[Toshi]

Gripe: I have Hoka Ora Luxe inside (right) and outside (left) sandals, because I’m Japanese and have a clean house interior and because they’re insanely comfortable.

Anyway, I did my raking in the outside slides since I’m dumb. Brought them in and rinsed them off in warm water. Then I stuck them outside for an hour to dry off.

When I grabbed them this evening I found they had shrunk! The darker ones started out a size smaller than the light ones but now are an additional size+ smaller yet in width and length!

They also now have an exaggerated rocker as in the side profile photo, and the toe shape is wrong and asymmetric. They’re too small for me now

I’m going to hit Hoka up tomorrow for a warranty replacement, and if that fails they were bought in April from REI, so I can at least get refunded outright since it’s within the year.

edit: Hoka requires one to fill out a form then mail in the shoes at one's own expense. ain't nobody got time for that. I'll just get REI to refund them and order anew.

 

[Toshi]

PSA for those who pass by Floyd Hill on I-70: sign up for texts as there will be ongoing traffic stops and lane closures as they work on the section.

 

[Toshi]

Cliffs Notes: quite a bit, like a normal car

How Much My Tesla Model 3 Depreciated In 4 Years - CleanTechnica

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! We used to produce a lot of total cost of ownership analyses for the Tesla Model 3 and other electric vehicles, but especially the Tesla Model 3. Something I learned from that is that ... [continued]

cleantechnica.com

 

[Toshi]

attn @Nick

Ruf Tribute Revealed As 550-HP Air-Cooled Love Letter To Porsches Of The Past

Mounted in the rear of the aptly named Ruf Tribute 911-lookalike, the 3.6-liter powerplant was designed by Alois Ruf Jr. himself - the founder of the company.

www.motor1.com

I would buy one were I to win the lottery

 

[Toshi]

for those following along, I am going to push our Japan family trip off to summer 2025 after looking up how much even economy class tickets there will cost for the 5 of us (that being $10.8k + an Economy Plus subscription; for the DEN-NRT direct). got to budget for that. hmph

next summer instead:

- Coos Bay / Seattle trip. skip Cannon Beach. rent minivan in Coos Bay, drive to EUG, fly EUG-SEA. my parents will probably pay for the Coos Bay plane tickets as before, no hotels involved, shorter one way rental.

- do what we talked about doing but didn't do at all this summer: be a tourist in Colorado. do zip lines, rafting, ropes courses, whatever the kids are big enough to do. also spend a week at the mountain house and day trip through Grand Lake into Rocky Mountain NP. couldn't do that this year with it being ripped up for renovations + me working a ton then recovering from my meniscus repair.

 

[Pesqueeb]

for those following along, I am going to push our Japan family trip off to summer 2025 after looking up how much even economy class tickets there will cost for the 5 of us (that being $10.8k + an Economy Plus subscription; for the DEN-NRT direct). got to budget for that. hmph

next summer instead:

- Coos Bay / Seattle trip. skip Cannon Beach. rent minivan in Coos Bay, drive to EUG, fly EUG-SEA. my parents will probably pay for the Coos Bay plane tickets as before, no hotels involved, shorter one way rental.

- do what we talked about doing but didn't do at all this summer: be a tourist in Colorado. do zip lines, rafting, ropes courses, whatever the kids are big enough to do. also spend a week at the mountain house and day trip through Grand Lake into Rocky Mountain NP. couldn't do that this year with it being ripped up for renovations + me working a ton then recovering from my meniscus repair.

We just looked into Paris for next year. Even with my employee discount and NOT going during the Olympics, the cost was . So that's obviously not happening.

 

[Toshi]

Model 3 picked up from Hertz DEN. Quick stop at home for a photo and to pick up some things I’m bringing along.

Now in a traffic hold for road work shy of the pass. This is really slow going. Been here 20 minutes. Might be here 45 minutes more at this pace: beware people headed up to Trestle during similar hours…

 

[Toshi]

57 minutes in so far. Will get through next wave. Might drive back up through RMNP given this.

edit: drove back through Kremmeling/9 down to Silverthorne and the tunnel rather than wait another hour on 40 for this. Probably a wash in terms of time but less frustrating.

went from an initial 93% at DEN to 50% SOC to get to Tabernash. got back up to 65% SOC after charging on my 10 kW EVSE there while looking around the house. 29% at the tunnel. 20% back at home, then charged back to 80% on my home EVSE so that I could be a good boy and drop it off at Hertz at 70%+ SOC as requested by them.

