big john

tacking

Flatballer

Ah, thanks. So the answer was correct, but their explanation was wrong, lol. I know that technique too (I'm fat, I know it well), but yeah, never heard it called that. I think I've heard it called tacking, like big john.

topflightpro

I received a package in the mail that contained a pair of 5.11 camouflage, fingerless gloves. They were addressed to me, but I didn't order them, and I"m not sure who would order them for me. Also, strangely, they came from Georgia - the country, not the state.

There is no information in the package either. Really not sure where they came from.

big john

You have a secret admirer.

Flatballer

Were they cycling gloves specifically or some other type of fingerless? If it was random and they're cycling that's quite the odds.

I'd say some sort of credit card scam but that usually requires you to send them on. Maybe a review scam? They can show they bought them and they were shipped, so they can give themselves a fake review. Usually they ship something cheap though, not the actual item.

topflightpro

They are not cycling specific gloves I looked up the company, 5.11, they make "tactical" clothing, for police and stuff. I cannot find these gloves on their website. They appear to be some sort of knock off.

I'm not really sure what the scam would be. There's nothing on my credit card for them, and I don't know where they came from, so I can't leave a review.

Strange.

Flatballer

The review part they leave a review. But it shows up as an actual purchase. That's what the majority of those seed packets getting randomly shipped from China were in the past.

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himespau 

Today was reminder number umpteen-whatever that when I'm mic'ed up and streaming live over the internet and being recorded, things I think I'm muttering under my breath only to myself aren't only to myself.

Also, what sort of garbage livestreaming app doesn't allow the most basic editing (all I need to do is cut the first 2 minutes of a recording) of recorded streams?

Just got done talking to my boss and she told me to not worry about it. Just a little cursing when the projector system failed at the start of class again is apparently acceptable and isn't me failing to properly represent the university.

Flatballer

I can't imagine most college kids getting bent out of shape because a professor curses under their breath, about technology even and not a student, lol.

ridethecliche

Before a zoom lecture started the other day my mic apparently was on for no reason since the default is mic and camera off in my settings. Well I decided to talk to my roommate and went "dude, I'm so freaking hung over..."

Hot mic.

That was fun. The lecturing docs from my program were already on the call.

Good times.

himespau 

Yeah, I'd hope so. Given that I'm in the south and I have parents still writing me asking me to excuse their kid from class because they're not feeling well, I'm more worried about some overprotective parent contacting my chair (or the dean's office) and complaining about me saying, "I'm so tired of this ******g ******** and the stupid *******s who keep ******g around with the stage and av settings every ******g class." Just a couple too many f-bombs even if it was under my breath.

I was streaming a race I was doing on Zwift the other day, and somebody messaged me "GOGOGOGO!!!" several times when I was still 600+ m out. I was like "shut the **** up, I've already burned too many matches for such a stupid long sprint" but then went anyway because if I was going to sprint for 50th place out of a pack of 6 anyway, why not blow up spectacularly. Thought about deleting the whole stream in case he saw it later, but, since no one else but me watches my streams (and I only do when I have another race on the same route later and I want to do recon), I left it up. I'm still the only one who's watched it, so I'm not worried about offending him.

TheKillerPenguin

Most of my professors have cursed in class at one point or another. Don't sweat it.

Flatballer

Lol. That's a pretty solid tirade, bravo.

And holy crap, parents e-mailing you that the kids are sick? When I was in college (in the South...) that would never have crossed my mind. I barely even talked to my parents.

gsteinb

Vaccine site. Feels post apocalyptic.

himespau 

Yeah, it might be different since a lot of these are kids living with their parents and taking college semi-remotely this year due to Covid (coming in for lab classes and staying at home to do the rest online if they're within driving distance). Also got a lot of parents writing me about how it wasn't safe for their kid to drive in or kids writing to say their dad said it wasn't safe for them to drive in to come to lab on the few days we had snow but were open.

burnthesheep

Got the Vid vax today. Woot woot. One and done style.

