MexicanDragon

So I befriended the owner of an E-bike shop tonight. I got invited to go out for a trail ride on a fat tire e-bike from Felt. I'll see what I can do about videos. **BRENT**

Is that their steambox hardware, essentially? Yes

Nice, Larry! I'm sure it was a good feeling both seeing her again, and giving her a pretty sweet gift. **BRENT**

Nice little budget gaming or HTPC. http://slickdeals.net/f/8359803-alienware-alpha-desktop-i3-4170t-geforce-gtx-4gb-ddr3-305-after-45-slickdeals-rebate-free-shipping **BRENT**

Thanks guys. Back is feeling better, pain spread to leg last night, but it's manageable compared to what I used to have, so I deal. Nothing some Four Roses can't take care of (in liberal doses.) I do need to get back to doing some stuff. I've recently moved stuff around in the house and there's an open room now, and since riding has helped my back perhaps there will be some room for the bike trainer. I don't know where I'll hang all those extra clothes, though **BRENT**

If you remember, I had surgery at L5/S1 a few years back for Cauda Equina Syndrome. I know back pain. This pain sucked, but it was like just a 7 on my adjusted pain scale. I have combined PTO/sick leave, but my supervisor doesn't understand that whole "people need to be out sometimes" thing. We have been doing 6 days most weeks since May. We can have a max of 2 people out at a time (lowered from 4 because she is bad at math,) even if it's for someone being sick. I'll have built back up over two weeks of paid leave (single dads burn through a lot) as of Jan 1, but it's rare I can use it. Oh well, since the pain spread to my leg I'm going to try to sleep through it instead of being awake and frustrated. **BRENT**

Make me. **BRENT**

Woke up, got kids off to school (barely) and got ready for work. I threw my back out picking something off the floor. I heard a loud pop. I then heard 30 seconds of me screaming in pain and debating limping to the car to go to work or limping to the couch to call out. Seeing that I'd have gotten in trouble at work for missing, and it would have cost me a bit of $$$ in lost OT wages, I just went in and took a bunch of pills and suffered through it. The reward was getting to see the kids in their Holiday band concert right after work. Then I came home and started drinking until I quit caring about my back hurting, and playing some games. We had 3-5 people playing Drunk Driving Simulator tonight; pics are in the game thread. Now I get to go take a nap before I do most of it again. **BRENT**

I'm totally good with CJ posting whatever he wants. If it may need a NSFW/Spoiler tag, so be it, but I don't see an issue with it. Posting in here will get critiques/praise of the shot, and if you go back a few years I'm sure you'll see that CJ's gotten better. Not to mention his troubles with Adorama and his horrible taste in movies moved Adorama up the list for me, and I've bought most of my gear from them the past couple of years, and if CJ gives it a thumbs down, you know it's probably going to be an enjoyable movie. I'm more offended by all the Nikon in the EXIF data than most anything else in this thread. ^^^ This. I could go on, but it's cutting into drinking time. **BRENT**

http://www.adorama.com/AULCD2LBTCD.html?emailprice=t&hotlink=t&svfor=5m&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_source=rflaid62905&cvosrc=affiliate.62905 LCD-2s and Astel & Kern AK Jr. 64GB for 995$. They also have a deal with the Fiio X5 for the same price but this is the better deal. **BRENT**

So Zoe was having a sleepover and they were all filming with a friend's iPhone 5. Someone knocked it down while recording and the screen went black and now it won't cut on. I tried the basic stuff like power button/home button pressing at the same time, but it won't come on. There were some beeps made when it was plugged in, but that's all I get. Can anyone point me in the right direction to try to get this going before the parents get here? (They already know and the kid is upset about it, but trying to salvage something here.) Thanks. **BRENT**

A few years ago 40" was different than the 40" category now, I believe What was formerly 37" have been pushed to 40 due to reduced bezel size and the whatnot. Is your mom going to have cable, or something like a Roku? I know some non-techy people who like the Roku with the remote which is still simple, but not as sparse as say, the Apple Remote. Also, is the 40" a size constraint or what? Are you going in a cabinet formerly for a tube TV? (I had to deal with this for my mom a while back.) Any reason you're limited to 55? How far away are you siting from the screen, and how big is the room? I remember I originally wanted a 50" (due to budget), but I got a crazy deal on a 60" plasma I like that was pretty spartan in I/O arena, but could be calibrated to look rather nice, and while it has a presence in the room, it doesn't overpower with size. I actually wish I could have done a 65. I'm 9.5' away on the closest seating, btw. For your mom, there may be some Black Friday specific sets that are cheaper due to a reduced feature set (dumb TV, maybe 2 HDMI inputs.) Would possibly be the same panel as something a little higher, but not quite as complicated. I know Jeff hates his Samsung TV, so I figure it's pretty great. **BRENT**

Where is Bryan in all this? Has he not recovered from last week? **BRENT**

When are you picking it up? **BRENT**

Damb! I haven't thought about Deadsy in a LONG time. I take it that is the key to Gramercy Park? **BRENT**

Happy belated Thursday, mi amigo de cerveza! **BRENT**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YSOZP_M6eM **BRENT** Edit: When did dropping a link from YouTube stop working properly?

I was going to post this, but yep, if you're not signed in you can't see anything. **BRENT**

Two free gigs of data from Verizon (1 one month, one the next.) **BRENT**

Typically Verizon is going to be better coverage wise than Sprint. Also, you said you sometimes go over 6GB? How often do you go over and how much is the overage charge? I imagine going over 6GB a few times a year will be cheaper than the 240$/year extra the 12GB plan would cost you. Also, if you know that you'd need to travel a bit some month and would use more data, just switch to the 12GB plan that month. **BRENT**

Do you have wifi at work? If so, you're probably fine with 4-6, you probably don't need 12. I use 10-30/mo, but that's because I'm trying to run it up while at work. You could probably even get by with 2, but do what Mike said (also, welcome back, Mike,) and find out how much you typically use (check a few months and average out.) Get the one that's a tier or two over your usual usage for a couple months, check again, and if you can drop down a tier, do it. **BRENT**

Just took you a few hours to get it; not bad for someone so follically challenged. **BRENT** You have obviously never had fast food chicken from the Mr. Zip on Orchard Knob in the Ghetto. Actually, if you are ever forced to come back to Chatt, do it near a weekend and I'll take you to Lamar's. The way I describe this place is "It's where Billy Dee Williams would eat fried chicken at 1 o'clock in the morning." The do not serve biscuits. **BRENT**

It was a well quoted percentage for the car and dyno used. **BRENT**

So I had this typed up a couple weeks ago but then lost it when browser crashed or maybe I accidentally hit back. I came back today to this thread and accidentally hit something in the reply box and this popped up, so... I once argued with a TVA engineer who was talking about HP at the crank vs the wheel. He swore you subtracted 17% to go from crank to wheel, and then added 17% to go from wheel to crank. I tried to explain that it would be more like 20% to go from wheel HP to crank, but he went off saying that that was ridiculous. I tried to explain reciprocals to someone with a degree in engineering by using 4/5ths and 5/4ths, but yeah, he couldn't grasp that concept. I meant to find out which "engineering school" he went to, to make sure I can try to avoid others graduates. It's painful talking to a lot of car guys, but I know some who do it right. **BRENT**

Feliz navidad, mi amigo de cerveza! **BRENT**