OT: Down the Wabit Hole (Boredom Thread)

[Wabit]

The wife's pc fried itself today. It was a lower end, late pandemic (take whatever we can get for parts) build, so shit happens. I've despised this pc build since she ordered it. She payed way too much for low end/quality parts, it's a white case with no room and crap airflow, and I had to replace the ps before she even got it running because it was too small wattage.

Go into the bios and the cpu temp is hot right off the bat (90c). Okay we'll shotgun a new cooler and see if that fixes it, cheap try at a fix from Best Buy, not a big deal. No joy with that so time to look for a new cpu and mobo on newegg (I looked at Best Buy and they were way overpriced). She snapped at me when I said this. I'd been getting snapped/yelled at for the past couple hours. Bad day I get it, so I just told her to go eat something. Then came the full on 2yo tantrum from her accusing me of just wanting her parts to upgrade my pc. I was done.

So I said "Bitch, you have multiple college degrees in computers in both hardware and software. This it your specialty not mine. You know dang well that if it's a guess at this type of issue that you replace both cpu and mobo at the same time. You also know darn well that my rig is so old (AM3, DDR3) it can use none of your parts (AM4, DDR4). My case and cooling are the only things I've changed on mine in the last decade and they are better than what you have. I can't even use your fans because they are all dead or dying."

She replies "I'm being hangry aren't I? I think I'll get some food"

So like any reasonable person who needs to get in the last word and likes to poke the bear. I sent her the Jack Black "Ya Think" GIF as she was walking away.

Yep this is starting off as a great year.

 

[BagHead]

The wife's pc fried itself today. It was a lower end, late pandemic (take whatever we can get for parts) build, so shit happens. I've despised this pc build since she ordered it. She payed way too much for low end/quality parts, it's a white case with no room and crap airflow, and I had to replace the ps before she even got it running because it was too small wattage.

Go into the bios and the cpu temp is hot right off the bat (90c). Okay we'll shotgun a new cooler and see if that fixes it, cheap try at a fix from Best Buy, not a big deal. No joy with that so time to look for a new cpu and mobo on newegg (I looked at Best Buy and they were way overpriced). She snapped at me when I said this. I'd been getting snapped/yelled at for the past couple hours. Bad day I get it, so I just told her to go eat something. Then came the full on 2yo tantrum from her accusing me of just wanting her parts to upgrade my pc. I was done.

So I said "Bitch, you have multiple college degrees in computers in both hardware and software. This it your specialty not mine. You know dang well that if it's a guess at this type of issue that you replace both cpu and mobo at the same time. You also know darn well that my rig is so old (AM3, DDR3) it can use none of your parts (AM4, DDR4). My case and cooling are the only things I've changed on mine in the last decade and they are better than what you have. I can't even use your fans because they are all dead or dying."

She replies "I'm being hangry aren't I? I think I'll get some food"

So like any reasonable person who needs to get in the last word and likes to poke the bear. I sent her the Jack Black "Ya Think" GIF as she was walking away.

View attachment 795568

Yep this is starting off as a great year.

DDR3 brothers, unite! I used newegg to build this rig in 2015. This computer has been a workhorse since the day I built it, and still runs modern games. Not well, but it still runs them.

I recently bought an MSI gaming laptop from Costco, since I need it for modelling, video editing, and, well, gaming. It's great, I enjoy using it, it completely blows my PC out of the water, but I still find myself using this old desktop. It's like an old friend.

 

[Wabit]

DDR3 brothers, unite! I used newegg to build this rig in 2015. This computer has been a workhorse since the day I built it, and still runs modern games. Not well, but it still runs them.

I recently bought an MSI gaming laptop from Costco, since I need it for modelling, video editing, and, well, gaming. It's great, I enjoy using it, it completely blows my PC out of the water, but I still find myself using this old desktop. It's like an old friend.

I need to upgrade my 2012 rig. Just every time I start to get enough money saved I have to buy the wife or kid a new laptop, tablet, or pc; or something major breaks in the house and I need to replace it.

Now I'm trying to hold out for the next gen of intel boards to come out before I make any decisions. I really want to play BG3, setup a twitch channel, and do more graphics/editing stuff. More backburner things to add to the list lol.

 

[Minnesota]

All this DDR talk is making me want to break out the dance mat.

 

[BagHead]

I need to upgrade my 2012 rig. Just every time I start to get enough money saved I have to buy the wife or kid a new laptop, tablet, or pc; or something major breaks in the house and I need to replace it.

