing, so it'll be a weekend thing mainly... so Winter Park again and just accept the not-cheap price of the Amtrak ski train as part of the deal? Or A-Basin? Lessons are definitely cheaper at A-Basin. I'll probably spend the whole season skiing with Yuna, who will be too young for formal lessons anyway so maybe the cheapest way is the way to go.

 

[Toshi]

This brings me to the pressing question: What ski season passes should I spring for this year?

I just pulled the trigger on an Epic Local pass. By getting in under the midnight wire today I got two buddy passes (fixed price as opposed to the 6 variable price discount ones) as well as unlimited Vail access in April 2018. The latter could be nice if the spring doesn't turn out to be crap like this year.

I figure I'll stick to A-Basin on the weekends with the lesson-taking Mariko so as to avoid the tunnel and keep the drive as short as possible and then take (10 or less) weekday vacation days in January through March and zip up to Vail for a solo day.

 

[Toshi]

Tomorrow I'm treating the Land Cruiser to an interior detail (at Arapahoe Collision and Mechanical as they did a good job with the wife's RAV4 EV a month or two back). The leather is a bit dirty from regular use and my expertise with cleaning interiors basically begins and ends with wet baby wipes. When I feel super fancy I also work in a magic eraser sponge, which actually did wonders to remove bike tire scuffs on the back of the second row seats.

The cleanliness of the leather speaks against plans conceived and as of yet unconceived to upgrade to something très chic in the future. Semi-aniline leather in a Lexus LX 570 probably wouldn't fare well with muddy riding clothes even if that vehicle's 2" hitch and zoom-zoom 5.7 liter V8 would suit my fancy.

 

[6thElement]

Wife likes one of the current Lexi, but it would need to be in her favoured black.

http://www.lexus.com/models/LC

I don't think it will take two bikes and gear though

 

[Toshi]

Wife likes one of the current Lexi, but it would need to be in her favoured black.

http://www.lexus.com/models/LC

I don't think it will take two bikes and gear though

I'd probably be aggravated in that thing for headroom/perceived roominess concerns. I just want a big, fast box on wheels, more or less.

 

[StiHacka]

• 

?

 

[Toshi]

She does clean up nicely:

(Full interior and exterior detail today at Arapahoe Collision & Mechanical.)

 

[StiHacka]

She does clean up nicely:

(Full interior and exterior detail today at Arapahoe Collision & Mechanical.)

Looks good but it ain't no Lexus.

 

[Toshi]

Looks good but it ain't no Lexus.

That was a deliberate choice once I decided on a 100 series. The 100 series Lexus, the LX 470, is absolutely hideous. Looks like a cross-eyed spider.

I also like having a Toyota badge, even if this Toyota was originally more expensive than all but the LX and the LS in the Lexus lineup.

 

[StiHacka]

That was a deliberate choice once I decided on a 100 series. The 100 series Lexus, the LX 470, is absolutely hideous. Looks like a cross-eyed spider.

My friend had one until the air suspension failed and he was asked to pay close to 10 grand to fix it.

 

[Toshi]

My friend had one until the air suspension failed and he was asked to pay close to 10 grand to fix it.

That's the catch about the late 100 series Land Cruisers (2006/2007, like mine): they have that same air suspension (AHC/AVS), for better or worse. The only things separating the late LC and the LX are JBL vs Mark Levinson stereo, noting that they're owned by the same parent group; wood on the steering wheel; and seat/wheel/mirrors memory.

One can always revert to the non-air setup if fixing it is too pricey down the road.

 

[Nick]

She does clean up nicely:

(Full interior and exterior detail today at Arapahoe Collision & Mechanical.)

damn, looks really nice.

 

[Adventurous]

I'd probably be aggravated in that thing for headroom/perceived roominess concerns. I just want a big, fast box on wheels, more or less.

Ain't nothing but a G thang baby.

 

[Toshi]

Finally pulled the trigger. It'll pay for itself with the one flight to Hawaii ($1000 up front versus $125 per passenger-leg x 4 passengers x 2 legs), and any extra trips (at least Seattle x 2 planned) will be gravy.

 

[Toshi]

2" hitch now on the EV. Easy as can be, except for the whole bench pressing the hitch with one lax-jointed arm while threading in bolts with the other hand bit.

 

[Westy]

2" hitch now on the EV. Easy as can be, except for the whole bench pressing the hitch with one lax-jointed arm while threading in bolts with the other hand bit.

Your car's jack is your friend, and not just for fixing flats.