I have a delivery Wednesday. I cannot contain my excitement. Too bad rest of it doesn't come till Friday and Monday. Drats. Kind of need the other stuff to go with it for it to make sense.

ridethecliche

Yes, but tell us how you really feel.

topflightpro

Anyone else find it incredibly frustrating that you will buy a new bike or bike part and just a few months later the new and improved version comes out?

Psimet2001 

Absolutely not. All that disappeared for me the second I realized any real tech jumps in this industry are actually few and far enough in between that the model year structure of the industry is worthless. Combined with the fact that I have watched strong racers win despite their gear so many times that I put almost no value on gear outside of the basics. Real differences happen in a 3-5 year period more than an annual one.

Flatballer

I bought a new gaming laptop in late November. The new graphics cards came out in January/February and were cheaper and better than expected. We returned one my wife had bought and are getting her a new card one.

So I feel you.

Psimet2001 

I tried briefly to find a graphics card for a reconditioned desktop I bought to run as a dedicated Zwift setup... I found nothing and the prices were ridiculous. I know little to nothing about that market but took it to be a shortage caused by the pandemic, gaming, and mining demand. I guess I'll wait.

burnthesheep

No. I'm the guy that buys used cars that still have a warranty. I feel if it has an X year 100k powertrain and I get 1.5 year of warranty or 30k miles on that, most of the nonpowertrain warranty items were already replaced if needed (radios, lights, sensors, etc.). Previous owner made sure it wasn't a lemon and all the early bugs had to be fixed. I'm also the guy who won't buy a "first model year" vehicle or major purchase. Let the bugs work out first.

If I wanted spanking newest for a car, I would splurge and lease and turn it in.

Bikes? Ehhh, only one that concerns me at the time is discs vs rim. But the aftermarket will keep supply going a LONG time after disc surpasses rim as the most popular brake system.

Flatballer

Yeah, it's not nearly as bad in laptops since they can't be removed, they aren't useful for miners in their rigs. But there's still some shortages.

Desktop cards between mining and scalping have been an absolute disaster for a while.

ridethecliche

I guess this is a good time to ask...

I need to start thinking about a new to me car. I currently have an 06 Acura TL with about 165k miles on it. Thing just runs and runs and I'd be more than happy to drive it till it disintegrates, but unfortunately it just doesn't quite fit with the lifestyle element. Back seats don't fold down so it's hard to fit a bike or snowboards there. And the car is really low, so even though it's great in snow with blizzaks, I've been stuck in small snowdrifts because there just isn't enough ground clearance.

I used to have a 2002 subaru TS before this car and that was pretty much perfect for my needs, but the car was a colossal POS and then started getting electrical issues after the head gasket and transmission were repaired. Oy.

I've been kinda enamored with the V6 RAV4's. They stopped making them around 2012 and they're a bit pricey for what they are but they seem to check off the right boxes. I can find a few examples in the 100k mile range for around 12k. My acura's worth next to nothing, but I'm going to be listing and selling my built miata soon which should free up somewhere in the realm of 8-10k.

Anything else I should be looking for? I like the mix of space and power that car has while still being reasonable. I like the acura RDX as well but that's a bit too luxury. I don't particularly want something european. I could look at Subaru crosstreks since they're solid cars, but so slow.

The acura's pretty long and I definitely wouldn't want something much longer than that. AFAIK the TL is about 190 inches long, which is about the same as a 2014 highlander! Length matters a bit because of parallel parking in the city (philly).

Ideally I'd want something I could get 4ish years out of at the min. I'm likely going to be driving a bit less for work the next 3ish years. Our rotations this year were all over the state...

Any recs? I'd be open to looking at stuff a bit newer too and maybe give up the power angle of thing if it makes sense. It looks like the 'regular' rav4 can be had in similar price ranges with 30k miles less in a 3-4year newer model year.

Sorry for the long post, but thanks for any help!

TheKillerPenguin

A bit off topic but if your TL is 6spd manual, I might know someone that would buy it off of you...