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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
@Toshi if you want extra plates I have a bunch you can have for a beer. Not fancy or coated, but they weigh weight, so they work.
If I get to that point when I don’t have enough then I’ll take you up. For now I am scrawny and weak
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
Downtown via e-cargo bike. 14 miles and change one way. Will catch an A Line assist on the way back, methinks.

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in addition to this buddy RadWagon there was a Bullitt cargo bike locked up 50’ away as well

edit: despite being downtown all my gear survived unscathed, including the velcro-affixed bags and the Outbound light on my locked-through-strap helmet.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
1) channeling @Jm_ and ordered some heavy weight pogies from REI for my commuter. Cobrafist. if they're overkill I'll return 'em.

2) closed on the refi of the PNC HELOC on the mountain place this afternoon. prime rate + 1.3% float, not great as that equals 9.8% in this rate climate (!), but few places will write for a second house and PNC does. now I will have the full $200k of available credit breathing room, which should help my credit utilization ratio a bit.

they also had three options for closing: in a branch (a new branch is actually close to me, by Raising Cane's, 1.6 miles away!); with a traveling notary that would come by here; or via a virtual notary, via webcam.

picked the third option and it was awesome. signed the non-notarized stuff online this morning. ID verification and the actual real signing part took 20 minutes. every closing should be this easy.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,256
9,896
AK
Not sure if those will do what mine do or if they have a similar feature, but these "near freezing" rides have been challenging, especially with the heavy snowfall.

Basically everything is getting wet and you can't really stop it with a "waterproof" layer, so a little more insulation below such layer has been good and helps to trap the heat, while I've been getting a little soaked.

On the pogies side, the Dogwood Designs let me "roll them up", slightly inside-out, and they just stay like in the picture. Super nice for air-ing out and when you start getting a little warmer. Given how wet it was, I eventually would pull them back up, despite temps 28-34F or so, because my fingers would start getting cold in the soaked gloves. When it gets cold, I put some foam insulation around the "openings" where the shifters and brakes are and leave it there for the rest of the season. They also make a good place to put your extra gloves if you have no other room on the bike/pack for some, that also keeps em a little warmer, or throw them down your jacket.

Some have a "flap" that will open? On some rides like I said, I gotta start with them "up" and then lower them later, but there's no way on the same ride I could just "deal with it" and ride without them in the cold initially with my raynauds. I mean, there are ways, but all of those tend to decrease bike control significantly and finger tips usually still get cold.

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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
I doubt I’ll be in such conditions where I’d get soaked! I chose these mainly because REI stocks ‘em and thus returns are easier within the year.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,256
9,896
AK
Yep, Return Equipment Immediately worked out good last year with Marker bindings.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
For all y’all waiting with bated breath: it was this. Inflow and outflow to the zone shut off at the manifold, no doubt from when they repaired the loop.
Good to know that they made sure everything was working correctly when they said they were done with their work. :rolleyes:
So it turned out that their original repair wasn’t. Found a leak after having turned on the zone a per the above post. Small leak at least—nothing evident below it. Renovation coordinator lady will get a plumber to fix this and will repaint now water stained baseboard.

Also got the second solar survey done, room divider curtains (and normal curtains elsewhere) hung, 7’ beanbag chair unfurled etc.

This should be the last visit up there: left it tidied up. Formal clean, photos, radiant zone fix don’t need me around. Won’t open up the rental schedule until the latter item is done.

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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
Official Ramcharger images all up on Stellantis’s press site. This is the interesting one, imo:


Pack in floor. No transmission. No tunnel for a driveshaft. IFS and IRS (!). A rear axle motor and presumably under that Pentastar up front a similar one.

So a clean slate design that just happens to share the Pentastar and a charging port with the Pachy but is otherwise very different indeed.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Official Ramcharger images all up on Stellantis’s press site. This is the interesting one, imo:


Pack in floor. No transmission. No tunnel for a driveshaft. IFS and IRS (!). A rear axle motor and presumably under that Pentastar up front a similar one.

