[Toshi]

Kids triathlon. Both kids had fun and were happy with their days. Mariko placed 5th of 26 in her class. Yuna placed 19th of 35 in her class.

rode to and from there, Aya in the back of the cargo bike

Mariko in action, long alien baby that she is now

Yuna in action

 

[Toshi]

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.

Emerging into sobriety from the rabbit hole. I don’t need business class redundancy and the like. That USB 3.0 drive + hub from Costco will work fine. I’ll just suffer the indignity of having to plug it into my laptop directly for good transfer speeds, and will live with one spinning platter.

it’s a much better deal for that much storage at $300 + tax. Bus plans scrapped. I will find something other to fill my day, like cutting down handlebars (not on my bikes!), playing trumpet, and working on code while lounging in the massage chair.


Edit: went down a different 2 bay Asustore NAS rabbit hole… and finding out that these little crappy Linux boxes got hit with ransomware was the final straw. Don’t need that in my life

 

[Toshi]

Dropped off all kids this morning as wife on jury duty. Just over an hour of driving: downtown for elder two, Montbello for youngest. Land Cruiser in its natural habitat of a preschool parking lot

put fiberglass tape on window screens clawed by kitties. A bit ugly but easier than rescreening each fully. Will do fine.

sprayed 4 gallons of siloxane on new and old concrete work. 4 gallons was probably too much. At least coverage should be more than adequate

finally, lawn update. Things are growing. Not very even or thick but there’s life

 

[6thElement]

sprayed 4 gallons of siloxane on new and old concrete work. 4 gallons was probably too much. At least coverage should be more than adequate

View attachment 199659
View attachment 199660

That's effectively what I needed your jet wash for, if I'd known you were an expert

What did you use to spray the stuff? I hadn't got that far in the process other than buying an expensive bucket of "Sika Sikagard 740W Water Repellent Penetrating Sealer ", which was what your favourite engineer recommended in his report.

 

[Toshi]

That's effectively what I needed your jet wash for, if I'd known you were an expert

What did you use to spray the stuff? I hadn't got that far in the process other than buying an expensive bucket of "Sika Sikagard 740W Water Repellent Penetrating Sealer ", which was what your favourite engineer recommended in his report.

I have a 4 gallon electric backpack sprayer. I am slowly collecting all of the 60V Greenworks tool lineup apparently

If you're around today I'm happy to drop it off if that'd help you as that product does seem to be sprayable—ain't nobody got time to brush such things on! Have to drive halfway out to you to drop off excess recycling anyway so am already going to be in the car.

Sikagard®-740 W

Sikagard-740 W is used as water-repellent penetrating sealer (hydrophobic treatment) for concrete and cementitious substrates based on concentrated Silane emulsion.

usa.sika.com

 

[SkaredShtles]

Am I the only one that has never treated concrete with a waterproofer?

 

[Toshi]

Am I the only one that has never treated concrete with a waterproofer?

I never have before, but someone on NASIOC recommended that after I got the hot tub pad poured, and it seemed prudent. And now was/is the time before the hot tub goes atop it.

 

[6thElement]

Am I the only one that has never treated concrete with a waterproofer?

I'm having to do it to solve a leaky concreate roof/deck above our garage. It's 70 years old so I can cut it some slack.

 

[Toshi]

Bus plans scrapped. I will find something other to fill my day, like cutting down handlebars (not on my bikes!), playing trumpet, and working on code while lounging in the massage chair.

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Afternoon projects: - cut down the bars on middle kid's and wife's bikes - middle kid's bars already were cut down by me before but she's small. Went from ~680 mm to ~550 mm, with no more room to move controls inboard now - wife's bars started out uncut at a full 780 mm and ended up at 680 mm...

www.threads.net

Handlebars: Cut. (Yuna's bike went from about 680 to a slim 550 mm. No more room to move controls more inboard yet! Jessica's went from an uncut 780 mm to a more reasonable 680 mm.)

Excess recycling: Dropped off.

Sprayer: Dropped off.

I should go play some trumpet before heading out to pick up the various kids. I thought about code design while in the car, just haven't done it. That counts, right?