 

[Toshi]

time to see if my photo dump images hosted on Threads will hotlink nicely

on the mountain house EVSE. cord just long enough. both garage bays positively packed with stuff so this was the only way.

testing testing. ok, seems to work, maybe? will run with this.

full garage

insulation day, two trailer's worth. they went for 19" so as to settle into 18.5" or so. R-54.

walkthrough video of entryway and kitchen at this link

new LVP flooring on main floor (and in one of the upstairs bathrooms as that tile was unsalvageable)

bathroom on main floor with extra space now that the washer and dryer are no longer there

kitchen is a big improvement. that's a drawer microwave, which will be much nicer to use than a knee height swing out one.

this weird part wall was shrunk a bit by them and they reinforced the header so barn doors or the like could be hung later.

this is why I'm not putting a hot tub down here. not a nice place to be. another compressor for a single head heat pump for the master suite will live by this 4 ton 5 head unit.

rotten (literally) shower in odd half finished bathroom area by sauna demolished. they'll pull the sink as well and cap its plumbing. this area will be redone in a future project but not now.

new louvers on the doors covering the boiler. they'll be stained. new mantle.

deck is unchanged. still has loose boards from sloppy original contractor.

 

[Toshi]

part 2

stuff piled in one bedroom. note radiant lines in floor.

drop in tub/shower units in the existing bathrooms.

relocated washer/dryer area, along the upstairs corridor.

upstairs and master suite walkthrough at this link.

entryway to master. will have to put some art on that left wall, which is the side of the closet.

master bedroom portion. kept the high ceiling here. all lighting to be standardized with flush mount LEDs that fit in can fittings.

looking back in bedroom towards new closets. small front deck is out the door to the right. bathroom is to the left.

entering the bathroom

vanity will go along right wall here. I hope this space doesn't feel too small once it's fully built.

shower only per our request. will be blue tile on wall.

toilet room. note 120V outlet for my Washlet, or rather knock off BioBidet.

ok, hopefully these image links work!

 

[Toshi]

in case the links do not work, click through to here:

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Containment thread for the mountain house remodel status as of today, August 21. Completion of work is penned in for the end of September at this point. I wedged the rental Tesla in between trailers. Got it just close enough so that the EVSE cord would reach. Two trailers from the blown in...

www.threads.net

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

I had a whole series of posts in the thread laid out. Errored out. Anyway, entryway and kitchen

www.threads.net

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Not too much changed in basement. Louvers here, ripping out rotten shower by sauna there. Will need some paint work. Under deck shown to illustrate why I didn’t elect to put a hot tub there. Drips from above, ugly concrete, and hanging out by the heat pump condenser to boot.

www.threads.net

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Existing bedrooms and hallway mainly notable for lack of carpet (note radiant loops in floor). New drop ins for baths/showers. New area upstairs for washer and dryer. Didn’t poke my head into one bedroom as there was Romex in the lock for some reason.

www.threads.net

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

The main story besides the kitchen is the new master suite.

www.threads.net

 

[Toshi]

Tesla Energy quotes post-credit price, which works backwards to $12,110 for 5.265 kW for rough parity with the above. that's $2.30/installed W.

$14,904 for 6.48 kW, similarly $2.30/installed W. $20,493 for 8.91 kW, scaling linearly at $2.30/installed W.

for context, in Denver in May 2020 I paid $24,900.16 for 11.34 kW (on top of my existing 2.6 kW SolarCity array), $2.20/installed W. so minimal inflation but nothing extra off the top.

quote 2 obtained, from Mona Lee.

5.6 kW via 400W Ureco panels x 14, SolarEdge SE3800H-US inverter (presumably 2 of them?). $13,970 pre-credit, which works out to $2.49/installed W.

got another quote call later this morning with Active Energies Solar. I predict they'll be higher than Tesla Energy as well.



update: upon going back to the Tesla Energy site the fly in the ointment is that they don't do Grand County! well that's too bad since they're cheaper.

update 2, putting this here for later reference should I go solar: MPEI also offers a $500 rebate for PV installations >= 2 kW

Clean Power Program Rebate Application

1. MUST BE A CLEAN POWER PROGRAM CONTRIBUTOR sign up 2. Only one rebate per member 3. Rebate is $500 per system with a minimum system size of 2kW 4. Must provide a project invoice or amounts paid for materials and labor 5. Application deadline is within 3 months of net metered connection to...

www.mpei.com

 

[Toshi]

also got the quote from the HVAC outfit for the mini split for the new master suite, as that area has no mini split head with the current setup.