So a clean slate design that just happens to share the Pentastar and a charging port with the Pachy but is otherwise very different indeed.
electric car designs are so shitty they literally carry their own generator now

sweet

I can chuck one of those in the back of an electric maverick


what's the point of electric again?


at least you can actually drive it somewhere without camping out at a charging station for 3 hours I guess. I can think of another system that provides the same freedom however....
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
electric car designs are so shitty they literally carry their own generator now

sweet

I can chuck one of those in the back of an electric maverick


what's the point of electric again?


at least you can actually drive it somewhere without camping out at a charging station for 3 hours I guess. I can think of another system that provides the same freedom however....
For the towing use case this makes a ton of sense. No worrying about pull through DCFC and can supply 7.2 kW faux shore power at camp. And for 99% of regular use it’ll be in electric with 145 miles of range.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
@SkaredShtles weird local price flukes


My local station that anachronistically shuts down at night is at $2.559 now, with an extra 10 cents off from that since I signed up for Walmart+ for the year. Between the free Paramount+ and the gas discount $49 for the trial year is well worth it.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
@SkaredShtles weird local price flukes


My local station that anachronistically shuts down at night is at $2.559 now, with an extra 10 cents off from that since I signed up for Walmart+ for the year. Between the free Paramount+ and the gas discount $49 for the trial year is well worth it.
LOL

it's 6.50 here

headed to nevada to get gas today!
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
1/2 new, unripped 3rd row seat covers kinda installed, the right sided one in the mail. Kinda because the rear attachment mechanism was something infeasible to replicate without much, much disassembly. So snip snip and stuff it is.

The astute watcher will note piping color isn’t a match. That’ll just have to do.

also proof of gas price.

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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
First string ensemble concert for my eldest

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Liftin’. Bumping up by 5 lb each set for now. Ended today at 100 lb. Just getting comfortable again.


edit: make that 105 lb, after having one of my med school buddies point out that I should lower the safety bars (so as to be above my neck but low enough I can do a full ROM rep above them instead of in front of them).

 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
so I never updated y'all on this mini fiasco:

the hot/cold reverse osmosis system install went fine by my hand. not leaking, works well enough, minor play in it due to it being 1" diameter in a 1.5" hole but acceptable overall.

the contractor that Home Depot subbed out their supposed flat rate $650 installation job to was Delta Mechanical. they came out and quoted an installation cost for the water softener of that $650... + $2,600 on top of it. or was it $2,400? anyway, ridiculous.

so I complained to Home Depot and they got Plumbline to come out. after a rescheduling on their part their plumber came out today... and quoted $2,631 to install the water softener + the catalytic carbon filter (both of which I have in boxes in the basement--this all labor and installation parts).

also seems ridiculous.

on Thursday I have a local independent plumber coming out to quote that same work. hopefully less ridiculous. in either case looks like I'll be returning a bunch of PEX and assorted joints/fittings/shutoffs that I'd ordered from Amazon on Oct 5 at the time of the above post, as it's either going to be my provided hardware via the local plumber, or returning all this shit and going with the Plumbline-via-Costco system straight up as per their original quote!
Independent plumber guy says $1,500-1,800 for the water softener + catalytic carbon filter installation. Going with him.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
Hopefully he actually turns it on and checks that it works and doesn't leak before he leaves.

:popcorn:
I don't have salt for it yet. got 44 lb x 6 bags coming from Amazon in the next few days.

my delivery driver will love me even more*, after the 255 lb of plates + extra (since given away) 45 lb barbell and all. and the power rack itself.

* not quite true, though, as this is going to be a scheduled freight delivery apparently, a la the massage chair, TVs, and other furniture type things.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
got a new EV

 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
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my waters shall be very soft. and purified: the left canisters are a sediment and a catalyzed carbon filter, respectively.

once I get salt and turn off the bypass, that is

$1,550 was the final bill.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
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it is construction worker-cosplay bike commuting season!

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brought the battery in and lugged the 2A charger from home (will upgrade to a 7A Cycle Satiator when in stock via Juiced) as today will be a high miles day due to rehearsal downtown tonight.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
my Baby Aya is a big-brained babykins

(this is the test for which I took her downtown on the cargo bike last week. seeing if she will be a good fit to skip over kindergarten and go right from ECE-4 into 1st grade.)