 

[Toshi]

Emerging into sobriety from the rabbit hole. I don’t need business class redundancy and the like. That USB 3.0 drive + hub from Costco will work fine. I’ll just suffer the indignity of having to plug it into my laptop directly for good transfer speeds, and will live with one spinning platter.

it’s a much better deal for that much storage at $300 + tax. Bus plans scrapped. I will find something other to fill my day, like cutting down handlebars (not on my bikes!), playing trumpet, and working on code while lounging in the massage chair.


Edit: went down a different 2 bay Asustore NAS rabbit hole… and finding out that these little crappy Linux boxes got hit with ransomware was the final straw. Don’t need that in my life

View attachment 199642

and after all this I bought a NAS



Buffalo LinkStation 220. 2 bays, and includes two 6 TB drives in the config I ordered. $380 shipped at Amazon, which is actually $20 cheaper than Micro Center would be in store for the same thing.

Buffalo says they were not so shoddy in their coding to be hit by the ransomware as above for Asustor. and I shan't be opening anything to outside my own network, methinks. certainly not http or telnet! maybe ssh/22, maybe.

Costco.com sourced 16 TB single USB 3.0 drive + hub thing shall be returned unopened to Costco, perhaps via cargo bike even! (new store in Green Valley Ranch and I think there's a decent route there from my house).

 

[Toshi]

hot tub delivery day: Tuesday Sept 5.

 

[kidwoo]

time for the same trivial math for charging the PacHy:

it's rated at 410 Wh/mi in electric, 30 mpg on gasoline.

85 octane was $3.979/gal when I drove by Quik Trip today. electricity in summer months under time of use is 11 cents/kWh off peak, 19 cents/kWh mid peak, 27 cents/kWh peak.

so the question I'm going to answer is what equivalent gas price do each of those electricity rates correspond to.

11 cents/kWh * 41 kWh to drive 100 miles / 90% charger efficiency == $5.01, which would break even at $1.50/gal gas.
mid peak 19 cents ==> $8.66, breakeven at $2.60/gal gas.
peak 27 cents ==> $12.30, breakeven at $3.69/gal gas.

therefore I should not worry about when the PacHy gets charged, as it's cheaper at any time than actual gas, and subjectively is better to drive in electric mode anyway beside the environmental benefit (recall that we overproduce from our PV system so our electricity is carbon free).

see the reason people don't want to let you into colleges is because you're fucking annoying

 

[kidwoo]

hot tub delivery day: Tuesday Sept 5.

see what I mean?

 

[Toshi]

see the reason people don't want to let you into colleges is because you're fucking annoying

see, but that’s the thing

I don’t just crow here

I also post my Ls. Like the swallow bugs. And the deck contractor (still not fixed!). And the EQB mistake. And the sorry state of my lawn. And my big ol’ piles of debt.

 

[Toshi]

I should buy—and then quickly sell for a loss—a Megarexx eh

MegaRexx® SVN™ | MegaRexx® Trucks

The ALL-NEW MegaRexx® SVN™ by MegaRexx® Trucks. The full-size, 7-passenger, diesel-powered, LUXURY SUV you've been waiting for!

www.megarexxtrucks.com

 

[kidwoo]

you forgot tesla

 

[kidwoo]

I should buy—and then quickly sell for a loss—a Megarexx eh

MegaRexx® SVN™ | MegaRexx® Trucks

The ALL-NEW MegaRexx® SVN™ by MegaRexx® Trucks. The full-size, 7-passenger, diesel-powered, LUXURY SUV you've been waiting for!

www.megarexxtrucks.com

see, elite colleges (outside of legacy admissions) are interested in candidates who can show a capacity for learning

you've shown you're just not there yet

 

[Toshi]

you forgot tesla

I held onto that for 18 mo and didn’t come out that too far in the red. That was fine.

The Volvo that immediately preceded that was a debacle, though. Only partly my fault: Volvo fucking up the paperwork and leading me to get so many temp tags and waste my time at the DMV was entirely their bad.

 

[kidwoo]

didn’t come out that too far in the red.

see, elite colleges (outside of legacy admissions) are interested in candidates who can show a capacity for learning

you've shown you're just not there yet

 

[Toshi]

see, elite colleges (outside of legacy admissions) are interested in candidates who can show a capacity for learning

you've shown you're just not there yet

almost all cars cost money over time. that one was acceptable in cost for that period of time.

my Land Cruiser has needed parts and service over the years but it’s worth about what I paid for it in 2014… it’s a unicorn.

putting small 30.5” meats on it may well lower its perceived value to bro-dudes, though.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Am I the only one that has never treated concrete with a waterproofer?