Now I'm trying to hold out for the next gen of intel boards to come out before I make any decisions. I really want to play BG3, setup a twitch channel, and do more graphics/editing stuff. More backburner things to add to the list lol.

Let me know if you start up a BG3 playthough on Twitch, I'd love to watch it.

All this DDR talk is making me want to break out the dance mat.

Oh man, I used to have two dance pads. I love that game!

 

[Wabit]

Let me know if you start up a BG3 playthough on Twitch, I'd love to watch it.


Oh man, I used to have two dance pads. I love that game!

I'm a long ways from a game that new. My thoughts for a twitch stream were the humble or indigala bundles, My current rig can't handle a usable twitch setup. I've Frankensteined a setup together to as a test but it was too difficult to use efficiently.

The wife's system would work (if it wasn't broken), but everything feels wrong using her pc. It's like when someone barrows your car and when you get it back everything is just off: seat is in the wrong spot for your feet, it's not reclined the right way, steering wheel tilt is wrong, radio is wrong station and volume, the vents aren't blowing in the correct spots, etc.

My current new thing is trying to figure out the roll20 stuff. I made a free tier account there yesterday. The wife used to DM years ago and has some ideas for a campaign of some sort. If I can figure things out and make it easier for her then maybe it'll come together more for her and she'll run it. TBH I have no clue if she's a good DM or not. I just like making maps and char sheets.

 

[Wabit]

The wife and I are probably (weather dependent) going a games con sometime next weekend. She wants to check it out to see if it would be worth her getting a vendor booth next year.

So I've been playing around with making a few char sheets online, just in case she wants to sit down and at a random tabletop. I've made roll20 and dndbeyond free accounts and played around a bit on both. Roll20 has blank char sheets for a ton of games, dndbeyond is just dnd5e (as far as I've found) but a really nice char builder. Are there any other sites like this I should look into?

Also are there any board games that people would recommend trying out?

Con info (it's near Milwaukee) if anyone cares.
Midwinter Gaming Convention 2024 : Featuring non-digital gaming of all types - Family Events, Board Games, Creator Run Tabletop Role Playing Games, Live Action Role Playing events, Miniatures, and more.

 

[Bazeek]

The wife and I are probably (weather dependent) going a games con sometime next weekend. She wants to check it out to see if it would be worth her getting a vendor booth next year.

So I've been playing around with making a few char sheets online, just in case she wants to sit down and at a random tabletop. I've made roll20 and dndbeyond free accounts and played around a bit on both. Roll20 has blank char sheets for a ton of games, dndbeyond is just dnd5e (as far as I've found) but a really nice char builder. Are there any other sites like this I should look into?

Also are there any board games that people would recommend trying out?

Con info (it's near Milwaukee) if anyone cares.
Midwinter Gaming Convention 2024 : Featuring non-digital gaming of all types - Family Events, Board Games, Creator Run Tabletop Role Playing Games, Live Action Role Playing events, Miniatures, and more.

I think Foundry and Fantasy Grounds are the other two big VTTs still around. I haven't used either, but I think Foundry is self-hosted and more extensible while Fantasy Grounds is nice but you pay for everything.

Also worth remembering that there's very little you can't do with Zoom/Teams/whatever + shared documents. It seems like a lot of the money/time people pour into the VTTs really just goes to video-gamifying their tabletop games, which never really appealed to me. It probably makes sense for more tactical, map-heavy games though, and 5e can be that depending on the group.

 

[Wabit]

I think Foundry and Fantasy Grounds are the other two big VTTs still around. I haven't used either, but I think Foundry is self-hosted and more extensible while Fantasy Grounds is nice but you pay for everything.

Also worth remembering that there's very little you can't do with Zoom/Teams/whatever + shared documents. It seems like a lot of the money/time people pour into the VTTs really just goes to video-gamifying their tabletop games, which never really appealed to me. It probably makes sense for more tactical, map-heavy games though, and 5e can be that depending on the group.

The zoom/shared stuff would require friends...

Most of it does look like a moneysink to me, but buying the char/monster/rules books for the games has always been a moneysink. The games I've been around haven't had the tabletop map/figures aspect, rather they were the spoken/storytelling/imagination type of games (L5R was my favorite world/ruleset). The good and bad GMs really stood out in those games.

I'm mostly just trying to help the wife out with one of her squirrel ideas. She's wanted to have a vendor booth at a con for years, but I'll have to run the booth at least half the time. If it works great, if it doesn't oh well we're out a little bit of money/time and she can say she did it. TBF it's cheaper than my tractor project I have sitting in the garage.

 

[Wabit]

The kids would probably be thrilled to have your experience and enthusiasm.

