[Toshi]

Minor RC car surgery today: one of the OEM shock absorbers on my generic RC buggy lost its spring perch. $14.29 + tax to get four replacement shocks shipped to me thanks to the wonder of the global economy.

Front shocks swapped out duly and then I ran through a full battery because I really don’t play with my toys enough. That brushed motor got nice and toasty from it even with 30F ambient temps.

 

[Toshi]

I biked to my LBS to find out they are closed on Mondays. They probably wouldn’t have touched the cargo bike anyway.

goal is to get the XT 4 pots on the cargo bike as the Radius brand cable discs are subpar, and it's not a light machine esp with multiple people on it. Now that I drained the hydraulic fluid-vein from my XT rear brake (and thus extracted it from within the internal routing on the old Shuttle's frame) then I can just have said LBS string them back together with a 190 cm length hose, off the bike, then I can do the cargo bike wrench turning.

(I verified my Tektro bleed kit is not of the right threads for these Shimanos.)

I did find out which adapters I need via Reddit. So I’ll need adapters, discs (going 220 mm), new pads because probably a good idea, and a bunch of patience to deal with working with the cramped rear end design.

 

[Toshi]

Ordered. Magura 220 mm e-bike specific disc brake rotors, because why not. Also got nominally 180 mm post mount to 203 mm rotor adapters from Promax and Shimano alike. The Promax ones are the ones listed above but the Shimano ones have a more elegant design without the additional offset. They are cheap enough to keep as spares.

 

[Toshi]

Forgot to order pads. REI has Galfer pads for 4-piston brakes with a special e-bike compound. ooh

 

[Toshi]

got my work computer updated to Win 11 from 10

gah. rounded corners and OS X looking textures: that's fine. but centered icons, taskbar on all display by default, and that horribly distracting widget panel thing?

no, no, no.

taskbar on display 1. no widgets. left justified.

that's better now.

on the upside, as part of this update extravaganza I ended up stuck in Safe Mode with no usable network connection (despite having had the Network radio button checked in msconfig). as this is a remote computer the only solution was for my IT guy to give me the local admin credentials

mwahaha, unchecked power is now mine

(which practically means I can change my desktop background to my little heart's content. their default is a repressive all black solid color.)

@canadmos can relate

 

[Toshi]

Solid blue is ultimately the best. But options are nice.

(That’s my middle kid at her 2 year birthday, one of my favorite photos. And a flower shot from NZ. For that span across 4 1440p displays having had more resolution than my at the time 5D Mk II would have helped…)

 

[Toshi]

hot damn!

it is happening.

IT IS HAPPENING.

("it" is the ID.Buzz, if you haven't been following along. and happening means getting the transaction done this year, before the dotard pulls the rug out from EV incentives and before Colorado's credit sunsets by $1,500.)

 

[canadmos]

got my work computer updated to Win 11 from 10

gah. rounded corners and OS X looking textures: that's fine. but centered icons, taskbar on all display by default, and that horribly distracting widget panel thing?

no, no, no.

taskbar on display 1. no widgets. left justified.

that's better now.

on the upside, as part of this update extravaganza I ended up stuck in Safe Mode with no usable network connection (despite having had the Network radio button checked in msconfig). as this is a remote computer the only solution was for my IT guy to give me the local admin credentials

mwahaha, unchecked power is now mine

(which practically means I can change my desktop background to my little heart's content. their default is a repressive all black solid color.)

@canadmos can relate

Brave guy! But also they might or hopefully have LAPS implemented, so those credentials might expire at some point.

Windows LAPS overview

Get an overview of Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (Windows LAPS), including key scenarios and setup and management options.

learn.microsoft.com

We set desktop backgrounds here, but its not enforced so users can change them to whatever after.

But yeah, Windows 11's taskbar is hot garbage.

I have mine changed to be aligned left and to never combine taskbar buttons. But some applications treat this badly; for example Adobe Reader will show 3 tabs on the bottom, if I have 2 pdf's open. One window for the app and 2 others for each document. I just want small task bar buttons back, like in Windows 10.

Other than that really, Windows 11 has been okay (compared to 10). I don't even know if these are available in Windows 10, but tabs in file explorer is nice and so are the tabs feature in notepad (along with it caching the data and reopening on restart).

 

[6thElement]

notepad (along with it caching the data and reopening on restart).

Notepad++ (and/or Textpad) or GTFO. And GTFO with caching whatever was open last time. That option gets turned off with NP++ straight away.

edit: But I hadn't bothered moving the start button to bottom left for the last 18 months on my laptop, I've now just done it

 

[canadmos]

Notepad++ (and/or Textpad) or GTFO. And GTFO with caching whatever was open last time. That option gets turned off with NP++ straight away.

edit: But I hadn't bothered moving the start button to bottom left for the last 18 months on my laptop, I've now just done it

Notepad++ is nice but I don't do enough scripting to really use it and all its colours. I just like notepad for opening quick, writing down something and then forgetting about it for a week or month.