 

[Toshi]

the siloxane appears to work, go figure. Bonus shot of insect fren

 

[Toshi]

oh, in my highlights list I forgot my biggest economic blunder: missing out on PSLF due to checking the wrong box when switching loan servicers. that cost me about $50k. whoopsies.

https://twitter.com/maximumcharacte/status/1330601995418341382

 

[Toshi]

interesting psychology

Wife Breadwinner – Managing the Gender Role Reversal | White Coat Investor

In my marriage, I'm the primary earner. Here's how I think about bucking customary gender-based norms and making more money than my husband.

www.whitecoatinvestor.com

 

[Toshi]

my busy July, quantified. a lot of that was paid overtime/moonlighting. I'm usually "just" around 160-170% of what our target is.

 

[Toshi]

rode home with my Baby Aya. no car incidents, 7/5

post-replacement windshield has a (thankfully non-harmonic/diffuse frequency range) whistling noise up top, no doubt due to this gap

so I got some of this stuff. very plastic in the sense it's infinitely malleable apparently

a little lumpy even with pushing it about for 20 minutes. but hopefully it shall do the trick. bonus is that my slime-crazy middle kid just loves to play with the rest of it

 

[Toshi]

New smaht meters got installed randomly today as the Xcel contractor apparently went down the whole block. Two are showing time an hour off (not great when this is for time of use pricing! I called them to open a ticket).

main, a GE I-210+ non-C. CL 200 means rated for up to 200A continuous demand, so again my main panel is probably 200A. FM2S means "Form 2S", for single phase 3-wire, and 3W similarly is 3 wires. I'm not 100% certain this one was replaced. I searched through nearly a year of photos and didn't see one of the meter before so who knows.

I'm not sure why it's not the I-210+c given this is a smart meter application hmm

two ones, one for each PV system. these appear to be new indeed. they are OpenWay Centron units, which use the itron network to communicate I guess? one was giving "error 4". these are the ones with the time an hour off.

the above was July 13. and I somehow included two of the same meter image. anyway, an Xcel contractor came by today… and replaced all 3.

on the upside, all 3 are legit smart meter types now: Itron Gen5 Riva.

 

[6thElement]

I have a third of those superflash if you need it.

 

[Toshi]

I should get an e-Sprinter

Mercedes-Benz shares cost of the its new eSprinter van, is it worth a camper conversion?

Is a viable option for electric van life finally here? Possibly! Earlier today, Mercedes-Benz shared more details of its 2024...

electrek.co

56, 81, or 113 kWh of LFP. 100 or 150 kW motor. 50 or 115 kW DCFC options, 9.6 kW onboard charger for use with L2 EVSE.

Starting at $72k for the 113 kWh, low power cargo van variant.

I hope to see a ton of these around, and the larger battery option will push Ford from their e-Transit coma.

 

[Toshi]

Starting at $72k for the 113 kWh, low power cargo van variant

Here’s how I’d build one. $89k.

Build & Customize Your 2025 eSprinter Cargo Van

Build and equip your Mercedes-Benz eSprinter Cargo Van from the outside in to create the perfect vehicle for your business needs. Get started today.

www.mbvans.com

They only come in cargo van, high roof, 2500 trim. Makes sense for the delivery target market. 2,600+ lb payload.

 

[Toshi]

1) Engineering firm 2 seems more of an established, real company. I think I shall hire them for their $1,500 fee and see what they say wrt the deck and reinforcement for the long-planned hot tub.

2) Got the budget update from the project manager/designer lady handling point for the mountain house renovations. Not entirely clear what "over budget" means here--one more check in the future to take us to somewhere between the current $196k outlay and $250k? or over the $250k point? Clarifying with her. But things are wrapping up, I am told! Cleaners soon and carpet as the final bits, after the paint and final work get done either tomorrow or more likely next week. Soon.

