I’ve no interest in voice controlled anything either.
I have been thinking about adding smart lights as anti-theft while on vacation, but those would need to be app-controlled. I’m still debating.
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The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures
- Thread starter joecct
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I’ve no interest in voice controlled anything either.
I have been thinking about adding smart lights as anti-theft while on vacation, but those would need to be app-controlled. I’m still debating.
FadeToBlack&Gold
Kettle Medallion
The future of my current career path is literally IoT solutions for industry, but even I draw a "Do Not Cross" line in my own home. I also won't buy "smart" major appliances. If I ever spend $5k+ on a fridge, it's gonna be a Sub Zero.
Spent the last 4+ hours running a jackhammer (Hilti electric) busting up sidewalk. Like everything, I'm sure it's all about technique, but I'm properly whipped. A rental, so I had to get the job done in the time I had, but I'll now be slower to roll my eyes at those television characters watching girls go by while they hold the tool down with their big jiggling bellies.
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walrus
Wind up workin' in a gas station
Electric jack hammers suck, in reality all jack hammers suck but electric way more than air or hydraulic on the end of an excavator. Electric doesn't have balls it needs to work well.
Kepler
Cornell Big Red
Your poor back.
Yeah, I didn't have enough compressor for air. Small job, so it didn't matter too much. I'm just in old-person condition. Lifting the hammer constantly and moving chunks of concrete. If it were a larger job or if I weren't retired, I'd have enough sense to get someone in with a bobcat/excavator and take it out. This gives me something to whine about.
btw, I'm very much aware that whining about anything in light of what's happening in Gaza is more than a little inappropriate.
True, but it does make you rethink what qualifies as "difficulties." It's not a matter of guilt but of . . . proportion?
Also true that that's a box you can never get out of. There's always a South Sudan out there.
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state of hockey
He fixes the cable?
I think you identified another way to destroy that concrete that hasn’t been mentioned in this thread yet, though.
aparch
Well-known member
Anonymous tip to the State Police / FBI that a *pick a long cold case* body was rumored to have been buried under the sidewalk?
state of hockey
He fixes the cable?
I was thinking have a country launch rockets at it, but yours might be cheaper.
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
I have virtually everything automated now. I run Home Assistant to unify everything. AMA.
(appliances need not apply. Fuck that.)
So I moved my office around, basically swapping the futon and desk. It had been 3 years of the previous layout so it was time for a change. I had been facing out the window, which I loved, and now my back is to the window, which I'm not sure I'm gonna love. But... I just upgraded my monitors from 24" to 34" ultra-wides so my windows were largely blocked anyway. Not I need to get an external camera and higher stands, because my laptop - which used to be the camera I used - sits over on the side instead of in the middle. White collar issues, seriously.
Anyway, moving also really demonstrates just how much my house is settling. I'm now parked right on the sort of tilt section, and everything right here has a noticeable list. Gotta love 100 year old houses. I think this winter/spring we find someone to inspect things and maybe put up some of those pillars down in the basement.
Anyway, moving also really demonstrates just how much my house is settling. I'm now parked right on the sort of tilt section, and everything right here has a noticeable list. Gotta love 100 year old houses. I think this winter/spring we find someone to inspect things and maybe put up some of those pillars down in the basement.
Deutsche Gopher Fan
Registered User
With interest rates, many of us may now be in our forever homes even if we didn’t think this was it- so settle in 
(insert smiley emoji)
(insert smiley emoji)With interest rates, many of us may now be in our forever homes even if we didn’t think this was it- so settle in
Yeah, I had/have no intention of moving any time soon (gf and I plan to be here another 10-15 years at least), but with a 2.99% rate on a 30-year fixed, we're going to cling to that like grim death. On the bright side, we've been absolutely dumping money into the mortgage and - if we stopped paying extra today - are 88 months ahead of schedule.
We did the math on 30 year vs. 15 year payments, and decided to go with the 30 but pay extra principle each month to make the payment, effectively, that of a 15 year loan. That way we can get it payed off early but have some runway in case finances change. We're both incredibly lucky to have worked in industries that remained in demand (healthcare IT for me, and vitamins/healthcare woo for her) during Covid.
aparch
Well-known member
With interest rates, many of us may now be in our forever homes even if we didn’t think this was it- so settle in
I have a couple regrets (but not many) in my life: buying a right sized home for my wife and I at the time and not something bigger is the leader of those.
On the other hand, both times my wife has been out of work since 2020 we've been okay financially, so maybe it's a blessing to have a slightly smaller house?
I've sometimes regretted not "upselling" from our original house in MA, but it did allow us to buy a second home near a lake in western Maine. Now the primary house is paid off and vacation home will be fully "owned" in January. We've made so many wonderful family memories at the lake.
Interesting to think about how much house one really needs (I vaguely remember George Carlin doing a bit on this). We did perfectly fine raising 3 kids in a 3 bedroom house with 1 1/2 bathrooms. We just made it work.
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French Rage
NICKERSON HAS [CENSORED]
With interest rates, many of us may now be in our forever homes even if we didn’t think this was it- so settle in
If being "trapped" in my current house means being trapped with a 2.5% rate, I can live with that.
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
I don't mean to be abrasive, but what in the good fuck are you doing paying off a mortgage early???! Put that extra money into VTSAX or even a CD for god's sake.
unofan
Well-known member
Eh, I throw an extra couple hundred a month towards my mortgage even though it's not the strategically correct financial move to maximize every penny. I don't want to still be paying the mortgage when I'm retired, and there's simply the mental benefit of seeing the outstanding balance going down more quickly. I don't have any other debt at the moment and I am maxing out my 401k contributions and my daughter's 529 plan each year, so I'm not going to sweat the 150-basis point difference between my mortgage and a CD.
But then I also don't min-max my characters in video games either. I'm fine with "good enough."
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