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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
fetch-s3-file.png


solar layout with new company inexplicably isn't two rows of 7

but I don't really care so rolling with it
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
after a delay for "accounting review" my expenses for my Japan ostensibly-for-work trip have been approved by the powers that be

this pleases me. (the difference between "due employee" and the total cost is because they fronted the plane ticket so that wasn't out of my pocket.)

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so the moral of the story is that I should skip my own talks more often eh
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
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Naked Juiced before I popped the charged-at-work battery back in

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an expensive mistake. Fourth big rig wrecker on far side, too.

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new “Stealthsonic” shop vac (for cleaning out the hot tub base) is pretty quiet indeed
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
Screenshot 2023-11-16 at 12.17.43 AM.png


November 2023 State of the Debt Union update. this should be the high water mark: renovation costs all basically done with now, HELOCs drawn upon (with one just refinanced to raise its limit to the full $200k they'll write for).

just shy of $1.6mm in total debt. 3/4 of it is at good rates. 1/4 of it isn't, although in this climate only the 9.8% bit truly is egregious. but I shan't be paying any extra on it until I plump my taxable account back up from its sad state, although I am hedging my bets in that I'm contributing fully to all my sundry tax-deferred retirement accounts once again. some months of actual rental income instead of continual expenses from the mountain house would help this cause, but I think I've threaded the needle and not cash-crunched myself into a hole.

note as before that my student loan shall be done with in a year. I'll also have an equivalent size chunk of cash monthly freed up from Baby Aya not being in preschool any more, whether she skips to 1st grade or goes to kindergarten alike. then there's the minor Peloton treadmill payment (not on spreadsheet) that goes away in 2 months, and the self-loan (with interest paid to me so effectively not an interest-bearing note) from the 403(b) done in 2.25 years. it shall all be ok. eventually. those principal vs interest figures for the high rate 30 year term notes at the beginning of the term are sobering.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
Cleaning a hot tub is like scrubbing a giant, irregularly shaped toilet. Only with fewer poop bits. In theory.


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anyway, Oh Yuk cleaner run through the jets for an hour, surfaces sprayed down, water rapidly emptied via the very satisfying to use submersible pump I got, and every bit of it scrubbed by me with a microfiber towel.

it's refilling now--slowly via the garden hose as I'm waiting on the proper adapter to fit my giant PVC hose to the garden hose spigot. first lesson of hot tub ownership now learned: don't let it get gross even a tiny bit.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,623
17,333
Riding the baggage carousel.
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November 2023 State of the Debt Union update. this should be the high water mark: renovation costs all basically done with now, HELOCs drawn upon (with one just refinanced to raise its limit to the full $200k they'll write for).

just shy of $1.6mm in total debt. 3/4 of it is at good rates. 1/4 of it isn't, although in this climate only the 9.8% bit truly is egregious. but I shan't be paying any extra on it until I plump my taxable account back up from its sad state, although I am hedging my bets in that I'm contributing fully to all my sundry tax-deferred retirement accounts once again. some months of actual rental income instead of continual expenses from the mountain house would help this cause, but I think I've threaded the needle and not cash-crunched myself into a hole.

note as before that my student loan shall be done with in a year. I'll also have an equivalent size chunk of cash monthly freed up from Baby Aya not being in preschool any more, whether she skips to 1st grade or goes to kindergarten alike. then there's the minor Peloton treadmill payment (not on spreadsheet) that goes away in 2 months, and the self-loan (with interest paid to me so effectively not an interest-bearing note) from the 403(b) done in 2.25 years. it shall all be ok. eventually. those principal vs interest figures for the high rate 30 year term notes at the beginning of the term are sobering.
:twitch:
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
It is apparently time for a new rear tire for my commuter e-bike. This is just shy of 2,500 miles so it did ok. Except for the whole multiple flats before settling on a Mr. Tuffy rim strip deal.

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it’s a stupid 26 x 4.0” size. Time to poke around and see if anything with even similar circumference is available in hardened form, a la Schwabe Marathon Plus (or GT 365) that are far too small
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,747
7,982
I wonder if this would work. It’s 26” nominal.. 120 mm is 4.7” though so probably would be too big for the frame and fender clearance.

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