2 ton, MPEI rebate eligible: Fujitsu AOU24RLXFWH + ASU24RLF. $9,091.96 installed with properly backed out state sales tax + the electrician to run another line for it.

MPEI's rebate will knock $2k off that headline figure, there's $2k more from the Fed 30% capped at $2k credit, and then Colorado has a 10% tax credit as well. So that's net $4,182.76.

I could and plan to effectively finance the whole pre-credit amount through MPEI at 1% APR + one time $100 administrative fee whether paired with solar or not.

 

[Toshi]

mountain solar quote containment post

Tesla Energy (but only in theory--they don't service Tabernash now): $2.30/installed W, scaling linearly with size

Mona Lee: 5.6 kW @ $2.49/W

Solar Wave via Energy Sage: 5.67 kW @ $3.40/W

Freedom Solar/Sunpower: 5.2 kW @ $3.80/W (they claim higher efficiency, so on par with the above systems). Microinverter setup.

RenogyX: 6.32 kW @ $2.50/W

Ion Solar: 5.6 kW @ $2.99/W for another nice microinverter setup system. They initially were at $3.35/W but I price checked them with Tesla (not mentioning they're not available!) and they came down to this.

Independent Power: 5.67 kW @ $3.365/W after haggling down a k. Another nice microinverter system quoted from a Boulder company.

update: I put in for a no-money-down "order" for Tesla Energy, basically just to sign up to be on their notification list when they expand to Grand County. the Mona Lee quote had no name panels and inexplicably the 3.8 kW inverter vs the 5.6 kW nominal power, sketchy.

update 2: highly tempted to go with Ion for the microinverter setup at $2.99/W. Sent their quote over to MPEI.

 

[Toshi]

I now have a reflashed USB-C Blu-Ray drive that I can use to make local, unencrypted copies of my favorite UHD Blu-Ray discs for playing on my laptop, like while traveling. Downloading content for travel is super easy on iOS devices! Not so trivial on actual computers.



edit: a bunch of read errors! seller says it is a bad disc. trying another.

edit 2: works with other discs. found another bad disc as well. but those that work work without any errors.

 

[Toshi]

Cool suspension design. Outside of the box of the confines of the wheel.

Here's Why the 2024 Can-Am Maverick R's Suspension Is So Weird

Can-Am's strange-looking "tall-knuckle" front suspension design is said to improve load distribution and steering geometry.

www.thedrive.com

 

[Toshi]

Ordered a cheap Amazon unicycle. Something to try to learn for kicks. I tried once a solid 20 years ago in a gym and kinda got the hang of it.

 

[Pesqueeb]

View attachment 199408
Ordered a cheap Amazon unicycle. Something to try to learn for kicks. I tried once a solid 20 years ago in a gym and kinda got the hang of it.

I had a supervisor in PDX who used to ride a unicycle around in the hangar. It did nothing to challenge the general consensus that that place was a disorganized circus run by clowns.

 

[Toshi]

Back in the garage. Now with cats, O2 sensors, and a snazzy new skid plate that should deter future erstwhile thieves

 

[Toshi]

View attachment 198484View attachment 198485

credit score gods were appeased a bit even mid month in June. but now angered once again: opened up a $30k card with some random Cleveland credit union because 0% APR x 12 mo with 0% transfer fee intro offer. if I can float $30k for free for 12 mo then yes, I'll take the transient credit score hit.

not like I'm going to open up a new auto loan any time soon anyway… right guys? right?

as the 0% can-kicking for Union-turned-US Bank was near the end of the road I thus opened the extra account with that Cleveland credit union, First Tech. and now I've transferred $29.9k of that debt pile to First Tech.

0% APR x 12 more months. can successfully kicked. no fees, no interest == me winning in the face of inflation.

after the above latest shenanigans-among-many the credit score gods were angered for a week or two

but they have forgiven me once again. I'll sign up for one of these sundry United branded cards at some point in the future. no hurry as December travel already booked.

 

[6thElement]

after the above latest shenanigans-among-many the credit score gods were angered for a week or two

but they have forgiven me once again. I'll sign up for one of these sundry United branded cards at some point in the future. no hurry as December travel already booked.

View attachment 199445

Clearly I can't be associated with you any longer given your poors status.

 

[Toshi]

Clearly I can't be associated with you any longer given your poors status.