I just realized it wasn't the ultralights, but more the Ikon A5 that my wife was enamoured of.

This is one of the most interesting ultralights I've come across.
Pivotal

It's way out of my price range to own, but I want one.

 

[f7ben]

This is one of the most interesting ultralights I've come across.
Pivotal

It's way out of my price range to own, but I want one.

20 mile range and 200k? The concept is cool but talk about useless.

 

[Wabit]

20 mile range and 200k? The concept is cool but talk about useless.

It's a an ultralight, they aren't meant to go far. TBH I wouldn't want them to have a very big range due to not needing a pilot's license to operate them.

A lot of the ultralight kits run $50k+ and assembly is required. I haven't priced it out in a few years, but pre-pandemic I could build one from scratch for about $8k, but it that basically half a go cart frame with wings.

 

[f7ben]

It's a an ultralight, they aren't meant to go far. TBH I wouldn't want them to have a very big range due to not needing a pilot's license to operate them.

A lot of the ultralight kits run $50k+ and assembly is required. I haven't priced it out in a few years, but pre-pandemic I could build one from scratch for about $8k, but it that basically half a go cart frame with wings.

I went through a period of time where I was pretty obsessed with flying. I went as far as to take 5-6hrs worth of lessons towards my private license. The more I got into it the more I realized it was a rich man’s hobby and was never going to be a viable mode of transport for me. I was living in NE Indiana at the time and driving back to MN 20+ times per year. My fantasy was keeping a plane at a hanger 10 minutes from my home and using it to fly home. My mission wasn’t realistic for a guy making upper middle class money.

My number one wishlist plane was a 4 seat Velocity RG. I would have loved to go down to Florida and do the builders course. At the time you could finish one nicely appointed for about 270k. Fast and efficient and beautiful to look at.

 

[Wabit]

I went through a period of time where I was pretty obsessed with flying. I went as far as to take 5-6hrs worth of lessons towards my private license. The more I got into it the more I realized it was a rich man’s hobby and was never going to be a viable mode of transport for me. I was living in NE Indiana at the time and driving back to MN 20+ times per year. My fantasy was keeping a plane at a hanger 10 minutes from my home and using it to fly home. My mission wasn’t realistic for a guy making upper middle class money.

My number one wishlist plane was a 4 seat Velocity RG. I would have loved to go down to Florida and do the builders course. At the time you could finish one nicely appointed for about 270k. Fast and efficient and beautiful to look at.

Those are those pusher planes (backwards mounted engine) aren't they? Most of the mechanics I know (myself included) won't do the inspections on those kit planes (unless it's their own). There's nothing wrong with the planes, but it's not worth the month long butt clench if something bad happens.

Flying is an expensive hobby. Just doing some rough mental math. Ft Wayne to the cities is ~450nm, so about a 4 hr flight in a Cessna 172 (my fav plane to work on), 8 gal/hr, so $350-$400 in avgas round trip. 12 trips per 100 hr inspection (a legit 100 hr is ~$1700), so $3500-$4k a year in just 100 hr/annual inspections. Add in another $2k a year in hanger rental. It works out okay if you have your own business and it all turns into a needed tax write off. If you're just a guy that wants to fly that adds up really quick.

 

[f7ben]

My

Those are those pusher planes (backwards mounted engine) aren't they? Most of the mechanics I know (myself included) won't do the inspections on those kit planes (unless it's their own). There's nothing wrong with the planes, but it's not worth the month long butt clench if something bad happens.

Flying is an expensive hobby. Just doing some rough mental math. Ft Wayne to the cities is ~450nm, so about a 4 hr flight in a Cessna 172 (my fav plane to work on), 8 gal/hr, so $350-$400 in avgas round trip. 12 trips per 100 hr inspection (a legit 100 hr is ~$1700), so $3500-$4k a year in just 100 hr/annual inspections. Add in another $2k a year in hanger rental. It works out okay if you have your own business and it all turns into a needed tax write off. If you're just a guy that wants to fly that adds up really quick.

yes the velocity is a variation on the long ez made famous by John Denver. Pusher plane. You don’t need to have an A&P do the annual on an experimental if you are the builder.

I was living just north of ft Wayne and my departure airport would have been Auburn. At the time I could have leased a hanger for $1500 yearly. I’d have been flying into Hibbing and I believe the trip was 525nm roughly if I went over Lake Michigan. As I recall the velocity can cruise close to 200nm per hour on about 7-8gallons and you could use pump fuel if you chose.