 

[Toshi]

and after all this I bought a NAS



Buffalo LinkStation 220. 2 bays, and includes two 6 TB drives in the config I ordered. $380 shipped at Amazon, which is actually $20 cheaper than Micro Center would be in store for the same thing.

said Buffalo NAS arrived today. small box, it is! plugged it in, went to a webpage, downloaded software, set admin password, set share to public (within my network! no web access turned on), mounted it as a drive.

copying over 4/3rds of a season of Westworld rips. assuming it actually does take 7 hours:

329 GB / 7 hrs == 47 GB/hr == 0.0131 GB/s or 13 MBps aka 104 Mbps.

it's on a 1000 Mbps wired Ethernet connection to the router. that's kinda shitty. I foresee it being returned.

 

[Toshi]

ah, I was on my 2.4 GHz network! Now on 5 GHz. restarted the transfer.

that's better. ~30 MB/s. still will consider returning it and getting one with 2.5 Gbps Ethernet. hmmmmm


edit: returning it indeed. going to try plugging in my 3 TB USB HDD directly to the downstairs ASUS router instead of my aged Airport Extreme and see if that speeds things up.

 

[Toshi]

Got the budget update from the project manager/designer lady handling point for the mountain house renovations. Not entirely clear what "over budget" means here--one more check in the future to take us to somewhere between the current $196k outlay and $250k? or over the $250k point? Clarifying with her.

answer:

"Hi! Most likely over $250,000.
I am working on some future spends coming up so you can be prepared. See you tomorrow when I pick up the check."

 

[Toshi]

connected my 3 TB USB HDD to the basement router's USB 3.0 port. it's a ASUS RT-AX86U, so reasonably powered.

anyway, it recognized the disc, which apparently isn't always a thing with non-Merlin firmware, and I was able to see it over the network both from Windows and OS X. transfer speeds are a little slower than the 1 Gbps dedicated Buffalo NAS I'm returning.

moreover, though, it doesn't let me modify top level file/folder structure, and each individual folder that exists is mounted as its own share. that is suboptimal, and wouldn't let Time Machine work. I shall plug it back into the Airport Extreme later today, and will shelve the 2.5 Gbps NAS idea for an hour or three.

 

[canadmos]

Transferring that much data over wireless is not ideal and will be prone to sudden fits of rage, imo.

1gb link speeds on both ends should be quick enough - I'd just make sure to wire in that computer.

Unless I'm missing something and unless the 1gb link on the Buffalo thing is maxed out, upping to something with a 2.5gb link isn't going to get rid of the problem. The bottleneck will still be the wireless connection.

I'd also check CPU/memory usage on both ends as well, as that can have a large effect on transfer speeds if not noticed.

 

[Toshi]

Transferring that much data over wireless is not ideal and will be prone to sudden fits of rage, imo.

1gb link speeds on both ends should be quick enough - I'd just make sure to wire in that computer.

Unless I'm missing something and unless the 1gb link on the Buffalo thing is maxed out, upping to something with a 2.5gb link isn't going to get rid of the problem. The bottleneck will still be the wireless connection.

I'd also check CPU/memory usage on both ends as well, as that can have a large effect on transfer speeds if not noticed.

‘tis an 802.11ax router with good wireless link speeds achieved as per the above quote.

You’re right in that it might not be a 1 Gbps connection bottleneck for the NAS, per se, and that a 2.5 Gbps box would do better because some other CPU limitation or the like is lifted.

 

[Toshi]

Cargo bike now has 100% more front rack with nicely fitting bag and all.



Note cute repositioning of the headlight.

 

[canadmos]

If thats your actual transmission rate, then I'd be curious where all those packets are going. Normally the speed you see will be what the slowest connection is, unless there is a major network issue. Can your router show the interface graph for what the Buffalo is plugged into?

Is your computer combining transmit and receive into one value?

I'm sitting nearby an AX access point and my windows laptop shows this (don't know if this ever changes...):

 

[Toshi]

I'm not sure if it reports anything separately on OS X but I don't think it's a sum. ax should be able to go to ridiculously high link speeds if the devices are close--this was a floor away.

Speaking of a floor away, my desktop PACS workstation that I do my home shifts from is a floor above the router (in a room that doesn't have an Ethernet drop although most other rooms do!). It is showing 2,161/1,361 Mbps Rx/Tx link speed at the moment fwiw.

1,921 Mbps naively translates into 240 MB/s and even a flat 1 Gbps would be 125 MB/s, so I don't think the WiFi speed is the limiting factor since the Buffalo (packed up to return) was nowhere near that in reality, at 30 MB/s.