Lots of people here use OneNote, but I just find its so easy to create lots of scattered notes and then lose them. Or end up with different OneNote files - eventually no one knows where anything is noted.

 

[6thElement]

One of my teams uses ON for a knowledgebase. Tough to avoid duplicates or keep it tidy.

 

[Toshi]

Donated the remnants of the old Shuttle (plus some other parts just hanging out in my tool bench) to Bikes Together

 

[canadmos]

One of my teams uses ON for a knowledgebase. Tough to avoid duplicates or keep it tidy.

It doesn't even matter, no one reads this stuff anyways.

The documentation I create is really just for me. Apparently no one can read english here, because when I refer to it I get weird looks. maybe they're just surprised that documentation actually exists.

 

[Toshi]

doin' the good lawd's work, educating my former classmate

 

[Toshi]

my household has no more outstanding student loans as of today. (well, as of Monday but it was only reflected online today.)

pls clap

 

[sundaydoug]

my household has no more outstanding student loans as of today. (well, as of Monday but it was only reflected online today.)

pls clap

Congrats! I remember that day for me. To celebrate I bought a bucket list car, which I still have (STI hatchback)

 

[Toshi]

View attachment 223442

hot damn!

it is happening.

IT IS HAPPENING.

("it" is the ID.Buzz, if you haven't been following along. and happening means getting the transaction done this year, before the dotard pulls the rug out from EV incentives and before Colorado's credit sunsets by $1,500.)

potatocam resolution from an MMS sent from the sales guy's phone but here's the window sticker

(recall I'll get $7,500 VW lease cash and then $5,350 CO off of this, so effectively a ~$60k car if I buy it out after a month.)

((I should find out how much this'll be to insure, not that it's going to change my actions. will do this after I read another case.))

 

[Toshi]

((I should find out how much this'll be to insure, not that it's going to change my actions. will do this after I read another case.))

adding it will increase my 6 month insurance premium by $558.50. (axing the PacHy will decrease it by some unknown to me amount, but likely half? of this.)

 

[Toshi]

hot damn, apparently selling the wrong-for-us EQB for $60k a bit over a year ago was the right choice

that's some depreciation indeed.

 

[Toshi]

Sights about the house

 

[Toshi]

If you know anyone in the market for a PHEV FWD minivan please pass my listing on:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/e069ee39-d92f-4ce9-9cea-0947abab3a39/

 

[Toshi]

View attachment 223442

hot damn!

it is happening.

IT IS HAPPENING.

("it" is the ID.Buzz, if you haven't been following along. and happening means getting the transaction done this year, before the dotard pulls the rug out from EV incentives and before Colorado's credit sunsets by $1,500.)

latest update is now early-mid next week. comfortably in 2024.

90% likelihood of this happening as planned is my estimate.

 

[Toshi]

hmm

do I bring at least boots with me to jump up to Crystal for the day?

or do I just assume it'd be disappointing and skip it

Crystal Mountain Snow Forecast | OpenSnow

Crystal Mountain snow forecast, with current conditions, historical weather, and detailed weather information for the next 10 days.

opensnow.com

the day to ski would be 12/27

that's my 3rd kid's birthday

plus I'm blacked out at Crystal with my Ikon Base Plus pass anyway from 12/26-new year

so that answers that handily

 

[Toshi]

Looking west

 

[Toshi]

Skied we did. Get caught on broken gondola we did not

 

[Toshi]

Per a Reddit poster the replacement part for the gondola tower was already shipped out today from Leitner-Poma in Grand Junction. The holdup may be from the state tram board’s investigation.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Per a Reddit poster the replacement part for the gondola tower was already shipped out today from Leitner-Poma in Grand Junction. The holdup may be from the state tram board’s investigation.

Tram Board: "Shit's broke, yo!"

 

[6thElement]

Did they buy the Texans spec support beam this time?

 

[Toshi]

I’m at my MIL’s old house in Seattle for the holidays, as we do every year. it’s raining, because Seattle.

said rain is quite loud on the roof and windows. makes me miss my super insulated Denver house and just seems so foreign to my sleepy post-travel brain.

 

[Toshi]

Per a Reddit poster the replacement part for the gondola tower was already shipped out today from Leitner-Poma in Grand Junction. The holdup may be from the state tram board’s investigation.

It arrived yesterday and was installed. Opened back up to the public with Tram Board blessing at 1 pm today. Good turnaround speed from all!

 

[SkaredShtles]

It arrived yesterday and was installed. Opened back up to the public with Tram Board blessing at 1 pm today. Good turnaround speed from all!

View attachment 223774

That is an impressive turnaround on a fairly major repair, from the looks of it.

 

[6thElement]

Wonder how the rest of the towers are doing?....

 

[Toshi]

Wonder how the rest of the towers are doing?....

They inspected them all and all of the Leitner Poma installations around the state of which there are legion shall be getting the same increased scrutiny.