I was making enough living down there to make the money side of it work but the unreliability of being able to make the flight was what eventually shot it down. IFR and icing etc etc. it just wasn’t a viable option to reliably come back to Mn

 

[57special]

This is one of the most interesting ultralights I've come across.
Pivotal

It's way out of my price range to own, but I want one.

Son has applied to this company, which has a much bigger, aircraft version. Sort of like the big brother of the Helix. Joby Aviation | Joby

 

[Wabit]

Son has applied to this company, which has a much bigger, aircraft version. Sort of like the big brother of the Helix. Joby Aviation | Joby

Damnit now I'm looking at the jobs they offer. I want a tour of their facilities more than anything. This is a company you'd need a backup plan for if you're working for them. Dealing with FAA certification is a long and very expensive process for a company.

yes the velocity is a variation on the long ez made famous by John Denver. Pusher plane. You don’t need to have an A&P do the annual on an experimental if you are the builder.

I was living just north of ft Wayne and my departure airport would have been Auburn. At the time I could have leased a hanger for $1500 yearly. I’d have been flying into Hibbing and I believe the trip was 525nm roughly if I went over Lake Michigan. As I recall the velocity can cruise close to 200nm per hour on about 7-8gallons and you could use pump fuel if you chose.

I was making enough living down there to make the money side of it work but the unreliability of being able to make the flight was what eventually shot it down. IFR and icing etc etc. it just wasn’t a viable option to reliably come back to Mn

It's been a long time since I've been in the experimental section of the rule book, but I do recall there are special rules for builders.

The pump fuel sounds more like a selling point than anything else. The airports around me don't have regular pump fuel readily available. I know a couple people that it could work for, but they have their own (unregistered) private landing strip and hanger. Crop dusters, they are the craziest pilots you'll ever meet.

 

[57special]

Damnit now I'm looking at the jobs they offer. I want a tour of their facilities more than anything. This is a company you'd need a backup plan for if you're working for them. Dealing with FAA certification is a long and very expensive process for a company.

Well, they've already got a large contract with one of the armed forces... Army, or AF, i think. They will be shipping things out in 2024, so i would think that they already have things in order. They bought out Uber Air, and play to be transporting air passengers into urban spaces from airports as well, Since they produce 1/200th of the noise that Helicopters do, the thinking is that they will be far more welcome in heavily populated airspaces, or any places where low noise is desired.

 

[Avder]

Is this the off-topic thread now? Just asking. Seems like everyone’s using this thread a lot more than the other one.

 

[Wabit]

Is this the off-topic thread now? Just asking. Seems like everyone’s using this thread a lot more than the other one.

I use both. I use the other one for general interest things and this one for more of my niche things because I derail topics with my randomness when I'm bored.

 

[Avder]

Eh, I am completely derailed anyway.

 

[Wabit]

Well, they've already got a large contract with one of the armed forces... Army, or AF, i think. They will be shipping things out in 2024, so i would think that they already have things in order. They bought out Uber Air, and play to be transporting air passengers into urban spaces from airports as well, Since they produce 1/200th of the noise that Helicopters do, the thinking is that they will be far more welcome in heavily populated airspaces, or any places where low noise is desired.

It looks like a decent company to work for. Heck I'm trying to work out if it would be worth it to apply. I'm just saying have a backup, because aviation is a very fickle business to be in.

Boeing has always been my backup plan, and still is.

 

[Wabit]

Well I'm not going to that con this weekend, it's not worth 90 min drive in this weather. That being said; the wife saw what the price of tickets for the Playoff game in KC, and is now trying to figure out how to make the money work so she can go watch her Dolphins.

 

[Avder]

I’m bored at work right now. got a game on on my iPad but it’s just so boring right now.

 

[57special]

Damnit now I'm looking at the jobs they offer. I want a tour of their facilities more than anything. This is a company you'd need a backup plan for if you're working for them. Dealing with FAA certification is a long and very expensive process for a company.



It's been a long time since I've been in the experimental section of the rule book, but I do recall there are special rules for builders.

The pump fuel sounds more like a selling point than anything else. The airports around me don't have regular pump fuel readily available. I know a couple people that it could work for, but they have their own (unregistered) private landing strip and hanger. Crop dusters, they are the craziest pilots you'll ever meet.

Son has applied to this company, which has a much bigger, aircraft version. Sort of like the big brother of the Helix. Joby Aviation | Joby

Did his initial interview, then his first technical, now on to his 2nd technical with these guys. Interesting, smaller company doing an interesting thing. If he makes it he'll put in a good word for you, Wabit.

Unfortunately, as nice as Santa Cruz probably is, you'd probably have to make Eleventy Million per year to afford a house there.