View attachment 199448

The credit score algorithms don’t like that I’m carrying lots of debt. Which I am. Or that I open up lots of accounts here and there thus always have one or two in the recent history. Which I do.

 

[Toshi]

Took a look this morning… and I think I these are new grass seedlings! They’re patchy at this point. I overseeded the whole back yard again with the remainder of the seed. Perhaps this new grass idea still has a chance of success.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Took a look this morning… and I think I these are new grass seedlings! They’re patchy at this point. I overseeded the whole back yard again with the remainder of the seed. Perhaps this new grass idea still has a chance of success.

View attachment 199473

Weather should be very cooperative this weekend.

 

[Toshi]

View attachment 198398


Giving this a try for ye olde Land Cruiser. $50 coupon from this price. A whole raft of very similar such screens have cropped up on Amazon as of late. I also got an $8 aux female to USB-A male adapter to hopefully get reasonable quality audio to my stereo:

Phone running Amazon or Apple Music - wireless CarPlay to this Chinese screen thing - aux out from that - adapter - USB audio in to the Toyota stereo via my box that uses the DVD changer input

I give it a 20% chance of not being returned.

tried it out just now. didn't use adhesive since I knew it'd likely suck.

and it did. does CarPlay wirelessly fine... but the audio from said CarPlay was played back over the tiny, tinny speakers in the little screen, despite my attempt at 1/8" out -> USB audio via that grey mini-DAC at the bottom of the image.

shall be returned, as with so many other things.

 

[Toshi]

My other morning project was to finally install the fat tire spacer kit for my 1UP. imperial hardware sizes including imperial Allen keys!

 

[Toshi]

I hope this comes to the US. More electric minivans from everyone, please

Volvo teases first 100% electric minivan, the EM90 is like a ‘Scandinavian living room’

Volvo’s first all-electric minivan is on its way. The Swedish automaker teased the electric EM90 minivan Thursday, claiming it’s like...

electrek.co

 

[Toshi]

Wow. 145 nm route. 425 foot length, carrying 225 cars and 2,100 passengers and crew. 40 MWh of batteries. Shore charging power and exact power output weren’t specified other than “40 times that of the Ampere”, which is listed as 800 kW but 32 MW power seems very high. Then again it is a very big ship.

New Battery-Electric Ferry Smashes Records

Uruguayan operator Buquebus is set to become the owner of the first battery-electric ferry in South America, and it will be a record-holder. This ligh...

maritime-executive.com

 

[Toshi]

(panniers full of Japanese baked goods)

 

[Toshi]

I've had a 3 TB USB HDD plugged into an Airport Extreme as our house's off-loading + Time Machine backup disk for some years now. But that is becoming quite full.

Thus, enter a new drive, with technology marching on as always. 18 TB + a USB 3.0 -A and -C hub in one box, for $300 + tax at Costco.com. I'll be able to daisy chain the existing 3 TB drive as well: Airport Extreme -> this -> existing.

:notbadobama:

Not unrelated: the ripped files from 4K/UHD Blu-Rays are huge! ~21 GB per episode.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I've had a 3 TB USB HDD plugged into an Airport Extreme as our house's off-loading + Time Machine backup disk for some years now. But that is becoming quite full.

Thus, enter a new drive, with technology marching on as always. 18 TB + a USB 3.0 -A and -C hub in one box, for $300 + tax at Costco.com. I'll be able to daisy chain the existing 3 TB drive as well: Airport Extreme -> this -> existing.

View attachment 199549

:notbadobama:

Not unrelated: the ripped files from 4K/UHD Blu-Rays are huge! ~21 GB per episode.

Y u no cloud backup??

 

[Toshi]

Y u no cloud backup??

we also do that. most of my working files these days are on OneDrive or Google Drive.

 

[SkaredShtles]

we also do that. most of my working files these days are on OneDrive or Google Drive.

If I could get some semblance of modern upload speeds, I'd ditch my local backup. But I can't, so fuck Comcast.

 

[Toshi]

The joy of home ownership

Iffy PVC pipe probably with a slow leak on the drip zone (inexplicably outside the fence line—I don’t want to pay to water those plants!) declared itself and frankly transected itself.

tried a nominal 3/4” push on sleeve. Too big. Back to Home Depot again. Tried a 3/4” Sharkbite made for PEX, copper, and CPVC. too small. Got one side to fit by fluting it but the other was disconnected at yet another point further downstream.

turned off the drip zone for now. Will make a third HD trip tomorrow after noon, after the kids’ triathlon.

Frog fren cameo in first two shots. free segment of pipe with the too tight Sharkbite wedged on there in the last

too loose despite clearly being for 3/4" PVC. hmph

 

[Toshi]

"fixed" for now. will get some hose clamps from Amazon: went to Home Depot and found the right size for the tubing that I brought in, but didn't have my wallet and their registers don't even take tap to pay with regular chip cards, let alone Apple Pay.

 

[Toshi]

I've had a 3 TB USB HDD plugged into an Airport Extreme as our house's off-loading + Time Machine backup disk for some years now. But that is becoming quite full.

Thus, enter a new drive, with technology marching on as always. 18 TB + a USB 3.0 -A and -C hub in one box, for $300 + tax at Costco.com. I'll be able to daisy chain the existing 3 TB drive as well: Airport Extreme -> this -> existing.

View attachment 199549

:notbadobama:

Not unrelated: the ripped files from 4K/UHD Blu-Rays are huge! ~21 GB per episode.

getting some slow-ass speeds to the 3 TB HDD plugged into the Airport Extreme.

so it's time to get a real NAS, methinks. that's what I really want in this setting. time to dive down that rabbit hole a bit.

 

[Toshi]

so it's time to get a real NAS, methinks. that's what I really want in this setting. time to dive down that rabbit hole a bit.

Poking around Micro Center I found some likely products. Other relevant datum: my router downstairs has one (well, two: the WAN port as well) 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port in addition to the usual bevy of 1 Gbps ports.

So I'm thinking a 4-bay Asustor AS5304T NAS + 4 x 8 TB Toshiba drives to slot in it, with whatever is the best RAID level for that array config. I'm going with those choices because they're a) in stock at Micro Center DTC in appropriate quantities, and b) the Toshiba is on sale for $18/TB, a decent deal.

I'll poke around on Amazon for a minute or two to see if these deals are good, but they probably are. I'd like 4 bays, 2.5 Gbps, and at least 16 TB usable storage after RAID XYZ.

 

[Toshi]

I'll poke around on Amazon for a minute or two to see if these deals are good, but they probably are. I'd like 4 bays, 2.5 Gbps, and at least 16 TB usable storage after RAID XYZ.

this one fits the bill nominally

https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-433-4G-US-Quad-core-Processor-Diskless/dp/B0B8M5WQ1Y/ref=sr_1_9

but its reviews suck

this one is from the same brand and also nominally meets the bill. basically running on phone hardware instead of cheap PC hardware. I'm cheap sometimes but I think I shouldn't scrimp here.

https://www.amazon.com/Asustor-Drivestor-AS1104T-Attached-Personal/dp/B094QQ8F4J/ref=sr_1_11

this is an interesting one: all M.2 SSDs, not HDDs!

https://www.amazon.com/Asustor-Flashstor-FS6706T-Computer-Attached/dp/B0BZCM22WD/ref=sr_1_25

time to price out a few M.2 SSDs and 3.5" spinny discs vs the $18/TB Toshiba one at Micro Center:

looks like we're about $100/2 TB name brand SSDs and $300/4 TB Western Digital. yeah, nah. and Amazon's price for the 8 TB Toshiba N300 is $28.50/TB.

ok, so I am ok with the stuff in stock at Micro Center. after dinner I'll plan out a public transit adventure to/from there tomorrow if it's at all convenient. (or will just drive mid day like a normal human. maybe.)

 

[Toshi]

I am ok with the stuff in stock at Micro Center. after dinner I'll plan out a public transit adventure to/from there tomorrow if it's at all convenient.

Rather amazingly it’s not bad at all! One bus, the whole damn way down there from my local A Line/bus station that’s easily accessible via bike. (Note that this statement is true tomorrow. But as of Sept 3 the bus route will be shortened at the bottom of it and won’t go all the way to DTC. So this will be the one and only time I do this, the fare free months of July and August this year being the other key bit.)

I will totally do this and bring my laptop. Two hours of coding time, or movie time with headphones if I get bored of that.

 

[Toshi]

Two hours of coding time

this is what I've been up to this weekend (screencap video at link)

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

I was this years old when I found out that OS X has a built in screen recorder TMYK anyway, this is the fruits of my labors of this afternoon. these are stacks (33 acquisitions over time) of MRI images of various vials filled with water (the black ones) or different concentrations of gadolinium.

www.threads.net

MRI contrast research. those vials seen top down there contain various concentrations of gadolinium contrast either in plasma or pig blood. mmm pig blood

/non-Kosher passover intensifies